World news | The Guardian

Very little information has been shared about strikes in Sokoto state

Two weeks after the US carried out Christmas Day airstrikes in north-west Nigeria on what it described as Islamic State fighters, questions remain over the specific group that was targeted and the operation’s impact.

In the aftermath of the strikes, Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that “ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians” were hit with “numerous perfect strikes”.

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British boxer was injured in collision that killed his personal trainer Latif Ayodele and strength coach Sina Ghami

Nigerian police have charged Anthony Joshua’s driver with causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash that killed two people.

Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, was also charged with driving without a valid driving licence and “driving without due care and attention, causing bodily harm and damage to property”. He is due to appear in court on 20 January.

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9,500-year-old pyre uncovered in Malawi offers rare insight into rituals of ancient African hunter-gatherer groups

A cremation pyre built about 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa, offering a fresh glimpse into the complexity of ancient hunter-gatherer communities.

Researchers say the pyre, discovered in a rock shelter at the foot of Mount Hora in northern Malawi, is thought to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, the oldest confirmed intentional cremation in Africa, and the first pyre to be associated with African hunter-gatherers.

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Afghanistan and Yemen excluded from list of 17 priority countries chosen by Trump administration to receive aid laden with demands

The $2bn (£1.5bn) of aid the US pledged this week may have been hailed as “bold and ambitious” by the UN but could be the “nail in the coffin” in changing to a shrunken, less flexible aid system dominated by Washington’s political priorities, aid experts fear.

After a year of deep cuts in aid budgets by the US and European countries, the announcement of new money for the humanitarian system is a source of some relief, but experts are deeply concerned about demands that the US has imposed on how the money should be managed and where it can go.

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Mamady Doumbouya reneged on promise not to stand and hand west African country back to civilian rule

The head of Guinea’s junta, Mamady Doumbouya, who had pledged not to run for office after seizing power four years ago, has been elected president after the country’s electoral commission said he had secured a sweeping majority of the vote.

Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote held over the weekend.

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Head of the national assembly Jorge Rodríguez says releases are a gesture to ‘consolidate peace’

Five days after the US seized Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has announced it is releasing an “important number” of detainees in what the congressional president characterised as a gesture to “consolidate peace”.

It is unclear how many people are being freed. Human rights organisations working in the country estimate that Venezuela holds between 800 and 1,000 political prisoners, most of them detained for taking part in protests after the 2024 election, widely believed to have been stolen by Maduro.

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejects bill passed by congress as he marks anniversary of 2023 Brasília riots

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has vetoed a bill that would dramatically reduce the prison sentence of the country’s far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year of plotting a coup.

Lula vetoed the bill, which was passed by congress in December, on the third anniversary of riots by Bolsonaro supporters in the capital, Brasília, over his defeat by Lula in the 2022 general election.

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US president says Delcy Rodríguez’s interim administration is doing ‘everything that we feel is necessary’

The US is receiving full cooperation from Venezuela’s regime and will control the country and its vast oil reserves for years, Donald Trump has claimed.

Caracas was giving Washington “everything that we feel is necessary” and the US would remain a political overlord there for an indefinite period, the US president said.

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Lloyd’s List analysis suggests 40 suspicious vessels joined Russian registry last year, with 17 reflagged last month

• Two oil tankers under US sanctions sailing through Channel towards Russia

Forty ships accused of belonging to a large “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil for Venezuela and others were reflagged to Russia last year in an apparent attempt to gain Kremlin protection from American seizure.

Analysis by the shipping intelligence publication Lloyd’s List suggests that of those, at least 17 suspicious vessels joined the Russian registry over the past month, compared with 15 ships in the previous five months of 2025.

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Jessica Plichta faces misdemeanor charges, which locals say is a tactic of Grand Rapids, Michigan, police to suppress protests

Jessica Plichta was arrested on 3 January after a live interview with a local news station about a Grand Rapids, Michigan, protest against the Trump administration’s seizure of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, in an attack with a reported death toll of 100. The clip went immediately viral, racking up millions of views across social media. While the headlines focused on Plichta’s age (22) and that she’s a preschool teacher, Plichta believes the reason for her arrest – seemingly the only one among roughly 200 protesters – went beyond the day’s events.

Plichta, who recently co-founded local group Grand Rapids Opponents of War, which helped organize Saturday’s protest, had visited the Venezuelan capital of Caracas just last month, amid the Trump administration’s blockade. She was a part of a delegation to the International People’s Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace of Our Americas. Activists from dozens of groups planned to attend. But after Trump ordered that Venezuelan airspace be “closed in its entirety” on 29 November, many canceled their trips.

