Tory MP: Maternity leave ‘not a time for redundancy’
Conservative MP Maria Miller introduces a bill that would prevent firms from sacking pregnant women.
English councils ‘face £50bn funding black hole’
A lobby group says councils could resort to providing the "bare minimum" because of rising costs.
Cycling: Frenchman Demare wins Giro stage 10, Conti stays in pink
France's Arnaud Demare won the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia, his first career victory in the race, a 145-km flat ride from Ravenna on Tuesday.
French minister warns of ‘toxic’ Nigel Farage poll win, urges speedy Brexit
Victory for veteran British anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage in this week's European Parliament election will create a big headache for the European Union and the UK should exit the bloc as soon as possible, France's finance minister said on Tuesday.
Belgian monks resurrect brewery after two century break
Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years.
‘One last chance’ to get Brexit done, says PM
Theresa May says MPs will get a vote on whether to hold another referendum if they back her bill.
Egyptian security forces kill 16 suspected militants in Sinai
Egyptian security forces have killed 16 suspected militants in North Sinai and found a stash of weapons and explosives in their hideouts, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Belgian monks resurrect brewery after two century break
Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years.
John le Carré and Neil Gaiman join writers warning Brexit is ‘choosing to lose’
Letter to the Guardian signed by many of UK’s most celebrated authors urges voters to support the EU in Thursday’s poll – or prepare for economic damage
Some of the UK’s most garlanded novelists, including Robert Harris, John le Carré and Philip Pullman, have lambasted the promises made by Brexiters as being too unbelievable for fiction, writing: “We are the people who spend our lives making things that are not true seem believable, and we don’t think Brexit is even a good effort.”
Dozens of writers have put their names to a letter to the Guardian that urges UK voters taking part in Thursday’s European parliament elections to use their franchise to support the European Union, “unless they know what they are choosing to lose, for themselves and everyone they know, and are happy with that”.
Continue reading...Potential for Iran threats ‘put on hold,’ threats remain – U.S.’s Shanahan
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that while the threats from Iran in the Middle East remained high, deterrence measures taken by the Pentagon had "put on hold" the potential for attacks on Americans.
Jailed Catalan separatists take seats in Spanish parliament
Five on trial for 2017 secession attempt won office in election but are likely to be suspended
Five jailed Catalan separatist leaders elected to the Spanish parliament last month have been temporarily released from prison and escorted to the assembly to be sworn in as lawmakers.
The supreme court allowed the men – who are on trial for their role in Catalonia’s failed 2017 secession attempt – to leave jail to take up their seats, but they are likely to be quickly suspended because of their legal situation. They were taken back to jail after the session.
Continue reading...Austrian president to address the nation at 1745 GMT
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will address the nation on Tuesday night, his office said, an extraordinary step at a time when it is unclear who will govern the country in the months leading up to early elections.
Vaccine doubts spread like disease, must be taken offline: vaccine chief
Doubts about vaccines have spread across social media like a disease and false information that "kills people" should be taken down by the companies running digital platforms, the head of global vaccine alliance Gavi said on Tuesday.
Former Sudanese intelligence chief’s guards block his arrest – prosecutors
Sudanese prosecutors ordered the arrest of former intelligence chief Salah Gosh for questioning over a bank account but his guards blocked his arrest, the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.
Boeing dismissed chance of ‘bird strike’ that may have caused second 737 Max crash
- US investigators believe bird collision may have triggered crash
- Ethiopian Airlines crash occurred months after Lion Air disaster
Boeing officials, shortly after the first fatal crash of its 737 Max jet, played down the likelihood that a bird strike could impair the plane’s sensor equipment. Now investigators are exploring whether such a situation led to a second deadly accident just five months later.
Related: Boeing completes software update on 737 Max planes
Continue reading...Lord Moore of Lower Marsh obituary
Conservative politician whose ascent to high office under Margaret Thatcher foundered on NHS and social security reforms
The former Tory cabinet minister John Moore, Lord Moore of Lower Marsh, who has died aged 81, had a brief, meteoric cabinet career in the last phase of the Thatcher administration, during which he was for a time seen – perhaps even saw himself – as a potential future prime minister. But if that was ever the case his timing and talent were awry – maybe his career could be better seen as soaring like a firework rocket and coming to earth like the stick – and when the time came, the poisoned chalice of succeeding Margaret Thatcher fell to Moore’s steadier former deputy John Major.
Moore, by contrast, left the Commons, all but forgotten as a former minister, at the time of Major’s greatest triumph in the 1992 general election and went off to make money in the City of London, consoled with a valedictory life peerage instead. He was perceived, even by his friends, to have been defeated in trying to reform both the National Health Service and the social security budget and his political reputation never recovered.
Continue reading...Scotland will miss child poverty targets without vast cash boost – report
Report highlights ‘massive gap between scale of ambition and scale of resources allocated’
The Scottish government will miss its own child poverty targets unless it substantially increases investment, according to a report on last December’s budget published by the independent Poverty and Inequality Commission.
The report highlights “a massive gap between the scale of Scotland’s ambition to tackle child poverty and the scale of resources allocated to delivering that commitment”, according to the Scottish branch of the charity Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).
Continue reading...Jailed separatists and far-right make for rowdy start to Spanish parliament
Jailed Catalan separatists, far-right lawmakers, a record number of women and the biggest Socialist group in years held a rowdy opening session on Tuesday of a parliament that reflected Spain's divisions and diversity like no other in recent memory.
