World news | The Guardian

Foreign affairs committee inquiry could help determine why it took six years to secure releaseAn inquiry into why the British government took more than 30 years to pay a £400m debt to the Iranian government that was deemed fundamental to the release of British-Iranian dual nationals held in Iranian jails is to be mounted by the foreign affairs select committee.The decision was taken in principle by the committee on Monday, a committee source said, but will not start until Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and any other former prisoners feel ready to provide evidence. Continue reading...

Jacob Elliott and Allan Fares have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder over 2019 nightclub shooting

Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein told police officer tax evasion case could kill Tory’s careerZac Goldsmith faces fresh questions about his involvement in a multimillion-pound tax evasion scheme in Spain after a family friend was secretly recorded trying to enlist a police officer to help “resolve” the case.The family friend, businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, the ex-lover of Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, was recorded telling the senior police officer the Conservative politician’s career would be “dead” if details of the case became public. Continue reading...

Business minister Paul Scully says firm could face ‘unlimited fine’ if it has flouted lawsP&O Ferries could face prosecution over the sacking of 800 workers, business minister Paul Scully warned ahead of a government ultimatum to the company.The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said he will review all government contracts and dealings with the company and its owners, DP World. Continue reading...

Committee says current moves towards ‘gender responsive budgeting’ should go further

Exact cause of issue which left many users unable to access sites for an hour is under investigation

But experts warn again accelerating ‘an upward spiral towards a less stable and more risky space environment’

Maher Maaroufe will appear in court in London on Tuesday over death of 19-year-old in student accommodationA 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of teenager Sabita Thanwani, who was found dead at student accommodation in London.Maher Maaroufe, 22, of no fixed address, has been charged with 19-year-old Thanwani’s murder as well as assaulting an emergency worker, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: documents seen by the Guardian prove Assad minister’s boast that evading financial sanctions has ‘become a Syrian craft’The Syrian regime is setting up shell companies in a systematic attempt to avoid sanctions, according to official documents obtained by the Guardian.The documents, not publicly available, detail at least three companies established in Syria on the same day with the explicit purpose of operating as a shell to buy shares and manage other companies. Continue reading...

Tanya Davies says her government needs to end vaccine mandates, sparking criticism from Labor

Frontal system will move through Sydney, form a line of storms across the Hunter Valley and mid-north coast before moving north

Philip Lowe hopes inflation spike a one-off caused by supply chain disruption and soaring oil prices due to Ukraine invasion

City of Shenyang has barred residents from leaving without a 48-hour negative test result and put all housing compounds under ‘closed management’

Images of thousands of sites dating from 1919 to the present day made available to viewEver wondered what your road or area looked like 50 or 100 years ago? Historic England is launching an aerial photography tool that allows users to explore images of England over the past century.The bird’s eye views range from second world war defences and nuclear power stations to the remains of neolithic monuments, Roman farmsteads and medieval villages. Continue reading...

Analysis: Putin’s ally needs to show enemies at home and abroad his strength, but needs his forces intact to prop up his brutal ruleRussia’s invasion of Ukraine is primarily Vladimir Putin’s war, but if there is a second man whose name and reputation will be tied to the devastation unleashed by Moscow it is Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.His fighters were part of the first wave assault on the country, and died in large numbers around the Hostomel airbase, with one key commander among those killed. Continue reading...

Celebrity chef says lockdowns have been ‘devastating’ for industry but upside is ‘crap is gone’The celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has said it is good that the Covid-19 pandemic wiped the slate clean of “crap” restaurants.In an interview with the former shadow chancellor Ed Balls in Radio Times, Ramsay argues that while the past two years have been “devastating” for the restaurant industry, the upside is “the crap’s gone”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Caroline Dinenage given approval to take up nonexecutive role at care home developer owned by Tory donorA Conservative MP and former social care minister has signed up for a second job working as a director for a care home developer, just months after Boris Johnson promised a crackdown on outside earnings.Caroline Dinenage asked for formal approval to take up a job as a nonexecutive at LNT Group, a developer of new care homes owned by Tory donor Lawrence Tomlinson. Continue reading...

As prices rise, there are warnings president could face another protest movement like gilets jaunesOutside Lidl, Isabelle Martin, a childminder from a village in Creuse, in central France, was loading discounted eggs, sugar and milk into her car. With prices rising, the 55-year-old couldn’t stretch to a full trolley and could rarely afford to drive to Guéret, her nearest town.“I’m constantly thinking about my bank balance,” she said. At home she turned lights off and cut heating, and she never filled her car’s petrol tank completely “because the cost would be too much of a shock”. Continue reading...

