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Jacinda Ardern remains preferred prime minister but her party records worst polling since 2017 amid Covid surge and rising living costsFor the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour party has slipped from being New Zealand’s most popular and been overtaken by the right.A new TVNZ/Kantar Public poll found the centre-right National party had surged by seven points to 39%, compared with Labour’s 37% – making it Labour’s lowest result in the poll since it was elected in 2017. Continue reading...

Unresolved safety issues has led to four-year delay of 589 vehicles, leaving army with ageing equipmentThe delivery of a fleet of armoured vehicles will be a significant challenge for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) because of failures that have led to delays and unresolved safety problems, according to the public spending watchdog.The MoD has a £5.5bn contract with General Dynamics Land Systems UK (GDLS-UK) for the design, manufacture and initial in-service support of 589 Ajax armoured vehicles. Continue reading...

Ordinary citizens, businesses and charities will be able to register to offer accommodation and employment to those fleeing war

Researchers studying ‘excess deaths’ estimate that more than 18 million people died of disease by end of 2021The Covid-19 pandemic may have claimed 18.2 million lives around the world, more than three times the official death toll, a new study suggests.The higher figure is a better estimate of the true global casualty figure to the end of 2021, according to an analysis by a consortium of health researchers published in the Lancet. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Leading marine scientist says Moreton Bay, one of three sites shortlisted, is bad choice due to risk to reactors if jellyfish sucked in

Chelsea FC owner one of seven Russians to have assets frozen and be accused of ‘having blood on their hands’

Pyongyang launches were to test parts of intercontinental ballistic missile and not satellite surveillance system, US concludesThe US believes North Korea is testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in what the Biden administration called a “serious escalation” that will trigger more sanctions.Pyongyang conducted two recent missile launches which it said were ultimately intended for putting satellites into space. After scrutinising them, however, US intelligence has assessed that the real intention was to test parts of the new ICBM. Continue reading...

Disney is latest firm to pause business, including content and product licensing and live TV channels

Displaced people in Lviv talk about what they have left behind in the capital and other Ukrainian cities

Long a critic of the PM, Douglas Ross cites Ukraine war and says now is no time for change of leadershipThe Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has withdrawn his letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, citing the war in Ukraine and saying it was no time for a change of leadership.Ross, who has been an outspoken critic of the prime minister, had criticised him over lockdown parties in Downing Street. Johnson, along with dozens of staff and officials, is under police investigation for the breaches. Continue reading...

Analysis: Home secretary has reason to fear cabinet reshuffle – but many blame wider Home Office issues

Emmanuel Macron says ‘we must be vigilant’ despite eastern member states wanting to show Ukraine ‘path is open to them’

Refugees describe bureaucratic hurdles and uncertainty after exhausting journeys across EuropeTwelve days after witnessing his home in Kharkiv being shelled by Russian forces, Sergei Koletvinov, a London-based van driver, was stopped at the Calais ferry entrance and told he could not take his family into Britain without a visa.He was turned back at 2.30am on Thursday morning, and spent the rest of the night trying to sleep in his car with his wife, Oxana Lubeinoko, their two-and-a-half year old son, Simon, and their five-year-old daughter, Alissa, while parked outside a temporary Home Office advice centre in the port, turning the engine on occasionally to keep warm. They had consulted friends and Facebook sites and were under the impression that because he has permanent residency in the UK, they would have no problem crossing the border. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin prepares economic retaliation for western sanctions, including laws to impound $10bn of leased airline jets

Chancellor to reject calls to beef up energy bill package as pressure mounts to bail out consumersRishi Sunak will take some limited action to tackle the cost of living crisis in this month’s spring statement but will reject calls to beef up his much-criticised energy bill reduction scheme, government sources say.Amid mounting pressure from inside his own party, and with some City analysts predicting inflation could hit 10% within months, the chancellor has asked Treasury officials to draw up options for cushioning the blow for consumers. Continue reading...

Analysis: The oligarch’s wealth was questioned by some from the moment he arrived at Chelsea – but officialdom moves slowlyRoman Abramovich has been a prominent and controversial figure since 2003, when he bought Chelsea football club, and the document imposing sanctions on him cites contracts he received before the 2018 World Cup. So why has nothing happened before now?There are various reasons, but much it boils down to one key factor: such things take time, and especially when compiling what officials stress has to be a “legally watertight” case against someone with access to extremely expensive lawyers. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest news on the Russia-Ukraine war latest, head to our dedicated blog

Analysis: Zelenskiy once played a TV president turned down by Merkel, but how real are his country’s prospects?The phone rings and Volodymyr Zelenskiy reaches into his pocket. The German chancellor is on the line, to inform him that “we decided to take your country into the European Union”.“Oh fuck,” Zelenskiy says, as Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the EU anthem, soars into life. Continue reading...

