Research suggests more than 75,000 killed in the first 16 months of conflict, 25,000 more than announced at the time More than 75,000 people were killed in the first 16 months of the two-year war in Gaza, at least 25,000 more than the death toll announced by local authorities at the time, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Lancet medical journal. The research also found that reporting by the Gaza health ministry about the proportion of women, children and elderly people among those killed was accurate. Continue reading...

Actor allegedly also made remarks to man who dresses in drag, and was seen dancing on Bourbon Street after arrest The actor Shia LaBeouf allegedly aimed homophobic slurs at two men – one who identifies as queer and the other who dresses in drag – as the Transformers star was arrested for purportedly battering them at a bar early on Tuesday morning in New Orleans, the victims said. Jeffrey Damnit – who was born with the last name Klein and was listed as one of the victims by New Orleans police – said in an interview on Wednesday that he was wearing mascara, eye shadow and lipstick when LaBeouf tried to beat him up “while screaming, ‘You’re a fucking faggot’”. He also shared a cellphone video showing LaBeouf in the back of a vehicle being examined by first responders, glancing over at Damnit and saying, “Faggot.” Continue reading...

Dangerous days have nearly tripled in past 45 years – and increase largely driven by human-made warming The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy – ideal to spark extreme wildfires – has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows. And more than half of that increase is caused by human-caused climate change, researchers calculated. Continue reading...

PM says measure, also applied to deepfake nudes, is needed owing to a ‘national emergency’ of online misogyny Deepfake nudes and “revenge porn” must be removed from the internet within 48 hours or technology firms risk being blocked in the UK, Keir Starmer has said, calling it a “national emergency” that the government must confront. Companies could be fined millions or even blocked altogether if they allow the images to spread or be reposted after victims give notice. Continue reading...

If you want to have an impact on your Premier League debut, then denting the title hopes of currently the best team in the land is not a bad way of doing it. Tom Edozie came off the bench to hammer in an injury-time shot which Riccardo Calafiori forced into his own net for the Wolves equaliser to punish Arsenal on a regrettable night. Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapié thought they had earned the victory for Arsenal against the league’s worst team, only for Hugo Bueno to reduce the deficit with a stunning strike, before Edozie made a name for himself with the help of the Arsenal defender. Continue reading...

British sides keep hopes alive with vital wins Team GB women need to beat Italy on Friday These are strained days at the curling arena, where the chances of the two British teams are teetering like a bus full of bullion that’s backed over the lip of a cliff. Both the men and women ended up in a position where they need to win every game they play and hope other results go their way to have any chance of making the semi-finals. Curling is one of the very few sports left being contested at the Winter Olympics in which the British fancy their chances, and Team GB’s hopes of getting anywhere near their medal target will turn on the curl of the stones in the next few days. Continue reading...

A hard-fought 3-1 victory over OH Leuven at Meadow Park sent Arsenal through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The visitors tested Renée Slegers’ side when Sara Pusztai cancelled out Alessia Russo’s goal but a penalty from Mariona Caldentey and second from Russo secured the win, earning them a comfortable 7-1 aggregate score. Confidence is flying high around Arsenal, they are almost at the end of one of the most taxing periods of the season to date. Since the return from the winter break, they have won seven of their nine fixtures and lost just one, featured in five different competitions, lifted the inaugural Champions Cup and now reached the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League. It has been a month that will have tested every single one of the playing squad and staff to their limits but one that will have given them belief that they can still challenge on multiple fronts. Continue reading...

Proposal to replant inside a different type of protected woodland would not replicate diversity of cleared sites used by threatened cockatoo species, conservationists say Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Property developers in Perth plan to bulldoze an endangered banksia ecosystem used by threatened black cockatoo species, and conservationists have warned the damage cannot be mitigated by proposed offsets. The developers want to replant the banksia ecosystem within a different type of protected woodland – a proposal that a leading botanist said was doomed to fail. Continue reading...

