World news | The Guardian

Fifty killed in one incident as Italian authorities estimate 380 people may have drowned last week

Up to 380 people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week as Cyclone Harry battered southern Italy and Malta, the Italian coastguard has said, as a shipwreck with the loss of 50 lives was confirmed by Maltese authorities.

Just one person, who was hospitalised in Malta, survived the shipwreck, which happened on Friday.

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More than 100 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Devastating floods have killed more than 100 people in southern Africa since the beginning of the year and displaced hundreds of thousands, as authorities and aid workers warn of hunger, cholera and attacks by crocodiles that have spread with the waters.

More than 70 people have died in Zimbabwe and 30 in South Africa, where hundreds of people were evacuated from Kruger national park earlier this month after a deluge of rain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Email sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priority

US diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs this January and obtained by the Guardian.

“It’s not gauche to remind these countries of the American people’s generosity in containing HIV/Aids or alleviating famine,” says the email.

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Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative

Five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers in Austin, Texas. Despite being a US citizen, she was deported on 11 January alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, to Honduras, a country Génesis had never known.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were acting on an administrative deportation order against Gutiérrez, 26, issued in 2019, before Génesis was born.

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Authorities allege Ryan Wedding, 44, ‘turned to a life of crime’ after his snowboarding career ended

Ryan Wedding, the Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of cocaine distribution and orchestrating several murders, appeared on Monday in a southern California courtroom for arraignment.

The 44-year-old has been charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder, witness tampering and money laundering, among other charges. Authorities allege that after his snowboarding career, Wedding “turned to a life of crime” as a narcotics trafficker and led an organization that moved cocaine from South America to the US and Canada.

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Azruddin Mohamed’s election comes six months after he formed political party that became country’s second largest

A Guyanese businessman facing extradition to the US on gold-smuggling and money-laundering charges has been elected as the country’s opposition leader, six months after he formed a political party that quickly became the second largest in the South American country.

Azruddin Mohamed, 38, was confirmed as Guyana’s opposition leader after 16 lawmakers from the We Invest in Nationhood party (Win) and another from a single-seat outfit voted in his favor. The tally made Win the second-largest party in parliament, securing Mohamed’s election even as a magistrate’s court hears state arguments for his extradition to the US.

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European retailers urge traders to adhere to commitments after Brazilian lawmakers wreck forest protection pact

Leading British and European retailers are trying to salvage the core elements of the Amazon soy moratorium after the world’s most successful forest protection agreement was wrecked by Brazilian lawmakers and abandoned by international traders.

In an open letter, high street brands including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda say the breakdown this month of the 20-year-old agreement will damage consumer confidence unless new arrangements are put in place to ensure grain production is not linked to deforestation.

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Some parts of city were buried under nearly 60cm of snow and over 500 flights were cancelled Sunday

Toronto is beginning to dig itself out from the largest snowfall in the city’s history, a process which officials say is likely to take “several days”.

Some parts of Canada’s largest city were buried under nearly 60cm (about 23in) of snow and more than 500 flights were cancelled Sunday after Toronto’s main airport was snowed in.

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Hundreds at zoo in Tokyo say farewell to Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao, as China ends ‘panda diplomacy’ with Japan

Hundreds of people have gathered to say farewell to two popular pandas departing Tokyo for China, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years, as ties between the Asian neighbours fray.

Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao were transported by truck out of Ueno zoological gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.

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US president says tariffs on automobiles, lumber and pharmaceuticals will rise to 25%, accusing Seoul of not living up to a trade deal struck last year

Donald Trump has said he is raising tariffs on South Korean goods including automobiles, lumber and pharmaceuticals, accusing the country of not living up to a trade deal struck last year and briefly sending shares in Korean carmakers tumbling.

In a post on social media, the US president said the tariffs paid on South Korean exports into America would rise from 15% to 25% because the “Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative”.

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Experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining an officer who has significantly betrayed his trust

Standing inches from Xi Jinping at a military ceremony in late December, China’s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, may have had little inkling about the fate that was to befall him just a few weeks later when he was put under investigation.

The 75-year-old’s physical proximity to China’s leader, who stands to his right, reflects the position he holds in China’s hierarchy. As vice-chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), he is the second-most powerful person in China’s military, after Xi, the commander-in-chief.

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Rescuers save at least 316 after inter-island ferry sank en route from city of Zamboanga to southern Jolo island

A ferry with more than 350 people onboard sank early on Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, killing at least 18 people, officials said. Rescuers saved hundreds more, while a fleet of coastguard and naval ships searched for those still missing.

