Homicide investigators are trying to identify the child, whose cause of death is not yet knownPolice in Canada are trying to identify a young Black girl whose body was found in a Toronto dumpster, a grim discovery that has shaken the city and seasoned investigators looking into the case.The Toronto police service announced on Thursday that the body, discovered on Monday in an affluent neighbourhood, was that of a young Black girl, believed to be between the ages of four and seven. Continue reading...

Labour close to a clean sweep of the capital’s boroughs, and the Lib Dems and Greens are making gains

Sinking of the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was seen as a high-profile loss for its militaryUS officials have said they had shared information about the location of the Russian warship Moskva with Ukraine prior to its sinking last month, a fresh demonstration of the close intelligence support Kyiv is receiving from Washington.It is unclear how far the US intelligence helped Ukraine launch an accurate double missile strike on the Moskva – and the US officials briefing the information insisted the targeting decision was a matter for the Ukrainians alone. Continue reading...

Hull win – alongside other successes – suggests coalition taint is fading for voters seeking alternative to Tories and Labour

The writer calls the planned destruction of copies of five titles – by Bernardine Evaristo, Alison Bechdel, Imbolo Mbue and Stephen Chbosky as well as his own – ‘an unconscionable horror’Dave Eggers, author of dystopian satire The Circle, has said he will provide free copies of his novel to schools in South Dakota, as well as copies of four other books that have been banned in the district’s schools.School administrators in Rapid City thought The Circle, along with How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Booker prize-winning Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, inappropriate for pupils. The district’s schools’ copies have been marked as surplus and are due to be destroyed. Continue reading...

Exclusive: MTC profits soared before early termination of £50m contract to run Rainsbrook facility near RugbyA private prison company that ran an “inadequate” youth jail made £11m in the same year inspectors raised serious safety concerns about the welfare of children, some of whom were locked up alone for more than 23 hours a day.Soaring profits, described as “tragic” by Labour, were disclosed in accounts filed by the US-owned Management & Training Corporation (MTC), which was awarded a £50m contract from the Ministry of Justice in 2016 to run the Rainsbrook secure training centre in Warwickshire. Continue reading...

Conservatives down 122 seats with just over half the results for England declared, and Labour up 35

Trial told teenager found guilty of manslaughter was part of a group who ‘hunted down’ 14-year-old in Birmingham last yearThe mother of a 14-year-old boy stabbed to death in Birmingham last year said the “justice system has let me down”, after a teenager was sentenced to six years and six months in detention for his killing.The 15-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons due to his age, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter following a trial that heard he was part of a group who had “hunted down” Dea-John Reid in May last year. Continue reading...

Museum on site where Nazis agreed to surrender in 1945 will be renamed Museum Berlin-KarlshorstA Berlin museum dedicated to German-Russian relations on the site where the Nazis agreed to unconditionally surrender in 1945 is to drop the word “Russian” from its name before anniversary events to mark the end of the second world war in Europe.With tensions already high in the lead-up to the 77th anniversary on 8 and 9May of Nazi Germany signing the surrender agreement, the German-Russian museum’s director, Jörg Morré, said he would be renaming it Museum Berlin-Karlshorst. Continue reading...

Queen decides only working royals will appear after the platinum jubilee trooping the colour on 2 JuneThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Duke of York will not be joining other royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the trooping the colour that kicks off the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations.The Queen has decided only working royals will gather on the balcony for the traditional flypast at the conclusion of the ceremony on Thursday 2 June. Continue reading...

Durham police are looking into claims the Labour leader may have broken lockdown rules last year

Russian citizen held along with boyfriend a year ago when flight she was on was forced to landA woman who ran a Belarusian opposition messaging app channel and was arrested along with her activist boyfriend when an airliner they were on was forced to land in Belarus has been convicted of charges that included inciting social hatred.Following her conviction, Sofia Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison. Sapega is a Russian citizen, and her lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, said she would appeal to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to intervene. Continue reading...

Conscription notices given to male protestors demanding evacuation as 50 people defy ban

Labour incumbent Marvin Rees to serve out term until 2024 as opposition welcomes ‘new chapter’ in return to committee system

Israel launches hunt for suspects after two Palestinian suspects carrying axe and firearm attacked passersbyThree people have been killed and at least four more injured in the central Israeli town of Elad, in the latest in a spate of street attacks that have sent tensions soaring in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent weeks.Israeli forces have launched a hunt for two Palestinian suspects, backed by a large deployment of security personnel, helicopters, drones and roadblocks. Police said the suspects were 19 and 20 years old and came from the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Continue reading...

April marks longest run of monthly increases since 2016 as average cost of home reaches record of £286,079UK house prices rose again in April, extending the longest run of monthly increases in six years, according to Halifax, but the lender said rising interest rates and squeezed household budgets would cool the market over the next year.The average cost of a home rose by 1.1% in April, the 10th consecutive monthly rise in the longest run since 2016, to a record high of £286,079. Continue reading...

