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Doctors performed procedure in 2002 without consent while Francisca was under anesthesia because she was HIV positiveThe Chilean state has apologised to a woman who was forcibly sterilised by doctors because she was HIV positive.The woman, known only as Francisca and then 20, was diagnosed with HIV in March 2002 while pregnant with her first child. But while she was under anaesthesia during a Caesarean section, doctors at a public hospital performed a surgical sterilisation on the grounds that it would be irresponsible for an HIV-positive woman to have more children. When Francisca woke up after the operation, she was informed by a nurse that she had been sterilised without her consent. Continue reading...

A fanged crowd of 1,369 broke the Guinness World Record for vampire gatherings in celebration of Bram Stoker’s classic novel

Chancellor’s measures, including tax on oil and gas companies, criticised as too late and a ‘drop in the ocean’Rishi Sunak bowed to months of pressure over the cost of living crisis with a £15bn package of support, part-funded by executing a remarkable U-turn to impose a windfall tax on energy companies.Announcing the measures on Thursday, in a bruising week for the government, the chancellor said his “significant set of interventions” would help the poorest in society – with a one-off £650 payment for 8 million families on means-tested benefits, alongside an extra £200 for all energy bill payers that will not have to be repaid. Continue reading...

James Wharton says he didn’t know Hungarian talkshow host Zsolt Bayer was speaking at rightwing eventThe chair of England’s university regulator, who was criticised for participating in a conference in Hungary on the same platform as a notorious far-right journalist accused of antisemitism, has said he did not know who he was appearing alongside.James Wharton, chair of the Office for Students (OfS), addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) via a video message last Friday, on the same day as Zsolt Bayer, a talkshow host who has called Jews “stinking excrement”, referred to Roma as “animals”, and used racial epithets to describe Black people. Continue reading...

Genivaldo de Jesus Santos dies of asphyxiation as video shows officers forcing him into vehicle then releasing gas grenadeBrazilians have responded with outrage to the death of a mentally ill Black man who was bundled into the back of a police car by officers who then released a gas grenade inside the vehicle.Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, was stopped by the federal highway police in the city of Umbaúba on Wednesday. Video footage of the incident shows two officers in helmets holding the car boot closed on his thrashing legs, as clouds of gas billow out of the vehicle. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s allies rally to his defence as one former minister says he ‘will not defend the indefensible’Four more Conservative MPs called for Boris Johnson to resign on Thursday over lockdown-breaking parties, as Downing Street sought to contain the political aftermath of the Sue Gray report.The prime minister’s allies reiterated the defence that his attendance at a series of gatherings for departing staff was permitted as work duties. His official spokesman argued that Covid guidelines did not specifically rule out leaving drinks. Continue reading...

Drummer who joined in 1972 also played on albums by John Lennon and George HarrisonAlan White, longtime drummer for prog rock band Yes, has died at home aged 72 after a short illness. Announcing the news, the band said they were “shocked and stunned”.White was one of the longest-running members of the group, having joined in 1972, replacing Bill Bruford (who joined King Crimson). Continue reading...

Sean Mallon tells inquest he made mistakes on night Dorset teenager went missingA police officer who was disciplined over the search for the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope has told her inquest jury that he made a number of mistakes on the night she went missing.Sean Mallon was acting up as a sergeant when he was made aware the 19-year-old had been reported missing on 7 November 2017, Dorset coroner’s court heard. Continue reading...

Crown Prosecution Service authorises criminal charges against the 62-year-old actorThe actor Kevin Spacey is facing four counts of sexual assault against three men, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.The CPS said it had also authorised a charge against the 62-year-old of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. Continue reading...

Service held six months after her murder, as city leaders say more must be done to keep women and girls safeHundreds of mourners lined the streets of Plymouth for the funeral of the murdered teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod as city leaders acknowledged more needed to be done to keep women and girls safe.McLeod’s favourite music – alternative rock – was played at the service in the city centre church of St Andrew and many mourners wore band T-shirts and black jeans in tribute to the 18-year-old. Continue reading...

Airline forced to scrap 200 flights due for early afternoon takeoff and delay many others as a resultAirline passengers faced fresh disruption on Thursday after an IT glitch forced easyJet to cancel about 200 flights around Europe.The airline scrapped a stream of flights due to take off between 1pm and 3pm, affecting dozens to and from UK airports, including its biggest base at Gatwick. Continue reading...

Home Office data shows majority of successful claimants arrived via small boats so may face prosecutionThe proportion of asylum seekers being granted refuge in the United Kingdom has risen to a 30-year high, prompting renewed concern from refugee charities about recent changes to the system which will see many people criminalised or transferred to Rwanda.New Home Office data shows that 75% of asylum claims in the year ending March 2022 were granted, with most claimants entering the UK via small boats or other irregular routes. This means they could face prosecution under the new Nationality and Borders Act, which was passed in April. Continue reading...

