Owners blame ‘low consumer confidence’ and confused government messages for poor post-‘freedom day’ attendancesNightclubs in England have seen low attendances and been forced to cancel events as the pandemic continues to disrupt the nightlife industry almost two weeks on from “freedom day”.Many operators blamed “low consumer confidence” in the face of confusing government messages about whether it was safe to attend. Continue reading...
President Pedro Castillo completes his cabinet after causing shockwaves with appointment of controversial Guido Bellido as prime ministerAfter 24 hours of uncertainty and the worst Friday in years on the stock exchange, Peru’s new president, Pedro Castillo, has completed his cabinet, swearing in the moderate leftist economist Pedro Francke as finance minister, and in the process calming jittery investors and anxious Peruvians alike.Aníbal Torres was also sworn in, as justice minister, on Friday, filling the remaining empty cabinet posts. The rest were sworn in late on Thursday, amid deep unease over Castillo’s choice of prime minister, Guido Bellido, who is under investigation for allegedly defending the Shining Path, a Maoist rebel group that killed tens of thousands of Peruvians in the 1980s and 1990s, and is also accused of making homophobic remarks. Continue reading...
Human Rights Watch says army’s suppression of protests has included torture and murder, as small protests mark milestoneHuman Rights Watch has accused Myanmar’s military junta of crimes against humanity as small groups of protesters marked six months since the armed forces seized power.Bands of university students rode motorbikes around the country’s second-largest city Mandalay on Saturday waving red and green flags, saying they rejected any possibility of talks with the military to negotiate a return to civilian rule. Continue reading...
Reporter Matilda Boseley tests your knowledge of the funniest and most bizarre moments from Australia’s Covid pressers in our new Saturday quiz seriesAustralians the country over have adopted a dark and destructive pastime. It may be vital to our very survival, but overindulge and you will find yourself a nervous wreck, rocking back and forth, or – even worse – falling in love with a chief health officer.I am of course talking about the daily spectacle of the Covid-19 press conference. Continue reading...
New Zealanders stranded abroad are growing increasingly frustrated with the country’s over-subscribed quarantine systemIn the age of coronavirus, New Zealand can seem like an idyll: a tightly sealed hermit kingdom, recently rated best place to survive global societal collapse, and one of the last countries in the world to evade incursions from the Delta variant. But the walls of fortress New Zealand aren’t only successful at keeping out Covid-19.With demand for government-required quarantine greatly exceeding the supply of spaces, desperate New Zealanders are going to enormous lengths – employing bots, coders, and $2000 booking assistants – to try to secure entry to the country. For many, the emotional and psychological toll is enormous. Continue reading...
Lewis Hughes, 24, handed suspended sentence over incident involving England’s chief medical officerA former estate agent left Prof Chris Whitty “humiliated” after he put him in a headlock when England’s chief medical officer declined to take a photo with him.Lewis Hughes, 24, of Romford, Essex, put his future at risk with “10 seconds of madness” when he accosted Whitty in St James’s Park in central London last month, Westminster magistrates court heard. Continue reading...
Actor best known for Vera Drake takes over from Olivia Colman for fifth series about the UK royal familyThe first image of Imelda Staunton in character as the Queen in season five of The Crown has been revealed.Staunton has taken over from the Golden Globe winner Olivia Colman, as the fresh series ushers in a new era for the royal family. Netflix gave fans a first glimpse of Staunton as the monarch while she was still filming the next instalment of the Netflix show. Continue reading...
High court judge issues ruling after man was denied antiretroviral medication for four daysThe Home Office failed to put in place systems to protect detainees with HIV, a high court judge has ruled, after a man was denied lifesaving medication for four days.The landmark ruling found that in failing to adequately care for people with HIV the Home Office breached article 3 of the European convention of human rights, which protects against inhuman and degrading treatment. Continue reading...
Long after two people have gone their separate ways, some partings still rankle. Readers reflect on the beloved items they left behindEven though my breakup was amicable, I felt a lot of guilt – so when I moved out I said: “Keep it all.” But, in the years since, there have been a few items of kitchenware that I wish I’d held on to: a Le Creuset casserole dish, my favourite mug, a digital cooking thermometer, the plastic bowl attachment for my stick blender (the blender itself I retained at her insistence, but I forgot all the accessories that came with it). There never seemed like a good time to ask for any of it back – I hope she’s at least getting some use out of them. Anonymous, Australia Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5MS8B)
Poplar and Limehouse MP acquitted over claims she withheld information to get social housingThe Labour MP Apsana Begum has been cleared by a jury over claims of housing fraud, in a prosecution brought by Tower Hamlets council, which claimed she had withheld information about her circumstances to obtain social housing.The Poplar and Limehouse MP, who was first elected in 2019 with a 28,904 majority, was acquitted on three counts of housing fraud between 2013 and 2016 at Snaresbrook crown court in east London following a week-long trial. Continue reading...
