Clearly someone, or more than someone, wants to cause the prime minister some capital T trouble, but their endgame is entirely unclear

NT constable’s murder trial hears that family urged Walker to hand himself in after he earlier threatened officers with an axe

If BJP holds Uttar Pradesh it would bolster ruling party’s claim for third victory in 2024 parliamentary pollsIndia’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has begun voting in the first of a series of local elections that will be a test of the popularity of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his ruling party.With a population almost as big as that of Brazil, keeping power in the bellwether state would bolster the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in its claim for a third successive victory at nationwide parliamentary polls due by 2024. Continue reading...

Labour leader says he was never accused in public of being ‘paedophile protector’ before Johnson remarkKeir Starmer has blamed Boris Johnson’s slur about Jimmy Savile for inciting a mob that accosted him outside parliament on Monday.The Labour leader said he had never before been accused in public of being a “paedophile protector” until the prime minister falsely accused him of failing to prosecute Savile when he was director of public prosecutions (DPP) a week before the attack. Continue reading...

Did the defence minister not hear the Asio boss warn that stoking community division has ‘the same corrosive impact on our democracy as foreign interference itself’?Peter Dutton’s incendiary question time intervention suggesting China had picked Anthony Albanese as its election candidate plumbed new – and dangerous – depths.For weeks, Scott Morrison and his defence minister have been suggesting voters must not be lulled into a false sense of national security bipartisanship. Only the Coalition, their argument goes, can be trusted not to “appease” China. Continue reading...

Kyi says she begged soldiers to release her son, but they refused. Footage of her mourning beside his body has been viewed widely, just one of many similar storiesKyi kneels on the ground, pleading for her son to wake up. Crouched beside a riverbank, she rocks back and forth, shaken with grief. Her son’s body, which has washed ashore, is motionless in the shallow water. One of his wrists is tied with rope. “My boy, I know it would be nice if you respond to me,” she cries.It’s a video that has been seen widely within Myanmar – one Facebook video has been viewed more than a million times – but is also a scene that is tragically common. Videos and evidence of military killings are continually shared online – adding to the vast files of evidence being collected by rights groups, but also to the daily trauma that people are faced with. Continue reading...

The success of Knives Out and Murder on the Orient Express has led to a full-throated return of the keep-em-guessing murder mysterySurprise is not much of a factor in Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s second gaudy, glossy all-star adaptation of an Agatha Christie chestnut. As with its predecessor, 2017’s marginally worse Murder on the Orient Express, this old-school mystery pulls from a source text so well-known that its twists have practically become embedded genre tropes; even if you don’t know the oft-told story, you can guess your way through it on cliches and character types alone.Decked out with chintzy CGI, stiff performances and enough processed cheese to fill the Nile, it’s not exactly a good film — even “proficient” feels like a stretch — but it is an oddly comforting one. Watching Branagh’s absurdly moustachioed Hercule Poirot waddle through the motions of supposedly expert crime-solving — as bloodied, satin-clad corpses pile up around him — offers equivalent satisfaction to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle on a rainy Sunday: you know what the outcome is going to be, but there’s something soothing in putting it all together. If it’s a murder-mystery you aren’t already familiar with, so much the better, but the genre’s process-based pleasures are consistent either way. A good whodunnit, or even an attractively bad one, is the fictional equivalent of Marie Kondo organising your sock drawer. Continue reading...

Parliamentary report finds ‘compelling evidence’ of trafficking and highlights missed opportunities to protect vulnerable people later stripped of citizenshipThere is “compelling evidence” that British women and children currently detained in camps in north-east Syria were trafficked to the country against their will, according to a new parliamentary report.After a six-month inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on trafficked Britons in Syria, the report published on Thursday highlights how systemic failures by UK public bodies enabled Islamic State trafficking of vulnerable women and children as young as 12. Continue reading...

Defence minister tells question time it is ‘open and obvious’ who China will back in federal election; bills in the religious discrimination package unlikely to be voted on until after the election; nation records at least 56 Covid deaths as WA reports highest daily case numbers. Follow all the day’s news

‘It was one big thought bubble from the treasurer that just wasted taxpayers’ money’, says Senator Rex Patrick

Amnesty International decries ‘systematic policy of repression’ as Maduro clamps down on enemies real and imaginedJuan Carlos Marrufo Capozzi, an electrician and former soldier from Valencia, Venezuela, and his wife María Auxiliadora Delgado Tabosky, were at home when agents from the South American country’s military intelligence unit barged in.Soldiers with rifles sifted through their paperwork and hard drives, before taking the couple away, leaving Marrufo’s distraught teenage daughter from a previous marriage behind. That was in March 2019, and they haven’t tasted freedom since. Continue reading...

