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Updates from the ODI at R Premadasa Stadium in ColomboAny thoughts? Get in touch with James on emailAustralia spinner Kuhnemann reported for suspect bowling actionTwo down inside two overs! Sri Lanka lose both openers as Fernando wafts at a length ball from Aaron Hardie and the edge flies to Steve Smith’s left at second slip, the skipper makes no mistake with the catch!There’s some more breaking news out of the Australian camp to go with Mitchell Starc’s withdrawal from the Champions Trophy. Continue reading…

Rate of marriages in China lowest since record keeping began in 1986, with cost of living and pushback against traditional gender roles contributing factorsMarriages in China plunged 20% to a record low in 2024 as young people resisted government efforts to convince them to settle down and have more babies.Marriages in China dropped from 7.7m in 2023 to 6.1m last year, data from China’s civil affairs ministry showed. The figure was less than half the number registered in 2013, and the lowest since record keeping began in 1986. Continue reading…

Group claims compensation after allegedly losing thousands from over-inflated caravan prices and pitch feesCampaigners have called on the UK government to take action on the “wild west” holiday park industry, as nearly 2,000 people join a group legal action alleging they have lost thousands of pounds on mis-sold static caravans and unfair pitch fees.Holiday Park Action Group, which is leading the legal action, says the number of claimants is growing by the day, with people reporting losing their life savings and being forced to sell their homes after losing large sums of money. Continue reading…

Andrea Tucker has overturned the demand for £4,600 in carer’s allowance overpayments for alleged breaches in benefit rulesUnpaid carer Andrea Tucker has won a legal victory against the Department for Work and Pensions, overturning its demand she repay £4,600 for alleged breaches in benefit rules.Tucker, a part-time charity shop worker who until recently cared full-time for her elderly mother, said the tribunal ruling had left her “stunned and relieved” after months of stress. Continue reading…

Many ‘middle-skilled’ jobs on eligible list may not be what people would consider critical roles, says Oxford academicCanine beauticians, DJs and pilates instructors are among the categories of overseas workers eligible to apply for UK skilled worker visas, an Oxford academic has found.As the government promises a white paper later this year to slash the numbers entering the UK to work, a list of specific and in some cases unusual “middle-skilled” jobs to which foreign workers can still apply has been identified. Continue reading…

RHS is asking people to look for under-threat varieties such as the Sussex Bonfire and Mrs William CopelandBritons have been asked to hunt for rare pink, white and “bonfire yellow” daffodils in order to save threatened varieties from extinction.The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which is running the daffodil count, is hoping to build a map of the spring blooms. It is asking people to log where daffodils are flowering in their area along with basic information such as colour, type and height. Continue reading…

Democracy’s traditional defence against fascism doesn’t work against the new far-right hybrid coded in Silicon ValleyHistory isn’t winning the argument. Across Europe and the US, defenders of democracy have mobilised every precedent to warn against a slide into authoritarian rule. They have underlined every rhyme and assonance in the rhetoric of today’s far-right movements to highlight echoes of past atrocity. It isn’t working.Evidence of the old virus spreading stimulates vigilance in people who are already alert for the signs, activating the immunity of people who are well vaccinated. They aren’t the ones who need convincing.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist […]

New ambassador to US and his consultancy firm under spotlight over links to agency said to have aim of co-opting western businesspeoplePeter Mandelson’s face appeared at the top of the screen. Below him was Li Keqiang, then the Chinese premier. Ringed around them in the online “Europe-China business dialogue” meeting were top executives from some of the biggest European multinationals.Covid was still rife so the February 2021 gathering took place online, with the British Labour peer in the chair. When a copy of the minutes was leaked, they contained fawning opening remarks from Mandelson about China’s rulers and their ability […]

Shares in South Korea’s entertainment groups soar as steel tariffs combine with a Blackpink world tour and BTS revival to supercharge their appealDonald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on foreign steel may have caused alarm among South Korean officials, but it has been music to the ears of one sector of the country’s export-led economy: K-pop.Investors have ploughed money into the industry, which is now being seen as a “safe haven” from Trump’s trade war with some of his country’s closest partners. Continue reading…

