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Former AMA president says Djokovic shouldn’t be allowed into Australia, while fellow players express surprise at the decision

The Philippines adds little to global emissions but faces some of its worst effects in extreme weather. Climate justice is neededA few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. The morning after the onslaught, on my way back to Iloilo City from San Jose, Antique, I could see the ocean still boiling; houses blown away and great trees knocked down, making roads impassable. The sights were terrifying.Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed – from houses to schools; food crops lost to flooding. At first, I did not know what to feel – anger, helplessness? Later, I knew what I wanted: climate justice. Continue reading...

I wrote the first draft in a ghetto in Lagos, working on it at 4am. With its publication the life I was meant to live began

President appoints acting prime minister after earlier declaring a state of emergency to tackle widespread demonstrations over rising fuel pricesKazakhstan’s president has accepted the resignation of the government, hours after he declared a state of emergency in large parts of the country in response to a rare outbreak of unrest.Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appointed Alikhan Smailov as acting prime minister, the president’s office said early on Wednesday. Smailov was previously the first deputy prime minister. Continue reading...

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, adapted from the short novel by Elena Ferrante, unravels the myth that motherhood comes naturally to womenIt is clear from the opening minutes of The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s melancholic, bristly directorial debut on Netflix, that a dark secret stalks the sunny Mediterranean vacation of Leda Caruso, (a luminous Olivia Colman), a 48-year-old English professor of comparative literature. Her “working holiday” at a Greek island is immediately beset by increasingly ominous intrusions: a spectral foghorn, a bowl of rotting fruit, a shrill cicada, a boisterous Italian American family from Queens who disrupt her beachside reading. Memories pull at her focus; when the young daughter of Nina (Dakota Johnson), a beautiful, languid member of the Queens bunch who immediately catches Leda’s attention, goes briefly missing, Nina’s panic elides with a flashback to twentysomething Leda’s (Jessie Buckley) frantic search for her daughter Bianca at a beach.It’s a familiar language of buried secrets, sinister subtext and unspooling memories – the building blocks of suspense – but the landmines in The Lost Daughter aren’t the usual culprits of dark revelation: unspeakable trauma or abuse, evil spirits, suppressed desires, the ravages of capitalism or greed. Instead, the molten core of The Lost Daughter is one of our culture’s most enduring and least touchable taboos: the selfish, uncaring, “unnatural” mother – one who doesn’t shift easily to care-taking, who does not relish her role, who not only begrudges but resents her children. Continue reading...

Over 11,000 care workers off for Covid reasons, internal health system staffing data shows

Every year millions of us resolve to learn a new language, get super fit or master a new skill ... then never start. How can we make it happen? Experts explain allThis year, my new year resolution is to finish the first draft of a novel. It’s a realistic goal – I’m not saying it has to make money, or even be any good. I just want the words on the page, even if all they do then is languish for ever in a folder.Well, I say that’s what I want – but of course finishing a draft was my new year resolution last year, and the year before that, and before that. In truth, I’ve been pushing back this particular ambition since 2017. Continue reading...

Newspaper accepts defeat and will pay additional unspecified sum for infringing her copyrightThe Mail on Sunday will pay the Duchess of Sussex just £1 in damages for invading her privacy by publishing a private letter she had sent to her father.The nominal sum is set out in court documents that also formally confirm that the newspaper – and its sister website MailOnline – has accepted defeat and will not be taking the long-running case to a supreme court appeal. Continue reading...

Michele Rech aka Zerocalcare’s book signings attract huge crowds and now he has a hit Netflix animated series inspired by his lifeMichele Rech is uncomfortable with success. The shy 38-year-old comic book artist, who works from a modest apartment on the outskirts of Rome, does not use the word “fame” but refers instead to his rise to national prominence as a “thing” he struggles to manage.In the art world, he is known as Zerocalcare and is the cartoonist’s equivalent of Hunter S Thompson. Rech’s graphic novels are a form of gonzo journalism – inspired by his own adventures as a protester on the frontlines of police violence in Italy, and in Syria, where he was embedded with Kurdish forces. Continue reading...

