World news | The Guardian

Panto trip this year? Oh, no there isn’t. Instead, charge everyone’s glass and take a whirl around the world with our fiendish quiz?How many countries border Germany?SixSevenEightNineWhich country is Christmas Island an external territory of?AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandUnited KingdomIn which modern-day country was St Nicholas born?IsraelLaplandSyriaTurkeyHow many countries border Brazil?681012Lilongwe is the capital of which African country?ZaireMalawiEswatiniMozambiqueWhich city would you be in if you’d landed at Louis Armstrong airport?New OrleansChicagoNashvilleKansas CityGood King Wenceslas was a 10th-century ruler of Bohemia, which is in which modern-day country?PolandSlovakiaCzech RepublicHungaryIn which country do they tuck into deep-fried Emperor moth caterpillars on Christmas Day?ColombiaAustraliaThailandSouth AfricaIn which country is eating KFC a Christmas tradition?JapanMexicoEgyptTaiwanWhat traditional food do the Portuguese eat with boiled vegetables on Christmas Eve?ClamsAlheira sausageBacalão, or salt codTripeWhich country gobbles up the most turkey per head in a year?United StatesIsraelMexicoUnited KingdomWhich is Canada’s largest province by area – and second by population?British ColumbiaOntarioNorthwest territoriesQuebecThe world’s oldest national park opened in 1872. Where is it?The Lake District, called by William Wordsworth a "sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest".Yosemite, CaliforniaYellowstone, mostly in WyomingRoyal National Park, New South WalesMount Chimborazo in Ecuador is known for being?The furthest point from the centre of the planetThe highest mountain in the Americas north of PeruA double volcano, one on top of the otherAll of the aboveThe world’s largest iceberg (known as A68a) is currently on a collison course with which island?Tierra del FuegoSouth GeorgiaTasmaniaNewfoundlandOn which actual island is Love Island filmed?CorfuIbizaLanzaroteMallorcaWhich is the largest country in Africa by territory?SudanAlgeriaChadLibyaAltitude sickness-inducing La Paz is well known as the world's highest-altitude capital. But which is the lowest?Baku, AzerbaijanAmsterdamTunisVictoria, SeychellesThe Caspian Sea is officially the world's largest lake, but its waters are slightly salty. Which is the largest freshwater lake by volume?Lake SuperiorLake VictoriaLake MichiganLake BaikalKazakhstan is the largest of the Central Asia 'stans (and eighth largest country in the world). But which is the smallest 'stan?TurkmenistanUzbekistanTajikistanTurkmenistan18 and above.Behold you have reached the top of travel mountain! Astonishing work13 and above.Impressive … but a little shy of travel greatness7 and above.Hmm, not terrible, but more travel knowledge is needed0 and above.Well now, this is awkward. Better luck next time. Continue reading...

In our latest report for this year’s Guardian and Observer charity appeal, we talk to the Young Minds ambassador and YouTube star• Please donate to our appeal hereDaniel Howell has spent the pandemic in “a slight apocalyptic nuclear bunker”, with terrible internet. It is quite the revelation for someone who shot to stardom documenting his life on YouTube, with his channel reaching more than 6 million subscribers.Speaking over a Zoom call, the former BBC Radio 1 presenter jokes that his routine “of watering house plants” and “peering out the windows” has been interrupted. But despite the dystopian glaze overshadowing 2020, he has not found this year as hard as some. Continue reading...

Israeli army says it targeted three Hamas sites in Palestinian territory, including a rocket-manufacturing facilityIsrael has targeted a number of sites in Gaza after the army said Palestinian militants had fired rockets into the south of the country.The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said Israeli aircraft had struck three Hamas targets including a rocket manufacturing facility, underground infrastructure and a military post. Continue reading...

Suky, social media strategist, 29, meets Lola, 24, charity media and communications officerWhat were you hoping for?

Toilet-roll paranoia, terminal shortness of breath: my nonagenarian parents and I were there before it went mainstream. How would we cope with the pandemic?Two hundred and twenty days into the pandemic and I am uncertain which is the bigger threat to my father – my impatience or Covid-19.Bad news about the new lockdown, I offer. Continue reading...

