Legal experts question whether document filed with US district court can help royal avoid ‘disastrous’ trialBritish lawyers have cast doubt on the strength of Prince Andrew’s defence to Virginia’s Giuffre’s lawsuit and whether it can help him settle the case, thereby avoiding a “disastrous” court trial.In papers filed with the US district court on Wednesday, Andrew denied sexually abusing Giuffre when she was a minor and also sought to bar his accuser’s claim on grounds including the time elapsed since the alleged offences – despite a New York statute having extended the window for child victim claims – and her “wrongful conduct”.Andrew and convicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell have been photographed at numerous social events together.Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to the charge of procuring a minor for prostitution.Andrew had been on Epstein’s private plane and stayed at some of his homes.The infamous photograph depicts Andrew, Giuffre and Maxwell at Maxwell’s home. Continue reading...

Funds will go only to those provinces where girls are in school if Taliban renege on promise, diplomats sayThe west is planning to incentivise the Taliban to abide by their promise to allow girls to be educated by providing funding for teachers’ salaries only in provinces in which the pledge is met.The Taliban claimed this week the group would allow girls of secondary school age to be educated from March, the start of the next school term. Sceptical diplomats said they would need more than verbal assurances, with physical and budgetary evidence of preparations being required. Continue reading...

Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras files censure motion, also citing poor handling of wildfires and pandemicGreece’s main opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, has filed a motion of no confidence in the government, saying its bungled response to a winter blizzard this week showed it was no longer fit for office.Submitting the censure motion, the leftist former prime minister, said Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s administration was “the worst the country has known” since the collapse of military rule in 1974. Continue reading...

First minister Paul Givan says UK must take action if EU agreement cannot be reached by 21 FebruaryThe DUP has set 21 February as a fresh deadline for the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, to find a solution to the dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol.In her first visit to Northern Ireland, Truss, who inherited Brexit negotiations from Lord Frost at Christmas, met the DUP’s Paul Givan and Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, first minister and deputy first minister respectively. Continue reading...

Russian president Vladimir Putin is being briefed on a US paper reaffirming support for Ukraine’s right to pursue Nato membership

Many shoppers and commuters in London and Birmingham kept their faces covered – although not all

Answering readers’ questions, the actor and musician talks about how he tried stealing a job off his father, his favourite item from Greggs and his Mickey Mouse tattooHi, Keith … What’s your favourite English expression? ClassicMacGruber

Xiomara Castro’s inauguration will cap a remarkable rise but she faces daunting challenges around femicide and abortionXiomara Castro will be sworn in as the first female president of Honduras on Thursday, marking the culmination of a remarkable rise to power that began just over 12 years ago when she led a massive protest movement in response to the ousting of her husband, former president Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, in a military-backed coup.Castro’s resounding victory in the 28 November election has generated hope for a new era for women in the country with the highest rate of femicide in Latin America and some of the region’s most draconian laws with regards to reproductive rights. Continue reading...

The former minister Nusrat Ghani has claimed whips told her she had been sacked for being a Muslim. Labour, Lib Dem and Tory colleagues share their own experiences, from being labelled a terrorist sympathiser to being told to change their nameIn 2011, Sayeeda Warsi, then a co-chair of the Conservative party, implored her government to take action over the rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry, which she said had become socially acceptable enough to pass “the dinner-table test”.A decade later, it seems too little has changed. Last week, Nusrat Ghani, the Tory MP for Wealden, told the Sunday Times that when she was dismissed from her ministerial post in 2020, she was told by a whip that her “Muslimness” had been an issue. The chief whip, Mark Spencer, identified himself as the person who spoke to her, but strongly denied her allegations. Continue reading...

Easing of restrictions comes as legal requirements for masks and NHS passes are dropped

Threat of war with Ukraine has led to fears of gas shortages in Europe, but there are alternative suppliesRising tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border have raised fears that Europe’s gas supply crisis could become far more serious. Gas market prices have already surpassed record highs and threaten to saddle European households with a cost of living crisis.Russia is Europe’s largest supplier of gas, of which a third flows through Ukraine’s gas pipelines to countries across the continent. Russian gas flows have been a quarter lower than usual over the past year, but European leaders now fear that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could spell an energy catastrophe if gas exports are cut. Continue reading...

