The Royal Navy launched its largest and most powerful ship from its home port on Monday in a complicated four-hour move. HMS Queen Elizabeth is a 280-metre, 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, assembled at Rosyth port in the Firth of Forth, Scotland. She traversed narrow basins and manoeuvred under three road and rail bridges to reach the North Sea
Sailor was deployed under operation which conducts patrols to combat asylum seeker boat arrivals, illegal fishing and piracyAn Australian navy sailor has died during a maritime patrol operation.Defence confirmed the death of the sailor aboard an Australian Defence Vessel Cape Inscription on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...
Residents have written to Theresa May asking to be consulted on terms and scope of investigation and choice of chairSurvivors of the Grenfell Tower fire are demanding a say in the scope and setup of the inquiry into the disaster, including over the choice of the judge appointed to chair it.Residents in the area acknowledge that such consultation would be unprecedented in such an public inquiry but say it is necessary to restore local trust in the authorities. Continue reading...
This report summarises the results of a weekly poll conducted by Essential Research with data provided by Your Source. Some questions are repeated regularly (such as political preference and leadership approval), while others are unique to each week and reflect current media and social issues Continue reading...
Xiahe is famous for its Labrang monastery, the largest edifice of the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism and home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. The monastery was founded in 1709 Continue reading...
Testing is under way for local authorities and other social housing landlords to identify high-rise blocks where unsafe building material is in use. This includes aluminium cladding with a polyethylene core that is believed to have fuelled the deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower in London. The government has confirmed unsafe cladding or other material was found at 75 towers in England. Here are the blocks known to have failed tests. Additional buildings will be added as they are knownData as of 26 June Continue reading...
A blue shark sparked panic at a Spanish beach but our irreconcilable attitudes to the sea ought to worry us moreA shark on a Spanish beach is a vividly terrifying image. The holiday idyll threatened by a sharp-finned deputation from the deep. This is no “snakes on a plane” fantasy. Potential disaster looms. There are children out there, for God’s sake. In a resort where the sand may be raked daily, and where a margarita is never more than a few euros away, such disruptive visions seem all the sharper.Related: Blue shark captured following Mallorca beach panic Continue reading...
Census shows while secularism is growing faster than any religion, young people are behind boost in membership of Pentecostal churchAs the number of Australians who identify as Christian has declined since 2011, one church has notably bucked the trend.Members of the Pentecostal church increased from nearly 220,000 in 2006 and 238,000 in 2011 to 260,500 last year, according to the 2016 census results released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Unemployment crisis will ravage the continent if it doesn’t opt for market-based development, according to report by Tony Blair’s InstituteParts of Africa could face a massive unemployment crisis by 2040, with “catastrophic” consequences for the global economy, new research has found.The report predicted a shortfall of 50 million jobs, which should serve as a “wake up call” for governments across much of the continent, as well as international donors and agencies. According to the analysis by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, based on world bank data, the labour force in sub-saharan Africa will be 823 million by 2040, up from 395 million in 2015. However, total number of jobs is only expected to hit 773 million, it said, leaving 50 million people in Africa unemployed. Continue reading...
Unionists walk away smiling from No 10 … White House warns Syria may be preparing another chemical attack … and the Queen’s £82m paydayGood morning, it’s Warren Murray with the news you need. Continue reading...
There has been a 39% increase in same-sex couples since 2011, and Catholicism has fallen to 22.6% of the population, down from 25.3%, while ‘no religion’ has grown to 29.6%. Follow the findings live …
The rightwing ruckus around the defence industry minister has made it even more difficult for Malcolm Turnbull to governIn the winter of 2008, I went for a curry at an Indian place in a suburb fringing the parliamentary precinct, and found myself sitting a couple of tables away from Christopher Pyne and George Brandis.
All you need to know about the the 20th anniversary of Britain handing Hong Kong to ChinaHong Kong is marking 20 years since the territory was handed from Britain to China, bringing an end to more than 150 years of colonial rule. Continue reading...
