World news | The Guardian

Guardian investigation showed Josh Simons falsely linked journalists to pro-Kremlin' network in emails to GCHQPoliticians from across the spectrum have said a minister should be sacked after a Guardian report that he had accused journalists of having links to Russian intelligence.Their comments came after an investigation showed that Josh Simons, who was running Labour Together at the time, had falsely concluded the journalists had obtained information about the thinktank from a Russian hack. Continue reading...

String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as violent perpetrators'Department of Justice prosecutors across the US have suffered a string of embarrassing defeats in their aggressive pursuit of criminal cases against people accused of assaulting" and impeding" federal officers.In recent months, the federal government has relentlessly prosecuted protesters, government critics, immigrants and others arrested during immigration operations, often accusing them of physically attacking officers or interfering with their duties. Continue reading...

In Britain, the establishment has been shaken to the core by the files. In the US, however, the Epstein class' has faced little legal or political reckoningThe contrast could not be starker. At around 8am on Thursday, British police swooped on the Sandringham royal estate to arrest the former prince Andrew after allegations that he had shared confidential material with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It was a seismic shock for the monarchy.A week earlier Pam Bondi, the top US law enforcement official, was asked how many of Epstein's co-conspirators her department had indicted, or whether she would give state attorneys general access to evidence to build further cases. She refused to answer. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rami Ranger, who was suspended temporarily in 2023, makes successful bid at party fundraising eventA Conservative donor who was suspended from the party after being accused of bullying and inappropriate language spent 50,000 last week to have dinner with Kemi Badenoch, the Guardian has learned.Rami Ranger was the successful bidder for the dinner at a Tory fundraising event and will attend the meal with a small group of friends, infuriating those in the party who believe he should not have been readmitted. Continue reading...

Doug Ruch died in New Zealand in December after article called him a conman' but cause of death remains unknownA US man who spoke to various media outlets about having terminal cancer and raising money to travel for community service projects died shortly before Christmas in New Zealand - the day after an article by a journalist there accused him of actually being an alleged serial conman".Authorities in the US and New Zealand recently confirmed Douglas Lee Doug" Ruch, 56, died in the capital of Auckland on 18 December, months after his so-called Dying to Serve" tour. The hundreds of thousands of dollars he raised on GoFundMe earned headlines in the Washington Post, National Public Radio and the Guardian. Continue reading...

Police continue searches at Mountbatten-Windsor's former Windsor home after arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public officeBuckingham Palace will not oppose plans to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the royal line of succession, the Guardian understands, as police confirmed a search of his former Windsor home would continue over the weekend.Royal sources indicated on Saturday that King Charles would not stand in the way of parliament if it wanted to ensure the former prince could never ascend to the throne. Continue reading...

Research project warns fall in homeworking roles could undermine efforts to reduce unemploymentA decline in the number of jobs for people who need to work remotely, including those with disabilities, could undermine the government's efforts to reverse rising unemployment, according to a two-year study.More than eight in 10 respondents to a survey of working-age disabled people by researchers at Lancaster University said access to home working was essential or very important when looking for a new job. Continue reading...

Files show accuser in 2011 provided extensive account of abuse as questions mount over why action was not takenThe Department of Justice's release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein files has not only prompted questions about his crimes - but renewed attention on authorities' failure to stop him after an accuser reported him in 1996.This new cache of Epstein files has provided more insight into authorities' familiarity with allegations against him in the years that followed, including time between his sweetheart plea deal in 2008 and federal arrest nearly six years ago. Continue reading...

Critics say Reform leader's patronising rhetoric is part of worrying trend. He says scrutiny is a two way street.When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should write some silly story ... and we won't bother to read it", it provoked an instant - and divided - reaction. For some it was a masterclass" in dealing with mainstream media, but for others it was rude, dismissive, misogynistic, arrogant".Behind the scenes, Farage's treatment of the Financial Times's Anna Gross - which was met with mirth and applause among Reform diehards in the room - provoked disquiet and anger among lobby journalists across the political spectrum. Continue reading...

Trump orders massive buildup of naval forces in Middle East, leading to fears of an imminent warIran's foreign minister has said he expects to have a draft counterproposal ready within days after nuclear talks with the US this week, while Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.The US president has ordered a massive buildup of naval forces in the Middle East, including repositioning aircraft carriers and other warships, leading to fears of an imminent war. But it is not clear if the military movements are intended as an intimidation tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme. Continue reading...

