Transformation of London shopping district aims to address air quality, pedestrian congestion and trafficThe area around Oxford Circus in London is to be transformed into two pedestrianised piazzas after years of deliberation.Work is due to start this year and will include “significant improvements to the public spaces”, as well as additional planting and seating in the shopping and leisure district, Westminster city council and the crown estate announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...
From an allotment shelter built out of old doors to a storage shack turned into a chapel, here are some of the best of our readers’ creationsThis is my pandemic project: a garden pub shed, called the Doghouse. It is custom-built from timber with a Firestone rubber roof. Lockdown finally gave me the time to build it and I tried to reuse or recycle materials where I could. The doors and windows were from a friend’s old conservatory. The timber herringbone and boards, plus the back bar shelving, are pallet wood, which I burnished with a chainmail pad, and oiled to give it a nice worn look. I built the bar and canopy from scratch using leftover framing timber. The bench was built from a recycled bed headboard and I used a mattress for the seat. The table and chairs were a local Gumtree find, and the bar memorabilia and pumps were from eBay. I’m probably proudest of the bar. It has the feel and character of a little local pub – we often eat dinner there for a change of scenery. Our two children love it. But we will, of course, still support our local pub whenever we can. Gavin Thomasson, 42, design manager, Ipswich Continue reading...
Mining company Debswana shows the 1,098-carat stone to the country’s president, Mokgweetsi MasisiThe diamond firm Debswana has announced the discovery in Botswana of a 1,098-carat stone that it described as the third largest of its kind in the world.The company showed the stone, which was found on 1 June, to the country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, in the capital Gaborone. Continue reading...
by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on (#5K4ZG)
Ethiopian government asked auction house to ‘stop cycle of dispossession’Two artefacts that were taken during colonial-era looting by British forces in Ethiopia have been withdrawn from auction after the Ethiopian government appealed to an auction house selling them to “stop the cycle of dispossession”.Busby auctioneers in Bridport, Dorset, has withdrawn a leather-bound Coptic bible and a set of horn beakers from a sale on 17 June after the Ethiopian embassy in London discovered the items – which were taken during the Battle of Maqdala in 1868 – and wrote to the auction house. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#5K4PF)
High court ruling leaves open possibility of criminal involvement, in victory for familyA Malaysian court has overturned the findings of an inquest into the death of the French-Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, stating that the coroner was wrong to conclude she died as a result of misadventure.The high court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan instead issued an open verdict, which does not rule out the possibility of criminal involvement and could pave the way for further investigations into her disappearance. Continue reading...
Judge said there was no reason to delay transfer any longer and denied lawyer’s request to keep him at a state prison in New YorkDisgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will be extradited to California after a New York judge’s approval, where he faces additional sexual assault charges.The extradition order ends a legal fight, prolonged by the pandemic, the defense’s concerns about Weinstein’s failing health, and a squabble over paperwork. Continue reading...
Lord Blair of Boughton criticises independent panel judgment and calls Dick ‘finest officer of generation’The Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, has been defended by one of her predecessors after an independent inquiry censured her personally for obstruction and found Scotland Yard to be “institutionally corrupt”.Ian Blair, who served as commissioner from 2005 to 2008, criticised the findings of an independent panel inquiring into the unsolved 1987 murder of Daniel Morgan. Continue reading...
There are so many variations on South America’s favourite patties, who’s to say which is the best? But that won’t stop our resident perfectionist from giving it her best shot ...Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz claimed that one could write a small book on empanadas, empanaditas, pasteles, pastelitos, empadinhas and pastèzinhos … namely, “those delicious turnovers, patties and pies, stuffed with meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and other mixtures, and baked or fried, which are so popular throughout Latin America”. Such is the variety on offer, in fact, I’d suggest it would probably be quite a large book. As writer Naomi Tomky notes, perhaps a little wistfully, on Serious Eats, “it would take a lifetime of non-stop empanada-eating to try all of the infinite combinations of doughs, fillings and cooking methods that are so closely tied to the specific culture, flora and fauna in each region of Latin America”.That’s a challenge I’d happily take on, but the Guardian has refused to extend my deadline, so I’ve chosen to concentrate on the simple, cheese-stuffed sort found almost everywhere. Even then, the range is such from country to country that (as ever) the below should be seen more as an introductory guide than a definitive recipe. Portable, cheap and infinitely versatile, easy to make vegan, gluten-free and even (relatively) healthy, empanadas are surely the ultimate democratic party food. Well … after crisps, anyway. Continue reading...
