World news | The Guardian

Particulate matter, which is hazardous to lungs, has been pulled in from India by Cyclone MandousIn Sri Lanka, schools were forced to close on Friday last week owing to high levels of pollution pulled in from India via Cyclone Mandous. The cyclone was situated in the Bay of Bengal, with winds blowing anti-clockwise around the central low pressure, sweeping the polluted air from India across the Palk strait into Sri Lanka. Subsequently, this merged with Sri Lanka’s local air pollution, leading to unhealthy pollutant concentrations that created a haze across parts of the country, including the capital, Colombo.Most people are aware of air pollutants, such as carbon dioxide and methane, and the impacts they have in contributing to global warming. However, other air pollutants pose a more immediate threat to human health. Particulate matter refers to tiny particles or droplets in the air, and is split into two categories depending on diameter; up to 2.5 microns (0.0025mm, PM2.5) or up to 10 microns (0.01mm, PM10). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Head of Cancer Research UK says waiting lists for care could get even longer unless health service’s problems are fixedMinisters risk cutting the survival chances of cancer patients and undoing two decades of progress in lowering death rates unless they tackle the NHS workforce crisis and resolve the pay row, the head of Britain’s biggest cancer charity has warned.Although efforts have been made to prioritise cancer patients, Michelle Mitchell, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the impact of next week’s planned strikes by nurses and ambulance workers would be cumulative and the NHS would find it “harder and harder” to prevent cancer patients dying early. Continue reading...

The deal will see Mike Ashley add Liam Gallagher’s fashion label Pretty Green to his retail empireMike Ashley’s Frasers Group has snapped up a basket of 15 brands including former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green and 1980s brand Tessuti in a £47.5m cash deal with JD Sports.JD, which owns Size?, Finish Line in the US and Spain’s Sprinter as well as its main retail chain, said the sale of the “non-core” brands would allow it to focus on other priorities, particularly the “international and digital expansion of the group’s core premium sports fashion” retail brands. Continue reading...

UKHSA pilot scheme shows strep A infections lower in areas where nasal vaccine offered to all young childrenGiving children the nasal flu vaccine may help protect them against strep A, according to analysis by the UK Health Security Agency.UKHSA data shows at least 19 children have now died as a result of strep A across the UK, while there are 7,750 cases of scarlet fever so far this season. This is more than treble the 2,538 cases reported during the same period over the last comparably high season – the winter of 2017-18. Continue reading...

Power outages reported after barrage of rockets fired at several regions in second such attack in days

Exclusive: White powder residue found after events held at Chevening and Downing Street, say sourcesTraces of a suspected class A drug were found at a government grace-and-favour home after parties attended by political allies of Liz Truss, the Guardian has been told.The white powder was discovered at the Chevening estate last summer in the days before Truss won the Tory leadership contest and became prime minister, according to sources. Continue reading...

French prosecutors are investigating the source of blaze at seven-storey residential building in suburb of cityFrench prosecutors are investigating the source of a pre-dawn blaze that killed 10 people, including five children, in a dilapidated seven-storey block of flats in a Lyon suburb.The country’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said at the scene of the fire on an estate in Vaulx-en-Velin that it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause, but acknowledged the building housed a squat and was a known drug dealers’ hangout. Continue reading...

Matthew Selby, who is autistic, pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibilityAn man has been jailed for choking his 15-year-old sister to death on a family holiday in what a judge described as an “extremely unusual and sad case”.Matthew Selby, 20, admitted fatally attacking his younger sister, Amanda Selby, following an argument at their caravan in north Wales. Continue reading...

Exclusive: government hopes ban in UK waters will protect birds, including puffins, that feed on small fishSandeel fishing in UK waters could be banned next year under “gamechanging” government plans to protect puffin and kittiwake numbers, the Guardian can reveal.The sandeel is a small fish that is critical to marine food webs in the UK, and is an important part of many seabird diets. For example, the kittiwake – which is particularly sandeel-dependent – has seen its UK numbers fall by half since the 1960s, with diminishing availability of prey during the breeding season thought to be mainly responsible. Continue reading...

