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Its abolition was long overdue and the Albanese government is to be commended for heeding the calls of experts and advocates

Rain band will bring showers for Sydney and Melbourne while snowfalls are forecast across alpine regions in Tasmania and Victoria

Broadcaster and friend calls invitation to pay allegiance ‘well-intentioned and rather ill-advised’King Charles finds the idea of people paying homage to him “abhorrent”, his friend Jonathan Dimbleby has said while seeking to pin the blame for the proposal on the archbishop of Canterbury.There has been a widespread backlash against the idea of a “homage of the people”, in which the general public is invited to swear allegiance to the king during the coronation on Saturday. Continue reading...

If you are a Conservative MP worried about the next general election, the results thus far will cause alarm

Energy minister says body will ‘focus like a laser on any obstacles to job creation and investment’

Hundreds of mourners, including Bill Shorten, John Pesutto and Mick Gatto, attend full requiem mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral

UN children’s agency welcomes drop in number of underage brides, but warns 12 million girls still getting married each yearThe number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030. Continue reading...

Two-year study by Nuffield Trust and LSE says successive governments failed to make social care a priorityDistress and heartbreak for millions could have been avoided if the government had not missed opportunities to prepare social care for a pandemic, according to a big investigation into how the first wave of Covid hit care homes.A review of events in spring 2020, when almost 20,000 care home residents died with Covid in England and Wales, found it was the result of “letting one of our most important public services languish in constant crisis for years”.The government excluded social care from pandemic-planning exercises such as Exercise Alice and after problems were identified by Exercise Cygnus, which did include the sector, action was not taken.Social care leaders felt invisible at the start of the pandemic because there had been no dedicated director general for social care in government since 2016.No adult social care representatives sat on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and people leading the UK pandemic response lacked “deep understanding” of social care. Continue reading...

The TGA banned off-label prescriptions when floods of people sought out the drug in the mistaken belief it would treat Covid-19

Speaking of ‘iconic’ nature of event, Christian Bunt says he will use controversial new police powersThe police chief in charge of security in Windsor has said he will have “a lower tolerance” for disruption caused by protest due to the “iconic” nature of the coronation.The Thames Valley police assistant chief constable Christian Bunt, the gold commander for the policing operation over the coming weekend, also said he would make use of new public order laws. Continue reading...

Graham Galton, a Conservative councillor running for Coxford ward, died on Thursday after voting had startedHere is a comment from a reader.Just been to the polling station: tellers outside were turning people without ID away instead of sending them in to be recorded for the so called evaluation. Numbers will be meaningless if this is widespread. Continue reading...

Wrong documents and a requirement to remove masks leave some unable to vote in local elections

Clashes continue around presidential palace in Khartoum despite international calls to end hostilitiesFighting in Sudan has intensified as warring factions seek to secure strategic locations, as pressure grows from international powers to end hostilities and allow humanitarian assistance to reach millions of desperate civilians.Fierce battles on Thursday between the Sudanese army and its paramilitary opponents, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reminded residents in Khartoum, the capital, of the fierce combat that marked the first days of the war almost three weeks ago. Continue reading...

Tributes were paid to Conservative candidate Graham Galton who died after the polls had opened in Coxford ward for the city councilA local election vote in Southampton has been called off after a Conservative candidate died after the polls had opened.In a relatively rare occurrence, the vote in the Coxford ward for Southampton city council has been completely cancelled. A new election will be held within 35 days, with a new nominations process taking place. Continue reading...

Call for ministers to implement 2019 rent reform pledge as 38 Degrees reveals 87 MPs making money from property

Finale involving 60 aircraft may be scaled back as Met Office forecasts cloudy and wet weather in LondonThe coronation flypast is at risk of being scaled back or cancelled because of poor weather forecast for Saturday, the Ministry of Defence has said.A tri-service, six-minute flypast of 60 aircraft, including the Battle of Britain memorial flight, the Red Arrows, modern F-35s and Typhoons, is planned as a finale to the coronation day celebrations. Continue reading...

Foreign minister quashes hope of reconciliation as he stresses trip to Goa is purely for regional summitPakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, arrived in Goa on Thursday, the first visit to India by a senior Pakistani official in 12 years.Yet few held out hope that the trip signalled efforts for reconciliation between the two rival neighbours. Speaking as he boarded the plane to Goa, where India is chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers on Friday morning, Bhutto Zardari emphasised his presence would be “focused exclusively on SCO” and avoided any mention of India. Continue reading...

