World news | The Guardian

Country failed to collect and share data, masking issues and inequalities, according to editorial in British Medical JournalProminent public health experts have called on Canada to launch an inquiry into its Covid response, arguing that the country's failure to collect and share data masked issues and inequalities that - if properly addressed early on - could have saved lives.The call to action came alongside a scathing editorial in the British Medical Journal, titled The world expected more of Canada", which argues that Canada's overall impression of adequacy" conceals important inequalities. Continue reading...

After supreme court struck down affirmative action, legacy admissions scrutinized as race-based discriminationThe US Department of Education has opened an investigation into Harvard University's policies on legacy admissions, which give an edge to applicants with family ties to alumni.Top colleges' preferential treatment of children of alumni, who are often white, has been facing new scrutiny since the supreme court last month struck down the use of affirmative action as a tool to diversify college campuses. Continue reading...

Islamic State bombers killed 32 and injured more than 300 in attacks at subway station and airportSix men have been found guilty of murder and attempted murder for their part in the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300.They include Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence in France for his role in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks which targeted the Bataclan theatre and France's national stadium, killing 130 people and injuring 350. He was arrested four days before the Brussels attack. Continue reading...

The perception red wall' voters don't care about the climate crisis is not backed up by evidenceRishi Sunak has made a calculation this week, after hanging on to Uxbridge in large part because of the Tories' anti-low emissions zone campaign, to row back on other green policies in the hope that it will create a dividing line with Labour at the next election.Yet his own version of David Cameron's fateful decision to cut the green crap", which added 2.5bn to energy bills over the subsequent decade by ending onshore wind projects, solar subsidies and energy efficiency schemes, may not be the vote winner some Tories believe. Continue reading...

Conor Gibson, 20, convicted of sexual assault with intent to rape, blunt-force trauma and strangulation of Amber, 16A man has been found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of his teenage sister, whose partly dressed body was found in woodland in Hamilton, near Glasgow.Conor Gibson, 20, was found guilty by a jury in Glasgow of attacking his sister Amber, 16, in Cadzow Glen in November 2021. Continue reading...

Holidaymakers booked into luxury hotels but sleeping in a sports hall feel let down by tour operators but are touched by the kindness of localsHave you ever watched Squid Game? This is how it feels." The words of one British tourist, among the last remaining of 700 holidaymakers put up in an evacuation centre in Rhodes after fleeing the raging wildfires, summed up the chaos and panic that many had experienced as dream holidays had gone up in smoke.Susan Johnson, 64, from Salisbury, had arrived in Rhodes on Saturday night for a luxurious stay in a five-star hotel, but after landing she had been bussed to Venetokleio sports hall, where she had spent the following four days. She was growing increasingly tired and frustrated and was in pain. We're still not sleeping at night," she said on Tuesday morning. You don't sleep properly." Continue reading...

A constitutional crisis is brewing, more protests are expected and PM looks weak despite victoryOne of the most extraordinary moments of Monday, a fateful day in Israeli history, came just before the first part of the governing coalition's contentious judicial overhaul was voted into law. Benjamin Netanyahu was sitting in the plenum of the Knesset building in Jerusalem sandwiched between his justice minister, Yariv Levin, the architect of the wide-ranging legislation, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, its most vocal critic on the government's benches.The two fellow Likud members argued bitterly over Netanyahu's head as the longtime prime minister, never usually one to shy away from a fight, sat quietly between them. He may as well have not been there. Continue reading...

Interactive exhibits in 6m gallery aim to spark children's imaginations and an interest in engineeringThis one takes a bit more effort," said Lorna Hogger, energetically spinning a wheel to slowly lift rubber balls into a rollercoaster network of metal tubes high in the air. They whiz round and thud out and a lesson is learned about how complicated things are often simpler than they seem.Elsewhere there is a wind tunnel, a create-your-own hydrogen rocket, fun with marbles, and the chance to see how much better and brilliant everyone looks when filmed with an infrared camera. Continue reading...

Beijing announces former US ambassador has been removed from office after speculation about his whereaboutsChina's foreign minister, Qin Gang, who has not been seen in public for almost a month amid a mysterious absence, has been removed from office and replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi, China's top legislative body has announced.The sudden calling of a special meeting Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) with one day's notice, had fuelled speculation there may be answers about the disappearance of Qin, who was last seen in public almost a month ago. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Funding to Innowell in 2017 without competitive tender was for mental health app and followed months of lobbying by Prof Ian Hickie. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Hickie

Kyriakos Mitsotakis warns of difficult summer ahead as wildfires continue to rage and more tourists fly homeThe Mediterranean is a hotspot for climate change", the Greek prime minister has said, as more tourists boarded repatriation flights home and a firefighting mission ended in tragedy when a water-bombing plane crashed into a hillside.After a dip on Monday, temperatures were expected to reach 46C in some areas on Tuesday and weather models suggest the heatwave will be the longest on record in Greece. Continue reading...

