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Latest World news news, comment and analysis from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice



Sat, 17 Jan 2026 17:20:15 GMT
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Museveni’s opponent, Bobi Wine, alleges that members of polling staff were kidnapped and called for peaceful protests

Yoweri Museveni, has won the Ugandan election and his seventh term with more than 70% of the vote, state election authorities have said, amid an internet shutdown and claims of fraud by his opponent.

His opponent, a youthful musician known as Bobi Wine, condemned what he called “fake results” and alleged that members of polling staff were kidnapped, among other election irregularities. He called for peaceful protests to pressure the authorities to release what he called the “rightful results”.

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:00:28 GMT
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Atlas Lions face Senegal in final of Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday and Moroccan diaspora scents victory

London’s Little Morocco is brimming with pride and anticipation. The Moroccan diaspora in North Kensington is in no doubt that on Sunday the Atlas Lions will triumph against Senegal in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

“There’s not just an excitement, it has completely taken over everything else,” said Souad Talsi, who runs the Al-Hasaniya Moroccan women’s centre at the base of 31-storey Trellick Tower, at the north end of Golborne Road.

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 06:00:19 GMT
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Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical

It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day.

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:33:41 GMT
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Bobi Wine flown to unknown location, his party says, hours after security forces allegedly killed 10 of his campaigners

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:03:57 GMT
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$1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent disease

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:59:29 GMT
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Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston’s airport in November and flown to Honduras two days later

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:23:11 GMT
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John Ratcliffe meets Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas less than two weeks after his agents helped to oust her precedessor

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:19:39 GMT
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Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 09:37:10 GMT
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Mark Carney holds talks with Xi Jinping on rare Beijing trip as Canada seeks to diversify trade links away from US

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

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

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:58:31 GMT
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Women allege Spanish singer subjected them ‘to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in atmosphere of control’

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

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

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:19:38 GMT
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Politicians are raising the alarm, while MI5 quietly welcomes the prospect of Beijing’s new London facility

While there has been no shortage of politicians eager to raise concerns about China’s proposed “mega embassy” near the Tower of London, the espionage community quietly takes a different view, arguing that concerns about the development are exaggerated and misplaced.

The domestic Security Service, MI5, is already quietly welcoming the prospect of rationalising China’s seven diplomatic sites to one, but a more significant argument is that modern technology and the nature of the Chinese threat means that, in the words of one former British intelligence officer, “embassies are less and less relevant”.

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Fri, 16 Jan 2026 09:51:58 GMT
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Yoon Suk Yeol’s conviction for obstructing own arrest separate from main trial that could lead to death penalty

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

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

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Thu, 15 Jan 2026 22:07:12 GMT
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US to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% as chip and tech businesses pledge $250bn spending in US operations

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

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

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Wed, 14 Jan 2026 15:44:56 GMT
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Crane in use on high-speed rail project hits passing train, causing it to derail

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

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

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Wed, 14 Jan 2026 04:50:56 GMT
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Results for 2025 risk further unsettling economies about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, and their own over-reliance on Chinese products

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

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

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 07:24:05 GMT
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Three-page letter acknowledged that while Peter Malinauskas could not direct festival board, he was ‘deeply concerned’ Palestinian Australian author’s invitation not rescinded

A letter sent by the South Australian premier to the Adelaide writers’ week board criticising the inclusion of Palestinian Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 program has been made public.

The three-page letter, first published in full by Adelaide’s Sunday Mail newspaper, was signed by Peter Malinauskas and dated 2 January.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 07:04:02 GMT
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Child in a critical condition in hospital after being pulled from the water in Vaucluse at about 4.20pm Sunday

A boy has been attacked by a shark in Sydney’s east and is in a critical condition after suffering serious injuries to both legs.

The boy, believed to be aged about 13, was pulled from the water near Shark beach at Neilsen Park, in the eastern suburb of Vaucluse, at about 4.20pm Sunday afternoon.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 06:37:42 GMT
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Executive Council of Australia Jewry implores Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley to thrash out deal after government splits contentious bill

Jewish leaders have warned Labor and the Coalition their community remains at risk from the promotion of antisemitic hatred, urging a last-minute compromise to secure tough new hate speech laws ahead of a special sitting of parliament.

After Anthony Albanese agreed to split draft laws made in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack, new gun control measures are set to pass with the support of the Greens.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 04:58:03 GMT
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This blog is now closed.

