Holiday park firms say such bookings are on the rise because of impact of Iran war on aviationHoliday companies have predicted a surge in bookings for UK summer breaks after a jump in interest from Britons fearful of flight cancellations linked to the Iran war.Summer bookings are expected to rise in the coming weeks amid warnings of possible jet fuel shortages and resulting cancellations by airlines across Europe. Continue reading...

Exclusive: George Robertson calls on officials to identify the fit and willing' in UK's 95,000-strong strategic reserveThe Ministry of Defence has lost track of military veterans they intend to recall at a time of national danger, according to a key government adviser.About 95,000 former soldiers and officers are in the strategic reserve but it is claimed that officials have failed to maintain a full record of their contact details. Continue reading...

Filings suggest manufacturers' lending arms have massively underestimated bill from FCA's 9.1bn redress schemeCarmakers are under pressure to drum up 3bn to cover payouts for motor finance scandal victims after failing to adequately prepare for a UK-wide compensation scheme that is due to begin this summer.Company filings show the lending arms of big vehicle manufacturers including Ford, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen may have massively underestimated the final costs of the financial regulator's 9.1bn redress scheme. Continue reading...

The Albanese government overhauled policy and promised significant pollution cuts - but carbon offsets are still being used as an excuse

Two men died at the scene after head-on motorway collision near Kincross, Police Scotland sayTwo drivers have died in a motorway crash in Scotland involving a car apparently travelling in the wrong direction on the carriageway, police have said.The two men died at the scene of the collision on the M90 near Kinross, a town in Perth and Kinross, at 10.30pm on Friday. Continue reading...

Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party's checks clearly not fit for purpose'Reform UK's checks on candidates are clearly not fit for purpose", Labour has said after two more candidates in May's local elections were accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts.Meanwhile, it emerged that Restore Britain, the party set up by the MP Rupert Lowe after he left Reform, appeared to have accepted a donation from someone who has called publicly on social media for another Hitler" to come to power. Continue reading...

Exiled leader to revive push for change amid US backing of Delcy Rodriguez and delays to democratic transitionVenezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, will seek to revive her push for political change with a rally in Madrid on Saturday, having found herself sidelined by Donald Trump after the abduction of the president Nicolas Maduro.Venezuela will be free," the Nobel peace prize winner insisted in an interview on the eve of this weekend's demonstration in the Puerta del Sol square, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of protesters. Continue reading...

Victoria Bonya says authorities too scared to raise issues with Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings are decliningThe Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from the viral spread of a celebrity blogger's criticism of Russian authorities, as Vladimir Putin's approval ratings register their sixth consecutive weekly decline.Victoria Bonya, a household name in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Dom-2, the country's answer to the reality TV show Big Brother, posted a video on Monday warning the Russian president that a string of mounting problems risked spiralling out of control. Continue reading...

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Growing numbers in the capital Honiara are playing the street card game Pass for a chance of a big payout, while risking big lossesAs the school day ends in Honiara, *Irene, a 43-year-old teacher in a floral dress with a yellow daisy in her bun, steps on to a minibus.After 10 minutes, Irene gets off the bus, walks down an alley, and enters a damp, smoky shelter. Plastic tables fill the space and playing cards are scattered on the floor. Irene has stopped by a hidden gambling table in a western suburb of Honiara to play Pass, a street card game gaining popularity in the Solomon Islands capital. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Officials have spent weeks debating whether or not to release highly sensitive information about the affairKeir Starmer was left in the dark about sensitive information relating to Peter Mandelson's security vetting by two other top civil servants, including the head of the civil service, the Guardian can reveal.The prime minister said on Friday that it was unforgivable" and staggering" that senior officials did not tell him that Mandelson failed a security vetting process weeks before he took up his role as ambassador to Washington. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says it is staggering' and unforgivable' that he was not told Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting before taking up the role of US ambassador. The comments follow a Guardian investigation that exclusively revealed Mandelson had initially been denied clearance after a background check by security officials, but that the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian's head of investigations, Paul Lewis - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Opposition accuses Narendra Modi government of using quotas as cover for redrawing electoral mapThe Indian government has failed to pass a bill to increase female representation in parliament after being accused of using the plan as a guise to redraw the country's electoral map.It was the first time in 12 years in power that a constitutional amendment proposed by Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government was not passed by parliament. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer understood to have lost confidence in official over decision to override security vetting failure

