Gunfire and blasts heard at airport in Niger with planes hit – reports

Source says two aircraft on ground ‘destroyed’ although authorities yet to comment on situation
Gunfire and loud blasts have been heard at the main airport in the Nigerien capital of Niamey according to Reuters news agency and an independent source.
The apparent explosions were reported just after midnight, a witness told Reuters. The airport is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by American and then Russian troops.
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Hundreds feared dead in attempt to cross Mediterranean during cyclone

Fifty killed in one incident as Italian authorities estimate 380 people may have drowned last week
Up to 380 people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week as Cyclone Harry battered southern Italy and Malta, the Italian coastguard has said, as a shipwreck with the loss of 50 lives was confirmed by Maltese authorities.
Just one person, who was hospitalised in Malta, survived the shipwreck, which happened on Friday.
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Crocodile warnings as floods devastate southern Africa

More than 100 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
Devastating floods have killed more than 100 people in southern Africa since the beginning of the year and displaced hundreds of thousands, as authorities and aid workers warn of hunger, cholera and attacks by crocodiles that have spread with the waters.
More than 70 people have died in Zimbabwe and 30 in South Africa, where hundreds of people were evacuated from Kruger national park earlier this month after a deluge of rain.
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‘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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US congressman meets five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father at ICE detention center – as it happened

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Two federal officers fired their guns during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, according to an initial review by the Department of Homeland Security that was obtained by NBC News.
Three sources told NBC News that the preliminary report, from a Customs and Border Protection internal investigation led by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was sent to congressional committees yesterday, including the House homeland security and judiciary committees.
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Can Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez become a Latin American Deng Xiaoping?

Maduro’s Sorbonne-educated successor is talking up an era of ‘reform and opening up’ modelled on China’s post-Mao boom
After years of political and social upheaval, hunger and despair, the Great Helmsman departs and is replaced by a francophile economic reformer who catapults a traumatised country into a new era of prosperity and growth.
That is what happened in China half a century ago when the croissant-loving communist Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader after Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1976 death and set in motion one of history’s biggest economic booms.
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Mexico’s president says cancellation of oil shipment to Cuba is ‘sovereign’ decision

Claudia Sheinbaum denied move was response to pressure from the US, after Trump said ‘zero’ oil would go to Cuba
Mexico has cancelled a shipment of oil to Cuba, the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, appeared to confirm on Tuesday, but she insisted the decision was “sovereign” and not a response to pressure from the US.
Fuel shortages are causing increasingly severe blackouts in Cuba, and Mexico has been the island’s biggest oil supplier since the US blocked shipments from Venezuela last month.
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Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown

Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative
Five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers in Austin, Texas. Despite being a US citizen, she was deported on 11 January alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, to Honduras, a country Génesis had never known.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were acting on an administrative deportation order against Gutiérrez, 26, issued in 2019, before Génesis was born.
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Canadian ex-Olympian pleads not guilty to 17 felonies including drug trafficking

Authorities allege Ryan Wedding, 44, ‘turned to a life of crime’ after his snowboarding career ended
Ryan Wedding, the Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of cocaine distribution and orchestrating several murders, appeared on Monday in a southern California courtroom for arraignment.
The 44-year-old has been charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder, witness tampering and money laundering, among other charges. Authorities allege that after his snowboarding career, Wedding “turned to a life of crime” as a narcotics trafficker and led an organization that moved cocaine from South America to the US and Canada.
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Starmer-Xi meeting live: UK prime minister says he wants ‘more sophisticated’ relationship with China

Starmer tells Xi Jinping during Beijing meeting that it has been ‘too long’ since a British PM has visited China.

Full report: Xi says he hopes China and UK can ‘rise above differences’

For more context on today’s Starmer-Xi meeting, China is the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s third-largest trading partner – to which it exports £45bn of goods and services a year – so it is no surprise the UK has turned to Beijing in its search for economic reliability.
As the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar reported earlier today, the UK does not rank among the top 10 of China’s trading partners but the Beijing leadership has spied a political opportunity to improve links with one of Washington’s closest allies at a time of deep uncertainty in the transatlantic alliance.
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Thursday briefing: Will Keir Starmer’s cautious China gamble pay off?

