More than 120 families contacted as police investigate alleged abuse by Sydney childcare worker

State ordered to apologise after ruling finds it breached law when detaining teenagers in a Cairns watch houseGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Queensland government broke the law and violated the human rights of three children by detaining them in an adult-only watch house without private toilet access or clean clothes, according to a tribunal judgment.The case was brought by three teenagers separately detained in the Cairns watch house between June 2021 and 2022. They were then aged between 13 and 17. Continue reading...

From harvests dampened by El Niño to wage and tax rises, getting coffee beans from crop to cup costs more than everDrinkers across the UK were shocked when a pint in some London bars hit £10, and now a cup of coffee is facing a similar inflationary rate. Some baristas are now charging £6.50 for a flat white.Higher energy bills, inflated by the war in the Middle East, as well as government policies which have increased tax and wages, are filtering through into coffee prices, experts said. Continue reading...

Joan Rivet drank water she managed to splash up to her face by turning faucet on with her footAn 82-year-old North Carolina woman says she survived falling in her bathtub and being trapped there for nine days by turning the faucet on with her foot and drinking water that she managed to splash up to her face – all while drifting in and out of consciousness.Joan Rivet recently shared her remarkable survival story with North Carolina’s The Mountaineer newspaper, providing an extreme example of the kinds of emergencies that can face the millions of older Americans who fall by accident annually, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. Continue reading...

Cather Atkinson hinted that the Home Office may threaten to stop issuing visas to Pakistan unless it agrees to accept Shabir AhmedGood morning. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will be in the Commons for much of the afternoon and she is involved in several of the main news stories in the mix today. MPs are debating the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill, meaning that those Labour MPs opposed to her plans may speak out at some point. (Her most controversial proposal is about extending the amount of time migrant workers have to wait until they can apply for indefinite leave to remain [ILR], and that is not actually part of the bill, but it would be surprising if ILR does not come up.) We are also expecting a Home Office statement about security, in the light of the murder of Ann Widdecombe. As Aletha Adu reports, the police, who have arrested a man on suspicion of murder, have said at this point there is no evidence to suggest the killing was politically motivated. But that has not stopped Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, doing exactly that.And Mahmood is also due to give MPs details of how she plans to amend the law so that the Rochdale grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed, can be deported.I understand that the home secretary will be having more to announce on this later today.She has been absolutely clear that this government will take action to see Shabir Ahmed removed, and we’ve seen the success that she has had when it comes to removals in previous cases.There were previous negotiations where countries refused to take back foreign national offenders. And Shabana was able to secure those returns.I can’t get ahead of what the home secretary will be announcing today, but she has a strong track record on being able to see progress where people previously have said things weren’t possible. Continue reading...

US military says it hit dozens of Iranian sites in strikes on Monday while UN chief warns that a return to full-scale fighting would be ‘catastrophic’US launches new attack wave on Iran as Tehran says diplomacy has proven ‘futile’In a series of social media posts this morning, Oman’s interior ministry said sirens were being activated and urged residents to head to the nearest safe place and await further instructions.As we mentioned in the opening post, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier that it had attacked radar systems in Oman as part of its counter strikes against the US. Continue reading...

French president hosts ‘coalition of the willing’ in Paris amid hopes that Ukraine’s recent advances could force Putin towards negotiationsFrench president Emmanuel Macron is going to host the Coalition of the Willing in Paris later today amid hopes that Ukraine’s recent advances in strikes on Russia could force Vladimir Putin to a negotiating table.The meeting at the Hôtel des Invalides – hosted just before Bastille Day – will bring together over 20 European leaders for further talks on how to help Kyiv and put more pressure on Moscow. Continue reading...

Police were told of unspecified threats before the 26 January rally but did not meet with organisers until after, parliamentary inquiry into racism toldFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIndigenous community members who witnessed the alleged attempted terror attack at the Invasion Day rally in Perth have told a federal inquiry into racism and hate directed at First Nations people that they felt dismissed and ignored by authorities.Western Australia police declared the incident was being investigated as a terror attack nine days after an alleged homemade bomb, filled with ball bearings, screws and other projectiles, was thrown into the crowd of 2,000 people at Forrest Place on 26 January. Perth man Liam Alexander Hall has been charged with terrorism offences and is in custody, and his lawyers have indicated he intends to plead not guilty by way of insanity. Continue reading...

The star of more than 100 films is remembered as a champion of New Zealand’s arts, culture and environment, and a generous collaborator and friend Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park films and The Piano, dies aged 78Sam Neill’s 20 best rolesSam Neill’s friends, peers and admirers have rushed to pay tribute to the actor, after his sudden death on Monday at the age of 78.Australian director Phillip Noyce, who directed Neill in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm alongside Nicole Kidman, told the Guardian: “Sam was perhaps the most gentlemanly actor ​I ever encountered. Level-headed and sincere in a show business world of crazy egos. His word was his contract.” Continue reading...

Brent crude jumps nearly 5% and Asian markets drop, with chipmakers including SK Hynix among hardest hitBusiness live – latest updatesOil prices jumped and stocks fell after the US launched a fresh wave of attacks against Iran amid an escalating standoff over the strait or Hormuz.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 4.7% to $79.59 a barrel. Asian stock markets dropped sharply, with South Korea’s Kospi down 8% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Composite 2% lower. Continue reading...

Suspension of family reunion route has left many stuck in conflict zones or using people smugglers to reach safetyMore than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with families in the UK, leaving them either stuck in conflict zones or resorting to using people-smugglers to reach safety, according to the Refugee Council.The government suspended the refugee family reunion route last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to bring immediate family members such as a spouse and their children under 18 to reunite with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Andy Beckett takes your questions – and mine – about where UK politics is at and where it’s headed, from leadership churn and policy choices to electoral reform and moreGood morning. This week, we anticipate the arrival of Britain’s seventh prime minister in the space of a decade. Barring a sequence of events too freakish to contemplate this early in the day, Andy Burnham will be declared Labour leader on Friday and invited to form a new government thereafter.Sceptical as I am about doomy predictions on Britain’s chronic ungovernability, I wanted to speak to somebody who could offer some deeper context. Step forward Guardian columnist Andy Beckett, who also writes vivid modern histories about the country’s defining political ideas, and step forward you – First Edition readers – who responded when I asked what contemporary liabilities we should be talking about.Middle East | The US military has launched a new wave of attacks against Iran amid the escalating standoff over the strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying the latest strikes had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the past few months.UK news | Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation.US politics | Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally in Washington, died this weekend after a short illness, his office announced.Far right | Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner’s father. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said on Sunday the news was a sign Britain “must do more to defend its democracy”.UK politics | Reform UK would have held just 15% of the donations it received last year if a proposed £100,000 cap on political donations had been in force, according to analysis shared with the Guardian.Monday | Green MP Hannah Spencer presents her Maximum Workplace Temperature Bill to the Commons, which would establish an independent body to recommend safe working temperatures.Tuesday | MPs debate capping political donations as they seek to strengthen a new law on party funding.Wednesday | Sir Keir Starmer will face his final PMQs. Continue reading...