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Albert Manifold disputes reports about his behaviour and says he always tried to set exampleThe boardroom turmoil at BP deepened after its ousted chair, Albert Manifold, claimed allegations about his conduct were lies".In a new and lengthy statement, Manifold disputed reports about his conduct, insisting at no point in my tenure as chairman of BP has anyone raised with me any issue about my conduct or my relationship with my colleagues". Continue reading...

Parents face anxious wait for updates after blaze tears through Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru countyA fire that ripped through a dormitory at a girls' school in Kenya overnight has killed at least 15 students, according to police, while dozens more were injured.Gilgil police station said at least 15 girls died at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-east of Nairobi, according to a police report seen by Reuters. Continue reading...

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Gavan Reynolds cites commercial-in-confidence nature of the contract' in declining to answer Greens senator's question in parliament

Hugh Marks refuses to confirm or deny to Senate estimates that he threatened to terminate Stevens if he didn't resign

Vetting of former UK ambassador to Washington warned of ties to senior figures in China, Russia and IsraelA former head of MI6 has said it would have been totally impossible" for the Foreign Office to put in place mitigations to manage Peter Mandelson's associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel when he was the UK's ambassador to the US.On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed some of the concerns that contributed to security officials recommending that Mandelson be denied developed vetting clearance in early 2025. Continue reading...

As the UK experiences some of its hottest ever May weather, five people share their concerns - and tips for keeping coolThe UK is experiencing some of the hottest May weather ever recorded, with temperatures surpassing 35C in parts of England on Tuesday.Campaigners have warned that Britain's public buildings are dangerously unprepared for rising temperatures, calling for better cooling systems in hospitals, care homes and other spaces used by vulnerable people. Continue reading...

Waltham Forest in the east of the capital has seen a wave of industrial action in schools, with more to comeThe gates to South Grove primary school in Walthamstow were closed to pupils last week.Teachers were on strike as part of a disparate wave of industrial action by members of the National Education Union (NEU) in schools across the borough of Waltham Forest in east London. Continue reading...

When an Inner Mongolia farmer sought two herders to tend his 3,000 sheep, he was swamped with applicants including graduates, factory labourers and white-collar workersA Chinese farm owner's recruitment drive for shepherds has ended in success after his job advert seeking people to work on his Inner Mongolia ranch went viral, drawing the attention of city dwellers struggling to find work and highlighting growing strains in China's labour market.Zuo Xiaoyong posted an advert on Chinese social media in late April seeking two shepherds, preferably a couple, to take 3,000 sheep out to graze on a 2,000ha pasture in the summer. The shepherds would also undertake indoor feeding and cleaning during the winter when temperatures can drop below -30C at his ranch roughly 300km from Xilinhot city, near the Mongolian border. Continue reading...

Industry figures warn of national security risk and call for ministers to address impact of extreme weather, inflation and Iran warBritain is sleepwalking into a food crisis" caused by extreme weather, inflation and the impacts of the Iran war - and the government is failing to take the threat seriously, food experts have said.Farmers are facing severe strain from the current heatwave following a dry spring, with many crops likely to yield less as temperatures rise beyond their tolerance. Livestock are also suffering heat stress and there is a rising risk of wildfires. Economic losses are likely to be measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds. Continue reading...

The WasteBar food truck hopes the eye-catching deal will change people's attitude to waste in the NetherlandsUsing cigarette butts to buy buttery Dutch pancakes? That is the deal one food truck is offering at festivals in the Netherlands as a way to get people thinking about litter.Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic waste in the world, with more than 4.5tn butts produced every year. In the Netherlands the estimated figure is in the hundreds of millions. Continue reading...

