10 h. ago Labour's WhatsApp plot to defy trans ruling: Ministers' leaked messages reveal their fury at calls to ban transgender women from female

The Government claimed to welcome the Supreme Court judgment - but the exchanges reveal the private fury on Sir Keir Starmer 's frontbench, with ministers planning to hold a meeting this week.

Politics

19 h. ago Thousands gather in London to support trans rights following ruling over definition of woman

Thousands of trans rights protesters gathered in central London, days after the U.K.‘s Supreme Court ruled that a woman is someone born biologically female and that transgender women are excluded from that legal definition

Politics

20 h. ago Swinney ‘understands hurt and anguish’ Supreme Court ruling causing trans people

The First Minister told the PA news agency that he accepted the judges’ ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biology.

Events

50 h. ago Pakistani jihadist who plotted to carry out 7/7 bombings in Birmingham wants to be deported

Irfan Khalid was one of the leaders of a gang who plotted to carry out a 7/7-style mass terror attack in Birmingham and turn the city into a 'little war zone'.

Events

68 h. ago Body found in bags at play park as police scour near school for more remains

"Tiny kids were playing right next to literal bits of human arm."

Events

69 h. ago Trans workers could be asked to use disabled toilets – solicitors

Businesses will likely have to review and change policies, including on toilets, in light of a Supreme Court ruling, according to lawyer Peter Byrne.

Politics

2 d. ago Uyghur rights group calls on hotel chains not to ‘sanitise’ China abuses in Xinjiang

Growth in international hotels coincides with government effort to push region as a tourism destination Almost 200 international hotels are operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, despite calls from human rights groups for global corporations not to help “sanitise” the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in the region, a report has said.The report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) identified 115 operational hotels which the organisation said “benefit from a presence in the Uyghur region”. At least another 74 were in various stages of construction or planning, the report said. The UHRP said some of the hotels also had exposure or links of concern to forced labour and labour transfer programmes. Continue reading...

Events

2 d. ago Badenoch calls for broader review of equality and gender recognition laws – UK politics live

‘These laws were written 20 years ago plus when the world was different,’ Tory leader saysThe chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there may be legal challenges around the efficacy of gender recognition certificates (GRC) ahead.Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if yesterday’s supreme court ruling had rendered the legal document worthless, Kishwer Falkner said:I think the next stage of litigation may well be tests as to the efficacy of the GRC, and or other areas. We don’t believe they are [worthless]. We think they’re quite important.But I think there will be other areas, I mean, the Government is thinking of digital IDs, and if digital IDs come in, then what documentation will provide the identity of that person? So it’s going to be a space that we’ll have to watch very carefully as we go on.It’s a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise that trans people exist. They have rights, and their rights must be respected – then it ...

Politics

3 d. ago New rules for public bodies expected ‘by summer’ after UK gender ruling

Equalities watchdog chair says code of practice will give clarity and adds trans people’s rights ‘must be respected’Updated guidance for public bodies after the UK supreme court’s ruling that a woman is defined in law by biological sex is expected to be issued by the summer, the head of the equalities regulator said on Thursday.Lady Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, described the ruling as “enormously consequential”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are going to have a new statutory code of practice, statutory meaning it will be the law of the land, it will be interpreted by courts as the law of the land. We’re hoping we’re going to have that by the summer.” Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Gender ruling ‘a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise trans people exist’, says equalities watchdog – live

Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission says trans people ‘have rights, and their rights must be respected’The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there may be legal challenges around the efficacy of gender recognition certificates (GRC) ahead.Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if yesterday’s supreme court ruling had rendered the legal document worthless, Kishwer Falkner said:I think the next stage of litigation may well be tests as to the efficacy of the GRC, and or other areas. We don’t believe they are [worthless]. We think they’re quite important.But I think there will be other areas, I mean, the Government is thinking of digital IDs, and if digital IDs come in, then what documentation will provide the identity of that person? So it’s going to be a space that we’ll have to watch very carefully as we go on.It’s a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise that trans people exist. They have rights, and their rights m...

