World news | The Guardian

Russian president attends service led by one of his staunchest backers while Zelenskiy asserts God is on Kyiv's sideOrthodox Easter services in Ukraine and Russia have taken on a political tone, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that God had a Ukrainian flag on his shoulder" and Vladimir Putin attended a church service led by a staunch supporter of Moscow's invasion.Noting that Ukraine had now been fighting Russia for 802 days, Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to pray for each other and the soldiers on the frontline. And we believe: God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder," said the president, dressed in a traditional embroidered Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt and khaki trousers. So with such an ally, life will definitely win over death." Continue reading...

Word of the demonstrations that have spread across the west has cheered some in Gaza's southernmost city

Charities say FoI disclosure that 369 such children were held over 21-month period is hugely concerning'More than 350 lone children were held in UK-run detention facilities in northern France over a 21-month period, according to documents disclosed under freedom of information laws.The Home Office has admitted that it failed to keep data on how many properly trained staff looked after the children held in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023. Continue reading...

Former home secretary says PM's plan is not working' and he needs to change course after local elections drubbing

TV head hopes programme will spark a #MeToo moment for men' ahead of two-part show on the Oscar-winning actorOne of the producers of a Channel 4 documentary that contains fresh claims that Kevin Spacey behaved inappropriately" with men says it will be broadcast as planned on Monday, despite public denials from the actor this weekend.Dorothy Byrne, a former head of news and current affairs at the television channel, told the Observer that she hopes the new two-part programme, Spacey Unmasked, will prompt a #MeToo moment for men" and start a wider discussion about standards of behaviour in working situations. Continue reading...

Academics warn loss of higher education arts and humanities courses will harm understanding of racism and imperial historyCuts to arts and humanities subjects within higher education will have damaging implications for our understanding of race and colonialism, academics have warned.Petitions have been launched to save anthropology at Kent University, where the subject has come under threat of closure, while Oxford Brookes confirmed the closure of its music programme earlier this year. Continue reading...

Rapper says sport, music and gaming venture in south London is aimed at widening opportunities for young black communityStormzy has won three Brit awards, headlined Glastonbury, persuaded Usain Bolt and Jose Mourinho to star in a music video, and bought AFC Croydon Athletic with the former Crystal Palace player Wilfried Zaha.His skills on the pitch, however, are not up to much. I'm shit at football. I was never going to be a footballer," he said. But maybe if I knew how to be a pundit [I'd have gone down that road]. Maybe if I knew how to be a data analyst or all the intricate jobs behind the scenes that people might not know about." Continue reading...

Longer sentences and court backlogs push 25% of prisoners in England and Wales into shared cells, adding to drug-use and violenceThe scale of the prison overcrowding crisis has been laid bare by figures revealing that a quarter of prisoners in England and Wales have been sharing cells designed for one person with at least one other inmate.According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), 11,018 cells intended for single use were being shared by two prisoners, with a further 18 such cells shared by three inmates. The overall prison population - which has ballooned over recent decades because of longer sentences and court backlogs - stood at about 88,000 when the statistics were originally compiled in late February. Continue reading...

Lost documents prevented victims from finding out the truth, official inquiry toldDisastrous failures that caused the contaminated blood scandal were denied by ministers for decades after officials destroyed, lost and blocked access to key documents, memos submitted to the official inquiry reveal.Several batches of files involving the work of a blood safety advisory committee were shredded as the government faced the threat of legal action, documents show. Patients who were given contaminated blood when they were children have also told the infected blood inquiry how their hospital medical files were destroyed or initially withheld. Continue reading...

Centre-right politicians must resist urge to copy or work with far right, Spain's environment minister saysThe future of the EU is being jeopardised by people stirring up social tensions for short-term political gain, Spain's environment minister has said ahead of next month's European parliamentary elections.Teresa Ribera, who is heading the list for the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' party in June's poll, said the European project is at risk of an implosion". Continue reading...

Woman and man, aged 21 and 23, facing charges including murder and deprivation of liberty after alleged victim died in hospital

Union leader Sharon Graham says Keir Starmer risks limping into Downing Street'Labour's biggest union backer has warned it may divert election funding earmarked for the party, amid claims that Keir Starmer is diluting plans to overhaul workers' rights.In an interview with the Observer, Unite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, said the Labour leader risked limping into Downing Street" if he backed down in the face of intense lobbying from businesses. Continue reading...

By Sunday morning the city had recorded 92.8mm of rain this month - fast approaching May average of 117.4mm, BoM says

The Georgian government's bid to pass Russia-style law has met spirited opposition, mostly from young people keen to lean towards EuropeThe finale of Beethoven's revolutionary" fifth symphony was met with deafening applause at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tbilisi last Thursday night. The cheers grew into a powerful expression of solidarity with the protests outside on Rustaveli Avenue.People hung EU flags from the theatre's balconies and shouted, No to the Russian Law! Europe! Georgia [Sa-kar-tve-lo]!" Continue reading...

