Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says latest attack brings the number of foragers killed since February to 200Suspected Islamic State fighters killed at least 26 people in Syria on Sunday, a war monitor said, the latest in a spate of attacks targeting people foraging for desert truffles.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “civilians and at least 10 pro-regime fighters” were among “the 26 people killed in an attack by Islamic State fighters while they were collecting truffles in the desert east of Hama”. Continue reading...

NHS Providers urges government to ‘come to the table’ as RCN union leader says stoppages could continue until ChristmasMinisters are facing pressure to tackle an escalating wave of NHS strikes, after the organisation representing NHS trusts warned that planned stoppages by nurses that could last until Christmas were “not sustainable” for the health service.With nurses due to be balloted on new strikes after voting to reject what the government called a “full and final” pay offer, the head of the main nursing union said Steve Barclay, the health secretary, did not seem willing to listen. Continue reading...

The longest-running production in Germany, restaged for a new generation of theatregoers, is a curious mixture of 80s nostalgia and politics … with great tunesThe four men dressed in widow’s weeds of black bombazine had hardly stepped on to the stage when the first yelps of delight rippled through the audience at Berlin’s Grips theatre, an intimate 360-seat venue in the west of the city. By the time the quartet in drag have locked arms to kick up their heels, the mixed-age crowd is clapping in time to the oompah beat.The Wilmersdorf Widows song is to Volker Ludwig’s musical Linie 1 (Line One) what All That Jazz is to Chicago, or Time Warp to The Rocky Horror Picture Show: the catchy showstopper that brings the house down. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts say sensitive information could potentially have been harvested and used for targeted election interferenceThe voting intentions of millions of Britons in local authority wards across the country could have been at risk of misuse as a result of a glitch in the Labour party’s main phone-banking system, the Guardian understands.Experts had warned that the sensitive data could potentially have been harvested via an automated programme and used for targeted election interference by campaign groups or even hostile states. Continue reading...

Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges jokes about prison food in letter homeEvan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, has said in his first direct communication to his parents in the US that he is not “losing hope”, and joked in the letter about the quality of the prison food.Gershkovich, 31, became the first American journalist to be detained in Russia on spying charges since the end of the cold war when he was detained in the city of Ekaterinburg, 1,100 miles (1,800km) east of Moscow, on 29 March. Continue reading...

Pressure mounts over health and economic pledges as Sunak campaigns to shore up Conservative heartlands in poll test• Read more: NHS crisis deepens as nurses plan ‘mega strike’A prolonged NHS crisis stoked by further strikes risks derailing Rishi Sunak’s local election plans amid Tory concern that the prime minister is already facing pressure over flagship pledges on health and the economy.The prime minister will head to the south-east this week as he attempts to shore up Tory heartland seats where traditional supporters had been put off by the chaos of the Johnson and Truss regimes. However, opposition parties have reported findings that the NHS remains the most salient issue among soft Tory voters. Continue reading...

Party’s leader says he wants a ‘strong showing’ in Scotland, where it holds just one Westminster constituencyLabour must win back significant numbers of parliamentary seats in Scotland if it is to be seen as a legitimate UK-wide government, Keir Starmer has said.Speaking on a BBC Radio 4 programme about politics in Scotland after the recent turmoil in the Scottish National party (SNP), including the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister, Starmer said this was an important aim for his party. Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions remind many of first steps taken by ‘illiberal’ governments in Budapest and WarsawAt the height of the protests in Israel over Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial changes early last month, a Polish minister gave a revealing radio interview in Warsaw.“Of course, we are talking with Israel, and to some extent we shared our experiences in this regard,” said the deputy foreign minister, Paweł Jabłoński, when asked for his views on the proposed Israeli laws. Continue reading...

Buyers are being warned about the over-restoring or upgrading of furniture to make it appear more valuableDealers are over-restoring and upgrading furniture with modern additions disguised to make them look older and more valuable, a leading expert has warned.Yannick Chastang, former furniture conservator of the Wallace Collection, which boasts one of the world’s finest furniture holdings, can no longer turn a blind eye to what some dealers and restorers are doing. Continue reading...

