World news | The Guardian

Latest updates: the UK will target those complicit in Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary says, as sanctions are announced for some Russian MPs

Up to 16,000 volunteers to be paid $3,000 a month – a figure up to 50 times a Syrian soldier’s monthly salary

Taunton welcomes handwritten version of work poet said came to him after drug-induced reverie in nearby farmhouseMore than two centuries after Samuel Taylor Coleridge awoke from a drug-addled reverie – if the story is to be totally believed – to pen his great poem Kubla Khan, the only version of the work in the writer’s own hand has returned to the corner of south-west England that inspired him.The unique manuscript is the centrepiece of a new exhibition on Coleridge at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, close to the hills and valleys he and William Wordsworth roamed at the end of the 18th century. Continue reading...

Analysis: Scandal-hit London force risks further ire by challenging ruling, says Reclaim These StreetsA ruling that the Metropolitan police’s handling of a proposed vigil for Sarah Everard was not in accordance with the law comes after a torrid period for the force.Dame Cressida Dick was last month forced out of her role as the Met commissioner after the London mayor accused her of failing to deal with a culture of misogyny and racism within Britain’s biggest force. Continue reading...

Moscow is insisting that Washington pledge not to sanction trade between it and Tehran over UkraineTalks on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal have become a casualty of the war in Ukraine after an indefinite pause was announced over last-minute Russian demands.An agreement on the nuclear deal to bring the US and Iran back into compliance would have led to a swathe of US sanctions on Iran being lifted, including Iranian crude oil exports and petrochemicals, in return for limits on its nuclear activity. Continue reading...

Sunday’s primetime film awards ceremony marks a break from recent tradition and promises a change of tack for institutionSunday night’s Baftas ceremony is set to stage a confident return to pre-pandemic levels of glitz and glamour amid fears of flagging audience engagement. The longest red carpet in Europe will wrap itself around a full-capacity Albert Hall ahead of the events, which boasts a new host in Australian comedy actor Rebel Wilson and, for only the second time in two decades, a pre-watershed broadcast on BBC One.Last year’s ceremony also took place at the Albert Hall but with minimal hooplah, virtual acceptance speeches and no live audience. Although the awards verdicts were lauded, Bafta’s renewed credibility was dinted three weeks later by revelations in the Guardian of multiple allegations of verbal abuse, bullying and sexual misconduct against the film-maker Noel Clarke, who had received the outstanding contribution to British cinema prize. Bafta had known about the allegations beforehand yet continued with the presentation. Continue reading...

A Georgia rattler roundup no longer kills the animals but Texas town of Sweetwater is proud of its traditionAn annual rattlesnake roundup in south Georgia recently changed the format of this month’s event to celebrate living snakes without skinning and butchering them, earning plaudits from animal rights activists.But no such changes are occurring at a huge rattlesnake roundup beginning this weekend in Texas, a festival that the activists say is barbaric. The two events are a marked contrast in how rattlesnakes are handled. Continue reading...

Accusation from Pixar employees comes after company refused to take public stand against controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ billDisney has been accused of cutting LGBTQ+ content from the films of Pixar, the animation giant and Disney subsidiary, during the editing process.A letter from a group of employees of Pixar – the studio behind Toy Story, The Incredibles and Inside Out – claimed Disney executives have “barred” moments of gay affection from films before they are released. Continue reading...

Russell killed mother and son Julie and David Williams in Coventry before raping and murdering Nicole McGregorA triple murderer who raped and strangled one of his victims has been sentenced to a whole-life order, meaning he will remain in prison for the rest of his life.Anthony Russell, 39, pleaded guilty to the murders of Julie Williams, 58, her son David Williams, 31, and Nicole McGregor, 31, over the course of a seven-day “campaign of crime” in October 2020. Continue reading...

As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine intensifies, the number of civilian deaths continues to rise. Here are some of those reported killed

Airfields far from the main areas of war hit, while convoy near Kyiv seems to have dispersed into firing positions

Tributes paid to ‘legend’ Secret Army star who was a staple of 1970s and 1980s television dramasRon Pember, who starred in Only Fools and Horses, has died aged 87.The actor played Baz in the critically acclaimed sitcom and also featured in the BBC comedy Red Dwarf and co-starred in the 1970s BBC drama Secret Army. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s president says Russia is a ‘terrorist state’ while Karhkiv comes under relentless bombardment

Leo Docherty steps in after Boris Johnson says serving soldiers would face court martial

Nick Candy and Hansjörg Wyss among interested parties before owner Roman Abramovich sanctionedBillionaires interested in buying Chelsea Football Club have been told to approach the UK government with potential takeover proposals, after the sanctioning of its current oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich.Fearing the threat of sanctions, Abramovich, 55, had been rushing to sell the club for more than £3bn, drawing interest from the British property magnate Nick Candy, the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, the US private equity billionaire and Crystal Palace shareholder Josh Harris, and the American part-owner of the LA Dodgers Todd Boehly. Continue reading...

