World news | The Guardian

Since Trump’s second term began in January, global healthcare, especially for sexual and reproductive health, has been under constant attack

This time last year, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Few were prepared for the chaos that would be unleashed in January. The volume and speed of executive orders coming out of the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by the USAID freeze. But that was just the beginning.

The US administration has been the key driver, supported by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to strengthen global ties with political allies.

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Government says it received distress calls, as daughter of ex-president Jacob Zuma accused of luring men to frontline

South Africa’s government is in talks with Russia to bring home 17 South African men fighting for Russia in Ukraine, after the men were allegedly tricked on to the frontlines of the war by a daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has been accused in multiple lawsuits of luring the 17 South African and two Botswanan men to Russia in July, by telling them they would be training as bodyguards for her father’s uMkhonto weSizwe political party or attending a personal development course.

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It is hoped the institution can help foster new bonds in a fractured nation, but such optimism will be a stretch for some

It was a night at the museum like no other. As the staccato sound of firecrackers and explosions rang out across Martyr’s Square in the heart of Tripoli, for once it was not Libya’s militias battling it out for a larger stake in the country’s oil economy, but a huge firework display celebrating the reopening of one of the finest museums in the Mediterranean.

The National Museum of Libya – housing Africa’s greatest collection of classical antiquities in Tripoli’s historic Red Castle complex – had been closed for nearly 14 years due to the civil war that followed the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall. Its ceremonial reopening came at the climax of a lavish show compressing Libya’s rich history and attended by diplomats and Arab celebrities, with a full-size Italian orchestra, acrobats, dancers, arches of fire and lights projected on to the fort. It did not lack for circus drama or cost, peaking with a billowing Ottoman sailing ship arriving high above the port on wires to be greeted by an angelic-appearing Libyan woman.

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Group asks Keir Starmer for help to persuade Ghanaian government to pay backlog of tuition fees and living allowances

Students from Ghana at UK universities say they are in danger of being deported after being stranded by their own government without promised scholarships or tuition fee payments.

The group representing more than 100 doctoral students has petitioned Downing Street and Keir Starmer asking for help to persuade the Ghanaian government to pay the backlog of tuition fees and living allowances running into millions of pounds.

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Australian researchers think the skeleton found in South Africa is not the same species as two found in the same South Africa cave system

Little Foot, one of the world’s most complete hominin fossils, may be a new species of human ancestor, according to research that raises questions about our evolutionary past.

Publicly unveiled in 2017, Little Foot is the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. The foot bones that lend the fossil its name were first discovered in South Africa 1994, leading to a painstaking excavation over 20 years in the Sterkfontein cave system.

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Population fell by 0.2% in third quarter – and the only other quarterly decline on record was attributed to Covid limits

Canada experienced one of its largest drops in population in the most recent quarter, the result of a crackdown on international students. The drop marks dramatic turnaround for a country that has long pegged its economic growth to immigration.

New estimates released on Wednesday by Statistics Canada showed that Canada’s population fell by 0.2% in the third quarter to stand at 41.6 million, down from 41.65 million on 1 July.

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Canadian researchers tracking bear known as X33991 noticed she had gained a second cub who likely needed help

Scientists in Canada have documented a rare case of female polar bear adopting a new cub, in an episode of “curious behaviour” that highlights the complex relationships among the apex Arctic predators.

Polar Bears International, a non-profit conservation group, said on Wednesday that when they first placed a GPS collar on a female polar bear in the spring, she had one young cub. But when she was spotted with two cubs of roughly the same age last month, they realized they were witnessing an exceedingly rare case of adoption.

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The US president wants a blockade of oil tankers under sanctions to stop them entering and leaving Venezuela

• Analysis: Maduro says the real reason for Trump’s fixation is oil – is he right?

Donald Trump has intensified pressure on Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his government in a major escalation aimed at the country’s main source of income: the oil industry.

The White House called for a blockade on all Venezuelan oil exports one week after the US seized an oil tanker off the the country’s coast in what Maduro called “an act of international piracy”.

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Food bloggers liken Richard Hart to Christopher Columbus for ‘stomping’ on a country that has welcomed him

A noted British baker has provoked a furore in Mexico by saying on a podcast the country does not “really have much of a bread culture”.

