This blog is now closed. Please join us again in a few hours when we will relaunch our live blog and in the meantime check out our latest Ukraine coverage here.Gazprom halts gas exports to FinlandRussia’s state gas company, Gazprom, said it has halted gas exports to Finland. The country refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe created by the (Russian) occupiers and collaborators, the city is on the verge of an outbreak of infectious diseases, he said on the messaging app Telegram. Continue reading...

Ministers remain unable to decide on ways to relieve poverty as they wrangle over windfall tax for energy companiesBoris Johnson hopes to blunt calls for urgent action on the cost of living crisis by stressing that work is the best route out of poverty, as ministers continue wrangling about the merits of a windfall tax.No 10 sources confirmed on Sunday that the prime minister will continue to throw the spotlight on the healthy state of the job market, in the face of the rising clamour to help families struggling with their bills. Continue reading...

Experts say many others are denied help, and ‘relentless’ rise in demand could overwhelm NHS

Analysis: As Labor focused on opportunities for working people in the transition to renewables, the Greens mounted a formidable on-the-ground campaign

Would-be Labor candidate for Fowler says it ‘absolutely’ mattered that Keneally did not reflect electorate’s high diversity

Senior executive at Guide Dogs charity says he was ‘publicly humiliated’ by security guardA senior executive at the charity Guide Dogs said he felt “publicly humiliated” when he and his guide dog, Faldo, were illegally told to leave a Marks & Spencer shop in west London.Dave Kent, 62, a corporate engagement executive at the charity who has been totally blind since he was 18, said he was “curtly” asked to take his golden retriever out of the Mortlake department store three times by a security guard last Friday. Continue reading...

Whistleblowers say North East Ambulance Service managers kept inconvenient facts from coronerAn ambulance service in north-east England has apologised to bereaved relatives after covering up mistakes made by paramedics when responding to patients who later died.The chief executive of the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) offered her “unreserved apologies” for “historic failings” after whistleblowers told the Sunday Times that managers filtered out inconvenient facts from incident reports before they were sent to the coroner, in order to present paramedics in a more flattering light.In the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Viktor Ovsyannikov speaks out on his defence of a 21-year-old tank commander who shot and killed an unarmed civilian

Move is part of hardline pivot after militants hinted at more moderate restrictions when taking power last yearAfghanistan’s Taliban rulers have begun enforcing an order requiring all female TV news presenters in the country to cover their faces while on air, as part of a hardline shift that has drawn condemnation from rights activists.After the order was announced on Thursday, only a handful of news outlets complied. However, on Sunday most female presenters were seen with their faces covered after the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice began enforcing the decree. Continue reading...

UCU climbdown allows individual campuses to decide on strike action; 20 universities plan to go aheadThe long-running industrial dispute over pension cuts and working conditions at UK universities appears to be faltering, after union branches abandoned a national marking strike due to start this week that could delay students from graduating.Last month, 41 branches of the University and College Union (UCU) backed a national marking and assessment boycott, supported by 86% of staff who returned ballots. But only 20 universities are going ahead with a boycott after opposition from branches and members led to national action being curtailed by the union’s executive in favour of letting individual campuses decide. Continue reading...

Russian airstrikes hit Mykolaiv and Donbas regions; only Ukraine can decide its future, says Polish president

Ashley Mullenger talks about the difficulties of finding the right boots and lifejackets, and getting more women into the industryBeing a woman in the male-dominated fishing industry has presented some challenges for Ashley Mullenger, who has become the first woman to win a Fisherman of the Year award.“It’s little things like the ankle cut on the boots we wear – for men it’s wider and you need to have good ankle support on a boat when you’re working on a moving deck. It took me a while to find boots suitable for commercial fishing and for women,” she says. Continue reading...

Palestinians in Masafer Yatta – or Firing Zone 918 to the Israelis – vow to rebuild as homes are bulldozedBelow the dusty plateau, home to Khribet al-Fakhiet village, on the southern edge of the occupied West Bank, sheep, goats and camels belonging to Palestinian Bedouin roam the hills. The Israeli town of Arad glitters in the distance and, across the valley to the east, the mountains of neighbouring Jordan rise up to meet the sky. Much closer to home, the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Yair looms from the next ridge.Bone-shattering unpaved roads crisscross this poverty-stricken, hilly semi-desert, part of the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control. Palestinians call it Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages with a population of about 1,000. To the Israeli state, however, this is Firing Zone 918, a military training area in which civilians are prohibited. The fight for control of this 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) is one of the fiercest battles of the Israeli occupation. Continue reading...

