World news | The Guardian

Named best European artist at last week’s Songlines awards, the Bosnian singer has weathered war and personal tragedy while bringing sevdah music to prominenceDamir Imamović is pining for a curry. “We don’t have any Indian restaurants in Bosnia,” he explains, “and I’ve always wanted to try Indian food. Last year I was booked to play St Luke’s at the Barbican, the Brighton festival, Manchester’s Band on the Wall – it was going to be my first ever time in the UK and I’d been promised a trip to Brick Lane. I was so looking forward to it!”Then the world went into lockdown and the Sarajevo-based singer and songwriter of sevdah – Bosnia’s folk music, comparable to Portuguese fado and French chanson in its dramatic narratives – found his entire year cancelled. Imamović’s album Singer of Tales had won great reviews, yet the pandemic dispelled opportunities to reach a new audience along with his hoped-for curry. “Being locked down in Sarajevo as a musician did feel odd as I’m so used to travelling,” he says, adding that it would be unfair to compare it to the siege he and his city lived under between 1992 and 1996 during the Bosnian war. “But I did feel a sense of cataclysmic deja vu: the empty streets, nothing functioning, everyone living in fear.” Continue reading...

The UK prime minister said there was ‘nothing conclusive’ in data gathered on the coronavirus variant first identified in India to suggest the final stage of lifting coronavirus restrictions in England from 21 June should be delayed.Speaking at a mass vaccination centre in London, Boris Johnson urged people to be ‘cautious’ and said that holidaymakers should not be travelling to countries on the amber list unless for pressing family or urgent business reasons

Analysis: internal tensions and differences with the US have left the bloc unable to take a clear position on Israel-Palestine

Mass influx comes amid tensions with Morocco over hospitalisation of independence leader in SpainMore than 6,000 people, an estimated 1,500 of them children, crossed into Spain’s northern African enclave of Ceuta on Monday, in an unprecedented influx that left Spanish officials scrambling to cope with a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis at its border with Morocco.Ceuta, along with nearby Melilla, has long been a destination for people from countries in Africa hoping to cross into Europe, despite being heavily protected and fortified with a double fence. Continue reading...

A health crisis turns a series of odd vignettes into an enigmatic wonder as one man and his dog navigate a mysterious worldGive this movie 73 minutes, and it will give you the world … somebody’s world, anyway. Argentinian film-maker Ana Katz has created an intriguing and beguiling little black-and-white drama that’s punching way above its weight.It’s a series of scenes or vignettes, like a collection of short stories, each about the same person, a little older each time. This is Sebastián, or Sebas, a gentle, laid-back man in his 30s, played by the director’s brother Daniel Katz. Sebas is an intelligent guy, a graphic designer, trained in the use of Adobe Illustrator, but now trying to get temp jobs, made more difficult because he’s not allowed to take his dog into the office, and leaving him at home makes the poor thing howl with misery so much that the neighbours are upset. Continue reading...

More than 50 winemakers from Basque part of Rioja denomination no longer want to be associated with nameA group of winemakers from northern Spain are seeking EU approval for their products not to be labelled Rioja, the country’s most famous denomination.The Rioja denomination embraces three regions: La Rioja, part of Navarra and the Basque province of Álava. More than 50 Rioja Alavesa winemakers now want to break away and have created their own denomination, the somewhat unwieldy Arabako Mahastiak/Viñedos de Álava. Continue reading...

Law requires couples to wait 30 days before formalising divorce – but some say it has made young people more likely to avoid marriageThe number of divorces in China dropped more than 70% in the first quarter of this year, after a controversial law forcing a “cooling-off period” for couples came into effect.According to data published by the ministry of civil affairs, 296,000 divorces were registered during the first three months of 2021, down from 1.05m in the previous quarter, and 1.06m in the same time period the year before, according to state media. Continue reading...

Crown Resorts responded ‘pretty aggressively’ to a letter from the acting head of Victoria’s gambling regulatorA furious Crown Resorts executive threatened to go to Victoria’s gaming minister after the state’s gambling regulator raised concerns about the company’s reluctance to take action on high-rolling gamblers, an inquiry has been told.The Victorian royal commission into Crown was told on Tuesday that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation had advised the company to increase scrutiny of individual gamblers who were part of junket groups in 2018 to limit the risk of money laundering. Continue reading...

