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PM says ‘we will not just look away’ and Putin’s ‘barbaric adventure’ in Ukraine must end in failure

Vladimir Putin announces a military operation in Ukraine with explosions heard across multiple cities and outside eastern regions held by Russian-backed rebels Continue reading...

Confident, unpredictable and irresistible, TLC set a benchmark in a golden age for R&B. Thirty years since the release of their debut album, we count down T-Boz, Chilli and the late Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez’s best tracksFar sassier than your standard early 90s slow jam, blessed with a laconic Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes rap: let rumour-mongers and spreaders of “crap street yap” beware! Somethin’ You Wanna Know is the sound of a band already far more sophisticated than their cartoonish early image suggested. Continue reading...

PM expected to address parliament and the nation over Ukraine crisis, which he calls ‘a catastrophe for our continent’

Buckingham Palace says audiences will be rescheduled for later date and Queen to continue with light dutiesThe Queen has postponed two virtual audiences after her Covid diagnosis, Buckingham Palace has said.A palace spokesperson said: “The two virtual audiences that had previously been scheduled to take place today will now be rescheduled for a later date. Her Majesty is continuing with light duties. No other engagements are scheduled for this week.” Continue reading...

Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?The quiz master is away, recuperating from his recent exertions at the Winter Olympics. Fortunately, before he left, he passed a crumpled piece of paper into the hands of one poor overworked member of Guardian production staff, and said, “This will probably do.” Before you are 15 general knowledge and somewhat less topical questions than usual. There is still a hidden Doctor Who reference to spot among the wrong answers and, of course, along the way you’ll meet some of your favourite familiar friends from the quiz. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but let us know how you get on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 44If you think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quizmaster’s word is always final, and genuinely he is away so we might just all have to live with it if there are any disputes. Continue reading...

Claim against Associated Newspapers is reportedly related to article on prince’s security arrangementsPrince Harry has launched a libel action days after the Mail on Sunday published claims about problems with his security arrangements.Court filings show Harry made a claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) on Wednesday afternoon. The claims are reportedly related to an article published by the Mail on Sunday under the headline “Revealed: How Harry tried to keep his legal fight over bodyguards secret”. Continue reading...

Russian forces can be seen crossing into Ukraine across the Senkivka-Veselivka border checkpoint with Belarus in border guard CCTV and a separate video shows tanks crossing the border from occupied Crimea.The attack on Ukraine was on the orders of Vladimir Putin, who announced a 'special military operation' at dawn. World leaders have warned the move could provoke the biggest war in Europe since 1945

The former NSW deputy premier advised parliament’s ethics office he may engage with government in his Coronation Property role

Tasty, cheap, but often difficult to catch in the wild, this source of protein is increasingly being seen as a possible answer to food insecurityThe boarding of Uganda Airlines flight 446 from Entebbe to Dubai was momentarily disrupted at the end of last year when two of the passengers started hawking bush crickets in the aisles.Their fellow travellers couldn’t believe their luck: nsenene are a prized delicacy in Uganda, but despite November usually being peak season for the insects, there had been hardly any around. Continue reading...

Nineteen years ago, 24 photographers agreed to document New Year’s Day for the next 24 years. Each was allocated one hour of the day to record their surroundings and each moves forward one hour every year. The work is displayed in Soho Square, London, for 24 days until 19 March Continue reading...

Ralph ‘Terry’ Gibbs was driving home to Queensland after receiving suspended jail sentence when killed in car crash 48 hours after Carol Lisle’s death

Vladimir Putin has declared war on Ukraine and there are reports of Russia attacking several locations across the country

Prime minister extends Russia sanctions to an additional 25 people and four entities involved in sale of weapons; major construction company Probuild goes into administration; Qantas posts $1.3bn loss; at least 42 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia had carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and the country's border guards, and that explosions had been heard in many cities. He said martial law had been declared across the country and that he had spoken by phone to the US president, Joe Biden.

