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Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives medals to Ukrainian troops in southern city as war with Russia grinds on in east

As property prices in the Cornish town soar, residents are dismayed that a landmark policy to curb investment buyers has proved ineffective“Holiday let, holiday let, holiday let,” says Leo Walker ruefully, as he leads the way through the historic fishing quarter of St Ives in Cornwall, pointing to successive properties.As the afternoon sunshine breaks through the clouds and gaggles of tourists devour ice-creams at the nearby harbour beach, Walker is reminiscing about how this area – known locally as “downlong” – was once affordable for young renters and was populated with traditional B&Bs. Continue reading...

A doctor, a teacher and a railway worker explain why they decided to take part in the demonstrationFrom midwives to firefighters, thousands of people gathered in central London on Saturday to protest against the government’s response to the cost of living crisis. Some are calling for pay increases, while others say they fear the devastating impact of public services being chronically underfunded. Here, we hear from three people on why they chose to demonstrate on Saturday. Continue reading...

Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was among the employees detained by Capitol policeSeven staff members from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were arrested for allegedly trespassing in a Capitol Hill building on Thursday night, authorities have said. All seven were each charged with unlawful entry.The employees, including Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, were found by US Capitol police (USCP) officers inside the Longworth House Office Building, which houses offices for members of the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

A new documentary takes viewers back down the rickety stairs to the trailblazing Gateways in ChelseaThe Gateways is back. The longest-running lesbian club of all-time – the one whose actual clientele appeared in the 1968 film The Killing of Sister George; the one where Mick Jagger tried to talk the owner into letting him crash in a frock; the one that was a sanctuary to every class and sort of woman, from well-known figures such as the writer Patricia Highsmith and the artist Maggi Hambling (then an art student) to swimming-pool attendants at the Tooting Bec lido – has been given a new lease of life in the first full-length documentary film to celebrate its history, and ensure that it is not erased.Behind a dull green door on the corner of King’s Road and Bramerton Street in Chelsea, down some rickety steps to the basement lay the dive, a former strip club. The lease had been won in a bet at a televised boxing event at the Dorchester hotel by course bookie Ted Ware in 1943, and initially he offered it as a hang-out to a group of his lesbian pals who had been kicked out of their old Soho haunt the Bag O’ Nails pub after new owners took over and banned them. Continue reading...

Demonstration organised by TUC calls on government to make ‘better deal’ for people struggling to cope with soaring inflationThousands of people have gathered in London to protest against the government’s lack of action in tackling the cost of living crisis.Protesters marched from Portland Place to Parliament Square for a rally with speakers including Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, which organised the event. Continue reading...

Documents obtained by BBC show 160 staff encountered problems with East of England ambulance service vehiclesStaff at an ambulance service have claimed they are unable to drive a new fleet of vehicles because of their height and body shape.The East of England ambulance service (EEAST) rolled out the £54m converted Fiats to replace its deteriorating Mercedes vans, as part of an effort to standardise NHS ambulances. Continue reading...

Sister-in-law hid one dedicated to Gauguin because of ‘anger at the French artist’s attacks on his former friend’Shortly before Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear and had a breakdown after quarrelling with his fellow artist, Paul Gauguin, in the French city of Arles in 1888, he created a pair of extraordinary paintings. One, Gauguin’s Chair, depicts a couple of books and a lit candle discarded on an ornate armchair. The other, Van Gogh’s Chair, shows a tobacco pipe and pouch on a rustic wooden chair and is instantly recognisable as one of the most famous paintings in the world.Now, the mystery of how the diptych of paintings came to be split up – and why the picture of Gauguin’s chair was kept in the family collection while Van Gogh’s Chair was sold off – has finally been solved. Continue reading...

Gang members given 23-year terms for shooting dead Paraguayan anti-corruption prosecutor Marcelo PecciFour people who confessed to taking part in the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor who was on his honeymoon have each been sentenced to 23 years in jail.Marcelo Pecci, 45, known for fighting organised crime, was shot dead on the island of Barú near the Caribbean city of Cartagena, in Colombia, on 10 May. Continue reading...

