Her career has taken her from pop success to Strictly and the stage. She discusses the pain of racist comments, the joy of duetting with Beyoncé – and the enduring influence of her late mother

Exclusive: Pressure grows on government to do more to help poorer countries left ‘fighting for scraps’

Hindu boy faces possible death penalty after being accused of intentionally urinating in a madrassa libraryAn eight-year-old Hindu boy is being held in protective police custody in east Pakistan after becoming the youngest person ever to be charged with blasphemy in the country.The boy’s family is in hiding and many of the Hindu community in the conservative district of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab, have fled their homes after a Muslim crowd attacked a Hindu temple after the boy’s release on bail last week. Troops were deployed to the area to quell any further unrest. Continue reading...

Pharmaceutical company to test its mRNA vaccine’s safety and potential for side effects in children

The wildfires that broke out in Attica and Evia this week have burned more than 25,000 hectares Continue reading...

Chinese e-commerce company says it is cooperating with the investigationChinese e-commerce company Alibaba has announced that it is cooperating with a police investigation into sexual assault allegations aired by a company employee.A statement on Sunday by the company said it had also had suspended “relevant parties suspected of violating our policies and values,” asserting that it had a “zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct.” Continue reading...

Water sports remain the country’s forte, with rowing its most successful Olympic sportNew Zealand is basking in the glow of its greatest ever Olympic medal haul, departing Tokyo with 20 medals – seven gold, six silver and seven bronze, and a new champion, Lisa Carrington, who has become the country’s most decorated Olympic athlete.The tally surpassed the previous record of 18 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games, with medals won across 11 sports and women winning more than half of those. The country placed 13th overall on the medal table. Continue reading...

Covid restrictions extended for greater Sydney, with 8 LGAs in hard lockdown, including stricter mask rules and a 5km radius travel limit. Some restrictions have been eased with some construction to resume and a singles bubble introduced. Here’s the full list of what you can and can’t do in NSW

James Ramsbotham, CEO of North East England Chamber of Commerce, says letter sent to Boris Johnson remains unansweredA letter to Boris Johnson sent a fortnight ago by James Ramsbotham called on the prime minister to save the north-east from the “damage being done to our economy” by Brexit and urged him to give it his “most urgent and personal attention”. Two weeks later, it remains unanswered.Ramsbotham is the chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce and speaks for thousands of businesses caught by the red tape and extra costs of complying with EU rules. In a recent survey, 38% of members said sales to Europe had fallen since January. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can find all of our coverage of the pandemic here.11.47pm BSTThis blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.11.03pm BSTTunisia launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for the over-40s, after receiving more than six million doses from abroad to combat surging infections.The health ministry said 551,008 people had been given jabs in more than 300 centres across the country, in what was billed as an “open day” for vaccinations, AFP reports. Continue reading...

Each bag matches birth weight and features baby’s face, so new arrival can be hugged in pandemicParents in Japan are sending bags of rice that weigh the same as their newborn babies to relatives who are unable to visit them due to the pandemic.The bags come in a wide range of designs, with some shaped like a baby wrapped in a blanket so that relatives can feel as though they are hugging the new arrival while looking at a picture of their face, which is attached to the front. Continue reading...

Insurgent group seizes important political and military hub as pro-government forces retreatThe Taliban have claimed a huge symbolic victory after their fighters seized a large city for the first time in northern Afghanistan as part of a seemingly unstoppable offensive in which they have captured five provincial capitals in just three days.Armed men swept into Kunduz on Sunday, a strategic city close to the border with Tajikistan and an important political and military hub. By mid-morning they controlled the city centre while pro-government forces retreated to the nearby airport. Residents fled as smoke from the city’s burning market engulfed the sky. Continue reading...

Since Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu, locals are returning to the saeklon haos, made from vines, palm fronds and grassesWhen Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu and concrete buildings collapsed, their iron roofing blown away, there was no loss of life in the traditionally built structures known as saeklon haos (cyclone house).Though they normally sleep six, during the 2015 storm up to 30 villagers were able to squeeze in together, physically supporting the house posts from the inside if needed. Continue reading...

