‘It’s the sovereignty of the country’: Guinea-Bissau says US vaccine study suspended

Despite US pushback, officials in west Africa say controversial hepatitis B study on pause amid ethics concerns
US health officials insisted it was still on. African health leaders said it was cancelled. At the heart of the controversy is the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau – one of the poorest countries in the world and the proposed site of a hotly debated US-funded study on vaccines.
The study on hepatitis B vaccination, to be led by Danish researchers, became a flashpoint after major changes to the US vaccination schedule and prompted questions about how research is conducted ethically in other countries.
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ActionAid to rethink child sponsorship as part of plan to ‘decolonise’ its work

Development charity’s new co-chief executives signal shift from controversial sponsor a child scheme launched in 1972 to long-term grassroots funding
Child sponsorship schemes that allow donors to handpick children to support in poor countries can carry racialised, paternalistic undertones and need to be transformed, the newly appointed co-chief executives of ActionAid UK said as they set out to “decolonise” the organisation’s work.
ActionAid began in 1972 by finding sponsors for schoolchildren in India and Kenya, but Taahra Ghazi and Hannah Bond have launched their co-leadership this month with the goal of shifting narratives around aid from sympathy towards solidarity and partnership with global movements.
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Head of US Africa bureau urges staff to highlight US ‘generosity’ despite aid cuts

Email sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priority
US diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs this January and obtained by the Guardian.
“It’s not gauche to remind these countries of the American people’s generosity in containing HIV/Aids or alleviating famine,” says the email.
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‘Brazen’ political influence of rich laid bare as wealth of billionaires reaches $18.3tn, says Oxfam

Governments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says
The world saw a record number of billionaires created last year, with a collective wealth of $18.3tn (£13.7tn), while global efforts stalled in the fight against poverty and hunger.
Oxfam’s annual survey of global inequality has revealed that the number of billionaires surpassed 3,000 for the first time during 2025. Since 2020, their collective wealth grew by 81%, or $8.2tn, which the charity claims would be enough to eradicate global poverty 26 times over.
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Uganda’s president calls opponents ‘terrorists’ in victory speech

Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout
Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results.
Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout.
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Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariff over possible deal with China

President also claims US refineries will process seized Venezuelan oil, saying ‘we take the oil’
Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China.
Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers.
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Spanish prosecutors drop sexual assault complaint against Julio Iglesias

Court says alleged abuse and trafficking offences occurred outside Spain, leaving it without jurisdiction
Spanish prosecutors have shelved a complaint brought by two women who have accused the singer Julio Iglesias of sexual assault and human trafficking, arguing the country’s courts have no jurisdiction as the alleged offences took place outside Spain.
Two female former employees who worked at Iglesias’s Caribbean mansions 10 days ago accused the veteran entertainer of sexual assault, saying they had been subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”.
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Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged cocaine kingpin in US custody

Ryan Wedding turned himself in at US consulate in Mexico City and is due to appear in court in California on Monday
Ryan Wedding, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, has been arrested after turning himself in at the US embassy in Mexico, law enforcement officials announced on Friday.
Wedding, 44, had been sought by the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for his role in overseeing what the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, called the “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” in the world.
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Leaked video shows Venezuela regime’s desperate struggle to control message

Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did not cooperate after capture of Maduro
The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers.
On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us”.
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Trump withdraws invitation for Canada to join his global ‘board of peace’

While leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on, Mark Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle
Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.
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Advantage China: Trump’s tantrums push US allies closer to Beijing

In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat
If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.
“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.
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Pentagon to reduce its role in deterrence of North Korea

US policy document suggests South Korea take primary responsibility, as Pentagon prioritises defending US homeland
The Pentagon foresees a “more limited” role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea taking primary responsibility for the task, a Pentagon policy document released on Friday said, in a move likely to raise concern in Seoul.
South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defence against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defence budget by 7.5% for this year.
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New Zealand landslide: rescue efforts called off for six people buried in disaster

Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui site switch to recovery operation that police say could take several days
Efforts to rescue six people buried by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended on Saturday, with police shifting into a recovery operation.
Police Supt Tim Anderson said human remains had been uncovered on Friday night beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, adding that it could take several days to locate all of the victims due to the unstable ground.
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Indonesia takes action against mining firms after floods devastate population of world’s rarest ape

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out
The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe.
For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people.
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Two dead and six missing after landslides hit house and campground in New Zealand

Search-and-rescue teams worked through the night at the campground, but there had been no progress in finding missing people, officials say
New Zealand is ‘full of grief”, the prime minister has said, after landslides tore through a house and busy campground, leaving two dead and at least six victims still missing.
Police said emergency crews were still searching for at least six people, including two teenagers, believed missing beneath the debris of a landslide which struck a Mount Maunganui campsite on Thursday morning. Police were attempting to contact another three people. Families enjoying the summer school holiday were among the campers. Recreational vehicles and at least one structure were crushed, images showed.
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Outsourced call centre staff at NDIS have to pretend to work for government, workers say

Serco employees also say they are given email addresses identical to public servants, making them indistinguishable

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Outsourced call centre staff on the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) phone lines must pretend to be public servants, according to workers, and are responsible for deciding which funding requests are prioritised despite having no specialised welfare training.
Workers at Serco, a major outsource provider, have also been issued government agency email addresses, making it impossible for the public to tell them apart from direct employees despite vast differences in their pay, conditions, training and support.
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Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg named Australian of the Year for 2026

Bennell-Pegg tells ceremony in Canberra she hopes to use award to inspire young people to chase their dreams

Cathy Freeman leads Australia Day 2026 honours list

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As a girl, Katherine Bennell-Pegg would lie on the dry grass in her backyard, gazing up at the stars and dreaming about one day reaching them.
While she’s yet to enter space, the now-41-year-old is closer than most could ever hope for.
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Cathy Freeman leads Australia Day honours alongside enforcer of world-first social media ban

High-profile Australians celebrated alongside more than 600 civilians who have changed lives and the country

Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg named Australian of the Year for 2026

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Australia’s beloved Olympic sprinter Cathy Freeman has been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours list alongside a driving force of one of the Games’ youngest sports, skateboarding, a world-leading quantum scientist, a children’s book illustrator, rock royalty and the enforcer of Australia’s world-first social media ban.
Freeman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country’s highest civilian honour. Her sensational athletic achievements were applauded by the honours committee, which also acknowledged her social impact across the community, her work on the reconciliation movement in the spirit of unity and inclusion, and as a role model to young people.
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Dingoes on Australia’s K’gari island to be euthanised after tragic death of Canadian tourist Piper James

Queensland government says pack linked to 19-year-old’s death pose ‘unacceptable public safety risk’ as Indigenous traditional owners say they were not consulted
The dingo pack linked to the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on Australian island K’gari will be destroyed, the Queensland government has announced.
Environment minister Andrew Powell said on Sunday that an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised.
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National cabinet to meet on Friday on health and disability funding – as it happened

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Just rounding out the rest of the prime minister’s jam-packed Insiders interview, Anthony Albanese reiterated that Australia would give “further consideration” to Donald Trump’s invitation to join the his “board of peace” but said it was unclear what the objectives of the board are.
(If you want to read more about the project first, you can turn to Ben Doherty’s from earlier this week:)
It’s unclear what the objectives of this [the ‘board of peace’ are, which is why we will give it further consideration. My government is one that always has an orderly considered approach to all of our policy, including our international engagement.
So we’ve had the 5% housing deposit rolling out, being taken advantage of. Three days of guaranteed childcare subsidy began on 6 January. Cheaper medicines, $25, came in on 1 January. 1800 Medicare has been accessed by tens of thousands of Australians. The bulk-billing incentive has led to a massive spike in the number of free doctor visits …
What we have been focused on is dealing with the immediate, but dealing with all of those issues that are so important for Australians as well. And as we go back, school goes back this fortnight, and what that will mean is that the increased fair funding for every school, that begins to kick in as well. So you can walk and chew gum at the same time, as the saying goes, and we’ve been determined to do just that.
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Russia launches ‘brutal’ attack on Ukraine as peace talks continue

