Survey suggests UK residents more likely to have faced shortages than those in France, Germany and SpainBritons are many times more likely to have experienced shortages of food and fuel than people in half a dozen EU member states, according to a poll.Global supply chain problems prompted by the pandemic have disrupted the international trade network since the summer, with transport backlogs combining with labour shortages to create scarcities of various goods around the world. Continue reading...

But while Morrison lectures Australians about personal responsibility he’s opting out of his duty, as leader, to back health advisers on mask mandates

WA to close to NT and Tasmania from Boxing Day and mandate booster shots for some workers; PM speaks after ‘positive’ emergency national cabinet meeting; SA reports record 198 Covid infections; NSW records 3,763 new cases and two deaths; Victoria records 1,503 cases and six deaths; Queensland records 186 cases; ACT records 58 cases; Tasmania records 12 cases. This blog is closed

In 1951, Werner Bischof was sent to cover the war in Korea. The photographer instead found himself captivated by Japan, where US soldiers took their leave, and spent a year exploring ‘the depths of the Japanese soul’ Continue reading...

I had a lot of existential questions. What is death? What if the dead wake in their coffins? And who was going to deliver my presents: Santa, God or Rabindranath Tagore?Christmas was always such a magical time for me when I was young, and the beginning of December 1970, filled with excitement and anticipation, was no different. I was six and though I had already figured out there was no Santa, I didn’t quite understand how presents materialised in the pillowcase annually hung from the post of my upper bunk bed. My parents were adamant about Santa’s existence, but my friends and older brothers had confirmed the awful, heart-wrenching, nihilistic truth of my suspicions.There were a lot of other existential questions in my mind that year. What was death? Did people seriously spend eternity in a box buried underground? What if they woke up? At school, the alternative of an eternity in heaven was presented by our overtly Christian teacher and, on balance, heaven definitely sounded preferable to an afterlife of maggot-ridden decomposition. The caveat of complete faith and devotion to a bearded man who floated on a cloud seemed a small price to pay for everlasting bliss. God even looked a lot like Santa, only his beard was more straggly and his suit less fun. Maybe God delivered the presents. Sorted. Roll on Christmas. Continue reading...

It was bitter weather in Geneva in 1986 and all any of us could think about was getting warm. Then I met a charismatic woman and felt a strong mutual attractionGeneva in March 1986 was cold. I had travelled overnight on an extremely long train journey from London to Switzerland. I and several other women heading for a huge lesbian feminist conference had failed to find affordable flights and instead had bought train tickets with vouchers collected from very large boxes of Persil washing powder.The journey was hellish. There was no heating on any of the trains and we only had enough booze for the odd warming sip from a hip flask. I was wearing every pair of socks I had packed and would run up and down the carriages every half-hour trying to get my circulation moving. Continue reading...

Exclusive: official figures show 66 acute respiratory infection incidents in hospitals in week to 16 December

Russell T Davies’s Aids drama was gut-wrenching and it made us weep time and again, but it also made us truly love the characters. What a devastating delight

The host’s chat with Kamala Harris led to a rare thing in Washington: a genuine moment

Japanese PM scuppers hopes of end to strict border controls, as the Philippines shortens booster wait to three months

Prime minister warns rapid spread of Omicron variant could mean curbs are imposed after 25 December

Public health bosses say move for those who test negative on days six and seven will help support essential services

Portugal tells people to work from home from 26 December; Sweden announces working from home and tighter social distancing rules

Jonathan Chew, charged with putting chief medical officer in headlock, defended himself by video link after lawyer withdrew in embarrassmentA man accused of assaulting Chris Whitty in a central London park attended a court appearance via video link from his bedroom while wearing a dressing gown after saying he had tested positive for coronavirus.Jonathan Chew, 24, and estate agent Lewis Hughes, 23, filmed themselves with England’s chief medical officer as he walked through St James’ Park in Westminster on 27 June. Continue reading...

Boric envisions a greener, fairer and more inclusive country, reflecting the generational shift underway in ChileChile’s future as a greener, fairer country, depends on the success of efforts to rewrite the country’s dictatorship-era constitution, president-elect Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday.After a meeting with the delegates elected last year to rewrite the 1980 constitution which enshrined the ideological legacy of General Augusto Pinochet, Boric called for Chileans to unite behind the project. Continue reading...