As members of UN security council poured out calls for restraint, Russian president was already launching attack on UkraineUkraine crisis: latest updatesIt will go down as one of the most surreal sessions the United Nations chamber has ever witnessed, as the very war it was supposed to prevent broke out while it was sitting.Vladimir Putin, with brutal timing, delivered a speech announcing that Russia would start a “special military operation” in Ukraine – while an emergency session of the UN security council was under way. Continue reading...

In Lyari, a slum notorious for violence in Pakistan’s capital, Mehr Ghar offers young people a safe place to hang out and study – and, for many, an alternative path to gang lifeLiving in Lyari was like living on the frontlines of a war, says Nauroz Ghani, who grew up in the Karachi slum notorious for its bloody gang battles. So used to the constant gunfire, he says he would “become restless if a day passed by without hearing the sound of a firing”.“My teenage years were lost to violence,” says Ghani, 24. “I had no interest in getting an education. Instead, I was attracted by their guns and activities.” He saw dead bodies on the street and one boy was killed in front of him. “All of us who lived during those days have such memories. We lived in terror, but it had become habitual.” Continue reading...

‘China is willing to work with Australia to meet each other halfway’, says Xiao Qian after years of growing tensions

After reports of explosions near Kyiv broke, US president Joe Biden accused Putin of choosing a ‘premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life’

More than 8,000 people died, the highest death toll from a recorded weather event in Great BritainThe list of the worst disasters that have befallen Great Britain is topped by the Black Death of 1347-50 when about 3.5 million died. The current Covid pandemic is placed sixth, behind the 1557 influenza outbreak, which claimed 200,000 lives.The highest placed weather-related death toll is the great storm of 1703 when 8,000 were killed. Hurricane-force winds sank dozens of ships in the Channel and North Sea including a number of Royal Navy warships. Some vessels that did survive were driven hundreds of miles north and west before the sailors could regain control of their vessels. Continue reading...

After 30 years of critical acclaim, the actor has finally found mainstream success at 44. She talks about Hollywood’s dangerous beauty standards, turning down misogynistic scripts – and why her TV show about possible teenage cannibals is so much funIt would not surprise me if Melanie Lynskey had deliberately matched her pale blouse to the pale curtains behind her, and her pale complexion, the better to blend into the background. After 30 years of critical acclaim, but not mainstream fame, Lynskey is getting noticed and it feels very, very strange to her. Her show, Yellowjackets, has steadily become a hit. Lynskey is not quite the lead in this ensemble piece, but near enough, as one of four fortysomething women who survived a plane crash as teenagers, and went through some savage stuff, involving murder and almost certainly cannibalism.Likened to a mix of Lord of the Flies, Lost and Mean Girls, with a pleasing amount of 90s nostalgia, it has become one of the most talked-about shows of the moment. “It’s funny to be on something that people are watching,” Lynskey says with a laugh. “It’s a different experience.” Continue reading...

Foreign office’s ‘top-down’ approach failing people it is seeking to protect, says watchdog, with abuse cases still underreportedThe British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector after the “sex for aid” scandals, a UK watchdog has said.The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the government was falling short because of a “top-down” approach and needed to listen and learn from recipients of aid who remained reluctant to report abuse allegations. Continue reading...

More and more young people are enticed by the glittering promises of a career as an influencer – but it’s usually someone else getting richI was a 14-year-old schoolboy when the rapper 50 Cent released Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The most precocious kids in class declared the debut hip-hop album an instant classic and hailed the rapper’s legend: “He’s been shot nine times, you know?” The failed attempt on 50 Cent’s life was at the centre of his sales pitch as the bulletproof king of gangsta rap. My friends and I were easily sold. His debut was the bestselling album of 2003, selling 12m copies worldwide. Curtis Jackson may have been born black and poor in New York, but as 50 Cent, he was now worth $30m.There are few things we find more compelling than a fable of overcoming the odds and achieving self-made success. Everyone loves an outsider, because deep down most of us believe we are one, and each generation has its own version for inspiration. For me, it was the constant reinvention of the hustler made good in hip-hop that stuck. Continue reading...

