Aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga were sunk by US forces during second world war confrontationMarine archaeologists believe they have identified the wreck of the Japanese aircraft carrier the Akagi, which was sunk during the second world war’s battle of Midway, regarded by some historians as one of the most consequential naval engagements in history.In the space of a week naval historians with the research vessel Petrel announced that they had discovered the remains of two of the four Japanese carriers that were sunk during the battle. The team’s efforts had concentrated on identifying all of the vessels sunk during the June 1942 engagement that cost the lives of 2,000 Japanese and 300 Americans. Continue reading...
by Harriet Sherwood Religious affairs correspondent on (#4SXYV)
Reading branch of US chain to close after protests over stance on same-sex relationshipsA US fast food chain is to close its first branch in the UK after protests and boycott calls by LGBT campaigners.Chick-fil-A faced demands to “cluck off†when the fried chicken outlet opened in a shopping mall in Reading this month. Continue reading...
Christian Porter calls for the activist group to be classified as a related body of LaborChristian Porter has called for GetUp to be classified as a related body of Labor and blasted it for allegedly misleading voters throughout the election campaign.The attorney general has joined Liberal MPs including Kevin Andrews in complaining about GetUp’s conduct to the parliamentary inquiry examining the 2019 election. Continue reading...
Awami League’s Tamanna Nusrat is accused of paying impersonators in at least 13 testsA Bangladeshi politician has been expelled from university after allegedly hiring as many as eight lookalikes to take her place in exams.Tamanna Nusrat, from the ruling Awami League party, is accused of paying the lookalikes to pretend to be her in at least 13 tests. The scandal emerged after the private broadcaster Nagorik TV entered a test hall and confronted one of the women posing as Nusrat, in a video that went viral. Continue reading...
Rights team argues preferential tariffs promote goods produced by hundreds of thousands of unpaid labourers in UzbekistanThe government is facing legal action to try and stop the importation of cotton harvested with state-sponsored forced labour from Uzbekistan into the UK.The Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights and the Global Legal Action Network (Glan), a team of human rights lawyers, are launching a judicial review of preferential tariffs applied to Uzbek cotton, arguing that it is promoting the importation of goods tainted with modern slavery. The country has faced sustained criticism over the mass enforced mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks to work as unpaid labourers during harvest and planting seasons. Continue reading...
Northern Rail urged to compensate people forced to use outdated ‘buses-on-rails’Leading politicians in northern England have demanded a cut in fares on routes that still use the much-derided Pacer trains.In a letter to Northern Rail, the leaders said passengers deserved “financial compensation†for having to use the “buses-on-rails†that were due to be retired by the end of the year. Continue reading...
We would like to speak to people about their views and experiences of city life in the country since the demise of the brutal political regimeThis year marks 25 years since the end of apartheid in South Africa, a brutal political system that enforced the segregation of people of different races.From 1948 to 1994 the division was formalised by law, ensuring the minority white population controlled wealth and power, while black people were oppressed and stripped of basic rights, such as the right to vote. Continue reading...
Dictator’s remains will be reinterred in mausoleum near Madrid with those of his widowThe remains of Francisco Franco will finally be exhumed from the Valley of the Fallen and reinterred with those of his widow in the family mausoleum near Madrid on Thursday, the Spanish government has announced.Gen Franco’s body has been in the huge state monument 40 miles (64km) from the Spanish capital since his death in 1975. Many Spaniards feel his pride of place in the basilica, which is surmounted by a towering 150-metre (490ft) cross, glorifies the man and his dictatorship rather than serving to commemorate the 500,000 people who died during the Spanish civil war. Continue reading...
Forty days of campaigning may have knocked the shine off Justin Trudeau but no party appears likely to capture a majorityAs Canadians head to the polls on Monday, Justin Trudeau is bracing for the possibility of an electoral loss, marking a stunning turn of fortunes for the charismatic Liberal leader who had pledged to reshape the country’s politics.With the the prime minister’s weakness exposed, smaller parties are fighting to emerge as power brokers in a general election that experts believe may produce no clear winner. Continue reading...
Many of the stranded children are under five years old, figures compiled by UK charity suggestAt least 60 British children are trapped in north-east Syria after fleeing areas held by Islamic State during the recent escalation in fighting, according to Save the Children –twice the number initially feared.Figures compiled by the UK-based charity suggest many of the children are under five years old and are enduring dire conditions in desolate camps. All were born to British parents suspected of joining Isis. Continue reading...
