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Tories claim document published in Mail on Sunday proves Labour leader is guilty of ‘rank double standards’Labour has rejected claims that a leaked planning memo about Keir Starmer’s visit to Durham last year undermined his assertion he did not break lockdown laws, insisting he is “Mr Rules”.The Labour document, published by the Mail on Sunday, shows that an 80-minute dinner with the Labour MP Mary Foy, featuring a takeaway curry, was planned as part of his schedule. Continue reading...

Person 11 to give evidence on allegation by newspapers that Roberts-Smith kicked handcuffed man off cliff before ordering him shot

First Nations leaders call for referendum to ‘do what 1967 didn’t do, which is empower our people’

Workers concerned they will be covering flu-related teacher absences in coming months with no end date for scheme given

Policy will aim to double number of high achievers studying education and include places for qualified professionals to retrain

German chancellor draws parallel with second world war defeat of Nazi dictatorship in TV address

Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained since 2017 and allegedly tortured, accused of helping to fund assassination plotThe UK is under pressure to insist India release Jagtar Singh Johal, a British citizen, after a UN working group ruled he had been arbitrarily detained by India and his detention lacked any legal basis.Boris Johnson apparently raised the case when he met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, last month and provided a written note of consular cases, but Foreign Office ministers have not confirmed whether they regard his detention as arbitrary. Continue reading...

Sinn Féin has called for debate on Irish unification, but many obstacles exist to a referendum on the issueSinn Féin hailed its first victory in a Northern Ireland assembly election as a defining moment for the British-controlled region and called for a debate on a united Ireland.The party’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, had a simple message for unionists on Saturday, telling them: “Don’t be scared, the future is bright for us all.” Continue reading...

Two thousand Ukrainian troops thought to be trapped inside steelworks after civilian evacuation

Ferdinand Marcos Jr leads polls but analysts point to huge rallies of his opponent and the vice-president, Leni RobredoVoters in the Philippines will go to the polls for a presidential election that pits frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, against a human rights lawyer who has promised a transparent government.Marcos Jr, known as “Bongbong”, whose authoritarian father plundered billions of dollars from the state and presided over rife human rights abuses, has maintained a strong lead in opinion polls in the run-up to Monday’s vote. If elected president, it would mark an extraordinary rehabilitation of one of the country’s most controversial political families. Continue reading...

Pair suspected of killing three Israelis caught outside town of Elad after massive manhuntTwo Palestinians believed to have killed three people in a terrorist attack on Israel’s independence day – the latest incident in the worst wave of attacks in Israel in years – have been apprehended by police after a three-day manhunt.The suspects, identified as As’ad Yousef As’ad al-Rifa’i, 19, Subhi Emad Subhi Abu Shqeir, 20, both from the occupied West Bank village of Rumana, were caught near a quarry outside the town of Elad in central Israel on Sunday, according to a statement by Israel’s police, military and internal security agency. Continue reading...

Otoniel’s Gulf Clan militiamen shut down northern regions, blocking roads and holding residents hostage in their housesJorge, a community activist from Colombia’s conflict-ridden Chocó province, was already traveling to the city of Medellín when he heard news that made him turn back towards home.Paramilitary militiamen in balaclavas and military fatigues had thrown up a string of roadblocks and declared an “armed strike”, torching vehicles, forcing businesses to close, and stopping all traffic. Continue reading...

Review by Common Wealth reveals that UK pension funds hold tiny fraction of Shell and BP sharesBritain’s main pension funds own less than 0.2% of Shell and BP shares, undermining claims that a windfall tax on big oil companies would harm the retirement incomes of UK savers.A review of the oil giants’ shares by the Common Wealth thinktank shows the largest holdings are by US investment companies, including BlackRock and Vanguard, and the wealthy Norwegian pension funds. The UK’s multibillion-pound defined contribution occupational pension funds, which hold the savings of tens of millions of workers, rank among the least important investors after decades of spreading their investments in different markets around the world. Continue reading...

Painting by Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis traded for a meal at Irene and Tony Demas’s restaurant could fetch C$35,000Working out of the kitchen of their small restaurant in Ontario in the 1970s, Irene Demas and her husband Tony soon learned the value of trading their dishes for the talents of local bakers, craftspeople and artisans.“Everyone supported everyone back then,” said Irene, at the time a bright-eyed chef in her 20s. In exchange for daily fresh flowers, for example, the couple would take soup and a sandwich to the florist next door. Continue reading...

Dozens feared dead after Russian bombs hit school in Bilohorivka; Ukraine says it has destroyed another Russian ship

Hundreds of images of the British Nigerian man who died in Leeds in 1969 are on display across the city in defiance of thievesRacists who stole a blue plaque commemorating the death of a British-Nigerian man in Leeds have been “taught a lesson” as citizens overwhelmingly came together to display hundreds of images of the plaque on billboards, video screens and stickers across the city.Leeds was left shaken after the plaque dedicated to David Oluwale, who died in 1969 after being harassed by police, was stolen within hours of being unveiled on Leeds Bridge on Monday. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese will square off in second leaders’ debate to be broadcast on Channel Nine; Opposition leader says Labor will match Coalition’s $53m IVF pledge; nation records at least 19 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Homes for Ukraine scheme ‘unravelling’ as government seeks new accommodation for 600 people at risk of being exploited by hosts• Russia-Ukraine war – latest updatesThe government is scrambling to rehouse hundreds of Ukrainians granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme because the people they were supposed to stay with have been deemed “unsuitable”, the Observer can reveal.Refugee charities have warned since the scheme’s launch that with most of the refugees being women and children, and many matches made on social media websites such as Facebook, the scheme risked being targeted by predatory men. Continue reading...

