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Australia news live: Bunnings topples Woolworths as most trusted brand; autumn heatwave to scorch southern states | Comparisons between 14 largely retired environmental protesters unfurling banners in Queensland’s parliament and the January 6 US Capitol riots are “odious”, one of the protesters has said. On Thursday, Queensland’s parliamentary ethics committee handed down its findings, which cleared Greens MP Michael Berkman of inc... |
New Zealand v Australia: second Test, day one – live | WICKET! Williamson lbw b Hazlewood 17 (New Zealand 84-5) Blundell uses a delightfully retro old Kookaburra. It could be the Ridgeback or maybe even the Bubble. Childhood memories of Alec Stewart twirling away with that between deliveries in the 90s. Blundell gets a lesser spotted single to rotate the strike. Hold on… ... |
Orlando makes Barbra Banda second most expensive female player in world | Orlando Pride have completed a deal to sign Zambia forward Barbra Banda for the second-highest transfer fee in women’s football. Recruited from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shengli for $740,000 (£582,128), Banda has signed a four-year contract with the NWSL side. The price tag makes her the second most expensive ... |
Imaginary review – a shoddy and unimaginative creepshow | It’s yet another sub-par day at the Blumhouse factory, production line operating at full, breakneck speed, yet machinery on the perilous verge of total collapse. The house of horror, behind hit franchises like Insidious, Paranormal Activity and The Purge, has become something of a franchise in itself, a branded string ... |
‘Outrageous and disgusting’: Greens MP condemns comparison of Queensland climate protests to US capitol riots | Comparisons between 14 largely retired environmental protesters unfurling banners in Queensland’s parliament and the January 6 US Capitol riots are “odious”, one of the protesters has said. On Thursday, Queensland’s parliamentary ethics committee handed down its findings, which cleared Greens MP Michael Berkman of inci... |
‘We can be a role model’: the activism of Hazara women in regional Australia | Zara Khademi fled Afghanistan in the late 1990s when the Taliban attacked the capital of Kabul. “They were looking for the Hazara people,” she says. “My daughter was four and my son was 18 months. We had to walk through the mountains at night until we reached the (Iranian) border.” After living in Iran for three years,... |
Fifth mass coral bleaching event in eight years hits Great Barrier Reef, marine park authority confirms | The Great Barrier Reef is in the grip of a mass coral bleaching event driven by global heating – the fifth in only eight years – the marine park’s government authority has confirmed. The authority, together with scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, have completed aerial surveys across 300 reefs o... |
The US will build a port off Gaza to get aid to Palestinians. Too little, too late? | The US plan to build a floating port off the Gaza coast is a bold move, reminiscent of the Mulberry harbours built after D-day in Normandy, but there are serious concerns that what relief it brings will be too little too late for Palestinians facing starvation. “When we talk about the sea route, it’s going to take week... |
The MH370 families seeking closure, justice and a fresh search | Ten years on, Jiang Hui still hopes he will one day find the answer to what happened when his mother disappeared in 2014. “My mother was a very normal person. She came from a working-class family. She was very resilient, persistent,” says Jiang, 50, from Beijing. His mother, Jiang Cuiyun, was a 72-year-old retired pict... |
Government failing targets to fix UK railway system, watchdog reports | Government plans to overhaul the country’s ailing railway system are significantly delayed while promised savings have yet to be achieved, according to a highly critical report by the government’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) assessment of how ministers’ plans were progressing found the government... |
Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend | United must match ambition with effort Bruno Fernandes lamented that last week’s Manchester derby defeat came down to “individual quality from the players of City”. Difficult to argue with, but the most frustrating part of United’s loss was the failure to commit for the full 90 minutes. At 2-1 down even some senior pla... |
Cryptic crossword No 29,325 | |
You be the judge: should my best friend get a dog when he works such long hours? | The prosecution: Janette The poor dog will spend five days a week living with the sitter. So what’s the point of having one? I don’t think my best friend, Pádraig, should get a dog because he works too much. I have a dog myself and know how much it entails. He’s a corporate lawyer who works all the hours God ... |