Firefighters tackle blazes on two fronts on Evia as heatwave-driven devastation across southern Europe continuesThousands of people have fled wildfires that are destroying vast swathes of pine forest and razing homes on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia, as devastating summer blazes rage from southern Europe to Siberia.“We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Greece’s deputy civil protection minister, Nikos Hardalias, said on Sunday, adding that nearly a week after the blazes started, strong winds were driving two major fire fronts in the north and south of the island. Continue reading...

The federal government has resisted a push for mandatory standards even as industry, vets and the RSPCA urge changePash and Pebbles went off their food on the last Sunday in June.The retired greyhounds had been on a fresh meat diet since their racing days – Pash, whose black coat has turned silver in his old age, prefers his meat raw, while Pebbles ate hers cooked. Owner Sue Graham had been feeding them the same food, delivered from the same supplier, for years. Continue reading...

The sky over the island of Evia turned red and orange as people boarded an evacuation ferry after days of fires in the area.Dozens of wildfires have burned in Greece after the longest heatwave in 30 years, which sent temperatures soaring to 45C.The Greek coastguard said three patrol boats, four navy vessels, one ferry and various tourist, fishing and private boats were on standby to carry out more potential evacuations from villages on the island's northern tip.

Chris Philp, the immigration compliance minister, outlines the work of the Home Office in safeguarding interpreters, while Barry Young says joined-up thinking is needed and Peter Simm highlights the danger to asylum seekers being told to relocate to KabulInterpreters who assisted British forces in Afghanistan have played a fundamental role, standing side by side with those on the frontline of combat. For that we owe a debt of gratitude – one that we are paying, contrary to the claims of Clive Lewis MP (I saw Afghan interpreters translate so much more than words – now they live in terror, 6 August).There are hundreds of officials working without pause across the country and in Afghanistan to safely and quickly relocate current and former locally employed staff who often risked their lives on our behalf. They are arriving here with their families on a near-daily basis to build a new life. So far, we have enabled over 2,800 people to relocate to Britain, with 1,400 arriving over the last few weeks alone. As we continue to significantly accelerate the pace of relocations due to the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, hundreds more will follow. Continue reading...

First Eurostar train arrives at St Pancras on Sunday morning since Covid restrictions were lifted

Two-week order on coast between Cape Trafalgar and Barbate is second time authorities have taken actionSpain has ordered small boats to steer clear of a stretch of the country’s southern coast after reports of more than 50 encounters with boisterous orcas, including as many as 25 incidents in which boats had to be towed to shore.A two-week prohibition bars most vessels of 15 metres or less from sailing near the coast between Cape Trafalgar and the small town of Barbate. It is the second time in 13 months that Spain’s ministry of transport has taken action to address a spate of extraordinary orca encounters that have baffled scientists. Continue reading...

Campaigners say figures for last two years underestimate the true situation at barracks and hotelsThe Home Office has recorded 70 racist incidents by far-right supporters against asylum seekers in barracks and hotel accommodation, according to a freedom of information response obtained by the Guardian.However, campaigners supporting asylum seekers in such accommodation say the figure is a significant underestimation of the true picture. Continue reading...

CMA to investigate PCR tests market after concerns about vastly different prices being charged

Mayor of Algar (pop 1,400) says the tradition is the ‘opposite of social media’ and good for mental healthIt’s a nightly summer ritual across much of Spain: as the sweltering heat of the day eases off, chairs are hauled out to the street for an alfresco chat. Now an enterprising village in southern Spain is seeking to have the tradition recognised by the United Nations as a cultural treasure.The aim is to protect the centuries-old custom from the encroaching threat of social media and television, said José Carlos Sánchez, the mayor of Algar, a town of about 1,400 people. “It’s the opposite of social media,” he told the Guardian. “This is about face-to-face conversations.” Continue reading...

Many recent arrivals have correct documents and want to work, but have met obstacle after obstacle

Hongkongers in Britain warns that many arrivals are being denied equal access to housing, education and jobs

Death of Memory Machaya, 14, who gave birth at church shrine, prompts outrage among citizens and activistsThe United Nations has condemned the practice of child marriage in Zimbabwe following the death of a 14-year-old girl after she gave birth at a church shrine, an incident that caused outrage among citizens and rights activists.The case has brought to the fore the practice of child marriage within Zimbabwe’s apostolic churches, which also allow polygamy. Continue reading...

