Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Éric Zemmour slug it out in much-publicised two-hour debateTwo men; two completely different visions for France.In a debate that lasted more than two hours, the hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the hard-right Éric Zemmour, expected to be a presidential candidate, went head to head on prime-time television on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
Find out who is leading the polling to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor of GermanyGermans go to the polls this Sunday to elect a new Bundestag, or federal parliament. The result – after coalition negotiations likely to involve two or three parties – will decide who will succeed Angela Merkel, who is standing down after 16 years as chancellor.A two-way coalition between the conservative CDU and the German Greens had long looked the most likely outcome, but in recent weeks the SPD’s Olaf Scholz has performed well in televised debates and his party has taken a lead in the latest polls. Continue reading...
With her generous features and a dolorous countenance, the German chancellor has been an artist’s dreamSixteen years is a very long time in politics, and since 2005 we’ve had Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron (and Nick Clegg), Theresa May and Boris Johnson – while the Germans have just had Angela Merkel. It usually takes time to get the hang of drawing a politician, particularly one from a foreign country, and Merkel was no exception. I’d only just about got a handle on the SPD’s Gerhard Schröder when he was replaced by the CDU’s first female leader, and my first attempts were a little shaky and somewhat speculative. Was she a Thatcherite? Would she be pro-Bush, like Blair, or continue Schröder’s opposition to the war in Iraq? Would she be easy to draw? Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington on (#5PY7F)
Citizen Lab confirms human rights campaigner probably hacked by a government client of NSO Group from 2015 to 2020Even in death, there was little peace for Alaa Al-Siddiq.When the body of the 33-year-old Emirati activist, who died in a car accident in Oxford in June, was shown in a viewing to mourners at Regent’s Park Mosque, a number of her close friends stayed away. Continue reading...
by Mostafa Rachwani (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlie on (#5PXNK)
New agreement between Nauru and Australia on offshore processing; NSW records 1,043 local cases and 11 deaths; more than half of over-16s now vaccinated; Victoria records 733 new local cases and one death; WA records one new case, ACT records 19 new cases, zero cases in Qld. Follow all the day’s news
A childhood encounter with a hyena inspired Hawa Jama Abdi’s first verse. Now she is part of an arts project designed to encourage women storytellers - and unite all SomalisWhen Hawa Jama Abdi was eight years old, she got lost in a forest and found herself in the path of a hyena. In her place, many would have run, some would have frozen – but Jama Abdi, the blind daughter of Somali pastoralists, kept her cool, and composed her first poem. The verse ran:I lived in fear of you, day and night
Fourteen also rescued in operation hampered by strong winds, low visibility and sub-zero temperaturesFive climbers have died after a blizzard on Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak, Russia’s emergencies ministry has said.Thursday’s incident happened when a group of 19 climbers were at an altitude of over 5,000 metres (16,000ft). Continue reading...
After years of avoiding crime films, he’s back as a mafioso in the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark. He talks about being adopted and getting into acting – and saves a surprise for the end
Since 2015, the outgoing German chancellor has largely relied on a sole Hamburg designer for her wardrobeA four-storey house set a discreet distance away from Neuer Wall, Hamburg’s luxury designer strip, holds the secrets to Angela Merkel’s successful sartorial style.Except that fashion designer Bettina Schoenbach, who has her studio here on ABC Strasse, has taken something of a vow of silence over her association with Merkel, who became her client after winning the 2005 election. Continue reading...
After 16 years in power, Angela Merkel is to retire as chancellor after a general election on Sunday, leaving a gaping hole in German politics. Merkel announced in October 2018 that her fourth term in office would be the last. The decision marks the first time since 1949 that an incumbent chancellor has not run for re-election. Appointed chancellor for the first time on 22 November 2005, Merkel has been in office for almost as long as Helmut Kohl, Germany’s longest-serving leader, who was in power for just over 16 years
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5PXZD)
Mass youth protests to hit more than 1,400 locations weeks before Cop26 climate summitA global climate strike by youth protesters on Friday will hit more than 1,400 locations with a message that “change is coming – from the streets”.The strike is the first such worldwide action since the coronavirus pandemic hit, and is taking place just weeks before the vital Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK. Continue reading...
SPD and the Greens have declined to publicly rule out pact with Die Linke but privately voice scepticismAs Germany heads to the polls this weekend, it is the scenario that haunts conservatives’ nightmares and has progressives daring to dream: that after 16 years of conservative-led rule, Europe’s most powerful economy could for the next four years have a full-throated leftwing government.The possibility of a power-sharing deal between the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD), the Greens and the leftwing Die Linke – nicknamed “red-green-red” or R2G – has been highlighted aggressively in recent weeks by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in an attempt to paint a vote for the current frontrunner for chancellor, the pragmatic finance minister, Olaf Scholz, as tantamount to a radical lurch to the left. Continue reading...