Biden to announce US will build port on Gaza shore for large-scale aid delivery | US forces will build a temporary port on the Gaza shoreline to allow delivery of humanitarian aid on a large scale, Joe Biden will announce in the State of the Union speech, amid warnings of a widespread famine among the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians. “We are not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for Ame... |
Rupert Murdoch, 92, to wed retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67 | Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is engaged for a sixth time, it emerged on Thursday, this time to Elena Zhukova, a retired scientist. Related: Rupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times in 12-month period Murdoch’s office announced that the 92-year-old is set to marry Zhukova, a 67-year-old retired molecular biologist, accor... |
‘We need to do a deal’: PGA Tour’s Webb Simpson calls for LIV Golf agreement | A player director of the PGA Tour has admitted it would be “very dangerous” for the organisation not to complete a deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. Webb Simpson, speaking after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, believes the “good of the game” would be harmed if the PGA Tour does not ... |
Australian women are chalking up some wins in the workplace – yet our male leaders remain out of touch | This International Women’s Day, ladies, put out your cupcakes for the 9-to-5 white collar working week. Recent changes to Australia’s industrial relations laws and public sector bargaining agreements suggest we just might be achieving some real progress towards more gender-equal workplace structures – and the blokes wh... |
MH370: Australia offers Malaysia support for new search on 10-year anniversary | Australia has offered the Malaysian government support for a renewed search for MH370, on the 10-year anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance. On Friday, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, and transport minister, Catherine King, said the government’s “sincere sympathies” remained with the loved ones of those... |
State of the Union: what to watch for as Joe Biden addresses the nation | President Joe Biden will address a joint session of Congress Thursday night in his last state of the union speech of his presidential term. He’s expected to highlight his legislative record in office, with the rapidly-approaching election raising the stakes. How to watch Biden’s State of the Union address: Biden’s stat... |
Matt Dufty’s late try gives Sam Burgess’s Warrington victory over Hull KR | Sam Burgess will know that nothing is won at this stage of a rugby league season but a month into his first head coaching role, you suspect he will be satisfied, if nothing else, with the way his Warrington Wolves team are progressing. Burgess has made no secret of his desire to strengthen the mental resolve of a side ... |
Cranbrook school principal resigns over allegations he knew about teacher’s ‘extremely concerning past conduct’ | The headteacher of the prestigious Cranbrook school in Sydney has resigned after it emerged he allegedly knew one of his teachers had engaged in “extremely concerning past conduct” and kept him in his position. An emergency meeting of the school council was held on Thursday to investigate Nicholas Sampson’s response to... |
Freiburg 1-0 West Ham, Benfica 2-2 Rangers, and more: Europa League – as it happened | Thank you for joining me. Here is the report from Lisbon. Related: Rangers squander lead twice as Goldson gifts Benfica Europa League draw Philippe Clement: “I am not happy. I think we were really close to rewriting happy against a team who have never lost a Europa League game at home. I am really proud of my team. We... |
Liverpool owners hope to lure Michael Edwards back for post-Klopp rebuild | Liverpool’s owners met Michael Edwards in Boston on Sunday in their attempts to convince the club’s former sporting director to shape the post-Jürgen Klopp era at Anfield. Fenway Sports Group’s principal owner, John W Henry, and president, Mike Gordon, were among the senior executives who held talks with Edwards about ... |
Steve Borthwick’s England feel ‘weight’ of shirt before tough Ireland test | Steve Borthwick believes the England jersey has been weighing heavy on his players as they seek to salvage their Six Nations campaign against Ireland on Saturday and suggested inconsistent team selections during Eddie Jones’s reign were a contributing factor. As England prepare to face what Borthwick believes is “the b... |
‘It’s a penalty’: Moyes fumes at spot-kick snub as West Ham go down to Freiburg | The burning sense of injustice that coursed through West Ham after being denied the chance to wipe out Freiburg’s slender advantage should not make them look past the failings that left their hopes of salvaging a draw from the first leg of this last-16 tie dependent on the whims of a referee with a curious interpretati... |