Head of Howard League urges party to abandon ‘cheap politics’ and develop evidence-based positionThe Labour party is indulging in “cheap politics” by accusing the Conservatives repeatedly of being soft on crime, the head of a leading prison reform charity has claimed.Andrea Coomber QC, the chief executive of the Howard League, said the opposition is trying to outflank Boris Johnson’s government on law and order instead of developing evidence-based policies to solve a crisis within the criminal justice system. Continue reading...

Pacific leaders welcome Labor’s plan for action on climate while one French minister says defeat of Scott Morrison ‘suits me very well’

Titmus’s time of 3 minutes 56.4 seconds broke the previous record set by American rival Katie Ledecky at the 2016 OlympicsAriarne Titmus has broken the women’s 400 metres freestyle world record at the Australian championships.Titmus clocked three minutes 3 minutes 56.40 seconds in Sunday night’s final in Adelaide. Continue reading...

Group call for fresh taxation of wealthy to tackle cost of living crisis and gulf between rich and poorA group of millionaires have joined protests against the World Economic Forum gathering of the business and political elite in Davos, Switzerland, demanding that governments “tax us now” to tackle the burgeoning gulf between rich and poor.The unlikely protesters, who describe themselves as “patriotic millionaires”, called on world leaders attending the annual conference on Sunday to immediately introduce fresh taxes on the wealthy in order to tackle the “cost of living scandal playing out in multiple nations around the world”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Condition most prevalent among those who had Covid, raising possibility of link with Parkinson’s diseaseScientists have reported a two- to fourfold increase in the prevalence of dream-enactment disorder – whereby people physically act out their dreams – during the pandemic, with those who have been infected with Covid the most likely to experience it.Given that the phenomenon can be an early indicator of Parkinson’s disease, it is possible the virus has triggered brain changes that could increase people’s risk of developing the condition. The researchers, however, stressed that it could also be the result of pandemic-induced stress and that further research was needed to explore the link. Continue reading...

Over 50 specialists skilled in delivering crude explosive working with Putin’s forces

Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will surprise the residents of Albert Square at street partyThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are to appear as themselves in an episode of EastEnders to mark the Queen’s Platinum jubilee.Charles and Camilla were filmed visiting a fictional Albert Square Jubilee street party when they visited the soap set in March, the BBC announced. Continue reading...

Landmark ruling follows case of three young Indigenous Mexicans detained and abused on suspicion of being Guatemalan migrantsMexican immigration agents can no longer conduct stop and search operations on buses and highways after the country’s supreme court ruled that such checks are racist, discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.The landmark ruling, handed down in Mexico City on Wednesday, found in favour of three young Indigenous Mexicans who were detained and abused by immigration (INM) officials in 2015 during a US-backed crackdown. Continue reading...

Minister asked repeatedly for details on PM’s meeting with senior civil servant ahead of Partygate reportThe UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has repeatedly refused to say who organised a meeting between Boris Johnson and top civil servant Sue Gray, as Westminster awaits her report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.It has emerged that the pair met, with both sides – No 10 and Gray’s team – denying they called the meeting. Continue reading...

Tayshan Hayden-Smith started gardening in a plot under a concrete flyover in west London. Now he’s at the top of his gameThe concrete space underneath the Westway, an elevated dual carriageway that cuts across the Victorian terraces of west London, is not a hospitable place for plants – nor for people, some would say. But it is nevertheless at the heart of the community that calls itself North Kensington. Between the Westway’s shadow and another dominant structure, the shrouded Grenfell Tower, sits a narrow slice of a garden.Lanterns hang from a tree, halfway down a path of bark chips leading to a welcoming bench. With planting that is green and tall, the little haven is so immersing that even the loud hum of overhead traffic is easily forgotten. The community green space owes its existence to Tayshan Hayden-Smith, a 19-year-old at the time of the Grenfell fire, who in its aftermath was gripped by an impulse to start planting things. He found a piece of wasteland and with no prior experience began to explore the two-way nurturing process of gardening. A promising footballer of mixed race, he was acutely embarrassed at the idea of being seen with a plant; he would duck out of sight when friends went past. “I felt so at home in the garden, but so out of place,” he says. Continue reading...

