World news | The Guardian

Electricity System Operator, the division that keeps the lights on in Britain, will form part of a new public bodyThe job of keeping the UK’s electricity and gas flowing will be returned to public control by 2024, under government plans for the effective nationalisation of a division of National Grid.A new public body, the “Future Systems Operator” will have responsibility for planning and managing energy distribution, with a focus on the challenges posed by decarbonisation. Continue reading...

Wife still in critical condition while second son stable after landslide while on holiday in AustraliaTributes have been paid to a British lawyer and his nine-year-old son killed in a landslide while on holiday in Australia.Mehraab Nazir, 49, had been hiking with his family in the Wentworth Pass area of the Blue Mountains, a national park west of Sydney, on Monday when they were caught in the rockslide. His body and that of his nine-year-old son was recovered the next morning. Continue reading...

Fears of ‘Stalinisation’ of society after Irina Gen was called in by spy agency and prosecuted over recorded message

William Renny, Callum Lewis and Evan Lorne pleaded guilty to public order offences at December hunt in LacockThree hunt supporters have been fined for public order offences after admitting clashing with saboteurs at a post-Christmas meet in Wiltshire.William Renny, 30, Callum Lewis, 26, and Evan Lorne, 18, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause unlawful violence. Continue reading...

John Lansdown seeking up to £76m, which he will use to set up trust to help fellow seafarersA former P&O Ferries chef is suing the company for £76m over its decision to sack almost 800 staff without notice last month.John Lansdown, the only seafarer to so far launch a legal action, has filed a tribunal claim against the company and its chief executive for unfair dismissal, racial discrimination and harassment. Continue reading...

People could write a message in a blank space on the census, to be read by future generations in 100 yearsSome were funny, some were angry, some were utterly heartbreaking and all were written in the same blank space of Ireland’s census form, a “time capsule” section.In what Ireland’s Central Statistics Office says is a world first, the official census left a blank space for people to leave messages for future generations. The voluntary section of the 27-page form is to be made public in 100 years but many people have shared their messages on social media. Continue reading...

EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urges bloc to send more arms to Ukraine to help end the war

Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian show empire of Russian steel barons Alexander Abramov and Aleksandr FrolovThe lavish wealth of Roman Abramovich’s business partners can be revealed today, including offshore investments in a Caribbean island resort, plans to redevelop a Marylebone church and a vast array of property in the UK and beyond.Documents seen by the Guardian detail the sprawling business empire controlled by the Russian billionaires Alexander Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov. Continue reading...

Nicholas Billingham was identified by dental records, says coroner, after teacher Fiona Beal charged with murderThe body of a man found buried in the back garden of a Northampton house was identified by dental records, an inquest has heard.Nicholas Billingham, 42, is believed to have died from a stab wound, a short hearing held by the assistant coroner for Northampton, Hassan Shah, was told. Continue reading...

British singer ‘neither deliberately nor subconsciously’ copied a phrase from song by Sami Chokri, judge saysEd Sheeran has won a high court battle over whether he plagiarised another artist’s track for his hit single Shape of You, the most streamed song in Spotify’s history.At a trial last month, Sheeran and his Shape Of You co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon, faced accusations that they ripped off the 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue. Continue reading...

Health charity in an ‘untenable position’ in anglophone parts of the country as it is accused of taking sides in internal strifeMedical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its work in Cameroon’s south-west region and demanded the release of four staff members who have been detained for months, accused of helping secessionists.Two MSF staff were detained at a checkpoint in December when they were transferring a patient with gunshot wounds. Another two were held by Cameroonian gendarmerie in January. Continue reading...

Programme reveals Savile produced PR handbook for royals, some of which was passed on to the QueenPrince Charles repeatedly sought the advice of Jimmy Savile, who was later revealed to have spent decades sexually abusing women and children, even going so far as to take his suggestions to the Queen, a documentary has claimed.Notes from the the Prince of Wales to Savile uncovered by the producers show that, over the course of about 20 years, Savile became an unofficial adviser to Charles. And they shed light on the extent to which the disgraced former television presenter was able to influence the highest offices of the British state before his death in 2011. Continue reading...

