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UAP leader defends the travel expenses, saying his activities at the protests were parliamentary business

Greens digital rights spokesperson says officers should be required to get a warrant before going through travellers’ mobile phones

Woman’s lawyer says she suffered ‘punitive sanctions without any fair process’ to deal with conflict of interest in court workplace

The ISA, obliged to frame industry rules by 2023, drops reporting service and is accused of lacking transparency in plans for mining

Kyiv says if west does not send more weapons now it will be too late and calls for ‘ruinous’ sanctions

Exclusive: Disgusted by the Russian invasion, David Gilmour speaks about band’s first brand new song in 28 years, which samples a Ukrainian musician now on the front line – and expresses ‘disappointment’ in Roger WatersA couple of weeks ago, Pink Floyd’s guitarist and singer David Gilmour was asked if he’d seen the Instagram feed of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, frontman of Ukrainian rock band BoomBox. Gilmour had performed live with BoomBox in 2015, at a London benefit gig for the Belarus Free Theatre – they played a brief, endearingly raw set of Pink Floyd songs and Gilmour solo tracks – but events had moved on dramatically since then: at the end of Feburary, Khlyvnyuk had abandoned BoomBox’s US tour in order to fight against the Russian invasion.On his Instagram, Gilmour found a video of the singer in military fatigues, a rifle slung over his shoulder, standing outside Kyiv’s St Sofia Cathedral, belting out an unaccompanied version of Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow, a 1914 protest song written in honour of the Sich Riflemen who fought both in the first world war and the Ukrainian war of independence. “I thought: that is pretty magical and maybe I can do something with this,” says Gilmour. “I’ve got a big platform that [Pink Floyd] have worked on for all these years. It’s a really difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation. The frustration of seeing that and thinking ‘what the fuck can I do?’ is sort of unbearable.” Continue reading...

President criticises ‘very clear xenophobia and ultraconservative aims’ as Marine Le Pen gains groundEmmanuel Macron has ramped up his warnings of the danger posed by Marine Le Pen before the first-round vote in France’s presidential election this weekend, as he acknowledged he had not managed to contain all voters’ fears and hold back the far right during his time in office.As Macron campaigns to become the first French president in 20 years to serve a second term, he has often been reminded of his 2017 victory speech in front of the Louvre where, after defeating Le Pen with 66% of the vote, he promised to ensure people had “no more reason to vote for extremes”. Continue reading...

Like other UK non-doms Rishi Sunak’s wife had to apply for the tax status with HMRC, despite her statements• Labour says Rishi Sunak must ‘come clean’ about wife’s non-dom tax statusThis is the government form that the chancellor’s wife Akshata Murty will have filled in to apply for non-domiciled status in order to avoid paying UK tax on tens of millions in dividends collected from her family’s Indian IT business empire.When it was revealed on Wednesday that Murty is a non-dom, and thereby is not required to pay UK tax on about £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in Infosys, her spokeswoman said Murty “is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes” suggesting that she had no control over her UK tax status.Akshata Murty is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parents’ home. India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously. So, according to British law, Ms Murty is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes. She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Witness to bombing of theatre fled by swimming along shoreline to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory

David Smith, 57, who worked at the British embassy in Berlin, denies nine offences under Official Secrets ActA security guard at the British embassy in Berlin accused of spying for Russia allegedly passed “secret” information about the government to a Russian military attache, a court heard.David Smith, 57, denied nine offences under the Official Secrets Act when he appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday. Continue reading...

Old Bailey hears defendant say he killed Tory MP because he had voted for military campaign in SyriaThe man accused of murdering Conservative MP Sir David Amess has told a court he did not have “any shame” as he admitted to killing the Conservative MP because he had voted seven years ago in support of a military campaign in Syria.Ali Harbi Ali, 26, stabbed Amess more than 20 times with a foot-long carving knife at Belfairs Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, shortly after midday on 15 October 2021, the Old Bailey heard. Continue reading...

Coroner says May Day event should be better managed after Laura Smallwood, 34, died in accident involving ‘obby oss’The death of a woman who suffered a neck injury when she was struck with a hefty hobby horse costume during a centuries-old Cornish festival has prompted a coroner to call for tighter rules on the organisation of such events.Andrew Cox, the senior Cornwall and Isles of Scilly coroner, is to write to the government over the death of mother of two Laura Smallwood, who was hit by the “obby oss”, a 50lb costume worn by a masked male dancer that parades around the harbourside town of Padstow on May Day. Continue reading...

Author and illustrator of the children’s books including Elmer, Mr Benn and Not Now, Bernard has died following a short illness• Elmer author David McKee: ‘I’ve never been a prize winner’David McKee, the author and illustrator of the iconic children’s books Elmer, Not Now, Bernard and Mr Benn, has died aged 87, his publisher has said.The author and illustrator died surrounded by family in the south of France following a short illness. After a lifetime of travelling the world, he and his partner Bakhta, a French-Algerian art dealer, had been dividing their time between London and Provence in recent years. Continue reading...

