World news | The Guardian

Government announces 500m project to provide single point of access for health, education and wellbeing servicesOne-stop shop family hubs will be rolled out across England to give parents advice and support, the government has announced. The centres will offer help with breastfeeding and housing issues, as well as supporting children's early development and language, ministers said.The 500m project will open 1,000 centres from April 2026, meaning every council in England will have a family hub by 2028. It will build on the existing family hubs and start for life programme to provide a single point of access for services in health, education and wellbeing. Continue reading...

While the electorate will be hoping for a more stable result, it's again unlikely either major party will be given a majority

More than 850 people had been rescued by Saturday, yet scores remain missing with families asking for information

Steve Rotheram and Tracy Brabin urge PM to listen more, with one saying his government is disjointed' from the rest of LabourKeir Starmer's government appears disjointed" from the rest of the Labour party just a year after taking power, regional mayors have said, with one blaming No 10 for overseeing a mess of our own making".Steve Rotheram, the Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, said Downing Street's repeated missteps were winding up" people who wanted to back the government. Continue reading...

Allegations in Sunday Times say MP took out government loans during the Covid pandemic for businesses with no employeesA Reform MP, James McMurdock, has given up the party whip while he is investigated over allegations about his business conduct during the coronavirus pandemic.Lee Anderson, the party's chief whip, made the announcement on Saturday, saying it related to accusations in the Sunday Times over government loans he is alleged to have taken out during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on Pedro Sanchez to call snap election as latest resignation adds to corruption allegationsPedro Sanchez's efforts to reset Spain's ruling socialist party after damaging corruption allegations that threatened to topple his coalition government have suffered a severe setback after a party official resigned over accusations of sexual harassment.The prime minister had hoped this weekend's meeting of the federal committee of his Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE) would help the party move past weeks of scandals that have undermined the ethical and anti-corruption pledges on which it came to power seven years ago. Continue reading...

Almost 300 researchers have applied for for positions at Aix-Marseille University after Trump unleashed his attack on academiaIt was on a US-bound flight in March, as Brian Sandberg stressed about whether he would be stopped at security, that the American historian knew the time had come for him to leave his home country.For months, he had watched Donald Trump's administration unleash a multipronged attack on academia - slashing funding, targeting international students and deeming certain fields and even keywords off limits. As his plane approached the US, it felt as though the battle had hit home, as Sandberg worried that he would face reprisals over comments he had made during his travels to the French media on the future of research in the US. Continue reading...

Concerns raised about council appointments, including 19-year-old overseeing children and family servicesReform UK's local election wins have led to teenagers being put in charge of vital public services, including a 19-year-old who is overseeing children and family services while at university.Two months after the elections in which Nigel Farage's party took overall control of 10 councils, concerns have been raised about the experience of candidates who have been appointed to roles with wide-ranging responsibility. Continue reading...

Vicky Pebsworth has spent decades saying vaccines caused her son's autism - a connection refuted by years of researchOne of the new members of a critical federal vaccine advisory board has argued for decades that vaccines caused her son's autism - a connection that years of large-scale studies and reviews refute.Registered nurse Vicky Pebsworth is one of eight new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Acip), all hand-picked by the vaccine skeptic and Donald Trump's health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Continue reading...

Police allege a man entered the grounds at about 8pm on Friday and poured a flammable liquid on the front door

Doctors say Israel is blocking deliveries of formula urgently needed as mothers are either dead or too malnourished to feed their babiesDoctors in Gaza have warned that hundreds of babies are at risk of death amid a critical shortage of baby milk, as Israel continues to restrict the humanitarian aid that can enter the beleaguered strip.Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said his ward had only about a week's worth of infant formula remaining. The doctor has already run out of specialised formula meant for premature babies and is forced to use regular formula, rationing it between the infants under his care. Continue reading...

Rose Jones was told to repay 2,145 after she unwittingly breached draconian' carer's allowance regulationsA young carer who had looked after her disabled mother since she was eight said she was amazed" and overwhelmed" after Guardian readers paid off her 2,000 fine for a mistaken breach of widely condemned benefits rules.Rose Jones, 22, was ordered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to repay 2,145 after joining a government youth employment scheme that meant she overstepped draconian" carer's allowance earnings regulations. Continue reading...

Socially responsible funds that invested in G8 Education seek explanation around staff screening and child safety measures

Noel and Liam Gallagher got back together on stage for the first time since 2009. See how it unfolded here - from setlist to stadium singalongsWhile the Oasis subreddit is overspilling with speculation and excitement about the first gigs of the reunion tour, the Cardiff subreddit has been driven up the wall by banal questions from non-locals about travel logistics. It's inspired increasingly deranged spoof posts about the so-called Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, that green Oasis(R) foam used for floral arrangements, the fruity soft drink Oasis and where you can weigh your sister in the city ... geddit ... oh-weigh-sis.Fans have been soaking up the atmosphere - though I'm not sure that cardboard Liam is too happy about it. Continue reading...