Accumulations of up to 3cm deep reported as severe thunderstorms also bring heavy downpours to central ItalySevere thunderstorms have affected the Mediterranean this week. On Monday, a surface low-pressure system in the Mediterranean in conjunction with an upper air cut-off low, led to thunderstorms over north Africa. Their intensity was aided by the hot precursor conditions.Algeria and Tunisia were notably affected by the thunderstorms, with some hail accumulation layers as a result. When so much hail forms, it starts to lay down sheets of hail, covering the ground like snow. Hail accumulations of up to 3cm were reported in Oum Ladjoul and Hammam Sokhna in Algeria, and there were hailstones of up to 3cm in diameter in Makthar, Tunisia. Thunderstorms continued in the region through the following day, with further hail accumulations, notably in Ouled Bousmir, Tunisia, where there was a layer about 2cm deep. Continue reading...

Though welcomed by chefs and campaigners, many schools say the government's plan to remove grab and go' options from the menu is a step too farIt is lunchtime at Richard Challoner school, a Catholic comprehensive for boys in New Malden, south-west London. The familiar smell of school lunch is beginning to waft around the corridors.In the canteen, there is a moment of calm as the kitchen team make final preparations before year 7 descend - a mass of chatting, laughing boys, with backpacks swinging and empty tummies grumbling. Continue reading...

Tony award-winning actor will play lead role of Judith Bliss in Noel Coward's comedy at Wyndham's theatre in LondonChristine Baranski is to make her West End debut alongside Richard E Grant in a revival of Noel Coward's comedy Hay Fever. The US star, known for her TV roles in The Good Fight and The Gilded Age, says she is looking forward to tearing a passion to tatters" in the 1925 play about a family toying with their guests at a country house party.She will star as the newly retired actor Judith Bliss, with Grant playing her novelist husband. Baranski has twice won the Tony award for best featured actress in a play - with New York productions of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing in 1984 and Neil Simon's Rumors in 1989. She also appeared in the comedies Hurlyburly (in 1985) and Boeing-Boeing (in 2008) on Broadway. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbonMore than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters.The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a trophic cascade" of climate and ecological benefits. Continue reading...

Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been red flagged' after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to EdinburghA German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week.Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be a serious administrative error". Continue reading...

How much fuel does Australia have left today, and when could we run out? Track how much petrol and diesel prices have risen near you in Sydney, Melbourne and across the country.

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues hereIran has stopped all petrochemical exports to prioritise domestic supply and prevent shortages of raw materials, Reuters reported.The state-owned National Petrochemical Company ordered firms to suspend exports until further notice. Continue reading...

Duke and Duchess of Sussex also met with emergency workers and Sydney Jewish Museum representatives on final day of Australia trip

Jay Bryant negotiating plea deal in New York death of Run-DMC star, over which one conviction has been overturnedOne of the three men charged in the killing of Jam Master Jay plans to plead guilty, court records show, in what would be the first admission anyone has made in court to any role in the Run-DMC star's death in 2002.Jay Bryant pleaded not guilty to murder after his 2023 indictment, but his lawyer and federal prosecutors told the court in recent letters that they were negotiating a plea agreement. Continue reading...

Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote probably quite reasonable'Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.Farage said earlier this week he believed genuine nationalists" would not support the Scottish National party's bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation uncovers decision by UK security officials to deny clearance before Mandelson took up role as US ambassador

No injuries and no damage reported in Wembley incident and Met says it is not being treated as terrorismA teenager and two men have been arrested after an attempted arson attack at the offices of a Persian media organisation in north-west London, the Metropolitan police said.Officers on patrol were told at about 8.30pm on Wednesday that an ignited container" had been thrown towards the site in Wembley, landing in a car park where the fire immediately died out. There were no injuries and no damage was reported. Continue reading...

