Nicola Sturgeon says latest wave of infection appears to have levelled off but some requirements will remain

The disorder and abuse that scarred England’s defeat by Italy met a scathing reaction from media across the continentThe booing of visiting teams’ national anthems, footage of fans without tickets breaking through barriers to get into Wembley and the online racist abuse of England’s unlucky penalty-takers has made many commentators in continental Europe question notions of English fair play.“Where have the much-vaunted English qualities of fair play, respect and decency gone?” asked the French daily Libération. In an editorial, the newspaper’s foreign editor, Sonia Delesalle-Stolper, wrote: “The England team’s defeat has been sad for the players and for supporters who were enthused by this young, talented team representing a vibrant and diverse nation. Continue reading...

There are no end of delicious variations on the meringue, cream and fruit original, whether you’re a vegan, have a sweet tooth or like sophisticated pink peppercornsWhen the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova visited Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s, she was honoured with the world’s greatest pudding. The influence of the pavlova – a huge disc of meringue topped with whipped cream and fruit – has since spread around the world. Here are 10 incredible pavlova variations for you to gorge on. Continue reading...

Wholesome young stars – and Vanessa Redgrave – do their best with this anodyne Irish-set love storyAlthough the main characters in this romantic tale are meant to be just over 18, this Sky Movies release is manifestly aimed at a much younger market with its sex-free storyline and nice-girls-finish-first morality. Sure, the plot is as corny as Cracker Jack, revolving as it does around wholesome blond normcore kid Finley (Rose Reid), an aspiring violinist, who arrives in rural Ireland from New York to do a semester abroad and falls in love with non-threateningly baby-faced movie star Beckett (Jedidiah Goodacre).But the film-makers have taken pains to gussy it up with a few contemporary details. For example, Beckett (who, like all the American characters, inexplicably has a last name for a first name) is in Ireland to work on a Game of Thrones-style fantasy movie series. Meanwhile Finley, compelled by her Irish Studies teacher to mingle with a local elder, reads the Twilight novels to her assigned crotchety old biddy Cathleen (Vanessa Redgrave, no less). Both references thus allow the film to namecheck other romantic texts that this demographic loves – and sort of laugh at them at the same time. Continue reading...

Five years after her death, the Hungarian star’s funeral has taken place, following a first-class journey from Los Angeles to Budapest for her remainsThe ashes of Hungarian-born female actor Zsa Zsa Gabor, renowned for her diamond-studded glamour, witty quips and nine marriages, were buried in Budapest on Tuesday almost five years after her death.Gabor’s ashes were laid to rest in a prominent cemetery in the capital city alongside other famous Hungarian actors, writers and poets, in a ceremony where a gypsy band played and her favourite yellow and pink roses were on display. Continue reading...

Massachusetts billboard features fictional Kazakh journalist promoting drug with thumbs-up signSacha Baron Cohen is taking legal action against a US cannabis dispensary after it used his Borat character on a billboard in Massachusetts.The billboard features the fictional Kazakh journalist promoting cannabis sold by Solar Therapeutics with both thumbs up alongside the words “it’s nice!” – globally recognised as the character’s catchphrase. Continue reading...

Unions disappointed jobkeeper not reinstated but business leaders say support ‘will save jobs and help protect livelihoods’

Planned surgery could be cancelled if cases continue to grow exponentially, says director of public health

Nomcebo Zikode threatens legal action, claiming she was never paid for the song that became a global hit during the pandemicWhile her haunting vocals on the global hit song Jerusalema continue to reverberate around the world, the South African singer Nomcebo Zikode claims she is yet to receive any money for her work.The singer took to social media on Sunday threatening legal action against Open Mic Productions, the label that recorded Jerusalema in late 2019. Continue reading...

Parole Board rejects government call to re-examine decision to free man who murdered two schoolgirlsThe child killer and rapist Colin Pitchfork is to be freed from prison after the Parole Board rejected calls from the government to reconsider the controversial decision.Now 61, the double murderer was jailed in 1988 after raping and strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986. Continue reading...

