World news | The Guardian

Ex-president fled the crisis-hit country earlier this month after protesters took over his house and offices, demanding he resignSri Lanka’s beleaguered former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after mass protests and resigned this month, is expected to return home, according to a cabinet minister.Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka under the cover of darkness in a military jet earlier this month after protesters took over his house and presidential offices, demanding he resign. Continue reading...

Cryptic clues about man found on an Adelaide beach in 1948 spawned theories of jilted lovers and cold war spies – but the truth may open up even more questionsA South Australian academic’s claims to have identified “Somerton man” as a 43-year-old electrical engineer from Melbourne could finally provide answers in one of Australia’s most infamous cold cases.For 73 years, the identity of a well-dressed man found slumped by a sea wall of Somerton beach, south of Adelaide, in 1948 has been a mystery – leaving room for theories featuring jilted lovers and cold war spies. Continue reading...

Dozens injured after tremor hit mountainous area of Abra province, causing extensive damage to some homes and buildingsA strong earthquake left at least two people dead and injured dozens in the northern Philippines, where the temblor set off small landslides and damaged buildings and churches and prompted terrified crowds and hospital patients in the capital to rush outdoors.The 7-magnitude quake centred in the province of Abra in a mountainous area, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Continue reading...

Legislation enacting royal commission’s recommendations for sector expected to pass parliament despite opposition’s accusation of ‘playing politics’

Deputy premier Steven Miles tells estimates the total government spend for isolation facility exceeded $200m

England’s 4-0 victory over Sweden at Bramall Lane in Sheffield means they will face either France or Germany at Wembley on SundayEngland’s women have united the nation and the front pages after their thumping 4-0 win over Sweden in the semi-final of Euro 2022 prompted spontaneous celebrations.The victory at Bramall Lane in Sheffield on Tuesday night means the Lionesses have the chance to go one better than their male counterparts 12 months ago and become European champions when they face either France or Germany at Wembley on Sunday. Continue reading...

Organisers apologise to tens of thousands of music festivalgoers who were left bogged, stranded and out of pocket

Electoral commission – controlled by President Kais Saied – says 95% voted yes in constitutional referendum, which was boycotted by opposition groupsTunisian president Kais Saied has celebrated the almost certain victory of the yes vote in a referendum on a new constitution that hands him wide-ranging powers and risks the return of authoritarian rule in the birthplace of the Arab spring.Preliminary results for the vote, held a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have called a coup, were due late on Tuesday, with a full tally not expected until next month. However, according to an exit poll taken by the Sigma Conseil institute, an overwhelming 92-93% of those who voted on Monday supported the new constitution. Continue reading...

Draft guidelines aim to improve obstetric and gynaecological care for trans and gender-diverse peopleTransgender men who choose to “chest-feed” their babies should be offered a greater level of support, a royal college has advised in new draft guidelines.The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) says trans men should be asked about their preferred manner of feeding before their baby is born and those who opt to chest-feed should be offered “chest-feeding support in the same manner as for cis-women”. Continue reading...

Committee calls for ‘breathing space’ for millions whose universal credit is docked to repay advances, debts or overpaymentsMinisters’ policy of clawing back hundreds of pounds a year from benefits has been criticised by MPs, who say it has tipped low-income families into destitution.About 2.4 million households – nearly half of all claimants on universal credit – have on average £62 docked each month to repay benefit advances, tax credit overpayments and debts owed to landlords and utility companies. Continue reading...

Team Truss calls out ‘shouty’ opponent amid calls by women for end to patronising behaviour from menOf the many blows traded between Tory leader wannabes Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, perhaps the most surprising has been accusations of “aggressive mansplaining” by the former chancellor from the foreign secretary’s camp.Sunak’s interruptions in Monday night’s head-to-head debate, his speaking over Truss, his general “shouty private school behaviour” was condemned as “desperate” and “unbecoming” by Truss supporters. Continue reading...

RMT union members will stop work on 19 August in dispute with TfL over ‘pensions, jobs and conditions’London Underground workers are to stage a fresh strike in a long-running dispute over jobs and pensions.Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will stay off work on 19 August. Continue reading...

