From touchline handbags in London with his manager a week ago to this: an individual performance of verve and efficiency to go with collective success, Mohamed Salah smiling once again. Much has been written and said about the Egyptian forward, of his recent struggles, future and behaviour. But a career as storied as his requires him to put aside the noise and go again, an internal wiring that is present among only the best. Salah was electric against Tottenham, striking the bar with a cross-turned-shot and forcing a strong save from Guglielmo Vicario inside the first 10 minutes. The post was struck not long after, though the offside flag went up too, and then came the goal just 16 minutes in, masterful movement at the far post preceding a clinical header. He was present in the build-up to Liverpool’s other three goals, allowing Jürgen Klopp a gorgeous afternoon of Anfield sunshine and fist pumps as that final goodbye inches closer. Taha Hashim

Torrential rainstorms in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have caused the worst flooding the country has seen in 80 years, many deaths and the displacement of thousands of families. Central parts of the state were hit the hardest after the storms began last Monday, with unofficial weather stations in the area recording 50-100cm (20-40in) of rain over the past week.

Widespread floods and landslides have caused major damage to homes and infrastructure, most alarmingly triggering the partial collapse of a small hydroelectric dam on Thursday, which sent a 2-metre-high wave through the surrounding area. At least 57 deaths have been reported and 24,000 people have been displaced, alongside an estimated 500,000 being without power and clean water.

This part of South America is no stranger to major rainfall; Rio Grande do Sul has experienced flooding three other times in the past year. This is because the polar and tropical regions of the atmosphere meet around this latitude, resulting in a zone of high pressure that delivers long periods of dry weather punctuated with heavy bursts of rain. However, this event has been particularly devastating, with experts attributing the heightened rainfall to the combination of global heating and the recent El Niño phenomenon, during which waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean become warmer.

South of Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay is braced for similarly heavy rain this week. Intense storms are forecast across the country until Wednesday, with 20-25cm expected in places.

El Niño is also partially responsible for the ongoing catastrophic rainfall in east Africa, which began in March and has caused devastating flooding in Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi. Latest figures report more than 400 deaths across the five countries, with almost 250,000 people displaced.

Tanzania was dealt another blow on Friday when it was struck by an unusually powerful tropical storm, a rare event so close to the equator. The system, which was named Hidaya, strengthened to tropical cyclone status as it approached Tanzania, making it the most powerful storm recorded in the region, with winds of up to 80mph fuelling waves 2 metres high. Hidaya weakened to a severe tropical storm before making landfall south of Dar es Salaam, but still brought up to 10cm of rainfall to surrounding areas.

Spiralling rents and sky-high property prices risk becoming a key battleground of European politics as far-right and populist parties start to exploit growing public anger over the continent’s housing crisis, experts have said.

Weeks before European parliament elections in which far-right parties are forecast to finish first in nine EU member states and second or third in another nine, housing has the potential to become as potent a driver of far-right support as immigration.

“Far-right parties prosper when they can exploit the social gaps that emerge out of underinvestment and inadequate government planning … and when they can blame outsiders,” said the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.

“That’s the situation many EU countries are now in,” Balakrishnan Rajagopal told the Guardian. “The housing crisis is no longer affecting just low earners, migrants, single-parent families, but the middle classes. This is the social issue of the 21st century.”

Shortages of affordable housing have sparked protests in Lisbon, Amsterdam, Prague, Milan and – outside the EU – London, with young people in particular raging against rents swallowing half their incomes and mortgages 10 times an average salary.

The issue was a top concern for voters in last year’s Dutch elections, won by the far-right Freedom party (PVV) of the anti-Islam Geert Wilders, and it played into the rise in support for Portugal’s Chega, which almost trebled its vote share in March.

“It’s a theme that ticks a lot of current boxes” for far-right parties, said Catherine Fieschi, of the European University Institute. “It’s easy to frame it as an elites-versus-the-people issue – and to claim migrants are being treated better than nationals.”

Eurostat data shows that across the 27-member bloc, house prices soared by 47% between 2010 and 2022, with rents rising 18% over the same period. In some countries more than a fifth of households spend 40% or more of their net income on housing.

Recent academic research has established a clear link between rising rents and votes for the far right – even without strong anti-immigration messaging.

