Wednesday: City and surrounding areas brace for severe weather and flood warnings. Plus: PM to continue working after testing positive for CovidGood morning. Sydney residents are on alert with the “rain bomb” that soaked Brisbane and triggered record floods in northern NSW expected to bring a “life-threatening” amount of rain today. The Bureau of Meteorology warns a severe thunderstorm and gusty winds could develop by this evening across the city, south coast and southern tablelands.As the storms head south, the national flood death toll stands at 10 after the bodies of two people were discovered yesterday – a 76-year-old man at Glen Esk, Queensland and an 80-year-old woman in Lismore, NSW. Among the death and damage, stories of hope and community strength are being shared online as local people offer shelter, share supplies and search for stranded residents. The north coast town of Ballina is facing a one-in-500-years flood as the flood peak was expected to coincide with high-tide overnight. As NSW prepares for damaging weather, the clean-up effort has begun in Queensland – where an estimated 15,000 properties were damaged – and in Lismore, which suffered through the worst floods on record. And the national disaster recovery and resilience agency has defended its decision to omit Lismore from its priority areas for flood mitigation funding just three months ago despite it being one of the most flood-prone areas in Australia. Continue reading...

Visit from royalty marks transition to Essex’s second city after murder of Sir David Amess MP last October“I’m bursting with pride,” says Sharon Wuyts, 45, on the day her home town, Southend-on-Sea, was granted city status.The carer “snuck out of work” to attend celebrations with her colleague Debra Goaté on the seafront. The pair ended up staying more than four hours in drizzle to wait for Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, to mark the occasion by greeting the crowd. Continue reading...

Chinese foreign minister says Ukrainian counterpart asked for help to find diplomatic solution

Chris Bryant says UK moving too slowly to impose sanctions on people allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin• Russia-Ukraine crisis: live newsAn MP has claimed that the Russian oligarch and Chelsea football club owner, Roman Abramovich, is hastily selling UK properties to avoid potential financial sanctions.Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and head of the parliamentary standards committee, said the government was moving too slowly on imposing sanctions on those with alleged links to Vladimir Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Record-breaking floods across Queensland and New South Wales have seen communities cut off, homes and businesses inundated and lives lost.Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent Ben Smee and reporter Christine Tondorf explain how the flooding has played out on each side of the border – including a series of heroic rescues and sudden escapesRead more: Continue reading...

Alistair Hudson was asked to leave his post over a row regarding a statement in support of PalestineMore than 100 members of staff at the University of Manchester have signed a letter opposing an attempt to force out the director of the Whitworth Art Gallery (WAG), calling it a “grave violation of academic and artistic freedom of expression”.The Guardian reported last week that Alistair Hudson was asked to leave his post by the university over a row regarding a statement of solidarity with Palestine’s “liberation struggle”, which was removed from an exhibition of works by the human rights investigations agency Forensic Architecture. Continue reading...

Dozens of diplomats walked out of a speech by the Russian foreign minister to the UN human rights forum on Tuesday.Sergei Lavrov was addressing the UN human rights council remotely, after cancelling his attendance previously because of what the Russian mission in Geneva said on Monday were EU states blocking his flight path, when delegates from the UK, US and EU started to walk out in protest.Yevheniia Filipenko, Ukraine's ambassador to the UN, said the organisation was taking a 'very strong stance in defence of its own principles'

Daria Kaleniuk interrupts media conference in Warsaw to press UK PM over sanctions and no-fly zone

Deputy prime minister says those that leave ‘want to be as close to their home country as possible’• Russia-Ukraine crisis: live newsThe UK’s deputy prime minister has suggested Ukrainians would prefer to flee to countries nearer to home amid criticism that the Britain’s support for refugees is “heartless” and pressure to offer more help from Conservative MPs.Under plans set out on Sunday evening, Ukrainian nationals settled in the UK will be able to bring their “immediate family members” to join them, which applies only to spouses, unmarried partners of at least two years, parents or their children if one is under 18, or adult relatives who are also carers. Continue reading...

If the climate crisis leads to an insect die-off, human life will be less livable – and more boringThe labyrinthine world of insects is in deep trouble. Scientists have uncovered startling declines in their populations , with the United Nations estimating that half a million species could be lost by the midpoint of this century.In writing about this silent unfolding disaster for my new book, The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World, I explored how the loss of insects imperils our food security, potentially deprives us of new medicines and degrades the ecosystems we all rely upon to sustain life. Through habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change, we are creating a version of hell for our greatest allies on this planet. Continue reading...

Downton Abbey co-stars Michelle Dockery and Michael Fox have announced their debut EP. With so many film and TV stars trying their hands at pop, our music critic rates actors’ past effortsBruce Willis – The Return Of Bruno (1986)★★☆☆☆ Continue reading...

