World news | The Guardian

East Sussex man killed Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware, who he kept semi-captive in a shipping containerA builder who murdered two women, having kept one of them semi-captive in a shipping container, has been sentenced to at least 49 years in prison.Mark Brown, 41, who described himself as a “psychopath with a conscience”, killed Leah Ware, 33, and Alexandra Morgan, 34, in May and November 2021 at a remote farm near St Leonards in East Sussex. Continue reading...

Negotiators on both sides hopeful they may be able to enter intense ‘tunnel’ phase of talks next weekMinisters could shelve proposed legislation that would allow the UK to unilaterally rip up some Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, as a sign of goodwill in negotiations with the EU, the Guardian has been told.EU and UK negotiators are hopeful they may be able to enter the “tunnel” phase of negotiations next week. That phase, which involves intense negotiations with no public comment, is likely to be scheduled after a meeting between the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič on Monday. Continue reading...

Teachers say parents are now more reluctant to send children to school or willing to let them stay homeHeadteachers and school leaders are becoming increasingly worried that a “cultural shift” in attitudes is causing a crisis in attendance, with more pupils absent than before the Covid pandemic.Teachers say parents are now more reluctant to send children to school and more resistant to efforts to encourage attendance, with school leaders in England warning that it may take years to repair national attendance figures. Continue reading...

Dennis McGrory likely to spend rest of life in jail for rape and murder of Jacqui Montgomery, nearly 50 years after first acquittalA man who murdered a teenager nearly 50 years ago has been told by a judge he will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars in the oldest double jeopardy case in England and Wales.Dennis McGrory was 28 when he sexually assaulted, stabbed and strangled 15-year-old Jacqui Montgomery during a “horrific, violent and sustained ordeal” at her home in Islington, north London, in 1975. Continue reading...

Kyiv hopes decision on heavy armour will pave way for Germany to allow re-export of Leopard 2s

Broadcaster, 45, who also appears on Netflix series Drive to Survive, says her speech has been affectedBBC Formula One presenter Jennie Gow, who regularly appears on Netflix’s series Drive to Survive, has said she has had a “serious stroke”.The broadcaster and journalist, 45, said her speech has been affected and thanked the medical teams at Frimley Park hospital in Surrey and St George’s hospital in London for taking care of her. Continue reading...

Brand calls in administrators for second time in less than three years but 12 branches are savedThe owner of the upmarket burger chain Byron has called in administrators for the second time in less than three years with almost half the 21-site chain closing immediately with the loss of more than 200 jobs.The administrators to Famously Proper, which also owns the Mother Clucker takeaway brand, said 12 branches were being saved and 365 jobs saved under a pre-agreed rescue deal with Tristar Foods. Both companies have the same owner, the private equity firm Calveton. Continue reading...

Psychologists and psychotherapists warn tell-all approach could hinder duke from coming to terms with pastPrince Harry’s revelations of his grievances against the royal family are counterproductive to their reconciliation and to healing his own childhood traumas, relationship experts have said.In TV interviews, Harry has defended publishing his autobiography, Spare, as a measure of last resort, driven by the royal family’s failure to address his “incredibly hurtful” experiences, and that none of his revelations were intended to harm them. Continue reading...

Police say it is suspected contracts were awarded ‘in return for personal financial and other rewards’A Unite employee is the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations of bribery, fraud, money-laundering and tax evasion, South Wales police have confirmed.The police said they were working with HM Revenue and Customs, the tax department, on an investigation into the union employee, as well as several companies. Continue reading...

French player will face another trial after no verdicts reached on one charge of rape and one of attempted rapeThe Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of raping four women and sexually assaulting another during alcohol-fuelled parties at his Cheshire mansion.The former French international slumped with his head in his hands as he was cleared unanimously of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault after a five-month trial at Chester crown court. Continue reading...

Even leavers might be changing their minds, but there’s little incentive for the opposition to revisit the issue, say analystsWhile Brexit may have been chased out of the headlines in recent months by the cost of living crisis and the chaos in Westminster, the tectonic plates of public opinion on this deeply divisive issue have been quietly shifting.The opposition parties have shied away from blaming Brexit for the UK’s woes, but voters’ scepticism about the project has increased through the past 18 months, as the economic outlook has darkened. Continue reading...

Bank slashes predicted 2023 European wholesale price by 30% as mild weather reduces demandHSBC has slashed its forecasts for future wholesale gas prices in response to mild weather in Europe – raising hopes of a sharp decline in household energy bills.The bank cut its 2023 forecasts for the price of gas traded in Europe by about 30% and its forecast for 2024 by 20%. Continue reading...

