World news | The Guardian

Ken Skates says local communities will decide which limits are rescinded after 500,000 people sign petition against themWales's transport minister has said the government will correct" its guidance on the introduction of 20mph speed limits in built-up areas.The announcement comes after half a million people signed a petition against the measure. Continue reading...

Manager of Lower Red Lion in St Albans says people around the world have sent supportive messagesThe landlord of a pub that went viral over its sign advertising the venue as dog-friendly, child-free" has stood by its policy and said he has received messages of support from the local community and internationally.David Worcester, who runs the Lower Red Lion in St Albans, Hertfordshire, said the sign had been outside the pub for years - but only garnered strong reaction online after a user tweeted a picture of the chalkboard with the comment found my new local". Continue reading...

Possible move in autumn statement come as experts sound alarm about dire state of UK public servicesJeremy Hunt is reportedly considering stamp duty and national insurance cuts before the next general election.The chancellor has previously hinted there could be another fiscal event" before voters go to the polls in an attempt to boost the Conservatives' tax-cutting credentials. Continue reading...

Mitcham residents say the Burn Bullock had been disgracefully neglected' prior to the blazeA heritage-listed pub has been damaged in a blaze that began on Friday night.Three floors of the Grade II-listed Burn Bullock in Mitcham, south-west London were damaged in the fire, which also destroyed the building's roof, the London fire brigade said. Twelve fire engines and about 80 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire. Continue reading...

Attorney general weighing up whether to refer sentences of Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter to appeal courtThe attorney general is considering whether to refer the sentences of two men convicted of murdering a footballer on a nightclub dancefloor to the court of appeal for reconsideration.Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, were jailed for life with a minimum of 26 and 25 years respectively for fatally stabbing the former Birmingham City academy player Cody Fisher on Boxing Day 2022. Continue reading...

Pro-Palestinian students interrupted a dinner held by a top free speech defender at Berkeley. A polarized and very public controversy has followedDuring a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house's backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of minutes, but has led to a fierce debate about the limits of free speech, drew death threats to those involved, and created a media firestorm," as the dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has put it.Some short and chaotic viral videos illustrate part of what happened. One of them shows the woman, Malak Afaneh, as she gives a Ramadan greeting; she is accompanied by a small group of other student protesters. As Afaneh begins reading a speech about the Israel-Gaza war, Chemerinsky and his wife, the law professor Catherine Fisk, quickly cut Afaneh off. Continue reading...

The pseudoscientific term, made notorious by George Floyd's murder in the US, will no longer be used by the police watchdogThe police watchdog for England and Wales has removed a controversial medical term from its incident forms after claims it plays into racist stereotypes and detracts attention from police brutality.Until now, police forces referring a death or serious incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) have been given the option to tick excited delirium" in a list of relevant factors. The term has historically been used to describe people who are agitated or acting bizarrely, usually because of mental illness, drug use or both. Symptoms are said to include insensitivity to pain, aggression, increased strength and elevated heart rate. Continue reading...

Chain changes That's why mums go to Iceland' line to reflect fact other people also do grocery shoppingIceland has dropped the outdated That's why mums go to Iceland" slogan to reflect the fact that other people also do grocery shopping.The frozen foods retailer has tweaked its strapline to the more neutral That's why we go to Iceland" in an advertising push with the TV personality Josie Gibson as its new ambassador. Continue reading...

Green members demand meeting after Scottish government abandons pledge to cut emissions 75% by 2030Scottish Greens are to hold a vote to determine the future of the party's power-sharing agreement with the Scottish National party, after the government abandoned its pledge to cut carbon emissions 75% by 2030.Members will be able to vote on whether their party should continue to cooperate with the SNP after the announcement on Thursday that the Scottish government was scrapping its key climate pledge. Continue reading...

