A biologist and composer have turned the aurora borealis into sound to create a magic melding of art and natureThere’s a hypnotic crackle before a whoosh of sound flies from ear to ear. It’s followed by a heavenly chorus that might be whales whistling, frogs calling or the chirping of an alien bird. It sounds celestial because that’s what it is. The noise is the aurora borealis: the northern lights.The vivid green lights that trace across the Arctic sky emit electromagnetic waves when the solar shower meets the Earth’s magnetic field, and these can be translated into sounds that are made audible to human ears by a small machine. Continue reading...

People in tier 4 areas must stay at home over Christmas and not meet up with other householdsBoris Johnson has announced tier 4 restrictions for London, the south-east and east of England, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases and alarm about a new strain of coronavirus spreading rapidly in the region. Continue reading...

Stress and overconsumption of food and alcohol leave people feeling less amorous, find researchersIf Christmas leaves you feeling less than amorous, you’re not alone. Whether it’s the stress of last-minute present buying or overconsumption of food and alcohol, interest in sex drops off in the run-up to Christmas, research suggests. However, this is compensated for by a big spike in sexual activity over the new year.Researchers have long noticed differences in birthrates at various times of the year, but whether this was the result of seasonal fluctuations in fertility or sexual activity was unclear. To investigate, Laura Symul at Stanford University in California and her colleagues turned to data from the Clue women’s health app, which included anonymous sexual activity logs from more than 500,000 women in the UK, France, Brazil, and the US. “It’s self-reported, but it is still the largest dataset of real-time reports of women’s sexual activities,” Symul said. Continue reading...

The 23-year-old sports star is a fully fledged national hero. It’s time to celebrate his commitment and grace – but remember he should not have to do any of thisIn April, when Matt Hancock suggested that Premier League footballers should “play their part” in helping ease the financial crisis caused by the pandemic, what he meant was that they should accept sweeping cuts to their salaries. You know, just like MPs didn’t. What the health secretary could not have imagined was that one footballer would “play his part” by launching a snowballing campaign to prevent children in England from going hungry. Or that in doing so he would highlight underlying inequality and the plight of England’s poorest families.At the beginning of 2020, the most urgent task facing the England star Marcus Rashford was recovering from a double stress fracture in his back so that he would be match fit for his Manchester United games. But that turned out to be a minor detail in his extraordinary year (his vertebrae got none of the media attention they were due). Instead, in the spring, with the pandemic having brought the 2019-20 season to a halt, the 23-year-old centre-forward used his free time and growing influence to become a formidable voice for social justice. He took on the UK government – and, crucially, won over the public, too. So now, at the end of this bleak year, Marcus Rashford MBE is a fully fledged national hero, recognised here and abroad for his poverty activism as much as for his footballing talent. Continue reading...

Taiwanese woman had contact with New Zealander who had flown flights to US

Chief constable admits BAME community ‘frustrated, angry and upset by our policing response’

The state’s fire year made history, testing resources to unprecedented extremes as nine people died and 1m acres burnedKiera Erwin could see the flames. The blaze raging through the Mt Hood national forest had turned the sky orange, the air thick with smoke. It was just after Labor Day and Erwin and her boyfriend, Matthew Britt, had been packing for days, aware that evacuation neared. Now it was here. Preparation made it no less scary.They had a new baby, Aurora, not yet two months old. No one makes face masks for babies – nothing to protect Aurora from the smoke, or the Covid-19 pandemic they would risk when they fled for town. Continue reading...

Performers use Zoom and augmented reality to meet with children – with some surprise perksIt’s going to be a unique Christmas this year, and Santa Claus is adjusting accordingly.Professional Santas across the United States have shifted their holiday work season to accommodate the Covid-19 restrictions that have held 2020 in their grip. Some still greet children in stores, from behind plexiglass or in an enclosed snow globe. Continue reading...

From actor Jon Voight to Kirstie Alley, Trump’s celebrity fans have declared war on the left – and there is little sign hostilities will end soon

In a challenging year, reader support helped us get to the truth about the pandemic - and the people in charge of tackling it

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission concerned tech giant could harm competitors in wake of dealGoogle faces a fine of up to $400m if it takes over Fitbit before the Australian competition regulator completes an investigation into the transaction.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Tuesday rejected an offer from Google to enter into a court-enforceable undertaking limiting the way it would use data gleaned from the wrist-worn fitness tracking devices. Continue reading...

Incident intensifies criticism of President Duterte, accused of allowing police to act with impunityThe brazen killing of a mother and her son at close range by an off-duty officer has caused outrage in the Philippines and reignited calls for reform of the country’s police force.The incident, which was recorded by a witness on film, has intensified criticism of the president, Rodrigo Duterte, who has been accused by rights groups of allowing police and the military to act with impunity. Continue reading...

