World news | The Guardian

Dominic Perrottet says Covid-19 policies should not be ‘set and forget’ while ACT chief minister pushes for further extension of leave payments

Consumer health company’s shares open at 330p, giving it a market value of about £31bnGSK’s consumer spin-off Haleon, home to brands from Sensodyne toothpaste to Panadol painkillers, has begun trading on the London Stock Exchange in the biggest European listing in a decade.Haleon shares started trading on Monday morning at 330p, with a market value of about £31bn. Continue reading...

Global Times quotes comments by foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on military encounters in the South China SeaChina has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”.Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft. Continue reading...

Inquest hears Peter Jenkinson spoke to Krystal Fraser the night of her disappearance

As economy collapses, women from Afghanistan’s finance ministry say they have been asked to suggest male relatives to replace themThe Taliban have asked women employees at Afghanistan’s finance ministry to send a male relative to do their job a year after female public-sector workers were barred from government work and told to stay at home.Women who worked in government positions were sent home from their jobs shortly after the Taliban took power in August 2021, and have been paid heavily reduced salaries to do nothing. Continue reading...

Focus on individual’s culpability played into ‘blame-based system of accountability’, says healthcare professionals bodyMedical experts in cases involving doctors should have a mandatory duty to consider systems issues such as inadequate staffing levels to avoid them being scapegoated for wider failures, the Medical Protection Society has said.The MPS, which supports the the professional interests of more than 300,000 healthcare professionals around the world, says medical expert reports focus on scrutinising the actions of the individual doctor even when failings are a result of the setting in which they work. Continue reading...

Intervention comes as thousands of homebuyers refuse to make mortgage repayments in deepening property sector crisisChinese banks have been told to bail out struggling property developers to help them complete unfinished housing projects and head off the growing mortgage strike that threatens to seriously damage the economy.With thousands of homebuyers banding together to refuse to keep up with mortgage instalments on unfinished apartments bought off the plan, regulators have stepped up efforts to encourage lenders to extend loans to qualified real estate projects. Continue reading...

Shadow minister Pat McFadden seeks answers about chancellor and offshore family firm, and £26m loan his firm spent on propertyThe shadow treasury minister, Pat McFadden, has written to Nadhim Zahawi, challenging him to provide more clarity about his tax and financial affairs.Since becoming chancellor after Rishi Sunak resigned earlier this month, Zahawi has faced persistent questions about his relationship to a Gibraltar-based firm, Balshore Investment, controlled by his parents. Continue reading...

Members of Criminal Bar Association take fight for a 25% rise in legal aid fees to parliamentBarristers are heading to parliament as they begin their first whole week of strike action over levels of legal aid funding they say are bringing the criminal justice system to its knees.Members of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents advocates in England and Wales, began action with a two-day strike at the end of last month and have been escalating it by an extra day every week. Continue reading...

Treasurer says rising interest rates will affect economic growth but Labor has plans to provide cost-of-living support

Thousands evacuated as above 40C forecast for some French regions on Monday and more lives lost in soaring heat in SpainFrance was bracing on Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean, as wildfires continued to rage across Europe.Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the south-west, where wildfires have already wrought havoc. Continue reading...

Declaration called ‘expedient’ as Ranil Wickremesinghe tries to curb unrest over ongoing political and economic crisesSri Lanka’s acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has declared a state of emergency as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation.“It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community,” a government notice released late on Sunday said. Continue reading...

Wallabies fan who made his way to roof during third Test against England charged by police and condemned for ‘deplorable’ behaviour

Marina Ovsyannikova briefly detained days after she demonstrated near the Kremlin holding placard criticising Putin and Ukraine warRussian police detained and later released the journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live television broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, posts on her social media channels showed.Her detention on Sunday came a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and president Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Home Office has ‘worrying’ habit of announcing untested ideas to stop Channel crossings, says analysis

SBU’s Ivan Bakanov and war crimes prosecutor Iryna Venediktova sacked after their officials found to be collaborating with Russia

Latest updates: five remaining contenders take part in ITV debate ahead of next round of MP ballots on Monday

Analysis: the candidates’ pitches are evolving but the ITV debate was not enough to move the dialSometimes in TV debates there are clear winners. It often happens in the first debate of a series, when viewers do not know what to expect, and it happened last week, when Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat clearly made a better impression than the others. That was the consensus commentariat view, but also the finding of a snap poll too.But mostly debates just confirm impressions that are already fairly well lodged in the minds of people who already have a view on the candidates. Continue reading...

