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British boxer was injured in collision that killed his personal trainer Latif Ayodele and strength coach Sina Ghami

Nigerian police have charged Anthony Joshua’s driver with causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash that killed two people.

Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, was also charged with driving without a valid driving licence and “driving without due care and attention, causing bodily harm and damage to property”. He is due to appear in court on 20 January.

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9,500-year-old pyre uncovered in Malawi offers rare insight into rituals of ancient African hunter-gatherer groups

A cremation pyre built about 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa, offering a fresh glimpse into the complexity of ancient hunter-gatherer communities.

Researchers say the pyre, discovered in a rock shelter at the foot of Mount Hora in northern Malawi, is thought to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, the oldest confirmed intentional cremation in Africa, and the first pyre to be associated with African hunter-gatherers.

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Afghanistan and Yemen excluded from list of 17 priority countries chosen by Trump administration to receive aid laden with demands

The $2bn (£1.5bn) of aid the US pledged this week may have been hailed as “bold and ambitious” by the UN but could be the “nail in the coffin” in changing to a shrunken, less flexible aid system dominated by Washington’s political priorities, aid experts fear.

After a year of deep cuts in aid budgets by the US and European countries, the announcement of new money for the humanitarian system is a source of some relief, but experts are deeply concerned about demands that the US has imposed on how the money should be managed and where it can go.

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Mamady Doumbouya reneged on promise not to stand and hand west African country back to civilian rule

The head of Guinea’s junta, Mamady Doumbouya, who had pledged not to run for office after seizing power four years ago, has been elected president after the country’s electoral commission said he had secured a sweeping majority of the vote.

Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote held over the weekend.

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Dispute has potential to create civil war in south of Yemen and spill over into neighbouring countries

Tensions between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia over the future of Yemen and the imminent possibility of the declaration of an independent southern state have reached boiling point with Saudi Arabia in effect accusing the UAE of threatening its future security.

The dispute has the potential to create a civil war within the south of Yemen and also spill over into other disputes including in Sudan and the Horn of Africa where the two countries often find themselves backing opposite sides. Yemen could yet become only one theatre in which the two vastly wealthy Gulf states vie for political influence, control of shipping lanes and commercial access.

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Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay say US actions ‘constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security’

• Top Republicans backpedal from Trump claim that US will run Venezuela

Keir Starmer also told the BBC that he thinks we are living in a more “volatile” world than we have been for “many, many years” and said global affairs have much more of a “direct impact” on the UK than they have in a long time, citing the effects of military conflicts and the climate crisis.

Asked if Donald Trump is worsening global turmoil, Starmer dodges the question and speaks about the so-called special relationship between the UK and the US.

The relationship between the US and the UK is one of the closest relationships in the world. It is vitally important for our defence, for our security, for our intelligence.

It is my responsibility to make sure that relationship works as the prime minister of this country, working with the president of the United States. Not only have I stepped up to that responsibility, I have made it my business and I do get on with President Trump.

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Marvel, Lost and Hobbit actor says ‘almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity’ after she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder

Evangeline Lilly has revealed she has brain damage, months after she suffered a concussion when she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder.

The 46-year-old Canadian actor, known for her roles in Lost, The Hobbit films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shared the “bad news” video on her Instagram, one of many updates she has shared since she suffered the traumatic brain injury (TBI) in May, when she fainted on a beach and hit her head on a rock.

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Homeland security secretary says Venezuelan leader needs to protect America against drug trafficking and terrorists

Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, said on Sunday that the US wants a leader in Venezuela who will be “a partner that understands that we’re going to protect America” to stop drug trafficking and “terrorists from coming into our country”.

Noem indicated in an interview on Fox News Sunday that the immigration status of Venezuelan nationals living in the US under temporary protected status (TPS) was part of an administration-wide decision-making process that her department would follow.

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Hundreds came out to protest in large cities coast to coast, even as many in the diaspora celebrated ousting of Maduro

Protests bubbled up in several US cities over the weekend as people demonstrated against the Trump administration’s unilateral military intervention in Venezuela – even as many in the diaspora publicly celebrated the forced removal of president Nicolás Maduro.

Gatherings took place as crowds expressed opposition to a potential war with Venezuela and to declare illegal the US operation to snatch Maduro early on Saturday and bring him to the US to face drug-trafficking charges in court.

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Washington keeping 15,000-strong military presence in Caribbean in case interim president hinders US objectives

• US politics live

The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede on Sunday after the shocking seizure of President Nicolás Maduro – but US officials said Washington was keeping a 15,000-strong force in the Caribbean and might make a fresh military intervention if Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, did not accommodate their demands.

