Authorities act swiftly to snuff out dissent after being caught off guard by demonstrations for change in JulyCuban authorities have snuffed out protests planned by activists to call for nationwide demonstrations for democracy and more freedom of expression.After being caught off guard by unprecedented protests in July, the government acted in advance to ban the demonstrations planned for Monday, ran a media campaign arguing it was a US attempt at regime change, and placed protest leaders under house arrest. Continue reading...
Backbencher Christopher Chope has been named by multiple sources as the person who could be heard yelling ‘object’ as the Commons attempted to ratifying the findings about Owen Paterson’s behaviour. The government had tried to shunt the vote to the end of the day but put forward a motion that only one MP needed to object to in order for it to fail
The singer and actor turned to the animal king for help in portraying Patrizia Reggiani, who had fashion heir Maurizio Gucci assassinated in the 1990sLady Gaga has revealed she had some animal inspiration for her murderous turn as a jilted ex-wife in the new movie House of Gucci.Her performance as Patrizia Reggiani, who had fashion heir Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) assassinated in the 1990s, is already picking up Oscar buzz. Continue reading...
Lawmakers agree to make plan to lift age but justice groups say it will have little impact on the number of children imprisonedAustralia’s attorneys general have agreed to formulate a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old, but the move has been criticised by justice advocates as a “nothing” decision that will do little to reduce the juvenile detention population.In a statement released late on Monday, the Meeting of Attorneys-General agreed to “support development of a proposal to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, including with regard to any carve outs, timing and discussion of implementation requirements”. Continue reading...
32-year-old is said to have changed name to Enzo Almeni before failed asylum application in 2014A suspected terrorist who blew himself up outside Liverpool Women’s hospital at the weekend has been named as 32-year-old Emad al-Swealmeen.Counter Terrorism Policing North West said they “strongly believe” al-Swealmeen was the passenger who died when a taxi exploded shortly before 11am on Sunday. According to reports, al-Swealmeen is believed not to be British-born and to have had Syrian and Iraqi heritage. Continue reading...
As the patriarch succumbs to a meltdown brought on by health woes, Shiv tries to save the day at the shareholder meeting. What a hilariously excruciating hourSpoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season three, which airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK. Do not read on unless you have watched episode five.The long-awaited shareholder meeting played out like a blend of anxiety dream and boardroom farce. But who would emerge victorious? Here are the minutes from episode five, titled Retired Janitors of Idaho … Continue reading...
Jens Stoltenberg says large Russian military buildup has been seen near Ukraine borderThe Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has cautioned Moscow against “any further provocation or aggressive actions” following warnings by US officials that Russia could be preparing to a launch a winter offensive in Ukraine.The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said last week that Russia had amassed nearly 100,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s border, as Washington warned that Moscow may be “attempting to rehash” its 2014 invasion. Continue reading...
Ruling Peronist party lost majority as Javier Milei turned notoriety into votes and a Trotskyist party got third largest vote shareArgentina’s political system is braced for an earthquake after parties on the extreme left and right made big gains in weekend midterm congressional elections, putting an end to decades in which the country’s populists and conservatives wrestled for power.Sunday’s vote saw the Peronist Front for Everyone coalition of President Alberto Fernández lose its majority in Congress for the first time in almost 40 years and lose its stronghold of Buenos Aires province to the center-right coalition Together for Change. Continue reading...
Duke of Sussex says issue needs to be tackled by policies including investment in local journalismPrince Harry has described online misinformation as a “global humanitarian issue” that needs to be tackled by policies including investment in local journalism and cracking down on super-spreaders of false content.The Duke of Sussex contributed to a report by a US thinktank into disinformation, which made 15 recommendations after a six-month study. Continue reading...
When she started out 50 years ago, Fiona Clark’s work was met with rejection. Now she’s the subject of an admiring documentaryWhether documenting the crackling raw energy of Auckland’s fledgling punk rock scene in the 1970s or the hedonistic glamour of Karangahape Road’s queer culture, renowned New Zealand photographer Fiona Clark’s vibrant photos evocatively capture people and personalities in subcultures many people wouldn’t even know existed.Seen as too confronting and radical by the New Zealand art world in the 1970s, Clark’s work was met with resistance from major art dealers who told her “we’re not handling your work”, and some of her images mysteriously disappeared from the Auckland art gallery. But Clark has never let this distract her from her singular vision. Continue reading...
Alexander Monson was found dead in police cell in May 2012 after arrest in beach town of DianiFour police officers have been jailed after Kenya’s high court found them guilty of the manslaughter of Alexander Monson, a British aristocrat who was found dead in a police cell in the beach town of Diani in 2012.Two reports by government pathologists concluded that Monson, who had moved to Kenya in 2008 to live with his mother, had died after suffering a traumatic blow to the head. Continue reading...
