Police open murder investigation after activist discovered in park after failing to return from a runThe head of a Kyiv-based non-profit organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution has been found dead in a park in the Ukrainian capital, police have said, raising suspicion that he may have been murdered.Vitaly Shishov, the head of Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU), was reported missing by his partner on Monday after he did not return from a run and could not be reached on his mobile phone. Continue reading...
Items smuggled out after 2003 invasion include 3,500-year-old Gilgamesh clay tabletThe United States is returning more than 17,000 ancient artefacts that were looted and smuggled out of Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, including a 3,500-year-old clay tablet that bears part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Iraq has said.Tens of thousands of antiquities disappeared from Iraq after the invasion that toppled its leader, Saddam Hussein. Many more were smuggled out or destroyed by Islamic State (Isis), which held a third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017 before it was defeated by Iraqi and international forces. Continue reading...
Best known for their global No 1 in 1987, the Los Angeleno band first emerged through the phlegm of the punk movement and are now returning to their rootsLos Lobos reached pop’s pinnacle in 1987 when their cover of La Bamba, recorded for a film of the same name, reached No 1 around the world. On their way up, and indeed back down the other side, the Los Angeles roots-rockers have mastered multiple musical styles during nearly 50 years together – from traditional Mexican folk to jump blues and avant-rock – and have earned 11 Grammy nominations (with three wins), working or appearing with Paul Simon, the Clash, film-maker Robert Rodriguez and more along the way.Now, to move forward, Los Lobos decided to look back. Native Sons, their 17th studio album, is a wide-ranging celebration of the LA artists that inspired the band early on. With covers of well-known pop tunes by the Beach Boys (Sail on Sailor) and Buffalo Springfield (For What It’s Worth) sitting alongside rare cuts from 60s garage rockers Thee Midniters and Latin jazz legend Willie Bobo, it’s the perfect polyglot collection for this multi-faceted ensemble. “You wouldn’t run into [these artists] at the same party,” says guitarist Louie Pérez Jr. “But once they all got to the party, everyone in the band thought, ‘Hey, this is kind of fun.’” Continue reading...
by Nazia Parveen, community affairs correspondent on (#5MX4G)
Two clans brutally evicted to make way for tea plantations owned by white settlers are seeking reparations for rights violationsThe British government has been criticised by the UN for a lack of resolution over colonial-era crimes committed in Kenya.Six UN special rapporteurs have written to the government expressing concern over its failure to provide “effective remedies and reparations” to the Kipsigis and Talai peoples. Continue reading...
Labor opposition condemns decision to delay requests for papers as ‘completely unacceptable’After delaying sittings of state parliament for at least a month, the New South Wales government has cancelled another transparency process, citing Covid restrictions imposed on staff.Up to 10 “calls for papers” will not be processed because two of the three staff from the premier’s department responsible for sorting through the papers produced by departments are locked down in Covid-19 hotspot local government areas. Continue reading...
Yakei took top spot after roughing up Sanchu, the alpha male who had been leader of ‘troop B’ on the island of Kyushu for five yearsIn a rarely seen phenomenon in the simian world, a nine-year-old female known as Yakei has become the boss of a 677-strong troop of Japanese macaque monkeys at a nature reserve on the island of Kyushu in Japan.Yakei’s path to the top began in April when she beat up her own mother to become the alpha female of the troop at the Takasakiyama natural zoological garden in Oita city. While that would have been the pinnacle for most female monkeys, Yakei decided to throw her 10kg weight around among the males. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5MWX3)
Scrutiny board headed by Abimbola Johnson among initiatives that show police accept they need to changePolice chiefs hoping to pull themselves out of a race crisis have appointed a new tsar who has previously said black people fear calling on officers for help.Barrister Abimbola Johnson will chair a new independent scrutiny and oversight board as part of a promised suite of changes to policing meant to boost confidence among minority ethnic groups. Continue reading...
International Olympic Committee is waiting for a report from Belarusian counterparts on the incident involving Krystsina TsimanouskayaThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched an investigation into the case of sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday after refusing her team’s orders to board a flight home from the Olympic Games.A spokesperson for the IOC said on Tuesday it was waiting for a report later in the day from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee on the incident that has rocked the Games. Warsaw has offered Tsimanouskaya a humanitarian visa. Continue reading...
Broadcaster complains about caution shown by ‘communists at Sage’ over reopening societyIt is a long list that includes travellers, cyclists, animal rights activists, lorry drivers, George Michael and Liverpool. Now Jeremy Clarkson has opened himself up to more anger after he criticised “those communists at Sage” preventing opening up because, he argues, “if you die, you die.”In an interview with the Radio Times, Clarkson gives his views on the pandemic and what should happen next. Many will find his thoughts typically boorish and insensitive. Continue reading...
