Policy chief Munira Mirza was first to go, followed shortly by Jack Doyle, Dan Rosenfield and Martin ReynoldsFour of Boris Johnson’s key staff have quit as the fallout from the Downing Street party scandal continued to shake his hold on government.Johnson’s longstanding policy chief Munira Mirza was the first to go, using a stinging resignation letter to accuse the prime minister of “scurrilous” behaviour when he falsely linked Keir Starmer to the failure to bring paedophile Jimmy Savile to justice. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Decision puts state at odds with counterparts in Victoria and South Australia who have already mandated a third jabThe New South Wales government will not seek to mandate booster shots for healthcare workers, despite calls from Victoria to change the definition of a fully vaccinated person to include a third dose.The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) is currently preparing advice for national cabinet that is expected to recommend expanding the definition of full vaccination against Covid-19 to three shots. Continue reading...

Moscow says US deployments in eastern Europe increase tensions, as Nato says Russia has moved 30,000 troops to BelarusThe US decision to deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania is a “destructive step” that makes it harder to reach a compromise over Ukraine, Russia’s deputy foreign minister has said, as Moscow continues to build up its forces.Alexander Grushko said the move by Joe Biden would “increase military tension and reduce scope for political decision”, and would “delight” Ukrainian authorities, who would continue sabotaging the Minsk agreements “with impunity”. The Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 were designed to reach a political settlement in the east of Ukraine, including greater autonomy. Continue reading...

In El Carmen de Bolívar, LGBTQ+ people want the history of their brutal persecution by police and paramilitaries to be told, but the sense of safety is fragile and many still face prejudice

Emergency traffic controls triggered 20 times this year as extra Brexit controls and freight volumes cause logjamsHis lorry loaded with British Airways aircraft parts, Ivo Hradilik was expecting to drive onto a ferry headed to Calais, before delivering his cargo to the outskirts of Paris.But there’s a problem with the customs paperwork, and the 26-year-old HGV driver from the Czech Republic will have to park up near the Port of Dover while the haulage company sorts everything out. Continue reading...

Erin O-Toole, who only became leader in 2020, lost a secret ballot of MPS 73-45 amid accusations of ‘flip-flopping’ on Tory issuesCanada’s Conservatives have ousted their leader amid accusations of “flip-flopping” on key Tory issues, and a broader debate over whether the party should appeal to a more rightwing voting base.In a secret ballot held on Wednesday, 73 Conservative parliamentarians voted to remove Erin O’Toole as leader. Forty-five voted for him to keep his job. Continue reading...

Analysis: While Putin’s intentions remain unclear, Kyiv would rather it didn’t get classed as the next KabulUkraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has again insisted that Russia does not currently have enough troops in place to mount a further invasion of Ukraine, a day after Boris Johnson travelled to Kyiv and said there was a “clear and present danger” of an “imminent military campaign”.Even taken together, the troops currently massed on Ukraine’s border with Russia, in the annexed Crimea peninsula and in neighbouring Belarus, are “insufficient for a large-scale military operation”, said Kuleba, in a briefing for foreign journalists on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Mining billionaire says world-first prosecution aims to prevent ‘Australians being scammed through clickbait advertising on social media’

French international footballer is now accused of nine offences relating to six alleged victimsThe Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has appeared in court to face a new allegation of attempted rape.Mendy, who appeared in the dock at Chester crown court, is now accused of nine offences relating to six alleged victims. Continue reading...

The Observer, 5 March 1922: No book has ever been more eagerly awaited by the inner circle of book-lovers than Joyce’s privately published novelUlysses. By James Joyce (Privately issued to subscribers by Shakespeare and Company, 12, Rue de l’Odéon, Paris.)No book has ever been more eagerly and curiously awaited by the strange little inner circle of book-lovers and littérateurs than James Joyce’s Ulysses. It is folly to be afraid of uttering big words because big words are abused and have become almost empty of meaning in many mouths; and with all my courage I will repeat what a few folk in somewhat precious cénacles have been saying – that Mr James Joyce is a man of genius. I believe the assertion to be strictly justified, though Mr Joyce must remain, for special reasons, caviar to the general. I confess that I cannot see how the work upon which Mr Joyce spent seven strenuous years, years of wrestling and of agony, can ever be given to the public. Continue reading...

