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Police confiscated bottles of drug known as GBL, which can be sold under a loophole for industrial purposes

Michael Aron praised facility part-owned by British American Tobacco at ribbon-cutting event in 2019A UK ambassador took part in the opening ceremony of a Jordanian cigarette factory part-owned by British American Tobacco (BAT) and praised the new facility in a televised interview, in the latest example of British diplomats breaching strict guidelines against mixing with the tobacco industry overseas.The envoy stood at the ribbon as it was cut and later appeared in promotional material on the tobacco company’s website, but no record of his presence at the event was kept by the British embassy in Amman because the event was not considered a “formal meeting”. Continue reading...

Villagers celebrate anniversary of buyback of 400-year-old Packhorse near Bath, and hope to inspire othersOn the day of the Packhorse’s grand reopening exactly five years ago it snowed heavily. “Boy did it snow,” said Phil Legard, one of the hundreds of shareholders who together had raised more than a million pounds to save the beloved pub near Bath.“By 9am the village was cut off and the first thing we had to do was organise a team of people to grab their shovels and dig so our first customers could actually get here,” said Legard. “But that is what the Packhorse is about. Community spirit, finding a way.” Continue reading...

The writers of the Northern Ireland criminal drama want to shed light on continued threat posed by gangs involved in drugs tradeA portrayal of the brutality entrenched in some Belfast communities in a major new BBC drama has shocked younger actors not old enough to have lived through the Troubles. The violent legacy of sectarian division in the criminal underworld had to be explained by older cast and writers.Police show Blue Lights is due to come to television screens just before the Good Friday agreement marks its 25th anniversary early next month, and it focuses on the continued threat posed by gangs involved in the drugs trade. Set in the ranks of the Police Service of Northern Ireland today, it follows three recruits learning how to navigate a treacherous urban landscape. Continue reading...

Wagga Wagga experiences its hottest March weather yet, breaking a previous high set in 1983

Poll shows just 17% of people back the Conservatives on public services against 43% for the oppositionMore than twice as many voters now trust Labour to improve public services as the Conservatives, after the government finally backed down and agreed an improved pay deal for NHS workers aimed at ending months of damaging health sector strikes.The latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows just 17% of people back the Tories on public services against 43% who would prefer Labour to manage them, after the government came forward with an enhanced offer last week. Continue reading...

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Firing of short-range weapon comes as the US and South Korea stage major military drills

Comments follow protests in which anti-transgender activists performed Nazi salutes on the steps of the Victorian state parliament

Magnitude 6.8 quake shakes area 50 miles south of Ecuador’s second city, Guayaquil, with one death reported so far in PeruA strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines.The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. Its centre was about 50 miles (80km) south of Guayaquil, which has a metropolitan area of more than 3 million people. Continue reading...

Russia accused of using cluster bombs in Kramatorsk strikes that leave two dead after a series of attacks the previous day; Black Sea grain deal renewed

Faith Marley, from Leith, Edinburgh, was spotted on CCTV meeting an older man on Wednesday, police sayA fresh appeal has been launched to help police trace a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for three days.Faith Marley, from the Leith area of Edinburgh, was last seen on CCTV meeting a man in Glasgow. Continue reading...

Home secretary’s trip to publicise refugee policy has been compared with Donald Trump’s news managementOutrage at the unusual level of control imposed on media coverage of the home secretary’s trip to Rwanda has grown this weekend during Suella Braverman’s first hours in the country.Prominent names, including news presenters, academics and opposition MPs expressed shock at what they considered the partisan reporting of the trip from the right-wing news organisations invited to join the trip. The Guardian, BBC, Mirror, Independent and i Newspaper were barred. Continue reading...

Citizens who worked with British government or helped army told to get necessary documents stamped by the authoritiesThe Ministry of Defence has apologised after an investigation found Afghan applicants to a resettlement scheme were told they could only come to the UK if their documents were approved by the Taliban.The Independent revealed that the mistake affected applicants to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy scheme (Arap), which aims to relocate Afghan citizens who worked with the UK government or helped its armed forces in Afghanistan. The MoD decides which applicants – who may apply with their families – are eligible for relocation to Britain. Continue reading...

Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine has released details of overnight drone attacks by Russia.Some hit the relatively peaceful region of Lviv in the west of Ukraine. Dnipro was also targeted, as was Kyiv, where air defences shot down all attacking drones. Continue reading...

Supporters of ex-prime minister and police fight outside court where he was addressing charges of unlawfully selling state giftsA court in Islamabad has cancelled Imran Khan’s arrest warrant after intense clashes between police and the former prime minister’s supporters outside the judicial complex.Khan officially appeared before the court in Pakistan’s capital on Saturday, complying with a judicial order that led to a failed attempt to arrest him on Tuesday. He is facing various legal challenges including unlawfully selling state gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries while in office from 2018 to 2022. Khan says he followed legal procedures in acquiring the gifts. Continue reading...

Presenters back to cover FA Cup quarter-final after row that nearly cost BBC director general and chairman their jobsGary Lineker returned to presenting Match of the Day on Saturday evening after a row that threatened to topple the BBC chairman and director general.As the former England international introduced live BBC coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley, pundit Alan Shearer touched on the recent controversy. Continue reading...

Italy’s new rightwing government put a strong emphasis on traditional family values during electionsHundreds of people took to the streets in Milan in protest against moves by Italy’s new rightwing government to restrict the rights of same-sex parents.“You explain to my son that I’m not his mother,” read one sign held up amid a sea of rainbow flags that filled one of the northern city’s central squares. Continue reading...

Thousands attended march through capital to condemn home secretary’s legislation, say organisersProtesters have marched against the government’s illegal migration bill in cities across the UK on Saturday, with organisers claiming thousands had attended.Demonstrators carried signs and banners, some reading “no human is illegal”, as they matched towards Downing Street in central London. Continue reading...

Edward Wilson was due to appear at Birmingham magistrates court on Saturday after death of Akeem Francis-KerrA man has been charged with murder over a fatal stabbing at a nightclub in Walsall in the West Midlands.Edward Wilson, 39, was due to appear at Birmingham magistrates court on Saturday over the death of Akeem Francis-Kerr, 29. Continue reading...

Home secretary accused of rewarding favourable coverage on visit aimed at reinforcing government’s migration planSuella Braverman has made her first trip to Rwanda as home secretary amid criticism that the Guardian, other liberal newspapers and the BBC were not invitedon the publicly funded visit.Before the trip on Friday, Braverman said her controversial policy to deport asylum seekers to the African country “will act as a powerful deterrent against dangerous and illegal journeys”. Continue reading...

Departure of Murrell, husband of Nicola Sturgeon, comes day after media chief quitThe chief executive of the Scottish National party has resigned with immediate effect as an escalating row over party membership figures engulfs the party’s senior echelons, prompting demands for an overhaul of how it carries out its internal business.Peter Murrell, who has been chief executive since 2000 and married Nicola Sturgeon in 2010, said he had planned to step down after the leadership contest to replace his wife had concluded, but was doing so now because “my future has become a distraction from the campaign”. Continue reading...

Suspect detained in Derry after note purportedly from New IRA claims responsibility for attack on detectiveA man has been arrested in connection with a claim of responsibility by the New IRA for the shooting of the senior detective John Caldwell.The man was arrested in Derry on Saturday. Continue reading...

Increasing anger presents biggest challenge to Emmanuel Macron since gilets jaunes protestsPolice in Paris have banned gatherings on the central Place de la Concorde as thousands of demonstrators continue to protest across France against Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force through a change to the state pension age without a parliamentary vote.Protests were under way or planned on Saturday in cities including Bordeaux, Nantes, Marseille, Brest and elsewhere in Paris after unions called for a determined show of resistance ahead of a ninth day of nationwide industrial action planned for Thursday. Continue reading...

