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Despite US pushback, officials in west Africa say controversial hepatitis B study on pause amid ethics concerns

US health officials insisted it was still on. African health leaders said it was cancelled. At the heart of the controversy is the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau – one of the poorest countries in the world and the proposed site of a hotly debated US-funded study on vaccines.

The study on hepatitis B vaccination, to be led by Danish researchers, became a flashpoint after major changes to the US vaccination schedule and prompted questions about how research is conducted ethically in other countries.

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Development charity’s new co-chief executives signal shift from controversial sponsor a child scheme launched in 1972 to long-term grassroots funding

Child sponsorship schemes that allow donors to handpick children to support in poor countries can carry racialised, paternalistic undertones and need to be transformed, the newly appointed co-chief executives of ActionAid UK said as they set out to “decolonise” the organisation’s work.

ActionAid began in 1972 by finding sponsors for schoolchildren in India and Kenya, but Taahra Ghazi and Hannah Bond have launched their co-leadership this month with the goal of shifting narratives around aid from sympathy towards solidarity and partnership with global movements.

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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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Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did not cooperate after capture of Maduro

The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers.

On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us.”

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While leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on, Mark Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle

Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.

“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.

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Vote on legislation falls just short of number needed for passage, showing Mike Johnson’s tenuous hold on majority

The US House has rejected a resolution that would have prevented Donald Trump from sending US military forces to Venezuela, after a vote on the legislation fell just short of the majority needed for passage.

The tied vote was the latest sign of House speaker Mike Johnson’s tenuous hold on the majority, as well as some of the growing pushback in the Republican-controlled Congress to the US president’s aggressions in the western hemisphere. A Senate vote on a similar resolution was also tied last week until JD Vance broke the deadlock.

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In post-Davos speech, Canadian PM jabs at Trump, saying the arc of history ‘can still bend towards progress and justice’

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said his country must be a “beacon to a world that’s at sea” and that national unity was critical as his government faces a dramatic reshaping of the world political order – and mounting domestic challenges

The national address, given at a historic military fortress in Quebec City, was far narrower in scope than the prime minister’s remarks earlier in the week at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland. Dubbed the ‘Carney Doctrine’, the Davos speech lamented the disintegration of rules-based order amid a rise of “great powers” that used economic “coercion” as a weapon.

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The US president unveiled the board with a gold logo whose resemblance to the UN emblem sparked European criticism

Donald Trump’s newly launched “board of peace” already has a logo – and perceptive eyes have noted its close resemblance to the United Nations emblem, except reworked in Trump fashion: all in gold, and focused squarely on the US.

Launched this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the initiative was first endorsed back in November by the UN security council, on the understanding that it would focus on brokering a ceasefire in Gaza. Since then, however, Trump has positioned it as a global body tasked with resolving international conflicts of all stripes, and to be chaired by Trump himself, in what appears to be part of the administration’s latest effort to reshape the postwar global order.

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Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out

The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe.

For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people.

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Search-and-rescue teams worked through the night at the campground, but there had been no progress in finding missing people, officials say

New Zealand is ‘full of grief”, the prime minister has said, after landslides tore through a house and busy campground, leaving two dead and at least six victims still missing.

Police said emergency crews were still searching for at least six people, including two teenagers, believed missing beneath the debris of a landslide which struck a Mount Maunganui campsite on Thursday morning. Police were attempting to contact another three people. Families enjoying the summer school holiday were among the campers. Recreational vehicles and at least one structure were crushed, images showed.

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Operator says it does not know when the problem at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province will be solved, after an alarm sounded during start-up

The restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday just a day after it went online for the first time in about 14 years, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem will be solved.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but operations to relaunch it began on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator.

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Reporters Without Borders said the ruling against the 26-year-old journalist showed a ‘blatant disregard for press freedom’ in the Southeast Asian nation

A young Filipino journalist who spent nearly six years in a crowded provincial prison was found guilty of terror financing on Thursday, in a case rights groups and a UN rapporteur labelled a “travesty of justice”.

Community journalist and radio broadcaster Frenchie Cumpio, 26, and former roommate Marielle Domequil broke down in tears and hugged each other as the guilty verdict was read and they were sentenced to 12-18 years in prison by judge Georgina Uy Perez of the Tacloban regional court.

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Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, are 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 opened on Thursday, in another landmark case brought under the Beijing-imposed law that has practically crushed protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city.

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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Exclusive: Comparison of online ‘per each’ price of 15 fruits and vegetables against price per kilogram found ‘completely arbitrary’ price variations

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Supermarkets are increasingly charging customers for fresh produce by the item, rather than by weight, in a strategy that is leading to “wild volatility” in pricing with some items more than 50% more expensive, new analysis shows.

A Sydney-based data analyst who compared the “per each” price online with the actual “per kilo” shelf price of 15 fruits and vegetables at their local Woolworths store found the price variations were “completely arbitrary”.

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Canadian backpacker, 19, was found dead on K’gari island earlier this week surrounded by pack of wild dingoes

The autopsy of Piper James, whose body was found on K’gari surrounded by a pack of dingoes, has found “physical evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with dingo bites”.