Book explores unseen archive papers relating to Prince Louis Rwagasore’s murder, which led to years of unrestA popular prime minister of Burundi, Prince Louis Rwagasore, was shot dead just over 60 years ago with the complicity of Belgium, the departing colonial power, a researcher has claimed.The Belgian state has an “overwhelming responsibility” for the assassination of Rwagasore, according to Ludo De Witte, a Flemish sociologist who has spent five years investigating the killing. His previous work on the assassination of Congo’s first elected prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, led to a parliamentary inquiry that concluded Belgium had a “moral responsibility” for the death of the charismatic leader. Continue reading...

New cases on island outpacing those in Tokyo amid criticism of US forces for failing to contain Omicron outbreak

Canada has reached an in-principle agreement totalling C$4bn (US$31.bn) to compensate First Nations children who were taken from their families and put into the welfare system, a major step toward reconciliation with the country's Indigenous people. David Sterns, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said: ‘This settlement is the largest class action settlement in Canadian history and it is believed to be one of the largest anywhere in the world.' The agreement includes C$2bn for potentially hundreds of thousands of First Nations children who were removed from their families. Another C$2bn is to reform the system over the next five years

There were 12,912 people in hospital in Italy; Israel PM says study shows safety of fourth dose and increase in antibodies a week after jab

So many young people in Australia are testing positive to Covid that videos about their experiences are going viral on TikTok. 'Gorgeous gorgeous girls Afterpay their rapid antigen test,' writes TikTok user @eilishgilligan, in a statement that attempts to capture the mood of young people living in Australia’s major cities

French president stokes divisions as parliament debates tighter requirements for mandatory health passEmmanuel Macron has prompted a furore after saying that his government’s vaccination strategy is to “piss off” people who have not had coronavirus jabs by continuing to make daily life more and more difficult for them.“I am not about pissing off the French people,” the president said in an interview with readers of Le Parisien daily on Tuesday. “But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy.” Continue reading...

Weary abductees including children and babies ‘freed unconditionally’, say police in troubled northern statesNearly 100 hostages, most of them women and children, have been rescued more than two months after they were abducted by armed groups in northwest Nigeria.Among the 97 freed hostages were 19 babies and more than a dozen children, Ayuba Elkana, police chief in Zamfara state, said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Mario Antonio Palacios had been detained in Panama en route to Colombia from JamaicaA suspected member of the group involved in the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, has been arrested by US authorities after he was detained while transiting through Panama following his deportation from Jamaica to Colombia.Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, a former member of the Colombian military, is accused by Haitian authorities of being part of a mercenary group that tortured and killed Moïse and wounded his wife, Martine, during an attack on Moïse’s private home in July. Continue reading...

Wednesday: Tennis tournament organisers confirm world No 1 will play grand slam. Plus: how the pandemic changed parentingGood morning. Weeks of speculation about Novak Djokovic’s involvement in the Australia Open have come to an end after the world No 1 last night revealed he has a medical exemption to get around Melbourne’s strict quarantine rules. Meanwhile, more hospital staff in NSW speak out about the pressure of staff shortages and record Covid infections.Djokovic is on his way to Melbourne to defend his Australian Open title after he refused to divulge his Covid vaccination status. Australian Open organisers confirmed he had received a medical exemption and said two panels of experts had reviewed the case. The Australian Technical Advisory Group allows exemptions for reasons including acute major medical conditions to any serious adverse effect from previous doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The reason for Djokovic’s exemption is unclear and has garnered mixed responses from his peers. Continue reading...

