World news | The Guardian

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'

Exclusive: 96% of trusts surveyed say health worse in local area, with more than half of those saying decline significantAlmost every NHS trust across England surveyed has seen health worsen in their area as a result of poverty and the cost of living crisis, research has found.The survey, conducted between February and March 2024, spoke to leaders at 72 NHS trusts, accounting for a third of all trusts in England. The trusts surveyed included acute, mental health, ambulance and community. Continue reading...

Met Office says downpours could be intense' on Tuesday, with alerts also covering large parts of WalesThunderstorm warnings have been issued across south-west England and parts of Northern Ireland for Tuesday that could continue into the evening.The Met Office also said intense" downpours, with up to 2in (5cm) of rain, could be expected to fall over a few hours in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Plymouth, Somerset, Torbay and in western parts of Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Thousands of deaths could have been avoided, final report on infection of thousands with HIV or hepatitis C concludesThe scandal that claimed the lives of 3,000 people treated with contaminated blood was inflamed by a chilling" NHS and government cover-up, a scathing report has found on what Rishi Sunak has declared a day of shame".In the long-awaited conclusion to a five-year public inquiry, Brian Langstaff, who chaired the investigation, said on Monday the calamity could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided" - but successive governments and others in authority did not put patient safety first". Continue reading...

To many who were infected, or whose loved ones were, the report confirms what they already knewWe have been gaslit for generations," was the reaction of Andy Evans, chair of campaign group Tainted Blood, in response to the final report into the contaminated blood scandal.To many who were infected, or whose parents, children, partners or other loved ones were, the report merely confirms what they already knew. Continue reading...

Lai Ching-te uses inauguration speech to push for peace in the region and says future of Taiwan important to future of the worldLai Ching-te has been sworn in as Taiwan's new president, urging China to cease their political and military intimidation against Taiwan" and to keep the world free from the fear of more war.Lai was inaugurated on Monday morning at the Japanese colonial-era presidential office in central Taipei, taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, whose eight years in power saw a deterioration in relations with Beijing. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed.

Pent-up demand from would-be buyers pausing their plans last year has led to price rise despite mortgage rates remaining elevatedThe average British house price reached a record high of 375,131 in May, according to Rightmove. The average prices of properties coming to market rose 0.8%, or 2,807, month on month.Pent-up demand from would-be buyers who paused their plans last year is a key driver behind increased home mover activity despite mortgage rates remaining elevated for longer than anticipated, the property website's report said. Continue reading...

People in Kyiv and Kharkiv celebrate win in world heavyweight unification fight as symbolic achievement for the countryFrom the capital, Kyiv, to the heavily attacked region of Kharkiv, news of Oleksandr Usyk's win over Tyson Fury brought war-weary Ukrainians a rare and very welcome moment of victory and celebration.Usyk, who became the first undisputed world heavyweight champion this century after his victory in Riyadh in the early hours of Sunday, said his triumph did not belong to him alone. Continue reading...

Mick Whelan says unacceptable offer was briefed to the media 10 minutes after it was sent to himMick Whelan, the head of the Aslef train drivers' union, has never even opened an email setting out a proposed deal to end strike action 17 months ago because he realised the offer was so bad it would be rejected, he has said.In an interview with parliamentary magazine The House, Whelan said he had not met Mark Harper, the transport secretary, since December 2022, or Huw Merriman, the transport minister whose brief covers rail, since January 2023. Continue reading...

Website blames human error for the advert, now removed, for about 100 seats when practice is illegal in UKThe ticket trading website Viagogo has apologised for mistakenly" advertising tickets to an upcoming England football match, despite the fact that the resale of football tickets is illegal in the UK.Cris Miller, the managing director of Viagogo,has previously said the company does not resell football tickets. But Viagogo was advertising about 100 seats at Wembley for England's 7 June friendly against Iceland, a warm-up for this summer's Euro 2024 tournament in Germany. Continue reading...

Party says pooling resources across regions would deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week for patientsHospitals would have to share waiting lists and pool resources under Labour's plans to reduce waiting times by delivering up to 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week.The party has announced that patients would be offered appointments at nearby hospitals, rather than necessarily at their local one, which would enable people to receive faster treatment. Hospital staff and resources would be pooled across a region and would run evening and weekend surgeries. Continue reading...

O'Reilly, who was also an international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, died in Dublin on SaturdayTony O'Reilly, one of Ireland's leading business figures, has died at the age of 88.O'Reilly, who had a career in the media as well as being an international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, died in St Vincent's hospital in Dublin on Saturday. Continue reading...

Former chancellor, who was one of those who urged Johnson to go, says Tories should have realised Twitter was not the country'Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said he and his Conservative colleagues were wrong to force out Boris Johnson as prime minister in 2022.Johnson resigned after less than three years in No 10 after more than 50 resignations from government of MPs and staff and waves of backbenchers urging him to quit over the handling of the Chris Pincher affair and numerous other scandals. He resigned as an MP a year later. Continue reading...

The cultural sector falls short on other measures of diversity too, with 9o% of workers white, says new reportSix in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK now come from middle-class backgrounds, compared with just over 42% of the wider workforce, according to new research.And while 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%. Continue reading...