Relative of Harvey Evans, 15, says he and Kyrees Sullivan, 16, were ‘chased to their death’ by South Wales policeThe aunt of one of the teenage boys who died in a road traffic accident on an electric bike in Cardiff has accused South Wales police of causing their deaths.Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, died on Monday night shortly after they were seen on CCTV being followed by a police van. Continue reading...
With public hearings into government’s handling of the pandemic set to the begin, here are some of the answers to the big questionsThe government is already at loggerheads with Heather Hallett, chair of the Covid-19 inquiry, over the scope of her remit. The inquiry will start public hearings shortly, with government decisions, political reputations and use of public funds “under the microscope”. Continue reading...
The only colour study by Frederic Leighton for his famous painting is set to go on show at restored museumFlaming June, surely the most romantic and summery of all well-known British paintings, is finally returning home, to the London house where Frederic Leighton first imagined his fiery image almost 130 years ago.Now, as temperatures rise in the run-up to June, the museum in the artist’s former home has been unexpectedly given the smaller, first version of the world-famous work that Leighton painted in 1894. Continue reading...
She was 15 when she was last seen alive in Rome. Her brother explains why he backs a new theory featured in a TV showNot long before she disappeared in the summer of 1983, Emanuela Orlandi went to Piazza del Catalone, a small square just outside of the Vatican walls, to meet friends.There was still a party vibe during that sweltering June just a few weeks after AS Roma clinched the Serie A title. In a photograph taken at the time Orlandi, who was then 15, is wearing a headband in yellow and red, the football team’s colours, that her mother had made. It was one of the last photographs taken of the teenager before she vanished without trace on 22 June 1983, an image that has come to define the campaign of her older brother Pietro Orlandi’s unrelenting search for the truth. Continue reading...
Observer reveals that companies are getting big contracts in spite of paying penalties for corruption or fraudCompanies that have paid hundreds of millions in fines and penalties, have defrauded Whitehall or have faced corruption investigations are among those making the most money from UK government outsourcing, the Observer can reveal.Observer analysis of data from UK regulators has found the Strategic Suppliers, the 40 private companies that play the biggest role in running outsourced government services, have received well over £500m in financial penalties from regulators since 2010. Continue reading...
by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent on (#6BYJG)
UK Conservatives are only party to charge press delegates for accreditation at annual gatheringIt looks as if there will be empty seats in the rows usually reserved for members of the press at the annual Conservative party conference in Manchester this autumn, with media organisations across the political spectrum refusing to pay recently imposed fees.No other British political party charges for press accreditation, but last year a fee was introduced by the Conservative party. This summer the charge of £137 for each journalist’s application is being challenged by a broad coalition of newsrooms, on the basis that paying for media access sets a bad and undemocratic precedent. Continue reading...
People in the Lincolnshire market town were enthusiastic leavers, but seven years on there’s growing disappointment and disillusionThe breeze of change is wheezing through Boston – although not nearly hard enough for most people here. Voters in the Lincolnshire market town were the most enthusiastic supporters of Brexit, with 74.9% backing leave in the 2016 EU referendum. Now even they are sceptical that Brexit will deliver the transformation they’re still waiting for seven years later.As the Best in Britain poll in the Observer reveals on Sunday, in the Boston and Skegness constituency more than twice as many people (40%) now want closer links with the EU against just 19% who want relations to become even more distant. Continue reading...
Speeding fines and immigration statements lead to fall in trust for UK home secretary, even among Conservative votersSuella Braverman has suffered a collapse in personal support among the public in the wake of rows over a speeding fine and her handling of immigration, a new poll for the Observer has revealed.With some Tories accusing the home secretary of positioning herself as a future leader, the latest Opinium poll found that her personal approval rating had slumped to -36 among voters. While 14% said they approved of the job she is doing, 50% said they disapproved. Continue reading...
Dramatic reversal in public opinion seen even in those constituencies that recorded the highest votes to leaveA clear majority of British voters now favours building closer relations with the European Union, according to new polling that highlights a dramatic reversal in the tide of public opinion since Brexit.Even in those constituencies that recorded the highest votes to leave the EU in 2016, more than twice as many voters now believe the best route forward is to move in the opposite direction – and forge closer ties with Brussels. Continue reading...
