World news | The Guardian

Call comes after Australia’s defence review says activities in South China Sea ‘threaten rules-based order’

Hambro Perks Acquisition Company blames ‘challenging circumstances’ for stock market listingsThe first company launched under Rishi Sunak’s newly relaxed rules to attract special purpose acquisition companies to London after Brexit has said it will shut down, without finding a suitable merger target.Hambro Perks Acquisition Company said in a statement to the stock market on Monday that it had ceased all operations except for the purposes of winding up the company and returning money to shareholders. Continue reading...

Cyber-warfare and the ‘missile age’ have radically reduced Australia’s geographical defensive benefits, report argues

Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Filing by former political staffer says PM was aware of heavy workloads and that staffing cuts would lead to longer hours

Holland fell from his horse Headingley at a race in Donald, 280km north-west of Melbourne

The former governor general and former Anglican archbishop of Brisbane was the subject of complaints about his handling of child abuse complaints in the 1990s

Police urge the mother, whose identity is unknown, to come forward, assuring her that ‘she’s not in any trouble’

Joana Partyk declined to give full access to her electronic devices after they were seized by police in a raid in February

More than 300 journalists write to Russia that arrest sends ‘dangerous signal’ about attitude to journalismMore than 300 foreign correspondents who have worked in Moscow have written to the Russian government to call for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter being held on espionage charges, saying his arrest sends a “disturbing and dangerous signal” about the country’s attitude to independent media.Gershkovich, who was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last month on spying charges that carry a possible 20-year prison sentence, is the first US journalist detained on such charges since the end of the cold war. Both the Wall Street Journal and the US government has denied that he was involved in espionage. Continue reading...

Renee Fry-McKibbin says panel considered ‘a lot of alternative frameworks’ but decision on shift would fall to future reviews

Former soldier has previously been denied access after it was ruled they were exempt from disclosure

Average of £224,963 for homes with one or two bedrooms is 2% higher than a year ago, says RightmoveThose people hoping to get on to the UK housing ladder are facing record asking prices, as calm returns to the sector after last autumn’s mini-budget spooked the markets.Rightmove, the property portal, reports that the average asking price of properties popular with first-time buyers – those with one or two bedrooms – has hit a record price of £224,963 in the last month. That is 2% higher than a year ago, even though higher mortgage rates have made homes less affordable. Continue reading...

Assad forces said to be in partnership with networks stripping exiles of their property and leaving them nothing to return toIt was through an unexpected phone call from a police officer, telling him he was summoned to court in Damascus, that Abdullah*, 31, discovered his house was being stolen.He had to abandon his home in 2012, when he fled Syria during a security crackdown on anti-government activists. Now, he was being told to explain to the courts that he had not transferred the house to a distant relative. Continue reading...

Heirs of Slavery body wants restorative justice to tackle ‘ongoing consequences of this crime against humanity’The descendants of some of Britain’s wealthiest slave owners have launched an activist movement, calling on the government both to apologise for slavery and begin a programme of reparative justice in recognition of the “ongoing consequences of this crime against humanity”.A second cousin of King Charles and a direct descendant of the Victorian prime minister William Gladstone have joined journalists, a publisher, a schoolteacher and a retired social worker, to create the Heirs of Slavery campaigning body, which will lobby the UK government to acknowledge and atone for its role in the transportation of 3.1 million enslaved African people across the Atlantic. Continue reading...

Inspectors find lack of trained staff at Reigate Grange and medicines not being administered properly

Survey also reveals nine out of 10 older people believe there are not enough care staff in the country

More than 100 people invaded the village in northern Yatenga province, survivors say, amid increasing attacks blamed on suspected jihadistsAbout 60 civilians were killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso by men wearing military uniforms, a local prosecutor has said, announcing an investigation into the latest bloodshed.Attacks blamed on suspected jihadists are on the rise in the west African country, which is battling an insurgency that spilled over from neighbouring Mali. Continue reading...