Stella Nyanzi talks about challenging Uganda’s President Museveni from her new home and why she had to leave the land she lovesThe first few days of Stella Nyanzi’s new life in Germany have not been without their challenges, from navigating the TV and internet in a different language to finding the right school for her three teenagers. On the second day, the family went shopping for clothes – “thick jackets, mittens and scarves” – to see them through the fierce Bavarian winter. For her 14-year-old twins, who have lived their whole lives in sub-Saharan Africa and who insisted on wearing Crocs with no socks on the flight over, the sub-zero temperatures were a rude awakening.At the centre of it all, however, has been deep sense of relief. Nyanzi, a 47-year-old outspoken scholar, poet and human rights advocate whose irreverent writing about Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has seen her jailed twice, decided enough was enough. She has been accepted on a writers-in-exile programme run by PEN Germany, and has no intention of returning to Uganda while the 77-year-old Museveni is in power. And while there are many concerns about how she and her children are going to settle into Munich life, the sense of freedom is powering her on. Continue reading...

An image titled The Dancing Dreams of a Mountain Girl, depicting a young mountain girl dancing for her grandmother in a village in China, is the overall winner of an international photo competition celebrating Chinese culture. The Global SinoPhoto awards invited photographers to tell Chinese stories, imagining, interpreting and inspiring connections between Chinese culture and the rest of the world. The awards covered four categories: water (as 2022 is the year of the water tiger), home, work and play, and environment.The Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA) in Bath is to exhibit the winning entries from 16 February until 14 May 2022 Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet says lagging areas remain a priority but disability advocate says setting targets is not enough and strategy should be overhauled

NSW police allege the founding member of domestic violence charity White Ribbon grabbed the woman by the throat

Shots fired at property in Hawthorn Grove, Leigh at about 5.45pm on Wednesday shortly before second shooting in Shadwell GroveTwo men have been taken to hospital after a double shooting near Wigan.Gunshots were fired at a property in Hawthorn Grove, Leigh at about 5.45pm on Wednesday evening before a second shooting shortly after in Shadwell Grove. Continue reading...

Melbourne home set alight by lightning strike while heavy rain continues to cause havoc in Queensland

The nation accepts a big psychological change, one expert says, as people prepare for more cases than they have ever seen beforeSee all our coronavirus coverageIn New Zealand’s biggest city, the streets were calm. At an Auckland supermarket, shelves of toilet paper, wine, chocolate and flour – metrics of a population hunkering down for a marathon of self-soothing and banana bread – had been quietly restocked from any panic-buying flurries.In an uptown cafe, a barista said things had been a little quieter since the announcement. Then again, she shrugged: “It might just be a Tuesday.” At Unity Books, a bookstore at the heart of the city, people were quietly browsing. “There’s always an element of eerie calm before the storm,” said bookseller Briary Lawry. Continue reading...

Duke denies Jeffrey Epstein ‘trafficked girls to him’ and demands trial in Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuitPrince Andrew has denied that he was a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, and insisted on a jury trial in Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against him, his lawyers said in court papers filed Wednesday.“Prince Andrew hereby demands a trial by jury on all causes of action asserted in the complaint,” his lawyers wrote. The Duke of York also denies that Epstein “trafficked girls to him”, the attorneys said in their legal filings. Continue reading...

Thursday: Liberal and National senators back opposition calls for an inquiry into Australia’s pandemic response. Plus: WA’s border closure causes ‘chaos’ for universitiesGood morning. Government senators join calls for a Covid royal commission, anxiety over a possible Russian military offensive in Ukraine heightens, and international students fear limbo after Western Australia’s snap border decision.Three Coalition senators have supported crossbench and opposition calls for a royal commission into Australia’s Covid pandemic response. Liberal Gerard Rennick, who has vowed to continue to withhold support for government legislation over the management of the pandemic, told Guardian Australia there “definitely needs to be a review into the way everything happened”, while National Matt Canavan said “all levels of government, not just the commonwealth” would need to submit evidence to any inquiry. A spokesperson for fellow National Sam McMahon has confirmed she also backed a royal commission. Labor’s Katy Gallagher added “there will have to be some assessment of all the decisions taken”, including accounting for $337bn in spending during the pandemic. Continue reading...

