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...

Prime minister says ‘the Pacific is our home’ as Beijing plans a regional security pact with almost a dozen island nationsJacinda Ardern says New Zealand is “ready to respond” to security needs in the Pacific, after it emerged China is planning a Pacific-wide security deal with almost a dozen island nations.The prime minister, who is touring the US, said she believed the Pacific could meet its security needs internally, implying it should do so without intervention from China or elsewhere. “On anything related to security arrangements, we are very strongly of the view that we have within the Pacific the means and ability to respond to any security challenges that exist and New Zealand is willing to do that,” Ardern said. Continue reading...

Report in wake of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson killings proposes new specialist teamsChild protection services in England face a shake-up after an independent review of safeguarding failures that led to the killings of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and the toddler Star Hobson.The review’s central proposal is the creation of specialist child protection teams including social workers, mental health workers, police officers, paediatricians and child psychologists to oversee cases where children are at serious risk of harm. Continue reading...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate confronts Republican Greg Abbott during press conference, saying: ‘You are doing nothing’Beto O’Rourke publicly confronted Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, during a press conference on Wednesday about a mass school shooting in the town of Uvalde where 19 children and two teachers were killed.As seen in a video of the press briefing published online, an off-camera O’Rourke is heard approaching the press conference table where several government officials, including Abbott, are seated onstage. Continue reading...

Frontbencher says PM ‘getting away lightly’ after Sue Gray says she did not fully investigate alcohol-fuelled gathering

Group includes children and pregnant women as exodus from crisis-hit Haiti growsA ship carrying more than 800 Haitians who were apparently trying to reach the US has landed instead in central Cuba, in what is thought to be the largest group yet in a swelling exodus of people from the crisis-stricken Caribbean country.The Communist party newspaper Granma quoted Red Cross officials in the province of Villa Clara as saying the 842 people crammed on to the vessel had been given medical attention and were being housed at a tourist campground. Continue reading...

Outspoken leader thought to have resisted board’s attempts to split the roles of chair and chief executiveThe boss of JD Sports has stepped down with immediate effect just months after the retailer was fined more than £4m for breaching the competition regulator’s rules with clandestine meetings with a takeover target.The company said Peter Cowgill, the outspoken chair and chief executive officer of JD who has led the group since 2004, would be temporarily replaced as chief executive by Kath Smith, its senior independent director who spent 25 years as managing director of the Adidas and Reebok brands. Continue reading...

Dictator’s son will take office from 30 June marking the dynasty’s return to the seat of powerFerdinand Marcos Jr was flanked by his family, including matriarch Imelda Marcos, as he stood at the rostrum in the Philippines Congress to be proclaimed president-elect, marking the dynasty’s return to the seat of power.Marcos Jr won almost 59% of votes in an election earlier this month, more than double that of his closest rival. His landslide victory followed a highly divisive campaign that was dominated by disinformation that sought to glorify the regime of his dictator father Marcos Sr, who plundered as much as $10bn dollars while in office, and presided over rife human rights abuses. Continue reading...

Analysis: Guided between meetings and stumbling across parties, PM projects meekness and irrelevance

The industry has not been able to manufacture enough to keep pace with rocketing demandMPs have launched an inquiry into the strengths and weaknesses of the UK semiconductor industry and its supply chain, after months of global shortages and disruption that have hit production of cars, electronics and home appliances.The announcement of the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee’s inquiry comes just days before a decision is expected in the controversial proposed takeover of the UK’s largest microchip manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab by a Dutch company owned by Chinese-backed Nexperia. Continue reading...

Premier says ‘we are proud to be a francophone nation in North America’ but English-speaking critics threaten legal actionQuebec’s government has successfully passed sweeping French language protections that critics warn will reshape all aspects of public life.Bill 96, which passed on Tuesday afternoon in the province’s national assembly, will require new immigrants and refugees to communicate with provincial officials exclusively in French six months after arriving or face a loss of services. The bill also limits the use of English in the legal system and caps enrolment at the province’s English-language schools. Continue reading...