Arguments via videoconference come day after unsealing of 2009 Epstein settlement as judge promises ‘a decision pretty soon’Lawyers for Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, who has long accused the royal of sexual abuse, faced off in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, in his attempt to dismiss her civil lawsuit.The arguments via videoconference came a day after the unsealing of a 2009 settlement between Giuffre and the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Israeli officials attack actor’s message, and are accused of ‘cynical weaponisation’ of termEmma Watson has been accused of antisemitism by Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations after she posted a message of support for the Palestinian cause.Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, posted an image on Instagram showing a photograph of a pro-Palestinian protest with the banner “Solidarity is a Verb” written across it. It was accompanied with a quote about the meaning of solidarity from the intersectional feminist scholar Sara Ahmed. Continue reading...

Rise comes amid ongoing concern about intentions of Russia as supplies flow east for 15th day in rowEuropean gas prices have risen by more than 30% on Tuesday, adding to mounting concerns about the cost of heating a home, as supplies that usually come into Europe from Siberia continued to flow eastwards for the 15th day in a row.The Kremlin has repeatedly denied using Russia’s vast gas resources to turn the screw on Europe, after gas coming through the Yamal-Europe pipeline reversed direction three days before Christmas. Continue reading...

Closed circuit cameras captured the attack by the deer which was a donation to the presidential residenceA Paraguayan military officer has died after being attacked by a deer that ran an antler through his chest while he was serving in a security detail at the presidential residence in the capital, Asunción.Infantry assistant sergeant Víctor Isasi Flecha, 42, died on Monday night as a result of “piercing injuries” caused by the animal, said a statement from the military forces of the South American country. Continue reading...

Birgitte Bonnesen accused of fraud and market manipulation in relation to high-risk transactions in BalticsThe former chief executive of Swedbank has been charged with fraud, market manipulation and the unauthorised disclosure of inside information, following an investigation into a large-scale money laundering scandal in the Baltics.Birgitte Bonnesen, who was sacked as chief executive two years ago when the scandal came to light, “repeatedly spread misleading information” that the bank did not have any issues with its anti-money laundering (AML) processes in Estonia, according to Sweden’s Economic Crime Authority. Continue reading...

Twelve people died when the Lake Illawarra bulk carrier struck the bridge connecting Hobart across the Derwent River in 1975

Accused man, 49, pleads not guilty of causing blaze that burned down parts of the Cape Town complexA fire that devastated South Africa’s parliament has been contained after a two-day battle, firefighters said, as a man appeared in court to face charges of starting the blaze.Flames broke out in the Cape Town complex before dawn on Sunday, spreading to the National Assembly, the roof of which collapsed, threatening artworks and artefacts housed in an older section. Continue reading...

Teenager appears in court charged with murder of Zaian Aimable-Lina in Croydon last weekA scream was heard before the body of a teenage boy was found in a park in south London, a court has been told.Zaian Aimable-Lina, 15, was stabbed in Ashburton Park, Croydon, on Thursday 30 December. A 15-year-old boy has been charged with his murder and appeared at Bromley magistrates court on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Josep Borrell’s trip comes as west steps up diplomatic efforts in response to Russian troop buildup on borderThe European Union’s top diplomat is visiting the frontline of Ukraine’s war with Moscow-backed separatists, amid intensifying diplomatic activity in response to Russia’s buildup of troops on the country’s border.Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, began a two-day trip to Ukraine on Tuesday, before US-Russia talks in Geneva on 10 January and Nato-Russia talks on 12 January. Borrell is meeting Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, during a trip intended to show solidarity with Kyiv, which aspires to join Nato and the EU. Continue reading...

Morecambe Bay and Blackpool trusts join at least six others that have recently issued alerts

State-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor steps in after row between Vilnius and BeijingTaiwan’s government is sharing cocktail recipes with the public after it reportedly bought 20,400 bottles of Lithuanian rum bound for China amid a row between Vilnius and Beijing.The state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor (TTL) said it made the purchase in December to support Lithuania after learning the shipment was going to be blocked by Chinese authorities. Continue reading...

