Brazil’s ex-president receives 27 year jail sentence for coup plot

Former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison.

The majority of a panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices on Thursday voted to convict former president Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup to remain in office despite his 2022 electoral defeat.

The far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 was found guilty on five counts by three members of a five-justice panel.

Prosecutors charged Bolsonaro with attempting to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, as well as being implicated in violence and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.

Although his plot failed to enlist enough support from the military to go ahead, it did culminate in the storming of government buildings by Bolsonaro’s supporters on 8 January 2023, the justices found.

“This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present, and its future,” Justice Carmen Lucia said before she voted to convict Bolsonaro of attempting a coup, a reference to previous attempts to overthrow democracy in the country’s history.

She added that Bolsonaro acted “with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions.”

The 70-year-old is currently under house arrest. His lawyers have said that they will appeal the verdict to the full Supreme Court of 11 justices. Bolsonaro, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not attended the court and has sent his lawyers.

He faced a close re-election campaign against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022 – an election that Lula went on to win – Bolsonaro’s comments took on an increasingly messianic quality, raising concerns about his willingness to accept the results.

“I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed or victory,” he said, in remarks to a meeting of evangelical leaders in 2021. “No man on Earth will threaten me.”

US president Donald Trump said hours later that he was “very unhappy” with the conviction. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro to be “outstanding.”

In 2023, Brazil’s electoral court, which oversees elections, barred the far-right politician from public office until 2030 for venting unfounded claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.

The ruling may push Bolsonaro’s allied lawmakers to seek some amnesty for him through Congress.

A full debate on sentencing is expected for Friday, after that, the former leader could face increased pressure to pick a political heir to likely challenge Lula in the general elections next year. A conviction could also compel allied lawmakers to seek some amnesty for the former president through Congress.

Bolsonaro’s conviction and its durability will be a test for the strategy that Brazil’s highest-ranking judges have adopted to protect the country’s democracy against what they describe as dangerous attacks by the far-right.

Their targets included social media posts that they say spread disinformation about the electoral system, as well as politicians and activists. Sending a former president and his allies to jail for planning a coup amounts to its culmination.

Brazil has suffered more than a dozen attempted coups since 1889, when it became a republic after its last emperor, Pedro II, was overthrown.

Trump claims Russian drone incursion into Poland ‘could’ve been a mistake’

US president Donald Trump has suggested that Russia’s incursion into Polish airspace “could have been a mistake”.

Polish air defences and Nato aircraft sprung into action on Wednesday after 19 objects intruded Polish airspace including drones entering from Belarus, said prime minister Donald Tusk. There have been no injury reports and Moscow has so far denied responsibility for the incident.

“I’m not happy about anything to do with the whole situation, but hopefully that’s going to come to an end,” Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting after Russian drones entered Polish air space.

Representatives from member countries will meet at Poland’s request to discuss the unprecedented incursion into Nato territory, which took place on Wednesday morning.

Trump reacted by taking to Truth Social, writing: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”

As European and Nato countries rally to Poland’s defence, the US has vowed that it will help defend Nato territory following the incursion.

The US would defend “every inch of Nato territory”, Washington’s ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker said.

Farage urged to explain how his partner funded £885k Clacton home

Nigel Farage is facing mounting questions about his £885,000 constituency home after an investigation called into question how the property was paid for.

The Reform UK leader has denied avoiding more than £44,000 of stamp duty on the four-bedroom house in Clacton, which includes a heated swimming pool, after it emerged it had in fact been purchased by his partner.

Mr Farage said his partner, Laure Ferrari, had paid for the home with her own funds, and was able to do so as she comes from a wealthy French family.

But a BBC investigation cast doubt on the claim, suggesting that her parents do not have the means to have made a significant contribution towards the purchase.

If Mr Farage had given Ms Ferrari the money to purchase the house, he would not have done anything illegal. But it would raise questions of hypocrisy, given that the Reform leader criticised Angela Rayner for her own failure to pay enough stamp duty when purchasing a flat in Hove – something she eventually resigned over.

“I haven’t lent money to anybody. I didn’t give her money,” he told the Mirror.

