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EMA says four serious cases reported, one fatal, and also expands inquiry into AstraZeneca vaccine

Nikolai Glushkov was strangled by assailant who then wrapped dog lead around his neck, inquest toldThe prominent Kremlin critic Nikolai Glushkov was strangled at his home in south-west London by an unknown assailant who wrapped a dog lead around his neck in a crude attempt to “simulate” the appearance of suicide, an inquest heard.Glushkov’s body was discovered on 12 March 2018 at his suburban home in New Malden. His daughter Natalia Glushkova told the hearing that she and Glushkov’s partner, Denis Trushin, had called round that evening after growing concerned. Continue reading...

Europe could have fully vaccinated 70% of adults before UK reaches its target, says head of EU taskforce

Bill would give national government power to impose restrictions in states with high infection rates

Paris has repeatedly dismissed UN report into attack that killed 19 wedding guests as not credible

Seismologists have warned La Soufrière could erupt in a matter of hours or days and the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent has declared a red alert and issued an evacuation order.

Promise to repatriate Benin bronzes comes as momentum grows at other institutions on returning worksThe Church of England has been urged to open up its books on the full range of world artefacts in its possession after promising this week to repatriate two Benin bronzes.The move came amid a gathering sense of momentum around the issue of the disputed bronzes – most of which were looted by British forces in 1897. Continue reading...

Iranian deputy foreign minister says all Trump-imposed sanctions must be lifted to revive dealTalks on the terms for the US and Iran to come back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal are to resume next week after making sufficient progress since Tuesday’s breakthrough agreement on a roadmap for both sides.The US has not been in direct talks with the Iranian delegation in Vienna this week but is relaying messages mainly to European members of the body that oversees the deal. Continue reading...

Men deny reports that government ministers attended events, which allegedly broke Covid rulesFrench police have interviewed the organisers of exclusive clandestine dinners that allegedly broke Covid rules as Emmanuel Macron warned ministers their behaviour must be “exemplary”.Detectives also searched the homes of the chef who created special menus costing up to €490 (£424) a head and the owner of the restaurant venue in one of Paris’s chic districts. Continue reading...

UN spokesperson says UAE has not responded to its request for ‘proof of life’ in relation to missing princess

Magic mushrooms and gigs in toilets – the creation of a new album for the raucous band is far from ordinary, as a new film shows“I’ve never been so fucking cold,” says Lias Saoudi, singer of the riotous scuzz rock outfit Fat White Family. “I thought we were going to die.” Saoudi is recalling an evening when he and his band took psilocybin mushrooms, hit Hastings beach at 1am, stripped to their underpants and soaked up the white glow of the frosty night’s winter moon. The result is Moonbathing in February, a film made with director Niall Trask that is part performance, part fly-on-the-wall document of recording the band’s new album, the follow-up to 2019’s lauded Serfs Up.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...

From his first years in Corfu to the duties and pleasures of royal life, we take a look at the life of the Duke of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace has announced the death of the Queen’s husband of 73 years

The singer’s fight against domestic violence and homophobia and her body-positive posts on Instagram have led to a torrent of abuse – some from very powerful people

Action on the climate crisis must come with a social contract to protect the poor and vulnerable

A national day of action will be held on Saturday, with protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Alice Springs and Lismore – and in Perth on 15 April

Police use water cannon as trouble flares for another night in the Springfield Road area of Belfast. Police describes the violence as the worst in Belfast for years. US President Joe Biden joins the UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin in a call for calm

We’d like to hear from people aged 16 to 25 from across Europe, including the UK, about the impact of Covid on their lives and futures, for a new Guardian cross-European project on Gen ZWe’d like to understand more about the impact of the pandemic on young people in Europe aged 16 to 25.The Guardian, along with other members of the Europa media group which includes leading newspapers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, is conducting a cross-European project to find out how the pandemic has reshaped the hopes, fears, dreams and expectations of the continent’s young people. Continue reading...

Thandiwe Newton’s much-lauded decision has inspired others and drawn attention to the power of names

Two who led Xinjiang education department get suspended penalty for publishing school textbooksA Chinese court has issued a suspended death sentence to the former directors of the Xinjiang education department for charges including writing and publishing school textbooks it said were designed to “split the country”.Sattar Sawut and his deputy, Shirzat Bawudun, were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, while five other Uyghur men, including editors, were given lengthy jail terms, according to state media. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn locked out of London embassy by pro-junta diplomatsBritain has given temporary shelter to Myanmar’s former ambassador to London after he was locked out of his embassy when he declared loyalty to the democratically elected government overthrown by a military junta in February.Kyaw Zwar Minn had said the embassy had been seized by the military attache earlier this week and he had been locked out of the building. He spent Wednesday night in his car outside the embassy. His exact future legal status in the UK will depend on his plans, and the future of the struggle to restore democracy in Myanmar. Continue reading...

