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In her first post in nearly three years, the Hustlers actor said she tried to kill herself after a negative response to tweets she had sentConstance Wu has said that she attempted suicide after backlash to a series of “careless” tweets in 2019.In a statement marking her first return to Twitter in nearly three years, the Hustlers actor announced her upcoming book, Making a Scene, and explained that she was “afraid of coming back on social media because I almost lost my life from it: 3 years ago, when I made careless tweets about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe.”In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

John Holland-Kaye has until midday on Friday to assure ministers the airport has sufficient security workers and to assist disabled passengersMinisters have issued an ultimatum to the chief executive of Heathrow, calling on him to provide a plan to resolve the airport’s staffing problems, it has been reported.John Holland-Kaye has until midday on Friday to assure ministers that the airport has sufficient workers for security screening and to assist disabled passengers, according to a letter from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) director general for aviation, maritime and security and the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) seen by the Daily Telegraph. Continue reading...

Jeffrey Cook, 65, and John Mason, 79, deny making corrupt payments to senior Saudis in exchange for contractsThe jury has been discharged in the trial of two men accused of funnelling bribes totalling millions of pounds to a Saudi prince and other high-ranking officials to secure lucrative commercial contracts.During the trial which started in May, the Serious Fraud Office alleged that a total of £9.7m was paid to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and a group of senior Saudi officials to land the contracts for a British subsidiary of the European aerospace group Airbus. Continue reading...

‘Questions’ follow on MP’s past performance as trade minister after she gains ground over Liz Truss

Welsh comedian becomes patient at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where he is a patronRhod Gilbert, the comedian and television presenter, has announced he is being treated for cancer.The 53-year-old from Carmarthen said he was a patient at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, a hospital he has been patron of for a decade and for which he has fundraised.

Forest Hill venue praised for inspiring the next generation and reconfiguring programme in light of pandemic, BLM and climate crisis

Festival reminded by authorities of rule change in June, but didn’t tell ticket holders until Monday – when ticket resale deadline expired

Support grows for stricter penalties for supplying cigarettes to minors and a crackdown on e-cigarettes, National Drug Strategy Household Survey reveals

Labor says it has ‘no money’ to continue pandemic leave payments as state leaders and some of its own backbenchers urge rethink

Another says experience of new points-based system has been ‘humiliating and degrading’

Justice secretary’s withdrawal follows that of Priti Patel from another hearing and as effort to limit gambling harms is deferred

Trade minister consolidates second place behind Sunak as second vote narrows field to five

The film adaptation of the book by Jodi Kanrot and Megan Twohey depicts their investigation to expose the disgraced mogulThe painstaking work to expose Harvey Weinstein comes to the big screen in the first trailer for She Said, the film adaptation of the book by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.The duo, who won a Pulitzer prize (along with The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow) for their 2017 investigation into the sexual predation by the formerly untouchable film producer, helped ignite the #MeToo movement and several subsequent investigations into abuses of power. Continue reading...

DWP data shows 1.3m children affected by limit as research shows risk of long-lasting harm increasing due to cost of living crisisOne in 12 of all UK children now live in families hit by the two-child limit, the government’s controversial cap on benefits that cuts household income by at least £2,800 a year and puts affected youngsters at risk of poverty and emotional harm.The latest official statistics revealed that 1.3 million children in 359,000 households were subject to the two-child limit in April as the policy dragged an additional 150,000 kids in 40,000 families into its net. Continue reading...

Delay follows advice to PM that proposals cannot be published until new Conservative leader in placeProposals to reform gambling laws have been postponed for a fourth time, after advisers to Boris Johnson concluded it could not be published until a new leader of the Conservative party is elected to replace him as prime minister.Amid a tussle between different Tory party factions over the content of the plans, multiple Whitehall sources told the Guardian that a white paper had been added this week to the government’s “grid” of announcements and was scheduled to be published on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Government forecast anticipates 12% decline, mainly due to fewer births, with surplus school places in years aheadEngland’s school population is set to shrink by almost a million children over the next 10 years, according to the government’s latest data, raising the prospect of surplus places and school closures in some areas of the country in the years ahead.Department for Education figures reveal that predicted pupil numbers, already in marked decline according to earlier modelling, have had to be revised down further in line with projections of fewer births than expected. Continue reading...

Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government supportPret a Manger handed a near-£4m share bonus and 27% salary rise to its chief executive in the same year it cut staff pay and took more than £50m in government support via furlough and business rates relief.The coffee shop chain paid Pano Christou £4.2m in the year to the end of December 2021, including a £400,000 salary, according to accounts for its main holding company. Continue reading...

