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Regulators say ‘scientific issues’ warrant further review of its decision to bar products from sale in USThe Food and Drug Administration will continue to allow Juul to sell its products while the vaping company appeals a recent ban, the agency said on Tuesday.The FDA wrote on Twitter that there were “scientific issues” warranting additional review of the agency’s ruling last month, which ordered the company to remove its e-cigarettes from the US marketplace. Continue reading...

In speech to divided parliament, Élisabeth Borne tries to court opposition parties to avoid deadlockFrance is to renationalise its indebted electricity giant EDF in response to the energy crisis aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, has said.Borne vowed to limit the impact of rising energy prices despite the political turmoil of Emmanuel Macron losing control of parliament in recent legislative elections. Continue reading...

Increases reported in countries including Greece, Spain, France and Germany as Omicron variant BA.5 spreadsHolidaymakers heading to and from the European mainland are being warned of a growing incidence of coronavirus, especially in tourist hotspots, which risks hampering travel plans.Health officials are calling in some cases for a reintroduction of face masks and other measures, and are urging travellers to exercise personal responsibility, warning that an escalation of the virus could lead to the swift return of restrictions. Continue reading...

UK pharmaceutical to spin off brands such as Sensodyne, Voltaren and Panadol into Haleon in largest listing since 2011Investors in the British pharmaceuticals giant GSK have voted to approve a demerger of its consumer brands into a new company, Haleon, firing the starting gun on the largest London stock market listing in a decade.Shares in Haleon are scheduled to start trading on Monday 18 July, after investors in GSK – previously GlaxoSmithKline – voted to approve the demerger. The FTSE 100 company won 99.8% of the votes cast at a general meeting on Wednesday at a hotel by London’s Heathrow airport. Continue reading...

CMA looks into whether firm gives own sellers unfair advantage over third-party rivalsThe UK competition watchdog has launched an investigation into whether Amazon has been giving its own brands and those using its logistics services unfair advantage over third-party rivals on its online marketplace.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it opened an investigation on Tuesday amid concerns the US tech corporation’s practices on its UK marketplace may be anti-competitive and could result in a worse deal for customers. Continue reading...

IOPC tells force to apologise to family of teenager who was found dead two weeks after going missingThe family of a vulnerable black teenager who went missing and then was found dead were failed by the Metropolitan police when they most needed them, the police watchdog has found.The desperate family of Richard Okorogheye, 19, were told by one call handler: “If you can’t find your son, how do you expect us to?” which the Met has accepted was insensitive. Continue reading...

MPs write letter expressing fear that policy advisers may be opposing regulation of gambling industryMPs will this week write to the prime minister to voice concern that No 10 policy advisers with past ties to the gambling industry may be opposing tougher regulation designed to protect vulnerable people and addicts.It comes as Guardian analysis reveals that the industry lavished £280,000 on MPs in the run-up to an overhaul of gambling laws, which were expected to be published next week. Continue reading...

Refugee agency releases figure as Donetsk governor urges people to leave after more civilian deaths

Could Michael Gove strike again as he did in 2016? And who is positioning to be the PM’s possible successor?Latest politics news – liveBoris Johnson has lost Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak, but where do some of his other key ministers stand on the loyalty spectrum? And who is most likely to walk next? Continue reading...

Rocco Morabito is part of the ’Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, which does billions of euros in cocaine businessA convicted mobster who was one of Italy’s most-wanted fugitives and reputedly one of the world’s most powerful drug brokers, has arrived in Rome, following his extradition from Brazil after 28 years on the lam.Rocco Morabito held the No 2 position on the list of Italy’s most wanted and dangerous mobsters. He was convicted two decades ago in absentia of drug trafficking as part of the ’Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, which does billions of euros in cocaine business. Continue reading...

‘I went to help people,’ says Togolese boy, who was among 71 survivors rescued nine days after boat sank, killing at least 30The actions of a teenager from Togo have been lauded after video footage was published of him supporting a baby he saved from a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea last week in which at least 30 people died.The 17-year-old, whose identity has not been disclosed, swam to save the child, whom he was holding above water when a rescue team arrived, in footage published by the French media group Brut. Continue reading...

