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Senior white executives are accused of discriminating against BAME Kenyan-born staffThe British Council has launched an inquiry into allegations from black current and former staff members in Kenya who claim they were subjected to systemic racism.Senior white executives at the organisation, which is the British government’s cultural arm abroad, have been accused of discriminating against BAME Kenyan-born staff, particularly as they were selected and assessed for redundancy.A programme manager who worked at the British Council from August 2014 to 2019 who claimed they were put at risk of redundancy without adequate explanation.Another complainant claimed they resigned as a senior official of the Kenyan office’s welfare association after a white executive frustrated efforts to channel staff concerns to the senior leadership team. “Staff have no confidence raising concerns through HR … for fear of being victimised,” the complainant said.A manager for the professional skills centre in Kenya who claimed they were among a number of black employees who were unfairly targeted for redundancy. Continue reading...

PM rejects claim relative lack of restrictions in England is a gamble but says it would be ‘absolute folly’ to believe threat has passed

Mary, 62, and Roy, 70, met in Michigan after she accidentally crashed her bike into his – and broke her jaw. They’re now married and live in St LouisWhen Mary moved from Bedfordshire in the UK to Michigan in the US on a Fulbright scholarship in 1985, she wasn’t expecting to find love. Her mind was focused on the nutrition course she had enrolled on and her plans for a future career. In the spring of 1986, she was cycling home from a meeting with her tutor when she approached a fence covered in ivy. Roy, who had been pushing his bike, emerged from behind the fence before she had the chance to stop. “I hit his wheel and, because my hands were cold and I was wearing a backpack, I went sailing over the handlebars,” she remembers. “I landed on my chin and broke my jaw on the concrete.”In typical British fashion, she told him she was “absolutely fine”, but Roy says it was clear she was badly hurt. “My apartment was pretty close by so I got my roommate to drive her to the university health centre,” he says. The next day, Mary had to have her jaw wired shut, meaning she couldn’t eat solid food for three months. “Roy came to my apartment with some juice to suck through a straw. He said that when my jaw was unwired he would make me dinner,” she recalls. Although it was an accident, Roy felt “terrible” about what happened. “I was really concerned about her,” he says.Want to share your story? Tell us a little about yourself, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here. Continue reading...

Israel’s PM made announcement in response to Omicron surge; Americans travelling to France without vaccination must isolate for 10 days

Exclusive: Labour party research also finds black children at least twice as likely to grow up poor as white childrenMore than half of black children in the UK are now growing up in poverty, a new analysis of official data has revealed.Black children are also now more than twice as likely to be growing up poor as white children, according to the Labour party research, which was based on government figures for households that have a “relative low income” – defined as being below 60% of the median, the standard definition for poverty. Continue reading...

Monday: NSW’s Covid positive rate hit 20% on Sunday as Australia recorded 32,000 new cases. Plus: this year’s top Aussie flicksGood morning and happy new year! It’s nice to be back in your inbox and we hope you stayed safe and had a lovely festive season. The year is off to a tumultuous start with many states reporting record Covid infections and growing hospitalisations, compounded by concerns about the availability of tests. But there is some hope, with new studies indicating the Omicron variant currently spreading around the world is less severe than its predecessors.Australia recorded 32,000 new Covid cases on Sunday, and the positivity rate reached 20.3%, meaning one in five people tested had Covid. The figure is well above the 5% the WHO says is needed to keep the spread of Covid under control. So what does a 20% rate mean for Australia? Here’s our explainer. There were 1,066 people in hospital with Covid on Sunday – an 18% increase a day after the number had already doubled between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. The number of PCR tests in NSW dropped by almost 30,000 in 24 hours after the government encouraged people not to line up unless they had symptoms or were a close contact. Victoria’s health minister is expected to make an announcement in the coming days on widening access to rapid antigen tests after extreme heat caused the closure of eight of the state’s testing sites on Saturday, blowing out queues and test result wait times. Continue reading...