Bosses may transfer popular podcasters to BBC’s commercial arm after loss of big names including Emily Maitlis and John SopelThe salaries of some of the BBC’s top radio presenters could be hidden from public view, as part of a plan that would allow the corporation to pay more money to the stars of its leading podcasts.BBC bosses are reviewing whether to transfer the employees who make many of its public service radio programmes and podcasts into the BBC’s for-profit commercial division. Continue reading...

Protesters and United Nations personnel among dead after incidents that left about 50 injuredAt least 15 people were killed and about 50 wounded during a second day of violent anti-United Nations protests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern cities of Goma and Butembo, authorities have said.The dead included demonstrators and UN personnel as UN sites were attacked by crowds. Continue reading...

The massacre of 18 people in the Highlands confirmed fears that an outdated electoral roll and lack of security could lead to troubleVoting in Papua New Guinea’s elections has been overshadowed by outbreaks of violence including the massacre of 18 people in the Highlands and a group of men attacking people with machetes outside a counting centre in Port Moresby.Voting began at the beginning of July and continues until the end of the month. But what has caused the violence and what can be done to stop it? Continue reading...

Exclusive: organisers claim petition has nearly 14,000 signatures but CCHQ sampling found fewer than half were party membersSenior Conservatives have privately voiced scepticism about a poll demanding party members be given a vote on the removal of Boris Johnson, after the party’s headquarters found fewer than half of a sample of signatories were party members.The authors of the petition have said addresses and membership numbers provided by the signatories are undergoing stringent checks and that Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) has not yet received the vast majority of the signatories. The website Conservative Post, which organised the petition, said it was being overseen by a team of experienced professionals. Continue reading...

Judge upholds ruling that Supt Robyn Williams was unfairly dismissed over unsolicited WhatsApp message as supporters say force ‘needs to accept they got it wrong’The high court has thrown out the Metropolitan police’s latest attempt to sack a decorated senior black officer, with a judge branding one of its arguments “hopeless”.The ruling was a victory for Supt Robyn Williams, who the Met dismissed and then had to reinstate when a tribunal ruled the force’s leaders had been wrong to take her job away. Continue reading...

Family of retired geologist Jim Fitton, 66, ‘over the moon’ after court quashes verdict that saw him sentenced to 15 yearsA retired British geologist is to be released from an Iraqi prison after his 15-year jail sentence for smuggling antiquities was quashed, according to his family and lawyer.Jim Fitton, 66, was jailed after collecting 12 stones and shards of broken pottery as souvenirs while visiting a site in Eridu as part of an organised geology and archaeology tour. Continue reading...

One line of inquiry is whether fire took hold in illegal cannabis factoryThe process of identifying human remains found in an Oldham mill 10 weeks after a fire could take “weeks, if not months”, the Guardian has been told.Debbie Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said the remains are “skeletal” and that it is not yet clear if they belong to one or more people. Continue reading...

MP says she had received no apologies after sexist and racist remarks made about her was revealed in Forde reportDiane Abbott has called on Keir Starmer to take action over racism in the Labour party in the wake of the Forde Inquiry.The Forde report, published last week, condemned remarks made about her in leaked WhatsApp messages among Labour officials hostile to Jeremy Corbyn. Continue reading...

John Holland-Kaye says TikTok video has led to rise in people trying to get fast-tracked through airportAirline passengers are skipping queues at Heathrow by pretending to need wheelchairs after watching a video showing this on TikTok, the airport’s boss has said.John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow airport, told LBC radio that some passengers were using the wheelchair support available to try to get fast-tracked through the airport, adding that this was “the wrong thing to be doing”. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson tells MPs 2018 trip was in line with security protocols and officials knew of it in advanceBoris Johnson has told MPs that no government business was discussed “as far as I am aware” when he met the former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev at an Italian palazzo without officials present when he was foreign secretary.The prime minister admitted this month that he met the businessman in April 2018 after making a trip to a restored castle in Perugia owned by Evgeny Lebedev, Alexander’s son, for a weekend-long party after attending a Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels that discussed the security situation with Russia. Continue reading...

Analysis: Poor strategy in Tory leadership race has allowed former chancellor to be painted as timid, fear supportersMonday’s debate was supposed to be a turning point for Rishi Sunak, a moment billed as his chance to change his fortunes after polling suggested he was trailing Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest.Her awkwardness, her less fluent grasp of detail could be shown up in the head-to-head – similarly to how poorly she performed in the last two debates. “The more they see of her, the more they like him,” was the refrain from Sunak supporters. Continue reading...

