NSW police estimate 90,000 walked despite force and premier opposing rally, while Palestine Action Group claims up to 300,000 peacefully protested

Common Wealth report calls discounted sales of council homes one of the largest giveaways in UK history'Margaret Thatcher's right-to-buy scheme has cost UK taxpayers almost 200bn, according to a report into the policy's contribution to Britain's housing crisis.In its report into the sale of millions of council homes to their tenants at steep discounts since 1980, the Common Wealth thinktank said the policy had fuelled vast shortages in social housing and turbocharged inequality. Continue reading...

Demands for metal detectors and security guards to protect officers facing increasing contact with serious offendersThere needs to be a review of safety for probation officers across England and Wales after a stabbing incident that has deeply concerned frontline staff, a watchdog has told the Guardian.The call from Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, follows demands for walk-through metal detectors and security guards to help protect caseworkers as they interact with growing numbers of released offenders. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedAs thousands of people make their way to Lang Park in central Sydney for the start of a march in support of Palestinians in Gaza, the organisers the Palestine Action Group have asked people to arrive early for the 1pm start.Rain, hail, or shine, we will free Palestine!" the group said in a post on Facebook this morning. The weather forecast for the city is for rain.Be patient and look out for each other.We urge everyone to plan for a long day. Bring wet-weather gear, plenty of water and snacks.The Palestine movement is an anti-racist movement. We will not tolerate any form of racism or bigotry, including antisemitism or Islamophobia. Continue reading...

Company says extra payments relating to work for Kelda Holdings were covered by shareholders not billpayersThe boss of Yorkshire Water, one of Britain's biggest water suppliers, has received 1.3m in previously undisclosed extra pay since 2023 via an offshore parent company, the Guardian can reveal.Nicola Shaw received 660,000 from Yorkshire Water's Jersey-registered parent company, Kelda Holdings, in the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 financial years. The size of the fees was not disclosed in the annual report of the regulated subsidiary, Yorkshire Water Services. Continue reading...

At least 100 people involved in rescue operation at El Teniente copper mine, which partially collapsed after seismic event'One of five miners trapped after a partial collapse at the world's largest underground copper mine has been found dead, Chile's state-owned Codelco group announced on Saturday, as rescuers continued their search for survivors.The collapse took place on Thursday at the El Teniente mine in Rancagua, 100km south of Santiago, after a seismic event." Continue reading...

Twenty-six-year-old Chinese engineer was trying to flee a vehicle in a swollen creek in Rothbury, near Cessnock

Family of Evyatar David condemn video as protesters in Tel Aviv call for a deal to be made to return hostages

The two MPs' cases are vastly different but the issue is the same: parliament's rules to enforce standards of behaviour are hopelessly outdated and ineffectual

Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunitiesMinisters are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine. Continue reading...

Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunitiesMinisters are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine. Continue reading...

Minister points to sexist' practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have toLabour MP Jess Phillips has said the UK has got fat" from the free labour of women for decades.The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said the country has relied on women providing charity, adding it was a fundamentally sexist" practice that meant the government was less willing to provide the service itself. Continue reading...

Dietitian Lyndi Cohen says her likeness is being abused and misrepresented' as websites posing as Australian businesses claim to offer GLP-1 substances

Singer of hits such as Houdini, One Kiss and Training Season was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parentsSinger Dua Lipa has said she is feeling grateful" after being awarded citizenship of Kosovo by the country's president.The 29-year-old was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents, Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa, and moved to the country's capital of Pristina aged 11, when her family returned after Kosovo gained its independence in 2008, before moving back to London aged 15. Continue reading...

Anti-racism campaigners outnumber those opposing hotel being used as Home Office accommodationAnti-racism demonstrators turned out in large numbers on Saturday outside a London hotel where asylum seekers are being housed to counter-protest against those opposed to it being used as Home Office accommodation.Both groups of protesters gathered near the Thistle City Barbican hotel in Islington, north London. Continue reading...

Nineteen-year-old stabbed several times in a car park and Greater Manchester police are appealing for informationDetectives have launched a murder investigation after a teenager died in Greater Manchester in a targeted attack", police have said.The 19-year-old sustained several stab wounds and died later from his injuries. Continue reading...

UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deathsHospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Continue reading...

Chancellor admits voter frustration as government faces renewed calls from Labour politicians for a wealth taxLabour does not deserve" to win the next election if it does not change the country, Rachel Reeves has said, as she acknowledged some voters were disappointed with the party's record since entering government.The chancellor said she understood the unhappiness felt by some voters towards a government that has U-turned on winter fuel allowance and welfare policies in recent months. Continue reading...

Defending industry over consumers sends really bad message', says Treasury committee member Bobby DeanRachel Reeves's efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were unprecedented and disgraceful" and send a really bad message" to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday - helping lenders avoid a 44bn compensation bill - Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business. Continue reading...

Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a pattern of impunity'Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024. Continue reading...

Rights bodies say new law and proscription of direct action group create risk of censorship of Gaza-related contentThe Online Safety Act together with the proscription of Palestine Action could result in platforms censoring Palestinian-related content, human rights organisations have warned.Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship and others have written to Ofcom calling on it to provide clear guidance to platforms on distinguishing lawful expression from content deemed to be in support of terrorism. Continue reading...

DHSC rejected as unusable' PPE supplied by company linked to Lord Chadlington, which later went bustThey were the lucrative deals that epitomised the VIP lane" set up by Boris Johnson's government during the Covid pandemic, which gave priority for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts to people with political connections.Peter Gummer, a former PR boss who has been Tory peer Lord Chadlington since 1996, had smooth access at his fingertips. The erstwhile adviser to John Major has close personal friendships with many senior Conservative party politicians", he has said, and as president of the Witney constituency association in the Cotswolds is close friends" with its most notable MP: David Cameron. Continue reading...

Jon Ruben, 76, remanded in custody in connection with the incident at Stathern Lodge in LeicestershireA man has been remanded in custody charged with child cruelty offences after children became unwell at a summer camp in Leicestershire.Jon Ruben, 76, appeared in Leicester magistrates court after being charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health, where he was told he would be remanded in custody and appear at Leicester crown court on Friday 29 August. Continue reading...

Ian Ball now says kidnap was always supposed to have failed and was plot to garner publicity to sell autobiographyThe gunman who shot police officers during a botched attempt to kidnap Princess Anne has claimed he is innocent, six years after being released from a psychiatric hospital.Ian Ball, who uses the pseudonym Anthony Stewart, claimed he expected Queen Elizabeth II's daughter to have been swapped for a double and the gunpowder removed from his bullets ahead of the attempt in March 1974. Continue reading...

Judges issued about 35 nationwide injunctions blocking various Trump orders before the supreme court stepped in, according to independent analysis from the GuardianA federal judge's ruling last week to maintain a sweeping nationwide ban on Donald Trump's birthright citizenship order highlights the dizzying legal battle that has defined the administration's opening months, with courts issuing dozens of such sweeping orders to systematically halt abrasive elements of the president's agenda.US district judge Leo Sorokin in Boston rejected Trump administration arguments to narrow his nationwide injunction, a court order that prohibits the federal government from enforcing a law or policy against anyone across the nation, and not just the people who filed the legal challenge. Continue reading...

Prominent groups, including traditional defenders of Israel, urge action on aid as Gaza humanitarian crisis worsens

Some MPs question Streeting's framing of dispute as a war', but wider mood is likely to depend on how NHS holds upFrom Jeremy Hunt and Alan Johnson to Andy Burnham and Ken Clarke, politics is littered with ambitious former health secretaries who did not make it into No 10.The aspirational current health secretary, Wes Streeting, is believed by colleagues to have his sights on bucking that trend, and one day replacing Keir Starmer in Downing Street. Continue reading...

SchwuZ, a 50-year-old dance hotspot, falls victim to inflation and rising rents threatening Berlin's club sceneGermany's oldest and biggest" gay dance club has declared itself bankrupt after nearly half a century in business, falling victim to inflation and an evolving party culture threatening Berlin's nightlife.Management troubles and dating apps were among the factors putting SchwuZ on the ropes last year and in May the club shortened its opening hours, laid off staff and asked regulars for help to plug a growing shortfall, to little avail. Continue reading...

Operation also shed unique light on backgrounds of those involved in running drugs into UK from mother ships'

Crime agency says there were more than 60 investigations into at-sea drop-offs last year with 34 people arrested

Footage shows snow falling at Dalveen, between Stanthorpe and Warwick in south east Queensland, about 4pm on Saturday

Since her arrival at the Wall Street Journal, British editor-in-chief Emma Tucker has shaken up not only her own newsroom but also the White HouseThe danger posed to Donald Trump was obvious. It was a story that not only drew attention to his links to a convicted sex offender, it also risked widening a growing wedge between the president and some of his most vociferous supporters. The White House quickly concluded a full-force response was required.It was Tuesday 15 July. The Wall Street Journal had approached Trump's team, stating it planned to publish allegations that Trump had composed a crude poem and doodle as part of a collection compiled for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. Continue reading...

Burger, sausage and chicken prices soar, while cost of cheese slices, brioche buns and soft drinks also risesThe weather is not the only thing putting a dampener on impromptu barbecues as consumers balk at the soaring cost of burgers, sausages and chicken to put on the grill.At nearly 4, a four-pack of supermarket own-label beef quarter-pounders costs 53%, or 1.37, more than this time last year, according to the price analysts Assosia. With steak and kebabs also off the menu because they are too pricey, Britons are switching to poultry. Continue reading...

