Choking fires, deadly heat and devastating floods: 2026 in extreme weather

World news | The Guardian

People around the world have contended with unprecedented weather events and their fatal effects caused by the climate catastrophe

After the world’s hottest summer since records began in 1850, the death toll from extreme weather in 2026 is already in the high tens of thousands. That is a conservative estimate and is certain to rise much higher.

As Cop31 continues and scientists warn that climate breakdown may be accelerating, the Guardian looks back at a year of droughts, fires and floods as a reminder that, unless the world takes urgent action to cut emissions, this disastrous year will be one of the best of the rest of our lives.

November 14th 2026, 8:32 am

Storm Charles causes floods and flight cancellations across southern Europe

World news | The Guardian

Heavy rain and strong winds have also caused disruption across British Columbia, Canada, over the last week

Storm Charles has brought destructive weather to the Iberian peninsula this week, particularly in Portugal and the far south of Spain. Heavy rain and strong south-westerly winds arrived first in the Portuguese island of Madeira, before the system headed towards the mainland on 11 November. A wind gust of 84.5mph (136 km/h) was recorded at Funchal airport, alongside rainfall totals reaching 355mm (13.97in) in 12 hours. In Lisbon, 183 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, about a third of its normal daily traffic, while Madrid Barajas airport had 155 cancellations.

After causing widespread flooding in Spain and Portugal, the system moved on a north-easterly track through southern France and then towards northern Italy. This resulted in significant flooding in parts of Cannes, some of which caused rock falls and led to the closure of roads along the French Riviera. The Italian weather service issued a red rainfall warning, its highest level, for the area extending from Tuscany to Venezia. Further heavy rain is expected to fall in Italy and the Balkans over the next few days, with the latest forecast models indicating an additional 100mm could accumulate widely, while totals close to 200mm are likely in more mountainous areas.

November 13th 2026, 11:26 am

Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza cleared of using AI to write prize-winning story

World news | The Guardian

After a month-long investigation it was concluded that Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter, which won the £10,000 Caine prize, was ‘human-written’

The Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza has been cleared of using AI to write a prize-winning short story, after the prestigious Caine prize for African writers concluded that his entry was “human-written” after a month-long investigation.

Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter, which charts the declining fortunes of a family after the father invests in fish tanks, was announced as the winner of the £10,000 prize on 6 October.

November 12th 2026, 2:42 pm

Two skulls likely belonging to enslaved people returned to Brazil after Harvard used them in eugenic

World news | The Guardian

Remains believed to have belonged to Africans or Afro-Brazilians repatriated after being flown back by diplomats

Two skulls, including that of a man believed to have taken part in Brazil’s greatest slave revolt but whose remains were taken to the United States and used in racist eugenics studies at Harvard University, were repatriated on Wednesday.

The remains had been outside Brazil since the 19th century. One was taken about 190 years ago from Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia; the other, about 160 years ago, from Rio de Janeiro – and were welcomed back in moving, subdued ceremonies in both cities.

November 11th 2026, 10:26 pm

Ex-member of radical Marxist group scales balcony, escapes house arrest in Argentina

World news | The Guardian

Leonardo Bertulazzi, 74, awaiting extradition to Italy, reportedly used harness to flee custody

A 74-year-old former member of Italy’s radical Marxist group the Red Brigades has escaped from house arrest in Argentina, the country’s security ministry confirmed on Wednesday, after he reportedly hid his ankle monitor inside a tube of pork and lowered himself from a fifth-floor balcony.

Authorities placed Leonardo Bertulazzi under house arrest in Buenos Aires in 2024, prior to his extradition to Italy to serve a 27-year prison sentence. He had received the sentence in 1987 for joining a subversive association and belonging to an armed group.

November 11th 2026, 5:48 pm

Democrats demand answers on 8-year-old Haitian boy detained by ICE

World news | The Guardian

Child was put into restraints and taken into custody after arriving for an immigration check-in in San Diego

Democratic lawmakers in California are demanding answers from the Trump administration about the safety and whereabouts of an eight-year-old Haitian boy who they say was put in restraints and taken into custody by federal immigration officers at a check-in last week.

Video obtained by NBC News shows the third-grader being led away by three armed officials after he was summoned to what his family said was a routine immigration appointment in San Diego on 4 November.

November 11th 2026, 5:48 pm

Killing of journalist underscores deteriorating conditions in Ecuador

World news | The Guardian

Tomás Beltrán was shot dead amid gang warfare that has turned Latin American country into one of its most violent

Tomás Beltrán was manoeuvring his car into his garage on Sunday night when the Ecuadorian journalist was shot dead.

Beltrán ran a Facebook page with news about Calceta, a small city in the province of Manabí, whose Pacific coastline has made it a key flashpoint in the gang warfare over drug trafficking routes that has transformed one of Latin America’s safest countries into one of its most violent.

November 11th 2026, 1:56 pm

Argentinian lawyer mocks UK’s sovereignty claim in Falklands oil case

World news | The Guardian

Lawyer says Britain wrong to believe in historic doctrine that crown has sovereignty over parts of oceans

Britain should not be permitted to act as a 17th-century colonial power treating the waters around the Falkland Islands as a Dominium maris Britannici, Argentina has told an international tribunal.

Marcelo Kohen, representing Argentina at a hearing in Hamburg, mocked Britain for apparently believing in the historic doctrine that the British crown has sovereignty over expansive parts of the oceans.

November 11th 2026, 1:56 pm

UK and Argentina clash over Falklands oil project as Hamburg tribunal starts

World news | The Guardian

Sea Lion project in the North Falkland basin threatens to deepen sovereignty dispute

Argentina has told an international tribunal that Britain’s approval of oil drilling off the Falkland Islands has dramatically deepened a sovereignty dispute that led to war four decades ago.

At the start of an historic legal clash at the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos), an Argentinian legal team argued that the oil project must be suspended.

November 10th 2026, 2:14 pm

Lewis Hamilton visits Egypt’s Rafah crossing and Gaza aid facilities

World news | The Guardian

Seven-time F1 world champion tours border area and logistics warehouses operated by Egyptian Red Crescent

Lewis Hamilton has visited Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip to meet organisations sending humanitarian aid to the territory.

The seven-time Formula One world champion has spoken out about conflict and humanitarian crises in the region, and has called for peace. He has frequently posted on social media about children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.

November 10th 2026, 2:14 pm

Deadly floods hit Iraq as thunderstorms sweep across region

World news | The Guardian

Violent storms lash northern Iraq and parts of Iran, while Portugal faces strong winds and Japan braces for further snowfall

Deadly flash floods hit northern Iraq on Saturday as severe thunderstorms swept across the region, including in neighbouring Iran. The city of Erbil, in Iraq, was particularly badly hit, with extensive damage to homes and businesses. Streets were inundated as torrential rain fell over a short period.

Rainfall exceeded forecasts, with an estimated 80mm falling in the city, compared with expectations of 30mm. Two people were killed in the floods.

November 9th 2026, 10:11 am

Pope Leo delivers stinging rebuke of Milei’s austerity measures during Argentina visit

World news | The Guardian

Pontiff tells Argentina’s president the economy must benefit all on second stop of 12-day Latin America tour

Pope Leo XIV has delivered a stinging critique of Argentine president Javier Milei’s harsh austerity measures, insisting growth must benefit all in a speech met with rapturous applause in Buenos Aires.

