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Concert to be charged fee after using music by performer Earl Okin – even though Okin says he does not want the moneyA charity concert in aid of needy musicians starring Dame Evelyn Glennie and the BBC Radio 4 announcer Zeb Soanes has been hit by an “embarrassing” copyright row over six minutes of suggestive comedy jazz.The event at Cadogan Hall in London on 1 April mostly featured humorous arrangements of out-of-copyright classical works, and was intended to raise money for the Help Musicians charity. Continue reading...

The US is preparing to send a large number of additional troops to its base in Djibouti if factional violence continues, officials sayThe US is preparing to send a large number of additional troops to its base in Djibouti in case of an eventual evacuation from Sudan, US officials said on Thursday, as fresh gunfire erupted and the latest of several ceasefires broke down.Planning for the deployments to Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti got under way in earnest on Monday after a US embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. Continue reading...

Sergei Lavrov to meet António Guterres on Monday; US to discuss export ban at G7 leaders’ summit. This live blog is now closed

Pair who play Doctor and companion don 60s-style outfits in photos from upcoming seriesThe first images of Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson travelling back to the 1960s in Doctor Who have been released by the BBC.Gatwa, a star of Sex Education, will play the Doctor, with Gibson, a Coronation Street actor, as his companion in a new series of the science fiction show. Continue reading...

Lily Savage wig, dog-shaped wreath and music from Annie feature at funeral of entertainer, who died last monthHundreds of people turned out to say farewell to Paul O’Grady on Thursday, including a member of the Rolling Stones.But had the late entertainer been able to attend his own funeral, he may well have ignored Ronnie Wood and gone straight to the labradoodle sitting solemnly in a buggy as the cortege went past – just one of dozens of pups lining his local streets to pay tribute to the biggest dog-lover in showbusiness. Continue reading...

DCI John Caldwell was shot several times at a sports centre in Omagh in FebruaryA senior detective shot by dissident gunmen in Northern Ireland has been discharged from hospital to continue his recovery at home.DCI John Caldwell was shot several times at a sports centre in Omagh in February. He had been putting balls into a car with his young son after coaching a youth sports team when he was targeted. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says UK should not want to club with Belarus and Russia in rejecting European human rights conventionThe foreign secretary has defied the Tory right by arguing that the UK should remain a signatory of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), as Rishi Sunak caves to demands from hard-right MPs to ignore European court rulings on small boats.James Cleverly said he was “not convinced” that leaving the ECHR was necessary to ensure the immigration system was robust, and that the UK had the clout to push for changes if needed, prompting speculation he may be uncomfortable with the move. Continue reading...

Post-arrest interviews with nurse accused of murdering seven babies read to jurors at her trialLucy Letby told police it was “bad luck” that she was present at the deaths of three babies whom she allegedly murdered in two weeks, a court has heard.The nurse said it was a “shock for everybody” when the three infants died in 14 days in June 2015 on the neonatal unit where she worked. Continue reading...

Denham Place in Buckinghamshire being sold by multimillionaire Mike JataniaA 13-bedroom Grade-I listed stately home said to have been used for some James Bond film scenes has been put up for sale with a price tag of £75m – which would make it one of the most expensive properties outside London.Denham Place, which is set in 17 hectares (43 acres) of Buckinghamshire parkland designed by the 18th-century landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown, is being sold by the multimillionaire cosmetics tycoon Mike Jatania. Continue reading...

Exclusive: NHS Employers officials claim action on 2 May goes beyond six-month period in which action can be takenThe NHS has launched a legal challenge that could end in the high court to block the second day of an upcoming strike by tens of thousands of nurses.Officials at NHS Employers wrote to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on Wednesday saying the union’s plans for a two-day strike were unlawful. Continue reading...

David Boyd, who denies murder, is accused of repeatedly stabbing Nikki and dumping her bodyA man has gone on trial accused of killing a seven-year-old girl more than 30 years ago, and watching as an innocent man was tried for her murder.David Boyd lured Nikki Allan to an abandoned building near her Sunderland home in 1992, where he stabbed her and beat her about the head with a brick, a court heard on Thursday. Continue reading...

