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Former Tory vice-chairman Bob Neill and Labour’s Diana Johnson also receive honours

Walkout to demand improved wages and benefits at Lufthansa subsidiary to begin SundayA German cabin crew union has called a three-day strike at Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings, plunging passengers into turmoil over the busy end-of-year holiday as it ramps up a bitter row over pay and conditions.The UFO union said on Friday that Germanwings employees would strike from 11pm GMT on Sunday until 11pm GMT on Wednesday as talks with bosses remained deadlocked. The strike period covers New Year’s Eve and the 1 January public holiday. Continue reading...

Met officers liaise with Swedish counterparts over killing of Flamur Beqiri on 24 DecemberDetectives are investigating whether a man was murdered in front of his family on Christmas Eve in a revenge attack over Swedish crime links.Flamur Beqiri was shot outside his home in Battersea, south-west London, at about 9pm on 24 December as he returned with his wife and young child. Continue reading...

Avangard capable of carrying 2-megaton nuclear weapon at 27 times the speed of sound

This week we are returning to some of our favourite episodes from 2019. When companies run into trouble they can leave ships’ crews drifting at sea with no visas, wages or supplies. In May, Karen McVeigh and Andy Bowerman told the story of one vessel adrift off the coast of the United Arab EmiratesToday we return to one of our favourite episodes of the year. Continue reading...

Police and activists clash for third day in row with leader saying holiday ‘ruined’Hong Kong protesters and police clashed for a third day in a row over the Christmas holiday with demonstrators vowing to return on New Year’s Day.Police fired pepper spray and blue dye at protesters, chanting anti-government and anti-police slogans, marching in shopping malls. Clashes broke out in other malls with police arresting more than 300 people. Continue reading...

Police linking murders of eastern European men, whose bodies were found within 24 hoursDetectives investigating the deaths of two eastern European men have charged a second man with murder.Scotland Yard said Besnik Berisha, 42, of Friern Barnet, north London, was arrested on Monday and later charged with the murder of a 30-year-old man, whose body was discovered in the boot of a car in a remote country lane near Scratchwood Park, in Barnet, north London, on 19 December. Continue reading...

Do you know your Zara from your Viktor and Rolf? Test yourself with our stylish quizWhat did singer HER wear on the red carpet at the VMA’s in August?A live snakeA falafelA spider broochA micro bagHaving halted production in 2004, culture magazine the Face relaunched this year with four cover stars. Who were they?Tom Holland, Taylor Swift, KJ Apa, Hayley KiyokoHarry Styles, Tyler the Creator, Rosalía, Dua LipaBillie Eilish, Pete Davidson, BTS, Bad BunnyMeghan Thee Stallion, Princess Diana, Kourtney Kardashian, Sam SmithAt Milan fashion week, which look did J-Lo recreate on the runway to much fanfare?Her Versace dress from 2000Her uniform from Maid in ManhattanThe single cover of her Pitbull duet, 2014’s World Cup anthem We Are One (Ola Ola)The velour tracksuit from the I’m Real (ft Ja Rule) videoAccording to Hot 4 the Spot, the Instagram account set up in tribute to the Zara polka-dot dress of the summer, people did all of these while wearing it – apart from which one?Hang out with Sam SmithGet marriedTake part in Bake OffSkydiveKatie Holmes helped popularise which portmanteau term?Shacket (shirt jacket)Jeanos (jeans chinos)Sexigan (sexy cardigan)Thotumn (thot and autumn – what happened, possibly, after Hot Girl Summer)Who was on the cover of GQ’s New Masculinity issue?Billy PorterEzra MillerTimothée ChalametPharrell WilliamsWhich of these was not a throwback reference at this year’s fashion shows?Lindsay Lohan’s RumoursThe MatrixMr BlobbyThe flared jeanWho was GQ's worst-dressed man of the year?Jacob Rees-MoggDominic CummingsCristiano RonaldoDonald TrumpWhat did former Victoria's Secret model Kate Upton call the lingerie flogger’s show?A boozefestA snoozefestA boobfestA bluesfestWhich of these was not a slogan from the Viktor and Rolf spring/summer couture collection?I’m not shy, I just don’t like youSorry I’m late, I didn’t want to comeF* this I’m going to ParisYou’re the Regina GeorgeSocial media video site TikTok popularised a number of new demographic subgroups, but which one isn’t real?VSCO girlsE-girlSoft girlFlip-phone girlWhich hairstyle made a surprise comeback this year?The mulletThe micro man bunThe rat’s tailThe perm9 and above.Hot or not? Hot! You know your Zara from your Tommy X Zendaya.12 and above.YOU are the new black. Well done, babes.0 and above.Le désastre. Je suis désolé mais tu ne sais rien au sujet des vêtements.5 and above.You can’t sit with us. You know what happened to Victoria’s Secret, but then a friend said ‘sexigan’ and you stopped responding to their WhatsApps. Continue reading...

