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Latest round of reprioritised' spending includes $720m from cuts on consultants, contractors and labour hire as Labor tries to rebuild public service

As you decipher how the budget may alter your life on Tuesday night, your politicians will be raking in the cash by wining and dining donors and lobbyists

Inquiry reveals undercover officer who fathered child with woman under fake identity was married to a secondAn undercover police officer who used his fake identity to deceive a woman into a 19-year intimate relationship and fathered a child with her was married to a second woman at the time, a public inquiry has disclosed.The officer hid his real identity from the first woman and never told her his actual job during their relationship. He used his fake name on the birth certificate of their son. Continue reading...

Private understanding ensures tending of British military graves in Russia and Crimea, and Soviet graves in UKIn graves at Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok, in Russia, lie the bodies of 663 British military personnel. Most of the dead lost their lives in the period just after the first world war, when allied troops were sent to support rightwing White forces in the Russian civil war against the Bolsheviks, while 41 are casualties from the second world war Arctic convoys.Their resting places have been tended over decades by the Russian military and by private contractors, paid by the UK's Commonwealth War Graves Commission. But after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, economic sanctions meant Britain could no longer pay for the graves to be maintained. Continue reading...

Women at Holyrood cite lack of support from party, abuse in chamber and online, and tolerance of bullyingHolyrood is becoming a hostile environment for women" and a significant number of female MSPs in the Scottish National party are stepping down before the May 2026 elections, citing lack of support from the party, tolerance of bullying, and abuse in the chamber and online.Almost four years on from the election of a record number of 58 female MSPs across all parties in 2021, 14 SNP women have so far said they will not stand again, accounting for 23% of the party's current MSP group. Continue reading...

Pontiff says he has had the opportunity to experience the Lord's patience' and pays tribute to tireless care' of medicsPope Francis greeted a large crowd of pilgrims gathered outside Gemelli hospital in Rome in his first public appearance in more than five weeks, before being discharged from the hospital on Sunday.The pontiff, who is recovering from pneumonia in both lungs, made the brief greeting and blessing from the balcony of his hospital room shortly after the release of the text for his Sunday Angelus. Continue reading...

Daughter says Barbie Reynolds, 75, is collapsing from malnutrition and that the health of Peter, 79, is also decliningThe daughter of a British couple in their 70s imprisoned by the Taliban has expressed serious concerns over their deteriorating health after delays to their expected court appearance.Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province. The couple, aged 79 and 75, who have been running projects in schools in Afghanistan for 18 years, had not been informed of the charges, their daughter said. Continue reading...

UK chancellor not satisfied' with the current numbers, but promises the economy and living standards will improveRachel Reeves has promised the UK's economy and living standards will improve, as she pledged to cut running costs of government by 15% and civil service jobs by 10,000.In advance of Wednesday's spring statement, the chancellor defended her stewardship of the economy since the election, saying she had made difficult choices. Continue reading...

Hamas leader in Khan Younis among 19 dead from Gaza bombing, while Iran-backed rebels in Yemen fire missile at IsraelIsraeli strikes across southern Gaza killed at least 19 people overnight into Sunday, including a senior Hamas political leader, officials said.Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said it was intercepted with no casualties or damage. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedAngus Taylor calls Labor's energy bill rebate Band-Aid on a bullet wound'The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, also says the Coalition will not get in the way" of the government's $150 energy rebate, announced last night.We're not going to get in the way of it. The starting point here though is very clear which is Labor's failed on delivering its promise of a $275 power price reduction.We're not going to stand in the way of Labor cleaning up their own mess. This is putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. The solution here is to get a structural outcome which is a reduction in underlying electricity prices, which has not been achieved, of course. It's gone the other way.They are both supplied by the US with little to no sovereign input, are expensive and outdated. Like Aukus, this equipment is much more about signalling our loyalty to the US than defending Australia. Continue reading...

Treasurer seizes on shadow finance minister's comments on out of control' disability insurance scheme

Recently installed prime minister expected to confirm 28 April ballot as he seeks to keep Liberal party in governmentMark Carney will run for election in the Ottawa riding of Nepean as the new Canadian prime minister seeks to join parliament for the first time, his Liberal party has announced.Carney on Sunday is predicted to trigger an early general election on 28 April. The Liberals said on Saturday that Carney would run to represent the suburban riding, or district, of Nepean, noting in a social media post that Ottawa is where he raised his family and devoted his career to public service. He previously served as the head of Canada's central bank and before that as deputy. Continue reading...