Victoria reports one Covid case as number of new infections in NSW falls for a second day, and 350 people released in South Australia after being incorrectly quarantined. Follow the latest updates• NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations

Purna Sen says survivors of sexual assault and discrimination struggle to be heard at global organisationThe former executive in charge of tackling sexual harassment at the UN has said she fears the issue has now been “put on the back burner”.Purna Sen was appointed at UN Women in 2018 to address harassment, assault and discrimination at work, including within the organisation. But after being told the role would not be renewed, she left in August. Continue reading...

Isolated continent reportedly registers first infections after 36 Chileans fall ill at research baseAntarctica, once the only continent not to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has reportedly recorded its first cases. The 36 new infections are among people stationed at a Chilean research base and include 26 members of the Chilean army and 10 maintenance workers.Spanish-language media reported the outbreak at the General Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme research base on Monday. Continue reading...

Three spectacular films involving choreographed LED drones will be streamed on 29, 30 and 31 December to replace the usual fun and fireworksTorchlit processions, fireworks, lasers, concerts, cannons and ceilidhs … Edinburgh’s annual new year celebrations are some of the biggest in the world. They span several crowded, fun-packed days and nights and draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s streets for a series of giant parties. This year, however, Hogmanay is going online for the first time and a new virtual programme will feature one of the UK’s largest-ever drone shows.Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam are directors of the entertainment company Underbelly, which has produced Edinburgh’s Hogmanay since 2017, along with parts of the fringe and other major UK festivals. They described their plans for this year’s “proudly Scottish” celebration: “With 2020 being the year it has been, we want to ring out the old year and hurry in the new year, with a message of hope at a world-class event.” Continue reading...

Fewer coronavirus patients have died in the state of Kerala than anywhere else in India. No wonder Vogue India named its health minister ‘leader of the year’By mid-May, the Indian state of Kerala had contained the first wave of Covid-19, earning praise for the quick thinking and joined-up response of its health minister, KK Shailaja, and her team. By July, however, there were suggestions that those plaudits had been premature, and that Kerala’s Covid-19 response had come unstuck. Had it?Shailaja Teacher – as the 64-year-old minister is affectionately known – had been expecting a surge in infections once India’s lockdown was lifted later in May. Kerala, home to 35 million people, has the country’s most robust health systems, but it is one of India’s poorer states, with one of its oldest populations. About 17% of workers leave to find jobs in neighbouring states, and there were fears about what would happen when, inevitably, these migrants returned. The authorities knew they could not keep Kerala’s borders shut or, given that the state relies on imports, keep it isolated from its neighbours. Continue reading...

Mana Srivate said he guessed where calf’s heart would be ‘based on human theory and a video clip I saw online’Thailand rescue worker Mana Srivate has performed dozens of resuscitation attempts in his 26 years on the job, but never before on an elephant.Mana was called into action while off duty on a road trip, treating a baby elephant that had been struck by a motorcycle while crossing a road with its wild herd in the eastern province of Chanthaburi. Continue reading...

Democrats say ‘last-minute’ package, which now heads to Senate, falls short of US needs

More than 16,000 hospitalized with figure projected to reach 75,000 by mid-JanuaryHospitals in California are scrambling to handle an explosion of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the state’s emergency care system, with some facilities in hard-hit Los Angeles county even drawing up emergency plans for rationing care. Continue reading...

Latest updates: Joe Biden receives the coronavirus vaccine; Sir Patrick Vallance suggests more areas may need to enter tier 4; PM says border delays only affecting small amount of freight

Killer, whose name can now be reported as Jesse Kempson, also terrorised his girlfriend for monthsThe man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand raped another British tourist just months earlier, it can be revealed, after the convicted killer lost his appeal for his name to be suppressed.On Tuesday, New Zealand’s supreme court removed an order keeping hidden the name of Millane’s killer, Jesse Kempson. Continue reading...

Professor and family face up to eight years in prison for their treatment of woman given to them as a childA Brazilian woman enslaved as a maid from the age of eight for almost four decades and forced into marriage has been rescued in a rare crackdown on domestic slavery.The 46-year-old was found living in a small room in an apartment in Patos de Minas, in the south eastern state of Minas Gerais. She had worked for the family for most of her life without pay or any time off, according to labour inspectors. Continue reading...

Premier of Canadian province says restrictions will last for up to a month and should save thousands of lives

UK negotiators reduce demand for EU catch reduction, potentially unlocking sticking point in talksDowning Street has made a major counter-offer on fishing access for EU fleets in British waters to break the Brexit trade talks deadlock, raising hopes of a deal before Christmas.After a difficult period of negotiations, with both sides seemingly entrenched, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, is understood to have tabled a proposal that could unlock the troubled talks. Continue reading...

