US ends federal support for some testing sites; cases in Indonesia surpass 50,000

Meat factories’ working conditions may contribute to higher risk of spreading the coronavirus

Government has said all foreign arrivals have to pay $3,000 to cover potential coronavirus costs

Despite funding challenges, community aims to increase biodiversity at Langholm Moor making it resistant to climate changeA small community in the rolling uplands of southern Scotland hopes to create a major new nature reserve, straddling more than 10,000 acres of heather moorland home to hen harriers, black grouse and curlew.The 2,300 villagers of Langholm, a small settlement a few miles north of the English border, hope to buy one of the UK’s most famous grouse moors, owned by one of the UK’s most powerful hereditary landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch. Continue reading...

Rifkin’s Festival, which was shot in the Spanish city last year, chosen to headline annual film festivalRifkin’s Festival, the new film by Woody Allen, has been selected to open the San Sebastián film festival in Spain.Starring Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel and Gina Gershon, Rifkin’s Festival was shot in and around the city in 2019, and according to the plot synopsis takes place during the festival itself. “It tells the story of a married American couple who go to the San Sebastián festival and get caught up in the magic of the event, the beauty and charm of the city and the fantasy of movies. She has an affair with a brilliant French movie director, and he falls in love with a beautiful Spanish woman who lives there.” Continue reading...

Senior MP says questions remain over links between housing secretary and Richard DesmondBoris Johnson has full confidence in the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, Downing Street has insisted, despite fresh revelations about his relationship with the billionaire property developer Richard Desmond, in documents published this week.Pressed about Jenrick’s role in rushing through a decision on the development, allowing Desmond to avoid a £45m payment under the community infrastructure levy, Johnson’s official spokesman signalled that No 10 had no concerns. Continue reading...

Elena Yoncheva demands investigation into tape of man with voice like Boïko Borissov’sA Bulgarian MEP has demanded an investigation following the emergence of an audio recording of a man who sounds like the country’s prime minister, Boïko Borissov, vowing to “burn” her.Elena Yoncheva, a former journalist who has been engaged in a campaign to expose government corruption, said the public prosecutor needed to scrutinise the seven-minute recording, which has been heard by more than a million Bulgarians since it was posted anonymously on YouTube and other social media. Continue reading...

Poland’s public broadcaster has entered the paranoid realm of the far right. A presidential election shows what is at stakeAs Poland approaches the climax of a presidential election campaign on which the future of its democracy depends, and Donald Trump gives his fellow populist Andrzej Duda electoral help by receiving him in the White House, come with me on a tour through the magical world of the evening News programme on Polish state television (TVP).We start on Sunday 14 June. The first item marks the 80th anniversary of the first deportation of Poles to Auschwitz in 1940. This is indeed a moment worthy of the most solemn remembrance. Too many people around the world forget that innocent and sometimes heroic Poles were the first prisoners in Auschwitz. But in the entire news item, lasting more than four minutes, the words ‘Jewish victims’ do not appear once. Instead, the head of the Institute of National Remembrance tells viewers: “That was the purpose of Auschwitz – that there would never be an independent Poland; to murder it.” No other groups of victims are mentioned until the footage of a memorial ceremony in Berlin, where the Polish ambassador to Germany says that from the moment of the creation of Auschwitz “we talk of the Holocaust”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Founder says another cancellation would ‘be curtains’ for festival and has hopes for testing scheme, with daughter Emily saying they will ‘mutate to survive’Glastonbury organisers Michael and Emily Eavis fear they could be in serious financial danger if the festival was cancelled again due to coronavirus.Speaking exclusively to the Guardian to mark the festival’s 50th anniversary, Michael said: “We have to run next year, otherwise we would seriously go bankrupt … It has to happen for us, we have to carry on. Otherwise it will be curtains. I don’t think we could wait another year.” Continue reading...

Of the 45 countries to have recorded more than 25,000 coronavirus cases to date, 21 currently have relaxed responses to the pandemic. Of these, 10 are reporting a rising number of cases

Emergency centers and fire agencies work to reduce the risk of spreading the virus as the west and south-west brace for the inevitableWildfires are searing through California and states in the US south-west, as the region braces for an intense fire season complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.With 2020 on track to be one of the hottest and driest years on record, the National Interagency Fire Center is warning of a higher potential for fires across much of America’s west and south-west. Continue reading...