The 20-year-old was flown to Royal Adelaide hospital on Saturday night, but died on Sunday

Parliamentary committee calls for a range of new responses to ‘significant problem’, including a national database and research program

Government considers establishment of domestic manufacturing as review warns Australia’s military capability structured for ‘a bygone era’

Review says the ADF is not ‘fully fit for purpose’ and suggests ways to counter new threats in our region

Killing in Yangon of Sai Kyaw Thu, a former lieutenant colonel, is confirmed by guerrilla groupA top election official in Myanmar has been fatally shot in his car in Yangon, in the latest attack attributed to militants opposed to military rule.Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director general of the military-appointed Union Election Commission, was shot multiple times on Saturday, according to the military’s information office, media reports and a statement of responsibility from an urban guerrilla group. Continue reading...

Police arrest suspect in shooting of Taha Sabbagh, 40, at city’s international airport

Many heritage sites such as castles and palaces in Wales are reporting rising visitor numbersMany heritage sites in Wales such as castles and palaces are enjoying a surge in visitor numbers after people developed an interest in Welsh history during the Covid pandemic.At the atmospheric ruins of the 14th-century Bishop’s Palace in St Davids, south-west Wales, there was an increase in tourists of almost 50% compared with pre-pandemic times. Continue reading...

Home Office pledge follows threats of Tory backbench rebellion against controversial illegal migration billMinisters have pledged to only detain refugee children in “exceptional circumstances” under a new asylum bill after threats of a rebellion from backbench Conservative MPs.The Home Office confirmed it would put forward a further amendment to the illegal migration bill limiting the amount of time an unaccompanied child can be held. Continue reading...

Stockholm International Peace Institute’s annual report finds UK was region’s biggest spender in 2022 at $68.5bnDefence spending in western and central Europe has surpassed that of the last year of the cold war, an annual report has found, as military expenditure across the world hit an all-time high of $2.24tn (£1.8tn) last year.The outbreak of war in Ukraine has triggered the steepest increase in military expenditure in Europe in three decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute (Sipri). Continue reading...

Mobile on-the-spot screening initiative begun in 2018 hailed as having ‘turned a huge corner’Growing numbers of poorer people are being diagnosed early with lung cancer after the NHS began on-the-spot chest screening in the back of trucks at supermarkets and health centres.Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and also the country’s biggest cancer killer, claiming 34,800 lives a year or 95 a day. Continue reading...

Report shows government plan for targeted help would fail to reach homes not registered for benefitsThe energy regulator Ofgem will on Monday call for vulnerable households to be better protected through a new universal priority services register, as researchers warn that about 1.7m households in severe fuel poverty will miss out on extra help because they are not registered to receive certain benefits.A report commissioned by the Child Poverty Action Group found that the UK government’s new plans to offer targeted help for the most vulnerable households would fail to reach those who were not registered for benefits, including 688,000 fuel-poor households with children. Continue reading...

Leader from 2001 to 2006 extradited from US after judge dismisses appealThe former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo arrived in Lima on Sunday after his extradition from the United States, the latest in a string of ex-leaders to face corruption charges in the country.Images showed Toledo, 77, wearing a green jacket and red jumper, being escorted by Peruvian police and US Marshals down the stairway from a commercial flight at Lima’s international airport. Continue reading...

Former deputy PM urged to stand behind ‘robust right to recall’ plan he pioneered in 2013Dominic Raab has been challenged to uphold the rules he pushed all MPs to follow by pledging to quit and call a byelection if enough voters in his marginal Surrey seat demand one, after a report into bullying claims.The former deputy prime minister, who resigned after being found to have exhibited intimidating and abrasive behaviour towards staff, was urged to stand behind plans he pioneered in 2013 to enable MPs found to have behaved badly to face a referendum by constituents. Continue reading...

