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Madrid faces ‘catastrophic’ year at borders with 2,087 dead or missing on sea crossings in six months to June, says NGOSpain is facing an unprecedented and “catastrophic” year on its borders, finds a leading NGO which estimates that more than 2,000 people died or disappeared trying to reach the country in the first six months of 2021 – almost as many as perished in attempts in all of last year.In a report published on Tuesday Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) found that 2,087 people, including 341 women and 96 children, had died or gone missing while trying to reach Spain by sea between January and the end of June this year. Last year, 2,170 migrants and refugees lost their lives or vanished en route to the country. Continue reading...

Despite losing a lot of fruit to bad weather, Italy has beaten the record twice this yearItalian farmers have grown the world’s largest cherry, shattering the record with a mammoth 33g fruit.The carmen cherry was grown by Alberto and Giuseppe Rosso from Pecetto Torinese, about four miles south-east of Turin, in Piedmont, a town renowned for the production of cherries. Continue reading...

The actor, who has died at 98, gave expression to the intense cultural complexities raised as independence met modernity – with respect, depth and subtletyRarely do Narendra Modi and Imran Khan agree, but the death of Indian film great Dilip Kumar united the prime ministers of India and Pakistan in grief as each expressed their admiration and affection for the actor who has died aged 98.Born Muhammed Yusuf Khan in 1922, in Peshawar, close to the border with Afghanistan in what was then British India, he moved to Bombay to take his first role in Jwar Bhata (High and Low Tides) – a film now remembered only for featuring his debut – and would go on to become a star in the post-independence boom in Hindi cinema, as the industry became a unifying voice for a vast, disparate population, who saw its concerns and aspirations reflected back to it with compassion and intelligence for the first time. Continue reading...

Leaders give mixed responses to PM’s decision to lift most restrictions from 19 July

‘It had become a favourite spot for Estonians to swim and relax in – even though the perimeter fences, watchtowers and barbed wire were still there’It was August 2016 and I’d been travelling for weeks, documenting the decaying borders between the Baltic states. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there had been little in the way of physical demarcation between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. But after the collapse, each nation had built up its borders, until the creation of the Schengen Area, when the need once again faded away. I went to photograph what remained.After the seizure of the Baltic states by the USSR, a maximum security prison had been established by the quarry at Rummu. The area was turned into a secure compound, where the incarcerated were used as forced labour. Post-USSR, the prison was closed and the pits flooded. Although the land is privately owned, over time it had become a favourite spot for residents and visitors to swim and relax in. Continue reading...

Mina Smallman says potential legal action would relate to Metropolitan police’s alleged failures to actThe family of two sisters whose killer was this week convicted of their murders are considering suing the police over alleged failures to act when they were reported missing.Mina Smallman, the mother of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, indicated the potential legal action would revolve around “neglect … what should have been done and wasn’t done” over the period when the sisters first went missing. Continue reading...

Flavoured gin or sweet frangipane? Readers share their favourite ways to put a glut of cherries to good useI rent a cherry tree on a farm in Northiam, East Sussex. Each year we are given a week to harvest the cherries from our tree, so we make a day of it with a picnic nearby. The tree looks small, but last year we harvested 15kg in one day. We make jam, pies, ice-cream and liqueurs; we give away some then freeze the rest after stoning them. This means we have a year-round supply of my favourite cocktail: frozen cherry margarita. I can’t drink tequila so I swap it for vodka. The result is delicious and very moreish, so be warned! Continue reading...

Self-isolation of vaccinated medical staff could be one area to review, doctor suggests

While my teenage friends were going wild in Faliraki, I was in a serious relationship. But at 21, I broke up with my boyfriend and flew to Disney World for romantic adventures“So, you want Mickey Mouse to help you get laid?”I knew it was a mistake to attempt small talk with the man at immigration. Or to tell him the real purpose of my visit. Continue reading...

