Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will surprise the residents of Albert Square at street partyThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are to appear as themselves in an episode of EastEnders to mark the Queen’s Platinum jubilee.Charles and Camilla were filmed visiting a fictional Albert Square Jubilee street party when they visited the soap set in March, the BBC announced. Continue reading...
Landmark ruling follows case of three young Indigenous Mexicans detained and abused on suspicion of being Guatemalan migrantsMexican immigration agents can no longer conduct stop and search operations on buses and highways after the country’s supreme court ruled that such checks are racist, discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.The landmark ruling, handed down in Mexico City on Wednesday, found in favour of three young Indigenous Mexicans who were detained and abused by immigration (INM) officials in 2015 during a US-backed crackdown. Continue reading...
Minister asked repeatedly for details on PM’s meeting with senior civil servant ahead of Partygate reportThe UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has repeatedly refused to say who organised a meeting between Boris Johnson and top civil servant Sue Gray, as Westminster awaits her report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.It has emerged that the pair met, with both sides – No 10 and Gray’s team – denying they called the meeting. Continue reading...
Tayshan Hayden-Smith started gardening in a plot under a concrete flyover in west London. Now he’s at the top of his gameThe concrete space underneath the Westway, an elevated dual carriageway that cuts across the Victorian terraces of west London, is not a hospitable place for plants – nor for people, some would say. But it is nevertheless at the heart of the community that calls itself North Kensington. Between the Westway’s shadow and another dominant structure, the shrouded Grenfell Tower, sits a narrow slice of a garden.Lanterns hang from a tree, halfway down a path of bark chips leading to a welcoming bench. With planting that is green and tall, the little haven is so immersing that even the loud hum of overhead traffic is easily forgotten. The community green space owes its existence to Tayshan Hayden-Smith, a 19-year-old at the time of the Grenfell fire, who in its aftermath was gripped by an impulse to start planting things. He found a piece of wasteland and with no prior experience began to explore the two-way nurturing process of gardening. A promising footballer of mixed race, he was acutely embarrassed at the idea of being seen with a plant; he would duck out of sight when friends went past. “I felt so at home in the garden, but so out of place,” he says. Continue reading...
Many have been paying thousands of dollars in interest alone, with their principal debt hardly affected despite monthly paymentsIn 2001, Karen Herrera of Minnesota took advice from a Sallie Mae representative to consolidate her student loan debt with her husband’s. They both worked in the public sector, but due to their type of loans, they did not qualify for public service forgiveness. Herrera lost her job in 2009 due to the economic recession, and though the couple filed for bankruptcy, their student loan debts remained.Herrera and her husband have continued to make monthly payments throughout the pandemic, as their loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program were not eligible for the pause on payments. Continue reading...
Campaigners say ministers must change course as millions face famine in Africa and the Ukraine war threatens to disrupt global food suppliesMinisters have been accused of choosing the “worst moment in history” to slash the foreign aid budget, as provisional figures showed that UK overseas humanitarian funding was cut by more than half last year.MPs and charity campaigners say the aid budget urgently needs to be increased to cope with the Ukraine conflict and the risk of famine in Africa. Up to 23 million people face acute hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia due to drought. Continue reading...
The German capital’s liberal reputation has been derailed by clashes between subcontracted ticket inspectors and black peopleA Berlin metro ticket controller squeezes through a throng of old-school punks, mariachi band members and burly men in leather chaps, all while jauntily humming Is’ mir egal, “It’s all the same to me”.The 2015 viral ad, featuring Turkish-German Neukölln rapper Kazim Akboga, was a great marketing success for the German capital’s public transport company, BVG: if you ride on our metros, trams and buses, it said, you can be whoever you want to be – as long as you remember to buy a ticket. Continue reading...
Unit of young and old volunteer fighters guard network of trenches built since February invasionUkrainian forces have built a new line of defences along the country’s previously unfortified northern border with Belarus amid signs of another attack.Russian forces invaded Ukraine through the Belarusian border in February when they tried to capture the capital, Kyiv. Continue reading...
Inflation-linked rise will deter poorer school-leavers from entering higher education in England and Wales, say former ministersSenior Tories are sounding the alarm over the “outrageous” interest rates to be applied to student loans later this year, after warnings that some graduates will soon be hit with rates of up to 12%.In the latest sign of party unease over the effects of high inflation, former ministers and MPs are calling for the government to step in and prevent the increases. They say some young people who have the ability to take up a university place will be put off by the idea of repaying a large, expensive debt for years. Continue reading...
by Edward Helmore and agencies in New York on (#5ZG67)
David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for OrthopoxvirusA senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday “because of the urgency of the situation”. Continue reading...