Previously, we made the most of our time together, and both enjoyed having an open relationship – but now we have moved in together, I feel my partner is no longer physically attracted to me

Legal team will claim in critical New York hearing that case brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre is baselessA US judge is to hear arguments by the Duke of York’s legal representatives to have the sexual assault civil lawsuit brought against him dismissed without trial in a crucial New York hearing.Prince Andrew, 61, is being sued by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 38, for alleged sexual assault that she claims took place when she was aged 17 and had been trafficked by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Man’s decision raises questions about treatment of defectors in South Korea with many said to face discriminationA North Korean defector who made a daring return to his home country at the weekend had reportedly struggled to build a new life in South Korea since his arrival just over a year ago.The man, who has not been named, crossed the heavily armed demilitarised zone [DMZ] that has divided North and South since the end of the 1950 to 1953 Korean war, on Saturday. Continue reading...

Two years on from the start of the pandemic, families across the world tell of their loss as they pay tribute

A key figure in South Australia’s response to Covid has tested positive to the virus this morning.Police commissioner Grant Stevens is the state’s emergency coordinator during the pandemic. After waking up yesterday with a sore throat he is now isolating at home. Continue reading...

June will see four-day celebrations but Prince Andrew’s court case is cloud on horizonAs the Queen, the longest-serving British monarch in history, attains 70 years on the throne, 2022 is expected to be a year of mixed blessings – with national celebrations as well as the possibility of yet more unwelcome headlines.The monarch joins an extremely exclusive club in February when she marks her platinum jubilee, also achieved by Louis XIV of France, Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and, most recently King Bhumibol of Thailand. Continue reading...

As I embark on a third year of general practice under Covid, I am more conscious than ever that recovery is different for every illness and every patient

The Blk Art Group – whose once-shunned work is now coveted by galleries – were radical young artists who tackled shootings, racism and uprisings in the 1980s. So where are they now?Shortly after Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in May 1979, Eddie Chambers made an artwork called Destruction of the National Front. Then a 19-year-old student in Wolverhampton, Chambers reconfigured the union jack as a swastika, before tearing it into fragments across four panels. The image stands as a defiant rebuke to a resurgent far right, evoking the anger many Black Britons felt at the time.The work was emblematic of the Blk Art Group, a radical association of young Black artists founded by Chambers in 1979. The group, stylised as Blk and pronounced “Black”, aimed to combat racism with work that focused on the experience of being Black in Thatchers’ Britain, while promoting a distinctly Black British political identity. Although short-lived – it only lasted for five years – the group casts a long shadow over British art, through its influence on subsequent generations of Black artists and its impact on contemporaries such as Lubaina Himid and Sonia Boyce. Continue reading...

US university puts Australianism in the linguistic naughty corner, but is it all a cultural misunderstanding?

Ontario closes down schools and shops to operate at 50% capacity; Scottish parliament to again be recalled as Covid hits record levels

Civil lawsuit was filed against Iran and other officials the family members believe were to blame for the incidentA court in Ontario, Canada, has awarded C$107m ($83.94m), plus interest, to the families of six people who died when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards downed a Ukraine International Airlines plane near Tehran two years ago.Iran shot down the airliner in January 2020. All 176 people on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. Continue reading...

Wildlife officials in Yellowstone national park captured the unusual sight of a cheeky grizzly bear tagging along with a pack of hunting wolves, then making off with their kill.The enthralling video, posted to the National Parks Service Facebook page, shows the October incident in which the wolves from the Junction Butte pack in northern Yellowstone were joined by a lumbering grizzly as they hunted a herd of elk

New year trading pushed Apple shares to a new high of $182.80 after tripling in value in under four yearsApple became the first US company to be valued at over $3tn on Monday as the tech company continued its phenomenal share price growth, tripling in value in under four years.A pandemic-era surge in tech stocks has driven the major US tech companies to new highs, pulling US stock markets with them. Apple became the world’s first trillion dollar company in August 2018, passed $2tn in 2020 and hit its new high as trading began after the holidays and its shares passed $182.80 a piece before dipping lower to end the day valued at over $2.9tn. Continue reading...

