• Konstantin Koltsov, former Belarusian NHL player, dies aged 42

    Konstantin Koltsov, the Belarusian former pro ice hockey player and

  • Australia politics live: RBA not ruling out further interest rate hikes, Michele Bullock says

    Follow the day’s news liveRBA rates decision: interest rate unchanged for third meeting in a row as Australian borrowers granted reprieveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastTehan claims Giles not being ‘upfront’ on immigration detention situationShadow immigration minister Dan Tehan is the guest on ABC radio RN Breakfast.What we’re calling for is for minister Giles for the first time to be transparent, to be very clear to the Australian people. What is the...

  • RBA rates decision: interest rate unchanged for third meeting in a row as Australian borrowers granted reprieve

    Cash rate held steady at 12-year high of 4.35% in move widely expected by economistsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAustralian borrowers have been granted another reprieve with the Reserve Bank holding its key interest rate steady for a third meeting in a row as inflation continues to ebb towards its target range.The RBA board left its cash rate unchanged at a 12-year high of 4.35% after its second...

  • Anthony Albanese threatens to shelve religious discrimination law changes

    Prime minister tells caucus bills will only proceed with bipartisan support, saying now is not the time for divisive debateFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Albanese government has threatened to shelve two draft bills on changes to religious discrimination laws, citing concerns about divisive debate amid heightened Islamophobia and anti-semitism, unless the opposition offers agrees to its “balanced”...

  • Childcare expansion in England may not meet parents’ expectations, says charity

    Survey by Coram found nursery costs and dwindling places will put pressure on government plansRishi Sunak’s plans to expand childcare provision in England are at risk of not living up to parents’ expectations as nursery costs surge and available places dwindle, a charity has warned.The cost of 25 hours a week for a child under two has risen by 7% on 2023, with the most expensive area being inner London where the average cost is £218 a week, the latest annual survey of the Coram Family and...

  • Should forests have rights? – podcast

    A growing movement of ecologists, lawyers and artists is arguing that nature should have legal rights. By recognising the rights of ecosystems and other species, advocates hope that they can gain better protection. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, about where this movement has come from and why the UK government has dismissed the concept, and hears from Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito of NYU School of Law about how he is finding creative ways to give...

  • Death tolls mount as elephants and people compete for land in Sri Lanka

    Conservationists plead for coexistence as shrinking forests drive conflict, with elephant deaths doubling in a decadeSetting out from home to collect firewood on a cool spring morning last year, Harshini Wanninayake and her mother had no idea only one of them would come back alive. The pair were walking to a nearby forest from Eriyawa, a village in north-west Sri Lanka, when they heard a loud rustling close by.“It came out of nowhere,” says Wanninayake. “The elephant was behind the thicket and...

  • S6 Ep 6: Daniel Foxx, playwright

    Sliding into Grace’s sitting room this week is rising star and multitalented comedian, playwright and musical theatre creator, Daniel Foxx. Bringing his concoction of gunk meant only for solo consumption in the small hours, there’s nowhere left to hide. Buckle up and join Grace and Daniel as they go on a tour of the ins and outs of life in the fast lane – or is that the M6 at 1am?Daniel shares his different incarnations – from coming out age 11 to donning a string of pearls post-lockdown. His...

  • Boost walking and cycling in towns and cities, urges UK government adviser

    Chair of Office for Space says move would boost prosperity, health and personal freedom and could help solve housing crisisA leading government adviser on cities has urged ministers to make urban areas friendlier for walking and cycling, saying this would boost prosperity, health and personal freedom, and could even help solve the housing crisis.In a report that takes a notably different stance to Rishi Sunak’s recent “plan for drivers”, which seeks to prioritise car use at the expense of active...

  • Bees move out while National Trust house in Wales gets new roof

    Exclusive: Former owners of Plas yn Rhiw stipulated insects be protected so given temporary home while work takes placeWhen the 17th-century manor house in the far north-west of Wales was bequeathed to the National Trust, it came with a clear condition: the bees in the roof, which sometimes produce so much honey that it oozes through cracks in the walls, should be left alone.However, the ravages of the wind and rain mean the slate roof of the house, Plas yn Rhiw, on the Llŷn peninsula, needs to...

  • Empire of the ants: what insect supercolonies can teach us

    People have long drawn comparisons between ant societies and human ones – but in fact they are a reminder of how limited our influence on the world really isIt is a familiar story: a small group of animals living in a wooded grassland begin, against all odds, to populate Earth. At first, they occupy a specific ecological place in the landscape, kept in check by other species. Then something changes. The animals find a way to travel to new places. They learn to cope with unpredictability. They...

  • Ruling further erodes climate activists’ right to protest in England and Wales

    Court of appeal’s removal of ‘consent’ defence means defendants on trial for criminal damage can no longer use itIt took a matter of minutes in the court of appeal, where demonstrators were strangely absent, for the dial to shift once more on the rights of protest in England and Wales.The decision taken on Monday by the court of appeal to, in effect, find in favour of the attorney general, the Conservative government’s premier legal officer, has removed a defence for climate protesters that had...