Police say suspect arrested inside building over blaze that spread from oldest wing of national assemblyA man is due to appear in court on Tuesday after a massive fire tore through South Africa’s national assembly building.An investigation has been opened into the blaze that started at about 3am on Sunday in the parliament complex’s oldest wing, which was completed in 1884 and has wood-panelled rooms. Continue reading...

Exclusive: sponsorship unacceptable given concern about human rights in China, says Robert HaywardA Tory peer has vowed to lead a boycott of Coca-Cola products over the company’s sponsorship of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, saying its bid to profit from an event organised by the Chinese government was shameless.Robert Hayward, who was a founding chairman of the world’s first gay rugby club and a former personnel manager for Coca-Cola Bottlers, said it was unacceptable for firms to help to boost the use of the Winter Games as a propaganda exercise given concerns over the treatment of 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang province. Continue reading...

As the term begins and masks return to England’s classrooms, schools rely on vaccines, testing and hygiene

She had been ‘catfished’ for years, and now her hit podcast tells the story of tracing the scammer and her quest for justiceThe voice of Kirat Assi, subject of the podcast Sweet Bobby, is so familiar I momentarily forget we had never spoken, let alone met. I am one of the million-plus listeners gripped by her story of being “catfished” – duped into a relationship by someone with a false identity.Assi, who lives in London, fell victim to a complex fraud that lasted eight years and involved up to 60 characters who only existed in the scammer’s warped imagination. At the centre was Bobby, a handsome cardiologist with whom Assi formed a close friendship that turned into romance despite never meeting in real life. Bobby was a real person whose identity had been stolen by the scammer, eventually exposed as Assi’s cousin Simran Bhogal. Continue reading...

She’s New York’s most in-demand fashion designer. But for Gabriela Hearst, starting out on a remote Uruguayan ranch has proved to be her most valuable experienceHang on, wait there a minute, I want to show you something,” says Gabriela Hearst, hopping up from her chair in her airy Manhattan office and reaching for something on the shelves in the background of her Zoom frame. “These are my journals from when I was 16 or 17 – let me check the date, um 1993, yes I was 17 and look!” She flattens a page full of colourful teenage drawings and holds it up to the camera: “I designed a whole freaking shoe collection!”That these journals remain within reaching distance of the fashion designer’s desk in her Chelsea studio is testament to the fact that despite the success she has achieved, Hearst never forgets where she came from. As creative director of her award-winning brand, founded in 2015, and a year into the same prestigious role at the fashion house Chloé, it would be an understatement to say that Hearst is hot property in the fashion world right now. Continue reading...

Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv makes history with three-year posting at Bologna’s Teatro ComunaleA female conductor will take the helm at an Italian opera house for the first time in January.The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn she was making history after receiving the offer from the Teatro Comunale opera house in Bologna. The 43-year-old begins the three-year posting as musical director on 22 January. Continue reading...

The journalist behind those ‘explainer’ videos on seeing his No 10 Christmas party video go viral, being a drum’n’bass DJ and wearing ‘an awful lot’ of blueRos Atkins, 47, grew up in Cornwall and the Caribbean before reading history at Cambridge. His BBC career began on Radio 5 Live shortly after 9/11. He now presents Outside Source on the BBC News Channel and recently went viral for his “explainer” videos, broadcast on BBC Breakfast and posted online. He lives in south London with his wife and two daughters.How are you finding newfound fame?

From London to San Francisco, haute cuisine is joining the food revolution. Michelin-starred chefs explain they’re going meat-freeAlexis Gauthier used to sell 20kg of foie gras a week. Now the chef, whose London-based restaurant became entirely vegan in 2021, only sells a plant-based version. Since becoming vegan, he admits, Gauthier Soho has “lost a lot of customers, sadly”. But he says he has gained even more new diners, all looking for something different and sustainable and prepared to pay the price.Gauthier is not the only chef to abandon the animal produce traditionally associated with fine dining. While the number of meat-free menus has been burgeoning for some time in lower- and mid-priced restaurants, now a growing number of the world’s top chefs are starting to put plants centre stage. Continue reading...

