Analysis: War may be winding down, but with Assad in charge for seven more seven years the country remains splinteredStanding on a podium on Saturday to take an oath of office, Bashar al-Assad declared himself the only man who could rebuild Syria.His first foreign guest, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, seemed to enhance his claim, endorsing the president’s win in a May poll described by Britain and Europe as “neither free nor fair” and laying a marker to help get the job started. Continue reading...

Three decades after leaving Bougainville as the island descended into civil war, the mining giant will assess impact of its former mineThirty-two years since it fled Bougainville island, Rio Tinto has promised to fund an independent assessment of the ongoing environmental damage caused by its Panguna mine, a move landowners have welcomed as “a start” towards repairing decades of contamination.The mining giant has committed to a multi-million dollar “environmental and human rights impact assessment” of its former copper and gold mine in Panguna, which was the flashpoint for Bougainville’s decade-long civil war. Continue reading...

Time could be running out for killer whale named Toa, who has charmed the nation but depends on round-the-clock care to stay aliveWhen Toa, the orphaned baby orca, sees food coming he sticks his large pink tongue out of his wide gummy mouth in happy anticipation. He gurgles and belches as he hungrily tugs at the specially designed latex teat. Four volunteers in wetsuits and beanies cradle him and coo that he is “a good boy” as he feeds. When he is done, he rolls over, revealing his cream white skin, and nudges a volunteer for a belly rub. If they dare stop, he nudges them again. When he is excited he zooms about his holding pool, playing with the volunteers, and when a large tentacle-like piece of kelp is heaved into the water, he snuggles under it, as though it were a blanket, or the protective weight of his missing mother.The young calf, thought to be between two and six months old, became stranded in the rocks near Plimmerton, north of Wellington 10 days ago with minor injuries. Continue reading...

Official not found to have had close contacts with White House principals; infections in France grow at unprecedented rate due to Delta variant

Diplomat warns of law breach as Turkish president promotes two-state solution for island and scheme for abandoned town VaroshaThe EU’s foreign policy chief has criticised Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for his statements while reopening the town of Varosha in Cyprus.On Tuesday the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said plans announced by Erdoğan and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, to further open the former resort, abandoned since Ankara’s invasion of the island in 1974 and viewed as a ghost town, constituted an “unacceptable unilateral decision”. Continue reading...

A heatwave in one of the world’s coldest regions has sparked forest fires and threatened the Siberian city of Yakutsk with an 'airpocalypse' of thick toxic smoke, atmospheric monitoring services have reported.Local authorities have warned the 320,000 residents to stay indoors to avoid choking fumes from the blazes, which are on course to break last year’s record.Officials have described this summer’s weather as the driest in the past 150 years

Nightclubs across the world have been linked to outbreaks, leading some countries to open up to vaccinated clubbers only

Court told Lulu Lakatos posed as gem expert to steal seven diamonds from Boodles in Mayfair, LondonA woman stole diamonds worth £4.2m from a luxury London jewellers’ by posing as a gem expert and swapping them for garden pebbles in a highly sophisticated heist, a court has heard.Lulu Lakatos allegedly posed as a gemologist and pretended to examine and value seven diamonds at the Boodles showroom on New Bond Street in Mayfair, central London. Continue reading...

BBC interview reveals people decided Johnson was unfit to be PM within weeks of 2019 election victoryBoris Johnson’s closest aides decided he was unfit to be prime minister within weeks of his 2019 election victory and began plotting to oust him, Dominic Cummings has claimed.In his first TV interview since quitting as one of the most senior advisers in No 10, Cummings levelled repeated criticism of his former boss, saying aides feared Johnson had no plan to run the country and was only obsessed with “stupid” infrastructure projects. Continue reading...

