Nygard, 80, to be detained in Toronto as he awaits trial on sexual assault and forcible containment chargesThe Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been denied bail and will be detained in Toronto as he awaits trial oncharges of sexual assault and forcible confinement.This bail decision relates to charges Canadian authorities laid against Nygard, 80, in connection with events that allegedly took place between 1987 and 2006. He also faces charges from the United States. He has denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Gang leader Vo Van Hong sentenced by Belgian court over deaths in sealed lorry container in EssexThe Vietnamese leader of a people smuggling gang has been sentenced to 15 years in a Belgian jail over the death by suffocation of 39 men, women and children transported across the Channel in a sealed trailer.Vo Van Hong, 45, was also ordered to pay a €920,000 (£760,000) fine by the court in Bruges, while prison sentences of between 18 months and 10 years were handed to 17 others for their roles in conducting a large-scale smuggling operation between Vietnam and Britain. Continue reading...

Members of old guard may refer to 2019 intake disparagingly, but they could hold PM’s fate in their handsThey were once among Boris Johnson’s most loyal defenders. Many of the army of more than 100 MPs who sat in Westminster for the first time in December 2019 felt they owed the prime minister their seat.So they were initially on their best behaviour, keen in a much-expanded parliamentary party to stand out from their peers and secure early promotion to the lowest rungs of the ministerial ladder. And most still feel that way. Continue reading...

Twitter and YouTube pages no longer accessible, while royal website refers to his role in the past tenseThe Duke of York’s social media accounts are being deleted as he continues his legal battle to fight a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him in the US.Last week the Queen stripped her second son of his honorary military affiliations and royal patronages, and he agreed not to use his royal style HRH in any official capacity. Continue reading...

‘Both of the people on this train in Kinshasa are me. I superimposed myself because I can’t afford models’This image, part of a series called Imaginary Trip, was taken in an abandoned train outside Kinshasa station in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I was looking for a site to evoke an imaginary voyage to convey the idea of memory, the passage of time and the reappropriation of old places. A lot of young men hang around this area, which is a poor neighbourhood, and they squat in the trains during the day while doing various jobs such as helping people at the station. Sometimes they have something to do, other times nothing.The two people in this photograph are both me. I took several digital images and then superimposed them to represent two young men playing a traditional game of draughts with bottle tops – as they do. When I started out on this project, I did not intend to put myself in the photographs – it was almost accidental. I did not have the money to pay for models, so it was partly a question of budget, but also of time. I spend ages in these places creating my photographs, too long for most people to hang around, so in the end I found myself in front of and behind the camera. I often work alone with a camera, a tripod and a remote trigger. Continue reading...

Cesar-winning star of A Very Long Engagement and Hannibal Rising involved in accident in the AlpsThe French actor Gaspard Ulliel has died at the age of 37 after a skiing accident.The star of A Very Long Engagement and Hannibal Rising was hospitalised after the accident in the Alps. Ulliel was transported via helicopter on Tuesday to Grenoble but did not survive his injuries, according to the actor’s family and agent. Continue reading...

With ageing Soviet-era rockets and a depleted, elderly fleet, Ukraine’s military hold their breath for Moscow’s next moveYiry Ulshin surveyed a scene of ruin. Before him were the remains of what was once a school. Desks were covered in debris. A photo of the class of 2011 lay in the wreckage. There were abandoned crayons and year 3 books in Ukrainian and Russian. Beyond a bullet-scarred wall was a view of pine trees and sea.“My heart is hurting. Why did Russia do this?” Ulshin, a Ukrainian army commander, asked. Continue reading...

Names and faces of men thought to be hiding in Spain, wanted for alleged crimes including murder, are releasedThe names and faces of 12 of the most wanted British criminal suspects thought to be hiding in Spain have been published by police in a bid to track them down.A joint campaign involving Spanish and UK police forces was launched on Wednesday in Madrid with a picture gallery of men wanted in connection with crimes including murder, drug trafficking and arms smuggling. Continue reading...

Man held in relation to potential withholding of information as police continue to question murder suspectA second man has been arrested in connection with the killing of the schoolteacher Ashling Murphy while she was out jogging in rural Ireland.The man is reportedly known to the 31-year-old man who was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of Murphy’s murder. The second male was detained in relation to potential withholding of information contrary to the Offences Against the State Act and can be held for up to three days. Continue reading...

Debbie Hicks said she was acting as ‘guerrilla journalist’ to prove lockdown measures disproportionateA woman acting as a “guerrilla journalist” when she filmed inside a hospital in an attempt to prove her belief that lockdown measures were disproportionate has been convicted of a public order offence.Debbie Hicks, 47, a former teacher and psychologist, filmed twice at the Gloucestershire Royal hospital in Gloucester in December 2020 and told staff who challenged her she could do what she wanted as she paid her taxes. Continue reading...

