Darragh, 46, and Susan, 44, met in an airport hotel thousands of miles from their homes in the US. They now live in Oregon with their daughter and two dogsIn the summer of 2008, Darragh was travelling home to New York via Heathrow after a holiday in the Balkans. “Everything was delayed,” he remembers. “I was offered a room in a hotel for the night as I couldn’t get back home that day.”He went down to the bar to drown his sorrows. “It was packed with people watching a European Championship quarter-final match. I overheard an American woman ordering a martini,” he says. When the bartender gave her a full glass of vermouth by accident, she went “ballistic”, he says, causing a huge scene. Continue reading...
Sausages are a fabulous ingredient in their own right, and should never just be served up with a pile of veg. Here’s how to use them with panacheIt is easy to be lazy with a sausage. They are already seasoned, so all you have to do is cook them, put them on a plate next to some other stuff and eat them. But to simply plonk a banger next to a pile of veg is to do it a grave disservice – far better to use the sausage as an ingredient in its own right. Here are 10 recipes that do exactly that. Continue reading...
Iryna Tsilyk sensitively captures a family caught up in the conflict with Russia who are trying to make a film of their ownThis sensitive and astute Sundance-winning documentary, in which Kyiv-based director and poet Iryna Tsilyk haunts the back alleys of the Russo-Ukrainian war, is the antidote to the warped propaganda-fest the conflict was depicted as in the 2018 film Donbass. It layers fact and fiction as delicately as an onion as it focuses on the Trofymchuk-Gladky family, who are attempting to shoot piecemeal their own fictional work, called 2014, based on their wartime experiences. But, here, artifice and cinema work entirely in the service of good. They are a source of self-expression and spiritual nourishment for Ukrainians beaten down by close to a decade of fighting.Tsilyk mentored budding film-maker Myroslava Trofymchuk at a workshop, and it is the teenager we see here calling the shots for her family as they act in scenes hunkering down in their cellar; echoes of the shock and trauma they are simultaneously living for real, inspecting bomb damage by smartphone light. The whole household – including single mother Anna and her other three children – is clearly deeply invested in the project, squabbling over shot choices at dinner. After jubilantly celebrating her daughter being accepted for a film scholarship in Kyiv, Anna packs her off, still in hyper-protective mode: “The only thing, I beg you, if you are being bullied, please call me.” Continue reading...
A US state department initiative was the unlikely catalyst for a creative explosion of Pakistani rhythm and western improvIn 1956, a new weapon was unveiled in the cold war: jazz. That year, the US introduced the Jazz Ambassadors Tour, a showcase that sent American musicians overseas to parts of the world that were perceived to be under threat of Soviet influence.While they initially intended to send ballet dancers and symphony orchestras, the State Department were persuaded that the jazz performers who were spearheading the civil rights movement would help generate a positive image of the US to newly independent nations (between 1945 and 1960, 40 countries gained their independence, representing a quarter of the world’s population). The department saw it as a way of silencing Soviet criticism that racial inequality was a stark issue in the US. The ethics were questionable, but the musicians saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share their music directly with people in countries from Asia to Africa and beyond. Continue reading...
People taking selfies near 12th-century fort died as Rajasthan state hit by storms and monsoon rainsPolice say people taking selfies near a watchtower at the 12th-century Amber Fort in the Indian city of Jaipur were among 11 who died after being struck by lightning.Senior police officer Anand Srivastava said a further nine people were killed and nearly 20 others injured in separate lightning strikes as Rajasthan state was lashed with thunderstorms and monsoon rains. Continue reading...
Our Germany correspondent salutes the man who did his job 100 years ago, when it was far more perilous and unpredictableFrederick Augustus Voigt, who was the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent between 1920 and 1932, did not look like an intrepid reporter.A 1935 portrait by the Bauhaus photographer Lucia Moholy makes it appear as though he wants to back away from the camera, distrustful eyes barricaded behind thick, round glasses. His physical appearance was described in his 1957 obituary as “fragile-looking and nervous in manner, shortsighted, with a trick of smiling from the mouth downwards.” Continue reading...
Amnesty is calling for action to help those with no papers who are denied access to education, employment and healthcareAt 45, Philimon Mashava has never had a bank account or a phone in his name.He has never had a birth certificate and, without documents, Mashava’s stateless existence has meant him missing out on school and countless job opportunities, as employers want some form of identification. Continue reading...
