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New report says policy changes are needed to protect ‘hidden workforce’ from exploitation

Poldark creator among writers and film-makers lining up to reconstruct spat between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen RooneyA big-budget drama featuring major characters in the Wagatha Christie case is to join the slew of documentaries already in production, as the race to bring to the small screen the rancorous details of the high court battle that ended on Friday hots up.The row between two high-profile footballers’ wives, which ended last week when the judge ruled in favour of Coleen Rooney, is to be turned into television serial by one of Britain’s leading screenwriters. Debbie Horsfield, who adapted Poldark for the 2015-19 BBC series, is to write a drama chronicling the notorious public row between Rebekah Vardy, wife of leading Leicester goal scorer Jamie Vardy, and Coleen Rooney, wife of Wayne, the renowned former England player and, until last month, manager of Derby County. Continue reading...

The ballot measure is the first of many across the country that will decide where and how women can preserve reproductive rightsIn the first of a wave of referendums across the country on abortion rights, Kansas voters will decide on Tuesday whether the state’s constitution protects the right to terminate a pregnancy.Should Kansans pass the ballot measure, it would give state lawmakers leeway to ban the procedure, which they appear likely to do. Continue reading...

Looming battles will be crucial for course of war, warns intelligence chief

Famous fans get behind England for a gripping contest against Germany that is expected to set recordsAn all-female RAF flypast will grace the skies above Wembley on Sunday in celebration of a women’s football team that this weekend received good-luck messages from the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the royal family before the Women’s Euro 2022 final against Germany.“Your passion for the game, your tenacity in tricky spots and above all your astounding talent on the pitch have already created a summer of fantastic memories for millions of us,” Boris Johnson wrote in a letter to the England team. Continue reading...

Pentecostalism is quietly thriving, with pastors saying churches are helping low-paid workers in crisisEvangelical Christianity is quietly flourishing among migrant groups in the Gulf as churches provide low-paid workers facing horrific abuse with aid in times of crisis, according to pastors and parishioners across the region.About 30 million migrant workers live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – the muscle transforming oil-based economies into glittering 21st-century metropolises. Continue reading...

Cathy Freeman, Paul Kelly and Linda Burney among those who have paid tribute to the musician after his death

Health minister says real number of infections twice what is known, as one in 12 public hospital beds is filled by a Covid patient

Mayor Eric Adams says as many as 150,000 city residents could be at risk of infection and that authorities are working to get more vaccine dosesOfficials in New York City declared a public health emergency due to the spread of the monkeypox virus on Saturday, calling the city “the epicenter” of the outbreak.The announcement by the mayor, Eric Adams, and the health commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, said as many as 150,000 city residents could be at risk of infection. The declaration will allow officials to issue emergency orders under the city health code and implement measures to help slow the spread. Continue reading...

Wives of prisoners unsure whether loved ones survived blast in Olenivka as Russia and Ukraine blame each otherThe families of Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in a jail in Russian-occupied Donetsk that was bombed said they are desperate for news.The prisoners include members of the Azov battalion who were trapped in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to earlier statements by Russia’s ministry of defence. The prison is located in the town of Olenivka, just 10 kilometres from Ukraine’s frontlines. Continue reading...

Tory leadership hopeful outlines plan that includes replacing failing academies with ‘new wave of free schools’Liz Truss has pitched herself as the “education prime minister” with a plan that includes replacing failing academies with “a new wave of free schools” and improving maths and literacy standards.The Tory leadership hopeful, whose endorsement by party heavyweights has added to the sense she is pulling ahead of rival Rishi Sunak in the race for No 10, unveiled a six-point strategy on Saturday “to get Britain’s education system back on track”. Continue reading...

Treatment for 12-year-old left comatose after suffering brain damage understood to be ending on Monday afternoonThe mother of a 12-year-old boy left in a comatose state after suffering brain damage has written an urgent appeal to the government, with support treatment understood to be ending on Monday afternoon.In a letter sent on Saturday, Hollie Dance urged the health secretary to “act immediately” to stop her son Archie Battersbee’s treatment ending. Continue reading...

