World news | The Guardian

Former prime minister tells inquiry no amount of money could compensate for what happenedCampaigners for victims of the infected blood scandal have been left “angry, annoyed and frustrated” at comments by the former prime minister Sir John Major, who said those affected had “incredibly bad luck”.To gasps from those present at the infected blood inquiry in London, Major suggested no amount of money could have offered true compensation for what happened. Continue reading...

Council says it called off Bindel’s talk at library because of her views on transgender rightsJulie Bindel, the veteran feminist and lesbian activist, has said she intends to take legal action after a council cancelled a talk she was due to give.Bindel was scheduled to speak at Aspley library in Nottingham on Saturday but the 90-minute event was cancelled the day before. She says she found out when she was already on the train and ended up speaking in the library car park. Continue reading...

Company given support from fund set up by government to provide loans to startups during pandemicTaxpayers have become shareholders in Killing Kittens, a sex party organiser, alongside a business looking to bring airships back to the skies, as part of the fallout from a government rescue funding scheme set up during the coronavirus pandemic.The taxpayer-backed British Business Bank’s Future Fund, set up by the government to provide loans to startups during the pandemic, has spent about £1.14bn supporting 1,190 companies. Continue reading...

Sole surviving member of cell alleged to have carried out terrorist attacks insists ‘I’m not a killer’The sole surviving member of a cell alleged to have carried out the November 2015 terrorist bombings and shootings across Paris insisted he was not a killer, as the nine-month trial drew to a close.“I’ve made mistakes, but I’m not an assassin. I’m not a killer. If you convict me for murder you will be committing an injustice,” Salah Abdeslam told the special court in Paris on Monday. Continue reading...

Better controls on EU goods needed as impact of Covid and Russia-Ukraine war also put pressure on standardsThe UK is facing “significant risks” to the quality of food being imported and consumed as Brexit, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war put pressure on standards, British watchdogs have warned.Better controls are needed to ensure the quality of “higher-risk” food coming from the EU post-Brexit – such as meat, dairy, eggs and feed – and to avoid “potential safety incidents”, a report by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) said. Continue reading...

About half of city’s decorative fountains targeted amid state of emergency in Lombardy regionAuthorities in Milan are turning off public fountains amid warnings of daytime water rationing as Italy battles one of its worst droughts in decades.The measure, which comes after the wider Lombardy region declared a state of emergency, targets about half of the city’s 100 decorative fountains, with the plug already pulled on several over the weekend and the rest to be switched off in the coming days. Continue reading...

Missile hits busy shopping mall; Zelenskiy addresses G7 leaders via video link

Kremlin owes about $40bn but has been shut out of international financial system since invasion of UkraineRussia is poised to default on its debt for the first time since 1998, further alienating the country from the global financial system after sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.The country missed a deadline of Sunday night to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments of $100m (£81.2m) on two eurobonds originally due on 27 May, Bloomberg reported on Monday morning. Continue reading...

Coalition wins in seven of 13 provincial capitals including traditionally conservative VeronaItaly’s centre-left has secured a series of key wins in local election runoffs, including the traditionally conservative city of Verona, where a former international footballer has been elected mayor.The ballot was the last major test of the strength of political parties before general elections next year. Continue reading...

Tournament will run for full 14 days and record attendance expected after numbers cut by half last yearThousands of tennis fans will cheer on Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray at Wimbledon today as the tournament returns to full capacity for the first time in three years.The grounds will be packed with up to 42,000 people each day after crowds were slashed by 50% last year due to the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Analysis: as Soviet-era shells run low, Ukraine appeals for artillery that can use Nato shells, but deliveries are slow

Government plans to recruit several thousand from Turkey as airline industry struggles to meet demandGermany is planning to launch a temporary foreign workers scheme to offset acute staff shortages at the country’s airports over the summer months, ministers have said.The move would allow German airport service providers to recruit several thousand temporary workers from Turkey for several months from July, Bild newspaper reported on Sunday. Continue reading...

Aslef members on London Trams network reject 3% offer from operator FirstGroupTram drivers in south London are to become the latest rail staff to strike when they walk out for 48 hours on Tuesday in a dispute over pay.About 150 members of the Aslef union on the London Trams network, formerly known as the Croydon Tramlink, have rejected a 3% offer from operator FirstGroup. Continue reading...

US-brokered summit discusses shared threat of Tehran’s growing missile and drone capabilitiesTop military officials from Israel and Saudi Arabia have met in secret US-brokered talks to discuss defence coordination against Iran, according to a report.Delegations from Riyadh, as well as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt, met the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh in March, the Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday, citing US and regional officials. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UCLH says Great Ormond Street’s development of ageing site will endanger safety of patientsAn extraordinary row has broken out between two NHS hospital trusts, with one accusing the other of endangering the safety of seriously ill patients through a £190m development scheme.University College London hospital (UCLH) claims Great Ormond Street (GOSH) children’s hospital’s rebuilding of its ageing site will lead to patients being denied time-critical care because they will become stuck in ambulances trapped in construction site traffic. Continue reading...