In despair at problems in her area, mother-of-four Michelle Dornelly set up a food hub that has fed thousands – many of them refused by food banks. But the unpaid, full-time work takes a heavy tollWhen Michelle Dornelly is hoisting heavy crates of food into and out of her van, she thinks about her building. When her shoulders ache at night and she spots new bruises on her legs, she thinks about her building. She thinks about her building when she contemplates her living room, which is so full of tins that her children long ago stopped using it to watch TV, instead sitting in their bedrooms.Her building. A place where Dornelly could run the Hackney Community Food Hub, in east London, seven days a week. Where she could store the supplies she keeps in her living room. Where they could run workshops for families and take deliveries from their supermarket partners.Working at the hub is full-on at the best of times – and particularly hectic around Christmas. Continue reading...

In his new show Forbidden America, the presenter meets white nationalists, trigger-happy rappers and other inflammatory figures. Here, he argues that, rather than no-platforming them, we need to hear what they sayIn 25 years of presenting documentaries, I’ve made it something of a specialty to go to places and listen to people whose views represent something troubling, even dangerous. The first segment I ever made on TV, for Michael Moore’s TV Nation, was about millennial cults and involved a trip to western Montana, where I spoke to two neo-Nazis in a trailer. For several hours, they explained how some time in the not-too-distant future there would be global racial conflict, leading to Jesus Christ returning and banishing the different races to separate planets in some cosmic version of old-school southern segregationist policies. Late in the evening, when it had grown dark outside, they made me a cup of tea, which I appreciated. They seemed a little warmer towards me and I asked whether, after the inevitable race war, I might be able to make occasional visits to the black people’s planets, but it was still a non-starter.In the years since, I’ve made many more hours of documentaries on a variety of subjects, some of them focused on more innocent kinds of cultural oddity, such as infomercial gurus or swingers’ parties; others on more serious social themes of crime and mental health. But there has always been a strand in my work of being curious about the side of life deemed – in that rather woolly pejorative buzzword – “problematic”. Continue reading...

New Zealand capital’s wardens earn ‘very unusual’ public support after slapping fines on vehicles parked inconsiderately during protestsNew Zealand officialdom is wielding a new frontline force against the Ottawa-inspired anti-vaccine convoy occupying the capital’s inner city: parking wardens.Since Tuesday, Wellington has faced traffic delays and closed streets, as a collective of anti-vaccine-mandate protesters left cars, vans and buses parked in the capital city in their effort to occupy parliament’s lawn. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary told MPs laws would be in place by 10 February but nothing has been put to parliamentThe British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, will meet her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday with her plan to have put the UK’s “toughest sanctions regime against Russia” on the statute book in time for the trip having fallen through.Truss told MPs the laws would be in place by 10 February, but nothing has been put to parliament, raising suspicions among opposition MPs that government lawyers are struggling to frame the sweeping and unprecedented new laws. Continue reading...

Anna Leporskaya’s Three Figures sent for restoration after guard doodled on it with a ballpoint pen on his first dayA valuable avant garde painting has been vandalised by a “bored” security guard who drew eyes on faceless figures in the artwork on his first day working in a Russian gallery.Anna Leporskaya’s Three Figures was painted between 1932 and 1934, and had been insured for 75m roubles (A$1.3m, £740,000). It was on display as part of an abstract art exhibition at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in Ekaterinburg when the guard drew eyes on it using a ballpoint pen. Continue reading...

The lax rules contradict other major awards shows as report says high-profile actors may have had an influenceThe Oscars will reportedly not require proof of Covid-19 vaccination in order attend the in-person ceremony in Hollywood on 27 March.Instead, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will require guests to provide a negative PCR test or a negative rapid antigen test on the day of the event, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety reported on Wednesday. Attendees are encouraged to be vaccinated and those who are not will have to comply with stricter testing requirements in order to attend. Continue reading...

