World news | The Guardian

Streetlights and more than 100 other outdoor lights will be changed in Hawnby in the North York MoorsAn entire village in North Yorkshire is turning down its lights to provide a better view of the Milky Way.Hawnby is the first village in England to swap its streetlights and more than 100 other outdoor lights for dark skies-friendly lighting in a bid to cut light pollution and allow residents and visitors to see the stars. Continue reading...

Alerts with siren-like beeps can be sent during events such as severe flooding, fires or extreme weatherA new government public warning system, in which alerts are sent to mobile phone users about events that may put their life in danger, has been launched in the UK with a nationwide trial planned next month.The Cabinet Office said the emergency alert system could be deployed in events such as severe flooding, fires or extreme weather, noting that similar systems had been credited with saving lives in countries including the Netherlands and Japan. Continue reading...

Jeremy Hunt has been told his budget giveaway will have a ‘catastrophic’ effect without more fundingA key plan to expand free childcare will “absolutely guarantee” the closure of more nurseries, the departure of staff and a fall in places if there is not a substantial increase in the funding behind it, Jeremy Hunt has been warned.An eye-catching pledge for a huge expansion of free childcare provision was a main giveaway in the chancellor’s budget last week. However, while childcare providers have welcomed extra help for parents, nurseries across England, speaking to the Observer, said that the plan risked having a “catastrophic” impact on the sector without an overhauling of central funding. Continue reading...

Refugee Council’s claims on impact of her bill come as the home secretary, on a visit to Rwanda, faces pressure from her own partySuella Braverman’s plan to stop the Channel crossings would see as many as 45,000 children effectively barred from refugee status in the UK, the Observer has been told.The claims are made in a forthcoming Refugee Council report analysing the overall impact of the illegal migration bill, which reveals the possible extent of children who could have their asylum claims deemed inadmissible under the new laws. The news comes as the home secretary is facing a mounting rebellion from both wings of the Tory party over her controversial plans to tackle the Channel crossings, amid growing concerns over their impact on children and trafficking victims. Continue reading...

Defence minister says Aukus deal does not include arrangement to join US in a potential future conflict with China

Poll finds ITV news is more trusted source of information and trust in BBC has slippedThe BBC has slipped behind ITV as Britain’s most trusted news source in the wake of the row over Gary Lineker’s suspension, according to a new poll for the Observer.The corporation remains one of the most trusted providers, according to the latest Opinium poll. Two in five trust BBC News and 26% distrust it, giving it a “net trust” of +14%. ITV recorded a net trust score of +23%. Continue reading...

US president joined by German chancellor in support of action taken after Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian childrenThe US president, Joe Biden, has backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over his role in the abduction of Ukrainian children, saying it was “justified”.Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was among other international leaders who welcomed the decision, saying on Saturdayyesterday that it showed “nobody is above the law”. Continue reading...

Ex-prime minister due at televised Commons committee hearing, with legal team about to publish new evidence backing his claimsA defiant Boris Johnson is preparing an extraordinary televised defence of his actions during the Partygate scandal, as his allies this weekend accused the parliamentary inquiry into the affair of relying on weak evidence compiled by a former civil servant recruited by the Labour party.With a potentially explosive appearance at the Commons privileges committee due on Wednesday, the Observer can reveal that the former PM’s legal team intends to publish written evidence, including new witness statements, supporting Johnson’s claim that he did not knowingly mislead MPs over lockdown parties – as well as examples of the advice he was given at the time. Continue reading...

Labor to start final week of NSW election campaign by continuing pursuit of Perrottet government over its privatisation record

No matter who wins the election, the task of tackling clogged roads and Sydney’s tolling mess will be immense

After raising $350K, a group of Bega electorate residents provided temporary units for locals, but long-term investment is needed to provide more permanent accommodation

British singer was billed to perform on Saturday alongside Cyndi Lauper and New Zealand singer John StevensSir Rod Stewart has cancelled a performance in Australia after being told he has a “viral infection”.The 78-year-old singer-songwriter, who has had six No 1 hits in the UK charts including Baby Jane and Maggie May, was due to sing at the festival A Day on the Green in Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong. Continue reading...

Presenter will host live FA Cup match on Saturday evening in first appearance since suspensionGary Lineker is to return to TV screens for the first time since his BBC suspension, joking about having had a “quiet” week.The broadcaster, 62, was taken off air last weekend for a tweet criticising the language used by ministers when discussing the government’s asylum policy. Continue reading...

