World news | The Guardian

Ruling says opposition to Tobias Rustat memorial at Jesus College chapel is based on ‘false narrative’A Cambridge college has been refused its application to remove a memorial to its 17th-century benefactor Tobias Rustat from the college chapel because of his links to the slave trade.Jesus College argued that the memorial, in a prominent position on the west wall of the Grade I-listed chapel, should be moved to another site in the college because its presence was having a negative impact on the mission and ministry of the church. Continue reading...

World No 1 Ash Barty has stunned the tennis world by announcing her retirement from the sport at the age of 25 during an emotional interview with Casey Dellacqua which she shared on Instagram. This is what she said

Leaders from the bloc to meet on Thursday to discuss support above the €1.2bn emergency fund already agreed

Convoy evacuating more than 1,000 survivors sets off on tense escape through Russian-occupied territory

Staff who accept payouts are understood to have to sign non-disclosure agreementsFerry operator P&O has revealed it is paying £36.5m to cover compensation for the 800 seafarers it sacked without warning.It is understood staff who accept the payouts will be required to sign non-disclosure agreements requiring them not to disparage the company. Continue reading...

MPs debate Lords amendments to nationality and borders bill. This live blog is now closed – for Ukraine updates, please follow the dedicated live blog

Rapper teams up with Arby’s and tells Rolling Stone it was inspired by McDonald’s underpaying him and his brother for I’m Lovin’ ItThe American rapper Pusha T has issued an extraordinary attack on McDonald’s, releasing a diss track with a rival fast-food chain, Arby’s.The 75-second song was inspired, the rapper told Rolling Stone, by resentment over what he claims is McDonald’s failure to pay him and his brother properly for their part in writing and performing the famous I’m Lovin’ It jingle. Continue reading...

More than a dozen injured as storm system heads towards Louisiana and MississippiMore than a dozen people were injured on Monday when tornadoes tore through parts of Texas and Oklahoma, damaging a school, homes and businesses.The same storm system was poised to move into Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday, carrying the risk of dangerous tornadoes and powerful winds. Continue reading...

Leaked documents raise questions over financial relations between relatives of billionaire ex-Arsenal shareholder Alisher UsmanovBillions of pounds linked to the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov and his business empire appear to have been held in secret Swiss accounts belonging to his family, an analysis of leaked documents suggests.Usmanov’s 56-year-old sister, Saodat Narzieva, appears to have been the one-time beneficial owner of at least 27 secret corporate accounts at Credit Suisse, including one that held nearly 1.9bn Swiss francs (CHF) (£1.6bn). Usmanov is subject to EU sanctions. Continue reading...

Micro parties expected to benefit from potential delay to changes to preference rules

Investigation followed judge saying Rolfe had “lied” in his evidence about arrest of Indigenous man in 2018 Alice Springs court case

Father of the RAF serviceman says he hopes ruling will shine ‘a new light on the truth for everyone’RAF gunner Corrie McKeague, who vanished on a night out in 2016, died after getting into a bin which was then tipped into a waste lorry, an inquest has concluded.The airman, of Dunfermline, Fife, was 23 when he disappeared in the early hours of 24 September in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Continue reading...

Confidence and supply agreement will keep Trudeau in office until 2025 in return for action on pharmaceutical and dental programsCanada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has struck a deal with a political rival that would keep in him power until 2025. In exchange for support from the New Democratic party on key votes, Trudeau’s Liberals have pledged progress on national pharmaceutical and dental care programs.“With so much instability around us, Canadians need stability,” said the prime minister as he announced the deal with the NDP on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Consumer champion describes fuel prices as ‘almost a poll tax’ and warns households face a ‘fiscal punch in the face’ in AprilEnergy companies are using unfair and potentially illegal tactics to secure cash at the expense of their customers amid the energy crisis, the consumer expert Martin Lewis has told MPs.Households face a “fiscal punch in the face” in April when energy bills under the government’s price cap rise, Lewis said, a day before the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, makes his spring statement, in which he is expected to announce measures to respond to the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Chancellor unveils scheme to fairly compensate workers who brought Horizon IT system failings to lightPost office operators who helped uncover the Horizon IT scandal will be able to apply to a new compensation scheme, the chancellor has announced.The IT system installed by the Post Office and supplied by Fujitsu falsely suggested there were cash shortfalls, leading to 736 unsafe convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Continue reading...

Ruling builds on recent judgments enhancing rights of reporters to access documents placed before courtJournalists should be provided with access to documents from employment tribunal cases even in the aftermath of a judgment, it has been ruled, after a successful legal challenge by the Guardian.In a significant victory for open justice, the employment appeal tribunal threw out a ruling from a lower court that the costs of transparency would be too burdensome, and instead ordered that the Guardian should be provided with documents it had requested. Continue reading...