Courtney will resign after drawing criticism for holiday in France as Tasmanian schools prepared to reopen amid Covid concerns

Apology comes as city enforces new measures including closure of hairdressers and addition of malls to vaccine pass systemHong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said she is “deeply sorry and anxious” about the lengthy wait for residents to get tested or enter isolation facilities after a record number of new coronavirus cases left authorities scrambling.Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 infections nearly doubled to a record 1,161 cases on Wednesday as the global financial hub battles a rapid surge that could pose the biggest test yet of its “dynamic zero” policy. Continue reading...

Two hundred pairs of Louis Vuitton and Nike Air Force 1 shoes smashed expectations in Sotheby’s online auctionAn auction of 200 pairs of the Louis Vuitton and Nike Air Force 1 sneakers created by late American designer Virgil Abloh have fetched a total of $25m, Sotheby’s said.The most paid for one of the pairs was more than $350,000 – size 5 – during an online sale that ran from 26 January 26 to 8 February, the auction house said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedSweden scraps almost all of its few restrictions and stops most testing; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive after displaying mild symptoms

‘Elsy’ was sentenced to 30 years for aggravated homicide over miscarriage and is fifth such woman to be released since DecemberEl Salvador has released another woman imprisoned for aggravated homicide who after suffering an obstetric emergency was accused of aborting her pregnancy in a country where abortion under any circumstances is banned.The woman, who activists helping her identified only as Elsy, had served more than a decade of a 30-year sentence. She was the fifth woman released before completion of her sentence since late December of last year. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer to separately visit Nato headquarters amid whirlwind diplomacy in face of Russian threatsBritain has placed 1,000 troops on standby to deploy to eastern Europe if there is a refugee crisis prompted by any Russian invasion of Ukraine, ahead of a trip by Boris Johnson to Nato headquarters and Poland on Thursday.UK officials warned there was a risk of “a humanitarian disaster” if Russia were to invade. The US has warned there could be a massive displacement of 1-5 million people, with refugees most likely to enter Poland. Continue reading...

Students wrongly accused of deception should be helped to clear names, says shadow ministerThe Home Office was accused of presiding over a “shocking miscarriage of justice” by MPs during an urgent debate on the English language testing scandal which saw thousands of international students wrongly accused of cheating in an exam they were required to sit as part of their visa application process.Those students who were wrongly accused of deception, many of whom were subsequently detained and deported, should now be helped to clear their names, shadow Home Office minister Stephen Kinnock told parliament. Continue reading...

Those identified as part of Operation Hillman will be sent questionnaire asking for their account of events

Controversial legislation passes lower house despite Liberal moderates defecting to help add more extensive protections for LGBTQ+ studentsThe Morrison government has passed the religious discrimination bill in a marathon all-night sitting of the House of Representatives, despite Liberal moderates defecting to help add more extensive protections for LGBTQ+ students.The Liberal MPs Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen, Fiona Martin and Dave Sharma crossed the floor against the government, helping Labor and the crossbench add protections for LGBTQ+ students into the Sex Discrimination Act. Continue reading...

Analysis: As Macron tries to revive 2015 agreement, Ukraine believes it is impossible to fulfil as it could hand power to RussiaIn the often acrimonious back-and-forth between Russia and Ukraine in recent years, “fulfilling Minsk” has become something of a meaningless mantra: all sides agree to abide by the 2015 Minsk accords in public, but neither has any real intention of implementing the provisions of the agreement.Yet in his intensive peacemaking efforts this week, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, appears to be pinning his hopes on a renewed attempt to breathe life into the seven-year-old agreement. Continue reading...

Broadcaster and husband hit by claims they plan to cull wallabies and chop down trees on Inchconnachan islandFirst they were hit by claims they planned to cull wallabies on the Scottish island they are buying, triggering uproar.Now the broadcaster Kirsty Young and her husband, the Soho House founder Nick Jones, have been hit by another hurdle: a formal objection from the Woodland Trust against their plans to chop down scores of trees on Inchconnachan, an idyllic, heavily wooded island on Loch Lomond. Continue reading...

Latest news: picture of Boris Johnson at event with prosecco emerges; PM plans to end all coronavirus restrictions in England in two weeks

Potentially deadly infectious disease, endemic to West Africa, not seen in UK for 10 yearsTwo people in England have been diagnosed with Lassa fever, and a third “probable” case is under investigation, the UK Health Security Agency has said.It is the first time cases of the potentially deadly infectious disease, caused by the Lassa virus, have been identified in the UK for more than a decade. Continue reading...

