World news | The Guardian

Saffron Cole-Nottage became stuck headfirst and might have lived had ambulance service alerted fire service immediately, coroner saysA woman who drowned after getting stuck headfirst in sea defence rocks might have been saved if the ambulance service had alerted the fire service quicker, a coroner has said.Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, was walking the family dog with her daughteron the seafront at Lowestoft, Suffolk, when she fell as the tide was coming in on 2 February 2025. Continue reading...

The film-maker, who won the Grand Prix for A Hero in 2021, condemned both the killing of protestors and the conflict's bombing campaigns during a Cannes press conferenceOscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has described the deaths of civilians in Iran as extremely cruel and tragic" during a press conference at the Cannes film festival.Farhadi, whose new Paris-set drama Parallel Tales premiered on the Croisette on Thursday night, was asked about working free from censorship in France, the war involving Iran, the US and Israel, and the repression of protesters in his native country. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham may have a route back to Westminster - and a path to the Labour leadership. But first the Greater Manchester mayor must win a byelection in Makerfield, where Nigel Farage has vowed Reform UK will throw absolutely everything' at the contest.Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian's north of England correspondent Hannah al-Othman, who has been talking to voters in the constituency Continue reading...

Lead singer Stuart Murdoch's self-deprecating It Only Takes One Lion is inspired by team's current song, Yes Sir, I Can BoogieThe lyrics came to Stuart Murdoch in the hazy aftermath of Scotland's dramatic qualification for the World Cup.The Belle and Sebastian frontman had watched his side's playoff victory over Denmark through his fingers before deciding to write his own anthem to a team he has followed for more than 50 years. Most people recognised instantly the next day that they'd witnessed the most important Scottish game ever," says Murdoch. That was our magic moment." Continue reading...

Group of MPs and peers in effect accuse government of failing to comply with parliament's will over release of filesA powerful parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing files relating to Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador has revealed that the government is withholding his vetting file despite not having the authority to do so.In an extraordinary intervention, the intelligence and security committee (ISC) has criticised the government over its handling of the release of Mandelson-related papers and in effect accused ministers failing to comply with parliament's will. Continue reading...

Man arrested after admitting to taking relic from church and planning to throw it in river, say policeAn 800-year-old relic believed to be the skull of Saint Zdislava, stolen this week from a Czech church, has been recovered encased in concrete as experts work to extract it, police have said.A suspect has been arrested, who allegedly confessed to taking the skull of Saint Zdislava of Lemberk from a glass shrine in the basilica of St Lawrence and St Zdislava in the town of Jablonne v Podjetdi on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The Manchester City striker will feature in Viqueens, an animated film by director Harald Zwart, who described him as powerful, fearless and uniquely Norwegian'Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is to make his feature acting debut, in an animated film as the voice of a Viking - called Haaland.According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Norwegian international is to play an animated version of himself" in Viqueens, directed and co-written by Harald Zwart, the Dutch-Norwegian director of The Karate Kid and Agent Cody Banks. Continue reading...

Migrants are generally younger than the average Australian, are skilled and more educated. And they typically pay more tax than they receive in benefits

Port Kembla residents will likely resist base due to risk of nuclear accident and potential as target for military adversaries', documents state

Army supported by Russian mercenaries launches airstrikes after offensive by coalition of Islamist extremists and Tuareg separatistsMali's armed forces, supported by Russian mercenaries, have launched airstrikes targeting a rebel alliance of Islamist extremists and Tuareg separatists as the ruling junta struggles to maintain its hold on power in the unstable west African country.Earlier this week warplanes targeted the key northern town of Kidal, which was lost when the rebels launched a surprise offensive across much of Mali in late April. Continue reading...

Adam Kent suspended after Tory councillors joined forces with Greens and Lib Dems to end Reform's minority controlThe Conservatives have suspended the party's leader at Worcestershire county council after he made a deal with the Greens and Liberal Democrats to oust Reform.Reform UK gained control of the council a year ago but its tenure has been marked by a series of controversies and political infighting. This included a bitter leadership battle in which the now former Reform councillor Jo Monk was replaced as leader of the council in April. Continue reading...

US president hails fantastic' deals, but details remain scarce after pageantry and little progress at much-hyped summit with Xi

Redress to customers for force-fitting devices in homes includes 20m penalty and 70m of debt write-offsThousands of British Gas customers who had prepayment meters force-fitted in their homes will between them receive compensation and energy bill debt write-offs worth up to 112m in the biggest energy supplier settlement on record.Great Britain's energy regulator found that British Gas forced PPMs on homes that were not keeping up with their bills at the height of the Russian gas crisis, in one of the most complex investigations in Ofgem's history. Continue reading...

