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Controversial devices were barred by former Labor government but will return to watch houses after tough-on-crime CLP's election win

European Commission report completely ineffective as an enforcement tool', according to civil liberties organisationThe European Commission's exhaustive annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading European civil liberties network has said.The yearly rule of law reports were launched five years ago and are presented by the commission as a key weapon in its armoury against democratic backsliding, including corruption and attacks on independent media and judiciary, across the union. Continue reading...

Strike on base near Binyamina city is deadliest since Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, and follows rare US commitment to deploy Thaad battery to Israel

Unions express concern as PM to say government will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment'Keir Starmer will promise to slash red tape and rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment" as he hosts hundreds of global business executives for a major summit in central London.After a troubled run-up to the event, including a bruising row with the Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries, the prime minister will urge the world's largest businesses to invest in the UK, promising them stable policy and low regulation as an incentive to do so. Continue reading...

Daughter of Tony Nicklinson, who died in 2012, says he would be frustrated by new bill's likely exclusion of those who are not terminally illThe family of a paralysed right-to-die campaigner who was refused permission to have a doctor kill him has said he would be absolutely fuming" that the right-to-die laws have not changed in the 12 years since his death.Tony Nicklinson's daughter, Lauren Peters, said he would also be frustrated that the assisted dying bill, which covers England and Wales and is due to be published this week, is unlikely to propose legalising assisted dying for people like him who are not terminally ill. Continue reading...

Plea comes as analysis warns of 2.7bn tax rise mainly affecting smaller retail, leisure and hospitality firmsThe chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been urged to keep her promise to ease the pressure from business rates on high street businesses amid warnings of a looming 2.7bn tax hike that would mainly hit smaller retail, leisure and hospitality firms.More than 252,000 shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants and businesses such as bowling alleys are likely to see a big step up in the property tax from April next year when a 75% relief up to a cap of 110,000 will end, according to analysis from the real-estate intelligence firm Altus Group. Continue reading...

Unifil seeks explanation from IDF for shocking violations' while Netanyahu urges peacekeepers to withdrawThe UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has said two Israeli tanks destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in the south of the country as Israel's ground operation against Hezbollah moved deeper into Lebanese territory.The incident in Ramyah on Sunday morning was the latest in a string of violations that Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, has blamed on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Continue reading...

Muslim business owners in two states fear policy will lead to targeted attacks or economic boycottsMuslims in India say they have been fired from their jobs and face the closure of their businesses after two states brought in a discriminatory" policy making it mandatory for restaurants to publicly display the names of all their employees.The policy was first introduced by Yogi Adityanath, the hardline Hindu monk who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Last month the state of Himachal Pradesh, governed by the opposition Congress party, announced it would also make it compulsory for all names of workers and employees to be put on display. Continue reading...

People and aid workers in the strip say no one is talking about' the bloodshed there and ceasefire hopes are receding

Our mob across the country wanted structural reform', Pat Anderson told online audience; that's what we're still fighting for,' Prof Megan Davis said

Critics say courses are being closed that played a leading role in addressing racial disparities in higher educationBlack scholarship in the UK risks being wiped out due to redundancies and course closures, leading academics have warned.Universities in England are engulfed in a financial crisis and have in response implemented a number of cost-cutting measures. Continue reading...

Man believed to be in his 30s was found with gunshot injury and died at scene in east LondonPolice have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot dead in east London.The Metropolitan police said officers were called at about 4.35am on Sunday to reports of a man injured in Linton Road, Barking. A man believed to be in his 30s was found with a gunshot injury. Continue reading...

State-owned body writing off losses of 12m a year after stopping practice, inquiry toldThe Post Office has recently explored resuming the practice of taking branch owner-operators to court, as mounting losses from shortfalls in its network of 11,500 outlets hit 12m a year.During the Horizon IT scandal more than 900 operators were wrongly prosecuted over discrepancies caused by the faulty accounting software, many of them brought privately by the Post Office, a practice it stopped in 2015 and has promised not to restart. Continue reading...

Claim raises idea explorer was from community expelled by his Spanish patrons, but experts view it with cautionA 20-year genetic investigation of the remains of Christopher Columbus has turned conventional historical wisdom on its head by concluding that the explorer whose voyage to the New World changed the course of global history may have been a Spanish Jew rather than a son of Genoa.The claim raises the intriguing prospect that the man who played a central part in the creation of Spain's mighty empire hailed from the very community that his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, expelled from their kingdom in the same year Columbus reached the Americas. Continue reading...

