World news | The Guardian

Committee says major overhaul required to restore public confidence among victims and survivorsPublic inquiries should be shortened and the progress of their recommendations tracked, according to a House of Lords committee, which says a major overhaul is required to restore public confidence among victims and survivors.The committee's report, published in the wake of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry, which took almost seven years, warns there is a perception that inquiries are frequently too long and expensive", undermining their credibility and prolonging trauma for those affected. Continue reading...

The three men have pleaded not guilty, with one saying he was copying the British comedian after watching him on Netflix

Liberal leader had attempted to force Deeming's resignation and falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser, court hears

Government says NSWEduChat, developed after ChatGPT was banned in schools, saved some teachers more than an hour a week

Violence was an accepted part of the culture, and threats of violence were a substitute for reasoned negotiations', says interim report

Family members of Haigh, who was 19 when she disappeared, were seen in tears outside the court after the not guilty verdict was handed down

At least 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were still missing after the strongest storm to hit Asia this yearMyanmar's death toll from floods rose to at least 113, the country's military government said, following heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Yagi that has caused havoc across parts of Southeast Asia.At least 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were still missing, government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, according to a late-night bulletin on state-run MRTV. Continue reading...

Jonathan Noakes also suggests training teachers to encourage discussion, as government focuses on oracyState schools in England should set up debating clubs and train teachers in the art of encouraging classroom discussions in order to improve children's oracy and help them develop speaking skills for life, a senior leader at Eton college has said.While private schools have greater resources to work on enrichment and life skills outside the demands of the GCSE and A-level curriculum, teachers in state schools, who often work with disadvantaged children with additional needs, say they do not have sufficient time or training to focus on oracy. Continue reading...

Backbenchers and NGOs criticise decision to explore how country has cut migrant numbers at Rome talksKeir Starmer is under pressure from Labour backbenchers and NGOs to distance his government from Giorgia Meloni's hard-right immigration policies on the eve of bilateral talks in Rome.After the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the UK would consider copying Italy's plans to process asylum applicants in a third country such as Albania, one backbencher questioned why a Labour administration was seeking to learn lessons from a neo-fascist government". Continue reading...

Bedfordshire police believe Juliana Prosper, 48, Kyle, 16, and Giselle, 13, were victims found in flatTributes have been paid after the devastating" loss of a mother and two of her teenage children who were found dead at a flat in Luton.Bedfordshire police said it believed the victims to be Juliana Prosper, 48, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, all of Leabank, although formal identification has yet to take place. Continue reading...

Workers voted overwhelmingly to reject wage proposal from aviation giant last weekTalks between Boeing and striking US factory workers will resume on Tuesday under a federal mediator, the union said, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposal from the embattled aviation giant.On Tuesday, the Union will meet with federal mediators assigned through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and Boeing to begin discussions," a chapter of the machinists union called IAM-District 751, which represents more than 33,000 union members in the Seattle region, said late on Saturday on its website. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ex-Labour leader gives speech at event where organisers say they aim to start party named CollectiveJeremy Corbyn has addressed a meeting for a new leftwing political party named Collective attended by the former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and a number of former independent candidates.Key figures in the group said they hoped the party would act as an incubator for future leaders who could replace Corbyn as a figurehead of the left, and aim to contest seats at the next general election. Continue reading...

More than a dozen who served under Republican president quote his call for a Time for Choosing'More than a dozen former Ronald Reagan staff members have joined dozens of other Republican figures endorsing the Democratic nominee and vice-president, Kamala Harris, saying their support was less about supporting the Democratic party and more about our resounding support for democracy".In a letter obtained by CBS News, former Reagan aides and appointees - including Ken Adelman, a US ambassador to the United Nations and arms control negotiator, as well as a deputy press secretary, B Jay Cooper - said they believed that, if alive today, Reagan would have supported Harris. Continue reading...

Tory leadership hopeful says comments about Diane Abbott were completely wrong' and donor has apologisedThe Conservative party leadership candidate James Cleverly has declined to rule out accepting future donations from Frank Hester, the businessman who said Diane Abbott made him want to hate all black women".A Guardian investigation revealed in March that Hester had told a meeting he did not hate all black women but seeing Abbott on TV meant you just want to hate all black women because she's there". He also said the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington should be shot". Continue reading...

