6:35 am, December 21, 2023

Judge to decide if media can publish names of Brianna Ghey’s teenage killers

A judge will decide today whether to lift anonymity orders protecting the identities of Brianna Ghey’s teenage killers and allow the media to publish their names.

The 16-year-old’s killers, identified only as girl X and boy Y – both now aged 16 but 15 at the time – had denied murder and each blamed the other for killing the transgender teenager at a park in Culcheth in February, but were found guilty yesterday at Manchester Crown Court.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Yip said she will deal with an application by the press to publish the defendants’ names. She adjourned sentencing to an unconfirmed later date, but told the convicted pair they faced life sentences.

Protest group opposed to new Sizewell nuclear plant loses appeal

Campaigners opposed to the building of a new nuclear power plant near Sizewell in Suffolk have lost the latest stage of a legal battle with the government.

Protest group Together Against Sizewell C objects to a decision, made in 2022 by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, to give the development the green light.

The group had mounted a Court of Appeal challenge after losing a High Court fight earlier this year, but three judges dismissed the group’s appeal yesterday.

Three of biggest porn sites must verify ages under new digital law

Three of the world’s biggest pornography websites face new requirements in the European Union that include verifying the ages of users.

The move expands the reach of the EU’s digital law, designed to keep people safe on the internet.

Pornhub, XVideos and Stripchat have now been classed as very large online platforms under the Digital Services Act because they have more than 45m users each, according to the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch.

MPs urge cut to ‘bombardment’ of gambling ads in stadiums to shield young

The Premier League and other sports governing bodies should cut the ‘bombardment’ of gambling ads in stadiums to minimise children’s exposure to them, MPs have said.

The cross-party culture, media and sport committee welcomed the forthcoming voluntary withdrawal of gambling sponsorship from the front of Premier League players’ shirts, but warned the move wouldn’t significantly reduce the volume of betting ads visible during a game.

The committee said the government should take a more precautionary approach to advertising than what was proposed in the gambling White Paper, adding there was scope for further regulation.

Hunt to sign financial services agreement with Switzerland

Jeremy Hunt is to strike a financial services deal with Switzerland aimed at easing UK firms’ access to the Swiss market and vice versa.

The chancellor is in Bern today to sign the agreement, based on the mutual recognition of each other’s laws and regulations governing the sector, the Financial Times reported.

It will create a framework to ease cross-border trade in wholesale financial services, with the Treasury hoping this will boost the City of London.

Junior doctors’ strike enters second day

Junior doctors are entering a second day of strike action as the dispute over pay shows no sign of being resolved.

The 72-hour England-wide walkout, which began at 7am yesterday and will run until the same time on Saturday, comes as the NHS grapples with one of its toughest winters on record.

It will be followed by a six-day walkout from January 3 – the longest in NHS history.

Daihatsu suspends all vehicle shipments over safety cheating

Toyota has said subsidiary Daihatsu will suspend shipments of all its vehicles in and outside Japan amid a safety scandal after an investigation found improper testing involving 64 models.

The safety test irregularities earlier this year prompted an independent panel investigation, which found widespread and systematic problems.

Toyota, citing the results of the panel, said its probe found 174 new cases of irregularities in safety tests and other procedures in 25 test categories, in addition to the problems reported earlier. Full story here

Lockerbie bombing to be marked 35 years on

Commemorations are to be held today on the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, which saw 270 people killed.

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town in Dumfries and Galloway, 40 minutes into its flight from London to New York.

Ex-Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only man convicted in relation to the bombing so far. He was jailed in Scotland in 2001 but granted compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, returning to Libya where he died in 2012.

Mercedes-Benz turquoise lights on car via PA

Mercedes wins approval for turquoise lights on autonomous cars

Mercedes-Benz will use turquoise-coloured lights in its self-driving cars when they go on the road in America.

Becoming the world’s first carmaker to do so, it has gained permits for the use of turquoise-coloured lights in California and Nevada.

Vehicles in both states will use them as a way of highlighting their self-driving nature to other road users.

Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed

Market movements

The FTSE 100 closed 77.65 points up yesterday to end the day on 7,715.68. The Cac 40 was up 8.76 points at 7,583.43, the Dax was down 11.36 points at 16,733.05, and the Dow Jones was down 475.92 points at 37,082.00.

Weather outlook

Today will be very windy in the north, with bright spells and frequent showers, some heavy and increasingly wintry over the hills in northern Scotland later, says BBC Weather. It’ll be windy in the south with patchy light rain at times.

Friday will be another windy day for most and will also be fairly cloudy with showers or longer spells of rain at times, mainly in the west. Further wintry showers are expected in northern Scotland, with snow at lower levels for a time.