In One Thousand Dreams, award-winning photographer Robin Hammond hands the camera to refugees. Often reduced by the media’s toxic or well-meaning narratives, the portraits and interviews capture a different and more complex tale
The author of At Night All Blood Is Black discusses the unheard African voices of the first world war and the inspiration for his violent antiheroDavid Diop, the first French novelist and the first writer of African heritage to win the International Booker prize, along with his translator Anna Moschovakis, likes to seek out stories in historical gaps and missing narratives. He was struck by emotion when reading the letters of young French men fighting in the trenches of the first world war – shellshocked teenagers faced with the unmeasurable carnage of trench warfare, a sacrificed generation who often died before their letters reached home.The novelist, who was born in France but spent his childhood in Dakar, Senegal, after his French mother and Senegalese father met at university in Paris in the 1960s, was floored by the young soldiers’ “intimacy with war”. His novel, At Night All Blood Is Black, is a gripping, twisty account of industrial warfare, colonialism, violence, youth and friendship. It was a massive critical hit and bestseller in France, winning several prizes across Europe. After more than 100 years of first world war literature, in all forms and all languages, critics found something new in Diop’s modern take. It was “hypnotically compelling”, the Booker judges said. Continue reading...
by William Costa in Asunción, Uki Goñi in Buenos Ai on (#5K7N1)
Strained and underfunded health systems, economics and misinformation have all led to a surge in deathsThe cold, tired and desperate relatives camped outside the Barrio Obrero general hospital in Asunción don’t need charts or datasets to confirm what they can see with their own eyes.As Paraguay records the world’s highest daily proportion of Covid deaths, the huddled families wait for news of their loved ones – and for the sudden requests for medicine and supplies that the country’s chronically underfunded health system cannot provide. Continue reading...
ACT magistrate Glenn Theakston says Witness K appeared to be motivated by justice rather than personal gainWitness K has been spared jail time for his role in exposing Australia’s 2004 bugging of Timor-Leste with a Canberra court finding he appeared to be motivated by justice not personal gain.The former Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer stood behind a wall of black panels, invisible to the packed courtroom, as he was sentenced on Friday to a three-month suspended term of imprisonment and a 12-month good behaviour order. Continue reading...
Coalition of rights groups demanding Frontex be defunded claim EU policies have ‘killed over 40,555 people since 1993’Activists, captains of rescue ships and about 80 human rights organisations across the world have launched an international campaign calling for the European border agency to be defunded and dismantled.In an open letter sent last week to the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European parliament, the campaign coalition highlighted the “illegal and inhumane practices” of the EU border agency, Frontex, which is accused of having promoted and enforced violent policies against migrants. Continue reading...
Brittany resident Xavier Bouget, 80, has a constant companion in his rescue pigeon, BlanchonWhen 80-year-old Xavier Bouget goes for a ride on his bicycle, a majestic white pigeon rides on his hat. When he tinkers in his workshop, she pecks at the drill bits and nails. And when he waters his garden, she observes from his shoulder.Bouget, a retiree from the north-west French region of Brittany, befriended the bird, who he named Blanchon, when it was a chick and now it tags along with him everywhere, sitting on his shoulder or walking along beside him. Continue reading...
Animal ‘exterminated’ after it bounded through the city, injuring four peopleHunters have shot and killed a brown bear in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo after it rampaged through the city, injuring four people, including a soldier.Authorities in Sapporo tweeted on Friday that the bear had been “exterminated”, with a local television station saying hunters had shot the bear. Continue reading...
by Helen Davidson in Taipei, and agencies on (#5K7F4)
Public outpouring of support for tabloid after raid on offices by national security policeHongkongers queued at city news stands before dawn on Friday to buy the latest edition of the Apple Daily newspaper, a day after national security police arrested its editor-in-chief and four other directors.On Thursday morning hundreds of officers from the Hong Kong police national security department raided the homes of the employees, including editor-in-chef Ryan Law, and the Apple Daily newsroom for the second time in less than a year. It froze millions of dollars in company assets. Continue reading...
Industry body says analysis of HMRC data shows structural rather than teething problems with BrexitBritish food and drink exports to the EU fell by £2bn in the first three months of 2021, with sales of dairy products plummeting by 90%, according to an analysis of HMRC data.Brexit checks, stockpiling and Covid have been blamed for much of the downturn, but the sector has said the figures show structural rather than teething problems with the UK’s departure from the EU. Continue reading...
by Jamie Jackson at the Johan Cruijff Arena on (#5K74T)
The Netherlands are into the last 16 via the kind of solid display that is just fine during a tournament’s group stage. Frank de Boer entered Euro 2020 much maligned for his deployment of a 3-5-2, scepticism that was hardly eased by a wobbly opening victory. Yet following a win built on the rock-solid Matthijs de Ligt in defence, De Boer’s men have given him the best riposte: six points from six, which also means that players can be rested when North Macedonia visit on Monday.Temperatures in the high 20s made this a sultry evening for a contest in which De Ligt’s return from injury was key. De Boer’s system suddenly appeared rounded, the Juventus man’s ability to sense danger and kill it pulling the standard of the rearguard up towards the convincing quality of the Netherlands in attack. Continue reading...
