World news | The Guardian

Laws to be introduced this week include up to two years in prison for distributing, displaying or reciting prohibited phrases to harass or offend

Wind gusts up to 170km/h could develop as cyclone forecast to make landfall between Exmouth and Onslow on Sunday night

Deal sees all former Nationals frontbenchers suspended from shadow ministry until March

State transport minister says ebikes modified to exceed 25km/h speed limit will be confiscated by police and end up as a twisted wreck'

Palestine Action Group march planned from Sydney Town Hall to state parliament in breach of public assembly declaration

Resolution Foundation finds one in three carers from poorer families unable to work because of responsibilitiesA growing unsung army" of 1 million people with full-time caring responsibilities needs better support, according to a report that found one in three unpaid carers from poorer backgrounds were unable to work because of their duties.The trend is the result of an ageing society and rising ill-health and disability concentrated in the poorest half of the country's working-age families, the Resolution Foundation's research found. Continue reading...

They offer independence, reduce emissions and congestion. But they are also endangering lives

Met Office forecasts more rainfall to continue UK's 37-day run, and flooding expected especially in south-west England and MidlandsThe unrelenting rain is expected to continue on Sunday and into next week with dozens of flood warnings in place across Great Britain.The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 85 warnings for England, meaning flooding is expected, mainly concentrated in the south-west and Midlands. Continue reading...

Departure comes days after newspaper laid off nearly one-third of staff, including more than 300 journalistsWill Lewis, the Murdoch media veteran who took over as publisher and chief executive of the Washington Post in early 2024, announced abruptly on Saturday evening that he is leaving the company.His departure comes just three days after the Post laid off nearly one-third of its entire staff, citing the need to cut costs and reposition the money-losing publication. Lewis, who did not appear on the all-staff meeting during which the cuts were announced, has faced criticism for his absence and leadership. Continue reading...

Eight children including two infants among dead in vehicle carrying displaced people, says Sudan Doctors NetworkA drone attack by a paramilitary group has hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors' group said on Saturday.The attack by the Rapid Support Forces took place close to the city of Er Rahad in North Kordofan province, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country's war. The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area, the group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants. Continue reading...

Wilma Spence's father was an Anzac buried in a part of the Gaza War Cemetery bulldozed by the IDF

Progressive organisation will focus on combating far-right groups and pushing for policy wins in the lead-up to the 2028 election

Clive Foster says action needed now to deliver justice to UK residents who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrantsThe Windrush commissioner has warned of a hurry for justice" as more victims of the scandal die without redress, while stakeholders call for a public inquiry and legislative changes amid fears that a Reform government could stall progress toward justice.Speaking on the sidelines of a people's inquiry symposium for those affected by the Windrush scandal, Rev Clive Foster said action was needed now" to deliver justice for those British residents whose lives were upended after being wrongly classified as illegal immigrants. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitismThe global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism, a Guardian investigation has found.The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10% of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform. Continue reading...

Irish politicians condemn use of Shannon airport by private jet en route to Israel, owned by Trump donor Gil Dezer

Proceedings briefly halted after audio from The Rest Is History broadcast over the courtroom speakersAs the highest court in the UK, the supreme court is usually the forum for proceedings of the utmost gravity. But last week, one hearing was momentarily interrupted by an unlikely and comic intervention.As one legal professional addressed the bench, the voice of Tom Holland, host of the popular podcast the Rest is History, boomed out through the court's microphone system, delivering a satirical impersonation of the late US president Jimmy Carter. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closedAmid mounting speculation that Keir Starmer could quit over the Mandelson scandal, Gordon Brown has described the prime minister as a man of integrity" but said he faced a serious" challenge to remain in his role.Police officers probing accusations relating to Peter Mandelson's links with Jeffrey Epstein have concluded their search of two properties connected to the Labour peer in London and Wiltshire.Met police said its investigation will take some time" and that a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis" was needed.The Liberal Democrats have urged the Financial Conduct Authority to immediately investigate Mandelson, saying his apparent decision to leak highly confidential government information to Epstein may have led to insider trading.Brown said the alleged leaks put Britain at risk" and could have caused huge commercial damage".The Metropolitan police has provided an update on the searches of two properties linked to Mandelson. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Disclosures show figures cited by council leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papersReform UK's flagship council has been accused of telling a blatant lie" after its claim of nearly 40m in savings on net zero was found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.Kent county council, which has a 2.5bn annual budget, is one of 10 where Nigel Farage's party has outright control and is seen as a test case for whether the insurgent party can govern competently. Continue reading...