While Rodríguez kept up a defiant tone in public, the substance of conversations she had had in private with US officials was not clear.

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South Korea’s military reports projectile launch hours before Lee Jae Myung was due to head to Beijing

North Korea launched ballistic missiles towards the sea on Sunday, its neighbours said, just hours before South Korea’s president was due to leave for talks in China expected to cover North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that they detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s capital region at about 7.50am local time. They said the missiles flew about 560 miles (900km) and that South Korea and US authorities were analysing details of the launches.

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Kim Ju-ae has been making increasingly prominent appearances in state media over the past three years

The daughter of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, who is likely being prepared as his successor has accompanied her parents on her first public visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to former leaders, ahead of an event that could see her succession formalised.

Photos from state news agency KCNA showed Kim Jong-un accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and senior officials on the visit on 1 January, with Ju-ae between her parents in the main hall of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.

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Ador terminated the Australian-born singer’s contract on Monday and is now suing her, a family member and the band’s former producer

The K-pop record label Ador is suing a former member of megaband NewJeans for millions in damages, it has announced, a day after removing her from the group following a year-long dispute that saw the band allege mistreatment and attempt to leave their contract.

The compensation suit against Danielle Marsh, a 20-year-old Australian-born singer, comes months after a Seoul district court ruled that NewJeans’ five members must honour their contracts with Ador, whose parent company Hybe is also behind the K-pop sensation BTS. The band’s contract runs until 2029.

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Reunification ‘is unstoppable’, says Chinese president, a day after the conclusion of intense military drills

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has vowed to reunify China and Taiwan in his annual New Year’s Eve speech in Beijing.

Speaking the day after the conclusion of intense Chinese military drills around Taiwan, Xi said: “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.”

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Carmakers such as MG, BYD and Chery are set to pass 200,000 mark in sales, analysis suggests, double 2024’s total

Chinese brands are on course to account for one in every 10 new cars sold in Britain during 2025, a marked increase on last year as sales increase across Europe.

Manufacturers led by MG, BYD, and Chery are on track to break the 200,000 mark in UK new car sales in 2025, meaning they are very likely to account for 10% of the market, according to Matthias Schmidt, an analyst tracking electric cars across Europe.

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Cricket veteran in good spirits and hopeful of moving out of intensive care as recovery continues

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Damien Martyn is awake and talking, one week after being placed into an induced coma in a Gold Coast hospital with meningitis. The 54-year-old has been able to talk with friends and family, including ex-teammate Adam Gilchrist, and is said to be overwhelmed with the support offered.

“It’s been an unbelievable turn of events in the last 48 hours,” Gilchrist said in a statement.

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Decision comes after six people died along Australia’s eastern coastline during a horror new year period

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Emergency services have suspended separate searches for a teenage boy and a male swimmer in waters off Sydney amid a horror new year period on Australian beaches.

On Sunday afternoon, New South Wales police said search and rescue operations had been suspended in the search for a 16-year-old boy who was a passenger in a boat that capsized off Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve. A 47-year-old man died in that incident.

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Cricketers and fans pay tribute to victims and first responders ahead of play at the SCG

• Ten minutes of terror: how the Bondi mass shooting unfolded in real time – video

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A sold-out SCG crowd roared as Ahmed al-Ahmed, his arm in sling and his hand on his heart, walked onto the pitch just before play began of the final Test of the Ashes series.

The Syrian-born father of two helped disarm one of two gunmen during the Bondi terror attack, and on Sunday took part in the tributes made to the victims and those who risked their lives attending them.

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Tennis figure Lleyton Hewitt, Olympic gold medallists Jessica Fox and Ian Thorpe, and ex-Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke among open letter’s signatories

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More than 60 Australian sports stars have called on Anthony Albanese to establish a federal royal commission into antisemitism, radicalisation and the Bondi terror attack, as pressure on the government continues.

In an open letter published on Sunday, prominent athletes including former Olympic swimmers Dawn Fraser and Ian Thorpe, canoeist Jess Fox and former tennis player Lleyton Hewitt said the attack, in which 15 people were killed, was “a national crisis, and it demands a national response”.

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Australian prime minister says government has ‘long held concerns about the situation’ in South American country

• US attacks Venezuela – live updates

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The Australian prime minister says he backs a “peaceful, democratic transition” of power in Venezuela after the forcible capture of Nicolás Maduro by the US military, but has urged that international law be respected.

In a cautious statement, Anthony Albanese said his government was “monitoring developments” after Venezuela’s president and his wife were captured and transported to the US.

