The Benedictine abbey on the Hebridean island reopens tomorrow after a £3m renovation funded by bake sales and sponsored walksA Christian community on a tiny Hebridean island which for centuries has attracted pilgrims from all over the world will reopen on Monday after a mammoth campaign raised £3.75m to save it from closure.The Iona community, centred on a Benedictine abbey in whose grounds John Smith, the late Labour leader, is buried, has spent the past three years making its buildings fit for the 21st century. The upgrade includes the installation of a renewable energy system and connection to superfast broadband. Continue reading...
Vulnerable people pushed out of accommodation as summit adds to seasonal rush for roomsVulnerable homeless people have been moved out of hotels in Cornwall to make way for police and government officials attending this week’s G7 summit, a local charity claims.Disc Newquay has said that many people who have been living in hotel rooms under rolling short-term contracts during the pandemic had been told to leave, before the summit of the world’s seven largest advanced economies at a luxury hotel in Carbis Bay. Continue reading...
It’s time to break free, says Mariella Frostrup. They may be acting from the most caring of motives, but you can’t allow your family to prevent you being your best possible selfThe dilemma I am a woman in my early 30s. I have financial independence, a job I love, my own home, wonderful friends, and pets I adore. Despite all of this my parents, who I love dearly, still treat me as if I’m 10. How I spend my money (even on groceries) is monitored. New clothes or books are noted and commented on. I would like to try new hobbies, but my mother always comes up with a reason why I shouldn’t. With my father it’s more about my physical safety: I’m not allowed to travel or take jobs in certain cities.I’ve tried moving away, limiting calls and only visiting once a week. This has not been successful. I feel like I am incapable of functioning without their opinion or presence, but is that because I need them, or because of how I’ve been raised? Continue reading...
Victorian health authorities are concerned about the recent spread of the more infectious Covid strain, first identified in India, in the communityTwo members of a West Melbourne family who visited New South Wales last month before testing positive for Covid-19 have been found to have the Delta variant of Covid-19.It’s the second time the variant – first identified in India – has been found in the community in Australia, following a Sydney couple testing positive in May. Continue reading...
How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout 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.
Police still searching for more bodies after gunmen on motorcycles attacked seven villagesA gang of cattle thieves have killed 66 people in raids on seven villages in north-west Nigeria’s Kebbi state, police say.Dozens of assailants on motorcycles attacked seven neighbouring villages in Danko-Wasagu district on Thursday, Kebbi state police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar told AFP on Saturday. Continue reading...
Many social media users applaud termination of author’s account, but some have said move is a blow to freedom of speechThe author Naomi Wolf has been suspended from Twitter after using it to spread myths about the pandemic, vaccines and lockdown.Wolf, who wrote the influential feminist work The Beauty Myth, holds staunch anti-vaccine views. Last month she told a US congressional committee that vaccine passports would “re-create a situation that is very familiar to me as a student of history. This has been the start of many, many genocides.” Continue reading...
Far from being isolating, for some older Australians single life has major benefits – from a closer attachment to friends and community, to the joy of doing things on your own termsBeing “self-partnered” is not just for those in their 20s or 30s, but for some seniors too.Although being alone in the later years of one’s life often comes with a stigma of loneliness attached, some people just prefer living life on their own terms – whether it means not having to share the bed, or eat dinner on anyone else’s schedule. Here, five happily single seniors share their stories. Continue reading...
Work has stopped but the bills have not. As we moved into the second week of this lockdown, panic once again settled inI love my job, my workmates and the people I work for at a sports bar on the Mornington Peninsula.We have a steady flow of tourists all year round and our regulars are extremely loyal to “their local”. For me, work is my life – my workmates and customers are like an extended family and I wouldn’t change that for the world. Continue reading...
by Lorena Allam; production: Carly Earl; photographs: on (#5JQ0E)
Traditional owners are standing together to protect the Fitzroy – a ‘beautiful, living water system’. Just watch out for the bird-sized spiders …A Nyikina man, Mark Coles Smith, and his fellow travellers began their 400km journey down the mighty Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) on a flood plain covered in giant spiders.“Bird-sized” spiders were clinging to the canopy, jostling for space on branches protruding above flood water that stretched for kilometres in every direction. Continue reading...
The author of a debut novel about diversity in the workplace on how black people act around white people, embracing her hair, and what’s changed a year after George Floyd’s murderZakiya Dalila Harris was born and raised in Connecticut and is currently based in Brooklyn. Now a full-time writer, she previously worked in book publishing, an experience she draws on in her highly anticipated debut novel, The Other Black Girl, which combines thriller with social satire to tell the story of Nella, the only black employee at a fictional publishing house, until Hazel joins the company. The book charts how the two become frenemies, explores the challenges of surviving in a systemically racist workplace, and was the subject of a 15-way auction prior to publication in the US.What were your own experiences in publishing and how have they played into the book?
