Online betting firms to pay billions more in UK tax, Reeves confirms

Online casinos and bookmakers will pay billions of pounds more in tax under a steep rise in duties levied on their takings from British gamblers.In her second budget as chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced duty changes expected to raise an extra £1.1bn a year by 2029-30, raiding a fast-growing sector that made £12.6bn from punters last year.Shares in UK gambling firms began tumbling even before Reeves announced the change in her budget, after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – which assesses the likely impact of tax changes – accidentally published a document confirming that the industry had been singled out for higher taxes

‘I didn’t even know this type of attack existed’: more than 200 women allege drugging by senior French civil servant

When Sylvie Delezenne, a marketing expert from Lille, was job-hunting in 2015, she was delighted to be contacted on LinkedIn by a human resources manager at the French culture ministry, inviting her to Paris for an interview.“It was my dream to work at the culture ministry,” she said.But instead of finding a job, Delezenne, 45, is now one of more than 240 women at the centre of a criminal investigation into the alleged drugging of women without their knowledge in a place they never expected to be targeted: a job interview.An investigating judge is examining allegations that, over a nine-year period, dozens of women interviewed for jobs by a senior civil servant, Christian Nègre, were offered coffees or teas by him that had been mixed with a powerful and illegal diuretic, which he knew would make them need to urinate.Nègre often suggested continuing the interviews outside, on lengthy strolls far from toilets, the women say

Horrific death of Kardell Lomas sparks urgent calls for new independent oversight of police

Members of the federal government’s own expert advisory panel on sexual violence have called for “urgent” independent national oversight of police after new revelations about Queensland police failures before the killing of the First Nations woman Kardell Lomas.Guardian Australia’s Broken trust investigation revealed that Lomas, a 31-year-old Kamilaroi and Mununjali woman, had sought help from police and other agencies in the months before she was killed.Her family has applied for an inquest to examine, among other things, failures by police to help Lomas, protect her from her dangerous partner, or investigate evidence of domestic violence.A statement signed by 16 of the 20 members of the expert panel selected to advise the federal government about sexual violence law reform has called on the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, to take “urgent, decisive action” in relation to the case.They said the case highlighted issues they had raised throughout the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence but that the inquiry’s recommendations had not gone far enough

UK gambling firms make extra £1bn from punters amid calls for tax rises

The UK gambling sector made an extra £1bn from punters in the year to March, according to new data expected to buoy calls for the chancellor to raise betting taxes in Wednesday’s budget.Betting companies made £12.6bn from services excluding lotteries in the latest 12-month reporting period, the Gambling Commission revealed on Tuesday, a 9.3% rise on the £11.5bn the industry made during the previous year

What is prostate cancer and how is it diagnosed in the UK?

David Cameron has become the latest high-profile figure to back growing calls for the NHS to start screening men, or at least those at highest risk, for prostate cancer after being treated for it himself.He joined Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy and prostate cancer charities in saying that recent advances in diagnosing the disease mean that testing can be introduced that is much safer than traditional methods, which can produce both false-positive and false-negative results.However, others, including Cancer Research UK, disagree.On Thursday, the UK National Screening Committee will meet to discuss the latest evidence on the subject. The independent committee, which advises ministers, is under pressure to allow testing to begin of those men at highest risk: black men, those with a family history of prostate, breast or cervical cancer and men who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene

NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity

Exclusive: NHS websites pointed women to factsheet featuring podcast by ‘dangerous’ influencers linked to baby deaths Full story: How the FBS is linked to baby deaths around the worldThe NHS has been directing pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society, an organisation that has been linked to baby deaths around the world after promoting labour without medical support.A number of NHS trusts are directing women who are contemplating a “free birth” to a charity website that until Monday referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” that can help British women “preparing for their own birth”.It contained a link to the FBS podcast, which medical experts warn is being used to radicalise women with misinformation.FBS advocates an extreme version of free birth, otherwise known as unassisted birth. It advises mothers not to use doctors or midwives and suggests they avoid pregnancy scans