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Auditor general says state agencies forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilatorsGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingThe New South Wales government underspent on personal protective equipment and mental health services and forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilators as part of the state’s $7.5bn pandemic expenditure, a review has found.The auditor general...

Condition of rodents with spinal cord damage improved after they had lung disease drug, say researchersMice with spinal cord injuries have shown remarkable recovery after being given a drug initially developed for people with lung disease, researchers have revealed, saying the treatment could soon be tested on humans.It is thought there are around 2,500 new spinal cord injuries in the UK every year, with...

Billionaire says report is ‘utterly untrue’ after allegation he paid $250k in 2018 to settle claimElon Musk has denounced as “utterly untrue” claims in a news report that he sexually harassed a flight attendant on a private jet in 2016.Business Insider reported earlier on Thursday that the billionaire’s SpaceX paid $250,000 (£200,000) in 2018 to settle a sexual harassment claim from an unnamed private...

Roy Morgan poll puts Labor ahead; Greens hopeful of picking up Senate seats; eligibility for telephone voting formally changed; health authorities give monkeypox update ; Julia Gillard says Labor would be ‘a government for women’; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developmentsWho will win? The seats Labor and the Coalition need for victory in Australia’s 2022 federal electionAustralia’s first probable...

President accuses Russia of ‘deliberate attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible’; government websites attacked by pro-Russian hackers, Italian police sayPutin’s daughter flew to Munich ‘more than 50 times’ in two yearsRussia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 86 of the invasionUS accuses Russia of holding global food supplies ‘hostage’Pete Buttigieg says US backs new Marshall plan to rebuild UkraineSerhiy Gaidai, Ukraine’s governor...

Push for petition that would mandate safety protections, limit workloads, set wage standards, and extend worker retention rulesSonia Molina Sanchez, worked as housekeeper at the celebrity hotspot hotel Chateau Marmont for 10 years. She will never forget the night she was sexually harassed by a guest.“I knocked on a guest’s door and went inside, and as soon as I went inside something didn’t feel...

Doug Mastriano promoted Trump’s voter fraud myth – if he becomes governor, could he block a result he doesn’t like?As Donald Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, there were few officials more willing to help than Doug Mastriano, then a little-known Pennsylvania state senator.Mastriano, a retired army colonel first elected in 2019, regularly communicated with Trump in the weeks after...

Ad agency agrees deal after rejecting four offers by deputy chair Vin Murria’s investment vehicleDigital marketing group Next Fifteen has struck a £310m deal to buy M&C Saatchi, gazumping tech entrepreneur Vin Murria’s attempt to buy the ad agency.London-listed Next Fifteen, which has a £1.2bn market valuation, has tabled a cash and share offer for M&C Saatchi that it aims to seal through a...

Plant will begin operating a year later than planned because of impact of Covid-19The new nuclear power station being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset will start operating a year later than planned and will cost an extra £3bn, it has been announced.The French energy company EDF published the findings of a review into the cost and schedule of the power station taking account...

Deputy PM says there should be transparency about who breached Covid rules in civil servant’s reportToday’s politics news – live updatesThe UK deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, has called for ministers who were fined for breaching Covid regulations to be named by the senior civil servant tasked with investigating the Partygate scandal.Scotland Yard’s inquiries were closed on Thursday with a total of 126 fixed...

Part of April increase may be down to people staying in to save money, says ONSConsumers in Great Britain carried on spending last month despite the highest inflation rate in 40 years, providing high street and online retailers with a surprise boost.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was a 1.4% monthly jump in retail sales in April but said the trend was...

Woman known as JC told Dawson’s murder trial she felt obliged to move in with him and had wanted to return to her life as a 17-year-oldFollow our Australia news live blog for the latest updatesGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingChris Dawson’s former student and babysitter has admitted working on a book titled The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife,...

