Unrest sparked by anger at ruling party and Russian MP addressing parliament

The incident came close to sparking a war, with a planned retaliatory attack – but with Trump’s top advisers reportedly split, doubts seemed to set inThe incident that came close to sparking a new war in the Middle East began late on Wednesday night at the Al Dhafr air base in the United Arab Emirates, just over 30km south of Abu Dhabi.The base is home to the UAE’s air force and a fluctuating number of US warplanes, including Global Hawk drones, used to fly high above the Persian Gulf looking down on the constant flow of oil tankers and northwards, sucking up huge quantities of data from Iran. Continue reading...

Plan to dress statue to mark 10th anniversary of Jackson’s death pulled after Leaving Neverland documentary

Charlie Rowley speaks of anger and frustration as mystery still surrounds death of his partner

This week the Upside looked at some alternatives to the quest for endless economic growthIn May we asked you: what are the alternatives to endless economic growth? Dozens of you got in touch with tips and suggestions.And so we persuaded the Guardian economics correspondent Richard Partington to try to make sense of it all by taking a good hard look at GDP and the alternatives. Continue reading...

Authors of major report accuse institution of hiding from issue of looted colonial-era objectsThe authors of an influential report on colonial-era artefacts, which recommended a restitution programme to transfer hundreds of items from European institutions to Africa, have criticised the British Museum for acting like “an ostrich with its head in the sand”.The Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and the French art historian Bénédicte Savoy, who were asked to write the report by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, after he said the return of artefacts would be a priority during his tenure, said the British Museum was not addressing the issue. Continue reading...

Political leaders in the north say project has halted and needs to be put back on the mapFive years after the government launched its northern powerhouse concept, 200,000 more children in the north of England are in poverty, foreign investment has plummeted and the number of late or cancelled trains in the region has more than doubled, new analysis shows.Research by the thinktank IPPR North also found there had been a £3.6bn cut in public spending in the north since 2010, compared to a £4bn rise in the south. Continue reading...

Tensions between rival moto gangs in the Thai capital escalated after the arrival of ride-hailing apps. Now two men are deadOn Thursday morning on Soi Udomsuk, a market-flanked road in east-central Bangkok, nine police officers on plastic chairs are keeping watch.The officers, their peaked brown hats neatly lined up on trestle tables, are on the lookout for any signs of trouble between rival motorbike taxi gangs after carnage erupted in this pocket of the city on Saturday when a brutal fight broke out between two groups of drivers. Continue reading...

Brebeuf Jesuit prep school was ordered to let employee go ‘because this teacher’s marital status does not confirm to church doctrine’The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has announced that it will no longer recognize a Jesuit high school as Catholic because it refuses to fire a teacher who is in a same-sex marriage.Related: Archbishop chose church's reputation above children, inquiry finds Continue reading...

Irish PM says there is ‘enormous hostility’ to further extension among member statesBritain will crash out of the EU on 31 October unless Theresa May’s Brexit deal is ratified or a new prime minister calls a second referendum or general election this summer, the bloc’s leaders have concluded.The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, speaking at a summit in Brussels, said that there was now “enormous hostility” among the EU27’s heads of state and government to any further delay to Brexit. Continue reading...

Family of researcher say Egypt is impeding investigation into Regeni’s deathThe family of Giulio Regeni, the Italian doctoral student who was murdered in Egypt in 2016, are demanding that Rome withdraw its ambassador to Cairo for a second time in response to what they say is Egyptian pressure on their lawyers and efforts to prevent investigation into their son’s death.“Enough is enough,” Paola and Claudio Regeni said in a joint statement with their lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini. “The withdrawal of the Italian ambassador from Cairo can no longer be postponed.” Continue reading...

Cardinal Vincent Nichols criticised for ‘inadequate response’ to abuse claimsThe highest-ranking Catholic leader in England and Wales defended the reputation of the church rather than protecting children in the face of allegations of sexual abuse, a report by the independent sexual abuse inquiry has concluded.The archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, was heavily criticised in the 65-page report for his inadequate response to sexual abuse claims when he was archbishop of Birmingham from 2002 to 2009. Continue reading...

Everything you need to know about conflict that has turned country into humanitarian catastrophe

Luigi Brugnaro says he has no faith in Italy’s government to resolve cruise ship problemThe mayor of Venice has urged Unesco to place the city on its world heritage site blacklist as he lambasted Italy’s transport minister for failing to endorse a plan to divert cruise ships from the busy Giudecca canal.Luigi Brugnaro’s frustration has been brewing since a huge vessel crashed into a tourist boat on the canal in early June, injuring four people. Continue reading...

