World news | The Guardian

Party justified plan to hang flags at sites in Nottinghamshire on basis that local businesses would foot 75k billA 75,000 scheme by a Reform-led council to hang union flags at sites across the county, which the party said will not cost the taxpayer a single penny" as it would be sponsored by local businesses, has failed to attract a single sponsor, it has emerged.The plan to attach the flags to brackets on about 180 lamp-posts and other places was agreed in the autumn by Nottinghamshire's council, won by Nigel Farage's party in last year's May elections. Continue reading...

Exclusive: National Crime Agency and safety watchdog issue guidance amid rise in explicit material online

Singer and fiance Travis Kelce have been coy but festivities are getting under way at Madison Square GardenThe streets of New York City and the first-class lounges of Heathrow and JFK airports were crawling on Friday with celebrities on their way to attend the wedding of the year.Taylor Swift had kept fans guessing about whether it was her nuptials that had caused the closure of 11 streets in Midtown and the endless deliveries of flowers, food and decorations to the huge Madison Square Garden arena. Continue reading...

Pope Leo urges Americans to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence in his first major address to the USPope Leo has used his first major address to his home country to praise the US history of welcoming migrants, urging Americans to live up to the ideals put forward in the Declaration of Independence.In his latest implicit rebuke to Donald Trump, the first US leader of the Roman Catholic church said the word America" had become a byword for freedom" across the world because of the way the country welcomed migrants. Continue reading...

Zoe Watts and Amanda Stanhope launched network after being repeatedly assaulted by partners while unconsciousTwo women who were drugged and raped by their partners while they were unconscious have said hundreds of people - including about 80 in the UK - have come forward to an international support group for victims of the crime.Zoe Watts and Amanda Stanhope, who were both repeatedly assaulted by their partners while unconscious, are calling for tighter laws to stop men sharing images and videos of sexual assaults and rape online. Continue reading...

Port expansion and protections for whales part of BC and Alberta plan to expand country's presence overseasThe governments of Canada and the province of Alberta will move forward on a major new oil pipeline after the pair announced a plan to ease concerns of British Columbia and First Nations on the Pacific coast.Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, shuttled between British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday to announce more than C$150bn in new investments in both provinces, part of a broader project of reducing trade with the United States and expanding his country's presence in overseas markets. Continue reading...

McKee, 29, died after being hit by a bullet as she observed rioting in Derry in Northern Ireland in April 2019Three men from Derry have been found not guilty of murdering the journalist Lyra McKee in 2019.Her family said the verdict at Belfast crown court meant the justice system had completely failed" them and McKee. Continue reading...

Avoiding traditional questions and stilted broadcast clips, PM-in-waiting has evolved his style of media managementHe is due to become prime minister in just over a fortnight as parliament begins its six-week summer break. But at a marquee speech this week, he took precisely zero questions. So is Andy Burnham, as opposition leader Kemi Badenoch claims, dodging scrutiny? His allies say no: he is simply going about it in his own way.The former Greater Manchester mayor is very obviously a different type of communicator from Keir Starmer, and thus always likely to convey his message in methods beyond Starmer's traditional questions after a speech and the occasional stilted broadcast clip. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Data shows buyers are not rushing to get into the market, despite lower prices and less competition

Exclusive: Shabir Ahmed, jailed in 2012 for rape, abuse and trafficking of girls, was deemed three years ago to present high risk of sexual offending'The leader of the Rochdale grooming gang was deemed to pose a very high risk of serious harm" towards children just three years ago, the Guardian can reveal.Shabir Ahmed, 73, was freed from HMP Leeds on Thursday despite three failed attempts to secure parole, the most recent of which was in October 2024. One document, relating to a previous review in 2023, shows Ahmed was seen to present a high risk of sexual offending". Continue reading...

Anti-abortion policies may have appeal, but with one in three Australian churchgoers born overseas, talk of a monoculture may put them off

Emails sent between MP Anoulak Chanthivong's staff take cautious approach to AI giant arriving in Sydney - despite the government's encouragement

Fifty-six state branches want the laws reviewed, while gambling, Aukus and Palestine are also on the agenda

The government said it had to react to England's progression in the World Cup, which was only confirmed on WednesdayDowning Street said it would continue to use X after the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, announced she would stop using the social media platform.Nandy said yesterday the culture and media department will also stop using X because the site now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate".It is for individual departments to decide what is right for them in this regard.Our full focus remains on making sure X is following the law, cleaning up its act and ensuring it is safe for women, girls, children and people right across the country." Continue reading...