The rapper and producer is on bail after an incident at a residential address in StreathamDizzee Rascal, the award-winning rapper and producer whose real name is Dylan Mills, has been charged with assaulting a woman following a domestic argument.In a statement, the Metropolitan police said: “Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on 8 June. Officers attended and a woman reported minor injuries. She did not require hospital treatment.” Continue reading...
Brits return from Tokyo with haul of four golds, having finished third in swimming medal tableBritish swimming Olympians have landed back in the UK from Tokyo after returning from their most successful Games.Team GB finished third in the swimming medal table behind the US and Australia. They won eight medals this past week. The squad returned with a haul of four golds, beating the UK’s previous best performance, at the 1908 Games in London. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5MWFF)
Armed surveillance officers shot dead Sudesh Amman after he stabbed two people in south London street, inquest jury hearsA convicted terrorist who went on a knife rampage wearing a fake bomb belt within days of his release from jail was shot dead by officers following him, an inquest has heard.Police had tried to block the release of Sudesh Amman, 20, because of intelligence that he wanted to stage an attack. He was in prison for terrorism offences. Continue reading...
Ashraf Ghani comments come as government forces battle to prevent Lashkar Gah falling to the TalibanAfghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, has blamed the speedy withdrawal of US-led troops for the worsening violence in his country, as government forces battled to prevent provincial cities from falling to the Taliban in a major escalation in fighting.Taliban fighters assaulted at least three provincial capitals overnight – Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat – after a weekend of heavy fighting that resulted in thousands of civilians fleeing the advancing militants. Continue reading...
Tokyo Games wins in 100m and high jump in space of 11 minutes prompt outpouring of national prideStunned and ecstatic after claiming two gold medals in the space of 11 minutes, as Lamont Marcell Jacobs won the 100m final and Gianmarco Tamberi shared first place in the high jump, Italians have been celebrating a golden Sunday at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.“It is Italian sport’s most beautiful day,” said Giovanni Malagò, the president of the Italian Olympics Committee. “They have made history. Our grandchildren’s grandchildren will talk about it. This is better than the Eurocup,” he added, referring to Italy’s Euro 2020 football victory last month. Continue reading...
Australian shareholders will own about 18.5% of combined business under deal, which the two companies say will create an online payments powerhouseAustralian Stock Exchange-listed buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay will be bought out by US fintech giant Square for A$39bn.Digital transactions and point of sale business Square said on Monday it had agreed to purchase the company in an all-stock deal worth US$29bn. Afterpay shareholders will get 0.375 shares of Square class A stock for every share they own, or around a price of A$126.21 per share based on Square’s Friday close. Continue reading...
‘We will chop them up’: an Indonesian police chief implicated in alleged human rights abuses against a group of West Papuan activists was trained by Australian Federal PoliceCharles Sraun was chatting with five friends at a house in Merauke, the easternmost city of the disputed Indonesian territory of West Papua, when police stormed the building.The 39-year-old health worker says he and his friends, all members of a pro-independence organisation called the National Committee for West Papua, were beaten with batons, made to lie face down and some forced to undress, before being cable-tied and bundled into the back of a vehicle belonging to the Indonesian paramilitary police unit, Brimob. Continue reading...
Jury at Birmingham crown court convicts Carvel Bennett for crime in 1970s in what is thought to be first case of its kindA man has been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl, after the daughter conceived during the attack pursued charges against him.Carvel Bennett, 74, was convicted by a jury at Birmingham crown court. Members of the jury deliberated for just over two hours before finding him guilty. Continue reading...
by Joe Parkin Daniels in Cali, Colombia on (#5MVVM)
‘He died as he lived, resisting’, says mother of young artist killed in Cali, as report claims authorities used systematic ‘pattern of violence’ in cityNicolás Guerrero, a 26-year-old artist from the Colombian city of Cali, took to the streets on 2 May to protest against the lack of opportunities he saw in his country. He had a family in Spain that he had hoped one day to bring to South America. But later that night, after riot police launched a brutal crackdown, he was found lying on the pavement, seriously wounded. He died hours later in hospital. Continue reading...
The agreement promises to compensate residents and ensure drinking water infrastructure is builtCanada’s federal government has reached a C$8bn settlement in two class-action lawsuits with First Nations communities over access to clean drinking water.The agreement promises to compensate residents, ensure drinking water infrastructure is built and modernize legislation – as First Nations leaders have been demanding for decades. Continue reading...
Boris Johnson has said Iran must face up to the consequences of its 'outrageous' attack on a tanker in the Arabian Sea that killed two crew, including a British national. The Liberian-flagged Mercer Street, which is linked to an Israeli tycoon, was hit off the coast of Oman late on 29 July in what is thought to have been a swarm attack involving multiple drones
by Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum on (#5MWC0)
Judge proposes compromise to settle dispute over home ownership with Israeli settlers in Sheikh JarrahPalestinian residents of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah facing forcible eviction from their homes have been offered a compromise deal with Jewish settlers by Israel’s supreme court, in an unexpected development in the high-profile case.The session on Monday, which was supposed to reach a final decision on whether to accept an appeal from four Palestinian families over eviction orders in the decades-old legal battle, was instead met with a surprise entreaty from the judges for the two sides to accept a “practical solution”. Continue reading...