“The economy must be at the service of the people, rather than people being at the service of the economy,” he said on Sunday, shortly after landing in Argentina on the second leg of a Latin America tour.

November 9th 2026, 12:55 am

Banana producers in Latin America want better pay to cope with effects of climate crisis

World news | The Guardian

Farmers face big drop in production from extreme weather during this year’s super El Niño event

Banana producers in Latin America are calling for better pay to help cope with the impact of the climate crisis, as they face big drops in production resulting from extreme weather during this year’s super El Niño event.

High winds in parts of Colombia, one of the biggest suppliers to the UK market where droughts are predicted in some regions this year, and heavy rainfall in Peru and Ecuador are already affecting production, according to the Fairtrade Foundation ethical trade body. In the Dominican Republic, farmers are expected to face drought conditions, with forecasts of drier and warmer than usual conditions.

November 8th 2026, 12:27 pm

Pope’s visit to Argentina sets up showdown with ‘hyper-capitalist’ Milei

World news | The Guardian

President has opposing views on many issues, and once called Leo’s predecessor the ‘representative of the Evil One’

Trees are being planted in the garden. The brightly coloured buildings are getting another coat of paint. The choir rehearses. Hundreds of other residents, several of them using wheelchairs, practise their positions outside the sanctuary. Excitement is in the air, because on Monday 9 November, the Cottolengo Don Orione – a Catholic-run home for disabled people – will be the first stop on Pope Leo XIV’s first full day of his trip to Argentina.

But the pope’s visit to Claypole, about 26km from Buenos Aires, does not come at an especially happy time for the home, which counts about 400 residents with disabilities. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has made wide-ranging cuts to disability funding.

November 8th 2026, 12:27 pm

How African philosophies inspired a new approach to staging film festivals in Manchester

World news | The Guardian

See My World, an event highlighting the pan-African thought via film, poetry and dance, builds on momentum sparked by local activists and creatives

African philosophies including exploring how lessons from the past can shape the present and near future have inspired a film festival coming to Manchester.

See My World, a day dedicated to independent creators from across the African diaspora in the north of England, will take place at the Contact theatre on 21 November.

November 8th 2026, 12:27 pm

Collision of two trains in Egypt kills at least seven

World news | The Guardian

President orders prompt investigation after one train derails in collision in al-Ayyat about 30 miles from Cairo

At least seven people were killed and more than 100 others injured when two trains collided on Sunday south of Cairo, authorities have said.

The crash occurred in al-Ayyat district in Giza province, about 30 miles (50km) south of the capital, when a train travelling to the south-western Fayoum province crashed into the rear of a train heading to the southern province of Aswan, according to the transport ministry. It said one of the trains had derailed.

November 8th 2026, 12:27 pm

Ousted Paraguay president under house arrest after banking crisis leaves 60% of country unable to ac

World news | The Guardian

Santiago Peña was detained minutes after he was impeached by Congress, as protesters took to the streets demanding answers after the suspension of the Ueno bank

Paraguay’s rightwing president has been placed under house arrest minutes after he was impeached by Congress, amid a severe crisis that left more than half the country’s population unable to access their bank accounts.

Santiago Peña is being investigated about allegations he used his political influence to favour a bank that expanded exponentially under his government and was suspended this week after irregularities.

November 6th 2026, 10:10 pm

Sebastián Lelio, director of A Fantastic Woman and Gloria, dies aged 52

World news | The Guardian

The Chilean film-maker, whose films starred Florence Pugh, Julianne Moore and Rachel Weisz, died at his home in Santiago

Chilean film-maker Sebastián Lelio has died at the age of 52.

He was best known for the Oscar-winning trans drama A Fantastic Woman and his English-language films included Gloria Bell and The Wonder.

November 6th 2026, 5:26 pm

Kenyan doomsday sect leader jailed for 200 years for murder of 190 children

World news | The Guardian

Paul Mackenzie convicted over deaths of children and one adult after followers were ordered to starve themselves and their families

The leader of a Kenyan doomsday sect has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult disasters in recent history.

The sentence, comprising 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years by direct homicide, came two weeks after the court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa found the cult leader guilty of the crimes.

November 6th 2026, 11:41 am

Flávio Bolsonaro battles to remain relevant as he speaks at rightwing conference at Mar-a-Lago

World news | The Guardian

Far-right politician speaks to Conservative Political Action Conference and makes unsubstantiated claims about election fraud

Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right politician who lost Brazil’s presidential election last month, has insisted his defeat is not “the end for Brazil” as he battles to maintain political relevance after fleeing to the US.

Bolsonaro absconded early last week shortly after losing the 25 October election to the leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by more than 4m votes.

November 6th 2026, 8:41 am

ANC faces bruising defeat in South African local elections with 80% of ballots counted

World news | The Guardian

Former liberation movement’s share of national vote almost 14 percentage points below 2021 result

The African National Congress is on course to suffer a bruising defeat in South Africa’s local elections, with the once dominant party of Nelson Mandela falling to under a third of the vote nationally with more than 80% of ballots counted.

Wednesday’s fragmented vote marks another stage in the decline of the ANC, which has led national governments since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994. High unemployment, crime, corruption and poor local service delivery have all contributed to voters turning away from the party.

November 6th 2026, 8:41 am

Low pressure in US midwest brings unseasonable heat to New York and Boston

World news | The Guardian

Further south this week, severe thunderstorms affect midterms voting in Florida, Oklahoma and Colorado

Despite the rapid descent into autumn in the northern hemisphere, parts of eastern North America have experienced an exceptionally late taste of summer in recent days. Temperatures approached 23C (73.4F) in New York and Boston, about 7-10C above what is expected in early November. The unseasonable warmth also spilled into parts of eastern Canada, with temperatures exceeding 20C, about 10-15C above normal for the time of year. The balmy conditions were the result on an area of low pressure in the US midwest, dragging up exceptionally warm air from the Gulf of Mexico along its eastern flank. This area of low pressure will gradually drift eastwards, allowing temperatures to fall closer to the average.

Further south in the US, severe thunderstorms have resulted in numerous flood warnings and evacuation warnings being issued this week across many states, with disruptive weather impacting polling stations in states such Florida, Oklahoma and Colorado. The powerful thunderstorms this week even resulted in a tornado touching down in Keyes, Oklahoma, forcing a relocation of the polling station. The tornado left extensive damage across the town, although no causalities have been reported. Officials across many states impacted by the severe weather have requested federal funding assistance after extreme weather resulted in widespread damage to homes and infrastructure.

November 6th 2026, 5:11 am

Peru airport officials discover 3,000 tarantulas smuggled inside dirty socks

World news | The Guardian

Three suitcases’ worth of the spiders were on their way to Germany, where they could fetch an estimated €1.5m

More than 3,000 tarantulas were seized at an airport in Lima on their way to Germany, Peruvian authorities said.

The spiders were hidden inside dirty socks contained in three suitcases carried by two Germans and a Polish citizen, the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) told Agence France-Presse on Thursday.

November 5th 2026, 8:56 pm

Paraguay’s president quits after millions of people’s savings frozen in bank crisis

World news | The Guardian

Santiago Peña’s rightwing administration had authorised Ueno Bank to drastically expand operations before collapse

Paraguay’s rightwing president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday after a political and financial crisis collapsed the South American country’s banking system in recent days.

