Homes collapsed after the quake struck 100km east of Quetta in Balochistan, and officials fear the death toll could riseA 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit southern Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 200, government officials said.The quake struck Balochistan at 3am local time and at a depth of around 20km (12 miles), the US Geological Survey said. Continue reading...
A mynah bird that arrived in UAE with a young Afghan refugee has found sanctuary – and a new word – at the ambassador’s residenceA mynah bird that was brought from Afghanistan by a girl fleeing the Taliban has learned to say “bonjour” after finding a new home with France’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.Ambassador Xavier Chatel said he was moved by the little girl, who arrived “exhausted” and carrying the bird, named Juji, at the Al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE during the chaotic evacuations from Kabul. Continue reading...
Canadian prime minister took family holiday on day to underscore bitter legacy of Indigenous residential schools – ‘I regret it’Canada’s Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has said it was a mistake to take his family on holiday on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honouring the lost children and survivors of Indigenous schools.Trudeau flew to Tofino, British Columbia, with his family on Thursday after his own government in June had designated 30 September a federal holiday to underscore the legacy of the so-called residential schools. Continue reading...
Tweed shire mayor says ‘many regions are facing the very real likelihood of their first Covid-19 outbreak’ ahead of the state lifting travel restrictions
Aleksandar Vučić’s comments come as EU leaders ditch proposal to put 2030 deadline for six western Balkan nations to join blocSerbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, has lauded his ties with the Kremlin for shielding his country from the energy crisis at a summit with EU and western Balkans leaders, fuelling fears that China and Russia would be the beneficiaries as the bloc further forestalled over enlargement.Vučić told reporters he had been proven right in maintaining close ties with Beijing and Moscow despite EU concerns, describing Vladimir Putin as the “kingmaker” in energy. Continue reading...
Shadowy figures lurk in Lee Thongkham’s stylised horror, which wrongfoots the audience with jump scares aplentyThai writer-director Lee Thongkham’s horror feature is a giddy, gory little treat. Unfortunately, it’s hard to explain exactly what’s so fab about it without spoilers, so just take our word for it as long as you have the stomach for lots of fake blood and jump scares. Suffice to say that Thongkham is nimble when it comes to wrongfooting the viewer, and there’s some pleasingly pointed satire here as well, sticking it to rich, snobby people who think domestic workers are as disposable as empty washing up bottles.The maid of the title is Joy (bob-haired ingenue Ploy Sornarin), a country girl who gets hired to schlep tea trays up and down the stairs in service to super-wealthy Uma (actor-model-singer Savika Chaiyadej), a woman so ridiculously haughty she dresses like a gameshow hostess for breakfast and always uses a cigarette holder – presumably so the butts don’t touch her lips. Joy has worked out that she’s but the latest in a long line of maids who don’t last long in that household, but when she asks the other servants they get all squirrelly and tell her she’s not to ask any questions. Continue reading...
As a generation, they care deeply about the environment and sustainability - but are also under pressure to change their wardrobe constantly. Which impulse will win?Alessia Teresko, a 21-year-old student from Nottingham, seldom wears the same outfit online twice. Which is why, last month, for a friend’s birthday, she bought a minidress: a 70s-style Zara dress in a swirling print, for which she paid £27.99. On Instagram, she posted a photograph of herself in her new dress, with a caption that read “Besties wknd”. The post racked up 296 likes and with it, Teresko’s Zara purchase was sent to the giant wardrobe in the sky. (Namely, the Depop account, where she resells the clothes she no longer wears.) “I can’t take another picture in it because I already posted it,” says Teresko. “I know that sounds very superficial.”In Edinburgh, 23-year-old Mikaela Loach, a student and climate justice activist, understands the pressure that Teresko is under. “Honestly,” she says, “as someone with a platform, even I feel pressure to be wearing different clothes online.” She buys her clothes secondhand. “Only if I can’t find it secondhand,” Loach says, “will I buy something new and then make sure I’ve done rigorous research on the company.” Continue reading...
