BND intelligence service is finding expectations of flexible working and taking a mobile to the office are affecting recruitmentJames Bond was famously given the licence to kill by MI6, as part of his role as a British secret agent.Today’s wannabe spies are more likely to ask for something else: permission to work from home – a cultural shift that has hit recruitment figures for Germany’s intelligence service. Continue reading...
by Harry Taylor (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier) on (#6BV40)
PM has asked for further information before decided whether ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus will be asked to investigate Braverman. This blog is now closed
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#6BVD4)
Move comes after inquiry found children had faced ‘limitless’ cruelty with complicity of institutionsThe government is to launch a compensation scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in England, the home secretary has said.The scheme is in response to the findings of a seven-year inquiry that revealed failings by schools, local authorities and other institutions to protect and safeguard the children in their care. Continue reading...
by Rajeev Syal, Pippa Crerar and Aubrey Allegretti on (#6BVD5)
Permanent secretary told about alleged request in autumn, say sources, as home secretary fails to calm Tory nerves in CommonsThe most senior civil servant in the Home Office was made aware of allegations that Suella Braverman wanted civil service help in dealing with a speeding fine, the Guardian understands.The development raises questions about how many other senior officials and ministers across Whitehall were then informed about the claims, and puts pressure on the prime minister to order an investigation into the allegations. Continue reading...
Paul Hawkes says claims that he hacked Hugh Grant’s emails on behalf of Daily Mirror are ‘fantastical'Press reform campaigners threatened to “destroy” a private investigator because he refused to help their campaign against newspaper groups, it has been alleged at the high court.Paul Hawkes, a veteran private investigator, said claims that he hacked Hugh Grant’s emails on behalf of the Daily Mirror were “fantastical” and “made-up”. After being presented with a supposed invoice for the work, Hawkes mocked the idea he would have carried out such a serious act for such a small sum, telling the court: “You’re saying I got it hacked by a third party for £150? Come on!” Continue reading...
Country unveils new banknote as currency plummets with inflation on course to 130%Argentina’s new 2,000-peso bill, the country’s largest-denomination note, went into circulation on Monday, though due to fast depreciation of the currency it is worth only $8.50 at the official exchange rate and just over $4 in commonly used parallel markets.The peso has shed about a quarter of its value against the dollar this year despite strict capital controls that slow its fall. Most Argentinians buy dollars in unofficial markets where they trade at over 480 pesos versus the official rate of 235. Continue reading...
Family of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had heart attack at home five minutes from hospital in WrexhamA 58-year-old woman died alone curled up in a blanket on the floor of her bedroom as she waited more than five hours for an ambulance.Relatives of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had a heart attack at her home in Wrexham, north Wales, only a short drive away from a hospital, but died before an ambulance reached her. Continue reading...
by Sammy Gecsoyler, Martin Belam and Helen Livingston on (#6BV20)
Kyiv says Russia carrying out airstrikes on Bakhmut; Russian state-owned media says Putin informed of claim Ukrainian forces attempted to infiltrate Belgorod region. This live blog is now closed
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6BV4T)
Exclusive: research reveals 350 low-paid workers a day are raising complaints about errors in benefit top-upsMore human contact is needed in the UK’s automated welfare system, ministers have been warned, as it emerged 350 low-paid workers every day are raising complaints about errors in welfare top-ups, causing financial hardship and emotional stress.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) handled 126,286 disputes about errors made by its decade-old automated “real-time information” (RTI) system in 2022, a freedom of information request revealed. Continue reading...
Death of headteacher Ruth Perry prompts calls for employers to have to report when workers take own livesWork-related suicides should be reported by employers and investigated by the safety watchdog amid concern that workplace stress is at “epidemic levels”, trade unions have said.They fear the death of the primary school headteacher Ruth Perry, who killed herself while awaiting the outcome of an Ofsted report, shows that potentially fatal work-related stress is not confined to teaching.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org. Continue reading...