There will be flight cancellations soon' if oil supplies are not restored in coming weeks, says head of IEA

Case of businessman using AI to generate false letters of complaint against Heaven nightclub part of a growing issue, say policeA businessman has pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to shut down a nightclub, which police believe were generated using AI.A Metropolitan police source said the use of AI to generate letters by complainants who do not exist is a growing issue. Continue reading...

California supreme court upholds lower court decision as Eastman says he will appeal to US supreme courtJohn Eastman, a lawyer who played a key role in Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election, officially lost his law license in California on Wednesday.The California supreme court upheld a 2024 ruling from a state judge, who recommended Eastman be disbarred. Eastman exhibited gross negligence by making false statements about the 2020 election without conducting any meaningful investigation or verification of the information he was relying upon", Judge Yvette Roland wrote in 2024. Continue reading...

Sarah Mullally urges Anglicans to join Leo's courageous' call and says human cost of war is incalculableThe archbishop of Canterbury has said she is standing in solidarity with Pope Leo XIV's calls for peace amid his public feud with Donald Trump.Days after the US president objected to comments from the head of the Catholic church suggesting a delusion of omnipotence" was fuelling the US-Israeli war in Iran, Sarah Mullally urged Anglicans to join Leo's courageous" call. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Minns government announces contract with Snowy Energy to power public transport in seven-year contract

Users of share cars will need to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket

Experts say US market may have run ahead of itself', while the ASX 200's more modest recovery is due in part to Australia's reliance on fuel imports

Heather Hallett hails vaccine scheme but criticises rule that only those meeting 60% disabled threshold can get payoutsThe UK's Covid vaccination programme was an extraordinary feat" with protective jabs developed and delivered in record time, but work is now needed to rebuild trust in vaccines and ensure better access before the next pandemic strikes, an official inquiry has found.Lady Hallett, the chair of the statutory inquiry into the pandemic, said the vaccine rollout and the identification of an inexpensive steroid that saved the lives of thousands of UK patients, were two of the success stories" of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Lisa Nandy says BBC staff have been strongly affected and have expressed frustration that high-paid presenters and executives are unlikely to be affectedThe BBC's sudden announcement of 2,000 job cuts has had a very strong effect" on staff, the UK's culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said, as employees expressed frustration that highly paid presenters and senior staff would not be the prime targets of the cuts.Nandy, who has been having conversations with BBC staff during discussions about the broadcaster's charter renewal, is understood to be keen for employees to be involved in making the cost-cutting plan, which will affect as many as 10% of the broadcaster's 21,000 staff over the next three years. Continue reading...

Retrial ordered in case of Benjamin Field, found guilty in 2019 of murdering Peter Farquhar, 69, in BuckinghamshireA church warden who was jailed for life for the murder of a university lecturer has had his conviction quashed at the court of appeal and a retrial has been ordered.Benjamin Field was jailed for at least 36 years in 2019 after being found guilty of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire. Continue reading...

Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name - and others have fought off the lawsuitsThe actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country's national spirit: Pedro Piscal.David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants. Continue reading...

Journalist Will Coldwell tells the story of how a British businessman was imprisoned in Dubai - and how his family finally got him homeWhen Albert Douglas found out he was facing a long prison sentence in Dubai, he tried to escape the UAE ... and failed. What followed was years of court proceedings, time in prison and even, Douglas says, beatings and torture.In recent years, scores of business owners, unsuspecting tourists and influencers have been detained in Dubai - caught up in an opaque legal system, charged with breaking laws they may not even have been aware of. Continue reading...

DHS accused of false and misleading statements about Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez who was shot in faceFederal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and charged him with assault" on a federal officer.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was shot by ICE officers on 7 April in Patterson, a rural town in California's Central valley roughly 80 miles south-east of San Francisco. He was hit by more than six bullets, including in the face, according to his attorney. Continue reading...

