World news | The Guardian

China is positioning itself as a regional mediator after brokering the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi ArabiaChina’s foreign minister told his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts his country is ready to help facilitate peace talks, state media reported.The separate phone calls between Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, and the Israeli and Palestinian top diplomats comes amid recent moves by Beijing to position itself as a regional mediator. Continue reading...

Parliament clerk finds claim Labor’s Jim Madden used public money to buy an artwork for former partner ‘not substantiated’

Almost a third of respondents say they have chosen not to apply for a property because they didn’t trust tech company with their details

Earlier this year, hundreds of top secret Pentagon documents were posted on the social media platform Discord. Manisha Ganguly and Julian Borger reportThe US authorities are investigating the leak of hundreds of secret US defence documents, some of which related to the war in Ukraine.The Guardian’s investigations correspondent, Manisha Ganguly, tells Hannah Moore how these documents migrated between different websites before being picked up by the press. Julian Borger, the Guardian’s world affairs editor, explains what we learned from the leak and how the US authorities have responded. Continue reading...

The nine board members were very close to raising the cash rate another 25 basis points in April due to inflation and labour market

Opposition home affairs spokesperson to sit on backbench before retiring at next election

Last month’s fatal fire in Ciudad Juárez is latest in a series of deaths and injuries dogging the country’s militarized migration agencyMexican authorities have arrested the head of migration for the state of Chihuahua in connection with a fire which killed 40 people at a government-run detention facility in the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez last month.The death of the migrants sparked outrage across Mexico after surveillance footage showed that officials failed to unlock the doors of the holding cell where migrants were trapped. Continue reading...

In government’s plan to close loophole people who sell blades would face up to two years in jailMachetes and zombie knives could be banned in England and Wales, with people selling them facing up to two years in jail, under government plans to close a legal loophole.After complaints from police chiefs and MPs that some large, bladed weapons are excluded from current laws, the Home Office will consult the public over plans to ban their ownership and sale. Continue reading...

Figures show need for work to make streets safer, including cutting speed limits, says Transport for LondonPeople living in London’s poorest areas face a far higher risk of suffering traffic-related deaths or serious injury than those in wealthier neighbourhoods, a Transport for London study has found.TfL said the casualty figures demonstrated the need for continued work to make streets safer as a matter of social justice – including cutting speed limits on more of the roads it manages throughout the capital. Continue reading...

European Commission accused of acting unlawfully in two separate cases bought by environment groupsThe European Commission is being sued by environmental campaigners over a decision to include gas and nuclear in an EU guide to “green” investments.Two separate legal challenges are being lodged on Tuesday at the European Union’s general court in Luxembourg – one by Greenpeace and another by a coalition including Client Earth and WWF – after the classification of fuels in the so-called taxonomy, a guide for investors intended to channel billions into green technologies. Continue reading...

Star present in person to greet Josie Felix at group’s show in east London where digital band members perform their hitsThe Abba star Björn Ulvaeus has said he believes avatars are the future after greeting the 1 millionth attender at the group’s hit show, Voyage.Ulvaeus praised the technology as he greeted the guest at the purpose-built Abba Arena in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Monday. Continue reading...

David Byrne shot six times at Regency hotel in one of first deadly attacks of Hutch-Kinahan gangland feudGerry “the Monk” Hutch has been found not guilty by a non-jury court of the high-profile murder of David Byrne at a Dublin hotel seven years ago.Byrne, 33, died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at Dublin’s Regency hotel on 5 February 2016, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. Continue reading...

Figures show ‘colossal impact of industrial action on planned care in NHS’, says medical chief for EnglandAlmost 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England were cancelled during last week’s junior doctors’ strikes, it has been revealed.There were 20,000 more appointments cancelled in the strikes that ran between 11 and 15 April than in the shorter strike in March, NHS England figures show. A total of 27,361 staff were not at work during the peak of the strikes, though the true figure could be higher as some workforce data was incomplete. Continue reading...

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has said it would pause Twitter activities after being labelled ‘government-funded media’Prime minister Justin Trudeau has waded into a feud over Twitter’s decision to label Canada’s public broadcaster as “government-funded”, accusing his main political rival Pierre Poilievre of enlisting the help of tech executives in an attempt to defund the network.Last week, the Conservative leader called on Twitter owner Elon Musk to label the English-language feed of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “government-funded” – but stopped short of asking for the French arm of the network to also be given the same label. Continue reading...

Stuart Peach, running in this year’s election for Ashfield district council, also talked about ‘stoning migrants’A Conservative local election candidate in Nottinghamshire has posted on social media about “stoning migrants” and complained of an “invasion of Islam”.Stuart Peach is running in this year’s election for Ashfield district council, based in the constituency of the party’s deputy chairman, Lee Anderson. Continue reading...