Nine-strong team led by close Biden ally will visit Brussels, Dublin and London in significant intervention on division over NI protocolOne of Joe Biden’s closest allies is due to arrive in London on Saturday as part of an influential US congressional delegation seeking to calm tensions over Northern Ireland.The nine-strong delegation includes Democratic and Republican delegates from the House of Representatives and Senate including...

Michael German, who infiltrated white supremacist groups in the 1990s, says the FBI continues to underplay the scope of the threatThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is failing to address the rising scourge of white supremacist violence despite stark warnings that such attacks pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat in the US, a leading authority on law enforcement has told the Guardian.Michael German, a former...

Nimco Ali says call for public sexual harassment of women to be made a crime has received ‘pushback’The UK government’s independent adviser on tackling violence against women and girls has suggested her calls for street harassment to be made a crime are being blocked.Nimco Ali, a close friend of Boris and Carrie Johnson, told the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson that her proposal...

So far we’ve had a dugong, a crocodile, a turtle, betting agencies and multiple polls try to predict the result of the 2022 election. Now it’s your turn to tell us who will winFollow our Australian election live blog for the latest updatesRead our latest election briefing and listen to today’s campaign catchup podcastDugong sees red: Pig the sea cow predicts Labor will win...

Failures in triple-zero system blamed for 18 of the deaths, Ambulance Victoria chief tells budget estimates hearingGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingTwenty-one Victorians have died waiting for an ambulance over the past six months, a budget estimates hearing has been told.Failures in the triple-zero system have been blamed for 18 of the deaths with three attributed to paramedics not getting...

Robbie McEwen, the former cyclist and now commentator, says he’s ‘genuinely sorry’ for using a homophobic slur during a broadcast, which he says was ‘unintentional’Robbie McEwen, the former cyclist and now commentator, has apologised for using a homophobic slur during a broadcast of stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia.The Australian three-time Tour de France points classification winner, who retired from professional cycling in 2012,...

Hungarian leader also tells Republicans at Budapest conference that shows like Tucker Carlson’s should be broadcast ‘24/7’The Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, has told a conference of US conservatives that the path to power required having their own media outlets, calling for shows like Tucker Carlson’s to be broadcast “24/7”.Orbán, recently elected to a fourth term, laid out a 12-point blueprint to achieving and consolidating...

Stanley in Falkland Islands also becomes city after contest marking Queen’s platinum jubilee yearDoncaster, Milton Keynes and Stanley in the Falkland Islands have been awarded city status, approved by the Queen, in a competition being held as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations, the Cabinet Office has announced.The eight winners of the 2022 Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours competition, also included Bangor in Northern Ireland,...

Blinken calls on Moscow to end blockade of Ukraine ports as Medvedev says Russia is ready to allow the flow of food when sanctions liftSee all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageWhat we know on day 86 of the invasionThe United States has accused Russia of holding the world’s food supply hostage amid growing fears of famine in developing countries, as a former Russian president warned...

Emails reveal the ‘extent’ which Carlson was willing to turn on Biden’s son since the 2020 election, Washington Post saysAs Tucker Carlson asked Hunter Biden for help getting his son into an elite Washington university in 2014, the Fox News host’s wife, Susie, reportedly wrote in an email: “Tucker and I have the greatest respect and admiration for you. Always!”Since the 2020 election, however,...

High winds have hampered operations as crews fight blazes in Texas, Colorado and New MexicoMore than 5,000 firefighters have battled multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the south-west, including a fire that has destroyed dozens of structures in west Texas and another picking up steam again in New Mexico.Evacuation orders remained in place on Thursday for residents near the wildfires in Texas,...

Exclusive: Transportation secretary says there is global support for reconstruction effort to help recovery from Russian invasionRussia-Ukraine war: latest updatesA leading figure in the Biden administration has backed a recovery programme for Ukraine in the style of the Marshall plan, which helped rebuild Europe after the second world war.Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary, said there was plenty of political will at home and...

