The best images from the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo Continue reading...

There have been 40 attacks in Stanley Park in the last nine months, four times the total over past 30 yearsCoyotes are stalking and biting visitors in a popular Vancouver park in record numbers, in a mysterious surge of attacks that is baffling experts and dividing the city.In the roughly nine months since December 2020, 40 coyote attacks in Stanley Park have been reported, including one last week where a 69-year-old man was bitten on the leg while walking on a trail. None have so far been fatal. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertificationIt all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as smiling officials applauded around him.In 2010, the One Million Trees initiative was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. The aim of the launch was to increase green areas in Dubai through afforestation, while contributing to overall beautification of the city. Continue reading...

Researchers say bloggers and members of secular leftwing political group among the victimsThe mobile phones of nine Bahraini activists, including two who were granted asylum protection and are now living in London, were hacked between June 2020 and February 2021 using NSO Group spyware, according to new findings by researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.A report due to be released on Tuesday will reveal that the hacked activists, some of whose phones were being monitored by Citizen Lab researchers at the time they were hacked, include three members of Waad, a secular leftwing political group that was suspended in 2017 amid a crackdown on peaceful dissent in Bahrain. Continue reading...

Magistrate finds allegation he slapped fellow MP Connie Bonaros on the bottom not proven beyond a reasonable doubtThe South Australian MP Sam Duluk “behaved like a drunken pest” but has been acquitted of assault after allegedly slapping a fellow MP on the bottom at a parliament house Christmas party.The accusation stemmed from Duluk’s conduct towards the SA-BEST upper house MP Connie Bonaros at the celebrations in December 2019. Continue reading...

NSW reaches 6m vaccinations as 753 new Covid cases are recorded; 40 of Victoria’s new local cases linked, with state to extend Pfizer eligibility to 16-19-year-olds; 30 new cases in ACT, two in Queensland. Follow updates live

Patrik and Zsolt are activists and YouTubers representing LGBTQ+ people in Hungary, where a new 'anti-paedophile' law means it is illegal to educate about or to promote LGBTQ+ issues to under-18s. This law follows earlier restrictions by Viktor Orbán's government on trans rights and adoption by gay parents. Patrik and Zsolt think gay people are the latest scapegoats for the governing Fidesz party, but Budapest's Pride parade is an opportunity to protest against the new laws and to rally support. Continue reading...

Group of world leaders expected to discuss fraught evacuation deadline, sanctions and human rights

A host of fish species arriving via the Suez canal look set to stay – with perilous consequences for ecosystemsPasquale Tuccio docks his small, blue and white wooden boat at the old pier on Linosa, one of Italy’s tiny Pelagie islands in the strait of Sicily. Inspecting his gillnet, he finds a slipper lobster, some sea bream, a bunch of parrotfish – and about six rabbitfish. Unlike his fellow fishers, who toss rabbitfish back, Tuccio will take them home for his cat. The fish have venomous spines, however, and he still remembers his first encounter with them. “I got stung only once,” Tuccio says. “I hope it won’t happen again. It was so painful.”Rabbitfish Siganus luridus – also known as dusky spinefoot – is a tropical species, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. After the Suez canal opened in 1869, the rabbitfish entered the eastern Mediterranean, making its way into Greek waters by 1964. It has since moved into the western Mediterranean, where it has found an abundance of its favourite food: seagrass. In more recent years, the rabbitfish has been multiplying in the waters around Linosa, where it devours the forests of algae. Researchers have found it as far west as France. Continue reading...

Trans children and their families still often face suspicion and suppression, but attitudes are changing‘My preconceptions about trans people came from the media, and I certainly hadn’t heard of trans children. So it just flummoxed me having an assigned male child who didn’t have especially ‘feminine’ interests and yet was saying consistently, ‘I’m a girl.’”Kate was telling me about her eldest daughter, Alex. (Names of all trans young people, and of their parents, have been changed for their privacy.) It was a warm July evening, and we were sitting in the kitchen of their family home, in a comfortable British suburb populated by middle-class couples with young families. Alex, still at primary school, is trans. A few years ago, her mum assumed she was a boy who was clumsily trying to ask for typically feminine things. “I remember I used to have conversations with her at a very young age in the car because she’d get really upset. I’d say: ‘But I don’t understand what would be different if you were a girl? What can’t you do that you could do if you were a girl?’ I’d ask: ‘Do you want a doll?’ She’d just reply: ‘I don’t like dolls!’” Continue reading...

