The Guardian

Boys, aged 15, given youth rehabilitation orders for two separate attacks against two girls in Hampshire A judge’s decision not to jail two teenage boys who raped two girls has been described by one of the victims as a “rock straight in my face”. A trial at Southampton crown court heard the girls were raped in two separate attacks in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, the first attack on 26 November 2024 …

Department for Transport is understood to back reducing levy, which critics have called a ‘pavement tax’ Business live – latest updates Government officials considered cutting the VAT charged on electricity used at public EV chargers from 20% to 5% at the last budget, but the Treasury under chancellor Rachel Reeves rejected the proposal amid disagreement between departments. Officials in the Depa…

More than 20,000 attacks on markets, farmland and food distribution systems have been recorded since 2018 Hunger is being increasingly exploited as a weapon of war with more than 20,000 documented incidents of “food-related violence” in the past eight years, new analysis reveals. Attacks include 1,261 strikes on markets used by families for daily groceries and 863 incidents in which food distribu…

PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligence UK companies are performing “yoga-level” stretches to describe themselves as AI specialists in an attempt to capitalise on the buzz around the technology, public relations firms have said. Weary communications executives tasked with securing media coverage for brands have complained that boss…

Travellers warned to beware of debit card cons after one was charged £1,500 for a kebab and another £3,000 for corn on the cob When Lisa Selby* used her debit card to pay for two slices of barbecued cheese from a beach vendor in Rio de Janeiro, she expected to pay 40 reais (£5.90) for the snack. But shortly after the payment had gone through, she realised that she had been charged 4,000 reais (£5…

The 39-year-old was reportedly fishing at Kennedy Shoal between Cairns and Townsville when emergency services alerted about midday Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A man has died after a shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef south of Cairns. The 39-year-old had reportedly been fishing at Kennedy Shoal, a shallow reef about 50km off the Queensland coast, between Cairns…

Global events and the climate crisis have left Britain’s food system dangerously exposed and in desperate need of an overhaul The news that the Treasury was asking UK supermarkets to cap price rises on essential foods was greeted with predictable squeals of horror this week. Supermarkets were reportedly “furious”, while luminaries from the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to the fo…

US imposed sanctions on nine judges and a prosecutor after ICC issued arrest warrants for members of Israeli cabinet A former prosecutor at the international criminal court has called for an EU-wide statute blocking what she describes as “thuggish” and “bullying” US sanctions imposed on members of the court that are designed to send the court into oblivion. In February 2025, the US imposed sancti…

Shooting of man who was allegedly armed with a firearm at a house in Narangba to be investigated Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast David Pocock urges ‘fair return’ on gas exports David Pocock says he doesn’t want the gas industry “stopped”, he wants “a fair return on the exports of our gas”. We’re one of the biggest gas exporters in the world right now. My argument is w…

US president says strait will be opened as part of the deal, but Iran’s influential Fars news agency reports that vital waterway would remain under Iranian control Full report: Trump says peace deal with Iran ‘largely negotiated’ with strait of Hormuz to open Donald Trump made the announcement via a Truth Social post, saying he had spoken to a host of leaders in the Middle East by phone, includin…

Remarks by US president potentially mark conclusion of bombing campaign led by US and Israel Donald Trump announced on Saturday that a peace deal with Iran had largely been reached, after calls with Gulf allies and Israel, potentially paving the way for an end to the war launched by the US and Israel in February. Trump wrote on his social media platform that “final aspects and details” of a “Memo…

Rightwing commentator says she is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket and claims she was misled by promoter Rocksman Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast None of the 15,000 ticket holders for conservative influencer Candace Owens’ cancelled Australian tour are expected to get their money back from the promoter, after it spent all its money then collapsed. Owens …

Tehran negotiator says there will be no compromise over its ‘legitimate rights’ during meeting with Pakistani army chief Iran’s top negotiator has said there will be no compromise over its national rights during a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran on Saturday, amid a flurry of diplomacy aimed at preventing renewed US strikes on Iran. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary sp…

Guests on Only in Monroe included Jack White and Jeff Daniels, with appearances by Steve Buscemi and Eminem After his last appearance on CBS as host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert continued his television hosting duties – on a public access show in Michigan . Colbert on Friday night hosted Only in Monroe in Monroe, Michigan, just one day after signing off from The Late Show. Colbert had been t…

First responders hospitalized and decontaminated after four people were found apparently overdosing Three people died and 18 first responders were sickened by exposure to fentanyl in a rural New Mexico home this week, New Mexico state police said. Police initially found four people unconscious at the home in Mountainair, 90 miles (145km) east of Albuquerque. Two were declared dead at the scene an…