At least 21 vehicles towed as police start breaking up protest camp that has paralysed Canada’s capital for several weeksPolice in Ottawa have begun arresting protesters and towing away vehicles in an effort to break up the so-called “freedom convoy” that has paralysed Canada’s capital for weeks and prompted the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to declare a national emergencyBy Friday evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and at least 21 vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, as police exercised emergency powers that Trudeau invoked earlier this week. Continue reading...
Archives says it has alerted Department of Justice about former president’s removal of files from White HouseThe US National Archives confirmed on Friday that officials found classified materials in boxes of documents Donald Trump improperly removed from the White House – and that they had alerted the Department of Justice (DoJ).The disclosure is expected to escalate an investigation by the House oversight committee into whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978 by removing and destroying White House documents. Continue reading...
The largest single attack ever mounted on Australia occurred on 19 February 1942, when Darwin was bombed by Japan. Often called ‘Australia’s Pearl Harbor’, the bombing of the Northern Territory capital by Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft killed more than 230 people and destroyed ships, buildings and infrastructure. Japanese air raids continued until 12 November 1943 Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5W9QZ)
Analysis: warnings of Russian invasion issued in bid to shape the narrative and win information war with KremlinBritish intelligence, so used to operating in the shadows, has been thrust into the spotlight during the Ukraine crisis, cited by Boris Johnson on Wednesday to warn that Russian troop numbers were still increasing or by the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, last month to warn of a possible coup in Kyiv.As the crisis has intensified, the warnings have, if anything, become even less subtle. An extraordinary video released on Thursday by the Ministry of Defence, billed in capital letters as an “intelligence update”, included a Dad’s Army-style map showing a possible Russian invasion plan and other assessments aimed at the general public. Continue reading...
Lulu Lakatos stole from Mayfair jeweller by replacing gems with pebbles in UK’s most expensive theft of its kindA woman who stole £4.2m worth of diamonds by swapping them for pebbles has been ordered to pay back less than £250.Lulu Lakatos, 60, is serving a five-and-a-half year jail sentence after she was found guilty of conspiracy to steal in 2021. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti and Heather Stewart on (#5W9NH)
Staff allowed ‘limited access’ before Sue Gray inquiry evidence passed to policeDowning Street staff being questioned by police about alleged lockdown breaches will be allowed to view notes on the evidence they gave to the Sue Gray inquiry.Those spoken to as part of the Cabinet Office probe were told they could see the notes with a member of Gray’s team present but would not be allowed to bring a phone into the room, to be accompanied by a lawyer, or to request any changes. Continue reading...
Analysis: Just as Russian armour and helicopters are edging up the border, Russian messaging is also advancing to the brinkThe omens of impending war we were warned about now seem to be lining up like the horsemen of the apocalypse.The field hospitals have been set near the border, blood banks have reportedly been brought in. On the information war front, a dossier of alleged Ukraine war crimes circulated at the UN security council, and a video popped up purporting to show an attempted Ukrainian attack on chlorine tanks in the Donbas. Continue reading...
At the start of the pandemic, New Zealand made headlines for appearing to eliminate homelessness, but the story is more complicatedFranki began living on Auckland’s streets at age 15, shortly after his father died in 2018. He hunted for secret spots to sleep – the backs of buildings and cemeteries. There were times when he was frightened; times when the older street community took him under their wings.He slept rough through New Zealand’s first pandemic lockdown, wandering the quiet roads, struggling to find food. There were few housing options for a teenager – rentals would not accept him, nor many motels. In mid-2020, worried for his health, he walked through the doors of Lifewise, an organisation that supports people into accommodation. Continue reading...
by Shaun Walker in Vrubivka and Andrew Roth in Moscow on (#5W9NN)
Warnings of imminent assault by Ukrainian forces fuels fears Moscow is seeking to create pretext for invasionThe leaders of pro-Russian proxy states in eastern Ukraine announced a mass evacuation of citizens to Russia on Friday evening, amid fears that Moscow is manufacturing tension in the region to provide a pretext for renewed military intervention in Ukraine.After the evacuation announcement, warning sirens sounded in Donetsk and other cities in the two Moscow-backed statelets, supposedly due to an upcoming Ukrainian military assault on the region. Continue reading...
