Art UK creates digital database telling the stories behind more than 13,500 public artworksBetween two fields on the outskirts of a 1960s new town in Northumberland is a startling, track-stopping sculpture passed by on a regular basis by hardly anyone: it’s a giant 15ft spoon.Outside Dorset county hospital is a vizsla dog, always well behaved because it was made by Elisabeth Frink in bronze. On the Isle of Man the three disco dudes swaggering down the promenade are the Bee Gees. Continue reading...
Proud Boys’ involvement in US Capitol attack cited in ruling outlawing organisationNew Zealand’s government has declared that the American far-right groups the Proud Boys and the Base are terrorist organisations.
by Samantha Lock (now); Maya Yang, Léonie Chao-Fong, on (#60XNJ)
This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereThe UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said that one of the reasons that Russia was able to invade Ukraine was because of underspending on defence in Europe.Appearing on Sky News, she said:I’ve been very clear that the entire free world, the western alliance, does need to focus more on deterrence. We need to focus more on defence. And what we know is prevention is better than cure.The lesson that Putin learned from underspending on defence was that he could invade a sovereign nation, and we simply can’t let our guard down again, we can’t allow that to happen again.I would say that we need a full range of capabilities to deal with the threats that we face now. Whether those are cyber threats, whether those are land-based threats, naval threats, and we have the balance right. But of course we need to continue to evolve, because we’re seeing, you know, we never expected in our lifetimes to see this kind of war on in Europe.We’ve seen the systematic rape of women. We’ve seen the attacking of civilians, including at the shopping centre this week. And what we need to make sure is not only are the Ukrainians successful in pushing Russia out of Ukraine, but also that people are held to account for these appalling crimes that have been committed.I’ve not met Vladimir Putin. I do not know the motivations for carrying out this appalling war. All I know is that we have to make it our absolute priority to stop this war, to push Vladimir Putin and the Russian troops out of Ukraine, otherwise we will live in a much less safe Europe. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot, Rowena Mason and Aubrey Allegretti on (#60YKF)
Chris Pincher’s resignation is latest in a series of allegations of sexual misconduct by Conservative MPsThe Conservative deputy chief whip has resigned after admitting he had “embarrassed myself and other people” following reports that he drunkenly groped two men at a private club.Chris Pincher wrote to Boris Johnson saying he was standing down after drinking too much. However, he did not address the allegations that he was reported to the whips by Conservative MPs who had witnessed his behaviour towards two men at the Carlton Club in Piccadilly. Continue reading...
Limiting the Environmental Protection Agency at a time when fossil fuel emissions need to be curbed is ‘devastating’Amid heat records being shattered across the world and historic wildfires raging across the west, climate activists and policymakers working to aggressively curb greenhouse gas emissions are now facing a new kind of challenge – restrictions issued by the US supreme court.Earlier today, the court released a ruling in West Virginia v EPA limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, in a major environmental case with far-reaching impacts. This has been classified a “devastating” outcome by environmental lawyers, climate scientists and activists alike. One with far-reaching implications for the future of the country, and world. Continue reading...
Craig Mulligan jailed for at least 15 years for murder of five-year-old in south WalesThe teenager who murdered five-year-old Logan Mwangi moved into the family home five days before the killing, in a decision likened by prosecutors to throwing a lit match into a powder keg, it emerged on Thursday.Craig Mulligan, 14, was ordered on Thursday to be detained for a minimum of 15 years while his stepfather, John Cole, and stepmother, Angharad Williamson, were jailed for a minimum of 29 and 28 years, all for Logan’s murder. Continue reading...
Coffin containing tooth is buried in ceremony on 62nd anniversary of DRC’s independenceThe family of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s murdered independence hero, Patrice Lumumba, buried his only known remains – a tooth – in the capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday, 61 years after his death at the hands of Belgian-backed secessionist rebels.Hundreds gathered in a vast square for the occasion, waving flags and looking upon a large photo of Lumumba, with his trademark horn-rimmed glasses and side-swept hair, framed by white flowers. Continue reading...