Gangs of youths gathered near the scene of Wednesday night’s violence and hurled stones and fireworks at policePolice in Northern Ireland have used water cannon and dogs to contain fresh rioting in Belfast.Armoured Land Rovers and officers with helmets and shields were deployed on Thursday night after crowds clashed at the Lanark Way interface that separates the nationalist Springfield Road from the loyalist Shankill Road. Continue reading...

PM rejects criticism the government has not done enough to secure alternative supplies as officials advise people under 50 avoid the AstraZeneca jab

Rioters have been blasted with water cannon by police on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as unrest continued into a seventh day.Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday nightAfter calls for calm this week, there was a heavy security presence, with water cannon and riot officers at the scene as police charged the youths with dogs

Rich profits from the prized nut have failed to benefit those finding them. Now cooperatives hope to shake up the systemOn a steamy March morning, Edivan Kaxarari walks with a few other villagers in single file down a trail in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil’s Rondônia state, near the border with Bolivia.His sister-in-law Cleiciana carries her 11-month-old son in one arm and a rifle in the other, and his brother Edson clears the path ahead with a machete. It is hunting season for the seeds of the Amazonian Brazil nut tree. Continue reading...

Scientists have been warning the government for months of the need to develop a domestic mRNA capability

Doctors say their phones have been ‘running hot’ and some states bar anyone under 50 getting the AstraZeneca jab

Joe Dante’s sly and smart breakout, about a reporter uncovering a colony of werewolves, was a fun ride that had space for satire“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked …”So begins Allen Ginsberg’s radical poem Howl, which upon close study has absolutely nothing to do with werewolves. And yet it appears on a reporter’s desk in Joe Dante’s horror classic The Howling, one among many blink-or-you’ll-miss it visual jokes that Dante tucks into the movie, like a small-town sheriff scarfing down a can of Wolf-brand chili or an old Little Boy Blue cartoon featuring the Big Bad Wolf that’s airing on TV. His best films are loaded with such peripheral delights, which have the feel of inside jokes, but mostly point to the movie-crazy spirit of a Dante production. The more movies you’ve seen, the more you tend to love Joe Dante. Continue reading...

Ismail Ahmed, a refugee turned multimillionaire, says his country has had to battle ‘negative PR’Aid agencies are hindering development and undermining efforts to attract investment in Somaliland, according to a former World Bank and UN official turned entrepreneur.Ismail Ahmed, founder of the money-transfer company WorldRemit, claims Somaliland, his birthplace, has had to battle “negative PR” from aid agencies exaggerating their role to protect their interests. Somaliland declared itself a sovereign state independent of Somalia in 1991, but it is not recognised internationally. Continue reading...

Leader uses the term ‘arduous march’ in party speech, a term used to refer to devastating 1990s famine in which hundreds of thousands diedNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for another “arduous march” against severe economic difficulties, appearing to compare the situation to a 1990s famine during which hundreds of thousands of people died.Kim had previously said his country faces the “worst-ever” situation due to factors including the coronavirus pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters, but this is the first time he has publicly drawn a parallel with the deadly famine. Continue reading...

Cross-party group urge PM to give greater priority to potential harm posed by post-viral condition

Psychiatrists warn of overrun NHS after record number of children and adults sought help amid pandemic

From cowboys to ‘van-dwellers’, itinerant Americans are often portrayed as heroic lone wolves. Chloé Zhao’s film shows that the truth is more complicated and less glamorousIt has been a wild ride for Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s roving portrait of the US’s rootless modern migrants. Shot for $5m and largely featuring amateur actors, it is the little movie that could: this year’s rags-to-riches story, beloved by the critics and odds-setters alike. The road has been cleared, the gold rush is on, but the Hollywood happy ending feels at odds with the film. As Nomadland steers its westerly course – from the Baftas in London to the Oscars in Los Angeles – it is living a dream that it knows is a lie.Condé Nast Traveler called it “a love letter to America’s wide open spaces”, which is true up to a point, but this ignores the pathos, poverty and desperation at its core. Adapted from Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction bestseller, the film bounces Frances McDormand’s hard-bitten loner through a modern American badland in which the saloon and the sheriff’s office have been replaced by the RV park and the Amazon warehouse. I would file the film as an anti-western, a wholesale repudiation of manifest destiny, the pursuit of happiness, all the Hollywood snake oil we have long been fed. “Yeah, OK,” Bruder says. “But it’s more complicated than that.” Frustratingly, I think she may be right. Continue reading...

GPs say clinics inundated with calls from confused patients after advice AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided by people under 50Doctors’ clinics are being inundated with calls from confused patients after Thursday’s vaccine announcement, and at least one has warned his clinic is considering withdrawing from the rollout due to delivery failures, “farcical” bureaucracy and a government funding model he says is inadequate.Guardian Australia spoke with four GP clinics on Friday morning to gauge reactions to the federal government’s new advice that the AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided for people under 50, where possible. Continue reading...

