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Organisers of Viking fire festival in Lerwick had long resisted calls to drop males-only ruleShetland’s largest Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival has lifted a longstanding ban on women and girls taking part, after repeatedly resisting demands for reform.Organisers of the event held in Lerwick every January had refused to let women take part in the annual parade through the town by 1,000 torch-bearing guizers or the late-night ritualistic burning of a replica longship on a council-owned playing field. Continue reading...

The award-winning writer, whose hit musical originally opened on Broadway in the late 60s, died in New York City of cardio respiratory arrestJames Rado, the award-winning co-creator of Hair, has died at the age of 90.The writer, whose hit musical launched songs such as Aquarius and Let the Sunshine In, died peacefully in New York City surrounded by family. The cause of death was cardio respiratory arrest, as confirmed by longtime friend, publicist Merle Frimark. Continue reading...

‘Desperate’ tourist who fell foul of country’s total ban fears for her life if complications set in while she waits for transfer to UKDoctors have denied an American woman on holiday in Malta a potentially life-saving abortion, despite saying her baby had a “zero chance” of survival after she was admitted to hospital with severe bleeding in her 16th week of pregnancy.Despite an “extreme risk” of haemorrhage and infection, doctors at the Mater Dei hospital in Msida told Andrea Prudente that they would not perform a termination because of the country’s total ban on abortion. Continue reading...

Harley Bond, nine, whose condition limits his ability to walk and talk, has not missed festival since he was bornGlastonbury veterans often liken their journey to the festival to a semi-religious experience. But for one family the pilgrimage is particularly special.Harley Bond, nine, was diagnosed six years ago with a rare type of childhood dementia that gradually limits his ability to walk, talk and eat. He has a life expectancy of just 14 years. Continue reading...

Family to receive compensation for death of Xiaojun Chen in what union says is first case where a gig economy worker has been considered an employee

Man in 30s who knew the victim being held by Met policeAn 89-year-old woman has been stabbed to death in Croydon, south London.Emergency services were called to a home in Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath, at about 9.20pm on Tuesday and paramedics tried to save the pensioner but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Exclusive: officials’ comments put paid to idea displeasure with UK is limited to Irish caucus on Capitol HillThe US government has warned that Boris Johnson’s move to unilaterally axe some of the Northern Ireland Brexit arrangements protocol was a matter of continuing concern and “not conducive” to a trade deal.Senior officials have hit back at suggestions that the lack of public commentary by the Biden administration meant it was not troubled by the move to bring in new laws to ditch part of the Brexit deal signed in 2020. Continue reading...

Transport bosses say services will be disrupted throughout the week after mass industrial action on TuesdayTravel woes across Great Britain are due to continue as the fallout from rail strikes causes knock-on disruption.Talks have resumed in an attempt to resolve the bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions after a mass strike of rail workers on Tuesday, with further strikes planned for Thursday and Saturday. Continue reading...

Organiser Emily Eavis ‘very emotional’ as gates open for first edition of festival in three yearsThe Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has said she was overcome with emotion as the first of 200,000 people flooded into the festival for the first time in three years.Its return has long been anticipated after the pandemic forced organisers to cancel two years in a row. In celebration of its 50th year, Sir Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar will headline the Pyramid stage, while Diana Ross will fill the Sunday teatime legends slot. Continue reading...

Boy had been with other children in the river in Whitchurch, Cardiff, when he went missingThe body of a 13-year-old boy has been found in the River Taff after a major search operation.South Wales police confirmed the boy’s death after an extensive search involving police, fire crews, ambulance officers, coastguards and a police helicopter. Continue reading...

Region now on par with Saudi Arabia in some indicators – and coming closer to converging with ChinaHong Kong has plunged further in a human rights ranking report, bringing it on a par with Saudi Arabia in some indicators, and closer to converging with China as the Communist party government deepens its control on the region.The rankings report by the Human Rights Measurement Index (HRMI) also highlighted a deepening divide in China between high scores in quality of life indicators and some of the world’s lowest for civil and political rights. But the organisation found rights to basic essentials were often stripped from people for political reasons. Continue reading...

