Graeme Batsman says his Filipino wife’s passport has been caught up in an ‘admin issue’ in BritainA British man and his Filipino wife say they are facing imprisonment in Belarus and will miss out on starting a family via surrogacy because of UK delays in visa processing.Graeme Batsman, a data security expert from Harrow, and his wife, Maura Mendez Arganda, travelled to Vitebsk oblast, Belarus, in February to arrange a surrogate birth that would cost them £25,000. Continue reading...

The PM’s legislative agenda for the year ahead was set out earlier in the Queen’s speech, which was delivered by Prince Charles

Masked raiders smashed into home of ex-England footballer and threatened to cut off his fingers, court hearsThe former England footballer Ashley Cole told police he thought he was “going to die” as masked raiders smashed into his home and threatened to cut off his fingers with pliers, a court has heard.Nottingham crown court was shown footage of a group of men breaking into Cole’s Surrey home in January 2020, shortly after he had settled down to watch Netflix with his partner, Sharon Canu. Continue reading...

The oldest imprisoned Panther was eligible for parole 29 years ago but was repeatedly denied in spite of ‘exemplary’ prison recordSundiata Acoli, 85, the oldest former member of the Black Panthers still to be incarcerated for acts of violence during the 1970s Black liberation struggle, is finally to be released from prison after the New Jersey supreme court ruled that he was no longer a risk to public safety.Acoli has been held captive for more than 49 years for the May 1973 shooting of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. He was found guilty the following year and sentenced to life plus 24 to 35 years. Continue reading...

Paul Grayson handed 12-year sentence by judge who says he ‘brought shame on an honourable profession’A nurse who filmed up the gowns of unconscious female patients and recorded staff using the toilet has been jailed for 12 years by a judge who said he had “brought shame on an honourable profession”.Paul Grayson, 51, was also told he must serve an extended licence period of four years when he is eventually released. Continue reading...

CPS decided not to pursue case against undercover officer despite evidence he had broken the lawProsecutors decided that it was not in the public interest to prosecute an undercover police officer who stole the identity of a dead baby, despite concluding last year that there was enough evidence to bring him to court.The police spy had taken the identity of Rod Richardson and used it when he pretended for three years to be an environmental and anti-capitalist protester. Continue reading...

Paz Esteban reportedly loses job after Catalan independence figures were said to have been targetedThe Spanish government has sacked the country’s spy chief, Paz Esteban, as it tries to contain the fallout from a cyber-espionage scandal that has engulfed the ruling coalition and raised further questions about the use of controversial Pegasus spyware in Spain and beyond.Esteban’s dismissal on Tuesday came amid growing political tensions and almost two years after a joint investigation by the Guardian and El País first revealed that senior pro-independence Catalan politicians were warned their mobile phones had been targeted using the spyware. Continue reading...

Apparent change of plan means consenting adults in England and Wales still able to participate in process to alter sexualityThe government’s proposed ban on conversion practices intended to change people’s sexuality will in fact only fully cover under-18s, Downing Street has confirmed, saying it had to “strike the right balance” on outlawing the much-condemned practice.In an apparent change of plan which prompted immediate condemnation from equalities groups, No 10 said that adults in England and Wales who consented to sexuality conversion for religious or personal reasons would be allowed to do so. This is expected to be permitted only if “this does not cause serious harm”, officials said, with full details to be set out in the promised conversion therapy bill. Continue reading...

Exercise bike maker misses targets, with boss describing turnaround effort as ‘emotionally draining’Peloton’s share price crashed 20% in early trading after the exercise bike maker missed revenue targets, cut sales guidance and reported a bigger quarterly loss than anticipated, and its boss described turning the company around as “emotionally draining”.Peloton, whose market value has fallen by more than 80% over the last year, reported revenues of $964m (£780m), down from $1.26bn in the same quarter last year, as the pandemic-enforced trend for home workouts that fuelled a surge in sales of its hi-tech, internet-connected exercise bikes peters out. Continue reading...

French minister says deal could come this week as Macron and Orbán try to break deadlock

Analysis: Despite watching from home on TV, constitutionally the monarch was still calling the shotsA Queen’s speech without a queen; two future kings and a queen consort in waiting; the state opening of parliament was the most public and formal manifestation yet of “Operation Transition”, which has been quietly going on inside Buckingham Palace for several years.For the first time in two centuries, an heir to the throne read aloud the words compiled by the government at this most ceremonial of spectacles. Continue reading...