UK reduces funding by a third despite pledges to tackle hunger, with critics warning the move will cost lives

Party says it has received advice that 2013 investigation of allegations against peer was flawed in several respects'The Liberal Democrat peer Chris Rennard has been suspended from the party amid a new investigation into sexual harassment allegations.The party said it had received advice that a 2013 inquiry into the claims made by four women against Lord Rennard was flawed in several respects". Continue reading...

Darin Smith, who was outside Capitol on January 6, decried as Senate mulls nomination as state's top federal prosecutorA Republican former state lawmaker with no experience trying cases, a record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, and who was outside the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, is awaiting Senate confirmation to become the top federal prosecutor in Wyoming.Donald Trump first nominated Darin Smith as Wyoming's US attorney last year, and the judiciary committee advanced him in a party-line vote in January. Democrats have condemned Smith, saying he lacks the experience necessary for the job and threatens to impose a discriminatory approach to federal law enforcement in the state where gay college student Matthew Shepard's 1998 murder galvanized the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Continue reading...

The documents confirm what many have long assumed: elites live by their own special rules and codes of immunityThe millions of Jeffrey Epstein files dumped last Friday by the US Department of Justice will provide journalists, conspiracy theorists and interested members of the public with months of reading. And what they will read is enraging.What makes these files so infuriating, however, is not just Epstein's horrific predatory behavior, which is well-known, but the more mundane examples of elite conduct that the documents continue to expose. They vividly illustrate a world whose existence many everyday people, whether fevered with visions of the Illuminati or just jaundiced by banal anti-establishment cynicism, already suspected exists: an informal global club of powerful, ultra-rich people who all seemingly know each other, help one another out, and protect each other from the consequences of their depravity. Continue reading...

NFU warn it could take years to restore Brexit losses despite efforts to smooth negotiations on farming and other elements of UK-EU resetExports of British farm products to the EU have dropped almost 40% in the five years since Brexit, highlighting the trade barriers caused by the UK's divorce from the EU in 2020.Analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers' Union shows the decline in sales of everything from British beef to cheddar cheese has dropped by 37.4% in the five years since 2019, the last full year before Brexit. Continue reading...

Critics say law will disproportionately affect immigrant communities and those who speak limited EnglishAs of 6 February, people in Florida are no longer be able to take driver's license examinations in any language other than English, the Florida department of highway safety and motor vehicles (DMV) said in a statement.Before the change, exams for noncommercial driver's licenses were offered in multiple languages, including Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese, while the commercial learner's permit and commercial driver's license knowledge exams were both offered in English and Spanish. Now all driver's license knowledge and skills testing will be conducted in English. Continue reading...

Peaceful demonstrations force a delay in measures aimed at improving revenue collection but which many fear will be fatal for small tradersDemonstrations across Malawi's four main cities during the past week have achieved a delay in the introduction of a new tax regime that business owners claim will cripple their livelihoods.Tens of thousands had signed petitions which this week were presented to tax officials and on Monday thousands of small traders shut up shops and businesses to hold protest marches in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu. Continue reading...

Chalk artwork sold for record price at a New York Sotheby's auction with proceeds going to the Panthera charityA tiny chalk drawing of a lion by Rembrandt recently sold for the record-setting price of $18m in New York City to benefit the conservation of big cats.After selling at a Sotheby's auction Wednesday, Young Lion Resting shattered the previous mark for the most expensive drawing by the 17th-century Dutch painter ever auctioned: the $3.7m Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo. Continue reading...

