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James Sunderland, an aide to James Cleverly who is seeking re-election as MP, made comments at event in April

Militants in Lebanon can fire 3,000 missiles a day, US officials warn as fears grow that the conflict will escalate

Minors could also miss crucial support under a potential ban, online safety regulator's office tells inquiry

Cases are predicted to nearly double by 2040 as charity warns of 400,000 people with undiagnosed heart failureThe health service faces a ticking time bomb" over people suffering from heart failure, with diagnosed cases predicted to nearly double by 2040, medical experts have warned.The British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) warns there are an estimated 400,000 people with undiagnosed heart failure in the UK. It warns there is an urgent need for a national initiative to detect these cases or NHS services face being overwhelmed in future years. Continue reading...

The failings of the first past the post system are exposed amid an unprecedented fracturing of political support that signals dangers for the winning partyLabour's advance and the Tories' collapse look set to break records on 4 July, but so does the silent surge for someone else". The combined Labour and Conservative share of the vote looks set to be the lowest ever in a universal franchise election. And this unprecedented fracturing of the vote leaves the fate of all parties, big and small, more dependent than ever on electoral geography and a fickle first past the post electoral system.The Liberal Democrats understand the vagaries of this system better than most. No party has won so many votes, so often, with so little to show for it. The cruel fate of the Lib Dems was to be everyone's silver medallist in a system where second gets nothing. Over 40 years between the Liberal breakthrough of 1974 and the Lib Dem collapse of 2015, the third party averaged 17% of the vote but just 5% of the seats. Continue reading...

The future of US military project costing $230m in question after weather and poor security prevent aid distributionA floating pier built by the US military for seaborne humanitarian deliveries to Gaza has proved itself to be fragile in the face of rougher seas than expected, and the future of the whole $230m project is now in question.The pier has been usable for just 12 days since it began operations on 17 May. On most of those days the assistance arriving by sea has had to be left on the beach as there have been no trucks to distribute it to warehouses in Gaza, because of lack of security. Continue reading...

Former Labor prime minister claims opposition leader Peter Dutton will do everything he can to de-legitimise renewables'

Party's deputy leader says Fair Work Agency will have the power to inspect workplaces and levy finesLabour will create a watchdog with real teeth" that has the power to prosecute and fine companies that breach the rights of their employees as part of its plans to strengthen workers' rights.Angela Rayner, the party's deputy leader, told the Observer that she would create a new body, the Fair Work Agency, to oversee her proposals. She said that millions of workers could be losing out on basic rights as a result ofunderenforcement. Continue reading...

The Peter Dutton-led opposition is seeking a mandate to pursue nuclear energy, but details are in short supply

Candidates in key central belt hope to scoop up voters who have become disillusioned with their election rivalsNot for the first time, Blair McDougall, Labour's candidate in East Renfrewshire on the outskirts of Glasgow, is telling a wavering voter that the election here is so, so close".If predictions of a knife-edge outcome weren't enough to motivate him, many people - including some in Barrhead, which he is visiting today - have just received their postal ballots. Their votes will be cast in the next few days. Continue reading...

Boxer says ex-fighters suffer poor health and that he hopes to help them as part of his sports legacyAnthony Joshua has said he is considering opening a care home for retired boxers with health problems.Speaking to Lauren Laverne on Sunday's episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the former world heavyweight champion said he had discussed issues faced by ex-fighters with his former boxing coach, John Oliver. Continue reading...

Latest Opinium survey shows gap with Labour widening after another week of Conservative gaffes, while Reform rises two points to 16%The Tories' disastrous election campaign has propelled Labour to a near-record poll lead with just 11 days to go until election day.The latest Opinium poll for the Observer puts Labour on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), with the Tories languishing on just 20% (down three on the week). Continue reading...

Treasury analysis shows mums and dads' will be among the biggest beneficiaries when 1 July cuts kick in, Jim Chalmers says

It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us,' the levelling up, housing and communities secretary suggestsThe election betting row is as damaging to the Conservatives as the Partygate scandal, Michael Gove has said.The levelling up, housing and communities secretary was speaking after revelations in the Guardian about a wagers allegedly placed on the date of the general election just before it was announced by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Continue reading...