Timothy Tymoshenko was sent to Poland because of his distress but does not qualify for Homes for Ukraine scheme

Latest calls from within party for prime minister to stand down come day after Sue Gray report published

Webbe targeted love rival Michelle Merritt between September 2018 and April 2020The former Labour MP Claudia Webbe has lost an appeal against her conviction for harassing a love rival, but her sentence has been reduced.Webbe, who represents the Leicester East constituency as an independent after being expelled from Labour, was given a suspended prison sentence for harassing Michelle Merritt between September 2018 and April 2020. Continue reading...

Acting commissioner Stephen House says no evidence was found that PM breached Covid rules more than once

Jean-Luc Martinez is accused of conspiring to hide origin of works taken out of Egypt during Arab springThe former president of the Louvre museum in Paris has been charged with conspiring to hide the origin of archaeological treasures that may have been taken out of Egypt during the Arab spring uprisings, in a case that has shocked the world of antiquities.Jean-Luc Martinez was charged this week after he was taken in by police for questioning, a French judicial source told Agence France-Presse. Martinez ran the Paris Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, from 2013-21. Continue reading...

Aberdeen-based firm considering approach by US private equity firm I Squared Capital AdvisorsFirstGroup, Britain’s biggest train operator, is evaluating a £1.2bn takeover offer from a US private equity firm, the latest UK transport group to become a takeover target.The Aberdeen-based bus and rail operator said it had received a series of unsolicited proposals from I Squared Capital, and rejected them unanimously, apart from the latest approach, received on Wednesday evening, which it is evaluating. Continue reading...

Sir Stuart Rose describes handout as a ‘drop in the ocean’ compared with pressures struggling consumers faceThe government’s £15bn cost of living handout is not enough to help struggling families and only a “drop in the ocean” compared with the pressures consumers are facing, the boss of Asda has said.Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of the UK’s third largest supermarket, said he welcomed the one-off payments announced by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, on Thursday, worth a minimum of £400 for all households and up to £1,200 for the poorest, but said: “There is still going to be continuing pressure and a lot of toughness for people.” Continue reading...

Governor of Luhansk says Ukrainian troops retreating in some areas, as city of Lyman reportedly captured

Medical charity’s president calls publication of controversial photographs ‘a mistake’ and says guidelines will be tightenedThe international president of Médecins Sans Frontières has apologised for publishing photographs of a teenage rape survivor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on its website, following criticism that the images were unethical and racist.Dr Christos Christou also announced that the medical charity had tightened its guidelines on photographing vulnerable minors, such as survivors of sexual abuse, requiring that they should not be identified visually or by name. Continue reading...

Health officials say they are ready to respond but that overall risk to general public is lowCases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Wales and Northern Ireland, public health officials have announced, as experts stress the risk to the general public remains low.Public Health Wales, which has confirmed one case, urged people to be aware of the symptoms of the virus, adding it was important for gay and bisexual men to be alert. A sizeable proportion of monkeypox cases recently diagnosed in England have been found among people who identify as gay or bisexual and among men who have sex with men. Continue reading...

Equality and Human Rights Commission accuses firm of failing to comply with deal to address discriminationBritain’s equality watchdog has launched an investigation into Pontins over concerns that it has failed to stamp out discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers.Pontins’ owner, Britannia Jinky Jersey Limited, entered into a 12-month agreement with with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) last year after a whistleblower revealed that the holiday parks company had drawn up a list of surnames apparently designed to keep Irish Travellers out. Continue reading...

Conservatives who have sent a letter of no confidence and those who have publicly urged the PM to stand down

Vera Baird calls for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in AustraliaNew guidance designed to give rape victims confidence to get therapy before their trial “makes things worse” for survivors and lessened their protections, according to the victims’ commissioner, Vera Baird.The guidance issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aims to “alleviate victim concerns that accessing counselling could damage the prosecution case,” but Baird echoed concerns from campaign groups that they, in fact, reduce protections and called for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in Australia.In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

Labor member for Macalister Melissa McMahon tells parliament of abuse she suffered, announces leave of absence

Bombardment continues in 40 towns including the key city of Sievierodonetsk as police in Lysychansk collect bodies for mass burials

New foreign minister tells Fiji ‘I hope I will be here often’; Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane to review Liberal party’s election campaign; Labor retains Tasmanian seat of Lyons; nation records 71 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

President Macky Sall announces deaths of infants after blaze at hospital in TivaouaneEleven newborn babies have died in a hospital fire in Tivaouane, western Senegal, the country’s president has said.Macky Sall tweeted on Wednesday night: “I have just learned with pain and dismay about the deaths of 11 newborn babies in the fire at the neonatal department of the public hospital. To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy.” Continue reading...

One-off levy to fund support package amid cost of living crisis which could include increase in benefitsRishi Sunak is expected to unveil controversial plans for a windfall tax on energy companies later on Thursday as ministers seek to move on from the Partygate scandal and deal with the “huge challenge” of spiralling energy and food costs.The chancellor will make a statement to the Commons at 11.30am, laying out measures to ease the pain of rising household bills, which Treasury sources have not denied will include scrapping the requirement to repay a previously announced £200 discount on energy bills for all households, or increasing the level of the grant. Continue reading...

