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Lawyers call for apology and withdrawal of threats made during inquiry into alleged government corruptionTwo leading London-based human rights lawyers have been threatened with defamation proceedings for making submissions on behalf of their client, in a highly unusual development.The threat was made by lawyers representing the Gibraltar government and named senior ministers, including the chief minister, Fabian Picardo, at an inquiry exploring alleged corruption at the top of the British overseas territory’s administration. Continue reading...

Former al-Nusra Front chief keen to show scale of crisis in Idlib province and play down past links to al-QaidaA Syrian rebel leader with a $10m (£8.3m) US government bounty on his head has appealed for urgent international aid to help the north-west province of Idlib after the earthquakes that have killed thousands and brought the last opposition-controlled area to its knees.“The United Nations needs to understand that it’s required to help in a crisis,” said Ahmed Hussein al-Shara, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, amid a humanitarian crisis that had already reached critical levels in Idlib before the twin earthquakes last week. Continue reading...

Woman deteriorated after surgery in 2019, witness tells panel, but doctor denies any wrongdoing

Relatives pay tribute to ‘strong, fearless’ 16-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in WarringtonThe family of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed to death in a Warrington park at the weekend, have said “the loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family”.Paying tribute to the “strong, fearless and one of a kind” girl, who was found with stab wounds in Linear Park, Culcheth, on Saturday afternoon, Brianna’s family thanked members of the public “for their kind words and support”. Continue reading...

The award-winning film-maker, who was arrested last July, has apparently been formally released from prison, though there is no official commentIran has released award-winning film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof more than six months after arresting him for criticising the government, a pro-reform newspaper reported on Monday.Rasoulof, whose 2020 film There Is No Evil won the top prize at the Berlin international film festival, is one of several prominent artists, athletes and other celebrities detained in recent months. Continue reading...

Labor clears way for temporary protection and safe haven visa holders to apply for permanency

Former foreign minister, who ran as independent, was backed by groups hostile to talks on island’s reunificationNikos Christodoulides, a former foreign minister, has been elected the eighth president of Cyprus, beating the career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis in a high-stakes, closely fought race.Christodoulides, 49, won 51.92 per cent of the vote compared with 48.09 per cent for his opponent, who had been backed by the leftist party AKEL. A mere 15,041 ballots had divided the loser from the winner. Continue reading...

Aida H Dee’s Tate Britain events attracted rival protests from a far-right group and counter-protests led by Stand Up to RacismA drag queen whose storytelling sessions for children prompted rival demonstrations over the weekend has defended the event as a way of helping youngsters discover their true selves.Sab Samuel, whose drag name is Aida H Dee, hosted three Drag Queen Story Hour UK readings in Tate Britain in London on Saturday, while about 30 protesters from the far-right group Patriotic Alternative gathered outside chanting “leave our kids alone”. Continue reading...

Sharp faces calls to resign after MP’s report says he made significant errors of judgment over Johnson loanLabour has said Richard Sharp’s position as chair of the BBC is “increasingly untenable” after a committee of MPs found he made significant errors of judgment in failing to disclose his role in organising an £800,000 loan facility for Boris Johnson.Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, said on Sunday that the report by the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee was extremely serious and had left Sharp’s position hanging by a thread. Continue reading...

Mapmaker suggests symbols could be added for bike repair shops, dog waste bins or river access pointsFor more than 200 years, Ordnance Survey maps have featured symbols denoting everything from churches to battle sites. Now the agency is to consult members of the public on new symbols to bring the maps into the modern world.It will run a project later this year to discover what the public would like to see on its leisure maps. It could be symbols for bike repair shops, cafes, dog waste bins, or jetties and safe river-access points for water sports. Continue reading...

Warnings current toll of 33,000 from earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria could double

Exclusive: New Tory chair referred Luxe Lifestyle in April 2020 despite it apparently having no history of supplying PPEA lifestyle company won a £25.8m government contract for PPE through the so-called VIP lane after the new Conservative chair, Greg Hands, was approached by a local Tory activist, new documents suggest.Luxe Lifestyle, a company trading in “specialised design activities”, had no published accounts at the time the contract was awarded, and did not appear to have a history of supplying PPE. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Mother of Cameron Whelan developed PTSD after body deteriorated to such an extent relatives were advised not to view itA woman has been paid damages by an NHS trust after developing post-traumatic stress disorder when a mortuary allowed her son’s body to decompose to such an extent that relatives were advised not to view it, the Guardian can reveal.Cameron Whelan, 26, died after he entered the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon while being pursued by a police officer. Continue reading...