It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us,' the levelling up, housing and communities secretary suggestsThe election betting row is as damaging to the Conservatives as the Partygate scandal, Michael Gove has said.The levelling up, housing and communities secretary was speaking after revelations in the Guardian about a wagers allegedly placed on the date of the general election just before it was announced by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Continue reading...

President Zelenskiy calls for bold decisions from our partners' following aerial assault on Ukraine's second cityAt least three people were killed in a Russian bombing attack on Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, on Saturday afternoon, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.Another 52 people were wounded in the attack, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Four aerial bombs were launched against the city, damaging residential buildings, shops and public transport stops, said Kharkiv's regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. He said four of the wounded were in serious condition. Continue reading...

Hydra's mayor outraged by incident as country faces wildfires fanned by high winds and hot weatherGreek authorities arrested 13 people on Saturday after fireworks launched from a yacht set off a forest fire on an island near Athens as the country confronts a new season of deadly summer fires.The mayor of the island of Hydra expressed outrage" after the fire was started late on Friday and vowed legal action against those responsible. Continue reading...

Singer addresses crowd at first concert since being arrested and charged with driving while intoxicatedJustin Timberlake acknowledged having a tough week" and thanked fans for their support at a concert Friday in what was the first time the pop star spoke publicly since police in the Hamptons arrested him on allegations of driving while intoxicated days earlier.We've been together through ups and downs, lefts and rights," Timberlake told a crowd at the United Center in Chicago three days after his 18 June arrest. It's been a tough week, but you're here and I'm here, and nothing can change this moment right now." Continue reading...

Victim of random street assault has become symbol of the legal system's handling of gender-based violenceThe case of a soldier who brutalised a woman in a random street attack and walked free from court has prompted protests across Ireland.Thousands of people marched in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick on Saturday to show solidarity with Natasha O'Brien, 24, who has become a symbol of the legal system's handling of gender-based violence. Continue reading...

Mercury could hit 30C with potential for significant impacts' on the health and social care sector, UKHSA warnsA yellow heat health alert has been issued for most of England, as temperatures look likely to soar to 30C in parts of the country.The alert has been issued for all but one region, with some areas being warned of the potential for significant impacts" on the health and social care sector. Continue reading...

PM orders 16 companies to be stripped of licences amid hundreds of deaths, many attributed to extreme heatThe Egyptian prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, has ordered 16 tourism companies to be stripped of their licences and referred their managers to the public prosecutor's office for illegally facilitating pilgrims' travel to Mecca, the cabinet has said.The order came after various countries reported more than 1,100 deaths, many attributed to high heat, during this year's hajj. Continue reading...

Labour leader rules out rejoining EU, single market or customs union

US agricultural department employees were attacked and detained earlier this week in Michoacan stateUS government inspections of avocados and mangoes in the Mexican state of Michoacan will gradually resume, the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, announced on Friday, a week after they were suspended over an assault on inspectors.The US agriculture department inspectors will gradually begin to return to the packing plants following recent aggression against them", Salazar said in a statement. However, it is still necessary to advance in guaranteeing their security before reaching full operations. Continue reading...

Israeli forces said strikes on densely populated locations were aimed at killing senior Hamas commander

Tributes paid to man credited with spearheading city's 21st-century renaissance, including rebuild after IRA bombTributes have been paid to Sir Howard Bernstein, widely credited with regenerating Manchester, who has died at the age of 71.Bernstein began his career at Manchester town hall in 1971, eventually serving as chief executive of Manchester city council for 20 years, from 1998 until his retirement in March 2017. Continue reading...

Author accused party of abandoning women who took issue with its transgender rights policyKeir Starmer has said he is proud of Labour's history on women's rights after JK Rowling said she would struggle to support the party because of its stance on transgender rights.Starmer told reporters on Saturday that he was very proud of the progress" of past Labour governments, which made a material difference" to women's lives. Continue reading...

For this year's fringe, performers will be rapidly updating their shows to reflect the outcome at the ballot boxLet's just say, I didn't make a bet on the election date, and if I had, I would be massively out of pocket," says Emma Sidi, who'll be performing in character as chief Partygate investigator Sue Gray in her new show at this year's Edinburgh festival fringe. It's a surreal take on political comedy, with character comedian Sidi reimagining Gray as a real hun, that kind of girl next door, someone who says it how it is", but there are also topical jokes, with Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer appearing as key characters.Sidi, like most of the country, expected the election would be called in autumn, so when the announcement came that it would be done and dusted less than a month before the fringe opens, comedians who dared to tackle politics in this volatile year were suddenly faced with serious rewrites. Continue reading...

