World news | The Guardian

A 26-year-old man was rescued from a hotel in the capital Naypyidaw, long after the disaster killed thousandsA man was pulled alive from the rubble of a hotel in Myanmar on Wednesday, five days after the country's worst earthquake in a century flattened entire neighbourhoods and tore through temples, bridges and highways.A joint team of rescuers from Myanmar and Turkey found the 26-year-old in the ruins of the building in the capital, Naypyidaw, after midnight, the fire service and the country's ruling junta said. Continue reading...

Funeral director Robert Bush, 47, charged after 35 bodies and suspected human ashes found at premises last yearA 47-year-old man has been charged with 64 offences in connection with the investigation into remains found at a funeral directors in Hull, Humberside police said.Funeral director Robert Bush, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, has been charged with 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial and 30 counts of fraud by false representation after 35 bodies and suspected human ashes were found at his premises between 20 April 2023 and 6 March 2024. Continue reading...

Potential cuts expected to more than 25% of backroom staff, underlining challenge for state government crippled by debt but trying to bolster public safety

The US nonprofit, whose online community encouraged members to write a novel in a month, has been rocked by controversy in recent yearsNaNoWriMo, the US-based nonprofit organisation that challenged people to write a novel in a month, has announced it is closing down after 20 years.NaNoWriMo - an abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month - fostered an online community of participants aiming to write 50,000 words of fiction in November. It began informally in 1999 before becoming a nonprofit in 2006. Each year, tens of thousands signed up to the organisation's flagship programme. Continue reading...

Lucy Osborne tells high court she was taken aback' at number of people in contact over the actor's alleged sexual misconductA Guardian journalist who has worked on high-profile investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct by men said the volume of fresh leads received after writing about Noel Clarke was the most she had ever witnessed.Lucy Osborne, who, with Sirin Kale, carried out the Guardian's investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against the Doctor Who actor, told the high court that she was taken aback" by how many people got in touch after publication of the first article. Continue reading...

IDF says residents should evacuate Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Zayed, al-Manshiya and Tal al-ZaatarAt least 50,399 Palestinian people have been killed and 114,583 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.At least 42 bodies and 183 injured people have been received by hospitals in Gaza over the last day, according to the territory's health ministry, which said that at least 1,042 Palestinian people have been killed by Israeli forces since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March. Continue reading...

Officers attended theatre in Southend after reports of altercation at end of Paul Chowdhry's showPolice were called to a comedy show in Essex after a fight broke out in the audience, which reportedly led to a man being assaulted.Inquiries are ongoing after the altercation at the end of standup comic Paul Chowdhry's performance of his Englandia tour at the Cliffs Pavilion in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend. Continue reading...

Source reportedly says no free trade without free speech' after US bureau holds meeting with anti-abortion campaigner

National Rally president says French electorate must be outraged' at judgment that would rob' them of a voice

Arizona allows testimony in the case of Donald Day who is accused of making threats to public figures and the FBI

NSW Health Care Complaints Commission is investigating the man, who has been the subject of multiple complaints

ACT watchdog says report into former judge's conduct during Lehrmann trail inquiry may be protected by parliamentary privilege

Queenslander ordered to pay $350,000 plus interest and costs as judge finds his video about American gamer Billy Mitchell was recklessly' based on false claim

The Albanese government pledges to crack down on price-gouging', but there is no clear definition of what it is - and charging high prices is not illegal

Elzbieta Olszewska refused time to complete paper application but was only told of decision after visitor visa had expired

Paul Marchant accepts behaviour fell below standards expected at owner Associated British FoodsThe boss of Primark has admitted an error of judgment" and resigned following an allegation made by a woman about his behaviour towards her in a social situation, the retailer's owner has said.Associated British Foods (ABF) said that Paul Marchant accepted that his actions fell below the standards it expected and had resigned with immediate effect. Continue reading...

Annual peak is lowest on record, covering 5.53m sq miles - about 30,000 sq miles below the previous low in 2017Winter sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low in 2025, according to Nasa and the US's National Snow and Ice Data Center. The annual peak, recorded on 22 March, was the lowest since records began 47 years ago, with sea ice covering just 5.53m sq miles - about 1.1m sq miles less than last year - and 30,000 sq miles below the previous low in 2017. The Gulf of St Lawrence had almost no ice, while the Sea of Okhotsk experienced notably lower than average sea ice extent.In late January, sea ice extent in the Arctic unexpectedly decreased, losing an area the size of Italy (more than 115,000 sq miles). This can be attributed to cyclones pushing southerly winds in the Barents and Bering seas, causing ocean waves that broke apart and melted thin ice at the edge of the ice sheet. Temperatures up to 12C above normal were recorded between northern Greenland and the north pole. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Meeting hosted by shadow housing minister for estate agents and landlords prompted accusations of collusionSenior Tories have held private talks with big landlords about how to thwart the government's renters' rights bill, the Guardian has learned, with ideas including launching a legal challenge under human rights law.Jane Scott, the shadow housing minister, recently hosted a roundtable meeting with several of the country's largest landlords and estate agents, at which they discussed a number of ways to delay or stop the bill altogether. The ideas included challenging it in the courts and delaying it with repeated rounds of Lords amendments, according to three people in attendance. Continue reading...