Trapped warm air and high pressure result in country recording temperature of 40C for first time in the month of JuneThere were scorching conditions across Japan over the weekend, with the 40C threshold breached for the first time in the month of June. A temperature of 40.2°C was recorded on Saturday in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, north-east of Tokyo,which beat the previous June record of 39.8°C set in 2011. Several heatstroke alerts were in place across the region with people rushed to hospital for heat-related illnesses, with many older and young people succumbing to heat exhaustion.High pressure to the east of Japan over the Pacific induced a south to south-westerly airflow that brought warm air up from the equatorial region, which fuelled the high temperatures. High pressure over a number of days contributed to creating a “heat dome”, trapping the warmer air and helping temperatures rise day on day. Continue reading...

The actor has announced he will speak live online to the director on 28 JuneAlec Baldwin has announced he is to interview Woody Allen on Instagram Live on 28 June.The actor made the announcement on his own Instagram account, with a note which sought to pre-empt criticism of the move. Continue reading...

Omicron BA.4/BA.5 likely to become dominant coronavirus strains in Victoria as nation records at least 23 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

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New data reveals distances to GPs in some metropolitan areas can be more than 9km – and poor planning is to blame, researchers say

Public support has soared for the plain-speaking RMT leader who is leading the fight to protect his members’ living standardsAt 7 o’clock on Saturday morning, union boss Mick Lynch was once again on the picket line at Euston station in London, galvanising colleagues, talking tactics on the pay negotiations and conducting broadcast interviews.Until the biggest industrial action on the rail network for more than 30 years, few people would have even heard of Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). This weekend, he is a national figure. Continue reading...

A short but pivotal period of time that saw the Vixens edge the Giants 55-54 to reach the grand final epitomised the 2022 seasonSeventy-five seconds is not a lot of time. It’s not enough time for the world’s fastest runners to finish an 800-metre race. It’s barely enough time for an NRL team to score a try. Maybe if someone was really committed to saving water they could squeeze in a shower in that time.However, the last 75 seconds of Saturday night’s Suncorp Super Netball preliminary final was long enough for hearts to break, find hope and then explode with joy. Long enough for fans to scream in excitement, then in anguish, despair, belief and finally in agony. Long enough for both teams to believe multiple times that the place in the grand final was theirs and to also believe multiple times that all hope was lost. Continue reading...

Treasurer says it is ‘uncontroversial’ for unions to note that wage rises are below inflation, and suggests there may be a place for workers’ representative on RBA board

Vladimir Putin again raises nuclear threat during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as Olaf Scholz hosts G7 leaders to discuss energy and food crisisRussia will deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, President Vladimir Putin has said as he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.“In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said in a broadcast on Russian television at the start of his meeting with Lukashenko in St Petersburg on Saturday. Continue reading...

Lambie, Zali Steggall, One Nation and David Pocock have attacked the Albanese government’s decision, saying they may not support legislation if they don’t have the resources to understand it

Avon and Somerset police say victim died at scene in Charfield after being found badly injuredA man has died after an assault in a village in south Gloucestershire on Friday night, police said.Officers from Avon and Somerset police attended an address on Thames Close, Charfield, just before 11pm and found the victim, who had been badly injured. Continue reading...

Authorities concerned about riders speeding, mounting pavements and abandoning vehiclesAuthorities in Rome are to impose new electric scooter rules, such as restricting use to adults with ID, after a number of crashes and near-misses in the city.The e-scooter rental market has boomed in recent years, with 14,500 scooters currently available in the Italian capital, provided by seven licensed companies. Continue reading...

A survey has found the capital’s eateries to be the loudest in Europe and the second noisiest in the worldCutlery clanging on plates, chairs scraping across a hardwood floor, the boisterous anecdote of a half-cut raconteur: when it comes to restaurants, one person’s idea of a “good atmosphere” has another reaching for their earplugs.But for those who like their food served up along with the decibel levels of a motorbike or lawnmower, London is the place to be. Continue reading...

Zelenskiy welcomes approval of Ukraine’s application to join EU as ‘historic moment’ while battle for two key cities in eastern Ukraine edges towards ‘fearsome climax’

Simon Lightwood elected as MP in symbolic victory in ‘red wall’ seat won by Conservatives in 2019

Al Jazeera journalist not hit by indiscriminate firing from Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israel, it foundThe UN said on Friday that its findings showed that the shot that killed the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh on 11 May was fired by Israeli forces.The Palestinian-American journalist, who was wearing a vest and helmet marked “press”, was killed while covering an Israeli army operation in Jenin in the northern West Bank. Continue reading...

Watson, 41, evaded detection for over 20 years, changing his account as evidence against him piled upA 41-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years for the murder of the schoolboy Rikki Neave, who was found strangled in woods near Peterborough almost 28 years ago.James Watson, of no fixed abode, was convicted in April at the Old Bailey in London of the 1994 murder after a DNA breakthrough in 2016 revealed that, as a 13-year-old, he had been in physical contact with the six-year-old boy on the day of his disappearance. Continue reading...