Surprisingly tense lesbian love story is powered by stunning performances by Barbara Sukowa and Martine ChevallierHow refreshing to watch a film in which the sexuality and desire of women in their 70s is portrayed not as a novelty but simply part and parcel of their lives; and since this French movie is a lesbian drama, there’s two of them – even better. In one sense, Two of Us is as much a conventional romance as anything else, but it’s directed with a shiver of suspense by first-time feature maker Filippo Meneghetti. Almost like a Ruth Rendell novel, you half expect one of these ordinary characters to sink a knife into someone’s back at any moment. They don’t, but the expectation adds a little stab of something to most scenes, unnerving and unexpectedly tense.Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) live across the hall from each other in a quiet French town. More than neighbours, they have been secretly in love for years, but kept their relationship a secret because Madeleine was married. Now that her husband is dead, the plan is for Madeleine to come out to her adult children, Anne (Léa Drucker) and Frédéric (Jérôme Varanfrain). But when the moment comes, her nerve goes. Afterwards there is a furious row with Nina. Nobody gives a damn about a couple of old lesbians, Nina rages. Not in society perhaps, but Madeleine knows that to her kids she is good old mum, who put up with their overbearing dad for years because he was the love of her life. The awful truth is that they would rather believe that she was miserable and downtrodden for decades than that she had this secret relationship. Continue reading...

More than 20,000 people book jabs after cafes, malls and trains ruled out of bounds for the unvaccinated

The Golden Bear winner is 90 this year. As a showcase of her films plays in London, she reflects on her career, from documentaries to dramas, and the impact of censorshipMárta Mészáros, the pioneering Hungarian film-maker who turns 90 in September, has always looked young for her age. When she wanted to study film in her home country in the late 1940s, she was told: “We don’t need anyone from kindergarten!” She spoke fluent Russian, having lived in Russia for much of her childhood, so she went to Moscow instead, where gender was the sticking point. “There were not so many female film-makers in those days,” she tells me by phone. “A woman wanting to have that career was a joke. The men were all laughing at me.” How did she respond? “Ah, I was laughing, too,” she says, a trace of slyness in her voice. Continue reading...

Defender says home secretary ‘stoked the fire’ after dismissing team taking the knee as ‘gesture politics’The England footballer Tyrone Mings has criticised the home secretary, Priti Patel, in her condemnation of the racist abuse faced by his teammates, after she called players taking the knee “gesture politics”.A number of politicians have tweeted support for England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who faced a torrent of racism on social media after England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final. Continue reading...

Move mirrors crackdown in Hong Kong and comes despite pledges the territory would have high levels of autonomyChina’s crackdown on pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong appears to have spread to Macau, where 21 candidates, including veteran legislators, have been disqualified from upcoming elections.Most of those disqualified have vowed to challenge the ruling by the territory’s electoral commission, warning that Beijing and pro-Beijing authorities are “changing the deal” they have with Macau, despite its “stability”. Continue reading...

They’re known by their faces, work, or names, and live a life of semi-stardom – all because they showcased their craft on the internetYou probably know Sarah Bahbah, by her name, or her work – but you probably wouldn’t be able to pick her out in a crowd. You may have seen her recent cover shot of DJ Khaled for GQ; or you may know her other visual art work –like her subtitle series, which uses cinematic stills with her inner dialogue as captions, featuring big names like Noah Centineo and Dylan Sprouse. But a few years ago, the 29-year-old was relatively unknown. Then, all of a sudden, she posted a collection of photographic stills based on sex and takeout, and woke up to find herself near famous.Now she has more than a million followers on Instagram, but Bahbah first recognized her new level of fame when she started to pass barbecue test – that is, when you are invited to a a gathering where you don’t know anyone, and a stranger asks if you’re familiar with your own work. “It’s happened numerous times,” she says. “I would just be sitting there listening to someone talk about my work, in this room full of strangers. That’s such a cool feeling to have – knowing that no matter where you are in the world, because of the internet, people discover you on their own terms and connect to your work.” Continue reading...

Better-than-expected figures for June come as Covid lockdown measures ease worldwideChina’s exports and imports both rose strongly in June, helping ease concerns over global growth that have knocked financial markets in recent days.Exports grew by 32% year on year in June to $281bn (£203bn), according to figures from China’s General Administration of Customs. This is up from the 28% growth recorded in May, and better than analysts had expected. It marks 12 months of continuous export growth. Continue reading...

