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Lawyer criticised US president at Global Conference for Media Freedom alongside Jeremy HuntThe lawyer Amal Clooney has joined the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in criticising Donald Trump’s attacks on the media, saying the US President has emboldened individuals who wish to persecute journalists.“The country of James Madison has a leader today who vilifies the media, making honest journalists all over the world more vulnerable to abuse,” said Clooney, referencing the former president who helped ensure freedom of speech is enshrined in the US constitution. Continue reading...

C of E’s John Sentamu admits lack of support for victim but denies he made personal mistakesThe archbishop of York has admitted the Church of England’s treatment of a vicar who was raped as a teenager by another cleric was “shabby and shambolic” but denied he had made personal mistakes in the case.John Sentamu told the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse that more support should have been given by the church to the Rev Matthew Ineson when he told of his abuse. The archbishop accepted an earlier description by the bishop of Bath and Wells that Ineson’s treatment was “shabby and shambolic”. Continue reading...

Italian actor remembered for her roles in Day for Night, The Wandering Jew and The House on Telegraph HillWhen Ingrid Bergman received her Oscar as best supporting actress for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), she concluded her acceptance speech by saying: “Please forgive me, Valentina. I didn’t mean to.” She was referring to the vibrant Italian actor Valentina Cortese, who was nominated alongside her for her role in François Truffaut’s La Nuit Américaine (Day for Night, 1973).In that film, Cortese, who has died aged 96, played Severine, an ageing star who quaffs champagne while working, cannot find the right door to enter or exit, and blames her failure to remember her lines on the makeup girl. Cortese was already an established actor with the best part of her career behind her at the time of Truffaut’s inspirational casting. “A real character, extremely feminine and very funny,” he remarked of her at the time. Continue reading...

Concerns raised that delay to declare major incident could have left more people at riskConcerns have been raised about the response to the second Wiltshire novichok poisonings after it emerged that one of the victims was treated for the effects of the nerve agent three days before a major incident was declared.It was only after that delay that some scenes that could have been infected with novichok were sealed off, potentially meaning more people could have been exposed to danger. Continue reading...

German chancellor began trembling at reception for Finnish prime ministerAngela Merkel has insisted she is in good health after experiencing a third bout of shaking in as many weeks at a public event in Berlin.The German chancellor was seen trembling during military honours for Finland’s prime minister, Antti Rinne, in the forecourt of her chancellery on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Five boys aged between 12 and 14 held over ‘grave sexual crime’ in MülheimThe alleged rape of a woman by a group of teenagers in the Ruhr city of Mülheim has shocked Germany and sparked a debate about the age of criminal responsibility.Five boys – three 14-year-olds and two aged 12 – were detained by police on Friday night in relation to a “grave sexual crime”. Continue reading...

Forty years ago, Mikhail Gorbachev told his East European allies that each should be free to pursue its own path within the Warsaw Treaty – a declaration that would set the stage for revolutions and the crumbling of the Communist blocSoviet leader explains his vision for an undivided continent in the 21st century complete with free choice and economic reform

Tristram Hunt says museum is grateful for support of Sacklers, owners of Purdue Pharma

The Irish economy is thriving, but it masks an underlying inequality that’s still holding back women in the workplaceAny UK or Irish politician voicing in 2019 the opinion that a woman’s place is in the home would be condemned. Yet that attitude is still enshrined in the Irish constitution – and it’s symptomatic of a wider problem in the country that’s holding back women in the workplace, especially in low-paid public service jobs.Since 1937, despite growing calls for an update, article 41.2 of the the Irish constitution has stated that economic necessity should not force mothers to work “to the neglect of their duties in the home”. Last year, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said the phrase should either be abolished or changed. Continue reading...

Government’s official climate advisers say the lack of proper plans to cope with heatwaves and flash floods is ‘shocking’The government’s own advisers have declared themselves shocked that the UK has no proper plans for protecting people from heatwaves, flash flooding and other impacts of the climate crisis.The Committee on Climate Change said the UK’s climate crisis preparations were being run like Dad’s Army and left the population at real risk, adding that funding for programmes to tackle problems resulting from global heating had been cut.

