Exclusive polling for the Guardian also shows voters think more social housing is needed

Two major donors used ministerial access to promote firms with which they were involved offering Covid servicesNewly released WhatsApp messages and emails between Tory donors and the former health secretary Matt Hancock reveal the extent of ministerial access they enjoyed when government Covid contracts were being awarded.Two major donors to the Conservatives, Mustafa Mohammed and Mohamed Amersi, had direct access to Hancock, and used it to promote companies offering Covid services with which they were involved. Amersi also had a phone meeting with James Bethell, a health minister at the time, in which he put forward projects with which he was connected. Continue reading...

Company responds to criticism of delays of more than a decade to connect low-carbon projectsNational Grid has called for a bold overhaul of the UK’s electricity grid regulation to shorten the decade-long delays in connecting green projects to the energy system after reporting a jump in annual profits to almost £4.6bn.The FTSE 100 monopoly, charged with running most of the UK’s power grids, said its underlying operating profits climbed by 15% to £4.58bn for the financial year ending in March compared with the 12 months before. Continue reading...

Sir Mark Rowley and Craig Guildford suggest service in England and Wales taking only ‘easy cases’ to courtTwo of Britain’s most senior police chiefs have accused prosecutors of “cherry-picking” cases to prosecute in court and warned that victims were being let down.The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said the Crown Prosecution Service, which authorises charges in England and Wales, was picking the easier cases to secure convictions and dropping other cases, rather than letting juries decide. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Elizabeth Chau’s family say after 24 years of agony, Met says it will not dig site where serial killer confessed to burying herThe family of the missing teenager whom the convicted murderer Levi Bellfield claims to have kidnapped and murdered, say they have lost trust and confidence in the police after a tense two-hour meeting with homicide detectives.The family of Elizabeth Chau said their hopes of answers after 24 years were dashed after Metropolitan police detectives told them this week they would not immediately dig at a site where the serial killer confessed to burying her. Continue reading...

People tell Guardian of ‘primitive’ living standards, propaganda in schools and constant risk of arrest

About 18,000 households could receive refunds of up to £181 on electricity and gas billsOvo Energy and Good Energy have been ordered to pay £4m after overcharging thousands of households on their gas and electricity bills by breaching the government’s energy price cap.The affected households will receive a combined total of £2.7m from the two companies while an extra £1.25m will go to vulnerable customers in the UK under Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund. Continue reading...

Andrew Miller, 53, who is transitioning and was dressed as woman at time of abduction, admits offences at Edinburgh high courtA man has admitted abducting a primary schoolgirl from a street in the Scottish Borders, before locking her in a bedroom and subjecting her to a series of sexual assaults over the course of a day.Andrew Miller, 53, who is also known as Amy George and was dressed as a woman at the time of the offences – pleaded guilty to charges of abduction, sexual assault of a child and possession of indecent images of children at the high court in Edinburgh on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Since ex-PM was released from custody he has only left his residence once, citing fear of being re-arrestedImran Khan and the police have been locked in a tense standoff in Lahore, with Pakistan’s former prime minister holed up in his residence claiming he was about to be arrested and officers barricading the surrounding roads and accusing him of harbouring “terrorists”.Since Khan was released from police custody on Friday, after his arrest in a corruption case was declared illegal, he has repeatedly expressed his fear of being re-arrested and has only left his residence once, to attend court with his wife on Monday. Continue reading...

Western leaders and Gulf states clash over return of Syrian president after years of war against his own peopleThe Syrian president is set to attend his first Arab League summit in 13 years on Friday as the west and Gulf states clash over his rehabilitation after more than a decade of war against his own people.Bashar al-Assad will take his seat in Jeddah in a move engineered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that has already led to objections in Washington and London, who say the Syrian leader has shown no contrition for the millions who have been killed and displaced by his forces since pro-democracy protests started in 2011 or willingness to change his brutal behaviour. The UAE appears to have also deliberately challenged the west by formally inviting Assad to attend the UN Cop28 climate change conference in Dubai in November, which would be his first global summit since the beginning of war. Continue reading...

Some US tabloids lapped up story with relish while the broadsheets took a more sober approachThe US media covered the Sussexes’ claims that they were involved in a “near catastrophic” two-hour car chase with paparazzi in New York with mixed interest.Tabloids such as the New York Post have lapped up the story with expected relish, whereas broadsheets such as the New York Times and Washington Post have approached the story with a sense of moderation. Continue reading...

