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While masks remain optional in schools nationwide, authorities in several Australian states have strengthened requests for action

Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne – who play Karl and Susan – reflect as fans prepare for final episode to airThe Neighbours stalwarts Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne, who played Karl and Susan Kennedy in the Australian soap opera, have said they shared “a few tears and a lot of hugs” as their 28-year stint on the show came to an end.With the Neighbours finale due to air later this month, some of the show’s longest-standing actors have been reflecting on their time on set and working alongside future Hollywood stars. Continue reading...

Suspicions over François Mitterrand’s health were raised a decade before his cancer prognosis was made publicA British diplomat raised concerns about the secret extent of French president François Mitterrand’s ill health a decade before the statesman’s terminal prognosis was made public, newly released official papers reveal.Sir Reginald Hibbert, the UK government’s ambassador in Paris, appraised Whitehall colleagues in December 1981 with “talk about the president’s health which seemed to me to carry a certain amount of conviction”. Continue reading...

From 2025, commuters can expect two extra trains every hour between Manchester and York and journey times up to 40% shorterTrain services in the north of England are to be given triple the intended investment after the government announced the first part of its £96bn integrated rail plan.The multibillion pound plan – announced last November – pledged to deliver faster train journeys more quickly than the original plans for the HS2 eastern leg and Northern Powerhouse Rail. Continue reading...

Beaches and theme parks could all host ceremonies as Law Commission says couples should have more choiceCouples could soon marry on a cruise, in their kitchen or during a day out at the beach under proposals to tear up current restrictions on where weddings can be held.In what would be the biggest overhaul to marriage regulations in England and Wales since the 19th century, the Law Commission is recommending that weddings should be able to take place anywhere, providing the presiding official considers it safe and dignified. Continue reading...

PM alludes to ‘deep state’ plot to drag UK back into EU before winning confidence vote by 349 to 238Boris Johnson has defended his three years in power as his government survived a no-confidence vote, during a combative speech that hinted at a “deep state” plot to drag the UK back into the EU when he leaves office.The prime minister’s pugnacious argument in the House of Commons on Monday evening opened the debate on a vote of no-confidence that his government won by 349 to 238, a majority of 111. In a highly unusual move, No 10 called the vote of confidence in itself after it rejected a Labour motion that singled out Johnson. Continue reading...

Tom Tugendhat’s elimination leaves No 2 in race the only hopeful who is vaguely liberal and not tinged by Johnson’s government

Provisional trial date for Katie Tidmarsh set for 6 March after she appeared at a court in LeicesterA 38-year-old woman accused of murdering an infant 10 years ago has been granted bail by a crown court judge.Katie Tidmarsh is accused of killing one-year-old Ruby Thompson after the girl became unwell at her home address in Leicester on 11 August 2012, Leicestershire police said. The force said Ruby was taken to hospital but died two days later. Continue reading...

Falling wholesale costs could lead to savings of £10 off a tank within a fortnight, the AA saidMotorists can expect reductions of about £1.50 a tank after fuel prices dropped from record highs seen in recent months.According to the AA motoring group, average pump prices for petrol have fallen since the start of the month, when prices were 191.53p a litre for petrol and 199.07p a litre for diesel. Continue reading...

In leaked letter two female ex-staffers demand party acknowledge they were asked to sign gagging clausesTwo female former Labour staffers have accused the party of making damaging statements to the media about a sexual harassment case, demanding in a leaked letter that the party acknowledge they were asked to sign gagging clauses.The two former aides have written to the national executive committee (NEC), the party’s governing body, asking it to address the allegations at a meeting on Tuesday. Continue reading...

In need of repair, futuristic yet surreal complex built by artist Xavier Corberó is to become public spaceLike a three-dimensional De Chirico painting or an Escher staircase to nowhere, the labyrinthine Espai Corberó near Barcelona defies architectural logic, being designed “without plans, obeying only space and poetry”.“It’s not my home, it’s a place I made with the help of patrons and buyers as a home for my sculptures,” the artist Xavier Corberó told the art magazine AD shortly before his death at 81 in 2017. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can see our latest story on the extreme heat here

Tax is a ‘no-brainer’ after companies’ huge profits during Covid but corporate influence makes it ‘politically difficult’, Stiglitz says