Canstruct has been awarded another ‘limited tender’ contract from the government, but company says it follows ‘all commonwealth procurement guidelines’Canstruct International, the Brisbane company and Liberal party donor running Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru, has won another uncontested contract extension – $180m over six months – bringing its total revenue from island contracts over the past five years to more than $1.5bn.There are 108 people held on Nauru under Australia’s offshore processing regime. It costs Australian taxpayers more than $8,800 every day for each person held on the island, or $3.2m a person each year. Continue reading...

The Queensland capital wants the world to know how far it has come, with the IOC set to confirm winning Olympic Games bid on WednesdayThe last time Brisbane bid to host the Olympic Games, many locals still referred to the place as “a big country town”.The Queensland capital’s opponents to host the 1992 games argued the city was too small and unknown. There are few similar doubts this time around, as Brisbane is set to be anointed host of the 2032 Olympics. Continue reading...

Party leaders hope public will draw its own conclusions from last week’s catastrophic floodsIt was a slogan that cut to the chase: “Everybody is talking about Germany. We talk about the weather.”The provocative message – itself an inversion of the title of an essay by Red Army Faction terror group founder Ulrike Meinhof (“Everybody talks about the weather. We don’t”) – was at the heart of the West German Green party’s 1990 election campaign, but has rarely felt more relevant than today as catastrophic floods in western Germany have brought extreme weather events to the centre of the national debate little more than two months before federal elections. Continue reading...

Naftali Bennett hits back at Unilever after subsidiary stops selling ice-cream in occupied territoriesThe decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling its ice-cream products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has been met with fierce criticism from the Israeli political establishment, including a warning from the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, that the decision will have “serious consequences” for Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever.The announcement from the ice-cream maker, which has also taken political stances on the climate crisis and social justice issues such as Black Lives Matter, is one of the highest-profile rebukes of Israeli settlement building to date by a well-known brand. Continue reading...

After 17 years of setbacks, it is hoped Intempo skyscraper will help transform resort into Miami of the MediterraneanTo some it is a grotesque eyesore, to others, a key step on the road to transforming Benidorm into the Miami of the Mediterranean.In any case, after 17 years of setbacks, the gargantuan Intempo skyscraper has finally been completed. At 187 metres, it is the tallest apartment building in the European Union. Its twin towers also boast Spain’s fastest lift, which rises at a rate of 4.2 metres a second and can reach the top floor in 52 seconds. Continue reading...

Col Assimi Goïta escapes unharmed after incident during Eid al-Adha celebrations in BamakoA man has tried to stab Mali’s transitional president, Col Assimi Goïta, during Eid al-Adha celebrations at the Grand Mosque in Bamako.Witnesses said the incident happened after the imam went to slaughter sheep at the mosque in the capital. One man with a knife and another with a gun participated in the attack, the witnesses said. Continue reading...

A screwdriver and a torch, tools of a nocturnal trade, carried to altar at funeral of Dean MaguireFather Donal Roche called it the most disturbing funeral he has ever attended, a homage to a life of crime played like a scene from The Sopranos.Dean Maguire, 29, an Irish burglar with more than 25 convictions, had died in fiery motorway crash and mourners decided to give a memorable farewell. Continue reading...

This imaginative and unique Ivorian tale blends modern-day thriller dynamics with older storytelling traditionsThe Maca prison, outside Abidjan, is a world with its own codes and rules, we are told, and this imaginative, energetic Ivorian drama follows suit, blending modern-day thriller dynamics and fluid handheld visuals with older storytelling traditions to produce something unique and locally specific. As well as a testament to the power of storytelling to transcend the grimmest of circumstances, it could also be read as a commentary on Ivory Coast’s own war-torn, postcolonial reality.The prison in question feels more like a slum than a penitentiary. Rather than being locked in cells, the inmates seem to have free run of the place, while armed guards observe nervously from behind barricades. According to Night of the Kings, the true ruler of the Maca is an inmate named Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu, last seen in Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables). But he is dying and others are vying to take his place, which means a violent power struggle is imminent. Into this volatile situation arrives a timid young man (Bakary Koné) who, for reasons he cannot fathom, is nominated “Roman”, or storyteller. “When the red moon comes out tomorrow night you must tell us stories,” Blackbeard commands him. Roman realises his own survival, and the prison’s stability, depend on his ability to spin a yarn, Scheherazade-like, through the night till dawn. Continue reading...

