Rosamund Pike, who stars in Amazon Prime’s forthcoming take on Robert Jordan’s fantasy series, says his female characters are role models. Really?What is going on with Amazon Prime’s characterisation of The Wheel of Time? I ask this as a fantasy fan, someone who not only adores the classy stuff (NK Jemisin, Guy Gavriel Kay etc) but has also devotedly ploughed her way through The Belgariad, most of Terry Goodkind (until it got too crazy even for me) and Simon R Green. And how many people involved with the forthcoming adaptation have actually marathoned their way through all of the books?My eyebrows were first raised back when the deal to adapt Robert Jordan’s extremely long series was announced in 2018, when head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke praised its “timely narrative featuring powerful women at the core”. Now, I read these books in my late teens, but my resounding memory of them was not of “powerful women”. In fact, I remember thinking Jordan’s depiction of women was pretty dismal – he might have packed in far more female characters than Tolkien ever did, but they’re constantly objectified, forever hoisting their bosoms around, adjusting their skirts – even getting spanked as punishment. Continue reading...

At the start of the pandemic, Seoul pursued a zero Covid policy. The country has been reaping the benefits ever sinceWith winter approaching, it’s time to talk about the optimal Covid-19 strategy again – and for that, we need to look once more at what’s happening in South Korea.It has vaccinated 79.2% of its population with two doses, and, if it continues administering 220,000 doses a day, will have covered almost 90% of its population by the end of the year. Compare this to the UK, where 68.6% of the population has received two doses, and the US, where this figure is at 58%. If we compare deaths, the numbers are even more shocking. South Korea has suffered only 3,137 from a population of 51.8 million. For the UK, the corresponding figures are 142,945 deaths from a population of 67.2 million, while in the US there have been 783,575 deaths from a population of 329.5 million. In addition, in the first quarter of 2021, South Korea became one of the first high-income countries to see its economy recover to pre-pandemic levels, after it managed to only experience a 1% contraction in GDP in 2020 (the second-best performance behind China).Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Connemara has inspired film crews, writers and maharajahs with its wild mountains and endless expanses of sky and seaWhen I was 20 and straight out of teacher training college I took a job in a school in Connemara for a year. My friends were heading for the bright lights of Dublin, but after a childhood of caravan holidays along Ireland’s west coast I was drawn to the “wild mountainous country” of west Galway beloved of Oscar Wilde and countless other artists and untamed spirits.Instead of the indoor excitement of city life, I spent the year knee-high in bogs, scrambling up the Twelve Bens, island-hopping to Inishbofin and Inishark and pedalling along deserted roads to the show-stopping beaches at Glassilaun and Rossadillisk. A sign on the road for Rossadillisk beach read “Welcome to Paradise”. I learned to ride on Connemara ponies at Errislannan and on weekends I’d hitch lifts to random events in Letterfrack, involving local poets, map makers and sculptors who breathed life into this quiet corner of Ireland. With no advance planning, I’d find myself at the summit of Diamond Hill or spotting porpoises at Renvyle beach with a gang of newfound friends. Continue reading...

Eton and Harrow among those whose ‘character-building’ qualities were admired by German educators in 1930s and 1940sNazi Germany’s elite schools, which were set up to train future leaders of the Third Reich, used British private schools such as Eton and Harrow as their models, a new book reveals.The historian Helen Roche has written the first comprehensive history of Nazi elite schools, known as Napolas. Drawing on research undertaken in 80 archives in six countries as well as testimonies from more than 100 former pupils, Roche discovered just how keen the Nazis were to learn from the “character-forming” example of the British system. Continue reading...

The beef industry hopes a planned deforestation-free farming zone will tempt buyers back but many fear it will drive up illegal tree fellingFor many, the overriding image of agriculture in the Amazon is one of environmental destruction. About 80% of deforestation in the region has been attributed to cattle ranching, tainting beef exports.Brazil’s beef industry hopes to tempt buyers back to the Amazon region, which covers about 40% of the country’s total area, with a new deforestation-free pledge. But critics are concerned it could effectively legalise deforestation in the region. Continue reading...

