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As truce talks begin in Jeddah, Andriy Yermak writes for the Guardian that continent must remain united'

Migratory insects covered 4.2 acres in Mexican forests this winter but number remains far below long-term averageThe population of eastern monarch butterflies - who migrate from Canada and the US to Mexico during the winter - has nearly doubled over the last year, according to a recent report commissioned in Mexico, generating optimism among nature preservationists.The modest growth in numbers for the orange-and-black butterflies follows years of ongoing conservation efforts - and perhaps provides a sliver of optimism after otherwise discouraging long-term trends for the species. Continue reading...

Hassan Diab fears shifting political winds in Canada could lead to extradition fight after Musk shares post about himUntil recently, Hassan Diab's life in Ottawa had begun to settle back into a quiet suburban routine: spending his days teaching sociology part time at Carleton University, taking his two youngest children to the park to play football, or going for an afternoon swim.It had been well over a year since he was convicted in absentia for carrying out a deadly bomb attack on a Paris synagogue in 1980, and the media attention had largely quieted down. He was trying to move on with his life. Continue reading...

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NSW police allege Moosawi directed two men who have pleaded guilty to setting the Curly Lewis brewery on fire in October 2024. He has denied all charges

US-style mega-farms in Herefordshire face tough new regulations after high court rulingIndustrial poultry farms face tough new regulations around the disposal of chicken manure after a judge ruled it can be classified as waste and requires a detailed and transparent plan to dispose of it without damaging the environment.The high court ruling means new US-style mega-farms in Herefordshire will have to deal with poultry manure as if it was industrial waste. Continue reading...

Athiak Dau Riak was traditionally married for a record bride price last year, despite her mother's insistence that she was only 14, which led to threats of reprisalsThe mother of an alleged child bride has left a safe house in South Sudan to travel to be with her daughter after discovering the teenager is pregnant.Deborah Kuir Yach made headlines last year when she opposed a competition for her daughter's hand in marriage, insisting that her child Athiak Dau Riak was only 14. Fear of reprisals from her husband and family forced her to leave her home in the capital, Juba, and go into hiding. Continue reading...

A new partnership will give campers exclusive access to rewilding sites and a chance to join in with conservation effortsCampers looking for a back-to-nature experience this summer will be able to wild camp on land that was previously off-limits across Britain thanks to an initiative launched by camping booking platform CampWild and the nature recovery charity Rewilding Britain.The partnership will provide outdoor enthusiasts with access to nature restoration projects that have not previously permitted overnight stays - and campers can get involved in conservation and citizen science activities on-site, too. Continue reading...

Ticket holders for the Tuesday night concert at an outdoor riverside venue have complained about the decision to go ahead in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Checkpoints backed by education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, follow complaints from teachers of children arriving in nappiesToilet training and the ability to use cutlery are two key checkpoints in a new list of school-readiness" skills developed by a coalition of early-years educators and endorsed by Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary.The group said the guidance was the first of its type, intended to help parents to prepare children starting in reception classes in England from the age of four and came after complaints from teachers of children arriving at school in nappies, lacking basic skills and unable to play with others. Continue reading...

Tributes have been paid to singer who had a string of hits in South Korea including a cover of Craig David's InsomniaThe South Korean singer Wheesung has died aged 43, with police reportedly planning to conduct an autopsy to determine his cause of death.The singer, whose name was Choi Whee-sung, was found unconscious in his apartment on Monday night by emergency responders after his mother called for help, local media reported. Continue reading...

Alan Jones's lawyer indicates the high-profile former broadcaster will formally deny a 35th charge along with all others

Symon Hill paid 2,500 by Thames Valley police over his arrest at proclamation of Charles III's accession in 2022Police have admitted acting unlawfully in arresting a trainee Baptist minister who called out Who elected him?" at a local proclamation of the accession of King Charles III.After a two-and-a-half-year battle, Symon Hill, 47, has been paid 2,500 in compensation from Thames Valley police over his arrest in September 2022. Continue reading...

Defence, the Palestinians and Irish-American trade will all be on the agenda as Micheal Martin heads to WashingtonSt Patrick's Day has long been one of the sacred moments of the Irish-American calendar with more than 200 years of parades in New York and a shamrock reception at the White House launched by Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 to cement political ties between the two nations.But this year's annual meeting between the taoiseach and the US president, a week early because of a congressional recess on 17 March, is laden with anxiety over the future of Ireland's economy, which is heavily reliant on US multinationals Donald Trump wants to repatriate. Continue reading...

Duterte is wanted by the international criminal court over his so-called war on drugs', which rights groups say left 30,000 people deadThe former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been taken into custody after the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest for his so-called war on drugs".

New book by spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will raise the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of TibetThe Dalai Lama's successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago.Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old's death, he writes in Voice for the Voiceless, which was reviewed by Reuters and is being released on Tuesday. Continue reading...

First official meeting of two governments since disastrous Trump-Zelenskyy encounter comes as Russia intensifies attacksThere is no military solution" to the conflict in Ukraine, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said ahead of high-stakes meetings on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia aimed at repairing a severely damaged relationship that has left embattled Kyiv without Washington's support.Ukraine's delegation, led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will meet Rubio, and other senior White House officials on what is seen as neutral ground in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Continue reading...

