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The pioneering Bilan project, funded by UN, will report on gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneursThe first all-women media house in Somalia has been launched, creating a rare opportunity for female journalists in the country to research and publish stories they want to tell.Led by one of the few female senior news producers in the country, the team of six will produce content for TV, radio and online media on issues such as gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs. Continue reading...

Deputy premier James Merlino rejects calls for dedicated Grand Prix public holiday to further boost crowds

Police say Johns recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.157 after crash between his SUV and a van in the NSW Hunter region in March

Conditions drastically worse than in general camps, with some women forced to engage in ‘survival sex’, says World VisionWomen and children living in some of the hardest-to-reach camps in north-west Syria face chronic and high levels of violence and depression, with some women forced to engage in “survival sex”, a new report has revealed.Children in so-called “widow camps” have been found to be severely neglected, abused and forced to work while mothers are at “breaking point” psychologically. More than 80% of women say they do not have adequate healthcare and 95% expressed feelings of hopelessness. Continue reading...

Exclusive: total number of doctors now about 1,500 less than in the year Jeremy Hunt promised a rise of 5,000 by 2020The number of GPs in England has fallen every year since the government first pledged to increase the family doctor workforce by 5,000, a minister has admitted.There were 29,364 full-time-equivalent GPs in post in September 2015, when the then health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, first promised to increase the total by 5,000 by 2020. Continue reading...

Karl Nehammer will be first EU leader to meet Russian president since invasion began, and called for a ceasefire and full investigation of war crimes

Monday: Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese kick off their election campaigns. Plus: affordable autumn food

Monarch discusses experience with former Covid patient and wife during virtual visit to Royal London hospitalThe Queen has revealed she was left “very tired and exhausted” after her recent bout of Covid-19 as she discussed her experience with a former patient whose brother and father died from the virus.The monarch tested positive for coronavirus in February, but carried on with her duties, despite suffering from what Buckingham Palace described as “mild cold-like symptoms”. Continue reading...

Awards for Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley among musical’s wins, with Life of Pi also recognised in several categoriesAn intimate revival of the musical Cabaret, which transformed London’s Playhouse theatre into the debauched Kit Kat Club of Weimar Berlin, has triumphed at this year’s Olivier awards.The production won in seven categories at the ceremony, which was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday for the first time in three years and hosted by comedian Jason Manford. Covid forced the cancellation of the last two annual awards shows, though a prerecorded virtual ceremony served as a stopgap in autumn 2020. Continue reading...

Work by Francis Hines, who wrapped buildings and paintings and died at 96 in 2016, found in dumpster and now destined for salePaintings and other artwork found in an abandoned barn in Connecticut turned out to be worth millions of dollars.Notified by a contractor, Jared Whipple, a mechanic from Waterbury, retrieved the dirt-covered pieces from a dumpster which contained materials from a barn in Watertown. Continue reading...

Money saving expert says UK government must do more to ensure people can heat homes and have enough foodBritain’s self-titled money saving expert Martin Lewis has warned that civil unrest over rising energy bills “isn’t far away”, as he repeated his call for more government intervention to protect people.Lewis said he was the most scared he has been for people’s finances since he founded his popular website in 2003. It has traditionally offered advice on which bank accounts or phone providers may be cost-effective, and has been a regular port of call for people looking to switch energy provider and save money. Continue reading...

Chancellor should address criticism of family’s tax affairs rather than seeking inquiry into source of leak, says Jonathan AshworthRishi Sunak has been accused of “whingeing” about the leak of his wife’s non-dom tax status after he ordered a Whitehall inquiry and raised concerns the unauthorised disclosure could be a criminal offence.The chancellor was criticised by Labour for complaining about the “smears” and insisting on an inquiry into the leak, instead of addressing the criticism of his family avoiding tax while he puts up taxes and cuts benefits in real terms this month. Continue reading...

The chancellor remains under pressure after controversy over the tax affairs of his wifeThe “non-dom” status: why will Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, not give it up?Murty has agreed to pay UK tax on her worldwide earnings in future and for the last tax year, but she will continue to be a non-domiciled citizen. This potentially still confers inheritance tax advantages on her overseas wealth. Some critics are also still calling for her to pay UK tax on her worldwide earnings on a backdated basis. Continue reading...

The PM flew to Poland and then travelled by Ukrainian rail for his meeting with Volodymyr ZelenskiyBoris Johnson embarked on his trip to Kyiv in utmost secrecy. He arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday without the world’s media realising he was there until footage of him strolling the streets with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy emerged.Only after he had returned to the UK did a Downing Street spokesperson confirm he had flown to Poland and then travelled by train via Ukrainian railways. Continue reading...