Richard Hart, who opened the Green Rhino bakery in Mexico City in June, also said the country’s wheat was “not good … completely highly processed, full of additives” and its sandwiches – tortas – were made “on these white ugly rolls that are pretty cheap and industrially made”.

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Move comes amid escalating campaign against Maduro as Venezuelan government condemns ‘grotesque threat’

Donald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

The move comes amid an escalating campaign by the Trump administration against Maduro that has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed dozens of people.

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Philippine police dismiss speculation Naveed and Sajid Akram underwent training during four-week stay in Davao City

The Bondi terror attacks suspects spent their entire four-week visit to the Philippines in Davao City, rarely leaving their hotel except for an hour or so at a time, and never talking to any other guests or receiving visitors, according to Philippine police and hotel staff.

The initial police investigation casts more light on the four-week trip by the alleged gunmen, the father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram, amid speculation that they went to the Philippines to receive military training from Islamist groups believed to operate in the country.

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US president says he feels ‘so badly’ about Lai’s conviction and has spoken to the Chinese leader about it

Donald Trump has said he wants Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai as he voiced sadness over the Hong Kong media mogul’s conviction on national security charges.

“I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump told reporters on Monday, without specifying when he asked Xi.

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Government says arrangement will bring in extra £400m on top of more than £15bn of existing annual trade with Korea

The UK has signed a new trade deal with South Korea designed to increase exports of cars, Scottish salmon and Guinness canned in Britain.

Keir Starmer described the deal, which replaces an existing agreement, as “a huge win for British business and working people”. It follows UK deals with India and the US, and the free trade agreement with the EU clinched this year.

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Guan Heng, who filmed at sites in China of alleged rights violations against Muslim group, detained by ICE in August

A Chinese man who left his country after filming at sites of alleged human rights violations against Uyghurs now faces the risk of removal from the United States, according to his lawyer and mother.

Guan Heng, 38, underwent an immigration hearing in New York on Monday after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August, his mother said in an interview.

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UK, EU and Australia say guilty verdict against 78-year-old is further blow to democracy and press freedom in territory

Governments, institutions and rights groups across the world have condemned the conviction of the former pro-democracy media tycoon and British citizen Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on national security charges.

The 78-year-old was found guilty in West Kowloon district court on Monday of one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion. The charges were brought under the city’s punitive national security law , introduced in 2020, and a British colonial-era sedition law that has been used in recent years by authorities.

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Minister says he has gone through the ‘different decisions’ the security agency made regarding one of the alleged Bondi gunmen. Follow today’s news live

• Full report: Bondi terror attack

• Victims of Bondi beach shooting

• What we know so far about the Bondi terror attack

Just to break away from our Bondi attack aftermath coverage for a minute– it’s worth reporting that it’s a big day for high school graduates in New South Wales.

A record number of students in NSW are waking to receive their exam results this morning, and for 53, they’ll be finding out they’ve received the top possible Atar of 99.95. Of the top scorers, 19 students are female and 34 students are male.

As you think about what comes next, remember there are many different pathways to university, and your Atar is just one part of the story. Whatever your goals, you don’t have to navigate them alone.

That’s not what’s needed right now. What’s needed right now is more action.

The prime minister and the foreign minister and our home affairs minister have all said, we’re going to do more in this area. We’re going to make sure that whatever resources are needed are now put into making sure that Australia is again a place where Jews can feel safe, because it isn’t now.

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PM condemns ‘perversion of Islam’ that police allege may be behind the attack

• Full report: Bondi terror attack

• Victims of Bondi beach shooting

• What we know so far about the Bondi terror attack

• Follow the latest live updates

Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has claimed Anthony Albanese is personally responsible for the 15 deaths in the Bondi terror attack, as the prime minister lays the blame on “perverse ideology, a terrorist ideology”.

The comments were part of an extraordinary escalation of political rhetoric on Wednesday as the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said his government would consider new restrictions on protests that he said “would rip apart our community”.

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In an interview with Sky News’ Andrew Clennell, Hastie ended any pretence that his grievances might have been purely numerical

• Full report: Bondi terror attack

• Victims of Bondi beach shooting

• What we know so far about the Bondi terror attack

• Follow the latest live updates

As details of the Bondi beach massacre started to emerge on Sunday evening, Andrew Hastie posted a video with his immediate reaction to his large social media following.

