World news | The Guardian

Townsville warned of very serious and dangerous event', with flooding likely to continue into middle of next week for state's north

Immigration minister says such conduct must be nipped in bud' as lawyer referred to office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner for consideration

The 37-year-old was charged after police allegedly found him using a marker to write on a wall in the city's eastern suburbs

Samoa's prime minister says US withdrawal from Paris climate agreement is very disappointing' and puts the survival of Pacific countries at greater riskLeaders and environmental advocates in the Pacific have expressed alarm over Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and freeze foreign aid, warning the moves will accelerate the existential threats they face as nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis.The Paris agreement is the world's main effort to address the impacts of the climate crisis. Trump has called it unfair" and a rip off". Continue reading...

The coalition government will be led by the conservative New Flemish Alliance party's Bart De WeverFive Belgian parties struck a coalition deal on Friday to form a new government headed by the Flemish conservative Bart De Wever, after more than seven months of tortuous negotiations.The agreement paves the way for De Wever to become the first nationalist from the Dutch-speaking Flanders region to be Belgian premier - although in recent years he has backed off on calls for it to become an independent country. Continue reading...

Victims in the crash included figure skaters, a group of friends traveling to hunt and the flight's pilots and crew

US secretary of state to visit region amid concern over Trump threat to take back' canal and tensions over ChinaMarco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Central America this week on a five-country tour that will focus on limiting migration to the United States, curbing Chinese influence in the region and on securing Donald Trump's ambitious goal of reasserting US control over the Panama canal.Rubio will travel to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic from Saturday to Thursday this week, meeting with the presidents of each. It is the first time in more than a century that a secretary's first official visit abroad will be to Central America. Continue reading...

Dr Margaret Carpenter faces felony charges in state that has had near-total abortion ban since fall of Roe v WadeA New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the deep south state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.Grand jurors at the district court for the parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical PC; and the mother of a minor who was allegedly provided with the abortion pill, according to a New Orleans public radio station. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony. Continue reading...

Firefighters believe Palisades fire started from small blaze that may have reignited due to hurricane-force windsAs Los Angeles grapples with the aftermath of the devastating fires that killed dozens and laid waste to entire neighborhoods, the potential causes of the disasters are beginning to come into focus.The siege of wildfires, sparked amid powerful Santa Ana winds earlier this month, created chaos around the city for weeks. They scorched around 60 sq miles (155 sq km) of the city, destroying the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, and killed at least 29 people. Preliminary estimates of the economic losses have exceeded $250bn. Firefighters have only recently managed to achieve near containment of the fires, and residents begin returning to what remains of their communities, looking for answers. Continue reading...

White House has claimed goods shipped from Canada and Mexico to the US would face a 25% levy starting Saturday

British-Israeli Emily Damari was taken hostage on 7 October 2023 and says Hamas denied her medical treatment after shooting her twiceThe freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari spoke to Keir Starmer on Friday and told the prime minister Hamas held her in facilities belonging to the UN refugee agency Unrwa, her mother, Mandy, has said.Damari, 28, who was released 12 days ago, after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza, with two fingers missing, also told Starmer that Hamas had denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. Continue reading...

Hundreds gather at Rafah crossing after Donald Trump says people from Gaza will accept being moved to Egypt and Jordan because we do a lot for them'Yarden Bibas, one of the hostages announced to be released by Hamas on Saturday, was taken on 7 October, with his wife, Shiri Babas, and their two sons, four-year-old Ariel and 10-month-old Kfir - the youngest hostage taken that day.Yarden is believed to be the only family member still alive. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch expected to appear at party's London conference, where wealthy donors have been invited to evening drinksThe Conservatives are fighting back in an attempt to stem the loss of high-value donors amid a shift in funders towards Nigel Farage's Reform UK party.The party's leader, Kemi Badenoch, is expected to appear at the Conservatives' London conference in Westminster on Saturday, where wealthy party donors say they have been invited to evening drinks. Continue reading...

