World news | The Guardian

Government defends processes and the US company that won the tender, saying it has ‘reputation for delivering successful projects’

RBA decision to raise Australia’s cash rate by another 25 basis points brings the official rate to 4.1%, its highest level in 11 years

Former prisoner says she is eternally grateful to her friends and will always think of, grieve for and love her children

Staff and observers fear UK equality watchdog ‘politicised as never before’ as ministers and press allies rally behind under-fire chairBritain’s equality watchdog is reeling from a breakdown of trust between its board and staff amid concerns it has become politicised, senior insiders say.The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) appointed a leading lawyer to carry out an independent investigation into 40 internal complaints, including bullying and harassment, made against its chair, Kishwer Falkner, but paused the inquiry last week after damaging leaks which laid bare tensions within the organisation. Continue reading...

Parties accuse government of ‘giving green light to puppy smuggling’ after animal welfare legislation is droppedIf you’ve spent much time on Facebook or Twitter lately, it’s pretty likely you’ll have seen adverts featuring mournful caged puppies posted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.The opposition parties appear to have decided to try to make puppies the next big wedge issue, as they accuse the Conservatives of “giving the green light to puppy smuggling” after the Tories dropped a suite of animal welfare legislation, which included a crackdown on intensive dog breeding practices. Continue reading...

Sag-Aftra president Fran Drescher tells more than 60,000 union members she is proud of themActors represented by the Hollywood union Sag-Aftra have overwhelmingly voted to strike if they don’t agree on a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies by 30 June.On Monday 65,000 members of the guild, which represents more than 160,000 screen actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts and stunt performers, voted, with 98% supporting a strike if negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) fail. Continue reading...

Members voting on lobby group’s commitments to reform its governance and culture after sexual misconduct allegationsThe future of Britain’s most prominent business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, is on a knife-edge as it relies on the backing of trade bodies in a crunch vote.The CBI has been canvassing support from its members ahead of an extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday that will decide on its fate after sexual misconduct allegations revealed by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Industry submissions on harm reduction plan at times misused evidence, academics say, but health minister says there’s ‘no suggestion’ the strategy was influenced

The man has appeared in a Canberra court accused of stealing Kyrgios’s car from the tennis star’s mother

Justice Anthony Besanko’s full verdict describes how Australia’s most decorated soldier lied to save his reputation

Joel Russo, 29, has been handed a 17-year minimum jail sentence with a judge saying he was an ‘extremely dangerous offender’

Liu Fang tells how her family lived privately in the US for eight years, until two men turned up at their door in first US trial arising from China’s ‘Operation Fox Hunt’The wife of a Chinese former official has described in court the moment their life in the US was “turned upside down” by Chinese government threats aimed at forcing her family to return to their homeland.Liu Fang told how two strangers pounded on her New Jersey front door and twisted the handle, in what is the first trial to come out of US claims that Beijing has tried to harass and intimidate dissidents and others into returning home. Continue reading...

More than 33,000 fines were rescinded last year after a supreme court ruling, but correspondence from authorities suggests thousands more will stand

Folbigg’s advocates now focused on getting convictions quashed when an inquiry into her case reports in coming weeks

Singer said recent months had been overwhelming and he needs to spend time with friends and family to recoverThe Brit award-winning singer Lewis Capaldi apologised to fans after cancelling all of his upcoming commitments to “rest and recover” ahead of Glastonbury.Capaldi, 26, said in an Instagram post on Monday that he is “struggling” after a “full on” couple of months in which he released the chart-topping album Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak confirms two more barges will house 1,000 people, as sources say discussions about other areas are taking placeThousands of asylum seekers could be housed in vessels moored near Newcastle, Harwich, Felixstowe and the Royal London docks, the Guardian has learned.Rishi Sunak confirmed on Monday that the government had acquired two more giant barges to house about 1,000 people seeking refuge in the UK. Continue reading...

The PRI – once the overwhelmingly dominant party of Mexico in the 20th century – is now a weak and also-ran political forceMexico’s oldest party has lost control of the country’s most populous and influential state, in an election result that could signal the end of a powerful network that has dominated politics in the region for almost a century.Alejandra del Moral Vela – the candidate for the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which has governed the state of Mexico (Edomex) uninterrupted since 1929 – was beaten by eight points on Sunday, despite claiming victory during the vote count. Continue reading...

MPs told UK government’s attempt to avoid handing over evidence to inquiry had been ‘misinterpreted’

CPS and Home Office had ‘miscommunication’ over Khairi Saadallah, who went on to kill three, pre-inquest review hearsCharges against a man who was later responsible for the Reading terror attack were dropped due to “miscommunication” between the Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service, a pre-inquest review has heard.Khairi Saadallah murdered three men in a Reading park on 20 June 2020 as coronavirus restrictions were eased. Saadallah allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39. Continue reading...