Parts of the continent potentially face a decade of crisis. These two measures are more important than any other in avoiding itThere are so many good causes in the world it is often difficult to know where aid money should go. As leaders line up to attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, the most effective destinations for aid money have become clearer – a global vaccination programme and improving girls’ education.This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where so much can go wrong over the next 10 years – a population explosion, massive biodiversity loss, desertification, famine and mass migration to mention just a few – that unless we focus our efforts on vaccines and girls’ education, whatever is done to alleviate poverty or tackle the climate emergency will be threatened or even sabotaged in almost every other region of the world. Continue reading...
Novelist Carlos Dávalos says his homeland has an unenviable choice in bitterly divisive presidential election“Peru has always been a gloomy country; it’s not the Caribbean,” says the writer and journalist Carlos Dávalos as the traffic rolls down the Gran Vía in Madrid on a sunny June morning. “There’s that sense of a kind of Andean melancholy.”Although Dávalos’s debut novel, La Furia del Silencio (The Fury of Silence), has drawn comparisons with both The Catcher in the Rye and Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning Roma, the coming-of-age tale is profoundly, and inescapably, Peruvian. Continue reading...
The Finnish artist’s work was hugely influenced by her passion for the great outdoors – in particular the tiny island of KlovharunIn 1964, when she was in her 50s, the Moomin creator Tove Jansson settled on her dream island. Klovharun in the Finnish archipelago is tiny – some 6,000 sq metres – and isolated, “a rock in the middle of nowhere”, according to Jansson’s niece, Sophia. It has scarcely any foliage, no running water and no electricity. Yet for Jansson, it was an oasis. For 18 years she and her partner Tuulikki Pietilä spent long summers there, heading out from Helsinki as soon as the ice broke in April, leaving only in early October. The island meant “privacy, remoteness, intimacy, a rounded whole without bridges or fences”.Klovharun encapsulates something of Jansson’s originality as an artist and writer – and her human presence. Her illustrated Moomin books, which began to be published just after the second world war, brought her phenomenal acclaim and devotion. The tales of amiable troll creatures have been taken to generations of hippy hearts; their pear-shaped faces have adorned a million ties. Their marketing triumph – in which Jansson enthusiastically participated – has overshadowed her other achievements as a painter, novelist, short-story writer, anti-Nazi cartoonist, and designer of magazine covers. Success may also have obscured how ambivalent she was, how often on the cusp of identities. She was brought up in Finland speaking Swedish, had male and female lovers, told her stories in pictures and in prose, lived on water as well as land. More and more she appears as a pioneer. Not least in her crystalline descriptions of the natural world. Continue reading...
In 1939, thousands of German soldiers, many of them conscripts, were dispatched across Europe. They went armed not only with weapons but with cameras – the famous German Leica and Rolleiflex – in their bags and orders to capture what they saw.
Five years after Jo Cox MP was murdered in her constituency, her sister is standing for Labour in a crucial byelection there. She explains why she’s ready to take on Cox’s political legacyIt was the most shocking day in British politics this century. On 16 June 2016, a week before the Brexit vote, brooding tensions came to a climax with one horrific act of violence: the murder of Jo Cox. It was only 13 months since she had been elected to parliament as Labour’s MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire. Cox had been a symbol of hope in politics: young, idealistic, popular, a doer who wanted to make a difference. Then she was fatally shot and stabbed outside a library in Birstall, a small market town in her constituency. Her killer, Thomas Mair, a local resident and far-right extremist, shouted “Britain first” as he attacked her.Today, her sister Kim Leadbeater says she has blocked out much of what happened. “I know I haven’t really dealt with the day,” she says. “Maybe I never will. Maybe I’ll never need to.” Leadbeater, a fun-loving extrovert, is virtually whispering. “What’s the point? The only person who’ll suffer is me.” Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5JPDF)
Devon and Cornwall force to be joined by 5,000 officers from around the UK in its ‘largest security operation’The security cost of hosting next weekend’s G7 summit in Cornwall will exceed £70m if the final bill of policing the meeting of world leaders is in line with the two previous events held in the UK.Around 6,500 police will secure the event at Carbis Bay, near St Ives, on 11-13 June, with more than 5,000 coming from around the country to help the Devon and Cornwall force run what it said is the “largest security operation in its history”. Continue reading...
