World news | The Guardian

Many are beginning to fear the world may soon be caught in the crossfire between Beijing and WashingtonIn July 1971, US national security adviser Henry Kissinger embarked on a secret mission to China, then America’s sworn enemy. This 48-hour ice-breaking trip paved the way for Richard Nixon’s historic handshake with Chairman Mao a year later. Nixon’s visit altered the strategic geometry of the cold war and influenced Washington’s subsequent movement towards détente with Moscow.Half a century on, as Joe Biden arrived in Cornwall to attend the G7 meeting, there was a looming sense of history in the making again – one that involves the talk of allies (a group of like-minded democracies) and adversaries (notably Russia and China). It is also one that invokes memories of the cold war in the 1970s, when strategists like Kissinger crafted the art of balancing power between the US, China and the Soviet Union. Continue reading...

Aid chief says situation is worst since the 2011 famine in Somalia that led to the deaths of an estimated 250,000 peopleMore than 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are suffering famine conditions, with millions more at risk, according to an analysis by UN agencies and aid groups that blamed conflict for the worst food crisis in a decade.“There is famine now in Tigray,” the UN aid chief, Mark Lowcock, said on Thursday after the release of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. Continue reading...

Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong says mutual recognition of vaccination certificates key to quarantine-free travelThe Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, have confirmed students will be the first group to travel under a bubble arrangement to be established by the two countries, with Morrison stating it will happen “sooner rather than later”.Lee confirmed students would be the first priority following talks between the two leaders in Singapore on Thursday. Continue reading...

Police issue warnings as loyalists march along Shankill Road on eve of G7 summitWarnings have been issued by police after thousands of people gathered in west Belfast to protest over the Northern Ireland protocol.Loyalists gathered in Woodvale on Thursday evening to stage a demonstration and a parade then took place along the Shankill Road. Continue reading...

The destroyer Sahand and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran departed last monthAn Iranian destroyer and support vessel are now sailing in the Atlantic Ocean on a rare mission far from the Islamic Republic, Iran’s state TV has reported, amid speculation that the ships could be bound for Venezuela.The destroyer Sahand and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran departed last month from Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas, said Adm Habibollah Sayyari, Iran’s deputy army chief, on Thursday. He described the mission as the Iranian navy’s longest and most challenging voyage yet, without elaborating. Continue reading...

At least 1bn doses due from G7 but campaigners say package does not address structural problems

Boris Johnson’s guests are set to enjoy buttered rum, an indoor rainforest and a beach barbecue with local sea shantiesSea shanties, buttered rum and toasted marshmallows on the beach: away from the tense negotiations at this weekend’s G7 summit, Boris Johnson is hoping to give the assembled leaders a taste of Cornwall at its laid-back best.Emmanuel Macron hosted the 2019 G7 summit in Biarritz, but Johnson’s team believe the dramatic Cornish scenery can match the glitzy riviera resort – although not necessarily the balmy sunshine of the south of France. Continue reading...

Analysis: Mundane conflicts over sausage exports have no place in high-flown plans for new Atlantic charterWhatever precise pressure US diplomats put on Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, ahead of Joe Biden’s rather chaotic first photocall with Johnson at the G7 summit at Carbis bay, both sides were keen at their bilateral meeting to put the ugly genie back in the bottle.The US side claimed there was nothing it had been saying to the British in private about the sanctity of the Good Friday agreement that it had not said in public, adding there had been no presidential directive to the US embassy to heighten the issue via a demarche to Frost, a florid piece of diplomatic jargon of French origin normally reserved for something akin to Russian diplomats caught spying. Continue reading...

PM calls US president a ‘breath of fresh air’ and strikes optimistic tone about Northern Ireland tensionsBoris Johnson sought to play down any differences with Washington over the way Brexit could affect Northern Ireland after talks with Joe Biden at the G7 summit, as he called the US president “a breath of fresh air”.Speaking to TV reporters after bilateral talks with Biden at the summit venue in Cornwall, where according to Downing Street the pair discussed Covid and the climate emergency, as well as Northern Ireland, Johnson called the discussions “very good”. Continue reading...

