World news | The Guardian

The prime minister wanted politically friendly GPs and pharmacies in charge so he didn’t have to deal with potentially prickly state premiersIt’s not entirely clear how encouraging words cleared the gritted teeth of the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, this week, but he managed it.The precursor to Hazzard gritting his teeth was Scott Morrison dropping a statement to media outlets on Tuesday night declaring the national cabinet would resume meeting twice a week to deal with the mess of the vaccination rollout. Continue reading...

New measures to enforce stay-at-home order with hospitals ‘bursting at the seams’ but civil liberties campaigners cry foulOntario has announced sweeping new police powers to enforce an extended stay-at-home order, in the latest sign that officials in Canada’s most populous province have lost control of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.With a record number of new cases, there is growing worry among experts that the already-strained healthcare system is being further pushed to the brink. Continue reading...

His retirement means that Cubans will not have a Castro formally guiding their affairs for the first time in over six decades

The pandemic put everyone in limbo. For the first time, many Australians understood what it meant to be stranded, unable to cross borders, separated from loved ones. The federal government said we were ‘all in this together’ – but what about the refugees in Temporary? And what’s ahead for them? Sisonke Msimang interviews Sarah Dale, the director of the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, to find outTemporary is a project from the University of New South Wales Centre for Ideas and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in partnership with Guardian Australia, inspired by the book Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs by Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong. Series artwork by Matt Huynh.You can find additional information, photography and artwork at the Kaldor Centre’s Temporary website. Continue reading...

Māori say European New Zealanders should come ‘from a place of respect’ towards a language their ancestors suppressedRosie Remmerswaal is used to people asking why she decided to learn the Māori language.

Exclusive: Transcripts of conversations between Italian officials and Libyan coastguard contained in leaked fileAt 8.18am on Friday 16 June 2017, the Libyan coastguard Col Massoud Abdalsamad received a long-distance phone call from an Italian coastguard official who told him that 10 migrant dinghies were in distress, many in Libyan territorial waters.“It’s a day off,” Abdalsamad told the official. “Perhaps we can be there tomorrow.” Continue reading...

Sneakers, which are Sotheby’s most expensive shoe listing ever, were designed by West and Nike’s Mark Smith in 2007Kanye West’s Air Yeezy sneakers are being auctioned for $1m, making them Sotheby’s most expensive shoe listing ever. They are expected to break the record set by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s worn by Michael Jordan, which sold for $615,000 last year.Related: Kid Cudi praised for wearing a dress but LGBTQ+ people see a double standard Continue reading...

Polished dark green carriage that he rode in his 90s will be on procession route at Windsor CastleRight into his 90s, the Duke of Edinburgh continued to drive his team of fell ponies around the royal estates from the box seat of a carriage he designed himself.He took up the sport of carriage driving in his 50s when what he called his “dodgy” arthritic wrist forced him to give up polo playing, and continued competing into his 80s. In more recent years he could still be seen driving, reins in hand, just for fun. Continue reading...

One man sentenced to 31 years and two others given 13 years in attack that echoed notorious 2016 Pamplona caseThree members of a gang that raped an 18-year-old woman in an abandoned industrial unit in the Catalan city of Sabadell two years ago have been handed sentences of between 13-and-a-half and 31 years.The attack had become known as the “Sabadell wolf pack case” in a reference to the notorious gang-rape that took place at the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona five years ago, and which caused an outcry across Spain and spurred calls for an overhaul of the country’s sexual offences legislation. Continue reading...

In 2000, the actor Helen McCrory, who has died aged 52, wrote for the Guardian about her role in Anna Karenina and modern life as a womanHow should a woman live her life? Survive to the age of 70, fearfully, being as everyone else instructs her to be? Or play the heroine, passionately, in the knowledge that trying and failing need not equal defeat?This is the timeless conundrum Tolstoy’s vivid heroine, Anna Karenina, took on, long before it became fashionable to discuss the conflict of desire and expectation in women’s lives. She was an original of her era, but what are the resonances of Anna’s story for the modern woman? Continue reading...

Actor was also known for her roles in the films The Queen and The Special Relationship

Analysis: Tycoon and pro-democracy activist’s 14-month jail sentence is only the start of his problems

Investigators have released floor plans and photos of expanded residence they say is Putin’s favourite

Seven staff at Muckamore Abbey psychiatric hospital will be charged with alleged ill-treatment and wilful neglectAuthorities in Northern Ireland are to prosecute seven people over the alleged abuse of patients at a psychiatric hospital. It is understood they are staff members of the psychiatric intensive care unit at Muckamore Abbey hospital, a facility outside Belfast in County Antrim.The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said on Friday the seven people will be charged with offences including alleged ill-treatment and wilful neglect of patients contrary to the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. Continue reading...

