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Neighbours furious after firefighters had to be called to Redemption Song, owned by Empire State building magnate Tony MalkinResidents of a New Zealand town are calling for a ban on private fireworks after a display by a New York billionaire set off a blaze on New Year’s Eve.Ten minutes into the new year, firefighters were called to fight multiple grass fires at the property of Tony Malkin – chief executive of the entity that owns the Empire State building – after an extravagant private fireworks display went awry near Queenstown in Central Otago. Continue reading...

Woman, 54, is in hospital in a serious condition after her throat was allegedly cut at Fairfield home

Victorian premier says state-run hospitals should not be acting as safety nets because people ‘cannot find a bulk-billing doctor’

Fatalities include 40-year-old pilot, a 57-year-old woman and 65-year-old man from the UK and a 36-year-old woman from NSW

Police say Nicholas Aaron Scott, who was found dead about 1.30am on Tuesday, had escaped custody from Royal Hobart hospital

Daniel Duggan, a naturalised Australian accused of providing military training to Chinese, is fighting extradition and maintains his innocence

The Avengers star suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries in an accident while plowing snow and remains in intensive careJeremy Renner has undergone surgery after suffering blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries sustained in an accident on Sunday, and remains in a critical but stable condition, the actor’s publicist has confirmed.The 51-year-old actor was seriously injured while driving a snow plow near his home in Reno, Nevada, on New Year’s Day, and was airlifted to hospital. Continue reading...

Prof Paul Kelly told Albanese government there was not ‘sufficient public health rationale’ for additional requirements targeting China

The Hawkeye actor was plowing snow when the accident occurred on SundayJeremy Renner has been seriously injured in an accident while plowing snow and is in a “critical but stable condition”, a spokesperson for the actor said on Sunday.“We can confirm Jeremy is in critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow earlier today,” a spokesperson for the Hawkeye star told the Hollywood Reporter late on Sunday night. Continue reading...

White, who joined the soul-funk group in 1974, playing on hits including September and Shining StarThe Earth, Wind & Fire drummer Fred White has died at the age of 67.The news was shared by his brother and bandmate Verdine White on Sunday in an Instagram post. He paid tribute to the “amazing and talented” musician, “now drumming with the angels!” Continue reading...

Ministers urged to recall parliament amid warnings patients are dying needlessly due to inactionThe crisis engulfing the NHS will continue until Easter, health leaders have warned, as senior doctors accused ministers of letting patients die needlessly through inaction.More than a dozen trusts and ambulance services have declared critical incidents in recent days, with soaring demand, rising flu and Covid cases and an overstretched workforce piling pressure on the health service. Continue reading...

At least eight countries experience record high temperatures of ‘almost unheard of’ heat, say meteorologistsWeather records have been falling across Europe at a disconcerting rate in the last few days, say meteorologists.The warmest January day ever was recorded in at least eight European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collated by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures. Continue reading...

Spanish foreign minister says he does not want ‘no deal’ relationship, but EU is prepared for hard Brexit for territorySpain and the EU are prepared for all possibilities – including a hard Brexit – when it comes to the bloc’s relationship with Gibraltar, Spain’s foreign minister has said, adding that the ball was now in London’s court after 11 rounds of negotiations.“Spain doesn’t want a ‘no deal’ scenario,” the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, told Europa Press. “The government of Spain and the EU, which is ultimately the signatory on the agreement with the UK, are ready for any scenario.” Continue reading...

Thor, seen in Hampshire and Scarborough – where fireworks were cancelled to spare him distress – has now been spotted in BlythA wandering walrus who delighted thousands in Scarborough on New Year’s Eve has continued his English tour and turned up 100 miles further up the coast.A large crowd quickly gathered in the Northumberland town of Blyth on Monday lunchtime after a walrus was spotted resting on a wooden pontoon at the yacht club. Continue reading...

Ly Hao Nam, 10, fell down a narrow shaft on New Year’s Eve but there was no response from him on Monday

PM has reinstated ‘boring government’ but smooth relations with backbenchers are unlikely to lastAt the end of one of the most tumultuous years of politics in decades, Rishi Sunak is confident he has successfully managed to calm Tory MPs and – in the words of one senior aide – “bring back boring government”.He has sought to kick some controversial pieces of legislation into the long grass, performed quick U-turns and managed to satiate a parliamentary party with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for regicide. Continue reading...

Lobby group says future being decided ‘without the involvement of the actual community itself’Descendants of the people of the Chagos Islands have claimed their views are being ignored as the prime minister of Mauritius announced the start of talks with Britain over the territory’s sovereignty.Pravind Jugnauth, who has led the Mauritian government since 2017, used a new year’s address to reveal that talks with London were under way over the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago. Continue reading...