Politics

3 d. ago Rape survivor bringing case to EU over Portuguese investigation of Christian Bruckner: 'I'm standing up after being silenced and ignored for far too long'

Hazel Behan wants the European Court of Human Rights to investigate alleged failures in the investigation following the serious sexual assault she said she suffered in Portugal in 2004.

Events

3 d. ago Supreme Court ruling on woman definition ‘could mean UK is not meeting human rights obligations’, lawyer warns

The Supreme Court's decision to rule that woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” possibly showed that the UK is not meeting its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, a lawyer has warned.

Events

3 d. ago Voices: Trans women like me are now effectively outlawed from public life – what are you so scared of?

Today is a dark day for human rights, marking the point at which the treatment of trans people and trans women, in particular, moved from one of harassment and abuse to outright state-sponsored persecution, writes Diana Thomas

Politics

3 d. ago Scottish Government ‘keen’ to work with UK on gender reforms, says Robison

The Scottish Finance Secretary said there are no plans to bring forward new, revised gender reforms at the Scottish Parliament.

Politics

3 d. ago Irish rape victim Hazel Behan takes case to European Court of Human Rights

She alleges Portuguese authorities failed to properly investigate the 2024 attack on her.

Events

4 d. ago ‘We feel like we’re back in Senegal’: the Sufis helping migrants in the Canaries

Part-school, part-social network, a Mouride circle on the Spanish island is helping teenage asylum seekers prepare for adulthood and navigate a challenging welfare system• Photographs by Diana TakacsovaIn a three-storey building in a residential neighbourhood in Gran Canaria, about an hour’s drive from the airport, more than a dozen teenage Senegalese boys in colourful, flowing robes sit in a circle, soulfully chanting supplications. Behind them, girls sit with their heads covered, praying. On the top-floor terrace a feast of steaming rice, meat and vegetable gravy is being prepared.It is a bright Sunday afternoon in February. The young people are mostly asylum seekers from Senegal, who live in detention centres where conditions can be brutal, according to Spanish human rights groups. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Irregular migrant crossings into Europe fall 30% in first quarter of 2025

Human rights groups say drop is partly due to EU policies that turn blind eye to rights abuses in countries such as Libya and TunisiaIrregular crossings at Europe’s borders have fallen by 30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, in a decrease that rights groups partly attributed to EU policies that have emphasised deterrence while seemingly turning a blind eye to the risk of rights abuses.The decline was seen across all the major migratory routes into Europe, the EU’s border agency Frontex said in a statement, amounting to nearly 33,600 fewer arrivals in the first three months of the year. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Attorney general dodges question on Trump proposal to jail US citizens in El Salvador

Trump proposed that ‘homegrown criminals’ should be deported, an idea that experts say is clearly illegalThe US attorney general declined on Tuesday to say whether Donald Trump’s suggestion of removing US citizens to El Salvador was legal, in alarming remarks about what experts think is an obviously illegal idea.Trump proposed the idea on Monday in the Oval Office during a visit with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who has been accepting people deported from the US and imprisoning them in a gigantic facility notorious for human rights abuses. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Hungary adopts constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ gatherings

The controversial amendment also recognises only two sexes, providing a basis for denying other gender identitiesEurope live – latest updatesHungarian lawmakers have voted through a controversial constitutional amendment that campaigners described as a “significant escalation” in the government’s efforts to crack down on dissent and chip away at human rights.Backed by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his rightwing populist party, Fidesz, the amendment passed on Monday along party lines, with 140 votes for and 21 against. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ gatherings

Amendment also enshrines recognition of only two sexes, providing basis for denying gender identitiesHungarian lawmakers have voted through a controversial constitutional amendment that campaigners described as a “significant escalation” in the government’s efforts to crack down on dissent and chip away at human rights.Backed by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his rightwing populist party, Fidesz, the amendment passed on Monday along party lines, with 140 votes for and 21 against. Continue reading...

Politics