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Blaze tore through flats at New Providence Wharf in Tower Hamlets on Friday morningResidents of a high-rise block with Grenfell-style cladding in east London that caught fire causing multiple injuries have voiced anger at the government and the building’s developer that nothing was done to repair it sooner.The fire broke out before 9am on Friday on the eighth floor of the 19-storey apartment building in the New Providence Wharf development in Poplar, which is clad partly in combustible aluminium panels similar to those that fuelled the fire at Grenfell Tower. It has not been fixed amid a wrangle over who should pay. Continue reading...

Increase in prices fuelled by limited flights to quarantine-free holiday destinations

Mr Go Pizza booth offers 24/7 pizzas, kneaded by a machine and served with cutleryMassimo Bucolo bravely dared to go where nobody else had gone before in order to take a slice of Italy’s competitive pizza market: a 24-hour vending machine that dishes out freshly baked pizza in three minutes.Located in a booth on Via Catania, close to Piazza Bologna in Rome, Mr Go Pizza offers up four varieties, including the classic margherita invented in Naples in 1889, each costing between €4.50 and €6. The vending machine kneads and tops the dough, a process that customers can watch through a small glass window. Continue reading...

An Iraqi series has just been pulled off the air after staging fake Isis ambushes. So who thinks it’s OK to abduct people or simulate a plane crash?There are prank shows, and then there is Tannab Raslan, an Iraqi prank show so extreme that it has just been yanked off the air. It has an unbelievably cruel premise: Iraqi celebrities are invited to a charity event, which is then ambushed by actors playing militants. In a recent episode, actor Nessma Tanneb gets blindfolded by terrorists and screams in mortal panic until she passes out.Prank shows exist on a spectrum. There are the “just for laughs” kind that offend nobody, and exist mainly to kill time on planes. On the other is the show I watched on holiday in Malta 15 years ago, which I definitely didn’t imagine, where a succession of terrified people witness a mock drive-by shooting. Continue reading...

Figures show cases of B.1.617.2 on the rise, with scientists worried it may be more transmissible

Their families have been fishing here for decades but despite promises of frictionless trade, the market for their fish is disappearingSteph Noel, who has been fishing the waters off Jersey for almost four decades, could not see the point of chugging out to sea in his 8.5-metre boat, Belle Bird, this weekend.“There’s no value in it for me,” he said. “It’ll cost me in bait and diesel but even if I have a good day there’s no market there for what I bring back.” Continue reading...

Managers turned a blind eye to ‘gross and offensive’ comments, says former undercover police officerA former undercover police officer has told a public inquiry that his colleagues made “gross and offensive” jokes about the women they were deceiving into having sexual relationships.The officer, Graham Coates, said the jokes and banter were said in the presence of managers who knew about the relationships but deliberately turned a blind eye. Continue reading...

Australian tycoon was obsessed with Israel’s elite, once kissing feet of an ex-president, local media reportsJames Packer’s entanglement with Israel’s elite, including a close personal relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu and the now Mossad chief, was considered a “national risk”, according to an Israeli report, quoting testimony from witnesses in Netanyahu’s corruption trial.The Australian casino mogul, 53, developed an obsession with the Jewish state over the past few years, once kissing the feet of the former president Shimon Peres when he came for a dinner, according to “a person who was close” to Peres. He also considering converting to Judaism, Haaretz newspaper reported. Continue reading...

Ieva Cechaviciute tells inquest she was ‘very worried’ about Fishmongers’ Hall killer being released

Move towards greater precaution on Covid vaccines follows figures on rare blood clots and low infection rates

A jury found Hannah Quinn guilty of being an accessory after the fact for helping boyfriend Blake Davis after he killed a violent home invaderA woman who helped her samurai sword-wielding boyfriend after he killed a Sydney home invader has been spared jail time.Hannah Quinn “could never have anticipated at that time within minutes her life would change forever”, justice Natalie Adams said on Friday in the New South Wales supreme court. Continue reading...