Hanna Maliar says Kyiv’s forces are moving to ‘offensive actions’, heightening speculation that a counteroffensive is close to launch

Judge in case against Mirror Group Newspapers ‘a little surprised’ at prince’s non-appearancePrince Harry’s no-show at the high court on Monday caused a headache for his legal team, who were left to explain he had chosen to stay in Los Angeles for his daughter’s second birthday party.He was originally scheduled to give evidence in his phone-hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers on Tuesday. But the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, had asked for him to be in court and ready to give evidence on Monday, in case lawyers finished their opening legal arguments earlier than expected. Continue reading...

Licht says ‘CNN is not about me’ after article revealed he had been aware of ‘extra-Trumpy’ crowd at town hallEmbattled CNN chief executive Chris Licht apologized to his employees on Monday after an Atlantic magazine profile revealed he had been aware of the “extra-Trumpy” make-up of the crowd at a widely criticized town hall with the former president last month.According to the Atlantic, Licht had also been critical of CNN’s performance under his predecessor, telling employees they had alienated potential viewers through hostility to Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Cabinet Office minister gives ‘absolute assurance’ ministers will not be involved in deeming what it irrelevant. This live blog is closedQ: Is there any evidence that your policies are responsible for crossings going down by 20%?Sunak says in the rest of Europe illegal migration arrivals are still going up. That is significant, he says. Continue reading...

Top UK music school says pandemic has hastened decline in pupils playing Marmite of woodwind worldDepending on your view, the recorder is an instrument of “incredible versatility” or a tool of torture that has terrorised primary schools for too many generations.But now, warn its champions, the Marmite of the woodwind world faces extinction, with one of the UK’s top music schools reporting an 80% decline in the number of young people playing the recorder in 10 years. Continue reading...

MP for Beckenham allegedly told activist to ‘go back to Bahrain’ during confrontation in DecemberThe Conservative MP Bob Stewart has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence after an incident outside a reception hosted by the Bahraini embassy.Police launched an investigation into the south London MP after he was confronted by an activist whom he allegedly told: “Go back to Bahrain.” Continue reading...

Party officials say Andreas Babler won race, not Hans Peter Doskozil as previously declared due to Excel errorAustria’s Social Democratic party has admitted a “technical error” in an Excel file led to it announcing the wrong candidate as its new leader.Officials at the centre-left SPÖ said on Monday that Andreas Babler, the mayor of the south-eastern city of Traiskirchen, had in fact won the race, and not Hans Peter Doskozil, the governor of the south-eastern Burgenland region, who had been declared the winner on Saturday. Continue reading...

Matt Cook, who has written on queer urban life and the Aids crisis, takes up the new post at Mansfield CollegeThe renowned cultural historian Matt Cook is to become the UK’s first fully endowed professor of LGBTQ+ history in a newly created post at Mansfield College, Oxford.Cook, who has written extensively on queer urban life, the Aids crisis and queer domesticity, will become the first Jonathan Cooper chair of the history of sexualities later this year. Continue reading...

Andrew Green KC, for the Mirror, says the ‘designated hacker for the Mirror’ in the early 00s said he never attempted to hack duke’s phone. This live blog is closedThe court is taking a short break.There were also those around Prince Harry whose details appeared in PalmPilots (digital devices which were precursors to modern day tablets) owned by Mirror reporters, Sherborne says. Continue reading...

Mayors across country fear wave of cases after ruling that Brescia council failed to safeguard residentsMayors across Italy are fearing a deluge of legal complaints after the country’s top court ruled that noisy nightlife could be harmful to people’s health.In the first ruling of its kind in Italy, the supreme court of cassation ordered Brescia city council to pay €50,000 (£43,000) in compensation to a couple for failing to safeguard them against noise, reported Il Messaggero. Continue reading...

Accused among eight arrested after Jean-Baptiste Trogneux was beaten up outside family’s chocolate shopThree men have appeared in court in France accused of attacking Brigitte Macron’s great-nephew outside her family’s chocolate shop.The accused were among eight people arrested after Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, 30, was beaten up while reportedly trying to protect the windows of the store in Amiens in the Somme last month. Continue reading...

Survey is first major government study into what has been termed ‘the great gender pension chasm’

Girl A, who has accused eight men of grooming and abusing her, said she felt like ‘snake in the grass’ for coming forwardA woman who has accused eight men from Rochdale of grooming and abusing her as a child wept as she told police she used to consider one of the alleged abusers to be her “best friend”.The woman, known as Girl A to protect her identity, told detectives that she felt “like a snake in the grass” for accusing Jahn Shahid Ghani of abusing her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. Continue reading...

Lawyer suggests then-editor, Piers Morgan, was disingenuous when he later wrote that he had ‘heard rumours’ about friendshipThe phone of Diana, Princess of Wale was allegedly hacked by Piers Morgan’s Daily Mirror in an attempt to obtain details about her secret meetings with the comedian Michael Barrymore.The high court heard that Diana had regularly talked to Barrymore in the months before her death, at a time when they were two of the most famous people in Britain. The television presenter was “struggling with coming out as gay”, as well as dealing with an addiction to alcohol and drugs. Continue reading...