Suspect seen in Germany after attack apparently targeting tycoon Vadym IermolaievThe main suspect in a Monaco bomb attack this week that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon and two of his family members is a Ukrainian woman living in Germany who disguised herself as a man, authorities have said.Interpol, the international police organisation, on Friday issued a red notice for Anastasiia Berezovska, aged 39, describing her as German-speaking with dark hair and a tattoo, possibly of a snake, on her right arm from the shoulder to the elbow. Continue reading...

Reports of stampede' for stays near water amid concerns over cancelled flights, higher air fares and EU border delaysSummer bookings at Britain's hotels and holiday parks have jumped, compared with last year, as fears about flight cancellations and long delays at EU borders have prompted many UK holidaymakers to stay closer to home this year.There has been a surge in last-minute bookings for UK holidays amid warnings that airlines will have to raise their fares because of higher jet fuel bills that have resulted from the war in the Middle East. Continue reading...

The London-based fintech says restructuring is necessary to reduce duplicate' roles

Late announcement' means forces will have to adapt plans and move officers away from communities, say chiefs

Visitors can get free peek at works by one of UK's most significant 20th-century artists and one of his successorsSwifts screech overhead, hares lope along the grassy paths and butterflies flutter in the woodland fringe. There is an orchard; there are chickens, beehives. It seems simply a lovely, if conventional, slice of English countryside - until you happen upon striking sculptures fashioned out of chunks of reclaimed steel or machinery parts salvaged from factories, shipyards and farms.The pieces are the stars of a show called Heavy Metal, which brings together work by one of the UK's most significant 20th-century artists, Anthony Caro, and one of his successors, James Capper. Continue reading...

UK provisional peak of 37.7C shatters previous record by huge margin, while Germany hits all-time high of 41.7CLast week's heatwave across western Europe shattered national June records and set new all-time highs.The UK recorded a provisional high of 37.7C at Lingwood in Norfolk on Friday 27 June, smashing the previous June record of 35.6C, set in 1976. Such a margin is exceptionally rare: temperature records are typically broken by 0.1C or 0.2C, not a remarkable 2.1C. Continue reading...

Exclusive: As well as citing personal reasons, Ridley says she is making way for a successor to work alongside new leader'Hollie Ridley, Labour's general secretary, is to step down this autumn after two years in the job, she has announced to party staff.Ridley, an ally of Keir Starmer who ran Labour's field operations in the 2024 general win election, said in an internal email she would stand down after the party's annual conference in September. Continue reading...

Huge scale of funeral for supreme leader across five cities is intended to relay message of resistance to rest of the worldIn the small hours of Friday the police roadblocks, stalls, posters and army vans were starting to appear across Tehran as millions of Iranians prepared to attend the long-delayed six-day funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei's, Iran's supreme leader for 36 turbulent years.Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, and the funeral is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion. Small groups of mourners carrying flags were gathering along the roads festooned with the red fist, the symbol of the funeral alongside the slogan We must rise". At a ceremony dedicated to the families of martyrs, Khamenei's coffin was displayed. Continue reading...

Premier apologised over organised crime in some of Victoria's largest construction projects, in op-ed that claimed a royal commission would not solve the issue

State opposition tells court it will not take any steps to disendorse MP while legal proceedings under way

Researchers say Stelios Kouloglou's device was compromised after he joined European parliamentary committeeNSO Group's hacking software was repeatedly used against a member of the European parliament while he was conducting an investigation of spyware abuses in Europe, according to a new report.Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they could not attribute the attacks against Stelios Kouloglou to any particular government operator of Pegasus spyware. But their investigation found the attack against the Greek now-former MEP bore the hallmarks of a previous hacking campaign against exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists in Europe. Continue reading...

From Times Square to the Norwegian parliament and even in fighter jet cockpits, the choreographed row is everywhereThe fans have done it, in their thousands, in the stadiums. The players have done it on the pitch. Pretty much anyone who was there did it in New York's Times Square. Norwegian MPs did it in parliament.Prince Sverre Magnus, third in line to the Norwegian throne, rowed in an Oslo subway carriage. Care home residents in their 90s rowed in rural Norway and Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots rowed in their F-35 fighter jets. Continue reading...