Between home schooling and hybrid working, the last year has brought rapid and radical shifts in our working habits, good and bad. Now it is time to see whether positive change can stickLast month, a video by Maggie Mundwiller, a mother in St Louis, Missouri, went viral on TikTok. It showed her one-year-old son accompanying her to a second face-to-face job interview. (She had asked for an alternative date because she had no childcare. The employer said: “Bring him with you.”) The video featured on Good Morning America, has had more than 9m views and has inspired endless admiring comments, including: “It makes me sooo happy to know there are companies like this”; “Glad it’s a toddler-friendly business!” and: “Take note, corporate America.”The story is cute, as is the kid, who wore a bow tie and took along his own CV (“Skills: destroying a clean space in three seconds”). And, yes, the pandemic has given many of us permission to adopt work habits that previously weren’t encouraged. But will this kind of thing happen again in post-Covid life? What have we learned about incorporating family life into working life? And is anybody going to implement those lessons? Continue reading...

Julien Faraut’s documentary recounts how a Japanese women’s volleyball team recruited from factory workers became national heroes in the 60sFollowing the philosophical tennis documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut is back with yet another unusual, enigmatic sports film, this time tracing the extraordinary journey of the undefeated Japanese national women’s volleyball team in the 1960s. Assembled from a group of factory workers, these young, initially amateur athletes went to extraordinary lengths to hone their skills, under the stern and ruthless training of head coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. Winners of the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the team enjoyed a streak of 258 victories, earning the “witches” sobriquet abroad and inspiring a string of pop culture tributes, most notably Chikako Urano’s Attack No 1 manga series.In retelling this stranger-than-fiction chapter of sports history, Faraut’s choice of materials ranging from interviews with surviving members of the team, now in their 70s, to archival footage of their practices and matches, all juxtaposed with scenes from the anime adaptation of Attack No 1. By pairing real-life events with their animated interpretations, the film not only offers a fresh approach to documentary style but also draws out the tension between reality and artifice, private and public memory. One of the most mesmerising sequences is a training montage where Faraut deftly deconstructs an old newsreel showing the team at their fabric factory. The rhythm of the women’s movements as they roll on the floor to catch the ball – their training includes reimagining their bodies as roly-poly dolls – mirrors the factory machines churning out fresh cotton, to swoony, heady effect. Continue reading...

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the webThe European Commission has committed to table a proposal to phase out the use of cages in farming by the end of 2023, with the aim of enforcing the ban from 2027. It comes after the EU parliament passed a non-binding vote in favour of the ban last month. The RSPCA has urged UK ministers to follow suit, “to ensure we do not fall behind”. Continue reading...

Gaffe by International Olympic Committee president triggers backlash on social media

Draft guidelines for England, Wales and Northern Ireland will not solve poorer maternity outcomes for women of colour, say doctorsProposed guidance that recommends inducing labour at 39 weeks in pregnant women from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds has raised concerns from doctors and midwives and been branded “racist” by activists.White women with uncomplicated pregnancies should be offered an induction of labour at 41 weeks, according to the draft guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). The institute’s clinical guidelines such as this apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but do not cover Scotland. Continue reading...

A man in his 70s from Sydney’s east has died of coronavirus; Queensland keeps border open for now; support package for NSW to include increased payments for people who have lost work. Follow the latest updates live

Dozens of people have been killed and scores more injured in a fire probably caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a coronavirus hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. One health worker told Reuters that many patients were trapped in the coronavirus ward, with rescue crews struggling to reach them. The hospital fire was a blow to Iraq’s healthcare system, already struggling with an influx of patients and short supplies in the midst of the global health crisis

The New Zealand-born rugby player, who has lived in Australia since the age of 13, takes to Twitter to complain

At 17, Priyanka Bairwa refused her arranged marriage. Instead, she started Rajasthan Rising to help thousands of others and call for free educationPriyanka Bairwa was 15 when her family, began to look for a husband for her. The pandemic sped up the process, as schools shut and work dried up. By October 2020, her parents had settled on a suitable boy from their village of Ramathra in the district of Karauli, Rajasthan.But Bairwa, now 18, wouldn’t hear of it. “During the pandemic, every family in the village was eager to marry off their girls. You’d have to invite less people, there were fewer expenses,” says Bairwa. “But I refused to be caught in a child marriage. There was a major backlash – constant fights. I finally threatened to run away and, fearing I would do something drastic, my family called it off. My mother convinced them to let me study and I joined a college.” Continue reading...