Yoga, mud baths and liver compresses… Welcome to the world of luxury wellness and long Covid. Amelia Tait reports on the extreme wealth divide in the search for a cureUnderneath the shadow of the snow-topped Austrian Alps, in front of a forest of thick green trees and behind a pure azure lake, sits a sprawling chalet that has seen everyone from Kate Moss to Michael Gove pass through its wide glass doors. The VivaMayr health resort in Altaussee, Austria, has long been the picturesque home of celebrity detoxes – strict bans on caffeine and alcohol, combined with stricter rules about the number of times you need to chew your food (40, naturally) have helped numerous celebrity clientele lose weight. The detoxing might sound harsh, but tranquillity oozes through the resort’s Instagram page, where enchanting mists tickle thick evergreen trees and women pose with mugs in sleek, pine interiors. It’s not the image that comes to mind when you think “long-Covid clinic”, but it is one. For £2,700 a week (excluding accommodation), sufferers can attend VivaMayr’s post-Covid medical programme, which promises a “better quality of life”.There is currently no cure for long Covid – the condition in which individuals continue to suffer Covid-19 symptoms for months after first being infected – but there are plenty of treatments. There is an entire network of specialist NHS long-Covid clinics across the United Kingdom – here, patients can undergo rehabilitative programmes to help them improve their stamina, breathing and cognitive functions (for many, long Covid is characterised by fatigue, breathlessness, and concentration problems). Yet in September, the Office for National Statistics estimated that 1.1 million people in the UK currently suffer with long Covid, while between July and August, only 5,737 people were referred to specialist NHS clinics. With the Omicron variant threatening more lives, there’s a gap in the market for long-Covid care, and plenty of private practitioners are happy to fill it – for a price. Continue reading...

BoM warns of ‘astronomical’ high tides and issues severe weather warnings from Coffs harbour to Fraser coastDangerous surf and abnormally high tides have closed popular beaches as Tropical Cyclone Seth dominates off Australia’s eastern coast.Forecasters say heavy rain may lash south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales this week, with Seth churning about 700km to the north-east of Brisbane on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading...

Our charity appeal has already raised £637,000. In Lake Victoria, training on smart agriculture methods is creating new livelihoods• Help support those on the frontline of the climate emergency• Donate to our charity appeal hereThe harsh midday sun beats down on the withering pawpaw plants in Maureen Adhiambo’s patch of land.The villagers in Kamenya have not seen rain for months, and when it does come, the soil is too dry and loose to retain any of the moisture or nutrients. Last year Adhiambo saw her maize dry up long before it could mature. Like many farmers in the Homa Bay region, on the south bank of Kenya’s Lake Victoria, she is staring at yet another cycle of crop failure. Continue reading...

NSW hospitalisations rise 18% in one day to 1,066 as state records 18,278 cases and two deaths; Victoria records 7,172 cases and three deaths, Queensland 3,587 cases, South Australia 2,298, the ACT 506 and Tasmania 404. This blog is now closed

A new book recounts one woman’s struggle to find looted art – and then convince a major museum to give it backFresh proof that the Nazis set up fake auctions and phoney paperwork to disguise their looting of art and valuable possessions has been uncovered by an amateur sleuth researching her own family mystery.French writer Pauline Baer de Perignon’s investigation has revealed the fate of a missing collection of art that included work by Monet, Renoir and Degas and also exposed the reluctance of Europe’s leading museums to accept evidence of the deceit. Continue reading...

The renowned editor wittily explores the appeal of the actor, whose ability to charm and mystify mesmerised admirers – until her abrupt retirement in the age of the ‘bombshell’In more innocent or credulous days, the faithful sat in the dark to gaze at strange beings with detachable heads who were actually phantasms of light. Among the stars in this custom-made galaxy, the most alluring and yet the most distant was Greta Garbo, whose persona alternated between carnal heat and ascetic frost. After wickedly enticing her male victims in The Temptress, she redeemed herself as the dying courtesan in Camille; in Queen Christina, she was exalted by sacrifice and in a last mesmerising closeup all emotion blankly drained from her face as she renounced the throne and sailed into exile.Gradually this astral creature edged down to Earth. Publicists issued an excited proclamation when Garbo talked for the first time on screen in Anna Christie, even though she began by gruffly demanding a whisky in a waterfront bar. In Ninotchka, she made headlines all over again by contorting her alabaster features in a sudden fit of laughter. Continue reading...