Shares in Evraz, 29% owned by Abramovich, were suspended after UK sanctions on Russian oligarchA steel company that is 29% owned by Roman Abramovich has denied a government claim that it may have provided raw material to build Russian tanks, after sanctions imposed on the Russian oligarch led to its shares being suspended on the London Stock Exchange.The Financial Conduct Authority said trading in Evraz shares had been halted “pending clarification of the impact of UK sanctions”. Continue reading...

People’s party’s deal with extremist rivals in Castilla y León called ‘pact of shame’ by SocialistsThe far-right Vox party is set to form part of a regional Spanish government for the first time after cutting a deal to run the north-western autonomous community of Castilla y León with its bitter rivals in the conservative People’s party (PP).The deal, which comes almost a month after the PP’s decision to call regional elections failed to produce the absolute majority it had hoped for, follows weeks of wrangling amid a PP leadership crisis. Continue reading...

PM says bereaved will have voices heard at inquiry that will play key role in learning lessons from pandemicBoris Johnson has promised bereaved families will have their voices heard, as he published wide-ranging terms of reference for the public inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.The prime minister bowed to pressure last year and announced the inquiry, which will be chaired by the retired judge Lady Hallett. Continue reading...

CMA finds local authorities are being forced to pay excessive fees for substandard privately run servicesThe UK has “sleepwalked” into a dysfunctional market for children’s social care with local authorities forced to pay excessive fees for privately run services that often fail to meet the needs of vulnerable children, an official report has concluded.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) called for an overhaul of the £6.5bn UK market for children’s residential and foster care, saying it had found “significant problems” with the provision of the privately dominated services. Continue reading...

Mariella Gedge-Rogers, 27, is convicted of riot during ‘kill the bill’ protest and jailed for five and half yearsA woman who hit a police officer on the head with a skateboard during last year’s riot in Bristol has been jailed for five and a half years.Mariella Gedge-Rogers, 27, also climbed on to the roof of the Bridewell police station in the centre of Bristol and threw missiles at officers. Continue reading...

Rowe to be replaced by head of food business Stuart Machin, with Katie Bickerstaffe as co-chief executiveMarks & Spencer’s chief executive, Steve Rowe, is stepping down in May after nearly 40 years at the business he joined straight from school.Rowe, who has spent six years overseeing the beginnings of a turnaround in the retailer’s fortunes after years in the doldrums, is to be replaced by the boss of its food business, Stuart Machin. Continue reading...

Mischa van Gelder let men into his vault, let them tie him up and claimed stolen stones’ value on insuranceOne of the most renowned diamond dealers in the Netherlands has been convicted of fraud and money laundering after staging an armed robbery of €4.1m (£3.4m) diamonds from one his stores as part of an insurance scam.Mischa van Gelder, 55, told a court in Amsterdam that he now found his plot “incomprehensible” but that he had been motivated by financial difficulties when he hatched it with three other men in 2016. Continue reading...

Win secures status of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk known for his hardline viewsIndia’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party has claimed victory in four significant state elections, in a sign of the sweeping power of Hindu nationalist politics across the country.In a crucial win, the BJP defied historical precedent and retained power in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and politically significant state with over 180 million voters. Early results on Thursday showed the party had won at least 266 out of 403 seats, giving it a clear majority. Continue reading...

Russian foreign minister tells tripartite meeting in Turkey: ‘We have not even attacked Ukraine’• Ukraine-Russia war – latest updatesThe face-to-face meeting between Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, was largely a depressing rehearsal of two conflicting narratives, but perhaps most revealing for what it showed about Russia’s siege mentality and consummate ability to relabel objective truths as western lies.The meeting was also notable for the Ukrainians starting to develop an argument that they are prepared for an alternative to Nato membership, so long as the country is given security and economic guarantees underwritten by the west and Russia. Continue reading...

Latest data shows numbers waiting for other types of operations also at highest ever levelsWaiting times for cancer care in England are the longest on record, the latest figures have revealed, forcing tens of thousands of patients every month to wait longer than they should to see a specialist or start treatment.The NHS’s performance against seven of its nine cancer waiting times targets has fallen to its worst ever level, prompting concern about patients having their diagnosis or treatment delayed.Just 73.3% of people who attended A&E in January were treated within four hours – the joint lowest ever figure – even though the target is 95%.Ambulances are taking longer to respond to 999 calls, both for emergency and also urgent calls.More than a third of young people needing treatment for potentially life-threatening eating disorders are waiting more than 12 weeks. Continue reading...

Ivan Putrov and Alina Cojocaru announce event featuring artists from Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Paris Opera BalletInternational ballet stars will take part in a charity gala in London later this month to raise money for people in Ukraine.Dance for Ukraine will feature the most prominent Russian ballerina outside the country along with artists from the Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet. Proceeds from the event will go to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Ukraine humanitarian appeal. Continue reading...

