Grenfell Inquiry: Kitchen fire spread to cladding in 10 minutes
The advice to stay put should have changed when flames reached the outside, the inquiry hears.
UN environment chief resigns after frequent flying revelations
Erik Solheim resigns after audit found travel irregularities and internal rule breaking, leading nations to drop funding
The UN’s environment chief Erik Solheim has resigned following severe criticism over his globetrotting travels and internal rule-breaking which led some nations to withhold their funding.
The Guardian understands Solheim was asked to resign by the UN secretary general António Guterres. Sources at the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said that countries unhappy with Solheim’s conduct were holding back tens of millions of dollars, threatening an imminent financial crisis at the body.
Continue reading...In full: Nicola Sturgeon interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Brexit
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says she wants to form a "coalition of opposition" to Theresa May's Brexit plans with Labour and other parties, ahead of a vote of MPs at Westminster.
French prosecutor investigates some of Macron’s campaign finances
French prosecutors on Tuesday opened an investigation into the source of funds worth 144,000 euros that helped finance President Emmanuel Macron's election campaign in 2017, a source at the prosecutor's office said.
Michelle Obama memoir tops US book charts – with nine copies sold per second
The former first lady’s autobiography has been warmly reviewed and is No 2 in the UK charts – outsold only by David Walliams
Michelle Obama’s Becoming sold almost nine copies per second on its first day on sale in North America to become the fastest-selling book of the year so far, while in the UK, the memoir is close to the top of the book charts.
Published last Tuesday, the former first lady’s autobiography has been warmly greeted by both the media and the public. The New York Times called it a “polished pearl of a memoir”, the Guardian said that it was “dignified” with a “refreshing level of honesty”. On Amazon.com, more than 200 user reviews gave it five stars.
Continue reading...Australian aid groups report dozens of sexual misconduct cases
Peak aid body review finds victims of abuse by humanitarian workers included children
Australian international aid groups reported 76 incidents of alleged sexual misconduct over the past three years, including one case in which a humanitarian worker impregnated a local woman.
The peak body for the aid sector – the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) – commissioned an independent review into sexual misconduct earlier this year following revelations that Oxfam UK staff had hired prostitutes in Haiti after a major earthquake in 2010.
Continue reading...I was arrested at a climate change protest – it was worth it | Gavin Turk
I’m supporting Extinction Rebellion, and using direct action to wake up politicians to the damage we’re doing: together we can do something
On Saturday, at about 12.30pm, I was arrested for obstructing (thoughtfully sitting on) a public highway, namely Lambeth Bridge. I wasn’t alone. In fact, Lambeth wasn’t the only obstructed London bridge: thousands of people of diverse backgrounds and ages occupied five central London bridges for most of 17 November: Southwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster and Lambeth. I believe that at least 80 other people were arrested.
Climate is increasingly becoming one of the key subjects for artists as they hold their mirror up to society
Continue reading...Sometimes a dog can be better for a patient than hospital
Suffering patients may need to just be asked ‘tell me about your pet’
An elderly patient is admitted to hospital after a fall at home. He is stunned after the fall but, thankfully, uninjured. It takes him a few days to recover but as soon as he able, he wants to go home. The physiotherapist wants to work with him, the social worker wants to examine his support system, but all he wants to do is go home. We feel he is not yet safe. He acknowledges that a worse event could happen but still, he wants to go home. Theories are posited as to why.
Maybe the concussion is worse than we first thought. Maybe he is cognitively impaired and unable to make decisions about his safety, in which case a state-appointed guardian may be needed. Maybe he doesn’t like the other patients, in which case he could be placated by moving him to another room. It is the beginning of a month of medical rounds for me and he is the handover without a plan.
Continue reading...Father in tears as he denies killing daughter 32 years ago
The father of a young girl murdered with her friend 32 years ago broke down in tears as he denied being involved in her sexual abuse and death.
Ex-Macedonia PM Gruevski says he has been granted asylum in Hungary
Former Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled abroad after being sentenced to two years in prison on corruption-related charges, said on Tuesday that he had been granted political asylum in Hungary.
Kent trio jailed for life over plot to murder terminally ill husband
Hayley Weatherall, her boyfriend and his daughter tried to kill Raymond Weatherall
A woman, her boyfriend and his daughter have been jailed for life over a plot to murder the woman’s terminally ill husband.
Raymond Weatherall survived being shot in the face, jurors at Maidstone crown court heard. His wife, Hayley Weatherall, also planned to kill him using sleeping tablets and insulin.