McCartney’s demo version of Attention, destined for Ringo Starr’s 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses, expected to sell for £10,000A previously unheard recording by Paul McCartney of his song Attention, later recorded by Ringo Starr, is going up for auction this month.The demo recording by McCartney was given to saxophonist Howie Casey, to reference ahead of the recording session for Starr’s 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses. Casey’s wife Sheila would also perform backing vocals on the finished version of Attention, alongside Linda McCartney. Continue reading...

Matthew Camenzuli expelled from Liberal party after seeking leave to appeal preselections ruling in high court; Scott Morrison says he has been ‘upfront with Australian people’ about running full term; Albanese calls Berejiklian a ‘straight talker’ after second round of leaked texts; at least 23 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Heathrow and Gatwick cancellations a result of staff shortages because of Covid

Health secretary defends 1.25-point rise criticised for placing too much burden on lower earnersThe increase in national insurance payments for millions of people already struggling to deal with the cost of living crisis is both right and fair, the health secretary has said.Sajid Javid said the levy of an extra 1.25 percentage points, due from Wednesday, was needed to pay for health and social care after the pandemic. Continue reading...

Singer, drummer and actor had five US Top 10 hits, and inspired the Beatles to write She Loves YouBobby Rydell, who enjoyed numerous US hits during the teen pop craze of the early 1960s, has died aged 79. He suffered complications from pneumonia, and died in hospital in his native Philadelphia.With songs of decorous romance sung in his clean, hearty voice, Rydell reached the US Top 10 five times – with We Got Love, Swingin’ School, his version of the standard Volare, Wild One (also a UK Top 10 hit) and Forget Him. The latter is believed to be the inspiration for the Beatles’ She Loves You after Paul McCartney said the song was inspired by an unnamed Rydell number. Continue reading...

Hospital trusts urge people to visit emergency departments in only ‘genuine life-threatening situations’Hospital trusts in Yorkshire have warned patients they may have to wait for up to 12 hours to be seen at accident and emergency (A&E), after a sharp increase in demand.The West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), which covers six hospitals in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, has issued a plea for patients to attend their local A&E only in “genuine life-threatening situations”. Continue reading...

Auditor general finds ‘Our Fair Share’ campaign and several Big Build advertisements breached laws

London show will aim to uncover rich history of women’s game and address historical imbalanceThe rich history of women’s football needs to be taken more seriously so future generations of fans can learn about its heritage, the curator of a new exhibition at London’s Design Museum has said.Eleanor Watson, the curator of Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, called for “a concerted effort on all sides” to address the historical imbalance in football history, which is hugely tipped in favour of men. Continue reading...

An image of the Nazi dictator was ‘unintentionally used’ in training material for police officers about coercive control

Acting premier accuses PM of not caring about flood victims after Morrison says resilience package ‘outside the scope’ of federal responsibility

British supermarkets revive battle over prices amid cost of living crisisTwo Lidl adverts claiming shoppers could make big savings compared with Tesco have been banned after a complaint from the rival discounter Aldi.The advertising watchdog said it was banning the ads, one of which claimed it was possible to save more than 35% and another 30% compared with Tesco prices on a range of Scottish-themed products, as they were “likely to mislead”. Continue reading...

Law Enforcement Conduct Commission recommends officer be demoted, but Aboriginal Legal Service calls for him to be fired and charged with assault

Report paints bleak picture of journalist safety under leader who often criticises media and downplays violence against reportersAttacks against the press in Mexico have increased by 85% since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office, making it the most deadly period for journalists since records began, according to a new report.Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists with 1,945 attacks – including 33 murders – between 2019 and 2021, according to the press freedom group Article 19. Another eight have been killed so far this year. Continue reading...