William celebrated his birthday at singer's gig at Wembley on Friday with children George and CharlotteThe Prince of Wales has thanked Taylor Swift for a great evening" after he celebrated his birthday at her Wembley gig on Friday night.Kensington Palace posted a picture on social media of Swift taking a selfie with William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte backstage before the concert. Continue reading...

Musician, 33, faces retrial after being sentenced to death for corruption on Earth'Iran's supreme court has overturned the death sentence imposed on the rapper Toomaj Salehi, his lawyer said.The decision comes in the middle of Iran's presidential election campaign but seems unrelated to the fierce public debates under way about Iran's future direction, including the rights of women not to wear the hijab if they wish. Continue reading...

Eight dogs vied for the title in the Sonoma-Marine Fair's disagreeable-looking dog competitionThe World's Ugliest Dog contest may not render the most flattering title to its victor, but don't tell that to Wild Thang.The eight-year-old pekingese won this year's World's Ugliest Dog competition on Friday. Continue reading...

Natasha Khan joins Suranne Jones to speak out for women persecuted in the infamous trials - and channels their powers on stageIn between performing songs from her new album on her current UK tour, Natasha Khan, AKA Bat for Lashes, spends some time howling at the audience and furiously hitting the stage with a huge stick.The reason? We're all witches," said Khan, 44. It helps me to tap into that subconscious world of witchery, and show how really powerful it is to witness a woman on stage feeling confident in her magic." Continue reading...

This year is my first Glastonbury - and the first time south Asian artists will have their own space. It's long overdueMy most frequently used sentence in the past few months has probably been: Imanaged to get a Glastonbury ticket." After years of trying, I will finally be setting foot in Worthy Farm next weekend and - even more exciting - I will be making my debut in the same year as the festival's first ever dedicated south Asian area.The new space, called Arrivals, will host an entirely south Asian lineup, and was programmed and designed by an entirely south Asian team, from the set designers to the sound system operators. Continue reading...

Dr Clare Bailey posts tribute to adventurous man', saying his work gave him strong sense of purposeThe widow of Michael Mosley has posted an emotional tribute to her husband and said she plans to continue the work that gave him so much joy and such a sense of purpose".Mosley, a TV presenter, went missing while on holiday with his wife, Dr Clare Bailey, on the Greek island of Symi on 5 June. The 67-year-old's body was discovered five days after disappearing during a coastal walk along St Nicholas beach. Continue reading...

Debbie Duncan, mother of Jay Slater, says it is right that search for 19-year-old should be intensifiedThe mother of Jay Slater, who is missing in Tenerife, has said she believes Spanish police have intensified their search for the 19-year-old, six days after he disappeared.Debbie Duncan told the Guardian she spent eight hours in a police station on Friday as police outlined their detailed plans to search for the missing apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire. I think it's been stepped up," she said, which she described as too right". Continue reading...

Police attended Westmead hospital about 11.30pm on Friday after a man, 39, allegedly slashed and assaulted staff

Prosecutors claimed four members of family underpaid staff and gave them little freedom to leave Geneva mansionA Swiss court has handed jail sentences to four members of Britain's richest family for exploiting Indian staff at their Geneva mansion.The Hindujas, who were not present in court, were acquitted of human trafficking but convicted of other charges on Friday in a stunning verdict for the family, whose fortune is estimated at 37bn. Continue reading...

Network asks court to dismiss appeal if Lehrmann fails to comply if such an order is made

Scenarios using a large-scale data model that predicts individual seat tallies indicate anything from 53-155 Tory MPsSo-called MRP polls, which use large-scale polling data to extrapolate individual seat tallies, have become something of an obsession in UK politics since an early version by YouGov predicted 2017's hung parliament, while other surveys were tipping an easy Conservative win.So popular are MRPs, an acronym for a very technical approach known as multilevel regression and post-stratification, that three were published on a single day this week. All gave pretty different results, particularly when it came to the fate of the Tories. Continue reading...