Continue reading...Take action rather than criticise, UN poverty expert tells Rudd
Philip Alston says minister’s criticism of the tone of his austerity report ‘misses the point’
The UN expert on extreme poverty has hit back at the new work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, after she complained that the tone of his report into the consequences of austerity in the UK was “highly inappropriate”.
Philip Alston urged Rudd to instead follow some of his recommendations to make the welfare system “more humane” rather than dismissing the powerful language in his report examining the impact of cuts and welfare reforms, including universal credit, as “extraordinarily political”, as she did in the Commons on Monday.
Continue reading...Ireland says Brexit withdrawal deal not open to change
The text of Britain's withdrawal agreement from the European Union is not going to be changed, Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Tuesday, despite calls by some British politicians for amendments.
Mohammed bin Salman expected to attend G20 summit
Argentinian government confirmed Saudi crown prince is on list of attendees but noted he may still change his mind
The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, widely suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is expected to attend the G20 summit in Buenos Aires at the end of the month, the Argentinian government has confirmed.
Related: Trump inflated importance of Saudi arms sales to US job market, report says
Continue reading...BBC says channels may close without over-75s licence fee
Broadcaster says large cuts will have to be made if nothing changes when subsidy ends
The BBC has said it will have to close channels and make enormous cuts to its services unless over-75s are made to pay for the licence fee, as it prepares to cover the loss of government funding that currently allows older people to consume its content for free.
The corporation put a number of proposals on reforming the subsidy out for consultation on Tuesday, saying that the £745m cost of maintaining the status quo would take up a fifth of its budget and equates to the total amount it spends on all of BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, the BBC News channel, CBBC and CBeebies.
Continue reading...<a href=’https://news.sky.com/story/f3-driver-sophia-floersch-keen-to-return-to-racing-after-surviving-macau-crash-11558858′>F3 driver keen to return after surviving massive crash</a>
Democrats to probe Ivanka Trump’s private email use for gov’t work
Democrats called on Tuesday for an investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter and top White House adviser Ivanka Trump following reports that she repeatedly used a personal email account last year for government business.
Two private jets but I’m middle class, says Germany’s ‘anti-Merkel’
Friedrich Merz, frontrunner to become next CDU leader, says class is not just about money
A frontrunner to take over from Angela Merkel as leader of Germany’s main conservative party is facing criticism for describing himself as “upper middle class” despite having amassed a fortune working in the financial sector and owning two private jets.
Friedrich Merz, 62, who has been selling himself as the man who can save Germany from political and economic stagnation, and is seen as as the most likely to succeed Merkel as head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was forced to disclose this week that his annual earnings amounted to around €1m (£890,000). The size of his personal fortune is estimated to run to several million.
Continue reading...Libyan coast guards force stranded migrants off rescue ship
Libyan authorities on Tuesday forcibly disembarked more than 90 migrants who had refused to leave a cargo ship that rescued them before docking in a port west of Tripoli, a coast guard commander said. The Panama-flagged ship rescued them and other migrants off the Libyan coast ten days ago as their boat began sinking and brought them to Misrata.
May’s Brussels trip only start of ‘endless’ EU trade talks
PM and Juncker’s Brexit meeting an ‘amuse-bouche’ to continuous negotiations, says former UKTI chief
When Theresa May comes to Brussels for tea with Jean Claude Juncker on Wednesday afternoon, the two leaders will have in front of them a metaphorical Christmas tree of a political declaration. “And every member state has put a bauble on it”, an EU diplomat said.
A seven-page document published last week, offering some heads of terms on the future relationship, is set to more than double to some 20 pages.
Continue reading...U.S. court allows generic version of Indivior opioid abuse drug
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday allowed generic drug company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories to sell a copycat version of the Indivior Plc opioid treatment Suboxone Film, sending Indivior's stock price down more than 40 percent.
Work with Plaid and SNP on Brexit, Price urges Labour
Opposition parties should try to agree an alternative Brexit plan, Plaid leader Adam Price says.
May to meet Austria’s Kurz in London on Thursday
British Prime Minister Theresa May will host Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for talks at her Downing Street office on Thursday at 1230 GMT, her spokesman said.
Chicago police investigate hospital shooting that left four dead
Chicago police on Tuesday were seeking a motive for a shooting rampage outside and inside a hospital late Monday that left four people dead, including the gunman, a physician who was his former girlfriend and a police officer, officials said.
