The Independent Front Page 11/12/2024
Author: David Pike
Shelter condemns ‘shocking’ 14% rise in homelessness across England Charity says soaring private rents, rising evictions and lack of affordable social housing are to blame Soaring private rents, rising evictions and a chronic lack of affordable social housing have led to homelessness in England increasing by 14%, research from Shelter reveals. The charity described its latest figures as “shocking” and “astounding”. They are contained in a report that estimates that on any given night more…
A white Christmas could be on the cards for some people across the UK this year, as the Met Office forecasts snow over the festive period.
Hundreds of thousands hit by ruinous carer’s allowance penalties, audit shows Campaigners say NAO report shows the impact of DWP staffing decisions and failure to address flaws in the benefit’s design Hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers were hit with ruinous penalties for minor breaches of carer’s allowance rules in the five years after senior welfare officials promised to fix the scandal-hit benefit, an official audit has revealed. Campaigners said the National Audit Office (NAO)…
The Department for Infrastructure has said using public transport is “not usually a viable option” for minister John O’Dowd, despite urging members of the public to use buses and trains in a bid to prevent traffic congestion in Belfast.Mr O’Dowd and spokespeople for his department have made several statements in recent weeks encouraging people to use public transport as complaints around city centre traffic become louder.Belfast city centre has seen significant periods of traffic congestion…
A federal judge has rejected the sale of the conspiracy platform Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet.The ruling comes after Infowars’ Alex Jones claimed a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion.The Onion was named the winning bidder on November 14 over a company affiliated with Jones, but Judge Christopher Lopez’s decision means Mr Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas.You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for…
The Government has said it will build four new prisons within the next seven years in a bid to grip the overcrowding crisis. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031. Some 6,400 of these will be at newly built prisons, with £2.3 billion towards the cost over the next two years. The remaining places will be found by measures including building new wings at…
An official says South Korea’s former defence minister Kim Yong Hyun attempted to kill himself but failed to do so. Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told politicians on Wednesday that Mr Kim tried to kill himself at a detention centre in Seoul. He said his suicide attempt failed after centre officials stepped in and he is in a stable condition. At the same parliament committee meeting, justice minister Park Sung…
Anglesey campaigners hail victory in long-running footpath access row Planning and Environment Decisions Wales allowed an appeal over the route said to have been ‘used for decades’ Anglesey campaigners who fought to get a popular footpath officially recognised have won their appeal for public access. Dr Nick Stuart and Gareth Phillips claimed that the Llangoed route had been used for generations before gates on the path were padlocked. The pair, from Llangoed, had battled for…
A London bus had a lucky miss when a gas explosion destroyed a house just as it approached this afternoon. The blast blew off the roof and sent glass and bricks flying across Ley Street in Ilford, east London, as a bus and cars were driving down. In footage posted on the Instagram page ‘ig1ig3’, one pedestrian was seen running to avoid the spray of debris from shattered windows. Firefighters rescued two people from a…
UK politics live: Farage denies Reform UK now party for millionaires, as Nick Candy pledges at least £1m Billionaire property developer appointed treasurer after defecting to party from the ToriesRachel Reeves has rejected Lib Dem criticism (see 10.33am) that she is neglecting social care. She told broadcasters:For our NHS to work effectively we need a social care system that works.That’s why, at the budget, I put £600m into investment in social care.High quality early education…
UK would like to facilitate return of refugees to Syria, says minister The Home Office would like to facilitate the return of refugees to Syria, a minister has said, saying about 6,500 asylum claims had been suspended as the government waited to assess the fallout from the end of the Assad regime. The immigration minister Angela Eagle said many refugees had been fleeing from the persecution and torture inflicted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime and said…
Referee David Coote sacked after Klopp comments and second video allegations David Coote has had his contract as a Premier League referee terminated after an investigation into his off-field behaviour. The refereeing body PGMOL said Coote had been found to be “in serious breach” of his terms of employment and had been removed from his position with immediate effect. The investigation found against Coote on two key claims that emerged in November, part of a…
The UK – along with other European countries – has announced they will pause asylum applications from Syria after the country’s President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the situation was “moving extremely fast after the fall of the Assad regime” and some people were returning to Syria following recent developments.
Germany will tighten its law to make it easier to prosecute those helping to smuggle migrants to the UK, as part of a new plan agreed between the two countries.