Working party at Churchill College disbands after dispute over event about British PM and racismChurchill College has halted a critical examination of its founder, Winston Churchill, by abruptly ending the role of a working party set up last year in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.Initially intended as a year-long programme called “Churchill, race and empire”, the Cambridge college has ended the effort after a dispute between the college’s leadership and the working party, whose members had been planning a mass resignation over what it called interference in a planned event. Continue reading...
Guardian Australia FOI shows federal government ‘revising history’ by claiming earlier versions existed, experts sayExperts have accused the federal government of “revising history” by describing the current national Covid aged care plan as the “7th edition” when no prior editions of the document exist.The aged care royal commission in October 2020 criticised the Coalition for failing to establish a dedicated plan on how to deal with the virus in aged care and recommended it take “immediate action” to “publish a national aged care plan for Covid-19”. Continue reading...
Readers J Gwynfryn Jones, Bill Bradbury and Tom Challenor are not surprised by the finding of institutional corruption against the Met. Mary Pimm and Nik Wood think it’s time for a duty of candour on public bodiesSo, an independent inquiry set up to review the murder of the private detective Daniel Morgan has found that the Metropolitan police were “institutionally corrupt” and that the Met commissioner held up the inquiry’s work (Daniel Morgan murder report: six critical findings in focus, 15 June). Our home secretary has let it be known that she has full confidence in the Met commissioner. Who was it who said that a corrupt government needs a corrupt police force?
The French singer says radiation has left her in immense pain, and fears a natural death would bring ‘even more physical suffering’Françoise Hardy, the French pop songwriter who found fame in the 60s yé-yé movement, has said she feels “close to the end” of her life in a new interview.Hardy, 77, told Femme Actuelle that in 2018 she was diagnosed with a tumour in her ear. It followed her diagnosis with lymphatic cancer in the mid-2000s, and a hospitalisation in 2015 that led to her being placed in an induced coma. Her life was saved when doctors administered a novel form of radiation. Continue reading...
by Nazia Parveen Community affairs corespondent on (#5K6BA)
Report into May 2017 tragedy says there were missed opportunities to prevent or minimise ‘devastating impact’ of Salman Abedi’s attackThe Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi should have been identified as a security threat on the night of the attack, a public inquiry has found.Sir John Saunders, chair of the inquiry, found there were “serious shortcomings” and a number of missed opportunities by those in charge of security to prevent the May 2017 attack. Saunders said he considered it likely Abedi would still have detonated his device if confronted, “but the loss of life and injury is highly likely to have been less”. The attack killed 22 people and injured hundreds more. Continue reading...
The singer-songwriter recalls the life-changing joy of playing in an orchestra, the beauty of her first braids and being empowered by EternalThe first orchestra I played in was Birmingham School, a concert orchestra. The first time I played in a symphony orchestra was this powerful, life-changing experience, like the first time I took a plane – you know, when the engine kicks in and you’re about to take off? Playing with the brass section behind us and full woodwind, I was blown away by the magnitude of the sound. Continue reading...
The resort of Saint-Valery on the Bay of the Somme normally sees thousands of British and Belgian visitors, but this year its restaurants and hotels are half-emptyWith the approach of the summer holidays, the two French seaside towns of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme and Le Crotoy would normally be gearing up for the annual wave of tourists from neighbouring Belgium and, above all, from the UK.The resorts sit opposite each other across the majestic Bay of the Somme, a wetland of shifting sands and tides where the tranquil river suddenly expands into a spectacular estuary opening up into the Channel. The bay is a popular stop-off for British travellers heading to Paris and the south of France, as well as a place of pilgrimage for its war memorials, museums, cemeteries and battle sites. Continue reading...
Actor says her character was ‘talked about like a possession’ in her first appearance in the Marvel film franchiseScarlett Johansson has spoken out against the sexualisation of Black Widow in Iron Man 2, the 2010 blockbuster in which her character first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series.Speaking to Collider in the run-up to the release of the standalone Black Widow film, Johansson said: “While [Iron Man 2] was really fun and had a lot of great moments in it, the character is so sexualised, you know? [She is] really talked about like she’s a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever – like a piece of ass, really. And Tony even refers to her as something like that at one point … ‘I want some.’” Continue reading...