Campaigners say police and courts failing to hold hunts accountableFoxhunting is continuing with impunity across the UK, with police and courts failing to hold those organising and taking part in them accountable, a former senior police officer has said, as the hunting season gears up towards its Boxing Day ceremonial climax.In November, anti-hunting campaigners collected 126 witness reports of foxhunting with hounds, including six confirmed and two suspected killings of foxes. Martin Sims, a former head of the national wildlife crime unit, who is now director of investigations at the League Against Cruel Sports, said that figure was just “the tip of the iceberg”. Continue reading...

I had a steak – with chips, no sprouts – and a nice bottle of rioja. I went for a walk. There were no arguments about what to watch on TV. Best Christmas everI haven’t always hated Christmas; I think I enjoyed it as a kid. Not so much since. It is a little about the food (if turkey and sprouts are such good news, why don’t we eat them on any other day, eh?). It has a little more to do with rampant consumerism. Gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath … funny how a festival that is supposed to be about the birth of Christ has come to encompass so many Christian sins. But this isn’t about him; it’s about me, my own family and my own insecurities.I think things turned sour in my 30s, when my siblings selfishly started having families of their own. Suddenly there were new people and generations involved; it became more complicated logistically, as what had been a simple family gathering exploded. This lot went here, that lot there … oh, God, what about Sam? Where’s he going to go? Whose turn is it? I wasn’t involved in these conversations, but I’m sure they happened. They did in my mind, anyway. I had become the grumpy grandad no one wanted, before even being a dad. Continue reading...

Willis penned hits for Earth, Wind & Fire, and wrote score for musical The Color PurpleAllee Willis, the US songwriter behind the Friends theme tune as well as hits such as September by Earth, Wind & Fire, has died aged 72.She had suffered a sudden heart attack and Willis’s partner, Prudence Fenton was described as being “in total shock” over the news. Continue reading...

Test your mettle against our writers’ questions on film, music, politics, theatre and more• Try your hand at the Observer’s literary picture quiz

Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s e-card to friends and colleagues stars baby ArchieThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex have opted to break with tradition and chosen a more eco-friendly way of sending festive wishes, releasing an e-card with their son Archie at centre stage.The card reads: “Merry Christmas and a happy new year”, and at the bottom ends: “From our family to yours”. Continue reading...

Early frost and fog to give way to sunshine in most places, say forecasters, with rain and wind to follow on Boxing Day

Police clashed violently with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong after they stormed Harbour City mall in Tsim Sha Tsui on Christmas Eve.Batons and pepper spray were used against thousands of demonstrators inside the shopping centre and on the streets as people inside the malls threw umbrellas and other objects at police.

Young couple and their boy, and nine-year-old girl and her grandmother, among deadA landslide in Brazil’s northeastern city of Recife on Tuesday caused two houses to collapse, killing seven people, according to local firefighters.A young couple and their two-month-old boy, as well as a nine-year-old girl and her grandmother, were among the dead, according to Brazilian media outlet G1. Continue reading...

