World news | The Guardian

Email sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priority

US diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs this January and obtained by the Guardian.

“It’s not gauche to remind these countries of the American people’s generosity in containing HIV/Aids or alleviating famine,” says the email.

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Governments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says

The world saw a record number of billionaires created last year, with a collective wealth of $18.3tn (£13.7tn), while global efforts stalled in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Oxfam’s annual survey of global inequality has revealed that the number of billionaires surpassed 3,000 for the first time during 2025. Since 2020, their collective wealth grew by 81%, or $8.2tn, which the charity claims would be enough to eradicate global poverty 26 times over.

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Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results.

Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout.

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Museveni’s opponent, Bobi Wine, alleges that members of polling staff were kidnapped and called for peaceful protests

Yoweri Museveni, has won the Ugandan election and his seventh term with more than 70% of the vote, state election authorities have said, amid an internet shutdown and claims of fraud by his opponent.

His opponent, a youthful musician known as Bobi Wine, condemned what he called “fake results” and alleged that members of polling staff were kidnapped, among other election irregularities. He called for peaceful protests to pressure the authorities to release what he called the “rightful results”.

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Atlas Lions face Senegal in final of Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday and Moroccan diaspora scents victory

London’s Little Morocco is brimming with pride and anticipation. The Moroccan diaspora in North Kensington is in no doubt that on Sunday the Atlas Lions will triumph against Senegal in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

“There’s not just an excitement, it has completely taken over everything else,” said Souad Talsi, who runs the Al-Hasaniya Moroccan women’s centre at the base of 31-storey Trellick Tower, at the north end of Golborne Road.

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Analysts warn that Trump will probably demand more action from Mexico to counter drug-trafficking groups

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the latest transfer of 37 Mexican cartel operatives to the US as a “sovereign decision”, as her government strives to alleviate pressure from the Trump administration to do more against drug-trafficking groups.

It was the third such flight in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but analysts warn that while it remains an effective pressure valve, the returns may be diminishing.

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US president singles out Mark Carney day after prime minister warned world is undergoing geopolitical ‘rupture’

Donald Trump has said Canada should be “grateful” for the “freebies” it gets from the US, a day after its prime minister, Mark Carney, warned the world was undergoing a geopolitical “rupture”.

Speaking those attending the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland, the US president singled out Carney’s speech that was sharply critical of US foreign policy.

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Far-right incoming president picked Judith Marín, who has publicly decried bills to decriminalise abortion, for the role

Chile’s incoming far-right president José Antonio Kast has named a vehement opponent of abortion who has repeatedly stated her support for life “from conception to natural death” as the country’s new women and gender equality minister.

Judith Marín, 30, was once ejected from Chile’s senate by police for screaming “return to the Lord” during a vote to decriminalise abortion under restricted circumstances.

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Church leaders cite Greenland threats, Venezuela action and aid cuts as undermining human dignity and peace

Three cardinals in the US Catholic church have criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying its push to obtain or otherwise seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk “destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering”.

“Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of Chicago, Washington DC and Newark, New Jersey.

The Associated Press contributed

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Salvatore Mancuso given 40-year sentence, which could be reduced after truth and reparation activities

A Colombian court has sentenced a former paramilitary leader to 40 years in prison for crimes committed against Indigenous communities in the province of La Guajira, including homicides, forced disappearances and the displacement of people from 2002 to 2006.

The special tribunal that hears cases from the country’s armed conflict said in its ruling that Salvatore Mancuso was responsible for 117 crimes committed by fighters under his command in La Guajira. However, it added that Mancuso’s time in prison could be reduced to eight years, if he collaborated with truth and reparation activities that benefited victims of his former paramilitary group.

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Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, accused of inciting subversion

The national security trial of three pro-democracy activists who organised an annual memorial in Hong Kong to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre is to begin on Thursday.

Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho are charged with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Their trial is one of the most high-profile national security cases to be heard in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the law in 2020. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. The law has a near-100% conviction rate.

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Archaeologists say stencil painted with ochre in limestone cave on Muna Island was created at least 67,800 years ago

The faded outline of a hand on a cave wall in Indonesia may be the world’s oldest known rock art, according to archaeologists who say it was created at least 67,800 years ago.