Tarik Abou-Chadi, an EU politics specialist and co-author of a study that found rising rents were reflected locally in growing support for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany, said “fear of status loss” was a key factor.

“This data shows housing is now part of a broader package of economic and social threats and insecurities fuelling anxiety,” he said. “The fear you may have to move home because you can’t afford it leads to a rise in radical-right support.”

The research combined detailed rental data with local responses to Germany’s annual Socio-Economic Panel household opinion survey to show increasing rents were associated with greater support for the far-right AfD, especially among low-income tenants.

Much of the AfD’s support is in more left-behind rural regions, where rents have stayed relatively low, and the effect was even stronger in urban areas, Abou-Chadi said, providing a possible explanation for the party’s rising vote share in cities.

“What’s interesting is that the relationship is there even when people’s rents may not actually have increased,” Abou-Chadi said. “It’s not just about actual hardship but also about the worry – that threat to social and economic status.”

Thus far, the AfD has made little attempt to play a housing card, while in Portugal, Chega focused more on corruption than on a crisis aggravated – in cities such as Lisbon and Porto – by a huge boom in holiday lets and high-earning digital nomads.

“But the scope for housing to become a highly significant factor in the far-right vote is very clearly there, and will only increase in the future,” said Vicente Valentim, a University of Oxford specialist on Europe’s far right.

Mainstream parties are starting to awaken to the threat. In January, big city mayors demanded an urgent focus on more affordable, qualitative and sustainable housing, while MEPs and housing ministers called for housing to be made a top EU priority.

Rajagopal, who recently reported on the Dutch housing crisis, said a first step should be to enshrine affordable, adequate and secure housing as a legal right.

“EU countries have a long and laudable tradition of social protection, of welfarism,” he said. “But when it comes to recognition of housing as a legal human right, Europe is lagging behind international law. EU citizens cannot go to their national courts over housing. European countries recognise this, but are not doing anything about it.”

Beyond that, the housing crisis in Europe – including the UK – was a product of “treating housing like any other commodity, to be bought and sold”, and of abandoning state planning, Rajagopal said.

“Europe drank the 1980s Kool-Aid … markets were good, planning bad,” he said. “But markets only really take care of themselves. If you also abandon state planning, nobody’s supplying housing. And that’s what allows the PVV, for example, to blame migrants for the Dutch crisis when there is no evidence migrants are to blame.

“If we want to stop the rise of the far right, starve it of some oxygen, things like housing have to be seen as fundamental rights.”

Sorcha Edwards, the secretary general of the NGO Housing Europe, agreed. “Obviously, we need to build more,” she said. “But supply isn’t the only answer. It’s what kind of housing we build, and with what kind of financing.”

A market-first approach to housing – relying on private, profit-driven capital, and on charities to mop up the mess – now needed to make way for “patient, public-interest financing”, with “social conditionality and strings attached”, Edwards said.

“There’s going to have to be a real cultural shift. The backbone has to be the limited profit sector. Not just municipal housing, but alternative forms of ownership, like cooperatives. We absolutely have to build with the right kind of money.”

Ukraine’s former Eurovision winner Jamala has said her country “cannot afford” to boycott the song contest because it needs the opportunity to remind Europe of Russia’s invasion.

There have been calls for artists to refuse to participate over Israel’s inclusion in the music competition while the war in Gaza continues.

The opening round begins on Tuesday in Malmö, Sweden, after the singer Loreen won in Liverpool last year.

Jamala, who won the contest for Ukraine in 2016, said a boycott over the Israel-Hamas war was not an option for her country. She said that artists needed to be “loud and creative” to remind the world about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when the public was “getting tired” of hearing about it.

The question of whether to withdraw over Israel’s involvement has also plagued the UK’s entrant, Olly Alexander. In a BBC documentary that will air on Tuesday, he said reaction to his decision to participate had been “very extreme”, with people branding him complicit in genocide.

Jamala said Ukraine needed to take opportunities to raise awareness after the war had dropped in prominence from the news since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

“Some countries may refuse to participate [in the contest], but we don’t. Especially we cannot afford to give up such a contest in time of war,” she told PA Media. “There are many wars now in the world and, of course, it is not easy to constantly keep attention on yourself so that people do not get tired of our war.

