World news | The Guardian

Bobi Wine flown to unknown location, his party says, hours after security forces allegedly killed 10 of his campaigners

The Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was taken from his house and brought to an unknown location on Friday, his party said as President Yoweri Museveni closed in on a landslide re-election.

Wine’s National Unity Platform party said on Friday evening in a post on X that an army helicopter had landed in his compound in the capital, Kampala, and “forcibly taken him away to an unknown destination”.

Continue reading...

$1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent disease

The controversial US-funded study on hepatitis B vaccines among newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been halted, according to Yap Boum, a senior official at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The study has been cancelled,” Boum told journalists at a press conference on Thursday morning.

Continue reading...

Flood warning raised to highest level with roads washed away and rain forcing evacuation of Kruger national park

Large areas of north-eastern South Africa and neighbouring Mozambique have been inundated for several days with exceptionally heavy rainfall. Some locations in South Africa recorded hundreds of millimetres of rain over the weekend, such as Graskop in Mpumalanga, where 113mm fell in 24 hours, and Phalaborwa, which recorded about 85mm of rainfall. Rain has continued to fall across the region since the weekend.

The deluge has been driven by a slow-moving cut-off low pressure system that has remained anchored over the region, repeatedly drawing in moisture and triggering intense downpours. Further heavy rainfall is expected on Friday and over the weekend. Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, could expect daily rainfall totals to exceed 200mm by the end of Friday, while western parts of South Africa and north-western Eswatini may record more than 100mm.

Continue reading...

Soaking fabrics in a commonly used insect repellent is a simple and effective tool as mosquito bites become more common during daytime, study shows

From Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers’ backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.

Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds.

Continue reading...

Pleas for scrutiny of system fraught with accusations of negligence after one-year-old’s death in hospital

Nigerians have called for urgent reforms to the healthcare sector after the death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 21-month-old son prompted an outpouring of grief and accounts of negligence and inadequate care.

In a leaked WhatsApp message, the bestselling author said she had been told by a doctor that the resident anaesthesiologist at the Lagos hospital treating her son Nkanu Nnamdi had administered an overdose of the sedative propofol.

Continue reading...

Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston’s airport in November and flown to Honduras two days later

• US citizens and permanent residents: have you been racially profiled by ICE?

The Trump administration apologized in court for a “mistake” in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving.

But the administration still argued that the federal government error should not affect her immigration case.

Continue reading...

John Ratcliffe meets Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas less than two weeks after his agents helped to oust her precedessor

The CIA chief whose agents reputedly played a key role in abducting Nicolás Maduro has flown to Venezuela to meet his successor as the sidelined opposition leader, María Corina Machado, vowed she would become the country’s first elected female president.

Machado’s comments were broadcast on Friday, a day after she handed her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump in recognition of what she called a principled and decisive move against Maduro, whom US special forces snatched on 3 January.

Continue reading...

Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers appear to have been reading up on the country’s penal code and have found a way to help their client reduce the 27-year prison sentence he received last year for plotting a coup: by reading books.

There is only one problem: the former far-right Brazilian president has never been known as a bibliophile. “Sorry, I don’t have time to read,” Bolsonaro once declared. “It’s been three years since I read a book.”

Continue reading...

Mark Carney holds talks with Xi Jinping on rare Beijing trip as Canada seeks to diversify trade links away from US

• Business live – latest updates

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China as he held talks in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, the first visit by a Canadian leader in eight years.

Addressing Xi in the Great Hall of the People, Carney said: “Together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past to create a new one adapted to new global realities.”

Continue reading...

Women allege Spanish singer subjected them ‘to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in atmosphere of control’

The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has broken his silence over allegations that he sexually abused two women who worked in his Caribbean mansions, saying he has never “abused, coerced or disrespected any woman”.

The 82-year-old entertainer, whose career spans six decades, had been accused by two female former employees who allege they had been sexually assaulted and subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”.

Continue reading...

Yoon Suk Yeol’s conviction for obstructing own arrest separate from main trial that could lead to death penalty

A South Korean court has sentenced former president Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison for mobilising presidential security forces to block his own arrest and abusing his powers. It is the first judicial ruling linked to the events surrounding his failed martial law declaration in December 2024.

The ruling is separate from Yoon’s main insurrection trial, where prosecutors earlier this week sought the death penalty and a verdict is due next month.

Continue reading...

US to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% as chip and tech businesses pledge $250bn spending in US operations

The US said on Thursday that it had signed a deal with Taiwan to reduce tariffs on goods from the democratic island, while increasing Taiwanese semiconductor and tech companies’ investments in America.