Decision to seek contact ban orders for people who repeatedly call about non-criminal matters is believed to be UK firstPeople who call with complaints about their neighbours could face a contact ban for wasting police resources, a police force has said.In a social media post on the weekend, North Wales police (NWP) said they had responded to four antisocial behaviour callouts in 24 hours for disputes such as neighbours who don't put their bins away or kids playing in the garden making too much noise during the day". Continue reading...

Regulator says tool, which creates reports for humans to review, has helped classify entire UK catalogue of HBO MaxTV shows including The Pitt and a Game of Thrones spinoff have received age ratings in the UK after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) deployed AI to help flag contentious scenes.The BBFC developed a tool to identify content that triggers compliance issues, such as violence, nudity and bad language. The flagged scenes were then passed over to BBFC staff for human review. Continue reading...

Peter Magyar's stunning victory in Hungary is a boost for liberal democracy. But don't bank on similar upsets in upcoming European electionsWhen future historians come to write about the stunning electoral overthrow of Viktor Orban on 12 April 2026, let's hope they devote at least footnotes to zebras and golden toilet brushes. The zebras were spotted by drones on the sprawling grounds of a countryside palace belonging to Orban's extended family. The 72 gilded toilet brushes were said to have been bought at a cost of almost 10,000, for a lavish renovation of Hungary's central bank. For Orban's opponents, such excesses became symbols of the rampant corruption among cronies of Orban's ruling party Fidesz, which drained Hungary's economy and earned the country the worst ranking on the crookedness league tables in the EU, as Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi reported.In the end, it was disgust with corruption and how that corruption affected people's livelihoods that were the main factors behind Sunday's election rout. But the landslide achieved by Peter Magyar's Tisza party - despite an electoral system designed to favour Fidesz - suggests that these eye-popping details were merely the last straws for a population desperate to reclaim their country as a functioning democracy. Continue reading...

Narwhal Labs ad for AI employee' contains strapline: She outworks everyone. And she'll never ask for a raise'A British AI company that recently secured millions of pounds of investment has been accused of running a misogynistic and sexist advertising campaign.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received at least seven complaints about the campaign by Narwhal Labs, which includes an advert depicting a woman next to the strapline: She outworks everyone. And she'll never ask for a raise." Continue reading...

David Parrish, who won Cape Wrath Ultra in 2023, had been attempting gruelling route again as fundraising challengeA 35-year-old ultramarathon champion from Dumfries has died while attempting to beat the record for a race to the most north-westerly point on mainland Britain.David Parrish, a former Royal Marine, was trying to become the fastest man to complete the Cape Wrath trail, one of Britain's most gruelling race routes. Continue reading...

Burke says Taylor chasing votes lost to One Nation while cricket great urges opposition to admit policy would discriminate against Muslims

Promotion of bitcoin treasury' firm with Kwasi Kwarteng draws new attention to Reform leader's relations with industryA thumping electronic beat provides the soundtrack to the video as Nigel Farage appears in front of a bank of screens.At first glance, it could be yet another of the Reform UK leader's second jobs" - whether promoting gold as a pension fallback or recording Cameo videos. And in a sense, it is: Farage is promoting a 2m cryptocurrency purchase by a company in which he has 215,000 invested, Stack BTC. Continue reading...

Pyongyang making very serious' progress on producing weapons, with rapid rise in activity at main nuclear complexNorth Korea has made very serious" progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has said, in another sign that the regime is seeking to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure its survival.North Korea is thought to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, although some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them so they can be attached to long-range ballistic missiles. Continue reading...

Judgment will rule on whether spoils of some of Hancock Prospecting's iron ore projects must be shared with family of her father's business partner

Incentives to absorb surplus wind and solar energy could help balance the grid and lower bills

Suspect arrested but not identified and has allegedly made similar threats to OpenAI's San Francisco headquartersA 20-year-old man allegedly tossed a molotov cocktail at the home of Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, before the sun rose on Friday, according to statements from San Francisco police.The suspect, who allegedly threw the fire bomb at the $27m North Beach residence around 4.12am, has been arrested but not identified. The same person allegedly threatened to torch OpenAI's headquarters in the city. No injuries were reported. Continue reading...