Government under pressure on issue after stories of asylum seekers working illegally as takeaway delivery ridersThe Home Office has announced what it is calling a nationwide blitz" on asylum seekers who take jobs, after recent political controversy about people in asylum hotels working as food takeaway delivery riders.In a statement, which gave few specifics, the Home Office pledged to begin a major operation to disrupt this type of criminality" based around enforcement teams focusing on the gig economy, particularly on delivery riders. Continue reading...

Oasis fans were overjoyed by the performance of the reunited band, a non-stop wild' set that brought back fond memoriesThe atmosphere on the concourses in Cardiff after the first Oasis gig of their long-awaited reunion tour was one of speechlessness that the once-estranged Gallagher brothers had pulled it off.Leigh, from Cardiff, could hardly find the words to describe the two and a half hours he had just witnessed. They were quiet at the beginning, then the crescendos went wild, then they were non-stop wild," he said. It went supernova - crazy. I couldn't believe it. I don't know what to say - I was 18 again." Continue reading...

Bill slashes federal safety-net programs and increases funds for aggressive immigration enforcementDonald Trump signed his sweeping spending package into law on Friday during a Fourth of July picnic at the White House, significantly cutting back on federal safety-net programs and increasing funds for aggressive immigration enforcement.During the picnic, Trump gloated about the bill's passing. It's the most popular bill ever signed in the history of the country," Trump said, while standing next to his wife, Melania Trump. What we've done is put everything into one bill. We've never had anything like that before." Continue reading...

Focusing heavily on their 1990s output with only one song from their last four albums, Liam and Noel Gallagher performed together for the first time since 2009Swaggering, cocksure and incredibly loud, Oasis burst back on to the live music scene on Friday night with an accomplished - if ever so slightly distanced - debut gig on their reunion world tour.Playing Cardiff's Principality Stadium, the six-piece impressed at the start of what is arguably the most anticipated tour of the century, focusing overwhelmingly on songs from their 1990s heyday - only one song, Little By Little, was taken from their final four albums. Continue reading...

With a heavy emphasis on their 1990s heyday, here is every song that Oasis and their support acts played on the first night of their tourHello

Group said to want stronger guarantees of permanent end to war as Netanyahu prepares to meet Trump in USHamas said it had responded on Friday in a positive spirit" to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict.US president Donald Trump earlier announced a final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours. Continue reading...

Province's language police had a petite contretemps when it challenged Montreal transit agencies use of word on busesQuebec's mercurial and controversial language police have decided that using the word go" is a legitimate way to cheer on sports teams in the province, paving the way for excited fans - and Montreal's transit agency - to celebrate without fear of recrimination.In new guidelines, the Office Quebecois de la Langue Francaise (OQLF, the Quebec Board of the French Language) said that go" was now partially legitimized", according to reporting by the Canadian Press, although the language watchdog says it prefers the French equivalent: allez. Continue reading...

Paul Webb said he ensured books and material were pulled from children's section of Kent libraries, but it emerges they were never thereA boast by a Reform UK councillor that he ensured the removal of trans-ideological material and books" from the children's section of his county's libraries has fallen flat after it emerged that no such material ever existed there.Paul Webb, the cabinet member for communities at Kent council, whose portfolio covers libraries, posted a video to X in which he said he had been recently contacted by a concerned member of the public who found trans-ideological material and books in the children's section of one of our libraries". Continue reading...

After an internal welfare bill rebellion and excluded Labour figures regrouping, the PM is forced to realise the left may have never gone awayA year ago, many around Keir Starmer believed the Labour left had been sealed in a tomb. The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, the disciplinary action against Labour MPs including Zarah Sultana and the push to the political centre were supposed to fracture the party's leftwing.But this week's drama, which included the prime minister narrowly avoiding defeat on the welfare bill after 49 Labour MPs rebelled, the chancellor's tears during prime minister's questions and Sultana announcing she was quitting the party to join Corbyn's Independent Alliance, has shown that the forces are very much alive. Continue reading...