Operation launches to target fanclub culture that ‘adversely affects mental health of minors’, says watchdogChina’s internet watchdog has launched a crackdown on the country’s “chaotic” online celebrity fanclubs, accusing them of contributing to a culture of abuse and of manipulating public opinion.In an announcement on Tuesday, the office of the central cyberspace affairs commission said it was launching a two-month special operation targeting fanclub culture, known as fan quan, which it said adversely affected the mental health of children. Continue reading...
by Australian Associated Press with Paul Karp on (#5K4MH)
Judge says defence minister and refugee activist he is suing should be able to ‘reach a compromise’ if they act ‘sensibly’The defence minister, Peter Dutton, has been ordered to attend mediation after a federal court judge said his defamation case over a tweet calling him a “rape apologist” was not among the court’s biggest and could be settled pre-trial.Dutton is suing a refugee activist, Shane Bazzi, over the tweet, after vowing in March he would take a more aggressive stance against false and defamatory statements made about him online. Continue reading...
As Pakistan’s supreme court backs bulldozing of homes blamed for floods, critics say government has no proper plans for residentsMaqsooda Bibi, 62, did not know the house she had lived in all her life would be demolished, forcing her whole family to become homeless. But on Monday, Pakistan’s supreme court backed the Sindh government in bulldozing her home and hundreds of others, legalising the eviction of thousands who live along narrow waterways – nullahs – that crisscross Karachi.The verdict came as Bibi and hundreds of others held a protest outside the court. “We hoped that the court would ask the government not to make us homeless, but it did the opposite. Our children also protested on Sunday and urged the supreme court to stop demolition. It seems no one here cares for the future of the poor.” Continue reading...
Martin Hockridge charged after Newsnight political editor Nick Watt harassed in WhitehallA man has been charged with a public order offence, Scotland Yard has said, after footage online showed a journalist being confronted and chased by a group of protesters in Whitehall.Martin Hockridge, 57, was charged with an offence under section 4A of the Public Order Act; namely using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards another person with the intention to cause them harassment, alarm or distress. Continue reading...
Low-paid workers will earn an additional $18.80 per week after decision by the Fair Work CommissionThe Fair Work Commission has ordered a 2.5% increase in the minimum wage, lifting it to $20.33 an hour, but the pay rise will be delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.The new full-time minimum wage will be $772.60 per week, an increase of $18.80 for Australia’s lowest-paid workers. Continue reading...
With turbocharged tracks storming the charts, both genres are having a boom – but did they ever really go away?Jungle and drum’n’bass are back, back, BACK! High Contrast’s Notes from the Underground album – its elegiac 90s rave moods created with vintage 90s tech – was a dance chart success at the end of 2020. Chase & Status’s RTRN II FABRIC mix, which turbocharged jungle classics, was huge last year, too. Harmony by Origin8a and Propa ft Benny Page is everywhere lately and it’s far from the only euphoric 174bpm tune you’ll hear on daytime Radio 1.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
From a Lagos slum, Olamide became one of Africa’s biggest music stars. A new, global deal is taking his vivid pop to the wider worldBariga, a sprawling northern suburb of Lagos, Nigeria that is home to more than 700,000 people, is infamous for its impoverished housing and gang culture – and for pushing a raw, jarring sound into the Nigerian mainstream. Olamide, long one of Africa’s biggest music stars, was one of the kids responsible for that shift: 13 years ago, he was walking the streets of Bariga, plotting his way out.“Surviving was hard,” says Olamide, now sitting in a comfortable Lagos home on a sunny Friday afternoon. “Bariga was not far from the other slums you see across the world, from Mumbai to New York and London – life in the ghetto is almost always the same everywhere. There were days when being able to afford three square meals was a big deal for my family. All of that motivated me to hustle hard – I wanted to see the whole world and experience different cultures from what I grew up seeing.” Continue reading...