Wednesday: National cabinet to discuss Doherty modelling, Omicron and vaccine boosters. Plus: why you should be extra kind to retail staff this silly seasonGood morning! There are only a few more sleeps until Christmas and the morning mail will take a short break over the festive period. If you’re worried about missing your morning news fix, never fear! Five Great Reads will be stepping in. Every weekday, Guardian Australia’s lifestyle editor, Alyx Gorman, will be selecting five brilliant reads from across the Guardian. Sign up here.Australia could have 200,000 new Covid cases a day by late January without low-to-medium restrictions under a “worst-case scenario”, according to Doherty Institute modelling. That scenario would only be reached “if we do nothing” and is based on people not altering their behaviour, no change to the booster schedule and only basic public health restrictions being in place, according to a senior source. The modelling will be discussed in national cabinet today, along with the spike in Omicron cases and the vaccine booster program. Meanwhile, families could miss out on seeing loved ones in aged care over Christmas as inconsistent restrictions are causing confusion. Advocates are pushing for coherent guidelines and calling for a balance to be struck so residents are protected but not isolated. Continue reading...

Analysis: ‘incontrovertible evidence’ is a tall order and in the meantime the NHS risks being overwhelmed

This year’s Guardian and Observer appeal charities do inspirational work, fighting for climate justice where it matters mostIn August 1965, the German-born, Oxford-educated economist EF Schumacher published an article in the Observer. Titled “Help them to help themselves”, it criticised the prevailing model of aid to the developing world and proposed a new emphasis on regional planning and “intermediate technology”. If the west would give up trying to impose the latest production methods, he argued, it could instead unleash the “power of self-help”.That article led to the creation of a charity today known as Practical Action. The approach it pioneered, of supporting local people to make incremental changes to improve their lives, lies at the heart of the Guardian and Observer’s 2021 charity appeal. All over the world, as our recent “Living on the frontline of global heating” series showed, climate breakdown is having disastrous consequences for the people and communities who (along with their ancestors) have contributed least to the problem of global heating. Practical Action and the other three charities that we are supporting cannot stop carbon emissions. But they can, and will, help people in some of the hardest-hit areas and communities to adapt, survive and thrive. Continue reading...

Appeals court rules in favour of men filmed piloting small boats after prosecutors ‘misunderstood’ lawThe convictions of four asylum seekers for driving small boats across the Channel have been found unsafe by the court of appeal in a ruling that identified systemic failings in such prosecutions.The three judges in the case said the convictions “must be quashed in due course”. Three of the men who appealed had their convictions quashed on Tuesday; a fourth man’s appeal is pending as the Crown Prosecution Service is seeking a retrial of his case. Continue reading...

Nicola Sturgeon cancels Hogmannay street party as Welsh bring in £60 fines for failing to work from homeEdinburgh’s annual Hogmanay street party has been cancelled while in Wales employees face £60 fines for failing to work from home as governments tightened rules to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.The Scottish and Welsh governments also imposed limits on sporting events from Boxing Day. Continue reading...

MPs grappled with each other in a fight in Ghana's parliament during a proposed tax debate for electronic transactions on Monday.The 1.75% e-levy, which would include taxes on mobile money payments, has been challenged by the opposition for weeks, pushing the national budget announcement back.

AMA says it is unaware of supply constraints but ‘we have been given no information about how much is arriving’

From reckonings on race and gender inequality, to Australian sporting heroes shining on the international stage – Guardian Australia sports editor Mike Hytner and deputy editor Emma Kemp talk to Laura Murphy-Oates about the biggest moments in sport in 2021You can also read: Continue reading...

Chris Robinson’s job is all about change and ‘a pandemic makes you have to change more than you could ever imagine’, he says

Keanu Reeves is back as cyberpunk icon Neo but fans of the original will find this cynical reboot a bitter pill to swallowEighteen years after what we thought was the third and final Matrix film, The Matrix Revolutions, Lana Wachowski has directed a fourth: The Matrix Resurrections. But despite some ingenious touches (a very funny name, for example, for a VR coffee shop) the boulder has been rolled back from the tomb to reveal that the franchise’s corpse is sadly still in there. This is a heavy-footed reboot which doesn’t offer a compelling reason for its existence other than to gouge a fourth income stream from Matrix fans, submissively hooked up for new content, and it doesn’t have anything approaching the breathtaking “bullet time” action sequences that made the original film famous.The first Matrix was a brilliant, prescient sci-fi action thriller that in 1999 presented us with Keanu Reeves as a computer hacker codenamed “Neo”, stumbling across the apparent activity of a police state whose workings he scarcely suspected. Charismatic rebel Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) brings Neo to the mysterious figure of Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who offers our reluctant hero one of the most famous choices in modern cinema: the blue pill or the red pill. The first will allow Neo back into his torpid quasi-contentment, the second will irreversibly reveal to him the truth about all existence. He swallows the red and discovers all our lives exist in a digitally fabricated, illusory world, while our comatose bodies are milked for their energies in giant farms by our machine overlords. Continue reading...