Explosions heard after Putin announces operation to ‘demilitarise’ Ukraine. Follow the latest news and updates

A risk assessment tabled in the Fair Work Commission casts doubt on when transport minister David Elliott first knew of a shutdown

Ukraine crisis has thrust Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik into centre of events, amid claim they are puppets of Putin

Incident comes a month after prime minister’s vehicle was chased and forced on to a curb by demonstratorsA group of shouting protesters have chased the New Zealand prime minister’s van down a driveway as she visited a Christchurch primary school, amid tensions over increasingly volatile anti-vaccine mandate protests.Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting a primary school in Christchurch, was met by a crowd of people shouting “shame on you” and “traitor”. Some held signs saying that the prime minister would be “put on trial” and “held responsible”, and one man brandished a fabricated arrest warrant – references to conspiracy theories that a cohort of world leaders and powerful people are secretly using vaccines to commit a genocide, and would soon be put on trial and hanged for treason. Continue reading...

Serving officer in Australian Defence Force tells defamation trial Roberts-Smith showed photos of dead insurgents on his iPod

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has given a powerful address directed to Russia. 'We will defend ourselves, he said. 'Not attack, but defend ourselves. And when you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces.' Zelenskiy made the remarks in a 10-minute address posted on Telegram during which he spoke in both Ukrainian and Russian. The Ukrainian leader said Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, had not replied to his invitation to hold talks

City, which is pursuing a zero-Covid strategy, is registering thousands of cases a day in its worst-ever wave of the virusHong Kong’s government has invoked emergency powers to allow doctors and nurses from the Chinese mainland to practise in the financial hub as it struggles to tackle a spiralling coronavirus outbreak.“The regulation will provide a legal framework for the CPG (central people’s government) to render the necessary emergent support to Hong Kong in a more effective and expeditious manner,” the government said in a statement. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeals to Russian people to help prevent war after request from separatist leaders sets stage for Putin to order troops over border

Bumzu is one of the most influential people in K-pop, helping shape South Korea’s multibillion-dollar global music businessWhen Jin from the superstar boyband BTS released Super Tuna – an upbeat song about his favourite pastime, fishing – it instantly went viral.The track, written to commemorate the star’s birthday, has logged more than 53m YouTube views since December, and on TikTok the #SuperTuna hashtag has inspired a viral dance challenge. Continue reading...

The journalist’s career was dramatically paused when Stand News was raided – and now he is in limboThree months ago Ronson Chan was working as deputy assignment editor at Stand News, one of Hong Kong’s independent and pro-democracy news sites. His job involved assigning news stories to the team of reporters, helping set the editorial agenda and running the outlet’s social media posts.As head of the Hong Kong Journalism Association he had seen up close the fallout from the Beijing media crackdown – closures, arrests, the offshoring of international bureaus. Continue reading...

The 27-year-old was hit by a police car as he chased his last hostage, who ran from the store when water was deliveredA 27-year-old man who held people hostage at an Apple store in Amsterdam has died in hospital from his injuries, Dutch prosecutors have said.The man, said to be a resident of the city, entered the Apple store on Leidseplein armed with two guns, sparking a five-hour siege on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Move comes as case numbers and deaths continue to fall in many nations

Seven-square-metre ‘posh cell’ in Lower Clapton fetches £90,000 at auctionA 7-square-metre microflat, cramming in a bed, toilet, shower, sink and a microwave tucked under the pillow, has sold for 80% above its minimum listing price at £90,000.The microflat, located in a Victorian conversion in Lower Clapton, east London, is believed to be the capital’s smallest-ever property, marking a turn towards tiny homes driven by the UK’s housing crisis of soaring rent and property prices. Continue reading...

The identity of those targeted has not been officially confirmed, but here are five of the most prominent figuresThe EU has approved asset freezes and travel bans on various Russian people and entities in response to Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.The list of those targeted has not been officially confirmed, but here are five of the most prominent names the Guardian has seen on a draft list. Continue reading...

