Internet-safe iPhone for children goes on sale for £99 a month 16. July 2025 (19:30) High price of Sage handset that doesn’t allow searches, gaming or social media apps beyond means of many parents• Sage iPhone for children review: ‘Would it make me want to divorce my parents?’A neutered iPhone, stripped of web browsers and social media apps, is going on sale to parents worried about their children’s phone use, but the “peace and freedom” its creators promise will come at a steep price.The pared-back version of the top-selling handset, which will not allow internet searches, gaming or downloads of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media, is being offered in the UK for £99 a month by a US company that wants children to “reconnect with real life, not just reduce screen time”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘It’s soul-destroying’: takeover crisis leaves Morecambe FC on the brink 16. July 2025 (19:28) Supporters say end of 105-year-old Lancastrian club, which could collapse in days, would devastate seaside townIn the century since it was founded, only a world war has stopped play at Morecambe football club. But the 105-year-old institution is days away from collapse amid the “unfolding disaster” of a takeover deal.The Shrimps, as they are affectionately known, are the latest victims of lax football governance rules, after similar crises at clubs including Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield Wednesday and Bury FC, one of the oldest in the world. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Debra Crew couldn’t shift Diageo’s post-Covid hangover 16. July 2025 (19:07) The firm still has the potential to be great again, but her long-term vision felt too blurryDiageo CEO steps down after drink firm’s lacklustre performanceTwo years is no time at all to be the boss of a large FTSE 100 company, but the departure of Debra Crew from Diageo, the Guinness and Johnnie Walker group, has felt possible for at least half that period. Now she has gone “by mutual agreement”.Crew’s first problem was that she followed a genuine corporate superstar in the form of the late Sir Ivan Menezes, whose strategy of “premiumisation” – encouraging punters to drink more expensive stuff – did wonders for profit margins year after year. Any successor would have found it hard to match his record. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK’s anti-corruption champion to visit offshore haven on fact-finding mission 16. July 2025 (18:00) Foreign Office sending Margaret Hodge to British Virgin Islands to investigate slow progress against financial crimeThe Foreign Office will dispatch the UK’s anti-corruption champion, Margaret Hodge, to the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) to find out why the offshore haven is dragging its feet on proposals designed to fight financial crime.Several of the UK’s semi-autonomous British overseas territories missed last month’s deadline to implement new registers of corporate ownership, a measure targeting the secrecy regimes campaigners say benefit criminals and kleptocrats. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Bear that bit man in Norway roams free after hunt in which wrong animal shot 16. July 2025 (17:45) Search for female and her cubs on hold to campaigners’ relief after court had quashed injunction against cullThe hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow has been put on hold, the Norwegian environment agency has announced, in a case that angered animal rights campaigners after officials shot the wrong bear.The agency said on Wednesday it did not now plan to act on a bear-culling order it issued in late June in Jarfjord, near the border with Russia, after a female bear bit a man’s arm leaving him needing stitches. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Reform-led Durham county council scraps climate emergency pledge 16. July 2025 (17:36) Durham is thought to be the first local authority to rescind its declaration, in a move condemned as a ‘very dark day’A Reform-led council is thought to have become the first in the UK to rescind its climate emergency declaration, a move condemned as “a very dark day” for the authority.Durham county council, which has had an overwhelming Reform majority since the May local elections, passed a motion to rescind a declaration made in 2019 More than 300 local authorities have declared a climate emergency. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs 16. July 2025 (17:36) Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff pushed out and three trade envoys lose rolesUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has removed the Labour whip from four MPs for repeatedly breaching discipline and stripped three further Labour MPs of their trade envoy roles in an effort to assert his control over the party.The Guardian understands that the four MPs who have lost the whip are Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff. They were informed on Wednesday afternoon and told their positions would be kept under review. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Hungary opposition figures urge Democrats to organize against autocratic takeover by Trump 16. July 2025 (17:23) Forum speakers said Donald Trump’s second term resembles strongman Viktor Orbán’s first years in powerDemocrats must organize urgently for the 2026 midterm elections and avoid a “it can’t happen here” mentality to stop Donald Trump from staging a full-scale autocratic takeover, a Hungarian opposition parliamentarian has said.Katalin Cseh, a critic of Hungary’s strongman prime minister, Viktor Orbán, told a forum on authoritarianism that the central European country’s experience held vital lessons for Trump’s opponents in their attempts to resist his assaults on US institutions and democratic norms since his return to the White House. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Volcano on Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland erupts for ninth time since 2023 16. July 2025 (17:17) Iceland’s weather agency advises residents to stay indoors because of high levels of toxic gas from 1.5-mile fissureA volcano erupted on Wednesday on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, the ninth eruption in region since the end of 2023.The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the eruption had begun just before 4am local time (05:00 BST), and live video feeds showed lava spewing from a fissure in the ground. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Norwegian Olympic medalist Audun Groenvold dies after lightning strike 16. July 2025 (17:01) Athlete won bronze in ski cross at 2010 Vancouver Games49-year-old died of injuries after being taken to hospitalOlympic ski cross medalist Audun Groenvold has died after being struck by lightning, the Norwegian ski federation announced on Wednesday. He was 49.Groenvold won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
