World news | The Guardian

More than 2,000 workers at London hub will strike for 31 days from June to August in row over pay

Independent MP Monique Ryan demands major changes to commonwealth grants in light of blistering audit office report

Committee finds case for suspending an MP is ‘weakened’ if voters are aware of charges before an election

Government researcher tells coroner’s investigation he had never before heard of a human being preyed upon by two crocodiles

Poll of primary teachers finds pupils more likely to complain about being bored and provoke others in classMost primary schoolteachers think children’s attention spans are getting shorter and classroom behaviour has deteriorated since before the Covid pandemic, a survey has found.More than two in three (70%) teachers questioned said pupils’ behaviour in class had declined. Children were more likely to move around the room, complain about being bored and annoy or provoke others in the classroom, the poll showed. Continue reading...

Audit office criticises how home affairs handled tender process for multimillion-dollar contract but makes no finding against former minister

After more than a decade running Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, the hit-making director is to take over the Covent Garden venue next yearTim Sheader has been appointed as the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse. Sheader, who currently runs Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, will take over from Michael Longhurst in March 2024 and will also be the Donmar’s joint chief executive alongside executive director Henny Finch.The Donmar, which occupies a site once used as a brewery and a banana-ripening warehouse, is one of London’s most illustrious theatres. With 251 seats, it is considerably more intimate than the 1,240-seat Open Air theatre where Sheader has directed more than 20 summer shows through rain and sunshine since 2007. Continue reading...

Queensland government reinstates name at ceremony attended by hundreds of traditional owners

Sale to tech firm Eucalyptus comes as Australia and New Zealand arm to cease trading and be placed into liquidation

Inquiry told of consultancy’s use of tens of thousands of claims of client privilege to avoid scrutiny

Senator Ron Wyden, chair of finance panel, warns of ‘next steps’ to compel testimony of Harlan Crow about supreme court justiceThe Democratic chair of the Senate finance committee has reiterated his threat to subpoena Harlan Crow, the Republican mega-donor whose gifts to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas are the source of scandal.In a statement Ron Wyden of Oregon accused Crow of “doubling down on bogus legal theories as he continues to stonewall basic questions about his gifts to Clarence Thomas and his family. Continue reading...

Owens centre, co-founded by Lubov Chernukhin, raises questions about whether public money has gone to projects most in need of itA £150,000 grant from Boris Johnson’s flagship levelling up towns fund was awarded to an amusement centre launched by the Conservative donor Lubov Chernukhin, raising questions about whether public money has gone to projects most in need of financial help.Chernukhin, a businesswoman who has given more than £2m to the Conservatives since 2014 and is married to a former Russian finance minister, co-founded the Owens entertainment centre in Hastings, East Sussex. Continue reading...

Veterans minister Emma Davidson says prosecution of military lawyer who served in Afghanistan is not in the public interest

Woman alleges Tate choked and raped her after they met on night out in Luton in 2014A fourth British woman has joined a civil claim for damages against Andrew Tate, alleging she was also a victim of sexual and physical assault by him.The woman joins three claimants who said in April that they intended to commence proceedings against the former kickboxer and self-proclaimed misogynist.In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html. Continue reading...

Damning report from government spending watchdog criticises Department for Transport’s approachMinisters are very unlikely to meet their own targets to boost walking and cycling in England despite spending more than £2bn on active travel infrastructure, a damning report has found.While most walking and cycling projects are delivered by local councils, until recently there were few guidelines for how these should be built, the government’s official spending watchdog said, and thus minimal oversight of their quality. Continue reading...

Survey reveals shift in opinion since Ukraine war and big majority favour EU increasing its defence capabilitiesFifteen months after Russia invaded Ukraine, twice as many Europeans – almost two-thirds – view Moscow as an adversary or rival as did before the war, but opinions on the continent’s long-term relations with its eastern neighbour still vary widely.A multi-country survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) also found a large majority in favour of the EU boosting its defence capabilities rather than relying on the US and many seeing China as a partner, not a competitor. Continue reading...