Tuesday: NSW defends voluntary mask rule as experts call for tougher restrictions. Plus: why equestrian should never be dropped from the OlympicsGood morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 22 December. Continue reading...

Unless the situation changes, France’s ban on hauliers crossing the Channel will be felt in the run-up to Christmas

Russian opposition leader publishes transcript of call with FSB operative allegedly involved in attempt to kill himOn Monday Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a telephone call he had with FSB operative Konstantin Kudryavtsev, who was allegedly part of the FSB team, which in August poisoned Navalny when he travelled to Siberia.Navalny survived after the plane he fell sick on was diverted to a nearby airport and he received quick medical attention. He rang Kudryavtsev from Germany last week, pretending to be an aide to a top FSB official. Continue reading...

Collusion between loyalists in the criminal underworld and their one-time IRA enemies is now commonplaceFor as long there has been a border on the island of Ireland, smugglers have exploited the lawless roads stretching from the South Armagh to North Louth region in the east, all the way to the Fermanagh frontier with Donegal in the Irish Republic in the west.But smuggling in the region has evolved from a localised phenomenon to an international business that stretches from the hills, fields and back rural roads of the Irish borderlands to England, Europe and the far east. Alan McQuillan, a veteran Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) senior officer who became the last head of the UK’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) said the Troubles and the Provisional IRA’s South Armagh Brigade “industrialised” smuggling. Continue reading...

Mohammed Abouagela Masud charged in bombing that killed 259 on Pan Am Flight over the Scottish town, and 11 on the groundA Libyan man accused of being the bomb-maker behind the terrorist attack that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 has been charged in a US court for his alleged role in the murder of 270 people.Mohammed Abouagela Masud was charged on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing, which took place on 21 December 1988, killing all 259 people on the plane as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. Some 190 of the victims were American. Continue reading...

Posing as ‘Maxim Ustinov’, a fictional aide for a top FSB general, Navalny phoned Konstantin Kudryavtsev and asked for details of the operation, demanding to know what had gone wrong. Unaware that he was being spoofed, Kudryavtsev apparently confirmed the FSB was behind the poisoning and said his colleagues had applied novichok to the inner seams of the opposition leader’s boxer shorts, when Navalny was staying in the Siberian city of Tomsk

The star of Years and Years and The Haunting of Bly Manor reflects on coming out as lesbian to her mum, facing racism at drama school and the progress – or not – of the Black Lives MovementWhen T’Nia Miller first told her mother that she was dating a woman, she explained to her mum that she wasn’t there to see her have sex with men, so this was no different. “It’s just about me having really good friendships and beauty in my life,” she recalls saying. “That was it. We never had more of a conversation than that. If she had any issues, they were hers to deal with, not mine. She knew that. She’s a very educated, very well-read woman. For her, coming to terms with it was easy.”The east-London born actor is telling me this story over the phone as she walks her dog (she forgot about the interview and her seven-month-old pomeranian, Dilhi, needed his daily steps) because she’s taking part in the #YoungerMe campaign, an initiative by the LGBTQ+ young persons organisation Just Like Us, which asks how LGBTQ+ inclusive education would have helped older queer people when they were in school. Continue reading...

With normal life suspended, I couldn’t be with her when she died. But so much of mourning happens in the ruins of your own headMy mum died on 3 June 2020, in the middle of the night. We were in national lockdown at the time. The first one. The one none of us will ever forget. So, when my mum took her last breaths in a Surrey hospice I have yet to visit, I was more than 400 miles away, at home in Edinburgh.I was lying wide awake in bed when my dad called to deliver the news we knew was coming. I had not slept a wink. My head, heart and – well, there is no hashtag-adjacent equivalent for this – soul had been filled all night with my dying mum, like a cup to the brim. So, although I was not there physically when she left this world, I was awake, lying beneath the same dark segment of northern hemisphere. This matters. It is strange that what haunts you in grief can also heal you. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Law said he chose UK in hope of ‘sounding an alarm’ over threats to democracy in Europe from ChinaOpinion: I left for London so I could tell Britain truth about ChinaThe Hong Kong activist Nathan Law has applied for asylum in the UK, six months after fleeing his home on the eve of the national security law coming into force.Law revealed in an opinion article for the Guardian on Monday that he had submitted a refugee claim to the UK government. He said he had chosen Britain in the hope he could “sound an alarm” over threats to democracy in Europe from the Chinese Communist party. Continue reading...