The ancient hand stencil was discovered in a limestone cave popular with tourists on Muna Island, part of south-eastern Sulawesi, where it had gone unnoticed between more recent paintings of animals and other figures.

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Han Duck-soo verdict marks first judicial ruling stemming from ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2024 martial law decree

South Korea’s former prime minister Han Duck-soo has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for his role in an insurrection stemming from the former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law declaration.

The judge, Lee Jin-kwan, ordered Han’s immediate detention.

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Prime minister’s reported trip follows approval by UK government for Beijing to build new embassy in London

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Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China next week after controversial plans for Beijing to build a vast embassy in London were approved by his government.

The UK prime minster will lead a delegation of blue-chip British companies, according to Reuters. The same firms, which include BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce were also said to be among those who will join a revamped “UK-China CEO council”.

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Amnesty International deeply concerned for scores of people ‘walking around in search of assistance’

Thousands of people, including suspected victims of human trafficking, are estimated to have been released or escaped from scam compounds across Cambodia over recent days, after growing international pressure to crackdown on the multibillion-dollar industry.

The Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh said it had received reports from 1,440 of its nationals who had been released from scam centres, while large queues of Chinese nationals were also seen outside the Chinese embassy.

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Opposition leader says the focus must be on Jewish Australians on national day of mourning for victims of Bondi victims

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Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said she hopes the Coalition is not broken, but said that is “up to Sussan Ley” now.

McKenzie spoke to ABC News this morning, just before party leader David Littleproud is set to speak amid the fallout. She said:

Obviously, Sussan Ley has chosen to accept our resignations and the consequence of that is the National party broader shadow ministry has also tended their resignation to the opposition leader. And now, obviously, that’s a matter for her and David to discuss the fallout. …

We took this as a very serious and principled decision as a party room. … But ultimately, we did not have the comfort we needed around the hate laws … and our room, with a heavy heart, made the decision.

As my dad used to say, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. And I would call for calmer heads to prevail, because we are Coalitionists.

We need to do everything we can to confront hate preachers and those that spread vile antisemitism and racism in our community and this law helps us do that. So I’m glad it’s in place, I think it’s important that it was supported.

They’re really important in terms of keeping the public safe. We think we’ll get thousands and thousands of guns off the street, and I’m very grateful that most gun owners have said that they can participate in the buy back program, give their guns back and make Sydney safer.

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One offshore e-casino posted Instagram promotion featuring AO logo despite no affiliation with tournament

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Offshore gambling operators are using the Australian Open to promote their illegal services, sparking calls for sweeping bans on the unlicensed websites.

Australian regulators and sporting professionals have expressed rising concern at the growth of offshore sites, where gamblers are not protected by Australian consumer law and have no guarantee they can withdraw their winnings.

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Survey by organisation, which is led by former Liberal senator Mathias Cormann, says economy is ‘now normalising’, after post-pandemic struggle

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The OECD has called on the government to broaden the GST, do more to reduce greenhouse emissions and adopt ambitious social housing targets as part of its annual economic survey of Australia.

Ahead of Jim Chalmers’ fifth federal budget in May, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Australia’s economy was “now normalising”, after struggling through a lengthy period of weak growth following the pandemic.

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To tie ourselves to the worst excesses of the Trump regime would be an act of national sabotage

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The company you keep.

Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump.

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Mitzvahs – or charitable acts – will include preparing meals for vulnerable communities while the Sydney Opera House will host a memorial service

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Thousands of Australians are expected to perform acts of kindness on Thursday to commemorate the victims of last month’s Bondi terror attack, as the Jewish tradition of mitzvah spreads across faiths and backgrounds.

A mitzvah, which is a core value in Judaism, has come to mean any charitable act and is being requested of Australians to mark the national day of mourning.

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Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politics

Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy.

Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%.

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President’s anti-Somalia tirade and insults to European leaders were in line with aide Stephen Miller’s worldview

Donald Trump turned up in Davos wielding an insult bazooka. He mocked Emmanuel Macron’s aviator sunglasses, chided Mark Carney (“Canada lives because of the United States”), asserted that the Swiss are “only good because of us” and had a dig at Denmark for losing Greenland “in six hours” during the second world war.

