World news | The Guardian

Fortunes of siblings James Cargill, Austen Cargill and Marianne Liebmann up a fifth this yearA “giant leap” in global food prices caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has helped three members of the super-rich Cargill family, who majority-own one of the world’s largest food companies, join the ranks of the world’s 500 richest people.Siblings James Cargill, Austen Cargill and Marianne Liebmann – all great-grandchildren of William Wallace Cargill, who founded the Cargill company in 1865 – this week joined the Bloomberg Billionaires list of the richest 500 people alive. Each of them has an estimated $5.4bn (£4.1bn) fortune – up a fifth so far this year. Continue reading...

Trade body says pressure on manufacturers ‘will have to be shared with retailers and consumers’

As a Bristol video shop celebrates its 40th anniversary, we see if the year’s movies have aged so wellWith aliens (friendly and not-so-friendly), cyborgs, love stories and serious dramas, 1982 produced some classic movies. As a Bristol video shop celebrates 40 years since first opening its doors to film fans, we look back at the top films of the year.ET Continue reading...

Report alleges Rassemblement National leader and others misused about €620,000 in funds while serving in European parliamentThe European Union’s anti-fraud body has accused Marine Le Pen and several of her party members – including her father – of embezzling about €620,000 while serving as members of the European parliament.France’s investigative website Mediapart published a section of the new 116-report alleging that the MEPs misused EU funds for national party purposes. Continue reading...

Questions raised over home secretary’s claim that new law would allow ‘safe and legal route’Priti Patel is under pressure to apologise after being accused of misleading parliament over a central claim relating to her deeply controversial proposals to change immigration law.The home secretary told MPs that the widely criticised nationality and borders bill would create new safe and legal routes to the UK for asylum seekers, suggesting that new routes would ensure that people no longer need to risk their lives trying to reach the UK. Continue reading...

Increasingly sophisticated efforts to influence opinion are making it harder to establish whether they breach Facebook’s policiesFacebook is struggling to contain pro-Russian and anti-western posts that are contributing to political instability in west Africa, investigators and analysts have said.The platform, which has expanded rapidly across the continent in recent years, has made significant investment in content moderation, but still faces enormous challenges in curbing deliberate disinformation campaigns. One major area of concern is the strategically important Sahel region, which has suffered a series of military takeovers over the last 18 months. Continue reading...

Three people are in hospital following a rescue operation at Surf Beach on the NSW south coast, police say

As Putin’s forces gather for another strike, support for his action has fallen dramatically across the region• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developmentsThe city of Kramatorsk feels empty. Only a handful of supermarkets, restaurants and hotels are still open. Windows along the main streets are boarded up. Many residents have moved out of their apartment blocks and into houses in neighbouring villages, where they judge it will be safer.The few locals walking around behave as if they can’t hear the sirens blaring and appear not to flinch from the occasional thunder of incoming shells. Continue reading...

More than a month after they were announced 2,000 temporary pod homes are being sent to flood-affected communities

Ukraine president says situation in Mariupol remains ‘extremely severe’ as Moscow tells port city’s remaining defenders to ‘surrender or die’

Leader appears well pleased with latest test of what state media reported was a new type of tactical guided weaponNorth Korea has test-fired a new weapons system, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong-un, that it claims will boost the efficiency of its tactical nuclear weapons, state media reported.The “new-type tactical guided weapon ... is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” the official Korean Central News Agency said early on Sunday, without specifying when the test took place. It said the test was successful. Continue reading...

Proposed $1.5bn development announced by Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce may threaten air, soil and water quality, NT environment report says

Candidates from One Nation, United Australia party and other micro parties have begun seeding Facebook with advice tinged with claims about ballots being erased, amended or hidden

Duke and Duchess of Sussex address spectators at The Hague at launch of event, accompanied by Netflix film crewThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex said everyone is “standing with” the Ukraine team at the Invictus Games during a speech at the opening ceremony in the Netherlands.The couple addressed the crowd in The Hague, which included members of the Dutch royal family and the Netherlands prime minister Mark Rutte, and paid tribute to the Ukrainian competitors for attending the competition. Continue reading...

Despite tailbacks on roads, passengers at airports report departing without delaysHolidaymakers savoured the sunshine at the country’s beaches and parks on Saturday in the first Easter break without lockdown restrictions for two years.Many headed for the coast, with most of the country enjoying the temperatures that reached 21.6C on Saturday, according to the Met Office. It was the hottest day of the year so far on Good Friday, when highs of 23.4C were recorded at St James’s Park in London – warmer than Ibiza. Continue reading...

Firefighters say fireworks may be involved in blaze outside Newbury, causing M4 closure between junctions 13 and 14Fire crews are attending a blaze at an industrial building in Westbrook, Newbury, after an fire sent a huge cloud of smoke across the M4.A Royal Berkshire fire and rescue service spokesperson said: “At 1.41pm on Saturday, 16 April, we received reports of a fire at industrial building in Westbrook, Newbury. Royal Berkshire fire and rescue service crews from Newbury, Theale and two officers have currently been sent to the scene, with crews from Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue service. Continue reading...

