World news | The Guardian

Insurers have made huge hidden payments for buildings cover over many years, experts sayLandlords of developments in England and Wales where residents face hefty service charges face calls to disclose millions of pounds in secret commissions" raked in over the years for arranging buildings insurance.Experts say these hidden commissions, paid to landlords including City investment funds that hold freeholds and managing agents, have been worth tens of millions of pounds a year. The arrangements were made without residents being told and resulted in higher service charges. Continue reading...

Search was conducted in difficult terrain near Mitchell Plateau as Coalition presses government over third boat since November'

Former foreign secretary says Britain needs to forge closer political and foreign policy links with Europe if it is to thriveThe UK has lost influence since Brexit to become just one of many middle powers" in the world, former foreign secretary David Miliband has said.Writing for the Observer, Miliband, now president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, said that in order to reverse the decline, the UK needed to enter new structures and commitments" with the EU on foreign policy. Continue reading...

First minister calls for end to vexatious reports after far-right agitators attempt to overwhelm' official systemsNeo-Nazi and far-right agitators are exploiting Scotland's new hate crime law to make vexatious complaints en masse in an attempt to overwhelm" police systems.A prominent figure in England's white nationalist movement is among those urging followers to spam Police Scotland with anonymous online reports, the Observer has found. Continue reading...

NSW emergency services minister warns flood threat not over after heavy rain causes flooding in and around Sydney

Close ally of populist prime minister Robert Fico claimed 53.85% of vote, beating pro-Western opposition Ivan KorokNationalist-left government candidate Peter Pellegrini has won Slovakia's presidential election ahead of liberal, pro-western opposition candidate Ivan Korok.The close ally of populist prime minister Robert Fico received 53.85% of the vote with the ballots from more than 98% polling stations counted by the Statistics Office in Saturday's runoff election, topping former foreign minister Korok who had 46.14%. Continue reading...

Ukraine soldiers describe almost daily' illegal gas attacks as invaders seek to dislodge them from embedded positionsRussia has been accused of systematically using illegal chemical gas attacks against Ukrainian soldiers.Ukrainian troops told the Daily Telegraph that they have been subjected to regular attacks from small drones dropping teargas and other chemicals. Continue reading...

Police believe suspect, who was detained near scene in Hackney, was known to victimA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a woman who was found unresponsive in a car in east London.Officers were called to Whiston Road in Hackney just before 6.45am on Saturday, the Metropolitan police said. Police forced entry to the vehicle and attempted to resuscitate the woman before the ambulance staff arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Sajak, 77, announced last summer he was ready to retire as host, marking the end of a four-decade gig on venerable gameshowPat Sajak will take his final spin on Wheel of Fortune on 7 June, marking the end of a four-decade gig as host of the venerable gameshow.Sajak, 77, announced last summer that he was ready to retire as host from the show, which features contestants guessing letters to try to fill out words and phrases to win money and prizes. Deadline confirmed his final date on air on Friday. Continue reading...

Let Women Speak leader says rally aimed to test Scotland's new hate crime legislation, Telegraph reportsGender-critical activists and counter-protesters clashed in Edinburgh in a dispute over transgender rights.Let Women Speak (LWS), an organisation described by supporters as a gender-critical feminist" campaign, led a rally outside the Royal Scottish Academy in the Scottish capital on Saturday. Continue reading...

Move to join US-led maritime corridor follows international fury at last week's killing of seven aid workersThe Royal Navy was ordered into action on Saturday to help supply desperately needed aid to Gaza, as the foreign secretary, David Cameron, warned that the Palestinian people trapped there were on the brink of famine.With the UK and US governments under intense pressure to halt arms sales to Israel, Downing Street said on Saturday that ministers would instead boost support for a planned new maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza, to channel life-saving aid" by sea to a population in urgent need of basic food supplies. Continue reading...

After weeks of intense Russian strikes, Ukraine's president calls for artillery shells as well as more Patriot missile systems

Yellow wind warnings issued while storms also brings hottest day of the year, reaching 20.9C in Suffolk

Opinium's latest research for Observer finds voters deserting the Conservatives for Reform and Labour in equal numbersOnly four out of 10 people who voted Conservative in 2019 will do so at the next general election, according to the latest dire poll for Rishi Sunak's party.Opinium's latest survey for the Observer finds that just 41% of those who backed the Tories under Boris Johnson intend to do so next time. Continue reading...