British women and girls are still being cut abroad and foreigners who are vulnerable are denied asylum by the UK‘But why should we care about a practice that is being performed overseas?” It was a blunt question put to me by an audience member at a conference on female genital mutilation. Should we care because of a commitment to human rights? Our collective duty to prevent suffering? We have a moral obligation to end the practice in Britain and also to focus efforts on eliminating it globally.After spending many years researching FGM, I have spoken to women who vehemently support it and those that actively resist it. If we are going to end FGM, it is important that we hear all women’s voices, however uncomfortable that may make us. Continue reading...

A man has been arrested after allegedly taking a car in Keysborough with an 11-month-old boy inside

Influential former prime minister Shinzo Abe called for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of UkraineChina has reacted angrily to calls by Japan’s influential former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising concern over Chinese aggression towards Taiwan.Abe, who presided over record defence budgets before resigning in 2020, said Japan should cast off taboos surrounding its possession of nuclear weapons following the outbreak of war in Europe. Continue reading...

Conceived as a utopian city within a city, the labyrinthian London landmark had a troubled path on its way to being hailed as an architectural icon. But is this world-class arts centre now in danger of being turned into a shopping mall?It looks like something from a wildly imaginative sci-fi comic, an impossible vision of worlds slamming into each other in a fantastical collage. Elevated walkways leap across the sky while a trio of towers rise up like serrated blades, their edges sawing at the clouds. Beneath them, fountains cascade and cafes spill across lush waterside terraces, while an art gallery and library jut out overhead. A tropical conservatory wraps around the top of a subterranean theatre, next to a cinema buried beneath a crescent of apartments. And the entire multilayered edifice floats above a 2,000-seat concert hall carved into the ground.This is no sci-fi comic, but a cutaway diagram of the Barbican arts centre dating from 1982, rendered in vivid orange, red and green. Somehow, this miraculous Escher-like wonder really did get built, and it hits 40 this month, with celebratory events and a handsome new book modestly titled Building Utopia. Continue reading...

Video shared online shows the moments after a Ukrainian military base was hit by an air strike on Monday night. The base is located in the city of Brovary, 25km north-east of the capital, Kyiv. The reported strike comes as Russia continues its push into Ukraine Continue reading...

Prosecutors say they cannot determine how many were killed because attackers cleaned up the scene and removed any bodiesMexicans have been left wondering what happened to about a dozen men who disappeared after they were seen lined up against a wall by drug cartel gunmen.In a video apparently filmed by a resident of the town San José de Gracia in the western state of Michoaán and posted on social media, bursts of gunfire broke out and smoke covered the scene. Continue reading...

A deluge of reports and footage posted on social media appears to show acts of discrimination and violence against African, Asian and Caribbean citizens while fleeing Ukrainian cities and at some of the country’s border posts. They are among hundreds of thousands of people trying to escape the country as civilian casualties and destruction mount after Russia's invasion

Matt Reeves’ film is spectacular and well-cast but an intriguing saga of corruption devolves into a tiresome third actThat definite article means it’s the genuine article. Adding “the” to Batman’s name has become a huge part of the brand identity, a sign of how elemental and atavistic this shadowy figure is supposed to be. You can imagine some growly voice saying “the Batman” – but not Tom Holland putting on a deep baritone to say he’s “the Spider-Man”, or Henry Cavill booming he’s “the Superman” (although maybe you could have Billy Joel stride into a dark Gotham City bar to raspingly confront “the Piano Man”).Director and co-writer Matt Reeves has created a new Batman iteration in which Robert Pattinson reinvents billionaire Bruce Wayne as an elegantly wasted rock star recluse, willowy and dandyish in his black suit with tendrils of dark hair falling over his face; but Wayne magically trebles in bulk when he reappears in costume and mask as the Dark Knight, his whole being weaponised into a slab-like impassivity. And this of course is happening in the sepulchral vastness of Gotham City, the brutal and murky world which Christopher Nolan thrillingly pioneered with his Dark Knight trilogy and made indispensable for imagining Batman on screen. Continue reading...

Measures do not undermine neutrality principle as Switzerland says it is acting in defence of international lawSwitzerland, a bastion of neutrality through two world wars, has decided to adopt wholesale swingeing EU sanctions against the Russian central bank, freezing as much as billions of dollars in assets and massively increasing the pressure on the Russian economy.The government also announced it had banned five oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin from entering the country. Flights from Russia are being banned, although this will not apply to flights carrying diplomats. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary makes statement to Commons; defence secretary warned over ‘indiscriminate’ bombing in Ukraine

Footage shows dozens of Grad missiles raining down on centre of Ukraine’s second biggest city

Thousands of Ukrainians are streaming out of the capital. As the Russian attack continues, the residents who remain are taking cover and taking up arms, Emma Graham-Harrison reportsWhen the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, began his invasion of Ukraine he expected to quickly take control of the capital, Kyiv, and install a pro-Kremlin government. But the resistance his forces have encountered has been greater than he anticipated, Emma Graham-Harrison tells Michael Safi. Continue reading...