Church service to mark eight centuries since Synod of Oxford brings together chief rabbi, senior Anglicans and Roman Catholic bishopThe Church of England is to apologise for its “shameful actions” in passing anti-Jewish laws 800 years ago that paved the way for the expulsion of Jews from England.A special service at Christ Church cathedral in Oxford on Sunday, marking the 800th anniversary of the Synod of Oxford, will be attended by Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, with representatives of the archbishop of Canterbury and a Roman Catholic bishop. Continue reading...

Even the wealthiest enclaves of the capital turned against the Tories last week. What has made the city a Labour redoubt – and is its dominance more of a menace than a boon?The most expensive property on the Monopoly board is Mayfair, which also happens to be the most exclusive expanse of real estate in real-life London. Flush with private equity firms, eye-wateringly expensive restaurants and luxury car showrooms, it voted Labour in last week’s local elections and helped swing Westminster council away from the Tories for the first time since the Beatles were in the charts with Can’t Buy Me Love.Recent years have seen working-class strongholds in the north of England turning Tory, and now you have the even odder spectacle of the super-rich in London voting Labour. That says something about Labour’s success in the capital but it also suggests that there is a growing divide between London and the rest of the country, where the party’s performance was decidedly less impressive. Continue reading...

AEC has also referred reports of hundreds of fake signs falsely suggesting independents were members of the Greens to the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce

Liberal backbench MP Katie Allen reiterates protecting gay and trans students is ‘not negotiable’

Star said the film – based on his Texas club – had ‘huge impact’ on his career while in life ‘I am doing exactly what I want to do’Country music star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and a nationwide wave of western-themed nightspots, has died aged 86.Gilley died on Saturday in Branson, Missouri, where he helped run the Mickey Gilley Grand Shanghai Theatre. He had been performing as recently as last month, but was in failing health over the past week. Continue reading...

The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia’s most advanced units have suffered heavy losses; Pentagon defends intelligence sharing with Ukraine as ‘lawful’

Home secretary is violating international law, the UN refugee convention and data protection rules, say lawyersThe first legal action has been launched against Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as the UN’s refugee agency raised concerns that the UK is “inviting” other European countries to adopt the same divisive immigration policy.Lodged last Tuesday, the legal challenge states that the home secretary’s proposals run contrary to international law and the UN refugee convention, as well as breaching British data protection law. Continue reading...

With Sinn Féin set to become the biggest party at Stormont for the first time, O’Neill says the results mark a ‘new era’ for ‘our politics and for our people’

Key areas such as conservation, the arts, science and education have been neglected in a narrowly focused campaign

The Consumers Health Forum says it too has ‘been sceptical for some time about claims of high rates of bulk billing’

Amid reports of grim conditions inside the Azovstal steelworks, wives try to rally support for an evacuation of remaining Ukrainian troops• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments“Holding up”, wrote Denys Prokopenko, commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, in his latest WhatsApp message to his wife Kateryna from the besieged Azovstal steelworks in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.Speaking via Zoom from Krakow, in eastern Poland, alongside three fellow wives and partners of soldiers living under the remorseless Russian shelling and infiltrating raids, Kateryna, 27, says she is doing everything she can think of to ensure the message at 10pm on Friday evening is not one of her husband’s last. Continue reading...

Decree forces male relatives to police law by making them liable to fines or prison for breachesThe Taliban have ordered all women to cover their faces in public in Afghanistan, the latest sweeping restriction by a government that has taken away women’s right to travel long distances alone, work outside healthcare or education, and receive a secondary education.In a cruel twist, the decree makes women’s relatives and employers the enforcers. If their faces are seen in public, their male “guardian” will be fined, then jailed. If the woman who goes out uncovered, or her relative work for the government, they must be fired. Continue reading...

Ex-Labour shadow home secretary made comment after Durham police opened inquiry into party leader and lockdown rulesDiane Abbott has said Keir Starmer should “consider his position” if he is fined by police for breaking lockdown rules by having a beer and takeaway with staff during election campaigning last year.Abbott, who served as the shadow home secretary during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, told LBC: “I don’t think he will – I think this is a lot of hype built up by the Tory press. But if he were to get a fixed penalty notice, he would have to consider his position. Continue reading...

Leftwinger tells rally that public must unite against far-right incumbent’s ‘incompetence and authoritarianism’Brazil’s former leader Luiz Inació Lula da Silva has kickstarted what he hopes will be a sensational finale to one of Latin America’s most extraordinary political careers, publicly declaring his intention to challenge Jair Bolsonaro for the presidency and urging citizens to unite against the far-right populist’s “incompetence and authoritarianism”.Speaking at a rally in São Paulo, where the one-time lathe operator began his spectacular rise to power as a union leader more than four decades ago, Lula publicly spelled out his ambition to reclaim the presidency for the first time. Continue reading...