Penny Wong says the PM should be ‘brave enough’ to say if he tried to get his mentor invited to the White HouseLabor’s Senate leader Penny Wong has blasted officials for stepping around questions about whether Scott Morrison’s office attempted to have the Hillsong pastor Brian Houston attend a state dinner at the White House.Officials from the prime minister’s department and the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, stonewalled during a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, declining to answer questions about Houston and the dinner on the basis the answers could be prejudicial to international relations. A series of questions were taken on notice. Continue reading...
Seven dead as protesters loot supermarkets day after Piñera suspends price rises that sparked unrestProtests and violence continued in Chile overnight despite the president cancelling a rise in subway fares that has prompted violent demonstrations.Officials in the Santiago region said three people had died in fires at two looted supermarkets early on Sunday. Sixty Walmart-owned outlets were vandalised, and the company said many stores did not open during the day. Five more people later were found dead in the basement of a burned warehouse and were not employees, authorities said. Continue reading...
Japanese clothing company pulls advertisement from South Korean TV after outcryThe Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo has pulled an ad from South Korean TV after it was accused of mocking victims of wartime sexual slavery.The company said it had stopped airing the 15-second ad after critics pointed out that the Korean-language subtitles appeared to question the testimony of women who said they were forced to work in Japanese military brothels across Asia before and during the second world war. Continue reading...
The Duchess of Sussex said her British friends warned her against marrying Prince Harry because the British tabloids would ‘destroy’ her life. In n an interview for the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, she said the last year had been hard and that, as an American, she had ‘no idea’
ALP requests documents about Barr investigation into the Mueller report. Plus, new AFP commissioner faces Senate estimates, and media companies unite against secrecy laws. All the day’s events, live7.59am BSTAsking about the prime minister’s Lowy institute speech - the “negative globalism†one, Penny Wong asks for the difference between positive and negative globalism.It doesn’t look like anyone can.7.50am BSTPenny Wong is asking PM&C officials about “BurnedSpy†(a name she laughs as she says out loud) and whether the department has taken any investigations as a consequence of the claims made in the story (that he regularly posts on conspiracy QAnon conspiracy sites and their partner works on the prime minister’s staff).Mathias Cormann takes everything on notice. Continue reading...
Royal speaks of struggling to cope with her new life in interview for ITV documentaryThe Duchess of Sussex has revealed she was warned before her marriage to Prince Harry that the British tabloids would “destroy†her life, as she spoke of struggling to cope with the reality of being part of the royal family.In an interview for the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, she said the last year had been “hard†and that she had had “no idea†of what she would face. Continue reading...
Global acclaim for the peace he forged with Eritrea should buoy a leader facing the persecution of ethnic minorities at homeThe Nobel prize awarded last week to Ethiopia’s prime minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed, honoured his achievements as a peacemaker. Most widely recognised was his success in thawing relations with Eritrea, the breakaway republic with which Ethiopia had remained on a war footing since the country gained independence in 1993.No less significant, however, was his management of the internal conflict between the Ethiopian government and protesters in Oromia, the region surrounding Addis Ababa, the capital. Rather than attempting to shut down the protests by force, Abiy acknowledged their grievances, and opened up political space. He freed political prisoners jailed by previous administrations, and restored the legitimacy of parties formerly branded as terrorist organisations. Continue reading...
President is ahead in early counting but could be vulnerable to a united opposition in a runoffBolivia’s president, Evo Morales, was ahead in the first round of the nation’s presidential election, but he appeared to have failed to get enough votes to avoid a runoff in the tightest political race of his life.The Andean country’s top electoral authority said on Sunday night that a preliminary count of 84% of the votes showed Morales, who leads the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) party, was ahead with 45.3%, compared to 38.2% for his closest rival, former president, Carlos Mesa. If the results hold, the two men will face off in December and Morales could be vulnerable to a united opposition in the first runoff in his nearly 14 years in power. Continue reading...
After 1994, the architecture of apartheid – the separation of rich and poor, black and white – was to be eradicated with creative and determined urban planning. It has not quite happenedIt doesn’t take long after I drive out of the sleek OR Tambo international airport for the penny to drop. Again. Johannesburg is the bastard child of the worst aspects of capitalist greed and 20th-century racism. Nearly 150 years after its formation, this sprawling metropolis is still scarred by the sins of its genesis.Even with the explosive rise of the black middle class, the presence of blacks in formerly white suburbs remains low Continue reading...
