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Kim Yo-jong likens South Korea to ‘frightened dog barking’ after Seoul protested against Pyongyang’s live-fire military frillThe sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has condemned South Korea as a “frightened dog barking” after Seoul protested against a live-fire military exercise by the North.Kim Yo-jong’s comments – her first known official statement – came after Seoul’s security ministers expressed “strong concern” over Pyongyang’s firing of two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday – its first weapons test for more than three months. Continue reading...

Watchdog says country may also be storing material at three undeclared sitesIran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers and is refusing to answer questions about three possible undeclared nuclear sites, the UN atomic watchdog agency has said.The International Atomic Energy Agency made the statement in a confidential report distributed to member countries that was seen by the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Inquiry told he had ‘no knowledge’ of rapid fire spread and did not know panels were combustibleThe architect of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment has admitted he did not read building regulations aimed at preventing cladding fires and had no idea that panels used to insulate buildings could be combustible.Bruce Sounes, the project architect on the council block where 72 people died in June 2017, told the public inquiry into the disaster that he did not know that aluminium panels could melt and spread flames and had no idea cladding had previously caught fire on buildings in the UK and Dubai, including at Lakanal House in Southwark in 2009, where six people died. Continue reading...

The truth about the protective value of face masks and how easy it is to catch Covid-19

Dozen member states hope letter will focus minds before Glasgow UN talks this yearA dozen countries have called for an EU climate target for 2030 to be drawn up “as soon as possible”, if the bloc is to galvanise the rest of the world before vital UN talks in Glasgow later this year.In a letter to the EU’s top official on climate action, Frans Timmermans, the dozen EU member states say “the EU can lead by example and contribute to creating the international momentum needed for all parties to scale up their ambition” by adopting a 2030 EU greenhouse gas emissions reduction target “as soon as possible and by June 2020 at the latest”. Continue reading...

With about two-thirds of votes counted in Israel’s third election in 12 months, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud seems to be the largest party, but will need the support of other parties to form a governmentNews: Netanyahu claims early victory but remains short of majority Continue reading...

Prince Fosu, 31, died of hypothermia, dehydration and malnutrition in cellNeglect and a series of gross failures by the Home Office and other agencies contributed to the death of a vulnerable Ghanaian man from hypothermia, dehydration and malnutrition, an inquest jury has found.In a damning narrative conclusion, the jury found that Prince Fosu, a car parts dealer, had died suddenly after developing these conditions while he was suffering from psychotic illness. Continue reading...

Spencer Ashworth fatally wounded by Avon and Somerset officers near M5 outside BristolA fan of violent video games was shot dead by four armed police officers after firing an air pistol at one of them, an inquest heard.Shortly before he died, Spencer Ashworth told a relative he had a “new James Bond air pistol” and said he wanted to move to the US. Continue reading...

Health concerns have caused a number of high-profile singers to quit the road but what will it all mean for the industry at large?In a chilling quote from much-loved music documentary The Last Waltz, about The Band’s final concert in 1976, leader Robbie Robertson looks straight into the camera and ominously says: ‘The road will kill you.”At the time, he was just 34. Yet, over four decades later, musicians of his storied era are still on the road – and facing escalating health issues as a consequence. Since the start of this year, Ozzy Osbourne, 71, had to cancel his 2020 tour to seek treatment for issues related to his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Elton John, 72, had to ditch dates on what was already advertised as his goodbye tour, after declaring himself “extremely unwell”. Madonna, 61, was forced to scratch a bunch of shows from her British tour due to “overwhelming pain” from injuries she sustained on the road which already caused her to nix some US dates. Meanwhile, Aerosmith felt compelled to disinvite drummer Joey Kramer from their Grammy performance, over alleged difficulties the 69-year-old was having keeping the beat, while the group itself has had to scratch dates due to various health issues experienced by Steven Tyler. Then, just this last week, the 56-year-old frontman of Metallica, James Hetfield, needed to cancel shows to, in his words, “look after my mental, physical and spiritual health”. Continue reading...

Shareholder Ed Bramson says Jes Staley’s re-election as CEO of bank would be ill-advisedBarclays is under renewed pressure from a top shareholder, Ed Bramson, who is demanding the removal of its chief executive over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Bramson said in an open letter to the bank’s board that it should take “decisive action” and revoke their unanimous recommendation for Jes Staley’s re-election at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting on 7 May. Continue reading...