Force says it firmly believes man has information related to the death of community support officerKent police have released an image of a man detectives believe could be key

Arrests follow two-year investigation into gang believed to be importing spice from Iran and selling it as prized Spanish varietyPolice and customs officers in Spain have arrested 17 people and seized half a tonne of saffron after breaking up a gang that allegedly imported the spice from Iran, bulked it out and sold it as a much-prized Spanish variety.The arrests came at the end of a two-year investigation that began when officers noticed that companies in and around Ciudad Real, 180km (112 miles) south of Madrid, were importing large quantities of Iranian saffron. Once in Spain, the spice was processed, dyed, packaged and branded as saffron from La Mancha, which has protected designation of origin status. Continue reading...

Manufacture of Captagon is a growth industry so big it is starting to rival GDP of flatlining economyIn the summer of 2015 a businessman in the Syrian province of Latakia was approached by a powerful security chief, seeking a favour. The official wanted the merchant, an importer of medical supplies, to source large amounts of a drug called fenethylline from abroad. The regime, he said, would readily buy the lot.After an internet search, the merchant made a decision. He left his home that same week, first sending his wife and children to exile, then following after, scrounging what he could from his businesses for a new start. “I know what they were asking me to do,” he said from his new home in Paris. “They wanted the main ingredient for Captagon. And that drug is a dirty business.” Continue reading...

European Union’s top court dismisses appeal by Bayer against partial ban on use of substances on certain cropsThe European Union’s top court has upheld the EU’s partial ban on three insecticides linked to harming bees, preventing their use on certain crops.The European court of justice on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Bayer to overturn a lower EU court’s 2018 decision to uphold the ban. Continue reading...

Repatriation flights will resume once the travel ban lifts on 15 May, but the government has not set a deadline for rescuing vulnerable AustraliansMore than 170 unaccompanied children are among the Australians seeking to return from India as it struggles to contain a deadly second wave of Covid-19, officials in Canberra have revealed.With the Senate’s Covid-19 committee turning its attention to the government’s controversial temporary ban on travellers from India, officials reported there were now about 9,500 Australians who wished to return home from the country – including 950 classed as vulnerable. Continue reading...

Exclusive: BBC faces questions as further allegations made about Clarke – and co-star John Barrowman is accused of exposing himselfThe Noel Clarke sexual harassment controversy threatens to embroil the BBC after several sources came forward to allege they were sexually harassed or inappropriately touched by the actor on a flagship show, Doctor Who.Another Doctor Who actor, John Barrowman, has also been accused of repeatedly exposing himself to coworkers on two BBC productions, prompting questions about whether the corporation allowed a lax culture on its sets during the mid-2000s. Continue reading...

Pinpoint the date the story first appeared in the Guardian to be in with a chance of winning prizes including a ticket to a Masterclass of your choiceTo mark the Guardian’s bicentenary, we are running a competition for readers. We have selected six stories that have appeared over the past 200 years. There is a link between them, but just to make it a little spicier we will not be telling you what that link is.Each of these six stories will be published on the Guardian website on successive Fridays, with the next four following on 14, 21 and 28 May, and on 4 June. On 11 June, we will publish the final piece along with the other five, alongside a form for entries. You must guess the date that each of the stories appeared. The first 10 randomly chosen readers who correctly identify the dates (or got closest to them) will receive prizes, including a ticket to a Guardian Masterclass of your choice, a ticket to a Guardian Live event of your choice, and merchandise packs of commemorative gifts to mark the 200th anniversary. All entries will need to be received by 2 July. The results and a list of winners will appear on 16 July. If more than 10 people get all six right, the winning names will be drawn from a hat (possibly metaphorical). Continue reading...

Latest discussions between the west and Tehran could have profound implications for Middle EastHigh-stakes talks to salvage the Iran nuclear deal with potentially profound implications for the Middle East will resume on Friday, in what the French foreign minister has called a “moment of truth” for relations between the west and Tehran.The fourth round of talks have the capacity not just to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation in Iran, but propel Saudi Arabia and Iran towards softening a rivalry that has darkened and destabilised the region’s politics for a decade. Continue reading...