Latest figures show Albanian nationals account for almost a third of total, and British nationals a quarterThe number of potential victims of modern slavery in England and Wales is at the highest levels since records began, according to official statistics.A total of 4,746 people were referred to the Home Office from January to March as potential victims of exploitation, figures show – a rise of more than a quarter compared with the same period last year. Continue reading...

Consul general calls for ‘constructive engagement’ with territory as Chinese vice-president says he will attend king’s coronationBritain’s most senior diplomat for Hong Kong has called for an end to “megaphone diplomacy” between the UK and the Chinese territory, saying British and Hong Kong diplomats would make more progress with closed-door discussions.Brian Davidson, the consul general to Hong Kong and Macau, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the UK-Hong Kong relationship had weathered “some difficult headwinds” over the past four or five years, but that “we are looking to lean back into a constructive engagement to see where we can collaborate”. Continue reading...

Suzanne Henry, 54, died after being found with serious facial injuries in Madeley on MondayA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a woman who was found with serious facial injuries.Suzanne Henry, 54, died on Wednesday night after being found in a house in Madeley, Staffordshire, at about 10pm on Monday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Johnny Briceño attacks his UK counterpart’s refusal to apologise for atrocities of slaveryThe prime minister of Belize, Johnny Briceño, has sharply criticised Rishi Sunak’s refusal to apologise for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, and said it was “quite likely” Belize would be the next member of the Commonwealth realm to become a republic.Speaking to the Guardian in the country’s capital, Belmopan, Briceño argued the British government had a moral responsibility to apologise for the atrocities of slavery and added to the calls throughout the English-speaking Caribbean for financial reparations from the UK. Continue reading...

‘No major issues’ reported so far, as most voters in Leicester say they were made well aware of change

Johanita Kossiwa Dogbey is believed to have been attacked by a stranger in daylight in south LondonThe family of a woman stabbed to death in south-west London in a daylight attack have paid tribute to the “smart, dedicated and loving girl”.The Metropolitan police confirmed the 31-year-old victim of the attack in Stockwell Park Walk, Brixton just after 4pm on Monday was Johanita Kossiwa Dogbey. Continue reading...

Treasurer says $112bn cost over five years is one of fastest growing pressures on budget, blaming Coalition for the ‘mess’ it left

Glasgow registrars unsure if UK will grant visas for immediate family members who also escaped KhartoumTwo NHS doctors who escaped from Sudan are now stuck in Saudi Arabia, unsure if or when the British government will allow them to also bring home immediate family members who were forced to flee the fighting in the country.Sabreen Elbakri and her husband, Mohammed Fadelalla, both registrars in Glasgow, escaped from Khartoum more than a week ago after night-time bombing “shook our house”. They took with them her young British children and her Sudanese mother and two sisters. Continue reading...

Group tells staff it will let most of them go, as it considers options for loss-making factoryLegal & General is to halt new production at its loss-making modular housing factory near Leeds while it reviews the future of the business, putting 450 jobs at risk and casting doubt over the pioneering sector’s prospects.The factory, one of the biggest in the UK, manufactures homes in prefabricated modules that are put together on site, which is faster than tradition construction and has been hailed as a possible solution to the housing shortage. Continue reading...

Men who have sex with other men urged to be aware of symptoms after infected person not found to have been overseas

Putin’s spokesperson claims, without providing evidence, that Washington was involved in alleged attempt to kill president

Camped outside Foreign Office, Beheshti is demanding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards be proscribedVahid Beheshti’s hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office took a surreal turn on Wednesday – its 70th day – when he attended a royal coronation tea party at Buckingham Palace, arriving by wheelchair and wearing a suit and red tie.He has lost more than 17kg (37lb), or a quarter of his body weight, and he told the Guardian that “my body and joints are now racked in intense pain”. As he left his tent, draped in the Iranian flag and surrounded by flowers, he clutched an envelope containing a letter for the king. After carefully smartening himself up, he was wheeled to a taxi by his wife, Mattie Heaven, a Conservative councillor. Continue reading...

Billionaire tells of personally losing £1.5bn and ‘painful’ backlash after plea for state loan for Virgin AtlanticSir Richard Branson has revealed that things got so bad for his businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic that he feared he would lose his entire empire of planes, trains, hotels, health clubs and spaceships.“There was a time when it really looked like we were going to lose everything,” the British billionaire told the BBC. “We had 50, 60 planes all on the ground, and the health clubs all closed, the hotels all closed, and the worst [case] would have been 60,000 people out on the streets. I was certainly a little depressed.” Continue reading...

Read a summary of our findings about the personal enrichment of the royal family and origins of some of their wealth Continue reading...

