Helicopter in Iranian president’s convoy crashes – state media
Search and rescue teams are still trying to reach the site due to the difficult weather conditions, officials say.
Israel-Gaza war live: more than 30 people killed in strike on refugee camp in central Gaza
Rescue workers continuing to search for those missing under the rubble following attack on Nuseirat refugee camp
Here is a video of the Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, threatening to resign if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to adopt an agreed plan for Gaza:
Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:
Continue reading...How Bridgerton’s real life Lady Whistledown scandalised 18th-century society
The subversive work of Eliza Haywood, the feminist forerunner of the TV show’s gossip columnist, is about to be republished
She is the real-life Lady Whistledown, an eyebrow-raising female writer who penned a salacious anonymous gossip sheet that skewered 18th-century London society.
Like the fictional pamphlet from Netflix hit Bridgerton, which returned for a third series last week, Eliza Haywood’s The Parrot, published in 1746, has a distinctive, mocking voice that punches up and “speaks truth to power”. Now, a new book will republish Haywood’s funny, subversive periodical, which she wrote from the perspective of an angry green parrot, and seek to raise awareness of her groundbreaking work.
Continue reading...Greater Manchester police chief defends decision to investigate Angela Rayner
Stephen Watson says process will be carried out ‘fairly and impartially’ in his most extensive public comments on the claims
The chief constable of the police force examining claims against Angela Rayner has defended the decision to investigate the Labour party deputy leader, vowing it would be done “fairly and impartially” and would establish whether “culpability is proven or otherwise”.
Stephen Watson, who leads Greater Manchester police (GMP), gave his most extensive public comments so far on the investigation, which was triggered by a complaint from a senior Conservative.
Continue reading...DR Congo army says it has thwarted attempted coup
The Democratic Republic Congo army said they have stopped an attempted coup involving Congolese and foreign soldiers.
Tata agrees Port Talbot deal with National Grid despite union criticism
New furnaces will be powered by electricity from 2027 but up to 2,800 workers will be made redundant
Tata Steel has reached a deal with the UK’s electricity grid to start supplying the energy for new furnaces in south Wales from 2027, as the company moves ahead with its plan despite union opposition.
The agreement with the National Grid’s electricity supply operator (ESO), the company that controls how energy is moved around Great Britain, will provide hundreds of millions of megawatts of power to a new electric arc furnace at the steelworks in Port Talbot.
Continue reading...Google remains focused on its long quest for your eyeballs
AI Overviews, announced this week, are the culmination of a long line of products dedicated to keeping you on Google.com
Google announced this week that it would begin the international rollout of its new artificial intelligence-powered search feature, called AI Overviews. When billions of people search a range of topics from news to recipes to general knowledge questions, what they see first will now be an AI-generated summary.
Google touted AI Overviews at its annual I/O developer conference as a way of delivering customers quick answers and simplifying the online search experience, but it also has another effect on the way that people engage with the internet: keeping users, and advertisers, on Google.com. It’s a new era in Google’s years-long quest for your attention.
Continue reading...Two dead and five missing after boat collision near Budapest
Hungarian police called to scene of accident on shore of the River Danube near Veroce
Hungarian police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube.
Hungarian police received a report late on Saturday night that a man had been found bleeding from his head on the shore of the river near the town of Veroce, about 30 miles (50km) north of the capital, Budapest.
Continue reading...Zarah Sultana: the Labour MP taking on the Tories, and her own party, over Gaza
Coventry MP, whose antipathy for David Cameron sparked her interest in politics, has largest TikTok following in parliament
When the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, sat in the BBC TV studio last Sunday morning, he clearly had no idea of the identity of the woman sitting on the panel opposite him, simply referring to her as “the Labour MP”.
By contrast, Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, knows everything about Lord Cameron, telling the Guardian that it was her hatred of him as prime minister that first brought her into politics as a young, leftwing, Muslim woman. Her whole political outlook has been shaped by Cameron: the trebling of tuition fees and austerity.
Continue reading...‘One hell of a storm is coming’: Canadian graphic novel about Indigenous identity sparks outrage
Book prompts conflict over claims of Métis identity in eastern part of country where group doesn’t have a homeland or deep historic ties
A graphic novel investigating Indigenous identity in Canada has prompted outrage from Métis groups, who say the book undermines their history and represents an attack on their sovereignty.
The work is the result of a third-year history seminar at Dalhousie University, where students collaborated on a book examining thorny questions over ancestry and identity.
Continue reading...Wes Streeting praises archbishop over call for Labour to scrap two-child benefit cap
Shadow minister says it is Justin Welby’s job to speak out but Labour could not commit to scrapping policy
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has praised the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for calling on Labour to scrap the two-child benefit cap, saying it was “literally his job” to speak out on such matters.
