World news | The Guardian

Mathias Döpfner’s reported comments on climate, Muslims and east Germany – and his apparent political manoeuvring – create shock wavesThe German CEO of Europe’s largest media publisher tried to use his flagship tabloid, Bild, to influence the outcome of Germany’s last election and fed the newspaper his personal views attacking climate change activism, Covid measures and the former chancellor Angela Merkel, leaked messages suggest.The internal chats, emails and text messages published by the German weekly Die Zeit on Wednesday clash with the public presentation of Axel Springer SE’s chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, who recently said he wanted to bring “non-partisan” journalism to a too-polarised US media landscape through his acquisition of the English-language title Politico. Continue reading...

Regulator says Carlos Abarca ‘failed to take reasonable steps’ to ensure outsourcing firm was ready to migrate accounts en masseUK regulators have imposed an £81,000 fine on a former TSB information officer over the bank’s IT meltdown in 2018 that left millions of customers locked out of their accounts.The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said Carlos Abarca, who was TSB’s chief information officer at the time of the meltdown, “failed to take reasonable steps” to ensure that an outsourcing firm owned by TSB’s parent company was ready to carry out the IT migration of customers en masse. Continue reading...

Corporation says it will work with union to find alternatives to 20% reduction in rolesThe BBC has changed course on its proposed cuts to BBC English orchestras after pressure from musicians, the public and politicians.The cuts, which were announced in March, would have reduced roles in the BBC Symphony, Concert and Philharmonic orchestras by 20%. Continue reading...

Transport Workers Union praised the arrangement as a ‘powerful opportunity’ to improve workers’ conditions and entitlements

Inquiry comes after tax raid on corporation’s offices and a documentary that was critical of PM Narendra ModiIndia’s financial crimes agency is investigating the BBC over alleged violations of foreign exchange rules, less than two months after the corporation’s Indian headquarters were raided by tax inspectors.According to officials, the latest investigation is being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central government agency. Continue reading...

HSIB report identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in hospital emergency departmentsStaff in hospital emergency departments in England are struggling to spot when infants are being physically abused by their parents, raising the risk of further harm, an investigation has found.Clinicians often do not know what to do if they are concerned that a child’s injuries are not accidental because there is no guidance, according to a report from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) that identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in emergency departments. Continue reading...

The journal’s once-in-a-decade selection of the best fiction writers under 40 has broadened its selection of 20 to include authors who ‘regard the UK as their home’Granta magazine’s Best of British Novelists list, which hails the literary stars of the future, has this year expanded to include writers who “regard this country as their home” even if they don’t have a British passport. “The result is a more varied and encompassing portrait of the kind of writing that is happening today in Britain”, said Luke Neima, deputy editor of Granta.Running since 1983, the list spotlights 20 novelists under the age of 40 every 10 years, marking them out as stars of the future. This year’s authors include Booker prize-winner Eleanor Catton, Desmond Elliott prize-winner Derek Owusu, and debut novelist K Patrick, whose first novel Mrs S is out this summer. They follow in the footsteps of writers such as Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and Kamila Shamsie, who have made the list in previous years. Continue reading...

The recently re-elected independent has pleaded not guilty to five charges in the state’s district court

Government sets start date for its move towards a public health approach to public intoxication

Watchdog says six committed misconduct or gross misconduct in racist, ableist and other offensive messages on WhatsAppSix Greater Manchester police officers shared “abhorrent” racist, ableist and other offensive messages in a WhatsApp group, an investigation by the police watchdog has found.Examples included racist comments about people attending Eid celebrations in Manchester, ableist comments about people with autism, and shared photos of medication that appeared to be steroids. Continue reading...

Letter adds to pressure on health secretary after BMA reveals it is already talking to arbitration serviceNHS bosses have urged the health secretary to let the arbitration service Acas see if it can help to break the deadlock in his deepening dispute with junior doctors in England who are striking over pay.The NHS Confederation has written to Steve Barclay and the British Medical Association (BMA), the main doctors’ union, asking them to accept the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service as an honest broker that could set up talks to end the row. Continue reading...

