Loyalist umbrella group denies involvement, as missiles thrown at police and car set on fire in eighth night of unrestThe involvement of loyalist paramilitary groups in orchestrating the violence in Northern Ireland has been ruled out by police as the number of officers injured rose to 74.On Friday night, police were again attacked with missiles and a car was set on fire as small pockets of unrest flared. Continue reading...

An explosive eruption rocked La Soufrière volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St Vincent on Friday following mandatory evacuation orders from the local government. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the burst that occurred just four days short of the 42nd anniversary of the last eruption.

Prince Philip has died at 99. Follow the latest updates as the royal family and people around the world react to his death

Joe Biden has paid tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, and sent condolences to Queen Elizabeth II. 'He was a heck of a guy,' the US president told reporters at a photo opportunity in the Oval Office, '99-years-old and he never slowed down at all - which I admire the devil out of.'

But judge rules that ex-premier does not have to face corruption charges

Call comes as insurance bill from recent floods nears $550m and state says buybacks have ‘very significant social and economic costs’

Exclusive: hundreds of conversations with clients were wiretapped in cases relating to migrant rescue boatsProsecutors in Italy have secretly recorded hundreds of conversations between human rights lawyers and their clients in cases related to allegations that NGOs operating rescue boats that saved thousands from drowning in the Mediterranean were complicit in people smuggling.In a joint investigation with the Italian public broadcaster Rai News and the newspaper Domani, the Guardian has seen documents from prosecutors in Trapani, Sicily, detailing private conversations between human rights lawyers and their clients, including a priest, and with journalists in which confidential information was discussed regarding ongoing trials, private sources and legal defence strategies in upcoming hearings. Continue reading...

Government says killing of Giorgos Karaivaz, reportedly by two men on a motorbike, has ‘shocked us all’A prominent Greek crime journalist has been shot dead in what was described as an “execution-style” murder near his home in Athens.Giorgos Karaivaz, who sought to illuminate Greece’s seamier underside with his coverage of law and order stories on the private Star TV channel, died of gunshot wounds outside his home in the south of the city. Continue reading...

Much has changed since Simone Biles’ coronation at the Rio Olympics, but one truth remains: her only competition is herselfSo much has changed in the five years since Simone Biles lit up the 2016 Olympics in Rio, affirming her presumptive status as the greatest gymnast ever with four gold medals in seven days.The 24-year-old from suburban Houston moved out of her parents’ house into her own digs, adopted two French Bulldog puppies (Lilo and Rambo) and went public with boyfriend Jonathan Owens, a safety for the NFL’s Houston Texans. She enlisted the husband-and-wife coaching team of Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi following an amicable split with longtime personal coach Aimee Boorman. The sport she’s come to define was rocked by the worst sexual abuse scandal in American sports history. And her bid for a historic second straight Olympic all-around title was waylaid by a global pandemic that turned the sports world on its ear. Continue reading...

Government prepares rescue package as rare freezing temperatures damage crops and vinesWinemakers across France are counting the cost of several nights of frost this week that threaten to decimate grape harvests in some of the country’s best-known and prestigious wine-producing regions.The government is readying an emergency rescue package after rare freezing temperatures that could cause some of the worst damage in decades to crops and vines. Continue reading...

Multi-platinum rapper, celebrated for raw storytelling, was first artist to top US charts with first five albums

Queen will give personal approval to arrangements, with traditional horse-drawn procession unlikelyCarefully laid plans for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, revised over many years, have been abandoned owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with public elements unable to take place.The Queen and senior aides have now to fashion a fitting farewell to the longest-serving consort in British history given current restrictions. The plans will be set in motion once they have been personally approved by the Queen. Continue reading...

Rap star and actor who embodied the edgy and lawless life depicted in his workThe first rapper to have his first five albums go straight to the top of the US chart, DMX, who has died aged 50 following a heart attack, established himself as the premier exponent of hardcore rap in the aftermath of the violent deaths of the Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur. He announced himself with his multi-platinum-selling debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998), a stormy survey of greed, violence, crime and betrayal, which also displayed his gift for blending light and heavy textures behind an intense, menacing presence at the microphone.Before the end of that year DMX had released his second blockbuster, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, another huge seller. He was suddenly the new king of Planet Rap, yet when the 1999 Grammy award nominations came around he was nowhere to be seen. This omission prompted the rap superstar Jay-Z (who would win the best rap album Grammy that year) to boycott the awards ceremony “because too many major rap artists continue to be overlooked”, as he put it. “Rappers deserve more attention from the Grammy committee and from the whole world.” Continue reading...

Intelligence reports show Russian tanks and short-range ballistic missiles just 150 miles from UkraineKremlin officials have said that its forces massing on the border with Ukraine could intervene if Kyiv launches an assault on Russian-backed separatists, as concerns grow about the largest military buildup since 2014.Open source intelligence reports have shown that tanks, rocket artillery, and short-range ballistic missiles have been transported to just 150 miles from Ukraine, where Russia has established a large new military staging area. Continue reading...