Insufficient accomodation and government support spark calls for better resourcing and planning in disaster responses

Man applied to Australian government for act of grace payment over Mosul strike targeting Islamic State in 2017An Iraqi man who alleges 35 family members were killed when an Australian airstrike targeting Islamic State instead obliterated a house where civilians were sheltering has been denied a compensation payment by the federal government.The man, who did not wish to be identified, applied for what is known as an act of grace payment from the Department of Finance last year, arguing that there was strong evidence the Australian Defence Force dropped the bomb in 2017 as part of a series of airstrikes in Mosul by the coalition fighting IS.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

The parties’ election machines have been humming into gear for weeks. Here’s the who who’s of each operation

Labor told it needs to ‘find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders’, where the Liberal party holds 23 of the state’s 30 seats

Nick Herbert calls for royal commission to detoxify trans debate but criticises ‘shouty protests’The prime minister’s LGBT adviser has said he is “dismayed” by the decision not to include transgender people in a ban on conversion practices, while describing the cancellation of the government’s equality conference as an “act of self-harm by the LGBT lobby”.Nick Herbert also called for a royal commission to detoxify and take the politics out of the trans debate. Continue reading...

Analysis: the Ukraine invasion came at an opportune moment for the PM, though the damage of partygate lingers on

Moscow promotes Alexander Dvornikov, who led Russian troops in Syria, as it regroups for Donbas battle

Exclusive: Michael Attenborough says late chair was promised by new Ofcom chief Michael Grade he would oppose privatisationRichard Attenborough, the late Oscar-winning director and chair of Channel 4, would be “turning in his grave” to see the broadcaster privatised, his son has claimed.Michael Attenborough said that Michael Grade – Channel 4’s chief executive from 1988 to 1997, who will monitor the privatisation process as chair of the broadcast regulator, Ofcom – was breaking a promise to his father by supporting the sell-off. Continue reading...

Britain is determined to do all it can to bring to justice those responsible for ‘truly awful crimes’, says Kit Malthouse

Former MP says he will sue Twitter in next seven days for defamation unless it rescinds the label

Exclusive: Royal College of Emergency Medicine president says NHS is breaking its agreement to treat sickest in a timely way• ‘For staff, this is heartbreaking’: senior doctor’s view on crisis

Organisations in West Midlands accuse organisers of failing to engage with region’s diverse communitiesOrganisations in the West Midlands have accused the Commonwealth Games of failing to engage with multicultural communities across the region.A number of groups claimed organisers of the sporting event, taking place in Birmingham in July, have ignored their requests to get involved, and said creative groups led by people of colour have been sidelined for the cultural festival running alongside the Games. Continue reading...

First round of voting begins, with eventual winner expected to be decided in runoff two weeks laterPolling stations have opened across mainland France for the first round of a fiercely contested presidential election.Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are the frontrunners among the 12 candidates to win through to the second round in two weeks but opinion polls have suggested the race will be close. Continue reading...

Wolfgang Beltracchi and his wife Helene sold fake paintings for millions before some inauthentic white paint led to their captureTheir forgeries of 20th-century masters such as Max Ernst and Fernand Léger duped the art world into parting with millions of pounds – until a modern pigment gave them away.Now, after serving lengthy prison sentences, Wolfgang Beltracchi and his wife Helene have told the story behind the hundreds of paintings that tricked even the artists’ families. Continue reading...

A Tate retrospective portrays the English artist as a master of disguise, and in thrall to his early stage careerA major Tate Britain exhibition opening this month will be the first to display a rare early self-portrait of Walter Sickert, the influential English painter, that shows how his early career on the stage drove his ever-changing art.The string of self-portraits includes a small pen and ink sketch from 1882, found in Islington’s Local History Centre, in which the artist leans forward in a pose taken from his idol, the actor-manager Henry Irving. Sickert, born in 1860, had joined Irving’s stage company in his youth as a performer, before leaving to study art at the Slade School in 1881. Continue reading...

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Guardian Australia is tracking Coalition and Labor funding commitments and highlighting pork-barrelling during the election campaign

Now that Russia has its sights on the east, with a major offensive imminent, the next month will be potentially decisive for Ukraine

Germany is bracing for supplies to be cut by Moscow in retaliation for sanctions or as part of an energy embargoIn Germany, they call it “Day X”. Businesses up and down the land are making contingency plans for what is seen as a growing likelihood that Russian gas will stop flowing into Europe’s biggest economy.“It would be a disaster – one which would have seemed almost unthinkable just two months ago, but which right now feels like a very realistic prospect,” the owner of a hi-tech mechanical engineering company in western Germany said. The firm produces everything from battery cases for electric cars to train clutch systems. Continue reading...