Woman wins apology and refund of almost 4,300 after claiming host's photos were digitally manipulatedAirbnb has apologised to a woman after an apartment host falsely claimed she had caused thousands of pounds' worth of damage and used images she says were digitally manipulated to back up his allegations.The London-based academic was refunded almost 4,300, and an internal review of how the case was dealt with has been launched at the short-term accommodation rental company. Continue reading...

Pattern of hostile language' in media and debates likely to describe people of colour with less sympathy, report saysA pattern of hostile language" in news reports and UK parliamentary debates is more likely to describe people of colour as immigrants, or with less sympathy, researchers have found.The race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust analysed more than 63m words from 52,990 news articles and 317 House of Commons debates on immigration between 2019 and the general election in July 2024. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat it, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairsFrom scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March. Continue reading...

Parents watch children waste away as deliberate aid restrictions from Israel mean hunger is becoming a killer, as experts confirm famine is currently playing outThe people of Gaza did not need this week's official confirmation from UN-backed hunger experts that the worst-case scenario of famine" was unfolding there. For months they have watched as their children waste away.All my children have lost nearly half of their body weight," said Jamil Mughari, a 38-year-old from Maghazi in central Gaza. My daughter, who is five years old, now weighs only 11kg. My son Mohammad has become just skin and bones. All my children are like this. Continue reading...

Zelenskyy forced to U-turn on anti-corruption bodies but protesters know unrest only plays into Russia's handsOnce a decade, Ukraine has a moment in which street protests redefine the country's political direction. The Orange revolution of 2004; the Maidan revolution of 2014; and now, over the past 10 days, the first major wave of protest since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.A series of unexpectedly boisterous and well-attended demonstrations forced Volodymyr Zelenskyy to execute a swift U-turn on his decision to scrap the independence of two anti-corruption bodies. On Thursday, MPs reversed the contentious changes they had adopted a week previously. Outside the parliament building, crowds whooped and cheered as the result of the vote was announced. Continue reading...

The foreign affairs minister's meeting with Amir Maimon was requested by the Israeli embassy, according to federal government sources

Supreme court judge says protest motivated by belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response'

Bottle stashed in wall cavity of heritage-listed Cape Bruny lighthouse contained letter written in 1903 by Tasmanian lighthouse inspectorA painter in Tasmania has uncovered a sealed glass bottle containing a message that was hidden within a wall cavity of the historic Cape Bruny lighthouse more than 120 years ago.Specialist painter Brian Burford was performing routine maintenance on the seaside structure when the discovery took place, according to Annita Waghorn, historic heritage manager for the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service. Continue reading...

Demonstrators were banging pots and pans at one of several gatherings that took place across major US citiesDozens of Pro-Palestine protesters gathered at US senator Chuck Schumer's New York City office on Friday, leading to mass arrests as elected officials joined activists from Jewish Voice for Peace outside the Midtown office.Tiffany Caban, a New York City council member, and Claire Valdez, a state representative, were among those arrested. Demonstrators were seen banging together pots and pans, a form of noise protest. Continue reading...

Judges express deep skepticism about a key piece of the US president's hardline immigration agendaDonald Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship appeared on Friday to be headed toward being declared unconstitutional by a second federal appeals court, as judges expressed deep skepticism about a key piece of the US president's hardline immigration agenda.A three-judge panel of the Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals sharply questioned a lawyer with the federal justice department as to why they should overturn two lower-court judges who blocked the order from taking effect. Continue reading...

Move comes after Maxwell met with deputy attorney general about those involved in late sex offender's crimesGhislaine Maxwell, the associate of Jeffrey Epstein who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, has been transferred from a federal prison in Florida, to a lower-security facility in Texas, the US Bureau of Prisons said on Friday.We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas," a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Continue reading...

Premier Jacinta Allan to announce proposal that if legislated would make Victoria the first state to enshrine in law the right to work remotely

It marks the first time in country's history that an ex-president has been convicted of a crime and sentencedColombia's still-powerful former president Alvaro Uribe has been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, capping a long and contentious career that defined the country's politics for a generation.Uribe, aged 73, received the maximum possible sentence after being found guilty of witness tampering, a legal source told AFP. Continue reading...

The critically maligned return of Carrie Bradshaw will not be returning after a two-part finaleAnd Just Like That, the Sex and the City spin-off series, is set to end after its current season.The news was announced on the official social channels by the showrunner Michael Patrick King, who wrote that they held off on telling fans to avoid overshadowing the third and final season, which will end with a two-part finale. It's with great gratitude we thank all the viewers who have let these characters into their homes and their hearts over these many years," he said. Continue reading...

Jon Ruben charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child after illnesses at camp in StathernA 76-year-old man has been charged after a number of children became unwell at a summer camp in Leicestershire.Jon Ruben, of Ruddington, Nottingham, has been charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child. The charges relate to three children at the rural camp in the village of Stathern, Leicestershire police said on Friday. Continue reading...

Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killedThree men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71. Continue reading...