World news | The Guardian

Launch of digital asset to track value of £1 comes despite contraction of cryptocurrency sectorTether, the controversial “stablecoin” that underpins more than $60bn of the crypto economy, is launching a British version to capitalise on the UK government’s desire to make Britain a global cryptocurrency hub.Like its US dollar counterpart, of which $67bn (£55bn) are actively traded on cryptocurrency markets, the launch will see a digital asset built on the Ethereum blockchain, with its value set at £1. Continue reading...

Remains thought to be more than 1,200 years old shed light on region’s transition from Christianity to Islam, say officialsIsraeli archaeologists have unveiled a rare ancient mosque in the country’s south that antiquities officials said shed light on the region’s transition from Christianity to Islam.The remains of the mosque, believed to be more than 1,200 years old, were discovered during works to build a new neighbourhood in the Bedouin city of Rahat, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement. Continue reading...

Video shared on social media shows an explosion at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery

Labour leader lambasts prime minister at PMQs for ‘blaming everyone else’ and not doing his job

UK Health Security Agency says evidence of limited community transmission of virus found in London wastewaterPublic health officials have declared a national incident after routine surveillance of wastewater in north and east London found evidence of community transmission of poliovirus for the first time.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said waste from the Beckton sewage treatment works in Newham tested positive for vaccine-derived poliovirus in February and that further positive samples had been detected since. Continue reading...

Tangshan loses national honorary status as police officials investigated over incident that shocked ChinaThe northern Chinese city of Tangshan has been stripped of a national honorary title as the fallout from the assault of four women at a restaurant earlier this month continues.The civilisation office of the Communist party of China’s central committee announced on Wednesday it had decided to remove Tangshan from the list of “national civilised cities” – the highest recognition for a Chinese city. Continue reading...

Police investigating cause of death of Britons Nicholas and Hilary Smith, 81 and 79, at bungalow in TipperaryPolice in Ireland are investigating the cause of death of two British pensioners whose bodies lay undiscovered in their rural bungalow for an estimated 18 months until they were found this week.The couple, named locally as Nicholas Smith, 81, and his wife, Hilary Smith, 79, lived in a remote townland called Rossane, about three miles from Cloneen village in County Tipperary. Continue reading...

Police and crime commissioner ‘disappointed’ as child sexual abuse inquiry ‘fails to identify individual accountability’A long £6m investigation into multiple police failings during the Rotherham grooming scandal “lets down victims and survivors” by failing to identify any individual accountability, a police and crime commissioner has said.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on Wednesday published what it described as its overarching report from Operation Linden, the name given to a series of investigations it carried out into how South Yorkshire police responded to allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation between 1997 and 2013. Continue reading...

One of country’s oldest-running organisations turns factory into accommodation for refugees

Opposition denies claims of running a ‘low-level scare campaign’ on Perrottet government’s proposed land tax implementation

National Education Union writes to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, calling for ‘inflation-plus’ pay rise

Singer says she hadn’t listened to her song ‘for a really long time’ before it raced up the charts thanks to its inclusion in Stranger ThingsKate Bush has discussed the remarkable resurgent success of her 1985 song Running Up That Hill in her first interview since the song’s return to the charts.Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Bush said the situation was “just extraordinary … quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.” Continue reading...

Hough Pharma, which supplies home tests to Coles and Woolworths, allegedly failed to provide reports or appropriate customer support

Civil trial jurors rule in favor of Judy Huth who accused comedian of forcing her to perform a sex act in 1975 when she was 16Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, jurors determined on Tuesday after a nearly month-long civil trial.Jurors in Los Angeles county ruled in favor of Judy Huth, who is now 64, awarding her $500,000 in a legal defeat for the once-beloved comedian and star of The Cosby Show. Continue reading...

Vsevolod Chentsov says move would show Moscow it can no longer claim sphere of influence over neighbour

Avi Yemini wants Telstra to provide information on 26 IP addresses as part of defamation case against anonymous pro-Labor account

State attorney general John Quigley says ‘I am truly sorry’ over murder of baby Charlie, who was killed after police left him at crime scene

Lawyers say new offence, introduced after four police officers were filmed dying, may have unintended negative consequences

Aemo says it ‘wants to understand comprehensively the lessons learned’, with trading to resume at 4am on Thursday

Exclusive: Investment NSW chief executive did not have ‘conflict of interest’, agency says after former deputy premier’s appointment to $500,000-a-year role

Green light comes after a string of controversies over money laundering, and 18 months after Barangaroo opened its bars and restaurants

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereReuters reports the Georgian prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, has said at an economic conference in Qatar that his country is committed to joining Nato, but must solve its territorial problems with Russia first.Georgia is sandwiched between Russia in the north, with Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to its south. The breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia’s territory, although a handful of states, including Russia, officially recognise them. Continue reading...