“But that is our task, people who remain in Ukraine, people who are fighting, to be as loud and creative … this is the task of artists to find new ways of how to reveal and show their country.”

Ukraine’s entry this year is the rapper and singer duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil. Jamala, 40, whose real name is Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, said she hoped they would give many interviews “and talk about the fact that the war in Ukraine continues”.

Before being chosen as the UK’s Eurovision entrant, Alexander had signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”.

Queers for Palestine launched a petition calling for him to boycott Eurovision in March over the inclusion of Israel, saying the event was “cultural cover” for an “ongoing genocide”.

Speaking in a BBC documentary about him to be broadcast on Tuesday, the singer said: “A lot of the contestants and myself have been having a lot of comments that are like ‘You are complicit in a genocide by taking part in Eurovision,’ which is quite extreme. It’s very extreme.”

In an interview with the Times, Alexander reportedly began to cry when discussing the fallout from his decision to go ahead. “Obviously, I wish there wasn’t a war or this insane humanitarian crisis. I wish for peace and I have found this experience, at times, extremely … I’ve just felt really sad and distressed,” he said.

“But I still believe it’s a good thing when people come together for entertainment. That’s why I wanted to do Eurovision.”

The Irish entrant, Bambie Thug, had also previously backed “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” but declined to boycott the event. Alongside Alexander and the Danish entrant, Saba, the artists said in a statement: “It is important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages.

“We stand united against all forms of hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

President Xi Jinping has lauded China’s ties with France as a model for the international community, as he arrived in Paris for a rare visit against a backdrop of mounting trade disputes with the EU.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to urge Xi to reduce trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Xi is due to meet Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

Xi, who was welcomed in Paris by prime minister Gabriel Attal, said in a statement released on his arrival that ties between China and France were “a model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems”.

In a separate op-ed published in the French daily Le Figaro, the Chinese president said he was coming to France with three messages: that Beijing was committed to opening up “new vistas” in its relationship with France; opening up “ever wider” to the world and to upholding world peace and stability.

“While opening up itself, China also encourages Chinese companies to go global,” Xi wrote. “France is advancing re-industrialisation based on green innovation, whereas China is accelerating the development of new quality productive forces.”

On the war in Ukraine he wrote that China “understands the repercussions of the Ukraine crisis on the people of Europe”. He emphasised that Beijing is not “a party to or a participant in it”, adding that “China has been playing a constructive role in striving for peaceful settlement of the crisis”.

Xi’s visit to Europe is the first since 2019 and will also see him visit Serbia and Hungary.

One of Macron’s key priorities will be to warn Xi of the danger of backing Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, with western officials concerned Moscow is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production.

The west wants China above all not to supply weapons to Russia and risk tipping the balance in the conflict.

“It is in our interest to get China to weigh in on the stability of the international order,” said Macron in an interview with the Economist published on Thursday.

“We must, therefore, work with China to build peace,” he added.

France is also backing a European Union probe into Chinese electric vehicle exports, and in January, Beijing opened an investigation into mostly French-made imports of brandy, a move widely seen as a tit-for-tat retaliation for EU probes.

“We want to obtain reciprocity of exchanges and have the elements of our economic security taken into account,” Macron said in an interview with French newspaper La Tribune ahead of Xi’s two-day visit, his first trip to the region in five years.

Von der Leyen said Monday she will press for “fair” competition with China in talks with Xi.

“We have to act to make sure that competition is fair and not distorted,” she said, adding, “I have made clear that the current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed”.

The European Commission, the European Union’s authority on trade issues, has opened a slew of competition probes targeting China in recent months.

Beijing has reacted furiously to the most recent investigation, into suspected inequitable access to China’s medical devices market, calling it a sign of EU “protectionism”.

The EU’s 27 members – in particular France and Germany – are divided on their attitude towards China.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not join Macron and Xi in Paris due to prior commitments, sources said.

“In Europe, we are not unanimous on the subject because certain players still see China as essentially a market of opportunities,” Macron said, without naming any countries.

France will also seek to make progress on opening the Chinese market to its agricultural exports and resolve issues around the French cosmetic industry’s concerns about intellectual property rights, officials said.

China may announce an order for about 50 Airbus aircraft during Xi’s visit, but it remains uncertain whether it will be a new deal, people familiar with the negotiations said.