Latest sanctions target a wide network tied to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov

Removal of ads on eBay and Etsy comes as new survey reveals more people now regard the toys as racistOnline retailers have removed listings for the sale of golliwog dolls amid new evidence that more people now regard the toys as racist.Collectors have continued to trade golliwog dolls on eBay and Etsy under the less offensive label “golly dolls”. On Wednesday afternoon, eBay listings included a “vintage golly soft toy” in with a starting bid of £14.99 and a “collectible plush golly by Lesser & Pavey” with an upper bid of £36. Continue reading...

Two Cyprus-based individuals alleged to have aided Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov among those targeted

Is the Duchess of Sussex staying home because of Archie’s birthday? Some say it points to a failure in negotiationsThe “Will they? Won’t they?” question of whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would attend has hung over King Charles’s coronation for months.Even after the couple was formally invited by email one month ago, reply there came none, with the deadline reportedly passing last week, and organisers said to be increasingly impatient. Continue reading...

Nearly 28,000 people arrived via sea route in first quarter, Frontex says, as UN decries deadliest period since 2017Three times as many people sought to reach the EU across the Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023 compared with a year before, the bloc’s border agency has said, as the UN’s migration arm decried the deadliest first quarter since 2017.Overall, the EU agency, Frontex, reported 54,000 irregular crossings into the bloc via all routes in the first quarter of the year, up a fifth from 2022. Continue reading...

Equity union welcomes increased funding while continuing to oppose move being imposed on ENO chorusThe English National Opera is set to receive £24m in public funding to support its move to a new base outside London while continuing to stage performances at the London Coliseum, its West End residence for more than 50 years.The opera company had its general public funding cut from £12.8m a year to zero in November as part of a drive by Arts Council England (ACE) to divert money outside the capital, reflecting the government’s levelling up agenda. Continue reading...

Gina Cass-Gottlieb calls for a prohibition on unfair trade practices to protect Australians from ‘manipulative practices’

Exclusive: New minister for housing is ‘very motivated to just push through’ with ‘desperately needed’ developments

Welfare debt reform means citizens are no longer ‘guilty until proven innocent’, says government services minister Bill Shorten

Former shadow minister says ‘what’s the point of doing this if it’s not going to shift the dial on the ground?’

People waiting for breast cancer result and heart surgery for their child question why government isn’t doing moreThe four-day strike by junior doctors across England will result in an estimated 350,000 appointments, including operations, being cancelled.The action follows years of pay erosion and deteriorating working conditions in the health service. According to the British Medical Association (BMA), junior doctors’ pay has fallen by 26% in real terms over the past 15 years. Continue reading...

Britain has been criticised for loading cost of accommodating refugees on to overseas aid budgetThe UK is spending proportionately more of its overseas aid budget on housing refugees than most other major aid donors, new figures from the OECD show.The figures, published on Wednesday, show that the only two countries spending more than the UK in absolute terms on housing refugees in their home countries are Germany and the US, but their total aid budgets are much larger than the UK. Continue reading...

Report says revenues raised from a gradually imposed fuel tax could be used to transition to low-carbon fisheriesThe EU lavished up to €15.7bn in fossil fuel subsidies on its fishing industry over the last decade, but campaigners are now calling for those funds to be redirected towards decarbonisation.Fuel tax exemptions for the fishing industry save so much money that they could pay the salaries of 20,000 fishers every year – or pay for 6,000 new energy reduction and decarbonisation projects, according to a new analysis. Continue reading...

Female bear that killed Andrea Papi close to mountain village last week attacked a father and son in 2020A bear that killed a 26-year-old man while he was jogging in the woods close to a mountain village in northern Italy has been identified as a 17-year-old female that had previously attacked two people.Andrea Papi, whose funeral was taking place on Wednesday, was the first person in Italy to be killed in a bear attack in modern times. Continue reading...