The Canadian backpacker’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy when the 19-year-old was found dead on a beach on Monday on the world heritage-listed island formerly known as Fraser Island off the Queensland coast.

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Colleagues encourage former soldier to run as Sussan Ley declares she will remain opposition leader after Coalition split

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Andrew Hastie is emerging as a candidate to challenge Sussan Ley for the Liberal party’s leadership, as MPs privately push for the party’s first female leader to step aside.

As a defiant Ley declared she would survive the fallout from the latest Coalition split, internal rivals were adamant she had lost the support of the party room. This is despite the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, being blamed for the break-up.

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High to extreme fire danger expected across several states as inland parts of SA, Victoria, NSW and Queensland may have more than five days above 40C

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All-time temperature records could tumble in Victoria and New South Wales over coming days, as a dome of intense heat pushes into south-east Australia, bringing extreme to catastrophic fire conditions.

Starting Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a prolonged period of intense heat across South Australia, Victoria, NSW and southern Queensland. Some inland areas could experience more than five days above 40C.

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• Andrew Hastie firms as a candidate to challenge for Liberal leadership amid push for Ley to stand down

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Liberal senator says party still ‘believes’ in the Coalition

Anne Ruston, a Liberal senator, said the party still believes in the Coalition and would like to see it continue, but said Sussan Ley was left with “no option but to accept” multiple resignations after members of the Nationals broke a “fundamental rule”.

We believe in the coalition and we would like to see a coalition continue, but the circumstances around the actions of the National party this week left the leader with no option but to accept the resignations of three people who, by their own admission, broke the very fundamental rule of a coalition and that is shadow cabinet solidarity. So I think the leader is absolutely right.

The most important thing that we can do as of today is to focus on the future of responding to the needs of the Australian public because that’s what they elected us to do.

That’s obviously a matter for the National party and their deliberations as to why they chose yesterday as a day to make public comment, and I’m not going to make any further comment than that.

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Preliminary report suggests fracture could have existed before high-speed train derailed in Andalusia

Experts investigating the deadly rail collision in southern Spain, which killed 45 people and left dozens more injured, believe the accident may have happened after one of the trains passed over a damaged section of rail.

The disaster occurred near the Andalucían town of Adamuz on Sunday, when a high-speed train operated by Iryo, a private company, derailed and collided with an oncoming high-speed train operated by the state rail company, Renfe.

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Fashion designer’s death has put the red dress – and his particular shade of the colour – back in the spotlight

“The red dress,” said Valentino Garavani in 1992, “is always magnificent”.

This week, following the announcement of his death at the age of 93, the red dress – and the particular shade of red used by the designer known simply as Valentino – is back in the spotlight.

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‘Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are deliberately depriving civilians of heat, light and basic services,’ an EU commissioner said

The European Commission has offered a bit more detail on the deployment of 447 emergency generators from EU reserves to Ukraine, mentioned in the earlier post (12:33).

“The generators – mobilised from rescEU strategic reserves hosted in Poland – will be distributed by the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most affected communities.

The EU will not let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission and will continue helping Ukrainians get through this winter.”

They are designed to break Ukrainian spirit. They will fail.

We won’t let Russia freeze Ukraine. We bring light and warmth where Russia sends darkness.

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Palazzo Ca’ Dario, empty for years, has failed to find a new owner, with local legends suggesting it is jinxed

It ought to be an estate agent’s dream. Primely positioned on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, just steps away from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the storied Palazzo Ca’ Dario has shimmered on the water since the late 15th century, its elegant early Venetian Renaissance facade among the city’s most distinctive.

Named after its first owner, Giovanni Dario, a diplomat hailed a hero after securing a peace treaty with the Ottoman empire, over the centuries the palazzo has been home to nobles, merchants and even British rock music royalty. In 1908, it was painted by Claude Monet during his trip to Venice and one year later was cited by Henry James in his travelogue Italian Hours.

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Experts say Geran-5 long-range attack UAVs could pose serious threat to Ukraine’s struggling air defences

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Russia has begun using a new model of high-speed drone against Ukraine amid claims by Kyiv’s military intelligence directorate that key parts are sourced from western and Chinese companies.

Wreckage recovered from a so-called Geran-5 long-range attack drone that was fired at Ukraine in early January points to a series of new capabilities that experts believe could pose a serious threat to Ukraine’s already struggling air defence if deployed widely.

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US president says ‘we have a lot of ships’ going in that direction and that Washington is watching Iran closely

Donald Trump has said a US “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters at 5,002.

Speaking on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight, he said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada ... heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

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Blueprint presented by Jared Kushner shows unified Gaza run by Palestinians, with Rafah crossing to open next week

Amid the hullabaloo and self-congratulation of Donald Trump’s “board of peace” launch in Davos, his administration laid out specific plans for the short- and long-term future of Gaza, aimed at a lasting peace.

The blueprint set out on Thursday was extremely ambitious. It envisages a unified Palestinian-run Gaza, which represents a rebuff to the aims of Israeli extremists, including some in the governing coalition, who have sought the deportation of Gaza’s population and the building of Israeli settlements in its place.