In video announcing the news, 25-year-old is seen walking across a desert-like landscapeJustin Bieber has announced his first new album in five years – and teased a new song called Yummy.The 25-year-old pop star unveiled the news to his 123 million Instagram followers on Christmas Eve. He shared the hashtag #Bieber2020, which could indicate the name of the album, his fifth, although the star did not confirm this. Continue reading...

Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, says damaging rhetoric has harmed society as a wholeThe Church of England’s first black female bishop has said the debate around Brexit damaged society and contributed to the death of the MP Jo Cox.Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the former chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, said the arguments around Brexit had had a harmful effect both on parliamentarians and on society as a whole. Continue reading...

Hundreds of officers guard main roads as thousands of shoppers and tourists look onHong Kong riot police fired rounds of teargas at thousands of anti-government protesters, many wearing masks and reindeer horns, after scuffles in shopping centres and a tourist district on Christmas Eve.Demonstrators inside the malls threw umbrellas and other objects at police who responded by beating some with batons; one pointed his gun at the crowd, but did not fire. Continue reading...

Our film American Factory shows the damaging effect of reverse globalisation. British Steel should take heedFor Jill Lamantia, driving a forklift was the easy part of a hard life. Like countless other industrial workers in our hometown of Dayton, Ohio, Lamantia was excited that Fuyao Glass – a major Chinese company – had bought and reopened our abandoned General Motors factory. She had a job again.In her new role, after clocking off at the end of each shift, Lamantia retreated to a small brick house. Clutching spare keys, she would shut the front door and descend the stairs, squeezing past cleaning products on a mop rack. This Midwestern grandmother and former homeowner was living in her sister’s basement. Fuyao is the world’s leading automotive glassmaker. Based in China’s Fujian province, the company surprised many by exporting Chinese jobs to, of all places, America. In 2014 its billionaire founder, chairman and owner, Cao Dewang, saw the symbolic power in buying the gutted GM factory and rehiring scores of former employees such as Lamantia to make glass for the windscreens of motor vehicles manufactured in the US. Continue reading...

Crawley Down villagers recall Sandy Seagrave and Amy Appleton, who died on SundayNeighbours have left floral tributes to two women murdered in a West Sussex village.The victims, named locally as Sandy Seagrave, 76, and Amy Appleton, 32, who is reportedly a teacher at Copthorne Church of England junior school, were killed outside a house in a quiet street in Crawley Down on Sunday. Continue reading...

A woman approached me after my choir’s Christmas concert in Trafalgar Square … What she said gave me what I needed to move onFor me, Christmas was always complicated. As a child, it was joyful, yet tinged with something bittersweet. On the one hand, there was my Scottish mother, who went all-out for tradition. She eagerly collected festive ornaments and planned menus from her beloved Supercook magazines. She would take us to the Walrus and the Carpenter, a traditional toy store on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, the memory of which still elicits wistful sighs from Glaswegians of a certain age.On the other hand, there was my Bengali father. He was a reluctant participant in our Christmas extravaganza. It puzzled me that he couldn’t answer the most basic questions. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer … and then? He would smile sadly. “I’m not too sure.” How could anyone not know that? He seemed far more interested in an elephant called Ganesh who didn’t have to be put back in his box when the decorations came down. Continue reading...

Teresa Xu says doctor told her to hurry up and get married before having childrenAt the end of last year, Teresa Xu visited a hospital in Beijing to discuss options for freezing her eggs. The doctor said she could not help Xu, a single woman, because it went against regulations. Then she gave the 31-year-old some sisterly advice: hurry up, get married and have children now.Xu was shocked and disappointed. “I had no way to express my anger,” she said. She felt like she was being treated like a wayward child. “Like I was an intruder, delaying other couples … like my demands were too much. I felt powerless and depressed.” Continue reading...