Over the years, the traditional way of making charcoal in Cuba has been largely abandoned, but now the government is seeking to bring it back. Photographer Adalberto Roque reports from Matanzas province. Written by Katell AbivenIn a remote swamp in central Cuba, men hew wood and build large pyres that smoulder for days as they keep vigil.They are the coalmen of Ciénaga de Zapata, reviving an old tradition of making charcoal, not in industrial furnaces, but on open-air fires. Continue reading...
Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes provides visual, striking context to the book and podcast series by journalist Ronan Farrow on the work and legacy behind the Weinstein reportsIt is, by now, a familiar timeline: within five days of each other in early October 2017, the New York Times and the New Yorker published two separate, shocking exposés on film producer Harvey Weinstein’s predatory, abusive behavior. The horrific details of his violations, of his sprawling web of non-disclosure agreements, of his routine abuse over decades and the many, many people unable or unwilling to stop it, swelled into an outpouring of women’s experiences with sexual assault. Within days, the #MeToo movement was a full-scale cultural reckoning, though the hashtag was coined years earlier by activist Tarana Burke.Related: Zelda Perkins: ‘There will always be men like Weinstein. All I can do is try to change the system that enables them’ Continue reading...
Federal government now says true birthday of the ‘powerful design’ is 9 July, despite being celebrated for many decades on 12 JulyThe Aboriginal flag just turned 50, but it’s an anniversary that has so far passed without fanfare.A last-minute date change and an ongoing copyright dispute appear to have stifled any celebrations of the well-known symbol synonymous with Indigenous rights campaigns. Continue reading...
Italy’s sluggish legal process under the spotlight as devastated relatives fight for cases to go to trialClinging to his son’s coffin, Vincenzo Agostino solemnly swore that he would not cut his hair or beard until justice was served. It was 10 August 1989, five days after two mafia hitmen on a motorbike had killed Antonino Agostino, a police officer, and his wife, Ida, who was five months pregnant.The couple were shot dead in broad daylight on the seafront promenade in Villagrazia di Carini, a town about 20 miles from Palermo. Vincenzo witnessed his son’s agony as the killers fired a full magazine of bullets at him. He saw his daughter-in-law, who was shot in the heart, move closer to her husband in a vain attempt to console him. Continue reading...
Italy fans came to tournament with low expectations, but their team’s unity and focus have impressedCelebrations erupted across Italy as the national football team secured their win in the Euro 2020 final after a tense penalty shoot-out.“It’s a unique emotion,” said Vincenzo Francavilla. “There’s such a big love for Italy. Continue reading...
by Presented by Rachel Humphreys with Leyland Cecco; on (#5M31V)
Half a century ago, Barry Kennedy was taken from his family and forced into an abusive system that sought to obliterate his Indigenous heritage. Now, after the discovery of more than 1,000 bodies in unmarked graves at schools including his own, he reflects on the traditions that were erased, the friends he lost – and Canada’s new reckoning with that history.In recent months, headlines about the discovery of bodies in unmarked graves on the sites of residential schools have horrified the public in Canada, and around the world – but they capture only part of a multigenerational injustice that has been described as a “cultural genocide”. Continue reading...
Experts say the current system is bound to leak and might be unsustainable in the face of more transmissible strains such as DeltaBreaches of Australia’s quarantine system have substantially increased this year, with data showing there have been as many leaks recorded in the past three months as there were last year.There have been up to 30 breaches – where a community case of Covid has been traced back to an infection in quarantine – since the system was established in March last year for Australian citizens and permanent residents returning home. Twenty of those occurred this year. Continue reading...
Friends and fierce rivals line up in Stockholm in the first of a new series, as Guardian Australia looks back at our historic momentsThe 1912 Olympics were the first to include swimming events for women – the 100m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay (it wasn’t until 1928 that women were permitted to compete in athletics events).
by Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent on (#5M2ZR)
Duberney Capador, killed after assassination of Jovenel Moïse, was hired by security firm to protect ‘important people’, says sisterThe sister of one of the alleged Colombian hitmen accused of assassinating Haiti’s president has insisted he is innocent and vowed to clear her dead brother’s name, as a potentially destabilising power struggle gripped the Caribbean country.Duberney Capador, a retired member of Colombia’s special forces, was one of two Colombians reportedly killed by Haitian security forces last week after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince. More than a dozen citizens of the South American country have so far been arrested, as well as two Haitian Americans. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#5M2ZS)
Body of L/Cpl Bernard Mongan, who had complained of bullying, lay undiscovered for three weeksThe British army has identified serious failings in its handling of the death of a soldier whose body lay undiscovered at a base for three weeks, according to reports.L/Cpl Bernard Mongan, who had made bullying allegations and reportedly tried to kill himself in 2016, was discovered in his barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire, on 23 January last year. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5M2ZT)
Michelle O’Neill concerned about site of unionist bonfire, as tensions rise over post-Brexit trading rulesNorthern Ireland’s deputy first minister has urged people to celebrate peacefully before the start of the loyalist parade season, as tensions increase over post-Brexit trading arrangements.Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill – who is deputy to the new first minister, Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), in the power-sharing administration – called particularly for calm over a bonfire set up in a contentious site in north Belfast. Continue reading...
