Sir Tom Winsor says random searches of officers’ WhatsApp and social media could act as deterrentRandom phone searches for police officers should be carried out to check for inappropriate jokes and racist, sexist and homophobic slurs, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.Sir Tom Winsor said trawling WhatsApp and social media could act as a deterrent, much in the same way that the random drug testing of police officers does. Sir Tom also spoke of his revulsion over officers taking photographs of the murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry before sharing them in a group message with colleagues. Continue reading...
Large crowds had gathered to collect leaking fuel after a bus struck the tanker in a Freetown suburbAn oil tanker has exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said on Saturday.The explosion took place late on Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown. Continue reading...
Austin Mellor plunged into the cold Irish Sea to save a woman caught in a riptide. The Guardian Angel treats him to a safer adrenaline fix on an indoor ski slopeWhen Austin Mellor was in year seven, a boy in his year was being bullied. It had been going on for a while, and Mellor hated it. One day he snapped and gave the bully a black eye. It worked. The bully stopped.When Mellor’s mum, Julie, found out, she was worried. “She says I’m one of those people who goes out of their way to help others, even when I probably shouldn’t,” says Mellor, now 25 and an estate agent in Greater Manchester (who certainly would no longer advocate resorting to violence). Continue reading...
The assault sent vacationers scurrying and raises fears that drug cartel rivalries could doom a lucrative tourist industryFifty years ago, Cancún was little more than a hurricane-battered fishing outpost, but it mushroomed into a tourist mecca thanks to massive government investment – and by the 1980s it was firmly established as the crown jewel of Mexico’s tourist industry.Millions of tourists from around the world descend annually on the destination and the Riviera Maya, which unfolds to the south. Continue reading...
In the small hours, thousands of people lie in bed, eyes open, mind racing, desperately hoping to nod off. What are they thinking about? We spend a long, long night with the nation’s sleeplessPaul Chan has tried hot tea, hot baths, hot-water bottles, a cold breeze from an open window, mental maths, brainteasers, very slow breathing in bed and very brisk walks around his bedroom. Now, on a random night in October, the 52-year-old from Liverpool tries to get to sleep by imagining that he is James Bond. Why not? Chan is among that enormous proportion of the British public – one in three, according to an NHS estimate – who suffer from routine bouts of sleeplessness. He has just been to the cinema to see No Time to Die and as he closes his eyes for the night, he decides to start at the beginning, mentally recreating the movie in as much detail as he can manage. Scene one. A frozen lake in Norway …A little way north, in Durham, Lucy Adlington is alert, awake, and stuck. The 36-year-old silversmith cannot fall asleep but is hesitant to clamber out of bed for fear of waking the rest of her household. Somewhere between 3am and 4am, she picks up her smartphone and, speaking softly, begins to dictate a voice message. What does it feel like, being awake, alone, out of options, in the smallest and quietest hours of the night? “Like being an animal in a cage,” Adlington says, murmuring into her phone. Continue reading...
The musician on his hair (or lack of), Fox News and his great love: a tiny dog named BagelBorn in New York City, Moby, 56, became a global star with his 1999 album, Play; his records have now sold more than 20m copies. His latest, Reprise, is a collection of orchestral recordings of his classic hits; Gregory Porter covers his song Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? on his new album Still Rising. Moby lives in Los Angeles.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Singer, 26, was one of Brazil’s most popular singers and a Latin Grammy winnerMarília Mendonça, one of Brazil’s biggest singers and a Latin Grammy winner, has been killed in a plane crash on her way to a concert.The 26-year-old pop star died alongside her producer, her uncle – who worked as her adviser – and both the pilot and co-pilot of the plane. Continue reading...
Island’s foreign minister and premier among people to be stopped from entering mainland and Hong KongChina has said it will hold those who support “Taiwan independence” criminally liable for life, provoking anger and ridicule from the island at a time of heightened tension between the neighbours.For the first time, China has spelled out the punishment that awaits people deemed to back independence for Taiwan – top officials of the self-ruled island among them. Continue reading...
200 daily cases for the first time as PM says it is on track to have ‘amongst the highest vaccination rates in the world’New Zealand has passed 200 daily cases of Covid-19 for the first time in the pandemic, placing it on a worrying trajectory for the summer and raising expert concerns that the growing outbreak could overwhelm the health system.On Saturday there were 206 cases announced – 200 based in Auckland, the city at the centre of the outbreak. There were 73 people in hospital with the virus, seven in intensive care. Continue reading...