Petro Titenko was beaten, suffocated, shot at and left lying in a pit for hours after being captured

Inquiry has found unemployment a key compounding factor in people returning to jail

The good news is more places on offer in the first home guarantee scheme. The bad news could be higher mortgage repayments

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Karen Smart steps down after thousands of passengers miss flights due to hours-long queuesThe managing director of Manchester airport has quit following weeks of chaos in which thousands of passengers have missed their flights because of queues lasting up to seven hours.Karen Smart stepped down on Tuesday after coming under fierce criticism from airport staff as well as angry travellers. She had been in post for two years, the most turbulent time in aviation history. Continue reading...

Britain, US and Australia to cooperate on high-speed missiles to counter Russia and ChinaBritain will work with the US and Australia in developing nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons, after Russia used the deadly high-speed missiles in airstrikes last month during the war in Ukraine.The military agreement – endorsed by Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison – is a new element in the Aukus pact, originally announced last autumn to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra. Continue reading...

More than 250 diplomats and embassy workers now expelled since Moscow invaded Ukraine

Doubts about viability of plan after Ruth Davidson, Damian Green and Jeremy Hunt call for a rethinkBoris Johnson will struggle to get his plans to privatise Channel 4 through parliament after a backlash from within his party, senior Conservatives believe.The plans to raise £1bn-plus by selling off the state-owned channel sparked furious opposition from people such as Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, and former cabinet ministers Damian Green and Jeremy Hunt. Continue reading...

Royal Engineer survived landings and battles in France and went on to raise more than £50,000 for veteransThe D-day veteran Harry Billinge, who at 18 was one of the first British soldiers to land on Gold beach in 1944, has died the age of 96 after a short illness, his family have said.As a sapper attached to the 44 Royal Engineer Commandos, Billinge was one of only four men from his 10-man unit to survive the landings and subsequent battles in France, later fighting in Caen and the Falaise pocket in Normandy. Continue reading...

Analysis of the images date massacre to before Russian forces evacuated the Ukrainian citySatellite images showing bodies strewn across the streets of Bucha have provided a rebuttal to claims by the Russian state that Ukrainian forces placed dead people in the town in “staged provocation” after Russian forces had already withdrawn.The corpses’ positions on the photos, taken in mid-March, match those from smartphone pictures published in early April, allowing the massacre to be precisely dated to before Russian forces evacuated the town. Continue reading...

Grand prix winner at last year’s Cannes film festival for A Hero, the director was sued by a former student for taking the story uncredited from her documentaryAsghar Farhadi, the Oscar winning director of A Separation and The Salesman, has lost a plagiarism case brought by one of his former students, who had claimed he took the idea for his 2021 film A Hero from a documentary she had made for a film class.According to the Hollywood Reporter, Azadeh Masihzadeh brought the case after Farhadi had earlier sued her for defamation; in both cases the courts ruled in Masihzadeh’s favour. Continue reading...

Viktor Orbán’s government faces sanction over rollback of democratic values and allegations of fraudThe European Commission has launched the bloc’s new rule-of-law disciplinary procedure for the first time against Hungary, two days after nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, won a fourth landslide victory in parliamentary elections.Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, told the European parliament on Tuesday that Budapest had been informed of the decision and “we will now send the letter of formal notification to start the conditionality mechanism”. Continue reading...

Jérémy Cohen died after being hit by a tram in February as he ran from a group of men, video footage showedThe death of a young Jewish man in Bobigny, north of Paris, has shocked France and sparked outrage among French presidential candidates, who seized on it to denounce criminality and a possible antisemitic attack.Jérémy Cohen, 31, was killed when he was hit by a tram in Bobigny in February, which was initially reported in local media as a traffic incident. But when his family leafleted the area to see if locals had more information on what had happened, a witness came forward with video footage, which circulated online this week. Continue reading...

Manhattan district attorney says the charges are ‘sobering reminder’ of the fears AAPI women in particular faceThe Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has announced hate crime charges relating to assaults against seven Asian American women in New York City in February.Steven Zajonc, 28, has been charged in New York state supreme court with six felony counts of assault in the third degree as a hate crime and seven counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree as a misdemeanor hate crime. Continue reading...

