Schools and nurseries can reopen but hospitality in city centre to remain closed

Leonid Slutsky hits back at hacking and meddling claims in familiar strategy of denialRussia has denied accusations that its hackers sought to meddle in the 2019 UK election and steal data from labs and research centres seeking a coronavirus vaccine, once again blaming anti-Russia sentiment in the west.“The British administration is making the same anti-Russian mistake again and thus not only further undermining bilateral relations with Moscow but also its own authority,” Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said on Thursday evening. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary accuses Russia of seeking to interfere in last year’s general election by amplifying an illegally acquired NHS dossier that was seized upon by Labour during the campaign. Raab also confirms reports that Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, describing it as ‘completely unacceptable’.

Study findings suggest more needs to be done to protect rainforest in pending trade agreementsLarge quantities of the soy and beef imported to Europe from Brazil have been “contaminated” by deforestation, research shows.The findings suggest much more needs to be done to protect Brazilian land as pending trade agreements are likely to increase sales to European consumers. Continue reading...

Dominic Raab says Russia amplified an illicitly acquired NHS dossier on social mediaRussian actors “sought to interfere” in last winter’s general election by amplifying an illicitly acquired NHS dossier that was seized upon by Labour during the campaign, the foreign secretary has said.Dominic Raab’s statement is the first time ministers have admitted that the Kremlin has tried to distort the workings of British democracy – a practice the foreign secretary said was “completely unacceptable”. Continue reading...

Once bustling financial district in east London is much emptier, but workers are starting to come backThe businesses that ordinarily pack thousands of workers into the gleaming towers of London’s Canary Wharf have paid little heed to the government’s recent calls to get staff back to the office.On an overcast weekday, the few people walking along the streets of the financial district in the east of the capital were casually dressed for shopping rather than a day at a desk in the headquarters of a bank or a law firm. Continue reading...

PM proposes £1.4bn in handouts to all Israelis as country braces for possible new lockdown measuresBenjamin Netanyahu has been accused of attempting to deflect public anger around his handling of the pandemic by proposing cash handouts to all Israelis, as the country looked poised to impose fresh lockdown measures.Following a second, more aggressive, surge in coronavirus infections, the cabinet met on Thursday evening to consider whether to implement new measures. Proposals included weekend lockdowns as well as shutting all kindergartens and gyms throughout the week, according to local media reports. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pablo Iglesias calls alleged targeting of independence movement figures unacceptableThe Spanish deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, has become the most senior political figure to call for a parliamentary investigation into the use of spyware to target prominent members of the Catalan independence movement, saying such practices are “unacceptable in a democracy”.A joint investigation this week by the Guardian and El País has revealed that Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, and former regional foreign minister Ernest Maragall are among at least four pro-independence activists who have been targeted using Israeli spyware that its makers said is sold only to governments. Continue reading...

Ex-partners Ryder and Vanessa Paradis say allegations against actor are ‘impossible to believe’Two of Johnny Depp’s former partners, Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis, have said he was never abusive or violent towards them and that allegations he is a “wife-beater” were “impossible to believe”.The two women had been due to give evidence at the high court in London on Thursday via remote video links from the US. Continue reading...

Through months of illness, I held his sturdy, consistent and loving hands, knowing he would muster the strength until he truly could no longer

Care homes and members of public told to immediately stop using kits produced by firm

Wesley Ira Purkey spoke out against capital punishment before receiving lethal injection in IndianaThe United States on Thursday carried out its second federal execution this week, killing by lethal injection a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed.Wesley Purkey was put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Continue reading...

Trust urges public to ‘come out and support us’ after £1m hit from lockdown closureDuring lockdown the only visitors to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s great iron ocean liner SS Great Britain have been a skeleton crew retained to make sure the venerable vessel stays rust-free, and Izzy the dockyard cat.From this weekend the first members of the public will be welcomed back to the ship in time to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of its return to its home port of Bristol after an extraordinary rescue mission. Continue reading...

