Starmer could face rebellion by north-west Labour MPs over local funding 20. January 2026 (20:33) Exclusive: Northern towns are unfairly penalised by new three-year council settlements, say members with Liverpool seatsKeir Starmer is facing another potentially damaging rebellion, as Labour MPs from north-west towns urge the government to give their local councils more money over the next three years.Labour MPs from the Liverpool city region have written to the local government secretary, Steve Reed, urging him to change the recent three-year local funding settlement, which they say unfairly penalises northern towns. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Majority of US supreme court seems skeptical of Hawaii’s strict gun law 20. January 2026 (20:17) Court considering legality of state law banning guns on private property open to the public unless owner allows itThe conservative majority on the US supreme court appeared skeptical of a Hawaii law that bans people from bringing firearms on private property open to the public without permission from the property owner.The case, Wolford v Lopez, was brought by three Maui residents with concealed-carry permits and a local gun group who have support from Donald Trump’s administration.Reuters contributed to this report Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Biodiversity collapse threatens UK security, intelligence chiefs warn 20. January 2026 (20:03) Ecosystem destruction will increase food shortages, disorder and mass migration, with effects already being feltThe global attack on nature is threatening the UK’s national security, government intelligence chiefs have warned, as the increasingly likely collapse of vitally important natural systems would bring mass migration, food shortages and price rises, and global disorder.Food supplies are particularly at risk since “without significant increases” the UK would be unable to compete with other nations for scarce resources, a report to ministers says. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Nervous rex: the Davos elite brace for Trump and his dinosaur diplomacy 20. January 2026 (19:52) Leaders of EU, France and Canada stake out positions on Greenland ahead of US president’s speech to World Economic Forum“There’s no diplomacy with Donald Trump: he’s a T rex. You mate with him or he devours you.” Debate at the World Economic Forum annual meetings high in the Swiss Alps is usually scrupulously polite, but as this year’s gathering got under way in Davos on Tuesday, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, had this blunt advice for handling the week’s star speaker.The US president was yet to arrive but throughout the blond wood congress centre the hottest topic among the global elite of business and politics – on and off conference stages – was Trump’s intemperate attack on European allies, threatening punitive tariffs if they fail to let him annex Greenland. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump airing Macron’s private message was designed to hurt and intimidate 20. January 2026 (19:52) The US president uses mass communication to destabilise his rivals, but the risk is that frank exchange may dry upThe words “private and confidential” have never meant a great deal to Donald Trump. In his discussions with other world leaders, he has never operated much of a filter, happy to provide not just the facts of a conversation but also its content and tone, with descriptions all the way from beautiful to nasty.But it is a new development (barring bits of mildly solicitous correspondence from Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year) for him to simply copy and paste the entirety of private messages on to social media, as he did in the case of Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to set up a G7 meeting in Paris to discuss Greenland, Ukraine and Syria. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Six-year-old girl is only member of family to survive Spanish rail disaster 20. January 2026 (19:46) Child was on way home from a musical with parents, brother and cousin when trains collided, killing 42 peopleA six-year-old girl who had travelled to Madrid to see a musical was the only member of her family to survive Sunday’s rail disaster in southern Spain, which killed 42 people, among them her parents, her brother and her cousin.The girl, who has not been named, was found walking along the tracks after two trains collided near the town of Adamuz in the Córdoba province of Andalucía. She had emerged from the accident with only a minor head wound. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump’s board of peace is an imperial court completely unlike what was proposed 20. January 2026 (19:20) The US president’s global club was endorsed by the security council on a false prospectus and seems aimed at displacing the United NationsLike many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another.When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global version of his Mar-a-Lago court aimed at supplanting the UN itself. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
My party had no ‘system’ to misuse EU funds, Marine Le Pen tells appeal trial 20. January 2026 (18:23) French far-right leader denies existence of fake jobs ‘system’ in effort to overturn ban on running for presidentThe French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has told a Paris appeals court there was no “system” set up by her party to misuse European parliament funds, as she gave evidence in a fresh embezzlement trial that will determine whether she can run in the 2027 presidential election.“The word ‘system’ bothers me because [it gives] the impression of a manipulation,” Le Pen said on Tuesday, denying she had told members of the European parliament to hire assistants who instead worked for the party headquarters in Paris. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Head of US Africa bureau urges staff to highlight US ‘generosity’ despite aid cuts 20. January 2026 (18:11) Email sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priorityUS diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs this January and obtained by the Guardian.“It’s not gauche to remind these countries of the American people’s generosity in containing HIV/Aids or alleviating famine,” says the email. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Lucy Letby will face no new charges, says Crown Prosecution Service 20. January 2026 (17:46) Ex-nurse, who is serving 15 whole-life prison terms, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven moreThe former nurse Lucy Letby will face no new charges on suspicion of murdering or harming babies, prosecutors have announced.Letby, 36, is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others in the year to June 2016. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