Kathryn Scanlan wins Gordon Burn prize for novel Kick the Latch | American author Kathryn Scanlan has won this year’s Gordon Burn prize for her “desperately consumable” novel about horse training. Kick the Latch is based on a series of interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer from the midwest. The novel is “a thundering achievement, liberated from hard lines of genre and form by a lase... |
England hope ‘Super Manny’ can help break cycle of underachievement | It is not just England who are seeking to put the past behind them. In Australia they have conducted a lengthy review into the Wallabies’ failed World Cup campaign and come up with a list of recommendations almost as long as the Great Barrier Reef. Along with a massive “unapproved” overspend of A$2.6m [£... |
Israel to compete at Eurovision song contest after changing lyrics to its entry | Israel will be allowed to compete at the Eurovision song contest after changing the lyrics to its song, organisers have confirmed. Eden Golan, representing Israel at this year’s competition, originally submitted a ballad called October Rain, widely thought to reference the Hamas attacks of 7 October. However, the entry... |
James sinks Manchester City to set up Chelsea v Arsenal Continental Cup final | Chelsea reached the Women’s League Cup final for the fifth time in succession with a slender victory over Manchester City. Lauren James’ early goal was enough to see them set up a meeting with Arsenal on 31 March despite coming under significant pressure from their title rivals. It was a dogged performance from Emma ... |
Emma Raducanu off to impressive start at Indian Wells with confident win | Emma Raducanu moved into the second round of Indian Wells with a composed performance and no significant problems, confidently closing out a 6-2, 6-3 win over the qualifier Rebeka Masarova. A much tougher battle against Dayana Yastremska, the 30th seed, awaits Raducanu on Saturday. Related: ‘I can’t lie to myself’: Raf... |
State of the Union guest list shows reproductive rights in spotlight after Alabama IVF bill signed into law – as it happened | Closing summary My colleague Chris Stein will be covering Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this evening on our dedicated live blog. In the meantime, here’s a recap of today’s developments: LaTorya Beasley, an Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos w... |
USPS to stop accepting orders for free Covid tests 8 March | The US government will stop accepting orders for free at-home Covid-19 tests on Friday, 8 March. Each household can still place an order until Friday for rapid coronavirus tests via the US Postal Service (USPS), according to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), a division of the US Departm... |
Affordable apples and brilliant berries: Australia’s best value fruit and vegetables in March | At Senserricks Fruit and Flowers in north-west Melbourne, owner Pat Senserrick says that apples, grapes and raspberries should be your go-to at the beginning of autumn – though it’s not the most exciting time of year for fresh produce. A Melbourne market vendor, Senserrick says markets tend to have more variety than su... |
Who is Katie Britt? Alabama senator to deliver rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union | Republicans have chosen first-term Alabama senator Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever to serve in the Senate, to deliver the rebuttal to the State of the Union address tonight. At 42, Britt is also the third-youngest senator serving today, presenting a counterpoint to the oldest sitting president. Her rebu... |
Corrections and clarifications | • Pedro Sánchez is Spain’s prime minister, not president as we described him in an editorial in some early editions (European elections 2024: Progressive parties must find a bold response to the threat of the radical right, 6 March, Journal, p2). • The tennis player Katie Boulter was not seeded for the Indian Wells tou... |
Troubled Miami Seaquarium ordered to close after high-profile animal deaths | One of Florida’s largest aquatic theme parks has been ordered to close by next month following several high-profile animal deaths and a series of scathing federal reports into the care of its marine mammals. The Miami-Dade commission on Thursday served eviction papers on the Dolphin Company, owners of the troubled Miam... |
Michael Gove failed to declare hospitality at three football matches | Michael Gove failed to declare hospitality worth more than £1,700 at three Queens Park Rangers matches over the course of two years, not just the one occasion when he attended with a Conservative donor, it has emerged. The housing secretary was placed under investigation by the House of Commons standards watchdog last ... |
Morning Mail: mulch company’s court move, Biden proposes aid port for Gaza, nuclear power challenges | Morning everyone. The company at the centre of the investigation into contaminated mulch in Sydney will argue in court today that the pollution of its product could have occurred outside it facilities and therefore it cannot be blamed. We have the full exclusive story. Plus, we dig into the big question of whether the ... |
