Former first lady tells journalists her husband will be exonerated of profiting from drug traffickingFormer Honduras president Juan Orlando Hernández should be extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges, a Honduran judge has ruled.The country’s supreme court of justice said late on Wednesday via Twitter that it had been decided to grant the US extradition request. Continue reading...
Manchester United midfielder says ‘nightmare’ break-in occurred while he played at Old Trafford on TuesdayThe Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has become the latest footballer to have his house burgled while he was playing in a high-profile game.The French international described the five-minute break-in as “our family’s worst nightmare” and said his children were asleep in their bedrooms at the time. Continue reading...
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says even with war in Ukraine, the world must not forget the crisis unfolding ‘out of sight’ in Ethiopia’s northern regionThe head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, saying that even amid the war in Ukraine there is “nowhere on Earth” where people are more at risk than the isolated region of northern Ethiopia.Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, is from Tigray and has incurred the wrath of the Ethiopian government in the past after accusing it of placing the region under a de facto blockade. Prime minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has accused him of bias, and of spreading misinformation. Continue reading...
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights holds hearing on using Israeli spyware against journalists and activistsSenior human rights officials have repeated calls for a ban on the powerful Israeli spyware Pegasus until safeguards are in place to protect civilians from illegal hacking by governments.Calls for a moratorium on the sale and use of the military-grade spyware were made on Wednesday at a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) into widespread unlawful surveillance using Pegasus spyware against journalists and activists in El Salvador. Continue reading...
Premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s play will reunite the film and theatre stars who appeared in The EqualizerThe American blockbuster stars David Harbour and Bill Pullman are to share the stage in London this summer for the world premiere of a family drama by Theresa Rebeck.Mad House, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, presents a rancorous reunion in rural Pennsylvania for three siblings who gather at the bedside of their dying father and anticipate their share of inheritance. Continue reading...
Plans to shore up real estate and tech sectors welcomed by investors, but downgrade of third-biggest developer Sunac shows problems persistChinese property shares have soared for a second day thanks to a decision by Beijing’s leadership to throw the country’s struggling real estate sector a lifeline amid growing pressures at home and abroad.Despite a downgrade for China’s third-biggest property developer Sunac on Thursday, stocks in the sector lifted again in Hong Kong and the mainland thanks to an announcement by vice premier Liu He, China’s economic tsar, on Wednesday that the government needed to reduce risks in the industry. Continue reading...
UK retail data shows slow revival of high streets partly driven by independent businesses moving into vacant sitesNearly 90% of former Debenhams stores remain empty almost a year after the department store closed its doors for the last time, in a sign of the challenge to reinvent high streets across the country.The empty shops are among nearly 8,000 outlets left empty last year, according to a report by the high street analysts Local Data Company (LDC), as Covid lockdowns accelerated the shift towards shopping online and pummelled city centres. Continue reading...
by Rowena Mason Deputy political editor on (#5X6QZ)
Opposition says UK lagging behind other nations in tackling interferenceNew laws to make it easier to expel Russian spies and other foreign agents need to be urgently speeded up in light of the Ukraine crisis, opposition parties said on Wednesday, with the UK lagging behind other nations in tackling interference.Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tory chair of the foreign affairs committee called on the government to bring forward measures to force foreign agents to sign a register, which was promised in last year’s Queen’s speech as part of a new counter state threats bill. Continue reading...
Arts festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, but organisers have high hopes for this year, which will see 801 artists, musicians and theatre companies present 84 projectsThe first attempt to launch Melbourne’s Rising festival – an amalgamation of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and White Night – was cancelled in 2020 due to the first coronavirus wave. The second attempt lasted just one day, when the Victorian government enforced a seven-day lockdown; within five days, it was extended and the festival was shut down entirely.So is the third time the charm? On Thursday, Rising announced its 2022 program, which includes 801 artists – including 685 Australian artists, mostly Victorian – presenting 84 projects, including 14 world and 16 Australian premieres. Continue reading...
Exclusive: ministers tell Commons standards committee that a ceiling on such earnings would be ‘impractical’Plans to cap MPs’ earnings from second jobs have been dropped months after the issue provoked a sleaze scandal that plunged Boris Johnson’s government into crisis, the Guardian can reveal.Ministers told the Commons standards committee that a time limit or ceiling on such earnings would be “impractical”. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5X6QM)
Charities warn below-inflation benefit rise ‘unthinkable’ for millions struggling with food and energy costsMinisters are coming under growing pressure to intervene to soften the impact of the cost of living crisis amid fresh warnings that millions of low-income households risk sliding into further debt, hunger and poverty.More than 50 charities have warned that the consequences of driving through a below-inflation benefit pay rise in April will be “unthinkable” for households already struggling to cover soaring food and energy costs and a rise in national insurance. Continue reading...
Tsunami warning cancelled after quake cut power to 2m homes and damaged some buildingsA powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in northern Japan on Wednesday evening, leaving four dead, and plunging more than 2m homes in the Tokyo area into darkness.The region is part of northern Japan that was devastated by a deadly 9.0 quake and tsunami 11 years ago that also triggered nuclear plant meltdowns, spewing massive radiation that still makes some parts uninhabitable. Continue reading...