At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, which in just a few years under Peña went from an obscure digital bank to one of the country’s largest lenders, claiming to have about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers.

November 5th 2026, 3:40 pm

How elderly ‘unsung heroes’ powered Lula’s historic fightback in Brazil

World news | The Guardian

Older voters praised for helping tip balance in leftwing president’s favour against far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in runoff

It had been nearly a decade since Celia de Oliveira Soares last voted, and months since the 101-year-old great-grandmother last left her home.

But on 25 October, when Brazil held what many considered its most important presidential election in decades, relatives helped Soares into a wheelchair and drove her to a nearby school to make sure the far-right candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, did not prevail.

November 5th 2026, 6:36 am

Mother and daughter killed in grizzly bear attack, Canadian authorities confirm

World news | The Guardian

Conservation officers say more than one bear may have been involved in attack on women near their home

Search teams in Canada have discovered the body of a 20-year-old woman and confirmed that both she and her mother were killed in an attack that conservation officers now believe could have involved multiple grizzly bears.

Late on Tuesday, conservation officers in British Columbia said the two women, who were reported missing over the weekend, were located near a trail a short distance from their home.

November 4th 2026, 8:02 pm

British healthcare worker with Ebola evacuated from DR Congo to UK

World news | The Guardian

Patient is ⁠in ​stable condition and will be transferred to a specialist ‘high consequence’ infectious disease unit

A British healthcare worker with Ebola is being evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the UK for medical treatment, it has been confirmed.

“A British citizen currently in the DR Congo has tested positive for Ebola,” a spokesperson for the UK government said in a statement on Wednesday. “The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated … The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low.”

November 4th 2026, 8:02 pm

ANC faces anger over poor services as South Africans vote in local elections

World news | The Guardian

Party expected to get less than a third of the vote amid frustration over water outages and power cuts

The African National Congress is on course for a bruising result in South Africa’s local elections on Wednesday as voters go to the polls amid deep discontent over water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure.

The former liberation movement, which Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994 at the end of apartheid as South Africa’s first black president, is still likely to be the largest party. However, polls show it getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections in 2021 and 40.2% in 2024’s national elections.

November 3rd 2026, 11:31 pm

One dead and another missing in suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada

World news | The Guardian

The incident took place in the same province where a grizzly attacked a group of schoolchildren last November

A mother is dead and her daughter is missing in western Canada after a suspected grizzly bear attack in the same community where a bear attacked a group of schoolchildren earlier in the year.

On Tuesday, the British Columbia conservation officer service said in a social media post that it had launched a search for the two missing people on the weekend, and that during the search on Sunday an officer found the mother’s body. The search for her 19-year-old daughter is ongoing.

November 3rd 2026, 8:59 pm

Brazil publishes first global ‘roadmap’ for phasing out fossil fuels

World news | The Guardian

Cop30 host sets out steps to break link with coal, oil and gas as it aims to move focus from negotiating to implementing

All countries can start to break their dependence on fossil fuels now without needing to wait for new technologies or economic changes, Brazil’s government has said ahead of a global climate summit.

Brazil, the host of last year’s UN climate conference, set out the world’s first global “roadmap” for phasing out fossil fuels on Tuesday, showing that countries could boost their economies and pull people out of poverty while breaking the link with coal, oil and gas.

November 3rd 2026, 10:44 am

Fossilised red blood cells found in 115m-year-old dinosaur’s bone, say scientists

World news | The Guardian

Chemical tests on Aratasaurus bone identify presence of heme, the organic compound that allows haemoglobin in blood to carry oxygen around body

It could be the opening of a Jurassic Park rip-off: scientists examining ancient dinosaur bones find what appear to be fossilised red blood cells, and traces of the molecule that gives the beast’s blood its distinctive crimson hue.

But that is what researchers are claiming to have discovered after analysing the hind leg bones of a small, meat-eating dinosaur called an Aratasaurus that lived and died in what is now north-eastern Brazil 115m years ago.

November 2nd 2026, 4:15 pm

UK was ‘vehement’ slavery reparations should not be on Commonwealth summit agenda

World news | The Guardian

British prime minister has now agreed to structured dialogue on reparatory justice but issue remains off formal Chogm agenda

British officials initially insisted that discussions of reparations for slavery should not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Antigua and Barbuda – and even warned that Andy Burnham would not attend the meeting if the subject was formally included, according to a leading Caribbean political figure.

Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the reparatory justice movement Repair Campaign, welcomed Britain’s decision to enter structured dialogue on reparations, but said the UK had come “kicking and screaming” to the conversation.

November 1st 2026, 3:29 pm

‘Amateur morons’: Flávio Bolsonaro’s short-lived ‘president-elect’ claim met with mockery

World news | The Guardian

Brazilian media ridicule defeated candidate over ‘shameful’ absconsion to US and bizarre letter with wrong coat of arms

Flávio Bolsonaro had hoped that by Sunday night people would be calling him the next president of Brazil.

Instead, the far-right politician’s decision to flee to the US after losing the election and – for 58 minutes – to declare himself “Brazil’s true president-elect”, has made him a laughing stock, with Brazilian newspapers and commentators raining a barrage of scornful adjectives down on the conquered candidate.

October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm

Canada and EU announce new alliance open to like-minded countries

World news | The Guardian

Alliance for the Future, unveiled at Montreal summit and open to other countries, conceived for world ‘shaken by new storms’

Canada and Europe have announced a new alliance of like-minded nations to serve as both a “protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive” and a powerful hedge against the unpredictable nature of geopolitics, while welcoming other countries to join.

Speaking to reporters on Friday from Montreal, the prime minister, Mark Carney, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, called the new partnership the Alliance for the Future and said the “deepest possible partnership between Canada and the 27-member bloc had the potential to offer unprecedented stability and opportunity”.

October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm

Severe rainfall and flood warnings issued for central Greece and western Turkey

World news | The Guardian

Turkey has been hit by powerful thunderstorms and a fatal tornado this week with more heavy rain expected

Heavy rain and strong winds will continue to affect parts of south-eastern Europe and Turkey over the next few days, as an area of low pressure in the region has allowed for the formation of powerful thunderstorms. During a particularly intense thunderstorm in Antalya, a coastal city in the south-west of Turkey, the formation of a tornado resulted in the deaths of four construction workers on Tuesday. Authorities in Greece and Turkey have released severe rainfall and flooding warnings, as a further 100-150mm (nearly 4-6in) of rain is expected this week in central Greece and western parts of Turkey, with locally higher totals possible.

Travelling eastwards towards south Asia, strong winds and heavy rainfall have swept across the Indian regions of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh as Cyclone Arnab made landfall. With wind gusts in excess of 85mph (140km/h) and rainfall totals in some regions exceeding 200mm, the severe storm has prompted mass evacuations of more than 180,000 people, as well as widespread disruption to energy and transport infrastructure. The cyclone will weaken as it continues to traverse northwards over the coming days, though will continue to deliver heavy rain to parts of northern and central India as it does so.

October 30th 2026, 7:16 am

Sinkholes, scarred land and scapegoats: the scourge of illegal gold mining in Johannesburg

World news | The Guardian

There is no end in sight for the drivers of illegal mining, while police action appears ineffective

Cora Bailey has been encountering illegal miners ever since she first started treating injured animals in the townships around Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in 1991. But as the price of gold has soared, so too has activity in the abandoned mine shafts that mark the area.