Twenty-year-old has won right to return to UK from Syria to challenge citizenship decisionThe case of Shamima Begum, the now 20-year-old woman who fled to Syria to join Islamic State as a child, has sparked fierce debate over how the UK should deal with “foreign fighters”.Opponents of her return say she is a threat to the country’s security and must live with the consequences of her actions, while critics of her exile say greater human rights principles are at play, and the UK must not shirk its responsibility to administer justice for any alleged crimes she may have committed. Continue reading...

Family of Cédric Chouviat, who died of asphyxiation, say manslaughter charge is too lenientThree French police officers have been charged with manslaughter over the death of a delivery man who was pinned to the ground and put in a chokehold during an arrest in January.Cédric Chouviat, 42, died in hospital two days after a heated exchange with the officers. He was held down while still wearing his scooter helmet for about 20 seconds, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Continue reading...

Inquiry says possible collision averted in Irish Sea in 2018 after ferry altered course

São Paulo is transformed into a spooky fairytale landscape in this elegant, unsettling tale of a pregnant woman and her prospective employeeThere’s an enjoyably inscrutable performance at the heart of this Brazilian fairytale for grownups. Clara (Isabél Zuaa), an unsmiling mystery women, arrives at the luxurious São Paulo apartment of pregnant Ana (Marjorie Estiano), to be interviewed for the position of nanny. But is that really the role on offer? And is Clara an entirely honest applicant?The first third of this two-hour-plus film keeps us wondering. It’s clear that something is off between the women, but impossible to determine where the balance of power lies. Is this a Rosemary’s Baby-style horror about satanic foetus worship? A Parasite-like study of the subversive intimacy between domestic servant and employer? Or some unholy combination of the two? Then, with all the sprightly mischief of one of Ana’s country-music workout videos, the plot dances off again, in an entirely different direction. Continue reading...

The newspaper Bild has long poured vitriol on the country’s left-wingers and ‘do gooders’. But now it has a new target: the chancellor. By Thomas Meaney‘It would be ideal if you could hit a deer,” Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Europe’s largest tabloid, Bild Zeitung, told his chauffeur. “Guardian readers could do with a bit more colour.” We had reached escape velocity out of ice-encrusted Düsseldorf. The Mercedes S-Class locked into place like a bobsled on the Autobahn. I sat shotgun with Reichelt’s assortment of sports gear, a hockey stick between my legs. “We are lucky in our driver today,” Reichelt said, deadpan. “Last time we hit a wild boar and the boar and the car went flying.”I was travelling with Reichelt on one of his publicity tours across Germany. For the past two years, he has made an appointment once a month to commune with groups of Bild’s 1.3 million readers. “You have to feel their emotions,” he told me from the backseat. “You have to listen to their hearts.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Doctors and nurses say the number of healthcare workers in isolation may limit capacity to deal with surge in infections

Two others being treated with antibiotics after death of 15-year-old, health ministry saysA 15-year-old boy has died of bubonic plague in western Mongolia after eating an infected marmot, the country’s health ministry has said.Two other teenagers who also ate the marmot were being treated with antibiotics, said a ministry spokesperson, Narangerel Dorj. Continue reading...

PM says city should be in frame if Commons or Lords have to move during restoration workBoris Johnson has confirmed that Downing Street is thinking of setting up a “government hub” in York, telling officials drawing up restoration plans for the Palace of Westminster that they should consider the city if the Commons or Lords have to be moved.Restoration of the parliamentary estate, which is crumbling in many places and viewed as a significant fire risk, could cost an estimated £6bn, and the plans are still being debated. Continue reading...

Julian Lewis kicked out of parliamentary party after beating Boris Johnson’s pickBoris Johnson was humiliated tonight after Chris Grayling, his pick to lead parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee, was unexpectedly rejected in an ambush by MPs.The former cabinet minister was defeated by fellow Conservative Julian Lewis – prompting an embarrassed Downing Street to kick the victor, who was accused of duplicitous behaviour, out of the parliamentary party. Continue reading...