In her first statement since a judge dismissed Lehrmann's defamation action, Higgins also takes swipe at Seven's Spotlight program

Party hopes smaller content creators with loyal following online will attract voters missed through TV and radioLabour has appointed a dedicated employee to work with influencers and seed positive messages about Keir Starmer's party on TikTok and Instagram, as the UK's political parties prepare to target microinfluencers" during the general election campaign.During previous British elections, political parties often asked big-name celebrities to send a supportive tweet or attempted to win over YouTubers with millions of followers. But this election, the focus is shifting from a top-down approach towards winning over more authentic" influencers with smaller but loyal followings. Continue reading...

Younger women and men are discovering the former fashion faux pas is a great alternative to lugging heavy bagsYou might associate shopping trolleys with older people toiling to get home with their groceries.But now they are being embraced by shoppers of all ages thanks to a fashion makeover that chimes with the current vogue for nanna glamour". Continue reading...

St David's weekday services hope to draw in commuters and others with work or family pressuresThe prospect of sitting on a hard pew enduring a drawn-out service with, perhaps, a meandering sermon at its heart, puts off many would-be church-goers.But a Welsh church is determined to draw in worshippers who feel they don't have the time or endurance by staging punchy micro services". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former head of policy at illegal migration taskforce details inhumane conversations'A senior civil servant has said Cabinet Office officials making policy on small boats referred to bloody migrants" and were expected to leave their humanity at the door".Rowaa Ahmar withdrew a tribunal claim alleging unrelenting and systemic" racism in the department on Wednesday but said she stands by the substance of it. Continue reading...

More than 11,000 people told to leave their homes after Mount Ruang erupted at least three times since Friday afternoonMore than 2,100 people living near an erupting volcano on Indonesia's Sulawesi island were evacuated on Friday due to the dangers of ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami.Indonesia's volcanology centre recorded at least three eruptions since Friday afternoon, with the maximum height of the eruption column reaching 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). Continue reading...

Full results are expected in coming days to determine whether Manasseh Sogavare's Our party can form the next governmentSolomon Islands' incumbent prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has retained his parliamentary seat, results showed on Saturday, but it will be days before vote counting determines whether his Our party can form the next government.Wednesday's national election was the first since Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, drawing the Pacific island country closer to Beijing. The move concerned the US and Australia because of the potential impact on regional security. Continue reading...

Police attempted to stop the vehicle but a short time later it hit the bus on the Mitchell Highway

Company says it complied with directive over posts about stabbing of Sydney bishop but will challenge unlawful and dangerous approach' in court

Officials report casualties with some citing air strike on former anti-Isis unit known as Hashed al-Shaabi, which is now part of Iraq's regular militaryAn explosion has hit an Iraqi military base housing pro-Iranian paramilitaries, according to security sources.The explosion on Friday night was at the Calso base, where former pro-Iranian paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi - now integrated into the regular army - is stationed, an interior ministry source and a military official told Agence France-Presse. Continue reading...

Man charged over alleged involvement in incidents outside Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley

Actor and wife Katherine Schwarzenegger dismantle 1950 Zimmerman house designed by architect Craig EllwoodChris Pratt has drawn ire from architecture aficionados after news broke that the actor and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, had razed a historic, mid-century modern home to make way for a sprawling 15,000-sq-ft mansion.Last year, the couple purchased the 1950 Zimmerman house, designed by the architect Craig Ellwood, in Los Angeles's Brentwood neighborhood for $12.5m. The residence, with landscaping by Garrett Eckbo - who has been described as the pioneer of modern landscaping - had previously been featured in Progressive Architecture magazine. Continue reading...

Protesters into seventh day of hunger strike in support of Palestinians and in effort to demand university divestmentA group of students at Yale University were on Friday into the seventh day of a hunger strike in support of Palestinians in Gaza and in a protest to pressure the university to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies potentially supplying the Israeli military.The group titles itself Yale Hunger Strikers for Palestine and one protester, the graduate student Miguel Monteiro, described losing weight and feeling dizzy, while attempting to put the group's efforts into a wider perspective. Continue reading...

Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull capThe Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term openly Jewish" to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Labour also turns down European Commission's proposal, which would have allowed young Britons to live, study and work in EURishi Sunak has rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons to live, study or work in the bloc for up to four years.The prime minister declined the European Commission's surprise proposal of a youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30 on Friday, after Labour knocked back the suggestion on Thursday night, while noting that it would seek to improve the UK's working relationship with the EU within our red lines". Continue reading...

International moves target two high-profile individuals with connections to senior figures in far-right politicsThe latest US and EU sanctions against individuals implicated in pro-settler violence in the occupied Palestinian territories represent a significant escalation in international moves against key far-right extremists in Israel.While previous sanctions announcements have focused on individual settlers implicated in violence - often little known outside Israel - the latest moves mark the targeting of two far more high-profile individuals with connections to senior figures in far-right politics in Israel, including national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Continue reading...

Tit-for-tat attacks present Sunni monarchies with complicated choices over region's futureIran's missile and drone attack on Israel had, by the end of this week, become one of the most interpreted events in recent modern history. Then, in the early hours of Friday, came reports of Israel's riposte. As in June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in a moment that ultimately led to the first world war, these shots were heard around the world, even if few can agree conclusively on what they portend.By one de minimis account, Tehran was merely sending a performative warning shot with its attack last Saturday, almost taking its ballistic missiles out for a weekend test drive. The maximalist version is that this was a state-on-state assault designed to change the rules of the Middle East. By swarming Israel with so many projectiles, such an assessment goes, Iran was prepared to risk turning Israel into a mini-Dresden of 1945 and was only thwarted by Israeli strategic defences and, crucially, extraordinary cooperation between the US, Israel and Sunni Gulf allies. Continue reading...

Paolo Barone found guilty of voyeurism after taking photos of sleeping woman on train to St Albans in 2022A Thameslink train driver who took photos up a woman's skirt while she was asleep on a train has avoided jail, despite being found guilty of voyeurism.The driver, Paolo Barone, was on his way home from a shift in September 2022 when he saw that the woman, 51, had fallen asleep on a train travelling from London Blackfriars to St Albans in Hertfordshire. Continue reading...

Tit-for-tat attacks have breached taboo of direct strikes on each other's territory but Tehran has no immediate' plans to retaliate

Charities say high rates of people signed off work are caused by crumbling public services after years of underinvestmentRishi Sunak has been accused of making mental ill health another front in the culture wars", as critics warned his plan to curb benefits for some with anxiety and depression was an assault on disabled people.In a speech on welfare, the prime minister said he wanted to explore withdrawing a major cash benefit claimed by people living with mental health problems and replacing it with treatment.Shifting responsibility for issuing fit notes, formerly known as sicknotes, away from GPs to other work and health professionals" in order to encourage more people to return to work.Confirming plans to legislate in the next parliament" to close benefit claims for anyone who has been claiming for 12 months but is not complying with conditions on accepting available work.Asking more people on universal credit working part-time to look for more work by increasing the earnings threshold from 743 a month to 892 a month, so people paid below this amount have to seek extra hours.Confirming plans to tighten the work capability assessment to require more people with less severe conditions" to seek some form of employment. Continue reading...

Former Tory chair turned political biographer and publisher is behind books that have put former PM and Labour's deputy in the spotlightsIf this week's tetchy exchanges between Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak at prime minister's questions proved one thing, it was the ability of the veteran businessman, donor and publisher Michael Ashcroft to set the political agenda.While Starmer revelled in the publication of 10 Years to Save the West, which was written by the former prime minister Liz Truss and published this week by Ashcroft's Biteback Publishing, Sunak wanted to focus on another Biteback book - Ashcroft's own Red Queen?, a biography of Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner. Continue reading...

