As director’s movie is nominated for seven Oscars, residents of Mountcollyer Street recall back when the Troubles startedLittle remains of the street where Kenneth Branagh was raised.It is the day after the Oscar nominations and Branagh has professed he is “dazed and delighted” and in a “beautiful state of shock” over the seven Oscar nominations his film Belfast has received. Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo, Italy and Sam Jones in M on (#5W1JW)
When Covid stopped contact sports, Italians took to padel, a sport popular in Spain, similar to tennis with a dash of squashAt one of Italy’s darkest moments in the pandemic, the government introduced a list of draconian rules to halt the outbreak of Covid, including which sports Italians would be allowed to practise.Among the activities the authorities considered safe were a few Italians barely knew. One was padel, a fast-paced racket sport popular in Spain, similar to tennis but with a dash of squash thrown in.
From sweet wrappers to noodle packets, Prof Kang Dong-wan collects litter that floats to South Korea from the repressive North. Can military secrets really be uncovered in their surprisingly sophisticated designs?On a clear day from the beaches of Yeonpyeong, a tiny South Korean island, you can see the coast of North Korea some 12 km (seven miles) distant. Glance down, however, and you might see something else. Amid the tangle of seaweed and greying driftwood, the chunks of bleached polystyrene and shreds of fishing net, there may lurk bits of brightly coloured plastic.To the untrained observer, these scraps – sweet wrappers, cigarette cartons, instant noodle packets, all covered in oversized script, vivid colours and garish cartoon characters – might only confirm the Yellow Sea as one of Earth’s most polluted marine environments. To the sharp-eyed, however, encoded in the design of these snippets is valuable information about the society from which they originate: North Korea, virtually a closed shop to the rest of the world. Continue reading...
Just days after January’s coup d’état, Sunday horse racing goes ahead at the hippodrome on the outskirts of Ouagadougou. People gather around the dusty circuit betting with what little cash they have to spare. Photographer Guy Peterson reports Continue reading...
The former PM says wealthy nations must coordinate resources to accelerate access to vaccines and testing for developing nationsGordon Brown has urged rich countries to consider “extraordinary measures” similar to those taken during the global financial crisis to increase developing nations’ access to Covid vaccines, calling on governments to fill a $16bn (£11.8bn) funding gap within weeks.The former British prime minister, who hosted the 2009 G20 summit credited with having staved off a second Great Depression and as chancellor helped unveil a landmark debt relief package at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, said a similar act of international coordination was urgently required on Covid. Continue reading...
One is a big meat eater; the other has just turned vegetarian. We air both sides of a domestic disagreement – and ask you to deliver a verdict• If you have a disagreement you’d like settled, or want to be part of our jury, click hereRay has become a bit intolerant since I’ve gone vegetarian Continue reading...
After years of conflict between the DR Congo’s ineffective army, rebel forces and local militias, can Uganda’s entry into the war bring peace?For the past three months, Ugandan forces have been bombarding Islamist rebels in its border region with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The offensive, in the Rwenzori mountain range that straddles both countries, has forced many Congolese to leave their homes and move to the cities for shelter.Sarah Kasanga* is one. The Allied Democratic Force (ADF) militia stormed Kalingathe, her village north of Beni, in December 2019. People were made to lie on the floor while rebels searched homes for food, pots, money or clothes.DRC soldiers overlook Virunga national park at a military base on the outskirts of Beni Continue reading...
There was precedent for a commissioner determined to root out misbehaviour. Failure to follow it cost her the top jobWhen Robert Mark was appointed commissioner of the Metropolitan police in the 1970s he wryly suggested his ambition was to ensure the service arrested more criminals than it employed.In the five years of his leadership (1972 to 1977) Mark’s success can be measured by the 50 criminal officers he put before a court, and the nearly 500 others who were swept out of the organisation as a result of his ruthless uncovering of the entrenched and institutionalised corruption which had protected them for too long.Sandra Laville, a former Guardian crime correspondent, is now its environment correspondent Continue reading...
Thinktank linked to government has extended an invitation to the former US presidentHungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán is hoping Donald Trump will travel to Budapest in the coming weeks to boost his reelection campaign.A thinktank linked to the Orbán government, the Centre for Fundamental Rights, has issued an invitation to Trump, a government source told The Guardian. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#5W19W)
Exclusive: presiding officer Alison Johnstone says it will be disappointing if parliament cannot attract more female politiciansIt will be “really disappointing” if the Scottish parliament cannot attract more female politicians within the next five years, says Holyrood’s presiding officer, as she launches Holyrood’s first women’s audit to investigate barriers to representation and participation.Alison Johnstone, the former Scottish Green politician who was elected last May to the position of presiding officer – the Holyrood equivalent of the Commons speaker – also suggests that political parties are falling short in selecting female candidates. She signals that the hybrid working arrangements used during lockdown and which suited working women in particular could become permanent. Continue reading...