As band's anthems blare and queues for merchandise snake, festival atmosphere takes hold in city ahead of concertIn the front of Cardiff's Spillers Records - the oldest record shop in the world - there is a three-by-three vinyl display of records by artists playing locally soon!", announced by an orange paper slip inside the plastic sleeve. Despite the mass hoopla outside in the Welsh capital - where the main drag, St Mary's Street, is a racket of bars blasting Britpop anthems and spontaneous singalongs of Champagne Supernova are breaking out - it is still somehow astonishing to see a copy of Oasis's 1998 compilation The Masterplan in the top left corner of the shelf.The band's reunion may finally be starting on Friday at the city's Principality Stadium, but after 16 years apart, it still feels so unlikely. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Chancellor says she never considered resigning and warns there are costs' to welfare bill U-turnRachel Reeves has said it is impossible for her to rule out tax rises in the autumn budget and insisted she never thought about quitting despite a turbulent week for her and the government.In an interview with the Guardian, the chancellor said there are costs" to the watering down of the welfare bill and acknowledged it had been a damaging" week for Downing Street. Continue reading...

Jahziah suffered a six-inch deep knife wound to the chest after a dispute over cannabis in Oldbury, West MidlandsA teenager who fatally stabbed 13-year-old Jahziah Coke during a dispute over cannabis has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of eight and a half years.The youth, who cannot be named due to a court order protecting his identity, was convicted of murder by a majority verdict in April after a trial at Wolverhampton crown court. Continue reading...

Court will examine seven-year sentence for 15-year-old who killed dog walker in parkThe court of appeal is to review the sentence handed to a teenage boy for killing an 80-year-old man, who was filmed being attacked and racially abused while walking his dog.Bhim Kohli called out for help when he was attacked in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, near Leicester, on 1 September last year. He died the next day with a spinal cord injury and fractured ribs. Continue reading...

Russia launches record number of drones and ballistic missiles in seven-hour assault shortly after its leader spoke to US presidentUkraine has accused Vladimir Putin of publicly humiliating" Donald Trump after Russia launched a devastating attack with a record number of drones and ballistic missiles on Kyiv, hours after the two leaders spoke by phone.Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the seven-hour raid as a deliberate act of terror" which immediately followed the call between Washington and Moscow". It was one of the most severe assaults of the entire war and a clear interpretation of how Moscow interprets diplomacy", he added. Continue reading...

Group will become first direct action protest group to be banned under Terrorism Act after unsuccessful actionBeing a member of, or showing support for, Palestine Action will be a criminal offence from Saturday after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group's proscription under anti-terrorism laws failed.A ban on Palestine Action, which uses direct action to mainly target Israeli weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was voted through by parliament this week but lawyers acting for its co-founder Huda Ammori had sought to prevent it taking effect. Continue reading...

Corbyn says discussions are ongoing' after MP's surprise announcement but he is understood to be reluctant to take title of party leaderJeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is in discussions about creating a new leftwing political party, hours after the MP Zarah Sultana announced she was quitting Labour to co-lead the project.Sultana, the MP for Coventry South who had the Labour whip suspended last year for voting against the government over the two-child limit on benefits, said on Thursday night she was quitting Labour and would co-lead the founding of a new party" with Corbyn. Continue reading...

All-night attack on Kyiv followed conversation between US president and Putin. This live blog is closed

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, 71, will run unopposed as one of the poorest countries in the region eyes billions of dollarsSuriname is expected to elect its first female president this Sunday, the congresswoman and physician Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, 71, who will run unopposed after the ruling party decided not to field a candidate.Geerlings-Simons will succeed current president Chandrikapersad Santokhi, 66, who has been in office since 2020 and was eligible for re-election - but whose party failed to secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority required in the country's indirect voting system. Continue reading...

Tehran now places little faith in the European countries who played a key role in brokering the Iranian nuclear dealExposed as divided and marginalised during the Iran crisis, European nations are scrambling to retrieve a place at the Middle East negotiating table, fearing an impulsive Donald Trump has diminishing interest in stabilising Iran or the wider region now he believes he has achieved his key objective of wiping out Tehran's nuclear programme.On Tuesday the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was the latest senior European figure to phone the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, offering to be a facilitator and urging Tehran not to leave the crisis in a dangerous limbo by keeping UN weapons inspectors out of Iran. Continue reading...

CCRC says the four grounds his lawyers argue undermine safety of conviction for 1985 murders fail to meet thresholdThe Criminal Cases Review Commission has refused to refer the case of Jeremy Bamber, who was convicted of murdering five members of his family in 1985, back to the court of appeal.The CCRC, whose chair Helen Pitcher resigned in January and whose chief executive resigned this week after successive justice secretaries declared the miscarriage of justice review body unfit for purpose, has spent four years examining just four of the 10 grounds Bamber's lawyers identified as undermining the safety of his conviction. It will continue to examine the other six. Continue reading...