CEO tells investors firm won't exert any effort' while it awaits approvals as opponents urge the miner to spike the project finally'

Federal government seeks more than $2bn in damages from multinational manufacturer in its largest legal claim ever

Musician says we've lost that direction for our energy' as his play The Last Ship returns to West EndThe fact many men no longer use their hands and physicality on a daily basis may be driving some of the toxic traits in modern masculinity, according to Sting.The singer, who on Wednesday announced that his musical about the last days of a shipyard was coming to the West End this autumn, told the Guardian that one of the byproducts of deindustrialisation was the loss of physical productivity for men.The Last Ship will be at Theatre Royal Drury Lane from 22 Sep to 3 Oct. Tickets go on sale from midday on 28 May. Continue reading...

Volunteers head to Dorset countryside to restore the figure, but increasing heat means techniques have had to be adaptedFor centuries, the custodians of the Cerne Giant have clambered up the dizzyingly steep hill every decade or so to rechalk the outline, making sure the hulking figure can be seen far and wide across the rolling Dorset countryside.But the painstaking job, which involves hacking out the grubby old chalk by hand and packing in fresh, felt all the more urgent this week because effects put down to the climate emergency are making the giant a little duller and perhaps a touch more fragile. Continue reading...

After 88 days of near-total blackout, first reactions to the return of partial connectivity were not celebratoryAfter 88 days of near-total internet blackout in Iran, long-delayed messages, images and poems flooded phones and social media feeds at about 5pm on Tuesday, when still-limited connectivity flickered back to life.The first reactions, however, were not celebratory. Many new posts were threaded with scepticism, anxiety and anger. Continue reading...

Joanna Howe posts on social media that if purported images of human foetuses are in fact sugar gliders, it doesn't actually matter'

Bundaberg man, 36, allegedly drove into and assaulted multiple people in Childers and North Isis on Wednesday

Urgent action needed to avoid lost generation', says the former Labour health secretary's report, due on ThursdayBritain risks a 25% rise in the number of young people not in work or education to 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent government action to avoid a lost generation", a landmark report has warned.Alan Milburn, the leader of the review into why so many young people are economically inactive, said the UK risked opening up a generational fault line" between young and old without urgent steps to overhaul schools, the health service, the welfare system and the jobs market. Continue reading...

Anna Turley gives Reform leader 24 hours to report Russian hacking claim in public and national interest'The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him.In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was in the public and national interest" to ensure that a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician's phone by a hostile state was properly investigated. Continue reading...

BMA blames new health secretary for decision to stage 16th strike in long-running jobs and pay disputeResident doctors in England will next month stage the 16th strike in their long-running jobs and pay dispute, and have blamed the new health secretary for their decision.They will strike for four days from 7am on Monday 15 June until 6.59am on Friday 19 June. Announcing the move, the British Medical Association warned that resident doctors would mount a further stoppage in July unless progress towards meeting their demands was made. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Vetting officials also flagged 1m loan when recommending he should be denied security clearance

Sexual offender attended Interlochen camp in Michigan as teenager and donated hundreds of thousands of dollarsA Michigan summer arts camp and boarding school where Jeffrey Epstein has been accused of meeting at least two of his victims will tear down a lodge that once bore his name.The Interlochen Center for the Arts said this week that its board of trustees has approved a plan to demolish the Green Lake Lodge, which had been known as Jeffrey E Epstein Scholarship Lodge until the school cut ties and scrubbed references to the late millionaire sex offender after his first conviction in 2008. Continue reading...

Kenneth Iwamasa pleaded guilty over role in Friends actor's death from drug overdose in 2023

There is no evidence Elliott Broidy's links to Trump helped AI company win contract to monitor prisoners' phone callsThe day before Donald Trump's first term ended in 2021, he inked a pardon for Elliott Broidy, a scandal-plagued Republican fundraiser and former Republican National Committee official who had pleaded guilty three months earlier to trying to illegally lobby Trump and his administration.Last month, a company headed by Broidy won a $106m contract from the Department of Justice, according to federal contracting records. Continue reading...