Chris Rea to Len, Stereolab to Finley Quaye – to celebrate a decade of their classic summer album The English Riviera, Metronomy founder Joe Mount shares a sun-soaked playlist

Scott Morrison says India travel ban will not be extended and flags six repatriation flights this month; part of ABC’s Christian Porter defamation defence to be suppressed for now. Follow latest updates

Two boutique workers allege they were slapped and hit on head in row over shopliftingPolice have questioned the wife of Belgium’s ambassador to South Korea over accusations she hit two boutique staff on the head in a row over shoplifting.The ambassador, Peter Lescouhier, previously said he “sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife”, adding that he “wants to apologise on her behalf”. Continue reading...

Painting has been acquired for nation and will be reinstalled at Strawberry Hill House in TwickenhamA monumental portrait of Catherine de’ Medici, one of the most powerful women in 16th-century Europe, will return to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham after it was acquired for the nation in lieu of tax.The picture was originally installed in the gothic revival mansion built by Horace Walpole, who acquired it 247 years ago, and was part of an important collection amassed by the son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister and a pivotal figure in 18th-century society and the arts. Continue reading...

Photographer Leysis Quesada Vera describes life during the pandemic in Havana’s Los Sitios neighbourhood. Her work is supported and produced by the Magnum Foundation, with a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. Magnum Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography. Through grant making and mentorship, Magnum Foundation supports a global network of social justice and human rights-focused photographers and experiments with new models for storytelling

NSW, Victoria and Queensland have also offered to accept additional repatriation flights by the end of May, Scott Morrison saysNew South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are likely to accept additional flights of vulnerable Australians fleeing India, with the states stepping in to assist the federal government which plans three of its own repatriation flights this month.The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced the three extra state flights on Friday after a national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders. He also declared the controversial policy banning Australians stranded in India from returning home would remain in place until 15 May as scheduled. Continue reading...

The Drivers License singer reflects on turning her first big breakup into the year’s biggest hit – and how songwriting saved her from the anxieties of being a Disney star

7 May 1975: All sightings have been in error. One elderly lady was convinced he had joined the Metropolitan Police and was on point duty in WhitehallIt would be unfair on Scotland Yard to say that the police had given up the search for Lord Lucan but it would also be a gross distortion of the facts to pretend that a massive investigation is still being mounted to find him.Related: Who was Lord Lucan? Continue reading...

Investigation underway after what foreign minister describes as ‘cowardly attack’ on Mohamed NasheedMohamed Nasheed, who was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and current parliamentary speaker, was recovering in hospital on Friday after an assassination attempt left him with shrapnel wounds.Nasheed was hurt when a device attached to a motorcycle was detonated as he got into a car on Thursday evening, an official said. “Nasheed escaped an assassination attempt,” a Maldivian government official told Agence France-Presse. “He is injured, but his condition is stable.” Continue reading...

The Morrison government has battled a significant backlash from within its own ranks over the controversial decision to criminalise returning to Australia from Covid-ravaged India. More than 9,000 Australians remained trapped in India by the travel ban. Many travelled before the crisis to visit sick and dying relatives, and say they are angry at their treatment. Here is some of the reaction to that decision in the week after it was announced

The usual mass coalition that mobilises against war is no more. As tensions between Australia and China increase, we must prepare to resistA war with China would be unthinkable – but no one should believe it couldn’t happen.“Many estimate that we have three to five years before conflict begins.” That was the grim message from senator Jim Molan in his recent piece for the Australian. Continue reading...

State-run media in North warn people about a ‘strange object flying in the wind’ as South Korean police raid office of leaflet distributorNorth Korea has warned its citizens against reading propaganda leaflets sent via balloon over the border with the South, saying they could be carrying coronavirus.The state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged people to stay away from the leaflets, according to news agency Yonhap, saying: “Even when we come across a strange object flying in the wind, we must consider them as a possible route of transmission of the malicious virus rather than a natural phenomenon.” It advised people to “think and move” according to Covid-19 guidelines. Continue reading...

