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Iran says it has given US 'concrete' seven-day plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Iran says it has given the US a "concrete" seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi ​told reporters at the United Nations: "The choice ‌now rests with the United States."

"If ​the necessary ⁠conditions are met, ⁠the strait can be reopened and a ‌normal maritime passage restored within seven days," he added.

"The actions that the ⁠United States ​should take are not new. ​They are all ​already in the MOU," ⁠he said, referring
to the memorandum of ⁠understanding that Iran ​and the US agreed ​in June.

Under the proposal, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear programme in seven days if the US lifts its naval blockade, waives oil sanctions and observes a ceasefire that includes Lebanon.

The proposal was discussed by the Iranian foreign minister at a private gathering on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

While US President Donald Trump has stated he is in no rush to reach a deal, the White House said on Friday that US officials were having positive and constructive conversations with mediators.

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Tasia Fortune: Hanging of black woman in tree 'staged' after she was killed in drug dispute, US police say
The hanging of a black woman in a tree was "staged" after she was apparently killed in a drug dispute, US police say.

Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead before her body was hanged from a tree behind an abandoned home in Jackson, Mississippi.

Authorities have not revealed the 29-year-old's exact cause of death, but are treating it as homicide and say she could have been killed at another location.

Her body was found in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance on 3 August, and officials believe she may have been dead for two or three days before she was discovered.

Two men, both of whom are black, have been arrested on murder charges and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of a third person.

Jackson police detective Samuel Dukes told a court hearing on Friday that the hanging was "staged" and the motive for the killing appears to have been a drug dispute.

Jarques Ratliff, 51, was the first person arrested over the case.

At a court hearing earlier this month, Ratliff was denied bail after he pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody in Hinds County jail.

The second suspect, 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr, was arrested this week.

Authorities have not said why they believe Ms Fortune's body was hanged after she was already dead.

Police said at Friday's hearing there may have been an issue over missing illegal drugs.

Ratliff told the court that Ms Fortune was his friend.

His lawyer Toney Baldwin said he wants the "truth about what happened to come out".

"My client said he's not involved and that's absolutely what I believe," he said.

The case has attracted widespread attention because the scene recalled lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long and troubled history of racial violence.

Ms Fortune's mother Christy Spivey has said her daughter, who had four children, struggled with homelessness in recent years.

She also said she was not sure where Ms Fortune was living at the time of her death.

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Ms Spivey previously told ABC News she last saw her daughter on 26 July at a family reunion in Kentucky.

"This has just devastated us," she said, remembering her daughter as someone who "was strong-minded" and "full of laughs and love".

Ms Spivey said the last time she saw her daughter she seemed to be in good spirits.

"She was better than I had seen her in a long time," she told the network. "She was at peace."


Glasgow City Council 'pauses' plan to fire and rehire 23,000 workers
Glasgow City Council says its plan to fire and then rehire more than 20,000 of its staff under new contracts is on hold after "constructive" talks with the Scottish government and trade unions.

The council had previously said all of its non-teaching staff would be dismissed and reintroduced with new contracts, with details to be sent to individuals concerned next week.

The change for 23,000 workers was set to take place on New Year's Day, after talks to resolve a long-running equal pay dispute with GMB, Unite and Unison collapsed.

But now Glasgow City Council has said it has "agreed to pause the process of dismissing and re-engaging staff following constructive discussions with the Scottish government and trade unions".

Councillor Allan Casey said: "I'm pleased that we've reached a position following a meeting with the Scottish government and the three unions where a pause has been agreed."

He added: "Our goal remains clear: to secure collective agreement on a new pay and grading scheme that is free from discrimination and can be put to the workforce in a ballot."

Mr Casey said the pause will allow "the ACAS package to be put back on the table" and "create the space" for more negotiations.

The council had previously claimed GMB and Unite agreed to ballot members on an offer it said "would have seen a substantial injection of cash to fund additional back pay and take the possibility of dismissals off the table".

It had added that Unison had withdrawn its support for the measure - but Sylvia Haughney, Glasgow education convener at the union, said the local authority's claims that it was to blame for the situation were "misleading" and "false".

Ms Haughney said the policy of fire and rehire was "utterly immoral", "shockingly deplorable" and that most of the staff receiving pay cuts were women.

Also prior to Friday's announcement, council spokesman Colin Edgar was asked by Sky News' Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies if he could guarantee that all those being sacked would be rehired.

He replied: "All of the people will be reengaged. It will not affect their continuity of service. It won't affect their pensions.

"Their contract will change at midnight on 31 December. But we value the work that people do, and people in this city need those people doing that work."

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Mr Edgar admitted that a group of staff would see their wages go down by almost £11,000.

Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra had said: "It beggars belief that the SNP council is threatening to railroad through fire and rehire before it is made illegal in this country by the UK Labour government."


Man jailed for ramming tractor into Middlesbrough house in revenge attack on rival
A man who drove a tractor and hay baler into a house targeted the property after a rival desecrated the graves of his father and brother, a court heard.