This story was amended on 8 January 2025 to correct the spelling of Emerson Wolfe.

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Chen founded multinational conglomerate Prince Group that US says is front for multibillion-dollar fraud operation

Chinese television has shown footage of the US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive “scam centre” network.

Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the US says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad Swat officers, with the state broadcaster CCTV describing him as the “leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud crime syndicate”.

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In mid-December PNG said the company did not have a licence to operate in the country and ordered it to halt operations

Frustration is growing in Papua New Guinea weeks after the government ordered Starlink to shut down operations in the country as businesses, health providers and communities struggle without access to internet services.

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet company that provides internet to remote places. In mid-December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) ordered the company to halt operations because it was not licensed in PNG.

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Perception that Chinese-made weapons could not stop a ‘decapitation strike’ may give Beijing pause for thought

The sight of a hostile regional superpower launching an overnight raid to depose the leader of a smaller neighbouring country could easily have sent pulses in Taiwan racing.

The US on Saturday revealed the details of a surprise raid to capture Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was whisked away to the US, where he was frogmarched into a court in New York on Monday.

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Maduro had just affirmed ‘strong bonds of brotherhood’ with Beijing when US made its shocking intervention

• Venezuela crisis – latest updates

Hours before his life and the fate of his country was changed dramatically, Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, was exchanging smiles and handshakes with a Chinese delegation in the presidential palace in Caracas.

On Friday evening, shortly before he was seized by US forces, Maduro wrote on Telegram of his meeting with China’s special envoy for Latin American affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi: “A fraternal meeting that reaffirms the strong bonds of brotherhood and friendship between China and Venezuela. Through thick and thin!”

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Kiyoshi Kimura will turn prized 243kg fish into sushi rolls selling for £2.4o at his restaurant chain

A sushi entrepreneur has paid a record 510.3m yen (£2.4m) for a giant bluefin tuna at a prestigious auction in Tokyo’s main fish market.

Kiyoshi Kimura, who styles himself the “Tuna King”, paid the top price for the 243kg (536lbs) specimen, which was caught off Japan’s northern coast.

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State warned to be prepared and stay indoors as firefighters battle blazes. Follow today’s news live

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Attorney general says PM took ‘time to get this right’ before calling Bondi royal commission

Michelle Rowland, the attorney general, said the prime minister had taken “time to get this right” as the government prepared to call a federal royal commission after the Bondi terror attack.

The prime minister and the government have listened to people, particularly the Australian Jewish community, and that listening has not been about politics, it’s about getting The right outcome for our national unity and our national security.

This is an opportunity not only for voices to be heard in the form of a royal commission, but also to take recommendations forward and also to continue the important work that the government has been doing in the last four weeks or so to ensure that our response to this prioritises national security and social cohesion in the long term.

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Firefighter fears there is ‘nothing left’ of town in Strathbogie Ranges after bushfire went through

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An out-of-control bushfire in central Victoria has destroyed at least 10 properties, leaving a small town’s main street looking “like a bomb’s gone off”, according to the local firefighting captain.

Country Fire Authority captain George Noye said the Longwood bushfire was burning out of control and moved south-east to hit the town of Ruffy, about 175km north of Melbourne, where he also lives.

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Melbourne mercury expected to hit 43C with higher temperatures inland and a total fire ban in place for all Victoria

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Dire bushfire conditions threatened south-eastern states on Friday as unrelenting heat bore down on large parts of Australia and Victorians prepared for catastrophic conditions not seen since 2019-20.

Catastrophic and extreme fire danger ratings were in place throughout Victoria, with the entire state under a total fire ban. Extreme conditions were expected across much of South Australia as well as the New South Wales Riverina.

Melbourne: Windy. Late cool change, possible storm, maximum 43C.

Canberra: sunny, maximum 39C.

Adelaide: mostly sunny, maximum 32C.

Sydney: sunny, maximum 33C.

Darwin: showers, storm, maximum 33C.

Perth: partly cloudy, maximum 29C.

Brisbane: possible shower, maximum 29C.

Hobart: shower or two, maximum 25C.

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Ticketholders still waiting for refunds after immigration minister denied commentator’s visa weeks before national speaking tour

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The promoter of Candace Owens’ blocked Australian tour has gone into liquidation, with ticketholders still waiting for refunds more than a year later.

Rocksman, the insolvent tour promoter, has repeatedly promised all ticketholders will be refunded for the American conservative commentator’s tour, after leaving some waiting more than a year for repayments.