Investigation into Jos Beek matches his DNA with children of mothers he treated between 1973 and 1986A gynaecologist in the Netherlands conceived 21 children and potentially dozens more using his own sperm after prospective parents turned to him for fertility treatment, an investigation has discovered.Jos Beek worked at Elisabeth hospital in Leiderdorp, now part of Alrijne hospital, between 1973 and 1998. He died in 2019. Continue reading...

Migrant workers employed at Expo 2020 allege confiscated passports, racial discrimination and withheld wagesSecurity guards, cleaners and hospitality staff at Dubai’s Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are allegedly working in highly abusive conditions that may amount to forced labour, according to a human rights group.Migrant workers employed at the international fair in the UAE – taking place now after being delayed by Covid – allege they have been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees, suffered racial discrimination and had wages withheld and passports confiscated, said the report by Equidem. Continue reading...

Bureau says sophisticated hacking tool was never used in support of any investigationThe FBI has confirmed that it obtained NSO Group’s powerful Pegasus spyware, suggesting that it bought access to the Israeli surveillance tool to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft”.In a statement released to the Guardian, the bureau said it had procured a “limited licence” to access Pegasus for “product testing and evaluation only”, and suggested that its evaluation of the tool partly related to security concerns if the spyware fell into the “wrong hands”. Continue reading...

‘Hen’ expected to be recognised as alternative to feminine ‘hun’ and masculine ‘han’ in official language this yearA new gender-neutral pronoun is likely to enter the official Norwegian language within a year, the Language Council of Norway has confirmed.“Hen” would become an alternative to the existing singular third-person pronouns, the feminine “hun” and the masculine “han”. Continue reading...

Moscow ramps up criticism of Britain’s bid to be at helm of fight to protect Ukraine from Russian invasionThe Kremlin moved to belittle Boris Johnson on Wednesday, describing him as “utterly confused” and calling British diplomacy a waste of time.The concerted effort to ridicule Britain’s efforts to put itself at the helm of the fight to protect Ukraine came the day after Johnson flew to Kyiv to warn that a Russian invasion would be a humanitarian, political and military disaster for Moscow. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor says government’s £96bn rail plan will not bring the claimed benefitsThe north of England risks being left with “second-best” trains for 200 years under the government’s £96bn rail plan, the mayor of Greater Manchester has told MPs.Andy Burnham said while his city would do better than most in the north, the plan would not “maximise the levelling-up benefits” ministers claimed it would bring. Continue reading...

My friend Min Marks, who has died aged 100, was a communist activist and wartime Bletchley Park associate. She and her husband, Jack, were associated with virtually every peace movement, anti-racism and anti-fascist campaign in Leeds for more than 70 years.Despite her sturdy communist affiliations, Min was ecumenical in her attitude to political campaigns, happily working with all who shared the objective in view. She and Jack were essentially secular Jews and their support of the Palestinian cause inevitably brought difficulties with some members of the Leeds Jewish community. Min also cultivated a wide array of friends and was a convivial host. Continue reading...

Manchester United player, 20, bailed following arrest on suspicion of raping, assaulting and threatening to kill womanThe Manchester United player Mason Greenwood has been bailed following his arrest on suspicion of raping, assaulting and threatening to kill a woman.The 20-year-old, who is regarded as one of England’s most talented young footballers, remains under investigation. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison this week admitted he didn’t know how much staples cost. Given similar questions have undone other politicians perhaps he was wise not to take a stab

I was brought up in a puritanical religious sect but a chance visit to Peterborough cathedral began a lifelong interest in these wonderful buildingsIn the mid-70s, when I was a young reporter on the London newspaper the Evening News, I was sent to Peterborough – then pretty much on the edge of the paper’s circulation area – to do a story. I had finished my interview, and had an hour to wait until the next train back to London, so, having nothing to do, I went to look at Peterborough Cathedral.As you approach it from the west, there are three huge arches: they look like doorways for giants. Inside, I looked around and was completely fascinated. Most people who look at a cathedral feel this, usually asking themselves two questions: why did medieval people want one of these? And how did they build it? Continue reading...

