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The desire to see the back of the Tories seems to outweigh any considerations of policy - or whether Labour will actually deliver much positive changeNothing has changed": those were the ill-fated words during Theresa May's 2017 campaign. Things certainly did change, though - a large polling lead almost evaporated by polling day and a hung parliament was returned.In 2024, Rishi Sunak desperately needs a similar shift. But so far the British public seem unmoved. Voting intention, as measured by the opinion polls, remains much as it was when the election was called. Those intentions would see Sunak falling to something ranging between a significant and a historic defeat. Continue reading...

Outrage over social media post that rated Foxwell state secondary college students according to offensive terms including abduction material'

Sydney comedian Georgia Godworth admits she didn't realise she had spoken with famous Australian director on Newtown street until a month later

Martin Forde, who investigated allegations of racism in the party in 2022, says there is a perception that right-leaning figures get lenient treatmentA senior lawyer who investigated claims of racism within Labour said the party was underestimating" the impact its treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen was having on voters.Martin Forde KC was appointed by Keir Starmer to investigate allegations of sexism, racism and bullying in the Labour party after explosive allegations were made about the party's handling of antisemitism claims under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Continue reading...

MPs say Netherlands has responsibility as international criminal court's host and demand government holds Israel to accountThe Dutch government is under pressure to hold Israel to account for spying on and intimidating lawyers at the international criminal court, which is based in The Hague, with local parliamentarians calling for an independent investigation.An investigation published this week by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 and Local Call found that Israel used its intelligence agencies to surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior staff at the ICC to try to derail inquiries. Continue reading...

Police Scotland heavily criticised in report on 2015 incident near Stirling where Lamara Bell lay injured in car for three daysA young woman endured almost incomprehensible" suffering as she lay seriously injured next to her deceased boyfriend in their crashed car for three days after the incident was first reported to the police, a fatal accident inquiry has found.The organisational failure" of Police Scotland had fatal consequences for Lamara Bell", according to Sheriff James Williamson. Her suffering over a period of three days, terribly injured but conscious, is almost incomprehensible." Continue reading...

High Commission to meet leaders at university after currency crash in home country meant students couldn't pay for tuitionDelegates from the Nigerian high commission in London are to meet bosses from Teesside University to discuss the treatment of a group of students who were ordered to leave the UK after failing to meet tuition repayments.The Nigerian students were left distressed and in some cases suicidal after they were involuntarily withdrawn from their courses and ordered to leave, in what has been described as a serious diplomatic issue". Continue reading...

American Airlines plane forced to abort takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport as another flight cleared for landingThe Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport in which a plane was forced to brake to narrowly avoid a collision with another plane, the second near-collision at the airport in less than two months.At around 10.20am on Wednesday, Boston-bound American Airlines flight 2134, carrying approximately 100 passengers and crew, was cleared for takeoff and began to accelerate. Continue reading...

Our Nige at least manages to sound slightly plausible while talking utter rubbishIt's not hard to pick out where the power lies at any Reform party event. Just check out the middle-aged men with a tan. Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and David Bull all look like they've spent a suspiciously long time on the sunbed. Or maybe they've got a bulk offer on spray tan. Either way, you have to blink several times when you see them in the flesh. The glare is oppressive. Welcome to the party with heavy 1970s Benidorm vibes.Nigel Farage had insisted that when he first booked Glaziers Hall near London Bridge, it had been to announce that he was planning to stand as a candidate in the election. Like a lot of things Our Nige says, this may be wishful thinking. Or a straight porky. Check out the timings. Rishi Sunak calls a general election last Wednesday. Nige books the room the next day. All set to go. Then changes his mind within days. Mmm. Maybe not. Continue reading...

Ex-regional president Carles Puigdemont among high-profile beneficiaries after MPs approve law by 177 votes to 172Spanish MPs have given their final approval to the deeply divisive amnesty law that the country's socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, offered Catalan separatists in return for helping him back to power after last year's inconclusive general election.The new law, approved by 177 votes to 172 in Spain's 350-seat congress of deputies, will apply to about 400 people involved in the symbolic independence referendum of November 2014 and the illegal unilateral poll that followed three years later, which triggered Spain's worst political crisis in four decades. Continue reading...

Cairo seeks to keep lid on public anger and avoid escalation as IDF moves into Philadelphi corridor in breach of 1979 peace accordEgypt has reacted with a wall of silence to the Israeli takeover of a buffer zone in southern Gaza, in apparent defiance of a decades-old peace agreement, as Cairo sought to keep a lid on simmering public anger while also avoiding an escalation in tensions with Israel.Israel said on Wednesday that its forces had gained operational" control over the Philadelphi corridor - the Israeli military's code name for the 9-mile-long (14km) strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border. Under the terms of the 1979 peace accord between Egypt and Israel, each side is allowed to deploy only a small number of troops or border guards in a demilitarised zone that stretches along the entire Israel-Egypt border and encompasses the corridor. Continue reading...

