World News

The BBC hears harrowing accounts of assaults appearing to target the sect of former President Assad.

The US special envoy struck an optimistic note after the first day of talks in Geneva, but hopes for a breakthrough remain low.

Rescuers are racing to the scene, which has seen about 30 inches (76cm) of snowfall in the last 24 hours.

The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue spoke with city residents about what the civil rights leader's passing means for the community shaped by his activism.

Kerstin G's boyfriend is accused of leaving her unprotected and exhausted close to the summit during a blizzard.

Delcy Rodriguez knows its in America's interests for her to be a success

The network denies it stopped the interview with a Texas Democrat from airing but warned it could run afoul of the US broadcast media watchdog.

Robert Dorgan - who also went by the name Roberta Esposito - was found dead inside the Pawtucket arena.

José Jerí is the third consecutive president to be ousted and the country's seventh since 2016.

The daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte has feuded spectacularly with the incumbent, Bongbong Marcos.

Announcement follows multiple impeachment complaints against the vice president over allegations of corruption.

Ramped-up raids, violent settler attacks and bulldozed homes - Israel escalates its assault on the occupied West Bank.

China has previously criticised the role, accusing the US of interfering in China’s internal affairs.

UN warns that Israel's plan will lead to widespread dispossession of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

Top diplomat says Iran and US reached an understanding on 'guiding principles' in nuclear talks as tensions persist.

Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem among actors and directors expressing dismay at Berlinale's 'anti-Palestinian racism'.

Russian official says Western powers seizing sanctioned vessels carrying Moscow's oil commit 'piracy-like attacks'.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the $77m released Tuesday falls short of the amount owed for the transport project.

The suspect, identified as Carter Camacho from the US state of Georgia, was wearing a tactical vest and gloves.

Experts say newly released documents show the need for an independent investigation into Epstein's sex-trafficking ring.

Also in today’s newsletter: Eni’s return to oil trading and UK defence spending

Oil, natural gas and synthetic diamond facilities worth a combined $36bn mark crucial progress on pledged financing

The emissions trading system has been a success so far but the next phase will be harder to pull off

Two decades after he wrote it, an economics professor’s thesis is still one of this century’s most prescient

More Fed history (sorry), briefly put

Raising payroll taxes and the minimum wage has hurt young workers

Take part in a live Ask an Expert Q&A with Chris Giles, the FT’s economics commentator, on February 19 at 1pm (GMT)

Youth joblessness surges to highest in over a decade

The question is whether it is turning European or Australian. Also in this newsletter, all change in Eurozone labour markets

Also in today’s newsletter: Big Oil executives under pressure to spell out growth plans and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson dies

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting and said it expected inflation to retreat soon and for economic recovery to gather pace in the year ahead.

Federal Reserve governor said the job market might be “especially vulnerable to negative shocks,” given low levels of job creation and a low firing rate.

Consumer price pressures in Canada eased slightly in the first month of the year as prices at the pump fell sharply.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee continued to express his view that policymakers could make several more rate cuts if inflation shows it is headed back to the Fed’s 2% target.

Confidence among U.S. home builders inched lower this month, as affordability challenges persisted.

Factory activity in New York State continued to grow this month, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in January, with firms remaining optimistic as capital spending plans reached a multiyear high.

The resignation of Argentina’s statistics chief over delays in updating the inflation index has stirred up memories of price meddling.

The U.K.’s leading economic research body also said it expects inflation to settle at the Bank of England’s 2% target later this year.

Ireland’s GDP was 12.6% higher on year, the fastest expansion since 2021, even as Trump raised tariffs on imports from Europe and urged businesses to bring their production to the U.S.

Rearmament, an aging population, technological change and fear of voters are fueling a risky trend.

Acts such as Article 3 are drawing inspiration from their culture and meeting a big appetite for Indigenous-focused club nights

“We both live in maybe the most impractical place if you want to be a successful DJ,” laughs Alice Marie Jektevik, one half of Article 3, a Sámi female DJ collective. Jektevik, 36, and her collaborator, Petra Laiti, 30, reside in a rural village in the far north-east of Norway.

But living in Sápmi – the region across northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia traditionally lived in by Sámi people – has proven to be central to their success, providing the inspiration for much of their work.

Continue reading...

Labour promised ‘ambitious reforms’, but it was fixing things that were not broken. And the moral: focus on what matters and stop making stupid mistakes

What were they thinking? Labour inherited the worst of everything, including prisons beyond breaking point, court backlogs as bad as NHS waiting lists, children cast into exceptional destitution, the National Grid unable to cope with demand, reservoirs unbuilt while sewage poured into rivers, high debt, no money and deep public distrust in politics. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were honest about what they found.