Joint bid aims to add musical style that inspired independence to list of intangible cultural heritageAuthorities in Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the capitals of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo, have submitted a joint bid to add Congolese rumba to the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage.The list helps demonstrate the diversity of heritage and raises awareness about its importance. If Congolese rumba were to be added, it would join the hawker food of Singapore, sauna culture of Finland and traditional irrigation systems in the United Arab Emirates, among countless other customs on the list. Continue reading...
Academic’s appointment marks historic moment for Arab world but comes amid political and economic crisis, with some fearing she will be Kais Saied’s pawnSara Medini, political analyst at the Tunisian feminist organisation Aswat Nissa, was in a meeting at work last week when she happened to glance at a news alert on her phone. What she saw left her at first flabbergasted, then delighted.“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought I had misread it,” she said. “I told my colleagues: ‘He’s appointed a woman! He’s appointed a woman!’ Continue reading...
Award-winning artist Maqbool Jan is one of a handful still practising the ancient artform, but without government help he fears it could be lostKashmir’s ancient papier-mache artworks are famous throughout the world. The art form is a staple of the luxury ornamental market, and has a rich and long cultural lineage. It is closely associated with the advent of Islam in Kashmir, and depicts scenes from the Mughal court, Arabic verses from the Qu’ran, Persian poetry, as well as Kashmir’s iconic tourist attractions.However, this ancient art form is vanishing, with only a handful of artisans left practising. Continue reading...
She has made art out of smells, ants, bacteria, spit and vaginal swabs. So what is the US artist about to unveil for her Turbine Hall commission? Yi, who was once a vagabond in London, takes us on an olfactory odysseyAnicka Yi offers me some beetroot crisps. These, along with carrot crisps, are her breakfast, both free of oil and salt. “I can’t eat greens, dairy, sugar, legumes, beans, nuts, seeds, nightshades, spice, alcohol – nothing,” the Korean American conceptual artist explains. “I can only eat grass-fed meat, wild fish, unseasoned all of it, vegetables and a little fruit.”Why? “I have some auto-immune issues and my doctor put me on a protocol to find out if something in my diet is inflaming them.” Poor you, I say, thinking I should wave away any approaching cheese trolley, as we sit chatting in Tate Modern’s members’ room. The diet has made Yi’s three-week trip from New York to London, to install her latest work in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, logistically tricky. Continue reading...
After a tragedy that killed her father, mother and brother, and left her severely scarred, she endured years of taunts and rejection. Now she is fighting for all those with facial disfigurementsTulsi Vagjiani was 10 years old and had been in hospital for several weeks when her bandages finally came off and she asked the nurses to show her what she looked like. She had been warned that she had extensive burns, but they seemed reluctant to let her look – they asked her if she was sure. “The nurses and doctors were like: I don’t think she realises the severity of what she looks like,” says Vagjiani.Vagjiani felt as if she had not changed, even if she was confused about what exactly had happened. “I was just Tulsi – boisterous, loud, confident.” She thought: how bad could it be? “Then I saw myself in the mirror and I was like: oh.” She says it in a quiet voice. “I actually thought somebody drew that face on, because I thought: that’s not me. And then, looking at the person in the mirror, their eyes and mouth moving, I realised: that is me.” Continue reading...
Speakers address crowds at peaceful demonstration held in Eastbourne, where suspect was arrestedAbout 200 people gathered on Tuesday evening for a vigil in memory of the schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, who was killed three weeks ago.The vigil was held in Eastbourne, where the man suspected of her killing was arrested late last month. Continue reading...
Wednesday: Former PM lands on island as tensions with China escalate. Plus: filming to begin on first movie shot in spaceGood morning. Tensions between Taiwan and China are rising as Tony Abbott arrives in the region. The NSW Nationals will vote for a new leader to replace John Barilaro today. And we have more revelations from the Pandora papers.The former prime minister has landed in Taiwan to speak at a regional forum. Taiwan has said Beijing sent nearly 150 fighter jets and bombers into its air defence zone over the first four days of October. President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan will “do whatever it takes to defend itself” and warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the region should it fall. Abbott will deliver a keynote speech at the Yushan forum – an Asian regional dialogue conference – and will meet will meet Tsai and the foreign minister, Joseph Wu. Continue reading...