After almost a thousand murders in the first six months of this year on the Cape Flats, national authorities sent in the army, and armoured convoys have patrolled the rutted streets of the worst neighbourhoods• Photography by James OatwayMarcelliano Reitz, lean and toothless, rolls up his sleeve. The sun is setting behind the world-famous silhouette of Table Mountain. A plane on its way to Cape Town’s international airport flies low overhead. Children play on a rusting climbing frame, jumping on an abandoned mattress.Reitz has only just returned to his home in the poor and violent neighbourhood of Bonteheuwel after five years in jail for a firearms offence. He is a member of the Americans, one of the area’s biggest and most violent criminal gangs. On his wrist is the tattoo that marks him out as also being a member of one of South Africa’s major prison gangs. Yards away, police search a line of teenagers turned to a wall. Continue reading...
The comedian’s childhood was defined by racist abuse and his mother’s violence. As he publishes his autobiography, he talks about how it shaped him as a performer and activist“I’m fascinated by it. It’s history.†Lenny Henry is explaining why he has decided to write an autobiography (Who Am I, Again?) about his childhood in Dudley and the beginning of his 45-year comedy career. For Henry, this isn’t just a bit of navel-gazing and the odd anecdote featuring Chris Tarrant (although there is some of that). It is about bearing witness. “I grew up in a period where, just down the road in Smethwick, a Tory politician got in with the slogan ‘If you want a nigger for a neighbour vote Labour’,†he says, referring to Peter Griffiths’ notorious 1964 election win for the Conservatives. “I’m living just down the road from Wolverhampton, where the Rivers of Blood speech was made. So I’m in a place where there are toxic elements that you think would be an obstacle to my progress in life. But, actually, I think those things are part of what makes us stronger.â€Henry tells me this as we sit in the corner of a lounge bar that looks out over the old BBC Television Centre in west London. The place is decked out in mid-century modern decor, with plush stools and mood lighting. If we were meeting in the evening, you would expect him to order an old fashioned, but it is not even 10am and all he wants is a bit of toast. Henry – who is half incognito in a flat cap, glasses and a polka dot scarf – seems to be on first-name terms with all the staff and politely asks one of them to turn the muzak down a bit. This is very much his domain. “All that used to be offices,†he says, gesturing toward a section of the building that has been turned into luxury flats. “You’d go in there and get your ideas ripped apart.†Continue reading...
Dissent in the face of rampant corruption is no longer being dampened by pointing to the failures of the Arab springThere is a bogeyman that haunts the Arab world. Its spectre looms large and sinister over Arab politics. Its arrival is threatened, like a curse, as a warning by parents to precocious children when they misbehave. Its name is Syria. A suppurating wound that will not heal, the Syrian civil war continues to bleed lives, and draw in neighbours and allies involved in their own proxy battles.Just as it seems one front is closed, a twist restarts hostilities – the latest involving a capricious US president and an insecure Turkish one, with the Kurds in northern Syria bearing the brunt. An abrupt American withdrawal paved the way for yet another conflagration, yet another power calculus – as Bashar al-Assad extends support to the Kurds – and yet another lease of life for Islamic State. More than 100,000 people are on the move in northern Syria. And at least 750 people with suspected links to Isis have reportedly broken out of a camp in north-east Syria, raising the possibility of a new shot in the arm for the terror group. Continue reading...
Surfers Not Street Children is transforming the lives of homeless children and vulnerable youths. Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s 12-year project Born Free: Mandela’s Generation of Hope documents the lives of the first generation born after apartheid“I wanted to get that fresh air,†says 21-year-old Nonjabulo Ndzanibe, explaining why she ran away from her unhappy childhood home to the coastal city of Durban. “I just needed space for myself.â€Having grown up with a distant father – who spent part of her youth in prison – and a mother whom she didn’t feel loved by, it seemed like a welcome escape when a friend invited her to come and stay in Durban. In reality it would be a long time before she would eventually find refuge through surfing. Continue reading...
