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Exclusive: Amazon, Meta and X among firms holding hundreds of meetings with people at heart of government, data showsTech companies have been meeting government ministers at a rate of more than once per working day, enjoying high-level political access that dwarfs that of child safety and copyright campaigners, who called the pattern shocking" and disturbing".Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Elon Musk's X, whose Grok AI image generator has sparked outrage with its sexualised images of women and children, were among the US tech companies holding hundreds of meetings with people at the heart of government, a Guardian investigation has found. Continue reading...

Vincent Chan, who already pleaded guilty to 26 offences, accused of possessing indecent images of childrenA nursery worker who was convicted of dozens of sexual attacks on children left in his care has been charged with a further 15 offences.Vincent Chan, 45, previously pleaded guilty to 26 offences between 2022 and 2024, including sexually assaulting four girls aged between two and four at the north London nursery where he worked, and offences relating to more than 25,000 indecent images of children. Continue reading...

President's pardon of Adriana Camberos comes amid a flurry of other pardons Trump issued on ThursdayDonald Trump has pardoned a woman who ended up imprisoned for fraud a second time after he afforded her clemency during his first presidency.Adriana Camberos initially had a sentence commuted by Trump just before his first stint in the White House ended in 2021. That came after she was convicted as part of an effort to divert 5-Hour Energy drink bottles acquired for resale in Mexico and instead keep them in the US. Prosecutors said she and several co-conspirators attached counterfeit labels and filled the bottles with a phony liquid before selling them. Continue reading...

Betting exchange appeared to miss multiple opportunities to stop VIP' customer betting with stolen moneyBetfair is under pressure to hand tens of thousands of pounds to the victim of a fraudster and gambling addict, after appearing to miss multiple opportunities to stop the VIP" customer betting with stolen money.Andrew Morford, a former finance manager, was given a two-year suspended sentence on Wednesday, after admitting a 340,000 fraud against his former employer, carried out between May 2019 and February 2024. Continue reading...

Grieving, bruised and divided on the wisdom of foreign-backed revolt, how can the Iranian people achieve change?The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami in his novel 1Q84 may have foreshadowed the great and indelible rift Iranian society is about to experience. The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don't want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can't turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That's what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories."Inside Iran, contrasting memories are already being brought into even sharper relief and made more traumatic by the blanket propaganda from Iran state TV portraying protesters as drug-crazed or pawns of a foreign power attracted to a violent terrorist culture reminiscent of Islamic State. Continue reading...

Report claims unrestricted online access will be a government privilege', limited to individuals vetted by regimeIran is planning to permanently break from the global internet, only allowing individuals vetted by the regime to connect online, according to Iranian digital rights activists.A confidential plan is under way to turn international internet access into a governmental privilege'," according to a report from Filterwatch, an organisation monitoring Iran's internet censorship, citing a number of sources in Iran. Continue reading...

Deputy state coroner concludes 21-year-old, who died after exiting a moving vehicle, was exploited' and exposed to potentially criminal' conduct in five weeks in Australia

Wanda Vazquez Garced, who accepted plea deal over campaign finance violation, endorsed Trump in 2020Donald Trump reportedly intends to pardon Puerto Rico's former governor Wanda Vazquez Garced, who was indicted in 2022 on federal corruption charges surrounding her earlier gubernatorial campaign.In addition to Vazquez, Trump plans to pardon her co-defendants including Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, founder of Britannia Financial Group; as well as Mark Rossini, a former FBI agent who served as a consultant for Herrera, according to CBS, which first reported the development on Friday. Continue reading...

Virginia joins states from California to Florida in mid-decade redistricting push after party-line senate voteVirginia lawmakers approved a measure on Friday that could ultimately clear the way for Democrats to redraw the state's congressional maps and add as many as four Democratic-leaning seats.The legislature sent voters a constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to redraw the lines this year and circumvent a panel that is supposed to be in charge of drawing district lines. Democrats currently represent six of Virginia's 11 congressional districts, and have said they will pursue a plan in which they are favored in either nine or 10 of the state's congressional districts. Continue reading...

Congress members hold field hearing in St Paul, warning of future investigation into federal agents' deadly use of force

Ads to be placed alongside answers as OpenAI looks to beef up revenue for flagship AI productChatGPT will start including advertisements beside answers for US users as OpenAI seeks a new revenue stream.The ads will be tested first in ChatGPT for US users only, the company announced on Friday, after increasing speculation that the San Francisco firm would turn to a potential cashflow model on top of its current subscriptions. Continue reading...

