Six-month placements aim to help those hardest hit by the Covid-19 lockdown

Wednesday: Expert alarmed by photos showing what’s happening inside Melbourne towers. Plus, the plan to create the first universally recognised list of species on EarthGood morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 8 July. Continue reading...

Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced live on television he has tested positive for coronavirus. ‘It came back positive,’ a mask-wearing Bolsonaro told a handpicked group of reporters on Tuesday lunchtime outside his official residence Continue reading...

David Frost and Michel Barnier will dine on halibut at Downing Street private dinner

Hisham al-Hashimi backed action to tackle Iraqi’s powerful militias, despite knowing risksAs Hisham al-Hashimi pulled up outside his Baghdad home on Monday night, a gunman strode purposefully towards the Iraqi official’s white four-wheel drive, drew a pistol and fired four shots through the driver’s window.Each jolting flash was captured by security footage from a camera on al-Hashimi’s roof. So was the hitman’s escape on the back of a nearby motorbike, and the helpless vigil of his four young children as their father’s body was dragged on to the driveway. Continue reading...

Charity boss says blaming care sector for repeated government mistakes is unacceptable

Appeal begun after quashed misconduct proceedings in case of Met marksman who shot dead civilian in 2015A police watchdog has begun an appeal after failing to bring misconduct proceedings against a specialist firearms officer who shot and killed a man while trying to foil an attempt to snatch two prisoners from a prison van.Two judges who oversaw a high-court hearing in London last year quashed a move by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to bring misconduct proceedings against the Met police officer who shot dead Jermaine Baker, 28, near Wood Green crown court, London, in December 2015. Baker had been in a group waiting for an inmate to arrive in the security van from Wormwood Scrubs prison. Continue reading...

Epidemiologist Siegal Sadetzki says government has ‘lost its bearings’ on tackling pandemic

During the annual Yadnya Kasada festival, the Tenggerese people climb Mount Bromo, an active volcano, and seek the blessing of the gods by presenting offerings of rice, fruit, livestock and other items. Inside the crater villagers use nets to try to catch the offerings Continue reading...

Figure revealed by home secretary highlights concerns about slowness of compensation schemeAt least five people have died before receiving the Windrush compensation they had applied for, the government has revealed, reigniting concern about the slowness of the scheme.No details were revealed about who these individuals were, but the figures appear to come in addition to a number of people interviewed by the Guardian, who died before they were even able to file a compensation claim. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Darrell and Darren Roberts face deportation to countries they have never visitedTwins who were born in London and have never left the UK face deportation to different countries in the Caribbean where they have no close relatives, their families have told the Guardian.Darrell Roberts, 24, has been issued with a deportation notice informing him that the Home Office plans to send him to the Dominican Republic following a prison sentence, even though he has no connection with the country. He believes officials named it in error; his father was born on Dominica, another Caribbean island. Continue reading...

Police raids offer chilling insight into increasingly violent criminal underworldDutch police have arrested six men after discovering sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed “torture chamber” complete with a dentist’s chair, tools including pliers and scalpels and handcuffs, a high-ranking officer announced.Authorities said police conducted the raid before the converted containers could be used and alerted potential victims, who went into hiding. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says Moscow will respond to Britain’s human rights move

Consulum’s Ryan Coetzee worked for Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats up to 2015 electionHong Kong has turned to the former director of strategy of the UK remain campaign in the Brexit referendum to revive its reputation, amid further scrutiny of the role played by London-based political operatives that advise overseas governments.The Hong Kong government awarded a £5m public relations contract to the Mayfair-headquartered Consulum as part of its “Relaunch Hong Kong” campaign, shortly before Beijing introduced a new security law designed to crush pro-democracy protests in the territory. Continue reading...

Official review finds airstrikes on civilians were ‘isolated incidents’

Former journalist Ivan Safronov could face up to 20 years in prison in treason caseRussian security services have opened a treason case against a former journalist who recently began working as an adviser to the head of the country’s space agency.Ivan Safronov was arrested on Tuesday morning by agents from the FSB, the successor agency of the KGB. He could face up to 20 years in prison. Continue reading...

Woman alleges former Tory MP sexually assaulted her at his family home in 2007

Network says it mistakenly eliminated Donald Trump from photo with Maxwell and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000Fox News has apologised for cropping Donald Trump out of a picture of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.Related: 'Where are you Roger Ailes?' Trump appears to ask dead Fox News chairman for help Continue reading...