Author of report into party’s culture voices concern antisemitism is taken more seriously than other forms of racismLabour has been accused of still not fully engaging with claims that anti-black racism and Islamophobia were not taken as seriously as antisemitism by the senior lawyer who carried out a report into the party’s culture.Martin Forde KC, who was commissioned by Keir Starmer to investigate allegations of bullying, racism and sexism, expressed concern about the party enabling a “hierarchy” of racism. Continue reading...

Trinity academic to establish how college benefited from slave trade in move to achieve ‘reconciliation’A University of Cambridge college is to appoint an academic to examine its legacies of slavery.Trinity College, Cambridge, has announced that its new legacies of slavery research and teaching fellow will investigate the college’s links to the transatlantic slave trade. Continue reading...

Airline industry claimed science not ‘robust’ enough to implement new controls to combat climate warming caused by vapour trailsAirlines and airports opposed measures to combat global warming caused by jet vapour trails that evidence suggests account for more than half of the aviation industry’s climate impact, new documents reveal.The industry argued in government submissions that the science was not “robust” enough to justify reduction targets for these non-CO emissions. Scientists say the climate impact of vapour trails, or contrails, has been known for more than two decades, with one accusing the industry of a “typical climate denialist strategy”. Continue reading...

Hosts of BBC fundraiser include AJ Odudu and Paddy McGuinness but Lenny Henry is absent for first timeThe BBC’s annual Comic Relief fundraiser, which this year featured sketches based on the popular show The Traitors and the Eurovision song contest, has raised more than £34m.The show, hosted at Media City in Salford, included AJ Odudu, Joel Dommett and Paddy McGuinness as presenters. Continue reading...

Holiday travel disruption likely as more than 1,400 union members set to walk out for 10 days from 31 MarchSecurity guards at Heathrow airport will go on strike over Easter in a dispute over pay, raising the possibility of holiday travel disruption.The Unite union has confirmed more than 1,400 of its members employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL) will strike for 10 days from 31 March. Continue reading...

RMT staff at 14 operators are taking action including LNER, Avanti, Southern, GWR and East MidlandsRail travel around Great Britain will be severely disrupted again this weekend after the second 24-hour strike in three days started on Saturday morning.Thousands of members of the RMT union working as train staff at 14 operators are on strike in the long-running dispute over pay and jobs. Continue reading...

Prices for popular destinations could be up almost 60% on 2022, analysis carried out for the Guardian showsPeople planning to hire a car abroad this summer face having to pay almost 60% more than they did before the coronavirus pandemic.New figures for six popular destinations show average car rental prices are continuing to rise, with the average cost coming in at about £565 for a week’s hire. Continue reading...

Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne have sweltered through unseasonal warmth and Canberra is forecast to reach a March record of 36C on Sunday

Former Channel 4 News anchor and his wife, Precious Lunga, 48, had a boy via a surrogate in 2021The former Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow has said he is “at complete ease” with becoming a father again in his 70s.The broadcaster, 75, and his wife, the academic Precious Lunga, 48, welcomed a baby boy via a surrogate in March 2021 after struggling with “medical setbacks and miscarriages”. Continue reading...

Leading respiratory doctor fears generation could end up with long-term addictions and lung damage

Experts say sweetener unhelpful as numbers in England fall to lowest in a decade amid increasing costs, stress and adminSign-up payments for new childminders will do little to address a crisis in the sector that has seen existing professionals leaving in droves, experts say, as the number of childminders in England reaches its lowest level in a decade.There were 28,500 childminders registered as of December 2022, according to Ofsted data, the lowest number since 2012 and 24% down from the more than 37,600 at the end of 2019. Continue reading...

Labour says chancellor had time to draw up more targeted changes rather than including wealthiest saversJeremy Hunt previously backed Labour’s idea of giving a pensions tax break only to NHS staff, despite ruling out such a move in this week’s budget because it would not come into force quickly enough.The chancellor was chair of the health select committee last year when members wrote a report calling for the NHS pension scheme to be overhauled to encourage senior doctors to stay in their jobs. Continue reading...