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn accused of killing friends, an ex-partner and police officers known to herA Thai woman accused of poisoning people with cyanide has been charged with 14 counts of murder, while her ex-husband is facing charges of fraud, police said, in one of the country’s worst suspected serial killing cases.Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn was arrested last week after suspicions were raised over the death of her friend Siriporn Khanwong. The two had met to release fish at a pier in Ratchaburi on 14 April when Siriporn suddenly collapsed and died at the riverbank. Continue reading...

Baby brought out to media in incubator as Paetongtarn Shinawatra says ‘children are my secret power’ ahead of electionPaetongtarn Shinawatra, a leading candidate in the upcoming Thai election, has said she is keen to resume campaigning days after giving birth.Speaking at a press conference held at a hospital in Bangkok, Paetongtarn said she remained confident that her Pheu Thai party would win a landslide victory. Continue reading...

Two alleged Hamas operatives and alleged accomplice shot dead in operation in occupied West BankIsrael said its security forces shot dead three Palestinians blamed for killing a British-Israeli woman and her two daughters last month, in a raid on Thursday in the occupied West Bank.Two suspects in the killings, members of militant group Hamas, and a third man accused of helping them were killed in an operation in Nablus by the army, police and the security service Shin Bet, a statement said. Continue reading...

Internal warfare has spiralled into threats of legal action and accusations of ‘terrorists’ holding the state opposition party ‘hostage’

Energy minister Penny Sharpe says state will need to decarbonise its electricity sector at a faster rate

All games played on electronic machines will be linked to a person’s gaming card under the changes

Days out from the federal budget, a Senate inquiry releases evidence of welfare payments being insufficient to meet the cost of essential items

Upper house MP threatened legal action if John Pesutto didn’t declare she’s not a Nazi sympathiser

Letter from panel member of fracking inquiry says key recommendations have not been fully implemented

Voting on more than 8,000 seats across 230 councils will involve UK’s first mass use of mandatory ID outside Northern IrelandVoting has opened in local elections across England that have been billed as crucial progress markers for Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, but are also seen as hard to predict and likely to deliver results mixed enough for all to be able to claim at least some success.In an attempt to manage expectations, the prime minister declared on Wednesday evening that the results would be “hard for us” and admitted some Conservative councillors would lose their seats as a result of events “over the past year”. Continue reading...

Privileges committee pencils in 23-24 May to finalise inquiry into whether former PM misled MPs over lockdown partiesBoris Johnson’s political future could be decided within weeks by a group of MPs investigating claims he misled parliament over Partygate, the Guardian has been told.After holding off from doing anything that could be seen to influence the local elections or overshadowing King Charles’s coronation, the privileges committee is preparing to bring its inquiry into the former prime minister to a close. Continue reading...

Discussion with Tony Abbott and News Corp columnist Joe Hildebrand, hosted by Coalition MP Jenny Ware, shut down after Indigenous man takes to stage

British songwriter was known for her five-octave vocal range and work as a backing singer for the likes of David Bowie, Rod Stewart and Yusuf IslamLinda Lewis, the British singer-songwriter whose career spanned more than four decades, has died at the age of 72.Her family confirmed her death on Wednesday night, with her sister Dee Lewis Clay sharing the news on social media. Continue reading...

Activist says she went to WA in solidarity with arrested protesters, while police chief defends treatment of journalist who had equipment seized

Foreign Office accused of creating ‘confusion’ during evacuation, with some struggling to get visas or prove citizenshipBritish people trapped in Sudan have described being forced to make impossible choices about whether to fly home without family members the UK government will not allow on flights.Suleiman, a British national who asked to withhold his family name, said a British official had called him to say he could be evacuated with his two children only if he left his pregnant wife behind. His children are also British nationals, and their mother is a Sudanese citizen. Continue reading...

In response to damning review, government says program will become ‘more trauma informed and survivor focused’

National Australia Bank describes outcome as ‘good, strong set of results’ but acknowledges more customers showing signs of financial distress

Hāmiora Bailey says wall to wall Charles III coverage is unappealing to Indigenous people and has devised a solutionA Māori artist has designed a way for the masses to tune out of royal coverage, with a web browser plugin that replaces all monarchy and coronation stories with Indigenous news.Despite a distance of more that 18,000kms from the palace, New Zealand news headlines have featured a steady flow of royal family gossip: the latest potential snubbing, deep-dive analysis of the new king’s conduct, invitation list scandals and features on the coronation quiche. Continue reading...

The gympie-gympie tree causes brutal, persistent pain in a way ‘never seen before’ – but its unique toxins offer hope for non-opioid relief