The Guardian

One killed and seven wounded in attack as freed hostages and families of those still held in Gaza urge end to fightingIsrael carried out a strike in Tyre, south Lebanon, on Saturday, killing one and wounding seven people and endangering the shaky truce that ended a year-long conflict against Hezbollah, as 40 survivors of Hamas captivity called on the Israeli government to halt the “endless war”.The strike on a building came after Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon on Saturday, its most intense aerial assault on the country in four months. In total, six people were killed, including

Departments will be asked next week to reduce spending by 10% by 2028-29, says Cabinet Office sourceThe civil service will be told to slash more than £2bn a year from its budget by the end of the decade as part of the government’s spending review, with unions warning of significant job losses, the Guardian understands.The Cabinet Office will tell departments to cut their administrative budgets by 15%, which is expected to save £2.2bn a year by 2029-30. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/22/civil-service-to-be-told-to-slash-more-than-2bn-a-year-from-budget-by-2030 Author : Nadeem Badshah Publish date : 2025-03-22 23:57:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked

Israeli PM says reason he sacked Ronen Bar was agency’s 7 October report, rather than investigation into his office’s ties to QatarisIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a Saturday speech that the decision to fire the country’s domestic security chief Ronen Bar was made before the announcement that Bar was investigating the prime ministry for alleged ties to the Qatari government.Netanyahu said that he had decided to fire Bar, the director of the domestic Shin Bet security agency, after the agency’s report into the 7 October 2023 attack, rather than after Shin Bet opened its investigation. Continue reading... Source

From July 1 households and small businesses will see rebates automatically applied to their electricity bills. Follow today’s news liveAnd welcome to the Sunday live news blog.Overnight, the Albanese government announced another $150 in energy bill relief before Tuesday’s budget, which is tipped to include more cost-of-living support for households. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/mar/23/australia-news-live-labor-energy-bills-rebate-cost-of-living-coalition-peter-dutton-greens-us-funding Author : Rafqa Touma Publish date : 2025-03-22 21:33:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow to his living standards pledge in advance of the spring statementLiving standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to new data that raises serious questions about Keir Starmer’s pledge to make working people better off.The grim economic analysis, produced by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), comes before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, makes her spring statement on Wednesday in which she will announce new cuts to public spending rather than increase borrowing

Exclusive: Expenses authority found claim was within parliamentary rules because Dutton attended ‘in his official capacity as a minister’See all our Australia election 2025 coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe expenses watchdog launched an investigation into then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s use of a taxpayer-funded flight to attend a “long lunch” on a luxury island on the Noosa River in 2019, internal documents reveal.Dutton billed taxpayers $465 for a flight from Sydney to Maroochydore on 19 July 2019, the same day he was to appear alongside the then-Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, as a special

Anger over detention of Ekrem Imamoğlu becomes a touchstone for opposing President Recep Tayyip ErdoğanWhen demonstrators gathered ­at Istanbul’s city hall last week in outrage at the arrest of mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, 26-year-old Azra said she was initially too scared to defy a ban on gatherings. As protests grew on university campuses and in cities and towns across Turkey, she could no longer resist joining.“I saw the spark in people’s eyes and the excitement on their faces, and I decided I had to come down here,” she said with a grin, standing among tens of thousands that defied a ban

Thomas Woldbye says most other airports operate similar back-up power systems to Heathrow, as Ed Miliband announces investigationThe chief executive of Heathrow has defended the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation stopped about 1,300 planes and disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.It comes after Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association’s director general, criticised Heathrow for the disruption, while the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has now ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the outage. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/22/heathrow-boss-defends-running-of-airport-after-criticism-of-shutdown Author : Allan Glen Publish date : 2025-03-22

Five hundred canisters being examined after man arrested in East Sussex town on suspicion of producing illegal substancesA bomb squad has carried out a controlled burn of explosive chemicals discovered at a property in an East Sussex town as they continue to examine a further 500 canisters.A major incident was declared on Friday while an operation continued to make the chemicals safe, with 73 people forced to move to a nearby hotel. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/22/more-than-70-people-evacuated-from-st-leonards-after-explosive-chemicals-found Author : Allan Glen Publish date : 2025-03-22 14:41:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within yearTeenagers who are permanently excluded from school are twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year of their expulsion than those who were merely suspended, a large-scale new analysis of police and education records has shown.London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), set up to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime in the capital, said the new research is the first direct evidence of “a clear link between children being excluded from school and involvement in violence”. Continue reading...

Amid angst over the technology, a consensus is emerging about its capabilities – but there is an elephant in the roomIn early March, a job advert was doing the rounds among sports journalists. It was for an “AI-assisted sports reporter” at USA Today’s publisher, Gannett. It was billed as a role at the “forefront of a new era in journalism”, but came with a caveat: “This is not a beat-reporting position and does not require travel or face-to-face interviews.” The dark humour was summed up by football commentator, Gary Taphouse: “It was fun while it lasted.”As the relentless march of

Experiences of harassment, groping, inappropriate touching and even forced penetration anonymously reportedWarning: contains content some readers may find distressingChildren and adults have anonymously reported testimonies of sexual abuse and harassment at 1,664 primary schools in the UK through a website for survivor stories, which has called for age-appropriate sex education to be taught to children under the age of nine.Experiences of sexual harassment, groping, inappropriate touching and even forced penetration have been anonymously reported on the site everyonesinvited.uk, with at least one testimonial relating to an incident that took place when the victim was as young as five. Continue reading...

Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdownA string of high-profile arrests and detentions of travellers is likely to cause a major downturn in tourism to the US, with latest figures already showing a serious drop-off, tourist experts said.Several western travellers have recently been rejected at the US border on increasingly flimsy grounds under Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, some of them shackled and held in detention centers in poor conditions for weeks. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/22/tourism-trump-immigration-arrests Author : Robert Tait in Washington Publish date : 2025-03-22 08:00:00 Copyright

Planes begin to land at airport but airlines said the closure would continue to have a ‘huge impact’ on passengers in the coming daysBritish Airways (BA) said it expects to operate about 85% of its scheduled flights at Heathrow airport on Saturday, as it recovers from a lengthy closure of the travel hub after a substation fire, reports the PA news agency.The airline would usually expect to run nearly 600 departures and arrivals on Saturday but it is understood cancellations will be made, where possible, to high-frequency routes.We are planning to operate as many flights as possible to and from

Airport expects to be fully operational on Saturday, but airlines say closure will have ‘huge impact’ in coming daysFlights began landing at Heathrow on Saturday morning as it aimed to return to normal operation after shutting down over a loss of power. Restrictions on overnight flights were temporarily lifted to help ease congestion, the Department of Transport said, and the airport said passengers should come to Heathrow on Saturday as they normally would.British Airways, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expected to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday. The airline would

Boat carrying 13 people capsizes in rough seas while travelling to island of Nusa PenidaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA snorkelling boat carrying 13 people, including 11 Australian tourists, capsized in rough seas off Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Friday, killing a woman and injuring two others, police said. The Sea Dragon boat was on its way from a port in Bali to Nusa Penida, a popular tiny island near Bali, when it was overwhelmed by high waves, local police spokesperson Agus Widiono said.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading... Source

PM’s pledge to protect Tasmanian industry will weaken laws already failing to protect natural sites and at-risk species, environmentalists sayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFormer Greens leader Bob Brown has urged the minor party not to preference Labor ahead of the Liberal party in Tasmanian seats at the upcoming election if the Albanese government legislates to effectively exempt salmon farming from national environment laws.Conservationists have sharply criticised Anthony Albanese’s pledge that he will rush through legislation next week to protect the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour, on

The death of the heavyweight champion boxer was announced by his family in a post on InstagramBoxing Hall of Famer and entrepreneur George Foreman has died at age 76, his family has announced in an Instagram post on his account.“With profound sorrow, we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr. who peacefully departed on March 21, 2025 surrounded by loved ones,” the post read. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/mar/22/boxing-champion-george-foreman-dies-at-age-76 Author : Guardian sport with agencies Publish date : 2025-03-22 02:29:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Minister announces increase in both income and property price caps as part of 2025 budgetSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor will increase the income and price caps for its signature Help to Buy scheme as part of next week’s budget, which it has promised will deliver cost-of-living relief.Under the shared equity scheme, the commonwealth provides first home buyers with 30% of the purchase price of an existing home, or 40% for a new home. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/22/changes-in-help-to-buy-housing-scheme-will-make-most-first-home-buyers-eligible-labor-says Author : Emily Wind Publish date : 2025-03-22 01:09:00

Bird of prey’s violent reign in Flamstead could soon come to an end, according to parish council It stole two woolly hats from the head of a 91-year-old pensioner. It clawed a jogger’s scalp and left him reeling. It is said to swoop in from behind without making a sound, has a penchant for tall men’s heads and – so far – has evaded capture.But the violent reign of the Flamstead hawk, which has made men in the Hertfordshire village of Flamstead afraid to go out without covering their heads, may soon be at an end. Continue reading... Source link

Promise was central plank to space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027Nasa has dropped its longstanding public commitment to land the first woman and person of color on the moon, in response to Donald Trump’s directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices at federal agencies.The promise was a central plank of the space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027 for the first time since the final Apollo mission in December 1972. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/21/nasa-drops-plan-first-woman-moon Author : Richard

Soviet spy defected to Britain from Moscow under threat of exposure after supplying information to MI6 and MI5Oleg Gordievsky obituaryOleg Gordievsky, the UK’s most significant cold war double agent inside the KGB, has died at his home in Surrey aged 86.Gordievsky, who would eventually defect to Britain from Moscow under threat of exposure, was considered a key agent operating for the UK’s intelligence services working within the Soviet Union. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/21/former-kgb-double-agent-oleg-gordievsky-dies-in-surrey-aged-86 Author : Peter Beaumont Publish date : 2025-03-21 21:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

President says plans for potential war with China would not be shared with billionaire due to his business interestsUS politics live – latest updatesDonald Trump said on Friday that plans for possible war with China should not be shared with Elon Musk because of his business interests, a rare admission that the billionaire faces conflicts of interests in his role as a senior adviser to the US president.Trump rejected reports that Musk would be briefed on how the United States would fight a hypothetical war with China, saying: “Elon has businesses in China. And he would be susceptible, perhaps, to

Chancellor to tell party she is making steep cuts to avoid similar fallout to that which followed 2022 mini-budgetRachel Reeves will raise the spectre of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget in the lead-up to next week’s spring statement as she tries to persuade her Labour colleagues to accept the steepest departmental cuts since austerity.The chancellor will tell her fractious party she has decided to cut public spending rather than increasing borrowing because of the risk of a similar fallout to that which followed the then prime minister’s disastrous fiscal statement in 2022. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/21/rachel-reeves-raise-spectre-liz-truss-persuade-labour-mps-accept-cuts Author : Kiran

Thousands of troops needed to support Ukraine if ceasefire or agreement reached to end war with RussiaThe UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of military planning to be ready to support Ukraine next week, with No 10 saying all options including troops on the ground are still possible.Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said thousands of troops will be necessary to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by “sea, on land or in the air”. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/21/uk-military-ukraine-russia-war Author : Rowena Mason Whitehall editor Publish date :