Appearance of traditional dress denounced as further attempt by China to appropriate Korean cultureChina and South Korea have become embroiled in a cultural appropriation row after a woman appeared at the opening ceremony of the Beijing winter Olympics wearing traditional Korean dress.The Chinese embassy in Seoul defended the decision to include a participant wearing hanbok, describing her as a representative of the country’s dozens of ethnic groups. Continue reading...
by All photographs by Guerchom Ndebo, in Goma on (#5VYKB)
Thousands of people celebrated at the Amani festival for peace in Goma, an area hit by escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The weekend of music and culture had been postponed due to Covid Continue reading...
Two celebrity deaths this week prompt petition to the president calling for tougher punishments for those who post abuse onlineSouth Korea’s government is under mounting pressure to crack down on cyberbullying after the apparent suicides of an athlete and YouTube influencer who were relentlessly abused online.Kim In-hyeok, a professional volleyball player, was found dead at his home in Suwon, last week, a day before the death of Cho Jang-mi, a popular live streamer better known as BJ Jammi. Continue reading...
Five Pakistani soldiers killed as Taliban-led Afghanistan resists cooperation with IslamabadThe Pakistani-Afghan border, running along Britain’s colonial-era Durand Line, is a centre of the increasing tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, with a rise in attacks since the group came to power in Kabul.Five Pakistani soldiers were killed on Sunday at a north-western border post in Khurram district by militants inside Afghanistan in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP). Continue reading...
L’Equipe reporter Marc Ventouillac, who spoke to Peng this week, says it is ‘impossible to say’ if the Chinese tennis star is safeOne of the journalists who conducted the first sit-down interview with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said that the carefully controlled conversation did not answer questions about whether she can speak her mind or move freely.A Chinese Olympic official was in the room and translated the conversation with Peng, who disappeared from public view for weeks last year after she made public allegations that a former top-ranked Communist party official pressured her into having sex. Continue reading...
Euthanasia was legalised in November, following years of campaigning by advocates and a referendumAt least 32 people have taken up New Zealand’s euthanasia services since the country legalised the practice three months ago, according to the Ministry of Health.The country’s End of Life Choice Act came into force in November, after years of activism by euthanasia campaigners and being ratified by referendum. Sixty-five per cent of voting-age New Zealanders voted in favour of legalising assisted dying, joining just a handful of countries that allow it.This story has been updated to reflect the most recent data from New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, as of 7 February. A previous version stated at least 28 people had taken advantage of the assisted dying laws – the lower number was due to a lag in ministry reporting. Continue reading...
Scandal erupted after logo selected in contest to mark entry into eurozone looked like a copy of British photographer’s workCroatia’s national bank announced a new tender for the country’s one-euro coin design after a plagiarism scandal led to the withdrawal of an earlier submission.Croatia is preparing to adopt the euro currency in 2023 and last week unveiled the winners of a contest whose designs were set to be struck into the Balkan country’s new coins. Continue reading...
Border checks said to have increased business costs and ‘suppressed’ trade, and the situation could worsenBrexit red tape has damaged Britain’s trade with the EU and the situation could worsen unless the government works with Brussels to reduce hold-ups at UK ports, parliament’s spending watchdog has said.Only hours after Jacob Rees-Mogg was appointed minister for Brexit opportunities, a report by the cross-party public accounts committee (PAC) said border checks in place since the beginning of the year had increased business costs and “suppressed” trade with the EU. Continue reading...
In the first Brits ceremony to do away with gendered categories, women or female-fronted acts won 10 out of 15 overall awardsAdele was the runaway winner at this year’s female-dominated Brit awards, taking home the prizes for artist of the year, album of the year for her fourth record, 30, and British song of the year for its lead single, Easy on Me. “I can’t believe that a piano ballad won against that many bangers,” she said when collecting the single award, her first prize of the night.It brings her Brit awards haul to 12, and reflects her predictable yet still staggering commercial successes in recent months. Her album 30 became the biggest-seller of 2021 after just six weeks on sale, and was heralded with reviving the CD as well as causing backlogs in vinyl production plants. Continue reading...
