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Such a challenge over Lady Hallett’s request for unredacted diaries and messages would be seen as unprecedentedThe Cabinet Office could take unprecedented action to prevent Boris Johnson’s unredacted diaries and WhatsApp messages being handed over to the official Covid inquiry, the Guardian had been told.Officials are preparing to issue a response to the inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, by 4pm on Tuesday. Sources said they were likely to resist her demand for a cache of documents relating to the former prime minister’s time in No 10. Continue reading...

Health secretary Steve Barclay not confirming when strategy to increase numbers of doctors and nurses will be publishedNHS leaders have raised concerns about the delay to the long-awaited workforce plan, after the health secretary, Steve Barclay, refused to give a deadline for its publication and with rumours suggesting it is considered too costly.

Airline said to have demanded two passengers pay €45 each to take ensaïmada onboard with hand luggageThe government of the Balearic Islands has called an urgent meeting with Ryanair and the local pastry-makers’ association after the airline tried to charge passengers to bring cakes onboard, claiming it exceeded their cabin baggage limit.The row erupted after two passengers at Palma de Mallorca airport tried to each carry an ensaïmada, a traditional Mallorcan pastry, along with their hand baggage. The airline demanded an additional €45 (£39) each to bring the pastries onboard, at which point the passengers abandoned them rather than paying. Continue reading...

In conversation with Sally Rooney at Charleston festival author says award has hindered her ability to focus on writingAnnie Ernaux, the French winner of the 2022 Nobel prize in literature, has said she never wanted the award and that it fell into her life “like a bomb”, hindering her ability to focus on writing.In conversation with the novelist Sally Rooney on the final day of Charleston festival, Ernaux was talking via an interpreter as she explained her tricky relationship with the prize. Continue reading...

Thousands forced from their homes after spring fires destroy buildings in Canadian provinceRare and “very aggressive” spring wildfires in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia have destroyed many buildings and forced thousands from their homes and prompting officials to declare a local state of emergency.Over the weekend, residents of the Maritime province posted video of thick smoke encroaching over Halifax as a nearby blaze rapidly swept through a suburb. Continue reading...

Violence in recent days has stopped aid getting to civilians, as fears grow war will escalateGunshots and artillery fire have rocked the Sudanese capital on the last day of a frequently breached ceasefire, as calls to arms stoked fears the six-week war would intensify.People said they could hear street battles in northern Khartoum, as well as artillery fire in the south of the city of more than 5 million people, which has been turned into a war zone. Continue reading...

Former Newsnight presenter, 73, will end stint as longest serving current quizmaster on British televisionJeremy Paxman’s stint as the longest serving current quizmaster on British television will come to an end on Monday night when he presents his final edition of University Challenge.The 73-year-old former Newsnight presenter is bowing out from the show after revealing he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Continue reading...

Residents run for shelter during attack that appears to have been part of effort to exhaust air defences

Exclusive: Documents obtained by Guardian Australia show Australia attempted to reassure countries amid nuclear proliferation concerns

Exclusive: State Aboriginal Legal Service calls for end to ‘over-policing’ of Indigenous people

Highly skilled officers in England and Wales to be replaced by less qualified staff under MoJ proposalsPlans to disband specialist teams that deliver treatment courses for sex offenders have prompted fears public safety will be jeopardised.Under the Ministry of Justice proposals, which are being fiercely resisted internally, behaviour programmes for a wide variety of offenders would be delivered by staff who are not fully qualified probation officers. Continue reading...

After being lauded for his tough Covid response and winning the most one-sided election in Australian history, Labor premier goes out at the top

Health groups raise alarm after Sir Mark Rowley says he will order officers not to attend 999 calls about mental health incidentsThousands of people in a mental health crisis will be “left without support” under worrying and inappropriate police plans to “walk away” from emergency incidents, health chiefs have said.In a letter seen by the Guardian, the Metropolitan police comissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said that from September he would order the force’s police officers not to attend thousands of 999 calls about mental health incidents. Continue reading...

At least one person hospitalised after daytime missile attack on Kyiv; Ukraine claims to have shot down 37 missiles and 29 drones overnight Continue reading...

Ex-presenter says handful of people ‘have grudge’ after Dr Ranj Singh describes raising alarm about working environment on showFormer This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield has hit back at critics, claiming there was “no toxicity” on the ITV show and appearing to blame his departure on a “handful of people with a grudge”.The presenter’s comments left ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency as he admitted to an affair with a younger male colleague – which he described as “unwise, but not illegal” – while married. Continue reading...

