World news | The Guardian

Increase in number of women dying during pregnancy or soon after giving birth is appalling', say Lib DemsGrowing numbers of women in the UK are dying during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, even though fewer babies are being born, official figures show.While 209 maternal deaths occurred in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during 2015-17, that rose to 254 during 2021-23, data compiled by the House of Commons library shows. Continue reading...

Flag held up during curtain call for Il Trovatore, with attempts to remove it resistedA Palestinian flag was at the centre of a tussle after it was unfolded on stage at the Royal Opera House in London by a cast member on Saturday night during a curtain call.The incident took place during the encore of Il Trovatore on Saturday night, and attempts to remove the flag were resisted. Continue reading...

Groups say having access to funds cut off raise fears of wider attempt to silence voices speaking out about GazaAt least two grassroots pro-Palestine organisations in the UK have had their bank accounts frozen, raising fears about a wider attempt to silence voices speaking out about Gaza.Greater Manchester Friends for Palestine (GMFP) and Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which both organise peaceful protests and vigils, have had access to their funds cut off indefinitely by Virgin Money and Unit Trust bank respectively. The Guardian understands a local PSC branch in England has also had its bank account frozen but was unable to confirm it directly. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people estimated to have been killed after clashes between Bedouin and Druze groupsAn uneasy calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, after fighters withdrew following a week of violence estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people.Local people told news agencies the area was calm after Syria's Islamist-led government said Bedouin fighters had left the predominantly Druze city. Continue reading...

Home secretary says criminal offence needs to be introduced to increase police powers after Southport attackA new criminal offence is to be introduced to close the gap" between lone, violence-obsessed individuals with no particular ideology and terrorism suspects, the home secretary has said.Yvette Cooper said an offence that would give police the power to apprehend the former long before they acted was needed in the wake of the Southport attack last year. Terrorism suspects can be jailed for life even if their plans are not fully formed. Continue reading...

Exclusive: open letter warns of two-tier' system if asylum seekers are excluded from promise to halve violence against women and girlsMore than 50 influential women, including actors, authors and comedians, have warned in a letter to the government against the risk of creating a two-tier" system to tackle violence against women and girls if tens of thousands of female asylum seekers are left out.Labour has pledged to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade and is due to publish its strategy in September.Fast-tracking asylum claims for women from high grant-rate countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea.Reforming asylum accommodation so women have somewhere safe to call home.Lifting the ban on work for women seeking asylum, to prevent further exploitation and harm. Continue reading...

Mwangi accused of facilitation of terrorist acts' during last month's protests against government of William RutoThe Kenyan rights activist Boniface Mwangi is accused of facilitation of terrorist acts" during protests that rocked the country last month, investigators said on Sunday, a day after he was arrested.At least 19 people were killed during the 25 June demonstration against President William Ruto's government, which was itself called to pay tribute to victims of police violence at another protest on the same date last year. Continue reading...

Pop star weds The 1975 drummer, who she has been with for about three years, at Hackney town hallThe pop star Charli xcx and her partner, George Daniel, a drummer in the band The 1975, have married at a ceremony at Hackney town hall in east London.The smiling couple were pictured and filmed walking down the art deco building's steps through a blizzard of confetti on Saturday. Continue reading...

Summer Lates series to feature live performances and DJ sets of disco, funk, gospel and jazzWhen night falls and the Great Bath empties of visitors, it usually morphs into a quiet place of glimmering light and shadows. But not at weekends this summer.DJs and musicians are to set up next to the steaming water and turn the historic space in the city of Bath into something of a party venue. Continue reading...

Parties likely to have same number of seats as last parliament, but premier Jeremy Rockliff declares victory after Liberals secure 3% swing from Labor

Authorities axe flights and school classes as typhoon closes in, with China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces also on high alertHong Kong issued its highest tropical cyclone warning as Typhoon Wipha battered the city, with authorities cancelling school classes and grounding hundreds of flights.Wipha was located around 60km south-east of Hong Kong as of 10am on Sunday, according to the city's weather observatory. Huge waves were spotted off the eastern coast of Hong Kong Island. Continue reading...