Concerns grow after 67 cases of botulism poisoning in past three weeks linked to clinics in Istanbul and İzmirDesperate patients are seeking risky weight-loss treatments in Turkey because of unacceptable NHS waiting times, a surgeon has said.Ahmed Ahmed, a consultant bariatric surgeon at Imperial College healthcare trust and the treasurer of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society, said there had been a notable increase in patients presenting with complications after undergoing surgery abroad. Continue reading...

Privileges committee rebuffs lawyer’s request to give evidence alongside former prime ministerBoris Johnson may be the only witness called by the privileges committee for its investigation into whether he misled parliament over Partygate, as the inquiry has rebuffed his lawyer’s request to give evidence alongside him.The former prime minister is preparing to appear at a televised hearing on Wednesday. The length of the grilling will depend on how much he says. Continue reading...

Melbourne forecast to reach 37C while northern regions of the state could exceed 40C. This blog is now closed

David Shoebridge says legalising the drug would bring in $28bn in tax revenue in first decade

The 2023 civilian gallantry list includes four people who tackled the terrorist behind 2019 terror attackMore than a dozen people who risked their lives trying to save others are to be recognised for their bravery, it has been announced.The 15 named on the 2023 civilian gallantry list include a man who died intervening in an armed attack, a woman who saved an elderly neighbour from a burning building, and several people who tackled the terrorist behind the 2019 London Bridge attack. Each will be awarded either the Queen’s gallantry medal or the Queen’s commendation for bravery – the final such awards to be named after the monarch who died this year. Continue reading...

Murray Foote had described the reports, later revealed to be fact, as ‘drivel’ but opposition parties say he is ‘fall guy’ for hierarchyThe head of communications for the Scottish National party has resigned amid an escalating row over membership figures, as opposition parties described him as “a fall guy for the SNP hierarchy”.Murray Foote announced on Friday evening that he had resigned after he denied reports about falling party membership figures that were in fact accurate. Continue reading...

President introduces former Ireland full-back Rob Kearney, a relative, at White House St Patrick’s Day eventJoe Biden has wished the Ireland rugby union team luck in their Grand Slam game against England in Dublin on Saturday.On Friday, St Patrick’s Day, Biden welcomed the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to the White House for a traditional visit and talks. Continue reading...

Negotiations with teachers begin and junior doctors also agree to formal talks following action this weekRishi Sunak is preparing to make fresh concessions to end months of debilitating public sector strikes, as negotiations with teachers began and junior doctors agreed to formal talks.With No 10 now keen to see all the disputes resolved in the coming weeks, talks between teaching unions and the Department for Education started on Friday and are expected to continue through the weekend. On Friday night the Department of Health and Social Care said the British Medical Association representing junior doctors has accepted an offer of pay talks. Continue reading...

The actor whose credits also include sci-fi series Fringe and action thriller White House Down has died of natural causesLance Reddick, actor known for roles in The Wire and the John Wick franchise, has died at the age of 60.According to multiple outlets, his representative confirmed that he died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles. The actor had been recently doing interviews for his role in John Wick: Chapter 4, released next week. Earlier this week, he chose not to attend the film’s New York premiere. Continue reading...

Contamination may have killed one person and injured others, some of whom had eyes removedUS authorities have recalled a brand of eyedrops contaminated with a drug-resistant bacterial contamination that may have killed one person and injured 68 others, a small number of whom have to have the affected eye surgically removed.Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an advisory against the use of EzriCare Artificial Tears, warning that they may be linked to an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Continue reading...

The Hague issues arrest warrant for Putin for overseeing abduction of Ukrainian children; Russia sustaining up to 1,500 casualties a day Continue reading...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador cites a lack ‘of hugs and embraces’ for 70,000 annual overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioidMexico’s president has said that US families were to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis because they don’t hug their kids enough.The comment by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador caps a week of provocative statements from him about the crisis caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States. Continue reading...