Rights campaigners say ‘appalling’ pilot scheme treats those fleeing conflict and persecution as criminalsRefugee rights campaigners have described a new Home Office scheme to electronically tag asylum seekers as “appalling”, saying the move treats people fleeing conflict and persecution as criminals.Under a 12-month pilot, which began on Wednesday, some people arriving in the UK in small boats or in the back of lorries will be electronically tagged. Continue reading...

Comments come after Ukrainian criticism of organiser EBU’s decision to move contest to UKBoris Johnson has said Ukraine deserves to host next year’s Eurovision song contest and that he hopes it will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia.The BBC is in talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about hosting the event in the UK, which came second in the 2022 contest, after the body ruled it could not go ahead in Ukraine as planned. Continue reading...

NSW premier says John Barilaro’s new role ‘no surprise’ to him; government ministers say Assange case ‘should be brought to a close’. This blog is now closed

Parliamentary leader Samantha Ratnam says she acted under party rules to overturn the recent election of Linda Gale

Labour MP Luke Pollard says Covid-19 has ‘turbo-charged’ housing crisis in rural and coastal townsCoastal communities are being “hollowed out irretrievably” by a surge in holiday homes, an MP has warned, as new figures showed more than 17,000 properties in England have been “flipped” into short-term lets since Covid-19.The poll came as MPs and campaign groups warned that vital public services – including schools, trains and buses – were in danger of vanishing from tourist hotspots due to a shortage of affordable homes. Continue reading...

Matt Black says his claim the reality TV star and her boyfriend Pete Davidson had dined at restaurant had gotten twisted

Scholars respond to author’s explanation for his new book appearing to copy some parts of classic texts

Differences between Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet are part of their successful relationship

Appeal likely after Priti Patel gives green light to extradition of WikiLeaks co-founderPriti Patel has approved the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US, a decision the organisation immediately said it would appeal against in the high court.The case passed to the British home secretary last month after the UK supreme court ruled that there were no legal questions over assurances given by US authorities on Assange’s likely treatment. Continue reading...

More than 100 MPs write to Boris Johnson saying guidance will lead survivors to avoid seeking therapyMore than 100 female Labour MPs have written to Boris Johnson calling on him to scrap new guidance on pre-trial therapy for rape victims, which they say will make it less likely they will get the vital therapy they need.Led by the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, MPs including Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner and Jess Phillips argue that the new rules “will cause many survivors to avoid seeking therapy, and make it more likely that cases will collapse when the prolonged stress of waiting for trials becomes too much”. Continue reading...

Analysis: after cash injections during Covid, local councils now face a world of precarity and painIt was only a year ago that the national spending watchdog was praising the government for injecting billions into council budgets in England to help them cope with Covid-19. Ministers are never happy to splash the cash, but without it, the National Audit Office said, local government would have collapsed.We are now in, if not quite system-failure territory, then at least a world of mass municipal precarity and pain. Rampaging inflation, fuelled by soaring energy and fuel costs, have left councils with their own cost of living crisis, and a budget hole of almost £2bn. Once again, they are asking ministers for financial help. Continue reading...

Spider monkey dressed up as gang mascot killed in shootout, and man dies in Michoacán after trying to pet captive tigerMexican narcos’ fascination with exotic animals has been on display this week after a spider monkey dressed up as a drug gang mascot was killed in a shootout, a 200kg tiger wandered the streets in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, and a man died after trying to pet a captive tiger in a cartel-dominated area of western Michoacán state.Eleven suspected gang members died in the shootout on Tuesday in the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital. Photos from the scene showed a small monkey dressed in a tiny camouflage jacket and a tiny “bulletproof” vest sprawled across the body of a dead gunman. Continue reading...