Local government hopes reopening of mine – once world’s most profitable – will support bid for independence from Papua New GuineaThe mine at the centre of the decade-long civil war between rebels in Bougainville and Papua New Guinea security forces is set to reopen 30 years after it was forced to close, following an agreement between local landowners.Panguna was once one of the world’s largest and most profitable copper and goldmines and still contains an estimated 5.3m tons of copper and 19.3m ounces of gold, which would make the reserves worth about $60bn at today’s prices. Continue reading...
Harris, a Chicago native, was first arrested in September 2020 on a charge of production of child sexual abuse imagesJerry Harris, the former star of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges of receiving child sexual abuse images and soliciting sex from minors that could keep him in prison for decades.During a change of plea hearing in federal court in Chicago, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receiving child abuse images, a US attorney’s office spokesman said.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International. Continue reading...
The first female head of Britain’s biggest force faced criticism over Operation Midland, Sarah Everard’s murder and the death of Daniel MorganDame Cressida Dick joined the Metropolitan police almost 40 years ago, while she rose through the ranks and became the first female commissioner of the force, her time has been marked by controversy.1983 – Dick joins the Met as a constable, patrolling a beat in west London. She is promoted to chief inspector within a decade. Continue reading...
Friday: The marsupial is officially listed as endangered after governments failed to halt its decline. Plus: how the electoral commission is winning friends on social mediaGood morning. Foreign ministers of Australia, the US, India and Japan are meeting in Melbourne today to discuss Indo-Pacific security and China-Russia relations. Koalas have been declared an endangered species, and rapid test shortages have left some aged care residents isolated from loved ones.The Australian government has officially listed the koala as endangered after a decline in its numbers due to land clearing and catastrophic bushfires shrinking its habitat. The status will provide additional protection for the country’s iconic animals. But the government is yet to adopt a long-overdue recovery plan that will set out actions needed to prevent its extinction. “The koala has gone from no listing to now being declared endangered on the Australian east coast within a decade,” said Dermot O’Gorman, WWF-Australia’s chief executive. “That is a shockingly fast decline. The status is a grim but important decision.” Continue reading...
Exercises come as Russia has amassed forces along its own border with UkraineRussia and Belarus have begun joint military exercises close to the Belarusian border with Ukraine, part of 10 days of drills seen as a significant element in the Kremlin’s menacing posture towards its neighbour.Up to 30,000 Russian troops, as well as almost all of the Belarusian armed forces, are taking part in the drills, which began on Thursday. They come at a time when Russia has also amassed forces along its own border with Ukraine, and in the annexed Crimean peninsula. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5W0SF)
Likely candidates to lead Britain’s biggest police force after Dick’s resignationWith the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, resigning from her post after a series of scandals, the chance to lead Britain’s biggest police force has come up much sooner than expected.Here are some of the most likely candidates to take over a beleaguered Scotland Yard. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot and Aubrey Allegretti on (#5W0SG)
Analysis: The letters have seemingly stopped but MPs may be keeping their pens dry for strategic reasonsAs MPs wheeled their suitcases on to trains for a short recess, those with lingering doubts about Boris Johnson’s leadership tucked their letter-writing pens back into their pockets.They seem unlikely to come out again until the Metropolitan police determine whether the prime minister committed any criminal offence by attending a number of Downing Street gatherings. Continue reading...
The electoral commission says ‘professionalism’ is boring and disengaging – so it’s breaking the rules to combat growing mistrust in the political process
Foreign secretary issues warning as Sergei Lavrov describes UK’s contribution to talks as ‘just slogans’The British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has personally warned Moscow of tough sanctions that are to be imposed if Russia attacks Ukraine, during tense talks that Russia’s top diplomat said were like a conversation of “the mute with the deaf”.The British sanctions package remained under government review on Thursday, somewhat undermining Truss’s threat as she led a British diplomatic effort to head off a potential Russian offensive in Ukraine. Continue reading...
Eastern-based parliament appoints former interior minister, but interim PM refuses to step asideLibya’s political turmoil is set to worsen after its eastern-based parliament appointed a new prime minister and the interim incumbent refused to step aside.A spokesperson for the parliament said it had chosen the former interior minister Fathi Bashagha by acclamation after the only other candidate withdrew. However, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the internationally recognised Government of National Accord, has rejected the parliament’s moves, saying he will only hand over power after a national election. Continue reading...