Panel yet to complete review into allegations non-Indigenous APY Art Centre Collective staff painted on works – claims which the centre denies

Jim Chalmers says higher interest rates and cost-of-living pressures are squeezing household budgets and slowing the economy

Hazy skies hung over north-eastern US a day after the midwest received a similar alert from the Environmental Protection AgencyCanada is dealing with a series of intense wildfires that have spread from the western provinces to Quebec, with hundreds of forest fires burning. Wind has carried smoke from the fires southward, triggering air-quality alerts throughout the United States.The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday issued a poor air-quality alert for New England, a day after parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota received a similar advisory. Last week, US officials as far south as Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania reported being affected by the wildfires. Continue reading...

NSW police minister hopes coronial investigation sheds light on ‘terrible’ circumstances that led to the deaths of Wayne Smith and son Noah

Security council meeting discusses disaster as US, UK and French representatives call for an investigationRussia’s UN envoy was accused of floundering in a “mud of lies” after he claimed at an emergency session of the security council that Ukraine destroyed Kakhovka dam in a “war crime”.Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukraine envoy to the UN, said it was typical of Russia to blame the victim for its own crimes, pointing out Russia has been in control of the dam for more than a year and it was physically impossible to blow it up by shelling. He said the dam was mined by the Russian occupiers and they blew it up. He accused Russia of “floundering again in the mud of lies”. Continue reading...

The Reserve Bank governor says rates will keep being lifted, if necessary, despite 'significant financial pressure’ for some

Government vows to end school violence as experts say bullying methods have become more maliciousClutching an iron hair curler radiating scorching heat, a schoolgirl torments a classmate in a desolate school gymnasium.The curler sizzles raw flesh, as the camera pans to show scars on the victim’s body. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Follow our new Russia-Ukraine war breaking news live blog here.

There is no evidence politicians knew of the allegations against the foundation when the grant to WA group the Esther Foundation was announced

Noosa man Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones tells news conference he is ‘relieved’ after being released

Musician who led acclaimed band on and off between 1962 and 2015 – and scored three UK top 10 albums – had suffered a fall last year and a series of strokesTony McPhee, the singer and guitarist who led British blues and rock group the Groundhogs across six decades, has died aged 79.A message was posted on the group’s Facebook page confirming that he died peacefully at home” on 6 June from complications after a fall last year. He had also suffered a series of strokes in later life. Continue reading...

Ukrainian authorities call for people living downstream of Nova Kakhovka dam to evacuate in face of potentially deadly flooding

Large majority of members back proposals to overhaul UK business lobby group’s culture and governanceThe UK’s most prominent business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, has won support from its remaining members to continue speaking for firms after vowing to reform its culture and governance.But in a sign of the continued turmoil it faces, Rishi Sunak declined to say whether the government would resume links with the group, saying the CBI “have their issue so they need to work through”. Continue reading...

A report has found a discrepancy in the state’s cautioning scheme designed to keep people out of court for low-level cannabis offences

Reporter and his team exposed the Tory peer’s use of a government ‘VIP lane’ to provide PPE during the Covid pandemicThe Guardian reporter David Conn has won the Paul Foot award for investigative journalism for his report on a Tory peer’s use of a government “VIP lane” to provide PPE during the Covid pandemic.Conn and the Guardian’s investigations team reported last year that Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers. Continue reading...

The ‘parents’ rights’ group has backed book bans and the removal of discussions of race and LGBTQ+ issues in schoolsThe Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has listed Republican-connected “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty as an “anti-government extremist” organization in its latest Year in Hate & Extremism report.In a statement accompanying the report’s release, a spokesperson for the extremism watchdog group wrote that Moms for Liberty was the most prominent of 12 extremist “anti-student inclusion groups” mobilizing to “attack public education, ban books, and remove any curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination, and LGBTQ+ identities”. Continue reading...

