LA wildfires: stronger winds threaten further destruction, officials warn

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Three fires still burning as at least 16 people killed and more than 150,000 people remain under evacuation warning

With the two biggest wildfires in Los Angeles still less than 30% contained, officials in California warned on Sunday that strengthening winds in the coming days threatened to expand the swath of destruction through the city that has already seen at least 16 people killed and many neighborhoods erased.

Three wildfires were still burning Sunday morning in Los Angeles county, where more than 150,000 people remained under an evacuation warning. Firefighters said shifting Santa Ana winds could blow the Palisades fire, which has razed almost 24,000 acres, back on itself towards the coast.

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Counter-terrorism police take up investigation of swastika attack at Sydney synagogue

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Vandals also started a fire in Newtown that could have had deadly consequences, commissioner says

Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation of a swastika vandalism attack at a Sydney synagogue as the police commissioner and premier call on the public to help catch the perpetrators.

Jewish leaders condemned the latest antisemitic attack, in which red swastikas were spray-painted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.

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Australia news live: Dutton attacks renewables as he begins pre-election pitch; Rishworth says ‘no real new ideas’ from opposition

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The opposition leader has claimed the government has a ‘renewables-only strategy’. Follow today’s news live

Dutton continues rounds on breakfast television

The opposition leader Peter Dutton has been making the rounds this morning, also speaking with the Today Show.

We need to do what is right in our country’s economic interests. We have to have the settings so that people can invest here. And at the moment, when we speak to CEOs and chairs of companies … what they’re doing is moving capital away from Australia into south-east Asia, into Africa, into North America, and we’re missing out on the tax dollars and the jobs here in Australia.

It’s a question of how much money is in the bank and how much can we responsibly give back, because in the end, it’s people’s money. People are working hard for it.

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Ambulance crews stuck at A&E miss thousands of 999 calls a day in England

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Exclusive: paramedics unable to respond to 100,000 calls a month as they wait to hand over patients

Paramedics in England are unable to respond to 100,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients, endangering thousands of lives, the Guardian can reveal.

As the crisis engulfing the NHS intensified this weekend, figures showed ambulance crews are tied up at A&E for so long that on more than 3,500 occasions each day they are unable to respond to a 999 plea for help.

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One in six UK workers skipping meals to make ends meet, says TUC

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Trade unions body finds 17% have skipped meal in past three months, and as many as 10% do so most days

As many as one in six workers in Britain are skipping meals to make ends meet as households remain under pressure from the higher cost of groceries, energy and other essentials.

Highlighting the impact of the cost of living crisis on working households, figures from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) showed 17% of full- or part-time workers had skipped a meal to reduce their spending in the past three months.

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Missing Briton’s belongings found in Dolomites as rescuers continue search

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Italy’s Alpine cliff and cave rescue corps find items belonging to Aziz Ziriat as search continues

Items belonging to a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day have been found as the search for him continues.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in for their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

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LA fires could test Getty Center’s claim of being safest place to store artwork

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Getty team says no current plans to move prominent pieces from center deemed ‘marvel of anti-fire engineering’

It houses some of the richest treasures of the art world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, a popular Rembrandt and a priceless collection of paintings, portraits and other works spanning more than seven centuries.

To protect them, the Getty Center in Los Angeles was built in 1997 as “a marvel of anti-fire engineering”, complete with fire-resistant stone and concrete, protected steel, and set in well-irrigated landscaping.

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AfD launches manifesto as campaign season for German election begins

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Polling for far-right insurgent and its extreme policies is rising but other parties have closed ranks against it despite their weak popularity

Germany’s far-right AfD party has signed off on its manifesto before next month’s critical election, proposing a series of deeply controversial policies on everything from migration to education as the campaign for a new government in Europe’s powerhouse formally kicked off.

The party, founded in 2013, endorsed the far-right concept of “re-migration” into its programme, threatening the mass deportation of migrants if it came to power.

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Italy releases Iranian man wanted by US over drone attack in Jordan

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Mohammad Abedini detained on US warrant three days before Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested in Iran

Italy has released an Iranian citizen wanted by the US over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago, after the Italian justice minister asked a court to revoke his arrest.

Mohammad Abedini has already returned to Iran, Iranian state TV said on Sunday afternoon.

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Northern Irish nun killed in Ecuador earthquake takes step towards sainthood

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Beatification ceremony for Clare Crockett, former party girl from Derry, draws more than 100 people to Madrid

A nun from Northern Ireland who was killed in an earthquake while she was teaching music in Ecuador has taken a step closer to sainthood.

A ceremony on Sunday afternoon started the process of beatification for Clare Crockett, who died in Portoviejo, Ecuador during an earthquake in April 2016. The 33-year-old had been working in the country as part of her work as a nun, which had also taken in placements in Spain and the US.

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Sweden neither at war nor at peace, says PM, as warships sent to Baltic Sea

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Ulf Kristersson says ‘hostile intent cannot be ruled out’ as increased surveillance follows suspected cable sabotage

The Swedish prime minister has said that his country is neither at war nor at peace as he announced that Sweden would be sending armed forces into the Baltic Sea for the first time as part of increased surveillance efforts amid a spate of suspected sabotage of undersea cables.

The country announced it will contribute up to three warships and a surveillance aircraft to a Nato effort to monitor critical infrastructure and Russia’s “shadow fleet” as the alliance tries to guard against sabotage of underwater infrastructure.

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Fears for UK boomer radicalisation on Facebook after Meta drops factcheckers

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For middle-aged users, it will be ‘even harder to discern the truth’ among extremist content, expert says

Experts fear the decision by Meta to drop professional factcheckers from Facebook will exacerbate so-called boomer radicalisation in the UK.

Even before what Keir Starmer described as “far-right riots” in England last summer, alarm bells were ringing amid fears older people were even more susceptible to misinformation and radicalisation than younger “digital natives”.

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One in five Britons aged 18-45 prefer unelected leaders to democracy, poll finds

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Exclusive: Voters overall are downbeat about politics and almost two-thirds think ‘the UK’s best years are behind us’

One in five generation Z and millennial Britons prefer strong leaders without elections to democracy, and voters overall are feeling downbeat about politics, a report has found.

The polling, due to be published next week as part of the FGS Global Radar report, found that overall 14% of people agreed with the statement: “The best system for running a country effectively is a strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with elections,” rather than the alternative: “The best system for running a country effectively is democracy.”

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Ministers from 17 countries meet for Saudi talks on speeding aid to Damascus

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Riyadh meeting also discussed keeping pressure on Syria’s new leadership to meet commitment to inclusive transition

Ministers from 17 Middle East and western countries have met in Riyadh to discuss how to speed aid to the new Syrian government while keeping pressure on the caretaker leadership to meet its commitment to run an administration representative of all religions and ethnic groups.

The meeting on Sunday came as protesters in Syria called on the west to move faster on lifting economic sanctions, and so persuade more refugees to return from Europe and the states surrounding the country.

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State school pupils in England may have to drop GSCE Latin after funding pulled

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DfE urged to delay ending funding of popular programme so that hundreds of students can complete their courses

• Axing the Latin excellence scheme: a classic mistake

State school pupils taking GCSE Latin may be forced to drop the subject or even have to teach themselves after the government ends funding for a popular programme that has increased the numbers learning Latin across England.

School leaders, scholars and authors are urging the Department for Education to offer a reprieve to the Latin excellenceprogramme, to enable hundreds of students to complete their GCSE courses and allow schools time to find additional support.

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A&E ‘corridor care’ now normal at NHS hospitals in England, senior doctor says

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Consultant’s comments come as north London hospital posts specific ad for corridor care nurses

A senior doctor in emergency medicine has said “almost every hospital is treating patients in corridors and car parks” after a hospital posted adverts calling for nurses to take on 12-hour “corridor care” shifts.

Responding to “very significant pressure” in its A&E department, Whittington hospital in north London posted bank shifts available for A&E nurses, which said “corridor care” in the notes.

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Steve Bannon condemns Elon Musk as ‘racist’ and ‘truly evil’

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Ex-Trump adviser denounces tech CEO’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vows to ‘take this guy down’

In an escalation of discontent among the highest-profile far-right followers of Donald Trump, his former adviser Steve Bannon has called Trump’s newest favorite, Elon Musk, “racist” and a “truly evil guy”, pledging to “take this guy down” and kick him out of the Maga movement.

In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, excerpts of which were published this weekend by Breitbart, Bannon criticised Musk’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vowed to ensure that Musk does not have top-level access to the White House.

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Somalia and Ethiopia agree to restore diplomatic ties after year-long rift

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Somalia severed relations over sea access agreement Ethiopia signed with separatist region of Somaliland

Somalia and Ethiopia have agreed to restore diplomatic representation in their respective capitals, more than a year after Somalia severed ties over a sea access agreement landlocked Ethiopia signed with the separatist northern Somali region of Somaliland.

In a joint statement after an unexpected visit by Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, both countries committed to “restore and enhance bilateral relations through full diplomatic representation in their respective capitals”.

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Court ruling on Belgium’s conduct in colonial Africa hailed as turning point

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Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say

A historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.

Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages.

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Logging in forest earmarked for koala national park increasing under NSW Labor, analysis finds

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More than 7,000 hectares logged in planned park area since Chris Minns won 2023 election with commitment to deliver new sanctuary, conservationists say

Logging of native forest in the proposed great koala national park (GKNP) in northern New South Wales has intensified since the Minns government took office, according to new analysis by conservation advocates.

The report, which the state’s forestry corporation disputes, found 7,185 hectares (17,700 acres) were logged within the promised park in the 21 months since the March 2023 state election.

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