World news | The Guardian

Whereabouts of children taken by the military since the 2021 coup are mostly unknown, according to Naw Susanna Hla Hla SoeHundreds of children have been detained by the Myanmar military since it seized power more than one year ago, with many held ransom by soldiers and police who are seeking to arrest their relatives, according to a minister of the country’s National Unity Government.Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, minister of Women, Youths and Children Affairs Ministry in the NUG, which was formed last year by elected lawmakers to challenge the junta, said 287 children under the age of 18 had been detained since 1 February 2021. Most had been held in police station detention centres, and some in prisons. Continue reading...

Charcoal from ancient campfires suggests Australia’s floral emblem helped Indigenous people survive harsh changes in climate

Refugees ‘very happy’ with declaration, while experts say ‘concrete steps’ must followRohingya refugees in Bangladesh have welcomed the announcement by the US that it considers the violent repression of their largely Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar a genocide.“We are very happy on the declaration of the genocide; many many thanks,” said 60-year-old Sala Uddin, who lives at Kutupalong camp, one of the many in Cox’s Bazar district that are now home to about 1 million Rohingya. Continue reading...

Member for Kiama charged with sexual offences against a man and a 17-year-old boy

Citizens Advice mystery shopping suggests ‘shocking’ trend, affecting estimated 754,000 people in certain locationsHundreds of thousands of people of colour may be paying an “ethnicity penalty” of at least £280 a year each in higher car insurance costs, an investigation by Citizens Advice has claimed.The national charity said its year-long investigation had uncovered a “shocking trend” of people of colour paying a lot more for motor cover than white people, and that the penalty was up to £950 in some locations. Continue reading...

Survey finds costs have gone up 3.5% for three- to four-year-olds over last year, adding to cost of living crisisBritish parents are finding themselves locked out of work and struggling to make ends meet as rising childcare fees add to the cost of living crisis, according to a survey.Childcare costs have gone up by 3.5% for three to four-year-olds over the last year, while parents are paying 2.5% more for under twos, the survey found. Meanwhile, childcare availability has declined, as the sector grapples with the continuing impact of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Romcom star, who turned the role down in 2004, says he will not be taking over from Jodie WhittakerHugh Grant has dismissed reports that he will be the next actor to play the Doctor, TV’s most famous time traveller, in the BBC’s Doctor Who.The 61-year-old actor, best-known for starring in British romcom films such as Notting Hill, Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral, responded to speculation, first reported by the Daily Mirror, that he was in the running to replace Jodie Whittaker. Continue reading...

Emergency services took the 17-month-old to hospital, but she died as a result of her injuriesA 17-month-old baby has been killed after being attacked by a dog at her home in St Helens.Merseyside police were called to the address on Bidston Avenue in Blackbrook after reports the girl had been attacked. Emergency services attended and took her to hospital but she died as a result of her injuries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tech giant’s transparency report, intended to ‘support election integrity’, did not include ad spending of certain candidates

Small tremors hit the mid-Atlantic group of islands causing officials to trigger emergency plansAbout 1,100 small earthquakes have rattled one of Portugal’s mid-Atlantic volcanic islands in under 48 hours, prompting authorities to activate an emergency plan as experts assess a “seismic crisis”.Rui Marques, head of the Azores archipelago’s seismo-volcanic surveillance centre Civisa, said on Monday the earthquakes, with a magnitude ranging from 1.9 to 3.3, had been recorded on the island of São Jorge since Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Person 17, who is at the centre of an allegation of domestic violence, which Ben Roberts-Smith denies, will enter the witness box

US ambassador in Moscow summoned for an official protest as EU ministers meet to discuss further sanctions

Amnesty says Australian-Iranian Shokrollah Jebeli was subjected to ‘more than two years of torture’An Australian-Iranian man in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.Shokrollah Jebeli,83, who had been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said. Continue reading...

Report also shows women’s participation in workforce lower in areas where children outnumber available places by 3:1 or more

Imran Khan cajoles and threatens his own and opposition lawmakers on eve of no-confidence voteWith a vote of no-confidence looming over his government, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan warned those planning to vote against him that they risk social disgrace, and that “no one will marry your children”.The no-confidence vote is expected to be tabled on Friday 25 March, backed by a coalition of politicians who accuse Khan of bad governance and economic incompetence. In January inflation reached 13% and the cost of fuel and food rocketed. Continue reading...

Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episodeA second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode. Continue reading...

Teenager died at the scene in Green Street, Newham, despite paramedics trying to treat herA 14-year-old girl has died after a crash involving a van while riding an e-scooter in east London.The teenager died of her injuries at the scene, according to the Metropolitan Police. London ambulance service paramedics had tried to treat her following the collision in Green Street, Newham. Continue reading...

