When politicians talk common sense' it's time to worry; when the Tory leader does, it's time to be doubly vigilantYou know how it is. You're a middle class, straight white man in his 60s in A&E. Possibly the most disadvantaged person in the entire country. You complain of chest pains. In the adjoining triage queue there is a black woman with what looks like a broken toe. You know what happens next. The black woman is seen within minutes. You have a cardiac arrest on the waiting room floor.Said no one ever. There may be times when there simply aren't enough staff in the A&E department. There may also be times when a doctor under pressure fails to make the right diagnosis. But no one for a minute believes they are being deliberately kept waiting any longer than necessary. The founding principle of the NHS is predicated on patients being treated according to the severity of their condition. Continue reading...
Pontiff appeals in Catalan for harmony on Barcelona leg of Spain tour after making football foes in cityTo the delight of many, Pope Leo XIV kicked off the Barcelona leg of his week-long visit to Spain with a few words in Catalan, calling on the faithful who had gathered in the city's cathedral on Tuesday to build harmony and communion beyond all polarisation".The pontiff's familiar and commendable plea for people to set aside their differences may, however, have come a little late. Three days earlier, while chatting to journalists on the flight to Spain, Leo had made an awkward confession. Continue reading...
US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor's intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rulesPalantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police.The Met had planned to use Palantir's software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK's largest police force and the mayor's office. Continue reading...
by Carlos Mureithi in Nairobi and agencies on (#766E6)
Police used teargas to disperse demonstrators in Nanyuki, 120 miles from Nairobi, amid rising anger at US plansA man has been shot in the head during a protest in a town in central Kenya against a proposed US Ebola quarantine facility for its citizens.Photographs from the scene appeared to show a person lying motionless on the ground. Continue reading...
by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent on (#766E7)
Audience members said baby's cooing and gurgling ruined Branagh's return to the RSC after 30 years, with some seeking refundsBoatswain! The opening scene of Shakespeare's seminal play The Tempest, in which Prospero conjures up a violent storm to shipwreck his treacherous brother, is enough to wake up anyone - let alone a baby.Audience members at a matinee performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production, starring Kenneth Branagh as Prospero, complained after a baby gurgled and cooed its way throughout the entire first half. Continue reading...
Father and mother of Annabel Rook praised her dedication to helping others and want to focus on her legacyA retired Old Bailey judge has paid tribute to his daughter after her killer was jailed for life.Today at Snaresbrook crown court, Clifton George, 45, was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the murder of Annabel Rook, 46, whom he stabbed in the living room of her own home in Stoke Newington, north London. Continue reading...
by Rory Carroll, Vikram Dodd and Helena Horton on (#7669B)
Prime minister says he has no tolerance for such attacks after man arrested on suspicion of attempted murderPolice in Northern Ireland have arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder and declared a critical incident after a stabbing in Belfast.The suspect was in custody and the victim was in a serious condition in hospital after the attack on Monday night that prompted widespread shock and condemnation. Continue reading...
Gabriel Raimondo, who put his studies on hold to run in Channel Islands, is one of world's youngest politiciansMost politicians who win an election in Jersey are probably satisfied with a pat on the back from their supporters and a mention in the local newspapers.But after becoming one of the youngest politicians in the world, Gabriel Raimondo received a message of congratulations from Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Co-op academy in Blackley to close for day after students were locked down in classrooms during attackA schoolgirl has been arrested after two students and a staff member were stabbed at a school in Manchester.Students were put into lockdown and told not to leave their classrooms after emergency services were called to the Co-op academy in Blackley on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...
Ofcom move follows concerns about misinformation and online claims over police response to Henry Nowak stabbingSocial media companies have been ordered to have emergency measures in place to stop illegal content going viral, as regulators battle to stop the type of misinformation spiral that circulated after the 2024 summer riots.Sites such as X, formerly Twitter, and TikTok will have to have a crisis protocol" in place to intervene when the sharing of dangerous content begins to rise. Continue reading...
Tech company received infrastructure relief as its five biggest UK divisions generate 32bn in revenuesAmazon's main division in the UK was handed a 7.6m tax credit last year by HM Revenue and Customs, despite profits at the retail-to-streaming company surging by more than a quarter to 355m.Amazon UK Services - which employs 66,000 staff, the vast majority of the company's 75,000 employees in Britain - said it owed 9.1m in current tax" last year. Continue reading...
