Far-right leader hails ‘victory in itself’ and vows to fight on after winning more than 40% of the vote

Ashish Jha says spreading variant unlikely to have much effect on the nation’s pandemic recoveryThe White House Covid response coordinator Ashish Jha appeared to undercut the Biden administration’s efforts to reinstate the federal mask mandate on Sunday, stating that the spreading BA.2 variant in the US was unlikely to have much effect on the nation’s pandemic recovery.The justice department announced last week it would appeal the decision of a federal judge in Florida to prematurely lift the mandate on air, rail and bus travel in the US, based on the assertion by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that “an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health”. Continue reading...

Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, who work on RRS Sir David Attenborough, hope to tie the knot on MondayTwo polar research ship crew members are to become the first same-sex couple to get married in the British Antarctic Territory.Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter hope to tie the knot on Monday, although it may be pushed back because of the weather. Continue reading...

18th-century bonbonniere was identified after coming up for auction last year and will now go on displayIt was an audacious and highly professional heist. At 2am on a June night in 2003, five men wearing balaclavas and blue boilersuits smashed their way through a window at Waddesdon Manor, the extravagant French-style chateau built in Buckinghamshire by the Rothschild banking dynasty.Despite high security, they grabbed more than 100 gold boxes and other precious objects worth several million pounds – and four minutes later they were gone. Almost all disappeared without trace. Continue reading...

Forensic doctors discover fléchettes – rarely used in modern warfare – in bodies found in mass graves

Police appeal for witnesses as fire crews describe blaze as the largest in the area for yearsFamilies have been evacuated from their homes after a wildfire swept across heathland in Dorset, destroying about 17 hectares (42 acres) of wildlife-rich habitat.Canford Heath in Poole is a 340-hectare nature reserve and site of special scientific interest that is home to rare species including smooth snakes, sand lizards and Dartford warblers, as well as adders, dragonflies and nightjars. Continue reading...

Labour leader says cannot ‘pass over’ the fact prime minister and other officials broke the lawKeir Starmer has defended Labour’s determination to keep pressing the prime minister over parties in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, saying even Conservative MPs were “sick of defending the indefensible”.Challenged about whether he had focused too much on Partygate, the Labour leader insisted his party could not just “pass over” the fact that Johnson had been issued with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN), along with Rishi Sunak and scores of officials. Continue reading...

Francesco Bonanno was accused of terrorising passengers by working with ‘uncommon zeal’An Italian train conductor who was sacked for issuing passengers with too many fines said his “nightmare is over” after the country’s top court ruled he was wrongfully dismissed.Francesco Bonanno, 61, was accused of “terrorising” passengers by overzealously handing out a record number of fines within the space of a couple of years as he controlled tickets across northern routes on Trenitalia trains. Continue reading...

Suspect from Bedworth detained after attack on at least 10 people on SaturdayA 33-year-old man who was arrested after at least 10 people were injured in a knife attack has been detained under the Mental Health Act.It comes after disturbances in Bedworth town centre, north of Coventry, on Saturday morning, in which three people suffered stab wounds, Warwickshire police said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Olga Kolisnyk was told by UK visa officials her infant daughter would require biometric scans 800 miles away in Warsaw

Exclusive: Fears grow that bed shortages have left NHS increasingly reliant on independent sector

Brooke Martin was one of the inpatients to die at an Elysium mental health facility. Her family say its negligence ‘defies logic’

Official says Covid ‘spreading invisibly’ within capital as Shanghai residents complain about barriers at residential buildingsAuthorities in Beijing are on high alert for an upsurge in coronavirus cases amid a fresh outcry in Shanghai over buildings blockaded under China’s zero Covid policy.The number of new cases in the capital rose by 22 on Sunday – all locally transmitted – compared with six the day before, according to official reports. Beijing authorities have so far not taken steps to lock down the capital, but they have ordered a number of gyms and after-school activity providers to suspend in-person classes. Continue reading...

