World news | The Guardian

Marine Le Pen's National Rally falls into third place despite strong showing in first round of voting

John Healey announces fresh package as he visits southern port city of OdesaReynolds says he is not supposed to pre-empt what will be in the king's speech, but he says it is no secret that the government is going to prioritise its employment rights reforms.Jonathan Reynolds is being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg now.I do want things in exchange for money we'll co-invest with the private sector around jobs and technology.I think that's a reasonable way to make sure public money is being well spent and I believe there are things, capacities, the steel industry needs in future that could be part of that conversation and that's what I'll be having in the next few days ... Continue reading...

Labour's landslide victory gave hope to progressives worldwide but may be as much practical as ideologicalLabour's landslide victory was hailed as a beacon of hope for progressives worldwide after a surge in support for far-right parties in Europe, and with Donald Trump currently slight favourite to become the US president in January.But Britain's bulwark against the populist, extremist tide sweeping through European capitals may be as much practical as ideological. Nigel Farage's rightwing Reform party got a 14% share of votes nationwide, not far behind the 16% claimed by Germany's far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in recent elections for the EU parliament. Continue reading...

Thousands of people gather to celebrate achievements of Leeds Rhinos star and MND campaignerChildren in full rugby kits play cheerfully in front of the Featherstone Lions rugby club in Pontefract as adults sporting bright jerseys drink, eat and chat joyfully. The atmosphere is more like a festival than a day of mourning. Then a hush falls over them as Rob Burrow's hearse appears in the distance, carrying the rugby legend on his final journey home. As the cortege nears, rapturous applause breaks out for a local man who was an inspiration for so many.Burrow, who died aged 41 in June after battling motor neurone disease (MND) for five years, was a rugby league hero. At the entrance to Mill Pond stadium, where he began his career, a sign reads: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Foreign secretary says deal would allow UK work more closely with bloc on issues such as defence and energyLabour is seeking an unprecedented joint declaration with the EU to usher in a wide-ranging security pact covering defence, energy, the climate crisis, pandemics and even illegal migration, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said.As part of the new government's plan to reset its relations with the EU and bring an end to the Brexit era", Lammy told the Guardian that a broadly defined security deal would not undermine Labour's commitment to remain outside the EU's single market and customs union. Continue reading...

Simon Vickers and Sarah Hall to appear at magistrates court on MondayA man and a woman have been charged with murder after the death of a 14-year-old girl in Darlington, police have said.Police and paramedics responded to a call at an address shortly after 11pm on Friday. A girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Let down by broken Tory promises of levelling up, some in Newton Aycliffe and across north-east turned to ReformHe kept on saying, My dad was a toolmaker and we were on the breadline,'" says Alan Webb, a retired toolmaker, laughing. I mean, come on. I was a toolmaker and I wasn't on the breadline." Webb, 75, is having fun at the expense of Keir Starmer, who told voters about growing up in a pebbledash semi, the family having its phone cut off and, surely a few too many times, that my dad was a toolmaker and my mum was a nurse".He kept on saying it as if he was poor," Webb says. I was a toolmaker and I actually earned some good money up here." Continue reading...

James Roddis, formerly a highly decorated major general, will appear at Bulford military court centre on 17 JulyA former senior officer will appear before military court later this month charged with sexual assault, an army spokesperson has said.Ex-Maj Gen James Roddis is scheduled to attend Bulford military court centre on 17 July charged under section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Continue reading...

Climate Council analysis finds 7 million people living in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide face huge barriers to public transport

Policy demands three days' notice for demonstrations and approval for use of megaphones or putting up posters

The sect's OneSchool Global network has received generous support from Australian taxpayers while tightly controlling students and discouraging tertiary study

All four capitalised on dissatisfaction over Labour's stance on the Gaza war but said they had other priorities too

Artistic director of Birmingham production of The Flying Dutchman says he hopes to inspire people to get involvedOpera in this country is definitely not accessible," says Byron Jackson, an international baritone and the artistic director of what is thought to be the first black- and Asian-led production of Wagner in the UK.Opening in Birmingham on Sunday, this rendition of the German-language opera The Flying Dutchman will feature a cast from across the Commonwealth, and a number of community performers from Handsworth, Balsall Heath and farther afield in the West Midlands. Continue reading...

