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Health minister encourages Paxlovid and Lagevrio use, but peak GP body cautions drugs can have side-effects if taken with some other drugs

Ex-leader Michael Howard among Conservatives to call for resignation after byelection catastrophesConservative grandees are urging Boris Johnson to quit after a historic double byelection defeat, as rebellious MPs began plotting new ways to oust him.The former Conservative leader Michael Howard was among those who demanded the prime minister stand down after the losses in Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield which prompted the immediate resignation of the party’s co-chair, Oliver Dowden. Continue reading...

Biden calls ruling in pivotal case Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ‘a tragic error’The supreme court has ruled there is no constitutional right to abortion in the United States, upending the landmark Roe v Wade case from nearly 50 years ago in a rare reversal of long-settled law that will fracture reproductive rights in America.Joe Biden called the ruling a “tragic error” and the Republicans celebrating it “wrong, extreme and out of touch”. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest UK political coverage hereThis is from James Johnson, a Tory pollster (who worked for Theresa May in No 10) whose firm JL Partners carried out polling in Wakefield, on who ought to be taking the blame for the byelection defeats.PM Media has just snapped this.Boris Johnson has said he will “listen” to voters but will “keep going” after the Tories suffered a double by-election defeat. Continue reading...

Workplace flexibility may leave blocks empty across south-east England, survey revealsAs much as a fifth of office space in London and south-east England may not be required in the post-pandemic world of work as employees spend less time at their desks, according to a property survey.The new workplace flexibility being offered to staff by their employers could leave office blocks empty across Britain’s towns and cities, the real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) found in its latest office market report, as companies cut back on the amount of space they rent. Continue reading...

Statement signed by more than 100 global healthcare groups says US court decision ‘will cost lives for years to come’Doctors and pro-choice activists have condemned the overturning of Roe v Wade, describing it as an “unconscionable attack” that will leave the supreme court justices with “blood on their hands” and cause a global chilling effect on women’s rights.In a statement signed by more than 100 global healthcare organisations, including the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), medics said the US supreme court’s move was “a catastrophic blow” to millions. The statement, also signed by the RCOG’s faculty of sexual and reproductive healthcare, warned: “It is a decision that will cost lives for years to come.” Continue reading...

Cost of living crisis and rising prices hits demand for the traditional favourites of the ice cream vanRocket lollies, Screwballs, Twisters, Feasts and, of course, Mr Whippy: the menu of a typical ice-cream van has been etched into our memories since childhood and has barely changed since.But amid soaring inflation and record fuel prices, ice-cream sellers are quickly learning they must adapt to survive – or face the rocky road to ruin. Continue reading...

Funeral held in Pernambuco of Indigenous expert who was killed in Amazon region with journalist Dom PhillipsThe murdered Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira has been buried in his home state of Pernambuco in Brazil after a small ceremony attended by family members and local tribes.Dozens of Indigenous people from the Xukuru tribe paraded around his coffin chanting farewell rituals to the beat of their percussion instruments on Friday. Continue reading...

More than 90% of RMT members who voted back further stoppages in dispute over pensions and job cutsLondon Underground staff in the RMT union have voted to continue with strikes in a dispute over pensions and job cuts, potentially adding to disruption in a summer of industrial action on the transport network.More than 90% of the union’s members on the tube who voted, on a 53% turnout, backed further walkouts, as the RMT leadership continued to talk with Network Rail and train operating companies to resolve the national rail standoff. Continue reading...

Party hopes Tiverton and Honiton victory could be start of shift away from Tories in ‘yellow hedge’ seats

Neighbouring city of Lysychansk could fall within days as Russia continues slow advance in Donbas

Ed Davey says Conservatives across country will lose seats as his party demolishes majority of 24,000

President in video address calls festival the ‘greatest concentration of freedom’ in the worldVolodymyr Zelenskiy has called Glastonbury the “greatest concentration of freedom” in the world as he urged festivalgoers to put pressure on politicians to end the war in Ukraine.Addressing crowds in a video message, which was played on screens at the Other Stage on Friday morning, the Ukrainian president said the pandemic had “put on hold the lives of millions of people around the world, but has not broken them”. Continue reading...

Anonymous activists behind Don’t Pay hope cancelling direct debits will have impact akin to poll tax protestsA campaign is urging 1 million consumers to stop paying their energy bills from October in protest at record price hikes.Run by a group of activists who are operating anonymously for fear of repercussions from energy firms, the Don’t Pay campaign launched last Saturday and has already gathered 4,000 social media followers. They say they are hoping for a rerun of the poll tax protests that helped bring down Margaret Thatcher’s government when 17 million people refused to pay. Continue reading...

Analysis: After Wakefield, the leader’s allies can say ‘boring’ works, but Labour is not wholly convincedKeir Starmer looked upbeat as he addressed reporters on Friday morning after the party’s solid performance in the Wakefield byelection.After a rocky fortnight in which he scolded the shadow cabinet for briefing the press that he is boring, Starmer’s team believe the 12.7% swing will calm nerves and show their steady-as-she-goes strategy is working. Continue reading...