US grocery chain tells customers not to eat Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond CookiesTrader Joe's has recalled two of its own-branded cookies after a supplier alerted the boutique US grocery chain to suspicions of rocks" in the dough.In a recall announcement, the company warned customers that some batches of its Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies may contain rocks", without elaborating on the size of the foreign material". Continue reading...

US Virgin Islands accuses executives of ignoring Epstein nymphettes' while bank says territory looked the other way'The US Virgin Islands unveiled new accusations against JP Morgan over the bank's ties to former client Jeffrey Epstein, including executives discussing how the disgraced late financier surrounded himself with nymphettes".JP Morgan countered that the US Virgin Islands was also to blame for allowing Epstein's sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Fulton county DA has identified multiple state election crimes in the 2020 election investigation, sources sayThe Fulton county district attorney investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia in recent weeks has weighed several potential statutes under which to charge, including solicitation to commit election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud, according to two people briefed on the matter.The move by the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, to identify a list of potential charges marks a major juncture in the criminal investigation and suggests prosecutors are on course to ask a grand jury to return indictments next month. Continue reading...

Cerro Pelado fire burned in dry, windy conditions across 60 sq miles last year and was traced to burn of piles of forest debrisThe US Forest Service's own prescribed burn started a sprawling 2022 wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, the agency acknowledged Monday in a report published after a lengthy investigation.The Cerro Pelado fire burned in dry, windy conditions across more than 60 sq miles (155 sq kilometers) and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion US national security lab. As the fire approached, schools closed and evacuation bags were packed before the flames tapered off. Continue reading...

Culture committee seeks explanation of how tabloid verifies stories and for details of internal investigationsThe Sun's editor has been asked to update MPs on internal inquiries into Huw Edwards and Dan Wootton, as the tabloid faces scrutiny over its reporting standards and internal culture.Victoria Newton has been asked to provide the House of Commons culture select committee with an explanation of how the Sun verifies stories, following questions over its reporting on Edwards. Continue reading...

Biggest trial in Belgium's history over deadliest peacetime attack that killed 32 is set to come to an endA jury is expected to give its verdict over Belgium's deadliest peacetime attack, the suicide bombings at a Brussels airport and busy subway station in 2016 that killed 32 people in a wave of violence in Europe claimed by the Islamic State group.Among the 10 defendants is Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence without parole in France over his role in attacks that hit Paris cafes, the Bataclan theatre and France's national stadium in 2015. The suspects in Brussels were tried on charges including murder, attempted murder and participation in the acts of a terrorist group. Continue reading...

Macdonald is to create a new organisation to run the festival, after the collapse of its previous operator last yearTrainspotting producer Andrew Macdonald has been appointed chair of the Edinburgh international film festival in order to create a new organisation to run the festival from its 2024 edition onwards, after the abrupt collapse of its previous operator, the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) in October 2022.Isabel Davis, executive director of Screen Scotland said: [Macdonald] was one of the first to offer support when the previous organisation collapsed and with his customary vigour, [he] has already been instrumental in bringing people together to build an exciting new vision for what Edinburgh international film festival can become." Continue reading...

Whales grouped in pod off Cheynes beach before stranding event with wildlife officers hoping to rescue as many mammals as possibleAt least 50 pilot whales have stranded on Cheynes beach east of Albany in Western Australia.Almost twice that number of whales had been seen massing off the beach since Monday, according to the owner of Cheynes Beach Caravan Park, Allan Marsh. Continue reading...

Erin Mullavey was found dead in her Merrylands apartment on Easter Sunday, having suffered multiple stab wounds

Consumers buy fewer products in cost of living crisis but Unilever's revenues rise

Gove says people should follow Foreign Office advice about travel to Rhodes as he reveals he is going to island of Evia next weekIt is still safe for tourists to travel to Rhodes in line with current UK government advice, a cabinet minister has said, who added he was planning to holiday on another Greek island next week.Michael Gove was speaking amid continued scrutiny of the Foreign Office's categorisation of the wildfire-stricken island and pressure for it to change to enable tourists to get a refund for their trips through their travel insurance. Continue reading...