Harvey Proctor said Carl ‘Nick’ Beech’s false allegation trapped him in ‘Kafka-esque situation’The former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor broke down in tears as he described how his life became a “horrendous, irrational nightmare” when he was accused of child murder and rape by a man on trial for inventing a Westminster paedophile ring.Giving evidence in the trial of Carl Beech, previously known as “Nick”, Proctor said he was trapped in a “Kafka-esque situation” when he was accused publicly of allegations that were “wrong, malicious, false, horrendous”. Continue reading...

Email warns recent murder of Walter Lübcke was first in a line of ‘upcoming purges’Several German politicians who have publicly stood up for refugees have received death threats since what police are treating as the politically motivated murder of one of Angela Merkel’s party allies.An email sent to politicians and media organisations across the country on Tuesday night warned that the murder of the CDU politician Walter Lübcke, allegedly by a man linked to the far right, was the first in a line of “upcoming purges” and called for terror attacks on left-leaning politicians, refugees and Jews in Germany. Continue reading...

Hopes that first visit by Chinese leader in 14 years will heal rift over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme

Shadow home affairs minister says Labor would examine government amendments to laws, if necessaryLabor says it is prepared to consider government amendments to medical evacuation laws if necessary, but sees “no evidence” to suggest the laws are not working as intended.As the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, ramps up pressure on Labor to side with the government to scrap the so-called medevac laws passed against its will in February, Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, said the party was standing firm in support. Continue reading...

Home affairs minister says ‘some people are trying it on’ in an attempt to get to Australia from refugee centres on NauruPeter Dutton has said women have been “trying it on” in claiming they were raped and needed an abortion as part of a ploy to get to Australia for medical treatment from refugee centres on Nauru.Speaking to Sky News, the home affairs minister claimed the women then changed their minds on arriving in Australia and sought a legal injunction to prevent their return to offshore detention. Continue reading...

Finance minister spoke to 31 groups including Santos, Rio Tinto, Google, Ebay and WesfarmersThe finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has revealed he met with some of the world’s most powerful corporations in the months leading up to the election, including Santos, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Google.Outgoing crossbench senator Tim Storer used his last days in Senate estimates to put a series of questions to cabinet ministers about their dealings with lobbyists, both in-house and third-party, between January and April this year. Continue reading...

Chancellor to warn leadership candidates they can leave with no deal or spend, but not both

Opponents warn construction of the Yida project, which includes a manufacturing hub, puts island at risk of hurricane damagePlans to construct a sprawling “Chinese colony” complete with factories, homes and holiday resorts across a pristine marine reserve in Antigua have ignited a storm of controversy on the Caribbean island.Known locally as the Yida project after its main investor, Yida Zhang, the scheme includes plans for a manufacturing hub which promises several hundred jobs and increased exports. Continue reading...

Report outlines deadly impact of direct targeting of civilians as researchers call for resolution to conflictAs the court of appeal prepares to rule on the legitimacy of the British government’s continued supply of weapons to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, new figures show the conflict’s death toll is fast approaching the 100,000 mark.With no clear resolution in sight, the extent of civilian casualties caused by direct targeting as the war with Houthi rebels enters its fifth year has been outlined in a report by the the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled). Continue reading...

NSW Nationals MP Bronwyn Taylor asked in parliament about federal department meeting with NSW Local Land ServicesThe sister-in-law of federal MP Angus Taylor has faced questions in the New South Wales parliament over whether she sought to influence the state government’s submissions on the upgrading of an endangered grass species that was prevalent on land part-owned by the federal minister.Bronwyn Taylor, who is a NSW Nationals MP, was asked at question time about the issue that was at the centre of a state investigation and is currently being pursued by the federal environment department. Continue reading...

Rudd says claims ‘discredit’ voting process as MPs prepare to select final two candidatesAmber Rudd has called on Boris Johnson to respond to concerns that his campaign is encouraging supporters to lend votes to Jeremy Hunt in an attempt to eliminate Michael Gove from the Conservative leadership race.The work and pensions secretary, who is backing Hunt to be the next prime minister, said rumours that Johnson’s campaign would use tactical voting to seek revenge on Gove for derailing his leadership campaign in 2016 were “discrediting” the system to select a party leader. Continue reading...

Shell, BP and Centrica have talked of backing EU emissions target but withheld supportThe UK’s largest energy companies have withheld support for a legally binding target to reduce the EU’s emissions to net zero by 2050, even while publicly backing the plans.Royal Dutch Shell, BP and British Gas’s owner, Centrica, have all publicly thrown their weight behind more ambitious EU emissions cuts, but none supported the Brussels proposals for a tougher target in an official consultation. Continue reading...

Israeli blockade on Gaza means parents are separated from critically ill childrenAt first glance, nothing appeared out of place at the children’s intensive care unit. Nine beds were filled with nine tiny newborn babies, all with tubes attached to their wiry bodies. Monitors emitted the sounds of steady electronic blips. Nurses walked from bedside to bedside. A tired-looking paediatrician filled out paperwork.Yet something was missing: there were no parents. Continue reading...

