Head of International Federation of Journalists says ‘future is black’ for 1,300 journalists still in countryJournalism in Afghanistan is in danger of disappearing, according to the head of the International Federation of Journalists, who said that reporters trying to continue working under the Taliban have been subjected to beatings and imprisonment.“The Taliban don’t want to make too many waves right now, but they will want to take control of everything, including the foreign press in Afghanistan,” Anthony Bellanger, the IFJ secretary general, told the Guardian. “And as often happens in such situations, foreign journalists will be considered agents of foreign governments. Continue reading...
Women’s protests led to prohibition in Bihar but can alcohol bans end domestic abuse and harassment?Holding sticks and brooms, the women marched to the liquor shop in the centre of Konar village. It was a rare ambush in the staunchly patriarchal Bihar state in eastern India. But they were at breaking point.“In every village women were troubled by alcohol. Men harassed them on the streets. Husbands beat them at home,” says Sunita Devi, 52, a former seamstress who led the crowd. “When they saw us they gained courage that we can come together and fight.” Continue reading...
German chancellor’s consensus-building approach no longer sustainable in crisis-hit Europe, report saysAfter 15 years of “Merkelism” the German chancellor’s neutral, consensus-building approach means many Europeans accept her country as the EU’s leader – but post-Angela Merkel Berlin will have to radically change tack, according to a study.“Angela Merkel has come to embody a strong and stable Germany, positioning herself as Europe’s anchor though more than a decade of crises,” said Piotr Buras, the co-author of the report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Continue reading...
Chef doubts The Naked Chef would be commissioned in current climate as TV bosses prefer ‘to play it safe’He was not the first TV chef, but nobody is more responsible for ushering in two decades of wall-to-wall cookery shows than Jamie Oliver.Now he has revealed that he has largely given up watching them himself, turning instead to YouTube for the most cutting-edge recipes. Continue reading...
Party wants all original te reo Māori place names to be officially restored across the country in the next five yearsThe Māori party has launched a petition to change New Zealand’s official name to Aotearoa, the te reo Māori, indigenous language name for the country.“It’s well past time that Te Reo Māori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country,” Te Pāti Māori leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said in a statement launching the petition. “We are a Polynesian country – we are Aotearoa.” Continue reading...
Speaking at a Guardian Live event, the former presidential candidate says the Capitol riot was a ‘terror attack’ that shows a new ‘internal threat’Hillary Clinton has said that the US was still in a “real battle for our democracy” against pro-Trump forces on the far right, seeking to entrench minority rule and turn back the clock on women’s rights.At a Guardian Live online event on Monday, Clinton fended off suggestions that the world was now witnessing the twilight of US democracy, but said: “I do believe we are in a struggle for the future of our country”. Continue reading...
Resort will be called Palisades Tahoe after consulting with Indigenous groups over longstanding nameA popular ski resort at California’s Lake Tahoe has changed its name to remove a racist and misogynistic slur after consultations with local Indigenous groups.The resort, known as Squaw Valley since 1949, will be called Palisades Tahoe, the business announced on Monday. Continue reading...
Climate crisis and unsympathetic 1950s repairs have taken a toll on prehistoric structureThe great circle of Stonehenge has stood for 4,500 years and it is tempting to imagine that it is bound to remain just as it is – stolid, unchanging – for thousands more. But even that ancient monument, it turns out, needs some tender loving care now and again.A conservation project, billed as the most significant at Stonehenge for more than 60 years, was launched on Monday by English Heritage to make sure that the structure continues to thrill and amaze for generations to come. Continue reading...
Successful portrait painter died ‘suddenly and peacefully’ in London, according to family statementCharlotte Johnson Wahl, the mother of the prime minister, has died at the age of 79.The portrait painter passed away “suddenly and peacefully” at a London hospital on Monday, the family said in a statement shared with the Daily Telegraph. Continue reading...
Duke’s lawyer also alleges Andrew may be protected from lawsuit by a ‘secret settlement agreement’Lawyers for Prince Andrew argued in a New York court on Monday that the British royal has not yet been properly served with documents related to a lawsuit alleging sexual assault.At a pre-trial hearing in the US district court for the southern district of New York, Andrew B Brettler, representing the Duke of York, also alleged that Andrew may be protected from the lawsuit by a “secret settlement agreement” which has previously been sealed by a court. Continue reading...