Global outcry over Museveni’s assent to draconian new anti-gay law, condemned as a ‘permission slip for hate and dehumanisation’

Judge rules that political economy lecturer Tim Anderson did not suffer the level of hurt he claimed, but he should be given his job back

Accused appeared at Dungannon magistrates court via video link charged with Omagh shootingSeven men have been remanded in custody after appearing before a district judge in Northern Ireland charged with the attempted murder of PSNI Det Ch Insp John Caldwell in Omagh in February.Caldwell was shot several times outside a sports complex in Omagh, County Tyrone, in February. Continue reading...

Residents at Kettering home left lying in faeces, dehydrated and with infected wounds as ministers rushed to free up NHS capacityThe depth of suffering in care homes in England as Covid hit has been laid bare in a court case exposing “degrading” treatment with residents being “catastrophically let down”.Care levels at the Temple Court care home in Kettering collapsed so badly in April 2020, when ministers rushed to free up NHS capacity by discharging thousands of people, that residents were left lying in their own faeces, dehydrated, malnourished and suffering necrotic, infected wounds, the Care Quality Commission found. Fifteen of its residents died with Covid in the first weeks of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis lays bare effect of dwindling pupil numbers and associated funding amid rising housing and childcare costs

In Lewes, a catholic primary may shut as parents are driven out by lack of affordable housing while parents of London school face ‘terrible decision’

‘Landmark’ resolution in Geneva seeks to boost neglected service in all healthcare sectors, from prosthetics to physical therapyRehabilitation needs are “largely unmet globally” and in many countries less than 50% of people receive the services they require, according to a “landmark” resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday.At the 76th World Health Assembly, World Health Organization (WHO) member states made a non-binding commitment to expand rehabilitation services to all levels of healthcare and to strengthen their financing mechanisms. Demand for the services is expected to grow as the burden of non-communicable diseases rises globally, says the document. Continue reading...

Boat reportedly carrying more than 20 people was overturned in ‘whirlwind’ on Lake Maggiore on SundayItalian firefighters say they have recovered four bodies from a northern Italian lake after a tourist boat capsized and sank in a sudden, violent storm.The boat was reportedly carrying more than 20 people, including a group of foreign tourists celebrating a birthday, plus two crew members, when a whirlwind overturned the vessel on Sunday. Continue reading...

Pedro Sánchez says Spanish people need to ‘clarify’ what they want after ruling socialists suffer losses in regional and municipal electionsSpain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has called a snap general election in response to the triumph of the rightwing opposition in Sunday’s regional and municipal elections.The conservative People’s party (PP) – which used the polls as a de facto referendum on Sánchez’s coalition government with the far-left, anti-austerity Podemos party – scored an emphatic win, securing absolute majorities in the Madrid region and the city council, aking regions including Aragón, Valencia and the Balearic islands from the prime minister’s Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE). Continue reading...

A Colorado student defied officials with a Mexican flag, the vice-president visited West Point and a service animal lent a pawA Colorado high school student defied a federal judge’s ruling and wore a Mexican flag sash to her high school graduation after fending off repeated resistance from the school.The event was just one of a clutch of unusual graduations and commencements across the country in the last week, with some firsts – and one furry companion. Continue reading...

Lawyers acting for pro-democracy activist argued that proceedings could be biased due to judge selectionHong Kong’s high court has rejected an attempt by lawyers acting for the jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to have his national security trial dismissed.The court ruled on Monday that the argument the trial may appear to be biased had “no merits”, and gave the proceedings, which are scheduled to start in September, the green light. Continue reading...

State ombudsman criticises government’s lack of knowledge about unaccompanied homeless children, failure to improve monitoring

The 74-year-old appeared sitting in the dock for the first day of the judge-alone trial

Two people among 15 sleeping rough in the former hat factory the night before blaze remain unaccounted for, as crime scene officers prepare equipment

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Bev McArthur criticised by state’s First Peoples’ Assembly co-chair as trying ‘to make a name’ for herself

Deborah O’Neill made the warning after the consulting firm claimed to have ‘ringfenced’ its government work

Catholic church’s claim he could not have been an altar boy because he was baptised Anglican proved to be incorrect but delayed case for a year, in a legal move being heavily criticised

Two Wrongs, in South Yarra, on Sunday night shared images on social media of patrons posing with the native reptiles

TUC says its study suggests one in 10 women have employers who do not have to enter them into a pensionWomen are more than twice as likely as men to miss out on being automatically put into a workplace pension, according to a report.The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said its study suggested that more than one in 10 women were in jobs where their employers did not have to enter them into a workplace pension, compared with fewer than one in 20 men. Continue reading...

Seven admit rioting, while another six face additional charges carrying a maximum sentence of life in prisonA Hong Kong court has began the trial of 13 people over the storming and ransacking of the city’s legislature in 2019, which was an unprecedented challenge to the Beijing-backed government.It was the most violent episode in the initial phase of the huge pro-democracy protests that shook Hong Kong that year, with millions marching and staging sit-ins for weeks. Continue reading...

