by Hazem Balousha in Gaza and Oliver Holmes in Jerusa on (#5HQ20)
As attacks leave 28 Palestinians and two Israelis dead, residents caught in the fighting share their storiesLying in Gaza’s main hospital and unconscious for most of the night, the patient was unsure who from his family was still alive.Muhammad al-Masri, 22, was in front of his house on Monday night, just before breaking his fast for Ramadan. “I heard the sound of a bombardment coming towards us from the frontier,” he said. Continue reading...
Yat-Sen Chang is told he faces long jail term after jury finds him guilty of 13 sexual offences against four teenagersA revered former English National Ballet (ENB) principal dancer faces a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted of sexually abusing young dance students in his care.Yat-Sen Chang, 49, a leading figure within the British and international ballet scene, used his “power and prestige” to commit sexual offences against young students at ENB, a trial heard. Continue reading...
The preposterous Hollywood Foreign Press Association gravy train might have chugged on for ever if its members had just swallowed their pride and done more for diversityAn investigative report by the Los Angeles Times into the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that notoriously rackety organisation which administers the Golden Globes, has shown an eminently corruptible body drenched in antediluvian attitudes; this has resulted in NBC cancelling its TV coverage of next year’s ceremony and Tom Cruise handing back the three Globes he has personally won over the years.Related: Golden Globes backlash: Tom Cruise hands back awards and NBC drops broadcast Continue reading...
Mary Bastholm was reported missing in 1968 and serial killer has been a suspect in her disappearancePolice are searching a cafe in Gloucester for the remains of a missing teenager suspected of being murdered by the serial killer Fred West.Gloucestershire police said they had received possible evidence that a body could be buried within the Clean Plate cafe in Southgate Street, Gloucester. They were called to the scene by filmmakers researching a documentary about West. Continue reading...
Leading environmentalist criticises Armin Laschet for refusing to sack former spy chief Hans-Georg MaaßenThe conservative candidate for German chancellor in September’s elections has been told by the country’s leading environmentalist that he is legitimising antisemitism by refusing to oust the former head of domestic intelligence from his party.The accusation was levelled at Armin Laschet, the leader of the CDU, by Luisa Neubauer, the face of the Fridays for Future movement in Germany, in a standoff on a popular weekly chatshow on Sunday night. Continue reading...
A muscle-bound crew of mercenaries infiltrate a Las Vegas full of zombies in Snyder’s uninspired Netflix horror-thrillerZombies. They grunt. They lurch inelegantly through dystopian ruined streets, sometimes breaking into an athletic sprint. They stare sightlessly ahead, often with irises that glitter in the post-apocalyptic sunset with some nameless infection. Sometimes they shriek through hideously distorted mouths from which the flesh has already been half-eaten away, as they are blasted with a shotgun. They provide metaphors for consumerism and conformism, and they also furnish a low-budget horror launching pad for ambitious young directors. But zombies are often just boring: yucky and indistinguishable horror-vermin whose gruesome killing, in each case, is a dramatically uninteresting non-moment, and all too often humourless (although an honourable exception is Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead).
Three teams of four puppeteers will accompany Little Amal from Turkey to Manchester to celebrate refugeesA giant puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl is to “walk” from Turkey to the UK through villages, towns and cities for one of the most ambitious and complex public artworks ever attempted.The Walk project was meant to have taken place between April and July but was delayed by the pandemic. Now the 5,000 mile (8,000km) journey of Little Amal, from Gaziantep, near the Turkish-Syrian border, to Manchester, will take place over 12 weeks from 27 July. Continue reading...
Craig Murray imprisoned for eight months for breaching court order protecting women’s identitiesThe former diplomat Craig Murray has been jailed for eight months after repeatedly breaching a court order protecting the identities of women who accused Alex Salmond of sexual assault.Murray, a blogger who describes himself as a historian and human rights activist, was found guilty last month of breaching the order in a series of blogposts attacking the decision to prosecute Salmond for 14 counts of sexual assault, including attempted rape. Continue reading...