His parents hoped he might get a job in a library. Instead he became an actor, a campaigner – and a role modelMost of Tommy Jessop’s acting plans are, he says with a smile, “top secret”. His biggest ambition is to play James Bond, and there’s an opening now. Jessop laughs, and says he has been told he looks like Bond. “It’s when you’re wearing black tie,” says Jessop’s mother, Jane, who is sitting next to him. Jessop has had cause to wear black tie a fair amount – this year, Line of Duty, in which he starred as murder suspect Terry Boyle, picked up a National Television Award. Jessop’s first big role saw him star alongside Nicholas Hoult in the 2007 BBC drama Coming Down the Mountain, which was nominated for a Bafta.This year has been a particularly successful one for Jessop. As well as appearing in 2021’s biggest TV show, he has been filming a Steven Spielberg-produced second world war drama, Masters of the Air, for Apple TV+ (those are the rumours, at least, after he was photographed on set). He was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Winchester and, most significant of all, added his voice to the campaign for the Down Syndrome bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons in November. Continue reading...

Nation records at least 69 Covid deaths; raising interest rates won’t solve housing affordability, Philip Lowe says; Grace Tame condemns ‘civility for the sake of civility’. Follow all the day’s news

Ethiopia’s government has declared a new phase of reconciliation, but a cycle of atrocities on all sides has left a legacy of mistrust. War is far from over, say those on the groundAt first sight, it could have been any normal year. Pilgrims, shrouded in white shawls, smiled as they walked the winding cobblestone streets, shaded from the glare of the midday sun by a sea of colourful umbrellas. Young men and women danced and sang, thrusting wooden sticks joyously into the air, as priests blessed onlookers beside a church carved into the mountainside.The Epiphany of Saint George, an ancient Orthodox Christian tradition, was celebrated in Lalibela on 26 January just as it has always been. The northern Ethiopian town, a Unesco world heritage site renowned for its dazzling rock-hewn churches, is coming back to life after several angst-ridden months on the frontline of Ethiopia’s devastating civil war. “It is a day of double joy for us,” says Father Tsige Mezgebu, the archbishop who officiated the ceremony. Continue reading...

Dillon Helbig’s handwritten tale of a Christmas star, the first Thanksgiving and the north pole has proved a surprise hitWhen eight-year-old Dillon Helbig finished writing his book, The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis, in mid-December, he wanted everyone to read it. The only problem was that he did not have an agent.So he decided to self-publish. During a visit with his grandmother to the Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library in Boise, Idaho, Dillon quietly deposited his book, signed “by Dillon His Self”, on to a nearby shelf. Continue reading...

Aged care minister insists he worked on portfolio duties ‘all through that weekend’ in mid-January when he was at Ashes cricket for three days

City that had 8 million overseas visitors in 2019 – including free-spending parties of Chinese people – is getting used to the peace and quiet

Omicron variant now accounts for nearly all of the Covid infections globally; UK joins France, Italy and Turkey in recording six-figure case numbers

Senator Rex Patrick fighting ongoing battle for further release of cabinet documents from 2000

Charing Cross station case shows old problems were allowed to fester on social media thanks to culture of fear

Met denies culture of misogyny as damning report reveals sexist, racist and homophobic messages sent as ‘banter’The Metropolitan police have denied the force is plagued by a culture of misogyny after an official report revealed shocking details of officers sharing messages about hitting and raping women, as well as the deaths of black babies and the Holocaust.The officers were based mainly at the Charing Cross police station in central London, with the offending behaviour taking place between 2016 and 2018.One male officer wrote to a female officer: “I would happily rape you … if I was single … if I was single I would happily chloroform you.”Another officer advocated violence: “Getting a woman into bed is like spreading butter. It can be done with a bit of effort using a credit card, but it’s quicker and easier just to use a knife.”Police officers wrote about attending a festival dressed as known sex offenders and a molested child.“Numerous messages about rape and ‘raping’ each other” were sent in two WhatsApp group and one Facebook group.One officer messaged another saying he was going to attack his partner and wrote: “Swear to got [sic] I’m going to smack her”.Another message shows an officer bragging about visiting a sex worker when he was using steroids. Continue reading...

