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From China to Indonesia, the year of the snake symbolises wisdom and vitality and is marked by family gatherings and festive red banners across many parts of East and Southeast AsiaHundreds of millions of people across Asia will celebrate the lunar new year with their families on Wednesday, as they bid farewell to the year of the dragon and usher in the year of...

Proposal from state board of education condemned by teachers and rights groups, as parents and students protestParents enrolling children in Oklahoma public schools will be required to provide proof of their child’s US citizenship or legal immigration status under a proposed rule approved Tuesday by the state board of education.The board voted unanimously to approve the rule aimed at helping Donald Trump’s immigration policies....

Government employees’ union says offer pressures career workers to quit and will cause chaos in federal programsThe Trump administration has offered federal workers buyouts worth more than seven months’ salary if they would leave their jobs by 6 February as the White House attempts to slash the civil service in an unprecedented overhaul of US government.The office of personnel management, the government’s human resources...

Exclusive: UNHCR chief orders clampdown on spending, including 90-day delay in ordering new supplies and hiring freezeUN agencies have begun cutting back their global aid operations following the 90-day suspension of all foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration.Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, responsible for providing life-saving assistance to the 122 million people forcibly displaced from their homes across...

Audit watchdog finds 58 critical IT systems assessed in 2024 had ‘significant gaps in cyber-resilience’The threat of potentially devastating cyber-attacks against UK government departments is “severe and advancing quickly”, with dozens of critical IT systems vulnerable to an expected regular pattern of significant strikes, ministers have been warned.The National Audit Office (NAO) found that 58 critical government IT systems independently assessed in 2024 had...

Levies threaten exporters to US market, while scrapping of subsidies will hit EV sales – and Tesla could gainThe internal combustion engine appears to hold a special place in Donald Trump’s psyche. During his inauguration speech last week, he made a “sacred pledge” to raise US car production to “a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago”.Car making and...

At least 100 people killed and 1,000 wounded in three days of heavy fighting in North Kivu Who are the M23 rebels and why is there fighting in DRC?Dead bodies lay on the streets and explosions and gunfire echoed across the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, as fighting continued to rage between the army and Rwanda-backed M23...

All 176 people onboard escaped safely after blaze began inside Airbus jet preparing to take off from Gimhae airportAn Airbus plane belonging to South Korean carrier Air Busan has caught fire on a runway at Gimhae international airport in the country’s south while preparing for departure to Hong Kong, fire authorities said on Tuesday.All 169 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated, with three...

Prediction by ex M16 counter-terror director comes as security paused around two main detention facilitiesDonald Trump has thrown into doubt the security and administration of the main two detention facilities in north-east Syria that hold thousands of Islamic State fighters, the former counter-terrorism director of M16 Richard Barrett says.The state of limbo has been caused in the short term by the US president unexpectedly...

Crowds give life to the Paris museum and the painting is a silent, compelling mystery at the heart of the hubbubWhat a wonderful headache for a museum to have. The Louvre in Paris gets so many visitors it is taking drastic measures to cope, which include moving its most famous treasure to a dedicated space where fans can visit without entering the main museum...

Prosecutor at Old Bailey says Katrin Ivanova was only member of Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off plotA lab technician has been accused of being the only member of a Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off a plot to steal the mobile numbers of Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany.Katrin Ivanova, 33, was told by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC at the Old Bailey...

Commission finds democratic institutions ‘robust in the face of foreign interference’ but some MPs behaved ‘naively’Canada’s democratic institutions are “robust in the face of foreign interference” attempts and there is “no evidence of ‘traitors’” in the country’s parliament, a landmark report into election meddling has found.But the commission’s lead said on Tuesday that the federal government should take steps to better safeguard democratic institutions...

UK officials say they are monitoring any national security threat to data from the new AI Experts have urged caution over rapidly embracing the Chinese artificial intelligence platform DeepSeek, citing concerns about it spreading misinformation and how the Chinese state might exploit users’ data.The government said its use was a personal choice for citizens, but officials were monitoring any national security threat to data...

Rome prosecutor launches investigation into controversial release of Osama Najim, who is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimesGiorgia Meloni has said she is under investigation in connection with Italy’s unexpected release and repatriation last week of a Libyan general who is wanted for war crimes by the international criminal court.The Italian prime minister said in a video message posted on social media...

Mette Frederiksen calls for greater cooperation as she visits Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up unityThe Danish prime minister said Europe must “stand together” in the face of changing relations with the US during a tour of Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up support amid Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland.After weeks in the spotlight over the US president’s plan to take over...

Atomic scientists push clock to 89 seconds before midnight, citing nuclear risk, AI and climate crisis as a ‘warning’A panel of international scientists has moved their symbolic “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than ever before, citing Russian nuclear threats amid its invasion of Ukraine, tensions in other world hotspots, military applications of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis as factors underlying the risks of...

Spoof fires back at supposed inauthenticity of Oscar-tipped screen musical with a song-and-dance tale of boulangeries at warThe war of words between Mexico and France over trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez has heated up even more after the release of a spoof film called Johanne Sacreblu poking fun at French stereotypes.Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard and which is up for the best picture...

US president insists leaders of both countries would agree to move that could be ‘temporary or long-term’Donald Trump has repeated his suggestion that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza for Egypt or Jordan, despite widespread opposition to the proposal from Palestinian leadership, the UN and US allies in the region.Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Monday night, the US president was...

Latest push to process migrants in Balkan country despite court challenge comes amid increase in boat arrivalsEurope live – latest updatesItaly has transported 49 people to Albania, in the latest push by Giorgia Meloni’s government to enforce a legally disputed plan to have asylum claims processed in the Balkan country as part of a hardline policy critics have called “disgraceful”.The Italian navy ship Cassiopeia...

Abrupt order has done ‘serious damage’, say experts, with supply chains halted, HIV clinics struggling to source drugs and refugee camps facing loss of vital servicesClinics in Uganda are scrambling to find new sources for vital HIV drugs, aid workers in Bangladesh fear refugee camp infrastructure will crumble, and mobile health units may have to stop treating civilians near the frontline in Ukraine.Services worldwide...

Karim Khan says civilians being targeted and communities destroyed in western region of SudanThe prosecutor for the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for people accused of atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where the US and others have determined that a paramilitary group and its allies have perpetrated genocide.Karim Khan told the UN security council in New York: “Criminality is...

A pregnant mother from Venezuela responds to Trump’s executive order that would render her baby statelessWhat is birthright citizenship and what does Trump’s executive order do?On his first day in office, Donald Trump signed an order ending constitutionally recognized right of birthright citizenship. Thousands of expecting parents across the US suddenly had to consider that their babies would be born into a legal limbo.Among...

Tech firm to make change in line with Trump’s executive order, using both names in world outside US and MexicoGoogle has confirmed it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US, after an executive order from Donald Trump.It will remain the Gulf of Mexico in Mexico, while users outside of the US and Mexico will...

Chief medical officer for England says medical profession must be unanimous on good end of life care and ability for medics to ‘exercise freedom of conscience’Q: What sort of training would doctors need if this bill becomes law?Whitty says there are two types: training which is normal for doctors, and specific training related to this bill. Continue reading...