World news | The Guardian

Senior executives got 26m in extra payments over the past four years despite public outrage at extent and frequency of overflowsThe government is to ban bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales who fail to prevent illegal sewage spills that pollute rivers, lakes and seas.The policy, which many campaigners - including Labour and the Liberal Democrats - have been lobbying the government to implement, follows public outrage over the impact and scale of recent illegal raw sewage discharges. Continue reading...

Centre-right Alexander Stubb declares victory and is congratulated by Pekka HaavistoFinland's centre-right former prime minister Alexander Stubb will become the next president after winning an election runoff with rival Pekka Haavisto in the country's most high-stakes presidential election in a generation.Stubb, of the National Coalition party, declared victory on Sunday night and Haavisto, a former foreign minister and a member of the Green party running as an independent, congratulated him. Continue reading...

Home affairs minister Clare O'Neil says scathing report shows offshore processing used as a slush fund by suspected criminals'

Australia's largest oil and gas producer stands accused of distracting from credible action to cut emissions by greenwashing its fossil fuel plans

Defence secretary rejects idea of lowering security clearances for overseas recruits to boost inclusivity as woke nonsense'A review of diversity and inclusion policies at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been ordered to ensure that Britain's ability to defend its borders isn't impaired by what a cabinet minister described as political correctness".The movefollows reports that the army wants to relax security checks for overseas recruits to increase black, Asian and minority ethnic representation. Continue reading...

More than a thousand people attend memorial in Warrington to mark first anniversary of teenager's murderA vigil has been held in Warrington to mark the anniversary of the death of the amazing, unique and joyful teenager" Brianna Ghey.More than a thousand people came together to remember everything from her lethal" way with a makeup sponge to her famous eye roll." Continue reading...

Mohammed Hamada says he is devastated by death of Palestinian girl and relatives, whose bodies have now been recoveredThe cousin of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who died in Gaza after her family's car appeared to come under fire from Israeli tanks has told how he spoke to her as she waited to be rescued and said he was haunted by her last words.Hind Rajab's body was recovered on Saturday, alongside those of six of her relatives, and two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, Yusuf Al-Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, sent to find her in Gaza City. Continue reading...

Neither body belonged to 35-year-old suspected of Clapham chemical attack on woman and children, say policeTwo male bodies have been recovered from the River Thames as police search for a suspect who severely injured a vulnerable" woman and her two young daughters in a chemical assault.Neither body was identified as that of Abdul Ezedi, who has been on the run since the attack on 31 January in Clapham, south London. He was last seen walking with purpose" to Chelsea Bridge in west London and was captured on CCTV leaning over the railings of the bridge on the night of the attack. Continue reading...

The prime minister, whose party faces electoral wipeout, may feel he has no choice but to give the Tories' star campaigner another chanceAt the start of a week when the Conservatives face the prospect of two byelection defeats - possible tasters of the general election wipeout to come - voices on the party's right calling for Boris Johnson to return in some form are growing louder.On Sunday they came not just through renewed pressure from the Tory-leaning press but from former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng that Rishi Sunak should swallow some pride" and bring his rival back into the fold. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of students lost their visas after a TV expose of cheating a decade ago. Many say they were wrongly accusedIn 2014, a BBC Panorama documentary revealed widespread, well-organised cheating in the English language tests that international students were required to take in the UK if they wanted to change their course or renew their visa. As a result of these allegations the Home Office revoked the visas of about 35,000 students. Most were thrown off their courses; 2,500 students were deported and 7,200 left the country after being warned that they faced arrest and detention if they stayed. Thousands of students have spent years protesting their innocence. Continue reading...

Media mogul met government representatives 12 times in 2022-23 when he was chair of News CorpThe media mogul Rupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times over a 12-month period before he stepped down as the chair of News Corp in September last year, according to government records.Official records of government meetings, analysed by the campaign group Hacked Off, show that the former head of News Corp - which owns the Times and the Sun newspapers in the UK - personally met government representatives 12 times between October 2022 and September 2023, including five meetings with the prime minister. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Push follows new evidence that raises questions over Home Office's cheating accusations against 35,000 international students

Israeli prime minister says country will do our best to get all those who are alive back,' ahead of expected ground invasion of Rafah

Two officers died and two others injured when their patrol craft was rammed by speedboat off the coast of BarbateEight people have been arrested after two Spanish Guardia Civil officers were killed and two more injured when their small patrol boat was rammed by a speedboat driven by suspected drug smugglers off the southern port of Barbate.Video of the incident, which took place on Friday night, showed a large speedboat hitting the police inflatable launch at high speed. Stretches of Spain's southern coast have seen a series of violent clashes in recent years between police and smugglers bringing in drugs from north Africa. Continue reading...

