World news | The Guardian

Former PM condemns draft legislation; former Tory chief whip says bill ‘trashes our reputation’

Data released on Tuesday shows a snapshot of the nation during Covid-19 and reveals insights into religion, identity and how Australians live

BBC presenters criticised for expressing sympathy for six-time grand slam champion during Wimbledon coverageJohn McEnroe and Sue Barker were criticised on Monday after expressing support for Boris Becker during the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage.The six-time grand slam champion was jailed for two and a half years in April for hiding £2.5m worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts. Continue reading...

Aleena, 35, was killed in what police called a ‘stranger attack’ near her home in Ilford on Sunday morningA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 35-year-old woman was beaten to death in a London street.Zara Aleena was killed after what police described as a “horrific assault” close to her home, which detectives currently believe was committed by a stranger as she walked in Ilford, east London. Continue reading...

BMA members’ call for reversal of real-terms cuts over last 14 years increases chances of strike actionDoctors have thrown down the gauntlet to the government by calling for a pay rise of up to 30% over the next five years, in a move that increases the chances of strike action.Delegates at the British Medical Association’s (BMA) annual conference voted to press ministers to agree to the increase to make up for real-terms cuts to their salaries over the last 14 years. Continue reading...

New rules will remove abortion approval committees and grant access to abortion pills at local health clinicsIsrael has eased its regulations on abortion access, in what the health minister said was a response to last week’s “sad” US supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade.The new rules, approved by a parliamentary committee, grant women access to abortion pills through the country’s universal health system and remove a longstanding requirement that women appear physically before a special committee before they are permitted to terminate a pregnancy. Continue reading...

The author said: ‘The study of literature should not be a luxury for a wealthy minority of spoilt and privileged aesthetes’Award-winning author Philip Pullman has warned that the study of literature “should not be a luxury for a wealthy minority of spoilt and privileged aesthetes” after it emerged that Sheffield Hallam University is to pull its English literature degree from next year.He was one of a number of writers to raise concerns about the university’s decision to stop teaching the standalone degree and incorporate it instead into a broad-based English degree, a year after the University of Cumbria was forced to take similar action. Continue reading...

One of the potential defectors in marginal seat while another also elected in 2019 sounded out Labour MPAt least one Conservative MP from the 2019 intake is in advanced discussions about potential defection to Labour, with another elected then also in close talks with a Labour MP.Neither has met Keir Starmer or had formal contact with the leaders’ office but they are understood to be communicating with Labour MPs. One senior party source said they were doubtful about the intentions of one of the MPs but the other was more serious. Continue reading...

Leak at port of Aqaba happened after tank filled with gas fell while being transported, says state news agencyThirteen people have died and 251 have been injured in a toxic gas leak from a storage tank at Jordan’s Aqaba port, state television reported, as authorities called on residents to shut windows and stay indoors.The leak on Monday came after a cable lifting a tank filled with 25 tonnes of chlorine snapped, sending the container crashing to the ground. Continue reading...

Exclusive: New employment services system should end activities that are unproductive and scrap automatic payment suspensions, Acoss report says

Nicola Sturgeon says ‘horrific’ US supreme court decision will embolden anti-abortion protesters in ScotlandAbortion clinics in Glasgow are expected to be protected by Scotland’s first buffer zones to prevent patients being intimidated by anti-abortion activists.Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said work was under way to establish whether council officials could use local bylaws to set up buffer zones before Holyrood passes legislation to authorise them at national level. Continue reading...

President speaks to leaders via video link, as US confirms proposed cap on Russian oil price and plans to send air defence system

German chancellor argues there is more unity in the west and support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasionGerman chancellor Olaf Scholz has argued the world is more unified in its support for Ukraine than Russia suggests, as the war dominated a G7 meeting also tasked with crises in food supply, the climate emergency and a breakdown in global order.“We must not walk into the trap Putin sets of asserting that the world is divided into the global west – the G7 and its friends in the north – and all the rest. That’s not true,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF television. Continue reading...

Alliance’s leader says this week’s summit will agree its most significant transformation in a generation

Communication Workers Union says further industrial action over pay is about ‘dignity and respect’About 1,500 Post Office workers are to stage a further one-day strike in a dispute over pay, adding to a wave of national industrial action causing disruption in the UK this summer.Britain’s 114 Crown Post Offices, its larger branches often located on high streets, are to close on Monday 11 July – the third day of strike action by postal workers so far this year. Continue reading...

Man remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries after explosion in Midlands on Sunday eveningA woman has been found dead after a gas explosion at a house in Birmingham, as police praised the “heroic” actions of neighbours who pulled a man alive from the burning rubble.He remains in hospital in a critical condition after the blast at about 8.40pm on Sunday, which completely destroyed one house and significantly damaged three others. Continue reading...