Ministers say new crime will carry tougher sentences following rise in dognapping as pet ownership soared in lockdownA new offence of “pet abduction” is being drawn up to tackle a rise in dognapping since the start of the first lockdown last year. This is the primary recommendation from the government’s pet theft task force, which was launched following soaring cases of stolen pets.As demand for pets grew with people forced to spend more time at home during the pandemic, the cost of dogs and cats rose sharply, and soon organised crime groups were coordinating pet thefts to exploit the inflated prices. Continue reading...

Unions say Teleperformance also asked some staff based overseas to give biometric and medical dataA multinational call centre used by dozens of leading UK companies has been criticised for what unions have called the intrusive monitoring of home-working staff and their families, as well as asking workers to hand over biometric and medical data..Unions say Teleperformance, which also answers calls for a series of UK government departments, is “pushing workers’ boundaries” over long-term home working amid coronavirus, and accuse the company of having unfairly targeted several staff who objected. Continue reading...

Books, clean air and socialising thought to have helped the latest five mark their 100th birthdays in Perdasdefogu this yearIf there’s one thing the remote mountain village of Perdasdefogu needs to ensure it always has a steady supply of, it’s birthday candles. Already this year, 500 have been needed to decorate the birthday cakes of five residents who turned 100.Each milestone usually means a celebration involving the entire town. The mayor, Mariano Carta, presents a medal to the centenarian, who more often than not can recall details of their life over the past century with remarkable lucidity. Continue reading...

Necoclí, population 20,000, faces bottleneck as Covid rules lift and unrest, poverty and violence grow across region

The congresswoman’s protest on the Capitol steps may have been unconventional – but she didn’t come to Washington to play by the old rules.When Cori Bush decided to camp out on the steps of the US Capitol for four days to protest against the end of the eviction moratorium, people insinuated her behavior was unbecoming of a congresswoman.“Shameless and embarrassing,” was what Matt Walsh, the self-described “theocratic fascist” radio host called it. Ben Shapiro called the protest “stupid,” meanwhile, Bush’s local paper, the St Louis Post Dispatch, wrote that her “righteous-sounding aspirations” did not “seem to take into account political reality.” Continue reading...

With her debut book, The Right to Sex, a 36-year-old Oxford don is dazzling everyone from Vogue to Prospect magazine. She discusses porn, gender dysphoria – and why her students are no snowflakesIf All Souls is one of the most inordinately beautiful colleges in Oxford – its bone-white gothic, best peered at by mere mortals from nearby Radcliffe Square, is the work of the great Nicholas Hawksmoor – it’s also one of the oddest and most rarefied. Famously, it has no student body. Each year, however, a small number of recent graduates who would like to become so-called prize fellows may apply to take a famously difficult and inscrutable exam during which, as a tour guide I followed earlier put it, they must “write an essay on a single word, like coconut”. As my eavesdropping also revealed, TE Lawrence, AKA Lawrence of Arabia, passed this exam, but Harold Wilson failed it.In her lovely, wood-panelled room in All Souls – its current tenant wears Adidas sneakers and likes a good martini, but it still makes me think of patched corduroy and sherry – Amia Srinivasan laughs heartily. “Right,” she says. “Those guides. They always come up with things like: everyone here is a priest, or everyone is a man. Or they tell people: ‘Stephen Hawking is in there right now.’ At least the exam thing is sort of true.” Having taken it successfully herself in 2009 – she had to write around the word “reproduction” – Srinivasan was a prize fellow at the college until 2016, when she became a lecturer at UCL (the one-word riff component was abandoned the following year). Now, though, she’s back. Last January, she took her up her post as the Chichele professor of social and political theory at All Souls, a job once held by Isaiah Berlin. She is both the first woman, and the first person of colour, to hold it. At just 36, she is also its youngest ever incumbent. Continue reading...

Barry Joule, a close friend of the artist, says the gallery has not kept to a pledge to stage exhibitions of the worksWhen more than 1,200 sketches, photographs and documents from the studio of Francis Bacon were donated to the Tate in 2004, it was described as one of the most generous gifts the gallery had ever received, estimated to be worth £20m. Now the donor is threatening to cancel the gift, accusing the gallery of reneging on pledges to stage exhibitions of the material.Barry Joule, a longstanding friend of Bacon, had wanted the items to go to the Tate, as it had been the artist’s favourite gallery. Over the years, he kept expecting the Tate to do justice to it with an exhibition, as he says they had planned on accepting the gift. He wrote repeatedly to curatorial staff, asking when the show would happen. Continue reading...