A captivating run to the quarter-finals could provide an enduring rugby legacy in JapanThe Japanese juggernaut finally came to a halt in the face of a South African roadblock on Sunday. The sequel to the Brighton miracle lacked the drama and romance of four years ago but this, according to their fans, was when the Brave Blossoms truly came of age against the world rugby elite.“I think South Africa looked down on Japan four years ago but today they knew they had to be at their best, and that’s a huge compliment to Japan,†said Shigeki Takagi, a company worker from Tokyo who had just witnessed his country play in a World Cup quarter-final for the first time. “We’ve beaten Ireland and Scotland and now I think we’re getting really close to the level of the northern hemisphere teams. Who knows what could happen four years from now?†Continue reading...
Protestors hurl petrol bombs and smash pro-Beijing businesses as crowds descend on luxury shopping areaHong Kong police have fired water cannon and tear gas at crowds holinding an illegal march, with hardcore protesters throwing petrol bombs and trashing businesses to cap a week of anger after recent attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators.Authorities had forbidden Sunday’s rally in Tsim Sha Tsui, a densely-packed shopping district filled with luxury boutiques and hotels, citing public safety and previous violence from hardcore protesters. Continue reading...
United campaign by media companies highlights government moves to penalise whistleblowing and criminalise journalism• Lenore Taylor: Concrete action rather than nice words are needed on press freedomThe front page of every newspaper in Australia was blacked out on Monday as part of a campaign against moves by successive federal governments to penalise whistleblowing and, in some cases, criminalise journalism.The campaign, by the Australia’s Right to Know Coalition, follows raids on the ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the home of a News Corp journalist in June, the legality of which is being challenged in the high court. Continue reading...
Former Guardian Weekend editor remembered by friends and colleagues as ‘one of the cleverest, most unconventional, most fearless people’Deborah Orr, the award-winning journalist and author prized by friends and colleagues for her fierce honesty, inspiring work and barefoot dancing, has died of cancer at the age of 57.Her death was confirmed by her family, who asked for privacy. Continue reading...
Local media say 15-year-old boy fell out of seventh-floor window in city of CórdobaA British child has died in the city of Córdoba in southern Spain, reportedly after falling out of a seventh-floor window while on a school exchange trip.According to local media, the child was a 15-year-old boy who fatally fell from an apartment block on Saturday at about 11.30pm. Continue reading...
Dissent gains momentum with country’s largest protests since Cedar revolution of 2005The largest protests in Lebanon in 14 years are set to shut down the country for a fifth day on Monday, as a revolt against a weak government, ailing services and a looming economic collapse continues to gain momentum.Demonstrators took to the streets of most urban centres on Sunday to rail against officials who they say are preventing badly needed reforms that would cut into the pockets of the ruling class, and are instead trying to recoup state revenues by taxing the poor. Continue reading...
Repression in the north-western region takes many forms. They all deserve scrutinyWhen a million Uighurs and other Muslims have been locked up in Xinjiang’s detention camps, and as documentation of forced labour mounts, it might seem perverse to pay attention to fashion shows, beauty salons and a park. Yet these developments are not trivial. They form part of China’s efforts to erase Uighur culture. Recent research details official efforts to change Uighur women’s style, which began with 2011’s “Project Beauty†initiative, encouraging them to shun the niqab and jilbab, and has recently has seen the establishment of hair salons and beauty parlours. These, explained an official, would transform women’s body image, then their way of life, and finally their way of thinking.Meanwhile, satellite photos have revealed that dozens of cemeteries in the north-western region have been destroyed in the last two years. In Aksu, at the graveyard where a prominent Uighur poet was buried, tombs were moved and the land turned into Happiness Park, with panda models and a children’s ride. Similar evidence has already shown the demolition of Islamic religious sites. Like the attempts to coerce Uighurs into celebrating Chinese new year and to discourage the use of the Uighur language, these developments represent the hollowing out of a culture. Writers, entertainers and academics have all fallen foul of authorities. The family of Tashpolat Tiyip, president of Xinjiang University until his disappearance in 2017, believe he has been convicted of separatism and sentenced to death. The crackdown on Muslim cultural practices is also spreading to Hui Muslims in Ningxia. Beijing portrays its camps as “vocational centres†and part of a necessary campaign to root out extremism following violent attacks. But far from being a targeted response to terrorism, China’s draconian detentions, surveillance and broader repression amount to treating an entire population and its way of life as a potential threat. Continue reading...
