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Chef’s six-bedroom property with pool and tennis court was most expensive sold in Cornwall last yearGordon Ramsay has sold one of his homes in Cornwall for £7.5m in what is believed to be the most expensive sale ever recorded in the county.Daymer Bay House in Trebetherick – a property with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a swimming pool and tennis court set on a hectare (2.5 acres) of land – was sold in March last year, when the pandemic-fuelled “race for space” was still driving up house prices in picturesque and more rural locations. Continue reading...

Founder vows to make changes to structure after almost $1bn wiped off advertising group’s share priceSir Martin Sorrell has described the twice-delayed reporting of S4 Capital’s annual results as “unacceptable and embarrassing” and pledged to restore investor confidence in the advertising group after almost $1bn (£810m) was wiped off its market value.S4 Capital, the digitally-led ad group Sorrell launched after resigning from WPP four years ago, was forced to delay the publication of its results twice after its auditors, PwC, said it was “unable to complete the work necessary”. Continue reading...

Patriots will open at the Almeida in London and star Tom Hollander as Boris Berezovsky, with Vladimir Putin and Roman Abramovich among the charactersPeter Morgan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and creator of Netflix’s The Crown, is to explore the world of Russian oligarchs in a new play at the Almeida theatre in London.Patriots will star Tom Hollander as the businessman Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead, apparently hanged, at his Berkshire home in 2013. The play, set in Russia and the UK, features Vladimir Putin, whom the “kingmaker” Berezovsky helped into the Kremlin before the pair became foes. Berezovsky, who once owned Russia’s most powerful television station, fled to Britain, where he remained a prominent critic of Putin. Continue reading...

Award given for the interactive reconstruction of the moment Israeli forces hit a residential tower block in GazaThe Guardian has won a prestigious Amnesty media award for the interactive reconstruction Countdown to the airstrike: the moment Israeli forces hit al-Jalaa tower, Gaza, showing the race to evacuate residents of a block of flats before their homes were turned to rubble.The Best Use of Digital Media award was given to the Guardian’s Global Development reporter Kaamil Ahmed and interactive designer Garry Blight, Airwars’ Joe Dyke and the Gaza-based journalist Anas Baba for their use of video, images and audio captured by the residents of al-Jalaa tower in the hour after Israeli forces called to tell them it would be demolished. Continue reading...

President defends ‘scientific and effective’ mass lockdowns despite protests, shortages and damage to economic growthXi Jinping has confirmed there is no intention to turn away from China’s zero-Covid commitment, in a major speech to the country’s senior officials that also warned against any criticism or doubting of the policy.Addressing the seven-member politburo standing committee, China’s highest decision-making body, specifically about the Shanghai outbreak, the president said China’s response was “scientific and effective”. He told officials to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of dynamic zero-Covid”. Continue reading...

Investigation into the crash at Sioux Lookout revealed two of four passengers were fleeing murder and conspiracy chargesA plane crash in the rugged hinterlands of Canada during seemingly calm weather has prompted a federal investigation into what could have brought down the small aircraft.But revelations that two of the passengers were fleeing murder and conspiracy charges and had links to organized crime have only deepened the mystery over the doomed flight. Continue reading...

TV star, 64, asks for privacy as he says he ‘hasn’t been too well recently’ and is undergoing chemotherapyThe TV chef Dave Myers has revealed he has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.The 64-year-old found fame as one half of cooking duo the Hairy Bikers, alongside his friend and fellow chef Si King. Continue reading...

Noosa Temple of Satan founder ordered to show cause why affidavits shouldn’t be provided to prosecutors or police

Tips for parents and carers include talking openly, helping them relax, and creating revision routines

Reports of panic attacks, anger, self-harm and disengagement before first exams in three years since Covid

Prime minister’s latest comment on Labor leader’s performance follows jibe about Albanese’s ‘quiet week’ in Covid isolation

Police say investigation is under way after three-year-old Queensland girl Nevaeh Austin was found unconscious on Wednesday

Mark Wooden reportedly said Labor was playing ‘political games’ by saying it would lift wages

Analysis: When senior Tories warned they could lose Wandsworth and Westminster it sounded like expectations management. But lose them they did

Aboriginal affairs minister, Gabrielle Williams, says some previous inquiries, reports and reviews were disappointing

Leaders call for funding to be directed towards self-determined governance after police minister announces additional officers for regional areas