Latest updates:Met Police issue Partygate update, saying they have now begun interviewing people on top of the questionnaires sent out

Pathologist details brain trauma and internal damage suffered by five-year-old boyA five-year-old boy who was allegedly murdered by his mother, her partner and a teenager suffered brain trauma, damage to internal organs, internal bleeding and bruising from head to foot, a jury has heard.A pathologist said that some of injuries suffered by Logan Mwangi before his death were so severe that they would have been expected in someone who had been in a road accident or had fallen from a height, while some were days or weeks old. Continue reading...

Woman appears in court accused of killing Nicholas Billingham after his body is found at houseA man whose body was found buried in the back garden of a house in Northampton has been named as Nicholas Billingham, as a primary schoolteacher appeared in court charged with his murder.Fiona Beal, 48, is accused of killing 42-year-old Billingham between 30 October and 10 November last year. Continue reading...

British-Iranian woman criticises UK government for length of time it took to secure her release from Tehran jailNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said she should have been released from detention in Iran six years ago and challenged the British government to explain why they had not paid the $400m (£303m) debt to Iran that Tehran said would bring her release earlier than last week.Speaking publicly for the first time at a press conference since she was released, she described the “black hole” in her heart caused by the detention, and that it was her faith that kept her from losing hope. Continue reading...

Designation could put global pressure on military-led government, which faces accusations at international court of justiceThe US has declared Myanmar’s mass killing of the Rohingya Muslim population to be a “genocide”.The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Continue reading...

Bill allows anyone – even relatives of rapists – to sue abortion providers and empowers investigators to question any woman who loses a pregnancyThe Tennessee state house is considering a “Texas-style” abortion ban that would allow relatives, friends, neighbors and the spouse of a rapist to sue anyone who provides or assists in the provision of abortion services to his victim.The bill, which would ban abortion entirely with no exceptions for rape or incest, cleared one hurdle last week, when a health subcommittee passed it. Continue reading...

State media reports that China Eastern 737 went down near city of Wuzhou, sparking mountainside fireA passenger plane carrying 132 people has crashed in southern China and sparked a mountainside fire, Chinese authorities have reported.The China Eastern Airlines flight, a Boeing 737, crashed near the city of Wuzhou in Teng County, Guangxi province. It had departed from Kunming at 1pm but did not reach its scheduled destination in Guangzhou. Flight tracking data shows the plane dropping from the radar signal to the south-west of Wuzhou shortly before 2.30pm local time. It also suggests the plane fell sharply, losing more than 8,800 metres of altitude in just a few minutes. Continue reading...

Ban on flights from nine countries lifted for fully vaccinated residents and quarantine reduced to seven daysHong Kong will lift a ban on flights from nine countries and reduce hotel quarantine, its leader has announced, alongside a “roadmap” towards eased restrictions that suggest a departure from the territory’s zero-Covid policy.From 1 April, fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents who have received a negative PCR test will be allowed to enter on flights from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and the US. Arrivals have to undergo seven days’ hotel quarantine, down from a previous 14. Continue reading...

Health secretary says ‘vaccine wall of defence’ is helping keep situation stable despite surge in casesThere is “no particular cause for concern” about the UK’s rapidly rising number of Covid cases, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has said, saying that England was demonstrating to the world a successful model for living with the virus.Despite survey data showing almost 5% of the population in England had Covid earlier this month, and record infection levels among the over-70s, Javid said the “wall of defence” from vaccines was keeping the situation stable. Continue reading...

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral held in Melbourne; Morrison and Modi hold virtual summit as new funding for cooperation with India announced; Peter Malinauskas sworn in as new SA premier; at least six Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Industry Super Australia research finds increasing childcare subsidy would reduce gender pay gap and future pension costs

Health survey by Australian Bureau of Statistics also finds young people more likely to binge drink and vape

Novoselytsya residents told to avoid exposure to leakage after the Sumykhimprom facility was shelled

Moscow offers safe passages to fighters who give in, as US says Joe Biden will visit Poland on Friday

Court case to prevent Harry Clarke windows in Dublin’s best known coffee shop being soldBewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street has been a Dublin institution ever since it opened almost 100 years ago.Such is the public’s affection for the grand three-story period cafe that each threatened closure is met with an outpouring of nostalgic horror. Continue reading...

