An investigation alleges two men seeking international protection were pushed from a boat off the coast of SamosOn 15 September 2021, Sidy Keita from Ivory Coast and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana from Cameroon, boarded a dinghy from Turkey to Greece. Despite making it to the Greek island of Samos, their bodies were found days later, washed ashore in Aydin province, on the Aegean coast.Interviews with more than a dozen witnesses, analysis of classified documents, satellite imagery, social media accounts and online material, and discussions with officials in Turkey and Greece, have helped piece together what happened over five September days during which the two men died, likely victims of a pushback by the Greek authorities. Continue reading...

Australia records at least 63 Covid deaths; Karen Andrews quizzed over refugees at Park Hotel; Moderna vaccine approved for children aged six and over. Follow all the day’s news live

Royalist groups have organised petitions calling for Amnesty to be expelled from the country, accusing it of threatening national securityAmnesty International has said attacks against its operations in Thailand were taking place against a backdrop of “growing intolerance for human rights discourse” among the country’s authorities, and warned of a clampdown on civil society groups.Amnesty has come under increased pressure in Thailand, where ultra royalists have accused it of threatening national security and interfering in the country’s internal affairs after it criticised legal cases filed against monarchy reform protesters.

Victims were sitting on an iron slab covering the well when it gave way; prime minister Narendra Modi said the accident was ‘heart-wrenching’Thirteen women and girls have died after accidentally falling down a well during marriage celebrations in northern India, police said.The victims were sitting on an iron slab covering the well on Wednesday when it gave way, senior police officer Akhil Kumar told reporters in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh state. Continue reading...

Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing against Treasury demand to slash budgetCabinet splits have emerged over the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, with Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing and community surveillance of the virus in the face of a Treasury demand to slash the budget.Ministers including the health secretary and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the strategy before it is announced next week. Continue reading...

Party to table motion demanding unredacted report and list of Downing Street staff issued with a fixed penalty noticeA new attempt will be launched next week to force publication of the full report into whether No 10 parties broke Covid laws, with Conservative MPs urged to support the move to ensure there are “no more cover-ups and no more lies”.While more questionnaires were sent out by Scotland Yard to those who attended a dozen gatherings under investigation, a “humble address” motion was tabled in the House of Commons by the Liberal Democrats. Continue reading...

An interactive map shows the average number of snow days for locations across the UKHow much snow have you had this winter? Do you think you used to have more snow in the past? Well now you can check what the average annual snow quota is for your area, and compare with the rest of the UK.Using 30 years of Met Office data, the mapping and analytics company Esri UK has created an interactive map, showing the average number of “snow days” – a day with greater than half of the ground covered in snow at 9am – for locations across the UK. Continue reading...

Australia’s insistence that refugees must not be able to enter ‘the backdoor way’ via NZ remains a sticking point in negotiations

Reports say PM will raise caps on arrivals and shorten quarantine times amid complaints that tough measures were worsening chronic labour shortage

Multiple reports contradict Moscow’s claim of partial drawdown; Nato secretary general sees ‘no sign of de-escalation on the ground’

Nato secretary general contradicts Vladimir Putin’s claim of ‘partial’ withdrawal, as US official says Russia has increased troops by 7,000Russia is continuing to send troops to what is now the biggest concentration of forces in Europe since the cold war, contradicting Moscow’s claims of a drawdown on Ukraine’s border, Nato’s secretary general has said.Hours later a senior US official told reporters that Russia’s claims of withdrawal of some troops were “false” and that Moscow had “increased its troop presence along the Ukrainian border by as many as 7,000 troops”, many of them arriving in the past 24 hours. Continue reading...

Heavy rains bring destruction to historic city of Petrópolis and surrounding mountainous areas in Rio de Janeiro stateAt least 94 people have died after heavy rains sent devastating mudslides and floods through a mountainous region of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state.Petrópolis, the “imperial city” which was the summer getaway of Brazil’s monarchs in the 19th century, was directly in the path of the deluge when it hit on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Rail company advertised 30 positions and received 28,000 applications in kingdom where women couldn’t drive cars until 2018A job advert to recruit 30 female train drivers in Saudi Arabia has attracted 28,000 applicants, highlighting the scale of pent-up demand as the conservative kingdom loosens some restrictions on women’s employment.The Spanish railway operator Renfe said an online assessment of academic background and English language skills had helped it to reduce the number of candidates by around a half, and it would work through the rest by mid-March. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson to call Australian PM Scott Morrison on Wednesday evening and agree to build on defence pactBoris Johnson is to sign off on a £25m security package with Australia as the UK looks to build on its defence pact with Canberra.The prime minister will speak to his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, in a video call on Wednesday evening to agree further bilateral cooperation with its Commonwealth ally, with Britain stepping up its investment in the Indo-Pacific as part of a wider shift in foreign policy. Continue reading...