Author Larysa Denysenko wrote introduction to Maya and Her Friends while sheltering from missiles in Kyiv“As I write to you, rockets are flying outside my windows, and at a distance of 20km from my house, Russian aggressors are destroying the suburbs of Kyiv,” author Larysa Denysenko says in an email. “Mariupol, home to more than 400,000 people, is left without water, heat and food due to violations of international humanitarian law. One child died of dehydration today.”Denysenko, a Ukrainian writer, lawyer and public activist, is emailing about her children’s book Maya and Her Friends, illustrated by Ukrainian artist Masha Foya, which will be released by Bonnier Books UK in April. All of the company’s profits from the book will be donated to Unicef and their efforts to support the children of Ukraine in the ongoing invasion. Continue reading...

Armitage calls his piece a ‘refracted version of what is coming at us in obscene images through the news’

Children seem to be facing increasing risks as mask mandates are abandoned and vaccination rates stallAs many as a third of all child deaths from Covid in the US have occurred during the Omicron surge of the pandemic.Children seem to be facing increasing risks from Covid-19 even as mask mandates drop across the country, and vaccination rates among children stall out at alarmingly low rates. Continue reading...

The government says the ban, which won’t take effect until shipments already on their way arrive, won’t risk fuel security

Cousin weeps outside court as she speaks of ‘joyful and generous’ young man whose death shattered Yuendumu community

Politicians at state and federal level back calls to expand Northern Australia cyclone scheme to other natural disasters across the country

Rolfe, 30, was also cleared of two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death

Election of Yoon Suk-yeol, who has blamed feminism for low birthrates, seen as a ‘pivotal moment’ for public discussion of women’s issuesThe election of an avowed “anti-feminist” as the next president of South Korea has been greeted with dismay amid accusations Yoon Suk-yeol fuelled the county’s gender divide to garner support from young male voters.Former top prosecutor Yoon defeated the liberal ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung by a margin of 263,000 votes in one of the most closely contested presidential elections in recent memory. Continue reading...

Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina urge western leaders to ‘engage more actively and strongly’ in the regionRussia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference. Continue reading...

Climate 200-backed challenger says ‘copying our campaign colours is a great start … now he needs to copy our policies’

There are 15 confirmed cases of the virus, which has been detected in NSW, Qld, South Australia and Victoria and killed two people so far

Consultancy firm Randstad’s contract ‘must end’ unless it delivers learning missed during CovidA national tutoring programme is failing to help the children who need it most, according to MPs, who say ministers should terminate their contract with the consultancy firm running the scheme unlessit “shapes up”.A report by the education select committee gives a scathing account of the government’s £5bn national tutoring programme (NTP), which aims to help children in England catch up on learning missed during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Continue reading...

Constant bombardment, without power or water, and unable to collect the dead – conditions in Ukrainian port now ‘medieval’

Winner Karis Kelly, writer of Consumed, had previously been considering a ‘complete career change’ as a result of the Covid-19 pandemicA playwright who was considering a “complete career change” because of the Covid-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on the arts has been announced as the winner of this year’s Women’s prize for playwriting.Karis Kelly won the prize for Consumed, a drama about four generations of Northern Irish women at a 90th birthday party in a “house full of hungry ghosts”. Kelly, who has been writing plays since 2008, said “like many others in the arts, during the pandemic, I had a complete crisis of faith … So to go from that point to receiving recognition from such an amazing prize and panel of judges is genuinely a dream come true.” Continue reading...

Regional hubs urgently needed as waiting lists at London clinic leave young people ‘at considerable risk’The only NHS gender identity service for children in England and Wales is under unsustainable pressure as the demand for the service outstrips capacity, a review has found.The interim report of the Cass Review, commissioned by NHS England in 2020, recommends that a network of regional hubs be created to provide care and support to young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria, arguing their care is “everyone’s business”. Continue reading...

Most of the 85 Covid-positive patients at the Royal Cornwall hospital were admitted for another reason

As first high-level diplomatic meeting between combatants continues, EU leaders prepare to meet at Versailles

These demands will be included on a ‘families’ manifesto for change’ that the Labour party is working onMinisters must introduce tougher sentences for femicide and investigate whether female suicides are the result of domestic violence in order to tackle brutality against women and girls, the Labour MP Jess Phillips has urged, as she cited in parliament the names of 128 women killed in the past year.Phillips told MPs these demands will be included in a “families’ manifesto for change” that she and the Labour party are working on with the families of the victims she has included on her lists, which she has shared with parliament for seven years running. Continue reading...