Family was outraged that Koci Selamaj was able to refuse to go to Old Bailey to receive life sentenceCriminals could be forced to attend sentencing hearings if new rules reportedly being considered by the Ministry of Justice are brought in.The regulations are apparently being considered after the killer of Sabina Nessa refused to hear his sentencing verdict at the Old Bailey on 7 April. Continue reading...

Analysis: the Tory leader is unpopular for breaking lockdown rules but his departure may depend on options for his replacementTiming is everything. Suspicions that Boris Johnson had broken lockdown rules nearly toppled him in January. Yet now the prime minister looks safe, even as suspicion becomes fact with the issuing of a fixed penalty notice by the police. Johnson’s strong response to the international crisis provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have saved him for now, though with more fines probably still to come, and Sue Gray’s final report looming, his position remains perilous.The lockdown party scandals have turned a lot of voters against Johnson. His average net approval ratings across seven national pollsters collapsed from -9 last September to -40 in January. At rock bottom, the prime minister’s ratings were as bad as Margaret Thatcher’s during the poll tax crisis or Gordon Brown’s at the height of the financial crisis. Johnson was less popular with voters in January than Jeremy Corbyn was during the 2019 election campaign. The Johnson brand as a politician with unique popular appeal looked completely shot. Continue reading...

NASUWT conference delegates condemn nonstop culture that puts colleagues on long-term sick leaveTeachers are “popping pills” and are on long-term sick leave, ground down by a culture of non-stop school emails and WhatsApp messages that “ding and ping” day and night, a conference has been told.Delegate after delegate took to the platform at the annual conference of the NASUWT teachers’ union in Birmingham to condemn the increase in workload and describe the devastating impact on health and wellbeing. Continue reading...

Unions say civil servants could stage mass walkouts after home secretary overruled their concerns

Japan urges local government to address business concerns as ongoing restrictions hit commerceShanghai reported a record number of symptomatic Covid-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its “dynamic clearance” approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.The Zhengzhou airport economic zone, a central Chinese manufacturing area that includes Apple supplier Foxconn, announced a 14-day lockdown on Friday “to be adjusted according to the epidemic situation”. Continue reading...

Wooden vessel launched from Sabratha, a major departure point for Europe, says UN migration agencyA boat carrying 35 people has capsized off the Libyan coast, , the UN migration agency has said.The incident took place on Friday off the western Libyan city of Sabratha, a major launching point for the mainly African people making the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean, said the International Organization for Migration. Continue reading...

Pupils set to take first GCSEs and A-levels for three years, but invigilators are wary of working in halls with no protective measuresAfter the disruption of the pandemic, Helen Fields knew this Easter holiday would be a crucial time for her sons to revise for their GCSE and A-level exams. Instead, 16-year-old Solomon caught Covid and has been too unwell to concentrate, and 18-year-old Gabriel is suffering “serious anxiety”, having never sat high-stakes exams.Summer term starts this week for many, but the Association of School and College Leaders union (ASCL) told the Observer that the first public exams for three years, which start on 16 May, will “certainly not be a return to business as usual”. The union says soaring infection rates played havoc with exam preparation last term, and their members can’t see why the government won’t bring back free Covid tests for these pupils, to avoid the virus spreading in exam halls. Continue reading...

Moscow announces move that will also bar 10 other UK government members and politicians

Emergency services on high alert in KwaZulu-Natal as search for victims continues, with almost 400 deadSouth Africa’s flood-ravaged east has been hit by another downpour of rain, after the catastrophic storm killed nearly 400 people and left tens of thousands homeless.Flood waters from the deadliest storm to hit the country in living memory engulfed parts of the coastal city of Durban earlier this week – tearing apart roads, sweeping away homes and those trapped inside them, and sinking heavy cargo containers. Continue reading...

After two weeks of relative peace, mayor of Kyiv warns residents who have left that it is not safe to return

In a Paris suburb, opinion is divided over who to vote for after the defeat of leftwing Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Scientist Emma Smart, 44, received treatment before being returned to custody over arrest at London protestA marine biologist held by police for more than 48 hours over a climate crisis protest was taken from her cell to hospital in an ambulance.Emma Smart, 44, one of nine scientists affiliated with Extinction Rebellion who were arrested at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), had gone on hunger and thirst strike to protest against the conditions in which she was being held. Continue reading...

Influences from Churchill to Tolkien are woven in to the Ukrainian president’s compelling video addresses

Health agencies warn of Kinder Surprise, Mini Eggs and Schoko-Bons after 70 cases in UK linked to outbreakKinder chocolate products linked to a salmonella outbreak should not be consumed over the Easter weekend, health officials have warned.A “rapid outbreak assessment” released by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said it had matched the same salmonella strain currently infecting people to samples taken from a factory in Belgium last December. Continue reading...

