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Shadow ministers say Keir Starmer’s ban on visiting picket lines has ‘effectively broken down’ as frontbencher visits CWU membersShadow cabinet ministers have warned of a “breakdown in discipline” over Labour’s approach to strikes, as Lisa Nandy visited striking BT workers days after Keir Starmer reiterated that frontbenchers should not go to picket lines.Nandy and members of Starmer’s team are understood to dispute whether she was given tacit permission to attend the picket line. Sources close to the Labour leader said the matter had not been resolved and shadow cabinet minsters were furious. Continue reading...

Some of those waiting for community health services are facing delays as long as 120 weeksMore than 1 million people are waiting months, and sometimes years, for out-of-hospital care for back pain, foot problems and hearing loss, a leaked NHS England document reveals.While most of those waiting are adults, almost 300,0000 of them are children and young people who are seeking help with problems such as delayed development and long-term conditions. Continue reading...

Rhys Davies was sentenced after vets examined terriers kept at his tied cottage on Millden estate in ScotlandA former gamekeeper at one of Scotland’s best-known grouse moors has been jailed for eight months and banned for owning dogs for 15 years, after using dogs to fight badgers and foxes.Rhys Davies, from Gwynedd, north Wales, admitted earlier this year that he used five Patterdale terriers for illegal badger and fox-fighting at different locations across Scotland while he was a gamekeeper at Millden estate in Angus, near Dundee. Continue reading...

Boys understood to have been searched in Ilford and Bethnal Green without appropriate adult presentTwo more incidents involving the strip-search of children by the Metropolitan police will be investigated by its watchdog as the fallout from the Child Q case continues.The investigations launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) both involve 16-year-old boys who are understood to have been strip-searched in custody in 2020 without an appropriate adult present: one at Ilford police station in January and the other at Bethnal Green police station in October. Continue reading...

York council leader praises £540m deal that will involve York and North Yorkshire electing a mayorThe UK’s first devolution deal for a city and rural region combined should be seen as a stepping stone towards a bigger goal of devolution for the whole of Yorkshire, a council leader has said.On Monday the leaders of York city council and North Yorkshire county council joined the levelling up secretary, Greg Clark, to sign a “historic” deal that brings a radical shake-up of local government in the area. Continue reading...

Analysis: momentum appears to be with Liz Truss but there are signs that race with Rishi Sunak could be tighter than expected

Thousands join team in Trafalgar Square in London to hail victory described as a turning point

Tuesday’s vote seeks to overturn state constitutional rights in a midwest abortion haven – which way will it go?On 13 July, Sarah McGinnity, 39, sat down with her mother, 67, and six-year-old daughter and carefully wrote postcards to people she’d never met.“Dear voter, it will take all of us to protect reproductive rights in Kansas,” they read. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tom Tugendhat likely to lead trip later this year as London’s relationship with Beijing deterioratesBritain’s House of Commons foreign affairs committee is planning on a visit to Taiwan later this year – probably in November or early December – despite rising tensions in the region, the Guardian has learned.Sources say that the trip – which was originally scheduled for early this year but was postponed due to one member of the delegation testing positive for Covid – was intended to show Britain’s support for the democratically run island, which China considers its own. Continue reading...

Emilian Gebrev says explosion on Sunday is latest of repeated attacks against him by GRU operativesA Bulgarian arms dealer who survived an apparent novichok poisoning in 2015 said he was “100% sure” that Russian operatives were behind an explosion and subsequent fire at one of his depots in the country on Sunday.“There is no way this could be an accident, there was nothing in the building that could have detonated without outside interference,” Emilian Gebrev told the Guardian in a telephone interview. Continue reading...

Service for former first minister brings together Northern Irish, British and Irish leadersDavid Trimble faced bitter opposition from across the political spectrum during his life but his funeral has united British, Irish and Northern Irish leaders in paying tribute to his accomplishments and sacrifice.The service in Lisburn on Monday brought together the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, and other political representatives from London, Dublin and Belfast to bid farewell to Northern Ireland’s inaugural first minister. Continue reading...

Noel Quinn says such a move would come with ‘material costs’ and ‘high risk of failure’HSBC’s chief executive has hit back at calls for a breakup from the top shareholder Ping An, saying splitting the business would come with “material costs” and a “high risk of failure” that could harm investors long-term.It came as the bank reported flat pre-tax profits of $5bn (£4.1bn) for the second quarter, as income from mortgages and loans was offset by the amount it had to put aside for potential defaults linked to weaker economic forecasts. Continue reading...

