Ethical streetwear co-operative Top Manta says profits will help migrant vendors ‘become legal and work for a decent wage’After years of selling cheap copies of designer shoes and handbags, Barcelona’s street vendors have set up a co-operative and launched a line of trainers under the brand name Top Manta.Unlike an earlier attempt to establish a brand in 2017 by sticking a logo on shoes imported from China, the trainers are made in Alicante in Spain and Porto in Portugal. Continue reading...
English Heritage’s six portraits range from a Roman emperor to Queen Victoria’s goddaughterSix paintings that tell fascinating, not widely known stories of people from the African diaspora in England’s history, including the Roman emperor who strengthened Hadrian’s Wall and Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, have been unveiled by English Heritage.The heritage body commissioned six artists to paint portraits, putting them on display at forts, abbeys, historic houses and barracks where they have an association. Continue reading...
Belgium’s prime minister among signatories to open letter backing global right to safe abortions and reopening of clinics closed in pandemicGovernment ministers from five European countries, including Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander de Croo, are among 29 politicians, healthcare and women’s rights activists who have signed an open letter calling for the removal of all legal barriers to abortion.The letter, signed by gender and equality ministers from France, Canada and Norway, and international development ministers from Sweden and the Netherlands, states that women’s right to safe, legal abortion is being eroded by misinformation and attacks on services. It calls for the reopening of abortion clinics closed during the pandemic. Continue reading...
They were a tabloid dream, the super-cool fly girl and the eyeliner-wearing Caped Crusader. Now, 17 years on, Ben and Jen are together again. But what do the ultimate 00s couple mean to the TikTok age?Brangelina. Kimye. Tomkat. Gyllenspoon. Each pairing is yet another note in the long, sad dirge of failed Hollywood romances. Blending famous monikers has been a showbiz tradition for decades, even if most of these fusions fizzle out quicker than you can say “Vaughniston” (you remember: Vince Vaughn dated Jennifer Aniston for about a minute after her breakup with Brad Pitt). But back in the early 2000s, there was one couple whose tumultuous affair and melded nickname towered above the rest, all but consuming the tabloid press for three whole years, until their abrupt, dramatic breakup just days before their planned wedding. And now, 17 years later, in a plot twist worthy of a Nancy Meyers romcom, those same not-so-young-any-more lovers have shocked the world and delighted the media by getting back together.That’s right: like the cicadas, Bennifer has risen anew. The details of the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez reunion are still a bit sketchy. There was a New York Post item in April reporting that the two had been observed entering the restaurant at the Pendry hotel in West Hollywood with “arms wrapped around each other”. A few days later, Affleck was spotted making an early-morning departure from Lopez’s LA home (“with a smirk” on his face, the Page Six article noted). A month after that, multiple outlets broke the news that the couple had spent a weekend at a resort in Montana. Then celebrity mag Us Weekly made it semi-official with a quote from an anonymous source: “Jen and Ben are both very happy with each [other] and excited to see where the relationship goes.” Continue reading...
By combining the names of the Queen and the Princess of Wales, Harry and Meghan have highlighted two very different approaches to the monarchy. But which will define the future?The joyful delivery of a baby girl to Prince Harry and Meghan is lovely news. But it has been lost, ever so slightly, in the couple’s naming choice: Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.I don’t think they had any say in the surname, so let’s stick with the forenames. Lilibet is, of course, the Queen’s nickname; not, as you might suppose, a contraction of Elizabeth that only posh people use, but rather what she called herself when she was too young to pronounce her own name. Only George VI, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Prince Philip used it. “Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy,” the king was quoted as saying, evidently having not caught up with the parenting manual that says you are really supposed to keep the identity of your favourite child to yourself. When Prince Philip died, the nickname died with him. Continue reading...
Kim looks noticeably slimmer in his first public appearance for a month, highlighting possible health issues over weight and lifestyleThe North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has prompted more speculation about his health after recent photographs suggested he had lost weight.Kim, whose heavy frame has drawn global interest since he became the country’s leader almost a decade ago, looked noticeably trimmer in images released by state media on Saturday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Continue reading...