PC Graham Kanes denies using disproportionate force when arresting Hassan Ahmed in HalifaxA police officer was filmed saying “chill out or I’ll choke you out” while arresting a suspect who responded by saying “I can’t breathe” and “I give up, I give up,” a misconduct hearing has heard.Footage of the arrest in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was recorded by bystanders and posted on social media. It came three months after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Continue reading...
6,000 people said to be displaced after withdrawal of government forces from the long contested and strategic portThe UN has called for talks about the implications of the Houthis’ complete takeover of the long-contested strategic port of Hodeidah in Yemen, amid reports that the withdrawal of the government forces had led to as many as 6,000 people being displaced.The Houthi takeover of the port, the scene of on and off fighting for more than 5 years, marks a significant breakthrough in a conflict that has seen territorial stalemate through much of this year, but hundreds killed in fierce fighting. Continue reading...
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to argue reunification of ‘stolen’ sculptures is matter outside remit of British MuseumThe Greek prime minister will make the Parthenon marbles the key issue in upcoming talks with Boris Johnson in London, arguing the reunification of the “stolen” sculptures is an intergovernmental matter that lies outside the remit of the British Museum.Determined to raise the issue in his first Downing Street visit, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is also expected to emphasise the leaky roof in the London museum’s Duveen Gallery, where the 5th century BC antiquities are displayed, the Guardian has learned. Continue reading...
Have the moths been feasting on one of your beloved jumpers? Fret no more, in the first of a new series we ask the experts to help sort out your wardrobe favouritesWe all know the feeling. You dig out one of your favourite jumpers only to find that the moths have had a field day and filled it with holes. Don’t panic. In the first of a new series on repairing and upcycling treasured items instead of throwing them away, we try out a woollens mending service to solve the problem.The Raf Simons jumper above belongs to one of our colleagues who carefully stores her knitwear at the end of the winter in vaccum-packed bags in her loft. But when she pulled this one out she discovered, despite her best efforts at prevention, that it had been ravaged by moths – four 10p-size holes across the front. After following advice from English Heritage to freeze the jumper for two weeks to kill the moth larvae we took the holy knit to our knitwear shoot where one of the Seam’s makers, Georgia de Castro Keeling breathed new life into sweater. Continue reading...
No one likes to admit they’ve missed a major cultural event. Which is why 52% of us falsely claim to have watched the likes of Stranger Things or Game of ThronesName: TV bluffing.Age: It probably dates back to the first regular BBC broadcasts in 1936. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#5RY98)
Jesus College to appear in front of ecclesiastical court over attempt to relocate memorial to Tobias RustatA Cambridge college which became the first institution in the world to return a looted Benin bronze to Nigeria, is to appear before an ecclesiastical court early next year over its attempt to remove a memorial in the college chapel to one of its most significant benefactors because of his links to the slave trade.Jesus College is seeking to relocate a memorial to Tobias Rustat (1608-1694), an investor with the Royal African Company, which according to one historian shipped more enslaved African women, men and children than any other single institution during the transatlantic slave trade. Continue reading...
‘I came up with it on the way to the garage to get fags. I had to pelt back to my mum and dad’s to get my Dictaphone before I forgot it’I was in a band called the Electric Crayons and we managed to get a gig supporting the Charlatans. They had a different singer, Baz Ketley, then. I ended up jumping on stage and singing one of their songs. Shortly after that, I got a call from the band. They didn’t ask me to audition. It was more a case of: “Would you like to come down to Wednesbury in the Midlands and hang out?” Continue reading...
No 10 responds after French minister’s comments that UK is using France as a ‘punchbag’ in crisisDowning Street has called on the French government to do more to stem the number of people travelling across the Channel in small boats amid a growing diplomatic row over who bears greater responsibility.It follows an intervention from France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin, who claimed that his country is being treated like a “punchbag” by a UK government which has failed to sort out its unregulated labour market. Continue reading...
Fire services called to Rosemead preparatory school in Dulwich and a number of pupils taken to hospitalA number of children have been taken to hospital after a ceiling collapsed at a school in Dulwich, south London.The second-floor ceiling of the Rosemead preparatory school collapsed on Monday morning, the London fire brigade said. Continue reading...
Inquiry launched after 14-year-old and his mother from south London lodge complaint against forceA 14-year-old black schoolboy has accused the Metropolitan police of racist targeting after claiming he has been stopped by police about 30 times in the last two years. He has not been charged with or convicted of any offence.The boy, who lives in south London with his 41-year-old mother, and hopes to train as an engineer, says he has been stopped and searched so many times by the police that he has become fearful of leaving home. Continue reading...
