World news | The Guardian

Ian Silk, the head of Australia’s biggest fund, questions if Coalition reforms are in the interests of membersThe boss of Australia’s biggest super fund, AustralianSuper, has questioned whether changes to laws governing the sector proposed by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, are genuinely directed at improving retirement savings.Speaking as Aussie Super reached a new high of $200bn in funds under management, chief executive Ian Silk said many attacks on the industry super sector were “basically politically motivated by people looking to give themselves a bit of profile, in the hope of advancement”. Continue reading...

The government has executed a string of volte-faces in the 12 months since the electionHe walked triumphantly back into No 10 wielding an increased majority a year ago to chants of “Get Brexit done”. But the tune soon changed and Boris Johnson has gone from “Mr Brexit to Mr U-turn”, in the words of one German newspaper, as he has lurched from disaster to disaster.Here we trace the winding road of his government’s many U-turns. Continue reading...

Firefighters tackle a blaze in an abandoned industrial building squatted by migrants near Barcelona. At least two people have died and 17 have been injured, five seriously, in the blaze in Badalona which broke out in the small hours. Firefighters fear that more people could be trapped inside and that the building could collapse

An internal agency survey shows only 49% of staff felt confident of being protected from reprisal if they reported improper conduct at workThe senior lawyer responsible for police oversight at Victoria’s anti-corruption body has resigned, the latest in a string of senior departures amid serious concerns about the commission’s culture and leadership.Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission deputy commissioner Katie Miller resigned with almost a year remaining on her contract, joining a director, an investigations team leader, a senior lawyer, and at least two other lawyers in departing since March. Continue reading...

Ex-monarch settles tax arrears including fines and interest, according to his lawyersSpain’s former king Juan Carlos, who left his homeland under a cloud of scandal in August, has settled a back tax bill worth over €678,000 (£611,388) including interest and fines, his lawyers said on Wednesday.The lawyers, in a statement, provided no details about the back taxes . But the newspaper El Pais in an earlier report said the former monarch sought to settle certain alleged illegal credit card transactions with the revenue service to avoid being charged in an investigation and to be enable his return to Spain. Continue reading...

Thursday: Australia could meet 2030 emissions target without using Kyoto credits. Plus: 1,500 asylum seekers still face uncertain futureGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 10 December. Continue reading...

Despite being granted refugee status after spending time in Nauru, Betelhem Zeleke remains on a bridging visa

Mehdi Savari pictured life in the United States being easier than that on Manus, but challenges don’t disappear just because you’re in another countryMehdi Savari imagined life in the United States would be easier.“I thought when I come in USA, I can work like everyone. I can drive, do anything,” he says. Continue reading...

When Covid hit and he lost his job, Emmanuel Asante worried how he would survive. He is one of a generation of young Australians whose lives are being shaped by Covid

Ethiopia’s prime minister was feted by the international community as a reformer and a peacemaker. Now, as the Guardian’s Jason Burke explains, he has launched a major military campaign in the north of his country that threatens the stability of the regionJust over a year ago, Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, was the toast of the international community. His peacemaking efforts with neighbouring Eritrea had been recognised with a Nobel peace prize and his domestic reforms were winning plaudits. This month, however, it is a different story.The Guardian’s Africa correspondent Jason Burke tells Rachel Humphreys that Abiy has launched a major military operation in the northern region of Tigray and imposed a state of emergency. He said he was responding to an attack on an army base by the region’s ruling party, the TPLF, which it has denied. On Saturday, government forces declared victory in the offensive after claiming to have entered the regional capital, Mekelle. Continue reading...

Grace period for supermarkets will last three months while full checks on chilled meats will not kick in for six monthsA Brexit threat to the British banger in Belfast has been lifted, Michael Gove has said as the EU and UK declare peace over food supply across the Irish sea.In what some have dubbed “sausage wars”, both sides have agreed a six-month delay on mandatory health checks on all chilled meats going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and a three-month grace period for all other food suppliers selling into the supermarkets and corner stores. Continue reading...