Attorney general wins injunction to stop identification of man after arguing it would damage national securityThe BBC has been banned from identifying a “dangerous extremist and misogynist” who is allegedly an MI5 informant, after a high court judge granted an injunction.The attorney general, Suella Braverman, successfully blocked the identification of the alleged informant, or covert human intelligence source (Chis), referred to as X throughout the proceedings. Continue reading...

There has been a fierce backlash over PM’s remarks that appeared to cast doubt on whether Aukus submarines would be built in Adelaide

The final contenders for the £50,000 prize for translated fiction – five out of six by women – could see Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk win a second timeFrom Olga Tokarczuk’s epic about a man who claimed to be the messiah to Geetanjali Shree’s tale of a widow finding a new lease of life, female writers take the majority of places on this year’s International Booker prize shortlist.Of the six books now in contention for the prestigious translated fiction award, five were written by women, with three translated by women too. The International Booker goes to “the finest fiction from around the world” that has been translated into English, awarding a cash prize of £50,000, which is split equally between author and translator. Continue reading...

Business secretary says Boris Johnson’s long-delayed plan is ‘more of a medium-term answer’Boris Johnson’s new energy strategy could take up to five years to start shaving money off people’s bills, the business secretary has admitted, as the prime minister announced a drastic expansion of nuclear reactors.Kwasi Kwarteng said the plan for cutting reliance on imported energy in the wake of spiralling prices caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was more of a medium-term way to ramp up homegrown energy production. Continue reading...

Oil company will fulfil contracts on buying fuel from Russia signed before invasion of Ukraine

The last eight refugees at the hotel, which was briefly at the centre of the world’s attention in January, were among 20 released

The Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five member faces a potential 25-year sentence for fatally stabbing a homeless man in 2017Hip-hop pioneer Kidd Creole has been found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for stabbing a homeless man in 2017.The musician, real name Nathaniel Glover, 62, was an original member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five alongside his brother Melle Mel, AKA Melvin Glover. (He is not associated with Kid Creole and the Coconuts, the band led by August Darnell.) Continue reading...

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi says a newly established council will lead negotiations with Iranian-backed HouthisYemen’s exiled president has stepped aside and transferred his powers to a presidential council as international and regional efforts to end the country’s long-running civil war gained momentum with a two-month truce.Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, major players in the conflict, appear to have played a role in Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s decision, quickly welcoming it with a pledge of $3bn (£2.3bn) in aid. The head of the new council has close ties to Riyadh. Continue reading...

Report by Labor-chaired committee found Australia fared better than other countries, but there were ‘significant failures’ on quarantine and vaccine supply

Suspension of trial comes despite warning from human rights groups that turning case over would lead to cover-upA Turkish court has ruled to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the killing of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia.The decision comes despite warnings from human rights groups that turning the case over to the kingdom would lead to a cover-up of the killing, which has cast suspicion on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Continue reading...

Shortage of homes for sale and ‘race for space’ drove average cost to 282,753 in March, says HalifaxUK house prices hit a record of £282,753 in March but are likely to ease over the next year as homebuyers face higher interest rates and the cost of living squeeze, Halifax has said.The average cost of a home rose by 1.4% on February, according to Halifax’s monthly property index, and is 11% higher than a year ago, the largest annual increase since the 2007 financial crisis. Continue reading...

Telstra joins other major telcos in scanning SMS messages, with consumer watchdog saying the moves have halved reported scams

Creatures usually confined to leaf litter and soil are hopping indoors in their thousands to escape wet weather

Dorinda Cox and Lidia Thorpe were visiting Hakea prison to discuss a death in custody when they claim meeting with superintendent was suddenly cancelled

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss said cooperation with Moscow is over but has not yet acted in line with EU nationsBritain, Canada and Australia have all so far declined to expel Russian diplomats, putting themselves at odds with 15 EU nations that have now evicted more than 200 in response to the pictures of war crimes committed in Ukraine.A further 100 Russian diplomats had been expelled in the preceding two months. Continue reading...

Cambridge University academic writes guide suggesting Latin should be taught more creativelyLatin teachers are being encouraged to use Taylor Swift’s lyrics, Disney songs, Minecraft and fan fiction to help make the ancient language of Virgil and Cicero more accessible to their 21st-century students.In recent decades, schoolchildren – mainly in private schools – have mastered the early stages of Latin through the tales of Lucius Caecilius, a Pompeii banker who lived in the first century AD, and his family, as described in the popular Cambridge Latin Course, soon to be published in its fifth edition. Continue reading...

More than one in 10 paid no tax on offshore income in Kensington and the Cities of London and WestminsterMore than one in 10 residents of some of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods have claimed “non-dom” status at some point, meaning they paid no tax on their offshore income.UK-based people who have benefited from this special tax status by claiming another country as their legal “domicile” made up more than 12% of residents in two parliamentary constituencies in 2018 – Kensington, and the Cities of London and Westminster, according to an analysis of HM Revenue and Customs data. In five of the most affluent council wards they accounted for more than a quarter of residents. Continue reading...