As outgoings exceed income, people can’t afford to pay for the support they need along with normal expensesDisabled people are paying “a tax on disability” by being forced to fund soaring care charges out of their benefits as the cost of living pushes care users into financial crisis.Charities and disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), including Mencap, Scope, the MS Society, Inclusion London, Dimensions, and WinVisible, told the Observer that disabled care users are being pushed into severe financial hardship with some forced to go without essential home care because they can’t afford the fees. Others face up to £20,000 of arrears to their local authority, with some seeing bailiffs called in over care fee debts. One DPO said some disabled women are being coerced into sex by acquaintances after turning to them for care because they couldn’t pay care charges. Continue reading...
by Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Michael Savage on (#6BYJ5)
Questions raised on loopholes in ban on foreign donations to political parties and their effects on the electoral systemThe head of the government’s ethics advisory body has called for an overhaul of the rules on political donations, warning stronger safeguards are required against the influence of foreign money.Lord Jonathan Evans, chair of the independent committee on standards in public life, told the Observer that the government needed to implement new measures which would establish the true source of donations and improve diligence checks. Continue reading...
Chair of the Covid inquiry has threatened legal action if the former PM’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries are not releasedWhen Boris Johnson finally agreed to hold a judge-led public inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, he showered praise on the eminent former judge he chose to lead it.“She brings a wealth of experience to the role, and I know shares my determination that the inquiry examines in a forensic and thoroughgoing way the government’s response to the pandemic,” the former prime minister said of Heather Hallett and her future endeavours, back in December 2021. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#6BYG4)
After a year of walkouts and failed talks, the unions, ministers and operators are as far apart as everAlmost a year since the first national rail strike was called, another series of stoppages loom. Passengers who have been spared the usual round of disruptive bank holiday engineering works this weekend won’t be so lucky in the second half of the half-term break. Strikes by drivers and crew will more or less wipe out services on Wednesday and Saturday, shred schedules on Friday, and add a bit of scattergun disruption in between.This time in 2022, the mere prospect of the biggest rail strike in decades was causing consternation. Now, though, the latest guaranteed upheaval has not even produced a round of talks between unions and industry – let alone ministers – to try to head off the disruption. Continue reading...
Northern Ireland policeman was shot multiple times after a youth football team coaching session in FebruarySeven men have been charged with the attempted murder of a senior police detective in Northern Ireland, police said.DCI John Caldwell was shot multiple times at a sports complex in Omagh, County Tyrone, after a youth football team coaching session on 22 February in an attack linked to dissident republicans. His son was with him as he loaded footballs into the boot of his car when the gunmen approached. Continue reading...
The sailor, whose identity has not been disclosed, was from Greater Manchester, Sussex police sayA British man has died after falling from a yacht during a historic race in the Channel, police have said.The sailor, whose identity has not been disclosed, was from the Greater Manchester area, according to Sussex police. Continue reading...
Hours-long delays were reported as IT problems also caused disruption on Dover-Calais ferriesPassengers arriving at major airports in the UK at the start of the bank holiday weekend faced long delays after problems with electronic passport gates.Travellers expressed their anger on social media over queues of several hours at a number of airports including Heathrow and Gatwick as arrivals had their passports checked by hand instead of the automated machines. Continue reading...
This Morning co-presenter wrote that subsequent admission of relationship he denied was ‘very hurtful’Holly Willoughby has claimed that former co-host Phillip Schofield had previously denied to her that he had a relationship with a younger ITV colleague and described his subsequent admission of the affair as “very hurtful”.In a statement on Instagram, the This Morning presenter, 42, said: “It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.” Continue reading...
by Andrew Roth and Shaun Walker in Warsaw on (#6BYD3)
Raman Pratasevich was dragged off a plane and imprisoned two years ago. Now he praises the regime he used to denounceTwo years ago, Raman Pratasevich, a young Belarusian dissident blogger, was white-knuckled, begging a Ryanair flight crew not to make an emergency landing at Minsk airport.He said: “Don’t do this, they will kill me, I am a refugee,” according to a fellow passenger. The plane, escorted by a Belarusian Mig-29 fighter jet sent to force it down, landed anyway. Pratasevich was promptly arrested. Continue reading...
