World news | The Guardian

Former PM tells Nadine Dorries talkshow the idea he was knowingly going to rule-breaking parties is ‘for the birds’

Jailed activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Orawan Phupong are demanding lese-majesty law be repealedTwo young Thai activists accused of insulting the monarchy are in a weak, exhausted condition and experiencing symptoms such as nosebleeds and chest pain after a hunger strike during which they have only sipped water, according to their lawyer and doctors.Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon, 21, and Orawan “Bam” Phupong, 23, were accused of breaching Thailand’s lese-majesty law after they held up a poster at a shopping mall asking people whether they believed that royal motorcades – which lead to road closures – create trouble for the public. Tantawan faces a second lese-majesty case over a speech she gave on Facebook live. Continue reading...

Entain says £995m pre-tax profit forecast boosted by record number of customers in final months of 2022The owner of the gambling brands Ladbrokes and Coral has raised its annual profit forecast after it benefited from customers betting on the men’s football World Cup.Entain said it had seen a record number of customers in the final three months of 2022, an increase of 14% compared with a year earlier. Continue reading...

P38-La Gang perform in balaclavas, namecheck the Red Brigades – and are under criminal investigation for inciting terrorism. Are they, as they believe, being scapegoated for their politics?For P38-La Gang, everything changed on 1 May 2022, Labour Day. The Italian rap group were performing at the club Arci Tunnel in Reggio Emilia. The location appeared to be no coincidence. It is the city that birthed the Red Brigades, the far-left terrorist group that shocked Italy with kidnappings, kneecappings and more than 80 political assassinations in the 1970s and 1980s – a period of social turmoil known as the “Years of Lead”. On stage that day, the four-piece covered their faces with balaclavas and made a three-fingered gesture representing the P38 gun – the symbol of the 70s leftist movement Autonomia Operaia. As usual, the group flew the Red Brigades flag at the back of the stage – the title of their 2021 debut album, Nuove BR, translates as “new Red Brigades”.Until then, the Bologna-based band had been considered one of the most bizarre and original newcomers in the Italian trap scene: angry, funny, outrageous, paradoxical, even a novelty act, depending on who you asked. Mixing bad taste with offending politicians and talkshow reporters, making fun of terrorism and dictatorships, P38-La Gang showed a face of Italy that few people want to see: the anger of workers paid €3 an hour and of a generation defeated by the class struggle who are surviving on memes and desperate irony. Continue reading...

Potential £9m profit dropped for £150m investment to shield consumers from price increases, says supplierOctopus Energy said it has decided against making its first ever annual profit after ploughing £150m into attempting to keep customers’ gas and electricity bills down.The energy supplier said it would have made a slim annual profit of £9m but instead decided to invest in protecting customers from the worst of the energy price increases caused by a sharp rise in wholesale gas costs linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The decision resulted in a £141m operating loss for the last financial year, to the end of April 2022. Continue reading...

Spire Healthcare contacts patients after opening historical databases, more than two decades after rogue doctor treated themHealth officials are recalling a further 1,500 patients of the jailed breast surgeon Ian Paterson, more than two decades after he treated them, after the discovery of an old IT database.Paterson was jailed for 20 years in 2017 for 17 counts of wounding people with intent after he subjected more than 1,000 patients to unnecessary and damaging operations over 14 years. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Fears growing that far-right extremists are producing 3D-printed firearms to use on streets of BritainCounter-terrorism police are removing “a large amount” of homemade gun-making guides from the internet amid fears that far-right extremists are producing 3D-printed firearms to use on the streets of Britain.Detectives have said DIY guns are increasingly viable and include semi-automatic weapons that can fire multiple rounds at a time. Continue reading...

Opposition parties say any other workplace would suspend employee during such an investigation

Court finds owners of apartments opposite London gallery face unacceptable level of intrusionThe owners of luxury flats opposite the Tate Modern’s viewing gallery face an unacceptable level of intrusion that prevents them enjoying their homes, the supreme court has ruled.

Treasurer hits back at criticism of his essay that championed co-investment and economic inclusion

Education secretary says some schools may open with restrictions, as more than 100,000 teachers go on strike

Report also urges government to be prepared to expel Iranian diplomats who may be involved in ‘intimidation, threats or monitoring’ of citizens or residents

George Marchesini says new group will focus on preventing youth offending and work to address underlying complex factors

Man in his 30s was found injured in Castle Park on Tuesday afternoon and later died in hospitalA man has died after he was stabbed in Bristol city centre.Avon and Somerset police said emergency services were called to Castle Park around 4.30pm on Tuesday after reports of a man being stabbed. A man in his 30s was found injured and taken to hospital where he later died. Continue reading...