Community organisations exasperated with a lack of government support are taking matters into their own handsFur Clemt, meaning “very hungry” in Wigan dialect, is a much-loved community supermarket which sells unsold or overproduced food at a heavily discounted price to local people struggling with their household budgets. Since December, its owner, Shirley Southworth, has observed a shift: “We’ve seen membership soar and become more varied … It’s not just people on benefits, it’s those who are just about managing, people trying to keep their head above water.”What’s changed is the cost of living crisis, which has resulted in household spending rising most for those on the lowest incomes, who have the smallest margins and are unable to cut down on luxuries. This is not just the 20% of households living in poverty in Pemberton, where Fur Clemt is based, but also many families who are better-off.

Legislation announced in Queen’s Speech in response to P&O Ferries’ sacking of 800 crewPorts and unions have cast doubt on the viability of legislation announced in the Queens Speech to ensure P&O and other ferry operators pay seafarers the minimum wage.The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said that the new bill, introduced in response to P&O Ferries’ sacking of 800 crew, showed that the government would “stop at nothing” to ensure fair pay. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary reported to have asked officials to prepare draft that would put UK in breach of its treaty obligationsLiz Truss is reportedly preparing draft legislation that would unilaterally scrap key parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, removing the need for checks on goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.No bill was announced in the Queen’s speech on Tuesday but the foreign secretary is reported to have asked officials to prepare the draft, which would put the UK in breach of its treaty obligations. Continue reading...

Report on policy to send gay and lesbian asylum seekers to east African country raises concerns over their possible treatmentThe Home Office has admitted that lesbian, gay and bisexual refugees could be persecuted if sent to Rwanda – but still plans to fly them 4,000 miles to Kigali.The department’s equality impact assessment for the policy states there are “concerns” over the treatment of some LGBTQI+ people in the east African country, and that investigations point to “ill treatment” of this group being “more than one off”. Continue reading...

Bipartisan bill passed unanimously would give justices same level of protection afforded to legislature and executiveUS senators swiftly passed legislation expanding security for supreme court justices and their immediate family members, a week after protests at justices’ homes were spurred by a bombshell leak that revealed the court was ready to overturn its landmark ruling legalizing abortion.Sponsored by the Republican Texas senator John Cornyn and the Democratic Delaware senator Chris Coons, the Supreme Court Police Parity Act passed on Monday unanimously and without objection. The bipartisan bill now advances to the House for consideration and, if approved, would head to Joe Biden’s desk for the president’s signature. Continue reading...

Mahinda Rajapaksa rescued in pre-dawn military operation after day of protests in which five people were killedSri Lankan troops have conducted a dramatic pre-dawn operation to rescue Mahinda Rajapaksa – who resigned as prime minister on Monday – firing warning shots in the air to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters who had stormed his official residence in Colombo.Five people were killed and nearly 200 wounded on Monday in the worst violence in weeks of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis. Demonstrations continued on Tuesday as hundreds of anti-government protesters defied a nationwide curfew, gathering in the streets of Colombo and shouting slogans outside the office of the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Continue reading...

Analysis: The bills included on the government’s agenda for the year and what their aims areThe Queen’s speech, which set out the government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year, was a mix of new plans, long-made pledges and a handful of held-over bills. Here is what it set out – and what it all means, politically. Continue reading...

British Dental Association says tens of thousands left in pain after sharp drop in NHS procedures in 2020-21Dentists have warned that tens of thousands of children have been left in pain for more than a year, as new figures reveal that the number of tooth extractions for children in hospital in England more than halved during the pandemic.The number of extractions performed on decayed teeth in children aged 19 and under decreased from 35,190 in 2019-20 to 14,615 in 2020-21, data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Campaign to tackle inequality launched after uproar over misogynist jokes at industry awardsFemale journalists have accused Scotland’s newspapers of sexist and discriminatory attitudes towards sports reporters after controversy arose over misogynist jokes at an awards dinner.Women in Journalism Scotland (WiJS) has launched a campaign calling for far greater diversity among sports reporters after it discovered that only three of Scotland’s 95 full-time sports writers were women. Continue reading...