Productivity Commissions calls for mandatory labelling of inauthentic products to warn consumers and protect income of Indigenous artists

Council claims station backed by minority group doesn’t represent Islamic community as dispute spills into court

Roads and railways less busy than usual but UK transport operators say worst is yet to come

Force majeure declared in letter to customers concerns supplies via Nord Stream 1 pipeline, says source

Prospect of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and Khalifa Haftar burying differences may be welcomed by UNLibya’s prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, has made an unexpected alliance with his former enemy, the eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar, in a bid to cement a fragile ceasefire and end a months-long oil blockade.Less than three years ago, Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) besieged Tripoli in a failed attempt to capture the capital. On Monday, in a highly symbolic gesture, LNA’s chief of staff, Abdulrazek al-Nadoori, was invited to visit the city for talks. Continue reading...

Analysis: Charm offensive moves away from slick videos and stirring soundtracks, and towards Tory MPs

Contents of dozens of royal wills have been kept private by judges in special hearings closed to the publicGenerations of the royal family have concealed details of assets worth more than £180m through a series of legal applications that have been granted in total secrecy.The assets are outlined in 33 wills that were drawn up by members of the Windsor family over more than a century. Continue reading...

First demonstrator aircraft will fly ‘within next five years’ to test features such as stealth capabilityThe UK government has announced that it will work with Japan on plans for its next-generation Tempest fighter jet as executives from across the aviation industry gathered in the sweltering heat for the start of the Farnborough airshow.The first demonstrator Tempest aircraft – capable of supersonic flight – will fly “within the next five years” to test features such as stealth capability. Continue reading...

Tory leadership hopeful with Irish roots has stayed silent on Northern Ireland protocol bill

Financial Reporting Council penalises auditor and former partner at firm over work in 2016 and 2018Grant Thornton has been fined £1.3m for “serious failings” in basic auditing of the sportswear retailer Sports Direct, the UK accounting regulator said on Monday.The findings relate to Grant Thornton’s audits of Sports Direct International (SDI), now called Frasers Group, in 2016 and 2018 and the work of Philip Westerman, the partner in charge of the audits. Continue reading...

Labour accuses prime minister of having ‘clocked off’ with UK approaching 38.7C record

Government consults on ‘biggest electricity market shake-up in decades’ amid soaring billsConsumers could be offered cheaper rates to use energy when demand is low, under proposals drawn up by the government.The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on Monday launched a 12-week consultation on the “biggest electricity market shake-up in decades” in response to sky-high bills and Britain’s move towards renewable energy sources. Continue reading...

Bloc lines up latest sanctions amid divisions over their effectiveness at curbing Moscow’s war machine

Caroline Henry had vowed to crack down on speeding during her time as Nottinghamshire PCCA Conservative police and crime commissioner who pledged to crack down on speeding has been banned from driving for six months after being caught breaking the speed limit five times within a 12-week period.Caroline Henry, the PCC for Nottinghamshire, was sentenced at Nottingham magistrates court on Monday after previously admitting the offences. Continue reading...

Pass to help ease cost of living crisis has been hailed as a success but is due to expire at the end of AugustThe German government is under pressure to extend the heavily subsidised monthly public transport pass it launched in June.The “€9-ticket” project, which grants everyone living in or visiting Germany unlimited travel across the country on regional transport at a cost of just €9 (£7.60) a month, is due to expire at the end of August. It has two aims: to lure people out of their cars and help ease the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Insurer’s shares fall as higher used car prices, costlier parts and longer repair times weigh on businessDirect Line has issued a profit warning, saying that soaring prices of used cars, parts and longer repair times has pushed up the cost of claims.Shares in the insurer plunged 13% on Monday – making Direct Line the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 – to its lowest level since 2013 as the company said that overall claim costs are rising at about 10%. Continue reading...

