Millions of children worldwide are at risk of abuse and exploitation in institutions, often to attract funding from donors, says Lumos charityImmediate action must be taken to prevent trafficking and exploitation of children in orphanages, according to a report published on Monday.International children’s charity Lumos says that an estimated 5.4 million children worldwide live in institutions that cannot meet their needs and neglect their rights and where they are exposed to multiple forms of exploitation and harm. Continue reading...

Our countdown of the best films released in the UK during 2021 continues with an engrossing adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story

Hu Xijin is China’s most famous propagandist. At the Global Times, he helped establish a chest-thumping new tone for China on the world stage – but can he keep up with the forces he has unleashed?On 2 November, the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai posted a long message on the social media site Weibo, accusing China’s former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault. As soon as the post went live, it became the highest-profile #MeToo case in China, and one of the ruling Chinese Communist party’s largest public relations crises in recent history. Within about 20 minutes, the post had been removed. All mentions of the post were then scrubbed from the Chinese internet. No references to the story appeared in the Chinese media. In the days that followed, Peng made no further statements and did not appear in public. Outside China, however, as other tennis stars publicly expressed concerns for her safety, Peng’s apparent disappearance became one of the biggest news stories in the world.It wasn’t long before Hu Xijin stepped into the story. Hu is the editor of the Global Times, a chest-thumpingly nationalistic tabloid sometimes described as “China’s Fox News”. In recent years, he has become the most influential Chinese propagandist in the west – a constant presence on Twitter and in the international media, always on hand to defend the Communist party line, no matter the topic. On 19 November, he tweeted to his 450,000 followers that he had confirmed through his own sources – he didn’t say who they were – that Peng was alive and well. Over the next two days, he posted videos of Peng at a restaurant and signing autographs in Beijing. Continue reading...

Season three of the hit show has made even more headlines than usual. We ask its British creator if he’s had enough yet, if actor Jeremy Strong is doing OK – and if his character Kendall is actually Jesus• Warning: contains spoilersYesterday, like much of the rest of the world, I watched the finale of the third season of Succession. And, like much of the rest of the world, I found myself buffeted by one astonishing twist after another – and a gasp-inducing climax that outdid even those of series one and two. Unlike my fellow viewers, however, pretty much the first thing I see after the end credits roll is the face of Jesse Armstrong, the show’s creator, popping up over Zoom and politely attempting to dissuade me from discussing the episode.Unlike other big TV showrunners – who will happily explain, and sometimes over-explain, every single second – Armstrong prefers to remain hands off. He tries not to read the acres of theorising that Succession inspires. Such post-match analyses, he says, can often feel like a tightrope walk. “There’s a bit of me that just wants to find out what the fuck everyone is saying about the show,” he says from his book-lined study in London. “But you can’t. It wouldn’t be good for me psychologically – and it wouldn’t be good for the creative process of doing the show.” Continue reading...

Boris Johnson has not ruled out new restrictions but how effective could they be and what are the political risks

Overwhelming vote to remain with France, but low turnout ‘weighs heavily’ on self-determination process, say observersLow voter turnout at New Caledonia’s independence referendum “weighs heavily” on the French territory’s self-determination process, election observers from the Pacific Islands Forum have said.In Sunday’s referendum, more than 96% of voters were opposed to independence from France, compared with 57% in 2018 and 53% in 2020. Continue reading...

Item containing radiopharmaceuticals lost in transit after being transported between two hospitalsA package of radioactive medicines was found in the street by a member of the public after being lost in transit between two London hospitals.The item, containing radiopharmaceuticals, is thought not to have been secured properly in the vehicle transporting it and, after coming loose, it came into contact with an internal door release and fell out while being moved between Siemens’ Mount Vernon hospital in London and London Bridge hospital in September. Continue reading...

Family, friends and fellow musicians pay their final respects to the man known as ‘El Rey’ (the King) following his death at age 81Mexicans are in mourning for Vicente Fernández, the elaborately mustachioed icon of ranchera music, whose ballads of love and loss, golden baritones and singular stage presence captured the raw emotions of a nation.Fans flocked to his ranch in western Jalisco state, where family, friends and fellow crooners paid their final respects to the man known as “El Rey” (the King) – and often just by the diminutive “Chente.” Continue reading...

Fatemeh Anvari was told her headwear ran afoul of Bill 21, which bars some public servants from wearing religious symbolsThe removal of a Canadian teacher for wearing a hijab in the classroom has sparked widespread condemnation of a controversial law in the province of Quebec, which critics say unfairly targets ethnic minorities under the pretext of secularism.Fatemeh Anvari, a third-grade teacher in the town of Chelsea, was told earlier this month that she would no longer be allowed to continue in the role because her headwear ran afoul of Bill 21, a law passed in 2019. Continue reading...

