Category Archives: World News

Russia-Ukraine war live: US does not expect significant Russian gains this year; Lukashenko arrives in China

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Pentagon official says war now a ‘grinding slog’; Belarus president to meet Xi Jinping

The regional government in Sumy, in Ukraine’s north-east, recorded 36 strikes on its territory in overnight Russian shelling, according to reports from Ukraine’s state broadcaster, Suspilne.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Tuesday pledged support for Kazakhstan’s independence on a trip to boost influence in central Asia, which has been rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London from my colleague Samantha Lock in Sydney. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

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Carbon emissions from global SUV fleet outweighs most countries

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Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts

The continued global rise in the sale of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.

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Nigeria’s opposition calls for election to be scrapped as results show Tinubu leading

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Reuters tally on Tuesday night says ruling party’s candidate has an ‘unassailable lead’

Nigeria’s main opposition parties have called for the country’s presidential election to be scrapped, alleging that results showing the ruling party’s candidate in the lead had been manipulated.

A slew of results during the day have put Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) well ahead of the main opposition Peoples Democratic party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the outsider third challenger, the Labour party’s Peter Obi.

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UK Border Force urged to ‘deprioritise’ gun and drugs searches to ease queues

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Exclusive: Leaked emails show airport staff were guided to ease passenger waits during school holidays

Airport managers have asked Border Force officers to “deprioritise” customs work such as searching for guns and drugs in order to stop passport queues frustrating travellers.

Leaked emails show that staff at Manchester airport were told this month that customs work should be carried out only if “there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time”.

Any staff who are contingency trained should be prioritised to the PCP [Primary Control Point] when required to prevent excessive queues.

Customs work is deprioritised and will only be carried out when you are satisfied there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time or in the event of a cat A target,” he wrote.

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Sunak draws ire after hailing Northern Ireland’s access to UK and EU markets

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PM criticised for boasting about trade benefits of new deal while denying same gains to rest of UK

Rishi Sunak has eulogised Northern Ireland’s “unique” and privileged position in having easy trade access to both the UK and EU markets – prompting critics to note that this was the case for the entire country before Brexit.

In comments that could potentially antagonise hardline Conservative Brexiters – who suspect Sunak could secretly welcome a shuffle towards closer EU single market access – the prime minister used an event in Northern Ireland to talk up what he called “the prize that is on offer” with his post-Brexit protocol.

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‘A war society doesn’t see’: the Brazilian force driving out mining gangs from Indigenous lands

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An elite unit is on a mission to expel the illegal miners who devastated Yanomami territory during Bolsonaro’s presidency

For the last four years Brazil’s rainforests bled. “They bled like never before,” said Felipe Finger as he prepared to venture into the jungle with his assault rifle to staunch the environmental carnage inflicted on the Amazon under the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

Moments later Finger, a mettlesome special forces commander for Brazil’s environmental protection agency, Ibama, was airborne in a single-engine helicopter, hurtling over the forest canopy towards the frontline of a ferocious war on nature and the Indigenous peoples who lived here long before Portuguese explorers arrived more than 500 years ago.

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‘A new page’: European newspapers hail Northern Ireland deal

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Rishi Sunak lauded for making ‘adult relationship’ possible between UK and EU after post-Brexit dispute

Continental media have welcomed the deal settling the EU’s bitter post-Brexit dispute with the UK over Northern Ireland, hoping it may herald a new “adult relationship” that had been unthinkable while the “untrustworthy” Boris Johnson was in Downing Street.

In France, where the president, Emmanuel Macron, hailed “an important decision” that would “preserve the Good Friday agreement and protect our European internal market”, Le Monde called the Windsor framework a significant breakthrough.

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China should scrap ‘picking quarrels’ crime, says leading lawyer

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Suggestion to abolish catch-all offence will be among thousands considered at Chinese Communist party summit

China should abolish the catch-all crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a political delegate has proposed before next week’s major Two Sessions legislative meeting.

Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) advisory body, said the law risked undermining China’s legal system and was open to “selective enforcement” by authorities, according to state media.

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Confusion surrounds China’s energy policies as GDP and climate goals clash

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Wave of permits for coal-fired power plants sparks concern as ambitions for GDP growth and lowering emissions come into conflict

China’s energy policies are fast creating a type of “emissions ambiguity”, as the twin goals of boosting GDP growth and reducing carbon emissions come into conflict.

The uncertainty is whether and when the world’s biggest carbon emitter will start to curb greenhouse gas pollution. The release of the country’s annual statistics communique on Tuesday did not clear things up.

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Japan’s top ad agency indicted over Olympics bid-rigging scandal

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Dentsu Group charged after arrest of Tokyo 2020 committee official accused of rigging Games-related tenders

Japan’s biggest advertising agency and five other companies have been indicted for allegedly violating an anti-monopoly law, in a corruption scandal over allegations of bid-rigging during the Tokyo Olympics.

The indictment followed the arrest this month of a senior Tokyo 2020 organising committee official and three others who were accused of rigging a string of Olympic Games-related tenders.

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Sunak: True test of Northern Ireland deal will be restoration of assembly

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PM hints that Westminster is optimistic about return of power-sharing after unveiling Stormont brake

Rishi Sunak has said the true test for his new protocol deal will be the restoration of the Northern Ireland assembly, saying citizens “need and deserve” to return to functioning government.

In a hint the government in Westminster is optimistic about the return of power-sharing, Sunak said the new Stormont brake – which would allow the assembly a say over EU law applied in Northern Ireland – would be a key step towards restoring the “democratic deficit”.

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Last of Iran’s endangered Asiatic cheetah cubs in captivity dies

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Authorities announce death of cub named Pirouz from kidney failure at veterinary hospital in Tehran

The last survivor of three critically endangered Asiatic cheetah cubs born in captivity in Iran has died in hospital from kidney failure.

Pirouz, who was admitted to the Central veterinary hospital due to kidney failure last Thursday, died after undergoing dialysis, the official IRNA news agency said.

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Wizz Air to suspend Moldova flights due to security fears

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Budget airline links decision to airspace risks from war in neighbouring Ukraine and tensions with Russia

Wizz Air will suspend all its flights to and from Moldova next month due to security concerns linked to growing tensions with Russia.

It comes after a Russian missile was fired over Moldovan airspace earlier this month.

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Sunak hails ‘new chapter’ in UK-EU relations as Northern Ireland deal is agreed

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Prime minister unveils agreement with European Commission president after four months of negotiations

Rishi Sunak has hailed a “new chapter” in the UK’s relationship with the EU as he secured a deal to end the long-running dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.

The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described a “decisive breakthrough” at a joint news conference in Windsor after four months of intense negotiations.

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EU leaders voice hope NI deal will be start of ‘new chapter’ with UK

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Windsor agreement is intended to end poisonous disputes of Brexit years

European leaders have voiced hopes of turning the page with the British government, following a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol intended to end the poisonous disputes of the Brexit years.

“This new framework will allow us to begin a new chapter,” the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said at her joint press conference with Rishi Sunak. “It provides for longlasting solutions that both of us are confident will work for all people and businesses in Northern Ireland.”

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UN raises $1.2bn from donors towards $4.3bn Yemen aid plan

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Number falls well short of target to respond to one of world’s biggest humanitarian disasters

The United Nations has raised about $1.2bn (£996m) from crisis-strained donors towards its $4.3bn aid plan for Yemen, one of the world’s biggest humanitarian disasters despite a no-war, no-peace stalemate that has largely stopped fighting.

Underfunding has seen agencies scale back Yemen aid projects, including food rations, in the past couple of years. Last year donors gave $2.2bn of the $4.27bn sought, UN data shows.

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Iranian officials to investigate ‘revenge’ poisoning of schoolgirls

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The attacks on female students – called an act of ‘biological terrorism’ – are thought to be retaliation for protests against hijabs in the country

Iranian authorities have confirmed they are investigating reports that several schoolgirls have been poisoned as “revenge” for the role young women played in recent protests against the mandatory hijab.

Iran’s deputy education minister, Younes Panahi, told reporters yesterday: “After the poisoning of several students in [the city of] Qom … it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed.”

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Biden administration under pressure as Israel-Palestine violence escalates

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Advent of Israel’s most right-wing government, and spiralling violence, expose dangers of light-touch diplomacy

With an in-tray bulging with the war in Ukraine, the Chinese threat to Taiwan and the potential collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, the US state department has tried to avert its gaze from the clouds gathering over Israel and Palestine, but has now found it impossible to do so.

Since John Kerry, as secretary of state, expended diplomatic muscle trying to revive the Middle East peace process in the final year of the Obama administration, US Democrats have gently welcomed the rapprochement symbolised by the Abraham accords, but have not done much else. However, the advent of the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, and violence spiralling out of control, have shown the dangers of light-touch diplomacy.

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Nigeria election: early results put ruling party’s Bola Tinubu in strong lead

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Tinubu appears on course for victory despite Labour candidate Peter Obi taking Lagos in surprise result

Early results in Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections have put the ruling party’s candidate well ahead, but also revealed a surprise victory for the outsider Peter Obi in Lagos, the country’s biggest city and commercial powerhouse.

Analysts speak of a “bellwether” election that could be a crucial turning point for Nigeria after several years of worsening insecurity and acute economic troubles. Many believe a credible poll and progress in tackling the country’s multiple problems are key to stability across a swath of Africa.

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Iran protests are at do-or-die moment, says son of former shah

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Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in 1979, urges west to give active support and proscribe Revolutionary Guards

The Iranian revolution is at a do-or-die moment, requiring western governments to give their full, active support or risk seeing the movement’s impact wane, Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the former Shah of Iran who was deposed in 1979, has said in a Guardian interview.

Pahlavi said there were signs that if the west imposed maximum pressure, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and some reformist politicians would desert the regime.

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