Chinese writer Tianyi sentenced to decade in prison for gay erotic novel
Pseudonymous author was charged under law that makes it an ‘especially serious’ crime to sell more than 5,000 copies of a work classed as pornographic
Free-speech campaigners have slammed China’s “flagrant disregard for fundamental human rights” after the author of a gay erotic novel was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for producing and selling pornographic materials.
The author, who writes under the pseudonym Tianyi and is from eastern China’s Anhui province, was identified by the state-run Global Times only by her surname, Liu. The paper reported that police were alerted after the book Gongzhan, translated as Occupy, went viral last year. Police in the Anhui city of Wuhu, where Liu was sentenced, said the novel described obscene sexual behaviour between males, and was “full of perverted sexual acts such as violation and abuse”.
Continue reading...Death sentence in India 34 years after riots
An Indian court has handed down a rare death sentence 34 years after anti-Sikh riots left almost 3,000 people dead in the wake of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination.
Six celebrities who were injured… by their children
Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes isn't the only star to have been hurt by his nearest and dearest.
England’s Ashton out of Australia test with calf injury
Winger Chris Ashton will miss England's final November international against Australia on Saturday due to a calf injury, the Rugby Football Union said on Tuesday.
Macedonia ex-prime minister confirms he was granted asylum in Hungary
Macedonia's ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who was sentenced to two years in prison on corruption-related charges, confirmed on Tuesday that he was granted asylum in Hungary.
More than 50 killed by suicide bomber in Kabul banqueting hall
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a banqueting hall where Islamic religious scholars had gathered in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people, three government officials said.
Twitter CEO kicks up storm in India, offending some Hindus
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has kicked up a social media storm in India after a picture of him holding a poster saying "smash Brahminical patriarchy", referring to the highest Hindu caste, went viral.
Secondhand cannabis smoke may cause allergy, worsen asthma in children
(Reuters Health) - Secondhand marijuana smoke appears to have provoked a cannabis allergy and worsened the asthma of a 6-year-old child, researchers told the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology's annual conference in Seattle.
Factbox: What might a no-deal Brexit look like?
Britain is due to leave the European Union in just over four months' time but it still cannot count on a transition period to cushion the shock for its economy.
Officer fired for ‘watching DVD as homeless man froze to death’
Pericles Malagardis was found unresponsive outside Uxbridge Police Station after being ejected.
What to look for in Brexit declaration?
Brexit involves a key political declaration on future ties - so what will it cover? Adam Fleming explains.
Ivanka Trump: senior Democrat calls for investigation into personal email use
- Senator Richard Blumenthal: ‘no way’ she did not know rules
- Trump campaign bashed Hillary Clinton for use of private email
A senior Democrat has called for an investigation of Ivanka Trump’s use of a personal email account for government business, an act that has been criticized as hypocritical by allies and foes of her father’s administration.
A White House review of Trump’s emails showed that she used her personal email to correspond with federal government staff, cabinet officials and her assistants throughout much of 2017. Ethics officials uncovered hundreds of emails sent by a domain Trump shares with her husband Jared Kushner, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Continue reading...Investigators find no technical reasons for plane crash in Swiss Alps
An investigation into the crash of a vintage plane in the Swiss Alps in August that killed 20 people has so far found no technical defects that caused the tragedy, the country's transport safety agency said on Tuesday.
Air pollution cuts global average lifespan by nearly two years – study
New analysis calls toxic air the greatest threat to human health, finding it shortens lives by up to six years in pollution hotspots
Air pollution cuts the average lifespan of people around the globe by almost two years, according to a new analysis, making it the single greatest threat to human health.
The research looked at the particulate pollution produced by the burning of fossil fuel by vehicles and industry. It found that in many parts of the worst-affected nations – India and China – lifespans were being shortened by six years.
Continue reading...British cancer sufferer stranded on remote island dies
A British cancer sufferer who went on holiday to celebrate finishing chemotherapy has died after becoming stranded on an island in the Indian Ocean.
‘Greenwash’: oil giant under fire over plan to protect tropical forests
Campaigners say move by Norway’s Equinor is an excuse to keep drilling for fossil fuels
One of the world’s biggest oil companies is set to join the fight against deforestation in the tropics as part of its climate change efforts – but the the move has been branded a “greenwash” by campaigners.
State-owned Norwegian firm Equinor has written to the UN’s climate chief to tell her it wants to invest in the protection of tropical forests.
Continue reading...