These US states want polluters to pay for the rising insurance costs of climate disasters 08. February 2026 (15:00) Proposals by California, Hawaii and New York lawmakers aim to hold fossil fuel industry accountable for soaring ratesAs climate disasters drive up the price of home insurance, three US states are considering empowering their state prosecutors to sue major polluters for their role in those rising costs.Lawmakers in California, Hawaii and New York have introduced measures which would authorize their attorneys general to sue fossil fuel companies on behalf of residents whose insurance premiums have soared amid climate disasters. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Memorial for Swiss bar fire victims goes up in flames 08. February 2026 (14:35) Blaze probably caused by candles at makeshift tribute near Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, say policeA memorial for the victims of a deadly fire at a new year party in Switzerland itself caught fire early on Sunday, probably sparked by candles left burning inside, police have said.It was a makeshift tribute to the 41 people killed and the 115 injured in the fire that erupted in the early hours of 1 January at Le Constellation bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, which was packed with mainly teenagers and young adults. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
North of England 2040? Andy Burnham backs plan for multi-city Olympics bid 08. February 2026 (14:01) Northern leaders urge government to support proposal as Manchester mayor says a London bid ‘wouldn’t be right’The north of England is seeking to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost a region “left out of the national story”.Northern leaders have written to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, urging the government to back a multi-city games spanning an area with a population of 15 million people. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rightwing critics blame Mamdani as New York snow fails to melt 08. February 2026 (14:00) Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists – could the mayor please do something about the weather?It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing – a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice.But science isn’t enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city’s streets. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Mystery plaintiff challenges Karl Lagerfeld’s will – but pampered cat can rest easy 08. February 2026 (13:45) Relatives shut out of €200m fortune reportedly receive letters from executor saying will could be overturnedThe late German-born Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld was famously precise, exacting and known to hold a grudge, but his final wishes concerning the beneficiaries of his vast fortune could now be overturned beyond the grave in a looming court battle.Seven years after Lagerfeld’s death from cancer, an unnamed plaintiff has come forward to challenge the haute couture titan’s last will and testament. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
French police arrest five over crypto-linked magistrate kidnapping 08. February 2026 (13:36) Arrests follow discovery on Friday of magistrate and her mother in a garage in south-east of countryFrench authorities have arrested five suspects after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for about 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday.The arrests of four men and one woman followed the discovery on Friday of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother, found injured in a garage in the south-eastern Drôme department, the Lyon public prosecutor’s office said. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Office buzz: UK employers turn to beehives to boost workplace wellbeing 08. February 2026 (13:34) Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of communityIn a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of sandwiches at a desk, but the quiet hum of bees – housed just outside the office window.Employers from Manchester to Milton Keynes are working with professional beekeepers to install hives on rooftops, in courtyards and car parks – positioning beekeeping not as a novelty but as a way to ease stress, build community and reconnect workers with nature in an era of hybrid work and burnout. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘A pollster’s nightmare’: stakes are high in three-way fight for Gorton and Denton 08. February 2026 (13:00) Labour faces a battle to hold on to its 13,000 majority, with the Greens the bookies’ favourite and Reform hoping to gain from split vote on leftAs Nigel Farage cut the ribbon on Reform UK’s byelection headquarters in Greater Manchester this week, Labour’s candidate, Angeliki Stogia, sat tearfully in a cafe nearby.Politicians do not often show their emotion but for Stogia, who arrived in Britain as a student from Greece in 1995, this is personal. “I am angry,” she said of Farage’s party. “I am very, very angry. How dare they come here and spread this division?” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Canada is no stranger to separatism but push for Alberta to join US is a new peril 08. February 2026 (13:00) While Quebec parties have long sought independence, the secret meetings by unelected Albertans with US officials have been branded treasonous by someA separatist push for a referendum on independence from Canada. Meetings with foreign officials perceived to be sympathetic to their cause. Accusations of treason and sedition.Ahead of a 1995 referendum, leaders of Quebec’s independence movement made a string of provocative overtures to foreign governments, including a trip by the province’s premier to France. In a move that outraged anglophone Canada, the mayor of Paris gave Quebec’s Jacques Parizeau a welcome befitting a national leader. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Japan election: Sanae Takaichi’s ruling conservatives on course for landslide victory 08. February 2026 (12:35) Exit polls point to public endorsement of new prime minister, after day hit by blizzards and freezing conditionsJapan’s conservative governing party is on course to dramatically strengthen its grip on power after exit polls predicted a landslide victory in Sunday’s lower house elections.The Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win between 274 and 328 seats out of a total of 465, according to an exit poll by the public broadcaster NHK, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024. Combined with seats secured by its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, the parties could win between 302 and 366 seats, NHK added. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