Dissidents and critics claim election campaign is charadeIran’s outgoing president has criticised a sudden narrowing of the eligibility criteria for those hoping to succeed him as registration formally opened for candidates in the 18 June vote.Dissidents and critics claim the campaign is just a charade and helps provide legitimacy to an autocratic regime but the tensions over who can stand – and the move by a powerful unelected body to exert greater control – has revealed the tensions in Iranian society over the outcome. Continue reading...
President of Tatarstan republic describes incident as ‘great tragedy for the whole country’A gunman attacked a school in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday morning, killing seven students and a teacher, officials have said.Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of the Tatarstan republic where Kazan is the capital, said four male and three female eighth-grade students died in “a great tragedy for the whole country”. Minnikhanov’s press service later said a teacher was also killed. Eighth-grade children in Russia are 13 and 14 years old. Continue reading...
Food has felt more important than ever this past year – particularly meals that offer solace. From rösti to Coco Pops, here are the dishes that got us through
The indie-rocker is now a touchstone for a generation of young songwriters – and after learning to channel her pain and frustration, her 18th album is one of her bestJuliana Hatfield speaks with deliberation: her thoughts unfurl after pregnant pauses and are sharpened by astute clarifications. “I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought,” she says at one point, doubling back to ensure her meaning is clear. Such consideration isn’t a surprise, given the rippling effect of an infamous early-career interview.Nearly 30 years ago, while promoting her debut solo album Hey Babe, 23-year-old Hatfield, who was brand new to interviews, admitted to an inquiring male journalist that she was still a virgin. The casual comment became the focus of his piece, and incited scrutiny that followed the American songwriter throughout her rise. “When I was in the thick of it, it wasn’t really computing for me,” she says on a phone call from her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It wasn’t until much later that I realised how intense it was, how gross it was, and how it affected my career in negative ways.” Continue reading...
Rio’s favelas have suffered countless horrors since the drug conflict began to intensify in the 1980s and the carnage in Jacarezinho has caused a wave of protestShaken, shoeless and with a gaping bullet wound to one of his feet, the young man staggered through Flávia Luciana’s front door at around 8am last Thursday as Rio’s decades-long drug conflict plumbed horrifying new depths.“Help me! For the love of God! Help!” she remembers him pleading as he sought shelter inside. Continue reading...
Fan Bingbing stars as an emperor’s wife having her portrait painted in this artful yet inert period dramaThis French-Chinese co-production about an earlier French-Chinese collaboration offers handsome pageantry amid its lavish recreation of 18th-century imperial court life, but it isn’t quite enough to compensate for a puttering narrative motor. Longtime Apichatpong Weerasethakul producer Charles de Meaux has turned director with a far eastern equivalent of Girl With a Pearl Earring – another decorous, ever so slightly sleepy matinee sit.The film’s subject is Jean-Denis Attiret (played by Melvil Poupaud), a real-life French Jesuit missionary who spent half of his 60-odd years employed as the Chinese court painter. His trickiest commission, recalled here, came from the emperor’s bored wife (Fan Bingbing), thirsting to preserve an image that might turn her indifferent husband’s head. Continue reading...
by Helen Davidson in Taipei and Vincent Ni on (#5HPCX)
Census data reveals demographic timebomb, adding pressure on Beijing to boost incentives for couples to have more childrenChina has reported the slowest population growth since the early 1960s, despite scrapping its one-child policy in 2015 to encourage more births and stave off a looming demographic crisis.On Tuesday, the Chinese government released the results of its once-a-decade census, saying the overall population of China grew to 1.41178 billion in the 10 years to 2020, up by 5.38%. The increase reflects an average annual rise of 0.53%, down from 0.57% reported from 2000 to 2010. Continue reading...
Usually very rare, mucormycosis has a high mortality rate and is difficult to treatA rare black fungus that invades the brain is being increasingly seen in vulnerable patients in India, including those with Covid-19, as the health system continues to struggle in the midst of the pandemic.The health ministry on Sunday released an advisory on how to treat the infection. In the state of Gujarat, about 300 cases had been reported in four cities, including Ahmedabad, according to data from state-run hospitals. Continue reading...