Unsafe buildings could still be putting staff at risk of cancer through contact with the material, warn unions, experts and MPsFresh concerns have been raised about the amount of asbestos remaining in dilapidated schools and hospitals, after new analysis found that almost 150 health and education workers were recorded as dying from cancer related to the material in recent years.According to official data, there have been 147 deaths among health and education workers since 2017. Experts believe the figure is likely to be a significant underestimate because of the way someone’s profession is recorded on death certificates. Continue reading...

Police charged about 50 protesters after coal train was brought to a standstill for four hours

Welfare groups claim information could be used by Home Office to deport asylum seekersPolice have been collecting the sensitive data of unaccompanied child asylum seekers and sharing it with immigration enforcement, sparking fears it could be used against them for their deportation.As part of a government operation to prevent unaccompanied migrant children being trafficked from Home Office hotels, police officers meet them for what is described as a “welfare conversation” to create “a relationship of trust”. Continue reading...

Mikheil Saakashvili warned of Putin’s ambitions 15 years ago. Now he tells of torture by a regime that panders to MoscowLocked up in a Tbilisi hospital, Mikheil Saakashvili is slowly wasting away.“I am asking to be transferred to Poland, as it is crystal clear that in Georgian hospital I will die,” Georgia’s former president wrote in response to questions from the Observer last week. His answers were scrawled in blue ballpoint pen on sheets of paper, passed to his lawyers. Continue reading...

Authorities allege two youths assaulted a guard with a makeshift weapon and freed another 11 from their cells

Wagga Wagga and other towns on the inland rail route have been asking for a bypass and say that is supported by Dr Kerry Schott’s review

Two-storey development south-east of Brisbane at the centre of legal battle amid a housing crisis across the state

Councillor, who is currently sitting as an independent, says he is ‘disappointed’ by decision and will be appealingA Conservative councillor who said an alleged rape victim was probably a prostitute has been expelled from the party.Shaun Slator, who currently sits as an independent councillor on Bromley council, made the comments on Twitter in response to a news report about a rape inquiry in Plumstead, south-east London. Continue reading...

Fourteen smart motorways removed from government road-building plans over cost and safety fearsThe building of new smart motorways is being cancelled as Rishi Sunak acknowledged concerns about safety and cost.Fourteen planned smart motorways – including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction – will be removed from government road-building plans, given financial pressures and in recognition of the lack of public trust. Continue reading...

Lack of shelters may be forcing victims to return to their violent partners or leaving them homelessMore than 10,000 women escaping domestic abuse across England were refused safe housing last year, amid warnings that many could be left homeless or driven back to dangerous partners as a result of a “woeful” lack of safe accommodation.Official figures seen by the Observer found that almost 8,000 households referred to a safe accommodation service did not receive support because there was no capacity. A further 3,000 were denied places because the shelter “could not meet the needs of the household”, with figures suggesting this was often due to mental health issues, drug and alcohol use or disability. Continue reading...

UK Ministry of Defence says Kremlin has made it harder for civilians to avoid being drafted into the army

Twenty-nine passengers also injured as vehicle slides off highway during journey from Pune to MumbaiA passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said.The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city, where the musicians held a performance, said Atul Zende, a police officer. The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known. Continue reading...

Sources say Home Office apologised to Essex force over seizure of racist dolls but government denies claimThe row over Suella Braverman’s “rebuke” to Essex police for seizing racist golly dolls from a pub intensified yesterday after sources indicated the Home Office had apologised to the force over the episode.Last weekend, rightwing newspapers were briefed that Braverman had reprimanded the force for removing the golly dolls and that the home secretary’s displeasure had been made “very plain to Essex police”. In truth, no attempt was made by Braverman to contact Essex police over their decision to remove several offensive dolls displayed in the White Hart Inn in Grays. Continue reading...

A BBC Two documentary looks at the late designer’s life and finances through the eyes of his friendsThe legal fallout from the death of Karl Lagerfeld four years ago is still heavily draped in secrecy. But, ahead of a major exhibition of the great German clothes designer’s work in New York, a new BBC documentary is about to offer a glimpse of his unusual private life and shed light on his enormous financial legacy.While Lagerfeld’s vast Parisian apartment remains sealed and his £150m estate is tied up in protracted negotiations between lawyers in Monaco and Paris, it has emerged that the leading beneficiary of his will is set to be the 33-year-old French model Baptiste Giabiconi. Continue reading...