Around 100 people attend demonstration outside the Corn Exchange over joke about Nazi killingsJimmy Carr faced protests outside the venue where he performed on Wednesday evening in response to comments by the comedian which have been described as racist and offensive towards Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.Cambridge Stand Up To Racism organised the demonstration outside the Corn Exchange in the city, with up to 100 people protesting loudly with large placards and speakers. Continue reading...

Backlash follows Sir Tim Smit’s comments that ‘the good old days never were the good old days’The co-founder of the Eden Project has caused a stir by suggesting that Cornish people are not articulate and are overly fond of looking back to an imaginary “good old days”.Speaking on a podcast focusing on social issues in Cornwall, where the attraction is situated, Sir Tim Smit bemoaned the fact that people who spoke about the county were sometimes criticised as “arrogant” if they are not Cornish themselves. Continue reading...

Alex Saab, facing charge in Miami of siphoning $350m via US, allegedly agreed to be ‘active law enforcement source’ for DEAA businessman who was a close ally of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, was secretly signed up by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a cooperating source in 2018 and provided agents with information about bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials, according to a US court filing unsealed on Wednesday.Alex Saab agreed to be an “active law enforcement source” for the DEA and forfeited nearly $10m of his fortune as part of his cooperation agreement with the US, which included several meetings with US law enforcement officials in his native Colombia and Europe. Continue reading...

Prince is still able to step in for Queen and there are no plans to remove titlesPrince Andrew is to remain a counsellor of state, able to step in temporarily for the Queen, along with retaining his title Duke of York and military rank of vice admiral after settling his US sexual abuse civil lawsuit, it is understood.There are no immediate plans to remove the titles, sources indicated, as calls for transparency over how the duke will fund the financial settlement with accuser Virginia Giuffre intensified along with those for him to relinquish his dukedom. Continue reading...

Failure to prevent protests initially, and to rid the city of the trucks over three weeks have baffled and angered residentsPolice in Ottawa have warned they will begin breaking up blockades that have gridlocked traffic, angered residents and plunged Canada’s capital into a crisis that has rippled throughout the country.For 20 days, protesters and large semi-trucks have blockaded sections of downtown Ottawa, including Parliament Hill, the seat of the country’s government. The protests, which began as a demonstration against public health measures including vaccine mandates, have morphed into a broader anti-government movement as more fringe elements, including far-right and nationalist groups, became a growing presence. Continue reading...

British authorities have concerns about neo-Nazis seeking weapons training and military experienceBritish authorities are worried that the current threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine may attract domestic far-right extremists, who could travel to the country seeking weapons training and military experience.Counter-terror police were positioned at the departure gates of at least one main British airport this week, where they quizzed travellers flying to Ukraine about their identity and reasons for travel. Continue reading...

Labour MP says she ‘can’t see him being welcome’ by charities working with victims of sexual violencePrince Andrew will not be welcome in any role supporting victims of sex trafficking and shows a sense of entitlement in thinking he has something to offer, according to the Labour MP Jess Phillips.Phillips, a former Labour leadership contender who campaigns for women’s rights, said the idea that Prince Andrew could help support victims of trafficking was “ridiculous” after he came to a multimillion-pound civil settlement with Virgina Giuffre, who had accused him of sexually assaulting her on three occasions when she was 17, which he denied. Continue reading...

It’s 65 years today since television sets had to stop broadcasting to allow parents to put children to bed. How did it ever seem like a good idea?In 1953, when Norma Young was seven, her family became the first in their Glasgow tenement to get a TV set. It was a big deal – the Youngs had had to choose between a car or a TV. They opted for a 14in Ekco TV as deep as it was wide – and Norma was opened up to the world of The Woodentops and Andy Pandy, two shows that rapidly became her favourites. But at 6pm every evening the screen went blank, and Norma’s viewing was at an end.This wasn’t her parents regulating her TV time – it was the state. Abolished 65 years ago on Wednesday, the break in programming between 6pm and 7pm every night was a government policy, known colloquially as the toddlers’ truce. Continue reading...

