World news | The Guardian

Exclusive: civil servant who gave anonymous interview to BBC about Afghan withdrawal says service ‘dangerously politicised’A whistleblower who revealed Britain’s chaotic response to the fall of Kabul has said the civil service has become so dangerously politicised that officials who speak out risk being sidelined or sacked.In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Josie Stewart said her former colleagues felt their role was to protect ministers, some of whom were only interested in “looking good”, rather than working in the interests of the public. Continue reading...

Glitter has faced multiple jail sentences for abuse of girls in the UK and VietnamGary Glitter has been released from prison after serving half of his 16-year sentence for sexually abusing girls at the height of his fame in the 1970s and 80s.This conviction relates to historical offences committed in the UK, but Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was also found guilty of obscene acts against children in Vietnam. Here, the Guardian details the sentences the disgraced pop star has been handed at home and abroad. Continue reading...

Blue-chip stock index rises above previous record of 7,903 set in May 2018The UK’s blue-chip share index has hit an all-time high of 7,906.58.The FTSE 100 index was up 84 points or 1.1%, taking it above the previous record high of 7,903.50 set on 22 May 2018. Continue reading...

Featherstone is latest high-profile figure to leave a major theatre in recent monthsThe artistic director of the Royal Court, one of London’s most prestigious theatres, is stepping down after 10 years in the job.Vicky Featherstone, who has nurtured hundreds of emerging and established writers in her time at the Royal Court, will leave later this year. Having set herself a 10-year time limit when she took the job, she said it was time to “hand over the guardianship of this extraordinary, enduring mission to someone else”. Continue reading...

Eccentric designer became known for his space-age metal dresses and signature range of fragrancesThe Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne, best known for his space-age metal dresses, eccentric pronouncements and a signature range of fragrances, has died at the age of 88.His death was announced on Friday in a statement by the Puig group, which owns the Paco Rabanne brand. Continue reading...

Former singer was sentenced under old law that allowed automatic release on licence at halfway pointThe release of Gary Glitter after having served half of his 16-year sentence will come as a shock to many, given the scale and gravity of his crimes. The reality is there was no option but to free him.Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, received a standard determinate or fixed-term sentence from a court for sexually abusing three girls, meaning he is automatically released on licence at the halfway point of his sentence. There have long been concerns about this policy, with victims and the public often left confused by the fact offenders do not serve their full sentence. Continue reading...

Border Force boss says advances in biometrics and data security have made passports redundant – be they blue or redThe UK’s newly minted blue passports, one of the totemic achievements of Brexit, could soon be unnecessary, according to the UK’s top border official.While Britons queue again for officials to stamp their documents to permit them to cross the Channel, the director general of Border Force, Phil Douglas, said developments in biometrics and data security have made the paper passport effectively redundant – if still politically charged. Continue reading...

Team in Wisconsin pledged to ‘fan the flames’ of baseless allegations of election fraud after Trump lost thereA newly released audio recording offers a behind-the-scenes look at how former US president Donald Trump’s campaign team in a pivotal battleground state knew they had been outflanked by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election.But even as they acknowledged defeat, they decided to “fan the flames” of allegations of widespread fraud costing Trump victory there, which were ultimately debunked – repeatedly – by elections officials and the courts. Continue reading...

If bill passes through Lords, firms cannot make women redundant from moment pregnancy disclosed until child is 18 monthsA push to secure better protection from maternity discrimination has taken a step forward, after a bill extending maternity protections passed its final stage in the House of Commons.A private member’s bill led by Labour’s Dan Jarvis, which passed its final reading in the House of Commons on Friday, would prevent companies from making women redundant from the moment she discloses her pregnancy until her child is 18 months old. Continue reading...

A lawsuit for the Backstreet Boys singer describes his accusers as ‘opportunists’ taking advantage of the #MeToo movementIn December, Nick Carter was sued for sexual battery by a woman who alleged that the Backstreet Boys singer had sexually assaulted her and infected her with HPV in 2001. Now, as the Los Angeles Times reports, Carter has countersued her, as well as another accuser, describing them as “opportunists” looking to take advantage of the #MeToo movement.According to that report, Carter’s lawsuit claims the women are seeking to “destroy innocent lives” and “defame and vilify Carter and otherwise ruin his reputation for the purposes of garnering attention and fame and/or extorting money from Carter.” It also claims that Carter lost $2.3m in business in the wake of the allegations. “Carter will not allow himself to be smeared in this way,” the lawsuit reads. “Protecting one’s reputation and name by calling a liar a liar is not victim blaming or bullying. It is simply telling the truth.” Continue reading...