The fight for Rogers Communications has riven one of Canada’s richest families – and began with an accidental butt dialFor weeks, Canadians have been gripped by a messy public feud splintering one of the country’s richest families. Kicked off by an accidental pocket dial that revealed an executive-level coup attempt, the battle has pitted mother against son, ensnared Toronto’s mayor and drawn comparisons to the HBO show Succession.Two separate groups of directors have proclaimed themselves the rightful stewards of Rogers Communications, a sprawling C$30bn telecommunications and entertainment empire with interests in media, professional hockey, basketball, baseball, football and soccer. Continue reading...
by Nadeem Badshah (now); Damien Gayle, Martin Belam a on (#5RHMF)
Only those vaccinated or recovered from Covid will be allowed to frequent restaurants and cultural venues in Austria ; UK records 34,029 new infections
Frozan Safi, 29, is believed to be the first women’s rights defender to be killed since Taliban return to powerA 29-year-old activist and economics lecturer, Frozan Safi, has been shot and killed in northern Afghanistan, in what appears to be the first known death of a women’s rights defender since the Taliban swept to power almost three months ago.Frozan Safi’s body was identified in a morgue in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif after she went missing on 20 October. “We recognised her by her clothes. Bullets had destroyed her face,” said Safi’s sister, Rita, who is a doctor. Continue reading...
Anti-establishment Million Mask March group gathered to let off fireworks and demonstrate against the governmentEight police officers have been injured after clashing with hundreds of anti-establishment protesters in Parliament Square on Bonfire Night.Demonstrators wearing Guy Fawkes-style masks had gathered at nearby Trafalgar Square at the annual Million Mask March with some throwing fireworks at officers. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5RJMF)
Victim’s mother calls for resignation of health boss as families consider suing over assaults on loved onesSenior ministers are resisting calls for an immediate independent inquiry into how a hospital worker was able to attack at least 100 female corpses in mortuaries, as Kent police said they had been inundated with over 200 calls from those fearing
A breakup, a pandemic and a homecoming left the singer with time to sit and think. Her new album radiates the calmness and kindness she soughtAt the beginning of 2020, while her home country burned and the rest of the world was waking up to a global pandemic, Courtney Barnett was in Los Angeles. She’d just completed an American tour; her plan was to find herself an apartment and stick around a little longer to work on songs.Then – after “it all got really wild” – she came home to Melbourne. For maybe the first time in six years – since her 2016 hit Avant Gardener turned her into the newest “New Dylan” – Barnett finally had time to sit and think. Continue reading...
Dr Rumi Chhapia sentenced to three years and four months in prison after admitting fraudA senior GP who stole more than £1m of NHS money to fund an addiction to online gambling has been jailed for three years and four months.Dr Rumi Chhapia embezzled the money from a healthcare group as he chased jackpots on internet slot machines and roulette. He began defrauding the group of GP surgeries in Hampshire as soon as he was put in charge of its accounts, leaving its finances in disarray and other directors needing therapy. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti and Heather Stewart on (#5RJDG)
Angela Rayner accuses Boris Johnson of trying to install a ‘sham group of Tory stooges’Parliament’s ethics watchdog has been urged to investigate Boris Johnson’s Downing Street finances after this week’s sleaze scandal, as Kathryn Stone was said to be undeterred by government attempts to undermine her.Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, called on Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner, to open a new investigation into the refurbishment of the prime ministerial flat, which reportedly cost £200,000 and was initially funded by a Tory donor. Continue reading...
Bloc includes Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been fighting Abiy Ahmed’s forces for a yearNine anti-government factions in Ethiopia have said they had formed an alliance amid growing fears that they will attempt to overthrow the government of Abiy Ahmed by marching on the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.The alliance, the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, includes Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and brings together members of previously rival ethnic groups, including the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Continue reading...