Michael McGrath awaits results of secret shopper investigation amid crackdown on Chinese retail platformsThe EU justice commissioner has expressed shock at the toxicity and dangers of some goods being sold by Shein and Temu, amid a crackdown on the popular Chinese retail platforms.With 12m low-value parcels each day coming into the EU from online retailers outside the bloc, Michael McGrath has vowed to crack down on the sale of goods that blatantly break the law. Continue reading...

Two others seriously injured and Capricorn Highway closed between mining towns Comet and Blackwater amid horror weekend on Queensland roads

State's unusual electoral system makes winning a majority difficult at the best of times. Now, facing another hung parliament, Labor is in a sticky situation

This blog is now closedControversial MP Mark Latham says he has broken no law" as he publicly responds to a former partner's allegations of domestic violence.The former federal Labor leader and NSW One Nation leader has described recent reports involving former partner Nathalie Matthews as false, reckless and irresponsible".I have broken no law. The police did not involve themselves in the AVO matter.I have breached no standing orders of the Legislative Council. The NSW parliament has stringent processes about inappropriate behaviour, and in my six years there, I've never been notified of a complaint against me.The Marine Rescue Batemans Bay and Bermagui crews said sea conditions were favourable last night, but it was quite dark with little assistance from the moon, and they had to navigate around numerous whales.They are searching an area offshore from just north of Narooma to south of Bermagui under the direction of Marine Area Command and will continue to do so until otherwise instructed. Continue reading...

Government urges all parties to commit to truce and says any breaches will be violation of sovereignty

Student midwives working thousands of hours unpaid in NHS fear lack of vacancies despite staff shortagesA student midwife who fears she will be unable to get a job after completing 2,300 hours of unpaid placement work in the NHS is calling for guaranteed posts for newly qualified midwives who otherwise will be forced to abandon the profession before their careers begin.Aimee Peach, 43, is due to complete her training next summer, but says the promise of a job at the end of her three-year degree course has collapsed", despite severe shortages of midwives across the country. Continue reading...

Officially, the party says there is no mission to court Conservative defectors, but insiders suggest otherwise, and warn against the dangers of doing soAt last year's GB News Christmas party, Suella Braverman was the centre of attention. The former home secretary is popular in rightwing media circles, but it wasn't her straight-talking brand of conservatism that was topic of the evening, rather it was the growing whispers about what some thought was her imminent defection to Reform UK.It was like a panto - everyone saying: Oh yes you will', and her saying: Oh no, I won't'," says one Reform party guest. We all thought she was just biding her time until the right moment." Continue reading...

The Palestinian Authority's ability to use the Gaza Marine field could leave them less dependent on aidRecognition of Palestine as a state would put beyond doubt that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is entitled to develop the natural gas resources of the Gaza Marine field, according to one of the experts that worked on the stalled project.Michael Barron, the author of a new book on Palestine's untapped gas reserves, has suggested the field could generate $4bn (3bn) in revenue at current prices and it is reasonable that the PA could receive $100m a year over 15 years. Continue reading...

New Coalition education spokesperson Jonathon Duniam says Peter Dutton policy to slash international enrolments not as constructive as it could have been'

Money in the bank is at a record high, so banks aren't having to compete for people's deposits,' Canstar's Sally Tindall says

No boxer has ever represented his country to this degree: Usyk is a living embodiment of his nation's defiance of the Russian invasionPerhaps the most striking part of the surge of controlled fury that ended this heavyweight title fight wasn't the short right or the clubbing left that took Daniel Dubois down midway through the fifth round.It was Oleksandr Usyk's smile before the second of those shots. More of a snarl perhaps, or a baring of the gumshield, as Dubois let his arms drop, giving Usyk time to freeze the moment, load up, take aim and unleash a fully extended left hand to the side of the jaw that made Dubois crumple, legs folding under him as his father, Stan, threw in the towel. Continue reading...

Overnight violence leaves nine police wounded, say authorities, who suspect a gang turf warDozens of masked assailants wielding metal bars, mortars and molotov cocktails attacked cars on a highway and clashed with police early on Saturday in the city of Limoges in central France, officials said.The overnight clashes left nine police wounded, according to authorities, who said they suspected a gang turf war. Continue reading...