Exclusive: party prompts anger from Corbyn allies as it attempts to draw line under allegations

Priti Patel says she is looking at giving people aged 18-23 a new right to come to BritainThe UK home secretary, Priti Patel, has said she is looking at giving young Hongkongers a new right to come to the UK.Britain has made an offer of citizenship to 2.9 million people in Hong Kong eligible for a British national overseas (BNO) passport, but this excludes anyone born after 1997. Continue reading...

Incident at port of Bushehr latest in series of fires and blasts that could be part of sabotage campaignAt least seven vessels have caught fire in a southern Iranian shipyard, in the latest in a series of explosions and fires that analysts speculate could be part of a state-sponsored sabotage campaign targeting the country’s industrial, nuclear and military sites.No casualties were reported at the port of Bushehr, the city that hosts Iran’s only nuclear power plant, but images distributed by state media showed plumes of thick smoke billowing into the air and several fire trucks at the site. Continue reading...

No 10 spokesman unable to provide evidence to back Boris Johnson claim that UK system ‘as good or better than anywhere in world’

Exclusive: Artist Marc Quinn leads secret mission to install resin-and-steel figure of Jen Reid at site of toppled Bristol slave trader

Muralists are covering the Afghan capital’s blast walls with agitprop imagery and calling out corruptionFrom the killing of George Floyd in the US and the drowning of Afghan refugees in Iran, to the signing of the US-Taliban agreement towards peace and brutal murder of a Japanese aid worker, a group of Afghan artists have taken paintbrushes to adorn Kabul’s grey blast walls with vivid imagery.The barriers have been transformed into politically inspired murals, which the artists hope will create “visual dialogue” and raise awareness of corruption and injustices. Continue reading...

The model posted a picture of her father’s passport only for it to be removed. Sometimes asserting your humanity as a Palestinian is portrayed as an act of aggression

PM says country only needs to look at Australia to see how coronavirus can re-emerge

Lancashire council recommends masks in all public spaces and places new limits on household visits

Israel could be deterred from acting, 11 politicians say in joint letter to EU foreign policy chiefForeign ministers from 11 European countries have demanded the EU quickly provide them with a list of possible actions to stop Israel annexing large parts of the occupied West Bank.In a letter addressed to the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and seen by the Guardian, the top politicians asked for the potential “legal consequences” of annexation for Israel and its effect on the country’s agreements with the EU. Continue reading...

Perhaps ironically, the Covid-19 health crisis has improved, if only temporarily, women’s access to medical abortionsIt has been 24 years since the federal government chose the partial privatisation of Telstra over the rights of Australian women to safely terminate a pregnancy with abortion drugs. In 1996, anti-abortion independent Brian Harradine, who held the balance of power in the Senate, agreed to support John Howard’s one-third float of the telecommunications company if the government amended legislation to give the health minister veto to prohibit the import, manufacture or use of abortion drug RU486 (mifepristone).A perpetual dearth of political leadership in the subsequent quarter century has meant the drugs remain inaccessible, unaffordable and at times unsafe for many women in Australia outside of a certain income or major city. Continue reading...

Locked out of federal assistance, many are subsisting on one meal a day as charities are overwhelmed by demand

French president says he wants ‘recovery that is industrial, ecological, local, cultural and educational’

Horse Island, a 157-acre retreat in Roaringwater Bay, is part of a bucolic Atlantic regionIt is a bold example of online shopping during lockdown: buy a private island off the coast of Ireland for €5.5m (£4.9m) without setting foot on it.The wealthy, unnamed European who made such a purchase relied on video to view Horse Island, a 157-acre retreat in Roaringwater Bay, part of a bucolic Atlantic region in west Cork. Continue reading...

Lawyers for family of Dawn Sturgess say inquest into her death should examine role of Russian stateRussian agents may have deliberately left a bottle of the nerve agent novichok in Salisbury after the attempted assassination of the former spy Sergei Skripal as part of a campaign to undermine security in the UK, the high court has been told.Lawyers for the family of Dawn Sturgess, the mother-of-three who died of novichok poisoning four months after the attack on Skripal, claim the actions of the agents on the ground and those who masterminded the plot from Moscow could have led to many hundreds of deaths. Continue reading...