His team told his general-election style campaign too slick and unfocused as time runs out to sway electorsRishi Sunak’s team is being urged to overhaul his “general election-style” campaign in favour of a grassroots effort speaking directly to Tory members in a last-ditch attempt to beat Liz Truss to the Conservative leadership.With some supporters of the former chancellor in despair over the apparent grip Truss has assumed over the contest to replace Boris Johnson, allies have warned that there has been too much focus on polished social media content, TV appearances and visits to swing voters that have not won over Tory members. Continue reading...

Posts on space for law enforcement officers belittle victims and imply Queensland police avoid responding to DV incidents

Woman was reportedly handed information from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children at London clinicA pregnant woman who told her GP she was considering having an abortion says she was left “shocked and traumatised” after being given a leaflet for an anti-abortion group.The woman, 38, says she was seeking treatment for a bladder problem on 19 July when a doctor at All Saints Medical Centre in Plumstead, south-east London, asked whether she was pregnant. Continue reading...

Head of party’s biggest union donor warns members feel ‘crushed’ and may vote not to pay millions to StarmerLabour is becoming “irrelevant to workers” and it is now hard to justify handing the party millions in funding, the head of the party’s biggest union donor has warned.In an interview with the Observer, Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said she felt Labour’s leadership was, in effect, “sticking two fingers up” at workers with its response to strike action and its abandonment of pledges to renationalise public utilities. Continue reading...

People in Lincolnshire town react with horror following girl’s death from a single wound on ThursdayA town has reacted with shock and horror after a nine-year-old girl died following a suspected stabbing as people walked home from work.Lillia Valutyte died from a single wound in Boston town centre, Lincolnshire, shortly after 6pm on Thursday.This article was amended on 30 July 2022 to correct the spelling of the victim’s name after further information from the police. Continue reading...

Lincolnshire police make arrest after death of Lillia Valutyte in Boston on ThursdayA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of nine-year-old Lillia Valutyte in Boston.Lincolnshire police said a 22-year-old man was detained in the Boston Central Park area at around 2.45pm on Saturday and that he is in custody after several members of the public came forward with information. Continue reading...

Academics fear docked wages after marking boycott at Queen Mary University of London are start of a wider crackdownQueen Mary University of London, a member of the prestigious Russell Group, has been branded the “worst university employer in the UK” after it withheld 100% of the wages of staff taking part in a national marking boycott in protest at pay and working conditions.The University and College Union (UCU) says more than 100 staff members at Queen Mary were left panicking about how to pay rent and bills this month after the university deducted full pay for 21 days in their July pay cheques, because they refused to mark students’ work in June. The union says many staff opened payslips with nothing in them, although they still carried out the “vast majority” of their duties including teaching and research. The university is threatening 100% deductions for partial work again in August. Continue reading...

Police appeal for witnesses after Masham Road crash, with no other cars believed to have been involvedThree teenagers have been killed and another seriously injured in a car crash in North Yorkshire.The four teenage boys were in a grey Alfa Romeo headed from Bedale towards High Burton when they crashed on Masham Road at around 11pm on Friday. Continue reading...

Drugs with street value of £40m found at Thames port on boat en route from Colombia to NetherlandsCocaine worth £40m has been discovered smuggled within a batch of bananas at a port on the Thames.Officers seized more than half a tonne of the class A drug on a boat travelling from Colombia, at London Gateway on the Essex coast, south-east England, the National Crime Agency said. Continue reading...

Sam Tarry calls for ‘fundamental recalibration’ of relationship with trade union movement

Teenager, who was not believed to be intended target, shot outside house party in Moss Side area on FridayA 16-year-old girl has been injured after being shot outside a house party in Manchester.The teenager was taken to hospital in a stable condition with a wound believed to have been caused by a firearms discharge in a drive-by shooting at just before 10.30pm on Friday, on Quinney Crescent, in the Moss Side area. Continue reading...

