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Chancellor blames DWP computers that allow uplift only once a year, in claims labelled ‘pathetic’ by Jonathan AshworthRishi Sunak has claimed he was prevented from raising benefits more at the spring statement because of the old computer system used by the Department for Work and Pensions.Acknowledging that technical problems “sounds like an excuse”, the UK chancellor told Bloomberg he had discussed a higher rise than the 3.1% given across the board but was told there could be an uplift only once a year for people on some benefits. Continue reading...

Vardy tells ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial that paper fabricated elements of 2004 story about one-night standRebekah Vardy has claimed that quotes attributed to her by the News of the World in an interview about Peter Andre were made up by the tabloid newspaper.Vardy told the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial that the now defunct news outlet fabricated and exaggerated unspecified elements of her conversation. “There’s a lot of things that didn’t come out of my mouth, that were misrepresented,” she said. Continue reading...

Vadim Shysimarin accused of killing civilian on 28 February while fighting in Sumy region in north-east UkraineA Russian soldier has appeared in the dock at the start of the first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.The defendant, who arrived at Kyiv’s small district court No 3 in a grey tracksuit and handcuffs, is Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division charged with murdering a 62-year-old man. He is being held in Ukrainian custody. Continue reading...

Scores wounded as violence paralyses Port-au-Prince forcing thousands to flee their homesNearly 150 people have been killed and scores wounded during gunfights between warring gangs in Haiti, as the latest surge of violence has paralysed much of the sprawling capital, Port-au-Prince.Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday that it had treated more than 96 people with gunshot wounds in its medical facilities in Port-au-Prince since 24 April. Continue reading...

Former Brexit minister says UK ‘cannot be defeated’ by Brussels in provocative Telegraph column

Defence barrister tells defamation trial McLachlan had ‘tendency to get angry easily’

Grenoble mayor wants swimmers to dress ‘how they like’, including topless or in full-body suitsThe burkini, or full-body swimsuit, is once again at the centre of a political row in France as Grenoble’s town council prepares to debate loosening rules on swimwear at open-air pools.Rules on swimwear are strict at the majority of French public pools. For example, men must wear tight-fitting racing trunks and cannot wear longer board-shorts. Currently, in Grenoble municipal pools, UV-protective tops are banned, except short-sleeved tops for children under ten, or for adults who present a medical note from their doctor. Continue reading...

The man, who has been awaiting a Home Office decision for almost two years, says the anxiety has had a significant impact on his wellbeingA Syrian interpreter who has worked for the British government and the White Helmets has tried to kill himself after waiting nearly two years for a decision on his asylum claim.Ali [not his real name] worked as an interpreter and translator for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Istanbul, and for Mayday Rescue, a humanitarian organisation that supported the work of the White Helmets (officially known as the Syria Civil Defence) across Syria.In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here Continue reading...

Analysis: Queensland flash floods have cut off communities and killed one woman, swept away in her carTorrential rain has been hitting eastern Australia since Monday, with rainfall totals on the north-east coast widely achieving in excess of 100mm. In Yabulu, north of Townsville, there was major flooding on Tuesday as 196mm of rain fell within 24 hours. This was not the highest total recorded, however, with 244mm of rain falling on Tuesday at Mourilyan, near Innisfail on the Cassowary Coast.The threat of heavy rain sank south across Queensland to the south-east, reaching Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday; stations in the south-east recorded up to 100mm, with a station in Dayboro recording 161mm. A further 100-150mm of rain fell on Friday across the south-east. Continue reading...

Prime minister says ‘I haven’t got everything right’ as opposition leader urges ‘if you want change, change the government’

Tony Finn, who worked at West Yorkshire manufacturing firm for 24 years, is in line for compensationCalling a man “bald” is sexual harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.Hair loss is much more prevalent among men than women so using it to describe someone is a form of discrimination, a judge has concluded. Commenting on a man’s baldness in the workplace is equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman’s breasts, the finding suggests. Continue reading...