Many Chilean minors have been detained since the protests began, in a youth justice system rife with cruelty and abuseMore than 180 children in Chile have been held in preventive detention – some for up to four months – for their participation in the wave of social unrest which have rocked the country since October.Tens of thousands of people have been arrested since protests over rising metro fares spiraled into nationwide demonstrations against inequality. Violent clashes between police and protesters have left 445 people with eye injuries from police shotguns – 34 have permanently lost sight. More than 30 people have died. Continue reading...

Two men sue over alleged HIV and gonorrhoea infections that they claim were caused by defective contraceptivesTwo Ugandan men have taken court action against an international charity for distributing faulty condoms which, they claim, led to one of them contracting HIV and the other gonorrhoea.In a lawsuit, Joseph Kintu and Sulaiman Balinya say they bought Life Guard condoms from stores supplied by the Marie Stopes organisation in Uganda in October last year. Continue reading...

6 March 1920 The rough cocksfoot and spear grass along the lane ditches bent over as with a light fall of snow, while the horses shivered down their quartersSurrey, March 4

US, Australia and Thailand also report first deaths from coronavirus while bans are put in place around the world on large gatherings. Follow live news

At least 80,000 Uighurs working under ‘conditions that strongly suggest forced labour’, says Australian Strategic Policy InstituteAt least 80,000 Uighurs have been transferred from China’s Xinjiang province, some of them directly from detention centres, to factories across China that make goods for dozens of global brands, according to a report from the Canberra-based Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).Using open-source public documents, satellite imagery, and media reports, the institute identified 27 factories in nine Chinese provinces that have used labourers transferred from re-education centres in Xinjiang since 2017 as part of a program known as “Xinjiang aid”. Continue reading...

Tanks and radar systems also targeted in widespread offensive on pro-Assad forcesTurkey has escalated a widespread offensive against Syrian troops and their allies, shooting down two government planes, wiping out dozens of pieces of military hardware including tanks and radar systems, and stalling a regime momentum that had been rampaging through Idlib province.The attacks came in response to the killing of at least 33 troops in an airstrike in northern Syria on Thursday night and marked one of the most sustained direct clashes between regional militaries in decades. Continue reading...

We’re about to be subjected to the frenzy commemorating the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival. We should get a few facts right first

With an election looming, the PM needs to be seen to be ruffling feathers on issues of principle, but what comes next?Australia’s policy of deporting New Zealand born – but Australian raised – citizens has been a source of political tension for years. But Jacinda Ardern’s step of fronting Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, in the most calculated and public way possible, took it to a new level. Until now, Ardern has played nicey nicey with foreign leaders, even when there are yawning gaps in their political ideologies. Imagine the list of issues she could have had a crack at Donald Trump over at their meeting last year.So why this issue, and why now? Continue reading...

Former advisers and ministers say outbreak makes job for chancellor harderChancellor Rishi Sunak will have to rethink key parts of the budget next week because of growing fears that the spread of the coronavirus will trigger a global economic downturn, economists, former government ministers and advisers have warned.Related: Britain’s economy dangerously exposed as coronavirus fear grips global markets Continue reading...

Papers show Telegraph article was in briefing pack before historic speech on EuropeMargaret Thatcher’s infamous “No, no, no” retort to Jacques Delors, a historic moment in the UK’s relationship with Europe, which also had the effect of precipitating her downfall, was partly inspired by an article penned by a young journalist named Boris Johnson, her newly released private papers show.In 1990, 30 years before Johnson took the UK out of the European Union, an article he penned as the Telegraph’s EC (European Community) correspondent warning of the threat the EC posed to national sovereignty was in Thatcher’s briefing pack as she delivered the combative speech to parliament. Continue reading...

As the PM who likes to style himself as the Generation X John Howard knows all too well: what good is a conservative who can’t keep Australians safe?Have you heard the Morrison government has a plan?The Plan® was very hard to miss, given the prime minister used the word “plan” or “plans” more than 20 times when he answered his first Dorothy Dixer in question time on Thursday. Lest any ambiguity remain, Peter Dutton went on to utter “plan” another 16 times if you happened to be counting, and our indefatigable live blogger, Amy Remeikis, bless her, was counting. Continue reading...

In week in which Covid-19 jumped fence into Europe, serious questions emerge over continent’s preparedness

US condemns attack which Turkish official says killed 33 of its soldiers, in Ankara’s worst day of the conflict so farDozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold.Turkish officials said at least 33 of its military personnel were killed in the attack on Thursday night, and more than 30 others injured. Military sources among moderate and jihadist rebel factions fighting in the north-western province bordering Turkey said the deaths followed a precision strike on a two-storey building in the village of Balioun. Continue reading...