Since the council declared itself bankrupt, and bin workers went on strike, the city's streets have become clogged with bin bags and fly-tippingAs he walks through the streets of Small Heath in east Birmingham, Gerry Moynihan threads as if he is tackling an obstacle course, avoiding piled-up bin bags, dumped cars and fridges, fly-tipped furniture and discarded nitrous oxide canisters that clutter the pavements.Residents across the city have raised alarm at the growing level of litter and fly-tipping, which they say has worsened since the Labour-run city council declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2022, and even more so since bin workers started strike action this month in a dispute over roles being scrapped to save money. Continue reading...

Appeal court rules that Mr Justice Williams was misguided and wrong to anonymise three judges connected to caseThe judge who decided that Sara Sharif should live with her father who went on to kill her can be named after a court of appeal ruling.Sara was murdered by Urfan Sharif and his wife, Beinash Batool, in August 2023, less than four years after the designated family judge for Surrey made the decision. Continue reading...

Low pressure strengthens to tropical cyclone status in Indian Ocean, while European windstorm season rages onA compact and stationary area of low pressure brought a sustained period of heavy rain to southern parts of Madagascar this week, with weather stations at Taolagnaro and Toliara recording five-day rainfall totals of 178mm and 196mm respectively, with a peak 24-hour total of 93mm at Toliara.This area of low pressure strengthened to tropical cyclone status on Tuesday and was given the name Elvis. Although southern Madagascar experienced gusty winds owing to the storm, Elvis's primary impacts on land were the result of the persistent rainfall. As of 9am on Thursday, Elvis contained maximum sustained winds of 40 knots and was tracking south-south-east, with no further effects on land expected before the storm undergoes extratropical transition by Sunday. Continue reading...

After Ariel Bombara claimed WA police ignored repeated warnings her father was dangerous and had guns, eight officers now face disciplinary action

Increase in January of 0.1% on previous month but annual rate slows to 4.1%, says Nationwide

Victoria police say Yarraville man, 21, is accused of vandalism on Flinders Street station clock and other prominent locations

Exclusive: Researchers say poverty and special educational needs are main reason - but equality campaigners urge caution

Federal court file indicates Buttrose, Anderson and ABC chief content officer communicated on 19 December before Lattouf was taken off air on 20 December

Teenagers face lifelong trauma from untreated chronic pain while children as young as four waiting 18 months, say physiotherapistsChildren in the UK are suffering irreversible harm" and lifelong consequences as a result of unacceptable" delays in accessing physiotherapy, experts have warned.Teenagers face lifelong trauma from untreated chronic pain while children as young as four are waiting 18 months for critical treatment, according to a survey of paediatric physiotherapists. Continue reading...

Claimants say tech giant's actions have led publishers receiving less in ad revenue, but company says there is intense' market competition

Sovereign citizens, conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors want to stir the pot' with federal election coming, says AEC

The announcement comes one week after another major festival, Splendour in the Grass, also cancelled this year's edition

Grammy award-winning singer's presence eclipsed key testimony about the 2021 street shootingThe most important testimony at the trial of the rapper A$AP Rocky got second billing for a second day as superstar Rihanna sat quietly in the audience.Rihanna, A$AP Rocky's partner, appeared at his Los Angeles trial again on Thursday, sitting between his sister and mother. Continue reading...

The Oscar-nominated star of Netflix's musical made racist and Islamophobic remarks in several tweets from 2020Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon is under fire after old tweets uncovered a range of troubling opinions on subjects including Islam and George Floyd.The Spanish actor, who recently became the first ever openly transgender person to receive an acting nomination at the Oscars, has since deleted a number of tweets after users, including writer Sarah Hagi, uncovered them. Variety and the Hollywood Reporter have since reported the news and translated older posts. Continue reading...