Test required potential homebuyers to prove they could afford three-percentage-point rise in interest ratesThousands of potential homebuyers may find it easier to get on to the property ladder after a key mortgage affordability test was scrapped by the Bank of England.The central bank has said the change – taking effect from 1 August – should not be viewed as “a relaxation of the rules”. However, some commentators said that while the move would be welcomed by many, there was a risk that some people would take out mortgages they were unable to afford. Continue reading...

Deal with German asset management firm Aurelius Group follows CMA concernsJD Sports has agreed a deal to sell Footasylum to the German asset management firm Aurelius Group for less than half the price it originally paid, after it was finally forced to offload the trainer chain by the UK’s competition watchdog.The £38m deal will be completed in the coming weeks, putting an end to a saga that started with JD Sports’ £90m purchase of its rival in 2019 as the FTSE 100 group sought to strengthen its position on the UK high street. Continue reading...

Exhibition includes two specially commissioned works reframing story of former Trinidad governorFor more than a century, the portrait of Thomas Picton hung in a prominent position at the National Museum Cardiff, the image’s description hailing him as a military hero rather than a tyrant and a torturer, before it was removed from view in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.From Monday the two-metre-tall portrait of Lt Gen Picton is back on display in the Welsh capital – but in a very different context. Continue reading...

Former paediatric neurologist was speaking about the risk of long Covid when opposition MPs, most of whom were not wearing masks, interjected

Crime and Corruption Commission says one case involved allegations of strangulation and rapeGet our free news app, morning email briefing and daily news podcastQueensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission received six domestic violence-related complaints about police officers within two weeks of allowing such matters to be treated as corruption instead of misconduct, an inquiry has been told.One officer had allegations of strangulation and rape made against them, while another allegedly had access to child exploitation material, the commission of inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic violence heard Monday. Continue reading...

At end of April there were 1,414 people in detention centres, 61% due to visa cancellations

Public broadcaster says newly-created independent position will help maintain audience trust and confidence

Authorities remain concerned the overrepresentation of older people in the state’s hospitals

Women have reset clock after more than five decades of pain, says comedian who co-wrote 1996 songThe England football anthem Three Lions should be “put to bed” after the Lionesses’ triumph in the Euro 2022 final, David Baddiel has said.“The women have reset the clock,” Baddiel, one of the trio behind the hit, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after the win, which erased 56 years of England failing to win a trophy. Continue reading...

NSW anti-corruption watchdog calls for strict guidelines for government grants in new report

Zinta the black labrador’s nose didn’t let her down as Australia beefs up airport biosecurity after Indonesian foot-and-mouth disease outbreak

Citizens Advice says people should consider switching products such as mobile and broadband contracts or mortgagesAbout one in seven people could be paying a “loyalty penalty” for products such as mortgages and mobile and broadband packages, according to Citizens Advice.The charity said some UK households could save as much as £400 by switching, or seeking discounts, from their current suppliers. Continue reading...

Thousands of members of Communication Workers Union will take action for 24 hoursThousands of BT and Openreach workers will go on strike again on Monday in a dispute over pay.Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), including call centre workers and engineers, will hold a 24-hour strike, after similar action on Friday. Continue reading...

Matthew Isaac Wolfe pleaded guilty to helping recruit women to perform in videos that were later released online without their consentA New Zealand man who helped build a US-based pornography empire by coercing young women into filming adult videos has pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.Matthew Isaac Wolfe, 40, admitted to his part in a scheme that recruited women to perform in videos for GirlsDoPorn, on the promise the films would not be shown in the US and would not be uploaded online. Wolfe is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in connection to the case. Continue reading...

Multiple airlines experience delays due to crew absences while Qantas technical glitch left passengers waiting for hours

Redland mayor Karen Williams has apologised for the incident, calling it a single lapse of judgment

Elected leader would take office in 2024 alongside return of powers from Westminster as part of levelling-up agendaYork and North Yorkshire are to elect a mayor and receive £540m of government investment over 30 years in a landmark devolution deal to be signed on Monday.The agreement will create a new combined authority across the region led by a directly elected mayor, who will have the power to spend the money on local priorities such as transport, education and housing. Continue reading...

Non-nuclear state Australia’s handling of nuclear-powered submarines will have to be ‘impeccable’, Australia Institute says

Former chancellor warns party members against ‘fantasy economics’, adding voting for Truss would be ‘self-sabotage’Rishi Sunak has pledged to slash taxes by 20% by the end of the decade in a last-gasp pitch to Conservative members with the first ballots set to drop in the leadership race.But in one of his strongest attacks yet on the frontrunner, Liz Truss, Sunak warned party members against an “act of self-sabotage” that could cost the party the election and to be wary of major spending pledges and tax cuts which he has previously dismissed as fantasy economics. Continue reading...