Sparta Prague 1-5 Liverpool: Europa League last 16, first leg – as it happened | Here it is! The perfect night for Liverpool in Prague. Almost. Jürgen Klopp’s quadruple-chasing team effectively booked their place in the Europa League quarter-finals with an emphatic and clinical defeat of Sparta Prague. Darwin Núñez warmed up for the top of the table clash against Manchester City with two superb go... |
Núñez double fires Liverpool to 5-1 win at Sparta Prague but Konaté limps off | The perfect night in Prague for Liverpool. Almost. Jürgen Klopp’s quadruple-chasing team effectively secured their place in the Europa League quarter-finals with a comprehensive and clinical defeat of Sparta Prague. Darwin Núñez warmed up for Manchester City on Sunday with two superb goals, including the 1,000th of Klo... |
Roma 4-0 Brighton: Europa League last 16, first leg – as it happened | Here’s Ed Aarons’ report from Rome. Related: Lukaku on target as Roma destroy Brighton’s Europa League dreams Good summation by Rupak here: “I get that certain managers live and die by their principles, but De Zerbi should’ve adapted and set his team up accordingly. Roma are still one of the European giants, you don’t... |
Cameron: ‘Giving Ukraine weapons will help bring peace, not escalate war’ | Giving Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself against Russia would not escalate the war, but help to forge peace, David Cameron has said. The UK foreign secretary was speaking on a trip to Berlin, less than a week after a leaked top-secret military call exposed internal tensions about Germany’s support for Kyiv.... |
Roma’s Dybala and Lukaku destroy Brighton’s Europa League dreams | Spare a thought for Lewis Dunk. The Brighton captain made his debut when his side were languishing in League One 14 years ago and has ridden the wave all the way to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Yet it was two mistakes from the England defender that were the catalyst for a nightmare evening in the Italian capital that leaves... |
Ajax and Aston Villa players see red as Emery keeps powder dry for Spurs | After all the hubbub among the Aston Villa supporters who spent the day hugging Amsterdam’s canals and the pre-match fanfare in the way of pyrotechnics and flares, in the end the game itself proved a frustrating and largely forgettable stalemate. It was almost as if Villa were keeping their powder dry for their pursuit... |
Former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi to become Ukraine’s ambassador to UK | Ukraine’s former commander in chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is to become the country’s next ambassador to the UK, a month after he was fired by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, from his job leading the military. The decision makes good on Zelenskiy’s promise to keep the popular former general “as part of the team” but i... |
‘Impossible numbers’: where could Jeremy Hunt’s budget cuts fall? | By now it has become a familiar feature of Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal statements. In order to entice voters with tax cuts, the chancellor has baked in significant public spending cuts backdated after the next general election. Hunt’s spring budget on Wednesday included billions in cuts, the impact of which would not fall equ... |
Gunman who killed 18 in Maine shooting had brain injury, study shows | Robert Card, an army reservist who shot and killed 18 people in Maine last year, had evidence of traumatic brain injuries, according to researchers who analyzed his brain tissue. There was degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, inflammation and small blood ve... |
UK science secretary received government advice before Hamas tweet | The science secretary, Michelle Donelan, received government advice before she tweeted a letter in which she accused an academic of supporting Hamas, Downing Street has said. No 10 refused to say what advice officials had given her and whether she actually followed it, but insisted she had “acted in line with establish... |
Ottawa: two-month-old among four children and two adults killed in attack | Police in Canada say two adults and four young children, the youngest of whom was less than three months old, are dead in a mass killing in what Ottawa’s mayor described as “one of the most shocking incidents of violence” in the city’s history. A 19-year-old male is in custody and has been charged with with six counts ... |
‘Completely unfilmable’: the Dune universe is about to get weird | Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is currently the toast of Tinseltown, a big-budget sci-fi adventure directed by a Hollywood A-lister and critical darling that has taken the box office by storm and left fans wanting more and more and more. It made more than $180m worldwide in its first weekend alone and inevitably, se... |