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Foreign secretary says Britain supports president’s Gaza plan but there are concerns around involvement of Putin

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Britain will not join Donald Trump’s “board of peace” on Thursday, Yvette Cooper has said, citing concerns about Russian involvement.

The foreign secretary said the UK strongly supported the US president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which he is seeking to draw attention to at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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US president holds signing ceremony at World Economic Forum amid concerns new body seeks to replace UN

Donald Trump has claimed the world is “richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago” as he hosted a launch event for his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

At a signing ceremony for the new organisation, the US president said it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”.

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High court ruling marks first time a foreign state has been held liable for domestic servitude by its envoy on UK soil

The United Arab Emirates must pay more than £260,000 to a victim of human trafficking who was exploited by one of its diplomats in London, the high court has ruled.

Lawyers representing the woman said it was unprecedented for a court to order a foreign state to pay for domestic servitude by a diplomat on UK soil.

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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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PM’s spokesperson says ‘president was wrong to diminish the role of Nato troops, including British forces’

Keir Starmer’s allies have launched a “Stop Andy Burnham” campaign to prevent the Labour mayor from returning to parliament after the resignation of a Manchester MP triggered a byelection, Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Josh Halliday report in their overnight story.

In a good analysis, Jess explains why, if Burnham does decide that he wants to return to the Commons as MP for Gorton and Denton in Manchester, he faces a colossal challenge.

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Marcus Fakana, 19, spent about a year in a UAE jail serving sentence for having sex with 17-year-old girl

A driver has admitted killing a British teenager in a car crash shortly after the 19-year-old had been released from a Dubai prison sentence for having sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Marwaan Mohamed Huseen, 20, was attempting to get away from pursuing Metropolitan police officers when he crashed a BMW into a lorry, killing 19-year-old Marcus Fakana who was one of the vehicle’s passengers.

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Charlie Simpson, 15, is part of new generation of self-styled ‘independent journalists’ with links to far right

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Andrew Rosindell had been tipped as a potential Reform recruit long before his defection from the Conservatives last weekend took Westminster by surprise.

Yet as he and Nigel Farage basked in the spotlight outside parliament on Monday, more than 200 miles away in the town of Whitby, North Yorkshire, a 15-year-old schoolboy was also savouring the moment.

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Region has higher share of net zero economic output, data shows, and Labour leaders fear Reform would dismantle industry if it wins power

Rachel Reeves has been urged to put the north of England at the heart of the UK’s net zero strategy as research shows the sector contributes a larger share of the region’s economy than it does nationally.

The Labour peer Julie Elliott said the north must be “front and centre” of the Treasury’s growth strategy for clean energy.

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Prime minister joins MPs, veterans and relatives in condemning US president’s claim that troops avoided frontlines

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Keir Starmer has accused Donald Trump of “diminishing” the sacrifice of fallen British soldiers by claiming that those who fought in Afghanistan avoided the frontlines, as the US president faced a fierce backlash from all sides of the UK political spectrum as well as the families of veterans.

Trump’s suggestion that Nato troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan has resurfaced questions about his own avoidance of military service in Vietnam.

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Labor unions and progressive organizations have called on workers across the state to stay home

• Full report: Economic blackout in Minnesota to protest against ICE: ‘No work, no school, no shopping

The president also made sure to tout his achievements at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. “So many things accomplished,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social, “including the framework of a deal with NATO on Greenland. Also, the BOARD OF PEACE. WOW!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

A reminder that the neither Trump, nor Nato chief Mark Rutte, have provided explicit details on the Greenland deal. Earlier in the week, the president said it would last “forever” while speaking to reporters in Davos.

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Snow, sleet and freezing temperatures are forecast for the south, midwest and east coast over the weekend

The dangerous monster storm threatening half of the US was bearing down on Friday with 12 states already declaring emergencies and areas typically unused to prolonged Arctic temperatures bracing for power failures and shortages.

At least 230 million people are likely to be affected by the massive winter weather system as it forms in parts of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains and surges across southern and midwestern areas from Friday, blowing up the east coast on Saturday and as far north as Maine by Sunday.

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Conservative communities accept president’s arguments for why the US needs Greenland as genuine

Owen Strickland’s life as mayor of a town of 568 people between Rocky Mount and Raleigh, North Carolina, is usually small-town politics. But this particular moment has been giving his political science degree – with a concentration in national security policy and international relations – a workout.

Donald Trump’s call to annex Greenland has roiled markets and flabbergasted half the world. But the president’s supporters in conservative communities – to the degree that this issue has their attention at all – are apt to accept his political argument as genuine.

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Elizabeth Warren and others call for inquiry into Trump for diverting tax evasion resources to immigration crackdown

Senator Elizabeth Warren and fellow Democrats have accused Donald Trump of letting white collar criminals “off the hook” by diverting crucial resources to his sweeping immigration crackdown.

In a letter to federal watchdogs, the Democrats demand an investigation into the US president for shifting more than 25,000 personnel away from investigating fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in favour of his immigration enforcement agenda.

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Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systems

New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate than previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.

Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale.

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