Outside Manchester crown court, legal workers bemoan low pay and an ‘unsustainable’ justice systemUsually one of the busiest courts in the country, the corridors of Manchester crown court were unusually quiet.Outside, dozens of criminal law barristers gathered at the entrance in their gowns and wigs to mark the beginning of a strike across England and Wales over pay and an “unsustainable” justice system. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Internal memo admits ‘it is almost certain’ laws altered to secure monarch’s consentA Scottish government memo obtained by the Guardian reveals that “it is almost certain” draft laws have been secretly changed to secure the Queen’s approval.Under an arcane mechanism known as Queen’s consent, the monarch is routinely given advance sight of proposed laws that could affect her personal property and public powers. Unlike the better-known procedure of royal assent, a formality that marks the moment when a bill becomes law, Queen’s consent must be sought before the relevant legislation can be approved by parliament. Continue reading...

Petrol reached new high of 191.05p a litre on Sunday, further fuelling cost of living crisisFuel retailers have faced accusations of profiteering as petrol prices hit new highs despite easing wholesale costs.Unleaded petrol reached a fresh record of 191.05p a litre on Sunday, while diesel hit new highs of 199.09p on Saturday, meaning a 55-litre family car would cost £109.42 to fill up. Continue reading...

Beyond 2022 project recreates documents and maps lost during 1922 Four Courts battleWhen the Public Record Office of Ireland was reduced to rubble and ashes in the Irish civil war, seven centuries of precious historical documents were lost.Exactly 100 years later, the public will be able to step back in time into the six-storey Victorian building in Dublin to experience it as it was on the eve of its destruction in June 1922 via an immersive 3D experience, and access many of those records thanks to a pioneering global project reclaiming Irish history. Continue reading...

UK prime minister says international support for Kyiv is price worth paying to avoid long-term instability

Campaigners call for tougher regulations as white paper emerges, but reports suggest proposals are being watered downWhen Julie Martin’s 16-year-old son rang as she drove home from work, his words made her blood run cold. “Don’t come home. Dad’s at the front door.”His father, Bylent “Bill” Troshupa, was subject to a restraining order barring him from the family home after violent rages. His sudden arrival, nearly a year later, spelled danger.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org. Continue reading...

The EU and some Tory backbenchers claim the legislation breaches the free trade agreement signed by the UKBoris Johnson has defended the government’s legislation disapplying parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, which will face its first hurdle in the House of Commons on Monday.Speaking in Bavaria, where he is attending a G7 summit, the prime minister said: “What we’re trying to do is fix something that I think is very important to our country, which is the balance of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.” Continue reading...

A North Adelaide studio apartment has been ridiculed online, with some likening it to ‘your first custom house in the Sims’

Communist party official posts notice saying mass mandatory testing and travel curbs will continueAuthorities in Beijing have sparked confusion and alarm after announcing the strict zero-Covid policy could be in place for the next five years, including mass mandatory testing and travel restrictions.The notice, published on Monday afternoon, was attributed to Cai Qi, the Beijing secretary of the Chinese Communist party. The original text said: “In the next five years, Beijing will unremittingly grasp the normalisation of epidemic prevention and control.” Continue reading...

PM thanks Australian defence force personnel in UAE visit ahead of attending Nato summit in Spain

Kristo Käärmann was included on HMRC’s list of deliberate tax defaulters in September 2021The UK’s financial regulator is investigating the co-founder of payments company Wise after he failed to pay his taxes.Kristo Käärmann was included on HM Revenue and Customs’ list of deliberate tax defaulters in September 2021, after failing to comply with his tax obligations. He failed to pay £720,495 for the 2017-18 tax year and received a fine of £366,000, the tax authority said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The NSW government has insisted the public service, not ministers, were responsible for the appointments

Victorian tribunal cancels Christopher Kwan Chen Lee’s registration after he admitted to making ‘utterly unacceptable’ posts

Women who relocated to Gaza are unable to visit or contact family, and face similar problems in their adoptive homeFor more than a decade, Natalya Hassoumi’s family in Ukraine have worried about her safety in the Gaza Strip; they have been unable to reach her for days at a time while airstrikes have pummelled the isolated Palestinian territory. Now, Hassoumi is experiencing something similar. She has not heard from her parents and siblings in Russian-occupied Kherson for three weeks.“I think the Russians must be making people switch to using Russian networks and sim cards, but I don’t know what’s happening,” the 41-year-old doctor said. “It’s very hard not knowing.” Continue reading...

Lobbyists must contact a minister’s chief of staff and request meetings in writing under new changes

The CBA says the offer of a 15% uplift in fees is insufficient and is calling for a 25% rise to make up for years of funding cutsCriminal barristers in England and Wales are to begin a strike over legal aid fees on Monday, as they warn the profession is facing an “existential crisis” because of inadequate funding.The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said the offer of a 15% uplift in fees, which was the minimum increase recommended by the criminal legal aid review (Clar), is insufficient after swingeing cuts – and will not apply to the backlog of 58,000 cases in crown courts. Continue reading...

