The prime minister’s first Downing Street press conference kept up his veneer of acting as if he knew what he was doing

The biggest night in US music is being pushed back as a result of virus spread in CaliforniaThe 2021 Grammy awards will be postponed after a steady increase in Covid-19 cases in California.The ceremony was scheduled to take place on 31 January hosted by Trevor Noah and while a new date has yet to be confirmed, sources suggest that it could be pushed back until March. A limited show had already been planned without an audience and only performers and presenters allowed on stage with nominees accepting awards remotely. Continue reading...

PM says lifting lockdown is subject to ‘lots of caveats’ as figures show 1m people in England have Covid

Joe Biden’s priorities could scupper extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder, says departing Virginia attorneyThe American prosecutor seeking to put Julian Assange on trial in the US has said he is uncertain if Joe Biden’s incoming White House administration will continue to seek the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder.Zachary Terwilliger, who was appointed by Donald Trump, made the comments as it was announced that he was stepping down as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Continue reading...

Talk of brotherly unity rather than lessons learned dominated the Gulf Cooperation Council summitThe meeting on Tuesday between Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was hailed as a breakthrough that brought together two feuding parties who were finally willing to resolve their differences.But as the two leaders gathered at a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the southern Saudi region of Al-Ula there was no mention of concessions, or further ultimatums, such as those that had led to the rift. The detente seemed borne more of exhaustion than compromise; the talk more of brotherly unity than lessons learned, and the end to it all more about the incoming US president than regional realpolitik. Continue reading...

Figure for people outside hospitals and care homes revealed as number of new daily cases in UK tops 60,000 for first time

As we continue to see impacts from global heating around the world, research in the places first affected becomes increasingly more important. Off the coast of Tasmania the oceans are heating and it’s one of a handful of places around the world that have seen an increase of 2C in a short time. In this episode of Full Story, we go to Tasmania to see how this has impacted on fishing industries and marine ecosystemsThis week, we are replaying some of our favourite episodes. This episode first aired on 24 February 2020 Continue reading...

Empty streets and shuttered shops as England grits its teeth for a new lockdown, with people allowed to leave their homes for limited reasons only, and measures expected to stay until mid-February or even March

Solicitors lodge civil action against Greater Manchester police for breach of Human Rights ActThe family of a 12-year-old refugee schoolgirl who drowned in a river is suing the police force which investigated her death, claiming institutional racism.The body of Shukri Abdi, who first came to the UK in January 2017, was found in the River Irwell in Bury, Greater Manchester, on 27 June 2019. A group of children were with her at the river in the period before she died. They can be referred to only as Child One, Child Two, Child Three and Child Four. Continue reading...

We’d like to hear from those who are at high risk from coronavirus and are having to shield during the new national lockdownThe government have asked those who’re high risk from coronavirus to start shielding again as the the new national lockdown gets underway.New government guidelines advise those who are clinically vulnerable to the disease to stay at home unless they’re going outside for exercise or attending a medical appointment. Continue reading...

Alibaba co-founder has fallen out of favour with Beijing, but observers cautious about drawing conclusionsSpeculation is mounting over the whereabouts of the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who has not been seen or heard in public for more than two months.Ma, the co-founder and former chairman of the technology firm Alibaba, has fallen out of favour with China’s leadership. In late October, he stood alongside senior officials and delivered a blunt speech criticising national regulators, reportedly infuriating China’s president, Xi Jinping. Continue reading...

Film-maker Monica Wise talks about making her documentary on Mexican indigenous resistanceOur latest Guardian documentary tells the story of Lupita, a courageous young Tzotzil-Maya woman​ ​at the forefront of a Mexican indigenous movement. Over twenty years after Lupita lost her family in the Acteal massacre in southern Mexico, she has become a spokesperson for her people​ and for a new generation of Mayan activists. She balances the demands of motherhood with her high-stakes efforts to re-educate and restore justice to the world. The film-maker Monica Wise talks to us about her experience making the film. Continue reading...

The high commissioner in London offers sharp observations on the dispute between Canberra and BeijingAustralia is “not for turning” in its dispute with China and must cut its reliance on supply chains “over which we had little to no sovereign control”, the country’s top envoy to the UK has said.George Brandis, Australia’s high commissioner in London, argued the situation “must change” as he called for a trade deal between Australia and Britain to be completed by the end of this year. Continue reading...

