World news | The Guardian

Couple, who are expecting second child, to give first interview since quitting as senior royals

Rollback in women’s rights could spark backlash as Palestinians plan elections later in the year

Residents urged to avoid local fields and countryside as authorities in Puglia search for animal

Accords letting people with vaccine certificates travel hailed as step towards normality

Anthony Williams had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ruth Williams at their home in BrynglasA man who killed his wife five days into the first lockdown last year in Wales has been cleared of her murder.Anthony Williams, 70, strangled his wife, Ruth, 67, at their home in Brynglas, Cwmbran, after a period of feeling depressed and anxious and later told police he had been struggling mentally with coronavirus restrictions, his trial heard. Continue reading...

President accuses US of backing Kurdish militant group after 13 Turkish people found dead in IraqThe Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has accused the US of supporting Kurdish militants, after Turkish troops found the bodies of 13 Turkish soldiers, police and civilians abducted by Kurdish insurgents in a cave complex in northern Iraq.Erdoğan also took aim at the state department after its initial hesitance to blame the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK). Continue reading...

The decline of print could close a newspaper kiosk that’s been run for generations, and is warmly sketched in this witty film

Nigel Skea pleads guilty to breaking hotel quarantine to meet his now wife Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai

Admirers lined up outside famous Abyssinian Baptist Church at public viewing on a wintry New York morningHundreds of mourners lined a New York City block in Harlem on Monday, to pay their respects to Cicely Tyson at a public viewing.Related: Cicely Tyson obituary Continue reading...

Iftakhar Hussain apologises after being caught at house where police were called to reports of a wedding

Capraia’s three police officers hunt for culprits as 400-strong population eye each other suspiciouslyDozens of meticulously planned thefts on a remote island; all the inhabitants are potential suspects. In an investigation that would befit Agatha Christie’s sleuth, Hercule Poirot, the three police officers on Capraia, an island off Tuscany, must tread carefully as they hunt for the culprits among the population of about 400.The island’s mayor, Marida Bessi, told the newspaper Corriere della Sera that cracks were already starting to show in the otherwise close-knit community, with friends and neighbours eyeing each other suspiciously. Continue reading...

Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth was in the courtroom when Alexei Navalny was sentenced to more than three years in prison. He tells Rachel Humphreys why it was such a dramatic moment – and what it could mean for the future of Russia’s oppositionRussian opposition leader Alexei Navalny defied the odds when he survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by Russia’s FSB spy agency late last year. Navalny fell into a coma after being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok and nearly died. But after receiving treatment in Berlin, Navalny defied President Vladimir Putin’s expectations by returning directly to Moscow, where he was immediately detained and put on trial for an alleged violation of parole.Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth was in the courtroom when Navalny was sentenced to more than three years in prison. He tells Rachel Humphreys why it was such a dramatic moment – and what it could mean for the future of Russia’s opposition. Continue reading...

Recent trade tensions with China are part of a ‘global economic fight that has been brewing for a decade’, leading analyst says

Head of inquiry says former South African president is in contempt of court and should be imprisonedJacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, faces a jail sentence after failing to appear before an anti-corruption inquiry on Monday.Zuma had been called to give evidence to judges investigating allegations of systematic graft during his nine years in power. The 79-year-old had walked out of earlier hearings. Continue reading...

Okonjo-Iweala is unanimous choice, becoming trade body’s first female and first African leader

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, set to be named director general, joins as global trading system facing make-or-break momentEven for an economist, there are lots of very large numbers in the life of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. As the chair of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, she has overseen the annual immunisation of millions of children. When managing director of the World Bank, she oversaw $81bn (£58bn) worth of operations. In her stints in charge of Nigeria’s finances, she tackled Africa’s most populous country’s $30bn debt. And she has 1.5 million followers on Twitter.There are lots of smaller numbers too: the 20 non-profit organisations that have appointed Okonjo-Iweala to their advisory boards, the major banks and corporations she has advised, the 10 honorary degrees in addition to her own doctorate, 20 or so awards, dozens of major reports authored, and the books. Continue reading...