The greatest American skier of all time won her first Olympic medal in 2014. The 12 years in between have been marked by brutal ups and downs A lot can happen in 12 years. If you’re Mikaela Shiffrin, as a teenager you can become the youngest ever person to win the Olympic slalom, stack a couple more medals at the next Olympics, become the most successful World Cup skier of all time with a record 108 victories, go 10 more Olympic races in a row over three Winter Games without reaching the podium, overcome the two biggest crashes of your career and subsequent battles with self-doubt and post-traumatic stress disorder and eroding trust in your own skiing, and then bring it all full circle with a second Olympic slalom gold. You can also lose your dad. Continue reading...

Sign-ups to Student Group Claim in England and Wales escalate amid reports of £21m payout by University College London Tens of thousands more students who were at university during the pandemic have joined a group claim for compensation, amid reports of a £21m payout by one of the UK’s leading institutions. Lawyers acting for student claimants said a further 30,000 from different universities had signed up to the Student Group Claim this week, taking the total to almost 200,000. Continue reading...

US president had recently said that the plan was the best deal Starmer could make Donald Trump has urged Keir Starmer not to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius, warning he was “making a big mistake”. Under the deal agreed last year, Britain would cede control over the British Indian Ocean Territory but lease the largest island, Diego Garcia, for 99 years to continue operating a joint US-UK military base there. Continue reading...

Supreme court rules children in England who suffer serious injuries at birth can claim for future lost earnings The NHS will have to spend more money settling lawsuits involving negligence during childbirth after a supreme court ruling that lawyers said puts right a “historic injustice”. The court ruled on Wednesday that children in England who suffer catastrophic injuries while they are being born can claim damages for future earnings they would otherwise have had. Continue reading...

When, on the eve of kick-off, Qarabag’s manager, Gurban Gurbanov, said Newcastle had “a style of play that does not suit us”, there were suggestions he was playing mind games. Long before half-time it was fully apparent that, if anything, Gurbanov had rather understated things. Had this been a boxing match it would surely have been stopped after a matter of minutes. Qarabag were utterly overwhelmed by the pace of their guests and that of Anthony Gordon in particular. Gordon scored four times, taking his tally in the Champions League this season to 10. Continue reading...

State regulators walk back suspension threat and say Tesla has stopped misleading drivers about the safety of its cars Tesla will avoid a 30-day suspension of its dealer and manufacturer licenses in California, its biggest market, after the US electric vehicle maker stopped using the term “autopilot” in the marketing of its vehicles in the state. Tesla now uses the term “supervised” in references to its full self-driving technology and has stopped using “autopilot” entirely in its marketing in the state. Continue reading...

Dozens of world leaders head to Washington for what White House says will largely be a fundraiser on Thursday Dozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC tomorrow for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate. The White House has indicated that tomorrow’s summit for his new ad hoc council at the renamed Donald J Trump Institute of Peace will heavily function as a fundraising round, with Trump announcing on social media that countries have pledged more than $5bn toward rebuilding Gaza, which has been devastated in the war with Israel and remains in a humanitarian crisis. Continue reading...

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that Meta intentionally designed its social media platforms to be addictive The Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is testifying at a landmark trial of social media companies on Wednesday. After arriving at the courthouse, Zuckerberg was asked by a security guard at a metal detector if he had any metal on him. “I have a gold chain on,” he responded, according to the New York Post. Continue reading...

Europa League tie will be 1,000th professional match ‘Of course you like showing that you can still win’ Martin O’Neill admits he takes satisfaction from proving he can still succeed in management as he prepares to hit a significant career landmark. Celtic’s visit of Stuttgart will see O’Neill preside over his 1,000th game in professional management, a statistic he was completely unaware of until informed earlier this week. O’Neill, 73, is in his second stint in charge of Celtic this season and a third overall having managed the club from 2000 until 2005. Continue reading...

⚽ WCL updates from the second leg (first leg: 0-4) ⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Sarah Here is Leuven’s team. Linde Veefkind returns after her suspension saw her miss out in the first leg. Leuven: Seynhaeve, Janssen, Eveaerts, Mertens, Bosteels, Pusztai, Conijnengerg, Reynders, Hermans, Veefkind, Biesmans. Continue reading...

