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French president leads the far right’s Marine Le Pen by six points in polls but result is far from foregone conclusion, analysts sayEmmanuel Macron has urged voters to turn out on Sunday for the first round of the French presidential election, stressing the importance of giving him a clear mandate.Interviewed on morning radio, the president said he was surprised by the increasing tendency of people to ask what point there was in voting. Continue reading...

Russian oligarch’s vessel departed after Global Ports Holding was pressed to act over UK sanctionsRoman Abramovich’s $600m (£458m) superyacht Solaris has left a port in Turkey after the London-based company that operates the terminal which had been harbouring the oligarch’s yacht was pressed to act.Solaris, which is 140 metres long and has a helipad and swimming pool, left Bodrum Cruise Port on Monday. It is now at anchor off Yalikavak beach in south-eastern Turkey, according to the shipping data service Marine Traffic. Continue reading...

Easter holidaymakers and lorry drivers travelling to mainland Europe hit by more delaysEaster holidaymakers and lorry drivers travelling to mainland Europe faced further delays on Monday on the chaotic cross-Channel route after a Eurotunnel Le Shuttle train broke down in the tunnel.The breakdown came as Eurotunnel said it was experiencing more traffic than it had since 2019, at the start of the first school holidays since UK Covid travel rules were scrapped. Continue reading...

Chief executive to leave office at end of June after five years marked by upheavals of anti-government protestsHong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, who has governed the Chinese region since 2017, has announced she will not seek a second five-year term of office.Lam’s tenure as the chief executive of one of Asia’s most significant financial hubs has been marked by the upheavals of anti-government protests and, more recently, Covid-19. Critics have accused her of helping Beijing to curtail Hong Kong’s freedoms. Continue reading...

Fashion chain attracts fresh offers as well as bids from the former Kurt Geiger owner SycamoreTed Baker has kicked off a formal sale process for the fashion brand after rejecting a series of bids from the US private equity group Sycamore Partners and others.The company said it had received more than one unsolicited offer from third parties in addition to three bids from Sycamore, a group that previously owned the British shoe shop chains Kurt Geiger and Nine West and has recently been linked to a potential bid for the health and beauty chain Boots. Continue reading...

Immediate threat of severe weather dissipates but SES warns rivers across Gippsland may still peak as rain water flows through catchments

Audit finds one company allowed to keep ‘potential overpayment’ of up to $360,00, despite failing to respond to concerns its revenue had increased 150%

Troops ordered women and children on to buses and sent them to ‘filtration camps’, according to women’s accounts

Rescue operation under way in Blue Mountains after two killed in landslide; Tasmanian premier resigns to focus on family; state member for Lismore questions federal flood support effort as NSW announces relief package; changes to Victorian Covid isolation rules would be ‘premature’, Jaala Pulford says; at least 14 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

Liberal who led his party to victory in the state election less than year ago, says ‘time is now right for me to move on’

Boris Johnson ally claims PM did not mislead public and defends earlier remarks calling revelations ‘fluff’

Prime minister says allegations he raised his opponent’s Lebanese heritage in 2007 internal contest ‘absolutely outrageous’

Witness in defamation case brought by Roberts-Smith tells court SAS command should have ‘dealt with’ war crimes allegations earlier

Sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins says glorification of physical prowess and ‘an experience of danger as exciting’ also play a role

Symptoms including shortness of breath, feeling tired and loss of appetite added to official listThe UK’s official list of Covid-19 symptoms has been expanded to include nine new signs of illness.The extension of the symptoms list to include ailments such as sore throat, fatigue and headache could help to reduce infections, one expert said.Shortness of breath.Feeling tired or exhausted.An aching body.A headache.A sore throat.A blocked or runny nose.Loss of appetite.Diarrhoea.Feeling sick or being sick. Continue reading...

Unite says Royal Mail behaving like ‘greedy speculator’ but firm says falling letter volumes and rising costs to blameThe price of a first-class stamp increased by 10p to 95p from Monday. Second-class stamps have increased by 2p to 68p.The Royal Mail said there had been a long-term decline in letter usage, coupled with rising inflation. Continue reading...