“She comes from a very successful French family and she can afford it herself. It’s convenient, it works, and she loves it there.”

Labour Party chair Anna Turley said: “There are now far too many unanswered questions about the house he stays in while in Clacton. He must urgently come clean with the public as to whether he financially contributed towards the purchase of this property.

“Misleading the public for political gain about buying a constituency home is appalling in itself. But if he deliberately put in place this arrangement to avoid paying his fair share of tax, that would be even worse.”

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “Nigel Farage has serious questions to answer over this. After spending days attacking others over their tax arrangements, he now needs to be frank and honest about his own.”

The Clacton house was purchased last November amid questions about how much time Mr Farage was spending in his constituency. Days before, he told Sky News: “I’ve just exchanged contracts on the house that I’ll be living in there – is that good enough? … I’ve bought a house in Clacton. What more do you want me to do?”

He has since admitted he was wrong to say he had bought the house, as it is owned by his partner.

Mr Farage reportedly owns four properties, including three in Kent and one in Surrey, meaning he would have paid a higher rate of stamp duty if he purchased the Clacton home.

The BBC’s investigation cast doubt on Ms Ferrari’s wealth, reporting that her father ran a haulage business in Strasbourg for many years, but the company was liquidated in 2020 and had more assets than liabilities at the time.

The flat her parents live in, in a suburb of the northeastern city, is reportedly worth around £300,000.

A consultancy set up by Ms Ferrari, meanwhile, has just £1,000 in assets, according to its latest set of accounts.

A spokesperson for Mr Farage said: “Laure Ferrari is the sole legal and beneficial owner of the property.

“It belongs solely to Laure and was purchased with funds which belong to her. All taxes were properly paid. Nigel has no financial interest in the property whatsoever.”

London’s infamous ‘Wet Wipe Island’ finally cleared of five million wipes

Approximately 5 million wet wipes have finally been removed from the infamous “Wet Wipe Island” on the River Thames.

The three-week project was the country’s first mass wet wipe removal project of its kind, which scooped up everything from towels, scarves, trousers, a car’s engine timing belt and even a set of false teeth.

The Port of London Authority, in collaboration with Thames Water and Thames21, removed around 114 tonnes of waste which had congealed into a 250m island on the foreshore of the river near Hammersmith Bridge.

Wet wipes and other non-biodegradable items are harmful to the environment because they can pollute rivers, harm wildlife and leave an unsightly mess.

In order to remove the harmful waste, the workers used an efficient “rake and shake” method. This involved two eight-tonne excavators sifting through the island, separating wet wipes and waste from the natural sediment and riverbed in order to minimise the environmental impact.

In total, almost 200 cubic metres of wet wipes containing plastic were taken away in 15 skips and disposed of responsibly.

The island, which was about the size of two tennis courts and up to 1m high in places, had changed the course of the river and potentially harmed the aquatic wildlife and ecology in the area.

Grace Rawnsley, the director of sustainability at the Port of London Authority, said that “while at times the work was pretty gross, it was well worth it to help clean the river”.

“The reaction of local communities – and of people across the country and beyond – has been really encouraging but also slightly incredulous that this work was needed in the first place,” she added.

John Sullivan from Thames Water explained: “This ‘island’ was a direct result of people flushing away wet wipes containing plastic and shows the damage that is caused by putting the wrong things down your toilet.

“Flushing a wet wipe and other non-biodegradable items away does not make them magically disappear. Blockages caused by wipes are a leading cause of pollution, and we remove an estimated 3.8 billion wipes from our network each year.”

He welcomed the government’s proposed ban on wet wipes containing plastics, and hopes it will prevent a wet wipe wasteland from ever forming again.

Organisations like Thames21 are also calling for producers to “get serious about alternatives to wet wipes” and for water companies to increase their investment in screening of plastics entering the environment.

Every year, Thames Water clears 3.8 billion wipes from its network, which it said costs £18m a year.

Thames Water recently announced a further £1.8bn investment to improve river health across London, and last year connected its £4.6bn Thames Tideway Tunnel to support the reduction of sewage discharges into the tidal Thames by 95 per cent.

