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After two years spent closed off by the pandemic, prime minister Jacinda Ardern says ‘we’re ready to welcome the world back’New Zealand is re-opening its borders to the world, after two years spent closed off by the pandemic.From 13 April, vaccinated tourists from Australia will be able to enter the country without isolating. Continue reading...

Two journalists spoke to MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee about the tactics firms typically usePrestigious British law firms have been complicit in helping oligarchs prevent legitimate media scrutiny of their activities, MPs have been told.

Possible deal to release pair involves agreement by UK to repay £400m debt, according to Iranian sourcesBritish Iranian dual nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori could be freed and allowed to return to London within days under a deal in which the UK agrees to repay a £400m debt and release an Iranian prisoner.Zaghari-Ratcliffe has for months been at her parent’s home in Tehran awaiting news of whether she would have to serve a further one-year sentence in Iran handed down on top of the five years she had already served. Continue reading...

Timeframe last chance to agree peace deal with Russia before conflict escalates, former UK PM says

The final update of the project mapping massacres on Australia’s colonial frontier adds a further 113 sites where six or more people were killed

Black child’s ordeal, which involved exposure of intimate body parts, took place without parental consent, review findsA black child was subjected by police to a strip search at her London school that involved exposure of intimate body parts, according to an official investigation which found racism was likely to have been an “influencing factor” in the officers’ actions.No appropriate adult was present during the 15-year-old girl’s ordeal, described by a senior local authority figure as “humiliating, traumatising and utterly shocking” and which took place without parental consent and in the knowledge that she was menstruating. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president’s statement comes as three EU leaders arrive in city to express solidarity amid heavy bombardment

Analysis: process shrouded in secrecy but it seems good causes and gambling addiction plan may have helped Allwyn hit jackpot

New jail term at strict penal colony sought for Putin’s most vocal critic after new fraud charges

Health ministry says it may limit the sale of nicotine products to prevent next generation from taking up smokingDenmark has unveiled plans to ensure that future generations are tobacco-free, and is considering banning the sale of cigarettes and other nicotine products to anyone born after 2010.“Our hope is that all people born in 2010 and later will never start smoking or using nicotine-based products”, health minister Magnus Heunicke told reporters. Continue reading...

Camelot is losing franchise for the first time since the first national lottery took place in 1994

Two powerful explosions have rocked Kyiv while Russia says its forces have taken control of all territory in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region

This blog has now closed, for the latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our dedicated live blogThe government has also announced today that it has stopped all government-backed export finance to Russia and Belarus.There will be an urgent question in the Commons at 12.30pm on shale gas, followed by statements on legal aid and Covid international travel rules. Continue reading...

Royal Collection withdrew permission for loan in February as troops gathered near Ukraine

Budget cuts and ‘efficiency dividend’ blamed for closure of regional offices and decreases in membership, morale and responsivenessState Emergency Service units in some of the hardest-hit flood areas in northern New South Wales had warned the closure of regional offices in 2020 would reduce their ability to respond to natural disasters.Communication between the SES units and senior levels of the organisation reveals tension about a restructure which was blamed on NSW government budget cuts.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Exclusive: Senior Liberal says we ‘depend on the rule of law and a judicial system that is free from corruption’

Modelling shows a 25% decline in the state’s high school teaching graduates over five years

Nicola Sturgeon says increase driven by Omicron sub-variant means rule must remain beyond 21 MarchThe requirement to wear face masks on public transport, in shops and other enclosed public spaces will remain in place in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said, as a sharp increase in cases driven by the Omicron sub-variant prompted her government to delay scrapping the measure entirely.With all legal restrictions due to end in Scotland on 21 March , Sturgeon told MSPs she needed to “ask everyone to be patient for a little while longer on face coverings”. Continue reading...

Theatre workshops and art classes have sprung up to offer temporary respite from war as doctors warn of widespread trauma

About 10,000 people an hour signing up to offer homes to war-hit families and individuals, says minister

Final submissions heard after 196 days of often harrowing evidence into May 2017 terror attackFamilies of some of those killed in the Manchester Arena bombing have said they hope “real changes” will be made to stop future terror attacks, as the inquiry into the atrocity ends.The inquiry began in September 2020 and heard its final submissions on Tuesday after 196 days of often harrowing evidence. Continue reading...