Two sides trade blows over defection while Conservative polling suggests economy is key weakness for ReformThe Conservatives plan to intensify their attacks on Reform's economic policy as they gear up for a fight to the death between the two big parties of the right, a battle brought to new levels of acrimony by Robert Jenrick's defection.While Jenrick, the former shadow justice secretary, insisted he was uniting the right" in signing up to Reform, Kemi Badenoch portrayed her former colleague as dishonest and no loss to the Conservatives, saying: Nigel Farage is doing my spring cleaning for me." Continue reading...

Craig Guildford retires after inquiry found greatly exaggerated' intelligence was used to justify banThe head of England's second biggest police force has stepped down after an official inquiry found that greatly exaggerated" intelligence was used to justify a ban on fans of an Israeli football team attending a match.Craig Guildford retired with immediate effect as chief constable of West Midlands police on Friday, two days after a damning report led Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, to declare she had lost confidence in him. Continue reading...

Pre-empting rival's defection cements her position as leader and gives pause for thought for any others who may followIt is never ideal in politics to have a senior colleague defect, hurling insults as they depart, but as the dust settles on Robert Jenrick's move to Reform UK, many of the remaining Conservative MPs agree on one thing: it has left Kemi Badenoch stronger.Historically, the party has suffered from two weaknesses: too many people trying to bring down the leader, and not enough leaders getting rid of those people," one shadow minister said. Hopefully now we're all pulling in the same direction. Losing a senior shadow minister is not ideal. But given those basic facts, the day could hardly have gone better." Continue reading...

Transcripts of 911 calls and police communications after ICE agent killed Renee Good reveal chaotic scene

US president further steps up threats after US special envoy to Greenland says Trump is serious' about his plans to control islandMeanwhile, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto does not seem to be convinced about the merits of European military deployments to Greenland.Speaking to journalists, he wondered what a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred soldiers of any nationality could do" in Greenland. It sounds like the beginning of a joke."It's not a competition to see who sends the military around the world."A part of me is not sure how much of this is a distraction, to try and take the attention of the American people away from some very real issues that we have in the United States right now.The cost of living is a real concern for Americans [and] Donald Trump got elected saying he was going to address the cost of living. Continue reading...

Trump administration struck policy requiring news outlet to have civilian editor and independent ombudsmanPress freedom advocates have condemned a move by the Pentagon to seize editorial control of the independent Stars and Stripes newspaper, a daily publication for service members that has covered the US armed forces since the US civil war.The Trump administration announced on Thursday that the outlet would no longer cover woke distractions", and instead modernize its operations ... and adapt to serve a new generation of service members". Continue reading...

Tourists keen to see island where couple exchanged vows, seven-star hotel where they stayed and paths trodden by their celebrity guestsFor the residents of Venice who travel daily through the city's waterways, the small wooden floating jetty outside the Gritti Palace hotel is nothing special, no different to a London underground stop," as Igor Scomparin, a tour guide, puts it.But for a certain type of tourist it is a must-see spot. In June last year, Kim Kardashian disembarked from a water taxi here and navigated its planks during the five-day wedding of the billionaire Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, and Lauren Sanchez, a former TV journalist. Continue reading...

Judge finds Durham trust violated nurses' dignity and created intimidating environment by allowing use of single-sex spaceA group of nurses who complained about a trans colleague using single-sex changing rooms at work suffered harassment, an employment tribunal judge has ruled.The judge found the nurses' dignity was violated and they encountered a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment" at work. Continue reading...

Pair will be absent for short period' from vocational trainer, whose charity is under investigation by Charity CommissionThe two most senior executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational training body.The chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be absent from work for a short period", as its new owner, PeopleCert, commissioned an internal investigation into events before and after its acquisition of City & Guilds' training and qualifications business. Continue reading...

US president also calls for return of final Israeli captive's remains from group, which has refused to give up weaponsDonald Trump has issued a fresh ultimatum to Hamas, adding to calls for the group's disarmament as the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire with Israel begins, even as key elements of the first phase remain unfulfilled.In a late-night post on social media on Thursday, Trump vowed to push for what he described as the comprehensive" demilitarisation of Hamas, warning of severe consequences should the group refuse to comply. He also demanded the return of the remains of the final Israeli captive still believed to be held by the group, sharpening tensions at a fragile moment in the truce process. Continue reading...

