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Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been in detention since 28 December and his lawyer says he has been torturedA prominent Ugandan writer and critic of the long-ruling leader Yoweri Museveni has been charged with communications offences related to tweets critical of the president and his son.Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been in detention by the military since 28 December, when armed men broke into his house and took him away. His lawyer has said he has been tortured and that at one time he was urinating blood. Police and military have not responded to the allegations. Continue reading...

Figure of 176,035 differs significantly from government’s official count – which exceeded 150,000 at weekend

Health minister Ed Argar has said the public will be 'upset and angry' at revelations that a senior official invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a 'bring your own booze' party during the first lockdown

Omicron cases prompt tough measures in Anyang, a city of five million, as concerns grows ahead of Winter Olympics

Fears over contagion mount as a company once considered financially sound is running out of cash to pay its debtsA Chinese developer previously considered financially sound is embarking on a fire sale of assets as the contagion of bad debts built up within China’s bloated housing sector continues to spread.Shimao Group Holdings, which is in the top dozen Chinese property companies, was plunged into crisis after it said it defaulted a trust loan last week after missing a 645m yuan ($101m) payment that it guaranteed. Continue reading...

London mayor urges people to make greener journeys as figures show fall in walking, cycling and use of public transportLondon could become mired in gridlock because of a shift towards driving as a means of transport during the Covid pandemic, the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan has said, warning that it risks creating a new health crisis from increased pollution.While levels of walking and cycling have risen in the capital, the overall proportion of people making sustainable journeys has fallen as a result of the collapse in numbers using public transport. Continue reading...

US chipmaker was criticised in China for asking suppliers to avoid the sanctions-hit region, and now faces ‘cowardice’ accusation at homeUS chipmaker Intel has deleted references to Xinjiang from an annual letter to suppliers after the company faced a backlash in China for asking suppliers to avoid the sanctions-hit region.Last month, Intel was slammed on Chinese social media for a letter to suppliers published on its website. The 23 December letter said Intel had been “required to ensure that its supply chain does not use any labour or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region” following restrictions imposed by “multiple governments”. Continue reading...

Staffing shortages and lack of access to Covid testing puts rural healthcare system under pressure

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell says bases and other agreements could be on the cardsThe Pacific may be the part of the world most likely to see “strategic surprise”, the US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell has said, in comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific island bases.Campbell told Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies that the United States has “enormous moral, strategic, historical interests” in the Pacific but had not done enough to assist the region, unlike countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Continue reading...

Over 132,000 patients currently on US wards with Covid; Swedish measures include work from home mandate

Teenagers to appear in court on Tuesday in case concerning death of Edward Reeve, 35, in ChristchurchTwo 16-year-old boys have been charged with murder following the death of a man in Christchurch, Dorset.Emergency services were called to a property at just before 8pm on 4 January after police received reports of concern for the welfare of a man inside. Continue reading...

Ewing, also the mother of actor-director Rebecca Hall, died Sunday at her home in DetroitMaria Ewing, a soprano and mezzo-soprano noted for intense performances who became the wife of director Sir Peter Hall and the mother of actor-director Rebecca Hall, has died at age 71.Ewing died Sunday at her home in Detroit, spokeswoman Bryna Rifkin said Monday. Continue reading...

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, on Monday revised the death toll from a high-rise fire in the Bronx on Sunday, saying 17 people were killed, two fewer than originally thought.Adams said nine adults and eight children had died. He did not immediately provide a reason for the lower count

Tuesday: Novak Djokovic ‘pleased and grateful’ to have visa rejection overturned. Plus: reorganising one shelf at a timeGood morning. Novak Djokovic’s visa cancellation saga continues despite his return to centre court ahead of the Australian Open next week. But he’s not the only tennis star in doubt for the grand slam – Nick Kyrgios has tested positive for Covid. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine persist, but security talks between the Kremlin and the US are under way this week.Novak Djokovic has thanked Judge Anthony Kelly for overturning his visa cancellation, but still faces potential deportations from Australia’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke. Hawke confirmed that he is considering the use of discretionary powers to deport Djokovic, which comes with a hefty three-year ban from re-entering Australia. His decision is expected this week. Meanwhile Djokovic’s family have criticised the Australian government and his mother said he was “subjected to torture and harassment” while in detention. But the family abruptly ended a press conference when questioned about why Djokovic, who is not vaccinated, was photographed in public last month without a mask after testing positive for Covid. Continue reading...