Met officers had been called to a block of flats in Peckham in response to reports a man was threatening to jump from a balconyAn investigation has been launched after a man fell to his death from a balcony when he was Tasered by police following an hour-long standoff.Officers from the Metropolitan police were called to a block of flats in Peckham, south London last week in an attempt to save the man’s life. Continue reading...

Ex-leader also praised for discipline and passion as she becomes only third chancellor to receive GroßkreuzGermany’s former leader Angela Merkel has been awarded the country’s highest order of merit despite criticism over her legacy, receiving praise for her discipline and passion during 16 years as chancellor.She was presented with the honour by the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Berlin on Monday evening in recognition of her contribution to German political life at an event attended by her political allies, including the current chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the former national football coach Jürgen Klinsmann, Ulrich Matthes, an award-winning actor who had helped improve how she delivered speeches, as well as family and friends. Continue reading...

Investigation understood to be related to PM’s links to childcare firm in which his wife is an investor

PM’s spokesperson says people will continue to use national park’s English name despite change to Welsh one, Bannau BrycheiniogDowning Street has stepped into a growing row over a decision to ditch the English name of the Brecon Beacons in favour of the old Welsh one, Bannau Brycheiniog.The prime minister’s official spokesperson said he was sure people would continue to use the national park’s English name and questioned the move to drop a symbol of a flaming beacon from the park’s logo. Continue reading...

Neither side shows any willingness to heed appeals from US, UK, African Union and Arab states as death toll nears 100

Paris court clears aviation giants over disaster that killed 228 people flying from Rio de Janeiro to ParisThe families of victims of France’s worst-ever air disaster said they were “devastated” after a Paris court cleared Air France and Airbus of manslaughter charges over a 2009 crash that caused the deaths of 228 people.Giving its verdict on Monday, the court said that, if there had been faults committed, “no certain causal link” with the accident had been demonstrated. Continue reading...

Payment represents acknowledgement government and British Columbia have failed to honour treaty signed in 1899Canada has agreed to pay C$800m to settle a land claims dispute with five First Nations, an acknowledgement it failed to honour a treaty signed more than a century ago – and the latest in a string of deals reshaping the relationship between government and Indigenous communitiesOver the weekend, officials with both the federal and British Columbia governments admitted successive administrations had broken their promises to the Blueberry River First Nations, the Doig River First Nation, the Halfway River First Nation, the Saulteau First Nations and the West Moberly First Nations. Continue reading...

Lizzie Annis wins best newcomer and Arthur Hughes wins best Shakesperean performance as actors with disabilities take two prizesPatsy Ferran has been named best actress at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards for her performance as A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche Dubois – a role that she took over as an 11th-hour replacement.Lydia Wilson had been cast in the production at the Almeida theatre in London in 2022 but when she withdrew for health reasons, Ferran was parachuted in with just days to prepare. The play, starring Paul Mescal as Stanley and Anjana Vasan as Stella, has transferred to the West End where it runs until May. Ferran was nominated for best actress at the Olivier awards, where Rebecca Frecknall’s production of the Tennessee Williams classic was named best revival earlier this month. Continue reading...

Thousands of homes across Australia are listed on short-stay websites but councils’ call to action is ‘piecemeal approach’ to housing crisis, experts say

Bill Shorten wants to stop practices that treat people like ‘cash cows’ as he reveals taskforce had 1,700 tipoffs in a month

New organisation will represent about 30% of British Jews who are affiliated to synagoguesTwo bodies representing progressive Judaism in the UK have joined forces to give their movement greater reach and a stronger voice.The Movement for Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism announced on Monday that they will put aside 120 years as separate organisations “to create one single unified progressive Jewish movement for the UK”. Continue reading...

Charges against David Stansbury relate to three alleged incidents in 2009 reported to police in 2020A serving police sergeant has been accused of raping a woman while he was on duty more than a decade ago.Sgt David Stansbury, 42, is due to appear before magistrates in Devon on Wednesday (19 April) where he faces three rape charges. Continue reading...

Commonly known as Hemedti, the general of the Rapid Support Forces rose through ranks of Janjaweed in 2003-05 warThe story has it that Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – known universally as Hemedti or “little Mohammed” – first became a fighter in the Sudanese Arab Janjaweed militia in Darfur after an armed attack killed dozens of members of his family.A secondary school dropout turned camel trader, the general and deputy head of state whose Rapid Support Forces [RSF] are now battling the Sudanese army forces loyal to army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, is also widely feared. Continue reading...

Newcastle court convicts 15-year-old who armed himself before stabbing strangerA 15-year-old boy who went out with a knife “hoping” to stab someone has been found guilty of murdering another schoolboy in Gateshead.A jury at Newcastle crown court on Monday found the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty of the murder of Tomasz Oleszak, 14. Continue reading...