Coastguard officials said the cargo and passenger ferry apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight. The steel-hulled vessel abruptly tilted to one side and took on water, hurling people into the sea in the darkness, according to a rescued passenger who lost his six-month-old baby.

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Zhang Youxia, long seen as Xi Jinping’s closest military ally, reportedly accused of leaking nuclear secrets to US

China’s military leadership is in turmoil after its most senior general – a close ally of Xi Jinping – was placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”.

Zhang Youxia is the joint vice-chairperson of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Second only to Xi in the military command structure, Zhang has long been seen as the Chinese president’s closest military ally.

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As Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor emerge as likely challengers, two things could buy Ley some time

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In the chaotic few hours after the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, blew up the Coalition, one thing appeared clear to many Liberal MPs.

Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal party was all but over.

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Pauline Hanson’s party polls a primary vote of 22%, while Labor’s response to the Bondi terror attack wins widespread support

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One Nation’s polling surge has continued with a record-high primary vote of 22% in the latest Guardian Essential poll off the back of ongoing Coalition chaos and rising social tensions.

Meanwhile, there is widespread public support for the Labor government’s response to the Bondi beach terror attack, with a majority backing crackdowns on guns, hate speech and protests. However, most poll respondents say Anthony Albanese has poorly handled the fallout from the antisemitic shooting.

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The heatwave in Melbourne and Adelaide this week is likely to become the norm. We should prepare now

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On Tuesday, Australia’s second largest city baked through one of its hottest days since modern instrumental records began in 1910. Several Melbourne suburbs topped 45C.

The country’s fifth largest city, Adelaide, reached that temperature on Monday. Its residents then suffered through their hottest night ever, with a minimum of about 34C.

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BoM to check if Walpeup and Hopetoun broke state’s official heat record - set during 2009’s Black Saturday

• What happens to the human body in 49C heat? Australians are finding out

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Victoria may have sweltered through its hottest temperatures on record, with preliminary readings of 48.9C at two locations in the state’s north-west both higher than that recorded during 2009’s Black Saturday.

According to initial data recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, the Mallee towns of Hopetoun and Walpeup reached 48.9C on Tuesday afternoon. This would exceed the previous highest temperature of 48.8C, recorded at Hopetoun on 7 February 2009.

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• Heat records tumble in Victoria as authorities warn against complacency amid significant blazes

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Victoria to open nation’s first offshore wind auction this year

Australia’s first offshore wind auction is set to kick off this year, with the Victorian Government announcing it would invite tenders for 2 gigawatts of capacity in August.

We want to give industry the certainty it needs to invest and help us keep building the renewable energy Victoria needs to push down energy bills.

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Move affecting those who have been in Spain five months or more runs counter to anti-migration policies across Europe

Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has approved a decree it said would regularise 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, rejecting the anti-migration policies and rhetoric prevalent across much of Europe.

The decree, expected to come into effect in April, will apply to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and people in Spain with irregular status. To qualify for regularisation, applicants will have to prove they do not have a criminal record and had lived in Spain for at least five months – or had sought international protection – before 31 December 2025.

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Wide-ranging deal will cut tariffs to zero over seven years as Modi hails ‘largest free trade agreement’ in India’s history

The European carmakers’ association has welcomed the EU’s trade deal with India, saying it sent “a strong statement of intent by both parties to furthering more open and mutually beneficial trade relations.”

“It will greatly help European automobile exports enter a market of 4 million passenger cars that, until now, has been protected by prohibitively high import tariffs of up to 110%,” the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, added.

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Manufacturers use method that labels plastic as ‘circular’ and climate-friendly, despite being mostly fossil-based

Europe’s supermarket shelves are packed with brands billing their plastic packaging as sustainable, but often only a fraction of the materials are truly recovered from waste, with the rest made from petroleum.

Brands using plastic packaging – from Kraft’s Heinz Beanz to Mondelēz’s Philadelphia – use materials made by the plastic manufacturing arm of the oil company Saudi Aramco.

This article is part of a cross-border investigation, supported by IJ4EU and coordinated by the independent journalist Ludovica Jona, with the media outlets the Guardian, Voxeurop, Mediapart (France), Altreconomia (Italy), Público (Spain), Investigative Reporting Denmark, Deutsche Welle (Germany) and with reporters Lorenzo Sangermano and Lucy Taylor

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Milan’s mayor says agents’not welcome’ in co-host city and that Italy can take care of security itself

A unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will have a security role in the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, sparking uproar and petitions against the deployment.

Sources at the US embassy in Rome confirmed a statement from ICE, the agency embroiled in a brutal immigration crackdown in the US, saying that federal agents would support diplomatic security details during the Milan-Cortina games but would not run any enforcement operations.

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1,500 people evacuated from Niscemi after battering by Cyclone Harry triggers 4km-long chasm in hillside

The mayor of a hilltop town on Sicily said “the situation is dire” after a powerful storm brought down a long section of hillside, leaving houses perched perilously on a cliff edge.

About 1,500 people have so far been evacuated from their homes because of the landslide, which began to show signs of movement on Sunday before developing a 4km-long front. The chasm continues to widen, raising fears it could swallow the town’s historic centre.

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Sally Lane fears son Jack Letts, who left UK aged 18, may face death penalty if airlifted to Iraq under US operation

The mother of a British-born man detained for nearly nine years without trial in Syria has called for his repatriation to the UK or Canada as the US plans to airlift 7,000 Islamic State-linked prisoners from Syria to Iraq.

Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts, 30, said she was “frantically trying to find out as much as possible” and that it was unclear if he would face the death penalty in Iraq or remain in Syria – or be sent to Canada or the UK in line with US demands.

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Return of police sergeant Ran Gvili’s body should pave way for progress on second phase of Trump ceasefire plan

The remains of the Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, who was killed fighting Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, have been returned to Israel.

Militants took Gvili’s body to Gaza to use as a bargaining chip. He was the last of 251 people captured that day still held in the territory.

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American forces, aided by Israel, could have enough firepower to mount attack designed to topple regime

The Iranian government is bracing itself for a fresh US and Israeli missile assault after it was announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has now deployed key assets to the region, observers have said.

It is thought that Washington has the firepower in conjunction with Israeli aircraft to mount an attack designed to topple the government accused of brutally suppressing protests and killing thousands of Iranians.

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High court finds kingdom responsible for hacking phones of Ghanem al-Masarir and for physical attack on him

A judge has ordered Saudi Arabia to pay more than £3m in damages to a London-based dissident whose phones were targeted with Pegasus spyware.

In a judgment handed down on Monday, Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled that Ghanem al-Masarir was entitled to compensation for psychiatric harm sustained after discovering that his iPhones had been hacked, as well as a physical attack on him outside Harrods in central London.

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The opening of the the Rafah crossing with Egypt is a key part of the US brokered ceasefire

Israel said on Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the body of the last hostage in Gaza, adding that it would only reopen the Rafah crossing with Egypt after the mission was completed.

The statement came as Israel’s cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening the key border crossing, and a day after top US envoys met prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and reportedly urged him to reopen the vital entry point for aid into Gaza.

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Voting ends in month-long poll derided internationally as sham designed to cement army’s grip on power

Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power.

The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability.

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Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd

Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand.

Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

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Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East

Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions.

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Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home

Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements.

Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety.

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UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible

Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule.

Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war that has engulfed large parts of the impoverished nation of 51 million people.

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Craft retailer says there is ‘risk to health’ after some vials in Giant Box of Craft set contained fibrous tremolite asbestos

Hobbycraft has issued a full recall of children’s coloured play sand after confirming some bottles contained asbestos, presenting “a risk to health” .

The Guardian revealed at the weekend that the craft retailer had stopped selling the kit containing the vials after being alerted to the risk, but stopped short of alerting customers who had already bought the item.

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Poet laureate tackles ‘daunting’ commission from Yorkshire Cancer Research to mark charity’s centenary year

Cancer is a subject the poet laureate Simon Armitage has always shied away from. “I find it very daunting,” he said. “I’ve lost friends and family to cancer.”

But when he was commissioned to write a poem to mark World Cancer Day, he was forced to confront the realities of the disease. “I think I saw part of my task as being slightly demystifying and maybe de-mythologising or de-demonising cancer a little bit to myself,” Armitage said.

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Effect of heavy rain and strong winds prompts calls for more investment in resilience to extreme weather

Swathes of south-west England were left flooded and cut off as Storm Chandra brought heavy rain and strong winds, prompting calls for more resources to be invested in making the region more resilient to extreme weather.

The storm, which also caused deep snowfalls in northern Britain, led to travel disruption and the shutting of hundreds of schools across the UK.

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The YouGov poll also suggests that almost half of Britons think it would be good for the country if Starmer were replaced

As Dave Burke reports for the Daily Mirror, the Reform UK MP Lee Anderson posted a picture on social media of himself and activists campaigning in the Gorton and Denton byelection – standing outside a hotel that is actually in Angela Rayner’s neigbouring Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. Rayner told the paper: “Farage’s Reform can’t even find the Gorton and Denton constituency on a map. Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy filling their party full of former Tories who failed the country.”

The British Property Federation has said that the government’s plan to cap ground rents could discourage investment into the UK. It is also saying that landlords should get compensation. In a response to the announcement this morning (see 8.57am), Danny Pinder, director of policy at the BPF, said:

While we agree that rapidly escalating ground rents should be addressed, the proposed cap will interfere with investments made by pension funds and institutional investors over many years and undermine the government’s pursuit of investment in this country. The various documents published by the government today make clear that these changes will have an impact on freeholders – the value of their assets and their ability to match index-linked pension liabilities – but that they intend to proceed, nonetheless. We have long been clear that adequate compensation must be provided to these entities as they have invested in good faith in order to meet their liabilities and continue to fund everyone’s pensions – today’s announcements is silent on that point …

There are billions of pounds invested in large-scale residential and mixed-use developments, and it is essential that reform is mindful of the rights of property owners as well as leaseholders. In our legal system contract is sacrosanct and legislative changes that cut across and undermine existing commercial agreements will raise the risk premium that investors attach to the UK at a time when the government is seeking to attract domestic and private capital for its growth agenda.

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Former deputy PM warns against ‘vested interests’ trying to block measures for leaseholders in England and Wales

Freeholders may “resort to lawfare” to block the government’s £250 cap on ground rents, Angela Rayner has warned, as leasehold experts urged ministers to speed up the “glacial” pace of reform.

Keir Starmer announced a cap on ground rents for leaseholders in England and Wales as part of measures that also include a consultation on banning new leasehold flats and giving leaseholders the right to switch to commonhold.

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Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has defended some of Trump’s border policy, joins calls for Noem to go, saying she is ‘betraying DHS’s core mission’

• Border patrol commander to leave Minneapolis after shooting of Alex Pretti

Melania Trump has called for “unity” in the wake of the fatal federal law enforcement shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and widespread peaceful protests this month.

Asked about the tensions in Minneapolis on Fox News this morning, the first lady said:

We need to unify. I’m calling for unity. I know my husband, the president, had a great call yesterday with the governor and the mayor, and they’re working together to make it peaceful and without riots.

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Rapper and fashion mogul, legally known as Ye, gives details of mental health treatment and speaks of making amends with those in his personal life

Kanye West has elaborated on his mindset during manic episodes in which he made strongly antisemitic comments.

On separate occasions, the rapper and fashion designer, legally known as Ye, had said “There’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi … I love Hitler”, had accused Jewish people of trying “to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda”, and designed clothing featuring swastikas.

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Among victims were attorney Tara Arnold; event planner Shawna Collins; and the plane’s pilot, Jacob Hosmer

Several victims killed in a private jet crash in Maine during a snowstorm on Sunday have been identified.

The France-bound Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed shortly after takeoff at Bangor international airport, killing all six people on board. Among the victims was Houston-based attorney Tara Arnold, who was married to Kurt Arnold, a co-founder of the Arnold & Itkin Law Firm, which owns the private jet, according to the Texas news outlet ABC13.

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Gregory Bovino, an aggressive promoter of Trump’s deportation agenda, is said to have been stripped of ‘commander at large’ title

• Analysis: The rise and fall of Gregory Bovino, US border patrol’s menacing provoker-in-chief

Gregory Bovino, the border patrol commander who has become the public face of the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, is being swapped in the city with the border czar, Tom Homan, as the Trump administration reshuffles the leadership of its immigration enforcement operation and scales back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by officers.

The carting off of Bovino comes nearly immediately after he went on the Sunday cable news shows and said that border patrol officials were the real victims following the shooting death of nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents.

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Senators argue latest ICE shooting in Minneapolis merits firing the homeland security secretary, as representatives sign on to impeachment attempt

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Democrats on Tuesday stepped up calls for Kristi Noem’s ouster, with senators from across the ideological spectrum arguing the weekend killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis merits firing the homeland security secretary, while House lawmakers signed on to an impeachment attempt.

The campaign against Noem comes after Democrats vowed to block a measure funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because it includes money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose agents surged into Minnesota’s largest city in an operation that has resulted in the deaths this month of Pretti and Renée Good, both US citizens.

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