Proposed levy has been challenged by opposition since it was first proposed last monthA fight has broken out between lawmakers in Ghana’s parliament during a debate over a proposed tax on electronic transactions that has divided the house for weeks.The 1.75% e-levy, which would include mobile money payments, has been challenged by the opposition since it was first proposed last month and held up the passing of the budget. Continue reading...

Explosive spread of variant also sparks fears, warnings and tougher measures from Sweden to Spain

Suspected dealers in Murcia held lottery for their clients with prizes of drugs, whisky and a leg of hamSpanish police have arrested two suspected drug dealers who were raffling off a Christmas basket containing cocaine, hashish, alcohol and a leg of cured ham, they said on Tuesday.Officers discovered the unusual lottery when they raided a drug den allegedly operated by the two men, a Spaniard and an Argentinian, in the eastern city of Murcia, the police said in a statement, without adding when the arrests took place. Continue reading...

I have finally admitted that my hair has gone for ever, and taken great comfort from the reigning king of baldnessThis year will go down in history as the year I went bald. Well, actually, 2018 went down as the year I went bald. But still, 2021 will go down as the year that I stopped fastidiously brushing three long wisps of cobweb over my scalp in the berserk belief that it somehow made me look less bald. I am bald now. Hello.Obviously, being bald is rubbish. A bad roll of the genetic dice means I am now conclusively unattractive in the eyes of most of the world. Of course I am – I’m 85% forehead now. I can never go out and commit a crime, because a witness would only have to draw a face on their thumb and show it to the Photofit guy and I’d be in handcuffs by teatime. Continue reading...

Allies voice grave concerns about ‘erosion of democratic elements’ after overhaul of electoral system

John Apter, chair of Police Federation of England and Wales, facing two criminal investigations into gross misconductOne of the most powerful leaders in UK policing has been suspended after being placed under criminal investigation over two allegations of sexual touching.PC John Apter was on Tuesday suspended as chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which represents 130,000 rank and file officers. Continue reading...

Twenty-five-year-old accused of stabbing politician to death also denies planning terrorist attackThe man accused of stabbing to death the Conservative MP Sir David Amess has pleaded not guilty to his murder and planning a terrorist attack for more than two years.Ali Harbi Ali, 25, appeared before the Old Bailey in central London on Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing. Continue reading...

Villagers claim animals were carrying out ‘revenge killings’ after dogs killed an infant monkeyTwo monkeys that allegedly killed hundreds of puppies in the Indian state of Maharastra have been captured.Villagers in Lavool village, in the Beed district of Maharastra, reported the langur monkeys after they witnessed them engaging in what seemed to be targeted killings of the neighbourhood puppies by snatching them and taking them up to deadly heights. Continue reading...

Deceased diplomat who caught coronavirus in Yemen was evacuated too slowly, says Iranian spokespersonIran has implied that its regional foe, Saudi Arabia, may have blocked efforts to save the life of its ambassador to Yemen, who contracted coronavirus there but was unable to immediately be repatriated for urgent medical treatment.The ambassador, Hasan Irlu, “was evacuated in poor condition due to delayed cooperation from certain countries”, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told state media. Continue reading...

Owners of 17th-century Scottish tavern to meet those who don’t want its name changed to the Black HoundNo visitor to Linlithgow can miss the prominent lettering across the gable end of the 17th-century tavern at the top of the high street: Black Bitch.“There will be people who are offended and they have a right to their opinion,” said Alistair Old. He is leading an energetic campaign to retain the pub’s name after its owner, Greene King, announced last month it would be rebranded as the Black Hound in line with its diversity policy. “But the people of Linlithgow wouldn’t have tolerated it if the name had racist connotations,” Old added. Continue reading...

All sides acknowledge 24 December vote cannot go ahead but there has been no announcement, and political vacuum loomsThe United Nations is scrambling to manage the postponement of Libya’s presidential elections, which are due to take place on 24 December, as fears grow that a looming political vacuum will lead to renewed violence and economic chaos.There has been no formal announcement on a postponement, but all sides acknowledge the vote cannot proceed, not least because a list of authorised candidates has yet to be published. Continue reading...

Russian leader’s speech to top commanders comes amid growing tensions over UkraineVladimir Putin has said he will consider a military response if Russia feels threatened by Nato, in a sign that he is not ready to de-escalate tensions over a potential invasion of Ukraine.In a combative speech on Tuesday, Putin – who has demanded “security guarantees” from Nato – told his top military commanders that the west was to blame for the rising tensions. It came against a backdrop of a Russian buildup of tanks and artillery for what could constitute an invasion force within weeks. Continue reading...

