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Critics say she was not up to job of getting German army into shape against backdrop of Ukraine war

Alleged to be a boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, Denaro had been on run for 30 years and was arrested in PalermoMatteo Messina Denaro, the last “godfather” of the Sicilian mafia and one of the world’s most-wanted criminals, has been arrested in Palermo after 30 years on the run.Denaro, 60, who has been in hiding since 1993, was apprehended in a private clinic in the Sicilian city. Continue reading...

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£43m of support will extend trials of personalised therapies for children and adults at network of specialised medical centresCancer patients will have greater access to clinical trials of personalised therapies after a funding boost for specialised medical centres designed to make new treatments available as soon as possible.Doctors and scientists at 29 experimental cancer medicine centres (ECMCs) in the UK are to receive £43m in fresh support over the next five years to trial new treatments for children and adults. These include drugs that encourage the immune system to attack tumours or prevent cancer cells from growing. Continue reading...

Opposition leader Chris Minns pledges to reduce number of machines as Dominic Perrottet hits out at Bob Carr

Industrial action also set to escalate in other sectors while government gears up anti-strike legislationA wave of further teaching, ambulance and civil service strikes is likely to move forward this week as nurses are set for their second major period of industrial action.While ministers signalled a new deal may be close with the rail unions, strikes looked set to escalate in other sectors as ministers geared up to introduce controversial new anti-strike legislation to the House of Commons on Monday. Continue reading...

At least nine people died as survivors tell of hiding in bathtubs and containers as ferocious storms bore down on homesJoe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Alabama on Sunday, after at least nine people died in tornadoes that destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands in south-eastern US states this week.The president ordered federal aid to supplement regional recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, winds and tornadoes on 12 January, a White House statement said. Continue reading...

At least 20 dead and fate of 40 remains unknown with scores left homeless says governor

Fashion label has taken items you might already own – a white vest, a backpack – to its menswear showNo one comes to Milan fashion week for its “useful clothes”. Yet this was the verdict of the director Luca Guadagnino, who sat in the front row on Sunday’s menswear show: “Useful, yes, wearable, yes, all those things. Everyone can wear this.”Price tags aside, his point was this: just as in previous collections, Prada took things you might already own – a ribbed white vest, a backpack – and turned them into must-have pieces. They did the same with duffle coats, donkey jackets, black office brogues and navy parkas. Sometimes fashion holds up a mirror to what’s happening in the world, but sometimes it reminds us of what we already own. Continue reading...

Casualty suffered broken bones after falling into burn at Grey Mare’s Tail and being carried downstreamA man was airlifted to hospital with multiple injuries after he was swept over a waterfall in Scotland.A rescue operation was launched after the man lost his footing and fell into the burn at the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway on Saturday. Continue reading...

Met Office warns of icy conditions across UK, with hundreds of flood warnings still in placeWintry showers are expected to create icy conditions across all four nations of the UK from Sunday evening, forecasters have warned.The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for ice covering Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, northern England, northern Wales and the Midlands, while hundreds of flood warnings are in place across the UK. Continue reading...

Exclusive: calls for complete ban until end of March amid concern over forced installations by warrantLeading energy suppliers have stopped reclaiming debts from some prepayment meter customers amid calls for a industry moratorium on clawing back money owed through the devices.The Guardian understands that ScottishPower, which has nearly five million customers, has stopped recovering outstanding debts from people who have been moved on to prepayment meters in recent weeks. Continue reading...

Girl, 7, among six people injured in ‘senseless act’ outside memorial service to a mother and daughterSuspects fired a shotgun from a moving car at mourners outside a church in north London in an attack that left a seven-year-old girl in a life-threatening condition, the Met police said.Officers said multiple people were injured by shotgun pellets fired from a black Toyota near a memorial service for a young woman who died of cancer and her mother. Continue reading...

Questions were raised over Tory chair’s use of offshore company to hold shares in polling firm YouGovNadhim Zahawi has agreed to pay several million pounds in tax to the authorities after a dispute over his family’s financial affairs, it has been reported.Representatives of the Conservative party chair are believed to be paying after questions over his use of an offshore company to hold shares in the polling firm YouGov, according to the Sun on Sunday. Continue reading...

Sam Blyth was guarantor of credit facility of up to £800,000 that helped fund Johnson’s lifestyle, it has emergedA distant cousin of Boris Johnson acted as a guarantor for a credit facility of up to £800,000 while he was in Downing Street that helped fund his lifestyle.Johnson benefited from the backing of Sam Blyth, a Canadian millionaire businessman in the education sector, who is a second cousin of the former prime minister’s father, Stanley. He is understood to have had use of the credit facility from February 2021 while in No 10 but did not draw down the full amount. Continue reading...

