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Former department head Kathryn Campbell rejects suggestions at inquiry that oversight was deliberate or government ministers had pressured her

Former Australian PM criticises ‘extent of the bias’ in newspapers’ front-page report warning of armed conflict in Indo-Pacific

In a bellicose first press conference, Qin Gang rebuked Washington over its Taiwan policy and the balloon incident, while praising Beijing’s relationship with RussiaThe US and China are heading towards inevitable conflict if Washington does not change its approach, China’s new foreign minister has said in a fiery press conference in which he defended his country’s strengthening relationship with Russia.In his first media appearance as foreign minister, held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the “two sessions” political gathering, Qin Gang outlined China’s foreign policy agenda for the coming years, presenting China and its relationship with Russia as a beacon of strength and stability, and the US and its allies as a source of tension and conflict. Continue reading...

Sources say Tsai Ing-wen intends to meet McCarthy in the coming weeks, a move that may stoke tensions with Beijing and in the Taiwan strait

The former Australian of the Year was in the courtroom as Bester, the teacher who abused her, entered his plea

Judge says it would likely not be ‘tolerable’ for pair to work together until the beginning of Fair Work dismissal case

Heatwave continues along the coast and extreme fire danger forecast inland as windy weather picks up

Global study shows significant shift in UK attitudes on matters such as casual sex and assisted dyingThe UK has overtaken Canada, Germany and Australia to become one of the world’s most socially liberal nations towards divorce and abortion, the latest wave of a global study has revealed.Significant increases in the last five years in people saying the practices are justifiable is mirrored by sharply increasing acceptance of homosexuality, casual sex and prostitution over the same period, the World Values Survey found. Continue reading...

Plans to film veteran broadcaster close to birds for Wild Isles series pulled over concerns about his healthTelevision producers feared David Attenborough would catch bird flu and die during filming for his latest series – likely to be the veteran broadcaster’s last job on location.Wild Isles, which premieres on Sunday, will be Attenborough’s first landmark series on the natural history of Britain and Ireland. Filmed over the course of three years, the five-part series aims to shine a light on the challenges affecting the British Isles and celebrate nature that exists on our doorsteps. Continue reading...

Lower proportion of cases are solved in comparison with incidents involving white people, charity research suggestsMissing persons cases involving black and Asian people are less likely to be resolved by police than those involving white people, research suggests.Black and Asian children are also likely to be missing for longer, the report, published by the charity Missing People, found. Continue reading...

Proposed law, criticised as cruel and unworkable, could be made to apply retrospectively from TuesdayRefugees who cross the Channel in small boats from Tuesday could face detention and deportation under a new migration law that Labour and charities have called “unworkable” and “cruel”.In an acknowledgment that the law will prompt a fresh rush of refugees across the Channel, the Home Office is seeking to make the illegal migration bill apply retrospectively from the day it is introduced to parliament, the Guardian has been told. Continue reading...

Temperatures could plummet to -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas with snow cutting off some rural areasTuesday night could be the coldest this year so far, the Met Office has warned, with fears that Arctic air could cut off some rural communities and cause power and transport chaos.Temperatures could fall as low as -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas, with locations that have seen snowfall especially vulnerable. Continue reading...

Council says problem is being eradicated after claims of ‘rats as big as cats’ in cliffs above popular south Wales seaside townThe seaside town of Tenby is one of Wales’ most popular tourist destinations, with tens of thousands flocking each year to enjoy its beaches and picturesque coastline.But those admiring the view from Castle Beach in the last fortnight could have been in for a shock, as they may have seen large rats burrowing within the cliff above their heads. Continue reading...

The Oscar-winning film-maker has announced he is months into making Musk, which will examine the controversial entrepreneurOscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney has announced that he is in the process of making a documentary about Elon Musk.The documentarian behind films such as Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is months into the making of Musk, “a definitive and unvarnished examination” of the provocative tech entrepreneur. Continue reading...

Gunmen opened fire on vehicle in northern city of Matamoros, and FBI is offering $50,000 reward for return of victimsGunmen kidnapped four US citizens who crossed into Mexico from Texas last week to buy medicine and got caught in a shootout that killed at least one Mexican citizen, officials said on Monday.The four were in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. They came under fire on Friday shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast, the FBI San Antonio division office said in a statement on Sunday. Continue reading...

Graphic clip shows detained combatant standing in a shallow trench before being apparently shotUkraine has urged the international criminal court to investigate footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons. Continue reading...

ACMD says sale and possession of laughing gas for recreational use should not be barred despite Home Office desire for crackdownThe UK’s drug advisory panel has rejected calls to ban the sale and possession of nitrous oxide for recreational use, despite the Home Office’s eagerness to do so, a new report has revealed.While supplying nitrous oxide for psychoactive purposes is already banned, laughing gas or “nos” remains hugely popular among young people. Its growing use has thrown concerns about possible associated health and social problems into the spotlight. Continue reading...

