World news | The Guardian

Exclusive: Inquiry opens into St George’s after Aimen Dean claims it singled out his daughter over fears he was a security risk

Presenter won a competition as a teenager and appeared on a Strictly Christmas special but says she cannot danceThe Countryfile and former Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton, who is in the lineup for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, won a tap-dancing competition as a teenager – but has insisted she cannot dance.When asked to reveal a little known secret about herself in an unearthed 2016 interview, Skelton replied: “I won a Ken Dodd tap-dance award when I was 17. Continue reading...

Daughter of Putin ally killed in car bomb; Volodymyr Zelenskiy warns Russia ‘could try something ugly’ ahead of independence day

Met says officers spoke to student nurse on 6 July after welfare concerns

Merseyside police launch murder investigation after incident in the Old Swan area of the cityA woman has died after she was found with gunshot wounds in the garden of a home in Liverpool, Merseyside police have said.Officers were called just after 12.40am to a house in the Old Swan area of the city and found a woman in the rear garden of the property with injuries to her body consistent with gunshot wounds. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Adrian Noble offers advice for directors who are often ‘rude, look at iPhones, run late and don’t apologise’Actors must endure a “litany of misery” when auditioning for roles and the process must be improved, according to a former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.Adrian Noble, whose casts have included Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi, said “every actor in the world” has their own “horror stories”. Continue reading...

Case claims breach of gagging order relating to book by Parm Sandhu, which alleges she faced discrimination while an officerThe Metropolitan police is taking a former senior officer to court, claiming her allegations of racism and sexism broke an agreement meant to gag her from speaking out, the Guardian has learned.The Met says former chief superintendent Parm Sandhu must pay £60,000 plus interest after breaking a confidentiality agreement, also known as a non-disclosure agreement. Continue reading...

Proposal would mean doctors would assess whether patients are struggling enough to require helpGPs could write prescriptions for money off energy bills for the most vulnerable under a plan drawn up by the Treasury, as Liz Truss’s team signalled more help with costs now forecast to top £6,000 next year.The unusual proposal would mean people could consult their doctor for an assessment on whether they are struggling enough to require help with their bills. Continue reading...

With big-budget TV series about to hit streaming services, publishers hope a string of cult novels will find a new audienceIt is a lyrical, beautiful fantasy story about a mythical beast who sets out on a quest into a world that no longer believes in her to find out if she is truly the last of her kind.Published in 1968, The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle spawned an animated movie 40 years ago and is a cherished novel that appeals to children and adults alike. But it’s not surprising if you haven’t heard of it. It hasn’t been published in the UK for half a century. Continue reading...

Pub crawlers behaving badly could now be hit with a £1,000 fine for antisocial actsFor decades, donning a fancy dress costume and trying to complete the Otley Run has been a rite of passage for students living in Leeds.The pub crawl takes in some 15 pubs, depending on who you ask, beginning in Woodies Ale House, on Otley Road in Headingley, and ending a couple of miles south in the city centre – if participants make it that far, which they usually don’t. Continue reading...

Concern that mixed messages over risks of virus could cause people not to come forward for autumn jabsThe prevailing idea that “Covid is over” may jeopardise England’s autumn booster programme, scientists have said, warning mixed messages about the threat of the disease could reduce the uptake of jabs.The booster campaign is set to begin on 5 September, with the new dual-variant Covid vaccine from Moderna among those to be administered. Continue reading...

Train operator under fire for dividend payment amid severe cuts on its west coast main lineThe worst-performing rail operator in Britain, which has severely cut back its services, is revealed to have paid out more than £11m in shareholder dividends last year.Avanti West Coast, the operator of the west coast mainline, provoked passenger outrage last week by cutting services. The number of trains running from London Euston to Manchester has fallen from three an hour to just one. Continue reading...

Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope to reprise their stage roles in The Collaboration, which depicts how the artists worked together in 1980s New YorkThey were “electric, eccentric, polar opposites” in 1980s New York: two of the greatest artists of the century who were brought together to stage an imaginary conversation in the smash hit Young Vic play The Collaboration, written by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten.Now the drama about Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat is about to transfer to Broadway and has been adapted for a major feature film that begins shooting next month. Continue reading...

Emergency services use SIM programme that embeds officers in clinical teams to manage patients who make repeat callsPolice forces and healthcare providers in different parts of the country are using or planning to resurrect a deeply controversial programme that critics say denies medical care to people having mental health crises.The plans are detailed in documents obtained by the Observer and Liberty Investigates, and come a year after the private firm running the programme took down its website following an outcry from campaigners. Continue reading...