PM’s former ethics adviser says reason given by Downing Street for his resignation was a ‘distraction’Boris Johnson’s former ethics adviser has said the reason given by Downing Street for his resignation was a “distraction” and doubled down on claims that the government wanted to break international law.After he dramatically quit this week, Christopher Geidt said his explanation had used too much “cautious language” leading to “some confusion about the precise cause of my decision”. Continue reading...

UN working group rules that Ryan Cornelius has been held arbitrarily and subjected to rights violationsUN officials have called on the United Arab Emirates to immediately release a British businessman who has been detained in the country since 2008.The UN’s working group on arbitrary detention has ruled that Ryan Cornelius has been held arbitrarily in the UAE since 2008 when he was arrested at Dubai airport. He has contracted tuberculosis while in detention. Continue reading...

Hazel Pearson’s condition not signposted by her bed as coroner deems Wrexham Maelor’s plan of response ‘amateurish’An 80-year-old woman with coeliac disease died within days of being fed Weetabix in hospital, an inquest has heard.Hazel Pearson, from Connah’s Quay in Flintshire, was being treated at Wrexham Maelor hospital and died four days later on 30 November from aspiration pneumonia. Although her condition was recorded on her admission documents, there was no sign beside her bed to alert healthcare assistants to her dietary requirements, BBC News reported. Continue reading...

Tory MPs in north of England warn the PM he cannot take seats won from Labour’s ‘red wall’ for grantedBoris Johnson has been accused of showing “total contempt” for the north of England as a senior Tory MP warned him it was an “illusion” to think the party would comfortably hold seats that it won for the first time in 2019 at the next general election.Anger erupted after the prime minister pulled out of a conference in Doncaster at the last minute, with those in “red wall” seats turning on the prime minister. Continue reading...

President claims Russia can ‘cope with any challenge’ in address delayed by cyber-attack, but largely avoids discussing Ukraine

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Macron favours land routes to Romania from Odesa whereas Ankara wants to use shipping lanes through Black Sea

Rachel Keke, who coordinated successful strike for better pay and conditions, could be first cleaner to sit in parliamentA hotel housekeeper who led a strike for better pay and conditions at one of the biggest hotels in Paris could become the first cleaner to be elected to the French parliament on Sunday, as a left alliance challenges Emmanuel Macron’s centrists.Rachel Keke, 48, said years of gruelling work cleaning up to 40 rooms a day at the Ibis hotel in Batignolles would enable her to speak up for workers in parliament. Her aim was to “make visible those who are invisible”, she told one rally. Continue reading...

President is accused of trying to cover up theft of millions of US dollars hidden at his game farmThe South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is facing the most serious personal challenge of his four years in power after claims he tried to cover up the theft of millions of US dollars hidden at his game farm.The scandal – labelled Farmgate by South African media – could potentially derail Ramaphosa’s efforts to win a second term in power and destabilise Africa’s most developed economy. Continue reading...

London mayor says appointee must understand extent of ‘cultural and organisational problems’ in MetThe London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has warned the candidates wanting to lead the Metropolitan police they must publicly admit the force’s systemic failings, with formal interviews due to begin next week.Two senior police figures have reached the final stages of the process to be the commissioner of Britain’s biggest and most controversial force. Continue reading...

Andy Inglis ran BP’s exploration and production division before leaving after Deepwater Horizon disasterThe executive who oversaw BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster has landed a $6.2m (£5m) payout at his new employer despite the death of a worker on an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico.Andy Inglis ran BP’s exploration and production division before leaving in the wake of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, which killed 11 workers in one of the worst ever environmental disasters. Continue reading...

As airport reduces summer capacity to ward off potential chaos, easyJet flights will be most heavily affectedGatwick airport has announced it will reduce its summer capacity, after dozens of last-minute cancellations wrecked holidaymakers’ half-term travel plans. The announcement means airlines have to review their schedules, and could mean some passengers have their flights cancelled. EasyJet, which operates half of the slots, says it is reviewing the details.When will easyJet decide on cancellations? Continue reading...