Human rights groups say there have been no autopsies or identification of the 23 people killed trying to cross into SpainSeconds after Mohamed stepped on to Spanish soil, he turned around to see how his friends had fared along the metres-high chain link fence that slices off the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco.“It was horrible,” said the 20-year-old from Sudan. “It was a bloodbath; many of them appeared dead and many were injured.” Continue reading...
Analysis: Volodymyr Zelenskiy needs ammunition, not words – but the meetings in Bavaria and Madrid were still highly significantOver five days, the leaders of the G7 and Nato shifted from the pastoral backdrop of the Bavarian Alps to the more prosaic plains of Madrid, but at no point was there a shortage of photo opportunities, trumpeting of democracy, multibillion-dollar announcements or pledges of unstinting resolve to help Ukraine.But as the leaders head home to their more mundane domestic challenges, it is legitimate to ask how far these promises change the balance of power on the battlefield, or put doubt in the mind of Vladimir Putin. For although these summits were an exercise in reassurance to domestic electorates, and to a lesser extent to Ukraine, the target audience was really one man: the Russian president. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#60YFA)
Potentially serious faults in Guardian-class patrol boats may force some countries to pause use of vesselsPacific island countries may halt the use of Australian-provided patrol boats after potentially serious defects were discovered, in a blow to a $2.1bn maritime security program.The Australian government is now considering how to work with Pacific nations to close any gap in their maritime surveillance activities while the issues – including carbon monoxide entering part of the boat – are resolved. Continue reading...
US president says he does not know how war will end, but ‘it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine’Joe Biden has declared that the US and Nato allies will stick with Ukraine “as long as it takes” at the end of a two-day summit that saw the military alliance promise hundreds of thousands more troops to defend eastern Europe.The US president also announced another $800m of military aid to Kyiv – but questions remained over how much detail there was behind the plan to create a 300,000-strong force to deter any Russian attack. Continue reading...
Bereavement charity that supported Rupert Brooke’s family will benefit from 200-mile trekA seven-year-old boy will become one of the youngest people to cycle between London and Paris as he raises money for a charity that supported him after his father’s death.Rupert Brooke, from Leicestershire, has already raised more than £11,500 for the Children’s Bereavement Centre, almost a week before he starts the challenge. Continue reading...
Information Commissioner’s Office says users of public services often bear brunt of financial punishmentsThe UK’s data watchdog is to scale back fines for public bodies after admitting that users of services often bear the brunt of the financial punishment.The Information Commissioner’s Office will continue to issue fines for the most serious cases of data breaches in the public sector, but otherwise it will lean on other powers within its remit such as warnings, reprimands and enforcement notices. Continue reading...
Adam Lockwood evades detection to scale crane atop skyscraper and cling from metal bar with just one handA British free climber has dangled 390 metres (1,280ft) above Dubai without safety equipment after posing as a worker to gain access to the city’s tallest crane.Adam Lockwood, 21, gained entry to a skyscraper, evading construction workers to reach the top, where he scaled the crane to cling from a metal bar with just one hand. Continue reading...
by Lauren Gambino and Chris Stein in Washington DC on (#60Y50)
Ruling by 5-4 allows administration to terminate policy that forced asylum seekers to return to Mexico while claims are consideredThe supreme court has issued a ruling that will allow the Biden administration to end a Trump-era immigration program forcing asylum seekers attempting to enter the US at the southern border to return to Mexico while their claims are considered.The ruling in favor of Biden was a change in tone after the supreme court’s conservatives in recent days overturned the constitutional right to abortion and curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases, among other decisions that enraged Democrats. Continue reading...