Background checks tightened, online incitement targeted and financial flows to extremists cut offGermany’s top security officials have announced a 10-point plan to combat far-right extremism in the country that includes disarming 1,500 suspected extremists and tightening background checks for those wanting to acquire guns.The interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said the far right posed the biggest extremist threat to democracy in Germany and authorities would seek to tackle the issue through prevention and tough measures. Continue reading...

British-Iranian woman held in Iran has had her travel document returned, says her local MPNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian national held in Iran, has had her British passport returned, her MP, Tulip Siddiq, has said.The Hampstead and Kilburn MP tweeted: “I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back. She is still at her family home in Tehran. I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now. I will keep posting updates as I get them.” Continue reading...

More than 50 oligarchs and their families, with combined net worth of £100bn, targeted in latest raft of measures

Court increases Frankie Smith’s prison sentence for causing or allowing death from eight years to 12The mother of Star Hobson has had her prison sentence for her role in the toddler’s death increased by four years.Frankie Smith, 20, was jailed at Bradford crown court in December for causing or allowing the death of her 16-month-old daughter, who was killed by Smith’s former partner Savannah Brockhill. Continue reading...

SNP’s vision for building resilience to climate change has not turned into ‘real-world action’The Scottish government must raise its ambition immediately to adapt to the climate crisis, an influential advisory body has warned, as a report sets out how the Scottish National party’s “vision” for building resilience has not translated into “real-world action”.The Climate Change Committee, which advises all the UK’s governments on climate policies, said Scottish government action to adapt to wetter winters, rising sea levels and extreme weather events such as the recent Storm Arwen, had “stalled”, and that this posed risks to people, infrastructure and business. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s historic ‘mother city’, so far undamaged, is bolstering its defences against an expected attack

Authorities say Gary Cabana was found sleeping on a bench at a bus terminal and was arrested without incidentPolice have arrested a man wanted in the stabbing of two employees at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.Officers found Gary Cabana, 60, sleeping on a bench at a Philadelphia bus terminal early on Tuesday morning. He was arrested without incident, police said. Continue reading...

Series of Russian strikes hit residential neighbourhood before Polish, Czech and Slovenian leaders head to Ukrainian capitalRussia-Ukraine war: latest updatesThe Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers are travelling to Kyiv in a show of European solidarity with embattled Ukraine, officials have said, after pre-dawn Russian missile strikes again pounded the country’s capital.Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki, the Czech leader, Petr Fiala, and Janez Janša of Slovenia will meet the Ukrainian president, Volodimyr Zelenskiy, to express “the EU’s unequivocal support for Ukraine and its freedom and independence,” Fiala said. Continue reading...

Temporary measures introduced during Covid crisis will be made made permanent from AprilOutdoor weddings and civil partnerships are to be legalised permanently in England and Wales, ministers have announced.Since last summer, couples have been able to hold their civil wedding or ceremony outside under temporary measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Bureaucratic issues in Ottawa mean new arrivals will likely have to rely on Canadians’ generosity to get settledCanada has promised to resettle an “unlimited” number of displaced Ukrainians, and officials in country’s Prairie region want to be the first choice for those fleeing Russia’s invasion. But despite strong public support, bureaucratic delays at the federal level have highlighted the challenge of quickly resettling those fleeing war.The United Nations estimates more than two and a half million people have escaped Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, creating the worst refugee crisis on the European continent since the upheaval of the second world war. Continue reading...

