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Kenyan parliament says UK army training unit ‘dismissed most complaints as false, without publishing its findings’A report by the Kenyan parliament into the conduct of troops stationed at a British military base close to the town of Nanyuki in Kenya has alleged human rights violations, environmental destruction and sexual abuse by British soldiers.The inquiry into the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (Batuk) was carried out by Kenya’s departmental committee on defencе, intelligence and foreign relations.The establishment of a survivor liaison unit to offer legal aid to victims of crimes linked to Batuk personnel.For the British and Kenyan governments to negotiate “mechanisms to hold Batuk soldiers accountable for child support”.The creation of a military-linked crimes taskforce to oversee investigation and prosecution of offences committed by foreign military personnel. Continue reading...

More than third of party’s Senedd members write to PM in move seen as further evidence of Labour decline in WalesMore than a third of Labour members of the Welsh parliament have launched an extraordinary attack on Keir Starmer’s government, accusing it of rolling back devolution.Eleven Labour Senedd members (MSs) wrote to the prime minister and Labour leader claiming his administration had been either “deeply insensitive” to Wales or guilty of “constitutional outrage”. Continue reading...

Clinicians in deprived areas are overwhelmed by generational ill health and povertyLeaked report shows culture of bullying at NHS hospitalThe findings of the report into Blackpool Victoria hospital are as shocking as they are damning: a culture of bullying, racial discrimination and harassment that has contributed to a staff exodus with a direct impact on patients. The treatment of chronic disease, including Parkinson’s, were just some of the areas blighted by what appears to be a toxic culture.But the Royal College of Physicians report, leaked to the Guardian, exposes much broader challenges for the NHS – and particularly for hospitals in the most deprived corners of Britain. Continue reading...

Ian Cooper allegedly called Khan ‘narcissistic Pakistani’ and made comments about lawyer Shola Mos-ShogbamimuA Reform UK council leader has been accused of racism after allegedly describing Sadiq Khan as a “narcissistic Pakistani” and saying a black British lawyer should have “F’d off back to Nigeria”.Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, is also said to have attacked the justice secretary, David Lammy, in a social media post that said: “No foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in parliament.” Continue reading...

What are the legal implications, and why does Belgium fear being left alone with the bill?The European Commission has proposed providing Ukraine with €90bn (£80bn) in funding over two years, which it says will meet two-thirds of Kyiv’s financing needs for 2026 and 2027 and allow it to engage in peace talks “from a position of strength”.There are two options for generating the money. It could be a “reparations loan” based on Russian assets frozen in the bloc – the option favoured by the commission but strongly resisted by Belgium, which hosts most of the assets. Continue reading...

Questions raised about permanency of 76-year-old’s appointment and ‘leadership stability at critical juncture for bank’Business live – latest updatesHSBC has appointed the former KPMG partner Brendan Nelson as its chair after a prolonged search process that left one of the world’s biggest banks without a permanent executive in the top role for months.The decision to appoint Nelson, who has been serving as interim chair, came as a surprise, after a protracted hunt for a permanent successor for Mark Tucker which involved courting external candidates including the former chancellor George Osborne and the head of Goldman Sachs’s Asia-Pacific division, Kevin Sneader. Continue reading...

Private employment decreased by 32,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 47,000 increase in OctoberUS private payrolls unexpectedly declined in November, the ADP employment report showed on Wednesday.Private employment decreased by 32,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 47,000 increase in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment rising by 10,000 jobs after a previously reported 42,000 rebound in October. Continue reading...

Gustavo Petro responded to intimations by US president of military strikes on Colombian soil to fight drug traffickingColombia’s president has warned Donald Trump that he risked “waking the jaguar” after the US leader suggested that any country he believed was making illegal drugs destined for the US was liable to a military attack.During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the US president said that military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela would “start very soon”. Trump also warned that any country producing narcotics was a potential target, singling out Colombia, which has long been a close ally in Washington’s “war on drugs”. Continue reading...