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Shopkeepers charged millions of pounds, including alleged 10,000 penalty for mistake that cost firm 7.08Vodafone incentivised its security staff to increase clawbacks" levied on its own franchisees, as part of a programme that led to the telecoms group fining its own shopkeepers millions of pounds for seemingly small administrative errors.The policy - which included one alleged case of a 10,000 penalty for a franchisee whose mistake cost Vodafone 7.08 - involved setting key performance indicators" (KPIs) for the telecoms group's internal employees to collect total annual fines of 1.5m from the small business people running the FTSE 100 company's high street stores. Continue reading...

In Hamtramck, Abdulrahman Abohatem placed himself between 16-year-old girl and man before police arrestA gasoline station clerk who came to a suburban Detroit girl's defense when she entered his store and mouthed the word help" ultimately had a hand in saving the teenager after a stranger had kidnapped her at gunpoint on her way to school, according to authorities.I believe this could have [gone] a lot worse than it did," said police chief Hussein Farhat of Hamtramck, Michigan, at a news conference addressing a rescue partially attributed to convenience store employee Abdulrahman Abohatem. We have every belief that this could have ended really badly." Continue reading...

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IRGC reportedly fires on tanker as it tries to pass through strait during brief window when shipping lane had reopened

This blog is now closed. Our latest main story on the Middle East crisis is here.Separate to the Pakistani army chief's trip to Iran (see post at 07:53), the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and foreign minister Ishaq Dar also concluded a trip to the Middle East after visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for talks.We have just concluded the last leg of our engagements following productive and fruitful visits ... where we held meaningful bilateral discussions aimed at strengthening cooperation across key areas," Dar said on X. Continue reading...

The author, who will interview members of royal family for book, says being chosen for role is a profound honour'Anna Keay, a historian whose most celebrated book is about Britain's republican period, has been confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II's official biographer.Keay will interview members of the royal family and the late queen's friends and servants. She will also have access to the monarch's personal and official papers held in the royal archives. Continue reading...

Passengers on flight from Chicago to New York exited via slides as FBI, bomb technicians and K-9 unit responded

The gunman, who killed six people in Kyiv before police shot him dead, was a Ukrainian citizen born in MoscowUkrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police.The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff. Continue reading...

Coal Australia denies its donations to the community-driven association' amount to astroturfing, but critics accuse the group of misleading the public

Officers responded after group claimed to have targeted nearby Israeli embassy with dangerous substances'Kensington Gardens in London has reopened after the discovery of several suspicious items including two jars containing a powdered substance that was deemed to be non-hazardous, police said.Officers in protective clothing responded to an incident near the Israeli embassy on Friday after counter-terrorism police investigated a video shared online in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances". Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister says it is inexplicable' top civil servant kept Downing Street in darkKeir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK's ambassador to Washington had he known he failed security vetting, David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row.In his first public comments on the vetting affair, Lammy said it was inexplicable" that Oliver Robbins, the former top civil servant who was forced out of the Foreign Office this week, had opted to leave Downing Street in the dark over the outcome. Continue reading...

Met describe similarities' with other recent attacks after business in Hendon was targeted on FridayCounter-terrorism police are leading an investigation into an arson attack on a business in Hendon, north-west London.The force said that, while it was not yet being linked to arson attacks on a nearby synagogue and Jewish ambulance charity, counter-terrorism officers were being deployed owing to similarities" between the incidents. Continue reading...

US president's desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully control

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereOn Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson's vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings.It lists three rankings for possible overall concern": low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their overall decision or recommendation". Again, there are three options: clearance approved, clearance approved with risk management" or clearance denied.If it [the vetting process] did amount to failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion would have to be conveyed to the political level, but the fact that it was not indicates to me that the fact was rather more complicated than No 10 would wish to present. Continue reading...

Rising sea levels and ecological damage caused by heavy use of flood defence system force city authorities to consider next moveThe Arsenale, the colossal shipyard that was the engine of the Venetian Republic's domination for seven centuries, remains the nucleus of the city's control over the water. Its northern section is made up of cavernous brick warehouses called capannoni, which in the 16th century could produce a warship a day through a rigorously ordered assembly line.Now, one of them houses the operations centre of the Mose, the sprawling flood defence system that protects the city. Continue reading...