Raquel Rosario Sánchez launches civil action claiming University of Bristol failed to stop ‘bullying’A PhD student has expressed her sadness in court over what she claims was “intimidation” from transgender rights activists at her university.Raquel Rosario Sánchez has launched civil action claiming the University of Bristol failed to protect her from harassment and bullying over her involvement with the campaign group Woman’s Place UK. Continue reading...
by Ben Quinn, Dan Sabbagh and Niamh McIntyre on (#5VY21)
William Coleshill, head of conspiracy theory group Resistance GB, at fracas as experts warn of rise of extremismA former Conservative councillor who was thrown out of the party and now heads an anti-vax group peddling a range of conspiracy theories was among a mob that harangued Keir Starmer before the Labour leader was whisked away by police.As experts warned of a dangerous risk of extremism from a radicalised hard core as the pandemic wanes, the incident has focused attention on the rise of a plethora of protest groups. Continue reading...
Speaker and senior cabinet minister urge PM draw line under matter after protesters shout abuse at Keir StarmerBoris Johnson is under growing pressure to apologise for remarks falsely linking Keir Starmer to the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile after a senior cabinet minister and the Commons Speaker urged him to draw a line under the matter.No 10 made clear the prime minister would not apologise for the remarks, which provoked renewed anger when protesters shouted abuse at the Labour leader on Monday. Surrounded near parliament, Starmer was branded a “paedophile protector” and one demonstrator carried a noose. He and his Labour colleague David Lammy were bundled into a police car. Continue reading...
Like Nomadland, Jane Campion’s western speaks to the American heartland, while Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is suffering from awards season backlashWith an almighty clang, Jane Campion has hit that tipping point at which the awards-season groupthink clusters around one particular movie. Her western psychodrama The Power of the Dog leads the tally list with a whopping 12 nominations. It is about a toxically dysfunctional confrontation between a rancher played by Benedict Cumberbatch in 1920s Montana and his sister-in-law, played by Kirsten Dunst, brother played by Jesse Plemons and his brother’s sensitive stepson played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.Clearly, the Academy has responded to the classic quality of The Power of the Dog: the way it speaks to US culture and history and positions itself unambiguously in the heartland, but a heartland coloured and contorted by anger and sadness, rather like Chloé Zhao’s much-garlanded Nomadland did last year. It’s a movie that reminded me more than a little of the work of George Stevens, though with a 21st-century twist. It is interesting that the director comes from outside the US, and so does its leading man: those tokens of Americanness are being imagined and fabricated by outsiders. Continue reading...
As One Ocean event in Brest aims to deliver action in areas from pollution to overfishing, activists warn against ‘bluewashing’Up to 40 world leaders are due to make “ambitious and concrete commitments” towards combating illegal fishing, decarbonising shipping and reducing plastic pollution at what is billed as the first high-level summit dedicated to the ocean.One Ocean summit, which opens on Wednesday in the French port of Brest, aims to mobilise “unprecedented international political engagement” for a wide range of pressing maritime issues, said its chief organiser, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor. Continue reading...
Gregory Au fails in bid to impose ‘extraordinary’ restrictions on neighbours’ use of easement providing only access to ‘completely landlocked’ propertyA dispute between neighbours involving the use of leaf blowers, 17 CCTV cameras and an easement quickly grew “out of all proportion” and has ended up in a New South Wales court.“For most people, to live in a well-appointed home on a large block amid the semi-tropical vegetation of the Central Coast hinterland would be a formula for a tranquil and idyllic lifestyle,” NSW supreme court justice Francois Kunc said on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Ingrida Šimonytė says threats from Moscow and Beijing mean west cannot be mired by self-doubt and divisionThe security landscape of the Baltic states and eastern Europe may be changed permanently if Russian troops amassed on the Ukraine border start to integrate with Belarusian troops, Lithuania’s prime minister has said.“This is a 1938 moment for our generation,” Ingrida Šimonytė said in an interview. “Neutrality helps the oppressor and never the victim.” Continue reading...