In late September, dozens of zama zamas – the name given to illegal miners in South Africa, meaning roughly “to take a chance” in Zulu – arrived to dig for gold across the dirt road from her charity, Claw (Community Led Animal Welfare).

October 30th 2026, 7:16 am

Sudanese diaspora and human rights groups denounce UAE nominee for UN top job

World news | The Guardian

Critics cite Lana Nusseibeh’s denial of accusations the UAE is fuelling Sudan war by supporting paramilitary RSF

Members of the Sudanese diaspora and international human rights monitors have denounced the candidature of an Emirati diplomat for the top job at the UN, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates is fuelling the war in Sudan by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The UAE nominated Lana Nusseibeh last week to replace the UN secretary general, António Guterres, as he finishes his second five-year term ⁠this year, upending a race that had become gridlocked.

October 30th 2026, 7:16 am

Brazil’s victory for the planet and democracy: seven lessons from Lula’s win

World news | The Guardian

The trouncing of the far right provides a playbook for social and environmental movements in other countries facing elections, including the US, Spain and France

Thank you, Brazil, for demonstrating how the far right can be trounced while protection for the Amazon is strengthened. In a world where nature and democracy appeared to be bleeding out in tandem, voters and forest defenders in this global south powerhouse have shown it is possible to staunch the flow. This should provide much needed inspiration and, more practically, a playbook for social and environmental movements in other countries facing elections, including the US, Spain and France.

The astonishing comeback victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s presidential runoff against his extreme right challenger Flavío Bolsonaro has brought oceans of rapturous supporters on to the streets, while also thrilling conservationists, climate activists and social justice campaigners across the world.

October 29th 2026, 3:31 pm

Cuts like a knife: Canadian rocker Bryan Adams trolls Trump with new song

World news | The Guardian

Musician wrote a ‘love letter’ to Canada with a new album – and some pointed commentary about the US president

Lake Ontario, the vast body of water that straddles the US-Canada border, has gone by many names over the centuries: Lac Saint-Louis, Lacus Ontarius, Skaniadorio, Cataraqui Lake. But one thing it will never be called, says Canadian rock star Bryan Adams, is Lake America.

In his new song Lake Ontario, Adams takes aim at the US president, Donald Trump, accusing him of “breaking the peace” between the people who live on the lake’s shores.

The ‘lake of shining waters’ is what the Iroquois called her

It’s a First Nations name – not an executive order.

But things weren’t going his way in Iran

So like a baby tossing the toys from the pram

You can push us to the brink

But where the open road divides

October 29th 2026, 3:31 pm

EU backs away from offer to Canada to start ‘associate member’ talks

World news | The Guardian

Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’

The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between members states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal.

A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”.

October 28th 2026, 8:44 pm

US ambassador suggests Trump could blame Canada if midterms don’t go his way

World news | The Guardian

Pete Hoekstra, controversial US ambassador to Canada, has also accused Canadian officials of interfering in US elections

The US ambassador has suggested Canada could be blamed if Republicans perform poorly in next week’s midterm elections, the latest intervention from a controversial figure who has been accused of inflaming a bitter dispute that has angered and baffled residents of both countries.

On Wednesday, CTV news reported that Pete Hoekstra told business leaders at a closed door meeting that if a number of swing races – including Maine and Michigan – go to the Democrats, it could make things harder for Canada because Donald Trump might try to blame the loss on it.

October 28th 2026, 8:44 pm

Egypt fines prominent editor Lina Attalah and shuts independent news outlet Mada Masr

World news | The Guardian

Warnings of escalating clampdown on press freedom come after Cairo court convicts Attalah of managing an unlicensed website

Lina Attalah, a prominent Egyptian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, has been released from detention by Egypt’s authorities and had her website ordered to be shut down by a court amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media in the country.

Attalah was taken briefly into custody after a Cairo court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website, prompting fresh international concerns over press freedom in Egypt.

October 28th 2026, 2:46 pm

Africa’s ‘unprecedented’ Ebola outbreak could reach UK, says top health official

World news | The Guardian

Jean Kaseya, of the Africa CDC, warns of the illness spreading like Covid unless more funding is secured to increase preparedness and possible treatment

The “unprecedented” spread of the Ebola outbreak means it could reach the UK and other countries, according to one of Africa’s top health officials.

As the current outbreak reached 10,000 cases, with almost 5,000 deaths, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), compared the outbreak to the Covid pandemic, which first took hold in China before spreading to countries across the world, claiming millions of lives, and ravaging health systems and economies.

October 28th 2026, 8:15 am

A US woman feared dead was reported alive in Mexico. But cops now say that isn’t true

World news | The Guardian

Mexican police had said they found Shayna Feinman in Tijuana, raising the hopes of missing Arizonan’s family

Arizona authorities say their Mexican counterparts were resoundingly mistaken when they publicly claimed recently that they found alive a woman who was feared slain after disappearing in 2024 – a turn of events that her sister has called “turmoil” and “heartbreaking”.

The case in question centers on Shayna Feinman, who was reported missing in rural Yavapai county, Arizona, in March 2024 at age 38.

October 28th 2026, 8:15 am

Flávio Bolsonaro on flight to Miami after fleeing Brazil amid election defeat

World news | The Guardian

Far-right senator and family expected to land in US after crossing into Argentina and then flying out of Ecuador

A jet carrying the far-right Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro has left Guayaquil in Ecuador and is on its way to Miami, Florida, where it is expected to arrive mid-morning on Wednesday.

After losing Sunday night’s election to the incumbent president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro disappeared for more than 24 hours, until Argentina’s migration authorities said he had entered the country by land on Tuesday night.

October 28th 2026, 8:15 am

King Charles to discuss legacy of slavery with Commonwealth leaders at summit

World news | The Guardian

Royal tour of Caribbean comes as Commonwealth nations renew calls for Britain to engage in reparation talks

King Charles has confirmed he will discuss the legacy of slavery at a summit with Commonwealth leaders as he begins his Caribbean tour.

The king arrived in the Bahamas to a ceremonial welcome and attended a youth rally at Clifford Park, the site where the country officially gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1973.

October 27th 2026, 8:43 pm

Trump shows off tanker with ‘1m barrels of oil’ and floats Venezuela as 51st state

World news | The Guardian

President at Texas campaign rally hails deal struck with post-Maduro government as ‘greatest oil victory in history’

Donald Trump suggested Venezuela become the 51st state of the United States on Tuesday as the president showed off a tanker he claimed had “one million barrels of oil on it” from the country, nine months after deposing its president.

At a campaign rally in Corpus Christ, Texas, Trump touted a US oil deal with Venezuela, which the US attacked in January, capturing its long-serving leader Nicolás Maduro.

October 27th 2026, 7:44 pm

Olivia Chow elected as Toronto mayor for second term in victory for progressives

World news | The Guardian

Tightly fought election saw record turnout as incumbent mayor ran against her rival Brad Bradford

The mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, promised more rental housing, free school lunches and reduce fares for frequent transit riders after she was elected to a decisive second term as mayor in a wave of support for progressives councillors.

The tightly fought election saw record turnout but Chow ultimately turned in a dominant 13 percentage point win over her rival, Brad Bradford, receiving 54% of the vote compared to Bradford’s 41%. Many had been expecting a far closer race, given weeks of polling that suggested a dead heat between the pair who presented differing visions for Canada’s largest city.