The Birmingham striker discusses his traumatised past, his ‘big rant’ on a Premier League Zoom call and the fight against racism“It’s going to sound bad, as if I am glamorising it, but it was normal,” Troy Deeney says when he remembers being driven around by his father in a stolen Mercedes-Benz with a drug dealer locked up in the boot. Deeney was just 19 years old and he had played one of his earliest games of professional football for Walsall against Northampton Town. He was a dozen years away from becoming the Premier League football captain who would do so much to force debate around how leading clubs in England could confront enduring racism.Early in 2009, however, Deeney was simply puzzled by another outbreak of chaos in his life. Hearing the hammering and screaming in the boot of the car he turned to his father when they stopped for petrol. “Can you hear that noise, Dad?” he asked. Continue reading...
Mayoral elections this week saw a poor turnout, but brought more good news for progressive parties following the German electionThe surprisingly upbeat autumn for Europe’s centre-left continues. Election wins in Germany and Norway have this week been followed up in the south, where mayoral polls in Italy delivered a string of convincing performances by the Democratic party. Milan, Bologna and Naples all gave strong mandates to progressive candidates; Rome and Turin are likely to follow suit in second round runoffs, which will take place later this month. If all goes well, a nap hand of major cities will be run by centre-left mayors.The results have been greeted with understandable enthusiasm by Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who returned to lead the Democratic party last March. They prove, he said, that “the right is beatable”, after a period in which the far-right Brothers of Italy party and the nationalist League have consistently topped polls. The particularly poor showing by the League, led by Matteo Salvini, and the brutal ejection of the Five Star Movement mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, has led some commentators to assert that Italian populist movements are finally in decline. But suggestions of a political sea change may be a little premature. Continue reading...
While Conservative conference ponders poverty, the town’s most deprived face a £1,000-a-year cut as universal credit is clippedIt is 14 years since the Conservatives last held their conference in Blackpool, but the resort has been on the lips of every cabinet member in Manchester this week.“Children born in Blackpool are no less gifted than those in Beaconsfield but their GCSE results, job prospects and university offers don’t reflect that. That’s wrong,” said Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up. Continue reading...
Experts say the pandemic is multiplying longstanding problems linked to housing and racial inequalityLike clay pressed into a mould, Covid outbreaks tend to conform to the contours of a country’s existing inequalities and cracks, replicating them over again.Social scientists have called the pandemic a “threat multiplier”, taking existing social problems, and compounding their force. In New Zealand, the country’s growing Delta outbreak is now interweaving with longstanding housing affordability crisis and racial inequalities. As the government continues to loosen restrictions, experts say a growing outbreak will make those divides more and more pronounced. Continue reading...
French government pushing EU to take stronger stance in dispute over access to Channel watersThe EU could hit Britain and Jersey’s energy supply over the UK’s failure to provide sufficient fishing licences to French fishers, France’s EU affairs minister has said.Clément Beaune, who is a close ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said action would be decided on within days and discussions were already in motion. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Recommended by Alyx Gorman. Wr on (#5QC88)
With no way of knowing how long her fertility would prevail, Madison Griffiths did what she felt she had to, with the tools she was afforded. Lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman recommends this personal story
by Bethan McKernan Middle East correspondent on (#5QC89)
Global policing body gives Damascus powers to pursue refugees and dissidents living outside the countryInterpol has allowed Syria to rejoin its communications network, a widely criticised decision that gives Damascus new powers to pursue refugees and dissidents living outside the country.Bashar al-Assad’s regime has remained a member of the global policing body but was subject to several “corrective measures” after the civil war broke out in 2011. It was previously suspended from accessing Interpol’s databases and communicating with other member states regarding requests for international arrests. Continue reading...