About 50 MPs could force government to back move to extend protections as Johnson criticised for ‘wrong signals’About 50 Tory MPs could force the government to toughen up its ban on conversion practices by backing a move to extend the protections to transgender people, the Guardian has been told.Campaigners fighting for Downing Street to commit to outlawing the controversial exercise said “the battle is definitely still on” and remained confident that No 10 would either be swayed or defeated in the remaining months. Continue reading...

The group, which also includes a French woman and a Norwegian woman, disappeared during diving training off the southern town of MersingMalaysian authorities were searching on Thursday for four Europeans, including two Britons, who disappeared during diving training off a southern island.The divers are a 46-year-old British man, a 14-year-old British boy, an 18-year-old French woman and a 35-year-old woman from Norway. Continue reading...

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Residents in suburbs including Woronora, Bonnet Bay and Chipping Norton, near Liverpool, told to leave as Bureau of Meteorology forecasts more heavy rain

Allowing two more balls means overall odds of winning something increase but odds of first division win go from one in 45.3m to one in 62.8m

Zelenskiy says sanctions unveiled by west have ‘a spectacular look. But this is not enough’, as fears mount of large-scale Russian offensive

Reports that parents were being separated from their infected children has sparked a flood of online protest

Irishman’s death referred to the DPP as inquest rules he was likely killed after a night out at the Larrimah pub in 2017

Victims of family violence in childhood often only given support once recognised as adult perpetrators

A night shift worker pulled the device from a ‘potato reception area’ thinking it was a muddy stoneNew Zealand’s bomb squad has been called into a chip factory after a suspicious-looking potato trundling down the production line turned out to be a grenade.Grenades frequently pop up in potato fields in Europe, but are a highly unusual find in New Zealand. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says new sanctions on Russia ‘not enough’ to prevent more deadly attacks as citizens in the east of the country urged to flee

PM abused and mocked in Edgeworth pub hours after man interrupts Anthony Albanese’s Perth press conference

Peter Kassig, who was later killed, described paralysis and hope and offered words of comfort to his familyAn American hostage’s harrowing story about captivity at the hands of the Islamic State militants who would kill him was recounted in court in Virginia on Wednesday.A letter from the late Peter Kassig was read aloud during the terrorism trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, a 33-year-old former British citizen and alleged member of a kidnap-and-murder cell known to captives as the “Beatles” because of their British accents. Continue reading...

Letter signed by several MPs urges better enforcement of transparency law, as government accused of obstructing requestsMore than 100 journalists, politicians and campaigners have signed an open letter warning that the UK’s freedom of information (FoI) laws are being undermined by a lack of resources and government departments obstructing lawful requests.The signatories include the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Katharine Viner, the editor of the Observer, Paul Webster, as well as the shadow solicitor general, Andy Slaughter, the former Brexit secretary David Davis, and the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas. Continue reading...

Human rights group argues law unfairly attaches gang motives to black and minority-ethnic young menThe human rights group Liberty is threatening to sue the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over the bitterly contested law of joint enterprise, arguing that it is discredited and racist in the way the authorities pursue it.Under the law, people present when a person is killed can be convicted of murder despite not committing any serious violence themselves, if they are found to have “encouraged or assisted” the perpetrator. Liberty is acting for the campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty By Association (Jengba), which supports approximately 1,400 people in prison who believe they have been unjustly convicted of serious crimes perpetrated by somebody else. Continue reading...

Activists could face up to a year in prison for trying to intimidate women into not having terminationsSpain has criminalised the harassment or intimidation of women going for an abortion under new legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday.The move, which involves changes to the penal code, means anti-abortion activists who try to convince women not to terminate their pregnancies could face up to a year behind bars. Continue reading...

El Salvador’s congress has authorised sentences of 10-15 years for media spreading gangs’ messagesEl Salvador’s congress has authorised prison sentences of 10 to 15 years for news media that reproduce or disseminate messages from gangs, prompting accusations of censorship from press freedom groups.The vote late on Tuesday was the latest in a flurry of legislative action against the gangs after 62 suspected gang killings on 26 March led President Nayib Bukele to seek and win a state of emergency. Harsh measures against imprisoned gang members and increased prison sentences followed, as well as the arrests of some 6,000 people accused of being gang members. Continue reading...

Tax status allows Akshata Murthy to avoid tax on foreign earningsRishi Sunak’s multi-millionaire wife claims non-domicile status, it has emerged, which allows her to save millions of pounds in tax on dividends collected from her family’s IT business empire.Akshata Murthy, who receives about £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in the Indian IT services company Infosys, declares non-dom status, a scheme that allows people to avoid tax on foreign earnings. Continue reading...

Kantor is one of eight Russian oligarchs targeted in the latest round of UK government sanctionsThe Russian billionaire Moshe Kantor, who was sanctioned by the UK government on Wednesday, has long cultivated deep ties with British politicians and establishment figures, including Tony Blair and Prince Charles.With an estimated net worth of £3.48bn, Kantor is the largest shareholder in the fertiliser company Acron, which the Foreign Office said had vital strategic significance for the Russian government. Continue reading...