Pancake day is upon us, but don’t feel restricted to sugar and lemon juice. Celebrated chefs, including Heston Blumenthal and Ravinder Bhogal, share their suggestionsThere’s no better way to start the day than pancakes – and tomorrow they are practically compulsory. If you’re an old hand looking for new ideas, you’ll find sweet and savoury suggestions below from everyone from Heston Blumenthal to Ella Mills. But before we talk toppings and infusions, here’s how to make the classic Shrove Tuesday treat. Continue reading...

Ivan Safronov, held for seven months on high treason charges, told to try to ‘recall’ any misdemeanoursA Russian former journalist held for seven months on treason charges has described a Kafkaesque legal process in which he has not been told the substance of the charges against him because they are secret.In an interview from prison, Ivan Safronov said his family had been named witnesses in the case in an attempt to isolate him and pressure him to plead guilty. “No one must hear my voice – it’s a threat to national security, nothing less,” he said in his first extended remarks since his arrest, published in the Kommersant newspaper. Continue reading...

Senior Tory Simon Hoare suggests ‘putting the hallucinogenics down’ and making the protocol workA proposed undersea tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland has hit some credibility problems with one senior Conservative MP describing it as a Doctor Dolittle fantasy designed to distract from post-Brexit border check problems.“The trains could be pulled by an inexhaustible herd of unicorns overseen by stern, officious dodos,” tweeted Simon Hoare, the Tory MP who chairs Westminster’s Norther Ireland affairs committee. Continue reading...

Tamil family hopes federal court ruling will force federal government to properly consider protection visa applicationA Tamil family fighting deportation to Sri Lanka will soon learn if they are a step closer to returning to their home of Biloela in Queensland, more than 1,000 days after they were placed in immigration detention.Priya, Nades, and their Australian-born daughters, Kopika, five, and Tharunicaa, three, were taken from their home and moved to Melbourne in March 2018 and have been detained on Christmas Island since August 2019. Continue reading...

Dismiss Joey as too dim or Chandler too snarky at your peril – each Friend has their benefitsIn the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle it, once and for allJust as with real-life friends, each Friend from Friends comes with their own unique pros and cons. There’s tidy but neurotic Monica; sweet but self-centred Rachel; frank but surreal Phoebe; reliable but sarcastic Chandler; caring but nerdy Ross; and the nice but dim Joey. Everybody needs a best, best friend, one who can speed-dial to get you out of any scrape without judging. So which Friend should you pick? Continue reading...

Former president of Argentina who imposed sweeping neoliberal cuts during a scandal-dogged time in officeCarlos Menem, who has died aged 90, was elected to his first term as president of Argentina in 1989 on a platform of leftist nationalism, which he immediately ditched in favour of a drastic programme of neoliberalism. So skilfully did he perform this political conjuring trick that he was able, via a constitutional change, to obtain a second term in 1995.Argentina would baulk when, in 1999, he proposed a third. By then, the magic had long been rubbing off. But Menem never ceased to believe in his own ability to reinvent himself. Although pursued for corruption and illicit arms deals, and at one point placed under house arrest, he always seemed able to bounce back. Continue reading...

Plan for incentives to increase takeup, while study shows two Pfizer doses give 94% protection

Bodies of John and Patricia Lillistone recovered 13 days after car was seen entering river in NottinghamshireA couple who died after their car was swept away in the River Trent in Nottinghamshire this month have been named as John and Patricia Lillistone.John, 83, and Patricia, 82, were in a car that was seen entering the water at Hoveringham, between Newark and Nottingham, on the evening of 1 February. Continue reading...

Messages on anti-lockdown social media groups reveal role of the far-right group in Covid-related protests

Rafael Nadal and Ash Barty stormed into the last eight and there were also wins for Jessica Pegula, Jennifer Brady, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev and Karolina Muchova, while Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a walkover10.03am GMTBut for today, that’s all folks I’m afraid – poor Mario Berrettini is injured, so Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a walkover. Check back shortly for a report on Barty-Rogers, and otherwise ta-ra until tomorrow.10.02am GMTHsieh-Osaka is our first match tomorrow, after which we’ve got Dimitrov-Karatsev. Then, in the evening session, we’ve got, in the best possible way, a punch in the the face with Serena-Simona, then a heel to the solar plexus with Djokovic-Zverev. I cannot wait. Continue reading...

