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Macron says Europe facing ‘profound geopolitical rupture’ amid changes in world order – Europe live

Meanwhile, EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas spoke with reporters in Brussels, telling them that the bloc should set out the concessions it wants Russia to make for peace in Ukraine before talking with the Kremlin, AFP reported. Her comments come in response to growing appetite in some EU capitals, most explicitly expressed by France’s Emmanuel Macron (12:10) and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, to restart contacts with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Kallas said she intended to circulate a list of “ideas” in the coming days to the EU’s 27 member states laying out the demands that should be made to Moscow. “Let’s discuss what we want to talk about with the Russians before we talk about who is going to be the one who is talking to the Russians,” the EU top diplomat told a group interview that included AFP. “If they put out the maximalist demands, we should also put out the maximalist demands.” She added: “In order to have a sustainable peace, everybody around the table, including the Russians and the Americans, need to understand that you need Europeans to agree.”

Hong Kong’s once-vibrant press stays silent or celebrates Jimmy Lai’s 20-year jail sentence

Hong Kong’s once-vibrant media outlets have responded with silence or celebration to the 20-year jail sentence handed down to Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon and critic of the Chinese Communist party. Lai, 78, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison after being convicted of sedition and colluding with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s national security law. The charges were widely seen as being politically motivated and designed to silence one of Hong Kong’s most influential pro-democracy campaigners. Lai is the founder of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that was forced to close in 2021 amid a crackdown on dissent in the Hong Kong. After months of protests, which Lai and his newspaper supported, Beijing imposed a national security law on the city. Lai was one of the earliest, and most high-profile, people to be arrested under the new legislation. The US, the UK, the EU and the UN have condemned the heavy sentence handed down to Lai, a British citizen, and called for his release. Lai’s sentence is the harshest meted out under the national security law and is longer than the punishments given to mainland China’s most well-known dissidents. But Hong Kong’s press associations, once the voices of media freedom in the city, reacted with silence, underscoring the narrowing space for commentary that could be seen as critical of the authorities. Selina Cheng, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), said: “I’m not free to speak my mind on the Apple Daily sentencing.” The HKJA has been attacked before by the Hong Kong government for “whitewashing” Lai, and the association and Cheng personally have also been targeted by Chinese state media. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (FCC) said it had no comment about the heavy sentence given to one of Hong Kong’s most influential media figures. Mike Bird, a journalist for The Economist, wrote on X: “I am so glad in retrospect that I never joined the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, an organisation that has repeatedly disgraced itself over the past half a decade in exchange for a cheap bar.” The FCC did not respond to an immediate request for comment about that characterisation. An analysis by Hong Kong Free Press, a local outlet, showed that the number of statements issued by the FCC in support of press freedom has declined dramatically since the imposition of the national security law. Hong Kong’s three other press associations, the Beijing-backed Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, the Hong Kong News Executives Association and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association also did not publish statements about Lai’s sentence. Ronson Chan, a former chair of the HKJA, said: “It’s abnormal for these five associations [to have] no response to Jimmy Lai’s case, whether they support or regret the sentencing”. Chan said it was a “manipulation by the authority” to “disconnect the sentencing” from press freedom issues. Hong Kong’s local media outlets, however, generally celebrated the sentence given to Lai and his co-defendants, who include six former executives from Lai’s media company. The South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Chinese tech company Alibaba, published an editorial arguing that Lai’s case shows that the rule of law remains “robust” in Hong Kong and that the sentence reflects “the gravity of his crimes”. HK01, a pro-Beijing outlet, also praised the sentencing and said that it “marks the end of that politically chaotic period”. Ta Kung Pao, a state-owned newspaper, said: “The anti-China and pro-chaos forces represented by Jimmy Lai have been forever nailed to the pillar of historical shame.” Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said: “Since the enactment of the national security law, media organisations and journalists in Hong Kong have faced unprecedented pressure from the authorities. In addition to judicial harassment, they are subjected to surveillance, threats, doxing, and online abuse, while foreign reporters are increasingly denied entry … Hong Kong no longer provides space for critical voices.” Beh Lih Yi, the Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: “We need to be clear-eyed: it is the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities that have created a repressive climate of fear. Five years since the Beijing-imposed national security law, Hong Kong’s once-vibrant free press is a ghost of its former self.” Hong Kong has plummeted down RSF’s press freedom index in recent years, now ranking 140th out of 180 territories surveyed. Meanwhile, China’s State Council, the highest organ of government, published a white paper on Tuesday titled: “Hong Kong: Safeguarding China’s National Security Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems.” The policy document detailed the “unrelenting fight” for national security in Hong Kong and underscored the authority of the central government in Beijing. The paper said that the Beijing’s rule in Hong Kong “serves China’s fundamental interests, benefits the residents of Hong Kong, and meets the interests of external investors”. The Hong Kong government has been contacted for comment. Additional research by Lillian Yang

