Nigel Farage claims young people have had their minds ‘poisoned’ with negative views about Britain – UK general election live

Farage launches party manifesto in traditional Labour stronghold of Merthyr Tydfil

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been campaigning in Hampshire this morning. Stefan Rousseau from PA Media took this picture of them on the train.

The SNP has called for a social tariff that would guarantee cheap energy bills for people who are poor, disabled or elderly.

We believe that there are certain things that every citizen should have access to as a right. Healthcare free at the point of need, a social security safety net, pensions for older people, and free education including free university tuition.

But it is time that we recognised that these rights need to go further, to reflect the realities of the modern world.

Connectivity – fast broadband and good mobile phone connections – are critical to modern life. In fact, in rural Scotland and the Isles, it is critical to the whole future of the economy.
As more and more people work from home at least part of the week, often you literally cannot do your job without a decent internet connection. That’s why, to help people get jobs, keep jobs and keep more of their hard-earned cash, there should be a social tariff for broadband and mobile charges too.

Continue reading...

Coldplay: vinyl copies of new album Moon Music will be made from old plastic bottles

Band say carbon emissions for vinyl production will be reduced by 85% thanks to new method, as they announce 10th studio album

Coldplay are aiming to make the most ecologically sustainable vinyl record yet, for their newly announced album Moon Music.

Each 140g vinyl copy of Moon Music, released 4 October, will be manufactured from nine plastic bottles recovered from consumer waste. For a special “notebook edition”, 70% of the plastic has been intercepted by the environmental nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup from Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala, preventing it from entering the Gulf of Honduras and the Atlantic Ocean.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis live: Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israel’s war cabinet

Move could signal end to coalition and more control by Israeli PM over war in Gaza

Hostilities continue in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, Reuters reports Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini, told the media in Oslo on Monday.

In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed it is still operating in the Rafah area of Gaza, where it says “IDF troops located numerous weapons and struck a number of structures rigged with explosives that posed a threat to the forces.”

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow trying to ‘maximise depletion of our troops’ before aid arrives, Ukraine army chief says

Ukraine says Russia is intensifying attacks and trying to gain more territory before military aid, including F-16 jets, arrive

We have more comments from the daily briefing with journalists attended by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

He was asked about the Ukraine peace summit, held in Switzerland over the weekend, during which western powers and their allies denounced Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but failed to persuade major non-aligned states to join their final statement.

No, it won’t spoil them. We will, of course, take into account the position that these countries have taken, this is important to us and we will continue to explain our reasoning to them.

Many of them, and this was a common point of view on this event, confirmed their understanding of the absence of prospects for any serious, substantive discussions without the presence of our country … If we talk about the overall effectiveness of this meeting, it is close to zero.

Continue reading...

Boss of US firm given £4bn in UK Covid contracts accused of squandering millions on jets and properties

Rishi Sunak’s team helped fast-track deal with firm founded by Charles Huang, who says contracts generated $2bn profit

In California, state of sunshine and palm trees, a small group of men are locked in a big legal fight over the money made by a US company selling Covid tests to the British government. The founder of Innova Medical Group says his business collected $2bn (£1.6bn) in profits, one of the largest fortunes banked by any medical supplier during the scramble for lifesaving equipment in the early months of the pandemic.

In a storm of claims and counter-claims, Innova’s boss, Charles Huang, is accused by former associates of “squandering” or moving $1bn of those profits, spending lavishly on luxury aircraft, an $18m house in Los Angeles and “homes for his mistresses”.

Continue reading...

Strong winds hamper crews battling Los Angeles area’s first major fire of the year

Winds blew embers ahead of flames and thwarted efforts by aircraft crews to drop water: ‘It sprays everywhere we don’t need it’

Strong winds were pushing flames through dry brush in mountains along Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles and officials warned residents in the wildfire’s path to be prepared to leave if it explodes in size again.

The blaze, dubbed the Post fire, was just 2% contained Sunday evening. No injuries were reported. The cause was under investigation.

Continue reading...

UK elections: what is tactical voting and how does it work?

The campaign group Best for Britain has launched its guide on how to vote to have the best chance of ousting the Tories. We look at what tactical voting involves and what the group is recommending

Continue reading...

EU passes law to restore 20% of bloc’s land and sea by end of decade

Narrow win for supporters after fierce farmers’ protests, loss of green seats to far right and political wrangling

The EU has passed a landmark law to protect nature after a knife-edge vote, ending a months-long deadlock among member states spooked by fierce protests from farmers.

The law, which has proven to be the most controversial pillar of the European Green Deal and nearly failed at the final hurdle, sets a target to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea by the end of the decade.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump looking for ‘fighter’ as Republican running mate

Sources close to ex-president say gender and race irrelevant over pick who’s ‘America first’ and believes in agenda

Donald Trump is looking for a “fighter” as his running mate in this year’s presidential election and regards factors such as their gender or race as irrelevant, according to sources close to the former US president.

Conventional wisdom used to hold that Trump was likely to choose a woman or a person of color as his potential vice-president in an effort to broaden his appeal. But aides close to the presumptive Republican nominee currently say he will not take so-called identity politics into account.

Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israeli war cabinet

Move is apparent rebuff to far right and attempt to tighten grip on decision-making over Hamas and Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.

