World news | The Guardian

Industrial action will begin on 5 September with barristers asking for a 25% pay rise for legal aid workCriminal barristers in England and Wales have voted in favour of an all-out strike next month in a clash with the government over jobs and pay.Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), who have been stopping work on alternate weeks since June, voted for an uninterrupted strike that would start on 5 September, a spokesperson confirmed. Continue reading...

Mark Speakman says he’s spent ‘hundreds of hours’ trying to get cabinet support for reforms from Howard inquiry

Bourke set to present The Last Taboo on history of ‘sex between humans and animals’ at Sydney festival but NSW minister wants it scrapped

Growers’ recovery from floods boosts vegetable availability at supermarkets with prices to ease further into spring and summer

Commission examining responses to domestic violence says Katarina Carroll’s appearance led to ‘further communications’ from officers

Court documents allege supermarket in Victoria did not have crowd control and encouraged a ‘sense of urgency’ among customers

Expert says exam results will likely mirror A-levels and remain above what they were in 2019More pupils will fail their GCSEs this year and top grades are expected to fall as results return to pre-pandemic levels, an education expert has predicted.There could be 230,000 fewer top grades in the UK compared with 2021, but 230,000 more than 2019, according to Prof Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at the University of Buckingham. Continue reading...

Judge says Star must also pay $35,000 interest, ruling casino’s failure to initially pay out win was ‘misconceived and breached the contract’ of wager

Somali social media has been flooded with tributes to the man better known as ‘Hadraawi’Messages of condolences continue to pour in from around the world following the death of Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, regarded as one of Somalia’s greatest poets.Warsame, better known as “Hadraawi”, died in Hargeisa, in Somaliland, on Thursday at the age of 79.The snake sneaks in the castle:although it’s carpeted with thorns Continue reading...

The chances of breakdowns are mitigated with food, but increased with the addition of siblingsLong traffic jams, bickering siblings, extreme boredom – most parents will know the signs to look out for when trying to prevent a full-blown backseat temper tantrum on a family holiday.Now a statistician has calculated the exact formula for predicting the chances, and timing, of children throwing a tantrum in the back of a car during a long journey. Continue reading...

Suggestion of activities to help improve mental and physical health part of wider movement of ‘social prescribing’GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health.The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities. Continue reading...

Exclusive: internal concerns raised over effect of proposals as broadcaster seeks to make £500m in savingsThe BBC’s plan to merge its two rolling news channels could suffer a setback this week when staff publish a damning report that claims the move will have a negative effect on news coverage across BBC radio, TV and online.The corporation is also braced for the regulator, Ofcom, to make a key announcement about the proposal, while some charities have already aired their concerns. Continue reading...

The show of force is expected to prompt an angry response from Pyongyang and follows failure of Trump-era policy of engagementThe US and South Korea have begun their biggest joint military drills in years – a show of force that is expected to raise tensions with an increasingly hostile North Korea.The exercises, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, are being seen as a sign of the allies’ determination to restore large-scale training after they cancelled some regular drills and scaled down others to facilitate nuclear talks, and because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading...

The Brothers of Italy has further impeded access to abortion in the Marche region – a policy it could replicate nationally if it wins powerWhen Giulia, 20, discovered she was pregnant she immediately decided that she wasn’t ready to have a baby. Supported by her boyfriend and family, she sought medical advice in her home town in Italy’s central Marche region on how to obtain an abortion. She faced obstacles at every turn, from telephones not being answered and surgeries being closed, to one doctor who tried to persuade her to change her mind.Abortion in Italy was legalised via a referendum in 1978, overturning an outright ban enforced by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini who deemed it a crime against the Italian race, but the high number of gynaecologists who refuse to terminate pregnancies for moral reasons – 64.6%, according to 2020 data – has meant women still encounter huge difficulties in accessing safe procedures. Continue reading...

Prime minister says there is a ‘fundamental weakness in checks and balances’ and he will consider if a formal inquiry is needed

The country would run out within two months of a major disruption. Here are five ways to reduce vulnerability

UAE scaled back ties with the Islamic republic after Iranian protests over Saudi Arabia’s execution of cleric Nimr al-NimrThe United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that its ambassador to Tehran would resume duties within days, six years after ties were downgraded in support of Saudi Arabia.Ambassador Saif Mohammed al-Zaabi “will resume his duties at the UAE embassy in the Islamic republic of Iran in the coming days to contribute to further advancing bilateral relations”, the Emirati foreign ministry said in a statement. Continue reading...

Vitali, who gave up acting to become the demanding director’s right-hand man, died in Los Angeles on Friday

Thirty-one-year-old who has taken part in three Commonwealth Games is in a coma and on life supportThe Team GB decathlete Ben Gregory is on life support after being involved in a serious cycling accident.Gregory, 31, who has represented Wales at three Commonwealth Games – Delhi 2010, Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 – is in a coma after suffering a fractured skull and neck and brain haemorrhages. Continue reading...

Study shows median CEO package has surpassed pre-pandemic levels with rate 109 times that of average UK workerChief executives of the UK’s 100 biggest companies have seen their pay jump by 39% to an average of £3.4m, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).The median average pay of CEOs of companies in the FTSE 100 index rose to £3.4m in 2021, compared with £2.5m in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when many bosses took a voluntary pay cut as they placed millions of employees on furlough. CEO pay has also surpassed the £3.25m median recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. Continue reading...