Mario Draghi’s government survives vote but he had said he would not continue without movement’s supportItaly’s coalition government is teetering on the brink of collapse after the Five Star Movement refused to participate in a confidence vote, raising the spectre of a snap general election.Five Star, headed by the former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, is a formerly anti-establishment party that has plummeted in the polls and lost parliamentarians since joining the government, hurt by policy U-turns and internal divisions. Continue reading...

Country in state of emergency amid protests against president, who is reported to be heading for Saudi ArabiaThe Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has arrived in Singapore, with his final destination reported to be Saudi Arabia, as the beleaguered leader continues his pursuit of a safe haven.Sri Lanka has been gripped by mass protests over its economic meltdown, and tensions remained on a knife-edge on Thursday, with a curfew imposed in the commercial capital of Colombo and military tanks deployed on the roads. Continue reading...

BBC News and BBC World News are to merge to create a single 24-hour TV channel, the corporation saidPresenters on the BBC News channel and BBC World are set to be sacked as part of 70 UK job cuts in a plan to create a single more digitally-focused rolling news service.The corporation, which suggested the proposal to merge its UK and international news channels in May, said that the new-look channel will launch next April and be called BBC News. Continue reading...

Analysis: Confident message from MP relatively untainted by Johnson era seems to resonate with many Conservatives

Reports suggest the actor is in the frame to play the disgraced royal in an adaptation of Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking InterviewsHugh Grant is reported to be among actors under consideration to play Prince Andrew in a new film dramatising his extraordinary interview on the BBC’s flagship current affairs show, Newsnight.According to Deadline, Grant is “one of the unconfirmed names” being lined up for the film, titled Scoop, which will begin shooting in November. Continue reading...

Figures show 6.6m awaiting treatment and increasing numbers put off trying to book GP appointmentsThe number of people waiting for NHS treatment in England has increased every month for the past two years, reaching another record high of 6.6 million patients in May.It comes as the latest GP patient experience survey, also published today, shows patients putting off booking appointments because they find it too difficult and a declining satisfaction with family doctors. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary portrays herself as ‘ready … from day one’ in clear dig at rival Penny Mordaunt

Foreign affairs select committee chair is in a race with Suella Braverman to get through knock-out roundTom Tugendhat has vowed not to quit the Conservative leadership race but admitted he was being wooed by other candidates, telling reporters: “I feel like a prom queen.”The chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who is in a race with Suella Braverman to get through the knock-out round on Thursday, said he was determined to compete in the televised debates starting on Friday. Continue reading...

The Simon & Schuster employee is accused of masterminding a phishing scam to obtain manuscripts from top authorsThe man charged by the FBI with stealing hundreds of book manuscripts may not face trial, under an agreement between prosecutors and his lawyers.Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who worked at UK publisher Simon & Schuster, was arrested in the US in January, with the FBI alleging he had “impersonated, defrauded, and attempted to defraud, hundreds of individuals” to obtain unpublished and draft works. The indictment said Bernardini had registered more than 160 fake internet domains to impersonate others since 2016. Continue reading...

Inquiry into conviction of innocent man jailed for 19 years will investigate why crucial witness evidence not given to defenceThe role of crown lawyers in the prosecution of Alan Hall, a New Zealander who spent 19 years in jail for a murder he did not commit, will be investigated by an independent inquiry, the country’s solicitor-general has announced.The crown has released the terms of reference for its unprecedented investigation into its involvement in one of New Zealand’s worst miscarriages of justice, as it attempts to understand why crucial witness evidence was not given to the defence. The inquiry will be conducted by Nicolette Levy QC. Continue reading...

Monarch enjoys extraordinary exemptions under law – which extend to her private estates and even a royal fishing business

Oscar-winning US actor, 62, pleads not guilty to fives charges at Old Bailey in LondonKevin Spacey has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault dating back 17 years in a hearing at the Old Bailey.The 62-year-old actor appeared in court one of the London court on Thursday to plead not guilty to four charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. Continue reading...

Musicians had hoped to keep their art alive after fleeing Taliban but now face crackdown on refugeesAjmal Haikalzada, 44, first became a refugee when his artist father left Afghanistan for Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. In 2001, then a musician, he returned, singing and performing across the country of his birth after the US toppled the Taliban.Two decades later, he fled once again as the Taliban took over Kabul. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Federal Labor MPs join NSW Labor leader Chris Minns in calling for Albanese government to rethink decision on Covid policies

Justices Chris Maxwell and Terence Forrest said the ‘oppressive sentencing regime’ ignored evidence and was contrary to public interest

European Commission ‘gave no good reason’ why its president’s messages with Pfizer were not releasedThe EU’s official watchdog has issued a formal reprimand to the European Commission over its president Ursula von der Leyen’s failure to release text messages exchanged with the boss of Pfizer during the pandemic.The EU ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, on Thursday upheld her verdict of maladministration by the commission, saying it had failed “to answer the basic question of whether the text messages in question exist” or be clear about how it would deal with similar requests in future. Continue reading...

