UK relaxes strict sanctions on Russian crude oil

Stuart Machin argues government should reduce tax and regulatory burden on supermarkets insteadThe boss of Marks & Spencer has called a government proposal for voluntary price caps on essential food items “completely preposterous”, saying it should reduce tax and regulatory burdens instead.Stuart Machin, the chief executive of the clothing, homewares, food and beauty retailer, said M&S already lost money on some basic items such as milk, bread and baked beans and made very slim profits on other products such as eggs and sugar. Continue reading...

Wife of former PM, who encountered Worboys in 2007, says parole refusal last week was ‘huge relief’Carrie Johnson, the wife of the former prime minister Boris Johnson, has said there could be “up to 1,000, if not more”, victims of the black-cab rapist, John Worboys.Johnson, who helped bring the serial sex attacker to justice, said she had been contacted by more women who believed they had been assaulted by him. Continue reading...

‘China has already eaten much of German industry’s lunch and is preparing to start on dinner,’ thinktank saysBusiness live – latest updatesGermany must stop admiring China’s success in the EU or it will sleepwalk into the kind of deindustrialisation the US experienced 25 years ago, a leading Brussels thinktank has said.With China’s surplus with Germany having doubled between 2024 and 2025 from $12bn (£9bn) to $25bn, creating a $94bn trade imbalance, the Centre for European Reform (CER) said Europe’s largest economy risked a repeat of what happened in the US in 2001 when a sudden surge in imports permanently hollowed out towns in the American midwest. Continue reading...

Ron Shinnick did not mention the firing of the Cohutta police force, which was later rehired, in resignation letterThe mayor of a small town in the US state of Georgia has resigned shortly after firing his community’s entire police department, a step that the local governing council ultimately reversed – but that he nonetheless took amid a political spat pitting him and his wife against members of the force.In a 15 May resignation letter that the Guardian reviewed, Ron Shinnick avoided mentioning his attempted termination of the Cohutta police department, word of which gained international media attention. The letter instead said Shinnick had opted to vacate the mayoral post he had held since 2014 due to “health concerns” faced by family members outside Cohutta. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s planning shake-up would ‘reduce exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds’Rachel Reeves is ​preparing to announce a planning shake-up ‌that would fast-track clean energy ​and infrastructure projects by curbing judicial reviews, the ​Treasury said.The chancellor will propose that parliament should be able to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as of “critical national importance”, as part of a wider package seeking to blunt the impact of the Iran crisis. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australia faces a ‘pronounced political fault line’, Giridharan Sivaraman tells Brisbane seminar on human rights Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation and the federal opposition are “dehumanising” and “scapegoating” immigrants while drawing on a “deep vein of racism”, Australia’s federal race discrimination commissioner says.Giridharan Sivaraman made the comments as part of a panel discussion at a Brisbane seminar on human rights, hosted by the state’s human rights commission. Continue reading...

Incident comes just a day after Nato had to shoot down a suspected stray Ukrainian drone over EstoniaThe drone alert in Lithuania has just been lifted, with the country’s defence minister quoted by Reuters as saying that the drone flew by Lentvaris near the capital, Vilnius, before diverting in a different direction.We will no doubt get more details on this soon. Continue reading...

MEPs had twice frozen ratification process in protest at Trump’s threat of higher tariffs and Greenland threatsThe EU has finally agreed to implement its trade deal with the US after five hours of talks between members of the European parliament and member states in the hope of averting more tariffs threatened by Donald Trump.It means the agreement struck last July at the US president’s Scottish golf course can now enter into force, removing import duties on most US goods entering the EU. Continue reading...

The former health secretary will give resignation speech after prime minister’s questions Good morning. PMQs is back, and there are at least two obvious issues for Kemi Badenoch to raise when she faces Keir Starmer.What Tories calls Starmer’s “Soviet-style” plan to curb supermarket pricesThis is more nuts than a squirrel convention!I warned Rachel Reeves prices would go up if she raised taxes and drowned employers in red tape. She didn’t listen and now she’s proposing Soviet style measures!After 18 months of “standing up to Putin” the Labour govt quietly issued a licence allowing imports of Russian oil refined in third countries.Yesterday Labour MPs voted AGAINST UK oil and gas licences.We are talking about our allies in Ukraine who have been fighting a war bravely against Russia for years and years with our support.They have looked to Britain as one of their most important allies, and they don’t understand, given that we promised that we would stop this loophole in October, and we still haven’t done it. In fact, it seems to have got worse. People feel very let down.There was a G7 announcement on the 19 May which said that they, the G7, had an unwavering commitment to put pressure on Russia including sanctions on the energy sector and actions against entities in third countries that materially support Russia’s war effort but we’re still saying that we’re going to take sanctioned oil but so long as it goes to Turkey first and then it’s refined, we will use it. Continue reading...

Report finds culture of ‘resistance and delay’ in the Australian parliament with more than 60% of requests having longer response times than mandated 30-day deadlineFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA scathing audit report has found nearly 80% of freedom of information requests to Anthony Albanese’s department, Treasury and the infrastructure department were rejected, creating a culture of “resistance and delay” in the Australian parliament.The review of FoI administration found there was no consistent, transparent or accountable decision-making around requests and the pro-disclosure objectives of the law were being flouted. Continue reading...

Greens MLC Abigail Boyd – who chaired inquiry – says system ‘failing too many children, families and educators’Systemic weaknesses in New South Wales’ childcare sector have allowed predators to work in the industry and abuse children, a scathing inquiry has found.In its final report, published on Wednesday, a NSW upper house inquiry into the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector found “the proliferation of for-profit services and a lax regulatory approach” had led to “predators” being allowed to work in childcare and abuse children. Continue reading...