Rolling coverage of the day’s political news, including the row over the UK ambassador’s leaked memos and latest on Tory leadership contest

Housing provider is expected to enter first premises and change locks in next few daysA coalition of refugee and housing charities in Scotland is urging Serco to halt the “inhumane” eviction of hundreds of refused asylum seekers, days before the private housing provider is expected to enter the first premises in Glasgow and change the locks.Amid a desperate flurry of litigation aimed at preventing hundreds of asylum seekers in the city being made destitute, Fiona McPhail, principal solicitor at Shelter Scotland, said: “We are convinced that lock-change evictions due to be carried out by Serco are illegal and should not be going ahead … we call upon Serco to halt lock-change evictions until the law is clarified in ongoing litigation.” Continue reading...

Westminster government has said it will honour both results despite ministerial doubtsMPs have voted resoundingly to extend both same-sex marriage and access to abortion to Northern Ireland, bringing the region into line with the rest of the UK on two of the most significant social issues of the era.The Commons voted 383 to 73 to pass the same-sex marriage amendment to a largely technical bill on the stalled Northern Ireland assembly, tabled by the Labour MP Conor McGinn, a longstanding campaigner for equal marriage in Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Alleged fantasist tells court he did not inform police about trip on which he says he was abusedA former nurse accused of lying about a murderous VIP paedophile ring has made a fresh claim which he did not disclose to police, telling a court he was flown to Paris on a private jet to be abused as a child.Carl Beech, 51, is alleged to have fabricated claims that he was among the victims of a group of high-profile establishment figures who he said raped, kidnapped and murdered boys in the late 1970s and early 80s. Continue reading...

Drug educator Paul Dillon says it’s ‘ludicrous’ to think pill testing will stop drug deaths, but Australia does need to try somethingOne in 20 year 10 students have tried ecstasy, an Australian drug educator has told an inquest into NSW music festival deaths.“It just baffles me,” Paul Dillon said in Sydney on Tuesday. “Certainly amongst young people, MDMA is the drug of the moment.” Continue reading...

Move clears way for papal nuncio Luigi Ventura to face criminal chargesThe Vatican has waived diplomatic immunity for its envoy to France, who is under investigation for sexual assault.The move – an indication of the Vatican’s tougher approach to sexual misconduct and abuse – clears the way for Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the apostolic nuncio, to face criminal charges. Continue reading...

Leader calls legislation ‘total failure’ but will not give in to demands for formal withdrawalHong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said a controversial extradition bill that has caused weeks of political crisis is “dead”, but has held back from completely withdrawing it.“There is no such plan. The bill is dead,” the chief executive said at a press conference on Tuesday. Lam said she felt “heartbroken” over the conflict caused by the proposed law, which she described as a “total failure”. Continue reading...

Hospital had inadequate staffing and lack of protocols, report findsSydney’s troubled Northern Beaches hospital opened in late 2018 without adequate planning or preparation and there were staffing issues weeks after it began receiving patients, according to a new report.The $600m public-private hospital came under scrutiny when it officially opened in November 2018. Continue reading...

New York couple is suing a Los Angeles fertility clinic after woman gives birth to other couples’ babiesA couple from New York is taking legal action against a fertility clinic claiming their IVF treatment left them pregnant with twins who were unrelated to them or each other.According to a lawsuit filed in New York by the married couple – referred to only as AP and YZ to “minimise the embarrassment and humiliation already caused” – they sought the services of CHA Fertility in Los Angeles last year after years of trying to conceive without success. Continue reading...

Beijing opposes the possible sale saying the US should understand the ‘damaging nature of their decision’The US State Department has approved the potential sale to Taiwan of $2.2bn in arms, including Abrams tanks and Stinger missiles, the Pentagon said on Monday.The announcement is likely to anger Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its territory and has previously expressed “serious concerns” about the possible sale. Continue reading...

