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Force rebuffs claim home secretary said they should focus on ‘catching criminals’ after items taken from White Hart Inn in GraysEssex police have denied being rebuked by Suella Braverman for seizing a collection of golliwog dolls that were on display in a pub.Officers from the force took several dolls from the White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex, last week as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime reported in February. Continue reading...

David Crouch to raise daughter of murdered Caroline Crouch in the Philippines, where her grandmother has relocatedAlmost two years after the 19-year-old British student, Caroline Crouch, was murdered by her husband as she lay asleep in the couple’s Athens maisonette, her father says he will concentrate on raising his granddaughter, “who is now without” either parent.Speaking publicly for what he said would be the last time, David Crouch, 79, told the Guardian he would leave Greece to look after Caroline’s daughter, Lydia, who is almost three, in the Philippines, “far away” from her mother’s self-confessed killer. Continue reading...

‘Two large bags of dry paint’ were seized from the campaigners, who jumped over a barrier around the famous dinosaur castTwo Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested after jumping over a barrier surrounding the Dippy the Diplodocus exhibit in Coventry.Video footage captured the campaigners, named by the environmental group as Daniel Knorr, 21, and Victoria Lindsell, 67, jumping over the fencing before being grabbed by staff at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum at around 10am on Monday. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak had earlier urge return to power-sharing government in Northern Ireland; US president Joe Biden arrives on TuesdayOn the tone of the Labour adverts, the former Labour minister and must-read political diarist Chris Mullin has shared his thoughts and a summary of Labour members and activists who have urged the party to take the “higher ground”.Labour is to launch more adverts attacking Rishi Sunak by blaming him for “crashing the economy”, despite criticism from within the party. Continue reading...

After Labour’s targeting of Rishi Sunak, we look back on past ads, some of which have swung electionsThe tradition of the modern political attack ad is often traced back to Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 US presidential campaign, which sought to portray his Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, as an ill-disciplined warmonger likely to plunge the world into a nuclear apocalypse.The so-called “Daisy” advert, in which a little girl counted as she plucked petals from a flower before a massive nuclear blast filled the screen, delivered a visceral message two months before Johnson won. Continue reading...

Teenager killed and two others wounded during Israeli arrest operation amid escalating tensionsIsraeli troops have fatally shot a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded two other people during an arrest operation in a West Bank refugee camp, as tensions continued to escalate in the occupied territories.Mohammed Balhan was shot in the head, chest and abdomen in the Aqabat Jabr camp near Jericho, according to local Palestinian official Hani Obeidat, who called it an “unjustifiable crime”. A video showed him lying dead on a stretcher in the hospital, his head bandaged and his mother wailing as she leaned over his body. Continue reading...

Telecoms company apologises after complaints and says problem was the result of an ‘isolated incident’Vodafone has said it has fixed a problem that left thousands of its customers unable to connect to the internet.The mobile operator, which has more than 1 million broadband customers, had been inundated with queries on its Twitter account from users complaining about their broadband connection on Monday morning. Continue reading...

Affluent areas of capital cities ‘lead both the upswing and the downturn’, according to property data expert

Showdown in Melbourne sees a new single word record score of 194 as Naween Fernando sees off former world champion David Eldar

Band hail ‘brilliance’ of session musician who has died aged 70 after being diagnosed with cancerAbba have paid tribute to the “musical brilliance” of their longstanding guitarist, Lasse Wellander, who has died aged 70 after being diagnosed with cancer.The musician, who played on the band’s biggest albums and toured with them between 1975 and 1980, died early on Friday “surrounded by his loved ones”, his family said. Continue reading...

Parents helped save boy by scooping sand away from his mouth and nose at Anderby Creek in LincolnshireRescuers have said a teenage boy was lucky not to have been buried alive when a hole he was digging on a Lincolnshire beach collapsed.The 14-year-old was reportedly digging at the beach at Anderby Creek on Saturday when the sand beneath him collapsed, leaving him trapped up to his neck. Continue reading...

