Some 782 out of 2,370 large companies paid no tax in 2019-20, mostly because they made a loss or claimed credits for previous losses

The director was a film-maker with mordant and subversive things to say about the postwar Italian soul, particularly in Seven Beauties

The stars of Adam McKay’s apocalypse satire Don’t Look Up discuss their worst fears, their favourite conspiracy theories and their final moments on EarthIf a massive meteor were expected to collide with Earth in six months’ time, what would our leaders do? Everything in their power to stop it? Or everything possible to leverage it for political and financial gain?How about the rest of us? How would we cope with the prospect of impending apocalypse? By facing the end of the world with sobriety and compassion? Or drowning ourselves in sex, drugs and celebrity gossip? Might some of us even enjoy the drama? Continue reading...

Man who slipped and broke his back while working from home was commuting, it is decidedA German court has ruled that a man who slipped while walking a few metres from his bed to his home office can claim on workplace accident insurance as he was technically commuting.The man was working from home and on his way to his desk one floor below his bedroom, the federal social court, which oversees social security issues, said in its decision. Continue reading...

The chimney of Scotland's last coal-fired power station came crashing down in a controlled explosion on Thursday.The 600ft chimney at Longannet was detonated by Nicola Sturgeon after the power station had ceased operations in 2016 Continue reading...

Agency is working on detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the USMore than 40 people in the US have been found to be infected with the Omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said. But she added nearly all of them were only mildly ill.In an interview with the Associated Press, Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the US. Continue reading...

A million-selling superstar at home and in France, she discusses her confrontation with Playboy, growing up in a famous family and being publicly outed as bisexualA few years ago, a popular pub quiz question involved naming 10 famous Belgians. The answers often revealed more about British cultural ignorance than Belgium’s ability to produce international celebrities, given that the fictional Tintin and Hercule Poirot were the best many could come up with.The game has got easier since the rise of Angèle, a stridently feminist Belgian pop singer-songwriter who shot to fame in 2016 after posting short clips singing covers and playing the piano on Instagram. She was young, talented and not afraid to make fun of herself, pulling faces and sticking pencils up her nose. Her 2018 debut album, Brol, sold a million copies; by 2019, she was a face of Chanel. “I’d always wanted a career in music, but I was thinking more of working as a piano accompanist,” she says, folding into an armchair at a five-star boutique hotel near the Paris Opéra. “I really didn’t expect it to happen like that.” Continue reading...

From Glyndebourne to the Globe, actor, opera singer and drag star Le Gateau Chocolat is a UK stage fixture – although not everywhere has been so welcomingIn a big, bright rehearsal room at Southwark’s Unicorn Theatre, Le Gateau Chocolat is giving feedback to the new cast of his revolutionary children’s production, Duckie. His fingernails, painted an iridescent shade of blue, flash in the sunlight as the cabaret star, opera singer and all-round entertainment powerhouse praises his tiny team and smiles.First imagined in 2015 – in part to offer comfort to his young niece, who had recently moved to the UK from Nigeria and was struggling to settle in, and in part upon realising that a drag queen’s natural audience is a gaggle of excitable kids – Duckie is a radical reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Following acclaimed stints everywhere from London’s Southbank Centre to the Fringe World festival in Perth, Australia, Gateau is now stepping down from the lead role for its festive run at Manchester’s Home theatre. Instead, it will be shared by two young actors, both non-binary and one neurodiverse, with aspects of the part adjusted accordingly. Continue reading...

Bronski formed the trailblazing gay pop trio with Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek, which had hits in the 80s including Smalltown BoySteve Bronski, a founding member of the trailblazing British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, has died, a source close to the group has confirmed. The BBC reported his age as 61. No cause of death was given.His bandmate Jimmy Somerville described him as a “talented and very melodic man”. Continue reading...

Independent report says crimes include torture and the systematic suppression of birthsUyghur people living in Xinjiang province in China have been subjected to unconscionable crimes against humanity directed by the Chinese state that amount to an act of genocide, an independent and unofficial tribunal has found.Hundreds of thousands and possibly a million people have been incarcerated without any or remotely fair justification, the tribunal’s chair, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, said as he delivered the tribunal’s findings in London. “This vast apparatus of state repression could not exist if a plan was not authorised at the highest levels,” Nice said. Continue reading...