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Former MP charged with 18 sexual offences involving two alleged victims, and his wife charged with aiding and abettingJeffrey Donaldson sexually assaulted a child and apologised to her years later at a church-brokered meeting, a court has heard.The former MP and Democratic Unionist party leader allegedly committed the abuse with complicity from his wife, Eleanor Donaldson, a prosecutor told Newry crown court, in County Down, on Wednesday. Continue reading...

US president tells cabinet Tehran is delaying in hope of better terms after November congressional electionsDonald Trump has accused Iran of trying to stall on making a peace agreement by running down the clock before November's US midterm elections in the hope of getting better terms.They thought they were going to out-wait me, you know, We'll out wait him, he's got the midterms," the US president told a meeting of his cabinet at the White House on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Anne Keast-Butler says Russian forces are going backwards on the battlefield' for first time since late 2022Nearly half a million Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Vladimir Putin's invasion more than four years ago, according to a new estimate from the head of the British spy agency GCHQ.Anne Keast-Butler, the chief of the electronic intelligence agency, said in her first speech in the job that Russian forces were going backwards on the battlefield" inside Ukraine for the first time since late 2022. Continue reading...

Sharyn Alfonsi confirms contract expiration after decrying network over the spread of corporate meddling' last monthThe Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi has accused CBS News of penalizing her for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting" and sending a chilling message" to the newsroom by declining to renew her contract for the show.Alfonsi was at the center of a national firestorm after the CBS News editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, shelved a segment she had reported on a notorious prison in El Salvador. She confirmed to the Guardian that she had not been offered a contract to return for the show's 59th season, which begins in the fall. Continue reading...

Igor Lytvynchuk is scheduled to appear in court on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereZack Polanski, the Green party leader, posted this on social media about Tony Blair's latest intervention this morning.Tony Blair.What the billionaire class have paid for.Spot the difference between Tony Blair says" and Nigel Farage says" Continue reading...

People in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, say school that the signage on their street relates to moved long agoHassan Ali was on holiday in Budapest when he was contacted by his neighbour about a sign that had been painted on the road directly outside his semi-detached home in Staffordshire.The bright yellow sign, which read School: Keep Clear", was painted on Greendock Street in the early hours of Friday morning, his neighbour informed him - a bewildering update considering there was no school to keep clear of and had not been one for the past 15 years. Continue reading...

Local conservationist says a fishing boat hoping for a more commercial catch may have thrown them overboardHundreds of dead sharks and fish believed to be part of a discarded catch have washed up on two Welsh beaches.Dogwalkers found a full net of dogfish, also known as catshark, on Carmarthenshire's Cefn Sidan on Saturday. The discovery came after hundreds more dead sharks and fish had been found on Saundersfoot beach in neighbouring Pembrokeshire a few days earlier. Continue reading...

Nature groups say cygnets and their parents need to be left alone by people trying to stay cool in heatwaveNature groups have pleaded with swimmers to give wildlife a wide berth after dozens of people swam in a nature pond on Hampstead Heath among nests of baby birds.Swans and their 12-day-old cygnets were disturbed by hordes of splashing revellers in the north London park on Monday as London reached record 35C temperatures. In one video, a swan was seen poking an unhatched egg with its beak after it fell into the water during the chaos. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedIn recent days across parts of Europe, temperatures have soared, heat records have been broken and spring has felt more like the height of summer.Meteo France, the French national weather service, has attributed this to a heat dome", with warmth held in place by a high-pressure weather front that has produced temperatures more than 10C above what used to be usual for this time of year. Continue reading...

Of 11 seasonal items in Guardian price comparison, six hit highest price in last three months, with some nearly doubling in price in last weekThe heatwave has triggered a surge in prices for seasonal items, with the cost of one inflatable hot tub nearly doubling in a week, while an industry expert said air conditioning units have risen by about 17% since April.The Guardian looked at the cost of popular items across a range of websites and examined their price on PriceRunner, an independent price comparison service. One of the biggest price increases was for the Bestway inflatable hot tub Lay-Z-Spa Cancun AirJet, which was available for 160 on 21 May but now retails for a minimum of 299. Continue reading...