The agreement, the US commerce department said, “will drive a massive reshoring of America’s semiconductor sector”.

Continue reading...

Crane in use on high-speed rail project hits passing train, causing it to derail

At least 32 people in Thailand have been killed and scores injured after a crane collapsed on to a passenger train and derailed it, officials said.

Footage from the scene verified by Agence France-Presse showed the crane’s broken structure resting on giant concrete pillars and smoke rising from the wreckage of the train below.

Continue reading...

Results for 2025 risk further unsettling economies about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, and their own over-reliance on Chinese products

China has reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record trillion-dollar surplus, as its producers brace for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the manufacturing powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.

Beijing’s resilience to renewed tariff tensions since Donald Trump returned to the US presidency last January has emboldened Chinese firms to shift their focus to south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to offset US duties.

Continue reading...

Yoon is on trial for insurrection charges, after trying to declare martial law in late 2024

South Korean prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, in the first insurrection trial of a Korean head of state in three decades.

Prosecutors characterised the case as the “serious destruction of constitutional order by anti-state forces”, telling Seoul central district court that Yoon had “directly and fundamentally infringed upon the safety of the state and the survival and freedom of the people”.

Continue reading...

Deputy state coroner concludes 21-year-old, who died after exiting a moving vehicle, was ‘exploited’ and exposed to ‘potentially criminal’ conduct in five weeks in Australia

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

A New South Wales coroner has referred the death of a Filipino migrant worker, who died after jumping from a moving vehicle in 2019, to the Australian federal police to consider further investigations.

NSW deputy state coroner Rebecca Hosking handed down the findings into the death of 21-year-old Jerwin Royupa on Friday. She concluded Royupa, a trainee at a winery, was “exploited” and exposed to “potentially criminal” conduct during his five weeks in Australia.

Continue reading...

Floods predicted for NSW south coast after severe storms dumped 180mm in six hours on Victoria’s Lorne and Wye River, washing cars into the sea on the Great Ocean Road

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Authorities have defended the timing of warnings for holidaymakers along Victoria’s surf coast who were hit by an “unprecedented” downpour on Thursday, as Sydney awaited its “soggiest weekend of summer” to date.

Weatherzone forecasters predicted 20mm of rainfall was possible in Sydney on both Saturday and Sunday, which would be a record for the time of year.

Continue reading...

The incident at Gunnedah near Tamworth is the third fatality involving police in the state this year

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

A man armed with a bow and arrow has been shot dead by police in New South Wales as they carried out a welfare check – the third fatality involving officers this year.

Authorities attended the man’s house in Gunnedah near Tamworth on Friday at 1.40pm after receiving a call about concerns for his welfare.

Continue reading...

This blog is now closed

• Penny Wong says Sussan Ley’s leadership ‘unsalvageable’ after Coalition flags opposition to new hate laws

• Could Labor’s hate speech laws damage Australia’s free speech? Here’s what you need to know about the contentious bill

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Larissa Waters, the Greens’ leader, also says she’s concerned there has not been enough time to evaluate the legislation, warning there are a “raft of unintended consequences that could occur”.

Waters told RN Breakfast:

We’ve only had a handful of days to look at this legislation, and it’s very consequential legislation … And with every turn, experts and stakeholders and faith leaders and academics are finding new concerns with it. A key concern is that you can’t combat hate if you don’t combat it for everyone.

A key concern that we have … is that these laws, as they’re drafted right now, could be weaponised to shut down legitimate political protest.

Given the tightness of the timeframe … there is a real risk that locking in laws that aren’t right could criminalise people for legitimate political expression. That is a dangerous path.

We’ve got serious concerns with respect to whether or not the bill meets its objective …

It really is concerning that we’re in this stage where we’re less than one business day away from parliament coming together and these serious concerns persist. We’re in a situation where we’re dealing with such a significant piece of legislation, complicated legislation, legislation which deals with the raft of matters which are contained in this one monster omnibus bill, which is a totally inappropriate way to address this situation.

Continue reading...

Calls for clear guardrails and consumer education before wider rollout of OpenAI’s health advice platform

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

A 60-year-old man with no history of mental illness presented at a hospital emergency department insisting that his neighbour was poisoning him. Over the next 24 hours he had worsening hallucinations, and tried to escape the hospital.

Doctors eventually discovered the man was on a daily diet of sodium bromide, an inorganic salt mainly used for industrial and laboratory purposes including cleaning and water treatment.

Continue reading...

US president’s increasingly bellicose demands for control of the island may force the EU to draw a line in the snow

• Greenland: new shipping routes, hidden minerals – and a frontline between the US and Russia?