State oil company fast-tracks previously undisclosed project, which is expected to double export capacity

Exclusive: DHS made social media posts out of a protester's arrest at gunpoint. Christian Cerna speaks out about the lengthy prosecution that derailed his lifeChristian Cerna, 28, was driving with his partner and their two young children through Los Angeles, when two vehicles rammed his car and a group of men jumped out and trained their guns on them.It was 11 June 2025, and as Cerna exited his vehicle with his hands raised, he realized the masked men weren't street criminals as he initially feared. They were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Continue reading...

Record heat in North and Central America coincides with egg-sized hailstones in eastern ChinaExtreme weather across several parts of the world this week has brought record-breaking temperatures to Honduras, North America and Indonesia.Honduras smashed its all-time May maximum temperature record earlier this month - only for it to be broken again on 13 May in Choluteca, known as the furnace of Central America. Temperatures climbed to 42.2C (107.9F), surpassing the previous record of 42.1C. With intense heat forecast to persist over the coming weeks, more records are expected to fall. Continue reading...

Tube stoppages due on two 24-hour periods from midday on Tuesday and Thursday next week but sources say RMT seeking talksHopes have been raised that next week's strikes by London Underground drivers could yet be averted, after sources said the RMT union had put out feelers for talks.The RMT members, almost half of London's Tube drivers, are due to strike for two 24-hour periods from midday on Tuesday and Thursday, closing some lines entirely and bringing widespread travel disruption to the capital until the weekend. Continue reading...

Under aviation regulator proposals rival companies would bid to design and build parts of airport expansion

Home affairs minister Tony Burke says listing will stop group from organising and meeting, and may prevent more horrific bigoted rallies'

News will come as a shock to staff, especially at Cranfield, but the institutions' bosses say intention is growthThe announcement that King's College London is to absorb Cranfield University came as a surprise but not a shock to England's higher education leaders, who have been braced for sudden announcements about job cuts and course closures.But for staff and students at both institutions the news will have come as a shock, particularly at Cranfield, the smaller, highly focused postgraduate technology and management college that has its own airport. Continue reading...

Federal court affirms an August 2024 finding that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity and awards her $20,000

Redevelopment of the former Department of Lands building on Sydney's Bridge Street wins National Trust heritage awardIt was once a grand old sandstone masterpiece, where returned soldiers would cram into marble corridors to anxiously await lottery draws that could change their lives.Then the 20th century happened. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on Alcoa over strip-mining of Western Australian jarrah forest, which also threatens Perth's water supply

One Nation leader and Barnaby Joyce flew on Gina Rinehart's plane from the Sunshine Coast to Mount Isa before taking charter to tour flood-affected communitiesPauline Hanson billed taxpayers almost $16,000 in private charter flights to travel around flood-affected Queensland on the suggestion of billionaire Gina Rinehart, despite previously claiming the trip was at no cost to the taxpayer".In January, Hanson and Barnaby Joyce flew on Rinehart's luxury Gulfstream G700 from the Sunshine Coast to Mount Isa, after which they travelled on charter flights to flood-affected communities around Julia Creek to meet local mayors. Continue reading...

Refugee advocacy group warns migrants should not be used as scapegoats' as prime minister claims Coalition imitating One Nation policies

Guardian columnist Rafael Behr talks through a tumultuous day for Labour and Keir Starmer - following the resignation of health secretary Wes Streeting, and the renewed possibility of a Westminster comeback for Andy BurnhamAfter a week of speculation and gossip, Thursday seemed to be the day the Labour leadership contest really took off. Officially though, Keir Starmer is still in place ... and not going anywhere.Guardian columnist Rafael Behr talks through a frantic day that started with Wes Streeting's resignation as health secretary and ended with the very real possibility of his rival - Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham - returning to parliament. Continue reading...

Visit comes after US-Cuba relations deteriorated significantly, and as the island nation declared it had absolutely no fuel' because of US blockadeCIA director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday as a way to improve dialogue between the US and the communist-run island, the Cuban government said.The meeting took place in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations", a statement said. Continue reading...

We know that Mark Carney wants to sort of embrace Europe,' says competition director Martin GreenCanada is welcome to join Eurovision if it wishes, its director has said, months after the country revealed it wanted to explore" joining the song contest in its federal budget.Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC on Wednesday that Canada hadn't yet applied, but would be welcome to. Continue reading...

Charity says calls to its Childline service about online sexual abuse and exploitation have risen 36% in a yearChildren reported a rise in online blackmail attempts involving sexual images in the UK last year, according to a leading charity.The NSPCC said contacts with its Childline service relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, driven by an increase in cases related to online blackmail. Continue reading...

Export's performances scandalised Austria in the 1960s, but are now recognised for exposing the objectification of the female bodyValie Export, the Austrian performance artist and film-maker who inverted the male gaze in ways that were provocative, shocking and often outrageously fun, has died aged 85.The artist's own foundation announced on Thursday evening that Export died in Vienna earlier the same day, three days before her 86th birthday. Continue reading...