Vaccines also exempt from price caps in divisive move that health experts fear will deepen inequality

Since the coup, people in Yangon have been patrolling the streets to protect neighbours from overnight military raids and criminalsSitting next to a makeshift barricade of bamboo and recycled metal, Aung Than, 30, a tour operator, says he is ready to die for his street. “A life on this street is worth more than mine,” he says. “I am ready to exchange my life to protect them if it comes to that.”Protests against the 1 February coup have grown in recent days in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon. Meanwhile, nights are filled with an eerie silence, punctuated by bursts of clashing pots and pans in support of the detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and the clamour of mobs chasing down lone figures. Continue reading...

Health minister had already quit after it emerged ministers received jabs before health workers

Parliament remembers apology to stolen generations, and quarantine-free border to New Zealand closed after new cases. This blog is now closed.8.08am GMTWe’ll leave it there for today. Thanks for tuning in.Here are today’s main developments:7.54am GMTProf Tony Blakely, a top epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, says the federal government should set up an independent agency to accredit and audit Covid quarantine hotels.Blakely also says some federal politicians have politicised the most recent Victorian outbreak by talking about the state’s contact tracing regime in a “diversionary tactic to take the discussion off the federal government providing better quarantine facilities and support”. Continue reading...

The unusual rock formations are scattered across the landscape of Egypt’s White desert, about 300 miles from Cairo Continue reading...

Although it’s easy to exaggerate the problem, the French appear to be among the most ‘vaccine hesitant’ in the worldIn the land of Louis Pasteur, pioneer of microbiology, the people are shunning vaccination. Or at least that is what polls over the past decade suggest, putting France among the countries most dubious about vaccination, alongside Bosnia-Herzegovina, Japan and Mongolia.France is far from being the only place affected by “vaccine hesitancy”, as the World Health Organization (WHO) describes it. The phenomenon has been gaining ground in the west, and more broadly in the developed world, for a simple and paradoxical reason: thanks to the benefits of immunisation and rising standards of healthcare, the notion of a life-threatening epidemic has until recently seemed distant – opening the way for the luxury of fearing vaccines themselves. Continue reading...

Abolishing supplementary payments without raising rate substantially would leave jobless worse off, union saysJobseekers may get a permanent boost to their payments but lose smaller benefits worth hundreds of dollars a year to cover medication, transport and education costs, under a plan being considered by the federal government.The Australian reported on Monday that the expenditure review committee of cabinet last week considered a plan to abolish numerous supplementary payments available to the unemployed along with any proposed increase to jobseeker payments. Continue reading...

Libya, a transit stop for migrants trying to reach Europe, is now facing an exodus of its own peopleAfter witnessing abuse and discrimination, Sherif Targi*, 21, decided to leave Libya for Europe.“I saw killing and massacres because of the conflicts between Tuaregs and the Tebu [ethnic minorities],” he says.

English Heritage appeals to relatives of Cichociemni agents, who trained in the UK before being sent behind enemy lines to fight the Nazis

Five seafarers are stuck in limbo on a beached tanker after a long, terrifying ordeal of abandonmentTourists are more accustomed to seeing kite surfers or kayaks off the idyllic coast of Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates. But today they have gathered on sun loungers to sip coffee and gaze at the unusual sight of a 5,000-ton oil tanker grounded on the sand.For the crew inside the Panama-flagged MT Iba, however, being grounded on the beach marks another harrowing chapter in an almost four-year ordeal at sea. Continue reading...

Kim Novak starred in Vertigo – voted the best film ever made – but knew she was too fragile for fame. She talks about her tough childhood, the sensitive side of Sinatra and starting again in her fortiesKim Novak apologises for the mess. And, to be fair, the studio at her Oregon home is fabulously messy. Behind her are a couple of canvases she has been working on; to the left and right, all sorts of all sorts. At the back of the room, her rescue dog, Patches, lies on a sofa, half snoozing, half listening. Occasionally, Sadie Ann, her husband’s pudelpointer, wanders in, sniffs around and leaves.Novak, who turned 88 two days ago, is so much more than a Hollywood legend. The star of Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a wonderful artist, a mental health activist (she is proudly bipolar), an anti-bullying campaigner, a vet’s assistant and one of the greatest life forces I’ve spoken to. Continue reading...