Trend of mini-me dressing - wearing same clothes as one's children - has extended to four-legged friendsBeyonce and Kim Kardashian are some of the many who have long indulged in mini-me dressing - wearing the same clothes as their children - but now the trend is being extended to people's four-legged companions, too. The dog clothing market is soaring and this winter it is coats that are topping the most in-demand list.Bestsellers at Pawelier, a London-based luxury pet accessories shop include a 135 four-leg puffer coat complete with a fuzzy hood and toggle detailing, and a 110 reversible down-filled jumpsuit in cornflower blue and cappuccino brown that wouldn't look out of place on a designer catwalk. The Italian greyhounds and whippets pictured bundled up in them appear to be prepped for an Alpine adventure rather than a lap around the park. Continue reading...

Russian attacks on Ukraine's power plants as severe frost set in have been described as crimes against humanity'Outside the main pumping station for Bucha, three engineers, bundled up in parkas, are working on the emergency generator keeping the Ukrainian city supplied with water.One holds a heat gun to the generator's filter in an effort to unfreeze it, his face reddened by blowing snow and a daytime temperature of -12C (10.4F). Watching attentively is the city's mayor, Anatolii Fedoruk. The generator in his office is also frozen when the Guardian visits and he apologises for the lack of coffee. Continue reading...

Some supporters are concerned about the number of Conservatives being welcomed by their party, and fear it could alienate votersIf Reform UK was officially celebrating Robert Jenrick's defection to Nigel Farage's party, the reaction of the rank-and-file was an altogether more complicated one - ranging from jubilation to despair that yet another Tory was coming onboard.Enough already! Reform uk please take note, you are going to lose members and voters if you don't cap this craziness ... We don't want a Tory party Pt II," was the early response from James Scott, one of a number of members expressing their unhappiness on one of the largest private Reform Facebook groups. Continue reading...

Yoon Suk Yeol's conviction for obstructing own arrest separate from main trial that could lead to death penaltyA South Korean court has sentenced former president Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison for mobilising presidential security forces to block his own arrest and abusing his powers. It is the first judicial ruling linked to the events surrounding his failed martial law declaration in December 2024.The ruling is separate from Yoon's main insurrection trial, where prosecutors earlier this week sought the death penalty and a verdict is due next month. Continue reading...

The incident at Gunnedah near Tamworth is the third fatality involving police in the state this year

Jafar Panahi, director of Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident, says Iranian leaders want to destroy countryThe Khamenei regime will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest wave of protests, one of the country's leading film-makers has predicted.It is impossible for this government to sustain itself in this situation," the director Jafar Panahi told the Guardian. They know it too. They know that it will be impossible to rule over people. Perhaps their only goal right now is to bring the country to the verge of complete collapse and try to destroy it." Continue reading...

Women allege Spanish singer subjected them to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation ... in atmosphere of control'The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has broken his silence over allegations that he sexually abused two women who worked in his Caribbean mansions, saying he has never abused, coerced or disrespected any woman".The 82-year-old entertainer, whose career spans six decades, had been accused by two female former employees who allege they had been sexually assaulted and subjected to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation ... in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment". Continue reading...

Italy's Giorgia Meloni and France's Marine Le Pen among figures showing support for Hungary's prime ministerRightwing leaders from around the world have come together to endorse Hungary's Viktor Orban, hinting at the symbolism that the country's elections hold for global far-right movements even as the populist leader lags in the polls.A campaign video published online by Orban this week includes endorsements from nearly a dozen leaders including Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's Alice Weidel. Continue reading...

Relative calm in Tehran and authorities say they have no plan to execute protesters but internet shutdown continuesIran's nationwide protest movement appeared to have slowed on Thursday under the weight of a brutal crackdown by authorities that has left thousands dead and put tens of thousands in prison.In Tehran, Iranians reported relative calm on the streets as the sound of gunfire faded and fires were extinguished - a marked contrast from the weeks before when large crowds confronted security forces. Continue reading...

Lesbos court clears aid workers of people smuggling, a move Human Rights Watch called a vindication of their lifesaving activities at seaTwo dozen aid workers, who had faced up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of smuggling migrants into Greece, have been acquitted by a court on Lesbos.The verdict was met with cheers, tears and cries of jubilation as the presiding judge announced the words that would end a seven-year legal ordeal for the humanitarians. All 24 had engaged in rescue work on the Aegean island at the height of the refugee crisis. Continue reading...

Ashley St Clair files lawsuit in state of New York over deepfakes that appeared on social media platform XThe mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing his company - alleging explicit images were generated of her by his Grok AI tool, including one in which she was underage.Ashley St Clair has filed a lawsuit with the supreme court of the state of New York against xAI, alleging that Grok, which is used on the social media platform X, promised to stop generating explicit images but continued to do so. Continue reading...

