Author: News Desk

Scottish ministers mull tax rise for wealthy amid tricky budget decisions Finance secretary must find way to bring either Greens or Lib Dems onboard while plugging possible £200m shortfall Scottish ministers are contemplating modest tax increases for the better off and plan to scrap the freeze in council tax rates as they search for extra money in this week’s budget. Shona Robison, the Scottish finance secretary, is under pressure to provide a vote-winning budget on Wednesday after being given a record amount of funding from the Treasury for next year. Continue reading… Scottish ministers mull tax rise for wealthy amid…

Revealed: bias found in AI system used to detect UK benefits fraud Exclusive: Age, disability, marital status and nationality influence decisions to investigate claims, prompting fears of ‘hurt first, fix later’ approach An artificial intelligence system used by the UK government to detect welfare fraud is showing bias according to people’s age, disability, marital status and nationality, the Guardian can reveal. An internal assessment of a machine-learning programme used to vet thousands of claims for universal credit payments across England found it incorrectly selected people from some groups more than others when recommending whom to investigate for possible fraud. Continue…

Storm Darragh weather warnings: Dozens of flood alerts in place as UK braces for travel disruption Weather forecast for Friday as Storm Darragh approaches the UK. Yellow warning for rain in place for Northern Ireland and Wales. A Yellow alert in place for Northern Ireland and Wales (Met Department) Storm Darragh weather warnings: Dozens of flood alerts in place as UK braces for travel disruption https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/storm-darragh-weather-warnings-uk-met-office-travel-b2659841.html

Britain needs a ‘vaccine taskforce’ to prepare for the next pandemic, Lords warn Concerns raised that the UK may be forgetting lessons learned from Covid pandemic. Britain needs a “peacetime vaccine task force” to prepare for the next pandemic, ministers have been warned amid concerns that the government could forget the lessons of Covid-19. Britain needs a ‘vaccine taskforce’ to prepare for the next pandemic, Baroness Brown of Cambridge warns. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/vaccines-pandemic-covid-uk-government-b2659527.html

Keir Starmer dominates Friday’s front pages after the prime minister pledges change for Britain. The papers suggest the PM is attempting to ‘reboot’ his premiership after a rocky start to life in No 10.

NHS warnings ahead of the winter bite with cases of flu and COVID already on the rise. NHS chiefs are calling on the public to take up their flu and Covid jabs to avoid the already busy hospitals becoming overwhelmed.

Outgoing US administration fears revenge attacks against critics like former Republican legislator Liz Cheney.US President Joe Biden is considering whether to issue blanket pardons for current and former public officials who risk being targeted by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. The president has discussed the preemptive measure against potential revenge attacks with senior aides, but no decisions have yet been taken, according to sources who spoke anonymously to The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies on Thursday. The discussion picked up steam after Trump tapped Kash Patel, who has promised retribution against critics of the president-elect, for the role of…

CAGLIARI – Two spouses, a 79-year-old man and an 82-year-old woman, were found dead in their apartment in Cagliari. It was the 44-year-old son who called the police when he found his parents’ bodies in the house in Via Ghibli. The medical examiner, from an initial inspection, ruled out that the death was due to violent causes and there were no signs of forced entry. To clarify the circumstances of the two deaths, the house was seized pending the results of the autopsy, ordered by the judicial authority. The Carabinieri of the San Bartolomeo station and the operational section are…

A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the northern California coast, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicentre was near Ferndale, a small town in Humboldt County, about 260 miles (418km) north of San Francisco.

Syrian rebels have announced the capture of Hama, their second major victory in recent weeks after government forces withdrew from the city. The Islamist group HTS played a key role in the offensive, with its leader declaring “victory” and promising “no revenge”.

New York police have released images of an unmasked individual wanted for questioning in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson, 50, was shot in the back and leg on Wednesday morning outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan in what authorities believe was a targeted attack.