Catastrophic failure of safeguarding' highlighted by fact Zuber Bux's lay practice is legal, campaigners sayA doctor who was struck off over a reckless" circumcision that risked killing a toddler is still performing the procedure as a layperson, the Guardian can reveal.Campaigners say Zuber Bux's private circumcision business highlights a catastrophic failure of safeguarding", as alarm grows about the absence of regulation of the procedure. Continue reading...

Boy, 15, also charged with possession of bladed article on education premises, after incident at school on ThursdayA pupil who allegedly assaulted a teacher at a school in Milford Haven has been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article on education premises.Dyfed-Powys police said the 15-year-old boy had been remanded in custody and was scheduled to appear at Swansea magistrates court on Saturday. The senior investigating officer, DCI Matthew Briggs, said: We are continuing to support the victim whilst they recover from this traumatic event. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Daisy Cooper says ex-minister could have abused trading laws' when sharing state information with Jeffrey EpsteinThe Liberal Democrats have urged the UK's financial regulator to immediately investigate Peter Mandelson, saying his apparent decision to leak highly confidential government information to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein may have led to insider trading.In a letter to Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Daisy Cooper, the MP for St Albans and the Lib Dems' deputy leader, said it was crucial" to determine whether Mandelson or those he shared information with had profited from accessing market-sensitive and confidential material" in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Continue reading...

Tests on both versions of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata were unable to detect brushstrokes of 15th-century masterAn analysis of two paintings in museums in the US and Italy by the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck has raised a profound question: what if neither were by Van Eyck?Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, the name given to near-identical unsigned paintings hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Museums of Turin, represent two of the small number of surviving works by one of western art's greatest masters, revered for his naturalistic portraits and religious subjects. Continue reading...

Competition is driving down prices, albeit slowly, with the median lifetime cover put at 247 for dogs and 180 for cats a yearVet fees continue to rise and many other costs are on the increase, but pet insurance has on average become slightly cheaper as providers compete for custom, new research claims.The pricing data coincides with a study which found that one-third of UK pet owners don't have insurance, with cost cited as one of the biggest factors. Continue reading...

Capture of rogue ship could open a new front against Moscow at a time when Russia's oil revenues are tumblingThe UK is threatening to seize a Russia-linked shadow fleet tanker in an escalatory move that could lead to the opening up of a new front against Moscow at a time when the country's oil revenues are tumbling.British defence sources confirmed that military options to capture a rogue ship had been identified in discussions involving Nato allies - though a month has gone by since the US-led seizure of a Russian tanker in the Atlantic. Continue reading...

Almost 1m UK households are hooked up to heat networks. None had protection from poor service or price hikes ... until last monthIf I could move, I would - to a place without a heat network. But I can't while this debt is hanging over me," says Anja Georgiou.The mother lives with her family in a rented flat in the River Gardens development in Greenwich in south-east London where, three years ago, residents were shocked to be presented with a surprise 200,000 bill for heating and hot water. Continue reading...

Prices paid for large estates not being disclosed on official register, land reform advocates sayLand reform campaigners are alarmed at the increasing use of a legal loophole that allows landowners to conceal the price paid for Highland estates from the public register.Andy Wightman, a land reform analyst, said the loophole meant the prices paid in more than 300m-worth of Highland property transactions were not disclosed on the register. Continue reading...

Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro on course for victory but gains by Andre Ventura's Chega could herald watershedPortuguese voters will return to the polls on Sunday for the final round of a presidential election that has been marked by a push to keep the far-right candidate at bay and overshadowed by deadly storms that have lashed the country in recent days.The moderate leftwing candidate Antonio Jose Seguro won the first round of the election, which was held on 18 January, taking 31.1% of the vote. Continue reading...

Reporters say relatives in Iran have been questioned and persecuted in an effort to curb coverage of unrestExiled Iranian journalists working for the BBC have been warned their movements are being closely monitored by the state, as they said their families in Iran were being interrogated and persecuted for their reporting.Journalists said family members had been threatened with arrest and the seizure of their assets unless their loved ones stopped reporting on Iranian unrest. Continue reading...

Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snailsA button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014. Continue reading...

Cyclone was expected to become a category-three system before it hit the Pilbara coast on Sunday

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before Canada-China ties nosedived in 2018China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as prime minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing.Schellenberg's lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced on Friday by China's highest court. Continue reading...

Deputy director of Russia's military intelligence agency shot several times in the stairwell of his apartmentA top Russian military official who plays a major role in the country's intelligence services has been taken to hospital after being shot in Moscow, state media has reported.Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev was shot several times on the stairwell of his apartment on Friday by an unknown gunman in the north-west of the city and is in critical condition, according to reports. Continue reading...

Thirteen state and federal NSW MPs appeal to police to allow planned march protesting against the visit

The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighbouring IndiaThe World Health Organization said on Friday that a woman had died in northern Bangladesh in January after contracting the deadly Nipah virus infection.The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighbouring India, which has already prompted stepped-up airport screenings across Asia. Continue reading...

Single-engine Cessna crashed into water at Long Bay near Goolwa South on Friday afternoon

Watergate reporter says colleagues and readers deserve more' after newspaper lays off hundreds of workersThe veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward has said he is crushed" by the mass layoffs of hundreds of colleagues at the paper and said the impact would be felt by readers - noting both deserve more".I am crushed that so many of my beloved colleagues have lost their jobs and our readers have been given less news and sound analysis," Woodward said in his first public remarks on the cuts, which were shared on X. They deserve more." Continue reading...

Harper Dennis also charged with possession of offensive weapon after fatal stabbing in Leicester city centreA man has been charged with the murder of 20-year-old student Khaleed Oladipo in Leicester.Harper Dennis, 18, of North Road, West Drayton, London, has been charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, police said. Continue reading...

Podcaster claimed former prime minister not English because he is brown-skinned Hindu'Rishi Sunak has described himself as being British, English and British Asian" in a riposte to increasing racially charged language used by figures on the right.The UK's first British Asian prime minister was speaking after his identity was questioned in recent debate sparked by a claim by the podcaster Konstantin Kisin that Sunak was not English because he was a brown-skinned Hindu". Continue reading...

Opalite video reunites host and guests including Domhnall Gleeson and Lewis Capaldi from Swift's October chatshow appearanceGraham Norton's chatshow has long been an object of fascination for American stars, wowed by its combined star wattage, glasses of wine and Norton's own quick-witted, lightly saucy repartee - and Taylor Swift has now taken that fandom to another level.Norton has been cast in the music video for Opalite, the second single from her album The Life of a Showgirl to receive music video treatment after The Fate of Ophelia. Not only Norton, in fact, but the stars from the guest lineup who sat alongside Swift when she appeared in October 2025: actors Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith, and fellow chart-topping musician Lewis Capaldi. Continue reading...

Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 rioter, posted a video of himself kicking down the sculpture at Minnesota's capitolThe far-right influencer and US Senate candidate Jake Lang has been arrested after recording himself damaging an anti-ICE sculpture at Minnesota's capitol amid the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's crackdown there.On 5 February, Lang, who received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump over his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, posted a video on X of himself kicking down the sculpture, which was made from ice - as in, frozen water. His efforts changed it from reading Prosecute ICE" to Pro ICE", referring to the federal agency. Continue reading...

Although tech stocks and cryptocurrencies suffered recent falls, investors largely shrugged off geopolitical tensionsThe Dow Jones industrial average crossed 50,000 for the first time, as ballooning tech valuations, robust corporate earnings and hopes of lower interest rates drive it to new highs.Leading stock markets on Wall Street came under pressure earlier this week as technology stocks fell amid scrutiny of extraordinary levels of investment into artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Material gathered was personally given to Josh Simons when chair of pro-Starmer thinktank, say sourcesA Labour minister commissioned and reviewed an intelligence report in 2023 on journalists investigating the thinktank that helped propel Keir Starmer to power, the Guardian has learned.The research was ordered and subsequently reviewed by Josh Simons, now a minister in the Cabinet Office, when he was chair of Labour Together, according to sources and documents seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...