World news | The Guardian

As users turn to VPNs to access pornography, experts warn collection of information creates a honeytrap' for bad actors

SNP leader hails prospect of success for parties in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that want to break up unionThe UK is facing an absolutely seismic moment", John Swinney has said, with the prospect of the election of first ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in May who are all committed to the break-up of the union.Speaking at the Scottish National party's campaign conference ahead of the Scottish parliament elections, the first minister told delegates: For people watching around the world, there could be no clearer sign that Westminster's time is up." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Senior party figures conclude outsiders or existing senior staff deemed more suitable should take over from current permanent secretariesA Reform UK government would expect to dismiss the top civil servant in every government department and replace them with people seen as more likely to implement the party's priorities, the Guardian has learned.Senior Reform figures have concluded that the current crop of permanent secretaries, the lead civil servant in each department, are not up to the necessary standard. Some would be replaced by outsiders, and others by existing officials viewed as more suitable. Continue reading...

Royal couple criticise Tom Bower's fixation' on them and describe released extracts as conspiracy and melodrama'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have launched a scathing attack on a deranged" author whose new book claims Queen Camilla once told a friend: Meghan's brainwashed Harry."The royal couple hit out at Tom Bower, the author of Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, criticising his fixation" on the pair. Continue reading...

Habermas's political consensus-building theory argued formation of public opinion vital for democracies to surviveThe influential German philosopher and sociologist Jurgen Habermas has died at the age of 96, his publisher has said.Habermas, a towering figure in the intellectual history of postwar Germany, is best known for his theory of political consensus-building. Widely considered one of most influential philosophers of the 20th century, he also helped to shape the discourse around European integration and the formation of the EU. Continue reading...

Rare action began peacefully but degenerated into vandalism' according to state-run newspaperFive people have been arrested in Cuba for acts of vandalism" after a small group of protesters broke into a provincial office of the Cuban Communist party and set fire to computers and furniture.The incident, which also affected a pharmacy and another shop, took place in the town of Moron, a little more than 300 miles (500km) east of Havana. Continue reading...

The war is deeply unpopular, and the spike in oil prices will mean long-term high prices across the board for AmericansDonald Trump is still high on the capture of Nicolas Maduro. The easy abduction of the Venezuelan president didn't just grant Trump control of the nation's oil and critical minerals resources. It allowed him to throttle the government of Cuba by denying it access to energy, raising the tantalizing prospect that he might bring down a communist regime that has annoyed Washington since 1959.Trump is confident that his joint venture with Israel in Iran will do just as well. The barrage of Iranian missiles and drones aimed at Israel and Iran's Arab neighbors has done nothing to change Trump's mind that he can win, regardless of how he defines winning". Continue reading...

US president urges nations to deploy vessels to keep key oil shipping route open amid conflict with IranDonald Trump has said the UK should send warships to help keep the strait of Hormuz open.In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president urged the UK and other countries to deploy vessels to the strait amid the conflict with Iran. Continue reading...

The facility was attacked on Friday night, bringing the toll of medical staff to 31 killed in past 12 daysIsrael killed 12 medical workers in a strike on a medical centre in south Lebanon on Friday night, bringing the toll of healthcare staff killed in the country by Israel to 31 over the past 12 days.A primary healthcare facility in the town of Burj Qalaouiyah was struck by Israeli rockets late on Friday, setting it ablaze and causing the structure to collapse on top of the staff inside. The strike killed doctors, paramedics and nurses on duty, according to the Lebanese ministry of health, which said it violated all international humanitarian laws" in a statement. Continue reading...

Motaz Malhees is an actor in The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film about a Palestinian girl killed by the IDF in Gaza in 2024Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees said a travel ban imposed by Donald Trump is preventing him from attending Sunday's Academy Awards, whose nominees include a movie in which he has a starring role.The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024, has been nominated for best international feature film. Continue reading...

Former Oldham East and Saddleworth MP remained in Westminster for New Labour's entire 13 years in powerThe former Labour MP minister Phil Woolas has died of brain cancer, his family and close friends have announced.Woolas, 66, was elected to parliament to represent Oldham East and Saddleworth as part of Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 general election. He remained in Westminster for New Labour's entire 13-year stretch in power. Continue reading...