Labor does not ‘share the concerns of the Greens’ on hate speech laws: Gallagher

Speaking at Parliament House in Canberra, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says she has spoken with the Coalition and the Greens Senate managers ahead of this week’s special sittings.

We don’t share the concerns of the Greens on that one, and we’ve made that clear to them in the last week.

The elements of the bill that exist without the racial vilification still have very strong purpose around combating antisemitism, and that is why many of these groups, including neo-Nazis, have foreshadowed they are going disband, once they saw this exposure draft bill.

The PM has been clear about this from the get go, that we need to get something from the opposition. We haven’t had anything to date, and we need to make sure that the parliament does deal with this legislation in a way that ensures Australians are safer.

Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see the parliament working together, and that’s the approach we’re taking to the sitting.

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 10:14:33 GMT
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  • Former Australia batter given a ‘50/50 chance of surviving’

  • Spent eight days in induced coma

Damien Martyn has said he is back after overcoming a meningitis scare, which he said took his life out of his hands.

In a heartfelt post on his social media accounts, the former Australia batter said he was given a 50% chance to live after battling the disease, which causes an infection and swelling of fluid and membranes around the brain and spinal cord. The 54-year-old was put into an induced coma on 27 December and was fighting for his life in a Gold Coast intensive care unit until he woke eight days later.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:49:16 GMT
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The leaders of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK issue joint statement ahead of EU ambassadors meeting

The United States will also suffer if president Donald Trump implements threats to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his plans to acquire Greenland, a French minister said on Sunday.

“In this escalation of tariffs, he has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists,” French agriculture minister Annie Genevard told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:35:52 GMT
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Emmanuel Macron to urge EU to use its powerful anti-coercion instrument if US goes ahead with tariffs

Senior European diplomats are due to hold crisis talks after Donald Trump said he was targeting eight European nations with tariffs over their opposition to his attempt to annex Greenland.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said Trump’s tariffs would be a mistake, and the Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel, described the US president’s threats to allies as “blackmail”, as reaction from European leaders continued to pile up.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:32:24 GMT
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Opinion polls suggest three candidates, including anti-immigration Chega party leader, close to final two

Portuguese voters queued at polling stations on Sunday to elect a new president, with opinion surveys showing three candidates, including the leader of the far-right Chega party, close to a spot in a probable top-two runoff.

In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before – in 1986 – required a runoff, highlighting how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far right and voters’ disenchantment with mainstream parties.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:45:23 GMT
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The spectre of rising inflation, slowing global trade and jittery markets has re-emerged as US economic policy divorces itself from any logic

Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, in pursuit of his goal of seizing Greenland, is a political nightmare for European leaders, but it could create a severe economic headache too.

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly pointed out since Trump’s trade war began in earnest last year, whatever the ultimate level of tariffs, uncertainty takes its own toll.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 02:12:57 GMT
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Kyrylo Budanov arrives in US heading delegation for further talks on peace proposals. What we know on day 1,425

Russia is taking aim at Ukraine’s nuclear power system, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, as the Kremlin continues to try to freeze Ukraine into submission by crippling its energy grid. “We do not see any willingness on the part of the aggressor to comply with any agreements or end the war,” the Ukrainian president said. “Instead, there is ample information about preparations for further Russian strikes on our energy sector and infrastructure, including facilities and networks that serve our nuclear power plants. Each such Russian strike on the energy sector amid such a harsh winter weakens and undermines the efforts of key states – in particular the United States – to end this war.”

Zelenskyy spoke after a briefing from Ukraine’s chief of defence intelligence, Oleh Ivashchenko – the recent replacement for Kyrylo Budanov, who was made head of the president’s office. Budanov on Saturday confirmed his own arrival in the US to discuss peace proposals. He and Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia would meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, Budanov said. Zelenskyy has tasked his delegation at the Miami talks with finalising proposals about security guarantees and economic recovery. If American officials approve the proposals, the US and Ukraine could sign a deal next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to Zelenskyy. However Russia has given no indication it will accept any peace deal without Ukraine’s entire Donbas region being handed over for a start.