On Tuesday, Macron will take Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region dear to the French president as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother, before Xi heads to Serbia and Hungary.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of neglect after a five-month-old boy suffered a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor Resort.

The baby is in critical condition in hospital after the incident at about 1pm on Thursday, police said.

A 27-year-old woman from Witham, Essex was arrested on Friday on suspicion of neglecting a child to cause unnecessary injury. She has been released on police bail until 26 July.

DC Zoe Eele, of the Thames Valley police’s child abuse investigation unit, said: “We are investigating a distressing incident involving a very young child at Legoland Windsor earlier this week.

“Firstly, our thoughts are with the family of the boy who is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. We are supporting them as best we can at this extremely difficult time.

“We are working closely with the team at Legoland Windsor Resort but would like to speak to anyone who may have information about this incident, specifically anyone who was queuing for the Coastguard HQ boat ride between around 11.30am and 12.45pm.

“Get in touch either by calling 101 or via our website, quoting reference number 4324 0202 786.

“Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or via its website.”

Police have confirmed they are not looking for further suspects in relation to the incident.

The bodies believed to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing in the Pacific coast state of Baja California showed the three men were killed with gunshots to the head, Mexican authorities said on Sunday.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the state’s attorney general, said the families of the missing men had arrived in Tijuana to verbally identify the bodies. Authorities expect to have official confirmation shortly.

The preliminary hypothesis of the investigation is that the missing men were attacked by people who wanted to steal their car.

Dr Ramón Álvarez Martínez said that the bodies displayed injuries that suggested resistance.

Three Mexican nationals have been detained, one of whom has been charged with kidnapping.

The other two are being held for possession of crystal meth, though Andrade Ramírez did not discard the possibility that they were linked to the crime.

“In fact, we are sure that more people took part in the attack,” said Andrade Ramírez, who said officials would soon be able to provide more information about advances made in the investigation.

Perth siblings Callum and Jake Robinson, both in their 30s, were travelling in the region on a surfing holiday, with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, a US citizen. The trio were reported missing when they failed to check into pre-arranged accommodation near the city of Ensenada last weekend.

Friends and family appealed on social media for any information on their whereabouts, saying it was “out of character” for them not to be in contact.

The missing men’s tents and burned-out truck were found on Thursday, by a remote stretch of coastline.

On Friday, four bodies were found in a covered-up well on isolated ranch land six or seven kilometres from where the missing men’s car was found.

Three of the bodies had been there five to seven days before they were found on Friday. A fourth body was also found in the well, which was estimated to have been there 15 to 30 days.

Andrade Ramírez said that authorities did not believe the attackers knew the victims were tourists, and emphasised that Baja California was still safe for tourists.

In 2023, Mexico saw more than 30,000 homicides for the sixth consecutive year. More than 100,000 people are also missing.

In 2015, Western Australian surfers Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas were murdered, believed to have been shot by gang members in the neighbouring Sinaloa region before their van and bodies were burnt.

Ange Postecoglou found comfort in Tottenham “at least trying to play a version of ourselves” at Anfield. The assessment will be as disconcerting to Spurs supporters as the performance that yielded a fourth consecutive ­Premier League defeat. This version of Postecoglou’s team was dreadful, and their top-four hopes were ­effectively extinguished as Liverpool rediscovered their verve in Jürgen Klopp’s penultimate home game.

The scoreline flattered the ­conquered. Liverpool cruised towards victory for 72 minutes until Spurs’ substitute Richarlison and their captain Son Heung-min sparked a mini-crisis of confidence among Klopp’s reshuffled pack. It passed. For the second Sunday in succession Spurs performed only when staring at a comprehensive pounding but, just like the north London derby, their late flurry fooled no one. Their manager’s post-match optimism did not convince either. Liverpool were richly deserving of a win delivered by the recalled Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.

Spurs came into the contest with a glimmer of Champions League ­qualification following Aston Villa’s defeat at Brighton. The problem for Postecoglou is Spurs are not a ­Champions League team, and that was made abundantly clear at Anfield. Incentive alone cannot compensate for flimsy defensive organisation and a largely ineffective forward line.