Closure of strait of Hormuz puts pressure on region's economies amid growing resentment about conflict started by US and Israel

EU citizens with post-Brexit settlement status in UK will not have to present British passport to airlinesBritish dual nationals who are EU citizens with post-Brexit settlement status in the UK will not have to use a British passport to return to the UK, the Home Office has said in a significant U-turn on its controversial dual national border rules.The change, which critics say was hidden away" on a government web page, comes weeks after controversy erupted over the new rules that came into effect on 25 February. They require British dual nationals to present a British passport or certificate of entitlement, costing 589, before they board a plane to the UK. Continue reading...

Stanley McChrystal said White House has a we should do because we can' approach to international relationsThe retired US army general who once led Nato forces in Afghanistan says the bellicose foreign policy Donald Trump has pursued during his second presidency can be summed up as we should do because we can" - invoking the lyrics of the Dolly Parton classic Jolene to emphasize the point.Stanley McChrystal delivered those remarks on Friday at Tulane University's New Orleans book festival during a fireside chat hosted by the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who asked in part about US military strikes Trump has ordered in Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran since Christmas. Continue reading...

Wife of former PM also says she is mentioned in Epstein files and coverage not focused enough on victims of abusePeter Mandelson's critics should remember that he is still a human being", Cherie Blair has said in an interview.Blair added that the former Labour minister was entitled to a fair trial" after he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. He denies criminal wrongdoing and has been released under investigation. Continue reading...

Greenhouse gases dropped just 0.1% last year as environment minister criticises lack of improvementGreenhouse gas emissions in Germany have again missed targets set by the Climate Protection Act and barely fell at all in 2025.Emissions decreased by just 0.1% last year compared to the previous year, according to data from the German Environment Agency. Continue reading...

Demonstrators on Sunday will be arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action or intifada chants, says MetPolice have warned demonstrators that they will be arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action or intifada chants at a protest on Sunday.About 12,000 people are expected to take part in the annual al-Quds Day rally in London, an international demonstration of support for Palestinian rights. The event takes its name from the Arabic version of Jerusalem and was created by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after Iran's 1979 revolution. Continue reading...

Jason Hughes died after falling and being struck by a car driven by a student who had just pranked the teacherA Georgia prosecutor has decided to drop charges against a teenager who police say was driving the truck that struck and killed a beloved high school teacher when a prank turned deadly, the teen's lawyer said. The victim's family had urged authorities not to compound the tragedy by prosecuting the teen driver and his friends.The 40-year-old teacher, Jason Hughes, died after slipping and falling into the street as the teens started to drive away after participating in a community tradition of pranking teachers by throwing toilet paper on to his front lawn. Continue reading...

Race to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene's seat provides glimpse into midterms with Iran and immigration on voters' mindsEarlier this week, a steady trickle of voters casting ballots in Dalton at Georgia's City Hall offered a glimpse into what may be changing fortunes for Democrats in Marjorie Taylor Greene's former congressional district.The district hasn't elected a Democrat since it was created after the 2010 Census. But the party's candidate Shawn Harris drew the most votes district-wide - about 37% - on Tuesday and now faces Clay Fuller, a Trump-endorsed former prosecutor as his opponent in an April runoff election. The winner will finish Greene's term until November, when a whole new election will take place. Continue reading...

Officials sent out repayment letters to about 1,400 people relying on discredited guidance that had been scrappedUnpaid carers have been issued with demands to repay thousands of pounds for allegedly breaking benefit rules even though officials knew the decisions were based on unlawful and discredited policy guidance.About 1,400 carers are understood to have been sent letters by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in January asking them to repay sums relating to breaches of carer's allowance earnings rules that had been scrapped four months previously. Continue reading...

Review from non-profit finds range of scenarios of firms simultaneously lobbying for and against Pfas regulationsSome top US lobbying firms are simultaneously working both sides of the Pfas forever chemicals" issue, raising serious conflict of interest questions and concerns that their activity is slowing states' efforts to rein in the public health threat.The review of six states' lobbying records conducted by the non-profit F-Minus found a range of scenarios in which firms lobbied both sides. Most common Pfas are linked to cancer. The lobbying firm Holland & Knight works for the American Chemistry Council, which represents the nation's largest Pfas makers, and aggressively opposes most regulations. Simultaneously, Holland & Knight lobbies for the American Cancer Society. Continue reading...