Inmates on the run after gunmen armed with explosives attack prison near capital AbujaHundreds of prisoners including scores of detained terrorists were on the run in Nigeria after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a prison near the capital, Abuja.Gunmen armed with explosives blasted into Kuje medium-security prison, on the outskirts of Abuja at about 10pm on Tuesday, freeing 600 of the prison’s 994 inmates, government officials said. Continue reading...

A toxic combination of climate emergency, conflict and Covid is pushing some of the poorest countries into an acute hunger crisisGlobal hunger toll soars by 150m as Covid and war make their markThe world is in the grip of an unprecedented hunger crisis. A toxic combination of climate crisis, conflict and Covid had already placed some of the poorest countries under enormous strain, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent grain and fuel prices soaring.“We thought it couldn’t get any worse,” said David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), in June. “But this war has been devastating.” Continue reading...

Tenth of world’s population now chronically undernourished, with spectre of widespread famine drawing ever closer, warns reportFamine: what is it, where will it strike and how should we respond?The number of people going hungry in the world has risen by 150 million since the start of the Covid pandemic, the UN has said, warning that the food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks pushing the worst-hit countries into famine.Globally, the number suffering from chronic undernourishment rose to as many as 828 million last year, a rise of about 46 million on the previous year, and three times that increase if measured since the world shut down due to Covid, a report has found. Continue reading...

Leena Manimekalai’s Kaali is the latest of scores of works being censored by the nationalist governmentAn Indian film director is facing multiple police cases for “hurting religious sentiments” over the poster for her new film, which depicts the Hindu goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette and clutching an LGBTQ+ flag.Leena Manimekalai, an Indian film-maker currently based in Canada, was attacked online with thousands of threats of violence, rape and death after the poster of her short film, Kaali, which was aired in the Canadian city of Toronto on the weekend, went viral on social media. Continue reading...

Judge rules in case of Saudi diplomat who allegedly forced Filipino worker to wear a bell 24 hours a dayThe UK’s highest court has ruled that diplomats who exploit domestic workers in conditions of modern slavery cannot rely on diplomatic immunity to prevent compensation claims.Describing exploitation of migrant domestic workers by foreign diplomats as a “significant problem”, the supreme court ruled by a majority of three to two that exploitation of a domestic worker for profit falls within the “commercial activity” exemption to immunity under the diplomatic convention. Continue reading...

Labour leader says Conservative MPs backing Boris Johnson do not have ‘a shred of integrity’Keir Starmer has accused Conservative MPs and ministers of complicity in propping up a prime minister with a history of indefensible behaviour, as he condemned and mocked what he called the “dying spectacle” of Boris Johnson’s political career.Focusing in particular on Johnson’s decision earlier this year to promote Chris Pincher to be deputy chief whip, despite a known history of sexually predatory behaviour, Starmer said any Tory MPs still backing Johnson did not have “a shred of integrity”. Continue reading...

Atagi will brief the health minister, Mark Butler, on Thursday after agreeing to recommend the expansion of Australia’s Covid vaccine program

Country hails ‘monumental step’ towards expanding reproductive rights at a time when the US has overturned themMinisters in Sierra Leone have taken a major step towards decriminalising abortion and overturning the country’s colonial-era law, in a move hailed by campaigners and women’s rights activists.President Julius Maada Bio said his cabinet had unanimously backed a bill on risk-free motherhood, which would expand access to abortion in a country where terminations are only permitted when a mother’s life is at risk. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s next steps hard to call due to unreliability of his logic and desire to act in interest of Tory partyBy any normal metric it is fair to say Boris Johnson is doomed, given the scale of ministerial resignations and the number of backbench MPs publicly withdrawing their support. While Johnson has often defied normal political rules, it does seem a matter of when he is ousted from No 10 rather than if. But how? Here are some scenarios. Continue reading...

Children’s minister Will Quince and parliamentary aide Laura Trott resign as support for PM drains away

NSW has confirmed 11 cases and health authorities are urging people to be aware of symptoms

Complex in Alicante, sanctioned for breaking competition rules, to begin productions later this yearOne of Spain’s most notorious and costly white elephants, the Ciudad de la Luz (City of Light) film studios in Alicante, is to get a new lease of life 10 years after it was forced to shut by the European Union on grounds of unfair competition.The Valencian regional government has announced that the studios will reopen with productions expected to begin later this year. Brussels had banned it from operating until 2027 after production companies, including Pinewood Studios in London, complained that government subsidies broke EU competition rules. Continue reading...