Every year thousands of refugees from conflict, climate and instability in Africa board vessels in search of a new life in Europe. But hundreds never arrive – and even those who make it face hostility and a life of fearAt 6.30am on Friday 28 May, three fishermen at work four miles off the southern coast of Tobago spotted a large white boat adrift on the dawn waters of the Caribbean.As they drew closer, the trio saw the boat’s shape was far from local, and noticed a strong smell coming from inside it. The body the fishermen glimpsed at the bow was enough to confirm their suspicions. They called the coastguard who, unable to dispatch a vessel, asked them to tow the boat ashore at Belle Garden beach. Continue reading...

After 35 years, the Observer’s former correspondent is leaving as what was once a haven of liberty and peace is transformed into a police stateWhen I arrived in Hong Kong in 1987 as the Observer’s south-east Asia correspondent, the foreign editor said he saw it as being a base, not the kind of territory that would generate much news but it was a safe place to be, communications were good and I was unlikely to have any visa problems. I thought I might stay a couple of years and move on. Thirty-five years later, I have, with great sadness, moved on and no one in their right mind can possibly assert that Hong Kong is a safe place for journalists.The white terror – the term used to describe the ruthless elimination of the opposition in Taiwan following the imposition of Kuomintang rule and more recently taken up by the opposition in Hong Kong to describe similar events in the city – is relentless, swooping down not just on journalists, but on prominent opposition leaders, teachers, lawyers and, recently, speech therapists who had the temerity to write a children’s book about sheep that dared to answer back; they have been charged with subversion. Continue reading...

There was a degree of heat, but not much light cast on the future of a party still recovering from last year’s election thumpingThe National Party has just wrapped up the final day of its annual general meeting. There was a bit more drama than usual. Former speaker of the house David Carter resigned from the board before the close of the meeting after failing to win the presidency from Peter Goodfellow, who has held the role since 2009.Various changes were made to the party rules. A nod to the Treaty of Waitangi as the country’s founding document was inserted into the party constitution. There was heated debate on questions of party governance, with delegates opting to keep the board on a short leash following a disastrous election last year. Continue reading...

State reports 11 new Covid cases as authorities scramble to work out how the outbreak started

Australian health minister ‘expects’ 1m doses of Moderna in a month as Victorian premier also announces drive-though vaccination hubThe Moderna vaccine will be available in Australia from mid-September adding to the country’s use of AstraZeneca and Pfizer, the Morrison government says.The announcement on Sunday came as the Victorian government revealed it would make AstraZeneca available to people aged 18 to 39 at nine of its state-run clinics and stand up Australia’s first drive-through vaccination hub. Continue reading...

Northern Territory declares Cairns and Yarrabah hotspots ahead of snap lockdown; Victorian clinics to offer AstraZeneca to under 40s as state records 11 cases; NSW records 262 cases and one death; Queensland records nine new cases. Follow live

An engaging academic study of Alexei Navalny paints a vivid picture of a Russian politician who is a necessarily courageous product of the internet ageIn January, Alexei Navalny boarded a flight to Moscow. Russia’s most famous dissident had spent five months in Germany recovering from the effects of novichok poisoning. Surrounded by journalists who travelled with him, he was under no illusions as to what would happen once he swapped Berlin for home.The Russian authorities would arrest him, for sure. He would spend months, years, in prison. Probably he would never emerge. On the plane, Navalny shrugged off these concerns with his usual dark humour. “I am not afraid,” he said. He spent the flight watching his favourite show, the US cartoon sitcom Rick and Morty. Continue reading...

Our elite schools foster emotional austerity and fierce clique loyalty. Here a privately educated writer of the prime minister’s generation reveals the lasting damage public schools do

All countries have suffered Covid, but the UK has uniquely been exposed to the economic and moral damage of Brexit tooSo far, the Johnson government has hidden behind the disruption of Covid to divert attention from the consequences of Brexit.But not for much longer. The chaos caused by the removal of the Team GB economy from the single market while leaving Northern Ireland within is already manifest. It is also abundantly clear that the disruption of Northern Ireland’s trade cannot be blamed on, or confused with, Covid-induced damage. Continue reading...