Mohammad Zubair, a Muslim, was brutally attacked as Delhi experienced some of its worst religious riots in decades. ‘My clothes were drenched in blood,’ he said of his ordeal. Muslims and Hindus across the region have been mourning their loved ones after dozens of people were killed in the latest wave of violence Continue reading...

Government document reveals plans to ditch tool that allows for fast extradition of criminals

UK reports two new cases as outbreak spreads and losses on stock markets mount

Deployment of 100,000 ducks to worst locust plague in 20 years less damaging than pesticidesChina is planning to dispatch a 100,000-strong army of ducks to help Pakistan combat a massive locust infestation, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.The legion of lotus-eating waterfowl will be sent from the eastern province of Zhejiang following the earlier arrival of a team of Chinese experts in Pakistan to advise on how to tackle the infestation, said to be the worst in 20 years, the Ningbo Evening News said. Continue reading...

Airline, broadcaster and drinks group also among affected firms

The defendants have been held in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison in Rome since the arrestTwo US students have appeared in an Italian court on the first day of their trial over the fatal stabbing last year of a policeman during a botched drugs bust.Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, and fellow student Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 19, are charged with murdering Mario Cerciello Rega in central Rome on 26 July in an incident that shocked Italians. Continue reading...

Brand ambassador pledges ‘work will be done’ after children are filmed toiling on Guatemalan farms believed to supply companyGeorge Clooney has said he is “surprised and saddened” by the alleged discovery of child labour on farms used by coffee giant Nespresso, the brand for which he has long served as ambassador.The Oscar-winning actor and director, who during school holidays worked on his own family’s tobacco farm in Kentucky, vowed that “work will be done” to improve conditions after a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, due to air next week, filmed children picking coffee beans and hauling sacks on six Guatemalan farms believed to supply Nespresso. Continue reading...

Green space in Allerton will feature works by local artists inspired by his lyricsA memorial green space honouring the Beatles guitarist George Harrison is to open in Liverpool next year.The project, named the George Harrison Woodland Walk, was announced on Tuesday on what would have been the late musician’s 77th birthday. It will be built on a 12-acre site in Allerton in the south of Liverpool, close to the suburb of Wavertree where he grew up. Continue reading...

The actor and activist said her own allegations against Weinstein would not go to court as the statute of limitations had passedRose McGowan has described Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction as a watershed moment and claimed that he “could be one of the biggest serial rapists in history”.McGowan, who emerged as one of the most high-profile figures in efforts to expose Weinstein after the New York Times reported in 2017 that she had received $100,000 from Weinstein as a settlement over an alleged rape in 1997. It is one of a string of instances in which women are believed to have received payments. Continue reading...

Atrocities are committed when societies are indifferent, treasurer warned during a speech at the war memorialJosh Frydenberg has used a speech at the Australian War Memorial to warn the far right is on the rise in Australia and around the world, and to argue horrors are perpetrated when societies lapse into indifference.Following a speech earlier in the week where Australia’s top intelligence chief warned the threat of rightwing extremism in Australia was real and growing, the treasurer used remarks on Wednesday at the opening of an exhibition about the Holocaust to warn denial was on the rise. Continue reading...

Calls for sachets to be included in UK and European legislation banning other single-use itemsThe government must act urgently to stamp out the “curse” of single-use plastic sachets, billions of which are helping to fuel the global plastics crisis, campaigners are warning.A coalition of more than 50 business leaders, politicians and campaigners is demanding that the plastic sachets – used for everything from ketchup to shampoo – be included in European and UK legislation outlawing other “throwaway” items such as plastic straws and cotton buds. Continue reading...

Countries question whether to attend amid questions over division in the west and Russian military actionRussian ceremonies in May to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war are posing an increasingly urgent dilemma for western capitals on whether to go – and who to send.Discussions have been under way for some weeks between UK and US officials on a coordinated response. But the decision is complicated by the unpredictability of Donald Trump, and by Emmanuel Macron’s decision to accept Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the 9 May victory parade as part of his diplomatic overture to Moscow, without consulting Nato allies. Continue reading...

Debbie Zurick, 56, killed in Somerset while her husband is believed to be in hospital with serious injuriesA dog breeder who supplied spaniels to the rich and famous has been shot dead in Somerset near the rural estate of the prime minister’s father.Debbie Zurick, 56, was found with severe injuries outside a cottage near the hamlet of Winsford, which is close to Stanley Johnson’s estate. Continue reading...

