Wigan lottery winner, 80, helped build £288m counterfeit drugs empire, court told
Judge jails John Eric Spiby and three others who police said were part of gang producing drugs on ‘industrial scale’An 80-year-old man who won £2.4m on the national lottery helped build a multimillion pound drug empire that involved manufacturing counterfeit tablets on an industrial scale, a court has heard.John Eric Spiby was the leader of a drugs operation worth up to £288m that centred around his “quiet rural” home near Wigan, Manchester crown court heard. Continue reading...
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Denmark ‘more optimistic’ about resolving US Greenland interest after latest talks – Europe live
Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen revealed he had ‘constructive’ talks with the US over Greenland last nightThe Washington meeting took place just hours after the US embassy in Copenhagen angered Danish veterans by removing national flags put up in front of the mission to honour Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan.Days after US president Donald Trump angered some allies by downplaying the role of non-US Nato troops in the Afghanistan war, 44 flags, which carried the names of the 44 Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan, were put up on Tuesday in flower beds outside the US embassy in Copenhagen, AFP reported. Continue reading...
Starmer-Xi meeting live: UK prime minister says he wants ‘more sophisticated’ relationship with China
Starmer tells Xi Jinping during Beijing meeting that it has been ‘too long’ since a British PM has visited China.Full report: Xi says he hopes China and UK can ‘rise above differences’For more context on today’s Starmer-Xi meeting, China is the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s third-largest trading partner – to which it exports £45bn of goods and services a year – so it is no surprise the UK has turned to Beijing in its search for economic reliability.As the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar reported earlier today, the UK does not rank among the top 10 of China’s trading partners but the Beijing leadership has spied a political opportunity to improve links with one of Washington’s closest allies at a time of deep uncertainty in the transatlantic alliance. Continue reading...
Is the global economic order unravelling?
As the US pushes its 'America First' agenda, its partners are edging towards China and new alliances are being formed.
Syria grants immediate citizenship to Kurds in wake of gains against SDF
Interior Minister Anas Khattab's order includes all listed as stateless and sets February 5 as deadline for its rollout.
School suspension in England only to be for pupils’ most serious misbehaviour
Policy intended to keep more children sanctioned for non-violent bad behaviour in school in ‘internal exclusion’ unitsSuspending pupils from school will be reserved for the most serious cases of bad behaviour including violence, according to the latest government guidance to be issued to schools in England.The Department for Education (DfE) is to announce a consultation on behaviour policy to be included in the forthcoming schools white paper that is intended to keep more children sanctioned for non-violent misbehaviour in schools in units known as “internal exclusion”, rather than sending them home. Continue reading...
China executes 11 linked to Myanmar scam operations: State media
Among the executed were members of the "Ming family criminal group".
A cabal of male Liberals signals Ley’s reign is ending. But the day of a colleague’s memorial is obscene timing
As images of a secret meeting were splashed all over the media, it became clear the internal plot to oust the leader has descended into political melodramaThe images of a cabal of rightwing Liberal men gathering for clandestine talks to overthrow the party’s first female leader – hours before a memorial service for a late former colleague, no less – confirmed two things.First, the internal plot to oust Sussan Ley has descended into a political melodrama. Continue reading...
Car ramming at largest synagogue in Brooklyn
A man has been arrested after repeatedly ramming his car into Brooklyn’s largest synagogue.
Dozens killed in RSF drone attack in war-torn Sudan’s South Kordofan
The attack in Dilling town comes a day after Sudan's military declared an end to RSF siege there.