Footage appears to show Russian soldiers beheading Ukrainian prisoner of war, with another showing two beheaded servicemen

Kauan Okamoto says Kitagawa evaded justice because victims knew speaking out would end their careersJohnny Kitagawa, one of the most powerful figures in Japanese entertainment, sexually abused multiple boys but evaded justice because his victims knew speaking out would end their pop careers, according to a former protege who has decided to go public with his allegations.Kauan Okamoto, a Japanese-Brazilian singer-songwriter, said Kitagawa had sexually abused him at least 15 times over a four-year period from 2012, when the pop hopeful was aged 15. Continue reading...

Hotel claimed Jerelle Jules was sent out-of-date and incorrect grooming policy banning ‘unusual hairstyles’A black job applicant who was told his hair was against the employee grooming policy of the Ritz has said an apology he subsequently received from the hotel was “disingenuous and lacklustre”.Jerelle Jules, 30, from Hammersmith, west London, had made it to the final round of interviews for a position as a dining reservations supervisor at the exclusive London hotel, when he was sent the company’s employee grooming policy. Continue reading...

Information minister says ‘no basis’ to form interim government, amid claims of February elections being fixedThe Nigerian president-elect, Bola Tinubu, will take office on schedule on 29 May despite court challenges to the election result, the country’s information minister has said.On a visit to the UK to counter claims that the 25 February elections in Africa’s most populous country had been fixed, Lai Mohammed said there was “no basis” for an interim government to be formed until the court challenges could be resolved. Continue reading...

Tropical cyclone set to strengthen to category 4, bringing gusts of 250km/h when it makes landfall between Broome and Port Hedland

Publisher’s defence in case brought by News Corp co-chairman relies in part upon Dominion’s US suit against media giant

Production is at centre of collaboration with west London community affected by 2017 disasterThe National Theatre is to stage a verbatim play based on accounts by survivors and those bereaved by the Grenfell Tower fire almost six years ago as the centrepiece of a long-term collaborative project with the west London community.The play, Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors, is the work of the novelist and playwright Gillian Slovo, who spent five years gaining the confidence of community members and recording their accounts of the disaster in north Kensington which killed 72 people.Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors will be at the National Theatre from 13 July until 26 August. Continue reading...

Pearl is shorter than the standard television remote and about as long as a dollar bill, Guinness World Records saysWhat do you call a chihuahua dog that’s shorter than a popsicle stick and can fit in your pocket? The planet’s shortest living dog, Guinness World Records has announced.Pearl qualified for the title after a veterinarian at the Crystal Creek animal hospital in Orlando, Florida, where she was born, used a special dog-measuring wicket to determine she was just under 3.6in (9.14cm) tall and 5in (12.7cm) long. Those dimensions mean she is shorter than the standard television remote and about as long as a dollar bill, Guinness said in a statement. Continue reading...

Ostrich farm operator Michael Hastings says the two-week-old chicks need specialist care and will be in grave danger

Fantasy prequel to Game of Thrones, starring Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy, being filmed at UK studioProduction has started in the UK on the second series of the Game of Thrones spinoff the House of the Dragon, Warner Bros Discovery has announced.The fantasy drama series is based on author George RR Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and includes Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy and Paddy Considine returning in their starring roles. Continue reading...

The bereaved, survivors and locals to receive damages relating to 2017 tragedy in west LondonMore than 900 bereaved family members, survivors and local people who were affected by the devastating Grenfell Tower fire have agreed on a settlement of their civil claims arising from the blaze.The fire at the residential tower block in west London killed 72 people in June 2017. Those who took part in the legal claim were represented by 14 firms that have stressed the agreement does not affect the long-running public inquiry, chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, which is looking into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the blaze. It has yet to publish its report. Continue reading...

Documents appear to list number of western special forces personnel in Ukraine in February and MarchLeaked US military documents indicate that the UK has deployed as many as 50 special forces to Ukraine.The documents suggest that more than half of the western special forces personnel present in Ukraine between February and March this year may have been British. Continue reading...

