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Weak sterling makes FTSE 250 firms ‘ripe for takeovers’ with John Wood Group and Network International also approached

EU and Kyiv condemn unilateral bans that aim to protect local farmers amid glut and price crash

After more than a century Sydney has lost its title due to a counting quirkSydney has long been Australia’s most populous city, but last week, Melbourne officially overtook it as the country’s biggest – thanks to a quirk in how the figures are counted.Melbourne’s population was 4,875,400 at the country’s most recent census in 2021, while there were 18,700 fewer people in Sydney, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which returns Melbourne to the mantle of Australia’s most populous city, a title it last held in 1905. Continue reading...

A court in Moscow has sentenced the opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years prison; Slovakia will temporarily halt imports of grains and other selected products from UkraineA court in Moscow has sentenced the opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years prison, in one of the most high-profile cases to date of a Russian dissident being jailed for opposing the invasion of Ukraine. Kara-Murza, a father of three, was detained in April 2022 and charged with spreading false information about the Russian army in Ukraine. He was later also charged with “high treason” over a series of public speeches he made that criticised Kremlin policies and the war in Ukraine. Kara-Murza’s ruling is the longest sentence yet given to a political opponent of Vladimir Putin, as the Kremlin further steps up its relentless crackdown on dissent.The British government on Monday summoned the Russian ambassador to make clear its condemnation of what it described as the “politically motivated” conviction of Kara-Murza, a British dual national. “Russia’s lack of commitment to protecting fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, is alarming,” British foreign secretary James Cleverly said in a statement. “We continue to urge Russia to adhere to its international obligations including Vladimir Kara-Murza’s entitlement to proper healthcare.”Slovakia will temporarily halt imports of grains and other selected products from Ukraine, a government spokesperson said on Monday. Talks between Ukraine and Poland over grain exports were due to start in Warsaw around noon local time (11am BST), Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus has said. EU member countries’ envoys in Brussels will discuss the weekend move by Poland and Hungary to ban grain imports from Ukraine to protect their own agricultural sectors.Russian president Vladimir Putin has met Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu in Moscow. Putin said the two countries were “working actively through our military departments” and regularly exchanging “useful information” while Li said ties between the two countries had “already entered a new era” and surpassed “the military-political alliances of the cold war era”.Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday read a report to President Vladimir Putin about drills conducted by the country’s Pacific Fleet. In footage broadcast on state television, Putin responded by saying that snap checks had shown the Pacific Fleet at a high level of readiness, and that Russia’s priority was Ukraine. Shoigu said that more than 25,000 military personnel, 167 ships and vessels, 12 submarines, 89 aircraft and helicopters are participating in the exercises.Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Monday that Tokyo had lodged a protest with Russia over its military exercises around disputed islands near Japan’s Hokkaido.Slovakia has handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets it had pledged to Ukraine, the Slovak defence ministry said on MondayThe village of Krasnoe, which is in Belgorod in Russia, close to the border with Ukraine, came under fire from Ukrainian forces, according to regional governor, Vyacheslav GladkovUkrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office told Reuters. China has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia.One hundred and thirty Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released and returned home in a “great Easter exchange”, a senior Ukrainian presidential official has said. It was not clear how many Russians were sent back the other way.The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, will visit Baghdad on Monday, his first trip to Iraq since Russia invaded Ukraine. Kuleba is expected to hold talks with the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and the foreign minister, Fuad Hussein. Continue reading...

Group also made up of former high-level military advisers say ‘actions still fail to match the rhetoric’

Cash payments are no longer king, representing just a fraction of the value of point-of-sale transactions in Australia

Wong also hits back at former prime minister saying his comments diminish ‘his legacy and the subject matter’

Most of $50m settlement with federal government will go to those affected by forced removals of Indigenous people from their families

State treasurer Daniel Mookhey says ‘difficult to avoid’ costs include extending funding for 1,112 temporary nurses

ABC says it has no plan yet to shut down accounts but is ‘liaising with Twitter regarding changes to account verification and labels’

Force criticised for failing to reinvestigate 1981 abduction of Vishal Mehrotra despite ‘significant’ new evidenceThe family of a murdered schoolboy have criticised the police for a “baffling” failure to reinvestigate the case despite “significant” new evidence coming to light 42 years after he disappeared.Vishal Mehrotra, eight, was abducted from west London in July 1981 and his remains were found in Rogate, West Sussex, seven months later. No one has been prosecuted for his murder. Continue reading...