Chief justice says in televised speech that abuse survivors will be able to ‘speak their heart without any fear’Pakistan is to set up more than 1,000 courts dedicated to tackling violence against women, the country’s top judge has announced, seeking to tackle a problem activists say the criminal justice system has long neglected.Chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the special courts would allow victims to speak out without fear of retaliation in the conservative Muslim country, where domestic violence is often seen as taboo. Continue reading...

Former Italy footballer made aware of a fake who used his identity to fleece goodsTurin police are investigating a man who allegedly posed as the Italian former footballer Andrea Pirlo to fleece expensive clothes and other luxury goods from stores.Police said that Alessandro Palazzolo, 48, only bore a “vague resemblance” to the former Juventus and Italy star and that it was his power of persuasion that managed to dupe shopkeepers. Palazzolo, a former goldsmith, never went to any of the targeted stores – his entire scam was allegedly concocted over the phone with the help of an accomplice. Continue reading...

Thirty-five activists, journalists and artists have been forced to leave the island in two years, human rights group saysCuba’s state security is pressuring dissidents to go into exile in its attempt to weaken opposition on the Communist-run island, according to a new report by a non-governmental human rights organization.The Madrid-based Cuban Prisoners Defenders released a 259-page report that named 35 activists, independent journalists and artists whom authorities had forced to leave the country over the past two years, telling them never to return. Continue reading...

US joint chiefs of staff posted then removed paper that suggests nuclear weapons could ‘create conditions for decisive results’The Pentagon believes using nuclear weapons could “create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability”, according to a new nuclear doctrine adopted by the US joint chiefs of staff last week.The document, entitled Nuclear Operations, was published on 11 June, and was the first such doctrine paper for 14 years. Arms control experts say it marks a shift in US military thinking towards the idea of fighting and winning a nuclear war – which they believe is a highly dangerous mindset. Continue reading...

NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet announces review of financial relations with Canberra as Victoria watches ‘carefully’New South Wales may have sparked the latest federation stoush, with Australia’s largest states open to a potential review of state-federal funding arrangements.The NSW treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, called the financial relations between the commonwealth and the states “a mess” in his budget speech, while announcing an expert panel to review the arrangements. Continue reading...

Logo first registered on a football boot in 1949 was not ‘distinctive’ enough, says courtAdidas has lost a battle to expand its trademark three-stripe design in the EU, after a court ruled that it was not “distinctive” enough.The company did not “prove that that mark has acquired, throughout the territory of the EU, distinctive character following the use which had been made of it”, the general court of the European Union said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Diplomatic offensive aims to dissuade Tehran from breaching uranium limitsBritain, France and Germany are to mount a last-ditch effort to dissuade Iran from effectively quitting the nuclear deal, warning time was running out for negotiations and the risk of war in the region “has not been averted”.The diplomatic offensive includes a forthcoming visit by the UK’s new Middle East minister, Andrew Murrison. Continue reading...

Four named as first to be charged over death of 298 people on flight downed over UkraineFour suspects will face murder charges for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, three of them Russians, international investigators have said, with a trial due to start next March in the Netherlands.Almost five years after the plane was downed over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people onboard, prosecutors said on Wednesday there was enough evidence to bring criminal charges. Continue reading...

Three people injured in strike on compound housing Shell, ExxonMobil and EniThree people have been injured after a rocket hit a compound housing several international oil companies, including the US multinational ExxonMobil, near Basra, Iraq, officials have said.A short-range Katyusha rocket struck the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of the city in the early hours of Wednesday, according to the Iraqi military. The wounded are all Iraqi nationals. Continue reading...

Mohammed bin Salman should be investigated over journalist’s murder, says reportThe crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated over the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing, according to a damning and forensic UN report.In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”. Continue reading...

British resident Nina Saleh unable to return home with adopted baby after being refused visa three timesA Norwegian woman who has lived in Britain for 20 years says she has been left stranded in Pakistan after travelling there to adopt a baby.The UK Home Office has refused Nina Saleh a visa to return home with baby Sofia three times, despite Saleh going through a stringent and lengthy adoption process in the UK with British authorities’ involvement. Continue reading...

Fewer than 30 of 879 villages built to house nationalist KMT soldiers and their families remain in Taiwan. After a lengthy battle, Daguan is to be demolished this weekAt 22, Cynthia Tang was one-third the average age of the other people crowded into the abandoned Taipei storefront that served as the office of the Daguan Anti-Eviction Movement.Looking fervently through the frames of her large round glasses, Tang, a student at the prestigious National Taiwan University, addressed the small crowd. “Two of our student activists have been arrested,” she said. “Now the government is suing them. This is not only their problem – this is everyone’s problem.” Continue reading...