Albanese government to launch new industrial relations negotiations but all but rules out bringing back bargaining fees for non-union members

Record high spending ‘is putting our democracy at risk’, Centre for Public Integrity chair says

Which? study reveals huge disparity in the amount of caffeine delivered by high street coffee chainsCoffee lovers looking for a strong pick-me-up should avoid Starbucks and head to Costa, after it emerged its cappuccinos deliver almost five times as much caffeine – the same as four cans of Red Bull.Buyers of a Costa medium cappuccino get three shots of espresso and a table-topping 325mg of caffeine, which is around the same as four cups of tea, and way above the Starbucks equivalent containing just 66mg. Continue reading...

Australian and New Zealand football organisations seek ‘urgent’ clarification from Fifa over its deal with Visit Saudi

First of two walkouts by Aslef members will affect 14 operators, 10 of which will run no servicesRail passengers across Britain face more disruption on Wednesday, with no trains at all running on most routes in England as train drivers start the first of two days of strikes this week.The seventh day of national action in the past year by the Aslef union will affect 14 operating companies, with all but four of them suspending services entirely. Continue reading...

The 15-year-old boy was allegedly chased through Perth’s Swan View area before being punched, kicked, stabbed and taken to a house

Former human services minister says he was not aware of issues with Centrelink scheme until Malcolm Turnbull sent him an article in 2017

Community Action for Rainbow Rights reach an agreement with NSW police outside of court to march along modified route

As rain and flooding eases, attention turns to assessing the scale of the damage after four people were killed by unprecedented extreme weatherInsurers say devastating flooding in Auckland was the “biggest climate event” in New Zealand’s history, as rain eased after days of downpours and a clean-up of the city began.Friday was the wettest day on record for New Zealand’s largest city, with severe rain leading flood waters to sweep through streets and down highways, killing four people. Schools and businesses closed as buildings and roads were ravaged by the deluge. Auckland International Airport was shuttered temporarily, stranding thousands of travellers overseas. Continue reading...

The UK, US, Canada and Australia have announced a range of measures aimed at punishing Myanmar’s militaryThe UK, US and Canada have imposed fresh sanctions against Myanmar’s military, including measures from some aimed at stopping the supply of aviation fuel to its air force, which is accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas.The sanctions were announced two years on from the 2021 February coup, in which Myanmar’s military ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and plunging the country into turmoil. Continue reading...

Group says it will take no official position on referendum but strongly opposes Warren Mundine’s preamble proposal

Federal court finds public broadcaster defamed the former special forces soldier by linking him to war crimes

Investigations in Haiti have reached a virtual standstill after threats and intimidation against judgesFour key suspects in the killing of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse were transferred to the US for prosecution, according to officials, as the case stagnates in Haiti amid death threats against local judges.The suspects in custody include James Solages, 37, and Joseph Vincent, 57, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first arrested after Moïse was shot 12 times at his private home near the capital of Port-au-Prince on 7 July 2021. Continue reading...

Length of time someone has lived in Australia will be taken into account when considering whether to deport Kiwis who have been sentenced to a year or more in prison

Claims made that broken bolts on HMS Vanguard’s reactor chamber were stuck on instead of replacedThe Royal Navy has ordered an urgent investigation amid claims that workers on a Trident nuclear armed submarine fixed broken bolts in the vessel’s reactor chamber using glue.The faulty repairs on the cooling pipes aboard the HMS Vanguard were found after one of the bolts fell off during an inspection, the Sun reported. Continue reading...

The companies may now face fines and a ban on selling their land, the government has saidAlmost 13,000 offshore companies holding UK property have failed to declare their ultimate owners and may now face fines and a ban on selling their land, the government has said.Martin Callanan, a business minister, praised the introduction of the new register of overseas owners of UK properties, saying it had been “invaluable for tax and revenue services, bringing transparency to opaque offshore trusts often used to obscure assets for tax purposes”. Continue reading...

British actor’s surprise inclusion in the best actress category will not be disqualified after accusations of unfair tactics although ‘responsible parties’ will be dealt withAndrea Riseborough’s controversial Oscar nomination will not be taken away after an academy review.The British actor had been a surprise inclusion in this year’s best actress category for her performance in low-budget drama To Leslie after a last-minute campaign from celebrities including Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow. Accusations of unfair tactics were raised and the academy announced an internal review of campaign procedures. Continue reading...