Many have been paying thousands of dollars in interest alone, with their principal debt hardly affected despite monthly paymentsIn 2001, Karen Herrera of Minnesota took advice from a Sallie Mae representative to consolidate her student loan debt with her husband’s. They both worked in the public sector, but due to their type of loans, they did not qualify for public service forgiveness. Herrera lost her job in 2009 due to the economic recession, and though the couple filed for bankruptcy, their student loan debts remained.Herrera and her husband have continued to make monthly payments throughout the pandemic, as their loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program were not eligible for the pause on payments. Continue reading...

Dan Tehan and Karen Andrews both touted as potential challengers, but conservatives confident Dutton has the numbers to succeed Scott Morrison

Only a 10-minute drive apart but cut off by war, Serhi Belyaev took a perilous road trip to be with his loved ones again

Campaigners say ministers must change course as millions face famine in Africa and the Ukraine war threatens to disrupt global food suppliesMinisters have been accused of choosing the “worst moment in history” to slash the foreign aid budget, as provisional figures showed that UK overseas humanitarian funding was cut by more than half last year.MPs and charity campaigners say the aid budget urgently needs to be increased to cope with the Ukraine conflict and the risk of famine in Africa. Up to 23 million people face acute hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia due to drought. Continue reading...

The German capital’s liberal reputation has been derailed by clashes between subcontracted ticket inspectors and black peopleA Berlin metro ticket controller squeezes through a throng of old-school punks, mariachi band members and burly men in leather chaps, all while jauntily humming Is’ mir egal, “It’s all the same to me”.The 2015 viral ad, featuring Turkish-German Neukölln rapper Kazim Akboga, was a great marketing success for the German capital’s public transport company, BVG: if you ride on our metros, trams and buses, it said, you can be whoever you want to be – as long as you remember to buy a ticket. Continue reading...

Partial restart comes as curbs tightened in other areas, highlighting difficulties of resuming life under China’s strict zero-Covid policy

Thousands of lives were saved by activists who have now been

Unit of young and old volunteer fighters guard network of trenches built since February invasionUkrainian forces have built a new line of defences along the country’s previously unfortified northern border with Belarus amid signs of another attack.Russian forces invaded Ukraine through the Belarusian border in February when they tried to capture the capital, Kyiv. Continue reading...

Inflation-linked rise will deter poorer school-leavers from entering higher education in England and Wales, say former ministersSenior Tories are sounding the alarm over the “outrageous” interest rates to be applied to student loans later this year, after warnings that some graduates will soon be hit with rates of up to 12%.In the latest sign of party unease over the effects of high inflation, former ministers and MPs are calling for the government to step in and prevent the increases. They say some young people who have the ability to take up a university place will be put off by the idea of repaying a large, expensive debt for years. Continue reading...

David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for OrthopoxvirusA senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday “because of the urgency of the situation”. Continue reading...

Shireen Mazari’s daughter tweeted that her mother was beaten and taken away by police near her Islamabad home on SaturdayPakistan’s former human rights minister was arrested on Saturday in the capital over a decades-old land grabbing allegation, her daughter and another former minister said.Shireen Mazari, who served in the cabinet-level position under former prime minister Imran Khan, was detained by police near her Islamabad home, daughter Imaan Mazari said in a tweet. Continue reading...

Three months after the invasion, the capital’s grand old venue stages an emotional comebackSee all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageThe lights dimmed, a hush came over the auditorium and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. This ritual has taken place thousands of times at Kyiv’s grand opera house over the past century, but the performance on Saturday afternoon was something out of the ordinary.In a city that over the past three months became used to wailing air-raid sirens and the thuds of artillery from the suburbs, the audience was instead treated to the frothy melodies of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Continue reading...

Undiplomatic remarks from Jean-Yves Le Drian follow war of words between nations over abandoned submarine dealFrance’s outgoing foreign affairs minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has undiplomatically welcomed the election defeat of Australia’s conservative government after a war of words last year over an abandoned submarine deal between the two countries.Australia scrapped the purchase worth up to A$90bn (£50bn) last September in favour of a security pact with the US and the UK. Continue reading...