Findings published in October 2019 urge changes to legislation and development of guidelines for large-scale evacuationsMinisters have “failed to complete a single recommendation” from the first phase of a public inquiry into the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, Sadiq Khan has said.The inquiry, which looked at where the June 2017 fire originated and how it spread to kill 72 residents in the north Kensington tower block, published its findings in a report in October 2019. Continue reading...

Doctors identify lack of time, staff shortages and heavy workloads as reasons for lack of safetyMore than 80% of GPs believe that patients are being put at risk when they come into their surgery for an appointment, a new survey shows.A poll of 1,395 GPs found only 13% said their practice was safe for patients all the time. Meanwhile, 85% expressed concerns about patient safety, with 2% saying patients were “rarely” safe, 22% saying they were safe “some of the time” and 61% saying they were safe “most of the time”.91% said more GPs would help improve the state of general practices.84% have had anxiety, stress or depression over the past year linked to their job.31% know a colleague who was physically abused by a patient in the last year.24% know of a member of general practice staff who has taken their own life due to work pressures. Continue reading...

Rescue operation off North Island’s North Cape hampered by thunderstorms, swells and torrential downpoursA fishing trip in New Zealand has ended in tragedy, with four people dead and one passenger still missing after their boat sank during wild weather.The rescue operation began on Sunday evening after a charter fishing vessel activated an emergency beacon off the North Island’s North Cape. A helicopter was first on scene at the remote location, arriving at about 11.40pm but by 2.30am the boat had sunk. Continue reading...

Three levels of government announce ‘city deal’ plan in Brisbane to address ‘positive issue of growth’ amid population boom

The inquest heard Rowan Baxter murdered the family and killed himself by setting their car alight

John C Aquilino says Beijing is flexing its military muscle by arming isles with fighter jets, anti-ship systems and other military facilitiesChina has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top US military commander said Sunday.US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts were part of China’s flexing its military muscle, he said. Continue reading...

Prime minister says government 'very conscious’ of the impacts of fuel prices as Liberals ponder SA election loss

Olga recalls horror of seeing blood covering her six-week-old daughter after shrapnel blasts in Okhmatdyt Children’s hospital in Kyiv

Moscow has given Mariupol a deadline to surrender amid alarm that residents have been ‘kidnapped’ and sent to remote parts of Russia Continue reading...

Asking prices up 1.7% in March, biggest monthly rise for this time of year in 18 years, according to RightmoveThe average price tag on a home in Great Britain has topped £350,000 for the first time, according to Rightmove.Typical asking prices hit £354,564 in March, up 1.7% or £5,760 compared with February, the property website said. It was the biggest monthly rise for this time of year in 18 years, and pushed the annual rate of growth in asking prices to 10.4%. Continue reading...

Welsh government hails ‘historic moment’ for children’s rights amid calls for England to follow suitSmacking and slapping children has been outlawed in Wales, with people told to contact social services or police if they see a parent or carer meting out physical punishment.The law change, which came into force first thing on Monday, was hailed as “historic” by the Labour-led Welsh government and a number of child protection champions, who called for England to follow suit. Continue reading...

Offer of top-up dose to over-75s, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised follows JCVI advice last monthThe NHS in England will on Monday start giving a second booster vaccine to millions of people who are at higher risk from Covid-19 to help combat the latest resurgence in infections.Over-75s, care home residents and those who are immunocompromised – 5 million in all – will be contacted by the NHS and then be able to book an appointment online or by calling 119. Continue reading...

‘Forget the government,’ Referendum Council co-chair says, calling instead for ‘a people’s movement’

Export revenues and low jobless rate combine to cut almost $90bn from projected federal budget deficit

Hackney MP Diane Abbott decries ‘pattern of police abuse of power’ after strip search of black schoolgirlHundreds of people gathered at Hackney town hall in east London on Sunday to express solidarity with the family of Child Q, the 15-year-old black girl who was subjected to a traumatic strip search by police at her school.The protesters, many of whom were mothers accompanied by their daughters, carried placards with messages including “Stop violating black girls” and Black Lives Matter banners, and expressed anger at what they said was an “abuse of power” by the police as well as teachers at Child Q’s school. Continue reading...

Back to Back, an ensemble of disabled actors, wins DK2.5m Ibsen prize for their ‘exciting, unsettling and thought-provoking’ work

Angela Rayner accuses Johnson of appeasing critical Tory MPs including Theresa May ‘to save his own skin’Labour has accused Boris Johnson of “appeasing Tory MPs to save his own skin” by dropping a plan to place an earnings or time limit on backbenchers’ jobs outside parliament.The party has identified eight Conservatives who were particularly critical of the prime minister over claims of lockdown-breaking parties inside Downing Street, but who earn significant extra salaries. Continue reading...