Planning a trip across state borders or a weekend away? Is the border between Victoria and NSW closed? Can you travel into or out of Sydney, from NSW to Qld, or to Victoria, SA, WA, NT or NZ? Before you leave home, check our state-by-state guide to coronavirus travel restrictions.

After 16 years, the BBC’s flagship sci-fi show is tired and suffering. It should go away to save itselfThree series is the usual tenure for an actor playing the Doctor, so rumours are rife that Jodie Whittaker is about to step down. Michaela Coel, Olly Alexander and Richard Ayoade are among those tipped for the role. But what if, instead of a new Doctor, the show actually needs something a doctor might prescribe to an exhausted patient – a rest.The current run started in 2005, and even with such a flexible format as Doctor Who, there aren’t many TV dramas that can sustain 13 series in 16 years. (Call the Midwife is probably the best BBC attempt at that in the past decade.) Soap operas can manage it, but then soap storylines generally don’t revolve around such cataclysmic events as the universe being destroyed. Continue reading...

Steering clear of wheat, rye and barley doesn’t mean avoiding delicious dishes. Here are some of the tastiest offerings, including soda bread, peanut butter cookies and banana oat pancakesMy favourite gluten-free recipe is poodla (small pancakes), which I make using gram (chickpea) flour, water, cumin seeds, garam masala, turmeric and salt, with added chillies (chopped), grated onion and grated courgettes (it also works with mashed peas, spinach, grated cauliflower etc). Simply make a batter to any consistency, add your vegetables, then shallow fry on both sides. It’s delicious with a raita and a salad; we eat them for breakfast, lunch and sometimes as a main meal. Rekha Shah, retired, Bournemouth Continue reading...

A man evaded Western Australia quarantine rules by tying bedsheets together to escape from fourth floor of hotel

Belgian government under pressure to offer residence permits to hundreds of migrants on hunger strikeThe Belgian government is under pressure to offer residence permits to several hundred migrants, some of whom are “between life and death” after a weeks’ long hunger strike in Brussels.Undocumented migrants have been on hunger strike in a central Brussels church and university buildings for nearly 60 days in an attempt to secure residency papers. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese accused the prime minister of going ‘missing’ in a crisis as lockdowns widened and borders closedMore than 13 million Australians are in lockdown and state borders are being slammed shut as the country scrambles to get ahead of a rapidly spreading outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19.As Victoria extended its restrictions for another week and South Australia became the latest state to enter into lockdown, Labor ramped up its pressure on the Morrison government, saying the latest round of restrictions were only necessary because of a lack of vaccine supplies. Continue reading...

Self-avowed nationalist Ersin Tatar in ebullient mood despite embargos, isolation and political restrictionsIt’s been nine months since Ersin Tatar assumed the presidency of the self-declared Turkish republic of northern Cyprus and, like his predecessors, he has found little has changed.Embargos, international isolation and political restrictions remain perennial problems for his unrecognised state. Even today, nearly 38 years after the territory proclaimed independence, foreign dignitaries pass through his colonial-era office and still object to being photographed next to the flags on his desk. Continue reading...

New prime minister announced as elections chief says current suspects were probably not ringleadersThe “big fishes” who masterminded the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, remain at large, a senior government minister has admitted, as the Caribbean country unveiled a new prime minister in a bid to defuse a burgeoning struggle for power.Police have named two Haitian citizens as key suspects in the murder: a Florida-based pastor called Christian Emmanuel Sanon and the former intelligence officer Joseph Felix Badio. On Friday Colombia’s police chief, Gen Jorge Luis Vargas, claimed Badio might have given the order for two retired Colombian soldiers to assassinate Moïse in the early hours of 7 July for reasons that remain obscure. Sanon was arrested in Haiti last week, and Badio’s whereabouts are unknown. Continue reading...