While big-name US firms can compel their staff to be vaccinated against Covid, in the UK the issue is a legal and moral minefield

Young skateboarders raised spirits, but amid rising Covid cases the mood elsewhere was not so sunnyIt was a rough week for Britain’s Tom Bosworth, who came 25th in the 20km race-walk. He called it his “worst performance in a British vest”. He also became a target on Japanese social media after complaining about being fed “cold slop” in the Sapporo athletes’ village, which felt like “a prison”. This didn’t go down well with locals who have had to cancel plans because rising Covid cases mean the local government is advising against travel in and out of the city. Comments on Twitter included: “We’re not going to be lectured by a Brit about shit food.” Continue reading...

When you want to be a parent and can’t, this is a loss to be mourned, says Philippa PerryThe question I’m a 48-year-old woman in a loving relationship. I don’t have any children. I have two brothers – my younger one has four children with his partner. The other, who is older than me and gay (and my half-brother), has recently gone abroad with his partner and had two children via a surrogate, with both fathers having had a biological child each.I’ve always supported people’s rights in principle, especially gay rights, yet this has opened a chasm of sadness in me, not having had children. It also makes me feel like the odd one out among my siblings as they are both now busy with their respective families. Continue reading...

Ebrahim Raisi is another hardliner, but western leaders must engage with him to cool the tensions threatening the regionA hardline president has taken charge in Iran. An inexperienced government in Israel is threatening military action against Tehran. A lethal shadow war is being waged in the Gulf. Iran’s ally, Hezbollah, is firing missiles into Israel from chaotic Lebanon. Bitter words fly in London over hostage-taking. US fears grow, meanwhile, that the Vienna nuclear talks have failed. Deal or no deal, it’s suggested, Iran may soon be able to build an atomic weapon.This is a perilous, darkly portentous moment in the Middle East and specifically for the multifaceted conflict between Iran and the west. Ebrahim Raisi, who was sworn in as president on Thursday after a rigged, boycotted election, offered scant ground for optimism. “Tyrannical” sanctions imposed by Donald Trump, which have ravaged the country since 2018, must be lifted, he said. But he offered no plan to achieve it and nothing in the way of concessions. Continue reading...

French protests expected to enter fourth week but president’s hardline strategy is succeeding

Stung by claims of a bungled response to devastating fires, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says criticism is orchestrated by foreign powersProsecutors in Turkey have launched an investigation into a social media hastag critical of the government’s allegedly bungled response to the country’s devastating wildfires, accusing it of spreading “anxiety and fear”.The hashtag HelpTurkey exploded when rightwing president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was pictured on a tour of the damaged region under heavy police escort, tossing bags of tea to locals out of a moving bus in the middle of the night while a megaphone announced his presence. Continue reading...

Army officer wins nation’s first athletics gold to spark celebrations and a resurgence of pride amid the ravages of CovidArmy officer Neeraj Chopra has achieved Indian sporting immortality after winning the country’s first ever athletics gold medal with victory in the men’s javelin in Tokyo.Chopra’s historic triumph means India has racked up its best-ever Olympic medal haul of seven and caps a resurgence of national pride amid the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 427,000 Indians. Continue reading...

Prosecutors allege Maria Licciardi, 70, ran extortion rackets as head of Naples-based Camorra crime syndicateA reputed top Naples crime syndicate boss was arrested as she was about to board a flight to Spain, Italian authorities said.The interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, praised the arrest of Maria Licciardi, 70, by Carabinieri officers on the orders of Naples prosecutors. Continue reading...

During the pandemic New Zealand has become a safe haven for international film studios, creating a surge in demand for ‘stunties’Burrowed in a beige building block in Auckland’s industrial east, a neat line of stunt hopefuls wait their turn to take their first step on an “air ram”. With enough power to flip a full sized car, the menacing looking metal pedal is designed to vault the “stunties” high into the air, as if tossed from an exploding building.Standing by and keeping a watchful eye, Dayna Grant points up to the rafters of the converted warehouse at least 10 metres above, fondly remembering a time she was tossed up high enough to touch the ceiling. But today’s NZ Stunt School class of ex-circus performers, working stunt people, and retirees, won’t come close to that. Continue reading...