Government criticised over bill that will in effect withdraw country from key international convention

Sputnik V order that led to PM’s resignation cannot be used owing to incomplete or inaccurate informationA 200,000-dose order of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine that triggered a political crisis in Slovakia should not be administered yet because of incomplete or inaccurate information from the manufacturer, the national medicines agency has said.The Dennik N news site quoted the agency as saying it could not properly assess the shots, which it said were different from the vaccine whose favourable peer-reviewed late-stage trial results were published in The Lancet medical journal in February. Continue reading...

Awkward moment as EC chief consigned to sofa at meeting where women’s rights was on agendaUrsula von der Leyen, the European commission’s first female president, was “surprised” after being left without a chair during a meeting of the EU’s two presidents and Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and has demanded such a snub is never repeated.The German head of the commission was left visibly irritated at the start of the talks in Ankara with her two male counterparts, Erdoğan and Charles Michel, the former Belgian prime minister who is president of the European council. Continue reading...

Andy Marsh, chief constable of Avon and Somerset police, will not seek to renew contract in JulyThe head of a police force that has faced criticism of its handling of Black Lives Matter and “kill the bill” protests is stepping down.Andy Marsh, the chief constable of Avon and Somerset police, said he would not seek to extend his contract when it expires at the beginning of July. Continue reading...

Lee Cheuk-yan says he and fellow accused Jimmy Lai and Yeung Sum did nothing wrongA prominent Hong Kong activist, Lee Cheuk-yan has declared “history will absolve” those on trial, after he pleaded guilty with the media mogul Jimmy Lai to taking part in an unauthorised assembly.The two were facing charges alongside former Democratic party chairman Yeung Sum over a pro-democracy protest on 31 August 2019, which was not authorised by police. Continue reading...

Five people thought they were taking MDMA but instead swallowed lethal combination of synthetic hallucinogenic and stimulantA Victorian coroner investigating the deaths of five young men who consumed a potent psychoactive substance has called on the state government to introduce illicit drug testing and a warning program.The coroner, Paresa Spanos, said on Wednesday the men – aged between 17 and 32 – died in a six-month period starting in mid-2016. Continue reading...

The minister, who has already extracted an apology from Greens senator Larissa Waters, is taking a more aggressive stance over online postsThe defence minister, Peter Dutton, has begun issuing defamation threats to social media users for claiming he is a “rape apologist”.Dutton has decided to take a more aggressive stance against false and defamatory statements posted about him online, and has already extracted an apology from the Greens senator Larissa Waters. Continue reading...

The Oscar-nominated film-maker behind I Am Not Your Negro returns with Exterminate All the Brutes, a dense new HBO docuseries about a horrifying historyTruly, what else was there left to say about race in America after the words of James Baldwin? This is what Raoul Peck found himself contemplating after the success of his 2016 documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won an Emmy, a Bafta and a César award. He was confounded and disappointed to realize that some audiences, particularly in Europe, weren’t fully comprehending the work of what he calls “one of the best, if not the best analyst of what racism is”, believing it to be primarily an American concern.Related: 'We're all part of the story': behind Will Smith's 14th amendment docuseries Continue reading...

Advocates call for for self-testing as another path to regular screening for the HPV virus that causes nearly all cervical cancerWomen’s health advocates in New Zealand are calling for the government to improve the country’s cervical cancer screening programme following minister Kiritapu Allan’s shock diagnosis.Allan, the 37-year-old minister for conservation and civil defence, shared that she had stage-three cancer in a Facebook post on Tuesday, in which she wrote that she had felt uncomfortable about the invasive screening test. Continue reading...

Train hit vehicle at more than 120km/h, about a minute after the truck rolled onto the tracks, crash experts sayThe runaway truck that caused Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in decades slid onto the train tracks just over a minute before an express train came through at more than 120km/h, investigators have said, as newly released footage revealed the drivers’ attempts to brake.At least 50 people were killed and around 200 injured on Friday last week when the eight-car train hit a construction vehicle that had rolled down an embankment, derailing the carriages as they entered a stretch of tunnel just outside the east coast city of Hualien. Continue reading...