Interior minister says island's facilities at breaking point and calls for aid to Lebanon similar to recent Egypt pactThe EU must help Cyprus deal with record numbers of Syrian migrants from Lebanon, the island's government says.Before a visit to Beirut to discuss the emergency on Monday, Cyprus's interior minister appealed for support from Brussels, saying the country's reception facilities were at breaking point. Continue reading...

The post on X also breached royal protocol on politics by using image of the kingThe Conservatives are having problems with their socials again. Having claimed last month that London was the crime capital of the world", the party has now deleted another social media exhortation not to let the doomsters and the naysayers" talk down Britain.The post on X claimed that Britain was the second most powerful country in the world, illustrated by pictures including a Canadian-owned Aston Martin, a US F-35 fighter jet and a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft developed by a European consortium while the UK was in the EU. Continue reading...

Peter Magyar, once an insider in the ruling Fidesz party, declares that Change has started in Hungary which can't be stopped'Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested against the country's leadership on Saturday in one of the biggest demonstrations in years, organised by a former government insider who has shaken up Hungary's political landscape.Peter Magyar, a lawyer and former diplomat who used to belong to an elite circle around Hungary's ruling party, publicly broke with the government in February and is now aiming to challenge the position of Viktor Orban, the powerful prime minister. Continue reading...

Blast struck in conflict-stricken Daraa province, where dozens of incidents have claimed about 100 lives this yearAt least seven children were killed after a roadside bomb detonated in south-western Syria, in an area where dozens of incidents have already claimed about 100 lives in 2024, state media and a war monitor reported.

Campaigners and MPs demand regulation of the sector as struggling consumers increasingly use the deals to buy everyday essentialsMinisters are being urged to intervene over a surge in unregulated buy now, pay later" credit after the amount UK consumers spend online using such deals rose up to 1.7bn a month.Debt advisers warn that many people are routinely resorting to deferred payments to buy household essentials. Any consumer who then misses payments risks seeing their case turned over to debt collectors. Continue reading...

Yellow wind warnings issued while Saturday also becomes hottest day of the year, reaching 20.9C in SuffolkStorm Kathleen has brought disruption to the UK and Ireland with dozens of UK flights cancelled and about 34,000 left without power as Saturday provisionally become the hottest day of the year.The highest temperature of 20.9C was reached in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Gaza's Islamist rulers reiterated demands for a permanent end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops

After bonkers gig' at Huddersfield town hall paired doom metal bands with pipe organist, churches are keen to get in on the actIt was a bonkers gig", pairing heavy metal with a pipe organ - a musical curiosity that the bands thought would surely seldom be repeated, if ever.But Pantheist and Ar, the doom metals bands who performed the concert at Huddersfield town hall last year, have been inundated with requests to repeat the performance - with churches leading the way. Continue reading...

Women with symptoms are being penalised, National Education Union's annual conference toldThe UK's biggest teaching union is to lobby for menopause training to be made mandatory for all school leaders, saying women with symptoms are being penalised for sickness absence and disciplined on competency grounds.Older staff were at greatest risk of capability procedures", delegates at the National Education Union's (NEU) annual conference in Bournemouth were told, while others were being forced out of their jobs, affecting not only their income but their pensions. Continue reading...

Martin Griffiths lamented the unconscionable prospect of further escalation in Gaza, where no one is safe and there is nowhere safe to go'

Police release image of person they want to speak to over incident in Stoke Newington on 18 NovemberPolice are searching for a woman who allegedly struck a woman in the face and grabbed her hijab in north London in what they describe as a racially and religiously motivated assault.Police have released an image of a woman they would like to speak to in connection with the incident, which happened on 18 November. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester police, who have launched murder inquiry, say victim was likely to be older than 40Human remains found wrapped in plastic at a nature reserve in Greater Manchester are those of a man older than 40 and who had been dead for only a matter of days, police said.A human torso was found on the Kersel Wetlands, former home of the Manchester racecourse, on Thursday evening, Greater Manchester police said. Continue reading...

National Education Union chief Daniel Kebede says Labour pledges are a long way from the scale of change' neededA new Labour government could find itself facing a wave of industrial action by teachers in England and Wales if it fails to meet demands over pay and education funding, the leader of the UK's biggest education union has warned.Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), fired a warning shot over Keir Starmer's bows, declaring that Labour's current proposals on schools and education were a long way" off the scale of change needed. Continue reading...