Western Australia’s universities warn they will continue to bleed revenue while other states scoop up stranded students

The English actor, who has worked with Chinese directors from Jackie Chan to Zhang Yimou, reveals how a chance meeting at the visa office in Beijing changed his lifeIf the Chinese film industry needs a stock foreign villain, I’m their first port of call. I was a Gatling gun-wielding mercenary in 2015’s Wolf Warrior, one of the first of the new wave of military blockbusters, and a hitman in Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu Yoga in 2017, among many others. And I recently played an American colonel in the Korean war in The Battle at Lake Changjin, the most expensive and successful Chinese film ever: it made $909m (£675m) last year.It’s surreal – coming from humble beginnings in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – to find myself in the middle of a massive field in Hubei province filming the likes of The Battle at Lake Changjin. You’d think you were in a real-life warzone – there were hundreds of tanks supplied by the government. I grew up watching Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li movies, which kickstarted my passion for China. I originally came here to study martial arts in 2004. Then I came back 10 years later to work as a financial consultant, which I didn’t really enjoy. Continue reading...

Buster Moon and his troupe aim to make it big in showbiz but even a new character voiced by Bono can’t save this from feeling like a movie generated by an algorithmWriter-director Garth Jennings has returned with a sequel to the highly successful family animation Sing, about a koala called Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey, a musical theatre impresario with a never-say-die attitude and a cute troupe of talking, singing animals. That was a slick product with a fair bit of charm, but this follow-up has all of the varnish but the actual heart and soul has dwindled to a blandness. It feels like a screensaver, a movie generated by an algorithm, the same algorithm that calculated the likely profit on extending the Sing franchise.Now Buster and the gang are yearning to make it big in the world’s entertainment capital: a flashy but fictional place called Redshore, like Vegas with a dash of LA. They somehow blag their way into an audition for thuggish media magnate and arctic wolf Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale) who lets them put on their sci-fi spectacular in his hotel showroom, as long as it stars his pampered princess of a daughter Porsha (voiced by Halsey). Fast-talking Buster also claims he can tempt out of reclusive retirement a legendary singer and lion called Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono) who slightly tiresomely sings his version of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, without anyone breaking the fact-fiction dividing wall and wondering why this supposed icon is performing a U2 cover instead of his own material. Continue reading...

Campaigners say not enough victims are being identified before Home Office moves to lock them upThe number of trafficking victims locked up in immigration detention centres has increased more than tenfold in the last four years, according to data shared with the Guardian.The charity Focus on Labour Exploitation (Flex) obtained freedom of information data showing that in 2017 86 people – 14% of those suspected of being victims of trafficking – obtained what is known as positive reasonable grounds decisions after being locked up. Continue reading...

Women have never had more products and services designed to help with the menopause. But does the new-found choice improve lives or is it just companies in search of the next profit?From menopause calendars to menopause scented candles, and menopause supplements to menopause spa breaks, there is no shortage of products to help ease a woman’s transition into her post-reproductive years. If you’re after something stronger, how about vaginal rejuvenation laser treatment or bioidentical oestrogen? You could even try to postpone menopause for a decade or so – provided you are willing to freeze a slice of your ovary in your 20s and then have it grafted back on in later life.Menopause is enjoying a moment. After centuries of enduring the rollercoaster of physical and emotional symptoms that often accompany it, middle-aged women have never been so well-catered for with products purporting to help. But is this sudden choice empowering, or just exploitative? Continue reading...

Increased natural gas exports considered after US and UK raise concerns over Europe’s reliance on Russian LNG

Figure for three months to December leaves Hungary-based airline cautiously optimistic for recovery

Singer says he has mild symptoms and expects to perform in Arkansas at the weekend

Many swear words in India, as elsewhere, have one thing in common – they target and shame women. Sunil Jaglan wants to empower women and end the culture of profanitiesOn a cold January afternoon, women gather on the veranda of a government-run nursery in Sarmathla village in the north Indian state of Haryana. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, they are eager to hear the visiting speaker.The men and boys of the village mill about, reluctant to join the women, until Satyaprakash, a social worker, encourages them to sit on the chairs provided. “Please, join us tauji [uncle], today’s programme is about gaali [swear words],” he says. Continue reading...

