Win frees PP from relying on far-right Vox to govern, as leftwing parties take a drubbingSpain’s conservative People’s party has won a resounding majority in the regional elections in Andalucía, in an unprecedented win that frees it from relying on the far-right Vox party to govern in the country’s most populous region.With 99% of polling stations in the southern Spanish region reporting, the PP, in opposition nationally, had received 58 seats – three more than the 55 needed for a majority. It is the party’s best-ever result in the region. Continue reading...

Analysis: France’s new parliament likely to be less pliant as president tries to tackle a series of crises

Document published this year does not mention asylum seekers as priority group for ‘intrusive policy’The Home Office appears to have contradicted its own guidance on GPS tagging, which prioritised “very high harm offenders”, after it announced the devices would be used on asylum seekers arriving in the UK.An 86-page guidance document titled “Immigration Bail” was published on 31 January 2022. It includes a large section about the GPS tagging of migrants and does not mention asylum seekers who have not committed crimes as a priority group for GPS tagging. Continue reading...

Chris Nicholson was left stranded on platform at Milton Keynes station in 31C heatA wheelchair user was forced to drag himself up stairs at a railway station platform, saying staff refused to help him owing to health and safety policy.Chris Nicholson, an athlete and spokesperson for the Myprotein sports brand, was travelling to address an event in London on Friday when the incident took place at Milton Keynes station. Continue reading...

Labor was more popular with women, ANU study finds, but difference ‘mostly due to a higher vote for the Greens’

Energy Security Board says fossil fuel generators might need to be paid to stay in business to retain capacityCoal- and gas-fired power plants could be paid to stay in business to bolster the stability of the main electricity grid and attract enough investment to build the equivalent of 50 times the original Snowy Hydro scheme by 2050, according to a high-level design paper released by the Energy Security Board.The fossil fuel generators would be required even as Australia continues to decarbonise the electricity sector, the paper released on Monday said.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Chair of Finsbury Park mosque says Muslims won’t feel safe until problem is taken seriously by police and authoritiesThe chair of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London has warned that Islamophobia has intensified since the 2017 terror attack in the area, as dozens gathered to remember the man who was killed five years ago.Makram Ali, 51, was killed on 19 June 2017 when Darren Osborne drove a rented van into worshippers gathered outside the nearby Muslim Welfare House soon after evening Ramadan prayers. Twelve others were injured. Continue reading...

Oleksandr Goncharenko says unless the invaders are halted the eastern Ukrainian city will be razed and its people driven out

One blaze has burned 25,000 hectares of Sierra de la Culebra, home to one of Europe’s largest wolf populationsFlames licked roads and coloured the sky orange as firefighters in northern Spain scrambled to contain dozens of blazes fuelled by one of the earliest heatwaves on record.In the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range in the north-western province of Zamora, flames devoured more than 25,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from 18 municipalities. Continue reading...

The Labour leader has not capitalised on Boris Johnson’s sinking ratings ahead of a crunch byelectionBarbara Hall was enjoying a quiet morning at her senior citizens’ group in Wakefield when word went round that a special guest would be attending. Hall, a retired saleswoman, watched Keir Starmer work the room. “I wasn’t convinced,” she said. “He’s an awkward person, isn’t he? He doesn’t fit in. Boris Johnson would fit in. He would have us screaming and laughing.”Rare is the Wakefield resident who hasn’t had to dodge a politician or a vox-popping reporter in recent weeks, as anticipation builds for Thursday’s ballot. If the polls are right, Labour should win back the seat they lost to the Tories in 2019 – the first byelection gain for the party since Corby in 2012. Continue reading...

Support Through Court’s small team of volunteers took over 13,000 calls in last financial year

Writing for the Observer, Labour MP calls on the leadership to ‘name’ problems, as frustration grows with its stance on EuropeA prominent Labour MP today condemns her party’s self-imposed silence on Brexit, saying it is playing into Boris Johnson’s hands and hampering attempts to tackle urgent issues such as the cost of living crisis and climate change.Writing for the Observer, Stella Creasy suggests Labour’s defensive approach amounts to a betrayal of those who voted to remain in the EU in 2016. Continue reading...

More than tripling of business customer base has raised questions about online lender’s ability to run proper checksThe online bank singled out by a former government minister over the effectiveness of its counter-fraud measures was “onboarding” an average of 15,000 new business customers a month during the Covid crisis, according to analysis by the Observer.Figures from Starling Bank’s last annual report show the eight-year-old lender has grown its business customer base from 87,000 before the pandemic to 330,000 business accounts as of last spring. Continue reading...

Tony Burke says it’s ‘too late’ to prevent rollout of new points-based jobseeker system; opposition leader takes aim at Labor and avoids voicing support for government’s renewable target; nation records 42 Covid deaths – This blog is now closed

State government to fund 40% of purchase for single parents, older singles, nurses, police and teachers

Government announces concessions to scheme as police arrest at least 260 people and hundreds of train services cancelled due to unrestProtesters in India’s eastern state of Bihar have damaged public property and ransacked offices in a railway station, expressing outrage at a new military recruitment plan and demanding the government reverse course.The government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has introduced a scheme called Agnipath, or “path of fire”, designed to bring more people into the military on four-year contracts to lower the average age of India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces. Continue reading...