About 5 million people eligible for jab until end of June as vaccinations get under way across 3,000 sitesMillions of people are now eligible for the spring Covid-19 booster after hundreds of thousands of vaccination appointments became available to book through the NHS.About 5 million people in total are eligible for a booster until the end of June, with the first vaccinations taking place from Monday across 3,000 sites in England. Continue reading...

Separatist rebels confronted Indonesian army troops as they searched for New Zealander who was taken hostage in FebruarySeparatist gunmen attacked Indonesian army troops who were deployed to rescue a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, leaving at least six dead and about 30 missing, officials said on Sunday.Initial information from army reports said there were about 36 soldiers at a post in the hilly district of Nduga, when attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, opened fire on Saturday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: child mental health crisis deepens with one-third of all referrals denied helpA quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS as it struggles to manage surging case loads against a backdrop of a crisis in child mental health.Some NHS trusts are failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs, the research based on freedom of information request responses has found.In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk. YoungMinds is at youngminds.org.uk. Continue reading...

Violence between military factions that has left at least 56 dead in the capital spreads to other parts of countryCivilians in Sudan have been subjected to a second day of heavy fighting, waking up in the capital, Khartoum, on Sunday to the sound of gunfire and military jets over the city despite a four-hour UN-proposed humanitarian ceasefire between the two main factions of the ruling military regime.The violence that broke out on Saturday between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and left at least 56 civilians in the capital dead spread to other parts of the country, with the UN’s World Food Programme suspending operations in the country after three of its employees were killed in clashes in Darfur. Fighting was also reported in the eastern border state of Kassala. Continue reading...

White Hart Inn in Grays, which has been the subject of a reported hate crime, daubed with graffiti and has windows damagedAn Essex pub where police confiscated golly dolls has been vandalised with graffiti and damage to five windows occurring early on Sunday morning, police have said.The incident occurred at about 12.40am at White Hart Inn in Grays. Essex police said they have deployed extra patrols in the area. Continue reading...

Posters attacking Rishi Sunak on crime made Britons feel less favourable about both main parties, Opinium findsLabour’s controversial “attack ad” accusing Rishi Sunak of failing to put paedophiles in prison has caused more voters to think negatively of Keir Starmer’s party than a Conservative poster that accused the Labour leader of being soft on crime, according to an Opinium poll for the Observer.The striking result, when people were asked to react to the two posters, comes after 10 days of internal Labour ructions over its sudden switch to hyper-aggressive and personalised online campaigning. Continue reading...

High-risk tactic increases likelihood of combined stoppages by nurses and junior doctors in EnglandRishi Sunak appears set on trying to face down unions in a high-risk strategy to tough out a renewed wave of NHS strikes in England that health service leaders warned were unsustainable and could put patient safety at risk.With the prime minister and his health secretary, Steve Barclay, seemingly offering no fresh concessions for nurses or junior doctors, they risk the possibility of combined strike action, a scenario one NHS leader said would put the health service “into uncharted territory”. Continue reading...

Huw Edwards and Reeta Chakrabarti among those to receive letters in what corporation says was a standard HR exerciseThe BBC has reportedly sent letters offering voluntary redundancy to some of its top presenters as it looks to cut expenditure in its news division.The corporation’s interim managing editor of news and current affairs, Philippa Busby, wrote to all of its senior TV and radio presenters – including Huw Edwards, Clive Myrie, Reeta Chakrabarti and Sophie Raworth – at the beginning of this month, according to the Mail on Sunday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Post-Windrush training module urges caseworkers to call asylum seekers ‘customers’Details have emerged of a training course designed to make Home Office staff behave more compassionately, revealing guidance urging immigration caseworkers to display greater empathy to avoid further “reputational damage” to the department.The Face Behind the Case training module instructs staff to refer to visa applicants and asylum seekers as “customers” and encourages Home Office staff to remember that “a human being sits behind every case file and reference number”. Continue reading...

Pedro Sánchez asks victims for forgiveness after change allows some offenders to reduce sentencesSpain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has apologised to victims for a loophole in a landmark new law that was intended to toughen penalties for sexual crimes but has allowed some convicted offenders to reduce their sentences.The legislation, popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law, came into effect last October. It overhauled the criminal code by making sexual consent – or lack of it – key in determining assault cases, in an effort to define all non-consensual sex as rape. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The independent MP says the findings of the scathing Broderick workplace culture review should be addressed ‘quickly’

Brandon Russell, who has previously been jailed for possession of bomb-making materials, communicated with Australian extremists via Telegram

Chair says party could lose 1,000 English seats on 4 May, despite voters finding Rishi Sunak more palatable than his predecessorsEven by the standards of political expectations management, Greg Hands’ message in his Sunday morning interviews was stark: the Conservative party, which he chairs, should expect to lose more than 1,000 councillors in next month’s local elections.When party bigwigs make such predictions they usually do so against a context of significant wins the last time the seats were contested. But in May 2019, Theresa May was weeks away from announcing her departure, and the Tories lost more than 1,300 seats. Continue reading...

