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Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns as Democratic Unionist party leader

Lagan Valley MP makes abrupt announcement after being charged over ‘allegations of a historical nature’

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has resigned as leader of the Democratic Unionist party after being charged over “allegations of a historical nature”, throwing Northern Ireland politics into turmoil.

“The party chairman has received a letter from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historical nature and indicating that he is stepping down as leader of the Democratic Unionist party [DUP] with immediate effect,” a party statement said on Friday.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:49:01 GMT
Tory donor’s knighthood is sign Sunak ‘believes he’s on way out’, Labour says

Anneliese Dodds says the honour for Mohamed Mansour appears clearly tied to his £5m donation to the Tories

Rishi Sunak’s decision to hand a knighthood to a businessman and former Egyptian government minister who donated £5m to the Conservative party is the sign of a prime minister who “simply believes he’s on the way out”, Labour has said.

Mohamed Mansour, a senior treasurer of the Tory party for just over a year, was among surprise recipients of honours unexpectedly announced late on Thursday, who also included a series of Conservative MPs.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 09:20:44 GMT
Post Office had flawed court defence, leaked internal report shows

Company spent £100m defending lawsuit brought by branch operators despite knowing Horizon IT problems, document says

The Post Office continued to fight a high court lawsuit against 555 post office operators knowing its defence was flawed, according to a report.

The state-owned company spent £100m defending a civil lawsuit brought by post office operators over the Horizon computer system but knew that losses in a branch’s accounts could be caused by faults in the IT system, according to a newly disclosed internal report.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:14:04 GMT
Eurovision: Olly Alexander and other competitors reject calls to boycott over Israel participation

The former Years and Years singer and star of It’s a Sin signed a joint response affirming a stance against ‘all forms of hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia’

Britain’s Eurovision competitor Olly Alexander and several other entrants have rejected calls to boycott this year’s Eurovision song contest owing to its inclusion of Israel among the competitors, stating their belief in “the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections”.

Maxine Peake and the author Sarah Schulman were among a list of more than 450 queer artists, individuals and organisations who signed an open letter as Queers for Palestine calling on Alexander – the former Years and Years singer and star of Channel 4’s It’s a Sin – to pull out of the contest in solidarity with Palestine.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:36:51 GMT
John Boyega tells of ‘life-changing’ friendship with Damilola Taylor

Actor speaks for first time about how 10-year-old’s death in 2000 spurred him and others to ‘aim further’

The actor John Boyega has spoken for the first time of the “life-changing” impact of his friendship with Damilola Taylor and the way his sudden death spurred him and others to “aim further”.

Boyega, 32, best known for his work in the Star Wars franchise, was school friends with Damilola growing up in south-east London. Damilola was 10 when he was stabbed in the leg with a broken bottle walking home from a computer class in Peckham in November 2000.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 10:10:56 GMT
Israeli airstrike in Syria kills more than 40 people, says war monitor

Strike near Aleppo weapons depot reportedly killed Hezbollah and Syrian troops, while civilians also said to be among dead

Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s Aleppo province have killed more than 40 people, including members of Hezbollah and a large number of Syrian soldiers in an area near the militant Lebanese organisation’s weapons depots, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

As many as 42 people were killed in what contradictory reports described as air and drone strikes in the early hours of Friday that hit missile depots for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Aleppo’s southern suburb of Jibreen, near Aleppo’s international airport, and a nearby town that houses a military facility.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 11:38:00 GMT
Labour urges Rishi Sunak to rule out offering Nigel Farage US ambassador job

Some Tories reportedly want Farage to be given post if he agrees not to play any role with Reform UK in election

Labour has called on Rishi Sunak to rule out the mooted idea of appointing Nigel Farage as ambassador to Washington in return for him not standing in the general election, saying this could imperil international unity against Vladimir Putin.

Farage has previously said the west should consider negotiations with Russia over Ukraine, and is a noted supporter of Donald Trump, who has argued the same.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 12:44:09 GMT
Russia-Ukraine war live: Romania finds ‘drone fragments’ on farm near Ukraine border

Nato member says it finds fragments of what appears to be a drone on farm near river Danube and border with Ukraine

Russian prosecutors have asked the justice ministry to label Alla Pugacheva, the queen of Soviet pop music, as a “foreign agent”, Reuters reported citing the state RIA news agency.

Ukraine has received a $1.5 billion tranche of funding under a World Bank programme, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday, helping it pay for its budget and social spending as it defends itself against the Russian invasion.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:50:34 GMT
Khan tells Labour mayoral election still a two-horse race

Outcome hangs in the balance partly because new system requires voter ID, he warns shadow cabinet

Sadiq Khan told the Labour shadow cabinet this week that his re-election as London mayor “hangs in the balance” despite polls showing he is about 25 points ahead of his Conservative rival, Susan Hall.

The London mayor told Keir Starmer’s team that he was “under no illusions” he could lose against Hall in spite of his commanding lead, partly because the voting system has changed and new rules to require voter ID.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 11:19:09 GMT
Louis Gossett Jr, first Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies aged 87

Actor who also won Emmy for role in seminal TV miniseries roots died in Santa Monica, California

Louis Gossett Jr, the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar, and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries Roots, has died. He was 87.

Gossett’s nephew told the Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was revealed.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:26:32 GMT

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