Covid failings, crackdown on protest, police discrimination and resumed arms trade with Saudi Arabia all listed in annual reportAmnesty International has published a stark rebuke of the UK government’s stance on human rights, saying that it is “speeding towards the cliff edge” in its policies on housing and immigration, and criticising its seeming determination to end the legal right for the public to challenge government decisions in court.In its annual report on human rights around the world, Amnesty International says the UK’s increasingly hostile attitude towards upholding and preserving human rights legislation raises “serious concerns”. Continue reading...

Besieged MP to be investigated by Australian Electoral Commission for potential breaches of electoral laws over dozens of pages set up under the guise of community and news groups

Lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto despite criticism that the measure would harm an already vulnerable communityArkansas has become the first state to ban gender-affirming treatments and surgery for transgender youth, after lawmakers overrode the governor’s objections to enact the ban on Tuesday.The state’s governor, Asa Hutchinson, had vetoed the bill on Monday following pleas from pediatricians, social workers and the parents of trans youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. The ban was opposed by several medical and child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. Continue reading...

Wednesday: The European Union denies Morrison government claims Covid vaccine doses have been blocked from being shipped to Australia. Plus: Kiwi creatives share their local travel tipsGood morning. What has happened to 3.1m AstraZeneca vaccine doses that were meant to be administered to Australians by now? That’s one of several big unanswered questions about Australia’s slower-than-expected vaccine rollout. It seems not much has changed after the banking royal commission, according to employees. And if the New Zealand Covid bubble news was music to your ears, don’t miss our yarn on Kiwis’ top tips for your trip.The European Union says it hasn’t blocked further shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia, contradicting Scott Morrison’s claim that international supply issues are chiefly to blame for missing rollout targets. Overnight an EU spokesperson said the only export request rejected out of nearly 500 received has so far been a shipment of 250,000 doses to Australia in March. The federal government is under fire for the slow pace of the rollout and a lack of transparency about how many doses have been manufactured locally and administered. Crucial data is missing on the government’s vaccine program, including local manufacturing volumes, available doses and herd immunity targets. Now disability services are taking Covid vaccinations “into their own hands”, approaching GPs directly to secure supplies for vulnerable residents, rather than waiting for deliveries to arrive at their facilities. The National Disability Services chief executive, David Moody, said the slow rollout meant they were unable to get the vaccines where their clients lived. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison blames international supply issues for missing vaccine rollout targets

With a date for the opening of the Australian-New Zealand travel bubble finally set, we can help you plan your trip

Matthew Downs alleged to have used gratuitous force against 17-year-old inside custody suiteA police inspector who used unnecessary force against a teenage detainee and mocked him for crying in custody has admitted gross misconduct.Matthew Downs, an inspector with West Midlands police, also turned a cell light off when the 17-year-old detainee said he was scared of the dark, a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday heard. Continue reading...

Despite scientific advice to continue getting the jab, answers about fatal blood clots are urgently needed

President calls for his country to be put on pathway to membership of western military allianceUkraine’s president has called on Nato and key member states to hasten his country’s membership of the western military alliance in response to a growing buildup of Russian forces on his country’s borders.Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Tuesday, and urged for Ukraine to be put on a pathway to future membership to halt the long-running conflict in the eastern Donbas region. Continue reading...

Exam once again draws attention to province’s notoriously difficult language requirements to gain permanent residencyLanguage exams have long struck fear in unprepared students as they nervously stumble over verb conjugation and struggle to get their tenses right.Yohan Flaman, a long-haul truck driver from Limoges, France, however, was confident that proficiency in his native tongue would be enough to satisfy officials in the Canadian province of Quebec. Continue reading...

Analysis: it is incredibly challenging to scrutinise the system because data on movement is so opaque

Influx of applications could triple waiting time as proposed end of travel ban draws near, says Home Office

Exclusive: vulnerable residents forced to visit GPs as vaccine deliveries in top-priority phase run behind scheduleFailures with the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout are forcing residential disability care providers to circumvent the system and approach general practitioners directly to secure supplies for vulnerable residents, rather than waiting for deliveries to arrive at their facilities.Disability care residents and their support workers were included in the highest priority stage for the commonwealth’s vaccine rollout, phase 1a, and were to be serviced by in-reach teams who would visit disability accomodation to administer the vaccine. Continue reading...