Pitt says Jolie broke their agreement not to sell their interests in Château Miraval without the other’s consentBrad Pitt has sued his ex-wife Angelina Jolie for selling her stake in a French winery they had bought together – and where they got married – to a Russian businessman.In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, Pitt said Jolie had broken their agreement not to sell their interests in Château Miraval without the other’s consent by selling her stake to a unit of Stoli Group, a spirits maker controlled by oligarch Yuri Shefler. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Audrey T on (#5W9JJ)
Growing evidence shows Gulf state’s friends and enemies are being targeted by NSO Group softwareMohammed al-Tajer was caught off guard when his iPhone pinged last November with a warning that said his phone had been targeted by a nation state.The 55-year-old lawyer from Bahrain had been known among dissidents for his “fearless” defence of opposition leaders and protesters after the 2011 pro-democracy uprising in the tiny Gulf state, when a series of demonstrations and protests were violently suppressed by authorities with the help of Saudi forces. Continue reading...
Netflix’s giddy, knowing adaptation sees the indie game reach its ideal form: a cartoon that has great fun splashing around in the tropes of 1930s animationFew video games in recent years have managed to equal the sledgehammer disappointment of Cuphead. For those of you not in the know, Cuphead was an independent 2017 game that captured gamers’ imagination like little else before.This was almost entirely down to how it looked. An out-and-out love letter to 1930s cartoonists such as Max Fleischer and Grim Natwick – with a main character inspired by a 1936 Japanese propaganda cartoon about an invasion of an evil Mickey Mouse army – Cuphead thrummed with a gloriously authentic Betty Boop feel. The animations were hand-drawn and imperfect. The big-band jazz soundtrack was recorded on analogue. The voices crackled and hissed as if recorded from worn vinyl. No detail was spared, to the extent that the creators had to remortgage their home to pay for it. And people fell for Cuphead hard. After some initial footage was shown as proof of concept, anticipation hit fever pitch and stayed there for three years. Continue reading...
Anis Hemissi shot dead reality TV star’s brother in front of family as part of ‘tit-for-tat gang war’A hitman who murdered a reality television star’s brother in a “tit-for-tat gang war” has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years.The Metropolitan police described the case as one of the most complex murder investigations in recent history. Continue reading...
Musicians today are under steady, sometimes ruinous pressure to be ‘always on’. Acts including Tegan and Sara and While She Sleeps explain their tactics to remain engaged without breaking downThe run-up to an album release is all about teasing and pleasing the fans: thrilling videos, the promise of a fantasy-fulfilling collaboration, the drip-fed unveiling of a musician’s new era. But earlier this month, the British pop star Charli XCX said she was stepping back from Twitter after receiving negative comments from fans about the campaign for her forthcoming album, Crash.“I have been feeling like I can’t do anything right at the moment,” she said. “I’ve noticed lately that a few people seem quite angry at me – for the choices of songs I’ve chosen to release, for the way I’ve decided to roll out my campaign, for the things I need to do to fund what will be the greatest tour I’ve ever done. I’ve been grappling with my mental health the past few months and obviously it makes negativity and criticism harder to handle.” Continue reading...
The debate over rolling news coverage of the Gulf war could be cut and pasted into discussions about TikTok clips from KyivI was at high school during the first Iraq war, when rolling news was a relatively new thing. It was wild to turn on the TV and see a correspondent in a flak jacket, filming the bombing of Baghdad through his hotel window, or standing in front of a chain-link fence by a runway, trying to fill in airtime like it was regular TV. Continue reading...
Scowling, sodden and surrounded by waterfowl, the actor adorns the new Hollywood issue as an icon of … what exactly?The customary brouhaha erupted yesterday after the release of Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue cover photos, the most striking of which depicts an angry Benedict Cumberbatch emerging fully clothed from a hot bubblebath sesh with a bevy of swans.The Hollywood Issue increasingly feels like it belongs to a different era, when fashion magazines and actors’ star power were at their respective heights. These days, the printed press is clinging on for dear life (Entertainment Weekly announced just last week that it will be ceasing its print edition), and in Hollywood no one performer is bigger than a franchise. So the Hollywood Issue, which trades in the nose-to-the-window glamour of movie stars, has a more forlorn quality than it used to. Continue reading...