Survivors Against Terror to tell Priti Patel that victims should be given minimum guarantees of supportA group of people who survived or were bereaved by terrorist attacks is due to meet the home secretary on Tuesday to call for a state-funded support scheme.Brendan Cox, widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox and co-founder of the Survivors Against Terror (SAT), will tell Priti Patel that granting terror victims minimum guarantees of support should be a key part of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Former NSW deputy premier abused at shopping centre, called ‘corrupt’ and sworn at in front of daughter, court hears

Whereabouts of children taken by the military since the 2021 coup are mostly unknown, according to Naw Susanna Hla Hla SoeHundreds of children have been detained by the Myanmar military since it seized power more than one year ago, with many held ransom by soldiers and police who are seeking to arrest their relatives, according to a minister of the country’s National Unity Government.Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, minister of Women, Youths and Children Affairs Ministry in the NUG, which was formed last year by elected lawmakers to challenge the junta, said 287 children under the age of 18 had been detained since 1 February 2021. Most had been held in police station detention centres, and some in prisons. Continue reading...

Charcoal from ancient campfires suggests Australia’s floral emblem helped Indigenous people survive harsh changes in climate

Refugees ‘very happy’ with declaration, while experts say ‘concrete steps’ must followRohingya refugees in Bangladesh have welcomed the announcement by the US that it considers the violent repression of their largely Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar a genocide.“We are very happy on the declaration of the genocide; many many thanks,” said 60-year-old Sala Uddin, who lives at Kutupalong camp, one of the many in Cox’s Bazar district that are now home to about 1 million Rohingya. Continue reading...

Member for Kiama charged with sexual offences against a man and a 17-year-old boy

Citizens Advice mystery shopping suggests ‘shocking’ trend, affecting estimated 754,000 people in certain locationsHundreds of thousands of people of colour may be paying an “ethnicity penalty” of at least £280 a year each in higher car insurance costs, an investigation by Citizens Advice has claimed.The national charity said its year-long investigation had uncovered a “shocking trend” of people of colour paying a lot more for motor cover than white people, and that the penalty was up to £950 in some locations. Continue reading...

Survey finds costs have gone up 3.5% for three- to four-year-olds over last year, adding to cost of living crisisBritish parents are finding themselves locked out of work and struggling to make ends meet as rising childcare fees add to the cost of living crisis, according to a survey.Childcare costs have gone up by 3.5% for three to four-year-olds over the last year, while parents are paying 2.5% more for under twos, the survey found. Meanwhile, childcare availability has declined, as the sector grapples with the continuing impact of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Romcom star, who turned the role down in 2004, says he will not be taking over from Jodie WhittakerHugh Grant has dismissed reports that he will be the next actor to play the Doctor, TV’s most famous time traveller, in the BBC’s Doctor Who.The 61-year-old actor, best-known for starring in British romcom films such as Notting Hill, Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral, responded to speculation, first reported by the Daily Mirror, that he was in the running to replace Jodie Whittaker. Continue reading...

Emergency services took the 17-month-old to hospital, but she died as a result of her injuriesA 17-month-old baby has been killed after being attacked by a dog at her home in St Helens.Merseyside police were called to the address on Bidston Avenue in Blackbrook after reports the girl had been attacked. Emergency services attended and took her to hospital but she died as a result of her injuries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tech giant’s transparency report, intended to ‘support election integrity’, did not include ad spending of certain candidates

Small tremors hit the mid-Atlantic group of islands causing officials to trigger emergency plansAbout 1,100 small earthquakes have rattled one of Portugal’s mid-Atlantic volcanic islands in under 48 hours, prompting authorities to activate an emergency plan as experts assess a “seismic crisis”.Rui Marques, head of the Azores archipelago’s seismo-volcanic surveillance centre Civisa, said on Monday the earthquakes, with a magnitude ranging from 1.9 to 3.3, had been recorded on the island of São Jorge since Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Person 17, who is at the centre of an allegation of domestic violence, which Ben Roberts-Smith denies, will enter the witness box

US ambassador in Moscow summoned for an official protest as EU ministers meet to discuss further sanctions

Amnesty says Australian-Iranian Shokrollah Jebeli was subjected to ‘more than two years of torture’An Australian-Iranian man in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.Shokrollah Jebeli,83, who had been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said. Continue reading...