Oleksandr Syrskyi says all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed

Campaigners and supporters gather in Brixton to remember those who have died without redress'Campaigners and supporters have gathered for a vigil to to mark the sixth anniversary of the Windrush scandal being exposed and to remember those who have died without redress".More than 50 people gathered at Windrush Square in Brixton for the event, which was organised bygroups supporting victims of the scandal including the Windrush National Organisation (WNO), the Black Cultural Archives and Churches Together in England. Continue reading...

HMS Trent seized 200kg of cocaine and other drugs in two operations that intercepted speedboatsThe Royal Navy has seized nearly 17m worth of drugs after it intercepted smuggling speedboats in the Caribbean Sea.HMS Trent seized 200kg of cocaine and other drugs with an estimated street value of 16.7m across two operations. Continue reading...

Head of NHS Providers says proposed reduction of second-class deliveries to two days a week would be extremely unhelpful'NHS leaders have warned that Royal Mail's plans to cut second-class deliveries to two days a week could risk patient safety.The changes are part of wider measures announced by Royal Mail's parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), including cuts of up to 9,000 routes, which could take more than two years to implement, saving 300m a year. IDS has assured the Royal Mail workforce that there will be no compulsory redundancies and they will request only 100 voluntary redundancies. Continue reading...

Attorneys for Christopher Dorsey asked federal judge in court filings Friday to allow musician to remain on supervised releaseAttorneys for New Orleans-born rapper BG maintain he did have official permission to perform alongside prominent fellow musicians despite what authorities claimed when they recently arrested him on allegations of violating the terms of his supervised release from federal prison.Lawyers for Christopher Dorsey - BG's legal name - made those contentions in court filings Friday that asked a federal judge to allow the artist to remain on supervised release rather than face re-imprisonment. Continue reading...

Case was closed in 2018 without finding assailant but it is hoped Once Upon a Bridge' will prompt fresh clues to culprit's identityWhen a jogger on London's Putney Bridge was caught by CCTV as he callously pushed a stranger into the path of a double decker bus seven years ago, the act of random violence stunned the world. Shocking still images from the footage appeared on the front pages of international newspapers and, in the following months, leagues of amateur online detectives scrutinised the running style of the anonymous offender, from his clenched fists to his straight back, for clues to the identity of the Putney Pusher".Only the driver of the number 430 bus, Olivier Salbris, came forward publicly. As he drove over the Thames that day in early May he had averted disaster by swiftly swerving away from the 33-year-old female pedestrian and so he was widely saluted, appearing on morning television show sofas. But the true cause of the strange incident remains a mystery. Continue reading...

Former prime minister says a western arms embargo on Israel would hand victory' to Hamas

Employees in England, Scotland and Wales can now request flexible working from first day in new jobEmployees will have the legal right from Saturday to request flexible working from their first day in a new job.Previously, it applied only when someone had worked for their employer for 26 weeks or more. Continue reading...

Disparity, along with lower increases for car cover in rest of Europe raises questions about motor insurance in BritainUK insurers have revealed the amount they paid out for motor claims went up by about 18% last year, even as British drivers faced premium increases of more than a third - far above the rises in the rest of Europe.The Association of British Insurers (ABI) put the average increase for car cover in the UK at 34%, but many drivers have seen rises far exceed that, even doubling in the case of electric vehicles (EVs). Continue reading...

I kept praying and praying', says rescued woman as search for four people missing from hiking trail set to resume following Wednesday's quakeRescuers in Taiwan planned to bring in heavy equipment on Saturday to try to recover two bodies buried on a hiking trail, while more than 600 people remained stranded in various locations, three days after the island's strongest earthquake in 25 years.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff says he will advise governor Barbara Baker that he be recommissioned to form a new government

After almost a decade in immigration detention Mohamed Coker was told he would be put on a plane to Sierra Leone within hours

Ecuadorian police forcibly enter the embassy in Quito to detain former vice-president Jorge GlasMexico has suspended diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police forcibly broke into the country's embassy in Quito to detain former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas, deepening a diplomatic rift between the two countries.Glas, convicted twice for corruption, had been holed up in the embassy in Quito since seeking political asylum in December, arguing he was being persecuted by the attorney general's office. Continue reading...