The conservative-heavy court had largely given Trump everything he desired - until now, when two of his three nominees turned his back on himAfter an agonising year in which the US supreme court has stood aside and watched while Donald Trump has run roughshod over the constitutional separation of powers, the highest judicial panel has finally stirred itself to set boundaries on the president's increasingly regal pose.Friday's supreme court ruling declared Trump's sweeping tariffs unlawful, yanking from the president the bloodied cudgel which he has used to beat foreign friend and foe alike. Continue reading...

Church suspends Stephen Conway as police investigate claim man was sexually assaulted between 2018 and 2025The bishop of Lincoln has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.Lincolnshire police confirmed that a 68-year-old man was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation following an allegation that a man was sexually assaulted between 2018 and 2025". Continue reading...

City minister Lucy Rigby acts after woman faced repossession of house burned down by controlling husbandA woman who was nearly killed by her abusive husband has been invited to advise the government on measures to support victims of financial abuse after the Guardian highlighted her story last weekend.Francesca Onody was left homeless and penniless when her husband doused their cottage with petrol while she and her two children were inside. Her husband, Malcolm Baker, died when the property exploded. Continue reading...

Images include Mountbatten-Windsor with Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein and an unknown female lying on a floorAllegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's links to Jeffrey Epstein have unfolded over several years - and in several pictures. Here is how they have dripped into the public's consciousness and kept the pressure on the royal family. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy says treating these objects as collectors' items should be looked at in horror'An antiques auction selling chains linked to the enslavement of African people in Zanzibar has been accused of profiting from slavery".Neck irons dated to the Omani-Arab dominated trade in enslaved people in east Africa, which ended after African resistance and British pressure in the late 19th century, will go on sale this weekend in Scotland. Continue reading...

Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influentialIn the timeless week between Christmas and the new year, two Spanish men in their early 50s - friends since childhood, popular around town - went to a restaurant and did not come home.Francisco Zea Bravo, a maths teacher active in a book club and rock band, and Antonio Morales Serrano, the owner of a popular cafe and ice-cream parlour, had gone to eat with friends in Malaga on Saturday 27 December. But as the pair drove back to Alhaurin el Grande that night, heavy rains turned the usually tranquil Fahala River into what the mayor would later call an uncontrollable torrent". Police found their van overturned the next day. Their bodies followed after an agonising search. Continue reading...

Backed by Labour and Conservative figures, he was a controversial choice when appointed in 2001Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, bringing his former role as the UK's special representative for international trade and investment into focus. He denies any wrongdoing. But what was that role? Continue reading...

MPs will meet on Tuesday to discuss the former prince, as it emerged he pestered ministers for a bigger government roleAn influential committee of MPs could launch an inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's role as a UK trade envoy despite his arrest, it is understood, as it emerged that the disgraced former royal pestered ministers about getting a bigger government role.After his arrest on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the cross-party business and trade committee said it would meet next Tuesday to discuss a possible investigation into the role he held from 2001 to 2011. Continue reading...

A 32-year-old has been charged with serious vilification or hate crime and other offences but police say it is not being considered a terrorist incident

Aid workers say the camp where 34 women and children are being held are dire' and present more risk than if they were repatriated

Philanthropist and mother of Elisabeth, James and Lachlan Murdoch died at home in Palm Beach, FloridaThe author and philanthropist Anna Murdoch-Mann, the ex-wife of the Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, died at her home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. She was 81.Murdoch-Mann's death was reported Friday by the New York Post, one of her ex-husband's media properties. Continue reading...

Hezbollah leader among dead as Israel says it hit militant command centresAt least 10 people have been killed and 24 wounded - including three children - in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, the Lebanese health ministry has said.Israel said it had hit command centres" of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the Bekaa valley. Two security sources told Reuters that senior Hezbollah leader Hussein Yaghi was killed in the attacks. Continue reading...

Nevada county sheriff said investigation includes learning why the ski trip was not cancelled by the guide companyAuthorities are investigating whether any criminal negligence was involved in the deadly avalanche that swept California's Lake Tahoe this week, which killed at least eight skiers and their guides while returning from a three-day backcountry skiing trip.The Nevada county sheriff's office said on Friday said that they notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha), which regulates workplace safety, of the active investigation. Continue reading...

Jake Danby's sentence for hitting two Aboriginal men with his car, killing one, was extended from five months to two years in home detention

Claims against Wesley Dingus came from teen who had been staying at his residence and hid camera in bedroomA Republican mayor in Ohio is facing criminal allegations after authorities say he was recorded on a concealed camera smelling an underage girl's underwear.An incident report from the Richland county sheriff's Office details the accusations against Wesley Dingus, 48, who serves as mayor of Butler. The claims came from a juvenile who had been staying at his residence. Continue reading...