Unvaccinated younger sufferers more at risk of debilitating long-term symptoms, study findsThe decision to lift England’s remaining Covid restrictions next Monday – even as cases of the Delta variant surge around the country – is expected to turbocharge the epidemic and push the nation into what one leading scientist called “uncharted territory” in terms of the numbers of people left suffering from long Covid.Ministers have been told to expect at least one to two million coronavirus infections in the coming weeks. And while the mass rollout of vaccines – which started with elderly and vulnerable people – will dramatically reduce the proportion who are hospitalised and die, the wave may leave hundreds of thousands of younger people with long-term health problems, researchers have said. Continue reading...

Once heralded a global Covid success story, Australia’s vaccine rollout has attracted little other than global criticism

The singer-songwriter discusses his new album and how his age and the current political landscape has shifted his musical directionIn the nearly seven years leading up to Jackson Browne’s new album, Downhill from Everywhere, he entered a new decade of life (his 70s), became a grandfather and saw fresh waves of activists, from the MeToo movement to Black Lives Matter, replace the ones that had inspired him in the 60s and 70s. At the same time, many of his new songs center on a theme most people associate with the bloom of youth: desire. “I think desire is the last domino to fall,” Browne said in a phone interview from his LA home. “Desire is eternal, like hope. It’s just your capacity to act on it that changes,” he added with a dark laugh.Related: ‘She had no fear mechanism’: the incredible, outrageous life of Miss Mercy Continue reading...

Exclusive: campaign group warns of ‘wildfire’ of negative messaging given by healthcare professionals

His latest project, piecing together the story of a bereaved Hong Kong man who wed his dead fiancé, has won an award. The photogapher reveals how it began with the discovery of a trunk of keepsakesAt the centre of Kurt Tong’s elaborate visual narrative Dear Franklin, there is a doomed love story that is also a ghost story. It traces the intertwined lives of Franklin Lung, a man who rose from poor beginnings to become part of Hong Kong’s social elite in the 1940s, and a young woman known only as Dongyu, the daughter of a high-ranking Chinese general.They met, fell in love, but shortly after their engagement, Dongyu was one of several thousand refugees fleeing the Chinese communist army on board the SS Kiangya when it struck an old Japanese sea mine. “Their love story should have ended with this terrible tragedy,” says Tong, “but it continued after her death because Franklin agreed to a ‘ghost marriage’, an elaborate traditional ceremony in which he became eternally wedded to Dongyu in the spirit world.” Continue reading...

A nanofiber mesh makes the traps more efficient and could help provide clean drinking waterChile’s Atacama desert is famously dry, with virtually no measurable rainfall. It is coastal though, with a sea breeze blowing inland. New technology could help draw precious water from the sea air.Fog traps are mesh screens that capture droplets of fog; when enough water accumulates it runs down into a collector. Fog traps have been used on a small scale since the 1960s, with a square metre of mesh collecting enough drinking water for one person. Continue reading...

Protein-rich seaweed has dropped off British menus. Now an innovative Pembrokeshire group is leading a renaissance rooted in Welsh historyFrom the surfing beach of Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire, it is just a short walk to a small restored hut that stands alone on the southern cliff, where local forager, chef and entrepreneur Jonathan Williams gazes down at the rocks below.“It’s part of the Welsh DNA, like rugby and male voice choirs,” says Williams. “It’s packed with flavour, it’s 40% protein, healthy, it doesn’t take up land or require fresh water and it grows at a phenomenal rate. We should be shouting about it.” Continue reading...

Hundreds of people have joined the search for the killer whale’s pod, with rescuers hopeful his family will return for himAnimal rescue teams in New Zealand have begun trying to reunite a baby orca with its pod after it was found stranded near Wellington.A pair of teenagers found the male calf caught in the rocks near Plimmerton, north of the city, with minor injuries, on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading...

Opening of community space in Accra, which was quickly shut, has been the trigger for new anti-LGBT+ action“All I wanted to do was help vulnerable people,” said Shaun Apong, tears streaking down his face, from behind the bars of a squalid police cell in Ho City in eastern Ghana.Apong was one of 21 people arrested in early June, charged with unlawful assembly and accused of spreading an LGBT+ agenda, amid a marked and sudden increase in sensitivities around the rights and advocacy of gay and queer people in the west African country. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 have fled across the border, and hundreds more have handed over weapons to the TalibanLast autumn, with the departure of American troops from Afghanistan looming after the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban, several of the most senior security officials in Kabul urged President Ashraf Ghani to make some hard choices.The Afghan army and police needed to retrench, figures including the then defence minister, Assadullah Khalid, told Ghani. Remote outposts, and rural areas where troops held little more than the cluster of government and security buildings that make up a “district centre”, should be abandoned. Continue reading...

