World news | The Guardian

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

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

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

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• British former boxing champion sustained minor injuries

• Sina Ghami and Kevin ‘Lateef’ Ayodel killed in accident

The British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has issued a statement after he was injured in a car crash in Nigeria on Monday morning which killed two of his close friends.

The former world heavyweight boxing champion was taken to an undisclosed hospital after his car hit a stationary vehicle at about 11am on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Ogun state police commissioner, Lanre Ogunlowo, said. The driver of Joshua’s vehicle was also injured, he added.

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Tighter border controls caused arrivals to decline sharply but forced people on to more dangerous routes, activists say

More than 3,000 people died trying to reach Spain by sea over the past year, a sharp fall from the previous 12 months.

However, activists cautioned that the drop reflected tighter border controls that have forced migrants to take increasingly dangerous routes.

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Opposition hopes to tap into frustrations of people living in country where conflict remains a daily reality

Central African Republic goes to the polls on Sunday with the president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, seeking a third term.

As many as 2.3 million registered voters will cast ballots for what observers are calling a quadruple election: votes for the presidency and parliament as well as local and municipal offices.

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Mamady Doumbouya accused of betraying his promise to be the restorer of democracy after leading 2021 coup

In September 2021, a tall, young colonel in the Guinean army announced that he and his comrades had forcibly seized power and toppled the longtime leader Alpha Condé.

“The will of the strongest has always supplanted the law,” Mamady Doumbouya said in a speech, stressing that the soldiers were acting to restore the will of the people.

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Former Brazilian president underwent a phrenic nerve block while temporarily released from prison for surgery

Jair Bolsonaro underwent a second “phrenic nerve block procedure” on Monday to treat persistent hiccups.

The treatment went well and the former Brazilian president’s condition is stable, according to his medical team.

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Train accident in Oaxaca is likely to raise criticisms about public works projects from the previous administration

At least 13 people were killed when a train derailed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in an accident which is likely to revive opposition criticisms of the speed and dealings with which the country’s government builds its flagship public works projects.

The incident took place on the Interoceanic Train, which was built to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, creating an alternative rail cargo route to the Panama canal intended to drive development in the region.

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Trump alleged that US forces hit ‘very hard’ in what would mark his team’s first land strike on Venezuela if confirmed

Donald Trump has claimed that US forces struck a “big facility” in Venezuela last week – but the president did not specify what it was, or where, and the White House has not commented further.

“We just knocked out – I don’t know if you read or you saw – they have a big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,” Trump told Republican donor and New York supermarket owner John Catsimatidis on Friday.

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Government said the move was due to its ‘unrestricted respect for human rights’ in the face of US aggression

Venezuela has said it has carried out its largest release of political prisoners this year, claiming to have freed 99 people detained for taking part in protests after the 2024 election, widely believed to have been stolen by the dictator Nicolás Maduro, as it comes under increasing military pressure from the US.

Civil society organisations have treated the news with caution and stressed that the releases were insufficient, noting that at least 900 political prisoners remain in the country.

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Temperatures plunge below -50C in the Yukon, while swaths of US experience springlike weather

Northern Canada has been gripped by an intense and prolonged cold spell, with temperatures hovering between -20C and -40C for weeks. On Tuesday, Braeburn in the Yukon recorded -55.7C, its coldest December temperature since 1975.

Meanwhile, Mayo and Dawson endured 16 consecutive nights below -40C, with Mayo plunging to -50.4C on Monday. Whitehorse also recorded 10 nights when temperatures dropped below -30C.

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US president says Chinese leader did not notify him of drills that have involved live missile launches into Taiwan strait

• Taiwan-China tensions – explained in 30 seconds

Donald Trump has said he is not worried by China’s live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan and that he has a great relationship with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, who “hasn’t told me anything about it”.

The US president’s comments came amid a large two-day surprise attack simulation launched by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday and Tuesday, which China has called “Justice Mission 2025”.

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Acquisition would further expand SoftBank’s investments in artificial intelligence as it tries to center itself in the boom

SoftBank Group will acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group in a deal valued at $4bn, the companies said on Monday, as the Japanese investment firm looks to deepen its AI-related portfolio.

The acquisition would expand SoftBank’s exposure to digital infrastructure as the Japanese conglomerate is positioning its portfolio to focus on artificial intelligence.

SoftBank’s billionaire founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to capitalize on surging demand for the computing capacity that underpins artificial intelligence applications.