An ambitious interactive structure in West Hollywood is the first part of a new initiative set to bridge outdoor advertising and public artIn 1967, Elektra Records took a risk by purchasing a large hand-painted billboard on West Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard to promote a new album by The Doors, an up-and-coming local band in residency at Whiskey a Go Go, a nearby nightclub. It would ignite a golden era of advertising on the 1.5-mile stretch known as Sunset Strip, where large-format signage advertised the latest releases to passersby. The area has been home to advertising art since the era of speakeasies and silent movies, and in 1991, the Los Angeles Times proclaimed that the iconic 70ft-tall Marlboro Man sign was “a more enduring urban monument than almost any other building in Los Angeles”.Related: To infinity and beyond: the spectacular sensory overload of Ryoji Ikeda’s art Continue reading...
I’m about to take the language test to become a citizen. I’ll be fine so long as I can talk about tortoises and snoringJust as “whelk war” with France is – perhaps – narrowly averted, I am unpatriotically heading to an outpost of the Fifth Republic in Manchester to take the French language test that is a prerequisite for citizenship. After 18 months of trying to become French, I am perhaps two-thirds of the way: close, but no handshake from a man in a sash. It’s a slow, bureaucratic business, but a stroll in the Tuileries compared with the cruel, expensive and idiotic process of becoming British.Conflicting commitments and, I admit, a little complacency mean I will be taking the exam without a second’s preparation. I am hoping that 27 years of speaking French with my husband will help me scrape through. The exam is not particularly hard, unlike the notorious Quebec French language test, which another native speaker recently failed. I just need to manage reading and listening comprehension, conduct a general conversation, and write a short essay on a set current affairs topic. Continue reading...
With one psychiatrist for 750,000 people and huge stigma about mental health, patients get little helpRadhwan Ali Hassan lives with his mother in a small house perched at the top of a sleepy Yemeni village called Aqeeqah, on the outskirts of Taiz city. From inside his bare-walled room, the 35-year-old hears the distant sound of an ice-cream van. He sees children running past his window and can smell goats, but he cannot remember the last time he walked outside.Thick metal shackles around his ankles are attached to a heavy chain fastened to the far wall. They clatter as Hassan paces his room, rocks from side to side and smiles vacantly. His pupils are wide, his movements slow. Continue reading...
There has long been a unique connection between the Somerset-based shoe-maker and the Caribbean island. It goes way beyond shoes - as a new edition of book Clarks in Jamaica demonstratesThe reggae producer Bunny Lee said: “Clarks stand the test of time inna Jamaica. All the other shoes come and bow down at Clarks’ foot.” DJ Trinity said in the 70s that you couldn’t get a girlfriend if you didn’t wear Clarks. And the dancehall star Vybz Kartel dedicated no fewer than three hit songs to the shoes. Clarks might be associated with schoolchildren in the UK, but they have also been the shoe of choice for Jamaican men for nearly 70 years. Continue reading...
Whitechapel Bell Foundry dates back to 1570, and was the factory in which Big Ben and the Liberty Bell were made. But it shut in 2017 and a fight for its future has been raging ever sinceOn a November evening in 2019, Nigel Taylor, who had until recently been the longest-standing employee at the oldest factory in England, took a seat inside a council chamber in the shadow of Canary Wharf in London. The room looked more like the setting of a US daytime TV court drama than a provincial government building in the East End, and it was packed with campaigners, councillors and property developers. Two fretful years had passed since the closure of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, where Taylor had worked for 40 years. Raycliff Capital, a US venture capital firm, had recently acquired the foundry buildings, and a hearing was scheduled to rule whether they could be converted into a boutique hotel.For many in attendance, these development plans were close to sacrilege. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry had been casting bronze bells – what some bellringers call “heavy metal” – since 1570. Big Ben was made there in 1858. The Liberty Bell was made there in 1752. Over the centuries, bells from Whitechapel had made their way all over the world. Some 500 Whitechapel tower bells can be found in Australia, 600 in the US and at least 900 in Canada, according to its former owner Alan Hughes. Continue reading...
