1 hour ago 250 days on hunger strike: Can Laila Soueif secure her son’s freedom? – podcast

Who is Alaa Abd el-Fattah and why are British diplomats trying to obtain his release? Patrick Wintour reportsLaila Soueif, 69, has been on hunger strike in London for more than 250 days in an effort to secure the release of her son, the activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, from jail in Egypt. As diplomatic pressure mounts, she is now in a critical condition.Alaa’s sister Mona Seif describes to Michael Safi the toll that imprisonment has taken on her brother, her mother’s determination to do whatever she can to secure his release, and the difficulty of coming to terms with her mother’s decision to risk her life. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago Key points announced ahead of Rachel Reeves’ spending review

The review is expected to see boosts for the NHS, defence and schools.

Politics

4 h. ago Watch: Trump says people who burn the American flag ‘should go to jail for a year’

Donald Trump says that anyone who burns the American flag should be thrown in prison.

Events

4 h. ago Awkward! How the new chairman of Reform UK called party leader Nigel Farage 'an idiot' and branded his comments about HIV

Dr David Bull, who was unveiled as Zia Yusuf's replacement, also branded as 'prejudiced' comments that Mr Farage had made about HIV-infected migrants using the NHS.

Politics

4 h. ago Reeves to say spending review will reflect ‘priorities of working people’

The Chancellor is expected to focus on “Britain’s renewal” as she sets out her spending plans for the coming years.

Economics

4 h. ago NHS plans more robotic surgeries to speed up patient care and treatment

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that innovative technologies will ‘transform the NHS’

Science

6 h. ago Reeves to promise investment in ‘renewal’ as she unveils spending plans

The spending review is expected to set out tough spending limits for departments other than health, defence and education.

Economics

6 h. ago He was trapped in hospitals for a decade because he’s autistic – now Nicholas is finally free

Special Report: For more than 10 years, Nicholas Thornton was detained in dementia care homes, psychiatric units and A&E wards because he couldn’t get the help he needed for his autism. It took a huge toll on his health, leaving the 29-year-old unable to speak. Now, one year after The Independent told his story, Nicholas is in his own home – and even able to talk again. Rebecca Thomas reports

Politics

7 h. ago Lawmakers expelled from Greece's parliament over ties to jailed far

Three far-right lawmakers in Greece have been expelled from parliament due to ties with a jailed politician convicted of leading a criminal organization

Politics

9 h. ago Two men jailed for life for supplying car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia

Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were convicted last week of their role in the anti-corruption journalist’s murder in 2017Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta eight years ago.The sentencing on Tuesday of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, reported to be members of the island’s criminal underworld, marked a significant step in the long campaign to bring those charged with Caruana Galizia’s murder to justice. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago Tube pervert, 30, who targeted lone women to sexually assault them on the Underground is jailed for just 27 weeks

Ahmad Ahmedzai, 30, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, reportedly targeted lone women on trains in London on three separate occasions last year.

Events

10 h. ago NHS urges Tesco shoppers to read important life saving labels in store

The warning comes amid a new collaboration between the NHS and the supermarket giant on Tesco's own brand Luxury Soft toilet rolls.

Economics

10 h. ago The Guardian view on Zambia’s Trumpian predicament: US aid cuts are dwarfed by a far bigger heist | Editorial

As the US decries corruption, a paper suggests the real scandal is multinationals legally extracting billions from Africa’s resource-rich nationDonald Trump’s decision to cut $50m a year in aid to Zambia – one of the world’s poorest nations – is dreadful, and the reason given, corruption, rings hollow. There is evidence of large-scale looting, but the real scandal is that the theft appears legal, systemic and driven by foreign interests. In a paper presented to the Association for Heterodox Economics conference in London later this month, Andrew Fischer of Erasmus University Rotterdam argues that Zambia’s economy is not being plundered by domestic actors but rather by transnational corporate practices enabled by opaque accounting. His findings point to a staggering extraction of wealth that dwarfs the value of the aid intended to help.Zambia is blessed – or perhaps cursed – with mineral wealth. It is Africa’s second-largest copper producer. The metal, key to the green...

Politics

10 h. ago Groundbreaking cancer treatment which ‘destroys tumours with sound’ to be rolled out on NHS

UK regulators hail ‘major step forward’ as histotripsy to be offered to liver cancer patients later this year

Politics

10 h. ago Discount supermarket locking products in GPS tracked security boxes as shoplifting offences soar

The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has risen to the highest level on record

Economics

11 h. ago Anger grows after boy, 8, was denied NHS care because he attends private school as top Tory blasts 'unfair, outrageous punishment of child'

Sir Jake Berry, who was Conservative Party Chairman, said the case was 'absolutely unfair', 'outrageous' and symptomatic of a 'failing system'.

Society

11 h. ago Baltimore jail staff failed to protect a deaf man killed by cellmate, lawsuit alleges

A new lawsuit alleges that a deaf man who was killed in Baltimore's jail was forced to share a cell with a first-degree murder suspect whose violent behavior had already alarmed his previous cellmate

Events

12 h. ago Major change to NHS smear tests that will see up to seven million women screened LESS often

The new protocol will be introduced from July, and applies to women aged 25 to 49 considered to be at low risk of the disease.

Politics

12 h. ago Major change to NHS smear tests that will see women screened LESS often

The new protocol will be introduced from July, and applies to women aged 25 to 49 considered to be at low risk of the disease.

Politics

12 h. ago NHS reveals major change to cervical screening affecting millions of women

The NHS has announced it is rolling out more personalised cervical screening for HPV

Politics