St George’s school asked to improve procedures after complaint from former MI6 mole within al-Qaida Aimen DeanA Scottish private school accused of discrimination by a former MI6 agent who spied inside al-Qaida has been cleared of wrongdoing but asked to improve how it handles disputes with parents.St George’s school in Edinburgh was accused by Aimen Dean, a former bombmaker who was regarded as one of the west’s most important moles inside al-Qaida, of repeatedly discriminating against his daughter because other parents feared he was a security risk. Continue reading...

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, pleads guilty to three charges including an offence under the Treason ActA former supermarket worker who was found in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow told police he was “here to kill the queen”, it can be reported after he pleaded guilty to treason charges.Queen Elizabeth II was in residence when Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, from Southampton, broke into the grounds of the castle wearing a mask and came within sight of her private apartments on Christmas Day 2021. Continue reading...

In several new productions, playwrights explore the cost of living crisis as their industry reels from funding cuts, cancellations and low wages‘What galvanises me to get up in the morning and write is what is making me angry, upsetting me, frightening me,” says playwright Emily White. Like her previous plays, White’s next production, Joseph K and the Cost of Living, opening at Swansea Grand next month, seeks to make the political personal. It is a reimagining of Kafka’s nightmarish The Trial, whose protagonist is unexpectedly arrested but not told what for and always maintains his innocence.White was a teenager when she first read the novel, about “being trapped in this kind of bureaucratic machine”, but she returned to it more recently after feeling that there was a “creeping authoritarianism” happening, with marginalised people’s rights “being clawed back by governments all over the world”. She continues: “In my version, it’s a story about state-led persecution of particular individuals and the reasons for that. And, in the background, we are very much today in Britain, in this world that we’re living in right now.” The play is set, she says, in a country that feels as if it is teetering on the brink of resistance and revolution. As such, the story incorporates food banks, homelessness, environmental protests, strikes and the government’s attempt to limit direct action. Continue reading...

Le Nouveau Duluth enjoyed an incredible reputation on Tripadvisor – raising questions over online reviewsIt’s notoriously difficult to secure a table at the world’s greatest restaurant, but diners hoping to sample the cuisine at Le Nouveau Duluth in Montreal will have an especially hard time.That’s not only because, until recently, it had the highest Tripadvisor rating of the city’s 3,678 listed eateries – although reviews on the website suggest its menu is beyond belief. Continue reading...

Court rules against DWP in case where move to universal credit deprived claimants of £2,100 a yearTens of thousands of disabled people across the UK wrongly deprived of benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions could share in compensation potentially totalling about £150m after an appeal court ruling.Lawyers for two disabled men who first took the DWP to court five years ago have written to the government asking them to set out how they will compensate them and others who were left hundreds of pounds out of pocket each year after being moved on to universal credit. Continue reading...

Rare exhibition assembles 28 paintings by enigmatic Dutch master in one placeFor once, say its curators, “the chance of a lifetime” may be right: never before have so many works by Johannes Vermeer, the luminous 17th-century Dutch master, been assembled in the same place – and it is highly unlikely they will be again.Of the fewer than 40 paintings most experts attribute to the artist, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has obtained 28. Opening next week, its first Vermeer retrospective has sold more advance tickets than any show in the museum’s history. Continue reading...

EU leaders meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv; Ukraine presses charges against Wagner group founder for ‘waging a war of aggression’

Paul Ansell says mystery impossible to comprehend as potential witness says she doesn’t know anythingThe partner of the missing woman, Nicola Bulley, has said every scenario has come to a “brick wall” as he pledged to “stay strong” for their daughters.Speaking near the scene where the mother-of-two was last seen, Paul Ansell said the mystery of Bulley’s disappearance was “absolutely impossible” to comprehend. Continue reading...

Auckland has experienced its wettest January since records began, while temperatures plummet in southern USHistoric rainfall hit New Zealand in the past week with a one-in-170-year flooding event hitting Auckland. Auckland airport reported 249mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period on 27 January, with a month’s worth of rainfall falling in in less than an hour. Another station, Albert Park, saw 280mm in one day, with 211mm falling in less than six hours.These totals are more than 8.5 times higher than a typical January, and more than 2.5 times higher than an entire typical summer. Overall, Auckland has seen the wettest January since records began, with more than half a metre of rain falling in places. The rainfall has caused numerous landslips, flooding and damage to roads and properties with four people killed and 350 in need of emergency accommodation. More than 9,000 people are still stranded as flights in and out of Auckland experiencing delays and cancellations. Continue reading...

