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Former home secretary will rub shoulders with populist right from across the globe, including Hungarian prime minister Viktor OrbánRishi Sunak is being urged to stop his former home secretary from attending a rightwing convention featuring figures who have been under investigation for extremism, in the latest sign of his waning control of his party.Suella Braverman, who has been a central plotter against the prime...

The superstar arrives in Europe next month – and Swifties, tourist boards and venues are already preparingTim Brown, 44, and his wife, Marcella, 34, may not consider themselves bona fide “Swifties”, but when it was announced last June that Taylor Swift would be visiting their corner of the globe this summer they could not resist joining the scramble for a pair of tickets.A post-pandemic...

Prime ministers to examine plans to confiscate billions of euros in interest from frozen Russian assets and send the money to KyivEU leaders are to meet in Brussels to discuss ways to radically increase military and financial support for Ukraine amid calls for member states to put their economies “on a war footing”.Fuelled by what one diplomat said was a new “sense of urgency...

Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in SpainFamilies of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part...

One site tweeted of monarch’s purported demise only to later concede: ‘Most likely, the information is fake’The news broke in the Russian media on Monday afternoon. King Charles III was dead. He was not, but no one really had time to check the details. The saga of the royal family finally had its latest twist: a viral Russian disinformation angle.The rumour went into overdrive...

Voters turn out at midday from the UK to Latvia and Turkey to Thailand in action Alexei Navalny endorsed before his deathThe queue to vote at the Russian embassy stretched for more than half a mile along Kensington Gardens on Sunday as hundreds of Russians arrived at midday as part of a worldwide act of protest to show their opposition to Vladimir Putin and...

Defence secretary warned by British intelligence that Kremlin was aware of his travel plansGrant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat.The defence secretary aborted the visit after he was warned by British intelligence that the Russians had become aware of his travel plans. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Syndicate agreed to lend up to €640m to Allwyn in 2020, two years before contract awardedThe company behind the national lottery was borrowing millions from Kremlin-owned banks when it won the UK’s largest public-sector contract, the Guardian can reveal.Russia’s two largest lenders, VTB and Sberbank, were part of a syndicate that agreed to lend up to €640m (£545m) to Allwyn in 2020, two...

Latin-inscribed artwork tells story of Walter Tirel, whose son killed British monarchThe Italian descendants of King William II’s killer want to donate a work of art partly depicting William’s death to a British museum.The three-slab triptych is owned by the Tirelli family, whose aristocratic origins can be traced back to France, for over 400 years. They have said they believe it was made by...

Popular national figure given new role after being dismissed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy a month agoUkraine’s former commander in chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is to become the country’s next ambassador to the UK, a month after he was fired by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, from his job leading the military.The decision makes good on Zelenskiy’s promise to keep the popular former general “as part of the...

Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will not give missiles that could strike at strategic Crimea bridge, as Russia seeks to exploit leakHow significant is Russia’s apparent interception of military talks on Ukraine?Britain has urged a reluctant Berlin to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv despite an embarrassing leak to Russian television of a top-secret call involving German air force officers who said UK troops...

Boat carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years old, along with girl’s pregnant mother, father and three siblings, sankA seven-year-old girl has died in a canal close to Dunkirk after a makeshift boat carrying 16 people from northern France to the UK capsized, the prefecture in France’s Nord department said.The boat, which was carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years...

The 87-year-old, Europe’s oldest ruling monarch, has suffered from ill health in recent years, and it is unclear when he will return homeNorway’s King Harald V, aged 87 and in poor health, is “improving” from an infection that forced him to be hospitalised while on holiday in Malaysia, his office has said.The king will remain in hospital on the island of Langkawi and it...

Officials say 179 people trying to cross Channel were rescued after four French-led operationsOne person has died and two others are missing in the Channel after an incident involving a small boat, French rescue services have said.According to the Préfecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord, four French-led rescue operations took place in the Channel on Wednesday, coordinated by the regional operational surveillance and...

Government defends decision that opposition politicians say could put vulnerable people at riskA scheme allowing Ukrainians to join family members taking sanctuary in the UK has been unexpectedly closed, in what opposition politicians described as a cruel and “below the radar” move days before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full invasion.The Ukraine family scheme is being shut but government officials said a separate Homes...

Leaders pay respects to former taoiseach of 1990s ‘rainbow coalition’ as he is laid to rest in DunboyneThe former Irish taoiseach John Bruton has been described as a “humbling and unassuming” man at his state funeral, attended by senior political figures including the president, Michael D Higgins, and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.Ministers, TDs and parliamentary ushers were among those who attended the service at...

Czech tycoon promised Gambling Commission two years ago his firm would sever Russia ties before taking over the lucrative contractThe Czech billionaire whose company takes over running the UK national lottery from Thursday is still in business with the Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom, nearly two years after promising regulators he would sever ties with Russia.The Gambling Commission awarded Allwyn the lucrative 10-year licence to...

Andrea Leadsom says businesses experiencing ‘some friction’ should ‘adapt’ to changes in trade rulesBusiness live – latest updatesBritish businesses experiencing “some friction” when trading with the European Union after Brexit is the “price you pay” for “being a sovereign state again”, a government minister has said.On the fourth anniversary of Britain officially leaving the European union, the health minister and Brexiter Andrea Leadsom said...

France and UK also agree to deploy more drones and sea barriers to stop small boats crossing ChannelUK security experts will help France to protect the Paris Olympics in a sign of closer cooperation, the Home Office has said.Both governments also plan to deploy more drones and sea barriers to prevent small boats carrying asylum seekers from crossing the Channel. Continue reading...

Missiles could be placed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk in case of potential war between Nato and RussiaThe US is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years amid a growing threat from Russia, according to a report. Warheads three times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb would be located at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk under the...

Vincent Reynouard discovered living double life in Scottish village where he worked as a tutor, reports sayA Holocaust denier who was arrested in a Scottish fishing village will be extradited back to France after spending two years on the run from the authorities.Vincent Reynouard lost his extradition battle after his arrest in November 2022. He had been discovered living a double life in Anstruther,...

Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’The EU is to stockpile key medicines that will worsen the record drug shortages in the UK, with experts warning that the country could be left “behind in the queue”.The EU is seeking to safeguard its supplies by switching to a system in which its 27 members work...

Former journalist had lived in public eye for almost 30 years as prime suspect in 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du PlantierIan Bailey, an English former journalist who was the prime suspect in one of Ireland’s most notorious murders, has died near his home in Bantry, County Cork, at the age of 66. He suffered a heart attack on Sunday.Bailey had lived in the...

Foreign secretary says there are legal, moral and political justifications for using assets of $350bnBritain is ramping up pressure on western governments to use $350bn (£275bn) of frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine’s war-shattered economy, with David Cameron insisting there were legal, moral and political justifications for action.The foreign secretary said the countries that were backing Ukraine had economies that when combined were...