Astronomers celebrate cancellation of $10bn Chile project that threatened clearest skies in the world

The scientific community is celebrating the cancellation of a project which would have threatened the clearest skies in the world in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The proposed $10bn, 3,000-hectare green hydrogen and ammonia production facility, known as INNA, included a port, transport links to the coast and three solar power plants, and had been under evaluation by Chile’s environmental regulator for almost a year. Astronomers had warned repeatedly that its proximity to some of the world’s most powerful telescopes would have irreparably damaged observation in the area, which is the best site in the world for ground-based astronomy. “This cancellation means that the INNA project will no longer have a negative impact on the Paranal Observatory,” said Itziar de Gregorio, the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) representative in Chile, where it operates three telescope complexes. “However, what this megaproject has brought to the table is the urgent need for clear protection measures around the sites where professional astronomy is carried out in Chile. This cancellation does not mean that the work to protect the skies is over.” Chile’s environmental evaluation service confirmed that, following meetings last week with AES Andes – the company which had proposed the facility – the project has now been formally withdrawn. Scientists had warned that the INNA facility would affect readings by raising light pollution, causing tiny vibrations in the earth which would affect instruments, aerialise dust which could settle on the mirrors of its precision telescopes, and increase atmospheric turbulence. They argued that there was no need to place the facility so close to the observatories given the potentially disastrous consequences for astronomy. Aes Andes, a subsidiary of US company AES Corporation which generates energy in Chile, Colombia and Argentina, with coal, gas, hydroelectric, wind and solar plants, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a press release it said: “After detailed analysis of its portfolio of projects, [AES Andes] has decided to cease the execution of the INNA project,” although it added that it was “absolutely compatible” with other activities in the area. An open letter published in December, led by 2020 Nobel Prize winner Reinhard Genzel, had urged the Chilean government to kill the proposed project, as the facility would have been just 11.6km from Paranal, one of the world’s most important observatories. Its Very Large Telescope (VLT), built 2,600m above sea level, has taken the readings that have won three Nobel prizes. And on nearby Cerro Armazones, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) – will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever built – is under construction. It will allow astronomers to scour distant galaxies for Earth-like exoplanets that might support life.

Indonesia prepares to send up to 8,000 troops to Gaza as part of Trump plan

Indonesia has said it is preparing to send up to 8,000 troops to Gaza to be part of a peacekeeping force under Donald Trump’s Middle East plan. The announcement by the army chief of staff, Gen Maruli Simanjuntak, makes Indonesia the first country to deliver a specific commitment to the international stabilisation force (ISF) envisaged as part of the second phase of the Trump plan. Israeli public radio reported on Tuesday morning that a site in south Gaza, between Rafah and Khan Younis, had been designated for a barracks for the Indonesian force. The arrival of Indonesian peacekeepers in Gaza would be historic, as the first outside force on the territory since 1967. It would also put the world’s most populous Islamic country at the heart of the Middle East’s most intractable conflict. Maruli said he expected an army brigade, between 5,000 and 8,000 troops, to be sent but emphasised that the mission was still in the planning stages. “It’s all still being negotiated, not certain. So there’s no certainty on the number until now,” Maruli said. The potential role of an international force has been hazy since Trump suggested it as part of his ceasefire plan in September last year. Suggested troop contributors, Indonesia included, have been reluctant to put their forces in the position of trying to disarm Hamas on Israel’s behalf. Violence has reduced under a ceasefire announced in October, but there is still near-daily Israeli bombardment, and more than 500 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire was declared. Gen Maruli’s remarks suggested that he envisaged Indonesian troops would play a supporting role. “We’ve started training people who could potentially become peacemakers. So, we’re preparing engineering and health units like that,” the army chief said. According to a version of the Trump plan put forward at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, an interim administration run by Palestinian technocrats would take on daily governance of Gaza, including the disarming of Hamas, with the help of a Palestinian police force being trained in Jordan and Egypt. The deployment of a significant number of foreign soldiers, particularly those from an Islamic country, is likely to be fiercely opposed by the powerful far-right wing of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, who will see it as a step towards the realisation of a Palestinian state, which has already been recognised by more than 80% of UN member states. Israeli extremists, inside and outside the government, want to force the Palestinian population out of Gaza and build Israeli settlements there. Netanyahu was due to fly to Washington on Tuesday for talks with Trump on Iran, Gaza and other regional issues, as rival actors seek to shape the US president’s views on how his ambitious but vague peace plan will be implemented. Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, has agreed to join the “board of peace”, a Trump-run collection of world leaders who are supposed to oversee the peace process in Gaza, and potentially other conflict zones around the world. The board’s first full meeting has been scheduled for Thursday next week, and Prabowo has reportedly been invited. When the peace plan was first unveiled last September, Prabowo made an initial offer of 20,000 troops for the ISF. The president and former army general has been keen to raise Indonesia’s profile on the world stage. However, there is anxiety among some Indonesian observers that the country could become embroiled in a situation it cannot control. “Ultimately, Indonesia’s decision to join Trump’s [board of peace] is a diplomatic gamble that is only worthwhile if it produces real influence rather than mere symbolism,” a commentary in the Jakarta Globe said. It argued that if Indonesia could help shape the board of peace without being used for the interests of others, the board could have humanitarian benefits. But it added: “If not, Indonesia risks becoming part of a diplomatic problem larger than the conflict it seeks to end.”