Anticipating the seasonality of coronavirus is a key factor in fighting its spread, say scientists

With images of people jetting off to see loved ones overseas, the ad offers a glimpse of what many have been missingQantas has released a new ad that promotes getting a Covid-19 vaccine, and it tugs at the heartstrings of Australians longing to travel again.The ad appeals to those who have been separated from loved ones overseas, with scenes of what the future might offer when vaccination rates are high enough. Continue reading...

Two drivers arrested after incident on Essex section of motorway, which also caused major injuries to fourth personThree people have died and two drivers have been arrested after a serious collision involving a lorry, a minibus and a car on the M25 in Essex.A fourth person is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after the crash, which occurred near Waltham Abbey around 6.15pm on Monday and caused lengthy traffic delays. Continue reading...

Woman says Kelly abused her while she was a 17-year-old aspiring singerAnother accuser took the witness stand on Monday at R Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial, testifying that the R&B superstar had sexually abused her on his tour bus and in hotel rooms when she was still a high school student and an aspiring singer.The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe”, said Kelly had once beaten her with a shoe and wept when she also claimed that she had contracted herpes after having sex with him. She said he hadn’t disclosed he had a sexually transmitted disease. Continue reading...

A Seychelles giant tortoise, a species previously thought to be a strict herbivore, has been filmed chasing and eating a baby bird. Researchers say it was the first documented example of deliberate hunting in the wild by the species.The video, taken on Fregate Island in July 2020, shows a female giant tortoise slowly stalking a lesser noddy tern chick, snapping at it unsuccessfully before delivering a lethal blow by clamping its jaws directly around its head.

Abbas Nazari was one of 433 refugees rescued by the Norwegian cargo ship in 2001 after leaving Indonesia in an unseaworthy boat with his Afghan family. Twenty years on, he recalls the fear and uncertainty on the TampaWe had been aboard the Tampa for a whole week. With no possessions, we had been wearing the same clothes all this time. On top of the foul stench and the unbearable heat, we were bored to death, sitting cross-legged on the deck for much of the day with absolutely nothing to do, under the constant gaze of the soldiers.After our breakfast of biscuits and juice, the major who had led the Australian SAS unit that boarded the ship came down for his usual update. Expecting the same old story, few of us were ready when he delivered some actual news. Continue reading...

The Transport Workers Union has taken the case to the Fair Work Commission, arguing the driver qualifies as an employee, not a contractor

Anti-vaccine protesters occupied the headquarters of ITV News and Channel 4 News in London on Monday afternoon, in the latest of a series of actions targeting the media.After marching from King’s Cross station to ITN’s headquarters on Gray's Inn Road, protesters were met by two uniformed police officers guarding the building’s revolving doors. However, they were immediately let in through an emergency exit, apparently by a supporter who was already inside the building

The illness can still have a big effect on health and daily life, say three people in their 20s, 40s and 50s, who were double-jabbed

People in the Vietnamese city not even allowed to leave house to buy food; UK also reports 40 further deaths

Plan to deliver faster services and extra seats by May 2022 hits problems, including cracked trainsFaster trains and extra seats that had been promised for the London-Edinburgh East Coast line in a flagship £1.2bn upgrade will be delayed for at least a year.About 40 more train services and 20,000 extra seats a day were due to be added next May after the biggest engineering programme on the existing railway, which has closed King’s Cross and parts of the mainline at weekends over the last few years. Continue reading...