Comedian says he was asked to explain context of gag to investigating officers, and will keep it in his showThe comedian Joe Lycett has said he was investigated by the police after an audience member made a complaint about a joke in one of his shows.In a post on Instagram, he revealed that he was asked to explain the context of the gag and that the authorities have now closed the case. Continue reading...

Hamilton Mourão’s claim sparked anger from Indigenous communities who believe organised crime was involvedBrazil’s vice-president has claimed that British journalist Dom Phillips was “collateral damage” in an attack on his travelling partner, the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, as grisly details emerged about the killing of the two men in early June.One of the three men in custody for the killings said he and his accomplices tried to burn the bodies after shooting them dead at the edge of a river in western Brazil. Continue reading...

At least five MPs defy Keir Starmer’s orders and tweet pictures of themselves with RMT strikersKeir Starmer is expected to discipline at least five Labour frontbenchers who defied his orders and appeared on RMT picket lines on Tuesday in solidarity with striking railworkers.On the first of three days of industrial action, the Labour leader had instructed his team not to appear alongside striking workers, in order to show “leadership”, amid fears of Labour being portrayed by the Tories as responsible for the RMT’s walkout. Continue reading...

Officer involved in 2015 Kirkcaldy fatal arrest dismisses relative’s recollection as ‘absolute nonsense’A former police officer involved in the fatal arrest of Sheku Bayoh has vehemently denied that he told his own grandfather he was “a total racist and hated all blacks”.Alan Paton, who has since retired from the force on mental health grounds, was one of the first officers to arrive after multiple calls were received from the public about a man brandishing a knife and behaving erratically early on a Sunday morning in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in May 2015. Continue reading...

Calls grow for greater measures against wave of BA.4 and BA.5 cases in countries from Spain to DenmarkMultiple European countries are experiencing a significant surge in new Covid-19 infections, as experts warn that with almost all restrictions lifted and booster take-up often low, cases could spiral throughout the summer leading to more deaths.According to the Our World in Data scientific aggregator, the rolling seven-day average of confirmed new cases per million inhabitants is on the rise in countries including Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and Denmark. Continue reading...

President seeking consensus with groups including far right after failing to control Assemblée NationaleEmmanuel Macron has met leaders of opposition groups including the far right’s Marine Le Pen to sound out his chances of negotiating a parliamentary majority.The French president, whose centre-right alliance fell 44 seats short of controlling the Assemblée Nationale, was said to be exploring his “room for manoeuvre” after losing control of the lower house in Sunday’s legislative elections. Continue reading...

Cleveland police blame ‘genuine human error’ in release papers that brought Brian Temple months of threats and abuseA man who was arrested for stealing Greggs sausage rolls killed himself after being mistakenly described by police as a paedophile, an inquest has heard.Brian Temple, 34, from Redcar killed himself on New Year’s Eve in 2017 almost seven months after the alleged theft of a packet of Greggs snacks, Teesside coroner’s court was told, according to TeessideLive.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

The victims, a man and woman, are the latest in a string of several violent incidents in Quintana Roo stateTwo Canadians have been found dead of knife wounds in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen, the state prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.Prosecutors in Quintana Roo state, also home to resorts like Cancún and Tulum, said the man and the woman were found dead Monday at a hotel or condominium in the troubled resort, and a third person was reported injured. Continue reading...

Burton in Lonsdale resident Ian Macdonald and German student Admarsu Birhan have been namedTributes have been paid to a pilot and a teenage German exchange student who died when a helicopter crashed into a North Yorkshire field.Police confirmed Ian Macdonald, 66, died in the crash near his home in the village of Burton in Lonsdale shortly before midday on Monday. Continue reading...

Jabs will be offered to some men at higher risk of exposure, even if not a confirmed contact of a caseVaccines will be offered more widely to people at higher risk of getting monkeypox, in an attempt to help control the unprecedented outbreak in the UK.Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reveals that up to 20 June there were 793 laboratory confirmed cases in the UK, up from 574 on 16 June – a 38% rise in just four days. Continue reading...