The visitors started sharply but, while tidy in possession, they were hopeless out of it. With Salah back in the Liverpool starting lineup ­following his petulant row with Klopp at West Ham and granted the freedom of the right wing by Emerson Royal, the hosts were able to enjoy the comforts of home after a few damaging results on the road.

Postecoglou’s team struggled at the first sign of Liverpool pressure. The only fight in a quite pathetic first-half performance from Spurs came in a half-time bust-up between Cristian Romero and the lazy Emerson. The goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, had to intervene as a peace-maker.

Salah, giving a rousing reception when the teams were announced before kick-off, struck the crossbar from Liverpool’s first attack of note, curling an effort with the outside of his boot over Vicario and against the woodwork. A desperate clearance by Micky van de Ven prevented the recalled striker pouncing on Gakpo’s header as Spurs struggled to hang on. Desperate is a fitting description of their defensive efforts. Static, slow, weak and careless are also applicable.

Vicario saved from Salah when the Egypt international was put through on goal by Elliott, who swept the rebound beyond the visiting keeper only for Romero to block on the line. The opportunity stemmed from a dreadful touch in central midfield by Pape Sarr. It would not be his last.

The inevitable breakthrough came from an inevitable source. Wataru Endo switched play out to Gakpo on the left and the in-form forward floated a delightful cross into the space that Emerson regularly left behind him for Salah to head home. Vicario was left exposed once again but could have done more to prevent the header crossing the line.

Liverpool were back to their old selves in terms of intensity, pressing and dominance although their wastefulness in front of goal was also on display prior to Robertson pouncing on the stroke of half-time. Salah, ­Elliott and Trent Alexander-Arnold all fired over before Liverpool’s left-back gave the scoreline a fairer reflection of his team’s superiority. Alexander-Arnold supplied his fellow full-back with a pin-point cross to the back post. Robertson squared to Salah and, though Vicario got down well to save the striker’s first time shot, the loose ball rolled perfectly for the Scotland captain to tap home. The sight of Robertson walking the ball home summed up how easy the first half was for Liverpool, as well as the pitiful efforts from Spurs.

Postecoglou’s half-time team talk had no galvanising effect. Liverpool were soon three up when Elliott took the ball off Emerson and centred for Gakpo to steer a textbook header into the bottom corner. Four ­followed swiftly, and superbly, when ­Emerson headed a Robertson cross into the path of Salah and he teed up Elliott. The midfielder cut inside and curled a stunning 20-yard shot into Vicario’s top right corner.

The Spurs manager rang the changes in the face of a one-sided embarrassment with Richarlison, James Maddison and Oliver Skipp arriving just after the hour. Now the visitors improved. It helped that Klopp utilised his substitutes’ bench too, with a detrimental impact on ­Liverpool’s rhythm.

Richarlison punctured Alisson’s designs on a clean sheet when ­turning in Brennan Johnson’s low cross. That appeared to be the extent of ­Liverpool’s problems until the ­former Everton favourite assisted a second for Son, turning Skipp’s ­delivery into the path of his captain who ­produced a clinical finish. Anfield was ­suddenly on edge, especially when Salah missed a gilt-edged chance to restore a comfortable lead from two yards out.

From coasting Liverpool were now in danger every time Spurs ventured forward. Alisson saved brilliantly from ­Richarlison, with Joe Gomez preventing Johnson converting the rebound, while Alexander-Arnold made a vital interception to prevent the Brazil international claiming his second of the game. Spurs’ late rally was not enough. It would have been a travesty had it conjured anything. The top four should be beyond them.

Israeli authorities shut down the local offices of Al Jazeera on Sunday, hours after a government vote to use new laws to close the satellite news network’s operations in the country.

Critics called the move, which comes as faltering indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue, a “dark day for the media” and raised new concerns about the attitude to free speech of Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government.

Israeli officials said the move was justified because Al Jazeera was a threat to national security. “The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” the country’s prime minister posted on social media after the unanimous cabinet vote.

A government statement said Israel’s communications minister had signed orders to act immediately to close al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, confiscate broadcast equipment, cut the channel off from cable and satellite companies and block its websites.

The network, which is funded by Qatar, has been critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the seven-month war.

Al Jazeera said the accusation that it threatened Israeli security was a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that put its journalists at risk.

