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As a cardinal under the age of 80, the Ukrainian-born priest will be one of the select few Catholic leaders to gather in the Vatican for the papal conclave

Darren Henley says regional arts leaders do not have same newspaper coverage as those in the capitalThe chief executive of Arts Council England has launched an impassioned defence of the organisation, claiming it has suffered because of London-centric" media coverage.Darren Henley, who saw in his 10th anniversary as Arts Council England CEO last week, told the Guardian there was an imbalance in media coverage. Continue reading...

Thousands of digital natives' to be taught social skills, as employers say they are too afraid to speak on phoneThousands of gen Z students in Greater Manchester are to learn soft skills" such as empathy and time-management in a UK-first trial aimed at teaching everyday but essential" tools.The pioneering programme will teach young people how to thrive in the workplace after employers said digital natives" were too afraid to speak on the phone or do job interviews. Continue reading...

More than 47,000 anonymous pamphlets distributed in Wentworth area, which includes Bondi Beach, Darling Point, Double Bay and Rose Bay

Heat spreads eastwards into the Baltics and western Russia, although colder air will sweep in by the weekendAfter a spell of record-breaking heat last week, eastern Europe and western parts of Russia will experience further unseasonable warmth in the next few days. The burst of mid-spring warmth began during the middle of last week, when temperatures climbed to the high 20s celsius in eastern Germany and Poland. By Friday, the northern coastal town of eba in Poland recorded a maximum temperature of 29.6C (84.2F), nearly 20C above the town's April average.By the end of the week, the heat had spread eastwards into the Baltics and western Russia, bringing record-breaking temperatures there during the day and overnight. In Lithuania, four stations climbed to above 29C on Friday, smashing the country's April maximum temperature record of 23.1C, set 66 years ago in 1959. Neighbouring Latvia and Estonia also set new national April temperature records late last week, registering maximum temperatures of 28.4C and 28.8C respectively. Continue reading...

AEC receives complaints after unauthorised pamphlets distributed in Wentworth. Follow the day's news live

Human rights experts voice alarm as refugees expelled by the US, not welcomed by Bhutan and rejected by NepalWhen Narayan Kumar Subedi received a call from his daughter in the United States three weeks ago, he expected to hear news of his two children's life abroad, perhaps even plans for a long-awaited reunion. Instead, he was told his 36-year-old son Ashish, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in the US, was being deported.Ashish had been caught in a domestic dispute that led to police involvement. After several days in detention without proper legal support, he was caught up in Donald Trump's migration crackdown and deported to Bhutan. Continue reading...

Regions in eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts starting minutes after midnight on Monday, with the alerts gradually extending westUkraine issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and the country's eastern half as blasts shook the city of Mykolaiv early on Monday, authorities said, hours after the one-day Easter ceasefire" declared by Vladimir Putin came to an end.Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian president's unilateral Easter ceasefire declaration as a fake PR" exercise and said Russian troops had continued their drone and artillery attacks across many parts of the frontline on Sunday. Continue reading...

Opposition expected to use final two weeks of the campaign to focus on the traditionally safe grounds of national security, crime and defence

Guardian analysis finds seven MPs have worked at least 300 hours since July in outside employmentA total of seven MPs have spent on average one working day a week on second jobs since the start of the 2024 parliament, with additional gigs as TV presenters, lawyers and consultants.A Guardian analysis of self-declared working hours found the seven had worked at least 300 hours since July - the equivalent of eight hours a week, in outside employment averaged across the parliament - totalling more than 3,000 hours between them. A further seven MPs had worked at least five hours a week on a second job. Continue reading...

Exclusive: There were 380 safeguarding referrals of victims of hate crimes from January 2023 to August 2024The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

CAA data shows flights departed more than 23 minutes late last year, with Birmingham and Manchester second and third-worstLondon Gatwick is the UK's worst airport for flight delays, official figures showed, with air traffic control issues blamed for continuing disruption.In 2024, flights departed on average more than 23 minutes late from Britain's second-biggest airport, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority. Continue reading...