Action by teachers, civil servants, Border Force staff and train drivers to go ahead, with ministers accused of ‘stonewalling’Up to half a million workers will go on strike on Wednesday with thousands of schools shut, rail lines closed down and significant border disruption, as unions said negotiations on ending strikes were “going backwards”.Ministers have been accused of “hoodwinking the public” and freezing any moves towards a settlement with NHS workers and rail unions. Government sources privately conceded that optimism at the beginning of the month about bringing an end to strike action had faded. Continue reading...

Child was in a garden when attack happened and the dog has now been destroyedA four-year-old girl has died after being attacked by a dog in Milton Keynes.Officers were called just after 5pm on Tuesday after reports a dog had attacked the child in the back garden of a home in Broadlands, Netherfield. The dog has since been humanely destroyed, Thames Valley Police has confirmed. Continue reading...

Washington condemns Moscow for what it says is a ‘refusal to facilitate inspection activities’ regarding New Start treatyThe United States has accused Russia of violating the New Start treaty, the last major pillar of post cold-war nuclear arms control between the two countries, saying Moscow was refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory.The treaty came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years. It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them. Continue reading...

State and territory leaders outline their wishlists before national cabinet meets on Friday

Several women in fire service also claim to have been sexually harassed by colleaguesAn investigation has been launched after allegations that firefighters working for Dorset and Wiltshire fire service photographed women who had died in car accidents.The disturbing images were shared on an informal WhatsApp group and were then subject to demeaning comments from male firefighters, ITV News uncovered. Continue reading...

In a speech in London, Penny Wong calls on nations to examine how they use power and networks to avoid conflict

Viking-inspired parade returns to Shetland after pandemic break as ban on female participation lifted

Chancellor defiant as pressure mounts with warning from within that party could face end of an era in governmentConservative MPs have warned Jeremy Hunt that refusing to cut taxes in the spring budget would spell “the end of an era” for the party in government, amid disagreement over the latest warning about Britain’s gloomy economic forecast.In a showdown with backbenchers on Tuesday night, the chancellor was told that voters were lacking hope and feeling depressed. But Hunt was said to have remained defiant and made clear there would not be a “rabbit out of the hat” announcement before the local elections in the spring. Continue reading...

Exclusive: top officials who worked with Raab at Foreign Office, MoJ and Brexit department have all provided testimonyAll three Whitehall mandarins who worked with Dominic Raab while he was holding cabinet positions have now been interviewed by the official inquiry into his alleged bullying, the Guardian has learned.Sources confirmed reports that the former Foreign Office permanent secretary Simon McDonald had given evidence after he admitted last year that the deputy prime minister could plausibly be characterised as a bully. Continue reading...

Exclusive: number is just 0.5% of people who potentially need the document, Guardian learnsOnly about 10,000 people have applied for a government-issued voter ID since the scheme opened, just 0.5% of the total who potentially need the document, the Guardian has learned.The slow take-up, which could leave hundreds of thousands of people disenfranchised at local elections in May, will adds to worries that the scheme is being rushed through and could cause chaos. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read the latest from the war in Ukraine hereUkraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne offers this summary of events of the last 24 hours in its Telegram bulletin today. It writes:At night, Russian troops shelled the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Three private houses, farm buildings and a power line were damaged. There are no injured.Over the past day, three people were injured in Donetsk region due to Russian shelling. In the Zaporizhzhia region, 14 settlements were shelled during the day, seven in the Kherson region.In the last three days, Russia has likely developed its probing attacks around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar into a more concerted assault. Russian commanders are likely aiming to develop a new axis of advance into Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast, and to divert Ukrainian forces from the heavily contested Bakhmut sector. There is a realistic possibility that Russia will continue to make local gains in the sector. However, it is unlikely that Russia has sufficient uncommitted troops in the area to achieve an operationally significant breakthrough. Continue reading...

The Annenberg study shows the biggest discrepancies are in production and sound engineering and artists are failing commitments to redress the balanceThe amount of top-selling female artists in the US increased in 2022, but the proportion of female songwriters making any commercial impact is still dismal, a new study has shown. The sixth annual University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report reveals that while the amount of women represented in Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 chart – which tallies the most commercially successful songs of the year – jumped 28.7% last year, to a total of 30%, only 14% of songwriters represented on the chart were women, a slight decrease from the 2021 statistic of 14.3%. Of the 232 producers represented on the year-end chart, only 3.4% were women, and one producer was non-binary.“There is good news for women artists this year,” said Dr Stacy L Smith, who led the report, in a statement, “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – there is still much work to be done before we can say that women have equal opportunity in the music industry.” Continue reading...