After the attempted arson attack on a London synagogue, communities remain determined that building higher walls' will not stem rising tide of antisemitismHow good and how wonderful it is when friends sit together," reads a quote from the Psalms painted high on the wall inside Finchley Reform Synagogue (FRS). For the congregation gathering in a cheerful hubbub before its Shabbat service on Friday evening, that felt like an especially apt sentiment.Three days after the synagogue was the victim of an attempted firebombing, hundreds of members made an extra effort to get together in determined if slightly nervy solidarity, joined by guests including local politicians, other faith leaders, police officers - and one particularly special group of neighbours. Continue reading...

Judex Atshatshi, 18, appears in court over what prosecutors say they believe was targeted attack on Jewish communityA fourth suspect charged after four Jewish community ambulances were torched in north-west London has been remanded in custody.Judex Atshatshi, 18, a British national from Dagenham, east London, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday, charged with arson with intent to damage property and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. Continue reading...

Peter Magyar hopes building stronger relations with Poland will help restore ties with bloc after Orban's ruleThe Hungarian election winner, Peter Magyar, is eyeing a special relationship with Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk to draw on the neighbouring country's experience of repairing relations with the EU after years of illiberal rule.Since 1989, the two countries have seemingly shared parallels in their paths. Now the two centre-right, pro-European leaders preside over the tricky task of restoring the rule of law and improving state institutions after years of democratic backsliding and clashes with the EU. Continue reading...

Covid, light pollution regulations and faltering global economy affect location and intensity of brightnessEarth continues to get brighter every year, researchers have found, but the location and intensity of the progression has become increasingly volatile because of Covid-19, regulations on light pollution, and a faltering global economy.Nasa-funded researchers at the University of Connecticut (UConn) studied more than 1.1m satellite images taken over a nine-year period to establish that the planet's artificial light increased by a net 16% between 2014 and 2022. Continue reading...

Disgraced financier's links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examinedThe Epstein files have shaken Norway's faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament's oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up. Continue reading...

The school's $100m project to examine its slave ownership in Antigua is mired with controversy as academics allege obstructionChristopher Newman remembers seeing campus police officers as he walked into a human resources office at Harvard University, but he didn't imagine that they were there for him.It was July 2024, and Newman had just turned in the results of a two-month-long internship with the Harvard University Archives: an annotated bibliography for the landmark 2022 Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative report, which detailed the university's ties to slavery across three centuries. He completed his project on Friday, 26 July, and on Monday, he said he received an email that HR wanted to meet with him. Continue reading...

Silvia Salis, the leftwing mayor of Genoa and former Olympian, is described as a breath of fresh air' and potential unifierIt has been a turbulent month in Italian politics.A failed referendum on a judicial overhaul pierced prime minister Giorgia Meloni's aura of invincibility, triggering government resignations and leaving her scrambling to restore credibility. At the same time, her once special relationship with Donald Trump has frayed after the US president publicly scolded her this week for criticising his broadside against Pope Leo and for not supporting the US-Israeli war on Iran. Continue reading...

Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV polarizing the diverse community as faith and politics come to a headMaryellen Lewicki meets once a week for Bible study with a group of Catholic women in Decatur, Georgia, in a space they try to keep clear of politics. But Donald Trump's name arises nonetheless.We have one person that we pray for during the course of the week," she said. What my friend said is that she prays for the president every day, that God will remove that hard heart of his and replace it with a softer one that has love." Continue reading...

Simon McDonald says Olly Robbins was thrown under a bus' by the prime minister and the decision feels wrong UK politics live - latest updatesThe Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal is the biggest crisis for the diplomatic service in decades, a former Foreign Office chief has said.Simon McDonald, who was the permanent under-secretary of the government department until 2020, has spoken out in defence of Oliver Robbins, saying the civil servant was thrown under a bus" by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, when he was dismissed from his role on Thursday. Continue reading...

Museum says The Music is Black is part of a push to reposition scene as central to UK's cultural historyJacqueline Springer is standing in the middle of the V&A's new exhibition space looking wistfully at a pair of drainpipe trousers, a tailored suit jacket and a porkpie hat, which create the unmistakable silhouette of Pauline Black, lead singer of the 2 Tone group the Selector.Springer is the curator of the V&A East's inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black, a landmark survey of Black British music, which opens this weekend. It starts with the early drumbeats in Africa and takes us right up to the latest innovations in pop and drill via jungle, grime, garage and two-tone. Continue reading...

