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Olga recalls horror of seeing blood covering her six-week-old daughter after shrapnel blasts in Okhmatdyt Children’s hospital in Kyiv

Moscow has given Mariupol a deadline to surrender amid alarm that residents have been ‘kidnapped’ and sent to remote parts of Russia Continue reading...

Asking prices up 1.7% in March, biggest monthly rise for this time of year in 18 years, according to RightmoveThe average price tag on a home in Great Britain has topped £350,000 for the first time, according to Rightmove.Typical asking prices hit £354,564 in March, up 1.7% or £5,760 compared with February, the property website said. It was the biggest monthly rise for this time of year in 18 years, and pushed the annual rate of growth in asking prices to 10.4%. Continue reading...

Welsh government hails ‘historic moment’ for children’s rights amid calls for England to follow suitSmacking and slapping children has been outlawed in Wales, with people told to contact social services or police if they see a parent or carer meting out physical punishment.The law change, which came into force first thing on Monday, was hailed as “historic” by the Labour-led Welsh government and a number of child protection champions, who called for England to follow suit. Continue reading...

Offer of top-up dose to over-75s, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised follows JCVI advice last monthThe NHS in England will on Monday start giving a second booster vaccine to millions of people who are at higher risk from Covid-19 to help combat the latest resurgence in infections.Over-75s, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised – 5 million in all – will be contacted by the NHS and then be able to book an appointment online or by calling 119. Continue reading...

‘Forget the government,’ Referendum Council co-chair says, calling instead for ‘a people’s movement’

Export revenues and low jobless rate combine to cut almost $90bn from projected federal budget deficit

Hackney MP Diane Abbott decries ‘pattern of police abuse of power’ after strip search of black schoolgirlHundreds of people gathered at Hackney town hall in east London on Sunday to express solidarity with the family of Child Q, the 15-year-old black girl who was subjected to a traumatic strip search by police at her school.The protesters, many of whom were mothers accompanied by their daughters, carried placards with messages including “Stop violating black girls” and Black Lives Matter banners, and expressed anger at what they said was an “abuse of power” by the police as well as teachers at Child Q’s school. Continue reading...

Back to Back, an ensemble of disabled actors, wins DK2.5m Ibsen prize for their ‘exciting, unsettling and thought-provoking’ work

Angela Rayner accuses Johnson of appeasing critical Tory MPs including Theresa May ‘to save his own skin’Labour has accused Boris Johnson of “appeasing Tory MPs to save his own skin” by dropping a plan to place an earnings or time limit on backbenchers’ jobs outside parliament.The party has identified eight Conservatives who were particularly critical of the prime minister over claims of lockdown-breaking parties inside Downing Street, but who earn significant extra salaries. Continue reading...

Fiona Beal arrested 200 miles from where remains believed to be of missing man recoveredA 48-year-old woman has been charged with murder after a man’s body was found buried in a back garden in Northampton.Fiona Beal was arrested at a hotel in Cumbria on Wednesday night, more than 200 miles from where Northamptonshire police recovered the body of a 42-year-old man who had been missing. Continue reading...

Putin’s forces have bombed an art school sheltering 400 civilians in Mariupol, the city’s council has said

Unconfirmed reports of thousands being transported to Russia emerge after Russia accused of bombing art school where residents were sheltering

Essay on US site republished in China before being censored, reflecting balancing act between Russia and west

Tory MPs want ministers to follow health bill amendment banning goods from regions with ‘risk of genocide’Ministers are looking “sympathetically” at plans to stop the government buying health goods made in China’s Xinjiang province when the health and social care bill returns to the Commons later this month. The move would be a first sign that the government is willing to toughen its approach to authoritarian regimes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.In an interview at the weekend, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the west still needed to apply pressure on the Chinese government not to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

People who can demonstrate they or their business have a connection to Australia will be able to purchase new domain from Thursday

Recycling Modernisation Fund boost will focus on hard-to-recycle plastics as carbon credit tax cuts aim to encourage farmers to cut emissions

Exclusive: Only last month, the school apologised to students over enrolment contracts that described homosexuality as ‘immoral’Teachers at Brisbane religious school Citipointe Christian College are being asked to sign employment contracts that warn they could be sacked for being openly homosexual.The school says the wording of staff employment conditions is “under review” but one former teacher, who refused to sign the document last month, says he has now effectively lost his job for taking a stand. Continue reading...

According to documents, Cape played down dangers and lobbied for warning labels to be temperedOne of the UK’s biggest manufacturers of asbestos, and industry bodies it cofounded, historically withheld information on risks posed by the carcinogenic material, playing down the dangers while lobbying the government for product warnings to be tempered, according to documents released after a lengthy court battle.A lawyer who acted for the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK in its fight to obtain the documents about Cape compared its behaviour to the tobacco industry’s former refusal to admit evidence of harms from smoking while its own research showed the opposite. Continue reading...