So what on earth can have seized them, within months of taking over, to decide this was a good time for a gigantic English council re-disorganisation? Angela Rayner, who was in charge of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at the time, kicked it off in December 2024. But why, when councils are near-bankrupt and crippled by the ballooning costs of social care and provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities?

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?
On Monday 30 April, ahead of the May elections, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much threat Labour faces from both the Green party and Reform, and whether Keir Starmer can survive as party leader
Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Continue reading...

Google, Anthropic and OpenAI bosses to mingle with global south leaders wrestling for control over technology

Silicon Valley tech billionaires will land in Delhi this week for an AI summit hosted by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, where leaders of the global south will wrestle for control over the fast-developing technology.

During the week-long AI Impact Summit, attended by thousands of tech executives, government officials and AI safety experts, tech companies valued at trillions of dollars will rub along with leaders of countries such as Kenya and Indonesia, where average wages dip well below $1,000 a month.

Continue reading...

In 1999, Heather Preen contracted E coli on the beach. Two weeks later she died. Now, as a new Channel 4 show dramatises the scandal, her mother, Julie Maughan, explains why she is still looking for someone to take responsibility

When Julie Maughan was invited to help with a factual drama that would focus on the illegal dumping of raw sewage by water companies, she had to think hard. In some ways, it felt 25 years too late. In 1999, Maughan’s eight-year-old daughter, Heather Preen, had contracted the pathogen E coli O157 on a Devon beach and died within a fortnight. Maughan’s marriage hadn’t survived the grief – she separated from Heather’s father, Mark Preen, a builder, who later took his own life. “I’ve always said it was like a bomb had gone off under our family,” says Maughan. “This little girl, just playing, doing her nutty stuff on an English beach. And that was the price.” Yet there had been no outrage, few questions raised and no clear answers. “Why weren’t people looking into this? It felt as if Heather didn’t matter. Over time, it felt as if she’d been forgotten.” All these years later, Maughan wasn’t sure if she could revisit it. “I didn’t know if I could go back into that world,” she says. “But I’m glad I have.”

The result, Dirty Business, a three-part Channel 4 factual drama, is aiming to spark the same anger over pollution that ITV’s Mr Bates Vs the Post Office did for the Horizon scandal. Jumping between timelines, using actors as well as “real people” and with actual footage of scummy rivers and beaches dotted with toilet paper, sanitary towels and dead fish, it shows how raw sewage dumps have become standard policy for England’s water companies. Jason Watkins and David Thewlis play “sewage sleuths” Peter Hammond and Ash Smith, Cotswolds neighbours who, over time, watched their local river turn from clear and teeming with nature to dense grey and devoid of life. Hammond is a retired professor of computational biology, Smith a retired detective, and together, they used hidden cameras, freedom of information requests and AI models to uncover sewage dumps on an industrial scale.

Continue reading...

Driver reportedly checked with base and was told to continue when GPS directed van on to Essex mudflats

People thought they were looking at an AI image: an Amazon delivery van half-submerged at the mouth of the Thames estuary where it meets the North Sea. “I thought someone had just knocked up a photograph,” says local guide Kevin Brown about first seeing it online.

It turned out the image was genuine, and it proliferated. There was something delightfully primordial about it – such a dominant sight of modern street life, just out there on the mud, vulnerable and surrounded by nothingness. Banter followed, images of an Amazon package floating in sea water: Amazon has made your delivery.

Continue reading...

Reform UK leader snaps at reporters as he tries to maintain control over announcement of shadow cabinet

Meet the Fockers. The shadow cabinet from hell. Rejects, losers and deadbeats. A freak show. A tribute act.

Reform have often been called a one-man band. The Nigel Farage party. So to counter this narrative, Nige took over Church House in Westminster and turned it into a tacky gameshow set. A remake of The Weakest Link. All to parade his new top team. The lucky men and women whose one job is to try not to fall out with one another in the next few years. No chance.

Continue reading...

Figures from Aviva also show number of homes being built in risky areas is rising

One in nine new homes in England built between 2022 and 2024 were constructed in areas that could now be at risk of flooding, according to new data.

The figures show the number of homes being built in risky areas is on the rise – a previous analysis showed that between 2013 and 2022, one in 13 new homes were in potential flooding zones.

Continue reading...

National Crime Agency says rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums

Child sexual abuse in the UK is soaring, police have said, with 1,000 paedophile suspects being arrested each month and the number of children being rescued from harm rising by 50% in the last five years.

The National Crime Agency said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

Continue reading...

‘Shocking’ data shows the climate crisis and invasive mosquitos mean chikungunya could spread in 29 countries

An excruciatingly painful tropical disease called chikungunya can now be transmitted by mosquitoes across most of Europe, a study has found.

Higher temperatures due to the climate crisis mean infections are now possible for more than six months of the year in Spain, Greece and other southern European countries, and for two months a year in south-east England. Continuing global heating means it is only a matter of time before the disease expands further northwards, the scientists said.

Continue reading...

Moves come after Gordon Brown’s claim that files show that US sex offender used Stansted airport in Essex to ‘fly in girls’

British police have expanded their interest in the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s links to Britain, by admitting for the first time they are looking at claims he used dozens of private flights into UK airports to traffic women.

It comes after former prime minister Gordon Brown said that documents about Epstein released in the US showed in “graphic detail” how the disgraced financier, with links to high-profile people including the former Prince Andrew, was able to use Stansted airport in Essex to “fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia”.

Continue reading...

An immigration judge said the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet its burden of proving Mohsen Mahdawi was removable. The Trump administration can appeal the ruling.

German chemical giant Bayer and cancer patient attorneys have agreed to a proposed $7.25 billion settlement over lawsuits claiming that glyphosate in its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

Far-right activist Quentin Deranque was killed last week, seemingly in a clash with the far left.

Congress voted to impeach interim President Jose Jeri over secret meetings with Chinese businessmen just months before national elections in April.

A French court has rejected a compensation claim against US multinationals by Nicaraguan farm workers poisoned by the pesticide Nemagon. Farmers worldwide still rely on noxious chemicals, often exported from the EU.

More than 80 current and former participants in Germany's Berlinale film festival signed an open letter accusing it of silence over Gaza. The festival's director previously defended filmmakers who chose not to comment.

EU regulators are investigating Shein on suspicion that it has not done enough to limit the sale of illegal products and to protect consumers from allegedly addictive design features on the platform.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis' new right-wing populist government wants to bring the Czech public broadcaster under its control. One of its reforms is to abolish licensing fees.

Muslims will begin fasting on Wednesday for the holy month of Ramadan. But debate over whether the crescent moon is visible yet means that, in several countries, Ramadan will officially begin on Thursday instead.

German men who joined the "Islamic State" group have been detained in Syria for years. But the recent fighting caused chaos at prisons. Thousands escaped or were transferred — and now nobody knows where the Germans are.

Amid a surge in homicides since the start of the year, Police Commissioner Danny Levy made an unusual statement this week, claiming that various factors are hampering the force's ability to tackle violence in Arab society. His assertions, however, are at odds with the facts

An investigation reveals that the Israeli-owned Intellexa spyware was used to hack the head of Angola's journalists union as he was fighting the regime's surveillance of reporters. Fake news sites mimicking Angolan media were part of a broader campaign, Amnesty finds

Mass demonstrations over military conscription have grown more frequent as the government seeks to advance legislation on exemptions, turning the issue into a flashpoint in Israeli society as the country approaches a general election later this year

By law, committee members must have no personal or business affiliation with a political party. Nonetheless, Haaretz has learned that one of the candidates is Guy Busi, an attorney who represented Likud Minister Amihai Chikli in the High Court and defended Netanyahu on Channel 14 panels

Israeli manufacturers are worried the strong shekel is hurting exports, shrinking profits and pushing companies to move abroad, as exports could fall by $10 billion and the government could lose over $3 billion in taxes. The central bank is holding off to avoid triggering inflation

The legal disagreement over who controls DMZ access – South Korea’s government or the U.N. Command – has evolved into a full-fledged institutional and political confrontation.

American leaders are rightly condemning Jimmy Lai’s sentence. But when it comes to concrete policy responses, Washington’s cupboard is increasingly bare.

Defense spending in Taiwan continues to be politically contentious, particularly as the U.S. seeks to pressure the opposition KMT over the issue.

A new report exposes abuse and exploitation of cotton and wheat farmers in Uzbekistan.

The ruling mainstreams menstrual health. But India needs to normalize sex education too. Otherwise, menstruation will be treated as a “dirty issue” shrouded in silence.

The social media age has stripped the House of Chakri of its once-formidable royal aura. The only route to preservation is reform.

The approval will allow Starlink's local subsidiary to provide satellite internet access to up to 600,000 user terminals.

Jakarta's contribution to the U.N. Security Council-mandated International Stabilization Force (ISF) has stirred controversy at home.

Sanctions scrutiny and overheating risks are threatening one of the few winners from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Rigid patriarchy, the necessity of a male heir, and the threat of internal rivals ensure that the “Princess of Pyongyang” will remain a symbolic placeholder rather than a viable sovereign.

President Trump’s most trusted envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are at the center of the Iran and Ukraine negotiations.

The Iranian minister, Abbas Araghchi, said both sides had agreed on a “set of guiding principles.” President Trump has called on Iran to make an immediate accord or face a possible U.S. attack.

The talks in Geneva, Switzerland, were expected to focus on Ukrainian-held territory in the east that Russia wants to control as the price of peace. Kyiv has said that demand is a nonstarter.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his proposal to raise New York City property taxes was a “last resort” to close a budget gap.

Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, will observe Ramadan as he runs the nation’s largest city, blending his faith into his public life.

Stephen Colbert said he had to drop an interview with James Talarico from his Monday broadcast because of new F.C.C. guidance that targeted political interviews on late-night shows.

There are more Black senators than ever before, but a major Supreme Court ruling could reduce Black representation in the House.

The candidate’s reference to New York as “Hymietown” helped tank his 1984 presidential campaign and eroded a longstanding alliance.

Though he didn’t win the Democratic nomination for president in either year, Jesse Jackson’s moving speeches at the conventions called on the party to care more about the marginalized.

An impassioned orator, he was a moral and political force, forming a “rainbow coalition” of poor and working-class people and seeking the presidency. His mission, he said, was “to transform the mind of America.”

India’s promise is undeniable, yet political dysfunction and empty rhetoric continue to undermine its long-term prospects. The absence of reliable statistics, lagging innovation, and worsening air quality all point to institutional decay that only sustained, coordinated national action can reverse.

Across the Global South, one of the biggest challenges is not just to build more infrastructure, but to build it right. Without institutional capacity and financial depth, the increasingly popular public-private-partnership model can backfire, creating a vicious spiral of debt, delays, and disillusionment.

With a rock-solid parliamentary majority, as well as the backing of the military and judiciary, the royalist-conservative Bhumjaithai Party is poised to spend its full four-year term governing in the service of establishment interests. But that does not mean it will all be smooth sailing ahead.

In a country as large and diverse as the United States, expanding economic opportunity cannot and should not depend on volatile federal policies. A framework of directed improvisation that aligns federal and state priorities with local capacities offers a promising way to promote broad-based development.

The United States’ unique economic advantages – deep financial markets, a strong institutional framework, and the world's dominant reserve currency – should not be mistaken for invincibility. In fact, markets are already pricing US policy uncertainty the same way they price that of countries that do not have a reserve currency.

While US Vice President JD Vance used his remarks to the Munich Security Conference last year to hector and insult European leaders, Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed more eager to flatter. And yet, America’s top diplomat merely confirmed that the transatlantic divide has become massive – and is still widening.

As the post-Cold War era recedes, a more regional and competitive order is reasserting itself. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that larger powers would seek to shape their immediate surroundings – not only out of ambition, but also because they face constraints farther afield.

The federal cap on credit-card interest rates that US President Donald Trump has proposed would, in theory, prevent issuers from gouging customers. But not everyone agrees that this would be good for Americans, especially lower-income households that are often the most desperate for credit.

While anyone familiar with past technological hype cycles can see that today’s predominantly young technologists are overly optimistic about AI’s potential benefits, mainstream economists seem to suffer from tunnel vision of a different sort. If recent history is any guide, that should worry us all.

Over the past decade, India has built the world’s largest real-time payments system. By using public infrastructure to expand financial inclusion, it offers a model for other developing countries that want to modernize payments without being dependent on a few multinational corporations.

A senior US State Department official has flatly rejected suggestions that Washington and Moscow are informally continuing to observe the limits of the now-expired, nuclear-weapon-limiting New START treaty, saying there is no “gentlemen’s agreement” in place.

A European Commission spokeswoman on February 17 confirmed that Brussels was in touch with Ukraine regarding the Druzhba pipeline that has been damaged since late January, preventing Russian oil from flowing to Hungary and Slovakia.

A second round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear program concluded on February 17, according to Iran's state broadcaster.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were set to meet for the latest round of US-brokered peace talks following another round of Russian overnight strikes on targets across Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles.

US and Iranian officials are meeting in Switzerland for a second round of negotiations over a deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program and averting war.

Dozens gathered at a Moscow cemetery on the second anniversary of Aleksei Navalny's death, laying flowers at his grave, as European countries said Russia poisoned Navalny with exotic frog toxin.

Ukraine's former energy minister has been charged with money laundering a day after he was detained trying to leave the country.

Just one day after addressing the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio used a brief stop in the Slovak capital to dispel fears of a US retreat from NATO, telling reporters that Washington remains firmly committed to the alliance.

Iran has opened the possibility of striking a deal over its nuclear program with the United States provided that Washington lift its sanctions imposed on the regime.

On his second day at the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set out to calm nerves and sharpen focus: Ukraine and security, he signaled, very much remain the center of gravity of Washington’s transatlantic policy.