Supreme court stands by decision to order elections next month in move that seemingly pits judiciary against governmentThe chief justice of Pakistan’s supreme court has stood by its decision to order elections next month in its most populous province in a move that seemingly pits the judiciary against the country’s government and military establishment.The court has announced elections in Punjab for 14 May after declaring a delay to the vote unconstitutional and rejecting a petition from the defence ministry to instead hold elections simultaneously across the country later amid deteriorating security and economic conditions. Continue reading...

Standing With Giants, created for 40th anniversary, commemorates troops and islanders who diedLifesize silhouetted figures representing the 255 British military personnel and three civilians who lost their lives in the Falklands war have been installed on the parade ground and ramparts at Fort Nelson in Portsmouth.The art installation, Standing With Giants, was created to mark the 40th anniversary of the conflict and its arrival in the Hampshire port is regarded as particularly poignant as so many of the British ships left and returned there. Continue reading...

Money was being handed out to mark end of Ramadan when rebels tried to control crowd, witnesses sayAt least 85 people, many of them children, have died in a crush in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, during a charity handout marking the end of Ramadan.Three businessmen have been arrested over the incident, in which 322 people were injured, 50 of them seriously. Continue reading...

Tom Parker Bowles’s comments will be seen as defending his mother against claims from Prince HarryThe son of Camilla, the queen consort, has defended her against claims she played an “end game” in her relationship with the future king, maintaining she had simply “married the person she loved”.The food writer Tom Parker Bowles said: “I think change happens but I don’t care what anyone says – this wasn’t any sort of end game. She married the person she loved and this is what happened.” Continue reading...

Nato chief makes first Kyiv visit since start of full-scale invasion; Denmark and Netherlands to donate 14 Leopard tanks to Ukraine Continue reading...

Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi escorted from 16th-century home amid long-running inheritance disputeA “princess” who was evicted from a villa in Rome that contains the only ceiling fresco ever painted by Caravaggio said she was sorry to experience such “a brutal end to what has been a labour of love”.The US-born Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi was escorted out of the 16th-century Villa Aurora by police on Thursday after receiving an eviction order amid a long-running inheritance dispute with the three sons of her late husband, Nicolò, who was the property’s last owner. Continue reading...

Co-founder says it is ‘near impossible to operate’ without YouTube ad income from viewers in RussiaWestern sanctions are threatening the viability of TV Rain, the main privately run opposition TV channel broadcasting into Russia, one of its co-founders has said.Vera Krichevskaya said the channel was losing between $1m and $1.5m a year in potential revenue from its YouTube platform because sanctions meant it could not monetise adverts viewed by its Russian audience. The lack of advertising revenue leaves the outlet heavily dependent on outside donors to survive. Continue reading...

Takeover of frozen fund’s administrator and FCA ruling could filter extra £235m to 300,000 investorsThe administrator of the failed fund run by the former star stockpicker Neil Woodford has agreed to pay up to £235m to help regulators compensate more than 300,000 customers who lost their savings after the fund collapsed.The tentative deal – which will mean investors recover in total approximately 77p to the pound – follows an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority. Continue reading...

Former head of judiciary says move by UK could amount to ‘symbolic breach of the rule of law’

Éditions la Fabrique says foreign rights manager Ernest Moret was held for several hours and asked ‘disturbing questions’ about his political opinionsThe French publishing house whose employee was arrested on terror charges on his way to London book fair has said it is “chilling” that he was asked by British detectives about the authors published by his company.Ernest Moret was approached by two plainclothes officers at St Pancras station on Monday evening, after arriving by train from Paris. He was arrested, after six hours of questioning, for alleged obstruction in refusing to disclose the passcodes to his phone and computer. Continue reading...

Firearms officers say they were forced to kill animal after it charged at people near a primary schoolA bull on the loose has been shot dead by police after frightening people near a primary school in Cheshire.Firearms officers in Haslington, Cheshire, say they “didn’t make the decision lightly”, but were forced to kill it while it was on the loose “before anyone was seriously hurt”. Continue reading...

