Photojournalist Moe documented the military’s terrifying and brutal attacks on protests in Mandalay, until even carrying his camera became too riskyMy first encounter with the military came on 4 February 2021, three days after the coup. From the back of my friend’s motorcycle, I hid my camera under my clothes and attempted to photograph soliders as they drove in trucks through my native city of Mandalay carrying their guns. I couldn’t get a good picture, however, because one of the vehicles started following us and we had to retreat.Within days, almost the whole country had erupted in protest. I couldn’t stay still any more, and I joined the crowds on 7 February.‘The whole country had erupted in protest. I couldn’t stay still any more, and I joined the crowds’ Continue reading...
Student found to not have had a fair trial two years after being wrongly convicted for making up allegationAuthorities in Cyprus are being urged to launch a fresh inquiry into a gang rape complaint by a British woman after the country’s supreme court acquitted her of fabricating the claim that she had been sexually assaulted at a holiday resort.The 21-year-old’s legal team said it was incumbent on the island’s police force to reopen the investigation in the wake of the landmark ruling. “It’s our next big battle,” said the human rights lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou. Continue reading...
by Sirin Kale. Photographs by Peter Flude on (#5VMZ4)
The country would grind to a halt without hauliers such as Rob Piper. But do they get the respect they deserve? Our reporter joined him on the road to find outRob Piper’s world is grey, blue and black.The early morning sky is an inky blue-black as Piper drives his 44-tonne, 12-wheeled DAF XF lorry out of the Nursling industrial estate in Southampton. At this time of day – 6am – the endless grey roads consist mainly of lorries. Their metal bullbars flash a friendly smile in the halogen glare of each other’s headlights.On the road again … Piper sets off from Southampton for an 11am delivery in Swindon. Continue reading...
After giving safe harbour to thousands of people fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, the British government decided that some of them could be a threat – and locked all of them up. For many, it was a betrayal on the part of their supposed liberatorsHilde Marchant, star reporter for the Daily Express, heard the story from a sailor. At first she didn’t believe it. Two nights earlier, the sailor explained, he had been standing on the deck of a ship loaded with British nationals headed to England, and watched as a confetti of parachutes drifted into Rotterdam harbour. Dangling from each silhouetted disc, the sailor insisted, were German soldiers dressed, not in Nazi uniforms, but skirts and blouses. Each carried a submachine gun. When the disguised paratroopers landed, another witness claimed, men and women working as cleaners and servants emerged from basements and back doors wearing German uniforms. These traitorous individuals, the witness said, had come to Holland claiming to be refugees from Nazi oppression, sleeper agents posing as asylum seekers.On 13 May 1940, three days after the invasion of the Netherlands began, the Daily Express published Marchant’s story under the headline “Germans dropped women parachutists as decoys”. Peppered throughout Marchant’s story was the term “fifth columnist” – one that, a short time before, would have been unrecognisable to most readers. Marchant was one of the first people to adopt the phrase, coined during the 1936 Spanish civil war as shorthand for traitors poised to support an enemy invasion from within. British newspapers had begun to refer to fifth columnists after the German invasion of Norway in early April 1940, when reports circulated that spies had been installed in the country to aid the German invasion. By the time Marchant’s story ran, there wasn’t a reader in Britain unaware of the term, or the notion that a similar network of duplicitous immigrants might lurk in their own towns and villages. Continue reading...
Bureau opening cases on Chinese intelligence operations every 12 hours, says Christopher Wray, as George Soros calls Xi Jinping the ‘greatest threat’ to open societyThe threat to the west from the Chinese government is “more brazen, more damaging” than ever before, FBI director Christopher Wray has said, accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations.The speech at the Reagan Presidential Library in California on Monday amounted to a stinging rebuke of the Chinese government just days before Beijing is set to occupy the global stage by hosting the Winter Olympics. Continue reading...
Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong expected to be charged with involvement in a covert meeting in late 2019As millions of Chinese families gather this week to celebrate the arrival of the year of the tiger, Luo Shengchun is awaiting news of the fate of her husband, Ding Jiaxi, a human rights lawyer.“It’s the third year that our family hasn’t celebrated the Chinese new year. I don’t know what celebrating new year means now,” said Luo, who now lives in self-imposed exile in New York. “It’s beyond devastating for my family. My husband has not done anything illegal. Why did they deprive us of a normal life?” Continue reading...
Authorities are conducting a month-long campaign to root out illegal and sensitive content during the lunar new year holiday and Winter GamesGay dating app Grindr has disappeared from multiple app stores in China as authorities tighten control of the country’s already heavily policed internet and purge online behaviour the ruling Communist party dislikes.The country’s cyber authority is conducting a month-long campaign to root out illegal and sensitive content during the lunar new year holiday and February’s Winter Olympics. Continue reading...
Tuesday: Nearly half of Australia’s aged care homes grapple with outbreaks as the government defends missing its booster rollout deadline. Plus what’s new to streaming this monthGood morning. Nearly half of Australia’s aged care facilities are battling Covid outbreaks. The UK warns Moscow that an invasion of Ukraine would be met with “massive consequences for Russia’s interests and economy”. And what’s new to streaming in Australia.Unboosted aged care residents are dominating Australia’s Covid death toll, with almost half of the country’s aged care homes battling outbreaks. It comes as the Morrison government defends missing its own booster rollout deadline. More than a quarter of aged care staff say their workplace is not giving them free rapid antigen tests, with nearly 20% reporting they’ve had to find and buy their own kits before working. Trade unions have lashed the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the Coalition over the findings of the new survey from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation, saying it was “an indictment on this government” that aged care workers were forced to dip into their own pocket for the tests Continue reading...
Judge overseeing Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse case requests assistance in obtaining testimony from witnesses outside USThe New York judge overseeing Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse case against Britain’s Prince Andrew has officially requested assistance from British and Australian legal authorities in obtaining testimony from potential witnesses outside the US.Judge Lewis Kaplan’s formal request stems from petitions filed several weeks ago by both Giuffre and the Duke of York’s legal teams. Giuffre on 14 January requested that Kaplan ask British authorities for help in obtaining testimony from Andrew’s former equerry, Robert Olney.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
Joël Meyer given 72 hours to leave country after ‘outrageous comments’ by Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to statementMali has told the French ambassador to leave, according to a government statement, amid mounting tensions between the west African country and its international partners.The action puts into question a French-led anti-terrorist military operation present in Mali at the request of Malian leaders. Continue reading...
Thousands gathered in Ottawa to protest against Covid mandates and some urinated on the National War MemorialJustin Trudeau has said that Canadians were disgusted by the behaviour of anti-vaccine protesters, and said he would not be intimidated by those who hurled abuse.The Canadian prime minister spoke as central Ottawa remained blockaded by dozens of trucks and other vehicles after thousands descended upon Parliament Hill on Saturday to protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Continue reading...
Ambo Anthos says it will stop printing The Betrayal of Anne Frank and admits more work is neededA Dutch publisher has apologised for a book that made headlines around the world by identifying a Jewish notary as the prime suspect for the betrayal of Anne Frank to the Nazis.Ambo Anthos has said that it had decided to suspend further prints of The Betrayal of Anne Frank until there was more work done on the book’s central claims. Continue reading...
by Philip Oltermann in Berlin and agencies on (#5VKQ3)
Shooting took place during traffic check near Kusel in early hours of MondayPolice in western Germany have arrested two men suspected of being involved in the killing of two police officers who were shot dead on a rural road while on a routine patrol.The shooting happened during a traffic check near Kusel at about 4.20am on Monday, police in Kaiserslautern said. Continue reading...
by Min Ye Kyaw, Rebecca Ratcliffe and a reporter in Y on (#5VKT4)
Junta warns public not to take part in planned ‘silent strike’ and arrests business owners who vowed to close on 1 FebruaryMyanmar’s military junta has threatened sedition and terrorism charges against anyone who shuts their business, claps or bang pots on Tuesday, as it tries to stamp out any protests planned to mark the one-year anniversary of the coup.The military, which ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February 2021, continues to face defiant opposition including peaceful protests and an armed resistance. Continue reading...
