Case has raised questions about freedom to research Poland’s wartime pastA Polish appeals court has overturned a ruling against two leading Holocaust historians accused of defamation, in a closely watched case that raised questions about the freedom to research Poland’s second world war past.The civil case was brought against Prof Barbara Engelking and Prof Jan Grabowski for a book they co-edited about the complicity of Catholic Poles in the genocide of Jews during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Poland. Continue reading...
Singer earlier denied accusation made by teenager that he had sexually assaulted her while she was drunkThe Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been arrested on suspicion of rape in a high-profile case that followed an accusation that the singer had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old while she was drunk and lured young women into sexual relationships.The prosecutor’s office of the Beijing district of Chaoyang said in a one-sentence statement that Wu’s arrest was formally approved but gave no details of the charges. Continue reading...
Police looking into placards seen at demonstrations against Covid health passFrench prosecutors have launched hate speech and incitement of violence investigations into antisemitic banners seen at demonstrations against the country’s coronavirus health pass, which is now required for many daily activities.At recent anti-health-pass demonstrations, protesters have brandished placards featuring syringes forming swastikas, wearing yellow stars or carrying banners bearing the word “Qui?” (who?), which has emerged as the latest antisemitic slogan of the far right and conspiracy theorists. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5NCXZ)
Aysha Khanom claims discrimination after Leeds Beckett accused her of using ‘racist language’ in tweetsAn academic is suing Leeds Beckett University after she was dropped from her advisory role over tweets calling a mixed-race man a “house negro”, alleging the decision was discriminatory because of her belief in critical race theory and Black radicalism.The university ended its association with the academic adviser Aysha Khanom after accusing her of “racist language” in relation to tweets using the terms “house negro” and “coconut” – the former in a question. Continue reading...
A debut feature written and directed by an Irish peer creates the wintry atmosphere of the best ghost storiesWho knows what this says about industry accessibility, but here’s a rare chance to see a genre movie directed by an actual peer of the realm. Randal Plunkett – 21st baron of Dunsany, interviewed in the Guardian this month – has taken leave from rewilding his estate to turn out a literary chiller about the relationship between a boozy blocked writer and the itinerant waif she takes in after a drunken car shunt. It’s the kind of potential folly that’s meant to have critics sharpening their knives. In fact, while it’s not devoid of first-feature fumbles and stumbles, and carries over the movies’ traditionally wobbly estimation of How Writing Gets Done, The Green Sea’s stronger stretches invoke a wintry atmosphere that suggests Plunkett has spent his leisure time in the library with many of the right ghost stories.The smartest choice was made in the casting, with the deployment of Katharine Isabelle, Canadian star of the Ginger Snaps trilogy. Lending heart and spirit to Plunkett’s troubled scribe Simone, a snarly recluse in death-metal T-shirts that scream “keep your distance”, Isabelle also fosters a credible sisterly bond with newcomer Hazel Doupe; her response to news that her houseguest turned home help is a boyband aficionado proves winningly tart. Continue reading...
Thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals have surged on to the tarmac at Kabul airport trying to get a place on a flight out of the country, amid chaotic scenes that unfolded as the Taliban took control of the city. Fearful that the Taliban may reimpose the brutal rule they enforced before 2001, Afghans are seeking ways out of the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings
Israel says its forces came under fire while trying to arrest a suspect, and none of its troops were injuredIsraeli troops have clashed with Palestinian gunmen during a late-night arrest raid in the occupied West Bank, killing four Palestinians in one of the deadliest battles in the area in years, Palestinian health officials said.The incident occurred in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank where tensions have been high since a man was killed in fighting with Israel earlier this month. Continue reading...
Upending arthouse tropes with musical numbers and lashings of sex, this witty debut about a Peruvian domestic worker refuses to see its heroine as a victimWriter-director María Paz González’s first feature takes a well-worn miserabilist trope out of the arthouse drawer – a domestic worker struggles with homesickness and faces economic inequality – and upcycles it with warmth and wit to make something quite original. It’s even funny and upbeat in its final lap. It’s something of a shock, since so many films about hard-up migrant women who go in search of better lives abroad end up with their protagonists grieving, dead or punished in some other way.It’s hard to imagine Lina (Magaly Solier) would ever let anything like poverty or despair cramp her natural style. Plucky, hard-working and sexy AF, she’s sometimes down but never out. Originally from Peru, where she has left a fast growing-up son with her mother and ex-husband, Lina lives in Santiago, Chile, where she works for a wealthy family, mostly looking after teenage Clara while Clara’s dad is away, as he always is, on business. The two of them have a giggly, conspiratorial bond, more like cousins than employer and employee. When she’s not with Clara, lonely Lina enjoys quick and dirty hook-ups with an assortment of men, as well as daydreaming that she is the star of movie-musical sequences. González films these with aplomb, spoofing Esther Williams one minute, dressing up Lina as a chorus line Virgin Mary the next. Solier, meanwhile, busts out a lovely, expressive singing voice. Continue reading...
