Greater Greenfield MA - Franklin County

Kemi Badenoch to follow rival’s pitch in a two-hour special in front of an audience of Tory party membersShabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has told MPs that magistrates are getting powers to sentence offenders for longer – to reduce the number of prisoners being held on remand and to cut the backlog in crown courtsIn a statement to MPs, she said that, although this would increase the prison population slightly, by reducing the number of offenders being held on remand it would free up spaces in reception prisons where overcrowding is particularly serious.Unless we address our remand population, we could still see a collapse of the system, not because of a lack of cells, but because we do not have those cells in the places that we need them. It is therefore crucial that we bear down on the remand population.This government inherited a record crown court backlog. Waits for trials have grown so long that some cases are not heard for years.The impact on victims of crime is profound. For some justice delayed is, as the old saying goes, justice denied as victims choose to withdraw from the justice process altogether rather than face the pain of a protracted legal battle.I have made it my personal mission to constrain the Kremlin, closing the net around Putin and his mafia state using every tool at my disposal. Continue reading...

Israeli PM says 'task before us is not yet complete’ in press conference after Israel announces it has killed man seen as architect of 7 October attackIsrael says Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar is dead: what we know so farThe US military has mobilised its long-range B-2 stealth bombers to conduct strikes against “five hardened underground weapons storage locations” in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Pentagon said the facilities house various weapons components the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels, roiling commercial shipping in the Red Sea. “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” defence secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.The US Central Command said its battle damage assessments from the strikes were under way and did not indicate civilian casualties. The early morning strikes marked the first the US has used the B-2 bomber to attack Houthis in Yemen, and according to Bloomberg, the first time since January 2017 the wing-shaped bomber has flown in a combat mission.The mayor of one of the largest cities in Lebanon’s south has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war. The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” the meeting.UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon said an Israeli army tank fired at a Unifil watchtower in Kafer Kela, a village in south Lebanon, in what it described as a “direct and apparently deliberate” act. The incident is the latest in a string of violations that Unifil has blamed on the IDF, prompting international condemnation. The IDF denied it was targeting Unifil forces.Syrian news agency SANA reported an Israeli airstrike hitting the coastal city of Latakia. The state media outlet reported “fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression” at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of president Bashar al-Assad. It also reported two injuries and damage to private properties.US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon says, after Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken jointly penned a letter earlier this week calling on Israel to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation.The US has demanded proof on the ground that Israel does not have a policy of starvation in northern Gaza as it turned up the pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into the territory. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the security council on Wednesday at a meeting convened by France, UK and Algeria that such a policy “would not just be horrific and unacceptable” but also had “implications under international and US law”.The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is “very high”, the World Health Organization has warned, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly infection was detected in the conflict-hit country. The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated its campaign against Hezbollah.More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers.More than 500 Filipino migrant workers are expected to soon be repatriated from Lebanon, according to the Philippine government, amid warnings that workers who want to leave are facing resistance from their employers. Migrante International, which represents Filipinos working abroad, warned last month that many workers wanted to leave Lebanon but were struggling with a slow repatriation process and problems with employers. Employers, who have paid large agency fees to hire workers, have been reluctant to support repatriation applications or hand over workers’ passports, the group warned. Filipino workers in Lebanon are mainly employed as domestic workers in Beirut. Continue reading...

Vice-president says Hamas chief’s death in Gaza is an opportunity to end the warDon’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alertsHere are some key takeaways from Kamala Harris’s Fox News interview, the Guardian’s Helen Sullivan reports:1. Immigration Continue reading...

NHS Providers chief says 'vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart after years of underinvestment’The cost of repairing crumbling NHS buildings in England has soared to almost £14bn, prompting warnings that patients and staff are at risk from falling roofs and faulty equipment.The repair bill faced by the health service to make its estate fit for purpose has more than trebled from £4.5bn in 2012-13 to £13.8bn last year, according to NHS England data. Continue reading...

Death toll of at least 28 reportedly includes doctors and children at site IDF said was used by Islamic Jihad members Middle East crisis: live updatesAt least 28 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City, amid accusations Israel intends to forcibly expel the remaining population in a renewed ground campaign.The bombing of Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya on Thursday killed 28, including doctors and several children, and injured dozens more, according to health officials, who warned the final toll was likely to be higher. Another 11 people were killed in two separate airstrikes in Gaza City, and it was unclear how many were killed in other strikes in central and southern Gaza. Continue reading...