Musician, who visited White House in 2017 with Ted Nugent and Sarah Palin, said I’m like, ‘Am I supposed to be in on this shit?’The rapper Kid Rock said Donald Trump once asked him for advice about US policy on Islamic State and North Korea.In an interview with the Fox News host Tucker Carlson broadcast on Monday night, the musician also discussed “cancel culture” – claiming to be “uncancelable” – and the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Young male trainee was participating in a landscaping course when he fell into hole on Gympie Road, hurting his back

Operator Camelot receives £3.15m penalty over errors in app, affecting tens of thousands of ticket holdersThe national lottery operator, Camelot, has been fined £3.15m for three errors on its mobile app, which affected tens of thousands of players.The first involved up to 20,000 users who were told their winning tickets had lost when they scanned a QR code between November 2016 and September 2020, the Gambling Commission said. Continue reading...

Grain elevator built in 1897 that towered over Elva in Manitoba symbolic of western Canada’s history and heritageFor nearly 125 years, a wooden grain elevator towered over the town of Elva, visible from miles away and distinguishing the community as an economic hub in the Canadian Prairies.The structure endured frigid cold, beating rains and harsh sun, but after decades of neglect, its owner has announced plans to dismantle the country’s oldest “prairie castle”, closing a chapter in the region’s history. Continue reading...

Jailed Russian opposition leader and Putin critic says charges were politically motivatedJailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt by a Russian court.The move on Tuesday means that Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, is likely to face a substantial extension to his jail sentence. Continue reading...

Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial he refused to take her to hospital for treatment and took naked photos of her while she slept

No fish or shellfish in Spain’s famous national dish says survey of 400 amateur chefsMany crimes have been committed in the name of paella but now researchers in Valencia have laid down 10 commandments of what thou shall and shall not put in their national dish.The ten permitted ingredients are: rice, water, olive oil, salt, saffron (or food colouring), tomato, flat green beans, lima beans, chicken and rabbit. No fish or shellfish. Ever. Continue reading...

State media report no survivors after a Boeing 737-800 flight crashed into mountainous terrain with 132 on boardAbout an hour into its journey from Kunming to Gaungzhou, flight MU5735 fell out of the air. After cruising at an altitude of 29,100ft, it suddenly dropped to about 7,000ft where it briefly ascended before diving again and crashing into remote bamboo forest in the mountains near Wuzhou. The fall appears to have taken around two minutes, according to flight tracking data.“The plane did not smoke during the fall,” a witness told the Beijing Youth Daily. “The fire started after it fell into the mountain, followed by a lot of smoke.” Continue reading...

Move to install Accenture executive as Parramatta candidate would be second time in a year ALP has overridden local branch members in the region

Ukraine president says meeting essential to understand Putin conditions to end war; Biden says Russian president’s ‘back is against the wall’

Three crew members rescued by Singapore-flagged bulk carrier with one now in a critical condition in Broome hospitalSix people are dead and another three are believed to have drowned after an Indonesian fishing boat capsized off the north-west coast of Western Australia.There were 12 people aboard when the boat, named Kuda Laut which translates to Horse Sea, capsized on Sunday evening about 180km west of Ashmore Reef. Continue reading...

Greens proposed legislation after acting education minister Stuart Robert blocked funding for six Australian Research Council grants

US president says his Russian leader’s ‘back is against the wall’ and warns of severe consequences of any such attack

No reports of gunfire, police say, as man aged 18 arrested on suspicion of murderTwo women died after being stabbed at a high school in southern Sweden on Monday, police said, adding that an 18-year-old student had been arrested.The two women, both in their 50s, were employees of the school, the police said in a statement following the attack at Malmö latinskola, a secondary school in the centre of Malmö, the country’s third largest city. Continue reading...

Oliver Dowden says PM has a ‘real emotional connection’ with the Ukrainian people but No 10 sources say a trip is unlikely

Charles Goodwin, 21, was under investigation when he raped and assaulted two womenA “cold, unempathetic, manipulative” student who raped and sexually attacked two women while he was on bail and being investigated for an earlier violent rape has been jailed for 17 years.Charles Goodwin, 21, attacked his victims after getting them drunk, Liverpool crown court heard. Continue reading...

‘Russian state actors’ blamed for prank call made to Ben Wallace• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updatesA video of defence secretary Ben Wallace being duped into speaking by phone to an impostor posing as the Ukrainian prime minister was published on Monday – hours after Downing Street said it believed Russian state actors were responsible for the hoax.In the short clip, Wallace replies with scepticism and apparent confusion when the caller asks him questions. Continue reading...

News comes after questionnaires were sent to more than 100 people thought to be involved in lockdown gatheringsBoris Johnson is facing a possible police interview over lockdown breaches in Downing Street as the Metropolitan police said they intended to start questioning witnesses after sending out questionnaires to more than 100 people.But the police statement – issued two months since inquiries began – suggests officers have not yet found breaches that meet the evidentiary threshold for fixed-penalty notices to be issued without further interviews. No FPNs have been issued so far, the force said. Continue reading...