NSW woman, 48, died this week after receiving vaccine on 8 April, federal health authorities sayAustralia’s drugs regulator has determined the death of a 48-year-old diabetic woman who developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was likely to be linked to the jab.Following a meeting of Australia’s Vaccine Safety Investigation Group on Friday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said experts had concluded the case of the New South Wales woman, who died this week, “was consistent with causal association to immunisation”. Continue reading...

Media mogul Jimmy Lai and veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan each sentenced to 12 months over protestsA court in Hong Kong has handed down a mixture of prison and suspended sentences to 10 of the territory’s most prominent pro-democracy figures, including reformers, politicians and a media mogul, some veterans of the transition from British rule in the 1990s.The prison sentences for organising or participating in an unauthorised assembly – traditionally a low-level offence attracting fines – are a highly symbolic blow to the pro-democracy movement, which has been targeted by authorities bent on removing all opposition to Beijing. Continue reading...

Forty-nine people died when train hit a railway maintenance vehicle that slid down an embankmentProsecutors in Taiwan have charged a truck driver with negligent homicide over his role in the island’s worst rail disaster in decades, which left 49 dead and more than 200 injured.The crash on 2 April was caused by a railway maintenance truck that slid down an embankment moments before a packed train came down the line in the eastern coastal city of Hualien. Continue reading...

Brexit minister David Frost says momentum has been established in efforts to ease tensionsTalks between the EU and UK to ease tensions in Northern Ireland have been described as “productive” and “constructive” with momentum now established to achieve a solution to the crisis, the Brexit minister, David Frost, has said.But the EU used the first face-to-face meeting since lockdown between Lord Frost and the European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, to warn that the outcome needed to be jointly agreed. Continue reading...

Highly transmissible variant and behavioural factors blamed as intensive care units fill with younger patients

New York bankruptcy court rules in favour of payout to 277 people who travelled to Bahamas for notorious ‘luxury’ eventA group of 277 attendees at the notorious Fyre festival are to receive settlement payouts of $7,220 (£5,240) each after the conclusion of a lawsuit against the organisers.The 2017 event drew global attention after the supposedly luxury music experience, promoted by supermodels and set to feature artists such as Major Lazer and Migos, turned out to resemble a disaster relief camp with windswept tents and decidedly non-gourmet food. Attendees had spent between $1,000 and $12,000 on tickets to the festival, which was cancelled on its opening day. Continue reading...

Those with no sick pay and fewer rights, such as many care workers and delivery drivers, at higher risk

General Angus Campbell says future of China and Taiwan must be resolved peacefullyThe outbreak of a war over Taiwan would be “disastrous” for the region, the chief of the Australian defence force has warned, as he indicated Australia would keep pushing for peaceful dialogue.General Angus Campbell urged countries to “all work to avoid” conflict over the future of Taiwan, speaking just weeks after an American diplomat revealed the US and Australia were planning how to respond to military scenarios in the region. Continue reading...

The country’s prosecutors had to previously prove that sex was non-consensual for a rape convictionThe French parliament has adopted legislation that characterises sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape and punishable by up to 20 years in jail, bringing its penal code closer in line with many other western nations.While the age of consent was previously 15, prosecutors in France used to be required to prove sex was non-consensual to obtain a rape conviction. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Parliamentary committee chaired by Liberal MP Lucy Wicks and with a majority of Coalition members urges more fundingScott Morrison has again been urged by members of his own government to give a budget boost to the auditor general, despite the prime minister brushing off a similar request last year.The joint committee of public accounts and audit, which is chaired by the Liberal MP Lucy Wicks and has a majority of Coalition members, has called for funding to reach a target of 48 performance audits a year and an extra $6-7m to test government entities’ claims about their achievements. Continue reading...

Public accounts committee points to ‘unusual’ meeting where special advisers were ‘running the shop’Fresh questions over checks and balances in government have been raised after political special advisers (spads) were accused of “running the shop” in a meeting with civil servants about handing out emergency pandemic cash to charities.MPs raised concerns about the process run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to decide how much money from a £750m pot should be given to other departments to then allocate to voluntary and community organisations last April. Continue reading...

