World news | The Guardian

Chancellor aims to temper Tory backbenchers’ hopes as he blames UK woes on ‘economic headwinds’

Alleged actions of man, 74, were an attempt to force Spanish authorities ‘to abstain from supporting Ukraine’A 74-year-old Spanish man accused of sending six letter bombs and explosive devices to targets including the Ukrainian and US embassies and the office of the Spanish prime minister last year has been denied bail because of the risk that he could flee to Russia.Police in northern Spain arrested the man on Wednesday in connection with the devices, the remainder of which were sent to the defence minister, an airbase near Madrid, and a weapons company that manufactures the C90 rocket launchers that have been donated to Ukraine. Continue reading...

British Gas, E.ON and Scottish Power demand scrutiny of process by which rival acquired collapsed BulbOctopus has labelled its rivals “desperate” while British Gas has claimed the energy supplier benefited from “hugely advantageous” terms in landing a deal for Bulb, during a courtroom clash.In a court hearing in London on Friday, the energy firms traded blows in the fallout from Octopus’ deal to buy Bulb from a government-handled administration last October. Continue reading...

There is private grumbling among Tory MPs over lack of decisive action as party struggles to maintain united front

Leslie Allen recruited plotters but plan ‘failed spectacularly’ after jurors became suspiciousA drugs kingpin, a rogue juror, his mother, and a mechanic have been jailed for attempting to fix a trial.Boxing promoter Leslie Allen, 66, recruited a team of stooges to help him get off charges of having £150,000 of cannabis and cocaine and a pepper spray in 2018. Continue reading...

Police say investigation into deaths of two people after crush at London venue is ‘vast and complex’The Metropolitan police are conducting a “vast and complex” investigation into the deaths of two people after a crush at a south London music venue last month, which will probably result in criminal charges, an inquest heard on Friday.Speaking at the opening of the inquest at London Inner South coroner’s court into the deaths of Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and Gaby Hutchinson, 23, DCI Nigel Penney, the Met’s senior investigating officer in the case, told the court: “It’s a vast and complicated process. It’s a huge investigation.” Continue reading...

Body of Olivia Perks, 21, was found in her room at Berkshire military school on 6 February 2019A young female army officer cadet was the victim of “gross sexual misconduct” by senior officers before she was found dead in her room at the prestigious Sandhurst academy, an inquest has been told.The body of Olivia Perks, 21, was discovered at the elite military training school in Berkshire on 6 February 2019. An earlier inquest hearing recorded her provisional cause of death as “asphyxia due to hanging”. Continue reading...

Presence of key distribution centres on list of more than 250 properties raises questions about grip on supply chain links

Data shows sharp decline in students from Italy, Germany and France with Brexit seen as primary deterrentThe number of EU students enrolling in British universities has more than halved since Brexit – with sharp declines in scholars from Italy, Germany and France, figures reveal.Brexit is seen as the primary deterrent, with home fees and student finance no longer available to EU students who do not already live in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Continue reading...

Internet Watch Foundation reports rise in UK children aged seven to 10 manipulated into abusing themselves on cameraInternet predators have exploited a rise in online activity during lockdown to manipulate primary school age children into abusing themselves on camera, with reports of such imagery rising by more than 1,000% in the UK since 2019.The Internet Watch Foundation received reports of 63,050 webpages containing images and videos of children aged seven to 10 sexually abusing themselves on camera last year, an increase of just over 1,000% on the year before the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Platform will also use technology from ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence firm, Open AI, to ‘inform’ brainstormingBuzzFeed is reportedly planning to use artificial intelligence to personalize and enhance its online quizzes and content, the company announced to employees this week.Jonah Peretti, the chief executive, announced the efforts in an internal memo. Continue reading...

Singer said the situation in UK was ‘so bad’ and it was time to ‘change the bloody government’Rod Stewart called a phone-in segment on Sky News to offer to pay for people to have hospital scans, amid the rising number of people on NHS waiting lists.The 78-year-old rock star, who has previously backed the Conservatives, said he had never seen the situation in the UK “so bad” and called for Labour to be given a chance to run the country, adding: “Change the bloody government.” Continue reading...

Cabinet told about bleak outlook for governing party at next general elections at Chequers awaydayThe Conservatives must “relentlessly focus” on inflation and the NHS if they are to have a chance at the next election, cabinet ministers have been told.Rishi Sunak gathered ministers at his country retreat Chequers on Thursday for a midday political cabinet – where a number of ministers gave presentations on the government’s key priorities and took a fresh look at the strategy for the next election. Continue reading...