Legal hearing challenges Home Office decision to prevent duke from paying for police protection when visitingPrince Harry “does not feel safe” when he is visiting the UK, a place that “is, and always will be, his home”, his legal team have told the high court.His desire to return to see family and friends was emphasised on the first day of a legal hearing related to his claim over the Home Office’s decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK. Continue reading...
by Harriet Sherwood Arts and culture correspondent on (#5W9AY)
Ambika Mod, who plays stressed junior doctor, reacts to criticism that BBC drama disrespects womenIt is the TV drama that has divided its viewers. Hailed by some as a brutally accurate depiction of the realities of working in an NHS maternity unit, This Is Going to Hurt has been denounced by others as misogynistic and insulting to women giving birth.Now the actor who plays an exhausted and stressed female junior doctor in the show has rejected criticism of the BBC series set on an NHS obstetrics and gynaecology ward. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#5W9AZ)
With more stars that any other county, the land of gravy and chips is now held up as a rival to Paris and San SebastiánWhen Simon Rogan and his family moved to Cumbria in 2002, the Lake District was famed for many reasons but food was not top of the menu. Visitors came in droves for the hills, rather than the haute cuisine.Twenty years later their feted village restaurant, L’Enclume, is at the centre of a “mind-blowing” culinary renaissance that has led some diners to compare Cumbria to international foodie havens such as Paris, San Sebastián and Copenhagen. Continue reading...
Flor Bressers, on Belgian and Europol most-wanted lists, has been on the run since 2020One of Europe’s most-wanted drug lords, a Belgian with a master’s degree in criminology, has been arrested in Switzerland after two years on the run.Flor Bressers, 30, nicknamed “the finger cutter”, has been sought since 2020 when he was given a four-year jail sentence for kidnapping, slashing with a razor and beating a Dutch florist who failed to smuggle drugs past UK customs. Continue reading...
Forgotten how to behave in public? As Covid restrictions lift, a quick refresher on everyday encounters from shaking hands to sharing drinksRecently, while out for drinks and sharing plates, a friend reached over and took a sip of my cocktail. There are key parts of this anecdote that still, two years into the push–pull of pandemic guidance, strike nervousness into me. They include the words “dinner”, “friend”, “sharing plates”, not to mention the thought of a bathroom where there’s nice soap but the water from the tap still comes out cold and for some reason there’s no dainty way of opening the door once you’ve washed your hands, so you just have to grab the door handle with your newly washed hand, which seems to instantly negate the point of washing the hands. But the crucial information here is that I had a very nice negroni in front of me, and they wanted to try it, so they took the glass and raised it to their lips and took a sip.In 2019, I would not have minded. That’s because All This hadn’t happened, and I considered myself fairly normal. This is no longer true. I have forgotten how to talk to anyone. How to greet people. How to meet new people. How to sit in an office. A lot of people forgot how to talk back to me, too. Restrictions are easing up, but people aren’t necessarily doing the same. So I spoke to some experts to get some guidance. Continue reading...
by Helena Smith in Athens and Lorenzo Tondo in Palerm on (#5W8YQ)
Rescue services trying to save pair trapped on Euroferry Olympia, which was headed to ItalyGreek rescue forces are desperately trying to save two people trapped onboard a stricken ferry amid fears that 14 passengers were missing nearly eight hours after the ship burst into flames.A Super Puma helicopter had attempted several times to approach the Euroferry Olympia, an Italian liner en route to Brindisi, when the fire broke out at around 4am. State-run TV described the pair - a Bulgarian and a Turk - as lorry drivers trapped in the ship’s garage. Continue reading...
Record number of death sentences handed out over attacks in Gujarat city of Ahmedabad, which killed 56A court in India has sentenced to death a record 38 people for a deadly terror attack in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in 2008, in which up to 20 bombs were set off across the city in hospitals, shopping centres and parks, leaving 56 dead.It was the first time so many accused have received death sentences in a single case in the country. The sentence must be confirmed by a higher court. Judge AR Patel also sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment in the case. Continue reading...
Celebrated blogger had suffered ill health after spending 17 months in prison for speaking out against president Ali BongoHervé Mombo Kinga, the pro-democracy activist and celebrated blogger who spent 17 months in jail for insulting the Gabonese president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was not impressed when he saw the pictures of the leader limping up the stairs of France’s presidential palace.Kinga, who died last week at 47 after contracting Covid, was infuriated by the episode – widely shared in the west African country of Gabon, despite the embarrassment it caused the president, whose family has held power for more than five decades. Continue reading...
This month, we dives into a European salad that went global after the Americans added mayo. But why is cheese a no-no? And should you be punished for popping in pineapple?It won’t prevent cancer, rejuvenate ageing skin or arrest global warming but coleslaw is nonetheless a “miracle food”. Crunchy and wet, creamy and fresh, sweet and savoury, the subject of this month’s How to eat – the series identifying how best to enjoy Britain’s favourite foods – delivers rare complexity in every mouthful. It is also one of the few salads that works with hot dishes, the mayonnaise greasing the wheels of that gastronomic interaction.Little wonder that Dutch koolsla, originally a way of dressing raw cabbage to make it palatable, not only survived its 18th-century journey to the US but with adjustments (swapping vinaigrette for mayonnaise), was re-exported to global acclaim. Continue reading...