Exclusive: photographer casts models as characters, creating an amalgam with their ‘dæmons’The photographer Rankin has designed the covers for a forthcoming edition of Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials.Rankin, who has photographed everyone from the Queen to David Bowie, created eye-catching images for each of the three books, which tell the story of Lyra, an intrepid young girl who encounters otherworldly characters in parallel universes. Continue reading...
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has not directly criticised her government but her parents warned her not to returnJust two years ago, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was greeted by smiling Belarusian athletics and academic officials as she brandished a gold medal from the 2019 Summer Universiade, the young star’s greatest victory for her native Belarus yet.Now that same bureaucracy is threatening to tear her life apart, as her coach and a delegation official warned a crying Tsimanouskaya on leaked audio that she was “caught in a spider’s web” and suggested that cases of “excessive pride” often lead to suicide. Continue reading...
Officer tells inquest convicted terrorist bolted down street and stabbed two members of public in just over a minuteA police officer has described the final moments of Sudesh Amman’s life, during which the convicted terrorist bolted down a south London high street and stabbed two members of the public in just over a minute.Det Supt Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan police said before the attack Amman had wandered from his probation hostel to Streatham High Road “apparently aimlessly”. Continue reading...
Yellow storm warning covers areas including Cardiff, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and LondonThunderstorms and torrential downpours could cause flooding across parts of southern England and Wales.The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for storms on Monday that covers areas including Cardiff, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and London and is in place until 11pm. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#5MVVN)
Bank helped by economic recovery from Covid-19 crisis in big markets including the UKHSBC has increased its bankers’ bonus pool and announced fresh shareholder payouts after profits grew more than fourfold in the second quarter, thanks to an economic rebound in key markets, including the UK.The London-headquartered bank said it had increased its banker bonus pool by $900m in order to compensate its star staff in the first half of the year, compared with a $600m increase during the same period in 2020 when its profits suffered from the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. Continue reading...
Case before Swedish court may reveal further details about Ebrahim Raisi’s role in mass executions in 1988The war crimes trial in Sweden of a former Iranian official could reveal further damaging details about the role played in the mass execution of prisoners 30 years ago by Iran’s president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi, barely a week after his inauguration.Hamid Noury, 60, was charged last week with “war crimes and murder” over the killings of more than 100 armed opponents and political prisoners during the final year of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq. Continue reading...
At least five people were wounded and holidaymakers evacuated after wildfires devastated a pine wood near a beach in Pescara, Italy, as one of the worst heatwaves in decades swept across south-east Europe.About 800 people were evacuated from their homes, including a convent of nuns, after a fire broke out in the 53-hectare (131-acre) Pineta Dannunziana nature reserve, as the fires continue to be active on different fronts
Many of us are returning to the office or socialising for the first time in a year – and may be feeling anxious about physical changes. Here’s how to feel a little bit better about yourselfAs pandemic restrictions are lifted in England, many of us will be returning to offices and meeting up with friends for the first time in more than a year – and some of us may not look the same way we did in pre-Covid times. We may have gained weight, or lost muscle, or simply look more tired than before. Perhaps we harboured vague goals of returning to the world with sculpted abs and perky posteriors, but life in a pandemic puts paid to the best-laid plans. So how do you feel OK about your body as the country begins to open up? The experts weigh in. Continue reading...
A deputy news production editor at the Guardian speaks to colleagues about how cutting and correcting copy has evolved over decadesThe internet may have revolutionised the media in the 21 years since I joined the Guardian, but my role as a subeditor has stayed essentially the same. We check facts, write headlines and cut stories to the right length, with a final spellcheck before moving it to its next stage.But until late last century, subediting looked completely different. Chris Dodd started work on the features desk, then based in Manchester, in 1965, after an “interview” in a pub (he didn’t know whether to drink or abstain, or buy a round), while Barry Johnson and Jay Sivell joined the London office in Farringdon Road in 1986. Shifts then started at various points in the afternoon, and subs (as they are called) enjoyed a leisurely start. “People used to take in chess sets and books, or do the crossword. You could sit for hours with nothing,” says Johnson, who retired in December. Continue reading...
Commons standards committee to look at conflicts of interest for members with second jobsMPs serving on informal parliamentary groups while working in second jobs are facing scrutiny from a powerful parliamentary committee over concerns that they could exploit a lobbying loophole.An inquiry by the Commons standards committee will examine whether MPs who sit on All-Party Parliamentary Groups that lobby for certain industries should no longer be paid by organisations in those same industries. Continue reading...