Renaissance work sold to foreign bidder has now been declared ‘national treasure’France has blocked the export of a tiny early Renaissance masterpiece found in a French woman’s kitchen that fetched more than €24m (£20.5m) at auction and became the most expensive medieval painting ever sold.Christ Mocked, by the 13th-century Florentine painter Cimabue, had hung for decades above a cooking hotplate in the kitchen of a 1960s house near Compiègne, north of Paris, before it was spotted by an auctioneer who had come to value furniture for a house move. Continue reading...

Anastasia Uglow, 17, of Bristol grammar school, was found unresponsive in her hotel roomA 17-year-old British girl has died during a school trip to New York, the Foreign Office has confirmed.Anastasia Uglow was found unconscious and unresponsive on the morning of 19 December in her room at the Holiday Inn Express in Midtown, Manhattan, where the touring group was staying. Continue reading...

Megan Rapinoe walked it as she talked it, inspiring the USA to World Cup glory while posing important political questionsThe cheeky fire-starters at Eight by Eight magazine knew exactly what they were doing when they waited six whole months until the business end of the Women’s World Cup to publish the interview with Megan Rapinoe they had recorded in January. At least as much as the impish American midfielder knew what she was provoking when asked whether the US women’s national soccer team she captains intended to visit Donald Trump if they managed the exceedingly rare feat of repeating as world champions.“I’m not going to the fucking White House,” Rapinoe flatly stated. “No fucking way will we be invited to the White House.” Continue reading...

The Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, India, is helping to tackle the country’s plastic waste problem – and their novel idea is catching onOn bad days, when his employer made some excuse for not paying him his paltry daily wage, Ram Yadav’s main meal used to be dry chapatis, with salt and raw onion for flavour. Sometimes he just went hungry. For a ragpicker like him, one of the thousands of Indians who make a living bringing in plastic waste for recycling, eating in a cafe or restaurant was the stuff of fairytales.But last week, Yadav was sitting at a table at the Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, over a piping hot meal of dal, aloo gobi, poppadoms and rice. He earned the food in exchange for bringing in 1kg of plastic waste. “The hot meal I get here lasts me all day. And it feels good to sit at a table like everyone else,” he said. Continue reading...

From uptempo romance to feelgood dance, politically spicy rap and crowdpleasing pop, the biggest tracks across Africa last year went big on cross-continental appeal Continue reading...

Duke of Edinburgh expected to join Queen in Sandringham for Christmas

Location for talks to be split with Brussels in symbolic shift marking UK’s non-EU statusLondon is expected to co-host the next stage of post-Brexit negotiations with Brussels in a symbolic shift marking the UK’s position outside the EU after 31 January.The most likely location for the talks involving teams led by Michel Barnier for the EU and a yet-to-be-identified minister for the British government is the Cabinet Office in Whitehall. Continue reading...

It was the show of the year and he was its cold heart. The actor talks about fracturing his feet, concocting that ludicrous rap – and what’s next for the Roy evil empireOne of the most exquisitely embarrassing moments of 2019 centred on a rap, and it wasn’t Michael Gove quoting Stormzy. Late in the second season of Succession, Kendall Roy, the son and possible heir of the monstrous media titan Logan Roy (Brian Cox), paid tribute to his father’s 50th anniversary in the business, not with a watch or a touching speech, but with a burst of hip-hop: “L to the OG, dude be the OG, AN he playin ...”His brother Roman quips that he is “Ken W A”. Roman’s girlfriend, Tabitha, can’t look away, even though she says it is burning her eyes to watch. It is a horrifying spectacle. And yet it is hard to deny that Kendall can, kind of, well, rap. Continue reading...

The Bangladeshi government is making life hard for young people trying to document levels of hardship in the world’s largest refugee settlementFor Azimul Hassan, 19, life before he entered the world’s largest refugee settlement was always busy.He would wake early to visit his private tutor before school, then work late every evening to finish his homework. On Fridays, he would play football with friends – he was a striker. Continue reading...