High court overturns acquittal of six activists who were charged with aggravated trespass at London siteSix environmental activists who occupied a tunnel close to Euston station in protest against the HS2 rail project last year face a retrial after their acquittal was overturned in the high court.Charges against the protesters in connection with the occupation in London were dismissed by a judge in October last year. Continue reading...

Women facing deportation as Pakistan moves to expel refugees will be targeted by Taliban, crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie says

Even among the soaring cost of spreads, one offering stands out, priced at £55 – or £105 with a dishIt has long been a kitchen staple in Britain but with prices soaring, butter is fast becoming a luxury item.Now an unsavoury milestone has been passed, with a 150g block arriving on shop shelves with a price tag of more than £50. Continue reading...

Nurse Anju Asok, 35, and her young children Jeeva and Janvi Saju were found with fatal injuries on ThursdayA woman and two children who died in a suspected murder in Northamptonshire have been named by police as 35-year-old Anju Asok, six-year-old Jeeva Saju and Janvi Saju, four.In a statement on the triple murder inquiry launched on Thursday in Kettering, police said the victims were thought to be Asok, a NHS staff nurse, and her two children. Continue reading...

Lab technician to serve minimum of 23 years for killing colleague at his parents’ home in LeicestershireRoss McCullam has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for the murder of his colleague Megan Newborough.The 30-year-old lab technician strangled Newborough, 23, and cut her throat at his parents’ house in Leicstershire before dumping her in nearby woodland. Later, he left a voicemail on her phone professing his love for her to try to cover his tracks. Continue reading...

US welcomes doubling of military spending but critics express unease over abandoning seven decades of pacifismJapan has approved its biggest military buildup since the second world war, warning that China poses the “greatest strategic challenge ever” and outlining plans to develop a counterstrike capability funded by record defence spending.The plans, announced by the government on Friday, reflect growing alarm over a more assertive Chinese military and a North Korean regime that continues to improve its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. Continue reading...

Director says media has ‘rewritten history’ to expunge ex-Labour leader and attacks Starmer regime for ‘manipulating the rules’The film director Ken Loach has attacked the BBC for its “absolutely shameless role” in what he describes as “the destruction of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership” of the Labour party.In an interview with Equal Times, Loach said that the BBC “played a prime role” in the departure of the former Labour leader and Corbyn’s “whole political project, that nearly became the government three years ago, has been wiped out of the public discourse.” Continue reading...

Lender says market rebalancing after years of growth, as mortgage rates and cost of living push prices downRising mortgage costs and the broader cost of living crisis will push house prices down by about 8% next year, according to a forecast by the lender Halifax.Halifax, which in November reported the largest monthly fall in house prices in 14 years, said the market was now rebalancing after years of conditions that have resulted in some of the biggest rises in house prices ever recorded. Continue reading...

Hundreds face waiting until next week for power after Monday’s blackout, amid amber weather warning for ScotlandHundreds of homes on Shetland face being without power until early next week as engineers battle with tough road and weather conditions, five days after last Monday’s widespread blackout.Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, which has shipped in 125 emergency engineers, convoys of 4x4s and mobile generators to Shetland this week, said it could take until at least Monday to restore supplies to about 800 homes and businesses in West Mainland. Continue reading...

‘Elaborate and complex’ operation allegedly included more than 100 members and involved people being signed up and given fake email addresses

Discounts and football fail to get shoppers spending in November as households cut budgetsRetail sales unexpectedly fell in November as Black Friday discount deals and football’s World Cup failed to boost spending, with the cost of living crisis forcing households to cut budgets.Sales in Great Britain dropped by 0.4% in November, against a forecast of a 0.3% rise by industry analysts, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Continue reading...

Animals returned unharmed after apparently walking out of a display at Bridgeman Downs church in the early morning

Australian couple behind Wieambilla attack were in regular contact with man with a similar fundamentalist theology

This blog is now closed

As the country goes to the polls, reforms introduced by hardline president Kais Saied have led to the exclusion of female candidatesTunisians will vote on Saturday in an election that will lead to a weakened parliament “almost exclusively dominated by men”, as activists warn of a stark deterioration of women’s rights under an increasingly authoritarian president.The controversial elections, boycotted by all the main parties, mark the final piece of the constitutional jigsaw President Kais Saied began assembling in July 2021, when he suspended the legislature in what critics called a power grab. Continue reading...