Ali Issa Ahmad given leave to pursue legal action against Maj Gen Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi of UAEA British football fan who claims he was tortured and falsely imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 while on holiday there to watch Asian Cup matches is suing the new head of Interpol.Ali Issa Ahmad was granted permission by the high court in London for legal action against Maj Gen Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi,, who has been accused of complicity in torture and was appointed as head of Interpol last November. Continue reading...
by Elias Visontay (now) and Tory Shepherd (earlier) on (#5VWSA)
Scott Morrison corrals Coalition party room to support amendments that only partially protect gay students but Bridget Archer remains opposed; Labor moves to suspend standing orders to debate aged care crisis during question time; apology for staff and politicians who have experienced sexual harassment, assault and bullying at Parliament House; nation records at least 55 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news
Created by two friends in 2018, the female collective ImillaSkate wear the traditional Bolivia polleras dress associated with the indigenous women of the highland regions as a symbol of resistanceThe Bolivian “polleras”, bulky skirts commonly associated with the indigenous women from the highlands, were for decades a symbol of uniqueness but also an object of discrimination. Now, a new generation of women skateboarders in Cochabamba, the country’s third largest city, wear them as a piece of resistance. The voluminous attire has its origins in the Spanish conquest, in the 16th century. It was imposed on the native population, but through the subsequent centuries the garment became part of the local identity.Since it symbolises authenticity and stigmatisation, dusting off the polleras that once belonged to aunts and grandmothers seemed the obvious choice for Dani Santiváñez, 26, a young Bolivian skater who wanted to reclaim her roots. In 2018, she and two friends formed the female collective ImillaSkate “as a cry for inclusion”. Imilla means “young girl”’ in Aymara and Quechua, the two most widely spoken languages in Bolivia, a country where more than half of the population has indigenous roots. Continue reading...
Eight loyalist attacks in the 1990s were investigated, including the murders at Sean Graham bookmakersEvidence of “collusive behaviour” between police and loyalist paramilitary groups related to murders during the Troubles have been uncovered by a watchdog investigation.Marie Anderson, the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, said she was “deeply concerned” by the “significant failures” she had uncovered in her investigation into murders and attempted murders carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in south Belfast in the 1990s.Intelligence and surveillance failings, which led to loyalist paramilitaries obtaining military grade weaponry in a 1987 arms importation.A failure to warn two men of threats to their lives.A failure to retain records and the deliberate destruction of files relating to the attack at Sean Graham bookmakers.The failure to maintain records about the deactivation of weapons, “indicating a desire to avoid accountability for these sensitive and contentious activities”.The failure of police to exploit all evidential opportunities.Failures by special branch to disseminate intelligence to murder investigation teams.An absence of control and oversight in the recruitment and management of informants.Unjustifiable and continued use by special branch of informants involved in serious criminality, including murder and “turning a blind eye” to such activities. Continue reading...
Most families want masks in schools – so why did Virginia’s new governor make them optional?Emily Paterson was finally feeling able to relax. Her two sons were now fully vaccinated, and with mask policies in place at their school in northern Virginia she felt safe sending them every day, even as the Omicron variant surged.Then Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, took office on 15 January of this year – and, with his second executive action, he made masks in schools optional. Continue reading...
9 February 1952: The new Queen’s accession declaration is made, two days after the death of her father, King George VIQueen Elizabeth II made her accession declaration to the privy council at St James’s Palace yesterday morning. She said:“Your Royal Highnesses, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen: By the sudden death of my dear father I am called to assume the duties and responsibility of sovereignty. At this time of deep sorrow it is a profound consolation to me to be assured of the sympathy which you and all my peoples feel towards me, to my mother and my sister, and to the other members of my family. My father was our revered and beloved head, as he was of the wider family of his subjects: the grief which his loss brings is shared among us all. My heart is too full for me to say more to you to-day than that I shall always work, as my father did throughout his reign, to uphold constitutional government and to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples, spread as they are all the world over. I know that in my resolve to follow his shining example of service and devotion I shall be inspired by the loyalty and affection of those whose Queen I have been called to be, and by the counsel of their elected Parliaments. I pray that God will help me to discharge worthily this heavy task that has been laid upon me so early in my life.” Continue reading...
Discovery of containers allegedly used by drug gang should serve as a reminder to casual users, says prosecutorThe discovery of a soundproofed torture chamber believed to have been used by a narcotics gang should remind recreational cocaine users of the consequences of their habits, a Dutch public prosecutor has said.Koos Plooij told a court in Amsterdam that the violence of the drug trade was a “repulsive, but apparently unavoidable” result of the widespread use of illegal drugs in the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries. Continue reading...
Protesters occupying Canada’s capital city say they will not leave until all vaccine requirements and mandates have been abolishedFor more than a week, the centre of Canada’s capital city has been paralysed by protestors who have blockaded the downtown area with trucks and cars. City police have described the protest as a “siege” and on Sunday the mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency. Continue reading...
