The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, underlined Joe Biden's comments on Thursday's attack on Kabul airport, saying: 'I think he made it clear he doesn't want them to live on planet Earth any more.'Biden’s national security team has warned him that US troops remain under threat of another terrorist attack just 24 hours after the devastating suicide bomb at Kabul airport that killed 13 US service members and at least 90 Afghans.
The Portuguese wanted a new challenge and Manchester City’s reluctance to pay Juventus a fee let in his former clubIt was on Thursday afternoon that Jorge Mendes decided to call Manchester United to see if they may be interested in the offer of a lifetime. After three days of negotiations between the Portuguese super agent and officials from Manchester City and Juventus as he scrambled to find a new home for his most famous client before next week’s transfer deadline, Cristiano Ronaldo’s future was finally settled in a matter of hours.Related: ‘Welcome back’: Manchester United agree €20m deal for Cristiano Ronaldo Continue reading...
Lee Peacock arrested over deaths of Sharon Pickles and Clinton Ashmore in WestminsterA 49-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murders of Sharon Pickles, 45, and Clinton Ashmore, 59, who were found fatally stabbed at two addresses in Westminster last week.The Metropolitan police said he was arrested at a London hospital on Thursday afternoon. Continue reading...
Copper, coffee and beer come together in a cumulative effort to keep pests out of your patchAnyone who has ever had a tree get in the way of a breathtaking view or pending development approval will know the consequence of a copper coin – come on, we’re all aware of this nasty poisoning tactic! But did you know that copper can be used to kill other stuff too, like pesky snails and slugs? Continue reading...
The New Zealand star has a dedicated fanbase – some of whom were thrown by her latest album’s aesthetic shift. How devoted are you? Take our quiz• New to Guardian Australia’s Saturday quiz series? Catch up hereNew Zealand-born pop star Lorde has inspired such fierce devotion since her debut in 2013 that on the very first song of her third album, Solar Power, she asks fans to just, please, let it go: “If you’re looking for a saviour, that’s not me.”Still, it’s not hard to see why the musician born Ella Yelich-O’Connor has sparked such dedication: her music is littered with vivid literary references, and the accompanying visuals run the gamut from ghoulish to romantic to deviously camp. She’s also become one of pop history’s great interview subjects, name-checking writers like Jia Tolentino and Jenny Odell, dissing fellow pop stars, and speaking frankly about her experiences as a young woman in the music industry. Continue reading...
A satellite tag which unexpectedly kept working for a year has followed one whale’s 15,000km journey across three oceansA loud bang shatters the winter calm of Port Ross, in New Zealand’s remote Auckland Islands, and the small inflatable boat is rocked by the swirl of a 40-ton whale being swallowed up by the cold, dark water.When it resurfaces, the team of scientists are happy to see their US$3,200 satellite tag securely fixed to his side. The whale, whom they have nicknamed “Bill”, slips away into the ocean, the tag transmitting his movements. A few days later, researchers watch as he starts heading west towards Australia. Continue reading...
High court judge found in June Kent military accommodation failed to meet minimum standardThe Home Office is planning to use a controversial military barracks in Kent to house asylum seekers for four years longer than originally planned, it has been confirmed.Officials began using the dilapidated Napier barracks near Folkestone in September last year after the site was loaned to the Home Office from the Ministry of Defence. At times more than 400 asylum seekers have been accommodated in dormitories of 14. Continue reading...
Cumbrian resident John McCurrie says the national park is held back by shortages of infrastructure and imagination. And Michael O’Hara says it’s unfair to point the finger at mountain bikers for damage to the fellsRe Michael Reardon’s letter about his fears that “Lycra-clad mountain bikers” are damaging Lake District fells (Letters, 24 August), the Lake District is many things to many people. It’s home, business, a holiday destination and everything in between. It’s also inspiring, twee and exciting. It is a quiet place to reflect on life as much as it is a playground for adrenaline junkies and people exploring their personal boundaries.Folk have a right to voice their dismay at cyclists, 4x4 drivers and even horse riders. People also have a right to complain about 15mph tourist drivers, litter louts and sheep worriers. Similarly, we all have a right to voice opposition to second-home owners, expensive pubs and poor infrastructure. Continue reading...
More than a dozen independent media sign open letter calling for halt to ‘foreign agent’ designationsRussia’s leading independent media have appealed to Vladimir Putin and other top government officials to halt a crackdown on journalists under which some of the countries’ top outlets have been declared foreign agents or banned outright over the last year.More than a dozen media, including Meduza, TV Rain and Novaya Gazeta have signed an open letter to the government calling on it to remove individual journalists and their outlets from its blacklists and repeal laws on “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations” altogether. Continue reading...
Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, charged with contaminating or interfering with goods at Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s storesA solicitor accused of using syringes to inject blood into food at three west London supermarkets appeared in court on Friday.Leoaai Elghareeb is charged with contaminating or interfering with goods with intent at three stores – a Tesco Express, Little Waitrose and Sainsbury’s Local – on Fulham Palace Road. Continue reading...
Analysis: Les Républicains face complex battle to find 2022 presidential candidate to rival Macron and Marine Le PenThis week’s declaration by Michel Barnier, the former EU chief negotiator on Brexit, that he aims to run for French president has added to the uncertainty of a crowded field of candidates competing to represent the traditional right in next spring’s election.The rightwing Les Républicains, the party of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, is facing an increasingly complex battle to identify a 2022 presidential candidate to rival the centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen, who, polls currently show, could once again face one another in the final. Continue reading...
Mission: Impossible star’s belongings reportedly missing from his BMW X7 when recovered in SmethwickThe Hollywood actor Tom Cruise’s BMW was stolen while he was filming in Birmingham.The BMW X7 had been used to ferry around the star, who has been in the city filming scenes for the seventh instalment in the Mission: Impossible series. Continue reading...
Ask your GP to refer you to a specialist, says Annalisa Barbieri. It’s not surprising you haven’t been able to conquer it on your ownI am a 76-year-old married man and have had intense and ongoing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) since the age of 13.My father was killed in the second world war, just after I was conceived. When I was six, my mother remarried; the marriage soon became unhappy and tense. My mother was a strict disciplinarian and hit me frequently when she felt I had been naughty or cheeky. She often told me off; I don’t recall her showing me much affection or praising me. Continue reading...
Agency scientists say management silences and harasses them to appease chemical industryWhistleblowers say the US Environmental Protection Agency has been falsifying dangerous new chemicals’ risk assessments in an effort to make the compounds appear safe and quickly approve them for commercial use.Over the past five years, the EPA has not rejected any new chemicals submitted by industry despite agency scientists flagging dozens of compounds for high toxicity. Four EPA whistleblowers and industry watchdogs say a revolving door between the agency and chemical companies is to blame, and that the program’s management has been “captured by industry”. The charges are supported by emails, documents and additional records that were provided to the Guardian. Continue reading...
by Nick Evershed, Andy Ball and Josh Nicholas on (#5NV8S)
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Tier 1, 2 and 3 Covid-19 public exposure site locations in Victoria and Melbourne, and what to do if you’ve visited them
by Nick Evershed, Andy Ball and Josh Nicholas on (#5NV7B)
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Tier 1, 2 and 3 Covid-19 public exposure site locations in Victoria and Melbourne, and what to do if you’ve visited them
by Ashley Kirk, Cath Levett and Pablo Gutiérrez on (#5NRM8)
Flights stopped as the Taliban seized control, but numbers are back up and the vast majority of aircraft are now militaryKabul airport’s air traffic rebounded earlier this week due to an increase in military aircraft evacuating people, Guardian analysis has revealed.Fewer than 15 aircraft arrived or departed each day between 16 and 19 August, according to data from Flightradar24. Continue reading...
People in need of water, food and shelter are fending for themselves as aid response complicated by heavy rain, gangs and distrust of international agenciesOn the morning a catastrophic earthquake struck southern Haiti, Jackson Mason, a barber, was picking up water and other shopping from Cavaillon’s bustling market.“The earth below me started to shake – people were thrown into the air, others yelled, praying to Jesus to save them,” Mason, 35, says. “Everything flew in the air, even the wallets in people’s hands.” Continue reading...
The great white swiped for my head, but missed, because another had got there firstIt was a warm winter’s day in South Africa and I planned to go surfing at Nahoon Reef. I was 15 and had just finished my first day back at school after the winter break. The reef is famous among surfers for its powerful waves and popularity with sharks. If you see lots of birds diving into the reef or notice a strong fishy smell in the air, you should not surf there.But on that day in July 2000, the waves were perfect, just over head high, and there was no wind. The water was warm for winter, too. The conditions were too good to resist. Continue reading...
Holidaymakers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland look to take advantage of late summer sunPeople seeking a bank holiday getaway in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being warned to avoid major roads before 7pm as holidaymakers look to take advantage of good late summer weather forecast for much of the UK.The RAC estimates that 16.7m leisure trips are planned between Friday and Monday, with the south-west predicted to be especially packed. Continue reading...