Israeli court blocks life-saving cancer care for boy, 5, due to his Gaza address

An Israeli court has rejected an appeal to allow a five-year-old Palestinian boy with an aggressive form of cancer to enter Israel for life-saving treatment, citing a government policy that bars residents registered in Gaza from crossing the border, even when they no longer live there. In a ruling issued on Sunday, the Jerusalem district court dismissed a petition seeking permission to transfer the child from Ramallah to Tel HaShomer hospital near Tel Aviv for a bone marrow transplant – a procedure unavailable in either Gaza or the occupied West Bank. The boy has been in the West Bank since 2022 where he was receiving medical care unavailable in the Gaza Strip. His doctors have determined that he urgently requires antibody immunotherapy. The decision reflects Israel’s sweeping ban on the entry of people living in Gaza after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, including cancer patients who, before the war, had routinely been granted access to life-saving treatment in Jerusalem. “I have lost my last hope,” the child’s mother told Haaretz, describing the ruling as a death sentence for her son. She said the boy’s father died of cancer three years ago. In his judgment, the Israeli judge Ram Winograd characterised the petition as an indirect challenge to the security establishment’s post-7 October restrictions, which have prevented Gaza residents from entering Israel for medical treatment. While acknowledging that thousands of children in Gaza are in urgent need of care, the judge argued there was no meaningful distinction between the boy’s case and those of other patients barred by the policy. “The petitioners failed to demonstrate a real and relevant difference,” Winograd wrote, noting that the child’s presence in Ramallah did not, in his view, justify an exemption from the blanket ban. Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation, has been engaged in legal proceedings regarding the boy’s case since November 2025, arguing that the child’s situation exposed the cruelty of a rigid bureaucratic system that prioritises registry data over medical urgency. “This case once again illustrates the devastating consequences of a sweeping policy that denies Palestinians access to life-saving medical care solely on the basis of their registered address in Gaza, even when they are not residing there and no security allegations are raised against them,” Gisha said in statement. “The significance of this ruling is that the court is providing backing for an unlawful policy that effectively condemns children to death, even when life-saving treatment is in reach.” About 11,000 Palestinian cancer patients are still trapped in Gaza despite the reopening of the Rafah crossing last week. Doctors say cancer-related deaths have tripled in the territory since the war began, as Israel continues to hinder patients from leaving and restricts the entry of chemotherapy drugs. While some patients have left, they are far outnumbered by those deemed in medical need who have not. According to health officials in Gaza, there are about 4,000 people with official referrals for treatment to third countries who are unable to cross the border. The World Health Organization says 900 people, including children and cancer patients, have already died while waiting for evacuation.