Questions raised over move to buy The Standard Bearer for €175m from trust in the Cook IslandsThe Dutch government is facing criticism after it emerged that a Rembrandt masterpiece is to be bought by the state from the Rothschild family through a tax haven in the south Pacific.A debate in the country’s senate heard that the €175m (£145m) purchase of The Standard Bearer would be from a trust located in the Cook Islands whose holding company is located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, also a tax haven. Continue reading...

Singer’s lawyer demands sister Jamie Lynn stop ‘referencing Britney derogatorily’ during promotion of memoir, and files allegations of misconduct against fatherA lawyer for Britney Spears has threatened legal action against her sister Jamie Lynn, and accused their father of financial misconduct, including the hiring of a private security firm to keep Britney and people close to her under surveillance.A letter written by Britney’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart instructs Jamie Lynn to “cease and desist from referencing Britney derogatorily during your promotional campaign” for her new memoir. “If you fail to do so or defame her, Britney will be forced to consider and take all appropriate legal action.” Continue reading...

In Kenneth Branagh’s acclaimed drama, Dornan plays a penniless father whose astonishing good looks pass without comment. It’s not the first time the film industry has asked audiences to ignore an actor’s attractivenessKenneth Branagh’s Belfast clearly owes a debt to Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Both films are named after places. They’re both autobiographical. They’re both filmed in black and white for maximum awards season impact. And yet the films differ in one key area. Cuarón, for the most part, filled his film with authentic-looking non-actors. Branagh, meanwhile, filled his with Jamie Dornan.Which is no slight on Dornan. In recent years he’s proved himself to be one of our most charismatic and magnetic actors. Put a camera on Jamie Dornan and audiences won’t look away. Except in Belfast, he’s playing the down-at-heel dad of a family barely able to stay afloat. At one point he is almost sunk by a £500 tax bill. Which would be all too believable, save for the fact that Jamie Dornan looks like Jamie Dornan. If Belfast was set in any recognisable universe, then one of Dornan’s neighbours would have said, “Have you ever thought about becoming a model?”, or “I saw you singing Everlasting Love to professional standards in the club the other night, you could try doing that for a living”, or “You know what would get you out of this pickle? Playing a literal sex god in the movie adaptations of a wildly successful erotic novel series?” And he would have said yes and, because he is Jamie Dornan, all his debts would have been paid off by lunchtime. Continue reading...

A new book by Rosemary Sullivan suggests that Arnold van den Bergh could have revealed the family’s hiding place, but other historians are not convincedHistorians have voiced their scepticism about a book that has identified a Jewish notary as the prime suspect for the betrayal of Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis.The Betrayal of Anne Frank, by Rosemary Sullivan, based on research gathered by retired FBI detective Vince Pankoke was published on Tuesday by HarperCollins with some fanfare. Continue reading...

Eleven people were thrown from all-terrain vehicle and trailer when crossing on farm gave wayA man has died and two people have been seriously injured in Lancashire after a vehicle and a trailer fell into a river when a bridge collapsed.Eleven people were thrown from a Polaris Ranger and its trailer when a crossing on a farm in the Moor Lane area of Roeburndale gave way at about 4.25pm on Tuesday, Lancashire police said. Continue reading...

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to unveil its measure of how close human civilisation is to the edge of extinctionOn 24 October 1962, an American nuclear chemist, Harrison Brown, started to pen a guest editorial for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists just as the Cuban missile crisis reached its climax.“I am writing on a plane en route from Los Angeles to Washington and for all I know this editorial … may never be published,” Brown said. “Never in history have people and nations been so close to death and destruction on such a vast scale. Midnight is upon us.” Continue reading...

How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout and schedule compare with other countries, and when will Australia reach 80% and 90% third dose vaccination? We bring together the latest numbers on the vaccination rate in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and other states, as well as stats, maps, live data and Indigenous vaccination rates.