Bosses advised to dock 100% of pay for staff who work to rule as UCU members prepare strike actionA bitter dispute between university staff and their employers looks set to escalate after it emerged university bosses have been advised to dock 100% of pay for staff who work to rule as part of industrial action that begins next week.More than 1 million students at 68 UK universities are to be hit by further strike action by members of the University and College Union (UCU), with up to 10 days of campus walkouts starting on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pensions, pay and conditions. Continue reading...
Boy, 16, sentenced to five years for alleged plan to target FSB building created in computer gameA Russian teenager has been sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly planning to blow up a virtual FSB security service building in the video game Minecraft.The ruling falls into a broader pattern under President Vladimir Putin in which young Russians are put behind bars on controversial and preemptive terrorism charges. Continue reading...
The actor never thought she would make it in a lead role – until Terrence Malick had a word. Now she is stepping into the spotlight as Roxanne in Joe Wright’s CyranoIt’s quite an entrance. Haley Bennett walks into the Soho hotel room flanked by publicists, then breaks theatrically into song, filling the air with lyrics from her new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. The film is directed by her partner, Joe Wright; she plays Roxanne opposite Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage as Cyrano. It’s a fresh, modern and giddily romantic movie, and will probably do for Edmond Rostand’s classic play what Wright’s Pride & Prejudice did for Austen.Bennett sits down and places a framed photograph on the coffee table between us, of a sunny little girl with pigtails. Having become slightly obsessed with Bennett’s Instagram account (more later), I assume this is her three-year-old, Virginia. But no, the photo is of Bennett herself, aged four. “I was just visiting my family in Ohio,” she says brightly. “I think it’s important that we nurture the four-year-old in all of us, so I brought her with me.” Continue reading...
Approval for rare move expected after evidence government critics in Hungary and Poland were targetedThe European parliament is preparing to launch a committee of inquiry into the Pegasus spyware scandal after evidence emerged of government critics in Poland and Hungary being targeted with the surveillance software.The cross-party body will seek testimony from member states’ intelligence services, elected politicians and senior officials, with a previous inquiry into alleged European facilitation of CIA “black sites” providing a model. Continue reading...
At 180 metres tall, pyramid-shaped glass and steel skyscraper will be city’s third-highest buildingConstruction of a 42-floor, pyramid-shaped skyscraper began in Paris on Thursday despite local opposition and objections from environmentalists who have called the project “catastrophic”.The Triangle Tower (Tour Triangle) will, at 180 metres (590ft), become the city’s third-highest building after the Eiffel Tower, completed in 1889, and the Montparnasse Tower, which opened in 1973. Continue reading...
Musician becomes latest big name to cash in on a long and successful careerSting has sold his back catalogue, featuring hits including Roxanne, Every Breath You Take and Englishman in New York, to Universal Music in a deal thought to be worth up to $300m (£221m).The 70-year old, who first found global fame as a member of the Police in the late 1970s and early 1980s before going solo, becomes the latest big name musician to cash in on a long and successful career. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5W0EY)
Police commissioner digs in, telling BBC London she has led force ‘very well’ despite series of scandalsDame Cressida Dick has “absolutely no intention” of standing down, she said on Wednesday, and maintains that she has been leading the Metropolitan police “very well”.The commissioner denied she was “complacent” or “arrogant” on Thursday, insisting she had transformed the force which has been hit by a series of scandals. Continue reading...
The actor and director answers readers’ questions about his performance-capture film roles, playing sax at parties in pre-hipster Shoreditch and being mistaken for Michael SheenHas performance capture affected your physical condition? ajyates33It’s kept me fit, especially the more physical roles like Caesar [in the Planet of the Apes films], who goes from an infant chimpanzee right through into adulthood. I’ve always been quite a physical person and enjoy mountaineering, climbing and cycling. But those roles take it out of you, for sure. Continue reading...
I was told I was a coward if I resisted female genital mutilation. For decades since then, I have worked, and risked everything, to protect other girlsI was 14 when my mother and grandmother announced that I was going to have my clitoris, my labia majora and my labia minora cut out. They said that if I resisted I was a coward. In my culture, the worst thing you can be called is a coward.I was never naive. I grew up as a Maasai girl in Kenya in the 60s and 70s. At some point in my childhood, I became aware that there was a rite of passage into womanhood. I was to have my vulva mutilated by an elderly woman using a blunt instrument. But I was also part of the first generation of Maasai girls to be sent to school, where I met girls from communities who didn’t practise female genital mutilation (FGM). I learned from them that you can grow to be an adult with your vulva intact. That was what I wanted. Continue reading...