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Mette Frederiksen responds to president amid febrile atmosphere after US actions in Venezuela

• Venezuela crisis – latest updates

Denmark’s prime minister has urged Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland after the president said the US “absolutely” needs the territory.

Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.”

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Hundreds of people join silent procession in Swiss town, with youngest known victim just 14-years-old

• Visual guide: what happened in Crans-Montana?

Investigators have identified the last 16 people who died in the New Year’s Eve bar fire at the Swiss mountain resort of Crans-Montana, police said on Sunday.

Officers in Valais canton said they had managed to identify the last of the 40 bodies from the blaze, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history, with forensic work particularly slow-going due to the horrific burns sustained by most of the victims.

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Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore

German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.

The fire that broke out on a bridge across the Teltow canal in the south-west of the capital early on Saturday could deprive up to 35,000 homes and 1,900 businesses of electricity – and in many cases heat – until 8 January, the grid company Stromnetz Berlin said.

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Prime minister gives clearest sign yet that government is seeking to further deepen Britain’s links with Brussels

Closer ties with the EU single market are preferable to a customs union, Keir Starmer has said, in his clearest sign yet that the government is seeking to further deepen links with Brussels.

The prime minister said the UK should consider “even closer alignment” with the single market. “If it’s in our national interest … then we should consider that, we should go that far,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

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Maximus Textoris Pulcher, an official resident at Rue de la Loi 16, shows a warmer side of Bart De Wever

For nearly 15 years, Britain’s Larry the Cat has charmed visitors to 10 Downing Street. Now another prime ministerial pet is proving a social media hit in Belgium.

Maximus Textoris Pulcher was announced in August as an official resident at the Belgian prime minister’s office, Rue de la Loi 16 in central Brussels.

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Guided bombs used to target tunnels at site near to city of Palmyra in raid intended to ‘eliminate dangerous terrorists’

British and French aircraft have carried out a joint strike on an underground facility in Syria that had been occupied by Islamic State, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

Guided bombs were used to target access tunnels to the site, in the mountainous region near the ancient city of Palmyra in the centre of the country, on Saturday evening.

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Ailing economy sparks biggest uprising in years, with protesters saying it’s time to hit regime when it’s at its weakest

Mehnaz was too young to protest when Mahsa Amini died in police custody three years ago after she was arrested for allegedly wearing the hijab improperly. Her mother did not let her join the throngs of crowds chanting “woman, life, freedom” in Tehran and across the country – so she could only watch at home as they were beaten back by batons and bullets.

Since then, the 19-year-old computer science student in Tehran has waited for the chance to join fellow Iranians in protest. On Sunday, the moment finally came.

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Thousands have blown down in storms and tents from China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia found to be not waterproof

Thousands of tents supplied by China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to shelter displaced Palestinians in Gaza offer only limited protection against rain and wind, an assessment compiled by shelter specialists in the devastated territory has revealed.

The assessment will undermine claims that Palestinians in Gaza are being supplied with adequate shelter. Fierce storms in recent weeks blew down or damaged thousands of tents, affecting at least 235,000 people, according to UN estimates.

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Southern Transitional Council wants to form a breakaway state, which would split the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest state in two

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has called for Yemen’s southern factions to attend a “dialogue” in Riyadh, after a surprise independence bid and the United Arab Emirates declaring it had withdrawn all troops from Yemen.

In a statement on Saturday, the Saudi ministry urged “a comprehensive conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause”. Riyadh said the Yemeni government had issued the invitation for talks.

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Jewish family say crew did not seek consent to film inside their home days after it was wrecked by Hamas in southern Israel

The BBC has said it has reached a settlement with a Jewish family who survived Hamas’s 7 October attacks in southern Israel after a news crew filmed inside their destroyed home.

The reporting team, which included senior correspondent Jeremy Bowen, entered the Horenstein family’s home in the days after the attacks in 2023.

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The fate of the woman who left the UK at 15 in search of Islamic State raises wider questions about citizenship

While many aspects of UK political polling have shifted drastically since 2019, the public’s view on Shamima Begum has remained largely fixed: a big majority do not want the now 26-year-old woman back in the UK.

In 2019, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, stripped the Londoner of her UK citizenship on the grounds that she was a security threat, having travelled as a schoolgirl with two friends to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. At the time, 76% of people backed the move.

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Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply

Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years.

Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures.

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Zia’s archrivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation

Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh whose long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina defined the country’s politics for a generation, has died aged 80.

Zia was one of the most significant and divisive political figures in the country since Bangladesh independence 50 years ago. Her death was announced on Tuesday morning by the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP).