Military spokesperson demands that medics avoid dealing with Hezbollah operatives' and claims ambulances used to transport weapons

Sandro Gozi calls for detail from Labour administration and says new phase in bilateral relationship' is possibleKeir Starmer's government must spell out what it wants from a reset of Britain's relationship with the EU, the European parliament's lead MEP on the UK has said.In his first interview since being elected chair of the European parliament's delegation to the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly earlier this month, Sandro Gozi, an Italian former European affairs minister, said there was potential for a reset with the Starmer government, which had shown a change in attitude". Continue reading...

Four never-before-heard demos will be sold at auction along with documents rescued by former PA to the star's managerIn the 54 years since Jimi Hendrix's death, every part of his archive has been mined for fresh material. Recordings of long-forgotten gigs, obscure B-sides and abandoned demos have all been released.But it appears that not everything the American rock guitarist, singer and composer recorded has seen the light of day. Newly unearthed master tapes with never-before-heard tracks are now up for sale in an auction of Hendrix memorabilia. Continue reading...

State premier announces free state primary school lunches at campaign launch after revealing plan for state-owned health clinics

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Deputy opposition leader says she's heartened community members made it clear racism has no place in her electorate

Russian foreign minister says final declaration not adopted because of attempts by US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and NZ to turn it into a purely political statement'Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by south-east Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a US official said on Saturday.A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said. Continue reading...

Biggest obstacle to improving immunisation rates are practical difficulties families face, according to national vaccination survey

Rights group in Caracas says at least 40 people affected, as Maduro government continues clampdown on oppositionThe Venezuelan government has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since President Nicolas Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of what rights groups said is an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president's opponents, the Financial Times has reported.At least 40 people, mostly journalists and human rights activists, have had their passports annulled without explanation, the newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Caracas-based rights group Laboratorio de Paz. Continue reading...

Royal family had pledged to declare all presents received in an annual list, after several controversiesKing Charles and his family have failed to reveal their official gifts for the past four years, despite previously promising to publish an annual list.Palace officials have blamed the pandemic, the change of reign, and then planning for last year's coronation for their inability to publish details of the gifts received by members of the royal family. Continue reading...

Ahead of opening of inquiry into death of Dawn Sturgess, former PM says attackers showed utter recklessness'Theresa May has said justice is highly unlikely" to come for the victims of the novichok attacks in Wiltshire, in an interview broadcast days before an inquiry opens into the Russian state poisonings.The former prime minister said she hoped that the family and friends of Dawn Sturgess, who was killed in 2018 after she was exposed to the nerve agent, would find comfort from the inquiry into her death and feel that it had got to the truth" of what happened. Continue reading...

Conflicting reports include house arrest of Esmail Ghaani, who was in Beirut at time of Hassan Nasrallah's killing

TRG says both candidates have used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from ... the values we cherish and uphold'Robert Jenrick, one of the final two Tory leadership candidates, is delivering a speech in London. There is a live feed on his X account.Jenrick started by promising a complete break with Labour's failing agenda". He said:The real choice this country faces is between Labour's failing agenda and the new approach I want us to take, the new approach we need as a country.Because if I am chosen as the next leader of this party we will stand to offer a complete break with Labour's failing agenda. Continue reading...

Police say couple assisting with investigations' after Dani Cuesta posted photo of himself with Lim go home' signA Spanish couple have been detained after the man held a banner to protest against Peter Lim, the billionaire Singaporean owner of Valencia football club.Dani Cuesta had shared photos on social media of himself holding a sign that said Lim go home" at various locations in Singapore, including the residences where Lim reportedly lives and the tourist landmark Merlion Park. Continue reading...

Communications minister Michelle Rowland says likely' changes to Online Safety Act will place onus on platforms, not parents or young people'

Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled while there was a 13% rise in hate crimes against MuslimsReligious hate crimes in England and Wales have soared by 25% to record levels, coinciding with the Israel-Hamas conflict, government statistics show.The increase, from 8,370 to 10,484 offences reported to police forces in the year to March, was driven by a rise in offences against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims, the Home Office said. The overall number of hate crimes dropped. Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister calls Jo Tarnawsky a wonderful' person after her claim she was effectively sacked without warning

Greens say revelations a damning indictment' that speak to a broken governance culture' at prestigious universities

James Cleverly asks Yvette Cooper if she intervened to ensure popstar's London concerts went aheadMinisters are facing questions over whether they intervened to grant Taylor Swift VIP police protection in order to stop her cancelling her London concerts.James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, wrote to his opposite number, Yvette Cooper, on Wednesday to ask whether she had personally made representations. Continue reading...