Sweden finally joins Nato after nearly two-year wait | Sweden has officially became the 32nd member of Nato, in a landmark moment for the historically neutral country and the western military alliance. Stockholm’s ratification process was finally completed in Washington as Sweden and Hungary, the last country to ratify Sweden’s membership, submitted the necessary documents... |
So much for the challenge from ‘challenger’ banks | It was a nice idea while it lasted. So-called challenger banks, it was fondly imagined, would emerge after the 2008-09 financial crash and show the UK’s big four banks how the industry should be run. Their weapons would be new technology, superior service and brand names unsullied by bonuses and bailouts. More than a d... |
Sunak warned unfunded axing of national insurance would harm services | Rishi Sunak has been warned against fighting an election on an unfunded plan to abolish employee national insurance amid projections the move could blow a £40bn hole in the public finances. As the pre-election battle on the economy between the Conservatives and Labour intensified, the prime minister was on Thursday und... |
The Lonely Londoners review – supreme staging of Sam Selvon’s Windrush story | Lyrical and loosely structured, Sam Selvon’s 1956 British Caribbean novel does not readily lend itself to the stage. It is also a tricky proposition to bring his “big city” tale to life in a space as snug as this subterranean venue. So the power of this production, adapted by Roy Williams and directed by Ebenezer Bamgb... |
Ray Carlton obituary | My mother, Ray Carlton, who has died aged 100, worked as a pharmaceutical researcher, retailer and accounting auditor, and was a talented pianist and artist. An Anglo-American free thinker, she went on to cultivate a broad, multigenerational network of friends while living on the East Yorkshire coast. Ray was born in D... |
The Guardian view on national insurance: these taxes embody a solidarity we still need | Before he unveiled his main tax cut in the 2024 budget this week, Jeremy Hunt criticised the fact that Britain collects two different types of taxes on earnings: income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). The system has become too complicated, the chancellor said. It penalises work, he added, thu... |
The Guardian view on Haiti’s state of emergency: don’t look for easy fixes | Almost as frightening as the threats from a Haitian crime lord of “a civil war that will lead to genocide” on Wednesday was the silence from the country’s leaders. Jimmy Chérizier, widely known as Barbecue, is behind the week-long uprising by gangs that has freed 4,000 prisoners and besieged airports and police station... |
The joy and freedom of a solo holiday as an older woman | Thank you for Joanna Moorhead’s wonderful article on solo travel (Long lunches, casual friendships, no one to worry about: solo holidays are brilliant for older women like me, 5 March). I’m on my first ever solo holiday, after 52 years of marriage. When I arrived in Vietnam, the guide who met me asked: “Why are you tra... |
We must address the shocking gender gap at global financial institutions | In advance of International Women’s Day, your timely piece on the World Bank’s new report finding no equality for working women in any country (5 March) was a stark reminder of the work left ahead. However, it’s important ask whether there is equality for working women at the World Bank itself, or any of the seven majo... |
Climate anxiety adds to teenagers’ fears | Gaby Hinsliff makes a good point (What makes today’s teens so pessimistic about the future? Perhaps it’s the present, 5 March). However, she writes about the present as if we are not in the midst of a climate crisis threatening all life on Earth. She omits any mention of the impact of this on young people. A study of 1... |
Empowering female cotton farmers could boost climate resilience | Women in rural areas experience systematic inequality, and climate change is widening the gender gap (Financial toll of climate crisis hitting women harder, UN says, 5 March). In global cotton production, for example, women are a significant contributor, but their work is labour-intensive and undervalued. They dispropo... |
Pamela Salem obituary | The actor Pamela Salem, who has died aged 80, brought a touch of class to a number of well-known franchises during a screen career of more than 50 years. She achieved cinematic immortality by playing the loyal secretary Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), an anomalous entry to the canon... |
Prison is no place for vulnerable young women | The image of a girl in a children’s prison being pinned down and stripped by male officers, not once but on two separate occasions, beggars belief (Girl at YOI Wetherby was twice stripped by male officers, watchdog says, 5 March). This is a horrific story that cannot be ignored. The “highly vulnerable” girl with comple... |
