News

Hillsborough: David Duckenfield found not guilty of manslaughter Former South Yorkshire police chief was on trial after new investigation and inquestsHow David Duckenfield’s trial left Hillsborough families distraught againThe former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent David Duckenfield has been found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter more than 30 years after he commanded the police at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, at which 96 people died.The verdict came in a retrial at Preston crown court that began on 7 October. A first trial on the same charge, heard by the same judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, ended on 3 April with the jury unable to reach a verdict. Duckenfield was charged in June 2017 following a new police inves...

'Our house is on fire': EU parliament declares climate emergency Bloc warned against making symbolic gestures not backed up by concrete actionThe European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed a series of climate tipping points, resulting in “a state of planetary emergency”. Continue reading... Go to Source

Revealed: Tory candidates issued with attack manuals on how to smear rivals Party’s dossier contains dubious and outdated claims about Lib Dems and LabourConservative candidates in the general election have been issued with a detailed dossier on how to attack Labour and Liberal Democrat rivals which contains numerous rehashed and potentially misleading claims, the Guardian can reveal.The documents accuse the Liberal Democrats of pushing “pro-pimp” policies and sex work as a career for schoolchildren. Continue reading... Go to Source

Maltese PM's aide accused of being mastermind of Caruana Galizia killing Businessman Yorgen Fenech is telling police Keith Schembri was behind murder, sources sayPolice investigating the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have questioned the prime minister’s closest aide over claims he was the mastermind behind the killing, according to sources close to the inquiry.The allegations against Keith Schembri were made by a prominent businessman, Yorgen Fenech, who was arrested last week and is understood to be seeking legal immunity in return for his testimony. Continue reading... Go to Source

Three teenagers admit threatening women on London night bus Youths confronted Melania Geymonat and her partner, Christine Hannigan, early on 30 MayThree teenage boys have admitted threatening two women on a bus after they refused to perform a sex act.Melania Geymonat, 28, and her girlfriend, Christine Hannigan, were on the upper deck of a double-decker night bus in Camden, north London, when they were confronted by the youths in the early hours of 30 May. Continue reading... Go to Source

IFS manifesto verdict: neither Tories nor Labour have credible spending plan Respected thinktank describes stark choice between Labour’s sweeping change and Tories pledging nothing newLatest election news – live updatesThe Institute for Fiscal Studies has attacked the spending plans of the UK’s two main parties, saying neither election manifesto “is a properly credible prospectus”.Paul Johnson, the director of the respected thinktank, noted that the Conservatives’ election manifesto in 2017 pledged more austerity and spending cuts, but in reality public service spending had gone up, and was due to be around £27bn higher next year than implied by the manifesto. In fact, he said, it was closer to the 2017 Labour pledge than the Tories’ own manifesto. Continue reading... Go to Source...

'Bags for life' making plastic problem worse, say campaigners Calls for ban or higher prices as sales jump to 1.5bn, equivalent to 54 bags per householdPlastic “bags for life” should be banned or raised in price, campaigners say, as new figures reveal a surge in the bags is fuelling a rise in the plastic packaging footprint of leading supermarkets.Despite high profile promises by the country’s best known supermarkets to tackle the amount of plastic waste they create, their plastic footprint continues to rise, according to research from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace. Continue reading... Go to Source

'Full of arrogance': Trump angers China by signing bills backing Hong Kong protesters Beijing says ‘US plot doomed to fail’ after legislation approved that threatens sanctions if officials abuse human rightsDonald Trump has signed into law legislation backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, angering Beijing which has condemned the bill as “full of prejudice and arrogance”.The legislation, approved unanimously by the US Senate and by all but one lawmaker in the House of Representatives last week, threatens sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong. The bill also requires the state department to annually review whether Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify favourable US trading terms. Continue reading... Go to Sou...