After the deaths of her son and husband, Rhian Mannings emerged slowly from grief to start a charity and find love again. What does her experience tell us about how suffering can change us?
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#5HPE2)
Thai foreign correspondents club says the reporters face ‘certain arrest and persecution’ if deported back to MyanmarThree journalists and two activists from Myanmar who fled over the border to Thailand have been arrested for illegal entry and could face possible deportation, according to the reporters’ employer.Broadcaster DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) said their lives would be “in serious danger” if they were forced back to Myanmar, where the military took power in a coup on 1 February and has since arrested dozens of journalists. Continue reading...
Twenty-metre-long unfinished tunnel beneath Yongah Hill detention centre had been dug ‘over several months’A 20-metre-long unfinished escape tunnel has been discovered at an immigration detention centre in Western Australia, refugee advocates say.The nascent tunnel – dug three metres underground – was found on Monday morning, built underneath an accommodation block in Falcon compound of the Yongah Hill detention centre. Continue reading...
Recommendations of Bergin gambling inquiry likely to be revisited as Star chief says ‘the junket business is dead’The potential merger of Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment will put renewed pressure on state governments, casino regulators and casino operators to permanently end the use of junket companies that bring international gamblers to Australia.The Covid-19 pandemic had already ended the use of junket companies in practice, but the Bergin inquiry in NSW prompted Crown to publicly declare it would no longer partner with junket operators after the report found they raised serious risks of money laundering and involvement by organised crime. Continue reading...
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians escalated dramatically on Monday as militant groups in Gaza fired rockets into Israel and Israel responded with strikes on the Palestinian territory following a police raid on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that left hundreds injured.
Those testifying say they want the state to recognise the impact abuse has on future generations“For me, healing is not possible, because of what has happened,” Tyrone Marks told New Zealand’s royal commission into abuse in care on Monday. “I still carry on however, as normally as possible.”Over the last two weeks, the commission has held hearings, gathering testimony from those held as children in residential state care. A sprawling independent investigation put in motion by the Labour government in 2018, it is tasked with revealing the extent of abuse in state care and its ongoing effects. Continue reading...
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians escalated dramatically on Monday as militant groups in Gaza fired rockets into Israel and Israel responded with strikes on the Palestinian territory following a police raid on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that left hundreds injured.
As the credits rolled on Jia Ling’s hit comedy, Rebecca Zhuang saw her father crying for one of the first times in her lifeSitting in the dimly lit cinema, I reach for my parents’ hands on either side of me.My Dad (Ba) sits to my left and my Mum (Ma) to the right. The credits roll past in the usual blur – but instead of focusing on the names I glance between my parents, each bearing tear-soaked faces just like mine. Continue reading...
Hundreds of Indonesian soldiers have been deployed to West Papua in the past month, and journalists and activists have been targetedViolence has flared in West Papua, with journalists and activists targeted, an internet blackout, and villagers forced to flee into the jungle.Hundreds of additional Indonesian soldiers have been deployed to West Papua in the last month and thousands of people have reportedly been displaced in the Puncak regency. Continue reading...
Callum Wheeler charged with murder of woman whose body was found in Kent woodlandA 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of PCSO Julia James, whose body was found in Akholt Wood near her home in Snowdown, Kent on 27 April.Callum Wheeler, 21, from Aylesham, has been charged with the murder of Julia James, PCSO, Kent police said on Monday evening. Continue reading...
Move expands inoculation program as vaccination rates slowUS regulators on Monday authorized Pfizer and its partner BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for use in children as young as 12, widening the country’s inoculation program even as vaccination rates have slowed significantly.The vaccine has been available under an emergency use authorization (EUA) to people as young as 16 in the United States. Today’s decision means the FDA is amending the EUA to include children aged 12 to 15. The vaccine makers said they had started the process for full approval for those ages last week. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Aubrey Allegretti and Lisa O'Carroll on (#5HP7E)
Levelling up agenda accompanied by bills bringing in voter ID and banning conversion practicesMinisters are to unveil a legislative programme aimed at its new electoral strongholds in northern England and the Midlands, with a Queen’s speech focused on adult education and homeownership.It also features proposals to bring in mandatory voter ID, which has been condemned by US civil rights groups as akin to Republican-style voter suppression. Another plan will pave the way to outlaw conversion practices. Continue reading...