October 27th 2026, 4:58 pm

US military says strike on alleged drug vessel in eastern Pacific kills five people

World news | The Guardian

US military says it carried out an airstrike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in latest attack in region

The US ⁠military ⁠said on ​Tuesday ⁠it killed ⁠five ​people ‌after ‌an airstrike on a ‌suspected drug-trafficking vessel in ​the ⁠eastern Pacific.

Tuesday’s strike was among more than 70 such attacks since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency, according to media tallies. Collectively, they have killed more than 240 people.

October 27th 2026, 3:43 pm

Flávio Bolsonaro rumoured to have fled Brazil after presidential election loss

World news | The Guardian

Far-right senator reportedly on plane to US after missing a deadline to hand over his passport since loss to Lula

The far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro has reportedly fled Brazil and is on his way to the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election to the leftwing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

A report by the news website Metrópoles, citing people close to the politician’s family, said he was en route to the US. “The plane is in flight,” Metrópoles reported, without making clear where it had departed from.

October 27th 2026, 1:29 pm

Reader Q&A: After Lula’s sensational victory in Brazil’s presidential election, post your questions

World news | The Guardian

Having lost the first round of Brazil’s presidential election to far right rival Flávio Bolsonaro, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spectacularly triumphed in the second. What comes next for Brazil? The Guardian’s Tom Phillips will be answering your questions from 15:00 GMT today.

Ask a question: log in or sign up here to comment, or email conversations@theguardian.com

After losing the first round of Brazil’s presidential election to far right rival Flávio Bolsonaro, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known simply as Lula, pulled off the most stunning political fightback in modern Brazilian history by winning the second, in so doing securing a fourth presidential term. It will see him become the country’s longest-serving leader.

The result – 51.79% to Lula, 48.21% to Bolsonaro – was delivered after a supreme court judge had extended polling time by two hours, and after Lula’s camp accused their opponents of sabotaging public transport in an attempt to keep their voters from the polls. It was the first time in Brazilian electoral history that a first-round verdict had been overturned.

October 26th 2026, 8:12 pm

Brazil: defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passports

World news | The Guardian

Far-right senator banned from leaving country as supreme court judge’s ruling makes reference to money-laundering case

The far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro was banned from leaving Brazil and ordered to surrender his passports just hours after his dramatic loss in the presidential election to the leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The ruling was issued by supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same justice who oversaw the trial of the senator’s father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, for attempting a coup.

October 26th 2026, 6:27 pm

How the streets and social media drove Lula to a historic comeback in Brazil

World news | The Guardian

A viral WhatsApp channel and student-led protests played a key role in the veteran Brazilian leftist’s election victory

After the first round of the Brazilian presidential election three weeks ago, the leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reportedly told allies he could not understand how he finished second after a government he considered the best of his three terms.

A mood of dismay swept Brazil’s left, and because 9 million voters for the other candidates, all of them on the right, were expected to mostly transfer to senator Flávio Bolsonaro, analysts widely saw the far-right senator’s victory as certain.

October 26th 2026, 3:12 pm

How Lula beat far-right Bolsonaro in Brazil – The Latest

World news | The Guardian

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a historic fourth term as president, defeating the far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro in a dramatic comeback.

Lula is the first candidate to win a runoff election after losing in the first round, taking victory with 51.79% of the vote to his rival’s 48.21%. His win bucks a regional trend, after the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro had spearheaded a radical populist movement.

But with Flávio Bolsonaro refusing to concede defeat, what’s next for Brazil? Michael Safi speaks to Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips – watch on YouTube

October 26th 2026, 3:12 pm

‘Democracy always’: Lula vows no return to dictatorship in Brazil after election win

World news | The Guardian

Leaders and governments worldwide congratulate Lula on dramatic comeback seen as an important signal to rest of Latin America

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, has vowed that dictatorship and fascism will never return to Brazil after winning a historic fourth term in power by defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro.

“This is God’s work – and it’s thanks to all of you,” Lula told tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered in central São Paulo in the early hours of Monday to celebrate his dramatic election comeback.

October 26th 2026, 12:44 pm

UK sanctions Sudanese military leaders implicated in El Fasher ‘campaign of rape’

World news | The Guardian

Commanders suspected of sexual violence during the largest and fastest slaughter of civilians in more than 30 years have been subjected to travel ban and asset freeze

Senior Sudanese commanders implicated in a “campaign of rape” have been targeted by the UK on the first anniversary of a mass atrocity that saw tens of thousands of civilians killed over several days.

A year after the fall of El Fasher, the British government said it had sanctioned military leaders from both sides in the country’s ongoing conflict whom it suspected of sexual violence during the siege of the city.

October 26th 2026, 12:44 pm

US forces accused of ‘weaponising’ Somalia’s floods by trapping women and children in the path of El

World news | The Guardian

Exclusive: Coordinated airstrikes on territory held by al-Shabaab are driving the civilian population to find refuge alongside a river where rising water levels are a threat to safety. Is it a deliberate military strategy?

The water was rising rapidly. It had already reached Cayni Ali’s waist. Her home, five metres from the flooded River Juba in southern Somalia, never stood a chance. There was nowhere to go. Ali’s city of Jilib was under attack. Repeated airstrikes, said the mother of six, were pinning its population beside the rising river.

“The drones come all the time,” said the 27-year-old. “We hear them constantly. They kill animals, civilians. The town is big but destruction is everywhere.”

October 26th 2026, 10:46 am

Brazil keeps left: what Lula’s victory means for his country and beyond

World news | The Guardian

In today’s newsletter: As Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured victory in the presidential race, we look the implications for democracy, the environment and international relations

Good morning. Chances are you woke this morning to news of two momentous election results. In Serbia, a student-led movement has ousted the country’s long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić (which you can read more about here). And just hours ago, Brazil’s president staged a sensational turnaround against his far-right opponent after a nail-biting vote.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, won a forth nonconsecutive term as president, seeing off far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who spearheaded the radical populist movement built by his father and former president, Jair. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election.

UK news | Two people have been killed and more than 160,000 properties have been left without power as Storm Boelo continues to batter the UK.

Crime | British police are recording a growing number of crimes linked to cocaine, including assaults, domestic abuse and dangerous driving, as figures show consumption has surged across England.

France | Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.

UK politics | Prime minister Andy Burnham’s call for the UK to consider a return to free movement with Europe has been backed by senior cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner but risks causing concern among fellow red wall MPs.

Aviation | Three in four European airline pilots have taken microsleeps in the cockpit, while almost a quarter routinely fly despite being too fatigued to work, according to a report.

Tuesday | Israel goes to the polls on Tuesday, amid orders from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a full lockdown of the occupied West Bank after recent checkpoint attacks. His government will be fighting for its survival.

Wednesday | On Wednesday Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first budget statement in the House of Commons, which is expected to give local authorities more spending powers, as a means to promote growth

Thursday and Friday | European and Canadian leaders will meet in Montreal for the 21st EU-Canada summit, to discuss security and strategic cooperation. It will be the first opportunity for leaders to iron out details over a proposed invitation for Canada to become the EU’s first ever “associate member”

October 26th 2026, 10:46 am

Sudan paramilitary drone strikes cause mass power cuts in eastern states

World news | The Guardian

Rapid Support Forces strike five power stations in three states controlled by Sudanese army

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have launched a coordinated drone attack against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the country’s east, a government official said.