Australia sends 250 troops for rescue mission but ex-defence force chief says ‘we’ve just left it far too late’The Australian government has been accused of waiting far too long to organise a military evacuation mission to Afghanistan, as it sends 250 defence force personnel to the region in a last-ditch bid to help people flee the Taliban.Amid shock at the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the Australian government promised to “continue to work with key partners in the days ahead” to seek the safe passage of more than 130 Australians in the country, along with Afghan nationals who worked alongside its troops and diplomats, and humanitarian visa holders. Continue reading...
The UK defence secretary has admitted 'some people will not get back' as Britain tries to evacuate Afghan allies from Kabul, along with its own citizens, with British forces aiming to repatriate more than 1,000 people a day. Ben Wallace appeared to hold back tears as he spoke to LBC radio about the effort to repatriate Britons and process visas for Afghan interpreters and other staff following the Taliban takeover
by Luke Henriques-Gomes (now) and Matilda Boseley (ea on (#5NC73)
ACT records 19 new Covid cases; snap lockdown for Greater Darwin and Katherine; NSW reports 478 new cases and seven deaths; Victoria records 22 cases, Queensland zero; Operation Stay Home begins across NSW. Follow all the day’s news
As Melbourne continues to record new Covid cases, Victoria has announced an extension of the lockdown. Is there a travel radius limit? Is mask-wearing compulsory? Is there a curfew? Here are the rules
Before they were superstars, Joan Rivers kissed and tried to kill a young Barbra Streisand on stage – or so she claimed. Now her tall tale has inspired drama The Funny GirlsIn the late 1950s, a 25-year-old struggling actor named Joan Molinsky – later to become better known as the acerbic comedian Joan Rivers – landed a small part as a lesbian stalker in an off-off-Broadway play called Seaweed. “The primary qualification for being cast,” her biographer Leslie Bennetts later wrote, seemed to be “that she had lots of relatives who would come see her in a play”. The significance of Seaweed from a historical point of view is that she was starring opposite another superstar-in-waiting, whom she described in her memoir Enter Talking as “a skinny high school girl with a large nose and a pin that said, ‘Go Erasmus!’”.This was 17-year-old Barbra Streisand, who played her unlucky victim. Rivers recalled “a big love scene in which I told Barbra I loved her very much and she rejected me and I had a knife in my hand and tried to kill her and then myself”. It’s delicious to imagine these two future divas in a clinch in some airless New York attic in front of an audience “sitting there in overcoats … coughing, like a tubercular ward”, as Rivers put it. Continue reading...
Police asked to review firearm application processes, as minute’s silence to be held in PlymouthApplicants for permission to own a firearm or shotgun will be subject to social media checks after the Plymouth mass shooting, ministers have said.Questions have been asked about how the Keyham gunman Jake Davison, 22, obtained a firearms licence and carried out his attack, in which he killed five people before turning the gun on himself. Continue reading...
Darwin, Palmerston, rural Darwin area and Katherine in Northern Territory enter lockdown on midday Monday until midday Thursday after a new case of Covid-19 was recorded overnight. ACT extends Covid-19 lockdown to 2 September as cases and exposure sites continue to grow
A dance-based ‘soul journey’ – in the middle of Clapham Common? While I stream with sweat and onlookers laugh, I can’t stop worrying about what I’m having for dinnerI’m shaking my pelvis with brio, when a goldendoodle ambles up. Don’t you poo, I think. Then again, doing what comes naturally is the point of today. My friend Beth has invited me to try 5Rhythms: a silent disco movement meditation class on Clapham Common. I didn’t understand any of those words, but said yes, because this column has turned my life into a second-tier Jim Carrey film. Now I’m in deep with the hippies. To my left, a man in socks and a bandana is romancing a tree. A nearby game of touch rugby has paused so its players can laugh at us. This is my nightmare.5Rhythms was developed in the 1970s by Gabrielle Roth, a New York theatre artist, but moved mainstream in the last 15 years, adopted by the wellness crowd. The practice involves dancing to five distinct moods of music, in a specific sequence known as the wave, which corresponds to different aspects of the self. The resulting “soul journey” is designed to unlock unlimited creativity and wholeness in the psyche of the dancer. Assuming they buy into the new-age framework, that is. My own personal five rhythms are lazy, dissatisfied, hungry, laughing and a freeform malaise I refer to as Kenneth. Continue reading...