Agents travel from China at Swiss taxpayers’ expense to interview suspected Chinese nationalsThe full text of a secret deal between Switzerland and China, which allows Chinese security officials access to the country at Swiss taxpayers’ expense, has been revealed for the first time as the government pushes to renew it.The five-year “readmission agreement”, signed in 2015 and which expired on Monday, lays out terms for Chinese agents to travel to Switzerland and interview suspected Chinese nationals that Swiss authorities wish to deport. Continue reading...

Martin Forde says call for light-touch approach was ignored and some awards were too lowThe architect of the Windrush compensation scheme has described how the Home Office ignored key aspects of his advice on its implementation and said some payments should be “more generous”, during a Commons hearing into problems with the programme.The barrister Martin Forde said he had urged the Home Office to take a “light-touch” approach to the amount of documentary evidence that claimants were required to produce in order to corroborate their compensation claims, and acknowledged that this light touch had not materialised. Continue reading...

Shane Mays jailed for minimum of 25 years for woodland killing in HampshireA 30-year-old man who lured a vulnerable teenager to woodland where he murdered her and defiled her body has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years.Shane Mays walked with Louise Smith, 16, to a secluded spot in Hampshire before repeatedly punching her in the face, causing fatal injuries. Continue reading...

Two health service workers experienced symptoms after receiving Pfizer vaccine

As a teen he wanted to be the biggest pop star in the world, but global fame came with crippling anxiety that left him unable to sing. So, ‘three therapists and 55 self-help books’ later, has he overcome his addiction to success?

Women are slowly gaining rights and finding the strength to shake off the social taboos around ending a bad relationshipParveena Jabeen was all set to get married, but in Kashmir weddings are extravagant affairs.Traditionally, brides in the valley of Kashmir would take a trousseau with them to the groom’s house, including clothes, jewellery, makeup, gifts for the in-laws and even furniture. Continue reading...

Senator Rex Patrick says he can’t back the Coalition’s bill to extend the scheme and make it permanent due to a lack of evidenceThe Morrison government’s plan to make the cashless debit card permanent has been dealt a major blow although a last-minute backdown means the controversial scheme could be extended for a further two years.The Coalition’s bill appeared likely to be voted down late on Wednesday after the swing vote senator, Rex Patrick, revealed he would not support plans to make the existing trials at four sites in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland permanent. Continue reading...

Amidst a ‘great awakening’, white Americans overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Are liberals really doing the groundwork they claim?In the winter of 2018, Gwen Kansen, a 33-year-old self-professed liberal, met a man called Elias in a bar. Within minutes, she knew he was intense. His phone screensaver was of Pepe the Frog – a symbol of the alt-right movement. His style reminded her of a Confederate soldier, and he wore badges proudly proclaiming his hatred for political correctness.It was not long before he disclosed he was a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right, male-only political organization. Still, Kansen didn’t put an end to the date. They drank rum and cokes; spoke about music, books, and exes; and that night, he walked her home. The two had a brief fling. Later, Kansen wrote an article about coming to terms with her so-called liberal beliefs while still choosing to entertain the affair. Continue reading...

David Fincher’s first film for Netflix was a visually breathtaking look at boozehound screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz

The Labor-chaired committee found there was a failure to anticipate crippling staff shortages and high demand for protective equipmentThe first report of the Senate inquiry into the Morrison government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has found a range of deficiencies in the response and concluded the national health strategy was not clearly explained to the public until July.The report of the Labor-chaired committee, tabled on Wednesday night, states the government “did not have adequate [public health] plans in place either before, or during the pandemic” and it “failed to properly prepare the aged care and disability sectors for the pandemic”. Continue reading...