Police storm airport and surround prime minister after 10 officers killed in past week amid escalating violence and political chaos

Police chief says 80 officers will be immediately dispatched to subways and stations as attacks bring city to ‘crisis point’Toronto police has announced plans to deploy more officers on the city’s public transport system as a transit workers’ union warned that a string of random attacks on passengers had brought Canada’s largest city to “crisis point”.The city’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, said on Thursday that 80 officers would be immediately dispatched to subways and stations “to enhance the safety and security” of transit users. Earlier in the day, police arrested one person following reports of teens shooting at a passenger with a BB gun. Continue reading...

Wendy Williams’s remarks come after home secretary confirms three key commitments will not be implemented

Move comes as chief executive of HMRC increases pressure by saying there are ‘no penalties for innocent errors’Nadhim Zahawi has offered to share his tax information with an inquiry into his financial affairs, as the head of HMRC added further pressure on the Tory chair by saying there were “no penalties for innocent errors”,Zahawi wrote to Jim Harra, the chief executive of HMRC, on Wednesday night authorising him to pass on any relevant information from his records to Laurie Magnus, Rishi Sunak’s ethics adviser, a source said. Continue reading...

Vardags advises staff to be ‘wildly fabulous and express yourselves to the full’ with their office attire

Head of UK’s intelligence, cyber and security agency to leave in summer afte nearly six years in roleThe director of GCHQ is set to stand down after almost six years in the role.Sir Jeremy Fleming will end his tenure in the summer after facing challenges such as the Salisbury nerve agent attack and the potential involvement of Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. Continue reading...

Palestinian leaders cut security ties with Israel after deadly gun battle at Jenin refugee campIsraeli forces have killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank in the deadliest single day in the territory in years, prompting Palestinian leaders to cut security ties with Israel and leaving international mediators scrambling to prevent the violence from escalating.A 61-year-old woman and a male civilian were among the dead, the Palestinian health ministry said, and about 20 more people were seriously injured in the violence on Thursday morning. Two of the casualties were claimed by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another four by Hamas, and one by the armed wing of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction. Continue reading...

Robinson forced a woman to have sex with him under threat of killing the man with whom she was on a first dateThe government’s top law officials are reviewing a jail sentence handed to a man who forced a woman to have sex with him to save the life of a man with whom she was on a first date.Downing Street said on Thursday the case of Sean Robinson had been referred to the attorney general’s office under the unduly lenient sentencing scheme after Robinson was given a five-year jail term for the attack. Continue reading...

Former Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam accused of making fraudulent expenses claims of nearly £30,000A former Labour MP accused of expenses fraud was thousands of pounds in debt to a drug dealer and regularly took up to five grams of cocaine a day, a court has heard.Jared O’Mara also once drank a litre of vodka before a television interview with BBC Look North and believed “a shadowy government cabal” was out to get him, his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold said in messages and police interviews read to jurors at Leeds crown court. Continue reading...

Top general says 47 of 55 Russian missiles were shot down; US move allows for wider sanctions against mercenary group

Exclusive: Fire service chief says he will ask MoD for help if unions do not cover ‘high-risk calls’Hundreds of troops could return to Northern Ireland as cover for striking firefighters, the Guardian can disclose.The head of the region’s fire service has said the army will be formally requested to provide cover unless unions agree to do so for “high risk calls”. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has refused to do so without an increased pay offer. Continue reading...

Analysts warn of legal challenges if bill makes inmates’ access to gender recognition certificates easier – though jail allocation is decided case by caseThe outcry over the placement of the convicted double rapist and transgender woman Isla Bryson in a women’s prison is set against anxieties about Scottish Prison Service policy on trans prisoners and how Scotland’s gender recognition reforms could affect that.In 2014, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) introduced its gender identity and gender reassignment policy, which it developed with the Scottish Trans Alliance. It advises that – where an individual is permanently living in a gender other than that assigned at birth – “establishment allocation should usually be the new gender in which they are living”. Continue reading...

Drax and one EDF unit had been warmed up in response to request over strike concerns and not cold snapNational Grid has stood down coal-fired power stations that had been instructed to warm up on Thursday after France’s network operator sounded the alarm over the impact of strike action.Two units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Nottinghamshire were asked to fire up just before midnight on Wednesday. The West Burton unit was stood down at 5.13am, and the Drax units were later also informed they would not be called into action. Continue reading...

