Soon to be seen as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in the Oscar-tipped King Richard, Smith has lent his everyman charm to comedies, sci-fi and even a buddy movie pairing a cop with an orcWill Smith has made many more than 20 films, but the economy of critical pain means this must always feature at the bottom of any list of any length. A horrifyingly cutesy, toxic dramedy with Smith as the tech entrepreneur, who loses his child to cancer and then starts writing impassioned letters to abstract concepts such as Death, Love and Time. Continue reading...
From 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a vaccine passport to access most public places in the countryFrom 30 September, people aged 12-17 visiting France from the UK must present a “passe sanitaire” (vaccine passport) to access most public places in the country. Previously, this was only required for people aged 18 years and older.The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) does not recommend that most 12 to 15-year-olds get vaccinated and, for the time being, is only backing offering a first dose to 16 and 17-year-olds. This may pose practical problems for many UK-based parents, whose only option would seem to be paying for PCR tests. Continue reading...
Fourteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?The quiz master remains on holiday, but before he departed he left behind a crumpled up piece of paper behind a filing cabinet with 14 questions written on it which has taken ages for some poor soul at the Guardian’s office to type in. As ever, the questions are on general knowledge and topical trivia, there’s a hidden Doctor Who reference to find, there’s a picture of the divine Kate Bush, and one question is for no readily apparent reason formatted with anagrams. Have fun – let us know how you get on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 22 Continue reading...
Medieval plazas, fortresses like film sets and seafood straight out of the net feature in your pick of these lesser-known destinationsI stopped in Salamanca for lunch when driving from Madrid to Lisbon and ended up staying there for a week, caught up in the lovely atmosphere of the city. Its graceful red sandstone architecture, with two cathedrals and splendid university buildings dating from the 15th century, gives the city the quality of an alfresco cultural living room – where academics, students and locals live on a sort of dreamy, theatrical open-air film set. Street names are hand-painted in scarlet on signs and the youthful population creates a hedonistic vibe at night when darkness descends. By day, check out the Plaza Mayor and the lovely Doll Museum.
Referral to prosecutors comes as UK told plan to end Troubles prosecutions ‘could breach international law’A former police officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) has been referred to public prosecutors in Northern Ireland in relation to a series of potential offences including the sectarian murder of three brothers.John Martin, 24, Brian, 22, and their 17-year-old brother, Anthony Reavey, were shot by the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang at their home in County Armagh in 1976. Continue reading...
Activist Bill Browder warns of global reach of controversial law after being contacted by Foreign OfficeBritain has warned some Hong Kong critics in the UK about travelling abroad, according to high-profile human rights advocate Bill Browder, highlighting concerns about the cross-border reach of the Chinese region’s national security law.Browder, a well-known lobbyist for the use of sanctions against foreign governments involved in human rights abuses, said he was contacted by the UK Foreign Office earlier this month after he was named in a Hong Kong court during a foreign collusion case. Continue reading...
European human rights commissioner warns Northern Ireland secretary that amnesty is ‘deeply problematic’Boris Johnson’s plan to impose a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 could be in breach of international law, a European human rights commissioner has told the government.Dunja Mijatović of the Council of Europe has written to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, saying the UK’s proposals appear indistinguishable from an unconditional amnesty for those not yet convicted. Continue reading...
We’re among the thousands boycotting the UN food summit – it’s been hijacked by corporate interests while the voices of small-scale farmers go unheardThursday’s UN food summit proposes to help solve the world’s nutrition crisis, with 800 million people going hungry and 1.9 billion labelled obese, by better aligning food systems with development goals. But it won’t achieve any of this. The summit was hijacked early on by powerful corporate interests – but people are resisting.Hundreds of social movements and civil society groups across the world representing small-scale and subsistence food producers, consumers and environmentalists are protesting about the summit for being undemocratic, non-transparent and focused only on strengthening only one food system: that backed by the big corporations. Civil society bodies active at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for instance, are running a massive grassroots boycott of the summit, and there is a website and several actions dedicated to it. Grain, a small nonprofit group campaigning for biodiversity-based food systems, shut down its website and social media in protest on Thursday and many other organisations are holding their own protests around the world. An online alternative forum in July, running in parallel with the pre-summit meeting in Rome, attracted about 9,000 participants. This week, even more are expected. Continue reading...