World No 2 calls for creation of foundation to protect tennis at base level' amid rise in popularity of padel and pickleballNovak Djokovic has warned that club tennis is endangered" amid the growing popularity of alternatives such as padel and pickleball.The seven-time Wimbledon champion said we are still doing a very poor job" of maintaining tennis at the base level" and that its future was under threat. Continue reading...

Three more freight flights to go this month as parent company's CEO Martin Seidenberg pursues transformationThe boss of Royal Mail's parent company has said it will push on with a transformation of the group despite its 3.57bn takeover, as Royal Mail prepares this month to cut more daily freight flights.Martin Seidenberg, the chief executive of International Distribution Services, plans the biggest network change in 20 years" to revamp Royal Mail's deliveries despite uncertainty created by the Czech energy tycoon Daniel Kretinsky's takeover, which has been backed by the board. Continue reading...

Of 36 encampments at end of May, around a dozen are still active, as protesters fight to stayThe student encampments that sprung up at UK campuses, in protest at the war in Gaza, are fading over the summer in the face of hostile university administrators and the waning of numbers and enthusiasm.Of the 36 encampments in England, Wales and Scotland at the end of May, around a dozen are still active. At many of the remaining sites the protesters are fighting legal battles to stay, including Bristol, London and Birmingham. Continue reading...

Jovan Owusu-Nepaul tells of vitriol from Reform supporters and says he was concerned for safety of those around him

Ministry of foreign affairs forced to say sorry to Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso embassies after incidentBrazil's ministry of foreign affairs has been forced to apologise to the embassies of Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso after three diplomats' teenage children - all of whom are Black - were searched at gunpoint by police officers.The incident emerged when the mother of a Brazilian boy in the group posted a security camera video online, prompting outrage - but also a weary recognition that such experiences are all too typical for Black youths in Rio de Janeiro. Continue reading...

This live blog is closedIt is coming up to 2.30pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian's Israel-Gaza war coverage here and on the Middle East here.Here is a recap of the latest developments:Protests aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to reach a hostage deal with Hamas began across Israel on Sunday, with demonstrators blocking roads and picketing at the homes of government ministers. The demonstrators took to the streets, blocking rush hour traffic at major intersections across the country. They briefly set fire to tires on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way. Another Palestinian official, with knowledge of the ongoing ceasefire deliberations, said Israel was in talks with the Qataris. They have discussed with them Hamas' response and they promised to give them Israel's response within days," the official told Reuters on Sunday. Israel's government made no immediate comment on the timing of its deliberations.In Gaza, Palestinian health officials said at least 15 people were killed in separate Israeli military strikes on Sunday. An Israeli airstrike on a house in the town of Zawayda, in central Gaza, killed at least six people and wounded several others, while six others were killed in an airstrike on a house in western Gaza, the health officials said. Tanks deepened their raids in central and northern areas of Rafah on the southern border with Egypt. Health officials there said they had recovered three bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the eastern part of the city.Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on its ceasefire proposal, two officials from the Palestinian group said on Sunday. This comes five days after it accepted a key part of a U.S. plan aimed at ending the nine-month war in Gaza. We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear the occupation's response," one of the two Hamas officials told Reuters, asking not to be named.Lebanon's Hezbollah movement fired another 20 rockets at northern Israel, leaving one person injured there, the latest cross-border attacks launched in solidarity with Gaza's Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hezbollah said that in response to the attack and assassination that the Israeli enemy carried out", it had targeted one of the main bases" in northern Israel, west of Tiberias, with dozens of Katyusha rockets".At least 38,153 Palestinians have been killed and 87,828 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday.Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran's runoff presidential election, beating hardliner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the west and ease enforcement on the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic.The British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond was returning to Portsmouth on Saturday after six months in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden helping to protect shipping from attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The warship shot down nine drones and a Houthi missile, sailing nearly 44,000 miles (71,000km) and spending 151 days at sea, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. Continue reading...