Despite so many inspiring people making the news, there was room for Dominic Cummings and Chris Grayling as wellIn such an unremittingly grim year, one of its most uplifting features has been the sheer number of people who have gone out of their way to make life more bearable and as normal as possible. From the NHS, care home and mental health workers to the delivery drivers, shop staff and waste collectors. My family, friends and colleagues have all done more than their fair share of keeping me more or less sane. Continue reading...

Paramedics were unable to revive the wounded man after what police said appeared to be a domestic disputeA 33-year-old man has been charged with murder after his girlfriend’s father was fatally stabbed at a Christmas Day gathering in Queensland.The disturbance started inside a North Ipswich house before people moved into the front yard, Det Acting Insp Heath McQueen told reporters on Saturday. Continue reading...

Twenty-one people rescued after sinking in high winds, with official saying no more survivors expectedAt least 26 people died when their boat sank on Lake Albert, which marks the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ugandan officials have said.The boat was carrying passengers between two Ugandan locations in the lake’s north-east on Wednesday when it “hit a strong wind” and went under water, local official Ashraf Oromo said on Friday. Continue reading...

Little doubt that deal struck at 11th hour will be signed off, while British MPs are set to be recalled for 30 December voteThe 27 members of the EU are expected to approve the post-Brexit trade deal with the UK within days after a Christmas Day briefing of ambassadors by Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator.Experts across Europe, from Berlin to Paris and Rome, will now pore over the 1,246-page text, although much of it is well known in the capitals and there is little doubt that the agreement will be signed off. Continue reading...

From Bumcooler Flat (South Australia) to Kockup (Tasmania), we’ve rounded up some of Australia’s weirdest place names. Add your suggestions in the commentsThe North Pole is located a short distance from Marble Bar, the hottest place in inland Australia. Siberia is near Kalgoorlie, with an average summer temperature of 35C. Australian humour is not complicated. And when you colonise a land that is almost the size of Europe, it’s easy to run out of names.Which is possibly why there are so many bottoms in Tasmania. Continue reading...

Reducing emissions from transport and agriculture topped the list but readers also believe there are no easy answersAfter prime minister Jacinda Ardern declared a climate emergency this month, we asked you what New Zealand should prioritise to meet its climate change goals.The responses varied widely, although there was broad consensus that more needed to be done to reduce emissions from agriculture and transport. Some of you argued for better urban design, while others advocated the introduction of a carbon tax, investment in renewable energy and more sustainable housing, efforts to reduce plastic waste and an increase in the planting of native trees. Continue reading...

Shadow ministers poised to resign and defy three-line whip when MPs vote on trade deal on Wednesday

I had my reservations about this celebration of African heritage. Then my father and I shared a very special momentIn 1966, the African American Maulana Karenga created the holiday of Kwanzaa to give black people an “opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history” rather than indulge in the customary traditions of a white Christmas. The celebration starts on Boxing Day and runs for seven days, each marking one of the “principles of African heritage”, which include umoja (Swahili for unity), kujichagulia (self-determination) and ujaama (cooperative work and economics).I have a complicated relationship with the holiday. I have always been suspicious of Karenga, the self-styled “master teacher” who seems more cult leader than black revolutionary, peddling a highly patriarchal message of African spirituality as some kind of salvation. It is undeniable that this festival, which takes its name from the Swahili for “first fruits”, but is set in the dead of winter, draws heavily on Christmas, yet Kwanzaa is extremely popular in black communities. I once recited a poem during a Kwanzaa celebration at Harvard, defending it as more than a “bootleg black Christmas”. And if a questionable origin story was a reason not to celebrate a cultural event, then we would all be at work on 25 December. Continue reading...

Christmas message singles out young people for special praise, and speaks of ‘hope in the new dawn’The Queen has spoken of her great pride in the “quiet, indomitable” spirit of those who have “risen magnificently” to the challenges of 2020 in a Christmas address that stressed: “We need life to go on.”In a message capturing the vicissitudes visited on the nation and the world through the “difficult and unpredictable” times of pandemic, she noted: “Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer.” Continue reading...

Americans, Canadians and Britons among those lured by campaign to attract foreign tech workersFinland has received more than 5,300 applications in a month for a groundbreaking scheme offering foreign tech workers and their families the chance to relocate to the Nordic country for 90 days to see if they want to make the move permanent.“We’re not top of many relocation lists, but we know once people do come, they tend to stay,” said Johanna Huurre, of Helsinki Business Hub which devised the campaign. “There’s huge competition globally for talent, so we had to think creatively.” Continue reading...