Advanz Pharma and former private equity owners were fined £100m by markets watchdogA pharmaceuticals firm that inflated thyroid drug prices by up to 6,000% over a decade paid out more than £400m to shareholders and directors during the same period.London-based Advanz Pharma – and its former private equity owners HgCapital and Cinven – were fined a combined £100m by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday. Continue reading...
With former president’s political rights restored, polls suggest he would thrash Jair Bolsonaro if he stands for electionAnazir Maria de Oliveira has a simple message for the man they call Lula.“Comrade, I want you back,” said the 88-year-old union veteran and black activist as she celebrated the return of her “guru” to Brazil’s political fray. Continue reading...
Security guard Steve Bouquet, 54, finally captured on CCTV by a cat owner after attacks on 16 animalsA security guard who killed cats in a string of attacks in Brighton has been jailed for more than five years.Steve Bouquet, 54, a shopping mall security guard from Brighton and Hove, had denied 16 counts of criminal damage in relation to cats and one count of possession of a knife but was convicted last month. Continue reading...
When will life go back to normal? When can Australians fly overseas? How soon will lockdowns become a thing of the past? Here’s what we know about the national pandemic exit plan
Fans in Nobel prizewinner’s favourite haunt of Key West hold their 40th competition on his birthdayErnest Hemingway is survived as much by his macho mythology as he is by his writing. Hemingway was in two plane crashes in two days. Hemingway shot himself in both legs while wrangling a shark. Hemingway had at least nine major concussions – and four wives. He had brain damage. He won the Pulitzer and the Nobel prize. He hunted and fished and wrote plays and books and articles and stories, for ever in pursuit of the truest sentence. He was rageful, charming, violent, brilliant and drunk.Hemingway is also something of a Key West mascot, especially for a week every July, when a festival called Hemingway Days, which coincides with his birthday (this year, he would be 122) honours his legacy by gathering his lookalikes together. Continue reading...
Former waiter Tong Ying-kit is first person charged and tried under draconian law introduced last yearThe first person charged and tried under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law has been sentenced to nine years in jail after he was convicted of secession and terrorism for crashing his motorbike into police officers while flying a protest flag.Tong Ying-kit, a 24-year-old former waiter, was convicted on Tuesday by a three-judge panel appointed by Hong Kong’s leader to hear national security cases. On Thursday, he was sentenced to six and a half years for the secession offence and eight years for terrorism, with two and a half years of the latter sentence to be served consecutively. Continue reading...
Exclusive: UN body warns ministers they must do more to protect Britain’s historic landmarksUK cultural landmarks such as Stonehenge could be stripped of their coveted World Heritage status unless the government curbs “ill-advised development” and protects historic sites for future generations, a Unesco chief has warned.Dr Mechtild Rössler, the director of Unesco’s World Heritage Centre, urged ministers to “do everything” they can to conserve the UK’s treasures after Liverpool became only the third place in nearly 50 years to lose its revered title. Continue reading...
by Naaman Zhou (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier) on (#5MRDQ)
Man who may have attended anti-lockdown protest in Sydney tests positive; Dfat reveals numbers of stranded Australians by country; NSW will vaccinate 20,000 year 12 students over five days, as state records 170 local Covid-19 cases overnight; three local cases recorded in Victoria. Follow latest updates
Karapiru Awá Guajá, among the last of the hunter-gatherer Awá tribe, survived a massacre and a decade alone in the forest, inspiring others with his resilience and ‘extraordinary warmth’He survived a massacre that killed most of his family in the Brazilian Amazon and lived for 10 years alone in the forest, but Karapiru Awá Guajá could not escape the pandemic.Karapiru, one of the last of the hunter-gatherer nomadic Awá of Maranhão state, died of Covid-19 earlier this month. With only 300 Awá thought to remain, they have been called the “earth’s most threatened tribe”. Continue reading...