If Saturday’s count points to the final result, Anthony Albanese’s government will not face a hostile upper house

Large swings in WA meant the Liberals lost Hasluck, Swan, Pearce and Tangney and will have just five seats – down from 10 – after the electionIt wasn’t quite the bloodbath the Liberal party suffered in Western Australia’s state election in 2021, but a huge 11% swing to Labor has proved crucial to the Coalition’s federal election defeat.The “red wave” in the west was the biggest swing nationally and could deliver Labor a parliamentary majority. Continue reading...

Long waiting times and difficulty in accessing other NHS facilities drive a trebling in those leaving without completing careMore than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic.Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111. Continue reading...

UAP vote increases slightly to around 4.7% but was exceeded by the One Nation vote

Labour says the case for the British government to follow Ottawa’s lead is ‘extremely strong’

A club night that ends at midnight is welcomed by those who – like the DJ – want a good time without partying all night longBefore Annie Macmanus – aka veteran DJ Annie Mac – started her four-hour set for her new night, Before Midnight, she wandered around the early arrivals saying hello. They all said the same thing: thank you. “It’s like I’m doing some kind of a public service,” she says.At Islington Assembly Hall in north London on Friday night, the gratitude was real – with the mixed crowd delighted to be raving hard by 9pm, before many clubs have even opened, and knowing they’d be on their merry way home just after midnight, when “normal” clubbers are just getting started. Macmanus started the night, billed as “clubbing for people who need sleep”, because, at 43 and with children to care for, she no longer wanted to play sets all night. The DJ – who during her 17 years as one of the biggest DJs at BBC Radio 1 always declared that “raving is a state of mind” – also wanted to put on nights “for anyone who just wants to go out and loves nightclubbing but hasn’t really felt like nightclubbing is a place for them any more.” Continue reading...

Tory MP says immediate increase in universal credit would provide ‘shield’ against cost of living crisisThe former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for benefits to be immediately brought in line with inflation to provide a “shield” against the sting of mounting living costs.He said rebates and discretionary funds represented “a step in the wrong direction for tackling poverty”, arguing it would be better to uplift universal credit (UC) as it “links benefits to work”. Continue reading...

Leader Adam Bandt celebrates ‘massive mandate’ and says Greens are willing to talk to Anthony Albanese if Labor fails to win majority government

US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ‘strategic assets’ was discussedJoe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was “sincere and serious” about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Continue reading...

Labor sought urgent injunction to remove misleading campaign material in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke that used Greens colours and read ‘For our future, put Labor last’

PM says Australians ‘need to vote Liberal and Nationals’ so he can stop future boats, despite Labor’s identical policy on boat turnbacks

Analysis: Another week of extremes with peaks pushing 40C in Spain and a rare subtropical cyclone in Uruguay and BrazilUnseasonably high temperatures have been affecting both Iberia and France over recent days. Temperatures have been about 10-15C above average thanks to a southerly flow of very warm and dry air from north Africa.On 17 May, temperatures across much of Spain, as well as southern and central France, widely exceeded 30C. A top temperature of 35.5C was recorded in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, with a provisional high of 32.9C recorded in the French commune of Montélimar. La Hague near the Channel hit 26.6C, beating the May record for this location set 100 years ago. Continue reading...

Stepfather Stuart Murray describes the fallout from his son’s death and his lasting legacy on their familyDawn was breaking on 23 May 2017 when Stuart and Figen Murray turned up at the Etihad Stadium to register their son, Martyn Hett, as missing in the Manchester Arena attack. They were the first relatives to arrive at Manchester City’s ground, the muster point for those seeking loved ones who had been at the Ariana Grande concert the night before.With no confirmed death toll from the suicide bomb that exploded after Grande’s finale, Stuart, Martyn’s stepdad, feared what might await them: “I just thought, ‘bloody hell, they must have hundreds of bodies laid out on the football pitch. Are we going to have to walk around these bodies to see if one of them is Martyn?’ At the same time, it was still early. I was thinking, he’s probably just gone awol. Martyn, when he went out, traditionally went astray. He once phoned us saying ‘I’ve fallen asleep on the train home to Stockport and woken up in Nottingham, what should I do?’. He was always losing his phone.” Continue reading...

Mobile polling in health facilities was stopped amid the pandemic and patients in hospital unexpectedly have no way to cast their ballot