Ozgur Ozel expanded call to boycott companies perceived as close to President Recep Tayyip ErdoanTurkey's anti-government protesters are weighing their options, amid calls by the main opposition leader for weekly rallies, a growing economic boycott and a groundswell of fired-up student demonstrators determined to stay on the streets.The leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, expanded a call to boycott goods and services from companies perceived as close to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, during a rally in support of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem mamolu. Continue reading...

A nurse, a civil servant and a teacher, among thousands of Palestinians detained without charges, were not informed their relatives had died in Israeli attacks He insisted we take him to the graves': the Palestinian hostages coming home to catastrophe

Alaa Abu Zeid only discovered his wife and children had been killed after his release from an Israeli prison. His is a story repeated across Gaza They don't want them to know anything': Gaza civilians held in Israel not told families had been killedMore than a year after his abduction by Israeli soldiers, the first thing Alaa Abu Zeid wanted to do on his return to Gaza was hold his wife and children. He didn't know that Ali, his brother, would be the only person waiting when he arrived in Khan Younis earlier this month: Alaa's wife, Hala, and all five of the couple's children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike last summer.Abu Zeid, 48, the headteacher of a primary school funded by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in Bureij in central Gaza, was arrested along with dozens of other men when Israeli troops raided the school turned shelter in December 2023. He would never see his family again. Continue reading...

Woman pulled to safety after 30 hours trapped in building a rare glimmer of hope in midst of devastationRescue workers battled for a second night to find survivors of Myanmar's devastating earthquake, which has killed at least 1,644 people and injured thousands more.Teams with little protective equipment, at times using only their bare hands, scrambled to free survivors from the rubble of countless buildings that were shattered by Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake. Continue reading...

Giridharan Sivaraman says politicians on all sides must not dehumanise migrants' in election lead-up

Faye Hall had been detained since February along with a British couple before a court order led to her releaseA US citizen detained in Afghanistan in February by the Taliban administration has been released, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday.American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home," Khalilzad posted on X. Continue reading...

The military junta is calling for foreign aid but agencies and rescuers must navigate crumbling roads, an overwhelmed health system and ongoing fightingThe children at Bright Kids nursery in Kyaukse, a town south of Mandalay, were taking a nap when the earthquake struck on Friday afternoon. The two-storey building collapsed with dozens of children aged between two and four trapped inside. For hours, rescuers sifted through the rubble, searching desperately for survivors.We were clearing the building using diggers and rescuing people with manual tools," said Thar Nge, a volunteer. They needed better equipment - metal cutters and generators - but made use of what they had. Thar Nge helped carry a four-year-old girl to safety. She pleaded, over and over, for him to save her, he said. He held a bottle of water to her mouth before her dusty body was freed. Continue reading...

At least 20 officers forced their way into property and police said some present were planning direct action in LondonPolice have raided a Quaker meeting house and arrested six women attending a gathering of the protest group Youth Demand.More than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with Tasers, forced their way into the Westminster meeting house at 7.15pm, according to a statement by the Quakers. Continue reading...

France has been urged to shun Maga America as #BoycottUSA hashtag spreads, but teenagers say they can't afford to join the actionOn the rainy Grands Boulevards in Paris on Friday, the branches of McDonald's and KFC were doing brisk business.There was little sign of le boycott" - a movement among French customers to reject American brands and products made in the US, in protest at Donald Trump's trade tariffs and anti-Europe rhetoric. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands gather for Ekrem mamolu outside Istanbul centre in move to keep momentum after clashes with policeTurkey's main opposition has rallied in defence of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem mamolu, in a move to sustain the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.Hundreds of thousands of people attended the protest called by the head of the opposition Republican People's party (CHP) in a spot far from the Istanbul city centre. The party leader, Ozgur Ozel, claimed 2.2 million people attended. Continue reading...

Body of team leader found almost a week after six rescuers went missing, Gaza's civil defence agency saysIsrael's military admitted on Saturday it had fired on ambulances in the Gaza Strip after identifying them as suspicious vehicles", with Hamas condemning it as a war crime" that killed at least one person.The incident took place last Sunday in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in the southern city of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border. Continue reading...

New emails reveal panic' inside the Home Office at the case of Ali Kololo, who was wrongly imprisoned for the 2011 murder of British tourist David TebbuttA Kenyan man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death over an attack on British tourists is suing the Metropolitan police over its role in the case.Ali Kololo was imprisoned for more than a decade in what his lawyers called appalling conditions" before being released when his conviction was quashed in 2023. Continue reading...

