John Gonsalves wrote to his mother when he was stationed in Germany in 1945 but the letter would be lost until this yearA letter sent from a US soldier stationed in Germany to his mother in Massachusetts has been delivered 76 years after it was sent.Army Sgt John Gonsalves, 22 at the time, wrote to his mother in Woburn in December 1945 after the official end of the second world war, WFXT-TV reported Wednesday. Continue reading...
Freedom of the press might be included in some constitutions of Pacific countries, but it often only works in theoryI spent five years as the lone journalist on the remote Pacific island of Yap. During that time I was harassed, spat at, threatened with assassination and warned that I was being followed. The tyres on my car were slashed late one night.There was also pressure on the political level. The chiefs of the traditional Council of Pilung (COP) asked the state legislature to throw me out of the country as a “persona non grata” claiming that my journalism “may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”. Continue reading...
Two other paramedics suffered serious injuries in collision with a cement lorry near Tonbridge, KentTributes have been paid to a 21-year-old paramedic who died after her ambulance was involved in a crash with a cement lorry in Kent.Alice Clark’s parents praised her as a “beautiful, kind, fun-loving daughter” who will be missed “more than words can say” while a colleague described her as “kind and dedicated”. Continue reading...
Zacatecas governor says bodies of people left in front of palace near Christmas tree showed apparent signs of beating and bruisingAn SUV filled with 10 bodies was left outside the office of a Mexican state governor in a public square lit up with holiday decorations, officials said on Thursday.The bodies were crammed into a Mazda SUV left before dawn near a Christmas tree in the main plaza of the state capital of Zacatecas. Continue reading...
Friday: Novak Djokovic’s time in immigration detention highlights plight of refugees held in same hotel. Plus: Norfolk Island grapples with its first Covid casesGood morning. Novak Djokovic awaits his Australian Open fate in a Melbourne immigration hotel. New South Wales hospitals are anticipating Covid-related admissions to triple. And deadly protests in Kazakhstan has hampered the bitcoin network.Novak Djokovic is awaiting his Australian Open fate in a Melbourne immigration hotel as he mounts a legal challenge against Australia’s decision to cancel his visa. Djokovic’s lawyers succeeded in a bid to stop him from being deported on Thursday with a full hearing in the federal court now scheduled for Monday. The tennis champion spent eight hours detained at Melbourne airport overnight before Australian Border Force officials announced he had been denied entry into the country on Thursday morning. They cited a failure to meet Australia’s Covid vaccination exemption requirements. Djokovic’s wrangling with authorities over entering Australia has inadvertently highlighted a different plight: those of the refugees and asylum seekers stuck for months, and years, at the Park Hotel which has been described by detainees as a “torture cell”. The Serbian president has accused Australia of “maltreatment” of the tennis star and Djokovic’s family said he is the victim of “a political agenda” aimed at “stomping on Serbia”. Continue reading...
The writer-director’s death at 82 leaves behind a legacy of impactful films, from The Last Picture Show to Mask, and also a deep love of the craftPeter Bogdanovich was the blazing night-sky comet of the New Hollywood generation whose trajectory got knocked off course a little, by personal tragedy and the contingencies of show business, but kept hurtling onwards with brilliant work and passionate cinephilia to the very end. His first four hits, Targets (1968) The Last Picture Show (1971), What’s Up Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973) were somehow both thrillingly and authentically modern and yet also instantly belonged to the classic pantheon. With the touch of restless young genius, he seemed to reinvent pulp crime, the western, the road-movie and the screwball comedy – in short order.I remember Bogdanovich in 2018, frail and unwell as he then reportedly was, dominating the Venice Film Festival with two important movies showing there: his superb documentary about Buster Keaton (whose reputation and importance he typically boosted for the 21st century) and his edited, “salvaged” account of Orson Welles’s lost, sprawling movie The Other Side Of The Wind, in which Bogdanovich himself starred, satirising the trauma of the Hollywood old guard in having the baton prised from their grasp by the young Turks. And Bogdanovich sat at Welles’s feet, the way Truffaut sat at Hitchcock’s, and perhaps consciously assumed the mantle of the sorcerer’s apprentice, although learned the way all Welles’s associates learned, how capricious and hurtful Welles could be. But in his later years, taking a creative comfort in well-crafted comedy in the classic Hollywood style, he found himself being supported and bankrolled by younger protégés like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach who were as awestruck by Bogdanovich as he himself once was of John Ford and Howard Hawks.