Vaccine supplies close to exhausted in many areas as country gripped by fifth wave and daily death toll rises

Research warns there could be 10 times the number of deaths referenced in the Doherty Institute report which underpins four-phase reopening plan

Delta may be gripping the city and dominating headlines but global warming is still the number one issue for manyVoters in three Liberal-held federal seats in metropolitan Sydney remain worried about climate change despite the pressing frustrations and uncertainties associated with the Delta outbreak, according to new electorate-level polling commissioned by an activist group.New seat polls commissioned by Climate 200, an organisation supporting independent political candidates committed to achieving a science-based response to climate change, suggest global heating is the number one issue of concern for voters in the electorates of Wentworth and North Sydney. Continue reading...

From accidentally over ordering, to products that bear no resemblance to their description or photographs, buying everything online has its downsidesWhen Sam Bowker and his partner moved into their new rental, they planned to buy a couch the same way they usually did – with a trip down to the local op-shop.But Covid-19 scuppered this. The Salvation Army was no longer offering delivery services, so after a couple of drinks one evening, Bowker turned to eBay. There he found a “sleek looking black three seater lounge – it was a flatpack you build yourself, with free shipping”. Continue reading...

Seven-day average now highest since March as children in Scotland return to the classroom

Staying beyond the agreed deadline of 31 August would be 'extending occupation', Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said on Monday, and this would 'provoke a reaction'.The comments were made after a firefight between unidentified gunmen and US, German and Afghan guards at the airport left one Afghan guard dead and three wounded. Thousands of soldiers have returned to the country to manage the airlifting of foreigners and Afghans who worked with western nations out of the Taliban-controlled country

Decision is likely to trigger a wave of formal vaccine requirements from government departments, businesses and schoolsThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19. The vaccine and others have been in use for months under emergency use authorisation.Related: ‘You are not a horse’: FDA tells Americans stop taking dewormer for Covid Continue reading...

Tough measures were deployed after the recent Delta variant outbreak

Jonathan Mattingly is seeking a new publisher for his account of the shooting after Simon & Schuster refused to distribute it for Post Hill PressOne of the police officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor has pulled out of his book deal with a conservative press four months after Simon & Schuster refused to distribute the title.Jonathan Mattingly is one of the Louisville, Kentucky officers who shot Taylor in the raid in her home in March 2020, and was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker. A grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police last September for the killing. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world Continue reading...

While the two are often inextricably entwined, there can only be one winner when it comes to a song’s vital ingredientIn the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle itEveryone has a favourite misheard lyric they can tell you. I had a schoolfriend who assumed that TLC’s Waterfalls was a song of encouragement for someone called Jason Waterfall (“Go, go Jason Waterfall!”). It’s a misinterpretation that helps to answer the question: what’s more important: lyrics or melody? The fact that Waterfall is a really weird surname didn’t matter, because a great melody pulls you along and sweeps you up. You don’t know any misheard melodies because of their wonderful lyrics, do you? Continue reading...

Campaigner for human rights in Indonesia from soon after independence and for freedom in regions it controlledCarmel Budiardjo, who has died aged 96, campaigned for human rights and justice in Indonesia, and contributed significantly to the cause of freedom and self-determination in regions it controlled – East Timor (now Timor-Leste), Aceh and West Papua.In the 1950s Carmel, a Londoner, and her Indonesian husband, Suwondo Budiardjo (known as Bud), began working in Indonesia, helping to build a new independent nation after the long period of Dutch colonial rule. Carmel was an economics researcher for the foreign ministry and Bud was deputy minister at the sea communications department. Continue reading...

More Afghans are arriving in norther France hoping to make it across the Channel to claim asylum in the UKSalaam Khan had not long ago woken up after another fruitless night attempting to cross the Channel from Calais and was on alert for the arrival of the French police. They come most mornings to confiscate the tents of the hundreds of migrants and refugees sleeping on the city’s outskirts.“It’s a new day and the same shit,” he said. Continue reading...

One dead in firefight between unidentified gunmen and US, German and Afghan guardsA firefight between unidentified gunmen and US, German and Afghan guards at Kabul airport has left one Afghan guard dead and three wounded, underscoring the fragile security situation around the site.The exchange of fire, which took place at just after 7am Kabul time at the north gate of the airfield, started when former Afghan security forces who are acting as guards exchanged fire, leading to a firefight in which German and US forces became involved. Continue reading...