Australia unlikely to escape US president's global steel and aluminium tariffs despite intense lobbying to be carved out

Exclusive: The travel, which was within parliamentary rules, coincided with fundraisers including those at a men-only club in Melbourne and a private home on Sydney's north shore

Furlough's Paradise, a lyrical' journey about grief, scoops award for female, transgender and non-binary playwrightsThe Susan Smith Blackburn prize for female, transgender and non-binary playwrights has been awarded to the US writer ak payne for their poignant and funny two-hander Furlough's Paradise.The play has been described by payne as a lyrical journey about grief, home and survival". It follows two cousins, one of whom is on a three-day release from prison, as the pair attend a funeral in their childhood town. Continue reading...

Policy would apply to those seeking asylum as well as anyone who had been charged with or convicted of immigration offencesAll foreign nationals in the UK who receive a criminal conviction would be deported under a new Conservative party policy. The Tory plan would introduce an amendment to the government's borders bill that would remove the current threshold, in which foreign criminals are only removed after being handed a prison sentence of one year.The party hopes this amendment, which would need support from Labour MPs, would also make it easier for the government to deport foreign offenders by ending exceptions that had been granted by the European court of human rights. Continue reading...

Suggestion he pressured MHRA to approve ventilators for NHS is ludicrous', former minister says Continue reading...

Foreign minister says legalisation of main ingredient of cocaine is only way to stop drug trafficking and violenceColombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, is a vocal critic of the US-led war on drugs, has urged the UN to remove coca - the main ingredient in cocaine - from a list of harmful substances.Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, or brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness. Continue reading...

Coastguard unable to locate crew member after oil tanker and a cargo ship crash off Yorkshire coastThe search for a missing crew member after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea has been called off, the coastguard has said.HM Coastguard said the missing person from the Solong container ship had not been found after an extensive search", following the ship's collision with the MV Stena Immaculate tanker off the coast of East Yorkshire on Monday morning. Continue reading...

Former Australian of the Year was treated with pioneering immunotherapy based on his own research

Actor tells libel trial against Guardian that female accusers were lying' and seeking attention' in their claimsWomen began discussing Noel Clarke's past sexual misconduct in response to the #MeToo movement, the high court in London has heard, as he began giving evidence in his libel claim against the Guardian.Cross-examining Clarke for the Guardian, Gavin Millar KC told the actor he had begun to panic because the movement began to catch up with you". Continue reading...

PM expected to announce billions in savings from the personal independence payment, the main disability benefitBritain's benefits system is the worst of all worlds", with the numbers out of work or training indefensible and unfair," the prime minister has said as he prepares for deep cuts to disability payments.Addressing a private meeting of Labour MPs on Monday evening, Keir Starmer said he would take tough decisions to cut the bill for working age health and disability benefits, which is expected to hit 70bn by 2030. Continue reading...

Great Yarmouth MP says a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down' in lastest escalation of bitter rowRupert Lowe has accused Reform UK of suspending him for being a tall poppy" who threatened to overshadow Nigel Farage in the latest escalation of the bitter row that is tearing the party apart.Lowe said it was highly unlikely he would be ever allowed to return to the party, which he accused of trying to blacken" his reputation. Continue reading...

Adam Boehler says Hamas proposed a ceasefire and prisoner exchange in negotiations that did not involve IsraelA US envoy has said Hamas proposed a five-to-10-year ceasefire and a full prisoner exchange during backroom talks that have provoked angry responses from the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative backers in Israel and the US.Adam Boehler, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, told Kan News, an Israeli public broadcaster, that he does believe" Hamas would eventually lay down its weapons and leave power in Gaza. While he said the series of interviews was meant to explain the US position, he also defended the talks by saying that Washington is not an agent of Israel". Continue reading...

Kremlin accuses individuals of intelligence and subversive activities' in what appears to be latest in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsionsTwo people connected to the British embassy in Moscow have been ordered to leave the country by the Russian authorities, which claimed they had been performing intelligence work.The British government hit back by accusing Russia of making malicious and baseless accusations". Continue reading...

Stephen Moore, who contributed to Project 2025, urges Congress to pass tax cuts by Memorial DayDonald Trump's focus on tariffs as an economic weapon is misguided", and the US economy is very wobbly", a former adviser and longtime supporter of the president said.I think that the president's emphasis on tariffs right now is misguided," Stephen Moore told Fox News on Sunday night. I think we have a very wobbly economy. We saw a not-very-good jobs report on Friday. The consumer confidence numbers are sinking, and other indicators are not positive. Continue reading...

Canada's incoming prime minister warns the US president's tariffs threaten the greatest crisis of our generation'When Mark Carney becomes Canada's prime minister later this week, a list of simmering crises across the country will demand his attention: housing is unaffordable, healthcare is breaking, living costs keep rising and the climate crisis is ransacking livelihoods.But most - if not all - of those concerns will be pushed aside, supplanted by a far greater threat to the country: the US president, Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Backpacker Rebecca Burke was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in WashingtonA British tourist on a four-month backpacking trip around North America has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the US for 10 days after trying to enter the country via the Canadian border.Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire, was trying to cross into the state of Washington when she was refused entry. Continue reading...

