UK experts believe they can now explain the recent spate of mysterious liver problems in young children.
Likely cause of mystery child hepatitis outbreak found
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NHS in England facing worst staffing crisis in history, MPs warn
The large number of unfilled NHS job vacancies is posing a serious risk to patient safety, MPs say.
Labour Will Not Promise To Nationalise Water, Energy Or Rail, Says Rachel Reeves
Labour would not pursue mass nationalisation of industries if it wins the next election, Rachel Reeves has said, although the party later clarified there was a “positive role for rail in public ownership”.
Jeremy Corbyn’s 2019 general election manifesto promised to “bring rail, mail, water and energy” and “the broadband-relevant parts of BT” into public ownership.
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But speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme on Monday, Reeves suggested the party had now ditched those ideas.
“They were a commitment in a manifesto that secured our worst results since 1935,” the shadow chancellor said.
“I’ve set out fiscal rules that say all day-to-day spending will be funded by day-to-day tax revenues.
“Within our fiscal rules, to be spending billions of pounds on nationalising things, that just doesn’t stack up against our fiscal rules.”
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She added: “So we have scrapped the 2019 manifesto. That is not the starting point.”
Reeves said the party would be going into the next election with new ideas “not the policies of 2019”.
A Labour spokesperson later added: “We are pragmatic about public ownership as long as it sits within our fiscal rules – a point Rachel was underlining in the interview by referencing this framework.
“For example, we know there is a positive role for rail in public ownership.”
Starmer has faced accusations from his opponents on the left of the party that he campaigned for the leadership by promising to introduce leftwing policies before shifting to the right after he won.
The Labour leader has said “the slate is wiped clean” as Labour gears up for the next election.
“What we’ve done with the last manifesto is put it to one side. We’re starting from scratch,” he said last month.
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Experts say that climate change could lengthen hay fever season and increase pollen potency.
Russia Strikes Ukrainian Port Of Odessa — Just Days After Signing Grain Deal
Russia has struck the Ukrainian port of Odessa just a day after the two countries signed a landmark deal to allow grain exports out of the war-torn country.
Two Russian cruise missiles hit the port’s infrastructure on Saturday, while Ukraine’s air defences brought down two others missiles.
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Odessa’s regional governor, Maksym Marchenko, said an unspecified number of people were injured in the attack.
Russia has admitted responsibility for the strike, saying the missiles “destroyed a military infrastructure target” at the port.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow’s actions and said “the invaders can no longer deceive anyone”.
And Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said: “It took less than 24 hours for Russia to launch a missile attack on Odesa’s port, breaking its promises and undermining its commitments before the UN and Turkey under the Istanbul agreement.
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“In case of non-fulfilment, Russia will bear full responsibility for a global food crisis.”
The attack was also condemned in the UK, with foreign secretary Liz Truss branding it “absolutely appalling”.
“It is absolutely appalling that only a day after striking this deal, Vladimir Putin has launched a completely unwarranted attack on Odessa,” she said.
“It shows that not a word he says can be trusted.”
The strike came just hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed a deal to allow grain exports to continue through the Black Sea in a move the UN described as a “beacon of hope” for ending the global food crisis.
The war in Ukraine — which supplies much of the world with products such as wheat and corn — has halted Ukrainian sea shipments and caused grain prices to rise dramatically.
Under the deal signed on Friday, a path opened for significant volumes of commercial food to leave the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny.
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A key element of the deal was the agreement by both Russia and Ukraine that there would be no attacks on any of the vessels.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attack cast serious doubt on Russia’s commitment to the deal and warned of a deepening of the global food crisis.
“Russia must stop its aggression and fully implement the grain deal to which it has agreed,” he said.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, also denounced the strike “outrageous” and accused the the Kremlin of “weaponising” food.
“Russia must be held to account.”
Liz Truss Pledges To Strike Rwanda-Style Deportation Deals With Other Countries
Liz Truss has vowed to deport more migrants if she is elected prime minister.
The foreign secretary said she would strike more Rwanda-style deportation deals in a bid to halt small boats bringing illegal immigrants from France.
Truss, who is battling it out against Rishi Sunak for Boris Johnson’s job, also vowed to bolster Border Force staff by 20 per cent in a bid to deter people from crossing the Channel.
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The pledges come as the leadership rivals struck a hard-line tone on immigration in a bid to win over Tory party members, who will pick their favourite for PM, with the result announced on September 5.
Sunak said he would give MPs control over who comes to the UK by creating an annual cap on the number of refugees accepted each year.
Both candidates have backed Priti Patel’s controversial policy of sending migrants to Rwanda, with Truss saying she would extend it to other countries.
Truss said: “We need to break the cycle of these appalling gangs and stop people taking dangerous journeys across the channel.
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“As prime minister, I am determined to see the Rwanda policy through to full implementation as well as exploring other countries where we can work on similar partnerships.
“I’ll make sure we have the right levels of force and protection at our borders. I will not cower to the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] and its continued efforts to try and control immigration policy.”
Sunak said he will do “whatever it takes” to make the Rwanda scheme work, arguing that the UK’s current immigration system is “broken” and “chaotic”.
Also included in Truss’s policy pitch are plans to double Border Force Maritime staffing levels so that more Channel patrols can take place, as well as appointing a new Home Office minister to oversee the Border Force.
A source close to Truss said: “As foreign secretary, Liz worked closely with Priti Patel to formulate the generation-defining Rwanda policy.
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“As prime minister she will do whatever it takes to protect our borders. She’s been frustrated with the ECHR and its mission creep. She is prepared to take a tougher stance and deliver the reforms required so the ECHR works for Britain.”