Academic fears taskforce looking into domestic violence will further empower a criminal justice system already failing First Nations womenThe terms of reference for the Queensland women’s safety and justice taskforce – which is looking at laws to ban coercive control – are “explicitly racist” and ignore the experiences of First Nations women, academics and advocates say.The state taskforce headed by the former court of appeal president Margaret McMurdo is the centrepiece of government efforts to tackle the continued escalation of domestic violence. Continue reading...

Businessman Govind Kant is the second Australian to die from coronavirus in India; Morrison condemns Virgin boss’s ‘insensitive’ border comments. Follow all the day’s news

The Israeli military has launched another heavy wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, saying it destroyed militants' tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders. Early on Tuesday morning, three massive blasts shook Gaza City. Confirmation is being sought as to what caused the explosions. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled Israel’s bombardment would continue despite mounting global pressure to stop the bloodshed. After a phone conversation with Netanyahu on Monday afternoon, the US president, Joe Biden, issued a statement expressing support for a ceasefire, but did not say it should be immediate. In the last week, at least 200 Palestinians, including 59 children, have been killed in the attacks by Israel

When Covid shut schools, fees still had to be paid even if rural pupils could not access online lessonsIqbal Khan works as a chauffeur in Lahore. His children are in his home village in a rural area north of Peshawar. Both of these very different areas of Pakistan have the same problem for many of their young people: no means of getting access to an education.Online learning was not an option for Khan’s children as the pandemic locked down schools across cities and countryside. Even as he worked to pay the school fees, his two sons, aged 16 and 13, were unable to access any lessons as their schools went digital. Continue reading...

Increased flexibility of vaccine expected to have ‘significant impact’ on rollout in EU member states

Police say man in his 50s suffered critical injuries to his upper thigh during attack at Tuncurry beach, near ForsterA surfer has died after he was mauled by a 4.5m great white shark off Tuncurry Beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast.It’s the first confirmed fatal shark attack in Australian waters this year, though it’s believed another man was killed by a shark off South Australia in January. Continue reading...

The fairytale comedy was a hit with critics and audiences but its toilet humour, glibness and shoddy animation mark it out as a misfireShrek has an outhouse with a working toilet.It is not part of the film’s cynical brand of “irreverence” that an ogre’s latrine is supported by modern plumbing. And it’s certainly not consistent with the hygiene of a swamp-dwelling beast who bathes in mud, brushes his teeth in slime and boasts of a killer weed rat stew. But after our lime-green hero literally wipes his ass with a fairytale ending, it was apparently decided that the film needed that emphatic flushing sound before the Smash Mouth single All Star kicked in and the introductory montage could commence. Continue reading...

Firm settles over allegations claimants were shot, stabbed and beaten by guards at mine that produced one of Queen’s favourite gems

Amid political turmoil and an overwhelmed health system, young activists are stepping up in response to the pandemicA ping and: “ICU bed needed. Please it’s urgent.” Another ping: “Where can I find Remdesivir. EMERGENCY.” Ping: “Very urgent oxygen cylinder needed, patient at last stage.” The messages never let up; a constant stream of posts pleading for hospital beds, oxygen, plasma and medicine.It’s not Nepal’s government helpline, but an online group set up by a 24-year-old public health graduate. Continue reading...

Worldwide, mothers are overworked, underpaid, often lonely and made to feel guilty about everything from epidurals to bottle feeding. Fixing this is the unfinished work of feminismIt’s the middle of a dark, November night, and I’m about to have my first baby. But instead of the joyful experience I’d hoped for, I am being rushed into the operating theatre to have an emergency caesarean under general anaesthetic. I have a dangerous complication and my son’s life is at risk. Four hours earlier, I’d been sent home by a midwife who told me I couldn’t stay in hospital and have an epidural because labour wasn’t properly “established”.It’s a week later and I’m back home with my son who, thankfully, made it. But I’m struggling. If someone asks me how I am, in a kindly voice, my voice cracks. I’m spending a lot of time sitting on the bed in a milk-stained dressing gown. In a few days, my partner will go back to work. Continue reading...