Family will rebury José Antonio Primo de Rivera in Madrid cemetery to pre-empt state exhumationNearly four years after Franco’s remains were removed from the hulking Valley of the Fallen mausoleum outside Madrid, those of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Falangist party, are to be exhumed from the same site and reburied in a cemetery in the Spanish capital.The removal of Primo de Rivera’s remains follows the introduction last year of the Socialist-led government’s Historical Memory law, which aims to bring “justice, reparation and dignity” to the victims of the Spanish civil war and subsequent dictatorship. Continue reading...

High court found electrical company had not proved man was drunk after he was seen drinking beer, wine and brandy at lunchA Spanish court has ruled that a company was wrong to fire an electrician who may have drunk more than three litres of beer in one day because it had not proved that his consumption had left him “inebriated, intoxicated or drunk”, or unable to do his job.The high court in the south-eastern region of Murcia found the electrical company had provided insufficient grounds for the man’s dismissal and ordered it to reinstate the sacked worker, or pay him €47,000 (£42,000) in compensation. It also noted that the company had failed to take into account the effect the hot Murcian summer could have had on the man’s drinking. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says efforts to support British nationals trapped in Sudan currently ‘severely limited’Oliver Dowden is often viewed as one of the safest pairs of Conservative party hands in media performances, but he’s had a tricky couple of minutes here where Sophy Ridge has first challenged him over concerns about appointments to the BBC raised with him when he was at the DCMS, and is struggling to answer on whether he thinks it would be embarrassing if Boris Johnson appointed his own father to the House of Lords.Sophy Ridge has pointed out to Oliver Dowden that there have been nine justice ministers in the last few years, and that the backlog in crown court cases is not diminishing. He tried to pin the backlog on Covid, to which she said: “That’s not true, the backlog started before the pandemic.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Claimants say government can no longer defend treatment disaster in light of inquiry’s damning interim reportMore than 500 people taking the government to court over the contaminated blood scandal are urging it to concede the case in light of evidence heard by a public inquiry and an interim report produced by its chair.The claim, which began in 2017 but was stayed pending the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, alleges the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office. Continue reading...

Evidence to MPs claims parents more cautious about sending children to school with minor ailmentsIncreased anxiety and lack of mental health support are driving a steep increase in children missing school since the Covid pandemic, with some children “struggling to leave home”, according to councils in England.Local authorities are also highlighting budget pressures that have forced cuts in school support staff, with some schools trying to “manage” students out of classrooms or disguising their attendance records, while others are “off-rolling” students to artificially boost school exam results. Continue reading...

Spectacular conflagration prompts evacuation of Tom Sawyer Island at California resort but no injuries reportedA 45ft-tall Disneyland dragon caught fire late on Saturday during a show in Anaheim, California, causing those in attendance to flee, local media and officials said. No injuries or deaths were reported.“The dragon’s head started to glow, and I see fire and kind of smoke coming out,” Elaine Gilmer, who was at the event, told ABC News. Continue reading...

Shrewsbury hails unexpected coup of loan of major works by Spanish surrealistA melting watch; a telephone receiver that is really a lobster: the art of surrealism is all about such unlikely juxtapositions. So how about putting the original work of Salvador Dalí , the great Spanish artist who created these famous, bizarre images, on the pavements of Shrewsbury this summer, alongside its standard-issue pillar boxes and lamp-posts?This weekend, the organisers of an ambitious arts trail in the Shropshire town are celebrating an unexpected coup. Three pieces made by Dalí are to play a starring role in this year’s trail – making their British debuts. Continue reading...

Award launched at London book fair aims to help older authors take the plunge and submit a first workLondon book fair, which concluded earlier this month, always brings with it a flurry of headlines about debut authors signing six-figure publishing deals. Most of these have at least one thing in common – their youth.As a result, anyone with an ambition to be a novelist might think that the ship has sailed once they leave their 30s. But fear not: there’s an increasing drive to encourage those who come to writing past the first flush of youth that it’s never too late. Continue reading...