Far-right group Lehava and several individuals accused of violence targeted in dual announcements

Gabriel Marinoaica, 20, dragged victim, who could not swim, out of her depth and attacked herA man who raped a 15-year-old girl who could not swim after taking her out of her depth in the sea off Bournemouth beach has been sentenced to six and a half years' detention.Gabriel Marinoaica, who was 18 at the time, grabbed the girl as she played a game of catch with her friends and dragged her off the crowded beach into a water. Continue reading...

Labour leader told PMQs a billionaire peer' was smearing a working-class woman' after coverage of Rayner's tax affairsThe row between Keir Starmer and Michael Ashcroft deepened on Friday after the billionaire Conservative donor demanded an apology from the Labour leader for accusing him of smearing" Angela Rayner over her tax affairs.Lord Ashcroft hit back two days after Starmer said at prime minister's questions on Wednesday: We have a billionaire prime minister and a billionaire peer, both of whose families have used schemes to avoid millions of pounds of tax, smearing a working-class woman." Continue reading...

Idea Angela Rawlings had a decade ago for Snaefellsjokull has snowballed into a full blown campaign with a team of 50 peopleStanding in the shadow of Iceland's Snaefellsjokull, - a 700,000-year-old glacier perched on a volcano and visible to half the country's population on any given day - in 2010, Angela Rawlings was struck by an unconventional thought.It suddenly just came to me. What if the glacier was president?" said Rawlings. It was a seemingly unorthodox way to push forward a movement that was already swiftly advancing; Ecuador had enshrined legal rights for nature while Mori in New Zealand were working to secure legal personhood for the Whanganui River. Continue reading...

Gabriel Attal accused of drawing on far-right ideas in speech saying the state needed real surge of authority'The French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, is facing criticism for his proposed crackdown on teenage violence in and around schools, after he said some teenagers in France were addicted to violence", just as the government seeks to reclaim ground on security issues from the far right before European elections.In his speech in Viry-Chatillon, a town south of Paris where a 15-year-old boy was beaten and killed this month by a group of youths, Attal said the state needed a real surge of authority". Continue reading...

US secretary of state condemns airstrike in Iran; discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack' says anonymous Iranian official

Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon addresses arrest of husband and former SNP chief executive outside Glasgow homeRishi Sunak is arguing that not getting people into work is an irresponsible burden" on future generations and taxpayers. He says:We risk not only letting those people down [the people who are long-term sickness benefits], but creating a deep sense of unfairness amongst those whose taxes fund our social safety net in a way that risks undermining trust and consent in that very system.We can't stand for that. And of course, the situation as it is, is economically unsustainable. We can't lose so many people from our workforce whose contributions could help to drive growth. Continue reading...

Dozens of people caring for frail, sick or elderly relatives describe devastating' effect of DWP's approach to honest mistakes'Carers have described suffering an avalanche of utter stress" due to the government's abhorrent" approach to clawing back benefits, as official figures revealed the widespread ill health of those caring for loved ones.The Department for Work and Pensions has been under fire since the Guardian revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers are being forced to pay back huge sums - and in some cases prosecuted for fraud - over honest mistakes" that it could have spotted years earlier. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage hereRussia must be held accountable. Ukraine urgently requires more air defence support!" wrote the EU's ambassador in Kyiv, Katarina Mathernova.Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, visited the Donetsk region today. Continue reading...

Iranian official indicates no immediate' plan for retaliation after explosions reported in sky over Isfahan and Tabriz

Recent tobacco bill is only the latest measure to have been met with both political and public acceptance - and backlashSmoking, smacking, smartphones for kids: never mind the nanny state," today's national debate seems crowded with demands for decisive action from politicians to save us - or our children - from ourselves.Rishi Sunak's ban on selling cigarettes to under-15s for ever once they come of age is supported by 59% of the public, according to one recent poll. Continue reading...

