World news | The Guardian

Row a further signal of tensions over the green deal landmark proposals to tackle climate crisisGermany is facing a growing backlash inside the EU over its U-turn on a law to phase out the combustion engine in new cars by 2035, despite signs of an end to the standoff with Brussels.The row comes amid growing concerns over France’s push to include nuclear across a swathe of laws on green technologies, a further signal of tensions over the EU green deal, landmark proposals to tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

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Airstrikes in retaliation to attack on base in north-east by suspected Iranian-made drone that killed US contractorThe US military has carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack that killed an American contractor and wounded five US troops.A day after the deadly attack on US personnel in Syria, which Washington blamed on a drone of Iranian origin, sources said a US base in Syria’s north-east was targeted in a new missile attack. US officials said there were no US casualties in the incident on Friday. Continue reading...

Acute hunger is affecting 4.9 million Haitians, according to a UN report, which outlines the increased need for humanitarian aidHaitians are increasingly desperate for humanitarian aid as gang violence engulfing the country has left nearly half the population regularly going hungry, a World Food Programme (WFP) report has found.“These are the worst conditions on record,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s Haiti director. “Food insecurity in Haiti has been going downhill and Haiti is sliding into a hunger emergency.” Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister greeted by hundreds of protesters during London visit to discuss securityRishi Sunak emphasised the need to uphold democratic values when he met Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on Friday, the British prime minister’s office has said, in a reference to the Israeli government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary.Sunak has faced calls to do more to distance the UK from his Israeli counterpart and the extremism of Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition government, which has faced mass protests over its attempts to increase politicians’ power over the courts. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron says it would not have been ‘serious or good sense’ for next week’s visit to go aheadEmmanuel Macron has defended the last-minute postponement of King Charles’s state visit to France next week, saying it would not have been “serious or good sense” for it to go ahead as it clashed with another national day of mass strikes and social unrest.The king had been scheduled to arrive in France on Sunday on his first state visit as monarch. He was due to visit Paris and Bordeaux before heading to Germany on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Joint statement hails ‘positive approach’ as Windsor framework adopted after Tory rebellion fails

Dr Neville Lawrence says he does not believe force will reform, even after Casey report found it guilty of institutional racismThe father of Stephen Lawrence has said the Metropolitan police’s failure to change over the last 30 years disrespects his family’s sacrifice and loss of their son.Dr Neville Lawrence told the Guardian he did not believe Britain’s biggest force would reform, even after a blistering report this week by Louise Casey found it guilty of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia. Continue reading...

Pesutto’s firm stance on the expulsion of the backbencher will cost him the leadership, some say, while others say it will be the making of him – and the partyWhen Moira Deeming was preselected to represent the Liberal party in Victoria’s upper house, the then crossbencher Fiona Patten dubbed her “Bernie Finn in a skirt”.Finn had spent almost four decades coasting through controversies until he was finally expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party in May last year after he called for abortion to be banned in Victoria, even for victims of rape, despite repeated warnings from the leadership over his social media posts.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Outrage over naked images of actor published in MailOnline could prompt move to curb cameraphonesTheatre audiences in London’s West End could be made to lock up their phones to prevent illicit images of actors being taken during performances.The suggestion comes after naked photos of James Norton on stage in A Little Life were published in MailOnline. Continue reading...

Rahul Gandhi of Congress party had asked why ‘all thieves have Modi as [their] common surname’The Indian opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, has been expelled from parliament 24 hours after he was convicted of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.Senior members of Gandhi’s Congress party met on Friday morning to discuss the conviction and his two-year jail sentence when they received news of his expulsion. Continue reading...

Train passengers advised to plan ahead over holiday weekend with west coast main line services hitRail passengers have been advised to plan ahead for Easter, with engineering works expected to close the west coast main line between some of Britain’s biggest cities.No trains will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes throughout the four-day holiday weekend from Good Friday on 7 April, until Easter Monday, on 10 April, meaning replacement buses or alternative routes will be needed to travel between the capital and towns and cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Continue reading...