Kyiv says Moscow used 396 drones and missiles in ‘another night of Russian terror’ on second day of talks in UAE
Russia launched a major drone and missile attack targeting Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, early on Saturday, as US, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of tripartite peace talks.
“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said after the latest Russian assault on critical infrastructure.
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‘A lot of fear’: the families bearing brunt of Sweden’s immigration crackdown

Many of those moved into an asylum return centre have held jobs for years and can speak the language
“Sweden did this for us,” said Sofiye*, making a supportive scooping up gesture with her hands. “And then, bam.” She dropped them to the ground.
Sofiye, who has three children, arrived in Sweden from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2008, and for much of that time she was able to build a life in the Scandinavian country. The family lived in a flat in a Stockholm suburb and Sofiye worked for the municipality in the home help department. She learned Swedish and her children went through the Swedish school system. Her youngest son was born in Sweden and her 18-year-old son, Hamza, who is studying in college to be a technician, doesn’t know life anywhere else.
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‘Massive’ Russian strikes on Ukraine hit negotiation table as well as people, Kyiv says – as it happened

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India and Europe hope to strike the “mother of all deals” when EU chiefs meet prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties, AFP reports.
Facing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact – and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line.
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‘Repatriate the gold’: German economists advise withdrawal from US vaults

Shift in relations and unpredictability of Donald Trump make it ‘risky to store so much gold in the US’, say experts
Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.
Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£142bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York.
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Spain train collision investigators examine rail damage theory

Preliminary report suggests fracture could have existed before high-speed train derailed in Andalucía
Experts investigating the deadly rail collision in southern Spain, which killed 45 people and left dozens more injured, believe the accident may have happened after one of the trains passed over a damaged section of rail.
The disaster occurred near the Andalucían town of Adamuz on Sunday, when a high-speed train operated by Iryo, a private company, derailed and collided with an oncoming high-speed train operated by the state rail company, Renfe.
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Iran president’s son urges authorities to restore internet after protest blackout

Yousef Pezeshkian says nothing will be solved by trying to postpone moment footage of violent crackdown circulate
The son of Iran’s president has called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted, saying nothing will be solved by trying to postpone the moment when pictures and video circulate of the protests that were violently crushed by the regime.
With a battle under way at the top of the regime about the political risks of continuing to block Iran from the internet, Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected in the summer of 2024, said keeping the digital shutdown would create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.
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‘Emotionally devastating’: Iranians in US on regime’s deadly protest crackdown

US readers said they were feeling anxious and helpless as authorities’ brutal crackdown has left thousands dead
Recent protests in Iran have created the most serious and deadliest unrest in the country since the 1979 revolution, prompting eyes from all around the globe to shift to the Middle East.
The Guardian asked Iranians living outside the country to share their views on the current situation in the country and about the possibility of US intervention.
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Syrian and Kurdish forces agree to extend ceasefire as threat of war looms

Ceasefire to be extended for one month to allow transfer of suspected Islamic State members from Syria to Iraq
The Syrian government and Kurdish forces agreed to extend a ceasefire on Saturday, according to Syrian diplomatic sources, temporarily staving off a looming war between the two sides in the north-east of the country.
Sources told Agence France-Presse the ceasefire would be extended for “a period of up to one month at most”, citing the need to facilitate the transfer of suspected members of Islamic State from Syria to Iraq.
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Trump says US ‘armada’ heading to Middle East as Iran death toll put above 5,000

US president says ‘we have a lot of ships’ going in that direction and that Washington is watching Iran closely
Donald Trump has said an American “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002.
Speaking on Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight, he said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada … heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”
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United Arab Emirates plans to bankroll first ‘planned community’ in south Gaza

Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry
The United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel.
The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part of Gaza currently held by Israel. The wealthy Gulf state has contributed more than $1.8bn of humanitarian assistance to Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to UAE state media, making it Gaza’s largest humanitarian donor.
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