Interest rate rises lead to dwelling values falling for third month in a row with Sydney prices down 5.2% since January

Deividas Skebas to appear in court on Monday over stabbing of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte in BostonA man has been charged with the murder of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte after she was stabbed in Boston on Thursday, Lincolnshire police have said.Deividas Skebas, 22, was charged on Sunday following the incident that took place in Fountain Lane, Boston at about 6.20pm on 28 July. Lilia was reportedly playing with a hula hoop with her younger sister before she was found with a stab wound. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands ‘must evacuate Donetsk’ to avoid falling into enemy hands, says Ukrainian presidentRussia has said it has invited United Nations and Red Cross experts to investigate the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow-backed separatists, Reuters reports.At least 50 prisoners of war were killed in an attack on a jail in Olenivka, in Russian-occupied Donetsk, on Friday. Both sides in the war have blamed the blast on each other. Continue reading...

Reason party leader Fiona Patten, who is introducing the bill, says ‘imposed religious faith has no place in the public health system’

State electoral commission accused of discrimination for suspending iVoting platform as Blind Citizens Australia takes case to watchdog

British Transport Police say they believe victim who died on platform was assaulted following altercation in carriageA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a train passenger died on a platform following an altercation in a carriage on Saturday night.British Transport Police (BTP) officers were called to platform eight of Reading station in Berkshire at 11.43pm, where they found the injured man, who was later pronounced dead. Continue reading...

Some see youth football tournament as former president’s latest attempt to remain in running for 2025 electionsPolitics and football have long mixed in South America, but not perhaps to this extent. On Sunday the Copa Evo, an international youth football tournament arranged by and named after Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales, kicked off in the country’s coca-growing tropics.The buildup was dominated by political scraps, with the opposition questioning the involvement of the national football federation in a tournament that bears Morales’s name. Continue reading...

Alika Ogorchukwu beaten to death in broad daylight while onlookers stood by in far right-led Marche regionVideo footage of a Nigerian street seller being attacked and killed in broad daylight in Italy has sparked a row over far-right parties’ xenophobic tactics in the country’s election campaign.Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, was killed on Friday in the centre of Civitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. According to Italian media reports and witnesses, the attack began after Ogorchukwu made “insistent” requests to sell handkerchiefs and “for pocket change”. Continue reading...

Local rape and sexual assault support group says ‘nine out of 10’ survivors report similar experiencesMerseyside police have apologised after an officer deterred a woman from pursuing a sexual assault complaint by saying that because there were no witnesses or CCTV “there will be no realistic prospect of a prosecution”.The letter, seen by the Guardian, was sent last month by a detective sergeant before the complainant had been interviewed by officers. Continue reading...

Culture secretary’s post portraying Sunak wielding knife at Boris Johnson denounced in light of MPs’ murdersConservative MPs have condemned “divisive, disingenuous and disturbing” interventions against Rishi Sunak by the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, including a tweet showing Sunak wielding a knife at Boris Johnson.Other Conservative ministers have condemned comments by Dorries, a supporter of Liz Truss, about Sunak’s dress sense, after she compared his Savile Row suit with Truss’ earrings from Claire’s. Continue reading...

President’s comments likely to intensify fears of worldwide grain shortage and global hunger

‘We won’t all be sounding the same,’ says researcher after comparison of extensive survey with findings from 70 years agoDialects from southern England are spreading, research has shown, but it isn’t all having your dinner at teatime: the north is also pushing back.Researchers from the University of York, Lancaster University and New York University surveyed more than 14,000 native English speakers and compared how they speak today with findings from similar studies 70 years ago. Continue reading...

Petinos was last week the subject of bullying allegations in the media, which she strenuously denied

Cameraman Daniel McGovern copied footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki devastation to ensure lessons were learnedThe photograph shows devastation in Nagasaki after the atomic bomb: a scorched wilderness where there was once a city. At its centre stands a lone man with a camera.It was 9 September 1945 and Lt Daniel McGovern, a US Army Air Force cameraman, was documenting ground zero, the point directly below the bomb’s detonation four weeks earlier. Few would recognise McGovern, but the vision of apocalypse is familiar from documentary footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war. Continue reading...

Increased workloads, class sizes, low pay and Covid legacy are leading to more absences and an exodus of staffTeachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom.With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago. Continue reading...

Minister says Labor’s plan is ‘five years in the making’ as she seeks to clear up confusion about approach

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...