The drones hit two power stations each in the states of Al-Jazira and Gedaref and one in White Nile state, “resulting in power outages across large parts of these three states”, the official said on condition of anonymity.

October 26th 2026, 10:46 am

Labour urged to plug predicted £400m shortfall in overseas aid funding in 2027

World news | The Guardian

Official forecast indicates shortfall below 0.3% of national income in promised official development assistance

The UK is on course to miss its target of spending 0.3% of national income on international aid by an estimated £400m by the end of next year.

Calculations from the Center for Global Development (CGD) found the UK was on course for a large shortfall in promised official development assistance at the end of 2027.

October 26th 2026, 2:46 am

Lula wins fourth term as Brazil president after historic upset over far-right Flávio Bolsonaro

World news | The Guardian

Leftist incumbent Lula says unprecedented comeback was a ‘defeat for denialism’ as Bolsonaro refuses to accept election result

• Lula wins election in stunning comeback – live updates

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, has staged a dramatic election fightback, defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, to claim a historic fourth term in power.

With 100% of votes counted the 80-year-old leftist received 51.79% of the vote to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.21%.

October 26th 2026, 12:15 am

Brazil runoff live updates: Bolsonaro says it is ‘impossible to concede’ election result after histo

World news | The Guardian

Leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated the far-right senator and was elected president of Brazil for a fourth non-consecutive term

• Full report: Lula wins fourth term as Brazil’s president over Flávio Bolsonaro

• Live second round results

The local electoral court ordered the immediate restoration of 100% of the bus fleet and ordered the arrest of the municipal transport secretary, Pablo Souza, on suspicion of an electoral offence and disobeying court orders. The arrest warrant could not be carried out, however, because he is in Paris on what the city government described as an “official mission”, and is not expected to return to Brazil until Monday.

Late in the afternoon, Flávio Bolsonaro also filed requests for voting to be extended by two hours in cities in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, but because of heavy rain that he said had prevented voters from turning out.

October 26th 2026, 12:15 am

Brazil election 2026: Live second round results

World news | The Guardian

After a shock defeat in the first round, the incumbent Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is seeking a new term in a runoff with Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of his convicted predecessor

Polls were originally due to close at 17.00BRT, 20.00GMT, but voting has been extended for two hours; some districts had already counted. Full coverage here

October 25th 2026, 6:14 pm

Exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela

World news | The Guardian

Nobel peace prize winner’s return after almost a year in exile is unlikely to please interim president Delcy Rodríguez

The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has announced she has returned to Venezuela almost a year after she left the country to receive the Nobel peace prize.

“I’m here. With you,” she wrote on X on Sunday lunchtime.

October 25th 2026, 6:14 pm

Brazilians vote in presidential election runoff pitting leftist Lula against far-right Bolsonaro

World news | The Guardian

Incumbent president lost in first round to senator and son of convicted ex-president

Brazilians are going to the polls on Sunday in a highly unpredictable runoff in which the leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is attempting an unprecedented comeback against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who won the first-round vote.

Bolsonaro’s surprise victory despite not leading most polls made him the favourite three weeks ago, but since then Lula’s campaign has gained ground, and the two go into the contest virtually tied.

October 25th 2026, 9:02 am

Demand for UK government action 10 months after British man’s death in Grenada

World news | The Guardian

Police closed case of Andrew Frederick despite autopsy report ruling his death a homicide

A time-critical investigation into the death of a British man whose body was found in a ransacked property on the Caribbean island of Grenada has stalled because of diplomatic delays between the two countries.

Charity workers supporting the family of Andrew Frederick are demanding immediate government intervention to clear the path for a full investigation to begin almost 10 months after his death, which has been ruled a homicide by a pathologist.

October 25th 2026, 9:02 am

Alberta welcomed migrant workers. Now, it wants to restrict their rights

World news | The Guardian

‘Scapegoating non-permanent residents is not going to lower the cost of living,’ Vanesa Ortiz says

When Vanesa Ortiz came to Calgary from Mexico, she found herself in a city gripped by winter. Outside the airport, it was -15C (5F).

“I would come to understand that this was not an extreme cold,” she said. “But in the moment it was terrifying.”

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Lewis Hamilton aims to extend career till early 2030s so he can race in African Grand Prix

World news | The Guardian

• 41-year-old set on ‘dream to be able to race in Africa’

• Rwanda to host despite criticism of human rights record

Lewis Hamilton has said he hopes to remain racing in Formula One until he can take part in the African Grand Prix which is set to take place in Rwanda in the 2030s. The seven-time world champion believes it is right that F1 is to hold a race there despite criticism of the country’s human rights record.

Last week F1 confirmed Rwanda was to host the African Grand Prix having concluded a 10-year agreement for the meeting on a purpose-built circuit, with the first race set for the early 2030s. It is lined up to be held on a circuit in Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital, Kigali, which has yet to be constructed and marks a return to the African continent for the first time since it last held a race at Kyalami, South Africa in 1993.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Severely ill ICE detainees face imminent deportation to unknown African states, advocates say

World news | The Guardian

Flights to third countries where the detainees have no ties are scheduled as early as Wednesday, relatives detail

• Send us your questions about immigration and the midterms

Relatives of gravely ill detainees at two Florida immigration jails say authorities are about to deport their loved ones to unknown countries in Africa despite worsening medical conditions.

Flights are scheduled as early as Wednesday, according to the families and the immigration advocacy group the Workers Circle, which has been monitoring conditions and speaking with detainees inside two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in south Florida.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Rubio tells Cubans ‘now is the time’ to act to see political change

World news | The Guardian

US secretary of state makes comments after Trump tells US rally warships could intervene on return from Iran

Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change in their country to act, saying “now is the time” moments after Donald Trump told a Friday rally for candidates in south Florida that US warships could intervene in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war.

The US secretary of state, in his social media post addressed “to those who seek to create positive change”, urged Cubans to capitalize on Trump’s plans. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete [sic] partnership with the CIA,” Rubio said.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

More than one million Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoff

World news | The Guardian

Nearly 159 million people to head to polls on Sunday in battle between leftwing incumbent and Flávio Bolsonaro

More than one million supporters of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have streamed on to Rio’s most famous beach for a giant protest they hope will propel him towards a historic election fightback against his far-right rival, Flávio Bolsonaro.

Nearly 159m Brazilians will vote in the election’s runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Brazil’s election and the battle for the Amazon – podcast

World news | The Guardian

Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, heads to Roraima to hear what’s at stake for the rainforest and the communities that live there in the Brazilian presidential runoff on Sunday. Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.com

For the Amazon and the communities who live there, the stakes in Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election runoff could scarcely be higher.

Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips heads to Roraima, the country’s most northern state, to hear from voters, preachers and politicians in a region that heavily backed Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Controversial US-backed vaccine trial in African newborns halted

World news | The Guardian

Hepatitis B study in Guinea-Bissau that was to be funded by CDC and that drew global backlash ‘will not move forward’

The US-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns that drew global backlash was halted, the lead researcher said on Wednesday.

It was “now clear” that the study “will not move forward in Guinea-Bissau”, Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, a Danish researcher, wrote on LinkedIn, adding, “we were not given the necessary governmental approval.”