PM joins Volodymyr Zelenskiy to spell out consequences of Russian aggression and declare UK will be judged by the level of its supportA Russian invasion of Ukraine would end in a humanitarian, political and military disaster for Russia and the world, Boris Johnson has warned as he stood alongside the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv, saying the UK would be judged by the level of help it gave to Ukraine.On a flying visit to the Ukrainian capital, he denied the US and the UK were exaggerating the scale of the Russian threat, saying they were not trying to “big up” the intelligence. “The grim reality” was that Russian troops were “massing on Ukraine’s border. This is a clear and present danger,” he said, adding that the troop concentration was “perhaps the biggest demonstration of hostility to Ukraine in our lifetimes”. Johnson said it dwarfed the Russian forces mounted before the invasion in 2014. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester police say detectives have been further granted additional time to speak to suspectManchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been further arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and making threats to kill.The 20-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault on Sunday afternoon after police saw a woman reporting claims of physical violence and sexual threats on social media. Continue reading...

British prime minister holds joint news conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv

Attempt to create a rightwing political force may mean the end of partnership with Brothers of ItalyThe Italian League leader, Matteo Salvini, has proposed creating a rightwing political force styled on America’s Republican party in a move that threatens to spell the end of his tense partnership with his far-right sometime rival Giorgia Meloni.Salvini’s League and other parties including the centre-left Democratic party and populist Five Star Movement that make up Italy’s broad ruling coalition have been left in disarray after failing to agree on a mutually acceptable candidate for head of state in last week’s presidential election, culminating with Sergio Mattarella, 80, being elected for a second term against his earlier expressed wishes. Continue reading...

PM told to ‘come clean’ on lockdown parties after Raab says it is unclear if there is more evidence to come

Israeli spyware firm denies doing business with Mobileum and co-founder ‘has no recollection of using the phrase’A whistleblower has alleged that an executive at NSO Group offered a US-based mobile security company “bags of cash” in exchange for access to a global signalling network used to track individuals through their mobile phone, according to a complaint that was made to the US Department of Justice.The allegation, which dates back to 2017 and was made by a former mobile security executive named Gary Miller, was disclosed to federal authorities and to the US congressman Ted Lieu, who said he conducted his own due diligence on the claim and found it “highly disturbing”. Continue reading...

Inquiry into abuse in England and Wales points to ‘extensive failures’ in way exploitation by criminal gangs is tackledPolice and councils are potentially downplaying the scale of child sexual exploitation by criminal gangs over concerns about negative publicity, a public inquiry has found.Charities labelled the findings a “damning indictment” of responses to child exploitation across England and Wales, and called for urgent change to support and protect victims.In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

Exclusive: Emails reveal how state abandoned ‘rapid response’ plan for managing coronavirus in disability housing as Omicron hit

Former reality TV contestant Andrew Brady pleads guilty to harassment of GB News presenterCaroline Flack’s former fiance accused the GB News presenter Dan Wootton of being a murderer and a sex offender, a court has been told.A judge in Sheffield heard how Andrew Brady compared Wootton, now also a columnist for MailOnline, to the former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in a series of messages sent over a period of more than two months. Continue reading...

PM had to cancel original call because of partygate statementA phone call between Boris Johnson and Vladimir Putin that the prime minister was forced to cancel on Monday has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Johnson’s spokesman has said, after the Kremlin rejected a request to hold it on Tuesday.It is not clear if the initial rejection stemmed from genuine scheduling issues or if it was a calculated snub by Moscow to highlight Britain’s irrelevance, and Johnson’s weakness, but in any case it dealt a blow to Johnson’s efforts to present himself as an important diplomatic player in the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading...