Shireen Mazari’s daughter tweeted that her mother was beaten and taken away by police near her Islamabad home on SaturdayPakistan’s former human rights minister was arrested on Saturday in the capital over a decades-old land grabbing allegation, her daughter and another former minister said.Shireen Mazari, who served in the cabinet-level position under former prime minister Imran Khan, was detained by police near her Islamabad home, daughter Imaan Mazari said in a tweet. Continue reading...
Three months after the invasion, the capital’s grand old venue stages an emotional comebackSee all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageThe lights dimmed, a hush came over the auditorium and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. This ritual has taken place thousands of times at Kyiv’s grand opera house over the past century, but the performance on Saturday afternoon was something out of the ordinary.In a city that over the past three months became used to wailing air-raid sirens and the thuds of artillery from the suburbs, the audience was instead treated to the frothy melodies of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Continue reading...
Undiplomatic remarks from Jean-Yves Le Drian follow war of words between nations over abandoned submarine dealFrance’s outgoing foreign affairs minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has undiplomatically welcomed the election defeat of Australia’s conservative government after a war of words last year over an abandoned submarine deal between the two countries.Australia scrapped the purchase worth up to A$90bn (£50bn) last September in favour of a security pact with the US and the UK. Continue reading...
Large swings in WA meant the Liberals lost Hasluck, Swan, Pearce and Tangney and will have just five seats – down from 10 – after the electionIt wasn’t quite the bloodbath the Liberal party suffered in Western Australia’s state election in 2021, but a huge 11% swing to Labor has proved crucial to the Coalition’s federal election defeat.The “red wave” in the west was the biggest swing nationally and could deliver Labor a parliamentary majority. Continue reading...
Long waiting times and difficulty in accessing other NHS facilities drive a trebling in those leaving without completing careMore than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic.Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111. Continue reading...
A club night that ends at midnight is welcomed by those who – like the DJ – want a good time without partying all night longBefore Annie Macmanus – aka veteran DJ Annie Mac – started her four-hour set for her new night, Before Midnight, she wandered around the early arrivals saying hello. They all said the same thing: thank you. “It’s like I’m doing some kind of a public service,” she says.At Islington Assembly Hall in north London on Friday night, the gratitude was real – with the mixed crowd delighted to be raving hard by 9pm, before many clubs have even opened, and knowing they’d be on their merry way home just after midnight, when “normal” clubbers are just getting started. Macmanus started the night, billed as “clubbing for people who need sleep”, because, at 43 and with children to care for, she no longer wanted to play sets all night. The DJ – who during her 17 years as one of the biggest DJs at BBC Radio 1 always declared that “raving is a state of mind” – also wanted to put on nights “for anyone who just wants to go out and loves nightclubbing but hasn’t really felt like nightclubbing is a place for them any more.” Continue reading...
Tory MP says immediate increase in universal credit would provide ‘shield’ against cost of living crisisThe former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for benefits to be immediately brought in line with inflation to provide a “shield” against the sting of mounting living costs.He said rebates and discretionary funds represented “a step in the wrong direction for tackling poverty”, arguing it would be better to uplift universal credit (UC) as it “links benefits to work”. Continue reading...
US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ‘strategic assets’ was discussedJoe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was “sincere and serious” about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Continue reading...
Labor sought urgent injunction to remove misleading campaign material in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke that used Greens colours and read ‘For our future, put Labor last’
Analysis: Another week of extremes with peaks pushing 40C in Spain and a rare subtropical cyclone in Uruguay and BrazilUnseasonably high temperatures have been affecting both Iberia and France over recent days. Temperatures have been about 10-15C above average thanks to a southerly flow of very warm and dry air from north Africa.On 17 May, temperatures across much of Spain, as well as southern and central France, widely exceeded 30C. A top temperature of 35.5C was recorded in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, with a provisional high of 32.9C recorded in the French commune of Montélimar. La Hague near the Channel hit 26.6C, beating the May record for this location set 100 years ago. Continue reading...