Several new photos from Gavin and Stacey have been released ahead of the sitcom’s upcoming final episode. A new promo image features James Corden as Smithy, alongside Ruth Jones as Nessa, Mathew Horne as Gavin, and Joanna Page as Stacey on Trinity Street in Barry. The final episode will air on BBC One on Christmas Day.
Summary of Western Mail Newspaper Western Mail front page this morning – summarisedThe front page of Western Mail reports the upcoming Gavin & Stacey Christmas special has been labelled a ‘masterpiece’. Gavin And Stacey star Mathew Horne has said the show’s Christmas special will be “nothing short of a masterpiece”.The 46-year-old, who plays Gavin Shipman in the series, said the script for the sitcom’s final episode made him laugh and cry, and said the finished product…
Remaining cloudy in England and Wales, with showers becoming confined to the south coast. Drier with sunny spells for Northern Ireland and Scotland, though frost and fog persisting through the morning. Feeling chilly with lighter winds than recent days. Tonight: Largely cloudy across England, Wales and Shetland with a few scattered showers. Patchy freezing fog redeveloping for Scotland and Northern Ireland with a widespread frost under prolonged cloud breaks.
Summary of The National Newspaper The National front page this morning – summarisedThe front page of The National reports McFadden says seizure of Golan Heights buffer zone is defensive move SNP demand Lammy explain how he can ‘legally justify’ strikes.ISRAEL has the right to bomb Syria in the wake of the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to the UK Government.Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has backed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s bombing…
Hundreds of trials derailed by failure to get defendants to court on time Number of trials in England and Wales declared ‘ineffective’ because of delays has almost trebled under contracts Serco and GeoAmey Hundreds of trials are being derailed because prison vans fail to transport the defendant to court on time, figures show. A Guardian analysis found 207 crown court trials in England and Wales were declared “ineffective” in 2023 – meaning they were postponed…
Tuesday’s front pages continue coverage of the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad including the UK suspending Syrian asylum claims.
In domestic news, the stabbing death of a young London girl features on several tabloid front pages, as well as the sacking of a Premier League referee.
The back pages continue Premier League coverage.
Summary of The Guardian Newspaper The Guardian front page this morning – summarisedExclusive: The Guardian gains access to Sednaya jail, where prisoners are rumoured to be trapped underground – as desperate relatives wait for news.The celebrations in Damascus were interrupted by a whisper.On the outskirts of the city, a door had been found. Beyond it lay a vast underground complex, five storeys deep, containing the last prisoners of the Assad regime, who were gasping for…
Summary of the Independent Newspaper The Independent front page this morning – summarised The front page of The Independent continues its coverage of Assad’s fall. The paper features images of families around Assad’s prisons hoping to find their loved ones. Families of those imprisoned by Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime desperately searched the filthy cells of Syria’s most notorious prison for any signs of their loved ones as the country comes to terms with the toppling…
Summary of Metro Newspaper Metro front page this morning – summarisedThe Metro front page leads on the stabbing death of a London girl.Elianne Andam was killed by Hassan Sentamu, 18, who lashed out in a fit of ‘white-hot anger’ in Croydon Town Centre in September 2023, the Old Bailey was told. He was meeting Elianne’s friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to hand over belongings following a break-up. But jurors heard Sentamu stabbed…
Summary of The Irish News Newspaper The Irish News front page this morning – summarisedThe front page of The Irish News front page reports on housing fraud. The latest report from Northern Ireland’s Comptroller and Auditor General, Dorinnia Carville, examined central government accounts for 2023-24. It found that the NI Housing Executive estimated a total of £21.1m of fraud and error for housing benefit expenditure – up from £12.7m in 2022-23.Michelle O’Neill has defended the executive’s record on…
‘What does AI mean?’: Amazon reveals UK’s most asked Alexa questions of 2024 From football to food to Taylor Swift, many of the most common subjects were what you expect – but others less soVirtual assistant units have become a staple in many UK households, telling people whether it is expected to rain, what the time is, and what the result in the football was.Among the most common used is Alexa, whose parent company Amazon…
THE number of new homes completed in the north during 2024 looks set to fall to the lowest level in 65 years, according to a new industry report.Construction Information Services (CIS), which monitors activity in the Irish building sector, has forecast that just 5,100 new homes will be finished by the end of this year.The 5,373 new homes completed in Northern Ireland during 2023 was the lowest number since 1959.Construction bodies in the north estimate…