Keir Starmer will seek to improve customs arrangements with Europe without returning to a full union with the bloc, the home secretary has said. As the prime minister heads to Brussels as part of his attempted reset with the EU, Yvette Cooper said it was still a red line that the UK would not be…
Fears are growing for a truck driver who has spent three days trapped inside a sinkhole in Japan, as rescue workers started building a ramp in a desperate attempt to reach him. The 74-year-old, who has not been named, became trapped when the sinkhole opened up in a road near Tokyo on Tuesday, swallowing him…
A compact and stationary area of low pressure brought a sustained period of heavy rain to southern parts of Madagascar this week, with weather stations at Taolagnaro and Toliara recording five-day rainfall totals of 178mm and 196mm respectively, with a peak 24-hour total of 93mm at Toliara. This area of low pressure strengthened to tropical…
The NSW transport minister, Jo Haylen, has apologised after using her ministerial driver to chauffeur her and some friends to and from a three-hour private lunch on the Australia Day weekend – at a cost of $750. “I made the wrong decision,” Haylen said on Sunday when apologising and confirming she would repay the money…
It is one of the least appreciated substances on the planet and its misuse is now threatening to unleash environmental mayhem. Phosphorus is a key component of fertilisers that have become vital in providing food for the world. But at the same time, the spread of these phosphorus compounds – known as phosphates – into…
Rail passengers face severe disruption on Sunday as Avanti West Coast train staff resume strike action that threatens to affect every weekend until June. The strikes, which were suspended for two weeks to allow for “intensive talks” between unions and the intercity rail operator, will be compounded by planned engineering works by Network Rail. Services…
The freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari spoke to Keir Starmer on Friday and told the prime minister Hamas held her in facilities belonging to the UN refugee agency Unrwa, her mother, Mandy, has said. Damari, 28, who was released 12 days ago, after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza, with two fingers missing,…
Fighters with the opposition Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have attacked an open market in the Sudanese city of Omdurman, killing 54 people. The attack on Sabrein market also wounded at least 158 others, Sudan’s health ministry said. Two more people were killed on Saturday in an airstrike in the capital, Khartoum, across the Nile from…
Ukraine’s military has said that Russian forces struck a boarding school housing people preparing for evacuation in a part of Russia’s Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces, killing at least four people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack had destroyed the boarding school in the border town of Sudzha, “even though dozens of civilians were…
Two people have been arrested after two children died in a car collision in Essex, police have said. Officers were called to Walthams Place in Basildon at about 6.25pm on Saturday to reports of a crash and a car failing to stop. Emergency services attended but a boy and girl died at the scene, Essex…
