World news | The Guardian

The actor has just directed her first film, an adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing. She discusses the family story that inspired her, cultural appropriation and class in HollywoodIt would be easy to assume that Rebecca Hall has never had to fight for anything in her life. Now 39, she made her screen debut at the age of 10 in The Camomile Lawn, the 1992 TV series directed by her father, the British theatre grandee Sir Peter Hall. Her stage debut came a decade later, in his production of Mrs Warren’s Profession. There followed 15 hugely successful years as an actor, working with Steven Spielberg (The BFG), Christopher Nolan (The Prestige), Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and many more. But for more than a decade she has been struggling to build a second career, as the director of a movie that some would say she has no right to make.That movie is Passing, which Hall has adapted herself from the 1929 novel by the Harlem Renaissance writer Nella Larsen. It is an emotionally resonant study of racial identity, seen through the eyes of two Black women, Irene (played by Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga), both of whom, to varying extents, “pass” as white. Hall remembers first encountering the book in her early 20s and feeling a rush of inspiration: “I was sat there reading and I could just suddenly start seeing it: their two faces, seeing each other in that tea room, and I had that idea of looking from Irene’s perspective and panning through someone staring at you and then coming back. That was really there, and very potent, in black and white in my head.” Continue reading...

Little has changed in Europe’s largest shantytown since the UN said the lack of electricity ‘violates children’s rights’ in 2020Few parts of Europe’s largest shantytown speak quite as plainly of the past 12 months as Luisa Vargas’s sparse, tidy and dim front room.A thin curtain hangs across a window cut into the wooden wall to admit a little light, the bookshelves bear the sooty scorches of candles, and a wood-burning stove squats near the door, its chimney punching through a damp scab of ceiling. A big TV sits forlorn and powerless, its place usurped by a portable model perched on a child’s chair and powered, in carefully rationed sessions, by a car battery. Continue reading...

Apex predator is not a ‘mindless killer’ and a better understanding of why sharks bite humans could mitigate attacks, Australian researchers say

Harassment is common for women who run for office and female MPs comprise just 9.9% of lower houseMari Yasuda has come to dread checking her social media accounts. While a TV programme has tipped the candidate as “one to watch” in Japan’s general election this month, her anonymous correspondents make no secret of their belief that, as a woman, she should not be standing for parliament at all.“They accuse me of sleeping with powerful men to get ahead or make abusive comments in calls to our office,” says Yasuda, who is contesting a seat in Hyogo prefecture for the opposition Constitutional Democratic party of Japan. “I receive emails from men remarking on my appearance or asking me for a date.” Continue reading...

Attorney says the deal can protect the prince against a lawsuit that claims that he assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17Prince Andrew’s lawyer has asked a New York judge to keep sealed a 2009 legal agreement that he says can protect the prince against a lawsuit’s claims that he sexually assaulted an American woman when she was under 18.The request was made in court papers in Manhattan federal court, where the US district judge Lewis A Kaplan is presiding over an August lawsuit filed on behalf of Virginia Giuffre. The lawsuit said the prince abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was 17 and a minor under US law. Continue reading...

Santa Fe county district attorney tells New York Times weapon Alec Baldwin fired was ‘legit’ antique gunCriminal charges have not been ruled out in the fatal accidental shooting by Alec Baldwin on the Rust film set, the local district attorney handling the case has said in an interview.Speaking with the New York Times on Tuesday, the Santa Fe county district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, also said it was incorrect to refer to the firearm used in the incident as a “prop gun”, as media reports have. Continue reading...

Members of JCVI say focus on those who have not had any jabs must take precedence over efforts to increase booster uptake

Chancellor to strike upbeat tone despite cost-of-living crisis, with spending pledges worth billionsRishi Sunak will use his budget to insist the UK is entering an economic “age of optimism” despite a looming cost-of-living crisis, after making a deluge of promises to spend billions more on health, transport and skills.In an attempt to strike an upbeat tone during his second budget on Wednesday, the chancellor will say his aim is to create a “new economy post-Covid”. Continue reading...