Comedian tells Hay literary festival Trump found her ‘obnoxious’ when she interviewed him in 1996Ruby Wax has said she thinks the reason Donald Trump did not make a pass at her when she interviewed him almost three decades ago was because she is too clever. “I’m not his type. I have a brain,” she told the Hay festival in Wales.Speaking at the literary festival to promote her latest book, I’m Not as Well as I Thought I Was, the broadcaster and comedian spoke about the 1996 interview on Trump’s private jet, in which she laughed when he told her he wanted to run for president. Continue reading...
Former prime minister says Cabinet Office gave entries to the Met police without checking their contentsBoris Johnson has insisted the idea that evidence in diaries given to police might suggest further lockdown rule-breaking during the Covid pandemic is “absolute nonsense”.The former prime minister said a Cabinet Office decision to give entries from his official diary to the police without checking their contents with him was “ridiculous”. Continue reading...
Formal identification yet to be confirmed as another boy, 14, remains in critical condition following River Eden incidentThe body of a teenage boy has been found in the River Eden in Carlisle after a 15-year-old went missing on Friday, Cumbria constabulary said.The discovery followed an extensive search operation. Police were contacted at 6.41pm on Friday after a report that four teenage boys had got into difficulty in a section of the river near the city’s Rosehill area. Continue reading...
The hit drama cemented a film and TV boom in the West Yorkshire town and its surroundings – and now the cameras can’t stay awayPiece Hall, in the West Yorkshire town of Halifax, is among the great relics of the glory days of England’s industrial north, one of the few surviving cloth halls, where international business was carried out in the heart of textile-trade country from the late 18th century.Recently it’s had a transformation into a tourist attraction stuffed with independent shops that also hosts major outdoor concerts – this summer will see it play host to gigs by Madness, Rag’n’Bone Man, Hozier and Orbital. Continue reading...
Seth Kneller, 43, remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster magistrates courtA man who was arrested after a car crashed into the gates of Downing Street has been released under police investigation but charged separately with making indecent images of children, police have said.Seth Kneller, of Crewe, was initially detained by armed officers after a crash involving a silver Kia near the prime minister’s official residence in Whitehall at 4.20pm on Thursday. Continue reading...
Group was among the last opposition parties, as political dissent has been banned since 2020’s security lawThe Civic party, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy groups, has voted to disband because of a leadership vacuum, after its members were squeezed out of local councils and charged under Beijing’s national security law.Nicknamed “the barristers’ party”, it was founded in 2006 by professional elites – mostly from the legal sector – who wanted to promote democratisation and civil society in Hong Kong. Continue reading...
Presidential adviser says supply lines and depots already being destroyed as preliminary operations get under way• Russia-Ukraine war – latest updatesPreliminary operations have already begun to pave the way for a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.“It’s a complicated process, which is not a matter of one day or a certain date or a certain hour,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with the Guardian. “It’s an ongoing process of de-occupation, and certain processes are already happening, like destroying supply lines or blowing up depots behind the lines. Continue reading...
More than 2m litres of water pumped from dam on orders of food inspector who said device held sensitive government dataA government official in central India has been suspended after he ordered a reservoir to be drained to retrieve his dropped phone.Millions of litres of water were pumped over three days from the Kherkatta dam in the state of Chhattisgarh after Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, said his Samsung mobile held sensitive government data. Continue reading...
Government accused of backing ‘inhumane’ policies as 16 people are badly hurt by barrier blocking entry via Poland from BelarusRefugees and asylum seekers have been seriously injured by a “dangerous” razor-wire fence that the UK helped to build to keep asylum seekers out of Europe.At least 16 people have been gravely hurt, some hospitalised, when recently attempting to reach Europe by crossing a 5.5m-high barrier the British military helped to construct on Poland’s border with Belarus. Continue reading...
Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, 18, to appear again at Thames magistrates court after posting ‘prank’ videoA teenager is to appear in court after he was charged with breaching a criminal behaviour order imposed for posting a “prank” video on TikTok.Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, 18, known as Mizzy, of Hackney, north London, was made subject to the order at Thames magistrates court on Wednesday, banning him from posting videos on social media without the consent of those featuring in them. Continue reading...
Votes will allow the parties to hone their strategies before December’s general electionSpain heads to the polls on Sunday to elect 12 regional governments and 8,000 municipal councils in votes that will allow the governing Socialists and the opposition conservatives to gauge their strengths and hone their strategies before December’s general election.Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the rightwing, populist president of the Madrid region, will be aiming to secure an absolute majority for the People’s party (PP), while Barcelona’s leftwing mayor, Ada Colau, will be hoping to see off challenges from the regional branch of the Socialist party and a centre-right Catalan pro-independence party. Continue reading...
