World news | The Guardian

Health secretary still confident of success but critics say scrapping of NHS England has been a total car crash'

Fresh attacks on Red Sea shipping would be devastating - but the Iranian proxy has reasons to be cautiousThe true significance of the long-awaited entry of Yemen's Houthis into the Iran war depends on whether the Tehran-backed proxy group is intending to send a few missiles and drones from a distance towards Israel or will instead capitalise on its proximity to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait to effectively close off the Red Sea to shipping, just as Iran has in effect shut the strait of Hormuz.The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor Houthis favour would be devastating. Napoleon Bonaparte's remark that the policy of a state lies in its geography" has never seemed more apt. Continue reading...

Conflict shows signs of entering new, more dangerous phase as additional 3,500 US troops arrive in the Middle EastUS lawmakers responded to reports that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, as thousands of US troops assemble in the Middle East and the conflict showed signs of entering a new, more dangerous phase.Officials told the Washington Post that a ground operation in Iran could be limited to raids by Special Operations forces and infantry troops, but it was unclear whether Donald Trump would approve any of the Pentagon's plans. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health secretary's pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvementsThe NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays.The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of the NHS's most recent data has found. Continue reading...

Weak and sick mammal has become stuck in shallow bays and experts say prognosis doesn't look good'The fate of a humpback whale stuck in shallow bays off Germany's Baltic coast hangs in the balance after it became stranded for a third time.The roughly 10-metre-long (33ft) mammal appeared weakened and sick on Sunday and was struggling to find a route back to the Atlantic when it ran into fresh difficulty. Continue reading...

Police say seven people sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries' and they are keeping an open mind about motives'A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car struck several pedestrians on one of Derby's busiest streets.Derbyshire police said seven people were injured, sustaining a range of serious but not life-threatening injuries", in the incident in Friar Gate at about 9.30pm on Saturday. The force said that contrary to online speculation" there were no deaths.

Lebanese government calls the killings a blatant war crime' while Israel says primary target was a Hezbollah terrorist'

Exclusive: Pubs, restaurants and hotels warn of mounting pressure days before rates rises and higher wage bills take effectOne in five hospitality businesses fear collapse in the next 12 months, according to an industry-wide survey that comes days before rises in tax and employment costs kick in.From Wednesday, many pub, restaurant and hotel companies face the prospect of a higher bill for business rates paid to their local authority, while an increase in minimum wage thresholds takes effect on the same day. Continue reading...

Following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, gas prices, grocery bills and mortgage rates have all climbedThe US-Israel war against Iran has sent shockwaves through global markets, leaving many Americans grappling with a growing financial squeeze on everyday living costs.Following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran - prompting retaliatory attacks on US allies in the region and Iran's decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime passage - costs have surged across the US. Gas prices, in particular, have spiked sharply, with the national average rising by roughly 30% over the past month. Grocery bills, mortgage rates and fertilizer costs have also climbed. Continue reading...

Fossil-fuel burning at Ohio facility could burn longer, leaving Middletown residents to face environmental risks

Attendees at Conservative Political Action Conference express support and concerns amid rift over Trump's actionWherever you go, there you are, the saying goes. It was a lesson Donald Trump's Maga faithful may have been reminded of last week when they gathered in a convention center near Dallas for a revival of the president's political movement, only to find that there was no escape from the problems it faces.The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is usually a place of optimism, if not, triumph. It was on its stage last year that Elon Musk pumped a chainsaw in the air amid his abortive foray into clear cutting government bureaucracy, and where JD Vance named undocumented immigration as the greatest threat" facing the United States and Europe. Trump is a regular, regaling the audience with lengthy monologues about his accomplishments. Continue reading...

Peaches, strawberries and grapes were almost always found to be contaminated with forever chemicals' in the analysis

Brent crude jumps 51% since start of March and gold suffers fifth-largest monthly fall in 50 years

Forthcoming rules mean debilitating conditions may not meet strict severe and lifelong' criteria, say charitiesHundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said.In April, the health element of universal credit - an extra payment for people assessed as too unwell to work or prepare for work - will be halved to 50 a week and frozen for new claimants unless their condition is found to be terminal or severe and lifelong with no prospect of improvement. Continue reading...

Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, said business leaders need to be hauled before House oversight committeeA top modeling industry activist has called for business leaders to be hauled before lawmakers in Washington to investigate what role modeling agencies may have played in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.Sara Ziff is founder of the Model Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group calling for fair treatment, labor rights and safe working conditions for fashion industry workers. Continue reading...

Five months after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, airstrikes are still killing civilians and the humanitarian situation remains direThere is little left that connects Palestinians in Gaza with their prewar existence. The contours of life have become darker and far more brutal, as if the population has been stripped of its past.Drones never stop buzzing overhead, gunfire and shelling continue almost daily and naval boats fire towards fishermen," said 56-year-old Ahmed Baroud, a father of five displaced in Deir al-Balah. Continue reading...

Ban on junk food adverts has cut advertising spend and prompted a debate over the policy's impactThe UK will have its first Easter without the traditional barrage of TV ads for chocolate eggs and hot cross buns as the ban on junk food advertising makes the sweetest tradition of the year a sugar-free viewing experience.New regulations, which came into force at the beginning of the year, prohibit products high in fat, sugar and salt from appearing in TV ads before 9pm, as part of efforts to tackle rising childhood obesity. Continue reading...

Critical Western Australia agriculture region counting cost of brutal cyclone as flooding risk persists for low-lying communities

Conviction revealed during questioning of Rob Hastings about a second woman whom he deceived into intimate relationshipAn undercover officer who deceived a woman into an intimate relationship was later convicted and dismissed from the police for assaulting his long-term partner, the public inquiry into undercover policing has heard.Rob Hastings, who infiltrated pro-Palestinian and left wing protest groups for three years during his covert deployment, was convicted of assaulting his now ex-partner and mother of his three children in 2014. He was sacked by the Metropolitan police for gross misconduct as a result. Continue reading...

Moderate-backed Dinesh Gourisetty won nomination for upper house seat

Nigel Farage has called Tate an important voice' for young men and held back from criticising his misogynistic viewsReform insiders are becoming increasingly irritated by the party's association with Andrew Tate and other extreme online celebrities whose views are too toxic for the mainstream voters Nigel Farage needs to win over.Insiders have revealed that as Reform prepare for power they are trying to end their association with more controversial figures on the right such as Tate, whose extreme and misogynistic content could taint the party's credibility. Continue reading...

Islamabad is attempting high-wire diplomacy between US and Iran, but Israel could spoil any chance of successIntensifying Israeli bombing of civilian targets in Iran and an expanding US military force in the Gulf are casting a dark shadow over Pakistan's hopes of hosting peace talks between Iran and the US.Pakistan is attempting high-wire diplomacy, using its relative neutrality as a country with good relations with Iran and the US, to provide a venue for negotiations. It is not a player in the Middle East and does not host any American military bases, so it does not bring the baggage of other potential regional mediators. Continue reading...

Minister's decision to ditch town's colonial-era identity and honour anti-apartheid activist divides residentsA South African town is divided over changing its name from the colonial-era Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe, after the anti-apartheid activist, in a debate that has inflamed racial tensions.Petitions have been signed, rival marches held and a formal letter of complaint sent to the sports, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, who approved the name change on 6 February. Continue reading...

Allan government says measure is temporary as energy shock from Middle East conflict sees petrol prices soar

National Education Union poll finds 89% feel class sizes in England are too big to be properly inclusive'Oversized classes and inadequate staffing levels are hindering teachers' capacity to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), according to a large survey of state school teachers in England.Nine out of 10 (89%) of the 10,000 teachers who took part in the poll by the National Education Union (NEU), before its annual conference in Brighton which starts on Monday, said class sizes were too big to be properly inclusive". Continue reading...

Escalation represents dangerous spread of war and brings threat of even more damage to the global economy

This liveblog is now closed. Read the full story here.

Vice-president received about 53% of votes at Conservative Political Action Conference held in Texas this yearOne of the biggest conservative gatherings in the US ran a poll showing vice-president JD Vance is the top choice this year to be the next Republican presidential candidate.The poll from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), released on Saturday, was taken during this year's gathering. About 53% of the more than 1,600 attendees who voted in the poll chose Vance, Reuters reports. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, came in second with 35%. Continue reading...