Venezuela's chief prosecutor hits back at cynical' offer by neofascist' Salvadoran leader and demands rights for Venezuelan prisonersEl Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, has proposed sending 252 Venezuelans deported from the US and imprisoned in his country to Venezuela, in exchange for political prisoners" held by Venezuela.On Sunday, Bukele asked that the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, hand over 252 of the political prisoners you are holding" under his proposed deal. Continue reading...

Kaninhop emerged from Sweden but has won popularity across the globe. Some of its keenest devotees gathered in Sydney for four tension-filled events

Incendiary letter by Moscow's envoy says Australians should be more concerned about US bases on their soil than a Russian base in Indonesia

The child died after becoming trapped between rocks at South West Rocks on Sunday afternoon

Defence secretary says lessons from Ukraine highlight need for homegrown supply chainBritain is set to significantly increase its weapons production in order to no longer rely on importing from the US and France.This comes as British and European defence companies move away from buying US-made weaponry and equipment due to concerns over president Donald Trump making the country an unreliable military partner. Continue reading...

Emergency repairs and quality checks for 5m people in Scotland will not be done on Tuesday and Wednesday, union saysScottish Water staff will strike for two days from the early hours of Tuesday as a standoff over pay continues at the state-owned company.The striking workers' union warned that emergency repairs and quality checks to water supplied to 5 million people across Scotland would not be carried out during the action on Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue reading...

Patients in England aged 65 or over made up almost 70% of long trolley waits', with some left for up to 10 days, data revealsAbout 49,000 A&E visits last year resulted in patients waiting 24 hours or more for a hospital bed, with people aged 65 or over making up almost 70% of cases.According to a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrats, some patients went 10 days before getting a space on a ward. Continue reading...

Chris Van Hollen says if we deny constitutional rights of this one man, it threatens constitutional rights of everyone'Senator Chris Van Hollen, who travelled to El Salvador last week to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man at the center of a wrongful deportation dispute, said on Sunday that his trip was to support Abrego Garcia's right to due process because if that was denied then everyone's constitutional rights were threatened in the US.The White House has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang though he has not been charged with any gang related crimes and the supreme court has ordered his return to the US be facilitated. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Price of importing drugs for a Paris and Birmingham study has almost quadrupled to 175,000

IDF says it is dismissing deputy commander for giving inaccurate report' on shooting that caused global outcryIsrael's military has admitted to several professional failures" and a breach of orders in the killing of 15 rescue workers in Gaza last month, and said that it was dismissing a deputy commander responsible.The deadly shooting of eight Red Crescent paramedics, six civil defence workers and a UN staffer by Israeli troops, as they carried out a rescue mission in southern Gaza at dawn on 23 March, had prompted international outcry and calls for a war crimes investigation. Continue reading...

Meeting called with justice secretary after attack on three guards at HMP FranklandPrison officers will demand the immediate issue of electric stun guns to protect staff guarding Britain's most dangerous jails when they meet the justice secretary this week.Wednesday's meeting with Shabana Mahmood was called after the attack on three guards at HMP Frankland, allegedly by the convicted terrorist Hashem Abedi. Two were seriously injured after being doused in hot cooking fat and stabbed, one five times in the torso, in a sustained assault. Continue reading...

Coalition appears to be losing support, but latest Essential poll shows 47% of voters on the fence, making the final 12 days crucial

Exclusive: Guardian Australia investigation into export abattoirs brings necessary and commonsense' commitment back to the spotlight

Duke of York attends royal family's traditional Easter service at Windsor Castle with Sarah, Duchess of YorkThe Duke of York has appeared at the Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle with King Charles, days after it emerged that an alleged spy helped him write birthday letters to China's president.Prince Andrew arrived at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, with the princess royal, as well as his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and Anne's husband, Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence. Continue reading...

Chefs, home cooks and supermarkets are discovering exciting new varieties that come in all shapes and sizesWhen life gives you pithy cedro lemons and sweet Tacle mandarins, what exactly do you make with them?British chefs and home cooks are increasingly embracing new and unusual varieties of citrus in recipes, with supermarkets and greengrocers offering a rising number of speciality fruits. Retailers like M&S now offer punnets of kumquats, while Waitrose has reported a 27% rise in sales of yuzu juice. Continue reading...