After outrage over case of Child Q, force asks IOPC to examine incidents where children aged 14-17 were strip-searchedAnother eight cases of the Metropolitan police strip-searching children have been referred by the force for independent investigation.There was outrage over the case of Child Q, a 15-year-old black girl who was strip-searched at school while menstruating, without an appropriate adult being present. The police apologised and a council report said the child’s treatment was in part the result of discrimination. Continue reading...

High court judge grants permission on one ground after ruling last week in Observer and Guardian journalist’s favourThe multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks has been granted permission to appeal against the judge’s decision in his unsuccessful libel action against the Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr.Banks, who funded the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group, raised five grounds on which he said Mrs Justice Steyn had made a wrong decision in her judgment relating to comments Cadwalladr made about him in a Ted Talk and a tweet, both in 2019. Continue reading...

Countries across the continent have experienced all-time highs, raising fears of wildfiresA hot topic (literally) over the past couple of weeks has been the heatwave that has been scorching large parts of Europe. This week has been no different with more than 200 monthly temperature records broken across France, and countries including Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Spain recording all-time highs. For example, Cazaux and Bordeaux experienced monthly all-time temperature records of 41.9C and 40.5C respectively.One consequence of this prolonged heat is the drying out soil and vegetation, permitting the development of wildfires across Spain, with tens of thousands of acres of land likely to be affected. According to scientists at the University of Lleida in Spain, climate change will extend the duration of fire seasons across many regions of Europe. Continue reading...

Jeremy Maluta reveals he is behind pro-Labor Twitter account PRGuy17 but says he has no media experience or connection to Daniel Andrews

CEO of SoftBank Group Masayoshi Son has been lobbied to bring public offering to the UK but says Nasdaq still his ‘main preference’The Japanese owner of the British chip designer Arm has said London is still in the running for the company’s upcoming stock market listing, after intensive lobbying to bring the initial public offering to the UK.The chairman and chief executive of SoftBank Group, Masayoshi Son, told shareholders at the investment giant’s annual meeting that the US’s tech-focused Nasdaq stock exchange was still his “main preference”. Continue reading...

PM has said he intends to carry on but former Tory leader says party ‘would be better off under new leadership’

Exclusive: Analysis shows more than 37,000 people in England have waited over a year, as Johnson recovers from sinus surgeryThe number of people in England waiting for ear, nose and throat treatment has risen sharply during the pandemic, with more than 37,000 waiting more than a year, a new analysis reveals, days after Boris Johnson had a sinus operation on the NHS.

First shipments of international aid arrive in country as officials say death toll has risen to 1,150There are growing fears for the health and wellbeing of the survivors of Wednesday’s earthquake in Afghanistan, as the death toll rose to 1,150 and the first shipments of international aid arrived in the impoverished country.“There are no blankets, tents, there’s no shelter. Our entire water distribution system is destroyed. There is literally nothing to eat,” Zaitullah Ghurziwal, 21, told an AFP team that reached his village in Paktika province. Continue reading...

Glastonbury makes me revel in my sprung mattress, from where I can watch RMT boss Mick Lynch dressing down media punditsHurrah! After an enforced three-year hiatus (there was this pandemic thing – I can’t get into it now), Glastonbury is back! The older I get, the more I love this music festival of music festivals, its noise, its mud, its people. The knowledge that I don’t have to endure any of it gets sweeter with every passing year. The sheer Jomo of it all far outpaces the delights of birthdays (they start to pall once you’re past seven, and I’ve had 40 of them since then) and even Christmas (so much work, now that I have a child of my own and can’t slip into a mimosas-bellinis-prosecco stupor over the course of the day). Continue reading...

Prince of Wales says at summit any move by members to become a republic can be ‘without rancour’The Prince of Wales has told Commonwealth leaders that keeping the Queen as head of state or becoming a republic is “a matter for each member country to decide”.Charles made the comments during the opening ceremony of a summit of Commonwealth prime ministers and presidents in Rwanda. He said he believed such fundamental changes could be made “calmly and without rancour”. Continue reading...

Ex-model admitted breaching order against ex-husband’s fiancee after abusive text made indirect attempt to communicate with herThe former glamour model Katie Price has been handed an 18-month community order after admitting breaching a restraining order against her ex-husband’s fiancee.Price sent abusive messages to her ex-husband, Kieran Hayler, on 21 January this year in which she called his new partner, Michelle Penticost, a “cunting whore” and a “gutter slag”, a court heard. Continue reading...

Fears consumers may have to pay up to three times as much after Nord Stream 1 pipeline flow cut by 40%German consumers could face a tripling of gas prices in the coming months after Russia’s throttling of deliveries to Europe, a senior energy official has said.Moscow reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 40% last week, citing technical reasons that Berlin dismisses as a pretext, prompting a four to six-fold rise in market prices, said the head of Germany’s federal network agency, Klaus Müller. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese’s move to reduce crossbench staffers to pre-Coalition levels met with outrage

Nio criticised over statement that said accident at Shanghai HQ was ‘not caused by the vehicle’A leading Chinese electric car company has said two people were killed when one of its vehicles fell from the third floor of its Shanghai headquarters.Nio, a homegrown brand sometimes seen as a potential rival to Tesla, said the incident happened at about 5.20pm on Wednesday. One of the victims was its employee, and the other from a partner company. They were both inside the vehicle when it fell. Continue reading...

NSW Greens criticise ‘overreach’ of police operation against climate activists; Anthony Albanese leaving Sunday for Europe visit; protester interrupts Chinese ambassador’s Sydney address; Chris Bowen says energy market has returned to ‘normal market conditions’; report of aged care providers operating at a loss; nation records at least 46 Covid deaths. Follow the day’s news

Party co-chair’s decision to quit over byelection losses leaves him handily placed if Boris Johnson is deposed

Analysis: Wakefield victory, on top of some of the local election results in May, suggests red wall is repairable

Flush from winning three seats in Brisbane, Bandt debunked the myth that sunshine state residents are conservative

Xiao Qian says there is no reason for China and Australia to be enemies as his address is interrupted by protests

Fruit oversupply plus rising cost of fertiliser, fuel and freight means producers are going backwards, Avocados Australia boss says

In claims referred to Icac, Ray Williams told parliament senior Liberal members were ‘paid significant funds’ by developer

Contractor said he lost the device – storing names, addresses, dates of birth and tax details of 460,000 people – after an alcohol-fuelled night outA city in Japan has been forced to apologise after a contractor admitted he had lost a USB memory stick containing the personal data of almost half a million residents after an alcohol-fuelled night out.Officials in Amagasaki, western Japan, said the man – an unnamed employee of a private contractor hired to oversee Covid-19 relief payments to local households – had taken the flash drive from the city’s offices to transfer the data at a call centre in nearby Osaka. Continue reading...

Justice Ian Harrison tells court evidence of Lynette Dawson seen bruised did not point to who caused injuries

More than 80% of parents are opposed to requirement by conservative Sydney diocese for incoming principal to sign anti-same-sex marriage pledgeParents at Sydney Anglican school St Catherine’s are preparing for a fight after publicly rejecting a new requirement for incoming principals to sign a statement that marriage is between a man and a woman, with some same-sex parents saying the statement is deeply hurtful.St Catherine’s principal is leaving and her successor – to be appointed by a council dominated by representatives of the anti-same-sex marriage Anglican church diocese of Sydney – will be the first principal required to sign the relatively new rule in place for diocese-run schools. Continue reading...

Tory MP says someone ‘must take responsibility’ for defeats, amid growing pressure on Boris JohnsonOliver Dowden has resigned as Conservative chair after the party’s disastrous double byelection losses in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, saying someone “must take responsibility” for a recent run of poor results.The Tory MP’s resignation letter, also sent in a tweet, comes after the party lost two seats it had held in a single night. Labour took Wakefield and the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000-plus majority to snatch Tiverton and Honiton. Continue reading...

Regional NSW council has ruled out selling or breaking up a collection of 100 Australian artworks donated by Bronius ‘Bob’ Sredersas

Announcement comes as passenger numbers set to surge during school holidays, and figures show airline had the highest cancellation rate last month

After ongoing rumours, James Merlino and the state’s health, police and tourism ministers all announce they are quitting politics

Loss of Wakefield, and Tiverton and Honiton could push backbench Tories towards restarting efforts to oust PM

Segment in which a repairman also gave advice about to pierce a car’s fuel tank raises eyebrowsGreece’s state TV has prompted criticism over a segment that showed viewers how to siphon gasoline from cars as fuel prices soar.“It’s not something terribly complicated … you don’t even need a special tube, even a hose for balconies will do,” the station’s reporter Costas Stamou said during ERT’s morning news programme Syndeseis. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereRussia’s Tass news agency is carrying a report that British citizens Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin, alongside Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, are preparing an appeal against their death sentences.Tass quotes Pinner’s lawyer Yulia Tserkovnikova saying “my colleagues and I are preparing the full text of the appeal against the verdict in the interests of our clients.” Continue reading...

Officials kept in ‘regular contact’ with Chinese embassy even as Morrison government ministers frozen out, FoI documents shows

Three men are in custody and more arrests are planned, but the suspected murder weapon has not been foundScores of protesters have congregated outside the offices of Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency Funai in the riverside town of Atalaia do Norte, renewing calls for justice over the murders of journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira.Demonstrators – mostly Indigenous people from the Javari Valley – held orange and yellow banners, which read: “Protection for our Amazon forest”, “Amazon resist! Who ordered the killing?” and “Out Bolsonaro!”, amid growing fears that the criminal investigation into the murders was slowing. Continue reading...