For those looking for inflight fun, without having to squash into a tiny toilet, a new Las Vegas venture has the answer. But will the idea take off?Name: The mile-high club.Appearance: Sexy, up in the air. Continue reading...
One of India’s most famous playback singers hailed as ‘the nightingale of Bollywood’ who had a four-octave vocal rangeLata Mangeshkar, “the nightingale of Bollywood”, who has died aged 92 after contracting Covid-19, was a much-loved Indian national and international figure, whose songs provided the backdrop to the lives of millions for seven decades.Music sung by her was heard constantly across India, in shops, restaurants, taxis or on the radio, and she became known as “Didi”, or sister, because so many people identified with her often emotional songs. And yet she was best known as a playback singer, a vocalist who does not appear onscreen but provides the soundtrack for films in which actors lip sync to her singing. Continue reading...
Tennis star gave an interview to French sports daily L’Équipe on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, accompanied by a Chinese officialThe Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has given her first interview to an independent media organisation since she alleged on Weibo that a senior Chinese official had coerced her into sex, saying it was an “enormous misunderstanding”.The interview with the French sports daily L’Équipe came as the International Olympic Committee said it was not up to them or anyone else “to judge, in one way or another, her position”. Continue reading...
More than 100 authors from around the world have written to the Rwandan president about the case of Innocent Bahati, who disappeared a year ago todayMargaret Atwood, Ben Okri and JM Coetzee have joined more than 100 writers from around the world in calling on the Rwandan president to intervene in the case of the poet Innocent Bahati, who disappeared one year ago today.According to human rights organisation PEN International, Bahati was last seen at a hotel in Nyanza district, in the Southern Province of Rwanda, on 7 February 2021. The poet, who is well-known in Rwanda and had published poetry on YouTube and Facebook, as well as regularly performing at live events, failed to return to Kigali, and his phones have been switched off since. Continue reading...
Jonathan Van Ness’s new Netflix show Getting Curious sees them investigate gender, skyscrapers and pooing bugs. But beneath the curiosity lies a deep-seated anger at inequality and discriminationJonathan Van Ness is best known for fabulous hairstyles, for killer styling tips, and for treading a path that keeps them firmly on life’s glam side. Their new TV show may change that. “Being pooped on by a millipede is a lot,” they exclaim. “It stained my hands for days – there’s tar or resin in their poop!”The 34-year-old is talking via Zoom from their home in Texas about their new Netflix series, Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness. Based on their long-running podcast of the same name, each episode sees Van Ness – along with a coterie of experts and friends – tackle a topic, from skyscrapers to snack foods. As well, obviously, as assessing the kind of insects that go to the toilet on your hand if you pick them up in a laboratory. Or as Van Ness puts it: “Are bugs gorgeous or gross?” Continue reading...
‘It was inspired by a fabulously kitsch 3D movie called Cat-Women of the Moon. A character has to go back to her planet and leave her human love behind’Stay came to life one morning in my converted garage in the back of my house in LA: a very unassuming studio, all knotty pine and carpet, my recording equipment in a cupboard. Siobhan Fahey lived down the road and her then-husband Dave Stewart [ex-Eurythmics] had given her a lift over, then he came in, because he had an idea.Hormonally Yours is released in a 2-CD deluxe edition and coloured vinyl on 17 February, the 30th anniversary of its release. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5VWAE)
Study finds one in 10 households report food insecurity while people with serious disabilities five times more at riskA million UK adults went an entire day without eating over the past month because they could not afford to put a meal on the table, according to research highlighting how the cost of living crisis has driven up food insecurity.Soaring energy and grocery prices – along with the removal in October of the £20 Covid top-up to universal credit – were having a devastating impact on the food consumption of millions of people, the Food Foundation thinktank said. Continue reading...
Analysis: The duchess once portrayed as a ‘rottweiler’ has not put a foot wrong as a royal, close observers sayA once vilified royal mistress perceived as a threat to the stability of the monarchy, Queen Camilla, as she will be crowned, is now seen as a guarantor of that institution’s future smooth running.The Queen clearly believes the Duchess of Cornwall possesses key traits of past successful consorts, such as quiet supportiveness and a determination not to outshine the principal. Continue reading...