But beyond the fractious rhetoric, the US president brought a deeper message on Wednesday that sought to unify the west rather than divide it. It was his most dark, insidious and sinister project of all.

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US president tells business and political leaders in Davos his country needs ownership to defend ‘unsecured island’

Donald Trump has stepped up his demand to annex Greenland but said the US would not use force to seize it during a rambling, invective-laden speech at Davos where he again lashed out at Europe’s political leaders.

Trump gave his speech as they sought to avert a full-scale crisis over Greenland – an effort that appeared successful later as the US president suddenly announced he would delay imposing tariffs on eight European countries from 1 February as negotiations continue.

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Adviser to Zelenskyy says he in Kyiv, not Davos, and meeting will not be today as Trump suggested earlier

Former Nato secretary general and former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the “time of flattery has ended” as Europe needs to step up its response to Trump’s threats over Greenland – but still look for off-ramps to avoid escalation whereever possible.

Speaking to BBC News this morning, he warned that a US attack on Greenland “would be the end of Nato,” and push Europeans to urgently step up its defence in its own right, regardless of the US.

“I think those three areas would accommodate the concerns of President Trump.”

“Time has come to stand up against Trump.”

“So I think that we should solve this problem in a diplomatic way. Of course, I appreciate Denmark’s voice, … it’s our partner, but I’m looking at the Greenland as a strategic point in a [broader] geopolitical issue between the free world of democracies … and Russia.”

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Brussels to host emergency summit to discuss options including ‘nuclear deterrent’ of retaliatory sanctions

The European parliament has formally suspended the ratification process on its US trade deal, in protest against Donald Trump’s threat to impose 10% tariffs on EU exports unless the bloc agrees he can take over Greenland.

The pause is the strongest material response the EU has shown so far to what several leaders last week called blackmail.

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US military says it has transported ‘IS fighters’ to Iraq after Kurdish-controlled prisons and camps changed hands

Concerned western officials said they were closely monitoring the deteriorating security situation in north-east Syria amid fears that Islamic State militants could re-emerge after the Kurdish defeat at the hands of the Damascus government.

The US military said it had transported “150 IS fighters” from a frontline prison in Hasakah province across the border to Iraq, and said it was willing to move up to 7,000 to prevent what it warned could be a dangerous breakout.

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Move follows withdrawal of Kurdish forces from al-Hawl, where 24,000 people are being held over alleged IS links

Syrian government forces have taken control of al-Hawl detention camp, which houses tens of thousands of suspected Islamic State members, after Kurdish forces withdrew.

Soldiers entered the heavily fortified camp on Wednesday, part of a handover from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which oversaw the camp for the last seven years, as the Syrian government vowed to secure the facility.

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Israeli prime minister accepts position on US-proposed body with initial remit to oversee Gaza ceasefire

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday that he had agreed to join a US-backed “board of peace” proposed by Donald Trump, despite his office having earlier criticised the composition of its executive committee.

The body, chaired by the US president, was initially presented as a limited forum of world leaders tasked with overseeing a ceasefire in Gaza. More recently, however, the initiative appears to have expanded well beyond that remit, with the Trump camp extending invitations to dozens of countries and suggesting the board could evolve into a vehicle for brokering conflicts far beyond the Middle East.

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Regime appears to have turned to digital currency issued by Tether in the face of sanctions

Iran’s central bank appears to have been using vast quantities of a cryptocurrency championed by Nigel Farage, according to a new report.

Elliptic, a crypto analytics company, said it had traced at least $507m (£377m) of cryptocurrency issued by Tether – a company touted by the Reform UK leader – passing through accounts that appear to be controlled by Iran’s central bank.

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US says it no longer supports SDF, which left camp as it loses swathes of territory to government forces

Kurdish-led forces in Syria have announced a withdrawal from a detention camp in north-east Syria housing tens of thousands of Islamic State-linked detainees, as the US declared it was no longer supporting them.

