‘We want to see him in Ukraine’: Zelenskyy hopes to invite King Charles on state visit

• President Zelensky met with his closest European allies to establish a framework for potential peace negotiations. • The allies have outlined five specific conditions that must be met before peace talks can commence.

As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that lastAs the weeks ticked down to her departure from Downing Street in 2019, Theresa May had a plan. Not only did she want to put a net zero target into law, but she wanted the UK to be the first major economy to do so. And that meant beating the French.“It required the machinery of government to move more quickly than the French parliament,” a No 10 official from the time recalls. And it worked: the UK target came into force in June 2019, six weeks before May handed over to Boris Johnson, and five months before the French. She had her legacy. Continue reading...

Protectionist measures will deal blow to country’s budget as it defends itself against Russia, says Metinvest chiefNew EU limits on steel imports could destroy Ukraine’s industry and deal a big blow to the country’s budget as it defends itself against Russia, according to the head of its biggest steelmaker.Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the chief executive of Metinvest, said the new EU quota system due on 1 July could “kill the Ukrainian steel industry”. Continue reading...

Liberals and Nationals grappling with surging support for Pauline Hanson’s party, which threatens to replace them as Australia’s main conservative partyFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe new Liberal president, Tony Abbott, has backed preference deals with One Nation as he declared the party wouldn’t win the next election by being “slaves to focus groups” and just a “little less woke than Labor”.The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, all but confirmed he was open to such deals with Pauline Hanson, declaring the party was prepared to cooperate with “whoever we can to get rid of this rotten Labor government’”. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: With Keir Starmer expected to announce Australia-style restrictions, further problems – including AI chatbots - are on the horizonGood morning. Keir Starmer’s expected speech next week about young people’s access to social media will be analysed as much for how it benefits the outcome of a certain byelection, as its safeguarding of children’s synapses.After issuing an ultimatum to tech firms yesterday to block children’s phones from sharing nude images, the government is expected to make another major announcement about social media within days. Briefings suggest it will stop short of a blanket ban on under-16s accessing social media. But it will still amount to radical regulation, with Downing Street insisting that Starmer is up for a fight with big tech.UK politics | Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he plans to invite King Charles on a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, which would make him the most senior royal to travel to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion.Middle East | Fears of a return to a full-scale regional war in the Middle East eased on Monday as Israel and Iran said they had halted attacks on each other after an appeal from Donald Trump to “immediately stop shooting”.UK news | A report has found “widespread and concerning evidence” of bias and victim-blaming in the family courts – primarily disadvantaging women.US news | Donald Trump was loudly booed when he was shown on the video screens at Madison Square Garden on Monday night at the NBA finals.Unemployment | A government-funded pilot of “hyperlocal” job support in 10 neighbourhoods across England has shown “promising early signs of effectiveness”, including for young people, and could be scalable nationwide, a new evaluation has shown. Continue reading...

Proposals considered by government would strengthen protections for parents forced to become full-time carers Thousands of parents who are forced to become full-time carers after their child becomes seriously ill would be entitled to financial support and job protections under new “Hugh’s law” proposals being floated by the government.Hugh’s law is named after Hugh Menai-Davis, who was six when he died in 2021 just under a year after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and undergoing 10 months of intensive treatment, much of it in hospital. Continue reading...

In a wide-ranging interview, an upbeat Ukrainian president also discusses Donald Trump, King Charles, and how Kyiv is prepared to share its experience of drone warfare with the westSitting down with the Guardian in London, Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems cheerful. More than four years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, he believes Europe’s biggest war since 1945 appears to be slowly turning in Ukraine’s favour. The military situation is the most promising it has been for Kyiv for two and a half years, Zelenskyy says. “We can’t say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day,” he insists.Over the past week the Kremlin has suffered a series of setbacks. Long-range Ukrainian drones have hit Putin’s home city of St Petersburg, setting fire to oil terminals and sending smoke billowing above the skyline. Similar attacks have crippled occupied Crimea. A key supply road is littered with burning lorries and tankers and the peninsula seized by Russia in 2014 is experiencing severe fuel shortages. Continue reading...

Measures being considered to crack down on practice that has grown as a result of Britain’s housing crisisLondon councils could be banned from “dumping” homeless families hundreds of miles across England under measures being considered by ministers, the Guardian has learned.MPs said vulnerable people, including women fleeing abuse, were being “coerced” into choosing between rough sleeping or moving to cheap, sparsely furnished properties in some of the poorest parts of the country. Continue reading...

David Ronald Mobbs, who had motor neurone disease, had said he didn’t want to live if his illness became intolerable, court hearsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA woman who gave a lethal cocktail of medication to her husband who was dying from motor neurone disease has been granted bail after being charged with murder.Kylie Ellina Truswell‑Mobbs was granted bail on Tuesday after being charged with murdering her 56-year-old husband, who was dying from motor neurone disease. Continue reading...

Hugh Marks confirms ABC secretly engaged recruitment firm and signals sweeping changes at national broadcasterFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastABC managing director Hugh Marks has confirmed he secretly engaged a recruitment company to look for a replacement for news director Justin Stevens after the two disagreed over the direction of ABC News.Marks said Stevens “did not know” he had begun an international search for a new head of news but it was a necessary move because they “couldn’t get agreement on the way forward”. Continue reading...

Victorian premier says she will always call out ‘misogynist’ views after One Nation leader says ‘if the shoe fits’Jacinta Allan has dismissed leadership speculation and says she will continue to call out “sexist, misogynist, hateful” commentary directed at her, despite One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s advice to “suck it up, sweetheart”.On Sunday, the Victorian premier criticised a truck-mounted billboard, which has been seen travelling around Melbourne for several weeks, featuring AI-generated images of her wearing a black pointed hat alongside the phrase “ditch the witch”. Continue reading...