The Guardian

Dennis Richardson was asked to probe alleged bribery scandal connected to offshore immigration detention centre contracts. Follow the day’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastBarnaby Joyce has spoken to the Seven network this morning explaining what happened, amid calls he should be dropped from the shadow front bench.Joyce said it was obvious he “made a big mistake” and while there was “no excuse for it”, “there is a reason”.I’m on a prescription drug, and they say certain things may happen to you if you drink, and they were absolutely 100 per cent

Police hunting injured Clapham chemical attack suspect say discovery of male bodies will be investigatedTwo male bodies have been recovered from the River Thames as police search for a suspect who severely injured a “vulnerable” mother and her two young daughters in a chemical assault.Neither body was identified as that of Abdul Ezedi, who has been on the run since the attack on 31 January in Clapham, south London. He was last seen walking “with purpose” to Chelsea Bridge in west London and was captured on CCTV leaning over the railings of the bridge on the night of the attack.

Country choosing between former PM Alexander Stubb and ex-foreign minister Pekka HaavistoFinland headed back to the polls on Sunday for a runoff vote in the country’s most high-stakes presidential election in a generation.The former prime minister Alexander Stubb, of the centre-right National Coalition party, led in the polls but his rival Pekka Haavisto, a former foreign minister and a member of the Green party who is running as an independent, had narrowed the gap in the last few days of campaigning. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/11/finland-goes-to-polls-in-high-stakes-presidential-runoff Author : Miranda Bryant in Stockholm Publish date : 2024-02-11 16:16:52 Copyright for

Benjamin Netanyahu recently rejected Hamas proposal for a ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisonersYou can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage hereAny Israeli ground offensive in Rafah on the Gaza border will “blow up” the hostage exchange negotiations, Hamas-run Aqsa television channel quoted a senior Hamas leader as saying on Sunday.The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it ordered the military to develop a plan to evacuate Rafah and destroy four Hamas battalions it says are deployed there. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/11/middle-east-crisis-live-international-warnings-mount-ahead-of-planned-rafah-offensive Author : Yohannes Lowe Publish date : 2024-02-11 13:04:33 Copyright for syndicated

The literary department at the London theatre is renowned for taking risks with untried playwrights, but is now under threatThe Royal Court is known for putting the names of emerging playwrights up in lights for the first time, but is the voltage now dimming for Britain’s best known path into theatre writing? The Royal Court’s literary department is struggling to survive as the venue on London’s Sloane Square, renowned for staging risk-taking shows over 60 years, makes swingeing cuts in order to keep going.“As a younger writer, all I wanted was to have a play on at that theatre, so

Man succumbs to serious injury suffered during fall while skiing, with paramedics declaring him dead at the sceneFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastRaces have been cancelled on the final day of a major waterskiing event on the Victoria-NSW border after the death of a competitor on the water.It was at least the sixth fatal accident at the event since 2006.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/11/murray-river-waterskiing-event-cancelled-after-death-of-sixth-competitor-since-2006 Author : Australian Associated

Jailed leader says he has support to form next government but analysts say results only suit the armyImran Khan’s political party has declared it intends to form the next government after claiming a shock election victory, despite efforts by the opposition to take power in a backroom coalition deal.Even as results showed that candidates backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party run by the incarcerated former prime minister Khan, had won the most seats, by Saturday night there was still little clarity on who would be forming the next government in Pakistan, adding to a climate of political turmoil. Continue

Liberal Jeremy Rockliff weighing options after two renegade MPs reject ultimatum to ensure minority government’s stability. Follow the day’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAsked about the Coalition’s plans to undo Labor’s changes to superannuation, Taylor doubles down on the pledge, saying he will wait to see the May budget before commenting.We are very ambitious to get the economy back on track. You just can’t have a hit of that scale unprecedented in our lifetimes. We can’t take a hit of that scale to Australian standard of living and whilst Labor thinks

Senior Conservative says party has descended into ‘death spiral’ as poll losses set to fuel fresh attacks on Sunak’s leadershipConservative MPs on Saturday night predicted fresh attacks on Rishi Sunak’s leadership within days, as they accused their own party of surrendering to Labour without a proper fight in two formerly safe Tory seats where byelections will be held this week.MPs from across the party complained that losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Thursday had already been “priced in”, as one senior figure said defeatism had set in, with the party having descended into a “death spiral”. Continue reading... Source link

