World news | The Guardian

Canberra says allegation Australia is ‘working in the shadows’ to sabotage emergency use of Chinese vaccines in Papua New Guinea ‘absolutely not’ true

Caffeine makes us more energetic, efficient and faster. But we have become so dependent that we need it just to get to our baselineAfter years of starting the day with a tall morning coffee, followed by several glasses of green tea at intervals, and the occasional cappuccino after lunch, I quit caffeine, cold turkey. It was not something that I particularly wanted to do, but I had come to the reluctant conclusion that the story I was writing demanded it. Several of the experts I was interviewing had suggested that I really couldn’t understand the role of caffeine in my life – its invisible yet pervasive power – without getting off it and then, presumably, getting back on. Roland Griffiths, one of the world’s leading researchers of mood-altering drugs, and the man most responsible for getting the diagnosis of “caffeine withdrawal” included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the bible of psychiatric diagnoses, told me he hadn’t begun to understand his own relationship with caffeine until he stopped using it and conducted a series of self-experiments. He urged me to do the same.For most of us, to be caffeinated to one degree or another has simply become baseline human consciousness. Something like 90% of humans ingest caffeine regularly, making it the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world, and the only one we routinely give to children (commonly in the form of fizzy drinks). Few of us even think of it as a drug, much less our daily use of it as an addiction. It’s so pervasive that it’s easy to overlook the fact that to be caffeinated is not baseline consciousness but, in fact, an altered state. It just happens to be a state that virtually all of us share, rendering it invisible. Continue reading...

Justice in England and Wales is on its knees, with huge court delays adding to the suffering of crime victims and grieving familiesJustice is grinding to a halt. The handcuff-rattling home secretary, Priti Patel, likes announcing draconian new sentences – but without adequate police, prisons and, above all, law courts to hear cases, her bombast is empty.Justice delayed is justice denied when a four-year-old alleged victim of sexual abuse has to wait so long – purely for lack of court time – that they could be aged eight before their case reaches court. What will they remember? The defence can make a reasonable argument to the jury that after so long, such a young child’s memory will be unreliable. That’s not exceptional, just one case I have come across while interviewing solicitors. Continue reading...

Our night in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh was hot, satisfying and as cheery as you could ever hope forA couple of years ago, before the world shut down, the Guardian sent me to the Edinburgh festival to write a piece on all of the nude shows taking place that year (there was a record number). This is the type of extremely fun commission that journalists dream of, and this particular piece resulted in me being on the cover of G2, smiling, with the strapline: “Fifteen naked people, and that was just Monday!”It was a work trip that was as much fun socially as it was professionally. The weather was glorious, for the most part, and the atmosphere buoyant. A few people I knew were also there for the festival, and I had time to see them. In particular, a woman I had known tangentially a decade ago, when we both lived in Oxford. At the time, we were both sleeping with men. I was at a college of further education; she was studying at drama school. She was fun and smart and free-spirited, but our paths only crossed at parties. I couldn’t in all certainty tell you if we’d ever had a sober conversation – but I am pretty sure we had kissed a lot of the same guys. Continue reading...

Fighters prepare to face paramilitaries from Amhara following withdrawal of federal troops from regionInsurgent forces in Tigray are mobilising for new conflict against militia from a neighbouring province in Ethiopia, with thousands of new volunteers joining their ranks after federal forces withdrew following more than eight months of war.Ethiopian federal forces declared a unilateral ceasefire and pulled out of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray province, as well as dozens of other towns eight days ago. Continue reading...

Largely spared an outbreak earlier in the pandemic, the Pacific nation is now grappling with a rising caseload, and a shrinking economyFor most of the pandemic, when Fijians tuned in each night to updates from the country’s health experts, they were greeted with the same message: the nation had reported zero, or one or two cases that day.While most countries around the world grappled with surging Covid cases and overwhelmed health systems, Fiji – a country of about 900,000 people in the south Pacific, about a four-hour flight from Australia – was largely spared a widespread outbreak. Like many countries in the Pacific, the impact of Covid on Fiji was chiefly economic, as tourism-dependent economies contracted, but there were few deaths. Continue reading...

Animal was seized after appearing on TikTok before prime minister Hun Sen stepped inA defanged and declawed lion that was kept in an upmarket neighbourhood of the Cambodian capital has been returned to its owner after the unlikely intervention of prime minister Hun Sen.The 18-month-old cub, weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds), had been imported from overseas, officials said. It was raised by its owner, a Chinese national, who named it Hima. Continue reading...

