Exclusive: Lack of ‘upstream accommodation’ for asylum seekers who have been processed is concernA controversial migrant centre which became dangerously overcrowded last year could again become overwhelmed within weeks, civil servants and union representatives have told the Guardian.Staff working at Manston processing centre have warned that there could be a return to conditions which led to disease and violence because of the lack of “upstream accommodation” for asylum seekers once they have been processed. Continue reading...
Notoriety-courting ‘prankster’ who filmed home trespasses charged with breaches of criminal behaviour orderTikTok “prankster” Mizzy, who is accused of breaking a court order with social media videos, has been granted conditional bail after his mother agreed to have him home.The 18-year-old, whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, was charged with three breaches of a criminal behaviour order imposed on him last week – after he’d posted a video showing him invading an unsuspecting family’s home. Continue reading...
Nato chief announces further measures as situation in Serb-majority north remains ‘fragile’Nato has said it will send 700 extra troops to try to curb the violence in Kosovo a day after 30 Alliance-led peacekeeping soldiers and more than 50 ethnic Serbian protesters were injured in clashes.On Monday, Nato peacekeepers in riot gear had secured a town hall in the town of Zvečan as the situation remained tense. Continue reading...
Tourist boat was reportedly carrying more than 20 people when it was struck by a whirlwind on SundayTwo agents from the Italian intelligence services and a retired member of the Israeli security forces were among the victims when a tourist boat capsized and sank in a sudden, violent storm in a northern Italian lake, it has emerged.Claudio Alonzi, 62, and Tiziana Barnobi, 53, who both working for Italian intelligence, were officially named on Monday by officials. Continue reading...
Owner of house in Plumstead calls ordeal ‘frustrating’, with some guests having to stay in her living roomA woman has spoken of her frustration over tourists continually turning up on her doorstep after her home was mistakenly listed on Booking.com.Karin Arsenius, 37, who lives in Plumstead, south-east London, with her two children and partner, said more than 20 unexpected tourists had arrived at her home, expecting to find the accommodation they had reserved on the online travel agency. Continue reading...
The force is attending fewer incidents and has the best arrest rates in the country – and now the Met is copying its approachWhere Hull leads, London follows. At least, that is the case when it comes to a radical new approach to policing that has led to the Humberside constabulary achieving the highest arrest and crime detection rates in the country – by refusing to attend most mental health calls.When a letter from the Metropolitan police commissioner was leaked to the Guardian this week warning that from September his officers would no longer attend unnecessary mental health calls, Lee Freeman had a jolt of recognition. Continue reading...
Decision follows poor performance in Sunday’s regional and municipal electionsSpain’s centre-right Citizens party, once seen as a potential kingmaker, has announced it will not run in July’s snap general election after an abysmal performance in Sunday’s regional and municipal elections, ceding its space to the triumphant conservative People’s party (PP).Citizens attracted just 1.35% of the vote and lost its seats in 12 regional parliaments on Sunday, suggesting that the party is in its death throes. Its decline began in 2018 when it refused to back the socialists’ successful vote of no confidence in the corruption-mired PP government of Mariano Rajoy, and was exacerbated by its decision to abandon the centre ground and shift to the right. Continue reading...
Aslef members will hold widespread stoppages on Wednesday and Saturday, while RMT crew and station staff will strike on FridayPassengers are bracing for the first of three rail strikes this week as services in England come to a standstill amid a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.Members of the driver’s union Aslef will embark on a 24-hour strike on Wednesday. The union also plans to strike on Saturday. Continue reading...
by Harry Taylor and Geneva Abdul (earlier) on (#6BZCA)
Latest updates: vital evidence must be handed over if ‘whiff of a cover-up’ is to be avoided, says Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leaderDowning Street has refused to be drawn on “discussions we are or are not having with retailers” about prices – days after reports in the Telegraph suggested the government was looking at price controls.The story said that aides had started to work on an agreement with supermarkets, similar to a situation in France where retailers charge “the lowest possible amount” for essential goods. Continue reading...