Speculation revived about ownership of media group as talks with Lloyds over £65m loans break downThe future ownership of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph has once again been thrust into the spotlight, after it emerged that the newspaper group’s parent company faces the threat of being put into administration by lenders.Lloyds Banking Group has threatened to put Press Acquisitions, the company controlled by the Barclay family that owns the newspapers’ parent company, Telegraph Media Group (TMG), into administration after a breakdown in talks over loans the business has racked up over the years. Continue reading...

Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up Nova Kakhovka dam; people in parts of Kherson and the surrounding area urged to evacuate

‘Girl A’ testifies she was groomed from age of 12 and rejects suggestion she is lying to gain a payoutA woman has told a court she was groomed and abused in Rochdale by 50 men from the age of 12, and said she was “not in it for the money”.The woman, known as Girl A to protect her identity, denied she was making false allegations in order to claim compensation as she began to give evidence at the trial of eight of her alleged abusers. Continue reading...

Figures suggest insolvency-threatened council in Surrey faces huge write-down on its assetsWoking council risks a financial hit worth £1bn amid a government investigation into the local authority’s debt-fuelled investment spree in hotels and skyscrapers.The Surrey council is on the brink of insolvency, with a possible section 114 notice, signalling it cannot balance its budget, believed to be imminent. Continue reading...

Larger holding is nearly enough to block a potential takeover bid as speculation grows about online retailer’s futureMike Ashley’s Frasers Group has built its stake in Asos to almost 9% – taking him close to the ability to block a takeover bid – ahead of a potential battle for control of the ailing online fashion business.Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, who has a long history of snapping up ailing brands, from House of Fraser to Everlast, has moved to gain influence at Asos. Its share price has fallen 63% since February amid falling sales and a slide into the red as the pandemic-induced online shopping boom evaporated. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch accused of disrespecting backbenchers who fear ‘bonfire of regulations’ will not take placeKemi Badenoch has clashed with members of her own party over the government’s post-Brexit business policy during a heated Commons committee session that highlighted ongoing Conservative tensions over the issue.The business secretary argued openly with the Tory backbenchers David Jones and Richard Drax about her decision to reduce the number of business regulations the government is planning to scrap now that the UK has left the EU. Continue reading...

Principal of high-performing sixth form said two forms are ‘deeply unequal’ and diminish womenTeachers at a leading sixth form will no longer answer to “Sir” and “Miss”, because they’re “deeply unequal” and feed into a view of the world that diminishes women, the school’s executive principal has told students.While “Sir” brings to mind the heroics of Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad, “Miss” is how you refer to “a small girl, or an Edwardian shop assistant”, James Handscombe told school assembly at Harris Westminster Sixth Form in central London. Continue reading...

PM told to consider pledge to increase supply of affordable homes in spirit of postwar town construction in next election manifestoRishi Sunak has been urged to consider a postwar-style programme of new town construction to tackle the collapse in home ownership among young adults.David Willetts, a Conservative peer and former universities minister, told the Commons Treasury committee that failure to increase the supply of affordable homes was among reasons for rising levels of inequality between young and old. Continue reading...

During cross-examination in phone-hacking trial, prince tells of paranoia he felt as a result of Mirror articlesPrince Harry has said “vile” British tabloids had a “devastating impact” on his mental health by portraying him as an irresponsible “thicko” prone to underage drinking and drug taking.The prince told the high court that the “constant intrusion by tabloid press” eventually forced him to move his family to California while warning that Rishi Sunak’s government was at “rock bottom” and avoids scrutiny by getting “in bed” with friendly newspapers.Piers Morgan, the former Daily Mirror editor, has subjected Harry and his family to “vile personal attacks” as a result of his decision to bring the case. Harry said he was left “physically sick” by the idea of Morgan listening to private messages left by his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.His voicemails were hacked by journalists while he was a schoolboy at Eton, and as a young man he had to hide in the boot of a car to avoid the paparazzi.His relationship with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was undermined by “constant surveillance” by the tabloids that left them feeling “hunted by the media”.He was deeply affected as a teenager by tabloid rumours that his real father was the army officer James Hewitt, saying such stories were “hurtful, mean and cruel”.Tabloid coverage shaped how the public and army colleagues viewed him. “I was facing judgments and opinions based on what had been reported about me, true or not. I expected people to be thinking: ‘He’s obviously going to fail this test, because he’s a thicko,’” he said. Continue reading...

