World news | The Guardian

Bethany Cox, 22, is fourth to be prosecuted on such charges in eight months after only three trials in 160 years, say campaignersA 22-year-old woman accused of procuring a poison to abort her child shortly after the first Covid lockdown is due to appear before a judge this week.Bethany Cox is the fourth woman to be prosecuted in the last eight months for allegedly carrying out her own abortion, with only three trials in the 160 years before that, according to campaigners. Continue reading...

Russian military targeted residential areas, factories and mobile communications towers, says regional governor

Detaining of public health expert Mohammed Alhajji comes as a shock as he was seen as apoliticalA prominent Saudi scholar and Snapchat influencer has been arrested by Saudi authorities in what experts said was evidence of the kingdom's extreme crackdown on social media users.The arrest of Mohammed Alhajji, a public health expert who completed his dissertation in the US, follows the disappearance and recent arrests of other prominent influencers for crimes" that include the perceived criticism of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and support for women's rights. Continue reading...

Bayern Munich fans delighted but commentators question price tag and Germany's failure to nurture homegrown talentThere may have been tens of thousands of Harry Kane fans tracking his Cessna flight's path to Munich on Saturday night, followed by standing ovations when he finally appeared before Bayern Munich fans on Sunday - many already wearing Harry Kane - 9" shirts, to the stirring strains of the German rock band the Scorpions Rock You Like a Hurricane. But scepticism about the wisdom of the Tottenham Hotspur striker's 100m transfer is rife among German commentators.The affection for the 30-year-old striker is not in doubt. Continue reading...

People in care homes, narrowboats and park homes have missed out because they do not have a supplierMore than 30 of Britain's largest housing associations have called on ministers to give a second chance to 750,000 households that missed out on government support for energy bills worth a total of 300m.In a letter to ministers, seen by the Guardian, 34 housing associations called for the government to reopen a scheme that aimed to offer support payments of 400 to almost one million households without an energy supplier. Continue reading...

Median premiums across all areas rose 28% in the year to March, and actuaries warn climate disasters are driving them to unaffordable heights

Exclusive: The government has reached a confidential settlement with Barati's family, who say they fought for justice for Reza'

Presidential aspirants make the pilgrimage to Des Moines amid a sense of America as nation sunk in a political depressionDonald Trump held aloft a pork chop on a stick. Ron DeSantis and children rode bumper cars and a ferris wheel, played carnival games and ate snow cones and ice-cream. Vivek Ramaswamy rapped Lose Yourself by Eminem, Marianne Williamson recalled her days as a cabaret singer and Mike Pence said he was hoping to renew his acquaintance with a cow called Chippy.All the fun of the state fair in Iowa includes an agriculture and livestock show, amusement rides, every fried food imaginable and, every four years, a political circus like no other. Presidential aspirants make the pilgrimage to Des Moines to field questions from voters - including hecklers - and show their ability to speak, dress and eat like Middle America in the state that kicks off the Republican nominating contest in January. Continue reading...

Course at Ghent University will use singer-songwriter's work as springboard to explore history of English literatureMuch of the syllabus for Elly McCausland's course at Ghent University reads like a who's who of English literature, dotted with works by Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Bronte and William Shakespeare. But it's the inclusion of another prolific writer that has got people talking: the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.I've never had so many emails from excited students asking if they can take the course," said McCausland, an assistant professor at the Belgian university. And actually non-students as well, people who are not part of the university and who want to participate in some way." Continue reading...

Fresh legal claim planned by group of almost 1,000 shareholders to rushed rescue in MarchUBS faces another legal challenge to its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse, as a group representing nearly 1,000 individual shareholders, including former employees of the failed Swiss bank, prepares to file a court claim in Zurich on Monday.The Swiss Association for the Protection of Investors (Schweizerischer Anlegerschutzverein, or SASV), which represents retail investors, intends to lodge the claim on behalf of Credit Suisse shareholders - including some from the UK - who suffered heavy losses as a result of the rushed takeover in March. Continue reading...

Overworked and underequipped brigades face daily ordeal in the most heavily mined country in the worldOleksandr Slyusar, a Ukrainian sapper with a ready smile, had spent the last 30 hours under Russian shelling in the recently liberated village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. A rocket fired at them from a Grad system had peppered the legs and back of a fellow landmine-clearer with shrapnel.Slyusar, 38, had taken his friend west to hospital in Zaporizhzhia city that morning, before arriving back at a secret military base within earshot of the rolling thunder of the Russian guns. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Most heavily mined country on Earth' critically short of sappers and equipment to clear frontlinesYou don't survive that': Ukraine sappers dice with death to clear Russian minesUkraine is now the most heavily mined country on Earth and its army is suffering from a critical shortage of men and equipment able to clear the frontlines, the country's defence minister has said, as soldiers spoke of heavy casualties in the engineering brigades.In an urgent appeal to allies, Oleksii Reznikov told the Guardian his soldiers were unearthing five mines for every square metre in places, laid by Russian troops to try to thwart Ukraine's counteroffensive. Continue reading...