Jens Stoltenberg says Nato ready and able to defend all allies', after Trump invited Russia to attack member countriesThe Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that any attack on the western military alliance would be met with a united and forceful response", after the former US president Donald Trump invited Russia to attack member countries he perceived as not meeting their financial obligations.Stoltenberg said in a statement: Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk. I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election, the US will remain a strong and committed Nato ally." Continue reading...

UK housing minister promises section 21 evictions in England will have ended by time of general electionMichael Gove has vowed that no-fault evictions will be banned this year, as he warned separately that democracy was under threat if young people were shut out from owning their own home in future.Ministers have come under fire in recent days from campaigners who have said its bill to get rid of so-called section 21 evictions in England, whereby landlords can remove tenants for no reason, is inadequate. The ban was also a pledge made in the Conservatives' 2019 manifesto. Continue reading...

Designer returns for first show after two-year absence with new take on preppy and move away from streetwearLuxury is the word on the tip of everyone's tongue. Everyone knows what luxury looks like now, and everyone wants it. But luxury is unreachable for most people. If I can sell an affordable version of luxury, that's a great position for our business."

Audiences should be shocked and disturbed' by the impact of theatre, says star of Schindler's ListTrigger warnings for theatre audiences should be scrapped because people should be shocked and disturbed" by what they see, the actor Ralph Fiennes has said.The warnings are issued before the beginning of a performance to alert audiences to upsetting or distressing content and have become increasingly commonplace in theatres. Continue reading...

Spotlight turns on seven executives who presided over Horizon contract that led to huge miscarriage of justiceBosses at Fujitsu have collected about 37m in pay, bonuses and compensation for loss of office since the technology company won the contract to supply the software at the heart of the Post Office Horizon scandal, it has emerged.Accounts going back 25 years reveal the seven-figure sums paid out to executives of the UK division of the Japanese-owned technology company, even as more than 900 people were prosecuted as a result of flaws in the system their company supplied. Continue reading...

Will Stewart's satire still cut through in a post-pandemic world of disinformation, polarisation and fragmented media?Barack Obama was US president. Britain was a lynchpin of the European Union. Harvey Weinstein was a powerful movie mogul. Meghan Markle was starring in Suits. TikTok" did not mean anything and fake news meant a satirical TV program with pretend reporters.That was the world Jon Stewart left behind when he hosted his last episode of The Daily Show on the Comedy Central network on 6 August 2015, denying a legion of fans his lacerating take on the election, presidency, impeachment, defeat, impeachment again and comeback of Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Campaigners say renters served notices of increases of 30% to 60% in advance of cap and other emergency protections endingPrivate tenants in Scotland are facing big rent rises and mass evictions as emergency protections expire at the end of next month, campaigners have warned.The Scottish government has in effect rubber-stamped rent increases from April", says Ruth Gilbert, the national campaigns chair of the Scotland-wide tenants' union Living Rent, while transitional measures are inadequate and confusing, leaving many unaware what their legal rights are. Continue reading...

Trade union Unite tells of concerns about 2025 contract to administer civil service pension schemeRetired firefighters who were responsible for tackling blazes on military bases have been unable to access their full pension due to numerous" blunders by the outsourcing group Capita, it has emerged.Capita won a 525m contract to run the Ministry of Defence's fire and rescue service in 2019, renaming it the Defence Fire and Rescue Project (DFRP) after the privatisation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: FoI request shows minister was warned by civil servants of risk' but focused instead on tech firm's investment in UKKemi Badenoch failed to raise the issue of the Horizon scandal or compensation for Post Office operators when she met Fujitsu at Davos last year, instead focusing on asking the firm for its views on investing in the UK.The business secretary, who was then trade secretary, was warned by civil servants in her briefing note of the risk" around the Horizon scandal, in which Fujitsu supplied faulty software that led to about 700 post office operators being wrongly convicted of fraud. Continue reading...

Ex-chancellor calls on Sunak to swallow some pride' and bring back electoral force' that is former PMRishi Sunak should swallow some pride" and bring back the electoral force" that is Boris Johnson, the former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said.Kwarteng, who announced earlier this week that he would be standing down as an MP at the general election, also said the prime minister needed to work on his outreach" with backbench Tory MPs also thinking about quiting. Continue reading...