CEO says government has rebuffed industry requests as airline reports £133m hit from travel disruptionThe boss of easyJet has criticised the government’s refusal to permit more visas for EU cabin crew and ground handling staff, arguing that easing restrictions would relieve pressure on aviation after weeks of travel chaos.Despite widespread worker shortages and recruitment difficulties for roles including airport security staff and ground handlers, industry requests to allow in more EU citizens to fill the gaps are “not something that they have responded positively to”, Johan Lundgren said. Continue reading...

Analysis: Using greater accuracy of US-made Himars system to damage without destroying infrastructure will be a challenge

After BBC debate against Liz Truss, former chancellor accused of ‘mansplaining’A Treasury minister has said his former boss Rishi Sunak took an “extremely aggressive” approach in the Conservative leadership debate with Liz Truss, after allies of Truss accused him of “mansplaining”.Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury who is backing Truss, said Sunak was “certainly extremely aggressive” in parts of the debate. “It was a pretty intense approach to the early parts of the debate last night,” he told LBC. Continue reading...

Exclusive: New scheme for subsidised monitoring devices stipulates only diabetes specialists can certify patient access

NSW police to extradite Tobias Friedrich Moran, 42, over death of Strobel who was 25 when she was found dead

Workers from airport services provider Dnata head to Fair Work Commission to seek vote on strike over pay and conditions

Zelenskiy accused Moscow of ‘gas war’ after Russian state-controlled energy company says it is halting a turbine due to its ‘technical condition’The Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom has announced a drastic cut to gas deliveries through its main pipeline to Europe from Wednesday, prompting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accuse Moscow of waging a “gas war”.The Russian gas export monopoly said it was halting the operation of one of the last two operating turbines due to the “technical condition of the engine”, cutting daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s capacity. Continue reading...

A 10-year-old girl and two boys, aged seven and five months, found dead inside a house fire in the Western Australian town on 19 JulyA mother has faced court charged with the murder of her three children after they were found dead following a house fire in the West Australian town of Port Hedland.The bodies of the 10-year-old girl and two boys, aged seven and five months, were found inside the Anderson St property by firefighters who responded to the blaze on 19 July. Continue reading...

Historic England £774,000 programme will also feature Deptford’s ‘gut girls’ and Durham’s miners’ welfare clubsMorecambe’s infamous “no-nonsense” seaside landladies and the “gut girls” of Deptford’s 19th-century offal yards are to be celebrated as part of a series of projects focused on England’s working-class heritage.Often cruelly caricatured on seaside postcards, the formidable B&B hosts of the Lancashire town will claim their place as part of a Historic England programme funding 57 community-led projects to preserve often overlooked working-class histories. Continue reading...

Collapse of Avro among those highlighted in MPs’ damning report blaming much of fiasco on OfgemAs customers of Avro Energy forked out for their gas and electricity direct debits, they had no idea that they were only postponing the death of a badly run business whose collapse would end up costing bill payers £700m.Despite having no apparent background in the complex energy industry, Avro’s founder, Jake Brown, a former non-league footballer, set up the company with a family loan in 2016. Within a few years of the company’s entry into the market, Avro had amassed half a million customers while enriching Brown and his family along the way. Continue reading...

Public accounts committee says it is unknown whether cost of implementing international travel curbs was worth the disruptionAt least £486m of taxpayer funds were spent on implementing the “traffic light system” for international arrivals during the coronavirus pandemic. But the government “does not know” whether it worked or not, according to a powerful committee of MPs.The traffic light system set the rules for arrivals from every country depending on whether it was on the red, amber or green list. Arrivals from red list countries had to stay in a quarantine hotel for at least 10 days. Continue reading...

Alcohol-related mortality rates over 20 years set to rise due to people increasing consumption during CovidUp to 25,000 more people than usual could die over the next 20 years in England as a result of heavy drinking habits that began during the Covid lockdowns, two studies have found. They could also result in almost 1m more hospital admissions and cost the NHS more than £5bn.The NHS-funded findings prompted fresh calls from health experts for more determined government action to reduce alcohol-related harm by tackling its price, availability and promotion. Continue reading...