SNP's Amy Callaghan has cross-party support, and notes 16,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in UK each yearAn MP who survived skin cancer as a teenager is canvassing cross-party support for her campaign to remove VAT from sunscreen products.Amy Callaghan is calling on the UK government to remove the tax from products that have a health benefit - the NHS considers factor 30 or above with a four-star UVA rating to be adequate skin protection. Continue reading...

The death is the second in a month and the 13th since 2017 of a transport gig worker, with calls for life or death' reforms to the industry

String of vacancies at regional arts venues grows as funding and staffing crisis worsensRunning a theatre has become a seriously unappealing job, according to many of those working at Britain's performance venues. While larger institutions, such as the Barbican, RSC and National Theatre, can still attract and keep good artistic directors, regional theatres and arts centres are struggling. A job heading of one of these offers the same stress, accountability and long hours, but on a smaller budget and with a smaller salary.Burnout and disillusionment are now widespread, according to insiders including dancer Kenneth Tharp, who ran The Place, near London's Euston station, until 2016. Last week, Tharp pointed out on Twitter (now known as X), that there had been a huge churn of artistic directors (some after relatively short tenures)", citing 14 venues in the past two years. Continue reading...

About 375 New Zealanders a day have applied since new rules came into effect on 1 July giving them a faster pathway to citizenship

Activists call on tech giant to extend a change making personalised algorithm optional to comply with rules for EEA countriesTikTok users in the UK face being left with a less safe" and more toxic" version of the app than those in Europe after the tech giant was forced to make its personalised algorithm optional there to comply with EU rules.From the end of August, TikTok users in 30 countries in the European Economic Area will be able to opt out of receiving personalised content recommendations, which are largely generated based on past activity. Instead, their For You" and live feeds will include popular videos from the places they live and around the world. Continue reading...

For many reasons it is no surprise that the office exodus is so pronounced in the historical centre of Anglo-Saxon capitalismWorking from home is a seismic shift in employment patterns that has rocked businesses, charities and public sector organisations across the world.From Hong Kong and Singapore to London, New York and Toronto, white collar workers have changed the way they work, shop and pursue leisure, culture and recreation, shifting many local economies on their axis. For many towns and cities it's as if the sun shines at a different point in the day, such is the transformation in how about 60% of people conduct their lives. Continue reading...

The huge increase in students needed to fill medical training places, and supplying the staff to teach them, may not be feasibleA once in a generation" NHS recruitment plan requiring an extra 50,000 clinical training places in less than a decade risks being derailed by difficulties in finding enough applicants and a shrinking number of staff to teach them.A new analysis seen by the Observer reveals the sheer scale of the proposed increase in NHS staff implied by the government's long-awaited workforce plan, unveiled at the start of the summer and given a broad welcome across the NHS. Continue reading...

Killing of Fernando Villavicencio ahead of elections comes as country struggles with surge in drug-related violenceMillions of Ecuadorians will have seen the phone camera footage showing the last seconds before presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed, shot through the windows of a white pickup truck after being escorted by unarmed policemen who were helpless to save him.The images that followed showed panic and chaos as the burst of gunfire sent screaming supporters to the ground. Another clip filmed inside the campaign meeting, which Villavicencio had just left, showed panicked followers fleeing or ducking for cover and bloodstains on the tiled floor. Continue reading...

Andy Street, seen as most powerful Conservative outside London, vows to fight party's retreat from climate pledgesThe most powerful Conservative outside London has warned he will not hesitate to stand up to the party should it attempt to retreat from its pledge to tackle the climate crisis.There are already serious concerns that Rishi Sunak and his advisers are using green policies as a political dividing line with Labour in an attempt to revive the party's fortunes. The prime minister recently backed maxing out" oil and gas reserves, while cabinet minister Michael Gove said net zero should not become a religious crusade". Tory MPs have also demanded a delay to the ban on petrol car sales by 2030. Continue reading...

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An official investigation of claims that many more people than previously thought died during Nazi control of the Channel Island has pleased some, but dismayed othersTheir foreboding entrance smothered in ivy, the tunnels gouged out of sheer rock beside Water Lane on the island of Alderney have long terrified generations of the island's children.For decades, though, it seemed that was as far as the notoriety of the dank tunnels on the outskirts of St Anne, the capital of the tiny Channel Island, would extend. Continue reading...

