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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...

If Brexit and Covid wasn’t enough, the extra cost of using a mobile in the EU is making a comebackIf you are planning a winter holiday elsewhere in Europe this year, get ready to pay more to use your mobile phone while away – as roaming charges are about to make a very unwelcome comeback.Having repeatedly indicated in the run-up to Brexit that they had no intention of reintroducing roaming charges for UK customers heading to mainland Europe, EE and Vodafone have recently announced that customers will start paying to use their phones in the EU from January onwards. Continue reading...

New comedy Kevin Can F**k Himself, about a put-upon partner seeking revenge, is the latest show to highlight the shift in the way women are represented on screenTraditionally, the sitcom wife isn’t much of a laugh. In the collective imagination, she is the selfless linchpin of the family, the fun police, the industrious straight woman, the butt of the joke, the servile glamourpuss who is weirdly delighted – or at least not utterly dismayed – with her sad lot. Now, thanks to a meta new comedy, she is having a moment. Switching between sunny studio sitcom and grim dramedy, Kevin Can F**k Himself, starring Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy, injects some dark reality into the trope of the long-suffering spouse.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...

An epic ride in the shadow of Julián Berrendero, who spent 18 months in a Franco concentration camp, then put two fingers up to the dictator by winning the raceThe temperature stood at 42C as I rode into Salamanca one dog-day afternoon a little over a year ago. After two and a half brutal days I had finally completed stage one of the 1941 Vuelta a España, a stage won in just under eight hours by the man who would go on to claim victory in the first edition of this national bike race held under the Franco regime. Continue reading...

The Oscar-nominated writer-director of District 9 talks why his Alien film fell apart and why he went back to basics for his new movieFor most of us, the early pandemic months were are a time to panic, stay home, panic and make banana bread (while panicking) but for Oscar-nominated writer-director Neill Blomkamp, he saw an opportunity.“I always had this idea in the back of my head of doing a self-financed small horror film,” he tells me over Zoom from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, where he decided to shoot back-to-basics supernatural thriller Demonic, able to capitalise on the relatively quiet, unpopulated surroundings. Rather than hinder things, “the pandemic created the film because everything got put on hold” and during summer 2020, he made his first full-length feature in six years. Continue reading...

Seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are named after St RosaIn August 1615, a Dutch pirate fleet under Joris Van Spilbergen threatened the city of Lima. According to legend, a nun called Sister Rosa, whose original name was Isabel Flores de Oliva, prayed for deliverance. A tremendous storm blew up just as the pirates were sailing in to sack the city and scattered their fleet.The storm was hailed as a miracle, and Sister Rosa became the first person born in the Americas to be canonised. She is patron saint of embroidery, gardening, the Americas, and the city of Lima. The seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are known as the Tormentas de Santa Rosa or Saint Rosa’s storms. These traditionally occur 15 days either side of the saint’s day on 30 August. Continue reading...

All of the 125-member security team will now be given the right to enter the UKThe government has made a dramatic U-turn on its refusal to offer support to a team of 125 Afghan guards who protected the British embassy in Kabul, and has promised they will all be granted the right to enter the UK.The decision followed growing criticism of the government’s rejection of applications for help for all the Afghan national members of the embassy security team, because they had been hired through an outsourced contractor. Continue reading...

The state’s stance is politically popular. But for many in the intertwined communities along the NSW frontier, bureaucracy is trumping common sense

Jacinda Ardern has led a global Covid success story, but other countries have come unstuck when facing the Delta variant

Police watchdog investigates why Jack Davison was put on a rehabilitation scheme and had weapon returnedThe Plymouth gunman was not charged or cautioned after he carried out a vicious assault in a city park last year, but instead was allowed to take part in a four-month rehabilitation scheme, it has emerged.Jack Davison’s legally held shotgun was confiscated after he began the Pathfinder scheme and a worker from it found out he had the weapon and informed Devon and Cornwall police. But the shotgun was handed back last month after he finished the programme. Continue reading...

Analysis: deep faultlines, especially with Isis, may counter Afghanistan’s propaganda advantage for jihadistsFew doubt that the Taliban victory in Afghanistan will give violent Islamist extremists across the world a historic boost, encouraging them in their campaigns to overthrow and replace local regimes – but it has also revealed the deep faultlines that have weakened the jihadist movement in the past decade.Sunni militants in the Middle East and beyond have already made clear they believe the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan vindicates their own strategies and ideology. Coming just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the events in Kabul have a powerful resonance. Many statements have been jubilant. Continue reading...

Study paper says England’s progress to final ‘generated a significant risk to public health across the UK’

Constitutional monarch names deputy PM in coalition to take over following resignation of Muhyiddin YassinIsmail Sabri Yaakob has been named Malaysia’s prime minister, as a scandal-mired party that previously governed for six decades reclaimed the leadership it lost in 2018’s landmark election.Ismail Sabri, who will be sworn in on Saturday, was the deputy prime minister in the coalition led by Muhyiddin Yassin. Muhyiddin resigned on Monday after months of political turmoil that culminated in the collapse of his majority in parliament. Continue reading...

Evacuees who have worked with EU institutions will arrive in Spain and then be settled in various countriesSpain has offered itself as the EU’s hub to take in Afghans who have collaborated with its institutions over the years, as Germany said there was an emerging consensus within the bloc to also ease passage for a limited number of other people in need of protection from Taliban reprisals.However, migration experts warned that the vast majority of Afghan citizens already displaced by the fighting that brought the new regime to power will be left stranded unless European states proactively work to negotiate a safe corridor out of the country. Continue reading...