Washington vows to hold Moscow to account as it works with allies to beef up sanctions should Russia invadeThe UN security council is meeting on Monday to discuss the Ukraine crisis, with Washington vowing to hold Moscow to account as it works with Nato allies to beef up sanctions should Russia invade its neighbour.Fears of an imminent incursion have grown in recent days, despite denials from Moscow and pleas from Ukraine’s president to avoid stirring “panic” over the massive Russian military build-up on the border. Continue reading...
Commentator maintains 2021 Australian of the Year was rude and impolite but says writing criticism made him ‘as bad as Grace Tame’Political journalist and commentator Peter van Onselen has conceded his column criticising Grace Tame for being “rude” to the prime minister “probably” didn’t need to be written.In a podcast interview, van Onselen said he didn’t resile from his view but said expressing his disapproval of the outgoing Australian of the Year’s actions made him the story and “as bad as Grace Tame”. Continue reading...
Excitement is running high before the opening on 4 February. Beijingers have been increasingly participating in winter sports since China was awarded the games Continue reading...
Defying all odds, Portugal's centre-left Socialists have won an outright parliamentary majority in the country’s snap general election. The result has secured a strong new mandate for the prime minister, António Costa, a champion of balanced public accounts. The result, boosted by a higher than expected turnout despite the coronavirus pandemic, comes as a surprise after the Socialists had lost most of their advantage in recent opinion polls, and means Portugal will have a stable government to oversee the application of EU pandemic recovery funds
Seller whose passports have been used by those who illegally crossed Syrian border says: ‘it is not my job to see who is bad’A booming online industry specialising in fake passports with official visas and travel stamps is offering people with links to Islamic State the opportunity to leave Syria and travel onwards to the UK, EU, Canada and the US, a Guardian investigation has found.One such network, run by an Uzbek with extremist links living in Turkey, is now selling high-quality fake passports for up to $15,000 (£11,132) purporting to be from various countries. In at least 10 cases the Guardian is aware of, people who illegally crossed the Syrian border into Turkey have used his products to depart through Istanbul airport. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5VKMX)
Making more sustainable choices easier could be a more acceptable approach than meat taxes, say researchersTilting menus towards plant-based meals significantly cuts the amount of meat eaten, according to new research.The experiments in work and university cafeterias showed making it easier to choose meat-free food can be effective and could be a more acceptable approach than other proposals, such as taxing meat or banning it on certain days. Continue reading...
Monday: Rafael Nadal defeats Daniil Medvedev in five-hour epic to win Australian Open. Plus: how can the school system offer world-class education for all?Good morning. For many families and teachers in New South Wales and Victoria, this week is off to an anxious start as children return to school amid the ongoing Omicron outbreak, which over the weekend saw NSW recorded its deadliest day, with 52 deaths, and four confirmed cases of the Omicron subvariant “son of Omicron”. There were also plenty of celebrations over the weekend ahead of the luna new year.Rafael Nadal has made history and claimed his record-breaking 21st-grand-slam titles at the Australia Open after an epic five-and-a-half-hour battle against Daniil Medvedev. From two sets down, Nadal somehow recovered to defeat Medvedev 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Nadal now takes sole ownership of the all-time record, breaking his tie of 20 with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. “Without a doubt it’s been one of the most emotional moments in my tennis career … One month and a half ago I said maybe there was a chance that’s going to be my last Australian Open ... but now that’s plenty of energy to keep going,” Nadal said post-match. Nadal’s win follows Australian Ash Barty’s historic defeat of Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 (2) – the first Australian to win an Australian Open singles title since Chris O’Neil in 1978, and her third grand-slam win. Continue reading...