LNP candidate for Lilley Vivian Lobo says he leased and planned to move to nominated address, but was delayed by campaign and tradespeople

Zali Steggall claims ‘coordinated attack’ shows opponents are going low while electoral commission says posters could be illegal

Ukraine says Russian bombing has destroyed or damaged 400 hospitals and medical centres; Moscow rushes to declare victory in Mariupol

Making a defence funding announcement in WA, prime minister continues to face questions about his handling of national security issues

This blog has now closed. You can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war in our new live blog

Strictly Come Dancing champion will make her debut in CBeebies story corner with Can Bears Ski? by Raymond AntrobusRose Ayling-Ellis, the actor and Strictly Come Dancing champion, is to become the first celebrity to use British Sign Language to read a CBeebies bedtime story.The 27-year-old, who has been deaf since birth, starred as Frankie Lewis in BBC soap EastEnders and went on to win Strictly last year. Continue reading...

Judge to examine whether police or Nicola Gobbo engaged in improper conduct, as part of Mokbel’s effort to appeal convictions

Australians’ wages are tipped to grow over the next two years, but are not predicted to catch up with rising prices until 2024

Group in favour of supplying Kyiv with weapons noticeably younger than those of opposing view

Former PM tells Washington Harvard Club the rise of the independents could mean the ‘capture’ of the Liberal party is thwarted by ‘direct democratic action’ in the 2022 federal election

Super industry urges major parties not to ‘walk past this entrenched inequality while talking a big game on gender equality’

Winds reaching 109km/h recorded at top of Hobart’s Kunanyi/Mt Wellington, as weather system bringing up to 250mm of rain approaches Queensland’s northWild storms have cut power and forced schools to close in southern Tasmania, as Queensland prepares for intense rainfall and thunderstorms across parts of the state next week.In Tasmania, a severe weather warning was in place on Friday morning for heavy rainfall and damaging winds across the state’s south and east, including Hobart. Continue reading...

Murder of veteran Luis Enrique Ramírez – found in bag beside road – brings estimated death toll of journalists in president’s term to 34A Mexican journalist has been found dead in Sinaloa state, authorities say, marking the ninth death of a media worker in a unprecedentedly bloody year for the country which has drawn international scrutiny.Luis Enrique Ramírez, a veteran journalist and columnist at El Debate, was found dead on the side of a highway, the state’s attorney general said on Twitter. Continue reading...

Russia violated its promise of Mariupol ceasefire, Kyiv says, as US says it shared intel on the location of Moskva cruiser sunk by Ukraine

TV station finds 54% of document was apparently copied but Pedro Castillo calls accusations ‘malicious’Peruvian prosecutors are investigating President Pedro Castillo and his wife for alleged plagiarism after a local television station said an investigation showed the couple may have copied more than half the master’s thesis they co-authored.Panamericana television’s Panorama program used a transparency request to obtain the text of the 121-page thesis and submitted it to the plagiarism detection service Turnitin. Panorama said the couple appeared to have plagiarized 54% of it from other authors. Continue reading...

The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should be given only to those who request it or cannot receive other vaccines

Labour and Lib Dem sources say turnout appears to be low in possible sign of Tory voters staying away

Workers at plant in Romont alert authorities to mysterious white powder found in sacks of coffee beansSwiss police have seized more than 500kg of cocaine from a shipment of coffee beans delivered to a Nespresso plant.Workers at the plant in Romont, in the western Swiss canton of Fribourg, alerted authorities to a mysterious white powder found in sacks of coffee beans, police said. Continue reading...

Foreign Office says company part-owned by billionaire ‘operates in sectors of strategic significance to government of Russia’

Alina Kabaeva likely to join Patriarch Kirill, who supports war in Ukraine, on draft document of travel bans and asset freezes

Victims of paramilitaries demand Dairo Antonio Úsuga come clean about atrocities committed by forces he commandedThe accused head of Colombia’s Gulf Clan cartel is due to appear in a federal court in New York on Thursday, as victims in his home country call for guarantees that he will come clean on atrocities committed by the feared paramilitary fighters he once commanded.Dairo Antonio Úsuga, who is Colombia’s most wanted drug suspect for nearly a decade, was extradited from Colombia late on Wednesday on cocaine and weapons charges. Continue reading...

British farmers say urgent support needed to stop more going out of business, as Waitrose extends £16m lifelineTesco has been criticised over its failure to support crisis-hit British pig farmers, as smaller rival Waitrose extended a £16m lifeline to help suppliers manage the jump in production costs caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.In an open letter to Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy, the National Pig Association (NPA) said the retailer risked losing its British supply base if it did not pay a “fair price” for its pork. Continue reading...