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Taipei condemns exercise that Chinese army calls ‘a stern warning’ against separatist and external forces

China has launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of major ports, attacking maritime targets, and fending off international “interference”, in what it calls a warning to “separatist” forces in Taiwan.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the military wing of the ruling Communist party in China – sent its navy, air force, rocket force and coastguard to surround Taiwan on Monday morning for a surprise exercise called “Justice Mission 2025”, which began less than an hour after it was announced.

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As Trump’s tariffs take effect, Britain is likely alternative destination for cars, telecoms and sound equipment

• Business live – latest updates

The UK is poised for an influx of cheap Chinese imports that could bring down inflation amid the fallout from Donald Trump’s global trade war, leading economists have said.

After figures showed China’s trade surplus surpassed $1tn (£750bn) despite Washington’s tariff policies hitting exports to the US, the Bank of England said the UK was among the nations emerging as alternative destinations for the goods.

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Bears are becoming a growing problem in some of Japan’s urban areas as they are forced to venture further in search of food

It came as no surprise, least of all to the residents of Osaki, that “bear” was selected as Japan’s kanji character of the year earlier this month.

The north-eastern town of 128,000 people is best known for its Naruko Onsen hot springs, autumn foliage and kokeshi – cylindrical dolls carved from a single piece of wood. But this year it has made the headlines as a bear hotspot, as the country reels from a year of record ursine encounters and deaths, with warnings that winter will not bring immediate respite.

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Changes include the Victorian government expanding land taxes and Queensland introducing a child sex offender register

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Cheaper medicines on the PBS, a Medicare phone service and new laws mandating businesses to accept cash payments are just some of the major changes coming into effect in the first week of 2026.

Indexation increases to social security payments, changes to childcare settings and a new online mental health service will also kick in from the beginning of January.

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Exclusive: One Nation senator travelled on mining magnate’s Gulfstream 700 in October and stayed at Rinehart’s US$66m Palm Beach mansion

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Pauline Hanson and her chief of staff, James Ashby, flew to Florida on Gina Rinehart’s private jet in October and stayed at the mining magnate’s Palm Beach mansion, close to US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Guardian Australia can reveal the One Nation senator and her staffer travelled with Rinehart on the mining magnate’s Gulfstream 700 on 27 October, with publicly available flight tracking data showing that the aircraft travelled from Brisbane to Perth before flying via Osaka to Palm Beach.

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Police allege a 16-year-old and 20-year-old were in the car with firearms and a dedicated encrypted phone

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Four men and two teenage boys have been charged after police allegedly caught two of them travelling in a Sydney taxi with loaded guns.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a shooting in Sydney’s north-west in November where police allege two men fired shots and a stun grenade into a home in Tallawong.

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Exclusive: CST highlights volume of IS-supporting accounts and says social media firms ‘putting all of us in danger’

Facebook hosted terrorist propaganda that celebrated the murder of Jews and praised Islamic State, a leading anti-hate group has alleged.

The posts included celebrations of the Bondi beach massacre that the Community Security Trust says Facebook has been too slow to take down. The posts were still on Facebook on 16 December, two days after the attack, and received shares and likes.

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Coral Adventurer, being investigated for allegedly leaving behind passenger who died, ran aground with 124 people on board on Saturday

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An Australian cruise ship has been refloated after becoming stuck on a reef off Papua New Guinea despite efforts to free the vessel.

The Coral Adventurer, which ran aground on Saturday morning, was freed on Tuesday afternoon and was anchored nearby awaiting inspections. Passengers will be flown home early.

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Eurostar ‘strongly advise’ passengers to postpone journeys after problem with overhead power supply in Channel tunnel and a failed Le Shuttle train

• Full story: Eurostar cancels all trains to and from London after Channel tunnel power cut

• Tell us: have you been affected by the Channel Tunnel rail disruption?

European stocks have hit a record high today, ending a strong year on the front foot.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index has risen by over 0.2% this morning to 590.65 points, a new peak.

The Euro area and UK economies proved more resilient in 2025 than we anticipated. US tariffs weighed on exports and real GDP growth in Q2 and Q3, but domestic demand has generally been more robust than we anticipated.

As a result, Euro area and UK GDP growth, while still underperforming the US this year, have turned out higher than in our forecast at the end of 2024.

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Move could feasibly allow Russian missiles to reach European targets faster from Belarus, its neighbouring ally that also shares a border with Nato countries Poland, Lithuania and Latvia

Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has echoed Donald Tusk’s optimistic tone regarding talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

He posted to X to confirm there had been “another round of consultations” with “European and Canadian partners”. It is not clear who was in the meeting.

Peace is on the horizon, there is no doubt that things have happened that give grounds for hope that this war can end, and quite quickly, but it is still a hope, far from 100% certain.