Geoff Upson says he has drawn about 100 penises around potholes in a bid to force his local council to fix themA New Zealand man who began drawing very large penises around the potholes in his home city of Auckland in 2018 in the hopes of attracting the attention of his local council has been threatened with police action.In a video, road safety campaigner Geoff Upson made after the most recent addition to his oeuvre, saying: “I’m about sick of calling Auckland transport.” Continue reading...

Embassy officials first visited Robert Pether on day 26 of his detention in Baghdad, his wife saysAn Australian citizen has still not been told what charge he is facing, has only just been seen by Australian officials and is yet to meet his lawyer, despite spending 30 days behind bars in Baghdad.Australian officials visited Robert Pether for the first time on Monday, day 26 of his detention, and are now asking if he can get a meeting with his lawyer. Continue reading...

England’s chief medical officer says outlook remains ‘pretty bleak’ globally but hopes disease will become ‘much milder’ in long term

Other small nations also feel vulnerable to Chinese aggression but it hasn’t stopped them speaking out over the Uyghur genocideAfter the Christchurch terror attacks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern donned a hijab as she comforted the relatives of the 51 Muslims who were killed simply for practising their faith. The image spread across the world and she was lavished with international praise.Yet her apparent turning away from the active erasure of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority population may undo that reputation. On Wednesday, New Zealand’s parliament backed away from calling what is happening in Xinjiang a “genocide,” opting instead for the watered-down language of “human rights breaches”. Continue reading...

When we fail to see those who don’t fit the Aussie stereotype as Australian, it’s all the easier to abandon them when they need help“You don’t look Australian,” someone once said to me in a bar overseas, elaborating when quizzed that the typical Aussie look was of “blond surfers”.I couldn’t fault this man for forming that perception. I haven’t looked Australian my entire life. Because there is a look that is distinctly Australian, one we have long internalised as well as projected to the world. I was taught that in the schoolyard. The “Aussies” were the kids with white skin with easy-to-sound Anglo names that could be transformed into slang like “Jonno”. Continue reading...

Navy rescues man, who was injured in one arm, after coastguard fired on his boat off the coast of Misrata in SicilyItaly’s navy has rescued an Italian fisher who was wounded after the Libyan coastguard reportedly fired on his boat.Salvatore Quinci, mayor of the fishing port of Mazaro del Vallo in south-western Sicily, said members of the coastguard shot at the fisherman’s boat off the coast of Misrata, the Italian news agency Agi reported. Continue reading...

James Gibbons, 34, died soon after he was attacked near his home in Laindon, police sayA 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of James Gibbons, who was stabbed to death in Laindon, Essex.Police said that the 34-year-old father of four died soon after he was attacked in the street where he lived, at about 9.30pm on Sunday. Continue reading...

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France moves to calm diplomatic waters but Brussels says Britain has breached terms of Brexit trade dealThe European Union accused the UK of breaching the terms of the post-Brexit trade deal on Thursday as tensions over fishing rights in the Channel Islands were de-escalated after a dramatic 24 hours, with Royal Navy boats ordered to retreat from Jersey shores.Brussels’ claim that London had flouted the rules came on a day in which 60 vessels blockaded Jersey’s harbour, a French boat rammed a British fishing vessel and Boris Johnson declared his unequivocal support for the Channel island in the battle with its nearest neighbours. Continue reading...

Fall follows peak of 852,000 in January, with some firms repaying sums taken earlier in the pandemicThe number of companies claiming furlough dropped between January and February but more than 840,000 still depend on state support to pay staff.Revised figures published by HM Revenue and Customs showed that nearly 12,000 fewer companies claimed in February under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme than did so in January. Continue reading...

As many as 37 people have died and at least 89 reported missing since protests began on 28 AprilColombia has entered its second week of violent unrest as riot police continued a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests against poverty and inequality exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.Related: ‘No food and no fuel’: Colombia torn by protests and violent crackdown Continue reading...