Report also shows women’s participation in workforce lower in areas where children outnumber available places by 3:1 or more

Imran Khan cajoles and threatens his own and opposition lawmakers on eve of no-confidence voteWith a vote of no-confidence looming over his government, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan warned those planning to vote against him that they risk social disgrace, and that “no one will marry your children”.The no-confidence vote is expected to be tabled on Friday 25 March, backed by a coalition of politicians who accuse Khan of bad governance and economic incompetence. In January inflation reached 13% and the cost of fuel and food rocketed. Continue reading...

Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episodeA second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode. Continue reading...

Teenager died at the scene in Green Street, Newham, despite paramedics trying to treat herA 14-year-old girl has died after a crash involving a van while riding an e-scooter in east London.The teenager died of her injuries at the scene, according to the Metropolitan Police. London ambulance service paramedics had tried to treat her following the collision in Green Street, Newham. Continue reading...

Latest updates:Met Police issue Partygate update, saying they have now begun interviewing people on top of the questionnaires sent out

Pathologist details brain trauma and internal damage suffered by five-year-old boyA five-year-old boy who was allegedly murdered by his mother, her partner and a teenager suffered brain trauma, damage to internal organs, internal bleeding and bruising from head to foot, a jury has heard.A pathologist said that some of injuries suffered by Logan Mwangi before his death were so severe that they would have been expected in someone who had been in a road accident or had fallen from a height, while some were days or weeks old. Continue reading...

Woman appears in court accused of killing Nicholas Billingham after his body is found at houseA man whose body was found buried in the back garden of a house in Northampton has been named as Nicholas Billingham, as a primary schoolteacher appeared in court charged with his murder.Fiona Beal, 48, is accused of killing 42-year-old Billingham between 30 October and 10 November last year. Continue reading...

British-Iranian woman criticises UK government for length of time it took to secure her release from Tehran jailNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said she should have been released from detention in Iran six years ago and challenged the British government to explain why they had not paid the $400m (£303m) debt to Iran that Tehran said would bring her release earlier than last week.Speaking publicly for the first time at a press conference since she was released, she described the “black hole” in her heart caused by the detention, and that it was her faith that kept her from losing hope. Continue reading...

Designation could put global pressure on military-led government, which faces accusations at international court of justiceThe US has declared Myanmar’s mass killing of the Rohingya Muslim population to be a “genocide”.The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Continue reading...

Bill allows anyone – even relatives of rapists – to sue abortion providers and empowers investigators to question any woman who loses a pregnancyThe Tennessee state house is considering a “Texas-style” abortion ban that would allow relatives, friends, neighbors and the spouse of a rapist to sue anyone who provides or assists in the provision of abortion services to his victim.The bill, which would ban abortion entirely with no exceptions for rape or incest, cleared one hurdle last week, when a health subcommittee passed it. Continue reading...

State media reports that China Eastern 737 went down near city of Wuzhou, sparking mountainside fireA passenger plane carrying 132 people has crashed in southern China and sparked a mountainside fire, Chinese authorities have reported.The China Eastern Airlines flight, a Boeing 737, crashed near the city of Wuzhou in Teng County, Guangxi province. It had departed from Kunming at 1pm but did not reach its scheduled destination in Guangzhou. Flight tracking data shows the plane dropping from the radar signal to the south-west of Wuzhou shortly before 2.30pm local time. It also suggests the plane fell sharply, losing more than 8,800 metres of altitude in just a few minutes. Continue reading...

Ban on flights from nine countries lifted for fully vaccinated residents and quarantine reduced to seven daysHong Kong will lift a ban on flights from nine countries and reduce hotel quarantine, its leader has announced, alongside a “roadmap” towards eased restrictions that suggest a departure from the territory’s zero-Covid policy.From 1 April, fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents who have received a negative PCR test will be allowed to enter on flights from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and the US. Arrivals have to undergo seven days’ hotel quarantine, down from a previous 14. Continue reading...

Health secretary says ‘vaccine wall of defence’ is helping keep situation stable despite surge in casesThere is “no particular cause for concern” about the UK’s rapidly rising number of Covid cases, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has said, saying that England was demonstrating to the world a successful model for living with the virus.Despite survey data showing almost 5% of the population in England had Covid earlier this month, and record infection levels among the over-70s, Javid said the “wall of defence” from vaccines was keeping the situation stable. Continue reading...

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral held in Melbourne; Morrison and Modi hold virtual summit as new funding for cooperation with India announced; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as new SA premier; at least six Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Industry Super Australia research finds increasing childcare subsidy would reduce gender pay gap and future pension costs

Health survey by Australian Bureau of Statistics also finds young people more likely to binge drink and vape

Novoselytsya residents told to avoid exposure to leakage after the Sumykhimprom facility was shelled