Dr Ben Dawson had declined to acknowledge Jake Davison’s suitability to own a weapon, inquest hearsJake Davison’s GP was never told that his patient, who went on to kill five people, had been granted a shotgun certificate after the doctor declined to provide an opinion on his suitability to own a weapon, an inquest has heard.Dr Ben Dawson said he refused because he was not qualified to comment on the “assessment of behavioural and personality disorders”. Continue reading...

MP who lost Tory whip after appearing to compare vaccines to Holocaust says he is suing Hancock for £100,000An independent MP who lost the Tory whip after appearing to compare Covid vaccines to the Holocaust is suing Matt Hancock for criticising his remarks.Andrew Bridgen is suing the former health secretary for £100,000 over a tweet in which Hancock accused Bridgen of spouting “antisemitic, anti-vax, anti-scientific conspiracy theories” over the vaccine. Continue reading...

Suella Braverman’s abandonment of key commitments is the latest in a series of blows to those seeking justiceLast year Anthony Williams decided to leave the UK after 53 years, 13 of which were spent as a soldier serving with the Royal Artillery. He said his decision to move was directly linked to the pain of being caught up in the Windrush scandal and his sense of disappointment that government promises to make amends were being quietly abandoned.“I just didn’t feel welcome any more. I spent the best part of my life serving the British army, and when I needed help everyone turned their back on me,” he said by telephone from Jamaica. Williams arrived in Birmingham aged seven in 1971, with his mother, a hospital cleaner, and his father, who worked at the Longbridge British Leyland car manufacturing plant. He was wrongly classified as an illegal immigrant and sacked from his job in 2013, and spent five years nearly destitute, unable to work or claim benefits. Continue reading...

Anna Betz says she was told to remove sticker with her fingernails and then given tape to hide itA woman invited to parliament to attend the opening of an exhibition was asked to scratch off an old “stop Brexit” sticker from the top of her laptop before entering, the Guardian has been told.Anna Betz, 66, a retired social worker, was told she had to remove the sticker in case she held the computer in the air to stage a protest. Continue reading...

There were 199,021 sexual offences and 70,633 rapes recorded by forces in year to September 2022The number of sexual offences recorded by police reached a record high in the year to September, increasing by more than a fifth compared with before the pandemic.Home Office figures published on Thursday found there were 199,021 sexual offences recorded by forces across England and Wales in the year to September 2022, as well as 70,633 rapes. Continue reading...

Sharing accounts across multiple households likely to attract additional fee as streaming giant looks to recoup subscriber lossesStreaming giant Netflix will begin its crackdown on password sharing in the first quarter of this year, after the release of its company earnings report to shareholders last week.The practice of sharing passwords with people outside the subscriber’s household will become more complex and is likely to involve an additional fee to share a single subscription across multiple locations. Continue reading...

There are concerns over health effects of inhalation but exemptions would apply for ‘legitimate reason’ to buy nitrous oxideLaughing gas could be banned from general sale with possession potentially criminalised unless someone has a “legitimate reason” to have it, according to reports.Ministers are thought to be considering the move as part of a crackdown on antisocial behaviour, the Times has reported. After cannabis, laughing gas is the most commonly used drug among 16- to 24-year-olds in England. Continue reading...

Other recipients include former Liberal NSW minister Pru Goward, restaurateur Kylie Kwong, GP Norman Swan and actor David Wenham

Party cloudy skies forecast for Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, with rain for Darwin and sun for Brisbane and Perth

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick says ‘not necessarily a bar’ to families being sent to African countryFamilies with children seeking asylum in the UK are being considered for forced removal to Rwanda, according to a Home Office minister.Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told an evidence session at parliament’s women and equalities committee on Wednesday that, while there were no plans to remove unaccompanied child asylum seekers to the east African country, families with children are being considered for removal. Continue reading...

Residents in Warwickshire town give their views on growing controversy around local Tory MP’s tax affairsThe market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire has been a Conservative stronghold for well over a hundred years, with its current MP, Nadhim Zahawi, securing a majority of about 20,000 in three successive general elections.But it was difficult to find support for the beleaguered MP on the streets of Stratford on Wednesday, and most locals said they thought he should resign over the scandal around his tax affairs. Continue reading...