Pensions triple lock likely to be ‘significantly higher’ but PM’s spokesman says similar public sector rise would be inflationary

Newspaper accused of ‘disseminating false information’ about Russia’s so-called special military operation

RMT union told formal consultations on modernisation plans to begin on 1 July to save over £100m annuallyNetwork Rail will start the formal process to lay off up to 1,800 staff at the end of the month, it has told the RMT, as the first day of the biggest rail strikes in 30 years halted most train services and forced travellers on to congested roads.Talks were expected to restart on Wednesday to find a settlement to a dispute that involved 40,000 rail staff from Network Rail and 13 train operators walking out for 24 hours on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Move is intended to help airlines run reduced summer schedules, while easyJet plans to cut 11,000 flightsThe government has announced an “amnesty” on airport slot rules, making it easier for struggling airlines to plan schedules with fewer flights, as fresh strikes at easyJet threaten to add to a summer of disruption for passengers.Airlines normally have to use allocated takeoff and landing slots at the busiest airports, such as London Heathrow and Gatwick, at least 70% of the time or risk forfeiting a valuable asset. Continue reading...

Lesser-known songwriters ordered to pay legal costs after court rejected accusations Shape of You ripped off their songEd Sheeran and his co-songwriters have been awarded more than £900,000 in legal costs after winning their high court copyright trial over the hit Shape of You earlier this year.At a trial in March, the singer and his co-writers Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon faced accusations that their track ripped off a 2015 song by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue. Continue reading...

SFO says subsidiary of commodity trading company will be sentenced in NovemberA subsidiary of the commodity trader Glencore has pleaded guilty in a London court to seven counts of bribery related to its oil operations in several African countries.The Serious Fraud Office, which had brought charges against the FTSE 100-listed company after conducting an investigation, said the sentencing hearing would take place on 2 and 3 November. Continue reading...

Mark Pearson heard loud thump on his way to work in Bangor, but saw nothing and carried on drivingA rabbit has survived a journey of more than 30 miles while trapped in the grille of a car after being hit by the driver.Mark Pearson was driving between Pwllheli and Bangor in Wales last Tuesday when he heard a loud “thump” on the outskirts of Nefyn. Continue reading...

City council had voted to allow the body-covering swimwear worn by many Muslim womenFull-body swimwear including burkinis should not be worn in public pools in the city of Grenoble, France’s top administrative court ruled on Tuesday, upholding an earlier order by a lower court.“The new rules of procedure for the municipal swimming pools of Grenoble affect (...) the proper functioning of the public service, and undermines the equal treatment of users, so that the neutrality of public service is compromised,” the Conseil d’Etat said. Continue reading...

The US has begun to roll out vaccines for children under five – here are more details about the Moderna and Pfizer vaccinesThe United States has begun rolling out Covid vaccines for children as young as six months after receiving the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The following are some details about the two messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech for young children: Continue reading...

Lithuanian ban on transit of sanctioned goods across its territory to and from Russian region has angered Kremlin

Little sign of predicted chaos, and some people supportive of strikers while others critical

Simon Arora’s pay package beats Tesco CEO’s remuneration despite flatlining profits and falling salesThe outgoing chief executive of discount retailer B&M earned £5m last year – more than the boss of Tesco.Simon Arora’s pay package rose by more than a third to the highest level ever for the company – and 270 times that of the average B&M worker – despite flatlining profits and falling sales in the year to the end of March as more rival shops reopened from the Covid pandemic. B&M enjoyed “essential retailer” during the lockdowns. Continue reading...

Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Alabama have been taken into detention in DonetskThe Kremlin has said that two captured US volunteers are not covered by the Geneva conventions and could face the death penalty.“We are talking about mercenaries who threatened the lives of our service personnel,” the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. “And not only ours, but also the service personnel of the DPR and LPR,” he added, referencing the Russian-controlled self-proclaimed peoples’ republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Continue reading...

Eight fire engines went to fire on 12th floor of building and ambulance service treated people at the sceneFirefighters and parademics attended a fire at a high-rise block in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, less than a mile from the site of Grenfell Tower.London fire brigade said eight engines and about 60 firefighters were at the scene of the tower block in Queensdale Crescent on Tuesday morning. The brigade said half of a flat on the 12th floor was on fire. Continue reading...

Dennis Basic, 42, had pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, assaulting police and throwing a missile following Melbourne protests in 2020 and 2021

At least two frontbenchers have said Labour should not support former leader’s candidacy at next election

Matchmaking initiative in Miyazaki has brought together 17 couples, as Japan battles falling birthrateJapan’s faltering campaign to raise its birthrate has gone analogue, with authorities in a southwestern city encouraging potential suitors to put pen to paper and wait patiently for a reply rather than simply swiping right.The city of Miyazaki says hundreds of men and women have dabbled in old-fashioned letter writing since the matchmaking scheme was launched two years ago. While there have been no wedding bells, the programme has spawned 32 face-to-face meetings and brought together 17 couples. Continue reading...