Latest court order raises hopes of verdict in trial of World Vision’s Mohammed El HalabiPressure is mounting on Israel to conclude the trial of a Gazan aid worker accused of funnelling relief money to Hamas in a six-year-old case widely derided by the international community as “not worthy of a democratic state”.Mohammed El Halabi, the head of the US-based charity World Vision’s Gaza office, was detained in 2016 after being accused by Israel’s Shin Bet security service of transferring $7.2m (£5.4m) a year to the Palestinian militant group in control of the Gaza Strip. Continue reading...

British citizens trying to bring their families to the UK are grappling bureaucracy in Paris despite new visa rules

Russian president has ordered nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. We look at what that means

Downing Street makes clear ordinary Britons should not travel to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders

The Blackadder star loved playing the villain in this Robin Hood spoof – but Kate Lonergan had to get checked for bites between shots as her yellow underwear kept attracting ticksI did a Jackanory Playhouse and got slightly drunk after the recording. I said: “It’s not real storytelling, is it? We’re reading off an Autocue.” The senior BBC figures said: “Well, what would you do?” My daughter was 10 at the time, tiny, feisty, but crap at football. I watched her charging around the playground yelling at the boys and thought: “If there really was a Robin Hood and he’d met my daughter, it wouldn’t have been him who was in charge of the gang.” Continue reading...

Spokesperson for billionaire says Russian-Israeli owner of football club was contacted by Ukrainian side

Motoring groups warn rises, made worse by the war in Ukraine, will add to the cost of living crisisUK petrol and diesel prices have passed the “grim milestone” of 150p a litre for the first time, with further rises expected as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushes up the cost of fuel worldwide.The average price of unleaded petrol climbed to 151.25p and diesel rose to 154.74p on Sunday, both record highs, according to RAC data from roughly 7,500 UK petrol forecourts. Continue reading...

Initiative aimed at boosting Covid-hit sector is open to Italians and foreigners who marry this year

Options include giving to charities on the ground, supporting local journalists and writing to your MP

The latest science shows that genes and environment are ​too deeply entwined to pit them against one anotherWhen you hear people conversing in an unfamiliar language, why is it that you can’t even tell where one word ends and the next begins? If you are a native English speaker, why is it so challenging to get your mouth around a French or Hebrew “r”, which originates lower in the throat, or the “r” in Spanish or Italian, which is trilled on the tip of the tongue? Your ability to hear and make sounds, and to understand their meaning as language, is wired into your brain. How you acquire that wiring illuminates an age-old debate about human nature.In the first few months of your life, your infant brain is bathed in all kinds of information from the world around you, through your senses. This sense data causes changes in your brain as your neurons fire in various patterns. Some collections of neurons fire together frequently, strengthening or tuning their connections and aiding learning. Others are used less and are pruned away, making room for more useful ones to form. This process of tuning and pruning is called plasticity, and it happens throughout your life, but enormously in the first few years. Continue reading...

HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds lose out as investors switch to defence stocks

Ex-minister explains why he resigned last year after CCTV showed him embracing adviser Gina Coladangelo

Defence secretary says ministers will ‘reflect on’ EU’s more generous plan for refugees in coming days

Some analysts expect a ‘complete collapse’ in currency amid signs one state-backed bank could fail, while Ukraine president warns key moment has arrived

NSW government says it will sell holdings of Russian assets, as rouble crashes more than 40% after international sanctions

Witness heard gunfire and turned to see different patrol member with raised weapon and detainee shot dead, court hears

Fishermen in Mexico are using the ike jime method, which aims to reduce fish trauma, to improve the quality of catches and help sustainabilityEvery morning, hundreds of small white fishing boats dot the dark blue waters of Veracruz’s coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the crews, many of whose families have been fishing for generations, employ traditional methods – using nets to catch large numbers of fish, which then slowly asphyxiate once out of the water.But a few of the fishermen are doing something different, using a technique that emerged in Japan several centuries ago. It is a method for slaughtering fish that emulates a process called ike jime, which is based on a simple scientific principle: the less trauma the fish experiences, the longer the flesh remains fresh. Continue reading...

