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Critical incident investigation declared into arrest of former Greens candidate who says she could lose sight in right eye

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Watchdog says woman's conduct was serious because of her seniority, as well as concern over nepotism, cronyism and undeclared conflicts' in recruitment

Parliamentary watchdog will invite people to citizens' forum to debate what democracy is worth'The thorny topic of MPs' pay and funding will be debated by randomly selected members of the public at a new citizens' forum, as parliament's watchdog said it was launching an open and honest conversation" about what democracy is worth.Invitations are being sent out by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which this year set the basic annual salary for an MP from 1 April 2025 at 93,904. It is also responsible for approving MPs' expenses, which it prefers to call business costs. Continue reading...

Christopher Moore reported missing on Friday after failing to return from solo camping trip at Jerrawangala near Nowra

Jurors retire to consider verdicts in triple murder trial over beef wellington lunch that contained death cap mushrooms

Queues also expected for shuttle buses to railway station as 200,000 music fans depart festival on MondayThe tents are drooping, the heads are throbbing, the ears buzzing; Glastonbury festival is over for another year.Most of the 200,000-plus ticket holders at the performing arts and music bonanza in Somerset will be leaving the site on Monday in gruelling 30C heat. Continue reading...

Premier hits back at Queensland treasurer, saying sunshine state's budget black hole' has nothing to do with Victoria

Report finds more than a third have considered leaving their job due to the physical and emotional strainPeople undergoing fertility treatment should have the legal right to take time off for their appointments, according to research that finds over a third have considered leaving their job due to the physical and emotional strain.The campaign group Fertility Matters At Work is calling for IVF to be recategorised as a medical procedure, rather than an elective treatment equivalent to cosmetic surgery, in guidance for employers under the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) code of practice. Continue reading...

Newly restored material from vast archive destroyed in civil war takes in Anglo-Norman conquest and 1798 rebellionSeven centuries of lost historical records covering espionage, political corruption and the lives of ordinary people in Ireland have been recovered and are being released.A pioneering project to fill gaps in Irish history is making 175,000 more records and millions more words of searchable content freely available to researchers and members of the public. Continue reading...

Tolo Thakeli had long campaigned on youth joblessness, but a post questioning Sam Maketane's promises on work creation landed him in prisonIt took a single video complaining about Lesotho's unemployment rate to turn Tolo Thakeli into the prime minister's enemy. Within a day of posting there were armed police at his door.It was Father's Day, and the 31-year-old father of two was in his pyjamas when they arrived. He had no idea his post would land him in trouble; after all, he had campaigned for a long time, under different governments, for action on jobs for young people. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Vicky Foxcroft, who resigned as whip over welfare bill, urges ministers to work with affected people on changesThe Labour whip who resigned in protest against disability benefit cuts has said Keir Starmer's concessions do not yet go far enough to win her over, as No 10 launched a fresh attempt to stem the revolt against its welfare bill.Vicky Foxcroft, who quit her frontbench role over the welfare bill a little more than a week ago, urged the government to work jointly on the changes with disabled people and to publish the review of the system before bringing in cuts. Continue reading...

Sites will accommodate 4,000 children as part of ministers' plan to improve childcare, Bridget Phillipson to announceAbout 200 school-based nurseries will open in England this September as part of the government's plan to improve access to childcare for working parents.The milestone will be announced on Monday by Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who will say that the sites will accommodate 4,000 children under school age. Continue reading...

Estimate by disability charity published on eve of MPs' vote on restricting welfare payments for new claimantsThe extra cost of being disabled is on course to rise by almost 12% to 14,688 in five years, according to a new estimate published on the eve of a controversial vote to restrict welfare payments for new claimants.A threatened rebellion by more than 120 Labour MPs forced the government into a last-minute climbdown on its welfare bill, by exempting claimants to planned cuts in personal independence payments (Pip), England's main disability payment. Continue reading...

Calculation mistake by state-owned gambling operator, Norsk Tipping, prompts CEO to resignThousands of Norwegians were mistakenly told they had won life-changing sums in the country's Eurojackpot draw after an error by the state-owned gambling operator, Norsk Tipping.In a statement on Friday, Norsk Tipping said several thousand customers were notified of incorrectly high prizes". The mistake has prompted the resignation of the company's chief executive. Continue reading...

Statement condemns comments made by London punk duo while police confirm investigation is under way

As poverty deepens across Britain, the Guardian visited some of the hardest-hit places where leaders are aiming to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities

Despite the evidence health prevention works, successive governments have done little in this area until nowIn Lancaster the community nurse Lizzie Holmes knocks on doors to talk to people who are unwell but reluctant to accept NHS help. In Blackpool, community connectors" help low-income families get their children into healthy habits early in life. Both do necessary, vital, proactive work known as health prevention - stopping illness occurring in the first place and spotting it early when it does. The idea is that this will create a virtuous circle of a healthier population and thus less need for NHS care.But while the initiatives described in a Guardian investigation are imaginative and effective, they are also atypical of the way the NHS works. Over recent decades governments of different political colours have talked about turning the NHS from a service primarily focused on treating illness to one that does far more to prevent disease in the first place. A number of expert reports over those years have urged ministers to make exactly that transformational change. It has never happened. Continue reading...