The MY Kahu was intercepted 80 miles south of Plymouth last year, and goes on sale WednesdayA superyacht seized from drug smugglers attempting to bring £160m worth of cocaine to the UK will be sold on behalf of the government in an online auction this week.Acting on a tipoff, Border Force and National Crime Agency officers intercepted and boarded the 120ft (37 metre) yacht in international waters near Guernsey last year. They discovered more than two tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £160m. Continue reading...

Former health secretary never declared hospitality from head of firm connected to lobbying scandalThe former health secretary Matt Hancock was given an overnight stay at a country estate owned by the head of Randox, the healthcare firm that had hired the MP Owen Paterson as a consultant.During a two-day visit to Northern Ireland as health secretary in 2019, Hancock had a private dinner and stayed overnight at the Dundarave country estate in County Antrim, which is owned by Peter Fitzgerald, Randox’s founder. Continue reading...

Tributes paid to ‘one of the all-time greats’, who also wrote Only When I Laugh and Duty FreeEric Chappell, the writer of some of ITV’s most popular sitcoms, including Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh and Duty Free, has died at the age of 88.His death was revealed by the actor Reece Dinsdale, who starred alongside the late John Thaw in Chappell’s sitcom Home to Roost. Dinsdale wrote on Twitter: “Thank you for everything you did for me, Sir … your scripts were a complete joy to play. Great times!” Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron goes into the election with a reasonable lead in polls over Marine Le Pen, after a fractious campaignThe polls have opened in mainland France for the second round of the presidential election in which voters will choose to give Emmanuel Macron another five years in office or elect Marine Le Pen.Macron is favourite to win but any second term will be determined by whether he finishes with a convincing victory. Both he and Le Pen need to have convinced the almost 50% of voters who did not choose either of them in the first round ballot two weeks ago. Continue reading...

Cheap labour no longer enough to win over firms as other countries invest in improving their workforcesBritain risks being left behind in the increasingly intense battle for investment from overseas unless it can improve the level of skills on offer to foreign firms, according to a hard-hitting report.A taskforce headed by the former CBI director general John Cridland has warned that it is no longer enough to base the UK’s appeal on cheap labour, as other countries increasingly use well-trained workers as a magnet to attract companies. Continue reading...

Data must be provided on the experience of children undergoing care, says health secretaryA review of the long-term outcomes for children treated for gender dysphoria is being drawn up by ministers, following warnings over how little is known about children who later regret the treatment.Sajid Javid, the health secretary, wants to hand new legal powers to an existing review into NHS gender identity services for children, granting it greater access to crucial data on the experiences of patients who have undergone treatment. Continue reading...

Health secretary announces plan to tackle lack of products that has led to menopausal women turning to black marketUK ministers are planning to appoint a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) tsar to help solve acute shortages that campaigners say are leaving menopausal women unable to sleep or work.Shortages of HRT products have led to some women buying them on the black market or asking friends to buy medicines abroad for them. Continue reading...

Notes from a 1533 book put Sir Thomas North in the frame for one of the bard’s later playsA rare 16th-century book offers “compelling evidence” that William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was inspired by a now-lost play by Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier and writer, new research claims.A 1533 edition of Fabyan’s Chronicle, a compendium of British and French history from Roman times to Henry VII, bears notes in the margin in North’s hand that has been linked to the plot and other details of Shakespeare’s tragicomedy, set in Roman Britain. Continue reading...

TV presenter is forced to change name of campaign website after it clashed with the title of a gynaecologist’s bookA fierce battle for campaign territory has forced TV presenters Mariella Frostrup and Davina McCall into a tactical retreat.After a tussle with a bestselling author, Frostrup has reluctantly changed the name of a website she set up with McCall, Labour MP Carolyn Harris, model Penny Lancaster, journalist Kate Muir and medical experts, to campaign for greater awareness of the impact of the menopause. Continue reading...