Standing at a beach, the sun yet to set over his electorate south of Perth, the Liberal MP said in a 60-second video posted to Facebook and Instagram: “I am angry, and I know you are too.

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Exclusive: Greens condemn sponsorship of group’s launch by Precision Public Affairs, which represents clients with lucrative contracts with the Australian government

A lobbying firm with high-profile defence industry clients will sponsor the launch of a Parliamentary Friends of Aukus group, in what an integrity expert warns may be a breach of official rules.

Federal MPs were this week invited to the launch of the newly formed Parliamentary Friends of Aukus event, set to take place at Parliament House in February, and featuring the defence minister, Richard Marles, as the “special guest”.

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• Full report: Naveed Akram charged with 59 offences after 15 people killed at Hanukah celebration

• The quiet bricklayer, his father and a leave of absence: the duo accused of killing 15 people in Bondi

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has just been on RN, where he has said the government is “focused” on combating antisemitism and gun control issues.

He said:

We’re focused on both of those things simultaneously, countering these horrifying and evil acts of antisemitism at the same time as we tighten our gun laws.

And frankly, in relation to Mr Howard, I don’t know why in the wake of a mass shooting, some politicians, some current and some former, are trying to diminish our efforts to tighten our gun laws. John Howard, of all people, should understand how important this is.

We’ve seen elements of it rear its head, albeit in isolated circumstances. It just invites a sincere and genuine redoubling of efforts from government, including putting money where our mouth is, investing in all things around education, what antisemitism looks like, young people have an appreciation that this is a real threat.

When the bar is raised, South Australia is not going to be left behind. We’re committed to making sure that people are protected. In South Australia, we don’t have perpetual gun licences. Depending on the class of firearms licence you have, you have it every year, or every three years or five years, depending on what your firearms are.

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Though minister had said ZEV mandate review would be completed ‘quickly as we can’, government confirms it won’t be published until 2027

The government has played down reports that it is planning to bring forward the publication of a review of electric vehicle sales targets from 2027 to next year amid concerns from the car industry.

The government had said in April it would weaken its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate – which was brought in to force carmakers to sell more electric cars every year or face the prospect of steep fines – after lobbying from the car industry, and planned to review the targets.

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Russian leader says aims of its ‘special military operation’ will be met ‘unconditionally’

The last available Erasmus+ country report for the UK based on 2020 data shows that University of Glasgow, University of Bristol, and University of Edinburgh were the three top UK universities sending students abroad, with most people coming into the UK from Spain, France and Germany.

Just over 16,000 European students came into the UK as part of from the scheme in 2019/2020, with almost 6,000 trainees on top of that figure. 9,800 UK students and 6,500 trainees went in the other direction, data show.

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Exclusive: Key figures at frozen assets depository among targets of intimidation campaign, say European intelligence agencies

Belgian politicians and senior finance executives have been subject to a campaign of intimidation orchestrated by Russian intelligence aimed at persuading the country to block the use of €185bn assets for Ukraine, according to European intelligence agencies.

Security officials indicated to the Guardian that there had been deliberate targeting of key figures at Euroclear, the securities depository holding the majority of Russia’s frozen assets, and leaders of the country.

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More than 300 women file complaint after video shows French first lady calling feminist protesters ‘sales connes’

Brigitte Macron is facing a legal complaint from several organisations, including women’s rights groups, after she was filmed saying feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris were “stupid bitches”.

More than 300 women – specifically 343, a historically symbolic number in French feminism – this week filed the complaint against the French first lady for public insult.

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The EU has unveiled its first-ever housing strategy, but is it enough to see off the far right and rescue a generation shut out of affordable living?

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Donald Trump may rage about Europe being a multicultural hell facing “civilisational” collapse. As a proud real estate guy, however, he must be impressed by one feature of European life: the house prices, and the extent to which even progressive governments have abandoned housing to the markets.