Search for owner after bodies found in Newtown boarding house fire police believe was ‘maliciously lit’; cruise ship ban to end on April 17; Victorian health minister says Omicron subvariant ‘slowly asserting itself’; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths with 10 in Queensland. This blog is now closed

Value for money lunch offers in UK often contain daily recommended salt intake in one mealSeven in 10 snacks sold as part of lunchtime meal deals in UK high street shops and supermarkets contain dangerously large amounts of salt, sugar or saturated fat, a new analysis shows.The worst offenders include biscuits, cakes and crisps, according to research by the campaign group Action on Salt, which urged ministers to take action.Ginsters Cornish party,180g (sold in Co-op) – 1.89g of salt, which is more salt than five and a half bags of ready salted crispsGinsters large sausage roll, 130g (sold in Asda and Co-op) – 1.42g of salt, more than four bags of ready salted crispsJacob’s mini-cheddars, 50g (sold in most retailers) – 1.2g in a 50g bag, which is more salt than three Mini BabybelsLove Corn Smoked BBQ, 45g (sold in Tesco) – 1g of salt per pack, which is more than in two portions of KP salted nutsPep’d Up Peperami chicken bites, 50g (sold in Asda) – 0.96g per pack, which is more salt than in four and a half slices of wafter-thin ham Continue reading...

The Queensland premier had told public servants Nikola Stepanov and Robert Setter to ‘get back to work and get on with it’

‘Completely unacceptable’ to expect visitors to pay, says Age UK, as Covid cases rising for people over 70Lateral flow tests could cost care home visitors £73 a month, a leading UK charity has said, as it renewed calls to keep the devices free in such settings.The government has previously announced that free testing for the general public will end from 1 April, and that this will include care home visitors. Continue reading...

Fearing unrest over the ruling, the state government bans large gatherings after the restrictions on headscarves sparked violent protestsA court in India has ruled that wearing a hijab is not an essential principle of Islam, in a setback to Muslim students who were demanding the right to wear the headscarf in colleges in Karnataka, south India.The Karnataka high court was hearing the petitions of Muslim students who had been stopped in January from entering the government college in Udupi, where they were enrolled, for wearing the hijab. Continue reading...

Journalist credits role of producers, camera people and technical support in coverage of war

Eleven people, including nine ethnic Tigrayans, were killed on 3 March in the Benishangul-Gumuz regionA video posted on social media showing armed men burning a man to death in western Ethiopia has drawn condemnation and renewed fear over increasing horrific incidents of ethnic violence.Eleven people, including nine ethnic Tigrayans, were killed on 3 March in the Ayisid Kebele of Metekel zone, in the Benishangul-Gumuz region where waves of ethnic violence over the last year have killed hundreds of people. Continue reading...

RTBU secretary says union will take industrial action if government does not provide free fares ‘as a way of saying sorry’

Official city app previously used to buy tickets now warns of air raids and directs users to bomb shelters

Sergiy, 50, is a university lecturer who did not want to leave the Ukraine capital despite the advance of Russian troops

Nearly 90% of new infections in Jilin province, while tens of millions of people across the country remain confined to their homes

Roberts-Smith ‘wanted people to see he was going to kill someone’, former comrade tells defamation trial during cross-examination

Western Australia police believe they are from the same family and the fire was started by someone in the carDetectives say they are not looking for any suspects after a woman and two young children were killed in a Perth car fire.Western Australia police confirmed the bodies of a woman in her 40s, a 10-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy were found in a burnt-out vehicle in Coogee on Monday afternoon. Continue reading...

Ballot to refuse return cases in England and Wales from 11 April follows independent review’s recommendation of 15% increaseCriminal barristers in England and Wales have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action beginning next month in protest over levels of legal aid funding.A ballot by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) saw 94% of votes in favour of refusing to accept returns – where a barrister steps in to represent a defendant whose original barrister is unable to attend court – from 11 April. Continue reading...

Remaining rules including mandatory passenger locator forms and tests for unvaccinated arrivals will end on FridayAll remaining Covid travel restrictions are to be dropped across the UK from later this week, despite a concerning rise in cases and hospitalisations.Ministers approved the scrapping of passenger locator forms and the requirement for all unvaccinated arrivals to get tested, with the changes to come into force from 4am on Friday. Continue reading...

Marina Ovsyannikova ran on to the set of the Channel One transmission shouting: ‘Stop the war. No to war’