World news | The Guardian

Citizens of Kherson stock up on food and water as Ukraine forces step up shelling of Russian positions• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesResidents of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson are stocking up on food and water after another night of heavy Russian shelling and before an announced 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening.A number said they planned to stay indoors before the curfew and planned closure of the city, adding that they had slept in their clothes or gone to shelters because of the intensity of the Russian attack. Continue reading...

Police Scotland has told officers to shave off facial hair by end of May so they can use FFP3 face masksAt least four officers are pursuing discrimination claims after Police Scotland announced plans for a “clean-shaven” policy without adequate consultation, according to their professional body.Officers are being told to shave off their beards and moustaches so they can use a particular type of protective face mask, which is face-fitted and requires the wearer to be clean-shaven. Continue reading...

Younger collectors drive up prices of ‘kitsch’ ceramic animals as Victoriana look returns yet againPairs of Staffordshire ceramic dogs, once commonplace on Victorian mantelpieces, are having a sudden resurgence with a boom in demand from a new generation.The vintage marketplace Vinterior reports that searches for Staffordshire dog statues is up 115% year-on-year. When Vinterior launched a recent pop-up store in London’s Selfridges, it was the dogs not the Danish dining chairs that were the first items to sell out. Continue reading...

The actor will take to the stage as the Scottish king in December, in the last production of the London theatre’s 30th-anniversary seasonHot on the heels of the news that Ralph Fiennes will play Macbeth in a tour of repurposed UK warehouses comes the announcement that David Tennant will also star as the Scottish king at London’s Donmar Warehouse.It is the Scottish actor’s first Shakespearean stage role since he played Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, on and off, from 2013 to 2016. In 2022 he was Macbeth in a two-part BBC Radio 4 broadcast. The Donmar production will be directed by Max Webster and will conclude the 30th-anniversary season for the London theatre, which was previously home to a banana-ripening warehouse. Continue reading...

Rain forecast for UK over bank holiday weekend, including in London as Charles III is crowned

‘He said “I’m going to kill you” and that’s when I saw the axe,’ Mari Buci told the jury of the attack

Margaret Dale Hawke will spend at least 25 years in jail for killing her daughter and two sons in the family’s Port Hedland home

Broadcaster and friend calls invitation to pay allegiance ‘well-intentioned and rather ill-advised’King Charles would find the idea of people paying homage to him “abhorrent”, his friend Jonathan Dimbleby has said while seeking to pin the blame for the proposal on the archbishop of Canterbury.There has been a widespread backlash against the idea of a “homage of the people”, in which the general public is invited to swear allegiance to the king during the coronation on Saturday. Continue reading...

Federal leader refuses to rule out federal intervention after John Pesutto declines to respond to Deeming threat

A 37-year-old man was arrested by police after stabbing at service centre in Haymarket

As the results come in, find out how Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and other parties fared in Thursday’s polls for hundreds of English councils

Unanimous decision announced at the Art Gallery of NSW, where all finalists will be exhibited from Saturday

Judge finds Australian Catholic order should not benefit from its ‘own inaction’ in not speaking to known abuser before he died

Opposition leader supports diplomatic intervention in WikiLeaks founder’s case, saying it has ‘gone on too long’

The Reserve Bank’s quarterly statement on monetary policy predicts that the underlying inflation rate will end the year at 4%

The novel, written with Kathy Lette in the 1970s when both were teenagers, was a landmark in Australian fiction

Greens and unions raise spectre of potential conflicts of interest as consultancy firm defends against tax scandal

Bankstown association to commence trial of body cameras after Khodr Yaghi had three teeth knocked out

Just one of 199 trusts analysed in England has a specific sexual harassment module, report findsOnly one NHS trust in England provides dedicated training to prevent sexual harassment, according to research, raising concerns that the NHS is failing to adequately protect staff and patients.According to health union figures, sexual harassment of staff is pervasive. A 2019 survey by Unison found that one in 12 NHS staff had experienced sexual harassment at work during the past year, with more than half saying the perpetrator was a co-worker. In a recent BMA survey, 91% of female doctors reported sexism, 31% had experienced unwanted physical contact and 56% unwanted verbal comments. Continue reading...

Onlookers cheered as drone, initially believed to be Russian, was taken down by air defence over the capital

TSB says 80% of cases in its main fraud categories come from scams on Meta platforms including InstagramMeta has been urged to take action to protect customers from fraud, after TSB said scams via the social media company’s platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have soared.The UK bank said there had been a huge jump in the number of scams originating from Meta-owned sites and apps, releasing research that shows they now account for 80% of cases within TSB’s three largest fraud categories: impersonation, purchase and investment. Continue reading...