Cine y Moda looks at fashion’s relationship with film, from Brando’s The Wild One to Kubrick’s A Clockwork OrangeFrom Zorro’s mask to Rocky’s shorts, and from Madonna’s conical bra to Ringo Starr’s papal attire in the 1975 musical Lisztomania, some of the many costumes that have stitched together the worlds of film and fashion have gone on show in a Madrid exhibition overseen by Jean Paul Gaultier.The enfant terrible of French fashion, now silver-haired and a couple of months shy of 70, says the idea is to look at how the two creative spheres have fed and influenced each other while simultaneously serving as mirrors of social, sexual and cultural change. Continue reading...
Always wanted to tackle the great Irish writer but not sure Ulysses is for you? This handy primer may just help you find a way inThe books of James Joyce, along with Middlemarch and War and Peace, were among the titles that many vowed to read when the UK was plunged into its first coronavirus lockdown. Almost two years later, we now know that most of us filled all that time indoors with Netflix and Zoom quizzes rather than catching up on lengthy classics (apart from the author David Mitchell, who did read Ulysses in 2020). But with this month marking the centenary of Ulysses and 140 years since Joyce’s birth, perhaps now really is the time to familiarise or re-familiarise yourself with the influential modernist writer.The entry point Continue reading...
None of 22 crew members hurt after vessel with almost 4,000 VW group cars onboard caught fireA burning container ship carrying almost 4,000 cars – including 1,100 Porsches – has been drifting in the mid-Atlantic after the vessel’s 22 crew members were evacuated, the Portuguese navy has said.The ship Felicity Ace, which was carrying a number of Volkswagen Group vehicles from Germany to the US, caught fire near the Azores on Wednesday evening, a VW spokesperson said on Friday. Continue reading...
She says the bike has got to go; he thinks it’s a work of art. We air both sides of a domestic disagreement – you deliver the verdictIf you have a disagreement you’d like settled, or want to be part of our jury, click herePeter loves his bikes; we now have a garage, but he still keeps one in the house
by Mostafa Rachwani (now) and Caitlin Cassidy (earlie on (#5W8N6)
Premier Mark McGowan announces border reopening date; Bob Katter raises concerns over gun trafficking bill; at least 39 Covid deaths recorded; PM says federal government had no power ‘to prevent’ Port of Darwin sale; ACT to ease restrictions from tonight. Follow all the day’s news
Renowned photographers Bruno Zanzottera and Elena Dak spent a year following a shepherding family and their flock across mountainous pastures. Words by Bruno Zanzottera, Elena Dak and Tom LevittAlice and Fabio have been nomadic shepherds for almost 10 years, taking their sheep every year from pastures high in the Dolomites to and from the Po valley, a large expanse of agricultural landscape in northern Italy.Between June and September, they move around various pastures in the Dolomites, but when the weather starts to get cold, they take their flock of about 1,000 to the lowlands.Fabio drives his flock of 1,000 sheep through the Fochet pastures in the Belluno Dolomites Continue reading...
by Helen Davidson in Taipei, and Sum Lok-kei in Hong on (#5W8ZJ)
A policy of admitting every positive case to hospital means thousands are being added to an already huge backlog every dayThe beds pile up outside Hong Kong’s Caritas hospital. In the cold night, elderly patients lie on gurneys covered with blankets and thermal foil sheets. A woman in pink folds her arms against the chill, while another reaches across her bed in an apparent gesture of comfort to a neighbour. Nearby, others crowd into yellow and blue spillover tents lining the car park edges. The hospital staff attend people calling out when they can but they are outnumbered. Wails from patients carry through the air.There are similar scenes across the city, where 11 public hospitals were operating at or beyond capacity as of Friday. Private hospitals refuse to take Covid patients. Photos supplied to the Guardian show a treatment room inside one hospital earlier this week (88% capacity) with gurneys three deep across the thoroughfare, on a floor strewn with garbage. Bathrooms that no one has had time to clean were soiled with faeces, dirt and discarded biohazard bags. Continue reading...