Watchdog upholds complaint about advert that digitally altered clothing and used low angle to accentuate long legsThe UK advertising watchdog has banned an advert from high street retailer Next for featuring an “unhealthily thin” model in digitally altered clothing.The advertisement, which ran on its website, featured a model marketing Next’s “power stretch denim leggings”. Continue reading…

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2021: Between accidents, disease and bad weather, farm animals are prey to so many disasters that dedicated professionals are called out to dispose of the casualties. It’s a grim task, and one that’s only getting more difficult. By Bella Bathurst. Read by Andrew McGregor Continue reading…

Exclusive: Military experts raise concerns over change to protocols on Pakistan border to allow project that was handed to billionaire Gautam AdaniThe Indian government relaxed national security protocols along the Pakistan border to make way for a renewable energy park, a project ultimately handed to one of India’s richest men, Gautam Adani, official documents reveal.The Adani Group is constructing the Khavda plant, the largest renewable project in the world, in the state of Gujarat. The conglomerate is controlled by Adani, whose close relationship with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has recently been under intense scrutiny. Continue reading…

Russia, Turkey and Egypt also among worst perpetrators of transnational repression around the globeA quarter of the world’s countries have engaged in transnational repression – targeting political exiles abroad to silence dissent – in the past decade, new research reveals.The Washington DC-based non-profit organisation Freedom House has documented 1,219 incidents carried out by 48 governments across 103 countries, from 2014 to 2024. Continue reading…

In chronic pain, unable to find an NHS practice and priced out of private care, Colla – like millions of Britons – felt she had no choice but to take matters into her own handsLinda Colla holds an imaginary tooth between her forefinger and thumb and pulls it. Then she adds some rotation. Extracting her own teeth required wiggling and twisting, she explains. “It took me a couple of weeks to get each one out, because they just loosened and loosened and loosened. I used a tissue to get a better grip.”We meet in her bungalow near Ottery St Mary […]

Local business owners in Nairobi said the rapid expansion of China Square had created an uneven playing fieldOn a cool Friday morning in an expansive mall in Nairobi, dozens of people thronged outside a retail store covered in colourful banners, balloons and flowers.When the shutter doors finally rolled up a few hours later, fireworks were let off and music blared through speakers, the crowd now swollen to more than 100. Continue reading…

Prime minister hoping to revive ‘bromance’ of Trump’s first term despite US president calling India ‘a very big abuser’The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is heading to Washington for high-stakes talks in an attempt to avoid a trade war with Donald Trump.India is considering tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors in the hope of dodging US tariffs that would pile more pressure on its already slowing economy. Continue reading…

Eleni Courea discusses the UK’s historic deal to sign sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, and why some inside the Labour party are now regretting it. Campaigner Olivier Bancoult outlines why he hopes the deal will go aheadIn October last year, the UK and Mauritian governments reached a historic agreement to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a series of atolls in the Indian Ocean that have been described as Britain’s last African colony.It seemed, as political correspondent Eleni Courea describes, a diplomatic triumph for the new Labour government, ending decades of legal dispute over the ownership of […]

PM has condemned footage as ‘sickening’ as police and the healthcare watchdog investigate the incidentFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTwo New South Wales hospital workers who appeared in a social media video appearing to threaten to refuse to treat and to kill Israeli patients have been identified as nurses at a Sydney hospital and have been “stood down immediately”, the state’s health minister says.The video has attracted widespread political condemnation, with the prime minister quickly labelling the footage “sickening and shameful.”Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news […]

Key presidential ally, whose agency has operated in secrecy, also makes claim – without evidence – of fraud at USAidElon Musk claimed in the Oval Office on Tuesday that his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing maximum transparency as it bulldozed its way through the federal government, remarks contradicted by the reality of how he has operated in deep secrecy.The appearance from Musk was the first time he had taken questions from the news media since his arrival in Washington, and he used his time standing next to Donald Trump at the Resolute Desk to defend the aggressive […]

Agency says its reporter wasn’t allowed into event in effort to ‘punish’ style guide on upholding use of Gulf of MexicoThe Associated Press said it was barred from sending a reporter to Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing in an effort to “punish” the agency for its style guidance on upholding the use of the name of the Gulf of Mexico, in lieu of Donald Trump’s preferred name for the geographic landmark as the Gulf of America.AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, said in a statement: “As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world […]