Black Suffolk is a series of portraits by photographer John Ferguson of people from Suffolk’s African-Caribbean community. The pictures will be on display in an outdoor exhibition in central Ipswich from 30 July and throughout August. Ferguson said: ‘I have produced a new collection of portraits which explore the concept of home for a diversity of people in the African-Caribbean community in Suffolk. This theme creatively expresses people’s experience and interpretation of what exactly is home. Home can be a feeling, a physical space or a geographical place. Home can be a memory, metaphor or experience. The idea is to connect with the notion that our lives are inextricably attached to where we live, our homes, and Suffolk.’Black Suffolk is part of the six-month-long Aspire Black Suffolk cultural programme, promoted by Head East Continue reading...
The RSC and City of Culture’s free events include promenade performances and an installation by Tower of London poppy artistIn a celebration of one of the most religiously diverse cities in the UK, Coventry is to host 24 hours of art, theatre, music, food and debate aimed at exploring belief and promoting the connections between faiths.The Royal Shakespeare Company and Coventry City of Culture have teamed up to produce Faith, a series of free live events in September, including four promenade performances and an art installation by the creator of the 2014 Tower of London poppy memorial. Continue reading...
Censor, Prano Bailey-Bond’s horror debut, was inspired by the 80s home video outrage. She discusses art versus offence, while the BBFC’s head makes the case for its relevance todayRising film directors hailed as rock stars by the movie industry don’t always have much to talk about. Prano Bailey-Bond is different. Her first feature, the smart, playful horror Censor, is a talking point itself, an excavation of a murky British past. Then there is her background, of eye-opening things seen notably young. Her interview style is sharp. “I try to keep it fresh without changing the whole story,” she says.Bailey-Bond has dark hair in a fringe, a trace of a Welsh accent and the friendly, practical manner of a film-maker used to working on a budget. Censor is set in an unwell-looking London, circa 1985. The heroine – ish – is Enid, played by Niamh Algar, a film examiner at what we take to be the British Board of Film Classification. Her personal history is a risk for an organisation in crisis. That much is drawn from real life – the tinderbox era of video nasties. Continue reading...
Warning of possible infrastructure damage and travel disruption, with gusts of up to 75mph in CornwallWinds of up to 75mph (120km/h) will lash parts of south-west England as Storm Evert, the first storm to be named in the month of July, hits the UK on Friday.The Met Office said the newly named storm would bring “unseasonably strong winds and heavy rain” and would “get worse before it gets better”. Continue reading...
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian pleads with Sydney residents to stay at home as 170 new Covid cases are recorded. She warns against people attending anti-lockdown protests over the weekend. 'Do not give those you love the most a death sentence. This Delta strain is contagious, it's deadly and it's affecting people of all ages,' she says. Chief health officer Kerry Chant says people are delaying seeking treatment, which affects the care that can be offered. She says her key message is get tested quickly if you have any symptoms including cough, fever, headache, loss of taste and smell, sore throat or muscle aches and pains. 'Just please, never be fearful of coming to a health services for care,' she says► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
Proposed legislation would make it an offence to perform conversion practices on anyone aged under 18New Zealand has introduced legislation to ban conversion practices, saying the practice is harmful and has “no place in modern New Zealand”.Conversion therapy refers to the practice, often by religious groups, of trying to “cure” people of their sexuality, gender expression, or LGBTQI identity. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5MRG4)
Analysis: we have been here before with damning reports on race and policing, and we will almost certainly be here again• MPs rebuke police for systemic failure to improve record on race Race issues for the police – after the Macpherson report in 1999 – were seen as a problem mainly affecting the rank and file, which was dominated by the white working class. It was clear that policing would radically change only if government pressured it to do so. Promises were made and very basic targets for the recruitment of ethnic minority officers were set. So why are we still here?The bitter truth is because those who have the power to do something do not care enough, or lack the will, or focus, or think what the police are doing on race is enough. Critics would say those in power are hampered by institutional racism. The other possibility is that every report on this topic that raised troubling findings has been wrong. Continue reading...
Failings have led to ‘unjustified inequalities’, says landmark report that finds little progress in 22 years since MacphersonPolice and governments have done too little to stamp out racial injustice in the ranks, with the failings being systemic and leading to “unjustified inequalities”, a report by an all-party committee of MPs has found.The report by the home affairs committee was heavily critical of the progress made in the 22 years since the Macpherson report into why the white killers of Stephen Lawrence were allowed to go free, which blamed “institutional racism” Continue reading...