Politicians and press campaigners call for justice as Peter R de Vries remains in hospital fighting for his lifeEuropean leaders and press freedom campaigners have condemned the shooting of journalist Peter R de Vries on a busy Amsterdam street, demanding his attackers face justice as the veteran Dutch crime reporter fights for his life in hospital.“This is a crime against journalism and an attack on our values of democracy and rule of law,” the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, tweeted. “We will relentlessly continue to defend the freedom of the press.” Continue reading...

Radical shift needed in how police tackle crimes disproportionately affecting female victims, says watchdogWomen and girls are being subjected to an epidemic of violence that requires a “radical and bold” shift in how authorities in England and Wales tackle crimes that disproportionately affect female victims, a police watchdog has warned.In an interim report, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) calls for councils, schools, health and social care bodies and all areas of the criminal justice system to work together to address the problem, as police “cannot solve this alone”. Continue reading...

The band of the Coldstream Guards performed a rousing rendition of Three Lions outside Clarence House before England's Euro 2020 semi-final match against Denmark.The Prince of Wales had invited the band to play the anthem at his London residence. Should England win, it will be the first time the team has reached the final of a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup

Ministers expected to announce rule change for fully-vaccinated people in boost for travel industry

Focus shifts from eastern suburbs to Sydney’s south-west with Gladys Berejiklian not ruling out stricter measures for three local government areas

Aid package, including 1,000 ventilators, announced after nation records daily high of 31,189 coronavirus casesAustralia will send 2.5m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Indonesia and will fund 1,000 ventilators as the country battles record-high Covid cases that are pushing the health system to breaking point.The aid package, announced on Wednesday night, is in response to growing calls for Australia to help its most populous neighbour. Continue reading...

Victoria eases Melbourne restrictions; greater Sydney schools to return to online learning after holiday break; more than a dozen NSW residents under 55 in hospital with Covid. Follow latest updates

We danced in water features, stupefied with drugs. And while my big crush was unrequited, the whole season was irresistible funA summer of love is predicted when – if – we emerge from the Babylonian captivity of lockdown in a frenzy of courting. It will be the third summer of love in recent years. The first occurred, in a cloud of hashish and patchouli, around San Francisco in 1967. I was five and living on the outskirts of Kettering, untouched by those events, although I have heard it said the Skew Bridge Ski Club could get quite racy.The second summer of love I can talk about because I was in it. It was 1990, I was 28, and recently retired from pop music. It arrived on the back of a new party drug, ecstasy. I had come across E – more properly MDMA – in the United States, in the clubs of the east and west coasts, where enterprising leisure professionals realised that its effect on the neurotransmitters responsible for the experience of pleasure could make every venue a Xanadu of irresistible fun. Continue reading...

Black artists pioneered dance music, but the scene remains white-dominated. UK rising star Sherelle is dodging the trolls and trying to make change with her platform BeautifulWearing a fleece jacket covered in black and white acid smilies, Sherelle is a walking embodiment of dance music when I meet her. The 27-year-old north Londoner and self-professed “bocat” – a Jamaican slang term used in a derogatory manner to describe someone who enjoys giving cunnilingus, now proudly reappropriated by her on her T-shirts – is one of the UK’s most purely enjoyable new DJs. By blending various global forms of dance music, she is a catalyst for unrestrained raving who has stormed her way into the limelight at 160 beats per minute.She grew up on dancehall booming out of her mum’s hi-fi system, and hip-hop and R&B music videos on cable TV. “In my house we had cable illegally, because we couldn’t afford to pay for it,” says Sherelle, whose younger self would cringe at her mother and older sister. “Whatever they were watching, they would dance to. I have a graphic image of Beenie Man’s Who Am I, around the time the tune came out, and my mum and sister having the greatest time. I was mortified.” Continue reading...

Mina Smallman says she forgives Danyal Hussein but is concerned he will become more radicalised in prisonThe mother of two sisters murdered in a London park last year has expressed her fear that the teenager who murdered them will become “even more radicalised” in prison and risks becoming a “killing machine”.Mina Smallman, the first black woman to become an archdeacon in the Church of England, said she had already forgiven 19-year-old Danyal Hussein, who on Wednesday was found guilty of murdering Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46. Continue reading...