In The Promise, Galgut chronicles the decline of post-apartheid South Africa through four funerals over 40 years“I’m used to not winning – that’s kind of what I’m programmed for, and what I’m braced for,” says the quietly spoken South African novelist Damon Galgut, the morning after he was awarded the Booker prize for his ninth novel, The Promise. He has been shortlisted twice before: in 2003 for The Good Doctor, and in 2010 for In a Strange Room. He finds the whole thing “deeply disquieting” (his mother has helpfully given his contact details to journalists back in South Africa). The ceremony last night felt totally unreal, he says, “as if I’d been hit over the head. Obviously it was a great night for the book, so it is hard to be displeased with that.”Slight in person (he’s a committed yogi), the 57-year-old author is serious and courteous in conversation, but the sardonic voice of the novel’s shapeshifting, puckish narrator clearly belongs to him. Written in an innovative style, The Promise tells the story of a white South African family through the device of four funerals over 40 years, chronicling the decline of post-apartheid South Africa. It might be more JM Coetzee than Richard Curtis, but Galgut’s Four Funerals is surprisingly funny. (The family are called Swarts, which means “black” in Afrikaans, “a sort of in-joke”, as he puts it). With the exception of a recent “beating” in the London Review of Books, the novel has been rapturously received. “A surprising number of novelists are very good; few are extraordinary,” began one critic, just warming up. Continue reading...
Up to 50 Jamaicans, some of whom came to UK as children, are due to be on flight next weekJamaica’s top diplomat in the UK has said he is “deeply concerned” about Home Office plans to send people who came to the country as children back to the Caribbean island on a deportation flight next week.Deportation flights to Jamaica raise particular concerns because of the Windrush scandal. Although the Home Office says nobody from the Windrush generation will be on next week’s flight, some due to fly have Windrush family connections and many have lived a substantial part of their childhoods in the UK, including one person who arrived when he was three months old. Continue reading...
by Presented by Alyx Gorman, Steph Harmon and Michael on (#5RJA8)
In the third episode of Guardian Australia’s new podcast, Alyx Gorman, Michael Sun and Steph Harmon bring in colleague Josh Taylor to please for the love of god explain Facebook’s pivot – before we try a recipe TikTok can’t get enough ofShow notes: Continue reading...
It sounds as if your sexuality and orientation will be no surprise to them, says Annalisa BarbieriI am 16, and identify as an ace lesbian (NMLNM, or non-men loving non-men). I have questioned my sexuality since the age of 12 or 13, thinking I was bisexual. I downloaded TikTok, which allowed me to explore my identity more and interact with other queer young people. Until this summer, I questioned my identity multiple times a day (exhausting and not affirming), but I slowly began to feel confident in labelling myself as a demi-romantic, asexual lesbian (I like to use labels). However, that feeling didn’t last long. I felt dysphoric a lot of the time, and I hated my breasts. Fortunately, after about a month, I rediscovered the term “demigirl” and it just fitted. I am also trying out she/they pronouns, but haven’t told anyone. My gender is quite fluid – some days I feel more neutral, other days ultrafeminine.I am open about my sexuality at school and online, and would happily tell most people that I am gay, but don’t want to “come out” to my parents. I think it’s a combination of fear, not of rejection (they are supportive of the LGBTQ+ community), and the fact that I hate the idea of having to “come out” if you are queer; I don’t want to contribute to our heteronormative society. Should I tell my parents so they have time to process it, or should I wait until I have a partner to introduce to them? Also, I feel obliged to inform them of my pronoun change, but I don’t want to be the one to teach them how to use she/they pronouns. I wish they would educate themselves. If I tell them my gender and/or sexuality, I don’t want them to perceive me differently. I know how they react is not in my control, but ideally our relationship will stay the same or improve. Continue reading...
German media identify man who apparently fell from window of Russian embassy as member of FSBA Russian diplomat found dead near the country’s embassy in Berlin last month was an undercover intelligence agent, German media have reported.The news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday that police had recovered the body of a Russian diplomat who apparently fell from an embassy window, and that the man had been identified as a member of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main intelligence and law enforcement agency. Continue reading...
Kieron Donaldson cleared of murder before being convicted after he ‘helped and supplied weapons’A fifth teenager accused of killing 15-year-old schoolboy Keon Lincoln has been cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.Kieron Donaldson was convicted of the lesser charge by a majority 10-2 verdict at Birmingham crown court after a trial heard he “helped and supplied weapons” for the premeditated attack on Lincoln in January this year. Continue reading...