In 1947, 50,000 volunteers helped create Dimitrovgrad, a new city that symbolised the brave new world of communist Bulgaria. Many still live thereIn her flat overlooking the main square of Dimitrovgrad, 90-year-old Maria Oteva casts her mind back more than seven decades to the foundation of the town in the early years of Bulgaria’s communist era.“Back then, 50,000 volunteers built this city because they believed in something,” she says. “Nowadays, you wouldn’t find 50 people to come and clean up the dirty streets.” Continue reading...

There are urgent calls for the Morrison government to change the deeming rate after the RBA cut the cash rate to 1%The deeming rate is the amount the government deems your income to be from your financial assets. It calculates the amount of income received from a financial asset regardless of the actual return. Continue reading...

Foreign Office says news organisations refused entry to London event over their ‘active role in spreading disinformation’

Absence detrimental to national interest and hindering foreign policy objectives, Lowy Institute review findsWomen are not just underrepresented in parliament, company boards and senior management – they are also missing from Australia’s international relations presence, an absence described as “detrimental to the national interest [which] hinders the achievement of our foreign policy objectives”.While gains have been made across some commonwealth departments, a Lowy Institute review of those public service agencies which deal with how Australia is presented to and deals with the world – trade, foreign affairs, defence, attorney general, home affairs, treasury, prime minister and cabinet and the nation’s intelligence agencies – lag significantly behind. Continue reading...

The Palais des Papes’ cat prowls through Pascal Rambert’s show, Christiane Jatahy sensationally channels Homer and the former French president makes a surprise appearance‘We are entering a time we had not imagined.” So intone several characters during Pascal Rambert’s vast and flabby Architecture (★★★☆☆), which opens this year’s Avignon festival in the cour d’honneur at Palais des Papes. Rambert – who writes, directs and designs – has his nine characters explore the brutal decline of a turn-of-the-century Viennese Jewish family. The show is posited as a warning of history repeating itself today, and – at four hours long – it is developed in panoramic breadth, each member of the ensemble cast being given a lengthy star turn. Despite the extraordinary talent on view (Emmanuelle Béart, Stanislas Nordey and Denis Podalydès are thrilling), the result is vacuous. The cataclysmic ending – played in a meta-shift to a chummy rehearsal room setting – is a navel-gazing copout after such a lengthy build-up.Only Pamplemousse, the site’s cat-in-residence, seemed to sense the mood correctly, making a slow diagonal prowl across the vast stage during a quiet scene, puncturing the pomposity and bringing things back down to Earth. Continue reading...

Chief executive has taken drastic action that was unpalatable to predecessorsWhen Christian Sewing took over as Deutsche Bank’s chief executive last year, the writing was on the wall for the German lender’s investment bank.Sewing has spent most of his near 30-year career at Deutsche working in commercial banking, audit and risk – not on the trading floor of the investment bank that grew to dominate the company in the 2000s and became a costly burden. Continue reading...

From Michelangelo’s suggestive David to a gender-fluid Hindu deity, cultural institutions are digging into their vaults to display once-hidden objects of same-sex desire and gender nonconformity‘Let’s let them know we’re all here,” says Dan Voh, addressing a crowd of at least 100 in a space just off the domed entrance hall of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. It’s the hottest day of the year so far, and the people fanning themselves with gallery maps have come to join the monthly LGBTQ tour, which Voh, a volunteer, helped set up four years ago. “On the count of three,” he bellows, “we’re just going to shout ‘queer’ – celebrating Stonewall, remembering how hard we fought to be here. One, two, three…” The word echoes off the barrel vaults of the sculpture hall and subsides as we head off in different directions – the tour is so popular that the group has to be split into at least six parties. Visitors are shown 10 or so objects throughout the museum, from a dress designed by Jean Cocteau to a sandstone sculpture of half-female, half-male deity Ardhanarishvara. The guides, who select the objects, are also volunteers, although the tours have been endorsed from on high: “Tristram [Hunt, the museum’s director] does write us very supportive letters,” Voh says. At the end, everyone goes for a drink.The tour’s burgeoning popularity is part of a more general “queering” of British museums that is gathering pace. Institutions across the UK are teasing out stories of same-sex desire and gender nonconformity in artefacts that have, until now, been left untold, or actively suppressed. In 2015, National Museums Liverpool launched a research project to identify objects with an LGBTQ connection, resulting in a trail that takes in four separate venues. Last year, the University of Cambridge began piloting a tour programme that takes in its classical archaeology, zoology and polar museums (gay penguins make an appearance). Building on an audio trail devised in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the British Museum recently announced it will offer volunteer-led tours around its permanent collection. And the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford has been awarded £91,200 in lottery funding to develop a series of exhibitions and permanent changes to its collection under the banner Beyond the Binary: Queering and Questioning Collections and Displays. Continue reading...