Israel freed 110 Palestinians in exchange for three Israelis and five Thai nationals held in GazaAs the line of white buses drew closer to the West Bank city of Ramallah at dusk, their most notorious passenger stood at the window of one of the buses and waved. Skinny in his grey Israeli prison tracksuit, his head shaved, Zakaria Zubeidi lifted two fingers to make a peace sign and gestured at jubilant crowds.The 49-year-old, a former leader of a Palestinian militant group jailed for attacks that killed several Israelis, was among 110 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for three Israelis and five Thai nationals held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. The prisoners' release was delayed by Israeli officials, who expressed dismay at the chaotic scenes in Gaza that accompanied the Israelis' transfer to the custody of the Red Cross. Continue reading...

Steve Samson given whole-life order and Gemma Watts at least 30 years after killing and dismembering 38-year-oldA couple who killed a woman and dumped her dismembered body in different parts of south London have been jailed for murder.Steve Samson was out of prison on a life licence for the murder of a taxi driver in 1998 when he and his partner, Gemma Watts, killed Sarah Mayhew, 38, at his flat in Sutton last spring. Continue reading...

Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on American Airlines plane that crashed near Washington DC, among six members of the Skating Club of Boston

President scapegoats diversity and inclusion initiatives while addressing air traffic disaster that left 67 dead

Three Israelis and five Thai citizens held in Gaza were freed earlier todayAway from Gaza and Israel, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived on Thursday in Damascus, Syria, Al Jazeera reported, the first visit by a foreign head of state since Bashar al-Assad's fall.The Israeli military said on Thursday that freed Israeli female soldier Agam Berger had been handed over to the army by the Red Cross after her release in Gaza by Hamas. Continue reading...

Rebels here in Goma to stay' and Rwandan official says advance will continue amid fears of regional warThe Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has pushed south from Goma, the border city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that it captured this week, and declared its intention to remain in the city, as fears grow of a major regional war.We are here in Goma to stay," Corneille Nangaa, the head of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of militias that includes M23, said at a press conference in Goma. We are going to continue the march until Kinshasa," he added, referring to Congo's capital 1,000 miles away. Continue reading...

Five arrested after Salwan Momika reportedly killed during TikTok live stream, hours before trial verdict dueSweden's prime minister has said a foreign power may have been involved in the fatal shooting of an anti-Islam campaigner just hours before a trial verdict over his burning of the Qur'an was due.Police arrested five people over the killing of Salwan Momika, 38, who was shot late on Wednesday in a house in the town of Sodertalje, near Stockholm. Authorities did not say whether the shooter was among those detained. Continue reading...

Jose Raul Mulino rules out talks on waterway with secretary of state: That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama'

Trump's pick for health secretary says I don't think anybody can say' Covid vaccines saved millions of livesRobert F Kennedy Jr's nomination to lead America's top health agency faced strong headwinds as he struggled to provide clear answers on his past vaccine statements for a second straight day of bruising hearings on Capitol Hill.In a tense back-and-forth before the Senate health committee on Thursday morning, Kennedy dodged direct questions about whether he still believes vaccines cause autism, despite extensive scientific evidence to the contrary. When pressed by Senator Bernie Sanders about studies showing Covid-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, Kennedy claimed we don't have a good surveillance system" and said I don't think anybody can say that." Continue reading...

A number of people believed comedian would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent', review findsThe BBC has apologised after a review found a number of individuals had concerns about Russell Brand's behaviour during his time with the broadcaster which they felt unable to raise, believing the presenter would always get this own way and therefore they stayed silent".Brand, 49, denies historic allegations of rape, assault and emotional abuse, and has previously said all his sexual relationships were absolutely always consensual", following a September 2023 investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches which revealed four women had accused him of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can find more of our European news coverage hereA spokesperson for the European Commission has just been asked about the German motion at their daily midday press briefing:Here is his answer in full:As you know, we don't comment on political debates, drafts and announcements, and I will not do that today.We will look at the texts when they're ready. Continue reading...

GDP grew by 2.3% in last quarter of 2024, down from 3.1% rate of growth in previous quarterThe growth of the US economy slowed in the last quarter, but capped another robust year of expansion, as Donald Trump pledges to lead a historic revival and bring down prices for millions of Americans.Gross domestic product (GDP) - a broad measure of economic health - grew by 2.3% in the last three months of 2024, according to official data released on Thursday; down from the 3.1% rate of growth in the previous quarter. Continue reading...