Opinion heavily split across parties over legalising support for terminally ill people to end their lives

Investigation opens in France into deaths as David Lammy says UK could process asylum claimants in third countryEight people died overnight trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French regional authorities have said, as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the government could follow Italy's lead and process asylum claimants in a third country.The French maritime prefecture said 59 people were onboard the boat, which got into difficulty off the coast of France, and 51 of them were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office. Continue reading...

Audience award, typically handed to film that goes on to enjoy Oscar success, was won by Tom Hiddleston-led dramaThe Tom Hiddleston-led drama The Life of Chuck is the surprise winner of this year's Toronto film festival audience award.The under-the-radar adaptation of Stephen King's novella beat out competition from higher-profile titles to gain the majority of attendees' votes. The film entered the festival without distribution. Continue reading...

Storm Boris has caused rivers to burst banks and trapped people in their homes across Austria, Poland and SlovakiaSeven people have drowned in Austria, Poland and Romania and four others are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris continues to lash central and eastern Europe, bringing torrential rain and floods that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.Swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been battered by high winds and unusually fierce rains since Thursday. Continue reading...

Film producer's former assistant says decision calls into question CPS's ability to deal with rape and sexual assault casesWomen who were key to exposing the disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein have told of their frustration at the decision by UK prosecutors to discontinue two indecent assault charges against him.Zelda Perkins, a former personal assistant to Weinstein who broke a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to help expose him as a rapist, said the decision called into question the justice system's attitude towards sexual assault and rape. Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister speaks after Yemen's Houthis claim responsibility for ballistic missile attack that reached central Israel for the first time Continue reading...

Despite a royal commission and now findings of misconduct, those affected say many of those responsible have been able to just walk away'

The nine-week trial of Robert and Anne Geeves, accused of killing teenager Amber Haigh in 2002, comes to an end on Monday

Prices at the News Corp-controlled realestate.com.au can be as high as $4,000 for a single listing, prompting complaints from vendors, agents and industry disruptors

Minor party could be largest group on MidCoast council and state MP John Ruddick says if you put in a development [application] we will approve it'The Libertarian party could have up to 15 councillors across New South Wales and take control of a major regional council following the Liberal party's failure to nominate more than 100 candidates for the weekend's local government elections.The NSW Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, said on Sunday his party had performed strongly" where it had fielded candidates - despite 16 council areas either having no Liberal candidates or fewer than they were meant to. Continue reading...

David Baddiel and Jonathan Freedland among those to resign over articles by former IDF soldier Elon PerryA number of prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle after allegations it printed articles about the Gaza conflict that were based on wild fabrications".The weekly title, the world's oldest Jewish newspaper, is facing calls for an investigation after it deleted nine articles by Elon Perry because of doubts over their accuracy and concerns he had misrepresented his CV. Continue reading...

Figure of woman on her back underwater draws inspiration from Hamlet's Ophelia and death of senior Tudor judgeAlmost 500 years ago, a wealthy and well-connected judge named Sir James Hales walked into the river Stour near Canterbury in order to take his own life. Hales had risen to favour under King Henry VIII, but had refused to convert to Catholicism under the repressive regime of his daughter Mary, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.Battling with his mental health after his release in 1554, he drowned himself. But as suicide was a crime at the time, his widow was denied the right to inherit his property and so took the matter to law, in a case that became so famous in the 16th century that it inspired Shakespeare's portrayal of the suicide by drowning of Hamlet's Ophelia. Continue reading...

Basic classes continue for some but resources are lacking and many children have been put to workEvery evening, for two hours, Asma Mustafa sits down with the small children of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza for what now passes as school in the beleaguered strip. She makes do with what is available: sometimes there are pens and paper for basic maths and literacy, but most of the time class time is taken up with storytelling, singing and play.I have been doing this since November," said Mustafa, 38, who taught at a girl's high school in Gaza City before the war. Many children are now working or helping their families find basic things like food during the day, but I try to give them a little bit of structure and normality in the evenings." Continue reading...

