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As the president maintains his border wall demand, a handful of White House insiders and pundits may bear responsibilityIt was Monday night and the university football champions were coming to dinner at the White House. Catering staff were furloughed due to the partial government shutdown. So naturally Donald Trump served up a banquet of fast food. “Trump bought food from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and Domino’s,” observed the late-night TV host James Corden. “Or, as he calls them, his four most trusted advisers.”The US president’s widely mocked decision to splash out $3,000 of his own money said something about his obstinacy during the shutdown, now the longest in American history and the result of political stalemate over his demand $5.7bn for a wall on the US-Mexico border. As workers are hit in the pocket, airport queues grow and his poll ratings slump . It also raised the question: who are his real “most trusted advisers” and why are they urging him down a path to apparent political suicide? Continue reading...

With thousands of FBI and TSA staff furloughed and critical functions hit, the shutdown is a disaster for national security

Masazo Nonaka, who enjoyed watching sumo wrestling and eating sweets, died at home on HokkaidoThe world’s oldest man has died at his home, a hot springs on Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, at the age of 113.His family said Masazo Nonaka died peacefully from natural causes in the early hours of Sunday while sleeping in the inn in Ashoro, which has been run by his family for four generations. Continue reading...

Blaze forces evacuation of 60 workers, including foreigners, from three-storey buildingTwo people have died and 22 more were injured in a fire at the ski resort of Courchevel in the French Alps, officials said.The pre-dawn blaze forced the evacuation of 60 resort workers, including foreigners, from a three-storey accommodation building. Continue reading...

Bank asked ‘shocked’ customer to resend message in EnglishA major bank told a customer who wrote to it in Welsh to complain that some services were not available in her language that she should communicate with it in English rather than a “foreign” tongue.Nia Lloyd, a classroom assistant from Wrexham in north Wales, wrote to HSBC pointing out that online services were not available in Welsh. Continue reading...

Two people have died and a dozen more injured in a fire at the French ski resort of Courchevel, according to officials. A witness who was staying at a hotel opposite the burning building captured this footage of the pre-dawn fire

Carter Cookson’s parents launched social media campaign to find heart donorA baby whose parents started a social media campaign in a desperate bid to find him a new heart has died.Carter Cookson, who was born prematurely on Boxing Day, died at 5.44pm on Saturday, his mother, Sarah Cookson, said. Continue reading...

Sleek, pared-back, industrial elegance – that’s how most of us think of Bauhaus, the modernist design group born in Germany in 1919. But that was only one side of this short-lived but longlasting movement…

For all its rhetoric, the US under Donald Trump is on a clear path of disengagement in international mattersAmerica’s ambivalence about engagement with the world beyond its shores is nothing new. Isolationist instincts are deeply rooted in the national psyche. Large constituencies opposed US involvement in both world wars. Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign was the most recent manifestation of a longstanding desire to avoid the “foreign entanglements” that the first US president, George Washington, warned against in his 1796 farewell address.Yet, as US power expanded, this yearning for separateness grew increasingly at odds with another national urge – to demonstrate America’s pre-eminence, and propagate its values and interests, through global leadership. This process climaxed in the early 1990s when America’s main rival, the Soviet Union, imploded and the US claimed the mantle of sole superpower. Continue reading...

Nevada City is seeking to raise $30,000 to acquire goats to munch through acres of vegetation that could fuel wildfiresA California town threatened by the sort of wildfires that recently wiped out a neighbouring community is appealing for an unusual type of help: a crack team of goats.Related: The US won't be prepared for the next natural disaster Continue reading...

When his 88-year-old mother asked him to buy heroin so she could end her life, the author Guy Kennaway decided there was only one thing to do: write a book about itHow can you resist an author who proclaims on his dust jacket: “Guy Kennaway lives for pleasure, producing books only when all else has failed”? He’s someone I’ve been running into at parties for years (he is friends with Jay Jopling of White Cube and the artist Mat Collishaw), but I never once suspected he was a writer. I thought maybe he was an art dealer of some sort, or possibly a collector – he was too well-dressed and socially assured to be an artist, still less a writer. That’s fine, he says; he doesn’t hang out with writers, because he thinks they are rather dreary, bitter people – he prefers artists because, “They know how to have a good time and they’ve got money.” But it turns out he has published five books, and his new book, Time To Go, is a corker which should keep book clubs arguing for years.It is both a serious discussion of self-euthanasia – which is how the publishers seem to be billing it – and a darkly hilarious account of his tricky relationship with his mother, Susie. It starts with her asking him to get her some heroin because she wants to be able to kill herself when the time comes. She is 88 and her husband, Stanley, is even older. They are both getting frail and she fears they might end up in some ghastly care home. Also, they live in France and are worried Brexit might mean an end to free healthcare. So it would be nice if she and Stanley could die together, in their double bed, at a time of their own choosing. How sweet, you might think, how sensible. But then you don’t yet know Susie. She is “certainly no Mrs Tiggy-Winkle,” Guy warns us, but “a woman of passion, anger and determination. She still relished revenge and had many scores to settle.” He thinks one of the scores might be with him and that she is plotting to get him busted for heroin. Continue reading...