After steering New Democracy to landslide win, former banker says ‘hard work begins today’Greece’s outgoing prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has handed over power to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a former banker who navigated the centre-right New Democracy party to landslide victory in Sunday’s snap general elections.In a changing of the guard that was as subdued as it was swift, Mitsotakis assumed office after he was officially sworn in by the Orthodox country’s spiritual leader, Archbishop Ieronymos. Continue reading...

Buddhist heads likely removed by Taliban will go on display before being sent to KabulFourth-century Buddhist terracotta heads probably hacked off by the Taliban and found stuffed in poorly made wooden crates at Heathrow are to be returned to Afghanistan, where they will be star museum exhibits.The British Museum on Monday gave details of one of the most significant repatriation cases it has dealt with around the illegal looting of artefacts from Afghanistan and Iraq. Continue reading...

Outgoing PM has been on quite a journey but he doesn’t seem to have taken the Greek people with him

Massachusetts judge has ordered the accuser, his parents and his lawyer to appear in court if phone wanted by lawyers is not foundThe man who accused Kevin Spacey of groping him at a bar could be forced to testify about what happened to a cellphone wanted by lawyers for the Oscar-winning actor.A Massachusetts judge has ordered the accuser, his parents and his lawyer to appear in court on Monday if the phone cannot be found by then. Continue reading...

Man is said to have ascended without ropes and was spoken to by police afterwardsA free climber has scaled the Shard, one of the tallest buildings in Europe.The man was spoken to by police after the stunt but not arrested. He was seen on the side of the skyscraper at around 5.15am on Monday. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese concerned about reporters and whistleblowers being targeted inappropriatelyThe Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has called on the government to explain why the Australian federal police was able to access a journalist’s private travel records from Qantas as the two parties square off over press freedom.The call comes after reports this morning revealed that the travel records of the ABC reporter Dan Oakes were requested by the AFP as part of its investigation of the leak of classified documents into alleged misconduct among Australian troops in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

Residents and campaigners say fast-growing Sitka spruces are spoiling the landscape

Tens of thousands of protesters march to keep up the pressure on the Hong Kong government to withdraw a controversial extradition bill, in the latest of a series of mass rallies that have drawn millions of demonstrators over the past month. The march is planned to finish at the West Kowloon railway terminus, where high-speed trains link Hong Kong with mainland Chinese cities

Estimated 1.5 million people attended London parade“I’m trying to be a walking piece of political art,” said actor Billy Porter ahead of headlining London Pride. “Just as a human being, as an out black gay Christian man, my very existence is political.”The star of Kinky Boots and TV series Pose performed to thousands in Trafalgar Square on Saturday at what organisers claimed was the biggest, most inclusive Pride yet. About 30,000 people from more than 600 groups took part in the official parade through central London, which was attended by an estimated 1.5 million people. Continue reading...