Aidan Harte was thrilled to be asked to make a statue of a púca, a mythological mischievous spirit, but then his troubles beganIn Irish mythology, a púca is a mischievous, shapeshifting spirit that can take the form of a horse and entice unwary travellers on to its back for a wild ride.Aidan Harte knows how that feels. Eighteen months ago the sculptor was commissioned...

Experts believe North Korean authorities are underreporting deaths to prove that their response has been effectiveSee all our coronavirus coverageExperts have questioned North Korea’s claim that it is achieving “good results” in its battle against a Covid-19 outbreak, as the number of people with symptoms of the virus surpassed 2 million.The regime reported 263,370 new fever cases on Friday and two deaths, taking the...

‘Extraordinary’ revelation about national security decision shows the government is ‘falling apart’, Labor saysFollow our Australian election live blog for the latest updatesRead our latest election briefing and listen to the campaign catchup podcastVoting guide to the election: everything you need to knowWho should I vote for? Labor and Coalition policy guideFull coverage; Seat explorer; Election promises trackerGet our free news app; get our...

Move brings Ottawa into line with intelligence allies that have excluded Chinese tech firms from cutting-edge phone networksCanada says it will ban Huawei and ZTE from the country’s 5G network, a move that puts it in line with intelligence-sharing allies, but risks further chilling relations with China.The federal government made the announcement on Thursday afternoon after signalling for months it intended to block China’s...

Conservative Jason Kenney, Alberta premier, leaves province’s top job after barely surviving a leadership reviewThe abrupt resignation of Alberta’s premier has shocked the western province and raised questions about the ideological direction of Canada’s conservative movement amid a surge in far-right and populist influences.Jason Kenney announced late on Wednesday that he was leaving the province’s top job after barely surviving a leadership review. A...

Economists fear Sri Lanka could be first of several, with IMF in talks with Egypt, Tunisia and PakistanSri Lanka has defaulted on its debts for the first time in its history as it struggles with an economic and political crisis triggered by global shock waves from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.An inflation rate spiralling towards 40%, shortages of food, fuel and medicines...

Juntendo University medical school made it harder for females to pass entrance examsA medical school in Tokyo that made it harder for female students to pass entrance exams has been ordered to pay compensation to 13 women for gender discrimination.Juntendo University said in 2018 that it had raised the bar for women in the exams to “narrow the gap with male students”, as a...

Female anchors post pictures of themselves being ‘erased’ on orders of virtue and vice ministryAfghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air, the country’s biggest media outlet has said.The order came in a statement from the Taliban’s virtue and vice ministry, tasked with enforcing the group’s rulings, as well as from the information and culture ministry, the...

Military police say they are satisfied with assurances of Israeli troops over death of US-Palestinian despite international demandsIsrael will not launch a criminal investigation into the killing of the US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, which Palestinian officials and witnesses have blamed on Israeli soldiers.In a statement released on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that because Abu Aqleh was killed in an “active combat...

Case in child in Tete province follows detection of similar strain in Malawi in February, officials sayMozambique has identified its first case of wild polio in three decades following the genetic sequencing of a similar strain of the childhood disease in Malawi earlier this year.Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said the detection of the new case was “greatly...

Escalating tensions erupt into regime-backed violence against the minority group in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan At least 25 people were killed on Wednesday by security forces in Tajikistan during a protest in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), where the Tajik regime has targeted the Pamiri ethnic minority.The deaths mark an escalation of violence in the region. Conflict between the central government and...

Pakistan’s first female suicide bombing marks shift in nature of Baloch militancyOn 26 April, Pakistan’s first female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers and the driver of the minibus they were travelling in as she blew herself up in front of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi.The impacts have been felt far and wide. Chinese teachers working at the cultural and educational...

The South African government sent Anton Hammerl’s passport to his widow in 2016 but has refused to say how it came to have itThe widow of a British-based photographer who was murdered by Col Gaddafi’s forces in Libya in 2011 has accused South Africa of withholding crucial information about her husband’s death that could help in efforts to locate his body.Anton Hammerl was killed...