Majed Khalil took network to court after Lou Dobbs accused him of ‘orchestrating non-existent scheme to fix the election’Fox News has said the network reached a settlement with a Venezuelan businessman, Majed Khalil, ending a defamation case in which Khalil said he was falsely accused on air of helping to rig the 2020 US presidential election against Donald Trump.It comes with jury selection set to begin on Thursday ahead of a separate trial in Dominion Voting Systems Corp’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, over their coverage of debunked election-rigging claims.This piece was amended on 10 April 2023. An earlier version said Fox News announced the settlement, but a network spokesperson said it confirmed the agreement when contacted by Reuters. Continue reading...

Iranian state TV shows metro staff stopping women at ticket barriers, in effect barring many from workHijab enforcement groups are to be set up on the Tehran metro and women not wearing the hijab will be refused entry, in effect banning some women from work, Iranian state TV has reported.The move appears to be part of a pattern of government efforts to force Iranian public bodies to take greater responsibility for enforcing the hijab. Many Iranian women, especially in urban centres, have refused to comply with the hijab rules, in a sign that the “women, life, freedom” protests that began in September continue in a more individualised form. Continue reading...

Met Office issues yellow warnings for wind and Environment Agency issues seven flood alerts in southGales of up to 60mph and heavy downpours are due to hit western parts of the UK from Tuesday, forecasters have said.The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for wind covering the west coast and Northern Ireland for 12 hours from 3pm on Tuesday. An identical warning is in place for south-west England and south Wales throughout Wednesday. Continue reading...

SNP’s Ian Blackford says calls to vote tactically by backing Labour prove unionist alliance ‘still alive and well’

Clubs understood to be close to agreeing plan to ditch betting sponsors from shirts voluntarilyProposals by Premier League football clubs to give up gambling sponsors on team shirts have been criticised by campaigners as “incoherent” because they ignore more visible forms of advertising such as pitchside hoardings.Clubs in the English top flight are understood to be close to agreeing a plan to ditch betting sponsors from shirts voluntarily, with the issue expected to go to a vote before June. Continue reading...

Hippersons boatyard says drunk tourists have damaged vessels, urinated off the side, and abused staffA Norfolk Broads boating company has banned tourists from consuming alcohol on its vessels after incidents of antisocial behaviour, including people urinating off the side of the boats.Mary Sparrow, the director of Hippersons boatyard, said a minority of guests would visit the Broads just to drink on the water all day, leading to staff facing abuse and boats being damaged by intoxicated customers. Continue reading...

Conservative body in Church of England encourages dioceses to protest, and says opposition is growingConservative clergy and parishioners have launched a small but vocal revolt against the Church of England’s plan to offer to bless the civil marriages of same-sex couples, a move that some Christians believe is contrary to biblical teaching.In Buckinghamshire, a large group parish plans to refuse to offer blessings to same-sex couples in its seven churches and is taking steps to withhold its annual contribution of £235,000 to the diocese of Oxford in protest. Continue reading...

The toll included the death of a person in a fiery two-vehicle crash in Queensland on Monday and seven deaths on Good Friday

NHS chief says up to 350,000 appointments and operations likely to be cancelled during four-day strikeThe four-day strike by junior doctors in England will have a “catastrophic impact” on NHS waiting lists, with up to 350,000 appointments and operations likely to be cancelled, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation has said.Matthew Taylor said the industrial action this week posed risks to patient safety and called on the public to avoid “risky behaviour”. Continue reading...

The six films include the tale of an ogre who preys on women, a sci-fi Nigeria taken over by AI, and a girl on a mission to end droughtTraditional African tales of monsters, genies and malevolent spirits have been reworked for a contemporary audience in a new Netflix series.Film-makers from Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritania and Uganda have turned six traditional stories into dark fantasy dramas that cover topics including domestic violence, suicide and child marriage. Continue reading...

US investigating source of what appear to be classified documents circulating on social media. This blog is now closed

With real pay down 26% since 2008 and demoralised workplaces, medics are striking not out of militancy but from deep-rooted frustrationA four-day strike this week by junior doctors in England will pit angry medics keen to secure a 35% pay rise against government ministers who scorn their demands.The walkout from Tuesday morning to Saturday morning will be the most disruptive in the 75-year history of the NHS. Continue reading...