The Best Part and I Hate Myself are performed by her character in A Good Person, written and directed by Zach BraffFlorence Pugh has released her first performances as a singer-songwriter, which are included on the soundtrack to her new film A Good Person.The British actor has written and performed two songs: the slow ambient ballad The Best Part, and the self-lacerating piano-driven number I Hate Myself. Each are presented in the film as being sung by her character, Allison, a promising musician whose career is set back by personal tragedy. Continue reading...

Thérèse Coffey reveals proposals for England far less ambitious than those set out in first draft of environment document

Legendary folk star is reportedly offering input into screenplay for drama film about her lifeCameron Crowe, the director of Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, is developing a new drama film with Joni Mitchell about her life.According to a story on the entertainment site Above the Line – which was subsequently reposted on Mitchell’s own website – the project is not a documentary and Mitchell has been collaborating with Crowe on the script for the past two years. Continue reading...

Singer-songwriter says ‘the old days are gone’ amid wider consternation at ticketing company’s pricing policiesNeil Young has lambasted Ticketmaster over its concert ticketing policies, saying “concert tours are no longer fun” due to what he sees as exploitative pricing.Young wrote on his website:It’s over. The old days are gone. I get letters blaming me for $3,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does not go to me or the benefit. Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers. Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours not what they were. Continue reading...

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Change of wording to constitutional amendment increases parliament’s power over the advisory body amid concerns about its authority

Human rights court hears seriously ill woman denied procedure as advocates call for change in region with world’s most restrictive abortion lawsHuman rights activists in Latin America hope that a historic court hearing over the case of a Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion despite her high-risk pregnancy could open the way for El Salvador to decriminalize abortions – and set an important precedent across the region.The inter-American court of human rights (IACHR) this week considered the historic case of the woman, known as Beatriz, who was prohibited from having an abortion in 2013, even though she was seriously ill and the foetus she was carrying would not have survived outside the uterus. Continue reading...

Olha fled the Ukrainian city a year ago this week and has faced many challenges, including enrolling her children in school

Some Greens want to pass the safeguard mechanism changes and keep fighting on fossil fuels while others want to attack it as a Coalition creation that can’t be redeemed

Maryam al-Khawaja says she fears her father Abdulhadi’s health is deteriorating and condemns Denmark for inactionHuman rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja’s health has suffered so much inside a Bahraini prison that his daughter Maryam has offered to trade places with him. She fears that without urgent action, her father will slowly die behind bars without being able to see his family.“I don’t know how much longer my dad has. I spend every day dreading each time the phone rings, as it might be someone calling me to let me know my dad is no longer around,” said Maryam. “I know he has serious health issues and the authorities are using [lack of] access to proper treatment as a method of punishment. I don’t want to wait around for my dad to be released to us in a coffin. I can’t do that.” Continue reading...

Company offering corporate due diligence services says it received no legal notice of a case against itChinese authorities have raided the office of a US firm in Beijing, shutting down its operations and detaining five Chinese staff, the company has said.Mintz Group, which has offices in 18 cities around the world and offers corporate analysis and due diligence services, said it received no legal notice about the reasons for the unannounced raid. Continue reading...

Report finds students from black Caribbean backgrounds in England ‘acutely’ underrepresented in StemChildren and young people from black Caribbean backgrounds are “acutely” underrepresented in the study of maths, science and technology in England at all levels of education, according to a report by MPs.Fewer black Caribbean students studied triple science than students of any other background, the report said. It also highlighted the lack of diversity in the teaching workforce, pointing out that an additional 15,655 black teachers would be needed in order to bring teacher diversity in line with that of pupils. Continue reading...

Known as ‘Rice Tusker’ for his insatiable hunger, the 30-year-old pachyderm has been terrorising the Indian region for yearsThe trail of destruction left by an elephant in Kerala could finally come to an end on Sunday as a crack team of experts plan to capture him.The team of 71 vets, forest officers and field workers have identified a specific spot among the wooded hills in Idukki district where Arikompan – which means the Rice Tusker, because of his love for rice – comes every couple of days to cool off in water. Continue reading...