John Lewis demanded extra £41.74 despite industry’s promise hosts will not be penalised

Nurses witnessed girl screaming and sounding ‘very scared’ when repeatedly held down on her bed, court toldA 14-year-old autistic girl was unlawfully detained in hospital and restrained in front of scared child patients, a high court judge has found.On one occasion last month the teenager managed to break into a treatment room where a dying infant was receiving palliative care. She was restrained there by three security guards, Mr Justice MacDonald said, in a judgment in the family court that ordered Manchester city council (MCC) to find the girl a suitable community care placement instead of what he described as the “brutal and abusive” and “manifestly unsuitable” hospital environment. Continue reading...

Union warns of complete breakdown of health system with hospitals ‘all running out of medicines’Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has deteriorated into a medical crisis, with the top medical union declaring a national health emergency over a life-threatening shortage of drugs.On Tuesday, the country’s most powerful trade union, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), called a meeting and declared a medical crisis as doctors and hospitals reported a widespread lack of medicine. Continue reading...

Exclusive: charities say people with weakened immunity such as those with cancer falling critically ill after struggle to access treatmentsCancer patients infected with coronavirus in England are becoming seriously ill after they were unable to access antibody or antiviral medicines on the NHS.Ministers have promised to provide early treatment for 1.3 million people whose immune systems mean they are at higher risk of severe disease, hospitalisation or death. The treatments include the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab (Xevudy) and the antiviral medicines nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (Paxlovid), remdesivir (Veklury), and molnupiravir (Lagevrio). Continue reading...

The bill bans teaching of nine ‘divisive concepts’ and also allows ban on transgender girls from girls’ sports teamsThe Georgia general assembly has passed a bill targeting the discussion of race in schools that also paves the way for transgender students to be banned from playing sport on girls’ teams, after a late-night legislative session on Monday.HB1084 bans the teaching of nine so-called “divisive concepts”, including that the US is “fundamentally racist” and that “one race is inherently superior to another race”. Continue reading...

Dwyer has challenged Ireland’s use of mobile metadata in his 2015 conviction for killing Elaine O’HaraThe European court of justice has ruled in favour of a convicted murderer who challenged Ireland’s use of mobile phone metadata in his conviction, with potential implications for criminal investigations across Europe.The Luxembourg-based court said on Tuesday that Ireland’s system of retaining and accessing mobile phone metadata – which helped secure Graham Dwyer’s conviction – breached European Union law. Continue reading...

Protest aimed to draw attention to hostility towards Russians but included pro-war elementsA rally in Berlin that was organised to draw attention to growing hostility towards Russians in Germany but included demonstrators supportive of the invasion of Ukraine has drawn sharp criticism from politicians and diplomats.About 900 protesters in a 400-strong motorcade took part in the demonstration on Sunday that culminated in a gathering at the Olympic Stadium. Cars were draped in the Russian flag, and one bore the symbol “Z”, meant to signify solidarity with the Russian war. Participants reportedly sang patriotic Russian songs. Continue reading...

In week to 25 March there were 780 deaths where Covid was mentioned on death certificate, says ONSCovid-related deaths in England have jumped to their highest level since mid-February, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).There were 780 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate in the seven days leading up to 25 March – up 14% on the previous week. This increase follows several weeks where deaths appeared to have levelled off. Continue reading...

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman is accused of 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanityA former militia leader in Sudan has denied committing war crimes and crimes against humanity as his landmark hearing opened at the international criminal court.Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman is accused of leading thousands of pro-government fighters on a systematic campaign of murder, rape and torture during the height of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan between 2003 and 2004. Continue reading...

Court of appeal finds the party’s federal executive has broad powers to intervene in affairs of state divisions

Prime minister denies move against Liberal state branch was anti-democratic saying he was motivated by desire to get the ‘best candidates in the field’