Foreign nationals from Australia, France, Ireland and India among the passengers onboardAt least 68 people were confirmed dead and hope faded for any survivors after a plane with 72 onboard crashed in Nepal, the Himalayan country’s deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.“Thirty-one [bodies] have been taken to hospitals,” said police official, AK Chhetri, adding that another 36 were still in the 300-metre gorge the aircraft plunged into at the site in Pokhara in central Nepal. Continue reading...

Ex-PM ratchets up rhetoric after surprise loss to former army chief and Nato military chair Gen Petr PavelThe former Czech Republic prime minister Andrej Babiš has set the scene for a bitter presidential election showdown dominated by rows over the country’s communist past by comparing his rival to Vladimir Putin after a surprise first-round poll defeat.Final tallies after polls closed on Saturday showed Babiš finishing a close second to Gen Petr Pavel, a former army chief of staff and Nato military chair, propelling the pair into a head-to-head ballot on 27-28 January for the right to succeed Miloš Zeman as Czech president. Continue reading...

Former Sex Pistol competing to represent Ireland with love letter to wife of 44 years who is living with the illnessJohn Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known as Johnny Rotten) will appear with his band, Public Image Ltd, on the Late Late Show on 3 February, performing Hawaii, a love letter to his wife of 44 years, Nora Forster, who is living with the illness.“I’m doing it to highlight the sheer torture of what Alzheimer’s is,” said the singer, who holds an Irish passport as well as US citizenship. “It gets swept under the carpet, but in highlighting it, hopefully we get a stage nearer to a cure.” Lydon insisted that spreading this message was much more important than competing to win, so he isn’t listening to the five other entrants. Continue reading...

Party has high hopes in a dozen or more blue wall seats – if it can persuade new Labour supporters to vote tacticallyAmong the many electoral subplots emerging ahead of the next UK general election, one in particular is occupying the minds of Liberal Democrat strategists: how to persuade a glut of new Labour supporters to vote tactically.What the Lib Dems are calling a “Labour squeeze” tactic could help shape the result in a dozen or more constituencies, and potentially remove a series of Conservative big-hitters including Dominic Raab and John Redwood. But, it is fair to say, this is intricate stuff. Continue reading...

Expansion in first six months of Albanese government beats record of Kevin Rudd and Bob Hawke administrations

Anglican bishops to discuss and vote on proposal to be put to synod in FebruaryFor 23 years, Jay Greene and the Rev Marion Clutterbuck have devoted themselves to each other and to the Church of England.Clutterbuck, 66, was one of the first female priests to be ordained in the 1990s. Greene, 69, has served on the church’s parliament, the General Synod, and she is a church commissioner. Continue reading...

Coalition’s program allowing choice of annual tax over stamp duty could exceed projection of 6,000 applicants

People in social housing often face hottest conditions and struggle to pay for air conditioning, advocates say

Nine local authorities pause plans following government’s decision to drop mandatory targetsThousands of new homes are at risk after a series of local authorities cut or delayed their housebuilding plans after ministers decided to drop mandatory building targets.Nine local authorities in England have paused or scaled back their plans after Michael Gove announced last month that the government would no longer pursue a mandatory target of 300,000 new homes a year, a Guardian analysis has found. Continue reading...

Labour leader sets out views on health service, saying ‘if we don’t get real about reform, the NHS will die’Keir Starmer has said Labour is prepared to reform the NHS to prevent it dying, as he said the current system of GP visits “isn’t working”.The Labour leader said his party was going to tackle “bureaucratic nonsense” in the NHS and argued people should be able to self-refer themselves to a physio for back pain or to order a test for “internal bleeding” rather than having to see a GP.He had “concerns” about Scotland’s laws to allow people legally to change their gender without medical diagnosis, saying he did not agree that those aged 16 should be able to do this. The UK government is considering whether to block the legislation in a constitutionally controversial move.He had never dreamed of wanting to be prime minister when younger or when he first entered parliament, but his mission as Labour leader was now motivated by “duty”.He could not guarantee his leadership pledge that Labour would abolish tuition fees because the political landscape had changed after the Covid pandemic.Labour would not take the UK back into the EU or the single market, and he resisted the idea that Brexit was to blame for the country’s financial troubles. Continue reading...

Britain is falling behind European countries for mortality among mothers, and suicide is the leading cause of postpartum death

Critics say riders show only cursory respect for the rules of the roadParisians will be invited to vote on whether to allow electric scooter rental services to continue operating in the French capital as authorities weigh banning the controversial for-hire vehicles, the city’s mayor has said.The issue is “extremely divisive”, Anne Hidalgo told the weekend edition of Le Parisien newspaper, with critics saying riders show only cursory respect for the rules of the road. Continue reading...

