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| | Teachers prepare to walk out over pay | |  | | | | | | | | | Thousands of teachers in England and Wales are preparing to strike over pay in the first national walkouts since 2016. It's thought more than 100,000 could take part in the action, the National Education Union says, leading to 23,000 schools facing closure or disruption on Wednesday. Some may have been leaving the decision on whether to open until the morning, depending on how many staff join the strike. Most state school teachers in England and Wales had a 5% pay rise in 2022. But inflation means this is actually a cut, unions say. And they want to make sure it is not paid for out of school budgets. Staff from other sectors including university staff, civil servants, train and bus drivers are also due to take part in walkouts, making it the biggest strike in more than a decade, according to the Trades Union Congress.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the teachers' strike meant "huge uncertainty for parents" and that it would have an impact on children's education. But Labour accused PM Rishi Sunak of "weak leadership", urging him to come to the negotiating table to sort out the "chaos". In Wales, striking teachers are joined by support staff, while teachers are also striking in two parts of Scotland as part of rolling industrial action. One Year 5 teacher in Portsmouth said her salary had fallen in real terms over a decade and that she knew of teachers going to food banks. "I do not know one teacher who doesn't work in their holidays," she said. "What other job expects you to work in your holidays?" | | | | | |
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| | Four-year-old girl killed in dog attack | | | | | | | | | A four-year-old girl has died in a dog attack in Milton Keynes, police have said. Emergency services were called on Tuesday evening after reports a dog had attacked a child in the back garden of a home in Netherfield. No arrests have been made and the dog has been humanely destroyed, with police saying what happened was a "tragic incident". Thames Valley Police said no one else was hurt and that the child's family was being supported by officers. | | | | | |
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| | Which High Street coffee has most caffeine? | | | | | | | | | You may well have a takeaway cup of coffee in your hand if you're reading this in the morning - but did you know that the level of caffeine can vary hugely depending on which High Street shop you get it from? That's what new research from consumer group Which? suggests. They measured the caffeine in cappuccino, espresso and filter coffee at several leading chains. And Pret's single espresso was found to have six times as much caffeine as that at Starbucks. While that could be the boost you need, Which? said consumers should be aware just how much caffeine is in their favourite coffee. | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | Just before she left for school on the afternoon of 16 September, nine year-old Zin Nwe Phyo was thrilled to be given a new pair of sandals by her uncle. She put on the shoes and headed off to school, a 10-minute walk away in the village of Let Yet Kone in central Myanmar. Shortly afterwards, her uncle saw two helicopters circling. Suddenly they started shooting. Zin Nwe Phyo and her classmates had just arrived at the school when someone shouted that the aircraft were coming their way. They began running for cover as rockets and ammunition struck the school.
Their attackers were two Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter gunships, nicknamed "flying tanks" or "crocodiles" because of their sinister appearance and protective armour. They carry a formidable array of weapons, including powerful rapid-fire cannon, and pods that fire multiple rockets. In the two years since Myanmar's military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, air strikes like this have become a new and deadly tactic in a civil war that is now a brutal stalemate across much of the country, conducted by an air force which has in recent years grown to about 70 aircraft. It's hard to estimate how many have died in such air attacks because access to much of Myanmar is now impossible, making the conflict's true toll largely invisible to the outside world. | | | | | | | | | | | | Jonathan Head | | South East Asia correspondent | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | Many of Wednesday's front pages cover today's strikes, with the Independent saying parts of Britain will effectively "grind to a halt" and the Sun describing it as "lockdown 2023" because of parents having to work from home. The Guardian says unions warn negotiations on ending the action are "going backwards". The Times leads on an apparent breakthrough on Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trading arrangements, while the Financial Times' front page is on the prospect of Ukraine joining the EU. And could the dodo be brought back to life? A gene-editing company is working on a technique to recreate it - which could make the phrase "dead as a dodo" extinct, comments the Telegraph. Take a look at the front pages. | | | | | |
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| | | | | Energy UK pays more for electricity than it costs to make | | | | | | | Oscars Andrea Riseborough will keep nomination | | | | | | | Raab Third top official gives evidence to inquiry | | | | | | | Astronomy Newly discovered green comet comes close to Earth | | | | | | |
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| | If you watch one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you listen to one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you read one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | Need something different? | | | | | | | | | A heart-shaped Tudor pendant found by a metal detectorist in Warwickshire is one of thousands of treasures that have just been unveiled by the British Museum. The gold jewellery, dating back to the 16th Century, is linked to a former king - it bears the initials H and K, thought to refer to Henry VIII and first wife Katherine of Aragon.
Onto newer treasures - an artist has etched the Lord's Prayer onto a tiny piece of gold inserted into the eye of a needle. The engraving by Graham Short has 273 letters which are each half the width of a human hair.
And finally, a Scottish castle said to have inspired Walt Disney's own fairy-tale castles is undergoing work to keep its famous pink colour. National Trust Scotland said Cragievar was being threatened by weather damage and it needed to be future-proofed. It's now got scaffolding around it, swathed in pink mesh, and will be ready for its grand reveal next year. | | | | | |
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| | | | | 1984: Britain's least-loved currency, the halfpenny coin, leaves the nation's purses after 13 years of almost universal unpopularity. | | | | | | |
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| | | Let us know what you think of this newsletter by emailing bbcnewsdaily@bbc.co.uk. If you’d like to recommend it to a friend, forward this email. New subscribers can sign up here. | | | | | |