Others added to sanctions list are Igor Sechin, Oleg Deripaska, Andrey Kostin, Alexei Miller, Nikolai Tokarev and Dmitri Lebedev

Figures from Play England show at least 21 adventure playgrounds have been lost since 2017“I like everything here but that swing makes me feel sick.” Leire, 7, has a smile on her face as she pushes her friends Romeo and Gabriel. Despite the cold the three of them have hurried straight to the Grove adventure playground in their school uniform to start playing.Walk down a quiet back street in Brixton, south London, and the Grove adventure playground appears on the grey skyline as a riot of red, yellow and blue. “When a child walks in they know they are somewhere special,” says Nick Lewis, who helped save the playground from closure a few years ago. Continue reading...

Result will buttress nationalist agenda of prime minister, though Novák has denied being his ‘puppet’Hungary’s parliament has elected the ruling Fidesz party lawmaker Katalin Novák as the country’s first female president, buttressing the nationalist agenda of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, which has triggered acrimony with the EU.Novák, 44, has served as deputy chair of Orbán’s Fidesz and was family affairs minister in charge of his economic support agenda for the middle class, including subsidies for housing, state-backed home loans and tax cuts. Continue reading...

Maker of Bridgerton and The Crown increases cost of packages for second time in less than 18 monthsThe cost of watching Netflix hits from Bridgerton to The Crown is to increase, as the streaming platform raises its prices for subscribers in the UK and Ireland for the second time in less than 18 months.The move, the latest sign of the financial toll the growing competition is taking on the world’s most popular service, follows a round of price rises for UK subscribers in December 2020 and those in Ireland in March last year. Continue reading...

Change means people with passports can apply for entry online and do not have to give biometric details until they are in UK

Remains of former cricketer return to Melbourne ahead of funeral and state memorial service at end of March

Holiday firm axes deal allowing Alexei Mordashov to use its name after oligarch was sanctioned by EU

Influx of 100,000 refugees from the war zone expected as members of the diaspora exercise the country’s law of returnA red carpet, applause and dozens of blue and white flags were waiting for the first Jewish Ukrainian refugees to arrive in Israel as part of a huge rescue operation triggered by Moscow’s invasion.About 400 people on four flights from Poland, Moldova and Romania landed in Tel Aviv on Sunday, among them 100 children who had been living in a Jewish orphanage in the northern city of Zhytomyr. Most of the new arrivals were visibly relieved to have reached safety; as is tradition, several people touched and kissed the ground after disembarking. Continue reading...

Hundreds protest in main cities after jailed killer Yvan Colonna is assaulted by fellow detaineeViolent clashes broke out overnight between protesters and police on France’s Mediterranean island of Corsica amid anger over the assault in prison of a nationalist figure.Yvan Colonna, who is serving a life sentence for the assassination in 1998 of a senior regional official, Claude Érignac, is in a coma after being beaten in jail on 2 March by a fellow detainee serving time for terror offences. Continue reading...

Federal leader Anthony Albanese says ‘the Labor family is in shock tonight at the tragic news’ that Kitching had died of a suspected heart attack

Department store group to pay 3% bonus to workers, equivalent to 1.5 weeks payThe John Lewis Partnership has restored its staff bonus after narrowing losses to £26m last year.The department store group, which is staff-owned and also operates Waitrose supermarkets, said it would pay a 3% bonus to workers, equivalent to 1.5 weeks pay. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison to discuss national emergency declaration with governor-general after Palaszczuk rejected move as a week too late; Rio Tinto will terminate all contracts with Russian businesses; nation records at least 21 Covid deaths amid concerns over Omicron subvariant. This blog is now closed

Volodymyr Shalkivskyi says he cannot be ‘diplomatically polite’ and calls for stronger action against Russia in emotive plea at National Press Club

State executive declines to back the only remaining nominee, Lincoln Parker, as preselection deadlock drags on

The chancellor was under pressure to help struggling households even before the Ukraine invasion sent fuel prices soaringRussia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic sanctions have exacerbated a cost of living crisis that was already well under way, and the chancellor is under pressure to do more to help at his spring statement on 23 March. Continue reading...

Chancellor urged to take action on cost of living crisis that has been hugely exacerbated by war

Students complain of bureaucracy and delays when applying for disabled students’ allowanceSupport for students with disabilities should be improved, the government has been urged, after analysis showed that fewer than a third receive the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) meant to help them access and thrive in higher education.According to a report, just 29% of students in England and Wales with a known disability received the allowance in 2019/20 while those who have been through the application process complained of bureaucracy, long delays, inconsistent quality of support and a lack of communication. Continue reading...