by Robyn Vinter North of England Correspondent on (#6BVCD)
Lancashire woman met Michelle Obama, commanded a warship, performed with Peter Kay and drove a tankVery few people would be able to say they had commanded a Royal Navy ship, met Michelle Obama and presented a television weather forecast.But Laura Nuttall from Barrowford in Lancashire did not let a terminal cancer diagnosis stop her from ticking off an impressive bucket list before her death on Monday at the age of 23.Went fishing with Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer (she caught a pike, they caught nothing)Graduated with a 2:1 in politics, philosophy and economics from Manchester UniversityDriven a monster truck, a bus, a 650-tonne crane, a tractor, a digger and a tank (after her driving licence was revoked due to seizures)Met Michelle ObamaHad a pub lunch with Peter Kay and danced on stage with him in front of 10,000 peopleHad a song dedicated by Johnny MarrDrove a London Underground tube trainCompleted a skydivePresented the weather on the BBC (“I thought it would be quite easy, but it’s really not.”)Commanded a Royal Navy warshipSpent a day with police tackling a simulated riotTravelled to the USWent on safari in South AfricaWatched the Women’s Euro final at Wembley and received a video message from England captain Leah WilliamsonWent sailing around the west coast of Scotland with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer TrustVisited the Uncle Joes’s Mint Balls factory in Wigan and also the Heinz factory, receiving tins with her name onHad a video chat with Malala YousafzaiVisited the Royal Mint and pressed a 50p coinHad tea at the Ritz with newscaster Sophie RaworthRan a marathon Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson, and Kate Connolly in Berlin on (#6BV9Y)
Search reportedly to take place at behest of German authorities about 25 miles from where Madeleine went missingAn active search for Madeleine McCann is to be carried out for the first time in nearly a decade in a reservoir in Portugal, according to reports.Police officers are to search Barragem do Arade reservoir near the town of Silves in the Algarve, according to German media, about 25 miles (40km) from Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared aged three from her family’s holiday apartment on 3 May 2007. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro and Jon Henley on (#6BVB8)
Judicial sources say incident during Real Madrid’s match with Valencia is being treated as possible hate crimeSpanish prosecutors have opened an investigation over racist chants hurled at Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior during a weekend match, as the head of Spain’s football federation admitted the country had a “problem” with racism.The prosecutor’s office in the eastern city of Valencia, where the game took place, was investigating the incident as a possible “hate crime”, judicial sources said, after Luis Rubiales of the Royal Spanish Football Federation called for zero tolerance. Continue reading...
Swiss authorities have launched an investigation into the deaths and said they cannot rule out that the three died in an avalancheThree Dutch mountaineers who had been missing for days have been found dead in the Swiss Alps, and police suggested they may have been victims of an avalanche.Two men aged 32 and 40 and a 30-year-old woman had been hiking in the southern Swiss canton of Valais when they disappeared, regional police said on Monday. Continue reading...
Exclusive: UK foreign secretary has been using jet that costs more than £10,000 an hour to hire for Caribbean and Latin America tourIn the cut-throat world of hit TV show Succession, it is the go-to private jet for the Roy dynasty, providing a backdrop to the programme’s high-level plotting amid luxury leather upholstery.Now it has emerged that an Embraer Lineage 1000E – lauded as “the crème de la crème of private business jets” – has also been the choice of aircraft for the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on his eight-day tour of the Caribbean and Latin America. Continue reading...
Kyriakos Mitsotakis says he will not try to form coalition after his party fell five seats short of majorityRiding high on an election victory few expected, Greece’s prime minister has said he will push for a repeat poll “as soon as possible” after a landslide win that left the centre-right leader short of a parliamentary majority under a new voting system.Hours after his New Democracy party clinched almost 41% of the vote – 20 percentage points ahead of its main rival, the leftwing Syriza, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would not waste time trying to form a coalition government. Continue reading...
Lyn Rigby says she believes soldier son killed in Woolwich would be proud of work helping bereaved military familiesLyn Rigby, the mother of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby, says she speaks to her son every morning and can still feel his presence a decade after he was killed.Fusilier Rigby, 25, was killed on 22 May 2013 by terrorists near his barracks in Woolwich, south London. His attackers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#6BV71)
DfT tells operators wifi is low priority for travellers and they need to justify business case for itTrain passengers face losing access to wifi after the government told rail companies to stop providing the service unless they can demonstrate its business case.The move is being pushed by the Department for Transport (DfT) in order to cut costs as it looks to “reform all aspects of the railway”. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6BV3G)
Home secretary confirms she has accepted points on her licence but denies breaking ministerial codeSuella Braverman has insisted that “nothing untoward happened” over claims she broke the ministerial code in allegedly asking civil servants to assist over a speeding fine.Her comments came after No 10 confirmed Rishi Sunak has spoken to his ethics adviser over the issue, although no formal inquiry has yet begun. Continue reading...
Indian presidency of group becomes mired in controversy as tourism session hosted in disputed territoryIndia’s presidency of the G20 group of leading nations has become mired in controversy after China and Saudi Arabia boycotted a meeting staged in Kashmir, the first such gathering since India unilaterally brought Kashmir under direct control in August 2019.The meeting, a tourism working group attended by about 60 delegates from most G20 countries taking place from Monday to Wednesday, required a large show of security at Srinagar international airport. Continue reading...
Fire began shortly after midnight at school serving mostly Indigenous young people aged 12-18, say officialsAt least 20 pupils have been killed in a fire in a school dormitory in Guyana, authorities have said.The Guyanese government said in a press statement that the fire broke out in the dormitory building of a secondary school in the south-western border town of Mahdia, 200 miles (320km) south of the capital, Georgetown. Continue reading...
State bailed out lender, formerly known as RBS Group, in near-£46bn deal during 2008 financial crisisThe UK government has sold a £1.26bn stake in NatWest, taking the state’s shareholding below 40% for the first time since the bank’s emergency bailout in 2008.It marks the sixth block sale of NatWest shares since the financial crisis, and brings the government one step closer to returning NatWest to full private ownership. Continue reading...