Stepfather Stuart Murray describes the fallout from his son’s death and his lasting legacy on their familyDawn was breaking on 23 May 2017 when Stuart and Figen Murray turned up at the Etihad Stadium to register their son, Martyn Hett, as missing in the Manchester Arena attack. They were the first relatives to arrive at Manchester City’s ground, the muster point for those seeking loved ones who had been at the Ariana Grande concert the night before.With no confirmed death toll from the suicide bomb that exploded after Grande’s finale, Stuart, Martyn’s stepdad, feared what might await them: “I just thought, ‘bloody hell, they must have hundreds of bodies laid out on the football pitch. Are we going to have to walk around these bodies to see if one of them is Martyn?’ At the same time, it was still early. I was thinking, he’s probably just gone awol. Martyn, when he went out, traditionally went astray. He once phoned us saying ‘I’ve fallen asleep on the train home to Stockport and woken up in Nottingham, what should I do?’. He was always losing his phone.” Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#5ZFP6)
Prescribing rules relaxed to tackle ongoing shortage after some women have travelled across the country to access medicinesPharmacists will be allowed to offer alternative hormone replacement therapy products if the original prescription is out of stock, under new rules aimed at tackling the ongoing shortage.The relaxing of normal prescribing rules, announced by the government’s HRT supply taskforce, comes amid shortages of HRT products that have left some women travelling across the country to access medicines. Continue reading...
Foreign secretary Liz Truss wants to protect the country south-west of Ukraine from RussiaLiz Truss, the foreign secretary, has disclosed that the UK has begun discussions with its international allies about sending modern weaponry to Moldova to protect it from Russia.She said that she wants to see the country, which is to the south-west of Ukraine, “equipped to Nato standard.” Continue reading...
The virus has been found in an ‘atypical’ spread in several countries as well as in the United States, Canada and AustraliaA top European health official has warned that cases of the rare monkeypox virus could accelerate in the coming months, as the virus spread across Europe.Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said that “as we enter the summer season … with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate”. Continue reading...
New Mexico still battling US’s biggest wildfire as blazes test fire crews in Texas and ColoradoExpanding drought conditions, coupled with hot and dry weather, extreme wind and unstable atmospheric conditions, have led to explosive fire behavior in the south-western US, federal officials warned on Friday.The warning came as a huge wildfire, currently the largest in the US, continued to burn across New Mexico on Friday, as fire crews also battled blazes in Texas and Colorado. Continue reading...
Sturgeon tweeted she had been experiencing mild symptoms on Friday eveningNicola Sturgeon has tested positive for Covid-19.The Scottish first minister tweeted she had been experiencing mild symptoms on Friday evening. Continue reading...
Mariupol, city of resistance, falls … underground life of the last child in the village … Putin micromanaging conflict, sources in west believeEvery week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion. Continue reading...
by Joanna Walters in New York and agencies on (#5ZFGD)
Most children ages five to 11 are still unvaccinated and new coronavirus strains are expected by fallRising coronavirus infections and hospitalizations across the US are spurring fears of an uncertain summer amid new calls for children to be vaccinated.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now recommended a vaccine booster for children aged five to 11 after an advisory panel voted to back them, despite some experts disagreeing that they are necessary at this stage. Continue reading...
Small number of BA.4 and BA.5 cases identified but data suggests ‘growth advantage’ over dominant BA.2Two types of the Omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5 have been labelled as variants of concern in the UK after new evidence on their growth, officials have revealed.The wave of Omicron that hit the UK over the winter involved a form of the virus known as BA.1, with the sub-lineage BA.2 driving a subsequent wave in spring 2022. Continue reading...
Man with background in rightwing extremism accused of attacking woman with machete and threatening to kill herA woman who said she was terrorised by an MI5 agent with a background in rightwing extremism is taking legal action against the security service.Beth, not her real name, claimed the man, her former partner, attacked her with a machete and threatened to kill her. Continue reading...
Office for Students calls for effective support services after Bristol University found guilty of failings over Natasha Abrahart’s suicideUniversities could face “immense difficulties” in adjusting their teaching and learning support for students with hidden or emerging disabilities, after a landmark ruling awarded £50,000 in damages to the estate of a student after her suicide.A judge ruled that the University of Bristol failed to make adjustments to how it assessed Natasha Abrahart’s academic work, leading to her suicide in 2018 while in the second year of an undergraduate physics degree. Continue reading...
Willer was taken in by the Labour leader and future prime minister after fleeing Germany following KristallnachtA refugee who fled the Nazis and was quietly taken in by the family of Clement Attlee in the run-up to the second world war, has died.Paul Willer, 94, escaped Germany in 1939 with his Jewish mother and brother after being sponsored by the then Labour leader. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5ZFD2)
New 50-page plan will avoid admitting institutional racism which critics say could doom promised reformsPolice chiefs will declare they are “ashamed” about racism remaining in law enforcement, and apologise for the “discrimination and bias” still plaguing forces in a new race plan launching next week.The plan from National Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing will avoid admitting institutional racism, which critics brand a failure which could doom the promised reforms. Continue reading...
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