Abortion rights in France are still too limited after senate vote on constitution | Last week’s vote to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution is a very welcome step from French senators (France to make abortion a constitutional right after senate vote, 28 February). Efforts to legally protect abortion access are extremely valuable when abortion rights are under threat in many parts of Europe – ... |
John Kerry doesn’t get it: the US can’t be a force for good on the climate until it stops fossil fuel expansion | John Kerry’s recent claim in an interview with the Guardian that the United States is a force for good in tackling the climate crisis, despite soaring growth in fossil fuels, demonstrates that he fundamentally misunderstands the problem (John Kerry: US committed to tackling climate crisis despite fossil fuel growth, 4 ... |
The 21 greatest Oscar snubs ever – Ranked! | 1. Alfred Hitchcock And the Oscar goes to … the wrong film or person, most of the time. This we know. But for proof of the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between quality and the Academy Awards, try this: Alfred Hitchcock never got his mitts on a best director prize. He came within sniffing distance on five occasions. And... |
Greta Gerwig films – ranked! | 20 No Strings Attached (2011) Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher may be the stars of this friends-with-benefits romcom, written by New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriwether and originally titled Fuck Buddies. But it is Mindy Kaling and Gerwig (first seen sloshed in shorts with “Whore” written on them) who provide indie cre... |
Greenpeace accuses Russia of ‘unprecedented escalation’ if it restarts Zaporizhzhia reactors | Greenpeace has accused Russia of threatening Ukraine and the west with “an unprecedented escalation” if Moscow tries to restart reactors at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. The pressure group’s warning came a day after Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met the Rus... |
Israel will resist pressure to halt Rafah attack, says Netanyahu | Israel will not give in to international pressure to stall an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah and will continue its bloody offensive against Hamas, said Benjamin Netanyahu. “There is international pressure and it’s growing, but … we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war,” the prime minis... |
Alabama law protecting IVF met with both relief and concern: ‘There is more work to be done’ | Alabama’s swift passage of a law on Wednesday night that protects in vitro fertilization providers from liability was greeted by relief – and some concern – as treatments were expected to resume on Thursday following the state supreme court’s shock decision last month that equated frozen embryos to children, halting ma... |
Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works Vol 2 album review – first-rate playing even if some of the music is less so | Like Alpesh Chauhan’s first Tchaikovsky collection for Chandos, this sequel with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra contains a number of pieces that are rarely encountered in either concert hall or opera house. In fact the only items here that are likely to be at all familiar are the prelude to the first act of the op... |
‘Don’t wear beige – it might kill you’: Iris Apfel fans on why they love rainbow dressing | Last Friday, the American interior designer turned fashion influencer Iris Apfel died aged 102. Her eclectic way of dressing, featuring a discordance of colours, patterns and textures, broke all the standard fashion rules and amassed her legions of fans. Here, some of them explain how they, too, dress for joy. Sade Ade... |
Unlucky in love: statue of Shakespeare’s Juliet in Verona damaged by tourists | Tourists in the northern Italian city of Verona have once again created a hole in the right breast of a statue of William Shakespeare’s heroine Juliet. The bronze statue sits beneath the balcony in a tiny courtyard where Romeo is said to have wooed Juliet, attracting hundreds of visitors each day who flock there for a ... |
Ryan Gosling movies – ranked! | 15. The Notebook (2004) Even The Notebook’s writer, Nicholas Sparks, knew that there wasn’t much to Noah, the romantically deranged, mansion-restoring, beard-growing war veteran in this insipid tearjerker. “It’s a guy who falls in love and then he just kinda does nothing,” he admitted. But director Nick Cassavetes had ... |
UK politics: Sunak refuses to say how abolition of national insurance would be funded – as it happened | We are closing this blog now but you can read all our UK politics coverage here. Afternoon summary Rishi Sunak has refused to say how the Conservatives might fund their long-term proposal to abolish national insurance contributions for employees. (See 3.02pm.) Keir Starmer says this amounts to a commitment to a £46bn ... |