It is 10 years since the riots in London, Birmingham and Manchester. We would like to hear from those who witnessed themThis year marks the tenth anniversary of the 2011 riots in London, Birmingham and Manchester which followed protests after the police shooting of Mark Duggan. We would like to hear from those affected – including witnesses, former police officers, and people who participated. How did the riots affect you? What is your perspective now? Continue reading...
The photographer Vicky Roy has been travelling around the country documenting people with disabilities. The project, Everyone is Good at Something, hopes to tell their stories and challenge the stigma they face
Find out who is leading the polling to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor of GermanyGermans will vote on Sunday 26 September to elect a new Bundestag, or federal parliament. The result – after coalition negotiations likely to involve two or three parties – will decide who will succeed Angela Merkel, who is standing down after 16 years as chancellor.Some recent polls have put Germany’s Green party in the lead, as Merkel’s successor at the conservative CDU, Armin Laschet, struggles to inherit her appeal. German federal elections are proportional, so the share of vote given by polling companies should be read as translating fairly directly into share of seats in the resulting parliament. Only parties with less than 5% of the national vote, or less than three directly elected constituency seats, are not awarded proportional parliamentary seats. Continue reading...
Ryan Law among five directors detained under national security legislation imposed by BeijingHong Kong’s national security police have arrested the editor-in-chief and four other directors of the Apple Daily newspaper in early morning raids involving hundreds of officers, over their role in the publication of dozens of articles alleged to be part of a conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.The city’s security chief, John Lee, accused those arrested of using “journalistic work as a tool to endanger national security”, and issued a chilling warning to residents and other media. Continue reading...
Friends of the National Libraries launch ‘once in a generation’ effort to raise £15m to buy the Honresfield library, packed with works by Brontë sisters, Jane Austen and Walter ScottFrom the British Library to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, a consortium of libraries and museums have come together in an “unprecedented” effort to raise £15m and save an “astonishingly important” set of literary manuscripts for the nation.The plans were formed after the announcement last month that the “lost” Honresfield library was to be put up for auction at Sotheby’s this summer. Almost entirely inaccessible since 1939, the library was put together by Victorian industrialists William and Alfred Law at the turn of the 20th century, and is a literary treasure trove that had experts dancing with excitement – and warning that action needed to be taken to prevent it being sold piecemeal to private collectors. Continue reading...
Ryan Law, the editor-in-chief of Apple Daily, has been arrested along with four other directors of the pro-democracy newspaper on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country or 'external elements' to endanger national security. The newspaper's owner, Jimmy Lai, is serving a jail sentence on charges relating to pro-democracy protests in 2019
Pig that became Chinese national icon after surviving 36 days under rubble has diedA pig that became an unlikely national icon in China after surviving 36 days under rubble following a powerful earthquake in 2008 has died at the age of 14, sparking an outpouring of emotion.Zhu Jianqiang, meaning “strong-willed pig”, shot to fame after being discovered alive after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in south-western Sichuan province on 12 May 2008. Continue reading...
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In a new exhibition, the city’s more well-known breakout artists are celebrated alongside a richer, and lesser reported, strain of experimental musicIn Kid Creole and the Coconuts’ irrepressible 1980 song Darrio, a klatch of female backup singers bouncingly plead with the titular gentleman to get them into Studio 54. The otherwise obliging Darrio enumerates why he cannot (“That’s the only thing that money can’t buy”), before finally admitting “my kind of heaven is Club 57,” the late-70s/early-80s East Village hangout that was the antithesis of a disco. The New York Times in 1980 described the band as “the Marx Brothers meeting Carmen Miranda in Bob Marley’s Kingston”.Related: Clearing the dancefloor: how club culture became a museum piece Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5K5YX)
Report says system is bureaucratic, risk-averse and in need of reform and investment after years of cutsThe English children’s services system is a “tower of Jenga held together by Sellotape” and needs major reform and investment, the head of an independent review has found.Josh MacAlister described the children’s social services system as bureaucratic, risk-averse, financially strained and over-focused on investigating potential abuse and neglect at the expense of providing practical support for struggling families. Continue reading...
The gelatinous creature sucks up organisms that absorb CO and leaves droppings rich in carbon at the bottom of the seaSalps are jelly-like sea creatures, so humble that few people even know they exist. But there are countless numbers of them swimming in the world’s oceans and they help fight climate change.Salps cruise around the sea surface at night, sucking up and digesting phytoplankton, microscopic plant-like organisms that absorb CO for their photosynthesis. During the day, the salps sink deeper in the sea, possibly to avoid predators, and squirt out unusually heavy droppings rich in carbon left over from their phytoplankton meals. The pellets sink rapidly, up to 1,000 metres deep in a day, and faster than the pellets of most other sea creatures. And when the salp dies, its body also sinks rapidly, sending even more carbon to the ocean depths. Continue reading...