Brumby 610 aircraft left William Creek airport and crashed on approach to Leigh Creek airport, police sayA pilot and his passenger from Queensland have been killed in a light plane crash in northern South Australia.Police have confirmed stud farmer Peter Gesler, 59, and his 48-year-old female passenger died after the plane crashed in scrubland near a small airport just before 6.30pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

Syrian Network for Human Rights says two-month offensive has left 130 children deadAt least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in north-western Syria began two months ago, according to rights groups and rescuers.Russian jets joined the Syrian army on 26 April in the biggest offensive against parts of rebel-held Idlib province and adjoining northern Hama provinces in the biggest escalation in the war between the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, and his enemies since last summer. Continue reading...

Catherine King says it’s too early to talk about ‘economically irresponsible’ measures that come in 2024-25The Labor frontbencher Catherine King says the party remains “concerned” about the cost of the third stage of the tax cut package, but says it is too early to commit to repealing the measure.King, who took over the infrastructure portfolio from Anthony Albanese following the 18 May election, defended Labor’s decision to back the full $158bn tax cut package despite holding concerns it was “economically irresponsible”. Continue reading...

Conserving Hawke House in Bordertown, South Australia important for Australia’s heritage, PM saysThe former prime minister Bob Hawke’s childhood home will be bought and renovated by the federal government.The Morrison government has committed $750,000 to protect Hawke House in Bordertown, South Australia, where Hawke was born in 1929. Continue reading...

One of the most important figures in Brazilian music who was known as the father of bossa novaJoão Gilberto, who has died aged 88, was one of the most important and best loved figures in Brazilian music, who played a key role in the development of bossa nova in the late 1950s and early 60s.Along with the composer Antônio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, he created a romantic, reflective new style in which samba rhythms were mixed with influences from the American “cool jazz” scene. As a guitarist, he pioneered a new technique that mixed the syncopated plucking of acoustic guitar chords with jazz-influenced harmonies and chord progressions, while as a singer his style was laid-back and understated. Continue reading...

Progressive politics must find ways to build areas of consensus while keeping an eye on hip pocket issuesBob Hawke, a political superstar, was a social democrat. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an up-and-coming star today, is a democratic socialist. While the vernacular has changed, the focus remains on the “social” part of the equation rather than the “democratic” one. The social bias draws support and condemnation in equal measure.Yet perhaps the left misses a trick when it allows the democratic aspect to be downplayed. Almost all in the broader left accept that you can’t implement a social program if you can’t build a democratic mandate for it. Continue reading...

More than 1 million people are expected to attend the nine-day San Fermin event in the northern Spanish cityPartygoers and bull-running fans packed the main square in Pamplona on Saturday to cheer the launch of a firecracker which marks the start of the northern Spanish city’s annual San Fermin festival.Decked out in white T-shirts and trousers stained pink by wine, the crowd danced and waved traditional red handkerchiefs bearing the image of the local patron saint, Fermin. Continue reading...

State government also has polystyrene containers and cups in its sights, and more single-use items could followSouth Australia will become the first Australian state to ban plastic straws, cutlery, and drink stirrers under a plan announced by the state government.The SA environment minister, David Speirs, said on Saturday the Liberal government would draft legislation to ban the single-use items this year before introducing the bill to parliament in 2020. Continue reading...

Depending on who you speak to, Le Freeport is a high-security storage facility or a money-laundering risk

Wife of sheikh is said to fear kidnap after disappearances of other female royalsPrincess Haya Bint al-Hussein’s flight to Britain is threatening to provoke a diplomatic crisis as her husband, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and a key UK ally in the Gulf, faces mounting criticism over his family’s treatment of women.The 45-year-old, a half-sister of the king of Jordan, is understood to be living in London in fear of kidnap following the alleged abductions of several close relatives. Continue reading...

A magnitude 5.4 aftershock followed Thursday’s 6.4 magnitude quake, the southern California region’s largest in two decadesA 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit southern California on Friday morning, one day after the region experienced its largest earthquake in two decades.Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude quake landed in the small city of Ridgecrest, 100 miles (160km) from Los Angeles, and renewed fears about the potential for the “big one” to hit the west coast in the future. Continue reading...