Labyrinthine drama over which Murdoch child will get Fox Corp empire begins out of public view on MondayThe Murdoch family succession drama enters a new phase in a Reno, Nevada, courtroom this week when patriarch Rupert Murdoch will probably argue that plans by three of his children to potentially change the business model of the news-communications empire will damage the interests of Fox Corp shareholders.Sadly for followers of the intense and labyrinthine Murdoch family drama - one that partly inspired the fictional HBO series Succession and many of its plot lines - the arguments and testimony stemming from the bitter feud will not be in public view. Continue reading...

Anti-Trump Republican stymied investigation of activist married to supreme court justice, says reporter David BrockLiz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, did all she could" to protect the rightwing supreme court justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, the political activist Ginni Thomas, by blocking an in-depth investigation of Ginni's involvement in Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election, a new book says.In Stench: The Making of the Thomas Court and the Unmaking of America, the reporter and Democratic operative David Brock writes that two Capitol Hill sources with personal knowledge" revealed a dramatic truth, which might shock even some jaded Washington veterans not easily surprised by callow examples of power protecting power. Continue reading...

Destruction of Ukraine's energy infrastructure puts botanical garden's rare and exotic species in dangerZhanna Yaroslavska showed off a barrel-shaped stove in the middle of a tropical greenhouse. Nearby was a large pile of logs. It's a pretty neanderthal arrangement," she explained. When the power shuts off we feed the stove with wood. In winter we do this round the clock. Our plants require constant temperatures. They don't like cold and hot."Inside the glass nursery were dozens of rare specimens. All were bromeliads native to the Americas. Silvery wisps of beard-like Tillandsia descended from a pipe. A pineapple poked out of a stem. A screen next to the stove protected a group of starfish-like earth stars, native to Brazil. The collection needed a minimum temperature of 10C, Yaroslavska - a senior researcher - said. Below that everything would die off. Continue reading...

Free publication of Lucio Silla by JS Bach's youngest son could see his talent recognised once more in the city he made his home0London is about to recognise the significance of one of its greatest composers. But rather than being a British genius, he is a long dead German whose surname is already very famous. The work of Johann Christian Bach, once lauded as the London Bach", has been largely overlooked by the city he made his home from 1762.This is despite the string of popular operas he created and his early influence on an eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he met and performed with in London. Continue reading...

Meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse says dangerous conditions caused by low-pressure system offshore generating gale-force winds and large waves

A new film looks at the restriction of broadcasting on named political groups in Northern Ireland - and the actors and comedians who benefitedPeople [my] age can vaguely remember a few examples, maybe," says director Roisin Agnew. But they didn't think of the broadcasting ban as a phenomenon - the only thing that comes up is that Chris Morris sketch."Agnew is speaking to me as her new film The Ban is being screened at festivals. The 26-minute documentary tracks the genesis, enactment and fallout of the law which barred spokespeople from Sinn Fein from speaking on the British airwaves between 1988 and 1994, as well as the experiences of those caught in its crosshairs. Continue reading...

Premier Steven Miles says scheme saves money and takes cars off the road, gets people home sooner and is great for the environment'

Union says Melbourne dropped from 120 to 90 available ambulance crews due to sick leave, while regional Victoria also had 20 fewer crews

State department says allegations of American collusion are categorically false' as US navy member identified among foreign citizens detainedThe US state department rejected wild allegations of CIA involvement in an alleged assassination plot against Nicolas Maduro after Venezuelan officials announced the arrest of three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech on Saturday.The claims of a plot against Maduro - the Venezuelan president, whose recent re-election is contested - were made on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens including a US navy member were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television programme, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the alleged plotters. Continue reading...

The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord AlliKeir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs' interests, the Sunday Times reported. Continue reading...

Two hospitals sent into lockdown, government buildings shut down and local schools evacuatedTwo hospitals in Springfield, Ohio, were sent into lockdown after bomb threats, police said Saturday, marking the fourth such case in as many days that appears linked to false claims circulating among the far right that Haitian immigrants there are eating domestic pets and wildlife.Saturday's threats came even after the woman who started the rumors acknowledged to NBC News that they were unfounded and publicly apologized. Continue reading...

Mother hopes case will shine a light' on family courts and CafcassA convicted rapist who was previously allowed to have unsupervised time with his child has been stripped of his parental responsibility.Kristoffer White, who has been described as a danger to women and children", failed to turn up to court last week for a hearing, attended by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), to determine the involvement he could have in his daughter's life. Continue reading...