David Bowie was a gent, Naomi Campbell was a revelation and Virgil Abloh was hauntingly prophetic. The great portrait photographer Anton Corbijn relives five of his best shootsAnton Corbijn, speaking from his home in Kenya, holds a fried sardine between his fingers and positions it tantalisingly in front of his Zoom camera. “I’m sorry,” he says, “but somebody put these next to me and they smelled so good I had to take a bite.”Fried fish notwithstanding, Corbijn lives a “healthy life” in Africa and the distance to Europe hasn’t interfered with his work. His latest exhibition – which can be seen at his studio in the Hague and online at de-pury.com – positions him as a portrait photographer across a wide range of stars and subjects. Is this because the man behind some of music’s most famous images, from Joy Division to U2, is frustrated at being pigeonholed? Continue reading...

The author of a new book says having more fun builds resilience and will help get us through the next stage of the pandemic. But can she get me out of my funk?It speaks to the scale of the challenge that, in the month that I set out to have more fun, my Christmas and new year plans are derailed by Covid; I am relieved of half my savings by a phone scammer; and a man I’m meeting for a first date suggests that maybe I am depressed.I get my money back, and my date is a supply chain consultant, not a doctor – but fun certainly seems like a faraway prospect. Continue reading...

US makes preparations to avoid European gas crisis if flow from Russia is cut, while talks aimed at defusing tensions continueJoe Biden has said he will consider personal sanctions against Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine, as western leaders step up military preparations and make plans to shield Europe from Russian gas being cut off.The rare sanctions threat came as Nato placed forces on standby and reinforced eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets in response to Russia’s troop buildup near its border with Ukraine. Continue reading...

Allegation marks latest example of how NSO clients have used powerful surveillance tool to target campaigners and journalistsThe mobile phones of a senior Human Rights Watch staff member are alleged to have been repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the catastrophic August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut.The alleged hacking of Lama Fakih, a US-Lebanese citizen and director of crisis and conflict at HRW, marks the latest example of how NSO’s powerful surveillance tool, Pegasus, has been used by the company’s clients to target campaigners and journalists. Continue reading...

Gomorrah author says he felt compelled to speak up against anti-migration policiesRoberto Saviano has said he felt compelled to speak up against anti-migration policies as he faces a defamation trial over remarks accusing Italy’s far-right leaders of a lack of compassion towards people dying at sea.Saviano, the author of Gomorrah, for which he infiltrated the mafia – he has been in hiding from them since 2006 – will stand trial later this year for calling the Brothers of Italy leader, Giorgia Meloni, a “bastard” after she said NGO boats that had attempted to rescue refugees should be sunk. Continue reading...

Company hopes vaccine will be ready for approval by March; UK reports 439 deaths and more than nearly 95,000 cases

Fuzhou software development firm representative denies allegations of foreign interference

Greta Ferušić Weinfeld survived both the Nazi death camp and the nearly four-year siege during the Bosnian warA woman who survived both the Auschwitz death camp and the Sarajevo siege in the 1990s has died, according to representatives of Bosnia’s Jewish community.Greta Ferušić Weinfeld died on Monday aged 97. Continue reading...

Move comes after investigation found serious management shortcomings and follows Star Hobson caseBradford council has been stripped of control of its children’s social care after an investigation following the murder of 16-month old Star Hobson found serious shortcomings in the management of the service.Social workers will be transferred to a not-for-profit children’s trust that ministers hope will help “drive rapid improvements” to a department which has been underperforming for years and struggled to raise its game. Continue reading...

Senior Tory suggests officials will not hold back from the police like they might with Sue GrayThe police investigation into Downing Street parties is set to uncover evidence which has not yet been submitted to the Sue Gray inquiry, according to former No 10 staffers.The prime minister’s ex-chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, had previously warned that officials were deeply uncomfortable with handing over some evidence to the inquiry, believing they could face retribution for damaging information. Continue reading...

Analysis: School absences are soaring, but experts disagree about the importance of vaccinating young childrenCovid cases in the UK have fallen sharply in the past few weeks, and hospital admissions appeared to have turned a corner. But now, it seems, the situation has stalled, with cases bobbing around 90,000 per day.The reason for the change is that while case rates are falling among adults, they are rising among children – where vaccination rates remain sluggish. Continue reading...