Katy Gallagher says more aid for women escaping violence could come in form of increased rent assistance as sector struggles to recruit workers

WA premier Roger Cook suggests teenager who allegedly stabbed man in Bunnings car park in Willetton may have been radicalised online

Rutan, known for smooth flying style, survived having to eject twice from planes and being stranded at north poleBurt Rutan was alarmed to see that the plane he had designed was so loaded with fuel that the wingtips dragged along the ground as it taxied down the runway. He grabbed the radio to warn the pilot, his older brother Dick Rutan. But Dick never heard the message.Nine days and three minutes later, Dick, along with co-pilot Jeana Yeager, completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first round-the-world flight with no stops or refueling. Continue reading...

Siblings Callum and Jake Robinson and US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad were travelling on a surfing holiday when they were reported missing

Labour has secured mayoral victories in London, Greater Manchester, Salford, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Liverpool today

Running as a pseudo-independent' in a region in which Labour faced its own hurdles was not enough to keep Tory mayor in officeAfter a nail-biting finale, Andy Street has become the most high-profile victim of tanking Tory support in May's elections.With the Conservatives shedding seats across the country on Friday, all eyes were on the West Midlands on Saturday to see if he could cling on by sheer will of personality - or Brand Andy" as he calls it. Continue reading...

With some demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza and others with Israel, students waved flags and chanted slogansStudents demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza waved Palestinian flags and keffiyehs and chanted anti-war slogans during the University of Michigan's commencement ceremony on Saturday.Videos on social media showed students donning their graduation gowns as they appeared to chant: Israel bombs, UMich pays!" and How many kids have you killed today?" One photo showed a plane appearing to carry a sky banner over the university with the message: Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!" Continue reading...

Resounding victory in London mayoral race came despite media reports suggesting it would be a close contestSadiq Khan's election victory as London mayor has bucked the trend" of Muslim voters turning away from Labour over the party's stance on the war in Gaza, party figures said.The 53-year-old won a third term as the capital's mayor on Saturday, without seeming to have lost the support of large numbers of Muslim voters - unlike Labour candidates elsewhere in England last week. Continue reading...

Rob Ford was part of the BBC team analysing the local election results as they poured in over the past 48 hours. Here he tells how a dramatic set of results for the government unfoldedThe nervous wait for the first result was longer than usual, as counting centres wrestled with multiple ballots for councils, mayors and police and crime commissioners. It was well past midnight on Friday morning when the first ward flashed up, coming as always from Sunderland, which prides itself on its rapid vote counting. A big Tory to Labour swing in Sunderland's Copt Hill.As we moved into the small hours of the morning, the flow of data rose from a trickle to a torrent, and an overall picture began to form. Voters clearly wanted the Conservatives out. Who they wanted instead was less clear. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says the prime minister has no option but to call a general electionRishi Sunak was dealt a series of shattering blows last night as Labour won a knife-edge battle to seize the West Midlands mayoralty from the Conservatives and Sadiq Khan trounced his Tory rival in London to secure a third term.The results, along with decisive victories for Labour's Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, Steve Rotheram in Liverpool and Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire, left Labour in charge of most of England's mayoralties. Continue reading...

Program aims to help create better disability support plans to guide carers and support workers' response to challenging behaviour

The Tory incumbent's hopes of a third term in the role dashed in a damaging result for his party

Local election results in England justify the decision to focus on Conservative areas, claim party strategistsThe Liberal Democrats are increasingly confident that they will claim more than one Tory big beast" at the coming general election, pointing to local election results putting them ahead in a series of true blue constituencies.Ed Davey's party has been criticised for failing to improve its polling performance in recent months, while its 17% projected vote share from last week's local elections was down slightly on last year. Continue reading...

Interior minister Nancy Faeser promises tough action' to protect democracy as political assaults riseThe German interior minister Nancy Faeser has vowed to fight a surge in violence against politicians after a German member of the European parliament had to be taken to hospital following an attack while he was campaigning for re-election.Matthias Ecke, 41, a member of Faeser's Social Democrats (SPD), was hit and kicked by a group of four people while putting up posters in Dresden, capital of the eastern state of Saxony, police said. An SPD source said his injuries would require an operation. Continue reading...

Hamas confirms four of men killed during raid in village of Deir al-Ghusun were from its armed wing

From the new mayoralties through to bellwether councils, find out what happened in your area

Banned dogs found on allotment where officers described conditions as appalling'More than 20 dogs have been seized after police raided a suspected illegal XL bully breeding farm in Sheffield.Twenty-two animals were seized from an allotment on Thursday, including mothers and puppies, which were being kept in what officers described as appalling conditions". Continue reading...

Hundreds of cities across Rio Grande so Sul hit by floods with 32,000 people displaced and infrastructure destroyedThe death toll from rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul has risen to 57, local authorities said on Saturday afternoon, while dozens still have not been accounted for.The state's civil defence authority said 67 people were still missing and more than 32,000 had been displaced as storms affected nearly two-thirds of the 497 cities in the state. Continue reading...

