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

Tuesday: State braces for possible outbreak as poll finds leaders’ approval is slipping. Plus, the correspondence between the Queen and John KerrGood morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 14 July. Continue reading...

Moderates fear Poland will become even more authoritarian after their candidate lost the electionAnaemic grey clouds hung over much of Warsaw as the city’s liberals and progressives came to terms with the fact that it will almost certainly be another three years, during parliamentary elections in 2023, before they get a chance to challenge the ruling party’s hold on power after its preferred candidate, Andrzej Duda, won re-election as president on Monday.“It feels like the coffin is being closed on the fight for our formal democratic institutions,” said Rafał Suszek, a physicist and democracy campaigner who has been arrested several times in recent years for engaging in campaigns of direct action and civil disobedience. Continue reading...

Prof Christopher R Hughes believes a letter by Dr Hugh Goodacre on the crisis in Hong Kong does not stand up to historical scrutinyDr Hugh Goodacre’s letter (5 July) in response to Simon Jenkins (Britain can’t protect Hong Kong from China – but it can do right by its people, 2 July) claims that the people of Hong Kong gained the democratic right to vote on their future because China “stood up in the world”, which would have been unthinkable under British rule. This does not stand up to historical scrutiny.As early as January 1958, Zhou Enlai warned the Macmillan government against supporting a “conspiracy” to make Hong Kong a self-governing dominion. In the 1960s, China insisted Britain should resist US pressure to introduce self-government, as the status of Hong Kong was to China’s benefit. Beijing continued to resist the introduction of democracy throughout the Sino-British negotiations and its current behaviour confirms its intention to act like a colonial power. Its narrative that the current protests are due to the whipping up of anti-Chinese hysteria by outside forces reflects this mindset by denying agency to the people of Hong Kong.

The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report. This blog is now closed

Home secretary suggested officials ignored problem for fear of seeming racistPriti Patel, the home secretary, has come under fire over claims that “cultural sensitivities” prevented a robust response to alleged worker exploitation in Leicester, with critics arguing cuts to regulators, the decision to limit inspections and an absence of unions were the biggest causes.Ten days after the Guardian reported on fears that conditions in sweatshops were a factor in Leicester’s surge in coronavirus cases and resulting lockdown, reports emerged on Sunday that Patel was considering new laws to curb modern slavery. Continue reading...

Nations are entering the critical economic phase of the pandemic: how to get consumers spending again

Heavy rainfall is forecast to fall on areas burnt out last summer, as well as along much of the state’s coastlineOne of the New South Wales communities badly affected by bushfires last summer is expected to cop the brunt of an intense weather event this week.Heavy rainfall, strong winds and dangerous surf are forecast for large parts of NSW in coming days. Continue reading...

There is a schism between older African migrants – who think Australia is ‘the greatest country in the world’ – and those who came here young or grew up hereThis is the fourth in a six-part series on life inside Melbourne’s high-rise public housing. Read the third part here.Nor Shanino would get into big debates with his father, Idris, an Eritrean refugee, about the police and the country. Continue reading...

Regulars appreciate the joys of swimming in famous London ponds post-lockdown

Thousands of people took part in a silent march in Bayonne for Philippe Monguillot, 59, who was declared brain dead after an attack by passengers who refused to wear face masks. He later died in hospital.The driver’s family organised the march from the bus stop where the assault took place. Monguillot's colleagues used their right to refuse to work in the aftermath of the attack but will resume work on Monday under reinforced security, the local operator said.

Stephen Cameron spent 10 weeks on a ventilator and was warned he might need a double lung transplant

Far fewer people than usual attend commemoration events in Bosnia, due to coronavirusBosnia is marking the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, the only declared genocide in Europe since the second world war, with a small number of survivors in attendance, due to the coronavirus pandemic.The execution in July 1995 of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys is being commemorated in a series of events. There will also be a reburial of the recently identified remains of nine victims in a memorial cemetery outside the town in eastern Bosnia. Continue reading...

Body of London teenager was found in dense rainforest during family holidayAn inquest is to be opened into the death of a London teenager whose body was found in dense rainforest in Malaysia after she disappeared from a resort.The unclothed body of 15-year-old Nora Quoirin was discovered in August last year after a large-scale search near where she had been on holiday with her family. Continue reading...

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People can use line to report harassment as part of efforts to tackle ‘laddish culture’

While some firms have been devastated as Covid-19 grips the planet, others have seen their sales go off the chart. How have they coped?For most businesses, the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic were an economic horror story measured in job losses and plummeting sales graphs. But this was not the case for everyone. As lockdown measures were imposed around the globe, certain companies struggled to cope with sudden demand from a confined populace with new, highly specific needs.So what was it like to be the focus of such frenzied consumer interest? How did they cope with self-isolating staff and faltering supply chains? And what are their hopes now the world is tentatively reopening? Here, five different companies reflect on their accidental boom. Continue reading...

Publicans fear for future as chancellor’s proposals offer nothing for traditional locals

Growing our own potatoes is fun – but the pandemic and looming trade deals have exposed Britain’s fragile food securitySmugness is a well-documented side-effect of having an allotment, and at this time of year, with raspberries, gooseberries, currants, new potatoes and other goodies ripening and making it to the table, the condition becomes particularly acute. “Notice anything about these spuds?” I can’t help myself asking, faux-casually, over dinner. “And how about the chard? Particularly delicious, no?” To which the only acceptable answer, clearly, is a chorus of: “Oh yes, I noticed that immediately, I’ve never tasted such magnificent chard in my life.” (For some reason, this is not a response that comes naturally to my children.)Many plot-holders will be even more insufferable this year, as we’ve had so much more time than usual to spend tending our plots. Allotments have been open throughout lockdown, designated as safe spaces for daily exercise. I nearly gave mine up before the pandemic, as I was too busy working and socialising to keep the weeds at bay. Boy, am I glad I kept it: as a mother of two energetic boys without much outdoor space at home, our plot has been a lifeline. Continue reading...

Exclusive: amid allegations of production continuing behind closed doors, regulators have clamped down in the city