As unprecedented numbers of people take their holidays in the UK because of the travel chaos caused by the Covid pandemic, David Hares has been photographing the English Riviera in Devon Continue reading...

Ministers are becoming openly critical of Joe Biden after being left in the dark about major decisionsSo much for the special relationship. As the Afghanistan crisis has unfolded, it has precipitated a high-speed deterioration in Anglo-American relations.What began as a muted disagreement on whether it was right for the US to withdraw militarily has reached the point where UK government sources are openly briefing against President Joe Biden as the situation in Kabul worsens. Continue reading...

Independent Rex Patrick believes Labor, Greens, and enough crossbenchers will back him and ‘there is support in Coalition ranks’

Drawing its cast from the silat schools of Malaysia, this action film is an enthusiastic celebration of the indigenous martial art, but ultimately fails to land its punchesDirector Areel Abu Bakar celebrates Malay martial arts in this film about a humble family’s attempts to bring a wayward son back to the fold. Mat Arip (Fad Anuar) has been using his father’s property deed as collateral for his gambling debts, which gives loan shark Kahar (Azlan Komeng) an opportunity to exact long-desired vengeance against the father (played by popular Malaysian actor-director, Namron). It won’t be easy, since both Mat Arip’s brother Ali (Khoharullah Majid) and sister Fatimah (Feiyna Tajudin) are experts in silat seni gayong. This is the unarmed combat style brought to the Malay peninsula by 18th-century Bugis warriors, and still taught to the Malaysian police force.Bakar has sourced most of the cast for his film from the silat training centres of northern Malaysia. No doubt this brings authenticity, but the lack of stunt professionals also tells in some clearly visible two-inch gaps between punches and opponents’ body parts. Any such amateurish mistakes are, however, mostly obscured by an enthusiastic, Shaw Brothers-style soundtrack of grunts, thwacks and hiii-yahs. More of a problem is the superfluous inclusion of drag racing in a martial arts movie. You can see the “something for everyone” logic, but there is nothing fast or furious about the many scenes of pre-race peacocking, while the GoPro car interior shots are unpleasantly reminiscent of Top Gear. Continue reading...

The centre-left Social Democrats had been written off but surge of support could make Olaf Scholz chancellor in SeptemberAn old party with an ageing membership, fronted by a politician with all the charisma of a middle-ranking bank clerk, following the humiliating descent from national institution to electoral also-rans already suffered by its comrades across Europe. The obituary of Germany’s Social Democratic party (SPD) had already been written.Yet as Germany’s election campaign is about to enter its home stretch, it is the centre-left party of Olaf Scholz that is enjoying a surge of energy as its rivals start to lag. Continue reading...

Singer and guitarist who formed one of pop’s greatest vocal partnerships, the Everly Brothers, dies in NashvilleDon Everly, one half of the rock’n’roll duo the Everly Brothers, has died at his home in Nashville at the age of 84.A spokesperson for the family confirmed Everly’s death with the Los Angeles Times, but did not disclose a cause. Continue reading...

Ahead of her hotly anticipated first album, Access Denied, the singer and songwriter talks of growing up in south London, the influence of classic R&B – and her eye-opening X Factor auditionThere’s a saying that goes that we all have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé. “I actually don’t,” says Ray BLK, rejecting the productivity-shaming axiom. In fact, she’s desperate for a day off. I can sense some melancholy in her voice as she explains that work commitments have delayed a planned holiday to Madeira. “I feel an immense amount of guilt when I decide to not reply to messages,” says the 27-year-old singer-songwriter. “You just feel like, if you want to be great, if you want to be the best at what you do, you should not take time for yourself. You have to value every single opportunity that comes your way, especially if you’re a black person.”A few minutes into our call, I sense that getting straight to the heart of things is one of BLK’s many talents. Born Rita Ekwere in Nigeria in 1994, she moved to London aged four and was raised in Catford, south-east London. She has always been vocal about the realities of being a young musician, from the lack of dark-skinned women in the industry to her belief that it is sizeist, ageist, racist and homophobic. “I feel like my toughness comes from being a girl from the ends, from south-east London. It definitely made me grow a tough shell. We just have this culture of, like, chat shit, get banged.” Continue reading...