The former Lyon midfielder on racism, his country’s unravelling under Jair Bolsonaro and how Brazilians are taught to think only about moneyLike so many other footballers and former professionals, Juninho Pernambucano could easily stay silent and not discuss the more important issues in life. But that, according to the former Lyon player and Brazil international, would be a betrayal of his principles.We have been talking for 30 minutes when he breaks down in tears for the first time during an interview that lasts for two and a half hours. The situation in his native Brazil is out of control, the president Jair Bolsonaro having failed miserably to tackle coronavirus. This week the country went past 65,000 deaths and had almost 50,000 new cases in a day. The total number of cases has gone past 1.6 million. It is the second worst-hit country in the world. Continue reading...

Goal to eradicate poverty by 2030 ‘completely off track’, says outgoing special rapporteur, with Covid-19 likely to impoverish millions more

Premier Daniel Andrews reimposes stage three restrictions across metropolitan Melbourne to last for six weeks

Eric Joyce ordered to sign sex offenders’ register after making indecent image of childThe former Labour MP Eric Joyce is facing a prison sentence and has been ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register after he admitted to making an indecent image of a child.The 59-year-old, who was MP for Falkirk in Scotland between 2000 and 2012, pleaded guilty at Ipswich crown court to the offence, which took place between 7 August 2013 and 6 November 2018. Continue reading...

After an Instagram interview provoked criticism of the actor’s attitude towards the transgender community, Berry has given up the partHalle Berry has dropped out of playing a trans character after online disquiet following an interview in which she discussed the role.Berry posted a note on social media saying: “Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I’d like to apologize for those remarks. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.” Continue reading...

Gloomy forecast comes 10 days before EU leaders meet to discuss €750bn recovery planEurope is facing a deep recession in 2020, while the UK economy is forecast to shrink by almost 10% this year, the European commission has said.Brussels is forecasting an 8.3% drop in GDP for the 27 economies of the European Union in 2020 followed by a 5.8% rebound in 2021. The eurozone is forecast to contract by 8.7% this year, with 6.1% growth in 2021. Both are worse declines and weaker rebounds than the historic downturn the commission had forecast in May. Continue reading...

Decades after the 1994 genocide, the countries have contested the wording of a UN resolution to remember its victimsAs the bodies piled up in the streets of Rwanda 26 years ago, no amount of spin could disguise the crime. There were no sealed camps; the massacres were in broad daylight. Yet in the UN security council the UK and US governments avoided the question of mass killing and saw only a civil war.This bolstered arguments that nothing – they thought – could be done. It was scandalous, the Czech Republic’s ambassador Karel Kovanda told them, not to recognise that a genocide reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust was under way. Kovanda remembers a friendly arm taking him aside as UK diplomats told him such inflammatory language outside the council would be “unhelpful”. Continue reading...

Critics say Andrés Manuel López Obrador risks humiliation when he meets his US counterpart to toast new free-trade dealHe presents himself as Mexico’s low-budget president: a cost-cutting commander-in-chief who has taken the presidential jet out of service and drives a seven-year-old saloon car.But when Andrés Manuel López Obrador sets off – economy class – to Washington on Tuesday to meet Donald Trump many believe he will be making a high-stakes gamble, more characteristic of his casino-building host than Mexico’s famously austere leader. Continue reading...

Officers able to conduct raids without warrants and secretly monitor suspects

PM claimed there had been ‘loads’ of consultations over department which faces a £2bn cut this yearBoris Johnson has been accused of misleading parliament over who was consulted before the merger of the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Sarah Champion, chair of the international development committee (IDC), said despite the prime minister’s assurances that there had been “massive consultation” ahead of the announcement last month, evidence suggested there had not been. Continue reading...

Media reports say rightwing populist is showing symptoms of disease

Other routes to and from Melbourne also face cuts, while international arrivals at Sydney airport to be capped

Updated advice comes after Beijing accused Australia of waging ‘espionage offensive’Australia has updated its travel advice for China to warn that authorities have detained foreigners on alleged national security grounds and that Australians may be at risk of arbitrary detention.Amid increasing tensions in the relationship between the two countries, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs revised the travel advice on Tuesday to include the phrase: “Authorities have detained foreigners because they’re ‘endangering national security’. Australians may also be at risk of arbitrary detention.” Continue reading...

Transit authority to rename slavery-linked Mohrenstrasse after an antisemitic Russian composerAuthorities in Berlin are discovering how hard it can be to close one problematic chapter of the city’s tumultuous history without opening another.In the wake of a worldwide reckoning with the deep-seated legacies of historical racism, Berlin’s public transit authority BVG announced on Friday that it would rename the Mohrenstrasse (“Moor Street”) stop on the U2 metro line. Continue reading...

