Executives urge audiences to ‘fill yer boots’ and watch as many shows as possible amid Covid fightback

Anthony Albanese says integrity body will be independent of MPs as opposition calls for scrutiny of settlement with former staffer

The 32-year-old has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, a court has heard

Of the nearly 58,000 cases recorded across the country, 30% occurred over the last fortnightly reporting period

Performers still reeling from the pandemic aren’t ruling out a strike, as the company refuses to guarantee their pay will keep pace with inflation

Over 40% of suburbs recorded rental increases of 10% or more in the past year, according to CoreLogic

Eastern US states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada

Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed star, who has terminal cancer, announces a scan in January revealed metastasis in her brainShannen Doherty has revealed that the terminal breast cancer she has been receiving treatment for over several years has now spread to her brain.In an emotional post on Instagram, Doherty shared a video of herself receiving radiation treatment, writing in the caption that a scan in early January had revealed “Mets”, or metastasis, in her brain. Continue reading...

City-state is to close its only turf club in order to redevelop 120-hectare site for public housing amid declining popularity of the sportMore than 180 years of horse racing in Singapore will soon come to an end, as the “land scarce” city state closes its only race course to make space for public housing.The chairman of the Singapore Turf Club, Niam Chiang Meng, said the club was saddened by the decision, but that it also understood the “land needs” of Singapore. The 120-hectare site was a valuable resource, he said, adding: “This transition will serve to optimise land use for the greater good of the local community and future generations.” Continue reading...

Queensland premier tells Today show she will be personally involved in review of Nikkole Southwell’s harrowing experience

More than $122bn worth of houses and residential land were cash funded last year

Community hub project in Albert Park, Victoria is part of Morrison-era grants that are currently being reviewed after the Albanese government’s election

Equipment that could be exploited by Chinese intelligence will be taken down, with CCTV brands Hikvision and Dahua among those flagged by MPsBritain has announced the removal of Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites as part of plans to address concerns they could be used for spying by China.The government told its departments last year to stop installing Chinese-linked CCTV cameras in sensitive buildings. Continue reading...

As Western Australia police officers attempted to arrest three people in a car in Ascot, one officer was hit and dragged and left in a critical condition

US media has reported that the White House was briefed about a Ukrainian plot to blow up the pipeline months before it occurred

Moving retelling of Sancho’s life by actor Paterson Joseph awarded prestigious Christopher Bland prizeIf anyone’s life is worthy of a book, it’s that of Charles Ignatius Sancho. The acclaimed writer and composer was born on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic in 1729, where both his parents died; arrived in London, where he suffered hardship and danger; found love; met the king; and became the first black person to vote in Britain.Now, a moving retelling of Sancho’s life by the actor Paterson Joseph has won the Royal Society of Literature’s prestigious Christopher Bland prize – awarded to a debut writer who has published their first book over the age of 50. Continue reading...

Vanya, adapted by Simon Stephens, will see Scott tackle all of the characters in Chekhov’s playAndrew Scott is to return to London’s West End to play every character in Uncle Vanya. The star of Sherlock, Fleabag and His Dark Materials will appear for a five-week run at the Duke of York’s theatre from 15 September in a one-man staging of Anton Chekhov’s 1898 classic.It means Scott will appear not only as Vanya, the morose manager of a rural Russian estate, but also as the landowner Professor Serebryakov, his daughter Sonya and glamorous young wife Yelena. He will also play Vanya’s widowed mother, his romantic rival Astrov, the tenant Telegin and the nurse Maria. Continue reading...

Investigation shows Home Office funds ‘return and reintegration assistance’ and provides equipment and training to Turkish policeThe Home Office has provided more than £3m in funding to Turkish border forces in the last year to prevent migrants reaching the UK, an investigation for the Guardian has found.Funding to Turkey’s border force operations has increased substantially from 2019, when £14,000 was given to Turkish police and coastguard for maritime border security training, according to documents obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests. That figure rose to £425,000 in 2021-22 for training and equipment and up to £3m this year for “return and reintegration assistance”, training and personnel. Continue reading...

Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council dismisses claim counteroffensive has begun; Rishi Sunak says UK ‘can’t say definitively’ whether Russia was responsible

Actor was helped off stage from her one-woman show Prima Facie after city’s poor air quality prompted breathing issuesJodie Comer stopped her one-woman show Prima Facie on Broadway because of breathing difficulties owing to New York’s air crisis.According to eyewitnesses, the award-winning star of Killing Eve, tipped to win a Tony award this weekend, was 10 minutes late for the matinee performance. After three minutes of the show, she announced that she couldn’t proceed. Continue reading...

