World news | The Guardian

Both One Nation and Coalition suffer swings against them in state Senate race as AEC finalises results

Extreme temperatures follow warmest-ever May in France and hottest in Spain in a centuryExtreme heat has been affecting the Iberian peninsula and France over the past week. These high temperatures have occurred unusually early, with this event likely to be one of the most severe before the summer solstice.It follows the warmest May on record for France and hottest for Spain in at least 100 years. Temperatures have been about 10C above the average in some places for this time of year, putting intense pressure on vulnerable groups and the demand for electricity for air conditioning. Continue reading...

CCC says Covid recovery has contributed to lobbying surge, and government decisions ‘can be inappropriately influenced’

Report into specialist court finds victims feel safer and perpetrators are more likely to agree their behaviour must change

Former education minister Alan Tudge claimed the plan would ‘effectively end’ the use of religious chaplains in some schools

Analysis: PM said he sought Lord Geidt’s advice on whether overriding trade rules would be in line with ministerial codeBoris Johnson has suggested that his ethics adviser resigned in a row over protection for the British steel industry, after being asked for a view about potentially breaking the UK’s obligations to the World Trade Organization.In his letter responding to Christoper Geidt’s resignation, the prime minister said he wanted advice on the use of tariffs for “protecting a crucial industry”, which “might be seen to conflict with our obligations under the WTO”. Continue reading...

Former police officer denies ‘deliberate omission’ in not taking witness statement

People aged 18 to 24 had to deal with mental ill health or job woes far more than older people, Australian Bureau of Statistics finds

Michael Ellis questioned suitability of Labour MP over tweets about Boris JohnsonA senior minister appeared to pile pressure on the chair of an upcoming Partygate inquiry to stand down, as he questioned her suitability to conduct the investigation fairly.Michael Ellis, the paymaster general, suggested Labour’s Harriet Harman should not lead the investigation into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament by repeatedly denying Covid rules were broken at law-breaking No 10 parties. Continue reading...

More government funding and better service delivery needed amid unsustainable financial losses and a workforce crisis, report says

The retailer identified the pricing error on its website before any bottles were soldMark Twain reputedly said: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough.”Online shoppers at the supermarket Morrisons came close to testing his theory when the retailer accidentally priced bottles of a Scotch whisky at just £2.50, a 93% discount from its usual price of £36. Continue reading...

Maria Lvova-Belova accused by Ukraine of organising capture of vulnerable children in Luhansk and Donetsk

Some patients will have heart attack and die as a result of ‘dangerous’ delays, charity warnsAlmost 100,000 people with serious heart problems, including some “living on borrowed time”, are enduring long waits for potentially life-saving NHS care because hospitals are so busy.Some of them are in such poor health they will have a heart attack and die as a consequence of facing such “dangerous” long delays, the British Heart Foundation has warned. Continue reading...

Patrick Carson took advantage of immature young woman who had recently arrived in Darwin, prosecutor tells trial

ABC’s news director emailed staff on Thursday following internal allegations over experiences of racism at the broadcaster

Despite promising turnout of job seekers, Sydney airport CEO says long queues and travel disruptions will continue ‘for a while longer’

Social services minister Amanda Rishworth acknowledges the ‘most vulnerable’ Australians hit hardest by cost of living crisis

Michelle Bachelet says she was supervised by China officials throughout six-day visit that critics have called a propaganda coup for BeijingMichelle Bachelet has said wasn’t able to speak to any detained Uyghurs or their families during her controversial visit to Xinjiang, and was accompanied by government officials while in the region.The UN human rights chief, who this week announced she would not be seeking another term, told a session of the 50th Human Rights Council in Geneva that there were limitations on her visit to the region in China, where authorities have been accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Continue reading...

Attorney general Shannon Fentiman signs notice of appeal to be lodged on Thursday afternoonA Queensland teenager who killed a pregnant woman and her partner is facing an appeal against their sentence on the grounds it was manifestly inadequate.The families of victims Matthew Field, 37, and Kate Leadbetter, 31, had described the 10-year jail sentence handed to the 18-year-old as “grossly inadequate”. Continue reading...