RMT says agency rates for seafarers are ‘gut-wrenching betrayal’ of 800 sacked British staffSeafarers from abroad brought in to replace the 800 sacked British P&O Ferries crew are being paid as little as £1.80 an hour, unions have claimed.The news emerged as Labour accused the government of doing “absolutely nothing” when it learned of the planned sackings, as a memorandum with the “game plan” of P&O was circulated on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...

Russia accused of striking residential areas in what would be first attack on Black Sea port

AA accused retailers of dragging feet on passing on reduction to drivers, as petrol and diesel hit record highsFuel retailers have dismissed accusations that they have been slow to reduce prices at the pump to reflect a recent fall in their own wholesale costs, as petrol and diesel hit new records on UK forecourts.The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is under pressure to cut fuel duty during his spring statement on Wednesday, at which the rising cost of living is likely to take centre stage. Continue reading...

Ali Harbi Ali made ‘specific reconnaissance trips’ to Gove’s address and constituency surgery of Mike Freer, jury toldConservative MP Sir David Amess was stabbed 21 times in a terrorist “assassination” by a “fanatical Islamist” who also scouted the home of Michael Gove and researched a string of MPs including Sir Keir Starmer as he plotted to kill, incited by Islamic State propaganda, a court has heard.Ali Harbi Ali, 26, denies the murder of Amess, 69, on 15 October 2021 as the MP held a constituency surgery in Belfairs Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. Continue reading...

Boris Romanchenko died after rocket hit building where he lived in Ukrainian cityA 96-year-old man who survived a string of Nazi concentration camps including Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen has been killed by an explosion during the Russian assault on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, a spokesperson for the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial foundation has confirmed.“We are shocked to confirm the violent death of Boris Romanchenko, whose niece informed us on Monday morning that he died last Friday after a bomb or rocket hit the multistorey building where he lived in Kharkiv and his apartment was burned out,” a spokesperson told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Fires have caused two deaths, including one in Oklahoma, as largest blaze is 30% contained after burning nearly 85 square milesWildfires continued to scorch parts of Texas on Monday while a storm system moving through could bring much-needed rain but also strong winds, forecasters said.The Eastland Complex, which comprises several fires in one place, had burned nearly 85 square miles in an area about 120 miles west of Dallas and was 30% contained as of Monday morning. Continue reading...

Ministers plan to stick with law change that could see Ukrainians without correct visa jailed for four years

Allegations involve a farm that received subsidies after its ownership was transferred to Babiš-owned AgrofertFormer Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, will face trial after the prosecution indicted him in a fraud case involving European Union subsidies.The move announced on Monday by Prague’s public prosecution office came weeks after the lower house of the Czech parliament agreed to lift Babiš’ immunity from prosecution for his alleged involvement in the $2m (£1.5m) fraud. Continue reading...

Grand slam winner charged with 24 counts relating to concealing assets such as property, trophies and medalsBoris Becker dishonestly “played” the bankruptcy system, hiding cash, property and trophies from insolvency trustees, a court has heard at the opening of his trial.The multiple grand slam winner is charged with 24 counts relating to concealing assets, nine of which relate to trophies and medals won during his illustrious playing career, including from his first Wimbledon men’s single championship when he burst on to the world scene, aged just 17 years old. Becker denies all the charges. Continue reading...

Campaigners believe report is delayed because it will show ministers’ calls for 20% cut have been ignoredMinisters have delayed by a year publication of a report that will show whether they have achieved their goal of reducing the sugar content of a wide range of foodstuffs by 20%.The official assessment of the government’s high-profile drive to cut the amount of sugar in Britain’s diet was originally due to be published last autumn. However, it was initially put off until early this year and has now been held back again and will not appear until this autumn. Continue reading...

Jim Chalmers says if elected, an Albanese government will deliver a ‘proper’ budget before the end of the year to amend ‘damage of the last 10 years’

Separate Australian National University longitudinal survey suggests Coalition primary vote slumps to 32.2% with Labor in election-winning position

Commercially sold bread set at 11.50 Egyptian pounds a kilo as Russian invasion sends wheat prices soaringEgypt has fixed the price of unsubsidised bread amid a global surge in wheat prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The move comes after war shut off access to cheaper wheat from the Black Sea region, particularly affecting exports to the Middle East and north African region. Egypt is the world’s biggest wheat importer, bringing in about 60% of its grain from overseas. Russia and Ukraine accounted for 80% of the country’s imports last year. Continue reading...

A reporter describes life under siege in the Ukrainian city and why it was so important to break the silenceThe Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.We had been documenting the siege of Mariupol by Russian troops for more than two weeks and were the only international journalists left in the city. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage. Continue reading...