Officer accidentally shot child during high-speed chase of suspected people smugglersA Belgian court has reduced the sentence of a police officer convicted of accidentally shooting dead a two-year old girl during a high-speed chase of suspected people smugglers.An appeal court cut the officer’s suspended sentence for involuntary homicide from one year to 10 months. The court left a €400 (£343) fine unchanged. Continue reading...
by Patrick Greenfield and Libby Brooks on (#5RJ3F)
Some conference visitors are now hooked on Scotland’s famous fizzy drink, while others can’t wait to leave it behindAlongside a post-work dram of whisky and a lunchtime haggis, delegates at Cop26 have been getting acquainted with another Scottish delicacy: Irn-Bru. Gleaming mounds of the rust-coloured drink are on sale throughout the SEC convention centre in Glasgow, and it has proved a hit with people from all corners of the planet – and a miss with others.The Zimbabwean presidential spokesperson got the party started on Monday when he was reported to have emerged from a Glasgow Costco with trolleys full of Irn-Bru and alcohol for an event that evening. The drink, which Donald Trump banned from his luxury golf resort in Turnberry in 2018, also has a new fan from the South Pacific. Continue reading...
Calogero Ferrara’s libel suits against Lorenzo Tondo marked as potential intimidation on Council of Europe ‘safety platform’Two libel claims by an aggrieved Italian prosecutor against a Guardian journalist have been flagged as potential acts of state “harassment and intimidation” on an alert system run by Europe’s leading government-backed human rights organisation, the Council of Europe.Calogero Ferrara, a prosecutor in Palermo, filed the defamation suits in 2019 against the journalist Lorenzo Tondo over a Facebook post and a series of allegedly inaccurate articles published by the Guardian. A first hearing of one of the libel cases has now been set for February 2022. Continue reading...
DS Derek Ridgwell’s actions led to at least two serious miscarriages of justice, the Stockwell Six and the Oval FourThe British Transport Police has apologised to the British black community for the trauma caused by the actions of a former officer involved in at least two serious miscarriages of justice involving young black people.In a letter sent to black civil rights activists, Lucy D’Orsi, the force’s chief constable, insisted the actions of DS Derek Ridgewell, who played a key role in the convictions of the Stockwell Six and the Oval Four, did “not define the BTP of today”. Continue reading...
Across the arts, Black British artists are making their voices heard. To mark the moment, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder have guest-edited the Saturday magazine’s culture sectionBlack lives matter. Before it is an organisation or capitalised political movement, it is just a simple statement of fact. Black people’s lives are important and have meaning. However, too often when we discuss the meaning of the phrase, we frame our discussions around how our lives are not valued. Continue reading...
Scotland’s newly reopened mountain bothies are shining examples of sustainable tourism. Our photographer takes us on a guided tourThe Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) charity has reopened its 105 mountain huts, shelters and howffs after more than a year of closure due to Covid. The overwhelming majority of these are in Scotland and they reopened in August for what the MBA described as “responsible use”, pointing out that Covid has not gone away. The bothies are all sorts of shapes and sizes in varied locations – many are extremely remote and operated with the agreement of owners and estates and maintained by MBA volunteers since the late 60s and early 70s.Above,Allt nam Fang, approaching Meanach Bothy; right, Meanach Bothy, renovated in 1977, is approximately 1,000ft above sea level Continue reading...
The Prison Arts Collective brings art, and renowned artists, to incarcerated people as a form of therapy and escapeThe American prison has a long cultural history, depicted in movies from The Shawshank Redemption to The Green Mile. They are generally portrayed as harsh, dehumanising places populated by hardened criminals and vicious guards.Who better, then, to demystify prisons and those who live in them than artists themselves? “We’ve had this glorified TV version of what a prison is in America and sure, it’s not a cakewalk, but it’s also humans in there – our fellow humans,” says Brian Roettinger, a graphic designer based in Los Angeles. Continue reading...
How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout and schedule compare with other countries, and when will Australia reach 70% and 80% double dose vaccination? We bring together the latest numbers on the vaccination rate in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and other states, as well as stats, maps, live data and Indigenous vaccination rates.