Russian president accused of ‘unlawful deportation’ of children ‘from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation’

Supporters of the invasion of Ukraine are portraying the court’s decision as a sign of western antagonism to RussiaThe international criminal court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin will probably be portrayed as a point of no return in Russia, where the Kremlin will spin the court’s decision as proof that the west is seeking nothing short of regime change.While Putin has already been preparing his public for a long war, the arrest warrant will for the first time raise the concrete possibility that Russia’s leaders and other prominent supporters of the war could face justice at The Hague if they ever find themselves under arrest. Continue reading...

Members of PCS union to take part in action from early April likely to have ‘significant impact’ on delivery timesPassport Office workers are to strike for five weeks in an escalation of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales will take part in the action from 3 April to 5 May. Continue reading...

Former banker who promised to reconcile the French people with the political class is accused of worsening disillusionmentWhen furious demonstrators in Dijon set fire to a stuffed dummy of Emmanuel Macron, and thousands of people took to the streets in cities such as Paris, Rennes and Marseille this week to protest against the government raising the pension age without a parliamentary vote, the French interior minister said the chaos “brought back bad memories”.Indeed, four years after the gilets jaunes anti-government movement in which people in small towns and the countryside rose up, Macron was once again accused by many working-class voters of disdain for the public mood. Politicians from his party were yet again asking for police protection for fear of violent reprisals. Continue reading...

Downing Street reveals cost of improved pay offer for nurses and paramedics but will not say where the money will come fromDowning Street says the improve pay offer for health workers in England announced yesterday will cost around £4bn.At the morning lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said the “non-consolidated element for 2022-23” – the one-off payments worth up to 8.2% – would cost an extra £2.7bn.Analysis showed that in two years’ time - by which point Labour could have won a general election - two million people could face paying taxes of up to 55 per cent on their pots as a result of [Rachel] Reeves’ policy. Continue reading...

Ruth Perry was told that Caversham primary school in Reading would be downgraded to inadequateA headteacher killed herself after she was told her school would be given the lowest possible Ofsted rating, her family has said.Ruth Perry, who had worked at Caversham primary school in Reading for 13 years, took her own life in January after she was informed the school was being downgraded from outstanding to inadequate. Continue reading...

What we know about the children behind the indictment of Vladimir Putin and his children’s commissioner for abduction• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesThe international criminal court in The Hague has indicted the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.This means there is now an international arrest warrant out for Putin, a reflection of the speed with which the international legal community has pursued allegations of war crimes during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Nidal Hazem among three men and a boy killed in ‘intelligence-based counter-terrorism activity’The shooting in the head of a motionless Palestinian militant during an Israeli raid on Jenin in which three other people were killed has enraged Palestinians as images of the incident spread across social media.Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the PLO executive committee, condemned the shooting on Thursday of Nidal Hazem, who was face down at the time. “This is a crime in the full sense of the word,” he said. Continue reading...

Handwritten poem in Greek from undergraduate years on sale for £20,400A handwritten manuscript containing a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge railing against the slave trade has been temporarily barred from leaving the UK in the hope that a British buyer can be found.The poem, written in Greek by Coleridge across six mottled pages, attacks the horrors of slavery and condemns those who overlooked the conditions of enslaved people on the Middle Passage transportation route in the late 18th century. Continue reading...

Government-appointed managers will take over day-to-day running after authorities fell into effective bankruptcyTwo local authorities have been put into special measures after struggling to recover from the bad investments and governance failings that pushed them into effective bankruptcy.The London borough of Croydon and Thurrock borough council in Essex have been told that government-appointed managers will take over the day-to-day running of operations, including overseeing all major financial and senior staffing decisions. Continue reading...

European and US banking shares fall, with Credit Suisse down 12% as sentiment remains fragile

MP Steve Brine accused of lobbying NHS and ministers on behalf of recruitment firm that employed him

Family criticise boat’s skipper Michael Lawrence and company owner Michael Howley over crash that killed teenagerThe family of a 15-year-old girl who was killed in a speedboat crash have described the moment her life support system was turned off and criticised the skipper as a “coward” as he was given a suspended jail sentence.Emily Lewis suffered fatal injuries after the rigid inflatable boat (Rib) collided with a 4.5-metre buoy at 42mph in Southampton Water, with a number of other passengers left seriously injured. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s capital trying to return to new normal after Russian invasion, with latest move hoped to boost business

MPs were informed of the decision, which comes after similar moves by western allies, by parliamentary service on FridayNew Zealand’s parliament will ban TikTok from all parliamentary devices, amid mounting international security concerns surrounding the app.The country’s MPs were informed by parliamentary service on Friday that the Chinese-owned video-sharing app would be blocked from all parliamentary devices at the end of the month, and were told via email that “the Service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliament environment”. Continue reading...