Video appears to show divers discovering group sitting on a rock surrounded by flood waterRescuers have reached five of seven people who have been trapped for a week in a flooded, remote cave in Laos, after days spent navigating narrow, inundated passageways amid persistent rains.Video footage shared on social media by rescue divers showed the five men crouched together on a rocky ledge in a dark cave chamber, surrounded by muddy water. There's no need to cry," one of the rescue team told the men, who first entered the cave on Wednesday. Two men remain unaccounted for. Continue reading...

Domestic abuse commissioner deeply concerned' by move as councils in England and Wales struggle to fund reviewsThe Home Office has rejected a proposal to allocate government funds for reviews into domestic abuse-related deaths.Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said it was deeply concerning" that local authorities in England and Wales would not receive direct resources to help them carry out domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) and urged officials to be braver and bolder" in their decision making.In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org Continue reading...

After the initial euphoria of victory, Zoe Garbett prepares to begin running one of England's most diverse and deprived boroughsFor the first time in decades the person sitting behind the desk in the wood-panelled office of Hackney's imposing art deco town hall is not a Labour politician.Zoe Garbett was elected as the east London borough's first Green party mayor in this month's local elections, surfing a wave of support which resulted in the party winning more than 500 seats, taking control of five councils and winning two mayoralties. Continue reading...

Albert Manifold says he was removed without warning and will not allow a false narrative to go unchallenged'The ousted chair of BP, Albert Manifold, has accused the oil company of firing him without warning and disputed reports about his conduct, amid the latest boardroom turmoil to rock the company.In an emailed statement, Manifold said he was removed without warning and without explanation" by the FTSE 100 company. Continue reading...

The heritage site was destroyed by contractors building transmission lines for the Central-West Orana renewable energy zone

Former Scottish first minister says scandal cast massive shadow' over his time as leader, after former party chief executive pleaded guilty to stealing 400,000

At some point the statements have got to end and the action needs to begin', member for Chifley says

German-owned discounter's sales rise 8.8% year on year as households seek ways to keep bills downLidl has overtaken Morrisons to become the UK's fifth largest grocer as its sales were powered ahead by households seeking to keep a lid on their weekly bills.The German-owned discounter increased its sales by 8.8% year on year - making it the fastest-growing store-based grocer - to hit a record high market share of 8.6% over the 12 weeks to 17 May, according to figures from the market analysts Worldpanel by Numerator. That compared with an 8.3% share for Morrisons in the period as the Bradford-based chain grew its sales by only 1.3% compared with a year earlier. Continue reading...

Consumer think-tank says K-pop fans should know the prices before being sent into a high-pressure sales funnel'

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Dong Guangping has tried to escape on several previous occasions after been jailed for his activism in ChinaA Chinese dissident has washed up on the shores of South Korea after attempting to flee China in a rubber boat.Dong Guangping, 68, is in custody in South Korea, having been detained by the coastguard on Monday evening. He is thought to have travelled more than 30 hours by sea to reach the shores of China's democratic neighbour. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nursing and Midwifery Council admits it did not carry out checks on professionals who broke the lawNurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients have practised over the last 12 years because of potentially dangerous" failings by a medical regulator.The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has admitted that its completely and utterly unacceptable" mistakes meant it failed to protect the public from about 15 professionals whom it should have banned from ever working in healthcare in the UK because they had broken the law. Continue reading...

Tourists and locals in Madrid, Paris, London, Dublin and Berlin share their experiences of the unseasonable May temperaturesIn recent days across parts of Europe, temperatures have soared, heat records have been broken and spring has felt more like the height of summer. Meteo France, the French national weather service, has attributed this to a heat dome", with warmth held in place by a high-pressure weather front that has produced temperatures more than 10C above what used to be usual for this time of year.Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving deadly extremes that can strike at abnormal times in unusual places and claim lives. Continue reading...