Colchester barracks incident came after other cases and could be seen to denigrate women, says head of armyHundreds of paratroopers have reportedly been banned from an annual Nato deployment to the Balkans after videos emerged of an orgy at a military barracks.In a letter to generals and commanding officers, the new head of the army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, said he was not willing to “risk the mission or the reputation of the British army” by sending them overseas. Continue reading...

Airport accused of panicking airline customers after limiting flights to 825 a day in July and 850 in AugustEasyJet has insisted it will get the vast majority of its passengers away this summer on the day they booked, after Gatwick was accused of panicking airline customers by announcing capacity cuts.Flights currently on sale and scheduled will exceed the new limits on almost one in two days across July and August at London’s second airport, suggesting about 500 cancellations in total. Continue reading...

Met Office issues level three warning in London, south-east and east England and Royal Ascot takes unprecedented step of relaxing dress code

Armed forces says Russian ship twice entered Danish waters on Friday, during democracy festivalA Russian warship has twice violated Danish territorial waters north of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm where a democracy festival attended by senior lawmakers and business people was taking place.Denmark called the action on Friday an unacceptable provocation. Continue reading...

Organisers decide with ‘deep regret’ Ukraine is not capable of staging song contest, so Britain could step inEurovision could be coming to the UK in 2023 after the song contest’s organisers concluded Ukraine is not capable of hosting it, a decision that has angered the Ukrainian government.Ukraine won this year with Kalush Orchestra’s Stefania, as viewers across the continent came together to vote for the song and show solidarity with the nation after Russian’s invasion. Continue reading...

Half-term travel chaos and cost of living crisis fuel 30% surge in last-minute inquiries for summer breaks in Britain

ONS figures show pandemic is not over, say experts, with Omicron variants probably to blameCoronavirus infections are rising in the UK, new figures have revealed, with experts noting the increase is probably down to thethe rise of BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, reveal that in the week ending 11 June an estimated one in 50 people in the community in England are thought to have had Covid – around 1.13 million people. Continue reading...

Former soldier Collin Reeves, who cruelly killed his neighbours, told a psychiatrist life ‘felt dark all the time’On the night of 21 November last year, Collin Reeves sat down on the stairs of his home in the Somerset village of Norton Fitzwarren and broke down in tears.He was in a terrible place. Since leaving the army four years before, Reeves had flitted between unsatisfying jobs, missing the structure and sense of purpose he had found in the military and dwelling on the horrors he had seen in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

Collin Reeves killed Jennifer and Stephen Chapple with ceremonial dagger as their children slept upstairsA former soldier has been found guilty of murdering his nextdoor neighbours with a ceremonial commando dagger after a dispute over parking, moments after his wife told him she wanted a trial separation.Collin Reeves carried out a “brutal and savage” attack on Jennifer and Stephen Chapple at their home in the Somerset village of Norton Fitzwarren while their two children slept upstairs. Continue reading...

Commission also recommends candidate status for Moldova but gives more guarded response to Georgia

Concerns mount that all three men may have been captured by Russian or pro-Russian forces

UK’s largest supermarket gains market share but reports ‘changing customer behaviour’Tesco said customers are putting fewer items in their baskets and are switching to cheaper own-brand alternatives as they face “unprecedented increases in the cost of living”.The UK’s largest supermarket said it had gained market share from the other “big four” chains – Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – but sales in the three months to 28 May fell 1.5% on the same period last year when the UK was in lockdown. Continue reading...

Kigali government seeks to shift narrative with carefully managed tours of processing facilities and accommodation for deporteesRwanda has been caught in the eye of a British political storm this week, and its officials are not happy with how the country has been portrayed.It was preparing to welcome asylum seekers on Tuesday until a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights. Continue reading...