Sharon Graham says new chancellor has not got time to wait for growth' and needs to borrow to invest

The party's landslide victory on only 34% of the vote was a masterpiece of electoral Jenga. But the taller the tower, the weaker the baseThe asteroid hit at dawn. The seats of four Tory former prime ministers - Cameron, May, Truss, Johnson - fell in an hour at around 6am on Friday, capping a historically unprecedented collapse for the Conservative party. The defeat of Truss provided this election's biggest Portillo moment", as the political career of the country's shortest-serving PM ended with her defeat by the largest swing to Labour ever recorded.The loss of those four seats epitomised the message sent by voters - an emphatic rejection of the party these PMs had led over the past 14 years. The 2024 election saw the Conservatives fall to their lowest ever vote share and lose 252 seats - more than any government has ever lost before. In seat after seat, across every region of the UK, Tory MPs were swept away. An even greater catastrophe was only narrowly averted - more than half of the remaining 121 Conservative MPs clung on with majorities of 8% or less. Continue reading...

The new house has a record number of women and ethnic minority members, but finding seats could be hard during busy debatesIt will be rather like freshers' week," said a senior official in the House of Commons when asked about the daunting prospect of 334 new MPs arriving from all parts of the UK to take their seats in parliament this week. It is going to be huge. Most of them won't know their way around at all or know what to do. It is a massive logistical challenge for parliament."Labour's landslide victory will mean the most dramatic transformation in the make-up of the 650-seat lower house in decades, with Keir Starmer's parliamentary party having almost doubled in size, and added 211 more members to its benches. Continue reading...

Emergency services were called to a home in Lalor Park at 1am on Sunday

The party's co-leader, now MP for Bristol Central, says she will pressure Starmer on climate, housing and servicesOn Bristol's harbourside on Friday morning, Carla Denyer was still on the go. The Green party co-leader, newly elected as MP for Bristol Central, had not slept since the count but was happy to pose for selfies with well-wishers and chat to her new constituents. I'm elated," she said, as people waved at her.Denyer is still taking in the scale of the Green party's achievements. Labour's Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture minister who had been expected to take up a seat in the Labour cabinet, had a majority of more than 28,000 in Bristol West in 2019, but lost the new Bristol Central seat to Denyer by nearly 10,000 votes. Three more Green MPs were elected across the UK. This is an historic breakthrough," Denyer said. We have quadrupled our representation in the House of Commons overnight. We have got a historic vote share across the country, a historic number of second places, and I expect a historic number of deposits saved as well." Continue reading...

Staff in England's public libraries under threat of being replaced by automated checkouts amid budget pressuresThe role of the traditional librarian behind the counter" is under threat in a drive by councils to cut staff hours using self-service checkouts. Officials in some local authorities are proposing that libraries can be operated at times without any professional librarians, relying on self-service technology, smartcards for entry and CCTV.This has been criticised as a mad idea", limiting access to librarians' advice and expertise for the young, vulnerable and many elderly people. Continue reading...

Labour's new brood includes an economist whose family fled from Liberia, Westminster insiders and a former soldierA former adviser to Alistair Darling during his time as chancellor, he has since become one of the most respected surveyors of the British economy in the country in his role as director of the Resolution Foundation thinktank. His recent book on improving the economy was Starmerite in outlook, putting economic growth at its heart. However, he did call for a rewriting of fiscal rules to allow for long-term investment in infrastructure. Expect Bell to have a significant policy job at the centre of a Labour government that has staked everything on securing economic growth. Continue reading...

