Prospect of Labour leadership race brings out different sides of rivals

Travel firm exits partnership after Panorama revealed allegations by three women against on-screen husbandsThe travel operator Tui has ended its sponsorship of the UK and Australian versions of Married at First Sight on Channel 4 after contestants on the former made allegations of rape and sexual misconduct.An edition of the BBC’s Panorama programme this week revealed allegations by two anonymous women that they had been raped by their on-screen husbands on the show. A third woman, Shona Manderson, accused her on-screen husband of sexual misconduct. All three men deny the claims. Continue reading...

Africa CDC says restrictions could increase public health risks and highlight ‘deeper structural injustice’ in global healthA US travel ban for people coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in response to the Ebola outbreak could make the situation worse, critics have warned.Declared a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, the outbreak continues to spread with a new case reported in the DRC’s South Kivu province, an area under the control of armed rebel groups. Continue reading...

DHS issued ‘Bolo’ for Ben Palmer, whose videos of calls with members of the public who thought they were reporting immigrants went viralThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has circulated a “Be on the Lookout” alert to law enforcement nationwide, targeting a comedian whose satire of US immigration enforcement went viral.The subject of the alert, known as a “Bolo”, was Ben Palmer, a Nashville-based standup comedian and prankster who created a parody anti-immigration tip website. His revealing videos of calls with members of the public who thought they were reporting immigrants to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have garnered millions of views on TikTok and YouTube. Continue reading...

Charles conferred LVO after his US visit on James Roscoe who had been standing in for Peter MandelsonA top diplomat who abruptly left his post at the British embassy in Washington earlier this week after standing in as interim ambassador for Peter Mandelson has been honoured by King Charles.No reason has yet been given for James Roscoe’s departure. An investigation is now under way into the leak of discussions at a meeting of the UK’s national security council. Continue reading...

Ebony Parker was accused of ignoring warnings about six-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher in 2023Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailA Virginia judge has thrown out a case against an elementary school principal who was accused of failing to act on warnings that a six-year-old student had brought a gun to school, leading to the wounding of his teacher in 2023.The eight-count indictment against Richneck elementary assistant principal Ebony Parker was dismissed abruptly on Thursday on legal principles just one day after prosecutors rested their case. Continue reading...

Eli Lilly says participants in a sizable trial of retatrutide lost much more weight compared to other weight-loss drugsA new weight-loss drug has helped participants in a sizable trial lose much more weight than other obesity drugs already on the market – up to an average of 28% of their body weight – Eli Lilly announced Thursday.The Indiana-based pharmaceutical company in a press statement said that retatrutide, a once-weekly triple hormone receptor agonist, led to an average weight loss of 70.3lbs (28.3%) over 80 weeks among participants receiving the 12mg dose, with 45.3% achieving at least 30% weight loss. Continue reading...

One of two MPs who came in top five of vote could be persuaded to take on Kim Leadbeater’s bill in the Commons Assisted dying campaigners have a narrow path to revive the bill after two MPs who backed the change came in the top five of the new private member’s bill ballot.Supporters of Kim Leadbeater’s original private member’s bill, which ran out of time to be passed, have the chance to use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords if they can persuade another MP to take it through the Commons again. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Paul Nowak recognises frustration with Keir Starmer’s government but urges party not to be fatalisticThe UK’s most powerful union leader has said he is angry at the state of Labour and Keir Starmer’s government and warned that significant change is needed to prevent Reform UK from winning power.In his first intervention as the battle rages over the future of the Labour leadership, the TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, said it was clear there was an “overwhelming sense of frustration” with Starmer in a statement issued by Labour-affiliated trade unions last week that called for the prime minister to step down before the next election. Continue reading...

Company says work on Paul Erdős planar unit distance problem shows advance in AI reasoningOpenAI has claimed a further advance in AI reasoning after its technology successfully tackled an 80-year-old maths problem.The company behind ChatGPT said it had made a breakthrough with a challenge first posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946: the planar unit distance problem. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester police made the arrests after concerns over several independent candidates in May’s local electionFive people have been arrested as part of a police investigation into allegations that fake independent candidates were used to influence the outcome of a local election in Tameside.Greater Manchester police said four men and a woman, aged between 23 and 47, were arrested on suspicion of fraud offences on Thursday morning in the Ashton-under-Lyne area. Continue reading...

Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children during the pandemicSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailA judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence – nearly 42 years – to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted in a staggering $250m fraud case that helped ignite an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children in need during the pandemic. Continue reading...