Up to 19 of its 20 of its water plans may be withdrawn as First Nations’ groups criticise state government for inadequate consultationNew South Wales has been told to revise almost all of its detailed 20 water resource plans (WRP) after they failed to pass muster with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and were criticised for failing to include input from Indigenous groups.The NSW plans are a critical building block in the overall Murray-Darling Basin plan covering many of the important tributaries and 100km of the Darling. They were originally due in February 2019, but were only submitted in June 2020. They set out detailed rules about who has rights to water, the licensing regime, when water can be extracted by agriculture, measures to protect water for the environment and rights to cultural water for indigenous people. Continue reading...

‘Stay put’ advice was relied upon despite fires at other towers requiring evacuations, inquiry toldThe Grenfell Tower landlord did not create escape plans for disabled residents and instead relied on telling people to “stay put” despite recent fires in two of its other towers requiring evacuations, the inquiry into the 2017 disaster has heard.Teresa Brown, the director of housing at the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMP) from 2014 to 2018, was close to tears when she admitted that the landlord had not considered personal evacuation plans to get the most vulnerable people out. Continue reading...

Gunboat diplomacy in a fishing dispute is wrong when we need to work together to tackle a pandemic, writes Rev Kenneth Cross, while John Richards says this is not worth losing a life over and Peter Hepworth blames Brexit for the tensionsAnything that even remotely looks like military involvement in a dispute between the UK and our ally and neighbour France is a matter of grave concern (UK sends navy vessels to Jersey amid post-Brexit fishing row with France, 5 May). It is a sign that relations have been profoundly eroded, and this in turn is a deep failure of diplomacy and mutual understanding. No doubt there are faults on both sides, but we can only deal with our own.There has been peace between our two countries for over 200 years, and the peace was hard-won in Europe when we stood together in the middle of the last century amid the most terrible divisions, lies and terrors. No one is seriously saying that we are at war with France today – although such language as an “act of war” has been foolishly invoked. But that there are British armed boats near Jersey at the moment is still profoundly sad and dangerous. It is an indictment of failed politics. Continue reading...

William Byaruhanga, Uganda’s attorney general, says the country’s justice system is capable and independentAs Uganda is a signatory to the international criminal court, citizens have every right to lodge cases before it (Ugandan president’s son named in ICC complaint over abductions and abuse, 3 May).Yet the ICC is a court of last resort for countries that, whether for capacity or politicisation, cannot be expected to deliver legal redress. This is not needed in Uganda when the justice system is demonstrably capable and independent. In recent months, its beneficiaries include the leader of the opposition, who successfully petitioned the courts to quash an attempt to deregister his political party. Neither is favour shown to governing party politicians who, rightly, have been prosecuted for breaking Covid restrictions during our recent election campaign. Continue reading...

Tannab Raslan show, accused of terrifying guests and making audience relive Isis rule, said it celebrated security forces’ heroismIraq’s media regulator has canceled a TV prank show that lured guests into simulated ambushes by militants, forcing participants and viewers to relive some of the terror and fear that were widespread under the rule of the Islamic State group.The show, Tannab Raslan, was aired as a special during the holy month of Ramadan until Iraq’s Communication and Media Commission this week ordered it off the air amid widespread outrage from viewers. Continue reading...

The 82-year-old US folk singer talks through her teenage years, from mental health struggles to wondrous romance in the Rocky mountainsI’d been playing the piano since I was five, and by the time I was 15 I was memorising Rachmaninov concertos. But Barbara Allen, recorded by Jo Stafford, turned me towards the music that was becoming the rebirth of folk music in the US. I knew Stafford’s voice very well – her My Funny Valentine was one of our favourites. She was such a magnificent singer, and her version of Barbara Allen was just stunning. That and The Gypsy Rover were songs that plunged me into a new life. I often say, though, that I was born knowing the lyrics to Danny Boy because my father sang all kinds of things – I would have heard that in the womb. Continue reading...

Celia Stubbs campaigned for years for truth of Blair Peach’s death – almost certainly at hands of officer in 1979Scotland Yard spied for more than two decades on the partner of an anti-racist protester who police accept was almost certainly killed by one of their officers at a demonstration, a public inquiry has been told.Celia Stubbs campaigned for years to uncover the truth of how her boyfriend, Blair Peach, died at the demonstration in what was one of the most controversial cover-ups in modern policing history. Continue reading...