BBC show will also return to Blackpool Tower ballroom after two-year break in new series launching next monthStrictly Come Dancing will return to Blackpool after a two-year absence and this year’s series will feature a special themed week to celebrate 100 years of the BBC, the broadcaster has announced.The 20th series of the BBC show will see 15 celebrity contestants, including the TV presenter Helen Skelton, EastEnders actor James Bye, singer Fleur East and former England footballer Tony Adams, taking to the dancefloor. Continue reading...

The shadow climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, says energy strategy could save Britons £11bn in three yearsPensioners will go cold and energy bills will stay high unless the next Tory prime minister makes insulating homes a “national mission” that could save people £11bn in three years, Ed Miliband has said.The shadow climate change secretary said Britain is facing a “cost of living emergency” partly caused by the Conservatives’ failure to insulate homes. Continue reading...

Kyiv denies any involvement in death of daughter of ultranationalist Russian ideologue Alexander DuginUkraine is bracing itself for an intensification of Russian missile attacks to coincide with its independence day on Wednesday in the aftermath of the car-bomb killing of the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue.The country’s military warned that Russia had put five cruise missile-bearing warships and submarines out in the Black Sea and that Moscow was positioning air defence systems in Belarus. Large gatherings have been banned in Kyiv for four days from Monday. Continue reading...

Six weeks on from her disappearance, police say they are carefully studying 40,000 hours of CCTV footage

Controversial plan to fly people from occupied West Bank to Turkey has been pausedA controversial plan to allow Palestinians to fly to Turkey from southern Israel’s Ramon airport has been shelved on the eve of the first scheduled departure.Israel’s airport authority announced earlier this month that Ramon in the Negev desert, near the Red Sea city of Eilat, would begin allowing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to travel on Turkish-operated flights to Antalya and Istanbul from 22 August. Continue reading...

Deloitte employment forecast adds to calls to improve pathways to permanency for skilled migrants and expand humanitarian visa program

Staff from newspaper that rails against ‘militant trade unions’ will join sister outlets in striking on FridayThe Daily Express has repeatedly warned its readers that “militant trade unions” are bringing Britain to its knees – but this week many of the newspaper’s own staff will go on strike in protest at the outlet’s low pay.They will join journalists at sister outlets including the Daily Mirror, the Daily Star and dozens of local newspapers in striking on Friday. It marks the start of a month of industrial action designed to disrupt production at the news outlets, which are all owned by publishing giant Reach. Continue reading...

Scrapping of colonial-era section 377A law hailed as ‘a win for humanity’ by LGBTQ+ rights groupsSingapore will repeal a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, a landmark decision described by LGBTQ+ groups as “a win for humanity”.In a national address on Sunday, the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said that scrapping section 377A of the penal code would bring the law into line with current social attitudes and “provide some relief to gay Singaporeans”. Continue reading...

Police arrest 17-year-old boy, 15-year-old girl and two 16-year-old boys after man is stabbed in TonbridgeFour teenagers, including a 15-year-old girl, have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a man in Kent.Police were called to a location on or near Avebury Avenue in the market town of Tonbridge, Kent, just before 1am on Friday after a man in his 20s was stabbed. Continue reading...

Hôtel Lambert auction includes a silver tureen given by Catherine the Great and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s sofaIt has been described as the “sale of the century”, an auction of more than 1,300 pieces of 17th to 20th-century furniture, art, jewels and interior decoration from one of Paris’s grandest mansions.The provenance of items reads like a scroll through the history of European aristocracy: a sofa belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; a silver tureen given by Catherine the Great to her lover Count Orlov; candelabras believed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour, King Louis XV’s mistress. Continue reading...

Vulnerable people left alone in rooms for 24 hours a day and denied showers for a week as number of vacancies grows to 165,000

Occupants of Bentley Continental, thought to have been two males, fled after collision in north LondonTwo people are being hunted by police after a Bentley Continental was involved in a serious crash in north London which left a 12-year-old girl with life-threatening injuries.Officers were called to the collision between the Bentley and a Vauxhall Astra on Colney Hatch Lane, Barnet, at 10.12pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

Oil and gas division at Jim Ratcliffe’s had reported loss of £226m in 2020Billionaire Brexiter Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company Ineos has made an almost £500m profit thanks to soaring energy prices that are hammering struggling households.Ineos UK E&P Holdings, the oil and gas division of Ratcliffe’s empire, reported a profit of £474m in 2021 compared with a loss of £226m in 2020, according to new filings at Companies House. Continue reading...

In Sunday Telegraph interview, 89-year-old reveals taste for rap, including Eminem, and tells of being a music teacher in HullThe Duchess of Kent has revealed a weakness for gangsta rap – citing Ice Cube as one of her favourites.The Duchess, more informally known as Katharine Kent, also revealed her fondness for another rapper, Eminem, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, in which she also spoke about the 13-year-long career as a music teacher she enjoyed in Hull after stepping back from public life. Continue reading...

At security debriefings, Aimen Dean and his family fell in love with the Highlands. Three years later, they feel rejected

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...