Agreement after 25 years of negotiations prompts farmers to block roads in Paris, Brussels and WarsawEuropean Union member states have backed the biggest ever free trade agreement with a group of Latin American countries, ending 25 years of negotiations but stoking further tensions with farmers and environmentalists around the bloc.The contentious Mercosur deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay prompted immediate protests in Poland, France, Greece and Belgium, with farmers blocking key roads in Paris, Brussels and Warsaw. Continue reading...
by Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent on (#72Q6X)
Palestine activist and doctor Ghassan Abu-Sitta also cleared over alleged support for Hamas in case brought by GMCThe rector of the University of Glasgow has been cleared of misconduct by a medical watchdog over alleged antisemitism and support for Hamas.Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic surgeon and prominent Palestinian activist, appeared via video link on Friday before a fitness to practise panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, where a case of misconduct against him was rejected. Continue reading...
Military opens window for civilians to leave as Kurdish groups turn down demand their fighters withdraw from citySyria's army says it will renew attacks against a Kurdish-majority district of Aleppo where clashes have raged this week, after Kurdish groups rejected Damascus's ceasefire terms that demanded their fighters withdraw from the city.The army said it would target military sites used by Kurdish fighters in the Sheikh Maqsoud district, announcing the opening of a humanitarian corridor from 4pm (1300 GMT) to 6pm on Friday for civilians to leave. Continue reading...
Jacques Moretti was detained on Friday, a national day of mourning, because prosecutors considered him a flight riskPope Leo also chooses to express a view on the recent events in Venezuela, calling for world governments - I think he means US president Donald Trump in particular - to respect the will" of the Venezuelan people.Goes without saying that it's particularly important coming from the first US pope.I wish to repeat my urgent appeal that peaceful political solutions to the current situation should be sought, keeping in mind the common good of the peoples and not the defence of partisan interests."This pertains, in particular to Venezuela. In light of recent developments in this regard, I renew my appeal to respect the will of the Venezuelan people and to safeguard the human and civil rights of all ensuring a future of stability and concord."The Holy See strongly reiterates the pressing need for an immediate ceasefire and for dialogue motivated by a sincere search for ways leading to peace.I make an urgent appeal to the international community, not to waver in its commitment to pursuing just and lasting solutions that will protect the most vulnerable and restore hope to the afflicted peoples." Continue reading...
Exclusive: In first comments since US attack on Venezuela, Richard Hermer refrained from singling out Trump administrationNations are right to consider diplomatic relations when deciding whether to call out" breaches of international law, the attorney general has said, after the UK government faced criticism over its reluctance to condemn the US attack on Venezuela.In an interview with the Guardian, Richard Hermer, the government's most senior law officer and a close ally of Keir Starmer, said that in a complicated and dangerous" world, leaders should be able to use statecraft" to consider other factors when establishing whether to hold allies to account. Continue reading...
by Philip Oltermann European culture editor on (#72Q1M)
Study of man often featured in works by the Flemish master reveals hidden painting of woman beneath model's beardIs it a bald elderly man with a big bushy beard and a wine-addled stare? Or a friendly young woman with flowing locks and a crown of braids?To Belgian art dealer Klaas Muller, an answer to that question mattered less than the fact that this particular take on the duck-rabbit optical illusion was painted by one Peter Paul Rubens. Continue reading...
The ad campaign ended in late 2025, the Swedish streaming giant confirmed, having previously said, despite protests, that it did not violate advertising policiesSpotify is no long running advertisements for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the streaming service has confirmed, after the Trump administration campaign ended in late 2025.There are currently no ICE ads running on Spotify," the Swedish company said in a statement. The advertisements mentioned were part of a US government recruitment campaign that ran across all major media and platforms." Continue reading...