After a meandering third season, Rachel Brosnahan is back on ferocious form as a ‘girl comic’ fighting to regain her careerAfter a treacly, uneven third season, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime) appears to have found its fangs again. “Revenge … I crave it. I am completely consumed by the need for it,” purrs Midge/Miriam (nobody seems to call her Midge any more), rediscovering her sharp edges, now back on a small stage in a dingy nightclub, with an act that is heavy on the F-word. This show is never better than when Miriam is having to fight tooth and nail for her spot in the limelight, and it is a welcome relief to see her having to do it again. “That’s life. Shit happens,” she declares, ending the routine on a surprisingly acerbic note.I say surprising because, while the first two seasons were a lot of fun, Mrs Maisel found herself in a rut during the third, which paired huge set pieces with a meandering plot and episodes that felt far longer than they were. Season three all-but guaranteed that Miriam was going to make it big, until her seemingly certain path to stardom and home ownership hit not so much a road block as a solid brick wall, when she accidentally(ish) outed the biggest star in the world to his adoring audience. It appears that few picked up on the Judy Garland references that felt a little ahead of their time, but it was enough to get her fired from her fame-making tour, and bring her back to where it all started. Continue reading...
Subset collective to enter proceedings after 10 year ‘game of cat and mouse’ over murals including one of Sir David AttenboroughAcross the world, public murals have given bursts of cultural and political expression to cityscapes. Some of their creators, such as Banksy, have even become millionaires in the process.But in Ireland, a collective of street artists known as Subset are about to enter a court battle as part of a 10-year “game of cat and mouse” with Dublin city council over three murals, including one celebrating the life of Sir David Attenborough. Continue reading...
When the pandemic hit, I realized the work that would take me a few hours in the office drags on at home. Discovering a site that forced me to be accountable saved meThe first thing I did when I sat down to write this piece was to have a conversation with Ben. Ben is a polite clean-cut white American thirtysomething with a 5 o’clock shadow sitting against a plain blue wall. The only thing hanging in his study is a white frame with “less.” on it in lower-case serif, which makes me think he’s a graphic designer. But the only thing I really know about Ben is he’s too easily distracted, and so am I.I have been randomly assigned to work with Ben on a website I use every day called Focusmate, which uses a sense of accountability to help you focus. The homepage kind of looks like a Google calendar: you book in a 50-minute session and the site matches you with someone else who wants to work in that time slot (this is mostly done randomly although brand new users are matched with more experienced ones). When the time comes, you and your buddy get placed on a video call. You politely and briefly tell each other what you’re planning to use the time to do and then you get on with it. Continue reading...
A rare red weather warning for coastal parts of south Wales and south-west England has been issued by the Met Office before what could be the worst storm to hit the UK in 30 years. Storm Eunice is predicted to arrive on Friday morning and comes after Storm Dudley battered Northern Ireland, northern England and southern Scotland
Chahi Ariel makes the Guinness World Records with a 289g strawberry – five times the average weight of that varietyAn Israeli farmer has grown the world’s heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.At 289g, the strawberry was about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel’s Volcani Institute, where the strain was developed. Continue reading...
The five-year-old boy is believed to have fallen into the well in a remote village while helping adults dig a boreholeRescuers were desperately scrambling to reach a five-year-old boy trapped for two days down a well in a remote southern Afghan village.The operation in Shokak village, Zabul province, comes less than two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue a child from a Moroccan well gripped the world – but ended with the boy found dead. Continue reading...
Justin Trudeau says ‘high time these illegal and dangerous activities stop’ after nearly three weeks in Canadian capitalTruckers who have blockaded downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks have defied a growing police presence in the Canadian capital and ignored repeated warnings that they could face steep fines and possible arrest.Officers had warned of an impending crackdown on Thursday, as busloads of police reinforcements arrived in the city and work crews took the rare step of erecting metal fences outside the senate and parliament. Continue reading...
The new measure allows abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy for urban adult women and 16 weeks for rural minors and adultsEcuadorian legislators have approved regulations to allow women and girls access to abortions in cases of rape, following a constitutional court ruling that decriminalized such abortions.Previously, Ecuador allowed abortions only when a woman’s life was endangered by pregnancy. Continue reading...
A resident of a city in eastern Ukraine where a kindergarten was hit by shelling from Russian-backed separatists has said that he thought the artillery barrage meant that war had started.'We were getting ready to go to work, we got up and just like back in 2014 and 2015 there was a huge noise, it was not far away,' Dmytro, a resident of Stanytsia Luhanska, said.'We were all anxious and panicked because we knew, we expected some provocations exactly at this time so we thought that the war has indeed started,' he added.The incidents come at a time of global concern over the prospect of a wider war, with more than 100,000 Russian troops near the Ukrainian frontier. Moscow denies it is planning an invasion and has said this week it is pulling back some troops, though western countries say they are not convinced it isShelling by Russian-backed separatists raises tensions in east UkraineRussia and Ukraine crisis latest news: live updates as US warns of Russian invasion Continue reading...
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