Anger over detention of Ekrem Imamolu becomes a touchstone for opposing President Recep Tayyip ErdoanWhen demonstrators gathered at Istanbul's city hall last week in outrage at the arrest of mayor Ekrem mamolu, 26-year-old Azra said she was initially too scared to defy a ban on gatherings. As protests grew on university campuses and in cities and towns across Turkey, she could no longer resist joining.I saw the spark in people's eyes and the excitement on their faces, and I decided Ihad to come down here," she said with a grin, standing among tens of thousands that defied a ban on assembly to fill the streets around city hall on Friday night. Despite the crowds, Azra feared reprisals and declined to give her full name. Many demonstrators were masked in a bid to defy facial recognition technology and fearing the teargas or pepper spray sometimes deployed by the police. Others smiled and took selfies to celebrate as fireworks illuminated the night sky. Continue reading...

Departments will be asked next week to reduce spending by 10% by 2028-29, says Cabinet Office sourceThe civil service will be told to slash more than 2bn a year from its budget by the end of the decade as part of the government's spending review, with unions warning of significant job losses, the Guardian understands.The Cabinet Office will tell departments to cut their administrative budgets by 15%, which is expected to save 2.2bn a year by 2029-30. Continue reading...

Israeli PM says Ronen Bar sacked over 7 October report, rather than investigation into his office's alleged links to QatarisIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a Saturday speech that the decision to fire the country's domestic security chief Ronen Bar was made before the announcement that Bar was investigating the prime ministry for alleged ties to the Qatari government.Netanyahu said that he had decided to fire Bar, the director of Shin Bet, after the agency's report on the 7 October 2023 attack, rather than after it opened its investigation. Continue reading...

Met Office warns of flooding, as parts of country sees torrential rain after warmest spring equinox in more than 50 yearsHeavy showers, hail and thunder are forecast to hit the UK days after the warmest spring equinox in more than 50 years.

Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow to his living standards pledge in advance of the spring statementLiving standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to new data that raises serious questions about Keir Starmer's pledge to make working people better off.The grim economic analysis, produced by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), comes before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, makes her spring statement on Wednesday in which she will announce new cuts to public spending rather than increase borrowing or raise taxes, so as to keep within the government's iron clad" fiscal rules. Continue reading...

Miliband said he wanted to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure'Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association's director general, criticised Heathrow airport in as a result of the disruption, reports the PA news agency.This is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines," he said. Walsh added:From that arises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers.We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve."I'd like to stress that this has been an incident of major severity. It's not a small fire.We have lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city and our backup systems have been working as they should but they are not sized to run the entire airport."You can say that but of course contingencies of certain sizes we cannot guard ourselves against 100% and this is one of them.This has been a major incident. I mean, short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport and we are actually coming back quite fast I would say, when you consider the amount of systems that we have to shut down then bring back up and make sure that they're safe."This is unprecedented. It's never happened before and that's why I'm saying it has been a major incident." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Expenses authority found claim was within parliamentary rules because Dutton attended in his official capacity as a minister'

About 1,000 times the combined capacity of Wivenhoe and Boondooma dams was required to cool Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors in 2011

Australia's banks have been given an easy ride at taxpayers' expense. And economists Chris Richardson argues the banking levy is a fraction of what it should be

New strikes are just a beginning' said Netanyahu, after Trump inspires Israel to seize territory with massive military onslaughtIn Gaza this weekend, the mood is darker than it has been at perhaps any time in this long, appalling war. Last Tuesday Israeli warplanes, tanks, artillery, drones and ships launched a wave of strikes, shattering the increasingly fragile pause in hostilities that had brought respite to the devastated territory for nearly two months. The ceasefire had also brought hope which, Palestinians in Gaza said, made the return to violence that much more unbearable.In a video statement last Wednesday, Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, called on 2.3 million people in Gaza to banish Hamas", saying the alternative is complete destruction and ruin". Continue reading...

Government says lessons need to be learned after the substation fire that caused chaos for 300,000 passengersThe government has launched an urgent investigation into the power shutdown that crippled Heathrow airport, with experts warning it was a wake-up call" about vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructure.The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator (Neso) to investigate the incident and assess the UK's energy resilience. The regulator Ofgem warned it would not hesitate" to take action if there were any breaches of standards or licence obligations. Continue reading...