Auditor general’s scathing findings provided to watchdog ‘for their information’ after Labor threat

Sefton council understands Ainsdale site no longer under consideration after objections about access and impact on tourismAsylum seekers will not be housed in a Pontins holiday park in north-west England, according to reports.The facility outside Southport, Merseyside, was reportedly being looked at by the Home Office as an alternative to hotels in which to house asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be assessed. Continue reading...

Campaigners urge leading poultry producer Avara Foods to fund reparations for pollution from its chicken farm suppliersAvara Foods, a leading supplier of chicken to Tesco, is being urged by campaigners to pay reparations to help clean up the River Wye.The Wye, a river running from mid-Wales to the Severn estuary, has been affected by increasing algal blooms. These are partly caused by poultry farms spreading more manure than the land can absorb, say scientists, leading to excess phosphorus leaching into waterways. Continue reading...

From July, authorised psychiatrists will be able to prescribe the drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression

‘It makes you feel like it’s a platform that doesn’t value us as much as it should,’ says one frustrated creator and others say it may be the ‘final straw’

This blog is now closed. Follow our next Australia news live blog here when it launches

Herero and Nama people demand direct talks and take Namibian government to court for accepting reparations on their behalf for 1904-1908 killingsDescendants of victims of genocide in Namibia have called on Germany to “stop hiding” and discuss reparations with them directly, as they take their own government to court for making a deal without their approval.The Herero and Nama people have gone to Namibia’s high court, rejecting an apology made in 2021 after years of talks between Namibia and Germany, which they say falls short of atoning for the 1904 to 1908 genocide, the first of the 20th century. Continue reading...

Former deputy premier had pleaded not guilty to assaulting a camera operator in Manly last July

Signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves meddling with dishesThere are breaches of etiquette – drenching your rice in soy sauce, for one – and then there are heinous acts of “sushi terrorism”.Japan’s signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves interfering with food and playing pranks on other customers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Group led by Siobhan Baillie want chancellor to use budget to relax rules and eliminate business rates for nurseriesA handful of influential Tory backbenchers have created an informal pressure group to push the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to cut the costs of childcare at next month’s budget, as experts say the sector is in crisis.The MPs, led by Siobhan Baillie, have been meeting regularly in recent weeks to discuss a range of measures they want Hunt to introduce to help parents afford care for young children and get back to work. Continue reading...

Labour peer who fled to UK to escape Nazis says home secretary’s words ‘deeply and personally upsetting’Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer who arrived in the UK as a child fleeing the Nazis, has described Suella Braveman’s likening of refugees to invaders as “deeply and personally upsetting”, and a low point of his half century in politics.Dubs, who fled what was then Czechoslovakia unaccompanied in 1939 and came to the UK aged six as part of the Kindertransport system, condemned the home secretary for using language that painted those also fleeing persecution as “hostile people”. Continue reading...

Cancer Research UK report says NHS risks being overwhelmed by cancer diagnosesMore than 500,000 people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer every year by 2040, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK.In its report published on Friday, researchers project that if current trends continue, cancer cases will rise by one-third from 384,000 a year diagnosed now to 506,000 in 2040, taking the number of new cases every year to more than half a million for the first time. Continue reading...

The government and Asset Energy agreed to end their legal battle over Morrison’s decision, by proposing consent orders to the court

‘It is for Australia to decide what it wants on its coins, and on its notes,’ Vicki Treadell says

National cabinet officially signed on to commitment with Albanese saying priority is to secure a successful referendum in second half of this year

Greco is wanted for murder of two brothers beaten to death in Calabria fish shop as part of ‘mafia war’, Interpol saysA convicted Italian killer, believed to belong to one of the country’s most powerful mafia organisations, has been discovered working as a pizza chef and arrested after 16 years on the run.Edgardo Greco, 63, is suspected of belonging to the notorious ’Ndrangheta, a powerful mafia organisation in Calabria, southern Italy. Continue reading...

Union dismisses ‘desperate tactics’ as chief calls for recognition of region’s ‘unique circumstances’A fire service chief has been accused of “desperate tactics” after pleading for firefighters in Northern Ireland to respond to high-risk calls during any strikes so that the army are not asked to cover emergencies in the region.The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the request showed that the government and managers were “clearly rattled” by a vote last week in favour of strike action. Continue reading...