Amelia Gentleman honoured for coverage of Windrush scandal and Guardian for Panama Papers investigationThe Guardian has been awarded investigation and journalist of the decade in relation to articles on offshore finance and the Windrush scandal.The awards were made by the media industry publication Press Gazette to mark 10 years of its British Journalism Awards ceremony. Past attendees and newsletter subscribers were asked to vote. Continue reading...
Legal experts say new law would mean all cases about monument damage go before juriesThe acquittal of the Colston Four raises questions about new laws imposing 10-year jail terms for the toppling of statues, legal experts have said.On Wednesday, three men and a woman who helped pull down a monument to the slave trader Edward Colston at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest were found not guilty by a jury on the grounds that they had a lawful excuse. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#5TQSF)
Neil Cole’s Museum of Classic Sci-Fi, hosted in cellar of his Allendale townhouse, holds costumes and props from numerous TV classicsAt first glance the Northumberland village of Allendale, with its pub and post office and random parking, is like hundreds of sleepy, charming villages across the UK. It’s the Dalek that suggests something out of the ordinary.Behind the Dalek is a four-storey Georgian townhouse. In the cellar of the house is a remarkable and unlikely collection of more than 200 costumes, props and artwork telling classic sci-fi stories of Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, Marvel and many more. Continue reading...
Travel agent and lawyers for 80 people agree undisclosed amount after 2015 Tunisian beach attack that left 38 deadDozens of Britons who lost loved ones and survivors of a terror attack at a Tunisian resort have reached a settlement with the travel company Tui, after launching a multimillion pound compensation case.The settlement for an undisclosed amount was reached “without admission of liability or fault”, according to a joint statement issued by the operator and a law firm acting on behalf of families, who had alleged that there was poor hotel security at the resort. Continue reading...
Saudi authorities accused of trying to cover up cause of explosion which left Philippe Boutron badly injuredA French rally driver who was seriously injured in an explosion in Jeddah last week has emerged from a coma, while his team have claimed Saudi Arabian authorities are trying to cover up the cause of the incident.Philippe Boutron sustained serious injuries in the blast outside a hotel near Jeddah’s international airport a week ago. The explosion damaged a support vehicle he was driving for the Sodicars Racing team that was competing in the Dakar rally. Continue reading...
Footage taken on the streets of Kazakhstan's biggest city, Almaty, appears to show guns being fired as unrest continues. Initially angered by a fuel price rise, protesters have been storming buildings and chanting against President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. State buildings have been torched and eight security personnel reported dead in the demonstrations. The internet was shut down and peacekeepers from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilise the country
NRC, which was accused of spreading ‘misinformation’, says it will struggle to reach those in need as Tigray conflict enters third yearEthiopia has lifted a five-month suspension of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s aid work after it cleared the organisation of allegations of spreading “misinformation”.The government ordered the NRC, along with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), to stop work for three months in July, including operations in the Tigray conflict zone. Both organisations were ordered to stop their humanitarian work in July but while MSF’s suspension was lifted in October, the NRC’s was extended. Continue reading...