Commons votes to suspend Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP for 30 days after breach of Covid rules. This live blog is now closedFull story: MPs back 30-day suspension for Margaret Ferrier over Covid breachQ: What would the minimum wage for workers be under your fair pay agreement for care workers? (See 10.47am.)Starmer says his sister is a care worker. He knows how hard the job is. Continue reading...

Lawyer says not providing complete set of messages on platform would be ‘wrong in principle’A fresh battle over unredacted Covid documents is looming, as the public inquiry’s most senior lawyer voiced fears about a tussle with the government over messages sent on the Google Spaces platform.Hugo Keith KC said the “same issue” threatened to arise as with WhatsApps, which the Cabinet Office is refusing to hand over in full. Continue reading...

Duke of Sussex gives evidence during Mirror Group phone-hacking trialWould you say you have a longstanding hostility towards the press?Yes, Harry says. Continue reading...

Move could lead to byelection in Rutherglen and Hamilton West that would be key test for Scottish LabourMPs have voted to suspend the former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier from parliament for 30 days for breaching Covid-19 regulations, potentially paving the way for a byelection.Thirty-seven MPs opposed the sanction against the independent MP, while 185 supported it, in a vote that would normally pass without opposition. Continue reading...

Exclusive: volunteers sought in England to take equipment and drugs to people’s homes among other tasksHealth ministers are to recruit a new volunteer army for social care to ferry medical equipment and drugs to people’s homes in a bid to free up congested hospital wards.The plan will also see volunteers sent to, though not into, people’s homes to tackle loneliness and carry out shopping and other errands. Continue reading...

Young female fans allegedly ‘cast’ to have sex with Till Lindemann during and after heavy metal group’s showsSeveral people who attended concerts by the German band Rammstein have come forward describing a system whereby young female fans are recruited to have sex with the shock rockers’ lead singer, Till Lindemann, during and after their shows, following one fan’s allegation that her drink had been spiked at an afterparty in Vilnius last month.The reports have gathered momentum just ahead of Rammstein’s sold-out four-night residency at Munich’s Olympic Stadium starting on Wednesday, prompting the concert promoter to announce there would be no afterparties following the show nor a so-called “row zero” experience for select fans directly in front of the stage. Continue reading...

PM and US president to meet amid unstable situation in southern Ukraine following dam collapse

Project cost city £1bn and 12 years of disruption after multiple delays and legal battlesIt was described by one bruised official as “hell on wheels” but finally, a decade later than planned, Edinburgh’s tram line has been finished.From midday on Wednesday, the full 18.5km (11.5 mile) line will be fully opened, taking passengers from the old port of Newhaven, through Leith and central Edinburgh and on to its international airport. Continue reading...

Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire star was accused of raping unnamed woman but his lawyers have insisted encounter was consensualJust as a trial was to begin, it was revealed on Tuesday that Cuba Gooding Jr has settled accusations that he raped a woman in a New York City hotel a decade ago, according to court records. The actor had insisted through lawyers that his encounter with the woman was consensual after the two met at a nearby restaurant.The trial was to start with jury selection in New York federal court as the Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire star faced allegations that he met the woman in Manhattan, persuaded her to join him at a hotel, and convinced her to stop at his room so he could change clothing. Continue reading...