Video with DJ Bizarrap ridiculing footballer’s new relationship racks up 63m views in 24 hoursA savage new song by Shakira in which the Colombian star, philanthropist and committed believer in the veracity of hips ridicules her former partner Gerard Piqué has logged more than 63m YouTube views in 24 hours, making it the most watched new Latin song in the platform’s history.Shakira and Piqué, who played football for Barcelona, Manchester United and the Spanish national team, separated last year after more than a decade and have two children. The former centre-back, 35, has since begun a relationship with a 23-year-old woman, Clara Chía. Continue reading...

Minister says ultranationalists in coalition want to dismantle body and create ‘new reality in the West Bank’Senior allies of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have expressed fears that Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultranationalist coalition in Israel will seek to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA), established after the 1993 Oslo peace accords.The Palestinian social development minister, Ahmad Majdalani, said members of the government intended to destroy the authority, which administers a degree of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and is considered by Abbas as the institutional building block for a future Palestinian state. Continue reading...

Views range from sympathy for the Sussexes in light of treatment by royals and tabloids, to regarding them as being ‘as entitled as the others’Prince Harry’s tell-all autobiography has become the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book ever. The memoir has been controversial, with Harry making claims that Prince William physically attacked him and accusing his father of putting his own interests first.The Guardian asked readers – some of whom had already begun reading the book – for their views on the memoir and the publicity around it. Many said their views on the royal family had been changed, while others said it strengthened existing positions. Other readers also made the point that the book was more balanced than had been presented by parts of the media. Continue reading...

Harry May, 21, threw object because he believed monarch’s visit to ‘poor area’ was in ‘bad taste’, court hearsA 21-year-old man has admitted throwing an egg towards King Charles during a walkabout in Luton because he thought the monarch’s visit to a “poor area” was in “bad taste”.Harry May pleaded guilty at Westminster magistrates court in London on Friday to a public order offence relating to the incident on 6 December. Continue reading...

Move marks shift in focus by Beijing as it tries to extend influence and keep sector in checkChina is to take “golden shares” in two of its biggest tech companies, Alibaba and Tencent, as Beijing extends its influence on the country’s star tech firms and its most powerful and wealthy business people.Beijing’s move marks a shift away from imposing hefty fines and sanctions in its two-year tech crackdown, which was launched after Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, criticised regulators, Continue reading...

Warnings of ‘great cost’ to individuals, workplaces and the economy as people struggle to access diagnosis and treatmentADHD awareness hassoared among women in the UK in the past year, but waiting times and the dearth of clinical awareness are leaving people awaiting diagnosis in a perilous position, leading experts have warned.Dr Max Davie, a consultant paediatrician and co-founder of ADHD UK, said that people talking openly about their diagnoses – such as the Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha – had led to more people seeking referrals for the condition. Continue reading...

Whether for reasons of cost, changed gender roles or the desire for privacy, eating out is no longer such a big part of finding loveIt is an unusual option for a January date, but after meeting twice, 42-year-old Sasha thinks she is ready to take things to the next level with the man she has just started seeing. She is planning to take him for a sea swim near her home in East Sussex, followed by a beachside sauna. “I’m just putting it out there: here’s my body. It’s not the body I had when I was 20 but it is what it is.”They have chatted a lot, first online and then in person, but have never been out to dinner together. “Oh no, I would never go out for dinner with anyone. It’s just so intense and awkward. If someone asked me out for dinner or the cinema, I know they’re not for me.” Asking someone to dinner is “unimaginative and boring”, says Sasha (not her real name). “I just think: snore alert.” Continue reading...

Travel packages advertised as interest surges in mRNA vaccines unavailable on mainlandPrivate services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve.As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines. Continue reading...

PM says NHS already has ‘record funding’ as health secretary privately admits more money needed to end strikesRishi Sunak has refused to back calls to boost the health service budget in an attempt to alleviate staffing pressures that have already led to strikes by nurses and ambulance workers, and could soon prompt junior doctors to strike as well.Asked on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland whether there was scope for a one-off increase in health spending, the prime minister added: “There is record funding already going into the NHS … in spite of the difficult decisions we have had to make to get a grip of borrowing and tackle inflation.” Continue reading...

Year-long revamp intended to inspire next generation of ‘creatives, inventors and scientists’ and tie in with city’s 2025 stint as capital of cultureThe National Science and Media museum is to close for a year for a “radical, once-in-a-generation” revamp that will allow more visitors to attend and provide the ability to tell stories in a more dynamic way, bosses say.The museum in Bradford has a vast, dizzyingly diverse collection of more than 3.2m objects, from the first photographic negative to the original puppet of Zippy from Rainbow. Continue reading...

