Thames Water seeks high court approval for £3bn debt lifeline

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Hearing to rule on whether to grant emergency funds to water utility, which says it may run out of cash by March

Thames Water will seek court approval for up to £3bn in emergency funding, which could stave off temporary nationalisation, at a court hearing in London.

A high court judge will hear from Britain’s biggest water supplier and groups of rival creditors on Monday before deciding whether to approve the rescue. Without the debt lifeline, Thames Water has said it could run out of cash by March.

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Teenager dies after being attacked by a shark off south-east Queensland

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The teenager was bitten on her upper body while swimming off Bribie Island, north of Brisbane

A teenager has died after being bitten by a shark off south-east Queensland.

Queensland ambulance service confirmed the female teen had sustained injuries to her upper body while swimming off Woorim beach on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon.

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‘Intensely hot’ weather continues in south-eastern states as Victoria battles bushfires

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Heatwave not expected to end until Tuesday or Wednesday as fires burn in multiple national parks

South-eastern states sweltering in a heatwave may be waiting until late Tuesday or Wednesday for a cool change to bring some relief.

On Monday, temperatures in Melbourne peaked at 37.8C just before 4pm, after a high of 38C on Sunday.

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Ofsted’s new school report card worse than old system, say headteachers

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Unions as well as school leaders say proposed changes to replace four-grade approach in England are ‘demoralising’

Moves to overhaul the way schools are inspected in England have been criticised by headteachers and teaching unions as “demoralising” and worse than the system they are aiming to replace.

The changes by the Ofsted schools inspectorate would replace single judgments such as “outstanding” with a new report card for parents. They will be unveiled by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Martyn Oliver, on Monday alongside the launch of a public consultation.

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Senior USAid officials put on leave after denying access to Musk’s Doge team

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After standoff, Doge members gained control over access system, letting them lock out workers and read emails

Two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have been put on administrative leave after they blocked efforts by members of Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency (Doge) to access sensitive data from the agency, five current and former USAid officials have told the Guardian.

The demands led to a tense standoff during which a senior deputy to Musk threatened to call the US marshals in to grant access to the building. The officials said John Voorhees, USAid’s director of security, and a deputy blocked efforts by Doge members to physically access restricted areas.

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Asian stock markets tumble in response to Trump tariffs

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European futures also down more than 3% after Trump indicates tariffs will ‘definitely happen’ in EU countries

Asian sharemarkets tumbled in early trade on Monday after the Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China sparked fears of an escalating global trade war.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 4.4% at the open, led by a more than 6% plunge in semiconductor heavyweight TSMC. Japan’s Topix index was down as much as 2.3% and Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 2.4%, led by major exporters with exposure to global markets, including Canada and Mexico such as electronics manufacturers Samsung and LG, and automaker Kia. China’s sharemarkets remain closed for the lunar new year holidays.

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Ukrainian refugees face losing jobs and homes due to UK visa extension uncertainty

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Home Office process will leave some with eight-week gap when they are unable to prove right to live and work in UK

Ukrainian refugees face losing their jobs and homes due to uncertainty over the Home Office’s visa extension process which will leave some with an eight-week gap in which they are unable to prove their right to live and work in the UK.

Some have already been refused tenancy renewal because their visas are about to expire, while others have been told they will have to stop working during the extension process as landlords and employers fear hefty fines and criminal sanctions.

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Elon Musk says USAid is ‘beyond repair’ and he is working to shut it down

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Billionaire says in social media discussion that Donald Trump agrees the world’s largest single donor should be shut down

Elon Musk, who is heading Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, has said they are working to shut down the foreign aid agency USAid, in a social media discussion on X early on Monday.

The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senator Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAid).

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Australian dollar plunges, ASX drops as fears of trade war spread over Donald Trump’s tariffs

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Traders even cashed out of gold, a historical safe haven, in push to protect against what could turn into wave of margin calls

The Australian dollar plunged to pandemic-era lows, the ASX fell and crypto prices were smashed as investors scrambled on Monday to prepare for a global trade war sparked by Donald Trump’s new tariff regime.

Traders even cashed out of gold, a historical safe haven, in a push to raise cash reserves to protect against what could turn into a wave of margin calls.

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Trump says he will cut off funding to South Africa over land ‘confiscations’

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Cyril Ramaphosa’s government ‘treating certain classes of people very badly’, says Trump, calling for investigation

Donald Trump has claimed South Africa is “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”, announcing he is cutting off all future funding to the country pending an investigation.

The US president’s intervention into one of South Africa’s most divisive issues was rebutted by the country’s government and criticised by groups across its political spectrum.

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DWP ‘blocked whistleblower giving evidence to carer’s allowance review’

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Staffer told by official it would be inappropriate for him to give evidence to review of scandal-hit benefit

The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of blocking a whistleblower who repeatedly raised the alarm about carer’s allowance from giving evidence to an independent review of the scandal-hit benefit.

The DWP staffer was told by a senior official it was inappropriate to share with the review their knowledge of the inner workings of a system that has become notorious for its often cruel treatment of unpaid carers.

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Farewell potholes? UK team invents self-healing road surface

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Researcher at Swansea University says tiny plant spores mixed into bitumen can extend surface lifespan by 30%

For all motorists, but perhaps the Ferrari-collecting rocker Rod Stewart in particular, it will be music to the ears: researchers have developed a road surface that heals when it cracks, preventing potholes without a need for human intervention.

The international team devised a self-healing bitumen that mends cracks as they form by fusing the asphalt back together. In laboratory tests, pieces of the material repaired small fractures within an hour of them first appearing.

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Environmental groups in UK ‘still very white – especially at the top’

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Greenpeace co-director responds to report finding fewer than one in 20 working in sector identifies as non-white

Environmental organisations “are still very white, especially at the top”, the co-director of Greenpeace has said as research showed little to no improvement in the ethnic diversity of their workforces.

Areeba Hamid’s comments came as the third annual racial action on the climate emergency (Race) report into diversity among environmental charities found fewer than one in 20 of those working in the sector identified as people of colour or as other racial or ethnic minority groups.

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