Photographers Linda Bournane Engelberth and Valentina Sinis document the lives of working parents from Botswana to the UK for UnicefIf investing in family-friendly policies is good for business, then many companies are missing a trick. Giving parents and families adequate time, resources and services to care for children, while staying in their jobs and improving their skills and productivity, pays off according to employers. But for many, in all parts of the world, paid parental leave and childcare are not a reality. And that can compromise the first critical years of life – a time when the combination of the right nourishment, environment and love can strengthen a developing brain and give a baby the best start.Evidence suggests family-friendly policies pay off in healthier, better-educated children and greater gender equality, and are linked to better productivity and the ability to attract and retain workers. Momentum for change is growing with an increasing number of businesses beginning to see the value. Continue reading...
Council hopes micro dwellings built on spaces between houses and gardens will revive neighbourhoodsUnique micro homes are to be built on old garage sites in Bristol to help the city tackle its housing crisis.“Gap homes” – so-called because they will be constructed in small spaces between houses and gardens – would be made off site and dropped into place across the city. Continue reading...
In India’s remote peaks, the pandemic’s toll is worsened by lack of medical facilities, roads and informationPhalguni Devi has spent a fortnight living in a cattle shed. Looking out on a rainy afternoon in early June, she worries that if the rain does not let up, her fever-like symptoms will worsen.Devi, 51, shares the shed with a cow and two cats, and this has taken its toll. Herbal concoctions have not worked and the visit to a pharmacist in the nearest town, in the Nijmola valley in the Himalayas, which took an entire day, did not help. Continue reading...
Two years ago photojournalist Laurel Chor covered mass protests against the extradition bill. She looks back at how the city has changed in their wakeI had never seen so many people before in my life. On 9 June 2019, hundreds of thousands of people dressed in white marched slowly but steadily across Hong Kong island.The heat and humidity were almost unbearable, but protesters from all walks of life came prepared with neck towels, folding fans, and umbrellas to shield the sun. It’s never easy to capture the scale of a crowd, but the intense, palpable energy emanating from the masses of people who had united for common values isn’t something a photograph could ever convey. Continue reading...
Dangling artist, dead dog and lovingly tangled mattress help convey volatile past in new showThe black and white photograph of a dead dog, taken in Lima in 1989, that now hangs on the immaculate walls of the Reina Sofía in Madrid seems to have little in common with the Caetano Veloso album covers also on display or, come to that, with the image of a young Chilean artist suspended by his feet alongside a map of his homeland.But they – and the 100 or so other works that make up the museum’s latest exhibition – are all bound together by the volatile and often violent times in which they were created. Continue reading...
The son of peasant farmers says ‘a new time has begun’ as vote count gives him narrow lead against rightwing rival Keiko FujimoriPeru’s socialist candidate Pedro Castillo has claimed victory in the presidential election after clinging on to a narrow lead as the lengthy vote count ended, although his rightwing rival has pledged to fight the result and has yet to concede.Castillo ended the count 44,058 votes ahead of Keiko Fujimori, who has made allegations of fraud with little proof and has tried to get some votes annulled. The result of the ballot held on 6 June has not been formally announced by electoral authorities, but Castillo hailed the win on Twitter. Continue reading...
by Oliver Holmes and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem on (#5K30M)
Fragile truce under threat after attack on the Palestinian enclave and violence amid Jewish ultranationalists parade through East JerusalemIsrael has launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, the first since a truce ended 11 days of cross-border fighting last month, in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian territory.The flare-up in violence, a first test for Israel’s new government sworn in three days ago, followed a march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday by Jewish nationalists that had drawn threats of action by Hamas, the ruling militant group in Gaza. Continue reading...
Channel 4 News uncovered allegations socialite groomed young women and girls in UK for Jeffrey EpsteinScotland Yard has said it will review allegations that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked, groomed and abused women and girls in the UK.Maxwell, 59, the former girlfriend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges in the US over her alleged role in procuring four teenage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She is currently in a US prison awaiting trial after proceedings were delayed until autumn. Continue reading...