When I was called in to assess Seb, I needed to understand why he had committed such a horrendous crime. But first I had to get him to talkEven before Seb had arrived at the prison, five weeks before my first visit, the staff had received a notification that he ought to be subject to close monitoring. While still in police custody, an out-of-hours forensic psychiatric assessment had been requested.Seb had been compliant with the arresting officers, but he had given the impression that he was unconcerned by what had happened – it seemed as though he didn’t mind at all that he was being arrested. More bizarrely, there were flickers of apparent self-satisfaction. Seb had been arrested on suspicion of murdering his mother. Continue reading...
Remains were discovered near disused mine shafts in the South African financial capitalPolice in South Africa have discovered the bodies of 20 suspected illegal miners near an abandoned goldmine shaft south-west of Johannesburg.Police said in a statement they were investigating the cause of the deaths, adding that the men’s bodies “were found wrapped in white plastic bags” and bore “severe body burns”. Continue reading...
Westminster-backed deal to legislate for Irish language protections saves Northern Ireland executive from collapseSinn Féin will nominate Michelle O’Neill as deputy first minister at Stormont after the party president, Mary Lou McDonald, said she received a commitment from the UK government to legislate for Irish language protections at Westminster.McDonald earlier said she was going to meet the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, as her party and the DUP attempted to avert a fresh political crisis at Stormont. Continue reading...
Plan to focus on skilled migrants leaves sector concerned they will not be able to staff care homesAt the end of an eight-hour shift in a Wellington rest home, Joan Lagman feels exhilarated and exhausted. The 39-year-old caregiver from the Philippines has fed, clothed, toileted and showered the five elderly charges in her care. When one is having a bad day, she writes them inspirational notes.They range in age from 87 to 100. All are immobile and some are bedridden. They tell her their fears, their problems, and the things they feel sad about. Sometimes they ask for their mum. Occasionally, Joan tells a white lie if one is expecting a relative to visit and that person doesn’t turn up. Continue reading...
Thursday: Pair in city’s eastern suburbs test positive, triggering new hotspot warnings. Plus: opposition champions fuel as a ‘critical feedstock’Good morning. Sydney has recorded two new Covid cases, Joe Biden has met Vladimir Putin in Europe and a giant diamond has been found in Botswana. These stories and more make up our Thursday headlines.A man who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and works as a driver for international flight crews has tested positive to Covid, as has a household contact, with NSW Health listing a string of hotspot venues they visited while potentially infectious. This comes after Victoria announced it would significantly ease coronavirus restrictions from Friday despite a cluster of new cases, with the mandatory wearing of masks outdoors and onerous travel restrictions for Melburnians lifted. Internationally, the UK has recorded its highest one-day tally since February with 9,055 new infections, raising concerns that the Delta variant is spreading aggressively. The EU has once again excluded the UK from its travel “white list” but has added the US and Hong Kong. Continue reading...
After apologizing on Monday, Teigen was accused of bullying Michael Costello, who then was accused of bullying Leona Lewis. Maybe it’s time to pause the postsIn 2018, the New Republic deputy editor Katie McDonough wrote a piece for Jezebel that I spiritually consult to this day. (Full disclosure: I was a Jezebel contributor at the time.)“Why tweet when you can text?” she asked, and … well, that’s basically it. Sometimes, you can just text the thing you want to tweet. Continue reading...
Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts got the goals in a thrilling, nervy victory that will almost certainly earn Wales a berth in the last 167.01pm BSTThat second goal: Wales won a corner, which they took short. Rather than keep the ball down by the flag, Bale sprinted down the byline and was waved through by two defenders, before pulling the ball back to Connor Roberts on the edge of the six yard box. The full-back made no mistake.6.59pm BSTGroup A: Wow! What a game! What! A! Game! Every single one of those Wales players deserve credit for a wonderful team performance which featured some splendid individual displays.His awful penalty notwithstanding, Gareth Bale was instrumental in this victory. He set up both goals, several other chances and went close himself on a couple of occasions. Dan James, Kieffer Moore, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Ward were also excellent in an outstanding group effort in which nobody let their teammates or manager down. Continue reading...
Former NSW DPP says ‘the wrong parties are being prosecuted’ in case that exposed government’s bugging of Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations in 2004Protesters supporting Witness K will gather at federal parliament to decry his treatment as he faces sentencing and “a very real prospect” of being jailed for speaking out about Australia’s misconduct abroad.Witness K is scheduled to face a sentencing hearing on Thursday for his role in exposing the Australian government’s bugging of Timor-Leste, an impoverished ally, during lucrative oil and gas negotiations in 2004. Continue reading...