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Analysis: Charm offensive moves away from slick videos and stirring soundtracks, and towards Tory MPs

Contents of dozens of royal wills have been kept private by judges in special hearings closed to the publicGenerations of the royal family have concealed details of assets worth more than £180m through a series of legal applications that have been granted in total secrecy.The assets are outlined in 33 wills that were drawn up by members of the Windsor family over more than a century. Continue reading...

First demonstrator aircraft will fly ‘within next five years’ to test features such as stealth capabilityThe UK government has announced that it will work with Japan on plans for its next-generation Tempest fighter jet as executives from across the aviation industry gathered in the sweltering heat for the start of the Farnborough airshow.The first demonstrator Tempest aircraft – capable of supersonic flight – will fly “within the next five years” to test features such as stealth capability. Continue reading...

Tory leadership hopeful with Irish roots has stayed silent on Northern Ireland protocol bill

Financial Reporting Council penalises auditor and former partner at firm over work in 2016 and 2018Grant Thornton has been fined £1.3m for “serious failings” in basic auditing of the sportswear retailer Sports Direct, the UK accounting regulator said on Monday.The findings relate to Grant Thornton’s audits of Sports Direct International (SDI), now called Frasers Group, in 2016 and 2018 and the work of Philip Westerman, the partner in charge of the audits. Continue reading...

Labour accuses prime minister of having ‘clocked off’ with UK approaching 38.7C record

Government consults on ‘biggest electricity market shake-up in decades’ amid soaring billsConsumers could be offered cheaper rates to use energy when demand is low, under proposals drawn up by the government.The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on Monday launched a 12-week consultation on the “biggest electricity market shake-up in decades” in response to sky-high bills and Britain’s move towards renewable energy sources. Continue reading...

Bloc lines up latest sanctions amid divisions over their effectiveness at curbing Moscow’s war machine

Caroline Henry had vowed to crack down on speeding during her time as Nottinghamshire PCCA Conservative police and crime commissioner who pledged to crack down on speeding has been banned from driving for six months after being caught breaking the speed limit five times within a 12-week period.Caroline Henry, the PCC for Nottinghamshire, was sentenced at Nottingham magistrates court on Monday after previously admitting the offences. Continue reading...

Pass to help ease cost of living crisis has been hailed as a success but is due to expire at the end of AugustThe German government is under pressure to extend the heavily subsidised monthly public transport pass it launched in June.The “€9-ticket” project, which grants everyone living in or visiting Germany unlimited travel across the country on regional transport at a cost of just €9 (£7.60) a month, is due to expire at the end of August. It has two aims: to lure people out of their cars and help ease the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Insurer’s shares fall as higher used car prices, costlier parts and longer repair times weigh on businessDirect Line has issued a profit warning, saying that soaring prices of used cars, parts and longer repair times has pushed up the cost of claims.Shares in the insurer plunged 13% on Monday – making Direct Line the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 – to its lowest level since 2013 as the company said that overall claim costs are rising at about 10%. Continue reading...

Pair indicated they would not take part in programme after bruising exchanges in earlier debates

Britain is in the middle of an exceptional and unprecedented heatwaveSome of the most extreme weather globally is currently happening in the UK, which is in the middle of an exceptional and unprecedented heatwave. The UK’s highest observed temperature previously stood at 38.7C (101.7F), which was set in Cambridge in July 2019.The UK maximum temperature record is expected to be broken again on Tuesday but at numerous weather stations across central and eastern England. The widespread nature of this heat is staggering. Another notable feature of the current heatwave is the very high overnight temperatures forecast on Monday night. Many places are expected to record a so-called “tropical night” where the temperature does not drop below 20C. Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet says Covid-19 policies should not be ‘set and forget’ while ACT chief minister pushes for further extension of leave payments

Consumer health company’s shares open at 330p, giving it a market value of about £31bnGSK’s consumer spin-off Haleon, home to brands from Sensodyne toothpaste to Panadol painkillers, has begun trading on the London Stock Exchange in the biggest European listing in a decade.Haleon shares started trading on Monday morning at 330p, with a market value of about £31bn. Continue reading...

Global Times quotes comments by foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on military encounters in the South China SeaChina has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”.Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft. Continue reading...

Inquest hears Peter Jenkinson spoke to Krystal Fraser the night of her disappearance

As economy collapses, women from Afghanistan’s finance ministry say they have been asked to suggest male relatives to replace themThe Taliban have asked women employees at Afghanistan’s finance ministry to send a male relative to do their job a year after female public-sector workers were barred from government work and told to stay at home.Women who worked in government positions were sent home from their jobs shortly after the Taliban took power in August 2021, and have been paid heavily reduced salaries to do nothing. Continue reading...