Branagh’s spirited performance as Poirot and a big-name ensemble cast can’t keep this stale and two-dimensional whodunnit afloatLong delayed by coronavirus, Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie movie puffs effortfully into harbour. It’s the classic whodunnit about a murder on a steamer making its way down the river in Egypt with an Anglo-American boatful of waxy-faced cameos aboard. The horrible homicide means that one of the passengers will have to spring into action, and this is of course the amply moustached Hercule Poirot, played by Branagh himself. It is Poirot who interviews suspects, supervises corpse-storage in the ship’s galley freezer cabinet and delivers the final unmasking – and all without the captain insisting that the Egyptian police should possibly get involved.Screenwriter Michael Green has adapted the 1937 novel with some new inventions: some people of colour are introduced, and Christie’s intense dislike for her wealthy-hypocrite leftwing character has been dialled down. Most startlingly, Green invents a very good prelude showing the young Poirot’s service in the trenches of the first world war, and the origin of that moustache. Nothing in the rest of this rather stale and two-dimensional tale matches the brio of that opening. Continue reading...
Matthew Selby, 19, pleads guilty to manslaughter of 15-year-old sister AmandaA teenager has admitted killing his younger sister at a holiday park.Matthew Selby, 19, pleaded guilty at Mold crown court on Monday to the manslaughter of his sister Amanda, 15. Continue reading...
Millions of UK households will soon be struggling with energy bills – if they are not already. After a childhood spent in damp and freezing flats, Kerry Hudson is full of sympathy – and rageLet’s start with a multiple choice question. It is a cold, wet February evening. You come home with your two kids after school. You stand in the hallway and contemplate your options. Do you put on the heating? It is freezing and your kids are reluctant to take off their coats. Perhaps you should make a cheap but nutritious dinner for them. They have been saying all the way home that they are “starving”. You could give them their night-time bath, because it is two days since they had their last one, or save the cost of the heating for some new winter boots – theirs are too tight and letting in water.You can pick only one option. Continue reading...
A much-loved community space and an essential service, their days now seem numberedThe first thing Rajiv Shrikul does when he opens up his launderette in south Edinburgh each morning is pray. He says the 7am routine, which he started as a young boy in India, helps him cope with the kaleidoscope of personalities that pass through his shop. “Some people are angry, some are generous – you need to have a very stable mind. Meditation calms you down, especially in these hard times.”Photograph: Murdo MacLeod Continue reading...
With perv patrols, wellness sanctuaries, and femme-only playrooms, the kink scene has reinvented itself for a new, inclusive era – but you still won’t get in wearing jeansAlthough public physical contact has not been a defining feature of the last couple of years, London’s sex clubs are experiencing a renaissance, thanks to a generational shift. Think: fewer key bowls and CEOs in expensive lingerie, more pioneering house DJs and art students in makeshift harnesses, as younger crowds drive demand for events that foreground inclusivity, individuality and queerness. For smoke machines and St Andrew’s crosses, try Klub Verboten. For hedonism with a sense of humour, you’ll want Adonis. And for women and non-binary people, One Night offers a blend of Japanese rope bondage and R&B.Between them all lies Crossbreed, a night where underground stars such as Shanti Celeste and Tama Sumo DJ to a room full of techno fans who can partake in everything from exhibitionist orgies to solo cups of tea in a dancefloor-adjacent wellness sanctuary. “The [queer fetish] community has long been dominated by gay men, who have rightly claimed and taken up space,” explains Alex Warren, who founded the event in 2019. “But that has left bisexuals, pansexuals, lesbians, trans and non-binary people with fewer non masc-dominated spaces to call home.” Continue reading...
Richard Epstein, a 78-year-old scientist with stage four prostate cancer, says that skating helps him to embrace uncertaintyThe first time Richard Epstein went to his local ice-skating rink in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he was handed a free pair of skates. They had been left behind by a discontented customer. “I do things out of my comfort zone, and good things happen,” he observes.This wisdom was borne out last December, when Epstein, now 78, skated in his first exhibition. His wife filmed his routine, which he performed with his coach, Teri Moellenberg, then his eldest daughter posted it on Twitter, along with a note that Epstein has stage four prostate cancer. Nearly 3 million people viewed it. Epstein is somewhat baffled by the response, describing himself as “just an old guy going around in circles”. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian