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Exclusive: Government was warned that publicising issues could harm regional relationships or be exploited by criminals or bad actors

Outlines for the upcoming hearings on the Coalition’s flawed debt recovery scheme show where the investigation may be headed next

The yes side is being driven by three collectives with a shared history, while the no campaign has been more reluctant to share its plans

Foreign ministry confirms that body of former Newcastle player to arrive in Accra on Sunday nightThe remains of the former Ghanaian international footballer Christian Atsu, who died in the devastating earthquake in Turkey, were being flown home on Sunday, the country’s foreign ministry said.Atsu, 31, was caught up in a 7.8-magnitude quake that rocked Turkey and Syria on 6 February, killing more than 44,000 people in both countries. Continue reading...

Leader of Commons says ‘serious questions’ must be asked over police decision to issue private information about missing womanThe leader of the Commons has criticised Lancashire police for disclosing private information about the missing woman Nicola Bulley.Penny Mordaunt said it was “shocking” that the force had made public Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and peri-menopause symptoms. “Serious questions” needed to be asked about why they chose to do so, she added. Continue reading...

Penny Mordaunt says ex-PM’s comments served as reminder to Brussels of UK threat to override Northern Ireland protocolAn intervention by Boris Johnson in the row over solving the post-Brexit deadlock in Northern Ireland is “not entirely unhelpful”, a cabinet minister has said, as work to clinch a deal with the EU goes down to the wire.Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, suggested concerns reportedly raised by the former prime minister were a welcome reminder to Brussels of the threat that Britain could try to unilaterally override the Northern Ireland protocol. Continue reading...

Shiny blue sculpture shattered into thousands of pieces, with some collectors believing it was a stuntA collector visiting a contemporary art fair accidentally knocked over a small glass sculpture by the renowned artist Jeff Koons, shattering it to pieces.The shiny blue sculpture, one of Koons’ famous “balloon dog” series, was valued at $42,000 (£35,000). Continue reading...

Survey also finds 32% of parents with children under four are having to cut down on essentials such as groceries as costs riseMost parents with young children would delay having another due to nursery costs that are already forcing some to cut down on essentials, according to new research released amid growing calls for sweeping reforms to childcare.With the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, looking at measures that could reduce childcare costs, which are some of the most expensive in the world, prominent providers are to hand a joint letter to Downing Street demanding action on increasing state help, improving care standards and creating a simpler system of assistance for new parents. Continue reading...

Dozens of people released from immigration detention due to federal court ruling now told they will be re-detained

A week after the storm struck the North Island, police say two more bodies were found in hard-hit Hawke’s Bay areaThe death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 as many people not yet contacted a week later.The cyclone hit the North Island’s uppermost region on 12 February and tracked down the east coast, inflicting widespread devastation. The prime minister, Chris Hipkins, has called Gabrielle New Zealand’s biggest natural disaster this century. Continue reading...

Blinken warns China against aiding Russia in Ukraine as western leaders cautiously welcome Chinese peace plan at Munich security conference

The west has made it hard for Russia’s millionaires to retain assets – but not impossible. Now the EU wants to try harderIt has been a long year since Liz Truss launched a rolling programme of sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs. Speaking three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary, as she was then, signalled an end to the UK government’s no-questions-asked approach.“We are targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we’ll be targeting their properties, we’ll be targeting other possessions that they have,” she told Sky TV. “There will be nowhere to hide.” Continue reading...

Almost 90% of food banks see increased demand, as organisers fear having to cut support or turn people awayMore people are depending on food banks than ever before in Britain, new figures show, as “ever-increasing” numbers of households – including pensioners, NHS staff and teachers – seek help amid the cost of living crisis.New research by the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), shared with the Observer, found that almost 90% of food banks surveyed reported increased demand in December 2022 and January 2023 compared with a year earlier. Half of the 85 organisations running 154 food banks that responded said if demand rose further they would either have to cut support or turn people away. Continue reading...

Care4Calais says it offers refugees aid and dignity and does not want them to cross Channel by dangerous meansA volunteer organisation has dismissed a claim by the new Conservative deputy chair that Calais refugee charities are “just as bad as people-smugglers”.Lee Anderson, who was given the role by Rishi Sunak during the prime minister’s recent reshuffle, accused refugee organisations based in northern France of “fuelling” people’s desire to cross the English Channel in small boats. Continue reading...