The actor says the Weinstein orc was intended as a message to the domineering sexual predator producerOne orc among many in the Lord of the Rings movies was designed to resemble Harvey Weinstein as a “sort of fuck you” to the notorious producer, Elijah Wood, who played the hobbit Frodo in the series, told a Hollywood podcast.“It’s funny,” Wood told the actor Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert. “This was recently spoken about because Dom [Monaghan] and Bill [Boyd, who played hobbits Merry and Pippin] … were talking to Sean Astin [Samwise] about his first memory of getting to New Zealand [where the series was filmed]. Continue reading...
Coroner says a focus will be whether lives might have been saved had police investigated first deaths differentlyThe “competence and adequacy” of the police investigations into the murders of four gay men by the serial killer Stephen Port will be examined at the inquests into their deaths, a jury has heard.One key focus will be whether lives might have been saved if police had investigated the early deaths differently, said Sarah Munro, the assistant coroner for east London. Continue reading...
A new compilation surveys the enduring influence of a German landmark that fuelled a techno revolution from a damp, fungi-riddled bank vault on the old East sideFor electronic music fans, Berlin’s Tresor has long been considered the Valhalla of Germany’s illustrious club circuit. In March 1991, months after the official dismantling of the Berlin Wall, Tresor, the city’s first techno club, opened near Potsdamer Platz. In short order, the club’s vanguard of DJs, eccentrics, punks, goths and artists birthed a new subculture of Teutonic dance music that united the youth movements of east and west on the dancefloor.To commemorate the club’s 30th anniversary, Tresor Records is releasing Tresor 30, a 12-record box set of classic and new techno artists from its in-house label. It runs the gamut from early Detroit techno (Underground Resistance’s 1991 sci-fi epic The Final Frontier; Jeff Mills’ Late Night) to ambient techno (the savant-like Function) and third generation, post-techno musicians (Afrodeutsche, Sophia Saze, Grand River), demonstrating Tresor’s trademark, big tent approach to electronic dance music. Continue reading...
The first trailer for the upcoming fantasy spin-off promises epic action on a vast scale, with “gods, kings, fire and blood”. Resistance is futile!The Game of Thrones finale is still fresh in the mind of the public. Why, it only seems like yesterday since the world came together to witness the culmination of George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire saga, asking itself questions like “WHY IS EVERYTHING SO DARK?” and “WHY HAS MY FAVOURITE TV SHOW GOT MASSIVELY CRAP?”But two and a half years is a long time in the world of intellectual property and, reasoning that it’s still much easier to get viewers to watch a spin-off of something they grew to hate than to make them invest in something new, GoT prequel House of the Dragon is now on the horizon.House of the Dragon will premiere in 2022 Continue reading...
Audrey Hepburn’s star-making turn as Holly Golightly remains as luminous as ever in Blake Edwards’ sweetened yet still bittersweet adaptation of Truman Capote’s novelBreakfast at Tiffany’s was a sacred film in my household growing up. My mother’s VHS tape, fuzzily recorded off TV, was plastered in “do not tape over” warning labels, a defence I might have to explain to someone born 10 years later than I was. The opening credits on this worn copy were briefly disrupted with footage from the 1988 Wimbledon men’s final – still overlaid, in an altogether lovely technological blip, with the wistful strains of Henry Mancini’s Moon River theme. The warning labels dated from shortly after this unfortunate, swiftly aborted overlap.I thus grew up thinking of Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a film that belonged – via the tape, in a most literal and physical sense – specifically to one person. And then, by extension, to me, as a kind of inheritance. We watched it many times in my childhood, when I was rather too young to understand what exactly Manhattan socialite Holly Golightly did with her life – though, in my defence, the film rather sidesteps the issue too. No matter: it was probably one of my first encounters with pure movie star power, or at least one of the first times I recognised it as such. Audrey Hepburn, so perfectly doe-eyed and beehived and brightly funny and winsomely sad, seemed as much to me a force of magic as Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, even if the person she was playing made less sense to me. And not least of all – probably most of all, if I’m being honest – there was a cat. Cats were a cheap and easy way to my heart in a movie: the whiplash of panic and relief I felt over the rash disposal and cute retrieval of Holly’s ginger mog returns to me every time I watch it still. Continue reading...