Kyriakos Mitsotakis stays in post despite public outrage after thousands became stranded on motorwayThe Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has won a confidence vote called by the main opposition over his government’s handling of a snowstorm last week that stranded thousands of people on a motorway and drew public outrage.The conservative government, which has a comfortable majority in the 300-seat parliament, won with 156 votes, meeting the 151-vote threshold required. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh and Luke Harding in Kyiv on (#5VK91)
Analysis: Kyiv’s interpretation of Russian buildup diverges from UK and US leaders, who in recent days have ratcheted up invasion warningsBritain’s politicians and intelligence chiefs have stepped up warnings about the likelihood of a Russian invasion of Ukraine over the past week, yet it is not clear, despite a drumbeat of activity, that a military attack is any more certain.That drumbeat has been matched in Washington, but, significantly, the concern is not shared in Kyiv. As Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Friday, high tensions with Russia are not new “We have been in the situation for eight years,” he said. Continue reading...
by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent on (#5VK4M)
Pianist who has played for five US presidents says great composer taught her to incorporate colour in musicThe greatest lesson Ruth Slenczynska learned from the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov was that sounds have colour.Nearly 90 years ago, the nine year-old Slenczynska was practising one of Rachmaninov’s preludes when he asked her to join him at the window. It was springtime in Paris, and the avenues were lined with mimosa trees laden with fluffy, golden blossoms. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#5VK39)
Plans for community to care for ‘clootie’ well after offerings cleared away by well-meaning strangerAt the end of a steep woodland trail, surrounded by sturdy beech and ash trees, a freshwater spring bubbles into a basic stone well, rippling in the low winter sunlight.On nearby branches and around the mouth of the well colourful cloth rags – or cloots – have been hung by visitors, as an offering to a water spirit or local saint and an entreaty to be healed. Continue reading...
Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin lays wreath at Bloody Sunday memorial as part of series of commemorative eventsHundreds of people have attended a commemoration event to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.Thirteen civil rights protesters were shot dead by British soldiers on 30 January 1972 in Derry. Another man shot by paratroopers on the day died four months later. While many consider him the 14th victim of Bloody Sunday, his death was formally attributed to an inoperable brain tumour. Continue reading...
Dancer Pilar Gil on where to eat, dance and take a sunset stroll in one of Europe’s oldest citiesThe Mercado Central de Abastos is the heart of Cádiz and where we locals go to buy our fresh fish, seafood, fruit and vegetables. It also has a lot of cafes where you can order anything from fried fish to an empanada. My favourites are Lady Papa’s, which serves traditional tapas dishes, and a vegan stall called Las Niñas Veganas – it’s not easy to find vegan or gluten-free food in Cádiz, so this is special. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5VK01)
Foreign secretary announces legislation in bid to dissuade Putin from launching Ukraine invasionLegislation to allow Britain to hit banks, energy companies and “oligarchs close to the Kremlin” with economic sanctions will be introduced by the government this week, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said.The scheme is the latest attempt by the UK to dissuade the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, from launching an invasion of Ukraine, and was announced hours after Britain said it was willing to deploy more forces to Estonia and other Nato allies in eastern Europe. Continue reading...