In today’s newsletter: With China now central to the world’s green tech​ and economic future, the UK faces a ​s​eries of strategic ​discussions it can no longer postpone

Good morning. The Starmer has landed.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to make the trip to China since Theresa May’s in 2018 (meaning a surprisingly large number of PMs didn’t) and has vowed to bring “stability and clarity” to the UK’s approach to Beijing.
Iran | Donald Trump has warned time is running out for Tehran and said a massive US armada was moving quickly towards the country.
Assisted Dying | Supporters of assisted dying will seek to force through the bill using an archaic parliamentary procedure if it continues to be blocked by the Lords.
UK politics | Centrist ideas are no longer wanted in the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has said.
Ofsted | A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found “no evidence of partisan political views”.
BBC | The BBC has named senior executive Rhodri Talfan Davies as its interim director general, as the corporation continues the search for a permanent replacement for Tim Davie.
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China executes 11 people linked to Myanmar scam operation

Beijing has stepped up cooperation with south-east Asian nations to crack down on the multibillion-dollar industry
China on Thursday executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” involved in scam operations, state media reported.
Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry.
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Chinese man who filmed evidence of Xinjiang rights abuses is granted asylum in US

Lawyer for Guan Heng, whose exposed evidence of persecution of Uyghurs, says he is ‘textbook example of why asylum should exist’
A US immigration judge has granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs there.
Guan Heng applied for asylum after arriving in the US illegally in 2021. He has been in custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August last year as part of a mass deportation campaign by the Trump administration.
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South Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech power

The laws have been criticised by tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don’t go far enough
South Korea has embarked on a foray into the regulation of AI, launching what has been billed as the most comprehensive set of laws anywhere in the world, that could prove a model for other countries, but the new legislation has already encountered pushback.
The laws, which will force companies to label AI-generated content, have been criticised by local tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don’t go far enough.
Add invisible digital watermarks for clearly artificial outputs such as cartoons or artwork. For realistic deepfakes, visible labels are required.
“High-impact AI”, including systems used for medical diagnosis, hiring and loan approvals, will require operators to conduct risk assessments and document how decisions are made. If a human makes the final decision the system may fall outside the category.
Extremely powerful AI models will require safety reports, but the threshold is set so high that government officials acknowledge no models worldwide currently meet it.
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A cabal of male Liberals signals Ley’s reign is ending. But the day of a colleague’s memorial is obscene timing

As images of a secret meeting were splashed all over the media, it became clear the internal plot to oust the leader has descended into political melodrama
The images of a cabal of rightwing Liberal men gathering for clandestine talks to overthrow the party’s first female leader – hours before a memorial service for a late former colleague, no less – confirmed two things.
First, the internal plot to oust Sussan Ley has descended into a political melodrama.
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The return of inflation may poison Labor’s second-term agenda and scare more voters to the fringes

As economic grievance grows in the electorate, an interest rate hike is the last thing our fraught politics needs

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Cost of living has been bubbling along as the number-one issue for Australian households, and now it threatens to hijack the Albanese government’s second-term agenda.
The return of high and rising inflation is not only a blow to workers who were finally starting to see some real growth in their wages through 2025. It also risks further polarising and antagonising our already fraught politics.
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Inquiry calls for ban on ‘globalise the intifada’ in NSW – but only when used to incite hatred and violence

Opposition ‘deeply unimpressed’ with recommendation that ‘adds nothing except confusion’, shadow attorney general says

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A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry has recommended banning the phrase “globalise the intifada” when it is used to incite hatred, harassment, intimidation or violence, but won’t call for banning the statement outright or recommend a ban on phrases such as “from the river to sea”.
The Labor MP Edmond Atalla, the chair of the inquiry, confirmed the draft recommendations to Guardian Australia ahead of a final closed meeting on Thursday, at which the Labor-led committee voted to table the report almost entirely unchanged.
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UN human rights rapporteur applies to join legal case against protest laws – as it happened

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Albanese defends Isaac Herzog’s Australia visit as federal MP joins calls to rescind invitation

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Anne Aly says it is ‘huge relief’ there were no casualties at Perth Invasion Day rally
Anne Aly, the minister for multicultural affairs, as well as a counter-terrorism expert, says she is relieved no one was hurt in the potential terrorist act as an improvised explosive device was thrown into a crowd at an Invasion Day rally in Perth.
Well, first of all, I guess it was relief, really, that nobody was hurt. When you throw an IED, an improvised explosive device, into a crowd, and if it’s a successful, it could have been a mass casualty attack. So the huge relief that nobody was hurt.
The distinction we need to draw here when we say David Littleproud has done X, Y, Z … David Littleproud [has] only done that because the room has agreed to do that and he has requested what is the room’s view … David Littleproud has never run off and done anything unless he has had the complete support of the Nationals party room.
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Albanese defends Isaac Herzog’s Australia visit as federal MP joins calls to rescind invitation

Independent MP Sophie Scamps joins Labor’s Friends of Palestine group and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi in objecting to Israeli president’s visit