Focus on individual’s culpability played into ‘blame-based system of accountability’, says healthcare professionals bodyMedical experts in cases involving doctors should have a mandatory duty to consider systems issues such as inadequate staffing levels to avoid them being scapegoated for wider failures, the Medical Protection Society has said.The MPS, which supports the the professional interests of more than 300,000 healthcare professionals around the world, says medical expert reports focus on scrutinising the actions of the individual doctor even when failings are a result of the setting in which they work. Continue reading...

Intervention comes as thousands of homebuyers refuse to make mortgage repayments in deepening property sector crisisChinese banks have been told to bail out struggling property developers to help them complete unfinished housing projects and head off the growing mortgage strike that threatens to seriously damage the economy.With thousands of homebuyers banding together to refuse to keep up with mortgage instalments on unfinished apartments bought off the plan, regulators have stepped up efforts to encourage lenders to extend loans to qualified real estate projects. Continue reading...

Shadow minister Pat McFadden seeks answers about chancellor and offshore family firm, and £26m loan his firm spent on propertyThe shadow treasury minister, Pat McFadden, has written to Nadhim Zahawi, challenging him to provide more clarity about his tax and financial affairs.Since becoming chancellor after Rishi Sunak resigned earlier this month, Zahawi has faced persistent questions about his relationship to a Gibraltar-based firm, Balshore Investment, controlled by his parents. Continue reading...

Members of Criminal Bar Association take fight for a 25% rise in legal aid fees to parliamentBarristers are heading to parliament as they begin their first whole week of strike action over levels of legal aid funding they say are bringing the criminal justice system to its knees.Members of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents advocates in England and Wales, began action with a two-day strike at the end of last month and have been escalating it by an extra day every week. Continue reading...

Treasurer says rising interest rates will affect economic growth but Labor has plans to provide cost-of-living support

Thousands evacuated as above 40C forecast for some French regions on Monday and more lives lost in soaring heat in SpainFrance was bracing on Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean, as wildfires continued to rage across Europe.Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the south-west, where wildfires have already wrought havoc. Continue reading...

Declaration called ‘expedient’ as Ranil Wickremesinghe tries to curb unrest over ongoing political and economic crisesSri Lanka’s acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has declared a state of emergency as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation.“It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community,” a government notice released late on Sunday said. Continue reading...

Wallabies fan who made his way to roof during third Test against England charged by police and condemned for ‘deplorable’ behaviour

Marina Ovsyannikova briefly detained days after she demonstrated near the Kremlin holding placard criticising Putin and Ukraine warRussian police detained and later released the journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live television broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, posts on her social media channels showed.Her detention on Sunday came a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and president Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Home Office has ‘worrying’ habit of announcing untested ideas to stop Channel crossings, says analysis

SBU’s Ivan Bakanov and war crimes prosecutor Iryna Venediktova sacked after their officials found to be collaborating with Russia

Latest updates: five remaining contenders take part in ITV debate ahead of next round of MP ballots on Monday

Analysis: the candidates’ pitches are evolving but the ITV debate was not enough to move the dialSometimes in TV debates there are clear winners. It often happens in the first debate of a series, when viewers do not know what to expect, and it happened last week, when Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat clearly made a better impression than the others. That was the consensus commentariat view, but also the finding of a snap poll too.But mostly debates just confirm impressions that are already fairly well lodged in the minds of people who already have a view on the candidates. Continue reading...

Wage growth is at record low levels, while the profit share is at a near-record share of GDP, according to analysis from the Australia Institute

NSW and Victorian governments say at least four refuelling stations will be built along Hume Highway

Army and explosive experts use drone amid toxicity fears from wreck reported to be Ukrainian aircraftA large cargo aircraft transporting munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh has crashed and exploded in a ball of flames in northern Greece, killing all eight crew onboard.Serbia’s defence minister, Nebojša Stefanović, said the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of military products, including illuminating mortar shells and training shells, and the buyer was the Bangladesh defence ministry. Continue reading...

The change, to be rolled out this week, will leave customers to judge whether goods are still fine to eatMarks & Spencer is planning to remove “best before” labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste.The change, to be rolled out this week, will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat. The measure will affect 85% of the supermarket’s fresh produce offering. Continue reading...

Rugby league clubs and stars pay tribute to player Ricky Bibey, a two-time Challenge Cup winnerA former rugby league player has been named by Italian media as the man found dead in a hotel room in Florence.Ricky Bibey, a two-time Challenge Cup winner with Wigan Warriors and St Helens, was found dead in the room at the Hotel Continentale on Saturday morning, alongside a 43-year-old woman who had suffered serious injuries. Continue reading...