Blue part of flags flying around Élysée Palace was made darker in July last year but change went largely unnoticedEmmanuel Macron’s office has darkened the blue in the French flags flying around the Élysée Palace to bring the tricolore in line with how it looked after the French revolution.Presidential aides said the change happened in July last year, but nobody appears to have noticed until now. Continue reading...
The Organization of American States is no longer credible. We need a new body if we are to protect democracyOn 20 October, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, traveled to Ecuador to set out a vision for democracy in the Americas. Over the past five years, the hemisphere has suffered an assault on its democratic institutions, as political leaders from Donald Trump to Jair Bolsonaro have adopted a new authoritarian playbook: lies, violence, repression, and more lies. Two-thirds of US citizens now believe that democracy is under threat, while a majority of Brazilians fear a military dictatorship will return to the country. “We find ourselves in a moment of democratic reckoning,” announced Blinken.But the Biden administration continues to put the US on the wrong side of this reckoning. Consider Blinken’s recent trip. In Quito, he lavished praise on President Guillermo Lasso in the same week that Lasso declared a nationwide state of emergency to intimidate critics of his government and distract from an investigation into alleged tax fraud following his appearance in the Pandora Papers leak. In Bogotá hours later, Blinken applauded the democratic credentials of the Colombian president, Iván Duque – “We have no better ally on the full range of issues that our democracies face in this hemisphere,” Blinken said – while his government stands accused of targeting protesters and allowing an unprecedented number of assassinations of Indigenous, Black, and peasant leaders to take place under Duque’s watch. Continue reading...
Rights groups and politicians say Interpol risks being used as a vehicle for China’s repressive policiesA senior official at China’s ministry of public security is seeking election to Interpol’s executive committee, prompting concerns from human rights activists and international politicians that China could misuse the global criminal police organisation’s capabilities to track down overseas dissidents.Hu Binchen, the deputy director-general of the ministry’s international cooperation department, is one of three candidates vying for two seats as Asia delegates on the committee. Continue reading...
Peng Shuai has not been publicly heard from since she made accusation online on 2 NovemberA growing movement including Chinese feminist groups and international tennis stars is raising concern over the whereabouts of the former Chinese doubles pro Peng Shuai after she accused a senior government figure of sexual assault.Peng, one of China’s biggest sporting stars, has not been publicly heard from since a Weibo post on 2 November, in which she alleged the former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into sex and that they had an intermittent affair. The post was taken down by China’s censors but still went viral. Subsequent posts and reactions, even keywords such as “tennis”, also appeared to be blocked, and numerous references to Peng were scrubbed from China’s internet. Continue reading...
One in five of us struggle to cope with everyday smells, sounds and images. Rather than a weakness, this extreme sensitivity could be a strength in everything from the pandemic to the climate crisis“I feel I’m too sensitive for this world,” says Lena, who can’t cope with crowds or bright lights. Melissa gets her husband to watch films before her to see if she will be able to handle any violence, gore or scariness. When their grownup children bring the grandchildren round, she has to retreat to another room because their “loud laughter, the talking over each other, their swearing and their smells overwhelm me”. Lucia says she can feel “each and every fibre of her clothes” and it feels very ticklish or uncomfortable at times. Sometimes, she has to stop during sex with her partner because it becomes “too ticklish”.Lena, Melissa and Lucia would all describe themselves as highly sensitive, a label that could be applied to up to 20% of us, according to the US-based psychologist Elaine Aron, who started studying high sensitivity in the early 90s, and published her influential book The Highly Sensitive Person in 1996. Continue reading...
Rising temperatures are already killing people in Sierra Leone’s Freetown, says Eugenia Kargbo, who is planning how best to protect the hundreds of thousands living in informal settlementsWhen she was growing up, Eugenia Kargbo could have a leisurely stroll, jog or cycle around the streets of Freetown. But that easy life no longer exists in Sierra Leone’s capital for her two children. The city is so swelteringly hot that children run the constant risk of sunburn or heat rashes if they are outdoors for very long.“Over the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic change,” says Kargbo, 34, who has been appointed as Freetown’s chief heat officer – the first such post in Africa and only the third globally, after Athens and Miami. Continue reading...
Men detained under Terrorism Act after incident outside hospital that also injured taxi driverThree men have been arrested under terror legislation after a taxi explosion outside Liverpool Women’s hospital that killed the passenger.The men – aged 29, 26 and 21 – were detained in the Kensington area of the city and arrested under the Terrorism Act, police said. Continue reading...
The Ally McBeal and 30 Rock star on her love of Ed Sheeran, singing Lady Marmalade and knowing all the words from GreaseLady Marmalade. “Back in the day”, quote unquote, I would just sing it as it was done by Labelle. Now I quite enjoy doing all three parts of the Moulin Rouge version, and the tricky bits, and adding in the rap by Lil’ Kim. Continue reading...