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Paintings produced in collaboration with Ed Godrich are titled with ‘names that define the 1980s’Trish has never been seen in public before. Nor have Sharon, Janet, Debbie, Denise, Donna, Jacqui, Joanne, Kim, Lorraine, Mandy, Paula, Sandra or Tina.But for the next two weeks, these 14 artworks by the pop star Robbie Williams and his creative partner Ed Godrich will be on display at Sotheby’s in central London. Continue reading...

The former health minister from Labor’s left faction will succeed Michael Gunner following his surprise resignation this week

Paul Toole rejects claims in press reports premier Dominic Perrottet ignored calls from two senior ministers to implement reforms to counter organised crime

Former PM says Labour leader needs to win back remainers who voted Tory in 2019 electionTony Blair has urged Keir Starmer to reject “woke” politics and present a programme for government that is “radical without being dangerous”.A report published by the Tony Blair Institute analyses the impact of class on voting in the 2019 general election and beyond. Based on analysis by the veteran pollster Peter Kellner, it points to particular problems for Labour with two groups: the 26% of voters who fit into the formal definition of middle class; and the 12% who would be defined as working class by pollsters but consider themselves middle class. Continue reading...

Met Office is predicting high pollen levels across England and Wales and medium levels elsewhereWith high temperatures and high pollen levels forecast this weekend, millions of people with lung conditions or hay fever in the UK are being urged to take precautions.The Met Office is predicting high pollen levels across every area of England and Wales on Friday and Saturday, with medium levels in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. Continue reading...

Labor-Greens majority committee accuses government of withholding information on scheme which caused ‘significant and widespread harm’

Inquest hears details of Indigenous woman’s calls for assistance on morning of her death

Coalition MP, who has been absent from the campaign, stars in three-minute video telling voters to ‘think carefully who you will vote for’

Hundreds of thousands of Russians opposed to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and alienated by pro-war sentiment are establishing a new life abroadIn the days after Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in late February, Vladimir Shurupov, a cardiologist from the Siberian city of Tomsk, felt he could not breathe properly. “I was having panic attacks, I could not eat or sleep. I just knew I had to remove myself from this place, from this atmosphere,” he said.Shurupov, 40, had been a quiet critic of Putin’s government for years, but he had never attended a protest of any kind, fearful of unwanted attention or arrest. When the war began, disgust with the regime combined with a fear he would be sent to the front. “If there was mobilisation, I would have been called up as a military doctor, and this is not a war I would be willing to fight in,” he said. Continue reading...

Regime has said it is imposing ‘maximum emergency measures’ and 187,800 people are being ‘isolated and treated’ after showing signs of feverNorth Korea has announced its first Covid-19 death amid an “explosive” outbreak of fever, state media said on Friday, one day after the regime admitted for the first time that it was tackling a coronavirus outbreak.The official KCNA news agency said six people had died, adding that one of them had tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Continue reading...

The major landowner says it has been on the ‘other side of history’ and wants to honour treatyNew Zealand’s presbyterian church will offer any future land sales to Māori iwi first, as the institution reckons with its role in colonisation and land confiscations in Aotearoa.The institution is a significant landowner across the country, with more than $1.5bn in land assets and 400 properties. Their decision comes at a time of increasing scrutiny on the church and its role in the colonisation of New Zealand, including as a beneficiary of confiscated or stolen land. Continue reading...

ACL says photo of the independent MP for Mayo was publicly available online and it ‘has not been provided with any evidence’ that Sharkie owns the copyright

This live blog is now closed, we will be returning in a few hours to bring you all the latest developments.The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reiterated his government’s position that there can be no renormalisation of relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters reports that asked on LBC radio whether Putin could be welcomed back on the global stage if he were to repent, Johnson said: “The short answer is no. No renormalisation and the UK is very clear about that.”Overnight the Ukrainian defence ministry published photos of what it said were destroyed Russian tanks and other equipment in the village of Bilohorivka, that had been struck when the Russians were attempting to construct a pontoon-bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river. The general staff of the Ukraine armed forces published the pictures again this morning on Facebook. Continue reading...