Finance chiefs to join exercise in Washington designed to assess how they would handle collapse of significant bankThe bosses of the central banks and treasuries of the UK, US and EU are to take part in a war game in Washington on Saturday to test how they would handle the collapse of a globally significant bank.Amid growing unease over the risks to global financial stability, the most senior officials from the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England - including its governor, Andrew Bailey - are expected to take part. Continue reading...

Voters broadly split along generational lines as pro-Russian former president leads in pollsAnna Bodakova's days tend to be rather hectic at the moment. Hopping between meeting voters on the street, political debates and recording videos for social media, the 23-year-old is standing to become an MP in Bulgaria's general election.Last year she was among the many young Bulgarians who participated in countrywide mass protests over the government's economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption. Those protests ultimately resulted in the resignation of the prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, and his cabinet in December. Continue reading...

Hannah Spencer says minister continuously offends people by saying working-class people don't care about dogs'Labour is offensively caricaturing" working-class people by saying they do not want a greyhound racing ban in England, the Green party MP Hannah Spencer has said.The sport has traditionally been associated with working-class culture and has historically been popular in so-called red wall areas, which Labour insiders suggest is part of the reason why there are no plans for England to follow bans announced last month in Scotland and Wales. Continue reading...

The Plaza Prizes offered 10 awards in 2025 but some judges say they were not paid, while a number of winners hit back over AI accusationsA competition for new writers that promised a 20,000 prize fund appears to have shut down, leaving winners and judges, including a Booker prize-winning novelist, out of pocket.Established in 2022, the Plaza Prizes last year offered 10 awards that were judged by the finest poets and writers in the world". Continue reading...

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days Continue reading...

The president has opened fissures in his base by starting a war he couldn't finish with Iran, stoking inflation and offending Christians. Barred from running again, he may feel he has nothing to loseLance Johnson voted for Donald Trump three times. Now he is feeling buyer's remorse. I haven't been too happy with the third time around," said the 47-year-old contractor, sitting at a bar in Crescent Springs, Kentucky. We're supposed to not start any new wars. Prices were supposed to come down. We were promised a lot of things and we're not getting them."Johnson is not the only Trump voter having doubts about a US president who, after defying political gravity for a decade, finally seems to be crashing back to earth. The past two weeks have arguably been the most bruising of Trump's two terms in office, suggesting that his tried and trusted playbook could finally be falling apart. Continue reading...

Bottlenecks in the system and parents' suspicions mean doctors expect another serious outbreak soonBy 10am on a spring day, the corridor of the clinic in the Transylvanian town of Scele was already crowded with parents and children. They were all waiting to see Dr Mirela Csabai, one of just seven general practitioners serving a population of more than 30,000.Most of the cases that morning were routine: colds, checkups, chronic conditions. The calm, however, is recent. In 2024, a measles epidemic tore through this community and left one unvaccinated toddler dead. Continue reading...

As Orban is rejected, there is cautious optimism new leader can restore ties - but issues such as EU accession loom largeLike many Ukrainians, Oleh Kupchak was delighted when Peter Magyar won Hungary's election last weekend, ending Viktor Orban's 16-year grip on power. We were euphoric. Everyone was following the results closely. There were toasts," said Kupchak, who has visited Budapest several times. We didn't love Orban," he added.Ukraine celebrated Orban's landslide defeat in a series of jokes and memes. Several likened him to the Star Wars character Jabba the Hut, and shared an image of Orban fleeing from a drone. Others portrayed him sitting on a bench in Russia, alongside Ukraine's pro-Kremlin former president Viktor Yanukovych, and his exiled Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. Continue reading...

Iran's parliamentary speaker says strait could close again if US blockade continues, but Trump says it will remain in place until transaction' with Tehran is completeIran's foreign minister has said that the strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, reinforcing hopes for an eventual end to the war in the Middle East and sending oil prices tumbling despite analysts' warnings that there will be no immediate widespread resumption of passage through the vital waterway.In a barrage of social media posts, Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Iran had agreed never to close the strategic waterway again, hailing A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!" Continue reading...