Anas Zein Al-Abdeen owns a chain of four Middle Eastern coffee houses around Birmingham. But, the 40-year-old says, while customers are plentiful, staff are another matterAnas Zein Al-Abdeen doesn’t want to close his business for three days a week – but, increasingly, it looks like his only option. He simply can’t get the staff. “It’s horrific,” he says. “We can’t plan for anything.”The 40-year-old British-Syrian businessman runs Damascena, an independent chain of four Middle Eastern coffee houses in and around Birmingham. All of his cafes are affected, but the one in central Birmingham is the most short-staffed, with 25 workers instead of the usual 30. “It’s very stressful,” he says. “Most businesses worry about getting customers. But I’m just worried if we can serve them or not.” Continue reading...

Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci stars Lady Gaga in a tale of fashion and murder. But is true crime – once the soul of cinema, from thrillers and horrors to westerns – now outgrowing the big screen?What took you so long, House of Gucci? This story was destined to become a movie from the moment the bullet left fashion heir Maurizio Gucci dead outside his Milan office in March 1995 – shot, a witness said, by a hitman with a “beautiful, clean hand”. The film by Ridley Scott now finally arrives dripping with star power, and Lady Gaga as Gucci’s ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani. But the story alone was enough: a glittering tickbox of money, revenge and a villainess kept company in jail by an illicit pet ferret called Bambi.True crime gold. So why, now that the film is actually here, does the Gucci case feel a strange fit for a movie after all? Put it down to timing. The film’s development began in entertainment prehistory: 2006. Back then, a lavish movie was still the grand prize for any news story, and true crime – that trashbag genre – would simply be glad of the association. Now though, film and true crime have the air of an estranged couple. Had Maurizio Gucci been gunned down on Via Palestro last week, Netflix would already have the rights and the podcast would be on Spotify. Continue reading...

Analysis contradicts Priti Patel’s claim that 70% are single men who are economic migrants to UKNearly two-thirds of people who migrate to the UK in small boats are deemed to be genuine refugees and allowed to remain, a report says, in an apparent contradiction of past statements by the home secretary, Priti Patel.Analysis using Home Office data and requests under freedom of information laws has concluded that 61% of migrants who travel by boat are likely to be allowed to stay after claiming asylum. Continue reading...

Police and security services have yet to find an ideological motive behind Emad al-Swealmeen’s alleged attackInvestigators have not ruled out concluding that Emad al-Swealmeen’s alleged attack on Liverpool Women’s hospital had “no ideological or political motive” and was therefore not an act of terrorism.Counter-terrorism police and security services inquiries continue but as the inquiry entered its third day, investigators were not yet pointing to any specific ideology behind the explosion on Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Japan’s world No 1 joins other athletes in voicing concern for Peng, who has not been seen since accusing ex-vice-premier of sexual assaultWorld No 1 tennis star Naomi Osaka has joined the growing calls for answers on the whereabouts of Chinese player Peng Shuai, who has not been heard from publicly since she accused the country’s former vice premier of sexually assaulting her.Peng, one of China’s biggest sporting stars, made the claims in a Weibo post on 2 November, in which she alleged Zhang Gaoli coerced her into sex and that they had an intermittent affair. Continue reading...

The Coalition has a solid track record in imposing ‘don’t do’ regulation on some people when it suits them“Can do capitalism” is the latest Morrison-ism to be tested this election campaign, with the prime minister placing responsibility for the government’s climate change ambition with the private sector, in another attempt to minimise his government’s need for action.“We believe climate change will ultimately be solved by ‘can do’ capitalism; not ‘don’t do’ governments seeking to control people’s lives and tell them what to do, with interventionist regulation and taxes that just force up your cost of living and force businesses to close,” Morrison said last week. Continue reading...

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson discuss ‘where the magic started’ in HBO Max specialThe original cast of the Harry Potter series will be reunited 20 years after the first film was released.An HBO Max special titled Return to Hogwarts will be released on 1 January 2022, the network has said. Continue reading...