Prime minister shows his fondness for helicopters again a week after flying in one to his Yorkshire constituencyRishi Sunak has taken an RAF helicopter from London to Dover, despite the trip being just over an hour by train.The UK prime minister once again showed his fondness for choppers on Monday, when he flew from a private helipad in London to the Kent port in an RAF AugustaWestland helicopter for a speech on small boat crossings. Continue reading...

Lawyer for bereaved families says Heather Hallett would be unable to do job if government blocks release

Retired seaman, who has 24 convictions, said he wanted to improve his pension by selling drugsA German court has given an 82-year-old man a “last warning” to avoid jail after he was found guilty of drug dealing, despite 24 previous convictions.The retired seaman, who said he wanted to improve his meagre €800 (£690) monthly pension by selling marijuana, was handed a suspended sentence by a court in the northern town of Aurich on Monday. Continue reading...

The director and veteran of Studio Ghibli plans to retire after the release of How Do You Live? which will forego trailers and marketing ahead of its Japanese release next monthHayao Miyazaki’s next and apparently final film will be released with no trailer, marketing or other new promotional materials, it has been revealed.In an interview with Japanese magazine Bungei Shunju, translated by the Hollywood Reporter, producer Toshio Suzuki said the film, titled How Do You Live?, would be released with “no trailers or TV commercials at all … no newspaper ads either.” He added: “Deep down, I think this is what moviegoers latently desire.” Continue reading...

Former health secretary given rap on knuckles for ‘lack of attention’ to MPs’ code of conduct

Russian military bloggers suggest Ukraine has made gains during latest assaults, but defending is always easier

Ministers accused of trying to shift blame for Friday’s disaster in which 275 people diedPolice in the Indian state of Odisha have registered a criminal case of “death by negligence” relating to the train collision on Friday that killed 275 people, as critics accused the government of trying to shift blame for the disaster.The report filed by police did not name any specific person as being responsible but stated that “culpability of specific railway employees has not been ascertained, which will be unearthed during the investigation”. Continue reading...

Russia claims to have fought off ‘major offensive’ and killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops in attack

Prime minister hails ‘substantial breakthrough’ for the pair after his visit to south-east Asia

St Mary’s hospital being investigated for gross negligence manslaughter after Polly Lindop died within 24 hours of birthA newborn baby’s death at a Manchester maternity hospital is being investigated by police for gross negligence manslaughter.Greater Manchester police (GMP) said its major incident unit was looking into the death of Polly Lindop who died within 24 hours of her birth on 13 March at St Mary’s hospital. Continue reading...

Australian National Audit Office finds department of health’s administration of community health program ‘fell short of ethical requirements’

Lt Col Roman Venevitin seen telling interrogator he ordered troops to shoot at convoy of mercenaries• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesYevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group of mercenaries has captured a Russian commander, as the notorious leader further escalates his feud with the regular army.In a video posted on Prigozhin’s social media channels on Monday evening, Lt Col Roman Venevitin, the commander of Russia’s 72nd Brigade, tells an interrogator that, while drunk, he had ordered his troops to fire on a Wagner convoy. Continue reading...

Annual vigil replaced by pro-Beijing carnival but some still manage to mark massacre amid heavy police presenceFor the past three years, Hong Kong authorities have gone to great lengths to stop people from lighting candles in Victoria Park and publicly commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre – an annual tradition tens of thousands of residents had kept alive for three decades since the bloody crackdown in 1989.This year, the city took it a step further. On Sunday, in place of a mass vigil was a patriotic carnival held by pro-Beijing groups, celebrating the city’s return to Chinese rule with food booths, and dance and music performances. Colourful banners urged carnival goers to “taste the joy”. Instead of candles, volunteers handed out plush toys. Continue reading...

This Morning presenter talks of having supported ‘someone who was not telling the truth’ about affairHolly Willoughby has said she felt “shaken, troubled and let down” over her co-host’s behaviour as she made her first This Morning appearance since Phillip Schofield left the show.Schofield quit after admitting he lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger member of the show’s staff. Continue reading...

Warring factions urged to preserve heritage after video clip appears to show fighters raiding Khartoum museumHeritage officials in Sudan have pleaded with warring factions to preserve tens of thousands of historical artefacts threatened by fighting in the capital, Khartoum, that is in its eighth week.A video clip circulating on social media on Friday appeared to show fighters from the Rapid Support Forces entering the bioarchaeology lab of the National Museum in Khartoum and opening storage containers containing mummies and other remains. Continue reading...

Record 19% of all loans taken out by first-time buyers in March were for 35 years or longer

Justice Anthony Besanko’s complete findings, released today, found the Victoria Cross recipient lied about murdering civilians, deliberately hid evidence from court and threatened potential witnesses