Cox, who became the first female Indigenous senator from WA in 2021, says she and Thorpe are ‘very different politicians’

Accounting for nearly 90% of deaths, urgent funding is needed to avoid millions suffering avoidable illnesses, says report

The Tories’ new deputy chairman thinks he has the support of his constituency. But a tour around the market town says otherwiseDepending on your political instincts he’s a prime candidate for the “worst man in Britain”, no-nonsense voice of the people, or pugnacious darling of the Tory right.Lee Anderson defends his inability to swerve controversy by claiming that what might make parliamentarians blanch, the people of Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, unequivocally back. Continue reading...

William Shawcross analysed just six Channel cases before calling for more focus on Islamist extremism, say criticsThe author of a controversial review into Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy has been accused of failing to do his job properly because he attended only a handful of the thousands of meetings of its key deradicalisation programme.William Shawcross was appointed to review Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme, in January 2021. Last week his controversial conclusion that the programme had concentrated too much on the far right and not enough on Islamist extremism was met with widespread condemnation. Continue reading...

Killing is latest in string of mob attacks against people accused of blasphemy in Muslim-majority countryA mob in eastern Pakistan stormed a police station on Saturday, snatched a Muslim man accused of blasphemy from custody and lynched him, in the country’s latest religion-linked killing.Muhammad Waris, in his mid-30s, was in police custody in Nankana Sahib, in Punjab province, for desecrating pages of the Qur’an. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nadiia Luba is one of 9,700 Ukrainians still waiting on visa decision under Homes for Ukraine scheme

Henry VIII’s second wife was a deeply religious woman who resisted his advances for years, according to fresh researchAnne Boleyn was found guilty of adultery, incest and conspiracy – all, almost certainly, false charges trumped up by Henry VIII – and then executed. For centuries, her reputation was that of a scheming seducer.Now Anne is being recast as a deeply religious woman who, far from plotting to become Henry’s second wife, bade her time for six years as a lady-in-waiting to the king’s consort, Catherine of Aragon. She deliberately never consummated her relationship with Henry until their “unofficial” marriage in November 1532 – just two months before their formal wedding. Continue reading...

Canadian prime minister says he has spoken to US president Joe Biden about the objectA US warplane shot down an unidentified object over North American airspace, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday. It was the second day in a row in which the US military shot down an unidentified airborne object.“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau tweeted on Saturday afternoon. A US F-22 fighter plane with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which protects Canadian and American airspace, shot down the object over Yukon, Canada. Continue reading...

Calls for a ban as health trusts award ‘insourcing’ contracts worth millions to tackle backlogsSome of the country’s most senior NHS clinicians are earning a lucrative sideline running private firms that offer to cut waiting lists at their own hospitals, the Observer can reveal.Top consultants in Manchester, Sheffield and London are among directors of “insourcing” agencies that charge the health service to treat patients at weekends and evenings and have won millions of pounds of work.Three senior consultants in Sheffield ran a private firm, Pioneer Healthcare, offering insourcing services to help the NHS cut backlogs. The company won a series of contracts with local hospitals before being sold to a major private healthcare provider in a £13m deal;At Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, three top surgeons including a clinical lead and a former clinical director are the owners of Fortify Clinic , a company offering “end to end” services to tackle waiting lists. The firm was paid £1.3m by the trust for work in 2022;Two senior consultants at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust trust set up Venture Health Group in December and began contracting with their own trust that month to help it meet “challenging backlog targets”. Continue reading...

Activist pleaded guilty on Friday to criminal damage. This blog is now closed

Labour to publish dossier of spending by government representatives on luxury hotels and chauffeur hireLabour is launching a campaign accusing government ministers and officials of spending taxpayer-funded credit cards on luxury travel and hotels, claiming they are using public money “like a cash machine”.In an attempt to inflict further damage to the Tory party’s credentials as sound managers of public finances, Keir Starmer’s party is deploying a social media blitz to highlight five-star hotel visits by the likes of Rishi Sunak and new Tory chairman Greg Hands. Continue reading...