Unseasonal frost is ‘agricultural disaster of 21st century’ as ice after warm weather decimates grape harvestsAt least a third of French wine production worth almost €2bn (£1.7bn) in sales will be lost this year after rare freezing temperatures devastated many vines and fruit crops across France, raising concerns over the climate crisis.“This is probably the greatest agricultural catastrophe of the beginning of the 21st century,” the French agriculture minister, Julien Denormandie, said this week as the government declared an “agricultural disaster” and began preparing emergency financial measures. Continue reading...

As Covid deaths reach 100,000 mark, French president says pandemic has shown people’s ‘capacity to unite’

Black hoodie from streetwear label Overpriced is part of growing NFT one-of-a-kind asset trend

Head of Robert Koch Institute says he supports plan for night-time curfew as some ICUs reach capacity

101 Doll Squadron dance group say they feel ‘threatened’ after footage they say was shot from a ‘creepy’ angle at HMAS Supply launchThe twerking dancing troupe who performed at the launch of the Australian navy’s newest ship have condemned the ABC claiming that the broadcaster’s video coverage of their performance contributed to the group feeling “threatened” and “exploited’ in the wake of intense media interest surrounding their performance.101 Doll Squadron released a statement saying they felt “unsafe” and personally attacked, blaming what they say was the ABC’s “deceptive editing” of a news clip, which appeared to show dignitaries present during their performance. Continue reading...

Taiwan eases restrictions on travellers after bookings fall into single digits and flight is cancelled

Three days after La Soufrière volcano began to erupt on St Vincent, the eastern Caribbean island remains under a shower of ash and subject to water restrictions as authorities grow concerned for the safety of those who did not evacuate. Continue reading...

Daren Buckley told armed police ‘somebody’s got to help’ people injured in Manchester Arena terror attackA man has described attempting to give first aid to victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack but was told to leave by armed police, the independent public inquiry into the attack has heard.Daren Buckley was leaving the Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017 with his son when the suicide bomb exploded, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds. Continue reading...

Linda Burney says federal leadership is needed to tackle root causes of crime and recidivismLabor says it will allocate more than $90m over four years for justice reforms to reduce the incarceration of Aboriginal people and the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody, if it wins government.On the 30th anniversary of the final report of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, Labor’s Indigenous affairs spokesperson, Linda Burney, said federal leadership on justice reinvestment is needed to tackle the root causes of crime and recidivism. Continue reading...

Exclusive: special rapporteur Tom Andrews says crimes against humanity are happening ‘before our very eyes’ and calls for urgent action against military juntaA top United Nations expert is in direct talks with the Australian government about how to expand sanctions against Myanmar’s military regime, and warned that crimes against humanity are being “committed before our very eyes”.Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told Guardian Australia the government should target the commander-in-chief, whom he described as “the gang leader” responsible for mass atrocities, and should link additional sanctions with those imposed by other countries. Continue reading...

Analysis: Ukraine’s military is in better shape than at outbreak of war in 2014, but still no match for Russia’s larger forceRussia’s unexplained buildup along Ukraine’s border set alarm bells ringing in the west last month as military analysts noted unusual flourishes – such as new field hospitals, long-distance shipments of armour and artillery and last-minute railcar bookings – that did not feel like a normal exercise.Whether it is merely an attention-grabbing feint or a prelude to an escalation will depend on the Kremlin’s will. But through the buildup, Russia has already signalled that if a larger war does take place, it is prepared to deliver a hammer blow to its neighbour. Continue reading...

Labour claims ‘sleaze is now at heart of this Tory government’ and says current inquiry is ‘inadequate, and deliberately so’Tory MPs have voted en masse to block a broader inquiry into the Greensill scandal as Labour claimed there was now evidence of sleaze at the heart of government.The opposition day motion in the Commons, which would have created a cross-party committee of MPs to look into Greensill and wider issues of lobbying, was defeated by 357 votes to 262, after the government opposed the plan. Continue reading...

The late Duke of Edinburgh passionately supported invention and engineering, writes Roland HillYour obituary, editorial and other pages devoted to the Duke of Edinburgh (9 April) omitted his passionate support of design, invention and engineering.From working as a young engineer in London in the 1960s and seeing the Prince Philip designer’s prize (1959-2011) displayed at the Design Council’s showroom on Haymarket, to his impassioned BBC Radio 4 Today programme statement in 2016 that “everything that wasn’t invented by God is invented by an engineer”, I have seen him consistently champion these crucial parts of our economy. Indeed, he has been followed by other members of the royal family, which I can say, as a beneficiary of a BBC Tomorrow’s World Prince of Wales award for innovation in 1990, greatly helps international licensing of our inventions. Continue reading...