Woman repeatedly told Zumbo she did not want physical contact with him, Sydney court told

Law has important consequences and ‘sits oddly’ with aims of sentencing, which include rehabilitation and reintegration, national security watchdog says

Parts of China see worst flooding in decades as 500,000 homes damaged, roads collapsed and some houses swept awayMajor flooding has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in southern China, with more rain expected.The manufacturing hub of Guangdong suspended classes, office work and public transport amid rising waters and the threat of landslides. In the neighbouring province of Jiangxi, almost 500,000 people have seen damage to their homes and their lives uprooted. Continue reading...

Figure comes four years after people wrongly classified as illegal immigrants were promised redressOnly one in four applicants to the Windrush compensation scheme have received payments four years after the government promised redress for those wrongly classified by the Home Office as illegal immigrants.Fewer than 7% of the 15,000 compensation claims the government originally expected have received a payment. Ahead of Windrush Day on Wednesday, claimants continued to report long delays and high levels of scepticism from officials handling their applications. Continue reading...

Report finds officers failing to use body-worn cameras and incidents often occurred in prison ‘CCTV blind spots’

Intruders included 17 fighters, six H-6 bombers and aerial refuelling aircraft, in largest Chinese incursion since MayTaiwan scrambled jets to warn away 29 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone, including bombers that flew to the south of the island and into the Pacific, in the latest uptick in tensions and largest incursion since late May.Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years or so of repeated missions by the Chinese air force near the democratically governed island, often in the south-western part of its air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas islands. Continue reading...

In the middle of a crippling economic crisis, demonstrating is a luxury the country’s Tamil minority cannot affordFor months now, the sounds of protest and anger have rung out across Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city. Every day, along the city’s seafront promenade of Galle Face, people have gathered in their tens of thousands to rage against the government for plunging the country into its worst financial crisis in modern history.But 200 miles north, in the district of Mullaitivu, the streets are silent. The economic crisis has hit Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, who are concentrated in the north and eastern provinces, as hard as those in the south; the fishermen here say they are already starving. But they will also tell you that protesting is a privilege in Sri Lanka – one they have never been afforded. Continue reading...

Packs contain 52 photos of dead and missing people in initiative backed by victims’ families

Luigi Di Maio’s move comes after he accused 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte of undermining government support for UkraineItaly’s foreign minister Luigi Di Maio has announced that he is leaving the 5-Star Movement to form a new parliamentary group backing the government of prime minister Mario Draghi.Di Maio’s move comes after he accused 5-Star leader and former prime minister Giuseppe Conte of undermining government efforts to support Ukraine and weakening Rome’s standing within the EU. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on state government to increase public sector salaries to meet cost of living

Proposal to replace Human Rights Act with bill of rights is effort to make government ‘untouchable’, say criticsDowning Street will tomorrow set out sweeping plans to override the power of Europe’s human rights court just days after a judge in Strasbourg blocked the deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda.The abolition of the Human Rights Act (HRA), including reducing the influence of the European court of human rights (ECHR), will be introduced before parliament in what the government described as a restatement of Britain’s sovereignty. Continue reading...

Party’s Westminster leader faced calls to resign after leak of comments supporting suspended former chief whip Patrick GradyThe SNP has launched an external review into the support available to staff after an MP accused her party of “clearly falling short” of supporting sexual harassment complainants.It follows the party’s former Westminster chief whip Patrick Grady being suspended from the SNP’s Westminster group for a week, as well as being suspended from parliament for two days, over a sexual advance towards a teenage staff member in 2016. Continue reading...

Police arrest man after woman and her five-year-old son found with stab wounds at property in BarnetA man has been arrested after a woman and her five-year-old son were stabbed to death in north London on Tuesday.The woman, believed to be 37, and her child were found with stab wounds at a property in Brookside South, Barnet at 1.37pm. Continue reading...

Accusations of academics being paid per piece, rather than per hour, comes amid widespread higher education wage complaints

Growing call for inquiry over claims that Boris Johnson tried to secure Foreign Office role for then girlfriendCorrespondence exists confirming that Boris Johnson attempted in 2019 to secure a senior role for his then girlfriend, Carrie Johnson, at the Foreign Office, a source has said, amid growing calls for an inquiry.The source, who worked with Johnson at the time, said Carrie Johnson – now the prime minister’s wife – had never progressed as far as formally applying for the role. Continue reading...