12-metre ship aims to be first to cross Atlantic without a crew
Final preparations are underway for a 12-metre-long ship to set sail from Canada and attempt the world's first transatlantic crossing without a crew.
A year on, Indian anti-Vedanta protesters say still await justice
A year after Indian police killed 13 people protesting against pollution from a copper smelter in this hardscrabble southern port city, tensions within the community and between residents and the police are still running high.
Iraq’s racy TV in Ramadan revives an industry – and draws censure
On a studio set in Baghdad, a director watches the star of his TV series hold a knife against the neck of a fellow actor, in a dramatic revival of fortunes for Iraq's entertainment industry.
Garden feeders are supporting rising numbers of urban birds
More than half of British homeowners feed birds, maintaining 133 species
The increasingly appetising buffet provided for garden birds, from sunflower hearts to suet cakes, is supporting a rising number and greater diversity of species in Britain’s urban areas, according to research.
In the 1970s, half of all birds using garden feeders belonged to just two species, the sparrow and starling, but by the 2010s the number of species making up the same proportion had tripled, with goldfinches, woodpigeons and long-tailed tits soaring in number because of the food on offer.
Continue reading...EU to investigate Nigel Farage over expenses funded by Arron Banks
Move follows revelations MEP failed to declare lavish funding from year of the EU referendum
The European parliament is to investigate Nigel Farage for failing to declare lavish expenses funded by Arron Banks.
The European parliament president, Antonio Tajani, “today refers the Farage issue to an advisory committee”, a source told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Ukraine president decrees snap parliamentary election for July 21
Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday issued a decree setting for July 21 as the date for a snap parliamentary election, according to a statement on his website.
Spain’s parliament leads Europe in gender-equality despite rise of far right
Spain's new parliament, sworn in on Tuesday, has the largest share of women in any European legislature, no small achievement for a country still reinventing itself four decades after the end of a right-wing, traditionalist dictatorship.
Defied by Trump, House panel holds rapid hearing without ex-White House lawyer
The U.S. House of Representatives committee that would handle any impeachment of President Donald Trump briefly convened and then adjourned a hearing on Tuesday with another empty chair at the witness table, as former White House counsel Don McGahn did not show up to testify.
Grandmother killed by woman who thought people were ‘out to get her’
A woman with a history of mental illness beat a 64-year-old grandmother to death in her own garden and left her body underneath a stone bird bath, a court heard.
Polish sextuplets surprise parents and doctors expecting five
Poland's first sextuplets on record, two boys and four girls, were born in the southern city of Krakow on Monday to the surprise of parents and doctors who had expected five babies.
Polish sextuplets surprise parents and doctors expecting five
Poland's first sextuplets on record, two boys and four girls, were born in the southern city of Krakow on Monday to the surprise of parents and doctors who had expected five babies.
‘Exterminate’: man incurs wrath of council overlords with Dalek shed
Teacher in trouble over cyborg pied-à-terre at his sci-fi museum in Northumberland
A council in the north-east of England has been labelled “laughable, ludicrous and short-sighted” after it attempted to force a family-run sci-fi museum to destroy a Doctor Who Dalek shelter because it didn’t have planning permission.
Art teacher Neil Cole is embroiled in a planning row over the latest addition at his Museum of Classic Sci-Fi, which he founded last October in the cellar of his Grade II-listed, Georgian townhouse in Allendale, Northumberland.
Continue reading...‘Have-a-go hero’ threw chair and glasses at London Bridge attackers
A man has said he chased the London Bridge terror attackers, throwing pint glasses and bottles and shouting at them to "come and get me".
Italy’s far-right Salvini mislays his Midas touch ahead of EU vote
Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's far-right League, seems to have lost his magic touch at the worst possible time - just ahead of Sunday's European Parliament election.
Far-right MEPs could threaten EU climate policy, experts warn
Fears that predicted influx of climate deniers would obstruct action on environment
An influx of climate-denying far-right MEPs could pose a “toxic” threat to EU climate policy after the European elections, according to senior MEPs and academics.
Populist parties are expected to take up to a third of the parliamentary seats in Thursday’s vote, with Matteo Salvini’s League in contention to be the largest single party, and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) overtaking Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche in some polls.
Continue reading...Police release CCTV showing missing man being attacked
CCTV footage has been released showing Aron Kato, who has been missing for a month, being chased and pushed to the ground by an unidentified man.
British Steel risks collapse with 25,000 jobs at stake
British Steel, the country's second largest steel producer, is on the brink of collapse unless the government agrees to provide an emergency 30 million pound loan, two sources close to the situation said.
EU border guards start Albania migration watch
The European Union's Frontex border agency deployed on Tuesday for the first time outside the EU, setting up on Albania's border with Greece to help fight illegal migration and crime.
Tunisian court temporarily releases U.N. official after two-month detention
A Tunisian appeal court on Tuesday temporarily released a United Nations official after two months in detention as part of an investigation by an anti-terrorism unit, an official spokesman said.
Iran’s Rouhani rejects talks with Washington
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected talks with the United States on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said Iran would call and ask for negotiations "if and when they are ever ready".
Potential for attacks on Americans in Middle East ‘put on hold’ – acting Pentagon chief
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that while the threat from Iran in the region remains high, the potential for attacks on Americans had been "put on hold."
French prosecutors lay out allegations against former IAAF chief Diack
French prosecutors have described a web of corruption once rife in world athletics, including bribes paid to cover up athletes' positive drugs tests, in an indictment recommending that Lamine Diack, the Senegalese former head of the IAAF, and his son stand trial.