Former Newtown Jets rugby league player was a sports teacher at public high school in Sydney’s northern beaches in the 1980s

Organisations write to education secretary before review, saying England’s schools have vital role in tackling misogyny and abuseDozens of organisations and charities have written to the education secretary, amid fears that sex education in England may become a casualty of the culture wars.More than 50 organisations concerned with education and tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) have written to Gillian Keegan to urge her to resist the “politicisation” of sex education, following a row in which Conservative backbench MPs claimed that children were being taught “graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely, and 72 genders”. Continue reading...

Largely peaceful protests are marred by outbreaks of violence as unions claim 3.5 million turned out, while authorities put number at just over 1 millionEmmanuel Macron felt the full force of French anger on Thursday as protesters gathered across the country to demonstrate their opposition to the pension age being raised from 62 to 64.Unions claimed 3.5 million people turned out across the country, while the authorities suggested the figure was much lower, at just under 1.1 million. Continue reading...

Actor in talks to take on role made famous by James Stewart in remake written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven KnightA remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller Vertigo is in the works with Robert Downey Jr “eyeing” the lead role.According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures has given the film the go-ahead with the Iron Man star producing and potentially taking on the role of the obsessive detective made famous by James Stewart. Continue reading...

CMA found companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts worth £150mTen construction firms have been fined a combined £60m by the competition regulator for “illegally colluding” to rig bids for lucrative contracts for projects including Bow Street magistrates court and Selfridges department store.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts that were worth £150m. Continue reading...

Report says UK armed service has ‘major questions to answer’ about conduct in war against Islamic StateTwenty-nine civilians are feared to have been killed in nine RAF airstrikes in Iraq and Syria between 2016 and 2018, 10 more than previous estimates, and far higher than the single non-combatant fatality accepted by the UK, according to analysis.In the worst incident, 12 civilians were accepted as likely to have been killed in Raqqa, Syria in 2017 by a US strike, while research points to an RAF drone strike killing at least four member of the same family in Abu Kamal, Syria, in 2016, according to on-the-ground reports. Continue reading...

Former prime minister Imran Khan says election commission’s move is violation of Pakistan’s constitutionPakistan has postponed elections in Punjab, the country’s most populated province, in a move that spurns a recent supreme court ruling and is likely to cause more sparks between supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and the government.In an eight-page order seen by the Guardian, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claimed that “it is not possible to hold and organise the elections honestly, justly, fairly, in a peaceful manner”, blaming security threats and financial problems. It said it would be unable to provide a “level playing field” to all political parties as a result. Continue reading...

Legislation to be introduced to parliament next Thursday and sent to parliamentary committee for inquiry

Lehrmann denies receiving legal advice that he would not be criminally prosecuted and says delay was to avoid risk of prejudice

Refugee Action report calls asylum seeker accommodation ‘racialised segregation and de facto detention’Asylum seekers who complain about poor conditions in Home Office hotels have been threatened with being sent to Rwanda, according to a new report.The report from the charity Refugee Action, entitled ‘Hostile Accommodation: how the asylum system is cruel by design’, is based on 100 in-depth interviews with asylum seekers in hotels in London, Manchester, West Midlands and Bradford.More than half complain of overcrowding, a lack of privacy and having to spend more than six months living in a hotel. Some single adults have spent more than two and a half years in hotels.Three-quarters have reported low quality or inappropriate food and say they are facing hunger or malnutrition. A similar number are facing mental health problems.Majority of asylum seekers the charity is supporting are people of colour.Numerous cases of mothers unable to continue breastfeeding because they have become malnourished due to hotel food. Some children have lost weight.A third of families say their children have been unable to access education. Continue reading...

AFP says incident at Kellie-Jay Keen rally referred to professional standards command after senator complained about actions of officers

Kane Te Tai fought with the International Legion and was known for documenting battles and daily life in Ukraine on social mediaA former New Zealand soldier who drew an online following with his dispatches from the frontline of the Ukraine war has been killed in fighting there.The death of Kane Te Tai, 38, was confirmed by New Zealand’s foreign ministry Thursday, citing Ukrainian government sources. Continue reading...