Immediate action needed to help people with their heating and food bills, the director general of the CBI saysDon’t let people off if they steal food, minister tells policeSunak vows to cut taxes for business to tackle cost of living crisisCovid ‘a walk in the park’ compared to inflation, say small firmsHelping cash-strapped Britons won’t add to inflation, says CBIDorries says Channel 4 is...

After NSW became the last state to pass euthanasia laws, advocates say they will fight to overturn ban preventing ACT and NT from passing their own lawsDownload the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefingAdvocates for voluntary assisted dying say they will turn their attention to the federal government to strike down restrictions which prevent the ACT and Northern Territory from passing laws...

Silver relic will go on public display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh this weekAn exquisitely decorated silver casket believed to have played a role in the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots has been acquired for the nation for £1.8m.The National Heritage Memorial Fund contributed £810,000 towards the cost of the casket, along with £200,000 from the Scottish government and donations...

AEC concedes some Covid-positive Australians ‘may not be able to vote’: prime minister responds after Labor announces policy costings; Covid and illness lead to drop in working hours; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments liveLabor defends $7.4bn increase in deficit to fund election promisesAEC anomaly means some people isolating with Covid may not be able to vote in...

Further 771 Ukrainian fighters surrender in last 24 hours, Russia says; UK’s ministry of defence claims two key Russian military leaders suspendedGlobal food crisis could last years says UN chiefAnalysis: Why is Erdoğan threatening to veto Nordic Nato bids?At a glance: what we know so far on day 85 of the invasionThe UK’s ministry of defence has issued its daily public intelligence briefing on...

Postal service says it needs to adapt to post-Covid business world amid near-9% drop in profits and union pay battleRoyal Mail has warned that the company is at a “crossroads” and needs to urgently adapt to the post-pandemic environment as parcel deliveries, originally boosted by Covid lockdowns, continue to wane.It piles further pressure on the postal company, as it struggles to reach a pay...

They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDCThe repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the...

Regulator says outgoing boss Stuart Smith had no role in selecting winners and was invited to acknowledge his work over eight yearsGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingThe outgoing head of Australia’s offshore oil and gas regulator has helped hand out awards to fossil fuel companies, including Santos, Inpex and Beach Energy, prompting criticism the body could be seen as “too...

Chief of business association calls for stimulus that aids ‘hardest hit’ with rising food and fuel billsTackling rising food and fuel bills will not add to inflation and people who are “the hardest hit” need help now, the head of the UK’s biggest business association has warned.Official figures published on Wednesday revealed UK inflation soared to 9% in April – its highest level for...

Exclusive: Prime Video investment amount revealed for first time as competition for viewers intensifies Amazon has invested more than £1bn on TV, movie and live sport content in the UK in recent years and plans to increase spending to make it a must-have streaming service for cash-strapped households.It is the first time that Amazon has revealed the level of investment in Prime Video in...

Commissioner issues notices to eight sites, four of which have removed material associated with the attackGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingThe Australian office of the eSafety Commissioner has issued eight notices to websites hosting the Buffalo terrorist attack video or manifesto, but has not blocked any from being accessed in Australia.On Saturday, an 18-year-old white man allegedly opened fire with...

Electoral commission admits people who tested positive early this week but didn’t register for postal voting by Wednesday evening ‘may not be able to vote’Read our latest election briefing and listen to the campaign catchup podcastVoters’ guide to the election: everything you need to knowElection 2022 seat explorer; Pork-o-meter election promises trackerGuardian Australia’s full federal election coverageGet our free news app; get our morning...

Kit Malthouse says police watchdog’s suggestion that cost of living will trigger more crime is ‘old-fashioned’The policing minister, Kit Malthouse, has disputed the chief inspector of constabulary Andy Cooke’s suggestion that the cost of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime, branding it “old-fashioned” thinking.As inflation hit a 40-year-high of 9%, Cooke told the Guardian that officers should use their “discretion” when deciding...