RMT praises ‘fantastic’ turnout at picket lines but government plays down impact of actionThe first day of the biggest rail strikes in decades gave much of Great Britain a reminder of lockdown, with city centres quieter as millions avoided public transport, worked from home or took to their cars.About 80% of services were axed during the 24-hour strike by 40,000 members of the RMT union, leaving much of northern England, Wales and Scotland without any trains. Of the few trains that ran and stations that remained open, most were quiet as passengers heeded advice to avoid travel. Continue reading...

Japanese national Satoko Kishimoto won ward of 500,000 people 5,800 miles away with online campaigningA Japanese woman living in Belgium has been elected as mayor of a district in Tokyo after coming to prominence through her online campaigning during the Covid pandemic.Satoko Kishimoto, 47, who has lived in the Belgian city of Leuven with her husband and children for a decade, is now mayor of Suginami city, a ward of 500,000 people, more than 5,800 miles away from her home. Continue reading...

Union says Tuesday’s strikes had seen ‘fantastic’ turnout at picket lines and ‘exceeded expectations’

Incident occurred in violence-plagued remote mountainous region of Chihuahua, which has strong organized crime presenceTwo Jesuit priests have been killed inside a church after a man pursued by gunmen apparently sought refuge in a remote mountainous area of northern Mexico.Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín César Mora Salazar were killed on Monday inside the church in Cerocahui, Chihuahua. Continue reading...

Rich archaeological area 50 meters under sea off Antikythera gives up yet more treasures after boulders removedFor archaeologists, it’s the underwater find that keeps on giving. A Roman-era cargo ship, discovered by chance off the Greek island of Antikythera more than 120 years ago and regarded as the world’s richest ancient shipwreck, has yielded yet more treasures in the most recent explorations of it, including the missing head of a statue of the demigod Hercules.“In 1900, [sponge divers] pulled out the statue of Hercules [from the sea] and now in all probably we’ve found its head,” said Prof Lorenz Baumer, the classical archaeologist who is overseeing the underwater mission with the University of Geneva. Continue reading...

Robertson might be tiny but for poet and schoolteacher Peter Ramm, it is the secret weapon that helped him win the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished poetry

Bands, performers, celebrities and fans providing financial boost to south-west England townHannah Bennett had a bit of a moment when she drove up to the Field of Avalon. “I felt very emotional and tearful,” said Bennett, who sells hippy and fair trade clothing at her Rainbow Rebel stall. “It means so much to be back and meet the people I haven’t seen for three years. It feels normal and lovely, almost as if Covid didn’t really happen.”After being cancelled in 2020 and 2021, the Glastonbury festival is very much back on. The bands, the performers, the celebrities, the fans are on their way, providing a huge boost – both to morale and to finances – in this corner of south-west England. Continue reading...

Lars Klingbeil says country should take leadership role as it relaxes pacifist stance following Ukraine warGermany needs to “normalise” its relationship with the military and learn to take a leadership role in Europe after “almost 80 years of restraint”, the co-leader of the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) has said.In a speech marking a further point in Berlin’s slow pivot from a broadly pacifist foreign policy agenda since Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, Lars Klingbeil said it was important to recognise military force as a legitimate political measure for a government striving for peace. Continue reading...

Five officials accused of ‘violating discipline’ after police took half an hour to reach scene in TangshanFive police officials in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan are being investigated over their handling of a vicious attack on a group of women at a restaurant.The provincial discipline commission of Hebei province said the five, including the district head of the Lubei police force, Ma Aijun, were accused of “seriously violating discipline and law”. Hebei province’s public security bureau announced separately on Tuesday that Ma’s deputy, surnamed Li, had been removed from post. Continue reading...

Improvisation is speciality of Leeds outfit Ultimate Thunder, whose debut album is released next monthThe best live bands are the most unpredictable, with every performance teetering between triumph and disaster. But even the most chaotic acts usually have some sort of set list.Not Ultimate Thunder. This seven-piece post-punk outfit from Leeds amble on stage without even the vaguest running order, nor any confidence that their vocalist, Matthew Watson, will actually sing a note. Continue reading...