Kurt Campbell says Beijing assessing world’s response to Hong Kong crackdown to understand potential reaction on TaiwanA senior US official has warned China not to seek emboldenment from its Hong Kong crackdown to move against Taiwan, as Japan’s deputy leader said it would defend Taiwan against an attack.Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the US national security council, told a forum on Tuesday the US had tried to send a “clear message of deterrence across the Taiwan Strait” and any attempt by China to move on Taiwan would be “catastrophic”. Continue reading...

Is the world getting too hot for humans?

Seventy-seven people have vanished since the start of the unrest in late April – some protesters, others not linked to the demonstrationsBefore 17-year-old Duvan Barros left his home in a downtrodden neighbourhood in Bogotá to attend an anti-poverty demonstration, he asked his mother, Dolores Barros, to make him a fruit juice. She said no, but there would be one waiting when he got back.That was 5 June, and Barros hasn’t seen him since. Continue reading...

There are only 21 lesbian bars remaining in the US – a vertiginous drop from 200 in the 1980s. The much-loved Cubbyhole is one of themEveryone at the Cubbyhole has an origin story.Mona Williams was 21, queer, and had been kicked out by their family when they first arrived at the quaint little lesbian bar on a street corner in New York’s West Village. They had Googled “lesbian bars in New York” and found themselves outside the bar a few hours later, alone and not knowing what to expect. Continue reading...

What does the extension mean for schools? What’s going on in Sydney’s south-western suburbs? And what happens if lockdown doesn’t work? Here’s what we know.

Emmanuel Carrère’s drama – based on Florence Aubenas’s bestseller Le Quai de Ouistreham – fails to probe fully the injustices faced by low-paid workersNovelist and film-maker Emmanuel Carrère has contrived this earnestly intentioned but naive and supercilious drama about poverty and the gig economy, starring a tearful Juliette Binoche. It is adapted from the French non-fiction bestseller Le Quai de Ouistreham from 2010 by investigative journalist Florence Aubenas, published in the UK under the title The Night Cleaner.

The premier’s words hammered home the seriousness of the situation and the challenges for leaders trying to control coronavirusAt her press conference announcing 27 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, and a one-week extension of the Sydney lockdown, the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, told reporters it was “absolutely our intention” for restrictions to lift on 16 July.It was a revealing moment of honesty. For a government that has until now banked enormous community goodwill off its ability to handle new Covid outbreaks without subjecting NSW residents to the kind of restrictions that became the default response in other states, that word – intention – hammered home both the seriousness of the situation and the incredible challenges for political leaders trying to control this virus. Continue reading...

The star was a defining figure in post-independence Indian cinema and was one of the country’s first method actorsBollywood legend Dilip Kumar, who was a defining figure in post-independence Indian cinema, has died aged 98.Kumar had been taken to hospital in Mumbai last week suffering breathlessness, but died early Wednesday morning. “He passed away due to prolonged illness at 7.30am,” Dr Jalil Parkar of Mumbai’s Hinduja hospital said. Continue reading...

Poisoned bait, clandestine missions, top secret locations … we meet the directors of a film about the extraordinary Italians who forage for a delicacy that’s worth thousandsAnyone looking for an antidote to digital overload could do worse than spend 90 minutes in the company of some Piedmontese villagers as they root through leaf litter in search of their region’s own treasure: the white truffle. It’s this simplicity that makes new documentary The Truffle Hunters such a balm. With no voiceover, this mesmerically shot film follows a handful of foragers, and their dogs, as they scour the northern Italian forests during winter for the elusive fungus.“That’s why we made this film,” says co-director Gregory Kershaw. “To escape from our digital lives and spend time in a place like this. You realise how many things that are so important to human existence are missing from our daily lives. Like what it means to not think of nature as a wilderness to be explored, but to have it entwined with your daily life.” Continue reading...