Move comes after former CEO at payments firm held on suspicion of falsifying accountsGerman payments giant Wirecard has filed for insolvency in the midst of a major accounting scandal linked to a €1.9bn (£1.7bn) hole in its finances.The development comes just days after its former chief executive Markus Braun was arrested on suspicion of falsifying accounts at the company, which processes tens of billions of euros in credit and debit transactions every year. He was arrested after presenting himself to police, according to German media Continue reading...

The TV director and actor talk candidly about how racism is draining, limiting and ingrained. But is leaving to work in the US the answer?The director Christiana Ebohon-Green (EastEnders, Call the Midwife, Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle) and the actor Wunmi Mosaku, 33, (Luther, End of the F**king World and Jordan Peele’s upcoming HBO drama series, Lovecraft Country) have met before. In fact, they have worked together, on Ebohon-Green’s Bafta-longlisted short, Some Sweet Oblivious Antidote. They both have fond memories of the sun-dappled shoot by the Thames, with a (mostly black) cast of actors. But not every experience on set has been so joyful. Amid some laughter, a few tears and many weary sighs, they swap horror stories of industry racism, discuss solidarity among black creatives, and the opportunities and risks involved in a move to the US.CEG: I’ve worked on a lot of mainstream television drama, so I’ve often been the only [black person] on set. For me [having this wider conversation about racism] is a relief. Sometimes, you air issues and people are like: “Oh yeah, we know! We’ve solved that! Can you stop going on?” So I’ve been very careful about what I said and assumed people understood. Continue reading...

Evidence given to parliamentary committee sparks new calls to develop national capability to manufacture medicines and key suppliesAustralian companies were “shocked” to experience price-gouging and had trouble accessing critical supplies to make medicines and personal protective equipment at the height of the pandemic, a parliamentary committee has been told.It has prompted fresh calls for Australia to build up its ability to manufacture critical drugs “without reliance on opaque and fragile offshore supply chains”. Continue reading...

The government rescinded an earlier request for support in order for the defence force to assist with testing. Follow live

UK’s hot weather will turn wet from Thursday afternoon, forecasters warnSoaring temperatures across the UK will be followed by thunderstorms and torrential rain over coming days, forecasters have warned.Wednesday was the hottest day of the year so far but the Met Office said Thursday could beat that record, with temperatures expected to climb in the Midlands and Wales. Continue reading...

As the country reopens to tourism after the strictest lockdown in Europe, Spaniards are wary of Covid-19 taking hold againIn this first round of the Covid-19 pandemic, two countries vie for the gruesome title of having suffered the most deadly consequences – Britain and Spain. Between them, they currently share 107,000 dead, measured in terms of excess mortality.The comparisons end there. Spain had Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdown, with children housebound for weeks and army patrols to enforce it. That has produced a dramatic tail-off. Spain’s mortality rate returned to normal on 10 May, after exactly two months of excess deaths compared with the same period over the previous five years. Britain continues to register excess deaths and, in the downward race to be the worst, has edged ahead. Continue reading...

Research into similar exercises in other countries has shown they lead to an exodus of talent and a loss of influence with key partnersAid experts have warned of a brain drain of senior staff from the Department for International Development when it merges with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which could damage the UK’s international standing.Downing Street is facing growing anger from DfID staff over the timing of the merger announcement last week, and the manner in which it was done. The merger had been long trailed, but was announced without union consultation and with many staff finding out from the media. Continue reading...

In our series of cross-generational conversations between black artists, the two rappers discuss racism, identity, police shootings – and how to create a better futureAlthough separated by generations, there is a shared sense of black empowerment and rebellion coursing through the music of Rodney P and Kojey Radical. At 50, Rodney P has been instrumental in the evolution of UK rap. Songs released as part of London Posse in the 80s and 90s, such as How’s Life in London, are among the earliest examples of British rappers using their own accents. Kojey Radical, 27, is among a generation of young British artists including Dave and Stormzy who have pushed black music in the UK into mass popularity. Blurring the boundaries of rap with everything from spoken word to funk, his work is an intense documentation of black life in Britain and beyond.The thing that struck me most about the George Floyd video was the lack of humanity. What ran through your head when you saw it? Continue reading...

Coronavirus cases rising by 1m per week; US has second-highest one-day total; Latin America ‘yet to reach peak’; Qantas sheds 6,000 jobs

As travel restrictions in response to the pandemic savagely cut the number of flights, airlines are scrambling to find places to park their redundant planes Continue reading...

Streaming service inserts two videos discussing the historical context of the 1939 civil war epic, including a panel discussion debating its ‘complicated legacy’Gone With The Wind has returned to the US streaming service HBO Max accompanied by a disclaimer saying the classic film “denies the horrors of slavery”.The 1939 civil war epic was removed from the service – Warner Bros’s recently launched rival to Netflix and Disney+ – following criticism of its “racist depictions” earlier this month. Continue reading...

Some Kiwis find a harsh homecoming amid concern about importing coronavirus after months of lockdown sacrifice by ‘team of 5 million’

Civil action claims Scottish club failed to protect them from paedophiles working around Celtic Boys’ ClubVictims of a number of paedophiles are to sue Celtic football club in a ground-breaking civil action amidst claims it failed to protect them from sex abusers working around Celtic Boys’ Club.Three victim-survivors aim to use a civil trial to “knock down the defence wall” they say Celtic has erected in order to distance itself from the Boys’ Club, the Guardian has learnt. Continue reading...

Thursday: Thousands of workers set to lose jobs if renewable energy target is not replaced. Plus, is the government’s arts boost too little, too late?Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 25 June. Continue reading...

Omar Radi says police questioning ‘clearly linked’ to Amnesty’s claim he was targeted by NSO Group spywareA Moroccan journalist has been summoned to the police just days after an investigation by Amnesty alleged that he had been repeatedly targeted with spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group.Omar Radi, an investigative reporter who has been critical of Morocco’s human rights record, was ordered to appear before the National Brigade of Judicial Police. Continue reading...

Aaron Zelinsky says prosecutors were under pressure to go easy on Stone because of his relationship with the presidentA federal prosecutor who was part of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation told Congress on Wednesday Roger Stone, a close ally of Donald Trump, was given special treatment before sentencing because of his relationship with the US president.Related: US appeals court orders judge to dismiss case against Michael Flynn Continue reading...

Michelle from North Carolina shared her recipe for ‘British tea’. An international incident followedThere have been more severe transatlantic bust-ups over a brew, such as the American Revolution, but few can have been quite so twee. Nearly 250 years after the Boston Tea Party, the British ambassador in Washington and her US counterpart in London are going at it over how to make a decent hot drink. And by Wednesday evening, the conflict was spilling over into mainland Europe.Like many tense diplomatic standoffs, it began with a deliberate provocation. An American TikTok user going by the name of Michelle from North Carolina posted a video showing how to make what she describes as “hot tea”, which entails mixing milk with powdered lemonade, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and Tang, which turns out to be a soft drink. Continue reading...

As another religious painting restoration goes horribly wrong, we take a look at some of the finest examples of butchered statues, art installations and frescoesIn the latest instalment of the greatest genre of art news – and I write that as a lover of art – another restoration has gone awry. The word “awry” is being generous.This is the revelation that a private collector, based in Valencia, paid €1,200 (£1,070) for a restoration job on baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables. It is no longer immaculate. It now looks like an e-fit issued by a local police force, with those thin eyebrows popular in the 90s. What’s more, the restorer (who it turns out was a furniture restorer by trade) made two attempts – the second significantly worse than the first. That one, the e-fit one, has the Virgin Mary staring straight ahead, which isn’t even the same position as the original, which has Mary looking to the heavens. Continue reading...

People across the UK make the most of relaxed coronavirus restrictions to get outside and enjoy the sunny weather Continue reading...

Portugal, Spain and Bulgaria reimpose some restrictions to contain fresh outbreaks

Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, is concerned about the lack of complaints he has received, while Paul Hobbs wishes that politicians had a better grasp of current affairsI have been concerned for some time that given the known problems with the Windrush compensation scheme – highlighted in exemplary fashion by Amelia Gentleman – very few complaints have reached me, the UK’s national ombudsman. With so few successful claims completed and serious problems being reported by claimants, those who are dissatisfied with the process or outcome of their attempt to get compensation can speak to their MP, who can refer their complaint directly to the ombudsman service.The ombudsman service has a vital role to play in securing fair outcomes for people who have suffered injustice. I welcome the announcement of a cross-government group in an attempt to address the challenges faced by the Windrush generation (Windrush scandal: cross-government group aims to tackle ‘terrible’ treatment, 22 June), and I look forward to liaising with the group to ensure that people are made aware of all possible routes of redress.

Reaction in Gütersloh highlights the problems governments may face if restrictions return

French court hears forgery network manufactured bags between 2013 and 2014 for a profit of more than €2mFormer staff of the luxury French brand Hermès have appeared in court accused of faking designer handbags including the celebrated “Birkin” named after the British singer Jane Birkin.A total of ten people are on trial, seven of them former workers at the company who are alleged to have made dozens of fake bags sold for tens of thousands of euros. Continue reading...