“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information,” the company said in a statement. “Al Jazeera affirms its right to continue to provide news and information to its global audiences.”

A pre-recorded “final report” listing the restrictions placed on the network by a reporter in Jerusalem was broadcast on the network after the ban came into effect.

Al Jazeera has previously accused the Israeli authorities of deliberately targeting several of its journalists, including Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza Al-Dahdouh, both killed in Gaza during the conflict. Israel has rejected the charge and says it does not target journalists.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights also criticised the move. “We regret cabinet decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel,” it said on X. “A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza. Freedom of expression is a key human right. We urge govt to overturn ban.”

Israel’s parliament ratified a law last month that allows for the temporary closure of foreign broadcasters considered a threat to national security.

The law allows Netanyahu and his security cabinet to shut Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel for 45 days, a period that can be renewed, so it could stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza.

While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language service often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region, drawing sharp criticism from Israeli officials.

A campaign of judicial reform led last year by Netanyahu’s coalition government, the most rightwing in Israel’s history, prompted great opposition and accusations of authoritarianism. Recent crackdowns on protesters against the Gaza war in Israel have also raised new concerns for free speech.

The Foreign Press Association, a NGO representing journalists working for international news organisations reporting from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza accused Israel of joining a “dubious club of authoritarian governments”.

“This is a dark day for the media. This is a dark day for democracy,” it said in a statement.

There was also some political opposition in Israel to the move, or at least its timing. The National Unity party, a centrist member of the ruling coalition, said that coming as ceasefire talks appeared close to failing, it could “sabotage efforts” to free Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Qatar established Al Jazeera in 1996 to build influence around the Middle East and further afield.

The small Gulf state, where several Hamas political leaders are based, was a key mediator in the talks but has been marginalised in recent weeks, which may have encouraged the Israeli government to act.

Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the conflict, which was triggered by Hamas attacks into southern Israel on 7 October last year in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 34,000 people, mostly women and children.

Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild.

Now new research suggests the population may be recovering. Australian scientists and international colleagues spent two decades listening for their distinctive songs and calls, and found the whales – the largest animals ever to have lived – swimming across the Southern Ocean with growing regularity.

Analysis of thousands of hours of audio, collected with underwater microphones and secondhand military-issued submarine listening devices, suggests whale numbers are stable or on the rise, according to Australian Antarctic Division senior research scientist Brian Miller.

“When you look back to before this work was started by the AAD, we really just had so few encounters with these animals – and now we can produce them on demand,” Miller said.

“We can tell you where they’re frequenting, we can tell you that we’re hearing them more often. So that’s progress.”

The whales were heard increasingly often in the Southern Ocean from 2006 to 2021, according to a new paper collating the findings of Australian and international researchers’ seven voyages across the period.

“Either they’re either increasing in number or we’re increasing in our ability to find them, and both of those things are good news,” Miller said.

The Antarctic blue whale nearly became extinct before whaling’s decline in the mid-20th century, with the most recent estimates from 1998 suggesting there were fewer than 2,000 alive.

Researchers have spent hours listening for repeating songs about 20 seconds long, termed Z calls, along with shorter, higher-pitched D calls, in an effort to track and study the critically endangered species.

“We think the message is: ‘I’m a blue whale, I’m here,’” Miller said.

“If you think about … us almost wiping them out, and extinction, then it becomes more poignant to think about them saying, ‘I’m still here, here I am.’”

The scientists travelled nearly 150,000km across the Southern Ocean tracking the whales’ appearances around Antarctica. Other Australian researchers say the study’s geographical and temporal range provides a unique insight into the state of the species.

“This is the first indication of what’s happening with Antarctic blue whales … for a good 20 years,” said Prof Robert Harcourt, a marine ecologist at Macquarie University. “All of the earlier work was based back in the 1950s when we were killing them.”

Griffith University whale researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke said: “Having so many years [of data] over several seasons … and then having it over thousands of kilometres – that’s really unique.”

The whales spend half the year in Antarctic waters but are global travellers – heading north towards Australia, South Africa, South America and even across the equator.

Their distribution means scientists around the world have been drawn to the project, which Miller hopes will be a step forward for the International Whaling Commission’s conservation efforts.

“Only an international collaborative effort is going to be able to piece together the puzzle of where they are and whether they’re recovering,” he said.