Shelling of residential areas leaves hundreds dead and forces more than 800,000 to flee country

Action taken upon Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven by holding company that owns Holland & Barrett after EU imposed sanctionsThe UK-based Russian billionaire oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have had their shares in the $22bn (£17bn) conglomerate LetterOne, which owns Holland & Barrett, “frozen”, days after they were hit with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.LetterOne, which is just under 50% owned by Fridman and Aven, announced on Wednesday night that the men had “ceased to have any involvement with the company” and that it had frozen their shares. Continue reading...

Thursday: The UN general assembly approves resolution demanding that Russia stop the war in Ukraine and withdraw all troops. Plus: Darren Hanlon on losing faith and moving homeGood morning. Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities has intensified. In Australia, the floods crisis continues with major warnings in place and evacuation orders in some parts of NSW. And Scott Morrison has drawn criticism from Christian groups over Australia’s refugee intake.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is trying “to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all” after Russian forces intensified missile attacks on residential precincts of multiple major cities. Russia claims to have secured the key southern city of Kherson after another day of relentless shelling, but this has been disputed by the city’s mayor. Both Kyiv and Kharkiv remain under attack, with Russian airborne troops landing in the country’s second-most populous city and engaging in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces. In New York, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly for a resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighting Russia’s increasing international isolation with 141 of the 193 member states supporting the resolution, 35 abstaining, and five voting against. Only Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria voted in support of the Kremlin, with historical allies Cuba, Venezuela and China abstaining. Continue reading...

Filming was in progress when about 20 people broke on to set of Netflix heist dramaA gang of masked thieves have stolen €300,000 (£250,000) worth of equipment from the set of the Netflix heist drama Lupin in France, according to reports.About 20 people broke on to the set after throwing mortar fireworks while the actor Omar Sy, who plays the protagonist, was performing in a scene, according to AFP. Continue reading...

Divorcees Clive Warrington and Valerie Warrington found dead with stab wounds at separate locationsPolice have arrested a man as part of a double murder investigation after a divorced couple were found dead at separate locations in Gloucestershire.Emergency services discovered the body of Clive Warrington, 67, after being called to reports of a serious assault in Sherborne Place, Cheltenham, at 6.25am on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands are fleeing the vicious assault upon their country’s independence. They need helpUkrainians do not want to flee. They do not want to pack their lives into a suitcase. They do not want to crowd aboard packed trains that carry them away from their homes, or trudge for days with their children. They do not want to leave behind husbands and sons and parents. They do not want to begin again in a foreign country where they have nothing, far from those they love.They go because they are under attack. They go because missiles are falling. They go because their sisters call to say that Russian soldiers have entered their towns. They go because they see what Vladimir Putin’s war machine is already doing in Ukraine, and because they know what it has done before. They go because if they do not go now, tomorrow may be too late. They go because they must. Continue reading...

The streamer has halted work on four original series as a result of the ongoing invasion of UkraineNetflix has paused all future Russian projects and acquisitions as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.According to Variety, the streamer is “assessing the impact of current events”, which has led to four Russian original series being indefinitely paused. Zato, a crime series set after the fall of the Soviet Union, directed by the Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk, was already in production but has now been put on hold. Continue reading...

Analysis: Criticism of invasion has been muted and officials yet to condemn Moscow for attack on Holocaust memorialA week ago the sight was unthinkable: a memorial at the site of one of the worst massacres of the Holocaust, engulfed in smoke and flame from an airstrike.Yet on Tuesday a Russian attack near the Babyn Yar memorial complex in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, achieved exactly that. Five people died in the strike targeting the television broadcast tower next door, while firefighters battled to extinguish a fire caused by the explosion in a building inside the Jewish cemetery. Continue reading...