Israeli PM brushes aside warnings that assault on Gaza's southernmost town would be a human catastrophe'

Escalation of conflict causing tensions within community and fears about war spreading to IranIranians living in the UK have described deep divisions in the community since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.The deadly attack by Hamas in Israel on 7 October and the subsequent bombardment of Gaza have led to tense conversations among British Iranians, they say. Continue reading...

Feira de Acari is closed down by the mayor after claims that gangsters used it to sell stolen goodsManoel Ribeiro has never known a world without Rio de Janeiro's best-known flea market, the Feira de Acari.The swarming suburban bazaar was founded outside his home in 1970, the year of his birth. It existed in 1993 when the market trader was shot nearby during an armed robbery and lost the use of his legs. Continue reading...

Debate gains traction as evidence grows on negative impact of social media use on mental health of young peopleMany parents of digitally obsessed teens must have wished they could bin their smartphones. As evidence mounts about the risks of social media, there is a growing public clamour to protect children better - with some now even calling for a ban.The debate in the UK took on a fresh resonance in recent days after Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna, added her voice to those highlighting the dangers of smartphones. Continue reading...

With Republicans blocking US military aid, if Europe does not plug the gap Ukraine risks slow-motion defeatUkraine began 2024 on the defensive - and Kyiv's battlefield prospects are dimming further as Republicans in the US Congress appear increasingly to be intent on blocking future military aid. If Europe does not plug the gap, Ukraine risks slow-motion defeat from 2025.A simple figure sums up the problem. Ukraine is once again being outgunned in this near two-year war: the current estimate is that Russia is firing 10,000 artillery shells a day to Ukraine's 2,000, a dismal ratio that may yet worsen in the absence of future US gifts of ammunition. Continue reading...

The literary department at the London theatre is renowned for taking risks with untried playwrights, but is now under threatThe Royal Court is known for putting the names of emerging playwrights up in lights for the first time, but is the voltage now dimming for Britain's best known path into theatre writing? The Royal Court's literary department is struggling to survive as the venue on London's Sloane Square, renowned for staging risk-taking shows over 60 years, makes swingeing cuts in order to keep going.As a younger writer, all I wanted was to have a play on at that theatre, so I'd like other new writers to have the same chance," said Timberlake Wertenbaker, whose acclaimed 1988 play Our Country's Good was first staged at the Royal Court. It would be a disaster if we lost this theatre though ... so I understand that preserving the venue is the main thing." Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak said legacy cases had been cleared, but torture victims and others fleeing persecution feel forgottenWhen Saba* converted to Christianity, she knew she could no longer stay in Iran. As a disabled woman and a victim of religious persecution, to remain would mean being killed", she told the Observer, her voice cracking with emotion. She fled in secret, claiming asylum in the UK in autumn 2022. I was scared," she said. I only wanted to arrive in a safe place."Since then, Saba has been waiting for her asylum application to be processed. The waiting is terrible. I have nightmares that I am being killed, I wake up screaming. I am visually impaired and have kidney disease. The stress affects my health - my hands and feet shake and go numb." Continue reading...

Prime minister says there needs to be an explanation' after former deputy prime minister was seen lying on a Canberra street swearing into his phone

Man succumbs to serious injury suffered during fall while skiing, with paramedics declaring him dead at the scene

Clinics de-listed people without warning, forcing them to go private or find another NHS practicePatients across England who failed to visit their dentists since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic have been systematically barred by some clinics from getting NHS treatment.Dental practices across the country informed patients they could no longer get NHS treatment, citing non-attendance over a period of two years or more that included lockdown. Continue reading...

Sha'ban al-Sayed, whose mentally ill civilian son entered Gaza in 2015, says he has found allyship among families of kidnapped IsraelisIn Israel it's impossible to miss the faces of the 130 or so Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas: they are plastered across walls, hung from balconies, and digital versions are now screensavers on passport reading machines at the airport. Bring them home now!" the posters say. The families' rallying cry is repeated everywhere, chanted at demonstrations and printed on restaurant receipts and the shells of supermarket eggs.The fate of the captives seized on 7 October has gripped Israeli society. One face that does not appear among the rows of missing people is that of Hisham al-Sayed, a 36-year-old Israeli Bedouin held by Hamas almost completely incommunicado for the last nine years. Continue reading...