Exclusive: friend ‘helped the couple plan their wedding’ in May 2021 when restrictions on indoor gatherings in placeBoris and Carrie Johnson hosted a close friend, who helped plan their wedding, overnight at Chequers when a number of Covid restrictions were in place, the Guardian has been told.Dixie Maloney, a corporate events organiser, stayed at the former prime minister’s grace-and-favour country mansion on 7 May 2021 when indoor gatherings between different households were banned except when “reasonably necessary” for reasons such as work or childcare. Continue reading...

Agriculture ministry warns of greater disaster next year, with global implications, from loss of Kakhovka reservoir

Losing Telegraph newspapers will not turn remaining twin Frederick Barclay into a pauper, but it’s a bitter end to brothers’ empire-building

Oxfam International apologised and re-edited cartoon alleged to include racial stereotyping and JK Rowling attackThe UK charities watchdog is assessing whether it will take action against Oxfam after receiving complaints about a cartoon published by the charity that ignited a row about transgender issues.Oxfam International put the cartoon out on Twitter last week to mark pride month, but took it down on Tuesday after a backlash against its use of the term Terf (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) in an image depicting anti-trans “hate groups”. Continue reading...

Nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempted murder of 10 more at Chester hospital in 2015-16Lucy Letby was texting about a doctor on whom she allegedly “had a crush” hours before she attempted to murder a vulnerable baby boy, a court has heard.The nurse, 33, denied the doctor was her boyfriend or that she was “sweet” on him, as she gave evidence for a 12th day at Manchester crown court. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of mines and debris are flowing into towns downstream, while lack of water upstream will hit food production

The Duke of Sussex forced back tears on his second day giving evidence in his case against Mirror Group NewspapersPrince Harry has concluded his high-profile appearance in the high court, where he became the first senior royal to be cross-examined since the 19th century.The Duke of Sussex forced back tears as his barrister asked how he felt after being in court for two days, giving evidence in support of his claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Contentious plans to be discussed in Luxembourg aimed at making distribution of responsibility fairerEU countries that refuse to host migrants or asylum seekers could be charged up to €20,000 (£17,000) a head under radical proposals aimed at easing the pressure on frontline countries including Italy and Greece.Home affairs ministers from the 27 member states will attend a crunch meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday to discuss two key proposals including a relocation scheme for more than 100,000 migrants a year. Continue reading...

Latest updates: prime minister explicitly accepts formal post-Brexit trade deal with US is not on horizon, implying this is no longer a goalPMQs is starting soon. It will be the second encounter between Oliver Dowden, the deputy PM who is standing in while Rishi Sunak is in Washington, and Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader.Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.That the UK will have the highest inflation in the developed world is a mark of government failure.Inflation has remained so high in Britain – and hit families so hard – because our economy has been badly weakened by 13 years of Tory economic mismanagement. Continue reading...

Roderick Sinclair claims he has faced intimidation and mayor says he has had death threats in row with farmer in MontjoiA retired British stockbroker claims he has been subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment and intimidation in a row over a bridle path running through his property in an idyllic corner of south-west France.“It has been hell. In the beginning we all thought it was the traditional sort of spat between neighbours that happens all the time in France,” Roderick Sinclair said of the dispute at his French second home, a stone farmhouse his family have spent thousands renovating in Montjoi, in the Tarn-et-Garonne. Continue reading...

Starmer’s party is 12% ahead of Sunak’s Tories, survey based on new constituency boundaries suggests

Court rules that Giuseppe Conte and Roberto Speranza not at fault over 6,000 excess deaths in Bergamo at start of pandemicItaly’s former prime minister Giuseppe Conte and the former health minister Roberto Speranza were not responsible for the alleged mismanagement of the country’s first phase of the Covid pandemic, a court ruled on Wednesday.Last March, prosecutors in Bergamo, the Lombardy province worst hit during the first wave of the virus in 2020, had placed Conte and Speranza under investigation on suspicion of “aggravated culpable epidemic” and manslaughter in connection with the government’s response at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Officer behind scheme may face disciplinary investigation over ‘outdated and ridiculous’ planA police inspector in northern Spain is facing possible disciplinary action for attempting to increase migrant arrest rates by promising officers extra days off based on the number of people they detained.Details of the hastily cancelled scheme, which was due to take effect on 1 July in the Basque town of Irún – a popular departure point for people aiming to cross the border into southern France – were revealed by the regional branch of the Jupol police union on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Pupil from St Kentigern’s academy in Blackburn taken to hospital where he died short time laterA 14-year-old boy has died after an incident at a West Lothian school that has left staff and pupils “devastated”.Emergency services were called to St Kentigern’s academy in Blackburn on Tuesday afternoon. The school said the incident, which is understood to have involved two 14-year-old boys, took place within the grounds on Tuesday lunchtime. A pupil was taken to hospital but died shortly after. Continue reading...