‘I went to A&E with horrific pain – then doctors found a 2kg tumour’

Doubled over with “horrific” abdominal pain, Natasha Reynolds was hoping for answers when she was forced to turn to A&E after multiple doctors had been unable to find the cause of her symptoms for almost 18 months.

What they eventually discovered was a 20cm-wide tumour on her right ovary, weighing 2kg.

Ms Reynolds, 23, is one of thousands of women to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year – and one of the 40 per cent of women in England and Wales who are only diagnosed once their symptoms have become so severe they’re forced to seek emergency care.

Since her diagnosis last year, she has had both ovaries removed and is now forced to take Hormone Replacement Therapy medication.

In late 2022, Ms Reynolds visited her GP after having developed cystic acne and “terrible” bloating. However, in each appointment, multiple doctors told her the symptoms were either irritable bowel syndrome or flare-ups of endometriosis – a painful condition which causes tissue to grow outside the uterus – which she had been diagnosed with in 2019.

“Throughout 2023 into the start of 2024, I on average visited the GP practice at least once a month. My bloating was getting quite extreme, my fatigue was almost crippling, no matter how much I slept, I didn’t have the motivation to do my uni work. It was just awful.

“I just wasn’t listened to, every time I went to the GP it was ‘oh it’s probably an endometriosis flare up’ or your bloating is probably IBS,” she told The Independent.

Ms Reynolds’ bloating had become so bad that she could no longer button up her jeans, and her acid reflux kept her up at night. Although she suspected ovarian cancer, Ms Reynolds said doctors continued to “dismiss” her symptoms, and did not even carry out a physical examination.

Even specialist gastrointestinal doctors whom she had been referred to did not pick up the tumour, she said.

Eventually, on the evening of 18 March 2024, Ms Reynolds was suddenly hit with a “horrific” pain in her lower abdomen.

“I couldn’t move, I literally could not move, I was just laid there crying.”

The pain was so severe she thought she might have burst her appendix, so she phoned the non-emergency NHS helpline 111. She was then forced to wait for eight hours, only for helpline doctors to tell her the pain was likely due to a urine infection and that she should see her GP.

But the pain was so bad, Ms Reynold decided to go to a walk-in clinic, where she was eventually sent to A&E.

“At five six o’clock I went for an ultrasound, and they pulled me and my parents into a room… they said we found a lump… it was 22cm, it was huge.”

Even then, doctors did not suspect ovarian cancer and told her it was likely a cyst.

A month later, in April 2024, she was finally diagnosed with Stage 1a Germ Cell Ovarian Cancer – a rare form of ovarian cancer, which typically affects people up to their early 30s.

“I was devastated at the way everything had been handled, and I cried and I cried… but equally I was relieved we were now making the right steps,” she said.

By the time she was diagnosed, the tumour, on her right ovary, had become so big it was over 20cm wide and weighed 2kgs, and had wrapped around her ovary. Doctors eventually discovered that she also had 13cm cyst on her left ovary.

“I’m still angry, I think women’s health, we’re so ignored and so dismissed… the majority of women will have been experiencing symptoms and see their GP,” she said.

Charity Ovarian Cancer Action said a number of factors contributed to late diagnoses, including women having symptoms dismissed or misdiagnosed, and low awareness of symptoms.

“Overall, progress has completely stalled,” said Cary Wakefield, chief executive of Ovarian Cancer Action.

“Nearly half of women with ovarian cancer are only diagnosed once their symptoms are so severe they end up in A&E.

“This is a failure of awareness, of diagnosis, and of the system. And it’s costing lives.

The national ovarian cancer audit report, published on Thursday, also highlighted how significant numbers of women with the disease are only diagnosed once it has already spread to another part of the body – making it harder to treat. Just 32 per cent of cases were diagnosed at this stage in 2022 in England, and 24 per cent of cases in Wales.

According to the figures, 70 per cent of women in England diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2022 survived a year after their diagnosis and 73 per cent of women in Wales.

Ovarian Cancer Action has launched a new symptoms checker https://ovarian.org.uk/ovarian-cancer/ovarian-cancer-symptoms/ovarian-cancer-symptoms-checker/

I wish my mum had contacted Macmillan Cancer Support

I wasn’t at my mum’s side when she learned she had breast cancer, but that made me determined to be there the day she was getting the all-clear 18-months later. However, things didn’t go to plan that day.