Analysis: President faces an uphill battle to undo a system that has led to a bloated property sectorXi Jinping’s to-do list has seen a lot of ticks in recent months: more flights into Taiwan’s defence zone; suppressing dissenting voices in Hong Kong; clipping the wings of tech barons; outlawing the out-of-school tutoring industry. The list goes on.However, one key initiative – introducing a local property tax – has attracted fewer headlines but is apparently so controversial within China’s ruling Communist party that even Xi is still only able to deal in trial schemes rather than wholesale change. Continue reading...
by Heather Stewart, Robert Booth and Aubrey Allegrett on (#5RH82)
Conservative MPs react with fury at ‘own goal’ after PM ditches bid to shield former minister from lobbying claimsBoris Johnson was engulfed in a sleaze crisis last night following a humiliating government U-turn that saw veteran Tory MP Owen Paterson resign from parliament after Downing Street ditched a bid to shield him from lobbying claims.Tory MPs reacted with fury after Johnson withdrew his backing from Paterson, less than 24 hours after ordering them to support a controversial amendment tearing up House of Commons anti-sleaze rules to protect him. Continue reading...
Trial of former hospital electrician is believed to be worst case of necrophilia in British legal historyAn electrician who admitted murdering two women in 1987 also sexually attacked scores of corpses in a hospital mortuary in the worst offending of its kind in British legal history, prosecutors say.David Fuller pleaded guilty to murdering Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent police said. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5RH3B)
Armour UK also aware two people who had used its products had tested HIV positive, the inquiry heardA pharmaceutical company continued to insist its blood products were safe despite knowing it had used untested donors and that two people who had used the products had tested HIV positive, the infected blood inquiry has heard.On Thursday, Christopher Bishop, a former marketing manager at Armour UK, a major supplier of blood products, became the first employee of a pharmaceutical company involved in the infected blood scandal to give evidence to the statutory inquiry. Continue reading...
Documentary-maker who captured East Timor atrocities on film and left behind his earlier career as a Blue Peter presenterThe documentary-maker Max Stahl, who has died of throat cancer aged 66, exposed the atrocities of the Indonesian government in East Timor. But he first found fame under his birth name of Christopher Wenner as a presenter of the BBC children’s television show Blue Peter.His sporting prowess shone through when he abseiled down the east tower of Television Centre, but the overriding story of his two years on the programme (1978-80) was how he stumbled through scripts and appeared uncomfortable in front of the camera. Nevertheless, his constantly arguing over Blue Peter’s content with the editor, Biddy Baxter, who held an iron grip on the show, gave a glimpse of what he would later bring to news and current affairs television. Continue reading...
by Helen Pidd North of England editor and agency on (#5RH1N)
Steve Turner to be investigated after referral to police watchdog over alleged conduct before assuming roleThe police and crime commissioner of one of England’s most troubled forces is being investigated over an allegation of a historic sexual assault.Steve Turner, who became Cleveland police and crime commissioner in May, is resisting pressure to resign after the revelation by the Mirror newspaper. Continue reading...
by Heather Stewart and Aubrey Allegretti on (#5RGSP)
Tory MP was facing suspension after standards watchdog found he had broken lobbying rulesOwen Paterson has announced his resignation as MP for North Shropshire, after Boris Johnson made clear he would no longer seek to prevent the former cabinet minister from being punished by parliament for lobbying.“I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics,” the MP for North Shropshire said in a statement.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...
Twitter users investigated for sharing “disinformation and manipulative content”Thirty people are facing legal proceedings after Turkish police launched an investigation into the spread of rumours on social media that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had died.Twitter users who posted under the trending hashtag “olmuş” – roughly “is said to be dead” – were being investigated for sharing “disinformation and manipulative content”, a police statement issued on Wednesday said. Continue reading...
Nobel peace prize winner Abiy Ahmed vowed in post to ‘bury’ his government’s enemiesFacebook has removed a post by Ethiopia’s prime minister for “inciting and supporting violence” as diplomats stepped up attempts to instigate a ceasefire in the country’s year-long civil war.Abiy Ahmed, the winner of the 2019 Nobel peace prize, vowed to “bury” his government’s enemies in a Facebook post on Sunday as forces from the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) moved closer to Addis Ababa. Facebook’s owner, Meta, said on Thursday that it had removed the post. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Recommended by Lucy Clark. Wri on (#5RH1P)
Two decades ago Richard Stiles escaped an avalanche in New Zealand, but friend Steve Robinson wasn’t so lucky. Now the mountain has given up some of its secrets. Features editor Lucy Clark introduces this unexpected tale about a moment that was captured on film and buried for more than 20 years before resurfacingYou can read the original article here: Photos from ‘beyond the grave’: camera discovery reveals climber’s last images before fatal avalanche
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