Imperial War Museums exhibition will explore long-term legacy of the UK’s 1982 conflict with ArgentinaStriking images taken during the Falkland Islands conflict will go on display together for the first time in a new Imperial War Museums (IWM) exhibition which aims to highlight the long-term legacy of war.The photographs, by Paul Haley for the British army’s Soldier magazine, will feature alongside other exhibits, including online films, to mark the 40th anniversary of the 10-week undeclared 1982 war, with a focus on new awareness of its impact. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5TQ8Q)
Rights charity Reprieve seeks answers from MoD over death of Abu Hamza al-Shuhail in Syria in OctoberBritain has been accused of reviving a policy of “targeted killing” after it emerged that the RAF had killed an arms dealer linked to Islamic State in a precision drone strike in Syria at the end of October.Reprieve, a human rights charity, asked “what are the criteria” used to justify who can be targeted in a “track and kill” drone strike, and called on ministers to tell the Commons why this strike was deemed necessary. Continue reading...
by Vincent Ni China affairs correspondent on (#5TQ81)
Only two PE teachers available to coach 2,600 students in one school, according to Chinese mediaTan Lili, the principal of Shanghai’s Baoshan No 2 central primary school, has been wrestling with a problem in recent months: her school does not have enough physical education teachers.She is not alone. Since China embarked in 2021 on a nationwide campaign to reduce academic pressures on children and increase the amount of active time they spent outdoors, primary and middle schools across the country have been struggling. In one school, according to Chinese media, only two PE teachers are available to coach 2,600 students. Continue reading...
by Sarah Martin Chief political correspondent on (#5TQ5J)
Scott Morrison refuses Serbian request to reconsider deporting the tennis starThe decision to deport tennis star Novak Djokovic has sparked diplomatic fallout, with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, dismissing pleas from the Serbian government for Australia to reconsider the move.Speaking after the Australian Border Force decision on Thursday, Morrison revealed that diplomats from the Serbian embassy in Canberra had made formal representations to Australia about the decision to deport Djokovic for failing to meet vaccine exemption requirements. Continue reading...
Launch was detected by militaries in the region, and was criticised by South Korea, Japan and the USNorth Korea test fired a “hypersonic missile” this week that successfully hit a target, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday, as the country pursues new military capabilities amid stalled denuclearisation talks.The launch on Wednesday was the first by North Korea since October and was detected by several militaries in the region, drawing criticism from governments in the United States, South Korea, and Japan. Continue reading...
by Presented by Rowena Mason with Sonia Sodha, Peter on (#5TPWX)
Rowena Mason and Sonia Sodha look at the problems facing the NHS and schools, as the government lifts some restrictions. Plus, Peter Walker, Jon Henley and Severin Carrell look at how Westminster’s Covid-19 plan differs from the rest of the UK and Europe. Continue reading...
Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Sage Willoughby and Jake Skuse found not guilty over act of public dissent during Bristol protestAnti-racism campaigners tonight hailed a jury’s decision to clear protesters responsible for toppling a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston as a huge step in getting the UK to face up to its colonial past.Jake Skuse 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, did not dispute the roles they had played in pulling down the statue and throwing it in the River Avon during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest but all denied criminal damage. Continue reading...
Thursday: World no 1 Novak Djokovic held at Melbourne airport after being granted an exemption to play in the Australian Open. Plus: a guide to standup paddleboardingGood morning. Novak Djokovic spends hours at Melbourne airport over visa mix-up, data confirms Donald Trump’s enduring hold over vast sections of America and Covid concerns in a Sydney nursing home.The world No 1 men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic has been held at passport control in Melbourne for several hours, throwing fresh doubt over his participation at the Australian Open. It comes after the reigning Australian Open champion was announced he had been granted a Covid-19-related “medical exemption” by tournament organisers. Scott Morrison has said there would be no “special rules” for the Serbian, and if he failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his medical exemption the 20-time Grand Slam champion will be “on the next plane home”. Djokovic has refused to reveal his Covid vaccine status and has been an outspoken opponent of vaccination for the coronavirus. Continue reading...