Latest updates: prime minister welcomes US president’s desire to work with UK on issues such as security and climate crisis

Hotel quarantine ‘may exacerbate’ poor mental health and more psychological support is needed, study findsOne-fifth of patients who attended an emergency department from hotel quarantine were suffering from mental health emergencies rather than Covid-19, research led by the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney has found.Researchers conducted a retrospective study of emergency department presentations by patients referred from special health accommodation quarantine hotels in Sydney during 1 June to 30 September 2020.

Analysis: members of religious group declared extremist in 2017 have faced arrests, surveillance and prisonThe decision by a Moscow court to declare Alexei Navalny’s nationwide political organisation as “extremist” adds the group to a list associated with terrorist organisations such as al-Qaida and Islamic State.But for a guide to how Russia could treat Navalny’s supporters, a better example is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a non-violent religious group that has felt the full extent of Russia’s law on extremism. Continue reading...

Widespread internment, torture and rights abuses have been claimed by former detainees as Beijing continues a policy of denial

There’s nothing more refreshing than a chunk of cool, juicy watermelon – but even the smallest fruit generates a lot of leftovers. Here’s how to turn them into quick and easy salads, granita, gazpacho …

Slogan ‘Glory to the Heroes’ was ordered removed from kit after protests from RussiaUkraine’s football association said on Thursday it was in talks with Uefa to reverse a decision by the European football governing body to remove a slogan from Ukraine shirts after protests from Russia.“Ukraine’s football association is in talks with Uefa to keep in place the slogan on its jerseys,” the association’s press service told AFP, after Uefa said the message “Glory to the heroes”, stitched on the inside of the shirt collar, was “clearly political in nature”. The association said that “earlier Uefa had approved the new kit and every element of it, including the slogan”. Continue reading...

Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, 44, on trial over fatal shooting of his former partner Julie DouibA man has gone on trial in Corsica accused of gunning down his former partner in a killing that sparked a global feminist campaign.The death of Julie Douib in March 2019 highlighted the scale of femicide in France and led to a movement by women to reclaim the streets with marches, demonstrations and the posting of collages. Continue reading...

From Don Henley to Drake, we rate the hottest sounds of the seasonFor a fleeting moment Brooklyn’s the Drums were the skinny jean-sporting indie band du jour. This is their crowning moment, all pogoing bass, petal-soft whistle riffs and a lyric about waking up on a sunny morning and running to the beach. “Oh mama I don’t care about nothing” feels like a very summer 2021 mantra, too. Continue reading...

Canadian Jasmine Hartin, charged with manslaughter by negligence, freed after eight days behind barsThe daughter-in-law of the Conservative party donor Michael Ashcroft has been released on bail in Belize where she is accused of accidentally shooting dead a senior police officer.Jasmine Hartin was freed on Wednesday after spending eight days behind bars in Belize’s central prison. She had to surrender her passport and personal documents and cannot leave the country without permission from the supreme court. Continue reading...

Police raid of Dean Morrice’s home found stockpile of chemicals and cache of terrorism manualsA former Ukip member and British army employee has been found guilty of a range of terror and explosive charges.Dean Morrice ran a Telegram channel that prosectors said had “unapologetically, unambiguously pumped out” neo-Nazi propaganda that encouraged the killing of people of colour and Jewish people. Continue reading...

Venue for leaders’ pre-G7 talks switched to Carbis Bay after forecast of rain at St Michael’s MountAs every visitor to Cornwall knows, the changeable weather has a habit of scuppering the best-laid plans.A drizzly, misty Thursday in the far south-west of Britain meant Joe Biden and Boris Johnson had to switch the venue for their talks before the G7 summit. Continue reading...