Since 2010, average sale prices in the EU have surged by close to 60%. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, house prices have doubled in a decade. Rents, meanwhile, have increased by almost 30% on average in the last 15 years. The rent average masks dramatic spikes experienced in some countries: 208% in Estonia, 177% in Lithuania, 108% in Ireland and 107% in Hungary. If property has been a lucrative bet for wealthy investors, the cost of a home is a financial ordeal for millions of people whose incomes have been outpaced.

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Claim filed in Argentina alleges crimes against humanity were carried out on Women, Life, Freedom protesters

A group of victims of the Iranian government crackdown during the Women, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 have filed the first criminal complaint against 40 named Iranian officials alleging crimes against humanity, including targeted blinding and murder.

The request for a criminal investigation to be launched has been filed in Argentina by a group of Iranians with the help of the non-profit Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. The Argentinian legal system is especially open to accommodating universal jurisdiction claims.

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News of Ahmed al-Ahmed’s selfless act quickly reached al-Nayrab, where locals praised heroism of ‘the son of our village’

A man who risked his life to wrestle a gun from a shooter in the Bondi beach terror attack on Sunday has become a hero in his home town in Syria.

Video of Ahmed al-Ahmed’s selfless act quickly reached his birthplace of al-Nayrab, a small town in the countryside of Idlib, north-west Syria. Ahmed, a 44-year-old father of two children, left the village to emigrate to Australia in 2007, where he worked as a shopkeeper.

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Nour AbuShammala has returned to her partly destroyed apartment in Gaza City. This is her story of multiple displacements, injury and devastation over the last two years

When 26-year-old Nour AbuShammala stepped back into her family’s apartment in Gaza City in October the rooms were gutted, the walls were damaged by bombing, and there was no water or electricity, but it was still home.

Since the outbreak of war in October 2023 she has been forced to flee six times. This is her story of relentless displacement, survival and loss, told using photography and videos provided by AbuShammala and satellite imagery of a ruined Gaza.

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Family friend, sources in Russia and Syria, and leaked data help give rare insight into life of dictator’s reclusive household

In 2011, a group of teenage boys spray-painted a warning on to a wall in their school playground: “It’s your turn, Doctor.” The graffiti was a thinly veiled threat that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, a London-trained ophthalmologist, would be next in the line of Arab dictators toppled by the then raging Arab spring.

It took 14 years, during which 620,000 were killed and nearly 14 million displaced, but eventually the doctor’s turn came and Assad was deposed, fleeing to Moscow in the middle of the night.

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If Saed is dead he would be most senior militant to be killed since October ceasefire, in attack on car that reportedly left four dead

The senior Hamas commander Raed Saedhas been killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City, the Israeli military said on Saturday.

The attack killed four people and wounded at least 25 others, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

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Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humans

A group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos.

Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but are thought to be used as a mode of communication, according to Rajkumar K P, a Zoological Society of London fellow and researcher.

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British Indian Ocean Territory commissioner’s appeal against decision last year rejected by judges in London

Appeal court judges have backed a decision that dozens of asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on one of the world’s most remote islands, rejecting an appeal on Tuesday by the commissioner for the territory.

Exactly a year ago, on 16 December 2024, a judge ruled that Tamils who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, a UK and US military base, after a shipwreck while they were trying to reach Canada to seek asylum, were unlawfully detained there for three years in conditions described as “hell on Earth”.

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Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government

India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government.

An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades.

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• Argentinian makes 20-minute appearance in Kolkata

• Supporters climb fence and hurl objects from stands

Lionel Messi’s tour of India kicked off on a chaotic note on Saturday as fans ripped up seats and threw them towards the pitch after the Argentina and Inter Miami forward’s brief visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the ANI news agency reported.

Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth football clinics and a padel tournament, and launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

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Lawyers say people ‘don’t feel safe to leave their home’ as officials target recent arrivals and those awaiting hearings

Immigration agents appear to be increasingly arresting and detaining Afghan asylum seekers, especially men, who have arrived in the US recently and are awaiting court hearings to decide their cases.

Amir – an asylum seeker who came to the US via Mexico in 2024 – was driving home from his English class in Bloomington, Indiana just after noon on Monday, when he was pulled over by an unmarked police vehicle. Minutes later, the asylum seeker from Afghanistan was cuffed and driven to a detention center.