Rights groups including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch call proposals ‘a dangerous precedent’ in open letterFrance’s top constitutional court has sanctioned the controversial use of surveillance powered by artificial intelligence at next year’s Olympics in a blow to privacy campaigners.The French court’s decision came two months after the national assembly approved laws allowing for the experimental use of high-tech surveillance in a bid to head off any trouble at the Games next summer, when 600,000 people are expected to attend. Continue reading...

Critical coverage in UK papers has been rising with more anti-LTN articles per day in 2023 than ever beforeIn recent months, it seems barely a day goes by without a slew of hostile newspaper coverage – or prominently placed diatribes – about low-traffic neighbourhoods.Indeed, 19 weeks into 2023, the UK’s main newspapers have published 177 articles on LTNs. Most of them were unfavourable and were published in the Mail (75), the Telegraph (32) or the Times (22). Continue reading...

PM draws dividing line with Labour after opposition leader’s call for building ‘where appropriate’ to make homes more affordable

Exclusive: Solicitors believed to be assisting criminal gangs who abuse modern slavery laws to gain asylumThe National Crime Agency is preparing to pursue up to 100 lawyers it believes are helping traffickers abuse modern slavery laws to secure asylum for people entering the UK.A potentially controversial sweep is being undertaken by the NCA, the British equivalent of the FBI, to identify solicitors potentially breaching their professional code or committing crimes by providing services to organised crime. Continue reading...

Former royal bodyguard speaks out as conflicting accounts cast doubts on details of New York car chaseA former bodyguard of Prince Harry has said the Sussexes’ security should have been “properly stage-managed” as accounts of the “near catastrophic” New York car chase on Tuesday evening cast doubts on the couple’s public statement.“The protection team he has got at the moment has never dealt with such a high-profile celebrity as Harry and Meghan,” Ken Wharfe told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, adding he had some sympathy for the couple. Continue reading...

Jonathan Akeroyd says axing of tax break for tourists is damaging sales in retailer’s home marketThe boss of Burberry has complained that the UK is at a “competitive disadvantage for global shoppers” which had held back sales in its home market after the government ditched a VAT tax break for tourists.Jonathan Akeroyd, the chief executive of the luxury British brand which is best known for its signature check and raincoats, said sales to tourists had risen 19% in the UK in the three months to April but they had more than doubled in Paris and were up 43% in Milan. Continue reading...

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Comments come as Islington North branch of party backs motion supporting former Labour leader almost unanimously

Telecoms group aims to become ‘leaner’ as it cuts more than 40% of its 130,000 global workforce

Professional standards board says it misidentified one of the complainants due to a ‘misunderstanding’

Prime minister hails extraordinary Yolŋu statesman as a ‘national treasure’ while daughter calls her father a fierce leader

Average of £1,375 spent annually on heavier patients as government faces scrutiny for policy failuresObese patients cost the NHS twice as much as those within a healthy weight range, according to research.Using the health records of 2.4 million adults in north-west London, researchers found spending increased for heavier patients, primarily for obesity-related conditions. Patients of a healthy weight cost the NHS an average of £638 annually, the study found. Continue reading...

Parent company IDS posts loss of £748m as it blames industrial action and failure to increase productivityRoyal Mail has reported a £1bn loss, with bosses blaming strike action by workers and a failure to increase productivity for its poor performance during a year in which it cut 10,000 jobs.The poor performance led International Distributions Services (IDS), which owns Royal Mail, to report an overall loss of £748m for the year to 26 March. That compares with a profit of £577m a year earlier. Continue reading...

Bank customers can no longer make payments to the cryptocurrency exchange, in a move to reduce scams

The woman was taken to Cooma district hospital and family say they do not expect her to survive as police launch internal investigation

In a speech to the Queensland Resources Council, billionaire mining magnate says more mines are the solution to country’s economic woes

Tweets from Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine wrongly claiming Stewart Lingiari was the grandson of the land rights activist remain online

PM also says Japanese businesses have invested £18bn in UK as he visits country for G7 summitRishi Sunak has arrived in Tokyo to announce a new defence partnership with Japan and support £18bn of private business deals, ahead of the G7 summit aimed at addressing the threats of Russia and China.Before the gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima on Friday, Sunak is meeting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to discuss more defence cooperation in the face of China’s increasing belligerence towards Taiwan. Continue reading...

Election will fill 462 seats in Northern Ireland’s 11 councils and shape battle lines between parties

Ukraine and China’s Taiwan ambitions are expected to dominate summit discussions, but Fumio Kishida will have a powerful backdropThe war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression towards Taiwan will dominate G7 discussions this week, but host Fumio Kishida is expected to carve out time to push for a pledge on nuclear weapons when leaders meet in Hiroshima, the first place on Earth targeted by an atomic bomb.The leaders began to arrive on Thursday, ahead of an expected visit on Saturday to the city’s Peace Memorial Museum, which contains exhibits showing the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people by the end of the year. Continue reading...