Sajid Javid announces move after emergency meeting with manufacturers and pharmacists

First girls will join in 2025 after boarding school facilities have been expandedSt Paul’s Cathedral is to admit girls to its internationally renowned choir, breaking with a tradition stretching back 900 years.The move comes 31 years after Salisbury became the first Anglican cathedral in England to offer girls places in its choir. Many others, including York Minster, Durham and Exeter, have followed suit. Continue reading...

Head of PCS, Mark Serwotka, claims failure to disclose key documents raises suspicions plan is ‘built on sand’Priti Patel has failed to disclose key documents to Home Office staff detailing how they should decide which migrants might be eligible to be removed to Rwanda, the leader of the UK’s biggest civil service union has claimed.Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union that represents departmental staff and Border Force officers, said the home secretary’s decision to withhold framework documents explaining the government’s offshoring policy raises suspicions that it is “built on sand” and a cynical attempt to score “cheap political points”. Continue reading...

Re-elected French president seeking coalition of the centre to see off threats from Marine Le Pen and leftwing allianceEmmanuel Macron’s centrist party, La République En Marche, is changing its name to Renaissance as the French president attempts to win a ruling majority in parliament for his second term in office.The party’s rebranding was announced just as campaigning is due to begin for June’s parliamentary elections. Macron is hoping to secure a parliamentary majority against competition from a new alliance of leftwing parties led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is seeking to increase its small number of seats. Continue reading...

Sculptures at the Walker depict members of Sandbach family, who made a fortune from slave tradeA sobering set of wrought-iron ankle shackles used to restrain people below deck as they were transported from Africa to enslavement have gone on permanent display in a room of beautiful sculptures at the Walker art gallery in Liverpool.The shackles have been placed near sculpted portraits of the Sandbach family made in the 19th century by John Gibson, Liverpool’s leading sculptor. The family members were part of the Sandbach, Tinne and Co dynasty that made an immense fortune trading in enslaved people and their output, including sugar, rum, molasses, timber and coffee. Continue reading...

Confusion reigns over fighting at Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol as war shifts to grinding artillery duel

Ted Jennings says his wife, Fern-Marie Choya, would have wanted him to have their baby using embryo frozen during IVFA man whose wife died while pregnant with twins after fertility treatment is fighting for the right to use their last remaining frozen embryo to try to have a baby with a surrogate, in a groundbreaking legal case.Ted Jennings, 38, from London, says he is certain that is what his wife, Fern-Marie Choya, would have wanted. But the fertility regulator says this would be unlawful because Choya did not consent to posthumous surrogacy before her sudden death in 2019, while pregnant with twin girls. Continue reading...

Surveyor Myrddyn Phillips believes status of high ground near Blaenau Ffestiniog should be upgradedA hillwalker, surveyor and map-maker has pinpointed what he believes is a new mountain in north Wales that has been created by quarrying.Myrddyn Phillips, who has spent the last two decades sizing up obscure peaks to judge if they qualify for mountain status, has concluded a piece of high ground at a quarry near Blaenau Ffestiniog passes the test. Continue reading...

Food and Drug Administration ‘concerned’ about unproven health claims and packaging that appeals to childrenThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings to companies selling products including delta-8 THC, a cannabis compound, for making unsupported claims about the health benefits of the items.The FDA said even though there is very little research on delta-8 THC, a substance found in the cannabis sativa plant, online retailers and cafes are claiming products containing the compound will reduce anxiety or help with sleeping. Continue reading...

Traces in shirts and T-shirts appear to contradict German firms’ promises to revise supply chainsResearchers say they have found traces of Xinjiang cotton in shirts and T-shirts made by Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss, appearing to contradict the German clothing companies’ promises to revise their supply chains after allegations of widespread forced labour in the Chinese region.Recent reports have suggested more than half a million people from minority ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs have been coerced into picking cotton in Xinjiang, which provides more than 80% of China’s and a fifth of the global production of cotton. Continue reading...

People urged to come and view 5cm Bible found during survey – but do bring a magnifying glassA library is keen for people to come and see a century-old lost treasure it discovered during lockdown – but do think about bringing a magnifying glass.“Or really strong glasses,” said Rhian Isaac, special collections senior librarian at Leeds Libraries, talking about an 876-page Bible with Old and New Testaments which is less than 5cm in size. “It just looks like small squiggles, it really is tiny.” Continue reading...

Ex-tennis star may have to represent himself in potential case that could set post-Brexit legal precedentBoris Becker will be considered for deportation, the Home Office has confirmed, as experts said the potential battle could set a legal precedent and Becker may have to represent himself in court if he wants to remain in the UK.Last week, the former tennis star was jailed for two years and six months for hiding millions of pounds’ worth of assets after being made bankrupt in June 2017. Becker, sentenced under the Insolvency Act, will serve half the full prison term. Continue reading...