The footballer-turned-movie hard man is back, starring in a new Footsoldier film. He talks about how his film and TV career exploded and refinding his dignityI am, obviously, scared of Vinnie Jones. Even though he is calling from New York, 3,000 miles and five hours away, I keep expecting him to click his neck three times and pull me into a breathless headlock. But instead, he is sleepy and then charming, and doesn’t threaten to kick my face in once.He is sleepy because he was up until 2.30am shooting Law & Order: Organized Crime, in which he appears in the recurring role of Albanian gangster Albi. “Going toe-to-toe with Christopher Meloni,” he smiles, “a legend in the acting world.” Continue reading...
Council advises shoppers to throw away anything bought from the three stores late on WednesdayA 37-year-old man has been charged with contaminating or interfering with goods with intent at three supermarkets in west London.Leoaai Elghareeb, of Crabtree Lane, Fulham, is due to appear before Westminster magistrates court on Friday. Continue reading...
Authorities increase regulation of fame and fan culture that they say will tackle online bullying and protect childrenChinese authorities have banned online lists ranking celebrities by popularity, as regulators continue a drive to “clean up” fame and fandom culture.According to regulations published in state media, all existing lists that rank Chinese stars must also be removed from the internet. Continue reading...
In her thirties, Anne Youngson wrote a book in her lunch breaks at work. It stayed in a drawer. Then she retired, wrote her debut and was shortlisted for a major awardWhen Anne Youngson’s agent told her a publisher had made an offer for her first novel, she was worried. “I said: ‘Don’t they want to meet me?’ I was convinced that when they discovered how old I was, their whole attitude to whether they wanted me would change,” she says.Youngson was 69 then and 70 when her debut – Meet Me at the Museum – was published. Her first instinct was to see her age as a commercial disadvantage. “I thought they would look at me and think: ’Oh God, how will we promote this?’” But then Meet Me at the Museum was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award, and she had to think again. Her second novel, Three Women and a Boat, was published last year. Now 73, she is midway through writing her third. Continue reading...
They helped define the 60s, but were hopelessly uncool as the 70s began – and Brian Wilson was unravelling. The band discuss the masterpieces they made against the oddsIn the 1960s, the Beach Boys staked their claim as the US’s most popular band, as their dazzling, harmony-drenched songs about surfing, cars and California Girls epitomised the American dream. So, at the end of the decade, when leader and principal songwriter Brian Wilson – who had recently spent several months in a psychiatric hospital – suggested that the band were on the verge of bankruptcy, everyone thought it was a joke.“We arrived in London for a tour on the day that hit the headlines,” co-founder Al Jardine says over the phone from California. “The IRS [US tax collection agency] had closed our studio and our offices in Hollywood. The hotels wouldn’t accept our corporate credit cards. In the end, I had to use my personal American Express card to pay for our rooms.” Continue reading...
27 August 1936: Foreign secretary Anthony Eden remarked on Egypt placing her hand into that of a great and free England, thus opening a new era in relationsFleet Street, Wednesday
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#5NTCX)
Package also includes advice on how to discuss race and normalise diversity within lesson subjectsTeachers in Scotland have been asked to heed anti-racism guidance which will give detailed examples for decolonising the curriculum, as well as a toolkit to address their own discomfort when discussing race.The Scottish government hopes the package of support material, released on Thursday, would “embed anti-racism and race equality into all aspects of school life” – and includes new guidance from Education Scotland on normalising diversity within the curriculum. Continue reading...
Two suicide bombs exploded near the main entrances to Kabul airport on Thursday, reportedly killing at least 13 people, including children. Footage filmed after the blast shows what appears to be smoke rising from the airport and an eyewitness said 'people were hurled everywhere' in the explosions
North Cornwall town reeling and people urged not to visit as thousands of cases linked to festivalAt first glance it looked like a pretty perfect day in the self-styled surfing capital of the UK. The sandy beaches were packed, the pubs, cafes and shops humming.Look at little closer, though, and it became clear all was not quite right. A tapas bar was closed because a team member had tested positive; a surf shop shut its doors at lunchtime because of staff shortages; a scribbled note stuck on the window of a fudge shop summed up the problem – “Covid in Newquay is on the increase” – and urged customers to wear a mask and socially distance. Continue reading...