Dr Guido Russo says stunt was protest against vaccine mandates and jab is ‘best weapon we have’ against virus

Carrie and co are back and having excruciating ‘learning experiences’ to haul themselves into modern times. But there are reasons to be hopeful!Warning: this review contains spoilers from the first episode of And Just Like That.The first 20 minutes of the long-anticipated, much-hyped reboot of Sex and the City, And Just Like That (Sky Comedy/HBO Max), are terrible. The Manhattan streets are alive with the sound of crowbars jimmying more exposition into the dialogue than Carrie’s closet has shoes. Samantha’s absence (Kim Cattrall declined to take part in the new show, apparently as a result of longstanding animus between her and Sarah Jessica Parker) is briskly dealt with. She moved to London (“Sexy sirens in their 60s are still viable there!” says someone with their tongue not firmly enough in their cheek) in a fit of pique after Carrie told her she didn’t need her as a publicist any more. That this does not square with anything we have ever known about Samantha apparently matters not a jot. Viewers are then led at a quick jog through the news that Carrie’s Instagram account has really taken off now she is on a podcast, Charlotte is still dyeing her hair, and Miranda has left her corporate law job and is heading back to college to get a masters degree in human rights law after realising she “can no longer be part of the problem”. Writer and showrunner Michael Patrick King gets her to lay out the show’s organising principle too, for the cheap seats at the back. “We can’t just stay who we were, right? There are more important issues in the world.” Continue reading...

Plans for foreign citizens to need pre-clearance to enter Northern Ireland denounced as ‘hardening of border’EU citizens and other non-Irish or non-British nationals who cross the border from the republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland will have to get pre-clearance under new rules being proposed by the UK government.They will require a US-style waiver known as an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to cross the border as part of the new post-Brexit immigration nationality and borders bill. Continue reading...

The Random Restaurant Twitter feed shows that mini chip fryer baskets and terrible food photos are a planet-wide phenomenonIt’s a familiar image. There’s a well-stacked burger: domed bun, a couple of patties, the crimson flash of fresh tomato. It’s not unappetising. Next to it, however, is an emblem for all that is naff, irritating and deathly in the restaurant world: a mini chip fryer basket full of chips. Because what could be more fun than a miniaturised version of a piece of kitchen equipment? It’s exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to find in a dreary low-rent British gastropub; one that has decided crass serving items are a substitute for a commitment to good food.Except this image is not from a clumsy gastro pub. It’s certainly not from Britain. It’s from Fast Food Le Jasmin, a restaurant in Guelma, in north-eastern Algeria. I can show you other examples from Costa Rica and French Polynesia. For the joyous revelation that restaurant stupidity is not restricted to the UK, we must thank a Twitter account called Random Restaurant or @_restaurant_bot, created by one Joe Schoech. As its name suggests, it uses a bot to search Google randomly for information on restaurants all over the world. Around 20 times a day it posts a map link, plus the first four photographs it finds. Certain countries, including China, are excluded because Google isn’t available there. Otherwise, it provides an extraordinary window on how we eat out globally. Continue reading...

Analysis: The ‘Brussels effect’ means British firms may adopt ambitious EU employment rights for gig economy workers

New Zealand has announced it will outlaw smoking for the next generation, so that those who are aged 14 and under today will never be legally able to buy tobacco.New legislation means the legal smoking age will increase every year, to create a smoke-free generation of New Zealanders, associate health minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said

As the sea claims more of the west African shoreline, those left homeless by floods are losing hope that the government will actWaves have taken the landscape John Afedzie knew so well. “The waters came closer in the last few months, but now they have destroyed parts of schools and homes. The waves have taken the whole of the village. One needs to use a boat to commute now because of the rising sea levels,” he says.Afedzie lives in Keta, one of Ghana’s coastal towns, where a month ago high tide brought seawater flooding into 1,027 houses, according to the government, leaving him among about 3,000 people made homeless overnight. Continue reading...

Staff employed to teach British values and the English language refused the right to come to the UKNearly 100 former British Council staff employed to teach British values and the English language remain in hiding in Afghanistan after having so far been refused the right to come to the UK by officials.Their plight has been taken up by Joseph Seaton, the former British Council Afghanistan English manager, and its deputy director, who has written to the most relevant cabinet members in a bid to gain their support. Continue reading...

Committee to Protect Journalists says 293 reporters are in prison, and at least 24 have been killed in 2021The number of journalists who are behind bars worldwide reached a new high point in 2021, according to a study which says that 293 reporters were imprisoned as of 1 December 2021.At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage, and 18 others died in circumstances that make it too difficult to determine whether they were targeted because of their work, the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday in its annual survey on press freedom and attacks on the media. Continue reading...

Advocates welcome bill allowing for self-identification they say upholds rights for transgender and non-binary New ZealandersNew Zealand’s rainbow community will be allowed to change the sex recorded on their birth certificates without providing evidence of a medical procedure, after a bill to recognise the right for gender minorities to self-identify passed into law.“Today is a proud day in Aotearoa’s history,” internal affairs minister Jan Tinetti said. “Parliament has voted in favour of inclusivity and against discrimination.” Continue reading...

The artist’s mind-boggling works – full of stairways leading nowhere and water flowing uphill – defy logic. But did they also foresee the second world war? And why was he so riled by the Stones frontman?You are walking up a staircase that winds up to the top of a tall square tower. It ascends one side, then the next, then the next – and then suddenly you are right back where you started. This is the kind of problem people who are trapped in the geometrically impossible, yet still strangely plausible, worlds of MC Escher have to deal with all the time. In his mind-boggling creations, dimensions collide and normality dissolves. Looking into his pictures is like standing on the very edge of a cliff – and being right down at the bottom at the same time.The Dutchman’s illusions have been famous and beloved since the 1950s, when spaced-out fans first started claiming to see hemp plants hidden in his art. And now we have Kaleidocycles, a Taschen book about the artist featuring paper puzzle kits that allow you to actually build his paradoxical structures at home, unlikely as that may seem. The tome has just been reissued in time for Christmas and the 50th anniversary of his death next year. His work does seem perfect for the festive season, given it’s all fun and games. Or at least that’s how it seems, initially. Continue reading...

Housing survivors of torture or other serious forms of violence in barracks ‘harmful’, all-party report saysA cross-party group of parliamentarians is calling on the government to end its use of controversial barracks accommodation for people seeking asylum, in a new report published on Thursday.The report also recommends the scrapping of government plans to expand barracks-style accommodation for up to 8,000 asylum seekers. It refers to accommodation, including Napier barracks in Kent, which is currently being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers, as “quasi-detention” due to visible security measures, surveillance, shared living quarters and isolation from the wider community. Continue reading...

Anupama S Chandran’s newborn child was sent away by her parents, who were unhappy that his father was from the Dalit casteThrough the rains and steamy heat of November, day and night, Anupama S Chandran sat by the gates of the Kerala state secretariat. She refused to eat, drink or be moved. Her single demand was written on a placard: “Give me my baby.”The story of Chandran’s fight to get back her child, who was snatched from her by her own family days after he was born and put up for adoption without her knowledge, is one that has been greeted with both horror and a sad familiarity in India. Continue reading...

World Health Organization says new Covid variant spreading rapidly in South Africa, with cases doubling in the past weekThe Omicron variant of Covid-19 has now been reported in 57 countries and continues to spread rapidly in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.But the latest epidemiological report from WHO says given the Delta variant remains dominant, particularly in Europe and the US, it is still too early to draw any conclusions about the global impact of Omicron. Continue reading...

You’ve done a brave thing by changing your life, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, don’t let that change become its own choreAfter years of struggling with a punishing combination of emotional instability and over-work in high pressure jobs, I eventually got sick, dropped out and am finally on the road to recovery, with a new understanding of how to take better care of my mental health and the value of a healthy body.I’ve been appreciating simple pleasures, good old friends and the benefits of a quiet life, but it’s a particularly daunting time to start stepping back into the swim. Although I’m now aware of people and situations that aren’t good for me, I have become very self-protective – not helped by the pandemic. It’s very easy to decide it’s too crazy and unkind out there. Continue reading...

Urgent appeal lodged to stop the broadcast of cartoons calling on New Caledonians to vote against independence from France in this weekend’s referendumCartoons urging New Caledonians to vote no to independence from France in this weekend’s referendum have been accused of “profound racism and ridicule towards Pacific Islanders, especially the [indigenous] Kanak people”, in a legal submission lodged with France’s highest judicial body.An urgent appeal has been lodged against the broadcast of the animations, which have been running on television in New Caledonia and online, with the Council of State in France. Continue reading...