Refuge warns of risk to abuse survivors, many of whom keep secret second phonesPeople at risk of domestic abuse have been advised to turn off any mobile device they want to keep hidden next Sunday, as ministers prepare to launch the first nationwide test of a new emergency alert system.The warning will cause people’s phones and tablets to produce a siren-like sound. But there are fears the test, which takes place at 3pm on Sunday, could give away the location of secret devices. Continue reading...

Britain misses out on building second Ineos vehicle, after company chose France for original modelIneos, the company founded and run by the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will build an electric version of its new Grenadier off-road vehicle in Austria.The electric version of the 4x4 will be developed with the Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna and production is scheduled to start in 2026. Continue reading...

PM says students in England will not be forced to study subject at A-level as he defends plan to make it compulsory until 18

Former Italian PM, who had been having breathing problems, is showing improvement, says doctorThe former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has left intensive care at a hospital in Milan where he spent 12 days being treated for a lung infection and leukaemia.The 86-year-old has been transferred to another ward at the San Raffaele hospital as a result of the “constant improvement” of his condition, his medics said. Continue reading...

Vladimir Kara-Murza’s harsh sentence is the longest yet given to political opponent of Vladimir Putin

Experts say more peer-reviewed research is needed to understand the full impacts of the virus

ACT chief justice publishes reasons for maintaining suppression orders in a newly released judgment

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Nostra Property Group enters into agreement to complete multiple dwelling projects

S4 Capital boss says it’s almost ‘business as usual’ after keyhole surgery to remove tumourSir Martin Sorrell has revealed that he had keyhole surgery to remove a tumour in February, and will undergo further preventive cancer treatment.The veteran advertising boss, who is executive chair of the digital-led ad group S4 Capital, said he is back almost to “business as usual” after “successful keyhole surgery”, and will continue working, in a statement to the stock market on Monday. Continue reading...

Government, wagering giants and NRL examining merits of English Premier League deal to voluntarily phase out shirt sponsorship

WHO warns some hospitals in Khartoum short of blood and other critical supplies to treat wounded and clashes enter third day

Treasurer says he will engage with opposition and crossbench on legislative changes around central bank

Court told Alexander Csergo was paid to prepare reports on Australian defence arrangements, but lawyer says documents were ‘not necessarily sinister’

Brasília encounter, like Brazilian president’s recent trip to China and offer of peacemaking in Ukraine, is part of diplomatic resetRussia’s minister of foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, is due to arrive in Brasília on Monday for talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, in the latest of a series of bilateral encounters likely to ruffle the US.Lavrov arrives just as Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, returns from a state visit to China, and both missions are part of a diplomatic reset Lula has pursued since returning to power this year, as he strives to recover Brazil’s international reputation after his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, dismantled Brazil’s established tradition of cooperation. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews warns of ‘very difficult measures’ in May budget as government works to get state finances on track post-Covid

Anti-monarchy group Republic says issue is ‘urgent’ given forthcoming coronation of King CharlesThe campaign group Republic has accused the BBC of a lack of impartiality in its coverage before the coronation of King Charles, accusing the broadcaster of failing to hold the monarchy to account.In a letter to David Jordan, the BBC’s director of editorial and policy standards, the Republic chief executive, Graham Smith, said the complaint was “particularly urgent in light of the forthcoming coronation”. Continue reading...

Campaigners say underinvestment in NHS is forcing patients to seek private treatment if they can afford itOne in eight Britons have paid for private health services in the last year, amid frustration with delays in getting NHS treatment and a growing willingness to buy care using salary or savings.New research by YouGov found that another 27% of people had considered going private, for themselves or a loved one, but decided against it, often because they couldn’t afford it.33% of those who had used private healthcare instead of the NHS had done so for the first time.53% went private “so I could be seen more quickly”.most (48%) paid for non-urgent care, such as a diagnostic test or operation. Continue reading...

Bannau Brycheiniog national park also ditches fiery logo as it embarks on plan to tackle climate and biodiversity crisisThe name and logo is familiar to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit every year to climb the peaks, explore the fast-flowing streams and rivers and unwind in the towns and villages.But from Monday the Brecon Beacons national park is dropping its English language name and scrapping its logo of a fiery greenhouse gas-emitting beacon as it launches a plan designed to tackle issues in the park created by the climate and biodiversity emergencies. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation also reveals stark differences between forces in approaches to recording complaintsSexual misconduct and racism claims against officers are proportionally higher in some English forces than at the Metropolitan police, a Guardian investigation has found, as new figures also revealed starkly different approaches to recording.Three forces – Essex, Suffolk and Staffordshire – had, by proportion, more officers under investigation due to allegations of racism than the Met, according to the snapshot of investigations covering the period of late January and early February. Continue reading...

Premier says government will not proceed with public inquiry as it could affect investigation being conducted by commission