As well as floods, sewage and crocodiles, those living in Banjul’s slums face the effects of a climate crisis they did little to causeYedel Bah would move home if she could, but she can’t. With no income of her own, four children to feed and a husband who just about manages, her family lives from day to day, and from flood to flood, on the banks of a litter-strewn, stagnant canal.Every rainy season, the neighbourhood of Tobacco Road in the Gambian capital, Banjul, braces for downpours of such intensity that the canal overflows, spilling its murky, pungent depths into the slum-like homes that run alongside it. Continue reading...
The star of Catastrophe and Home Sweet Home Alone answers your questions on everything from family tragedy to the value of comedyRob Delaney – comedian, actor, writer, tweeter, activist – co-wrote and co-starred in the Channel 4 sitcom Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan. Now he has a starring role in the film Home Sweet Home Alone. He has also written and spoken movingly about the death of his two-year-old son, Henry. Here, he answers questions from readers about all of this, as well as being an American in London – and how he keeps his hair looking so great.When you were offered the role in Home Sweet Home Alone, did you hesitate and think that maybe another remake of a successful movie would be pointless? Bernard Hautecler, Brussels, Belgium Continue reading...
As sales of licensed goods soars, battles loom over the use of works by long-dead artistsThis summer, the Uffizi gallery threatened to sue Pornhub for using its masterpieces in a “classic nudes” video. “Some people think of museums as boring, stuffy or dull,” posed the adult streaming site. “But what if we told you they housed a collection of priceless porn?” The video re-enacted erotic scenes from art history using artworks including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, housed in the Uffizi in Florence.Pornhub swiftly took down the unauthorised nudes, prompting debate about who controls the copying of cultural artefacts that are long out of copyright and in the public domain. Continue reading...
More than 50 ministers under Johnson and May took posts with firms in sectors they covered in governmentHalf of all ministers who have left office in the Boris Johnson or Theresa May governments later took up posts with companies relevant to their former government jobs, the Guardian has found.An analysis of those who left departmental ministerial roles up until the most recent reshuffle found more than 50 took up employment as advisers in industries where they had government expertise or as more general political consultants. Continue reading...
The landmark children’s television program introduces Ji-Young, its first Korean American puppet, inspired by a desire to counteract race hateWhat’s in a name? For Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of Sesame Street, her name is a sign that she was meant to live there.“So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong,” Ji-Young explained during a recent interview. “But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.” Continue reading...
Counter-terrorism police arrested three men after a taxi exploded outside a hospital in Liverpool on Sunday, killing one person and wounding another, police said. A male passenger was declared dead at the scene, while the male driver suffered minor injuries. Counter-terrorism officers said they were investigating the case with local police and that they were keeping an open mind as to what had happened.
by Jason Burke and Samuel Okiror in Kampala on (#5RXNH)
Victims describe systematic physical abuse, denial of basic legal rights and appalling conditionsUgandan security services held children for months in prisons after successive crackdowns against opposition activists earlier this year, witnesses and victims have said.Adults and children described systematic physical abuse, denial of basic legal rights and appalling conditions as they waited for trial on charges they claim were fabricated. Continue reading...
Women on 10 Qatar Airways flights, including 13 Australians, were subjected to compulsory intimate searches in October 2020A group of women subjected to invasive gynaecological searches at Doha airport will sue Qatari authorities, seeking redress for an ordeal that sparked global condemnation, their lawyer said on Monday.Women on 10 Qatar Airways flights from Doha, including 13 Australians, were subjected to the examinations late last year as authorities searched for the mother of a newborn found abandoned in an airport bathroom. Continue reading...
Representatives particularly disappointed by softened language on coal and a lack of funding to pay for loss and damagesPacific representatives and negotiators have condemned the outcome of the Cop26 meeting as “watered down” and a “monumental failure” that puts Pacific nations in severe existential danger, with one saying that Australia’s refusal to support funding for loss and damage suffered by Pacific countries was “a deep betrayal” of the region.Some Pacific leaders expressed qualified optimism about the result of the critical climate summit, such as the Fijian prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, who tweeted: “The 1.5-degree target leaves Glasgow battered, bruised, but alive.” Continue reading...
Three men – aged 29, 26 and 21 – have been arrested and detained under the Terrorism Act after a taxi exploded in flames outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital
Police say the animal, thought to be either an escaped pet or a juvenile, kept charging at the woman when she left her houseA possum has been released without charge after it held a woman “hostage” at her home, New Zealand police say.Officers received a call late on Sunday night from a distressed woman who said “a possum was holding her hostage” at her home in the South Island city of Dunedin. Continue reading...