Exclusive: SIK leader Jess Berthelsen rejects Trump claim that the US needs Greenland for national security'Greenland will not be annexed", the longtime leader of its largest labor union has declared, refuting Donald Trump's claims that the Arctic territory's current status poses a national security threat to the US.In an interview with the Guardian, Jess Berthelsen, chair of SIK, Greenland's national trade union confederation, said people in the territory do not recognize the US president's allegations that Russian and Chinese ships are scattered throughout its waters. We can't see it, we can't recognize it and we can't understand it," he said. Continue reading...
Case brought by Muslim leaders and MP follows failed 2024 bid and seen as part of global anti-women's rights backlashA group of religious leaders and an MP in the Gambia have launched efforts to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation at the country's supreme court.The court case, due to resume this month, comes after two babies bled to death after undergoing FGM in the Gambia last year. Almameh Gibba, an MP and one of the plaintiffs, tabled a bill to decriminalise FGM that was rejected by the country's parliament in 2024. Continue reading...
Bassem Abudagga losing hope after being told wife must go to visa application centre, of which none remain in GazaA Palestinian academic has failed in his latest attempt to be reunited with his family in the UK after the Home Office concluded their case was not urgent and it was more appropriate for his two children to remain with their mother in a tent in Gaza.Bassem Abudagga was also told in a letter from Home Office officials that no reason had been found that was sufficiently compelling" to defer a requirement that his wife attend a visa application centre (VAC) in Gaza so she could provide fingerprints to satisfy the conditions for evacuation. Continue reading...
by Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent on (#72PSD)
Netherlands expected to join Ireland in prohibiting most consumer fireworks as other EU countries debate crackdownWindow-rattling explosions turned Yara Basta-Bos's street into a war zone" last week, but she was spared from the worst of the new year chaos she had seen in the past. A few years ago, the emergency doctor in Amsterdam had to treat a patient clutching their own eyeball after a firework blew it out of its socket.It feels like such a waste," said Basta-Bos, president of the Dutch society of emergency physicians, adding that last week's revelry resulted in more than 1,200 injuries - one-third of whom ended up in hospital - and two deaths. Of course, fireworks are nice to look at. But the level of damage it's causing in the Netherlands right now is just unbelievable." Continue reading...
by Anna Bawden Health and social affairs corresponden on (#72PP0)
Exclusive: NHS clinicians will sit in on appointments in pilot scheme in four areas aimed at reducing reoffendingAbout 4,000 offenders in England will get targeted healthcare sessions during their probation appointments as part of a new pilot scheme.Offenders are far more likely to have poor physical or mental health or addiction issues, which increases the likelihood of reoffending. Continue reading...
Attacks bring total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 425 since October ceasefire took effectGaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children, despite a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting.Four people including three children were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. Continue reading...
President says morality the only thing that can stop me' in New York Times interview on limits to his authorityDonald Trump has said that he does not need international law" and that his power is limited only by his own morality".In a new interview with the New York Times, Trump said the only constraint to his power as president of the US is my own morality, my own mind". Continue reading...
Democratic-led resolution requires US president to seek Congress's approval to use military against VenezuelaThe US Senate on Thursday advanced a bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela, after he ordered a weekend raid to capture that country's president, Nicolas Maduro, without giving Congress advance notice.The measure passed with 52 senators in favor and 47 opposed. All Democrats voted for the resolution, as did Republicans Rand Paul, Todd Young, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley and Susan Collins. Continue reading...
David Hart, 22, imprisoned for one year over nuisance calls to London hospitals and Westminster AbbeyA man has been jailed for a year in New York for calling in a series of hoax bomb threats, many of which targeted institutions in the UK.David Hart was prosecuted by US authorities after a joint investigation by Scotland Yard and the US department for homeland security. Continue reading...
Tractor protest in city centre comes as Emmanuel Macron confirms he will vote against accord on FridayFrench farmers in tractors have blocked roads around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in protest at an imminent EU trade deal with South American countries that they say will create unfair competition.The farmers blockaded motorways outside Paris on Thursday and dozens of tractors overran police checkpoints to reach the city centre in a pre-dawn protest organised by the Coordination Rurale union. Continue reading...