The fate of al-Hawl, which houses among others the most radical foreign women suspected to have been members of IS and their families, is of great concern to neighbouring states and the international community.

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Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd

Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand.

Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

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Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East

Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions.

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Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home

Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements.

Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety.

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UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible

Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule.

Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war that has engulfed large parts of the impoverished nation of 51 million people.

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Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’

Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest.

Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT).

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UK had highest relative increase of five countries in study, with 20-fold rise in proportion of women over 25 using it

The proportion of people in the UK on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has tripled in the past decade, with a 20-fold increase among women aged 25 and over, a study shows.

Researchers led by the University of Oxford examined electronic health records from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to estimate the use of ADHD medication among adults and children aged three and above.

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Culture secretary says national institutions will receive £600m but they must extend influence outside London

London-based museums need to ensure they reach every part of the country, according to Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, who on Wednesday announced a landmark £1.5bn funding package for the arts meant to restore national pride.

National museums including the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery will be handed a £600m package but the culture secretary has urged them to look outside the capital to extend their sphere of influence.

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Commons will now have to consider Tory-led amendment, which is likely to be supported by Labour MPs

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The House of Lords has voted decisively for a ban on social media for under-16s in a move that puts pressure on Keir Starmer to bring in Australian-style restrictions.

Peers voted by 261 to 150 in favour of a Tory-led amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which was not backed by the government.

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A brief encounter set off a chain of events that culminated in a public rebuff to the US president from Keir Starmer

When Kemi Badenoch met Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, on Monday evening, she pressed him on two issues: the Chagos Islands deal and North Sea oil drilling.

Neither participant was part of their respective executive branch, and neither issue was at the centre of the crisis that has engulfed transatlantic politics. But before long, the meeting had some very real political consequences.

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Author discusses changes made to Lindsay Gordon novels from 80s and 90s to prepare for their rerelease

The crime writer Val McDermid has revealed she was assigned a “sensitivity reader” to remove language that could cause offence from her earlier works.

The Scottish author has sold more than 19m novels worldwide and is known for the authenticity of the dialogue in her work.

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US president touts ‘very productive meeting’ with Nato chief Mark Rutte, drops tariffs on European allies and adds deal will involve ‘Golden Dome’ and ‘mineral rights’

• Trump walks back Greenland tariffs threat, citing vague ‘deal’ over territory

House Republicans are starting a push on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.

The contempt proceedings are an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison.

They’re not above the law. We’ve issued subpoenas in good faith.

For five months we’ve worked with them. And time’s up.

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Deployment will serve data centers, governments and businesses, jumping into market dominated by SpaceX

Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin on Wednesday announced a plan to deploy 5,408 satellites in space for a communications network that will serve data centers, governments and businesses, jumping into a satellite constellation market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Deployment of satellites is planned to begin in the last quarter of 2027, Blue Origin said, adding the network will be designed to have “data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth”. That speed, possible with the satellites’ planned optical communications, is extreme by consumer standards and would make the network key for data processing and large-scale government programs. Blue Origin said the network would be meant to serve a maximum of roughly 100,000 customers.

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Ruling presents Democrats with opportunity to pick up another US House seat in November elections

New York must redraw its congressional map, a state judge ruled on Wednesday, handing Democrats another key opportunity to pick up another US House seat ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.

The ruling from Jeffrey Pearlman, a New York state supreme court justice, comes after a Democratic-aligned law firm challenged the boundaries of New York’s 11th congressional district, which includes the borough of Staten Island and portions of south Brooklyn. The district is currently represented by Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, the only GOP member representing New York City in Congress.

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US justice department’s website shows the disgraced former CEO petitioned Donald Trump over fraud conviction

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has asked Donald Trump to commute her sentence after she was convicted of defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup that was once valued at $9bn, a notice on the US Department of Justice website showed.

The justice department’s office of the pardon attorney lists the status of her commutation request, which was made last year, as pending.

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US president claims ‘framework’ of agreement in the works after ‘very productive’ meeting with Nato secretary general

Donald Trump has walked back his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland.

Four days after vowing to introduce steep import duties on a string of US allies over their support for Greenland’s continued status as an autonomous Danish territory, the president backed down.

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