Tim Smith, who is retiring in November, says Coalition needs to ‘stop obsessing with the woke causes of inner-urban elites’ and focus on suburbs

Region has two-thirds of world’s most dangerous cities, with Bogotá, Rio, Mexico City and San Salvador also named in studyWhen police found the body of Marcela Graciano, a 31-year-old Colombian DJ, last Thursday, the brutality of the crime shocked even them. Her body, found in a house in a suburb of Medellín – Colombia’s second city – revealed signs of torture and her hands had been tied behind her back.“The body was in an advanced state of decomposition,” the local police chief, Col Rolfy Mauricio Jiménez, said. The Valle de Aburrá municipality has had 11 murders this year, authorities said. Continue reading...

Australian Medical Association backs delay of non-urgent tests but says supply issues highlight need for national stockpile of critical medical supplies

Queensland MP, who is expected to run for leader unopposed, launches media blitz to show ‘the rest of my character’

Sue Gray report found cleaners and security guards have been subjected to ‘lack of respect and poor treatment’Support staff at No 10 and the Cabinet Office have been subjected to bullying and harassment for years, according to a union member in Whitehall.The claim comes after Sue Gray’s report into the Partygate scandal disclosed that cleaners and security guards have been subjected to a “lack of respect and poor treatment”, and yet felt “unable to raise [this] properly” with the authorities. Continue reading...

Health and Safety Executive did not look into at least 89 incidents in England, including 10 deathsBritain’s safety at work regulator refused to investigate reports from NHS trusts that 10 frontline staff had died as a result of catching Covid-19 during the pandemic.The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) declined to look into at least 89 dangerous incidents that NHS trusts said involved healthcare workers being exposed to Covid, including 10 deaths. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology says risk of flooding remains in already saturated catchments in NSW and Queensland

Another witness, tennis partner Roslyn McLoughlin, tells NSW supreme court she saw Lynette with a ‘grapefruit-sized bruise on her thigh’

The ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right network is allegedly seeking to replicate anti-choice efforts in the USA network of ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right organisations is building momentum in its quest to influence abortion policy in Europe as the US supreme court considers striking down Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised the procedure in America.Elements of the network originally came together under the name Agenda Europe, holding yearly summits across the continent between 2013 until at least 2018, by which time it had grown to comprise 300 participants, including politicians and Vatican diplomats. Continue reading...

People are missing out on immigration status they are entitled to because of shortfall, says report’s authorRefugees fleeing violence and persecution, including those who face being deported to Rwanda, risk being denied expert advice because many areas of the UK have little or no legal aid provision for people seeking asylum, a major report has found.The study found that some towns and cities to which people seeking asylum are dispersed, including Plymouth, Stoke and Hull, had only one legal aid caseworker, while another, Swindon, had one provider with a legal aid contract but provided no provision because it could not recruit a caseworker. Continue reading...

PM accused of abuse of position with public backing for Jamaican candidate before summit next monthPrince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are likely to witness an unseemly showdown at the Commonwealth conference in Rwanda next month when Boris Johnson tries to oust Patricia Scotland as secretary general of the Commonwealth.The UK has been working behind the scenes for nearly two years to remove Lady Scotland, claiming she has not modernised the institution, and last week the prime minister publicly stated he was supporting a rival to Scotland. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UN investigators say Wagner Group fighters did not mark mines’ positions and may have rigged bomb to teddy bearRussian mercenaries in Libya systematically broke international law by laying mines in civilian areas without any attempt to mark their location or remove the lethal devices, UN investigators have found.According to a confidential UN report that will be made public in the coming weeks, fighters from the Wagner Group, a private military company that has been repeatedly linked to the Kremlin by western officials, also rigged booby traps to powerful explosive anti-tank weapons that were responsible for the death of two mine clearers working for an NGO. Continue reading...

Anton, released by Ukraine in a prisoner exchange, says he is only now registering the toll captivity took on mind and body

Two works from 1897 by Wurundjeri artist William Barak purchased at auction in New York

Palaszczuk government will implement 17 recommendations to counter ‘devastating effects of vilification’

Lawyers hope to appeal against decision to block access to documents about Timor-Leste espionage operation

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereMore from AFP:In the village of Yakovlivka, 55-year-old Ukrainian soldier Andriy hid in a ditch as shells fired by encroaching Russians whistled past.“Our guys have stopped firing back,” he whispered after glancing up and down the road. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese calls Labor frontbencher’s comment about Liberal leader-to-be a ‘mistake’

Leaked copy of draft shows Beijing wants more involvement in policing, cybersecurity and marine mappingChina is pursuing a sweeping regional economic security deal with Pacific nations that would dramatically expand its influence and reach into those countries, in a pact that has western countries and some Pacific leaders deeply worried.The wide-ranging deal lays out China’s vision for a much closer relationship with the Pacific, especially on security matters, with China proposing it would be involved in training police, cybersecurity, sensitive marine mapping and gaining greater access to natural resources. Continue reading...