Body found in Epping Forest pond matches description of missing Oxford Brookes student, police tell motherThe mother of the missing student Richard Okorogheye has spoken of her devastation after being told by police that a body found in Epping Forest matched her son’s description.Okorogheye, 19, has not been seen since leaving the home he shared with his mother, Evidence Joel, in Ladbroke Grove, west London, on the evening of 22 March. Continue reading...

João Vale de Almeida said the protocol is ‘the solution for the problems created by Brexit’Political leaders who want the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland dumped have failed to come up with any better ideas, the EU ambassador to the UK has said, as police confirmed 41 officers were injured during violence on the streets over the weekend.João Vale de Almeida called on unionist leaders to focus on making the protocol work rather than fighting against it, pledging the EU’s commitment to flexibility on its implementation if the British government demonstrated good faith. Continue reading...

Ownership of the Ogopogo legend has renewed discussions over the appropriation of traditions and the challenges Indigenous nations face to reclaim their culturePeople living on the shores of Okanagan Lake have long said that dark, curling waves signal the presence of Ogopogo, a monstrous serpent lurking beneath the surface.A handful claim to have seen the long green body and horse-like head of Canada’s own Loch Ness monster. They tell stories of a creature that once nearly killed a settler when it dragged his horse into the depths. And every few years, new video footage renews excitement that Ogopogo has been found. Continue reading...

The British Palestinian is up for an Oscar with her debut, filmed at a notorious Israeli flashpoint called Checkpoint 300. The London-based director talks about her shocking visits to the Middle EastFarah Nabulsi was at home in west London when she found outher film The Present had been nominated for the Oscar for best live action short. She’d persuaded her teenage sons to stay home and watch the announcement. When she heard her name, she jumped up on the table. Her eldest looked at her as if she’d gone mad. He’d got it into his head that this was the actual ceremony and she had lost. “He was like, ‘Why are you so happy? They didn’t pick you.’ He killed the moment.”The film is Nabulsi’s directing debut, a powerful 20-minute piece of humanist cinema about a Palestinian man, Yusef (Saleh Bakri), who wants to surprise his wife with a fridge as an anniversary gift. He takes the couple’s young daughter, Yasmine (Mariam Kanj), shopping. But their big day out is ruined by two encounters with Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. Yasmine is a witness to her dad’s humiliation – she tugs on his sleeve, reminding him to bite his tongue, to swallow the soldiers’ insults. It is a study of injustice that – like the best shorts – doesn’t try to cram too much in. Continue reading...

Exclusive: equality campaigners say review downplays discrimination faced by minority communitiesBoris Johnson has been urged to repudiate and withdraw last week’s much maligned race disparity report, which provoked a huge backlash from critics who accused it of downplaying racism in the UK.An open letter, whose signatories include the race equality thinktank Runnymede Trust, civil rights campaign group Liberty, African diaspora social enterprise Ubele Initiative and Black Lives Matter UK, says the report “whitewashes” daily challenges faced by minority communities and that its claims have prompted “public incredulity and national indignation”. Continue reading...

Mexico currently has the highest Covid death rate in the world and its hospitals are at breaking point, writes Prof Charles Posner. It is time for the UK government to add it to the travel red listAs someone who worked in and with the Mexican government for many years, I wish to congratulate you for your timely article highlighting the fact that Mexico is being devastated by the Covid pandemic (A Mexican tragedy: country’s crippling Covid crisis comes into sharp focus, 3 April).The death rate is now the highest in the world. The rollout of the vaccination programme, with its reliance on the Sputnik vaccine, has been chaotic. Hospitals have reached breaking point. The mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, and other entities cannot rely on the federal government led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to allow her and colleagues to institute a coherent and sustainable policy. Continue reading...

Models, influencers and Kardashians are embracing the consciously ill-fitting way to make your swimsuit last longer. Hopefully the look won’t catch on

Heart of Invictus will follow athletes who will compete in games for injured veterans in The Hague in 2022Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have announced the first show of their multimillion dollar deal with Netflix – a documentary covering the behind-the-scenes story of the Invictus Games.Heart of Invictus will follow the journeys of individuals who are competing at the Prince Harry-backed sporting event for injured former members of armed forces. Harry will appear on camera and be credited as an executive producer on the series, which will cover the run-up to the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague. Continue reading...