Suella Braverman and a former priest accuse church but Justin Welby says its role has been mischaracterisedThe Church of England has refuted a claim that it operated a “conveyor belt for asylum seeker fake conversions”, saying parish records disproved the eye-catching allegation.Churches have been at the centre of a storm over “fake conversions” in the past week after it emerged that Abdul Ezedi, the Afghan man suspected of a chemical attack on a woman and two children in Clapham, was granted asylum on his third attempt after converting to Christianity. Police said on Friday that Ezedi was believed to be

More than a million civilians sheltering in Gaza’s last place of relative safety brace for all-out assaultMiddle East crisis: latest news updatesAirstrikes on the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah have killed at least 28 people as more than a million civilians sheltering in the area brace for the possibility of a full-scale Israeli ground offensive on the territory’s last place of relative safety.As Israeli forces have expanded ground operations steadily southwards in their war against Hamas over the past four months, Rafah – situated on the border with Egypt, and home before the war to about 280,000 people –

European chief diplomat Josep Borell says 1.4 million Palestinians in southern Gaza city are ‘without safe place to go, facing starvation’Children are going without food for days and some people are resorting to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, says the BBC who spoke to people living in north Gaza. People also described digging down into the soil to access water pipes, for drinking and washing.International charity ActionAid has said that food is becoming so scarce in Gaza that people are resorting to eating grass. “Every single person in Gaza is now hungry, and people have just 1.5 to

Housebuilders and campaigners warn of cold, damp homes and UK missing legally binding targetsLabour’s slashing of proposed spending on home insulation will leave millions of people on low incomes in cold, damp homes and could prevent the UK meeting its legally binding carbon targets, campaigners and housebuilders have warned.The Federation of Master Builders criticised the drastic scaling back of Labour’s low-carbon policies, announced by Keir Starmer on Thursday after months of speculation. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/10/labour-reduced-home-insulation-plans-housebuilders-campaigners Author : Fiona Harvey and Kiran Stacey Publish date : 2024-02-10 08:00:36 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Bombardier Challenger 600, carrying five people, pulverized a car and slammed into a wall, pieces of it scattered across the interstateTwo people have died after a small private jet plane attempted to make an emergency landing on Interstate 75 in south-west Florida on Friday afternoon, colliding with two vehicles and bringing traffic to a halt as a plume of black smoke rose into the air.The crash landing happened near the Pine Ridge Road exit in Collier county, just north of where the interstate heads east toward Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley. Continue reading... Source link :

Ex-Maryland governor who Republicans hope can win in blue state told podcast last year sitting in Senate would be ‘really frustrating’Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland who on Friday announced a surprise US Senate run, told an interviewer last year he did not “have a burning desire to be a senator”, would find sitting in the Senate “really frustrating”, thought being a senator was “not where my skill set lies”, and said that though he could win a seat, “the problem was I would win and I would have to go be a senator”.Hogan made the stark remarks,

Chemicals producer says audits revealed no wrongdoing but recent media reports crossed red lineThe German chemicals producer BASF has said it will withdraw from its two joint ventures in Xinjiang, after media reports about alleged human rights abuses relating to its partner company, which BASF’s CEO said crossed a red line.In a statement on Friday, BASF said that while “regular due diligence measures including internal and external audits have not found any evidence of human rights violations in the two joint ventures”, the recent reports “indicate activities inconsistent with BASF’s values”. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/09/german-firm-basf-to-pull-out-of-xinjiang-after-uyghur-abuse-claims Author : Amy

Authority weighs up legal action against government over new checks on imported meat taking place 22 miles inlandThe Port of Dover could become a target for criminals smuggling illegal and diseased meat into the country under new post-Brexit plans that will involve lorries from the continent being checked 22 miles inland, the port’s health authority has warned.The Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) is now considering legal action against the government over its decision to end physical checks of imported meat at a post within the port. Instead, lorries will be directed to a new checking facility half an hour’s drive