Camped in a half-built royal palace in Anka, in the north-western Zamfara state, displaced families – mostly women and children – just want to escape the upheavals making their lives impossible

Former colleagues remember ‘intelligent, playful, constantly curious’ news assistant and friendRuben Sergeyev, a longtime consultant and friend to Guardian correspondents in Moscow from the Gorbachev era through to the Putin years, has died of Covid-19 at the age of 65.He died on Wednesday after being admitted to hospital in Moscow. Sergeyev worked from 1988 until 2014 as a news assistant, fixer, and all-round explainer of Russia during a time of rapid change. He helped a succession of bureau chiefs including Jonathan Steele, David Hearst, James Meek and Miriam Elder. Continue reading...

Omar Abu al-Ouf lost his parents, grandparents and two siblings when his building was bombed by the Israeli military last month, in a street where 43 people were killed. Two weeks after the 16-year-old was pulled from the rubble, he leaves hospital to visit his remaining family and return to what’s left of his devastated neighbourhood in Gaza City. Many of Omar’s neighbours also lost loved ones, and search through the rubble for possessions, after a war which killed more than 250 people in Israel and Gaza, the vast majority of them Palestinians

Medieval martial arts enthusiast and ultra-rightwinger Damien Tarel claims act was not premeditatedA medieval martial arts enthusiast who slapped the French president, Emmanuel Macron, across the face will appear before a judge in a fast-track trial on Thursday.Damien Tarel had acknowledged striking Macron while the president was on a visit to a professional training college, but told investigators it was not premeditated, the prosecutor Alex Perrin said in a statement. Continue reading...

Bloc leaders say UK must fully implement post-Brexit arrangements for Northern IrelandBoris Johnson must respect the “rule of law” by fully implementing the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, EU leaders have said ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall.Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said the behaviour of the prime minister was of increasing concern to EU member states. “It’s paramount to implement what we have decided – this is a question of rule of law,” he said. Continue reading...

The NSW deputy premier dismissed concerns that a grant to a cooperative linked to Angus Taylor’s family may have been improperNSW deputy premier John Barilaro has brushed off the concerns of an unidentified public servant that a $50,000 grant to an agricultural cooperative associated with federal MP Angus Taylor’s family may be improper.In question time on Thursday, Labor MP Yasmin Catley asked Barilaro: “Dead set, deputy premier, is this a grant or a bribe?” referring to what the concerned public servant had written in a note to file. Continue reading...

Defence minister says increased presence good for both countries and it’s time for a discussion about ‘threats we face’

Kathlen Romeu’s death marks latest fatality among Black favela residents as police clash with drug gangsIn early June, Kathlen Romeu posted a photo of herself and her boyfriend on a Instagram, with a caption announcing that she was pregnant. “I am discovering myself as a mother, and I am scared thinking about how it is going to be,” the 24-year old interior designer wrote on 2 June. “I laugh, I cry and I am afraid.”Related: Police killing hundreds in Rio de Janeiro despite court ban on favela raids Continue reading...

In 2010, Katie Allen was days from giving birth to her second child when she felt his movements slow. She talks about the ordeal – and how she was helped through itI woke to the barely there contractions of early labour. It was a few days before my due date in my second pregnancy – a pregnancy seemingly without complications. The Moses basket was out and my hospital bag packed; everything was ready for our baby boy. He was kicking as normal.As the day went on, my contractions remained mild and far apart. I kept to the plan discussed with our midwives: stay at home as long as possible, no rushing to the maternity ward. I took our two-year-old son, Alex, for a walk with a friend and we collected conkers. When I sang Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star at Alex’s bedtime, the baby kicked hard, as he had done most days, as if he recognised the song, knew our routine. Continue reading...

The former soldier rejected allegations of murder and became visibly distraught when asked about the mission that won him a Victoria CrossBen Roberts-Smith has broken down in the witness box recounting the danger of his Victoria Cross-winning mission in Afghanistan, in a dramatic first day of evidence, during which he consistently rejected allegations of murder made against him.During nearly five hours of testimony on Thursday, Roberts-Smith was at times combative, at times animated, and – as he discussed a 2010 assault in Tizak – moved to tears, as he was asked to recount the perilous mission that would ultimately win him the Victoria Cross. Continue reading...