Streeting said he did not like the cap, which campaigners say has pushed hundreds of thousands of families into poverty, but that the party could not commit to ending it until it knew how this would be financed.
Continue reading...Slovak PM Robert Fico out of immediate danger four days after shooting, says deputy
Fico remains in intensive care but has ‘emerged from immediate threat to his life’, Robert Kaliňák tells reporters
Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, is out of immediate danger but remains in intensive care four days after he was shot by a gunman, the country’s deputy prime minister has said.
“He has emerged from the immediate threat to his life, but his condition remains serious and he requires intensive care,” Robert Kaliňák, Fico’s closest political ally, told reporters.
Continue reading...Viagogo ‘mistakenly’ listed resale of England football match tickets
Website blames human error for the advert, now removed, for about 100 seats when practice is illegal in UK
The ticket trading website Viagogo has apologised for “mistakenly” advertising tickets to an upcoming England football match, despite the fact that the resale of football tickets is illegal in the UK.
Cris Miller, the managing director of Viagogo,has previously said the company does not resell football tickets. But Viagogo was advertising about 100 seats at Wembley for England’s 7 June friendly against Iceland, a warm-up for this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.
Continue reading...Brazil counts cost of worst-ever floods with little hope of waters receding soon
Death toll in southern state of Rio Grande do Sul increasing daily as authorities plan four ‘tent cities’ for 77,000 displaced people
Three weeks after one of Brazil’s worst-ever floods hit its southernmost state, killing 155 people and forcing 540,000 from their homes, experts have warned that water levels will take at least another two weeks to drop.
The death toll across Rio Grande do Sul is still increasing daily, and more than 77,000 displaced people remain in public shelters, prompting the state government to announce plans to build four temporary “tent cities” to accommodate them.
Continue reading...Home Office in threat to deport disabled man to Nigeria after 38 years in UK
Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, has been refused leave to remain despite living most of his adult life in Britain
A disabled man who has lived in the UK for 38 years has been threatened with removal from the UK by the Home Office.
Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, came to the UK at the age of 24 in 1986 from Nigeria. He has not left the UK since and has no criminal convictions. In 2019, he had two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility.
Continue reading...German star at Cannes condemns ‘madness’ of protective culture for UK child actors
Cast member of Palme d’Or contender shot in Kent says the high number of chaperones and intimacy coordinators on set was over the top
Is Britain leading the way in protecting young people and children from the potential traumas of working on a film set, or has it all gone far too far? Two of the most prominent European stars attending the Cannes film festival, both with high-profile premieres, have very different views.
Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”.
Continue reading...Negative drug tests recorded for personnel who packed Jack Fitzgibbon parachute before deadly jump
Defence says it carries out random drug testing on an ongoing basis and investigations into Fitzgibbon’s death continue
All defence personnel involved in packing and checking Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon’s parachute before his tragic death had tested negative for prohibited substances, the Australian defence force says.
On Sunday the ABC reported six unidentified soldiers serving at the Royal Australian Air Force base in Richmond had “failed comprehensive drug screening in mid-February and early March” and were facing potential expulsion from the ADF.
Defence All-hours Support Line (ASL) – 1800 628 036
Defence Member and Family Support – 1800 624 608
Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling – 1800 011 046
Continue reading...Eurostar reverses wheelchair policy that left user stranded, after Observer campaign
Passengers were left abandoned and humiliated after operator banned staff from providing assistance
Eurostar has reversed a new accessibility policy that left a wheelchair user stranded and has retrained its London staff following pressure from the Observer.
Travellers with disabilities claimed that they would be barred from Eurostar services after the company banned its London staff from pushing passenger wheelchairs. Those who require assistance were told they must travel with a companion or cancel their ticket if they were unable to access services unaided, according to passengers who contacted the Observer.
Continue reading...Labor rank and file tell Victorian government to ‘get serious’ on long-delayed airport rail
Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s Vik Sharma says Melbourne’s lack of airport train line is a global embarrassment
Rank and file Victorian Labor members have piled pressure on the state government to “get serious” on building a train line to Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.
A motion to get the city’s stalled airport rail link project back on track was unanimously passed by party members and unionists at the Victorian Labor state conference on Sunday.
Continue reading...Pro-Palestine protesters vow to rally as La Trobe joins universities enforcing encampment ban
La Trobe on Friday followed Deakin in issuing a formal directive for protesters to end their encampment
Pro-Palestine students and staff at La Trobe University have called the university’s directive to end their sit-in an “attack on free speech”, and vowed to rally against the encampment crackdown until management meets their demands.
La Trobe University on Friday followed Deakin University in issuing a formal directive for protesters to end their encampment on the Bundoora campus, amid a wave of student pro-Palestine sit-ins across the nation.
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