Perfect storm of Covid, Brexit, energy prices and cost of living crisis blamed for disappointing figuresVisitor numbers at the UK’s leading attractions are still almost a quarter lower than before the pandemic, thanks to a perfect storm of Covid, Brexit, energy prices and the wider financial crisis, according to the sector’s trade body.Figures published on Friday by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions show that while the number of visits to its sites rose by 69% in 2022 compared with the year before, this was still 23% lower than in 2019. Continue reading...

Officers on horseback deployed to reduce use of phones by motorist; driver faces £200 fine and six points on licenceTwo mounted police officers have chased down a man spotted holding his mobile phone while driving.Officers on horses have been deployed across the UK in order to reduce the number of people using a phone while at the wheel. Avon and Somerset police are involved in the enforcement operation led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) over the next three weeks. Continue reading...

‘I’m really, really sorry,’ the actor said, a year after she was suspended from show for saying the Holocaust ‘isn’t about race’Whoopi Goldberg has issued an apology following her use of a racial slur during an episode of ABC’s The View.On Wednesday, Goldberg used a derogatory term associated with Romani people while discussing former president Donald Trump, saying that his supporters are “people who still believe that he got gypped somehow in the election”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: findings of official review due out on Tuesday described as ‘horrible’ and ‘atrocious’ for forceThe Metropolitan police service is riddled with deep-seated racism, sexism and homophobia and has failed to change despite numerous official reviews urging it to do so, an official report will say.The report from Louise Casey, which is due to be published on Tuesday, will excoriate Britain’s biggest police force, the Guardian has been told. Senior government and policing figures are aware of its contents, with one describing it as “horrible” and another as “atrocious”. One source with knowledge of the findings said the report would make clear that the Met was in the “last-chance saloon”. Continue reading...

Party leader hopes letter campaign in commuter belt areas can tempt voters to switch in order to beat ToriesThe Liberal Democrats will directly court Labour voters in “blue wall” swing seats to try to build a critical mass of tactical voting in advance of the next election, Ed Davey has said before the party’s first in-person conference since 2019.The planned campaign of letters in Conservative-held commuter belt constituencies where the Lib Dems are the main challengers will be intended to persuade Labour supporters to lend their vote – not just as a means to change the government but because “they feel an affinity with us”, Davey said. Continue reading...

At 6ft 4in, Jack Andrews towers over his fellow jockeys and has to watch his chocolate biscuit intakeAt 6ft 4in (1.93 metres), Jack Andrews is used to towering over his fellow jockeys, who tend to be at least a foot shorter than him.But as he competes for his first Cheltenham festival win this week, the man who has been described as the tallest jockey in the world is determined not to let his unconventional stature slow him down. Continue reading...

While some feel ending £1m cap on savings gives them more options, others say it is not enough to make them work until 67NHS staff nearing the end of their careers are reconsidering whether they have to retire early to avoid “punitive” pension taxation rules after the chancellor’s surprise decision in the budget to scrap the £1m cap on tax-free savings.Jeremy Hunt unveiled the plans on Wednesday in an attempt to stop highly paid older workers, including lots of experienced NHS staff, leaving their jobs early. They will also benefit from the increase in the current £40,000 annual limit for tax-free pension contributions to £60,000. Continue reading...

Nine are said to members of Russian spy ring that monitored railway lines and made plans to disrupt deliveriesPolish authorities say they have detained nine members of a Russian spy ring who they say were gathering intelligence on weapons supplies to Ukraine and making plans to sabotage the deliveries.Six people have been charged with preparing acts of sabotage and espionage, and charges are being prepared against the other three. Continue reading...

Covid and other illnesses main reasons for attendance drop compared with pre-pandemic, according to DfE figuresOne in five pupils in England were reported as persistently absent during the last school year, with Covid and other illnesses the biggest contributors to soaring classroom absence rates compared with pre-pandemic years.The figures from the Department for Education (DfE) showed the aftermath of the pandemic continued to significantly affect state school attendance into the summer of 2022. The national absence rate of 7.6% was well above the rates of 4%-5% before Covid. Continue reading...