Owner’s family to sell Dance on the Beach and split up to £20m with descendants of Jewish academic who had to sell it in 1934A painting by Edvard Munch that lay hidden in a barn alongside a version of The Scream, to keep it out of the hands of German soldiers, is to be sold at auction and the proceeds split with the family of the Jewish man who was forced to sell it when fleeing the Nazis.The monumental Dance on the Beach will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in London on 1 March and is estimated to fetch around £12-20m. Continue reading...

West Midlands commissioner and HSBC say moving illegally gained money is an offence that helps serious crimeThousands of young people in the UK are being exploited by criminals and used as “money mules” to move cash between accounts, undetected by police.The West Midlands police and crime commissioner, Simon Foster, this week launched a campaign on TikTok and Instagram warning teenagers against the dangers of being offered cash to use their bank account to transfer funds to another account. Offenders recruit a third party to help move money in a way that avoids detection by police. Continue reading...

When a mother and daughter became destitute, a Citizens Advice centre that will benefit from the Guardian and Observer charity appeal stepped in• Donate to our charity appeal hereIt was three months ago that Samaira Riffat and her daughter, Eman, decided to start sleeping in the lounge of their two-bedroom terrace house in Bolton. “We can’t afford to heat more than one room,” said 21-year-old Eman on Thursday. “So, we moved a bed downstairs for mum, and I sleep on the sofa.”Their situation is, in the call centre worker’s own words, desperate. Both bedrooms have extreme damp and rat droppings have been found in the kitchen cupboards. In December, a burglar broke in – and left with nothing. “What could he have taken?” asked Eman. “Our secondhand air-fryer?” Continue reading...

Results due from more unions tomorrow, as NAHT chief stresses that disputes over pay haven’t gone awayTeaching unions are warning they will be forced to reballot their members over strike action in the coming months if ministers continue to resist a “sensible solution” to the crisis in teacher recruitment and retention.Three unions had been threatening walkouts over pay, which they say has led to teachers and teaching assistants making the “heartbreaking” decision to leave the profession. Last week it was revealed that despite about 90% of NASUWT members voting in favour of industrial action, the turnout, 42%, was below the required 50% threshold. Two more unions, the NEU and NAHT, will announce the results of their ballots on 16 January. Continue reading...

Lib Dems condemn ‘scandalous situation’ as local authorities turn to agencies amid shortage of care spaces for people leaving hospitalPrivate brokers are making millions of pounds a year finding care home beds for NHS patients who are fit to leave hospital.Agencies are being hired to provide “discharge services”, finding suitable places for elderly patients amid pressures on the health system, Observer analysis shows. Continue reading...

Sports presenter tells BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that the tragedy led her to ‘take chances’, including trying out broadcastingGabby Logan said she assumed “a lot of responsibility” after her brother’s death at the age of 15.The 49-year-old presenter, who became one of the first female sports anchors to break into terrestrial television, said the tragedy also led her to “take chances” including an early start in radio. Continue reading...

Trend features feathered and furry PJs, posh robes and structured slippers as daytime dressing for housebound fashionistasForget your old university sweatshirts and saggy leggings. Post pandemic, there’s a whole new category of clothing emerging specifically created for wearing inside, rather than outside, the house.Homewear, rather than ware, comprises items that fall somewhere between loungewear and nightwear. Pieces comfortable enough to binge Netflix in but equally presentable enough that you don’t panic when a delivery driver knocks on the door. Continue reading...

President Dina Boluarte expresses regret for the death of at least 42 people in recent wave of demonstrations, but insists she will not stand downPeru’s government has declared a state of emergency in the capital of Lima and three other regions following weeks of protests against President Dina Boluarte that have claimed at least 42 lives.The measure, in force for 30 days, authorises the army to intervene to maintain order and suspends several constitutional rights such as freedom of movement and assembly, according to a decree published in the official gazette on Saturday. Continue reading...

Lula’s government claims it has ‘absolute control’ after storming of capital by Bolsonaro supporters, but failed putsch is not over, say insidersSônia Guajajara should have been making history last Tuesday afternoon, being sworn in as the head of Brazil’s first ministry for Indigenous peoples at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasília.Instead, with that building wrecked last Sunday by thousands of far-right extremists, she sat in her office overlooking Brazil’s similarly ransacked congress, reflecting on the stunning attempt to overthrow one of the world’s biggest democracies. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak portrays union chiefs as leftwing militants but some leaders are succeeding in blaming the impasse on No 10 – and half of voters agree• Read more: Most UK voters still back strikes by nurses and ambulance crewsSara Gorton thought the Covid pandemic was as bad as things could get for the NHS. But now, as nurses, ambulance staff and other health workers plan more strikes in a service already on its knees, the woman leading pay negotiations for the health unions believes she was wrong. “This is worse – because it is a situation we are in because of political choice,” she says.Prime minister Rishi Sunak and his ministers like to portray union leaders as leftwing militants, modern-day Arthur Scargills. By doing so they believe they can turn the public against the strikers as the disputes drag on and sympathy wears thin. Continue reading...