Defence raises questions about credibility of witness who claims Dawson meant getting rid of his wife Lynette Dawson ‘for good’

Police chief says one of the men arrested in connection with the pair’s disappearance had confessed to killing them

Zumbo is accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault and has pleaded not guilty to all chargesFormer MP Craig Kelly’s office manager promised young female staffers career development and mentoring but instead used his “power and control” to allegedly sexually touch them.Francesco Zumbo, 55, faced Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Wednesday accused by five women of 20 charges including sexual touching and indecent assault between 2014 and 2020. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereDmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin who is currently deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, has posted this morning to Telegram a message which gives some insight into the current state of senior level Russian thinking about the situation in Ukraine.In the message, Medvedev questions a Ukrainian request that it receive energy imports this winter with an option to delay payment for two years. Medvedev says:Just a question. Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map?There is a lot of excitement. More and more people want to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation. Residents of the Kherson region today are en masse in queues to submit documents for obtaining Russian citizenship just because Russia can protect, Russia can feed and provide socially for a person in the country, in which a person is the highest social value of the state. Continue reading...

British crown estate portfolio rises in value by 8.3% to £15.6bnThe value of rights owned by the Queen’s property company to exploit the seabed around Britain’s coastline has swelled to £5bn after a record-breaking auction of plots for offshore windfarms.Profits for the crown estate, which generates money for the Treasury and the royal family, jumped by £43.4m to £312.7m in the year to the end of March. Continue reading...

Retired Lt Col Trevor Cadieu preparing to return home to face two charges relating to alleged incidents in 1994 when he was a cadetA former Canadian general who reportedly went to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders has been charged back home in Canada with sexual assault, after a months-long investigation.Retired Lt Gen Trevor Cadieu faces two counts of sexual assault that relate to alleged incidents at Canada’s Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in 1994 when he was a cadet, the office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal said in a statement. Continue reading...

Analysis: job to uphold ministerial code has been tainted by Boris Johnson’s undermining actionsWho would be an ethics adviser to this government? Unless there is a figure lurking in the wings, it is unclear who would be prepared to fill one of the most tainted jobs in public life.It is always possible that No 10 has an immediate replacement in mind. But Boris Johnson found it hard enough to recruit this one – it took five months for him to appoint Lord Geidt, after the bitter circumstances around the resignation of the preceding ethics adviser, Sir Alex Allan, in November 2020. Continue reading...

Asylum seekers at Gashora transit centre say they fear reaching UK and ending up where they started after torturous journeyMany have attempted perilous crossings across the Mediterranean to reach the UK in the past. But asylum seekers at Rwanda’s Gashora transit centre say they are now too scared to try again for fear of ending up back where they started.Zemen Fesaha, 26, from Eritrea, arrived at the sprawling complex of accommodation and leisure facilities in July. The refugee camp, an hour and a half’s drive from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, houses 249 men, 125 women, and 83 children, who were evacuated from squalid detention centres in Libya. Continue reading...

Murray Watt hopes to break down misconceptions between the ALP and rural Australia

State and territory leaders also want the prime minister to address labour and skills shortages following the pandemic

Andrew Giles doesn’t specify when or how Tamil family will be allowed to remain in Australia and blames Coalition for long visa wait times

New program will consist of 30 hours a week of play-based learning for all four-year-olds in both states

Suzie Holt finished fourth on primary vote in the LNP-held seat, but is at 42.89% of 2PP after preferences

Thawing diplomatic relations with China shouldn’t mean ‘taking a backwards step with Beijing’, Human Rights Watch says

Fears grow over the hundreds of civilians believed to be sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant

Maroš Šefčovič says Brussels will launch fresh legal action against UK over treaty obligations

Universities looking to stabilise numbers after Covid surge, says Ucas, while grappling with increase in number of 18-year-oldsThe offer rate for A-level students applying to leading universities has dropped significantly, with medicine and dentistry courses even harder to get on to than in previous years, according to data from the Ucas admissions service.Higher-tariff universities, including those in the research-intensive Russell Group, have tightened up their offers, with the proportion of applications that result in an offer down from 60.5% in 2021 to 55.1% this summer. Continue reading...