Coronavirus-inspired stencils on tube train feature rats with surgical face masks and hand sanitiser

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud accused of torture and extrajudicial punishmentsThe trial of a former Islamic militant who allegedly forced hundreds of women into sexual slavery has opened at the international criminal court, where he has been accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and in a first, persecution on the grounds of gender.Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 42, was transferred to the court’s custody more than two years ago from Mali, where he had been held by local authorities for more than a year. Continue reading...

Lawyers for Dawn Sturgess’ family say inquest should examine who ordered novichok attackThe role played by senior Russian officials in the Salisbury nerve agent attack should be investigated during an inquest into a woman who died in the poisonings, the high court has been told.Lawyers for Dawn Sturgess’s family are arguing that public concern over the poisonings is so profound that her inquest should be widened to examine who ordered the attack and the network that backed the two agents accused of actually carrying it out. Continue reading...

Industry worries people who are desperate for cash due to the Covid-19 crisis are draining their retirement savingsSuper funds received more than 340,000 applications in three days from people who wanted to make a second withdrawal from their superannuation accounts under rules allowing early access to retirement savings due to the coronavirus crisis.The double drawdowns have increased concerns that people who are desperate for cash due to the recession provoked by Covid-19 lockdowns are draining their entire retirement savings. Continue reading...

After a four-year legal battle by the historian Jenny Hocking, the National Archives of Australia releases letters. Follow updates

Ruling may persuade shipping companies that scrapping vessels in the dangerous, unregulated yards of south Asia is a false economyA widow whose husband fell eight storeys to his death while breaking up a supertanker in Bangladesh can pursue a negligence claim against Maran (UK), a British company involved in the ship’s sale, according to a high court ruling.The judge in London ruled shipping firm Maran (UK) Ltd arguably had a duty of care towards Mohammed Kalil Mollah, 32, who died working on the Ekta, a 300,000-tonne vessel, that was being scrapped at a yard in Chittagong, now Chattogram, Bangladesh. The Guardian wrote about Mollah’s death earlier this year. Continue reading...

City’s leader announces investigation into vote that has been seen as an act of opposition to new security lawsChina has declared primaries held by Hong Kong’s pro-democratic parties on the weekend “illegal” and the city’s leader has announced an investigation, saying that the candidates’ intention to vote against government legislation could break national security laws.The primary polls, while not a formal part of Hong Kong’s election process, drew an estimated 600,000 people out to vote for democracy candidates ahead of the legislative council elections scheduled for September. Continue reading...

Potentially harmful military-grade weapons such as flashbangs are being utilized with accelerating regularity at US protestsIn Silver Spring, Maryland, fireworks can still be heard months after they first began and well past the Fourth of July holiday. “When it comes to the theory of cops being involved, I wouldn’t put it past them,” says Ira, who participates in protests and activism there. Ira, who prefers to use only a first name because of fear of police reprisal, is referring to a theory that became especially popular on Twitter which posited police were supplying or abetting the recent onslaught of fireworks in major cities in an effort to exhaust and agitate protesters during the peak of the response to George Floyd’s murder.Related: 'It's not about bad apples': how US police reforms have failed to stop brutality and violence Continue reading...

Nestlé’s sleek, chic capsule system changed the way we drink coffee. But in an age when everyone’s a coffee snob and waste is wickedness, can it survive? By Ed CummingIn 1975, a young engineer named Eric Favre took a trip to Rome that would change the history of coffee. Favre had recently started working at Nestlé’s headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, and one of his first projects was to develop a machine that would combine the convenience of domestic coffee with the quality of an Italian espresso bar, where customers paid more for a product made by an expert using large, expensive equipment.Successful products can look inevitable in hindsight, but the gap in the market wasn’t obvious. At the time, two kinds of coffee were drunk at home. There was roast and ground, which was tasty but laborious, whether prepared in a cafetière, stove-top or filter machine. Or there was soluble instant coffee, which was quick and easy but had an unsubtle flavour. To be tempting at a higher price, Favre’s new machine had to offer high-quality coffee with the speed and ease of instant. Continue reading...

MPs say government should pay millions to cover cost of trading with Great Britain