Peter Murrell pleads guilty to embezzling £400,000 from SNP

Research shows cost of crime for each affected business was on average £83,000 in past yearNine in 10 retailers based in rural locations have been victims of crime in the past 12 months, according to research, underlining the widespread impact of the rise in shoplifting and theft even in more remote parts of the UK.Rural retailers include farm shops as well as stores selling machinery and other equipment. The financial cost of crime for each affected retailer was on average £83,000 during the past year, according to a survey carried out by the commercial insurer NFU Mutual. Meanwhile, one in 20 victims said crime had cost them more than half a million pounds. Continue reading...

Dominic Grieve says people are ‘perfectly entitled’ to ask Richard Hermer for review of teenagers’ sentencesAppeal judges would be unlikely to criticise the attorney general, Richard Hermer, if he asked them to review “unusual” non-custodial sentences handed to three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls, one of his predecessors has suggested.Dominic Grieve, who also served as home secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the goal of rehabilitating offenders – particularly younger ones – needed to be balanced with providing deterrence. Continue reading...

Danny Kruger says matter is ‘private’, after party leader claimed hack was behind Guardian story about £5m giftA senior Reform UK figure has refused to call on the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, to hand evidence to the UK’s security services to support his claim he was hacked by Russian agents.Farage has come under mounting pressure to substantiate the claim that a state-sponsored Russian hack was behind the disclosure published by the Guardian last month of a £5m gift he had received from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Labour and the Conservatives have both stressed the threat to national security posed by the Russian state. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners show multinational has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisationRevealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate pushRead more from the BHP files investigation hereGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to push major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, internal documents show.An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners can reveal that BHP, one of Australia’s biggest historic emitters, has dumped plans for a facility that could have significantly reduced emissions and has put on ice renewable projects designed to power its iron ore operations in the vast, resource-rich Pilbara region. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Mining giant says technology is not yet advanced enough to run a fully electrified fleet but experts say it is hooked on federal fuel tax creditsRead more from the BHP files investigation hereGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBHP has continued to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying diesel trucks in the Pilbara despite internal documents suggesting it would increase emissions and be “misaligned” with its decarbonisation goals.The mining giant is Australia’s biggest consumer of diesel and trucks are its biggest single source of diesel emissions. Replacing the fleet with battery-electric trucks is considered a critical step in the multinational’s efforts to decarbonise. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jimblebar processing facility would have produced higher quality iron ore sought by steelmakers around the world – themselves under pressure to curb pollutionRead more from the BHP files investigation hereGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBHP quietly dumped plans for an iron ore processing facility that would have cut emissions drastically, despite internally rating it as having “excellent social value” and being “well-aligned” to its shareholder-endorsed climate plan and decarbonisation targets.In 2025 the mining giant was well advanced in its plans to build a beneficiation plant near its Jimblebar open-cut mine in the Pilbara, which would greatly improve the purity and quality of its iron ore. Continue reading...

US president says he is not rushing into a deal after proposed plan to end war prompts Republican backlash. Plus, mood in Russia turns against PutinGood morning.Donald Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans yesterday as he appeared on the verge of agreeing a deal with Iran to end the war.What has Iran said? Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has been speaking at a news briefing about the contours of a potential deal with the US to end the war: “It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion. But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent – no one can make such a claim.”Why does he think voters are becoming disenfranchised? Massie pointed to several significant constituencies – including “Make America healthy again” campaigners, fiscal hawks pushing for sweeping government budget cuts, and voters who don’t want the US engaged in wars – who he claimed had been “alienated” by the administration’s actions. “And so, I’m worried that in November, this is going to cost the party a lot.” Continue reading...

Far-right party set up by former Reform MP appears to be taking some support from FarageAndy Burnham is unlikely to be Elon Musk’s first pick to be prime minister of the UK. But an intervention by the US tech billionaire on behalf of a far-right offshoot of Reform UK is one of several signs that a divided right wing could deliver the Makerfield seat to the Manchester mayor.On 18 June, Burnham will fight a byelection in Greater Manchester, and polls have him only slightly ahead of Reform’s candidate, Robert Kenyon, a plumber. But a far-right party set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe looks as if it is taking some support from Reform. Continue reading...

Double-sided page featuring a sketch and text sheds new light on the baroque master and his time living in RomeMore than 400 years ago, the up and coming Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens toured the streets of Rome, notebook in hand, sketching images from Renaissance works adorning the city’s churches and palazzos.Now a rare sheet, thought to be from his Roman sketchbook, has gone on display in his home city of Antwerp, shedding new light on the baroque master. Continue reading...

Bonus scheme that could hand CEO a £60m windfall is ‘significantly out of line’ with market, says proxy adviserInvestors in Metro Bank are being urged to vote against the lender’s pay report next month, in protest of a complex bonus scheme that shareholder advisers say is “significantly out of line” with market standards.Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which issues voting advice to some of the world’s biggest investors, made the recommendation weeks ahead of the bank’s annual meeting on 2 June. Continue reading...

Activists detained by Israel after attempting to deliver aid to Gaza as part of Global Sumud Flotilla arrive in AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralians returning home from detention in Israel say they were abused, tortured and demeaned while in custody and have asked to meet with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.Nine of the 11 Australians who joined more than 400 people from around the world on an aid flotilla to Gaza returned home on Monday, where they were met with hundreds of supporters after landing at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports. Continue reading...