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Turnout appears low for vote in which most candidates seen as allies of junta and large areas excluded by war

Polls have closed in conflict-racked Myanmar, ending the first phase of an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The military has touted the vote as a return to democracy almost five years after it seized power in a coup, ousting the country’s then de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and sparking a spiralling civil war.

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Kathmandu mayor Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah will run for prime minister with presenter Rabi Lamichhane’s party after deadly protests that ousted government

Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders have formed an alliance ahead of next year’s election in the wake of deadly youth-led protests earlier in the year that ousted the government.

Television host Rabi Lamichhane, the 51-year-old chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP), and the 35-year-old rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah pledged to address the demands of the younger generation following September’s deadly anti-corruption protests.

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People who are sent to Manston processing centre will be eligible for searches for electronic devices from Monday

Home Office plans to immediately begin seizing asylum seekers’ mobile phones and sim cards without the need for an arrest have been condemned by a solicitor and anti-torture campaigners.

People who arrive by small boat and are sent to Manston processing centre in Kent will from Monday be eligible for searches for electronic devices, a minister has said, with technology on site to download data.

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King Charles leads tributes to Holocaust education campaigner, who he met in 2022, saying he and Camilla ‘admired her deeply’

King Charles has paid tribute to Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, who has died at the age of 96.

The king, who danced with Schloss while visiting a Jewish community centre in north London in 2022, said he and Queen Camilla had “admired her deeply” and he was “privileged and proud” to have known her.

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Mark Ratcliffe, 67, had been trying to save Sarah Keeling, 45, and her daughter Grace, 15, who remains missing, police say

A man who died trying to save two people from the sea in East Yorkshire on Friday was attempting to rescue a mother and her teenage daughter, Humberside police have said.

The body of Sarah Keeling, 45, was recovered from Withernsea on Friday, while Grace Keeling, 15, remains missing after being washed away.

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Flights cancelled and travel warnings issued with 30cm of snow expected on high ground in northern Scotland

Transport delays, treacherous driving conditions and school closures will greet many people as they return to work and study after the Christmas break, with winter weather warnings in place across the UK.

Four amber warnings for heavy snow in northern Scotland are in place until Monday morning, while yellow snow and ice warnings cover all of Northern Ireland, Wales and much of England.

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Considered one of world’s finest trade union buildings and famous for its ‘pitmen’s parliament’, Redhills was built on a grand scale

Outside the impressively grand, Edwardian baroque building in Durham are two wooden benches, each dedicated to men who died too young.

They were, the inscription reads, both “sacked and victimised” during the 1984-85 miners’ strike. Yet they’re in grounds that look as if they might have been owned by rich, exploitative mine owners.

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King tides cause highest floodwaters in decades for area, while people are rescued from trapped cars and roads close

High tides and heavy rains have flooded parts of the Bay Area, prompting road closures and rescues of people trapped in cars.

Five northern counties remained under a flood watch, with up to 3in (7.6cm) of rain possible through Monday night in areas that have been drenched off and on since around Christmas, said the National Weather Service office in Eureka. At least a foot (0.3 meters) of snow was likely in the mountains.

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Victoria Jones, daughter of US film actor, was found unresponsive at a San Francisco hotel on New Year’s Day

The family of actor Tommy Lee Jones has asked for privacy following the loss of his daughter, Victoria Jones, who was found dead on New Year’s Day at a San Francisco hotel.

“We appreciate all of the kind words, thoughts, and prayers,” the family said in a statement. “Please respect our privacy during this difficult time. Thank you.”

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Emergency managers say the US president has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters

Donald Trump has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, according to emergency management experts.

The first year of his second term was marked by crackdowns on climate science that produced world-class weather forecasts and the gutting of frontline federal agencies - policies that have left the country, already struggling to keep pace with severe storms, even more at risk.

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Trump’s audacious arrest of Maduro marks a conspicuous break with convention, even as previously observed by the president himself

Nothing speaks more eloquently of the disempowering of the US Congress under Donald Trump’s second presidency than the brazenly audacious detention of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia.

Far from recognizing it, Trump did not even acknowledge Congress’s right to know – keeping senior members in the dark until the operation to seize the strongman was under way.

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Officials evacuated about 325 men and women from Bridge shelter on New Year’s Day after heavy rains

For the third time in seven years, hundreds of people had to flee a homeless shelter in downtown San Diego this week after a heavy storm dropped a month’s worth of rain, causing floods.

The area received 2in of rain on New Year’s Day, which broke local records and forced multiple water rescues, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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