Emergency services recommend people with asthma and breathing ailments stay inside as reported hazard reduction burn gets out of control

Moderate Tories fear the party's attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK's global standingThe Conservatives risk being seen once again as the nasty party" by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark. Continue reading...

England's triumph in Sydney means that they will now come face to face with their co-hosts in the World Cup semi finalSporting clashes between Australia and England have provided some of the summer's hottest contests - and now the drama is going to move on to the football pitch.The England team's triumph this weekend in Sydney means that they will now come face to face with their co-hosts Australia on 16 August in the World Cup semi final in front of a huge crowd of frenzied fans. Continue reading...

David Littleproud says his party has real concern' about regional advisory bodies Dutton has promised to put in legislation, but not in the constitution

National party leader says it's easy for the PM to call for a national holiday if Australia win the World Cup, but business would suffer

Fernando Villavicencio fatally shot last week after leaving a campaign event in capital, QuitoThe political party of Ecuador's assassinated presidential hopeful, Fernando Villavicencio, picked its vice-presidential candidate to replace him on Saturday, just a week before the election.Villavicencio's Build party, or Construye in Spanish, announced on social media that Andrea Gonzalez was replacing the 59-year-old as its presidential candidate in the 20 August vote. Continue reading...

Blair defends continuing partnership with kingdom despite anxieties' after 2018 assassination of journalistTony Blair's institute has continued to advise and receive money from the government of Saudi Arabia since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it has emerged.The Sunday Times reported the former prime minister's organisation is involved in a multimillion-pound partnership helping with a modernisation drive in the country led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Continue reading...

Analysts says key figures in new regime were underestimated as elected president remains confined to residenceThe leaders of the military takeover in Niger remained defiant this weekend, apparently confident that disarray among regional opponents, support from other military regimes in neighbouring countries and a wave of popular mobilisation at home will allow them to keep power for the indefinite future.Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger, remains confined to his official residence in Niamey, the capital, amid faltering international efforts to convince the new rulers of the unstable but strategically important country to return to barracks two weeks after launching a coup. Continue reading...

Several providers are still offering cashbacks as an incentive for people seeking to refinance - but they're unlikely to last long

Deal revives agreement from 20 years ago and will allow intelligence and training support for Peru's air forcePeru announced an air security agreement with the US on Saturday in what the government described as a push to stop planes belonging to drug gangs from entering the South American country's airspace.The deal revives a bilateral security cooperation pact with the US from 20 years ago, according to a government statement, and will permit new intelligence and training support to flow to Peru's air force. Continue reading...

For some in London, defeat to England in the Women's World Cup felt bitter but others were happy to see their team's progressAs the referee blew the final whistle, the Colombian snooker bar in north London erupted in a loud synchronised groan.Some people left the room, others remained seated with their eyes glued to the TV screen as it replayed the final moments. The enthusiastic voices of the Spanish-speaking commentators vibrated through the large speakers, and cheers and applause followed as the Colombian team tearfully left the pitch. Continue reading...

Police-issued laptop, radio and documents stolen from car in Northern Ireland on 6 JulyAbout 200 police officers and staff were not informed about the theft of devices and documents with data potentially affecting them for almost a month, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed.A police-issued laptop, radio and documents were stolen on 6 July from the car which is understood to belong to a superintendent. Continue reading...

Hunt is on for survivors after at least six people die, while activists call for more safe and legal routesThe government's controversial asylum policy faced renewed criticism on Saturday when at least six people died after a small boat crossing the Channel capsized and sank.Another two people are still believed to be missing after the sinking, prompting fresh calls for the government to urgently introduce safe routes for asylum seekers to prevent further tragedies. Continue reading...

Russian defence ministry says 14 Ukrainian drones destroyed by air defences and another six jammed electronically over the occupied peninsula

Officials argue unborn child' may not have rights under US constitution in lawsuit defense over prison guard stillbirthIn defending themselves against a lawsuit, Texas officials have argued that an unborn child" may not have rights under the US constitution, putting them in tension with arguments made by the state's attorney's general's office as well as Republican lawmakers to support restrictions to abortion.A guard at the state prison in the community of Abilene filed the lawsuit in question after she asserted that her superiors barred her from going to the hospital while she experienced intense labor pains and what she suspected were contractions while seven months pregnant and on duty. Continue reading...

Lack of safe passage described as moral disgrace' as helpers say legal routes would end dangerous crossingsCalls are mounting in the UK and France for the introduction of safe routes for refugees crossing the Channel after a French organisation said it had received multiple distress calls from people making the crossing in recent days.At least six people lost their lives early on Saturday trying to cross the Channel in a small boat and the organisation issued warnings that more lives would be lost in future unless there were significant government policy changes. Continue reading...