Weekend outages still affecting 9,500 homes in England and Scotland could last till WednesdayAbout 9,500 homes remain without power in northern Scotland and the north-east of England, with dozens of schools closed for another day, as the effort to clear up after Storms Malik and Corrie continues.Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) was at red alert status after the storms cut power to 114,500 customers in Scotland, with restorations hampered by continuing high winds. Continue reading...

Shops abandoned as public defies military threats and stays at home a year after ousting of governmentStreets were deserted and shops abandoned across many of Myanmar’s towns and cities on Monday, as the public defied threats by the military junta and stayed at home in a “silent strike” on the first anniversary of the country’s coup.Images posted on social media showed usually congested roads with no traffic and stores shuttered. In a photograph shared by Khit Thit Media, the usually busy Sule Pagoda road in downtown Yangon was completely empty. In Mandalay, the second largest city, a normally bustling market had virtually no customers. Continue reading...

When it comes to deflecting inconvenient questions, the prime minister has all the moves

US talkshow host offers ‘sincerest apologies’ after comments spark online backlashThe US talkshow host and actor Whoopi Goldberg has offered her “sincerest apologies” after saying the Holocaust “isn’t about race”.She said Jewish people around the world had “always had my support”, in a statement after her remarks led to a backlash online. Continue reading...

At a UNSC meeting, Russian diplomat Vasily Nebenzya claimed Ukraine’s violation of the Minsk pact could end in ‘worst way’Ukraine will be responsible for its own destruction if it undermines existing peace agreements, a senior Russian diplomat has warned at a combative UN security council debate on the crisis.The warning from Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, came on a day of continued high-level diplomacy aimed at defusing the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading...

Though still rare, the numbers of kids across the US reporting symptoms long after infection are increasing, doctors sayJavanese Hailey found her daughter hunched over in pain inside their home in Manassas, Virginia, about 32 miles south-west of Washington DC.The nine-year-old could barely walk because her stomach hurt so much, Hailey said, recalling that Sunday evening in October. Continue reading...

Lake Turkana’s shores have been home to the El Molo for millennia but as rising waters swallow homes and sacred sites they face losing everythingMombasa Lenapir briefly strokes the waters of Kenya’s Lake Turkana with his hand as he boards the rickety canoe. A piece of hippo tooth or kalate, dangles from his right earlobe, evidence that he once killed a hippo in his younger years as a rite of passage.Lenapir, who says he is 70 but looks older, is a member of the El Molo community that has lived on the shores of Lake Turkana for millennia. Two years ago, he was forced to move out of his home when rising waters engulfed his village, Komote, turning it into an island. Fearing being marooned by the expanding lake, Lenapir and other families built new homes on the mainland, while some opted to remain on the new island and use canoes to travel between the two settlements. Continue reading...

As illegal industrial-scale fishing by foreign fleets pillages fish populations, despairing coastal communities feel powerlessAlong Tombo’s crumbling waterfront, dozens of hand-painted wooden boats are arriving in the blistering midday sun with the day’s catch for the scrum of the market in one of Sierra Leone’s largest fishing ports.In a scrap of shade at the bustling dock, Joseph Fofana, a 36-year-old fisherman, is repairing a torn net. Fofana says he earns about 50,000 leone (£3.30) for a brutal, 14-hour day at sea, crammed in with 20 men, all paying the owner for use of his vessel. “This is the only job we can do,” he says. “It’s not my choice. God carried me here. But we are suffering.” Continue reading...

The toy company has recruited Lena Dunham, Greta Gerwig and Tom Hanks to help usher in a new slate of films based on kids’ favouritesDeep down, everyone wishes they were Marvel. Armed with nothing but B-grade IP and heroic levels of pluck, a lowly comic book company slowly went about wrestling the film industry into an inescapable stranglehold. But a decade and a half on, Marvel has become the established order. It is time for a new plucky upstart to stage another revolution. That upstart?Mattel. You know, Mattel. The toy people. No, really. Continue reading...