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Russian missile attacks in Dnipro kill at least 14; UK pledges to send Ukraine tanks to ‘push Russian troops back’; power outages across Ukraine

The first proper World Economic Forum for three years will take place against a humbling backdrop of crisis and conflictThe war in Ukraine. A rapidly slowing economy, fragmentation and de-globalisation. The rising cost of living. Climate change. There is plenty for the global great and good to get their teeth into this week as Davos resumes after a three-year hiatus.Strictly speaking, it not the first gathering of world leaders, businesspeople, academics and civil society since the start of the pandemic, but last May’s World Economic Forum event was a slimmed-down and not especially well-attended affair. As a dry run it was fine, but a real Davos traditionally happens in January, when the snow is thick on the ground in the Swiss village 1,500 metres up in the Alps. In the past, the mood at Davos has oscillated between extreme optimism and unbridled gloom, depending on the state of the world economy. This year it looks certain to be the latter. As Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chair of the WEF put it last week, “economic, environmental, social and geopolitical crises are converging and conflating”. The aim of this year’s Davos, he added, was to get rid of the “crisis mindset”. Continue reading...

Plane was unable to change course within seconds, investigation finds, leading to 25 people injuredA cloud shot up vertically like a plume of smoke in a matter of seconds before a Hawaiian Airlines flight last month hit severe turbulence and 25 people on board were injured, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.The captain of the 18 December flight from Phoenix to Honolulu told investigators that flight conditions had been smooth with clear skies when the cloud shot up in front of the plane and there was no time to change course, the report said. Continue reading...

RCN says if progress not made on pay negotiations, action in February will include all eligible members in EnglandDouble the number of nurses will be asked to strike in early February in a bid to increase pressure on the government, union leaders have warned.The Royal College of Nursing has said that if progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January, the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in England for the first time. Continue reading...

Another child and four women also injured in incident close to Euston following joint service for a mother and daughterA seven-year-old girl is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after a suspected driveby shooting outside a memorial service in north London, the Metropolitan police have said.A second child, a 12-year-old girl, was taken to hospital with a minor leg injury but has now been discharged. Continue reading...

Public support for industrial action by health workers remains strong in the face of government claims it is putting lives at riskA majority of voters continue to support striking nurses and ambulance workers, despite government claims that they are putting the public at risk, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.Labour has also increased its lead over the Tories by 1 percentage point, to 16 points, after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and other cabinet ministers tried to make political capital by accusing Keir Starmer and his party of being in the pockets of the unions at a time of industrial unrest, the survey shows. Continue reading...

State government is failing to deliver harm reduction programs needed to eliminate the virus, advocates say

Victorian MPs are adamant the premier’s views are based on principle, not political instincts

Culturally insulting language used by Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly will increase tension between the two countriesBritain’s relationship with Iran has a fraught, unedifying history, dating back to the 18th-century imperial tussle between England, Napoleonic France, and tsarist Russia for control of Persia. Iranians have long memories. To this day, they blame the UK for many of their woes.Britain invaded in 1941 to limit Nazi influence and protect the Anglo-Persian company’s oilfields. In 1953 it intervened again, mounting a coup, with US help, to overthrow a democratically elected government and bolster the rule of the autocratic, pro-western shah. Continue reading...

Opposition MPs call for government rethink on ‘reckless’ plans to rewrite almost 4,000 European regulationsCivil servants are estimated to be spending tens of millions of pounds establishing which laws and regulations could be scrapped under the government’s controversial retained EU laws bill.The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) last week admitted it spent £600,000 on staffing costs alone in just two months as part of its review of the bill. Continue reading...

Romania’s crime agency searched properties as part of investigations into human trafficking charges against the social media influencerRomanian authorities have confiscated several luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce, a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz from Andrew Tate’s property in Bucharest.The luxury vehicles were taken from the compound of the former kickboxer, influencer and self-professed misogynist on Saturday and transported to a storage facility, according to Reuters. Continue reading...

Flooding likely in Wales and many areas of England, with severe cold to follow in some areas late on SundayFlood warnings have been issued across parts of the UK as heavy rain and blustery winds bring a weekend washout for many.The Met Office had 98 flood warnings and 169 alerts in place in England on Saturday, adding people should expect “an unsettled day ahead” as rain pushed eastwards. Continue reading...