Report commissioned by Health Services Union is scathing of failure to invest in community and preventative healthcare

The treasurer also noted ‘very encouraging’ signs on power prices falling, saying Labor’s energy price relief package was working

The chair’s future at the corporation is in doubt after a damning Commons report on his role in the Boris Johnson loan affairSenior figures within the BBC believe its chairman, Richard Sharp, has seriously undermined the corporation’s impartiality after a damning parliamentary report accused him of failing to publicly divulge his role in facilitating a loan for Boris Johnson.In findings that cast further doubt on Sharp’s future at the BBC, the cross-party committee said the chairman “should consider the impact his omissions will have on trust in him, the BBC and the public appointments process”. Continue reading...

Researchers have developed a model which uses changes in the socioeconomic status of an area to anticipate gentrification

Leading Brexiters and remainers, including Michael Gove and David Lammy, met for two-day ‘private discussion’ with diplomats and business leadersAn extraordinary cross-party summit bringing together leading leavers and remainers – including Michael Gove and senior members of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet – has been held in high secrecy to address the failings of Brexit and how to remedy them in the national interest, the Observer can reveal.The two-day gathering of some of the country’s most senior Labour and Tory politicians from both sides of the Brexit debate, together with diplomats, defence experts and the heads of some of the biggest businesses and banks, was held at the historic Ditchley Park retreat in Oxfordshire on Thursday afternoon and evening, and on Friday. Continue reading...

Peter Faulding said Lancashire constabulary should have kept other lines of inquiry open for longerDetectives investigating the disappearance of Nicola Bulley made a mistake by declaring too “early” that she was in the River Wyre, a diving and forensics expert involved in the case has claimed.Peter Faulding, whose Specialist Internationalist Group firm searched a stretch of the river where Bulley was last seen, said Lancashire constabulary should initially have kept other lines of inquiry open for longer, as the search for the missing mother-of-two entered its 16th day. Continue reading...

Rightwing demonstrators outside gallery met by counterprotesters including trans-rights campaignersOne person has been arrested amid a protest outside Tate Britain, where a drag queen storytelling event for children was being hosted.The Metropolitan police said one person was arrested on suspicion of making a racially aggravated comment towards a police officer outside the art gallery near Westminster. Continue reading...

‘New information’ includes claims that Downing Street staff corroborated stories and destroyed evidenceThe Metropolitan Police has been urged to reopen its investigation into the Downing Street “Partygate” scandal following the release of a podcast that raised questions about the force’s initial inquiry.The deputy chair of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee has written to the Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, asking if he was “taking new information into account when making a decision regarding the reopening of the investigation” into the Downing Street lockdown parties. Continue reading...

First of new chain called Brightside gives nostalgic nod to 20th-century glory days of car travelA packet of sad sandwiches and a tepid cup of tea: for years, roadside dining in the UK has offered little for motorists to write home about.Seasoned travellers may yearn for the heyday of the 1980s and 1990s in Britain, when few long car journeys came without a scheduled refuel at a branch of Little Chef – the now defunct chain famed for its stacks of pancakes. Continue reading...

Critics claim her career is ‘over,’ while trans Scots worry about sensationalised coverage after trans rapist put in women’s prisonFew can be anticipating Holyrood’s recess next week as keenly as Nicola Sturgeon.She has endured a fortnight of relentless and increasingly personal criticism, punishing headlines and lacklustre polling. Meanwhile, her critics in the media have declared her career is “over”. Continue reading...

The UK’s workhorse fighters have never been busier, and older ones lack the necessary ground attack capabilitiesVolodymyr Zelenskiy’s call this week for “powerful English planes” was something of a surprise. The demand for western fast jets may have been predictable, but not the apparent request for Typhoons, the workhorse fighter of an increasingly stretched RAF.Prior to the president’s attention-grabbing European trip, Ukrainian lobbying for Nato-standard combat aircraft had been focused almost entirely on US-made F-16s, of which there are 3,000 in service worldwide. “It is the most widespread fighter jet in the world and many Nato members have it,” Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, had said the weekend before. Continue reading...

