For the second time in 25 years, a lone figure takes to the stage, an oversized maple leaf flag rippling on a screen behind him as he approaches the microphone. His hair is perhaps a little greyer but the message remains the same: Canada will not cower to the United States. “They mistake our modesty…
A woman has pleaded guilty to killing a newborn baby whose body was discovered in woodland in Warrington in 1998. The baby, subsequently named Callum, was found dead in a bin bag near Gulliver’s World theme park in the Cheshire town on 14 March 1998 by a dog walker in a wooded area off Camp…
Commons leader Lucy Powell says Tories should be attacking past government over Sentencing Council guidelines, not this one Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, defended the government’s position on the new Sentencing Council guidelines (see 9.46am) during business questions in the Commons a few minutes ago. She was responding to the Conservative MP Luke…
A Guardian investigation has shown how a single group of call centres in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, scammed savers out of $35m. Victims were lured with fake adverts and news articles, often featuring celebrities, including the radio DJ Zoe Ball and the adventurer Ben Fogle, which they saw on sites like Facebook and Google.…
A Rangers supporter has died in a road traffic accident in Istanbul before the team’s Europa League last-16 game with Fenerbahce at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. The Ibrox club announced the news in a statement on Thursday morning. “We are devastated to have learned of the passing of one of our supporters in a road…
The NHS’s top doctor in England, who played a key role in advising ministers and the public during the Covid pandemic, will stand down this summer. Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, will have spent seven and a half years in post by the time he retires in July. He is thought…
Morning opening: Five minutes to midnight Jakub Krupa Four days after the London summit on Sunday, European leaders meet again – this time in Brussels and with a complete line-up, including both the (very keen) Baltics and the (very much not keen) Hungarians and Slovaks – to discuss what’s next for Ukraine. Prime minister Sir…
In the mountains of Transylvania, a Canadian company makes plans for a vast gold and silver mine. The proposal – which involves razing four mountain tops – sparks a national outcry, and the Romanian government pulls its support. After protests from local communities, the Italian government bans drilling for oil within 12 miles of its…
Customers at Britain’s major banks and building societies suffered the equivalent of more than one month’s worth of IT failures in the last two years, MPs have said. Enquiries by the House of Commons’ Treasury committee have found that nine of the top banks and building societies operating in the UK accumulated a total of…
Poundland’s owner is mooting a possible sale of the UK discount retail chain as it struggles amid tough trading and before incoming measures from October’s budget that will send wage costs soaring. Poland-based Pepco Group said it was considering “all strategic options” to spin out the struggling 825-strong chain from the wider group as it…