US health secretary on Alabama’s IVF ruling: ‘Pandora’s box was opened’ after fall of Roe | The health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said the US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if Americans hope to avoid further restrictions on in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Becerra’s comments come in the wake of an Alaba... |
Letter: Sir Tony Lloyd obituary | Tony Lloyd’s wry humour and Lancastrian imperturbability helped immensely in our observer delegation to the 1999 referendum on East Timorese independence from Indonesia. The Labour politician agreed to lead this Catholic Institute for International Relations initiative, despite his characteristic self-deprecation that ... |
I showed my baby nothing but love, Constance Marten tells Old Bailey jury | Constance Marten, whose daughter Victoria died after she and the baby’s father went off the grid in freezing winter weather to evade authorities, has denied ever harming her child, telling a jury she had shown her nothing but love during her short life. Marten was giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Thursday, as she a... |
Treasury disbanded non-dom tax policy unit weeks before budget, sources say | The Treasury disbanded a unit tasked with offshore and non-dom tax policy weeks before announcing significant changes in the budget to the way foreign residents are taxed, sources have said. The unit, which comprised technical experts on offshore tax issues, included specialists on non-dom policy. These officials would... |
UK ‘fiscally offside’ by up to £60bn, Citi fears; house prices rise again – as it happened | Closing post Time to wrap up. Economist have warned that the UK’s pre-election budget, delivered yesterday, is based on ‘Fiscal fiction’, rather than plausible plans and assumptions. Citigroup warned that the chancellor’s spending plans as “fiscally offside” by £50-60bn, as they are based on unlikely productivity grow... |
‘No drilling! No drilling!’: climate choir sings truth to power in Palace of Westminster | Making an elaborate, distracting fuss, the climate choir’s 100-strong decoy choir gets into position on the pavement outside parliament. Police gather and hover nearby. Politicians rush past on their way into the House of Commons, smiling benignly as the decoy choir launches into a hearty, opening song. Distracted by t... |
Biden’s State of the Union guests include mother whose IVF was canceled and Kate Cox | An Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos were children and a Texas mother forced to travel outside her state for a doctor-recommended abortion were due to attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, as guests of the first lady, Jill Biden. ... |
Slovakia defends Russia ties after Czech Republic suspends talks | Slovakia’s foreign minister has defended a controversial decision to meet his Russian counterpart, after the Czech Republic announced it was suspending intergovernmental consultations with Bratislava amid concerns it is shifting away from western policy on supporting Ukraine. In a statement emailed to the Guardian on T... |
Put yourself in the shoes of a Donald Trump voter – and understand what drives his success | Donald Trump is certain to be the Republican candidate in this year’s election for US president. He is also currently favourite to win. To most readers of the Guardian, I am sure this prospect is appalling, as it is to most Britons. The nation to which they gave birth and language, that has been their friend and protec... |
Jeremy Hunt vows to pay more capital gains tax on his properties | Jeremy Hunt has promised to voluntarily pay more capital gains tax on his properties so that he does not benefit from a tax cut he introduced. The chancellor refused to disclose how many houses he owned but said he would pay a higher tax rate on any proceeds from selling his property. Asked on ITV’s Peston programme on... |
Canada reaches settlement with Michael Spavor over detention in China | Canada’s federal government has reached a million-dollar compensation settlement with Michael Spavor, a businessman who was held by China for nearly three years amid a broader diplomatic feud between the two countries. Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who became known as “the two Michaels”, were detained by Beijing in Decemb... |
Tipping the Velvet to Top of the Pops: your favourite LGBTQ+ TV shows ever | Top of the Pops Week after week, we saw, with our parents, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, Jimmy Somerville, Marc Almond, Erasure, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Divine, Dead Or Alive … They were not only putting gay culture in primetime family viewing, but also creating terrific, innovative music. Andy, 55, London Will &... |
AFC Wimbledon’s Pell charged by FA for allegedly kicking balls at MK Dons fans | The aftershocks of last weekend’s League Two grudge match continued on Thursday when an AFC Wimbledon player was charged by the Football Association over accusations he spent the warm-up deliberately kicking balls at MK Dons fans. Enmity between Wimbledon and the team who had that name before leaving south London for B... |