The Sex Education star on the perils of social media, playing Emily Brontë, and her new Disney whodunnit with French and SaundersWhen the trailer came out, it felt really Hollywood, which makes me laugh. I was like: ‘Ah, OK. This is quite a big deal.’” Emma Mackey spent the last few months of 2019 filming Death on the Nile, the second of Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot adaptations. It’s a big-budget, big-name Disney extravaganza, and for Mackey, who turns 25 on Monday, it marks a first dip into blockbuster waters.“I’d never really had that experience of walking into a studio before, where the sets were all built, and the costumes were tailored to my body, and I had a wig, and it was just … ” She trails off, lost for words. “I clearly can’t talk about it!” she says, laughing. “It completely blows my mind, still.” She does an impression of a 1930s ingenue. “‘It felt like a movie! A proper movie!’ Which is a good sign, I guess.” Continue reading...

Homes in the Ocean Farms estate are threatened by the blaze burning out of control 100km north of Perth in Western AustraliaA fast-moving bushfire was raging north of Perth, threatening lives and homes as it bore down on a number on coastal communities.The blaze had already destroyed more than 7,200 hectares and was proving difficult for firefighters to contain as it burned out of control while fanned by strong easterly winds. Continue reading...

Burst of optimism over approvals has been followed by delays, shortages and bureaucratic errors

Panic over infection rates mixed with fear of widespread hunger as 30-day shutdown is imposed after people defy ban on gatherings

Destroyer moves into region one day after Revolutionary Guards seize a South Korean tankerSouth Korean forces have arrived in waters near the strait of Hormuz as pressure builds on Iran to free a South Korean tanker it seized along with its crew on Monday.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had taken control of the South Korean vessel, the Hankuk Chemi, and its 20 crew because it was “polluting the Persian Gulf with chemicals”. The tanker is being held at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city. Continue reading...

Some thoughts on buying a house, white privilege and homewares for the apocalypse

As she prepares to smash an Oscar record, the great actor talks about drawing on her own suffering, missing her violent mother – and surviving the Hollywood ‘hamburger machine’Ellen Burstyn is struggling to make herself heard above the sirens that are screeching across the city. “I live on a road that’s very popular with police cars and ambulances,” she says down the line from New York. She had been trying to tell me about the Oscars when she was interrupted by the racket. If she is nominated in March – and, with the odds of her winning best supporting actress currently at 5/1, she almost certainly will be – this would make her the Academy’s oldest acting nominee, having turned 88 this month. “At the moment, it’s Chris Plummer,” she says excitedly. “But I would beat him by 42 days! What a great crown that would be to wear.”If her performance in the Netflix drama Pieces of a Woman wins her a nomination, it will be her seventh. Over the last 50 years, Burstyn has been recognised for her portrayals of a jaded wife in The Last Picture Show; of a mother whose child is demonically possessed in The Exorcist; and of a widowed waitress who hits the road with her young son in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. In Same Time, Next Year, she played a married woman who meets annually with her lover; in Resurrection she was a car crash survivor who acquires healing powers; and in Requiem for a Dream she starred as the mother of a junkie who becomes an addict herself. Continue reading...

Campaigners say racers will pass jail holding Loujain al-Hathloul while kingdom ‘sportwashes’ its reputationSupporters of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia, have called for a boycott of the Dakar Rally for “sportswashing” the reputation of the conservative kingdom while Hathloul remains in prison.Racers in the off-road competition – including 12 women – are due to pass within a few hundred metres of Riyadh’s Al-Ha’ir prison, where Hathloul is being held, on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Officials from Viktor Orbán’s rightwing party stoke outrage over two-week installationIt will be only one metre high, and will be on display for just two weeks. Nevertheless, a planned art installation dedicated to the theme of Black Lives Matter is causing uproar in Budapest, where the rightwing, nationalist government of Viktor Orbán has taken aim at the movement and all it represents.The installation won a recent tender for public art in Budapest’s ninth district, an area on the city’s Pest side that combines streets of grand turn-of-the-century buildings with communist-era social housing projects. Continue reading...

Beppe Sala, who admits to making errors in his early response to the crisis, explains why he is seeking sustainable solutionsMilan’s mayor, Beppe Sala, admits he made mistakes. In late February 2019, a week after the first locally transmitted coronavirus case was confirmed in Italy, he shared a promotional video on his Facebook page with the slogan “Milan does not stop”.The clip contained images of people hugging, eating in restaurants, walking in parks and waiting at train stations. It was not Sala’s finest hour. Continue reading...

Living between the two countries, I know that the British government’s best isn’t good enoughLike most Britons this past year, I’ve spent more time than I care to admit doomscrolling social media. But in between the muted festive lockdown celebrations, I also saw photos of crowded house parties, family barbecues and road trips to baches and beaches. My social feeds have split into alternate realities. Because although I’m a British citizen living in Oxford, I’m also a resident of New Zealand, where things really couldn’t be more different.As a resident of two countries, with friends and family in each, I’m used to witnessing events and political developments in both places at once. Usually this experience is a rewarding one where new ideas and cultural differences cross-pollinate in my brain and expand the way I see the world. But in 2020 it’s been an exercise in frustration. The torture of watching how one country has handed the Covid pandemic so well, while living in another that has bungled it so badly, has been one of the defining characteristics of my past year. Continue reading...