Health authorities are urging the public to remain ‘vigilant’ for symptoms as the state recorded three cases of community transmission on Sunday

If domestic bills are climbing, so too are those of schools, sheltered housing and museums. We speak to the people grappling with the soaring costs of keeping vital services running this winterThe faint worry lines under Oona Goldsworthy’s eyes tell their own story. It has been a gruelling few weeks at the helm of Brunelcare, a charity that provides sheltered housing to 1,400 people and runs seven care homes in Bristol and Somerset. Continue reading...

Repeated questioning of Nationals leader over when he knew about Morrison taking on resources portfolio provided confusing results

Britain has a duty to speak out over Salma al-Shehab, who tweeted on women’s rights, foreign secretary toldThe foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has been urged to intervene in the “outrageous” case of a Leeds University student jailed in Saudi Arabia for 34 years over her use of Twitter.Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central, said the UK had a “duty” to press for the release of Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi national who had been living in Britain and was detained after returning to visit family last year. Continue reading...

Former Nationals leader says he did not want to ‘go into bat’ on the increased powers out of concern Nationals may lose previously negotiated gains

New $14m healthcare project is expected to ease the pressure on Victoria’s health system as it continues to buckle under demand

President urges Ukrainians to stay vigilant as they mark independence from Soviet rule; curfew to be extended in Kharkiv as tensions mount

UK Ministry of Defence say ‘increasingly frequent’ attacks behind the frontline are also affecting air basing

Worried locals lambast Sevastopol’s governor after attack on region once regarded as impregnableA Ukrainian drone hit the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea this weekend, the latest assault on a region Moscow once considered an impregnable fortress.Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the Sevastopol military base on Saturday morning, and city residents were urged to stay at home immediately after the strike, the latest in a string of high-profile attacks on sensitive targets there and inside Russia. Continue reading...

Katarina Carroll declined invitation on same day police said they will ‘fully cooperate’ with domestic violence inquiry

Shares down a third after retailer issues profit warning, blaming hot weather and cost of living crisisShares in the struggling high street retailer Joules plunged by more than a third after it issued a profit warning blaming the summer heatwave for plunging sales of clothing such as jackets, knitwear and Wellington boots.The company, whose share price has slumped by 90% over the last year, said that it is seeing consumers look for discount clothes “amidst a heavily promotional environment” as overall demand weakens due to the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Under-fire firm given performance and management fees despite being worst-performing rail operatorThe under-fire rail operator Avanti West Coast has been “rewarded for failure”, Labour said, after the company was paid more than £17m in taxpayers’ money by ministers for performance and management fees in just two years, despite being the worst-performing operator on the rail network.The figures from 2019-20 and 2020-21 include almost £4m in bonuses to Avanti for “operational performance”, “customer experience” and “acting as a good and efficient operator”. Continue reading...

MPs from Les Républicains party had called for controls on annual payments to low-income households to ‘combat fraud’Rightwing opposition MPs in France have been accused of stigmatising the poor by suggesting low-income families are fraudulently using an allowance for school supplies.The government spokesperson Olivier Véran said claims some families spent the money on televisions and alcohol were “discrimination” and “an old chestnut”. Continue reading...

Australia’s transport workers union says company’s move shows gig model of work ‘will pervade every aspect of our lives’

Health sector says many people could be forced to skip meals to afford to heat their homes as cap on energy costs set to riseHealth sector leaders have warned the UK faces a “humanitarian crisis” of worsening health outcomes unless the government does more to help with rising energy costs.Families are looking ahead to a grim winter as experts predict the cap on energy bills will hit close to £3,600 a year from October, before rising again next year. Continue reading...

Shortly after apologising to Karen Andrews for secretly shadowing her ministry, Scott Morrison takes to social media to share jokey posts

Park officials are investigating the discovery, spotted in Abyss Pool in the southern part of the national parkAn investigation is under way after a Yellowstone employee spotted part of a foot, in a shoe, floating in a hot spring in the national park.The discovery was made on Tuesday at Abyss Pool, in the southern part of Yellowstone, and led to the temporary closure of the West Thumb Geyser Basin and its parking lot. The area has since reopened. Continue reading...

Hadi Matar, 24, ordered held without bail in western New York on second-degree attempted murder and assault chargesThe man accused of stabbing novelist Salman Rushdie last week in western New York pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges on Thursday.Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of wounding Rushdie, 75, on Friday just before the author of The Satanic Verses was to deliver a lecture on stage at an educational retreat near Lake Erie. Rushdie was hospitalized with serious injuries in what writers and politicians around the world decried as an attack on the freedom of expression. Continue reading...