Embattled chairman was under siege from within after article in the Atlantic revealed decisions made over Trump town hallChris Licht, the controversial chairman and chief executive officer of CNN, is out after a short and turbulent time in charge of the news network.Puck News first reported Licht’s departure early on Wednesday morning. Not long after, CNN’s own news website said Licht’s “brief one-year tenure at the network was stained by a series of severe missteps, [and he] will depart the company”. Continue reading...

Two companies offering to cut fixed rates set at height of energy crisis, putting pressure on competitors to follow suitEnergy companies are under growing pressure to allow thousands of struggling businesses to change their gas and electricity contracts after two major suppliers agreed to cut rates that had been fixed at the height of the energy crisis.EDF has agreed to offer new deals to 15,000 small and medium businesses that are trapped in long-term contracts fixed when energy market prices reached a historical peak last year. Continue reading...

Warning covers London, east Midlands, West Midlands, east of England, south-east and south-westThe first heat health alert of the year has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office.The warning covers six regions in England, London, the east Midlands, West Midlands, east of England, south-east and south-west, and is in place from 9am on Friday to Monday morning. Continue reading...

Duke of Sussex concludes evidence after emotional second day in High Court during Mirror Group phone-hacking trialHarry tells the court all articles published about him were distressing at the time, distressing to go through with his legal team and more distressing going through them again today in court.Green turns to an article about Harry allegedly going to the strip club Spearmint Rhino and his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy being angered by this. Continue reading...

Gerald Jones will fight Merthyr Tydfil and Upper Cyon, and Alison McGovern Birkenhead, after constituency boundaries redrawnTensions have flared within the Labour party as two members of Keir Starmer’s shadow ministerial team were pitted against junior leftwing MPs in battles to win the nomination for new parliamentary seats.Gerald Jones, the shadow Welsh minister, won a selection contest for the new seat of Merthyr Tydfil and Upper Cynon on Wednesday against Beth Winter, an MP from the leftwing Socialist Campaign group. Continue reading...

Requirement to refund people who have been tricked by scammers will be implemented in 2024

Story of four Irish women who leave Dublin for the first time will be screened in New York next MondayFor almost 20 years, film-makers had struggled to make a heartwarming film about four riotous working-class Irish women, but they just could not make it happen – despite having a star in Dame Maggie Smith, whose awards include Oscars, Emmys and Baftas.The screenplay was not quite right and funds could not be raised, but Smith never lost faith in the project. Continue reading...

Duke of Sussex appears as witness and claims reporters learned of meetings with TV star Caroline Flack through hacked voicemails

Investigators in Verona say some victims were pepper-sprayed in the eyes and kicked until they passed outFive police officers in the Italian city of Verona have been arrested on charges of torture and bodily harm against migrants and homeless people.Two of the suspects are also accused of racist hate crimes against black people and African migrants. Continue reading...

Trauma experienced by staff at Nairobi Facebook hub recognised in legal ruling that may have global implicationsMeta has been ordered to “provide proper medical, psychiatric and psychological care” to a group of moderators in Nairobi following a ruling in a Kenyan employment court that heard harrowing testimony about the distressing nature of their work.The instruction by judge Byram Ongaya formed part of a broader interim ruling that saw the moderators’ jobs restored after they sued Meta in March for what they termed a “sham” mass redundancy. Continue reading...

Taxpayer’s money also going to companies found to be flouting human rights in Kenya and DRC, says Commons committeeThe UK government is under attack for investing taxpayers’ money in fossil fuel companies, a hospital in Kenya accused of imprisoning patients who couldn’t pay for treatment, and a business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that exposed workers to dangerous chemicals and dumped untreated industrial waste.MPs questioned the investments at a two-hour session in parliament on Tuesday, and excoriated Andrew Mitchell, minister for development, for making overseas aid available to a company owned by Africa’s richest man that is suspected of causing serious environmental damage. Continue reading...

Previous Tory leadership embarked on risky investment spree involving hotels and skyscrapers

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the government managed the settlement by the letter of the law

More than 2,000 workers at London hub will strike for 31 days from June to August in row over pay

Independent MP Monique Ryan demands major changes to commonwealth grants in light of blistering audit office report

Committee finds case for suspending an MP is ‘weakened’ if voters are aware of charges before an election