Removal of bodies ‘will take time’, says fire department, as blaze under rubble hampers rescue efforts in French cityTwo bodies were found in the rubble of a building that collapsed in Marseille following a major explosion, French authorities said early on Monday, as rescue workers scrambled to find at least six people still unaccounted for.The discovery of the bodies came about 24 hours after the blast brought down the four-storey building in the Mediterranean port city in southern France. Continue reading...

Residents of New Zealand’s largest city say people are ‘heartbroken’ at fresh damage wreaked by stormAuckland, New Zealand’s largest city, has been hit by a tornado, two months after the wider region was devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle and three months after the city was struck by deadly flooding.Auckland Emergency Management said it began receiving reports of “localised havoc” around 9pm on Sunday, according to the NZ Herald. Authorities received more than 30 calls, with roofs lifted off homes and trees toppled. Continue reading...

Transport minister Mark Bailey says online ‘refresher course’ being considered due to changes in road rules

PM says ‘work to be done’ to restore government at Stormont ahead of Biden meeting on TuesdayThe Good Friday agreement was “based on compromise”, which should be the defining message for the next chapter in Northern Ireland, Rishi Sunak has said on the peace deal’s 25th anniversary.The prime minister said there was “work to be done” by a new generation of politicians to restore government at Stormont “as soon as possible”, as he and Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, prepare to intensify work to broker a way out of the deadlock. Continue reading...

Exclusive: More than a third of people from ethnic and religious minorities have experienced racially motivated assault, data shows

Bill is reportedly being dropped – without a credible backup – because of backlash by Tory MPsThe government has been urged to protect vulnerable workers amid suggestions that ministers may backtrack on plans to strengthen workplace sexual harassment laws.The general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak, said it would be “shameful” to drop the worker protection bill due a backlash by Tory politicians, who claim that the new rules will force business owners to run their firms like a “police state”. Continue reading...

Web domain was secured two days after nuclear submarine plan announced but CEO says it ‘never pretended to be’ a government entity

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Dr Patrick Roach of NASUWT calls on education secretary Gillian Keegan to reopen pay talksMinisters could avoid teachers’ strikes in England this summer if they make an improved pay offer as good as that made to NHS nurses, the leader of one teaching union has proposed.Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT union, called on the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to reopen talks to allow pay negotiations to continue, saying strikes were “not inevitable” if a better deal could be reached. Continue reading...

High pressure to move away to east and be replaced by westerly Atlantic regime, bringing winds and rainWet and windy weather is on the way after a largely fine and dry Easter weekend for most of the UK.High pressure, which has been responsible for the dry and fine weekend weather, will move away to the east, to be replaced by a westerly Atlantic regime, with periods of winds and rain to come. Continue reading...

Survey by GamCare found gamblers trying to win money for bills, or using betting shops to stay warmPeople are turning to gambling to help them with the cost of living crisis – from trying to win money to pay bills to using betting shops as warm banks, a gambling charity has said.The charity GamCare said that while this was likely to exacerbate financial stresses, research found four in 10 (42%) problem gamblers believed that gambling would improve their financial situation in the next year compared with just 7% of UK adults. Continue reading...

Al-Aqsa mosque compound tensions have triggered cross-border fighting in Gaza and drawn in Lebanon and SyriaSimultaneous Muslim and Jewish holiday rites at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount or al-Aqsa mosque compound have passed without major clashes after rare cross-border airstrikes and rocket fire between Israel and Syria overnight, and fears of wider conflict in the Middle East after escalations on multiple fronts.About 15,000 Jewish worshippers gathered at the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem, the holiest site at which Jews can pray, on Sunday morning for a benediction prayer marking Passover. At the same time, thousands of Palestinians performed dawn and midday Muslim prayers at al-Aqsa, an esplanade on the other side of the wall, as part of observances during the holy month of Ramadan. Christian pilgrims also flooded the Old City to mark Easter Sunday, in a rare convergence of celebrations in the three different faiths. Continue reading...