Government urged to act amid fears that lives of people who have worked with armed forces are at riskThe German government is under pressure to accelerate the process by which hundreds of Afghans who worked for the military are able to resettle in Germany amid fears for their lives if they stay in their home country.High-ranking representatives from the military, politics, development aid and the diplomatic corps have joined an appeal to the German government stressing the urgency of acting ahead of the withdrawal of international troops next month. Continue reading...
The UK last hosted the G7 in 2013 but progress on David Cameron’s grand plans has been woefulThe last time the UK chaired a summit of the G7, or the G8 as it was in 2013, David Cameron was in an ebullient mood as he held a closing press conference in glorious late afternoon sunshine by Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. He sensed he had pulled off a diplomatic triumph by putting a new subject at the forefront of world leaders’ agenda: the global fight against corruption.“These are really strong commitments that have never been written down in this sort of way and then signed,” Cameron said. “These are words on a page that the G8 is going to be judged on year after year after year.” Continue reading...
The island’s Indigenous people are in a race against time to save their native tongues before they are lost foreverIn a modest conference room near the edge of Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake, Panu Kapamumu holds up an unwieldy A3 booklet. The home-printed document contains every known word of Thao, the language of his Indigenous tribe. Kapamumu runs his finger down the list, reading out a selection of Thao words, meanings and translations. He reads slowly and purposefully, a man in his sixties but still just a student of his mother tongue. Continue reading...
Comprising more than 200 colour photographs, Porch Diaries is a series by Melbourne-based photographer Alana Holmberg featuring portraits of neighbours, strangers, workers and loved ones who passed by her Brunswick home during the 2020 pandemic lockdown months in Melbourne. With the recent spike in cases, Melbourne was back in lockdown and Holmberg was back on the porch30 March 2020Some days I feel like a creep. My spot up here on the porch, partially obscured behind the lemon tree, kept vertical by a stake, and the row of spindly roses. Twice this morning my presence went undetected. A metre or so above the path, I sit on a worn-out couch with a worn-out laptop, my eyes flicking from screen to street and down to screen again. Who else will pass by today? Mara, my housemate’s dog, takes her usual position to my right, propped up on my thigh. We watch and we wait. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5JTW2)
More than 40 government-funded charities write to PM to call for lifting of ‘arbitrary’ 30 June cut-off dateMore than 40 government-funded charities have written to Boris Johnson urging him to lift the 30 June deadline for EU citizens to apply to retain their rights to remain in the UK following Brexit.The charities are all funded by the Home Office to provide support to vulnerable EU citizens including children and elderly people in care, victims of domestic abuse and trafficking, Roma communities and homeless people. Continue reading...
Research shows PornHub has bigger audience than BBC News – and people increasingly live lives onlineHalf the adult population of the UK watched online pornography during the pandemic, according to a projection by Ofcom which lays bare the activities of the 26 million individuals who view adult material.By far the most popular pornography site was PornHub, which was visited by 50% of all males and 16% of all females in the UK in September 2020 – giving the site a far larger audience than mainstream television channels such as Sky One, ITV4 and BBC News. Continue reading...
Sara Rogel was charged with violating El Salvador’s extreme ban on ending pregnanciesA Salvadoran woman has been released from prison after serving nearly a third of her 30-year sentence on charges of terminating her pregnancy and violating El Salvador’s harsh abortion ban.Sara Rogel was arrested in October 2012 after going to a hospital with bleeding injuries caused by what she said was a fall while carrying out chores at home. Then a 22-year-old student, Rogel was prosecuted and sentenced for killing her unborn daughter. Continue reading...