Russian attacks left at least two people dead and others injured in Kharkiv oblast on Saturday, regional authorities said. A strike that damaged a critical infrastructure facility in Kharkiv city’s industrial district could seriously affect power and heating, said the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, with the energy system “constantly operating at its limits”. One person was wounded in the attack. An attack on a house in Kharkiv city killed a woman aged 20 and wounded others. In the village of Borivske, a 52-year-old woman was killed when a drone hit a public transport stop, prosecutors said. In the Sumy region, emergency services said an airstrike on a residential neighbourhood wounded three women and a seven-year-old child, and left 15 residential buildings damaged.

Russia struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight into Saturday, the ministry of energy said. More than 20 settlements in the Kyiv region were left without power. Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed to ramp up the importation of electricity and the acquisition of additional equipment from partners. Officials have instructed state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently purchase imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Denys Shmyhal, the energy minister.

Shmyhal announced that Lithuania would be providing Ukraine with more energy generating equipment for Kyiv and the most critically affected regions, after already supplying equipment for emergency repairs on coal and nuclear power plants. “In addition we have received over 2,000 solar panels, various equipment and machinery from our Lithuanian friends,” Shmyhal said. “Lithuania has contributed €5.7m euros to the energy support fund of Ukraine … There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been hit by Russian strikes. Ukrainian energy workers continue to repair around the clock and return electricity to people.”

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:43:03 GMT
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Finance minister says Netanyahu should back annexation and settlement, and attacks Turkey and Qatar’s role on Gaza ‘executive board’

Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition on Sunday rejected a US-backed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, criticising their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to annex the Palestinian territory and establish new Israeli settlements in the territory.

After the announcement of the White House’s pick of world leaders who will join the so-called Gaza “board of peace”, which includes representatives of Turkey and Qatar, both of which have been critical of Israel’s war in the strip, Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described Netanyahu’s “unwillingness to take responsibility for Gaza” as “the original sin”.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 05:44:02 GMT
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Government extends grip on north after stalled efforts under Ahmed al-Sharaa to reach accommodation with Kurds and fold their forces into national army

Syria’s army has taken control of swathes of the country’s north, dislodging Kurdish forces from territory over which they held effective autonomy for more than a decade.

State media said on Saturday that the army took over the northern city of Tabqa and its adjacent dam, as well as the major Freedom dam, formerly known as the Baath, west of the Syrian city of Raqaa. It came despite US calls to halt the advance.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 05:00:46 GMT
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Many believed a US president would – for the first time – rescue them but now people can only despair after mass arrests and brutality

When Donald Trump, said he would “rescue” protesters if Iranian authorities started shooting, Siavash Shirzad believed the US president.

The 38-year-old father had seen protests rise up before, only to be brutally crushed by authorities.

But this was the first time in his life that the president of the United States had promised to help demonstrators. Reassured, Shirzad took to the streets, ignoring his family’s warnings and joining the growing crowds.

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 19:08:49 GMT
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Country says some appointments to the group, which will oversee the administration and reconstruction of Gaza, are ‘contrary to its policy’

Israel has objected to the White House’s pick of world leaders who will join the so-called Gaza “board of peace”, meant to temporarily oversee governance and reconstruction in the strip.

The White House and other sources announced a flurry of appointments and invitations to the organisation over the last two days, including Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei.

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 17:59:26 GMT
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Despite the ceasefire, more than 100 children have died in the territory since October

A 27-day-old baby died in Gaza on Saturday from severe cold, bringing the number of children in the region who have died of hypothermia since the start of the current winter season to eight, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Medical sources confirmed to the news agency Anadolu that the newborn, named Aisha Ayesh al-Agha, died as a result of freezing temperatures, and that when she was brought to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis it was already too late to save her.

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Tue, 13 Jan 2026 07:07:05 GMT
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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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Tue, 13 Jan 2026 05:00:25 GMT
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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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Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:04:14 GMT
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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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Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:03:50 GMT
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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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Thu, 08 Jan 2026 10:40:14 GMT
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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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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:26:42 GMT
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Rights of Women charity say abuse is ‘an entrenched, systemic issue’ amid calls for improved protection

A flagship strategy to tackle sexual harassment across the NHS in England has failed to improve the safety of female staff, according to legal experts and healthcare unions.

The NHS sexual safety charter, launched in September 2023, was supposed to improve how hospitals, GP surgeries and other organisations address sexual harassment. But the UK-based charity Rights of Women said calls from NHS staff to its sexual harassment at work advice line have increased significantly since the charter was rolled out.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:12:33 GMT
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Booker prize winner, 80, says he has reached point of having ‘played all my tunes’ after new book Departure(s)

The Booker prize-winning author, Julian Barnes, has confirmed his new novel, Departure(s), will be his last book, saying that he has the sense “that I’ve played all my tunes”.