State government’s move follows agreement of nation’s health ministers to reform the industry

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Hack caused major outages for some clients including local councils and ‘potentially accessed public sector data ‘Outsourcing group Capita, which runs crucial services for the NHS and military, has for the first time admitted that hackers accessed potential customer, staff and supplier data during a cyber-attack last month.The company said its investigation into the attack – which caused major IT outages for clients including local councils – found that hackers infiltrated its systems around 22 March, meaning they had around nine days before Capita “interrupted” the breach on 31 March. Continue reading...

High profile male politicians, sports stars and businessmen attended Scottish-themed lunch at National Gallery of Victoria – but not their female counterparts

NSW premier criticises former state government’s tax policy for casinos which he says lacked due diligence

The healthcare program will be available for surgical and medical abortions up to 16 weeks’ gestation

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Scottish National party was outwardly successful but behind the scenes it was chaotic, say insidersThe first day back at Holyrood after Easter recess should have been the moment for Scotland’s new leader, Humza Yousaf, to reset the agenda after a bruising leadership contest.Instead, hours before his first big policy statement on Tuesday, Yousaf found himself besieged by reporters asking questions about the arrest of the SNP treasurer, Colin Beattie, earlier that morning, and having to insist that while Beattie’s arrest was a “very serious matter”, people were “innocent until proven guilty”. Continue reading...

Gandhi was convicted of defamation in March over a 2019 speech in which he linked Narendra Modi with two high profile criminalsIndian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been dealt a blow after a court rejected his plea for a stay on his recent defamation conviction, meaning he could now face jail and will lose his parliamentary seat as he appeals against the guilty verdict.On Thursday, lawyers for Gandhi said a court in India’s western state of Gujarat had rejected his petition seeking a stay of conviction. The rejection of the plea means Gandhi is disqualified from office and there will now be a by-election in his Kerala constituency. Continue reading...

Ninety leaders in Northern Territory issue statement condemning comments from Coalition spokesperson on Indigenous Australians

Sweeping changes to Reserve Bank of Australia give equal weighting to employment and inflation, and mandate greater transparency

Katherine Tuck views any further involvement in inquiry as an ‘arid exercise’, lawyer says

Fighting in Sudan is continuing despite an internationally brokered truce. At the heart of the conflict is a power struggle between two powerful generals in a country permanently in the grip of its military. Nesrine Malik reportsWhen Omar al-Bashir was forced from Sudan’s presidency in 2019 after 30 years of repression it felt to many like a time for celebration and a fresh start for the country. Toppled by the military, a tyrant accused of genocide and war crimes was finally out of power.But the vacuum he left behind was quickly filled, not by one man but two. Many feared that Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto leader and army chief, and Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the vice-president who controls the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and is known as Hemedti, would soon clash. That fear became reality last weekend. Continue reading...

Singer says first performance ‘isn’t what I intended’ after a late start, sudden finish and reports of an ice rink stage being dismantled hours beforeFrank Ocean has cancelled his second performance scheduled for this weekend at Coachella, a week after his first performance – his first live show in six years – left many fans disappointed and confused.A representative for the musician confirmed to Rolling Stone on Wednesday night that the upcoming performance had been cancelled because singer had suffered a leg injury during the festival’s first week. Continue reading...

Former Liberal party staffer and David Sharaz have faced widespread abuse on social media

Sources say expectation is that Rishi Sunak will have to sanction Raab once report arrives on ThursdaySenior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Dominic Raab is cleared of bullying, the Guardian understands, with the fate of the deputy prime minister to be decided as soon as Thursday.Preparations at the heart of government are ramping up for the publication of the long-expected report on claims of bullying by Raab. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews adopted a ‘nothing to see here’ approach to new controversy, but experts say reform is needed over ‘grey corruption’

Nine employees stuck for five days say they are ‘terrified’ as they wait to be evacuated while fighting continues in SudanNine employees of the British Council in Khartoum have been stranded in their offices for five days amid heavy gunfire and explosions, as fighting in the streets of the Sudanese capital continues between the army and paramilitary forces.One of the British Council staff is a British-Ugandan dual citizen; the rest are Sudanese. They include a security guard, an English language teacher, a driver and administrators. Continue reading...