In an exclusive interview, Ukraine's president says he believes the war will be won when Russian society feels its impact. Plus, why California's election count is taking so long (hint: it's not fraud)
Former pornographer, who owns 38.8% of club, has been accused of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviourThe football regulator could force David Sullivan to sell his stake in West Ham United after the former pornography billionaire was accused of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour against women over several decades.The 77-year-old announced his resignation as a director and co-chair of the football club on Saturday, ahead of a joint investigation by the BBC and the Times reporting on seven women accusing him of sexual misconduct. Continue reading...
Updated Pentagon list includes swathe of China's top technology firms in move that could inflame tensions between the countriesThe US added Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, internet search provider Baidu and carmaker BYD to a list of companies it believes are aiding Beijing's military, in a move that could inflame tensions between the countries.The long-awaited update released on Monday supersedes a list from early 2025, and comes less than a month after Donald Trump met China's Xi Jinping on a visit to Beijing, where the two leaders maintained a delicate trade war truce. Continue reading...
Darren Sharper, who pleaded guilty or no contest to raping women in four states, is projected to be released in 2028Admitted serial rapist and former National Football League champion Darren Sharper has been transferred from federal prison to a halfway house program with his projected 2028 release date nearing.In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, a US Bureau of Prisons (BoP) spokesperson said Sharper, 50, was transferred on 27 May from a federal correctional institution near Elkton, Ohio, to community confinement" overseen by the agency's residential re-entry management office in Baltimore. Continue reading...
Musician who spliced jazz, funk and blues, including in a spell on a major label in the early 1980s, was celebrated as fearless' by his familyJames Blood Ulmer, the US guitarist celebrated for his avant garde splicing of jazz, blues and funk, has died aged 86.A statement on social media said he died on 3 June. His music was fearless, and so was his spirit," his family added in another statement. Continue reading...
Athlete Hannah Babalola says she was told to use the toilet without an aisle chair or leave Cape Town to Amsterdam flightThe Dutch airline KLM has offered sincere apologies" to a Paralympic athlete who was denied access to an onboard wheelchair during a long-haul flight so she could go to the toilet.The cabin crew on the flight later called the police after the request from Hannah Babalola, 37, who is paraplegic and competes in track events, for the wheelchair, known as an aisle chair as it is narrow enough to be used inside a plane. They first handed her a written notice, headed: Unacceptable conduct and final warning on behalf of the captain of this plane." Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem and Seham Tantesh in Ga on (#7665Z)
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya now in cell barely big enough to sit in, says son, after UN experts demanded his release in MarchThe son of a prominent Palestinian doctor detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and held for more than 500 days without formal charges has spoken of his deep concern for his father's wellbeing after he was transferred without explanation to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, was detained at work on 27 December 2024. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said last week it had received information indicating that the 53-year-old had been transferred from Ketziot prison to Ramon prison, part of the Ganot prison complex, where he had been put in solitary confinement. PHRI said it had not been told the reasons for the transfer. Continue reading...
Sources say much delayed Dip is close to sign-off but only after some of the Labour government's worst infightingCabinet relations have been left badly damaged by the protracted row over the defence investment plan (Dip), according to Whitehall sources who say the standoff has led to some of the worst infighting since Labour took power.Ministers are putting the final touches on the plan, which is expected to be published in the coming weeks after departments agreed to cut their capital budgets by about 1% to pay for additional military spending. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Landscape painter was also a keen musician and played a cello made for him by his friend and mentorHe was one of Britain's greatest landscape painters, with masterpieces including The Hay Wain and View on the Stour near Dedham But John Constable was also a keen musician - and his personal cello, which he commissioned, is to be played in public for the first time in 100 years after its restoration.The instrument was made in 1802 and it is thought Constable may have played it in a local band in his home village of East Bergholt in Suffolk. Continue reading...
Short story collection All Around the World will be available for 1 in bid to widen access to quality fictionAn initiative that aims to widen access to Booker prize-winning authors is set to launch this week, as research finds that more than a third of UK adults find it hard to read books through to the end.The Booker Prize Foundation is launching a short story collection entitled All Around the World, including works by the Booker prize winners Anne Enright, David Szalay and International Booker prize nominee Nadifa Mohamed. The collection was curated by another former winner, Roddy Doyle. Continue reading...
