Labor leader in tight position after China said dialogue with US, India and Japan would be test of new Australian prime minister’s ‘political wisdom’

Survivors who reported abuse to executive committee were ‘ignored’ as leaders were ‘singularly focused on avoiding liability’Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday.These survivors, and other concerned southern baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the SBC’s executive committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some” leaders, said the report. Continue reading...

More than four in five workers want to continue flexible model despite government push for return to officeMore than a third of working adults in Great Britain spent at least part of their time working from home this spring, an official survey of working patterns shows, with the proportion of people hybrid working growing even as Covid restrictions eased.More than four in five workers – 84% – told the Office for National Statistics (ONS) they wanted to continue splitting their time between home and the office after the pandemic, while the ONS also found hybrid working patterns had shifted towards employees spending more working hours at home. Continue reading...

Boris Bondarev issues public statement saying: ‘Never have I been so ashamed of my country’A veteran Russian diplomat in Geneva has resigned over his country’s invasion of Ukraine in a rare political protest from within the Russian foreign policy establishment.Boris Bondarev, a counsellor at the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, wrote in a public statement: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.” Continue reading...

Ex-MP jailed after being expelled from Tory party following conviction for groping teenager at party in 2008The former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after plying him with gin at a party in 2008.The 48-year-old was expelled from the Conservative party and later resigned from the Commons, triggering a byelection in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after he was convicted last month following a trial at Southwark crown court. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health leaders call for uplift for lowest-paid staff, to prevent ‘mass exodus’ to pubs and supermarketsThe NHS faces a “mass exodus” of thousands of staff to better-paid jobs in pubs, shops and supermarkets as a result of the cost of living crisis, ministers have been warned.Health leaders fear significant numbers of lower-paid workers will leave for higher wages in the private sector amid rising food and heating bills and soaring inflation. The NHS already has 110,000 vacancies, and there are fears that a further deepening of the workforce crisis will “jeopardise” the ability of hospitals to tackle record-high waiting lists. Continue reading...

A number of ministers have spoken out against the policy in highly unusual displays of dissentThe clearest signal yet that a windfall tax might be imposed on energy companies has come from a Treasury minister who said the UK government “cannot rule out” such a move.Amid reports that No 10 is holding out against plans by Rishi Sunak to introduce a levy, Tory figures have been weighing in for and against it. Continue reading...

Anneka Rice, who was helicoptered in to complete a good cause on original show, urges fans to ‘dig out your lycra’Anneka Rice is to dust off her jumpsuit and relaunch Challenge Anneka, a reality TV hit from nearly 30 years ago involving her flying into an area to complete a good cause against the clock.Announcing a reboot of the programme on Channel 5, Rice urged her fans to “dig out your lycra from the 1990s … there will be more instructions soon.” Continue reading...

Liz Pemberton says she has received offensive emails after John Hayes criticised her anti-racism workAn early years trainer has said she received a torrent of racist emails after a Conservative politician described her work as “brainless nonsense” and called for her to be “defunded”.Liz Pemberton, who runs an anti-racist training and consultancy company called the Black Nursery Manager, said her inbox had been flooded with abuse since the comments, by the former education minister Sir John Hayes, were reported this month. Continue reading...

Households experience faster inflation than official statistics indicate, analysis suggestsThe cost of basic goods and services needed by the average two-child household in the UK has risen by £400 a month, according to an analysis that suggests families are experiencing faster inflation than official figures indicate.Costs for families with two children have risen by an annual rate of 13%, according to the research from Loughborough University, faster than the 9% rate of inflation found in official statistics – itself a 40-year high. Continue reading...

Vadim Shishimarin shot dead Oleksandr Shelipov in village in late February

It is first time second in line to throne has appeared alone on an official coinAn engraving of the Duke of Cambridge, firm of gaze and strong of jaw, will appear on a new £5 coin struck by the Royal Mint to mark his 40th birthday.The design, unveiled ahead of his milestone on 21 June, also incorporates his royal cypher featuring the letter W and the number 40, created by designer and engraver Thomas T Docherty. Continue reading...

An anonymous worker shares their experience, as study shows half of UK MPs’ staff have clinical levels of psychological distress

Exclusive: Calls grow for culture change as aides say they are at ‘breaking point’ after years of crises

Sussan Ley or Jane Hume likely to be deputy Liberal leader as Coalition continues to grapple with election fallout

New foreign affairs minister tells Pacific leaders Australia ‘will listen because we care’ after reports China may be seeking security agreement with Kiribati

Northern NSW continues to be hammered by rain and Queensland’s south-east back on flood watch

West Midlands police arrest woman, 27, after sudden death of infant at Birmingham children’s hospitalA nurse at Birmingham children’s hospital has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison after the death of an infant last Thursday.West Midlands police said the 27-year-woman was later released while investigations continued. Continue reading...