The debate over when hot cross buns should be sold is almost as much of a tradition in Australia as the Easter treat itselfFor years supermarkets have released hot cross buns well before Easter, and as the yeasted treats arrive, so too does the pro- or anti-bun outrage.“No respite between holidays!” my mum texts me on 3 January, after sighting off-white crosses on New Year’s Day. “Buy buy buy pure consumerism in your face!” She insists she’s only mildly annoyed by the baked good’s drawn-out shelf life, but similar sentiments spread across mainstream and social media like melting butter. Continue reading...

Bashir was jailed in 2011 for his links to militant training camps in Aceh provinceIndonesia will release radical cleric and alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings Abu Bakar Bashir from prison later this week, the government said on Monday, upon completion of his jail term.Bashir, 82, who was among Indonesia’s most notorious extremists, is considered the spiritual leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network. He was jailed in 2011 for his links to militant training camps in Aceh province. Continue reading...

The groups Boris Johnson said will receive first dose amount to about 13.9 million people in England

Boris Johnson says restrictions will last at least seven weeks, with schools closing until February half-term

Jason Kenney, Alberta’s premier, fired chief of staff, accepted municipal affairs minister’s resignation and demoted five others

November lockdown decision has been followed by a series of flip-flops and 11th-hour announcements

Alleged incident relates to breaking of regulations between 26 September and 29 September

Latest updates: Boris Johnson to make TV address this evening; UK records 58,784 further cases and 407 deaths

Judge sets aside Alan Tudge decision on Afghan man’s visa for failing to consider full consequences of breaching international obligationsThe Morrison government has been warned it must consider the impact on Australia’s national interest of sending refugees back to their country of persecution after losing its bid to deport a convicted child sex offender.Last year the then-acting immigration minister, Alan Tudge, refused an Afghan man a Safe Haven Enterprise Visa on character grounds, despite acknowledging the risk he could be killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

Boy was pronounced dead at scene of attack in Bugs Bottom conservation areaFour boys and a girl have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder after a 13-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a wildlife conservation area in Reading.Police officers found the victim shortly before 4pm on Sunday at Bugs Bottom fields, close to St Barnabas Road, Emmer Green, after reports of a stabbing. The boy died of his injuries at the scene, police said. Continue reading...

The Rodgers and Hammerstein number became a football anthem via the late Gerry Marsden, bringing euphoric determination to every era of Liverpool FC from Shankly to Klopp“It never stops creating goosebumps,” is how Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp describes it. “It never stops feeling really special.”Our team’s anthem – Gerry and the Pacemakers’ You’ll Never Walk Alone – was not the reason Klopp came to Liverpool, but he’s talked about the moment he first heard it ringing out around the ground, and how that reassured him that he’d made the right choice to move to Merseyside. Indeed, if you could condense Klopp’s entire philosophy into one song – sticking together when times get tough, trust in the abilities of others, a conviction that better days are ahead – it would be You’ll Never Walk Alone. It’s been the club’s anthem since it topped the UK charts in 1963, providing joy and comfort during the triumphs and tragedies of the decades that have followed. Fans are now mourning the death, at 78, of the man who sang it – Gerry Marsden. Continue reading...

Over the last few years, the internet has thrilled to pictures of chubby pets. But now experts are calling for a new era of cat shaming and determined dietingName: Fat cats.Age: Probably no older than 10, given their propensity to die young.

Jacqueline Veyrac, 80-year-old owner of Cannes hotel, was found bound and gagged in car in 2016A former British soldier has gone on trial with 12 others in France accused of kidnapping a wealthy hotel heiress.Jacqueline Veyrac, 80, the owner of the five-star Grand Hotel in Cannes, was snatched from the street near her home in October 2016. Continue reading...

Christine and Sebastien met via a survivors’ group after being caught up in separate attacks in London and ParisFor most of the world, 2020 was a year of disease and death. For Christine Delcros and Sebastien Besatti, survivors of separate terror attacks in London and Paris, it brought love and a desire for life – feelings they thought they had lost forever.“We know 2020 has been an annus horribilis for most people, but for us it has been a renaissance. A time to live again. It seems crazy to have found such happiness out of such dark times,” Besatti says in an interview with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Prime minister to meet with coalition party leaders as Italia Viva threatens to quit in dispute over Covid-19 fundThe fate of the Italian government hangs in the balance this week amid a confrontation between the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, and his coalition ally and former prime minister, Matteo Renzi.Renzi has repeatedly threatened to pull his small Italia Viva party from the ruling majority unless the government changes tack on how to reboot Italy’s fragile economy. Renzi has also called for Conte to relinquish his control over the secret services and for the government to speed up the distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations. Continue reading...