As he beams aboard another Star Trek adventure, the 81-year-old actor talks about playing Picard as an intergalactic Prospero, hitting the bottle during an exhausting Macbeth – and reaching page 310 of his memoir

Some brands and designers have already issued statements and stopped Russian revenue streams

Non-white refugees face violence and racist abuse in Przemyśl, as police warn of fake reports of ‘migrants committing crimes’

The proposal, expected to be approved, is based on a law drawn up in the aftermath of the Balkan wars

Latest updates: PM response comes as Keir Starmer asks why Roman Abramovich is not subject to sanctions in UK

Labour calls for tougher action against Russian oligarchs at PMQs as Ukrainian ambassador watches from gallery

The coin from 1344 is one of three gold detectorist finds being auctioned this monthFor more than 20 years, Andy Carter spent his free time scouring muddy fields, stubbornly convinced that he would strike gold. Then one day he did.The retired research scientist from north Norfolk unearthed an extremely rare gold “leopard” coin, dating back to the reign of Edward III. Next week it is expected to fetch up to £140,000 at auction. “I just felt numb when I found it,” Carter said. “And then I did the gold dance.” Continue reading...

A special edition on the invasion of Ukraine

NSW flood death toll rises to five; evacuation order for North Richmond area downstream of Redbank dam; Queensland premier warns ‘high-impact’ storms could lead to more flash flooding; Warragamba Dam spills; Ballina mayor calls for ‘desperate help’; drivers still stranded on M1; at least 59 Covid-related deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

Most underground lines in capital remain suspended, with second walkout planned for ThursdayLondon commuters faced another challenging journey into work as most tube lines stayed closed following strike action.The majority of London Underground lines remained suspended on Wednesday morning after a 24-hour strike action by tube workers on Tuesday, with a further 24-hour walkout planned for Thursday. Continue reading...

The cosmic-minded Denver band broke out with two albums of frenetic riffs and blast beats. Are they risking it all by embracing their inner Zen?In Blood Incantation’s lyrics, cosmic conspiracy theories abound, telling tales of ancient civilisations, aliens and hallucinogens. But woe betide anyone who describes the Denver metal band’s interests as sci-fi. “The quantum field and holographic universe, DMT and the psychedelic connection, these things are not fictional!” frontman Paul Riedl insists. Clearly he’s argued this before.“This band isn’t about exploring a fantasy world,” says drummer Isaac Faulk. “It’s about asking questions about the universe that we live in – and that’s way bigger than any fictional universe.” The aim, they say, is for listeners to ask themselves these questions. “We aim to give space for those moments when you can truly attain Zen,” says Riedl. Continue reading...

Activists should champion Ukraine’s right to resist and an international order based on shared values and peaceDo we ever learn? Vladimir Putin joins a cast of monsters – from Saddam Hussein to Muammar Gaddafi – who were once blessed by western patronage. His regime was forged in the ruins of Grozny, and legitimised in the property portfolios of Highgate and Chelsea. Twenty-three years ago, the then largely unknown Putin surfed a national wave of jingoism to become Boris Yeltsin’s successor, after a series of supposed terrorist bombings in Russian apartment buildings provided a prete​​xt for the country’s second Chechen war. Never mind that there is compelling evidence that Russian security services carried out these bombings to provide a casus belli for the invasion, never mind that tens of thousands of Chechens were slaughtered amid horrendous war crimes: Putin was lauded and embraced.The former MI6 chief, Sir Richard Dearlove, expressed his regret in 2018 for our security services’ role in Putin’s rise to power, including the time Tony Blair was offered up to the Russians for a photo op in 2000. The following year the former prime minister also drew parallels between Chechnya and the west’s “war on terror”. Putin’s descent into unapologetic authoritarianism didn’t lead Blair to revise his opinions – instead, he urged the west to put aside its displeasure at the annexation of Crimea in 2014 to ally with Putin against “radical Islam”, a plea he repeated in 2018, just three months after the Salisbury poisonings.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Medics unable to keep babies alive, says doctor, as Ethiopia’s civil war creates desperate shortages of drugs, oxygen, fuel and foodPeople in Tigray are dying due to a lack of oxygen and medicines, a doctor at the region’s largest hospital has said, as medics struggle to care for the sick amid frequent electricity blackouts and fuel shortages.As the 16-month conflict between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian government forces drags on, the isolated northern region of 5.5 million people continues to suffer under what the UN has called a de facto blockade. Continue reading...