Community leader says: ‘We don’t feel like a part of the “team of 5 million” when Indians are singled out like this’

Service from Birmingham to Majorca took off with less thrust because pilot thought it was 1,200kg lighterA software mistake caused a Tui flight to take off heavier than expected as female passengers using the title “Miss” were classified as children, an investigation has found.The departure from Birmingham airport to Majorca with 187 passengers on board was described as a “serious incident” by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Continue reading...

Study finds sheep have higher heart rates when shepherded by traditional meansHerding sheep using dogs, motorbikes or even people is not as ovine-friendly as a drone, new research shows.A new Australian study found farmers who use drones to herd their flock have less stressed sheep and that methods of shepherding have a direct impact on animal welfare. Continue reading...

Traffic light system rating countries, watch list and new quarantine rules raise hopes of international travel from 17 May

Diplomatic spat erupts as Mario Draghi accuses Turkish president of humiliating European commision presidentA diplomatic spat has erupted between Turkey and Italy, after prime minister Mario Draghi accused president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of humiliating European commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and described him as a “dictator”.Von der Leyen – the commission’s first female president – was left without a chair during a meeting on Tuesday with Erdoğan and the European council president Charles Michel met Erdoğan. The commission chief was clearly taken aback when the two men sat on the only two chairs prepared, relegating her to an adjacent sofa. Continue reading...

Police have arrested the reigning “Mrs World” on charges of assault over an on-stage fracas in which she pulled the crown off the head of the new “Mrs Sri Lanka”.Caroline Jurie yanked the crown off Pushpika de Silva minutes after she was declared “Mrs Sri Lanka 2020” during a gala in Colombo on April 4. Jurie declared that Pushpika de Silva was ineligible as the winner because she was divorced, and forcibly removed her crown. De Silva needed hospital treatment after the incident, seen by stunned spectators in a packed venue as well as a live social media audience.To qualify for the title, contestants must be married. De Silva is estranged from her husband, but they are still legally married. The local franchise holder for the pageant, Chandimal Jayasinghe, said they were “deeply disturbed and sincerely regret” the behaviour of Jurie and the told the media the crown would be returned to De Silva

The drop in Covid cases and ongoing vaccine programme means the government can ease restrictions

Friday: New research shows at least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police custody or prison since 1991. Plus: ‘Mrs World’ on-stage fracasAustralia’s vaccine rollout has suffered a major setback, more concerns about Liberal MP Andrew Laming’s behaviour, and the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody continues to be a “national shame”. This is Imogen Dewey with the morning’s major news stories on Friday 9 April.At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since the royal commission handed down its final report in 1991, new research has revealed. To mark the 30th anniversary, Guardian Australia has updated “Deaths inside” which tracks every known Indigenous death in custody from 2008. At least five of those deaths happened since the beginning of March this year. Linda Burney, a Wiradjuri woman and Labor’s spokesperson for Indigenous Australians, is calling for the federal government to fund a real-time reporting system and an independent audit of the commission’s recommendations. “This just can’t continue,” she said. Continue reading...

With the release of the third update of the Deaths Inside database, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lorena Allam and Mike Ticher about what needs to change so we are not having the same conversation in 30 years’ time Continue reading...

Former ‘Mrs Sri Lanka’ Caroline Jurie yanked crown off her successor, Pushpika de Silva, in on-stage fracasPolice have arrested the reigning “Mrs World” on charges of assault over an on-stage fracas in which she pulled the crown off the head of the new “Mrs Sri Lanka”.Caroline Jurie yanked the crown off Pushpika de Silva minutes after she was declared “Mrs Sri Lanka 2020” in a Sunday gala at Colombo’s Nelum Pokuna theatre. Continue reading...

EU citizens’ rights campaigner and BBC journalist has bid turned down over insufficient proofA campaigner for EU citizens’ rights in the UK has said she is in a state of shock after the Home Office rejected her application for settled status despite her having lived in the the country for more than half her life.Dahaba Ali, 27, moved to the UK at the age of 10. She was born in the Netherlands where her mother was granted refugee status after fleeing the conflict in Somalia. Continue reading...

Joe Biden joins Boris Johnson and Irish prime minister in a call for calm after worst violence in Belfast in yearsThe White House has expressed concern over a week of riots in Northern Ireland, with Joe Biden joining Boris Johnson and the Irish prime minister in calling for calm after what police described as the worst violence in Belfast for years.It came as police used water cannon against nationalist youths in west Belfast, as unrest stirred again on the streets on Thursday evening. Continue reading...

MP used official letterhead to ask for early access to data, but education department and teachers’ union told schools they did not have to complyAndrew Laming wrote to schools in his electorate using his Liberal MP letterhead to request early Naplan data for private research for his doctoral thesis, prompting a complaint from the teachers’ union.The Queensland Teachers Union advised schools they were under “no obligation” to provide the test data, labelling the request “inappropriate”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nursing union says despite multiple requests for details and meetings ‘we haven’t got any information back’