Protectionist measures will deal blow to country's budget as it defends itself against Russia, says Metinvest chiefNew EU limits on steel imports could destroy Ukraine's industry and deal a big blow to the country's budget as it defends itself against Russia, according to the head of its biggest steelmaker.Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the chief executive of Metinvest, said the new EU quota system due on 1 July could kill the Ukrainian steel industry". Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#76665)
As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that lastAs the weeks ticked down to her departure from Downing Street in 2019, Theresa May had a plan. Not only did she want to put a net zero target into law, but she wanted the UK to be the first major economy to do so. And that meant beating the French.It required the machinery of government to move more quickly than the French parliament," a No 10 official from the time recalls. And it worked: the UK target came into force in June 2019, six weeks before May handed over to Boris Johnson, and five months before the French. She had her legacy. Continue reading...
by Interview by Luke Harding and Pippa Crerar. Photog on (#76653)
In a wide-ranging interview, an upbeat Ukrainian president also discusses Donald Trump, King Charles, and how Kyiv is prepared to share its experience of drone warfare with the westSitting down with the Guardian in London, Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems cheerful. More than four years after Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion, he believes Europe's biggest war since 1945 appears to be slowly turning in Ukraine's favour. The military situation is the most promising it has been for Kyiv for two and a half years, Zelenskyy says. We can't say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day," he insists.Over the past week the Kremlin has suffered a series of setbacks. Long-range Ukrainian drones have hit Putin's home city of St Petersburg, setting fire to oil terminals and sending smoke billowing above the skyline. Similar attacks have crippled occupied Crimea. A key supply road is littered with burning lorries and tankers and the peninsula seized by Russia in 2014 is experiencing severe fuel shortages. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#76655)
Proposals considered by government would strengthen protections for parents forced to become full-time carersThousands of parents who are forced to become full-time carers after their child becomes seriously ill would be entitled to financial support and job protections under new Hugh's law" proposals being floated by the government.Hugh's law is named after Hugh Menai-Davis, who was six when he died in 2021 just under a year after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and undergoing 10 months of intensive treatment, much of it in hospital. Continue reading...
Measures being considered to crack down on practice that has grown as a result of Britain's housing crisisLondon councils could be banned from dumping" homeless families hundreds of miles across England under measures being considered by ministers, the Guardian has learned.MPs said vulnerable people, including women fleeing abuse, were being coerced" into choosing between rough sleeping or moving to cheap, sparsely furnished properties in some of the poorest parts of the country. Continue reading...
People told not to enter damaged buildings for fear of aftershocks from magnitude-7.8 quakeAt least 37 people have died and hundreds have been injured after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, collapsing buildings and triggering tsunami alerts.The quake hit early in the morning about 20km (12.4 miles) off the coast of Sarangani province, with tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and 420km away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Continue reading...
by Presented by Annie Kelly with Leon Krauze, produce on (#7663F)
Football fans are celebrating the tournament coming to Guadalajara. But with a brutal crime syndicate holding sway there, what are the risks for fans - and the government?Excitement is mounting in Mexico as the World Cup opens in Mexico City, then heads to the city of Guadalajara.Mexican journalist Leon Krauze is a fan. He was there the last time the World Cup came to Mexico and will be watching again. The city of Guadalajara has a mythical footballing past: Pele's Brazil played there in 1970, then Zico and Socrates played there in 1986. There is a real football memory there, a love affair between Guadalajara and football in general, and I expect it to be a wonderful party." Continue reading...
Two new rape complaints have been filed against the 67-year-old singer and actor, who denies the claimsFrench singer and actor Patrick Bruel, facing sexual assault allegations from multiple women, was taken into police custody on Monday, as two new rape complaints were filed against him.The 67-year-old, a major figure in French pop culture with multiple top-selling albums and more than 40 film appearances, is being questioned about 13 victims, the prosecutor's office in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre said in a statement.Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Continue reading...
Prediction market apps are doubling down on paid content creators denying election results, asking them to remove posts or lose sponsorshipPopular online prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket will prohibit paid creators and affiliates from denying election results, NPR reports, as online creators spread misinformation about California's election.In a social media post, Bobby Allyn, NPR technology reporter, reports: Kalshi now says it prohibits paid creators from calling into question the integrity or accuracy of an election, legal ruling or official determination in connection with an election. Continue reading...
by Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent on (#7660X)
Exclusive: Analysis shows 72.5% of 91 judgments in England and Wales contained judicial victim-blaming, with mothers scrutinised more intenselyA report has found widespread and concerning evidence" of bias and victim-blaming in the family courts - primarily disadvantaging women.The report, Scratching the Surface: Victim-Blaming and Bias in Family Court Judgments, by the nonprofit organisation Right to Equality, will be shared with MPs on Tuesday at an event in parliament. Continue reading...