Inquiry told threat to decapitate a dog and ‘clear photographic evidence’ of assault on woman downplayed

Anika Wells’ call for mask mandates and infection control measures to be kept comes as NSW relaxes vaccine rules for aged care visitors

Cost of living too high and pay too low, say survey respondents, though natural environment, climate and sporting life are appreciatedNew Zealand has been ranked second-worst place in the world to move by immigrants, according to a survey.The expatriate networking organisation InterNations surveyed nearly 12,000 respondents of 177 different nationalities, living in 181 countries. Respondents were asked how their new homes performed on factors including quality of life, cost of living, safety, financial outlook, bureuacracy, and ease of fitting in. Continue reading...

Former attorney general had appealed court decision to stop Sue Chrysanthou representing him, despite dropping his claim against ABC

Government’s election promises will add $6.9bn to deficits over four years, Parliamentary Budget Office says

Civil claim brought against Pell and Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne by man alleging he suffered psychological injury

Two nuclear bombs exploded in 1966 after US aircraft involved in mid-air collision over Palomares in AlmeríaA British company has defended its plans to develop a resort in south-east Spain after environmental groups claimed the area could be contaminated with radioactivity from nuclear bombs that fell after a plane crash in the 1960s.On 17 January 1966 a US air force B-52 collided mid-air with a refuelling plane over Palomares in Almería, killing seven of the 11 crew. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch says pandemic exacerbated weaknesses in country’s social security systemThe Spanish government’s efforts to tackle the economic turmoil unleashed by the Covid pandemic were “too little, too late and too few”, according to a report that finds thousands of people are still reliant on emergency food aid and facing even greater hardship as prices soar.The Human Rights Watch study, which documents cases of parents skipping meals so their children can eat, says the pandemic has revealed and exacerbated weaknesses in Spain’s social security system. All too often, food banks, community groups and NGOs have had to step in and help people in need – particularly those in informal work who were not eligible for state help. Continue reading...

Cambridge doctoral student Oliver Barker-Vormawor says ‘trauma is still there’ as he files lawsuitA prominent Ghanaian activist has accused authorities of subjecting him to a violent assault and illegal detention after he criticised the government in a series of Facebook posts.Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge who founded the prominent “fix the country” protest movement, was arrested after he landed at Kotoka airport in Accra in February on a flight from the UK. Continue reading...

Pub Choir cover of song, back in the charts thanks to Stranger Things, gets thumbs up from singer, who told them ‘I love it so much’

Fall in unemployment rate from 3.9% to 3.5% is higher than forecast by most economists and brings rate to the lowest point since August 1974Australia’s unemployment rate plummeted to 3.5% in June, the lowest rate in 48 years.“This is the lowest unemployment rate since August 1974, when it was 2.7% and the survey was quarterly,” Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour data Bjorn Jarvis said on Thursday. Continue reading...

There are 6,000 properties in the Hawkesbury-Nepean situated below the planning level for a one-in-100-year flood

State of emergency declared as protesters reject premier Ranil Wickremesinghe acting as president and demand he and Gotabaya Rajapaksa resignProtests erupted in Sri Lanka on Wednesday after the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives on a military jet – but neither he nor the prime minster officially resigned, throwing the country into political chaos.After Gotabaya’s clandestine departure, a Sri Lankan official said that the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had been appointed by Rajapaksa to be acting president. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereRussia’s RIA Novosti news agency is reporting that the Russian delegation has arrived in Turkey for talks over the export of grain from Ukraine. They cite a diplomatic source.The source told them there was “high confidence” of progress in today’s talks, at which military delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine will meet with a UN delegation at a secret location. Continue reading...

Prime minister Anthony Albanese’s comments come after meeting with Solomons leader at Pacific Islands Forum and despite Pacific nation’s security pact with China

Austerity-era policies meant poverty among larger families in poverty rose at significantly faster rate, says thinktankBenefit cuts imposed by the Conservatives since 2010 pushed up child poverty before the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report warning that poorer families are also among the most exposed to the cost of living crisis.The Institute for Fiscal Studies said relative child poverty rose to the highest level since 2007 immediately before Covid-19 hit, as the incomes of poorer families with children fell further behind due to austerity. Continue reading...