Report finds states are failing to calculate financial benefits of smaller initiatives, including increased employment and social inclusion

Department of Health says significant jump to 597 deaths from 22 December to 25 January was partially influenced by a change in reporting methodology

Directive comes as energy minister expresses ‘horror’ at claims British Gas contractor allegedly broke into vulnerable customers’ homesThe energy minister has expressed “horror” at revelations about a British Gas contractor allegedly breaking into vulnerable customers’ homes as the market watchdog Ofgem warned all suppliers against forcibly installing prepayment meters.Graham Stuart met Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, which owns British Gas, and demanded urgent answers to issues raised by a Times investigation into the firm’s practices, which has prompted ministerial fury. Continue reading...

Mateusz Morawiecki would supply F-16 fighters if decision were taken with Nato allies. This live blog is closed

No one ever convicted of deadliest atrocity of Troubles, but injured and bereaved may be closer to knowing full storyThe government’s decision to hold an inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing is the result of a long, lonely campaign by some of the injured and bereaved for truth and justice.Chris Heaton-Harris’s announcement on Thursday about an independent statutory inquiry raises hope for the former, not the latter. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary rejects suggestion by Penny Wong that Britain needs to do more to confront its colonial pastJames Cleverly has rejected suggestions Britain needs to do more to confront its colonial past, pointing out that he is “the black foreign secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain”.He was responding to questions after a speech by the Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, while on a visit to London this week in which she said Britain needed to reflect on its past. Continue reading...

Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers accused of Dale Culver’s manslaughter and three others face obstruction chargesFive officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted police have been charged over the death of an Indigenous man, nearly six years after he died while in police custody.Dale Culver, 35, was arrested by police in the British Columbia city of Prince George in 2017 following reports that a man had been seen “casing” vehicles on a downtown street. Police say there was a struggle between the officers and Culver, a member of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan First Nations, who attempted to flee on a bicycle. Continue reading...

CEO John Holland-Kaye to resign after nine years at helm amid public souring of ties with airlinesHeathrow’s chief executive has announced his resignation after a difficult year for Britain’s biggest airport. John Holland-Kaye will leave his £1.5m role at some point in 2023 after nine years in charge.His tenure included the long battle to win the right to expand, with the third runway still officially back on the table after court battles and lukewarm government approval. Continue reading...

London mayor to adopt scheme for cleaners, catering staff and security guards to help with cost of living crisisLow-paid cleaners, catering staff and security guards at Transport for London will be given free travel on the network because of the cost of living crisis, Sadiq Khan has said.The London mayor will officially adopt the scheme, which has been piloted with cleaners, and expand it to cover around 5,800 workers. Continue reading...

New analysis calls for major changes including restrictions on concessions as the country risks having ‘two classes of state-funded retirees’

Bird ‘removed’ from harbour by a drunk man is escorted to vet in scene likened to the film Hot FuzzA swan found roaming the streets of Plymouth was taken “prisoner” and escorted to the vet in the back of a police car in a scene reminiscent of the hit British comedy Hot Fuzz.Devon and Cornwall police were called to the Mutley Plain area of the city at about 6.20pm on Wednesday, when the bird was seen waddling around by passersby. Continue reading...

The country’s police force is in revolt after the government failed to protect them from criminal gangs that have overrun the countryMasked men raced around Port-au-Prince on motorbikes, firing their guns into the air, blocking major roads with burning tyres and bringing the Haitian capital to a standstill.At one stage, the rioters flooded into the airport, trapping Prime Minister Ariel Henry inside, and also attempted to break into Henry’s residence. Continue reading...

Move shows ‘what is happening to the Uyghurs is unacceptable’, says MP after non-binding parliamentary ballot with prime minister’s supportCanada’s parliament has unanimously passed a motion to take in 10,000 Uyghur refugees who fled China, but are now facing pressure to return.The vote on Wednesday builds on a February 2021 move by Canadian lawmakers to label Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in its north-western Xinjiang territory as genocide. Continue reading...

Ombudsman criticises ‘disappointing’ response by landlords in wake of Awaab Ishak’s death from respiratory illness in 2020The number of social housing tenants in England complaining of damp and leaks is on course to more than double in the two years since a child died after living in a rented flat with chronic mould.However, less than half of landlords are estimated to have introduced policies to tackle the problem and some are still blaming tenants’ lifestyles, the housing ombudsman said. Continue reading...