Whitehall chief called travellers being confined to Covid hotels ‘hilarious’, according to leak of chats with former health secretaryFormer senior civil servants have expressed surprise and concern at the cabinet secretary, Simon Case’s “unprofessional” and jokey WhatsApp chats with Matt Hancock during the Covid crisis, saying they appeared to be a highly unusual departure from normal standards.Case’s correspondence with Hancock is revealed in a leak to the Telegraph, known as the Lockdown Files, which shows the head of the civil service saying it was “hilarious” that some travellers were being “locked up” in hotels after entering the UK. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s allies continue campaign to discredit Partygate inquiry run by departing civil servantSenior Conservatives have launched a bid to stymie Labour’s “unprecedented” hiring of outgoing civil servant Sue Gray, amid claims the rules for departing senior officials had been breached.Conservative MPs demanded the appointment be blocked for up to two years given her “knowledge of the most sensitive details of government ministers”, while Boris Johnson’s allies ramped up their campaign to discredit the Partygate inquiry she ran. Continue reading...

Friends and family question police handling of case after three people found dead and two badly injuredFamilies and friends have expressed anger that it took up to 46 hours to find five people in the wreckage of a car crash that left three of them dead and two seriously injured.Friends and relatives of the three young women and two men raised the alarm when they failed to return home from a Friday night out in Newport, south Wales. Continue reading...

Priscila Guevara and Constantín Dumitru also ordered to pay €750,000 to insurers over the theft of 45 bottlesA court in Spain has sentenced two people to four and half years in prison after the theft of €1.6m (£1.4m) worth of expensive wine from a high-end restaurant in a heist that made headlines around the world.In October 2021 one of the owners of Atrio hotel and restaurant in the city of Cáceres sounded the alarm after discovering 45 bottles of wine – including a 217-year-old bottle of Château d’Yquem worth €350,000 – were missing from the cellar. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses situation in besieged city as senior Ukraine commanders remain in favour of strengthening positions. This live blog is closed

Former PM accused of having ‘discredited honours system’ with selections for long-delayed resignation list

BMA ballot finds 86% of consultants would take industrial action, putting patient care in England under further stressSenior doctors are prepared to strike in protest over their pensions and deep cuts to their pay, a consultative ballot by their union has shown.The indicative ballot run by the British Medical Association (BMA) found that 86% of more than 17,000 consultants in England who voted would go on strike. Continue reading...

Move met with indignation by many across country, where liquor sales have boomed in recent yearsOver the past two decades of problems in Iraq, where to find a drink has never been one of them. But one of the country’s most popular vices – alcohol – is again at the centre of a tussle between hardliners, who are demanding an import ban, and drinkers intent on defying them.The latest row about whether alcohol can be served has followed a decree from a conservative cabinet minister at the weekend that ordered customs officials to impose an import ban on liquor. Continue reading...

Northern mayors at transport summit call for operator to be removed with 20,000 trains expected to be cancelled this yearTransPennine Express bosses have been warned to sort out “unacceptable” rail services, ministers said, as northern mayors demanded that the government “get a grip” on the operator which is on track to cancel more than 20,000 trains this year.TPE has already cancelled about a quarter of services in 2023, with 40% scrapped in one week in January because of a lack of staff. Continue reading...

Geoffroy de Lagasnerie says focus on friendships over relationships or family is radical act in today’s societyBuilding your life around close friendships rather than family or romance is a joyous and necessary act of rebellion, and governments should put in place Friendship Ministries to radically rethink the way society is organised, a key French philosopher has argued.Geoffroy de Lagasnerie this week publishes a manifesto for friendship, 3 Une Aspiration au Dehors, detailing his close friendship with two other writers, Didier Eribon and Édouard Louis. The three friends eat together in the evening, speak many times daily, wish each other goodnight and good morning every day and synch their schedules to make sure they prioritise friendship moments, namely meeting up for long chats. He described the friendship as the centre of their lives, “one long discussion that never ends”. Continue reading...

