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On the ground in the devastated Bucha and Trostianets; when rape is used as a weapon; and will Putin face a war crimes tribunal?

Labor demands government reveal how it shortlisted Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla as potential sites for baseVoters will be kept in the dark on how Scott Morrison’s government selected three potential bases for Australia’s planned nuclear-powered submarines, after the advice was blocked from release.With the prime minister preparing to formally call the election within days, Labor demanded the government reveal how it shortlisted the locations to prove the announcement was “not just a marketing ploy”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Four health services already failing to meet nurse-to-patient ratios ahead of expected Covid surge

Monarch to be represented by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla Duchess of CornwallThe Queen has pulled out of the Royal Maundy church service and will be represented by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, at the annual event for the first time.The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will fulfil the ancient tradition of handing out Maundy money to community figures on Thursday at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Continue reading...

Akshata Murty says she realises many felt her arrangements were not ‘compatible with my husband’s job as chancellor’• Sunak defends wife’s tax status as Labour and No 10 deny leakRishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, bowed to pressure to pay UK taxes on Friday night, after Boris Johnson said he had been unaware she was a “non-dom” and fresh questions emerged over the couple’s tax affairs.With Sunak’s position under increasing threat, Murty said she realised many people felt her tax arrangements were not “compatible with my husband’s job as chancellor”, adding that she appreciated the “British sense of fairness”. She will pay tax on all worldwide income in future and for the last tax year, but not on backdated income, which could have saved her an estimated £20m of UK tax on foreign earnings from her billionaire father’s Indian IT company. Continue reading...

Chancellor declines to endorse claim by Boris Johnson during London visit that goal will be achieved by mid-2024

Jobs set to go at Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and at West Bromwich, but new posts to be created at RotherhamLiberty Steel has announced plans to cut 200 jobs in the UK at plants in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, as industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s metals group looks to shift production to Rotherham.The company said on Friday that it would cut 160 jobs at a plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, and 45 in West Bromwich in the West Midlands as it focused production on the plant in Rotherham, also in South Yorkshire. Continue reading...

Analysis: Windrush scandal wrongly categorised people as illegal immigrants, while most Ukrainian refugees have documentationWhy has Britain, unlike every other country in Europe, insisted on requiring all Ukrainian refugees to obtain visas before travelling here?In justifying the decision, Priti Patel has again pointed to the Windrush scandal as a key factor in the government’s refusal to waive visas for people fleeing Ukraine. But it is a reasoning that has left immigration experts baffled. Continue reading...

Union’s offices raided as part of investigation into allegations of bribery, fraud and money launderingA police inquiry involving a Unite union official is examining contracts related to the construction of a £98m hotel and conference centre in Birmingham, the Guardian has learned.South Wales police and HM Revenue and Customs raided the union’s offices in central London on Thursday as part of an investigation into allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering. Continue reading...

Company’s lender, understood to be Petra Group, said to be considering possibility of opening storesThe shirtmaker TM Lewin could return to the high street after being rescued from administration by its main lender, understood to be Petra Group.It is not clear if the group’s 50 staff will be kept on under the rescue deal for TM Lewin, which called in administrators last month for the second time in less than two years. Continue reading...

Survivors in Yahidne recount writing names of the dead on wall during Russian occupation north of Ukrainian capital

Security forces say 28-year-old Palestinian suspect was killed after being tracked down in JaffaA third Israeli has died after an attack by a Palestinian man who opened fire into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, after Israeli security forces said they hunted down and killed the attacker early on Friday.The shooting on Thursday evening in a downtown area packed with people in bars and restaurants caused scenes of mass panic in the heart of the bustling city. Two people were instantly killed and more than 10 people were wounded. Continue reading...

Martin Newman was sipping wine and had taken drugs when he veered into car, killing three- and four-year-old and injuring motherThe family of two young siblings killed in a motorway crash caused by a drink-driver who had been sipping red wine at the wheel and had cocaine in his system have said they are devastated and angry after he was jailed for just nine years.Judge Williams acknowledged many people would feel the term he passed on Martin Newman was inadequate, but said sentencing laws set by parliament meant he could not jail him for longer. Continue reading...