Warnings of cost-of-caring crisis as state allowance is cut by £170 a year in real termsUnpaid carers face a real-terms cut of 4.5% in their weekly allowance, amid continued warnings about a major erosion in the value of state benefits.The decision not to make an emergency increase in benefits in response to ballooning inflation has this month seen some benefits fall by the largest amount in 50 years. It comes after chancellor Rishi Sunak resisted calls to increase welfare payments in his spring statement to help address the rising cost of living. Continue reading...

Decision decried as ‘morally bankrupt ploy to reduce our obligations to the most desperate people’It has been described as Guantánamo-on-Ouse: a giant one-stop reception centre for asylum seekers due to open within weeks slap bang in the middle of a quiet, bucolic North Yorkshire village.“When we first heard about it they said 500 people and we thought that’s just about manageable,” said 67-year-old Taff Morgan. “Then last night we heard 1,500 and that might not be the maximum. It depends on how many they can fit in.” Continue reading...

Definitive study will include early versions of the revered 20th-century artist’s most famous creationsPreviously unseen etchings that Lucian Freud rejected or reworked are to be published for the first time as part of a definitive study that will document every print he ever created.The etchings offer fresh insights into one of the most revered artists of the 20th century, revealing his thinking process and attention to detail. Continue reading...

Of the 750,000 hospitalised, many still report fatigue, muscle pain, insomnia and breathlessness, with women worst affected

Coalition and Labor to focus on Northern Territory as week three of the federal election campaign begins. Follow all the developments live

Opposition ads say Chisholm MP ‘spread fake news on Chinese messaging apps’ and had to return $300,000 in donations over national security concerns

US-based lab documents destruction of churches and theatresSatellite scrutiny of Ukraine is not just focused on military hardware. Thousands of miles away from the fighting, an international group of archaeologists, historians and technicians are quietly coordinating another high-stakes monitoring effort: the tracking of the mounting losses to Ukraine’s cultural landscape.Now an impact summary, released this month from their lab at a museum in the US state of Virginia, has revealed the bleak truth. Continue reading...

Several guests told media they did not hear alarm sounding during blaze which injured seven people

Research by UCL finds cash-strapped local authorities in the south-west, Midlands and north less likely to challenge developersHousebuilders are churning out substandard housing schemes with poor living conditions despite councils having the power to block them, according to new research.The National Planning Policy Framework was amended in July to allow councils to refuse “development that is not well designed”. A study by University College London found that the Planning Inspectorate, which hears housebuilders’ appeals, is now three times as likely to back councils who reject developments on design grounds. But it also found that the vast majority of those blocked were in the south-east, suggesting that elsewhere councils were not using the new powers. Continue reading...

On paper it was eighth plays ninth, both teams flawed and prone to imploding. But the Mariners and Jets’ rivalry is exactly what the ALM needsTo ape Bill Hader’s famous Saturday Night Live character Stefon, the A-League Men’s hottest rivalry is the F3 Derby. Located on a sodden field in Newcastle, the latest edition of this regional rivalry had everything. Twists and turns, emotions bubbling over, VAR disallowing goals, dramatic comebacksand Matt Simon almost coming to blows with a red-carded Daniel Penha.After serving as the unexpected highlight of ALM’s opening round of the 2021-22 season, overshadowing the greater ballyhooed Sydney Derby, punters were incredulous they were forced to wait 153 days for Saturday evening’s rematch between the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets, a fixture ready to resume its place amongst the pantheon of box office ALM fixtures. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war in our new live blogUkrainian artists are finally able to speak to the world for the whole nation and create values that will be passed down for many years to come. The horrific events that Ukrainians have encountered, through art, are now taking shape.”Lorenzo Tondo speaks to the Ukrainians resisting through art: Continue reading...