Maria Medetis Long had expressed doubts over case of John Brennan, whose agency said Russia boosted Trump in 2016

Spirit Airlines reportedly seeks emergency US government funding as war against Iran keeps aviation fuel costs high

US president says all major sticking points have been ironed out ahead of peace talks, but some of his assertions seem dubiousIt lacked the triumphalist symbolism of George W Bush's memorable - and subsequently ill-fated - appearance before the mission accomplished" banner aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln six weeks after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.But there was no mistaking the boastful claims asserted on Friday by Donald Trump after a military assault on neighbouring Iran that has, so far, lasted a similar period and which, by widespread agreement outside the Trump administration, has not gone to plan. Continue reading...

Reports of alleged crime led to protests in the Surrey town this week, after claims woman in her 20s attackedPolice investigating a rape incident in Epsom have said they have not found any evidence" of the offence as reported. The reports prompted protests in the Surrey town this week.Sarah Grahame, assistant chief constable at Surrey police, said the force was continuing to investigate a report that a woman in her 20s had been raped by a group of men on 11 April in Epsom after she left the Labyrinth Epsom nightclub. The alleged attack is said to have happened between 2am and 4am outside a Methodist church. Continue reading...

Chancellor aims to curb rising household bills as she consults on reforms to weaken link between gas and electricity pricesRachel Reeves is poised to raise the government's windfall tax on low-carbon electricity generators to help limit UK household energy bills, the Guardian understands.The chancellor is ready to hike the levy introduced in 2022 to target the excess profits made by the owners of older renewable energy and nuclear plants as electricity market prices soared after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Noah Sibanda died after he was physically restrained while being put to sleep at Fairytales Day Nursery in DudleyA nursery worker has been sentenced to more than three years in prison and the nursery has been fined 240,000 after a 14-month-old boy was restrained and died in their care.Noah Sibanda died after he was physically restrained face down with a blanket over his head while being put to sleep at the Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley in December 2022. He was left unchecked for two hours before he was found unresponsive. He was pronounced dead an hour later in hospital. Continue reading...

Boy, 16, among those charged in connection with attempted firebombing at Volant Media offices in WembleyThree people, including a 16-year-old boy, have appeared in court charged in connection with the attempted firebombing of a Persian media company in north-west London.Oisin McGuinness, 21, Nathan Dunn, 19, and a 16-year-old boy appeared together in the dock at Westminster magistrates court on Friday charged with arson with intent to endanger life. Continue reading...

Starmer says ministers were in the dark, but friends of former top civil servant suggest it was a case of them looking the other way

PM responds to Guardian revelations that Foreign Office overrode failed security vetting for former minister

DJ spent almost three decades working for corporation, and was best known for Radio 1 show from 1985 to 2000The broadcaster Andy Kershaw, best known for the BBC Radio 1 show he hosted for 15 years, has died aged 66, his family told the corporation.His long career working for the BBC began in 1984 as host of the rock music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. He also co-presented the corporation's television coverage of Live Aid. Continue reading...

With a reshuffled cabinet, the premier is hoping to quell leadership rumblings as her party seeks an unprecedented fourth term

Another lawyer says ruling puts brakes on the Minns government's ability to use executive power to minimise people's rights to protest'

One insider estimates Australians pay A$10 in fees per ticket, with fans bearing the burden of monopolised music tour schedules and inflated artist values

Marie-Therese Ross was arrested on 1 April and held in a Louisiana facility by immigration officialsA French woman in her eighties who was arrested and placed in a US immigration detention centre has flown home.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. The 86-year-old widow was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Continue reading...

Departing PM Viktor Orban admits political era has ended' as EU says clock is ticking' to resolve important issuesEU officials have arrived in Budapest for high-stakes talks aimed at reshaping the bloc's strained relationship with Hungary, weeks before the new government takes office, as the country's departing prime minister, Viktor Orban, admitted a political era has ended" and suggested he would stay on as leader of his party in his first interview since the election.Speaking to the pro-government outlet Patriota, Orban described Sunday's election as an emotional rollercoaster" after the opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory, bringing an end to his 16 years in power. Continue reading...

Police say officers found discarded items in area after group claimed to have targeted embassy with dronesPolice have said they are investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after officers found a number of discarded items in the area.A statement said Counter Terrorism Policing London was aware of a video shared online overnight in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances. Continue reading...