Girl, 13, among dead as violent storms strike after three days of intense rain in regionViolent thunderstorms with winds of up to 139mph (224km/h) have struck the Mediterranean island of Corsica and parts of Italy, killing seven people and leaving at least a dozen more injured.On Corsica, a 13-year-old girl died after a tree fell on a campsite where she was staying and a 72-year-old woman was killed when the roof of a beach hut was blown off and struck her car. A 46-year-old man also died on the island in a campsite in the town of Calvi. Continue reading...

Council on the Ageing says doctors who charge consultation fee for prescription for older people should be called out

Exclusive: President José Ramos-Horta says his country’s leadership ‘has to make decisions … if necessary a trip to China’

Government will also support mass vaccination events for at-risk communities and offer more antiviral treatment for those infectedThe Biden administration will accelerate the distribution of monkeypox vaccines by providing an additional 1.8m doses, as well as taking other steps to address the rapidly spreading disease amid criticism of the government’s slow response.The new doses will accelerate the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) previous timeline, and HHS also announced a new program to coordinate additional doses for states and local health departments organizing mass events for at-risk communities, said the White House monkeypox response coordinator, Bob Fenton, during a morning briefing on Thursday. Continue reading...

Prosecutors say former SNP politician made several journeys after being told to self-isolate in September 2020The MP Margaret Ferrier has pleaded guilty at Glasgow sheriff court to breaching Covid rules by travelling on a train between Scotland and London after being told to self-isolate in September 2020.The former Scottish National party politician, who now sits as an independent MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, was suspended from her party after the rule-breaking came to light in October 2020. Continue reading...

People locked in at Lake District stop after 100 minute-delay on one of UK’s worst performing rail servicesOne of the UK’s worst performing train operators has launched an investigation after passengers had to climb over a 7ft (2.1 metre) spiked fence to leave a station when staff locked up early.The Avanti West Coast train from London was 100 minutes late arriving into Oxenholme on Tuesday night, by which time staff had locked the station and left for the night, passengers said. Some resorted to climbing the fence in scenes described by the local MP, Tim Farron, as “an unacceptable farce”. Continue reading...

Brazen strikes by organised crime leaders have left bystanders killed as many question the president’s security policiesFor Carlos Holguín it was supposed to be just another day of toil.After leaving the factory where he works morning shifts in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez, the 24-year-old began his nightly routine last Thursday as a food app delivery driver. Continue reading...

Inquiry hears Katarina Carroll was asked if a summons was needed for her to appear

Warrnambool-based independent will challenge Liberal MP Roma Britnell in the seat of South-West Coast

Straight Talk participants say ‘empowering’ summit at Parliament House will help build community leadership

Former Manchester United player tearful in court as he talks of arrest for allegedly head-butting ex-girlfriend Kate GrevilleRyan Giggs broke down in tears in court on Wednesday as he said that spending a night in the police cells was “the worst experience of [his] life”.The former Manchester United and Wales player became emotional as he was asked to describe the evening he was arrested for allegedly head-butting his then girlfriend Kate Greville on 1 November 2020. Continue reading...

Treasurer’s report describes last year as ‘difficult and demanding’ but says return to normal operations is expectedLabour lost more than 91,000 members last year and recorded a £4.8m deficit, caused by staff redundancies, a drop in membership subscriptions and ongoing legal battles with former staff members.But the party also raised significantly more than the Conservatives over the course of last year, bringing in more £45m compared with about £31m by the Tories. Continue reading...

Firefighters attending blaze in Southwark as buildings evacuated and locals told to keep windows shutTrain services have been disrupted and buildings evacuated due to a large fire causing “bursts of black smoke” under railway arches in central London.Ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters were called to the blaze in Union Street, Southwark, on Wednesday morning, where the railway arch was completely alight, according to London fire brigade. Continue reading...

Analysis: Northern Ireland has few Tory party members but they have plenty of difficult questions to trip up the leadership hopefulsThe mere fact that a Tory leadership hustings is taking place in Northern Ireland at all is enough to raise eyebrows among Conservative party members elsewhere, looking across the Irish Sea at a local party believed to number just a few hundred.But few are likely to begrudge a moment in the sun for the Northern Irish Conservatives, who have long faced an uphill struggle. A Stormont candidate in 2017 got just 27 first preference votes, languishing last behind a Christian activist who wanted to criminalise adultery. Continue reading...

Ministers accepted urgency of need of those infected in 1970s and 1980s, who are dying at the rate of one every four days

College of Policing for England and Wales is planning policies to deal with harassment and racism in forces after string of scandalsPolice leaders have admitted officers were kept on duty who should be sacked as they launched a promised crackdown on those who attack, abuse or harass women.A series of scandals have rocked confidence in policing, with its leaders under pressure to do more to eliminate what one police chief called “toxic behaviour and [a] damaging culture”. Continue reading...