New tax year means threshold for benefit charge linked to higher earnings rises to 60,000Several hundred thousand families are to be better off, some by as much as 3,000, during the 2024-25 tax year after the government finally admitted that a child benefit measure brought in 11 years ago had not worked fairly.A change to child benefit is just one of a raft of changes coming in on 6 April, the start of the new tax year, including a cut in national insurance for employees to 8% from 10%.The main rate of national insurance contributions (NICs) paid by employees falls from 10% to 8%. This follows a cut from 12% to 10% that took effect in January this year. The Treasury said the average worker earning 35,400 would save more than 900 a year due to both cuts.The main self-employed NICs rate falls from 9% to 6% and class 2 self-employed NICs are abolished. For many people, however, the ongoing fiscal drag" from frozen personal tax thresholds will eat into a lot of these gains. By 2028-29 there are expected to be about 2.7 million more people paying the higher-rate tax of 40% than would have been the case if all tax allowances and thresholds had been linked to inflation, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.People can now sign up to several Isas of the same type every year, provided the overall maximum Isa allowance is not breached. Millions of savers and investors have Isas. The two main types are the cash Isa and the stocks and shares Isa, and the maximum you can save in Isas is 20,000 per tax year.In terms of investments not in an Isa or pension, the dividend tax allowance has been cut from 1,000 to 500. That is down from 5,000 when it was introduced in 2016, said Sarah Coles, the head of personal finance at the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown. Investors face capital gains tax misery, too," she said. This is paid on profits on investments outside Isas or pensions. The annual allowance has been cut from 6,000 to 3,000, pushing it to its lowest level since the 1980s," she said. Continue reading...

Union poll on school buildings also highlights sewage and wastewater leaks, overheating, severe cold, pests and mouldA survey by the UK's biggest education union on the state of school buildings in England and Wales has found two in five teachers reporting signs of vermin or pests and more than a quarter complaining of sewage or wastewater leaks.Of the 8,000 members of the National Education Union who responded to the online poll, two-thirds (68%) said they worked in buildings that leaked, with one in 10 describing the problem as severe". Continue reading...

Foreign minister Penny Wong says IDF's killing of the seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, cannot be swept aside'

Families are being offered grants to go home but many have stayed away and others are already thinking of leaving againDowntown Sderot, an impoverished Israeli town just a kilometre away from the north-eastern corner of the Gaza Strip, is still quiet six months after 7 October. There is no longer any trace of the police station where Hamas militants took hostages and engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a two-day battle before the Israelis decided to blow up the building. The site has been levelled and is now home to flags and a memorial.Seventy people were killed and about 90% of the town's 28,000 residents were evacuated, most of them put up in hotels up and down the country. A huge new mural saluting the town adorns a wall of a block of flats. Continue reading...

Most services on six major lines suspended on Saturday, as strikes coincide with union's overtime banRail passengers across Great Britain have been told to check before they travel as a second day of strikes by train drivers will result in most services being suspended on six major lines.Industrial action by the drivers' union Aslef will mean staff working for Chiltern Railways, Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express (TPE) staging a 24-hour strike on Saturday. Continue reading...

Women still being paid 91p for every 1 a man earns, analysis shows, with gap stubbornly high in public sector

NSW premier says rising flood levels present ongoing danger for some communities, including in western Sydney

Former Australian foreign minister named as secretary general Antonio Guterres' special envoy to country gripped by civil warThe former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has been appointed the United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres' special envoy on Myanmar, the world body has said.Bishop, the Australian National University's chancellor, will take up the UN role that has been vacant since June last year, when Singaporean diplomat Noeleen Heyzer stepped down. Continue reading...

Pouria Zeraati said he is back on the airwaves with Iran International, a dissident broadcaster based in the UKAn Iranian journalist who was stabbed outside his London home last week has returned to work, saying the show must go on".Pouria Zeraati was knifed in the leg by a group of three unknown assailants as he approached his car in Wimbledon on 29 March. Continue reading...

Although one Bay Area reporter found the side-eye inappropriate, New York earthquake Twitter proved delightful for AngelenosFor many people in Los Angeles, earthquakes are just another trend that New Yorkers have discovered years after the real cool kids did.As Angelenos awoke to the news that the east coast had endured a 4.8-magnitude earthquake centered in New Jersey, First time?" memes filled Los Angeles social media channels. Continue reading...