Organisers will have to apply for a specific liquor licence, similar to those for pubs and clubs, in bid to keep young people safeMusic festivals will have to be licensed in New South Wales under new regulations following a string of tragedies.Five people have now died after attending music festivals, including 23-year-old Joseph Pham and 21-year-old Diana Nguyen, who both died of suspected drug overdoses after attending the Defqon.1 festival in September. Continue reading...

I grew up with an awful self-consciousness – not being as smooth and hairless as the white bodies I saw around me. In Italy, I finally took my shirt off and let the sun hit my furry chest

Former PM says retiring MP ‘demonstrated women can do anything’ as Katie Allen confirms she will run for preselection for HigginsMalcolm Turnbull has paid tribute to the retiring minister for jobs and women, Kelly O’Dwyer, describing her as a “true liberal” who “demonstrated women can do anything”.O’Dwyer’s shock resignation on Saturday has sparked further debate about the low representation of women in the Liberal party and the difficulty for senior parliamentarians of balancing work and family commitments. Continue reading...

Family initially thought the international student was kidnapped or had fallen while returning home to Bundoora from a comedy showNoor Maasarwe was watching the news when she realised that her missing sister, Aiia, had been found dead in Melbourne.“I [saw] in the news that they found a body. They didn’t say for who it was,” Maasarwe told Nine News on Sunday from Israel. Continue reading...

Opponent Martin Fayulu rejects ruling, saying the court has enabled a ‘constitutional coup d’etat’The constitutional court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has confirmed Felix Tshisekedi’s presidential election win, dismissing a challenge from another opposition leader who had accused him and the ruling party of stitching up the result.Second-placed Martin Fayulu rejected the provisional tally for DRC’s election released last week, saying it was the product of a secret deal between Tshisekedi and outgoing President Joseph Kabila to cheat him out of a clear win of more than 60%. Continue reading...

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Julen Roselló, aged two, fell down the 100m borehole while out walking with his parents near MálagaRescuers in southern Spain have began drilling in the hope of rescuing a two-year-old boy trapped in a deep well for six days.The mission to save the child has triggered an outpouring of public support as rescuers struggle with the challenge of bringing heavy equipment up steep access roads and reaching the toddler safely. Continue reading...

Australians are rejecting the neoliberal economic values that define the Liberals. Of these, O’Dwyer has consistently been a championKelly O’Dwyer is the fourth minister to hold the industrial relations portfolio in the Australian federal government since the Coalition came to power in 2013.That’s even one more IR minister than we’ve had prime ministers – and O’Dwyer’s just resigned. Continue reading...

Teenagers from Covington Catholic High School filmed jeering at Nathan Phillips and chanting ‘build that wall’A Catholic school in Kentucky has condemned a group of its students after they were recorded harassing a Native American Vietnam veteran in a video that went viral on Saturday.The students, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, from private, all-male Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally on Friday when they were filmed surrounding Nathan Phillips and mocking the Native American’s singing and drumming. Continue reading...

Three survivors picked up by helicopter after 10 to 11 hours at sea, but charities fear worst after bodies seen in waterAn estimated 170 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean in two incidents involving dinghies that left from Libya and Morocco, migrants organisations have said.One dinghy was spotted sinking in rough waters on Friday by an Italian military plane on patrol. The plane dropped two safety rafts into the water but had to leave due to a lack of fuel, Rear Admiral Fabio Agostini told TV channel RaiNews24. Continue reading...

George Rusu alleged to have used drone on field near runway on Christmas EveA 38-year-old man has been charged with flying a drone near Heathrow airport days after a scare at Gatwick grounded more than 1,000 flights.George Rusu allegedly used a drone on a field near the runway at Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, on Christmas Eve. The alleged incident happened just three days after Gatwick fully reopened on 21 December following three days of chaos affecting some 140,000 passengers. Continue reading...