Stint of working from home rewrites rules for office dressing, with retailers seeing demand for hybrid wardrobeWith a return to the office now a real possibility, workers in the UK are thinking about something they haven’t for a while: what to wear. This comes after 16 months at home with only a laptop for company – and only a semblance of presentability required for video calls. The conventions of office attire are being reassessed, particularly by men who often wore suits for work. So are they ditching the jogging bottoms and dusting off their suits or are elasticated waists here to stay?With hybrid working – spending part of a working week in the office, part from home – now seen as a possible post-pandemic possible, Sam Kershaw, the buying director of menswear site Mr Porter, suggests there will be hybrid wardrobe to match. “Our customers are not ready to disregard the ‘at home’ shift of investing in comfortable, versatile pieces for their wardrobe,” he says. “Particularly as many will remain working from home in some capacity.” Continue reading...
US production house is latest major studio to find a home in region as demand for TV and film surgesHollywood’s Sunset Studios, which produced La La Land, Zoolander and the first in the X-Men franchise, has become the latest US movie production house to adopt the leafy Hertfordshire countryside as its main base outside the US.Backed by £700m from two major US investment firms, the TV and film studio complex will create more than 4,500 jobson a 37-hectare (91-acre) greenfield site in Broxbourne, close to the arc of rival studio complexes north-west of London known as Britain’s Hollywood. Continue reading...
The actor, comic and writer talks about her bestselling debut novel, the cruelty of costume fittings, how it felt to be in the Harry Potter franchise – and finding hope in small thingsAs a compulsive diary writer – she has kept one since she was eight – Jessie Cave knows that, unless it gets written down, life gets forgotten. She is glad, then, that she wrote her debut novel, Sunset, because the way she felt at the time “would have just gone, and then you’re in a different place and you don’t remember”. This book, says Cave, was “absolutely the only thing I could write during that period”.In March 2019, her younger brother Ben died in an accident aged 27. Her book was written in the aftermath, that manic feeling that sometimes comes with grief pushing her on. It went straight to No 1 on the Sunday Times’ bestseller list after being published in June. “I don’t know if I would have that energy now,” she says. Continue reading...
Labour’s deputy leader opens up about being a carer, byelections, and achieving a ‘cultural shift’ in the workplaceLabour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said her own experience as a care worker helped to convince her more flexible working could be a “win-win” for staff and employers.Speaking to the Guardian after announcing new policies last week on employment rights and flexible conditions, Rayner said she had helped negotiate family-friendly working when she was a trade union representative. Continue reading...
Senate inquiry hears of upset over $21m in grants being given to companies while Indigenous community lacks even basic infrastructureTraditional owners opposed to fracking in the Beetaloo Basin have condemned the Morrison government for handing tens of millions of dollars to gas companies while Indigenous communities lack basic housing and health infrastructure.A Senate inquiry on Monday heard from a series of traditional owners in the Northern Territory about plans to open up the Beetaloo Basin to gas exploration and fracking. Continue reading...
The men’s gold and women’s bronze medals meant everything to Fiji, which has the highest per-capita Covid infection rate in the worldWhen the Fijian men’s sevens team beat New Zealand to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, the entire nation celebrated.The win could not have come at a better time. Fiji is in the grip of a deadly second outbreak of Covid-19, on top of a potential political crisis over controversial native land legislation. Continue reading...
West Midlands police seek contact details of family of Brahane Yordanos, who do not yet know of her killingDetectives are trying to find the family of a 19-year-old woman found fatally stabbed at her home in Birmingham. West Midlands police named the victim as Brahane Yordanos, from Eritrea in north-east Africa, on Sunday.Just after 6am on Saturday, officers were called to Unett Street, Newtown, where the teenager was discovered with stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#5MVCE)
Former Australian prime minister has signed a conflict of interest declaration due to his role as a trade adviser to the UK governmentThe Morrison government will spend about $19,000 to send former prime minister, Tony Abbott, on a five-day trade mission to India this month.Guardian Australia can also reveal Abbott has signed a conflict of interest declaration, due to the former Liberal party leader’s ongoing role as a trade adviser to the British government. Continue reading...
The increasingly draconian approach to irregular migration betrays the spirit of the 1951 refugee conventionSeventy years ago, the 1951 UN refugee convention established the rights of refugees to seek sanctuary, and the obligations of states to protect them. Increasingly, it seems that much of Europe is choosing to commemorate the anniversary by ripping up some of the convention’s core principles.So far this year, close to 1,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, more than four times the death toll for the same period in 2020. Many will have been economic migrants. Others will have been fleeing persecution. Increasingly, Europe does not care. All were “irregular”. And all must be discouraged and deterred through a strategy of cruelty. Continue reading...