Tuesday: Asymptomatic nurses are being recalled to work in NSW. Plus: films about the end of the world are on the riseGood morning. Covid-positive nurses are being recalled to work in NSW hospitals. Scott Morrison is resisting calls to make rapid antigen tests free. And Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre’s legal deal with Jeffrey Epstein has been released.Covid-positive nurses are being ordered to work in breach of NSW health protocols as hospital managers resort to desperate measures to staff their facilities that are buckling under the Omicron outbreak. As 2,500 health workers are in isolation across the state, Guardian Australia has been contacted by multiple nurses working across several hospitals who are alarmed at finding themselves working alongside Covid-positive colleagues. All of the nurses say they had received unofficial, verbal advice from their hospitals that Covid-positive nurses could leave their mandated isolation to work, provided they were asymptomatic and wore personal protective equipment. Continue reading...

US, Russia, China, the UK and France who are permanent members of the UN security council agree ‘nuclear war cannot be won’Five of the world’s most powerful nations have agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” in a rare joint pledge to reduce the risk of such a conflict ever starting.The pledge was signed by the US, Russia, China, the UK and France, the five nuclear weapons states recognised by the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) who are also the five permanent members of the UN security council. They are known as the P5 or the N5. Continue reading...

South African firefighters are struggling to extinguish another fire at the complex housing the country’s parliament in Cape Town, a day after a blaze swept through the buildings. Police have charged a 49-year-old man with arson and other offences including theft. The speaker of the national assembly said arson, if confirmed, would represent an attack on South Africa’s democracy

Ariel Henry’s office says ‘bandits and terrorists’ made attempt on his life, prompting shootout in which one person diedHaiti has welcomed the new year with violence as Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced to flee the northern city of Gonaïves after a shootout between his security forces and an armed group that had warned the leader not to set foot in the city.One person died and two were injured in the gunfire, which forced Henry and others to duck and seek shelter as they walked out of a cathedral Saturday after attending a mass to celebrate Haiti’s independence from France. Continue reading...

Statue of Elena Cornaro Piscopia could go up in square in Padua that contains 78 statues all dedicated to menA proposal to insert a statue of the first woman in the world to earn a PhD among the 78 dedicated to notable male figures on a prominent square in northern Italy has stirred controversy.Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia received her doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Padua in 1678. But she was not included when Padua officials devised a project in the late 18th century to erect statues in Prato della Valle – the largest square in Italy – dedicated to illustrious historical figures who were either from the city or had links to it. Continue reading...

NGO report draws direct link between rise in fatalities and efforts to curb migration in MediterraneanAn estimated 12 people a day died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain in 2021, more than double the total for the previous year.The 4,404 refugees who perished included 205 children, according to Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders). In a report published on Monday, the NGO noted that the number of deaths was more than twice the 2,170 deaths and disappearances recorded in 2020. Continue reading...

Inspired by Kourtney Kardashian and Megan Fox, searches for ‘gothcore’ grow as people look to express darker emotionsIt’s been 20 years since pallid faces, dark eyes and black clothes haunted UK secondary schools and shopping centres. While some might argue that they never left, merely retreating into the shadows, the consensus for 2022 is that goth style is returning to mainstream culture with a vengeance.There are some differences this time. The modern goth is more likely to take inspiration from ultra-glam “hot goth girlfriends” such as Kourtney Kardashian and Megan Fox and the fashion world darlings Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto than the Marilyn Manson-loving self-proclaimed outsiders of the early 2000s. Continue reading...

Coalition says vessel was carrying medical supplies but Houthis claim they have seized ‘military cargo ship’Yemeni rebels have seized an Emirati-flagged vessel in the Red Sea, with the insurgents and the Saudi-led coalition giving contrasting explanations for the latest escalation in a seven-year war.The coalition, fighting in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said on Monday that the vessel was carrying medical supplies but the rebels said they had seized “a military cargo ship with military equipment”. Continue reading...