Tamim Ian Habimana, who was found with a stab wound, died at scene in south-east London on MondayThree more teenagers have been charged with murder after a 15-year-old boy died in a stabbing in south-east London.Tamim Ian Habimana was found with a single stab wound when officers were called to reports of an attack in Woolwich shortly after 5.20pm on Monday. He was pronounced dead at the scene in Woolwich New Road at 6.08pm. Continue reading...
Call comes as outrage over Covid and corruption drags president’s ratings to lowest ever levelOne of Brazil’s leading conservative newspapers has demanded the removal of the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, as public outrage over his coronavirus response and corruption dragged the rightwing populist’s ratings to their lowest ever level.“Jair Bolsonaro is no longer in a position to remain in the presidency,” O Estado de S Paulo (the State of São Paulo, or Estadão) declared on Sunday as polls showed that for the first time a majority of citizens backed impeachment and considered their leader incapable of governing. Continue reading...
Government accused of ‘culpable passivity’ after dozens of journalists were attacked covering Pride protestA Georgian TV cameraman has died after being badly beaten by far-right assailants during a protest against an LGBTQ Pride march, his station said on Sunday, as pressure mounts on authorities over attacks on journalists.Alexander Lashkarava, a 37-year-old cameraman working for the independent station TV Pirveli, was found dead in his bed in the early hours on Sunday, the channel reported. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#5M2WM)
Health board in south Wales calls for users to take extreme care after 12 overdose cases in four daysA man has died after a spate of drug overdoses in Swansea over the last four days, a health board has said.There have been 12 overdose cases in the area in south Wales since Wednesday, prompting warnings from Swansea Bay University health board over the dangers of taking drugs. Continue reading...
Agustín Ibarrola’s 1977 version was painted as part of campaign to get the original returned from New YorkThe grief-snapped mother is still there, cradling her dead child 84 years on, as is the fallen soldier with his stigmata and the horse with its silent screams.However, the Guernica now on its way to a museum in the Basque country is not Pablo Picasso’s monochrome howl of anti-fascist fury but a retelling of the work intended to help bring the original to the market town whose agonies beneath waves of German and Italian bombers inspired its creation – and to denounce the subsequent horrors of the Franco dictatorship. Continue reading...
Haitian president whose five-year rule was mired in allegations of corruption and brutalityThe five-year rule of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, who has died aged 53 after being assassinated at his home, was dominated by allegations of corruption and brutality. At the time of his death there was a dispute about the handover of power, and Moïse, who last year had dissolved the country’s parliament, was essentially running Haiti by decree, much as Napoleon had done more than 200 years before.In 2016, Moïse inherited a country still trying to recover from the 2010 devastating earthquake as well as Hurricane Matthew, which had hit just a month before. However, under his presidency, Haitians endured worsening living standards, including rampant unemployment, in a nation where more than half the population live below the poverty line. Inflation spiralled upwards and food and fuel became scarcer. Continue reading...
Masks will still be 'expected' in indoor, enclosed places when most remaining Covid restrictions are lifted later this month, Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, says in a toughening up of rhetoric amid concerns about soaring infection rates. He says the move to the final stage of reopening from 19 July is responsible, adding that data shows that an eight-week interval between vaccine doses offers additional protection
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Covid-19 public exposure sites in Sydney and regional New South Wales, and what to do if you’ve visited them. Our analysis and map shows where Covid cases are increasing, and a live data update tracks the daily case numbers in NSW
Looting in former president’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal spreads to economic hub of JohannesburgShops were looted overnight and a section of the M2 highway was closed in Johannesburg on Sunday as violence following the jailing of the former South African president Jacob Zuma spread to the country’s main economic hub.Violence had mainly been concentrated in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), where on Wednesday night he began a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. Continue reading...
‘Moral victory’ claimed by veterans’ lawyers as Ministry of Defence grants indefinite leave to remainA group of Fijian-born soldiers who sued the government after being classified as illegal immigrants have been granted leave to remain in the UK, despite losing their legal battle against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Home Office.Seven of the group, who claimed they were the victims of serious and systemic administrative mistakes because they were not properly advised on how to claim the right to stay legally in the UK after completing their service, have now been granted indefinite leave to remain, and a final applicant is expected to receive the status imminently. Continue reading...