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Exclusive: Sales via intermediary companies appear to continue despite Michelin’s attempts to cut off trade

Russia has continued to use intermediary companies, including one apparently based in the UK, to import aviation tyres made by the French firm Michelin despite attempts to stop the trade, customs records suggest.

Despite sanctions on the sale of civilian and aviation tyres to Russia, which is critically dependent on foreign suppliers, an analysis of records indicates that a significant number are continuing to get through.

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Spanish woman’s attempted restoration of church artwork was widely mocked but became lucrative tourist attraction

Cecilia Giménez, the woman who achieved unwanted international fame for her botched “Monkey Christ” restoration of a 19th-century mural in Borja, north-east Spain, has died aged 94.

In 2012, Giménez, an amateur artist, decided to restore Ecce Homo, a mural by a local artist, Elías García Martínez, that hung in the Santuario de Misericordia church in Borja. However, her talent as an artist was not equal to her good intentions and she produced what was described as the worst restoration in history.

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Operator says some travel will resume on Tuesday afternoon but car passengers facing six-hour delays

• Business live – latest updates

A power outage caused the suspension of all passenger and vehicle trains in the Channel tunnel on Tuesday, disrupting thousands of journeys ahead of the new year celebrations.

Eurostar’s website showed nearly all of the day’s passenger services between London and Europe were cancelled, while LeShuttle trains, which carry private cars and freight vehicles, were due to restart by the afternoon – although drivers trapped in queues to exit the UK are facing six-hour delays.

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President calls for talks with leaders of demonstrations caused by declines in currency and living standards

Iran’s government has called for dialogue with protest leaders after the country’s largest demonstrations in three years over a plunging currency and declining living conditions.

Protests started on Sunday after the country’s currency fell to a record low against the US dollar, causing traders and shopkeepers to close their stores in downtown Tehran. This was accompanied by mass protests in the capital city, as well as protests in major cities including Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.

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The attack was aimed at what Riyadh called a shipment of weapons for separatists from the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has said it will withdraw its remaining forces in Yemen after Saudi Arabia bombed what it said was a shipment of weapons for separatists which had arrived from the UAE.

The Emirati defence ministry announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon, citing “recent developments and their potential repercussions on the safety and effectiveness of counter-terrorism operations”, without saying when the withdrawal might happen.

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Isaac Herzog’s spokesperson says he has not spoken to Trump since US president wrote to urge him to stop trial

The office of Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has denied a claim by Donald Trump that Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, would soon receive a pardon.

Speaking shortly before his meeting in Florida with the Israeli prime minister on Monday night, Trump said he had been told by Herzog that a pardon was “on its way”.

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Abbas Araghchi claims US president’s Arab allies now view Israel’s recklessness as ‘a threat to us all’

• You’ll never defeat us in Iran, President Trump: but with real talks, we can both win | Abbas Araghchi

Donald Trump should defy Benjamin Netanyahu and realise renewed talks with Iran over its nuclear programme are a better bet and more likely to succeed owing to stronger support in the region for a successful outcome, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, says in a Guardian article. He also suggests Trump’s Republican base want a deal and not further unnecessary wars.

Araghchi was writing a day after Netanyahu held talks with Trump in the US in which Israel’s calls to consider fresh attacks on Iran were discussed alongside the Gaza peace plan.

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Israeli prime minister said he will award Trump with Israel prize, highest civilian honor, while visiting Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump has warned that Hamas will have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm while offering full-throated support to Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Florida.

In a bravura display of mutual admiration, Netanyahu announced that the US president would be awarded the Israel prize, the country’s highest civilian honour, which since its inception in the 1950s has never before been given to a non-Israeli person.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Elections will be first since military seized power in 2021, but analysts say vote is far from a step toward democracy

Myanmar is preparing to go to the polls for the first time since its military seized power in a coup in 2021, but with its former leader behind bars, its most successful political party disbanded and roughly a third of the country either disputed or in rebel hands, few believe claims by its military rulers that its 28 December election will be “free and fair”.

“This is not for the people, this is for themselves,” says Pai, 25, who fled Myanmar after the military seized power. “They [the ruling junta] are looking for a way out of the trap they are [in].”

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Group of 120 experts including Joseph Stiglitz urge fresh debt restructuring plan given scale of destruction

A group of the world’s top economists – including the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz – have called for Sri Lanka’s debt payments to be suspended as it tackles the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

More than 600 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed across the island, in what Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, called the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”.