Party leader and Alberta premier Danielle Smith used victory speech to attack the prime minister’s climate policiesAlberta’s United Conservatives have scraped a majority government, narrowly defeating the rival New Democrats in what proved to be the province’s closest ever election.The triumph for incumbent premier Danielle Smith foreshadows more friction between the western province and Canada’s federal government on environmental regulation, with Smith using her victory speech to attack the climate policies of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Continue reading...
Niloofar Hamedi appears in court over her reporting on woman whose death sparked mass protestsA revolutionary court in Iran has begun the trial of a female journalist behind closed doors on charges linked to her coverage of a Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in custody last year sparked months of unrest, her husband tweeted.Mahsa Amini’s death while held by the “morality police” for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code unleashed a wave of mass anti-government protests for months, posing one of the boldest challenges to the country’s clerical leaders in decades. Continue reading...
From HBO’s hit series to Shakespeare, the stage to Spooks, the actor’s global star status has been sealedAs Succession fans still reel from the relentless assault of quickfire one-liners, plot twists, betrayals and pathos that was its final episode, one thing is indisputable: this was Matthew Macfadyen at his stellar best.So compulsive was he as the venal, unctuous, morally moribund Tom Wambsgans in the hit HBO series, it is hard to reconcile with his past role as period drama leading man Mr Darcy in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice. Continue reading...
Chair extends deadline after Cabinet Office claims not to have copies of messages or notebooks that former PM insists he sharedThe Cabinet Office and Boris Johnson are at loggerheads over a trove of information requested by the Covid inquiry, as officials said they did not have the material but allies of the former prime minister insisted he had shown it to government lawyers.The cache is at the centre of a huge battle after the official inquiry, chaired by Heather Hallett, asked the Cabinet Office to provide Johnson’s appointment diaries, notebooks and WhatsApp messages. Continue reading...
Celebrated in Austria for his theatre work, the actor made his international breakthrough aged 69 in the Oscar-nominated film about an ageing pranksterAustrian actor Peter Simonischek, who played a whimsical patriarch in the Oscar-nominated film Toni Erdmann, has died in Vienna aged 76, a spokeswoman for the Austrian Federal Theatres said on Tuesday.Born in Graz in 1946, Simonischek received great acclaim in the German-speaking world for his performances, including numerous appearances at the famous Salzburg festival. Continue reading...
Concerns raised over £770m of new loans and £450m in new funds from Issa brothers and TDR CapitalAsda is poised to acquire 350 petrol forecourts and 1,000 takeaways in the UK and Ireland from its sister business EG Group, in a deal worth £2.27bn, helping the retailer in its ambition of overtaking Sainsbury’s to become Britain’s second biggest grocer.The supermarket group’s chair, Stuart Rose, said the acquisition would create a “powerful consumer champion” that was committed to being a “price leader” on fuel and the lowest price of the UK’s big four supermarkets on groceries. Continue reading...
Watchdog investigating incident at woman’s home in Peckham in which she was also handcuffedA 90-year-old black woman was handcuffed and had a spit hood placed over her head and a Taser pointed at her by the Metropolitan police.The woman was reportedly left with cuts and bruises to her wrists and one of her arms after being restrained at her home in Peckham, south-east London, on 9 May. Continue reading...
by Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent on (#6BZEC)
Unrest breaks out in Muslim town of Nagu in Yunnan as people object to removal of dome and minaretsHundreds of police have clashed with protesters in a Muslim town in south-west China amid anger at plans to partially dismantle a 14th-century mosque.The unrest broke out on Saturday, seemingly in response to attempts by the authorities to dismantle parts of Najiaying mosque in Nagu, a town in Yunnan province. Continue reading...
Transition to post-Brexit farming payments means scheme to protect hedgerows could be lostHedgerows in England are under threat, farmers and nature groups have warned, as the government prepares to cut funding that protects them.Hedges are vital habitat for many species, providing food and shelter for mammals, birds and pollinators, with the EU paying farmers under its farming subsidy scheme to have them on their land. Continue reading...
Outsourcing group runs pensions schemes for firms including Royal Mail and AxaAbout 90 organisations have reported breaches of personal information held by Capita after the outsourcing group suffered a cyber-attack, Britain’s data watchdog has said.The company, which runs crucial services for local councils, the military and the NHS, experienced the hack, which caused a significant IT outage, in March. Continue reading...