Canadians will receive 140m rapid tests for free throughout January, Justin Trudeau saysCanadians will receive 140m rapid tests for free throughout January, Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday, as the country struggles to cope with record-breaking Covid case numbers.“With the speed at which Omicron is propagating through our communities and through our country, it makes sense to have rapid testing,” said the prime minister. Continue reading...
Staff may embark on industrial action over Priti Patel’s ‘morally reprehensible’ ploy to turn back refugeesBorder Force officials could strike over Priti Patel’s “morally reprehensible” plans to turn back dinghies in the Channel, a union has said.The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents the vast majority of Border Force staff who would implement the “pushbacks”, has joined forces with the refugee charity Care4Calais to seek a judicial review of the policy, a tactic campaigners warn could put lives at risk. Continue reading...
My aunt Anne Mobbs, who has died aged 84, was a community organiser and activist who was fully committed to promoting social justice.Born into a Jewish family in Tottenham, north London, Anne was one of the five children of Miriam (nee Weinberg), a seamstress, and Nathan Wrightman, a carpenter. She and her two sisters were evacuated to Cornwall during the second world war, and after finishing her schooling she worked in secretarial roles at Granada TV, the BBC World Service and the National Film Theatre. Continue reading...
Asia can teach the UK much about keeping schools open during a pandemic, says Edward Vickers, while Jo Campion warns that deaf pupils are likely to fall behind because of the return of face masks in classComparing the experience of European education systems in handling the Covid-19 pandemic is doubtless instructive (Masks in schools: several EU countries already enforce them in primaries, 3 January). Your article presents the salutary examples of countries such as France, which imposed a mask mandate on all pupils over 11 last November, and Belgium, which since December has required all pupils over six to be masked.However, as an educational comparativist usually based in Japan, I read reports like this while inwardly screaming: “What about east Asia?” There has been some lurid coverage in the UK press of China’s draconian lockdowns. But we see very little discussion of the very different cases of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, which have managed the pandemic far more effectively than their western counterparts, and with far less disruption to schooling. Continue reading...
Convicted murderer Gioacchino Gammino tracked down in Galapagar, where he had lived undetected for 20 yearsAn Italian mafia boss on the run for 20 years was tracked down to a Spanish town after being spotted on Google Street View.Gioacchino Gammino, a convicted murderer listed among Italy’s most wanted gangsters, was arrested in Galapagar, a town near Madrid, where over the years he had married, changed his name to Manuel, worked as a chef and owned a fruit and vegetable shop. Continue reading...
Sir Keir Starmer seems to have forgotten his principles, writes Keith Flett. How can the Queen be so out of touch, asks Dr Patrick HoyteKeir Starmer, while approving a knighthood for Tony Blair, notes that Iraq remains an issue for many (UK government urged to rescind Tony Blair’s knighthood, 4 January). The problem is that elevating the former prime minister to the Order of the Garter is an official attempt to say that the Iraq war doesn’t matter any more. The current Labour leader had it right when, as a QC and human rights lawyer, he wrote in the Guardian on 17 March 2003 that “flawed advice does not make the unlawful use of force lawful”. Many of us remember the point; it’s a pity Sir Keir seems to have forgotten it.
Asset freezes and visa bans after Dodik’s threat to withdraw Serbs from Bosnian national army and other state-level institutionsThe US has imposed new sanctions on the Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, a television station under his control and two other officials for “significant corruption and destabilizing activities”.The sanctions, involving asset freezes and visa bans, follow Dodik’s threat to withdraw Serbs from the Bosnian national army and other state-level institutions, potentially destroying the 1995 Dayton peace treaty and opening the way for a return to conflict. Continue reading...
As well as revealing the full shortlist, newly opened archives show that the 1971 judging panel were concerned the Chilean winner’s politics were ‘incompatible with the purpose of the prize’Pablo Neruda may have won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971, but newly opened archives in Stockholm reveal the judging panel’s concerns about the Chilean poet’s “communist tendencies”.The list of writers in the running for the Nobel prize, and the deliberations of the secretive members of the judging panel at the Swedish Academy, are kept confidential for 50 years. But the newly opened archives show that, although 1971’s winner Neruda was praised by the prize-givers for “a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent’s destiny and dreams”, behind the scenes some members of the Swedish Academy were hesitant. Continue reading...