Pfizer/BioNTech jab to be offered to younger children as experts decide benefits outweigh risks

France, Netherlands and Germany all announce plans to reduce or remove Covid controls

Prince Andrew is facing fresh calls to be stripped of his Duke of York title after agreeing an undisclosed financial settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. The surprise out-of-court agreement means the prince makes no admission of guilt over the claims made by Giuffre, but leaves many questions unanswered

Bloc’s highest court rejects countries’ cases objecting to law tying EU funds to democratic standardsThe European court of justice has dismissed complaints from Hungary and Poland against a law that ties EU funds to democratic standards.In a milestone in the battle for the rule of law in the EU, the bloc’s highest court rejected the cases brought by Hungary and Poland “in their entirety”, confirming that countries can be deprived of EU funds when they fail to meet democratic standards. Continue reading...

Labour MP Rachael Maskell calls for royal to lose title after settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual assaultPrince Andrew is facing months of pressure to relinquish his Duke of York title after an MP vowed to pursue “a number of paths” in parliament, including amending legislation, to strip the royal of his last major honorary position.Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said she had met Commons officials to explore ways of forcing Prince Andrew to give up his Duke of York title after his out-of-court settlement with a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Continue reading...

‘The couple were just strangers blocking my view. But as they reached out and embraced each other, it seemed an optimistic image representing the young people of a city that had suffered’I first visited and photographed Sarajevo in 1996. I had been volunteering in neighbouring Croatia and managed to hitch a ride in to Bosnia in a UN vehicle. The war and siege had ended a few months before and the city was enjoying its long-awaited peace. Sarajevans took to its scarred streets in huge numbers, meeting with friends and drinking coffee safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t be struck down by a sniper or shell.The destruction of the city at that time was jaw-dropping, surreal and seemingly total: rows upon rows of broken, bombed-out high-rise flats; shell craters and explosion indents everywhere; hospitals, offices and factories all in ruins. This was urbicide, a late-20th-century Dresden or Stalingrad. Everyone who lived through the nearly four-year siege had a nightmare to share. Continue reading...

Woman’s answerphone recorded officer for three minutes questioning her caseThe French government has condemned the actions of a Paris police officer who was suspended after he was allegedly recorded saying a Parisian teacher who made a sexual assault complaint was a “whore”.Lawyers and rights groups reacted with outrage after a recording was released on the investigative website Mediapart of the police officer repeatedly insulting the woman and questioning her case. Continue reading...

Attempt to target Iranian and Syrian officials includes evidence from civilians forced to flee to JordanA groundbreaking attempt to make Iranian and Syrian military officials answerable for war crimes they may have committed in Syria is being launched, as part of an effort to have the cases brought before the international criminal court.The request includes evidence of Syrian victims forced to flee into Jordan due to attacks and intimidation by the Syrian government and Iran-backed militia groups. It is being brought by the US-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in conjunction with Haydee Dijkstal, a UK barrister. Continue reading...

New Amnesty report details ‘mounting evidence’ of repeated war crimes including gang-rape, summary killings and lootingTigrayan soldiers killed civilians and gang-raped women and girls in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region, a human rights organisation has claimed, in the latest accusation of atrocities made against fighters engaged in the country’s civil war.Troops with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) shot dead at least 24 people in the town of Kobo in one day last September, according to Amnesty International. Continue reading...

First minister says work under way to determine how best to vaccinate children, after similar move in Wales

In her latest work, the South African actor and writer Lebogang Mashile tackles the exploitation and sexism faced by Black womenMama’s WarMama’s gone viral

Prime minister labels Labor frontbencher a ‘Manchurian candidate’ as he continues partisan rhetoric on China

Court also hears that victim Kumanjayi Walker had been told by a family member to surrender to police

Question time starts with focus on aged care deaths; Dfat says China ‘seeks to exploit’ social divisions; Alex Hawke says government would be ‘open to’ waiving Djokovic ban; questions over leaked message from French president; Victoria bids for 2026 Commonwealth Games; elective surgery to resume in Victoria by end of February; at least 57 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news live

People with albinism across Africa face the harsh sun as well as social exclusion and suspicion. Photographer Maroussia Mbaye hopes to bring greater understanding through her workAn estimated 10,000 people are living with albinism in Senegal. Albinism is genetically inherited and, while prevalence varies from region to region, some of the highest rates are found in sub-Saharan Africa. The deficit in melanin is characterised by the absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. Albinism can lead to skin cancer, visual impairment and sun sensitivity. About 90% of people with the condition across Africa die of skin cancer before they are 40.Myths surrounding people affected by albinism have led to extreme practices involving the use of body parts. Hundreds of attacks including horrific mutilations, ritual killings, sexual violence, kidnappings and trafficking of people and body parts have happened in many countries across the continent. Many people with the condition are at risk every day because of superstition and witchcraft practices.Franco-Senegalese photographer Maroussia Mbaye is a graduate from the London School of Economics and the London College of Communication. She was raised in a politically active family and her experiences fuelled an interest in social division and justice, leading her to pursue documentary photography, through which she aims to capture human life in new, perspective-shifting ways Continue reading...