Game trialled at London shopping centre as data shows only two-thirds of people in England physically activeCan the simple joy of slapping a ball against a wall tempt shoppers and office workers to take a little more exercise?That is the question posed by British Land, one of the UK’s biggest property companies, which is trialling wallball – like squash but with hands and a single wall – which it hopes to roll out at its retail and commercial developments. Continue reading...

Jamie Wallis, MP for Bridgend, was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst unfit after a collision in LlanblethianA Conservative MP has pleaded not guilty to failing to stop after being involved in a car crash last year.Jamie Wallis, 37, from Cowbridge, south Wales, also denied failing to report a road traffic collision, driving without due care and attention and leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position. Continue reading...

When cities and states passed ‘sanctuary’ laws to block police from aiding deportations, Ice found new ways to access private intelUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has built a massive digital surveillance system that gives it access to the personal details of almost every person in America, a two-year investigation by Georgetown University law center has found.Researchers from the Center on Privacy & Technology on Tuesday released one of the most comprehensive reviews of Ice activities, concluding that the federal organisation has strayed well beyond its duties as an immigration body to become what is in effect a domestic surveillance agency.Driver’s license data for three of every four adults living in the USData drawn from the utility records of 75% of adults, covering more than 218m unique utility consumers in all 50 statesInformation on the movements of drivers in cities that contain 75% of the US populationFacial recognition technology drawn from the driver’s license photos of at least a third of all adults Continue reading...

GlaxoSmithKline blames shortage of key ingredient for lack of Piriton and Piriteze tabletsBig high street pharmacy chains including Boots and Superdrug have run out of some hay fever medicines, with the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, blaming temporary supply issues.Piriton and Piriteze tablets, made by GSK, are out of stock at Boots and other chains because there is an industry-wide shortage of the active ingredient, chlorphenamine maleate, which is also used to treat eczema and food allergies. Continue reading...

Analysis: Labour leader’s pledge to resign if he receives a penalty has failed to satisfy the paper

Speech also gives ministers scope to pursue ‘wedge issues’, including limits on legal challenges and new British bill of rights

Reports of rush on early voting; PM reiterates support for Katherine Deves; Greens launch environmental policies; nation reports at least 49 Covid deaths. Follow today’s news live

In most metro zip codes, majority of Black local renters don’t earn enough to afford median rents, National Equity Atlas foundMore than 90% of neighborhoods in America’s major cities were unaffordable to the majority of local Black residents at the start of the pandemic, according to a new study on the worsening housing crisis in urban regions across the US.The National Equity Atlas, a research initiative focused on racial and economic equity, compared rents and wages in the 100 most populous American metropolitan regions in 2019 and examined whether the majority of households of different racial groups made enough income to afford median market rents in their neighborhoods.Only 7% of zip codes in the top 100 metro areas had rents that were affordable to Black residents of those cities in 2019, while 69% of zip codes were affordable to white households.Forty-eight metro areas in the list had no zip codes at all that were affordable to Black residents.Only 16% of zip codes in the list had rents that were affordable to Latinx households.Twelve metro areas had zero zip codes with affordable rents for Latinx households, including Los Angeles, Orlando and Miami, cities with large Latinx populations. Continue reading...

Revival of Arthut Miller’s allegory is part of a new season featuring The Boy With Two Hearts and a 40-week tour of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the LaneThe National Theatre in London is to stage Arthur Miller’s classic play The Crucible in a revival which its artistic director Rufus Norris says will “explore what it means to confront power in a time of political and social divide”.The Crucible will be directed by Lyndsey Turner in the National’s Olivier theatre, which has not presented Miller’s historical drama since 1990. “A revival of this story of mass panic and collective delusion seems particularly timely,” observed Norris, who said it would make for a “darkly thrilling production”. Continue reading...

Model of 10-year-old Syrian girl that has become symbol of compassion will visit border town of Przemyśl

Concern after Russian missiles struck the Black Sea port on Monday as Biden accuses Putin of ‘revisionist history’ in his Victory Day speech

Companies in metals empire owe the Swiss investment bank more than $1bnSanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance faces a fight against insolvency for some of its key companies after Credit Suisse withdrew from a long negotiation over debts.GFG will face an insolvency hearing in private on Tuesday, after more than a year of trying to hold off its creditors and find a source of new funding after the collapse of its main lender, Greensill Capital. Continue reading...