Defence minister announces move as ‘we have no reason to think Russia will change its behaviour’

Director rejects fears that the sequel to record-breaking 2009 blockbuster will be met with apathy, since ‘people binge-watch TV for eight hours!’James Cameron has pre-empted fears that his forthcoming sequel to 2009’s Avatar will be met with apathy when it’s released in December.Speaking to Empire, Cameron addressed the frequent criticism of the original film that few can remember the name – Jake Sully – of its protagonist, played by Sam Worthington. Continue reading...

Girl, 16, had been taken into care by Blackpool council, which has made an official complaintLancashire police threatened to shoot a suicidal 16-year-old girl on a motorway bridge with a Taser and then accused her of wasting police time, a court has heard.The girl, identified as HT, had “highly complex needs” and was living in an unregistered private children’s home at the time, where staff referred to her as a “wild animal”. Continue reading...

Foreign minister confirms Australia’s willingness to engage with China but insists ‘coercive’ trade sanctions must be scrapped

Norwegian government intervenes in pay row because of ‘great social consequences for whole of Europe’The Norwegian government has stepped in to end a strike that had threatened supplies of gas to Britain.The labour dispute had shut down oil and gasfields and was expected to cut Norway’s gas supplies by almost 60% by the weekend. Continue reading...

74-year-old guitarist says he ‘forgot to eat and drink water so dehydrated and passed out’The US guitarist Carlos Santana has recovered after collapsing on stage during a concert in suburban Detroit on Tuesday.The audience was reportedly initially told of a serious medical issue and asked to pray for the 74-year-old musician, but Santana was treated swiftly and was seen waving to fans as he was wheeled off stage. He was taken to a local hospital for observation. Continue reading...

UK media react to the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, and where that leaves the PM

BookTrust which ran the awards said its limited resources would now be directed to disadvantaged familiesThe decision to axe the Blue Peter book awards has been labelled by authors and agents as “devastating” and a “horrible loss” for the books industry, in particular for children’s publishing.The prize, which was awarded to both fiction and non-fiction books for children and promoted through the eponymous children’s TV show, had been running for 22 years. It was announced on Tuesday that the 2022 awards, the winners of which were announced in March, were the last. Continue reading...

Detector dogs will operate at some airports and biosecurity officers will begin boarding flights from Indonesia to try to stop the livestock virus arriving here

The TGA’s ‘provisional determination’ for two vaccines comes as BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants drive new wave of Covid cases

Landlords seeking to recoup rising borrowing costs, more households being formed and fewer homes being built, experts sayRents have risen at the fastest rate for 14 years as Australia’s landlords seek to recoup costs in the face of rising interest rates and higher inflation.According research firm CoreLogic’s quarterly rental review, the national rental index increased 0.9% in the month to June and 2.9% over the June quarter. Continue reading...

Police in five European countries uncover criminal network believed to have smuggled 10,000 people in last 18 monthsA smuggling operation that police believe illegally sent 10,000 people across the Channel over the last 18 months has been uncovered after a coordinated operation across five European countries.In what is believed to be the biggest investigation ever launched to stop small boat crossings, hundreds of officers from the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany staged dawn raids, resulting in dozens of arrests. Continue reading...

Firefighters trained in movement minimisation since 1980s but method can be time consuming and cost lives

Traditional owners urge Geneva panel to hold Western Australia and business accountable for cultural damage and fostering ‘chaos’ in Burrup Peninsula

Plans for Surrey stately home will allow visitors to see ‘raw power and poetic beauty’ of damaged buildingClandon Park, an elegant 18th-century stately home that was gutted in a fire in 2015, is to be mainly conserved as a ruin rather than restored to its former Palladian glory.Plans by the National Trust, which has owned the Grade I-listed house since 1956, will allow visitors to see the “raw power and poetic beauty” of the building after the flames stripped away panelling and plasterwork and brought down floors, said Kent Rawlinson, the project director. Continue reading...

