Top World News

Feb 22, 2026 - World

With construction overwhelmingly male, Refuge says tradeswomen help survivors of abuse feel saferOne of the main challenges in maintaining the 64 homes for domestic abuse survivors run by Refuge is the reliance on a male-dominated workforce of electricians, plumbers and decorators.“The presence of men can be distressing and could trigger past traumas for our survivors,” said Lisa Cantwell-Hope, the head of property services at the charity. “Male contractors need an escort to make our survivors feel more comfortable, and we always put a notice out to all our residents saying there will be a male presence in the building today. So it can be challenging and takes up more time.” Continue reading...

Feb 22, 2026 - World

Nigel Farage’s man in Gorton and Denton has a huge public platform, and a taste for culture war. What happens when he concerns himself with bin collections?On a bracingly cold February night in Levenshulme, a black Volkswagen people-carrier draws up outside a little parish church, around which a small crowd has begun to gather. From behind the car’s darkened windows steps the Reform candidate for the Gorton and Denton byelection, dressed in the trademark gilet that makes him look less like a politician and more like a man who has come straight from a grouse shoot. As he enters the church where the electoral hustings will take place, a leaflet is thrust into his hand, which as he will later discover with a horrified grimace, is a flyer for the local branch of the Communist League, bearing policies such as “amnesty for all immigrants” and “defend Cuba’s socialist revolution”.But then, when you are trying to attract the attention of someone as elusive as Prof Matt Goodwin, you have to seize your opportunities whenever they arise. Over recent weeks the former academic and rightwing firebrand has been a curiously intangible presence in the constituency whose representation he is seeking: perpetually detectable but not remotely approachable, always visible without ever really being seen. Continue reading...

Feb 22, 2026 - World

Major chains agree to halve default sweetness, but street vendors and cafes remain outside sugar tax rulesA crowd of customers, holding phones aloft, watch intently as Auntie Nid mixes up her bestseller: an iced Thai tea.Condensed milk is poured into a glass, followed by three heaped tablespoons of sugar, and then freshly strained tea. The end product – a deep orange, creamy treat – is poured into a plastic bag filled with ice. Continue reading...

Feb 22, 2026 - World

The trade minister, Don Farrell, says Australia has ‘consistently advocated’ against the ‘unjustified tariffs’, after the US president announced new leviesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia will “examine all options” after the US president Donald Trump announced a temporary 15% tariff would apply to US imports from all countries.The US president’s move came less than 24 hours after the US supreme court overturned his original 10% import tariff. Shortly after the ruling, Trump announced he was reinstating the 10% duties using a different law before raising it again to 15%. Continue reading...

Feb 22, 2026 - World

A woman who sought asylum in the United States after fleeing a country where homosexuality is illegal says the Trump administration's third-country deportation system sent her to another one