Tahnee Shanks and partner Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo have not been seen in Cancún since Monday but two-year-old Adelynn was found wandering alone

Latest updates: elections take place in many areas across the UK with polling stations open from 7am to 10pm BST

Citing ‘concern’ within community, watchdog promises ‘a thorough and independent investigation’A police officer is being investigated for potential driving offences following the death of a man who was hit by a police car.The incident occurred in Peacehaven, East Sussex, just after 11.10pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

The birds’ wings are clipped to keep them from escaping their enclosure – leaving them unable to escape a predatorA wild fox in Washington DC, has chewed through a fence at the National zoo and killed 25 flamingos in the worst animal attack there in two decades.On Tuesday, zoo officials announced that in addition to the 25 American flamingos that were killed early on Monday in their outdoor habitat, three more were injured. A northern pintail duck was also killed by the fox. Continue reading...

Dorset teenager was discharged from hospital without community support a few weeks before her deathA psychiatrist has expressed regret for discharging the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope from hospital just weeks before her death without community mental health support, an inquest heard.Dr Peter Jeffery completed a Mental Health Act assessment on 19-year-old Pope on 22 October 2017 after police took her to Poole hospital with what appeared to be psychotic symptoms. He decided she did not require admission to a psychiatric unit and instead she was sent home, Dorset coroner’s court heard on Thursday. Continue reading...

Convenience store chain says any rescue likely to result in little or no value being attributed to its sharesThe convenience store chain McColl’s has said it is increasingly likely to call in administrators as it battles to secure a rescue deal with 16,000 jobs in the balance.The UK-listed retailer, which has more than 1,100 small shops around the UK including about 250 Morrisons Daily outlets and a number of Martin’s, said any rescue was likely to result in “little or no value” being attributed to its shares. Continue reading...

Employment rights reforms, such as safeguards for zero-hours workers, are not expected to be included in the Queen’s speech next weekThe government has been accused of betraying some of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers in Britain after it emerged it would leave out landmark reforms to employment rights from the Queen’s speech.The employment bill is not expected to be included in next Tuesday’s list of priorities for parliament as the government focuses on policies relating to energy and economic crime. Continue reading...

Labor’s emissions targets are in line with 2C of heating, which would still lead to extreme heat events and the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef

Six in ten people surveyed say the two issues are of most concern, followed by the Australian economy, healthcare costs and climate

With support for major parties at historic lows, United Australia and a teal independent see opportunity in the coastal NSW electorate

Labor needs to gain seven seats to form majority government while the Coalition must offset any losses with gains elsewhere

Tracey Connelly will be released from prison after the board rejects Raab’s appeal against the decisionDominic Raab has launched a scathing attack on the Parole Board after it rejected his appeal against the decision to free the mother of Baby P, who died after months of abuse.The justice secretary had claimed that the decision to release Tracey Connelly, who was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of five years in May 2009, should be reconsidered on the grounds of irrationality, but a judge upheld the original decision. Continue reading...

Pentagon appears to confirm claims US is providing actionable information to Kyiv

TV stars, musicians and other high-profile women talk about their terminations, in wake of leaked US supreme court draft judgmentTelevision presenter Cathy Newman has become the latest high-profile woman to go public with her experience of having an abortion, as the possibility of the US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade sparks a defiant outpouring of testimony.Posting on Twitter on Thursday, the Channel 4 News presenter wrote that she was sad to have had an abortion but had “never for one second regretted it”. Continue reading...

Michael Barton says those pushing for action, such as Tory MPs and rightwing papers, are using policing as a ‘political football’Durham’s former police chief has condemned attempts to get his former force to investigate Keir Starmer over allegations of Covid rule-breaking as “hypocritical” and “dangerous” and said there is no evidence the Labour leader flouted the law.Michael Barton, chief constable of Durham until 2019, said the pressure on police to investigate was politically motivated. In his time in charge, Durham was rated as one of the best performing police forces. Continue reading...

Book thought to have been taken 15 years ago was rediscovered when it went up for auction in GermanyAn ancient manuscript by the French astrologer Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, stolen from a library in Rome has been returned to the Italian capital.The manuscript, entitled Nostradamus M Prophecies and dating back about 300 years, was rediscovered last year when it was put up for sale by a German auction house. Continue reading...