Officials investigate irregularities in poultry and pig waste exports to Ireland, as ammonia risks turning soil into a ‘wasteland’Ireland has become a “toilet” for cross-border pollution, say campaigners, as officials investigate allegations around the movement of animal manure from Northern Ireland.Northern Ireland has the highest stocking density of livestock in the UK, with 25 million poultry birds, and intensive pig numbers at a 10-year high. But the disposal of animal waste and increasing levels of pollution may now halt the expansion of its multi-billion pound export-driven industry. Continue reading...

One Auckland school has taken dozens of pupils off its register amid fears some are forced to find work as cost of living crisis hitsNew Zealand school principals are raising the alarm that students are falling off the rolls, as a wave of absenteeism follows the disruption of Covid-19.In 2021, schools in Auckland and parts of the North Island were shut down for weeks or months as the country went into lockdown. Since then, however, principals say a worrying number of students have not made it back to school, or are not attending regularly. Vulnerable students are falling through the gaps and disappearing, despite schools visiting homes and contacting families and neighbours to find them. Continue reading...

Former Labor frontbencher Greg Combet says group will examine viability of infrastructure investment opportunities as Australia tries to move past its reliance on China

Queensland police allege Elizabeth died at home after being denied life-saving medication in the belief songs and prayers would heal her

Lawyer tells court it would have been extraordinary if Dawson planned to kill his wife without even packing a suitcase to make it appear she had left

People are buying less, costs are up, and profits are dwindling for traders at Kaneshi market in AccraOn a quiet stretch amid the sprawling buzz of Kaneshie market in Accra, a group of traders sheltering under canopies from the blazing sun sell yams stacked along the roadside.Rita Oboh, 32, has worked the spot, or one nearby, since she was six, following in the footsteps of her mother who also traded yams. “My mother lived good, really good,” Oboh says with pride. “She built houses, she looked after everybody, her family, people who relied on her. She was successful.” Continue reading...

At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the magistrate said that while the charge was serious, the musicians’ circumstances were exceptional

PM defends his response to NSW floods crisis, saying federal Coalition didn’t ‘get the memo about the new politics’

Kevin Bugmy, who spent his life in state institutions and 36 years in prison, received inadequate care for solvent abuse problem that affected his ability to get parole

The prime minister’s son was arrested by police but released without charge, after police allegedly found a suitcase with AU$650,000 on another travellerPapua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has denied any connection to a suitcase containing PGK1.56m (AU$650,000) in cash that police found in Hela province, just as voting in the country’s election was about to start.Mospal Marape, the son of the prime minister, James Marape, was arrested after being found allegedly travelling with a man carrying a suitcase full of cash totalling PGK1.56m (AU$650,000) to Hela province, where voting in the country’s election kicked off this week. Continue reading...

The front pages are almost unanimous in declaring that the prime minister’s time in No 10 could be up soonAfter limping along in the wake of the Partygate investigation, multiple sex scandals and successive policy failures, Boris Johnson is approaching the endgame of his time in Downing Street, according to the papers.“On the brink”, “hanging by a thread” and “Last chance saloon” are just some of the metaphors employed by the headline writers to describe the prime minister’s predicament on Wednesday morning after he was deserted by two of his most senior cabinet ministers. Continue reading...

Education secretary replaces Sunak with Steve Barclay becoming the new health secretaryNicola Sturgeon asked Boris Johnson to discuss a fresh referendum on independence when the two spoke by phone on Monday evening. According to a Scottish government readout of their conversation, she warned him she would not be deterred if he refused to grant one.Downing Street has not yet issued a readout of the conversation – lobby reporters should get one at their morning briefing later. We do not know what the prime minister said in reply to Sturgeon’s request for permission to stage a referendum, under a section 30 order granted by the UK government. Johnson has yet to reply in writing to Sturgeon’s demand by letter that Holyrood gets that section 30 order.The two leaders agreed that a heads of government meeting will take place in the near future to discuss the current cost of living crisis. Both governments will work together to develop proposals ahead of that meeting to help those most in need of support.In discussing Scotland’s future the first minister again made clear that the Scottish government is ready and willing to negotiate a section 30 order to secure a referendum on independence but reiterated that the absence of a section 30 order will not mean Scotland is refused the democratic right to choose. Continue reading...