PM tells media after publication of Sue Gray report that other gatherings he attended were ‘part of my job’

Belarusian private soldiers are first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges since invasion began

Zelenskiy calls situation in Donbas ‘extremely difficult’ as Russia tries to carve up Ukrainian-held territory

Alistair Phillips-Davies pledges £24bn of investment as his company reports 15% rise in profitsThe chief executive of the energy supplier SSE has said a windfall tax could damage Britain’s progress on building up domestic sources of electricity and gas as he pledged £24bn of investment.Alistair Phillips-Davies has said a proposed one-off levy on energy companies could hinder work to build windfarms and other sources of domestic supplies. Continue reading...

Retailer to shut 32 more stores in next three years, and expects profits to flatline in year aheadShoppers are expected to rein in spending seriously in the autumn, after enjoying holidays abroad and the jubilee celebrations this summer, the boss of Marks & Spencer has said, as the retailer said profits would flatline amid “consumer uncertainty”.Steve Rowe, the outgoing chief executive of the food, clothing and homewares retailer, said M&S’s costs were rising by between 5% and 9%, depending on the product category, adding “a chunk of that is going to get passed on” to customers. Continue reading...

Artist and poet played leading role in cultural explosion that followed end of Franco dictatorshipThe Spanish photographer, artist and poet Ouka Leele, one of the greatest and brightest talents of the Movida Madrileña cultural explosion that followed the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship, has died at the age of 64.Born Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma in Madrid in 1957, Leele began drawing, painting and devouring history of art books at an early age. After studying photography, she alighted on what would become her trademark style – an often riotous fusion of monochrome photographic images overpainted with gaudy watercolours. Continue reading...

No 10 insiders given time to read printed copies of report before it is published at approximately 11amSue Gray’s final report into Downing Street parties has been sent to No 10, and is expected to include damning descriptions and several photographs of gatherings that broke lockdown laws.A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided her final report to the prime minister.” It is understood that the report is about 40 pages long. Continue reading...

‘Make No Doubt’ videos aim to provide young people with tools to give and ask for consent, launched one week before NSW law change

Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez strangled and stabbed her mother, but continues to deny any involvement

From Monday about 1.5 million aged 16-64 qualify for fourth dose after updated advice that excludes people without serious risk factors

Doctors call for international help as Ethiopia civil war leaves terminally ill being treated with paracetamol in Mekelle hospitalDoctors caring for cancer patients at the main hospital in Tigray say they have only two chemotherapy drugs left in date and are treating terminally ill people with expired medication and paracetamol. Eighteen months of war have left the sickest in society suffering agonising deaths, they say.For the first time in 11 months, doctors at the Ayder referral hospital in Mekelle took receipt of an oral chemotherapy drug earlier this month as part of an airlift by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Until then, they had had only one, Doxorubicin, still in date. Continue reading...

State-backed broadcast has strategic and practical justifications but some see it as dangerous monopolyIn an age of social media and satellite television, the singular wartime news bulletin evokes images of families tuning in to the radio during the second world war. But in Ukraine, the state-backed broadcast has remerged, albeit with a 21st-century spin.Shortly after Russia invaded, the country’s main TV channels started broadcasting the same content 24 hours a day, nicknamed the United News telemarathon. Each channel has a daily slot on the broadcast, which is shown simultaneously on all the channels. Continue reading...

Gazprombank’s Igor Volobuyev and diplomat Boris Bondarev are among the Russian elite to oppose Putin’s invasion of UkraineIgor Volobuyev spent two decades working in the heart of the Russian business establishment, first for Gazprom and then for its affiliate Gazprombank, where until February this year he was vice-president.Then Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine in late February, and Volobuyev decided he could no longer stand living in Russia. He packed a small rucksack of possessions and a stack of cash, and flew out of the country on 2 March, pretending he was going on holiday. Continue reading...

Wang Yi will visit eight countries in 10 days, but media access to his diplomatic push has been severely restrictedPacific journalists have raised serious concerns about secrecy surrounding the upcoming marathon tour of the Pacific by China’s foreign minister, who will be visiting eight countries in 10 days.Wang Yi will visit Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Fiji between 26 May and 4 June, on a tour of the region that has been labelled “extraordinary and unprecedented” by Pacific experts. Continue reading...

Policies passed after Cole Miller’s death from one-punch attack have also not adversely affected hospitality venues, review says