Sales of the drink soar as distillers target a whole new marketThe setting is unmistakably Japanese: a mountainous backdrop and, out of view but menacingly close, an active volcano. And nestling amid barren rice paddies seeing out the winter, a distillery producing a spirit whose roots lie far from rural Kagoshima.The administrative district on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu is famed for shochu, a spirit, often made with sweet potatoes or barley, that has sustained family-run businesses here for centuries. Continue reading...
by Emma Graham-Harrison and Vincent Ni on (#5VJYR)
The Games will open on Friday in a country that hopes sport will be the talking point. But political twists or a resurgent virus could leave the event skating on thin iceHosting the Winter Olympics during a pandemic was always going to test the Chinese government, by putting its ever-growing ability to exercise political control and virus containment on a collision course with its enthusiasm for international prestige and status.The 2022 Winter Games, which open on Friday, are being held at a time of particularly intense western criticism of China over human rights abuses, from the mass persecution of Uyghurs in far western Xinjiang – labelled a genocide by the United States – and other groups including Tibetans, to the crushing of Hong Kong’s freedoms. Continue reading...
The director’s first cousin Martin Hamilton tells of family and the Troubles that went on to inspire an acclaimed memoirThere is one man with very personal reasons for finding the scenes of sectarian intimidation in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s film homage to his home city particularly haunting – his first cousin, Martin Hamilton.Hamilton, who grew up with Branagh and his family in inner-city north Belfast, says the images of Catholic families being forced out of the mainly Protestant district brought back painful memories of his own fractured friendships that were lost in the Troubles. Continue reading...
What to follow in Beijing, when – and why snowboard cross might be your new favourite sportHave the Winter Olympics caught you cold? Just like the Jamaican bobsleigh team (their first appearance since 1998) the Games are back as the biggest global stars on snow and ice descend on Beijing in pursuit of all things gold, silver and bronze. The timings are not the most sociable for viewers in the UK – with most days’ events starting about midnight and finishing about 3pm – but there is a lot to get excited about. Here’s our armchair guide on what to follow, when and why snowboard cross might be your new favourite sport. Continue reading...
His upbeat songs have won him legions of fans, but beneath his sunny lyrics George Ezra has a nihilistic streak that nearly ended his career. He talks about coping with OCD, walking the length of Britain – and his hopes of one day being a dadGeorge Ezra walks into the Old Barge, the Hertford pub that’s been his lifelong local, and within three minutes his song, Budapest is on the stereo. “They’re so supportive here,” he says, with shy gratitude, as he stoops under a curtain into a back room. Ezra first came here after school, searching for a loo. At 16, he started working behind the bar. When friends come home for Christmas, this is where they meet, “and where we would have always met”. It still smells the same. (Currently: of yesterday’s log fire, a comforting contrast to the January damp.) Over the next few hours, locals stick their heads in to wave hello to their friendly neighbourhood pop star, drinking lime cordial and soda in crisp double denim, and he greets them all back by name.This is the approachable figure Ezra, who is 28, cuts in most settings, whether playing a radiant set at Glastonbury or warmly chatting about mental health on his podcast. A music college dropout born George Ezra Barnett, he emerged in 2014 as part of a cohort of middle-class British boys with acoustic guitars. Unlike most of them, he wasn’t lachrymose or ambition-crazed. Instead he had a good-weird sense of humour and a big voice, cultivated after this ardent blues fan became obsessed with the US blues singer Lead Belly. Continue reading...
After a raft of prenatal check-ups were cancelled because of Covid staff shortages, one mother asked how other mums fared. The replies shocked herAlison, 38, gave birth to her son in June 2021 at a busy London hospital.“We had exemplary care during delivery, and the midwives looking after me during my antenatal care were likewise fantastic,” she recalls. Continue reading...
Is the man in the Kremlin’s pressure on Ukraine a masterstroke, or has it served only to rally the fractious west against him?Waiting for Russia to invade Ukraine feels a bit like Waiting for Godot. In this edgy reworking of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece, Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, is cast, appropriately, as the restless Vladimir while the US president, Joe Biden, is the bowler-hatted Estragon, frequently dozing off.The play’s central conceit is that the mysterious Godot, expected at any moment, never actually arrives. After Russia agreed last week to keep talking, Ukraine’s citizens have reason to hope the crisis will turn out to be a comparably vacuous non-event – a peculiarly Putin-esque contribution to the theatre of the absurd. Continue reading...