Despite court hearing, Home Office continues to claim UNHCR is supportive of controversial schemeThe Home Office has been accused of misrepresenting the UN refugee agency’s stance on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a new disagreement between the two organisations, the Guardian has learned.The Home Office and UNHCR have clashed previously over the safety and suitability of the Home Office’s policy of forcibly removing some asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the UK on small boats or in the back of lorries to Rwanda to have their claims processed there. Continue reading...

Campaign launched to highlight plight of Maksym Butkevych amid fears he is being wrongly labelled a ‘British spy’

His Name is My Name recounts Eline Jongsma’s efforts to trace the life and crimes of a Nazi collaborator in the NetherlandsIt was the family secret that nearly went to the grave. Gerrit Jongsma was a convicted war criminal – a small-town mayor and Nazi collaborator who sent at least one Jewish family to their deaths. He was also the great-grandfather of Eline Jongsma, a Dutch writer and film director, who only discovered his identity a decade ago.Far from further hiding his crimes, Jongsma, with long-term directing partner, Kel O’Neill, created a documentary about her relative, which was released on Instagram this month. Continue reading...

Some say the Tory top gun is planning a comeback, as maverick creates Bush-style photo opportunityHis premiership may have been grounded and his status as Tory top gun soon to be erased, but Boris Johnson sought to underline his standing as the maverick of British politics last week with a visit to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.Donning flying overalls reminiscent of those worn by President George W Bush ahead of his infamous “mission accomplished” speech in 2003, Johnson looked the part as he was given a demonstration of a Typhoon fighter jet. Continue reading...

Evacuations from Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk; Russian forces reportedly preparing new offensive; all bodies identified after Vinnytsia missile attack

Boy died of critical injuries after parents flagged down ambulance while trying to get him to hospitalA three-year-old boy has died after a collision with a tractor on a farm in Bury.Greater Manchester police (GMP) were called shortly before 12.45pm on Saturday after people in a vehicle carrying a seriously injured child flagged down an ambulance. Continue reading...

Protesters angry prime minister who they say propped up Rajapaksa dynasty in running to lead countrySri Lanka’s political crisis is looks likely to continue this week after the ruling party decided to nominate the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as its candidate to be the next president.After the dramatic toppling of Sri Lanka’s strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the campaign has begun for who will take up executive power at a time when the country is facing some of the worst economic and political upheaval since independence. Continue reading...

Prime minister stays at Chequers as NHS, schools and transport providers issue warnings about fatally high temperaturesBoris Johnson was accused on Saturday of being “missing in action” after failing to attend a Cobra meeting to discuss the national heatwave emergency following predictions that thousands could die in the coming days.As the threat to life from the impending heatwave continues to crystallise, the prime minister chose to skip the meeting on Saturday. He instead stayed at his Chequers country retreat, where he is due to hold a thankyou party for supporters on Sunday. Continue reading...

The family of the veteran pilot who lost his life in the May crash – along with everyone else on board – joins those calling for updated tech in aircraft“He used to say, ‘24 hours [in a day] is not enough for me!’”Bibhuti Ghimire’s voice breaks as she describes her father, a well-respected pilot in Nepal and a multitalented man with a flair for music, who would get bored with playing the piano and move on to the harmonium. “And he loved to fly.” Continue reading...

If PM elevates Nigel Adams and Nadine Dorries to Lords, byelections could be the acid test for new Tory leaderBoris Johnson is threatening to set an “early test” for his successor by ensuring they have to face two early byelections as the new Tory leader, the Observer has been told.The prime minister is planning to elevate at least two current MPs to the House of Lords well before the next election, triggering two contests that will test public support for whoever replaces him in Downing Street. Continue reading...

Preet Chandi, first woman of colour to complete a solo unaided trip to the South Pole, announces plans for her next tripWhen she became the first woman of colour to complete a solo, unaided trip to the South Pole, Capt Preet Chandi wanted to prove “no matter where we are from, no matter what we look like, we can achieve anything we want”.Now, “Polar Preet” has her sights set on a greater challenge – to become the first woman to complete a solo and unsupported journey across the entire continent of Antarctica. Continue reading...

Beyond the frontlines, academics are fighting to counter the fake tales of their country’s past that are peddled by the KremlinAt the entrance to Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, a bronze relief of the face of Mykhailo Hrushevsky stares out towards the red-painted portico. A historian by training, and a key figure in Ukraine’s national revival in the early 20th century, Hrushevsky served briefly as the head of Ukraine’s revolutionary rada – or parliament – in 1918.Taras Pshenychnyi, deputy dean of the history department, pauses to examine the image of his distinguished forebear, and to reflect on the extraordinary times the university is seeing since the Russian invasion. Continue reading...