Tuesday: Budget to pump billions into the economy as the government attempts to cement recovery. Plus: enjoying the return of colder weatherGood morning. It’s Tuesday 11 May, which means one thing – budget day! So hold on tight as economic news will be dominating the headlines this week. We’ve also got plenty on the controversial India travel ban, which looks set to remain in place until 15 May, and more on the increasing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.The federal budget drops today, and will pump billions of dollars into the economy as the government attempts to cement Australia’s economic recovery after last year’s downturn. Aged care, infrastructure and childcare will be some of the major focuses – here’s what we know to expect so far. There will also be a raft of policies aimed at addressing housing affordability. But the Morrison government’s incentives to help people become homeowners may come to nothing without an increase in housing supply. Continue reading...
In an exclusive interview, the legendary manager and son Jason reflect on the brain haemorrhage that nearly killed him and the film they have just made, his upbringing in Scotland, the lows and highs at Manchester United, his admiration for Steven Gerrard … and that Champions League final“You’re lying on your bed and you are on your own,” Sir Alex Ferguson says as he remembers being in hospital exactly three years ago this week when, after suffering a brain haemorrhage, he came close to death. “It can become lonely and frightening,” the greatest manager in the history of British football continues as he relives that raw memory.Ferguson and I are just starting an interview which is shaped by so many layered and rollicking recollections. Memories of the ghostly shipyards of Glasgow and his teeming life as a boy in Govan ripple through him. He relives the pain and sectarianism he experienced at Rangers, the fire and transformation he generated at Aberdeen and the early abuse and enduring glory of his 27 years at Manchester United. Memories of his father, with whom he fell out until football reunited them, merge into an evocation of everything his wife Cathy has done for him. Continue reading...
Deal values ‘yet to be formed’ technology division of THG at $6.3bnThe Hut Group (THG), the online retailer empire run by billionaire Matthew Moulding, has struck a complex joint venture deal with Japanese investment giant SoftBank that values a “yet to be formed” technology division of THG at $6.3bn (£4.5bn).The deal, announced on Monday, values THG Ingenuity, which Moulding described as a “social media influencer platform” used to promote products, at about the same amount that the whole company floated at last year. Continue reading...
The presence of armed civilians attacking protesters has added a worrying dimension to a wave of unrest that has claimed 47 livesOn a recent evening, Andrés pulled on his gas mask and helmet and headed for the barricades at the entrance to his rundown neighbourhood in Cali, a city which has become the center of Colombia’s anti-government protests.But as he approached the roadblock of rocks, rubble and barbed wire, he saw a motorcycle speeding towards him. In an attempt to turn the vehicle back, another demonstrator shone a laser pen in the driver’s eyes. Continue reading...
Social distancing between family and friends is to be left up to 'personal choice' from next week and gatherings of six people from different households will be allowed indoors again, Boris Johnson announced, as he laid out the next phase of England's lockdown easing. However, he urged people not to 'throw caution to the wind', and to continue social distancing in public spaces.
Hundreds of asylum seekers forced to sleep outside as Lampedusa reception centre reaches capacityMore than 2,000 people have arrived on Lampedusa in 24 hours as people smugglers took advantage of calm seas to launch at least 20 boats, pushing the reception centre on the tiny Italian island to its limit.Hundreds of asylum seekers, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan and Syria, were forced to sleep on the dock after the centre rapidly surpassed its capacity. Hundreds more were being transferred to an unused passenger ferry offshore for quarantine until they can be tested for Covid-19. Another commercial passenger ship was being dispatched to Lampedusa to take on more. Continue reading...
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