Women would no longer be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy in England and Wales under a proposed shake-up of abortion laws. MPs are set to get a free vote next week – meaning they will not be told how to vote by their party – on a change to the law. It comes amid concern...
Almost 350,000 nursing staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be asked to vote from Monday on a 3.6% pay increase. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has already dismissed the award as “grotesque” and says the vote will be crucial in determining the next steps which could include a ballot for strike action....
New survey data out Friday shows that Republicans are wrong if they remain unconcerned about public sentiment as it relates to the evisceration of Medicaid or healthcare support systems that would result from passage of their colossal legislation now making its way through Congress — a bill that, if passed, would see coverage stripped from...
Bin worker strikes in Birmingham could last until December, after they voted to continue industrial action in a dispute over pay and jobs, according to union Unite. On-and-off strike action began on 6 January with 12 walkouts planned across four months, and the union began an indefinite all-out strike on 11 March. The union said...
Jake Wallace BBC News, South West BBC Luke Pollard said the South West has the expertise to benefit from the defence budget Government plans to increase the defence budget have been described as a “vote of confidence” in the South West. On Monday, the government detailed the plans to spend billions moving the UK military...
Adam Easton BBC Warsaw correspondent Reuters Rafal Trzaskowski (L) has a narrow lead in the polls over national conservative historian Karol Nawrocki (R) Poles will vote for a new president on Sunday in a tight election that will have major consequences for the future of the country’s pro-EU government. Opinion polls say Warsaw’s liberal mayor...
France’s National Assembly has voted to abolish low-emission zones, a key measure introduced during President Emmanuel Macron’s first term to reduce city pollution. So-called ZFEs (zones à faibles émissions) have been criticised for hitting those who cannot afford less-polluting vehicles the hardest. A handful of MPs from Macron’s party joined opposition parties from the right...
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged doctors in England to “vote no” in a ballot on industrial action which gets under way on Tuesday. In a BBC interview, he urged resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, to “work with the government” and warned strikes risked hampering the progress being made in the NHS....
“Tony Bloom’s decision to invest in Hearts was very much founded on the many benefits he saw at Tynecastle through the club being in fan ownership, not least its financial security through the level of our pledging.” Bloom will be purchasing non-voting rights shares, which would not impact the 75.1% voting rights held by the...
The 2024-25 Premier League campaign is over and, before we all switch focus to summer plans, it is time to cast your vote in our end of season awards. Who was the best player and best young player? Who was the manager of the season? Which team caught your eye the most and who was...
What’s been the biggest surprise since the start of the year? Speaker Mike Johnson’s winning streak in the House has to be near the top, if not at the very top. Despite having one of the narrowest majorities in congressional history and perhaps the most fractious caucus ever, Johnson keeps piling up wins. With the...
Sarah Rainsford Eastern Europe correspondent Reporting fromTeleorman County, Romania EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A woman walks past a billboard displaying posters of presidential candidates Nicusor Dan (left) and George Simion (right) in Bucharest When Romania’s presidential election was annulled late last year after claims of Russian interference, a far-right conspiracy theorist was blocked from the top job. Many...
Mark Savage Music Correspondent Getty Images JJ took a break from his job at the Vienna State Opera to compete at Eurovision Austrian singer JJ has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, after a nail-biting finish that saw him topple Israel from pole position at the very last minute. The 24-year-old, who is...
The prime minister of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén, has resigned hours before he was due to face a no-confidence vote in Congress. Members of Peru’s Congress had called for the no-confidence vote after the recent kidnap and killing of 13 mine workers, which shocked the country. Adrianzén’s resignation is another blow to the embattled president, Dina...
This had to be an unwelcome surprise for the Master of the Old Magoo. Friedrich Merz has spent his whole life massaging the various super-sized egos along the path of his political career, fawning at the feet of such Christian Democrat (CDU) luminaries as Angela Merkel, to reach the pinnacle of German political power –...