Anger over government proposal to house up to 500 people in cabins on MoD land beside Barton StaceyThe government has been severely criticised for a proposal to house up to 500 asylum seekers in “temporary buildings akin to an open prison” next to a small Hampshire village.The plans to construct cabin-style accommodation on former Ministry of Defence land near Barton Stacey, close to the A303 trunk road, follow a series of damning reports on conditions at two former army barracks sites in Kent and Pembrokeshire being used to hold up to 600 asylum-seeking men. Continue reading...

Parliament committee says miner must negotiate a compensation deal with traditional owners and ‘ensure a full reconstruction’ of the cavesA parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves has delivered a scathing report criticising the actions of Rio Tinto and calling for the Western Australian government to put a stop to the destruction of heritage until new laws are passed.The majority bipartisan interim report said Rio Tinto’s decision to destroy two rock shelters in Juukan Gorge, against the wishes of the traditional owners and despite knowing the archeological value of the site, was “inexcusable”. Continue reading...

Many journalists have been murdered in Mexico for trying to expose the narco state, as our special report reveals. Click here to have the Guardian Weekly delivered to your doorThe tortuous journey towards the UK’s final departure from the European Union continued this week. After little progress was made over the weekend and on Monday, UK prime minister Boris Johnson headed to Brussels for face-to-face talks with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to see what could be done to stop the UK crashing out of the single market and customs union. Could a political intervention draw out a trade deal, or are the UK’s demands for “sovereignty” fundamentally at odds with the EU’s ideas of a “level-playing field”? At the start of this week, only one thing was clear – a deal had to be done very soon if it was to be done at all. Keep up with the latest developments at theguardian.com/politicsOur cover story this week comes from Mexico. The cartel project is a global journalistic collaboration that aims to tell the stories of the many journalists murdered while investigating the narco state. We begin with the story of Regina Martínez Pérez, a fearless reporter killed in 2012. Continue reading...

The battle lines are drawn as the Coalition attempts to pass a bill described as the ‘worst since WorkChoices’Labor, unions and the Morrison government have clashed repeatedly in an escalating row over proposed industrial relations changes that are the most significant since WorkChoices.Labor has seized on the opportunity for a political contest on its preferred ground of workers’ rights, accusing the government of giving frontline workers a Christmas gift of pay cuts in a bid to shore up Australian businesses. Continue reading...

Coalition and Labor clash over proposed industrial relations bill. Follow all the latest updates7.58am GMTRight, that’s where I’ll leave you. Amy Remeikis will pick things back up tomorrow morning.Here’s what we learned today:7.46am GMTWestern Australia premier Mark McGowan won’t attend the in-person national cabinet meeting on Friday because he doesn’t want to risk being in the same room as South Australian premier Steven Marshall.The West Australian newspaper reports McGowan will appear at the meeting via teleconference to avoid being in the same room as Marshall because of the current Covid-19 border restrictions in place between WA and SA.

Fishing quotas and standards will be on the list of key areas the prime minister will have to tackleAs Boris Johnson prepares to travel to Brussels in the hope of sealing a Brexit trade deal, he will be armed with a memo from his chief negotiator, Lord Frost. Here are some of the likely key points, big hurdles and potential solutions to be thrashed out at the negotiating table: Continue reading...

Resolution Foundation warns vaccination programme could be undermined if people cannot afford to self-isolate

Photographer Cat Vinton’s work follows nomadic people in the natural world, but the pandemic meant being closer to home – living out of her vehicle and exploring the Cornish way of lifeThe last embers of my fire flicker orange and red in the dark. It has warmed me after my evening swim shared with a grey seal, a curious female at the water’s edge, under the soft pink hues of the setting sun.The nights are beginning to draw in and the temperature is dropping. Tonight’s home is a magical one: a hidden spot somewhere on the Roseland Heritage coast. Continue reading...

The government’s legislation to force the tech giants to negotiate with news media companies is being closely watched around the worldThe Australian government tabled world-first media legislation in parliament on Wednesday that will force Google and Facebook to negotiate a fair payment with news organisations for using their content in Facebook’s newsfeed and Google’s search.The Australian law is separate to a recent deal Facebook made to pay mainstream UK news outlets millions of pounds a year to license their articles, but has a similar motivation. The social network signed the deals as it faces the threat of a government crackdown over its dominance of online advertising. Continue reading...