Health officials say close contacts being offered antibiotics as a precaution after cases discovered in ReadingA young person has died and two others are being treated after an outbreak of meningitis in Berkshire, health officials have said.It follows a major outbreak in Kent, linked to a Canterbury nightclub, that killed two people and left more than a dozen needing hospital treatment in March. Continue reading...

Media law experts cast doubt on viability of a defamation lawsuit promised by Netanyahu over Nicholas Kristof essayIsrael's prime minister, Benjamin Nethanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, have threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation over the publication of an essay by Nicholas Kristof detailing allegations that Palestinian women, men and children have been raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention.Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times," Israel's ministry of foreign affairs wrote in a social media post on Thursday. Continue reading...

Revelation seen as serious blow to candidacy of Flavio Bolsonaro, Brazil's leading rightwing presidential hopefulFlavio Bolsonaro, Brazil's leading rightwing presidential hopeful, has been caught on tape asking a banker accused of corruption for $26.8m (20m) to fund a film about his father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro.The leaked voice memos and text messages were published on Wednesday by the Intercept Brasil, and later acknowledged by Flavio Bolsonaro, a far-right senator who is tied in polls with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ahead of October's election. Continue reading...

There was wind, there was fire, there was Goodrem's remarkable upper-range - resulting in a refreshingly self-assured offering from Australia

Council of Europe members plan to change interpretation of rights laws to make it easier to deport peopleKeir Starmer's government has been accused of trying to water down legal protections for torture victims as ministers from 46 countries including the UK prepare to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a political declaration" on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR). Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor would need to win Makerfield seat before launching campaign for Labour leadershipAndy Burnham now has a potential route back to parliament and a chance to become Labour's next leader after an MP said he would trigger a byelection by standing down from his seat.The move ended days of speculation about whether Burnham could secure a possible path back into Westminster and underlined the increasingly precarious nature of Keir Starmer's premiership. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham has announced he will attempt to return to Westminster after the Labour MP Josh Simons said he will vacate his Makerfield seat in order for Burnham to run in a byelection. It follows a day of breaking news in which the health secretary, Wes Streeting, resigned, saying he has lost confidence in the prime minister, and Angela Rayner announced she had been cleared by the HMRC. Where does this leave Keir Starmer, the leadership of the Labour party, and the country? Continue reading...

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NHS experts and MPs say he told a good story' as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the road

Now former health secretary and Manchester mayor could be about to make an unlikely deal to oust Keir StarmerWho said the Labour party needs a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism ... It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates"?Until Thursday morning, almost everyone would have attributed those words to Andy Burnham, the mayor or Greater Manchester. But those were the closing paragraphs of the former health secretary Wes Streeting's resignation letter, a cadence so similar to Burnham's own that it cannot be accidental. Continue reading...

Standards watchdog investigating money from crypto billionaire which Reform UK leader now says was reward' for Brexit

Singer-songwriter, and former husband of Candi Staton, was blind from birth and had further hits including Slip Away and Back Door SantaClarence Carter, the US soul singer who had numerous hits including the transatlantic 1970 smash Patches, has died aged 90.His management company confirmed his death to the Guardian, saying he died on Wednesday following complications with pneumonia. Continue reading...

Island breathes sigh of relief as fears recede that US could jettison longstanding support

Veteran broadcaster accuses channel of clear violations' of Ofcom's due impartiality rules

Exhibition of Melsonby hoard in York challenges ideas about life in northern Britain 2,000 years agoIron age objects that tell a dramatic story of female power and which dispel the myth that northern Britain was a left-behind backwater have gone on display for the first time.The objects exhibited in York are from the Melsonby hoard, the largest trove of iron age metalwork ever found in the UK, which experts say could alter our understanding of life in Britain 2,000 years ago. Continue reading...

William Majcher was accused of helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to ChinaA retired police officer Canada accused of being an agent for China has been acquitted of national security charges after prosecutors failed to prove he acted illegally.William Majcher, who served in the RCMP's financial crime unit, was charged in 2023 over allegations he had breached Canada's Security of Information Act by helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China. Continue reading...

Prof Abbas Rajabifard of the University of Melbourne says he was listed as a co-author of research with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator in recent peace talks, without his knowledge

Jim Chalmers' budget tips the scales in favour of younger and less well-off households - but it's middle-class gen X that are turning to the rightwing party

Outgoing health secretary declares Labour's plan for the NHS is working' as hospitals hit key targetHospitals in England have hit a key target for improving the time it takes patients to get treatment, which prompted Wes Streeting to declare that Labour's plan for the NHS is working" before departing as health secretary.Streeting had told the NHS to ensure that hospitals treated at least 65% of patients within 18 weeks by the end of March. New NHS England figures published on Thursday showed that hospitals did so, treating 65.3% of people on the NHS waiting list within that timeframe in March. Continue reading...

Streeting, who is on the party's right, had long been rumoured to be gathering support for tilt at leadership