World news | The Guardian

From Watership Down to The Animals of Farthing Wood, leading nature writers discuss the children’s classics that made them want to write about the natural world

Stefan Damian Dragos, 28-year-old Romanian citizen, is accused of providing truck in people-smuggling caseItalian police have arrested a man wanted by the UK in connection with a people-smuggling plot that led to the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants in the back of a lorry.Stefan Damian Dragos, a 28-year-old Romanian citizen, is accused of having provided the truck that transported the migrants to England, according to a police statement. Continue reading...

UK also reports 17 deaths as infection rate rises; British Medical Association calls for delay to easing of remaining lockdown restrictions

Australia’s world-heritage listed Daintree rainforest teems with unique flora and fauna, including one of the rarest and most primitive flowering plants in the world. It spans 120sq km and is estimated to be 180 million years old, but in recent years logging and sugarcane fields have threatened this natural wonder. Now an ambitious ‘buy back’ scheme is set to bring the rainforest back to lifeAs Andrew Solomon looks up at the rainforest canopy on Kuku Yalanji land near Cape Tribulation, his eyes start to water.“When I first came back, I felt someone was following me. I could feel a presence. I wasn’t wearing any shoes and all of a sudden I felt a bolt of electricity come up through me from the ground. It was country speaking to me, it was welcoming me back.” Continue reading...

After a muted 2020 ski season, alpine towns are hoping heavy snowfall will bring back travellers and revive businesses

The animals have a bad reputation in Aotearoa, where they are regarded as pests – but some say they are scapegoated for human failuresMaurice likes to stay up all night. When he finally settles down at 5am, he makes sure everyone knows he’s there – then he curls up and sleeps all day.“When he’s ready to go to bed, he gives us a good face wash to say ‘hi,’” Jo Little* says, laughing. “He’s got really, really cold feet, and he puts them all over your head. He licks every area of your face!” Continue reading...

Officials and NGOs say orphans now face the double threat of neglect and being vulnerable to exploitation

Rightwing candidate Keiko Fujimori alleged fraud after losing to leftist Pedro Castillo by about 60,000 votesPeru was on a knife-edge on Friday as its electoral board reviewed ballots cast in the presidential election, after a challenge to the tally by the losing candidate Keiko Fujimori.The final tally gave the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo a razor-thin 50.17% to 49.83% advantage over his rightwing rival Fujimori, which amounts to about 60,000 votes. Continue reading...

As doubt grows that government will end Covid controls on planned date, we look at the other options

As Dutch capital reopens post-Covid, city is taking ‘extra measures’ to discourage excessAmsterdam has said it will not allow a return to the “nuisance and massive crowds” the city endured before the pandemic, sending a blunt warning that visitors “whose intention is to booze and misbehave, dressed like a penis” should go elsewhere.As much of the EU prepares to open up to tourists who are vaccinated, have recovered from the coronavirus or can provide a negative test from 1 July, the Dutch capital’s city hall said in a statement it was taking “extra measures” to discourage excesses. Continue reading...

G7 leaders have opened their first in-person talks in nearly two years. Welcomed by Boris Johnson to the beachside summit venue in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, the leaders posed for a photograph before opening their first session of talks Continue reading...

Met police say suspect has been detained after death on Blyth Road in Hayes on Friday morningA 15-year-old boy has died after being stabbed in west London during the morning school run.Officers were called to reports of a fight on Blyth Road in Hayes shortly before 8.35am and found the victim with multiple stab wounds. He died at the scene, close to Global Academy, a college for students aged 14 to 19. Continue reading...

Petition asks for protection from shooting ranges around Samye Ling and other places of peaceWhen the gunfire starts it is like a thunderclap, the monks and nuns explain, and the sound reverberates up the valley. During the game shooting season, it is not unusual for avian casualties to land within the grounds of Samye Ling, the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in western Europe. Tame ducks who have sought refuge from the hunters now waddle and strut between the golden statues, and peck at the monastics’ brick red robes.This secluded spiritual community now finds itself in a confounding position, standing with the local community of Eskdalemuir against the development of shooting ranges that threaten their “pocket of peace”. Continue reading...

Cpl Jürgen Conings disappeared more than three weeks ago and threatened to kill a top scientistPolice searching a nature reserve for a heavily armed Belgian soldier who has threatened to kill one of the country’s top scientists have found a backpack full of ammunition, raising fears the fugitive has even more weapons than suspected.Cpl Jürgen Conings, 46, a specialist marksman, has not been seen since he disappeared on 17 May after taking four anti-tank missile launchers, a sub-machine gun and a bullet proof vest from his barracks. Continue reading...

Take the edge off the summer heat with these delicious cocktails to share – from a boozy take on iced tea to a dark rum crowd-pleaser

Edelsten was known for his flashy lifestyle, young wives and a series of brushes with the legal system that included a stint in jailGeoffrey Edelsten, who made a name for himself as a flashy doctor, helped save AFL team the Sydney Swans from extinction and had a string of young wives, has died aged 78.Edelsten died on Friday at his home in Melbourne, the ABC and local media reported. Continue reading...

Victoria Cross recipient tells court man killed in Afghanistan was a ‘spotter’ and legitimate target within rules of warAccused soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has denied outright the most dramatic murder alleged against him – that he kicked an unarmed, handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff before ordering him shot – telling a court the accusation was false and “outright malicious”.“It feels like you’re in a bloody nightmare,” he told the court during an excoriating day of evidence. “Every time they write it I wonder: ‘how am I in this position?’” Continue reading...

Victoria and Queensland record no new Covid cases; court approves robodebt settlement. Follow live

Games will not boost local trade by as much as was hoped but there is optimism over Italy’s chancesThe rescheduled European football championships kick off in Rome on Friday in what the city’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, has billed as a symbol of a new beginning.Andrea Bocelli will sing Nessun Dorma before the opening match between Italy and Turkey at the Olympic stadium, and a football village will open at Piazza del Popolo in the centre of Rome. Continue reading...

The former SAS soldier says attitudes of other soldiers changed after he received his military honour and he was ‘white-anted’The Victoria Cross was a cross to bear, Ben Roberts-Smith has told his defamation trial, saying it “put a target on his back” for other soldiers jealous of his medal.In the witness box for a second straight day, the former corporal detailed at length his missions in Afghanistan, and the tensions within SAS as soldiers were sent back for repeated deployments in a long, grinding and costly war. Continue reading...

Foreigners could be placed on an anti-sanctions list and denied entry into China or expelled from the countryChina has passed a law to counter foreign sanctions in response to US and EU pressure over trade, technology, Hong Kong and Xinjiang.Individuals or entities involved in making or implementing discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens or entities could be put on an anti-sanctions list and may be denied entry into China or be expelled from the country. Their assets within China may be seized or frozen and they could be restricted from doing business there. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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