Mitch Marner scores in overtime to seal 4-3 win Canadians lose star Sidney Crosby to injury Nick Suzuki tied the game on a deflection with 3:27 left, Mitch Marner scored in overtime, and Canada avoided what would have been a stunning quarter-final exit at the Olympics by rallying to beat the Czech Republic 4-3 on Wednesday. Canada fell behind with 7:42 remaining when Ondrej Palat scored off a pass from Martin Necas. The goal sent the Czech bench and fans into a wild celebration, but their excitement was short-lived. Continue reading...

While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of around a million vehicles of this type has shown. The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by the PHEVs whilst they were on the road, from a variety of manufacturers. Continue reading...

The Brazilian has seen this before, football has seen this before and yet why does it feel like nothing ever changes? José Mourinho: against provoking opposition fans. José Mourinho: in favour of restrained celebrations. José Mourinho, once of the poke-in-the-eye, sprint-down-the-touchline, accost-the-referee-in-the-car-park school of footballing expression: now apparently very big on showing respect to the game. Well, it seems like we’ve all been on a journey here. “I told him the biggest person in the history of this club was Black,” Mourinho recounted when asked about his conversation with Vinícius Júnior on Tuesday night. “This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.” And doubtless these words will have been a profound source of comfort to Vinícius in his lowest moment, having been insulted on the pitch by an opposition player in a Champions League playoff. Continue reading...

Portuguese managed Fenerbahce and leads his new side into their Europa League playoff sounding confident As Vítor Pereira wrapped up his pre-match media duties at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Wednesday evening, his assistant Luís Miguel Moreira da Silva waited at the mouth of the tunnel. “Let’s go?” he said as Pereira eventually emerged, before the Nottingham Forest squad followed the pair on to the pitch. Then it was down to business, Pereira’s first assignment in charge of Forest at one of his 13 former clubs, Fenerbahce. For Pereira, the Kadikoy district of Istanbul represents familiar territory, having lived in the city across two enjoyable but trophy-less spells here as a manager, most recently in 2021. Continue reading...

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Scott The preamble from the reverse fixture two months ago bears repeating. Because, I mean, c’mon … … yet while this will be the 42nd 43rd time the Premier League leaders have played the side propping up the entire table - winning 30 out of 41 31 out of 42, with seven draws – who are responsible for two of the four historical shocks? Why, Wolverhampton Wanderers, that’s who! Click below to reminisce, my old MBM pals. So while Mikel Arteta will surely be anticipating another three points, Rob Edwards must know that long shots sometimes find the target, and you never know. They nearly pulled off a shock at the Emirates back in December, after all. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on! Continue reading...

The threat of Russian aggression makes a compelling case for urgent continental cooperation For Vladimir Putin, peace talks with Ukraine are war pursued by other means. That is why progress has been so slow in negotiations, which resumed in Geneva this week. The Russian president demands the surrender of territory that his army has failed so far to win in combat. Since Mr Putin cannot be trusted to honour any agreement, Volodymyr Zelenskyy rightly insists on robust security guarantees. The Kremlin remains committed to restoring national pride through territorial expansion. Mr Putin might accept a lull in the Ukraine conflict, but only to regroup. He must be deterred from resuming a campaign aimed at extinguishing Ukraine’s sovereignty. His country’s economy and propaganda apparatus are increasingly oriented towards sustaining a long war. He has shown little sign of abandoning efforts to weaken Nato and punish European democracies for backing Kyiv. The intent is signalled by a campaign of constant provocations: sabotage, maritime and air incursions, cyber-attacks and online disinformation. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The country’s homelessness legislation is ambitious and humane. But too many people are still sleeping on the streets or in temporary accommodation Rough sleeping in Scotland has risen by 106% over the past three years. Record numbers of children are now living in temporary accommodation, official figures released this month show. In Glasgow, the city council leader warned last year that the authority had run out of temporary housing. This looks like a system approaching crisis point. The paradox is that Scotland has some of the strongest homelessness protections in Europe. More than a decade ago, the Scottish parliament abolished the “priority need” test, creating a statutory duty on councils to secure permanent accommodation for all unintentionally homeless applicants. The charity Shelter considered Scotland to have had “the best homelessness law in Europe”. But having a legal right to a home doesn’t mean having a home. Continue reading...