Unaccompanied under-18s are expected to be allowed with written permission from parent or guardianNew rules that will allow Ukrainian children to come to Britain alone are expected to be announced this week.It follows revelations in the Guardian that more than 500 children who fled the war without their parents have been stuck waiting in limbo across Europe after applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Continue reading...

Bright start expected to give way to heavy showers just as the main acts start to take to the festival’s stagesGlastonbury is upon us and the weather forecasts are in. There’s good news and there’s bad news.Festivalgoers will be reaching for the suncream and then the wellies as a sunny start gives way to heavy showers just as the main acts take to the stages on Friday. Continue reading...

Thousands of people visiting the capital are forced to change their plans as they struggle to get around

Collin Reeves jailed for at least 38 years for ‘brutal and savage’ attack on his neighbours Jennifer and Stephen ChappleA former soldier who murdered his nextdoor neighbours with a commando dagger after a dispute over parking has been told he will serve at least 38 years in prison before being considered for parole.Collin Reeves carried out a “deliberate and brutal” attack on Jennifer and Stephen Chapple at their home in the Somerset village of Norton Fitzwarren while their two children slept upstairs, moments after his wife had told him she wanted a trial separation. Continue reading...

Row escalates over Vilnius’s refusal to allow steel and iron ore to cross Russian exclave of KaliningradThe head of the Kremlin’s security council has threatened the “population of Lithuania” in an escalation of the row over Lithuanian railway’s refusal to allow some goods to cross the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.After a meeting in the region, which is wedged between Lithuania and Poland, 800 miles from Moscow, Nikolai Patrushev upped the rhetoric by threatening “serious consequences”. Continue reading...

Letter from 150 organisations adds to MPs’ concern about the bill of rights bypassing pre-legislative processDominic Raab is facing demands today from 150 organisations to allow detailed parliamentary scrutiny of legislation that is expected to replace the Human Rights Act.The justice secretary has been sent a letter coordinated by the campaign group Liberty calling for the bill of rights to be subjected to “robust consideration” amid fears that it will put the government beyond the reach of the law. Continue reading...

Leaked memo said ‘Labour must show leadership’ and ‘PPSs should not be on picket lines’

Watchdog says police statement suggesting Oladeji Adeyemi Omishore was ‘armed with a screwdriver’ is incorrectA man who died after falling into the River Thames following a confrontation with police who repeatedly fired a Taser at him was carrying a firelighter, and not a screwdriver as previously claimed, the police watchdog has said.The man came face to face with police who were called to reports of a disturbance on Chelsea Bridge, London, just after 9am on 4 June. Continue reading...

Luhansk governor says 568 civilians are holed up in chemical plant and Lysychansk being shelled ‘en masse’

Dozens of people said to have been killed in attacks allegedly involving Wagner Group fightersRussian mercenaries have mounted a series of bloody attacks on artisanal mines in the lawless border zones between Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR) in an effort to plunder the region’s valuable gold trade, witnesses and experts have said.Dozens of miners are thought to have died in at least three major attacks this year allegedly involving mercenaries working for the Wagner Group, a private military company that has been linked to the Kremlin by western officials. There are also reports of further attacks on mines in at least six other places across CAR. Continue reading...

At least 170 wrongly accused branch managers told they may not be repaid because they missed deadlineScores of post office operators wrongly accused of embezzlement by the Post Office due to faulty accounting software, may be disqualified from a dedicated compensation scheme.At least 170 branch managers have been told that they may not be repaid money wrongly deducted from their wages in what has been described as “the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history” because they were unaware of the scheme, which was launched for just three months during the 2020 lockdown. Continue reading...

Hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala was shot dead in his car in Punjab last monthIndian police say have arrested three men accused of murdering hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala and that they have seized a cache of weaponry including a grenade launcher from the suspects.Moose Wala – also known by his birth name Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu – was shot dead in his car in the northern state of Punjab last month. Continue reading...

Gladys Berejiklian told Jenny West she had the job in August but that offer was later rescinded and the role readvertised

RMT union believes government put pressure on Network Rail not to exceed 3% increase