World news | The Guardian

New variants and wet weather still driving infections as people urged to be mindful of vulnerable

Conditions are expected to persist for several days in NSW, but Tasmania and Victoria will see warmer temperatures from Sunday

Gay is the only Black president in the Ivy League and says the ‘ivory tower’ should not be the future of academiaHarvard University announced on Thursday that Claudine Gay will become its 30th president, making her the first Black person and the second woman to lead the Ivy League school.Gay, who is currently a dean at the university and a democracy scholar, will become president on 1 July. She replaces Lawrence Bacow, who is stepping down to spend more time with family. Continue reading...

Apology accepted by the Aunty Myrtle Evans, the sister of the singer and storyteller

Exclusive: Leaked annual survey shows fourfold rise in harassment claims in justice ministers’ officeA third of the staff in Dominic Raab’s private office at the Ministry of Justice have claimed to have been bullied or harassed while working in their current team in the past year, according to an internal Whitehall survey.The results of the civil service survey from this week, which have been leaked to the Guardian, show that 10 of the 33 people who worked most closely with the justice secretary said they had been a victim of bad behaviour. Continue reading...

Austrian city also intends to rename three other thoroughfares bearing ‘tainted’ names after commission’s reportThe Austrian city of Linz has announced plans to rename a street honouring the founder of the luxury carmaker Porsche after a commission investigating controversial names found his Nazi past “problematic”.The renaming of streets and other public places is still a hotly debated issue in Austria – Adolf Hitler’s birthplace – which Nazi Germany annexed in 1938 and which long cast itself as a victim. Continue reading...

Finance secretary says starter, basic and intermediate rates of income will stay the same. This live blog is closedThe Bank of England has raised UK interest rates to 3.5%, the highest since October 2008, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports on his business live blog.Yesterday James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, told MPs in a written statement that the government had given the Chinese a week for six of their diplomats to comply with a request to be interviewed by the police over the beating-up of a pro Hong Kong democracy campaigner at the consulate in Manchester. He said the diplomats had all avoided police action because they have either left the country, or are about to do so.The consul general and five others brutalised a refugee on British soil and rather than being expelled or prosecuted, they’ve been allowed to slip off, flee like cowards, which makes their guilt even more evident.By giving a week’s notice to them, which goes so far beyond the Vienna convention, we have essentially denied Bob Chan any sense of justice. Continue reading...

Man arrested on suspicion of murder; children who died understood to have been aged four and sixA murder investigation has been launched after the deaths of a woman and two children, understood to have been aged four and six, in Kettering, police have said.Northamptonshire police said they were called to a house on Petherton Court at 11.15am on Thursday where a woman and two children – a boy and a girl – were found with serious injuries. Paramedics and police officers treated them at the scene but the woman was pronounced dead and the two children died in hospital. Continue reading...

Late author’s estate has shared a manuscript with the bestselling novelist centered on a volcanic eruption in HawaiiThe bestselling author James Patterson is set to complete an unfinished manuscript from the late Michael Crichton.According to the Wall Street Journal, Crichton’s estate has provided him with over 100 pages of a novel about the imminent eruption of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, which threatens a secret cache of deadly chemical weapons. Just last month, the volcano did start erupting. Continue reading...

President Roberta Metsola promises wide-ranging reforms aimed at tackling ‘cash for influence’ scandalThe European parliament will consider banning Qatari officials from its premises in response to a “cash for influence” investigation that has become the biggest scandal in the institution’s history.The parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola, said the assembly’s senior leaders would discuss a possible ban and that a “wide-ranging reform” package would be implemented in response to a Belgian police investigation that has led to four people being charged with money laundering and corruption, including a serving MEP. Continue reading...

Animals, one of which is wounded, are not secure in their enclosures after staff shot three others deadFour chimpanzees, one of which is wounded, were on the loose inside a building in a Swedish zoo on Thursday, a day after they escaped from their enclosure. Three others have been shot dead.Swedish officials and media said the wounded animal had not received veterinary attention because no one could safely get inside the building at Furuvik zoo. Continue reading...

Princess Bajrakitiyabha’s condition is now stable to a certain level, the royal palace has saidThe eldest child of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been hospitalised due to a heart problem and her condition has stabilised to a certain level, the royal palace said.Princess Bajrakitiyabha, 44, was taken ill after losing consciousness early on Wednesday in north-eastern Nakhon Ratchasima province and was treated at a local hospital. Continue reading...