Are you always late? Here’s how to be on time | I am arguably the worst kind of late. I am never very late – the kind so egregious it almost demands a begrudging respect, as if the tardy party is an otherworldly spirit who cannot be expected to adhere to earthly conceptions of time. My lateness is less bold, more tedious. I am perpetually running 10 to 15 minutes be... |
MPs and campaigners accuse Polish government of betrayal over abortion laws | Women’s groups and opposition politicians have taken aim at Poland’s parliamentary speaker, accusing him of betrayal and seeking to “freeze” the issue of abortion, after he said parliament would not consider legislation to tackle the country’s near-total ban on abortion until mid-April. “We feel disappointed and betray... |
Aviva’s profits rise as demand for UK private health insurance booms | Booming demand in the UK for private health insurance, as NHS waiting lists remain at near-record levels, has boosted annual profits at Aviva, with more frequent claims and higher medical costs driving up premiums. Britain’s biggest general insurer said sales of health insurance had risen 41% in 2023 compared with the ... |
Tesco pay rise delay leaves many workers earning under minimum wage | A month-long delay to a promised pay rise at Tesco has been condemned by some staff because it leaves them on less than the minimum wage, while saving the supermarket more than £17m. Tesco, one of the UK’s biggest employers with more than 330,000 staff, has pledged to increase the minimum pay for its shop workers from ... |
UK taxes have reached 1948 levels – but the contrast between the budgets is stark | In 1948, the country was in the midst of reconstruction following the second world war – and had the tax levels to show for it. Ration cards were still in use and the NHS still on the maternity ward, having been born that July. The previous month, the Empire Windrush had made its historic arrival in Tilbury. Earlier th... |
Independent inquiry into 2005 murder of Emma Caldwell announced | An independent judge-led public inquiry will be held into how police handled the investigation into Emma Caldwell’s murder, the Scottish government has announced. The announcement came as Scotland’s most senior law officer said she believed there was sufficient evidence in 2008 to prosecute Caldwell’s killer, who was c... |
School accused of ‘snooping’ on family homes to crack down on pupil absences | A secondary school in South Yorkshire has been accused of snooping by monitoring families’ bins, cars and post in an attempt to crack down on pupil absences. Staff at Astrea Academy Woodfields in Balby, Doncaster, have been visiting the homes of absent pupils to check bins are being put out, cars are on driveways, or i... |
A dark pattern runs through British politics: when the powerful lose control, protesters suffer | Britain’s latest descent into authoritarianism fits a depressingly familiar pattern. This is how it tends to work: a subversive group is identified by political elites and presented as a danger to the nation, often being additionally labelled as allies or dupes of hostile foreign enemies. An air of national emergency i... |
Oscar predictions 2024: who will win, who should win – and who was snubbed | With a terrible inevitability, this is set to be the Enheimer Oscars. The Barb half has faded almost entirely from the conversation, and now even the scandal of its snubs seems to be a non-talking point. Seriousness and maleness and nuclear bombs make for plausible Oscar prizes, it seems, not female-centred comedy. Gre... |
Seth Meyers to Nikki Haley: ‘Your lies are boring’ | Late-night hosts discuss an unsurprising result for the Super Tuesday primaries (except in American Samoa), Nikki Haley’s refusal to explicitly endorse Donald Trump as she ends her presidential campaign and Mitch McConnell’s parting act as Senate minority leader. Seth Meyers Seth Meyers mourned the end of the former So... |
Alfano: Complete Songs album review – reveals a much more surprising composer than one might expect | In his lifetime, Franco Alfano (born in 1875), was a significant figure in Italian music, highly regarded for his operas, orchestral and chamber music and songs. Nowadays, however, he is remembered mainly for his completion of Turandot; a shortened version of the ending he provided for Puccini’s final, unfinished opera... |
Russia-Ukraine war live: Medvedev denies Russia targeted Zelenskiy’s motorcade in Odesa strike | Closing summary It has just gone 6.20pm in Kyiv and 7.20pm in Moscow. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Russia and Ukraine coverage here. Here is a recap of today’s latest developments: A deadly Russian missile strike on the port city of Odesa appeared to land near Ukrain... |
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