Lawsuit accuses AI chatbots of harming minors and includes case of Sewell Setzer III, who killed himself in 2024Google and Character.AI, a startup, have settled lawsuits filed by families accusing artificial intelligence chatbots of harming minors, including contributing to a Florida teenager's suicide, according to court filings on Wednesday.The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, according to the legal filings, though they still require finalization and court approval. Continue reading...
Electoral Commission says tools to detect AI-generated content could be in place before campaigns beginElection officials are working at speed" with the Home Office on a pilot project to combat the use of deepfakes to target candidates standing in this year's Scottish and Welsh elections.Officials at the Electoral Commission in Scotland said they and the Home Office expected software capable of detecting AI-generated deepfake videos and images to be operational before election campaigns begin in late March. Continue reading...
Complainant to appeal against C of E's dismissal of accusation about Sarah Mullally's handling of abuse claimAn alleged abuse victim at the centre of a complaint against Sarah Mullally, the incoming archbishop of Canterbury, says she is not fit for the job as the church dismissed his allegation against her.The alleged victim, known as N, told the Guardian he would exercise his right of appeal against a decision on Thursday to take no further action against Mullally who he accused of colluding with his alleged abuse. Continue reading...
Conservative leader criticises government's U-turn but change likely to be welcomed by pub tradeHelena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has insisted that is it" in response to farmers claiming the inheritance tax U-turn does not go far enough.Since starting this role in September I've listened to farmers and stakeholders about your cncerns on proposed changes to inheritance tax. You told me the threshold was too low. You told me it would hit small family farms. We listened, and we are making changes.In terms of inheritance tax changes, that is it. I also say with the greatest respect to those outside, it is those inside who have engaged with us constructively and relatively quietly that have had an influence in this process, not those blaring their horns.If the Tories took the red wall in 2019 - and I was part of that, by the way, I represented a seat in the Midlands - we took the rural wall in 2024. We've got 49 rural seats and 87 semi rural on one of them. So 136 rural and semi rural seats. That's a huge representation in parliament.And I have conversations with those MPs week in, week out, and they are expressing concerns or ideas to ministers all the time, and I'm doing all that I can to ensure that rural communities know that we're on their side. As a government, we truly care about rural Britain, because we are the, you know, we can have. We are the party with more representation than others. Continue reading...
Parents of Harry, Roman and Elsa, who were discovered in same area in 2017, 2019 and 2024, have never been foundThe third of three siblings who were abandoned in east London over an eight-year period is to be adopted, as a judge called her story quite extraordinary".Three children - known as Harry, Roman and Elsa - were discovered in the same area of east London in 2017, 2019 and 2024, respectively. Despite an extensive police search, their parents have never been found. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now) and Jakub Krupa (earlier) on (#72NZR)
French president warned the US under Donald Trump was breaking free from international rules'Another news line dominating this week's coverage of European politics is to do with Greenland, and the US president Donald Trump's ambitions to somehow take control of the Danish semiautonomous territory.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said last night that he had plans to meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland as a crisis escalates within Nato over US threats to take over the Arctic territory. Continue reading...
Riyadh says Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, was helped to flee YemenSaudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates of smuggling a UAE-backed separatist leader out of Yemen after he failed to turn up for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday.The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi had fled the port city of Aden for Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision, deepening a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Continue reading...
Director general says BBC needs to reach young audiences online amid pressure to leave Elon Musk-owned siteThe BBC's director general, Tim Davie, has said he will not be taking the broadcaster off Elon Musk's social media platform, X, saying that its presence is needed to resist a flood of global misinformation.Davie said he had come under pressure to withdraw from the platform, given numerous complaints that it has shifted significantly to the right under Musk's ownership. Continue reading...