Three of four remaining Kamay spears, stolen by James Cook from Gweagal men, to be displayed at Chau Chak Wing Museum for three months

Concerns sparked of repeat of 2019 when one in five named for government bodies before election called had Liberal or National ties

Canberra must walk a delicate line when responding to challenges presented by Beijing and Solomons’ security agreement

Government polling finds a high fear of crime and little confidence anything will be done about itThe public do not believe ministers’ promises to tackle crime, official documents seen by the Guardian show.The Home Office documents reveals polling carried out for the government found a high fear of crime, and low confidence much will be done about it. Continue reading...

Analysis: newspapers have attracted record numbers of readers seeking trusted sources in uncertain timesFrom the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to the Westminster partygate saga, newspapers are benefiting from a financially lucrative news boom. However, is the news industry enjoying a one-off blip in the battle for survival against big tech, or is this proof that publishers have finally forged commercial models fit for the new media age?In a sign of the shifting fortunes amid unprecedented news events, Rupert Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times last week reported a doubling of operating profits to their highest level since 1990 and the Sun, a one-time cash cow turned high-profile casualty of the digital age, is within £1m of returning to operating profit for the first time in a decade. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Senior figures say signing confidentiality agreements that cover up unacceptable behaviour violates Labour policyA dozen senior Labour women have called on the party to end its use of confidentiality agreements to “cover up” allegations of sexual harassment, saying the treatment of two former staffers was appalling.Laura Murray, Labour’s ex-head of complaints, and Georgie Robertson, who worked in the party’s press office, said they refused to sign the agreements after reporting an official for “inappropriate” and “possessive” behaviour. Continue reading...

Ukraine president says worse atrocities may yet be found elsewhere as satellite images show mass grave near church in Bucha

The specter of Oscars chaos loomed over the music awards – a mega-concert which included a message of hope from the Ukrainian president

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National Rally leader is closing gap on Emmanuel Macron in polls for this month’s presidential electionFrom her housing estate in northern Marseille, Elisabeth, 68, who once voted for the left, will return a ballot for the far-right Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election this month. “People used to think Marine was nasty,” she said. “Now they realise she’s not. Other politicians are taking her ideas. They all talk like her now.”Elisabeth left school at 16 and worked at a shoemaker’s, in factories and as a housekeeper, but her €800 pension barely covers bills and food. “I live on credit, overdrawn by the middle of the month,” she said. “I make a weak stew and it lasts me three days. But Le Pen will cut taxes and put money in our pockets.” She agrees with Le Pen’s anti-immigration stance. She feels “Europeans” are becoming outnumbered in multi-ethnic northern Marseille and worries about crime. “I’ve been mugged twice, once for a necklace, once for a cigarette,” she said. Society is tense and divided, she feels, but Le Pen will “calm things down”. Continue reading...

Money can be used for repairs to gas and electricity services, rebuilding, and purchase of white goods

Karin and Robert McDowell have received 220 accounts of near misses at Woolloongabba intersection where son Max died

Bill will strengthen existing protections against vilifying conduct, attorney general says

World leaders condemn alleged atrocities and call for independent investigations after bodies of civilians and mass graves found

Accusations of war crimes and calls for tougher sanctions feature on Monday’s front pages amid horror at civilian killings by Russian troops

All 26 cabinet ministers aside from the president and the prime minister quit as unrest over the country’s worst financial crisis in decades continuesSri Lanka’s entire cabinet aside from the president and his sibling prime minister resigned from their posts on Sunday as the ruling political clan seeks to resolve a mounting economic crisis, with a social media blackout failing to halt another day of anti-government demonstrations.The south Asian nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials – along with record inflation and crippling power cuts – in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948. Continue reading...

Travel agents and aid workers raise issues of safety and note that tourism dollars will only benefit the ruling militaryForeign tourists have been urged to avoid visiting Myanmar after the junta signalled plans to open up the country despite widespread ongoing rights abuses and violence including kidnappings and killings by the military, as well as food shortages and regular blackouts.More than a year after it seized power and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military has announced it plans to reopen for tourism and resume international flights on 17 April. Continue reading...

With employment bill unlikely to make Queen’s speech, P&O Ferries-type scandals will happen again, says Frances O’GradyBritain’s top union leader has written to the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, to warn the government that dropping plans to legislate for tougher employment rights after mass sackings at P&O Ferries would “side with bad bosses”.Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the UK needed urgent “proper legislation” through an employment bill promised by ministers more than two years ago but repeatedly delayed. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Rishi Sunak gave tax break to car users but has not helped public transport usersMore than one in four bus services in England have been cut in the last decade, with the pandemic accelerating the decline, a transport charity has found.Almost 5,000 routes have been axed since 2012, with the north-west and east of England the two regions worst affected. Continue reading...