Transmission lines in the US need to be increased threefold, but faces pushback from fossil conservation and green groupsAmerica’s renewable energy drive needs more than a million miles of new transition lines but emerging resistance includes opponents worried about building them in one of the country’s richest areas of ice-age fossils.The Greenlink West project would build a 470-mile-long transmission line bringing clean electricity north to Reno in Nevada, but it cuts through an area containing everything from woolly mammoth tusks to giant sloths to ancient camels. Continue reading...
Labels will alert people to calories, risk of cancer and liver disease and dangers of drinking while pregnantIreland is to become the first country in the world to mandate health labelling on alcoholic drinks to alert people to calorie content, grams of alcohol, risks of cancer and liver disease and dangers of drinking while pregnant.The health minister, Stephen Donnelly, signed the legislation on Monday and said he looked forward to other countries following the example – a prospect that has worried Italy’s winemakers and people in several other EU member states. Continue reading...
British Medical Association to put government offer to hospital doctors, who had voted to take strike actionHospital doctors in Scotland have been offered a cumulative 14.5% pay rise in a fresh attempt by Scottish ministers to avert highly disruptive strikes.Junior doctors had voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in Scotland for the first time after rejecting the original Scottish government offer, in a dispute closely mirroring the industrial action by doctors in English hospitals. Continue reading...
Typhoon projected to affect US territory of Guam as early as Tuesday. Elsewhere, Europe is heating upOver the weekend, a rapidly intensifying region of thunderstorms in the western Pacific culminated in the formation of Typhoon Mawar.The movement of this storm is projected to affect the Mariana Islands, including the US territory of Guam, as early as Tuesday. There is a risk of wind speeds above 75mph, with torrential rain. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby, and agencies on (#6BV0R)
Concerns security deal could leave Papua New Guinea stuck between increasingly hostile US and ChinaThe US has signed a security pact with Papua New Guinea despite concerns within the country about increasing militarisation as Washington competes with Beijing for influence in the Pacific.The state department said the new agreement would provide $45m (£36m) to help improve security cooperation, including protective equipment for the Papua New Guinea defence force, plus help in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis, transnational crime and HIV/Aids. Continue reading...
Scottish islanders fear complete isolation as vital mail deliveries fail to arrive for days, sometimes weeksThe allure of the Isle of Mull is its sense of apartness. In summer, flocks of tourists make the 45-minute crossing from the mainland to sample life on the edge. From the point of view of its 3,000 residents, modern transport and communications have brought them closer to the rest of the country than ever. But now, thanks to Royal Mail, islanders fear they are being returned to isolation.For the last three years, parts of Mull have been cut off from mail deliveries for days. Since March, those days have turned into weeks. Continue reading...
UK museum of the year award has shortlist of five showing ‘astonishing ambition and boundless creativity’A museum on a small island in Orkney that became the Royal Navy’s nerve centre during both world wars has been shortlisted for museum of the year.The Scapa Flow Museum tells the story of how the island of Hoy became essential to Britain’s defence with the construction of a large naval base. It reopened last year after a £4.4m redevelopment. Continue reading...
Europe’s largest airline says it is optimistic it will make even more this year after ordering more aircraftRyanair has bounced back to a near-record €1.4bn (£1.2bn) profit last year and expects to better that in 2023, fuelled by a summer boom in which the low-cost airline will carry a record number of passengers.Europe’s largest airline swung back to profit in the year to the end of March after reporting a €355m loss in the previous year. The company, led by the chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said it was cautiously optimistic that it will increase profits again this year, which could result in it topping the record €1.45bn Ryanair made in 2018. Continue reading...
Diggers move in as police and gendarmes launch operation against sub-standard housing and illegal migrationAuthorities on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte have begun demolishing homes in an operation against sub-standard housing and illegal migrationFrance has deployed hundreds of police officers and gendarmes in Mayotte – the country’s poorest department – since April to prepare a major security measure called Operation Wuambushu (“Take Back” in the local language). Continue reading...
Queensland government is seeking to change law that prevents a person charged with sexual offences from being named until they are committed to stand trial
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#6BV2X)
52-year-old, in hospital for more than a year after bike accident, wants to be repatriated but is not listed as a resident in SwedenA Swedish woman left paralysed after a catastrophic bike accident has been stranded in a London hospital for more than a year after efforts to repatriate her to her home country failed due to Stockholm bureaucracy.The situation, described by her husband as “shameful”, comes following a similar case in which authorities threatened to deport a 74-year-old British woman with Alzheimer’s because of strict adherence to Brexit red tape. Continue reading...
Commission says corporations and forestry companies competing for estates are driving up prices in already squeezed marketLand ownership in Scotland is at risk of becoming more elitist and unequal because wealthy corporations and forestry companies are dramatically driving up land prices, a new study has warned.The report from the Scottish Land Commission found that a significant number of Highland estates and hill farms were sought by corporations last year as an investment or as sites for planting new conifer plantations. Continue reading...
MPs back new bill for medical graduates, designed to limit brain drain to countries including the UK and USA new bill to impose five years’ mandatory service on Nigeria’s medical graduates in an effort to stop the exodus of doctors to the UK and the US has been attacked as “obnoxious”.The bill, which could be put to a public hearing in the next few days, passed its second reading in the Nigerian parliament’s lower house last month. Continue reading...
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