Results from 230 councils expected to trickle in throughout Friday, with study of new voter ID rules due in JuneVoting has closed in local elections which marked Rishi Sunak’s debut as an electoral figurehead for the Conservatives, as well as for the full rollout of new rules obliging people to show photo identification at the polling booth.The ID regulations saw reports of dozens of people being turned away for lacking the necessary documents, but did not result in the chaos or potential disorder feared by some electoral officials. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs minister says Cong Peiwu was summoned to express frustration over attempts to meddle in Canadian politicsCanada has summoned China’s ambassador as Justin Trudeau’s government considers expelling a Chinese diplomat accused of involvement in a harassment campaign against a MP lawmaker and his family in retaliation for the lawmaker’s criticisms of Beijing.The foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, told a parliamentary committee on Thursday that her office had summoned Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu to express frustration over attempts to meddle in Canada’s domestic politics. Continue reading...

Nine out of 10 votes cast across 14 train operating companies in favour of holding more industrial action over next six monthsTrain passengers face further disruption this summer after members of the RMT rail union voted overwhelmingly for further strike action.A ballot of members working across 14 train operating companies “massively reaffirmed a mandate for further strike action”, the union said on Thursday, with 90% of votes cast in favour of holding more strikes over the next six months. Continue reading...

Ruling against Microsoft Activision merger looks like warning shot as CMA takes on task of regulating big tech after BrexitSarah Cardell’s CV carries all the hallmarks of a career honed in the UK: an Oxford university education; partnership at a magic circle law firm; and senior roles at British regulatory authorities.But the chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority now presides over an organisation with global ambitions. And big tech knows it. Continue reading...

Historian claims Rishi Sunak’s religion has influenced a perceived lack of interest in the event from governmentThe historian David Starkey has claimed Rishi Sunak has not engaged with the coronation because he is “not fully grounded in our culture”.Speaking to GB News on Thursday, Starkey, who has been accused of making racist remarks in the past, was discussing a perceived lack of interest in King Charles’s coronation from the government. A minority of MPs have been invited to the ceremony on Saturday, according to reports. Continue reading...

Prosecutors say all suspects belong to group of strong supporters of Islamic StateBelgian police have arrested seven people suspected of supporting Islamic State (IS) and plotting a terrorist attack, prosecutors have said.Almost all the suspects are ethnic Chechens, and three possess Belgian nationality, prosecutors said in a statement. Continue reading...

Extremist Hellenes party dubbed successor of now defunct Golden Dawn, whose neo-Nazi leaders are serving jail termsA decision to disqualify a far-right group from participating in Greece’s forthcoming general election was taken in the interests of safeguarding democracy, the country’s supreme court has said.The nation’s highest legal body said the extremist Hellenes party was clearly “the successor” of the now defunct Golden Dawn, whose neo-Nazi leaders are serving jail terms for crimes ranging from murder to assault. Continue reading...

After Moscow accuses US of being behind Kremlin drone attack, White House says: ‘We had nothing to do with this’. This live blog is closedHere is more on the oil refinery attack from Tass and Reuters.Part of an oil refinery in southern Russia is on fire after it was hit by a drone attack, Tass news agency cited local emergency services as saying early on Thursday.

Craig Best and Roger Pilling sentenced to more than five years for trying to illegally sell coins worth £766,000Two metal detector enthusiasts who conspired to illegally sell a cache of Anglo Saxon coins which help change our understanding of Alfred the Great have been jailed for more than five years.Roger Pilling, 75, and Craig Best, 46, were caught in an undercover police sting trying to sell coins, likely buried by a Viking, which should have been declared as treasure and handed to the crown. Continue reading...

The incident may remain a mystery for some time, but despite Zelenskiy’s denials it mirrors Kyiv’s tacticsWho precisely flew two drones over the Kremlin at around 3am on Wednesday morning is likely to be one of many questions that will remain unanswered until the Ukraine war ends, if not some while after that.But it is curious how many want to speculate about a Kremlin false flag operation, given how embarrassing it is to see videos of drones flying over the Senate dome, housing Vladimir Putin’s presidential offices, before they were blown up. Continue reading...

The 59-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing a knife and ammunition on TuesdayA man arrested outside Buckingham Palace after throwing suspected shotgun cartridges into the grounds has been detained under the Mental Health Act.The 59-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing a knife and ammunition on Tuesday after he asked to speak to a soldier before warning police to handle his rucksack carefully. Continue reading...

Rebecca Steer died of ‘catastrophic injuries’ after Stephen McHugh deliberately drove into crowd outside takeawayA convicted drug dealer who deliberately drove into a crowd of pedestrians outside a takeaway, killing a 22-year-old woman, has been found guilty of murder.Stephen McHugh, 28, who has never had a driving licence, had taken cocaine and drunk six beers and 10 double shots of spirits before driving on to the pavement in Oswestry, Shropshire in October. Continue reading...

Move comes after French interior minister accuses Italy’s PM of lying to voters over migrationItaly’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, scrapped a trip to Paris on Thursday in reaction to “insulting” comments by the French interior minister against the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.In an interview with RMC radio, Gérald Darmanin said Meloni was “unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected” and accused her of “lying” to voters that she would end the influx of people crossing the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe. Continue reading...