Prime minister remembers 20 foreign tourists and two local guides who died in Whakaari disaster, as the governor general speaks of ‘dark day in our nation’s history’Jacinda Ardern has said the overseas visitors among 22 people killed in the White Island/Whakaari volcano eruption will be forever in the hearts of New Zealanders as the nation marked a year since the disaster.Victims’ families, survivors and rescue workers gathered for a minute’s silence on Wednesday at 2.11pm – the time the volcano erupted – in Whakatāne not far from White Island, which lies just offshore. Continue reading...

About a quarter would face the justice system and two-thirds would need mental health supportAt least a third of young people end up homeless within three years after leaving the out-of-home care system, a Victorian inquiry has found.By reviewing 150 file notes and interviews with more than 100 young people, the Commission for Children and Young People uncovered appalling outcomes for most of the 600 or so who leave state care each year. Continue reading...

Experts say ‘incredible discovery’ is the earliest known version of the early 17th century artist’s Holy Family worksA painting that hung for decades in a municipal building in Brussels has been authenticated as the work of Flemish master Jacob Jordaens.After analysis including dendrochronology – dating works from the wood panels they are painted on – experts determined that it is the oldest known version of The Holy Family by Jordaens, painted in the early 17th century. Continue reading...

Widow and son of Dede Fredy file claim in what could become a landmark case against ‘multinational Goliath’The family of one of many Uber Eats riders killed in Australia this year has filed a workers’ compensation claim against Uber, in what could become a landmark case for the gig economy.Five delivery riders have died in Australia since the end of September. Dede Fredy, a 36-year-old Uber Eats worker from Indonesia, died on 27 September after he was hit by a car in Sydney while delivering food. Continue reading...

Latest updates: Boris Johnson to meet Ursula von der Leyen for dinner in Brussels; Michel Barnier says no-deal more likely than a deal

Eltiona Skana, who has a history of mental illness, will serve her sentence in a high-security hospitalThe woman who killed seven-year-old Emily Jones in a Bolton park on Mother’s Day has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of eight years.Eltiona Skana, 30, a paranoid schizophrenic with a long history of mental illness, will serve her sentence in a high-security hospital. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ipea documents show the travel of 13 Nationals MPs is being examinedThe expenses watchdog is investigating allegations that the Nationals deliberately scheduled a party room meeting to coincide with the Melbourne Cup so its MPs could attend the race at Flemington while billing taxpayers for their travel.Earlier this year, the former Nationals MP Llew O’Brien accused his former party of deliberately scheduling a meeting of federal MPs in Nagambie, north of Melbourne, in the days before the 2019 Melbourne Cup, so that politicians could put their travel-related expenses on the public purse. Continue reading...

Protests against new agriculture laws hits transport, shops and markets across the country

A newly discovered album contains intimate, joyful glimpses of the playwright drinking, partying and holidaying with his famous friends and lovers. The result is an astonishing insight into gay life in the interwar yearsIn 1931, Noël Coward was the highest-earning author in the western world, celebrated for his scintillating comedies and sensational dramas of hidden love such as The Vortex, Private Lives and Easy Virtue. As well as writing hit songs, musicals, novels and short stories, he painted and, not least, performed. But perhaps the most astounding thing of all is the fact that – at a time when homosexuality was illegal and would remain so for some time – he lived an openly gay life.It is this that makes a newly discovered photograph album so extraordinary. It shows intimate glimpses from the private life of this towering cultural figure. Apparently compiled in the 1930s by Coward’s closest female friend, Joyce Carey, the album is a remarkable insight into gay lives of the interwar years, lived in plain sight. Carey died in 1993. It is because of her long-held loyalty to the man she and other intimates only half-ironically called the Master that the album has only now come to light, due to be sold at a London sale room later this month.