Police in London detain scores of people and confiscate placards under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000More than 100 people have been arrested across the UK at events related to Palestine Action, in the third week of demonstrations since the group was banned as a terrorist organisation.Demonstrations were held in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and Truro on Saturday as part of a campaign coordinated by Defend Our Juries. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterates willingness to meet the Russian president Vladimir Putin face to faceKyiv has proposed to Moscow a new round of peace talks next week, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday, after negotiations stalled in early June.Two rounds of talks in Istanbul between Moscow and Kyiv failed to result in any progress towards a ceasefire, instead yielding large-scale prisoner exchanges and deals to return the bodies of killed soldiers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Review of Home Office procedures ordered after shambolic' disciplinary process relating to Steve DannA Home Office investigation has found one of its most senior officials harassed and behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague, before being able to leave the civil service with an unblemished record after a shambolic" disciplinary process.The case has caused such alarm in the department that the new permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, has ordered an immediate review of complaints, conduct and disciplinary procedures to ensure confidence in the integrity of the system". Continue reading...

Witnesses say scenes near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid hubs in the south of the territory resembled a massacreAt least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials.People on the scene described it as a massacre", and claimed Israel Defense Forces fired indiscriminately" at the groups of Palestinians - reported to be mostly young men - who were making their way towards the hubs run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Continue reading...

This blog has now closed, you can read more on this story here Israeli troops opened fire on Saturday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by an Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials, the Associated Press (AP) reports.The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said. Continue reading...

Six-hour bombardment of strategic hub in Dnipropetrovsk region came as airstrikes killed one person in OdesaRussia launched its biggest ever attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad early on Saturday, as part of a large wave of strikes across the country involving hundreds of kamikaze drones and ballistic missiles.The six-hour bombardment was the worst in the city's history. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergey Lysak, said a factory had been damaged, a fire station destroyed and a five-storey residential building hit. Continue reading...

Amber warning for London and south-east England, where heavy rain could cause fast flowing or deep floodwater'Thunderstorms and flooding could pose a danger to life in parts of the UK this weekend, according to forecasters.The Met Office issued an amber thunderstorm warning for London and much of south-east England for 4am to 11am on Saturday, when heavy rain could cause fast flowing or deep floodwater". Continue reading...

In a social media trend, the airline's joyful advert jingle is being played over cheerless summer holiday footageYou're the boss of a travel company, it's early summer and your brand is going viral. Millions of people are watching and sharing social media clips of people on holiday, the soundtrack to which is your company jingle.It sounds like a PR dream, but is it? Continue reading...

Miner who was seen on TV being beaten by officer said he was not aware of report's existence before it was destroyedDocuments destroyed by police relating to operations at Orgreave during the miners' strike in 1984 are believed to include a report on a notorious incident in which an officer beat a man over the head with a truncheon.In the ITV News at 10 report on the violent scenes at Orgreave, the officer, PC Martin of Northumbria police, was seen hitting the miner, Russell Broomhead, several times with his truncheon. Continue reading...

Division between minority populations drag Syria further into cycle of violence and attracts Israeli opportunismSeven months on from Bashar al-Assad's fall, Syria is descending into yet another wave of bloody sectarian violence.A local dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze minority sparked clashes that drew in Syrian government forces and triggered Israeli airstrikes - leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Continue reading...

Police allege the man was armed with a machete and knife on The Strand in Townsville's North Ward on Saturday morning

Legislation will prevent award wage penalty rates from being cut in exchange for higher rates of base pay if it will leave workers worse off

Exclusive: Commitment comes as data shows serious pollution events involving water firms up by 60%Ministers will take action to tackle all forms of water pollution in England and Wales, the government has promised, as the sector awaits the findings of a report on the water industry on Monday.The commitment by Steve Reed, the environment secretary, aims to highlight that, while sewage spills into waterways are a significant source of public concern, runoff from farms and roads also makes up a critical part of the pollutants going into rivers and other bodies of water. Continue reading...

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days Continue reading...