Wednesday: PM to address climate commitments and China tensions in key foreign policy speech ahead of G7 summit. Plus: finding fossils along Australia’s dinosaur trailGood morning! Did you have trouble accessing websites last night? We’ve got all the info on what caused the outages across the globe and what it means for internet security, plus plenty more – including dinosaurs – in today’s morning mail.Scott Morrison is resisting international pressure to lock in more ambitious climate commitments, declaring Australia opposes setting targets for certain parts of the economy or “false deadlines for phasing out specific energy sources”. Before he sets off for the G7 summit in the UK later this week, the prime minister will use a foreign policy speech in Perth today to say that “ambition alone won’t solve the problem of actually reducing emissions”. Morrison is also expected to address tensions with China, saying Australia is “far from isolated” despite Beijing rolling out a series of trade actions against Australian export sectors over the past year. Continue reading...
Friend of 15-month-old’s family reveals details of Channel smuggling trade that led to their deathsThe authorities in Norway did not have much to go on when they found the body on the shore on New Year’s Day. But the baby boy was wearing a jacket – navy blue with white stitching.And that helped them solve the mystery of what had happened to 15-month-old Artin Iran Nezhad, who had last been seen weeks before and hundreds of miles away. Continue reading...
Making it even harder to claim asylum will do nothing to prevent tragedies such as the drowning of a babyThe identification of the body of Artin Iran Nezhad in Norway brings a tragic migration story to an end. Artin, aged 15 months when his Iranian Kurdish parents tried to cross the Channel in a small boat, was reported missing when the vessel sank near Dunkirk last October and the rest of the family died. Since New Year’s Day, when a baby’s remains were found near Karmøy, forensic scientists have worked to identify them. This week it was announced that Artin’s body will be flown back to relatives in Iran for burial.Like the photograph of Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body being lifted from the sea by a police officer in Turkey six years ago, the tale of a dead baby lost for months at sea is filled with pathos. What more graphic illustration could there be of the extreme risks taken by desperate migrants than the loss of the tiny children they would doubtless have done everything in their power to protect? Continue reading...
Analysis: upholding of genocide conviction for 1995 atrocities is a victorious end to a process few thought would succeedWhen Ratko Mladić’s life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity was confirmed, marking the end of the road for the Bosnian Serb general 10 years after his capture, Munira Subašić, was in The Hague courtroom to watch.In July 1995, Subašić was outside a UN compound, a disused battery factory near Srebrenica, appealing for protection from Dutch peacekeepers along with thousands of other terrified Bosnian Muslims. Continue reading...
by Presented by Laura Murphy-Oates; produced by Miles on (#5JTDZ)
The coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne has spread to aged care, with multiple cases linked to one facility: Arcare in Maidstone. For young carer Ai-Lin, whose 86-year-old grandmother Ann lives at the facility, this outbreak raises serious questions about Australia’s aged care system and the federal government’s vaccination rollout.Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Ai-Lin about her experience as a young carer living through the pandemicYou can also read: Continue reading...
Simon Hawxwell, formerly of Hampshire constabulary, also guilty of waving scissors in colleague’s faceA highly experienced former police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after he choked a new female colleague, brandished scissors in her face and aimed highly sexualised insults at her.PC Simon Hawxwell, who served in Hampshire constabulary for 18 years, left his young co-worker “fearful she would be sliced” when he held scissors to her cheek in the office. Continue reading...
The time you wake up every morning is baked into your DNA – and it could have an impact on your mood and wellbeingName: The lark advantage.Age: Suspected for years, but recently ratified. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#5JT74)
Global tax changes could mean Treasury loses £230m digital services tax receipts from Google, Amazon, Facebook and eBayExperts have warned that US tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, could pay less tax in the UK and several other big economies under global reforms agreed at the weekend by the G7.In a key stumbling block emerging days after the landmark deal, research from the TaxWatch campaign group indicates that the UK Treasury stands to lose about £230m from the taxes paid each year by four of the big US tech firms. Continue reading...
As the groundbreaking show ends its award-winning three season run, those involved with the show talk about its importance for trans and queer people of colorGold crowns inset with emeralds, fur-trimmed capes and gowns embellished with glittering diamonds and pearls clothed The House of Abundance as they made their last-minute entrance into a New York City ballroom and their first entrance on to our TV screens in the premiere episode of Pose in June 2018, which aired its final episode on Sunday.Related: 'I binged Six Feet Under just for the gayness of it': LGBT celebs on their favourite queer TV Continue reading...