As government officials downplay the fighting in Afar, families are separated, children killed and young people ready to take up arms, while hopes of peace talks fadeWhen the bombs started to fall on Afar, people scattered. In the chaos and panic families were ripped apart. A young father lost two of his children, killed by ricocheting rocks. A grandmother had to leave behind her dying son-in-law, a bullet wound in his back; his wife still hasn’t heard the news. A 28-year-old woman doesn’t know if three of her five children are alive or dead.All of them are nomadic people from Ethiopia’s north-east Afar region, and survivors of the latest round of bloodshed in the country’s devastating civil war. In makeshift shelters that have sprung up around Afdera, a hardscrabble merchant town beside a volcanic salt lake, they talk about homes destroyed by shelling and villages looted bare. Afar’s authorities estimate that more than 300,000 people have fled the fighting since January. Continue reading...

Eight people have died, more are missing and hundreds have been rescued as flooding hits Brisbane, Lismore, Murwillumbah and Grafton

She was going nowhere in smalltown Kansas – until she unleashed her voice and became a raucous, liquor-swilling cabaret colossus. Now she’s the star of a hard-rocking, emotionally charged HBO drama‘It’s a little like Sliding Doors,” says the actor and cabaret artist Bridget Everett, speaking from Manhattan, New York. She’s talking about her new dramedy Somebody Somewhere, which is set in Manhattan, Kansas. “Basically, what life might be like if I had stayed in Kansas and never moved to New York and found my voice.”I feel I ought to point out that Somebody Somewhere is nothing like Sliding Doors. Everett plays Sam, a subdued, laconic woman, sometimes depressed, sometimes just not feeling it. She has a quiet life and a gigantic voice, which she slowly comes around to unleashing in the drab community centres and church halls where thwarted, flamboyant people find one another. The drama doesn’t so much centre on Sam as move stealthily from one understated struggle to another: Sam and her sister’s grief at losing their other sister; their mother’s alcoholism, which, like bankruptcy, moves first slowly and then very fast. Continue reading...

It might be funny and sexy, but the spy thriller is out of new ideas. And now even the fabulous costumes are in short supplyWhatever else is going right or wrong with a TV show, it helps if we know immediately which series we’re watching. A shimmering brutalist landscape, “Russia”written in giant pastel letters, retro-reverb beehive pop on the soundtrack and a woman in biking leathers breaking into a government building wielding a gun and silencer? This can only be Killing Eve (BBC iPlayer).This is season four. If you didn’t catch seasons one to three, what have you missed? Well, there’s a diffident but determined intelligence agent called Eve (Sandra Oh), and a fearsome yet brittle assassin called Villanelle (Jodie Comer), and they’re obsessed with each other because … actually we’ve never fully established why. Anyway, since Eve began tracking Villanelle, what has happened is … do you know, I’m not properly across that either? A criminal network called the Twelve keeps murdering beloved minor characters, and Eve plans to destroy it, but what the Twelve wants or why we might care has remained murky. Continue reading...

It is 10 years since she helped launch possibly the biggest global protest movement in history. But then came controversy as huge sums of money flowed in. She describes how her childhood inspired her activism – and the hurt she has suffered“You’re gonna make me cry,” Patrisse Cullors warns when I ask how she feels about being criticised by other Black people. Then the co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM) turns away from the webcam and starts to sob, hand to her mouth. “I’m crying because I was prepared for rightwing attacks. I wasn’t prepared for Black people to attack me. And I think that’s probably the hardest thing in this position, to lose your own people. The people that you love the most, the people that you do this work for. The human being feels betrayed, the leader feels like: ‘Yeah, welcome to Black leadership. This is the fucking hazing.’”It’s almost 10 years since Cullors, 38, helped to launch what has been described as the largest global protest movement in history. In that time she has gone from local community organiser to international activism A-lister. But with celebrity has come controversy, including complaints about a lack of transparency about the huge sums of money that have flowed BLM’s way. She has also been called a hypocrite for amassing a property portfolio inconsistent with her beliefs as a self-described “trained Marxist.” She has called these attacks: “Not just a character assassination campaign, but a campaign to actually get me assassinated.” Continue reading...

Who is to blame?

Brittany symbolises how difficult life has been for many French people in past two years – but there are signs of changeOn the edge of one of Brittany’s poorest housing estates, a six-year-old girl sits in class and works on her handwriting. Her teacher, Lucile, encourages her as 11 other children sit around tables, arranged into cosy nooks. “Every day I listen to each child read to me, I never managed that when I had 25 in a class,” said Lucile. “I get to know each child individually and it’s so calm.”It is in classrooms like this, in France’s most deprived neighbourhoods, that the centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, wants his record in office to be considered. When he came to power five years ago – a former banker who had served as economy minister under the left – he promised a “pragmatic” cherrypicking of ideas from both left and right that would liberalise the economy and end the persistent inequality that he said “imprisoned” people by their social origins. Continue reading...

Many people in Ukraine – like many outside observers – have found it hard to believe what has transpired, though spirits mostly remain high

Analysis: Zelenskiy has managed to achieve an unheard-of range of sanctions against Russia thanks to a tireless round of calls to allies