Special rapporteur says children as young as 20 weeks old are being seized by military in bid to force suspects to hand themselves inMyanmar’s military junta is systematically abducting the relatives of people it is seeking to arrest, including children as young as 20 weeks old, according the UN special rapporteur for the country.Tom Andrews told the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday that conditions in the country have continued to deteriorate and that “current efforts by the international community to stop the downward spiral of events in Myanmar are simply not working”. Continue reading...
As pandemic widens inequalities, many developing countries spend more on debt than health, study saysMore than 100 countries face cuts to public spending on health, education and social protection as the Covid-19 pandemic compounds already high levels of debt, a new report says.The International Monetary Fund believes that 35 to 40 countries are “debt distressed” – defined as when a country is experiencing difficulties in servicing its debt, such as when there are arrears or debt restructuring. Continue reading...
UK PM says it is time for the world to ‘grow up’ and ‘listen to scientists’ in speech to general assemblyCop26 must be a “turning point for humanity” in just 40 days’ time, Boris Johnson has urged in a call to arms to fellow global leaders ahead of the climate summit in Glasgow.Addressing the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday evening, Johnson warned it was time for humanity to “grow up”. Continue reading...
The Hollywood star made his comments as he accepted the San Sebastián film festival’s highest honourNobody is safe from the “instant rush to judgment” handed out by today’s cancel culture, Hollywood star Johnny Depp said Wednesday at a Spanish film festival where he accepted a lifetime achievement award.Depp, who last year lost a libel case against a British newspaper that labelled him a “wife-beater”, was responding to questions from journalists at the San Sebastián film festival in northern Spain. Continue reading...
The third dose will also be available for those considered high risk, however there was not enough evidence for broader authorizationThe US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 65 and older and some high-risk Americans, paving the way for a quick rollout of the shots.The booster dose is to be administered at least six months after completion of the second dose, and the authorization would include people most susceptible to severe disease and those in jobs that left them at risk, the FDA said. Continue reading...
The ‘godfather of modern Black cinema’ is best known for the film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song!Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking playwright, musician and movie director whose work ushered in the “Blaxploitation” wave of the 1970s and influenced film-makers long after, has died. He was 89.His family said in a statement that Van Peebles, father of the actor-director Mario Van Peebles, died Tuesday evening at his home in Manhattan. Continue reading...
Singer’s lawyer says in court filing that she consents to move but the first step should be her father’s removal from arrangementBritney Spears has said that she agrees with her father that the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money since 2008 should be terminated.The singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said in a court filing on Wednesday that she “fully consents” to “expeditiously” ending the conservatorship. Spears’s father, James Spears, requested to end the controversial arrangement in early September. Continue reading...
Email sent by officials potentially compromises safety of Afghans who may be eligible to relocate to the UKA second data breach by the Ministry of Defence in the space of a few days that could compromise the safety of Afghans has emerged.Defence officials sent an email that had the email addresses and some names of 55 people, which could be seen by all the recipients. Continue reading...
Khadija Okkarou had accused members of a ‘dangerous gang’ of kidnapping and torturing her for two monthsEleven men accused of kidnapping and gang-raping a Moroccan teenager have been each sentenced to 20 years in prison, the victim’s lawyer said on Wednesday, in a case that stirred national outrage.Khadija Okkarou, then 17, went public about the abuse in a video posted online in 2018. It was a rare move in the conservative north African country. Continue reading...