When Mikel Arteta scanned a well-stocked substitutes’ bench for potential matchwinners, Calum Chambers’ face would not have leapt out. So it was a turnup for the books that his defender, who had not kicked a competitive ball in anger for two months and has barely appeared in a matchday squad since, breached Leeds within seconds of coming on and sparked an ultimately straightforward win. Chambers just about beat Illan Meslier with his first touch and Arsenal’s progression to the quarter-finals was in little doubt thereafter.Chambers had only been deployed because Ben White felt unable to continue after feeling unwell. His intervention was the cue for Arsenal to take complete control of a previously sterile game and their second goal was a reminder of another talent whose career sits at a crossroads. Eddie Nketiah’s only previous football this season had come in the third round of this competition, against AFC Wimbledon; he scored in that game and squeezed in another here, although the path to salvaging a long-term future in north London still appears rocky for a player who needs regular starts at 22. Continue reading...

Three former senior officers agree errors in search for missing women were due to biased policingThree former police chiefs have said errors made in the search for two missing sisters was the result of bias, as the murdered women’s mother dismissed as “hollow” an apology for the blunders.The mother of Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, found murdered in June 2020 in a London park, said her daughters’ friends and family were left to search themselves after the Metropolitan police failed to do so. Continue reading...

Zoe Alexander, whose brother Nick died in 13 November 2015 attacks, testifies at trial of alleged terroristsThe sister of the only Briton killed in the Paris terror attacks has told 14 people on trial in Paris over the bloodshed that while she and other victims’ families “deplore what you did, we don’t hate you”.Nick Alexander was killed when gunmen stormed the Bataclan theatre in Paris during a rock concert as part of a series of coordinated attacks across the French capital ordered by the Islamic State group. Continue reading...

Analysis: leaders of other forces are saying trust is down following series of policing disasters in the capitalThe failings of the Metropolitan police are being felt far beyond the capital.“It is playing in our area hundreds of miles away,” said one chief constable from outside London of the almost weekly disasters befalling the Met, which again finds itself with a lot of explaining to do. Continue reading...

Faced with extreme weather, voters in the 1970s responded to a government call to move to drier land. The same spirit of innovation is needed todayWhat should governments – and people – do, confronted by the terrifying force of nature? It is the question of our age. But one answer, found on mainland Europe, serves as a reminder of human ingenuity in the face of adversity. The Netherlands offers perhaps the most astonishing example of government intervention in the 20th century: acting to deal with North Sea surges, which not only cost lives but threatened food production. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee – a large, shallow North Sea inlet – and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water. What has been created since 1972 is a new region to the east of Amsterdam, called Flevoland, out of the sea in the form of two great polders – essentially flat fields of reclaimed marshland which together are about the size of the English county of Dorset.These days Flevoland is a busy place: containing the country’s fastest growing city of Almere, the regional capital of Lelystad, and a vast nature reserve, Oostvaardersplassen. Half a century ago, all were submerged metres below sea level. The country’s youngest province is living proof of how humankind can live with the ever-changing elements. Michel van Hulten, one of Flevoland’s architects and a former Dutch minister, says some of the success of the area is down to the collectivist spirit of the early 1970s when voters instinctively trusted government. He points out that there were no tax incentives or state subsidies for people to move to what were then empty new towns. The public simply answered the government’s call as part of a national mission. The Low Countries remain ideologically and historically close to the UK. The problem is that today’s politics is marked by polarisation rather than solidarity. Continue reading...

Salman Abedi was not stopped and questioned on return to UK from Libya, inquiry hearsA senior MI5 officer has accepted that stopping and questioning the Manchester Arena terrorist, Salman Abedi, when he returned to the UK from Libya could have led police to the bomb.The inquiry being held into the atrocity, which killed 22 concertgoers and injured hundreds of others, was hearing evidence from an intelligence officer given the pseudonym Witness J. Continue reading...

Pentagon says Afghan-based group and al-Qaida have intention to attack US and Taliban’s ability to fight them is ‘to be determined’The US intelligence community has assessed that Islamic State in Afghanistan could have the capability of attacking the United States in as little as six months – and has the intention to do so, a senior Pentagon official has told Congress.Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, also said it was still “to be determined” whether the Taliban – which is an enemy of Islamic State – has the ability to fight Islamic State effectively following the US withdrawal in August. Continue reading...

