Watchdog publishes highly critical report after charitable trust is required to return cashA charitable trust supporting the work of Prince Andrew has been required to return more than £350,000 in payments made to a trustee after a public watchdog intervened.The Charity Commission has revealed the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust broke the law by handing over large sums to the prince’s household to compensate for time spent on other activities by one of his employees. Continue reading...
Tehran says Iranian citizen who passed on information was in jail at the time of the general’s assassinationAn Iranian responsible for leaking information about the powerful general Qassem Suleimani but without direct involvement in his assassination by the US in January has been sentenced to death and will be hung shortly, the Iranian judiciary has said.Speaking on Tuesday, at a regular judicial press conference, the alleged culprit was named as Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, an Iranian citizen. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#54G49)
Penny Mordaunt tells MPs she hopes to have post-Brexit deal agreed by autumnThe UK government will tell the EU on Friday it is not going to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, the paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, has said.She told the House of Commons in an update on Brexit talks that she and Michael Gove would “emphasise that we will not be extending the transition period” when they meet EU counterparts at a Brexit joint committee meeting on Friday. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#54FQH)
Review announced in January 2019 to look at counter-terrorism scheme is still without a chairThe government has been accused of “incompetence and complacency” in its handling of an independent review of Prevent, the programme that aims to stop people from becoming terrorists, amid further delays to its completion.The review was first announced in January 2019 and it has been beset by delays. Its first chair, Lord Carlile, was forced to step down in December 2019 and it took four months for the Home Office to launch a recruitment campaign for his replacement. Continue reading...
Hong Kong used to be seen as cautious, pragmatic and materialistic. But in the past year, an increasingly bold protest movement has transformed the city. Now, as Beijing tightens its grip, how much longer can the movement survive? By Tania Branigan and Lily Kuo
Exclusive: Irish woman says an earlier assault by new McCann suspect is similar to that on herAn Irish rape victim has asked detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann to review her case, after learning that a new suspect in the British girl’s abduction was convicted of a sexual assault bearing a similarity to her own experience.Hazel Behan was working in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, 30 minutes’ drive from where Madeleine was abducted, when she was viciously assaulted by a stranger in her apartment in 2004. The assailant was never caught. Continue reading...
The number of deals drops by 43% in the past financial year as China shifts focus to developing nationsChinese investment in Australia has fallen by almost 60% as Beijing shifts its focus towards developing nations that have signed up for its Belt and Road Initiative.Despite record trade between the two nations, Chinese investment in Australia fell from $8.2bn in 2018 to $3.4bn in 2019, with 43% fewer deals struck. Continue reading...
A figure that had caused such division for so long was felled in minutes, bringing catharsis for some of those presentFor Jagun Akinshegun, the toppling of a 17th-century slave trader’s statue was a moment of catharsis, making it easier to let go of the past. For his daughter Robishia Temple, it was a sign that it could be possible to imagine a more hopeful future.“It didn’t represent Bristol,” said Temple, who is a learning and development adviser. “Now he’s at the bottom of the river. That says a lot more about who we are.” Continue reading...
Rhodes Must Fall rally planned at Oriel College four years after officials said statue would stayThe dramatic toppling of a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston at a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol has reignited the campaign to remove a statue of the Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University.The Rhodes Must Fall campaign has called for a demonstration on Tuesday outside Oriel College, where a likeness of the controversial 19th-century figure – who supported apartheid-style measures in southern Africa – is mounted on the wall. Continue reading...
In this weekly series, readers tell us about their favourite trees. This week: a tree in Burkina Faso that is the focal point of village lifeTom Skirrow discovered this magnificent mango tree on a trip to Burkina Faso in 2018. He was spending the week in the tiny village of Torem, home to 781 people, as part of his work as director of operations for Tree Aid. “If I ever wanted to find anyone, that was the tree I went to,” he says. “It was the place to have a conversation or a meeting.” Underneath its branches, villagers also prepared food and did other work.The tree provided delicious fruit, but it also gave people somewhere to escape the intense sunlight and scorching heat – temperatures could reach 40C (104F). Skirrow, 39, would often find refuge in its shade. “Imagine stepping out of a very bright, cloudless environment, where you’re almost squinting to be able to see, into a very dense-leaved tree where it’s almost too dark and you have to adjust your eyes. You’ve got this cooling feeling because you’ve been in the heat – it’s almost like stepping into a cave.” Continue reading...
Six-year-old and 33-year-old died and others were injured after fire engulfed property in regional VictoriaDetectives will speak to family members in hospital after a fatal house fire in regional Victoria killed a man and a six-year-old boy and left several others injured, one fighting for his life.The 33-year-old and the boy died in the Tyaak holiday home in Cunninghams Road on Saturday after fire engulfed the property about 11.40pm. Continue reading...
UN-backed GNA intends to capture airbase with Russian jets and strategic city of SirteLibya’s resurgent UN-recognised government has said it will defy any Russian warnings and press ahead with the capture of at least two more strategic sites in the west of Libya, with the aim of preventing Russia from setting up an airbase in the country. It made the announcement as oil production restarted in Libya after being shut down since January.The UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by Turkey, said it intended to press ahead with the capture of both the coastal town of Sirte and the al-Jufra airbase currently housing 14 Russian MiG-29s and Su-24s. Continue reading...
Black Lives Matters protesters in Bristol have pulled down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston, whose company transported more than 100,000 slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas between 1672 and 1689. Demonstrators attached a rope to the Grade II-listed statue, pulled it down and rolled it into the city's harbour. It follows the toppling of several Confederate statues during Black Lives Matter protests in the US
Madrid exhibition highlights literary trailblazers including Ana Caro, who was paid to write a play as far back as 1638Centuries after their deaths and months after their big moment was almost thwarted by Covid-19, a saint, a cross-dressing soldier, an early professional playwright and a group of intrepid nuns are the subject of an exhibition that celebrates the often overlooked female writers of Spain’s Golden Age.While the names and works of male authors such as Cervantes, Calderón de la Barca and Lope de Vega live on, the same cannot always be said of the women who wrote around the same time. Continue reading...
A 60-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing at Casuarina Beach near Kingscliff in the NSW northern rivers regionA 60-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing near Kingscliff in northern NSW.NSW Police confirmed the death after witnesses reported seeing a three-metre-long shark attack the man’s left leg while surfing at Salt Beach shortly after 10am on Sunday. Continue reading...
Allan Adam claims police attacked him and his wife after he was stopped over licence tagA prominent First Nations chief in Canada has said he and his wife were assaulted by police officers over an expired licence plate, an incident that came as the country grapples with continued violence against ethnic minorities at the hands of police.Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a well-known businessman whose community has extensive operations in Alberta’s oil sands, said he and his wife, Freda Courtoreille, had a violent encounter with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on 10 March that has left the community in anguish. Continue reading...
First came the disaster, then the trauma and then the endless paperwork. Surely we can do something about the paperwork, one homeowner tells the royal commissionThe house burned down on New Year’s Eve. And at least once a month, for the past five months, Prof Sue Townsend has been asked to show proof.Proof that the house has indeed burned, swallowed up in the 300,000-hectare Dunns Road fire that flowed down the mountain toward the small town of Tumbarumba on the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains. Continue reading...
Suspect held after man in his 20s pronounced dead at the scene in east London on Friday nightA 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following a fatal shooting in north-east London, police said.The Metropolitan police said they were called to Brackenfield Close in Hackney at about 11.30pm on Friday following reports of shots being fired. Continue reading...
Family has been left hovering between hope and despair, says husband Richard RatcliffeNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual citizen who has been detained in Iran since 2016, must wait another week for a decision on whether she will be permanently freed from jail, a move her husband says has left the family “hovering between hope and despair”.Zaghari-Ratcliffe had expected an update on Saturday on the progress of a bid for clemency. She was hoping to be released in time for her daughter Gabriella’s sixth birthday on Thursday but instead has been told to call back next week. Continue reading...
Germany amazed the whole continent with last week’s stimulus package, but it paves the way for countries such as France to agree an effective coronavirus responseFrom champion of austerity to Europe’s biggest spender – Germany has travelled a long way in just a few months. The notoriously frugal ministry of finance has agreed to spend €130bn – a sum equal to 4% of national income – on more than 50 initiatives to promote growth across the country.This breathtaking investment programme comes on top of the almost 30% of GDP the government has so far spent on rescuing businesses and protecting jobs during the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading...
