World news | The Guardian

Covid and other illnesses main reasons for attendance drop compared with pre-pandemic, according to DfE figuresOne in five pupils in England were reported as persistently absent during the last school year, with Covid and other illnesses the biggest contributors to soaring classroom absence rates compared with pre-pandemic years.The figures from the Department for Education (DfE) showed the aftermath of the pandemic continued to significantly affect state school attendance into the summer of 2022. The national absence rate of 7.6% was well above the rates of 4%-5% before Covid. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s changes have been criticised as a multibillion-pound handout to Britain’s wealthiestJeremy Hunt’s multibillion-pound tax giveaway to Britain’s wealthiest pension savers is coming under fire from various quarters, with Labour vowing to reverse the move andothers saying it is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.Financial firms have said the changes to pension allowances could let high earners who can afford it build up pension pots worth as much as £9m while enjoying the full tax benefits. Continue reading...

Albanese government hopes to progress two bills in the coming parliamentary fortnight as working group advice is finalisedThe Albanese government plans to progress two bills to set up the Indigenous voice referendum in the coming parliamentary fortnight, remaining confident the process remains on track despite its expert group of Aboriginal leaders still finalising its crucial advice to cabinet.The referendum working group was expected to confirm its advice to government on the exact wording of the question and the constitutional amendment on Thursday. But a communique from its meeting in Adelaide, issued by Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney’s office, said the process was still ongoing. Continue reading...

Another key industry player suggested government should shut down the work-for-the-dole scheme

Unions and business worry ‘a nuclear submarine parking lot’ will displace offshore wind and container terminal jobs

Offer to unions involved in strikes in England expected to include one-off payment of up to 6% for this year

Success of Farmer-Citizen Movement in provincial vote is heavy blow to Mark Rutte’s four-party coalitionA new populist party surfing a wave of rural anger at government environmental policies has emerged as the big winner in Dutch provincial elections, dealing a heavy blow to the four-party coalition of the prime minister, Mark Rutte.The success of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) in Wednesday’s vote, which will determine the makeup of the senate, casts doubt over the government’s ability to pass key legislation, including its plans to slash nitrogen emissions. Continue reading...

President Gabriel Boric promised a feminist movement but conservative values remain strong in the countryOne tumultuous year has now passed since Latin America’s first self-declared feminist government installed itself in La Moneda, Chile’s presidential palace, vowing to bring progressive, gender-equal politics to a quiet corner of South America.Standing beside the country’s youngest ever president Gabriel Boric at his inauguration was Izkia Siches, the first woman to be named Chile’s interior minister and one of 14 women in Boric’s 24-person cabinet – the highest proportion of female ministers in Latin America and one of the highest anywhere in the world. Continue reading...

Police department says it has returned almost ¥3bn to owners, while ¥480m has gone to findersThe honest citizens of Tokyo handed in a record ¥3.99bn (£24.5m) in lost cash to police last year – an average of more than £67,000 a day.Japan’s national police agency said the amount was up ¥600m from the previous year, and beat the previous high of ¥3.84bn declared at police stations across the capital in 2019. Continue reading...

Former PM appointed Michelle Landry and Ben Morton to administer departments in moves not widely known at the time

Choice says flight credits should work like gift cards with customers able to split them over a number of transactions

Experts say data points to early signs of a new wave but, given level of immunity, is not expected to be as severe as in the past

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New laws include the overriding of the Human Rights Act to allow children to be charged for breaching bail

Multiple sources present confirm the remark was made, but it is unclear if it was made sarcastically

Lehrmann tells court a text saying ‘I’m up for millions’ was to placate his girlfriend, not due to a plan to sue

Taiwan foreign ministry warns of China debt trap, as US says Beijing ‘makes many promises that are unfulfilled’Taiwan has urged Honduras not to “quench your thirst with poison and fall into China’s debt trap”, adding it would not compete monetarily with China to keep its formal allies after its decision to switch diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing this week.Honduran president Xiomara Castro announced on Tuesday that her country would begin to establish an official relationship with Beijing, in effect severing its ties with Taipei. Continue reading...

Government looking at limiting mental health claims to just PTSD cases after $1.1bn shortfall

Exclusive: Union decries failure to publish statistics as Labour claims ministers ‘burying their heads in the sand’ over attacksNHS staff have accused Steve Barclay of breaking a pledge to publish details of how many of them are abused and assaulted in the course of their work.In 2018, when Barclay was a junior minister in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), he promised he would resume publication of those statistics in the following year. Continue reading...