As fraught and imperfect as efforts at historical justice can be, consider what happens when they do not occur. The crimes of the past, when left unaddressed, do not remain in the past

Monday’s change in the rules was supposed to be a moment of celebration – but the new variant spreading in the UK meant it came with a cautionary note. Can the next stage of the government’s ‘irreversible’ plan go ahead?This time last week, most of us were feeling optimistic about the next step in the government’s “irreversible” plan to end lockdown. Then scientists started to warn that the accelerating spread of the India variant of coronavirus meant that we should proceed carefully – and even consider slowing down.While the plans went ahead on Monday, they came with a heavy dose of caution and warnings that the last stage of the relaxation set for 21 June could be delayed. The Guardian’s science correspondent Nicola Davis tells Anushka Asthana about the latest setback in the fight against Covid – and what it means for what happens next. Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu signals Israel’s bombardment will continue as Joe Biden issues statement supporting ceasefireTwo hundred Palestinians, including 59 children, have been killed during a week of attacks in Gaza, health officials in the territory have said, as Benjamin Netanyahu signalled Israel’s bombardment would rage on despite mounting global pressure to stop the bloodshed.After a phone conversation with Netanyahu on Monday afternoon, US president Joe Biden issued a statement for the first time expressing support for a ceasefire – but though he did not say it should be immediate. Continue reading...

Owner of mansion allegedly used for illegal gambling during pandemic won’t face charges after police accused of theft and planting evidenceA police investigation into an alleged underground casino operating out of a mansion north of Toronto has fallen apart after officers were accused of stealing two luxury watches and planting evidence.Police in Ontario said in September they had seized more than $10m in assets, firearms, cash and liquor as part of a months-long investigation into illegal gambling. Continue reading...

Excavation work will go ahead where missing 15-year-old Mary Bastholm worked, police have saidExcavation work will go ahead in a cafe in Gloucester where missing 15-year-old Mary Bastholm worked and the serial killer Fred West was a customer, after “possible evidence” to suggest a body could be buried there, police have said.Forensic archaeologists have been undertaking exploratory work at the Clean Plate cafe in Southgate Street in connection with the disappearance of the girl who was last seen alive in January 1968. Continue reading...

Italy relaxes restrictions in areas with low cases; Germany will scrap its vaccine priority list from 7 June; Taiwan posts 333 new cases in worsening outbreak

Tuesday: Israel signals airstrikes will continue as the international community pushes for ceasefire. Plus: the complete guide to selling secondhand fashionGood morning. There are no signs of the violence in Gaza easing, as pressure is growing on the international governments, including Australia, to take stronger action against many of the world’s conflicts. Australia is also facing calls to take a tougher line on Myanmar, with demands for sanctions on coup leaders. And there is increasing pressure for Australia to open its borders to the world sooner rather than later.Two hundred Palestinians, including 59 children, have been killed during a week of attacks in Gaza as Benjamin Netanyahu signalled Israel’s bombardment would rage on despite mounting global pressure to stop the bloodshed. The attacks have left Gaza’s hospitals strained, and the deaths of doctors have further hit medical services struggling with damaged facilities and medicine shortages. The violence has seen regional unity splinter over who is to blame and what should be done to stop the fighting. While some states with Muslim majorities have accused Israel of incitement at the al-Aqsa mosque and committing atrocities in Gaza, other countries that followed suit during previous flare-ups have this time been more restrained. Continue reading...

Head of country’s academy of medicine issues warning with less than 1% of population having received a doseVenezuela’s slow rate of vaccination for Covid-19 means it could take up to 10 years for the country to be fully vaccinated, the president of the nation’s academy of medicine said on Monday.Venezuela, with about 30 million inhabitants, has received 1.4m vaccines from China and Russia, according to its health ministry. Authorities hope to receive enough doses for about 5 million people from the World Health Organization’s Covax system. Continue reading...

Aboriginal people have the skills, refined over thousands of years, to care for this fragile, fire-prone ancient continent

Profile: since leaving Kensington and Chelsea, Feilding-Mellen has become the director of ‘psychedelic venture studio’

A six-year-old Palestinian girl was found deep inside a pile of rubble after her home was destroyed by an Israeli strike in Gaza that killed her mother and all four of her siblings.Suzy Eshkuntana, trapped for seven hours under the debris, was reunited in Shifa hospital with her father, who was also being treated for his wounds. The family’s home was hit by Israeli air strikes early on Sunday in Gaza City, a wave of attacks that Gaza health officials said killed 42 people including 10 children and raised the death toll in Gaza after a week of bombardment to more than 200.Israel says it is attacking the militant Islamist Hamas movement that controls the densely populated Gaza Strip and that - along with Islamic Jihad and other militant groups - has fired more than 3,000 rockets towards Israeli towns and cities, killing 10 people, including two children

Almost 400 organisations say Morrison government’s decision not to impose sanctions is disappointing and emboldens military juntaDemocracy campaigners defying the military junta in Myanmar have pleaded with Australia to sanction the generals who engineered February’s coup and the businesses that sustain the military regime.Nearly 400 civil society organisations inside Myanmar have written an open letter to the foreign minister, Marise Payne, condemning Australia’s “shameful inaction” and urging it to impose new sanctions to de-legitimise the military regime and squeeze its sources of foreign funding. Continue reading...