Avon and Somerset police were called to residential address in Mangotsfield on Monday morningA man has died after a crane tipped over while moving a heavy load, reported to be a hot tub. Avon and Somerset police were called to a residential address in the Mangotsfield area of Bristol on Monday morning.The man, in his 70s, was seriously injured before being prounounced dead. Some reports said that he was part of the crane crew and the heavy load was a hot tub being delivered into a garden. Continue reading...
Gulf states are having to reconsider their alliances and especially whether they can still trust the US, says senior sourceThe Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is a shattering earthquake that will shape the Middle East for many years, a senior Gulf official has said, warning that – despite the group’s promises of moderation – the militant group is “essentially the same” as last time it was in power.Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official also said that the rapid and chaotic US withdrawal also raises serious questions for Gulf states about the value of US promises of security over the next 20 years. Continue reading...
Meeting with Egyptian president Abdul Fatah al-Sisi aimed at reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talksIsrael’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, has met the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in the first visit to Egypt by an Israeli leader in a decade.The meeting, which took place in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, was described as being designed to discuss “efforts to revive the peace process” between the Israelis and Palestinians. Continue reading...
by Sarah Martin Chief political correspondent on (#5PG52)
The push will prioritise 30 regions across the country and tackle hesitancy and misinformation with a media campaignA plan to fast-track vaccinations in dozens of Indigenous communities has been unveiled by the Australian government’s Covid vaccine taskforce, with an extra $7.7m in funding to help boost take-up rates and address hesitancy and misinformation.It comes as health authorities were on Monday forced to correct official figures that had incorrectly doubled vaccination rates for Indigenous Victorians. Continue reading...
Man allegedly caught 74-year-old who had died while spearfishing in his net but failed to report itA fisherman in Greece has been arrested after allegedly catching a dead spearfisherman in his net and throwing the body back into the sea.The alleged incident happened on Sunday, the same day that a 74-year-old man who had been out spearfishing in shallow waters was reported missing near the coast of Pelion. Continue reading...
Éric Zemmour is about to begin a book tour, but has not yet announced his candidacy for presidentThe French far-right journalist and commentator Éric Zemmour has stepped down from his nightly TV show, heightening speculation that he could make an outsider bid to run in next year’s French presidential election.The 63-year-old, who was a political journalist for Le Figaro, holds convictions for inciting hatred and is best known for his TV diatribes against immigration and Islam. Continue reading...
Cressida Dick calls for more action to stop online radicalisation and questions push towards end-to-end encryptionThe UK most senior police officer has accused technology firms of failing to identify, monitor and report the activity of terrorists, in a plea for improved access to social media platforms.Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, also questioned the push to expand end-to-end encryption in a speech to law enforcement officials on Monday. Continue reading...
An extra hour on Saturday and Sunday may be no substitute for a regular good night’s sleep – but according to new research it may help stave off depressionName: The weekend lie-in.Age: As old as the weekend. Continue reading...
Insulate Britain protesters call for overhaul of home insulation as demonstration causes delaysDozens of environmental protesters have been arrested after they blocked junctions off London’s orbital motorway during the morning rush hour causing long delays.Members of the protest group Insulate Britain, which calls for the UK government to fully fund an overhaul of insulation of all homes in Britain by 2030, blocked the M25 at a number of junctions, clashing with motorists. Continue reading...
Written assurances also say aid agencies will be able to operate independently of government and will be free to employ womenThe Taliban have given the UN written assurances on the safe passage and freedom of movement for humanitarian workers operating in Afghanistan, the UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, has told a UN fundraising conference in Geneva.Reading extracts from the Taliban undertakings, Griffiths said he had also received the assurances that aid agencies would be able to operate independently of the government, and would be free to employ women. Continue reading...
Canadian music star says in new documentary: ‘I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded … you’re not consenting at 15’Speaking in a new documentary, Alanis Morissette has said she was the victim of multiple statutory rapes as a teenager.The documentary, Jagged, is screening at the Toronto film festival this week. The Washington Post has reported that Morissette describes the attacks during the film. “It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimisation on my part,” she says. “I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all paedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’” Continue reading...