No one knows anything about the payout process (except when they do). Political editor Katharine Murphy walks through the saga

Residents in low-lying areas were told to leave early on Friday morning and almost 70 schools have been closed, with flash flooding and more heavy rain forecast across large parts of the state

Wallabies legend Tim Horan says announcement marks ‘most significant moment in Australian rugby history since winning the RWC in 1991’Australia will host the men’s 2027 and women’s 2029 Rugby World Cups in a game changer for the cash-strapped code down under.The World Rugby Council formally granted Australia staging rights for the two global showpieces following a final vote in Dublin on Thursday. Continue reading...

Downing Street said the Queen was ‘pleased to approve the honour of damehood’ for Deborah James for her work helping others with cancerThe cancer campaigner and podcast host Deborah James, who disclosed this week that she has moved to hospice-at-home care to treat her terminal bowel cancer, has been awarded a damehood, the government has confirmed.James, 40, has raised more than £3.7m after setting up a Just Giving page to raise money for clinical trials, research, and raising awareness of bowel cancer. Continue reading...

Reconstruction presented alongside visual and audio recordings of events leading up to death of man in Kirkcaldy in 2015A 3D image of the scene where Sheku Bayoh was restrained by police has been shown at a long-awaited inquiry into his death while in custody.The reconstruction was presented along with visual and audio recordings taken from CCTV, witnesses’ phones and emergency calls in a public hearing led by the retired appeal court judge Lord Bracadale. Continue reading...

Witnesses say police failed to disperse mob of fellow students in Sokoto who set victim on fire following WhatsApp commentsA female student in Nigeria was beaten to death and set on fire by fellow students who accused her of posting “blasphemous” statements in a WhatsApp group, two witnesses have said.The school, located in Nigeria’s north-western state of Sokoto, was immediately closed down following the attack. Continue reading...

Francisca Sandoval, 29, is the first journalist to be killed in the line of duty in Chile since the Pinochet dictatorshipA Chilean journalist who was shot in the head by a street trader while covering Workers’ Day marches on 1 May has died of her injuries.Francisca Sandoval, 29, was reporting in Barrio Meiggs, a ramshackle market district in the centre of the capital, Santiago, when a group of men opened fire after a standoff with the marchers. Continue reading...

Director Rob Reiner is bringing back the cast of the much-loved rock mockumentary for a follow-up set to be released in 2024A sequel to the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap is in the works with the original director and cast.Spinal Tap II will see Rob Reiner return as both film-maker on and off the screen along with Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest. The film will be released in 2024 on the 1984 original’s 40th anniversary. Continue reading...

Judges praise Deana Lawson’s portraits, which depict familiar domestic scenes containing an unsettling elementAn artist whose staged portraits reflect the language of the family photo album has won one of the most prestigious prizes in photography, with judges saying her work “reframes and reclaims the black experience”.Deana Lawson from Rochester, New York, was awarded the £30,000 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize 2022 at the Photographers’ Gallery in London for her solo exhibition Centropy, held at Kunsthalle Basel two years ago. Continue reading...

Lawyer for Coleen Rooney suggests Vardy is trying to shift blame for leaking of information to Sun newspaperRebekah Vardy has been accused of throwing her former agent and friend “under a bus” in a last-ditch attempt to save her reputation in the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.The footballer’s wife was accused – during the third day of a libel trial at the high court on Thursday – of deliberately destroying evidence, habitually leaking stories to the Sun newspaper, and trying to shift the blame on to her adviser Caroline Watt. Continue reading...

Justice secretary says safeguarding concerns must be addressed, and criticises Human Rights ActLevi Bellfield’s request to get married in prison is “inconceivable” unless serious safeguarding concerns are addressed, Dominic Raab has said.Bellfield, who murdered Marsha McDonnell, Amelie Delagrange and Milly Dowler, is engaged and has requested a prison wedding, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed. Continue reading...

