World news | The Guardian

Labour says second year-on-year decline in a row is incredibly concerning' for future of the NHSThe number of students accepted on to nursing courses in has declined by more than 13% compared with the year before, the second successive steep fall, figures Labour said were incredibly concerning" for the future of the NHS.As of 23 August, 15,420 students had received places on nursing courses in England, 13.1% fewer than the 17,750 who gained a place in 2022, analysis of Ucas data by the House of Commons Library showed. Continue reading...

Exclusive: party says potential Tory-to-Labour switchers do not feel better off and find Sunak's attitude grating'Labour plans to go on the attack over Rishi Sunak's stewardship of the economy this autumn, as the party's internal polling suggests Tory-to-Labour switchers are irritated by his optimism on inflation when they do not feel that their own finances are improving.The party's focus groups of what they call hero voters" - who backed the Tories in 2019 and are now considering Labour - suggest this group are unconvinced that the economy is improving despite inflation coming down slowly. Continue reading...

John Penrose is the latest MP to voice their frustration after Dorries said she was quitting but then failed to do soMPs will try to oust Nadine Dorries as an MP next month amid growing calls for her to follow through on her vow to resign, PA media reports.The Liberal Democrats will table a bill when parliament returns on 4 September that they hope will result in her suspension.For months Nadine Dorries has treated the people of Mid Bedfordshire with contempt and taken them for granted.As thousands of people struggle to get a GP appointment and face steep hikes to their mortgages, Nadine Dorries continues to be missing in action. What's worse is that the Conservatives just don't seem to care that they're letting people down. Continue reading...

From Bugsy to Bowie, every decade had its defining booking photo. Now we have ours for these politically spiteful timesMugshots define eras.Bugsy Siegel peering malevolently from beneath his fedora in a 1928 booking photo summed up the perverse romance of gangsters in the prohibition age. Continue reading...

Costs forecast to increase again from January despite announcement of fall in energy price capMinisters have been urged to intervene to prevent a winter of despair and suffering" by offering financial support to millions of households facing unmanageable energy bills.The government is under renewed pressure to act after warnings that energy costs will remain unaffordable for the most vulnerable in society, despite Friday's announcement of a fall in the energy price cap. Continue reading...

Peyton Meave, whose daughter is now four, welcomes UK first and hopes more women given optionOne of the first women in the world to successfully deliver a baby after a womb transplant has called for the procedure to be made more widely available to help the large numbers of women affected by uterine factor infertility.Speaking after the first womb transplant surgery in the UK was reported, Peyton Meave, 29, who lives in Oklahoma, said that having a child through participation in a US trial had been a life-changing experience". Having previously been told that pregnancy and childbirth would never be an option, Meave now has a four-year-old daughter, Emersyn. Continue reading...

Couple assaulted in Brixton with one needing stitches six days after stabbing of two gay men in ClaphamTwo men were injured last weekend after the second homophobic attack in south London in six days, prompting politicians and campaigners to blame a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.Michael Smith, 37, a teacher, and his partner, Nat Asabere, 41, a dancer and talent scout, were waiting for a bus on Saturday night in Brixton after attending Black Pride when they were punched repeatedly by a stranger. Smith was left needing stitches to his lower lip and Asabere has suffered headaches since. Continue reading...

It is understood the bank thought closing the account would cause problems for West's daughterAn account ultimately owned by the serial killer Rose West was kept open by the Co-operative Bank after the ethical" lender reviewed her membership, it has emerged.The decision was reportedly made while the Co-op Bank was taking stock of a raft of accounts held by customers with criminal records nearly a decade ago. Continue reading...

Sarah Moulds, 39, lost job as primary school teacher after she was filmed striking her pony Bruce AlmightyA former teacher who was filmed kicking and slapping a horse has been cleared of an animal cruelty offence.Sarah Moulds was found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, a grey pony she owned called Bruce Almighty. Continue reading...

Officer in serious condition after being struck while coming to aid of distressed man on tracks, say policeA police officer is in a serious condition after being hit by a train while trying to save a distressed man who was on the tracks, Nottinghamshire police have said.British Transport Police said they were called to the line near Newark Northgate station at about 7.10pm on Thursday evening after reports of a casualty on the tracks. Continue reading...

Employment judge dismisses case of London chef sacked after refusing to do tasks until asked politelyThe fast-paced, blunt-talking style of some professional kitchens is familiar thanks to reality television cookery shows and dramas, such as Boiling Point and The Bear.Now an employment tribunal ruling has concluded that failing to say please" to a colleague in a busy kitchen need not be considered rude. Instead, it said, direct and efficient" communication without additional pleasantries may be a matter of practicality" in a fast-paced working environment, such as a high-end kitchen. Continue reading...

Players and coaches including at England keeper's former club in West Bridgford praise her impact on women's footballDuring a football match at her primary school's after-school club, a six-year-old Laura Setchfield decided she wanted to go in goal. I don't really know why, I just thought it looked fun to throw myself around," she says. After a match of diving for the ball and cheers from her teammates when she saved it, Laura was hooked. The instant I started playing I was like, yeah, this is definitely for me. I really, really enjoyed it and basically never looked back."Laura, now 17, is a goalkeeper in the women's first team at West Bridgford Colts, the same club England's keeper, Mary Earps, played for early in her footballing career. It's such a privilege to play for a team with that legacy," Laura says. To have had the world's best goalkeeper having played for your club is quite an achievement." Continue reading...