Conservation groups warn not enough is being done to protect ecosystems as state government data shows more than 400,000ha of land was cleared in 2019-20

Michael McCormack paid a high price for downing, not sipping, the sakau during a Pacific tour, later stating: ‘I was trying to be respectful’Former Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has learned the hard way that being polite can be hazardous to your health.The Nationals MP suffered the consequences of drinking an entire shell of sakau – a traditional Micronesian kava – in one hit, thinking it was similar to South Pacific kava. Continue reading...

Fifty-nine people people have been rescued after a landslide hit about 3am north of the capitalA landslide killed at least 12 people while they slept at a Malaysian campsite near Kuala Lumpur early on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing.A child and a woman were found among the dead, authorities said, while one of the eight people taken to hospital was pregnant. Others had injuries ranging from minor cuts to a suspected spinal injury. Continue reading...

HMRC moved 1,350 compliance staff due to Covid, National Audit Office says, and losses are expected to growTax dodging and non-compliance during the pandemic cost the government £9bn, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.The loss to the public purse came as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) moved thousands of tax compliance staff to Covid support schemes, reducing its capacity to investigate people and businesses not paying the right amount, according to the National Audit Office. Continue reading...

Denis Mukwege has demanded sanctions be imposed on Rwanda to ease the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the CongoThe west must ditch its “double standards” and act decisively against the violence worsening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Dr Denis Mukwege, the Nobel prize-winning surgeon, has said.In a stinging criticism of the international community’s “negligence”, Mukwege urged Britain and its allies to impose sanctions on neighbouring Rwanda to help ease the growing crisis in the east of the country. Continue reading...

Qatar has written the playbook on how to further geopolitical aims by hosting a Fifa event. Riyadh is taking notesIf Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup trophy it will not only represent a victory for Argentina’s diminutive captain but his unlikely new benefactor: Saudi Arabia. The team may have inflicted a shock, humiliating defeat upon Argentina in their opening game of the tournament, but Messi, paid to be an ambassador for Saudi under a reported £25m contract, could deliver a long-term prize worth far more – a chance to emulate Qatar and host the 2030 World Cup.After the tiny gas-rich emirate won the right to host the World Cup in December 2010, in circumstances mired in controversy, Qatar wrote the playbook on using the soft power of the world’s biggest sporting event to further its aims – from the big spending western brands which come with the tournament to the attempts to improve its image on human rights. Continue reading...

Attorney general Mark Dreyfus says review body was stacked with Liberals in ‘disgraceful exhibition of cronyism’

Australian farmers blame a cold and wet winter for shortfall in potatoes, with shortages likely to persist until January

Annual review reveals that seven of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematicAs 2022 draws to a close, a new grim distinction can be attached to it: in America it was the year of the botched execution.In its annual review of US capital punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals the astonishing statistic that 35% of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic. Continue reading...

Politicians particularly in Germany taking responsibility for lobbying for the safety of individual prisonersPoliticians across Europe have begun sponsoring jailed Iranian protesters in the hope that by highlighting individual cases of injustice, the authorities will be forced to step back from handing down lengthy jail sentences or carrying out executions.The executions of two demonstrators and threats to kill others suggest Tehran is set on the use of repression and fear to quell the protests. Continue reading...

Second strike of week begins after TSSA union accepts pay deal with Network RailTrain services around Britain will be severely disrupted once more as national strikes resume on Friday, despite another union accepting Network Rail’s pay deal.Passengers have been advised to only attempt to travel by train if necessary as this week’s second 48-hour strike by members of the RMT union begins, with three more weeks of disruption to follow. Continue reading...

Energy minister, Chris Bowen, says government’s job is protecting Australians, not maximising LNG companies’ profits

Andrew Western wins with a majority of 9,906 with promise to fight for properly funded public servicesLabour has retained the Greater Manchester constituency of Stretford and Urmston in a byelection called after the sitting Labour MP quit to become Andy Burnham’s mayoral deputy.Andrew Western, Labour’s candidate, won by a majority of 9,906. The Conservatives trailed in distant second, winning 15.9% of votes to Labour’s 69.6%. Continue reading...