Family members of those killed in the 2019 attack in New Zealand say they have been retraumatised by the script, which has been leakedThe leaked draft script of a controversial film depicting the Christchurch mosque shooting has been described as “worse than the livestream” by those who lost family members in the attack.The proposed film, They Are Us, which takes its name from prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s comments following the massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers at al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in 2019, was announced in June. The massacre was livestreamed on Facebook by the gunman. Continue reading...

South Africa has deployed the military in a bid to quell ongoing unrest sparked after former president Jacob Zuma handed himself over to police to serve a 15-month sentence amid corruption allegations. Supporters of Zuma responded by looting shops and setting buildings on fire while others armed themselves to protect property and were seen shooting at the rioters. Ten people are reported to have died in the unrest. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the military to go in to Johannesburg and in the province of KwaZulu-Natal where the violence has been the worst.

A site in WA the size of greater Sydney has been chosen for the $100bn project to convert wind and solar power into green fuels

Demand for fertility preservation has ballooned in the last decade. New research by Monash suggests many are happy for their employer to pay for itLast year, while working from home as a result of the Covid pandemic, Emily went through the process of freezing her eggs.It was something the 26-year-old Australian had been interested in for several years, but she made the decision to undergo the procedure when her company introduced it as an employee benefit. Continue reading...

Almost one year since Beirut blast, Lebanon is still headed by caretaker governmentAs the first anniversary of the deadly Beirut explosion approaches, the European Union said on Monday it hopes to develop the legal framework for sanctions targeting Lebanese leaders.More than 11 months since Lebanon’s government resigned in response to the blast on 4 August 2020, the country is still headed by a caretaker government. Continue reading...

Users of app Hamdam have to take a psychology test, and successful matches will be accompanied by a consultant for the first four years of marriageIran has unveiled a state-sanctioned Islamic dating app aimed at facilitating “lasting and informed marriage” for its youth, state television reported.Called Hamdam – Farsi for “companion” – the service allows users to “search for and choose their spouse”, the broadcaster said on Monday. Continue reading...

Residents in Bondi Junction under police guard after eight cases in block, while residents in Maribyrnong building ordered to isolate after an infected removalist worked there

Healthcare workers in France and Greece face mandatory Covid vaccination; Mark Rutte reimposed measures on bars, restaurants and nightclubs

PM to press ahead with lifting most restrictions on 19 July, but recommends mask use in crowded spaces

Death toll expected to rise as search operations at al-Hussain coronavirus hospital in Nasiriyah continueAt least 50 people have died after a fire tore through the Covid isolation ward at a hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.The death toll is expected to rise, as search operations at al-Hussain coronavirus hospital continued after the fire was brought under control. Sixteen people were rescued from the burning building. Continue reading...

The permits will also be required for entry to hospitals, shopping centres and to board long-distance trains

Met Office says thundery downpours also caused floods in parts of London, where fire brigade received over 150 callsSouthern England was hit by torrential downpours that resulted in significant flooding on Monday night.The Met Office said the heavy and slow-moving thundery showers caused floods in parts of London. The London fire brigade said its 999 control officers received over 150 calls to flooding incidents in the capital. Continue reading...

Rules tightened in Netherlands and France as infections surge across Europe, driven by Delta variant

Local styles such as pantsula and bhenga burst from the screen in a glossy new series featuring real dance crewsThe townships of South Africa are a fertile ground for dynamic new moves, from the pantsula dance popularised in the 80s to recent forms such as bhenga, danced to the raw, repetitive beats of gqom music or the house style amapiano. Once hyper-local trends, now you can see dancers demo-ing their skills on YouTube, dancing in streets or school yards.But another introduction to South African street dance comes by way of Netflix drama Jiva!, set in the township of Umlazi, in Durban. Meet Ntombi (Noxolo Dlamini), an ace dancer who gave up her dream career after a family tragedy and works at an aquarium, dressed as an octopus. She was betrayed by her ex-boyfriend, now a big reality TV star dripping with bling and the leader of the dance crew Soweto Cats, who have come back to town for a dance contest. Ntombi’s passion for dance is reignited and she sets up a rival crew to compete for the million rand prize. Continue reading...