Labour takes Wakefield and Lib Dems snatch Tiverton and Honiton, piling pressure on Boris Johnson

Billionaire’s plans to change direction of the media-focused organisation she funded sparked board unrest

Before war fatigue sets in further, a rethink needed to avoid a years-long conflictSpeaking at a private dinner in London recently, a senior serving British military officer argued the west had no choice but to see Ukraine as just one phase in a decade-long battle with Russia. “If Ukraine wins, Russia will never accept that. If Russia wins, it will go further,” he warned.Yet in Whitehall they fear the “F word” – fatigue – and worry that the west with its TikTok-attention span and bias towards instant gratification does not have the resolve for the years-long sacrifice required to defeat Russia, or even stem the military tide in the villages of eastern Ukraine. Continue reading...

Looking to exploit the cost of living crisis, fraudsters are posing as debt collectors acting on behalf of victimsScammers are attempting to exploit the cost of living crisis by targeting consumers whose energy supplier has collapsed, analysis by Which? has found.Former customers of bust suppliers including Solarplicity, Future Energy and Northumbria Energy have been singled out by fraudsters attempting to exploit the confusion caused by the companies’ failures, the consumer group said. Continue reading...

Former attorney general says ‘I am not sure we would have had a transition at all’ if investigation had not immediately taken placeDonald Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, thought Trump might have refused to leave office at all had the Department of Justice not immediately investigated and disproved his lies about electoral fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden.“I am not sure we would’ve had a transition at all,” Barr said, in startling video testimony played by the January 6 committee on Thursday. Continue reading...

Ike Ekweremadu and wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu appear in court in London after Heathrow arrestA Nigerian politician and his wife have been charged with plotting to traffic a homeless 15-year-old boy to Britain to harvest his organs.Ike Ekweremadu, 60, an opposition senator and former deputy senate president, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, appeared at Uxbridge magistrates court in west London on Thursday. Continue reading...

Vatican archive of 2,700 cases of requests for help by Jewish people renews debate on Pope Pius XII legacyPope Francis has ordered the online publication of 170 volumes of files relating to Jewish people from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, amid renewed debate about the legacy of the second world war-era pope.The archive of 2,700 cases “gathers the requests for help sent to Pope Pius XII by Jewish people … after the beginning of Nazi and fascist persecution”, said the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, Paul Richard Gallagher, in a statement. Continue reading...

Amanda and Paul Riesel were about to give up on their dream after nightmare three-day trip to SkyeIt was a perfectly imperfect wedding that has won the Scottish island of Skye an international reputation for kindness.Amanda and Paul Riesel flew more than 4,000 miles from Orlando, Florida, to get married on Skye, in the Highlands. Continue reading...

Liz Truss and Turkish foreign minister meet to discuss safe passage for convoy under UN plan

Artist Sandy Brown hopes people will grow to love sculpture described as ‘something out of Teletubbies’Towering above a square in the Cornish town of St Austell, it is the tallest ceramic sculpture in the UK and possibly the world, a south-west of England answer to the Angel of the North.But the installation this week of Earth Goddess, which is as high as two double decker buses on top of each other, has provoked a reaction commensurate with its scale. Continue reading...

Campaigners say government must invest in public transport to avoid worst impacts of global heatingClimate justice groups have joined RMT picket lines across the UK to support the rail strike and argue the government must invest in public transport to avoid the worst impacts of global heating.Hundreds of activists from several groups including Just Stop Oil, War on Want, Extinction Rebellion [XR] and Friends of the Earth Scotland have joined striking workers on more than 40 picket lines in towns and cities across the country, with more expected to turn out in the coming days. Continue reading...

UK’s former chief negotiator launches staunch defence of Brexit on sixth anniversary of EU referendumBrexit is working and anyone who says it has hit the economy and trade has an axe to grind, the former Brexit negotiator David Frost has said on the sixth anniversary of the UK voting to leave the EU.Lord Frost stopped short of painting a picture of “sunny uplands” but said official figures used to predict a 4% decline in output caused by Brexit were “zombie” numbers, based on academic studies of former communist countries, and not fact. Continue reading...

Education secretary denounces exam board’s decision to replace two poets in English literature courseShelley said “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”, but politicians may be more powerful after the education secretary attacked the removal of poems by Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen from a GCSE course as “cultural vandalism” and called for their reinstatement.Nadhim Zahawi denounced a decision by the OCR examination board to replace two works by Larkin and Owen from next year with a more diverse range of authors to be studied as part of its GCSE English literature course. Continue reading...

PM dismisses suggestion he should step down if his party loses Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton byelections

Exclusive: Leaked emails reveal complex with marble floors, a private brewery and a $10,000 bidet

Child’s case argued that practice of naming surrogate mother’s husband breached her human rightsA six-year-old British girl who was born to a surrogate mother using an anonymous donated egg and sperm from her biological father has lost her case in the European court of human rights to have her father named on her birth certificate.In a complex case where five people were involved in her birth – a same-sex male couple, one of whom is her biological father, a surrogate mother and her husband and the anonymous egg donor – the European court of human rights ruled the case was “manifestly unfounded”. Continue reading...

Merlino and ministers Martin Foley, Lisa Neville and Martin Pakula could announce their retirements Friday