Action follows Viktor Orbán passing law banning LGBT content in schools and mishandling of EU fundsUrsula von der Leyen is being urged to suspend EU funds to Hungary to force Viktor Orbán to address concerns over politicised courts and corruption.MEPs who work on the European parliament’s budgetary control committee are calling on the European Commission president to use a newly created EU law to freeze payments to Hungary for “grave breaches of the rule of law”. Continue reading...

There was certainly chemistry between us on our first meeting. But when we met for our first date, he had a big surprise …About five years ago, I had an unsolicited romance with a guy who was the exact opposite of what I’d been looking for.I was in the north of England to attend a weekend symposium with creatives from all over the world. After a five-hour train journey, I arrived at the hotel, ready to hide in my room with a cuppa in an undersized mug, when I was told that I was expected at an opening night dinner. I was ushered to the foyer of a grand ballroom where women in glittering gowns and men in sharp suits swanned around me. Not-so-fresh from my travels, I was still dressed in a beige cardigan and crummy trainers. Continue reading...

Hospitalised with an eating disorder as a teenager, she recovered to become a campaigner. Her mission? To show that eating disorders aren’t always visibleHope Virgo’s description of her descent into anorexia is so harrowing and filled with danger that meeting her in real life – in the south London flat she shares with her fiance – is like meeting the personification of triumph or optimism. “In the media, you see the same stories, the same distressed, emaciated person; you hear of people dying,” Virgo says. “We need to hear those stories, but at the same time, I really believe that a full recovery is possible. I think we lose sight of that glimmer of hope.”In her book Stand Tall Little Girl, she gives the figures to back this up: 40% of people who have had an eating disorder never think about it again; 15% are unable to fight it off and are stuck in it; and 45% of people find a way to live with it, using coping mechanisms. Virgo’s pioneering work has an overarching purpose: to say, in her words and through her actions, that recovery is possible. It’s a rescue mission launched from regular life into a world of crisis – in which no one is seen as irrecoverable. Continue reading...

A woman attempted to extinguish the torch’s flame in Japan with a squirt gun – and she’s far from the first to stage a protest during the torch relayAre you kind of, sort of, not really into the fact that the Olympics are still going to happen later this month in Tokyo despite the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that the vast majority of our planet’s 7.8 billion people remain unvaccinated, with alarming outbreaks cropping up worldwide?If so, you’ve got a friend in Kayoko Takahashi. Continue reading...

7 July 1821: News arrives of former emperor’s death on the British island of St Helena, on 5 May 1821Capt Crockat of the 20th regiment, arrived at the Admiralty on Wednesday, with dispatches from St Helena announcing this important event. The following are the particulars.Related: Napoleon Bonaparte dead at St Helena: archive, 28 July 1821 Continue reading...

From South Korea to Australia, authorities are struggling to contain the highly transmissible coronavirus strain that has caused a surge in UK, Europe and US

Country may place UK on no-fly list if cases explode, as PM says countries are making ‘different choices’ on deaths from coronavirusNew Zealand has dismissed suggestions it should follow in Britain’s footsteps to “live with” Covid-19, saying the level of death proposed by Boris Johnson would be “unacceptable”.If cases in Britain explode as a result of the lifted regulations, New Zealand may also consider putting the country on a no-fly list. Continue reading...

On Monday, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) announced the five finalists for the annual Public Library of the Year award, which honours newly built public libraries. Libraries are assessed according to how they combine functional architecture, information technology, and local culture. This year’s shortlisted institutions include libraries in Australia, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and China Continue reading...

Some women had coughs or a fever but were reportedly told ‘not to complain’Organisers pushed ahead with a Mexican beauty pageant in spite of a Covid-19 outbreak that infected almost half the contestants, it has emerged.At least 15 of the 32 contestants in the Miss Mexico 2021 pageant tested positive for coronavirus. A pageant staff member also tested positive, according to the Chihuahua state health secretariat. Continue reading...

Warning: graphic content Around 200 people told a royal commission they were abused by Dr Selwyn Leeks and others at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital in the 1970s, allegations Leeks has deniedA New Zealand royal commission set up to investigate abuse in care says the country’s health ministry is still receiving complaints about a psychiatrist and others who allegedly tortured and abused patients at a hospital in the 1970s.Around 200 people have alleged they were abused as children by Dr Selywn Leeks in the adolescent wing of Lake Alice psychiatric hospital but police and medical authorities failed to curb his career or investigate sufficiently. Continue reading...