The former prime minister could swap constituencies now that his own might be in danger at next general electionDespite the threat of being subjected to a high-profile election night toppling, Boris Johnson has vowed to stand again in his precarious Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. Yet should the former prime minister have a change of heart and decide to head for a safe seat that he knows well, plans are being made by rival parties to make life difficult for him.The tempting prospect of returning to Henley has emerged, after the sitting MP announced in the last few days that he would not be seeking re-election in the Oxfordshire constituency. John Howell has held the seat since 2008, inheriting it from Johnson when he left to become London mayor. Continue reading...

British public has yet to comprehend scale of party’s economic ambitions, says business chief Jonathan ReynoldsThe British public is yet to understand “the scale of Labour’s ambition on the economy”, one of Keir Starmer’s most senior shadow ministers has said, adding that the party needs to explain how it will be the most interventionist government for a generation.Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said that the party had not yet fully communicated the “sum of its parts” in terms of how a series of technical policy fixes would translate into the ambitious transformation of the economy that the party will attempt to achieve. Continue reading...

Magnet for thousands of collectors of furry toys will close doors next weekNineteen-year-old Molly Bell arrived in London early last week from Brisbane. By Wednesday, she had found her way to a tiny toy emporium in a nondescript street in north London to fulfil a dream. She needed to move fast as the Sylvanian Families shop, selling the eponymous toy animals and their habitats, closes on 22 April after more than 30 years.Since 1992, the charming Highbury shop has been a magnet for thousands of collectors of the anthropomorphic animals – a magical grotto reminiscent of a bygone idyll. Continue reading...

Nizar Issaoui, 35, died in hospital after protest against ‘police state’ running country, says brotherA professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week in what he called a protest against the “police state” ruling the country, his brother said.Nizar Issaoui, 35, suffered third-degree burns from his action in the village of Haffouz in the central region of Kairouan, his brother Ryad said. Continue reading...

Brian McBride says business lobby group was on firm ground in sacking director general Tony DankerThe president of Britain’s most influential business lobby organisation has apologised for a spate of sexual misconduct allegations and “toxic culture” that has left the Confederation of British Industry fighting for its future.Speaking publicly for the first time, Brian McBride apologised to those alleging various forms of sexual misconduct, which span several years, by senior figures at the organisation, including an allegation of rape, first reported in a Guardian investigation last month. Continue reading...

Man detained after what looked like a smoke bomb was thrown at Fumio Kishida just before speechThe Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has escaped unhurt after he was apparently targeted by an explosive device on Saturday morning. It comes less than a year after the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead while making a campaign speech.Kishida was safely evacuated after the incident, while a suspect – named by Japanese media as Ryuji Kimura, 24, a resident of Hyogo prefecture – was arrested at the scene, reports said. Continue reading...

NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yetA 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”. Continue reading...

Federal minister Linda Burney who was staying at the hotel was metres away from the incident and her team provided first aid

Supermarket giant says it is disappointed after being informed that historical customer credit card details have been stolen by hackers

The 29-year-old father of one was stabbed outside Campbelltown McDonald’s while he and a workmate took a break on Friday

US president turned his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina into a celebration of Irish and American valuesJoe Biden has concluded his visit to Ireland with a passionate riverside address to tens of thousands of people at his ancestral town in County Mayo.The US president turned his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina on Friday night into a celebration of Irish and American values that appeared partly aimed at US voters. Continue reading...

Opera singers Andrea Bocelli and Sir Bryn Terfel also in lineup for Windsor Castle concert on Sunday 7 MayTake That, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry will be among the artists performing at King Charles’s coronation concert, it has been announced, along with the opera singers Andrea Bocelli and Sir Bryn Terfel.The singer songwriter Freya Ridings and classical-soul composer and producer Alexis Ffrench will also grace the stage in the grounds of Windsor Castle on Sunday 7 May, the BBC has confirmed. Continue reading...

MoD says Russian and Wagner troops are making gains in Donetsk frontline town; US arrests 21-year-old air national guardsman over Pentagon leaks Continue reading...

Officers sent offensive messages about Harvey Price, who is disabled, to colleagues in WhatsApp groupTwo Metropolitan police officers have been dismissed over offensive messages that they shared in a WhatsApp group, including some that made fun of Katie Price’s disabled son.The two serving officers and six former colleagues were found guilty of gross misconduct after sending sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and ableist comments in a group called Secret Squirrel Shit between 2016 and 2018. Continue reading...