Church asks for forgiveness as it accepts findings of ‘appalling’ abuse by clergy and lay members over 70 yearsThe French Catholic church has expressed “shame” and pleaded for forgiveness, after a devastating report found that at least 330,000 children were victims of sexual abuse by clergy and lay members of church institutions over the past 70 years.The publication of the landmark report on Thursday, France’s first major reckoning with what the Catholic church accepted was “appalling” abuse, has shaken the country with its horrific findings of a “massive phenomenon” of sexual abusers of children operating for decades within the church and its associated institutions. Continue reading...
Taiwan needs to be on alert for China's 'over-the-top' military activities which are violating regional peace, Premier Su Tseng-chang has said after incursions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's air defence zone. China has sent nearly 150 planes into the zone in the first four days of October, in what mainland figures and media have labelled a demonstration of strength but which world governments have condemned as an act of intimidation
Ferdinand Marcos Jr tipped for alliance with Sara Duterte, outgoing president’s daughter, in 2022 electionThe son of the Philippines’ former dictator Ferdinand Marcos has announced he will run for president in the 2022 election.Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong, who has defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial drug war and supported the death penalty for traffickers, declared his candidacy in a video broadcast on Facebook. Continue reading...
Almost 20 years ago, a police shooting left David Makara without an arm and facing jail. Inspired by the blind lawyer who saved him, he now defends others facing injusticeWhen the police started shooting at David Makara in his home town of Nyahururu, in Kenya, he ran before quickly collapsing. Two bullets had hit him – one in his right arm, one in his hip – but he only realised when he looked down and saw his hand dangling from his wrist and blood pouring out.“I thought I was going to die,” he says. Continue reading...
The Boss’s trusty sideman has many plans – from saving central America to TV Hogmanay at the Playboy Mansion – and he’s more than happy to share his rock wisdomIt is the middle of the 1980s, and Stevie Van Zandt, having departed the E Street Band and left Bruce Springsteen’s side, is pursuing a solo career. He has also parlayed decades of experience playing in bar bands into a new and unusual role: international activist and campaigner against injustice. And so he finds himself, in company with Jackson Browne, in Nicaragua, against which the US is waging a proxy war.He arranges a meeting with Rosario Murillo, the wife of Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, as he notes in his memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. “After a few drinks, I moved off the small talk and suddenly asked her if she loved her husband. She was taken a bit aback but said, Yes, señor, very much. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘you should spend as much time with him as possible, because he’s a dead man walking. It’s just a matter of time and time is running out’ … She was a very smart woman married to a revolutionary. But she was expecting a pleasant conversation about the arts, and the reality of what I was saying hit her hard.” Continue reading...
Josh Frydenberg in isolation after staff member tests positive; Victoria reports national record of 1,763 cases; Latrobe Valley will emerge from lockdown from midnight; NSW records lowest cases since mid-August; Dominic Perrottet sworn in and will ‘continue the plan’ for reopening that Gladys Berejiklian started; ACT records 33 cases; no new cases in SA; Qld records two local cases. This blog is now closed
Lava is destroying much of La Palma but the last eruption in the Canaries appears to have ‘fertilised’ the surrounding seasThe eruption of the volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands is a vivid reminder of the destructive power of nature but, as it lays waste all before it on land, for marine life it is likely to be a blessing.When the lava reached the sea near the La Palma marine reserve on Tuesday night, every marine organism that was unable to swim out of danger was instantly killed. However, unlike on land, which lava renders lifeless for decades (and with forest not returning for more than a century), marine life returns quickly and in better shape, research shows. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#5QBHR)
Exclusive: Les Van Hagen, whose daughter Suzanne was killed by her partner, calls for inquiry into culture of policingThe father of a woman who died after being choked by her abusive partner has accused police of paying “lip service” to the protection of women and girls and called for a public inquiry into the culture of UK policing.West Midlands police apologised last month for a number of failings in the case of Suzanne Van Hagen, 34, who suffered months of domestic abuse before she died in February 2013. Continue reading...