Former shadow justice secretary turns fire on Tories and Labour as he joins Nigel Farage's party

Former shadow justice secretary shares stage with Nigel Farage in wake of being summarily sacked by Tory leader

FoIs show integrated care boards are curbing assessments but have not told GPs or patients who face long waitsThe NHS is restricting people's ability to be assessed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in order to save money but not telling GPs or patients, despite soaring demand for the service.More than half of the NHS's 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) in England have imposed limits on how many people can be assessed for ADHD during 2025-26, freedom of information responses show. Continue reading...

Artist and beekeeper who highlights eco crisis plans to spend 40,000 award on building cultural centre in PeruAn artist and beekeeper from a remote corner of the Andes has won one of the UK's most prestigious contemporary arts awards and plans to spend the 40,000 prize on building a cultural centre in the Peruvian mountains.Antonio Paucar was declared the winner of the biennial Artes Mundi prize after presenting work ranging from a spiral made of alpaca wool to a video of him writing a poem - in his own blood - about the environmental crisis facing his region as he sits at a table high in the mountains. Continue reading...

Even Nigel Farage looked taken aback by the news Honest Bob was about to join his flock, but he quickly saw the upside

Defection of former Tory minister to Reform is another twist in ambitious politician's career

Iconic performers' will visit 10 European cities, as event reels from boycott over Israel's 2026 participationThe Eurovision song contest will go on its first-ever tour to celebrate its 70th anniversary, its organiser has said, as it reels from a boycott due to Israel's participation.Five countries have pulled out of the contest over Israel's war in Gaza, leaving 35 to participate in the world's biggest live televised music event - the fewest since entry was expanded in 2004. Continue reading...

As has been the case with past Tory defections to Reform, there is a trove of social media snipes to embarrass the new stablemates

Visit by Damien Egan, Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair, was called off after opposition from pro-Palestine group and unionOfsted has launched a snap inspection of Bristol Brunel academy, the secondary school criticised for cancelling a visit by a local MP who is vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.Inspectors arrived at the school on Thursday morning after revelations that its leaders had called off a visit by Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, after opposition from a pro-Palestine group and members of staff belonging to the National Education Union. Continue reading...

Their cause drew global attention and they influenced a 2bn defence contract decision but some key demands were not met

Record 3.5 million visited in 2025 and plans are afoot to ensure gallery does not become overburdened like LouvreThe head of the Prado has said the Madrid art museum does not need a single visitor more" after it welcomed a record 3.5 million people last year, adding that plans are being drawn up to ensure it does not become a victim of its own success like the Louvre in Paris.In 2025 the Prado, which is home to such masterpieces as Velazquez's Las Meninas and Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, was visited by 3,513,402 people, an increase of more than 56,000 from the previous year. Visitor numbers have risen by more than 816,000 over the past decade. Continue reading...

Health department unexpectedly announced nearly $2bn in program cuts Tuesday before rolling back decisionUS health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programs on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programs.The reversal is a blow to the agenda of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who has made aggressive and legally contested cuts to health agencies in the first year of the Trump administration and has proposed folding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) into a new agency he would call the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). Continue reading...

Providers and doctors say lack of access to contraception another reason for the 11% rise in procedures in 2023The rising cost of living and a lack of access to contraception have driven another rise in abortion rates in England and Wales, providers and doctors said.Government statistics released on Thursday showed that abortions increased by 11% in 2023 compared with the previous year. Continue reading...

Activist, who promotes conspiracy theories and anti-immigration rhetoric online, says her ETA has been revokedA Dutch anti-immigration influencer who has promoted conspiracy theories such as the great replacement" says she has been banned from the UK.Eva Vlaardingerbroek posted an image online of what appeared to be a notification from the British government that her UK electronic travel authorisation (ETA) had been cancelled on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Experts at the Mauritshuis in The Hague believe Paulus Potter toned down The Bull to respect 17th-century sensibilitiesThe Bull by Paulus Potter is one of the star paintings at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, a bucolic image of animals and a farmer.But new research suggests the painting has unexpected hidden depths: conservators restoring the artwork say the bull's testicles were originally much larger, and appeared to have been halved in size by the artist to respect 17th-century sensibilities. Continue reading...

Mayor urges calm as protesters gather at the scene as city continues to reel in aftermath of Renee Nicole Good's killing. Plus, how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering ageGood morning.A federal officer shot a man in the leg during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, sparking protests in a city still on edge after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent last week.What did the Minneapolis mayor say? I've seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and intolerable," Jacob Frey said. But he urged protesters to go home. We cannot counter Donald Trump's chaos with more chaos ... Anyone who is taking the bait tonight, stop. You are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city."What had Trump say he was going to do? Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the help of the Iranian people, saying the US was locked and loaded" if Iran started to shoot at the protesters. Continue reading...