Number of shoppers out between Christmas and new year only 7.2% higher than in 2021, amid Omicron fearFootfall on Britain’s high streets and shopping centres plunged by more than a quarter in the week after Christmas compared with the week before, figures show.Shoppers opted to stay at home, as last week footfall was 27.7% lower than the week before and 19.7% down on the same week in 2019, retail data analysts Springboard said. Continue reading...

Moscow says 63 of its soldiers died in attack on school building used as barracks amid claims death toll could be higher

Exclusive: Widow says she has struggled to grieve for her husband properly after mortuary failed to follow proceduresA widow received damages from an NHS trust after a mortuary allowed the body of her late husband to decompose to the point he was “unviewable”, the Guardian can reveal.Caroline Murray said she had struggled to grieve properly and suffered from intrusive mental images of what the body of her husband, Paul, would have looked like in an advanced state of decomposition. Continue reading...

Concerns reignited about parliament’s culture after Labour’s Charlotte Nichols privately shared a list of dozens of politicians to avoidCalls are growing for third parties to be allowed to make complaints to Westminster’s sexual misconduct watchdog, after concerns were reignited about parliament’s culture by a Labour MP who privately shared a list of 20 MPs to avoid.After a number of sexual misconduct and bullying scandals have led to suspensions and resignations of sitting MPs, some parliamentarians and unions say they remain concerned that witnesses cannot make complaints. Continue reading...

Kami Carpenter, 21, and Remy Gordon, 22, charged on Saturday after stabbing at Crane nightclub in DigbethTwo suspects charged with the Boxing Day murder of footballer Cody Fisher have appeared in court.Kami Carpenter, 21, and Remy Gordon, 22, were charged on Saturday with killing Fisher, who was stabbed on the dancefloor at the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, Birmingham. Continue reading...

Acclaimed artist Richard Dadd spent 20 years at psychiatric hospital that is now the Bethlem Museum of the MindA portrait painted by an acclaimed Victorian artist while he was a long-term psychiatric patient is to return to the hospital where he spent 20 years, which is now a museum.Richard Dadd was sent to Bethlem Royal hospital in south London, from which the derogatory term “bedlam” is derived, as a “criminal lunatic” after stabbing his father to death in 1843. He was later moved to Broadmoor, where he remained until his death in 1886. Continue reading...

Chancellor condemns incidents on New Year’s Eve in which firefighters and police officers were targetedGerman police and firefighters’ unions have called for a ban on personal fireworks on New Year’s Eve, as the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, condemned incidents of rescue services being targeted with firecrackers and rockets.Groups of inebriated individuals setting off their own firework displays are a familiar sight on German streets at Silvester (New Year’s Eve), with shops allowed to sell not only sparklers but also small rockets, fountains and firecrackers during the last three days of the year. Continue reading...

Rents increased by 10.2% nationally, CoreLogic says, despite the decline in home prices

From high-end luxury sedans, to modest hatchbacks – we take a look at 10 of the new models set for release in 2023

Duke of Sussex tells ITV ‘it never needed to be this way’ and that ‘I want a family, not an institution’The Duke of Sussex has said he wants his father and brother back during an ITV interview due to be released this Sunday, two days before his memoir is published.The prince says “I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back” in a preview clip from the interview with the ITV News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby. Continue reading...

Scotland, Northern Ireland and most of north of England affected by yellow weather warningDrivers are being urged to take care on the roads as a yellow weather warning for ice covered large areas of the UK.The Met Office issued the alert for Scotland, Northern Ireland and most of the north of England, and also warned pedestrians of the risk of slips on icy pavements. Continue reading...

Musicians from Missy Elliott to Questlove have paid tribute to the trailblazing female rapper, who was 15 when she appeared on the Memphis group’s cult classic debut Mystic StylezGangsta Boo, a former member of Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia, has died aged 43, her bandmate DJ Paul has confirmed. No cause of death was shared.The rapper, born Lola Chantrelle Mitchell, joined the group in 1995, upon which it changed its name from Triple Six Mafia to Three 6 Mafia. That year she appeared on their debut album, Mystic Stylez, which became a cult classic, a landmark southern hip-hop record and – with lyrics delving into gore and the occult – a defining example of the horrorcore genre. Continue reading...

Lib Dems say face-to-face GP bookings ‘almost extinct’ in some areas as their survey shows a rise in self-prescribingAlmost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment.Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows. Continue reading...

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Exclusive: Official adviser recommends giving those arrested for low-level crimes a choice to accept help or face jail

The party voted in support of tax cuts while in opposition and went to the election promising no changes to the policy

Queensland’s figure of 299 lives lost was the worst in more than a decade, as lifting of Covid restrictions pushed up toll around the country

Man, 45, was caught in a rip after getting his 14-year-old son to safety at a beach on the state’s south coast

The military ramped up sorties and launched the largest war games in decades to protest against a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in AugustChina’s warplane incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone nearly doubled in 2022, with a surge in fighter jet and bomber sorties as Beijing intensified threats towards the island democracy.Self-ruled Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion. Communist party rulers claim the island as part of China’s territory and have vowed to seize it one day. Continue reading...