Environment minister Tanya Plibersek has declined to say if the federal government will use its power to buy back more water

The premier and his deputy, Jacinta Allan, have downplayed the Nationals senator's move as hypothetical'

Customers warned to be vigilant of messages stating their rewards are expiring as pressure builds for banks to offer compensation

Former detective Murray Gentner was charged by an internal police standards body with disgraceful/improper conduct' over crime scene images

Police had asked the 13-year-old to assist them in an undercover operation by meeting a man she had accused of blackmailing herTwo Taiwanese police officers are under investigation after a teenager was assaulted by a man she had accused of blackmail, while taking part in a police sting operation to catch him.The incident took place in November 2020, when the then 13-year-old told police in the northern Taiwan city of Taoyuan that she had been threatened by a man on a dating app, who tried to coerce her into sex by threatening to publish explicit photos of her online. Continue reading...

Former Edward Hain Memorial hospital founded more than a century ago to become new hub for health and wellness

Child's death follows hunger strike at Jammu & Kashmir jail amid increasing hostility towards 40,000 refugees ahead of electionsA five-month-old girl has died after Indian forces fired teargas at Rohingya refugees trying to escape a detention centre where they have been held for more than two years.Videos - sent to Rohingya activists by detainees at Hiranagar jail, now operating as a holding centre - appear to show women and men amid clouds of teargas. About 270 Rohingya detainees at the centre, in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu & Kashmir, have been on hunger strike since April over their detention. Continue reading...

Acquisition of Chelsea Magazine Company titles bumps up figures as newspaper group seeks new ownerThe Telegraph's parent company has insisted it will soon have a million paying subscribers - aided by the decision to buy Classic Boat magazine.Telegraph Media Group is in the early stages of seeking a new owner after banks wrestled control of the newspaper from the Barclay family early this year. Continue reading...

Cases of dementia, diabetes, cancer, depression and kidney disease expected to soar as growing numbers reach old ageNine million people in England will be living with major illnesses such as dementia, diabetes, cancer, depression and kidney disease by 2040, according to projections health leaders called catastrophic".In a rapidly ageing population, the number living with serious diseases will rise from almost one in six of the adult population in 2019, to nearly one in five by 2040, with huge implications for the NHS, social care and the public finances. Continue reading...

But Monday's parliamentary action limiting the Israeli supreme court only drew muted criticism from the Biden administrationExplainer: What is Israel's judicial overhaul vote about?Jewish groups in the US have condemned the Israeli parliament's vote to limit the power of the judiciary as a threat to democracy and warned that it could damage relations with American Jews. But the White House limited its criticism to calling the outcome unfortunate" in a sign that the Biden administration is unlikely to impose any real costs on Benjamin Netanyahu's government for defying the president's calls to delay the vote and reach a compromise with his opponents.After seven months of fierce debate, the Israeli government on Monday voted to limit the court's ability to overturn laws and give politicians more control over judicial appointments. The changes have been denounced by critics as a transparent power grab that will erode democratic norms and aid Netanyahu's fight against graft charges, which he denies. Continue reading...

Seven Trent Water technicians working to repair one of our larger pipes' after car retrievedA parked car was partially swallowed by a sinkhole that opened up on a Coventry road in the early hours of Monday morning.The hole opened underneath the vehicle on Sewall Highway after an underground water pipe burst at about 4am, West Midlands police said. The street was closed for most of the day, a cordon was erected around the affected area and cars and buses were diverted. Continue reading...

Two children among the missing when vehicles were submerged on road after more than 200m of rain pummeled some regionsThe body of a 52-year old man and other human remains have been discovered by emergency teams searching for four people who went missing in historic flooding after more than 200mm (7.87in) of rain pummeled some regions of Nova Scotia at the weekend.The man's body was found near West Hangs in Nova Scotia, on the south-eastern coast of Canada, where search and rescue teams were looking for two children, a youth and a man who were in two vehicles which became submerged in flood water. Continue reading...

Country singer's heavily criticised song Try That in a Small Town has been streamed 11.7m times while the video has boomed onlineThe controversy around the country singer Jason Aldean's latest single, whose lyrics and video feature threats of violence toward police protesters, has boosted its profile.In the week since backlash to the song brewed online and amid fellow country artists, streams of Aldean's Try That in a Small Town have risen 999%, from 987,000 to 11.7m, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sales of the song have also increased from 1,000 last week to 228,000, according to the music data company Luminate. Continue reading...

