Minister suggests Shabana Mahmood will use visa threats to deport Rochdale grooming gang leader to Pakistan – UK politics live

Major incidents declared in north Wales and Derbyshire as Natural England warns of ‘exceptional fire risk’Villagers were evacuated from their homes as a wildfire swept across a mountainside in north Wales, prompting firefighters to declare a major incident.People described hearing the crackling fire advancing down Conwy Mountain towards homes as ash fell from a sky turned dark by thick smoke. Continue reading...

Senator played major role in critical negotiations with Democrats and members of his own party on key issuesWhen Democrats and Republicans were earlier this year locked in a standoff that had plunged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the longest partial government shutdown in US history, news of a path forward emerged in the form of a statement from Republican senator Lindsey Graham.By announcing that the budget committee he chairs would set to work on a measure to fund the agencies leading Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign for the remainder of his presidency, Graham played a major role in rallying the GOP behind a plan that reopened DHS. Continue reading...

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in prison with Sepideh Kashani, who worked with husband Houman Jokar to save Asiatic cheetahNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has described the rearrest of two Iranian environmentalists, one of whom she met at Evin prison, as “unimaginably cruel and alarming”.Husband and wife Houman Jokar and Sepideh Kashani were arrested by the ministry of intelligence at their home on 1 July. No reason has been given and their whereabouts are unknown. Continue reading...

Lawmakers face obstacles, including demands from Trump, Mitch McConnell’s absence and Graham’s sudden deathRepublican lawmakers return to the Capitol this week facing a lengthy to-do list and Donald Trump’s demands for new voting restrictions, as Democrats jockey for an advantage ahead of the November midterm elections.Lawmakers from both parties are eager to highlight before voters legislative victories ahead of the midterms, where control of Congress is at stake. But for Senate Republicans, who are already navigating an array of demands from Trump, their agenda grew further complicated over the weekend with the death of Lindsey Graham, the budget committee chair who is a key player in negotiating a party line bill to fund additional defense spending and other priorities outlined by the president. Continue reading...

State ordered to apologise after ruling finds it breached law when detaining teenagers in a Cairns watch houseGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Queensland government broke the law and violated the human rights of three children by detaining them in an adult-only watch house without private toilet access or clean clothes, according to a tribunal judgment.The case was brought by three teenagers separately detained in the Cairns watch house between June 2021 and 2022. They were then aged between 13 and 17. Continue reading...

From harvests dampened by El Niño to wage and tax rises, getting coffee beans from crop to cup costs more than everDrinkers across the UK were shocked when a pint in some London bars hit £10, and now a cup of coffee is facing a similar inflationary rate. Some baristas are now charging £6.50 for a flat white.Higher energy bills, inflated by the war in the Middle East, as well as government policies which have increased tax and wages, are filtering through into coffee prices, experts said. Continue reading...

Joan Rivet drank water she managed to splash up to her face by turning faucet on with her footAn 82-year-old North Carolina woman says she survived falling in her bathtub and being trapped there for nine days by turning the faucet on with her foot and drinking water that she managed to splash up to her face – all while drifting in and out of consciousness.Joan Rivet recently shared her remarkable survival story with North Carolina’s The Mountaineer newspaper, providing an extreme example of the kinds of emergencies that can face the millions of older Americans who fall by accident annually, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. Continue reading...

French president hosts ‘coalition of the willing’ in Paris amid hopes that Ukraine’s recent advances could force Putin towards negotiationsFrench president Emmanuel Macron is going to host the Coalition of the Willing in Paris later today amid hopes that Ukraine’s recent advances in strikes on Russia could force Vladimir Putin to a negotiating table.The meeting at the Hôtel des Invalides – hosted just before Bastille Day – will bring together over 20 European leaders for further talks on how to help Kyiv and put more pressure on Moscow. Continue reading...

US military says it hit dozens of Iranian sites in strikes on Monday while UN chief warns that a return to full-scale fighting would be ‘catastrophic’US launches new attack wave on Iran as Tehran says diplomacy has proven ‘futile’In a series of social media posts this morning, Oman’s interior ministry said sirens were being activated and urged residents to head to the nearest safe place and await further instructions.As we mentioned in the opening post, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier that it had attacked radar systems in Oman as part of its counter strikes against the US. Continue reading...

Police were told of unspecified threats before the 26 January rally but did not meet with organisers until after, parliamentary inquiry into racism toldFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIndigenous community members who witnessed the alleged attempted terror attack at the Invasion Day rally in Perth have told a federal inquiry into racism and hate directed at First Nations people that they felt dismissed and ignored by authorities.Western Australia police declared the incident was being investigated as a terror attack nine days after an alleged homemade bomb, filled with ball bearings, screws and other projectiles, was thrown into the crowd of 2,000 people at Forrest Place on 26 January. Perth man Liam Alexander Hall has been charged with terrorism offences and is in custody, and his lawyers have indicated he intends to plead not guilty by way of insanity. Continue reading...

The star of more than 100 films is remembered as a champion of New Zealand’s arts, culture and environment, and a generous collaborator and friend Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park films and The Piano, dies aged 78Sam Neill’s 20 best rolesSam Neill’s friends, peers and admirers have rushed to pay tribute to the actor, after his sudden death on Monday at the age of 78.Australian director Phillip Noyce, who directed Neill in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm alongside Nicole Kidman, told the Guardian: “Sam was perhaps the most gentlemanly actor ​I ever encountered. Level-headed and sincere in a show business world of crazy egos. His word was his contract.” Continue reading...