Barnes, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday and whose works over a 45-year career include 15 novels and 10 works of nonfiction, said: “One way of thinking about how long you go on is, ‘As long as they’ll still publish you’.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:02:02 GMT
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Major retrospective in Plymouth, her adopted city, presents her as a skilful chronicler of social transformation

In her lifetime, Beryl Cook’s colourful, vibrant paintings tended to be dismissed by most critics as mere kitsch or whimsy.

A major retrospective of Cook’s work opening in her adopted city of Plymouth next weekend makes the case that she was a serious, significant artist who skilfully chronicled a tumultuous period of social transformation.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:38:37 GMT
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Exclusive: No move yet against leader but some say party ‘too academic at times’ and needs coherent national policy

Significant numbers of Liberal Democrat MPs are becoming frustrated by what they view as an overly cautious approach under Ed Davey and the party’s failure to spell out a national message to voters.

Some estimate that as many as half of the Lib Dems’ 72-strong group of MPs feel this way. While there is no move against Davey, who led the party to its best election result in a century in 2024, MPs said this could change if there was no progress.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:04:12 GMT
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Losses on stocks likely with precious metals forecast to spike even higher after move to impose 25% levies on European allies

Global stock markets are bracing for falls when trading resumes on Monday after Donald Trump threatened eight European countries with fresh tariffs until they support his ambition to acquire Greenland.

The US president’s plan to impose new trade levies of 10% on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland from 1 February, rising to 25% on 1 June, is creating fear in the markets, and among European businesses.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:00:55 GMT
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Multiple survivors claim Epstein dangled admission to top universities to ensnare them in his sexual abuse network

A New York City artist who said Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell shopped her around to men is among the survivors claiming that Epstein used the lure of a university education to ensnare her in their sexual abuse network.

Rina Oh was a 21-year-old art student when she was introduced to Epstein in 2000 by Lisa Phillips, a model and Epstein survivor who has since emerged as a powerful voice in the survivors’ network pressuring for full accountability in the long-running money, sex and power scandal.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:00:54 GMT
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  • Mid-level and senior officials uncomfortable with award

  • Fifa says it still ‘strongly’ supports the peace prize

There is a growing sense of embarrassment among mid-level and senior officials within Fifa over the awarding of its peace prize to Donald Trump. The US president was handed the award at the World Cup draw in Washington DC in December with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.”

Since then, the US has launched airstrikes across Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to the US, where he was put in jail. Maduro appeared in court on 5 January, pleading not guilty to drugs, weapons and “narco-terrorism” charges. Trump has also threatened to invade Greenland because he said the US needs the territory “very badly”.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:00:53 GMT
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Korey LaVergne, 37, jailed Friday evening on three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to officials

Authorities in south-west Louisiana recently arrested a Roman Catholic priest on accusations of behaving indecently with a child, igniting a new scandal in the diocese where the US church’s reckoning with clergy abuse began – an institution that just disclosed it could lose up to $162m over pending litigation.

Korey LaVergne was jailed Friday evening on three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to Acadia parish sheriff KP Gibson, whose agency arrested the priest. LaVergne had presided over mass at St Edward church in Richard – where the Lafayette diocese had assigned him as pastor – hours before he was booked into the Acadia lockup.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 10:00:52 GMT
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Vice-president has emerged as key defender of Maga flame – and is backed by big tech billions. Is this the heir apparent?

“We did not have a lot of money,” said JD Vance, placing hand on heart as he recalled his childhood in Middletown, Ohio in the 1990s. “I was raised by a woman who struggled often to put food on the table and clothes on her back.”

There was an earnest cry from the audience. “Mamaw!” shouted a man.

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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:44:34 GMT
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First journey around moon with astronauts in more than 50 years could blast off in February

Nasa’s giant new moon rocket has moved to the launchpad in preparation for astronauts’ first lunar fly-around in more than half a century. The trip could blast off in February.

The 98-metre (322ft) rocket began its 1mph (1.6km/h) creep from Kennedy Space Center’s vehicle assembly building at daybreak. The trek of 4 miles took until nightfall.

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