South Australian senator reportedly weighing up how he can best be ‘effective’ in the parliamentCory Bernardi has told colleagues he is considering quitting parliament amid speculation he could rejoin the Liberal party.The Guardian understands the South Australian senator, who quit the Liberals in 2017 to form the Australian Conservatives party, is closely considering his future, and has canvassed the option of leaving the Senate before his term expires in 2022. Continue reading...

NSW Health says patients of Burwood doctors Darrel and Brinda Weinman since 2010 may need to be re-vaccinatedThousands of patients of a Sydney GP clinic may need to be re-vaccinated after it was discovered some shots were incorrectly stored or out of date.NSW Health on Wednesday warned vaccines administered by doctors Darrel and Brinda Weinman at their Burwood practice since 2010 may not have been effective. More than 3,000 patients have been notified so far. Continue reading...

Government audit says strategy not properly evaluated and does not meet government guidelinesLabor, the Greens and peak Indigenous groups say the government must overhaul its Indigenous advancement strategy after a report found that the $5.1bn program was not being properly evaluated and did not align with the government’s policy objectives.The strategy was a huge shakeup in Aboriginal affairs funding introduced by the Abbott government in 2014, designed to “eliminate waste and duplication” by consolidating more than a 120 economic, health, education and cultural programs under the prime minister’s department. More than $500m was cut from Indigenous spending. Continue reading...

After several high profile cases, the government has launched a campaign to bring the issue into the openIt was morning at a Hanoi school when a teenage student stumbled into class. As she sat at her desk, blood began to pool under her chair; just that morning she had been sexually abused. When her teacher’s response was that she should sit on some tissues until the bleeding stopped, the young girl began to cry.The incident, recounted by a Huynh Mai, a school psychologist, made headlines in Vietnam last month. Yet it was reflective of a culture of ignorance, indifference and stigma that has surrounded child sex abuse in the country for generations, according to teachers, victims and NGOs. Continue reading...

Figures also show 3% fall in consumption of alcohol in Scotland last yearAlcohol sales in Scotland have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years after the introduction of price controls, figures show.Scotland’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, welcomed the figures, which also reveal a 3% fall in the consumption of alcohol last year, and said they showed the introduction of a 50p a unit minimum price in May 2018 was having an effect. It was a promising start in tackling Scotland’s difficult relationship with alcohol, she said. Continue reading...

Austrac says it suspects Afterpay breached anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing lawsLast week Australia’s financial watchdog, Austrac, ordered the popular buy now, pay later company Afterpay to appoint an external auditor over concerns about the company’s compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorism-financing laws.Stocks in the company have tumbled, and questions are being asked about the timing of the audit – announced only a day after the company raised more than $300m in a share offering on the Australian stock exchange. Continue reading...

Battleground states of Victoria and Queensland were biggest beneficiaries, receiving $422m and $331m respectivelyThe Coalition awarded almost $1.4bn in grants through its regional development program in the lead-up to the election, with about half of the funding not subject to a competitive tender process.The spending included grants made through the Stronger Communities program, a political slush fund that gives every lower-house MP $150,000 to spend on small community projects costing between $1,500 and $20,000. Almost $100m has been paid out under the scheme since it was first announced in the 2015 budget. Continue reading...

Government urged to offer places as events celebrate 80 years since KindertransportThere have been fresh calls to bring 10,000 child refugees to safety in the UK amid events celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport trains that saved many children from the Nazis.The home secretary, Sajid Javid, announced a new resettlement scheme for the most vulnerable refugees on Monday but did not say how many children would be included. Continue reading...

The YouTuber Elijah Daniel has bought – and rebranded – a midwestern community to protest against the president’s ban on LGBT flags at US embassiesAge: 178 years, or a day – it depends.Depends on what? That’s quite a difference. Whether we’re talking about Hell (178 years) or Gay Hell (one day). Continue reading...

Airlines bear brunt of cost with easyJet alone putting its compensation bill and lost revenue at £15mThe drone attack that disrupted Gatwick for three days in December cost the airport £1.4m.While early estimates of the costs ran into tens of millions, the brunt has been borne by airlines – although Gatwick has since spent an extra £4m on anti-drone technology. Continue reading...

Egyptian former president’s burial takes place under heavy security in remote area of CairoEgypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi has been buried in a remote area of Cairo as his treatment in custody before his death was denounced as torture.Morsi, the only democratically elected civilian leader in Egypt’s history, fainted in court on Monday and was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital. He was prosecuted on numerous charges after his one-year rule was brought to an end by a military coup in 2013. Continue reading...