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Nigeria confirms Ebola case as outbreak spreads into western Africa

World news | The Guardian

Case in Africa’s most populous country was detected in a woman who had travelled from Uganda

Nigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in its capital, Abuja, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said.

The woman began showing symptoms on 7 October and was admitted to a hospital in Abuja four days later, where she was later diagnosed with Ebola. It is unclear when she arrived in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

British woman dies trying to save sons on Bahamas snorkelling trip

World news | The Guardian

Mother, 36, died after current off North Bimini reportedly swept away two boys, who were later rescued, police say

A British woman has died in the Bahamas while trying to rescue her two sons after a current swept them away as they were snorkelling.

The Royal Bahamas police force said it had launched an investigation after the death of a 36-year-old woman on Tuesday.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

Mystery over source of Ebola infection in Nigeria fuels concern about spread of virus

World news | The Guardian

Switzerland says patient is wife of Swiss diplomat and believed to have contracted virus while travelling in Uganda

Health officials across Africa are racing to determine how Nigeria’s first Ebola patient ⁠in more than a decade ⁠became infected, amid fears ​the outbreak could spread further after reaching a fourth African country.

The Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday the patient in Nigeria, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of ⁠Congo, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May before spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. The woman was believed to have contracted Ebola while travelling with her husband in Uganda, the ministry added.

October 24th 2026, 11:15 pm

‘We are prey’: discovery of seven women’s bodies fuels anger over femicide in South Africa

World news | The Guardian

String of female murder victims found near Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week

The discovery of the bodies of seven women around Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week, has prompted an outpouring of fear, grief and anger over a lack of progress in tackling femicide.

When Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo did not return after going for a run on 9 September, her eight-year-old daughter alerted relatives, who contacted police. The 38-year-old’s body was found on Saturday and identified by relatives on Monday. The news of her disappearance had gone viral.

September 16th 2026, 9:29 am

US to bar some South Africans over claims of anti-white discrimination

World news | The Guardian

Announcement of visa restrictions follows Trump’s false claims of ‘white genocide’ taking place in South Africa

The US has announced visa restrictions on some South Africans as Donald Trump’s administration continues to claim that South Africa’s government racially discriminates against white minority Afrikaners.

The announcement did not specify individuals who were barred from the US. Trump has spent his second term falsely claiming there is a “white genocide” in South Africa and railing against its affirmative action policies.

September 16th 2026, 9:29 am

Battle of Chile director Patricio Guzmán dies aged 85

World news | The Guardian

Passionate documentary maker won international acclaim for unsparing but poetic films exploring the impact of the Pinochet regime in Chile

Patricio Guzmán, the film-maker who chronicled Chile’s bloody 1970s political strife and its subsequent social and political turmoil in films such as The Battle of Chile and Nostalgia for the Light, has died aged 85. According to Chilean news outlet Emol, Guzmán died on Tuesday in Paris after a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Guzmán’s chief preoccupation throughout his career was the carnage unleashed by Augusto Pinochet’s coup in 1973 against Salvador Allende, Chile’s elected president. He later told the Guardian: “I’m a film-maker who was very marked by the ways of the dictator. It has remained with me for ever. I cannot leave it behind.” However, he resisted the idea that he was an activist, political film-maker, adding: “I’m not a sociologist. Neither am I a politician. I make films that are metaphorical and poetic; I interpret reality through my own personal way of looking.”

September 16th 2026, 9:29 am

People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

World news | The Guardian

Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America

Nature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.

Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining.

September 16th 2026, 2:29 am

Al-Qaida and IS-linked violence in Africa’s Sahel belt set to hit record levels this year

World news | The Guardian

Twenty-five years after 9/11, figures compiled by conflict monitor underline how Sahel region has become centre of Islamist terror

Islamist extremist violence in Africa’s Sahel region is set to reach historic highs after a series of sweeping offensives by groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State, according to new figures compiled by the conflict monitor Acled.

As the US marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks launched by al-Qaida against targets in Washington and New York, the statistics underline the continued expansion of the veteran organisation in parts of Africa – in stark contrast with its relative weakness elsewhere.

September 16th 2026, 2:29 am

Slave-trade wealth was embedded in Britain’s financial system, research finds

World news | The Guardian

Dozens of Bank of England directors and founding subscribers invested in trafficking of enslaved Africans

The Bank of England and the British financial system were for centuries deeply involved in the enslavement and transatlantic trafficking of millions of African people, according to new research on Britain’s slavery history.

Research by historians compiling the Register of British Slave Traders has found that the scale of the financial system’s involvement in enslavement is greater than previously known or acknowledged. The Bank of England, the central bank owned by the government since nationalisation by Clement Attlee’s Labour administration in 1946, had dozens of financiers involved in its foundation who were also significant investors in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.

September 16th 2026, 2:29 am

Ferocious fight among Brazil’s supreme court erupts on eve of presidential election

World news | The Guardian

Scandal explodes as country’s election campaign peaks, with polls suggesting dead heat between candidates

Brazil’s supreme court has been thrust into what experts consider the greatest crisis since the return of democracy in the 1980s, as two rival judges lock horns on the eve of the presidential election with unpredictable consequences for Latin America’s largest democracy.

The politically charged dispute exploded into public view on Tuesday as judges traded insults and accusations during a heated supreme court hearing that was livestreamed into millions of Brazilian homes.

September 15th 2026, 6:04 pm

Carney says Canada will pursue ‘unique security and economic alliance’ with EU amid US trade spat

World news | The Guardian

Prime minister speaks of strengthening Canada’s economic and political ties to Europe at Canada Investment Summit

Mark Carney said Canada will pursue a “unique security and economic alliance” with Europe as he positions his country as a base to build in the “new global economic order”.

Speaking to investors, company executives and government ministers at the inaugural Canada Investment Summit on Tuesday, the prime minister pitched Canada as a “safe harbour” and lucrative home for foreign capital as his government looks to reduce its reliance on trade with the United States.

September 15th 2026, 6:04 pm

Ebola outbreak in DRC has peaked, say authorities, as infection rates slow

World news | The Guardian

Almost 3,500 people have died in outbreak and experts say more must be done to ensure Bundibugyo is under control

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have announced that the Ebola outbreak ravaging parts of the country has reached its peak.

For the first time since the epidemic was declared in May, the numbers of people becoming infected is slowing down, according to officials.

September 15th 2026, 2:15 am

‘I believed the hype’: the white South Africans denied refugee status in the US

World news | The Guardian

Drive to save thousands of Afrikaners from false claims of ‘white genocide’ appears to show signs of slowing

When Donald Trump announced in February 2025 that the US would accept Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees, many white South Africans who believed that they were victims of racism in their country thought that their prayers had been answered.

However, in the past few months, dozens of applicants to the refugee programme have been rejected, with many left dismayed and confused as to why they would be left to face what Trump has falsely claimed is a “white genocide” in South Africa.

September 15th 2026, 2:15 am

Panama canal traffic to be cut again as drought from El Niño worsens

World news | The Guardian

Latest daily reductions will further choke one of the world’s most important shipping lanes

The Panama canal plans to again cut maritime traffic due to worsening drought caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, further choking up one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and about 40% of US container traffic; it is favoured by shippers because it usually reduces cost and transit times, especially for companies trading between China, Asia and the US.