Court will take up Mississippi’s bid to enforce a 15-week ban on abortion, setting up a showdown

More than 6,200 people get vaccine dose as doctors take pragmatic approach on eligibilityThe race to tackle an outbreak in Bolton of the virulent new strain of Covid-19 first identified in India began with a flurry of phone calls on Thursday afternoon. The urgency at senior levels was clear to those on the ground, who were told: “If we throw every bit of Pfizer at you that we can find, how many [people] can you jab this weekend?”In one meeting, Michael Smith, the chief officer of Bolton’s GP federation, told NHS England they could jab 5,000 people in one weekend – eight times the average rate. “Everybody’s faces were a bit like: what? Really?” Continue reading...

Long-term citizens alarmed at letter saying they risk losing right to work and healthcare unless they apply for post-Brexit statusA number of long-term British citizens have expressed alarm at receiving letters from the Home Office telling them they risk losing the right to work, benefits and free healthcare unless they apply for UK immigration status in the next six weeks.Campaigners said they were concerned that the “scattergun” mailshot, which was sent out to thousands of people instructing them to apply for EU settled status before the end of June, revealed weaknesses in the Home Office’s databases, and a lack of bureaucratic clarity about who has the right to live in the UK. Continue reading...

Deaths of doctors have further hit medical services struggling with damaged facilities and medicine shortagesIn her bed in Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, 25-year-old Aya Aloul recalls the moment her 66-year-old father, Moeen, one of Gaza’s few neurologists, was killed in an Israeli strike, one of two key Palestinian medical staff killed within hours on Sunday.Covered in wounds and bruises caused by shrapnel and falling masonry, she described the bombing of the family’s home in the Rimal neighbourhood. Continue reading...

Footage suggests Harry will revisit trauma of his mother’s death in Apple TV+ series on mental healthThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex feature in an emotional trailer for Harry’s mental health documentary series with Oprah Winfrey, and footage hints that he will revisit the trauma he experienced after his mother’s death.The two-minute trailer includes archive film from the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, showing Harry, then 12, standing with his head bowed as his mother’s coffin passes by, alongside the Prince of Wales, who then turns to speak to his son. Continue reading...

Voiced by Corden, Peter tumbles into a life of crime in a part-animated caper that’s occasionally cute but mostly blandThe new Peter Rabbit film is here – as before directed and co-written by Will Gluck and the hero cheekily voiced by James Corden – presenting a U-certificate entertainment that shows rabbits wisecracking and getting up to larks but thankfully uninterested in breeding or sexual congress of any sort.Beatrix Potter’s creation has returned for a movie sequel that combines live-action humans and CGI bunnies whose co-existence on camera is seamlessly achieved as before in that bright, flat, bland light, as if the screen has been laminated. Some of the story takes place in the picturesque town of Gloucester rather than the Lake District; naturally, we were all hoping Peter Rabbit 2 would show Peter Rabbit’s dad as a young man in the old country, a bandit in the countryside, interspersed with scenes showing his grownup son becoming increasingly ruthless as he embraces his violent destiny in the stolen carrot business. Continue reading...

‘When we played the first episode to Jamie’s parents, his mum left the room’In 2015, my dad took me aside at a family gathering and said: “I’m writing a book.” He didn’t say what it was about, but a month later he emailed it to me asking for my feedback. When I realised what it was, a pornographic novel, I had to share it with my friends – if only to purge the shame from my body. Continue reading...

Unemployment rose by 70% in the past year in the Portuguese region most reliant on tourism, so locals are delighted to see Kevin Rushby and today’s other arrivals

Ministers highlight infection rate in Moray and Glasgow as most of country moves down to level 2

Sale of Kanye West’s 2008 Grammys pair for $1.8m heralded era of investment grade trainersTo most people they just look like a pair of trainers or sneakers, but for Gerome Sapp the Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototypes represent a watershed moment in design and modern commerce. “If you’re a sneakerhead, you know that sneaker,” says Sapp.The art market is paying attention, too. The shoes, co-designed by Kanye West and worn by him to the Grammys in 2008, became the most expensive ever sold when Sapp’s company Rares bought them for $1.8m (£1.28m) at Sotheby’s in a private sale in April. Continue reading...