Man, 21, held on suspicion of raping child after officers called to address in Salford on Monday morningA man has been arrested on suspicion of raping a four-year-old girl.
Crown Estate increases profits as royal accounts reveal Prince Philip spent £18,690 on train trip to PlymouthThe Queen is in line for a near-doubling of her income to more than £82m due to a government decision to increase her funding to cover “essential works” to Buckingham Palace.
New two-day festival Antidote will focus on finding solutions to some of the world’s most intractable problemsThe Sydney Opera House has announced a new “ideas, art and action” festival will debut this September, replacing the annual Festival of Dangerous Ideas (Fodi) with a program centred on progressive global politics and activism.Titled Antidote, the two-day festival departs from Fodi in its inclusion of participatory arts programming and in its curatorial independence, with the St James Ethics Centre no longer returning as a presenting partner. Continue reading...
Sweden says Johan Gustafsson, who was kidnapped while on a motorcycle tour, was set free ‘a few days ago’ but declined to give any details on the negotiationsA Swedish man kidnapped by Islamist militants in northern Mali nearly six years ago has been released from captivity, the Swedish government has confirmed.There was no immediate word on the fate of a second hostage, from South Africa, who was also seized in Timbuktu. Continue reading...
MPs raise fears that Conservative deal with DUP may scupper free terminations in UK for women from Northern IrelandMPs have warned that abortion rights for Northern Irish women travelling to the UK for a termination must be addressed despite the Conservative deal with the DUP, repeatedly raising their concerns during a heated debate in the Commons.Labour MP Stella Creasy and Conservative MP Anna Soubry were among those who called on the government to permit Northern Irish women terminations in England without charge. Continue reading...
T Douglas Reilly draws on his experience with the International Atomic Energy Agency to praise the Iran nuclear deal, while David Gleeson wonders why Tehran is so often cast as the villain on the world stageThe Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal) is excellent; it is far better and more extensive than I ever expected (Don’t upset the balance of power in the Middle East, 23 June). If followed by all parties, it blocks all avenues for Iran to develop nuclear explosives. To be sure, it is vehemently opposed by Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu and Republicans in Congress.I am a physicist who worked in nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation for 38 years at the Los Alamos national laboratory; the majority of my efforts were for and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that has the responsibility of inspecting the nuclear facilities of states signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Among other things, I developed programmes that have been part of the initial IAEA inspectors’ training since 1980. I’ve trained many of the inspectors who inspect Iran today, and have inspected Iran’s facilities since it signed and ratified the NPT shortly after it came into force in 1970. Continue reading...
Overwhelming majority want disclosure of politicians’ meetings with donors or unions and immediate reporting of donationsAn overwhelming majority of voters support real-time reporting of political donations and disclosure of politicians’ meetings with companies, unions and donors, according to the Guardian Essential poll.A total of 79% of the 1,025 people polled would support making all politicians publicly disclose meetings with representatives of companies, donors or unions while 78% support reporting political donations immediately rather than the current annual disclosures. Continue reading...
The sound of dial-up internet haunts your nightmares and you remember when floppy disks were actually floppy. Was your first crush called Corey? Perhaps you were born between 1977 and 1983
Cities such as Genoa and L’Aquila, formerly strongholds of the left, were claimed by the right in a pattern repeated across the countryItaly’s centre-right parties trounced their centre-left rivals in mayoral elections, official results have showed – putting pressure on the ruling Democratic party (PD) ahead of a national vote due in less than a year. An alliance of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and the anti-immigrant Northern League won 55% of the votes in Genoa, the northern port city that was a leftwing stronghold but which the right will now govern for the first time in more than 50 years.PD leader Matteo Renzi, 42, who has been seeking to make a comeback since stepping down as prime minister in December, was the clear loser in Sunday’s vote, though polls show that his party is still one of Italy’s most popular nationally. “It could have gone better,” Renzi said in an early-morning Facebook post.