The prime minister announced the move to ministers, saying the war cabinet had been established as part of an agreement in which the moderate politician Benny Gantz and his National Unity party joined an emergency coalition last year.

Continue reading...

First Thing: Global spending on nuclear weapons up 13% in record rise

World’s nuclear states on course to spend $100bn in 2024. Plus, Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet

Good morning.

Global expenditure on nuclear weapons is estimated to have risen by 13% to a record $91.4bn in 2023, according to calculations from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), propelled by a sharp increase in US defense budgets.

Which nuclear powers have increased spending? All nine: US, China, Russia, the UK, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea.

What does Ican say about this trend? With funding forecast to hit $100bn in 2024, Susi Snyder, one of the research’s authors, argued that it could be spent instead on environmental and social programmes.

What will Netanyahu do after dissolving the cabinet? Netanyahu is expected to hold consultations about the war with a small group of ministers.

Continue reading...

Tactical voting could defeat Tories in once safe seats, campaigners say

Senior Tories such as Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt could be for chop as well as once safe seats such as Maidenhead

The Conservatives could lose once safe constituencies such as Theresa May’s former seat in the coming general election, with nearly 40% of people willing to vote tactically to oust the Tories, a campaign group has said.

Setting out its recommendations for how people could maximise their chances of not electing a Conservative, Best for Britain said particularly efficient tactical voting could even unseat Liz Truss and Suella Braverman.

Continue reading...

Killer of former Fettes College teacher sentenced to life in prison

Paul McNaughton must serve 22 years in jail after admitting to murdering Peter Coshan in Leith flat in 2022

A 29-year-old man who admitted murdering a retired Fettes College teacher in a catfishing plot has been sentenced to life in prison with a recommendation that he serve at least 22 years.

Paul McNaughton killed 75-year-old Peter Coshan in a flat in Leith on either 11 or 12 August 2022, after using a fake profile on a gay dating site to lure him to the address.

Continue reading...

US envoy due in Israel for talks aimed at averting deeper conflict with Hezbollah

Negotiator Amos Hochstein dispatched by Washington amid anxiety that deepening conflict could trigger war

A senior envoy from the Biden administration is due in Israel for talks aimed at averting a deepening conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after Israel warned over the weekend that the country was on the brink of a “wider escalation”.

Amos Hochstein has spent months in largely behind-the-scenes diplomacy in an attempt to quieten tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. Since the war in Gaza began in October, there have been worsening daily exchanges of fire, and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced on both sides of the “Blue Line” between Israel and Lebanon.

Continue reading...

Indian suspect in plot to kill Sikh separatist extradited to US

Nikhil Gupta accused of plotting to kill US resident who advocated for sovereign Sikh state in northern India

An Indian man suspected by the US of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil has been extradited to the US from the Czech Republic, the Czech justice minister said.

Nikhil Gupta has been accused by US federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident who has advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.

Continue reading...

Australian federal politicians awarded 3.5% pay rise by independent tribunal

Anthony Albanese will take home $607,471 a year from July – up from $586,929 – while Peter Dutton will receive $432,239

Members of Australia’s federal parliament and other public officer holders will pocket thousands more each year from July after the independent remuneration tribunal announced a 3.5% wage rise.

The decision by the Remuneration Tribunal, an independent body that determines the pay of federal politicians and bureaucrats, will mean backbench MPs will now take home about $233,643 a year – up from $225,742 the previous year – or about $4,493 a week before tax.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Curfews on released detainees are not punitive and less onerous than Covid restrictions, commonwealth says

Ankle bracelets only ‘produce slight discomfort or embarrassment’ and can be hidden under clothes, commonwealth tells high court

Curfews imposed on non-citizens released from immigration detention are not punitive because they are less “onerous” than the Covid-19 curfews in Victoria and New South Wales, the federal government has suggested.

The commonwealth makes that claim in its defence to a legal challenge against the electronic monitoring and curfews imposed on people released as a result of the high court’s ruling that indefinite detention is unlawful.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich to be tried behind closed doors, says Russian court

First hearing of journalist, who denies charges of spying for the US, scheduled for 26 June in Yekaterinburg

Russia will hold the espionage trial of the detained American reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the CIA, behind closed doors later in June, a court in the city of Yekaterinburg has said.

Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on 29 March 2023 in a steak house in Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

Continue reading...

Seven hires comedian Mark Humphries to parody weekly news

Humphries’ weekly satirical sketches ran for five years on the ABC before being axed last year

Less than a year after the ABC dropped the regular satirical segment on 7.30, Seven News has hired comedian Mark Humphries to continue the tradition of making fun of the news at the end of the week.

Seven’s new director of news and current affairs, Anthony De Ceglie, has recruited Humphries to perform a segment for the Sydney bulletin, with a view to expanding the spot nationally.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

From LED bulbs to living plants: German theatre tackles climate crisis on and off stage

With tickets doubling as public transport passes and recycled props, Hans Otto Theater is embracing a €3m federal project to make culture climate neutral

A handful of Spanish conquistadors fight through thick undergrowth to emerge in the ivy-clad ruins of a fallen civilisation during a rehearsal of Austrian playwright Thomas Köck’s Your Palaces Are Empty.

Premiered last month at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, the bleak and unforgiving drama probes the wounds of a shattered capitalist world that has exploited its people and the planet’s resources.

Continue reading...