Duke reportedly back behind the wheel as it is revealed councillors and police had clashed over plans for speed camerasPolice have spoken to the Duke of Edinburgh after he was pictured driving a new Land Rover, seemingly without a seatbelt, just 48 hours after his crash with a Kia car carrying two women and a baby.Images published on Saturday appear to show Prince Philip, wearing tinted glasses, back behind the wheel of a replacement Freelander on the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Continue reading...

At least 71 dead and 76 injured in blast that occurred as people tried to fill containers with fuelThe death toll from the explosion of a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves in central Mexico has risen to 71, the governor of the state of Hidalgo has said.At a news conference with the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the governor, Omar Fayad, said 76 people had also been injured in Friday evening’s explosion, which happened as people tried to fill containers with fuel. Continue reading...

Gdańsk mayor’s funeral revealed a nation in shock, bereft of a man who stood for opennessEven as Paweł Adamowicz was lying in state at Gdańsk’s European Solidarity Centre, a museum, archive, and public space dedicated to the history and values of the independent trade union born in the city’s shipyards, its grief-stricken staff were preparing his entry into history.The opening of the museum in 2014 was the realisation of a dream for Adamowicz, a Gdańsk native who had long sought to present his city to the world as a symbol of Europe’s hard-won freedom. In between shifts maintaining an overnight vigil by his coffin, researchers gathered materials with which to commemorate him. Continue reading...

Demonstrators gather for 80 events across 31 cities including London, Berlin and New York to protest violence against women and the gendered impact of austerity9.30pm GMTWe’re wrapping up our live coverage of the 2019 Women’s March. Thanks for reading.9.24pm GMTA few more images from marches around the country: Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greens and the ACTU say parliament should investigate AFP’s role in the detention of Bahraini refugee in ThailandA parliamentary inquiry should examine the actions of the Australian Federal Police which led to the arrest of Hakeem al-Araibi in Thailand, Australia’s peak union body and the Greens have said.Al-Araibi, a 25-year-old Bahraini refugee who has permanent residency in Australia, was arrested on arrival in Bangkok for a holiday, on the basis of an Interpol red notice, which was later lifted. Continue reading...

Thousands gathered across the globe to call for equality and the protection of women’s rights Continue reading...

Vince Cable says move follows cross-party talks on Brexit deadlock optionsCabinet ministers involved in cross-party talks on how to break the Brexit deadlock have given the first indication that they are prepared to examine plans for a potential second referendum on the UK’s departure from the EU, according to the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable.The offer to examine a possible timetable for a second vote drawn up by the Lib Dems was made during discussions between senior Liberal Democrats and two cabinet ministers involved in the talks, Michael Gove and David Lidington, in the Cabinet Office on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands take to city streets to protest against violence and the impact of austerity on their livesPropelled by a mass public rendition of Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves and accompanied by a thudding police helicopter overhead, hundreds of protesters have rallied in central London in solidarity with an estimated 89 Women’s Marches worldwide.In Athens, Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles, to name just a few, tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out to protest against violence against women and the impact of policies of austerity. They also had some choice words for Donald Trump and Theresa May. Continue reading...

Patients believed to have inhaled cryptococcus at Queen Elizabeth University hospitalTwo patients have died at a hospital after contracting a fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings.The individuals are thought have caught the airborne disease at the Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow after inhaling the fungus cryptococcus, typically found in soil and pigeon droppings. Continue reading...

Demonstrators march on the streets of Washington, Berlin and London on Saturday as part of the global Women's March to protest against violence against women and the impact of policies of austerity

Unscrupulous business interests slaver at the prospect of crashing out of Europe Continue reading...

A New York court has heard how the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán eluded capture with his mistress while paying millions to politicians and policeThat Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán – on trial in New York for heading the world’s biggest drug cartel – escaped a raid through a tunnel beneath his bath is legend; what is not known is that he did so stark naked with the mistress with whom he was abed when the Mexican marines arrived.That Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel bribed politicians and senior military officers is presumed by most Mexicans; that he bribed presidents would surprise few – what we had not heard is that he allegedly haggled down a presidential demand for $250m protection money to $100m. Continue reading...

Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer says remain option should be on ballot paperLabour must keep open the option of a second EU referendum with remain on the ballot paper, Keir Starmer has said.After Theresa May’s Brexit deal was overwhelmingly voted down on Tuesday, leaving Labour as potential kingmakers in shaping the nature of Britain’s exit from the European Union, the shadow Brexit secretary said Labour must either instruct the government to negotiate a close economic relationship with the EU based on a customs union, or campaign for a further public vote. Continue reading...