NSW health minister says the baboons were being transported to RPA so one could have a vasectomyThree baboons being transported to a major Sydney hospital so one of them could have a vasectomy escaped from their truck on Tuesday afternoon, triggering sightings around the hospital, a police response and widespread interest online.Callers to Sydney talkback radio station 2GB were first to report they’d seen primates running about the area of the Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) hospital, which is just outside the central business district and adjacent to the University of Sydney. Continue reading...

Model and actor is one of dozens of women to pursue a civil law suit against disgraced Hollywood powerbrokerOne of the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault says his conviction has come as a “shock” to her.Zoë Brock, a New Zealand model, actor and writer, is one of dozens of women to take a civil law suit against Weinstein. Along with other accusers, she was offered a settlement by Weinstein’s lawyers last year, but says she is yet to accept the money and wants to pursue further legal action against him. Continue reading...

Wang Xining stuck to party lines even as ABC panel audience laughed at his claims that Uighurs are voluntarily in ‘training centres’China’s number two diplomat in Australia, Wang Xining, has defended shocking footage showing people suspected of having coronavirus being forcibly pushed into vans as justified, and described the detention camps used to hold an estimated one million people, mostly Uighurs, as “training centres” whose residents are “mostly” there voluntarily.In a rare public appearance on the ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, Wang grimly held to party lines even as he was laughed at by audience members for his defence of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs and challenged by other panellists over the country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading...

Charlotte Nokes died aged 38 in her cell at the Sodexo-run Peterborough prison in 2016An artist who died in a private prison told members of her family the indeterminate term she was serving was “like a death sentence”, a jury has heard.Charlotte Nokes was suffering from physical and mental health problems when she died aged 38 in her cell in Peterborough prison, run by the outsourcing corporation Sodexo, on 23 July 2016, an inquest into her death was told. Continue reading...

Settlement comes after tribunal ruled that Ahmed should have been paid same as fellow presenter Jeremy VineThe BBC has decided not to appeal against the equal pay case involving the Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed after she won an employment tribunal against the broadcaster, giving hope to other women seeking back pay from the national broadcaster.Ahmed successfully claimed she was owed almost £700,000 in back pay because of the difference between her £440-an-episode rate and the £3,000 an episode Jeremy Vine received for hosting Points of View, a similar programme to Newswatch. Continue reading...

Queensland coroner says ‘shoddy record keeping’ contributed to accident on Thunder River Rapids ride in October 2016The Queensland coroner has detailed “irresponsible”, “dangerous” and “inadequate” safety practices at the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast that contributed to the deaths of four people on a ride three years ago.Coroner James McDougall is delivering his findings after a 2018 inquest into the deaths of Cindy Low, who was a New Zealander, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi in October 2016. Continue reading...

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 ecosystems Continue reading...

Firms demand assurances their testimony will not be used against them in a criminal caseThe Grenfell Tower public inquiry has been delayed again over demands from companies involved in the disastrous refurbishment that their evidence should not be used to help jail them.The inquiry into the 2017 disaster that killed 72 people was due to restart on Monday after a three-week postponement but will not restart until at least the beginning of March. Continue reading...

Art fair founder says western institutions belatedly investing in contemporary art from AfricaMajor western culture institutions – including Tate and MoMA – are “playing catch up” to create truly global collections that recognise modern art from the Africa, according to the founder of an influential art fair devoted for contemporary African art.Touria El Glaoui, the director and founder of 1-54, said that only in the last decade have institutions begun to take it seriously. Continue reading...

Labor broadens attack on grant programs, arguing the urban congestion fund was used to promote Coalition candidatesThe Senate inquiry into sports rorts has decided to call the head of the public service, Phil Gaetjens, and the former sport minister Bridget McKenzie.Guardian Australia understands the decision, taken on Friday, will mean the pair are asked to appear at a 16 March hearing to answer questions about McKenzie’s handling of the $100m community sport infrastructure grant program and Gaetjens’ report that contradicted the auditor general’s conclusion it was skewed towards marginal and target seats. Continue reading...

More than half of the country’s 602 cases have been traced to a church in DaeguSunday morning found Kim Tae-woo sitting in his convenience store at the normally bustling East Daegu train station, counting the day’s customers on the fingers of one hand.“Thing are beyond quiet here,” he said. “It feels like I’m at a meditation centre. I’m thinking of removing the magazine stand. No one has the peace of mind to flip through them now.” Continue reading...

Former French presidential candidate faces accusations of misusing over €1m to employ wife in allegedly non-existent roleFormer French presidential hopeful François Fillon will stand trial for embezzlement in the aftermath of a “fake” jobs scandal that destroyed his political career.Fillon, 65, who was on track to lead France in 2017, will appear in court with his Welsh-born wife, Penelope. Continue reading...