The 18-year-old’s US Open victory puts her among a super-successful group of under-20sEmma Raducanu’s remarkable victory in the US Open was, among other things, a victory for the fearlessness of youth. The Guardian has picked out six teenagers, including Raducanu, who despite their tender years have already had a huge impact. Continue reading...
Liverpool man was mistaken for fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro and arrested in a restaurant in The HagueThe lawyer for a man from Liverpool mistakenly apprehended in the Netherlands on suspicion of being a notorious Sicilian mafia boss and the world’s most-wanted fugitive mobster, is calling for the Italian authorities to withdraw the execution of an arrest warrant against him.Last Wednesday, around 5pm, a 54-year-old British man, identified by his lawyer as Mark L, was cuffed while he was having a meal in a restaurant in The Hague by heavily armed police who pulled a hood over his head and dragged him out in front of dozens of terrified customers, according to media reports. Continue reading...
Survey of investors finds possibility of new Covid-19 variants poses biggest risk to stabilityMore than two-thirds of investors are anticipating a stock market pullback before the end of the year, research suggests, amid concerns over growth prospects and the Covid-19 Delta variant.According to a poll of over 550 global investors by Deutsche Bank, an equity correction sometime before the end of the year is “an overwhelming consensus now”, with 58% forecasting a drop of 5% to 10%. Continue reading...
Gladys Berejiklian has revealed a roadmap out of lockdown for the state, and an easing of restrictions for some parts of regional NSW. Here’s the full list of what you can and can’t do in NSW and the ACT
US says weapon, claimed to have flown 1,500km, poses ‘threats’ to country’s neighbours and beyondNorth Korea has carried out successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, its state media outlet KCNA said, sparking fresh criticism from the US amid a protracted standoff over denuclearisation.The missiles are “a strategic weapon of great significance” and flew 1,500km (930 miles) before hitting their targets and falling into the country’s territorial waters during the tests on Saturday and Sunday, KCNA said. The missiles travelled for 126 minutes along “oval and pattern-8 flight orbits”, it reported. Continue reading...
Cordelia Dvorák’s intimate documentary about Marceline Loridan-Ivens – writer, director, and Holocaust survivor – captures her irresistible personalityWhile still little-known outside France, the inimitable Marceline Loridan-Ivens was a formidable force of nature. A Holocaust survivor, her awe-inspiring resilience is deeply felt in her works as a writer and director. Finishing shooting mere weeks before her death in 2018 at the age of 90, Cordelia Dvorák’s intimate documentary is as vibrant as the signature auburn shade of Loridan-Ivens’ short, unruly hair.Loridan-Ivens’ harrowing experience as a teenager at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she befriended Simone Veil, undoubtedly informed the ceaseless energy with which Loridan-Ivens embraced life and arts. In her brief period as an actor in Jean Rouch’s 1960s cinéma vérité films, she sparkles with a lively curiosity and an irresistible charm. Equally arresting is her romantic and creative partnership with her husband, leftist documentary film-maker Joris Ivens. At the height of the Vietnam war, at the invitation of Ho Chi Minh, the pair travelled to Vietnam and made the resolutely anti-imperialist 17th Parallel: Vietnam in War, which documented the devastating effects of American bombing. Continue reading...
by Vincent Ni China affairs correspondent on (#5PFG3)
Expert’s clever analogies and frank messages to public have won him respect – and millions of followersEarly last year, as Covid-19 began to disrupt livelihoods in Shanghai, local media struggled to persuade the public to stay at home. Then they turned to an infectious diseases expert, Dr Zhang Wenhong, who also heads up Shanghai’s expert panel on Covid-19.“You’re bored to death at home, so the virus will be bored to death, too,” Zhang said in rapid-fire mandarin mixed with a distinctive Shanghainese accent. “Stay at home for two weeks … then we’ll be an inch closer to success.” Continue reading...
I was kicked out of corporate America after the economic crisis – but I learned to find joy and meaning in a life on the road“Happy birthday,” my boyfriend said, sheepishly handing me a brown paper sack.We were standing in “the kitchen” of our van, meaning in front of the mini-fridge and tiny stove situated between the platform bed and the two captain’s chairs. Continue reading...