Contaminated earth in Almería is result of 1966 air crash involving a B-52 loaded with hydrogen bombsNearly 60 years after a midair collision dumped four US hydrogen bombs in south-eastern Spain, strewing radioactive plutonium across the landscape, Spanish officials have renewed efforts to have Washington cart off tens of thousands of cubic metres of contaminated soil to the US for storage.A source at Spain’s ministry of foreign affairs confirmed on Monday that it had formally requested the US takes action to remove the radioactive earth. The request is in line with a non-binding agreement struck between the two countries in 2015 and which included a US commitment to “arrange for disposal of the contaminated earth at an appropriate site in the United States”. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak to announce funding before next week’s budget, aimed at urgently modernising military

Labour leader points to looming May elections as refugee groups condemn PM’s proposal for deporting asylum seekers

FBU members overwhelmingly accept offer, ending prospect of strikes

Fears of future blazes after health, learning and religious facilities also destroyed in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, tells Old Bailey he paid Dr Obinna Obeta £1,800 to find kidney donor for his daughterA Nigerian politician accused of organ trafficking to the UK issued an “abide by the law” instruction to a doctor who offered to find a kidney donor for his sick daughter for a fee, the Old Bailey has heard.Ike Ekweremadu, 60, former deputy president of the Nigerian senate, admitted paying Dr Obinna Obeta an initial fee of 1m naira (£1,800) in September 2021 to find a suitable kidney donor for his daughter Sonia, a postgraduate media student at Newcastle University, the court heard. Continue reading...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says culprits should be severely punished, amid signs hundreds of girls have been treated in hospitalIran’s supreme leader has called the suspected poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls in recent months an “unforgivable” crime amid signs that hundreds of schoolgirls have been treated in hospital, many more than the regime had previously admitted.“Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students’ poisoning. This is an unforgivable and big crime … The perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. He added there would be no amnesty for those found guilty. Continue reading...

Average student debt balance has risen 10% and taking longer to pay off, affecting major life events such as starting a family

The proportion of dwellings listed for under $400 a week has more than halved to an average of just 15% across the country

Home affairs department’s submission to inquiry is the only one opposing Greens senator’s bill calling for refugee evacuation to Australia

Conservationist organisation Environment Victoria finds closing state’s coal-fired power plants will still leave substantial ‘emissions gap’

Exclusive: UK professor also says findings should be made public as with ‘every other country I’ve worked in’

Exclusive: Single mother’s struggle to enforce child custody deal leads to high court dispute over policyA single mother and domestic abuse survivor is taking the Ministry of Justice to court this week after being refused legal aid because she was deemed to have no dependents, even though she had applied for the funding to enforce a child custody arrangement.Susie (not her real name) and her abusive ex-partner initially shared custody of their son equally, but when he breached their agreement, limiting her access, she applied for legal aid to assert her rights. Continue reading...

Perrottet government to bring forward $1bn in construction work and legislate right to universal pre-kindergarten if re-elected

The constable who shot and killed Indigenous teenager Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 will be stood down, police chief tells inquest

Exclusive: Business group hires law firm to investigate alleged improprietyTony Danker, the boss of the Confederation of British Industry, has stepped aside amid an investigation into complaints about his conduct.The decision to hire a law firm to investigate him comes after the Guardian approached the CBI last week about a formal complaint that was made in January, as well a number of alleged informal reports of concerns over his behaviour. Continue reading...

Short spell of wintry conditions likely to be replaced by spring-like temperatures early next weekThis week northern Europe is likely to be plunged back into winter as temperatures are forecast to fall considerably below the seasonal norm under a very cold Arctic air mass. Meanwhile, in more southern parts of the continent, more tropical conditions will arise.The UK is likely to be on the northern boundary of these air masses, which, in combination with low pressure systems moving in from the west, could lead to some significant outbreaks of sleet and snow in places by midweek. Continue reading...

Labour leader says Boris Johnson ‘desperate’ to downplay Sue Gray’s report but refuses to say when he first approached her

Drivers say cost of upgrading colourful vehicles, a crucial part of transport system, completely unaffordableA week-long strike by drivers of Philippine jeepneys began on Monday, prompting schools and universities across major cities to suspend in-person classes, while businesses have also been urged to work from home.The local authorities in Manila, Quezon City, Marikina, Muntinlupa and Pasig City in the national capital region told schools to switch to distance learning classes due to disruption caused by the strike. The local government of Quezon City, the most populous city in the Philippines, also called on businesses to work online. Continue reading...

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The former actor, drag performer, sex worker and radio host pulled off a surprise victory as a Labour MP and later played a pivotal role in decriminalising prostitutionFormer New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has led tributes to Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender MP, who has died.Friends announced “with the heaviest of hearts” on Facebook on Monday that the 65-year-old had died at a Wellington hospice. Continue reading...

Heritage and property groups outline plan to boost energy efficiency at historical sites to create jobs, cut emissions and meet net-zero targetsRetrofitting the UK’s historicsl buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found.Improving the energy efficiency of historical properties – those built before 1919 – could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by 5% each year and make older homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to a report commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations. Continue reading...

Joint committee warns that proposed laws are ‘not justified and need to be reconsidered’Controversial legislation designed to curb strike action fails to meet the UK’s human rights obligations, MPs and peers have warned.The joint committee on human rights has said the government’s proposed anti-strike laws are “not justified and need to be reconsidered”. Continue reading...