Maher Maaroufe, 22, arrested on suspicion of murder after death of Sabita Thanwani in ClerkenwellPolice investigating the death of Sabita Thanwani, 19, at a student flat in London over the weekend have arrested a man.Police were called to an accommodation block in Clerkenwell for students at City, University of London at 5.10am on Saturday after emergency services received reports of an injured woman. Continue reading...

Union leaders call for employment bill and accuse ministers of failing to challenge sacking of 800 staffMinisters have serious questions to answer on the growing scandal at P&O Ferries and must make it a catalyst to improve workers’ rights, the Trades Union Congress said on Sunday.The TUC accused the government of sitting on its hands and failing to protect workers after P&O sacked 800 staff on Thursday with a plan to replace them with cheaper agency workers. It has emerged that ministers were informed in advance about the mass redundancies. Continue reading...

From Glastonbury to Radio 1’s Big Weekend there are heady expectations of a vintage seasonFor a while it felt so far away: listening to your favourite artist, pints flying overhead, queueing for portable toilets, losing your friends and finding new ones. But after two years of cancellations and delays, music lovers can once again look forward to an array of festivals and gigs this summer.From Paul McCartney at Glastonbury and Tyler, the Creator at Parklife, to Adele and Elton John at BST Hyde Park and Liam Gallagher at the Etihad Stadium, there’s something in the music calendar for everyone. Continue reading...

Group of 50 children who were taken to Poland by Dnipro Kids due to arrive in Britain on Monday

Freed 10 years ago after seven months held hostage, Tebbutt watched homecoming of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with joy and trepidationTen years ago on Monday, Judith Tebbutt walked onto a plane and out of the hands of the Somali pirates, kidnappers and murderers who had held her captive for almost seven months.Her husband, David, had been shot dead by Tebbutt’s initial captors when they burst into the couple’s bedroom in their isolated, luxury holiday resort. Continue reading...

Many refugees will require emotional support as soon as they arrive in countries such as BritainCivilians fleeing conflict in Ukraine must be given immediate access to mental health support when they reach the UK, experts have said, adding there is an urgent need for more investment in such services.Jonathan Bisson, professor in psychiatry at Cardiff University and director of Traumatic Stress Wales, said many people remaining in Ukraine would be experiencing uncertainty, anxiety and fear and some were likely develop mental health problems. Continue reading...

Germany to lift most controls despite daily record as cases also climb in Austria, Spain and FrancePandemic restrictions are being lifted with alacrity across Europe despite many countries experiencing a record surge in coronavirus cases and concerns about the failure to vaccinate many people considered vulnerable to the disease.In Germany most pandemic controls will be lifted on Sunday after a heated parliamentary debate on Friday which led to both houses of parliament voting in favour. Continue reading...

Women whose partners went to fight the Russians feel torn by the desire to stay close but also to get their children to safetyWithin hours of hearing the first explosions in Kharkiv, Sonya saw her happy home life turn upside down. “A friend called my partner and said it was possible to enter the territorial defence force,” she says. “He agreed, and made the decision on his own. I wanted him to consult with me … but then I realised it was his choice; he actually forced me to support him.“He left, and we didn’t really say goodbye,” she says. “I tried to come to terms with the chance that I wouldn’t see him again.” Continue reading...

Ballet dancer says culture should not be the collateral damage of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

Incident in Strépy-Bracquegnies in which 10 others were seriously injured does not appear to be militant attack, authorities sayA car drove at high speed into a group of Belgian carnival performers who were preparing a parade early on Sunday, killing six people and seriously injuring 10 others, authorities have said, adding that the incident did not appear to be a militant attack.“At this stage, there are no elements to suggest that the attack had a terrorist motive,” the prosecutor Damien Verheyen told a news conference. Police denied media reports that the car was involved in a high-speed chase. Continue reading...

Andrei Sidelnikov says he is making list of suspected Putin supporters to share with British government

PM said leave vote was example of instinct to ‘choose freedom’, but chancellor says it is ‘obviously not analogous’ to Ukraine war

At last election, just one of 71 Coalition promises worth $100m or more based on approved business case, says Grattan Institute

After a painstaking search, singer Melanie Gall will perform the forgotten war ditties on a tour of the UKIn one song, a badly knitted mitten is shot through a cannon at the Nazis and somehow ends up in the hands of Adolf Hitler, who finds it such a confusing and intimidating object he decides to stop fighting and surrender.In another, a sentimental love song which Glenn Miller composed and Judy Garland performed, a young mother sings about knitting a sweater to keep the father of her baby warm while he is fighting in battle. Continue reading...