Deputy PM says inspections have restarted, during visit to Turkey to discuss Black Sea Grain Initiative

Practice of retaining business interests appears to have increased under Boris Johnson and again under current PMAt least 10 of Rishi Sunak’s ministers have been allowed to keep their roles as directors of private companies while serving in government after getting special permission to retain their business interests.Among those to carry on with directorships are Dominic Johnson, a senior business and trade minister who is director of an investment company with more than £4m of assets; and Chris Philp, a senior Home Office minister who is also director of an investment company and a partner in the property firm Pluto. Continue reading...

Members of band will appear in special episodes of EastEnders and Pointless Celebrities in run-up to Liverpool finalThe BBC has made its mind up: it’s Bucks Fizz all round for the corporation’s coverage of the Eurovision song contest as members of the band appear in various Eurovision-themed programming.Ahead of the contest next month, the BBC announced that Cheryl Baker, a member of Bucks Fizz who won Eurovision for the UK in 1981, will appear in special episodes of EastEnders and Bargain Hunt, while her bandmate Jay Aston will appear in an episode of the quizshow Pointless. Continue reading...

Government asked if ‘embarrassment’ over support from businessman linked to alleged Croydon station slowing actionLabour has accused the government of going slow on an investigation into alleged Chinese police stations in the UK after it was reported that one was operating from the office of a Conservative activist, who had been pictured at party fundraisers with then prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May.Yvette Cooper, speaking in the Commons, called on ministers to explain why the UK had not shut down the so-called police stations allegedly operating in London and Glasgow despite announcing an investigation in November and in the aftermath of arrests made by the FBI earlier this week relating to another in New York. Continue reading...

Kimberly Sampson and Samantha Mulcahy died from an infection caused by the same virusA doctor who helped to deliver the baby of a woman who died from herpes after potentially being infected by a surgeon said that it “did not cross his mind” that the new mother had the infection.In 2018, 29-year-old Kimberly Sampson became seriously ill after her baby was delivered at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital, Margate. She was transferred to King’s College hospital in London where she was diagnosed with a herpes infection and died on 22 May 2018. Continue reading...

Germany and Japan reportedly planning to evacuate citizens as UN documents describe ‘nightmare scenario’Thousands of residents have fled Khartoum as fighting continued across the city for a fifth day and many countries began preparations to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.Attempts to resurrect a US-brokered ceasefire between the army and paramilitary forces that failed to hold on Tuesday did not reassure many inhabitants of the capital, which suffered some of the most intense clashes yet seen as rival factions battled for control of the airport, defence headquarters and other key strategic sites. Continue reading...

Bank warns spinning off more profitable Asia business would be complex and would lower dividendsHSBC’s board has urged shareholders to vote against a proposed break-up of its business at its annual meeting, arguing that a split would result in a “material loss” and lower dividends.In response to calls for the split from its largest shareholder, the Chinese insurer Ping An, HSBC warned on Wednesday that spinning off its more profitable Asian business from the rest of the bank would also require approval from regulators in approximately 25 jurisdictions, and force it to make changes to customer services. Continue reading...

Ukraine confirms grain transit to resume in Poland; Patriot air defence systems delivered Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage hereUkraine’s agriculture minister, Mykola Solsky, confirmed on Wednesday that the transit of Ukrainian grain and food products will resume through Poland after an agreement reached in talks with Warsaw.But Reuters reports he again raised concerns about the status of an agreement with Moscow on the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, saying it was impossible to predict how many vessels Moscow would allow through. Continue reading...

Ernest Moret was interrogated on his opinion on French president before his arrest on terrorism charges, claims lawyerA French publisher was interrogated by British police under counter-terrorism laws about his support for Emmanuel Macron and anti-government authors before his arrest, claims his lawyer.Ernest Moret, 28, who arrived in London on Monday evening to attend a book fair, was arrested on counter-terrorism charges in the early hours of Tuesday morning when he refused to disclose the passcodes to his confiscated iPhone and Macbook. Continue reading...