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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...

Former UK prime minister calls on western leaders to convene summit to address Africa’s vaccine deficit

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...

Return to power of movement’s co-founder embodies Afghanistan’s inability to escape history of conflict

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

Afghans who fled their homeland to settle in the UK express their fears for family and friends left behind

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...

Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, is reported to have left the country while a Taliban spokesman says Taliban fighters have entered the capitol Kabul

Poorly led and riddled with corruption, the Afghan army was overrun in a matter of weeks

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...

Chief health officer says residents need to follow public health orders for lockdown to end as NSW wakes up to statewide restrictions

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...

Latest updates: Australia forced into snap statewide lockdown after enduring worst day of pandemic so far; price of NHS tests cut by a fifth

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...

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...

The hot summer of 1967 was full of cruising and drinking, sleeping on roofs, and listening to music late into the night• Read other authors on their memorable urban summersThere was a hit song in the 1960s by the Lovin’ Spoonful called Summer in the City all about how the days were hot and gritty, everyone looking half-dead, but the nights passionate and fun, full of sex and dancing. That was certainly my experience of the summer of 1967, an especially hot one when New York became a tropical city full of cruising and drinking, of people sleeping without air conditioners on the cindered roofs of their buildings, sharing wine coolers out of Mason jars, and attending late-night horror movies. In the Village on Sixth Avenue and West Third Street, there was always a pickup basketball game going, the beautiful shirtless bodies slathered in sweat. Continue reading...

Drawing on writers from Anton Chekhov to Kit de Waal, Donal Ryan explores the art of writing short fiction. Plus Chris Power on the best books for budding short story writersThe first story I wrote outside of school was about Irish boxer Barry McGuigan. I was 10 and I loved Barry. He’d just lost his world featherweight title to the American Steve Cruz under the hellish Nevada sun and the only thing that could mend my broken heart was a restoration of my hero’s belt. Months passed and there was no talk of a rematch, so I wrote a story about it.My imagined fight was in Ireland, and I was ringside. In my story I’d arranged the whole thing. I’d even given Barry some tips on countering Steve’s vicious hook. It went the distance but Barry won easily on points. He hugged Steve. His dad sang “Danny Boy”. I felt as I finished my story an intense relief. The world in that moment was restful and calm. I’d created a new reality for myself, and I was able to occupy it for a while, to feel a joy I’d created by moving a biro across paper. I think of that story now every single time I sit down to write. I strive for the feeling of rightness it gave me, that feeling of peace. Continue reading...

Robert Webb, AJ Odudu, Tom Fletcher and Nina Wadia are among the celebrities getting their dancing shoes on for Strictly. But who will succeed … and who on earth is Tilly Ramsay?The 2021 Strictly Come Dancing line-up has been unveiled in full, which can only mean one thing. It’s Christmas already. Merry Christmas everyone!But who are these brave celebrities who have dared to develop a close friendship with a professional dancer that has a statistically high likelihood of ending their marriage? Below you will find them all, ranked from worst to best in terms of probable success. Continue reading...

A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico Continue reading...

Mother of Oscar in Derbyshire says her son and his cockapoo were ‘like peas in a pod’

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Covid-19 public health exposure sites in Queensland and what to do if you’ve visited them.

With a few cheap items and a good routine it’s possible to start or continue a fitness regimen at homeThe longer lockdown progresses, the more ovals and homes around Sydney resemble makeshift gyms. Some trainers have shifted everything but treadmills and ellipticals outside, while others rely on a few key items to train themselves and others while the gyms are closed.So what do you need if your gym is shut and you want to keep training? Not much. And what you do need won’t break the bank. Continue reading...

Covid has hastened Australia’s inward drift, but now is not the time to disengage from our struggling neighbourThe effects of living in Fortress Australia are profound on the psyche. Yes, many of us may feel safer, but the longer we stay locked away from the world, the more our horizons shrink.Every bar or beach around the world used to ring with the sound of an Australian accent. Now it’s so strange to encounter an Australian abroad that an expat friend recently told me, almost excitedly, he had met another Australian in Athens. The man had approached his table on hearing his accent – it was as if Stanley had come across Livingstone himself in Tanzania (“Dr Livingstone, I presume?”), such was the wonder at encountering a fellow countryman. Continue reading...

The Australian star of slow-burn social thriller The White Lotus talks wealth, race and classIn the penultimate episode of the first season of The White Lotus, a couple on their honeymoon – whose relationship is already fraying – get a tour of their new hotel suite. Leading them is resort manager Armond, who points out that they can, actually, see the beach from this room – they just need to step onto the patio, and peer around the volcano.There’s no better metaphor for the tensions, big and small, that have been percolating since the moment these guests first arrived in Mike White’s new HBO series – a show that’s become a rare moment of appointment viewing in our various states of lockdown, and which was renewed for a second season last week. Continue reading...

Researchers speculate that smoke helps spread the virus and weakens lungs, making symptoms more severePollutants in smoke billowing from huge wildfires in the west of America have probably caused an increase in Covid-19 infections and deaths across several US states, new research has found.Last year more than 10m acres of land were torched by wildfires, with five out of the six largest fires ever documented in California occurring within just a few months. The burning trees, shrubs and buildings gave off enormous plumes of smoke containing small particles of soot. Continue reading...

Investigation launched into deaths of West Mercia police officer and child at address in WorcestershireA serving police officer and a three-year-old child have been found dead at a house in Worcestershire.West Mercia police said officers attended an address in Cairndhu drive in Kidderminster following concerns for the welfare of a man and a young child. Continue reading...

Una Stubbs – the actor whose long career took in Summer Holiday, Worzel Gummidge, Till Death Us Do Part and most recently Steven Moffat’s Sherlock – has died aged 84.