To move past issue of EU nationals’ rights, the UK must find a way to negotiate with Europeans that doesn’t gets their backs upOf the many thorny challenges standing between Britain and the EU exit door, providing rescue for citizens was meant to be the least prickly one to deal with. Within days of last year’s shock referendum result, almost all politicians agreed that the people who had built their lives on the promise of an open border should not find themselves stranded when it slammed shut.
Michel Barnier urges more clarity and guarantees after Theresa May set out fine print of offer, which has already been described as ‘worrisome’The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has responded to the publication of Theresa May’s offer on citizens’ rights by calling for “more ambition, clarity and guarantees” from the British government.
Labour leader says May should have made guarantees immediately after Brexit vote rather than waiting for negotiationsTheresa May’s proposals to preserve the rights of 3 million EU citizens living in the UK have been condemned by Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition MPs as “too little, too late”. The Labour leader said guarantees should have been made directly after the vote to leave the European Union last year rather than waiting until “complex and delicate” trade negotiations began.All 3 million EU citizens resident in Britain will have to apply to be on a “settled status” identity register after Brexit, under Home Office proposals about their future rights released today. A 15-page policy paper proposes a new “light-touch” online system to process applications that will give applicants the same “indefinite leave to remain” status as many non-European nationals who have also lived in Britain for five years. Continue reading...
The network gave young people the chance to express themselves freely. No wonder Saudi Arabia and its allies now demand it is closed downMany states at different times have tried to contain al-Jazeera or force it to tone down its coverage. But with last week’s call to shut the network down, the Saudis and Emiratis have surpassed themselves.Related: Qatar given 10 days to meet 13 sweeping demands by Saudi Arabia Continue reading...
Lawyer who helped Nelson Mandela escape the death penaltyAs the instructing solicitor for Nelson Mandela’s defence team at the Rivonia trial of 1963-64, Joel Joffe, later Lord Joffe, who has died aged 85, played a key role in helping the future South African president and others avoid the death penalty. That was the severest sentence that could have resulted from being convicted of sabotage, and Mandela described Joffe as “the general behind the scenes in our defence”.Charges followed a police raid in July 1963 on Lilliesleaf Farm in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia, where Mandela and his anti-apartheid co-conspirators – including Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Dennis Goldberg – had been plotting the overthrow of the government. Mandela was already in jail for another offence and was indicted later. Continue reading...
To the Bone, starring Lily Collins, could glamourise eating disorders and should come with trigger warning, charities sayMental health experts have said a Netflix trailer for a film about a teenage girl with anorexia could trigger psychological issues for sufferers and should come with a warning.To the Bone, which is released next month, tells the story of 20-year-old Ellen, who struggles with anorexia and enters a group recovery home for help. But while its director says the film is intended as “a conversation starter about an issue that is too often clouded by secrecy and misconceptions”, critics say the film risks glamourising and trivialising anorexia. Continue reading...
Capt Megan Couto has become the first female officer to command the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace. Captain Couto is Canadian and her unit, the Second Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI), has been invited to the UK to help celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, the prime minister laid out what EU citizens living in Britain could expect after the UK leaves the European Union. May outlined the key provisions of the offer, including an invitation to EU nationals who have five years’ continuous residence to apply for ‘settled status’ under UK law
China is setting up agricultural centres across Africa, but in Zambia – where the majority of farmers are female smallholders – few women get the chance to learnOn the highway heading towards Chongwe, 15km south-east of Lusaka, the red Chinese lettering, high flagpoles and gleaming modern architecture of the Zambia Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (ZATDC) stand out amid the vast fields of maize.It is one of 25 such centres built across the continent as part of a grand plan to bring agricultural training to local people, helping them produce better crops with higher yields, so that food security is improved for everyone. Continue reading...
Over 10 months I was beaten, starved, whipped and given electric shocks, in brutal prisons in Syria. Now I am free, but my mind never will beFor the 10 months I spent as a detainee in the prisons of Bashar al-Assad, I only saw my family in my dreams. At night, the screams would stop for an hour or two, and I could close my eyes and remember what it was like to be human. When I slept, I would return to my life.Related: Assad’s slaughterhouse defies description, but it’s horrifyingly real | Kate Allen Continue reading...