Drawn on the writer’s personal experience, Nir Bergman’s father-son runaway adventure delivers poignancy through myriad insightsMoving but unsentimental, this Israeli drama is a perfect example of how a cinematic story becomes paradoxically more universal by being very specific about people and places. It explores an intense relationship between father Aharon (Shai Avivi) and his son Uri (Noam Imber), a young man in his 20s; although the word autism barely features here, or at least not in the English subtitles, it’s starkly obvious that Uri is on the spectrum. He can speak, but he’s very attached to his routines, resistant to eat much apart from pasta stars and obsessed with watching Charlie Chaplin films on his portable DVD player; he must have his dad around to help him navigate the world at all times lest there’s any danger he might, for example, step on a snail, a prospect that completely terrifies him, or in case he’s not sure if someone has made a joke.Although the dialogue only skims these characters’ backstories, it soon becomes clear that Aharon, once a successful graphic designer, has essentially turned taking care of Uri into his life’s work, to the point where both men are entirely interdependent on each other. Uri’s mother Tamara (Smadi Wolfman) doesn’t live with them any more, but arguably she can see more clearly than Aharon that Uri needs to be around peers and learn how to live semi-independently, if only to help him prepare for a time when Aharon and Tamara themselves won’t be around. She has found an assisted living facility that’s willing to take Uri in, but it’s really Aharon who can’t let go; and the two of them end up on the run, or as much on the run as you can be in a country as tiny as Israel. Continue reading...

Government calls for freedom of expression in Cuba as police mount brutal response to local activistsColombia’s government has been accused of hypocrisy after calling for solidarity with protesters in Cuba even as it cracks down harshly on mass demonstrations against economic inequity and human rights abuses.Colombia is bracing for another round of anti-poverty demonstrations and unrest, with large marches planned for Tuesday 20 July, Colombia’s independence day, after taking a monthlong hiatus during a surge in Covid-19 cases. Continue reading...

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Climate envoy John Kerry has rejected notion that Beijing could buy US silence on human rights as price of cooperation on climateIn the next four months or so, the world will find out whether it is possible for one branch of the US federal government – the state department - to accuse Chinese officials of committing genocide, and for another branch – led by the special envoy on climate change, John Kerry – to persuade China to transform the way its dirty economy operates. Is it possible simultaneously to compete for mastery of the world and to collaborate to save that world?The outcome of this diplomatic experiment will become known at the British-hosted Cop26 in Glasgow convened to try to put the world on course for only 1.5C of warming. All countries are expected to produce their nationally determined contributions – how much they will reduce their carbon footprint. British officials insist Cop26 is about more than China and the US, but without these two players, jointly responsible for 40% of global green house gas emissions, nothing meaningful is achievable. Continue reading...

Home Office says at least 430 people made the dangerous crossing on MondayHundreds of migrants crossed the Channel to the UK on Monday, setting a new daily record.The Home Office said that at least 430 people made the crossing. In Dungeness, Kent, about 50 people, including women and young children, were seen arriving on a beach after crossing in a single dinghy. Continue reading...

Reports by supporters of opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi will increase pressure on president over human rightsOpposition activists who spent months behind bars in Uganda have described systematic physical abuse, denial of basic legal rights and appalling conditions as they waited for trial on charges they claim were fabricated.The experiences of the activists, revealed to the Guardian after their release last month, will increase pressure on Uganda, a key western ally in east Africa, over human rights failings that have grown significantly worse since the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, started to face a significant political challenge in recent years. Continue reading...