Margaret Keenan, 90, given approved vaccine to start mass coronavirus immunisation programme

Human Rights Watch is ‘troubled’ by the PM’s suggestion the government is not considering reparations for Afghan familiesHuman Rights Watch has written to the prime minister to remind him that Australia is obliged to compensate war crimes victims, saying it is “troubled” by recent comments suggesting the government is not currently considering reparations for Afghan families.The global human rights group has also urged Scott Morrison to ensure the office of the special investigator is able to probe the potential criminal liability of senior commanders for the alleged atrocities, and is shielded from political or military interference. Continue reading...

Dementia linked to many instances of people dying at home among family but remaining undiscovered for daysOfficials in Japan have warned that dementia and the fraying of traditional community ties are contributing to a new social phenomenon – people who die at home but remain undiscovered for days, even though they were living with family.The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that 538 people died “lonely deaths” while living with others in Tokyo and Osaka between 2017 and last year, prompting experts to call for more support for struggling families. Continue reading...

PM says he wants an agreement but people need to be ready for changes on 1 JanuaryBoris Johnson has warned that securing a deal at an imminent Brexit summit in Brussels will be “very difficult” but backed “the power of sweet reason to get this thing over the line”.The prime minister, who agreed during a phone call on Monday to meet the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in the Belgian capital, said he wanted an agreement. Continue reading...

Lawsuit filed in August opposing use of songs in the president’s rallies is voluntarily dismissed by the musicianNeil Young’s lawsuit against Donald Trump, filed in opposition to his music being used in campaign rallies, has been dismissed by a New York court.The musician voluntarily dismissed the case himself, “with prejudice”, which means it cannot be brought again. It is possible that the case was settled out of court, though neither the president’s team nor Young has made any further statement. Continue reading...

Church describes act as ‘political retaliation’ by authorities over support of pro-democracy protestors and comes as eight more arrestedThe pastor of a Hong Kong church says HSBC has frozen bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and the church’s charity.Ray Chan said the freezing was an act of “political retaliation” on the part of authorities for assistance provided by his church to young protesters. It came as police arrested more opposition figures. Continue reading...

Government extends country’s biosecurity emergency declaration; treasurer unveils laws requiring tech giants to pay for news. This blog is now closed

With dating on hold, jobs lost and IVF postponed, many women fear their last chance to have a child may have disappeared. How are they coping?

Kurt Markus began his career shooting cowboys in Montana. A new exhibition shows how he trained his lens on boxers, fashion models and nudes, too Continue reading...

With Trump no longer a threat, there is a sense of optimism around what the accord could achieve – but only if countries meet their targetsNo one who was in the hall that winter evening in a gloomy conference centre on the outskirts of the French capital will ever forget it. Tension had been building throughout the afternoon, as after two weeks of fraught talks the expected resolution was delayed and then delayed yet again. Rumours swirled – had the French got it wrong? Was another climate failure approaching, the latest botched attempt at solving the world’s global heating crisis?Finally, as the mood in the hall was growing twitchy, the UN security guards cleared the platform and the top officials of the landmark Paris climate talks took to the podium. For two weeks, 196 countries had huddled in countless meetings, wrangling over dense pages of text, scrutinising every semicolon. And they had finally reached agreement. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister in charge of the gruelling talks, looking exhausted but delighted, reached for his gavel and brought it down with a resounding crack. The Paris agreement was approved at last. Continue reading...

Shoko Arai was voted out of her seat after making allegations against mayor that most residents said damaged the town’s reputationThe only female member of a town assembly in Japan has been voted out of her seat after she accused the mayor of sexual assault, in a setback for the country’s nascent #MeToo movement.Shoko Arai, until Monday a councillor in Kusatsu, a popular hot spring resort north-west of Tokyo, lost her seat after more than 90% of residents voted to recall her, saying she had damaged the town’s reputation, Japanese media reported. Continue reading...