Louisa Wall’s comments mark a relatively rare departure from the government’s usually cautious statementsA member of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour party has denounced alleged human rights abuses by China, including illegal organ harvesting, saying Beijing has no regard for human rights.The comments by MP Louisa Wall mark a relatively rare departure from the government’s typically cautious statements on alleged human rights violations in China. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s announcement that most coronavirus rules will be scrapped is dissected by the pressBoris Johnson’s announcement that most coronavirus restrictions will be lifted from 19 July – while acknowledging that new cases could reach 50,000 a day before then – dominates today’s front pages.The Guardian’s top story, under the headline “Johnson sweeps away lockdown restrictions in Covid-19 gamble”, focuses on the PM raising the possibility of reintroducing restrictions in the autumn, warning the public not to go “de-mob happy” and saying “we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays”. Continue reading...

NSW union says the best way to ensure protection for children is to vaccinate their teachers

The failures in maternity care that have been unearthed at hospital trusts around the country over past few years

More cases reported in Africa over last week than at any other point in pandemic; Bangladesh reports record new cases as lockdown extended

More than 500 staff at Royal North Shore hospital, and more than 120 staff at Fairfield hospital, are now isolating and unable to work

Borders bill will allow for charges against migrants ‘knowingly’ arriving in UK without permissionMinisters are to reveal proposals for a suite of new laws paving the way for offshore centres for asylum seekers and criminal charges for migrants “knowingly” arriving in the UK without permission.The nationality and borders bill, formerly known as the sovereign borders bill, has been described by the Home Office as containing “the most radical changes to the broken asylum system in decades” making it harder for those who enter illegally to stay in the UK. Continue reading...

The New York-born film-maker worked on hits ranging from The Twilight Zone to Lethal WeaponRichard Donner, the prolific Hollywood director and producer who helmed some of the biggest hit films of the 1970s and 80s including Superman and The Goonies, has died aged 91.Donner died on Monday, his wife, the film producer Lauren Shuler Donner, told Deadline. Continue reading...

If it becomes law, residing on land without permission would be a criminal offence, threatening a way of life for communities across the UK“I am worried that not everyone knows what is coming,” says Amy, sitting in the truck she has turned into a cosy home for her and her two children. “If this bill is passed it will mean the end of our culture. The end of our way of life.”Amy, who wanted to be known by her first name, lives with her two sons on a small Travellers’ site down a quiet country lane in the west of England, along the edges of an ancient forest. Continue reading...

Florida governor declares state of emergency in 15 counties, including site of collapsed condoTropical Storm Elsa was expected to make landfall in Cuba on Monday afternoon, after 180,000 people were evacuated from southern regions amid fears of heavy flooding.Elsa is expected to bring tropical storm conditions to Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including Miami-Dade county, where the partially-collapsed Champlain Towers condominium was demolished with explosives on Sunday night. Continue reading...

New evidence ‘could change the timeline of the pandemic in Italy’, say lawyers for victims’ families

New alliance of multilateral institutions warns vaccine inequity could curb economic recovery

Local health leaders blame spike in cases on Delta variant affecting unvaccinated under-25s

Industry body chief says no ‘logical reason’ Berwick commuter car park should cost nearly double benchmark price

Latest updates: legal restrictions in England set to end on 19 July, says Boris Johnson; UK reports 27,334 new cases and nine new Covid-linked deaths

Gunmen overpowered security staff at Bethel Baptist high school in Kaduna stateGunmen have kidnapped 140 children from a boarding school in north-western Nigeria, a school official has said, in the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting schoolchildren and students.Heavily armed criminal gangs in north-west and central Nigeria often attack villages to loot, steal cattle and abduct people for ransom, but since the start of the year have increasingly targeted schools and colleges. Continue reading...

Star of music, TV and film who had UK Top 10 hit in 1978 with Do It, Do It Again had been suffering an undisclosed illnessRaffaella Carrà, the pop singer and actor who was an entertainment icon in her native Italy, has died aged 78.Her long-term partner, Sergio Iapino, announced her death, saying: “Raffaella has left us. She has gone to a better world, where her humanity, her unmistakable laugh and her extraordinary talent will shine forever.” He said she had been battling an unnamed illness for some time. Continue reading...

Reports claim Brazilian president, already accused of mishandling Covid, was involved in embezzlement schemeThe Brazilian president has come under further pressure after being personally implicated in an alleged corruption racket involving the supposed misappropriation of his workforce’s wages.Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist who admires Donald Trump, took office in January 2019 vowing to “forever free the fatherland from the yoke of corruption”. Continue reading...