Our battle to restore a statement to a Manchester exhibition was really about what can and can’t be said in cultural spacesOn Wednesday, protesters in Manchester reclaimed one of the city’s main cultural institutions. Despite the rain, pro-Palestine activists gathered in front of the closed doors of the Whitworth gallery, part of the University of Manchester. It was because of their persistent action, and 13,000 letters sent to the gallery, that part of our exhibition, a printed statement titled “Forensic Architecture stands with Palestine”, has been reinstated. The exhibition, which we insisted be shut as a result of the statement’s unilateral removal, has now reopened.On Sunday 15 August, a blog post on the website of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announced that, following the group’s intervention, the statement had been removed from our exhibition, Cloud Studies. When we first heard of the news, we were not altogether surprised. The same group had already criticised a statement of solidarity with Palestinians published on the Whitworth’s website in June, and succeeded in convincing the university to have it removed. And this was hardly UKLFI’s first attack on us as an organisation. In 2018, when we were nominated for the Turner prize, UKLFI urged the Tate not to award the prize to us on the outrageous grounds that documents that we had published in relation to Palestine amounted to “modern blood libels likely to promote antisemitism and attacks on Jews”. Continue reading...

FCDO says the individuals, said to be FSB members, will be subject to travel bans and asset freezesSanctions have been imposed on seven Russian nationals accused of involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of the key Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the UK government has said.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced that the individuals, said to be members of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), would be subject to travel bans and asset freezes. Continue reading...

Demonstrations shut down Gwadar, where Chinese are blamed for lack of water and electricity and threat to local fishingProtests have erupted in Pakistan’s port city Gwadar against a severe shortage of water and electricity and threats to livelihoods blamed on the Chinese. It is part of a growing backlash against China’s multibillion-dollar belt and road projects in the country.This week, demonstrators including fishers and other local workers blocked the roads in Gwadar, a coastal town in Balochistan. They burned tyres, chanted slogans, and shut down the city, to demand water and electricity and a stop to Chinese trawlers illegally fishing in the nearby waters and then taking the fish to China. Two people were injured when the authorities cracked down on the protesters. Continue reading...

Initiative described as ‘first stage of a long-term commitment to reducing health inequalities for women’Commitments to reduce waiting times for diagnosing endometriosis from over eight years to less than 12 months, offer individual care plans after a woman’s first miscarriage and widen access to specialist menopause services form part of the Scottish government’s first women’s health plan, published on Friday.The plan, which was informed by women’s own testimonies, is described as “the first stage of a long-term commitment to reducing health inequalities for women”. The 68-page document also pledges to appoint a national women’s health champion, establish a research fund to close gaps in scientific and medical knowledge and improve information and public awareness of heart disease symptoms and risks for women. Continue reading...

Lawyers say Duke of York has lost in court of public opinion and is unlikely to engage with civil case in USThe Duke of York faces an “uphill struggle” to combat the impact of the sex offences allegations made against him and has already lost in the court of public opinion, leaving his reputation “highly tarnished” and a return to royal duties impossible, experts have said.Following a damaging two weeks in which Andrew’s accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre lodged a civil lawsuit in New York alleging he had sex with her when she was 17, and a source claimed he was a “person of interest” in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the duke is now caught “between a rock and a hard place,” said one expert. Continue reading...

Uncorrected proofs of upcoming novels have been selling for large sums on eBay and Depop – despite the practice being banned by publishersWhen advanced reading copies (ARCs) of Sally Rooney’s new novel Beautiful World, Where Are You were sent out in May, there was a flurry of social media posts. A lucky selection of editors, writers and influencers flaunted their copies; others bemoaned not having been granted one. Soon listings for proof copies (which are clearly marked “not for resale”) started to appear on trading sites such as eBay and Depop. One copy, listed on eBay by a seller in North Carolina, sold in June for $209.16. Even the canvas tote bag that Rooney’s publicists had been sending out with the ARC copies was fetching prices in the region of $80. And this growing market for unpublished novels is not just a product of Rooney-mania: Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads, which will be published in October, sold earlier this month on eBay for $124.Advance copies of popular and classic novels have long been collector’s items. A rare proof copy of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for example, or classics by authors such as Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck can sell for up to £30,000. But this high demand for ARCs of books that are yet to be published has only emerged recently, fuelled in part by the rise of book bloggers and influencers. Continue reading...

Michael Elégbèdé doesn’t just break from western ideas of fine dining, but aims to revive a deeper appreciation of Nigerian food among Nigerians, tooAfter wine and canapes on a patio overlooking high-rises and greenery in an affluent part of Lagos, 15 guests assemble inside. They sit facing one another across a long dining table, brightly lit by a steel row of low-hanging lights. Nigerian cultural masks and artworks adorn the walls of the restaurant, which evokes a Nigerian home.The dishes emerge: traditional egusi soup, but with the efo (spinach) crisp amaranth leaves. Grains of gari, or cassava root, typically pounded to make a kind of dough called eba, is instead lightly dusted over it. Unusually, there are croutons. “An egusi crouton,” a guest nods approvingly. Continue reading...