What remains of Kyiv’s tango community is looking forward to Saturday night event

Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls for ‘firm global response’ to Kramatorsk station attack; 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for Saturday

80% of those polled felt the campaign was ‘poor quality’, with many complaining of a lack of ideas or visionA majority of French people feel the 2022 presidential election campaign has been poor quality and never really got off the ground, which could lead to protest votes and a historically low turn-out in Sunday’s first round, pollsters and analysts have said.An Ifop poll this month found 80% of French people felt the campaign was “poor quality”. Voters have complained of a lack of new political ideas or vision, and few solutions to their problems, after two years of the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis. Continue reading...

Qantas apologises to family who missed international trip because of domestic flight delays

This blog is closed. Russia-Ukraine war: latest updatesThe President of the European Commission and EU representative Josep Borrell appear to be on their way to Kyiv this morning.Ursula von der Leyen shared a photo of herself stepping off a Ukrainian train alongside the caption “looking forward to Kyiv”.We have significant losses of troops. And it’s a huge tragedy for us. Continue reading...

Saodat Narzieva held 27 secret Swiss bank accounts linked to the Russian oligarchThe sister of the oligarch and former Arsenal football club shareholder Alisher Usmanov has been sanctioned by the EU after an investigation by the Guardian named her in connection with 27 Swiss bank accounts containing billions of pounds.Usmanov’s sister, Saodat Narzieva, was among a number of relatives of Russian officials and oligarchs added to the EU’s sanctions list on Friday in response to the war in Ukraine. Usmanov has been under EU sanctions since February. Continue reading...

European Commission chief visits Bucha before meeting Volodymyr Zelenskiy in KyivEuropean Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha showed the “cruel face” of Russia’s army and pledged to try to speed Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the European Union.During a visit to Bucha on Friday, where forensic investigators started to exhume bodies from a mass grave, Von der Leyen looked visibly moved by what she saw in the town northwest of Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian forces. Continue reading...

Academy bars actor from all its events, condemning ‘unacceptable and harmful behavior on stage’The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences board of governors has banned Will Smith from all its events, including the Oscars, for 10 years after the best actor winner slapped the presenter Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony.Smith has publicly apologized and resigned from the academy. The Academy’s decision on Friday comes after its president, David Rubin, expedited a board meeting scheduled for 18 April in light of Smith’s voluntary resignation. In his letter to board members, Rubin said that Ampas rules stipulated a 15-day notice to consider suspending a membership, but after Smith’s resignation that no longer applied. Continue reading...

Exclusive: whistleblower says code of Schools Ministry Group, Australia’s second biggest provider, could discriminate against workers

On the ground in the devastated Bucha and Trostianets; when rape is used as a weapon; and will Putin face a war crimes tribunal?

Labor demands government reveal how it shortlisted Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla as potential sites for baseVoters will be kept in the dark on how Scott Morrison’s government selected three potential bases for Australia’s planned nuclear-powered submarines, after the advice was blocked from release.With the prime minister preparing to formally call the election within days, Labor demanded the government reveal how it shortlisted the locations to prove the announcement was “not just a marketing ploy”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Four health services already failing to meet nurse-to-patient ratios ahead of expected Covid surge

Monarch to be represented by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla Duchess of CornwallThe Queen has pulled out of the Royal Maundy church service and will be represented by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, at the annual event for the first time.The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will fulfil the ancient tradition of handing out Maundy money to community figures on Thursday at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Continue reading...

Akshata Murty says she realises many felt her arrangements were not ‘compatible with my husband’s job as chancellor’• Sunak defends wife’s tax status as Labour and No 10 deny leakRishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, bowed to pressure to pay UK taxes on Friday night, after Boris Johnson said he had been unaware she was a “non-dom” and fresh questions emerged over the couple’s tax affairs.With Sunak’s position under increasing threat, Murty said she realised many people felt her tax arrangements were not “compatible with my husband’s job as chancellor”, adding that she appreciated the “British sense of fairness”. She will pay tax on all worldwide income in future and for the last tax year, but not on backdated income, which could have saved her an estimated £20m of UK tax on foreign earnings from her billionaire father’s Indian IT company. Continue reading...

Chancellor declines to endorse claim by Boris Johnson during London visit that goal will be achieved by mid-2024

Jobs set to go at Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and at West Bromwich, but new posts to be created at RotherhamLiberty Steel has announced plans to cut 200 jobs in the UK at plants in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, as industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s metals group looks to shift production to Rotherham.The company said on Friday that it would cut 160 jobs at a plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, and 45 in West Bromwich in the West Midlands as it focused production on the plant in Rotherham, also in South Yorkshire. Continue reading...