Nigel Higgins agrees with lawyer that some of Staley's affectionate' emails might seem odd to an Englishman'The chair of Barclays has said he did not ask Jes Staley whether he was still emailing or calling Jeffrey Epstein before declaring to the regulator that the last contact between the ex-boss and the child sex offender was well before" he joined the bank, a court has heard.Nigel Higgins admitted that he did not inquire about the kind of contact that the pair had, nor the exact date of their last meeting, before attempting to reassure the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that he had no concerns about the nature of Staley and Epstein's relationship. Continue reading...

Polish prime minister tells friends' to cast aside arrogance after his foreign minister and Marco Rubio trade barbs onlineDonald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, has called on friends" to respect their allies and not be arrogant in a post on X which mentioned nobody by name but was published a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top officials in the US and Poland over Starlink satellites.Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, accused Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, of making things up" and suggested on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a strong rebuke after Sikorski said Ukraine may need an alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service if it becomes unreliable. Continue reading...

Syria's defence ministry spokesperson warns of further retribution against forces loyal to AssadSyria's defence ministry has announced it has completed military operations to fight remnants of former ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces.China on Monday called for all warring parties in Syria to immediately stop" violence. AFP reports foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China follows closely the situation in Syria and is concerned about the large number of casualties caused by these armed clashes." Continue reading...

Shares in FTSE 250 company fall by nearly a fifth as geopolitical turmoil pushes down freight rates

Russian embassy in Australia says western boots on the ground is unacceptable' and statement is not a threat but a warning'

Government hopes to avoid backlash against upgrade of infrastructure as it tries to grow UK economy

Home affairs minister says opposition leader's recklessness has caught up with him'

The caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and from offshore,' AFP deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett says

Calls grow to control military use of unmanned aerial vehicles which, despite claims of precise targeting, are claiming civilian livesAlmost 1,000 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in military drone attacks across Africa as the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles continues unchecked on the continent, according to a report.At least 50 separate deadly strikes by armed forces in Africa have been confirmed during the three years up to November 2024, with analysts describing a striking pattern of civilian harm" with little or no accountability. Continue reading...

Monarch recalls infectious energy' of late reggae singer in Apple Music broadcast to celebrate Commonwealth DayKing Charles has paid tribute to the marvellous, infectious energy" of the late reggae star Bob Marley, in a series of comments about his favourite music and musicians from around the Commonwealth.In a broadcast released in a collaboration with Apple Music on Monday as part of Commonwealth Day celebrations, the king described meeting Marley and other music legends during his royal duties, as he shared his personal playlist of hits that bring him joy". Continue reading...

Alleged offences occurred in locations across NSW including Newtown, Sydney city, Fitzroy Falls, Alexandria and Tamworth

Crime scenes set up in Green Park area with 40-year-old man taken into custody, say policeA man has been arrested after a 40-year-old woman who was shot dead in Talbot Green, about 15 miles west of Cardiff.The woman was found with serious injuries in the Green Park area of the Welsh town just after 6pm on Sunday and could not be saved by emergency services, south Wales police said. Continue reading...

Opposition leader says critics seeking political advantage' after Murray Watt says Dutton sold out his constituents' by attending Sydney soiree

Daniel Day, 29, has been charged with causing a public nuisance and trespassing on a protected siteA 29-year-old man has been charged after climbing on to the clock tower of Big Ben, the Metropolitan police has said.Daniel Day, of Palmerston Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, has been charged with intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance and trespassing on a protected site. Continue reading...

Humanitarian officials say move could hit already meagre water supply, as ceasefire talks grow increasingly chaoticIsrael is to cut off any remaining electricity supplies to Gaza in an apparent attempt to ramp up pressure on Hamas amid increasingly chaotic multi-track negotiations over the fragile ceasefire in the territory.The potential consequences of the Israeli decision for the 2.3 million residents of the devastated Palestinian territory are unclear, as most rely on diesel-fuelled generators for power. Continue reading...

Former central banker will be only second prime minister in Canadian history without a seat in parliamentMark Carney, the former central banker who oversaw the response to financial crises in North America and the UK, will become the next prime minister of Canada after winning the race to lead the country's federal Liberal party.Carney, 59, takes on the role as Canada is locked in a potentially catastrophic trade war with the US, long its closest ally and largest trading partner. Earlier in the week, Donald Trump announced a 25% tax on all Canadian goods, with a carveout for the automotive and energy sectors. The tariffs have the power to push Canada's fragile economy in a recession. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Justice minister James Timpson says more cell capacity means emergency early release schemes won't be neededPrisons are being prepared to cope with a sudden influx of offenders in case there is a repeat of last summer's riots, the justice minister, James Timpson, has told the Guardian.Hundreds of extra makeshift cells and newly refurbished cells will be in use by the end of this year, officials have disclosed, as the prisons minister said there will be no more emergency measures" such as early release schemes. Continue reading...