Thomas Woldbye says most other airports operate similar back-up power systems to Heathrow, as Ed Miliband announces investigationThe chief executive of Heathrow has defended the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation stopped about 1,300 planes and disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.It comes after Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association's director general, criticised Heathrow for the disruption, while the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has now ordered the National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate" the outage. Continue reading...

A new exhibition at the National Archives in London will reveal the extent of MI5 operation to expose the British double agent who was also Observer reporterSecret surveillance of Britain's notorious double agent, Kim Philby, made public for the first time in archived documents, reveals how keenly the Security Service wanted to confirm or disprove early suspicions of his high-level treachery.In daily bulletins submitted to MI5 in November 1951, undercover operatives describe how Philby, codenamed Peach, moved about London. Continue reading...

Critics say cuts will mean that children will have to face off alone in court against experienced Ice attorneysThe Trump administration is reported to have cut funding to a legal program that provides representation for unaccompanied migrant children, one month after directing immigration enforcement agents to track down minors who had entered the US without guardians last month.Organizations that collectively receive over $200m in federal grants were informed that the contract through the office of refugee resettlement had been partially terminated, according to a memo issued on Friday by the interior department and obtained by ABC News. Continue reading...

Five hundred canisters being examined after man arrested in East Sussex town on suspicion of producing illegal substancesA bomb squad has carried out a controlled burn of explosive chemicals discovered at a property in an East Sussex town as they continue to examine a further 500 canisters.A major incident was declared on Friday while an operation continued to make the chemicals safe, with 73 people forced to move to a nearby hotel. Continue reading...

Club co-owner's request for hundreds of millions of pounds to help regenerate local area labelled outrageous' by criticsSir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner of Manchester United, has been challenged over the proposed use of hundreds of millions of pounds of public funds to deliver his vision of building the world's greatest stadium".Ratcliffe, who has an estimated fortune of about 12bn, quit the UK for tax-free Monaco in 2020. He is now urging ministers to help support the club's vision of the stadium with public funds to regenerate the surrounding area. Continue reading...

Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within yearTeenagers who are permanently excluded from school are twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year of their expulsion than those who were merely suspended, a large-scale new analysis of police and education records has shown.London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), set up to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime in the capital, said the new research is the first direct evidence of a clear link between children being excluded from school and involvement in violence". Continue reading...

Band members were joined on stage by former Gallows frontman Frank Carter as stars and fans welcomed their returnThere was anticipation on Oxford Street in London as the Sex Pistols rocked the 100 Club for the first time in more than half a century, playing classic tunes for a crowd of creaking punks.In a hot and sweaty venue, which harkened back to the band's glory days, they darted on stage like squaddies on a march, to roars from the audience. They were celebrated by stars and superfans such as Noel Gallagher, Bobby Gillespie and the Jam frontman, Paul Weller. Continue reading...

Nurse allegedly convinced woman she had cancer while plotting to collect more than $1m from the victim's life insuranceA registered nurse in Utah allegedly convinced a woman that she had terminal cancer, injected unprescribed insulin into her, and killed her with that method while plotting to collect more than $1m from the victim's life insurance, according to police.Meggan Randall Sundwall faces charges of first-degree felony aggravated murder as well as obstruction of justice after her recent arrest in the death of Kacee Lynn Terry, 38, authorities said in documents that spell out the unusually grim case and were reported by various Utah news outlets. Continue reading...

From media to culture and the arts to the refusal to abide by court orders, we're nearing Defcon 1 for our democracy', experts sayEntering the magnificent great hall of the US Department of Justice, Donald Trump stopped for a moment to admire his portrait then took to a specially constructed stage where two art deco statues, depicting the Spirit of Justice" and Majesty of Justice", had been carefully concealed behind a blue velvet curtain.The president, who since last year is also a convicted criminal, proceeded to air grievances, utter a profanity and accuse the news media of doing totally illegal" things, without offering evidence. I just hope you can all watch for it," he told justice department employees, but it's totally illegal." Continue reading...

As Trump escalates a global trade war, looking to gold to shield cash might not be the worst optionAs economic uncertainty roils the US, the price of gold has roared to record highs amid investors seeking a place to shield their cash from Donald Trump's scattergun trade wars.A single ounce of gold cost $3,051.99 on Wednesday, compared with $2,160 in 2024, and gold has historically been seen as the safest place to invest in financially turbulent times. Continue reading...