Nottingham University Hospitals trust faces fine after pleading guilty to two charges of failures of careThe mother of a baby girl who died in hospital 23 minutes after being born has said she was “failed in the most cruel way” by an NHS Trust that has admitted failings in their care.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) prosecuted the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust after it admitted that its maternity services had not provided safe care and treatment to mother, Sarah Andrews, and her baby, Wynter Andrews. Continue reading...

Amir Yaron said to have warned PM that erasing democratic checks and balances could deter crucial foreign investmentThe governor of the Bank of Israel has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that his new government’s proposals for sweeping judicial reform could damage the country’s economy, according to Israeli media reports.Prof Amir Yaron met the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, after requesting an “urgent meeting”. Continue reading...

Levelling up secretary talks of ‘partnership’ in speech but has little time to hear local leaders’ concerns

State Duma approves law to keep members’ income tax and assets private in blow to transparencyRussia’s lower house of parliament has voted in favour of a bill that will lift the requirement for lawmakers to make public their annual income and assets reports, in a move that will significantly decrease transparency.According to a statement on the website of the State Duma, after 1 March, publicly available information about Russian lawmakers’ income declarations will not allow for identification of them. Continue reading...

Isaac and Mathew Auchterlonie were heavily armed, had strong anti-government views and did not expect to survive 2022 incidentTwo brothers who died in a hail of gunfire last summer outside a Canadian bank had been planning their attack for years, with a goal to kill as many officers as possible, police said on Friday.An investigation by the Vancouver Island integrated major crime unit found that 22-year-old Isaac Auchterlonie and his brother, Mathew, showed up at the Victoria, British Columbia, area bank on 28 June 2022 wearing full body armor and carrying semi-automatic rifles. Isaac and Mathew were two-thirds of a set of triplets. Continue reading...

Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and permit other countries to re-export them; US also expected to announce tank donation

Father says he tried to stop Jake Davison getting firearm and alerted authorities about son’s ‘volatile environment’The father of the Plymouth gunman Jake Davison said he tried to warn police not to give his son a shotgun licence because he lived in a “volatile environment”.Davison used a pump-action Weatherby shotgun to kill five people on 12 August 2021 in the Keyham area of the city before turning the gun on himself. He killed his mother, Maxine, 51, after a row at their home before shooting dead Sophie Martyn, three, her father, Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66. Continue reading...

Figures from 2021 census find more than half of LGB+ people are aged between 16 and 34Young people’s openness with sexuality has been revealed in unprecedented census data showing people aged 16 to 24 are more than twice as likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation (LGB+) than the overall population.In Brighton and Hove, one of Britain’s longtime gay capitals, just under one in six 16- to 24-year-olds identify with a sexual identity other than straight – well over twice the England and Wales average of 6.9% for that age group. Continue reading...

Retailer urges UK government not to consider such a move as it would mean ‘overbearing and prohibitive costs’ for exportersMarks & Spencer has urged the UK government not to consider separate labelling for goods sold in Northern Ireland during talks with the EU about improving post-Brexit trade arrangements, arguing that it would be too costly for retailers and customers.The retailer’s chair, Archie Norman, has written to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, arguing the requirement would not be a useful change to the Northern Ireland protocol and would create “overbearing and prohibitive costs” for exporters. Continue reading...

Drugs regulator recommends eptinezumab for adults whe three previous treatments have failedThousands of people in England and Wales who suffer from migraines could benefit from a drug that has been approved on the NHS.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the drugs regulator, said it was recommending eptinezumab for preventing migraine in about 164,000 adults where at least three previous preventive treatments had failed. Continue reading...

As cases fall, the condition that once affected millions of people in Africa and Asia could also be the first to be wiped out without medicinesThe number of cases of a painful and debilitating tropical illness fell last year to a record low, fuelling hopes that it will soon become the second human disease in history to be eradicated.Only 13 cases of guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2022, a provisional figure that if confirmed would be the smallest ever documented, the US-based Carter Center has said. Continue reading...

Most of the 1,047 Australians honoured are not famous but many of them have changed lives, if not the country

As Amazon workers strike for first time, TUC says rapid home delivery relies on labour that is monitored, repetitive and demandingThis week’s strike at an Amazon depot in Coventry is throwing the spotlight on to a hidden army of workers in the UK’s retail sector, many of whom face “particularly gruelling” conditions, according to recent research commissioned by the TUC.Five academics at the Centre for Research on Employment and Work (Crew) at the University of Greenwich analysed data about the retail workforce during and after the Covid pandemic, and carried out in-depth interviews with 30 workers. Continue reading...