Continental media are in no mood to donner un break to the British PM, sensing the ‘beginning of the end’For El País in Spain, his “magic has vanished”. For Libération in France he is “the only actor in the Boris Johnson show – which is, increasingly, a flop”. In Germany, Der Spiegel asked how long Britain could last being governed “almost exclusively by defiant optimism”.As the scandals mount, the approval ratings plunge, the electoral defeats accumulate, the rebellions multiply, his trusted Brexit lieutenant jumps ship and the Omicron variant runs rampant, continental media seem – to coin a phrase – in no mood to donner un break to Britain’s beleaguered prime minister. Continue reading...

Attempted crossing from Libya to Europe surge as authorities carry out deadly crackdown on refugeesMore than 160 people drowned in two separate shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in the past week, a UN migration official has said. The fatalities were the latest disasters in the Mediterranean Sea involving refugees seeking a better life in Europe.Safa Msehli, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said at least 102 were reported dead after their wooden boat capsized on Friday and at least eight others were rescued and returned to shore. Continue reading...

‘It has to be recognised as a term and as a crime’, says government opposition, after unprecedented number of women murdered by partnersThe Greek government has come under growing pressure to introduce femicide as an offence in the country’s penal code amid outrage over the growing and unprecedented number of women being brutally murdered by their partners.Two women were murdered by their husbands within five days last week, bringing the death toll to 17 since January, according to state-run television. Both men allegedly told police that they had killed their wives out of fear that they would leave them. Continue reading...

Crumbles, samosas, flapjacks, ice-cream … try a few of the alternatives and you’ll soon be wondering why you settled for the traditional mincemeat-in-pasty arrangementChristmas is coming and, in a burst of uncharacteristic domesticity, you have decided to make your own mince pies. It’s a sensible impulse because the act of eating most shop-bought mince pies is roughly equivalent to force-feeding yourself dry pastry. However, you have mucked up the quantities and now you have buckets and buckets of leftover mincemeat. Whatever should you do with it all? Glad you asked. Here are 10 very good uses. Continue reading...

Payment to protect Princess Haya and children from threat sheikh poses to them is highest awarded by a UK court

The high figure in the modelling, to be discussed at national cabinet on Wednesday, would only be reached ‘if we do nothing’, a senior source says

Restaurants have had a rush of visitors since lockdown was imposed in the Netherlands on Sunday

The painter impressed Nigeria’s Afrobeat pioneer, and soon he was creating intricate record covers at Kuti’s right hand. But amid violence and disorder, their friendship souredTeeming with stimuli in highly-populated scenes reminiscent of a Where’s Wally? spread, a Lemi Ghariokwu painting is instantly recognisable. Raised in Lagos, the 66-year-old has painted over 2,000 album covers for artists both major and independent in Nigeria and beyond, but his most famous were for Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti – visible in a new box set out this month – whose warrior spirit railed against the country’s military regime and aligned with Ghariokwu in an eventful four-year partnership.At five years old, Ghariokwu would draw luxury cars that sometimes drove by, using a broomstick on Lagos’s unpaved sand streets. He would not pursue art professionally until 17, when he came across a record designed by Roger Dean, the British artist famous for his work with prog band Yes. “Seeing him have magazine interviews because of his work, the inspiration was foundational,” he says. Continue reading...

The indigenous activist was opposing the construction of a dam being constructed by Roberto David Castillo’s companyWhen Roberto David Castillo graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, the Honduran cadet was confident he’d leave behind a legacy.“He will be remembered by all as being a fearless leader committed to God, his family and serving others,” read the caption under his yearbook portrait. Continue reading...

It was another year of enforced stints on the sofa – perfect preparation for our fiendish cultural quiz• Try our kids’ quiz, news quiz and bumper Saturday quiz, too Continue reading...

Southern Tasmania was forced into three-day lockdown after Timothy Andrew Gunn, 31, absconded and tested positive to CovidA New South Wales man who absconded from hotel quarantine in Hobart and sparked a three-day lockdown across southern Tasmania has been sentenced to five months’ jail for breaching public health orders.Much of the island state, including the capital, was forced into lockdown on 15 October after Timothy Andrew Gunn, 31, returned a positive coronavirus test having spent time in the community. Continue reading...

Judge rules Humberside’s actions were ‘disproportionate interference’ with right to freedom of expressionA former police officer has won a court of appeal challenge over police guidance on hate incidents after claiming it unlawfully interferes with the right to freedom of expression.Ex-officer Harry Miller, who describes himself as “gender critical”, was visited at work by an officer from Humberside police in January 2019 after a member of the public complained about his allegedly transphobic tweets. Continue reading...

AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; South Australia records 154 new Covid cases, Queensland 86; RACP calls on state and territory governments to reintroduce restrictions as PM says ‘we’re not going back to lockdowns’; Victoria records 1,245 cases; NSW records 3,057 cases; national cabinet to discuss vaccination timeframes and mask mandates – follow all the day’s news live