Exclusive analysis of 540,000 wealthiest individuals in the UK shows effects of low capital gains tax

Richard Kelly’s unusual sci-fi drama made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal and introduced emo teens to a brave new worldMidway through Donnie Darko, a creative young English teacher played by Drew Barrymore repeats the old maxim – recycled over the years by linguists, scholars and writers including JRR Tolkien – that the simple, banal phrase “cellar door” is the most purely, pleasingly harmonious combination of words in the English language. There’s something to be said for that, but one wonders if writer-director Richard Kelly was offering a challenge to the claim by naming his protagonist Donnie Darko – an irresistible, perfectly ridiculous name for an ordinary suburban schoolboy that nonetheless encapsulates his fey, eccentric aura. His new girlfriend says the name aloud, lolling it like a mint in her mouth, before observing that it makes him sound like “some kind of superhero”. “What makes you think I’m not?” he replies, deadpan.Well, what indeed. Kelly’s sci-fi-tinted tale of adolescent isolation came out six months before Spider-Man, the film that kick-started the now all-consuming superhero movie revival, and the two have more in common than you might initially assume: both are stories of an awkward teenage boy coming to terms with what appear to be otherworldly abilities, and assuming responsibility for the world around them. For plucky Peter Parker, that means standard-issue feats of derring-do and defeating evil; for downcast Donnie Darko, it means ending and altering the very timeline in which he exists, ultimately dying so that others may live. As superhero origin stories go, it doesn’t have much franchise potential: Donnie’s legend begins and ends in one fell swoop. But it has an eerie, enduring power: would that many comic-book heroes’ stories were so noble and haunting and finite. Continue reading...

Bananas are in, ironing water is out – and, according to Waitrose’s latest food and drink report, the sometimes controversial green fruit is the most popular item for on-demand deliveryName: The emergency avocado.Age: New. Continue reading...

Comedian says he’s ‘more than willing to give you an audience but you will not summon me’ in apparent response to protestThe comedian Dave Chappelle has spoken out about backlash against his recent Netflix special, saying he would be open to meeting transgender employees of the streaming company but would not be “bending to anyone’s demands”.“To the transgender community, I’m more than willing to give you an audience,” Chappelle said in a video posted to his Instagram page on Monday. “But you will not summon me.” Continue reading...

Members of C of E such as archbishop of Canterbury tweeted their concern over draconian lawChurch leaders in the UK have strongly criticised Ghanaian bishops over their support for a draconian anti-LGBTQ+ law.Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican church, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York and other Church of England bishops tweeted their concerns on Tuesday in what appeared to be a coordinated effort to put pressure on their Ghanaian colleagues. Continue reading...

In this fascinatingly terrible Netflix show, presenter Saweetie cannot contain her cringing as sex-positive puppets masturbate constantly in front of her. What an agonising watchI blame myself, really. I have made repeated pleas in these pages that British people be entirely kept away from any shows about sex or anything remotely sex-adjacent, because of our inability to face cameras or genitals without collapsing in mortal embarrassment. In doing so, I implied that Americans were better suited to the job. I apologise unreservedly. For Sex: Unzipped, billed erroneously by Netflix as a comedy special and presented by rapper Saweetie, has been inflicted upon us all to give the lie to my under-researched claim.Saweetie is, especially for someone used to performing, fascinatingly terrible as a presenter. Uncomfortable, self-conscious and with a relentlessly flat delivery – it’s quite agonising. Perhaps she would be better off without the sex-positive puppets? Then again, perhaps we all would. Continue reading...

This gripping film from the makers of Free Solo and Meru digs deep to find out how the 2018 rescue of a junior football team was achievedCo-directors and extreme sports enthusiasts Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi have covered cliffhanging exploits with their documentaries Free Solo (about a solo ascent of Yosemite rock face El Capitan) and Meru (about a climb in the Himalayas). Their latest puts them up against a new challenge: making something at least somewhat cinematic about cave diving in the preternaturally dark, subterranean world it involves.Fortunately for them, their story revolves around the gripping drama that was the 2018 rescue effort to save 13 members of a Thai junior football team – 12 kids and their adult coach – who were trapped in a cave by an unexpected downpour. Not only is the story compelling, but thanks to how much the event captured the interest of the world’s media, there is a lot of archive footage to splice in among the generous wodges of talking-heads narration from the main participants. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s budget expected to give £30m to help secure events, plus extra £11m for men’s football World CupThe UK will aim to host the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup and the 2026 Tour de France Grand Départ, with the chancellor set to pledge £30m to support the bids.Rishi Sunak is expected to make the funding announcement in Wednesday’s budget and spending review, as well as an additional £11m towards a joint UK and Ireland bid for the men’s football World Cup in 2030. Continue reading...