Aid agencies warn of extremely difficult' response amid Myanmar's continuing civil war with true scale of disaster yet to emerge

The high-stakes race will determine which party will control a court that will rule on abortion and voting rightsA race to determine control of the Wisconsin supreme court that has profound stakes for voting, abortion and labor rights in the state, is also shaping up to be a litmus test of Elon Musk's political power, making it one of the most consequential elections of Donald Trump's second term.Liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority on the state supreme court, but the liberal justice Ann Walsh Bradley is retiring. Susan Crawford, a liberal judge, is facing off on Tuesday against the conservative judge Brad Schimel for the seat. The winner will determine which party has control of a court that is set to rule on the future of the state's 1849 abortion ban, collective bargaining rights and the makeup of the state's six congressional districts. Continue reading...

Daughter of deceased graduate gives clock part back to Gonville & Caius College - but minute hand still missingThe hour hand of a university chapel clock that was taken in a student prank and replaced with a cardboard copy has been returned almost a century later.Trixie Baker inherited the hour hand on the death of her father, Geoffrey Hunter Baker, a Cambridge graduate who died in 1999 aged 83. Continue reading...

Brianna Stern details alleged abuse in lawsuit filed in Los Angeles and seeks restraining order against influencerAndrew Tate is facing a lawsuit from an ex-girlfriend, who has accused him of sexual assault and battery.Brianna Stern, a model, detailed alleged physical and emotional abuse that took place throughout their 10-month relationship in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles. She also sought a restraining order against Tate. Continue reading...

Governor Ron DeSantis leads push to loosen child labor laws as immigration crackdown leads to workforce shortageBeneath the smugness of Ron DeSantis, at Florida leading the nation in immigration enforcement lies something of a conundrum: how to fill the essential jobs of the scores of immigrant workers targeted for deportation.The answer, according to Florida lawmakers, is the state's schoolchildren, who as young as 14 could soon be allowed to work overnight shifts without a break - even on school nights. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed

Drone raid sparks blaze in Dnipro hotel and restaurant complex and injures 19; Ukrainian president says too early to judge Washington's expanded proposal. What we know on day 1,130

Floodwaters have cut roads and isolated central and south-west communities after days of rain, forcing many to flee

Veteran pilot Glenn Collins was attempting a solo aerobatic manoeuvre at the Avalon Airshow when he lost control

This live blog is now closed. You can read our full report on Vance's Greenland visit here:

Billboards in Birmingham cite party leader's remarks about a new funding model as local elections campaigning beginsLabour has begun an all-out assault on Nigel Farage over his views on the NHS in the run-up to key elections in May, as the Reform UK leader prepared to host what is billed as his party's biggest ever rally in Birmingham.In a coordinated campaign before Farage spoke at a 10,000-person event in the city on Friday evening, Labour paid for nearly a dozen billboard posters around the city with messages about his talk about replacing the NHS with an insurance-based healthcare system. Continue reading...

Jing Lusi said Clarke had boasted of previous Bafta award at a dinner where he propositioned and threatened herA prominent actor said Noel Clarke's honorary award from Bafta was handing him a loaded gun" to seduce and silence women, the high court has heard.Jing Lusi, who stars in Gangs of London and Red Eye, is one of more than 20 women whose allegations of sexual misconduct by Clarke were reported by the Guardian in 2021-22 and which form the basis of Clarke's libel claim against the publisher. Continue reading...

Union leaders say president is union-busting as he seeks to eliminate collective bargaining across agencies

United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay

Milton, sentenced to four years in prison last year, had donated $1.8m to a Trump re-election campaign fundTrevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to prison last year, was pardoned by Donald Trump late Thursday, the White House confirmed Friday.The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. Continue reading...

US president says he and Canadian prime minister agree on many things' after first talk since Carney assumed roleDonald Trump described a long-awaited call with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, as extremely productive" amid a trade war between the two nations launched by the US president.The Friday morning call, requested by the White House, marks the first time the two leaders have spoken since Carney became prime minister on 14 March. Continue reading...

Plumes of smoke rise from suburb of Dahiyeh in Lebanese capital after airstrike that threatens fragile truceIsrael has conducted an airstrike on Beirut for the first time since signing a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.Huge smoke plumes rose from the site of the attack in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh and residents reported hearing the explosion from the mountains surrounding the Lebanese capital. Continue reading...

US rejects suggestion and Kremlin later clarifies idea is just one of the options' and has not been raised with TrumpVladimir Putin has suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary UN-led government to organise fresh elections as both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of breaching an energy ceasefire agreed this week.The idea was quickly rejected by a US spokesperson, and it was not clear how far it was meant to be taken seriously, given that the Kremlin clarified that Putin had not raised this idea in recent phone calls with Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Justice secretary says all options are on the table' and threatens to change lawKeir Starmer has said that he is disappointed" at the Sentencing Council's refusal to agree to the government's request to withdraw the guidelines that have led to claims it is promoting two-tier" justice. (See 11.44am.) Asked about the Sentencing Council's letter this morning, he said:Look, I'm disappointed in this response, and the lord chancellor is obviously continuing to engage on this, and we're considering our response.All options are on the table. I'm disappointed at this outcome, and now we will have to consider what we do as a result.Farage wants you to eat chlorinated chicken just so he can keep licking the boots of his idol Donald Trump.