Labor leader says elections should not be ‘some bureaucratic gotcha game’ in solo appearance on ABC’s Q&A program

Osinachi Nwachukwu’s family and friends allege that she was a victim of domestic abuseOn most Sunday mornings, the searing voice of Osinachi Nwachukwu, one of Nigeria’s best-known gospel singers, filled the vast 100,000 seater auditorium of her church in Abuja.Footage from one of the last times she led the choir at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre showed her singing the 2017 gospel hit Ekwueme, her eyes pressed closed and hand outstretched in prayer. Continue reading...

Destruction of historic buildings is considered a war crime and Kharkiv has been among worst affected

Amanda Milling says ‘significant changes' needed to tackle corruption following talks with political and community leadersThe Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling has said a decision on whether to impose direct rule on the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has still be to be made following her return from a three-day visit to the overseas territory, but said its government must address endemic corruption.Her emergency trip, during which she met a variety of business, community and political leaders, came after the territory’s premier, Andrew Fahie, appeared in a US federal court in Miami last week on charges of money-laundering and conspiring to import cocaine following his arrest in a sting operation by agents posing as Mexican drug traffickers. Continue reading...

Monarch to be represented by other members of family as events take place for first time since 2019The Queen is to miss the royal garden party season in her platinum jubilee year and will be represented by other members of the royal family, Buckingham Palace has said.A spokesperson said details on attendance would be confirmed in due course. Continue reading...

In a classic case of misdirection, defence minister calls Guardian Australia a ‘trashy publication’ instead of answering important questions

Very warm weather forecast in south next week after an April with third less rain than normalThe UK looks set to endure a mini-heatwave from next week, with above normal temperatures steadily climbing to as high as 22C or 23C in the south later in the month, meteorologists predict.Sunny and dry conditions will prevail in the south after an April during which average maximum temperatures were generally above normal and the UK had about a third less rain than usual. Continue reading...

Three-year-old girl remains in intensive care after being found unconscious in near 30-degree heat at Gracemere, QueenslandA three-year-old girl who was found unconscious in a bus parked outside a childcare centre in central Queensland is now breathing on her own, her grandmother has said.Police say Nevaeh Austin was left unattended for six hours in hot temperatures outside Le Smileys Early Learning Centre in Gracemere, near Rockhampton, on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Premier says state to consider lifting rule limiting work on Sundays but Labor voices opposition, calling it a ‘thought bubble’

Portrait last seen in 1930 will go on display in Vienna and also be part of a non-fungible tokens collectionA painting by Egon Schiele depicting the artist’s uncle and legal guardian has been rediscovered after being missing for more than 90 years, a museum has said.Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano (1907) was found within a Viennese private collection and will go on public display for the first time at the Leopold Museum in Austria, which houses the largest and most eminent collection of works by the great expressionist. Continue reading...

Tahnee Shanks, 32, was last seen in Cancún on Monday, where she was holidaying

Results will be seen as test of Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer at likely mid-point of current UK governmentPolls have opened in the local elections, with both major parties frenetically managing expectations as a Tory mayor warns Boris Johnson he will have to go further in helping people struggling with the cost of living.The results will be seen as a major test for Johnson and Keir Starmer, coming at the ostensible mid-way point of the UK government’s term. A total of 146 English councils, and all those in Scotland and Wales, are up for grabs – as well as seven mayoralties. Continue reading...

Scientists behind survey of car number plates said drop was ‘terrifying’, as life on Earth depends on insectsThe number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The scientists behind the survey said the drop was “terrifying”, as life on Earth depends on insects.The results from many thousands of journeys by members of the public in the summer of 2021 were compared with results from 2004. The fall was highest in England, at 65%, with Wales recording 55% fewer insects and Scotland 28%. Continue reading...

Funding for 133 schools run by Syria Relief ended on 30 April, leaving pupils at risk of child labour and early marriageMore than 40,000 Syrian children are out of school as a direct result of British aid cuts and more schools could soon close, a leading charity has said.British funding for 133 schools run by Syria Relief ended on 30 April, as the government cut its total foreign aid spending from its commitment of 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%. Continue reading...

Leader of Ukrainian forces says they are engaged in ‘difficult bloody battles’ against Russian troops, as another 344 civilians are evacuated

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong Marcos, frontrunner in race to replace populist president Rodrigo DuterteOn 9 May about 67.5 million Filipinos will go to the polls to decide who should replace the populist president Rodrigo Duterte. He has reached the end of his six-year term and is constitutionally barred from running again. Continue reading...

New Zealand-born artist Claus Stangl wins prize decided by gallery staff with painting of Academy Award-winning director