The annual event likely won’t be going ahead in 2023 amid growing concerns that radical fringe groups are transforming the country’s security environmentJacinda Ardern’s much-loved Waitangi Day ritual of hosting a barbecue breakfast for the public will likely be off the menu in 2023 due to security concerns, as New Zealand deals with increased threats and harassment of politicians.Since 2018, Ardern, her family and government ministers have donned aprons and wielded tongs to cook a free barbecue for all who brave the early wake-up for a dawn service on the country’s national founding holiday, at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Paihia. Continue reading...

Minister Andrew Giles announces government will also reinstate powers for Yarra and Darebin councils to conduct citizenship ceremonies

Couple at Wieambilla, shrouded in darkness, tell camera that they were defending themselves against ‘devils and demons’

Country’s human rights office calls for armed forces to cease the use of firearms and teargasA judge in Peru has ruled that former president Pedro Castillo be held in preventive detention for 18 months pending trial on charges of rebellion for his attempt to shutter congress and rule by decree, as the death toll from a week of violent protests sparked by his ousting rose to 12.Four people were killed and 39 injured on Thursday in Ayacucho, in Peru’s southern Andes, as protesters clashed with soldiers and police, the local health authority confirmed. Continue reading...

Antti Kaikkonen says ‘children are only little for a moment’ as party backs his moveFinland’s defence minister will take almost two months’ paternity leave early next year amid his country’s bid to join Nato, a move his Centre party praised.“We proudly support Antti Kaikkonen’s decision,” the party leader and finance minister, Annika Saarikko, said. Kaikkonen will be off work from 6 January until the end of February. Continue reading...

New Zealand PM was caught on hot mic earlier this week with a candid comment about Act party leader David SeymourAn official signed copy of the transcript of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern calling a political opponent an “arrogant prick” will be auctioned off to raise money for a prostate cancer charity.Bidding on the copy of the parliamentary record, signed by both Ardern and David Seymour, leader of the libertarian right Act party, had reached $50,000 by Friday. The auction, titled “Ardern, Seymour join forces for pricks everywhere”, ends on 22 December. Continue reading...

Ann Cleeves, whose novels were turned into TV’s Shetland and Vera, said device had been run over but she had a copy of her workCrime writer Ann Cleeves has said her laptop has been recovered two days after she lost it during a blizzard in Shetland.Tweeting an image of a badly misshapen computer, she said it had been found by a “sharp-eyed” young woman as she got off a school bus near to where Cleeves had been staying. Continue reading...

Hamid Dbeibah, who governs only part of the divided country, says extradition of Mohammed Abouagela Masud was with his supportOne of Libya’s rival prime ministers has admitted that his government was involved in the extradition to the US of a former Libyan intelligence officer accused of making the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing all onboard.US authorities announced on Sunday they had arrested former intelligence officer Mohammed Abouagela Masud . The next day, Mas’ud appeared at federal court in Washington and was charged with an act of international terrorism. US officials did not explain how he was taken into their custody. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak announces £1.6bn contract led by shipyard Harland and Wolff that will create 900 jobs in Belfast

Eight unaccompanied children among 39 people rescued after small vessel capsized in icy waters

Officers polled about experiences of bullying, discrimination and micro-aggressions in past yearMore than half of Britain’s black police officers and staff suffered racial incidents from colleagues in the past year, a survey has found.Those affected were much more likely to feel like outsiders and to want to leave, and many believed their bosses failed to punish wrongdoers, in effect creating a culture of impunity. Continue reading...

Multiple Labour MPs join picket lines after Tory MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich urges government to improve offerOn the picket line outside St Thomas’ hospital in Westminster, Linda Tovey, a critical care nurse, said: “It’s increasingly difficult to come to work and go home and think: ‘Actually I don’t think I can turn the heating on.’“My wages aren’t bad for a nurse but I still have to think about what I’m doing with my money every month and that is not the position I imagined myself being in.

After first day of strike, NHS leaders and former pay review boss implore PM and Steve Barclay to review offerRishi Sunak is under growing pressure to negotiate with striking nurses after four former Conservative ministers joined health service leaders to call for a way out of the escalating dispute.On a day in which England’s chief nurse joined the picket line, the prime minister and the health secretary, Steve Barclay, were implored to make a U-turn and ask the NHS pay review body (PRB) to look again at the rise it recommended earlier this year. Continue reading...