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UN body to study possibility of integrating centuries-old practices into mainstream healthcare

From herbalists in Africa gathering plants to use as poultices to acupuncturists in China using needles to cure migraines, or Indian yogis practising meditation, traditional remedies have increasingly being shown to work, and deserve more attention and research, according to a World Health Organization official.

A historical lack of evidence, which has seen traditional practices dismissed by many, could change with more investment and the use of modern technology, according to Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, who leads the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre.

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Aaron Anderson, a ‘cheeky chappie’ with ‘amazing work ethic’, died after incident involving John Deere Gator

The family of a 14-year-old boy who died after a collision on a farm in which an off-road utility vehicle overturned have paid tribute to him.

Police said Aaron Anderson sustained life-threatening injuries after a John Deere Gator was in a collision at the farm in Burnopfield, County Durham, on the evening of 21 December.

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Clothing chain acquired by China-based backers out of 2019 insolvency applies to appoint administrators

• Business live – latest updates

The upmarket fashion brand LK Bennett appears to be heading for collapse for the second time in six years.

On Tuesday the company filed an application with the high court to appoint an administrator to the business, which employs about 280 staff.

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Struggling company, which has run more than 100 outlets, has been criticised by MPs over claims it failed to pay locum pharmacists

• Business live – latest updates

A struggling national pharmacy chain accused of owing its locums £670,000 in unpaid fees has been hit with an application to place the business into insolvency proceedings.

Jhoots Chemist, which trades under the name of Jhoots Pharmacy, was named in a high court application to appoint an administrator, submitted on Monday by Lloyds Bank.

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Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’

The head of one of Scotland’s foremost disability rights charities says she turned down an MBE in the recent new year honours because the UK government was “fuelling hatred, blame and scapegoating of people with disabilities”.

Tressa Burke, chief executive officer of the Glasgow Disability Alliance, had been recommended by the prime minister for the honour for her services to people with disabilities. Over two decades, Burke has grown the organisation from seed into a nationally recognised voice for disabled people in Scotland’s largest city, and supported more than 5,000 members through the pandemic.

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Sobriety tags worn by thousands released from prison or serving community sentences will monitor wearers’ sweat

Thousands of offenders in England and Wales will have their alcohol levels tracked over the new year festive period by electronic tags that monitor the wearer’s sweat.

The tags, which are now worn by 5,000 people who have been released from prison or who are serving a community sentence, are designed to keep criminals sober over the festive season and drive down drink-fuelled reoffending.

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Mamdani to take oath of office on New Year’s Eve in Gilded Age subway station beneath city hall

While tens of thousands of New Yorkers will be in Times Square for countdown to 2026, the city’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he will be sworn into office in an underground midnight private ceremony at an abandoned subway station built during the Gilded Age.

Mamdani, 34, plans to take the oath of office on New Year’s Eve in a disused subway station beneath city hall which acts as turnaround for the local 5 train. The unusual choice of venue for the ceremony, Mamdani said, is symbolically resonant of the “inauguration of a new era”.

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Frigid temperatures in Great Lakes, north-east and midwest as tens of thousands face power outages and icy travel

A wild winter storm brought strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and north-east on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreled across the midwest and left tens of thousands of customers without power.

The storm hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday with sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.

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Lawyers for Brian Cole argue he should be released ahead of trial for allegedly planting devices in DC in 2021

The man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both the Democratic and Republican national committees the night before the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol is set to appear at a federal detention hearing before a magistrate judge on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, authorities arrested Brian Cole Jr, of Woodbridge, Virginia. He has yet to enter a plea. Cole’s lawyers argue that he should be released while he awaits trial, as he does not present any danger. In a recent court filing, they write that Cole has agreed to home detention enforced by GPS monitoring, and will live under the supervision of his grandmother.

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The Cookers on Monday pulled out of a New Year’s Eve jazz gig at the controversially renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy’ center

A second jazz band has pulled out of performing at the controversially renamed “Trump-Kennedy” center in Washington DC, giving just two days notice before their New Year’s Eve gig was set to take place.

The Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians, have not given an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”

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Emergency request by several of the country’s nationals and an immigrants rights group was granted by the court

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked plans by the Trump administration to end temporary protections from deportation that had been granted to hundreds of South Sudanese nationals living in the United States.

US district judge Angel Kelley in Boston granted an emergency request by several South Sudanese nationals and an immigrant rights group to prevent the temporary protected status they had been granted from expiring as planned after 5 January.

Kelley, who was appointed by the Democratic former president Joe Biden, issued the order after four migrants from South Sudan along with African Communities Together, a non-profit group, sued. The lawsuit alleged that action by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was unlawful and exposed them to being deported to a country facing a series of humanitarian crises.

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