New UN report says there has been a 35% spike in 2020-21 in the production of coca, the drug’s base ingredientSouth American drug cartels have capitalised on the retreat of the Covid-19 pandemic to produce and smuggle record amounts of cocaine around the world.Production of coca, the drug’s base ingredient, spiked 35% in 2020-21, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Coalition has denied Labor’s claims that privatisation was being sought

Train operators turn to contingency staff but fewer than half of services are expected to runAnother day of blighted rail services has begun in Britain as RMT members at 14 train operating companies take part in the first in a wave of four 24-hour strikes.Commuters across England are broadly the hardest hit by the latest action. Passengers have been urged to check before travel and in some places to take a train only if absolutely necessary, with most affected operators running final services by early evening. Continue reading...

Leaders expected to use first summit since 2011 to address Japan’s use of Korean forced labour, as well as threats posed by North Korea and ChinaYoon Suk Yeol will be treated to his favourite dish – omelette rice – when he becomes the first South Korean president to visit Japan in more than a decade on Thursday, as hopes rise for an end to years of animosity between the north-east Asian neighbours.Given that the menu for official dinners has been a diplomatic flashpoint between the two countries, efforts by Yoon’s hosts to accommodate his palate are evidence of the recent thaw in relations, as regional tensions rise over North Korean missiles and Chinese military activity. Continue reading...

After largest shareholder was unable to provide backing, Europe’s 17th largest lender says it will use government help to become ‘simpler and more focused’Credit Suisse has announced that it will take a CHF50bn ($53.7bn) loan from the Swiss central bank, in an action it says will “pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity” as it moves to stem a crisis of confidence a day after its share price plummeted.This additional liquidity would support the bank in taking the “necessary steps to create a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs”, its statement said. The bank said it was also making buyback offers on about $3bn worth of debt. Continue reading...

Deal with Australian Hotels Association raises prospect of more sport betting promotions in pubs amid rising criticism of gambling operations

Reserve bank had taken steps to engineer a ‘shallow recession’ in response to high inflation but shrinkage arrives earlyNew Zealand’s economy is shrinking, with gross domestic product down 0.6% last quarter, amid speculation a recession may be approaching.Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.6% in the last three months of 2022, after a 1.7% rise in the September 2022 quarter. The drop at the close of the year was larger than predicted by any of New Zealand’s major banks. Annually, GDP is still growing – up 2.4% year on year, and despite the shrinking economy, unemployment remains close to record lows, at about 3.3%. Continue reading...

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol says North will pay a price for launch on eve of Tokyo summitNorth Korea has test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a display of military might, just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit that was expected to be overshadowed by Kim Jong-un’s nuclear threats.The launch on Thursday, the North’s first ICBM test in a month and third weapons test this week, also comes as South Korean and US troops continue joint military exercises that Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal to invade. Continue reading...

Economy adds almost 64,000 jobs, a figure that will be closely examined by the RBA as it decides whether to pause further interest rate increases

Ben Morton’s previously unknown appointment by governor general David Hurley revealed in documents published under FOI laws

Joshua Bowles, 29, will appear at Westminster magistrates court in London on ThursdayCounter-terrorism police have charged a man with attempted murder following the stabbing of a woman outside a leisure centre in Cheltenham.The incident took place at about 9.15pm in Tommy Taylors Lane last Thursday. Continue reading...

UN nuclear watchdog will check fuel usage in sealed power units to satisfy non-proliferation obligationsThe UN nuclear watchdog will insist on inspecting Australia’s future nuclear submarines before and after deployments as part of a “watertight” agreement to ensure no fissile material is diverted, the agency’s chief has said.Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the agency and the partners in the Aukus nuclear sharing agreement – the US, UK and Australia – will hold further negotiations on how to make sure it does not conflict with their non-proliferation obligations. Continue reading...

Audience in regional city of Ballarat were largely supportive of the voice to parliament but were keen to hear more detail

Protesters claim proposed increase in hours would risk health and fail to boost low birth rateSouth Korea’s government has been forced to rethink a planned rise in working hours after a backlash from younger people who said the move would destroy their work-life balance and put their health at risk.The government had intended to raise the maximum weekly working time to 69 hours after business groups complained that the current cap of 52 hours was making it difficult to meet deadlines. Continue reading...

Exclusive: sources close to ministers and health unions in England expect announcement as soon as ThursdayMinisters and health unions are on the verge of a breakthrough in talks to resolve their long-running pay dispute that has triggered a series of NHS strikes in England, with an announcement expected on Thursday, the Guardian has been told.Sources said positive progress had been made on discussions about the awards for ambulance workers and nurses for both 2022-23 and 2023-24, although uncertainty remained about whether union members would accept the terms when they are balloted. Continue reading...

Swiss bank’s shares fall to record low as top shareholder Saudi National Bank rules out more funding

Morning is Broken – showing boy opening corrugated iron curtains – appeared on building in Herne BayThe site of Banksy’s latest work, an outside wall of a derelict farmhouse in the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent, has been demolished.The mural, titled Morning is Broken, depicted a silhouetted young boy – next to a silhouetted cat in a window – opening corrugated iron “curtains”. Continue reading...