The Environmental Research Center says it tested five products and found toxic ‘forever chemicals’ linked to serious diseaseKOS Nature-Powered Organic Plant Protein drinks and powders contain toxic “forever chemicals”, a recent filing with the California department of justice charges.The filing, made by the Environmental Research Center (ERC), a San Diego-based consumer protection nonprofit, states that its testing found PFOA, a dangerous PFAS compound, in five KOS products. Continue reading...
Calls grow for marriage equality as another court rules ban is unconstitutionalPressure is building on Japan’s government to legalise same-sex unions after a court ruled that a ban on them was unconstitutional.Rights advocates said the ruling on Tuesday by Nagoya district court was a step forward in the campaign to end Japan’s status as the only G7 country not to fully recognise same-sex unions. Continue reading...
The £25m port facility was built to fit government plans but stands empty while new border strategy is delayedAs white elephants go, few come larger than £25m. That is the cost of the hi-tech border control post, built to government specifications to handle post-Brexit checks on goods entering the UK, that sits near the waterfront at Portsmouth international port.The building has sat empty and unused for almost a year since its completion, after the UK government announced in April last year that the introduction of post-Brexit import checks would be delayed for a fourth time. Continue reading...
Dozens of Italian and Hungarian soldiers from Kfor mission and more than 50 Serbs were injured in clashes over ethnic Albanian mayors taking officeMore than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo have been injured in clashes with Serb protesters, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after elections that the Serbs boycotted – a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday. Continue reading...
The stage version of the much-loved sitcom, which finished on TV 25 years ago, will be written by the duo behind the original series and feature several members of the original castSnooty news anchor Sally Smedley, gung-ho reporter Damien Day and eternally crestfallen editor George Dent are set to return as the Channel 4 sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey has inspired a new stage version.Twenty-five years after it concluded on television, the newsroom satire will tour the UK and reunite seven of its original cast members including Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Victoria Wicks and Jeff Rawle. Continue reading...
Search of vessel registered in Fuzhou, China, reveals cannon shell suspected to date from second world warMalaysia’s maritime agency has said it found a cannon shell believed to be from the second world war on a Chinese-registered vessel and was investigating if the barge carrier was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea.The agency said it detained the vessel registered in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday for anchoring without a permit off southern Johor state, and that an inspection revealed scrap metal and a cannon shell it suspected dated from the second world war. It said there were 32 crew members aboard, including 21 Chinese, 10 from Bangladesh and a Malaysian. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: From September the force will stop attending to non-urgent mental health care calls – but should they? And who will step in now?
Special rapporteur Olivier De Shutter calls for action on neglected crisis after finding ‘absolutely terrible’ conditions on visit to Cox’s Bazar camps in BangladeshRohingya refugees in Bangladesh are at risk of becoming “the new Palestinians”, according to a UN head, who said they are trapped in a protracted and increasingly neglected crisis.Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the almost 1 million people living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar should be given the right to work in their host country of Bangladesh, and that forcing them to rely on dwindling international support was not sustainable. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo, and agencies on (#6BZ7K)
Fumio Kishida criticises actions of eldest son, Shotaro, after photos show him lying on the stairs and posing at a press conference podiumThe eldest son of Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, is to step down as his executive policy secretary amid public outcry over his use of the leader’s official residence for a private party.Photos published by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine showed his son Shotaro and about 10 relatives posing or lying on the symbolically important red-carpeted stairs of the residence in an imitation of group photos of newly appointed cabinets. Shotaro is at the centre – the position reserved for the prime minister. Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan, Julian Borger and agencies on (#6BZ96)
‘Massive’ strikes early on Tuesday morning, with falling debris setting an apartment building on fireAt least one person has died in Kyiv and three were injured when falling debris reportedly from a destroyed Russian drone hit a high-rise apartment building early on Tuesday and started a fire, officials in the Ukrainian capital said.The attack on Kyiv was the third in 24 hours and came after a rare daytime attack on Monday that sent people running for shelter. Continue reading...
Atherton hospital staff were offered blood tests but the state’s chief health officer says he would be ‘very surprised’ if they showed high levels of lead