Crowds have packed the tarmac at Kabul airport in a bid to flee the Afghan capital as Taliban insurgents began taking over the city. Insurgents took control of the presidential palace. Al Jazeera showed footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the palace with dozens of armed fighters. President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan. Many Afghans attempted the flee via road or via the airport. Continue reading...
Documents likely to reveal Australia’s strategy for bartering on Timor Sea maritime boundary prior to the bugging operation revealed by Witness K and Bernard CollaeryThe government will be forced to defend its decision to withhold long-secret cabinet documents about negotiations with Timor-Leste in the years prior to the controversial bugging operation revealed by Witness K and Bernard Collaery.Independent senator Rex Patrick has launched proceedings in the administrative appeals tribunal to overturn a government decision not to release archived cabinet documents setting out Australia’s strategy for bartering with its impoverished ally on the Timor Sea maritime boundary. Continue reading...
Aerial footage shows the extent of destruction in Haiti following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. The quake struck the south-western part of the country on Saturday, almost razing some towns and triggering landslides that hampered rescue efforts in two of the hardest-hit communities. The death toll has climbed sharply, with at least 724 dead and 2,800 injured, according to the latest figures from Haiti’s office of civil protection. People in the Caribbean nation rushed into the streets to seek safety and to help rescue those trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes, hotels and other buildings
Jane Ghosh thinks we have left behind devastation and despair, Trevor Curnow looks at parallels with Vietnam, while Daniel Peacock expresses concern for a generation of women and girls. Plus letters from Martin Harris and Caroline WillcocksThe history of western interference after the second world war in countries throughout the world has been one of unmitigated failure for which we all bear a share of shame (UK and US send troops to aid evacuation from Afghanistan as Taliban advance, 13 August).Western powers have invaded countries thousands of miles away in the name of “democracy” and achieved a vacuum of power that has swiftly been filled by the very forces they went to evict. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. We have left behind devastation and despair while never learning the lessons of each disaster. If people want a one-party state, why does the US and its poodles think it has a duty or right to impose a very flawed system of democracy on other nations? Hubris followed inevitably by nemesis.
Polling suggests Canadian PM’s Liberals are in the position to capture close to the 170 seats needed for majority governmentCanada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has called a snap election, gambling that voters will reward his administration’s handing of the coronavirus pandemic with a parliamentary majority as he pulls the plug on a two-year minority government.On Sunday morning, Trudeau met with Governor General Mary Simon to request she dissolve parliament — a request she approved. Continue reading...
by Alex Mistlin (now); Jessica Murray and Helen Sulli on (#5NBCY)
Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, is reported to have left the country while a Taliban spokesman says Taliban fighters have entered the capitol Kabul
Parishioners asked to pray for gunman and those he killed in last week’s mass shootingPrayers have been said across Plymouth for the victims of last week’s mass shooting as the city continued to be engulfed by feelings of shock, grief and anger.At St Thomas church in Keyham, a modest redbrick building close to the scene of the shooting, parishioners were asked to pray for the gunman, Jake Davison, and the five people he killed. Continue reading...
The chameleon-like star of Fargo and The Leftovers on performing opposite Jude Law in new thriller The Nest, the sophistication of British audiences – and her ‘showmance’ with husband Tracy LettsA toddler is playing a tuba in the next room and Carrie Coon apologises in advance if she’s a little distracted. Unexpectedly saddled with childcare duties today, the 40-year-old is keeping one eye on her two children – three-year-old son Haskell and his month-old sibling – while she chats over Zoom from her Chicago home.The Ohio-born actor is currently enjoying something of a well-earned moment. Best known for TV roles including grieving widow Nora Durst in post-apocalyptic saga The Leftovers and divorced, dogged Minnesota cop Gloria Burgle in the third (and best) season of Fargo, for which she was Emmy nominated, she now stars alongside Jude Law in acclaimed new psychological thriller The Nest. This autumn she also plays one of the leads in the eagerly awaited reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise. Continue reading...
Twenty years after the World Trade Center attacks, four young people, then unborn, who lost their fathers, reveal how the events shaped their livesLike for most young Americans growing up, 9/11 was a fairly constant presence, with online videos and TV documentaries, memorials and references to it on the news. I never wanted to ask Mum too much, instead putting the pieces together as I got older. I think I always knew my dad had died that day, but I’ve never felt a hugely emotional reaction. I know the basics of what happened, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. Continue reading...