Elishah Anderson was told no barrister can take her case in murder trial owing to industrial actionA woman accused of perverting the course of justice in a murder trial has been told she must represent herself in court because there is no available barrister, in what is thought to be a legal first.A trial over the killing of Jobari Gooden, 27, who was stabbed outside a Peckham barbershop last December, is under way at Southwark crown court. Continue reading...

Chaos overtakes city of Espinal after wood and bamboo stands collapse during cultural festivalAt least four people were killed and hundreds injured in Colombia on Sunday after spectator stands at a bullfight collapsed, authorities said.The bull reportedly escaped from the plaza hosting the spectacle and was causing panic in the streets of Espinal, Tolima, a city of nearly 60,000 people about 145km (90 miles) south-west of Bogotá, the capital. Continue reading...

Hedley Thomas, a journalist at The Australian, tells Chris Dawson trial he remained open to evidence that Lynette Dawson had not been murdered

Anticipation mounts in greatest cycling nation in the world for world’s greatest cycling race

Four further men treated at scene, with cause of blast still unknownA man is in a critical condition after an explosion destroyed a house and damaged several others in Birmingham.The man was in the property at the time of the blast and was helped out by people at the scene, the West Midlands ambulance service said. Four others were assessed by ambulance crews for minor conditions and were not taken to hospital, the service said. Continue reading...

Second world war ship found broken in two at depth of 22,916 feet in Philippines at ‘hallowed war grave’A US navy destroyer that engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the largest sea battle of the second world war in the Philippines has become the deepest shipwreck to be discovered, according to explorers.The USS Samuel B Roberts, popularly known as the “Sammy B”, was identified on Wednesday broken into two pieces on a slope at a depth of 22,916 feet (6,985m), or about four miles. Continue reading...

Shadow attorney general says Opposition wants to see detail of constitutional recognition proposal before deciding if it will support it

Some politicians say decision in Roe v Wade will ‘save lives’ but prime minister emphasises ‘in Australia, this is not a matter for partisan political debate’

Admirers pay tribute to writer best known for the Edith trilogy after death in Sydney hospital

Comments by shadow minister David Lammy aimed at showing party is fit for government provoke angry response from Unite bossDavid Lammy sparked a fresh row with a key trade union on Sunday by saying Labour should categorically refuse to back demands from airline workers for a pay rise of about 10%.Unite – which says staff are just asking to reverse a pay cut that occurred during the pandemic – accused the shadow foreign secretary of launching a “direct attack” on the workers it represents. The general secretary, Sharon Graham, said his comments were a “new low” for Labour, which could not be relied upon by working people. Continue reading...

Four fire engines are in attendance at the blaze that has broken out by the historic Royal High School buildingFirefighters are dealing with a blaze at an Edinburgh city centre landmark.Scottish Fire and Rescue Service crews were called to reports of a fire on Calton Hill, by the 19th century-designed Royal High School building, at 15:15 on Sunday and remain at the scene. Continue reading...

Complaint to Queensland Human Rights Commission accuses platform of not taking action against posts that ‘vilify’ Muslims

36-year-old died from serious head injuries sustained in attack while walking in Ilford early on SundayPolice have begun a murder investigation after a woman died having suffered serious head injuries in “a horrific assault” on a street in east London.The 36-year-old was walking along Cranbrook Road in the direction of Gants Hill station in Ilford when she was attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning. She later died in hospital. Continue reading...

The 2021 census was taken when much of Australia was in lockdown. The data will be a snapshot of the ‘enormous ripple effect’ of the pandemic

PM struggles to defuse row triggered by insistence that he would remain in office until 2030sBoris Johnson claimed on Sunday that the record of his government was “remarkable” and “quite exceptional” as he continued to brush aside internal Tory criticism of his leadership.However, in a series of interviews at the G7 summit in Germany, the prime minister sought to defuse the row triggered by his declaration that he wanted to remain in office until the 2030s by saying he meant he was focused on his reform agenda. Continue reading...

Human rights campaigners raise range of safety concerns over planned removal of people on Home Office charter flight this weekMothers and grandmothers, some of whom have lived in the UK for decades, are among those facing deportation to Nigeria and Ghana on a controversial Home Office charter flight on Wednesday.Women the Guardian has spoken to estimate that at least 10 of them are facing removal. It is unusual to see such a large number of women on a deportation flight to the west African countries. Continue reading...

Former prime minister of Qatar was on Time’s most influential figures and named in both Panama and Pandora PapersWith an estimated personal net worth of over $1.2bn (almost £1bn) according to Forbes, sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, is one of the country’s richest men – and has often garnered attention because of his wealth and is currently in the headlines over alleged cash donations to Prince Charles.Sometimes known as “HBJ” in London’s financial circles, the 62-year-old was named the “man who bought London” after he used his wealth, as well as his influence as the head of Qatar’s multibillion dollar sovereign wealth fund, the Qatari Investment Authority, to expand Qatar’s financial assets in London through a series of valuable assets. Continue reading...