Neuropsychologists Chris Moulin and Céline Souchay, 47, fell in love after a conference in 2004. They live with their sons in GrenobleAlthough Chris Moulin and Céline Souchay met at a scientific conference in France in 1999, they didn’t make a lasting impression on each other at the time. “I remember that Chris had long ginger hair,” says Céline. “I asked him some questions about a presentation he gave, but couldn’t understand his response, because my English wasn’t good.” She says he sounded “a bit posh and pretentious”, but it was “probably due to the language barrier”.By 2004, Céline had moved from France to Plymouth to work as a lecturer, while Chris was living and working in Leeds. In September that year, he invited her to a British Psychological Society conference he was organising in the city. Although he had read her work, he didn’t recall having met her five years earlier. “She stood right next to me at the evening reception and I assumed she must fancy my PhD student,” says Chris. But Céline thought he was amazing. “I didn’t recognise him, but he looked so trendy and happy. I was frustrated, because I wanted to speak to him, but there were lots of people around. I stood nearby to show I was interested.” Although there was a spark, they kept things professional. “I asked him to read something I had written, as an excuse to keep in touch.” Continue reading...

Everyone knows the Galactic Empire’s plastic-looking soldiers can’t aim for toffee. But there’s a perfectly good explanation ...In the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle it, once and for allRegardless of where you sit on the Star-Wars-Fan-Ometer – from bored mum to die-hard duvet-owner – everyone knows: stormtroopers, AKA the Galactic Empire’s plastic-looking soldiers, can’t shoot for toffee. This is made clear as early as Episode IV: A New Hope, when Luke and Han rescue Leia from the evil clutches of (dunn, dunn d-dunn) Darth Vader and blast their way back through the Death Star corridors to the Millennium Falcon. Wave upon wave of stormtroopers lie at every corner yet none can land a single shot and they topple like dominoes. Luke, Han and Leia use pilfered stormtrooper E-11 rifles, so Vader’s minions can’t even blame their tools. So why are they such a horrible aim? Continue reading...

The Manchester United forward reflects on an extraordinary year where he improved the lives of millions of people – all, he says, inspired by his mother Mel

Cheap, hygienic and sustainable, the mattresses made by Indian fashion designer Lakshmi Menon also generate income for rural women

A grim year took on a new tune for pianist Angela Hewitt after she acquired a new bespoke grandOne of the world’s most celebrated pianists has described for the first time how she got over losing a piano she described as her “best friend” by receiving its replacement.Angela Hewitt played for the first time using the new piano at a concert in Leipzig, streamed live on ARTE Concert, after becoming the first female recipient of the Bach medal in November, an honour awarded in recognition of efforts to promote the composer’s work. Continue reading...

Health secretary says NHS is under pressure but defends decision to keep open many schools

People in tier 4 areas must stay at home and not meet up with other householdsAlmost eight in 10 people in England are now in tier 4, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases and alarm about a new strain of coronavirus spreading rapidly. Continue reading...

Fifteen-year-old went missing overnight while on holiday with her family in Malaysia in 2019The family of Nora Anne Quoirin, the London schoolgirl found dead during a holiday in a Malaysian jungle, have said they are “utterly disappointed” after a coroner ruled that no third party was involved and that she probably died as a result of misadventure.The coroner, Maimoonah Aid, ruled out homicide, natural death and suicide on Monday and said the French-Irish 15-year-old probably got lost after leaving her family’s cottage on her own. Continue reading...

Families rebut claims victims, aged 16 to 22, were militants while ex-chief minister calls for investigationSurrounded by mourners who gathered in his garden, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani fell to his knees with a grief-ridden scream. “They killed my only son and buried him far away in the mountains,” he cried out.Wani, a 42-year-old fruit merchant living in Putrigam, a small village in the Indian region of Kashmir, had been driving home on Wednesday when he received a message from the police, requesting a photograph of his 16-year-old son, Athar Mushtaq. Mushtaq, a student, had left home the previous afternoon. Continue reading...

Felix Böck started small but has built up a business that transforms the utensils into everything from new dining tables to staircasesThe idea was born over trays of sushi. Felix Böck, then a PhD student at Canada’s University of British Columbia, was venting his frustration over the scant interest in his proposal to use waste wood from demolition and construction sites. How, he wondered, could he convince people that there’s no such thing as waste, but rather just wasted resources?Chopsticks in hand, Thalia Otamendi, the woman who is now his fiancée, looked at him. “She said: ‘Felix, maybe you just have to start with something small,’” said Böck. “And maybe it’s the chopstick.” Continue reading...