Counter-espionage laws too weak to deal with spies acting against British interestsThe British national accused of selling secrets to Russia will not be extradited back home to face justice despite the seriousness of the claims.Britain’s “archaic” counter-espionage laws have been exposed, say sources, by the arrest of David Smith, 57, a security guard contracted to the Berlin embassy. They say there is little point in bringing him home because the current legislation is too weak to deal with spies acting against British interests. Continue reading...
Broadcaster says relations with China and Russia are fraught as its correspondent Sarah Rainsford is forced out of MoscowBBC news executives vowed on Saturday night to continue to report from Russia and China despite growing fears that both countries are becoming increasingly difficult to cover.After a surprise Russian move last week that will force correspondent Sarah Rainsford permanently out of Moscow at the end of the month, a senior figure in BBC news said that Russia’s decision not to renew her visa marks a new low in relations. “Efforts are being made to keep communications open but the feeling is that Sarah is sadly right when she says she doesn’t see Russia changing its mind,” he said. Continue reading...
If you’re struggling to recall the last time you handled cash, you’re not alone. As we click and tap our way to a digital world, Emma Beddington asks if we’ll miss the pound in our pocket when it’s goneWhat’s in your wallet? Do you even know where it is? In March last year I stuck a bank card in my pocket; since then, I’ve pretty much given up on the card, too. For the purposes of this exercise, I found and checked my wallet: there’s a £5 note I accidentally ripped in half years ago, folded up very small, plus 38p. “The £20 I’ve had since I was sent home from work on 27 March 2020,” says one friend, fairly typically. “The same £10 I’ve had in my purse for over a year.” “£10.70 – the last of the £50 I took out at the beginning of first lockdown.”And when did you last use cash? For me, it was a cucumber plant (£1) two months ago. The plant guy is one of the few hold-outs among the off-grid types at the local “food circle” market – every kale-selling hippy has a sleek contactless terminal. We keep coins for supermarket trolleys, occasional parking, and some window cleaners are wedded to cash. These and tipping – many of us don’t trust big companies to distribute digital tips fairly, with some justification – are the few remaining pockets of semi- consistent cash use among my friends and acquaintances. Continue reading...
Hospitals were reportedly turning away burns victims after the blast at a storage tank that had been confiscated by the armyAt least 20 people were killed and 79 others injured when a fuel tank exploded in Lebanon’s northern region of Akkar, the Red Cross said on Sunday.The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Continue reading...
Grace Darling’s role in saving the survivors of a shipwreck off Northumberland is to be commemorated on the anniversary of the featA ferocious gale blew across the north-east coast of Britain on the night that made Grace Darling a star of popular history. She was to become a beacon of bravery for the Victorians when she set out in a small rowing boat to help the distressed passengers of the sinking SS Forfarshire.Now she is to be celebrated with a large art installation in Northumberland, commissioned by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) museum that bears her name. Continue reading...
Anti-vaxxers in France and elsewhere claim personal freedom. But what of brotherhood?In France over the past few weeks, the topic of vaccine passports has induced an avalanche of outrage. Opposition to the measure has united both the hard left and right, with more than 200,000 people taking to the streets to express their contempt. In the kaleidoscope of disparate groups involved, the only unifying banner is the assertion that Emmanuel Macron’s policy is an infringement of the French tenet of liberté.Nor is France unique in facing such resistance. In the United States, mask and vaccine mandates have generated passionate opprobrium and legal action. Continue reading...
Supporters of Paul Rusesabagina, a high-profile critic of Paul Kagame, say his only crime was to stand up to the presidentBefore history began to be rewritten, the hotel manager and the rebel leader were hailed as heroes of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.Paul Rusesabagina, whose story of sheltering Tutsis from machete-wielding Hutu militiamen was turned into the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, visited the White House to receive the US presidential medal of freedom from George W Bush. Continue reading...
End of Civil Human Rights Front comes days after police suggested its past rallies may have violated national security lawA major civil society group that was behind some of Hong Kong’s biggest protests has disbanded under increasing pressure from police.The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) announced its closure on Sunday, saying no members were willing to perform secretariat duties after its convenor, Figo Chan Ho-wun, was jailed for 18 months over a 2019 rally. Continue reading...