The decision adds to economic uncertainty, as deals Donald Trump struck with other countries are upendedIt is refreshing to witness the US supreme court recover its spine and stand up to Donald Trump's most extreme caprices. The 6-3 decision on Friday to strike down his barrage of tariffs on imports from virtually everywhere based on the preposterous argument that they addressed national emergencies will reassure the world that the US's system of government - based on the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the rule of law - has not collapsed entirely.But let's hold the (imported) champagne. The court's ruling will not restore the United States to its former place as a reasonable, trustworthy player in the world economy. The rules-based economic architecture that underpinned the integration of the world economy over the decades that followed the second world war remains fractured. Trump is still intent on its disintegration. And he retains power to do so. Continue reading...

Karl Jacobson, city's police chief for three years, is accused of pilfering money from fund meant to pay informantsAn official who recently resigned as police chief of one of Connecticut's largest cities was arrested on Friday on larceny charges after allegations that he stole more than $85,000 from two department accounts - money that was meant to pay for certain informants as well as a youth extracurricular program.Karl Jacobson, who abruptly retired from the New Haven police department in January, turned himself in on an arrest warrant. He was later released on a court-set bond of $150,000, a state prosecutor said in a news release. Jacobson faces two counts of larceny related to defrauding a public community. Continue reading...

Nasrallah Abu Siyam shot dead in occupied West Bank as UN human rights office accuses Israel of war crimesIsraeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian American man during an attack on a village, the Palestinian health ministry and a witness have said.Raed Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, said a group of settlers came to the village on Wednesday afternoon where they attacked a farmer, prompting clashes after residents intervened. Continue reading...

First lady is first in more than 100 years to have two inaugural gowns in museum's popular collectionHer husband has described it as OUT OF CONTROL", a place where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been".But Melania Trump, the wife of US president Donald Trump, declared a temporary ceasefire in hostilities with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington on Friday - with the help of a silk gown, diamond brooch and headless mannequin. Continue reading...

Government expects privileged trading position' to go on as EU seeks clarity' over Trump administration's next stepsBritain and the EU said they were assessing the implications of the US supreme court ruling against Donald Trump's global tariffs, while business groups reacted to the court's announcement with caution.A spokesperson for Downing Street said: The UK government is working with the US to understand how the overturning of Donald Trump's tariffs by the supreme court will affect the UK but expects our privileged trading position with the US to continue." Continue reading...

The department is reportedly considering buying a Boeing plane for deportation flights and for use by Trump officialsA $70m aircraft the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eyeing for deportation flights has a luxurious interior and will be used to transport Trump administration officials to engagements in comfort, according to a report published Friday.NBC News obtained images of the Boeing 737-8 Max plane showing a bedroom with a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen TVs and a bar. Continue reading...

New head faces decisions crucial to movement's future, such as how far to cooperate with Trump's Gaza peace planHamas has reportedly begun holding leadership elections among its members at a time when the militant Palestinian movement faces imminent decisions which will be critical to its own continued existence and the potential for peace in Gaza.According to the BBC and press reports in the Gulf, Hamas members in Gaza have already voted. Those in the West Bank, in Israeli prisons and the diaspora are also expected to cast ballots for delegates to the movement's 50-member general Shura council, which ultimately chooses its politburo and a new interim leader. The process could last weeks. Continue reading...

Move would follow any police investigation after former prince questioned on suspicion of misconduct in public officeThe government will consider passing legislation to strip Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his right to inherit the throne once any police investigation has concluded, it is understood.Several politicians have called for the former prince to be removed from the line of succession after he was arrested and questioned by detectives on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Continue reading...

British Chambers of Commerce official says US supreme court decision does little to clear the murky waters'

Metropolitan Police also working with US counterparts to establish whether London airports had been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation'

Breaking from the president, Congress voted to fund institutions including the Institute of American Indian ArtsIn a break with Donald Trump, the Republican-controlled Congress approved a funding bill for multiple key government agencies and institutions in January. Some of those groups included the cultural institutions whose federal funds the president had sought to severely decrease or totally eliminate.Last year, Trump issued Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", an executive order that specifically cited the Smithsonian Institution as having come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology". The executive order called for an overhaul of the museums and called out the American Women's History Museum, which now exists only as an online exhibition, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Continue reading...