The crisis over Greenland may deliver the moment when Europe must stand up to Donald Trump, as officials have said a US attempt to annex the territory could shatter the Nato transatlantic alliance.

European leaders have entertained Trump’s demands for nearly a year as he has pushed Nato countries to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP, and threatened to pull US support from Ukraine as part of a peace process that appears to favour Russia. They have also given a muted response to US adventurism abroad including the capture and rendition of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

Continue reading...

Taking drug in pregnancy does not raise chances of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability, ‘gold standard’ review finds

Taking paracetamol in pregnancy does not increase the chance that the child will be autistic, or have ADHD or an intellectual disability, a “gold standard” review of the evidence has found.

The findings debunk Donald Trump’s claims last September that the painkiller causes autism, which were condemned by medical, women’s health and scientific organisations around the world.

Continue reading...

Song that topped Swedish Spotify rankings ruled ineligible after elements of song revealed to be partly AI-made

A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation.

I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.

Continue reading...

President raises pressure on European allies as US envoy says deal to take island ‘should and will be made’

• Fear in Greenland as threat of invasion looms

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.

After a tense week in which Nato allies deployed troops to the largely autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom, the US president announced he might punish countries that do not support his plans to take over Greenland, using force if necessary.

Continue reading...

Experts say central banks are increasingly stuffing their vaults as an insurance policy in a volatile world

Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the call came for Serbia’s central bank governor: millions of dollars’ worth of gold bars, destined for a high-security Belgrade vault, had been left on the runway of a Swiss airport.

In air freight – despite the extraordinary value of bullion – fresh flowers, food and other perishables still take priority. “We learned this the hard way,” Jorgovanka Tabaković told a conference late last year.

Continue reading...

Grieving, bruised and divided on the wisdom of foreign-backed revolt, how can the Iranian people achieve change?

The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami in his novel 1Q84 may have foreshadowed the great and indelible rift Iranian society is about to experience. “The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don’t want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can’t turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That’s what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.”

Inside Iran, contrasting memories are already being brought into even sharper relief and made more traumatic by the blanket propaganda from Iran state TV portraying protesters as drug-crazed or pawns of a foreign power attracted to a violent terrorist culture reminiscent of Islamic State.

Continue reading...

Report claims unrestricted online access will be a ‘government privilege’, limited to individuals vetted by regime

Iran is planning to permanently break from the global internet, only allowing individuals vetted by the regime to connect online, according to Iranian digital rights activists.

“A confidential plan is under way to turn international internet access into a ‘governmental privilege’,” according to a report from Filterwatch, an organisation monitoring Iran’s internet censorship, citing a number of sources in Iran.

Continue reading...

Reza Pahlavi sets out ambition to lead country his father once ruled, but many question his level of popular support

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s former pro-western monarch, has predicted the country’s Islamic regime will fall and claimed he is “uniquely” placed to head a successor government.

His bid to assume the leadership of a possible new Iran follows weeks of mass protests that have left thousands dead after being brutally suppressed by security forces.

Continue reading...

US president also calls for return of final Israeli captive’s remains from group, which has refused to give up weapons

Donald Trump has issued a fresh ultimatum to Hamas, adding to calls for the group’s disarmament as the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire with Israel begins, even as key elements of the first phase remain unfulfilled.

In a late-night post on social media on Thursday, Trump vowed to push for what he described as the “comprehensive” demilitarisation of Hamas, warning of severe consequences should the group refuse to comply. He also demanded the return of the remains of the final Israeli captive still believed to be held by the group, sharpening tensions at a fragile moment in the truce process.

Continue reading...

Jafar Panahi, director of Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, says Iranian leaders want to destroy country

The Khamenei regime will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest wave of protests, one of the country’s leading film-makers has predicted.

“It is impossible for this government to sustain itself in this situation,” the director Jafar Panahi told the Guardian. “They know it too. They know that it will be impossible to rule over people. Perhaps their only goal right now is to bring the country to the verge of complete collapse and try to destroy it.”

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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).

Continue reading...

Two sides trade blows over defection while Conservative polling suggests economy is key weakness for Reform

The Conservatives plan to intensify their attacks on Reform’s economic policy as they gear up for a fight to the death between the two big parties of the right, a battle brought to new levels of acrimony by Robert Jenrick’s defection.

While Jenrick, the former shadow justice secretary, insisted he was “uniting the right” in signing up to Reform, Kemi Badenoch portrayed her former colleague as dishonest and no loss to the Conservatives, saying: “Nigel Farage is doing my spring cleaning for me.”

Continue reading...