Dearth of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and fruit pickers caused by Covid and Brexit are fuelling wage rises with 5% hike in prices forecastFood prices could rise by about 5% by the autumn – and turkeys and pigs in blankets could be in short supply this Christmas – as shortages of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and other workers drive up pay and other costs.Industry insiders say that pay for lorry drivers and other supply chain workers, including abbatoir workers, plus vegetable and fruit pickers and packers have all risen because of difficulties in finding sufficient staff. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5M2RB)
Europe’s strictest border controls to be relaxed as Ireland prepares to allow visits for essential reasonsUp to 400,000 Irish people in Britain are to be given the green light to visit family and friends at home for the first time in six months as Ireland prepares to lift the strictest border controls in Europe.Only those with essential reasons such as haulage, health or funeral attendance have been allowed to enter the country since the border restrictions were imposed in January. Continue reading...
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among organisations picking up some of bill for health projectsA group of global philanthropists, including Bill Gates, have pledged £93.5m to help cover the shortfall left by the UK government’s cuts to foreign aid.After the government cut funding by about a third in the autumn spending review, many “critical” projects have stalled or been put at risk. Continue reading...
A voice recording on Martine Moïse’s Twitter page accuses enemies of trying to stop democratic changeThe widow of the murdered Haitian president Jovenel Moïse has accused shadowy enemies of organising his assassination to stop democratic change, as a struggle for power intensified in the Caribbean nation.Haiti has been reeling since Moïse was gunned down early on Wednesday at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Martine Moïse, who was wounded in the attack, said her husband was targeted for political reasons. Continue reading...
Eight-hour series about Nursultan Nazarbayev criticised for stoking cult of personality of 30-year rulerOliver Stone has interviewed Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev for a new eight-hour film series which has been attacked as a hagiography that contributes to the leader’s cult of personality.In the film, Qazaq: History of the Golden Man, Stone employs the same non-confrontational approach to interviewing autocrats that has made him a favourite of Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych and others seeking to polish their reputations by sitting down with the Oscar-winning director of Platoon and JFK. Continue reading...
Iraqi special forces hunt Isis in lowlands south of Kirkuk, where the militants keep on the move, seeking to regain territorial controlA long convoy of humvees, trucks and troop carriers moved slowly through the countryside to the south of the city of Kirkuk, ferrying dozens of Iraqi special forces. Their target was a string of hideouts used by Islamic State militants in the rough terrain of hills and lowlands crisscrossed by canals and long-dried seasonal river gullies, or wadis as they are called in Arabic.In the lead vehicle sat the commanding officer, a young lieutenant-colonel, Ihab Jalil, with a clipped moustache and hazelnut-coloured eyes. He charted the routes of the convoy on his tablet. At the same time, switching between three radio sets, he talked to the pilots of two helicopters that circled over the convoy, scouting the road ahead. Continue reading...
A great teacher can change a child’s life. As this school year ends, we ask cultural figures including Charles Hazlewood and Kerry Hudson to remember a teacher who inspired themSo, it’s July. Finally. The UK is half-way through the summer of sport and, in schools up and down the country, teachers, classroom assistants, pupils, students and their parents are starting to believe the finishing line is in sight. No matter that there are still sports days to be negotiated, end of term assemblies and awards’ days, leavers’ proms or tea parties. For those whose children are staying on, the moment of learning if your child has got the form teacher that they (or you) wanted for next year, or if they’ll be in the same class as their best friends. From reception and infant school, primary to secondary, it’s a timetable that has altered little since the 1960s and 1970s when I was at school. Taking all the posters down from the walls, emptying lockers and desks, marks on the walls and dust. The slightly melancholy atmosphere of corridors suddenly empty, of another year over. I remember the texture of those last goodbyes, the making of a card for the teacher or a present. Nowadays, these leave-takings are commercialised – printed cards, special gifts, beautiful biscuits or baskets of flowers. Then, it was more homespun but, as the daughter of a teacher, the wife of a teacher, the daughter-in-law of a teacher I know how much those moments mean.This year, more than any year, teachers deserve our thanks. It’s too soon to know the true cost of the pandemic on students’ and teachers’ mental health, but it’s clear that the lack of clarity, the incompetence and mismanagement of examinations, the bias and the appalling lack of knowledge shown by government about the majority of children and young people’s experiences of education, have had a profound effect on attainment, on confidence, on a generation’s love for learning. And all the time, from those first uncertain days in March 2020 to this imminent end of term in July 2021, teachers have been on the front line – trying to support pupils, to teach students, to decipher the mixed messages coming from politicians and local authorities, withstanding unwarranted and ill-informed attacks from sections of the media. Because, in the end, teachers have done their best to keep things going for the students in their care, in spite of the obstacles put in their way. They have been frontline staff without the protection, they have kept a watching brief for vulnerable children to make sure they didn’t slip through the cracks. A year and a half of never quite knowing where they stand, what the rules are, what they are allowed and are not allowed to do. Many months of educational leaders not being listened to or being criticised by those who know nothing about what it means to stand up in front of a class of 30 boisterous 12-year-olds and bring history to life, maths to life, music to life. Continue reading...