Frustration in Auckland has been rising and the cabinet would have been aware it risked losing the crowdOne of the many quotes attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte that he probably never said, was that he preferred his generals lucky, rather than able. When it’s a matter of life and death, “give me lucky generals,” he’s reputed to have pleaded.It’s a view that New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern echoed this week when she announced that Auckland – home to about a third of all New Zealanders – was moving out of the strict level 4 lockdown to level 3. Replace “generals” with “policy” and you get a pretty accurate sense of cabinet’s big call this week. In a country that has essentially tattooed “go hard, go early” on to one collective arm and “stay home, stay safe” on to the other, the decision to let about 300,000 people go back to their places of work when Auckland’s still getting 15-30 cases a day in the community is a turning point in the government’s approach to this pandemic. Both in public health terms and politically. A year ago, public opinion wouldn’t have worn such faith in “lucky generals”. But that was a year ago. Continue reading...
Friday: Australian states and territories will receive fewer Pfizer vaccines in October as frustrated overseas nurses are blocked from NSW hospitals. Plus: Adelaide’s giant pandas begin their mating ritualGood morning. Australian states and territories will receive fewer Pfizer vaccines in October. Foreign nurses are being blocked from work in New South Wales because of bureaucratic hurdles. Josh Frydenberg will make the economic case for Australia adopting a net-zero climate commitment, warning the country has a lot to lose if others believe “we are not transitioning in line with the rest of the world”. And, at the Adelaide Zoo, sex-shy pandas will try it the “old fashioned way” in the hope of conceiving a cub.Leaked figures, seen by Guardian Australia, confirm concerns that the supply of Pfizer vaccines to states and territories will be reduced in October, the critical month that NSW and Victoria intend to reach the 70% vaccination target and push towards further reopening at 80%. The national cabinet told the states and territories their allocations of Pfizer will fall from 10.9m in September to 8.4m in October. Continue reading...
Detectives have also released images of a man they want to speak to and a vehicle they are searching forA 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of the primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, the Metropolitan police said.The 28-year-old is suspected to have been killed as she walked through Cator Park in south-east London, on what should have been a five-minute journey to a pub from her nearby home, at about 8.30pm last Friday. Her body was found in the park the following day. Continue reading...
The director’s death aged 65 is a huge blow for British cinema, whose very best qualities – of wit, intelligence and subtlety – Michell exemplifiedRoger Michell was the TV and movie director who had a midas touch with actors and with a particular type of English material: witty, literate, poignant and romantic. Michell was a master at directing anything on the continuum between Jane Austen and Richard Curtis, and knew what animated both.Related: Roger Michell – a career in pictures Continue reading...
Vigil and walk planned as south London community tries to come to terms with suspected murder of 28-year-old schoolteacherIt was quiet in Cator Park on Thursday morning. Every now and then, someone would pass by, jogging or walking their dog, breaking the stillness across the green space in south-east London flanked by the new-build apartment blocks of Kidbrooke Village. Its serenity jarred heavily with the sight of press and police, and the sound of a helicopter overhead.Several passersby approached the police cordon along Cambert Way, pausing to lay flowers, reflect and read tributes left in memory of Sabina Nessa. The 28-year-old primary school teacher is thought to have been murdered as she walked through the park on her way to meet a friend at the Depot bar last Friday – a journey that should have taken her five minutes. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Written by Rafqa Touma. Recomm on (#5PXD2)
Celebrating a birthday, within Covid guidelines, was enough to put three 18-year-olds in quarantine. Then one ended up in hospital unable to breathe or walk. Gabrielle Jackson, Guardian Australia associate editor of visual and audio, recommends this piece by Rafqa Touma about teenagers suffering from CovidYou can read the original article here: ‘I wasn’t certain I was going to leave hospital’: Sydney teenagers tell of terrifying Covid experience
The cheeky 00s revival speaks volumes about cultural re-appropriation and the emergence from lockdownThe idea of what’s “sexy” has been going through something of a metamorphosis in fashion of late. Since the pandemic shuttered any semblance of flesh-bearing and instead saw virtually everyone opt for chunky, tie-dye jogging bottoms, there has been an effort to bring sexy back. The widely predicted “vaxxed and waxed” Hot Girl Summer was delayed, but recently, we’ve seen a heap of celebrities baring more than usual, whether in bodysuits or in Love Island-inspired “pin tops”. Continue reading...
With clone emperors in haute couture and exotic wolf-lizards poised to attack, Foundation and For All Mankind herald a new era of ravishing spectaculars. Can they do for sci-fi what Game of Thrones did for fantasy?
Warnings issued that Kemi Badenoch’s messages could drive black supporters away from Tory partyThe equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, has been criticised after leaked messages revealed she claimed not to “care about colonialism”, amid warnings that Conservatives could haemorrhage support from the black community.Badenoch, whose brief was recently expanded to include a junior ministerial position in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, reportedly wrote: “I don’t care about colonialism because [I] know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners and losers. Continue reading...