At least five others wounded in one of deadliest attacks against Egyptian security forces in recent yearsAt least 11 troops, including an officer, have been killed in a militant attack in the restive northern part of the Sinai peninsula, Egypt’s military said on Saturday.It said in a statement that the militants attacked a water pumping station east of the Suez canal. It did not give further details on the location. Continue reading...

As the final votes are counted, heavy Conservative losses are tempered by a mixed picture for Labour while Lib Dems and the Greens perform well. The SNP continues to dominate in Scotland and Plaid Cymru gain seats in their heartlands and beyond

After repeated military setbacks, the Russian president will have to repackage the conflict to keep his people on-sideOn the brink of its May 9 Victory Day celebrations, Russia looks very far from triumph in its war in Ukraine. And all of its options going forward are fraught with danger.After a disastrous assault on Kyiv, Russia is engaged in an attempt to take territory in Ukraine’s east, as its military nears exhaustion and sanctions continue to escalate. Continue reading...

Analysis: it was certainly not a good night for the Conservatives but neither was it a clear-cut victory for the Labour partyThe Conservatives lost but Labour didn’t win. In a messy night with multiple cross-currents, voters turned against the Tories in many areas, yet an uneven Labour performance failed to fully dispel doubts about its appeal to the electorate.Tory nerves will be jangling after a heartland slump and the loss of prized London councils, but Labour strategists will also be anxious about mediocre performances in the leave-leaning battlegrounds of England. Continue reading...

New research also raises alarm over lack of minority ethnic senior teaching staffThe number of male secondary school teachers in England has fallen to its lowest proportion on record, according to new research that also highlights an alarming lack of senior teaching staff from ethnic minorities.An erosion in teachers’ pay has had “serious implications” for the recruitment and retention of staff, as well as the overall composition of the profession. The study found that men now make up just 35% of secondary school teachers. Continue reading...

Nadhim Zahawi calls for party unity as colleagues speak out, and insists the prime minister is ‘a man of integrity’

After leading party to victory in Stormont, former Dungannon mayor is set to make history

Anthony Albanese says meeting ‘about time’ as Scott Morrison says Australia reassured Solomons would not host military base

Zelenskiy says Mariupol being ‘tortured to death’, as UN security council omits words ‘war’ and ‘invasion’ from its first statement

Police disperse students with teargas and water cannon as national strike over economic crisis takes placeSri Lanka’s president has declared a state of emergency for the second time in five weeks, giving security forces sweeping powers as a nationwide strike demanding his resignation brought the country to standstill.A spokesperson for Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he invoked the tough laws to “ensure public order” after shops closed and public transport was halted on Friday by unions blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis, which has ignited weeks of unrest. Continue reading...

Projections put party ahead of DUP in what would be symbolic breakthrough for Irish nationalismSinn Féin appears on track to become the largest party in Northern Ireland’s Stormont assembly in a symbolic breakthrough for Irish nationalism, according to incomplete election results on Friday.Projections put Sinn Féin ahead of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP). If confirmed in final results, it would let the party make history and deliver a shock to unionism by nominating the party’s leader, Michelle O’Neill, as first minister. Continue reading...

Party wins control of Cumberland and Rossendale councils but fails to make the breakthrough it might have expected

Analysis: the front of the cabin is looking more like 2019 as business travellers return and pandemic savers splash outIt was proclaimed moribund, if not doomed, just a year ago. But now, is business class air travel taking off again? British Airways’ owner IAG, forecasting a return to profit this year, said that a strong recovery in business bookings was driving the recovery.In a world where half the City can no longer be bothered to get on the Northern line to return to the office, and bankers begrudge the cost of a train from Surrey, how can airlines claim to be pulling this off? Continue reading...

Durham police to look into allegations Labour leader broke Covid rules by having a beer with staff during byelection campaignThe Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is facing a formal investigation into claims he broke lockdown rules by having a beer and a takeaway meal with staff during election campaigning last year, after police said they had received “significant new information” about the gathering.While Labour said they were happy to cooperate with Durham police and insisted that no rules had been broken, the news is deeply uncomfortable for Starmer, who called for Boris Johnson to resign when he was investigated for a breach of the rules. Continue reading...

Kalush Orchestra say they ‘represent every Ukrainian’ and song Stefania has become an anthem in the country

Backbenchers and councillors call on Boris Johnson to ‘take a good, strong look in the mirror’

More trips by wealthy passengers as Covid controls eased also improved demand for IAG in first quarter

Prof Adam Finn suggests there is little point offering fourth jab to those less at risk of serious infectionHealthy younger people in the UK may never be offered another Covid jab, a leading expert has said, as a new wave of infections is expected to hit the country in the coming weeks.Giving his personal expert opinion, Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol and a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, suggested there was little point in offering a fourth jab to those yet to pass middle age, at least in the current landscape. Continue reading...