
Offences including manslaughter have been excluded from changes to sentencing rules amid an overcrowding crisis
Grooming gang perpetrators and killers, including those responsible for PC Andrew Harper’s death, will be blocked from early prison release under changes announced by Andy Burnham after a backlash over the scope of the scheme.
Here is a primer on how the crisis unfolded and what the upshot of Burnham’s decision could be.
Continue reading...Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie are back trying to stop a third world war in the Arctic. There’s plenty of action – but it’s hard to root for heroes whose biggest personality traits are ‘being nice’ and ‘wears good glasses’
Like many a police procedural, Vigil always begins with a cold open. This time round, however, it’s absolutely freezing. We are, as per, thrown headlong into a niche and tangentially Scottish military world where a murder has occurred. The first series took place on board a nuclear submarine (the show is, confusingly, still named after the vessel), while the second split the action between an army airfield in Scotland and the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Wudyan.
For its third outing, we find ourselves in the (real) Arctic region of Svalbard. The area is supposedly demilitarised, but four British special forces agents are working undercover at a research centre, and tonight their mission is to extract a Chinese scientist who has made a discovery that could either save or destroy the world. En route, they’re ambushed by Russians who want whatever world-saving-or-destroying stuff she’s got. The scientist escapes – but one of the Brits later turns up dead in a Russian enclave.
Continue reading...‘Alt-right’ agitator and former Trump backer deported from US is said also to be too extreme for Reform
As he arrives back in the UK after being deported from the US by the Trump administration, the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos may be wondering what lies ahead for him in his native country.
The “alt-right” agitator, 41, made his name in the US by promoting Donald Trump and associating with his allies before the 2016 election.
Continue reading...A retired software engineer and a planetary scientist disagreed about putting up flags and nationalising private companies, but were they worlds apart on legalising drugs?
• Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how
Finley, 23, London
Occupation Planetary scientist
Continue reading...J’ouvert marks the start of the Notting Hill carnival in west London, with revellers covered in oil, paint and powder
Continue reading...The Canadian PM is one of the few world leaders to stand up to the US president. Former colleagues say they are not surprised
Mark Carney stood before a walnut-veneered lectern, his face drawn tight, as he announced that talks with Canada’s biggest trading partner had collapsed. “Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us,” he said. “And I promised: that will never, ever happen. We are keeping that promise.”
For years, the former central bank governor had worked hard to calm markets. Now, he was asking Canadians to accept uncertainty and confrontation.
Continue reading...Critics say the move, which will keep PC Harper’s killers in jail, leaves number of prison spaces ‘too close to the bone’
PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain behind bars after a critical intervention by Andy Burnham, but the move has led to warnings that overcrowded prisons will be left “one major event away from disaster”.
Announcing a U-turn on the early release scheme after weeks of intense pressure, Burnham said he understood “how strongly people feel about this issue”.
Continue reading...Total number of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal at 48 as Beijing mobilises more than 2,100 rescue workers
Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet.
Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border.
Continue reading...Attack was response to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps preparing rockets to launch sea mines into strait, says US
US forces have struck two Iranian launchers on Iran’s Larak island on Sunday, a US official said, marking the first known American strikes since late July.
“I can confirm that earlier today US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak island. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz,” the official said.
Continue reading...Authorities say 237 people rescued and search under way for those who remain unaccounted for
At least eight people have died and 18 people are missing after a ferry carrying nearly 270 passengers and crew capsized off the coast of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, local authorities said.
The territory’s prime minister, Ünal Üstel, told the state-run TRT news channel on Sunday that 237 people had been rescued. A search was under way for those who remained unaccounted for.
Continue reading...