Wednesday: Some under-40s encouraged to get jab by nurses who say rollout should be opened up. Plus: how to help children battle anxietyGood morning. Environmental activists are in the firing line of the resources minister, Keith Pitt, today. Covid testing centres are providing relief for burnt-out nurses and hope for “queue jumpers” who are finding few obstacles to getting jabbed, despite not being eligible.Australians under 40 are receiving a Covid vaccine despite not being eligible. Some are being encouraged to do so by some nurses who say they want to see vaccines in the arms of people willing to receive them as soon as possible – others are finding there’s no one checking their eligibility. It comes as exhausted nurses are opting for shifts in vaccination hubs instead of emergency departments and GP surgeries for the higher pay and so they can get some much-needed respite from overcrowded public hospitals and clinics. Meanwhile, Victoria halted new bookings for the Pfizer vaccine and locked down a large block of units in central Melbourne after two more people tested positive to Covid, while in Sydney authorities are investigating a possible spread of the virus in the quarantine system. Abroad there has been another grim milestone as the US passes 600,000 Covid-related deaths. Continue reading...
Family celebrate success of campaign to halt deportation of 22-year-old, who has autismA 22-year-old man who has autism and his family are celebrating after the Home Office abandoned plans to deport him to Jamaica.Osime Brown, who left Jamaica aged four to settle in the UK with his mother, Joan Martin, was facing deportation after being released from prison where he had been serving a sentence for stealing a friend’s mobile phone, though he and others said he did not do it. Continue reading...
Portugal left it late but they secured a thoroughly deserved victory over Hungary7.00pm BSTThank you very much for joining me.Here is the match report.Related: Cristiano Ronaldo double helps Portugal finally sink stubborn Hungary 6.54pm BSTThey really weren’t.@Will_Unwin
Marián Kočner and suspected accomplice accused of 2018 murder of reporter and fiancee, which prompted huge protestsSlovakia’s supreme court has overturned the acquittals of a businessman and his suspected accomplice for the murder of a journalist in a case that triggered mass protests and toppled the country’s previous government.Well-connected multimillionaire Marián Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová will now face a new trial for the murder of Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, who were killed in their home in 2018. Continue reading...
He resigned amid the fallout from a government report that dismissed institutional racism. In his first interview since, he says some ministers are waging a culture war – and endangering the country
Stormont executive expected to collapse unless Westminster follows demand to interveneSinn Féin has appealed to the British government to bypass the Northern Ireland assembly and to introduce Irish-language legislation via Westminster to defuse a political crisis that threatens to collapse Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.Conor Murphy, the Sinn Féin finance minister, said on Tuesday that the party would end a standoff over rebooting the stalled Stormont executive if London delivered the legislation. Continue reading...
Michael O’Leary tells MPs of ‘hostile and threatening’ actions towards flight crewAirlines must remain free to fly over rogue states despite the “state-sponsored hijacking” of a plane by Belarus, according to the boss of Ryanair, as he told MPs of the “hostile and threatening” actions towards the flight crew in Minsk.The captain and five crew of Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius were put under armed guard in Minsk after diverting the plane for a fake bomb threat – apparently staged to allow the Belarus government to capture an opposition journalist among the 126 passengers. Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested on landing. Continue reading...
Supreme court says Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre should now be tried in their own countryIndia’s top court has dropped long-running proceedings against two Italian marines who shot dead two fishermen off Kerala in 2012, but said the soldiers should now be tried in their own country.Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre killed the unarmed men off the southern Indian coast in February 2012 while protecting an Italian oil tanker as part of an anti-piracy mission. Continue reading...
Actor and director acknowledged musical failed to adequately represent Afro-Latinos, saying: ‘I can hear the hurt and frustration’Actor and director Lin-Manuel Miranda has apologized for failing to adequately represent Afro-Latinos in his latest musical project, In the Heights, that is centered on New York’s Latino communities.The Hamilton star posted a note to social media on Monday acknowledging that casting for his latest project, set the in diverse neighborhood of Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, had lapsed into colorism, broadly defined as prejudice or discrimination against darker skin tones within the same racial group. Continue reading...
Refugees tell Human Rights Watch they fear forced repatriation and persecution after personal details passed on to MyanmarThe UN may have put hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees at risk of persecution or involuntary repatriation back to Myanmar after improperly collecting and sharing refugees’ personal information with Bangladesh, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is urging an investigation.Over the past three years, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has registered more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladeshi camps in order to provide them with identity cards needed to access essential aid and services. Continue reading...