Trial of Sarah Mardini and fellow defendants lifts lid on ‘farcical’ treatment of humanitarians, say campaignersSarah Mardini, the refugee immortalised in the recent Netflix movie, The Swimmers, was the talk of Lesbos this week as the long-awaited trial of 24 aid workers accused of espionage, got underway on the island.Eight years after the Syrian and her younger sister, Yusra, saved 18 fellow passengers from a sinking dinghy off the isle, it was Mardini’s name that stood out as appeals court judge, Styliani Spyridonidou, conducted a roll call of defendants at the start of a hearing that has fuelled widespread human rights concerns. But,although Mardini’s story hogged the Greek headlines, the 27-year-old student, accused of spying after returning to the island to assist refugees, was not present. Continue reading...

Brazilian art collector says he paid $3.7m for the 1888 oil called The Novel Reader, when a third party took possession of itA painting by Vincent van Gogh on display at the Detroit Institute of Art was stolen, a new lawsuit claims.The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Brokerarte Capital Partners and its sole proprietor, Gustavo Soter, a Brazilian art collector. It claims the DIA borrowed the painting from an unnamed party that is not its legal owner. Continue reading...

Swedish government distances itself from hanging of presidential dummy in Stockholm stunt by Kurdish groupTurkey has summoned the Swedish ambassador after a Kurdish group hung an effigy of the Turkish president in Stockholm, in a stunt that has inflamed tensions between the two countries over Sweden’s bid to join Nato.Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said his government strongly distanced itself from “threats and hatred against political representatives”. Without naming any specific country, he added: “Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside City Hall is abhorrent.” Continue reading...

Russian mercenaries make claim about missing Britons; Ukrainian military claims forces killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in single strike

Figures show 68 officers and 25 staff in England and Wales were found guilty of crimes including sexual offences and violence against the personMore than 90 police officers and staff were found guilty of crimes after complaints or conduct investigations last year, including for sexual offences, corruption and violence against the person, new statistics show.The figures, released by the Home Office, detailed the outcomes of criminal proceedings against police officers and staff in the year to April 2022. It revealed 68 police officers were found guilty, as well as 25 police staff. Continue reading...

Borders inspector blames unfounded suspicions by ministers that detainees gaming the systemTorture victims and suicidal people in immigration detention centres are not receiving adequate help because of unfounded suspicions from ministers and officials that they are cheating the system, the UK borders watchdog has found.David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI), also questioned why Suella Braverman had ended annual investigations into the treatment of vulnerable adult detainees. Continue reading...

First lady says she is in favour of ‘simple but not dull outfit’, before debate on issue pushed by far rightThe French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, has weighed into the politically charged debate in France on whether to introduce compulsory school uniforms as parliament prepares to debate the issue pushed by the far right.Uniforms in French schools have not been obligatory since 1968 but have regularly returned to the political agenda. Continue reading...

The much-anticipated account of the troubled prince’s life has broken publisher’s previous record for first-day sales in the UK, US and CanadaPrince Harry’s memoir sold 1,430,000 copies on its first day on sale in the US, Canada and the UK combined, according to the book’s publisher Penguin Random House (PRH).Spare became the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book ever, after 400,000 copies were sold on Tuesday in the UK alone. Continue reading...

Data for England shows huge pressures across NHS from emergency callouts to admissions

Suella Braverman issues ministerial statement after long-awaited review of tier 1 (investor) visa schemeTen Russia-backed individuals who were put on the UK’s sanctions list after the invasion of Ukraine had used a “golden visa” route for the super rich to move to the UK, Suella Braverman has disclosed.The home secretary said “a minority” of more than 6,000 individuals who used the tier 1 (investor) visa route were potentially at high risk of having obtained wealth through corruption, illegality or organised crime – and that many were still under investigation by the police. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch warns UK has ‘very short window’ to reverse legislation, including restrictions on the right to protestThe UK government could soon make the list of countries that abuse rather than protect human rights with its “outright assault” on the rights of its own citizens and aggressive roll-back of protections such as on the right to assemble and protest, according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).“The shrinking civic space is not relegated to countries far away,” said Tirana Hassan, the acting executive director of HRW. “When you come to the UK, you look at the very worrying trend we are seeing. A slew of legislation was passed last year where fundamental human rights are being challenged. The protest law is something we are deeply concerned about.” Continue reading...

Sandie Wood had requested stunt as part of her ceremony, which also included pink coffin marked with words ‘Going out in style’A dance troupe flashmobbed a funeral with a performance of Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust at the request of a woman who wanted her sendoff to be memorable but not sad.Video of the event showed some mourners looking confused when the dancers emerged from pews midway through the funeral of Sandie Wood, from Bristol, before they began clapping along to the rock anthem. Continue reading...