Thirty-nine people who were briefly onboard write to Suella Braverman describing their fear and despairThirty-nine asylum seekers who were briefly accommodated on the Home Office's controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset have said conditions onboard were so bad that one was driven to attempt suicide.A three-page letter sent to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, also sets out the asylum seekers' fear and despair at being trapped on the barge and appeals to her to help them in their search for safety and freedom in the UK.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Cases against government, care homes and hospitals relate to deaths in 2020, when patients with Covid were being moved into homesA group of 30 families are suing the UK government, care homes and hospitals over the deaths of their relatives in the early days of the Covid pandemic.The families argue that not enough was done to prevent the deaths and are claiming damages for loss of life and distress. Continue reading...

Plant in China releases water with higher amounts of tritium, scientist says, calling into question seafood ban imposed on JapanAs China bans all seafood from Japan after the discharge of 1m tonnes of radioactive water from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, Beijing has been accused of hypocrisy and of using the incident to whip up anti-Japanese sentiment.Scientists have pointed out that China's own nuclear power plants release wastewater with higher levels of tritium than that found in Fukushima's discharge, and that the levels are all within boundaries not considered to be harmful to human health. Continue reading...

From the latest breaking news to the events of the day, catch up on what you need to know in our summary of the Australian news of the day

VEC will recommend introduction of the penalties for candidates and party workers after complaints increased threefold at last election

Government's steadfast defence of new laws allowing children to be held in police watch houses continues to draw harsh criticism from the opposition. Follow the day's news liveAustralian Labor party president - and former deputy PM - Wayne Swan has attempted to set straight the debate around the electoral commission urging voice referendum voters to write yes" or no" on their voting ballot, as crosses may not be counted.On the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, saying such a ruling shows favouritism for the yes campaign, Swan told the Today show:That is complete rubbish. The ruling from the electoral commission is 30 years old; it is what applied in the last set of referendums in the late 80s ... This is just the no case out there using the electoral system to try to discredit the voice. And in doing so, doing what many other right wing parties around the world are doing, discrediting basic electoral arrangements. It is appalling. I'm disgusted by their behaviour.Violence doesn't discriminate and neither should the law.That's why these proposed changes are so important - ensuring that workers are not penalised in any way if they disclose that they have been subjected to family and domestic violence. Continue reading...

Winding-down payments to rise from two months to four and will also be given to those not seeking re-electionMPs who lose their seats at the next general election will receive double the financial support.Winding-down payments designed to help departing MPs close their office and manage the departure of staff will also now be available to those who step down at the election. Continue reading...

Peter Dutton tells Today show the price of flights is astronomical' and competition with Qantas would bring downward pressure on prices

Centrepiece of proposed legislation is repeal of the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility

Ministers urged to intervene as households in line for another winter of squeezed budgets

Exclusive: Helen Pitcher leads the commission that twice failed to refer Malkinson back to the court of appealEver since Andrew Malkinson was exonerated last month, the clamour for answers from the miscarriages of justice watchdog who twice failed to refer his case for appeal has grown.Yet Helen Pitcher, the chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), has been notably silent in answering questions about the chances it missed to end the 17 years Malkinson spent in prison for a rape he did not commit. Continue reading...

Up to 31% of global population estimated to have metabolic syndrome due to three or more unhealthy traitsMillions of middle-aged adults who are overweight with even slightly raised blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose levels are about a third more likely to die early, research suggests.They also face a 35% higher risk of heart attacks or strokes and will experience them two years earlier than their peers. The stark findings are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, the world's largest heart conference. They represent more evidence of the immediate dangers posed by the global obesity crisis. Continue reading...

A 12-year-old victim was taken to hospital with cuts to her torso and the school was placed into lockdown

Tasmania's harbour master says RSV Nuyina's dimensions significantly changed from original design and windage area' now too large

Medical records from across the region show sexual violence continues to be used to intimidate and terrorise communities'Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers continue a widespread and systematic campaign of rape in Tigray despite the peace agreement signed in November last year, a new report reveals.In the first report to document sexual violence - using hundreds of medical records from the start of the conflict in November 2020 through to June 2023 - healthcare professionals recount cases of gang-rape, sexual slavery and murder, including the killing of children. Continue reading...

Man sustains injuries to upper and lower leg in shark attack at Lighthouse beach in northern NSW

Melbourne archdiocese loses legal bid to block choirboy's father from suing for damages

Sitiveni Rabuka says island countries must be zone of non-aligned territories' and hopes big powers will avoid military conflictThe Pacific islands should be a zone of peace", Fiji's prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said, adding that he hopes a rivalry between the US and China in the strategic region does not develop into a military conflict.Rabuka was speaking after attending a summit meeting of several Pacific island leaders, where climate change and regional security dominated the agenda. The leaders of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia's ruling FLNKS party met in Vanuatu on Thursday. Continue reading...