Major polling companies changed methods after 2019 failure but two-party preferred measure misses Greens and independents

Anastasiya Tikha and her husband, Arthur Lee, fought their way through bombs and gunfire to save the array of animals in their care

Researchers are investigating possible links to Covid-19, which has already been shown to cause liver problems in some patientsA dangerous and mysterious illness continues to spread among children, and so do questions over what’s causing it, including possible links to Covid-19. But it’s too soon to tell what is behind the cases, experts say.More than 600 cases of hepatitis with no known cause have been identified around the globe since October 2021, and many of the cases are in previously healthy children now stricken with severe illness. Continue reading...

Residents of Pir Koh say poor water provision and a dirty water tank led to 26 deaths, the majority among children under sevenTwo weeks ago, Ruqiyya Bibi fell sick. The two-year-old was vomiting constantly; her father, Mohammed Iqbal, took her to a basic health unit in Pir Koh, a impoverished town with a population of 40,000 in the mountains of Balochistan, south-western Pakistan.Iqbal was told at first that his daughter had malaria but when treatment did not help, he took her to another doctor who said she had a blood condition. Continue reading...

NGO takes down photos of girl, 16, from DRC from website after critics call them unethical and racistMédecins Sans Frontières has removed photographs of a teenage rape survivor from its website after criticism that the images were unethical and racist.MSF took down two photos of a 16-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who was gang-raped by three armed men afterphotographers, activists and human rights lawyers condemned the images on Twitter. Continue reading...

Former minister Gareth Ward, who has professed his innocence, has already been suspended from parliament

State media photos show Kim carrying Hyon Chol-hae’s coffin and throwing earth into his grave as country battles ‘fever’ cases amid Covid outbreakKim Jong-un attended the funeral for a top North Korean official, state media reported on Monday, helping carry his coffin, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the funeral on Sunday of Hyon Chol-hae, a Korean People’s Army marshal who reportedly played a key role in grooming him as the country’s next leader before Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, died in late 2011. Continue reading...

Prime minister said it was helpful that new Australian leader had already acknowledged issues causing frictionNew Zealand will continue to push the conversation on Australia’s “problematic” deportation policy with the incoming government under Labor leader Anthony Albanese, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said.“There is obviously a really strong relationship, regardless of leader, regardless of party,” Ardern said at a post-cabinet briefing on Monday. “The very nature of New Zealand and Australia’s relationship is strong and enduring.” Continue reading...

Health minister says hospitalisations are doubling every week, with people aged 10-39 most at risk of severe illness

The newly sworn-in PM has confirmed Australia’s parliament will meet before the end of July – what is at the top of his post-election agenda?

One-off performance in London brings together people who have experienced vocal loss with professional singersIn March 2020, Tanja Bage, a singer and performer, made a phone recording of herself for her children, then aged four and coming up to two. “I’m going to sound a little bit different,” she told them. “You’re not going to remember.”Poignantly, she added: “I like my voice, I like the way I sound.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: government response to gambling deaths is ‘more of same system that killed Jack’, say parents of Jack RitchieThe mother of a young man who killed himself after becoming addicted to gambling says more parents will grieve like her and her husband because the government is not doing enough to take on the industry.Jack Ritchie took his own life aged 24 having become addicted to gambling in sixth form. Continue reading...

Party leader refuses to rule out split from Liberals, saying it’s a ‘decision for both parties’ but his ‘preference’ is for Coalition to continue

Huge clean-up after Ontario and Quebec hit by tornado-like weather, felling trees, uprooting utility poles and cutting power to more than 500,000The death toll from powerful thunderstorms in Canada’s two most populous provinces has risen to at least eight, authorities said on Sunday, as emergency crews continued a massive clean-up to restore power to half a million people.The storms, which lasted more than two hours Saturday afternoon and packed the power of a tornado, left a trail of destruction in parts of Ontario and Quebec. Wind gusts as strong as 132kmh (82mph) felled trees, uprooted electric poles and toppled many metal transmission towers, utility companies said. Continue reading...

William Parker Skelland abused children at Burwood boys’ home in 1973 and 1974A former carer at a Victorian boys’ orphanage in the 1970s will spend at least four years in prison for sexually abusing five of the young children.William Parker Skelland, 81, was living in the UK in 2019 when he was arrested for his crimes and extradited back to Australia to answer for them. Continue reading...

Labor’s climate plan is designed to limit the political risk of a scare campaign – but there are already calls for it to go beyond its headline commitments

Some media portrayals of cases among African and LGBTI people fueling blame, agency says, as infections reported in Europe, US and AustraliaThe United Nations’ Aids agency has called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.UNAIDS said “a significant proportion” of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Continue reading...

Kyiv says it will not agree to a ceasefire that involves handing territory to Russia; Ukrainian president says up to 100 Ukrainians dying every day on eastern front

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...