Prime minister tells MPs Britain will push for ‘tough package’ of economic sanctions if invasion happensBoris Johnson has hinted that Germany may be concerned about the imposition of sanctions against Russia because of its dependence on Russian gas and told MPs diplomatic efforts are being made to persuade Berlin and others to go further.The British prime minister said that “European friends” had concerns about imposing the toughest possible sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine because of their “heavy dependence” on Russian gas – and also declared the UK would be willing to deploy more troops to eastern Europe if Ukraine was attacked. Continue reading...

Leader wins party support after facing accusations of misogyny and racism over historical social media postsThe leader of the Ulster Unionist party has survived a major political crisis after he won the support of the party in the face of a row over historical social media posts that had been branded misogynistic and racist.The UUP deputy leader and chief whip, Robbie Butler, confirmed Doug Beattie had received the support of the party officers and Member of the Legislative Assembly group during meetings on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Chkaifi, 43, was attacked in the street by Leon McCaskre, 41, before he died after being hit by carA woman who was stabbed to death in Maida Vale, London, on Monday has been named as Yasmin Chkaifi.Chkaifi, 43, also known as Wafah, was attacked in the street by Leon McCaskre, 41, before he died after being hit by a blue Renault Clio. The 26-year driver was arrested on Monday on suspicion of murder and later bailed pending further investigation. Continue reading...

Force says police inquiry does not mean civil servant’s investigation into alleged lockdown parties must be paused

Many Aboriginal activists say that 26 January is not a day to celebrate, but instead a day to start ‘paying the rent’ – by supporting and donating to the needs of First Nations people.

1972 was the first time many saw First Nations people confront the establishment. Now elders say it’s a legacy for future generationsIn the middle of the night, four young Aboriginal men pitched a beach umbrella on the lawns opposite Parliament House and sat down. When dawn broke on 26 January 1972, a police officer came over to ask how long they intended to stay.“Until we get land rights,” one of the four, Billy Craigie, told the officer.Above: Bobbi Sykes (with Gordon Briscoe) addresses a protest at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra, July 1972. Below: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Parliament House in 1972. Images: Ken Whittington/National Archives Australia Continue reading...

Rightwing radical was a towering figure in Brazil who was adored and abhorred in equal measure by millions of followers and foesOlavo de Carvalho, the coronavirus-denying mentor of Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil’s radical right, has died in the United States, with one of his children citing Covid-19 as the cause.“The family … asks for prayers for the professor’s soul,” relatives said on Twitter after announcing the death of the 74-year-old polemicist – a towering figure in contemporary Brazilian politics who was adored and abhorred in equal measure by millions of followers and foes. Continue reading...

Caring for her late grandmother inspired US artist Every Ocean Hughes to take end-of-life doula training. She talks corpse kits, Covid and queer deathOne Big Bag is a portrait of a young death doula: a holistic carer who tends to the wishes of a dying individual and assists their family after they die. In the film, made by US artist Every Ocean Hughes, a young woman details the contents of her “corpse kit”, while the items hang by strings from the ceiling at the respective heights of their use on the body. The list is prosaic but revelatory, comforting and unsettling: glue to seal wounds and tampons to plug orifices; snacks for the living who forget to eat; ice to chill, but – careful – not to freeze. The doula considers the items closely, but adds mysterious choreography, rhythmically pounding her fists on her body, slamming her thighs against the ground and marching around the space with spiritual fervour.Shown alongside an installation of the suspended items, One Big Bag marks a shift into direct, material work from an artist previously known for abstraction. Hughes appears over Zoom from her home in Stockholm, a kind and effusive presence with a cropped bob and fantastic hexagonal brown glasses. Continue reading...

Latest updates: prime minister welcomes Met police investigation into allegations of lockdown rule-breaking

Rescue volunteers from all over the UK came to the aid of George Linnane after fallA man who spent 54 hours trapped in a Welsh cave and thought he was going to die has joined the rescue team that saved his life, in the hope that he might do the same for others.It took about 300 volunteers from across the country to rescue George Linnane, who broke his arm, ribs and jaw after a fall at Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system, in the Brecon Beacons, in November. Continue reading...