Pair indicated they would not take part in programme after bruising exchanges in earlier debates

Britain is in the middle of an exceptional and unprecedented heatwaveSome of the most extreme weather globally is currently happening in the UK, which is in the middle of an exceptional and unprecedented heatwave. The UK’s highest observed temperature previously stood at 38.7C (101.7F), which was set in Cambridge in July 2019.The UK maximum temperature record is expected to be broken again on Tuesday but at numerous weather stations across central and eastern England. The widespread nature of this heat is staggering. Another notable feature of the current heatwave is the very high overnight temperatures forecast on Monday night. Many places are expected to record a so-called “tropical night” where the temperature does not drop below 20C. Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet says Covid-19 policies should not be ‘set and forget’ while ACT chief minister pushes for further extension of leave payments

Consumer health company’s shares open at 330p, giving it a market value of about £31bnGSK’s consumer spin-off Haleon, home to brands from Sensodyne toothpaste to Panadol painkillers, has begun trading on the London Stock Exchange in the biggest European listing in a decade.Haleon shares started trading on Monday morning at 330p, with a market value of about £31bn. Continue reading...

Global Times quotes comments by foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on military encounters in the South China SeaChina has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”.Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft. Continue reading...

Inquest hears Peter Jenkinson spoke to Krystal Fraser the night of her disappearance

As economy collapses, women from Afghanistan’s finance ministry say they have been asked to suggest male relatives to replace themThe Taliban have asked women employees at Afghanistan’s finance ministry to send a male relative to do their job a year after female public-sector workers were barred from government work and told to stay at home.Women who worked in government positions were sent home from their jobs shortly after the Taliban took power in August 2021, and have been paid heavily reduced salaries to do nothing. Continue reading...

Focus on individual’s culpability played into ‘blame-based system of accountability’, says healthcare professionals bodyMedical experts in cases involving doctors should have a mandatory duty to consider systems issues such as inadequate staffing levels to avoid them being scapegoated for wider failures, the Medical Protection Society has said.The MPS, which supports the the professional interests of more than 300,000 healthcare professionals around the world, says medical expert reports focus on scrutinising the actions of the individual doctor even when failings are a result of the setting in which they work. Continue reading...

Intervention comes as thousands of homebuyers refuse to make mortgage repayments in deepening property sector crisisChinese banks have been told to bail out struggling property developers to help them complete unfinished housing projects and head off the growing mortgage strike that threatens to seriously damage the economy.With thousands of homebuyers banding together to refuse to keep up with mortgage instalments on unfinished apartments bought off the plan, regulators have stepped up efforts to encourage lenders to extend loans to qualified real estate projects. Continue reading...

Shadow minister Pat McFadden seeks answers about chancellor and offshore family firm, and £26m loan his firm spent on propertyThe shadow treasury minister, Pat McFadden, has written to Nadhim Zahawi, challenging him to provide more clarity about his tax and financial affairs.Since becoming chancellor after Rishi Sunak resigned earlier this month, Zahawi has faced persistent questions about his relationship to a Gibraltar-based firm, Balshore Investment, controlled by his parents. Continue reading...

Members of Criminal Bar Association take fight for a 25% rise in legal aid fees to parliamentBarristers are heading to parliament as they begin their first whole week of strike action over levels of legal aid funding they say are bringing the criminal justice system to its knees.Members of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents advocates in England and Wales, began action with a two-day strike at the end of last month and have been escalating it by an extra day every week. Continue reading...

Treasurer says rising interest rates will affect economic growth but Labor has plans to provide cost-of-living support

Thousands evacuated as above 40C forecast for some French regions on Monday and more lives lost in soaring heat in SpainFrance was bracing on Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean, as wildfires continued to rage across Europe.Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the south-west, where wildfires have already wrought havoc. Continue reading...

Declaration called ‘expedient’ as Ranil Wickremesinghe tries to curb unrest over ongoing political and economic crisesSri Lanka’s acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has declared a state of emergency as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation.“It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community,” a government notice released late on Sunday said. Continue reading...

Wallabies fan who made his way to roof during third Test against England charged by police and condemned for ‘deplorable’ behaviour

Marina Ovsyannikova briefly detained days after she demonstrated near the Kremlin holding placard criticising Putin and Ukraine warRussian police detained and later released the journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live television broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, posts on her social media channels showed.Her detention on Sunday came a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and president Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Home Office has ‘worrying’ habit of announcing untested ideas to stop Channel crossings, says analysis

SBU’s Ivan Bakanov and war crimes prosecutor Iryna Venediktova sacked after their officials found to be collaborating with Russia

Latest updates: five remaining contenders take part in ITV debate ahead of next round of MP ballots on Monday