This weekend marks 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence, but Donald Trump is making the celebration all about himself. As the anniversary approaches, Jonathan Freedland talks to the Atlantic's Yoni Appelbaum about why so many Americans are feeling less patriotic these daysArchive: AP, Reuters Continue reading...

Painting by Jeremie Queyras shows former German chancellor in trademark jacket - at a time of nostalgia for her ruleOver months they met secretly in a studio in the government quarter of central Berlin - a young artist and his subject, the former German chancellor Angela Merkel. For hours at a time, while Jeremie Queyras painted her portrait, they bonded, Merkel has said, chatting about all and sundry". Sometimes they were silent, or they listened to classical music, taking it in turns to let each other choose the pieces.The result of what Merkel, 71, called their little adventure" was unveiled to an invited audience of family, friends and a handful of art critics this week in the neo-baroque Bode-Museum in Berlin. Continue reading...

In one area 76% of fishing boats were followed, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parentsBottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic are increasingly following trawlers to scavenge for food, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parents, a study has found.These days the easiest way to find [bottlenose dolphins] is to look for trawlers," said Giovanni Bearzi, a co-author of the study and the president of Dolphin Biology and Conservation in Italy. Many of them are followed by the dolphins that go to forage and scavenge in their wake. Continue reading...

Migratory giant petrel discovered near Hawks Nest north of Newcastle infected with H5. Testing under way to determine if it's highly pathogenic H5N1 strain

Exclusive: Documents also show the Catholic order sought financial support from the Holy See months before it declared it lacked money to pay survivors

Official statement offers the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual and fatal incident in BeijingChinese authorities said the man who flew a small plane into Beijing's tallest skyscraper last week was a 66-year-old who had mental health problems.The statement published on Thursday offered the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual incident that occurred in Beijing's central business district on the evening of 26 June. Continue reading...

Indian prime minister has a habit of collecting awards on his travels, some as their first and only recipientAs Narendra Modi touched down in Seychelles over the weekend, the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean swiftly bestowed one of its highest" honours upon the Indian prime minister.Modi beamed as he accepted the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award from Patrick Herminie, the Seychelles president, complete with a trophy and certificate. Continue reading...

One of 11 surviving copies of Exeter printing' and only one known outside US was taken from American privateer shipFor Michael Scurr, a volunteer at the National Archives in Kew, west London, it was just a boring old Thursday morning" when he sat down in late May to catalogue a collection of documents from the British national collection that had never previously been recorded in detail.As he opened a volume of 18th-century Royal Navy correspondence, however, Scurr unfolded a document whose opening words he recognised. In Congress, July 4, 1776. A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America ..." Continue reading...

San Francisco jury fails to reach verdict on more serious felony conspiracy charge over April 2024 demonstration

Former Fox News host further said he doesn't want to be a candidate' for president and aired frustration with TrumpTucker Carlson, the rightwing broadcaster, wants to help build a new political party in the United States, he said in an interview - though he gave scant detail about the party, and did not indicate whether he was referring to a concrete project or merely musing.In the same interview, Carlson dismissed the idea of running for office as part of that new party. I don't want to be a candidate," he said. Continue reading...

Liz Murrill accused of trying to intimidate officials who opposed GOP-enacted law to overhaul local courtsLouisiana's Republican attorney general was indicted on Thursday on criminal charges by a grand jury in New Orleans, accused of trying to intimidate local officials who fought a law enacted by GOP legislators to overhaul the local courts.Liz Murrill, the attorney general, told eight New Orleans officials, including Helena Moreno, the mayor, and Jason Williams, the district attorney, that they could face removal from their jobs because of their opposition to the law. Continue reading...

Derrick Callella admitted he called and sent texts to Guthrie's family, demanding a bitcoin transactionA California man is facing up to two years in prison or a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to sending Nancy Guthrie's family a phoney ransom note, federal authorities announced on Thursday.Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on 31 January at her residence outside Tucson, Arizona. Inside the home, authorities observed her cellphone, medication and other basic essentials. Law enforcement also found drops of her blood near the porch. Continue reading...