Beach volleyball players have already found sand too hot for their feet during practiceAs if the coronavirus was not enough to contend with, Olympic athletes who have arrived ahead of the start of the Tokyo Games on Friday now find themselves at the sharp end of a Japanese summer.Related: ‘Weird and unfair’: Usain Bolt criticises advances in spike technology Continue reading...

Government bans large gatherings and toughens travel restrictions in world’s most populous Muslim nation

With Covid lockdowns blamed for rising rates, MPs and teachers say it’s time to ‘face reality’ and allow younger teens access to birth controlMalet*, 14, stands in the long queue at the maternity clinic in Harare. She is here for her routine checkup. Most of the people in the queue are teenage girls.Malet fell pregnant the first time she had sex. Her baby is due in two months. Continue reading...

Former aide says Boris Johnson held out on October lockdown because those ‘dying are essentially all over 80’Boris Johnson denied the NHS would be overwhelmed and said he was not prepared to lock down the country to save people in their 80s, texting his adviser “get Covid and live longer,” according to new WhatsApp messages released by Dominic Cummings.In his first TV interview, the prime minister’s former chief adviser said Johnson held out on reimposing Covid restrictions because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.” Continue reading...

The astute and unconventional adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ source material remains one of the most unique examples of the genreIn the 20 years since Ghost World was released, nerd culture has become dominant culture, turning a term once associated with the dweeby outcasts of 80s comedies to a shorthand nearly everyone can self-apply. Now you’re a nerd for seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp on opening day. In truth, the term was always meaningless, whether it applied to pitiable dorks with taped-together glasses and pocket protectors or the hordes jamming Hall H at ComicCon every year, hyped up over the biggest movies on the planet. Authentic nerds are exiled from the culture entirely – few people want to spend time around them, much less pay money to see them on the screen.Related: AI at 20: Spielberg’s misunderstood epic remains his darkest movie yet Continue reading...

As a child, I fled Afghanistan with my family. When we arrived in Britain after a harrowing journey, we thought we could start our new life in safety. But the reality was very differentDuring the summer I turned 15, I fell into a prolonged depression that lasted well into my 20s. My mother, my two brothers and I had just arrived in London, and because we were seeking asylum as refugees, we were moved into a hostel for vulnerable families on Fitzjohn’s Avenue in the affluent north-west of the city. The journey to London had been so difficult that we had separated from my father, one of my brothers and my sister a few months earlier. The hostel was situated on a tree-lined avenue that connects Swiss Cottage to Hampstead village. A pleasant walk north takes you to Hampstead Heath and Keats House, to the south is Regent’s Park, where my family would walk around the park’s ornate rose garden and sit by the fountain, our favourite spot.Four years earlier, in autumn 1992, my family had left our home in Kabul when the sudden withdrawal of US interests from Afghanistan left militias fighting for power, making ordinary life impossible. Once-frequent family gatherings had been reduced to funerals attended by a few. Food and water were scarce. We rarely left our home – the adults only went out on the most essential errands. My uncle sometimes cycled across the city to bring us drinking water as rockets fell around him. We would be worried sick until his return. Continue reading...

Former UK prime minister could not be reached to sign off 1997 speech seen as ‘significant moment’ in Anglo-Irish relationsTony Blair’s “apology” for the Irish famine on its 150th anniversary, greeted with plaudits and hailed as a significant moment in Anglo-Irish relations at the time, was hastily written by aides because they could not reach him to approve it, newly released classified documents reveal.The prime minister’s words, read out by actor Gabriel Byrne at a televised commemoration event in County Cork, were damning in proclaiming: “Those who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy.” Continue reading...

Confirmed cases doubled compared to a day earlier, with most imported from neighbouring Myanmar

As the prime minister treads the delicate path between China and the US we shouldn’t overstate the significance of her latest moves

One-time teacher asks for ‘effort and sacrifice’ in first remarks after being confirmed as president-electPedro Castillo, a rural teacher turned political novice, has become the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years.In his first comments as president-elect, he called for national unity. “I ask for effort and sacrifice in the struggle to make this a just and sovereign country,” he said. Continue reading...