Women have long been taught to be ashamed of their vulvas, with increasing numbers turning to cosmetic surgery in pursuit of genital ‘perfection’. But a new generation is fighting backWhen Florence Schechter opened the Vagina Museum – the world’s first museum dedicated to gynaecological anatomy – in London in 2019, it was partly a response to a dramatic rise in labiaplasty surgery. Instances of such surgery more than doubled in the first decade of this century, then carried on climbing. Zoe Williams, the spokesperson for the museum (who shares my name), says part of the problem is that most women have not seen other vulvas. “Quite a lot of people have never even seen their own, so it’s hard to have a concept of what’s normal. Certainly, throughout art history, the pictures of nude women very seldom had any protruding labia; you just had a neat little cleft.”Labiaplasty is surgery to alter the appearance of the vulva – generally by trying to reduce the size of the labia minora, the inner genital lips, so that they don’t hang below the labia majora, the outer ones. The reasons for such surgery are not solely cosmetic – they could be related to childbirth, or chafing during sport – yet the rise is staggering. The number of labiaplasty surgeries in 2016 was up 45% on 2015 – the biggest growth of any cosmetic surgery procedure, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Continue reading...
Find out who is leading the polling to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor of GermanyGermans will vote on Sunday 26 September 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. However, neither party fared well in their response to the devastating floods that hit Germany in July, giving a boost to the confidence of smaller parties. Continue reading...
Twenty years on, cinema is littered with failed attempts at helping people understand the aftermath of 9/11, from American Sniper to WIn November 2001, George W Bush’s White House met studio bosses to discuss how the entertainment industry could help in the “war on terror”. Twenty years on, Hollywood’s role in portraying the conflict remains unclear. Cinema ought to have been central to how we perceived the aftermath of 9/11 but, in retrospect, the bad films outweigh the good.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
Find out who is leading the polling to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor of GermanyGermans will vote on Sunday 26 September 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. However, neither party fared well in their response to the devastating floods that hit Germany in July, giving a boost to the confidence of smaller parties. Continue reading...
Deposed Myanmar leader was experiencing motion sickness and could not take the stand, says lawyerThe deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been unable to appear at a court hearing for health reasons, a member of her legal team has said, describing her condition as dizziness caused by motion sickness.Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, who has been detained on various charges since her overthrow in a military coup on 1 February, did not have coronavirus but felt ill having not travelled in a vehicle for a long time, Min Min Soe, a lawyer, said. Continue reading...
Analysts say massively indebted China property group likely to be dismantled to avoid triggering market-wide panicThe troubled Chinese property group Evergrande has edged closer to a government-engineered restructuring which could see bondholders take huge losses as Beijing’s price for saving millions of homeowners from financial ruin.With the likelihood increasing every day that the massively indebted group will be dismantled to avoid triggering a market-wide panic, trade in one of its bonds was suspended in Shanghai on Monday after it plunged 25%. Continue reading...
More than 600 health, social work and education professionals write to home secretary over ‘oppressive’ billA new policing bill that will be debated this week risks deepening racial and gender disparities in the justice system while forcing professionals to betray the trust of vulnerable people, hundreds of experts and a report have warned.In a letter to the home secretary, 665 GPs, nurses, social, youth and outreach workers and teachers have warned that the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill is “oppressive” and would force frontline professionals to betray the trust of vulnerable people and become complicit in surveillance, ahead of a debate in the House of Lords this week. Continue reading...