All-party climate group says backing away from green policies would be catastrophic for the economyA cross-party group of influential politicians has urged Rishi Sunak to set an example by attending the UN climate summit this November, as both major parties come under pressure over their net-zero policies.The group of MPs and peers wants him to commit to attending Cop28 in Dubai, and to appoint a secretary of state as special envoy for the climate ahead of the UN general assembly in September, where preparations will be made for Cop28. Continue reading...

Alicia Kearns backs calls for the government to advise against travel to the Greek islandTravel firms that continue to fly tourists to Rhodes have been accused of profiteering" by a senior Conservative, as ministers faced pressure over official travel advice for the island, where 10,000 British tourists have been stranded.As flights rescuing holidaymakers began arriving in the UK on Monday, calls continued for a change in the Foreign Office's stance on the categorisation of Rhodes to enable tourists to get a refund for their trips through their travel insurance. Continue reading...

Brazil federal police say Maxwell Simoes Correa helped plan 2018 assassination; two former police officers are already awaiting trialBrazilian police have arrested a new suspect over the killing of the Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco, the first major development for some years in a murder case that shocked Brazil and prompted international outcry.Franco, an outspoken defender of marginalised populations, was killed with her driver Anderson Gomes in a drive-by shooting in March 2018. Two former police officers accused of carrying out the murders were arrested a year later - but they are yet to stand trial by jury and an investigation into who ordered the assassination has dragged on slowly ever since. Continue reading...

About 7,500 firefighters trying to bring blazes under control and 1,500 people evacuates as heatwave hitsTen soldiers are among 25 people to have been killed by wildfires in the mountainous Bejaia and Bouira regions of Algeria, as a heatwave spreads across north Africa and southern Europe.About 7,500 firefighters were trying to bring the flames under control, authorities said, adding that about 1,500 people had been evacuated as a heatwave swept across north African countries. Continue reading...

Calls for greater funding in local health services as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer from high rates of type 1 and 2 diabetes

World heads into a potential third year of supply deficit as major growing regions inundated by flooding

Aslef members to take action in week starting 7 August, as DHL workers suspend Gatwick strikeRail passengers are facing further disruption over the summer holidays after train drivers announced another week-long overtime ban in a long-running dispute over pay.Members of the drivers' union, Aslef, will refuse to work extra hours from Monday 7 August to Saturday 12 August. Continue reading...

Footage of incident, in which woman's child becomes distressed, has circulated on social mediaThe police watchdog is reviewing an incident in which a woman was wrongly arrested and detained by Metropolitan police officers in Croydon after she was falsely accused of not paying her bus fare.Video footage that circulated on social media on Saturday showed the woman being arrested and handcuffed by two male Met officers in front of her child, who was distressed and crying. Continue reading...

North of Tyne mayor will run as independent in north-east after party barred him from standingOn Monday last week, Jamie Driscoll pressed the nuclear button. Barred from standing to be Labour's candidate in the inaugural north-east mayoral elections - despite being the party's sitting mayor of the smaller North of Tyne region and a member since 1985 -he announced he was quitting the party. He tweeted the news, promising to run as an independent next May if he raised 25,000 by the end of August.A week later, his fighting fund stands at more than 114,000. More than 5,300 people have donated, mostly fivers and tenners, decrying the undemocratic decision" to bar Driscoll from the selection contest. You didn't leave the Labour party, Jamie. The Labour party left you. And me!" was a typical comment. Continue reading...

Party has been relegated to near-irrelevance as Spain bucks European trend of shift towards far rightAbout 10 months ago, a smiling Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain's far-right Vox party, proudly described the northern region of Castilla y Leon as a model of what lay ahead for the party.The sparsely populated region, where the far right had made its first foray into a Spanish regional government since the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, was a showroom" for the party's promises to do away with Spanish laws on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality and violence against women. Continue reading...

FBU says unnecessary, degrading practice' enforced by Kent fire and rescue service must endFemale firefighters are being forced to strip down to their underwear in full view of their male colleagues and the wider public, in an unnecessary, degrading practice" being enforced by an English brigade, their representatives have said.The Fire Brigades Union (FBU), frustrated at what it sees as chronic management inaction", has written to the official inspector to demand an end to the practice at Kent fire and rescue service. Continue reading...

Officials blame Ukraine for drones that hit non-residential buildings in Russian capital and say there were no casualties

Exclusive: Prosecutors completed appellate reviews, the final step before seeking charges, weeks agoFulton county prosecutors weeks ago complete the internal reviews for expected criminal charges stemming from their investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia, according to two people briefed on the matter.The review process, where prosecutors run their cases by top deputies to the district attorney Fani Willis to identify potential weaknesses that might see any convictions overturned on appeal, is typically seen as the final step before charges are filed. Continue reading...