The Scottish health secretary and former Scottish minister enter race to replace Nicola SturgeonHumza Yousaf and Ash Regan have become the first candidates to officially announce plans to stand for SNP leader, while Keir Starmer is expected to urge Scottish voters on Sunday to “take another look at Labour”.Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, and former minister Regan announced their plans to stand in Scotland’s Sunday Mail. Continue reading...

Armed police detain man in Exeter city centre hours after fatal attack in Ludwell Valley ParkA man has been arrested after a woman in her 70s was fatally attacked in a park in Exeter.After a police appeal, a man in his 30s from the Exmouth area was detained by armed officers outside the Yorkshire Building Society on Exeter’s High Street just after 9.30pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

Minute’s applause held at St James’ Park, where Ghanaian footballer spent five yearsTributes have been paid to the Ghanaian and former Premier League footballer Christian Atsu, who was found dead under the earthquake rubble of his home in Turkey.There was a minute’s applause for Atsu on Saturday at St James’ Park before Newcastle United’s game against Liverpool, which his wife and children attended. Atsu spent five years at Newcastle from 2016 to 2021. Continue reading...

Gus Kuster is effectively stateless after failed bid to deport him despite being recognised as an Indigenous Australian

In a speech to Munich security conference, UK prime minister says west must not ‘falter in its resolve’. This blog is now closed

Met Office says storm, which left more than 60,000 homes without power at one point, has moved on to ScandinaviaAbout 1,300 homes that lost power during Storm Otto had still not been reconnected to the grid as of Saturday afternoon, according to energy firms.The Met Office said the storm had “well and truly cleared” but more than 1,000 homes in Aberdeenshire remain without power. Continue reading...

Themepark to host mural after freezer forming part of work was twice removed from original location in MargateAn artwork by Banksy that has been dismantled numerous times since it appeared in Margate this week will be permanently relocated to the town’s Dreamland theme park.The mural, titled Valentine’s Day Mascara, appears to be on the theme of domestic abuse and fighting violence against women. It depicts a caricature of a 1950s housewife, wearing a blue pinny and yellow washing-up gloves, with a swollen eye and a missing tooth, who is seen pushing her male partner into a chest freezer. Continue reading...

Witnesses tell of lockdown gathering with alcohol, food and loud music at private apartment above 11 Downing StreetThe inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs over rule-breaking parties in Downing Street is homing in on a gathering in his private flat, the Observer understands.Follow-up exchanges with witnesses working with the inquiry are now taking place as the privileges committee, led by Labour grandee Harriet Harman, works its way through a huge tranche of evidence handed to it by the government at the end of last year. Continue reading...

A cross-party group is urging Suella Braverman to adopt plan that would allow 40,000 people a year to seek asylum in BritainSuella Braverman is being urged to reduce the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats by creating a new “humanitarian visa” that would cap numbers and create a legal avenue for accessing the UK.Rishi Sunak has made tackling Channel crossings one of his five priorities since entering Downing Street, despite concerns among his own ministers that it is not within his power to stop boats attempting the dangerous journey. The government is scrambling to examine a series of controversial measures that could be included in a forthcoming immigration bill, aimed at automatically blocking those who come to the UK on small boats from seeking asylum. Continue reading...

Peter Fahy says reaction ‘overblown’ as Lancashire force being asked to ‘operate with a huge public gallery’A former police chief has said the criticism of police’s search for Nicola Bulley is unfair.MPs have hit out at Lancashire constabulary after it made public the missing mother had been struggling with the menopause and alcohol before her disappearance on 27 January. Continue reading...

Augustus Gloop now ‘enormous’ instead of ‘fat’, Mrs Twit no longer ‘ugly’ and Oompa Loompas are gender neutralRoald Dahl’s children’s books are being rewritten to remove language deemed offensive by the publisher Puffin.Puffin has hired sensitivity readers to rewrite chunks of the author’s text to make sure the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”, resulting in extensive changes across Dahl’s work. Continue reading...