Former PM says he is ‘unable to attend’ first sitting week in Canberra as Labor calls for details about Tokyo engagement

At least half a million Australians served by private electricity networks that prevent them seeking better deal

Tax cuts and recession fears among the front page topics as the fight between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss intensifies in first televised debateThe newspaper coverage of the increasingly personal battle between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss for the Tory leadership reveals a fascinating picture of the party’s divisions.The tone of the front pages of titles that were most loyal to Boris Johnson are strongly in favour of the foreign secretary, with the chancellor struggling to shake off his image as the man who knifed the outgoing prime minister. Continue reading...

Files released by parliament show Barilaro was also sent brief saying Jenny West selected following ‘full recruitment process’

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereOne of the Russian-imposed officials in Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region has told the RIA Novosti news agency that a referendum on the region joining the Russian Federation will most likely take place in September, alongside a similar one in occupied Kherson.The agency quotes Vladimir Rogov saying: “Everything is moving towards the fact that the referendum will be in the first half of September. I will not name the exact date yet. Election commissions are being formed.”The house of culture, where people were hiding in the basement, was actually destroyed by the occupiers. Rescuers have already freed three people from the rubble, but there were still people in the basement. In addition, residential buildings, an educational institution were damaged, and open areas were hit. Continue reading...

Tanya Plibersek’s department gave green light despite state of environment report finding Australia’s natural heritage is in poor and deteriorating health

Pontiff apologises on visit to country over ‘catastrophic’ historical mistreatment of Indigenous childrenPope Francis has apologised for the “disastrous error” and “evil” of Canada’s church-run residential schools, asking survivors of the system that abused tens of thousands of children for forgiveness as he toured the country on a “pilgrimage of penance”.The pontiff’s widely anticipated apology came during a Monday morning visit to the community of Maskwacis, Alberta – the first formal event of his one-week tour after landing in the western province on Sunday. Continue reading...

Pandemic may have changed decision-making, according to research published in Journal of Medical EthicsDoctors are less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients in the wake of the pandemic, a survey suggests.Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care, according to the results of the research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Continue reading...

Latest updates: final two candidates exchange blows over plans for cost of living, levelling up and ChinaStarmer says Labour’s approach to levelling up will be based on a practical plan, unlike the government’s.And he says he was impressed by the approach of Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, whom he met in Berlin recently. Starmer suggests Britain could learn from the way new battery factories are located in poor regions in Germany.There will be no magic money tree economics with us. Continue reading...

Leadership candidates ignored calls from fellow Conservatives not to ‘tarnish the brand’ as they wrangled over tax cuts, inflation and relations with ChinaThe battle to become the UK’s next prime minister descended into fierce clashes on Monday night as Rishi Sunak launched repeated attacks on the economic policies of the favourite Liz Truss in their first head-to-head TV debate.The two Conservative leadership hopefuls traded blows over tax cuts, China and inflation, with the former chancellor Sunak accusing the foreign secretary of seeking “a short-term sugar rush” by cutting national insurance. Continue reading...

The rivals did not pull their punches, on the economy or China, as they kicked off a month of debatesAfter a weekend of rancorous briefings against each other, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak faced each other during an hour-long live TV debate from Stoke-on-Trent. Here are five key takeaways, on a night where Sunak seemed as assured as ever, but Truss did not do anything to significantly harm her chances.Indeed, one of the few rounds of applause from the audience was when she simply said she was not the slickest performer. Continue reading...

Fire burning near famous national park exploded in size over weekend but crews achieved 10% containment Monday morningFirefighters made progress against a ferocious wildfire in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada that forced thousands of residents from their homes in the gateway to Yosemite national park.The Oak fire started on Friday near the town of Midpines, California, and exploded in size over the weekend. Continue reading...

Division flares in run-up to first such meeting of bishops from around world in 14 yearsThe archbishop of Canterbury has been forced into a last-minute rethink of plans to ask Anglican bishops to oppose same-sex marriage when they meet this week for the first Lambeth conference – held in Canterbury – in 14 years.Liberal Anglicans and gay rights campaigners in the Church of England voiced outrage after the conference recently circulated a series of “calls” – similar to motions – for the 650 bishops and archbishops from around the world to consider. Continue reading...