EMA says four serious cases reported, one fatal, and also expands inquiry into AstraZeneca vaccine

Nikolai Glushkov was strangled by assailant who then wrapped dog lead around his neck, inquest toldThe prominent Kremlin critic Nikolai Glushkov was strangled at his home in south-west London by an unknown assailant who wrapped a dog lead around his neck in a crude attempt to “simulate” the appearance of suicide, an inquest heard.Glushkov’s body was discovered on 12 March 2018 at his suburban home in New Malden. His daughter Natalia Glushkova told the hearing that she and Glushkov’s partner, Denis Trushin, had called round that evening after growing concerned. Continue reading...

Europe could have fully vaccinated 70% of adults before UK reaches its target, says head of EU taskforce

Bill would give national government power to impose restrictions in states with high infection rates

Paris has repeatedly dismissed UN report into attack that killed 19 wedding guests as not credible

Seismologists have warned La Soufrière could erupt in a matter of hours or days and the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent has declared a red alert and issued an evacuation order.

Promise to repatriate Benin bronzes comes as momentum grows at other institutions on returning worksThe Church of England has been urged to open up its books on the full range of world artefacts in its possession after promising this week to repatriate two Benin bronzes.The move came amid a gathering sense of momentum around the issue of the disputed bronzes – most of which were looted by British forces in 1897. Continue reading...

Iranian deputy foreign minister says all Trump-imposed sanctions must be lifted to revive dealTalks on the terms for the US and Iran to come back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal are to resume next week after making sufficient progress since Tuesday’s breakthrough agreement on a roadmap for both sides.The US has not been in direct talks with the Iranian delegation in Vienna this week but is relaying messages mainly to European members of the body that oversees the deal. Continue reading...

Men deny reports that government ministers attended events, which allegedly broke Covid rulesFrench police have interviewed the organisers of exclusive clandestine dinners that allegedly broke Covid rules as Emmanuel Macron warned ministers their behaviour must be “exemplary”.Detectives also searched the homes of the chef who created special menus costing up to €490 (£424) a head and the owner of the restaurant venue in one of Paris’s chic districts. Continue reading...

UN spokesperson says UAE has not responded to its request for ‘proof of life’ in relation to missing princess

Magic mushrooms and gigs in toilets – the creation of a new album for the raucous band is far from ordinary, as a new film shows“I’ve never been so fucking cold,” says Lias Saoudi, singer of the riotous scuzz rock outfit Fat White Family. “I thought we were going to die.” Saoudi is recalling an evening when he and his band took psilocybin mushrooms, hit Hastings beach at 1am, stripped to their underpants and soaked up the white glow of the frosty night’s winter moon. The result is Moonbathing in February, a film made with director Niall Trask that is part performance, part fly-on-the-wall document of recording the band’s new album, the follow-up to 2019’s lauded Serfs Up.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...

From his first years in Corfu to the duties and pleasures of royal life, we take a look at the life of the Duke of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace has announced the death of the Queen’s husband of 73 years

The singer’s fight against domestic violence and homophobia and her body-positive posts on Instagram have led to a torrent of abuse – some from very powerful people

Action on the climate crisis must come with a social contract to protect the poor and vulnerable

A national day of action will be held on Saturday, with protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Alice Springs and Lismore – and in Perth on 15 April

Police use water cannon as trouble flares for another night in the Springfield Road area of Belfast. Police describes the violence as the worst in Belfast for years. US President Joe Biden joins the UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin in a call for calm

We’d like to hear from people aged 16 to 25 from across Europe, including the UK, about the impact of Covid on their lives and futures, for a new Guardian cross-European project on Gen ZWe’d like to understand more about the impact of the pandemic on young people in Europe aged 16 to 25.The Guardian, along with other members of the Europa media group which includes leading newspapers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, is conducting a cross-European project to find out how the pandemic has reshaped the hopes, fears, dreams and expectations of the continent’s young people. Continue reading...

Thandiwe Newton’s much-lauded decision has inspired others and drawn attention to the power of names

Two who led Xinjiang education department get suspended penalty for publishing school textbooksA Chinese court has issued a suspended death sentence to the former directors of the Xinjiang education department for charges including writing and publishing school textbooks it said were designed to “split the country”.Sattar Sawut and his deputy, Shirzat Bawudun, were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, while five other Uyghur men, including editors, were given lengthy jail terms, according to state media. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn locked out of London embassy by pro-junta diplomatsBritain has given temporary shelter to Myanmar’s former ambassador to London after he was locked out of his embassy when he declared loyalty to the democratically elected government overthrown by a military junta in February.Kyaw Zwar Minn had said the embassy had been seized by the military attache earlier this week and he had been locked out of the building. He spent Wednesday night in his car outside the embassy. His exact future legal status in the UK will depend on his plans, and the future of the struggle to restore democracy in Myanmar. Continue reading...

Gangs of youths gathered near the scene of Wednesday night’s violence and hurled stones and fireworks at policePolice in Northern Ireland have used water cannon and dogs to contain fresh rioting in Belfast.Armoured Land Rovers and officers with helmets and shields were deployed on Thursday night after crowds clashed at the Lanark Way interface that separates the nationalist Springfield Road from the loyalist Shankill Road. Continue reading...