Whalley residents say drunken crowds and antisocial behaviour at weekends is making life unbearableWhalley, in Lancashire's verdant Ribble Valley, is famed for its 14th-century Cistercian abbey and historic churches, as well as the spectacular views from Whalley Nab, the wooded hill that overlooks this seeming picture-postcard idyll.But while the village still draws in family day-trippers and history buffs, it is also attracting an altogether different type of tourist, after earning perhaps an unlikely reputation as Lancashire's premier drinking destination. Continue reading...

NHS England says its ambition to wipe disease out by 2040 relies on more under-50s coming forwardWomen have been urged by NHS officials to attend cervical screenings after figures showed a third of those under 50 do not take up their invitation.Each year, about 3,200 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 850 die from it. It is the 14th most common cancer affecting women in Britain, with women aged 30 to 34 most likely to be diagnosed with it. Continue reading...

Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets accused of fuelling the obesity crisisSome takeaway meals contain more calories in one sitting than someone is advised to consume in an entire day, a study of British eating habits has revealed.Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets are fuelling the UK's obesity crisis because so many meals they sell contain dangerously large numbers of calories, it found.Supermarket meal deals - usually comprising a sandwich, snack and drink - contain on average 780 calories, more than the 600 advised.Burgers are the most popular takeaway dish in England, Scotland and Wales, followed by chips, fries or wedges.People consume an average of 300 calories a day in takeaway food and drink.Non-alcoholic drinks, especially coffee and fizzy soft drinks, contribute 12% of all the calories consumed by people in out-of-home premises. Continue reading...

Ministers left with unpalatable options of raising tuition fees, making grants or capping student numbers, says IFSThe next government faces unpalatable" choices between raising tuition fees, making direct grants or capping student numbers to rescue universities in England from their financial black hole, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.The thinktank said universities that relied on teaching UK students for the bulk of their income were most vulnerable, calculating that undergraduate tuition fees would now be 12,000 if they had kept pace with inflation, rather than the 9,250 rate frozen since 2016. Continue reading...

We're all entitled to our opinions, says one party candidate. His aren't the only ones to have attracted controversyWhile opinion polls have shown rising support for Reform UK during the general election campaign, the party has been dogged by revelations about some of its candidates.These have ranged from comments that the UK should have remained neutral in the fight against the Nazis and admiration of Hitler's brilliant" ability to inspire action, to a conspiracy theory about King Charles being under the control of a shadowy global elite. Continue reading...

Oleh Sentsov's film Real is 90 minutes of frontline action captured when he didn't realise his camera was onIn the new film by the Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov, soldiers pinned down in a trench try to organise the evacuation of a group of fellow fighters who are stuck and wounded in a frontline position.Sentsov, who spent several years as a political prisoner in Russia and is now fighting in the Ukrainian army, found the 90 minutes of shaky footage six months after the battle. He was going through old files on his GoPro camera and realised it had been switched on that day. Continue reading...

Territory's health ministry says Israeli attack targeted tents of displaced people; Israeli military says report under review'

Beijing ramps up pressure over crime of secession' while Taipei says China has no jurisdiction over Taiwan and urges its people not to be intimidatedChina has threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for diehard" Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of President Lai Ching-te, who took office last month, saying he is a separatist", and staged war games shortly after his inauguration. Continue reading...

Many parts of Victoria, NSW and Queensland have shivered through temperatures between 2C and 5C below average, the BoM says

Spanish city is one of Europe's top destinations but its popularity has made housing increasingly unaffordable for residentsBarcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, has announced it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city livable for residents.The city's leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said on Friday that by November 2028, Barcelona would scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals. Continue reading...

Spanish police say they have the resources it needs for hunt for 19-year-old who was last heard from on MondaySpanish police have rejected an offer of support from Lancashire constabulary as the hunt for the missing British teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife continues.Lancashire police said it had made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources" in their efforts. The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle was last heard from between 8am and 9am on Monday morning when he contacted a friend. Continue reading...

Met Office says central and southern England should reach mid-20s but weather will turn unsettled from WednesdayHeatwaves may hit parts of the UK next week after a grey start to the weekend, forecasters have said.A greyer start to the weekend" is forecast on Saturday with further showers and warm temperatures in the south and east of England before a mainly nice day" for most areas of the UK on Sunday. Continue reading...