Nineteen tenants living in south London estate that is being demolished say homes offered to them are unaffordable and too far awayThe Peabody Trust, one of the UK’s oldest and best known housing associations, has been accused of failing to rehouse 19 tenants it plans to evict to make way for a new development.Their plight highlights an acute shortage of affordable homes for low-wage key workers amid concern that too much new building is being targeted at more lucrative markets. Continue reading...
Letter from PM saying Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily held comes four and a half years after Johal’s arrestBoris Johnson has for the first time said that the Indian government is arbitrarily detaining Jagtar Singh Johal, the British Sikh activist held in an Indian jail for four and a half years.In a letter to Keir Starmer seen by the Guardian, the prime minister says Singh has been arbitrarily detained without formal charges being laid against him. He was arrested in 2017 over his alleged role in killings by the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a banned terrorist organisation. Continue reading...
Select committee says ministers want to rush through deal allowing food imports that fall below UK environmental standardsThe government is rushing through a trade deal with Australia that would allow food produced with pesticides banned in the UK to be imported into the country, campaigners and MPs have warned.The international trade select committee in parliament has called for a vote on the deal, which would result in food produced below British domestic environmental standards being sold in the UK. Continue reading...
Angharad Williamson and John Cole found guilty of murder of Logan Mwangi after months of violent abuseA mother and stepfather have been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of five-year-old Logan Mwangi, who died after months of violent abuse and imprisonment in the “dungeon” of his small, dark bedroom.Logan’s mother, Angharad Williamson, was told she will serve at least 28 years before being considered for parole, while her partner, John Cole, will spend a minimum of 29 years in prison. A 14-year-old youth who was also convicted of Logan’s murder was told he will be detained for at least 15 years. Continue reading...
China’s president makes first trip outside mainland since pandemic began as territory prepares to mark milestoneChina’s president, Xi Jinping, has made his first trip outside the mainland since the Covid pandemic began, landing in Hong Kong and telling crowds the region had “risen from the ashes” after years of upheaval.The leader, his wife, Peng Liyuan, and delegates, arrived by high-speed train at West Kowloon station before his scheduled attendance at the inauguration of the city’s new chief executive, and the 25th anniversary of the British return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. Continue reading...
Hungarian leader was criticised by Xavier Bettel in 2021 for introducing homophobic lawThe dozens of invitees were carefully seated along the lengthy table, flanked by columns fashioned out of Bagnères marble and surrounded by paintings from Spain’s Francisco de Goya.As photos of the Nato dinner at Spain’s royal palace filtered out, many were swift to spot what one Spanish news site described as the image of the summit: the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, seated next to Gauthier Destenay, the first same-sex spouse of a leader of an EU member state. Continue reading...
Joint inquiry hears evidence of officers in England and Wales using their status to deter victims from making reportsPolice forces in England and Wales are responding to reports of their own officers committing domestic abuse in a way that is “significantly harming the public interest”, with just 9% of such allegations leading to criminal charges, a joint watchdog investigation has found.The College of Policing, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and the Independent Office for Police Conduct heard evidence of police perpetrators of domestic abuse using their knowledge, status and powers to intimidate victims and deter them from making reports. Continue reading...
‘Courageous’ former operators to share interim package amid continued fallout from faulty Horizon systemFormer post office operators who helped to uncover the Horizon IT scandal are to receive £19.5m compensation from the government.The interim compensation package will be made available by ministers to the eligible members of a group representing postal workers who were the first to take legal action against the Post Office, taking the total compensation made to those wrongly accused of stealing money to about £30m. Continue reading...
Uniper in talks for emergency support as share price tumbles after Russia slashes gas suppliesThe owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station is in talks with the German government to secure emergency state support after Russia slashed its gas supplies.Uniper has issued a profit warning and is discussing “stabilisation measures” with German officials after Russia’s Gazprom delivered just 40% of the gas it had ordered. Continue reading...