A massive fireball that engulfed people collecting fuel gushing from a pipeline allegedly ruptured by thieves in central Mexico killed at least 66 people and badly burned more than 76

Fears rise for homeless and vulnerable people as communities brace for another week of relentless hot weatherIt was 48.9C last Tuesday in Port Augusta, South Australia, an old harbour city that now harvests makes solar power. Michelle Coles, the owner of the local cinema, took off her shoes at night to test the concrete before letting the dogs out. “People tend to stay at home,” she said. “They don’t walk around when it’s like this.”It’s easy to see why: in the middle of the day it takes seconds to blister a dog’s paw or child’s foot. In Mildura, in northern Victoria, last week gardeners burned their hands when they picked up their tools, which had been left in the sun at 46C. Fish were dying in the rivers. Continue reading...

White officers get £1.80 an hour more than black and Asian peers, says studyThe pay gap in the Metropolitan police between white officers and their black and Asian counterparts has widened in the past year despite promises to close the divide, new figures have shown.A Met study of average wages found that black and Asian police officers working in London were paid £1.80 an hour less than their white colleagues last year, compared with £1.52 in 2017. All 37 senior officers on salaries of £100,000-plus were white, it found, while ethnic minority officers received fewer and smaller bonuses than their colleagues. Continue reading...

It is understood the pupils took valium, or diazepam, outside a school in Dunfermline in FifeA boy and a girl aged 13 have been charged by police after 10 pupils fell ill when they swallowed pills outside a school.Four of the children were taken to hospital with the other six treated by paramedics at the scene after the alarm was raised on Friday lunchtime. Continue reading...

Loss of autonomy is a painful reality of old age – but it’s hard to let go when, like Prince Philip, you are used to being in chargeIn the wake of his car crash on Thursday afternoon, in which the Duke of Edinburgh rather miraculously walked away unhurt, there has been much speculation over the man’s great age, and whether, at 97, he is now simply too old to operate so independently. Loss of autonomy becomes inevitable when you reach such a ripe vintage, but it is never easy to hand over – in both a metaphorical and literal sense – the keys you have held for so long in your grip.My grandfather lived until he was 94. Neither he nor his wife, my grandmother (still alive at 99), looked, or acted, their age. The necessity to give up certain activities only ever came at them rudely, and they could never be told they were too old for anything; they had to learn it for themselves, the hard way. Continue reading...

Poles mourn critic of ruling party’s anti-immigration policies who was stabbed at charity eventPolish and European officials joined thousands of people from across Poland on Saturday for the funeral of Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of the northern city of Gdańsk, who died on Monday after being stabbed the night before at a charity event.The European council president. Donald Tusk, a friend of Adamowicz, was among those attending the burial at the vast Gothic St Mary’s Basilica. Poland’s president Andrzej Duda and the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, also attended along with former leaders including Lech Wałęsa. Continue reading...

Ex-PM urges Theresa May to stage series of ‘indicative’ votes as way out of impasseSir John Major has called for MPs to be allowed to have a free vote on a series of options to solve the unfolding Brexit crisis, saying he feared millions would be hurt if Britain crashed out of the EU with the wrong deal.The former prime minister called on Theresa May to stage a series of “indicative” votes in parliament to establish if any proposals could command a majority. Continue reading...

A massive fireball that engulfed people scooping up spilling fuel from a pipeline ruptured by thieves in central Mexico killed 21 and badly burned 71

Carrying flags and candles through the streets, thousands of people walked in procession on Friday along with the coffin of Gdańsk's murdered mayor, Paweł Adamowicz. He was stabbed on Sunday evening by a man who rushed the stage during a charity event. Adamowicz died the following day

Unreleased poll for group backing second referendum finds almost a third would be less likely to back partyA leaked poll commissioned by the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign suggests that voters would be less likely to back Labour if the party was committed to stopping Brexit.According to the poll, passed to the Guardian, almost a third of respondents said they would be less likely to vote Labour, a similar number to those who said it would not make a difference. Twenty-five per cent said it would make them more likely to back Labour, with the rest saying they did not know. Continue reading...

Force says collision took place between police car responding to 999 call and pedestrianA woman in her 20s has been taken to hospital after being struck by a police car.Surrey police said a collision took place between a car on blue lights responding to a 999 call and the woman on the A23 in Earlswood at around 7pm on Friday. Continue reading...