Sixty-seven Covid deaths across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia; more than 40,000 rapid antigen tests stolen in NSW; PM says ‘don’t pay attention’ to George Christensen’s vaccine views; Queensland to open to international travellers on Saturday; NSW, Victoria and SA reduce booster wait time to three months. Follow the day’s news

Switching accents and deliberately mispronouncing words was silly, but it helped keep up our spirits when managers were tracking our toilet breaks and listening to our callsThe part of communal work-life I miss most is gallows humour. This can only be forged in really crap jobs, and they don’t come much worse than call-centre work. I’ve done a fair bit, cold-calling for rubbish products, financial services and charities. Call centres are offices, but also open prisons. Managers keep track of the number and length of your toilet breaks. They count how many calls you attempt each minute, so you can’t slack off. When some poor sap does pick up, they sometimes listen in. You would only know this after you got taken to one side and asked why you hadn’t attempted to flog the cash-strapped pensioner some side plates. Your continued employment was always at stake. We all suffered the same dilemma. On the one hand, crippling financial need; on the other, our souls.Yet an atmosphere of Stasi-like distrust can really juice one’s rebellious instincts. These call centres were frequently staffed by actors (one of whom is now Hollywood royalty, starring in Marvel films for presumably more than £10 an hour). We were young, had the gift of the gab and could work off-script, which made sales conversations less robotic, and often more lucrative. If skiving was off the table, there were other plays. Continue reading...

The former editor-at-large of Vogue was famous for his big personality and as a champion of Black designers and models

France registers 464,769 new Covid-19 infections over the last 24 hours; Italy’s cases jump from 83,403 a day earlier

Citizens blocked from returning home after minister Chris Hipkins halts release of space in quarantine rooms, saying facilities are under ‘extreme pressure’

Members of the Tongan diaspora feared never seeing their loved ones on the Pacific island again when communications were cut off following the volcanic eruption on Saturday. 'I'm aware that other islanders, other Pacific people, other Tongans, all feel exactly my feeling. That's how close we are.' said Tongan-Australian artist and activist Seini Taumoepeau. She said she hasn't had any contact with relatives and friends in Tonga days after a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami caused significant damage and cut off phone and internet lines for the archipelago.

Report making case for culture as catalyst for levelling up wins cross-party backingThink of “the north” and images that come to mind include Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North, the sculpture of Henry Moore and Manchester’s music scene.But now a rare show of cross-party unity has called for all of the cultural icons of northern England to be a catalyst to rebuild the region and rebalance it with the rest of the UK. Continue reading...

MPs from across party confident of enough letters to trigger leadership contest after Sue Gray’s reportThe mood of Conservative MPs was hardening against Boris Johnson on Tuesday night, with open talk of how to oust the prime minister and who should succeed him as he gave a disastrous interview claiming not to have lied over Downing Street parties.A string of Tory MPs from various ranks and wings of the party said they believed there would be enough letters to trigger a leadership contest after the publication of the Sue Gray report into allegations of lockdown breaches, with some reports on Tuesday night that it could come sooner. Continue reading...

Rising number of coronavirus cases prompts official US advice, which brings number of countries on ‘level four’ list to over 100The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday advised against travel to 22 nations and territories because of a rising number of Covid-19 cases including for Australia, Israel, Egypt, Albania, Argentina and Uruguay.The nation’s health protection agency elevated its travel recommendation to “level four: very high”, telling Americans they should avoid travel to those destinations, which also include Panama, Qatar, the Bahamas, Bahrain and Bolivia. In total, there are now over 100 countries on the CDC’s level four list. Continue reading...

Breiner David Cucuñame was shot dead while on patrol with the unarmed group Indigenous GuardA 14-year old indigenous activist has been murdered in Colombia, prompting horror and shock at the latest in a spate of killings of environmentalists and social leaders in the South American country.Breiner David Cucuñame was shot dead on Friday while on patrol with the Indigenous Guard, an unarmed group which seeks to protect indigenous lands from incursions by the country’s many armed groups. Continue reading...

Move against Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi made by lawyer for human rights defender jailed in UAEA lawyer representing a jailed human rights defender in the United Arab Emirates has filed a torture complaint against the new president of Interpol, Maj Gen Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, as the official made his first visit to the international police agency’s headquarters in the French city of Lyon.William Bourdon, a lawyer for the Emirati human rights defender and blogger Ahmed Mansour, said he filed the complaint against al-Raisi in a Paris court under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Mansour is serving a 10-year sentence in the UAE for charges of “insulting the status and prestige of the UAE” and its leaders in social media posts. Continue reading...

UK intelligence concluded Malik Faisal Akram posed no threat, which allowed him to travel to US and buy gunThe British man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue had been under investigation by MI5 as a possible Islamist terrorist threat as recently as 2020, Whitehall sources have acknowledged.British intelligence closed the investigation, however, after officers had concluded Malik Faisal Akram from Blackburn posed no threat, and as a result he was able to travel freely to the US and purchase a gun. Continue reading...