Actor and filmmaker speaks out at premiere of his documentary about president Voldoymyr ZelenskiySean Penn said the US has to accept “a level of shame” for not helping Ukraine with weapons supplies quicker at the premiere of his documentary about president Voldoymyr Zelenskiy and the war in Berlin.Speaking after the screening on Friday night, the Hollywood A-lister, said he believed the war in Ukraine was one that the west cannot ultimately afford to see Kyiv lose, an argument that underpins the new film, Superpower. Continue reading...

US vice-president tells security conference that perpetrators will be held to account over Ukraine war

Ding Jiaxi also tells lawyer he is worried about health after being held for more than three yearsThe detained human rights activist Ding Jiaxi has expressed concern for young protesters who have disappeared since participating in the “blank paper” protests against the zero-Covid policy in China last year.At least 16 of them are still in police detention, according to names gathered by activists, while Ding himself has been detained for more than three years. Continue reading...

Brittany Higgins cries foul over diary leak and Linda Reynolds says she was victim of ‘political hit job’. This blog is now closed

Former Liberal staffer’s personal diary pages reported in the Australian, which also published fresh interview with Higgins’s former boss

Hundreds gather to remember killed 16-year-old as appeal raises more than £100,000 for familyA candlelit vigil has been held in the home village of Brianna Ghey close to where the 16-year-old was stabbed to death last weekend, as a fundraising appeal for her family surpassed £100,000.

Former victims’ commissioner Vera Baird says revelations likely to hamper future missing person casesThe release of sensitive details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley was “as sexist as it comes”, the former victims’ commissioner has said, as Lancashire constabulary come under further pressure over their handling of the case.Dame Vera Baird condemned the force’s “dreadful” decision to divulge medical information about Bulley, saying it was “the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time”. Continue reading...

Christo Grozev features in the film, Navalny, based on plan to poison Kremlin critic and nominated at the awardsAn investigative journalist who helped to reveal the plot to kill Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has claimed he and his family have been “banned” by police from attending the ceremony on Sunday in London due to “a public security risk”.Christo Grozev features in the 2022 film Navalny, which is nominated in the best documentary category. Continue reading...

Model ‘disgusted’ following letter from force concerning Whatsapp messages about son, HarveyKatie Price’s disabled son has allegedly been the target of “inappropriate and discriminatory” WhatsApp messages shared by Metropolitan police officers.In a post on Instagram, Price shared a letter from the police force informing her that “a number of Metropolitan police officers are alleged to have breached the standards of professional behaviour in regards to discreditable conduct for being part of a WhatsApp group chat that has posted inappropriate and derogatory images of your son, Harvey Price”. Continue reading...

Labor department investigation finds Packers Sanitation Services Inc employed children between ages of 13 and 17 in eight statesMore than 100 children have been discovered to be illegally employed by a slaughterhouse cleaning firm across the country, federal authorities said.The Department of Labor announced that a federal investigation found Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc (PSSI) employed at least 102 children, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, to work overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states. Continue reading...

Foragers in central region have been repeatedly targeted by Islamist group, says UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human RightsAt least 36 civilians were killed on Friday in an attack in central Syria that was blamed on Islamic State, a war monitor said.The jihadist group “killed 36 people Friday while they were truffle hunting in Sokhna in the Palmyra region”, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Continue reading...

PC Fabian Aguilar-Delgado denies sexual assault after DNA found on woman who requested police supportA Metropolitan police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty has told a court his DNA may have ended up on her breast after she shook his sweaty hand.PC Fabian Aguilar-Delgado has been accused of putting a hand down the woman’s top and sucking on her breast after offering to search her house for her abusive ex-partner. Continue reading...

How Iran smuggled drones into Russia; Moscow’s forces close in on Bakhmut; the defenders of VuhledarUkrainian forces reportedly blew up a bridge near the eastern city of Bakhmut, in a sign they may have been planning to retreat from the area, which would give Russia a significant, symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war, Isobel Koshiw reported. Continue reading...