Europe pledges further sanctions against Russia after reports of killing of scores of unarmed Ukrainians

Exclusive: fixed-penalty notices handed out over events held at No 10 on 16 April 2021Downing Street staff have been issued with fines by police over a party that took place the night before Prince Philip’s funeral, in the first decision by Scotland Yard that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 at the heart of government.After the Guardian revealed that fixed penalty notices were handed out to those who attended a leaving do for an aide to Boris Johnson in the Cabinet Office in June 2020, sources said those who partied into the early hours in No 10 on 16 April 2021 had also been warned they would receive fines. Continue reading...

Exclusive: MP, who is facing allegations relating to sexual harassment and cocaine use, borrowed up to £150,000A close relative of the Conservative MP David Warburton was offered a lucrative advisory role at the firm of a businessman who had provided the politician with an undeclared loan of up to £150,000 for a holiday rental property, the Guardian can reveal.The party has removed the whip from the MP for Somerton and Frome, who is understood to be facing allegations of sexual harassment, cocaine use and failing to declare a loan from Roman Joukovski, a financial adviser who specialised in offshore tax advice and providing tier one “golden” investor visas to foreign citizens. Continue reading...

Analysis: Russian president appears to have operated by a strict playbook in northern Ukraine that has served him well for decades

Women and girls have recounted the abuse they have suffered at the hands of Russian soldiers

Analysis: the backbencher has been a teacher, rock guitarist and van driver who some fellow MPs think had a mid-life crisisDavid Warburton, a relatively unknown political figure outside his Somerton and Frome constituency, has been a backbencher for almost all of the seven years since he became a Conservative MP.But the married father of two was catapulted into the headlines when a picture emerged of him next to lines of white powder alleged to be cocaine and several women reported him to parliament’s harassment watchdog.“I don’t think anyone would ever have mistaken him for Theresa May but this is a lot more than people would have predicted,” says one MP Continue reading...

Police in Saxony investigate 60-year-old for issuing documents without authorisation and forgeryA 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against Covid-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell vaccination cards to people who did not want to get the jab themselves.The man from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy rules, is said to have received up to 90 shots against Covid at vaccination centres in Saxony for months until he was caught by police, the German news agency dpa reported on Sunday. Continue reading...

Duke met man accused of fraud in high court months before receiving disputed payments, report claimsPrince Andrew had known an alleged fraudster for at least six months before receiving more than £1m in disputed payments from the man, it has been reported.The Duke of York was introduced to Selman Turk via a mutual contact, Tarek Kaituni, a Libyan-born convicted gun smuggler, in May or June 2019 at Windsor Castle, and held subsequent meetings, the Sunday Telegraph reports. Continue reading...

Figures tabled in parliament reveal demand on victims of crime fund growing 16% this year

Airports report long waits because of Covid checks and staff shortages, as tourist traffic eases near DoverPassengers faced long queues at Heathrow and Manchester airports as the Easter holidays got under way.Travellers vented frustration on social media as Covid checks, high passenger volumes and reported staff shortages and e-gate problems meant long waits for check-in at Heathrow. Continue reading...

High demand for crackers, wreaths and trees as sales soar beyond traditional bunnies and chocolateTraditionally a time for bonnets, bunnies and a surfeit of chocolate, Easter has increasingly taken on a new aspect, and more so since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.Easter crackers, Easter wreaths, and Easter trees are now critical components in the commercialisation of the Christian festival, with the bank holiday now beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Continue reading...

As The Full Monty is remade, entertainers are seeing bookings for gigs in suburban and rural areas

Prime minister cuts an increasingly isolated figure – and his dramatic dissolution of parliament is a very risky moveImran Khan’s dramatic move to dissolve Pakistan’s parliament on Sunday morning, ahead of a vote that almost certainly would have removed him from office, reads to many like the desperate actions of a prime minister who will try to hold on to power at any cost.While his repeated allegations of a “foreign conspiracy” and pressure from the US being behind the no-confidence vote has played well to his diehard supporters, most of whom are vehemently opposed to the west, it is still a very risky move for Khan. Continue reading...