Analysis: coronavirus is more contagious and more lethal than influenza, and we lack the same global protection mechanism

Home Office figures caused speculation that number of Europeans in UK had been underestimatedLast week, the Home Office announced it had received 6m applications for the EU settlement scheme, prompting some to conclude the number of Europeans living in the UK was almost double previous estimates.Some on social media claimed that it meant 9% of the UK’s population of 67 million was now made up of Europeans. Continue reading...

It’s been dubbed ‘tangping’ – shunning tough careers to chill out instead. But how is the Communist party taking the birth of this new counterculture?Name: Low-desire life.Age: People – young ones especially – have been rebelling, dropping out, rejecting the rat race for pretty much ever, since the rat race began. But in China, it’s becoming more common. On trend, you might say. Continue reading...

Cyberspace regulator claimed the company had illegally collected users’ personal dataChina’s cyberspace regulator has ordered smartphone app stores to pull Didi Global Inc’s app after it alleged the ride-hailing company had “illegally collected users’ personal data”.On Sunday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it had told Didi to make changes to comply with data protection rules, four days after its initial public offering (IPO) in New York, which raised $4.4bn (£3.2bn) – the biggest Chinese overseas IPO in the first half of the year. Continue reading...

Officials to be investigated after film appears to show patrol boat firing shots at a vessel carrying 64 people in the MediterraneanProsecutors in Sicily have launched an investigation against the Libyan coastguard after footage emerged appearing to show officials firing on a boat of migrant families in the Mediterranean Sea.On 30 June, rescue workers from the German organisation Sea-Watch recorded the Libyan coastguard patrol vessel coming dangerously close to the small wooden boat and apparently firing shots in an attempt to force the 64 people onboard back to Libya. Continue reading...

Priest and human rights activist was denied bail despite being weakened by Parkinson’s and CovidIndia’s oldest political prisoner, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest who was denied bail as his health deteriorated, has died, prompting an outpouring of anger among lawyers, writers, politicians and activists.Father Stan Swamy, a priest and human rights activist who spent five decades fighting for the rights of the tribal community in the state of Jharkhand, was arrested in October 2020, charged under draconian terrorism laws and held in judicial custody. Continue reading...

Event in Georgian capital cancelled after protesters storm activists’ headquarters and attack journalistsOrganisers have cancelled a Pride march in Georgia after far-right demonstrators stormed LGBTQ activists’ headquarters and attacked journalists in violence that the country’s prime minister appeared to blame on the event itself.Video and photographs showed anti-gay protesters scaling a three-storey building to break into the headquarters of the Tbilisi Pride march in the Georgian capital, while elsewhere men with long beards in priests’ clothing punched and kicked journalists, with as many as 20 injured. Continue reading...

Government changes rule that second jab must be given in same place as first amid rise in Delta cases

Influenced by British bands, the Zamrock movement dominated the 1970s until social unrest and Aids dismantled it. As a new documentary is released, Witch frontman Jagari takes a break from gemstone mining to tell his extraordinary life storyEmmanuel Chanda works as a gemstone miner in the Zambian countryside, blasting apart rock faces in search of amethyst. Surrounded by rock and noise, there’s a poetic similarity to what he is best known for: electrifying a nation as the frontman of Witch, the most popular band in 1970s Zambia who released five full-length albums in as many years and were the driving force for the decade’s Zamrock movement. Blending African rhythms with garage rock inspired by imports from the country’s former British colonisers, they were dubbed their country’s own Beatles, and were renowned for incendiary, seven-hour live shows led by Chanda, for whom the stage was simply too small.Nearly 45 years on from his last studio recordings with the band, Chanda – known as Jagari, after Mick Jagger – has regained some of his stardom. A new documentary by Gio Arlotta, Witch: We Intend to Cause Havoc, has just been released, and traces the band’s legacy from the mines of the Zambian Copperbelt province to festival stages in Europe after an unlikely revival that, in the late 2010s, brought Witch out of Africa for the first time. Continue reading...

Victim’s family say antisemitic attack on bus and at tube station was because of his ‘obviously Jewish’ appearanceA Jewish man who suffered antisemitic abuse twice in an hour in central London was physically threatened because of his appearance, his family have said.The man, named only as Yosef, was on his way home when he was subjected to a “torrent of abuse”, with threats also being made to his life. Continue reading...