One of our favourite stories of 2021 looks at the career of Australian wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario, which started when she competed at the Beijing Paralympics at the age of 14. Now, the 27-year-old has cemented her place in the history books – breaking multiple records and winning three medals, including two gold, at the Tokyo Paralympics. De Rozario speaks to reporter Kieran Pender about her sometimes bumpy rise to wheelchair-racing fame and the power of the Paralympics as a vehicle for changeRead more: Continue reading...

The Comédie-Française is celebrating the 17th-century dramatist by recreating Tartuffe, the play that outraged the Catholic church and almost ended his careerFrench theatre is gearing up to pay tribute to one of its founding fathers: Molière, the 17th-century playwright whose biting comedies still form many French schoolchildren’s introduction to drama. On 15 January, 400 years after his baptism (the exact date of his birth is unknown), the venerable Comédie-Française company will open this anniversary year with the play that came perilously close to sinking Molière’s career: Tartuffe.While the first version of the play got the approval of Louis XIV himself in 1664, its satire of Catholic zealots drew the ire of the Catholic church. At the time, accusations of impiety could send a playwright to the stake, and Tartuffe was swiftly forbidden. Yet Molière persisted, switching gears and rewriting the play to suggest that his target wasn’t religion or true believers – but rather the hypocrisy of those who feign virtue. (The word “tartuffe” came to describe such characters in life, too.) Continue reading...

Students will resume classes a year above where they left in March 2020, minister says

Coming of age day is a Japanese holiday held every January to celebrate those who have reached 20, the official age of adulthood in Japan. Many ceremonies around the country have been scaled back as authorities continue to implement measures to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic Continue reading...

Latest updates: prime minister says there is ‘argument to be had’ about isolation as spokesperson says government would like cut to happen ‘soon’

Asymptomatic and Covid-negative staff cleared to return to work in Australia’s disrupted food supply chain

French government wants whole bloc to act despite warnings other member states have no appetiteFrance will press the EU to negotiate an asylum and migration treaty with the UK in an attempt to deter people from making the dangerous Channel crossing.The French government, which last week took up the six-month rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers, wants the whole bloc to act, despite warnings that other member states have no appetite for a migration treaty with Britain. Continue reading...

Global heating continued unabated with extreme weather rife and greenhouse gases hitting new highsThe last seven years were the world’s hottest on record, with the first analysis of global temperature in 2021 showing it was 1.2C above pre-industrial levels.The assessment of the year, by the European climate agency Copernicus, also found carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels and that the potent greenhouse gas methane surged “very substantially”, also to a new record. Continue reading...

Jane Campion’s colossal western and Steven Spielberg’s passionate West Side Story revival head up a list that snubs more transgressive offerings

Russian president says Moscow-led military bloc will take steps to ensure any future interference in region failsVladimir Putin has claimed the unrest in Kazakhstan last week that killed at least 164 people was the result of foreign meddling, and said a Russian-led military bloc should take steps to ensure future attempts to interfere in the region failed.“The events in Kazakhstan are not the first and far from the last attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of our states from the outside,” said the Russian president, who was speaking at a video conference of leaders of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military alliance that deployed around 2,500 troops to Kazakhstan this week at the request of Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Continue reading...

Outbreak comes as country also prepares for lunar new year holiday, when millions of people normally travel to see family

Nightingale hubs being created at some hospitals as part of a move to provide up to 4,000 extra beds

Scott Morrison says 5,097 people in Australian hospitals have Covid; NSW records 20,293 new cases and 18 deaths; Victoria reports 34,808 cases and two deaths, Queensland 9,581 cases, SA 4,024 cases, ACT 938, NT 404, WA three; Mark McGowan says federal government has not met vaccine commitments for WA. Follow all the day’s news live

After a successful reopening, Covid-19 has yet again forced many hit shows to either take a hiatus or close for good but industry insiders are optimisticAt the curtain call, Hugh Jackman put his arm around Kathy Voytko, an understudy suddenly thrust into the role of leading lady Marian Paroo in The Music Man.“Kathy, when she turned up to work at 12 o’clock, could have played any of eight roles,” Jackman, who plays Harold Hill in the musical, told the cheering audience. “it happened to be the leading lady. She found out at 12 noon today and, at 1 o’clock, she had her very first rehearsal as Marian Paroo.” Continue reading...