Son says family has legacy of achievement as he completes clan’s return to power 36 years after father’s oustingFerdinand Marcos Jr has promised a government that will deliver for all Filipinos during his inauguration speech, even as he paid tribute to the legacy of his dictator father, whose rule was marked by widespread corruption and rights abuses.Marcos Jr, who began his term as president of the Philippines on Thursday, said he would emulate his father. “I once knew a man who saw what little had been achieved since independence in a land of people with the greatest potential for achievement. And yet they were poor. But he got it done. Sometimes with the needed support, sometimes without. So will it be with his son. You will get no excuses from me,” he said. Continue reading...
Natalie McGarry sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling funds from pro-independence groupsA former Scottish National party MP who embezzled almost £25,000 from two pro-independence groups has been jailed for two years.Natalie McGarry, who represented Glasgow East between 2015 and 2017, was convicted of two charges of embezzlement – totalling £24,635 – in May after a trial at Glasgow sheriff court. Continue reading...
Airport orders airlines to axe flights on Thursday ‘because it could not handle them’Airline passengers have complained of “total chaos” at Heathrow after the airport made a last-minute order to cancel flights because it could not handle them.Thousands of travellers were disrupted by a rare “schedule intervention” on Thursday morning, which led to the scrapping of 30 flights during the morning peak. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent on (#60XV2)
Foreign secretary calls on other Nato countries to increase defence spending and support Taiwan over China threats• Keep up to date – UK politics liveLiz Truss has defended plans to cut the British army by nearly 10,000 troops as she called on other Nato countries to “step up” their defence spending.Speaking as western leaders gathered in Madrid to discuss the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, the UK foreign secretary suggested there was no end in sight to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...
Companies say price hikes are necessary to offset costs of attracting and retaining workers, but charity contends some fee increases are ‘not reasonable’
Environment secretary George Eustice wants to amend Habitats Directive, which protects Natura 2000 sitesEnvironment secretary George Eustice wants to tear up a key piece of European law that environmentalists say protects cherished habitats in the UK.Eustice told MPs the Habitats Directive was in a list of laws he wanted to amend in the forthcoming Brexit freedoms bill designed to cut red tape, saying it was bureaucratic and fundamentally flawed on multiple levels. Continue reading...
If confirmed, last week’s attack would be the eighth this year – involving $1bn in stolen funds – that could be confidently attributed to North KoreaNorth Korean hackers are thought to be behind last week’s theft of as much as $100m in cryptocurrency from a US company, as the regime steps up attempts to secure funding for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.The assets were stolen on 23 June from Horizon Bridge, a service operated by the Harmony blockchain that allows assets to be transferred to other blockchains, three digital investigative firms have concluded. Continue reading...
Commons foreign affairs committee criticises ministers’ complacency and ‘unwillingness to bring forward legislation’The government’s failure to tackle Russian kleptocrats laundering “dirty money” through the UK has led millions of pounds used to finance Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to flow through London, a powerful committee of MPs has warned.The commons foreign affairs committee said ministers’ complacency over “morally bankrupt billionaires using the UK as a safe deposit box” had led to “assets laundered through the UK … financing President Putin’s war in Ukraine”. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#60XNP)
Exclusive: Met police, in need of special measures for first time since founding in 1829, is not the only force where intervention is deemed necessaryA record six police forces are currently judged as failing so badly that they need special help, the Guardian can reveal, as a furious political row erupted over the placing of Scotland Yard into special measures.Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary confirmed on Tuesday that the Metropolitan police had been placed into special measures as it waits for a new commissioner to reverse plunging public confidence. Continue reading...
Victoria Atkins says Ellie Reeves should retract statement that government had ‘let off rapists and let survivors down’A Home Office minister has privately written to the House of Commons Speaker to complain about the language used by a Labour frontbencher, suggesting she should be made to correct her remarks on rape convictions.Victoria Atkins suggested in her letter to Sir Lindsay Hoyle that her Labour counterpart would deter victims by saying the government “let off rapists and let survivors down”. Continue reading...
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