State-sponsored hackers targeting defence sector employees, Google says

Defence companies, their hiring processes and their employees have become a key target of state-sponsored cyber-espionage campaigns, according to a report from Google released before the Munich Security Conference. The report catalogues a “relentless barrage of cyber operations”, most by state-sponsored groups, against EU and US industrial supply chains. It suggests the range of targets for these hackers has grown to encompass the broader industrial base of the US and Europe –from German aerospace firms to UK carmakers. State-linked hackers have long targeted the global defence industry, but Luke McNamara, an analyst for Google’s threat intelligence group, said they had seen more “personalised” and “direct to individual” targeting of employees. “It’s harder to detect these threats when it’s happening on an employee’s personal system, right? It’s outside a corporate network,” he said. “The whole personnel piece has become one of the major themes.” Google had also noticed more extortion attacks targeting smaller players not directly in the defence supply chain, he said, such as companies making cars or ball bearings. A recent attack by a group linked to Russian intelligence indicates how broad the net has become. Hackers appeared to try to steal information by spoofing the websites of hundreds of leading defence contractors from the UK, the US, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine, Turkey, and South Korea. Russia has also developed specific hacks to compromise the Signal and Telegram accounts of Ukrainian military personnel, as well as journalists and public officials, using methods and vulnerabilities that Google says other attackers could adopt. Hackers have also mounted extremely targeted attacks against Ukraine’s frontline drone units by impersonating Ukrainian drone builders or drone training courses. Dr Ilona Khmeleva, the secretary of the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, said that many cyber-attacks against Ukrainian military personnel were individualised, with some potential targets monitored for weeks before an attack. Ukrainian authorities have recorded a 37% increase in cyber incidents from 2024 to 2025, she said. Beyond Europe, other groups are using similar tactics to target defence suppliers. More and more, these efforts focus on people who are trying to get jobs in defence, or vulnerabilities in the hiring processes of large companies. North Korean hackers have impersonated corporate recruiters in campaigns against leading defence contractors, using AI to extensively profile employees, their roles and their potential salaries to “identify potential targets for initial compromise”. Many of these campaigns have been extremely successful. Last summer, the US justice department found that North Koreans had managed to obtain jobs as “remote IT workers” for more than 100 US companies. US authorities alleged they were doing this to fund the North Korean government by collecting salaries and, in some cases, stealing cryptocurrency. Iranian state-sponsored groups have created spoof job portals and sent out fake job offers to obtain the credentials of defence firms and drone companies. A group called APT5, linked to China, has targeted employees of aerospace and defence companies with emails and messaging tailored to their geographical location, personal life and professional roles. For example, parents of young children received fake communications from the Boy Scouts of America, or from a nearby secondary school; residents of certain US states received fake information about the 2024 election. Employees of important companies were also sent fake invitations to events including Red Cross training courses and a national security conference in Canada. Khmeleva said: “As western technologies and investments are integrated into Ukraine – including through military aid and joint industrial projects – the pool of potential victims expands beyond Ukrainian citizens. “Employees of foreign companies, contractors, engineers, and consultants involved in Ukraine-related projects may also become targets, making this a transnational security issue, not a purely national one.”

Tuesday briefing: Is Keir Starmer in office, but out of staff?