Holidays, especially abroad, are off the cards for many this summer. So it’s good to remember they aren’t always the idyllic break we dream of. Here are our readers worst experiencesWe went on holiday for Christmas to a friend’s parents house in Marlo – a village in Victoria, Australia. We got there on Christmas Eve to find the only shop was pretty bare – so Christmas lunch was a frozen turkey roll, Fanta, chips and some frozen peas. I made a Christmas tree out of a stick and some toilet rolls, determined to be cheerful. On Christmas morning, I woke up and went outside. It was nice and hot – yay, beach day! Then I stepped on a very large brown snake on the doorstep and screamed. I found another snake in the lounge room, one in the toilet, and others all around the house. It was my idea of hell. I had no idea whether they were poisonous but it didn’t matter. I was terrified. Lesley Podesta, retired, Australia Continue reading...
Gerard Coyne says he has the 174 branch nominations required in the race to succeed Len McCluskeyThe race to succeed Len McCluskey as the leader of Unite the union is expected to become increasingly tense after the centre-left candidate Gerard Coyne disclosed to the Guardian that he has won enough nominations to reach the final ballot.The announcement is likely to prompt furious negotiations between Coyne’s leftwing rivals as they seek to persuade each other to stand down to keep him out. Continue reading...
The Irish musician said her statement, made on 5 June, was a ‘kneejerk reaction’ against the UK and Irish media’s ‘constant abuse and invalidation’ of her mental healthSinéad O’Connor has retracted her announcement, made over the weekend, that she would retire from music and live performance.In a new statement posted to Twitter, the Irish musician explained to fans that she had felt “badly triggered” by a series of interviews regarding her new memoir, Rememberings, in which she writes of surviving physical and psychological abuse. Continue reading...
Group of pachyderms that has been criss-crossing the countryside photographed lying down outside a village in Xiyang townshipChina’s famous herd of wandering elephants has stopped for a rest after a 15-month journey far out of their natural habitat, an odyssey that has captivated the country.Authorities have marshalled extraordinary resources to monitor the herd and keep it away from residential areas. According to Chinese media, the Yunnan forest fire brigade said a team of eight people were tracking the elephants, 24 hours a day, both on the ground and by drone from the air. Continue reading...
‘False bosomed’ floozies, or the brainiest of businesswomen? As Brian Moylan explains in an extract from his new book, the reality juggernaut might be more subversive than you thinkThe Real Housewives is one of the biggest and glitziest reality franchises on TV. But just who are its many stars; how much money do they make; which of the international offshoots, from Hungary to Cheshire, are worth watching – and how much of it is real?In an extract from his new book, The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives, Brian Moylan explains why some feminists love the series, why others hate it and what it really says about race and class in the US today. Continue reading...
Garish colour effects, dodgy dialogue … who’s heading for a breakdown first, Argento’s haunted artist or the audience?It might be something of a surprise to see a new movie starring Asia Argento, a leading figure in the #MeToo movement; Agony, directed by Argento’s ex-husband Michele Civetta, was actually completed in 2017.This atmospheric film hovers somewhere between a gothic horror and a giallo. Isidora (Argento) is a tightly wound Italian artist living in New York with her husband and young daughter. Plagued by strange visions of an occult ceremony, Isidora continues to unravel when she discovers that her mother, whom she believes is long dead, only passed away recently and has left her a vast estate in Tuscany. Isidora confronts her father, who confesses that he shielded her from the truth because of her mother’s debilitating mental illness. Isidora, along with her family, heads to the estate to oversee her mother’s funeral, and she is haunted by the image of a lady in red and begins to lose her grip on reality. Continue reading...