National Anti-Scam Centre warns that fraudsters posing as Mandarin-speaking law enforcement officers are becoming more threatening

Exclusive: Health department secretary Blair Comley tells minister Mark Bultler to stop commissioning costly and time-consuming inquiries

Exclusive: Leon Australia calls itself Australia's #1 Interactive Gaming and Sportsbook since 2008' but is licensed in a tiny island off AfricaSocial media influencers have been inadvertently promoting a gambling company that poses as an Australian outfit but is instead licensed and regulated in a tiny island off the east coast of Africa.The influencers, including someone claiming to be Australia's #1 biological male" and a duo called DegenerateAngelss, have also shared financial inducements from the bookmaker that encourage Australians into opening accounts with it.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...

Iran's armed forces chief of staff says it is ready to respond with force' if attacked again; Iran says airstrikes on Evin prison killed at least 71Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks have killed at least 14 people, including three children, so far on Sunday.Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 13 people were killed in airstrikes at four locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli gunfire near an aid distribution centre. Continue reading...

As temperatures climb, London fire brigade highlights severe' risk of wildfiresThe latest heatwave is expected to push temperatures close to record levels for June and result in the hottest ever start to Wimbledon.Amber heat alerts remain in place until Tuesday evening for all of southern, western and eastern England with a warning of excess deaths particularly among those over 65, and increased demand on health and social care services. Continue reading...

PSNI says man, 28, being held on suspicion of murder of Sarah Montgomery, 27, in DonaghadeeA murder investigation is under way after a pregnant woman was found dead in County Down, Northern Ireland, say police.The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has named her as Sarah Montgomery, 27, a mother of two. Police have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of murder. Continue reading...

Rafael Grossi says some of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile could have been moved before US attacks

Exclusive: Directors of To Kill a War Machine take legal advice as Home Office plans to proscribe protest groupThe makers of an award-winning documentary about Palestine Action say they fear they will be criminalised if they continue distributing the work after the group is banned under anti-terror laws.The online release of To Kill a War Machine was brought forward to this week after it emerged that the Home Office was going to proscribe the protest group, which takes direct action against Israeli arms companies in the UK. Continue reading...

Prime minister says he would have liked to get to a better position with colleagues sooner than we did'Keir Starmer has said he did not get a grip on the Labour rebellion over disability benefits earlier because he was focused on foreign affairs.The prime minister acknowledged he had not got it right, and said he would have wanted to make the concessions earlier. I'd have liked to get to a better position with colleagues sooner than we did," Starmer said in an interview with the Sunday Times. I'm putting this as context rather than an excuse. Continue reading...

As controversy still swirls over Gaza documentaries, corporation braces for further criticism from all sides, including insideWhen the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, held a virtual town hall meeting with staff this month, most assumed it would be dominated by disputes over pay and redundancies.When the questions came in, however, the top query to the boss was clear: why was the corporation refusing to show a long-awaited documentary about medics in Gaza? Continue reading...

Government sources say umbrella' structure now more likely after plans for independent body found to be too complexKeir Starmer's flagship new ethics and integrity commission may be a rebrand of existing watchdogs brought together under a new umbrella" rather than creating an entirely fresh regulator, government sources have said.A year after Labour made its manifesto promise, ministers are mulling the idea of a new oversight structure above current regulators to avoid the need for starting from scratch. Continue reading...

Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire vow to hold authorities accountable as repression intensifies before October electionsTwo east African activists say they plan to sue Tanzania's government for illegal detention and torture during a visit in support of an opposition politician in May.Boniface Mwangi, from Kenya, and Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan, sent shock waves around the region earlier this month when they gave an emotional press conference in which they alleged they had been sexually assaulted and, in Atuhaire's case, smeared in excrement after their detention in Dar es Salaam. [The authorities] take you through sexual torture," Mwangi said at the time. Continue reading...

Under new rules anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park from Sunday will be breaking the lawAnyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking.Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday. Continue reading...

Jonathan Reynolds to hold talks with carmaker after reports suggested its UK factory could closeThe business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will hold talks with Lotus after the carmaker appeared to shelve plans to shut its UK operations.After reports that Chinese owner Geely was planning to stop manufacturing at the Hethel plant in Norfolk, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, Lotus issued a statement saying it had no plans" to close the factory. Continue reading...

Police assessing video footage of rap trio's performance to determine if any offences may have been committed'Kneecap began a politically charged set at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon, leading the crowds in chants of Fuck Keir Starmer!"The Irish rap act took to the stage at 4pm for their controversial set, which had been criticised by the UK prime minister as not appropriate". Continue reading...

Organisers of Budapest Pride said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting themJeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are preparing for the last party of their three-day wedding festivities in Venice as demonstrators mobilise for a final protest against the couple's opulent nuptials in the Italian lagoon city.The Amazon founder, 61, and the former TV journalist, 55, exchanged vows in front of around 200 celebrity guests in a black-tie ceremony on the nearby island of San Giorgio Maggiore on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Crackdown on Pride is part of effort to curb democratic freedoms ahead of a hotly-contested election next yearTens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Budapest in defiance of the Hungarian government's ban on Pride, heeding a call by the city's mayor to come calmly and boldly to stand together for freedom, dignity and equal rights".Jubilant crowds packed into the city's streets on Saturday, waving Pride flags and signs that mocked the country's prime minister, Viktor Orban, as their peaceful procession inched forward at a snail's pace. Continue reading...

Paetongtarn Shinawatra has angered Thai nationalists, who accuse the Thai leader of kowtowing to CambodiaThousands of protesters have gathered in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Thailand's prime minister over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader.Paetongtarn Shinawatra has faced growing pressure over her handling of a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia that flared in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a brief exchange of fire. Continue reading...

Venue drops gig under pressure from campaigners and local MP, who said show was against city's values'Heavy metal star Marilyn Manson, has had the first UK concert of his One Assassination Under God Tour cancelled after pressure from campaign groups and an MP.The first leg of the tour was due to kick off at the Brighton Centre on Wednesday, 29 October. Ticketmaster have since informed customers that the event will no longer go ahead as planned and they will be refunded. Continue reading...

Irish language rap trio says corporation told them performance would be available on iPlayer from Saturday evening

Josep Borrell says Europe has a duty to intervene but has been relegated to the sidelines'

Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom largeWhen Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel's successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm," Israel's longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement. Continue reading...

Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers - but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deservesWhether you want a brooding billionaire, a queer awakening, a dragon rider (yes, really) or an old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers tale, there's a romance novel for everybody at Saucy Books.England's first romance-only bookshop opened last week in Notting Hill, west London, instantly becoming a go-to destination for readers and turning into a meeting spot for like-minded folk to share their love stories. Continue reading...

These small, joyful indulgences are an antidote to life's uncertainties', food trend watchers sayIf you said to a friend that you fancied Japanese food this weekend, they might be forgiven for thinking you meant sushi. But lately a new culinary export from Japan is catching up with fish and rice in the hearts and tastebuds of British foodies.Soft, sweet and full of character, Japanese-style desserts - from mochi ice cream to matcha cookies - have been steadily gaining ground on UK shelves. Continue reading...

Digital bank hopes to tempt switchers with package including in-credit interest and fee-free travel spendingThe battle for bank customers intensified this week, with a new player entering the UK current account market and offering cashback on bills and access to a savings account paying 7.1%.Digital bank Zopa is hoping the perks - which also include in-credit interest and fee-free spending abroad - will tempt switchers to its first day-to-day account. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology warns of damaging winds and possible flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday as potential east coast low develops

But Queensland premier is not in contempt of parliament over the payments, ethics committee finds

Hugo Carvajal faces narco-terrorism and weapon charges amid accusations he helped lead a drug-trafficking groupA former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolas Maduro.Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA El Pollo" or The Chicken", was the director of Venezuela's military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chavez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government. Continue reading...

What we learned from the billionaire's three-day, celebrity-studded nuptials which created a stir in VeniceAmazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez held their wedding ceremony in Venice's Grand canal on Friday, the centrepiece of a three-day gala that drew dozens of stars but also protests by local activists. Here are seven takeaways. Continue reading...

Stuart Machin says labels, designed stop British goods leaking into bloc, add another layer of unnecessary costs and red tape'The boss of Marks & Spencer has called on the government to rapidly reset relations with the EU and criticised new rules which demand extra checks and labelling on products headed from the UK mainland to Northern Ireland as bureaucratic madness".Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, which has 25 stores in Northern Ireland, said that from next week the retailer would have to label 1,000 more products destined for the UK country with not for EU" while another 400 items would require additional checks". Continue reading...

Carmaker's Chinese owner, Geely, looking at options including shifting Emira production from Norfolk to USLotus is planning an end to production of its sportscars in the UK, in a move that would put 1,300 jobs at risk and represent a major blow to the British car industry.The carmaker's Chinese owner, Geely, is looking at options including manufacturing its Emira sportscar in the US, and stopping production at its plant in Hethel, Norfolk, permanently, according to a person with knowledge of the company's thinking. Continue reading...

Antonio Guterres says people are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families'Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said that the Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid" as it called on the Israeli authorities to end its siege on the devastated territory.Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds of Palestinian people in recent weeks.The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza, Palestine, launched one month ago, is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies.With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled... Continue reading...