Tributes lit in the windows of the US consulate building and the European Union’s office are a ‘political show’, says ChinaChina has berated the US and EU consulates in Hong Kong for displaying candles to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre , blasting it as a “clumsy political show” to destabilise the city.Candles were seen lit in the windows of the US consulate building, which is next to the residence of Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed leader Carrie Lam, and the European Union’s office on Friday night. Continue reading...
Four contractors have differing answers on whether the government contractually obliged them to vaccinate staffThe four private companies responsible for vaccinating the aged care sector have given conflicting accounts about whether the government ever contracted them to inoculate staff, prompting further criticism about the confusing and delayed rollout.The federal government, in the early stages of the rollout, said it would rely on private contractors to vaccinate 183,000 aged care residents and 339,000 staff, using in-reach teams that would attend each facility. Continue reading...
Experts say writing to people on the outside can help prisoners build purpose – but it goes both ways in what can be a difficult relationshipFor the first time since 82-year-old Jan Skilling was a young girl, she has time to spare.Widowed at 40 and responsible for a nest of kids, grandkids, and now “more great-grandkids than I care to count”, Skilling has spent any spare hour since she can remember looking after everyone but herself. So, in 2017, with retirement from her teaching career looming, she knew it was time for a change. Continue reading...
Information minister blames use of platform for ‘activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence’Nigeria’s government has announced an indefinite suspension of Twitter in the country, two days after the social media company removed a post from president Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.The information minister, Lai Mohammed, said the government had acted because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”. Continue reading...
Decision follows oversight board recommendation over ex-president’s post on Capitol attackFacebook is suspending Donald Trump’s account for two years, the company has announced in a highly anticipated decision that follows months of debate over the former president’s future on social media.“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols. We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, said in a statement on Friday. Continue reading...
Nine experts call for ‘full-fledged investigations’ after discovery of remains of 215 Indigenous children at former residential schoolUN human rights experts have urged the Canadian government and the Vatican to hold swift and thorough investigations into the discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia.The unmarked graves of up to 215 Indigenous children were discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential Schools last week, using ground-penetrating radar. Continue reading...
Northumbria force and RSPCA baffled as to the motive behind three incidents in the last two weeksPolice in Sunderland are looking for a person who has been stealing new-born lambs and leaving them in suburban gardens.Residents have emerged from their homes three times in the last fortnight to find a lamb abandoned on their lawn after being taken from its mother in the night. Continue reading...
Move follows forced landing of Ryanair flight and detention of Raman Pratasevich last monthThe EU has banned Belarusian carriers from its airspace and airports over the forced landing of Ryanair flight FR4978 and arrest of the opposition activist and journalist Raman Pratasevich.EU ambassadors agreed during a meeting on Friday to require member states to deny the country’s carriers landing and taking off rights and forbid them from overflying the territory of the 27 member states from Saturday. Continue reading...
The privacy breach is the latest controversy to embroil the scheme and came as the minister defended a leaked communications plan related to independent assessmentsThe national disability insurance scheme minister, Linda Reynolds, has apologised after the agency that runs the scheme accidentally gave a woman’s private details to her abusive ex-partner.The privacy breach occurred when her son’s NDIS plan – including the family’s location, school and names of some professionals working with the son – was sent to his father, who was released from jail last year, the Herald Sun reported. Continue reading...
Last year the Canadian musician scored a global hit with Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head) – now he’s finally ready to meet his fansFor the lockdown superstar, omnipresent fame feels very much like obscurity used to. “I’ve been waiting a long time to go play with the fans,” says Powfu – AKA 22-year-old, Canadian lo-fi rapper Isaiah Faber – gazing around at the same four walls he was staring at before his breakthrough track Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head) unexpectedly racked up 360m YouTube streams, 4bn TikTok plays in March 2020 alone, and major chart placings worldwide at the very start of the pandemic. “But it’s made it a bit easier because it wasn’t like everything hit me at once. It’s not full-level yet.”Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
A senior official in the prime minister’s department recommends a serious incident team be set up following Brittany Higgins’ allegationParliamentary staff in Canberra need a new independent complaints mechanism to deal with incidents of alleged sexual assault and harassment along with serious bullying, a review has found.The Foster report, released on Friday, found a so-called serious incident team should be developed to deal with sexual assault such as that alleged by Brittany Higgins who claims she was raped in a minister’s office by a colleague in 2019. Continue reading...
More than 600 people are to be compensated for false campaign that tried to blame victims for disasterSouth Yorkshire and West Midlands police have agreed a settlement with more than 600 people to compensate them for the false police campaign aimed at avoiding responsibility for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and blame the victims instead, which bereaved families have always said was a cover-up.The forces will pay compensation to families whose relatives were among the 96 men, women and children unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, and to survivors of the disaster, for additional trauma and psychiatric damage caused by the police campaign. Continue reading...