Craig Guildford retires after inquiry found ‘greatly exaggerated’ intelligence was used to justify ban

The head of England’s second biggest police force has stepped down after an official inquiry found that “greatly exaggerated” intelligence was used to justify a ban on fans of an Israeli football team attending a match.

Craig Guildford retired with immediate effect as chief constable of West Midlands police on Friday, two days after a damning report led Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, to declare she had lost confidence in him.

Continue reading...

Full-time carer Martina Karos and Eleni Edwards, eight, were found dead at home in Salford

A translator who became a full-time carer for her severely disabled eight-year-old daughter killed herself and her child after becoming “overwhelmed” by loneliness, a coroner concluded.

Martina Karos, 40, and Eleni Edwards were found dead at their home in Salford, Greater Manchester, after police were called when the girl did not turn up at school on 23 September 2024.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Reform’s latest defector from the Tories is a politician whose eye has only ever been on his own ambition

It’s come down to this. Watch any reality TV show and it won’t be long before you hear the lead presenter talking about how each contestant has been on a journey. It’s as though we can’t survive without a narrative structure. An attempt to give emotional meaning to something fundamentally meaningless.

It feels as if everyone has to be on a journey now. If you’re not, then you’re somehow less interesting. Only half a person. Even our politicians are no longer exempt. In the last 24 hours there have been any number of talking heads lining up to tell us that Robert Jenrick has been on quite the journey. His former Tory colleagues. His new tribe at Reform. Even Honest Bob likes to talk about his journey. Makes him feel special and different. Important.

Continue reading...

Pre-empting rival’s defection cements her position as leader and gives pause for thought for any others who may follow

It is never ideal in politics to have a senior colleague defect, hurling insults as they depart, but as the dust settles on Robert Jenrick’s move to Reform UK, many of the remaining Conservative MPs agree on one thing: it has left Kemi Badenoch stronger.

“Historically, the party has suffered from two weaknesses: too many people trying to bring down the leader, and not enough leaders getting rid of those people,” one shadow minister said. “Hopefully now we’re all pulling in the same direction. Losing a senior shadow minister is not ideal. But given those basic facts, the day could hardly have gone better.”

Continue reading...

Governor Tim Walz says ‘weaponizing the justice system is an authoritarian tactic’ as he and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey reportedly will be subpoenaed

The US justice department is investigating Minnesota’s political leaders for allegedly conspiring to obstruct the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown there, according to multiple reports.

The investigation, which CBS News first reported, marks an extraordinary use of federal power to challenge two of the crackdown’s most vocal Democratic critics, including the state’s governor, Tim Walz, and the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey.

Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.

• US justice agency to inquire into Minnesota leaders for alleged conspiracy to obstruct ICE

• Incident reports provide details of emergency response after fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Trump began his remarks today by undermining the Affordable Care Act, and touted his newly unveiled “Great Healthcare Plan”.

A reminder that Affordable Care Act subsidies, that were extended during the Covid pandemic, expired at the end of last year, and legislation to revive them has stalled in Congress.

Continue reading...

Lawyer for administration had apologized earlier for violating court order and admitted ‘mistake’

A US federal judge in Boston on Friday gave the Trump administration three weeks to “rectify the mistake” it made by deporting a college student to Honduras while she was traveling home to visit her family for Thanksgiving as he recommended it issue her a student visa.

The US district judge, Richard Stearns, imposed the deadline after a lawyer for the administration earlier this week apologized for having violated a court order that should have prevented 19-year-old Any Lucia López Belloza from being sent to Honduras. She is a Honduran national who was brought to the United States by her mother when she was eight while seeking asylum.

Continue reading...

After Renee Good’s killing in Minneapolis, calls grow for accountability in the shooting of Keith Porter Jr on New Year’s Eve

• US citizens and permanent residents: have you been racially profiled by ICE?

Family and friends of a Los Angeles man who was killed by an off-duty US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer over the holidays are urging local officials to arrest and prosecute the federal agent.

Keith Porter Jr, a 43-year-old father of two, was fatally shot by an ICE officer on New Year’s Eve outside his apartment complex, according to LA and federal officials. An LA police department (LAPD) spokesperson said after the incident that Porter had fired gunshots into the air. A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said the off-duty immigration officer was “forced to defensively use his weapon” while responding to an “active shooter”.

Continue reading...

White House says seven-strong board, chaired by Trump, will steer Gaza through next phase of reconstruction

Donald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair to a newly created Gaza “board of peace”, a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory.

The White House said the seven-strong “founding executive board” will also include Trump’s special envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff; the World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the president’s son-in-law and long-time adviser Jared Kushner. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks.

Continue reading...