Asiana Airlines flight was about 200 metres above the ground when the passenger pulled emergency exitA man who opened an emergency exit on a flight in mid-air felt “suffocated” and wanted to get off quickly, South Korean police have said.The Asiana Airlines plane was carrying nearly 200 passengers as it approached the runway on Friday at Daegu international airport, about 150 miles south-east of Seoul, on a domestic flight. Continue reading...
Investigators in Horizon IT scandal were asked to group suspects by racial features, including ‘negroid types’Lawyers investigating post office operators in the Horizon computer scandal used a racist term to categorise Black workers, according to documents released to campaigners.Investigators were asked to group suspects based on racial features, the results of a freedom of information request found. Continue reading...
Motorists urged to carry out safety check as rubber on cars left idle for long periods can deteriorateThere has been a sharp rise in the number of cars with cracked tyres – which can result in an MOT failure – because of vehicles lying idle during the coronavirus pandemic.Figures from Kwik Fit, the car maintenance chain, show that its mechanics saw almost twice as many cars with premature cracking last year compared with before the lockdowns. Continue reading...
by Sandra Laville Environment correspondent on (#6BY0K)
Exclusive: Researchers analysed works run by nine water and sewerage companies in England and WalesEleven billion litres of raw sewage were discharged from a sample of 30 water company treatment works in one year, new research suggests.The study aimed to reveal the volume of discharged effluent released from storm overflows by water firms. Companies are not forced to reveal the volume of raw sewage released during discharges. They are only required by regulators to provide data on the number of discharges and the length of time they lasted. Continue reading...
Phillip Mehrtens, who has been held hostage since February, makes the claim in a new video released by the separatist groupRebels in Indonesia’s Papua region have threatened to shoot a New Zealand pilot being held hostage if countries do not comply with their demand to start independence talks within two months, a new video released by the group shows.Guerrilla fighters in Papua’s central highlands, who want to free Papua from Indonesia, kidnapped Phillip Mehrtens after he landed a commercial plane in the mountainous area of Nduga in February. Continue reading...
by Presented by Bridie Jabour with Lenore Taylor and on (#6BY03)
In a special edition of Full Story, Guardian Australia’s daily podcast, Bridie Jabour speaks to the key players of its launch in May 2013The story of how Guardian Australia launched in 2013 is one of strength, determination, a chance encounter, a spying scandal and a lot of coffee. At a time when Julia Gillard was prime minister, newspapers were laying off thousands of staff and Gina Rinehart was vying to take control of Fairfax, the Guardian arrived in a dire period for public interest journalism. But since May 2013 the once-tiny news site has achieved what some thought impossible. In this special edition of Full Story, Bridie Jabour speaks to the key players of Guardian Australia’s launch.This podcast also features Katharine Viner, Lenore Taylor, Katharine Murphy, Alan Rusbridger, Lee Glendinning, David Marr, Christian Bennett, Graeme Wood, Malcolm Turnbull, Luke Pearson, Lorena Allam, Melissa Davey, Ben Doherty, Mark Scott, Cassandra Goldie, Michael Safi and Luke Henriques-Gomes. Continue reading...
Army leader Abdel-Fatteh al-Burhan has asked the UN to replace its envoy to the countrySudan’s army has asked the United Nations to change its envoy to the country, as it calls on reservists and retired soldiers to re-enlist amid the ongoing conflict with a rival paramilitary force.Friday’s call to former soldiers to present themselves at their nearest military base comes days into a shaky truce between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Continue reading...
Environmental groups say the event in Perth to court the biggest polluting oil company of all time is ‘akin to a joint trade show with a tobacco major’
Exclusive: Welsh first minister points to ‘13 years of erosion’ under Conservatives after unrest that followed deaths of two boysThe Welsh first minister has accused the UK government of creating the poor social conditions that formed the backdrop to the Cardiff riots by systematically eroding community life, public services and citizens’ incomes.Mark Drakeford, who represents the Ely area where the riots broke out on Monday night after the deaths of two teenage boys, said public services and people’s standards of living had declined there during 13 years of Conservative rule. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian