As international treaty comes into force, bill to make it law in Britain is moving at ‘glacial pace’ through parliament The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned. The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks. Continue reading...

Bruised and tainted by his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Labour peer still has admirers – and the drive to go again The BBC’s interview with Peter Mandelson had offered ample evidence of the Labour peer’s “formidable political brain”, according to Louis Mosley, UK head of the US data firm, Palantir Technologies. An indefensible error of judgment had been made by Mandelson, Mosley said in a panel discussion with Laura Kuenssberg after the airing of some of the 30-minute interview on her Sunday morning political show, but “he is a masterful interpreter of Trump and we now live in a world where that man will determine much of what happens, and we need people who can be that translation function”. Continue reading...

How would you feel if your therapist’s notes – your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings – were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequences Tiina Parikka was half-naked when she read the email. It was a Saturday in late October 2020, and Parikka had spent the morning sorting out plans for distance learning after a Covid outbreak at the school where she was headteacher. She had taken a sauna at her flat in Vantaa, just outside Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and when she came into her bedroom to get dressed, she idly checked her phone. There was a message that began with Parikka’s name and her social security number – the unique code used to identify Finnish people when they access healthcare, education and banking. “I knew then that this is not a game,” she says. The email was in Finnish. It was jarringly polite. “We are contacting you because you have used Vastaamo’s therapy and/or psychiatric services,” it read. “Unfortunately, we have to ask you to pay to keep your personal information safe.” The sender demanded €200 in bitcoin within 24 hours, otherwise the price would go up to €500 within 48 hours. “If we still do not receive our money after this, your information will be published for everyone to see, including your name, address, phone number, social security number and detailed records containing transcripts of your conversations with Vastaamo’s therapists or psychiatrists.” Continue reading...

Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day. Continue reading...

Jenny (left), 27, a gallery assistant, meets Sara, 29, a researcher Continue reading...

US president’s increasingly bellicose demands for control of the island may force the EU to draw a line in the snow Greenland: new shipping routes, hidden minerals – and a frontline between the US and Russia? The crisis over Greenland may deliver the moment when Europe must stand up to Donald Trump, as officials have said a US attempt to annex the territory could shatter the Nato transatlantic alliance. European leaders have entertained Trump’s demands for nearly a year as he has pushed Nato countries to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP, and threatened to pull US support from Ukraine as part of a peace process that appears to favour Russia. They have also given a muted response to US adventurism abroad including the capture and rendition of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading...

Parts suppliers ‘put production on hold’ amid mounting confusion as China restricts purchase of the chips and US puts 25% roundabout tariff on their sale Suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s H200 have paused production after Chinese customs officials blocked shipments of the newly approved artificial intelligence processors from entering China, according to a report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which appeared in the Financial Times citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment made outside regular business hours. Continue reading...

Report claims unrestricted online access will be a ‘government privilege’, limited to individuals vetted by regime Iran is planning to permanently break from the global internet, only allowing individuals vetted by the regime to connect online, according to Iranian digital rights activists. “A confidential plan is under way to turn international internet access into a ‘governmental privilege’,” according to a report from Filterwatch, an organisation monitoring Iran’s internet censorship, citing a number of sources in Iran. Continue reading...

Grieving, bruised and divided on the wisdom of foreign-backed revolt, how can the Iranian people achieve change? The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami in his novel 1Q84 may have foreshadowed the great and indelible rift Iranian society is about to experience. “The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don’t want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can’t turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That’s what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.” Inside Iran, contrasting memories are already being brought into even sharper relief and made more traumatic by the blanket propaganda from Iran state TV portraying protesters as drug-crazed or pawns of a foreign power attracted to a violent terrorist culture reminiscent of Islamic State. Continue reading...

Marine Le Pen is milking rural fury over the Mercosur pact. France’s politicians, of all stripes, are too cowardly to defend a good deal Once again, France’s farmers have been blocking motorways with their tractors in protest, this time at an impending EU trade agreement with a group of South American countries in a common market known as Mercosur, which has been 25 years in the making. The tragedy is that while the EU can finally claim an important victory in its strategy of sealing rules-based free-trade pacts with key regions and countries worldwide to counter aggressive US trade protectionism, in so doing it is helping the Eurosceptic far right to electoral victory in France. Losing the support of France, a founding member, for European integration if the far right wins power, would have a more damaging impact on the long-term stability of the EU than any trade boost with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have gone from waiting tables to ‘One Direction-level’ fame in a matter of months, upstaging A-listers at the Golden Globes last week. What’s next? Tough luck if you prefer your romcoms PG-rated, or ice hockey leaves you cold: there is no escaping Heated Rivalry. The steamy coming-of-age series has been a sensation in North America, making instant stars of its leads as producers rush to make more of it. It’s hard to remember the last TV show to spark such a furore, let alone one from Canada’s “Crave network”. So who are the young men at the centre of the frenzy – and how are they coping with all that thirst? 1. From waiting tables … Continue reading...

The famous gallery, home to masterpieces from Goya and Velázquez, is exploring how best to preserve, and improve, the visitor experience Friday morning found Diego Velázquez striking the familiar pose he has held for the past 370 years, staring out, brush in one hand, palette in the other, from the huge canvas of Las Meninas. The 14 people who stood before the painting to meet the Spanish artist’s haughty gaze – not to mention the heavy eyes of the dozy mastiff in the picture’s foreground – were among the first visitors of the day to Madrid’s Prado Museum. Continue reading...

Governor Tim Walz says ‘weaponizing the justice system is an authoritarian tactic’ as he and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey reportedly will be subpoenaed The US justice department is investigating Minnesota’s political leaders for allegedly conspiring to obstruct the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown there, according to multiple reports. The investigation, which CBS News first reported, marks an extraordinary use of federal power to challenge two of the crackdown’s most vocal Democratic critics, including the state’s governor, Tim Walz, and the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey. Continue reading...

PM’s visit to Beijing seen as a welcome reset to relations in a ‘new world order’ but critics worry what trade deal could mean for Canadian workers Mark Carney’s trip to Beijing this week secured what he described as a “preliminary but landmark” trade deal and a recognition – welcomed by Beijing – that countries are operating in a “new world order”. Carney’s visit is the first time in nearly a decade that a Canadian prime minister has been welcomed in Beijing. It comes after years of a deep freeze in the relationship between Ottawa and Beijing that Carney wants to thaw, in order to reduce his country’s precarious reliance on the United States. Continue reading...

The light L-159 fighter is likely the plane promised by president of Czech Republic, Petr Pavl, to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What we know on day 1,424 The Czech Republic is set to provide Ukraine shortly with “medium combat planes which are highly effective in fighting drones”, President Petr Pavel told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Kyiv on Friday. Pavel has previously said Czech-made subsonic L-159 fighter jets could be transferred to Ukraine. “I believe we will manage to quickly and successfully conclude this issue,” Pavel told a news conference with Zelenskyy. The Czech army has 24 one- and two-seater L-159 jets, used for training and support for ground forces. They can be armed with missiles and machine-gun pods. Iraq used the jets in the war against Islamic State, and fleets are owned by private companies that loan them to the US and UK air forces for combat training. The Czechs’ main fighter jet is the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen. Pavel said Prague might also supply early-warning systems such as radars. Zelenskyy meanwhile conceded problems with Ukrainian air defences at a critical moment in the war. Some systems supplied to Ukraine by western allies had run out of ammunition amid a wave of Russian attacks that have devastated his country’s energy infrastructure. “Until this morning we had several systems without missiles. Today I can say this openly because today I have those missiles … We received a substantial package in the morning.” He urged both European allies and the US to increase deliveries. Ukraine and the US will hold talks in Miami on Saturday to discuss security guarantees and Ukraine’s economic recovery, Kyiv’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said on Friday. Zelenskyy said he hoped Ukraine would sign security guarantees with the US next week, possibly at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In Miami, Ukraine’s negotiators would be Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office, and Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defence council secretary, the ambassador said, without naming the US participants. They would discuss security guarantees and postwar reconstruction. “The goal of the visit is to finalise these agreements with our American partners,” said Stefanishyna. A majority of Ukrainians would strongly oppose withdrawing troops from the remainder of the Donetsk region still controlled by Kyiv in exchange for European and US security guarantees, a poll released on Friday indicated. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) said 54% of Ukrainians categorically rejected the idea; 39% would reluctantly accept. “Those who are ready to agree expect quite significant security guarantees,” said KIIS executive director Anton Hrushetskyi. The survey was conducted in early January among 601 respondents on Ukrainian-controlled territory. Almost 70% did not believe current negotiations would lead to a lasting peace, with 57% believing Russia would attack again if there was a ceasefire at the current frontlines and security guarantees from allies. Even if security guarantees were given, 40% believed the US would not provide support in the event of renewed Russian invasion, against 39% who thought it would. Russia has publicly shown little interest in scaling down its demands and made few comments regarding the 20-point peace framework that Ukraine and the US have been trying to finalise. Russia and Ukraine on Friday agreed to a localised ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup powerline at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. Zaporizhzhia is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe and has been illegally occupied by Russian forces since March 2022. Its six reactors have been shut down since the occupation but it still needs electricity to keep its nuclear fuel safely cooled. Continue reading...

Each board member will manage ‘defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilization and long-term success’, according to White House – key US politics stories from Friday 16 January Donald Trump’s so-called “board of peace” has been announced as the US president seeks to manage the reconstruction of Gaza and its transitional administration amid a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The seven-member board includes US secretary of state Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and World Bank president, Ajay Banga. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks. Continue reading...

Taking drug in pregnancy does not raise chances of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability, ‘gold standard’ review finds Taking paracetamol in pregnancy does not increase the chance that the child will be autistic, or have ADHD or an intellectual disability, a “gold standard” review of the evidence has found. The findings debunk Donald Trump’s claims last September that the painkiller causes autism, which were condemned by medical, women’s health and scientific organisations around the world. Continue reading...

Grand jury in Ohio charged Michael David McKee, 39, with aggravated murder and burglary for fatal shootings An Ohio grand jury has indicted an Illinois surgeon in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her dentist husband, who were killed in their Columbus home in December in a case that initially generated nationwide mystery. Court records show a Franklin county grand jury charged Michael David McKee on 16 January with aggravated murder and aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor. Continue reading...

Manager aware his reign has parallels to the Spurs spell of his counterpart at West Ham, Saturday’s visitors When Thomas Frank glances along the touchline at Nuno Espírito Santo on Saturday afternoon, he will see more than the ghost of Tottenham managers past. Because during his darkest hours – and there have been a few of those during a fraught first season at the club – he may also see a vision of his own future. The parallels between the two are clear and they are difficult to ignore as Nuno makes his return to Spurs with West Ham, desperate for a result to help lift the club out of the relegation places. When Nuno went to Spurs in 2021, he did so as a manager who had made his name in English football with Wolves, getting them promoted from the Championship and going on to enjoy success with them in the top division. Ditto Frank with Brentford before his move to Spurs last summer. Continue reading...

Body chaired by Trump tasked with overseeing reconstruction of Gaza and transitional administration The White House has released a list of officials appointed by Donald Trump to what he’s calling a “board of peace”, tasked with overseeing the reconstruction of Gaza, and its transitional administration. The names included US secretary of state Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, the White House said. Continue reading...

Bojan Miovski helped himself to a hat-trick in Rangers’ commanding 5-0 Scottish Cup win over Annan Athletic as the new signing Andreas Skov Olsen checked in at Ibrox. The North Macedonia striker, one of nine changes to Danny Rohl’s side, fired Rangers into the lead in the 12th minute of the fourth-round tie against the League Twovisitors before heading in a second just after the half-hour mark. Continue reading...

Bath 63-10 Edinburgh Two tries for Cokanasiga while front-rowers all score, too Scotland’s fly-half Finn Russell had spoken about his desire to claim the pre-Six Nations bragging rights at the expense of several good mates in the Edinburgh squad. There was never the slightest doubt his wish would be granted as Bath eased to a comprehensive nine-try victory that guarantees pool winner status plus a home knockout draw in the last 16 and, potentially, beyond. On this occasion Russell also had the luxury of an armchair ride behind a Bath pack who took an early grip on the contest and never let go. Even if Edinburgh had turned up in north-east Somerset with their best side, as opposed to resting a few senior men, they would have been hard pressed to put too many dents in the black-shirted tanks and electric sprinters parked up opposite. Continue reading...

Pennsylvania boy facing criminal homicide charges after 13 January shooting at family’s home An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly shot his father to death after previously having his Nintendo Switch handheld gaming system taken away. The boy is facing criminal homicide charges after a 13 January shooting at his family’s home in Duncannon Borough. Continue reading...

In its second season, the award-winning medical drama is a scarily reflective show for the many Americans who watch it If you were stuck in the waiting room at the fictional Pittsburgh trauma medical center (PTMC) – and, as is the case with most real emergency rooms, to be at “the Pitt” almost certainly means waiting for hours (unless you’re imminently dying, but even then …) – you would at least have a lot to read. Paperwork and entry forms, for one. Signs warning that “aggressive behavior will not be tolerated”, a response to the real uptick in violence against healthcare workers. A memorial plaque to the victims of the mass shooting at PittFest, which drenched the back half of the acclaimed HBO Max show’s first season in unbelievably harrowing, bloody, very American trauma. Labels on the many homeopathic remedies carried, in Ziploc bags, by a prospective patient deeply skeptical of western medicine and big pharma. Promotional literature on the larger hospital system, for which The Pitt is its cash-strapped, paint-stripped, constantly beleaguered front door. And, in its second season, which premiered earlier this month, so-called “patient passports” that supposedly help you understand the procedures and expected wait-times at an urban emergency room. The leaflets are the brainchild of Dr Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), the tech-affectionate, norms-challenging attending physician introduced this season as a foil to the more by-the-books Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, the series anchor played by recent Golden Globe winner Noah Wyle. Dr Robby, the show’s raison d’être and the core of viewer sentiment, is skeptical of the patient passports, as he seems to be of most change at the Pitt; their introduction is one of many seeds planted in what will surely become a larger thematic battle between tradition and innovation, emotion and rationality, old, haunted attending and his upstart replacement. Continue reading...

As Michael Carrick prepares for Saturday’s derby, fans wonder if this is the club’s worst moment – but they are spoilt for choice Manchester United, without a permanent head coach or European football and knocked out of both domestic cups at the first time of asking, are facing another bleak season. In the almost 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the club have struggled to find stability, with his shadow stretching down from the directors’ box to the dugout, emphasised by the stand named in his honour staring back. Manchester City arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday in the opposite position, having had Pep Guardiola in post for a decade, amassing 18 major trophies. Michael Carrick will take charge of United for the first time since being appointed until the end of the season at a club who appear to be without a functioning long-term plan. This will be a campaign of only 40 competitive games for United, their fewest since 1914-15, with some fans thankful for being able to cut down on trudging visits. So is this, in the post-Ferguson era, the lowest of the lows? Continue reading...