Diaz’s latest opus lampoons a Duterte-esque president struggling with a rebel enclave while a deadly flu epidemic ragesAt four and three-quarter hours, the latest butt-numbing opus by Filipino auteur Lav Diaz is a veritable TikTok video by his standards. A needling and occasionally deranged assault on the Philippines’ most recent turn into authoritarianism, this monochrome sci-fi dystopia takes place in 2034 after a series of volcanic explosions has permanently darkened the skies, and the “Dark Killer” flu epidemic is tearing through the population (it was shot pre-Covid). President Nirvano Navarra (Joel Lamangan) – whose stocky physique and wild pronouncements make a fairly obvious match for real-life incumbent Rodrigo Duterte – decides to use the crisis to put a heavy lid on a simmering crockpot of dissidents.Meted out mostly in long and often patience-stretching static takes, and in humdrum locations despite sci-fi inflections such as omnipresent flying drones, Diaz follows both Navarra’s retinue and the opposition. The leader is mollycoddled by two buttoned-up aides, Martha Officio (Hazel Orencio) and Marissa Ventura (Mara Lopez) – who are having an affair, though the latter also moonlights with history teacher turned sex worker Haminilda (Shaina Magdayao). Meanwhile, soulful resistance fighter Hook Torollo (Piolo Pascual) swans in like something from a Wong Kar-wai film. He hangs moodily with the oppressed, but is forced into an assassination attempt after Navarra unleashes Operation Black Rain, a plot to poison rebel enclaves under cover of the epidemic. Continue reading...
The industry has a growing number of women earning plaudits at its renowned bodegas. But are they really better than men?“I think of my wines as barefoot children that need love and care,” says winemaker Marta Casas, holding her glass up to the light. Below her, the vineyards of Penedès roll away almost to the sea, but she could be virtually anywhere in Spain.Just as they fought their way into the male domain of haute cuisine, a growing number of Spanish women are seeking a career in winemaking, with three times as many taking courses in oenology compared with 10 years ago. This was given an added boost in 2018 when Almudena Alberca was made Spain’s first female master of wine, one of only 149 in the world. Continue reading...
‘Complacent reliance’ on overseas produce and computer ordering has put supply at riskBritain’s food supply is highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks, a leading food expert has warned, saying greater emphasis on domestic production would boost the UK’s food security.“If anyone wanted to really damage the British food system, they could just take out the satellites,” said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City, University of London. “Our ‘just-in-time’ system is entirely dependent on computerised logistics. When you pay for your food at the checkout, the computer isn’t just adding up the bill, it’s reordering the stock.” Continue reading...
by Toby Helm, Rachel Stevenson and James Tapper on (#5M2PE)
The prime minister seems intent on lifting England’s remaining Covid restrictions on 19 July. But many in the NHS fear it could be overwhelmed – and tourist hotspots are fearful too
by Elias Visontay (now) and Naaman Zhou (earlier) on (#5M2FC)
Masks must be worn in all indoor construction sites across NSW and from 13 July in residential common areas as new restrictions placed on people entering greater Sydney. This blog is now closed
Skateboarding makes its debut at the Tokyo Olympics next month. We talk to the UK’s top skateboarders to find out why more women are taking up the sportIn 2003, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Sunday Times selected 20 British under-21s who they believed would be multimillionaires by the year 2020. Some of the names on the “rich list” will be familiar: Keira Knightley or Wayne Rooney, who has earned considerably more than the projected £25m. Others were more of a punt, such as the 19-year-old skateboarder Lucy Adams from Horsham, west Sussex. Adams had won a competition called King of the Streets and there was burgeoning interest in skateboarding thanks to the American legend Tony Hawk’s hit video game Pro Skater. The list estimated that Adams would be worth £10m by 2020.Adams, who is 37 now and still “shredding” (riding hard) pretty much every day, snorts when I ask if that figure was on the optimistic side. “Yeah, I think you’d be right in saying that,” she sighs. “Definitely don’t even have a million.” Continue reading...