During the pandemic, there have been many unsung heroes – from supermarket staff to the people who carried on doing essential work for our society. Here are some of themAt the start of lockdown, I interviewed the virologist Dr Jane Greatorex. She was superb, with a gunslinging turn-of-phrase (“corona is the only pathogen in town”) and full of advice that rammed home, like no shambling government press conference ever could, the gravity of our situation. She washed deliveries before they came into the house, would talk to her neighbour only through a hedge and described the precautionary measures taken by her sister, who worked in Waitrose. Those were pretty intense – involving a lot of changes of clothes and black bin bags, plus a lifesize cutout of Jürgen Klopp.I have thought about her sister a lot: what it is like when everyone else is avoiding their closest friends for safety, and you are seeing 50 strangers an hour. I have also thought about delivery drivers, knocking on doors with no idea who might be self-isolating behind them; bus drivers, getting sneezed on by squads of schoolchildren; teachers, carers, anyone anywhere near a hospital. Especially at the height of the crisis (when there were serious questions over whether it was safe to handle a petrol pump) while battalions of people were living in this cacophony of anxiety and caution, and having to block it out, every day, in order to go and do their jobs. The bravery of that is hard to wrestle into comprehension – though as thought experiments go, it is a lot less uncomfortable than trying to imagine what would have happened if everyone in these vital services had simply refused to perform them: if all these workers who, being often low-paid, and were previously held as low value, had called the world’s bluff. Continue reading...

About 4,000 lorries still waiting to cross Channel after French closed border with UK

The stars of the BBC’s hit Sally Rooney adaptation on their quarantine viewing, and how their lives have changed since playing Marianne and ConnellWas there a show this year that everyone else loved but you just couldn’t get on with?

Police investigating the Lady E after it arrived in Cairns from the Maldives with a positive case onboard

Comic and creator Alex Horne has dreamed up some of the silliest, toughest challenges ever seen on TV. Just the person to organise your household’s games at Christmas...When I created Taskmaster, it was never meant to be suitable for family Christmases. The host, Greg Davies, is a sweary giant, the comedians are often uncouth and the show was on late-night TV.Now, 10 years later, we’ve made a board game, a bleeped show on Sunday afternoons, and far more children shout “little Alex Horne” at me than I’d like. And so here are some tasks that kids and adults can all try together at Christmas. Apologies for any uncouth swearing induced. Continue reading...

Emergence of a highly infectious new variant had prompted many countries to shut their borders to travellers from Britain

I toddled round the ward giving sweets to old women and wondering why so many of them were clutching teddies. It taught me not to be scared of people with mental illnessI was two when my mum became a consultant psychiatrist at Lancaster Moor hospital. Opened in 1816 as Lancashire’s first “lunatic asylum”, it was a forbidding place, looming over the M6 like a gigantic haunted mansion. It had neo-gothic towers and echoey corridors and always felt deserted, even though there were still a thousand patients when Mum started working there.At its peak, there were 3,200 people living inside its blackened walls, many in locked wards. Some had transferred from Lancaster Castle, a prison right in the centre of the city where the Pendle witches stood trial. The hospital complex was like a village: there were two churches, one Anglican and one Catholic, and it had a farm, a bowling green and its own generator. Continue reading...

Where was Osburga’s son guilty of negligent baking? Who escaped by dropping on to Randal’s circus elephant? What made Miss Barker feel quite tipsy? Three down, 177 to go, in the toughest quiz of them allGeneral knowledge paper 2020-21, No 116, sat by the pupils of King William’s College, Isle of Man“Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est” Continue reading...

Preposterous and cliche-ridden, this tale of Regency intrigue – with Julie Andrews giving a Georgian Gossip Girl touch – nonetheless leaves you wanting more

Kremlin critic says Lyubov Sobol detained after visiting Konstantin Kudryavtsev, the FSB agent tricked into speaking about poison plot

Uganda has never acknowledged the sporting legacy of athlete ‘Sunlight’ Okiror. Almost 30 years after his death, his son hopes this might changeMy father, Samson “Sunlight” Okiror, lived an extraordinary life. He was a soldier, a rebel and one of Uganda’s most famous sportsmen.A wrestler and heavyweight lifter, he could lift a car off the ground. He could tie a rope to a Land Rover and stop it from moving when the engine was turned on. He could stretch steel chains and springs. He travelled across east Africa and to Europe to train and perform. Continue reading...