Sunak sought to match Truss on immigration with a 10-point plan that includes a commitment to a more narrow definition of who qualifies for asylum compared with that offered by the ECHR.
The plan will also give the government enhanced powers to detail, tag and monitor illegal migrants.
Sunak said: “Our immigration system is broken and we have to be honest about that. Whether you believe that migration should be high or low, we can all agree that it should be legal and controlled.
“Right now the system is chaotic, with law-abiding citizens seeing boats full of illegal immigrants coming from the safe country of France with our sailors and coastguards seemingly powerless to stop them.
“It must stop, and if I am prime minister I will stop it.”
Sunak said he would immediately work with French president Emmanuel Macron to find a solution to small boat crossings, including through a new cross-government taskforce.
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Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Sunak said: “The ECHR cannot inhibit our ability to properly control our borders and we shouldn’t let it. We need to inject a healthy dose of common sense into the system, and that is what my plan does.”
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the pair’s plans and said it risked wasting £120m of taxpayer money if it is ruled unlawful by courts.
The first deportation flight was grounded in June after a series of legal challenges were lodged, with more expected to be filed in due course.
Cooper said: “The Conservatives have been in power for 12 years. It beggars belief that they claim to be the ones to sort things out when they have both failed for so long.”
The shift on to immigration comes after Sunak and Truss repeatedly clashed over economic policy.
Truss has vowed to cut taxes “from day one” if she replaces Johnson and has said she would immediately scrap Sunak’s increase in national insurance, which she argued was strangling growth and hitting families already hard-pressed by the cost of living crisis.
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Sunak retaliated by branding her tax-cutting plans as “immoral” and a “fairytale”. He said he will only cut tax when inflation — currently running at 9.4 per cent — was under control.
Over the next six weeks, Truss and Sunak will take part in a number of hustings across the country in a bid to woo Tory party members.
Polling from YouGov last week gave Truss a 24-point lead over Sunak among Tory party members.
However, new polling from Opinium put Sunak slightly ahead of his rival among all voters on the question of who would make the better prime minister.
Forty-three per cent of the 2,000 adults surveyed said Sunak would make a good prime minister, compared with 36 per cent for Truss.
The two will go head-to-head in a televised BBC debate on Monday, with The Sun and Talk TV staging another on Tuesday.
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Sky News will then host another debate on August 4.
Kate Moss Recalls ‘Horrible Experience’ Of Being Asked To Remove Her Bra At Photoshoot Aged 15
Kate Moss has recalled being the target of misconduct by a male photographer during a photoshoot when she was 15 years old.
The British model, now 48, said during an appearance on Desert Island Discs that she had “run away” from a photography session for a bra catalogue after the unnamed man asked her to be topless.
Kate, who signed to Storm modelling agency in 1988, told the BBC Radio 4 programme she would go on her own to castings across London, armed with an A to Z book.
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David M. Benett via Getty Images
Recounting the incident, she said: “I had a horrible experience for a bra catalogue. I was only 15 probably and he said ‘take your top off’ and I took my top off. And I was really shy then about my body.
“And he said ‘take your bra off’ and I could feel there was something wrong so I got my stuff and I ran away.
“I think it sharpened my instincts. I can tell a wrong ’un a mile away.”
The fashion icon also spoke about the 1990 shoot that made her famous, but admitted revisiting the memory was “painful”.
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The late photographer Corinne Day, who Kate often worked with, shot a series of photographs of her for The Face magazine on the beach at Camber Sands, East Sussex, when she was 16.
“That scrunched up nose that is on the cover, she would say, ‘snort like a pig’ to get that picture,” Kate recalled.
“And I would be like, ‘I don’t want to snort like a pig’ and she would be like, ‘Snort like a pig, that’s when it looks good’.”
She revealed how she had “cried a lot” during the shoot because she did not feel comfortable being “naked”.
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She said: “I didn’t want to take my top off. I was really, really self-conscious about my body and she would say, ‘If you don’t take your top off I am not going to book you for Elle’ and I would cry.
“It is quite difficult (to take myself back there). It is painful because she was my best friend and I really loved her – but she was a very tricky person to work with.
“But you know, the pictures are amazing so she got what she wanted and I suffered for them, but in the end they did me a world of good really. They did change my career.”
Kate also recalled shooting an underwear campaign for Calvin Klein in 1992 with the actor Mark Wahlberg, who was then known as Marky Mark.
It was her first major advertising campaign but Kate recalled taking Valium to ease her anxiety before the shoot and feeling “vulnerable and scared” when she was required to be topless during it.
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Kate said she had passed lessons about the modelling industry on to her 19-year-old daughter Lila, who she manages through her agency.
Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images
“I have said to her you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” she said.
“If you don’t want to do this shoot, if you don’t feel comfortable, if you don’t want to model, don’t do it.
“I take care of my models. I make sure they are with agents at shoots so when they are being taken advantage of, there is someone there to say ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate’.
“I don’t know if that’s across the board but that’s what I can do.”
Desert Island Discs will be on Radio 4 at 11.15am on Sunday and on BBC Sounds.
Paid leave for premature births aims to be a relief for parents
A new law would give parents with babies in neonatal units up to an extra 12 weeks of paid leave.
Teresa Xu: Chinese woman loses court case over bid to freeze eggs
Teresa Xu took legal action after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs as she is not married.
Monkeypox: WHO declares highest alert over outbreak
More than 16,000 cases have been reported from 75 countries, the organisation says.