Passengers across Great Britain told not to attempt to travel on 21, 23 and 25 June unless necessaryNetwork Rail said there was “no real hope” of avoiding the biggest railway strike in 30 years next week, as it told passengers to plan ahead and only travel if necessary.The walkouts are on 21, 23 and 25 June and a special timetable will be in operation from 20 to 26 June. The full timetable will be published on Friday but several operators including Southern, Northern and Transport for Wales have already told passengers not to attempt to travel on strike days. Continue reading...

Internal polling points to two-point deficit – smaller than at same point in victorious North Shropshire campaignThe Liberal Democrats plan to flood Tiverton and Honiton with activists after internal polling suggested the party was only marginally trailing the Conservatives before next week’s byelection in the Devon constituency.A sample carried out by the party, based on tens of thousands of voter contacts, suggested that of people intending to vote on the day of the byelection, the Conservatives had 46% support and the Lib Dems 44%. Continue reading...

The actor, who received an honorary Oscar this year, spoke out against the producers’ handling of the in memoriam section, as well as the choice of presentersSamuel L Jackson has criticised this year’s Oscars ceremony for its handling of the death of pioneering actor Sidney Poitier, as well as their attempts to reach a wider demographic by expanding the pool of presenters.Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Jackson said he was “still a little ticked that the greatest actor we had in Hollywood died and they gave him, what, 10 fucking seconds. No. It should have been a whole Sidney Poitier section.” Continue reading...

Joe Biden working with European governments to avert global crisis and help lower food prices

Martina Patti claimed her child was taken by three men, before confessing a day later in MascaluciaA woman in Sicily has been arrested after admitting killing her four-year-old daughter, having initially claimed the child was taken by hooded kidnappers for a ransom.The body of Elena Del Pozzo was found in a field close to her home in Mascalucia, a town in the province of Catania, on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Copy of film on now antiquated format was previously owned by actor Tom Wilson, who played Biff Tannen in movie seriesA sealed VHS tape of the hit 1980s movie Back to the Future has sold for $75,000 in the first ever auction of the now antiquated video-playing format.The auction, held by Texas-based Heritage Auctions, featured 260 sealed VHS tapes, most of which were first-edition copies of movies from the 70s and 1980s. The Hill reported that the price tag meant the tape was likely the most expensive ever sold. Continue reading...

Virus may be evolving to refavour infecting lung tissue. We assess what this could mean for the course of the pandemicIf you thought Covid-19 was dead and gone, think again. Early signs indicate that the UK may be at the start of a new wave of Covid infections driven by BA.4 and BA.5 – while new data suggests these variants may have evolved to refavour infecting lung tissue, which could make them more dangerous.So what can we expect in the coming weeks and months? Continue reading...

Arrest follows joint operation by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command and British security servicesSecurity officials trying to thwart Russian spying in Britain have arrested a man at Gatwick airport as he was trying to board a flight to leave the UK.The arrest followed a joint intelligence-led operation by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command – which deals with arrests for espionage matters – and the British security services. Continue reading...

Australian author denies he is a plagiarist and says he has been ‘influenced by the greats’ of literature

Inquiry hears of residents’ anger that disaster agencies treated flood response as a ‘nine-to-five job’

People who turned to books during Covid lockdowns continuing to buy them, company saysBloomsbury has reported a record year for sales, as the Harry Potter publisher said the pandemic rise in reading had become “permanent” after lockdown measures eased.The company benefited substantially from Covid restrictions when homebound consumers turned to new hobbies, including reading, to pass the time. Continue reading...

Jupp will play opposite Justin Edwards in adaptation of the classic Ealing comedy set to tour the UK this autumnGraham Linehan revived The Ladykillers in 2011, Stephen Mangan became The Man in the White Suit in 2019 and now another Ealing comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob, has been adapted for the theatre.The 1951 film, in which a Bank of England employee and his lodger hatch a plan to purloin a vast amount of gold bullion, will star Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards and tour the UK this autumn. The pair had been due to star together in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Comedy of Errors, which was delayed by Covid and staged last summer with a different cast. Continue reading...

Researchers believe the Amphylaeus morosusis bee only recently made the switch from solitary to colony livingThe unusual social life of a native species of Australian bee has shed light on how cooperative behaviours in bees evolved, new research suggests.Flinders University scientists have analysed the behaviour of Amphylaeus morosus, a forest-dwelling bee that lives in small nests of rarely more than two females. Continue reading...