The founder of Marked by Covid believes the US has failed to properly memorialize the enormous lossesFor Kristin Urquiza, there are two dimensions: before Covid, and with it. It’s as if the arrow of time veered off into an entirely new direction, to a world where nearly one million of our loved ones have vanished and millions more are struggling with the long-term effects of a mysterious illness.“It feels like my father disappeared,” Urquiza said. Her father died on 30 June 2020, at the age of 65, in an Arizona hospital with only an ICU nurse holding his hand. “That shadow, or that loss, is omnipresent.” Continue reading...

Company to beef up energy support fund as owner Centrica says profits will hit top end of City forecastsBritish Gas is to beef up its customer services team to deal with the sharp rise in the number of distressed customers who are struggling to cope with soaring bills, as its owner, Centrica, predicted annual profits will hit the top end of expectations.The company is to recruit another 500 people to field calls from the growing number of people who are facing higher energy bills at a time when the wider cost of living is outpacing wage growth, piling pressure on household budgets. Continue reading...

Yoon Suk-yeol said the Blue House was ‘a symbol of imperial power’ but critics have highlighted costs and safety concernsFor decades, South Korea’s presidents have begun their terms in office by acquainting themselves with the vast premises of the Blue House.But on Tuesday, Yoon Suk-yeol became the first leader in the country’s modern history to shun the presidential residence, heading instead to a new office inside a former defence ministry building in central Seoul. Continue reading...

In rare public address Australian Secret Intelligence Service chief suggested more Chinese officials were cooperating with the agency

Police investigating whether the diver was attempting to retrieve the 50kg of drugs from a ship or the water

Flood recovery minister announces changes to small business grants after thousands of applicants were rejected

Anxiety and sleep disorders were some reasons given for prescriptions despite lack of evidence for cannabis treatment, researchers find

News comes as it emerges Labour is preparing dossier to show team worked late on night in questionDetectives investigating Keir Starmer’s alleged breach of lockdown rules are considering interviewing the Labour leader face to face, with his Beergate agony likely to last at least a month before a decision on a fine is made.Questionnaires are expected to be sent to those who police identify as having been present at a meal of takeaway curry and beer, but some may be questioned in person, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...

Veronica Nelson died in a Melbourne jail in early 2020 and a woman who was in a nearby cell has told an inquest authorities ‘let her die’

Liberal MP questioned at prepoll in Melbourne electorate of Aston after declining media requests during campaign

McLachlan is suing Fairfax Media, the ABC and Christie Whelan Browne over reports he allegedly indecently assaulted and harassed female colleagues in 2014

Children and adults forced to live in agony because they are unable to register for NHS care in Somerset, charity saysMany patients in south-west England are being left in dental pain because they are unable to register for NHS care, with some so desperate that they are even resorting to DIY treatment, it has emerged.The charity Healthwatch in Somerset has reported that it is almost impossible for a new patient to register for an NHS dentist in the county, which is leading to adults and children living in agony, self-treating, or travelling out of the area for help. Continue reading...

Most seriously ill inmates left to wait in cells often due to bed shortages at secure hospitals, data shows

More than 2.7m attempted frauds interrupted, including fake celebrity endorsements and extortion emailsBritain’s cybersecurity unit has reported a record crackdown on internet scams after tackling more than 2.7m attempted frauds last year, a near-fourfold increase on the figure for 2020.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of the GCHQ spy agency, said the interrupted scams included fake celebrity endorsements and bogus extortion emails. It stressed, however, that the increase in detection reflected aggressive targeting by the unit rather than an increase in scams. Continue reading...

Hearings to examine 2015 death in custody in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, come after intense pressure from familyThe public inquiry into the death in police custody of Sheku Bayoh, which starts taking evidence this week, must be a “watershed moment” with the potential to prompt a wider dialogue about racism in Scotland, campaigners have said.The hearings begin almost exactly seven years since the father-of-two died after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 3 May 2015, and marks the first major public examination of institutional racism in Scotland since the Black Lives Matter movement galvanised around the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Continue reading...

Ukraine defence ministry says Russian troops backed by tanks and artillery attacking steelworks; Charles Michel forced to take shelter during missile strike