Good morning. One of the most powerful jobs in British politics is also one of the least well defined. The Downing Street chief of staff sits at the centre of power, acting as a prime minister’s most senior political adviser, gatekeeper and internal enforcer – and when the job goes wrong, it tends to go wrong very publicly. That happened at the weekend, when Morgan McSweeney resigned as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after revelations about Peter Mandelson contained in the Epstein files. In his resignation statement, McSweeney said that “in public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most”, adding that he took full accountability for advising Starmer on the appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador. McSweeney’s departure was swiftly followed by that of Tim Allan, Starmer’s director of communications. Then yesterday, the party’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, became the most senior Labour figure to date to call for the prime minister to go. Starmer’s Cabinet, including the chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, came out in a coordinated vocal show of support for him in response. In today’s newsletter, we look at why the departure of a chief of staff so weakens a prime minister, who Starmer might turn to next, and whether they will have time to turn things around. First, the headlines. Five big stories UK politics | Keir Starmer has seen off an immediate challenge to his position from Labour’s leader in Scotland, telling his MPs he was “not prepared to walk away” from power and plunge the country into chaos. Iran | The country’s architecture of internet control is built on technologies from China, according to an analysis published by a British human rights organisation. Education | Children with special needs will not lose their places at special schools or current levels of assistance, an education minister has told parents anxious that the government would strip away their child’s support. Australia | New South Wales police have pepper sprayed protesters at a Sydney rally opposing Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, with a state Labor MP claiming their actions were “totally over-the-top” and a Greens MP alleging she was assaulted. Monarchy | Police are assessing claims that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor passed on confidential information about overseas trips to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In depth: The most powerful job you’ve never voted for To lose one chief of staff might be considered unfortunate; to lose two looks careless. That is where Keir Starmer finds himself, with Morgan McSweeney’s exit on Sunday following the messy departure of Sue Gray just months after Labour won the 2024 general election. The Downing Street chief of staff is one of the most influential unelected roles in British politics, and with the prime minister losing his closest aide in No 10, not just opposition leaders but senior figures in his own party have stepped up to call on Starmer to quit. *** What is the chief of staff role – and why was McSweeney so important? While the prime minister’s principal private secretary, a senior civil servant, runs the day-to-day operation of No 10, the chief of staff is responsible for the political direction of the building. The first person to hold the title was David Wolfson in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher took office. The precise role varies depending on the prime minister’s leadership style, but in broad terms the chief of staff sits at the centre of No 10’s political operation. They advise the prime minister on strategy, party management and political risk, oversee the work of special advisers across government, and help ensure that policy, communications and parliamentary tactics are aligned. Chiefs of staff also act as internal brokers, smoothing relations between ministers, advisers and the wider machinery of government. But one of the most important – and least visible – parts of the job is gatekeeping. The chief of staff controls access to the prime minister, shapes what information reaches them, and often decides which problems are dealt with immediately and which are left to wait. Depending on which side of Labour’s factional fence you sit – as this Kiran Stacey analysis piece explained – McSweeney either helped engineer the party’s strategic shift towards the centre ground, masterminding its 2024 election landslide, or was simply the man in the chair when the Conservative vote imploded. His critics also say he has been instrumental in purging senior figures on the party’s left, to the detriment of its long-term electoral prospects. *** Who Starmer might appoint next Nothing quite says “we are resetting government” like senior aides being forced out of Downing Street. As the saying goes, deputy heads must roll. The vacuum left by McSweeney’s exit is now being filled by five people. Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson, who were McSweeney’s deputies, are now acting jointly in the role – Alakeson bringing policy expertise and business outreach, and Cuthbertson trusted operational and organisational experience from years in Labour politics. The other significant figures are MP Darren Jones, who, as chief secretary to the prime minister, has become a central figure in driving Starmer’s priorities. Amy Richards, the political director, is tasked with strengthening communication with Labour MPs. And there is Harvey Redgrave, head of the No 10 policy unit, who represents the policy-technocrat strand of the operation. It all makes for a very complicated org chart. Media outlets have also been throwing the name of Louise Casey into the ring for a potential permanent appointment. She has a reputation as a Whitehall “troubleshooter” and was trusted with carrying out a report into grooming gangs early on in the Starmer administration. Jonathan Powell, who held the job under Tony Blair and is Starmer’s national security adviser, might be another experienced option. *** Will Starmer even have the time? Yesterday, the Conservative opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, the Green party leader, Zach Polanski, and the SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, all called on the prime minister to step down. Badenoch said Starmer was “in office, but not in power”, adding that he was “blowing around like a plastic bag in the wind”. Starmer appears determined to stay in place until the end of his term, regardless of the results from May’s local, Senedd and Holyrood elections – yesterday’s newsletter explored Labour’s struggles in Wales – and Downing Street said on Monday that he was “upbeat”, “confident” and “concentrating on the job in hand”. But his party may yet have other ideas. In the most damaging development of recent days, Labour’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, called for Starmer to stand down as prime