Former journalist Gwyneth Ho and rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung also found guilty of unlawful assembly chargesJailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was among three democracy campaigners convicted of taking part in a banned Tiananmen vigil as the prosecution of multiple activists came to a conclusion.Lai, the 74-year-old owner of the now-closed pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty of unlawful assembly charges on Thursday alongside former journalist Gwyneth Ho and prominent rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung. Continue reading...

Outrage spreads on social media over alleged massacre of people rounded up by government troops in Sagaing regionMyanmar soldiers rounded up and killed 11 people in a village, shooting and then setting them on fire, according to people in the area and local media reports.Photos and a video purporting to show charred corpses in Don Taw village in the Sagaing region of Myanmar’s north-west circulated on Tuesday while outrage spread on social media. Continue reading...

Defence ministry says competition between US and China a ‘major driver’ of increased insecurity in the Pacific regionNew Zealand faces “a substantially more challenging and complex strategic environment”, in large part because of China’s rise and “increasingly strong nationalist narrative”, according to a stark report released by the country’s defence ministry.The remarkably explicit warning on Wednesday included a detailed discussion of China’s military modernisation and emphasised the importance of New Zealand’s deep security relationships with Anglosphere countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Continue reading...

Trial could lead to a longer school day being introduced permanentlyA number of schools in Wales are extending their day by an hour to try to help youngsters catch up after Covid lockdowns.The Welsh government will invest up to £2m on the trial, allowing 14 primaries and secondaries across south Wales to open for groups of children for an extra five hours a week. Continue reading...

The Jamaican Grammy-winning bassist was part of the duo with Sly Dunbar and worked with such artists as Mick Jagger and Grace JonesRobbie Shakespeare, acclaimed bassist and record producer, has died at the age of 68. The Jamaican artist was part of the duo Sly and Robbie with Sly Dunbar.According to The Jamaica Gleaner, Shakespeare had recently undergone surgery related to his kidneys. He had been in hospital in Florida. Continue reading...

Solicitors tell hearing they sent a letter to Raymond McClure less than six weeks before he died stating he should consider revising his will

Actor tells high court about her view of how details were discovered, which the publisher deniesSienna Miller believes details of her 2005 pregnancy were obtained by the then editor of the Sun, Rebekah Brooks, using “blatantly unlawful means”, a court has heard. Miller also believes phone hacking was practised by journalists at Rupert Murdoch’s daily tabloid newspaper.“I was told at the end of July 2005, by my friend and publicist, that Rebekah Brooks had found out that I was pregnant,” said Miller, in an excerpt from a draft statement read out by her lawyer at the high court. Continue reading...

Force cites policy of not investigating past alleged breaches of Covid rules and lack of evidenceThe Metropolitan police has said it will not investigate the Downing Street Christmas party widely reported to have been held last year.In a much awaited statement, the force said it had a policy of not retrospectively investigating alleged breaches of coronavirus laws. Continue reading...

Marazion, opposite St Michael’s Mount, faces stiff opposition from larger areas in contest for city statusIt may not boast a cathedral, a university or a major sports team – the sort of features often associated with a typical British metropolis. But the town of Marazion (population 1,440), perched prettily on the south coast of Cornwall, has nevertheless launched a bold campaign for city status.Marazion, which does have a couple of churches, a primary school and rowing and sailing clubs, would become the smallest and most southerly city if its proposal is accepted. Continue reading...

President warns about ‘manipulation’ of history after Éric Zemmour claims Vichy regime protected French Jews from NazisEmmanuel Macron has warned against the “manipulation” of history in a clear message to the far-right presidential candidate, Éric Zemmour, on a symbolic visit to Vichy.After the German occupation in 1940, the spa town was chosen for Marshal Philippe Pétain’s puppet regime, which collaborated with the Nazis and ensured the deportation of Jews to death camps. Zemmour has angered historians by claiming, instead, that Pétain saved French Jews. Continue reading...

No 10 says Trudy Harrison gave permission as an MP rather than in her capacity as aide to Boris JohnsonAllies of animal charity boss Pen Farthing and a Labour MP have cast doubt on Downing Street claims about a letter by Boris Johnson’s parliamentary aide Trudy Harrison giving him permission to be evacuated from Kabul in August.No 10 said Harrison was “acting in her capacity as a constituency MP” when she wrote the letter – as it continued to insist that Boris Johnson had not ordered the rescue of Farthing and his cats and dogs ahead of desperate Afghans. Continue reading...

