World news | The Guardian

Development comes on eve of libel trial over information from Rooney’s private Instagram accountRebekah Vardy has suggested her agent may have leaked stories about Coleen Rooney to the Sun, the high court has heard, in a last-minute change of approach on the eve of the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.The two women are locked in an expensive and increasingly messy libel battle over accusations Vardy passed information from Rooney’s private Instagram account to the tabloid. Continue reading...

Analysis: The Kremlin’s mounting offensive comes as Boris Johnson and Jens Stoltenburg warn war could last for years

Officers from financial regulator, federal police and public prosecutor raid Germany’s largest lenderGerman authorities have raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt over suspected money laundering at the country’s largest lender.Officers from the financial regulator BaFin, the federal police, and the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office launched a raid on the bank’s glass-panelled offices – known locally as the “twin towers” – on Friday morning after securing a search warrant from the local court. Continue reading...

National Trust puts artist’s largest work on display at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire after removal of yellowed varnishLayers of yellowed varnish have been painstakingly removed from a John Constable painting of Waterloo Bridge to reveal new detail of the early 19th-century Thames skyline and a bright blue sky.The painting – the largest created by Constable – “has been dramatically transformed by the conservation treatment”, said Sarah Maisey, senior remedial conservator for paintings at the National Trust, which undertook the work. Continue reading...

Allison Bailey says Garden Court chambers and Stonewall wrongly treated her gender-critical views as transphobicA barrister was unlawfully discriminated against by her chambers, which, encouraged by Stonewall, wrongly treated her gender-critical views as transphobic and bigoted, an employment tribunal has been told.Allison Bailey is suing Garden Court chambers and Stonewall after she was asked by her chambers to delete two tweets criticising the LGBTQ+ charity’s position on trans rights and which Stonewall had complained about. Continue reading...

Andrew Fahie is due in court on drug charges in Miami after arrest following months-long DEA operationIn mid-October, as Sir Gary Hickinbottom’s commission of inquiry into the government of British Virgin Islands led by the premier, Andrew Fahie, was taking laborious public oral evidence for a 44th day, a US Drug Enforcement Administration informant was, according to court papers, meeting some self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives on the BVI island of Tortola to discuss how to shift cocaine through the territory en route to Puerto Rico, Miami and New York.Hickinbottom was taking mind-numbingly dull evidence on how to apply for BVI citizenship, and whether the process was open to manipulation. Continue reading...

The actor, who is reprising his role in Jez Butterworth’s celebrated play, points out that leading politicians’ school Eton has extensive theatre facilitiesIt is the part of the theatre programme where the cast usually list their biggest roles, awards and assorted appearances on The Bill and Casualty. But in the programme for the new West End run of the hit play Jerusalem, Mark Rylance has also used his actor biography to criticise cuts to arts education.“If, in modern day England, an institution like Eton deems drama important enough to have two theatres, why are we allowing our government to cut arts education from the life of the rest of our young people and our hard-pressed teachers,” he writes, in a biography that points up his schoolteacher parents’ devotion to amateur dramatics and his grandfather’s experience of acting in a prisoner of war camp. Continue reading...

Firm to pay staff in US, UK and other countries flat rates regardless of their region’s living costsAirbnb staff will be able to work from almost anywhere they want, the company has announced, and they won’t see their pay docked if they move outside metropolitan areas.The new model will apply to staff in the US, but also those in the UK and other countries. To make it work, the company said it would focus in-person collaboration on roughly quarterly get-togethers and aim to bundle work together into two product releases a year, its chief executive and co-founder, Brian Chesky, said. Continue reading...

Meri Mion, 90, was 13 when soldiers took her birthday cake as it cooled on windowsill in San PietroRepentant American soldiers have presented an Italian woman with a birthday cake to make up for the one their predecessors stole from her as it cooled on a windowsill 77 years ago.It was the eve of Meri Mion’s 13th birthday when US troops arrived in her village of San Pietro, near Vicenza in northern Italy, to fight against German soldiers. Continue reading...