Six opposition parties have united behind Péter Márki-Zay for crucial spring voteWhen Hungarian opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay was in Brussels at the end of last year, he visited the street where an MEP from prime minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling party, Fidesz, had fled down a drainpipe to evade a police raid on a “gay orgy” that broke lockdown rules. The MEP, who later resigned, had been an architect of a clause in Hungary’s constitution defining marriage as a heterosexual institution. The drainpipe visit was easy political capital for Márki-Zay, seeking to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the governing party, while stressing his commitment to LGBT rights and conservative credentials.It’s the kind of move that has discombobulated Fidesz, who weren’t expecting to face this kind of challenge in Hungary’s parliamentary elections in spring 2022. Continue reading...

You seem to be making yourself ‘right’ and your daughter’s dad ‘wrong’ – with her a pawn in this fight. Don’t be in league with her against himThe question My teenage daughter has been depressed for 18 months. During the past two years, I have been in the process of separating from her dad and their relationship has deteriorated to the extent that when we move apart she says she no longer wants to see him. She is not attending school and is struggling to engage with learning despite it being an important exam year. I have taken a step back and, together with the school, we have allowed her to only go in when she can, maybe for an hour or two.Her father sees this as giving in and allowing her to be “lazy” and says giving her this freedom means she will just take advantage. According to him, she needs more structure and discipline, and she needs to get used to the fact that pressure is a part of life. It feels as if he can’t acknowledge that she is depressed, despite her GP confirming this to be the case. I can see she has started to respond well to having the pressure taken off. Continue reading...

The fate of the defector is unknown after they crossed the heavily fortified border between the two KoreasA South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea’s military has said.Years of repression and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee to the South in the decades since Korean war hostilities ended with an armistice, but crossings in the other direction are extremely rare.Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Continue reading...

Primary school pupils run free in shorts while a secondary school has gone ahead with uniform changes despite protestsIt’s break time at Valayanchirangara primary school and the pupils run freely beneath the mango trees and palms. Girls race against the boys, hitching up their knee-length shorts, cargo green for girls and teal blue for boys, as they go.It’s been three years since this small government primary school introduced gender-neutral uniforms for its pupils, and in doing so set in motion a quiet revolution that is now sweeping across the south Indian state of Kerala. Continue reading...

The anti-apartheid hero requested an eco-friendly cremation, which uses water instead of flames to process the remainsThe body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu will undergo aquamation, an increasingly popular and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation methods, using water instead of fire.With aquamation, or “alkaline hydrolysis”, the body of the deceased is immersed for three to four hours in a mixture of water and a strong alkali, such as potassium hydroxide, in a pressurised metal cylinder and heated to around 150C. Continue reading...

Teens and younger adults helping fuel record cases in US; England records 162,572 cases and 154 deaths

Advice to secondary schools issued amid concerns over new term spike in Covid cases and Keir Starmer calls for more test kits

Public sector leaders told to prepare for worst case scenario after record numbers of daily infections

Surfing brings joy to millions and is the lifeblood of many towns. But around the country, the beaches that make it possible are under threatThere’s a reason surfers like to keep their best breaks a secret.For decades, wave riders have blazed a trail into little-known coastal towns – and in their wake come the planners and developers. Continue reading...

Photographer Serge Anton has updated his great-grandfather’s home and made it his ownHaving spent three decades travelling the world, enjoying a nomadic lifestyle, French-Belgian photographer Serge Anton finally felt the need to settle down. And he found his personal oasis of quiet in a house he inherited, a retreat called Mon Desir. Built by his great-grandfather about a century ago in Sedan, in the heart of the French Ardennes, the house sits in a landscape full of calm – a million miles from any stress, with trees and green views wherever you look.“At first the name [which translates as “my desire”] did not particularly inspire me and it was only later I discovered how appropriate it was for me. After 30 years of travelling, I realised the house embodied a pure and strong desire: that of settling down and returning to my roots,” says Anton. Continue reading...

