Delhi air pollution levels at ‘severe plus’, authorities say
Air pollution in India’s capital Delhi has soared to extremely severe levels, choking residents and engulfing the city in thick smog. Monitors recorded pollution levels of 1,500 on the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 15:00 IST (09:30 BST), according to tech company IQAir – 15 times the level the World Health Organization (WHO) considers satisfactory […]
Call for pub rules to be lifted as ministers meet
Getty Images From 17 May, hospitality businesses in Wales are expecting to be able to reopen outdoors A pub and restaurant group is calling for all significant restrictions on trading to be lifted before July. Mark Drakeford’s cabinet discussed which Covid restrictions to lift next when it met for the first time since Labour’s Welsh […]
Labour on a mission to halve knife crime, Cooper says
Yvette Cooper confirms plan to halve knife crime in a decade Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has set out plans to crackdown on crime as she said the government would attempt to halve knife offences in a decade. In a speech to Labour conference, Cooper said police would be given new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour, […]
Senedd backs U-turn on election gender quotas
Getty Images Political parties would have had to select at least 50% women or more under the plans Senedd members have voted to withdraw plans to force parties to ensure at least 50% of candidates are women at Welsh Parliament elections. Labour, Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrats politicians expressed their disappointment at the decision, with […]
Dacorum female councillors resign over harassment complaints
Dacorum Borough Council Claire Hobson announced the group resignations at a full council meeting on Wednesday Eight female councillors have left an authority’s Liberal Democrat group after accusing the council’s leader of failing to deal with allegations of bullying and sexual harassment. Councillor Claire Hobson announced their resignations at a full meeting of Dacorum Borough […]
Police have no legal framework for gender ID
PA Media Jo Farrell told BBC Scotland that victims would always take priority The chief constable of Police Scotland has criticised the Scottish and UK parliaments for failing to set out laws to help public bodies deal with gender identity. The force had been questioned by MSPs over how it records the gender of rapists. […]
US election workers brace for threats
BBC / Mike Wendling Melissa Komo, a town clerk who trains election workers in Wisconsin, says the prospect of threats against volunteers is worrying Kris Burlingame got a surprise on testing day. A long-time election volunteer and former clerk in the Wisconsin village of Alma Center, she is well-versed in election law, including the routine […]
Gwynedd councillors quit cabinet in paedophile head row
BBC Neil Foden, pictured in his younger days, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually abusing four children between 2019 and 2023 Four members of a council cabinet have quit after their leader refused to apologise to the victims of paedophile head teacher Neil Foden. On Friday afternoon Cyngor Gwynedd leader Dyfrig Siencyn […]
Being new Harpenden MP is like ‘building a plane as you fly it’
Bayo Alaba Former paratrooper Bayo Alaba seen here with the prime minister is keen to help as many of his constituents as soon as possible This weekend marks the first 100 days of the new Labour government, and for many members of parliament, the first 100 days of being in the job. The number of […]
Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond dies
Key moments Alex Salmond’s life and career… in 107 seconds Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond has died suddenly at the age of 69. The former MP and MSP, who led the country between 2007 and 2014, became ill while attending an international conference in North Macedonia. The North Macedonian government said Mr Salmond had […]