How does England’s move to end self-isolation compare with rules in other European countries?

Several suffered from hypothermia during journey and some fainted from exposure to exhaust fumesAustrian police found eight people from Turkey hidden in life-threatening conditions in a narrow wooden pallet box attached to the underside of a lorry.Police said the group had been trafficked from Romania via Hungary. Several of them suffered from hypothermia during the trip in freezing temperatures, and some fainted because they were exposed to exhaust fumes for hours. Continue reading...

Arrest for Helen Bailey’s murder set alarm bells ringing, and one vital clue to Diane Stewart’s death remainedIn the dock in both of his trials – both for murder, both of women he had professed to love – Ian Stewart cut an unimpressive figure. Shabby, hesitant, inexplicably dull – he seemed unremarkable in every way.On Wednesday the 61-year-old was unmasked as a serial killer, found guilty of the murder of his wife Diane five years after being convicted of the 2016 murder of his fiancee Helen Bailey. Continue reading...

Online bookie will pay customers who made bets after receiving marketing spam

Before the 2022 Winter Olympic games began, two athletes had already made history - Australia’s first Olympic curling team. With no dedicated curling rink in Australia, the team’s unlikely Olympic debut took a series of series of dramatic turns once they reached Beijing.

Documents obtained under freedom of information show how worried Australian officials were over economic impact of Beijing’s actions

Analysis: psychologists suggest how ‘parasitic’ killer was capable of murdering two women and getting away with it for yearsIan Stewart’s ability to murder his first wife and resume a normal existence, going on to murder another partner, is beyond the comprehension of most.The cold duplicity of his actions would lead many to ask how was he capable of such deceit. Continue reading...

Women on Mauritian-chartered vessel bound for Chagos Islands recall how life there was ‘paradise’Rosemonde Bertin was only 17 when British officials arrived on Salomon Atoll in 1972. Everyone was ordered to gather at the manager’s office on the coconut plantation. She does not remember any advance warning.The commissioner of the British Indian Ocean territory (BIOT) told them they had to leave their homes because Americans were coming to the Chagos archipelago to set up a military base. Continue reading...

Unrest triggered when Karnataka state came down in favour of rightwing Hindu demands for headscarf banThe Indian state of Karnataka has shut its schools for three days after the regional government backed schools imposing a ban on hijabs, leading to widespread protests and violence.The issue began in January, when six female Muslim students staged a weeks-long protest after they were told to either remove their headscarves or stop attending class at a government college in the district of Udupi. Continue reading...

Decision to avoid word in exhibition on Indonesian independence led to accusations of genocide denialThe director of the Rijksmuseum said he was “happy” as Dutch prosecutors announced they would not proceed with an investigation into complaints over a newly opened exhibition on Indonesian independence, the first of its kind in Europe.The exhibition, Revolusi! Indonesia Independent, at the Netherlands’ national museum, has been a source a controversy since one of its curators, Bonnie Triyana, said the term “bersiap”, or stand by, would not be used in reference to the violent upheaval that followed a declaration of independence from the Dutch state. Continue reading...

Satellite imagery shows much Russian hardware has been moved to locations close to Ukraine borderRussia and Belarus will begin 10 days of joint military drills on Thursday, setting in train one of the most overtly threatening elements of the Kremlin’s buildup of forces around Ukraine’s borders.Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian general staff, arrived in Belarus on Wednesday to oversee the drills. Continue reading...

In August 2020, the Guardian spoke to workers in the live music industry who had their livelihoods destroyed by Covid. How are they faring in 2022?Eighteen months ago, Tre Stead was in hospital; now she’s on Coronation Street. As Frank Turner’s tour manager, back then she was one of six people the Guardian spoke to about how the shutdown of the live music industry had affected their lives. But now, with Covid restrictions relaxed and gigs allowed to happen as if the pandemic doesn’t exist, have they all returned to work? Yes, but not necessarily in ways anyone expected.Live music is back and bigger than ever. Artists such as the Weeknd and Harry Styles, who were originally going to play arenas, have rebooked their tours for stadiums, while major names such as Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish are beginning their delayed runs. There’s more work than ever before. But some tours – including Frank Turner’s – have been postponed in recent weeks, and new Covid variants mean that live music remains a horribly uncertain industry. Aerosmith cancelled their summer European tour last week, citing “uncertainty around travel logistics and the continued presence of Covid restrictions”, and Doja Cat cancelled her Brit awards performance due to a member of her team contracting the virus. Continue reading...