NCA launches investigation into PPE Medpro, which secured £200m in Covid contractsThe National Crime Agency has launched a potential fraud investigation into a PPE company linked to Michelle Mone and searched the Tory peer’s shared home.The NCA investigation is into PPE Medpro, a company that secured more than £200m in government contracts near the start of the pandemic without public tender. Continue reading...

Ukrainian capital was rocked by Russian missile strikes while UN secretary general visited

Prime minister responds after Solomon Islands PM says he heard about Aukus pact through media; Labor leader heads to Perth after week in Covid isolation as deputy Richard Marles tests positive; at least 26 coronavirus deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich says he will continue work with NSW government after meeting with premier and transgender advocates

Rise in infections appears to be driven by Omicron sub-variants, say health officialsSouth Africa may be entering a fifth Covid wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, health officials and scientists have said.The country that has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent only exited a fourth wave around January and had predicted a fifth wave could start in May or June, early in the southern hemisphere winter. Continue reading...

Red Crescent says at least 42 injured at site revered by Muslims and Jews as police fire rubber bullets at youths throwing rocksIsraeli police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards Palestinian youths throwing rocks in the latest outbreak of violence at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, a site revered by Muslims and Jews.At least 42 Palestinians were injured in the early morning clashes on Friday at Islam’s third-holiest site, the Palestine Red Crescent said. Continue reading...

Average price of property in April rises to £267,620, the ninth straight month of growth, says NationwideHouse prices continued to climb in April but the rate of growth is slowing as soaring inflation and the cost of living crisis starts to affect the market, figures show.The average amount paid for a home in the UK climbed 0.3% to £267,620 in April, Nationwide found, the ninth consecutive month of growth. Continue reading...

Bruce Lehrmann, who is pleading not guilty, wanted a temporary or permanent stay on proceedings but the trial is scheduled for JuneThe man accused of raping Brittany Higgins has lost his bid to delay the ACT supreme court trial.On Friday, chief justice Lucy McCallum rejected an application by Bruce Lehrmann for a temporary or permanent stay, along with his bid to have media articles about the alleged sexual assault taken down. Continue reading...

With funds for anti-virals and other measure dwindling, some experts are concerned the US is too sanguine about future surgesThe US has left the “pandemic phase” at least for now, chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said this week, at the same time that the White House presses for urgently needed Covid-19 funding. But as cases continue mounting around the globe, the pandemic shows no signs of ending yet – and conflicting pictures offered by top health officials may hamper the renewal of critical Covid funds and efforts like vaccination campaigns.In an interview on Tuesday, Fauci painted an optimistic, if mixed, picture. “We are certainly, right now in this country, out of the pandemic phase,” he said, before adding, “Pandemic means a widespread, throughout the world, infection that spreads rapidly among people.” Continue reading...

BeyondBlue chief executive tells Victorian Covid inquiry lockdown led to more demand for services ‘regardless of where it was’

Reason party leader to reconsider her support for state government after being put below Derryn Hinch’s Justice party on how-to-vote cards

In response to British foreign secretary’s warning that Beijing must ‘play by the rules’, ministry of foreign affairs says Nato is stirring conflict

Soldier has told court allegation he unlawfully killed a man on SAS raid on Darwan village ‘is a lie’

Manasseh Sogavare says he wasn’t told about Aukus pact until it was public while Scott Morrison accuses counterpart of parroting China’s lines

Changing climate means infestations of pesky insects could become more common, experts sayThey smell like sweet meat, destroy vacuum cleaners and are wreaking havoc across rural New Zealand.An unusually wet summer has brought joy to farmers and grief to residents, as a plague of cluster flies descends on homes in the Canterbury and Wairarapa regions. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war in our new live blogMore than 8,500 alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are under investigation, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has said.A total of 8,653 cases have been reported and 217 children have been confirmed to have been killed, the office added.Unfortunately this is the type of step, the type of almost weaponising energy supplies that we had predicted that Russia could take in this conflict.

Between 11 and 17 dolphins killed each year, government says, though independent observers put rate as high as 50 a year

Interview with Time magazine reveals that Russian troops made two attempts to storm the presidential compound while Zelenskiy and his family were inside

Australian Electoral Commission refers Malcolm Heffernan to federal police for nominating in NSW and WA electorates

Passengers scramble in Ben Gurion’s departure hall after tourists show ‘souvenir’ collected in Golan HeightsAn American family set off a bomb scare at Israel’s main airport when they showed security inspectors an unexploded shell that they found while visiting the Golan Heights and had packed for their return trip, authorities said.Video circulated on social media showed panicked passengers scattering at Ben Gurion Airport’s departure hall near Tel Aviv on Thursday. Continue reading...

Former soldier appeared ‘intoxicated, acting in a belligerent manner’ when confronted with a search warrant, court documents sayPolice feared one of Ben Roberts-Smith’s SAS witnesses in his defamation case was going to destroy evidence on his phone when they confronted him with a search warrant in a city hotel late on Tuesday night.The former soldier, who hours earlier had finished giving evidence to the defamation trial, appeared “intoxicated, acting in a belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”, court documents say. Continue reading...

Macmillan survey suggests hundreds of thousands of people with cancer struggling to make ends meetHundreds of thousands of cancer patients are putting their lives at risk by cutting back on meals, heating and other essentials as a result of the cost of living crisis, a charity has said.Macmillan Cancer Support said it was “hugely concerning” that large numbers of people living with the disease were having to resort to drastic cost-cutting measures to make ends meet. Continue reading...

American Civil Liberties Union’s general counsel testifies that at least $500,000 came from fund connected to Elon MuskThe ACLU helped Amber Heard draft the Washington Post article accusing Johnny Depp of abuse after the organization was promised a $3.5m donation from her divorce – though at least $500,000 of it eventually came from a fund connected to Tesla founder Elon Musk, jurors in the Depp-Heard defamation trial heard on Thursday.The American Civil Liberties Union’s general counsel, Terence Dougherty, testified that the organization decided to propose Heard as an ambassador for the group after Heard pledged the sizeable donation over 10 years. Continue reading...

Former Four Corners presenter has won five Walkley awards in a career with the ABC stretching back to 2008

Victims’ commissioner calls goal of returning prosecution levels to pre-2017 levels ‘a pipe dream’Sex crimes logged by police in England and Wales have reached a record high amid warnings from the victims’ commissioner that the government’s aim to boost prosecutions to levels last seen five years ago is “a pipe dream”.Police-recorded sexual offences increased to their highest level over a 12-month period, with 183,587 in the year to December 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Continue reading...

MPs question why direct action has not been taken, but PM says independent process is neededBoris Johnson is under increasing pressure to take immediate disciplinary action against the Conservative MP accused of watching pornography in the House of Commons.The chief whip issued a statement on Wednesday suggesting the matter should be referred to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which deals with sexual harassment and other disciplinary matters. But senior Tories questioned why he had not taken action directly against the MP, whose alleged behaviour was witnessed by two female colleagues in recent months. Continue reading...

Prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova says ‘more than 8,000 cases’ of suspected war crimes identified

Not releasing MI5 advice on granting peerage makes government look like it has something to hide, Labour saysMinisters have been accused of “bending the rules to dodge scrutiny” after Downing Street missed the deadline for publishing the security advice it received about granting Evgeny Lebedev a peerage.MPs voted last month for the material to be released after reports that MI5 raised security concerns when the Evening Standard owner and son of a KGB officer was nominated by Boris Johnson to join the House of Lords in March 2020. Continue reading...

Senior shadow cabinet ministers invite Israeli politicians to observe Labour’s door-knocking drive in Barnet, north LondonKeir Starmer and senior shadow cabinet ministers have launched a charm offensive while hosting officials from Israel’s Labor party, including taking them door-knocking for the local elections in Barnet, north London.In move designed to underline the contrast with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Starmer and Rayner have hosted nine officials including the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, Chen Arieli, the party’s chief executive, Nir Rosen, and senior staffers from the Israeli leader’s office. Continue reading...

Advisory firm had called on investors to vote against plan, under which boss Alison Rose could earn £5.2mNatWest executives have avoided a shareholder rebellion despite a controversial new pay policy that could net its chief executive, Alison Rose, as much as £5.2m a year.The bank’s new pay policy – which was put to a shareholder vote on Thursday afternoon – will increase Rose’s potential bonus payouts by 25%, and result in a 43% rise for finance chief, Katie Murray, by 2023. Rose was paid nearly £3.6m in 2021. Continue reading...

Predicted rate rises and falls in property values pose risks to those considering loans with a 5% deposit, experts say

Group of unions step up campaign to protect historic pub popular with leaders of Australia’s labour movement

Louise Miller-Frost says current rate represents ‘intentional cruelty’ while Andrew Charlton says lifting it is ‘right thing to do’

Latest updates: Labour leader says Tories ‘know who this is’ and should address it immediately

Taxpayer-backed British Business Bank’s Future Fund, set up to provide loans in pandemic, announced 75 new investmentsThe UK government has become a shareholder in a cannabis oil company, a yoghurt bar business, a London-based craft brewery and a maker of land, underwater and air drones that “take inspiration from the clever tricks that animals use to move”.The taxpayer-backed British Business Bank’s Future Fund, set up by the government to provide loans to startups during the pandemic, announced investments in another 75 companies on Thursday including a stake in a yacht charter business, a virtual reality games developer and a cancer treatment firm. Continue reading...

Analysis: west’s punishment, payment and prevention approach to ending war could leave Putin corneredJust as Britain has positioned itself as the most munificent provider of weaponry to Ukraine, so it has adopted the most uncompromising of approaches to the terms for a final peace settlement with Russia. Judging by the near existential tone of the foreign secretary Liz Truss’s speech on Wednesday evening, the UK is self-consciously now on the provisional wing of the small group of allies that are privately discussing the terms of how the war might end.Not all of it is in the public domain, but in her speech Truss made clear that Russia would be required to leave the whole of Ukraine, and so no longer retain its foothold in the Donbas in the east and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. In this view she gained the support of the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, on Thursday. She also agrees with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, that Russia must end the war so weakened militarily that it cannot repeat its threats not just to Ukraine but to Moldova and the Balkans. Continue reading...

Police release photofit of smartly-dressed man whose body was found off island of Heligoland in 1994The man sported a stripy Marks & Spencer tie, expensively made but possibly secondhand shoes – and 6 kg of cast-iron weights tied around his body, designed to drag him to the bottom of the North Sea.Almost three decades after finding the body of what appeared to be a murder victim in the waters off the island of Heligoland, German police have released new information and a first photofit in order to establish the identity of the man who was dubbed “the Gentleman” for his smart attire. Continue reading...

Stockpiling rife as city acts in attempt to avoid Shanghai-style lockdownBeijing has closed schools and suspended weddings and funerals in the city of 22 million in a whirlwind effort to avoid plunging China’s capital into a Shanghai-style Covid lockdown.Fears that Beijing could soon be in lockdown have already prompted widespread stockpiling, leading to shortages in some supermarkets. Continue reading...

Leiland-James Corkill was in care of Laura Castle and her husband, Scott, when he died at their Cumbria home in January 2021A woman has gone on trial accused of murdering the baby boy she and her husband were planning to adopt.Leiland-James Corkill was 13 months old and in the care of Laura Castle and her husband, Scott, when he died at their home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Continue reading...

Magdalena Andersson says both Islamism and rightwing extremism have been allowed to festerSweden’s prime minister has said the Scandinavian country has failed to integrate many of the immigrants who have settled there over the past 20 years, creating a nation of “parallel societies … living in different realities”.Unveiling a series of measures to tackle organised crime after violent riots over the Easter weekend that left more than 100 police injured, Magdalena Andersson said Islamism and rightwing extremism had been allowed to fester in Sweden. Continue reading...