Centrist incumbent and far-right rival go into last day of campaigning after a week of sparring in mediaThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen attacked each other in media interviews and walkabouts as final polls showed the gap between them narrowing on the last day of campaigning before Sunday’s first-round vote.Macron said Le Pen was “lying” to voters about her “racist” manifesto programme, which includes banning the Muslim headscarf, and accused her of “complacency” in her ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Ng, 49, found guilty of helping to embezzle money earmarked for development in one of biggest frauds in financial historyFormer Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng has been found guilty of helping to steal billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund after a lengthy trial brought by US prosecutors, who described the fraud as one the largest financial scandals in history and who hoped to show that individuals are always at the center of corporate wrongdoing.A New York jury found Ng, 49, once Goldman’s top investment banker in Malaysia, guilty of helping his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money intended for development to benefit Malaysia’s poor from a fund connected to Malaysia’s then prime minister, Najib Razak, and then to launder the proceeds while bribing officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. Continue reading...

Latest in series of attacks by Palestinians heightens sense of reduced personal security in IsraelAs Israelis reel from a Palestinian shooting at a Tel Aviv pub that killed three people, the government has threatened to strike back amid concerns of a broader escalation.Security forces shot dead the lone attacker in the early hours of Friday after a manhunt by army troops, police and intelligence personnel. Residents of the city – Israel’s commercial and entertainment capital – stayed off the streets in the aftermath of the attack, which has heightened a sense of reduced personal security across the country after three other attacks in the last two weeks. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest political coverage here and the latest updates from the Russia-Ukraine war hereRishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were legally declared to be “permanent US residents” – including for tax purposes – for more than a year into his chancellorship, it has been reported.Sky News reports claims that the couple held US “green cards” permitting them residence in the US until more than a year into his chancellorship – before then giving it up during his period at the Treasury.The US government website says the card is only for people who “make the US your permanent home” – which would be odd for someone holding multiple jobs in government, including local government minister, chief secretary to the Treasury and chancellor.A source close to Mr Sunak said “neither of them have green cards”, but refused to answer questions over whether they had them during any of his period as chancellor.Nuclear is critical to our energy future and GMB has long told ministers there can be no net zero without new nuclear.But it’s 24 hours since the prime minister was here at Hinkley Point C and the questions over this so-called energy plan won’t go away. Continue reading...

Charity brought case against government arguing planning permission process was flawedThe high court has overturned a government decision to build a national memorial to the Holocaust next to parliament, after an appeal by campaigners who argued the project was the “right idea, wrong place”.Planning permission for the memorial and education centre was granted last year after a six-week public inquiry. The government had called in the decision from Westminster city council amid controversy over the scheme. Continue reading...

Once the frontrunner for next Tory leader, Sunak has been written off by some as politically naiveThere has been an uneasy consensus among Conservative MPs that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has meant Boris Johnson is saved from a leadership challenge.But there is also a whispered agreement that there is another factor keeping Johnson in No 10 – the fast disintegration of Rishi Sunak’s reputation as a viable alternative. Tory MPs who spoke to the Guardian said they believed his chances of becoming prime minister were now minimal. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The 50-metre Aquamarine is under repair in dry dock in Vlissingen

Former tennis star acquitted of further 20 counts relating to 2017 bankruptcy

Outgoing commissioner, who resigned in February after losing confidence of London mayor, to leave role on SundayThe outgoing Metropolitan police commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, has warned against the “politicisation of policing” as her tenure at the top of Britain’s biggest police force comes to an end.Dick was forced out as head of the Britain’s biggest police force after London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, accused her of failing to deal with a culture of misogyny and racism within the Met. Continue reading...

