Revealed: legal fears over Michael Gove’s new definition of ‘extremism’

Michael Gove is set to announce his controversial plan this week, but some argue it will be challenged in the courts. Photograph: Duncan Bryceland/Rex/Shutterstock

The communities secretary wants ‘trailblazer’ government departments to pilot a scheme to ban individuals and groups deemed extremist from public life

Michael Gove is set to announce a controversial plan this week to ban individuals and groups who “undermine the UK’s system of liberal democracy” from public life, despite fears inside government that the scheme is at risk of a legal challenge, leaked documents reveal.
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Sydney Harbour Bridge and tunnel drivers would be charged tolls in both directions under shakeup

Drivers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and tunnel would be forced to pay fees in both directions under the NSW government’s interim report of its review into Sydney’s toll road network. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

NSW government’s interim report on Sydney’s toll road network would use a ‘declining distance-based rate’ of tolling

Elias Visontay Transport and urban affairs reporter

Sydneysiders driving across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and tunnel should be forced to pay fees in both directions, a review into the city’s patchwork toll road network has recommended, alongside a vision to unify all paid roads under a consistent “declining distance-based rate” of tolling.… Read the rest

The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, wins Oscar for best animation

Hayao Miyazaki. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Master Japanese director wins his second Oscar for story of a young boy searching for his mother during the second world war

The Boy and the Heron, supposedly the final film from Japanese master director Hayao Miyazaki, has won the Oscar for best animated feature film at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

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Mount Everest is too crowded and dirty, says last living member of Hillary team

Kanchha was one of three Sherpas to go to the last camp on Everest along with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

Kanchha Sherpa, 91, says more respect should be shown to sacred peak that has been climbed thousands of times since 1953 ascent

Associated Press in Kathmandu

The only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first reached the summit of Mount Everest has said the world’s highest peak is too crowded and dirty, and the mountain is a god that needs to be respected.

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Shehbaz Sharif sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/03/shehbaz-sharif-sworn-in-as-prime-minister-of-pakistan

Nominated candidate of eight-party coalition takes office after gathering of national assembly

Shehbaz Sharif has been sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan after an election that was riddled with allegations of rigging and irregularities.

Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party, was the nominated candidate of a new eight-party coalition that was formed after no single party managed to win an outright majority in the election on 8 February.

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