Wage growth is at record low levels, while the profit share is at a near-record share of GDP, according to analysis from the Australia Institute

NSW and Victorian governments say at least four refuelling stations will be built along Hume Highway

Army and explosive experts use drone amid toxicity fears from wreck reported to be Ukrainian aircraftA large cargo aircraft transporting munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh has crashed and exploded in a ball of flames in northern Greece, killing all eight crew onboard.Serbia’s defence minister, Nebojša Stefanović, said the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of military products, including illuminating mortar shells and training shells, and the buyer was the Bangladesh defence ministry. Continue reading...

The change, to be rolled out this week, will leave customers to judge whether goods are still fine to eatMarks & Spencer is planning to remove “best before” labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste.The change, to be rolled out this week, will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat. The measure will affect 85% of the supermarket’s fresh produce offering. Continue reading...

Rugby league clubs and stars pay tribute to player Ricky Bibey, a two-time Challenge Cup winnerA former rugby league player has been named by Italian media as the man found dead in a hotel room in Florence.Ricky Bibey, a two-time Challenge Cup winner with Wigan Warriors and St Helens, was found dead in the room at the Hotel Continentale on Saturday morning, alongside a 43-year-old woman who had suffered serious injuries. Continue reading...

Despite court hearing, Home Office continues to claim UNHCR is supportive of controversial schemeThe Home Office has been accused of misrepresenting the UN refugee agency’s stance on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a new disagreement between the two organisations, the Guardian has learned.The Home Office and UNHCR have clashed previously over the safety and suitability of the Home Office’s policy of forcibly removing some asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the UK on small boats or in the back of lorries to Rwanda to have their claims processed there. Continue reading...

Campaign launched to highlight plight of Maksym Butkevych amid fears he is being wrongly labelled a ‘British spy’

His Name is My Name recounts Eline Jongsma’s efforts to trace the life and crimes of a Nazi collaborator in the NetherlandsIt was the family secret that nearly went to the grave. Gerrit Jongsma was a convicted war criminal – a small-town mayor and Nazi collaborator who sent at least one Jewish family to their deaths. He was also the great-grandfather of Eline Jongsma, a Dutch writer and film director, who only discovered his identity a decade ago.Far from further hiding his crimes, Jongsma, with long-term directing partner, Kel O’Neill, created a documentary about her relative, which was released on Instagram this month. Continue reading...

Some say the Tory top gun is planning a comeback, as maverick creates Bush-style photo opportunityHis premiership may have been grounded and his status as Tory top gun soon to be erased, but Boris Johnson sought to underline his standing as the maverick of British politics last week with a visit to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.Donning flying overalls reminiscent of those worn by President George W Bush ahead of his infamous “mission accomplished” speech in 2003, Johnson looked the part as he was given a demonstration of a Typhoon fighter jet. Continue reading...

Evacuations from Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk; Russian forces reportedly preparing new offensive; all bodies identified after Vinnytsia missile attack

Boy died of critical injuries after parents flagged down ambulance while trying to get him to hospitalA three-year-old boy has died after a collision with a tractor on a farm in Bury.Greater Manchester police (GMP) were called shortly before 12.45pm on Saturday after people in a vehicle carrying a seriously injured child flagged down an ambulance. Continue reading...

Protesters angry prime minister who they say propped up Rajapaksa dynasty in running to lead countrySri Lanka’s political crisis is looks likely to continue this week after the ruling party decided to nominate the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as its candidate to be the next president.After the dramatic toppling of Sri Lanka’s strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the campaign has begun for who will take up executive power at a time when the country is facing some of the worst economic and political upheaval since independence. Continue reading...

Prime minister stays at Chequers as NHS, schools and transport providers issue warnings about fatally high temperaturesBoris Johnson was accused on Saturday of being “missing in action” after failing to attend a Cobra meeting to discuss the national heatwave emergency following predictions that thousands could die in the coming days.As the threat to life from the impending heatwave continues to crystallise, the prime minister chose to skip the meeting on Saturday. He instead stayed at his Chequers country retreat, where he is due to hold a thankyou party for supporters on Sunday. Continue reading...

The family of the veteran pilot who lost his life in the May crash – along with everyone else on board – joins those calling for updated tech in aircraft“He used to say, ‘24 hours [in a day] is not enough for me!’”Bibhuti Ghimire’s voice breaks as she describes her father, a well-respected pilot in Nepal and a multitalented man with a flair for music, who would get bored with playing the piano and move on to the harmonium. “And he loved to fly.” Continue reading...

If PM elevates Nigel Adams and Nadine Dorries to Lords, byelections could be the acid test for new Tory leaderBoris Johnson is threatening to set an “early test” for his successor by ensuring they have to face two early byelections as the new Tory leader, the Observer has been told.The prime minister is planning to elevate at least two current MPs to the House of Lords well before the next election, triggering two contests that will test public support for whoever replaces him in Downing Street. Continue reading...