The photographer toured the four tournaments shooting thrilled fans instead of sweaty stars. He talks about why street photography is becoming impossible – and life after his cancer diagnosis
by Rebecca Ratcliffe, south-east Asia correspondent on (#5QBBF)
The Navotas mudflats are among the last of their kind and act as a crucial feeding ground for migratory birds, but they are being buried in plasticThere are stray, abandoned flip flops, old foil food wrappers, crumpled plastic bags, and discarded water bottles. The Navotas mudflats and mangroves in Manila Bay are buried in a thick layer of rubbish.It is “almost choking the mangrove roots,” Diuvs de Jesus, a marine biologist in the Philippines who photographed the area on a recent visit, said. Continue reading...
Experts have raised alarm the bill is a tool to crush dissent, with media watchdog saying it carries ‘the seeds of the worst totalitarian leanings’Singapore’s parliament has passed a law aimed at preventing foreign interference in domestic politics, which the opposition and activists have criticised as a tool to crush dissent.The law, approved after a marathon session that stretched to near midnight on Monday, would allow authorities to compel internet service providers and social media platforms to provide user information, block content and remove applications used to spread content they deem hostile. Continue reading...
Tuesday: Dominic Perrottet is expected to be elected leader of the NSW Liberal party to replace Gladys Berejiklian as premier. Plus: Luna the dog’s 16-month journey homeGood morning. The New South Wales Liberal party is set to get a new leader today after the shock resignation of Gladys Berejiklian on Friday. The climate crisis is taking the Australian military away from security issues to deal with severe weather events. And we’ll have plenty more from the Pandora Papers throughout the day.Dominic Perrottet is expected to be elected leader of the NSW Liberal party today. Labor should not underestimate the new leader, who comes with a powerful alliance who can unite the Liberal factions. But can the new alliance sell themselves to the public? Perrottet has been working hard on building a profile in recent months but despite serving in the NSW government ministry since 2014, for many voters, Perrottet is a largely unknown quantity. Here’s what we know about the conservative MP set to take NSW’s top job. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5QAAC)
Brexit minister says he expects Brussels response to UK demand to renegotiate protocol within 10 daysThe UK will react in a “robust” manner if the EU launches a retaliatory trade war in the event of Brexit talks on Northern Ireland breaking down, the government has warned.The Brexit minister, David Frost, said he expected the EU to issue its formal response to the UK’s demand for renegotiation of the Northern Ireland protocol within the next 10 days, as he outlined fresh detail on the timeline for talks. Continue reading...
by Presented by Laura Murphy-Oates, reporting by Gabr on (#5QATN)
The Guardian/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll is in full swing and the once-crowded field of 50 is rapidly narrowing with each day of voting. Which warbler will reign supreme?We hear from journalists, comedians and a former prime minister about the bird they’re supporting. They also discuss their wildest feathered encounters and the race to save some native species from extinctionYou can also read: Continue reading...
David Taylor, who was a police officer for 30 years, offers an insight into the handling of ‘minor’ crimes, while Ann Kelly and Caroline Ley reflect on the language used by ministers and the mediaHaving been a police officer for 30 years, serving as a detective inspector and in the police complaints arena, I can say officers and staff nationwide will have been horrified by the murder of Sarah Everard (Sarah Everard’s killer might have been identified as threat sooner, police admit, 30 September). The approach of all police forces, not just the Met, as to how they deal with “minor crime” is now under scrutiny. Such crime is only considered “minor” by the police and not by the victim, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of reporting it.While every day many officers and staff successfully conduct criminal investigations and go the extra mile for victims, this is not the case for all; you only have to report a crime considered by the police to be “low level” to realise this. Each crime is assessed based on its seriousness and its solvability, often by desk-based staff under pressure to file the case without further investigation. This “don’t look too close” approach means any evidence that potentially exists is not pursued or is ignored. In my experience, too many police officers and staff lack investigative professional curiosity, compounded by the fact that there is often a complete lack of challenge from first-line supervisors towards staff they consider as their mates, or where such scrutiny could attract accusations of bullying. Continue reading...