Senior arts figure says board and CEO didn't seem to understand or at least trust the power and complexity of the visual arts'

Exclusive: Band's management tell agencies and publishers they can only use shots of first gig in Cardiff for a year

Mourners gathered on Friday morning to honour Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota at a wake in PortugalMourners have gathered at a wake in Portugal to commemorate Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, following their deaths in a car accident.Jota and his 25-year-old sibling died when the Lamborghini they were travelling in careered off a road in north-western Spain in the early hours of Thursday. The bodies of the two professional footballers were returned to Portugal later that day. Jota was 28 and had married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, 11 days before his death. They had three young children. Continue reading...

Ex-BBC presenter criticises failure to show documentary, accusing people at the very top' of failing over the conflictGary Lineker has said the BBC should hold its head in shame" over its failure to show a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza.The former Match of the Day presenter said people at the very top of the BBC" had been failing over the conflict, after the corporation's controversial decision to drop Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. Continue reading...

Sultana announced on Thursday she was quitting Labour to join Jeremy Corbyn's Independent AllianceMy colleague Lauren Almeida, who is running the Guardian's business live blog, has shared the following:Rachel Reeves has not given herself enough fiscal headroom to manage public finances, Charlie Bean, the former deputy of the Bank of England has said, and has to neurotically fine tune taxes".About 10bn - that's a very small number in the context of overall public spending. Government spending is about one and a quarter trillion so 10bn is a small number ... and it is a small number in the context of typical forecasting errors.You can't forecast the future perfectly both because you can't forecast the economy and you can't forecast all the elements of public finances .... The forecasts are imprecise and there is no way you can avoid that. That is a fact of life.In light of reports of atrocities committed by the Israeli government in Gaza and reports of the UK's collaboration with Israeli military operations, it is increasingly urgent to confirm whether the UK has contributed to any violations of international humanitarian law through economic or political cooperation with the Israeli government since October 2023, including the sale, supply or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft and Royal Air Force bases. Continue reading...

After initial concerns, pupils are said to be more focused and have better social interactions with each otherBans on smartphones in Dutch schools have improved the learning environment despite initial protests, according to a study commissioned by the government of the Netherlands.National guidelines, introduced in January 2024, recommend banning smartphones from classrooms and almost all schools have complied. Close to two-thirds of secondary schools ask pupils to leave their phones at home or put them in lockers, while phones are given in at the start of a lesson at one in five. Continue reading...

Donald Trump said on Friday that Hamas's decision should come within 24 hours

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad on trial over incidents at Manchester airport last JulyTwo brothers assaulted police officers, leaving one with a broken nose, in a violent outburst as they resisted arrest over an earlier assault on a returning passenger at Manchester airport, a court has heard.Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to respond to an incident at a Starbucks cafe in the Terminal 2 building on 23 July last year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Artists missing out as PRS for Music has collected cut of ticket sales for shows but does not know setlistSongwriters are missing out on millions of pounds a year in royalties because the agency responsible for collecting and distributing payments cannot identify when their songs have been performed at more than 100,000 gigs and performances across the UK.PRS for Music is responsible for collecting royalties for writers when music is played, including on the radio, streaming services, in shops and at live events from pubs to stadiums and festivals. Continue reading...

Rise in sightings prompts call for ban on soil imports, to prevent entry of more species that eat earthworms and degrade soilThey have been invading the UK for years; small mucus-covered animals which hunt in gardens, allotments and greenhouses.The number of sightings of non-native flatworms has risen sharply over the past few years, and experts have warned they can decimate earthworm populations and degrade soil quality. Continue reading...

Landlord made welfare concern call about one tenant - but when police arrived they found two bodies

Fans say opening of museum honouring Hector Guimard, whose work went out of fashion, will right a historic wrongThe forgotten" designer of Paris's most iconic Metro station entrances and art nouveau buildings is to be given his rightful place in the city's history with a museum dedicated to his work.Hector Guimard left a distinctive mark across the French capital in the early 1900s, creating elaborate and monumental Metro entrances whose fans of iron and glass resembling unfurled insect wings were nicknamed dragonflies. Continue reading...

Welsh capital to host Liam and Noel Gallagher's first live shows together since 2009 as 41-date tour kicks offOasis songs are already blasting out from the Principality stadium during sound checks and rehearsals as Cardiff gears up for the opening night of the band's hugely anticipated reunion tour.On Friday and Saturday the Welsh capital is hosting Liam and Noel Gallagher's first live shows together since 2009, when a long-running feud between the Manchester brothers culminated in a dramatic backstage fight and subsequent split. Continue reading...

Follow the latest updates live