After 20 years of liberty, female education is once again threatened by hardline IslamistsOutside a college from which their mothers were banned, the women waited for friends finishing exams they fear will be some of the last they can take. “The Americans are leaving,” said Basireh Heydari, a Herat University student. “We have terrible days ahead with the Taliban. I’m worried they won’t let me leave the house, let alone what I’m doing now.”The Biden administration’s decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by 11 September will bring an end to the US’s longest war. With Nato allies such as Germany already announcing on Wednesday that they will follow Washington’s lead and exit the country, Afghans fear an intensification of fighting between the national government and the Taliban, who were ousted by the US-led intervention two decades ago. Continue reading...

Three European countries say there is no ‘credible civilian need’ for enriching uranium to 60%France, Germany and the UK have warned that Iran took a dangerous step towards the production of a nuclear weapon by enriching uranium to levels for which there is no “credible civilian need”.Tehran, which claims its nuclear ambitions are limited to creating energy, announced this week it was boosting its levels of uranium enrichment to 60%, just short of weapons-grade purity. The 2015 nuclear deal only allows enrichment to a purity level of 3.67%. Continue reading...

Holdings of more than 40,000 hectares in London, Scotland and Newmarket make Dubai ruler one of UK’s biggest landowners

Labor senator says she received Border Force permission for the Christmas Island meeting at 4.50pm but defence minister ‘cancelled the trip’ at 5.12pmKristina Keneally has accused Peter Dutton of cancelling her trip to Christmas Island where she was to visit a Tamil family from Biloela who have been detained in the detention centre since August 2019.The Labor senator said she had been granted permission by the Australian Border Force at 4.50pm to visit the detention centre next week and she tweeted she was looking forward to meeting Priya, Nades and their children. Continue reading...

White House chief medical adviser says significant resources needed to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible

Grenfell United, representing bereaved families, welcomes move by Baillie Gifford and other asset managersInvestors have sold shares worth hundreds of millions of pounds in Kingspan, which supplied part of the combustible cladding system on Grenfell Tower, after growing pressure from bereaved families for firms involved in the 2017 disaster to start facing consequences.Baillie Gifford, until recently one of Kingspan’s largest shareholders, has sold an estimated £200m worth of stock in the Irish firm in a series of trades executed in February and March, according to records analysed by the Guardian. Four other asset managers have also reported selling holdings in recent months and others have placed investments under review. They include specialist ethical funds originally attracted to Kingspan because its insulation products reduce carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Critical UN report says the legislation is ‘deeply wrong’, subjugates women and shifts the burden of guilt on to the victim

PM stops short of apologising to former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate for speech in parliament; former South Australia Labor MP charged with blackmailing state opposition leader. Follow updates live

Despite feelgood golf and swimming stories the local opinion on the Covid-delayed Games is that they should not happenWhen Hideki Matsuyama sank the putt that won the Masters on Sunday, he not only made history by becoming the first Japanese man to win a major golf title – he gave the organisers of the Tokyo Olympics rare cause for celebration.Days earlier his compatriot Rikako Ikee secured a place at the rescheduled 2020 Games in the 100m butterfly less than eight months after she had recovered from leukaemia. Continue reading...

Industry worried about timing of framework, which would expand 180-day cap on short-term empty property rentals into regionsThe New South Wales government’s decision to delay the implementation of new rules governing Airbnb-style letting has been welcomed by accommodation-sharing platforms.The new rules – which include the expansion into regional areas of the 180-day cap on using empty properties for short-term rentals – were due to come into effect on 30 July, but the start date has been pushed back by three months to 1 November. Continue reading...

Country’s first president joins mass rally disputing government’s assertion that Armindo Borges died from coronavirusThe former prime minister of Timor-Leste Xanana Gusmão has been filmed slapping family members of a man who died in the capital, Dili, in what the government said was the country’s second Covid-related death.Gusmão – the young country’s first president and a national hero – disputes the government’s assertion that Armindo Borges, who died aged 47 on Sunday night, died from Covid-19, with Gusmão claiming he died from a stroke. Borges’s body has been kept in the Covid isolation room at the Vera Cruz health centre. Continue reading...