We need to keep pressing our political leaders to talk about Covid-19 in ways that support an informed debate about our collective futuresPoliticians around the world have been promoting responses to the Covid-19 pandemic with statements such as: “we must open up”, “we have to learn to live with the virus”, and “freedom day”.But to us epidemiologists these are almost meaningless political slogans that cover a vast array of possible scenarios, some of which are potentially very harmful, especially for the most vulnerable. Continue reading...

At least 35 people were killed and many more injured in an explosion in Iraq's capital Baghdad, on the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. The blast took place in Wahailat market, Sadr City district during rush hour. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in Sadr City neighbourhoodA suicide bomber has killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 60 in a crowded market in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad on Monday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival, security and hospital sources said.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Nasheer news agency said on Telegram. It said one of its militants blew up his explosive vest among the crowds. Hospital sources said the death toll could rise as some of the wounded were in critical condition. Continue reading...

Blair wrote to then South African leader in 1997 after aides said raising issue at summit in Scotland would be ‘pretty disastrous’Tony Blair failed in urgent attempts to prevent Nelson Mandela raising the issue of the Lockerbie trial at a Commonwealth summit in Edinburgh, which aides warned would be “pretty disastrous”, previously classified documents reveal.The Foreign Office, on discovering Mandela was visiting Libya en-route to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Edinburgh in October 1997, warned of a “sensitive situation” if the South African leader spoke out against UK government’s plans to hold the trial of two suspects in Scotland. Continue reading...

Researchers find minimal interactions by teen users can trigger a deluge of thin-body and dieting imagesInstagram’s algorithms are pushing teenage girls who even briefly engage with fitness-related images towards a flood of weight-loss content, according to new research which aimed to recreate the experience of being a child on social networks.Researchers adopting “mystery shopper” techniques set up a series of Instagram profiles mirroring real children and followed the same accounts as the volunteer teenagers. They then began liking a handful of posts to see how quickly the network’s algorithm pushed potentially damaging material into the site’s “explore” tab, which highlights material that the social network thinks a user might like. Continue reading...

Biden implores Americans to get vaccinated and stocks fall amid outbreaks in areas with low inoculation ratesA rapid increase in coronavirus cases in the US and abroad is fueling fears of a pandemic resurgence and on Monday sent shockwaves through the stock market as the highly contagious Delta variant takes hold – and Joe Biden urged Americans to “please, please get vaccinated”.The number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths due to Covid-19 have been rising worryingly in recent days, largely driven by outbreaks in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, as officials have been warning of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can find all of our pandemic coverage here.11.49pm BSTThis blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.11.18pm BSTAs the British health minister, chancellor and prime minister self-isolate, the commons speaker has pleaded with MPs to continue wearing face coverings and “not push the limits for the sake of it” following the easing of restrictions in England, PA Media reports.

Julianna Moore, formerly Ganna Ziuzina, told an inquest she did not seek to profit from Barry Pring’s death, as his family allegesThe widow of a wealthy British businessman killed in a hit and run in Ukraine as he celebrated his first wedding anniversary has denied organising his murder, an inquest heard.Barry Pring, 47, suffered fatal injuries when he was hit by a vehicle using a stolen number plate while waiting for a taxi outside a restaurant in Kiev with his wife, Ganna Ziuzina, on 16 February 2008. Continue reading...

Former student leader becomes candidate for leftwing coalition and vows to fight Pinochet-era economicsA decade ago, Gabriel Boric was a long-haired 25-year old leading thousands of clamouring students through the streets of the Chilean capital with megaphone in hand, demanding free education for all.Boric was part of a radical generation of student leaders who were catapulted into the spotlight in 2011 during an uprising against the disparities in Chile’s education system. Continue reading...