Rivals have accused each other of initiating fire which killed seven peopleSouth Caucasus rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of initiating a fatal clash around the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region which killed seven soldiers.The two neighbours – both formerly part of the Soviet Union – have fought repeatedly over the last 35 years for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but home to a mainly ethnic Armenian population. Continue reading...

Sacked chief says he is ‘shocked’ and allegations have been ‘distorted’

Benice Ryley plans to display new dolls despite police investigation into an alleged hate crimeThe landlady of a pub whose collection of golliwog dolls was confiscated by police has assembled replacements, which she plans to display in defiance of a continuing investigation.Last week four Essex police officers and a trainee seized all the dolls on show in the White Hart Inn in Grays as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime. Continue reading...

Investigation begins after the Guardian reports on complaints against senior figures at business organisationCity of London police have launched an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the Confederation of British Industry in the wake of the Guardian’s reports of complaints against senior figures at the organisation.Britain’s most prominent business group is battling to secure its future after more than a dozen women employed by the CBI claimed to have been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct, including an allegation of rape during a staff party. Continue reading...

Death of Freddie Scappaticci, who always denied he was mole, puts question mark over inquiry into his alleged crimesThe man said to be the British army’s most important agent inside the Provisional IRA has died, putting a question mark over the inquiry into his alleged crimes and the role played by security forces.Freddie Scappaticci, a west Belfast former bricklayer who was alleged to have been a top mole known as Stakeknife, died and was buried last week, it emerged on Tuesday. He was in his 70s. Continue reading...

‘Top secret’ document reportedly warned Kyiv faced shortfalls in troops and weaponry and suggested any gains would be modest

Global chief economist at Kroll will join the MPC as an external member on a three-year term from 5 JulyThe Treasury has appointed a financial markets expert to the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, replacing the interest rate-setting panel’s most dovish member as it responds to the worst banking crisis since 2008.Megan Greene, the global chief economist at Kroll, a US private investigations and financial advisory firm, will join the MPC as an external member on a three-year term starting on 5 July. Continue reading...

Durham crown court hears pair knew coins worth an estimated £766,000 came from Viking hoardTwo amateur history enthusiasts have been accused of trying to sell ancient coins from a Viking hoard to representatives of a mystery American buyer who were in fact undercover police officers.Roger Pilling, 74, of Rossendale, Lancashire, and Craig Best, 46, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, are facing a jury trial at Durham crown court. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed.The RIA Novosti news agency in Russia reports on its Telegram channel that yesterday an unknown drone fell near Belgorod airport. Citing emergency services, it said “there were no casualties, the fence was slightly damaged”.The claims have not been independently verified. Continue reading...

Al-Aqsa mosque closed to non-Muslims and tourists after gunmen who shot at an army post killed by security forcesIsrael has halted visits by non-Muslims and tourists to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, as its military said soldiers had shot dead two Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank, as a wave of unrest showed no sign of subsiding.Last week, an Israeli police raid at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, a tinder box in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, triggered rocket attacks from Gaza, south Lebanon and Syria that drew Israeli air and artillery strikes. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed.There’s some anonymous quotes in a New Statesman article [paywall] by Rachel Wearmouth on Labour’s advertising campaign.It gives an insight into both schools of thoughts on the adverts in the party, which have produced criticism and defiance within the party. Continue reading...

OHCHR express concern over fate of missing, unaccompanied children and breach of international lawUN experts have warned the UK government that its treatment of unaccompanied asylum seeker children is increasing the risk they could be trafficked and is breaching international law.A statement from the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) expressed concern about the fate of the missing children and urged the UK government to do more to protect them. Continue reading...

Maria Giuseppe Scarpulla investigated after claim blood stains on statue of Virgin Mary come from a pigA woman nicknamed “the Saint” has mysteriously vanished from a small lakeside town near Rome where pilgrims have flocked for years to pray before a statue of the Virgin Mary that she claimed shed tears of blood.Maria Giuseppe Scarpulla, originally from Sicily, and her husband reportedly fled Trevignano Romano last week after a private investigator triggered a judicial investigation against her based on his alleged finding that the blood stains on the statue came from a pig. Continue reading...