US citizen is accused of killing 19-year-old in a road crash outside RAF Croughton on 27 August 2019The US citizen Anne Sacoolas is due to face criminal proceedings in the UK, charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn.The 44-year-old is accused of killing the teenager in a road crash outside the US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August 2019. Continue reading...

Latest updates: health secretary tells MPs no variant has spread as fast as confirmed cases of the variant rise 50% in a day

After a year of criticism over diversity, the Golden Globes have come up with a decent slate of nominees, with Gaga surely the favourite for best actress• Full list of 2020 nominationsThe Golden Globes nomination list has been announced with a solemn introduction from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s president Helen Hoehne, to the effect that the Globes’ much-criticised controlling body was “trying to be better” and that its constituent membership was more diverse than at any other time in its history. Which is better, I suppose, than being less diverse than at any time in its history.At any rate, leading the pack are Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s unashamed heartwarmer about the home town of his early childhood, with seven nominations and Jane Campion’s stark, twisty western-Gothic psychodrama The Power of the Dog, set in 1920s Montana with Benedict Cumberbatch as the troubled, angry cattleman who begins a toxic duel with his new sister-in-law played by Kirsten Dunst and her sensitive teenage son, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. Continue reading...

From massive loss and intense grief, the Marrin Weejali Aboriginal Corporation was born

Animals brought illegally to Colombia by the drug kingpin have been allowed to roam free and are now disrupting the fragile ecosystem.Michael Safi speaks to reporter Joe Parkin Daniels and veterinarian Gina Paola Serna about Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’Myths and legends continue to surround Colombia’s most notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar 26 years after his death. But his legacy has had an unexpectedly disastrous impact on some of the country’s fragile ecosystems. A herd of more than 80 hippos roam free, the descendants of animals smuggled to Colombia from Africa in the 1980s and now flourishing in the wild.Reporter Joe Parkin Daniels tells Michael Safi that when Escobar was shot dead by police on a rooftop in his hometown of Medellín, the authorities seized his estate and the animals on it. While most were shipped to zoos, the logistics of moving his four hippos proved insurmountable and they were left to wander the Andes. Continue reading...

New facility could produce 100m vaccines a year under deal between pharmaceutical company and federal and Victorian governments

First large-scale representations of region are back on display at Uffizi Galleries in FlorenceMaps depicting Renaissance Tuscany are back on display at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence after being hidden from public view for more than 20 years.The wall paintings were commissioned in the late 1500s by Ferdinando I de’ Medici after the republic of Florence’s conquering of its rival Siena led to the creation the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and depict the newly unified territory. Continue reading...

Officials urged to review procedures after accusations 999 calls by people in small boats are being redirected to FranceRefugees crossing the Channel to the UK in small boats are calling on the UK coastguard to review its procedures after claiming officials regularly redirect them to French emergency services after they make 999 calls in what they believe to be the UK part of the Channel.Relatives and survivors of the mass tragedy in the Channel where at least 27 people lost their lives on 24 November said that repeated distress calls had been made to both French and UK coastguards and that the UK had told them to contact the French rescue services. Continue reading...

Netflix’s continued obsession with the pandemic hit has brought a follow-up special, a second season and now a spin-off but enough is enoughTo think of Tiger King is to immediately transport yourself to the heady days of lockdown 2020. Remember it? Remember how filled with artificial purpose we all were? We did Zoom quizzes with all our friends! We made banana bread! We clapped for frontline workers!Looking back, it seems relatively clear that all those things were stupid. Nobody wants to spend more time on Zoom than they have to. Nobody likes banana bread. The clapping didn’t change anything. And as for Tiger King? With the benefit of hindsight, Christ, we chose the wrong show to obsess over. Looking back, Tiger King was grubby and exploitative. Once you’d crossed the “Are these people for real?” hurdle, you found yourself sitting through a carnival of monstrous behaviour. Tiger King was the documentary equivalent of that old Black Mirror episode: as fun as it sounds to watch someone have sex with a pig, at the end of the day you actually have to watch someone have sex with a pig. Continue reading...

‘Philip turned up to meet my parents fully made up, with red lipstick and high heels. My dad locked himself in the bedroom and refused to come out’I had intended to recruit just one female backing singer but when I walked into the Crazy Daisy nightclub in Sheffield, the first thing I saw was Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley dancing. They somehow looked like a unit while being clearly different individuals. I knew they were right. Continue reading...

Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical drama and Jane Campion’s tense western both score seven nominations• Full list of nominationsIn one of the more unexpected comebacks of the year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the nominations for its 79th awards ceremony, to be held on 9 January – but not screened on television after broadcaster NBC terminated the contract.Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s black-and-white drama set in his hometown during the Troubles, has seven nominations, as does The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion’s sexually-charged western set in 1920s Montana. Continue reading...

Communities in five US states are picking up the pieces after a barrage of twistersPowerful tornadoes barrelled through five US states on Friday, levelling houses and factories and bringing down power lines. In Kentucky, the worst-hit state, one tornado alone followed an extraordinarily long and destructive path of more than 200 miles. Continue reading...

White House accused of trying to avoid antagonising Beijing by replacing feed during map presentationThe White House has been accused of cutting the video feed of a Taiwanese minister after a map in the official’s slide presentation showed the island in a different colour to China’s during last week’s Summit for Democracy, in an effort to avoid antagonising Beijing.Reuters news agency reported that during a panel discussion on Friday, the video feed showing Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, was replaced with audio only. Continue reading...

Death of ‘role model’ Fatiha Sabrin linked to pest control substances found in flats where she livedGrieving pupils at a primary school in east London are “struggling to cope” after one of their brightest and best-loved classmates was killed over the weekend in an incident being linked to pest control chemicals found in the flats where she lived.Rena Begum, the headteacher of Buttercup primary in Shadwell, said the school was in “great shock” after the death of 11-year-old Fatiha Sabrin in Saturday’s incident. Continue reading...

Central bank forced to defend currency as traders respond to interest rate cut with sharp selloffFears that Turkey is on course for a full-scale financial crisis have intensified after the lira plunged to fresh lows against the US dollar.Turkey’s central bank was forced to step in to defend the ailing currency – selling US dollars for lira – after the latest sharp selloff. Continue reading...

Health experts issue dire warning as staff go unpaid and medical facilities lack basic items to treat patientsLarge parts of Afghanistan’s health system are on the brink of collapse because of western sanctions against the Taliban, international experts have warned, as the country faces outbreaks of disease and an escalating malnutrition crisis.With the country experiencing a deepening humanitarian crisis since the Taliban’s seizure of power in August amid mounting levels of famine and economic collapse, many medical staff have not been paid for months and health facilities lack even the most basic items to treat patients. Continue reading...

Met has not formally identified woman’s body found in park but has informed family of south London hospital workerOfficers searching for the missing hospital worker Petra Srncova are not treating her disappearance as suspicious, they have said, after a body was found in a park in south London.Police have not formally identified the body, which was discovered close to where the 32-year-old was last seen, but they have informed the senior nurse assistant’s relatives. Continue reading...

Mayor of Amazonian town of Borba and ex-councillor settle differences in bout livestreamed on the internetTwo feuding Amazonian politicians have settled their differences with an ultimate fighting-style rumble in the jungle that has fuelled fears over the increasingly antagonistic nature of Brazilian democracy.Simão Peixoto, the mayor of Borba, a town 90 miles south of Manaus, was publicly challenged to the fistfight in September by a former councillor called Erineu da Silva. Continue reading...

Interior minister begins legal action to dissolve Zouaves group after brawl at rally for far-right presidential candidateFrance’s interior minister is seeking to dissolve an “ultra right” group suspected of attacking anti-racism protesters who entered a campaign rally held by the far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour.The Zouaves, who support Zemmour’s anti-immigration and anti-Islam ideology, are thought to be behind the brawl, which happened eight days ago. Continue reading...

Amanda, 39, and Alex, 42, met on a forum for railway enthusiasts. After a long online friendship, they started dating in 2007. They now live in New York with their two childrenAlex was studying transport management in Boston when he first came across Amanda in 2001. They belonged to the same internet forum for railway enthusiasts. “At the time it was a hobby dominated by men and a lot of women who did join disguised themselves,” says Alex. “I remember seeing Amanda’s name and thinking it was great that she could be herself.”There was an AOL chatroom within the message board, and they began to talk. A New Yorker, Amanda had always been interested in transport systems. For several years they chatted online, but neither expected it to turn into more. “She was dating a subway operator and I told her to be careful because the railroad life can be really tough,” he says.Want to share your story? Tell us a little about yourself, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here. Continue reading...

Move by EU’s smallest member state likely to be followed by reform across rest of continent in 2022Malta will this week become the first European country to legalise the cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal use, pipping Luxembourg to the post, as the continent undergoes a wave of change to its drug laws.Possession of up to seven grams of the drug will be legal for those aged 18 and above, and it will permissible to grow up to four cannabis plants at home. Continue reading...

