Through the heatwave haze, the hypocrisy of Australia’s fossil fuel policy shines bright | Clean Air 27. January 2026 (15:00) The heatwave in Melbourne and Adelaide this week is likely to become the norm. We should prepare nowWant to get this in your inbox when it publishes? Sign up for the Clear Air Australia newsletter hereOn Tuesday, Australia’s second largest city baked through one of its hottest days since modern instrumental records began in 1910. Several Melbourne suburbs topped 45C.The country’s fifth largest city, Adelaide, reached that temperature on Monday. Its residents then suffered through their hottest night ever, with a minimum of about 34C.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Burnham accuses No 10 sources of lying about byelection decision 27. January 2026 (15:00) Manchester mayor suggests claims he was told Labour would not give him permission to stand were untrueUK politics live – latest updatesThe Labour party’s civil war over the Gorton and Denton byelection has intensified after Andy Burnham accused Downing Street sources of lying about his decision to apply to stand in the Manchester seat.The Manchester mayor was reacting to suggestions by unnamed Keir Starmer allies that he had been told “in no uncertain terms” that any request to the NEC committee to put his name forward for the byelection would be refused. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Spain approves decree to regularise half a million undocumented migrants 27. January 2026 (14:57) Move affecting those who have been in Spain five months or more runs counter to anti-migration policies across Europe Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has approved a decree it said would regularise 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, rejecting the anti-migration policies and rhetoric prevalent across much of Europe.The decree, expected to come into effect in April, will apply to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and people in Spain with irregular status. To qualify for regularisation, applicants will have to prove they do not have a criminal record and had lived in Spain for at least five months – or had sought international protection – before 31 December 2025. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US still faces freezing temperatures and power outages amid deadly winter storm 27. January 2026 (14:57) More than 30 have died across a dozen states as deep snow and ice halted traffic, canceled flights and closed schoolsMany in the US faced another night of below-freezing temperatures and no electricity after a deadly, colossal winter storm heaped more snow Monday on the north-east and kept parts of the south coated in ice.More than 30 deaths were registered in more than a dozen states afflicted with severe cold, according to reports. There were still nearly 550,000 power outages in the nation on Tuesday morning, according to poweroutage.us. Most of the outages were in the south, where weekend blasts of freezing rain caused tree limbs and power lines to snap, inflicting crippling outages on northern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee. Officials warned that it could take days for power to be restored. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Recycled plastic packaging claims are misleading, say experts 27. January 2026 (14:48) Manufacturers use method that labels plastic as ‘circular’ and climate-friendly, despite being mostly fossil-basedEurope’s supermarket shelves are packed with brands billing their plastic packaging as sustainable, but often only a fraction of the materials are truly recovered from waste, with the rest made from petroleum.Brands using plastic packaging – from Kraft’s Heinz Beanz to Mondelez’s Philadelphia – use materials made by the plastic manufacturing arm of the oil company Saudi Aramco.This article is part of a cross-border investigation, supported by IJ4EU and coordinated by the independent journalist Ludovica Jona, with the media outlets the Guardian, Voxeurop, Mediapart (France), Altreconomia (Italy), Público (Spain), Investigative Reporting Denmark, Deutsche Welle (Germany) and with reporters Lorenzo Sangermano and Lucy Taylor Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Labour’s Gorton and Denton byelection campaign hit by fallout from ‘vile’ WhatsApp chat 27. January 2026 (14:34) Exclusive: Report on six Labour councillors comes just weeks before byelection triggered by Andrew Gwynne’s retirementLabour’s campaign for a vital byelection has been dealt a fresh blow after six local councillors were found to have breached standards rules in a “vile” WhatsApp chat.Andrew Gwynne, a former health minister, was suspended last year over offensive messages he sent in the “Trigger Me Timbers” group, including one saying he hoped a 72-year-old woman “croaks it” before an election. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘A militia that kills’: uproar in Italy over ICE security role at Winter Olympics 27. January 2026 (14:23) Milan’s mayor says agents ‘clearly not welcome’ in co-host city and that Italy can take care of security itselfA unit of US immigration and customs enforcement agents (ICE) will have a security role in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy, sparking uproar and petitions against the deployment.Sources at the US embassy in Rome confirmed a statement from ICE, the agency embroiled in a brutal immigration crackdown in the US, saying that federal agents would support diplomatic security details during the Milan-Cortina games but would not run any enforcement operations. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Alex Vindman, key Trump impeachment witness, launches Democratic bid for Senate 27. January 2026 (14:13) Vindman, who served on national security council, will challenge Republican incumbent in Florida if nominatedUS politics live – latest updatesAlex Vindman, who became a key player along with his twin brother in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, announced on Tuesday that he is running for the US Senate as a Democrat in Florida.Vindman, an army veteran, was serving on the national security council in 2019 during Trump’s first presidency. That year, Trump pressured Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Sydney Sweeney was ‘not authorised’ to hang her bras on Hollywood sign, say site owners 27. January 2026 (14:05) Hollywood Chamber of Commerce says it did not approve a promotional stunt linked to the actor, after lingerie was draped over the landmark’s lettersThe Housemaid star Sydney Sweeney has been reprimanded by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for a promotional stunt that involved draping bras over the celebrated Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.Sweeney posted footage on social media of her and a group of people climbing up to the sign which is situated on Mount Lee, in the Hollywood Hills area of the city, and hanging dozens of strung-together bras over the 50ft-tall sign’s letters. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘She doesn’t want to be here’: five-year-old US citizen and her mother deported to Honduras 27. January 2026 (13:56) Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relativeFive-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers in Austin, Texas. Despite being a US citizen, she was deported on 11 January alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, to Honduras, a country Génesis had never known.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were acting on an administrative deportation order against Gutiérrez, 26, issued in 2019, before Génesis was born. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