Two 17-year-olds killed and two other males seriously injured in incident on Saturday nightTwo 17-year-old boys have died and two other males have been seriously injured in a stabbing incident in Milton Keynes.Thames Valley police said one of the teenagers died at the scene and the other in hospital. A double murder investigation has been launched and their next of kin have been informed. Continue reading...
The government has spent just $2.2m of a $3.5bn fund designed to tackle ‘immediate priorities’, the opposition saysThe Morrison government has spent just $2.2m of a $3.5bn fund designed to tackle “immediate priorities†in regional infrastructure, with construction yet to begin on 98% of projects identified under the ‘roads of strategic importance’ initiative.Announced in the last budget by Michael McCormack, as part of the “significant infrastructure transport projectsâ€, the roads of strategic importance program identified four “immediate priorities†to help upgrade key corridors in regional Australia, for tourism, freight and resource transportation. Continue reading...
Archaeologists say natural pearl was found on island off capital of United Arab EmiratesAn 8,000-year-old pearl that archaeologists say is the world’s most ancient is to be displayed in Abu Dhabi, according to authorities who said it was proof that the objects have been traded since neolithic times.The natural pearl was found during excavations at Marawah Island, off the capital of the United Arab Emirates, that revealed the earliest architecture yet found in the country. Continue reading...
Macron may have doubts, but if the deal isn’t approved the EU must grant the UK an extension – for its own sake as well as oursGranted, Brexit is driving everyone mad. We Brits owe all our European friends a sincere apology, a bottle of whisky and complimentary tickets to a Royal Shakespeare Company performance of Hamlet. For Britain is now Hamlet, forever agonising over whether Brexit is to be or not to be.So I can perfectly understand why Europeans such as French president Emmanuel Macron just want to be shot of us, so as to push ahead with an important, ambitious agenda for the whole European Union. Nonetheless, it remains in Europe’s own enlightened, long-term interest to go the extra kilometre. This means, concretely, that if the British parliament does not approve Boris Johnson’s new deal this week, the EU should offer an article 50 extension, as formally requested in the letter sent (though childishly not signed) by Johnson. Continue reading...
When Mona Adams won her seat on Richmond council in south-west London last year with a massive swing from the Tories to the Lib Dems, it was in large part because of the energy and commitment she had brought to the East Sheen community over many years.Our family had reason to be grateful to Mona for her emotional intelligence as a governor in my daughter’s school nearly 20 years ago. While there, she was subjected to serious bullying, but our formal complaint got nowhere. One of the few people in the school who came out of this sad saga with some credit was Mona. She said: “Giles, on the basis of staff confidentiality I can’t say anything to you, but I can’t stop you saying whatever you like to me.†She then listened to me for more than an hour. Continue reading...
George King to appear at Royal Courts of Justice after scaling the 72-storey skyscraper in JulyThe freeclimber who scaled the Shard in July is being taken to court by the skyscraper’s owners for breaching an injunction.George King, 20, who climbed the 72-storey building without ropes or suction cups, will appear at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday. Continue reading...
President Sebastián Piñera has suspended an increase in metro ticket prices after the plan triggered anti-government demonstrations across the country Continue reading...
After concluding his bestselling My Struggle sequence, he will write a work for the Future Library, alongside previous contributors Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell
Soldiers and civilians killed on both sides as India and Pakistan blame each otherIndia and Pakistan have blamed one another for cross-border shelling in the disputed Kashmir region that has killed and injured soldiers and civilians on both sides and made it one of the deadliest days since Delhi revoked Kashmir’s special status in August.India said there was heavy shelling by Pakistan across the border in the Tangdhar region of northern Kashmir on Saturday night, killing two Indian soldiers and one civilian. Islamabad said one of its soldiers and three civilians died after India violated the ceasefire, according to a spokesman for the Pakistani armed forces. Continue reading...
The ex-REM frontman talks us through his new collection of photographs - and explains why he’s giving all profits from his new single to Extinction Rebellion
Readmission of Dr Peter Hutchinson to Trinity Hall events a ‘slap in the face for survivors of sexual harassment’Cambridge academics and students have called for the reform of the university’s collegiate system after a don accused of sexually harassing undergraduates was readmitted to his college less than two years after being permanently excluded.Dr Peter Hutchinson agreed to permanent exclusion from Trinity Hall two years ago following allegations that he had breached a ban preventing him from contacting undergraduates. Continue reading...
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