Tom Parry and son Richie, 12, are believed to have died after going missing while on a hillwalking tripTributes have been paid to a heroic" father and his 12-year-old son who are believed to have died after going missing while hillwalking in the Highlands.Tom Parry, 49, and his son Richie had been due to return to their home in Cheshire on Wednesday after visiting Glen Nevis and Glencoe. Continue reading...

Child seriously injured in drive-by shooting as she ate with her family at north-east London restaurantA nine-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was shot and left seriously wounded by a hitman on a motorbike while she ate with her family inside a Turkish restaurant.Witnesses told of scenes of horror and terror after shots were fired from the motorbike, which pulled up outside Evin restaurant in Dalston, north-east London, letting off a volley of at least four rounds at about 9.20pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Shaheen claims party has problem with black and brown people' after panel stops her standing in London seat

Gary Priddle from Exeter given community order after 10 animals died when heating failed over ChristmasAn animal enthusiast has admitted dumping the bodies of 10 giant tortoises in Devon woodland after they died from the cold when the heating failed over Christmas.Gary Priddle, 56, an electrician who kept more than 50 tortoises at his home in Exeter, had left the animals alone over the festive period and when he returned the 10 Aldabra tortoises were dead. Continue reading...

Group wants big tech social media firms to pay up to 40m a year to reimburse customers after years of shouldering cost of fraudA leading City lobby group is calling on the next government to bring in scams legislation that forces big tech and social media companies to cough up to 40m a year to reimburse customers and fight fraud on their platforms.The demand came in a financial services manifesto' released by UK Finance, which represents banks, payments companies and other financial firms. Continue reading...

Meteorological department examining data from Mungeshpur station amid soaring temperatures that came close to 50 degrees Celsius

Premier Steven Miles announces expansion of free school breakfast program to lunch as cost-of-living crisis bites

Annemie Stein told police her son's story about leaving the nine-year-old with a stranger did not add up, NSW supreme court hears

Murray Watt says Beijing has removed sanctions for five abattoirs that lost export licences in 2020 amid diplomatic spat

Chair Paul Kanareck says newspaper's losses - 84.5m in the past six years - not sustainableLondon's Evening Standard has announced plans to shut its daily newspaper and replace it with a weekly outlet, bringing an end to almost 200 years of publication in the capital.The newspaper said it has been hit hard by the introduction of wifi on the London underground, a shortage of commuters owing to the growth of working from home and changing consumer habits. Continue reading...

Judge says inquiry, due to begin in September, is of profound importance' and public should be allowed to watchThe Lucy Letby inquiry will examine matters of profound importance" and should be broadcast live to the public, a senior judge has ruled.Lady Justice Thirlwall said the fundamental principle" was in favour of open justice and televised hearings would help inform public understanding. Continue reading...

School says it will only speak on university matters, which some criticize as feigned neutrality because of its financial ties to IsraelHarvard University announced on Tuesday that it would no longer take official positions on policy issues following widespread student-led protests over the war in Gaza.The decision from Harvard comes after the university formed a working group in April to decide if it should continue making public comment on salient issues", according to an email announcing the decision. Continue reading...

Deals this month could see two of the UK's most prominent companies fall into foreign ownership

Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources sayThe former head of the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.Yossi Cohen's covert contacts with the ICC's then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories. Continue reading...

Moore, who has been in the job for past 20 years, says she would focus on climate change, affordable homes and green spaces after election

The company behind the weight-loss drug has made millions, but without health insurance it is unaffordable for many. George Chidi reportsGeorge Chidi, a politics and democracy reporter for Guardian US, recently came to Europe on holiday. He had been looking forward to eating his way around Paris and London, and was especially looking forward to the cheese. But when he got here, something surprised him. He enjoyed the food but found he wasn't overeating.For the past few months, he explains to Hannah Moore, he has been taking the weight-loss drug Ozempic. Almost 2% of the population in the US is taking it and the company behind it is worth billions. But while it's been a big year for semaglutide weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, the changes they are making to US society are only just beginning. Continue reading...

University dramatically escalated its response to the on-campus occupation on Monday, demanding protesters vacate their site in the centre of campus

Albanese government is standing by ministerial direction 99' despite cases that appear at odds with advice given in early 2023

Senate is only place this Labor government is unable to escape accountability', Liberal says

Treasury minister Bim Afolami said it was not unnatural' for high-profile Tory MPs to be standing down at an election

Atsuko Sato announces death of her shiba inu Kabosu, whose 2010 photo led her to be described as the Mona Lisa of the internet'The Japanese dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the 18bn Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk has died, her owner said.She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her," Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog on Friday, thanking the fans of her shiba inu called Kabosu - the face of the Doge' meme. Continue reading...