Publisher Fred Ryan described as ‘embarrassing’ after walking out of meeting following revelation that up to 250 jobs could be lostTurmoil at the Washington Post has intensified after a contentious town hall meeting on Wednesday in which the newspaper’s publisher, Fred Ryan, astounded staffers by announcing substantial job cuts to come, then quit the meeting, refusing to answer questions.“This is embarrassing, this is embarrassing,” one staffer was heard saying as Ryan made his hasty exit, according to video footage posted on social media. Continue reading...

Social landlord waited nearly two years to check other properties after infant died in mouldy home, says regulatorThe chair of a social housing landlord is to quit after an investigation found it left hundreds of tenants exposed to harmful damp for nearly two years following the death of an infant from respiratory failure in one of its mould-infested homes.Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) waited nearly two years after Awaab Ishak died to check other homes on the estate, the regulator of social housing concluded on Thursday. When it did, it found hundreds of tenants living with damp and mould.This article was amended on 15 December 2022. Due to incorrect information provided by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, an earlier version stated in the text and headline that all RBH board members were to step down, not just its chair. Continue reading...

Surge in violence either side of the ‘green line’ has led people to wonder if a third intifada is on the cardsLate on Sunday night, like almost every other night in Jenin, the fighting started. The Israeli army said it entered the occupied West Bank city to arrest three suspected Palestinian terrorists and militants responded by throwing firebombs and opening fire.According to two members of her family, 16-year-old Jana Zakaran ventured up to the roof of her home when gunfire erupted nearby to bring her cat inside to safety. When Zakaran’s father went to look for her, he found her dead in a pool of blood, the cat by her side. Continue reading...

Unite confirms two 72-hour stoppages starting Friday 16 December after members reject ‘miserable’ pay offerStrikes planned by hundreds of workers at Heathrow will go ahead on Friday, union leaders said, with further dates announced for action over the Christmas and new year period.Unite said ground handlers at Britain’s biggest airport had rejected the latest “miserable” pay offer from their employer, Menzies. Continue reading...

National parks staff emailed residents with news, citing lack of progress on the site, 24 hours before contractors were told

Compliance manager tells royal commission she was ‘unable to influence’ boss away from ‘deliver the numbers’ direction

Prime minister says opposition’s stance was a vote for high power prices after package capping gas prices and funding consumer rebates is legislated

The Historic England list also includes two cab shelters in London and first world war training trenchesA watermill that inspired the landscape artist John Constable, an intact Victorian soup kitchen and two 16th- and 17th-century shipwrecks are among the historic sites to have been listed in England during the past year.The Historic England national heritage list also includes two cab shelters in London as well as first world war training trenches that have links to the SAS. Continue reading...

Voters go to polls in byelection called after sitting Labour MP became Greater Manchester mayor’s deputyVoters in the Greater Manchester constituency of Stretford and Urmston go to the polls on Thursday in a byelection called after the sitting Labour MP quit to become Andy Burnham’s mayoral deputy.Labour will be hoping for a comfortable win after the party’s comfortable victory in Chester earlier this month. Continue reading...

Intervention came a day before council voted to cap use of some residential accommodation at 90 days per year

Samples to be retested and double jeopardy laws potentially reformed so serious crimes can be re-prosecuted after 123 recommendations accepted

Local leaders condemn ‘insensitive cruelty’ as residents remain shaken after weather event likened to an inland tsunami

Liberal senator says Australia’s approach to emissions debate had not been ‘ideal’ for Pacific relations

NT supreme court rules Const Zachary Rolfe cannot decline to answer questions at inquest by invoking penalty privilege

Girl fled to neighbour’s house but mother and sister murdered by her father in drug-induced psychosis, court told

Dredging and landfill work creates 170 hectares of new land in Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China and othersVietnam has conducted a major expansion of dredging and landfill work at several of its South China Sea outposts in the second half of this year, signalling an intent to significantly fortify its claims in the disputed waterway.Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has said on Wednesday the work in the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China and others, had created roughly 170 hectares (420 acres) of new land and brought the total area Vietnam had reclaimed in the past decade to 220 hectares. Continue reading...