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Anthony Albanese has defended the government’s invitation to Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to visit, after another federal MP joined calls to cancel the visit after the Bondi terror attack.
Herzog’s arrival in February will be met by a “major security response” in Sydney and planned protests nationwide from pro-Palestinian groups demonstrating against the civilian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza.
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Russia ‘trying to bomb and freeze’ Ukrainians to submission, EU’s foreign policy chief warns – Europe live

Kaja Kallas also played down the idea of ‘a European army’ saying that it remained to be a domain for national authorities
in Brussels
Separately, the EU is expected to list Iran’s revolutionary guard as a terrorist organisation, in a sign of deepening international condemnation of the regime’s brutal repression of protesters.
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Food sector calls for transition period if UK and EU agree post-Brexit rules reset

Industry groups warn that aligning agriculture standards overnight could cost British businesses up to £810m a year
British food sector representatives have urged the government to introduce a transition period if it agrees to realign post-Brexit agriculture rules with the EU.
They warned that aligning regulations overnight would create a “cliff edge” that could cost UK businesses between £500m and £810m a year, because of the divergence in standards since Brexit.
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Le scoop! France’s last newspaper hawker celebrated with prestigious award

Ali Akbar, 73, honoured by Emmanuel Macron with National Order of Merit for dedication he pours into work
For more than five decades he’s pounded the pavements of Paris, becoming part of the city’s cultural fabric as he strikes up conversations, greets longtime friends and offers parodies of daily news headlines.
On Wednesday, the efforts of the man believed to be France’s last newspaper hawker were recognised, as Ali Akbar, a 73-year-old originally from Pakistan, received one of France’s most prestigious honours.
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Dutch government discriminated against Bonaire islanders over climate adaptation, court rules

Judgment in The Hague orders Netherlands to do more to protect Caribbean people in its territory from impacts of climate crisis
The Dutch government discriminated against people in one of its most vulnerable territories by not helping them adapt to climate change, a court has found.
The judgment, announced on Wednesday in The Hague, chastises the Netherlands for treating people on the island of Bonaire, in the Caribbean, differently to inhabitants of the European part of the country and for not doing its fair share to cut national emissions.
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Nato needs to be ‘reimagined’ with Europe showing more capabilities, says Marco Rubio – as it happened

US secretary of state also said he was confident of ‘positive resolution’ on Denmark
in Paris
In other news, a former French senator has been found guilty of drugging a fellow politician in order to sexually assault her, in a case that has shaken French politics.
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Iran tries to confront ‘catastrophe’ of violent clampdown on protests

Calls for independent external inquiry into brutal crackdown that some estimates suggest killed more than 30,000
A deep and painful inquest is under way inside Iran as politicians, academics and the security establishment try to come to terms with what has been described as a catastrophe after the violent protests and their even more violent suppression by the security forces.
The shape of the debate taking place in the heavily censored society is emerging, as selective newspapers and Telegram channels slowly open up to international audiences after the protests – which some estimates suggest could have left more than 30,000 dead – that have stunned many Iranians.
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Iran accused of ‘campaign of revenge’ as doctors arrested for treating protesters

US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution
Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.
The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.
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Threat of US-Iran war escalates as Trump warns time running out for deal

US president says armada heading towards Iran is ‘prepared to fulfil its missions with violence if necessary’
The threat of war between the US and Iran appeared to loom closer after Donald Trump told Tehran time was running out and that a huge US armada was moving quickly towards the country “with great power, enthusiasm and purpose”.
Writing on social media, the US president said on Wednesday that the fleet headed by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was larger than the one sent to Venezuela before the removal of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month and was “prepared to rapidly fulfil its missions with speed and violence if necessary”.
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Iran appears to ease internet blackout as cost of shutdown mounts

Experts say uneven connectivity suggests regime is throttling and filtering data as losses said to hit $36m a day
Iranian authorities appear to have relaxed – but not removed – internet restrictions, in what experts say is a sign of the mounting costs of the most severe internet blackout the regime has ever imposed.
“There seems to be a real patchwork of connectivity. I think if most people have access, it’s some kind of degraded service,” said Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik. “It’s almost like they’re developing a content blocking system by trial and error.”
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Iraq’s former prime minister denounces ‘blatant American interference’ in election

Nouri al-Maliki responds to Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw US support for Iraq if he is returned to power

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Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has angrily denounced “blatant American interference” in the country’s election after Donald Trump threatened to withdraw US support if he was returned to power.
“We reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and consider it a violation of its sovereignty,” al-Maliki, who is nominated by the country’s dominant political bloc to return to the premiership, said in a statement on Wednesday.
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