Bollo Brook youth centre credited with saving children from knife crime is at centre of gentrification rowA London youth club credited with saving children from rising knife violence is facing calls for its closure from new residents who think it would be better used as a coffee shop.The Bollo Brook youth centre in South Acton, which serves some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in London, is embroiled in a gentrification row with residents demanding the council close it down and remove it from the area, claiming it has been “dumped” on them causing “nothing but problems”. Continue reading...

The left are crushed. The UK government is starting to look like just another authoritarian European oneAround Europe, the UK general election was followed with huge interest. Leftists were paying particularly close attention, as they understood that a victory for a genuine social democratic party would have an enormous impact on parties and movements around the continent and beyond. Meanwhile, in the brutally simplistic and, ultimately, effective methods of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, we could also see echoes of our own recent elections, where perceived strong leadership and appeals to national pride struck a chord with many voters.For those of us living in central Europe, this has been all the more acute. The new British government looks familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to politics in this region – and particularly to Hungary since Viktor Orbán became prime minister again in 2010. In their manifesto, the Conservatives made a pledge to “look at the broader aspects of our constitution”, including the relationship between the three branches of government. That may be vague, but it sounds at least somewhat similar to promises made by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) to reform the courts, and the ongoing attempts by Orbán’s Fidesz party to take control of the judiciary. Since the election, Johnson has made policy promises straight out of the Fidesz and PiS playbook, including threats against the media, crackdowns on Traveller camps, and the creation of a dedicated immigration and borders department. Continue reading...

The moral case for the former Manus island detainee becoming a citizen is as simple as ‘asylum is a human right’I wonder if it winds up Peter Dutton to know that Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish-Iranian journalist, award-winning author, and former Manus Island detainee, is a free man in the continent’s orbit. Boochani, the best-known witness, critic and victim of Australia’s offshore “processing centres”, remains in New Zealand after his 30-day visa came to an end. No one quite knows what the No Friend But the Mountains author is planning next, but it seems safe to assume that sooner or later he’ll lodge an application for asylum in New Zealand. A permanent reminder to Dutton, his predecessors, and the country’s immigration detention system that they are not as close to vanishing the “boat people” problem as they might have thought.For their part New Zealand’s policy-makers fear as much with headlines suggesting if Boochani’s hypothetical asylum application is successful it could “fuel tensions with Australia”. The problem is Behrouz Boochani, New Zealander, would enjoy free movement between his new home and his old incarcerators, unless Dutton and the gang insert new exceptions in the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. This is the “back door” the Coalition government in Canberra is so afraid of, and the political problem preventing Scott Morrison from taking up Jacinda Ardern’s invitation to resettle the last remaining detainees on Manus. Continue reading...

Monarch could be referring to Boris Johnson’s proroguing of parliament, among other problems faced this yearThe Queen will use her Christmas message to say 2019 has been “quite bumpy”, after she was drawn into a constitutional crisis by Boris Johnson and Prince Andrew was forced to withdraw from public life over his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The pre-recorded message is also sprinkled with what could be interpreted as references to Brexit, as the Queen urges a nation divided over Europe to “put past difference behind us” and “honour the freedom and democracy” won in the second world war. Continue reading...

• Incident was reported to police by fellow Chelsea fan

A 35-year-old man is being questioned after the suspected stabbing in the cityDetectives investigating the deaths of two people found in a flat in Belfast have arrested a 35-year-old man, police have said.He has been taken to Musgrave police station for questioning after the bodies of a man and a woman were found in the apartment in the Kinniard Close area on Monday afternoon. Local sources said it is understood they suffered stab wounds. Continue reading...

Court exonerates crown prince’s inner circle of involvement in murder of dissident journalistSaudi Arabia has been accused of engaging in a mockery of justice by shielding the alleged masterminds of the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after a court effectively exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle of involvement in the murder.The gruesome killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 stunned Saudi Arabia’s western allies, plunging the kingdom into its worst diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks. Continue reading...