Fate of Black Country pub could serve as catalyst for campaigns to preserve a flawed but colourful pastWhen Paul Turner started an online petition calling for his local pub in the Staffordshire village of Himley to be saved after it was sold to new owners, he was expecting only a few hundred signatures. Then the Crooked House pub burned down, making headlines around the world.I expected it to be just a few names, but we're approaching 16,000 signatures now," said Turner. It has turned into something completely different. The amount of support we've had has been unbelievable." Continue reading...

Events marred by violence in Sweden, Canada and the US were billed as cultural, but activists say they are militaristic and full of hate speechAfter opponents of the Eritrean government stormed a festival in Stockholm that was allegedly promoting the east African country's regime earlier this month, setting light to cars and throwing stones, the Swedish government tried to distance itself from it all. The justice minister, Gunnar Strommer, said it was not reasonable for Sweden to be drawn into other countries' domestic conflicts".But in the sunlit cafeteria of a community space in Kista, a few miles from the festival site in Jarvafaltet, a wooded area north of the Swedish capital, Abdulkader Habib disagreed. Opposition to Eritrea's dictator, Isaias Afwerki, was not an Eritrean problem: this is a big international problem," he said. Continue reading...

Met Office predicts that after a brief period of wet weather, temperatures across the UK will be significantly higher by FridayTropical air could make parts of the UK hotter than California at the end of next week with temperatures forecast to possibly rise above 30C, but only after heavy rain lashes the country.High pressure expected to build from the middle of the week means temperatures in south-east England could reach 32C on Friday, according to the Met Office - higher than the 26C predicted for Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to navigate economic and political turmoil after Imran Khan convictionA little-known senator from Pakistan's least populous province has been announced as caretaker prime minister to see the country through to the next election, the leader of the opposition said.The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and opposition leader, Raja Riaz, agreed on Saturday to name senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as caretaker premier. Continue reading...

Negotiating committee of Writers Guild of America says it is evaluating offer in substantial step forwardHollywood TV and film writers represented by the Writers Guild of America are evaluating a counterproposal from studios that would end their ongoing strike of more than 100 days, marking a substantial step forward in negotiations.Your Negotiating Committee received a counterproposal from the AMPTP today," the guild's negotiating committee said in a statement referring to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA's response next week. Continue reading...

Search and rescue operation ongoing after dozens of boats tried to cross from France at same time, according to mayorAt least six people have died and more than 50 have been rescued after a boat trying to cross the Channel from France capsized, according to French authorities.Franck Dhersin, the mayor of Teteghem, near Dunkirk, said a vast rescue operation was launched at about 6am (5am BST) as dozens of boats tried to make the crossing at the same time. Continue reading...

The disappearance of a statue of the comic book artist in his Belgian birthplace was thought to be an act of decolonisationIt would have been a suitable assignment for Tintin, the intrepid Belgian boy reporter and his multi-talented, intuitive dog, Snowy.Across Brussels, where Herge, the creator of the eponymous comic books, was born, there are constant reminders of one of its most famous exports. A giant image of the character clinging to the back of a steam train from the book Tintin in America adorns one of the exits from the city's Eurostar station, while a mural of Tintin, his seafaring friend Captain Haddock and Snowy covers the gable end of a house just over a mile away, surviving graffiti and vandalism. Continue reading...

Thirteen people rescued after Europe-bound vessel sank near city of Gabes, says coastguardAt least two Tunisians including a baby died when their Europe-bound boat sank off the north African country's south-eastern shores, the coastguard said, adding five others were missing.The vessel carrying 20 Tunisians went down at 2am 120 metres (395ft) from the beach in Gabes, a statement said, as search operations continue. Continue reading...

Labour writes to immigration minister while David Davis derides startling incompetence' of Home OfficeThe shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, has written to the Home Office demanding to know what the department knew about the risk of legionella bacteria being present on the Bibby Stockholm before moving people on to the barge.Thirty-nine people were removed from the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, on Friday, after the potentially deadly bacteria was detected in the barge's water system. Continue reading...

As breaking prepares for Olympic debut in Paris next summer, British B-Boys and B-Girls gather in LondonIs it an art form or a sport? Are they dancers or athletes?Either way, almost exactly a year to the day before breaking makes its debut as the newest Olympic sport, competitors will gather in London this weekend to battle for the title of UK champion. Continue reading...

Some broadband consumers still cannot access messages or old emails have yet to be restoredCan you imagine being told that you can't access your emails for the next three weeks? No access to work or family messages, your expensive holiday booking, or the tickets to a gig that were emailed over. What would you do?That is the situation a number of Virgin Media customers say they have found themselves in this summer, and it has left some so furious that they are threatening to not renew their broadband contracts. Continue reading...