Concerns raised after some brands sold in shops in England and Wales found to exceed legal limitsSome high street vapes claiming to be nicotine-free actually contain the same level of addictive substances as full-strength e-cigarettes, tests shows.Data shared with the Guardian by Inter Scientific – which offers analytical testing of products to check whether they are following regulations – examined dozens of vape brands sold in shops across England and Wales. Continue reading...

Why is the government promoting vapes for smokers in England while discouraging them for youth?E-cigarettes are being promoted in England as part of the government’s efforts to help people quit smoking tobacco at the same time as it cracks down on youth vaping. We take a look at why there are two very different campaigns on the devices. Continue reading...

Workers gather at picket line on Sunday in ongoing demand for pay increase from £11 to £15 an hourWorkers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have begun a fresh round of strike action in a dispute about pay during the cost of living crisis.GMB union members are planning three days of strikes at the huge Coventry centre, known as BHX4, from Sunday 16 to Tuesday 18 April, to be followed by three further days, from 21 to 23 April. Continue reading...

Cathedral service overseen by clerics independent of Russian-affiliated patriarchate for first time since 17th century

Architect of Israel’s judicial changes doubles down for next round of legislative battle when Knesset reconvenes in MayThe vicious fight in Israel over the government’s proposed judicial changes “transcends issues of left and right, and comes down to public distrust in government”, one of the architects of the plans has said, acknowledging that there is room for compromise going forward.Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, returned to office in December at the helm of a coalition of conservative and religious parties that make up the most rightwing government in the country’s history. The new administration’s most pressing item on its agenda proposed what it called “judicial reform” to limit the supreme court’s ability to overturn laws and to give politicians more control over the appointment of justices. Continue reading...

Police appeal for witnesses and say 19-year-old man arrested over crash in Merrion Street on Saturday nightA woman in her 40s has died after being struck by a car in Leeds city centre on Saturday night.A 19-year-old man was arrested after the collision on one of the city’s liveliest nightlife streets. Continue reading...

Documents among those shared by alleged leaker raise questions over island’s military readinessChina would probably establish air superiority very rapidly in any attack on Taiwan, according to leaked US intelligence assessments that raise disturbing questions about the self-ruled island’s military readiness.The documents, part of a series allegedly leaked by the US air national guardsman Jack Teixeira, emerged as G7 foreign ministers met to discuss a common China strategy and Beijing briefly halted flights over part of the East China Sea on Sunday. Continue reading...

Campaigners, unions and MPs raise concerns about surveillance and use of ‘management by algorithm’Campaigners, trade unions and MPs are calling for stricter oversight of the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, amid growing concerns about its effect on staff rights.The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is holding a half-day conference on Tuesday to highlight the challenges of ensuring workers are treated fairly, as what it calls “management by algorithm” becomes increasingly prevalent. Continue reading...

Shadow health secretary says party correct ‘to take the gloves off’ and will be more of the same to comeWes Streeting has vigorously defended Labour’s highly personal attack adverts targeting Rishi Sunak, saying the party was “absolutely right to take the gloves off” and that there would be more such campaign tactics to come.Labour has faced considerable criticism, and some doubts from within the party, over a series of online ads which began with one claiming that Rishi Sunak does not believe people who sexually abuse children should be sent to prison. Continue reading...

Atiq Ahmed, jailed since 2019, was in police custody and taking questions from journalists when attackers struckA former Indian MP convicted of kidnapping and facing murder and assault charges has been shot dead along with his brother in a brazen attack broadcast live on TV in northern India.Atiq Ahmed – jailed since 2019 – and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were being taken handcuffed by police to a hospital in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, when three men targeted them from close range as they took questions from reporters. Continue reading...

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Initiative at heart of next month’s royal event could fall flat after steady decline in number of people in UK offering their timeAn event at the heart of the king’s coronation festivities is at risk of being a “damp squib” because of a volunteering crisis across Britain, the government has been warned.The Big Help Out is inviting people across the country to mark the occasion by signing up to volunteer in their communities on the one-off bank holiday Monday on 8 May in the hope of inspiring more people to start volunteering amid record shortages. Continue reading...