Police say two, possibly three, bodies found using new technology, just days before 11th anniversary of country’s worst mining disaster in a centuryThe remains of some of the men killed in the Pike River mine disaster, one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters, have been found more than a decade after the explosion.The blast in November 2010 killed 29 workers, and many of the families have been fighting to have the remains of their loved ones found ever since. The mining tragedy – New Zealand’s worst in 100 years – resonated around the world: among the men who died were 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two British citizens and one South African. Continue reading...

Continuous, heavy rain has caused major flooding and mudslides across parts of Canada and the US. Tens of thousands were left without power and mass evacuations were ordered after the record rainfall. Search and rescue officials in British Columbia confirmed there were multiple fatalities. South of the border in the US state of Washington, drone footage showed Bellingham residents navigating flooded roads in kayaks

Under the licensing agreement, Pfizer will not receive royalties from the manufacturers, making the treatment cheaper

Sport retailer is concerned about people risking their lives using its products to try to reach EnglandThe sport equipment retailer Decathlon will no longer sell canoes in the north of France to prevent migrants from attempting to use them to cross to England.Tuesday’s announcement came as hundreds of people crossed the Channel by boat in what was a busy day for UK search and rescue forces. There were multiple landings along the Kent coastline, including about 60 people who landed at Dungeness shortly before 4pm. Continue reading...

Explosives professor Jackie Akhavan says probably only detonator of improvised bomb went offAn explosives expert has said she believed that the bomb outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital was most likely a simple device made either using flash powder from fireworks or ammonium nitrate that malfunctioned.Prof Jackie Akhavan, an explosive chemistry expert at Cranfield University, said: “This looks like a low-end terrorist-type attack, where it’s failed to work,” having studied CCTV video of the explosion. “It looks like a detonator went off, which broke windows in the car, but there was no sign of a blast wave you would get from a full bomb.” Continue reading...

Military junta adds to series of legal cases against the ousted leader, state media reportsMyanmar’s military junta has charged Aung San Suu Kyi with “election fraud and lawless actions”, according to state media, adding to a series of legal cases facing the ousted leader.Military-controlled media reported on Tuesday that the Union Election Commission had prosecuted 16 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, in relation to alleged fraud during the 2020 general election. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, National League for Democracy (NLD), won the vote by a landslide – a result the military has refused to accept. Continue reading...

About 34,000 people thought to be eligible for compensation, including those born in church-run homesIreland has confronted one of the most painful chapters in its history and agreed an €800m compensation package to thousands of unmarried mothers shunned by society and hidden away in church-run mother and baby homes.The redress scheme was agreed by the government cabinet on Tuesday and will offer up to €65,000 each to survivors of a practice, widely condemned as a shameful and cruel, that spanned almost 80 years of the country’s 100-year history. Continue reading...

Kanak leaders have urged a postponement of the vote, saying that the priority for indigenous people once lockdown lifts will be mourning customs, not campaigningThe credibility of New Caledonia’s third and final independence referendum has been questioned after indigenous leaders warned that participation could be adversely affected by the Covid pandemic.The French government has announced that the referendum will proceed as planned in December after the coronavirus crisis eased. Continue reading...

Case based on his new novel Nights of the Plague, initially dismissed in April, has been reopened after an appealNobel laureate Orhan Pamuk is being investigated by the Turkish state for “insulting” the founder of modern Turkey and ridiculing the Turkish flag in his new novel Nights of Plague.Pamuk, who denies the accusations, published the book in Turkey in March. Set on a fictional Ottoman island during an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the early 1900s, the first complaint against it came in April, when a lawyer accused Pamuk of inciting “hatred and animosity” by insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and ridiculing the flag of Turkey in the work. An Istanbul court decided not to take the claim forward due to lack of evidence, but the lawyer who brought the case, Tarcan Ülük, appealed against the decision and the investigation has now been reopened. Continue reading...

Marriage of under-18s associated with risk of domestic, sexual and ‘honour’-based violence, say MPs, who will vote on FridayA bill that would ban child marriage in England and Wales will be presented to parliament for its second reading this week and has been welcomed by campaigners as a “huge stride” forward.Currently, marriage and civil partnerships are legal at 16 and 17 with parental consent. This is not just out of step with international legislation but also a loophole that is “more often used as a mechanism for abuse”, according to Pauline Latham, MP, who will present her bill on Friday. Continue reading...