Yevgeny Prigozhin claims passports of aid workers Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry found on the bodyThe head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed his forces have found the body of one of two British voluntary aid workers reported missing in eastern Ukraine.In a statement published on his Telegram channel late on Wednesday, Prigozhin did not mention the name of the dead man but said documents belonging to both Britons had been found on his body. Continue reading...

Ukraine war’s effect on wholesale gas prices prompts third upgrade in a year from CentricaBritish Gas owner Centrica expects a near eightfold increase in its earnings this year as its balance sheet was boosted by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The FTSE 100 group said on Thursday it expects earnings a share to be more than 30p this financial year. That represents an upgrade on City expectations of 23.6p to 26.6p a share, far outstripping the 4p a share generated in 2021, when pre-tax profits hit £761m. Continue reading...

Ministers consider ‘radical’ overhaul to get long-term sick back in work and fulfil Rishi Sunak’s growth pledge

People urged ‘don’t go home’ during lunar new year holiday if older family members not yet infectedPeople in China have been warned against travelling to visit their elderly relatives during the lunar new year holiday, as Covid spreads rapidly through cities and into regional and poorer areas.Prof Guo Jianwen, a member of the state council’s pandemic prevention team, urged people “don’t go home to visit them” if elderly relatives had not yet been infected. Continue reading...

Mark Rowley admits vetting procedures inadequate and says other bodies reinstated officers sacked by forceThe head of the UK’s biggest police force has said it is “crazy” that he cannot sack “toxic” officers who have broken the law.Responding to a disclosure in the Guardian that 150 officers are under investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct or racism, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, admitted that the force’s vetting procedures were inadequate. Continue reading...

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Sappers neutralised the explosive that was lodged just beneath the young man’s heart, Kyiv said

Consumers have got used to poor returns on savings accounts, but there are now better dealsIf you are one of the millions of people whose savings are languishing in an account paying little or no interest, it might be time to act because you could be earning 4.25%, or more on your cash.Earlier this week the Coventry building society warned that Britons have a collective £268bn sitting in easy and instant access accounts paying no interest – an increase of more than £9.6bnon a year ago. Continue reading...

Matches scheduled for March in UAE scrapped following talks with Australian governmentCricket Australia has pulled its men’s national team from the upcoming one-day international series against Afghanistan amid concerns over deteriorating women’s rights in the Taliban-ruled country.Australia were scheduled to play three ODIs against Afghanistan on neutral ground in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March, but after talks with the Australian government, the series has been cancelled. Continue reading...

Civil Aviation Safety Authority issues air operator’s certificate to long-delayed budget carrier

IFS says pay erosion helps explain why traditionally moderate teaching unions are considering strike actionSenior teachers in England have in effect had their pay cut by £6,600 since 2010, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that comes as strike action over pay is likely to close schools.The independent economics research institute calculated that long-serving and senior teachers – accounting for nearly a third of those working in England – would have earned the equivalent of £50,300 in 2010. But below-inflation wage increases over the past 12 years has meant their pay in 2022 was just £43,700. Continue reading...

Controversial bill to stop industrial action criticised as an already struggling sector fears losing more staff in a damaging brain drainZimbabwe’s health workers have criticised the government for passing contested legislation that outlaws any industrial action, saying it will worsen the sector’s already damaging brain drain.The new Health Services Bill, which came into force on Tuesday, forbids health workers who are classified as an “essential” service from striking for more than three days. Those who do not comply face a fine or imprisonment of up to six months. Continue reading...

Poll has become a tussle between three frontrunners whose campaigns have all hit problemsVoters in the Czech Republic go to the polls this week to elect a new president in a contest that could set the country on a renewed path of populism or bring to office a national unifier promising to heal divisions opened up by the rumbustious incumbent, Miloš Zeman.Eight candidates are vying to succeed the 78-year-old, who is constitutionally bound to step down after two successive five-year terms. Voting will be spread over Friday and Saturday and is almost certain to be followed by a second-round runoff in a fortnight’s time. Continue reading...

UN special envoys to meet in Washington as figures show Libyan politicians’ salaries rose by more than 40% in 2022Western leaders are losing patience with an entrenched Libyan political elite that has collectively failed to agree on the basis of elections for more than a year but has boosted politicians’ salaries by more than 40%, according to official figures.Special envoys from the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK are due to meet in Washington on 13 January to discuss their next steps after two rival Libyan factions last week failed to reach a final agreement in Cairo on the constitutional basis for national elections. Continue reading...

Of the small number gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral some did not want to forgive while others remembered cardinal’s ‘legacy’

Anthony Whealy, who was assistant commissioner at the anti-corruption body, says wait is ‘unfair’ on former premier