A study in Burkina Faso and Mali suggests combining anti-malarial drugs and vaccination could reduce deaths and hospitalisationsA trial combining vaccinations and prevention drugs has substantially lowered the number of children dying of malaria in two African countries, according to researchers.The results of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, have been hailed as “very striking”, especially at a time when decades-long progress on combating malaria has stalled in some countries. Continue reading...
The German defence minister warned of a very concrete risk of attacks at Kabul airport hours before at least one explosion near Abbey gate, an entrance to the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.
Ahead of the release of Annette, we rank the actor’s greatest roles, from the insufferable hipster of While We’re Young to his severe missionary in SilenceThe movie might be flawed, but Driver’s performance (playing opposite the similarly excellent Alba Rohrwacher) is outstanding, winning him the Volpi Cup at the Venice film festival. He plays Jude, a young man who meets his future wife Mina (Rohrwacher) in New York when they are bizarrely locked in a restaurant toilet together. They marry, have a baby and at first everything is wonderful – but then she begins to show symptoms of post-partum psychosis and Jude has an agonising dilemma: if and when to take the baby away from her. Driver plays it with overwhelming sincerity and force. Continue reading...
Seoul skirts fraught issue of refugees as it ‘fulfils moral responsibility’ and welcomes 391 newcomersSouth Korea has welcomed the arrival of Afghans who supported its operations prior to the Taliban control of Afghanistan, designating them as “persons of special merit” instead of refugees in an apparent effort to defuse anti-migrant sentiment.A military aircraft landed at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, in the afternoon, transporting 378 Afghans who worked for South Korea’s embassy and other facilities in Afghanistan, as well as their family members. A further 13 will be arriving on a separate flight. Continue reading...
Beautiful beaches in the soft light figure strongly in our tipsters’ picks of sunny late summer and autumn getawaysThe north of the island of Lanzarote is a hidden idyll where sunsets burn golden orange and surf pounds the wild shores. Famara Beach is a surfing paradise for families looking for winter sun and a relaxed beach community. Staying in a yurt in nearby Arrieta is fantastic: at night you can watch the stars from your bed as you gently drift asleep listening to the waves. La Graciosa is a 20-minute boat ride away and hosts two tiny but perfect beachside restaurants serving freshly caught sardines. Spanish fills the air and British voices are rare. The mountains here are home to huge agave plants, aloes, bougainvillaea, date palms and pepper trees.
The lives of three young Egyptians become tragically entangled in Ayten Amin’s sharp, subtle coming-of-age dramaAs well as being subtle, tender and sad, this feature from Egyptian director Ayten Amin is one of those rare films which really engages with online existence and social media – yet without needing to flash up tweets and texts as onscreen graphics in the way most movies do. Souad meditates on the mysterious discrepancy between the image we project on social media and the reality behind it, and also how this discrepancy itself can be corrosive. And it also reflects on the eerie afterlife of a dead person’s Facebook page – like Jean Cocteau’s remark about a writer’s work carrying on like a ticking wristwatch on a dead soldier.Related: Sexting, lies and unveiled selfies: the Egyptian film exploring the hidden lives of teenage girls Continue reading...
Longstanding group accused of being ‘agent of foreign forces’ and is asked for information about its membershipHong Kong’s national security police are investigating the organisers of a vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre for alleged foreign collusion offences.Chow Hang-tung, the vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said authorities had written to core members of the longstanding group demanding information related to their foreign links within 14 days. Continue reading...
Surveys suggest a large proportion of women have experienced sexual assaults that they labelled as a misunderstanding. This has serious psychological repercussions and increases the chance of being victimised againThe morning after it happened, I said a cheery: “Good morning,” to my university roommate, as if nothing was wrong. “How was last night?” she asked. “So fun,” I lied. The truth was that the night before I had feared for my life.I didn’t articulate it, but deep down I knew that what had happened had felt violating, degrading and not what I signed up for. Yet it took me a whole decade to realise what had really happened: I had been sexually assaulted. Continue reading...
Athens calls for a united response, as refugees already in Lesbos hope their asylum claims will now be reconsideredGreek officials have said that Greece will not become a “gateway” to Europe for Afghan asylum seekers and have called for a united response to predictions of an increase in refugee arrivals to the country.Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotaki, has spoken to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about the developing situation in Afghanistan this week. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi last week said: “We cannot have millions of people leaving Afghanistan and coming to the European Union … and certainly not through Greece.” The country has just completed a 25-mile (40km) wall along its land border with Turkey and installed an automated surveillance system with cameras, radars and drones. Continue reading...