Four people have died and two are missing after four days of heavy rain as authorities warn of landslides and floodingTorrential rains that lashed South Korea for a fourth day on Saturday kept nearly 3,000 people from returning to their homes, as the death toll reached four people.Rain is forecast to last until Monday in some areas, as officials urged extreme caution against the risk of landslides and flooding, with warnings issued across most of the country. Continue reading...

Two men and a woman, all aged 19, died at the scene in Mackay after a late night crash involving multiple vehicles

Scores of Venezuelans deported by US to El Salvador repatriated as Marco Rubio hails return of AmericansVenezuela released 10 jailed Americans on Friday in exchange for getting home scores of migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador months ago under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.The resolution represents a diplomatic achievement for the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, helps Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands El Salvador a swap that it had proposed months ago. Continue reading...

Defence minister Richard Marles says Australia is steadfast' in support of Kyiv as Abrams tanks go into action

Police commissioner says there has been intelligence of formation of organised crime syndicate intent on havocTrinidad and Tobago has declared its second state of emergency this year amid grave concerns" about a coordinated threat from organised crime gangs inside and outside the country's prisons.Announcing the decision on Friday, the commissioner of police, Allister Guevarro, said his force had received intelligence the day before that the gangs had formed themselves into ... an organised crime syndicate" and were intent on wreaking havoc and planning assassinations, robberies and kidnappings. Continue reading...

Austrian extreme skydiver, 56, lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over central ItalyThe extreme sports pioneer Felix Baumgartner, famed for a record-breaking 2012 skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident in central Italy.The Austrian, 56, lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant'Elpidio in the Marche region on Thursday and fell to the ground into the swimming pool of a hotel. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says two agents were involved in planting spyware on a device used by poisoning victim Yulia SkripalThe UK has exposed 18 Russian spies and their units responsible for cyber-attacks in Britain and hacking one of the victims of the Salisbury poisonings, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said.Announcing individual sanctions, Lammy said Russia had targeted media, telecoms providers, political and democratic institutions and energy infrastructure in the UK in recent years. Continue reading...

The president has threatened to sue the 94-year-old media mogul over a Wall Street Journal story but their relationship has survived previous tensionsThreats to sue. Angry calls to editors. Public denunciations. In the wake of the Wall Street Journal's story claiming Donald Trump contributed to a bawdy" letter to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein - featuring a drawing of a naked woman's silhouette around a typewritten personal message - the president's relationship with the outlet's proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, appears on the surface to have deteriorated from temperamental to terminal.Just a few days ago, the 94-year-old mogul was spotted among the president's high-profile guests at the Fifa Club World Cup final. Following the publication of the article, however, Murdoch now finds himself on the president's lengthy list of media opponents threatened with court action. Continue reading...

Justice Collins Rice says it is for politicians and not courts to change rules around two-child benefit capTwo women who conceived their eldest children while they were in violent and controlling relationships have lost a legal challenge to the rules around the two-child benefit cap.A high court judge said the accounts of the abuse the women faced when they were vulnerable girls barely out of childhood" were chilling". Continue reading...

Arrest under the Terrorism Act happened after the man refused to stop displaying the sign when asked by policeA man has been arrested in Glasgow for holding a paper sign allegedly supportive of the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, the third arrest of its kind across the city in the past week.Police Scotland confirmed that the 64-year-old man, who had been speaking to a small group of protesters gathered at Nelson Mandela Place in the city centre on Friday afternoon, had been arrested in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act for displaying a sign expressing support for a proscribed organisation". Continue reading...

Guilty verdict widely expected for Brazil's ex-president accused of plot to seize power after losing 2022 electionFederal police have raided Jair Bolsonaro's Brasilia mansion, banned him from communicating with foreign diplomats and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag amid fears Brazil's ex-president may abscond to avoid punishment over an alleged coup attempt.A supreme court trial examining claims that Bolsonaro masterminded a murderous plot to seize power after losing the 2022 election is expected to reach its conclusion in the coming weeks. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedJohn Healey has been accused by the Liberal Democrats of misleading parliament over the Afghan data leak.Ed Davey said that the defence secretary must urgently come before parliament to answer the question of whether he knowingly misled MPs and the public". Continue reading...