Film-maker criticises Danish PM for donating F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and posing with Volodymyr ZelenskiyDanish film-maker and provocateur Lars von Trier has defended himself from backlash after writing a social media post that criticised Denmark's donation of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.Russian lives matter also!" he wrote on Instagram on Tuesday after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy's visit to Denmark, where he and Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, inspected the F-16s to be delivered to his country. Continue reading...

Former Treasury chief says every measure of Australia's environment is going in the wrong direction'

The son of Picasso and French painter Francoise Gilot, who also died this year aged 101, managed his father's hugely valuable estate until JulyClaude Ruiz Picasso, the younger son of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, has died in Switzerland aged 76, his lawyer announced on Thursday.Claude's lawyer, Jean-Jacques Neuer, did not give the cause of death. Continue reading...

Putin says Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin made some serious mistakes in his life'; US will begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in October

Rawalpindi police chief says his force have interrogated relatives of dead 10-year-old's father, wanted for questioningPakistani police are close to locating" the family of a 10-year-old girl, whose death in Surrey earlier this month sparked an international manhunt, it has been reported.The body of Sara Sharif was discovered at her home in Horsell, a village near Woking in Surrey, after British police were phoned by her father, Urfan Sharif, from Pakistan on 10 August. Continue reading...

Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, charged with multiple counts after death by gunshot of Ashley Dale in August 2022A man has been charged with the murder of a council worker who was shot in the back garden of her home in Liverpool last year.Ian Fitzgibbon was charged with the murder of Ashley Dale, 28, who was found with a gunshot wound in the back garden of her home in the Old Swan neighbourhood on 21 August 2022. Continue reading...

Russian president says former head of Wagner made serious mistakes'. This live blog is now closed

North-east school leaders call for government to recognise challenges for pupils in different parts of EnglandThe largest gap on record between top GCSE grades awarded to pupils in London and those in north-east England has prompted warnings of a continuing widening" in the north-south education divide.School leaders in the north-east accused the government of London-centric" policies, while Labour said it showed that levelling up is dead and buried" through the failure to help disadvantaged communities. Continue reading...

Novel described as truly stunning feat of fiction' tells love story of two first world war soldiersAlice Winn has won the 2023 Waterstones debut fiction prize for her novel In Memoriam, which has been described as a truly stunning feat of fiction".The novel, inspired by archive clippings from a student newspaper, chronicles the love story between two first world war soldiers. It was announced as the winner at a ceremony in London on Thursday evening. Continue reading...

Standards commissioner's ruling has set precedent, says Labour MP who first asked PM about wife's interest in childcare agencyMinisters may need to be more transparent about their financial interests after a significant ruling" that found Rishi Sunak failed to declare his wife's interest in a childcare agency, the MP who triggered the inquiry has said.Catherine McKinnell, the Labour MP who first asked him about the potential conflict of interest, said the ruling set a precedent that meant ministers were likely to have to make greater disclosures in relation to their interests when questioned in parliament. Continue reading...

UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigationThe UK's Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was insufficient admissible evidence" to prosecute the company. Continue reading...

Pressure to reduce backlog remains acute as arrivals continue and accommodation problems mount

Streaming platform yet to decide, but its executives were shocked and disappointed'Clarkson's Farm could be cancelled after its next series, with Amazon bosses saying they were shocked and disappointed" by its presenter's comments about the Duchess of Sussex.The third series of the hit show about life on Jeremy Clarkson's Cotswolds farm is being filmed for release in 2024 but Amazon bosses said they have yet to decide if the programme will return for a fourth run. Continue reading...

Liam Smith shot dead by drug dealer Michael Hillier as justice' for partner Rachel Fulstow over alleged rapeA couple who acted as judge, jury and executioner" have received life sentences for the murder of a Wigan man they accused of rape.Liam Smith, 38, was shot in the face at point-blank range on 24 November last year by a Sheffield drug dealer, Michael Hillier, 39, who then poured sulfuric acid on his victim in order to seek justice" for his partner, who claimed Smith had raped her in 2019. Continue reading...

Labour decries chaos' after data shows number of decisions rose but was cancelled out by bigger increase in applications

Russian president offers sincere condolences' to families of 10 people onboard plane that crashed on Wednesday

Figure is similar to 2021 after profits, pay pot and headcount increase at world's largest activist hedge fundThe US hedge fund and notorious activist investor Elliott Management paid its 124 UK staff a combined 160m last year, after a 10% rise in annual profits.The pay pot is higher than the 137m shared by employees the previous year, and comes after its UK operation, Elliott Advisors UK, reported pre-tax profits up by a tenth to 10m. Turnover for the firm, which made headlines after throwing its hat into the ring to buy Manchester United earlier this year, rose 16% to 225m. Continue reading...

The Wagner leader appeared down but not out in the months after his mutiny, but his fate may already have been sealed

Putin may have shored up unity, which helps the war effort, but watching his back for pro-Wagner traitors may be a distraction

Lawyers say strategy a matter of continuing concern' after church succeeds in permanently blocking claim by two Indigenous men