Lai and seven other democracy campaigners handed prison sentences for commemorating victims of massacreThe Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and seven other pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to up to 14 months in prison for organising, taking part in and inciting participation in a banned vigil last year for victims of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.The former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide-ranging freedoms, traditionally holds the largest 4 June vigil in the world, but police have rejected applications for the past two events, citing coronavirus restrictions. Continue reading...

She started a youth strike in Uganda – then just kept going. She discusses climate justice, reparations, imperialism and why the global north must take responsibilityIn February 2020, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Vanessa Nakate had her point made for her in the most vivid and “frustrating and heartbreaking” way. The Ugandan climate crisis activist, who turned 25 last month, had gone to Switzerland to introduce some perspective to its cosy consensus. “One of the things that I wanted to emphasise was the importance of listening to activists and people from the most affected areas,” she says. “How can we have climate justice if the people who are suffering the worst impacts of the climate crisis are not being listened to, not being platformed, not being amplified and are left out of the conversation? It’s not possible.”To this end, she appeared at a press conference with Greta Thunberg and three other white, European youth climate strikers. When the Associated Press published a photo of the meeting, it cropped out Nakate. It was, she said at the time, her first encounter with direct and blatant racism – and only reinforced her point and made her campaign more urgent. AP later expressed “regret” for its “error in judgment”. Continue reading...

Here’s what you need to do before travelling to Western Australia and while in the state, which is to open its borders next yearWestern Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, has announced the state’s border will reopen on 5 February when double-dose vaccination is predicted to hit 90%, allowing for quarantine-free travel to the state.Here’s what you need to know before you book travel into WA. Continue reading...

Pyongyang has made end to US hostility a precondition for peace talks after almost 70 years of conflictSouth and North Korea, China and the US have agreed “in principle” to declare a formal end to the Korean war, almost 70 years after the conflict ended in a shaky truce, the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has said.But Moon conceded that talks on the 1950-53 war were being held back by North Korean objections to present-day “US hostility”. Continue reading...

Up to seven people reportedly injured after blast at convent outside MoscowAn 18-year-old graduate of a Russian Orthodox school tried to blow himself up at a convent outside Moscow on Monday, wounding at least one teenager, the interior ministry said on Monday.“An 18-year-old graduate of this educational institution entered the premises of the Orthodox gymnasium of the Vvedenskiy Vladychniy convent and blew himself up,” the ministry said in a statement. Continue reading...

Police allege Sudesh Kumar tried to pass victim’s body off as his own to avoid being tried for another alleged murderAn Indian man who tried to fake his death by murdering a builder and passing the body off as his own has been arrested, police said.He did it to avoid being tried for another alleged murder, they added – Sudesh Kumar was charged with but not convicted of the 2018 killing of his daughter, who had eloped. Continue reading...

22 March 1930 – 26 November 2021

Raymond McClure’s will, leaving Dr Peter Alexakis 90% of his estate, being challenged in NSW supreme courtOne of Australia’s most experienced geriatric specialists has told a Sydney court there was a “highly irregular” power imbalance between a GP and his wealthy patient who left him tens of millions of dollars.Raymond McClure, who died aged 84 in 2017, left his GP, Dr Peter Alexakis, 90% of his estate worth more than $30m. Continue reading...

Premier Mark McGowan says fully vaccinated interstate and international travellers will be able to enter the state with some Covid testing requirements

An army of riders ferry food around the South African city, their lives and travails largely unseen by the people they serve. Photojournalist James Oatway has spent several months documenting their challengesIt’s a Friday night in Johannesburg. Lockdown has just been eased as Covid infection rates have plateaued. The restive city is slowly springing back to life, with cars once again careering along the city’s recently empty arterial roads.At the scene of a crash, the blue and red lights of emergency vehicles bathe the street in an eerie glow. Two motorbike food couriers have been knocked down by a car. The driver tried to flee but was apprehended by another motorist. One of the bikes has been flattened. Next to it lies a black canvas carrier bag bearing the Uber Eats logo.A Congolese driver was seriously injured in a crash in Sandton. Footage showed a car going through a red light and hitting the rider. The vehicle did not stop and the driver has never been apprehended. Continue reading...