News that Zaghari-Ratcliffe is finally on her way home to her family in the UK after six years in prison in Iran fills the front pages with joyThe beaming smile of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe features on the front pages of the national papers on Thursday after she was freed following six years imprisoned in Iran.With the war in Ukraine relegated to the second spot for the first time in three weeks, the Times splash headline says: “Free at last, Nazanin will ‘learn to be happy again’” alongside a picture of her on the plane out of Iran. Continue reading...
Ex-PM warns millions of people will fall into fuel poverty as bills price cap is lifted in AprilFormer prime minister Gordon Brown has warned the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that millions more people will be plunged into fuel poverty unless the government uses next week’s spring statement to ease the UK’s cost of living crisis.A letter to the chancellor, organised by Brown and signed by more than 70 Labour local government leaders, urged the chancellor to adopt a five-pronged approach to help those struggling to make ends meet.Halt the 1.25 percentage-point increase in employee national insurance contributions.Restore the £20 a week taken away from 6m households last October.Provide significantly greater help for energy costs, targeted at the poorest households.Put in place support for insulation costs for the poorest households as part of a programme for housing retrofits.Update benefits this year in line with inflation rates. Continue reading...
Response to Sewell inquiry also lays out plans for greater police scrutiny and a ‘model history curriculum’Ministers will drop the term black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), beef up local scrutiny of police stop and search and draft a model history curriculum to teach Britain’s “complex” past in response to the Sewell report on racial disparities.Launched as a response to the Black Lives Matter protests, the Sewell report caused controversy when it was published last year for broadly rejecting institutional racism as an explanation for many of the challenges faced by ethnic minorities in the UK. Continue reading...
UK and French authorities intercepted 23 small boats on Tuesday carrying total 943 people including children and a babyMore than 900 people were intercepted in small boats crossing the Channel on Tuesday in what is thought to be the largest number of migrants attempting to reach the UK in a single day so far this year.The UK authorities intercepted 405 people in 12 boats, while the French stopped another 538 people in 11 boats. Among those to arrive were several children, including a baby, who were brought to shore by an RNLI lifeboat at Dungeness in Kent. Continue reading...
Analysis: ministers publish response almost a year after commission delivered its controversial findingsWhen Tony Sewell released the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities last March, it was met by an avalanche of criticism.Wednesday’s reaction from ministers, after a year of delay, artfully ignores its most damaging and ridiculed conclusions. Continue reading...
Foreign secretary delivers drive-by thanks to others in statement that uses ‘I’ 15 times in six minutesAppearances can be deceptive. Most people had Liz Truss down as someone of mediocre talents. Not least Boris Johnson. After all, that’s why he made her foreign secretary. No prime minister wants someone too capable in a top job.But it now turns out that Truss isn’t quite so useless after all. At the very least, she’s managed to do something that was beyond previous foreign secretaries. Unlike the Suspect, she didn’t actively make the situation worse by ensuring she got Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe banged up for longer by falsely accusing her of training journalists in Iran. And unlike Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Raab, she actually got something done. There again, she hadn’t tried to supervise operations from a sunbed while the sea was closed. Continue reading...
Judge Robert Rinder posts pictures of Oksana Platero’s grandparents and aunt safe across border after week-long flight from warA Ukrainian member of the Strictly Come Dancing troupe has expressed her thanks and “limitless” love for her former celebrity partner after he tracked down her family in Poland after a seven-day journey to flee Russia’s invasion.Robert Rinder, 43, a barrister and broadcaster, has been posting social media updates from eastern Europe on his quest to find the family of Oksana Platero, his partner on the show in 2016. Platero, 33, has been unable to travel herself due to work commitments in the US. Continue reading...
Charity says it is prosecuting Premier League defender, who was seen slapping and kicking his pet, and his brotherThe RSPCA is prosecuting the West Ham defender Kurt Zouma and his brother Yoan under the Animal Welfare Act, the charity has said, after a video emerged last month of a cat being kicked.In the footage, which surfaced on social media in February and caused widespread condemnation, Kurt Zouma can be seen dropping, kicking and slapping one of his cats, while laughter can be heard in the background. The 27-year-old then chases the animal before throwing a pair of shoes at it and slapping its head. Continue reading...
Start of inquest delayed as family of 14-year-old who killed herself in 2017 await material from MetaThe family of Molly Russell, the 14-year-old who killed herself in 2017 after viewing harmful content online, have expressed frustration at the time taken by Meta to disclose data relevant to her death, a coroner has heard.Oliver Sanders QC, representing Molly’s family, told a pre-inquest review: “If I could just put on record the immense frustration and disappointment of the family at the fact that we’re conducting this process now when it could and should have been conducted two years ago.”In the UK and Ireland, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or by email at pat@papyrus-uk.org, and Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 by email at jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255, or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...
Relatives of the two Britons freed from Iran express gratitude as they head homeIran’s release of the British-Iranian nationals Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been greeted with joy by their families, with Richard Ratcliffe saying: “Homecoming is a journey, not an arrival.”Ratcliffe, who has been at the forefront of campaigning for his wife’s release since she was imprisoned in Tehran after going there to visit family, told broadcasters that there would have to be a recovery process, adding: “You can’t get back the time that’s gone.” Continue reading...