One day a man in a tan mac and a comb-over appeared at my family’s door. I have no idea how he found me but he had an exciting propositionI grew up in a modest, family hotel on the Dutch coast. The scenes of my boyhood were of German seaside tourists, drunken men and women at the bar, wedding receptions, and bingo nights in the function room. We slaved all year round – my father at the kitchen stove, my mother serving, cleaning the hotel rooms, and caring for three children. Books passed me by so it was an anomaly that, at the age of 12, I found myself attending a grammar school in Haarlem that churned out politicians, artists and writers.I was embarrassed about my non-intellectual origins. Each morning, when my classmates’ fathers drove their expensive cars to solicitors’ offices, banks or ministries, my father would don his cook’s uniform. One day, when I was 14, I went to our village library. After I’d filled out the membership card, a woman said: “And now you can choose three books!” I snatched three off the shelf. The thinnest was First Love, by Ivan Turgenev. From the start, the words struck me like a hammer-blow. I was drawn in by the language and the 19th-century Russian world that the writer evoked. I’d become a reader. Continue reading...

Public prosecutors’ claim that detainees inflicted injuries on themselves with a coin is ‘laughable’, says Human Rights WatchDetainees seen in videos allegedly showing torture in a Cairo police station inflicted their injuries on themselves, according to Egyptian authorities, who have charged the prisoners with spreading “fake news”.Up to 13 people detained in El-Salam First police station for unknown petty crimes made multiple videos that they say show the abuse they suffered at the hands of police officers and security forces. Continue reading...

Beijing reacts angrily to the visit by former US top security officials to Chinese-claimed Taiwan amid fears of a possible conflict in the regionChina has denounced a visit by a US delegation to Taiwan as the island’s president Tsai Ing-wen vowed to work more closely with allies in response to what she called China’s growing military threat.The delegation of former US top security and defence officials has been sent by president Joe Biden and is visiting Chinese-claimed Taiwan against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is being closely watched on the democratic island. Continue reading...

Severe weather warning issued for damaging winds and rain for region stretching from near Newcastle to almost the Victorian border

US president gives State of the Union address as Russia intensifies bombardment of cities across Ukraine

Clashes erupt between police in riot-gear and protesters as Māori leaders denounce violence at demonstrations that have run for weeksFires burned across parliament grounds, and violent clashes broke out between protesters and police at an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration on New Zealand’s parliament grounds, in extraordinary and chaotic scenes rarely seen in the country.After nearly four weeks of impasse between the protesters and police at parliament, hundreds of officers in riot gear stormed the occupation on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon had gained significant ground, tearing down tents, towing vehicles and making 38 arrests. The police said protesters used fire extinguishers, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks as weapons and a cord was set up as a trip wire. Continue reading...

Caritas says most of the children will come from heavily hit eastern Ukraine amid fears ‘humanitarian catastrophe approaching fast’

Video released by Ukraine's State Emergency Service on Tuesday shows a rescue operation following a Russian missile strike in northern Ukraine. The video shows clouds of smoke and rescue workers digging through debris in Zhytomyr.Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday that four people were killed when homes in Zhytomyr were hit by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby air base.

The coordinated decision, only the fourth in the International Energy Agency’s history, comes as Russia continues Kyiv siegeThe United States and 30 countries have agreed to release 60m barrels of oil from their strategic reserves to stabilise global energy markets, the US Department of Energy said on Tuesday, as oil prices surged to a seven-year high.The move, ahead of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress, failed to calm fears about supply disruption from the Ukraine crisis and sanctions against Russia. US stock markets fell sharply even after the news. Continue reading...

Rival broadcaster ITV will also put a stop on new programme sales to Russian clientsThe BBC will no longer license TV content to Russian clients in response to the invasion of Ukraine.Britain’s public broadcaster is also requesting the remaining episodes of two programmes, Dancing with the Stars and David Attenborough’s The Green Planet, are not aired on Russian state TV, despite the rights to both having already been sold. Continue reading...

Move will come as a result of EU sanctions set to be officially approved on Tuesday night

Chernihiv children’s hospital is running out of morphine and mines cover all roads in and out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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