Abuse of the policing body’s ‘red notice’ system is blamed as an activist is forced to return to life in prison in the Gulf stateMarko Štambuk arrived at Belgrade district prison on a Monday morning in late January, only to be told his client was no longer inside. “Immediately I knew something had happened,” he said.Štambuk, a lawyer, had spent the previous Friday frantically obtaining an injunction from the European court of human rights (ECHR) demanding Serbian authorities halt the extradition of his client, Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali, a Bahraini dissident. This banned the Serbian authorities from extraditing Ali until late February, and warned them that doing so would constitute a rare breach of the European convention on human rights. Continue reading...

Across the continent, young Africans are using their unique local knowledge and bargaining power to challenge beliefs about female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation cannot be considered solely a ‘women’s issue’ if it is to be stamped out by 2030, say male campaigners in Guinea, Somalia, Kenya and Nigeria

Fast-fashion retailer ‘objectified’ women by using photos of model wearing bikini bottoms to sell T-shirtA promotion by the fast-fashion retailer Boohoo that used “sexually suggestive” images of a model in an oversized T-shirt and thong-style bikini bottoms has been banned by the UK advertising watchdog for objectifying and sexualising women.The online retailer used several images of the model, including a shot taken from the rear of her kneeling and another of her sitting with her legs apart, which prompted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the promotion was offensive, harmful and irresponsible. Continue reading...

Bumper payouts are ‘kick in the teeth for everyone else suffering with the cost of living crisis’, say criticsThis week British bankers will start collecting the biggest bonuses since before the 2008 global financial crisis as their employers fight an “increasingly intense war for talent”.As most Britons face the biggest squeeze on their incomes since at least 1990, already very highly paid bankers are celebrating “particularly obscene” bonuses in the City’s pubs and wine bars. Continue reading...

A prison rights activist who spent decades in jail remembers the longing and fury she felt when sex and touch were suppressedI am in the heady throes of a new relationship. That buoyant, lusty state that’s so electrified we sometimes mistake it for love. We are illegally in her cell, on her bed, mostly naked, so deep into our lovemaking that we are deaf to the guard’s keys jingling down the long corridor. By the time we realise, she is at the doorway, snatching down the curtain. We are scrambling to put on our clothes and sit up in some semblance of propriety. Sweaty, embarrassed, scared.“Give me your IDs,” she says, sternly. We hand them to her, knowing she is going to write us up for numerous charges that will lead to our being separated into different housing units, possibly removed from our jobs. “Get dressed, go to your rooms and stay there,” she says. Continue reading...

The veteran designer’s New York fashion week collection bets on a return to going out and post-pandemic exuberanceWhen it comes to ways to warm up a fashion crowd on a cold New York evening, singer Miguel performing Prince covers is probably a pretty safe bet. That’s what was served up at Michael Kors’ autumn/winter 2022 show at New York fashion week on Tuesday evening.If Kors’ shows are typically razzle-dazzle affairs with lots of invitees and celebrity guests – a February 2019 extravaganza had Barry Manilow singing Copacabana and a glitter gun – this had the star performer but it was a more intimate affair. Continue reading...

Reports that some Russian troops are withdrawing boosts investors; but Biden warns that invasion still a ‘distinct possibility’

US president says 150,000 Russian troops remain despite Kremlin’s claims, in televised address ahead of Wednesday’s ‘day of unity’

Domestic birds are competing for the same food and nest space as natives and can also introduce diseaseExotic parrots are on a non-stop flight to becoming a menace in New Zealand, as pet owners release hundreds of them into the wild each year and, in doing so, put the survival of native birds at risk.Roughly 6% of New Zealanders own pet birds and an average of 331 of the animals are lost each year; 92% of these are exotic parrots, mostly in the Auckland region, according to the University of Auckland. Continue reading...

Figures vary about the size of the deal, and some report it will mean a lifetime of exile from royal duties for the princePrince Andrew’s decision to settle his sex assault case takes precedence on most of the front pages on Wednesday, with many papers reporting that the Duke was ordered by the Queen and Prince Charles to make a deal.The out-of-court settlement in the US civil case means Andrew makes no admission of guilt over claims by Virginia Giuffre that he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17, allegations he has repeatedly denied. He had previously said he intended to fight to clear his name in court. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch says the average is 12 times longer than the US, showing ‘how completely alone Australia is in the world’