What started as a Facebook page is now an investigative news operation with millions of readers a dayIt was 7.55am one February day in 2018 when members of an elite Italian police squad raided the Naples office of small news website. The previous day it had revealed links between elected politicians and organised groups in an illegal waste dumping racket, and its staff already at their desks looked on incredulously as the officers searched through their files.The story sent shock waves through the political establishment and helped make fanpage.it what it is today: one of Italy’s most successful news sites. Continue reading...

President urges rescheduling of payments amid food and electricity rationing after pandemic hit tourism sectorCash-strapped Sri Lanka has sought to reschedule its huge Chinese debt burden in talks with visiting foreign minister Wang Yi, the president’s office said.“The president pointed out that it would be a great relief if debt payments could be rescheduled in view of the economic crisis following the pandemic,” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said in a statement on Sunday. Continue reading...

20-year-olds contemplate an uncertain future shaped by the coronavirus pandemic and Japan’s skewed demographicsOn the second Monday in January every year, Japan’s 20-year-olds put on their best kimono and suits, brave the winter chill and congregate at event halls across the country to celebrate their official passage into adulthood.In happier times, Coming of Age Day is a time to reunite with old school friends from the same neighbourhood and take endless commemorative photos, knowing that a party invariably involving the legal consumption of alcohol will be just reward for sitting through dreary speeches by local dignitaries. Continue reading...

A fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying hundreds of homes, according to officials and witnesses, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.The blaze hit Camp 16 in Cox’s Bazar, a border district home to more than a million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.Mohammed Shamsud Douza, a Bangladeshi government official in charge of refugees, said emergency workers had brought the fire under control. The cause of the blaze has not been established, he added

Monday: Novak Djokovic’s court hearing begins as tennis star fights to stay in Australia. Plus: is the ballerina’s tutu out of date?Good morning. A bid to delay Novak Djokovic’s visa hearing has been rejected. Federal and state governments scramble as Covid cases spike. A momentous week of diplomacy gets under way in Europe as Ukraine’s fate hangs in the balance.A bid by the Morrison government to delay Novak Djokovic’s visa hearing by two days has been rejected by the federal circuit court. In an order, published on Sunday, judge Anthony Kelly rejected the move which would have delayed the hearing until Wednesday – after Tennis Australia’s stated deadline to include the world No 1 in the Australian Open draw. But legal experts have warned even with the hearing proceeding on Monday, there is no guarantee Djokovic could secure a court order restoring his visa in time to play. The Serbian star could also face his visa being revoked again on fresh grounds. Continue reading...

Court filing before Monday’s hearing says there is no such thing as an assurance of entry for a non-citizen and Djokovic’s visa could be cancelled again even if he wins in courtDjokovic pictured maskless at public event one day after positive Covid testLawyers for Australia’s Department of Home Affairs have insisted Novak Djokovic was never given any assurances his medical exemption would allow him to enter Australia.While also confirming that the world No 1 is unvaccinated, the legal team from the Australian government said ahead of Monday’s appeal hearing that there is no valid reason for Djokovic to be granted access to Australia for the tournament which begins on 17 January. Continue reading...

The ‘exceptional find’ was discovered only feet from a badger’s den in the northern region of AsturiasA trove of 209 Roman coins in a cave in northern Spain – hailed by researchers as an “exceptional find” – is believed to have been uncovered by a badger desperately foraging for food.The coins, dating from between the third and fifth century AD, were spotted in a cave in the municipality of Grado in the northern region of Asturias. They were found mere feet from the den of a badger, months after Storm Filomena dumped heavy snow across swaths of the country. Continue reading...

Hundreds of homes destroyed by blaze in area that is home to at least a million people who fled military crackdown in MyanmarA fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying hundreds of homes, according to officials and witnesses, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.The blaze hit Camp 16 in Cox’s Bazar, a border district home to more than a million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. Continue reading...

