Rolling coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos

Gelsenkirchen savings bank was raided over Christmas by criminals who used huge drill to access vault

Critics expected to mount legal challenge to plans for vast complex at Royal Mint Court amid security concerns The UK government has approved the construction of a vast new Chinese embassy complex in east London, despite concerns about security and its impact on political exiles in the capital. The decision brings to an end, for now at least, the saga that has been running since 2018 over the site at Royal Mint Court near Tower Bridge. Continue reading...

Sarah Rogers, Donald Trump’s free speech tsar, says ‘censorship does more harm than good’

Reza Pahlavi sets out ambition to lead country his father once ruled, but many question his level of popular support Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s former pro-western monarch, has predicted the country’s Islamic regime will fall and claimed he is “uniquely” placed to head a successor government. His bid to assume the leadership of a possible new Iran follows weeks of mass protests that have left thousands dead after being brutally suppressed by security forces. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Discovery comes amid growing concern over lax regulation and children being put at risk by rogue operators Circumcision kits have been found on sale on Amazon UK, highlighting lax regulation as concerns grow about deaths and serious harms to baby boys. In December, a UK coroner issued warnings about insufficient circumcision regulation after the death in 2023 of a six-month-old boy, Mohamed Abdisamad, from a streptococcus infection. Continue reading...

Workers will be able to use other identification for right to work, meaning digital form not mandatory Ministers have rolled back on a main element of the proposed digital ID plans, leaving open the possibility that people will be able to use other forms of identification to prove their right to work. This will mean that the IDs, announced to some controversy in September, will no longer be mandatory for working-age people, given that the only planned obligatory element was to prove the right to work in the UK. Continue reading...

No more Venezuelan oil or money will flow to the communist-run island after Maduro’s fall, says US president Donald Trump has told Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island that has been a US foe for decades. As Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela and major beneficiary of its oil, braced for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as the South American nation’s leader, the US president ramped up his threatening language on Sunday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Possible revision of guidance for prosecutors in England and Wales comes amid safety concerns from courts Circumcision is to be classed as a potential form of child abuse under new guidance for prosecutors, amid concerns from judges and coroners about deaths and serious harms caused by the procedure. A draft document by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on “honour-based abuse, forced marriages, and harmful practices”, classes circumcision as a potential crime alongside breast flattening, virginity testing, hymenoplasty and exorcisms. Continue reading...