Comments at Guardian Live event are first time former PM has explicitly called for UK to rejoin EUGordon Brown has said he will not give up pushing for the UK to rejoin the EU, while stressing that this is a personal view and he accepts it is unlikely in the short term.While the former prime minister was a strong supporter of remain before the 2016 referendum, his comments at a Guardian Live event on Wednesday night are the first time he has explicitly called for the UK to return to the EU. Continue reading...

TGA says 52-year-old New South Wales woman died ‘with a blood clot in the brain’, but it maintains vaccine benefits outweigh risks

Queensland health minister says couple whose road trip from Victoria sparked Covid fears ‘are at the end of their infectious period’ and so the risk is lower than expected. Follow live updates

Kurdish vet is behind groundbreaking welfare legislation to be debated by parliament in Iraq’s autonomous region“The animals are my life,” says Sulaiman Tameer. In one corner of his desk is a statuette of a rearing horse. A watercolour of a donkey hangs behind it. “That one lives with a government minister,” he nods at a photo of a rescued kitten. “But I won’t tell you which one.”The veterinarian’s office, which shares space with his clinic on a sidestreet in Duhok in the Kurdistan region, in northern Iraq, is where Tameer divides his time between treating animals and campaigning for government action on their rights. Continue reading...

‘Don’t do as we did,’ says Pippa Biddle, who highlights colonial structure of industry where unqualified Western tourists pay to volunteer abroadSeven years ago, Pippa Biddle wrote a blog post about volunteering abroad. She recounted her struggles speaking Spanish to children living with HIV in the Dominican Republic and how local people in Tanzania would spend all night redoing the construction work she and her classmates had done poorly.“Taking part in international aid where you aren’t particularly helpful is not benign,” Biddle wrote. “It’s detrimental.” Continue reading...

The deposed leader is accused of misuse of land for a charity foundation, on top of accepting bribes of gold and cashMyanmar’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other former officials from her government have been hit with fresh corruption charges, according to state-run media.Citing the country’s anti-corruption commission, the state newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said on Thursday that the accusations related to the misuse of land for the charitable Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which Aung San Suu Kyi chaired. Continue reading...

Joe Biden wants alternative to Chinese belt and road offer while Japanese PM’s interests are more domesticLeaders of the world’s seven leading industrialised nations will meet in Cornwall this weekend to agree a communique on how to redraw the world post-Covid, but also to pursue their own agendas and try to forge new personal relations after nearly 18 months apart.1. Joe Biden has restored order, calm and direction to US international alliances, but now has to show what he will do with that goodwill. Continue reading...

A look back at the career of Senegal-born film director Ousmane Sembène as his 1968 film Mandabi is released in the UK for the first time•Mandabi is released on 11 June in cinemas, and on 28 June on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital platforms.•Peter Bradshaw on Mandabi: classic about colonialism resonates today Continue reading...

Expert says Exercise Alice, one of 10 exercises disclosed under FoI, could have been relevant to Covid response

The top items on the leaders’ agenda for this week’s gathering at Cornwall, and some possible outcomesWorld leaders are gathering for the G7 summit in Cornwall this week. Here we look at the key themes that will dominate their meeting and what might constitute a successful outcome from discussions: Continue reading...