Chinese newspaper said countries that boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over treatment of Uighurs would face retaliationThe Liberal Democrats have warned China against “international bullying” after a call by UK MPs for countries to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics was met by a warning of potential sanctions.Last week, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, joined with the Labour MP and former Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant in demanding that the government and the British Olympic Association act over the mass repression of the Muslim Uighur population in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, which campaigners say constitutes genocide. Continue reading...

Experts say continent may not be seen as priority because true extent of pandemic is unknown

‘The eagle has landed,’ health minister Greg Hunt says, adding that 60,000 people will get first batch

Menem delivered short-lived economic stability in the 1990s and was known for his tabloid personal lifeThe flamboyant Argentine ex-President Carlos Menem died on Sunday at age 90 after long-term health problems, the country’s current president, Alberto Fernandez, announced in a tweet.Menem led a colourful personal life while he pushed Argentina to an economic boom, but his two-term 1989-1999 presidency crumbled under the weight of corruption scandals and he spent years plotting an unlikely comeback. Continue reading...

Disha Ravi charged with sedition, accused editing document on how to support India’s farmers that was tweeted by Swedish climate activistIndian police have arrested a woman accused of editing and circulating a document tweeted by climate activist Greta Thunberg that authorities say is anti-government.Swedish climate activist Thunberg tweeted her backing this month for the farmers, who have been demonstrating since December against agricultural reforms they say will harm their livelihood but benefit large corporations. She shared a document which she said was a toolkit to create and spread awareness about the farmers’ complaints. Continue reading...

The blossoms grow in eastern Australia, from the Blue Mountains to north-eastern Victoria. Their seeds can lay dormant for years, requiring exactly the right conditions to germinate – a year after bushfire followed by rainfall

Reports of queues for inessential items have come in fast but we can still count ourselves luckyThe bananas were the first to go. “Look,” I said to my daughter. We stood and gazed at the supermarket shelves set aside for bananas. They’d been stripped bare less than an hour after the latest lockdown was announced. We sighed, and then went about stripping the shelves of nectarines. She asked, “Will six do?” I said, “No. Grab 10. You never know.”Last night’s lockdown announcement took place at 7pm. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called an urgent press conference and emergency sirens wailed from mobile phones – they’d make a good ringtone – as New Zealanders were told to return to various states of lockdown. A family of three in South Auckland had tested positive for Covid-19. The city was put in lockdown level 3 at midnight, the rest of the country in the more relaxed level 2. It’s in place till Wednesday midnight and what happens after that is largely going to depend on whether more cases are tested positive in the community. Continue reading...

Catalan Socialist party finishes first as secessionists win more than half the vote on turnout of only 53%

Research argues ministers should create economic ‘big bang’ for area that turned Tory in last electionThe prime minister should repay voters in the north of England who lent the Conservatives their vote at the last election by unleashing billions of pounds of private investment, according to a report.It argues that ministers should aim to harness the “restless radicalism” from those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and the Conservatives in 2019 by creating an economic “big bang”, along the lines of the Thatcherite deregulation of the City in the 1980s which reinforced London’s position as a global financial centre. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:

Couple share picture of Harry resting his hand on Meghan’s head as she lies in his lap cradling her bumpThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed that they are expecting a younger brother or sister for their one-year-old son, Archie.A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan said: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.” Continue reading...

Maraj, 64, was walking along a road on Long Island at 6.15pm on Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, police sayThe 64-year-old father of the rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said.Robert Maraj was walking along a road in Mineola on Long Island at 6.15pm on Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, Nassau county police said. Continue reading...

Thursday: Pfizer vaccine to arrive this week as Victoria deals with hotel quarantine outbreak. Plus: should you brush your teeth with toothpaste tablets?Good morning, it’s Imogen Dewey kicking off your week on Monday 15 February, with the latest on Melbourne’s Covid cluster, Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal, and the ongoing problem of dark money in Australian politics.There are now 16 confirmed cases in the outbreak linked to Melbourne’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel, with 940 primary close contacts identified. One expert is blaming “poor infection control” in Victoria. Still, the federal health minister Greg Hunt says there’s a light at the end of the tunnel with the Pfizer vaccine due to land this week and shots to begin in the last week of February, as scheduled. As the UK hits its milestone of 15m vaccinations, China has fired back at the US over allegations Beijing withheld information about the virus outbreak from World Health Organisation investigators. And Auckland is now in a three-day lockdown after New Zealand confirmed three new cases this weekend. Continue reading...