Young, which releases music by the xx, FKA twigs and more, acknowledges ‘hurt and confusion’ caused by previous nameThe record label Young Turks, home to the xx, FKA twigs, Sampha and more, has changed its name to Young to avoid connotations with genocide.The Young Turks were a diverse group of intellectuals and revolutionaries who formed amid tensions in the Ottoman empire in the early 20th century. They helped usher in the 1908 revolution that deposed ruler Sultan Abdulhamid II and brought democracy. Continue reading...

Search continues for Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring and Two Laughing Boys, stolen last year

First autobiography from Foo Fighters and Nirvana musician will chart ‘all the experiences I’ve had in my life – incredible, difficult, funny and emotional’Dave Grohl has announced the publication of his first memoir, entitled The Storyteller.The Foo Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer wrote the book during the pandemic when his band were unable to tour, and after he began posting short stories from his career on Instagram. “I soon found that the reward I felt every time I posted a story was the same as the feeling I get when playing a song to an audience, so I kept on writing,” he says. “The response from readers was as soul-filling as any applause in an arena. So, I took stock of all the experiences I’ve had in my life – incredible, difficult, funny and emotional – and decided it was time to finally put them into words.” Continue reading...

If re-elected, Sadiq Khan wants to set up a commission to look at decriminalising the drug

Blizzard and high wind warnings in place for parts of Scotland amid unseasonably cold weatherAny hedgehogs, dormice or badgers thinking of emerging from hibernation probably took one look at the thermometer on Tuesday morning and snuggled right back into their beds.Shiveringly cold temperatures, as low as -4.2C, put the “brrr” into spring overnight, with parts of the country blanketed by up to 11cm (4.3in) of snow. Continue reading...

President says, however, that there is little chance of him achieving a majority coalitionIsrael’s president has nominated Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a government after the latest inconclusive election, but voiced doubt that any lawmaker could forge a parliamentary majority.The 23 March election, Israel’s fourth in under two years, did not produce a clear path for any candidate to form a coalition capable of commanding a majority in the 120-member parliament, prolonging an unprecedented phase of political gridlock. Continue reading...

European drug regulator is to update its recommendation on the shot having previously said it was safe

Communities call for protection after string of killings linked to rush for land to grow coca, under cover of the pandemic“We’re looking for you, dead or alive,” is one of the daily threats that Herlín Odicio receives on his mobile phone.The leader of the indigenous Cacataibo people in Peru’s central Amazon has been forced into hiding for standing up to drug traffickers trying to steal his land. “We’ve reported coca plantations on our land so many times and nothing has been done,” Odicio said. Continue reading...

Aishwarya Aswath died at Perth Children’s hospital after waiting in emergency department which was ‘down a few doctors’An investigation will examine whether staff shortages contributed to the death of a young girl forced to wait for care at a Perth hospital’s emergency department on the weekend.Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died at Perth Children’s hospital on Saturday after spending two hours waiting for treatment in the emergency department. She had been rushed to hospital with a fever. Continue reading...

Ritter, who also appeared in films including Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, died at home alongside his wife and two sons

Owners say taking four-legged friends to work helps tackle loneliness and livens up Zoom calls

Copying the approach of Baudelaire’s quizzical stroller can help us escape lockdown – even if he needs a little updatingCharles Baudelaire, whose 200th birthday on 9 April will be celebrated with stamp issues, new editions of his poetry and virtual events, is arguably more famous for his concept of the flâneur – an aimless stroller or ambler – than for his writing. That’s partly because reading his volumes Les Fleurs du Mal or Le Spleen de Paris requires a degree of application, but also because the idea of an individual moving through the city streets and finding aesthetic pleasure in the teeming crowds, appeals to us and continues to chime. At least, it did until spring 2020, when the crowds were told to stay at home. Continue reading...