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Exclusive: Lawsuit is the first UK case of its kind, with Ros and Mark Dowey accusing Meta of ‘putting profit before our young people’

The parents of a 16-year-old who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram are suing Meta for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind.

Murray Dowey died in December 2023 at his family home in Dunblane, after being tricked into sending intimate pictures to an Instagram contact. He thought it was a girl his own age, but it turned out to be overseas criminals involved in financially motivated sexual extortion.

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Conciliation service ‘in contact with all the parties involved’ as medics in England strike for 14th time

The conciliation service Acas has offered to help try to break the deadlock in the resident doctors’ strike in England.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has made clear that it is willing to become involved in an effort to find a resolution to the long-running dispute, as medics remain on strike for the 14th time over pay and jobs.

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Teenager appears in court over death of girl in Weston-super-Mare on Monday

A 15-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with the murder of a nine-year-old girl in Weston-super-Mare.

Aria Thorpe died from a single stab wound at an address in the North Somerset town on Monday, Somerset police said. Emergency services were called to Lime Close shortly before 6.10pm.

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Exclusive: UK government’s ‘naive belief’ that Trump is a good faith actor ‘could cost UK taxpayer billions’, says health select committee chair

Ministers and senior MPs have warned that the UK’s agreements with Donald Trump are “built on sand” after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.

The “milestone” US-UK deal announced this month on pharmaceuticals, which will mean the NHS pays more for medicines in exchange for a promise of zero tariffs on the industry, still lacks a legal footing beyond top lines contained in two government press releases.

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Manchester, Bradford and outer London boroughs among those to receive increases ministers hope will ‘restore pride’

• Which councils are the winners and losers – and will tax bills go up?

Some of England’s most-deprived councils will receive a funding boost under a new three-year local government deal which prioritises urban areas with high social needs at the expense of affluent places in the leafy south-east.

Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, Bradford, Coventry, Derby and outer London boroughs such as Haringey and Enfield will receive big spending power increases under what ministers have described as a fairer system that will “restore pride and opportunity in left-behind places”.

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New plaques on ‘Presidential Walk of Fame’ scorn ‘divisive’ Obama and ‘by far the worst’ Biden – but Reagan is praised

White House officials on Wednesday revised what they call the “Presidential Walk of Fame,” installing plaques beneath portraits of former presidents that reflect Donald Trump’s own views, including branding former president Joe Biden as “the worst president in American history”.

The changes are part of Trump’s broader effort to reshape the White House environment to match his preferences. Along the colonnade, portraits of past presidents now feature expanded text that permanently records Trump’s assessments of their records.

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House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries calls on Mike Johnson to allow vote on legislation extending Affordable Care Act subsidies before recess

• Four Republicans join Democrats to force vote on bill that would extend Obamacare subsidies

The Donald Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will soon make his first appearance before Congress since sparking an uproar with comments seen as pressuring ABC to temporarily pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel from the air.

ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel’s show over statements he made following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which prompted Carr to say that he wanted broadcasters to “take action” on Kimmel, and: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

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Ex-special counsel tells House panel US president’s actions alone underpinned now-dropped prosecutions

Jack Smith, the former US justice department special counsel who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against Donald Trump, defended his investigation before a House of Representatives panel on Wednesday, telling lawmakers that the basis for the prosecutions “rests entirely with President Trump and his actions”.

Smith gave private testimony to the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee following months of disclosures from Trump appointees at the justice department, and Republican lawmakers intended to discredit Smith’s investigation and bolster Trump’s claims that the cases were an abuse of the legal system.

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Brendan Carr’s declaration raises concerns amid Trump efforts to exert greater control over independent agencies

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not an “independent” agency, its chairman suggested on Wednesday, as the word was scrubbed from its online mission statement.

Brendan Carr’s declaration to senators raised concerns of a further power grab by the White House, amid concerns surrounding efforts by Donald Trump and his officials to exert greater control over independent agencies since his return to office in January.

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More than 3,500 cases of dressing, including Hidden Valley Ranch, recalled after ‘foreign objects’ were discovered

Thousands of cases of salad dressing have been recalled in the US after “foreign objects” were discovered in the products, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The recall involves items produced by California-based Ventura Foods and affects dressings distributed to retailers nationwide.

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