Former frontbencher says he has ‘serious misgivings’ about move to prevent constituency parties affiliating with Republic

Church named survivor Beth Heinrich as ‘Beth Shearman’, wrongly giving her the surname of her abuser, Donald Shearman

The crowning ceremony will be a deeply Christian affair. Will it be at odds with king’s desire to reflect UK’s religious diversity?In 1953, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the UK was predominantly Christian, with Sunday church attendance the norm, children taught to say their prayers at bedtime and vicars regarded with unquestioning deference.Opinion polls in the 1950s and 1960s asking people to name their religion found that between 86% and 91% gave a Christian denomination. Continue reading...

Planning minister Paul Scully has spoken to mayors in state’s north about proposed 60-day cap for Byron

Albanese government says mutual obligations under the widely criticised program will end immediately

Party products, including bunting, flying off shelves, with Britons forecast to spend £200m on weekend festivitiesHigh street retailers are reporting a “coronation effect” sales boost as shoppers make a last-minute dash to the shops to stock up on party fare including bunting, champagne and cakes for this weekend’s celebrations.With potentially more than £200m of extra sales riding on the festivities surrounding the coronation of King Charles, retailers’ shelves are being cleared of fizz, quiche, scones as well as buffet favourites such as pork pies and scotch eggs. Continue reading...

Ukraine has denied Russian claims it tried to kill Vladimir Putin, and some experts have said it could have been a Russian stunt• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesFootage of a drone exploding over the Kremlin – the centre of Russian power and the symbolic heart of the country – has triggered a wave of accusations that stretch from Moscow to Washington, igniting social media-fuelled conspiracy theories and confounding experts around the world.Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out a daring assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has denied it had anything to do with the incident, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying: “We don’t attack Putin, or Moscow.” Continue reading...

Follow live

Inquest hears Mohamad Ikraam Bahram’s mother told health workers he was not taking his schizophrenia medication before attack on tourist

Weight loss giant has reportedly struggled against increasing competition in recent years, including a surge in weight loss drugs

Naturalist gives evidence in libel case against magazine he alleges published false claims about himThe TV naturalist Chris Packham, who is suing a magazine he alleges has published unsubstantiated claims about his charity work, has told a court he frequently wonders “is today the day that a psychopath fuelled by all this hate turns up and kills me”.Packham has taken three men to court in a libel claim covering nine articles, which included allegations he defrauded and “manipulated” people into donating to a charity to rescue tigers while knowing the animals were well looked after. Continue reading...

Brazilian government has accused Alphabet of interference after it placed advertising on its search homepage and YouTubeBrazil’s government is taking a stand against major tech companies over a new internet regulation that is shaping up to be one of the world’s strongest legislations on social media.Bill 2630, also known as the ‘fake news’ law, puts the onus on the internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal material, instead of leaving it to the courts, charging hefty fines for failures to do so. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more on this story hereGeorge Osborne, the Conservative former chancellor, has come out in favour of banning smoking over the long term, and taxing orange juice, to promote public health.He proposed the ideas – neither of which have much chance of featuring in the next Conservative manifesto – in evidence to the the Times Health Commission, a year-long project to investigate ideas that would improve health and social care.Since the dawn of states, [the government] has regulated certain products and medicines, and made certain things illegal. I don’t see why you can’t do that in a space such as food. Food’s been heavily regulated since the 19th century.Of course you’re going to have lots of problems with illegal smoking, but you have lots of problems with other illegal activities. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and ban them and police them and make it less readily available. I thought that was a compelling public health intervention.We’re making sure that we stop those sort of cold calls and those spoof text messages that pretend to be from somebody else, that’s the first thing.The second thing we’re doing is we’re making sure there’s more ability for the police to pursue fraudsters and that’s where the national fraud squad with 400 new investigators and a new national fraud intelligence unit comes in. That’s a huge development. Continue reading...

Bridge painted by Leonardo da Vinci is the mostly destroyed Romito di Laterina bridge in Arezzo, says Silvano VincetiA small town in Tuscany is revelling in excitement after it was claimed that the bridge painted in the backdrop of the most famous portrait in the world – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa – belongs to the town.The Italian historian Silvano Vinceti said he had no doubt that the Romito di Laterina bridge in the province of Arezzo was what Leonardo had painted into the countryside landscape behind the enigmatic Mona Lisa, which would end a mystery that has fuelled countless disputes over the years. Continue reading...

Liaison office plans likely to attract criticism from China which has warned against the western alliance extending into AsiaNato is reportedly planning to open a liaison office in Japan to coordinate with close partners across the Indo-Pacific region including Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.The plans are likely to attract criticism from the Chinese government, which has previously warned the western alliance against extending “its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific”. Continue reading...

Boy, 14, opens fire in classroom killing eight pupils and a security guard, Serbian interior ministry saysA 14-year-old boy has opened fire in a Belgrade classroom, killing eight children and a school security guard and injuring a further six pupils as well as his teacher, the Serbian interior ministry has said.Police identified the shooter by his initials, KK, and said he had been a pupil at the school in the centre of the Serbian capital since 2009. He had used his father’s gun for the shooting at about 8.40am on Wednesday and was later arrested in the school playground. Continue reading...