Using 80% less energy than average, an unassuming suburban home is winning architecture prizes for its imaginative revampA house many would consider a knockdown, rebuild has been given a new life as a snug, energy-efficient home by an ACT firm that say their science-based architecture model can be applied to existing housing stock across Australia.Prior to the renovation, owners Kathryn and Rachel – who have requested their surnames be kept private – say the house was “always cold in winter and hot in summer”. They decided to upgrade it when they moved from Melbourne to Canberra with their teenage son in 2019. Kathryn had owned the house for years and while well situated – north-facing and opposite a park – it did not suit the family’s needs. Continue reading...

Head of self-styled Libyan National Army to stand in country’s first presidential elections in DecemberA Libyan warlord who led a 14-month assault on the capital and once said the country was not ready for democracy has announced his candidacy in its first presidential elections at the end of next monthKhalifa Haftar, the head of the self-styled Libyan National Army, which fought against its internationally recognised government in the 2014-20 civil war, declared he wanted to bring the Libyan people “glory, progress and prosperity” as he joined a contest that also includes the son of Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, among its hopefuls. Continue reading...

The musician’s newly launched beauty brand is an extension of his trailblazing lookWith Lady Gaga, Pharell Williams, and Selena Gomez all in on the act, the marker of success in 2021 is not a star on Hollywood Boulevard, it’s the launch of a beauty line. Trust Harry Styles to blow the rest out of the water.Yesterday, the boyband star turned cultural and style juggernaut announced the launch of Pleasing – described as a “life brand”. Styles’s first business venture includes a range of nail polishes, an illuminating primer serum, and a dual-purpose eye and lip oil. Continue reading...

Arthur Jones’s film seeks the stories of six Chinese men who survived the 1912 tragedy and finds undisguised western racismWhat’s in a name? That evergreen question is complicated even further in Arthur Jones’s fascinating documentary, executive produced by James Cameron and informed by the research of marine historian Steven Schwankert. Following the Titanic sinking in 1912, the identities of the 700-odd survivors have been mostly claimed, except for those of six Chinese men – out of eight who boarded – who remained bizarrely neglected. This film chronicles Schwankert’s quest to unravel the mystery, as his arduous journey across the US, the UK, Canada, and China takes the shape of a detective story, where each revelation exposes the blatant racism of early 20th-century western politics.Armed with a dock slip listing the names of the Titanic’s eight Chinese passengers, Schwankert and peers’ attempt to trace their origins runs into immediate difficulties, as most of their subjects changed their identities in order to sidestep cruel and discriminatory immigration regulations. These Titanic survivors arrived in the US looking to work as labourers, and under the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act they were shipped to other countries immediately after the sinking. Some disappeared without a trace. The only survivor whom the researchers were able to build a coherent narrative around was Fang Lang, who founded a business in the US by changing his name and working as a merchant, shielding himself from the Exclusion Act, which targeted manual labourers. Continue reading...

Footage also shows water cannon being used as dozens of men approach border fence throwing rocksPolish riot police on the country’s border with Belarus have fired water cannon and teargas at people forcibly attempting to cross into the European Union.The clashes come a day after EU governments approved sanctions against the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, for allegedly engineering the crisis by allowing thousands of asylum-seekers from the Middle East to travel through Belarus to the border with Poland. Continue reading...

From railway signs to perfume bottles to Taiwan’s official passport stamp, the artist is giving ancient lettering a modern twist. How will her work go down at Hong Kong’s controversial new M+ gallery?The most striking thing about Tong Yang-tze, sitting inside her modest Taipei studio residence, is her confidence, and the sense that she’s had it all along. Now in her late 70s and considered one of Taiwan’s foremost calligraphers and artists, Tong grins and jokes over cups of green tea and local sweets, belying her fame and cultural significance. “Of course I’m good!” she laughs at one point, recalling an offer early in her career from her former university to teach. “I said no, I don’t want a teaching job. At that time, everybody needed a job but I wanted to be an artist. No regrets.”Last week Tong’s calligraphy with a modern art twist greeted visitors to the hotly anticipated M+ museum in Hong Kong, an ambitious decade-long project to create what has been dubbed Asia’s Tate Modern. The 33-gallery space, in a harbourside building designed by “starchitects” Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with TFP Farrells and Arup, opened last week. Continue reading...