It is radical to love a body that the world says is wrong – and I love mine completelyThis body is a genetic mistake, a pitiable stare, the scan on a mundane Tuesday lunchtime with a doctor speaking in hushed tones by the bed.It is glorious too, thanks. It is deep-in-the-bones laughter at 2am with people who love you; only strangers care that it is sitting in a wheelchair while doing so (“Have you got a licence for that thing, sweetheart?”). It is straight-As, promotions and beating expectations as much as the odds. It is being buckled over from the pain, clutching a public toilet bowl, pills and dignity rattling at the bottom of a handbag. It is sex, fevered goosebumps and kisses to the skin like magic. It is warm summers with friends, sunshine on bare legs and 90s dance music ricocheting through the air. It is fucking knackered. Continue reading...

Lindsay de Feliz was found dead near her home two years ago; her husband and three other men deny murderThe family of a British author who was found dead close to her home in the Dominican Republic are hoping that a long-awaited trial will finally bring them answers.The body of Lindsay de Feliz, 64, was found in a shallow grave in the north-west of the country more than two years ago. Continue reading...

New advice issued in partnership with Natural Resources Wales designed to help people enjoy countrysideAsk trespassers if they are lost, install gates rather than stiles and only shoot dogs as a last resort.These are some of the guidelines issued to farmers and land managers by the government conservation agency Natural England, in partnership with Natural Resources Wales. The advice is designed to help people enjoy the countryside and covers protecting livestock and keeping rights of way usable. Continue reading...

King Umberto II descendants take legal action over treasure kept in Bank of Italy deposit box for 76 yearsThe descendants of Italy’s last king are suing the Italian state in their fight to reclaim the crown jewels, which for almost 76 years have been stashed in a treasure chest in a safety deposit box at the Bank of Italy amid a long-running mystery over their ownership.The legal action comes after the offspring of King Umberto II failed to reach an agreement with the bank to return the jewels, which comprise more than 6,000 diamonds and 2,000 pearls mounted on brooches, necklaces and tiaras worn by various princesses and queens during the monarchy’s 85-year existence. Continue reading...

Initial investigation is said to have found NSO Group’s Pegasus tool was used against three of 26 alleged targetsAn initial investigation into allegations that Israeli police targeted citizens with spyware has confirmed that the application was indeed used against three people, according to claims by a local news station.The Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said a police investigation ordered by Israel’s public security minister, Omer Barlev, had concluded that of 26 individuals named in recent reports as having been targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus software, three named individuals were targeted, with the police successfully hacking only one of the phones. Continue reading...

Formerly an anti-war poet, Maung Saungkha has endured a harsh training regime to prepare for armed struggle against Myanmar’s military junta

With an all-star cast led by Deepika Padukone, Gehraiyaan aims to bring a fresh realism to its love story. She and director Shakun Batra assess the risks they’re taking“I think it’s pretty fresh for an Indian audience,” says Deepika Padukone of her new movie, Gehraiyaan (“Depths”). “The way this story has been told, and the way in which it explores infidelity is certainly very new.” Gehraiyaan’s promotional material isn’t hiding anything, with clips showing Padukone’s character Alisha losing herself in clinches with her illicit lover Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), her cousin’s fiance. If that wasn’t messy enough, Alisha also has a perfectly nice boyfriend of six years, Karan (Dhairya Karwa), who’s done nothing to deserve this betrayal.“She feels stuck,” is how Padukone explains her behaviour. A 30-year-old yoga teacher in Mumbai, Alisha seems like an otherwise likable and pleasant human being, and the film dwells closely on how conflicted she is. “She feels like she’s been with this one person for so many years. And now, you know, she is at a stage in her life where she feels stuck.” Continue reading...

Mayor of London ‘disgusted’ by recent scandals and suggests he is prepared to try to oust commissionerThe mayor of London has signalled he is prepared to try to oust the Metropolitan police commissioner in days or weeks over a series of scandals.Sadiq Khan said he was “disgusted and angry” by recent failings and that he thought Cressida Dick lacked a plan to boost confidence in the police force, which had been “knocked and shattered”. Continue reading...