US secretary of state Antony Blinken says collision of Russian fighter jet with US drone was ‘reckless and unsafe action’

Civilians are being killed by Russian weapons just like in Ukraine, says special rapporteur Tom Andrews in call for global actionMyanmar is a “failing state” and the crisis is getting exponentially worse, a UN special rapporteur for the country has warned, urging countries to adopt the same unified resolve that followed the invasion of Ukraine.“The same types of weapons that are killing Ukrainians are killing people in Myanmar,” Tom Andrews, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Guardian in an interview, citing the supply of Russian weapons to the junta since the coup two years ago. The junta relies heavily on aircraft from China and Russia, and has increasingly resorted to airstrikes to attempt to quell determined resistance forces. Continue reading...

Annual rate of 102.5% is denting purchasing power, savings, economic growth and government’s chances in elections next yearArgentina’s annual inflation rate tore past 100% in February, the country’s statistics agency announced, the first time it has hit triple figures since a period of hyperinflation in 1991, over three decades ago.Inflation over 12 months clocked in at 102.5% in the second month of the year, according to government data released on Tuesday, with a higher-than-expected 6.6% monthly rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and a 13.1% year-to-date increase. Continue reading...

Chancellor pledges cash for businesses and parents, and says UK will avoid recession this year

Find out how Jeremy Hunt’s tax and spending plans will affect your personal finances

Unions and UCEA declare agreement ‘on terms of reference for detailed negotiations’ on pay and conditionsUniversity staff have made a breakthrough in their months-long dispute with employers during which lecturers have gone on strike, worked to rule and refused to cover for absent colleagues across the UK.A group of five higher education trade unions and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) announced agreement “on terms of reference for detailed negotiations covering a review of the UK higher education pay spine, workload, contract types and equality pay gaps”. Continue reading...

Small, sturdy purebred dog’s meteoric rise took it past labrador retrievers but critics say it is prone to numerous health problemsFor the first time in three decades, the US has a new favorite dog breed, according to the American Kennel Club.Adorable in some eyes, deplorable in others, the sturdy, push-faced, perky-eared, world-weary-looking and distinctively droll French bulldog became the nation’s most prevalent purebred dog last year, the club announced on Wednesday. Frenchies ousted labrador retrievers from the top spot after a record 31 years. Continue reading...

A survey found the number of gambling ads was the top concern among fans, ahead of umpiring and rule changes

Data from LinkedIn also indicates share of job postings for remote roles has shrunk in past 10 monthsMore than a third of UK workers have said they would quit their job if their employer demanded they return to the office full-time, according to research showing how much the world of work has changed since the first Covid lockdown.Six in 10 employees are considering changing their job this year, according to data gathered by the professional networking site LinkedIn. Continue reading...

Move follows reports alleging that the army used Pegasus spyware software to hack the phone of a prominent rights activistLawmakers in Mexico this week will launch a federal commission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the country’s military, including the use of powerful spyware technology, the head of the governing Morena party in the Senate has said.The commission, made up of lawmakers from both Mexico’s upper and lower houses of Congress, will request a report from the army in the wake of recent media reports alleging that it used Israeli software known as Pegasus to hack the phone of a prominent human rights activist. Continue reading...

Incident involving Vianne Timmons is latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraudThe president of a Canadian university has apologized and is taking a leave of absence after allegations that she falsely claimed to be Indigenous, in the latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud.Vianne Timmons, who is president of Memorial University of Newfoundland, said that she would be taking a six-week leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published a report last week questioning her claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaq. Continue reading...

Alrico Nelson Martin also charged with conspiracy to wound with intent, say police investigating January shootingA man has been charged with possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life after a shooting outside a church in Euston, north London, in January, the Metropolitan police have said.Alrico Nelson Martin, 19, from Kilburn, who is also charged with six counts of conspiracy to wound with intent, will appear at Willesden magistrates court on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Aslef and RMT unions take action in protest against pensions review and planned job cutsCommuters in London are facing a day of transport chaos after a 24-hour strike by tube drivers and station staff started on Wednesday morning.Transport for London (TfL) urged passengers to check their route before travelling, with virtually all of the Underground network closed and other services likely to be much busier and liable to disruption and delay. Continue reading...

Match of the Day host decries Stoke-on-Trent North MP’s claim he called constituents ‘racist bigots’Gary Lineker has described accusations that he called northern voters “racist bigots” as “outrageous and dangerously provocative”.The recently reinstated Match of the Day host made the comments on Twitter in response to comments made by the Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis. Continue reading...