A 26-year old man died in a cell in Darwin on Saturday morning, and a 25 year-old man died in a police car on Tuesday

Conservative leader expected to call for government to lift suspension on licences in drive to reduce energy pricesKemi Badenoch is peddling a dangerous fantasy" about North Sea energy in her attempt to reverse a ban on new oil and gas licences, a leading campaign group has said.The Conservative leader is expected to call on the government to lift its suspension of the licences as part of a drive to reduce energy prices, as the party launches a new campaign aimed at boosting the fossil fuel sector. Continue reading...

Tolkan, known for portraying authoritarian figures, died peacefully' in Lake Placid, New York, his agent saidJames Tolkan, known for his roles as an authoritarian figure in the Back to the Future and Top Gun films, has died. He was 94.Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, New York, where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, said Saturday. A brief obituary published on the Back to the Future website said Tolkan died peacefully", but no cause of death was given. Continue reading...

Teenager alleged she faced racism from teacher who told her to go back to her country' for refusing to stand for pledge of allegianceA Palestinian middle school student in Michigan who was publicly admonished for refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance as part of a personal protest against the war on Gaza has settled with her school district following a lawsuit around her first amendment free speech rights.The teenager, identified as DK in court documents, said she faced racism from a teacher at the West Middle school in Canton, Michigan, after she did not participate in the pledge. The teacher reportedly told DK to go back to her country", Fox 2 Detroit reported. Continue reading...

Treasury department said Financial Times article about Scott Bessent's views on Fed oversight was manufactured'The US treasury department demanded on Friday that the Financial Times (FT) retract a report on treasury secretary Scott Bessent's views on the Federal Reserve, accusing the newspaper of publishing false claims" in a formal complaint escalated to the outlet's parent company, Nikkei Inc.The email from treasury officials, addressed to senior editors at the FT and Nikkei, disputed multiple claims in the story and criticized the headline as misrepresenting the underlying reporting. Continue reading...

Thieves made a break for 413,793 units of the company's new F1 line bars which could cause shortage before EasterA large shipment of KitKat candy bars was stolen while in transit to distributors, a major candy crime right before the Easter holiday that could cause shortages for customers.The truck carrying 413,793 units of a new chocolate range", about 12 tons of chocolate bars, was pilfered while driving through Europe on 26 March, Agence France-Presse reported. Continue reading...

Protesters decried Trump administration healthcare policies and direction of HHS under leadership of RFK JrAs tens of thousands of people assembled across the US and around the world for No Kings protests, about a thousand people gathered outside the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday morning to protest cuts to medical research and the Trump's administration's policies on health.The rally follows a tumultuous year for the research agency, with devastating cuts to multi-year funding and outright terminations of grants, especially to research related to gender and race. The White House is now poised to cut the NIH's budget by 20%, according to reporting by Roll Call on Friday, nearly one year after mass layoffs at health agencies. Continue reading...

Organisers claim half a million people are marching through central London, protesting against the rise of the far rightSome protesters have spoken to PA earmarking opposition to Reform UK, support for Palestine and anti-racism as drivers for their attendance.Paige Horsford, 34, a media and English teacher from New Romney, Kent, said she joined the Together march because she has witnessed racist incidents at her school. Continue reading...

Bill passes by 213 to 203 votes in move prolonging weeks-long budget standoff that has disrupted travelUS House Republicans rejected a bipartisan Senate deal to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and instead passed their own funding measure late on Friday, extending a weeks-long budget standoff that has disrupted air travel.The stopgap bill, which proposes funding the DHS in full for eight weeks, passed by 213 to 203 votes after Republicans in the lower chamber refused to take up a Senate-passed deal that excluded money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the border patrol. Continue reading...

Four people arrested as police appeal for help in identifying woman found unconscious on streetPolice in Leeds have launched a murder investigation after a young woman died after being found unconscious on the street.Officers were called at 5.55am on Saturday to Kennerleigh Avenue in Austhorpe where they found the woman with serious injuries. She was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. Continue reading...