Mum’s cancer journey started over a decade ago, a few months after a routine mammogram – when she developed “a pain”. She told herself it was probably nothing, because the scan she’d just had was fine. When she mentioned it to her GP – a small lump that didn’t feel quite right – she convinced herself that she was just being silly. The biopsy begged to differ.

In the list you keep in your head of the cancers you worry your mum might get, breast wasn’t that high on mine. Yes, it’s long been the number one cancer affecting women, with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that about 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year  – the risk factor only increasing with age. But my mum had other health concerns to contend with.

As a schoolgirl in swinging London, she’d been a back-of-the-bikeshed smoker, which had graduated into a lifelong habit. Lung cancer seemed like a possibility.

Mum’s also the biggest sun worshipper I know. Long before any of us had heard of SPF, she would think nothing of spending an afternoon in the garden, stretched out on a blanket, slathered in baby oil. So, given what we know now about UV radiation, I wondered about skin cancer too.

Mum went on to have a series of lumpectomies to get rid of three spots of malignant tissue. She would also have lymph nodes removed as a precaution, as well as undergo extensive chemotherapy.

For me, her diagnosis was as though a stopwatch had been started. How long might she have left? She did her best to be stoic. Which was just as well, given what government austerity measures at the time were doing to the NHS: budget cuts, hapless reorganisations, and an end to the “gold-standard” two-week referral from detection to the start of treatment.

All mum could do was wait for the brown envelopes to drop on the doormat detailing appointments at unfamiliar hospitals many miles away, sometimes after the appointment had been and gone.

If she felt let down by the bureaucracy of our health service, the same could not be said for the army of individuals involved in her care. On a human level, she found her nurses and doctors to be uniquely composed and compassionate throughout her treatment.

When the day finally came for her oncologist to tell her that all the signs of her cancer had gone, I was invited along to hold her hand. “The scans are back,” he began. “And I need to discuss your options for the next course of action.” It seemed the cancer hadn’t quite gone after all. She had fought so hard to get to this point, she was expecting good news, and was unprepared for the knockback.

But she did go on to beat cancer – and has been in remission for more than five years, which we couldn’t be more grateful for. However, should it ever come back, there’s one thing we’d do differently from the off: make a call to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Only with hindsight, did we realise how much help Macmillan would have been. Someone to provide her with a calming companion for the journey, someone to help with the cancer admin – the appointments, the prescriptions, the test results – and someone to explain what all the scans and tests were for, what the results might mean, and what to expect next.

I couldn’t always be around while mum was living with cancer, and that’s where Macmillan steps in. Now, enjoying a slice of cake at a Coffee Morning, which is raising money to fund the work they do, seems like the least I can do.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

More people cutting back on groceries to keep up with water bills

Almost one in five households struggled to pay their water bill in the last year, Citizens Advice has said.

The advisory service found more than a fifth (21 per cent) of those who struggled to pay found themselves falling into debt with their supplier.

The survey, taken at the beginning of August, and following the largest single-year increase in household water charges since privatisation of the industry, found that more than two fifths (42 per cent) of those finding it hard to keep pace with their bills had been forced to cut back on groceries and energy as a result.

Over a third of those struggling (35 per cent) were rationing water, including by cutting showers, toilet flushes and clothes washing.

The hike in charges, announced in January, increased the average household water and sewerage bill from under £500 to more than £600 a year.

However, households have been hit particularly hard since April with an average hike of £86 or 20 per cent front-loaded into the coming year, with smaller percentage increases in each of the next four years.

Factoring in inflation, which is added to bills each year, the 2025-26 increase in the average bill is £123, or 26 per cent.

In return, the sector has pledged to deliver a record five-year package of investment to improve services and clean up rivers, streams and seas.

However Citizens Advice found that higher bills since April kick-started problems for a third (31 per cent) of those facing difficulties.

The charity said that although there were benefits to being cautious with water use, it was concerned about the water rationing it had uncovered.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of those cutting their water use due to difficulties affording it were reducing bathing or showering, while 63 per cent were limiting toilet flushes and 77 per cent washed their clothes less often.