Do you know more? Contact luca.ittimani@theguardian.com

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The prime minister says he takes the time to ‘choose the right path’ – but it was right there in front of him the whole time

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Ten days ago, Anthony Albanese fiercely argued against a royal commission into antisemitism. On Thursday, from that very same lectern, he declared such an inquiry was vital to “heal” and unite a wounded nation after its worst-ever terror attack.

Which invites the obvious question: What prompted such a screeching reversal?

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Aria and Tia both south of Britain after US-UK seizure of Marinera, deemed to be part of Moscow’s ‘shadow fleet’

Two oil tankers under US sanctions are sailing east through the Channel towards Russia, prompting speculation over whether the US and UK would be willing to seize further vessels linked to Moscow.

The Aria and the Tia, which has changed its name and country of registration several times, were both travelling south of Britain a day after the Marinera oil tanker was captured in the Atlantic by the US with UK help.

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Tractor protest in city centre comes as Emmanuel Macron confirms he will vote against accord on Friday

French farmers in tractors have blocked roads around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in protest at an imminent EU trade deal with South American countries that they say will create unfair competition.

The farmers blockaded motorways outside Paris on Thursday and dozens of tractors overran police checkpoints to reach the city centre in a pre-dawn protest organised by the Coordination Rurale union.

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Ewes and lambs coaxed out of store in Burgsinn after about 20 minutes, leaving trail of destruction in drinks section

About 50 wayward sheep broke off from their flock and stormed a discount supermarket in a German town, startling and delighting customers as the animals rushed to explore the aisles before being escorted from the premises.

The woolly incursion occurred on Monday during a routine seasonal migration of the sheep in the Bavarian municipality of Burgsinn. A few dozen of the sheep had other ideas about the route and made their way into a store of the Penny retail chain.

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Emmanuel Macron’s comments come as Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warns against turning world into ‘robber’s den’

The presidents of France and Germany have sharply condemned US foreign policy under Donald Trump, saying respectively that Washington was “breaking free from international rules” and the world risked turning into a “robber’s den”.

In unusually strong and apparently uncoordinated remarks, Emmanuel Macron and Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned the postwar rules-based international order could soon disintegrate.

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Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of ‘macrolitter’ annually

Thousands of tonnes of litter are pouring into the North Sea via the Rhine every year, poisoning the waters with heavy metals, microplastics and other chemicals, research has found.

This litter can be detrimental to the environment and human health: tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations.

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Attacks bring total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 425 since October ceasefire took effect

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children, despite a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting.

Four people including three children were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

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Security forces reported to have killed at least 45 people since protests began 12 days ago, as pressure on regime increases

Iran was plunged into a complete internet blackout on Thursday night as protests over economic conditions spread nationwide, increasing pressure on the country’s leadership.

While it was unclear what caused the internet cut, first reported by the internet freedom monitor NetBlocks, Iranian authorities have shut down the internet in response to protests in the past.

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Riyadh says Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, was helped to flee Yemen

Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates of smuggling a UAE-backed separatist leader out of Yemen after he failed to turn up for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi had fled the port city of Aden for Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision, deepening a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

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People told to leave three areas as fears grow of wider conflict between government and Kurdish authorities

The Syrian army ordered civilians to evacuate neighbourhoods of Aleppo on Thursday after fighting with Kurdish forces entered its third day, deepening the rift between the Syrian government and the US-backed Kurdish authorities in Syria.

The Syrian government urged people to leave the three contested neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and Bani Zeid by early afternoon, opening humanitarian corridors and displacement shelters to facilitate their exit. The Syrian army said it would begin military operations against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the deadline, and issued maps showing specific areas that needed to be evacuated.

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People face teargas, pellet guns and violence as protests continue and opposition parties call for general strike

Demonstrations over economic conditions broke out in Kurdish regions of Iran on Wednesday despite authorities using violence to try to disperse protests before an announced general strike, according to witnesses and rights groups.

Protesters took to the streets across Kurdish cities in western Iran, with shopkeepers shutting down stores and demonstrators chanting against government corruption. People said they were met with force as authorities fired teargas, pellet guns and what demonstrators said were live bullets at crowds.

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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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The fate of the woman who left the UK at 15 in search of Islamic State raises wider questions about citizenship

While many aspects of UK political polling have shifted drastically since 2019, the public’s view on Shamima Begum has remained largely fixed: a big majority do not want the now 26-year-old woman back in the UK.

In 2019, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, stripped the Londoner of her UK citizenship on the grounds that she was a security threat, having travelled as a schoolgirl with two friends to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. At the time, 76% of people backed the move.

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Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply

Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years.

Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures.

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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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Turnout appears low for vote in which most candidates seen as allies of junta and large areas excluded by war

Polls have closed in conflict-racked Myanmar, ending the first phase of an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The military has touted the vote as a return to democracy almost five years after it seized power in a coup, ousting the country’s then de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and sparking a spiralling civil war.

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David Hart, 22, imprisoned for one year over nuisance calls to London hospitals and Westminster Abbey

A man has been jailed for a year in New York for calling in a series of hoax bomb threats, many of which targeted institutions in the UK.

David Hart was prosecuted by US authorities after a joint investigation by Scotland Yard and the US department for homeland security.

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Alastair Campbell joins graduates and social mobility charities in criticism of Trinity Hall’s new policy

Trinity Hall graduates and leading social mobility charities have called on the University of Cambridge college to scrap its controversial efforts to actively recruit students from elite private schools, describing the new policy as damaging, offensive and a step backwards for equality.

After the Guardian revealed that Trinity Hall was to target a small group of wealthy private schools – so as to not “ignore or marginalise” privately educated students, according to an internal briefing – those promoting students from state schools said they were shocked and disappointed by its justifications.

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Charlotte Head, who is accused of taking part in a break-in at Israeli defence firm, is called a ‘remarkable woman’ by her barrister

A Palestine Action activist accused of taking part in a break-in at an Israeli defence firm’s UK site is a “remarkable woman”, her barrister has told jurors as he likened her to the suffragettes.

Charlotte Head, 29, is on trial at Woolwich crown court, south-east London, accused of being involved in a “meticulously organised” protest at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, on 6 August 2024.

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Change in England largely welcomed by industry and Labour MPs but represents another climbdown

Rachel Reeves has avoided another damaging rebellion against her economic policies with the promise of a U-turn on controversial tax hikes for pubs in England, after weeks of protest from her colleagues and the hospitality industry.

Government sources said on Thursday the chancellor was finalising a support package for the struggling industry that would include reductions to business rates for pubs, which had been facing a 76% rise on average over the next three years.

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South London house to feature never-before-seen archival items and creative workshops for young people

On the evening of 6 July 1972, thousands of young people across the UK had their lives changed when the sight of David Bowie performing Starman on Top of the Pops was beamed into their living rooms.

Come the end of 2027, Bowie fans will be able to walk the very floorboards where the young David Jones had his own Damascene cultural conversion, when his childhood home in south London, is opened to the public for the first time.

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Governor commends ‘powerful peace’ from demonstrators as Trump administration continues to defend federal agent who killed US citizen

• FBI takes over investigation of killing of US citizen by ICE officer and revokes Minnesota’s access to materials

• ICE agent in Minneapolis killing identified as 10-year law enforcement veteran

• Kristi Noem doubles down on claim ICE agent killed woman in self-defense

Since early December, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations – many of them masked and brandishing rifles – have grabbed people at hardware stores and gyms, or outside homes and schools around the cities.

They have violently tackled undocumented immigrants as well as US citizens, including advocates and protestors.

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Austin Peay State University will also pay theater and dance professor Darren Michael $500,000 in settlement

Austin Peay State University has reinstated a professor who was fired for his social media post after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Tennessee school is also paying the teacher $500,000 in the settlement.

Austin Peay spokesperson Brian Dunn said Darren Michael returned to his position as a tenured faculty member at the public university in Clarksville effective 30 December. A copy of the settlement agreement obtained through a public records request includes a $500,000 payment and reimbursement of counseling, as reported earlier this week by WKRN-TV.

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Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie seek to compel justice department to release full set of files

Two US House of Representatives members have asked a federal judge to appoint a special master to compel the justice department to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

On Thursday, Democratic representative Ro Khanna of California and Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky asked US district judge Paul Engelmayer to release the full Epstein files, as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

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Space agency says US-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned

Nasa is cutting short a mission aboard the International Space Station after an astronaut had a medical issue.

The space agency said Thursday the US-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned.

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Seventeen Republicans join Democrats to pass a three-year extension of tax credits cutting ACA premiums

The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to re-establish tax credits that lowered premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health plans, after a small group of Republicans broke ranks and joined with Democrats to defy Donald Trump on a key healthcare issue that could sway voters ahead of the November midterm elections.

The chamber voted 230-196 to approve a bill that would extend for three years the credits, which were first created under Joe Biden but expired at the end of last year despite a concerted effort by the Democratic minority to continue them.

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