Preet Chandi, first woman of colour to complete a solo unaided trip to the South Pole, announces plans for her next tripWhen she became the first woman of colour to complete a solo, unaided trip to the South Pole, Capt Preet Chandi wanted to prove “no matter where we are from, no matter what we look like, we can achieve anything we want”.Now, “Polar Preet” has her sights set on a greater challenge – to become the first woman to complete a solo and unsupported journey across the entire continent of Antarctica. Continue reading...

Beyond the frontlines, academics are fighting to counter the fake tales of their country’s past that are peddled by the KremlinAt the entrance to Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, a bronze relief of the face of Mykhailo Hrushevsky stares out towards the red-painted portico. A historian by training, and a key figure in Ukraine’s national revival in the early 20th century, Hrushevsky served briefly as the head of Ukraine’s revolutionary rada – or parliament – in 1918.Taras Pshenychnyi, deputy dean of the history department, pauses to examine the image of his distinguished forebear, and to reflect on the extraordinary times the university is seeing since the Russian invasion. Continue reading...

At least 37 deaths across country since Thursday as residential areas appear to be targeted• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updatesAir raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Friday evening, as the country braced itself for another string of intensified long-range missile strikes on cities and towns across the country.At least 37 people have been killed in missile attacks since Thursday that appear to have targeted busy civilian areas and crowded buildings, a tactic Russia has repeatedly denied employing. Continue reading...

During lockdown, fledgling comedians won virtual acclaim. Now they hope real-life festival crowds will find them just as funnyHow does a newcomer fill a theatre while up against thousands of rival entertainers? This is the challenge posed by the Edinburgh fringe festival. But an answer can now be found on TikTok.Several of the up-and-coming talents at the fringe for the first time next month are already celebrities on the social media site, andwill arrive equipped with bands of admiring followers to match those of established names on the comedy circuit. But will their online audience turn up in real life? Continue reading...

Emergency meeting held on Saturday afternoon as Met Office warns ‘lives are at risk’An emergency meeting is being held by ministers and officials on Saturday amid soaring temperatures, which experts have warned could put lives at risk.The high temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday, with an 80% chance of the mercury topping the UK’s record temperature of 38.7C (101.7F) set in Cambridge in 2019, and a 50% chance of temperatures reaching 40C somewhere in the UK. Continue reading...

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says support will continue until the end of September amid winter Covid wave set to peak in August

Bookmakers’ favourite to replace Johnson as PM accuses other campaigns of running ‘black ops’ briefings against her

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urges mask-wearing indoors after national cabinet meeting. This blog is now closed

Calls for aid to be let into Port-au-Prince district after ‘battlefield’ violence leaves dozens dead and cuts supplies of food and waterHaiti’s capital has been racked by a week of heavy fighting between gangs, with the global medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warning that thousands of people were trapped without food or water in one district of Port-au-Prince’s notorious Cité Soleil slum.“We are calling on all belligerents to allow aid to enter Brooklyn and to spare civilians,” said Mumuza Muhindo, the MSF’s head of mission in Haiti, in a statement referring to the contested area within the sprawling Cité Soleil. Continue reading...

A 17-year-old was fatally stabbed following a violent brawl on 11 April

Sir Kevan Collins says recovery plan may end up little more than ‘a few kids in the corner doing a bit of tutoring’The former education recovery commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins, has accused the government of burying its head in the sand over the loss of learning among children in England due to Covid, warning the problem will not just “go away”.He expressed regret about lost opportunities after the government rejected his ambitious £15bn plan for recovery, including an extended school day for all, and warned that the flagship national tutoring programme (NTP) was in danger of becoming little more than “a few kids in the corner doing a bit of tutoring”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour leader, speaking after meeting German chancellor, condemns candidates’ ‘fanciful’ spending plansKeir Starmer has dismissed the acrimonious Conservative leadership race as a “travelling circus”, in which the candidates have demolished their party’s economic credibility by promising billions of pounds of unfunded tax cuts.Speaking on a visit to Berlin where he held talks with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the Labour leader highlighted the “fanciful” spending pledges made by the five contenders battling it out to succeed Boris Johnson. Continue reading...

Succession star warns cost of rental accommodation is ‘squeezing the lifeblood’ out of festivalThe Succession star Brian Cox has warned the Edinburgh fringe risks “cutting off the lifeblood” of young talent at the festival if action is not taken to lower soaring accommodation costs for performers.The 76-year-old actor, who plays Logan Roy in the hit HBO show, said the festival, which starts on 5 August, is the only one like it in the world – and it is a “conduit for young talent”. Continue reading...

While leaders presented a picture of harmony, more vexing topics like Australia’s fossil fuel ambitions and China were kicked down the road