But expert says limiting frequency of rent hikes without a cap is unlikely to make a difference amid rising rate of homelessness

Exclusive: Felicity Wilson later told the Guardian a reelected Perrottet government would not privatise more assets

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss among 22 Tory rebels voting against deal agreed with European Commission

Former PM suggests ‘unsocially distanced farewell gatherings’ were allowed at work and that he didn’t think following guidance meant following it perfectlyTurning back to the Northern Ireland protocol deal vote for a moment, Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, has said that Boris Johnson risks being remembered as a “pound shop Nigel Farage” for his stance on the Windsor framework.Baker said that reviving the Northern Ireland protocol bill, Johnson’s declared alternative to Rishi Sunak’s deal (see 9.40am), would “wreck our relations with the European Union and damage our standing internationally”. Sky’s Sam Coates has posted the full quote on Twitter. Continue reading...

MPs investigating Partygate scandal have denounced former PM’s ‘flimsy’ explanations before committeeBoris Johnson faces being formally reprimanded for recklessly misleading parliament after MPs investigating the Partygate scandal denounced his “flimsy” explanations and suggested he had wrongly interpreted Covid guidance.The former prime minister was left fighting for his political career after a tetchy three-and-a-half-hour evidence session in which he repeatedly claimed No 10 parties, with alcohol and little social distancing, had been “necessary” for work purposes. Continue reading...

Staff received ‘tirade of abuse’ after inaccurate news reports about drag queen teaching sex educationTeachers at a school on the Isle of Man have faced death threats over false reports that children had been left “traumatised” by inappropriate and graphic sex education taught by a drag queen, the island’s government has said.Staff at Queen Elizabeth II school had faced a “tirade of abuse” ranging from “threats to turn up at the school, demands for staff to be dismissed, to demands for people to be arrested and executed”, according to education minister Julie Edge. Continue reading...

Announcement comes after members of the RMT union voted to accept a pay offer from Network RailThe RMT has suspended strikes due to be held on 30 March and 1 April, the union has announced.More details to follow. Continue reading...

Former PM tells hearing that if rule-breaking was ‘obvious’, it should also have been obvious to current PM

Request for exemption from ICE car phase-out would displace up to 46m electric cars, says campaign groupA shock German push to break an agreed EU-wide phase-out of conventional cars by 2035 could displace up to 46m electric car sales and trigger the burning of 135bn more litres of fossil petrol than needed, according to a new study.EU leaders and MEPs had agreed a phase-out of internal combustion engines (ICEs) by 2035 but earlier this month, Germany’s transport ministry, led by the liberal FDP party, lodged an objection just days before a rubber-stamping vote. Continue reading...

Jury convicts teenager over fatal stabbing in West Yorkshire last yearA teenager has been found guilty of murdering a 15-year-old boy in a “well-planned and targeted” ambush outside the school gates.Khayri Mclean died from a single stab wound to the heart after he was brutally attacked by two boys on his way home from school in Huddersfield last September. Continue reading...

Jens Stoltenberg, who steps down later this year, says Putin is engaged in a war of attrition

Thomas Cashman, 34, tells trial he was smoking cannabis at friend’s house at time nine-year-old was shotThe man accused of murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel, broke down in tears and told a court he was being blamed for something he had not done, when asked whether he killed the nine-year-old.Thomas Cashman, 34, said he was not present at the murder and, at the time the nine-year-old was shot in her home by a masked gunman, he was smoking cannabis and counting £10,000 in cash at a friend’s house. Continue reading...

Two dembow progenitors are suing superstars including Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee – in a case that also names Justin Bieber – claiming that they deserve credit for birthing the genreWith the release of their song Fish Market in 1989, the Jamaican duo Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson inadvertently changed the course of pop music. The track featured the first known example of what would come to be known as a “dembow” rhythm – the percussive, slightly syncopated four-to-the-floor beat that travelled from reggae to become the signature beat of reggaeton, today the world-conquering sound of Latin American pop.Now, more than 30 years after Fish Market was released, Steely & Clevie Productions is suing three of reggaeton’s most celebrated hitmakers – El Chombo, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee – for what they characterise as unlawful interpolation of Fish Market’s rhythm (or “riddim”), and are seeking the credit – and royalties – they say they deserved from the start. Continue reading...