Daughter-in-law speaks of her anger that Alevtina Shernina, 91, is ending her life as it beganAlevtina Shernina was a young girl when she survived the brutal siege of Leningrad during the second world war. Eight decades later, so frail she can barely talk, or move unassisted, she is besieged again.The 91-year-old lives in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city and one of the most battered urban areas in Russia’s invasion. The bombardment has come so close that windows in her apartment building were blown out. Continue reading...

Page, 63, sentenced to 12 years after being found guilty of arranging to sexually abuse childrenA former BBC Radio 1 DJ has been jailed for 12 years for arranging to sexually abuse vulnerable children in the Philippines.Mark Page, who worked at the station in the 1980s, was guilty of “grotesque sexual abuse” of children as young as 12 and took advantage of their poverty, the judge said. Continue reading...

Little progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine as humanitarian convoy is forced to turn round

Solaris is tracked off coast of Sicily, joining hurried sailings of Russian yachts to avoid seizure

Zelenskiy shares footage showing destruction of 600-bed complex with children’s and maternity wards in south-eastern city as US House passes huge aid package

Outgoing chief inspector of constabulary says police must confront series of problems to ‘rebuild public trust’Major shortcomings persist in England and Wales’s police forces, the outgoing chief inspector of constabulary has warned, as he said one of the most important missions was to “rebuild public trust”.Sir Tom Winsor, in his ninth and final annual review, said that police must confront a series of problems, including the aftermath of Sarah Everard’s murder by a police officer, if damage to confidence is be restored.Fraud has “exploded” and continues to be wrongly treated as a low priority by many forces.The model of local accountability, involving police and crime commissioners, has fractured some relationships between police and politicians, and left some chief constables lacking in confidence in their operational independence.The speed with which the government has tried to recruit 20,000 officers, in line with the Conservative manifesto, means there is a “heightened danger” that people unsuited to policing may get through.The “fragile architecture” of having 43 police forces, devised in 1962 and implemented in 1974, is “very far from fit for purpose” in the 2020s.Online crime is now by far the most prevalent type of crime. “It used to be that children were seen as unsafe out on the streets. Now they may be more at risk in their own bedrooms,” he said.Public expectations to fight crime cannot be met without sufficient funding and “the public through their politicians must decide how much threat, harm and risk they are prepared to tolerate”. Continue reading...

A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the case of the Northern Territory constable charged with the murder of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker

Mining giant’s decision follows other big names exiting Russia and casts doubt over Queensland Alumina Ltd joint venture

The interference began soon after a meeting between presidents Sauli Niinistö and Joe BidenAircraft flying near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and near Finland’s eastern border with Russia have noticed interference with their GPS signals, according to Finnish authorities.The interference began soon after Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö met Joe Biden in Washington on Saturday to discuss deepening defense ties between Finland and Nato due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Continue reading...

Man falls 300 metres to his death and army group gets into difficulty after going to his aidA man has died after falling about 300 metres (1,000ft) down Ben Nevis, and 17 others had to be rescued in “ferocious” conditions during an eight-hour operation on Britain’s highest mountain.After a 28-year-old man fell down an icy slope at Red Burn, on the west side of the mountain, members of an army group went to his aid but ended up requiring multiple rescues themselves. Continue reading...

Airport will reopen south terminal and restore landing and takeoff slot rulesGatwick is expecting 3 million passengers a month this summer as the easing of travel restrictions and the return of takeoff and landing slot rules help the airport recover from its pandemic slump.The airport reported narrower losses of just over £1m a day in 2021, down £95m on 2020 to £371m, despite passenger numbers falling further to 6.3 million last year. Continue reading...

Analysis: the public spat over planes is a setback and the upshot of this mini-debacle is that Russia retains air superiority

Mothercare and Universal Music also among latest round of firms to halt operations after invasion of Ukraine

Aircraft impounded in Hampshire as aviation sanctions come into effect

SAS soldier tells defamation trial he heard a burst of gunfire and later walked past dead body lying outside Whiskey 108 compound

Yevhen Lavrenchuk was imprisoned for more than two month after being detained at Moscow’s requestA Ukrainian opera director who was arrested in Italy at Russia’s request said he hopes to be “the last ever victim of Russian exploitation of Interpol”.Yevhen (Eugene) Lavrenchuk, 39, was imprisoned in Naples for more than two months after Russia issued a call for his arrest through Interpol’s “red notice”, an instrument once used to hunt fugitive criminals but which now includes the names of political dissidents. Continue reading...

Messages from online casino occurred during industry’s Safer Gambling WeekSky Vegas has been fined £1.2m for sending free casino “spins” to recovering addicts during the industry’s annual Safer Gambling Week.The fine comes at a sensitive time for the British gambling industry, which has been at pains to show it has improved its attitude to social responsibility. Continue reading...