Healthcare journal calls for radical change in approach, urging policymakers to invest in their communitiesAn academic journal may inject some optimism into US health policy - a scarce commodity amid the Trump administration's mass layoffs, funding freezes and the ideological research reviews.A new issue of Health Affairs Scholar argues the conversation around healthcare can change - and radically - if academics think bigger" and policymakers invest in their communities. Continue reading...

Experiences of harassment, groping, inappropriate touching and forced penetration anonymously reported

Exclusive: Merseybeat act, contemporaries of the Beatles, will play final show at Glastonbury this year after farewell tourThey are the longest-running band in pop history, selling tens of millions of records and filling venues worldwide in a 68-year career. But now the Searchers have decided to take their final bow.The group, who were contemporaries of the Beatles during the British invasion" will play their last ever show at this year's Glastonbury festival, after a final farewell tour" of Britain. Continue reading...

Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdownA string of high-profile arrests and detentions of travellers is likely to cause a major downturn in tourism to the US, with latest figures already showing a serious drop-off, tourist experts said.Several western travellers have recently been rejected at the US border on increasingly flimsy grounds under Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, some of them shackled and held in detention centers in poor conditions for weeks. Continue reading...

Pressure on movers and lawyers as more than 75,000 buyers in England and NI forecast to miss deadline

Andy Burnham hails truly integrated, London-style' system with fares calculated and capped automaticallyManchester will enjoy a transport network on a footing with London, New York and Madrid" when contactless tap-in fares launch across its buses from Sunday.The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, said that the switch would mark the moment when the city would realise our ambition of a truly integrated, London-style transport network", allowing people to switch between buses and trams without different tickets and with the cost automatically calculated and capped. Continue reading...

Nuffield Trust says supply chains have shifted, with drugs for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis among those now scarceDrug shortages in the UK have risen to their worst level for four years, official figures show, with Brexit considered a key reason so many medications are scarce.Drug companies notified the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) about disruptions to supply 1,938 times during last year - the highest number since the 1,967 seen in 2021. Continue reading...

Airport expects to be fully operational on Saturday, but airlines say closure will have huge impact' in coming daysFlights began landing at Heathrow on Saturday morning as it aimed to return to normal operation after shutting down over a loss of power. Restrictions on overnight flights were temporarily lifted to help ease congestion, the Department of Transport said, and the airport said passengers should come to Heathrow on Saturday as they normally would.British Airways, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expected to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday. The airline would usually expect to run nearly 600 departures and arrivals on a Saturday but it is understood cancellations will be made, where possible, to high-frequency routes. Continue reading...

Booksellers take stand against influence of conservative billionaire by limiting orders of his company's books and placing them on lower shelvesA conservative Catholic billionaire and media owner is facing an independent bookshop rebellion in France over his influence in the publishing world.Dozens of independent booksellers are trying to counter the growing influence of Vincent Bollore, whose vast cultural empire includes television, radio, the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, and also, since 2023, the biggest book publishing and distribution conglomerate in France, Hachette Livre. Continue reading...

Minister announces increase in both income and property price caps as part of 2025 budget

The death of the heavyweight champion boxer was announced by his family in a post on Instagram

Boat carrying 13 people capsizes in rough seas while travelling to island of Nusa Penida

The moves that barred the media mogul's choice of lawyer are immune from legal challenge, giving the national security committee what one expert called the powers of a police state'The dwindling freedom in Hong Kong over the past few years has been described as death by a thousand cuts". Critics have been jailed, elections have been transformed into patriots only" affairs, journalists have been harassed and hundreds of thousands of people have left.This week, an obscure legal development has, in the eyes of some legal experts, inflicted another cut on the city's once revered legal system. Continue reading...

Police allege victim, 24, was ambushed by up to 10 men and stabbed to death near Marriott Waters shopping centre on 14 March

Chancellor to tell party she is making steep cuts to avoid similar fallout to that which followed 2022 mini-budgetRachel Reeves will raise the spectre of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget in the lead-up to next week's spring statement as she tries to persuade her Labour colleagues to accept the steepest departmental cuts since austerity.The chancellor will tell her fractious party she has decided to cut public spending rather than increasing borrowing because of the risk of a similar fallout to that which followed the then prime minister's disastrous fiscal statement in 2022. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners urges Albanese government to increase range of medicines they can prescribe

Victorian Labor has faced a crime crisis' before - but no matter how tough the premier talks on law and order, the Coalition is always willing to go tougher