Mimi Reinhardt was in charge of compiling names of Jews to work in German industrialist’s factoryThe woman who drew up lists of people for the German industrialist Oskar Schindler that helped save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust has died aged 107.Mimi Reinhardt, who was employed as Schindler’s secretary, was in charge of drawing up the lists of Jewish workers from the ghetto of the Polish city of Kraków who were recruited to work at his factory, saving them from deportation to Nazi death camps. Continue reading...

Home Office figures show 12,000 have reached Britain under two visa schemes

Analysis: Ukraine shows militarising foreign policy has come to define Boris Johnson’s premiership

Helplines report rising demand, as conversion practices decision follows years of ‘negativity from government, media and others’The mental health of the UK’s transgender community is at crisis point, with many people “hanging by a string”, professional bodies and support groups have told the Guardian.The stark warnings follow a week of intensified public discussion of transgender rights as the government moved to exclude trans people from a ban on conversion practices. Continue reading...

Government under pressure after prices climbed by more than 20% last year, while rental rates have also been risingJustin Trudeau’s government has announced it will ban foreign investors from buying homes in Canada for two years, in a bid to cool off a hot housing market.The finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, took a number of measures to tamp down speculation and demand amid record home prices in announcing the federal budget for the year. Continue reading...

Flight’s cancelled? Missed it as a result of queues? Stuck at a ferry port? We look at your rightsWith many schools breaking up at the start of the month, the Easter getaway was supposed to be well under way by now – but instead it’s been a week of travel chaos.Airlines have cancelled scores of flights a day, there have been delays at airports and ferry terminals and Covid cases are sweeping the country. We look at your rights if you find yourself seriously delayed or unable to travel. Continue reading...

At least 30 dead in Kramatorsk railway station attack; Kremlin admits ‘significant’ troop losses since start of war

Glyn Philpot’s 1930 painting of actor playing Othello at Savoy one of several portrayals of people of colour in Chichester exhibitionA portrait of the actor, singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson painted in 1930 by the British artist Glyn Philpot has been rediscovered through painstaking research, after it was sold nearly 80 years ago under the title Head of a Negro.The painting, one of a number of Philpot’s portrayals of people of colour, will go on public display in Chichester, West Sussex, from 14 May, in the first exhibition of the artist’s work for almost 40 years. Continue reading...

ONS data reveals about 1 in 13 people had coronavirus in week ending 2 April – with only Scotland seeing fallThe number of Covid-19 infections remains near or at record levels in most of the UK, with only Scotland seeing a drop, new figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed.The ONS data for the week ending 2 April, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, shows that, for the second week running, about 1 in 13 people across the UK are thought to have had Covid – an estimated 4.88m infections. Continue reading...

Judge at Croydon magistrates court sentences musician to restraining order and curfew with electronic tagThe musician Dizzee Rascal has been given a community order and will have to wear an electronic tag for attacking his ex-fiancee during a row over child contact and finances.The artist, 37, whose real name is Dylan Mills, had been found guilty of assaulting Cassandra Jones by pressing his forehead against hers and pushing her to the ground during a row at a residential property in Streatham, south London, on 8 June last year. Continue reading...

With final season of Channel 4 sitcom about to air, Derry residents hope it will leave lasting legacyAfter four years of jokes, memes, acclaim, and debate about whether Protestants really do keep toasters in cupboards, the imminent final season of Derry Girls is prompting bittersweet valediction in Derry.The Channel 4 TV sitcom that became an unexpected global hit after airing in 2018 cast a warm haze over Northern Ireland’s second city that inhabitants hope will linger beyond the third season, which starts next week. Continue reading...

Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova will be subject to asset freeze and travel ban

British PM plays down countries’ differences as he praises chancellor for efforts on Russian energy imports

London fire brigade at scene in financial district as more than 900 people evacuated from buildingFirefighters have been called to a smell of chemicals at a health club in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London, triggering the evacuation of 900 people.A mix of chemicals caused high levels of fumes and vapour in the building, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said. Continue reading...