Oxford University research reveals 17,000 out-of-area placements in England can be attributed to the corporate takeover of careThe corporate takeover of children’s care has led to more children moving between short-term, unstable placements far away from their families, according to research.The Oxford University study – which drew on more than 600,000 care records – revealed 17,000 out-of-area placements in England can be attributed to the outsourcing of care to for-profit providers between 2011 and 2022. Continue reading...

Local MP Emma Kealy says everyone in the tight-knit community would be affected by the loss

Labor leader who secured largest election victory in the state’s history in 2021 says the job had been ‘all-consuming, each and every day’

Relatives of Dorset teenager say some organisations have only made minor tweaks after coroner’s findingsRelatives of Gaia Pope have expressed anger and heartache at the lack of progress on key reforms in policing and healthcare they believe are needed a year after the Dorset teenager’s inquest exposed dozens of failings in her care.One described the impact of her death and the legal process that followed as “a wound that will never heal or even stop bleeding” while another said they still felt badly traumatised and let down by the legal system. Continue reading...

Exclusive: First minister of Wales says bonds that tie UK together have come under ‘sustained assault’ from 40 years of neoliberalismThe UK could break apart unless it is rebuilt as a “solidarity union” where every citizen’s rights to public services and financial security are protected, the first minister of Wales, has warned.Mark Drakeford said the social and political bonds that tie the different parts of the UK together have come under “sustained assault” from 40 years of neoliberalism, a trend launched by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and then reinforced after Brexit by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Continue reading...

Tokyo says any missile entering its territory will be destroyed as Pyongyang completes preparations to launch first military spy satelliteJapan’s military has said it will destroy any North Korean missile that violates its territory and is making preparations to do so, after Kim Jong-un’s regime told Tokyo it plans to launch a satellite between 31 May and 11 June.Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, said any launch by North Korea, even if termed a satellite launch, affected the safety of Japanese citizens. “The government recognises that there is a possibility that the satellite may pass through our country’s territory.” Continue reading...

Experts point to crackdown on national security and legal system that encourages guilty pleasChinese courts prosecuted 8.3 million people in the five years to 2022, a 12% increase on the previous period. There was also a nearly 20% increase in the number of protests against court rulings.The figures released by the supreme people’s procuratorate (SPP) in March give a glimpse of how China’s notoriously opaque justice system has operated in recent years, amid a tightening domestic security environment. Continue reading...

Quake that struck Sunbury on Sunday night the strongest in more than 100 years with an epicentre in metropolitan Melbourne

Seven Network says a replacement for the breakfast television host has been selected and will be announced on 5 June

Item inscribed with ‘Eva’ in German and the initials ‘AH’ to go under the hammer at Belfast auction in JuneA silver-plated pencil purported to have belonged to Adolf Hitler is going under the hammer in Belfast next month and is estimated to sell for between £50,000 and £80,000.It is believed to have been a gift to the former Nazi dictator from his long-term partner Eva Braun for his 52nd birthday on 20 April 1941. Continue reading...

Party’s research shows police did not even find a suspect in 30,079 incidents in England and WalesSlightly more than 30,000 muggings in England and Wales did not even result in a suspect being identified by police last year, research released by the Liberal Democrats has shown.Just 8% of all offences of robbery of personal property reported to the police last year saw someone being charged, the data from the House of Commons library research showed. Continue reading...

People’s party strengthens hold on Madrid and could take regions of Valencia and Aragón, according to pollSpain’s opposition conservative People’s party (PP) is heading for an emphatic win in Sunday’s key regional and municipal elections, winning an absolute majority in the city of Madrid and in the surrounding area.It is poised to wrest the regions of Valencia, Aragón and the Balearic islands from the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE). Continue reading...

‘Equal pay generation’ of female workers abandoned by Tories, says Anneliese Dodds, who commissioned researchThe so-called equal pay generation of female workers born near the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act are unlikely to see the gap close during their working lives, a Labour analysis has shown.Research carried out for Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, calculated that such is the slow rate of change with equal pay for women in their 50s, the gender pay gap will not close before 2050 at the current trajectory. Continue reading...

Re-elected president could take Nato country further towards Russia, or may instead be more open to alternativesWestern capitals remained silent through Turkey’s presidential campaign – privately hoping Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s erratic 20-year rule would come to a surprise close – but now he has been handed a decisive mandate to serve a third term, the west is caught between fear and hope.It fears he will exploit the result to take this Nato founder member further from the liberal secular west, but hopes against hope that, not being eligible to run again and thus freed from the need to pander to a nationalist electorate for the rest of his political life, he may at least be open to persuasion and base his foreign policy on something other than self-preservation. Continue reading...