Look at her actions in a positive light and swap the small talk for more meaningful conversationThe question I’m due to marry later this year and would like advice regarding my mother-in-law to be. My relationship with her tends to be strained. She lost her husband before I met my partner. I know he did an awful lot for her – I can’t help but think she feels I am taking her son away from her. Her behaviour towards me is often petty, she rarely even tries to make small talk. The way she behaves makes me feel I want to spend as little time with her as possible. She has a tendency to make the atmosphere sour. She seems increasingly selfish and she hasn’t offered to help with our wedding at all. She is spending a great amount of time and money on her appearance, she is obsessed with dieting. It makes me feel as if she is trying to compete with me.I get upset when I hear about friends getting on well with their mothers-in-law. It is unlikely we will ever have a close bond, but I don’t want my partner and I to start our married life in this way. He seems oblivious to it all. What can I do to help ease the tension? Continue reading...
A Park Lane pop-up produces an eye-popping dinner53 Park Lane, London W1K 1QA (020 7629 8888). Starters £16-£42, mains £32-£135, desserts £16-£20, wines from £84Editors don’t send their journalists to cover wars because they like misery and carnage. They do so because the readers need to know about the carnage. By the same token, albeit with rather less moral urgency, I didn’t go to the pop-up of the Polo Lounge on the rooftop of London’s Dorchester Hotel because I like watching rich people pay ludicrous prices for cack-handed food that’s a gross insult to good taste, manners and commercial decency. I went because some risible hospitality operations need to be called out. Being positive is all well and good, but that shouldn’t mean absolute shockers get a free pass. Continue reading...
A revealing blend of family lore, history, policy and anger casts light on the background and legacy of Donald TrumpLast year, Mary Trump delivered a salacious and venomous takedown of her uncle, Donald J Trump. Too Much and Never Enough doubled as awesome beach reading and opposition research dump, before the party conventions. Timing was everything.Related: Trump was ‘in pain and afraid’ during post-Covid display of bravado, niece’s book says Continue reading...
Three parents forced to give up their lives and careers to get help for their severely ill children tell their storiesCassandra Leese should have been at the front of the queue when the NHS called on former staff to return to help fight the nascent Covid pandemic in March 2020.As an ITU-trained nurse, she was exactly the sort of experienced frontline worker the health service desperately needed. But instead of rejoining the ranks, she was housebound. Continue reading...
The Springboks’ tour and the protests that ensued 40 years ago helped set the fight for Māori rights on a stronger pathThe 1981 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand will always have a special place in any narrative about the international fight against apartheid in South Africa.The protests against the Springboks reverberated around the world – delivering a savage psychological blow to South Africa’s white regime while giving a resounding boost to the oppressed majority. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips, Jean Daniel Delone and agencies on (#5NAXG)
Prime minister declares month-long state of emergency after earthquake felt across the CaribbeanAt least 304 people have died, with 1,800 injured and hundreds missing after Haiti was struck by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that reduced churches, hotels and homes to rubble, in the latest tragedy to hit a Caribbean nation already mired in profound humanitarian and political crises and still reeling from the recent assassination of its president.The earthquake on Saturday, which struck the country’s south-west at 8.29am local time, was felt across the Caribbean and rekindled painful memories of the devastating 2010 quake that killed more than 200,000 people. The prime minister, Ariel Henry, has declared a month-long state of emergency. Continue reading...
Woman, 18, is in intensive care in Abidjan as emergency plan to identify her contacts beginsIvory Coast has recorded a case of Ebola, its health minister has said, the first occurrence of the deadly disease in the country in nearly three decades.Officials at the Institut Pasteur confirmed the case after testing samples taken from an 18-year-old Guinean woman, health minister Pierre N’Gou Demba said on RTI state television. Continue reading...
by Emma Graham-Harrison and Michael Savage on (#5NB57)
Mazar-i-Sharif was a government stronghold and its loss leaves only Kabul and another city unconqueredThe Taliban captured Mazar-i-Sharif, the country’s fourth-largest city and the government’s last major stronghold in the north on Saturday, as they tightened their grip on the country and closed in on Kabul.The US president, Joe Biden, said America would not reverse its decision to leave Afghanistan, despite the Taliban advances. “I was the fourth president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan – two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war on to a fifth.” Continue reading...
We must not repeat the mistakes of the Windrush era, say clergyThe Church of England must not repeat its lack of welcome to the Windrush generation when thousands of Hong Kong Chinese people move to the UK in what could be the largest planned migration for decades, say clergy of Chinese heritage.Many of those who arrived in the UK from the Caribbean in the 1950s and 60s were discouraged from attending or even turned away from Anglican churches. Last year, Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, spoke of his shame at the C of E’s record of racism. Continue reading...
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