minister. (The Guardian’s Scotland editor, Severin Carroll, has this analysis.) Sarwar said there had been “too many mistakes” in Downing Street, adding: “I have to be honest about failure wherever I see it.” It will have offered little comfort to Starmer that Sarwar described him as a “friend” before saying: “My first priority and my first loyalty has to be to my country, Scotland.” Sources close to Labour’s first minister in Wales, Eluned Morgan, said she was not planning to comment on Starmer’s leadership on Monday – something immediately seized on by Plaid Cymru’s leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, who said yesterday: “Starmer has to go. He’s lost all moral authority and the self-awareness to do the right thing. Wales’ Labour first minister remains silent on Starmer’s lack of judgment … seemingly happy for the chaos to continue.” There are also plenty of other elephant traps between now and May. In this explainer, Matthew Weaver identified several key moments of risk for the prime minister in the coming weeks: the Gorton and Denton byelection on 26 February; the politically fraught white paper on special educational needs (Send) in England’s schools, expected in late February; and Rachel Reeves’s spring statement on 3 March. The government has also lost control of the timing of the release of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment as British ambassador to the US, expected to include embarrassing personal messages between ministers, advisers and the disgraced peer. *** How could the endgame play out for Starmer? If Keir Starmer steps down as Labour leader while prime minister, the party would move quickly into a holding pattern. Under Labour’s rules, the cabinet, in consultation with the party’s national executive committee, would appoint an interim leader from among its members to run the party and government while a full leadership contest was organised. A full election would then follow in two stages. Candidates – who must be Labour MPs – would need nominations from at least 20% of their colleagues, plus support from constituency parties or affiliated organisations such as trade unions. Those who clear that hurdle would go to a one-member-one-vote ballot of party members and affiliates, using a preferential system until a candidate secures more than 50%. The process can take weeks, leaving the interim leader in place until a successor is chosen. There may be a route that suits almost everyone except Starmer: appointing an interim leader and prime minister with no long-term ambitions, prepared to shoulder responsibility for poor May election results, before a permanent leadership contest later in the year. That would also allow time for figures outside parliament – Andy Burnham, for example – to attempt to secure a Commons seat in time to be in play. For now, Starmer remains in Downing Street, insisting he can steady the ship. But the loss of a chief of staff is never about just one individual. It is a sign that authority is fraying at the centre – and that the prime minister’s grip on events is being questioned not just by his opponents, but also by those closest to him. What else we’ve been reading Emerald Fennell’s take on Wuthering Heights has landed like a lead balloon with fans and critics alike. Peter Bradshaw’s review is a gloriously sharp read. Aamna “Eventually, she didn’t mind, but in the beginning she did bite him” is exactly the kind of quote you want to read in a discussion of a beloved but surly raccoon, the pet that Gill Waters can’t forget. Martin Economic growth and rising carbon emissions still go hand in hand. This fascinating interactive asks whether that link can be broken. Aamna The Atavist has this story of three mothers whose children who were diagnosed in late adolescence or early adulthood with schizophrenia. And as a parent myself, I couldn’t help feel what a hard journey it had been for everybody involved. Martin The Epstein files suggest powerful men’s ties to the convicted paedophile went beyond indifference, Moira Donegan compellingly argues, with some actively seeking him out as an ally in pushing back against the #MeToo movement. Aamna Sport Winter Olympics | Jutta Leerdam delivered the defining race of her career on Monday night, roaring to Olympic gold in the women’s 1000m and setting a new Olympic record of 1min 12.31sec to lead a Dutch one-two and deliver the Netherlands’ first medals of the Games. Winter Olympics | The British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy has received death threats and messages hoping that he breaks his neck after posting an image apparently showing him urinating the words “fuck ICE” in the snow last week. Football | Erling Haaland says Manchester City’s dramatic 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday meant more than just the points and represented a statement from the club in terms of the Premier League title race. The front pages “‘I’m not prepared to walk away,’ embattled Starmer tells MPs,” is the splash on the Guardian on Tuesday, as the PM comes under increasing pressure to step down. “PM comes out fighting as cabinet falls in line,” says the Times. “Streeting accused of No10 coup,” has the Telegraph. “Resign now! PM on brink as calls to go mount,” is the lead headline at the Express. The FT runs with “Starmer defies calls to stand down as allies accuse Streeting of fuelling crisis,” as the Mail opts for “Cabinet bounced into giving PM stay of execution.” Meanwhile the Metro asks simply: “How long?” The Sun draws attention to the latest on Andrew, saying: “King: We’ll help cops on Andy.” The Star has similar with: “King: We’ll help police.” Today in Focus Starmer survives – but for how long? Just before midday, news broke that Tim Allen, Keir Starmer’s director of communications, had resigned. By lunchtime, it emerged that Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, was preparing to hold a press conference calling on Starmer to stand down. Helen Pidd recounts a whirlwind 24 hours in which the prime minister fought to save his career. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad In south Antananarivo, capital and largest city of Madagascar, over 4,000 rickshaws provide the cheapest transport for an estimated 265,000 residents. Unlike most drivers, Haja Nirina owns his rickshaw, avoiding daily rental fees thanks to a microcredit programme run by his local athletic club, Crown Athletics Club. Crown’s roots began in 1997 with Antsirabe’s first rickshaw race, organised by Tsiry Rakotomalala. The race led to the formation of Crown, which gained momentum in 2017 under president Yann Mayette. Convinced of Malagasy athletes’ potential, Mayette offered microcredit through the club, enabling runners like Nirina to buy their rickshaw cycles. As an owner, Nirina only pays 500 ariary for overnight storage, allowing him to focus more on his athletic training and races. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