A study has shown that by the age of seven they can grasp the lessons they need to learn to avoid financial problems in the futureThe early experiences children have with money can shape their financial behaviour as adults, according to a study published by the UK government’s MoneyHelper service. By the age of seven, the University of Cambridge study found, most children are capable of grasping the value of money, delaying gratification and understanding that some choices are irreversible or will cause them problems in the future. The research suggests children who are allowed to make age-appropriate financial decisions and experience spending or saving dilemmas can form positive “habits of the mind” when it comes to money. This could lead to a lifelong improvement in their ability to plan ahead and be reflective in their thinking about money, or they may learn how to regulate their impulses and emotions in a way that promotes positive financial behaviour later in life. Continue reading...

After politics in Vice and finance in The Big Short, director McKay is taking on the climate crisis in his star-studded ‘freakout’ satire Don’t Look UpAdam McKay calls it his “freakout trilogy”. Having tackled the 2008 financial crash and warmongering US vice president Dick Cheney in his previous two movies, The Big Short and Vice, McKay goes even bigger and bleaker with his latest, Don’t Look Up, in which two astronomers (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a giant comet headed for Earth, but struggle to get anyone to listen. It is an absurd but depressingly plausible disaster satire, somewhere between Dr Strangelove, Network, Deep Impact and Idiocracy, with an unbelievably stellar cast; also on board are Meryl Streep (as the US president), Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande. It has been quite the career trajectory for McKay, who started out in live improv and writing for Saturday Night Live, followed by a run of hit Will Ferrell comedies such as Anchorman, Step Brothers and The Other Guys. “The goal was to capture this moment,” says McKay of Don’t Look Up. “And this moment is a lot.”Was there a particular event that inspired Don’t Look Up?

The Italian director’s new, semi-autobiographical film reveals a charming and rarely seen side of his home city‘This, for me, is the most beautiful place on Earth,” Paolo Sorrentino told Filippo Scotti, the actor playing the director’s younger self in his latest film, as their 1980s Riva speedboat chopped the waves of the Bay of Naples. Their view stretched from the precipitous peninsula of Sorrento all the way west towards Posillipo. The two promontories flank the sprawling port city, offering a warm embrace to all those who disembark there. Sorrentino’s new film, the Hand of God, opens with that same view: the sun-mottled bay, whose peace is disturbed by the sound of four Rivas as they speed towards the shore. The film is both a love letter to, and a portal into, Paolo Sorrentino’s Naples.In cinemas now and on Netflix this week, The Hand of God sees the Academy award-winning director return to his home city for the first time since One Man Up, his 2001 debut. Sorrentino tells the story of his own coming of age, up to the moment when his life is shattered by the death of his parents in a tragic accident. Sorrentino’s story is a tale of great grief, loss and perseverance, set in a middle-class part of Naples, a far cry from the impoverished neighbourhoods shown in the city’s other recent portraits: Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend or the mafia-focused Gomorrah series. Continue reading...

I get to wear a natty white jacket, insectoid mask and hold an épée like a pistol – my inner child could not be happier. En garde!Ever since childhood, I have wanted to be trained in the sword. But I have always believed one had to be born a musketeer for this to happen, or have a death to avenge, plus access to castle steps. But here I am at the London Fencing Club in Old Street, which is easier.It’s a few weeks before omicron takes off, and the government is pooh-poohing any talk of tightening Covid restrictions. I’m learning épée, the thin, pointy blade that most resembles a classic swashbuckling sword. My Russian-born coach, Anna Anstal, loves fencing épée. The opponent’s entire body is a target, and there are no “right of way” rules governing who can score at a given moment. “You must think about the zombie apocalypse,” she says. “Rules are no use with a zombie. The ability to strike first is all that matters.” It’s unexpected advice, her heavy accent giving it even more edge. I’m quite scared. Continue reading...

Voter turnout in the Pacific territory’s referendum on independence from France at the weekend was staggeringly low, after pro-independence groups called for boycotts. Those who did cast ballots voted overwhelmingly for New Caledonia to remain part of France Continue reading...

City’s education board seeks to distance itself from incident in which young students at one school watched video of corpses and executionsA primary school in Hong Kong has apologised after students as young as six were left in tears last week after teachers showed them unsettling video footage of the Nanjing massacre ahead of its 84th anniversary on Monday.The incident came after the Education Bureau called on local schools to run activities commemorating the massacre in a directive last month. Continue reading...

Arts administrator targets Liberal-held South Australian seat, now the third most marginal in the country

Officers called to Brunswick Park in Camberwell, south London, on Sunday morningPolice have found the body of a woman in Camberwell on Sunday, after days of appeals for information to trace missing NHS worker Petra Srncova who was last seen in the area on 28 November.At about 11.40am on Sunday police were called by a member of the public to reports that the body of a woman had been found in Brunswick Park in south-east London. Continue reading...