Andy Leek, creator of Notes to Strangers, made the move after finding himself unable to afford rising rents in UK capitalAn artist who was made homeless after being evicted by his private landlord in London has started effectively commuting from Argentina where the rent is so much cheaper that it covers the cost of air fare.Andy Leek, 38, whose Notes to Strangers works are pasted on to walls and junction boxes across more than 20 British and European cities, has moved to Buenos Aires where the rents are several times cheaper and he travels back to the UK roughly every two months for work. The flight costs less than a monthly train season ticket between Bristol and London. Continue reading...

Lawyers for Harry and other claimants argued trial delay to examine timing of claims would be highly disruptive'Prince Harry has won the latest bout of his long-running legal battle with the publisher of the Sun after a high court judge rejected an application to delay the trial.News Group Newspapers (NGN) had applied to push back the trial for alleged unlawful information gathering - which is scheduled for January next year - to allow the court to examine whether claims of unlawful news gathering by Harry and 41 others were brought too late. Continue reading...

Candidacy could grant immunity to Ilaria Salis who was arrested in February 2023 after a counter-demonstration at a Neo-Nazi rallyAn Italian antifascist activist held in prison in Hungary has accepted a candidacy in the European elections that could see her granted immunity and released from jail.Ilaria Salis, 39, a teacher from Monza, near Milan, was arrested in Budapest in February 2023 after a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally. She was charged with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme leftwing organisation. Continue reading...

Poet says government has not acted on 2022 MacAlister review because reforming system is not a vote winner

Rents are soaring, housebuilding is lagging and long-promised eviction reform has still not been enacted

Acoba chair Eric Pickles says rules on post-ministerial jobs are unenforceable' after former PM avoided answering questionsBoris Johnson was evasive", avoided answering specific questions" and has refused to be open" about his relationship with a hedge fund on whose behalf he met the Venezuelan president, a Whitehall watchdog has said.Johnson met Nicolas Maduro in early February in a paid role as a consultant to Merlyn Advisors, according to reports. This raised questions for the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) which is responsible for providing advice on post-ministerial roles for two years after a minister leaves office. Continue reading...

They not be Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, but the X Factor judges' ding-dong over Simon Cowell is a joyAll weekend and on into Monday, the row between the TV presenter and erstwhile wife of Les Dennis, Amanda Holden, and the managerial powerhouse Sharon Osbourne has been quite something. In brief: on Celebrity Big Brother Sharon slagged off their joint sometime-boss Simon Cowell. Holden then leapt to his defence in a Daily Mail interview, calling Sharon bitter and pathetic". Sharon then delivered a two-page diatribe against Holden, listing her many and lucrative achievements long before The X Factor entered her life, much though she enjoyed her judging stint. Simon paid me very well. Probably more than what you're receiving today, but all that, my darling, went on a few handbags." Continue reading...

PM criticised for consultation on personal independence payment amid spiralling' disability welfare billRishi Sunak is considering withdrawing a major cash disability benefit from some people with mental health conditions, prompting claims he has launched a full-on assault on disabled people".The prime minister announced fresh curbs on disability benefits on Friday, saying he wanted to explore whether some cash payments to claimants suffering from mental health conditions could be replaced by treatment or access to services.Shifting responsibility for issuing fit notes", formerly known as sicknotes, away from GPs to other work and health professionals" in order to encourage more people to get back into work.Confirming plans to legislate in the next parliament" to close benefit claims for anyone who has been claiming for 12 months but is not complying with conditions on accepting available work.Asking more people on universal credit working part-time to look for more work by increasing the earnings threshold from 743 a month to 892 a month, so people paid below this amount have to seek extra hours.Confirming plans to tighten the work capability assessment to require more people with less severe conditions" to seek some forms of employment. Continue reading...

Three brothers and family friend died at the scene in Clackline in the state's wheatbeltThree brothers, one of them only nine years old, and a family friend have been killed in a car crash in the Western Australian wheatbelt region.The brothers, aged 21, 19 and nine, died at the scene in Clackline in the early hours of Friday morning, along with a 45-year-old man, who was visiting from NSW. Continue reading...