PM rejects criticism the government has not done enough to secure alternative supplies as officials advise people under 50 avoid the AstraZeneca jab

Rioters have been blasted with water cannon by police on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as unrest continued into a seventh day.Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday nightAfter calls for calm this week, there was a heavy security presence, with water cannon and riot officers at the scene as police charged the youths with dogs

Rich profits from the prized nut have failed to benefit those finding them. Now cooperatives hope to shake up the systemOn a steamy March morning, Edivan Kaxarari walks with a few other villagers in single file down a trail in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil’s Rondônia state, near the border with Bolivia.His sister-in-law Cleiciana carries her 11-month-old son in one arm and a rifle in the other, and his brother Edson clears the path ahead with a machete. It is hunting season for the seeds of the Amazonian Brazil nut tree. Continue reading...

Scientists have been warning the government for months of the need to develop a domestic mRNA capability

Doctors say their phones have been ‘running hot’ and some states bar anyone under 50 getting the AstraZeneca jab

Joe Dante’s sly and smart breakout, about a reporter uncovering a colony of werewolves, was a fun ride that had space for satire“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked …”So begins Allen Ginsberg’s radical poem Howl, which upon close study has absolutely nothing to do with werewolves. And yet it appears on a reporter’s desk in Joe Dante’s horror classic The Howling, one among many blink-or-you’ll-miss it visual jokes that Dante tucks into the movie, like a small-town sheriff scarfing down a can of Wolf-brand chili or an old Little Boy Blue cartoon featuring the Big Bad Wolf that’s airing on TV. His best films are loaded with such peripheral delights, which have the feel of inside jokes, but mostly point to the movie-crazy spirit of a Dante production. The more movies you’ve seen, the more you tend to love Joe Dante. Continue reading...

Ismail Ahmed, a refugee turned multimillionaire, says his country has had to battle ‘negative PR’Aid agencies are hindering development and undermining efforts to attract investment in Somaliland, according to a former World Bank and UN official turned entrepreneur.Ismail Ahmed, founder of the money-transfer company WorldRemit, claims Somaliland, his birthplace, has had to battle “negative PR” from aid agencies exaggerating their role to protect their interests. Somaliland declared itself a sovereign state independent of Somalia in 1991, but it is not recognised internationally. Continue reading...

Leader uses the term ‘arduous march’ in party speech, a term used to refer to devastating 1990s famine in which hundreds of thousands diedNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for another “arduous march” against severe economic difficulties, appearing to compare the situation to a 1990s famine during which hundreds of thousands of people died.Kim had previously said his country faces the “worst-ever” situation due to factors including the coronavirus pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters, but this is the first time he has publicly drawn a parallel with the deadly famine. Continue reading...

Cross-party group urge PM to give greater priority to potential harm posed by post-viral condition

Psychiatrists warn of overrun NHS after record number of children and adults sought help amid pandemic

From cowboys to ‘van-dwellers’, itinerant Americans are often portrayed as heroic lone wolves. Chloé Zhao’s film shows that the truth is more complicated and less glamorousIt has been a wild ride for Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s roving portrait of the US’s rootless modern migrants. Shot for $5m and largely featuring amateur actors, it is the little movie that could: this year’s rags-to-riches story, beloved by the critics and odds-setters alike. The road has been cleared, the gold rush is on, but the Hollywood happy ending feels at odds with the film. As Nomadland steers its westerly course – from the Baftas in London to the Oscars in Los Angeles – it is living a dream that it knows is a lie.Condé Nast Traveler called it “a love letter to America’s wide open spaces”, which is true up to a point, but this ignores the pathos, poverty and desperation at its core. Adapted from Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction bestseller, the film bounces Frances McDormand’s hard-bitten loner through a modern American badland in which the saloon and the sheriff’s office have been replaced by the RV park and the Amazon warehouse. I would file the film as an anti-western, a wholesale repudiation of manifest destiny, the pursuit of happiness, all the Hollywood snake oil we have long been fed. “Yeah, OK,” Bruder says. “But it’s more complicated than that.” Frustratingly, I think she may be right. Continue reading...

GPs say clinics inundated with calls from confused patients after advice AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided by people under 50Doctors’ clinics are being inundated with calls from confused patients after Thursday’s vaccine announcement, and at least one has warned his clinic is considering withdrawing from the rollout due to delivery failures, “farcical” bureaucracy and a government funding model he says is inadequate.Guardian Australia spoke with four GP clinics on Friday morning to gauge reactions to the federal government’s new advice that the AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided for people under 50, where possible. Continue reading...

Community leader says: ‘We don’t feel like a part of the “team of 5 million” when Indians are singled out like this’

Service from Birmingham to Majorca took off with less thrust because pilot thought it was 1,200kg lighterA software mistake caused a Tui flight to take off heavier than expected as female passengers using the title “Miss” were classified as children, an investigation has found.The departure from Birmingham airport to Majorca with 187 passengers on board was described as a “serious incident” by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Continue reading...