Move follows mounting politcal pressure to scrap project in setback to Kremlin-backed projectGermany has suspended its approval process for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which would double its reliance on Russian gas following growing geopolitical pressure to scrap the project.Energy markets across Europe surged after the German energy regulator suspended its certification process, in a big setback to Kremlin-backed Gazprom’s plans to extend Russian gas dominance via a new pipeline across the Baltic Sea. Continue reading...

Research suggests terrible suffering amid communications and aid blockade affecting Ethiopian regionAlmost 200 children under the age of five died of starvation in 14 hospitals across Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region between late June and October, according to data collected by local doctors and researchers.The research, shared with Agence France-Presse by Dr Hagos Godefay, the former head of the health bureau in the pre-conflict Tigrayan government, offers a snapshot of the suffering in Tigray, where a communications blackout by federal authorities has prevented a full examination of the toll of the war. Continue reading...

Analysis: while depth of division remains clear, leaders showed willingness to move in positive directionThe much-awaited meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping achieved its admittedly low expectations when the two finally met and showed a willingness to move the bilateral relationship in a positive direction.Progress began to show soon after the meeting, for example on journalist visas. But the two sides also provided a list of existing grievances following the three-and-a-half-hour talks. The US said it raised its concerns over China’s human rights record, its “unfair trade and economic practices”, and its behaviour in the South China Sea. Continue reading...

Holes found in the Estonia’s hull might mean ship had contact with sea bottomRock on the seabed may have gouged previously unknown holes in the hull of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives, officials said on Tuesday following a new examination of the wreck.In 1997, an official investigation into Europe’s worst peacetime maritime disaster since world war two concluded that the Estonia sank after a bow shield failed, damaging a bow ramp and causing the car deck to flood. Continue reading...

Natalia Gavrilița speaking after west accuses Russia of linking gas price crisis with talks over separatist region of TransnistriaMoldova, which was forced to declare a state of emergency after Gazprom increased gas prices in September, will be free of outside interference only when it has rid itself of endemic corruption and diversified its energy supplies, Natalia Gavrilița, the prime minister, has said.Speaking to the Guardian, she said capacity shortages and soaring inflation, including increases in gas prices, were going to put a strain on the popularity of her government, which was elected only last summer. Continue reading...

Spokesperson’s comments before Boris Johnson meets Greek PM appear to signal softening of positionReturning the Parthenon marbles to Greece is a matter for the British Museum, Downing Street has said, apparently reversing longstanding UK government opposition to the idea, reiterated by Boris Johnson as recently as March.Johnson was scheduled to meet the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at No 10 later on Tuesday, and Mitsotakis was expected to argue that the reunification of the “stolen” sculptures was a key mutual issue, and one that had to be resolved by ministers. Continue reading...

The cases have prompted a row between health officials who deny the sicknesses form a true ‘cluster’ and medical experts looking for a linkWhen Roger Ellis fell ill two years ago, his family rushed to the hospital, fearing he was having a heart attack. Doctors quickly ruled that out, but days later, he suffered from a seizure.In the following weeks, the retired industrial mechanic, 64, who lived in the east Canadian town of Bathurst, New Brunswick, grew increasingly anxious and disoriented, and often repeated himself. Continue reading...

Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk was ‘prime mover’ in 25-year-old’s death outside Libyan embassy in London, says judgeA former minister in Muammar Gaddafi’s government was jointly liable for the shooting of PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984, a high court judge has ruled.Reaching his decision on the lower civil standard – which requires proof on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt – Mr Justice Martin Spencer said on Tuesday that although Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk did not fire the shots himself, he was a “prime mover” in the killing of 25-year-old Fletcher. Continue reading...