Camden residents living near high-speed rail project complain of dust, noise and vibrating in their homesA London council has accused HS2 of reneging on its commitments to residents after people living near the construction of the high-speed rail link complained of dust, noise and vibrating in their homes.Council residents living just metres away from building work on part of the project close to Euston Station say their lives have become “hellish” and have urged the rail company to rehouse them en masse, at an estimated cost of £100m. Continue reading...
by Luke Henriques-Gomes (now) and Matilda Boseley (ea on (#5JS7Y)
Victoria reports two new coronavirus cases, both linked to current outbreaks, as Delta variant traced to returned traveller; Western Australia opens vaccinations to over-30s; South Australia expands vaccine rollout
A rap tutor and a language expert dissect the various eras of music’s ever-shifting genre, from Beastie Boys to Giggs and Nicki MinajHe sound like a mosquito if it had access to a studio!”; “I played 645AR at your crib and all the mice in your walls started dancing”; “He sound like Future’s bed bugs”: not your standard rap fan comments, but the Bronx via Atlanta rapper-singer 645AR is … innovative. His lyrics may cover fierce street narratives and narcotic meanderings, but his vocal style is more Minnie Mouse than Migos. And he has fully committed to the bit: “the squeak”, as he’s happy to call it, is present throughout his discography to date and has earned him huge streaming numbers and an FKA twigs collaboration. He is not even the only squeak rapper; he has a predecessor in alien falsetto in Houston’s Voochie P.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5JSGF)
Plea comes as Joe Biden urged to send special envoy amid concern Good Friday agreement being ‘wilfully boycotted’Northern Irish businesses have called on UK and EU leaders to stop the Brexit “blame game” and deliver urgent solutions to end growing tensions over the checks on food and goods crossing the Irish Sea into the region.Their plea comes as a US political committee involving five former US ambassadors says Joe Biden should appoint a special presidential envoy to Northern Ireland amid concern that the Good Friday agreement is being “wilfully boycotted in protest over the protocol”. Continue reading...
In the eye-opening new book Unwell Women, Elinor Cleghorn uses her own misdiagnosis at the hands of male doctors as a jumping point for an alarming history lessonHippocrates, the founder of modern medicine, believed that women were controlled by their uteruses. The father of modern gynecology, James Marion Sims, in the mid 1800s experimented on enslaved black women without anesthesia, convinced that they felt less pain than white women. (Until its removal in 2018, his statue stood in New York City’s Central Park for over a century.) Doctors claimed that women’s suffrage would cause injury to women’s fragile bodies and diminished minds. Such examples cast an abhorrent pall over “first, do no harm.”Related: Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn review – battle for the female body Continue reading...
Far-right candidate’s statement attracts criticism as international observers say ballot passed off correctlyKeiko Fujimori, one of the two candidates fighting vote by vote for the presidency of Peru, has alleged fraud and irregularities in the count of Sunday’s election as her rival leftist teacher Pedro Castillo widens a narrow lead.An inter-American observer mission did not report any irregularities and said the ballot passed off correctly, complying with international standards. Continue reading...
Man, 18, in coma with broken neck and severe head injuries after whale lands on boatAn 18-year-old man from New South Wales is fighting for his life in a coma after he was crushed by a whale in a freak accident on the state’s south coast.Friends Nick and Matt were fishing in waters off Narooma on Sunday when the whale surfaced and landed on their boat. Continue reading...
British actor tells magazine about precautions she takes walking home and says situation is ‘depressing’Keira Knightley has spoken about how sexual harassment is such a big problem she “literally” does not know any woman who has not been subjected to it, including herself.The British actor said that, from groping to being flashed, “everybody” has been harassed in some way. Continue reading...
Abdul Elahi, who extorted adults and minors globally while posing as online sugar daddy, admits 158 chargesA paedophile who exploited and blackmailed almost 2,000 victims globally has admitted 158 charges in what has been described as “industrial-scale” offending.Abdul Elahi, 26, admitted a host of charges – thought to be among the highest number of offences one individual has ever pleaded guilty to – after a lengthy investigation, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Continue reading...
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