News 17/07/26

Andy Burnham has defended his decision not to name his new cabinet ahead of becoming prime minister on Monday.

Speaking to a journalist for the first time in over two weeks, the incoming premier stated that making such decisions now would be premature and cause chaos. He insisted the appointments would be made very shortly and done in the usual way.

West Indies cricket legend Sir Garry Sobers has died at the age of eighty-nine.

Cricket West Indies announced that the Barbadian all-rounder passed away on Friday. Sobers made his first-class debut for Barbados aged sixteen in 1953, before making his West Indies debut the following year. He scored his first test century, an unbeaten three hundred and sixty-five, against Pakistan in 1958.

An independent MP has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting two women at a central London private members’ club.

Thirty-eight-year-old Patrick Spencer was accused of assaulting the women at the Groucho Club in August 2023. Southwark Crown Court heard he denied two counts of sexual assault. The former Conservative MP was suspended by his party in May last year.

The family of Henry Nowak have expressed disappointment after his killer’s mother was jailed for three years for assisting an offender.

Kiran Kaur was sentenced on Friday after removing the knife used by her son, Vickrum Digwa, to stab the eighteen-year-old to death in December. In a statement, the Nowak family said they remained incredibly disappointed despite accepting the court’s sentencing decision.

Iran has accused the United States of targeting civilian infrastructure in its latest wave of air strikes.

State media claims bridges, a station and an airport were hit, with the BBC confirming an attack on a bridge in Hormozgan. US Central Command said the strikes were intended to degrade military capabilities, following threats from Donald Trump to force Tehran back to peace talks.

The mother of Vickrum Digwa, who was jailed for life for stabbing eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak to death, has been sentenced to three years in prison for removing the knife from the scene.

Fifty-three-year-old Kiran Kaur, from Southampton, was found guilty of assisting an offender. Her son was handed a minimum term of twenty-one years last month and is currently seeking to appeal his murder conviction.

The parents of a three-year-old boy attacked in a crocodile enclosure say they are amazed by his progress. The child was visiting a site near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, when he was targeted by at least one animal.

Four weeks on, his family says he is playing and smiling again. A thirty-year-old Norfolk man remains on bail after being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

 

Andy Burnham has insisted he has a plan after twenty-five years as an elected Labour representative.

Speaking to party members, he vowed he will not change his style. Burnham challenged the record of politicians over recent decades, arguing industrial heartlands have been devastated to protect vested interests, and asked if Labour has been good enough for its voters.

A man convicted of killing a British tourist with a single punch has been ordered to be extradited to Greece to serve a twelve-year sentence for manslaughter.

It follows a television documentary investigating the death of thirty-five-year-old Matt Jeffery on the island of Zakynthos in May 2019. The film exposed police failings after he was attacked outside a nightclub in Laganas.

A thirty-nine-year-old Liverpool man has been charged with assisting Iran’s intelligence service.

Vahid Aberi was arrested on Wednesday by counter-terrorism officers in the Birmingham area on suspicion of an offence under the National Security Act. He was subsequently charged by the Crown Prosecution Service, with officers carrying out searches at addresses across both Birmingham and Liverpool.

Parts of England have recorded their longest spells with zero rainfall since the mid-1990s.

The Met Office says central and south-east England had an average of no rainfall for fourteen consecutive days from the second to the fifteenth of July. It marks the longest unbroken dry run for the south-east since April 1997.

A teenager whose pictures were stolen to create fake dating and social media profiles is to receive compensation.

Nineteen-year-old Sasha-Jay Davies, from Aberdare, had her identity taken by Elha Mai Weston, who amassed over one hundred thousand followers while catfishing men. Weston admitted the four-year campaign and has agreed to pay a reported ten thousand pounds.

Andy Burnham will promise a new path for Britain in a speech as he becomes the new Labour leader on Friday.

The Makerfield MP will be confirmed in the role at a special party conference in central London, ahead of taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday. Burnham will say that his government will be unashamedly Labour in its priorities and have the courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected, having cemented his status as the sole candidate.

China has hit out at the nationalisation of British Steel, saying it firmly opposes and is strongly dissatisfied with the UK government’s decision.

On Thursday, ministers said taking the loss-making firm into public hands would protect jobs and safeguard vital capability. The UK took control of operations in Scunthorpe last year, though the firm was still owned by China’s Jingye Group. China claims the move seriously infringed upon the owner’s legitimate rights.

Fifa is assessing match reports before deciding whether to punish Argentina after players celebrated their World Cup semi-final win against England with a banner supporting claims to the Falkland Islands.

The world champions produced a dramatic late comeback, scoring twice to defeat Thomas Tuchel’s side two-one. After the match, Argentina players held up a banner reading that the Falklands are Argentine. The islands remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute.

A less invasive focal therapy for prostate cancer is just as effective as surgery or radiotherapy but carries a lower risk of side effects, a study suggests.

The treatment uses ultrasound or freezing cryotherapy to destroy cancerous tissue. A ten-year NHS study following nearly thirty-five hundred men provided long-term data that was previously missing. Researchers say results are excellent and will add pressure to make the therapy more widely available.

The sale of high-caffeine energy drinks containing over one hundred and fifty milligrams of caffeine per litre to under-sixteens will be banned in England from April next year.

The ban applies to all retailers, including online, in shops, restaurants, and cafes, with vending machines also included. One drink can contain the same caffeine as two coffees, with up to a third of UK children consuming them weekly.