Petit Palais show celebrates breadth of belle epoque theatre star’s creative talents with 400 exhibitsOn page 158 of a heavy, leather-bound Paris police register from the 19th century, a handwritten page headed with a photograph details the activities of a young “courtesan” called Sarah Bernhardt.The Book of Courtesans, as it was known by the then equivalent of the vice squad, was a detailed record of high-class sex workers, often actors and dancers, who were the mistresses of princes, aristocrats and the wealthy. Continue reading...

Climbdown likely after cross-party Lords revolt threatens to defeat Jacob Rees-Mogg’s retained EU law billMinisters have begun a full-scale retreat over post-Brexit plans to ditch thousands of EU laws by the end of this year, after Tory peers warned they would join a mass cross-party revolt in the House of Lords.The Observer can reveal that the government has dropped plans to hold the report stage of the Brexiters’ retained EU law bill in the Lords soon after Easter, apparently to prevent a row in the run-up to the local elections on 4 May and to allow it time to consider a list of likely concessions to rebels. Continue reading...

Show of force comes after Taiwanese president Tsai met US House speaker McCarthy this week, despite Beijing warning against it

Ed Davey’s party are fielding the highest proportion of candidates per seats fought since 2007 – while Tory numbers fallThe Liberal Democrats claim to be in pole position to hurt the Tories in many of next month’s local elections as figures show they are fielding the highest proportion of candidates since 2007 while Tory numbers have fallen markedly.Official data shows that the Lib Dems have increased their proportion of candidates to the equivalent of 60% of seats being fought in England and Wales on 4 May, up seven percentage points on 2019, when the same set of elections were last held. Continue reading...

Attacks come amid sharply increased Israel-Palestinian tensions following Israeli raids this week on al-Aqsa mosque in JerusalemIsraeli jets hit Syrian military targets in response to rockets launched towards Israeli-controlled territory overnight, Israel’s military said, as violence flared again after cross-border exchanges of fire during the week.State media in Syria reported explosions in the vicinity of the capital Damascus as Israel said its forces continued to hit Syrian territory after six rockets were fired overnight towards the Golan Heights. Continue reading...

Prime minister confirms AFL, NRL and cricket stars are lined up for ad blitz, and he expects businesses and faith groups to add support

Foreign minister’s comments follow rocket attacks fired into Israel, and police raids on a Jerusalem mosque

Shetland-born musician, who also played with the Alan Parsons Project, had been suffering from dementiaIan Bairnson, the guitarist who performed on Kate Bush’s 1978 hit Wuthering Heights, has died at the age of 69, his wife has announced.The musician, a former member of the pop band Pilot and guitarist for rock band the Alan Parsons Project, had been suffering from dementia prior to his death. Continue reading...

Prime minister celebrates nation’s diversity and echoes police message for road safety

Three-day operation comes after Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen met with Kevin McCarthy in CaliforniaChina launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following a meeting between its president and the US House speaker.The move sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”. Continue reading...

Global director general says ‘state of in-limbo cannot last longer’, with about 40 citizens still believed to be detained indefinitely

Second report detailing disturbing workplace culture at division has put onus on government to enact major reform

Further violence feared after Arab-Israeli man drives his vehicle into busy city promenade following a West Bank shootingOn 8 April 2022, a Palestinian gunman entered a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, and opened fire, killing three people and wounding 10. This weekend, on the anniversary of that attack, an Arab-Israeli man rammed his car into pedestrians on the city’s seaside promenade, killing an Italian tourist and injuring seven more people.That attack followed a shooting earlier in the day in the north of the occupied West Bank that killed two British-Israeli sisters, aged 16 and 20, and left their 48-year-old mother in critical condition after their car veered off the road. Continue reading...

Lt Gen Serhiy Nayev, commander of Ukraine’s joint armed forces, announced the decision on social media

Shadow home secretary was not consulted about the widely criticised advert that claims Rishi Sunak did not believe in jailing child abusersThe shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was not informed or consulted about the release of a widely criticised Labour advertisement that claims Rishi Sunak does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison, the Observer has been told.As several senior party figures distanced themselves from the poster that has caused a huge row within the party, Labour sources said that Cooper “had nothing to do with it” – despite being in overall charge of crime policy for Labour. Continue reading...