The mock classical actor created by Nigel Planer and Christopher Douglas scaled the heights at the RSC and the ‘Nash’. Now, he’s ready for a comebackIf you’ve ever marvelled at an actor “truthpumping”, “perf-quaking” or spraying their “actoplasm” across the front row then you’ll be familiar with the wisdom (and luvvie lexicography) of Nicholas Craig. The spoof thespian and self-styled sage of the stage, created by Nigel Planer and Christopher Douglas, shared his hard-won lessons on performing at theatrical bastions such as the RSC and “the Nash” in the memoir I, An Actor.Published in 1988, the book came complete with glossary (eg Berk off: “to go to Los Angeles”) and photographs of Planer, as Craig, brooding in rehearsals, brandishing weaponry amid billowing smoke as Coriolanus and clad in scuba gear for an underwater avantgarde production of The Winslow Boy. Hailed as “the Spinal Tap of actor biographies”, it spawned a series of TV and stage outings for Planer and was reprinted in 2016 with a foreword by Steve Coogan, thanking Craig for a one-to-one acting masterclass delivered atop Helvellyn. Continue reading...

A career woman is haunted by a teenager she could have saved from death in this masterful political thriller from ArgentinaGuilt and the return of the repressed are behind this elegant, disquieting and impressively acted political ghost story from Argentinian film-maker Francisco Márquez. Cecilia (Elisa Carricajo) is a sociology professor and single mother of a little boy, Juan (Ciro Coien Pardo); she is very successful, though on edge about her recent application for an academic promotion. Cecilia gets on well with her maid Nebe (Mecha Martinez) but is made very uncomfortable when Nebe brings round her teenage son Kevin (Eliot Otazo). Kevin seems dour, unsmiling, perhaps with learning difficulties.In the middle of a stormy night, Cecilia is awoken by a terrifying banging at the door, preceded by an eerie dreamlike voice murmuring “Cecilia” in her ear. Peering through the shutters, she can see it is Kevin and is too scared to open up. The next morning, she sees on the news that Kevin’s body has been found in the river, with protesters alleging he was chased down and killed by the police – one of the state’s “common crimes” directed at the poor. Cecilia can’t bring herself to confess to Nebe that she could have helped her son, or tell any of her colleagues. And so she begins to crack under the terrible strain of maintaining this secret along with the day-to-day tasks of her sophisticated and successful intellectual life, believing Kevin has come back to haunt her. Continue reading...

Information clampdown to keep investigation into king’s half-brother ‘secret’, says prosecutor generalThe prosecutor general in Jordan’s capital Amman has banned the publication of any information about an alleged plot said to involve the king’s half-brother, Prince Hamzah, state television said.“In order to keep the security services’ investigation into Prince Hamzah and the others secret, [it is decided] to ban the publication of anything related to this inquiry at this stage,” the prosecutor Hassan al-Abdallat said. Continue reading...

Directors’ bonuses scrapped as chief risk officer and investment bank chief exitCredit Suisse has cancelled the bonuses of its directors, slashed its dividend and announced the departure of two senior executives as the bank revealed £3.4bn in losses from the collapse of the Archegos investment fund.The Swiss bank is reeling from heavy exposure to Archegos and the business bank Greensill, which suffered successive but unrelated financial blow-ups. Continue reading...

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced details of a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia, meaning Australians will be able to travel to New Zealand without needing to quarantine. Though most Australian states have allowed quarantine-free visits from New Zealanders for months, New Zealand has continued with enforced isolation for arrivals from its neighbour, citing concern about small Covid-19 outbreaks. The move to allow cross-border travel is one of the first such agreements since the pandemic prompted countries to block foreign arrivals to stop the virus spreading

Celebrities targeted over support for anti-coup protestersWanted lists featuring the names and photographs of dozens of prominent figures, from actors to musicians, have been published in Myanmar’s military-controlled media, as the junta escalates its threats against anyone voicing support for anti-coup protesters.The military has killed 570 people, including at least 43 children, and detained 2,728 since it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government and seized power on 1 February. A domestic advocacy group that tracks detentions has been unable to confirm the whereabouts of the vast majority of people taken by the military. Continue reading...

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern warns that further Covid-19 outbreaks could mean border closures return