Families of victims dismayed at lack of accountability after death of ‘Stakeknife’He was described as being in very poor health and living a lonely existence by magistrate Emma Arbuthnot as she sentenced Freddie Scappaticci, then 72, to a three month suspended jail term.It was 5 December 2018. Westminster magistrate’s court had heard that Scappaticci, wearing a grubby blue fleece and green tracksuit bottoms, had used a laptop seized by police earlier in the year to search for information on “cars, the British army, maps, combat, football and politics”. Continue reading...

Patrick Thelwell sentenced to 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work after incident during York walkaboutA man who threw eggs at the king before shouting “friends with Jimmy Savile” has been found guilty of threatening behaviour.Patrick Thelwell shouted: “The king is a paedophile,” after throwing several eggs towards King Charles during a walkabout in York last year. Continue reading...

New regulations will apply to those aged one to 12 who suffer unbearably and have no hope of improvementThe Netherlands is to widen its euthanasia regulations to include the possibility of doctors assisting in the death of terminally ill children aged between one and 12.The new rules would apply to between five and 10 children a year who suffer unbearably from their disease, have no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief, the government said on Friday. Continue reading...

Beatriz Flamini says she endured swarms of flies, read 60 books and never missed the sunlightAfter spending 500 days alone in a dark cave 70 metres below the Earth’s surface, assailed by a plague of flies and the odd, tantalising vision of roast chicken, most people would be craving a wash and some company.But after emerging from her subterranean lair in southern Spain a little after 9am on Friday and having a quick checkup with a doctor and a psychologist, Beatriz Flamini was treated instead to a 50-minute press conference in which she endeavoured to explain the almost inexplicable. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former shadow minister says commitment would be a symbol of leader’s vision for a ‘renewed Britain’

Exclusive: Several MPs who had shock wins in 2019 will be able to run in other seats after being designated ‘displaced’

Protests against Emmanuel Macron’s controversial plans reignite in Marseille, Rouen and elsewhereProtesters blocked roads and industrial sites in some parts of France on Friday as the country’s top constitutional court prepares to give its verdict on Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.Access to the city centres of Marseille and Rouen was restricted, and an industrial estate in Le Havre and other sites near Strasbourg and Lille were blocked. Continue reading...

Ten-month-old was returned to his parents’ care just 39 days before his deathJust 39 days after social services returned Finley Boden to the care of his parents, the 10-month-old was dead.In that short period of time he suffered “significant, substantial and repeated acts of severe violence” at their home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, leaving him with 130 separate injuries and almost every bone in his body broken. Continue reading...

Paleis Het Loo was built as lodge for man who became William III, king of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1689At first glance, King William of Orange’s palace seems just as it was in the 17th century – a handsome Dutch baroque building set along three sides of a courtyard seemingly pockmarked with rain puddles.But underneath the courtyard, an injection of engineering expertise costing €171m (£151m) has created an extraordinary modern museum, opening next week. Continue reading...

Russian opposition leader said to have had severe stomach pains, with ambulance being called to penal colonyAlexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition politician, has been grappling with severe stomach pain in jail that could be a result of slow-acting poison, a close ally said on Friday.Ruslan Shaveddinov said that an ambulance was called for Navalny last week to the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 250km (115 miles) east of Moscow, where he is being held. Continue reading...

Defence ministry says it cannot rule out ‘cognitive warfare tactics’ after disinformation during Chinese drillsTaiwan’s defence ministry has raised the alarm about disinformation attacks during the recent Chinese military drills and warned local media about the dangers of helping to spread disinformation.Last week Beijing launched three days of military exercises near Taiwan, in retaliation for President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the US House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in the US. Taiwan’s military and civilian analysts confirmed to the Guardian that Taiwan was also targeted with information warfare. Continue reading...

Council leader pays tribute to woman allegedly murdered by 12-year-old boy when she was run over by her own carA foster carer who was allegedly murdered by a 12-year-old boy gave “endless love and care to vulnerable children when they needed it most”, a council has said.Marcia Grant, 60, died when she was run over by her own car outside her home in a Sheffield suburb last Wednesday. Continue reading...

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