From a mosque that breathes to innovative bamboo houses, Marina Tabassum has won the prestigious Soane medal for her humanitarian buildingsFor the people of coastal Bangladesh, the monsoon can bring untold torment – and, occasionally, unexpected joy. Every year from June to October, in the Ganges delta region where the country’s three major rivers converge, the waterways swell and riverbanks burst, causing catastrophic flooding. The torrential rainfall is joined by heavy glacial runoff from the Himalayas, exacerbated in recent years by global heating. Homes and livelihoods are lost overnight. But the meltwater also brings cascades of sediment that, a few months later, leave unpredictable gifts – new strips of land, known as “chars”, rising from the riverbed.

Experts alarmed as NHS data shows one in four children in England aged 10 and 11 are obese

Marco Pierre White is championing Redefine Meat’s products, but do they live up to the hype?Across four capitals – London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Tel Aviv – a new meat was born, containing precisely no animal. The London champion of the company, Redefine Meat, is the celebrity chef Marco Pierre White. At Mr White’s in Leicester Square, chefs, investors and barbecue and burger connoisseurs – as well as former winners of MasterChef – gathered to taste it.The tone of the event was set by the offering of a pipette of “blood” – “Doesn’t it taste like blood, though?” asked an excited waiter. Well, yes. But memo from the world of carnivore: blood is more something we put up with than something we actively want to drink. Continue reading...

Azeem Rafiq fought back tears as he told MPs racist terms were "used constantly" across his two spells at Yorkshire and no one in leadership challenged them, and that club officials subjected him to "inhuman" treatment.He told the digital, culture, media and sport select committee: "Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background … there were comments such as: ‘You’ll sit over there near the toilets,’ ‘elephant washers’ … The word ‘Paki’ was used constantly."

In a fiery exchange over the pandemic bill during question time, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews accuses the opposition of 'cuddling up to anti-vaxxers'.The Andrews government was forced to make changes overnight to its pandemic management bill ahead of Victorian parliament resuming today

Remote working has made it easier than ever for staff to moonlight. But how do they cope with clashing meetings and two bosses? And can the rewards be worth the lies?Second jobs can be incredibly lucrative – just ask any of the MPs who gained at least £6m collectively from their side gigs since the start of the pandemic. But it’s not only MPs benefiting from second jobs: ordinary white-collar workers have been getting in on the act. And these workers aren’t just taking on positions that might require a couple of days’ work a month. Instead, they are juggling several traditional full-time jobs, and keeping each one a secret from their other employers – leading, in effect, multiple livesAmong them is Jamie, a 25-year-old based in the UK. Over lockdown, Jamie found himself spending a significant amount of each working day playing video games. His role as a software engineer is undemanding and barely monitored by his company. It allowed him to live comfortably, but he was on what he considered a modest salary. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Some people waited weeks before receiving an email saying their application would be closed if they don’t reply soon

The third series of the hit drama about a warring family may seem uneventful – but the suffocating sense of dread and doom points to a truly catastrophic climaxWe are now more than halfwaythrough Succession’s third run. It remains a staggeringly brilliant show; an ice-cold snake pit of ever shifting loyalties, flecked with some of the most giddily baroque dialogue we have heard since Deadwood. Every episode is a thrill. And yet, if you were forced to explain exactly what has happened so far this season, chances are you would struggle.Because, really, what has happened? The season began with the fallout from Kendall’s unexpected public broadside against his father and, well, notwithstanding the GBI investigation, that is still where we are. Logan is stuck in a holding pattern of gruff plotting. Shiv and Tom’s marriage remains in a holding pattern full stop. Shiv and Roman are still bickering with one another. The only real movement from anyone this season has come from Kendall and his growing messiah complex. At this point, there is little need for HBO’s nicely packaged Previously on Succession pre-roll montages, because we all know what happened in the last episode. It was the same as the episode before that, and the episode before that. Continue reading...

Forty-five residents at the facility died from coronavirus and five more died from neglect as staff fell illThe first person infected with Covid linked to the St Basil’s aged care home outbreak in which 50 residents died has spoken publicly for the first time, telling a coroner she was cleared to work despite living in a high-risk suburb with relatives experiencing “throat discomfort”.The former personal care assistant at the home, identified only as “A” to protect her identity, said she was swabbed on 5 July 2020 at a drive-through testing clinic after she finished a shift at St Basil’s. Continue reading...