September 14th 2026, 11:29 pm

Africa’s richest man aiming to make $23bn from continent’s biggest-ever IPO

World news | The Guardian

Public offering of Aliko Dangote’s Nigerian oil refinery business could swell his net wealth by two-thirds

The fortune of Africa’s richest person could swell by two thirds to nearly $60bn (£44bn) after his refinery in Nigeria listed publicly in the continent’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

If Monday’s flotation of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals on the Nigerian exchange goes to plan, then Aliko Dangote will add a further $23bn (£17bn) to his $35bn net worth.

September 14th 2026, 1:59 pm

The London hospital funded by donors who invested in the slave trade

World news | The Guardian

St Barts is one of many UK institutions whose benefactors were involved in the trafficking of enslaved Africans

Inside the Great Hall of St Bartholomew’s North Wing, alongside stately portraits of the apostle from whom London’s oldest hospital takes its name and King Henry VIII, extravagant commemorative boards adorn the walls.

The Great Hall was a grand, formal space where governors weighed their philanthropic donations and drafted their wills, many while investing in the stock of companies built on the trafficking of enslaved Africans. Today, many of those donors are commemorated in acrylic gold paint on the boards.

September 14th 2026, 1:59 pm

Bolsonaro 2.0: Brazil braces for the return of the far right

World news | The Guardian

Neck-and-neck with Lula in polls, Flávio Bolsonaro fires up his base in the bellwether state of Minas Gerais – starting at the scene of his father’s stabbing

A giant banner of Brazil’s incarcerated former president Jair Bolsonaro fluttered in the morning breeze as his eldest son, Flávio, touched down at an airfield on the fringe of a city that will soon help decide the future of one of the biggest democracies on earth.

“Brazil is rudderless. Brazil has no president and Brazil needs a president – and that president is Flávio Bolsonaro,” the far-right senator declared as he waded into the flock of supporters who had gathered to welcome him to Juiz de Fora, one of the largest cities in the battleground state of Minas Gerais.

September 14th 2026, 1:59 pm

Burial of King Oyo takes place in Uganda as news anchor prepares for throne

World news | The Guardian

Royal guards carry casket through streets of Fort Portal amid row over appointment of Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma

Uganda’s King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, long the world’s youngest monarch, has been buried among the tombs of his royal forebears as ⁠his Tooro kingdom looked to put ⁠a bitter succession battle behind ​it.

Oyo’s appointed successor, the news anchor Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, cast nine coffee berries into the grave at the Karambi Royal Tombs, marking the formal handover of power in the western Ugandan kingdom.

September 12th 2026, 12:29 pm

Six Nigerians extradited to US over $6M online romance scam

World news | The Guardian

Alleged members of Black Axe criminal network that swindled US women out of $6m flown from South Africa

Six Nigerian nationals linked to an organized criminal network that allegedly swindled American women out of more than $6m through online romance scams were extradited to the United States on Friday.

South African police confirmed they were to be extradited earlier on Friday, while local news in Africa confirmed that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, facilitated their handover to officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service at Cape Town international airport, in collaboration with Interpol South Africa.

September 12th 2026, 10:16 am

$15m fund launched to create ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM worldwide

World news | The Guardian

Her Horizon Fund seeks $100m to stop practice harming 230m women and girls globally

Frontline activists and leaders in the fight against female genital mutilation, which has affected more than 230 million women and girls worldwide, have welcomed an unprecedented $15.5m (£11.4m) fund aimed at creating “unstoppable momentum” to finally end the practice.

The launch of the fund comes as women’s rights are increasingly under attack and donor funding is in sharp decline, particularly for work led by FGM survivors in local communities. It is thought to be the largest single philanthropic contribution to ending the practice of FGM.

September 11th 2026, 12:29 am

Canada offers air defense support for Ukraine as Zelenskyy visits

World news | The Guardian

Canadian PM Mark Carney hosts president in Calgary, where he grew up alongside large Ukrainian community

Canada offered support on Thursday to boost Ukraine’s air defenses and help replenish its drone stocks, as the countries pledged to deepen their alliance during a visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mark Carney hosted the president of Ukraine in Calgary in the western province of Alberta, where the Canadian prime minister grew up among a large community of people with Ukrainian heritage.

September 10th 2026, 5:12 pm

TV presenter v secret son: the succession dispute engulfing a Ugandan kingdom

World news | The Guardian

Family of late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV reveal son’s existence as they reject committee’s choice of cousin as new monarch

A traditional Ugandan kingdom has become engulfed in a bitter succession dispute after the family of a king who recently died rejected the selection of a television news anchor as his successor.

King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he took the throne in the kingdom of Tooro in 1995 at the age of three, died on 27 August in the US, where he was receiving cancer treatment.

September 10th 2026, 12:11 pm

Rubio says US will work with allies to stop drug-trafficking as three killed in latest boat strike

World news | The Guardian

Rubio visits Ecuador and welcomes cooperation after campaign of unilateral strikes on alleged ‘narco-terrorists’

US secretary of state Marco Rubio gave new clarity on the approach toward combating drug trafficking in Latin American waters, saying the Trump administration was focused on working with allied countries and aligning with their laws but insisting the military will “still blow up ships if need be.”

The public acknowledgment of a shift in US strategy comes a year after Washington began a campaign of unilateral deadly strikes against those it calls “narco-terrorists” operating boats in international waters.

September 9th 2026, 9:54 pm

Notorious Ecuadorian crime gang designated a terrorist group by US

World news | The Guardian

Trump administration to seek extra funding from Congress to ‘dismantle’ Los Tiguerones over narcotics trafficking

The US has designated Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang, which stormed a television station during a live broadcast in 2024, as a terrorist organisation as the Trump administration expands its campaign against narcotics traffickers it says are destabilising Latin America.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made the announcement in Quito, where he met Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa, one of several rightwing allies of Donald Trump whom Rubio is courting as a security partner during a three-nation tour through Latin America that began on Tuesday.

September 9th 2026, 7:02 pm

US bans Canadian dairy, alcohol and motorcycles as trade war escalates

World news | The Guardian

Trump responds after Canada imposes $20bn in retaliatory tariffs and Canadian PM vows to diversify trade abroad

The US is banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada, the White House said on Tuesday, as the trade war between the two neighbors and longtime allies escalates.

The ban will take effect in three weeks and comes after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US imports earlier on Tuesday.

September 9th 2026, 2:41 pm

Uganda to withdraw from Invictus Games ‘out of respect for King Charles’, says military chief

World news | The Guardian

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba announces decision to pull out in post on X, citing tensions over ‘Harry-Meghan nonsense’

Uganda is withdrawing from the Duke of Sussex’s Invictus Games, the country’s military chief has said, out of respect for King Charles amid division over the “Harry-Meghan nonsense”.

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of the Ugandan president, made the surprise announcement in a post on X on Wednesday.

September 9th 2026, 2:41 pm

Family of British man found dead in Grenada ask local police to work with UK investigators

World news | The Guardian

Andrew Frederick’s body was found in property he was staying at in Grenada in January

The family of a British father who was found dead in the Caribbean in January is urging authorities in Grenada to work with UK police to uncover the truth about his death.

Andrew Frederick’s body was found in the property he was staying at in Grenada on 4 January. An autopsy, performed in the same week by a privately hired pathologist, concluded that the 47-year-old’s death was a homicide.

September 9th 2026, 4:06 am