More than 100 people were reportedly caught in a pedestrian underpass just before midnight

Chief executive is urging members to oppose state’s cashless gaming card to present ‘a more balanced view of gambling’RSL sub-branches and members have criticised the New South Wales executive for campaigning against gambling reforms, accusing senior leadership of being “tone deaf”.The chief executive of the NSW RSL and Services Clubs, Margot Smith, has urged members to oppose the state government’s cashless gaming card and to help spread “a more balanced view of gambling”.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Health minister defends country-specific testing as necessary due to ‘absence of comprehensive information’ on Covid’s spread in China

One in five takeaways in some areas of UK did not satisfactorily meet required standards, data showsTakeaways in poorer parts of England are twice as likely to need improvement in food hygiene as those in wealthier areas, with as many as one in five in some parts of the UK falling below required standards, according to Guardian analysis.Almost one in 10 takeaways in England’s poorest neighbourhoods did not satisfactorily comply with food hygiene standards, compared with just one in 24 in the richest, according to an analysis of almost 600,000 inspection reports at the beginning of December, 64,000 of them takeaways. Continue reading...

Woman, 39, found with serious injuries and pronounced dead at scene in Hayes, say policeA 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found dead in her home on New Year’s Eve.Police and paramedics were called to an address in Willenhall Drive in Hayes, west London, at 10.13am on Saturday. They found a 39-year-old woman with serious injuries, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Smaller military, greater religious diversity and terrorism concerns among differences from 1953When the St Edward’s crown is placed on the head of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, it will be part of a continuation of the longstanding traditions and pageantry of more than 1,000 years of monarchy.But his promise that his coronation “will reflect the monarch’s role today” signals some departure from the scale and extravagance of the ceremonial accorded to his late mother. How significant those departures will be is not yet known, but they are dictated by societal changes that took place over the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Continue reading...

President says country ready to fight for return to normal life as Moscow launches latest wave of attacks

Last crossings were on Christmas Day, with none recorded in last six days of the yearA total of 45,756 people crossed the Channel to the UK in small boats in 2022, government figures show.The last crossings of the year took place on Christmas Day, when 90 people made the journey from France in two boats. The Ministry of Defence recorded no further crossings for the remaining six days of 2022, when the weather was poor. Continue reading...

Three-month subsidy widely welcomed but passengers may need longer-term incentives to use routesA temporary £2 cap on fares that the government hopes will reinvigorate some of England’s bus services starts on Sunday – but campaigners are already warning of more route cuts when the funding runs out.The three-month “get around for £2” campaign, announced last month, will reduce single fares by more than 80% on some journeys, such as Plymouth to Exeter in the south-west, or Leeds to Scarborough. Continue reading...

Despite public bullishness, overflowing hospitals across the country suggest its leader may have made a huge miscalculationChina’s leader Xi Jinping told his country it stands on “the right side of history” in a new year address on Saturday, but experts have warned that the president starts 2023 diminished by his chaotic U-turn on Covid strategy.He may struggle to deflect blame for the human and economic costs of zero-Covid’s failure, and control the national narrative, even if public signs of dissent are crushed. Continue reading...

RSPCA shares some of most ‘weird and wonderful’ incidents its officers were called to across yearA frog that travelled more than 4,000 miles on a bunch of bananas and a hedgehog extracted from a drainpipe with barbecue tongs were among animals rescued from the trickiest situations in 2022.The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has shared some of the most “weird and wonderful” incidents the charity’s officers were called to across the year. Continue reading...

Calder Valley people tell of the debt the area owes to Sally Wainwright’s hard-hitting and regionally accurate cop show

Social media firms in spotlight after allowing conspiracy theories that could affect human-trafficking investigation into ‘king of toxic masculinity’ in RomaniaSocial media firms are under fire this weekend for allowing the spread of misinformation by followers of “king of toxic masculinity” Andrew Tate after his arrest in connection with a human trafficking investigation.In the hours after his detention, TikTok and Twitter were flooded with posts falsely claiming he had been freed and conspiracy theories saying he had been set up, Observer analysis shows. Continue reading...

Documents show ministers knew of problems with office before it was overwhelmed by post-Covid surgeThe government has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ cash after being forced to pay record levels of compensation to people affected by disruption at the Passport Office.New figures show that £3.1m was paid out in “reimbursements” in the seven months to December 2022, significantly more than the £2.2m paid out in the whole of 2021-22. Continue reading...