Thirty-six-year-old who murdered primary school teacher in south-east London receives life sentenceKoci Selamaj has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey with a minimum term of 36 years for the murder of the primary school teacher Sabina Nessa.Sentencing Selamaj, 36, Mr Justice Sweeney said Nessa was the “wholly blameless victim of an absolutely appalling murder which was entirely the fault of the defendant”. Continue reading...

Judge describes Michael Rollinson’s conduct as a ‘breathtaking and flagrant disregard’ for the court’s authority

Ukraine ambassador flags need for further support from Australia; RBA says potential rate rises to hit borrowers’ repayments; PM says election call ‘won’t be very long from now’; Russia bans 228 Australian officials; NSW records first ‘Deltacron’ cases as nation records at least 30 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Prices of copper and nickel, used to make silver coins, have soared due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Mining giant funded latest excavation at Yirra, which yielded stone tools, charcoal and bone showing habitation during the last ice age

Lawyers for Roberts-Smith reject ‘completely baseless’ allegations against four witnesses set to give evidence for the SAS veteran

Former deputy premier, who replaces Peter Gutwein, vows to ‘lead a government with heart’

Guidance for England and Wales comes amid increasing concern over rate of obesity and cost to NHSA health watchdog is urging millions of people for the first time to ensure their waist size is less than half their height in order to help stave off serious health problems.The UK has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe, with two in three adults officially overweight or obese in an escalating crisis that now costs the NHS £6bn a year and wider society £27bn. Continue reading...

Nominee as US ambassador says there’s a lot more to the Aukus deal than just submarines as she faces US Senate foreign relations committee hearingCaroline Kennedy, the nominee for US ambassador to Australia, has said the Aukus security deal will provide “a lot of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific even before the nuclear-powered submarines are ready.With Australia set to enter a federal election campaign within days, Kennedy praised the country for standing firm with “a bipartisan foreign policy” in the face of “Chinese economic coercion”. Continue reading...

State news agency publishes article decrying ‘Ukrainianism’ as an ‘artificial anti-Russian construct with no civilisational substance’

Regulator also used courts to recover funds after only £300,000 of £6m raised was spent on charitable purposesA former medal-winning Paralympian footballer has been banned from being a trustee by the charities watchdog after an investigation found a disability sports charity he founded paid £1m raised by the public to companies run by him and his wife.The Charity Commission said Matt Dimbylow, 51, who represented the GB seven-a-side football team in the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics, and was a Paralympic World Cup medal-winner, was guilty of serious misconduct and abusing public trust. Continue reading...

South Wales police and HMRC are investigating allegations of bribery, money laundering and fraudPolice have raided an office in the headquarters of one of the UK’s biggest unions as part of an investigation into allegations of bribery, money laundering and fraud.More than 20 officers from South Wales police arrived unannounced on Wednesday at the offices of Unite in Holborn, central London. Police took away a number of items including documentation, notebooks and a computer. Continue reading...

Sprawling Villa Aurora – at centre of legal battle – attracts no bidders for second time at cut-price €377mFor the second time in three months a historic Rome villa that contains the only ceiling fresco ever painted by the Renaissance master and famed scoundrel Caravaggio has failed to attract a bidder.More than four centuries after his death at the age of 38, the man known during his lifetime for his fistfights, arrests and lawsuits as much as for producing many of history’s best-known paintings, is still causing trouble. Continue reading...

Chaos as outage of key HMRC system combines with P&O Ferries problems and surge in tourist trafficUK customs officials are battling to resolve an outage at a key post-Brexit IT system, with drivers complaining that the malfunction is adding to long delays for freight traffic trying to cross the Channel.A surge in Easter tourist traffic and reduced sailings from Dover, where several P&O ferries are still out of commission following the mass sacking of crew members, are combining with delays at customs to create havoc on the roads into the port, with parts of the coast-bound M20 motorway in Kent turned into a temporary lorry park as HGVs wait to reach France. Continue reading...