Westminister’s bilateral aid axe falls heavily on education, gender and equalityDetails of the cuts of more than 40% in the UK bilateral aid spending programme have been set out by the Foreign Office for the first time, including huge cuts to humanitarian aid, girls’ equality and climate.It is the first time the government has outlined how the aid axe is intended to fall in 2021 as ministers cut the aid programme from 0.7% of UK gross national income to 0.5%, a decision now endorsed in a vote by MPs, but not peers, and likely to remain in force for many years. Continue reading...
Across a decade of rolling threats, from the eurozone to Brexit and Covid, Germany’s outgoing chancellor focused on holding the EU togetherIt was Monday 13 July 2015 and dawn had broken when Angela Merkel said it was all over: Greece would be leaving the eurozone. After 15 hours of all-nightcrisis talks, it looked like disaster. Merkel gathered her papers and was heading towards the door. If the summit had ended at that moment the history of the European Union, its fragile currency and Merkel’s legacy would be very different.But the drama took another turn. Donald Tusk blocked the exit. Throughout the night, the French president, François Hollande, had been cajoling the German chancellor to think again. Now Tusk, European Council president, refused to let her leave, persuading her to reconvene with him and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, warning of the stakes for the EU. “In five years in the discussions between Hollande and Merkel it was a unique occasion in which Hollande really won the battle with Merkel,” Pierre Sellal, then France’s ambassador to the EU, said. Hollande helped convince Merkel not to run the risk of ‘Grexit’, suggested Sellal: “It was Pandora’s box, the consequences of which were impossible to predict.” Continue reading...
The bill gives citizens the right to sue anyone who helps someone who seeks an abortion, as in TexasAn anti-abortion bill that would ban abortions after an embryonic heartbeat is detected, about six weeks, and allow citizens to sue doctors who perform them, modeled after Texas’s abortion ban SB8, was introduced in Florida on Wednesday.Filed by the Republican representative Webster Barnaby, the bill allows people to sue practitioners and others who aid people seeking abortions up to six months after an abortion was performed versus only four months allocated in Texas’s SB8. The implications of the bill have alarmed many concerned about the role of anti-abortion vigilante lawsuits. Continue reading...
If a judge does not intervene by 30 September, those selected for the program will become ineligible: ‘We are left behind’Thousands of Afghan families who were selected for US visas are stuck in the war-torn country, as the US government’s failure to schedule their visa interviews ahead of a final deadline puts them at risk of missing their opportunity to leave.If a US judge does not intervene by 30 September, more than 2,100 Afghans who were selected for the diversity visa program last year will become ineligible for such a visa. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5PX34)
Airlines may turn away EU nationals with settled status due to complex residency rules, says BrusselsConcerns have been raised that EU citizens living in the UK may not be allowed to board flights into the country because of confusion created by new government rules over ID cards and passports.From 1 October, EU citizens who do not have the post-Brexit right to live in the UK will not be able to use EU, EEA or Swiss national ID cards to enter the country. Continue reading...
She was on a major label, hanging out with Dua Lipa – but being sidelined behind the scenes. Now independent and thriving, the UK musician has a cautionary tale for women in the music industryThe pandemic temporarily spelled game over for emerging pop stars: who could compete for headlines and livestreams with the likes of Dua Lipa? For Connie Constance, it stalled a career she had only just jump-started. A few months earlier, the Watford-born songwriter broke ties with AMF, then an imprint of Virgin EMI, the major label that released her 2019 debut album, English Rose, when she felt sidelined. She spent the last of her money on a trip to Los Angeles, writing songs, networking and restoring her musical confidence. Back home, her manager secured a distribution deal that would allow her to start her own label. She was raring to go. “Then Covid came in and I was like: ‘No!’” she hoots, thrusting her hand towards her webcam. “What? How is this happening!”In lockdown one, writing songs became difficult again. “The lyrics that were coming out were just so dead,” says the quick-to-laughter 26-year-old who was born Constance Power, video-calling from her boyfriend’s place in London. So she left music alone and “made loads of mansions on Sims 4”. Then a host of social issues bubbled up – Black Lives Matter following the murder in the US of George Floyd, Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign – that spoke to a woman who once said she found politics boring. Continue reading...
Contest to lead ruling party and country appears to be two-horse race between Taro Kono and Fumio KishidaThe race to become leader of Japan’s ruling party and the next prime minister is too close to call ahead of next week’s party election. It is a rare moment of uncertainty after almost a decade during which Shinzō Abe became the country’s longest-serving prime minister until he was replaced last year by his close ally Yoshihide Suga.When Abe abruptly announced his resignation last August, citing the recurrence of a chronic health problem, the identity of his successor was never in doubt. As Abe’s chief cabinet secretary for almost eight years, Suga had proved a loyal lieutenant, perfecting the role of taciturn spokesperson in his daily encounters with the media. Continue reading...
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...