Black Mountains College in Wales aims to prepare students for life during a planetary emergencyThe lecture theatre was once a cowshed, the study centre is an old farmhouse living room and the classrooms are mostly outdoors: welcome to the newest higher educational college in Britain.The former farm that is Black Mountains College campus is a core part of an insurgent institution that is the first entirely dedicated to adapting to the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Authorities prepare emergency shelter for residents and tourists with fears of significant damage from gale-force winds and dangerous surf

Prime minister likens upcoming Indigenous voice referendum to the successful 2017 marriage equality vote

Minns pledged to put an end to the ‘dangerous and damaging’ practice after Alex Greenwich said he would introduce bill to ban it

Sydney is gearing up for a massive, global party — but it’s also an important reminder of the work still to be done on LGBTQ+ rights

Assad regime still insists on handling all aid shipments to war-torn and quake-ravaged country that has been all but cut off from helpThe US has temporarily eased its sanctions on Syria in a bid to speed up aid deliveries to the country’s north-west, where almost no humanitarian assistance has arrived despite the deaths of thousands in this week’s earthquake.The tremor that has killed nearly 23,000 people there and in neighboring Turkey added to the devastation suffered in Syria’s north, which was already badly damaged by the civil war and is now mostly under opposition control, with Bashar al-Assad’s government present only in some areas. Continue reading...

No one hurt in ‘unplanned’ explosion of 250kg device found in Norfolk town, police sayA 250kg second world war bomb has exploded unexpectedly in Great Yarmouth, police have said.Emergency services and agencies declared a major incident following the discovery of the large unexploded device at a river crossing in the Norfolk town on Tuesday, and had been working to disarm it. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Russia-Ukraine war coverage hereThe latest inteligence briefing on the situation in Ukraine from the UK’s Ministry of Defence suggests that “Russian forces have likely made tactical gains in two key sectors” since 7 February. It states:On the northern outskirts of the Donbas town of Bakhmut, Wagner Group forces have pushed 2-3km further west, controlling countryside near the M-03 main route into the town. Russian forces increasingly dominate the northern approaches to Bakhmut.To the south, Russian units have made advances around the western edge of the town of Vuhledar, where they re-launched offensive operations in late January 2023.At 4am, the enemy launched rocket attacks on the city of Kharkiv and the region with S-300 missiles. Critical and infrastructure facilities were targeted. Fires broke out, which the rescuers managed to quickly put out. However, some areas of the city remain without electricity. Specialists are working to eliminate the consequences of the impact. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Continue reading...

Oscar-nominated film-maker died on Friday at a London hospital after a short illness, his family saidFilm director Hugh Hudson, who directed best picture Oscar winner Chariots of Fire, has died aged 86 following a short illness.A statement released on behalf of his family said: “Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father, died at Charing Cross hospital on 10 February after a short illness.” Continue reading...

Five released on bail conditions including county ban after black girl assaulted outside Thomas Knyvett college in AshfordFive suspects arrested in connection with what police say was a racially motivated attack on a 15-year-old black girl have been banned from Surrey, while officers have urged a further teenage suspect to turn herself in.The attack, which took place outside Thomas Knyvett college in Ashford, has sent shock waves through the community and led to demands for an inquiry by MPs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: plan for one- and two-year-olds would cost billions and is among options being looked atThe Treasury is considering a proposal to massively expand free childcare to one- and two-year-olds in England in a move that would cost billions at the spring budget.Department for Education officials have submitted a plan for a free 30-hours-a-week entitlement for working parents of children aged nine months to three years, after being asked to work up options by the Treasury. Continue reading...

Sam Grigg, 36, forced 23-year-old woman to believe she was about to be raped during ‘10 minutes of terror’A former Metropolitan police officer has been jailed for four years after restraining his flatmate with duct tape, forcing her to believe she was about to be raped.Sam Grigg, 36, who was sacked from the Met last month after being charged, previously pleaded guilty at Kingston crown court to false imprisonment and assault against the 23-year-old. Continue reading...

One of Spain’s most prolific auteurs continued to work until the end – his last film, Walls Can Talk, was released last weekVeteran Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of award-winning films such as Peppermint Frappé, ¡Ay Carmela! and Tango, has died aged 91, the day before he was due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Goyas, Spain’s version of the Oscars.Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, the body that hands out the Goya awards, confirmed his death on social media, saying: “Saura, one of the essential film-makers in the history of Spanish cinema, has died at home today at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. His final film, Walls Can Talk, came out last week and demonstrated his tireless activity and his love for his work until the very last moment.” Continue reading...

Police concluded no one else was involved in injury of Raheem Bailey, 11, at school in AbertilleryPolice have dropped an investigation into an alleged assault of an 11-year-old boy who lost a finger and received an outpouring of support from sports stars last year.Raheem Bailey, a pupil at Abertillery learning community in south Wales, was attacked and beaten by a group of children on 17 May 2022, according to his mother, Shantal, who said he was pushed to the ground and repeatedly kicked. Continue reading...