Report said incidents were not all warranted or properly justifiedThe Metropolitan police was rebuked by a watchdog for conducting “unjustified” strip searches on children two years before officers performed an intrusive search on a black 15-year-old schoolgirl in a case that has sparked a racism scandal.Scotland Yard was forced to apologise last week after it emerged that the teenager, known as Child Q, was strip-searched at her school in Hackney after a teacher wrongly suspected her of carrying cannabis. Continue reading...

Russian missiles strike the city every night, but those residents who have decided to stay are embracing the new normal

Signs of warm weather have already boosted sales of outdoor items – and a wood pellet BBQ operated by an app is a hot favouriteThere have been fire pits, pizza ovens and even inflatable hot tubs, but now the wood pellet barbecue is the object outdoor lovers are expected to queue up for in the days and weeks ahead as the weather turns warmer.Temperatures on Saturday reached up to 20C (68F) for the first time since October. The Met Office said the mercury hit 20C in Kinlochewe, north-west Scotland, with highs of 15.3C in Castlederg, Northern Ireland; 17.3C in Bridgefoot, Cumbria; and 18C in Valley, Anglesey. Continue reading...

Last week Liz Harvie spoke in parliament about the painful impact of the policy of taking babies from unmarried mothersLiz Harvie was 16 years old when she discovered her name was actually Claire Watts.Sitting on the sofa of her childhood home, on a tree-lined street in a Birmingham suburb, she had just been given a sheet of paper containing the first chapter of her life. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says Russia must pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion as further measures announced; Steven Marshall steps down after losing South Australia election to Labor and Peter Malinauskus; Josh Frydenberg says federal budget measures won’t ‘overheat’ economy; four Covid deaths in NSW and three in SA. This blog is now closed

Week three of two female journalists’ first-hand account of the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian city• Read last week’s dispatch• Russia-Ukraine war: live updatesNow in their third week under Russian occupation, Kherson residents have resisted attempts to declare the city a “people’s republic”. But in a third dispatch for the Observer, two female journalists, whose identities we are protecting, warn that as supplies run low, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding. Continue reading...

Washington Post rides with Khalid Payenda, who left for the US before the fall of KabulDays before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was “welcomed” to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his country’s treasury.Six months on, Khalid Payenda, once Ghani’s finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC. Continue reading...

Man attacked people with bear spray during morning prayer before being subdued, police sayWorshippers at a mosque in Toronto subdued an allegedly axe-wielding man who police say attacked people with bear spray during a dawn prayer service.Police said the 24-year-old man walked into the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic centre in the suburb of Mississauga and allegedly “discharged bear spray towards people in the mosque while brandishing a hatchet” just before 7am on Saturday. Continue reading...

Thousands of resident illegally taken across border, says city council, as China criticises ‘outrageous’ western sanctions against Russia

Expanded sanctions seek to limit Russia’s ability to produce aluminium which is critical to arms and munitions manufacturing

Late cricketing great’s family and friends attended the service at the St Kilda Football Club

Scott Morrison dismissed state and federal comparisons, saying ‘Anthony Albanese is not Peter Malinauskas’

Vaccine available to care home residents, people aged 75 and over, and immunosuppressed aged 12 and over

Government accused by Labour of complicity in ferry company’s shock decision to cut 800 UK-based jobsGovernment ministers knew about P&O Ferries’ plan to slash 800 jobs before staff were informed but were told by officials it would ensure the firm remained “a key player in the UK market for years to come”, it was claimed on Saturday.A leaked memo, apparently written by a senior Whitehall official, justified the mass redundancies, stating that “without these decisions, an estimated 2,200 staff would likely lose their jobs”. Continue reading...

Tory party co-chair voices ‘revulsion’ at ferry company’s actions after 800 staff replaced with agency workersP&O crossings between Liverpool and Dublin resumed on Saturday afternoon, two days after the ferry company suspended services when it sacked 800 staff and brought in replacement agency workers.Labour had called on the government to step in and halt any crossings, as ministers confirmed that all government contracts with the company were being reviewed. Continue reading...

Maher Maaroufe, 22, believed to have been in relationship with 19-year-old who died of injuries in Clerkenwell residenceDetectives have named a man they are working to trace after the death of a young woman at her student flat in London.Police are looking for Maher Maaroufe, 22, who is known to travel and has links across London. He is also known to travel to Cambridgeshire. The Metropolitan police said anyone who sees Maaroufe should not approach him and call 999 immediately. Continue reading...