As Covid cases decrease in Melbourne, Victoria’s restrictions have been eased. Is there a travel radius limit? Is mask-wearing compulsory? Are home visits limited again? Here are the new rules
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5MR5Q)
Yvette Cooper, chair of home affairs committee, wrote to Priti Patel after visiting Kent sites on TuesdayMPs have raised serious concerns about the “shocking conditions” they found in Kent holding facilities for asylum seekers, including an unaccompanied child housed in an office space for 10 days, and a girl forced to sleep on a sofa for days on end.Yvette Cooper, chair of the home affairs select committee, has written to the home secretary following a committee visit on Tuesday when MPs saw asylum seekers held in cramped, unsafe and “completely inappropriate” facilities. Continue reading...
by Nicola Slawson (now); Mattha Busby, Miranda Bryant on (#5MQ9F)
Pakistan to require all public sector staff to get jabbed in raft of draconian measures; Israel to give people a third shot as efficacy wanes, reports say
Steve Wright, who killed five women in 2006, said to have been detained in connection with Victoria Hall’s deathA serial killer who murdered five women in Suffolk in 2006 has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenager who went missing on her way home from a nightclub nearly 22 years ago.The naked body of Victoria Hall, 17, was found in a ditch on 24 September 1999, five days after she was last seen alive in Felixstowe. Continue reading...
Rule would affect more than 2m civilian employees, but Republicans continue to block preventive measuresJoe Biden was poised on Thursday to announce that all civilian federal workers must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face regular testing and stringent physical distancing, masking and travel restrictions.Facing a political test as the Delta variant cuts a swath through unvaccinated Americans, the president was set to put the government in a position of leading by example and offer a potential model to corporate employers. Continue reading...
Mostafa ‘Moz’ Azimitabar seeks damages for detention over 14 months in case that could carry implications for hundreds of asylum seekersA refugee detained for more than a year in two Melbourne hotels is suing the federal government for damages, arguing its use of hotels for immigration detention is illegal.Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar is suing the Australian government in the federal court for unlawful imprisonment. He is seeking damages for his detention over 14 months in Melbourne’s Park and Mantra hotels. Continue reading...
The actor claims that the studio breached her contract by releasing her standalone Marvel adventure on Disney+Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over the recent release of Black Widow.The actor is claiming that the studio’s decision to launch her first, and last, Marvel standalone film on Disney+ as well as cinemas is a breach of contract. Continue reading...
Female duo who approach older men including in golf club car parks are believed to have struck 14 timesPeople in the south of England have been warned to be vigilant if wearing high-value watches or jewellery after a spate of thefts by women approaching older men.Several expensive watches have been stolen in the car parks of golf clubs and most victims have been lone men aged in their 70s. Continue reading...
Strong winds have fanned multiple wildfires in southern Turkey, killing at least three people and sending many others to hospital as homes burned down in the blazes. A wildfire that broke out on 28 July near the Mediterranean coastal resort town of Manavgat, in Antalya province, had largely been contained, but another fire that started early Thursday and swept through the district of Akseki kept firefighters engaged.Wildfires are common in Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions during the arid summer months, although some previous forest fires have been blamed on arson Continue reading...
Benevolent dictatorship is not the answer to the region’s real problemsThis week has shown that Arab regimes are tough on dissent, but much less interested in its causes. This will create problems for years to come as these states struggle to recover from the pandemic. Tunisia’s presidential power grab is a test for Joe Biden’s democracy and human rights agenda. War has impoverished ancient centres of Arab civilisation. The UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia this week pointed out that poverty now affects 88% of the population in Syria and 83% in Yemen. Even nations once considered wealthy have been brought low by an unhappy meeting of leadership failures and Covid-19. Lebanon’s leaders are begging for foreign assistance after the local currency plummeted in value and the population ran short of food, fuel and medicine.The Arab world is a varied place. The latest UN survey shows it diverging into wealthy Gulf absolute monarchies; a set of middle-income countries with more people than their oil reserves can comfortably afford; war zones in some of the largest nations such as Iraq; and very poor states. The oil-rich sheikhdoms are pulling ahead and using their financial and military clout to extend their influence, often with disastrous results. The Arab region, says the UN, hosts more than six million refugees and more than 11 million internally displaced persons. There is little coordinated action to deal with the numerous social challenges, including growing poverty, increased unemployment and persistent gender inequalities. Food insecurity has spread. One can be too downcast: the UN hopes for a silver lining in the prospect of peace in Libya. Continue reading...
Inquiry into death of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 says state had created a culture of impunityAn independent inquiry in Malta into the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has found that the state had to bear responsibility after creating a “culture of impunity”.The 437-page report, conducted by a team of judges and released on Thursday, said the state “failed to recognise the real and immediate risks” to the investigative journalist’s life and “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid them”. Continue reading...