Nathan Blagg, 28, was jailed for seven years and two months, with two years on extended licence, after stealing a Massey Ferguson and driving it into a terraced house in Middlesbrough in May.

Teesside Crown Court heard the house, which was empty at the time, was linked to his rival Luke Lancaster, with whom he was engaged in "an ongoing feud".

Rod Hunt, defending, said he had seen "distressing footage" shared on social media by Lancaster in which he urinated on the graves of Blagg's brother and father, and kicked over a gravestone.

Mr Hunt argued Blagg and others saw criminal damage to a rival as less serious than a physical attack.

Blagg, who stole the tractor from farmer Ian Tate near Kirklevington, North Yorkshire, drove the vehicle at speed for around nine miles before deliberately crashing into the three-bedroom house in Priory Road.

Recorder Paul Reid said "the house essentially had to be rebuilt", while the court heard the tractor needed £56,000 of repairs and the hay baler, which had cost the farmer £30,000, was written off.

The judge said the tractor almost went into a party wall with a neighbouring house.

Blagg admitted aggravated vehicle taking and criminal damage while reckless as to whether life was endangered.

The family living in the rammed property had already moved out of their home of 24 years due to previous attacks.

In a victim impact statement, the woman who lived there said: "I don't tell anyone where I live (now) for fear I and my family will be violently attacked."

She said she was not sure if she would be able to get a mortgage or insure a house again.

A man who lived there added: "We are a hard-working family and we don't deserve to be put through this."

Mr Tate, in his victim statement, said the theft of his tractor had cost him thousands of pounds.

"Farming is hard enough without all this I have been put through," he said.

Blagg also admitted affray in relation to a previous clash in Middlesbrough town centre with Lancaster, who has been jailed for his role in the violence that day.

Jamie Wilson, prosecuting, said Lancaster drove his car into Blagg outside the Probation Service offices, throwing him over the bonnet.

Blagg later told police any violence that occurred in the street on 21 April was in self-defence.

Aggravated vehicle taking

In a separate event, five days after the tractor ramming, Blagg also admitted aggravated vehicle taking after he stole a Jaguar and drove it at speed into a lamppost.

The impact caused the car to spin 180 degrees and threw the streetlight 20m down the road.

Both driver and passenger were seriously injured, the court heard, but despite this, Blagg tried to drive the wrecked vehicle away, even while paramedics attended.

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Blagg was already disqualified from driving when he drove the tractor and when he smashed the Jaguar, the court heard.

While the judge acknowledged that Blagg had been provoked, they referred to the criminal damage charge, relating to the tractor ramming, as "about as serious as it gets, in my judgment".

The offence was aggravated by the "enormous amount of damage", the planning and the vehicle used.

The judge also banned Blagg from driving for seven years.


FA Cup qualifying match to be replayed after referee error
An FA Cup qualifying match will be replayed after a refereeing mistake led to a team in the ninth tier of English football lodging a complaint.

Woodford Town, who play in the Essex Senior Football League, lost 2-1 to fellow non-league side Mulbarton Wanderers last weekend.

Thirty minutes into the first half, Woodford were granted a penalty, which striker Ollie Sotoyinbo scored to put his side ahead.

However, the referee disallowed the goal because of encroachment on the opposition goal by Woodford players. The match official then awarded an indirect free kick to Mulbarton.

Law 14 of the FA Cup rules stated that the referee should have ordered the penalty to be retaken.

After lodging a complaint to the Football Association over the incident, the match will now be replayed entirely, as an FA sub-committee ruled "the original fixture was not completed in accordance" with competition laws.

The rematch will take place on 29 September at Mulbarton's Abode Arena and will be decided on the night, with extra time and penalties to be used if necessary.

In a statement, Woodford Town said the club "would like to thank the FA for its thorough consideration of the matter, and for reaching a decision that ensures the tie can be concluded in accordance with FA Cup rules".

Mulbarton Wanderers said it was "deeply upset and disappointed by this decision" and "the impact that it will have upon our football club".

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The Norfolk club - which plays in the Isthmian League North Division, effectively the eighth tier of English football - also raised concerns about "the potential wider implications regarding the finality of results for any FA Cup match in the future played by any team and the integrity of the game as a whole".

It also said in its statement Friday that the FA had originally determined the protest was not allowed, but that Woodford further appealed and prevailed with a rules sub-committee.

Has this happened before?

It's extremely rare for matches to be replayed over referee errors. While Premier League games are sometimes marred by mistakes, fans and managers are often left frustrated as results do not change.

It's not unprecedented, though: A league game between Edgware Town and Harefield United in 2006 - thought to be the first in English football to be ordered to be replayed because of an error - was held again after a penalty was disallowed when it should have been retaken.

And last year, an FA Vase first-round game between Wythenshawe and Holker Old Boys was ordered to be replayed after a referee error in a penalty shootout.


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