Applause in national assembly as lawmakers vote to extend limit for ending pregnancy from 12 to 14 weeksFrance has extended its time limit for abortion after an epic battle in parliament, amid anger that thousands of women had to travel abroad each year to terminate pregnancies in countries such as the Netherlands, Spain or England because of French restrictions.There was applause in the French national assembly on Wednesday when lawmakers voted definitively to extend the legal limit for ending a pregnancy from 12 to 14 weeks. France’s new time frame is still lower than in some other European countries, including England at 24 weeks. Continue reading...

Friends and colleagues pay tribute to actor, 85, who died in fire at Ilford homeThe former On the Buses and EastEnders actor Anna Karen has died in a fire at her east London home.Firefighters rushed to the blaze on the ground floor of a terrace house in Windsor Road, Ilford, shortly after 10.30pm on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Extreme temperatures due to climate crisis are resulting in higher rate of hospital visits, say scientistsHot summer temperatures drive up the number of people suffering mental health emergencies, the most comprehensive study to date has found.The analysis of medical records from millions of US citizens showed an average 8% rise in the rate of emergency hospital visits on days when the temperature was in the top 5% of those recorded across the decade-long study. Continue reading...

Change comes into effect as requirement for people with Covid to self-isolate is lifted in England

The former secretary to the disgraced president talks about his new memoir and what it was like to go to prison for NixonHe was at the side of the American president on one of the most important diplomatic trips in history, enjoying sumptuous banquets as a guest of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.Three and a half years later he was in prison after becoming first person to go on trial in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, despite protesting his innocence. Continue reading...

Farmer says his Hereford turned up one week after going missing when torrential rain hit his farm on New Zealand’s west coastA young bull that was swept into a surging river during flooding on New Zealand’s West Coast has miraculously survived the ordeal, turning up unharmed a week later, 80 kilometres (49 miles) downstream, snuffling about in a blackberry bush.Deer and cattle farmer, Tony Peacock, said the 18-month-old bull was grazing with 37 others in a paddock in the Shenandoah area above the Maruia River, on 10 February, when torrential rain began falling. Continue reading...

After weeks of threats, Putin has ordered troops into eastern Ukraine. Shaun Walker and Patrick Wintour explain what the new stage of the crisis means for the country and its allies.After an angry, rambling, theatrical security meeting, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced that Russia had recognised the independence of two Russian-controlled territories in east Ukraine: the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Furthermore, he said, the Kremlin would be sending troops on a “peacekeeping mission” into the region. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison’s government told Australia’s membership of Open Government Partnership may be reviewed

‘Misleading’ messages from $55bn-a-year industry are ‘unethical’, says report, which calls for plain packaging rules similar to tobaccoCountries should clamp down on the “aggressive” and “unethical” marketing of formula milk for babies, including forcing companies to sell products in plain packaging, a report by the World Health Organization and Unicef has said.In research, commissioned 41 years after the global health community drew up guidelines aimed at regulating the industry, experts found that the marketing of formula had “no limits” and had become more “unregulated and invasive” in the digital age. Continue reading...

Analysis: Commentators and news websites have spread incorrect information on Covid deaths in Australia, feeding conspiracy theories

A day after Vladimir Putin recognised the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent, protesters gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Kyiv in a show of defiance against the Russian president's actions in their country. The Guardian's Luke Harding spoke to them about why they were protesting and what they thought of the recent escalating tension between Ukraine and Russia

German shorthaired pointer named Hertz given PDSA Dickin medal after sniffing out drugs and electronicsA retired military working dog named Hertz has been awarded a medal known as the animals’ Victoria Cross for his service in Afghanistan.The German shorthaired pointer is the first dog in British military history to detect electronic communications equipment such as mobile phones, voice recorders, sim cards and GPS devices. Continue reading...

We would like to hear from people in Russia about their views on the situation with UkraineWe would like to hear from Russian people living and working in Russia about their thoughts on the situation with Ukraine.What is the mood like at the moment? What are your thoughts on the developments? We would also like to hear from Russians living in the UK, US or elsewhere. Continue reading...