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...

Hisham al-Hashimi had said he feared Iran-backed militia groups were targeting himA leading Iraqi expert on Islamic State and other militant groups has been shot dead in Baghdad after receiving threats from Iran-backed militias, security officials have said.Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Hisham al-Hashimi, 47, on Monday outside his home in the Zeyouneh area of Baghdad, a family member said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Continue reading...

Tuesday: Residents of Melbourne’s locked-down towers and their families say they pleaded for help in March. Plus, why you should write (actual) lettersGood morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 7 July. Continue reading...

The 19-year-old journalism student has won herself a huge audience on Instagram with irreverent takes on life, money and fameCrisp-crunching, straight-talking and unabashedly fond of fame, 19-year-old Kenyan student Elsa Majimbo has become an unlikely hero of the coronavirus pandemic. Viral videos filmed in her bedroom while under lockdown in Nairobi – during which she updates followers on her search for a boyfriend and warns her future child that they will never be given a car (“You have legs. Two in fact.”) – have made Majimbo a social media star.“Ever since corona started we’ve all been in isolation,” one of her most famous videos begins, seeming as though it will continue with a heartfelt message. Continue reading...

Tong Ying-kit, 23, charged with terrorism and inciting secession for allegedly driving motorbike into group of police last weekChina has begun putting its new Hong Kong security law into action, as a 23-year-old man became the first person on Monday to be charged under the legislation and authorities announced a purge of literature from libraries and schools.The law, imposed last week following anti-government protests in Hong Kong last year, classes as illegal all activities the government deems to be secessionist, subversive, or terrorist, as well as foreign intervention in the city’s internal affairs. Continue reading...

Jean Castex retains foreign affairs, finance and health ministers but replaces interior minister criticised over gilets jaunes protestsFrance’s new prime minister, Jean Castex, has made few major changes to the cabinet after President Emmanuel Macron gambled on a reshuffle to reboot his presidency and tighten his grip on government before seeking re-election in 2022.The Élysée Palace had promised “new faces and talents”, but key ministers from the outgoing government stayed, including the centre-right Bruno Le Maire at economic affairs and finance and Jean-Yves Le Drian, a former Socialist, at foreign affairs. Continue reading...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said the Commonwealth must acknowledge the past even if it may be uncomfortable to do so, but that after doing so ‘everyone benefits’.The couple were speaking in discussion by video link on justice and equal rights with young leaders from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT), of which Harry and Meghan are president and vice-president respectively.The Sussexes spoke of historic injustice, unconscious bias and racism in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, and said the Commonwealth, which grew out of the British empire and is headed by Prince Harry’s grandmother the Queen, needed to follow the example of others, and accepted it would not be easy

War powers reform essential after decision to spend $270bn on military hardware, former defence secretary saysAustralia’s decision to ramp up spending on military hardware makes it even more important that parliament is given the power to vote on whether the country goes to war, a former defence secretary has said.Paul Barratt, who headed the Australian defence department from 1998 to 1999, has also warned that Covid-19 could drive some countries to further pursue automated warfare – a trend that would increase the risk of conflict. Continue reading...

First day of former Conservative MP’s trial hears details of alleged sexual assault in 2007A former Conservative MP on trial for allegedly assaulting two women chased one of them around his home chanting “I’m a naughty Tory” after groping her, a court has been told.The woman feared for her safety and locked herself in a room when Charlie Elphicke ran after her and tried to smack her bottom following the alleged assault in 2007, jurors heard on the first day of his trial. Continue reading...

Couple say process will be uncomfortable but ‘needs to be done because everyone benefits’The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said the Commonwealth “must acknowledge the past”, even if it is “uncomfortable”, as the couple spoke of historic injustice, unconscious bias and racism in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.They said the Commonwealth, which grew out of the British empire and is headed by Prince Harry’s grandmother the Queen, needed to follow the example of others, and they accepted it would not be easy. Continue reading...

Protesters have held up blank pieces of white paper to avoid using slogans banned under a new national security law in Hong Kong on Monday.The law, which was imposed by China after anti-government protests last year, has made it illegal to shout slogans or hold up banners and flags calling for the city’s independence. Hong Kong police cleared the group of demonstrators who gathered in a shopping centre in the central business district

A man was Tasered and arrested by West Midlands police after the incidentTwo paramedics have been taken to hospital after being stabbed during a callout to a property in Wolverhampton.West Midlands police said they arrested a man after the incident on Monday afternoon. West Midlands ambulance service (WMAS) said the paramedics were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. It said a man who had been Tasered by police also received treatment. Continue reading...

Ofcom ruled that the channel aired forced confessions from a former British journalistChina’s state-owned TV channel could be banned from the UK after the broadcast regulator Ofcom found it had aired forced confessions.China Global Television Network (CGTN), China’s English-language news network, faces statutory sanctions as a result of the ruling, which was based on a complaint from the former British journalist Peter Humphrey. Continue reading...

Composer Ennio Morricone has died at the age of 91. In a career that spanned seven decades and produced over 500 scores, he created some of the most memorable soundtracks in cinematic history. Here we look back at his life and career•Peter Bradshaw on Ennio Morricone: a composer with a thrilling ability to hit the emotional jugular Continue reading...

Social media sites suspend process as they assess impact of new national security lawFacebook and its WhatsApp messaging service have “paused” the processing of government requests for user data in Hong Kong, the company said.WhatsApp is pausing such reviews “pending further assessment of the impact of the national security law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts”, a spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. Continue reading...

First sitting since mid-March told of decisions made prior to tower refurbishment

Oscar-winning Italian film composer Ennio Morricone has died aged 91. His creative career spanned 500 scores over 50 years working with Giuseppe Tornatore, Barry Levinson, Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone, with whom he defined the western. His first Oscar for best original score only came in 2016 when he was 88 for Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

City at centre of coronavirus outbreak faces new crisis as China suffers weeks of flooding

UK foreign secretary has said EU invite for Covid-19 scheme was sent to old email address

Powerful political dance from Brooklyn’s FlexN and the spectacle of the Helicopter String Quartet are part of British artistic director’s programmeParis’s Théâtre du Châtelet reopened last autumn after a two-year restoration, before being forced to close again because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But undeterred, this week the theatre serves up a digital festival, Après, Demain, featuring a couple of new creations, existing dance and music performances, short films and talks (in French, bien sûr) and previews of major commissions to come.The opening weekend’s offerings asked for differing amounts of commitment: Ten minutes for Brooklyn street dancers FlexN, six hours for Stockhausen’s epic opera Mittwoch aus Licht. It’s definitely worth putting aside that 10 minutes (recordings remain online until the end of the festival). Reggie Gray’s flexing crew, FlexN, and their powerfully political dance rooted in young black America could not be more pertinent. Gray’s Loud Silence, filmed on the bridges and streets of New York, intersperses footage of Black Lives Matters protests with forthright, frustrated, imploring solos from his dancers, who move with rangy grace, muscular impact, and the crooked contortions of the style known as bone-breaking. A shorter second film, Black, by Cal Hunt, is set to the song of the same name by British rapper Dave. Its movement is like a stream of consciousness that flows with a soft pop, deftly picking out lyrics with mime – lyrics that are powerful enough that Hunt knows his dance doesn’t have to shout. Continue reading...