The Guardian

Research shows tens of millions of people are being forced to use platform that amounts to ‘backdoor’ on their device Over the past 18 months, tens of millions of Russians have been forced to install a new app on their phones – a violet-blue button designed for messaging and payments, called Max. Authorities have touted it as a patriotic alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp; Russian glitterati ha…

Peer takes full-time position at the controversial company as it fends off pressure from both Andy Burnham’s government and Sadiq Khan Another former government minister has been hired by a controversial US AI company, this time Palantir, which has appointed Andy Burnham’s former ministerial colleague Tom Watson. The Labour peer and former deputy leader will operate alongside Palantir’s UK and Eu…

Seoul resolves recent speculation over sending military to strait of Hormuz, saying ‘there won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war’ South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, has said he will ⁠not deploy the military to the ⁠Middle East in a way ​that could draw the country into conflict, resisting calls from Donald Trump to support his war in Iran. “There won’t be deployment that would …

Sharangan Maheswaran denies message he received about NSW minister David Elliot was related to work for fugitive property developer Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast A former Labor councillor says he had a “common interest” with a conservative Liberal operative, but denied that a message he received about damaging t…

Efra committee calls for emergency legislation enabling government to take public control of the company Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company. Adding their voices to demands that the prime minister takes public co…

Switch to ‘business attire’ is a sign of the times, but formal neckwear still has its place, say some of Savile Row’s finest-dressed The House of Lords has long been derided as a stuffy relic of the past. But now its benches, usually filled with haughtily dressed men, could soon resemble something more akin to “dress-down Friday”. One of the nation’s most storied chambers of power has enacted a r…

The gift from Italy has sparked fierce debate among defence analysts and opposition politicians who question its true cost and purpose Indonesia has received its first aircraft carrier, a former Italian warship that the government says will strengthen the archipelagic nation’s maritime security and disaster response capabilities. The 41-year-old former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, with capacity for sh…

Former prime minister says US would ‘scuttle itself back to San Diego’, leaving Australia to deal with retribution from China Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast Aukus critic Paul Keating has said the submarine deal is locking Australia in to any future US conflict with China – “a war America would certainly lose” – a…

Tech bosses have called for a slowdown in artificial intelligence and the creation of formal guardrails from the US government. But why is President Trump unmoved by the doomsday predictions, dismissing them as a ‘hoax’? What lies behind his embrace of the AI industry? Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US tech editor, Blake Montgomery Watch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly Yo…

‘Disposal of the body in this case was as thorough as it was brutal,’ justice Peter Hamill said when sentencing 55-year-old Nirmeen Noufl A woman who lied to police multiple times to cover up killing and dismembering her abusive husband will spend a further 12 months in jail. Nirmeen Noufl was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty in August to killing her husband Mamdouh in excessive self-def…

President’s United Russia party faces no meaningful opposition after liberal anti-war party barred from ballot Russians are going to the polls to elect a new State Duma in a tightly controlled vote stripped of meaningful competition and with little doubt about the result. Vladimir Putin’s United Russia is expected to extend the grip on parliament it has held for 23 years, alongside a handful of n…

Drinking locally made alcohol is common in Nigeria, especially in rural areas where it is more affordable and poorly regulated At least 48 people have died and about 100 others are receiving treatment in southern Nigeria after consuming a locally brewed alcoholic concoction suspected to contain methanol, officials said on Thursday. Banji Ajaka, Ondo state’s commissioner for health, said the cases…

Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, accused of driving on wrong side of road to cause fatal crash NBC news helicopter was covering A California woman was allegedly driving under the influence when she sped down the wrong side of the road, ran a red light and plowed her SUV into a Los Angeles metro bus on Tuesday, killing two passengers, prosecutors say, in a tragedy compounded when a news helicopter covering t…

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, part of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was in charge of Adra prison where prisoners were tortured This article contains descriptions of torture. A US federal court in Los Angeles sentenced a former Syrian government official who ran one of the country’s most infamous prisons to 60 years in prison on Thursday – the most significant punishment handed to an official of ousted pres…

Shabana Mahmood says she wants to distinguish between far-right extremism and legitimate local concerns over asylum sites Shabana Mahmood has described the anti-asylum activist Daniel Thomas as “a far-right and outright racist” who will feel “the full force of the law” if his organisation commits crimes near contested asylum sites such as Piddington. In an interview with the Guardian, the home se…