‘Reprehensible’ response to Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry’s disappearance heightened family’s anguish, says Mina SmallmanThe mother of two murdered sisters has rejected the Metropolitan police’s apology over failings in how it responded when they were initially reported missing, calling the force “incompetent and reprehensible”.Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were reported missing on Saturday 6 June 2020, the day before friends discovered their bodies in a park in Wembley, north London, after organising their own search party. Continue reading...

‘We have to state with outright certainty that what is being said about us is completely and utterly false,’ band members sayThe US rock band All Time Low have denied allegations of sexual misconduct made against the band, including that guitarist Jack Barakat sexually abused an underage girl, calling them “absolutely and unequivocally false”.Earlier this month, a woman posted a video on TikTok claiming that an unnamed famous pop-punk act had invited her on to their tour bus when she was 13. She alleged inappropriate behaviour, including attempts “to take my bra off for their nasty collection” and that they “offered me beers” and subsequently prank-called her friend. Continue reading...

To change course radically, the Coalition would have to admit that for a decade it traded the national interest for a handful of regional Queensland seats

IOPC says 66 officers and staff faced misconduct proceedings in England and Wales in past three yearsPolice officers and staff abusing their position for sexual gain is now the largest form of police corruption, a watchdog has said.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed the number of cases in England and Wales had “risen sharply” in the past three years, warning that perpetrators have “no place in policing”. Continue reading...

Labor likely to fiercely oppose bill in parliament over fears it may exclude legitimate ballots

Blaze on freighter ship has been largely contained, but officials won’t be able to determine damage amid wind and rainEmergency crews have largely contained a chemical fire aboard a container ship anchored off western Canada, but warned a looming “bomb cyclone” storm could complicate efforts to fully assess damage to the ship and surrounding marine ecosystem.The blaze broke out on Saturday aboard the MV Zim Kingston, a freighter ship carrying mining chemicals, including potassium amylxanthate – a hazardous substance used to help separate ores. Continue reading...

Hoyle says past chancellors would have resigned for ‘riding roughshod’ over MPs with pre-speech briefingsPast chancellors would have resigned for revealing details of the budget before the official statement, the Commons Speaker has told MPs, expressing fury at the briefing of a slew of measures to be announced on Wednesday.In a veiled reference to the former Labour chancellor Hugh Dalton, who resigned after telling a journalist about tax changes just before his 1947 budget, Lindsay Hoyle accused the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, of “riding roughshod” over MPs. Continue reading...

Analysis: democratic transition that followed 30 years of military rule only papered over faultlinesIn 2019, in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Sudan’s authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir – who had himself seized power in a military-backed coup in 1989 – the potential for fissures in the country’s nascent political settlement were already obvious.As representatives of the country’s rebel movements sent delegations to the huge and sprawling public protests in Khartoum and students discussed the possibilities of democracy at coffee stalls set up on the pavement outside universities, the military – which had removed their backing from Bashir – was keeping a watchful eye with its soldiers manning checkpoints. Continue reading...

Immunologists say Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich is mistaken and vaccine misunderstandings persist

Fiona Harvey, Professor Saleemul Huq, Lucy Siegle, Hannah Martin, Professor Mary Gagen and Damian Carrington answered your questions on Cop26

Villa Aurora set to go on auction in January with opening bid of almost €500mA sprawling villa in Rome containing the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian master Caravaggio is being put up for sale for almost €500m (£422m).The 2.75-metre wide painting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in the 16th century to adorn the ceiling in what was his alchemy laboratory at Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora. Continue reading...

An economic crisis aggravated by conflict and drought have caused a collapse in food security since the Taliban takeoverMore than half of Afghanistan’s population is facing acute hunger as the country has been thrown into one of the world’s largest food crises.Almost 23 million Afghans will be hungry due to conflict, drought and an economic downturn that is severely affecting livelihoods and people’s access to food as a harsh winter looms, the UN has warned; an increase of nearly 35% compared with last year. Continue reading...

Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after teenagers’ deaths on SundayTwo boys who were killed in Essex in what detectives are treating as suspected murders were 16 years old, the local MP has said.Police were called to an address in Regency Court, Brentwood, at about 1.30am on Sunday. Three people were found injured at the scene and, two of them died. The third boy’s injuries were not life-threatening or life-changing, police said. Continue reading...

From a shocking drama set in the cut-throat world of Korea’s elite universities to a thriller about a time-travelling walkie talkie, here’s what to bingeReply 1988 begins in the year South Korea hosted the Olympics and follows the lives of five friends in the neighbourhood of Ssangmun-dong in northern Seoul: carefree Deok-sun, fellow trouble-maker Dong-ryong, model student Sun-woo, grumpy Jung-hwan and Choi Taek, a reserved Baduk (Go) player. Continue reading...

Valencia police seized 27 paintings by various artists being sold for €1.2m, 18 of which were crude forgeriesSix people have been jailed in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia after police broke up a criminal gang that was using the internet to sell crudely forged paintings attributed to artists including Francisco de Goya, José Benlliure y Gil and Nicolás Falcó.The investigation, carried out by officers from the historical heritage group of the Valencian police, began when doubts arose over the provenance of Falcó’s The Adoration of the Three Wise Men, which had been bought for €18,000 (£15,000) and was being resold for €45,000. Continue reading...

Joel Souza says actor was practising a scene at time of accidental shooting of Halyna HutchinsAlec Baldwin was practising a scene that involved him pointing a gun “towards the camera lens” when it accidentally went off, killing his director of photography, according to a written statement by the film’s director.The director, Joel Souza, said he heard what “sounded like a whip and then a loud pop”. He said he saw the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins clutch her midriff and stumble backwards. Souza noticed that he himself was bleeding from the right shoulder. Continue reading...

A surgeon dedicated to his patients, Chike Akunyili was on the frontline of people’s suffering. We must address the problems that drove his killers to pull a trigger just because they could

Financial and relationship woes caused by Covid in the UK are driving a rise in older people returning to live with family

Live stream from Seoul Olympic stadium

We envision two scenarios: what life could look like in 2050 if we do nothing, and what life could look like if we take action now. Watch this video to take a glimpse into the future and find out what you can do to prevent global climate catastrophe. There is still hope

Keith Pitt added to cabinet ahead of question time; Origin Energy fined $5m after allegedly charging prohibited exit fees; Morrison government will sign off on a regional transition package in exchange for Nationals’ support for climate emissions target; Victoria records 1,461 Covid cases, NSW 294. Follow the day’s developments live

Exclusive: some competitors say they feared they would die in 56C Sahara heat during six-day 250km raceIt is billed as the “toughest footrace on Earth”, the equivalent of five and half marathons in stifling desert heat.But runners at the Marathon des Sables have accused organisers of failing in their duty of care by letting the event go ahead in exceptionally high temperatures, and after a stomach bug swept through runners, as well as medical and support staff. Continue reading...

The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to wreak havoc on the Canary island of La Palma. The eruption has continued for more than a month and is yet to show any sign of easing Continue reading...

Labour leader says councils should be allowed to use exclusion orders, in remarks echoed by Priti PatelCouncils should be allowed to use exclusion orders to stop anti-vaccine activists from protesting outside schools, Keir Starmer has said.The Labour leader said it was “sickening” that those against vaccinations were demonstrating where children are educated.

The outspoken comedian, actor and director talks about the state of comedy, his late friend Robin Williams and why Jerry Seinfeld has a problem with himThese days, Bobcat Goldthwait prefers not to do the voice. Anyone who knows his name probably knows that voice, a guttural yowl that makes him sound like a cartoon character being smashed with an oversized mallet. It made the comedian, film-maker and actor a star during his tenure in the Police Academy films back in the 80s, but no one wants to be reduced to a bit, and so he retired the quasi-persona in 2018.“It was a decision I made,” Goldthwait tells the Guardian on a phone call from Los Angeles. “I went back on the road after directing the Kimmel show, and I wasn’t looking forward to it … The voice didn’t suit me. But I know people, they’ve worked hard all week and that’s what they expect, so I probably perpetuated it a little longer than I should have. I was in Nashville, and I actually have footage of me going out for the first time, knowing I just couldn’t do the character. I have an OK set, but people in the audience were yelling, ‘Do the voice!’ It’s my daughter’s favorite heckle.” Continue reading...