Singer says 17-year-old left hospital while ‘on suicide watch’ and condemns Irish health service and family agencySinéad O’Connor has criticised the Irish authorities after the death of her 17-year-old son, Shane, whom she alleges left hospital while “on suicide watch”.The singer announced the news of Shane’s death on social media on Saturday, writing: “My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God. Continue reading...

Lang worked with Artie Kornfeld, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman to stage epic counterculture event in farmland north of New York

Researchers attribute 20,890 cases – compared with 17,140 documented up to 22 December – to spread of Omicron variant

Human rights advocate Princess Basmah, a critic of the crown prince’s crackdown on dissent, was imprisoned without charge in 2019A Saudi princess and human rights advocate has returned to her home in Jeddah after three years in a state prison without charge, her supporters and lawyer have confirmed.Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, 57, a staunch critic of her cousin and Saudi Arabia’s effective leader, Mohammed bin Salman, was released on Saturday, along with her daughter, Souhoud al-Sharif, who was arrested with her in March 2019. Continue reading...

A standout 2021 episode reflecting on the 20-year anniversary of the Tampa affair. Afghan refugee Abbas Nazari, then a seven-year-old child on the MV Tampa, and Guardian journalist David Marr remember the humanitarian and political crisis that shapes Australia’s policies on asylum seekers and their claims to this dayRead more: Continue reading...

NSW and Tasmania fear the controversial federal bill could override their state-based anti-discrimination laws

Man, 25, fears he will be killed after fleeing forcible conscription into Bashar al-Assad’s army in 2017The Home Office has told a Syrian asylum seeker he can return to the country he fled during the war because it is safe to do so, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind.The 25-year-old asylum seeker sought sanctuary in the UK in May 2020. He fled forcible conscription into Bashar al-Assad’s army in 2017, saying that he would have been forced to kill other Syrians. He said that if he is forced back to Syria he will be targeted as a draft evader, arrested, detained and killed. Continue reading...

Almaty and other cities calm after violent protests, but authorities say ‘counterterrorist operation’ still underwayAuthorities in Kazakhstan have said 164 people were killed in the unrest that rocked the country in the past week, including three children.The health ministry said 103 of the deaths were in Almaty, the country’s largest city and the centre of the violence. Continue reading...

More than 13,000 sign petition backing Tracey Scholes, who was dismissed after 34 years of serviceMore than 13,000 people have joined a campaign to support one of Greater Manchester’s first female bus drivers who was dismissed for being “too short”.When Tracey Scholes, 57, walked into Manchester’s Queen’s Road depot in 1987 as the first, and only, woman, she said “you could have heard a pin drop”. Continue reading...

Head of King’s College NHS trust concerned that 10% of 14,000 workers are not fully vaccinated

Former Brexit minister also calls for shake-up of Boris Johnson’s advisory team in first major interview since resigning from cabinetBoris Johnson’s former Brexit minister who quit last month has warned him to commit to low taxes and the free market or risk losing the next election, as the prime minister comes under continuing pressure from the Conservative right.David Frost, a former lobbyist whom Johnson made his chief Brexit negotiator and later gave a peerage, said in his first major interview since quitting as a cabinet minister that the Tories needed to “focus on rebuilding the nation and be proud of our history”. Continue reading...

Chief of Scottish parents’ organisation says health and wellbeing survey ‘not fit for purpose’Scotland’s largest parents’ organisation is calling for the SNP government to withdraw its schools’ health and wellbeing census, which has attracted opprobrium for asking 14-year-olds about their experience of anal sex.The controversial poll has united rightwing pro-family campaigners and progressive children’s rights advocates, with both groups fearing it may end up causing harm to the young people it intends to help. Continue reading...

Government refusal to link carbon market to EU’s has led to higher cost for British businessesBritish businesses are paying substantially more to produce carbon dioxide than their EU rivals because of the government’s refusal to link the UK carbon market to the bigger European market after Brexit.The difference is putting UK industry at a significant competitive disadvantage to European rivals, at a time of soaring energy prices, but does not result in any additional benefit to the environment. Continue reading...