Drugmaker’s total revenues increased by 41% last year with help from $4bn Covid jab incomeAstraZeneca forecast higher 2022 sales and lifted its annual dividend for the first time in a decade after record revenues last year, but warned the boost from its Covid-19 products would decline.The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it made almost $4bn (£2.9bn) last year from the Covid jab it developed with Oxford University. It moved away from its not-for-profit pricing in November, when it signed new contracts in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. The shot, called Vaxzevria, has not yet been approved by the US regulator. Continue reading...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi brings a gentle warmth to this ingenious collection of three stories united by themes of fate and mysteryRyusuke Hamaguchi is a Japanese film-maker whose work I first encountered in 2018 with his doppelgänger romance Asako I & II and indirectly via last year’s experimental chamber-piece Domains, whose screenwriter Tomoyuki Takahashi has worked with Hamaguchi. Now he has unveiled this ingenious, playful, sparklingly acted and thoroughly entertaining portmanteau collection of three movie tales.Their themes and ideas are emerging as keynotes for this director: fate and coincidence, identity and role-play, and the mysteries of erotic pleasure and desire. There is a rather European flavour in the mix – one of its characters is a specialist in French literature – and I found myself thinking of Emmanuel Carrère and Milan Kundera. And although there is no formal connection between the stories (other than the thematic echoes) the simple act of juxtaposition creates something pleasingly cohesive. Continue reading...
Party’s biggest donor has criticised Labour-run council for hiring agency refuse lorry driversThe head of Unite, Labour’s biggest donor, has threatened to completely pull funding for the party over an ongoing pay dispute involving bin lorry drivers in Coventry.About 75 refuse workers started a two-month strike over pay at the start of February, after talks with Coventry’s Labour-run city council failed to achieve a resolution. Continue reading...
Marking 30 years of their debut album, Generation Terrorists, a look back at the Welsh rockers’ best bits: from the song about the Spanish civil war that kept Steps off No 1 to their glorious duetsManic Street Preachers were always Guns N’ Roses fans: on A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun, they collaborated with the band’s bassist Duff McKagan. Charmingly perverse as ever, they turned in one of their poppiest latterday melodies, liberally decorated with metal guitar. Continue reading...
Boris Johnson has said the Ukraine crisis has entered 'the most dangerous moment' on a visit to Nato’s headquarters as Russia continues its military buildup on the borders of its southern neighbour.Military analysts estimate Moscow has massed more than 135,000 troops on the borders of Ukraine, both in Russia and in Belarus – and some now believe nearly all the necessary elements are in place if Putin wanted to attack.Nato's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said a political solution was still possible but warned Russia would 'pay a high price' if it chose confrontation
There’s nothing romantic about flying pesticide-drenched blooms halfway across the world. Here’s how to show both your love and your eco-friendly credentials this yearThe last couple of years have seen flower fans branch out (pun intended), with plant and bulb sales booming during the pandemic. Yet, when it comes to Valentine’s Day, traditional red roses can be harder to resist than the lure of a forbidden love affair. A dozen of these long-stemmed flowers might once have signalled the height of romance, but after a quick look at the environmental impact they don’t smell quite as sweet for UK-based buyers. So how can you make sure you are giving an ethical bunch on 14 February? Continue reading...
by Jordan Bryon, Christopher Cherry, Emma Graham-Harr on (#5W05Y)
After the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, millions of teenage girls have been forbidden from receiving a high school education. Taliban officials have claimed the ban is temporary, but said the same thing the last time they were in power more than two decades ago. Back then, girls of all ages never returned to school. Today, much has changed in the country, and a new generation of girls and women possess radically different aspirations than they were previously allowed to hold. An anxious population waits to see to what extent the Taliban has changed, too
Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?The Thursday quiz was criticised the other week in the comments for being too down and self-deprecating in its opening blurb. What an unfair charge. So here are 15 more questions on general knowledge and topical trivia for you. You may need a cup of tea, because the repetitive in-jokes are sorely in need of some refreshment. Oh I see what they meant. Anyway, there are no prizes, it is just for fun. There is a hidden Doctor Who reference to spot for a bonus point. Let us know how you got on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 42If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quiz master’s word is always final, and also a picture of David Tennant is not a “hidden” Doctor Who reference. It is more cryptic than that. Continue reading...
Since recapturing Afghanistan, the Taliban have largely if inconsistently closed down girls’ schooling – but have found a new generation ready to fight for the right to studyWhen the Taliban reached Parveen Tokhi’s home province of Zabul in mid-August and asked to use her school as a temporary barracks, the headteacher was frightened but clear about what she had to do.She spent the bleak years of the first Taliban government in the 1990s stuck at home like almost all Afghan women, barred from education and work. She was determined that the same shadow wouldn’t engulf another generation. Continue reading...