Reduction of 9,500 personnel criticised by the German right and welcomed by the leftDonald Trump’s plans to withdraw more than a third of the US troops stationed in Germany have been criticised in the country by conservatives and welcomed by leftwing politicians.The US president has reportedly ordered the Pentagon to reduce the number of troops by 9,500 from the 34,500 permanently assigned in Germany as part of a long-standing arrangement with Washington’s Nato ally. Continue reading...
At least 2,000 people marched in Sydney for the 'Stop All Black Deaths in Custody' rally, which was declared an authorised public assembly minutes before its scheduled start time of 3pm, after a court ruling was overturned.Thousands of protesters rallied in cities and towns across Australia to march against Indigenous deaths in custody and the killing of George Floyd
Top court complains opposition-held congress did not name electoral body authorities in timeVenezuela’s government-friendly supreme court has said the opposition-held congress did not name rectors to the South American country’s electoral authority in time, a move denounced by the opposition as an attempt to derail election plans.The court declared the national assembly’s decisions null and void shortly after the opposition won control of the body in late 2015. With new legislative elections due by the end of 2020, the decision marked a setback to efforts between the two sides to agree on conditions for the vote. Continue reading...
by Kenya Evelyn, Monika Cvorak and Nikhita Chulani on (#54C94)
Guardian US reporter Kenya Evelyn explains why the unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd could be a defining moment for racial politics in America, and how the coronavirus pandemic set the backdrop for the protests
Memorial to 284 men in Folkestone cemetery also to be listed at Grade IIThe wreck of a German battleship that sank in the Channel in 1878 after being accidentally rammed has been given heritage protection.Historic England said a memorial in a Folkestone cemetery to the 284 men who lost their lives on the SMS Grosser Kurfürst would also be listed at Grade II. Continue reading...
Amid growing global civil unrest against police brutality and racism, a small station 330km west of Uluru is trying things differentlyAs protests against police brutality and racism have spread around the world in the wake of the death of George Floyd, two new films demonstrate the extremes of police dealings with Indigenous Australians.The first, which surfaced earlier this week, is the now notorious mobile phone footage of a violent encounter between a New South Wales police constable and an Aboriginal teenager in Surry Hills, Sydney. Continue reading...
Video shows officers forcing man into a police truck as bystanders plead for his releaseMexicans have responded with outrage after a man was found beaten to death hours after he was arrested by police officers for not wearing a face mask in public.Anti-police protests erupted on Thursday evening in Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city. Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan (now and earlier) ; Nadeem Badshah on (#549HE)
UK pledges £1.65bn to public-private vaccine partnership; €130bn German package cuts VAT, offers cash grants; New Zealand marks 13 days without new Covid-19 case
by Vikram Dodd, Ben Quinn and Kate Connolly on (#54AVQ)
Police in UK, Portugal and Germany launch joint appeal for information about Christian BrücknerDetectives in three countries have appealed for evidence in relation to the strongest suspect they have had in 13 years to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, as German authorities said they believe she is dead.Circumstantial evidence has convinced detectives that a 43-year-old German child sex offender and rapist, identified by Portuguese sources on Thursday as Christian Brückner, is their prime suspect as it emerged he has been known to police for years. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Laura Murphy-Oates and reported by Loren on (#54AKM)
In the wake of widespread protests in the United States after the killing of George Floyd by the police, people are now taking to the streets in Australia. Their goal is to show solidarity with black communities in America, and highlight Australia’s problems with police violence and institutional racism.In this episode Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam examines Australia’s record on Indigenous deaths in custody.We did a whole episode on the death in custody of David Dungay Jnr here, it was based on the series Breathless and our reporting on the case.You can read Lorena Allam on Australia’s record on black deaths in custody here and Michael McGowan on reporting on the Indigenous teenager who was slammed face-first on to a pavement here. Continue reading...
Eight houses have been swept into the sea in Norway after a powerful landside near the town of Alta. The landslide was filmed by a local resident, Jan Egil Bakkedal – one of the houses that was lost belonged to him – who said he ran for his life when he realised what was happening.