New Zealand restarts the travel bubble with Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT; infected aged care resident at SummitCare home in NSW was not vaccinated. Follow latest updates

Authorities called assailant a ‘lone wolf’ domestic terrorist who had been politically radicalisedPolice in Hong Kong have told citizens that mourning the death of a man who stabbed a police officer last week is “no different to supporting terrorism”, as the case was taken over by the national security department.The comments followed the stabbing of an officer in the back on Thursday night by a 50-year-old man at Causeway Bay. Police said the man then took his own life. The 28-year-old officer sustained a punctured lung in the attack and remains in hospital in a critical condition, according to local media. Continue reading...

He’s lived within a boulder, hatched a nest of hen’s eggs, and now plans to encase himself in a beehive. Is this France’s most extreme performance artist –and how does he go to the toilet?Last month, in a smart gallery in Paris, the back of a sculpture was removed and a man was lifted out. He looked around, disoriented, as his body slowly unfurled. A doctor rushed to his side and, after inspecting him, announced he was in good health. The crowd cheered. He’d been in there for seven days.Abraham Poincheval, possibly France’s most extreme performance artist, specialises in surreal feats of endurance, often in tight spots. He has lived inside a rock for seven days, and a stuffed bear for 13. For this latest work, Hartung, he decided to look at a painting by abstract artist Hans Hartung for seven days straight. He even built a special contraption for it: an aluminium shell of a man sitting on a block, looking down a large square funnel. Continue reading...

Victorian Covid-19 restrictions are easing further as the Melbourne coronavirus outbreak comes under control. Is the 25km travel limit being lifted? How many visitors are allowed? Is mask-wearing compulsory? Are schools closed? Here are the new rules

Despite chronic pain and deadly infections, Palestinians wounded in protests three years ago still hope to recover without surgerySitting on his hospital bed, with external fixators screwed into his right leg, Mohammed al-Mughari has been in pain and on medication since he was shot in the leg more than three years ago.He lives with a chronic bone infection – from bacteria now resistant to most antibiotics. Doctors, including in Jordan and Egypt where he sought treatment previously, have all recommended that an amputation could end his long-term suffering, but he has steadfastly refused. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s outgoing Jerusalem correspondent Oliver Holmes talks to predecessor Ian Black about how much – and how little – the job has changed over the yearsIt was the end of the 1980s and the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Ian Black, was talking shop with his competitor at the Sunday Times, the late Marie Colvin. “We were discussing when there might be a Palestinian state,” Black recalls of their conversation in Jerusalem. “We thought maybe it would happen in two or three years.”Israel and the Palestinian territories were deep into the first intifada, an uprising against the occupation that lasted from 1987 until the early 90s. It was a period in which violence spiked, but also a time of nascent hope that the lengthy military grip over Palestinian life might finally end. Continue reading...

Mobile Covid testing units offering results in 15 minutes are among a host of rapid tests that play a crucial role in keeping rates down

Queensland recorded four new coronavirus cases as South Australia lifts restrictions

Exclusive: record low level of London journeys during Covid crisis drives down commercial income

Number rose after officials in Atami checked residential registers rather than relying on reports of missing people following mudslideOfficials in Japan have dramatically raised their estimate of the number of people still missing after a mudslide ripped through a seaside town at the weekend.Reports said three people had died in the disaster, which occurred after days of torrential rain in Atami, a famous hot spring resort about 60 miles (90 km) south-west of Tokyo. Continue reading...

Mayor aims to remove all reference to former Yugoslav leader Marshall Tito from street in RadenciThirty years after Slovenia achieved independence, a bitter dispute over a street that since 1979 has been named in honour of Marshal Josip Broz Tito has highlighted how the former leader of the federation of Yugoslavia continues to divide opinion in central Europe.A municipal decree changing the name of Tito Road, or Titova cesta, in Radenci, a town in north-east Slovenia, to Cesta osamosvojitve Slovenije, or Road of Slovenian Independence, has been debated in the country’s highest court. A referendum was even mooted as a solution in the face of opposition. Continue reading...

The daughter of an octogenarian aged care resident who has tested positive to Covid is outraged that two-thirds at the Baulkham Hills home’s staff are unvaccinated, and that families were not told

The passenger death toll from the crash was 47, officials said, and three civilians on the ground were also killedAll 96 passengers on the Philippine air force plane that crashed on Sunday have been accounted for, military chief Cirilito Sobejana has said. The passenger death toll from the crash was 47, while 49 military personnel were injured, Sobejana told Reuters in a phone message.The Department of National Defence said on Sunday that three civilians on the ground were also killed, and that four civilians were injured when the Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the south of the country. Continue reading...

Luxembourg PM reported to be undergoing tests in hospital; Israel seeking new vaccine deal after talks with UK collapse