Tributes pour in for musician whose song Took the Children Away became the anthem of the stolen generations

Police want to question man after death of Lilia Valutyte from single stab wound in Boston, LincolnshirePolice have released CCTV images of a man they want to question in connection with the death of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire.Lilia Valutyte died from a single stab wound in Boston town centre, Lincolnshire, shortly after 6pm on Thursday. Continue reading...

Followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr bring down cement barricades leading to Baghdad’s government zoneHundreds of protesters have breached Iraq’s parliament for a second time this week.The protesters, who are followers of an influential Shia cleric, are demonstrating against formation of the next government by Iran-backed parties. Continue reading...

University council supports claim for 97 artefacts, including bronzes, currently held in city’s museumsOxford University could return almost 100 artefacts that were looted by British colonial forces in 1897, after Nigeria requested the repatriation of the cultural items this year.The 97 objects, including bronzes, were taken from Benin City by British troops and are currently held in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Continue reading...

Supplier warns of Covid-related disruption, amid calls for VAT on over-14s’ school clothes to be axedThe holidays have only just begun for many children but families are being warned not to leave uniform shopping to the last minute because of potential shortages of official school blazers and jumpers.The specialist retailer School Uniform Direct, which supplies scores of UK schools, has written to thousands of customers urging them to place orders for branded clothing as soon as possible. Continue reading...

Call for ‘once in a generation’ package for NHS so young people can receive treatment within four weeksChildren needing mental health services should be guaranteed treatment within four weeks, with next-day referrals for those at risk of self-harm and suicide, according to an inquiry into the explosion in demand from young people for psychiatric help.The inquiry by the Commission on Young Lives, chaired by the former children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield, said a “once in a generation” £1bn recovery package was needed to boost an overstretched NHS system too often forced to turn away unwell youngsters. Continue reading...

Force issued letters banning people from celebration because of suspected or ‘perceived’ links to ‘street gang’Greater Manchester police has been accused of using “deeply racist” tactics after it banned dozens of people from a Caribbean carnival because it suspected them of links to “a street gang”.The force came under fire after issuing letters to a number of people explaining that they would be refused entry to the celebration because they had been identified as “either a member of a street gang, affiliated to a street gang” or “perceived by others to be associated to a street gang”. Continue reading...

Industrial action by Aslef union members at seven companies is the biggest strike by drivers in decadesRail passengers around Great Britain face another day of widespread disruption on Saturday owing to a strike by train drivers at seven operating companies.The industrial action by members of the Aslef union represents the biggest strike by drivers in decades and will halt some train operators’ services. Continue reading...

Oasis Restore, which will have bedrooms not cells, aims to revolutionise justice for children convicted of serious crimesChildren convicted of the most serious crimes will be shown “relentless love” at England’s first secure school, where they will live in bedrooms instead of cells, according to its evangelical Christian founder.The Rev Steve Chalke, of Oasis academies, which won the contract to run the school on behalf of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), said relentless love was not a “hippy” concept but a way of building trust with children who “no one has cared about very often” before. Continue reading...

No respite from record-breaking temperatures as the ocean warms and wildfires rage on landMany parts of Europe have seen record-breaking temperatures over the past few months, but it is not just the continental landmass which has been affected. The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing a major marine heatwave, with sea surface temperatures in western parts of the Mediterranean 4-5C warmer than average. Temperatures have been above average for prolonged periods since the start of May, with June the warmest on record for large portions of the Mediterranean basin. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has classified the current event as a “severe” category 3 event, one level from extreme thresholds.Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems and are expected to increase in intensity and frequency in the future due to human-induced climate change. Scientists have found that marine heatwaves between 2015 and 2019 in the Mediterranean caused mass casualties in marine species, coral bleaching and harmful algal blooms. Continue reading...