Suspect in his 30s was detained after being treated for unexplained injuries in a Dublin hospitalIrish police investigating the death of Ashling Murphy have arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of murder.Murphy, a primary school teacher, was strangled on a canal path near the town of Tullamore while out jogging last Wednesday afternoon. Her funeral was held on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Ingrid Betancourt will enter a crowded field as a candidate for the Green Oxygen party in May’s electionIngrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician who was held as a hostage for six years by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group before a dramatic rescue, has announced that she will be running for her country’s presidency.The news comes almost two decades after Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while also campaigning for the country’s top office for the Green Oxygen party, a movement she founded while she was a congresswoman. Continue reading...

Government issues first official update since huge blast on Saturday, saying death toll could riseTonga is facing an “unprecedented disaster” from a massive volcanic eruption that covered the nation in ash and 15-metre tsunami waves that destroyed almost all the homes on two small islands, the government has said.Hampered by a communications breakdown caused by the severing of a major undersea cable, authorities had not released an official update since the blast on Saturday, when the Pacific island nation was shaken by what may have been the largest volcanic event in three decades. Continue reading...

Fashion designer and menswear pioneeer whose relaxed suits made star appearances in more than 100 Hollywood filmsThe fashion designer and businessman Nino Cerruti was first and last a native of the city of Biella in northern Italy, where alpine-pastured sheep, and mountain water and its millwheel powers, had been supplying an industry in fine wool textiles for a millennium. He was bred to the spinning and loom trades – “I was born in a manger,” he said, “only instead of straw, there was wool” – and he returned to those trades, and Biella, for his last years.In between, Cerruti, who has died aged 91, became an international fashion name, whose relaxed suits made star appearances in more than 100 Hollywood movies, by applying his profound knowledge of the properties of good wool and other natural fibres to a modern masculine tailoring that did not depend for shape on an invisible interior armature of canvas, padding and lining. Continue reading...

Prit Buttar, who tweeted about comforting grieving woman, says he wanted to show difference in experience between ordinary people and Downing StreetWhen Dr Prit Buttar, a retired GP, decided to break social distancing rules and offer his embrace to a bereaved woman, it was a gesture of core humanity. “Everybody on the team would have done exactly the same, Covid or no Covid,” he said from his study near Kirkcudbright.He did not envisage, a year on, that his recollection of that moment would inspire a cathartic outpouring of similar memories from people across the UK, or that he would become a reluctant – though passionate – advocate for the fury and dismay of ordinary people at the boozy rule-breaking in the seat of power. Continue reading...

Latest updates: PM says ‘nobody told me that what we were doing was against the rules’ and says he did not tell lie in Commons

Doctors are currently banned from advertising abortion services and offering information onlineA Nazi-era law banning doctors from giving women information about abortions is to be scrapped by Germany’s new government in a decision welcomed by activists who have long argued that it has hampered women’s ability to make informed choices.The justice minister, Marco Buschmann, said that he will ditch Paragraph 219a from the penal code after almost 90 years, meaning that doctors will no longer have to fear prosecution if they provide information about the procedure. Continue reading...

Nightclubs can reopen and three-household limit on indoor gatherings to end from next Monday

Exclusive: School administrators have been warned Covid infections may force 20% of staff off work when classes resume

Margarito Martínez Esquivel and José Luis Gamboa are the latest casualties in the world’s most dangerous country for reporters outside war zonesMexico’s embattled press corps has suffered a shattering start to the new year with the murders of two journalists who had dared chronicle their country’s slide into drug and corruption-fuelled violence.Margarito Martínez Esquivel, a crime reporter and photographer who often collaborated with members of the foreign media, was shot dead outside his home in the northern city of Tijuana on Monday lunchtime. Continue reading...

Bishop laments ‘disrespect for human life’ at funeral of 23-year-old attacked while out jogging in TullamoreA depraved act of violence took the life of the talented and admired Ashling Murphy but such “disrespect for human life” must not be allowed to take root in communities, mourners at the funeral of the murdered schoolteacher were told.The bishop of Meath, Tom Deenihan, said nobody should die like the 23-year-old did when attacked and strangled last Wednesday while jogging. “No family like Ashling’s should suffer as they do now,” he said. Continue reading...