UK and US sink to new lows in global index of corruption

The UK and US have sunk to new lows in a global index of corruption, amid a “worrying trend” of democratic institutions being eroded by political donations, cash for access and state targeting of campaigners and journalists. Experts and businesspeople rated 182 countries based on their perception of corruption levels in the public sector to compile a league table that was bookended by Denmark at the top with the lowest levels of corruption and South Sudan at the bottom. The Corruption Perceptions Index, organised by the campaign group Transparency International, identified an overall global deterioration, as 31 countries improved their score, while 50 declined. In particular, the report identified backsliding in established democracies, warning that events during Donald Trump’s presidency and the revelations contained in the Epstein files could fuel further deterioration. Britain has been gradually slipping down the rankings since 2015, falling from the seventh-placed country to 20th in 2025, with a score of 70 out of 100, down from 71 in last year’s report. Explaining the slight decline, Transparency International highlighted concerns linked to the two major political parties that contested the 2024 general election. It said record spending on election campaigning had “supercharged” a reliance on wealthy backers, with the Conservatives accepting £15m from a single donor in less than 12 months. This is understood to be a reference to contributions from the businessman Frank Hester, which prompted calls for the Tories to give the money back after the Guardian revealed that the party’s largest donor had made racist and sexist remarks. It also pointed to reports the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, had considered making a $100m (£73m) donation to Reform UK. Labour also came under the spotlight, after it emerged that its largest donor, Waheed Alli, had received a privileged pass to No 10. The report also highlighted criticism of political appointments for party donors. The UK is likely to remain “mired in scandal” this year, Transparency International warned, because of revelations about the relationship between the Labour grandee and former ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, and the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “This persistent decline is not a temporary blip – it risks becoming a defining feature of our political culture,” said Daniel Bruce, the chief executive of Transparency International UK. “The UK government must demonstrate that it is serious about restoring integrity. That means taking bold action to remove big money from politics, delivering genuinely open government, and ending the cronyism that undermines public trust in our institutions.” The government has announced plans to strengthen standards in public life, including a mechanism to remove disgraced peers and a review of the existing framework governing lobbying. The US fell from 28th place to 29th, overtaken by Lithuania, recording its lowest ever score of 64. The US could be in line for further decline, judging by the report’s assessment of recent events. Transparency International said that while the surveys from which the data for the report was taken were performed during 2025, they did not factor in all of the events that had taken place during that year, the first of Trump’s second presidency. It pointed to “the use of public office to target and restrict independent voices such as NGOs and journalists, the normalisation of conflicted and transactional politics, the politicisation of prosecutorial decision-making, and actions that undermine judicial independence”. Only seven countries scored 80 or higher, with Denmark taking top spot for the eighth year in a row, followed by Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. South Sudan ranked joint lowest alongside Somalia, just below Venezuela, Yemen and Libya. Transparency International lamented the “worrying trend” of declining scores, particularly in democracies where institutions have previously been stronger. “The global order is under strain from rivalry between major powers, and dangerous disregard for international norms,” it said. “Armed conflicts and the climate crisis are having a deadly impact. Societies are also becoming more polarised. “To meet these challenges, the world needs principled leaders and strong, independent institutions that act with integrity to protect the public interest. Yet, too often, we are seeing a failure of good governance and accountable leadership.” Transparency International launched its Corruption Perception Index in 1995 but historical placings are dates from 2012, when it changed the methodology. A government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to tackling corruption and protecting working people’s hard-earned money. “Our anti-corruption strategy targets corrupt actors directly, cutting off their influence and strengthening the systems that protect our democracy. “This strategy brings more corrupt individuals in the UK to justice and includes £15m of new funding for an expanded domestic corruption unit.”