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin will join secretary of state in Sunday’s meeting as Russia continues attacks in south and east Ukraine

With the return of full services after two Covid-disrupted years, officials advise caution despite easing of restrictions

Twenty-six people were on board vessel before crew reported it sinking off island of Hokkaidō and authorities lost contactNine people, most of them unresponsive, have been found by rescuers after a tour boat sank off Japan’s northern coast with 26 people on board a day earlier.“As of 11am (0200GMT), coastguard aircraft have rescued four people, local police aircraft rescued four people and a Self Defence Force aircraft rescued one person from waters or rocky coastal areas,” Japan’s coastguard said in a press release on Sunday. Continue reading...

President tells press conference he will meet with US secretary of state and defence secretary on Sunday

Ministers are among 56 MPs said to be accused of sexual misconduct after being referred to parliamentary watchdogThree cabinet ministers are among more than 50 MPs reportedly facing allegations of sexual misconduct after being referred to a parliamentary watchdog.A total of 56 MPs – including two shadow cabinet ministers – have been reported to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), according to the Sunday Times. Continue reading...

Lebanese Red Cross says about 60 people were onboard boat that departed from Qalamoun areaOne child has died but more than 40 people have been saved after the sinking of a boat off the coast of Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli on Saturday, transport minister Ali Hamie told Reuters.The Lebanese Red Cross said in a tweet that there were about 60 people onboard. Continue reading...

Analysis: With debate over the candidate for Warringah continuing, party divisions pave way for difficult year ahead

Brereton report recommended swift payments to victims as ‘the morally right thing to do’ instead of waiting for court rulings

Worker claims confused staff are ‘making up response’ to applications and visas are withheld to keep numbers down

Attack claimed by Islamic State triggered fierce gun battle in Kogi state on SaturdayThree policemen have been killed in central Nigeria’s Kogi state after gunmen stormed a police station in an attack claimed by Islamic State.State police spokesperson William Ovye Aya said a fierce gun battle took place after “hoodlums” entered the station in Adavi town on Saturday. Continue reading...

Veteran leftist is courting allies to help make him prime minister in June, handing him power to disrupt the winner of Sunday’s voteWhoever wins the presidential election in France, one man is determined to sideline them and restrict their powers.Even before the result is known tomorrow, the radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has emerged as a surprise kingmaker, has called on voters to make him prime minister in the legislative elections in June. Continue reading...

Colonisation appears to have superseded ‘denazification’ in Putin’s military goals for eastern Ukraine

Plea comes after ‘Voices of April’ spreads on social media as users get creative to bypass China’s censorsThe author of a viral video about Shanghai’s Covid-19 lockdown that sparked a rare show of defiance on China’s social media has urged users to stop sharing it, saying he worried about his work being taken in directions he did not wish to see.The creator, who goes by his online moniker Strawberry Fields Forever, said in a post on Saturday that the quick spread of the video, titled Voices of April, was “unexpected” to him, and he was “touched” by messages received from fellow internet users. Continue reading...

Cabinet minister accused of ‘crass’ behaviour in his campaign to get staff back in the office

The Tories have held Wandsworth for more than four decades, but Boris Johnson’s lockdown woes and the cost of living crisis threaten to tip the balance towards LabourIn many ways, the London borough of Wandsworth is a paradigm of the modern city. On one hand, it is a place where a teenager recently fainted from hunger in a food bank queue. And on the other, it is home to the “sky pool”, a spectacular transparent swimming pool suspended 10 storeys above ground in Nine Elms, and reserved exclusively for the development’s richest residents.The borough is also known for its comparatively low council tax – which, its Conservative-run council boasts, is the lowest average council tax in the country. Wandsworth also claims to be the only local authority in London that is cutting its share of council tax bills. Continue reading...

Prominent backbencher Steve Baker says party will ‘reap the whirlwind on polling day’Boris Johnson has been told public fury at lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties will result in the Conservatives suffering substantial losses at next month’s local elections, with the possibility that the prime minister may receive further police fines ahead of polling day.Steve Baker, a prominent backbench Tory MP, said voters were repeatedly mentioning the Partygate scandal on the campaign trail and the Conservatives should prepare to “reap the whirlwind” of standing by Johnson. Continue reading...