Business secretary says people have ‘latched onto’ claims made in Nadine Dorries book that puts forward elaborate conspiracy theoriesBMA junior doctors’ committee co-chairs Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi said in a statement:We have made every effort to work with the government in finding a fair solution to this dispute whilst trying to avoid strike action.Even yesterday, we were willing to delay further strike action in exchange for a short extension of our current strike mandate.In a show of goodwill, the BMA provided the Health Secretary with an option to delay further strike action.She was asked to extend the current strike

ActionAid Palestine says intensifying attacks on Rafah will have disastrous consequences and warns of extreme hunger in GazaThe Ireland women’s basketball team chose not to shake hands with the Israel players at their EuroBasket 2025 qualifier in Riga on Thursday in response to an allegation by an Israeli player about antisemitism, reports Reuters.The Israeli Basketball Association published an interview with player Dor Saar on Tuesday, during which she said: “It’s known that they are quite antisemitic, and it’s no secret; maybe that’s why a strong game is expected.” Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/09/middle-east-crisis-israel-gaza-war-hamas-updates Author : Amy Sedghi Publish date

Chancellor hints at tax-free plan for budget as part of efforts to revive country’s stock marketThe chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has hinted at plans to launch a tax-free “British Isa” investing in UK company shares at the spring budget, as part of efforts to revive the country’s stock market.A British stock Isa would allow investors to buy a certain amount of UK company shares, without paying tax. Currently, the government charges a 0.5% tax, known as the share purchase stamp duty, for any shares bought in the UK. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/09/jeremy-hunt-may-launch-british-isa-investing-in-uk-company-shares Author : Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent Publish

Mya Baker left her home in Birtinya, on the Sunshine Coast, to visit a nearby park on Wednesday eveningFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastQueensland police are seeking public assistance to find a 12-year-old girl who has gone missing for more than 36 hours after heading to a local park without shoes, a wallet or phone.Mya Baker was last seen leaving her home in Birtinya on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast at 6.45pm on Wednesday. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/09/queensland-police-search-for-12-year-old-girl-missing-without-shoes-wallet-or-phone Author : Australian Associated Press Publish date

Trump is only major candidate in Republican caucuses, days after Haley loses Republican primary and Biden wins Democratic voteWho’s running for president?Nevada residents headed to meeting sites across the state on Thursday, 8 February, for the state’s Republican-held caucuses. Donald Trump is the only major candidate running in the caucuses, and is expected a victory by the end of the night over Ryan Binkley – a little-known pastor and businessman from Texas, which would give the former president a third straight win in the Republican presidential race setting the course for him to be the GOP’s nominee.Trump’s last major contender,

The Australian quake was magnitude 4.3 and happened just before 1am, with reports it was felt across Victoria’s capital and beyond. Follow the day’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastQuake reactionsMelburnians are reporting being woken up by the 4.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Leongatha at 12.49am. The epicentre was 8km deep.Thought it was my cat trying to beat it down as she always does when wanting to come in to sleep. But nope, she was asleep in the lounge. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/feb/09/australia-news-live-earthquake-melbourne-dunkley-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-penny-wong-quake-magnitude-cost-of-living Author : Emily Wind Publish date :

Two and a half years after it was announced, the policy is being dropped. Here is a timeline of key moments along the wayLabour has ditched its pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment, blaming the Conservatives for “crashing the economy”.The policy, central to Labour’s flagship green prosperity plan, has been at the centre of a public and private struggle since it was announced, with factions inside the party arguing against moves to water it down. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/08/how-labour-ditched-flagship-28bn-green-investment-pledge Author : Ben Quinn Political correspondent Publish date : 2024-02-08 20:24:01 Copyright for syndicated content belongs

Plunge in consumer prices has fuelled calls for a stimulus package – yet Beijing may stick to the new normal of lower growth• China consumer prices plunge at fastest rate for 15 yearsChina’s economy has gone from bad to worse – and it is only February.Figures released on Thursday showed consumer prices fell by 0.8% in January compared with a year earlier, outstripping economists’ expectations and marking the biggest contraction in 15 years. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/08/china-has-seen-a-fourth-month-of-falling-prices-but-will-it-act-to-curb-deflation Author : Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent Publish date : 2024-02-08 17:01:01 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.