The singer-songwriter on Balenciaga’s visions, the mountains of North Carolina, and the haunting power of Eve’s BayouSinger-songwriter Moses Sumney, 29, grew up between Ghana and California and studied creative writing and poetry at UCLA. His piercing falsetto and genre-defying music have brought him critical acclaim, starting with his self-recorded 2014 EP Mid-City Island, followed in 2017 by his debut album, Aromanticism, and the 2020 double album Græ. Sumney has collaborated with musicians including Bon Iver and James Blake and toured with Solange and Sufjan Stevens. His latest project is Blackalachia, a self-directed concert film created in association with WePresent, shot over two days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, where he lives. Continue reading...

Partygoers gather in city centres across the country to welcome 2022 in contrast to quiet ChristmasEngland’s New Year’s Eve celebrations on Friday were not quite the damp squib many were expecting, with partygoers taking to city centres across the country to celebrate the end of 2021.In Leeds, queues of revellers lined the streets, in stark contrast to the Christmas period, when the city centre had been virtually empty because of concerns over the highly infectious Omicron variant. Continue reading...

Relatives and clergy members at the funeral for Desmond Tutu paid tribute to the Nobel peace prize-winning equality activist, who was revered in Africa for his role in ending apartheid. Tutu's small plain pine coffin, the cheapest available at his request to avoid any ostentatious displays, was the centre of the service, which also is featuring African choirs, prayers and incense

Ceremony takes place in cathedral the South African cleric and Nobel laureate turned into centre of struggle against racial injusticeJust after noon, as the voices of the choir filled the cathedral, the mourners stood, bowed their heads in the direction of the plain wooden casket and then filed out on to Cape Town’s streets.The requiem mass for Desmond Tutu, who died aged 90 six days ago, had lasted much of the morning, long enough for a celebration of a life that has inspired tens of millions around the world, a final farewell from his compatriots, and for the unexpected rainclouds that had shrouded his home city overnight to clear. Continue reading...

Regulations likely to result in higher prices and shortages for delis and othersAfter a few minutes in the queue spent eyeing up the best on offer at the local deli, it is decision time.Maybe some of the wonderful Parma ham from Italy? With a few slices of Spanish chorizo? And a piece of brie from that farm in Normandy… oh, and definitely some of the black olives from Greece. Continue reading...

Celebrating mass in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Francis, 85, says violence against women is insult to GodPope Francis used his new year’s message to call for an end to violence against women, saying it was an insult to God.Celebrating mass in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, on the day the Roman Catholic church marks both the solemnity of Holy Mary Mother of God as well as its annual World Day of Peace, Francis wove his New Year’s homily around the themes of motherhood and women, saying it was they who kept the threads of life together. Continue reading...

Hiring out patches of land for people to let their cooped-up pets run wild is a godsend for owners – and a bonus for farmersTwice a week, in rural Cambridgeshire, Rebecca Lee hires a private field for her dog, Moscow, to run about in for an hour. “Moscow is the world’s most difficult dog,” she said. “If you’ve got a dog like him, who is reactive – he barks and lunges at stuff, mostly because he’s actually quite fearful – then every walk can be traumatic.”By contrast, when she rents the field, she can relax, knowing they are not going to encounter any of Moscow’s “triggers”. These include other dogs, bikes, cars and children. Continue reading...

The singer-songwriter recreates an old photo and talks about tinted glasses, cancer surgery and dealing with lecherous menBorn in Chicago in 1968 and raised in New York, Anastacia Lyn Newkirk is the multiplatinum star known for her mezzo-soprano voice. Anastacia became one of the best-selling female singers of the early noughties with her debut album Not That Kind – featuring the career-defining I’m Outta Love. She went on to release six more albums and had No 1 hits in more than 20 countries. She was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in 2013, 10 years after the first, and has the heart condition supraventricular tachycardia. Her 20th anniversary tour, I’m Outta Lockdown, arrives in the UK in autumn 2022.This was taken in 2000, and I’m almost positive I was in France, promoting something. Looking at it now, I see a little cherub face and a girl who did her own hair and bought her own clothes. In my head I looked really fancy in my shrug, princess fur and T-shirt. And those white pants! I thought white was the colour of fancy people. Continue reading...