Officials from the most isolated nation on Earth have just completed a tour of Spain’s Costa Blanca, with an eye towards creating their own Mediterranean-style resort. What could possibly go wrong?Name: Benidorm.Age: Its first charter was awarded in 1325, but the area has been settled since 3000BC. Continue reading...
The government has laid out what EU citizens living in Britain can expect after the UK leaves the European UnionIn its offer to EU nationals living in the UK, the British government says it recognises the need to “honour the expectation” that they moved on the basis that they would be able to settle permanently before the Brexit process was triggered.The Home Office also says that more than 1 million UK nationals live in other EU countries and their ability to stay and live life much as they do now depends on the agreement reached between the EU and UK. It has set out the following key provisions of its offer: Continue reading...
Legislation requiring doctor’s appointment is latest attack on women’s rights in Poland and violates shared EU values, says MEPThe Polish government has been accused of launching a “sexual counter-revolution” that is an affront to European values after passing legislation reducing women’s access to the morning-after pill.A law signed off by the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, in defiance of human rights groups and European medicines agency guidelines turns emergency contraception into a prescription drug. Continue reading...
Edi Rama’s Socialist party appears on course to win over 45% of vote after campaign focussed on closer ties with westAlbania’s prime minister, the artist turned politician Edi Rama, is poised to be returned to power following parliamentary elections seen as key to the country’s future prospects of EU membership.As ballots continued to be counted on Monday, an exit poll showed Rama and his Socialist party on course to win between 45% and 49% of the vote. Continue reading...
Greater Manchester police say five people taken to hospital after apparently taking a drug known as ‘pink champagne’One man is dead and four are critically ill in hospital after taking a highly potent form of the drug MDMA, police said.The man who died, a 26-year-old from Rochdale, was one of a number thought to have taken a drug known locally as “pink champagne” or “magic”. They were taken to hospital over the weekend, Greater Manchester police said. Continue reading...
Judge refers case of 16-year-old accused of raping girl in Nuthurst park, Moston, in the north of the city to crown courtA 16-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with raping an eight-year-old girl in a Manchester park in broad daylight.The teenager, who cannot be named, is accused of raping the girl on Saturday evening in Nuthurst park, Moston, in the north of the city. Continue reading...
by Written by Alex Blasdel, read by Andrew McGregor a on (#2TYR4)
Timothy Morton wants humanity to give up some of its core beliefs, from the fantasy that we can control the planet to the notion that we are ‘above’ other beings. His ideas might sound weird, but they’re catching on• Read the text version hereSubscribe via Audioboom, iTunes, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Acast & Sticher and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter Continue reading...
by Paul Torpey, Pablo Gutiérrez and Paul Scruton on (#20CR6)
Iraqi forces supported by a US-led coalition have been fighting to take back Iraq’s second city from Islamic State since 16 October 2016In June 2014, when the leader of Isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a global caliphate, he did it from Mosul, Iraq’s second city. Isis rapidly expanded its territory in Iraq and Syria throughout that year, but has since been gradually pushed back, partly due to US-led airstrikes. Losing Mosul now could spell the end of the jihadi group’s ability to control large swaths of Iraq. Continue reading...
by Ewen MacAskill Defence correspondent on (#2TXSK)
The £3.5bn cost of the vessel is so high that doubts have been raised over whether the Royal Navy can afford enough fighters for itCaptain Jerry Kyd seems remarkably relaxed given he is scheduled on Monday to take to sea for the first time one of the biggest and most expensive defence projects in British history, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.To reach open sea, he will have to conduct two complicated manoeuvres, firstly to take it from the Rosyth dockyard basin where the carrier was built and then under the three Forth bridges. The calculations are fine but the prospect of miscalculation does not appear to scare him. Continue reading...