CATEGORIES

Sky to appeal planning decision on film studio

The TV company Sky plans to appeal against a council decision that blocked the expansion of its film studios amid signs the Labour government is willing to allow building on the greenbelt to prioritise economic growth.

China Economic 'bazooka' likely to misfire without essential reforms

The economist and author George Magnus says Beijing's new stimulus strategy is the very definition of fiscal insanity

Reeves urged to keep Labour promise on business rates

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been urged to keep her promise to ease the pressure from business rates on high street businesses amid warnings of a looming £2.7bn tax hike that would mainly hit smaller retail, leisure and hospitality firms.

Mulberry's owner rejects increased bid from Frasers

The owner of the Mulberry fashion brand has rejected an increased £111m bid from Mike Ashley's Frasers Group to buy the British luxury handbag maker, saying it has \"no interest\" in selling its shares.

Deported children Real, raw stories of Ukraine's agony told in new play

In a small, underground theatre in central Kyiv, an audience is watching - at times with perfectly still attention, at times with roars of laughter - a story that is so raw and painful that it is hard to believe it has already found its way on to the stage.

Families seek pardons for Dutch who refused to fight to keep colony

Families of 20 men who were jailed for refusing to fight to preserve the Dutch colony in Indonesia have formally asked for their names to be cleared, arguing that instead of “deserters, traitors and cowards” their relatives deserve to be recognised as having been on the right side of history.

Mining firm faces record claim over 2015 Brazilian dam collapse

The mother of a seven-year-old boy who was torn from the arms of his grandmother and drowned in one of Brazil's worst environmental disasters is among more than 620,000 claimants who will have their case heard this month in the largest group claim in English legal history.

Equatorial Guinea Dozens of islanders detained over letter

Earlier this year, residents of the small island of Annobón began noticing withering plants on their farmland and large cracks in their houses. They attributed the damage to years of dynamite explosions linked to mining operations on the island, a province of Equatorial Guinea that lies in the Gulf of Guinea, about 220 miles west of Gabon off the west coast of Africa.

Democratic health report on EU states 'paints too rosy a picture'

The European Commission's annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading civil liberties network has said.

Religious attack fears as Indian eateries told to show staff names

Muslims in India say they have been fired from their jobs and face the closure of their businesses after two states brought in a \"discriminatory\" policy making it mandatory for restaurants to publicly display the names of all their employees.

Biden to meet Scholz in Berlin to discuss Ukraine and Middle East

Joe Biden will visit Berlin this week, senior German officials say, after he cancelled a planned trip last week over Hurricane Milton.

Harris appeals to hurricane-hit voters with presidential race neck and neck

Kamala Harris yesterday spent a second day in North Carolina, a state hard hit by Hurricane Helene and a crucial battleground in the presidential election.

Disasters Trump withheld aid to 'hostile' states, say ex-officials

Donald Trump deliberately withheld disaster aid from states he deemed politically hostile to him as US president and will do so again if he returns to the White House, several former officials from his administration have warned.

Westminster 'whirlwind' Green MP's first hundred days - and his Starmer spat

When Adrian Ramsay confounded more than a century of Conservative hegemony in rural East Anglia to win Waveney Valley for the Greens on a wave of local enthusiasm, he might have expected to enjoy a pleasant political honeymoon.

Labour pledge The action needed to halve violence against women

In his pitch to voters in March last year, Keir Starmer said he wanted to \"imagine a society where violence against women is stamped out everywhere”. His government would, he promised, halve violence against women and girls in a decade. It was a bold, simple statement, widely welcomed for its ambition.

Columbus was probably Spanish and Jewish, DNA study suggests

A 20-year genetic investigation of the remains of Christopher Columbus has turned conventional historical wisdom on its head by concluding that the explorer whose voyage to the New World changed the course of global history may have been a Spanish Jew rather than a son of Genoa.

Hundreds take part in charity World Conker Championships

Conkers were once more in swinging action as competitors descended on a pub near Peterborough for the World Conker Championships yesterday.

‘Superwoman is dead’: professionals advise against aiming for perfect work-life balance

Women should stop striving for work-life balance to avoid living in a constant state of guilt, the ITV presenter Charlene White has said.

Met launches investigation after man in 30s shot dead

Police launched a murder investigation yesterday after a man was shot dead in east London.

US election How Harris win could depend on Democrats overseas

On a chilly afternoon in central London, the battle for the US presidential election is being waged with no less fervour than if the campaigners were on the other side of the Atlantic.

Assisted dying bill 'no use' to people with Parkinson's

An assisted dying bill that would only allow help for people with less than six months to live would be no use at all to many people who are facing intolerable suffering, according to a retired high court judge.

Strategy to halt the decline of hedgehogs in UK launched

Wildlife charities have launched the first national hedgehog conservation strategy to halt the species' decline across Britain.

NHS guidelines on prostate cancer PSA tests 'driving late diagnosis'

Men at a higher risk of prostate cancer should be given the option to have a test by their GP even if they have no symptoms, a charity has said, as it warned current NHS guidelines were \"driving late diagnosis\".

Mission to moon of Jupiter will explore 'world that might be habitable'

Nasa is poised to send a spacecraft to a frosty moon of Jupiter, where extraterrestrial life may eke out an existence in an enormous ocean hidden beneath its ice-covered surface.

Elation at SpaceX as booster rocket is 'caught' as it falls

Elon Musk's SpaceX company achieved a milestone yesterday by catching the massive booster stage from its Starship rocket in a pair of robotic arms as it fell back to the firm's launchpad in southern Texas.

‘Echo of today’ Eerie parallels in film about Lennon and Ono in US

From sit-ins for peace to avant-garde happenings and covert surveillance of revolutionary sympathies, the world of John Lennon and Yoko Ono can seem removed from that of our own. But a new documentary about the couple exposes the eerie similarities between the 1970s and now, its Oscar-winning director has said.

Met urged to investigate death of British woman in Spain

The family and friends of a British IT executive who fell to her death from an apartment block in Spain on the evening of her 50th birthday have called on the Metropolitan police to intervene in a Spanish police investigation into the fatality.

Tributes paid to Alex Salmond's 'colossal contribution' to politics

John Swinney has paid tribute to Alex Salmond's \"colossal contribution\" to Scottish and UK politics as allies of the former first minister mourned his sudden death on Saturday.

"'She's bang on' Ex-Tories prefer Badenoch over more of the same Jenrick"

Winning back voters lost in the summer's disastrous general election performance will be top of the to-do list for the newly installed Conservative party leader when they are appointed in a little over three weeks' time.

HS2 'light' Osborne backs alternative for northern link

George Osborne has thrown his weight behind a proposal nicknamed \"HS2 light\" that would provide new high-speed train links between Manchester and Birmingham.