For more than 20 years the designer and presenter has shown viewers what it really costs to build a dream home. He talks about the frayed emotions, failure and why the UK needs radical land reformThe first couple of episodes of the current series of Grand Designs have already aired, but – as if it was itself an over-running building project – Kevin McCloud is still filming. When we speak over Zoom, from the small studio he set up “in a cupboard”, he has only just got home from filming; and as soon as we finish, he will be recording a line or two of his famously lyrical thoughts for an episode that goes out this week. It sounds stressful and I feel every bit as on edge as I do watching one of his couples race to finish a house before the weather closes in, or the woman gives birth, or the money runs out, but McCloud looks relaxed. He has, after all, been doing this for more than 20 years.The current series of Grand Designs is the 22nd. McCloud says he is always coming up with new reasons for its popularity. “The oldest explanation is I think it’s the last great big adventure that we can all go on and, therefore, we all connect to the idea of that,” he says, of the huge task that is building a house. “Also, we connect to the idea of home, because the notion of home is not simply a concept, it’s a place of psychological dependency.” Watching someone else create a home “strikes at something very primal within us”, he reasons. The characters are fascinating, of course – how do they have so much money? Why does this man (it’s almost always a man) think it’s a good idea to turn a nuclear power station or a sewage plant into a family home? And there is something deeply satisfying in the end result – an imposition of order on a quagmire of a building site, overcoming supply issues and dwindling funds. Finally, despite McCloud’s scepticism early on in the episode and the occasional barbed comment, his climactic monologue will be celebratory. At the very least, he will find something to praise. It is not a cynical show. Continue reading...
16 September 1971: Through a haze of rose countless geometric webs of spiders bridge darkling gaps, glittering and opalescentNORFOLK: Sunrise over the fen on these autumn mornings brings transient splendour to a realm of dew-wet reeds and a lingering cloak of mist. Through a haze of rose which turns to gold countless geometric webs of spiders bridge darkling gaps, glittering and opalescent. Spear-leaves and drooping purple reed-plumes are beaded with silver and the pincushion umbels of angelica are pricked out with a million diamond points of light. Tassels of hemp-agrimony and magenta spires of loosestrife achieve a brightness and perfection which beautifies them, while white bellbines shine with the pallor of fading stars through the morning vapours. There is a scent of water mint distilled from the night. The air is so still that even the gossamer does not tremble. The reed-warblers have gone; there is no chorus of chattering and husky music to greet the new day; but presently a wren trills, a woodpecker’s “chipping” breaks the silence of the nearby woods, and bullfinches utter plaintive whistles in the sallow bushes. A pheasant wakes in a sedgy jungle roost and rises like a rocket, scattering the dew in its rude progress and raising a general alarm.Related: An exuberance of life on the undrained fen Continue reading...
She took tea with Sigmund Freud, had an affair with Stephen Spender, risked her life in the Austrian resistance – and inspired an Oscar-winning film. Can a new show about Muriel Gardiner capture her extraordinary life?In 1978 the novelist Mary McCarthy ignited one of the fiercest feuds in literary history by claiming on a TV chatshow that every word of Lillian Hellman’s memoir was a lie, “including ‘and’ and ‘the’”. Hellman, a screenwriter and playwright, immediately launched a $2.5m defamation suit. McCarthy’s charge centred on Hellman’s claim to have been close friends with a heroic American member of the resistance in 1930s Vienna. So captivating was the story of their relationship that it had been made into an Oscar-winning film, starring Jane Fonda as Hellman and Vanessa Redgrave as the eponymous Julia.At her home in the US, psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Muriel Gardiner had become aware of the memoir, Pentimento, when it was published in 1973, after friends began to call, suggesting that Julia must be her. “I have never met Lillian Hellman,” she later wrote, “but I read the story and was indeed struck by the many similarities between my life and her heroine’s.” When the film came out, the calls became more regular. A consultation with the director of Austria’s resistance archives confirmed that there had only ever been one American heiress in the country’s anti-Nazi underground: Muriel Gardiner, whose code name was Mary. Continue reading...
The two stars took home the night’s top awards, along with Justin Bieber, at an MTV ceremony that mostly stuck to music and away from pandemic and politicsIt was a night of triumph for teen stars current (Olivia Rodrigo) and former (Justin Bieber) at the MTV Video Music Awards, in a show that strayed from the pandemic markers and political gestures that have defined most award ceremonies since early 2020.Bieber, the teenage pop phenom of the early 2010s coming off a several year hiatus from touring, kicked off the night with a duet with 18-year-old Aussie rap phenom the Kid Laroi. Now 27 and appearing at the VMAs for the first time since 2015, Bieber took home two of the night’s top awards: artist of the year and best pop video, for Peaches, featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. Nominated in every category beside him, and taking home best new artist, was 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo, whose single – and best song winner – Drivers License became the most streamed song ever in January. Continue reading...