Police arrest 39-year-old man at scene in Rowley Regis on suspicion of drug drivingA 14-year-old girl has died in a New Year’s Eve crash, which led to the arrest of a suspected drug-driver.West Midlands police said the teenager was hit by a grey Mercedes in Rowley Regis at about 4.45pm. Continue reading...

We talk to five people about their money aims for 2022, whether it is saving more or donating to charityMoney plays a key role in many people’s new year’s resolutions to change their lifestyle, so we asked five people to tell us about their financial goals for 2022 and how they plan to achieve them.The rising cost of living and the uncertainty over the pandemic are just two of the challenges that people are having to deal with, so what are some of the things that individuals are planning to do differently this year? Continue reading...

Health secretary acknowledges at same time that there will be ‘big increase’ in number of Covid patients over next month

A woman in her 30s held under Mental Health Act after police were called to property in Limeside areaA woman has been detained following the death of a child in Oldham.Greater Manchester police said officers were called by the ambulance service at about 6.20pm on Friday to an incident at a property on in the Limeside area. Continue reading...

New writing from Ali Smith, Marlon James, Elena Ferrante and Jarvis Cocker – a taste of good things to come Continue reading...

The perfect sustenance: black-eyed peas with allspice, lamb noodles with sesame sprinkle, and hot-and-sour soup with cabbage and beansproutsThere are not many certainties in life, but one thing I do know is that any recipe column published on 1 January is going to be full of ideas for soups and broths. We all want dishes that sustain and nurture on day one of a shiny, new year, to warm our hands as much as our souls. And it’s brothy soups I want right now, where the liquid element feels almost medicinal, and just what we need to power up and prepare for the year ahead.UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from OcadoUK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado Continue reading...

We asked the Guardian’s 1m supporters to make their predictions for the year ahead. Here’s what they saidBoris Johnson steps down, to be replaced by David Frost – or Jeremy Hunt, or Michael Gove, or Peppa Pig. French presidential elections are beset by civil unrest over pandemic restrictions. Russia mounts some kind of incursion in eastern Ukraine. China waits for an opportune moment to overrun Taiwan.And the world runs out of Greek letters to attach to Covid variants. Continue reading...

Latest updates as fireworks and parties make a comeback around the world following a year of lockdowns and new variants

Doctors say change in policy could put patients at higher risk of catching Covid, but it may be only way of fixing staffing crisis

The actor’s career spanned more than 80 years – but it was her role as Rose Nylund in the 1980s sitcom that cemented her statusBetty White, the actor best known for roles in sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, has died aged 99.White died at her home on Friday morning, just two weeks before she would have turned 100. Her agent Jeff Witjas told People magazine: “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live for ever.” Joe Biden led tributes, praising the star as a “cultural icon”. Continue reading...

Elections in Hong Kong, France and Brazil, independence milestones, Abba gigs and Cop27France assumes European Council presidency.The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade deal, comes into force.Full border controls on UK imports from the EU to be introduced.Germany takes over the G7 presidency.France brings in ban on plastic packaging for many fruits and vegetablesNational Security and Investment Act comes into force in UK.Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.Golden Globes ceremony.Davos World Economic Forum was scheduled to start, but has now been postponed to the summer because of the Omicron variant of Covid 19Celtic Connections in Glasgow.Holocaust Memorial Day.Australian Open tennis in Melbourne.Women’s Ashes.Portuguese parliamentary election.Bloody Sunday 50th anniversary.Grammys ceremony.Joe Biden’s first state of the union.Nasa to send an uncrewed flight around the moon.Lunar new year. The year of the tiger begins.UK monetary policy committee holds first interest rate meeting of the year, after hiking rates in December amid concerns over rising inflation.Beijing Winter Olympics.Six Nations Championship begins.The Queen celebrates her platinum jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne.Brit awards.Super Bowl LVI, in Inglewood, California.Latest IPCC working group report due on impact of climate crisis.Rio carnival. Continue reading...