Regions worst hit by the religious persecution are substantially economically worse off than areas that escapedHistory isn’t just of historical interest – it matters for understanding economies today. That’s the lesson of a growing body of research demonstrating the very long shadow cast by events.A new paper on the Spanish Inquisition proves the point. The Inquisition lasted from the late 15th century to the early 19th century. Its aim was to root out heresy and its methods were the denunciation of suspects followed by torture and executions. The researchers examined how active the Inquisition was in local areas by considering the number of trials and reveal its lasting effect: areas with little or no Inquisition activity have around 8% (€1,450) higher average incomes than those that had lots of persecution. Continue reading...

The regime’s attempts to appear tolerant will not reassure those with a long memoryThe first time the Taliban took Kabul, 25 years ago they tortured and killed former President Mohammad Najibullah, dragged his body behind a truck through the streets, then hung it from a lamp-post.Last week, with Kabul surrounded and a second victory almost inevitable, the Taliban ordered their troops to hold back from entering the city, to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. When they did march in, it was to a soundtrack of their commanders offering an “amnesty” for anyone who had opposed them over the last two decades. Continue reading...

The chaos that followed the president’s exit has created its own suffering – and may leave a much longer legacy of painBy the middle of last week, Kabul’s capitulation to the Taliban was perhaps inevitable – but the horror and chaos of the last few days were not.As the militants swept across Afghanistan, seizing towns then major cities, their negotiators in Qatar offered a deal that would have ushered in a pause in fighting, with a two-week transition period to a new government, the Wall Street Journal reported. Continue reading...

When school gates finally reopen, many students will return unvaccinated against Covid-19. Experts say schools need to prepare now to keep children safe laterEveryone in Australia’s many locked-down communities wants to know the answer to one question: when will life start returning to normal? For the millions of parents juggling their work commitments with home-schooling their children, a return to normal means a return to the classroom.Whenever the school gates reopen it’s likely that many students, particularly those in primary school, will walk through them unvaccinated. Continue reading...

When a Norwegian freighter rescued 433 asylum seekers from a sinking vessel en route to Christmas Island, it sparked a crisis that led to hardline border policies and indelibly shifted the response to boat arrivalsEven to Abbas Nazari’s disoriented seven-year-old mind, the faint “upside-down triangle” on the horizon represented one thing: salvation.Weakened by dehydration and illness, battered by the terrifying storm that had incapacitated the small boat carrying him and hundreds of others, Nazari remembers staring over the sea at the ship that would rescue them. Continue reading...

Met police arrest two men, aged 18 and 19, after 22-year-old man found stabbed in south-west LondonA murder investigation has been launched after a man was stabbed to death in south-west London. The 22-year-old was found after police were called out at 3.45am on Saturday to reports of a disturbance in Clarence Street, Kingston.The Metropolitan police said a 19-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and possession of an offensive weapon, while an 18-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder. Both men are in custody at a south London police station. Continue reading...

Abdul Ghani Baradar will meet with ‘legal, religious and foreign policy experts’ and notorious militantsAbdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban’s top leaders, arrived in Kabul on Saturday as senior figures began talks on how they will govern Afghanistan.Baradar, one of the most public faces of the Taliban who made his first return to Afghanistan in over a decade this week, will be leading their efforts to build a model for governing the country in the next few weeks. Continue reading...

Search for 49-year-old Lee Peacock follows discovery of bodies within space of hours at separate properties in WestminsterDetectives are trying to find a 49-year-old man as part of a murder investigation after two bodies were found within the space of hours at separate addresses in central London.The Metropolitan police said anyone who sees Lee Peacock should not approach him, but call 999. Continue reading...