British chief negotiator, or ‘Great Frost’ to the PM, said short-term costs of Brexit will be outweighed by long-term benefitsFor good or ill, David Frost knew how to get under Michel Barnier’s skin. The British chief negotiator’s habit in the negotiating room of dismissing the EU as “your organisation”, as if it was a bowling club, grated with his French counterpart.“You ask for respect for your sovereignty, David, but please respect ours,” Barnier privately chided Frost. Throughout many months of talks, theirs was never the warmest of relationships. “I don’t know if they will stay in touch,” admitted one EU source. Continue reading...

Early snowfall recorded in Humberside and Suffolk offers a bright spot amid the looming weather warnings on Boxing DayEarly morning snowfall has been recorded in parts of the UK, with the Met Office declaring it a white Christmas.Reports of snow had come in from Leconfield in Humberside and Wattisham in Suffolk as of 5am on Christmas day. Continue reading...

Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; China and US take action against UK amid concerns about new variant; South Korea reports daily case record

Escaping the UK to spend Christmas alone in a New Zealand Novotel was a small price to pay to rejoin my family in relative freedomOn my third day of quarantine, a nice nurse gave to me: a swab up my nasal cavity. It also happened to be Christmas.Along with nearly 6,000 other returning New Zealanders, I was spending the festive period in quarantine at a government-managed hotel. Continue reading...

Thousands of drivers braced to spend Christmas Day in their cabs as French firefighters also sent to help

Property sold for less than a quarter of its initial $100m asking price to billionaire investor Ron BurkleMichael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch has reportedly sold for $22m, less than a quarter of its initial $100m asking price, to billionaire investor Ron Burkle in a deal described one LA real estate agent as a “steal”.The property in Los Olivos, California, was home to the late popstar from 1987, when he was at the height of his fame, to the time of his death in June 2009. He died of a drug overdose at a different home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Judge dismissed Depp’s libel claim last month but actor seeks new trial over assault allegationsJohnny Depp “did not receive a fair trial” and the high court ruling that stated he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard and put her in fear for her life is “plainly wrong”, lawyers for the Hollywood star have told the court of appeal.The 57-year-old sued the Sun over a column by its executive editor, Dan Wootton, which referred to “overwhelming evidence” that he had attacked Heard, 34, during their relationship and described him as a “wife beater”. Continue reading...

The wife of America’s top public health official, herself a National Institutes of Health bioethicist, had to get creative this yearAnthony Fauci, America’s guiding light through the darkness of Covid-19, turns 80 today, Christmas Eve. Continue reading...

The novelist, playwright and poet talks to the writer about what their spectacular success has meant for them – and for the hopes of black female writers in futureThis year, in twin firsts, black British women topped both the fiction and nonfiction charts. Both successes were a long time coming, but sparked a ray of hope that the Black Lives Matter movement may be creating space for new voices and stories. The novelist, playwright and poet Bernardine Evaristo, who made history with Girl, Woman, Other, and Reni Eddo-Lodge, the groundbreaking author of Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, talk about this unprecedented moment.Bernardine Evaristo: This year, everything came to me. Absolutely everything. At times, it was quite overwhelming but I also welcomed it. Because I have been in this game for 40 years now. So to suddenly break through has been a great opportunity to use my platform in all the ways that one can. And then, of course, we had Black Lives Matter and the murder of George Floyd. Attention had been on my book anyway, because it had been doing really well. But the Black Lives Matter movement encouraged people to start reading books by writers of colour. You had all these book lists circulating on social media. Black authors were topping the charts. That’s never happened before. Continue reading...

Mustapha Aroui held along with 22 others after 200 containers of decaying household and medical waste discovered in JulyTunisia’s environment minister has been arrested following the attempted importation of household and hospital waste from Italy.Mustapha Aroui was dismissed from his post and subsequently arrested on Sunday, along with several other people, including senior customs officials, members of its waste management agency, Agence Nationale de Gestion des Déchets (ANGed) and a Tunisian diplomat based in Naples. Continue reading...