Sitiveni Rabuka calls for calm, while his claims of irregularities are rebuffed by election supervisorsFiji’s opposition leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, has alleged irregularities in voting data while calling for calm, as counting continued in the country’s national election.Provisional results had the opposition People’s Alliance party hovering in the mid to low 40s and incumbent prime minister Frank Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party in the mid-20s four hours after polls closed. The results were taken offline for a number of hours and, when they returned, the results had flipped. Continue reading...

Time from arrest to case being finalised in 2021/22 grew by 41% thanks to Covid pandemic interruptions

Clinicians warn of the UK’s ‘biggest cancer crisis ever’ as record-breaking treatment waiting times have become normalisedBritain faces a cancer emergency because of treatment delays, doctors have warned, saying the care backlog needs the same urgent focus as the hunt for a Covid vaccine.NHS figures show only 60.3% of the 14,425 cancer patients urgently referred by their GP in October waited less than than two months to start treatment. This was the second worst performance on record and some way below the target of 85%. Continue reading...

Excitement builds for final against Argentina as spectators, some draped in French and Moroccan flags, praised play of both teamsAmid a cacophony of beeping car horns, fireworks, and people hanging from car windows waving flags, cheering football fans poured on to Paris’s Champs-Élysées on Wednesday night to celebrate France beating Morocco to reach the World Cup final, hoping it would become the first country in 60 years to retain the title.“We’re in the final!” yelled Romain, 16, who had high school the next day but was planning a late night celebrating. “When France won the World Cup in 2018, I was 12 and couldn’t really celebrate in the streets,” he said. “It feels brilliant tonight, but facing Argentina will be close, nail-biting.” Continue reading...

RCN chief says members are acting across England, Wales and Northern Ireland with a ‘very heavy heart’Tens of thousands of nurses will strike across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday, sparking major disruption to services in the first such action in NHS history.Nurses will refuse to work at hospitals and other places of care across the three countries from 8am until 8pm, in the first of two days of scheduled walkouts over their pay claim. Continue reading...

Tony Radakin said Moscow’s ability to conduct ground operations in Ukraine is ‘rapidly diminishing’ as a resultRussia faces a “critical shortage” of artillery shells and Moscow’s ability to conduct ground operations in Ukraine is “rapidly diminishing” as a result, Britain’s armed forces chief has said.Adm Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defence staff, told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) thinktank on Wednesday that the Kremlin had only planned for a short period to subjugate Ukraine, and has instead found itself embroiled in a conflict lasting nearly 10 months. Continue reading...

Former prime minister, who is still a sitting MP, travelled across globe in two months after stepping downBoris Johnson made more than £1m from four speaking engagements in just two months after leaving No 10, travelling across the globe to give paid speeches while still sitting as an MP.The former prime minister also accepted more than £40,000 in free accommodation from Tory donor Lord Bamford and his wife after moving out of Downing Street and Chequers in September, according to an update to the register of members’ financial interests. Continue reading...

Measure will suspend free movement over Christmas holidays as supporters of ousted Pedro Castillo take to the streets• What is happening in Peru and why are people so angry?Peru’s new government has declared a 30-day national state of emergency to quell violent demonstrations which have shaken the country following the ousting and arrest of President Pedro Castillo a week ago.The measure announced on Wednesday suspends the right to gather and move freely across the entire country – and comes just before the Christmas holidays when people typically travel extensively to visit family. Continue reading...

Experts said lessons appeared to have been learned from previous incidents as teams scrambled into action after dinghy capsizedThe emergency call came through at 2.53am. “Please help me bro, please, please, please. We are in the water. We have a family.”The unidentified man, on a stricken dinghy, used WhatsApp to contact the French NGO Utopia 56, a humanitarian association, which works to support migrants in the camps in northern France. Continue reading...

McSweeney pleaded guilty to murder and sexual assault of law graduate in Ilford, east LondonThe man convicted of the “brutal sexually motivated murder” of law graduate Zara Aleena after breaching his licence conditions for a previous offence has been sentenced to life in prison.Jordan McSweeney, 29, pleaded guilty last month to the murder and sexual assault of Aleena in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of 26 June this year as she was walking home. Continue reading...