Chancellor says he is ‘pragmatic’ about introducing a levy on energy companies to ease cost of living crisisRishi Sunak has insisted he is “pragmatic” about the idea of a windfall tax on energy companies, claiming “no options are off the table” in the clearest sign yet that the government is planning measures to tackle the cost of living crisis.Labour has been calling for a windfall tax on oil firms, which have benefited from rocketing global prices, with the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, suggesting the proceeds be used to cut domestic energy bills. Continue reading...

Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at warWhen the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks.The unit, stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces. Continue reading...

Met police announce number of fixed-penalty notices for Covid breaches in Whitehall has doubledBoris Johnson has been accused of presiding over Covid lockdown breaches on a “record-breaking scale” after the Metropolitan police said it had issued 100 fixed-penalty notices as part of its Partygate investigation.The force previously said it had issued more than 50 fines, a figure updated on Thursday to more than 100. This was the first public information since updates on the investigation’s progress were paused ahead of last week’s local elections. Continue reading...

Recordings of calls to Dorset police played at inquest into death of 19-year-old in 2017A police officer dismissed relatives of the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope as “taking the piss” when they made a series of desperate calls for help on the day she vanished, an inquest jury has heard.Pope’s mother and aunt spoke to Dorset police in an attempt to confirm an appointment for the young woman to make a complaint over indecent images she had been sent. They explained that the images had triggered a severe mental health episode in Pope, 19, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after reporting being raped at the age of 16. Continue reading...

With around two-thirds of regional nursing homes operating at a loss, industry says ‘the crisis is upon us, but it’s going to get worse’

Labor also faces criticism, but Albanese is gaining ground in news coverage on Chinese social media platform, research finds

Latest updates: Maroš Šefčovič says UK must admit that EU cannot solve all problems caused by type of Brexit negotiated by prime minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed to lead ‘unity government’ after days of deadly violenceSri Lanka’s beleaguered president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has sworn in a new prime minister to replace his brother as the country reels from days of violence.The new PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has held the post five times before, will head up a “unity government” tasked with finding a way out of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence, with severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines and long power cuts. Continue reading...

Actor discussed the death of her mother, the Grammy-winning country musician, in an interview on Good Morning AmericaThe Grammy-winning country musician Naomi Judd died last month after shooting herself, her daughter, the actor Ashley Judd, said on Thursday.Ashley discussed the death of her 76-year-old mother in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America. Continue reading...

Commons told ministers to publish information after revelations of intelligence service concerns over businessman’s appointmentThe government has declined a Commons instruction to release information about the decision to make Evgeny Lebedev a peer, saying this would undermine the confidentiality of those nominated and could degenerate into “political point-scoring”.Labour called the decision “a cover-up”, and promised more action over what it called a contempt of parliament. Continue reading...

Palestinians line streets in Ramallah as journalist’s coffin travels through, after shooting in Jenin on WednesdayShireen Abu Aqleh, the Palestinian American journalist shot dead during an Israeli army operation, has been honoured with a full state memorial in the West Bank city of Ramallah.At least 5,000 people lined the streets on Thursday as her coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was driven through the city and the Qalandia checkpoint en route to St Joseph hospital nearer her home in occupied East Jerusalem. Her funeral will be held in the holy city on Friday. Continue reading...

Hallett calls for greater focus on minority ethnic people, children and mental healthThe chair of the UK Covid-19 public inquiry has urged the prime minister to significantly widen its scope to better examine the pandemic’s unequal impact on minority ethnic people, on children and on mental health.Heather Hallett asked Boris Johnson to beef up the inquiry after receiving more than 20,000 responses to a public consultation on the government’s draft terms of reference, which many civic groups complained were too narrow. If the prime minister ratifies the redrawn terms, it will considerably extend a statutory inquiry that some experts predict will be the largest in modern British history. Continue reading...

Total of 6.4 million people awaiting treatment, as service says more people are coming forward for careThe waiting list for NHS hospital care in England has reached another record high, and health service bosses say “skyrocketing” demand is likely to make treatment delays even worse.The number of people waiting for surgery or other procedures in hospital rose to almost 6.4 million at the end of March, NHS England’s latest performance data shows, up from 6.2 million in February and the highest total since records began in 2007. Continue reading...