White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific says Beijing’s targeting of Australian exporters has only intensified Canberra’s ties with USOne of Joe Biden’s most senior advisers says China is trying to “cut Australia out of the herd” but the diplomatic freeze and targeting of Australian exporters is only driving Canberra to deepen its ties with Washington.Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, raised doubts about any imminent improvement in the relationship between China and Australia, saying he saw “a harshness” in Beijing’s approach “that appears unyielding”. Continue reading...

How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout and schedule compare with other countries, when will Australia be fully vaccinated and when will you be eligible to get your dose? We bring together the latest numbers on daily new Covid-19 cases, as well as stats and live data on total vaccination figures in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and other states

Samuel Ingham has faced intense scrutiny for his representation of Spears, who has said she’s been unable to choose her own lawyerBritney Spears’s court-appointed lawyer has asked to resign from the conservatorship that has controlled her life for 13 years.The news of lawyer Samuel D Ingham’s decision to step down comes after the singer’s emotional courtroom testimony prompted the resignation of her manager and the withdrawal of a wealth management firm involved in her conservatorship. The legal arrangement, which has been in place since 2008, has given Spears’s father and other parties intense authority over her career, finances, personal life and medical care. Continue reading...

Chinese president tells summit involving political parties of 160 nations that any country stopping another’s development must be opposedThe Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has urged political parties worldwide to oppose any country that engages in “technology blockades” – an allusion to the US, which views China as its strategic competitor.

London museum show to focus on the work of the continent’s designers over the past few decadesAn exhibition about African fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum will attempt to reframe the narrative about the continent, showcasing its independence and creativity following decades of false assumptions.Africa Fashion opens on 11 June 2022 and will feature 250 objects telling the story of the continent through the work of its most prominent and influential designers. Continue reading...

Department for Transport accused of underestimating the work needed to revive rail use after CovidRail travel in England risks losing out to cars in the recovery from Covid because the Department for Transport lacks urgency and does not “appreciate the scale of the challenge ahead”, MPs have warned.A critical report from the Commons public accounts committee said that taxpayers could also be left on the hook for large additional costs because new contracts had been awarded without sufficient transparency “to inform oversight”. Continue reading...

About 170 people, some wearing hazmat suits, were the first to fly to the Pacific island for a holiday with a Covid twistOn Tuesday afternoon in Taipei about 170 people, some dressed in hazmat suits and face shields, boarded a plane bound for the Pacific island of Guam.The sold-out flight was a package holiday with a Covid twist: dubbed “Air V&V” (vacation and vaccination), Guam is capitalising on its abundance of vaccines to revive its tourism industry, and Taiwan’s residents are the first customers. Continue reading...

Dutch police have detained three suspects after investigative reporter was shot in the streetDutch crime reporter Peter de Vries, known for his work in exposing the criminal underworld, has been shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam.Three suspects were detained, including the possible gunmen, police said, without providing details. Continue reading...

Greece reports 1,797 new daily cases more than twice the 801 cases reported on Monday; curbs on nightlife in Catalonia to reduce impact of virus on young

In the end, it all came down to one kick. One kick from Jorginho, for everything. Earlier misses by Dani Olmo and Álvaro Morata had put Italy in prime position to qualify for Sunday’s final against England or Denmark. With a calmness belying the enormity of the moment, Jorginho rolled the ball into the corner to conclude almost three hours of the highest tension, and break Spanish hearts.It was a semi-final that would have been a worthy final, a game that pulsed and throbbed like a human heart. Spain played probably their best game of the tournament; Italy managed to hold them at bay without ever quite hitting the heights of their earlier matches. Morata’s cool late finish, cancelling out Federico Chiesa’s goal on the hour, turned out to be only the start of the drama at a whooping, enthralled, drained Wembley. Continue reading...