CNN team detained while reporting on aftermath of attack by settlers in West Bank, Foreign Press Association says

More than 100 charities, campaign groups and trade unions marched in a show of unity against far right politics

Exclusive: World Service director Fiona Crack says platform pursues stories ignored by the Gulf's state-owned mediaA senior BBC executive has defended BBC Arabic as a lone voice in the region covering the Israeli perspective", as she warned its critics that it pursued stories ignored by the Gulf's state-owned media.The corporation's Arabic service has come under sustained criticism in recent years, for its selection of coverage and for featuring some guests that had expressed antisemitic views on social media. There have even been calls for the service to be closed down. Continue reading...

Olivia Bailey says she wants Sure Start-style hubs that will be rolled out in England on Monday to be inclusive for allReform UK's pro-family" policies are a sham and exclude non-traditional families, the government's early years minister has said before the rollout of hundreds of new Sure Start-style family centres across England on Monday.Olivia Bailey said she wanted the hubs to be inclusive for all families and transform communities, after what she called the criminal" dismantling of Sure Start under the last Conservative government. Continue reading...

Incident in the city's 8th arrondissement reportedly involved a homemade explosive deviceFrench police prevented an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris on Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, officials and sources close to the case said.The incident occurred at about 3.30am (0230 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the city's 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets away from the Champs-Elysees. Continue reading...

Matthew Uthoff and his wife, Amber Dena Snow, allegedly gave oxycodone-laced pasta dish to unknowing victimTwo people in Iowa were accused of giving a pregnant woman a lasagna laced with narcotics with the intention of causing a miscarriage, according to law enforcement.Matthew Uthoff, 35, and his wife, 36-year-old Amber Dena Snow, are accused of delivering a lasagna containing oxycodone to the pregnant individual. The couple faces several charges including delivery of a controlled substance and purposefully terminating a human pregnancy without the knowledge and voluntary consent of the pregnant individual. Continue reading...

Raw Farm was also linked to 2024 salmonella outbreak that sickened 165 people and deaths of two cats from bird fluA California raw milk dairy that was previously linked to a fatal outbreak of bird flu in cats has now been linked to an E coli outbreak involving cheddar cheese, affecting nine people in three states.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an alert that more than half of the people sickened so far are children under age five. Three people have been hospitalized after contracting a dangerous strain of E coli - O157:H7 - with one developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that can lead to kidney failure. Continue reading...

Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin as DHS secretary and Gregory Bovino was demoted, signally a change in tone even as arrests have continuedThroughout last year, Donald Trump delivered on his signature campaign promise of mass deportation in draconian and theatrical style. Hardline figures such as Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, the border patrol commander, became the face of Trump's crackdown, defending a strategy of large-scale raids that sent immigration agents flooding into US cities, terrorizing communities and clashing with protesters.Then in January, immigration officers killed two US citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, in a matter of three weeks. The killings spurred a sweeping backlash that has led Democratic members of Congress to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for more than a month in an attempt to rein in ICE. Even Trump said maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch". Continue reading...

Murder investigation launched after man, 26, killed in central London on Friday nightThe Metropolitan police have launched a murder investigation after a man was stabbed in central London on Friday night.Officers were called to Abbey Orchard Street, Westminster, at 10.17pm after receiving reports that a man had been stabbed. The scene of the incident is near Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey. Continue reading...

More use of two-way charging will earn money for owners and could avoid the need to expand North Sea oil drillingThe Iran war has sent petrol and diesel prices to their highest levels in years, sparked warnings of fuel rationing across Europe and triggered calls for Britain to drill more North Sea oil and gas. But analysis suggests the UK is looking for solutions in the wrong places - and that one of them is sitting on people's driveways or parked in the street.If more drivers switched electric vehicles, Britain would sharply reduce its petrol and diesel consumption, with every car charged from the grid rather than the pump extending the country's fuel reserves - and experts say the potential impact goes far beyond that. Continue reading...

Survivors tell coastguard smugglers ordered victims to be thrown overboard after running out of food and water22 people hoping to reach Europe from north Africa have died off the coast of Greece after six days at sea in a rubber boat, survivors told the Greek coastguard.The coastguard said on Friday that 26 people, including a woman and a minor, were rescued by a European border agency vessel off the island of Crete. Continue reading...

AI-generated footage depicts group of men performing a corrido, singing phrases including return to your roots'An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to self-deport" has sparked disbelief and outrage online.The video posted this week on official embassy social media accounts depicts a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a kind of traditional Mexican ballad known as a corrido. Continue reading...