Xiao Qian suggests improvement in Australian relationship with Beijing possible but would take ‘mutual respect’

Climate activists face large penalties and three-month jail terms in bipartisan move which appears to have been hashed out on talkback radio

President spoke of ‘joy for the country’ after four children had been found two weeks after crash, but military sources say they have no confirmation of the newsThere was confusion over whether four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia had been found alive following a plane crash, after claims from the country’s president that they had been located were contradicted by military sources.The children have been missing for more than two weeks after the plane they were travelling in crashed in the dense jungle of Colombia’s Caqueta province, president Gustavo Petro has said. Continue reading...

Triumphal arch in Cinquantenaire park ‘linked to exploitation of Congo’, says cultural group in Belgian capitalFor many Belgians, the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels evokes memories of childhood visits to see the stuffed horses of the military history museum, or vintage cars at Autoworld, two institutions on the edge of the park.The much-loved green space’s cheerful flowers and whimsical follies contrast with the steel canyons and beeping traffic of the adjacent EU quarter, but above all it is an expression of national pride, with a giant Belgian tricolour often suspended underneath a massive triumphal arch. Built in 1880 to mark 50 years of the Belgian state, Belgium’s federal government last month launched a redevelopment plan for the 200th anniversary in 2030. Continue reading...

Some of the big figures on the political right, including two cabinet ministers, have been speaking this week at the National Conservatism conference in London. How much sway does this vocal group have over government? The Guardian’s John Harris is joined by the former Tory minister David Gauke and the Observer’s Sonia Sodha to discuss Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews says it is important to see if rules around wearing of restraints need to change

Former Coalition minister had been under pressure from Labor after failing to attend parliament during budget week, despite still being an MP

The 32-year-old was facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, but the public prosecutor withdrew three of the charges on Thursday

Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev, both vocal critics of Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, have been accused of ‘spreading false information’ about the Russian armyA Moscow court has ordered the arrest of prominent film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information” about the Russian army.The initial court hearings against Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev were held on 27 April, but not reported by the court until Wednesday. Continue reading...

The labour market has remained tight since Covid curbed the influx of migrants and foreign students

ACT government spokesperson says director of public prosecutions is on leave at his request

Li Hui, the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion, is on a European tour to promote Beijing’s peace planUkraine’s foreign minister has met China’s special envoy to Kyiv and insisted that the war-torn country would not accept a peace plan that relied on giving up territory after Russia’s invasion.In the Ukrainian capital, China’s envoy Li Hui is seeking to promote Beijing-led negotiations to resolve the conflict. He is the most senior Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. Continue reading...

Legal experts say those at the heart of the allegations could escape the Nacc’s scrutiny on a technicality

Higher education regulator asks 23 institutions for contingency plans in case of sudden interruption of incomeEngland’s higher education regulator has warned universities against over-reliance on tuition fees of students from China, as Rishi Sunak backtracked on his earlier pledge to close UK branches of the Beijing-sponsored Confucius Institute.The Office for Students (OfS) wrote to 23 universities with high numbers of Chinese students on Thursday, asking to see their contingency planning in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment. Continue reading...

BBC claims online listening increase offsets live decline, while Rajar figures show Greatest Hits and LBC gaining audienceRadio 4’s Today Programme has lost 800,000 listeners in the past year as they switched to podcasts and rival talk radio shows.The agenda-setting breakfast discussion programme has been trying to reinvent itself in recent months, adopting a more informal tone for parts of the show. It has also had to deal with Rishi Sunak’s government cutting access to government ministers as part of a deliberate communication strategy. Continue reading...

Independent NSW MP asks lawyers to proceed after state’s One Nation leader declines ultimatum to apologise

Report says giving semaglutide once a week gave ‘historically unprecedented’ resultsNearly half of children who were assigned the “skinny jab” lost enough weight to no longer be classed as clinically obese, according to research.The study, led by Dr Aaron Kelly, the co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota, looked at 201 adolescents who were classed as clinically obese. Continue reading...

Investigation into premature deaths of more than 450 people at community hospital will be ‘decisive’, say Kent and Essex policePolice investigating the deaths of hundreds of patients at a community hospital say they have identified 19 suspects.An independent police investigation was launched into Gosport War Memorial hospital, in Hampshire, after inquiries found that hundreds of patients had their lives shortened through the use of opioids. Continue reading...

Cabinet reshuffle to see health minister and attorney general swap portfolios as Palaszczuk government dips in polls