Alleged offences of Paul Grayson include 13 relating to staff and patients at Royal Hallamshire hospital, SheffieldA theatre nurse was charged on Wednesday with a series of sexual offences against patients and staff at the Royal Hallamshire hospital, Sheffield.South Yorkshire police said Paul Grayson, 51, had been charged with 20 offences, including voyeurism and sexual assault, as well as with taking and making indecent photographs of children. Continue reading...

Friends of the Earth cites documents suggesting UK’s reputation could suffer if it pulled $1.15bn of promised supportThe UK was “embarrassed” into funding a huge gas project in Mozambique while considering ending overseas support for fossil fuels, a court has heard.During a three-day high court hearing, Friends of the Earth highlighted government documents that suggested there would be “obvious repercussions” if the government did not follow through on $1.15bn of support to an offshore pipeline and liquefied natural gas plant in Cabo Delgado province. Continue reading...

Sanna Marin says she should have checked guidance given to her after her foreign minister tested positive

Exclusive: political tensions prompt increase in numbers of French with negative view of Brits and vice versaA year of post-Brexit bickering has left the French and the British feeling significantly less well disposed towards each other, a poll shows.After ill-tempered exchanges over everything from fishing to submarines and Covid travel rules to the Northern Ireland protocol, the YouGov poll found that favourable opinions of the British had slid in France and other EU countries. Continue reading...

Allegra Stratton has stepped down as the government’s spokesperson for the Cop26 climate summit after footage of her emerged joking about a party at Downing Street during the peak of lockdown rules in December last year.At the time the video was shot, Stratton was Boris Johnson’s press secretary. Her exchanges about the party with other No 10 officials were filmed as part of rehearsals for a proposed daily televised Downing Street press briefing, which she was going to host

Greens MP Michael Berkman demands an inquiry into comments he says are dehumanisingThe Greens have called for an investigation into a number of “deeply concerning” social media posts allegedly made by Queensland prison officers, including calls for the use of violence against “maggot” inmates.Several of the comments cited in a complaint by the Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman were made by individuals on the Facebook page of the Together Queensland Prison Officers’ Union. There is no suggestion the views were endorsed by the union, which has since changed its privacy settings and removed all comments.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

He managed the Bee Gees and created Saturday Night Fever but the closeted impressario ‘never felt that sense of success’ according to a new documentaryAccording to film director Joe Maggio, two types of executives run the entertainment industry – one far rarer than the other. “The vast majority of them don’t know what’s good, or what will be a hit, until ten other people tell them,” he said. “But a few can tell you right away. They’re the visionaries.”For an extended time, one of the most clairvoyant was Robert Stigwood. Yet no one had made a feature documentary about him until now. Mr Saturday Night lays out the rocket-like trajectory of this manager turned producer turned impresario who scored hits in the worlds of music, theater, concerts and film. Stigwood’s projects ranged from managing the Bee Gees to running a record label featuring artists like Eric Clapton to producing two of the biggest movies of all time – Saturday Night Fever and Grease, as well as the successful movie version of the Who’s Tommy – to bankrolling smash plays like Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. “For a time, he was the Wizard of Oz of entertainment,” said Maggio, who directed the film, to the Guardian. “Between 1970 and 1978, he could not not make a hit.” Continue reading...

V Adm Haydn Edmundson is the latest to be embroiled in a series of sexual misconduct scandals in the militaryThe former head of human resources at Canada’s military has been charged with sexual assault and committing indecent acts as the country grapples with a wave of misconduct and assault allegations levelled against senior officials.Military police announced the charges against V Adm Haydn Edmundson on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Officials say Saudi national has ‘nothing to do with the case’ and arrest was a case of mistaken identityA Saudi man arrested at a French airport on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been released, after the Paris prosecutor concluded it was a case of mistaken identity.“Extensive checks on the identity of this person have allowed us to establish that the warrant did not apply to him,” read a statement from the prosecutor general, Rémy Heitz. “He has been released.” Continue reading...

Restoration uncovers Dutch master’s original vision for 1642 painting for the first timeA hidden sketch by Rembrandt has been discovered beneath the thick paint of the Dutch master’s most famous work, The Night Watch, revealing for the first time the artist’s original vision for the vast canvas.The preparatory drawing, made with beige paint with a high chalk content, was found as a result of a two-and-a-half-year investigation by restorers, data experts and art historians at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Continue reading...

Jackie Green’s mother died from Covid on 18 December last year, after months of them both following the rules