Campaign director Dean Parkin says the prime minister flagging set referendum question brings ‘level of clarity’

Ukraine president says more than 50 people died, as Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of being behind attack on prison in Russian-occupied Donetsk

Prime minister uses Garma festival speech to suggest Australians should be asked a simple yes or no question on enshrining a voice in the constitution

Along with foot-and-mouth disease, there are other pests and diseases that could damage our economy and rural communitiesThe tiny barbarians are at the gates and Australia’s biosecurity measures have been tested. First, the Covid-19 outbreak demonstrated the ease at which an incursion of a new disease or pest can cause havoc on livelihoods and the Australian economy.Then foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) spread to Bali, elevating the threat of a virus that hasn’t been here since 1872. FMD is a highly contagious virus and an outbreak would be disastrous for our livestock sector, significantly affecting our ability to export meat, live animals, dairy products and wool. Continue reading...

Rights groups say they have a dossier of evidence against Gotabaya Rajapaksa – and a renewed appetite to bring him to accountIt was a warm April day in 2019 and Gotabaya Rajapaksa was enjoying the afternoon with his family in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. Rajapaksa, relaxed in his chinos and polo shirt as he strolled through the car park of the popular American supermarket Trader Joe’s, looked surprised when a woman sidled up and shoved a brown envelope into his hands. “You’ve been served,” said the private investigator before rushing away.The charges inside that brown envelope, a civil suit alleging complicity in torture and killings, would not make it far in the courts. Seven months later Rajapaksa, a member of Sri Lanka’s most powerful political dynasty, would be elected president, and be granted immunity from prosecution. Continue reading...

Japan’s foreign minister tells Washington audience world at ‘historical crossroads’ and that Russian invasion of Ukraine must not succeedJapan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has sounded the alarm about China’s behaviour in the Indo-Pacific during a visit to Washington, saying the “logic of brute force” was gaining more traction over the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific.Referring to Chinese and Russian joint bomber flights near Japan in May, Hayashi said stronger military coordination between China and Russia was emerging as a security concern. “We are currently standing at a historical crossroads, one fraught with a sense of crisis,” he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies thinktank on Friday. “We are facing a watershed moment. Continue reading...

Call for vaccines to be prioritised for gay and bisexual men who have travelled internationally

Ex-chancellor vows to stop leftwing agitators ‘bulldozing’ British values as Tugendhat backs TrussRishi Sunak will seek to revive his flagging bid for the premiership on Saturday by wading in to a series of so-called culture war issues, vowing to stop “leftwing agitators” from “bulldozing” British values.With Liz Truss the firm favourite ahead of a critical few days in the leadership contest, and ballot papers set to be received by Conservative party members from Monday, Sunak will give a speech attacking “woke nonsense”. Continue reading...

Tory leadership frontrunner wants rent payments to be used as part of mortgage affordability assessmentsLiz Truss has pledged to help millions of renters buy their first home by making it easier to prove they are ready to take on a mortgage, but said she plans to scrap national housebuilding targets.The frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest vowed to “break down barriers” to support those keen to get on the housing ladder. Continue reading...

Former rival praises foreign secretary’s tax cut plans as Rishi Sunak submits to grilling by Andrew NeilLiz Truss has won the backing of former Tory leadership rival Tom Tugendhat.In a major boost for the foreign secretary’s campaign, Tugendhat wrote in the Times that her plans for vast tax cuts are “founded on true Conservative principles”. Continue reading...

Former chancellor, who is trailing Liz Truss, gives broadcast interview

Scientists say public money originally set for Dreamworld ‘koala tourism facility’ could be used to combat habitat loss and chlamydia

Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were quiet and ‘would keep to themselves’, former landlord saysTwo Saudi sisters found dead in their beds in Sydney last month lived reclusive lives over years in Australia: the women had few friends, almost no visitors, and “would only leave the house here and there”, according to a former landlord.Guardian Australia has confirmed Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were asylum seekers: each had an active claim for asylum ongoing with the Department of Home Affairs and had engaged with settlement services providers in Sydney. The nature of their claim for asylum – their basis for seeking protection – is not known.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Leaders in the sector say more than 1,000 nurses needed to fill gaps, compared with 869 from health department modelling

Announcement on Friday follows report hours earlier from Brazil of first such death outside AfricaSpain has reported what is thought to be Europe’s first monkeypox-related death in the current outbreak of the disease.Brazil reported earlier on Friday the first monkeypox-related death outside Africa in the current wave. Continue reading...