Flordelis grew up in a Rio favela, but rose to fame after adopting more than 50 children, becoming a hugely successful gospel singer and winning a seat in congress. And now she is on trial for murderWhen Flordelis dos Santos de Souza boarded an air force jet from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on the morning of 1 January 2019, she felt she was witnessing the beginning of a new dawn. Brazil was about to install a far-right religious nationalist, Jair Bolsonaro, as president, and she, a black gospel singer from one of Rio’s most violent and impoverished favelas, had won a seat in parliament, asserting her place among her country’s powerful evangelical elite. At 57, she was a church leader and a social crusader, celebrated for standing up to some of Rio’s most dangerous gangsters and for taking in dozens of children rescued from lives of deprivation and crime. She had devoted her life to building a multimillion-dollar evangelical empire, which had grown to include nine churches. Now she was a politician, too.At her side was her husband, Anderson do Carmo de Souza, also a preacher, 16 years her junior, who managed her political career. “I want to thank all of you who had faith and gave Flor a place in this movement to change Brazil, isn’t that right love?” Anderson said into a camera as the pair stood on the airport runway, waiting to fly to the capital at the invitation of one of the country’s most powerful politicians, Rodrigo Maia, then speaker of the lower house. Continue reading...

UN warns that coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more children into workChild labour has risen for the first time in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters towards the same fate, Unicef has said.In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the UN children’s agency say the number in child labour stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 – an increase of 8.4 million in four years. Continue reading...

Installation of new pathway and lift has been criticised by archaeologists and called ‘a scandal’When seen through the eyes of Manolis Korres, the architect who has long presided over the restoration of the Parthenon, the Acropolis needs no improvement at all.In the face of such architectural mastery, he thinks of himself more as a maestro of order, making a monument that has survived explosions, fire, looting and earthquakes more understandable to the public. Continue reading...

IOC officials have avoided any mention of the commercial forces driving the Tokyo Games towards their 23 July opening dateThe least divisive statement in the saga surrounding Tokyo 2020 – assuming, as many people now do, that it will happen in just over 40 days’ time – is that it will be an Olympics like no other.Overseas fans have been banned; athletes will spend what for many will be the pinnacle of their career sealed off from the outside world; GPS-tracked journalists hoping to escape their hotel rooms for a late-night fix of ramen risk being put on the next flight home. Continue reading...

Warnings from envoys that David Frost must compromise with EU on border checks as risk to Good Friday agreement ‘will not be welcomed by the US’Senior US embassy diplomats in London, backed by the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, have directly warned the UK’s Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, that he will inflame tensions in Northern Ireland if he does not compromise over border checks.A meeting between the US charge d’affaires Yael Lampert, currently America’s most senior diplomat in London, and Frost led to an urging by the US for Britain to come to a negotiated settlement with the EU, according to an internal UK government note. Continue reading...

Recognising Auckland and Wellington on the basis of Covid success is not on their own meritsEven in ordinary times, “liveability” is an almost ludicrous measure by which to assess a city.Not only does it imply that there is a uniform experience to be had there, separate to socioeconomic status or disadvantage – the qualities or properties that may make somewhere a desirable place to live differ between individuals, and within lifetimes. Continue reading...

Statement indicates leaders will also commit to delivering a billion vaccine doses and plans to tackle forced labour

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Covid-19 public exposure sites in Queensland and what to do if you’ve visited them.

Karim Benzema returns for France, after five years of international exile, in a side already filled with talent. Didier Deschamps will hope to repeat what he achieved as a player, winning Euro 2000 two years after claiming the World Cup with France. Les Bleus still have questions to answer, notably in defence as they try to find the perfect partner for Raphaël Varane. The 2018 World Cup winners' opener is against Germany, which feels like a make-or-break moment for both sides. The Guardian's Paul Doyle takes a look at whether France are ready repeat history. Continue reading...

Misjudged comments to prime minister of Spain sought to play up the South American country’s ties with EuropeArgentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, has triggered a Twitter storm and a regional race debate with misjudged comments to visiting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain that sought to play up the South American country’s ties with Europe.“The Mexicans came from the Indians, the Brazilians came from the jungle, but we Argentines came from the ships. And they were ships that came from Europe,” Fernández said, referring to the many European migrants who arrived in the country. He later apologized for the comments and said his country’s diversity was something to be proud of. Continue reading...