Mountaineering groups voice safety concerns as hillwalkers set to return

Abayomi Ajose’s family say he was looking out for friend when shot alongside Cheriff Tall, 21A children’s services worker who was shot dead along with another man at a lockdown gathering in Manchester was acting as a “peacemaker” when he was murdered, his family have said.Abayomi Ajose, 36, who is understood to have worked for Manchester city council, and Cheriff Tall, 21, suffered fatal injuries when they were shot at close range in the early hours of Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer condemns PM for ‘dodgy answers’ at PMQs; Johnson claims UK has effective ‘cluster-busting’ operation; further lockdown easing in Scotland announced

Emma Nicholson’s views on same-sex marriage raised as concern by writers and one former Booker winnerDamian Barr is leading a charge of writers, including one former Booker prize winner, who are calling on the Booker Foundation to remove the allegedly “homophobic” peer Emma Nicholson from her position as vice-president.Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, who voted against the same-sex marriage bill in 2013, is the widow of the late former chairman of Booker, Sir Michael Caine, who helped establish the prize. She is currently a vice-president of the Booker Foundation, and a former trustee of the prize. Continue reading...

Amnesty says pandemic has led to greater ‘marginalisation, stigmatisation and violence’ in 12 countries including UK

Aid worker Tauqir Sharif’s citizenship was revoked in 2017, after working on humanitarian projects in the region for four yearsA British man living in rebel-held northwest Syria has been abducted by the area’s dominant jihadist group, his family has said.Tauqir Sharif and his wife, Racquell Hayden Best, from Walthamstow, east London, have been working on humanitarian projects in Syria since 2013 and are currently living with their five children in Idlib province, the last opposition bastion of the country. Idlib has been controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a militant group with links to al-Qaida, since January 2019. Continue reading...

World Economic Outlook says UK economy is on course to shrink by 10.2% in 2020

Real estate heir gave millions to Democrats and was father of Elizabeth Hurley’s sonThe film producer and financier, real estate heir and Democratic political donor Steve Bing has died aged 55. The Los Angeles County coroner said it was suicide.Bing produced the 2000 Sylvester Stallone film Get Carter and was a major investor in the 2004 Tom Hanks animated film The Polar Express. He co-wrote the 2003 comedy Kangaroo Jack, which was savaged by critics but made nearly $90m at the box office. He was also a producer on Martin Scorsese’s 2008 Rolling Stones documentary Shine a Light, and a co-producer with Mick Jagger on a forthcoming documentary on Jerry Lee Lewis. Continue reading...

Owen Paterson says loss of his wife of 40 years has come as ‘terrible shock’ to familyThe wife of the Conservative former cabinet minister Owen Paterson has been found dead at their family home.In a statement, Paterson said the loss of his wife, Rose, had come as a “terrible shock” to the family. Continue reading...

Event comes as country prepares to vote on constitutional changes that would allow Putin to remain in power until 2036Few face masks could be seen on the Red Square as Vladimir Putin hosted foreign leaders and war veterans, now in their 90s, at the country’s Victory Day military parade, which came the number of coronavirus cases in Russia surpassed 600,000.Thousands of Muscovites ignored calls to stay home and crowded along Tverskaya Street and near the Kremlin to see tanks, artillery pieces, and ICBMs make their way through Moscow and onto the Red Square, where the parade marked the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Continue reading...

Martin is ‘making steady progress’ on The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, from isolation in his cabinAs lockdown eases around the world, George RR Martin has revealed he is currently isolating in “an actual cabin in the mountains” and hopes to finish his long-awaited fantasy novel The Winds of Winter “next year”.Martin said he was spending “long hours every day” working on the book, which will be the sixth in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. Set in the fantasy kingdom of Westeros and its environs, peopled by warring factions, occasional dragons and direwolves, the bestselling fantasy series was adapted by HBO into the television series Game of Thrones. Although the television storyline concluded a year ago, fans have been waiting for The Winds of Winter, the penultimate book in the series before A Dream of Spring, since the publication of A Dance With Dragons in 2011. Continue reading...

Russia is holding its postponed Victory Day military parade despite rising coronavirus infections. The parade celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany and has grown since Vladimir Putin came to power Continue reading...

Embassy in London claims construction project is covered by diplomatic immunityA row over the construction of a wall at the Chinese consulate in Belfast has escalated after China said it would ignore a legal order to temporarily halt the work.A letter from lawyers for the Chinese embassy in London to residents objecting to the security wall said diplomatic staff did not recognise the jurisdiction of courts in Northern Ireland. Continue reading...