Six villages in PNG's Enga province were covered on Friday morning, with response teams sent to the areaA landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea killed up to 100 people, local people estimated as emergency teams rushed to the area.Six villages in Mulitaka, in Enga province's Porgera-Paiela district, were covered by the landslide early on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Frontrunner to be European Commission president was questioned over alliances with Meloni and others in face-off with rival candidatesSandro Gozi, representing Renew Europe Now, has walked on stage.Walter Baier, representing the Party of the European Left, has entered the stage. Continue reading...

Taiwan's military says its forces are on alert as China carries out mock strikes with jets carrying live missilesDozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live missiles have carried out mock strikes against Taiwanese targets, China's military has said, on the first day of surprise military drills announced as punishment" after Taiwan inaugurated its new president.On Thursday morning the People's Liberation Army (PLA) announced the immediate beginning of two days of drills, code-named Joint Sword-2024A, surrounding Taiwan and its islands near the Chinese border. Continue reading...

UK defence secretary said on Wednesday that Moscow was receiving help with combat equipment for use in Ukraine

Tribunal reinstated Emmanuel Saki's visa in March and he was later charged with murder of 22-year-old Brisbane man

Campaign will be a test for two new first ministers and could put fresh pressure on Stormont power sharingThis general election will be fought in quite different ways across the UK's four nations - the Scottish National party dominates in Scotland and Labour in Wales. Yet those contests will be defined by Labour's resurgence just as in England. In Northern Ireland, increasingly isolated unionist parties are pitted against republican Sinn Fein. Continue reading...

Lynn's lawyer says accused - who has pleaded not guilty to murder - committed terrible acts' to evade police

Architectural gem has twice been badly damaged by fire and rebuild has suffered a string of setbacksThe responsibility for restoring Glasgow's Mackintosh building should be taken out the hands of the city's art school and placed with an independent body, according to leading architects, politicians and heritage experts who have expressed dismay at the lack of progress.Thursday marks 10 years since the building - which houses Glasgow School of Art - was first badly damaged by a fire, which destroyed the Mack's library, one of the world's finest examples of art nouveau design. Continue reading...

People urged to check they are fully immunised after NSW and Victorian health authorities alert to three separate cases of virus in May

Daddy Changed the World will tell the story of the man whose murder sparked anti-police brutality protests across the US in 2020George Floyd, the 46-year-old man whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide anti-police brutality protests in 2020, will be getting the biopic treatment.The family-authorized film, titled Daddy Changed the World, will depict the life of the man who became a national symbol of racial injustice, Deadline reported on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Painting by Hannah Uzor is a portrait of strength and dignity', says the magazineA new portrait of the Princess of Wales has been unveiled on Tatler's July cover, with the artist behind it saying the painting was influenced by Catherine's video about her cancer diagnosis.The painting, by the British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor, depicts Kate at the first state banquet of King Charles III's reign during the South Africa state visit in 2022. Continue reading...

Deputy manager of Tiny Toes nursery sentenced over manslaughter of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan

UN says 1m people face catastrophic levels of hunger as food aid piles up on Egyptian side of borderThe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is set to worsen once again as deliveries of aid and fuel to the Palestinian territory slow to a trickle in the wake of Israel's two-week-old ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah.The UN has suspended food distribution in Rafah owing to a lack of supplies and insecurity, the world body said late on Tuesday, and delivery operations from the new US-funded floating pier have also been halted after desperate people seized most of the shipment offloaded on to trucks on Saturday, an incident in which one person was killed. Continue reading...

Experts conclude hundreds more died on Channel Island, a British crown dependency, than previously thoughtMore than 1,000 slave labourers may have died on British soil at the hands of the Nazis in the second world war, hundreds more deaths than were officially recorded in historical archives, a review has found.Labourers on the island of Alderney were subject to atrocious living and working conditions, which included starvation, long working hours, completing dangerous construction works, beatings, maiming, torture, being housed in inadequate accommodation and, in some cases, executions", the review said. Continue reading...

Minister lays out details day after damning report found NHS and government culpable for scandal

Euro 2024 men's football tournament and Olympic Games could drive summer sales, says analyst

Proportion in Ireland rose from 27% in 2017 to 40% in 2022, as pandemic and cost of living crisis hit EU nations

Attorney general Yvette D'Ath says the proposed laws will minimise the number of times a victim-survivor has to give evidence, reducing re-traumatisation'