National Weather Service warns heat index could reach 115F as heat grips midwest, Ohio valley and east coast

Exclusive: Claims against Israel Defense Forces battalion include deliberate targeting and destruction of residential buildings in 2023 and 2024 without military justification

Makerfield MP said he would consider reducing business rates as part of a package that could also include freeze on private rentsAndy Burnham promised to ease the cost of living if he becomes prime minister in his first interview since returning to parliament.The Makerfield MP told LBC that if he became prime minister later this month, as expected, he would look at reducing business rates for some high street businesses, bringing down water and energy costs by de-privatising companies and making bus travel free for 16- to 18-year-olds. Continue reading...

Study suggests even light activity such as ironing could reduce health risks linked to prolonged sedentary behaviourSitting for longer than half an hour at a time each day raises the risk of dying from cancer, a study suggests.Researchers who tracked more than 90,000 people over a decade found that sitting or lying down while awake for more than 30 minutes in one period each day was associated with an increased risk of cancer death. The risk increases for every additional hour of continuous inactivity, the findings suggest. Continue reading...

Victims say hearing Keir Starmer's acknowledgment of their suffering was emotional but want more mental supportThis summer's World Cup fever vividly takes Ann Keen back to 1966 and the day England won the tournament - she was 17 years old and it was the day she told her father she was pregnant. It was the worst thing that could ever have been said to him. I was told I'd put shame on the family and I must be sent away," the former Labour MP said.I was in an unmarried mother's home where I had to scrub the steps from morning until night. It was all about punishment. Even in the delivery room I was told I couldn't have anything for the pain, because I was a bad girl. And when NHS staff are telling you that, you start to believe it." Continue reading...

Security guard Hernan Alberto Gil Flores, 43, initially told rescuers not to tell his wife in case he did not surviveA 43-year-old security guard who survived last week's devastating earthquakes in Venezuela thanks to a pocket of air in his workstation cabin has been pulled from the collapsed basement of a shopping centre amid huge cheers from international rescue teams.Hernan Alberto Gil Flores had been trapped for eight days under the rubble of the Galerias Playa Grande in the hard-hit coastal port city of La Guaira since the back-to-back quakes struck. Continue reading...

Yorgen Fenech said to have spent 400,000 on fees for men convicted of car bombing that killed investigative journalistA businessman accused of commissioning the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia spent more than 400,000 (343,000) on legal fees for the hitmen convicted of her killing, prosecutors claim.Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to one of Malta's largest fortunes, arrived in court for the second day of his trial on Thursday in an unmarked armoured police vehicle. He is on house arrest having pledged a record bail estimated at 50m. Continue reading...

Eleven-year-old developed symptoms 19 days after encounter in exceedingly rare' case in CanadaDoctors in Canada say a child who awoke to find a bat resting on his nose and mouth while visiting an Ontario cottage later died of rabies, in an exceedingly rare case" that highlights the need for better public awareness.In a report published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, infectious disease physicians confirmed that the 11-year-old boy died from rabies, a fatality they said probably could have been prevented with greater awareness of how the virus is transmitted. Continue reading...

PM says whole country will be backing the team' for 1am game, as licensing hours extended after fierce backlash

The NHS will divert billions of pounds from essential services to pay for new medicines, under the terms of the US-UK trade deal agreed in December, which could lead to more than 200,000 excess deaths, analysis has found.Ministers have defended the deal as a way of helping British drug exports avoid US tariffs and giving patients access to vital medication, but critics accuse the Labour party of caving into pressure from Donald Trump.Lucy Hough speaks to columnist Aditya Chakrabortty - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Commissioner asked to investigate Reform UK leader after private meeting with Bank of England governorThe standards watchdog has been urged to investigate whether Nigel Farage lobbied the Bank of England to drop a cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for the billionaire bankrolling his party, potentially in breach of parliamentary rules.The Reform UK leader has said his party's major donor, Christopher Harborne, wanted nothing in exchange for the 15m he donated to the party and the undeclared 5m gift to Farage the Guardian revealed in April. Continue reading...

After decades of campaigning by those affected, PM says British state did not do enough to protect' mothers and childrenKeir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state's role in past forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected.The prime minister said the shame is ours" and that he was deeply and profoundly sorry" for what had happened, as he announced extra funding to help people access their adoption records and reconnect with biological families. Continue reading...