Teenager, now 17, was convicted after inflicting 36 injuries with kitchen knife on Holly Newton, then 15, in alleywayA teenager who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in the street has been named after a judge lifted reporting restrictions that prevented his identity from being disclosed.Logan MacPhail, now 17, was convicted of murdering Holly Newton in Hexham, Northumberland. He attacked her because he was jealous that she was with someone else, and could not accept that their relationship was over. Continue reading...

Owner of Nomad restaurant group in Surry Hills arrested after pro-Palestine protest at weekend

Karvelas will continue to host Q&A and present politics on the broadcaster's news channel

Agency had been investigating Kazakh company for suspected corruption and fraud over 12 yearsThe UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation have agreed a settlement to end one part of a years-long legal battle.The agency had been investigating ENRC for suspected bribery and fraud in Africa and Kazakhstan, which the mining company denied. But the SFO dropped its decade-long investigation last year without bringing charges, citing insufficient admissible evidence. Continue reading...

Alexander Darwall, owner of Blachford estate in national park, is challenging the right to wild campingPicnicking on Dartmoor is trespassing, according to the lawyers for a landowner who is challenging the right to wild camping on the moors.The public should have no right to undertake any activities other than walking or horse riding in the Dartmoor national park without landowner permission, Timothy Morshead KC told a supreme court hearing on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Fast-fashion retailer presents real challenge for Boohoo and Asos' as it considers 50bn IPO, says analyst

Thai conglomerate Central Group to co-own high-profile retailer with Saudi Public Investment Fund

British climber Fay Manners, who was stuck for three days, says: There was a big, big, long sense of silence between us'A British mountaineer and her American companion who were stranded in the Himalayas for three days without food have described the long silence between them after the bulk of their equipment plunged into a ravine.Fay Manners, 37, and Michelle Dvorak, 31, had been climbing the Chaukhamba mountain in northern India, when they issued an SOS message on Thursday, with nothing further being heard from them. Continue reading...

Louise Haigh's remarks follow departures of PM's chief of staff Sue Gray and MP Rosie Duffield

Union leaders criticise NSW premier's comments advocating police power to prohibit rallies deemed too expensive to patrol

Research by herEthical AI reveals attitude of disbelief and stereotypical assumptions' about survivors in England and WalesJudges in the family courts are using victim-blaming and gender-biased language towards domestic abuse survivors, AI analysis of judgments and appeals in England and Wales reveals.The findings are the result of a project called herEthical AI, which trains computers to identify attitudes among judges that it warns is resulting in the retraumatisation of domestic abuse survivors in the family courts. Continue reading...

Twenty-five-year-old pleaded not guilty to performing gesture about six days after state outlawed it

Pope and UN secretary general call for end to fighting as governments and individuals commemorate attack by Hamas

Ex-officer faces five counts of indecent assault, two of rape and one of sexual assault against two womenThe former Metropolitan police officer David Carrick has been charged with eight sexual offences against two women.Prosecutors announced on Monday that Carrick, 49, would face charges of rape, indecent assault and coercive control concerning two women, dating back to more than three decades ago when he was a teenager. Continue reading...

Military says 100 aircraft used in attack on targets in south of country as Israeli operations expand on multiple fronts

Obstetricians, midwives and obstetric anaesthetists will take part in pilots after damning report by health regulatorNHS maternity staff will take part in a mandatory training programme to improve patient safety after a damning report by the health regulator said that poor care and harm in childbirth was in danger of becoming normalised".Obstetricians, midwives and obstetric anaesthetists at nine maternity units across England will all have to do extra training from Monday under government plans to raise care standards for women and babies. The scheme will be rolled out to every maternity unit in the country if the pilots are successful. Continue reading...

Campaigners say key reason for rising hardship is two-child benefit cap, which PM and chancellor have refused to axeAt least 10,000 more children have fallen into poverty since Keir Starmer took office, thanks to the two-child benefit cap, according to new analysis.The policy, which was introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor, means low-income parents are denied key benefits, including universal credit, for their third and any subsequent children born from April 2017. Continue reading...