Months after Mohadese Mirzaee became Afghanistan’s first female commercial airline pilot, the Taliban took Kabul. Now a refugee in Bulgaria, she is determined to fly againSitting alone in her small flat in Bulgaria, Mohadese Mirzaee contemplates the future. Three months ago, she left behind her family, and her dream job, in Afghanistan. At 23, Mirzaee was the country’s first female commercial airline pilot.“Today, I don’t know where to go, but I’m not giving up. I’ve started applying for pilot jobs anywhere because I know I need to get back to flying,” she says by phone from the capital, Sofia. Continue reading...

Businessman Samir Handal detained at Istanbul airport on flight from US to Jordan early on MondayTurkish authorities have arrested a man considered a suspect of “great interest” in the assassination in July of the Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s foreign minister, Claude Joseph, has said.The suspect, Samir Handal, a businessman, was detained at Istanbul airport early on Monday, where he arrived in transit from the US to Jordan, Anadolu Agency reported. His arrest was announced by authorities in Haiti later on Monday. Continue reading...

From flood defence to strengthening biodiversity, the ecological benefits of rewilding with beavers are beyond doubt. Meet the people making it happen‘Reintroducing beavers is like throwing petrol on to the bonfire when it comes to nature recovery – it really speeds things up,” says Chris Jones, farmer and communities director of the Beaver Trust. We’re on a tour of Woodland Valley Farm, near Ladock, his home and the site of the Cornwall Beaver Project, where a family of the semi-aquatic mammals live in a five-acre woodland enclosure.Dressed in wellies, camouflage jacket and floppy hat, Chris speaks with the enthusiasm of the late David Bellamy, pointing out how the landscape has been reshaped. Impressive dams made of wood, stone and mud have slowed the flow of water, new channels have created large pools and new wetland habitat. It feels wild and alive, with signs of recent beaver activity seen in the odd felled tree and piles of woodchip. Continue reading...

• Welcome to a new series of long reads: Reconstruction after CovidThe generational divide is deforming democracy. But there is a solutionThere is no good reason to exclude children from the right to vote. Indeed, I believe there is a strong case for lowering the voting age to six, effectively extending the franchise to any child in full-time education. When I have made this case, as I have done in recent years in a variety of different forums, I am always struck by the reaction I get. It is incredulity. What possible reason could there be to do something so seemingly reckless and foolhardy? Most audiences recognise that our democracy is growing fractious, frustrated and frustrating. Our political divisions are wide and our institutions seem ill-equipped to handle them. But nothing surely could justify allowing children to join in. Wouldn’t it simply make everything worse?It would not. In fact, it might make things better. But to understand why, we first need to understand the nature of the problems our democracy faces, and in particular, the generational divide that has become an increasingly important factor in politics over recent decades. Continue reading...

How has TV’s petrolhead-in-chief been reborn a son of the soil? As the presenter wins a farming award for Clarkson’s Farm, he talks about his new enemies: badgers, Bafta and ‘the red trousers brigade’Over early morning coffee at his Oxfordshire farmhouse, Jeremy Clarkson is talking about his new nemesis, badgers, and the fact that they constantly urinate, usually on his grass. “If they’ve got TB and a cow eats that bit of grass, then you, the taxpayer, pay for that cow to be killed. A quarter of the world’s badgers live in the UK, causing chaos. But if you say, ‘I’m going to shoot a badger’, you can expect to find your house on fire within 10 minutes. Carrie Johnson is a badger enthusiast, so the government aren’t likely to do anything while she’s running around.”Your understanding of why badgers, and the leanings of Boris Johnson’s wife, have got Clarkson’s Levi’s in a twist may depend on how far along his career you’ve travelled. Since leaving the BBC’s Top Gear in 2015, he has co-hosted four series of The Grand Tour (basically Top Gear with 300 times the budget) on Amazon Prime Video. In his most recent Amazon venture – Clarkson’s Farm – he attempts to cultivate the 1,000 acres of land he’s owned since 2008 but didn’t give an agricultural hoot about until the actual farmer who worked them retired in 2019. “I didn’t have a clue what was growing in my fields,” he says, gesturing all around. “Now I know what’s in them all.” Continue reading...