Neither person formally identified as of Sunday afternoon, NSW police said in a statement

Policy unveiled by leader David Crisafulli on Sunday means those convicted of crimes such as manslaughter and robbery would face regular criminal code

This blog is now closed.Muslim community should run own candidates, says FaruqiFaruqi says Muslim voters have been ignored" in Australia that their views overlooked.Politicians [in] both the old parties have for years, decades, used us as tokens, as photo opportunities at religious events but have never actually deemed to address the issues that affect the communities.I've been in touch with Senator Payman over the past few weeks and also before that. I think being the other brown Muslim woman in that Senate, I can understand far better than most what Senator Payman has been going through.There has been a denial of an agency. And again, again, that comes down to how Muslim women are stereotyped in this country. How they are boxed into this person who can't make up their own minds. You know, that they are led by someone else - someone else forced them to do this. Someone else forced them or encouraged them to make a decision that they wholly made by themselves. Senator Payman, as far as I can see it, made this decision on her moral compass, following her moral compass, listening to the community, and actually looking at what the situation in Israel is at the moment. That's it. And you know, I'm very proud of her as another Muslim woman for standing strong on her convictions. Continue reading...

Iwao Hakamada, 88, who spent longer than anyone in the world awaiting execution, awaits murder retrial verdictIn the early hours of 30 June 1966 a fire swept through the home of the managing director of a miso maker in Shizuoka, central Japan. After the fire was put out, police found the bodies of the executive, his wife, and their two teenage children. They had all been stabbed to death.Iwao Hakamada, who had worked for the firm as a live-in employee, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen (973) in cash. Two years later he was found guilty of murder and arson and sentenced to hang. He maintained innocence throughout his 45 years awaiting execution - the longest any prisoner worldwide has spent on death row. Continue reading...

Patriots for Europe gets Danish and Flemish nationalists as latest members, amid EU anger over Hungary PM's latest unauthorised foreign policy forayViktor Orban's rightwing political movement attracted enough parties on Saturday to achieve recognition from the European Union parliament in a boost for the Hungarian prime minister's self-styled effort to change European politics".The nationalist and pro-Russia leader announced on 30 June his intention to form an EU parliamentary grouping called Patriots for Europe". Continue reading...

Deputy Greens leader says Muslim women are often stereotyped in Australia as unable to make solo decisions

Shockat Adam says he is not a single-issue MP, but will fight on NHS and housing as well as GazaThe man who pulled off a shock victory at the general election by ousting shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth has criticised claims that the wave of strong showings by independent Muslim candidates represents the rise of sectarian" voting.Shockat Adam, an optometrist, caused a huge upset by beating Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general and a familiar face in Labour's election campaign, to become the new MP for Leicester South. Continue reading...

Titanic became first film to gross $1bn globally, and Landau topped that with Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of WaterJon Landau, the Oscar-winning Titanic and Avatar producer who helped bring director James Cameron's visions to life, has died at 63.Alan Bergman, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, announced Landau's death in a statement on Saturday. No cause of death was given. Continue reading...

Surprise increase makes Australian visa application fee among most expensive in the world, as new survey finds rising costs putting prospective students off

Keir Starmer restless for change' as he vows to take action on prisons on first full day as PM

PM pledges swift action on NHS and prisons, setting out agenda to reform public services and rebuild international relationsKeir Starmer on Saturday rallied his new cabinet behind an ambitious agenda to reform the country's creaking public services and reset damaged relations abroad during his first full day as prime minister.After an extraordinary 48 hours that saw Labour storm to a landslide general election victory with a massive Commons majority of 174 while the Tories were routed, Starmer said he was restless for change" and determined to deliver on his campaign pledges. Continue reading...

Billie Jean King praises Murray for bringing credibility and excitement to British tennis' as Raducanu makes tough decision' to exit doubles partnershipThe day finally came: Andy Murray has played his final match at Wimbledon. The 37-year-old Scot, Britain's greatest postwar tennis player, had been due to contest the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, the shock 2021 US Open champion, yesterday evening. To say there was excitement about the pairing would be a wild understatement: fans have been coming up with portmanteau names (Raducandy, Em&M, Maducanu) ever since the unlikely team was announced on Wednesday. Roger Federer was in the stands, ready to watch.But Em&M was not to be. Unfortunately, I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist," Raducanu announced on Saturday afternoon, so I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight. I'm disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy, but got to take care." Continue reading...

Earliest category 5 hurricane on record is 495 miles south-east of Corpus Christi, with winds near 60mphTropical Storm Beryl, which has already smashed its way across the Caribbean as a hurricane before slamming into the Yucatan peninsula, is intensifying once again and expected to make landfall as a hurricane for the third time along the Texas coast.The powerful hurricane - Beryl is the earliest category 5 hurricane on record - was by early Saturday approximately 495 miles (797km) south-east of Corpus Christi, Texas. The storm is forecast to turn toward the north-west later Saturday and then north/north-westward by Sunday night. Continue reading...

Covid adviser Patrick Vallance and businessman James Timpson among appointments from outside WestminsterKeir Starmer has signalled he will appoint more non-political experts as ministers in his new administration, in an apparent return to Gordon Brown's attempt to build a government of all the talents".The new prime minister has already made some surprise appointments from outside Westminster, including former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance as science minister, rehabilitation campaigner and businessman James Timpson as his prisons minister and Richard Hermer KC, an expert on international law, as his attorney general. Continue reading...

New foreign secretary says resetting UK relations with EU is a particular priority as he travels to Germany, Poland and Sweden, then the US David Lammy faces a world in turmoil: five key concerns for foreign secretaryBritain must reconnect with the rest of the world with major resets in climate change policy, and in the country's relationships with Europe and with the global south, foreign secretary David Lammy has said in an interview with the Guardian before his first international trip.Lammy has taken up his position, one of the four great offices of state, at a time of immense foreign policy challenges, from two major wars to global inertia about tackling a warming planet. Continue reading...

Commons youngest member ousted veteran Conservative MP Shailesh Vara by just 39 votes to win North West Cambridgeshire

Senior figures tell the party not to rush into choosing a new leader, citing 2005 and David Cameron as a successful precedent Damian Green: seven lessons for the Tories if we want to regain powerSenior Tories are pleading with the party to avoid the weapons-grade idiocy" of a further drift to the right, amid a concerted and organised effort from grandees to stop a kneejerk leadership contest.Figures from Rishi Sunak's cabinet, prominent MPs who lost their seats and former prime minister David Cameron are among those involved in working to secure a repeat of the 2005 contest, which eventually saw Cameron installed as leader seven months after an election defeat. Continue reading...

Israel's ground offensive is nearing its conclusion amid the threat of indefinite occupation and a continuing insurgencyBenjamin Netanyahu has said that the phase of intense fighting" against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, but with no publicly unveiled plans for the next stage of Israel's campaign, Palestinians and Israelis alike fear that the unfolding chapter in the conflict could amount to a long period of insurgency-style warfare and indefinite occupation.Israel's generals are expected to announce soon that the last main ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, in the southernmost city of Rafah, is over, although the prime minister has made clear that the war will not end until Israel achieves total victory", which he defines as the complete eradication of Hamas as a civilian and military entity. Continue reading...

Militant group gives initial backing to plan for phased deal after verbal commitments' from mediators

Independents win votes over Gaza and Greens add MPs but left wing parliamentary hopes may rest on Labour failure General election 2024 - liveDespite Jeremy Corbyn's surprisingly comfortable victory in Islington North, Thursday's general election did not look, at first sight, like a good result for that sector of the Labour party - the hard left - to whom he remains a hero.So large was Keir Starmer's parliamentary majority that any hope of a caucus of leftwing MPs leveraging power was crushed underfoot by the stampede of new Starmer-friendly MPs. Continue reading...

In his first press conference inside No 10 there was a relaxed atmosphere - and a pledge to end ideological drama

Hamas has reportedly accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men Continue reading...

Government opens hundreds of shelters for displaced people as heavy rains cause rivers to burst their banksThe death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials confirmed.The South Asian country of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has experienced more frequent floods in recent decades. Continue reading...

Baker competed on Channel 4 show in 2022, becoming sixth contestant to leave tentGreat British Bake Off stars have paid tribute to the joyous" and talented" former contestant Dawn Hollyoak after her death at the age of 61.The baker competed on the Channel 4 show in 2022, becoming the sixth contestant to leave the tent after the group was given the task of making Halloween-themed treats. Continue reading...