Judges’ decision appeared to rely on government accounts of violence at protest rallies in 2019

France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain came as a surprise, the UK transport secretary has admitted, amid expected chaos at British ports. But Grant Shapps said the disruption would not cause food and medicine shortages in the short term because other freight routes remain available

This year was the most challenging and extraordinary year for news. Our journalists worked tirelessly throughout 2020, from the very start of the year with the Australian bushfires, through the struggle for Hong Kong, the Harvey Weinstein verdict to the death of George Floyd, and the dramatic and divisive US presidential election. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic was the dominant global story of the year. The Guardian's coverage sought to foreground the science and the latest data, hold the government and the scientific establishment to account and expose incompetence, and bring empathy and humanity to the stories of the victims. Here are some of the highlights of our journalism over that time.

People in tier 4 areas must stay at home over Christmas and not meet up with other householdsBoris Johnson has announced new tier 4 restrictions for London, the south-east and east of England, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases and alarm about a new strain of coronavirus spreading rapidly in the region. Continue reading...

Transport secretary says UK aims to resolve issue ‘as soon as possible’ amid fears over new Covid strain

Raina MacIntyre says without drastic action there could be thousands of cases in early 2021 but others argue NSW Health has struck the right balance

The year started off so well – remember Parasite? – before it all got put on hold. This might be the end of cinema as we know itIf you had money on drive-in movies making a comeback in 2020, the year’s most talked-about actor being Laurence Fox, and the biggest Hollywood hit being Bad Boys for Life, then you invented Covid-19 and should pay for your crimes.You could call 2020 a year of winners and losers; but, frankly, it was mostly losers, the biggest being cinema itself. Things started out promisingly. Parasite won big at the Oscars, and last year was the biggest ever at the British box office. This year was set to surpass it, with blockbusters such as No Time to Die, Black Widow, Fast & Furious 9 and West Side Story on the way. Twelve months later, we’re still waiting. Continue reading...

Yang’s refusal to confess despite ongoing interrogation causes ‘real difficulties for the confession-based legal system’, his friend saysThe trial of Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in Beijing since January 2019, has been delayed by three months, according to his former teacher and a supporter Feng Chongyi.The 55-year-old pro-democracy blogger, who was detained at Guangzhou airport after arriving from New York, faces a lengthy jail sentence after Chinese authorities charged him with endangering national security by joining or accepting a mission from an unidentified espionage organisation. Continue reading...

Review into deadly outbreak at two Melbourne nursing homes says replacement staff had ‘limited understanding’ of infection controlAustralia still lacks a large enough surge workforce to prevent deaths in aged care if there are more coronavirus outbreaks, an independent review has found.The review into a deadly outbreak at Melbourne’s St Basil’s and Epping Gardens aged care facilities, released by the Morrison government on Monday, paints a bleak picture of failed preparation for Covid-19 outbreaks and poor communication with residents and their families. Continue reading...

Despite denials by Ethiopia, multiple reports confirm killings, looting and forcible return of refugees by Asmara’s forcesIn early December, Ethiopian state television broadcast something unexpected: a fiery exchange between civilians in Shire, in the northern Tigray region, and Ethiopian soldiers, who had recently arrived in the area.To the surprise of viewers used to wartime propaganda, the Tigrayan elders spoke in vivid detail of the horrors that had befallen the town since the outbreak of war between the federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s longstanding ruling party, which was ousted from the state capital of Mekelle in late November. Continue reading...

A powerful French book punctures the myth that countries in the global south are largely responsible for habitat destructionTo prevent future pandemics, we must stop deforestation and end the illegal wildlife trade. Do you agree? Of course you do, because what’s not to like? The buck stops with the evil other. The question is, will doing those things solve the problem? And the answer is, probably not. They will help, but there’s another, potentially bigger problem closer to home: the global north’s use of natural resources, especially its reliance on livestock.The story that epidemics are punishment for upsetting the natural order of things is not new. But it’s a peculiarly modern, postcolonial twist on it to imagine that the source of that upset is somewhere far away from most of us – to wit, the parts of the world that were forested, until recently, and that conveniently coincide with the poorer bits. And it turns out that this narrative may be interfering with our attempts to protect ourselves from novel diseases, as well as with efforts to tackle climate change and the erosion of biodiversity. Continue reading...

Millions of people in Maharashtra to have neighbourhoods renamed but critics say plan means little without behavioural changeThe names of neighbourhoods in the Indian state of Maharashtra based on the caste of people who have traditionally lived there are to be be changed, to reflect the country’s evolving attitudes.In the same way Indian surnames reveal the caste to which a person belongs, neighbourhoods have acquired names based on the caste of the community that predominates. Continue reading...

NSW government continues to refuse to make mask use compulsory as 15 new coronavirus cases reported