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World mourns ‘unique wit’ of Australian star and inventor of vivid stage personas, who has died aged 89Like bouquets of appropriately lurid gladioli, colourful tributes to the memory of Barry Humphries piled up this weekend as his many fans adjusted to a dimmer world without Dame Edna Everage.Mourning Humphries, who was taken ill in Sydney last week with complications after hip surgery, means saying goodbye to his charismatic, hyper-real fictional personas: not only “the Australian housewife and superstar” Dame Edna, with her radiant, rinsed hairdo, trademark sparkling spectacles and bright gladioli, but also to the revolting Australian cultural attaché, Sir Les Patterson, and the irrepressibly dull Sandy Stone. Over decades, each of these stage characters has mischievously shaped the world’s view of Australians, satirising the stereotypical lack of taste that British “pommies” enjoy looking down on. Continue reading...

Trial of system to warn the public if there is danger to life nearby will last for about 10 seconds at 3pmThe UK public have been assured they can “simply swipe away” a test of a new public alert system when it emits a loud alarm on millions of phones on Sunday.Oliver Dowden, the newly appointed deputy prime minister, said no action was needed – but in the future it might be the “sound that could save your life”. Continue reading...

At least one in five key workers in NHS trust services leave over the course of a yearNHS ambulance trusts in England are struggling with high staff turnover as key workers leave the crisis-hit service for less stressful or better paid work, according to figures obtained by the Observer.Data sourced under the Freedom of Information Act reveals the backdrop to recent ambulance strikes, with sickness rates above pre-pandemic levels and low levels of staff retention. Ambulance services in southern England are particularly struggling. Staff turnover rates at South Central ambulance service (SCAS) are soaring at 20% – meaning one in five staff members leave over the course of a year. Continue reading...

Josep Borrell says safeguard would show Europe’s commitment to the ‘absolutely crucial’ areaEuropean navies should patrol the disputed Taiwan Strait, the EU foreign policy chief has said, echoing earlier comments stressing how crucial Taiwan is to Europe.Josep Borrell wrote in an opinion piece in the Journal Du Dimanche that Taiwan “concerns us economically, commercially and technologically”. Continue reading...

At least 45,000 people set to take part, including non-binary runners for the first time, amid predicted temperatures around 10CTens of thousands of people running this year’s London Marathon could be drenched in heavy rain for much of the race, forecasters have warned.The Met Office has predicted a “very wet” Sunday in the capital, with a higher than 50% chance of downpours persisting through a nine-hour window from 7am until 4pm. Continue reading...

Judge cites evidence that state immigration chief failed in duty to protect detention centre occupants in Ciudad Juarez blazeA judge has ordered the immigration director of Mexico’s northern border state of Chihuahua to stand trial on charges of homicide, injuries and failure to perform his duties over a deadly fire at a migrant detention centre.Juan José Chávez ordered the director, Salvador González, to be held in prison pending trial. Continue reading...

Analyst suggests some in the industry are misleading the public about their financial position to demand higher fees

Rambahadur Limbu was awarded Britain’s highest military honour in 1966 for an act of gallantryThe last remaining Gurkha recipient of Britain’s Victoria Cross has died in Nepal at the age of 83.Rambahadur Limbu was awarded Britain’s highest military decoration by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1966 for gallantry during an attack on Indonesian troops on the island of Borneo during which he rescued two fellow soldiers. Continue reading...

Experts say Australia should look beyond criticism that is largely for domestic Chinese consumption and engage on a broader level

Musician cheered on during jump by his sister Gracie, who has the condition and regularly features in his workRapper Aitch has skydived to raise money and awareness for Down’s syndrome, inspired by his sister Gracie, who has the condition. Gracie, 13, regularly features in the Manchester-born rapper’s music and recently joined her brother in the video for his latest single, Round 2.Although the skydive had been scheduled to take place in March to coincide with Down’s syndrome Awareness week, windy conditions postponed the jump. Continue reading...