Online gambling firm's service issues' left bettors apparently unable to cash out' on busy night in European footballThe online gambling company Bet365 has been flooded with complaints after it suffered an outage during one of the busiest nights of European football this season.Customers claimed to have lost out on thousands of pounds owing to what the company called issues with our service" during the second half of Wednesday night's 18 Champions League games. Continue reading...

Postal service set to be allowed to deliver second-class letters on alternate weekdays and not Saturdays

Economic data shows food and beverage prices still rising faster than long-term average, even as inflationary pressures ease

Largest price hike since privatisation is even more than the 86 predicted by Ofwat as companies add inflation on topWater bills will rise by an average of 123 this year in the biggest hit to customer pockets since the industry was privatised 36 years ago, as the public pays to replace ageing infrastructure and cut record sewage pollution.The price hike for millions of customers in England and Wales from 1 April will take the annual average bill from 480 to 603, and is higher than the 86 rise predicted by the regulator Ofwat in December, because water companies are adding inflation on top. Continue reading...

Assad's fall welcomed in southern province of Suwayda but community continues to press Damascus caretaker governmentSuwayda is well-equipped for protests. The central square of the city, home to one of Syria's larger minority communities, hosts the crowds of weekly - or sometimes even daily - demonstrators calling for the representation and public services they have demanded for years.Long before the fall last month of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the southern province of the same name had become a byword for resistance to rule by Damascus, unafraid to protest despite Assad's crackdown on dissent and his hollow pledges to protect communities like theirs. Continue reading...

Attempts in Japan to retrieve the man were temporarily halted early on Wednesday after a second sinkhole appearedRescue workers in Japan are battling water leaks, gas pipes and unstable ground as they attempt to reach a man whose truck fell into a sinkhole near Tokyo two days ago.The hole, which is reportedly 10 metres across and 10 metres deep, opened up at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama prefecture, on Tuesday morning, swallowing the 74-year-old truck driver and his two-tonne vehicle. Continue reading...

Removal follows batches being pulled from shelves across continental EuropeA small number" of cans of Coca-Cola and Appletiser have been recalled in the UK after testing abroad revealed elevated levels of the chemical chlorate.The recall includes imported multipacks of 250ml Appletiser cans, which were sent only to UK supermarkets, and imported cans of Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke and Sprite Zero, which were sent to cafes and restaurants during a limited time period. Continue reading...

Health committee criticises Amanda Pritchard's evidence after scathing report from another Commons committeeThe head of the NHS in England is under fresh fire after a second influential group of MPs in barely 12 hours accused her of lacking the drive and dynamism" to radically reform the service.The cross-party Commons health and social care committee criticised Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, after taking detailed evidence from her on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Judge rejects attempt to strike out publisher's defences after hearing application was absolutely hopeless'Noel Clarke has suffered a blow in his legal action against the Guardian after a high court judge rejected his attempt to strike out the publisher's defences in the case.In central London on Wednesday the actor and producer sought to prevent the Guardian relying on the defences of truth and public interest at a trial for defamation and data protection, but Mrs Justice Steyn rejected the application after hearing that it was absolutely hopeless". Continue reading...

Appointment of former leader of group that led operation to topple Assad comes amid other political changesThe former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group which led the military operation to topple the former president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, last month, has been appointed president of Syria for a transitional period".The appointment of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has been acting as the de-facto leader of the country since early December, came after a meeting of rebel faction leaders on Wednesday and was announced by a military spokesperson. Continue reading...

Mary Grimes, Avril Monaghan, Maura Monaghan and Avril's unborn twins died in 1998 attack, inquiry hearsA family from which women of three generations were killed in the Omagh bombing have spoken about the immeasurable pain caused by the atrocity and said they hope no other family suffers as they have.They were speaking at a public inquiry established to determine whether the attack, the worst in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, could have been prevented. Continue reading...