Teenagers are coerced into committing crime for someone else's benefit, according to social justice groupsAlmost half of the victims of criminal exploitation in the UK are British boys aged under 18, according to a report calling for new laws to acknowledge them as victims of modern slavery.The analysis, by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) thinktank and the charity Justice and Care, found that criminal exploitation is the most common type of modern slavery occurring in the UK in the past four years. Continue reading...

Young people with complex needs face long waits for places because providers fear negative watchdog reportsSome care homes in England are refusing to take children with complex needs because they are worried it might affect their Ofsted inspection ratings, fuelling concern that vulnerable young people in the social care system are having to wait months or even years for a stable home.Last month, an Ofsted report said nine out of 10 councils often struggle to find homes for children with complex needs, with some local authorities having to resort to unregistered placements as an alternative to registered care homes. Continue reading...

Prime minister says the opposition wants to wind back any reforms that are in the interests of working people'

This blog is now closed.

Tributes flow for pioneer and doyen' of industry who has died at the age of 81

State media report all men aged 18-35 and women 18-27 must serve for up to two years and up to five years in a state of emergencyMyanmar's junta has declared mandatory military service for all young men and women, state media said, as it struggles to contain armed rebel forces fighting for greater autonomy in various parts of the country.All men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 must serve for up to two years, while specialists like doctors aged up to 45 must serve for three years. The service can be extended to a total of five years in the ongoing state of emergency, state media said on Saturday. Continue reading...

Jailed leader says he has support to form next government but analysts say results only suit the armyImran Khan's political party has declared it intends to form the next government after claiming a shock election victory, despite efforts by the opposition to take power in a backroom coalition deal.Even as results showed that candidates backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party run by the incarcerated former prime minister Khan, had won the most seats, by Saturday night there was still little clarity on who would be forming the next government in Pakistan, adding to a climate of political turmoil. Continue reading...

Actor says seats costing 150 are driving away young people and risk keeping theatre elitist'Actor Andrew Scott has suggested cheap theatre tickets should be put on a sale rack" so that young people can see West End productions without having to spend 150.The actor, known for television roles such as the hot" priest in Fleabag and Moriarty in Sherlock, has won two Olivier Awards for his theatre work. Continue reading...

MPs find Treasury-affiliated bodies have engaged Horizon firm since damning 2019 high court judgmentThe Japanese technology company Fujitsu, whose flawed technology for the Post Office led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters, is confirmed to have held contracts worth more than 3.4bn linked to the Treasury since 2019.Figures published by the Commons' treasury committee show 1.4bn of contracts were awarded to Treasury-affiliated organisations after a high court ruling in December 2019 over the company's software. The judgment found that bugs, errors and defects" in Fujitsu's Horizon system could cause shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts. Continue reading...

The monarch paid tribute to support groups for those with the disease and thanked the public for their good wishesKing Charles has spoken of his lifelong admiration" for cancer charities and offered heartfelt thanks" for messages of support received since he was diagnosed with cancer.The king added that it was heartening" that the announcement of his illness had helped shine a light on organisations supporting cancer patients and their families. Charities say the public focus on cancer has allowed them to highlight issues they had previously struggled to get attention for. Continue reading...

Dinosaur-like creature that can cut through bone rescued from Urswick Tarn, near UlverstonIt's been named Fluffy, but its spiky appearance and nasty bite" means only the brave - or the foolish - would attempt to offer this particular turtle a cuddle.The dinosaur-like creature, an alligator snapping turtle that can cut bones and is native to swamps and rivers in southern parts of the US, was rescued from a tarn in Cumbria on Monday. Continue reading...

Solo flyer airlifted to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after hitting tree in back garden of house in Bodffordd, AngleseyA pilot who crashed his plane into a garden in Wales has been airlifted to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.The unidentified pilot, who was alone in the plane, ploughed down into a tree" in the back garden of a house in Bodffordd, a small village in Anglesey, north Wales. Continue reading...

Senior Conservative says party has descended into death spiral' as poll losses set to fuel fresh attacks on Sunak's leadershipConservative MPs on Saturday night predicted fresh attacks on Rishi Sunak's leadership within days, as they accused their own party of surrendering to Labour without a proper fight in two formerly safe Tory seats where byelections will be held this week.MPs from across the party complained that losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Thursday had already been priced in", as one senior figure said defeatism had set in, with the party having descended into a death spiral". Continue reading...

The species can climb waterfalls and reaches back to Gondwanaland - but there are fears polluted runoff has proven fatal

The speed of recent pivots reveals there is genuine concern that people are uneasy about the Games amid rising housing and cost of living pressures