US test of 120 umbilical blood cord samples identified 42 Pfas compounds, which do not naturally break down

US workers are finding it difficult to afford basic necessities as the president claims the economy is roaring back'US workers are still struggling with the cost of living despite Donald Trump's campaign promises to fix the US affordability crisis.The Guardian spoke to workers as an exclusive poll showed cross-party concerns about the Trump administration's handling of the US economy. Continue reading...

Yara's Svein Tore Holsether says it would be catastrophic' if the strait of Hormuz was closed for a yearThe boss of one of the world's largest fertiliser companies has said global food supplies could be badly damaged this year if the Iran war becomes an extended conflict.Svein Tore Holsether, the chief executive of Norway's Yara International, has called on global leaders to consider the impact that soaring food prices will have in some of the world's poorest countries before it is too late". Continue reading...

Summer holidaymakers opting for more familiar, easy-to-reach locations' as travel industry counts cost of Middle East conflictHolidaymakers who had planned to visit the eastern Mediterranean this summer are moving their trips to the west and the Caribbean because of the US-Israel war on Iran, travel companies have said.Travellers from the UK and mainland Europe are increasingly swapping their holiday destinations away from Cyprus, Turkey and Greece towards Italy, Spain, Malta and Croatia, as the region around the Middle East grapples with flight cancellations and airspace closures. Continue reading...

With membership soaring, the Green party is grappling with logistics, culture shifts and a flood of new activistsIt is, as one Green activist put it, a never-ending series of constantly good problems to have". But how does a party adapt to the sudden trebling of its membership? And when a majority of people in an organisation are new, is it even the same thing anymore?The basic facts alone are startling. Before Zack Polanski took over as leader last September, the Greens in England and Wales had around 66,000 members. They are now at 215,000, and still rising at speed. Continue reading...

Mayor condemns cowardly act' on south side of city that caused limited damage and no reported injuriesAn explosion has damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam in what the city's mayor described as a deliberate attack against the Jewish community".The explosion early on Saturday in a residential neighbourhood on the south side of the city caused limited damage, the mayor, Femke Halsema, said in a press release, as police and firefighters arrived at the scene quickly. Continue reading...

High-net-worth residents of UAE heading to Ireland and France to wait out missile attacks before tax year endsWealthy UK nationals fleeing war in the Gulf are seeking sanctuary in countries such as Ireland and France to avoid hefty tax bills back home.In the face of possible demands from HM Revenue and Customs, high-net-worth individuals who had been living in the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries are hoping to wait out the missile and drone attacks elsewhere rather than return to the UK. Continue reading...

Carmaker's decision to drop NissanConnect EV app on relatively recent cars fuels warnings from expertsOwners of some Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are angry after the carmaker announced it would shut down an app that lets them remotely control battery charging and other functions.Drivers of Leaf cars made before May 2019 and the e-NV200 van (produced until 2022) have been told that the NissanConnect EV app linked to their vehicles will cease operation" from 30 March. This means they will lose remote services, including turning on the heating, and some map features. Continue reading...

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days Continue reading...

Treasury minister Spencer Livermore trails new strategy as chancellor pins hopes on benefits of AI amid global uncertaintyThe NHS and Ministry of Defence will be urged to buy British tech, as the government pins its hopes on the benefits of artificial intelligence to kickstart growth in the face of the Iran crisis, Treasury minister Spencer Livermore has said.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will restate her economic strategy in a high profile lecture on Tuesday, just as rocketing oil prices have raised fears of higher inflation and weaker growth. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds data from flagship medical research leaked dozens of timesConfidential health data has been exposed online on dozens of occasions, a Guardian investigation can reveal, raising questions about the safeguarding of patient records by one of the UK's flagship medical research projects.UK Biobank, which holds the medical records of 500,000 British volunteers, is one of the world's most comprehensive stores of health information and is credited with driving breakthroughs in cancer, dementia and diabetes research. But scientists approved to access Biobank's sensitive data appear to have sometimes been cavalier about its security. Continue reading...

Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposedStargate was to be the world's biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to secure American leadership in AI". Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised massive economic benefit for the entire world" with facilities to help people use AI to elevate humanity".Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal - the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online. Continue reading...