More than 40 others were injured in crash in the city of Zagazig, according to the country's health ministryTwo passenger trains have collided in Egypt's Nile delta, killing at least three people, two of them children, authorities have said.The crash happened on Saturday in the city of Zagazig, the capital of Sharqiya province, the country's railway authority said. Egypt's health ministry said the collision injured at least 40 others. Continue reading...

Mixed messaging for government as they try to conquer the Queensland paradox' - wooing both urban and regional voters

Oversupply and deflation are spooking markets, while falling demand for coal and iron ore threatens to further hamper anaemic Australian growth

Outrage at ordeal of woman raped after being drugged by husband leads to marches across the countryHundreds of protesters gathered across France on Saturday in support of Gisele Pelicot, the woman whose husband drugged her and invited more than 80 men to rape her at their home over the course of a decade.Feminist groups organised about 30 protests in cities including Paris and Marseille. Demonstrators also gathered in Brussels. At Place de la Republique in Paris, protesters held placards with messages of support for victims of sexual violence. One read: Gisele for all. All for Gisele." Continue reading...

Mourners in Uganda pay respects to Olympic athlete whose death prompted renewed calls for more protection for women in sportThousands of mourners in Uganda paid their respects on Saturday to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died last week in Kenya after her partner set her on fire. The military funeral took place in a remote town near the Kenyan border.Military officers played a prominent role in the funeral because Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda's army, said military spokesperson Brig Felix Kulayigye, adding that she deserved a gun salute that befits her rank". Continue reading...

Family members and political leaders gather in Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim to mourn activist slain by IDFHundreds of people waving Turkish and Palestinian flags gathered on Saturday for the funeral of Ayenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Cevdet Ylmaz, Turkey's vice-president; Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister; Numan Kurtulmu, the parliament speaker; and Ozgur Ozel, the main opposition leader from the Republican People's party (CHP) were among mourners at the ceremony in the Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim. Continue reading...

The first study into Tory shake-up of childcare shows staff are overwhelmedThe first major study into the Conservatives' controversial shake-up of childcare has revealed that nursery staff are often doing more crowd control" than education, because of the increased number of children they are looking after.Since September last year, nurseries in England have been allowed to increase child-to-staff ratios, so one adult now looks after five two-year-olds rather than four. The change was intended to help deliver the party's pledge of 15 hours' free childcare a week from this month for working parents of children aged from nine months to three years. Continue reading...

Mike Jeffries, now 80, has been accused of exploiting young men for sex in cities around the world from 2009-15The former chief executive of the American fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch faces new allegations this weekend of exploitation and abuse at sex events held around the world.One witness said he attended a sex event in Spain with the former fashion boss Mike Jeffries and his British partner Matthew Smith, believing it was going to be a photoshoot, the BBC reported. Young men were injected with liquid Viagra at other events, according to witnesses. Continue reading...

Study also found that 37% who have gotten vaccines in the past do not plan on getting them this yearLess than half of Americans plan to get their Covid-19 vaccine this year, according to a new survey, and slightly more than half plan to get a flu shot.In a new report released on Thursday, the Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center found that 37% of Americans have gotten vaccines in the past but do not plan to this year. The same percentage of respondents said they do not need any of the vaccines surveyed in the poll, including those against the flu, Covid-19, pneumococcal and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the report stated. Continue reading...

Warwickshire police officers were responding to an urgent incident on Friday evening when the collision occurredA pedestrian in his 60s has died after being hit by a police vehicle, Warwickshire police have said.Officers were responding to an emergency incident in Nuneaton when their vehicle collided with the man at about 8.45pm on Friday, the force said. Continue reading...

Victims were impeded in their evacuation routes by deteriorating infrastructure and lack of preparations by officialsThe wind pushed flames from house to house as a group of neighbors tried to escape their blazing subdivision, abandoning their cars in a blocked road and running to an industrial outbuilding for safety. All six perished just blocks from their homes.Members of the group, including an 11-year-old and his parents, were among the victims whose desperate attempts to escape Hawaii's Lahaina wildfire were detailed for the first time in a report released on Friday. The investigation by the Fire Safety Research Institute for the Hawaii attorney general's office delved into the conditions that fed the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century - and the attempts to stop its spread while evacuating the town's residents. Continue reading...