UnitedHealth says it will continue to engage' with lawmakers who began investigating their involvement in nursing home care after Guardian investigationUnitedHealth has refused to hand over key internal records to lawmakers investigating the company's efforts to reduce hospital transfers for nursing home residents, according to a 7 January letter sent to the company by the US senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren.
by Henry Dyer, Daniel Boffey and Mark Blacklock on (#72P72)
Exclusive: Dulwich college contemporaries say Reform leader often used antisemitic language and racial epithetsThirty-four school contemporaries of Nigel Farage have now come forward to claim they saw him behave in a racist or antisemitic manner, raising fresh questions over the Reform leader's evolving denials.One of those with new allegations is Jason Meredith, who was three years below Farage at Dulwich college, a private school in south-east London. He claims that Farage called him a paki" and would use taunts such as go back home". Continue reading...
by Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent on (#72P4P)
Exclusive: Haul of illicit products led by medicines regulator was described as world's largest of its kind, but no arrests have yet been madeWedged between an air-compressor service and an auto repair shop on a Northampton industrial estate is an undistinguished red-brick unit that was, until recently, the base for a major illegal weight-loss drug operation.In late October, enforcement officers arrived here for a two-day raid, seizing thousands of unlicensed Alluvi-branded weight-loss pens, raw chemical ingredients, manufacturing equipment, packaging materials and 20,000 in cash. Some of the pens were labelled as containing retatrutide - a powerful GLP-1 agonist still in clinical trials, unapproved for medical use but widely hyped online as the next Mounjaro. Continue reading...
Jonty Bravery given 16-week term for attack at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital where he is serving life sentenceA man who threw a six-year-old boy off the Tate Modern's 10th-storey balcony has been given a 16-week jail sentence after attacking two nurses at Broadmoor hospital.Jonty Bravery, 24, was found guilty of assaulting Linda McKinlay and Kate Mastalerz after he kicked one in the thigh and clawed at the face of another in September 2024. Continue reading...
Mayor says ICE claims incident was self-defense are not true and urged ICE to leave Minneapolis. Plus, Trump pulls US out of 66 international bodiesGood morning.Federal agents shot and killed a woman during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The woman has been identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.What has the Trump administration said? In a post on X, the homeland security department (DHS) insisted the person was a domestic terrorist" who weaponized her vehicle" and attempted to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them". Videos appeared to contradict that statement, showing the SUV clearly reversing away from ICE officers as they approach.What have local elected officials said? Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, affiliated with the national Democratic party, said the Department of Homeland Security was trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit."Frey added: To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety and you are doing exactly the opposite." Continue reading...
by Dan Jervis-Bardy Chief political correspondent on (#72NZT)
The prime minister says he takes the time to choose the right path' - but it was right there in front of him the whole timeTen days ago, Anthony Albanese fiercely argued against a royal commission into antisemitism. On Thursday, from that very same lectern, he declared such an inquiry was vital to heal" and unite a wounded nation after its worst-ever terror attack.Which invites the obvious question: What prompted such a screeching reversal? Continue reading...
by Alexandra Topping Political correspondent on (#72NZV)
Article by former British ambassador to US is likely to be seen as criticism of Keir StarmerPeter Mandelson has accused European leaders including Keir Starmer of a histrionic" reaction to Donald Trump's plan to take over Greenland, arguing that without hard power and hard cash" they will continue to slide into unimportance in the age of Trump".In his first political comments since being sacked as Britain's ambassador to Washington last year, Lord Mandelson said Trump had achieved more in a day than orthodox diplomacy was able to achieve in the past decade" when he captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#72NZE)
Discovery of more than 800 whetstones, used to sharpen weapons, seen as one of the most significant finds in northern England for a centuryArchaeologists have found evidence of a huge and previously unknown industrial hub of Roman manufacturing in a discovery seen as one of the most significant finds in northern England for a century.Researchers were astonished to discover more than 800 whetstones at a site on the banks of the River Wear, and evidence of there being hundreds, if not thousands, more buried in the riverbank. Continue reading...
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