Citizens Advice is calling for a single social tariff for households on the lowest incomes, describing existing social tariffs as a “postcode lottery”, with each water provider having different rules on who qualifies for help.

Just 16 per cent of consumers said their water provider had told them about ways to reduce their bills since April, rising to 18 per cent among low-income households and 30 per cent among those who say they can rarely or never afford their bills.

Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “Long overdue and much-needed investment in the water sector can’t come at the cost of higher bills that push low-income households into debt or impossible choices.

“Every winter we hear of families turning off the heating.

“Now we anticipate those same households will have to ration showers or cut down on laundry for fear of their water bill.

“The Government has shown it’s committed to addressing the water industry’s systemic issues.

“Now it needs to create a single social tariff without delay to end the postcode lottery for support, and ensure that those who need this get it automatically.”

A spokesman for Water UK, which represents firms, said: “We understand increasing bills is never welcome and, while we urgently need investment in our water and sewage infrastructure, we recognise bill rises are difficult for many households.

“That’s why water companies are more than doubling the help available, with £4.1 billion in financial support put forward over the next five years.

“We urge anyone who is struggling to pay to get in touch with their water company to discuss the range of support available.”

A Defra spokesman said: “We are taking decisive action to clean up England’s rivers, lakes and seas for good, and protect families from massive bill hikes.

“Under this Government, the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs has grown – from 4 per cent to 9 per cent. We are also working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure vulnerable customers are supported.”

The Citizens Advice survey follows the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) reporting that household complaints to the watchdog had soared to their highest level in nine years.

CCW said complaints escalated to the watchdog by household customers in England and Wales rose for the third year running, up 3 per cent to 8,235 from 7,977 in 2023-24.

Frustration and worry among households over soaring bills saw the CCW receive the highest number of complaints about water companies in almost a decade over the last year.

In response to Citizens Advice’s findings, CCW chief executive Mike Keil said: “People should be able to use water without the worry of being able to afford their bill, but April’s unprecedented rise in charges has compounded the struggles of millions of households.

“More people are turning to us to complain about not being able to afford their bill at a time when over two in five households have told us they’ve cut spending on essentials like food to make ends meet.

“Water is an essential – not a luxury – but we risk seeing more households sinking into hardship, unless we put an end to the existing postcode lottery of water company support schemes and replace it with fair and consistent help.

“The case for a single social tariff for water has never been more urgent or compelling. It could end water poverty by ensuring financial support flows automatically to anyone spending more than 5 per cent of their household income on water bills.”

Oxford Union condemns president’s comments about Charlie Kirk shooting

The Oxford Union has condemned comments made by its incoming president about the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old Donald Trump ally, was killed at a Utah Valley University show on Wednesday in what authorities called a political assassination.

George Abaraonye, who became president-elect of the Oxford Union after a vote earlier this year, posted several comments appearing to celebrate what happened, The Telegraph reported.

One message was thought to have said “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f****** go”, while another on Mr Abaraonye’s Instagram account read “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”.

Mr Kirk and Mr Abaraonye met during a debate on “toxic masculinity” held by the Oxford Union in May, The Telegraph reported.

In a statement posted on X on Thursday, the Oxford Union criticised the student’s comments and said it “firmly opposes all forms of political violence and strongly stands by our commitment to free speech and considerate debate”.

“The Oxford Union would like to unequivocally condemn the reported words and sentiments expressed by its President-Elect, George Abaraonye, with regards to the passing of Charlie Kirk,” the society said.

“His reported views do not represent the Oxford Union’s current leadership or committee’s view.”

The statement added: “We would like to reiterate that our condolences lie with Charlie Kirk’s family, especially his wife and young children, who are enduring such terrible grief.”

Describing itself as “the most prestigious debating society in the world”, the Oxford Union was founded in 1823 and counts historical figures including Malcolm X among those to have attended its discussions.

US president Mr Trump paid tribute to Mr Kirk as a “martyr for truth and freedom” after the shooting, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other leading UK politicians also expressed condolences online.

A UK offshoot of the youth right-wing organisation Turning Point USA, which was co-founded by Mr Kirk, will gather in Whitehall on Friday evening to remember him.