Former prince's arrest was most damaging event for the family firm in centuries - and the questions keep comingLondon fashion week was probably the last public place King Charles III wanted to be on Thursday, admiring the suits and costumes that no one he knows would dream of buying, and making light conversation with designers he would have difficulty in recognising at a royal garden party.Charles must have been contemplating the crumbling of all his plans and hopes for his reign. He always knew it would be short, even before his cancer diagnosis, but he probably never thought it would be upended by the alleged behaviour of his own brother. Continue reading...

Amateur climber's manslaughter conviction over girlfriend's death could put people off activity, say experts

Completion of glass cross brings Antoni Gaudi's church to maximum final height of 172.5m, 144 years after work beganThe final piece of the central tower of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia has been laid in place, bringing the church to its maximum final height 144 years after work began.After several days when it has been too windy to work, the upper section of the 17 metre-high four-sided steel and glass cross was winched into position at 11am on Friday, completing the tower dedicated to Jesus Christ. At 172.5 metres, the Sagrada Familia, to which the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi devoted the later part of his life, is Barcelona's tallest building and the world's tallest church. Continue reading...

Under Shabana Mahmood's proposals, wait for settled status would double to 20 years if public funds used while in workFamilies claiming in-work benefits face giving them up and enduring hardship to avoid being punished" under a planned government migration crackdown, experts have said.More than 200,000 people living legally in the UK are on the 10-year route to settled status, which requires legal migrants to renew 30-month visas four times - at a cost of 3,908.50 including healthcare costs per renewal - before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Continue reading...

Global Counsel stops trading after clients cut ties over former ambassador's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Software companies are facing major disruption from AI and investors are pulling back, wiping off billions in value - but does it spell the end for software-as-a-service?

Purdue says no ban on Chinese students exists, but reportedly rescinded dozens of offers after warnings from legislatorsSeveral universities have scrapped partnerships with Chinese institutions in recent months as a direct result of pressure from US legislators. But no university appears to have gone as far as Purdue University in Indiana.Students and faculty at the public university say that an unofficial policy is in effect to automatically reject students from China and a number of other countries altogether. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nigel Farage understood to have known of grievance against byelection candidate, whose lawyer described it as resolved minor workplace matter' of miscommunicationMatt Goodwin, Reform UK's candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, was accused by a young woman working at GB News of making inappropriate comments which she viewed as sexually harassing, the Guardian can reveal.The junior staffer complained to HR last year alleging Goodwin had made inappropriate comments, one regarding her appearance, sources say. Goodwin, 44, volunteered an apology after the complaint had been raised. Continue reading...

Document also shows US miner had been unlawfully clearing land for 15 years despite warnings from department

Thomas P given five-month suspended prison sentence and 9,400 fine over death of Kerstin G by gross negligence

Mayor says Japanese city will respect donor's specification that 2.7m gift must be used to repair dilapidated systemOsaka has received a hefty gift of gold bars worth 560m yen (2.7m) from an anonymous donor and a request for its specific use: to fix the Japanese city's dilapidated water pipes.The gold bars, weighing a total of 21kg (46lb), were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November by the donor who wants to help improve ageing water pipes, the mayor, Hideyuki Yokoyama, told reporters on Thursday. Continue reading...

After tech billionaire Peter Thiel and others donated to Jace Yarbrough's campaign, Donald Trump endorsed himA rookie congressional candidate in a nine-way Texas primary has received the imprimatur of wealthy hard-right donors including tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Claremont Institute board chair Thomas Klingenstein and Charles Haywood, who once expressed a desire to be a warlord", according to new Federal Election Commission filings showing early donations to his campaign.In a recent candidate forum, Jace Yarbrough unapologetically staked out a series of extremist positions, saying that critics may call his approach to politics bigoted and backward and oppressive and Nazi-ish", but that he is past trying to placate that in any way, shape or form". Continue reading...

Struggling British carmaker says earnings for 2025 will be worse than City forecasts as US tariffs hit salesAston Martin has again warned its profits will be lower than expected and sold its permanent naming rights to its Formula One team, as the struggling British carmaker battles to stabilise its finances.The luxury carmaker, majority-owned by the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, said its earnings for 2025 would be worse than City forecasts, its fifth profit warning since September 2024. Continue reading...

French utility company EDF says operations in Somerset will start a year later as delay costs firm 2.5bnBritain's first new nuclear plant in a generation at the Hinkley Point C site will face further delay, at a cost of 2.5bn to the French utility company EDF.EDF said the first reactor at the site in Somerset will begin operations in 2030, a year later than planned - almost 13 years after construction work began - after a series of delays to the project. Continue reading...