What are the restrictions within Victoria and the border closures with NSW and other states? What regulations remain in Queensland, Tasmania, ACT, SA, WA and the NT? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide

Hamish Walker says he sent list of cases to media to ‘expose government’s shortcomings’

Lords King and Fowler say local and national leaders must learn from policies of Thatcher eraTwo grandees of the Thatcher era have urged the government to learn lessons from the mass unemployment of the 1980s, as the Treasury draws up plans to limit a collapse in the jobs market caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Tom King, who was employment secretary in 1983 when the grim milestone of 3 million unemployed people was reached, told the Guardian that ministers should be prepared to consider propping up potentially viable companies wherever possible, mindful that the economic crisis is a global one and thus harder to resolve. Continue reading...

Isis planted mines across Sinjar and displaced the Yazidi community. Now a group of women are clearing the way for the return of their peopleBehind Hana Khider is a large grey wall map, with the minefields her team have been clearing marked in green. “This is the place where Yazidis lived together,” she says. “It’s where I lived in my childhood; I have so many memories here, it’s very important to me.”The place is Sinjar, or Shingal as Yazidis know it, on Iraq’s north-western border with Syria. Khider, 28, is speaking via video call from her office in the region. Continue reading...

Activist group submits evidence to international court accusing Xi Jinping and other Beijing officials of crimes against humanityA group of Uighurs in exile has submitted evidence to the international criminal court, calling for an investigation into senior Chinese officials, including Xi Jinping, for genocide and crimes against humanity.The submission made on Monday by lawyers based in London on behalf of two activists groups marks the first time advocates have attempted to use international law against China over allegations of widespread human rights violations in Xinjiang, the far north-western territory of China where Uighur and other minority groups are detained and surveilled en masse. Continue reading...

Actor to face ex-wife Amber Heard in UK court during case against publisher of the Sun newspaperThe long-anticipated showdown between the Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard opens in a British courtroom on Tuesday in a libel trial that will subject his international reputation to forensic legal scrutiny.Highly embarrassing allegations about the former couple’s private lives have already spilled out during bitter pre-trial hearings in which the Pirates of the Caribbean actor tried to stop Heard from attending court until she is due to give evidence. Continue reading...

Healthcare workers and an 11-year-old girl were among the victims of the virus last month

Adoption of football jersey by Jair Bolsonaro’s radical right has inspired a campaign for new coloursIt is the most recognisable symbol of Brazilian identity: the iconic canary yellow jersey in which footballing giants such as Pelé and Rivaldo have helped the nation win a record five World Cups.But the world-famous shirt has also become the emblem of President Jair Bolsonaro’s radical right, and a group of sport lovers are now demanding it be abolished and replaced with a less partisan kit. Continue reading...

Victorians should be eligible for an additional two months of payments, the state’s chamber of commerce and industry says

South Africa is the worst-affected African nation; Australian state of Victoria sees spike in community transmission; US daily cases drop below 50,000Latest coronavirus updates

Melbourne is undergoing a suburban testing blitz after Victorian premier Daniel Andrews revealed hotspots in suburbs were largely caused by extended families

None of the new Covid-19 cases were detected in returned travellers, while 37 are linked to known outbreaks and 154 are under investigation

Hundreds of graduates found to have stolen identities and gaokao scores of others to get into higher educationChinese lawmakers are seeking to criminalise identity theft in college entrance exams, after revelations that hundreds of students in a single province had their scores stolen or used by others.This year more than 10 million students will sit China’s gaokao, a state-level exam for entering college widely seen as a key path to higher education for students from underprivileged homes. Continue reading...

Musician who wrote The Devil Went Down to Georgia and starred in Urban Cowboy was happy to play ‘anywhere with a good crowd’Charlie Daniels, who went from being an in-demand session musician to a staple of Southern rock with his hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia, has died at 83.A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died on Monday at a hospital in Hermitage, Tennessee, after doctors said he had a stroke. Continue reading...

Possible outbreaks in China and Mongolia have brought bans on hunting and eating the rodents, which can carry the diseaseRussia has stepped up patrols to stop people hunting marmots near its border with China and Mongolia after the countries reported possible cases of bubonic plague, which can be carried by the animals.Authorities in Bayan Nur, a city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, issued a warning on Sunday after a hospital reported a suspected case of the deadly disease. Continue reading...

Money to be divided between princes’ favoured causes as part of separation of their charitable activitiesThe Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex have agreed to divide the future proceeds of their mother’s memorial fund between them as part of the separation of the brothers’ charitable activities.According to financial documents, an agreement was signed in December last year between the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the now abandoned Sussex Royal foundation. Continue reading...

Peer was pulled over and told to get out of her car late at night, she tells parliamentary committeeDoreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993, has told how she was stopped by police while driving late at night shortly after the killing.Giving evidence to parliament’s joint committee on human rights on Monday during an inquiry on “Black people, racism and human rights”, Lady Lawrence recalled her experience of being pulled over due to what she implied was racial profiling. Continue reading...