Amika George, an activist who founded the #FreePeriods campaign, shares her worries about the police and crime bill. She started her non-profit campaign group in 2017 and two years later got the government to commit to funding period products in every state school and college in England.The Guardian reporter Damien Gayle explains what is behind the government's police and crime bill and what it could mean for protesting. On Monday night, the House of Lords voted down proposed changes in the law that would give more powers to police over the way they treat protests. Sections of the bill have been condemned by human rights activists as a ‘vitriolic attack’ on the right to protest, freedoms to show dissatisfaction or to call for change.This week, activists and protesters across the UK have taken to the streets rallying against a bill that would limit their rights to protest and give tougher sentences to those who break the rules

Campaign for British Museum to return of antiquities boosted by support from the Times newspaperGreece has vowed to intensify its campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures amid “optimistic” signs that British public opinion has shifted markedly in favour of returning the prized “Elgin” marbles to Athens.The Greek government said it would step up pressure for the fifth-century BC antiquities to be enjoyed in their entirety, within view of the Acropolis, after receiving support from an unexpected quarter of the British establishment. Continue reading...

Former Italian prime minister’s charm offensive risks stoking tensions within coalitionThe one thing missing from the list of 22 personality traits and accomplishments flaunted in a full-page newspaper advert entitled “Who is Silvio Berlusconi?” was the former Italian prime minister’s talent for singing. But the one-time cruise ship crooner, one of Italy’s most controversial leaders well known for his myriad legal woes, is hoping his pleasant voice will seduce dozens of parliamentarians into backing his bid to become Italy’s next president.The secret ballot begins on 24 January, and Berlusconi, 85, has broken from tradition by shamelessly campaigning for the job, a largely ceremonial role with powers to resolve political crises, even without officially throwing his hat into the ring. His charm offensive, which includes telephone canvassing unaffiliated parliamentarians whose votes could secure his victory and jokingly inviting them to his “bunga bunga party”’, is stoking tensions within Italy’s ruling coalition, blocking any meaningful debate on an impartial candidate all parties can agree on and igniting protests among Italians who find the prospect of the scandal-plagued Berlusconi becoming head of state abominable. Continue reading...

Now that I work from my boat, I miss the comfort of the office – and the long-running war I waged over my contraband kettle and illicit ciderFor the past five years, I’ve been “working from boat”, sailing in a crystal Mediterranean sea, with turtles nibbling at my anchor. Sounds fun. It’s not. I miss the office.There are problems with working in paradise. Imagine spending your tea breaks checking the anchor isn’t dragging your workspace towards treacherous rocks, stupid jet skiers swerving by while you type. Imagine wondering if the sun has provided enough power to charge your laptop, or assessing whether a storm is likely to hit before deadline – should I sail 20 miles to shelter before I file? Continue reading...

Farkhunda’s sister and two brothers have disabilities and left their wheelchairs behind when fleeing a Taliban raidFarkhunda’s* mother has run a feminist radio station in her conservative province for the best part of 20 years, in defiance of Taliban threats. She has three children with disabilities who were forced to abandon their wheelchairs when gunmen attacked their home about two months after the Taliban takeover. They are in hiding in a city safe house, but don’t know how they will survive longer term.When the fighting closed in on our city in August we were moving around – one night in one place, one night in another place – staying with different relatives because my mum had received a lot of threats in the past. Continue reading...

Emma Raducanu earned an impressive win over Sloane Stephens while Andy Murray prevailed in a five-setter against Nikoloz BasilashviliFirst set: Basilashvili 1-2 Murray* (*denotes next server) Wahey! Basilashvili attempts to serve but the ball hits the top of the frame of his racket and it pings off skywards! You don’t see that every day in professional tennis. Anyway, it clearly doesn’t help him and a couple of unforced errors give Murray two break points - he grabs his chance as Basilashvili goes long and the Scot edges ahead earlier in this match.First set: *Basilashvili 1-1 Murray (*denotes next server) There are some vocal fans in the arena today. I don’t speak Georgian but am assuming the bloke who is making himself heard from the stands is a Basilashvili fan. Good start from Murray, who ignores the distractions and secures a love-service game. Continue reading...

With petrol and diesel already close to record highs, driving costs look likely to increase againBritain’s hard-pressed households face a fresh threat to their living standards after fears of Middle East supply disruption sent the price of oil to its highest level in seven years.With the cost of petrol and diesel already close to their highest-ever level in the UK, the cost of driving is set to rise again after a jump in oil prices to almost $88 (£65) a barrel. Continue reading...

Pictures from New Zealand defence force surveillance flight and UN satellite images show land and trees coated in ashSome of the first images have emerged from Tonga’s volcano and tsunami-hit islands, after a New Zealand defence force surveillance flight returned from the cut-off country, as three deaths from the disaster have been confirmed in Tonga.Aerial photography of Nomuka, a small island in the southern part of the Haʻapai group, shows land and trees coated with ash and other damage inflicted by the huge undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami that hit the Pacific nation on Saturday. Continue reading...

Revelation that Jean-Michel Blanquer was on holiday at one of toughest times for schools creates PR disaster