Analysis: Joe Biden has cleared the decks to focus on China. But how imminent is the danger?It may have been an inelegantly, even ineptly, executed pivot, gratuitously alienating key allies, but by leaving Afghanistan and forming the Australian, US and UK security pact in the Indo-Pacific, Joe Biden has at least cleared the decks to focus on his great foreign policy challenge – the systemic rivalry with China.Yet the concern now is how quickly this rivalry could escalate, especially in Taiwan. The linchpin of the US alliance system in south-east Asia, Taiwan is the biggest island in the “first island chain”, the group of islands that keeps China blocked in. It is China’s next target, and as the former British prime minister Theresa May pointed out, no one quite knows if the west is prepared to fight to save Taiwan or whether the new tripartite pact in some way places a new obligation on the UK to come to the country’s defence. Continue reading...
During the White House daily press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked for additional details about Joe Biden’s call with the French president Emmanuel Macron today, after which it was announced the French ambassador would return to Washington.Psaki noted that the phone call between the two leaders lasted about 30 minutes, and she said it was a “friendly” conversation. “[Biden] acknowledged that there could have been more discussion,” she said.
US and Australia not going back on cancelled €56bn submarine contract despite talk with French leaderFrance has agreed to return its ambassador to the US and Joe Biden has vowed not to cut Paris out of key future defence decisions in the Indo-Pacific after a phone call designed to calm French fury after he struck a submarine deal with Australia and the UK behind Emmanuel Macron’s back.In a joint statement, issued after the phone call ended a five-day standoff between the leaders, the two men agreed to meet in Europe in late October, probably at the G20 summit, to discuss how to improve consultations in future. Continue reading...
Serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper had been warned by prison authorities that he was vulnerablePeter Sutcliffe, the convicted serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, refused to be shielded in prison in the months before he died from the coronavirus, an inquest has heard.Sutcliffe had been warned that he was vulnerable to Covid-19 by authorities at Frankland Prison near Durham. Continue reading...
The German chancellor has been an anchor of stability in turbulent times. Her departure raises big questions about the futureWhen Angela Merkel’s successor is identified in elections this Sunday, that person will be the first new holder of Europe’s most powerful elected office for 16 years. The mere change of leadership will be a shock for the whole continent. Germany is the EU’s foremost economic power (although France sees itself as a political equal).That strength has generally been wielded with deference to the wider European interest. Or rather, the two interests have been conflated. A culture of atonement for the past has made Germany especially committed to the EU’s founding mission – peace and prosperity by means of cross-border integration. For the continent’s smaller members, that has sometimes felt like integration on terms dictated by Berlin, especially when it comes to budget austerity. European solidarity is the key to German foreign policy, but aversion to public debt is its sacred economic creed. That has made for uncomfortable diplomacy within the eurozone. Continue reading...
His closeness to Trump has not helped and if agreement were struck by 2024 it would be considered rapid progressThree reasons. First, Britain exports more to the US than to any other country. When added together, the countries of the European Union count for more, but almost 15% of the UK’s goods exports went to the US last year. The US is also the No 1 country for UK services exports. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5PVWQ)
Former health secretary said ministers were worried if they paid compensation to haemophiliacs it might set a precedentA push in the 1980s for compensation for haemophiliacs infected with Aids through contaminated blood was “doomed to failure” because of opposition from Margaret Thatcher and the Treasury, a former health secretary has said.Norman Fowler, who was secretary state for health and social security between 1981 and 1987, told the infected blood inquiry that ministers were worried if they paid compensation to haemophiliacs it might set a precedent. Continue reading...
US president outlines plan at Covid summit, bringing America’s global donation to over 1.1bn doses amid backlash over boostersJoe Biden has announced that the US will donate an additional 500m Covid-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries around the world, bringing America’s total global donation to more than 1.1bn doses.The US president outlined the plan on Wednesday at a virtual coronavirus summit where he urged world leaders to “go big” in tackling the pandemic and closing the vaccination gap with poorer nations. Continue reading...