Twelve-year sentences for the women condemned as president’s ‘revenge’ while UN report accuses country of possible crimes against humanityBelarus has handed long jail terms to senior staff at the country’s largest independent news site, which was forced to close after historic demonstrations against strongman Alexander Lukashenko over two years ago.The verdicts are the latest in a crackdown on journalists, opposition figures and activists who challenged Lukashenko’s claim that he won a sixth presidential term in 2020. Continue reading...

Joe Biden says international criminal court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin is justified, while Volodymyr Zelenskiy hails the ‘historic’ move

Players criticise the BBC for questioning their integrity and naming individuals without consentFemale football players who fled Afghanistan after Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021 are criticising a recent BBC article which has labelled some of those evacuated as “false footballers”.The investigation by BBC Newsnight said some of the descriptions of UK visa applicants as national players or members of a regional team “appear to be false”. The report said there is resentment among “genuine players” now living under Taliban rule. Continue reading...

Sir Stephen House denies making the comments to a Home Office adviser at a Scotland Yard meeting in January 2022The police watchdog is investigating alleged comments made by one of the UK’s most senior officers about the “bulk” of rape complaints being “regretful sex”.Sir Stephen House denies making the comments to a Home Office adviser at a Scotland Yard meeting in January 2022 – when he was Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan police. He later served as acting commissioner after the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick. Continue reading...

Industrial action this week led to at least 175,000 appointments and procedures being postponedJunior doctors in England have agreed to formal talks with the government after a three-day strike this week in which more than 175,000 appointments and procedures had to be postponed, according to data published by NHS England.The postponements had to be made to protect emergency, critical and urgent care for patients as a result of the industrial action on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue reading...

Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith of West Mercia police found guilty of gross misconduct and given final written warningThe police officer who repeatedly beat Dalian Atkinson as he lay dying has been found guilty of gross misconduct but has been allowed to keep her job.The family of Atkinson, a former Aston Villa footballer, condemned the news that PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith of West Mercia police could return to the streets as an officer instead of being sacked. Continue reading...

Lingerie and sex toy chain’s boss tapped into the female market by embracing Britain’s peculiar erotic humour

Party insiders say a change of tactic means there will be a more muscular approach in making its own case about impartiality

Documentary questions why prime suspect was never arrested over 1978 murder in LondonIt was one of the most audacious murders of the cold war: the émigré Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was waiting for a bus by London’s Waterloo Bridge when a man bumped into him with the tip of his umbrella, pushing a tiny poisoned pellet into his leg. Four days later he was dead.A Danish TV documentary out this week sheds new light on the prime suspect in the 1978 killing, the Italian-born Bulgarian agent Francesco Gullino, known as Agent Piccadilly. It also raises a whole range of new questions about why Gullino was never arrested for the killing. Continue reading...

Party asked corporation not to say accusation was ‘false’ relating to time when Labour leader was DPP

Businesswoman who turned sex toys and lingerie chain into household name had breast cancerJacqueline Gold, the businesswoman whose Ann Summers retail chain embraced a new wave of sexual liberation to make shopping for vibrators and lingerie an everyday event on British high streets, has died at the age of 62.Her family said her death on Thursday evening after seven years of treatment for breast cancer had left them “utterly heartbroken”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: HCA Healthcare is spending tens of thousands of pounds on ‘golden hello’ bonuses for staff from overstretched public serviceNHS doctors are being offered cash bonuses of up to £5,000 to recruit colleagues for jobs at private hospitals, as commercial healthcare providers compete for staff with an overstretched public health service.US-owned HCA Healthcare, which runs more than 30 facilities in London and Manchester, and claims to be the largest private provider in the world, is spending tens of thousands of pounds recruiting NHS-trained doctors, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

Country becomes second Nato member after Poland to make such a pledge