Refusal to kowtow to US president has won public backing - and left Badenoch and Farage playing catch-upIt is not often that Keir Starmer's allies believe he has Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch on the run - but on Iran, they think he is on the right side of history and public opinion.It could be the making of him," said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, who was first out of the blocks to say she thought Donald Trump's strikes on Iran were illegal. You've not had a British prime minister say no to an American president since Vietnam. This is a big deal." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lough Neagh, which supplies drinking water for 40% of NI, contains genes resistant to last-resort antibioticsGenes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in the UK's largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland.Testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems - drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed. Continue reading...

Iran's is trying to create wedges between Gulf states and the US, but Trump is very comfortable on the escalatory ladder'In its current phase, the Israeli-US war against Iran and its proxies has become a proving ground for two competing concepts of military escalation, each of which threatens to become a trap.On one side, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have failed thus far in their ill-defined and shifting strategic aims. Despite killing Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other key leaders in the opening salvo of the campaign, the clerical regime remains and Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium is unsecured. Airstrikes are intensifying and hitting a greater number of targets. Continue reading...

Iranian military said in a statement that oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms that cooperated with the US would immediately be destroyed'

This blog has now closed. Follow our Middle East blog hereBoth Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine were asked today about energy secretary Chris Wright's comments to CNBC on Thursday, where he said that the US Navy cannot escort ships through the strait of Hormuz now but it was quite likely" that could happen by the end of the month.Gen Caine appeared to agree with Wright's assessment, calling the waterway a tactically complex environment". Continue reading...

Former spy chief says recommendations regarding intelligence agencies shouldn't wait for royal commission's final report

Sources tell Reuters layoffs could affect 20% or more of company as plans reflect broader tensions within big techMeta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers.No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalized, the people said. Continue reading...

Commuters on Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines will be first to test tap-and-go technology

Tehran residents report relentless bombing with US and Israeli planes launching wave of attacks

President thanks Grenell for outstanding work' and says Matt Floca, vice-president of operations, will take overDonald Trump has announced that Ric Grenell, the longtime Republican foreign policy adviser who oversaw far-reaching changes at the Kennedy Center, which prompted many artists to abandon the performing arts venue, will be replaced by Matt Floca, vice-president of operations at the center.Trump made the announcement on social media that he has replaced Grenell, thanking him for the outstanding work he has done". Floca was photographed in December personally overseeing the addition of Trump's name to the center's facade. Grenell's departure comes as the Kennedy Center prepares to close this summer for a two-year renovation. Continue reading...

Trump DoJ's investigation was purportedly about the management of the central bank's renovationA federal judge on Friday blocked the justice department from serving subpoenas to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell in an inquiry purported to be about the management of the central bank's renovation.Powell disclosed the surprise investigation on 11 January, and described the move as a threat to Fed independence and part of the Trump administration's attempts to pressure the Fed to cut rates. Continue reading...

TSA employees have been working in US airports without pay since the partial shutdown began in FebruaryA rising number of US airports are asking for donations to support employees affected by the partial government shutdown with airport security officials missing their first full paychecks Friday.Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees have been working in airports around the US without pay since a shutdown began in February after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a funding agreement. Democrats have since refused to support a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the TSA's parent agency, without first receiving guaranteed immigration enforcement reforms. Continue reading...

Kenya Chapman was arrested for allegedly selling firearm to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, who killed one person on ThursdayThe US Department of Justice on Friday charged a man who authorities say sold a gun to the Old Dominion University (ODU) shooter despite the gunman's previous conviction in a terrorism case.Kenya Chapman is facing federal charges in connection to the sale of the weapon to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former army national guard member who yelled Allahu Akbar" before he opened fire in a classroom at the Virginia school on Thursday, according to authorities. Continue reading...

Trade body attends meeting with Rachel Reeves, hours after saying it was pulling out over suggestions of price gouging Watchdog puts UK fuel retailers on notice' over profiteering from Iran warThe trade body for the UK's petrol station industry has got into a row with the government after claiming the inflammatory language" used by ministers to describe rising pump prices may have incited abuse against forecourt staff.The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said ministers had for several days suggested that forecourts might be price gouging" and ripping off" motorists as global oil markets have surged in response to the war in Iran. Continue reading...

Bolivian interior ministry says Sebastian Marset is being extradited to US, where he's wanted for money laundering

Gretchen Whitmer says community is on edge' with fear of increased violence amid escalating US-Israeli war on Iran

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon and became a naturalized US citizen, lost two brothers, a niece and a nephew in the airstrike