Government announces three-month continuation of fare initially introduced during Covid lockdownsThe government has extended a £2 cap on local bus fares in England for another three months, amid concerns that operators would be forced to slash the number of routes on offer without the subsidy.The fare cap, introduced initially from January to March, will continue to run from 1 April to 30 June, the Department for Transport said on Friday. Continue reading...

Guitarist pleads with Twitter owner after one of his tweets carried a sensitive content warningThe Kinks’ Dave Davies has appealed to Elon Musk to stop putting content warnings on posts related to the band.The lead guitarist and co-founder of the band pleaded with the Twitter owner after one of Davies’s tweets promoting a video carried a sensitive content warning, thought to be because of the band’s name. Continue reading...

Leo Varadkar comments come after DUP says ‘progress made but more work needed’ in talks with UK PM Rishi SunakLabour will offer Rishi Sunak the additional votes he needs to get a Northern Ireland protocol deal through parliament, the shadow justice secretary has said.Steve Reed told reporters:We’ll wait and see what the government is coming forward with. It’s very important for everybody in the United Kingdom that this problem is resolved. It’s a problem that is of this government’s own making, of course.He added:We have got the prime minister today in Northern Ireland, we hope with a deal to resolve the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol.What we do not want to happen is that that self-same prime minister then rips up the Human Rights Act, which underpins the Good Friday agreement, because if he puts peace in Northern Ireland in peril in that way, that is an act of unforgivable irresponsibility for which you would never be forgiven. Continue reading...

Bulgarian interior ministry says vehicle was transporting timber with people hidden in a compartmentAt least 18 people, including a child, have been found dead in Bulgaria in an abandoned truck near the capital Sofia, officials said.The truck was transporting timber and carrying illegal migrants hidden in a compartment, the country’s interior ministry said on Friday, adding it was found near the village of Lokorsko. Continue reading...

Shaye Groves, 27, convicted of stabbing Frankie Fitzgerald 17 times at her home in Hampshire last yearA serial killer-obsessed woman has been found guilty of the murder of her on-off boyfriend who she stabbed to death after using tips from true crime documentaries to plan her alibi.Shaye Groves, 27, was convicted at Winchester crown court of slitting the throat of Frankie Fitzgerald, 25, before stabbing him 17 times in the chest at her home in Havant, Hampshire, in July last year after trying to portray herself as his victim. Continue reading...

Tensions mount at Dunstable meeting as Hope Not Hate flags five far-right affiliated demonstrations planned this weekendThe anger was palpable as hundreds of Dunstable residents filed into the town’s historic Priory church on Thursday evening.There was a meeting to air concerns about the recent arrival of asylum seekers to a popular hotel across the road, but the subjects of the assembly were too terrified to attend and defend themselves. Continue reading...

Despite prospect of breakthrough pitfalls remain, from getting DUP onside to appeasing Tory hardlinersRishi Sunak is embarking on the highest-stakes talks of his premiership as he tries to tie up a deal on post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland that satisfies leaders there and across Europe, as well as the hardliners in his own party.But despite the prospect of a breakthrough between Downing Street and Brussels, there are still plenty of potential pitfalls. These are the key political hurdles the prime minister will have to clear if he wants to finally “get Brexit done”, rated by difficulty. Continue reading...

Estate agent, once at the vanguard of online property sales, has seen its value fall since 2018Purplebricks has put a new asset on the market: itself. The online estate agent issued a profit warning and said a strategic review could result in the sale of the company.The company said on Friday its efforts to cut costs had “involved more disruption to the sales field than originally envisaged”, adding £1.2m in costs and pushing down the number of people who signed up to sell their houses using the website. Continue reading...

The city’s biggest ‘occasion’ since the 2000 Olympics will be a 17-day program celebrating equality

Security conference seen as a key test of west’s resolve to fight out a prolonged, expensive war

Australia’s former PM urges new government to apply sanctions amid questions why he stopped short of taking such action when in power

Charity’s report highlights scale of unmet support need owing to huge shortfalls in workforceHundreds of thousands of older people in England are having to endure chronic pain, anxiety and unmet support needs owing to the worsening shortage of social care staff and care home beds.Age UK has said older people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure are increasingly struggling with living in their own homes because of a lack of help with everyday tasks such as getting out of bed, dressing and eating. Continue reading...