Controversial proposals for Tübingen are an attempt to deter car use in the city, with larger vehicles paying the mostThe mayor of the southern German city of Tübingen has attracted praise and scorn alike for a new plan to increase parking fees by 600% in an effort to discourage cars – especially large ones – from the city.Boris Palmer, a member of the Greens party, has won initial support for his proposal, which would see the annual parking fee for SUVs rise from 30 euros to 180. Continue reading...
Kidbrooke community wants to honour primary school teacher’s life despite feeling shocked and scaredFriends and neighbours of Sabina Nessa, a teacher who was found dead at the weekend, have described feeling scared and overwhelmed following her suspected murder, but determined to honour her life with a peaceful vigil.The community of Kidbrooke in Greenwich, south-east London, have organised a vigil at 7pm on Friday evening in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, inviting those who cannot be there in person to light a candle on their doorstep at the same time. Continue reading...
Minsk accused of abandoning migrants at frontier in attempt to put pressure on EUFour people stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus have died in recent days, officials have said, amid continuing allegations that Minsk is abandoning migrants at its frontier in an attempt to put pressure on the EU.Polish authorities said three people, including an Iraqi man, were found dead, from hypothermia and exhaustion, on the Polish side of the border on Saturday, and the body of a woman was seen on the Belarus side on Sunday. Continue reading...
Actor shares personal experience to draw ‘flames of controversy away from vulnerable women’Uma Thurman has railed against the “horror” of Texas’s draconian new abortion law and called for the ban to be lifted, as she opened up about an abortion she had as a teenager.Writing for the Washington Post, the actor described her abortion publicly for the first time, calling it her “darkest secret”. She wrote about how she was “accidentally impregnated by a much older man” in her late teens and decided to terminate the pregnancy. Continue reading...
Family of Wiltshire victim Dawn Sturgess calls on home secretary to initiate full judge-led investigationThe family of a woman killed in the Wiltshire novichok poisonings has warned that delaying the start of a full judge-led investigation into her death could put more lives at risk and is calling on the home secretary, Priti Patel, to speed up the process.Relatives of Dawn Sturgess and her former partner Charlie Rowley are pressing for a public inquiry into her death in July 2018 but are increasingly concerned the full hearing may not begin until 2023. Continue reading...
Workshops teach public first aid and prepare them to assist armed forces in event of attack by ChinaOn a quiet workday morning last week, air raid sirens rang out across Taiwan. The eerie wailing horn would be the first warning to the island’s 23.5 million residents of an incoming attack by their neighbour across the Taiwan Strait, the People’s Republic of China.On the streets of the capital, Taipei, people carried on with their day, just as they did when an earthquake drill on Friday told them to “stop, drop and hide” in mass text alerts, and just as they do when China sends dozens of air force planes screeching towards Taiwan. Continue reading...
Michael Fakhri says Thursday’s meeting will not be promised ‘people’s summit’ on tackling world’s nutrition crisisThe UN global food summit is “elitist and regressive” and has failed in its goal of being a “people’s summit”, according to the special rapporteur on food rights.As world leaders prepare to attend the virtual event on Thursday, which aims to examine ways to transform global food systems to be more sustainable, Michael Fakhri said it risked leaving behind the very people critical for its success. In an interview with the Guardian, Fakhri said neither the worsening impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the right to food, nor fundamental questions of inequality, accountability and governance were being properly addressed by the meeting. Continue reading...
Irish government figures come days after M&S says it is scrapping 800 lines due to ‘excessive paperwork’Exports from Great Britain to Ireland fell by almost £2.5bn in the first seven months of the year with Brexit emerging as a major factor, according to official Irish government data.The figures from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) come just days after Marks & Spencer said it was scrapping 800 product lines from its stores in the republic of Ireland because of “excessive paperwork” and health controls on food. Continue reading...
Damien Bendall, 31, appears in court on four counts of murder after bodies found at house in DerbyshireA 31-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with four counts of murder after a woman and three children were found dead in a house in Derbyshire.The bodies of John Paul Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, their mother, Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey’s friend, Connie Gent, 11, were discovered at a property in Killamarsh, near Sheffield, on Sunday morning. Continue reading...