Refusals deal significant blow to Kyiv’s efforts to bolster military capability in war with Russia

This blog has now closed, you can read more on this story hereJacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, was not exactly on message in his Sky News interview with Kay Burley this morning. As well as implying that he thought the bullying inquiry into Dominic Raab was a mistake (see 10.37am), he made at least three other comments that suggest Rishi Sunak does not have the enthusiastic support of all his backbenchers.Rees-Mogg said that Sunak was performing “perfectly competently” as PM. Asked how he was doing, Rees-Mogg replied: “I think he’s doing perfectly competently.” When Burley put it to him that that was not much of an endorsement, Rees-Mogg went on: “I made no bones about the fact I thought Boris Johnson was a better prime minister and I wanted him to remain.”Rees-Mogg criticised the government for stalling the Northern Ireland protocol bill. The bill, which is popular with hardline Brexiters but widely seen as contrary to international law, because it would allow the UK to unilaterally ignore some of the provisions in the protocol treaty, passed through the Commons when Boris Johnson was PM. But it is stuck in the Lords, where it has not been debated since October and where a date has not been set for its report stage. Sunak has shelved it because he wants to negotiate a compromise on the protocol with the EU, and passing the bill would make agreement much harder. But Rees-Mogg said the government should pass it. He said:The government has just got to get on with it. There’s a bill that has been through the House of Commons that is waiting its report stage in the House of Lords and I don’t understand why the government hasn’t brought it forward.He renewed his criticism of the strikes (minimum service levels) bill. When MPs debated it last night, Rees-Mogg said he agreed with Labour criticisms of the Henry VIII powers in the bill.The government doesn’t know what changes it will have to make once this bill is passed. Under clause 3, the secretary of state would be able to make regulations that “amend, repeal or revoke provision made by or under primary legislation passed before this act or later in the same session of parliament as this act”. This is a supercharged Henry VIII clause. Why should MPs or peers pay any attention to any related legislation that may be brought before them later in this session when they know that, unless they object, a secretary of state may simply amend, repeal or revoke it? Continue reading...

Kadi Johnson tells inquiry into Bayoh’s death in 2015 that postmortem was carried out before family viewed bodyThe family of Sheku Bayoh were prevented from saying their final goodbyes because a miscommunication by the police watchdog meant a postmortem examination was carried out before his relatives were ready to identify his body, according to his sister.In a morning of moving testimony at the inquiry into Bayoh’s death in custody, his sister Kadi Johnson set out a catalogue of alleged errors, miscommunications, conflicting information and apparent absence of compassion as she described her family’s treatment by the police and authorities from the moment they were informed the 31-year-old had died. Continue reading...

Exclusive: rise in typical delays from nine hours to 16 hours to get care or a bed puts over 80s at greater risk of dying, say doctorsThe amount of time people over 80 spend in A&E in England has almost doubled in a year, leaving them at increased risk of coming to harm and dying, emergency care doctors are warning.An analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found that people of that age are spending 16 hours in A&E waiting for care or a bed, a huge rise on the nine hours seen in 2021. Continue reading...

All events from late March cancelled at the theatre, which is in a priority location for the government’s Levelling Up fundOldham Coliseum has cancelled all of its forthcoming events from late March onwards as a result of its 100% funding cut from Arts Council England (ACE).The cancellations, which include a spring-summer programme featuring a stage adaptation of Ken Loach’s film I, Daniel Blake and the Christmas pantomime Sleeping Beauty, were announced on Tuesday. The theatre will go dark from 26 March with no current indication of when it might reopen. Continue reading...

US secretary of state says it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to find way to end recent violenceThe US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has finished his Middle East tour with no breakthrough in reducing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, saying that it was “fundamentally up to them” to end the violence after days of bloodshed.Blinken said he had heard “deep concern about the current trajectory” during meetings in Israel and the occupied West Bank but, beyond calling for a “de-escalation”, he offered no new US initiative. Continue reading...

European parliament expected to back committee and strip Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino of immunity from prosecutionA European parliament committee has voted to lift immunity from two MEPs after a request from Belgian authorities investigating the “Qatargate” bribery and corruption scandal that has shaken the EU assembly.MEPs on the European parliament’s legal affairs committee voted unanimously with no abstentions on Tuesday to strip immunity from Belgium’s Marc Tarabella and Italy’s Andrea Cozzolino. Continue reading...