Boy sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries when set upon by the dingo on Friday night at a campground in Karijini national parkA mother has been praised for her bravery after she fought off a dingo that attacked her two-year-old son at a remote Western Australia national park.The boy sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries when set upon by the dingo about 7pm on Friday at Dales Campground in Karijini national park.Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Continue reading...

Residents and members of bereaved families call on BBC and National Theatre to scrap productionsThe BBC and the National Theatre are facing rising hostility over two high-profile productions about the Grenfell Tower fire disaster, with survivors and bereaved family members urging both institutions to drop their plans.Some have even threatened to disrupt BBC attempts to film near the tower for its series, Grenfell, which will dramatise the tragic events around the night of 14 June 2017 in west London, when 72 people died as a result of the blaze. Others claim the National Theatre is stealing their experiences, despite its play being based on survivors’ first-hand accounts. A petition calling on the BBC to scrap its series has so far attracted more than 50,000 signatures. Continue reading...

Coalition senator echoed Peter Dutton’s accusations of child sexual abuse in Alice Springs and reiterated her opposition to the voice

Holy Fire rite has traditionally attracted about 10,000 Christian worshippers but numbers have been limited in recent yearsThousands of Christians in Jerusalem have celebrated the traditional Holy Fire rite ahead of the Orthodox Easter, despite a security clampdown limiting access to their most holy site.The ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the thousand-year-old rite takes place, was built over the site where Christian tradition says Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected. Continue reading...

Death toll from Russian attack on Sloviansk apartment block rises to 11; Moscow claims Wagner forces have captured two more areas of Bakhmut

Army rejects assertions by RSF that they have seized palace and airports in KhartoumSudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces says it has gained control of Khartoum international airport, Merowe airport, al-Obeid airport and the presidential palace, after an attack on its military base in south Khartoum at about 9am local time today.Khartoum airport has shut down, with clips circulated on social media showing the RSF storming the airport. Continue reading...

Animal rights group Animal Aid says change needed after ‘brutal horrors’ at Aintree as three horses die during festivalAnimal rights campaigners have called for jump racing to be banned and “much more stringent” safety measures put in place for the sport after three horses died at the 175th annual Grand National festival.The third fatality, Hill Sixteen, is said to have suffered a broken neck at the first fence at the Aintree racecourse in Liverpool before being put down. Continue reading...

Veronica Nelson’s mother among critics of Thirrili, which encouraged people to contact it if they didn’t feel its support was adequate

Paramilitary group reports seizing control of presidential palace, army chief’s home and Khartoum airport• Fighting in Sudan’s capital – latest updatesSudan was plunged into a long-feared violent crisis on Saturday as a bitter struggle for power appeared to break out between the two main factions of the ruling military regime.At least 25 people were reported to have been killed in clashes in the vast and strategic east African country during heavy fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Force (RSF), according to the Sudan Doctor’s Committee, a local NGO. Continue reading...

Agreement in principle follows strikes and 11 months of negotiations over pay, jobs and conditionsRoyal Mail and union leaders have reached an agreement in principle after 11 months of negotiations in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.Royal Mail said it had reached a negotiators’ agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the details of which will be made public once it has been ratified by the union’s executive committee, which is expected to take place next week. Continue reading...

Doctors could join coordinated strike as Royal College of Nurses announce national ballot on mass actionEngland’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far. Continue reading...

Melvin’s roles included parts in Torchwood, The Phantom of the Opera and A Taste of HoneyTributes have been paid to the actor, director and theatre archivist Murray Melvin, who has died aged 90.Melvin died at St Thomas’ hospital in London on Friday, according to friends. Continue reading...

Luxury train operator cuts service ahead of biometric passport checks so passengers will have to join train in ParisWhen the Orient Express began operating in the 19th century, passports were optional – the only paperwork required by British travellers was a copy of the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable.But Brexit and 21st-century biometric checks are killing off the romance of crossing borders for modern passengers looking for the nostalgia of the luxury train journey that inspired Agatha Christie and Hollywood. Continue reading...

Police say suspects held on conspiracy to cause public nuisance as activists gather at Aintree racecoursePolice have arrested three people at Aintree racecourse ahead of the Grand National.A 25-year-old woman from London was detained outside the venue at about 11.20am on Saturday while a man was arrested around 30 minutes later. They were both arrested on suspicion of conspirapy to cause public nuisance. Continue reading...