Campaigners and MPs express concerns at proposals for new detention facility in Durham

The Tokyo Olympics are due to begin on 23 July, but calls for the Games to be cancelled are growing due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Japan. The Guardian's Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry, looks at the current state of play.A recent spike in coronavirus cases has caused many prefectures to enter a state of emergency, including Tokyo. Japan has been reporting nearly 7,000 daily cases and the surge has put pressure on the country’s healthcare system, with the rollout of its vaccination programme slower than anticipated.Organisers says tough anti-virus measures, including regular testing of athletes and a ban on overseas fans, will keep the delayed Games safe, but a new poll indicates more than 80% of Japanese people oppose hosting the Olympics this year. In addition, some elite athletes including tennis star Naomi Osaka have expressed their own concerns. Continue reading...

Israeli flags burned as thousands attend demonstrations in Berlin, Cologne and other citiesPoliticians in Germany have called for tougher measures against antisemitism after thousands of people attended what became aggressive protests at the weekend in connection with the escalating violence in the Middle East.In the most violent protest, in the southern Berlin district of Neukölln, demonstrators who had gathered to show solidarity with Palestinians burned Israeli flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans and flew Hamas banners. Continue reading...

Police will not pursue case after boutique staff alleged they were slapped and hit on head in row over shopliftingThe wife of Belgium’s ambassador to South Korea will exercise her diplomatic immunity to avoid criminal charges on allegations she hit two boutique staff in a row over shoplifting, police have said.The ambassador, Peter Lescouhier, previously said that he “sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife”, adding that he “wants to apologise on her behalf”. Continue reading...

British Airways and Heathrow criticise list of 12 countries people in England can visit quarantine-free

Western Australia’s Child and Adolescent Health Service releases damning report into death of seven-year-old Aishwarya AswathStaff at Perth Children’s Hospital missed a “cascade” of opportunities to escalate the care of seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath as she succumbed to a fatal infection.The confronting finding is contained in a report by Western Australia’s Child and Adolescent Health Service, released in full on Monday. Continue reading...

Pedro, 53, and Emma, 45, met in 2010 when he was visiting the UK from Spain. Despite the language barrier, they fell in love and now live together in Extremadura with their three dogsEmma had always pictured herself with a family. But, by 2010, she hadn’t met the right person and was feeling lost. “I was a teacher in Tunbridge Wells at the time,” she says. “I really wanted to be a mum. I was 35, which was my self-imposed ‘deadline’.”Over the August bank holiday weekend, she went to a friend’s barbecue, where she spotted a man she had never seen before. “He had a deep tan and was wrapped in a big coat. I knew he wasn’t English.” Pedro was a language student who was staying with Emma’s friend, Jenny. “I came to improve my English and had the option to stay with a family. I thought I’d learn more,” he says. They tried to chat, but struggled to understand each other. “My friend told me he was married with children,” she says. Continue reading...

Former president, 79, faces charges of fraud, racketeering and money launderingA long-delayed corruption trial of Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has opened in South Africa, but was adjourned almost immediately by nine days.Zuma, who held office from 2009 to 2018, faces charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a $2.5bn (£1.98bn) deal to buy European military hardware to upgrade South Africa’s armed forces in 1994. Continue reading...

The light-welterweight champion, perhaps the most politically active boxer since Muhammad Ali, on his activism, his upbringing and his upcoming unification fight against Josh TaylorJosé Ramírez has been described as the most politically active boxer since Muhammad Ali and, in his riveting company, it does not take long to understand there is depth and truth to a statement that might initially sound like a snappy soundbite. Ramírez, the WBC and WBO light-welterweight world champion, fights Scotland’s Josh Taylor, who holds the IBF and WBA titles, in a fascinating unification contest in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The winner will become boxing’s only current undisputed world champion. Ramírez knows the challenge he faces against Taylor, and believes he will prevail, but we begin with the reasons for his activism.Ramírez is an American of Mexican descent and his ethnicity and family’s roots have shaped his political outlook. He explains that, in 2007, when he was 14, he still lived in Avalon, a little town in the central valley of California. This belt of land supplies more than half of the fruit and vegetables the entire US consumes every year. But people here are poor. They are mostly Mexican. José knew the back-breaking work people did on the surrounding farms, picking crops. He wanted new trainers but he didn’t want to ask his parents for money. So he found himself a job in the school vacation. Continue reading...