Josep Borrell warns ‘severe costs’ would follow any aggression against Kyiv by Russian-backed separatistsThe European Union’s top diplomat has pledged “full support” to Ukraine on a visit to the frontline of the country’s war with Moscow-backed separatists.Josep Borrell is the first EU high representative for foreign policy to have visited the Donbass region since war broke out nearly eight years ago. Continue reading...
by Presented by Laura Murphy-Oatesand reported by Sha on (#5TPHN)
In one of our best Full Story episodes from 2021, we look at the formation of a vibrant and strange genre of music called hyperpop. Its growth has been spurred on by the internet – through Soundcloud, Twitter and now Spotify – and it has been linked to some of the most exciting young artists worldwide.Freelance music writer Shaad D’Souza speaks to Laura Murphy-Oates about the rise of hyperpop and what it tells us about the influence of big corporations such as Spotify.Read more: Continue reading...
Ahmed found guilty of two counts of attempted rape and one of buggery when he was a teenager in 1970sThe former peer Nazir Ahmed has been found guilty of serious sexual assault against a young boy and the attempted rape of a girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s.Ahmed, 64, was found guilty on Wednesday of buggery against a boy in Rotherham, and twice attempting to rape a girl. Buggery was the legal term for the specific sexual assault at the time of the offences. Continue reading...
Pope Francis suggested people who own cats and dogs instead of having children exhibit 'a certain selfishness', during a speech on parenthood and adoption at the Vatican.
Actor says Meir’s Jewishness is ‘integral’ to role and that Ben Kingsley would ‘never be allowed’ to play Nelson MandelaMaureen Lipman has criticised the casting of Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in a forthcoming film about the former Israeli prime minister, saying that the character’s Jewishness is “integral”.In comments reported by the Jewish Chronicle, Lipman said she “disagreed” with Mirren’s casting. She added: “I’m sure [Mirren] will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn’t even go there.” Continue reading...
Hisham Abu Hawash, who has been held without charge for more than a year, began refusing food in AugustA Palestinian man on a hunger strike in protest against detention without charge has agreed to end his fast after a deal was struck for his release owing to fears of unrest if he died.Hisham Abu Hawash, 40, a construction worker from Dura in the West Bank, had previously served time in an Israeli jail after pleading guilty to terrorism offences related to membership of Islamic Jihad. He was rearrested and has been held without charge or trial for more than a year, and began refusing food in August. Continue reading...
Loan deal could renew pressure on Britain to repatriate ancient Parthenon marbles to AthensItaly is returning a fragment belonging to the Parthenon’s eastern frieze to Greece in a breakthrough deal that could renew pressure on Britain to repatriate the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.The marble fragment, which depicts the foot of a goddess, either Peitho or Artemis, peeking out from beneath an elaborate tunic, is currently held at the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo, Sicily. It was originally bought by the University of Palermo from the widow of Robert Fagan, the British consul for Sicily and Malta, after his death in 1816. Continue reading...
‘It was clear that these two had each other in their lives, and that was pretty much it’In the 1970s I lived in SoHo in New York, which is not far from the Bowery, but the two districts were like separate universes. SoHo was full of artists and creative types but the Bowery was known as the place where you ended up when you were at the bottom of the barrel. There were a lot of flophouses and a lot of alcoholism and drug use. It was the darkest place in New York City for a long time.The Bowery Mission is a Christian rescue centre for homeless people. Only men are allowed to stay overnight but it feeds anybody. I used to go there around Thanksgiving and Christmas time to help serve dinner. The face-to-face contact and interactions I had with people meant that I always felt a real connection with them, and it also made me grateful for what I had in my own life. Continue reading...