Tory MP hits out at ‘overly bureaucratic’ process for resettling refugees, saying visas took too long

Plane crashed as pilot tried to land at East Kimberley regional airport in Kununurra

Prime minister under pressure as Liberals split over Katherine Deves’ candidacy; Anthony Albanese promises federal Icac within months. This blog is now closed

NSW treasurer Matt Kean and long-time Liberal activist Walter Villatora call for Deves to be disendorsedScott Morrison is facing a mutiny over the Liberal party’s controversial candidate in Warringah, Katherine Deves, with intensifying calls for her to be dumped because of “hurtful and divisive” comments about transgender people.Liberal moderates have been concerned for some time that Deves’ candidacy would prove damaging to the Liberal party’s standing with centre-right progressive voters in key metropolitan contests. Continue reading...

Forms sent back via political parties can be used to harvest personal information about voters

Affected Cambridgeshire people told by company to assume items ‘have been mislaid in the network’The residents of at least two Cambridgeshire villages say they could have lost thousands of letters after their deliveries mysteriously stopped for almost three weeks. They have been left “hugely frustrated” and say Royal Mail has indicated to them that any missing items will never be delivered and should now be considered lost.At the start of March, people living in Great and Little Eversden – and possibly two other nearby villages – only a few miles from Cambridge, noticed their post had stopped arriving. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Alf Dubs, former child refugee, says sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is effectively ‘state-sponsored trafficking’

AMA chief to call on Anthony Albanese to ‘stand for health’, saying funding boost is urgent to alleviate pressure on medical system

The decision to remain can inspire local people to resist, but also have deadly consequences

Ukraine president claims up to 20,000 Russian soldiers have died; reprisals from Moscow expected in wake of sinking of flagship cruiser the Moskva

This live blog has now closed, for our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our new live pageThe UK’s Ministry of Defence has responded to reports of the apparent attack on and sinking of Russia’s Black Sea fleet’s flagship.The report, released shortly after 6am GMT, reads:Russia has admitted that the Slava-class cruiser Moskva has sunk. As flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.The Soviet-era vessel was one of only three Slava-class cruisers in the Russian navy. Originally commissioned in 1979, the Moskva had completed an extensive refit designed to improve its capability and only returned to operational status in 2021. Continue reading...

Journalist who sought safety in Britain still in fear for his life after his paper criticised President KagameA refugee who fled torture in Rwanda and was given asylum in the UK has criticised government plans to fly unauthorised migrants to his home country.The 42-year-old journalist told the Guardian that even though he has been granted refugee status here he remains in fear of being targeted by Rwandan government agents in the UK. Continue reading...

More weather warnings ahead as search continues for those hit by deadly storms in KwaZulu-Natal provinceSouth African police, army and volunteer rescuers have widened the search for dozens still missing five days after the deadliest storm to strike the city of Durban in living memory as the death toll rose to nearly 400.The floods, which affected nearly 41,000 people, left a trail of destruction and killed at least 395 people, said Sipho Hlomuka, the regional head of the disaster management ministry. Continue reading...

Ukraine braces for revenge attacks after Russian warship Moskva sunk; bodies of more than 900 civilians found in Kyiv region

Asylum seekers say there is no freedom in Rwanda and fear for their lives if sent to AfricaSmall boat arrivals on the Kent coast have expressed fears that they will be removed from the UK and transferred to Rwanda, after hearing the government’s announcement that asylum claims will be processed offshore.“If they send me to Rwanda, I will not go. I will die here, I will take my life,” Jemal, a new arrival from Eritrea, said. “Do you know how many thousands of miles I travelled to be here? How long I was in [the] desert …? To reach this point, to be here, we all had to make so many sacrifices. A lot of [people] lost their lives on the sea. I left my country now – I cannot go back to Africa.”In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison under pressure over integrity commission failure and $500,000 payout to ex-ministerial staffer

Data also reveals the government has fallen well behind its own targets for new dwellings

Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner at UNHCR, says plan is ‘symbolic gesture’ that will prove unworkableThe UN’s refugee agency has condemned Boris Johnson’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as “a symbolic gesture” that will be unworkable in practice.Speaking to the Guardian, Gillian Triggs, the assistant high commissioner at the UNHCR, said the proposed arrangement would only accommodate a few hundred people a year, making it extremely expensive as well as illegal and discriminatory. Continue reading...

Ahmad Khan’s conviction, Partygate and recent Conservative policies have swayed constituents to the left“Labour is definitely due a comeback now,” said Wakefield market stall owner Mohammad Javed. After coming to the area from Pakistan aged 16, he has spent the last four decades observing life in the town centre from his busy high street spot.“I’ve seen the rise and fall of this town, I know the locals, and I’m telling you – the Tories have outstayed their welcome.” Continue reading...

Diplomatic note believed to talk of ‘unpredictable consequences’ as US readies $800m of military hardware