Analysis: Fear and uncertainty of the Obama years could return as Kim Jong-un revives nuclear ambitionsNorth Korea’s recent missile launches signal that the regime has reverted to familiar tactics to attract the attention of the US. Although the rest of the world will take little comfort from this return to “normality”, after a six-month pause Pyongyang last weekend launched what it claimed were new long-range cruise missiles capable of hitting Japan, followed hours later by the test launch of two ballistic missiles into the sea, apparently from a train.Then came the clearest sign since its last nuclear test in 2017 that the North is not about to abandon its project to build a viable deterrent, with satellite images showing it was expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex. Continue reading...
Six companies warned not to put profit before lives as report shows less than 1% of almost 6bn doses have gone to low-income countriesAmnesty International has accused six pharmaceutical companies that have developed Covid-19 vaccines of fuelling a global human rights crisis, citing their refusal to sufficiently waive intellectual property rights, share vaccine technology and boost global vaccine supply.After assessing the performance of six Covid-19 vaccine developers – Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax – Amnesty International claims that all are failing to uphold their own human rights commitments and warns they should not be putting profit before the lives of people in the world’s poorest countries. Continue reading...
by Marco Alessi, Ekaterina Ochagavia , Lindsay Poulto on (#5PV9K)
This year marks the 30th anniversary of film-maker Derek Jarman’s canonisation by an activist group of gay male nuns known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. At the time in 1991, Derek Jarman was the most prominent person in the UK living openly with HIV. He was outspoken, radical and unapologetically queer. The perfect antidote, in the Sisters’ eyes, to Ian McKellen’s acceptance of a knighthood in the 1991 new year honours Continue reading...
Northern Ireland police detain suspects aged 24 and 29, with three others already charged with murderAnother two men have been arrested over the killing of the journalist Lyra McKee in Derry in 2019, police in Northern Ireland have said.The two men, aged 24 and 29, were arrested in the city early on Wednesday morning and will be interviewed later. Continue reading...
by Mostafa Rachwani and Matilda Boseley on (#5PTRJ)
10.11am BSTAnd breathe. Another hectic day today, but we’ll leave it there for tonight. Here’s what we learned today:9.55am BSTVictoria police say they arrested more than 200 people today.The deputy commissioner Ross Guenther says approximately 300 people attended today’s protest at the Shrine of Remembrance, but it was difficult to pin down a specific number:We estimated that there were probably around 300. There could have been more there. It is very difficult because they were both on the east and western sides of the shrine and moving around, so out of that, I would say at least probably 20-30% of those who have received infringement notices. It could be higher, but this event only finished an hour ago, so we are yet to assess that. I know even as I came in here this evening, we have units patrolling around the city that are still picking up people for breaching the directions. Continue reading...
by Rowena Mason Deputy political editor on (#5PV7C)
Sharon Graham is believed to be first in the job to miss annual event but says it is ‘definitely not a snub’The new leader of Unite will miss Labour’s annual conference, saying she needs to prioritise her job of sorting out industrial disputes.Sharon Graham, who was elected as Unite leader on a promise to take the union “back to the workplace”, is believed to be the first in the job to miss the annual event. Continue reading...
Refugees, Russian sympathisers and half-dressed footballers: Germany’s forever chancellor had words for them allAngela Merkel’s 16-year tenure at the top of German politics will leave lasting legacies in many fields, but the art of political oratory is unlikely to be one of them. When the chancellor addresses the public she is rarely snappy and quotable, and she has even admitted she didn’t believe in governance by speech-making. “The idea that a person can touch other people so much with words that they change their minds is not one I have ever shared, but it’s a beautiful idea nonetheless,” she told Der Spiegel in 2016.And yet during her decade and a half in power, which is set to end after Sunday’s election, there have been numerous additions to German dictionaries that sum up something about her leadership, be it phrases she used herself or those that others used to describe changes in the country she has led. Continue reading...