Liberal leader says Coalition made ‘huge investments’ in renewables when in power and blames states for locking up gas reserves

Pandemic-hit resorts in Victoria and NSW celebrate perfect conditions and more forecast snow

At least two people killed and seven wounded, officials say after attack in capital claimed by Islamic StateGunmen have stormed a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital, killing at least two people and wounding seven more, officials say.The interior ministry said the attacker used at least one grenade during the attack on Saturday, setting off a blaze in the complex. Minutes later, a car bomb was detonated in the area but caused no casualties, it added. Continue reading...

The exile who once led a military dictatorship is in hospital and a spokesperson has said his wish to come home should be grantedThe possible return to Pakistan of its former president Pervez Musharraf for the first time since he left the country in 2016 has reopened a bitter debate about the military dictatorship he led for more than a decade.Musharraf came to power in a coup in 1999 that toppled Nawaz Sharif’s government, and went on to hold the presidency from 2001 to 2008, when he resigned to avoid impeachment. Since then he has spent most of his time in self-imposed exile in the UK and the Middle East. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed – we will return in a few hours to bring you all the latest developments

More than 60 NSW firefighters dispatched to the scene at Yallah, near Wollongong, to contain the fire

‘Without a local government voice’ in national cabinet ‘our communities risk being left behind’, Linda Scott says

Exclusive: Financial services minister Stephen Jones wants complex funds to provide the same data already required of simpler funds

Datablog: experts say an increase in testing means high cases have not translated into high hospitalisations

Czech police searching more stores on same delivery route while contacting overseas counterparts about shipment from Central AmericaEmployees at a supermarket in the Czech Republic found 840kg of cocaine worth 2bn Czech crowns (£68m) inside boxes of bananas that were delivered to the store.The delivery, which was sent to supermarkets in the towns of Jicin and Rychnov nad Kneznou in the northern region of the country, is believed to have been sent to the stores by mistake. Continue reading...

Exclusive: new visa scheme to attract staff to ease the chronic shortages in the sector has left many open to exploitationRead full story: Migrant workers trapped in debt bondageCare workers recruited from overseas to look after elderly and disabled people in Britain are being charged thousands of pounds in illegal fees and forced to work in exploitative conditions to pay off their debts.An Observer investigation has uncovered a network of agencies supplying workers to care homes and homecare agencies that charge recruitment fees to candidates. Continue reading...

Ex-Beatle turned 80 on Saturday, days after a brief US tour which saw him joined on stage by Bruce SpringsteenSir Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen and Ronnie Wood were among stars who have been wishing Sir Paul McCartney a happy 80th birthday.The ex-Beatle turned 80 on Saturday, days after finishing a brief US tour. The milestone comes the weekend before McCartney becomes Glastonbury’s oldest solo headliner, when he takes to the Pyramid stage on Saturday. Continue reading...

Investigation: Britain called out to workers around the world to ease a staff crisis. But many have to pay thousands in illegal fees to recruitment agenciesRead exclusive story: Migrant care workers charged thousands in illegal feesMeera Stephen came to Britain with a big suitcase and even bigger dreams. The 27-year-old had left Kerala in south India to work at a care home in Manchester, one of thousands of migrant workers to come after a government recruitment drive to fill more than 100,000 vacancies in social care.The job would pay £10 an hour – just above minimum wage. But it came at a price. In exchange for securing her employment, she would pay a recruitment agent 1.3m rupees – about £13,700. Continue reading...

Labour leader warns against byelection complacency but hopes to regain seat that ‘could be birthplace of next Labour government’The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has urged supporters not to be complacent in advance of the Wakefield byelection, adding that a victory “could be the birthplace of the next Labour government”.With Labour now odds-on favourites to win back the seat, Starmer shared a message of hope and optimism with supporters at a city centre rally on Saturday, as his party seeks to reverse the Tories’ “red wall” takeover of formerly Labour majority constituencies across the north of England. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives medals to Ukrainian troops in southern city as war with Russia grinds on in east

As property prices in the Cornish town soar, residents are dismayed that a landmark policy to curb investment buyers has proved ineffective“Holiday let, holiday let, holiday let,” says Leo Walker ruefully, as he leads the way through the historic fishing quarter of St Ives in Cornwall, pointing to successive properties.As the afternoon sunshine breaks through the clouds and gaggles of tourists devour ice-creams at the nearby harbour beach, Walker is reminiscing about how this area – known locally as “downlong” – was once affordable for young renters and was populated with traditional B&Bs. Continue reading...