New border measures have been introduced as Sydney’s northern beaches Covid cluster continues to grow. Here’s what we know about the current rules

An emergency warning has been issued with residents told to ‘act immediately to survive’A bushfire emergency warning has been issued for the outer Perth suburb of Bullsbrook in Western Australia.The warning is in place for people in the suburb’s north-east bounded by Meadowbrook Ramble, Avondale Green and Smith and Ashton roads, with the residents asked to act immediately to survive. Continue reading...

From an unusual first kiss to a horrifying shock death, Guardian writers pick their most impactful big screen bits of the yearSpoilers ahead Continue reading...

There are still decades of Luke Skywalker’s life to explore and ample room in the galaxy for new adventures outside the traditional timeline

Shares in e-commerce company plummet, with financial spinoff Ant Group also called in for ‘supervisory’ talks with authoritiesChinese regulators have launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba and called in for talks its online finance spinoff, Ant Group – increasing pressure on the e-commerce company founded by the Chinese tech entrepreneur Jack Ma.On Thursday the state market supervision administration said it had filed an investigation into Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd over “suspected monopolistic practices”. Continue reading...

Girls who got free sanitary products at school were pushed to desperate measures in what is being called a shadow pandemicThousands of girls in Kenya will not be going back to school when classes start again in January, because they became pregnant during the Covid 19-lockdown.The African Institute for Development Policy puts the number of teenage girls who became pregnant in the country between January and May at more than 150,000, with Nairobi recording nearly 12,000 pregnancies. Anecdotal evidence from healthcare workers across the Kenyan capital suggest the true figures could be higher, as many pregnant teenagers are not coming to clinics. Continue reading...

Exposure to the heavy metal from spice powders and car batteries is affecting child health across the subcontinent

A wonderful bread that used to be made by dumping flour into the olive mill to soak up the oil is a vital part of Christmas in rural south-east FranceWe lived in rural Provence for almost a decade and every Christmas Eve gradually reduced our consumption of imported mince pies, brandy snaps and liqueur-filled chocolates, replacing them with the Provençal tradition of Le Gros Souper. Despite its name, the meal is a display of restraint before the Christmas celebrations begin. It starts with a cleansing soup, aïgo boulido, boiled water with floating garlic slices, bay and sage leaves and a dash of olive oil. It’s surprisingly popular with my children, who drink it between chocolates and before the fish course, which is a salt cod and potato gratin served with courgettes, broccoli, anchovy paste, a boiled egg and aïoli sauce.The fish needs soaking the day before in a milk bath. Abiding by tradition, we have three candles and three tablecloths (the Holy Trinity) and a large cloth to cover the buffet and desserts. Leftovers are not cleared away but remain on the table for any departed ancestors. This also makes the rush to midnight mass easier – France’s 8pm curfew is lifted only on Christmas Eve this year. Continue reading...

More areas of England moved up into tiers 4 and 3; UK has highest recorded daily rise in cases; new variant discovered in travellers from South Africa. This blog is now closed12.32am GMTThank you all for following along for tonights latest developments! You can keep up with the Guardian’s coverage of Covid-19 through our coronavirus keyword tag, but that’s it from me, Edna Mohamed.12.22am GMTVictoria has recorded its 55 straight day without a locally acquired Covid-19 case, reports AAP.There are currently 10 active cases in the state with 19,229 tests processed in the past 24 hours. But Victoria’s border will remain closed to NSW over Christmas following Sydney’s northern beaches outbreak. On Wednesday, the infection cluster grew to 97 cases. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson briefs cabinet on breakthrough and is expected to address nation early on Christmas EveA post-Brexit trade and security treaty with the European Union is within “touching distance”, Downing Street said on Wednesday night as Boris Johnson prepared to unveil his hard-fought Christmas Eve deal.The prime minister is expected to announce the terms of the agreement following a final call with the European commission president Ursula von der Leyen – but the two sides battled deep into the night to gain a last-minute advantage. Continue reading...

Thursday: Australians are more worried about the economic impact of Covid-19 than their health, survey shows. Plus: A Christmas miracle for ‘demonic’ catGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 24 December. Continue reading...

A Kent football team made 200 pizzas and delivered them to stranded lorry drivers on the M20 and Manston airport on Tuesday night.Hot meals were also provided by a Sikh charity and delivered by Gravesend's Gurdwara Sikh community as thousands of lorry drivers waited for information after France closed its border with the UK for fear of a new variant of Covid-19 Continue reading...