Suzanne Cherry died after being struck by a van at Aston Wood golf course on 11 AprilA man has described watching in helpless horror" as his wife was struck by a van at a golf club.Suzanne Cherry, 62, of Aldridge, died in hospital on 15 April, four days after she was involved in a collision at Aston Wood golf course in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham at 10.25am 11 April. Continue reading...

Incidents over Baltic Sea come after UK's deployment of six jets to eastern Poland to defend Nato airspaceRAF fighter jets have intercepted two Russian aircraft flying close to Nato airspace over the Baltic Sea.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said two RAF Typhoons were scrambled from Malbork airbase in Poland on Tuesday to intercept a Russian Ilyushin Il-20M Coot-A" intelligence aircraft. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader on campaign trail as poll predicts rightwing party could be on course to win in a general electionNigel Farage has defended allowing labelled chlorinated chicken from the US into the UK as part of a trade deal, as a poll suggested his Reform UK party could be on course to take the highest number of seats at a general election.Speaking before the local elections in England on 1 May, Farage said British consumers already ate chicken from places such as Thailand reared in poor conditions, and accepted chlorine-washed lettuce. Continue reading...

Home Office intervened after initial ruling allowing grandmother with terminal cancer to join family in GlasgowA Syrian refugee says the Home Office has broken her heart" by trying to bar her mother, who has weeks to live, from coming to the UK to spend her final days with the grandchildren she has never met.Ola Al Hamwi fled Syria with her husband, Mostafa Amonajid, in 2015. They had lost their baby after a bombing and were unable to take Al Hamwi's mother, Soaad Al Shawa, with them. Continue reading...

Lee defeated a moderate backed by outside groups working to push the Bay Area's progressive politics to the centerBarbara Lee, a trailblazing former member of Congress, has been elected as the next mayor of Oakland, California, after fending off an insurgent challenge from the center at a critical moment for the Bay Area city.Lee defeated the former city council member Loren Taylor after nine rounds of ranked-choice voting gave her more than 52% of the vote to Taylor's 47%, according to the Alameda county registrar of voters. Continue reading...

With Peter Dutton's views on climate change in the spotlight, the focus has turned onto whether there will be any policies to reduce emissions in the next decade

An increasingly confident prime minister has bounced back from his campaign missteps while a nervous-looking opposition leader is running out of time to make a comeback

A 41-year-old man charged with murder after discovery at an address in the Penylan area of CardiffPolice investigating the murder of a woman from Cardiff who was last seen leaving work a week ago have found a body.Paria Veisi's body was discovered by South Wales police at an address in Penylan, Cardiff, on Saturday, the force said. Continue reading...

Thousands gather in Parliament Square in a show of unity after supreme court judgmentAfter last week's supreme court decision, activists had been worried that trans people might become fearful of going out in public in case they were abused.They weren't afraid in London on Saturday. Thousands of trans and non-binary people thronged Parliament Square, alongside families and supporters waving baby blue, white and pink flags to demonstrate their anger at the judges' ruling. Continue reading...

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Palestinians pushed into new misery as supplies of food, fuel and medicine run out in seven-week siegeGaza has been pushed to new depths of despair, civilians, medics and humanitarian workers say, by the unprecedented seven-week-long Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the strip.The siege has left the Palestinian territory facing conditions unmatched in severity since the beginning of the war as residents grapple with sweeping new evacuation orders, the renewed bombing of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, and the exhaustion of food, fuel for generators and medical supplies. Continue reading...

High-end bar with Middle East-style nut filling is rationed in shops as price of raw kernels surgesProduct promotion on TikTok is now powerful enough to influence the vast agricultural economies of the US and Iran - at least when it comes to the consumption of high-end confectionery.A chocolate bar stuffed with a creamy green pistachio filling has become incredibly popular after a series of video clips shared on the social media site. The first bit of footage praising the taste of the expensive so-called Dubai chocolate" was posted at the end of 2023 and has now been viewed more than 120m times, to say nothing of the many follow-up videos. Continue reading...