A doctor, a teacher and a railway worker explain why they decided to take part in the demonstrationFrom midwives to firefighters, thousands of people gathered in central London on Saturday to protest against the government’s response to the cost of living crisis. Some are calling for pay increases, while others say they fear the devastating impact of public services being chronically underfunded. Here, we hear from three people on why they chose to demonstrate on Saturday. Continue reading...

Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was among the employees detained by Capitol policeSeven staff members from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were arrested for allegedly trespassing in a Capitol Hill building on Thursday night, authorities have said. All seven were each charged with unlawful entry.The employees, including Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, were found by US Capitol police (USCP) officers inside the Longworth House Office Building, which houses offices for members of the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

A new documentary takes viewers back down the rickety stairs to the trailblazing Gateways in ChelseaThe Gateways is back. The longest-running lesbian club of all-time – the one whose actual clientele appeared in the 1968 film The Killing of Sister George; the one where Mick Jagger tried to talk the owner into letting him crash in a frock; the one that was a sanctuary to every class and sort of woman, from well-known figures such as the writer Patricia Highsmith and the artist Maggi Hambling (then an art student) to swimming-pool attendants at the Tooting Bec lido – has been given a new lease of life in the first full-length documentary film to celebrate its history, and ensure that it is not erased.Behind a dull green door on the corner of King’s Road and Bramerton Street in Chelsea, down some rickety steps to the basement lay the dive, a former strip club. The lease had been won in a bet at a televised boxing event at the Dorchester hotel by course bookie Ted Ware in 1943, and initially he offered it as a hang-out to a group of his lesbian pals who had been kicked out of their old Soho haunt the Bag O’ Nails pub after new owners took over and banned them. Continue reading...

Demonstration organised by TUC calls on government to make ‘better deal’ for people struggling to cope with soaring inflationThousands of people have gathered in London to protest against the government’s lack of action in tackling the cost of living crisis.Protesters marched from Portland Place to Parliament Square for a rally with speakers including Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, which organised the event. Continue reading...

Documents obtained by BBC show 160 staff encountered problems with East of England ambulance service vehiclesStaff at an ambulance service have claimed they are unable to drive a new fleet of vehicles because of their height and body shape.The East of England ambulance service (EEAST) rolled out the £54m converted Fiats to replace its deteriorating Mercedes vans, as part of an effort to standardise NHS ambulances. Continue reading...

Sister-in-law hid one dedicated to Gauguin because of ‘anger at the French artist’s attacks on his former friend’Shortly before Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear and had a breakdown after quarrelling with his fellow artist, Paul Gauguin, in the French city of Arles in 1888, he created a pair of extraordinary paintings. One, Gauguin’s Chair, depicts a couple of books and a lit candle discarded on an ornate armchair. The other, Van Gogh’s Chair, shows a tobacco pipe and pouch on a rustic wooden chair and is instantly recognisable as one of the most famous paintings in the world.Now, the mystery of how the diptych of paintings came to be split up – and why the picture of Gauguin’s chair was kept in the family collection while Van Gogh’s Chair was sold off – has finally been solved. Continue reading...

Gang members given 23-year terms for shooting dead Paraguayan anti-corruption prosecutor Marcelo PecciFour people who confessed to taking part in the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor who was on his honeymoon have each been sentenced to 23 years in jail.Marcelo Pecci, 45, known for fighting organised crime, was shot dead on the island of Barú near the Caribbean city of Cartagena, in Colombia, on 10 May. Continue reading...

Rights campaigners say ‘appalling’ pilot scheme treats those fleeing conflict and persecution as criminalsRefugee rights campaigners have described a new Home Office scheme to electronically tag asylum seekers as “appalling”, saying the move treats people fleeing conflict and persecution as criminals.Under a 12-month pilot, which began on Wednesday, some people arriving in the UK in small boats or in the back of lorries will be electronically tagged. Continue reading...

Comments come after Ukrainian criticism of organiser EBU’s decision to move contest to UKBoris Johnson has said Ukraine deserves to host next year’s Eurovision song contest and that he hopes it will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia.The BBC is in talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about hosting the event in the UK, which came second in the 2022 contest, after the body ruled it could not go ahead in Ukraine as planned. Continue reading...

NSW premier says John Barilaro’s new role ‘no surprise’ to him; government ministers say Assange case ‘should be brought to a close’. This blog is now closed

Parliamentary leader Samantha Ratnam says she acted under party rules to overturn the recent election of Linda Gale

Labour MP Luke Pollard says Covid-19 has ‘turbo-charged’ housing crisis in rural and coastal townsCoastal communities are being “hollowed out irretrievably” by a surge in holiday homes, an MP has warned, as new figures showed more than 17,000 properties in England have been “flipped” into short-term lets since Covid-19.The poll came as MPs and campaign groups warned that vital public services – including schools, trains and buses – were in danger of vanishing from tourist hotspots due to a shortage of affordable homes. Continue reading...

Matt Black says his claim the reality TV star and her boyfriend Pete Davidson had dined at restaurant had gotten twisted

Scholars respond to author’s explanation for his new book appearing to copy some parts of classic texts