Self-described ‘free evangelical’ Ronald Train, who created his own church based on literal reading of scripture, says sons ‘lost their way’ before Queensland shooting

Officials say 13 Iranian-made drones shot down as air raid sirens sound in capital and surrounding area

James Stunt faces retrial after jury were unable to reach verdict on money-laundering chargeA jury has found James Stunt, the former son-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone, not guilty of forgery but he will face a fresh trial on charges of money laundering.Stunt, 40, the ex-husband of Petra Ecclestone, was one of eight defendants in the biggest money-laundering trial in British criminal history. Continue reading...

Opposition parties renew call for deputy PM to be suspended amid eight bullying claimsYesterday Mark Harper, the transport secretary, claimed that public support for the rail strikes was declining. Today Ipsos has published some polling that backs up this claim, although support for the RMT has not collapsed, and public opinion is still divided. It puts support for the strikes at 30%, down from 43% in September. And opposition to the strikes is at 36%, up from 31%.Yesterday Savanta published polling showing a similar trend. It said that net support for the rail workers on strike was +21 in October (those supporting them, minus those not supporting them), and that now it was down to +13. Continue reading...

Twenty-nine of 54 members voted to expel country over regime’s suppression of protestsIran has been ousted from a UN body tasked with empowering women after​​​ world powers voted​ in favour of a motion submitted by the US, which said the Islamic Republic’s membership was an “ugly stain” on the group’s credibility.Activists and rights groups have said Tehran’s role in the 45-member commission on the status of women was a farce, considering the regime’s forces have beaten and killed women peacefully calling for gender equality. Continue reading...

European parliament due to vote on Thursday on resolution calling for release of Bahraini activistA senior MEP is facing questions over trips to Bahrain and his support for a “one-sided” resolution on a political prisoner from that country that echoes the talking points of the authoritarian Gulf state.Tomáš Zdechovský, a centre-right Czech MEP, who chairs the European parliament’s Bahrain friendship group, was found by the Guardian to have made an undeclared visit to the country in April 2022, where he met Bahrain’s chamber of commerce. Continue reading...

‘Devastating’ report exposing pressures in health service should be wake-up call to ministers, say senior medicsMinisters must get a grip on the crisis engulfing the NHS, senior doctors have warned, saying a “shocking” and “devastating” special report by the Guardian exposed the daily reality of pressures faced by health staff, the dire impact on patients and risk of the service collapsing.Thirty-three months after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 to be a pandemic, the Guardian spent 33 hours inside the NHS, reporting from inside a hospital, an ambulance service, a pharmacy and a GP surgery. Continue reading...

Duchess’s lawyer claims palace encouraged negative stories about the Sussexes to benefit other royalsThe royal households have been directly accused of deliberately planting negative stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to deflect attention from less favourable coverage of other royals as part of what a lawyer calls “a war against Meghan”.In the latest trailer for the Sussexes’ controversial Netflix documentary, the duchess’s lawyer, Jenny Afia, claims to have seen evidence of briefing from the palace against the couple. Continue reading...

Home secretary says fatalities are ‘sobering reminder’ as major search and rescue operation continuesAt least three people have died and 43 people have been rescued after trying to cross the Channel in freezing conditions overnight, according to reports.A member of a rescue team confirmed to Sky News that at least three people have died, as a major search and rescue operation continues off the coast of Kent. “Many” were rescued from the water, according to BBC reporter, Simon Jones, adding a small number are confirmed dead. Continue reading...

The fiendish mystery set by Observer crossword compiler Torquemada in the 1930s has only been cracked by four people to date. Can machines do better?Crowdfunding publisher Unbound has partnered with an AI platform to challenge people to use artificial intelligence to solve Cain’s Jawbone, a literary puzzle that has only ever been cracked by four people since it was published in the 1930s.Cain’s Jawbone is a novel by Edward Powys Mathers, who was then the Observer’s cryptic crossword compiler. It’s a murder mystery in which six people die, but it can only be solved if readers rearrange its 100 pages in the correct order. Unbound said the pages could be sorted to reveal the six victims and their respective murderers “through logic and intelligent reading”. Continue reading...

Late, inadequate and overbooked trains are costing the regional economy half a billion pounds a yearBosses of northern train operators conceded their companies are letting passengers and businesses down when they appeared before a parliamentary hearing examining this year’s rail “meltdown” in northern England.Thousands of trains have been cancelled at short notice in recent months and if passengers do get a service it has often been unbearably crowded, unduly expensive or both. Continue reading...