President rules out overhaul amid Covid crisis and again refuses to say if he will stand for re-electionEmmanuel Macron has said his controversial pension changes, the biggest single revamp of the French system since 1945, will not go ahead as planned as he again refused to say whether he would run for another five-year presidential term.“I do not think the reform as it was originally envisaged can go ahead as such” in the wake of the Covid crisis, the French president told reporters following him on a nationwide tour on Thursday in the run-up to regional elections this month. Continue reading...
Right now there is the same type of hope that was in the ether in 2000. But reconciliation must be more than a week - or a wordThis year Australia’s National Reconciliation Week went with the theme: More than a word. Reconciliation takes action.Yes, the need for meaningful action is urgent and hard to fault. Continue reading...
The 10th edition of the Carmignac photojournalism award was dedicated to the Amazon and the issues related to its deforestation. Photojournalist Tommaso Protti, accompanied by journalist Sam Cowie, travelled thousands of miles across the Brazilian Amazon. From the eastern region of Maranhão to the western region of Rondônia, through the states of Pará and Amazonas, they portrayed modern-day life in the Brazilian Amazon, where social and humanitarian crises overlap with destruction of the rainforest.
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan on (#5JMZP)
‘Authoritarian’ rules upset sleepy Lakshadweep’s Muslim majority while Covid cases soar from zero to 10% of populationAccording to local people, the problems for Lakshadweep, an archipelago of paradise islands in southern India, began the day the new government-appointed administrator, Praful Khoda Patel, landed on a charter flight.The Lakshadweep islands, an Indian union territory off the coast of Kerala, have a population of just 64,000 and are renowned for their crystal-blue waters, white sands and relatively untouched way of life. They had, up to that point, also remained completely unaffected by the pandemic, due to strict controls on movement and enforced quarantine. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#5JMXJ)
Embassy in Canberra silent in response to requests to disclose whereabouts of Osama al-HasaniAustralia’s foreign affairs minister has contacted her Saudi Arabian counterpart to raise the plight of a dual national extradited from Morocco amid mounting concerns about his detention.The Saudi Arabian embassy in Canberra remains silent in response to requests to disclose the whereabouts of Osama al-Hasani, 42, even after human rights advocates raised fears for his welfare. Continue reading...
Paramount Pictures pauses filming after a routine test confirms positive Covid case on setParamount Pictures has temporarily shut down production on the British set of Tom Cruise’s seventh Mission: Impossible film after someone tested positive for coronavirus.“We have temporarily halted production on Mission: Impossible 7 until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing,” a Paramount spokesperson said on Thursday. “We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation.” Continue reading...
Victoria’s supreme court fines the Age $450,000 and News Corp more than $400,000 for contempt of court over coverage of cardinal’s initial convictionThe Melbourne newspaper the Age has been fined $450,000 for its coverage of Cardinal George Pell’s sexual abuse convictions, the largest individual punishment among more than $1m in fines handed out to major media organisations in a Victorian supreme court ruling on Friday.Handing down his judgment, Justice John Dixon said the media companies that had previously pleaded guilty to contempt for breaching a suppression order on Pell’s now-quashed conviction for child sexual abuse had “usurped” the function of the court. Continue reading...
Killing of Dea-John Reid, 14, prompts local questions about safety and weapons on the street“It makes me so angry I’m shaking,” said Luke Wellings, as he paid his respects to 14-year-old Dea-John Reid, who was stabbed to death in Birmingham on on Bank Holiday Monday.A large collection of flowers, candles and prayers had been placed at the site in Kingstanding where Dea-John lost his life after apparently being chased by a group following an incident nearby. Continue reading...
By swimming against the tide of sentiment on fairness the island could become a pariah stateCyprus has dared to swim against the tide of sentiment running to all corners of the globe that multinational firms should pay a fairer share of tax.The island nation has threatened to block EU officials from signing up to Joe Biden’s minimum 15% corporate tax plan risks a backlash of greater force than the loss of a few hundred million euros in tax receipts should an agreement be signed. Continue reading...
Nursing union says government inaction has contributed to sector’s shockingly low vaccination ratesThe federal government was urged two months ago to fund special paid leave to help aged care staff get their vaccinations, but did not do so.The nursing union says the inaction has contributed to the shockingly low vaccination rates for the nation’s aged care workforce, which have been exposed in the latest Melbourne outbreak. Continue reading...
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