Incident a year before five-year-old died left Logan needing hospital treatment, trial in Cardiff hearsA teenage boy accused of murdering five-year-old Logan Mwangi allegedly confessed to pushing the child down a flight of stairs a year before he died, leaving him needing hospital treatment, a jury has heard.Logan’s mother, Angharad Williamson, reported the incident to police, pleading: “This is too much for me to handle … I need help,” Cardiff crown court was told. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent on (#5X635)
Armando Linares López gunned down six weeks after mourning the murder of a colleague in the same city in Michoacán stateThe murder crisis gripping Mexican journalism has claimed another life after a journalist was gunned down in the conflict-stricken state of Michoacán just six weeks after he announced the murder of a colleague.Armando Linares López, the director of a news website called Michoacán Monitor, was reportedly shot at least eight times on Tuesday afternoon outside his home in the city of Zitácuro. He is the eighth Mexican journalist to be killed in 2022, compared with nine in the whole of last year. Continue reading...
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe are accused of trying to sell secrets to Brazil, which cooperated in an FBI operation against themThe country that an American spy couple tried to sell nuclear submarine secrets to last year has been revealed to be Brazil.Jonathan and Diana Toebbe, a suburban couple who lived in Annapolis, Maryland, were arrested last October and charged with attempting to sell the design of US nuclear-powered submarines to someone they thought was a representative of a foreign power – but who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. Continue reading...
Ali Cherri’s If you prick us, do we not bleed? looks at people’s emotional responses to artAn exhibition inspired by the vandalism of five paintings while they were being displayed has opened at the National Gallery, in an attempt to explore how trauma can manifest itself in people’s response to museum and gallery collections.If you prick us, do we not bleed? has been put together by the gallery’s artist in residence, Ali Cherri, appointed in 2021, who uncovered accounts of National Gallery paintings being vandalised while on display as he researched its archives. Continue reading...
Concerns have been raised about scale of police operation against four unarmed protesters in central LondonFour people arrested over the occupation of the mansion of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Belgravia, London on Monday have been released under investigation.Four others arrested at the scene for trespassing on the nearby “premises of a foreign mission” and taken into custody have also been released under investigation. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5X5MG)
Exclusive: Andy Cook is said to have pledged to improve forces’ focus on detecting crimeThe new head of the policing inspectorate will be Andy Cooke, the former chief constable of Merseyside, the Guardian understands.Cooke is said to have impressed in interviews for the post of Her Majesty’s chief inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) by pledging to get forces better focused on detecting more crime and locking up more criminals. Continue reading...
Following Disney’s apology for silence over Florida law, studio pledges ‘strong commitment as allies who promote the values of of equality, acceptance and respect’Marvel Studios says it “strongly denounces” any legislation that affects the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, following the passing of a controversial bill in Florida.Republicans in Florida recently passed what opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which limits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to young children in the state. Continue reading...
Pension board and investment fund managers urge French energy company to cut ties with RussiaThe Church of England is pressuring the French energy giant TotalEnergies over its decision not to cut ties with Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.The Church’s pensions board and the manager of its investment fund said they would reconsider their shareholding in the company. Continue reading...
While Voller’s case has been settled, the high court ruling on liability for third-party comments standsThe lawsuit that led to the high court ruling that publishers could be held liable for allegedly defamatory comments on their social media pages has been settled, leaving key legal questions unresolved.Dylan Voller had sued the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, the Centralian Advocate, Sky News Australia and the Bolt Report over allegedly defamatory third party comments on their Facebook pages. The comments were in response to articles about Voller, whose mistreatment in the Northern Territory’s Don Dale youth detention centre led to a royal commission.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...
North Korea recently conducted its ninth weapons test of 2022 but the latest appears to have misfiredNorth Korea fired an “unknown projectile” on Wednesday that appeared to fail immediately after launch, South Korea’s military said after Japanese media reported a suspected missile launch.The suspected missile was fired from an airfield outside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, South Korea’s defence ministry said. Continue reading...
Defence lawyer also tells court he will ask Australian media companies to remove certain articles related to the case and will seek a court order if they fail to complyBruce Lehrmann’s lawyers will seek a permanent stay of the prosecution against him for the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins.At an ACT Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday Lehrmann’s counsel, David Campbell, confirmed he had instructions to seek a stay – permanent or temporary – of the trial, scheduled for 6 June. Campbell cited publicity around allegations which he will argue makes it impossible for his client to receive a fair trial. Continue reading...
News Corp paper published multiple negative stories about Kumanjayi Walker and body camera footage from night he was killedSeveral high-profile Indigenous journalists have condemned the Australian newspaper’s coverage as unethical, victim-blaming and insensitive following the acquittal of Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe in relation to the shooting death of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker.A jury acquitted Rolfe of murder and related charges on Friday over the 2019 shooting of Walker in Yuendumu. The court heard Walker was shot three times, with Rolfe arguing he acted to protect his and his partner’s safety. Continue reading...
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