Firms said food and plant checks and Latin names causing costly delays with lorries waiting hours in first week of post-EU regimeOf all the effects of Brexit, probably the least anticipated was that flower exporters and customs officials would have to learn Latin.But that is one of the problems that confronted British businesses in the first week after the government introduced physical checks on some food and plants from the EU. Continue reading...

Labour incumbent beat Tory candidate Susan Hall, despite inaccurate claims by excited Tories' that she might run him close

The full set of folios published by John Gould will be presented at Firsts book fair in London in mid-MayJohn Gould was one of the most sought-after taxidermists in 19th-century London, commissioned by King George IV to stuff the first giraffe to arrive in England.But Gould's lasting legacy is birds. He travelled the world documenting and cataloguing as many avian species as he could find, many of them never seen before, earning him the nickname the Bird Man and the appointment as official bird stuffer" to the Zoological Society. Continue reading...

Only women can rid the club of the guardians of the Y-chromosome's we've always done it this way' misogynyHere's a surprise: the Garrick Club is a really lovely place.It's full of lively and fascinating people. The staff are superb, the food is great, the wine list divine. The library is to die for (or in), we have the finest theatrical portraiture in the world, sumptuous sitting rooms and chic bedrooms a wallet's throw from the Royal Opera House. Continue reading...

Congress party's Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit ShahIndian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the country's main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows India's powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians. Continue reading...

Cruise control sensors taken by thieves, forcing drivers to pay to replace them or face higher insurance premiumsVolkswagen owners targeted by thieves who have stolen cruise control sensors from cars across London are furious after discovering the car's poor design" that makes them so easy to steal is set to cost them 1,600 each.The sensors, which cost about 700 each, are fitted behind the VW badge, and appear to be a popular target for thieves. Continue reading...

Palestinian restauranteur speaks from Bethlehem, where food stalls are sparse as farmlands are under attackFadi Kattan looked forlornly at the stalls inside the Bethlehem vegetable market bearing small quantities of oranges, watermelons and cauliflowers. This stall should be heaped with products, he said. And over there should be piles of aubergines and courgettes."The watermelons from Jenin looked too small for the season, while he wasn't sure where the boxes of oranges were from. They would normally be from Gaza. At Um Nabil's stall in the West Bank market where Kattan is a regular customer, she told him she could no longer afford to bring in the best small local cucumbers or piles of green cherries from her village of Artas. Continue reading...

Consequences of sharing nude images and subsequent threat of blackmail can be devastating. Talk to your child, say expertsI'm naked on cam now I'll call you. Answer the call don't be shy."The teenage boy did as he was told by the girl he had been chatting with over social media. The next message was chilling: If you don't want to get into trouble, you better listen. I've enough to destroy you." Continue reading...

National Pharmacy Association says some family doctors refusing to refer patients with minor ailmentsGPs have been accused of scuppering Rishi Sunak's flagship plan to cut the time it takes to see them by refusing to refer patients with minor ailments to a pharmacist instead.Pharmacists claim many GPs in England are not sending patients to them to be treated - and that some are refusing to participate at all in the groundbreaking" Pharmacy First scheme. Continue reading...

China's president arrives as EU anti-subsidy investigations and tensions over espionage, Ukraine and Taiwan continueChina's president, Xi Jinping, is to visit Europe next week for the first time in five years, in a tour that will take in the unlikely trifecta of France, Hungary and Serbia.The visit comes as China pushes to avoid a trade war with the EU, while attitudes towards Beijing in the bloc are hardening after multiple spying scandals and China's ongoing support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

The UN says two camps for displaced people were hit near the city of Goma where thousands are seeking refuge from fighting in surrounding areasBomb attacks on two camps for displaced people in eastern Congo have killed at least 12 people, including children, according to the UN.The bombs hit the camps in Lac Vert and Mugunga, near the city of Goma, the UN said in a statement, calling the attacks a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime". Continue reading...

Police investigating after Brittany Lauga allegedly assaulted in central Queensland town of Yeppoon

A huge infrastructure agenda helped win Andrews three elections but the priority now for the state - and new premier - is the housing crisis

Heaviest falls forecast for Illawarra, Hunter, Central Coast and greater Sydney from Saturday evening

Party source describes region as beating heart of general election battleground' as prime minister says Labour threw lot of mud'

As party narrowly misses out on overall majority, co-leader says it has won spread of urban and rural seatsThe Greens are celebrating a spectacular win in Bristol, where it became by far the largest party, as it headed for a record number of councillors in local elections across England.Party officials said they believed they were on track to finish with more than 800 members on more than 170 councils. Continue reading...

Wins in East Midlands, North East, and York and North Yorkshire suggest Labour on course for general election successThe Conservatives held on to their high-profile Tees Valley mayoralty with a reduced majority for Ben Houchen in the mayoral elections, but Labour won three other contests, in the East Midlands, North East and Rishi Sunak's own patch of North Yorkshire.Houchen was re-elected with a 16.5 percentage point swing to Labour. He won 81,930 votes (53.6%) against 63,141 (41.3%) for Labour and 7,679 (5%) for the Liberal Democrats. At the last election he won 73% of the votes. Continue reading...