NASUWT conference votes to launch strike ballot if spending review does not top up school budgets in fullA second teaching union in England has vowed to strike if the government fails to compensate schools in full for next year's teachers' pay award.The NASUWT union's annual conference voted to reject any pay offer from the government that did not top up school budgets in June's spending review, and to move immediately to ballot members for industrial action". Continue reading...

Alla Shyrshonkova was on a bus when Russian missiles hit the city. Now a toy bear and hippo mark the spot where 35 people, including two children, were killedLast weekend, Alla Shyrshonkova got on the 62 bus on a journey to her cottage near the Ukrainian city of Sumy. It was a warm spring day. I thought I'd sit with friends, have some tea. Birds were singing. The weather was beautiful. It was so nice," she recalled.The bus was packed. There wasn't a single free seat. People were standing. Some were going to church for Palm Sunday. There were families with children." Continue reading...

In-cab digital signalling was tested last week as part of a project to secure the future of main-line locomotivesAbout 500 steam trains run across the UK each year, from Penzance in the south to Inverness in the north, transporting tens of thousands of passengers to a bygone age, bringing joy to the faces of enthusiasts and bemusing commuters.But the future of main line steam operations could be under threat unless the traditional fire-breathing machines can be fitted with pioneering modern technology. Continue reading...

Schools are pushing out established groups as funding for more places comes on streamA government pledge to create more nurseries has backfired, according to early years providers. More than a dozen schools are evicting existing preschool providers that operate in classrooms amid concerns they are doing so to access state funding to set up their own provision.It means that the pledge to create thousands of nursery places may be fulfilled by cannibalising some of the existing preschools, according to the Early Years Alliance (EYA). Continue reading...

Graeme Winn, 65, and Elaine Winn, 58, were among four people who died in incident on ThursdayThe UK Foreign Office has said it is supporting the family of a couple who were killed in a cable car crash in Naples.Graeme Winn, 65, and Elaine Winn, 58, were among four people who died on Thursday at Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples in southern Italy. Continue reading...

Fans are subscribers to YouTube channel focused on English football whose founder wants to strengthen links with clubFootball tourism is usually seen at Premier League stadiums such as Old Trafford, Anfield and the Emirates, so fans of Harborough Town, who compete in the seventh tier of the football pyramid, were stunned when 100 Spaniards arrived at Bowden Park to watch them take on St Ives Town.The Spanish fans, who turned up last Saturday, were subscribers to a Spanish YouTube channel, La Media Inglesa (LMI), focused on English football, which has now started arranging overseas trips for its followers. Continue reading...

Seven officers taken to hospital after Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, crashed BMW while being pursued by police on A1A man has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after seven police officers were injured when he crashed into them while being chased by police.Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, was taking a woman home from a date in the early hours of 9 April when he crashed his BMW while it was being pursued by police along the northbound carriageway of the A1, near junction 75 and the Denton Burn roundabout, near Newcastle. Continue reading...

Member states are considering removing the country's voting rights after its attempts to stymie support for KyivThe posters are going up all over Hungary. Let's not allow them to decide for us," runs the slogan alongside three classic villains of Hungarian government propaganda.They are: Ukraine's wartime leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen; and Manfred Weber, the German politician who leads the centre-right European People's party in the European parliament, which counts Hungary's most potent opposition politician among its ranks. Continue reading...

Billionaire tells crowd of 400 that uni-party' of Labor and Coalition are dumb and dumber' as hats with Make Australia Great Again' slogan given out

Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in BeijingTwenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21-kilometre (13-mile) course.The robots from Chinese manufacturers such as DroidVP and Noetix Robotics came in all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 120cm (3ft 9in), others as tall as 1.8m (5ft 9in). One company boasted that its robot looked almost human, with feminine features and the ability to wink and smile. Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race. Beijing officials have described the event as more akin to a race car competition, given the need for engineering and navigation teams. Continue reading...

Chancellor supports economic ties with Beijing as she prepares to fly to US next week for trade deal talksRachel Reeves has dismissed the idea of economically disengaging from China, amid concerns the US may put pressure on the UK to limit its deals with Beijing.The chancellor, who will discuss a trade deal with the US on a trip to Washington next week, said it would be very foolish" for Britain to have less involvement with Xi Jinping's administration. Continue reading...