Yew Fook Sam faced deportation after accusation he was pretending to be gayA man accused of pretending to be gay to avoid deportation to his native Malaysia, where homosexual acts are illegal, has been granted asylum after the Home Office accepted that people could be gay and single.The result is being celebrated as a victory against outdated stereotypes about gay people. Continue reading...

Foreign correspondent with a knowledge and love of Africa who worked for the Guardian, the Independent and the BBCThe journalist Alex Duval Smith, who has died of cancer aged 55, was a free spirit with a remarkable gift for connecting with others across social, language or cultural barriers.For more than two decades she worked as a reporter and correspondent in European and African countries, for the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the BBC, Radio France International and France 24. She had a deep knowledge of and love for Africa and was a citizen of the world – with two nationalities and three languages; she had lived in almost a dozen countries. Continue reading...

Steven Bouquet, 52, accused of criminal damage relating to the wounding or killing of 16 catsA man has been accused of attacking 16 cats, nine of which were killed, over the space of eight months in Brighton.Sussex police have charged 52-year-old security guard Steven Bouquet with 16 counts of criminal damage, relating to the wounding or killing of 16 cats between between 2 October 2018 and 1 June 2019. Continue reading...

Equalities minister says social networks must act faster in taking down illegal contentFrance’s equalities minister has said social networks must do more to ensure illegal content is immediately taken down, after a video of an alleged rape was shared widely on Twitter.Two 16-year-old boys have been charged with the rape of a teenage girl and remanded in custody outside Paris. Continue reading...

The Saudi Arabian journalist was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018Jamal Khashoggi disappears after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needs in order to get married to Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancee. She waits outside the consulate and calls the police when he does not return. Continue reading...

President Macron says 40 jihadists killed, delivering ‘heavy blow’ to Islamist group

Former royal adviser Saud al-Qahtani was investigated but released without being chargedFive men have been sentenced to death and another three face a total of 24 years in prison for their roles in the gruesome murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year, the Saudi public prosecutor’s office has said.Eight of the 11 people on trial were found guilty of the killing, which triggered the kingdom’s biggest diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks as world leaders and business executives sought to distance themselves from Riyadh. Continue reading...

In 1984, my mother thought I was doing a degree because I was a single mum who couldn’t get a job. Cramped together in her house in Ipswich that year, I realised she was there for meAt Christmas in 1984, my baby was seven weeks old. I was in the last year of a cultural studies degree and simply saw Christmas as a time to get some work done. My mum could take the baby while I caught up with Marx, Foucault and Barthes, and worked out what my dissertation would be on. (Pleasure, as it turns out, but that’s another story.)I am aware how pretentious this all sounds, but I don’t care. If you can’t be pretentious at 25, when can you? Continue reading...

Gare de Lyon protest comes on 19th day of industrial action over pension changesStriking French rail workers have clashed with riot police in Paris after holding a demonstration against pension changes despite Emmanuel Macron’s call for a Christmas truce.Hundreds of trade unionists and strikers gathered on Monday morning outside Gare de Lyon station, which is used by large numbers of passengers travelling south for the holidays or to ski resorts near the Alps, and where many services have been cancelled. Continue reading...

Utsunomiya’s culinary obsession with dumplings dates back to the end of the war, but the city has a new rivalPan-fried, deep-fried or simmered in boiling water, the humble gyoza is venerated in Japan, but nowhere more so than in Utsunomiya, whose residents have the tiny parcels of pork and cabbage to thank for rescuing their city from obscurity.The city of just over half a million, 60 miles (100km) north of Tokyo, has built an entire tourist industry around its association with the dumplings, drawing 9 million visitors a year with the sole purpose of eating Utsunomiya’s contribution to Japanese cuisine. Continue reading...

Chloe Haines will be sentenced in January after admitting endangering aircraft’s safetyA woman who allegedly tried to open the door of a passenger plane midway through a flight from the UK to Turkey has admitted endangering the safety of an aircraft.Chloe Haines, 26, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, caused the Jet2 flight to be diverted back to Stansted airport on 22 June. Continue reading...