Protesters tell of rapes, beatings and torture by police

Human rights organisations report an escalation in the brutal treatment of detainees at the hands of security forces

Putin's plans to blackmail Europe over gas supply fail to ignite

The worst-case scenarios piled up over the summer months. Germany’s economic minister warned of “catastrophic” industrial shutdowns, fraying supply chains and mass unemployment.

Behind enemy lines Saboteurs take the fight into Russia

Taras, Vladyslav, and their commander, Olexiy, understand that, if the worst were to happen, the Ukrainian government will deny any knowledge of them. In western capitals, there is a collective shudder at the very thought of them.

Broken Britain Fissures ran deep in the country long before Brexit delivered its blow

There is no joy in it for those who always knew Brexit was a con, but it is finally dawning on more people that leaving the EU was a colossal mistake.

BREXIT

With the vaunted benefits of leaving the European Union still hard to discern, polls now suggest that about one in five leave voters have changed their minds. But could Britain ever go back, ask Michael Savage and Toby Helm The great Brexit deficit

Global report

Headlines from the last seven days

The free way Should US foreign policy demand liberal policy outcomes as well as elections, or is it hiding behind its 'democratic dilemma'?

Whatever else he leaves behind, Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto-whiz charged with multiple counts of fraud, has bequeathed a lasting gift to the publishing business.

The sound of the underground

New Zealand's short-lived counterculture scene threw off conservative constraints and laid foundations for the nation's modern identity

How Colon becamea hub for contraband and cocaine

In the Colón Free Trade Zone, near the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal, the dated and glass buildings are with brand names for I Perspex emblazoned electronics, perfumes and textiles.

Trump says he’s angry but can the trick worka second time?

Donald Trump, US president, the former tried to get D his spluttering White House bid off the launchpad last Saturday, declaring himself \"more angry\" than ever as he became the first candidate to hit the 2024 election campaign trail.

Electric shock US car culture must change, warns report

The US's transition to electric vehicles could require three times as much lithium as is currently produced for the entire global market, causing needless water shortages, Indigenous land grabs and ecosystem destruction, new research finds.

Lithium sparks a battle for power

The state wants to exploit its lucrative reserves, a key component in producing car batteries but at what price?

Beware the Crocodile, opposition leader urges

Nelson Chamisa urges world to keep eyes on’ President Mnangagwaamid fears of repression in run-up to poll

Third man Young voters swell hope for Obi's shock bid

At a recent campaign stop, Peter Obi responded to regular criticism. Bola Tinubu, a rival candidate in  next month's presidential elections in Nigeria, had called him stingy.

'A reckoning' Debate over colonisation dominates national day

'We need to stop the lying,\" Prof Marcia Langton, a Yiman and Bidjara woman, said last Thursday, as tens of thousands of people attended protest rallies in cities across the country, amid a rising political and social reckoning with the country's colonial history.

Baby blues PM's answer to birthrate crisis is stuck in the same old loop

Fumio Kishida is not a politician given to dramatic pronouncements.

Swift punitive steps pledged against Palestinians

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in the wake of the deadly synagogue attack in Jerusalem.

Grief and anger at site of deadly synagogue attack

Calls for reprisals after worst attack by a Palestinian against Israelis since 2008, during spiralling week of bloodshed

Sunak's deficit Tax scandal stops PM from changing the conversation

Rishi Sunak was in his sprawling constituency home in North Yorkshire when just after 7am on Sunday he received the report by Sir Laurie Magnus, his new ethics adviser, on whether Nadhim Zahawi had broken the ministerial code over his tax affairs.

Nadhim Zahawi's extraordinary rise and fall

Nadhim Zahawi’s sacking as Conservative party chair-man last Sunday caps an extraordinary downfall for a man who less than a year ago ran to be Conservative party leader and, with it, prime minister of the UK.

Fatal beating fuels calls for wide-ranging reforms

As Nyliayh Stewart marched along Interstate 55 alongside protesters last Friday night, the moment of sorrow and anger felt familiar.

Demands to 'demolish and rebuild' police as city mourns

As Nyliayh Stewart marched along Interstate 55 alongside protesters last Friday night, the moment of sorrow and anger felt familiar.

"THE BIG BATTLE IS COMING"

After nearly a year of war, Russia and Ukraine both need a breakthrough – but a major offensive will be loaded with risk, whoever strikes first

AT 'Wishes are for extreme life events'

The Egyptian graphic novelist Deena Mohamed on going viral with her first web comic, growing up reading Enid Blyton, and her hit Cairo-set novelnow translated into English

Fast tracks What's with the craze for sped-up songs?

High-octane remixes of original hits are popular on streaming platforms, but who's driving the trend - and why-is less clear

The dark side

As David Lynch turns 77 – for him, a number of significance – how did his esoteric visions become such a normalised part of screen culture?

Cardinal George Pell chose his career over the safety of children

He was a company man. He did what he did to preserve the power and the assets of the church. If that meant thrashing H victims of abuse through the courts and boxing them into tiny settlements, that was fine by him.

I survived the horror of Guantánamo. Why is it still open 21 years later?

The US prison at Guantánamo Bay opened 21 years ago this month. For 21 years, the extrajudicial detention facility has held a total of 779 men between eight known camps

Striking workers are telling the truth about British politics

More strikes are coming to Britain, with 100,000 civil servants due to strike on 1 February. For 18 days across February and March, 150 universities will be shut down by University and College Union action.

FACING UP TO HISTORY WRECK FIND ADDS HUMANITY TO LEGACY OF SLAVERY

In 2015, a delegation from the Smithsonian Institution travelled to Mozambique to inform the Makua people of a singular and long-overdue discovery: 221 years after it sank off Cape Town, claiming the lives of 212 enslaved people, the wreck of the Portuguese slave ship the São José Paquete D'Africa had been found. When told the news, a Makua leader responded with a gesture that no one on the delegation will ever forget.