World news | The Guardian

As bodies pile up at the Ghazipur crematorium, staff and relatives turn their ire on the Modi government

Reports of deteriorating treatment of human rights activists, with an increase in moves to ‘dangerous’ jails often far from families

American adventurer Garrett Fisher flies in a ramshackle antique plane, dangling his camera out of the window to capture the beauty of glaciers before they disappearSatellite images and the latest scientific studies may accurately inform us how quickly the world’s glaciers are melting. But Garrett Fisher’s mission is different: to reveal the “souls” of vanishing glaciers.This, the American adventurer believes, is best achieved by flying solo over each glacier in a ramshackle antique plane and dangling his camera out of the window to capture their varied forms, textures and beauty – before they disappear forever. Continue reading...

Teams treating dozens of injured at Mount Meron as emergency medical group says at least 44 deadAt least 44 people have been killed and about 150 injured in a crush at a Jewish religious gathering in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people, in one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters.Children were among the dead, Eli Beer, the director of an Israeli volunteer ambulance service, United Hatzalah, said. “Unfortunately, we found small children trampled there, and we performed CPR. We were able to save some of them,” he told Army Radio. Continue reading...

Analysis: Boris Johnson’s fiancee has no official role, but has helped shape the personnel and vision of the PM’s office“She’s buying gold wallpaper,” Boris Johnson is said to have told panicked aides last February of his fiancee Carrie Symonds’ interior decorating plans for their No 11 flat. The costs far exceeded the £30,000 allowance for prime ministers, and apparent attempts last year to cover them by other means – Conservative party funds, a charitable trust and Tory donors – appear to have failed.As well as Dominic Cummings’ diatribe over the “unethical, foolish and possibly illegal” refurbishment spending saga, Helen MacNamara, the Cabinet Office’s director general of propriety and ethics, was also reported to be strongly opposed. Continue reading...

With denim returning to our wardrobes, the jury is out as to which cut of jeans will win out. Make the ‘anything goes’ moment work for you by looking to vintage inspiration for these 10 stylesIn fashion, one thing’s for sure – the era of sweatpants is over, and denim is back. It’s also pretty clear that skinny jeans, the style that has refused to die for 20 years, are finally, waning from fashion’s pole position, thanks to gen Z relentlessly roasting milllenials over their trouser choice. And that is where the certainties end. Continue reading...

Blame nominative determinism for the shower and TV overload for me failing to follow the plotTypical. We had one job … Our daughter, whom we hadn’t seen for the best part of 18 months, was coming to London and all we had to do was to get to Heathrow in time to meet her as she passed through immigration and customs controls. It didn’t quite work out that way. First, we were halfway to the airport when my wife, Jill, remembered she had forgotten the “We Love You, Anna” placard she had made that morning. Then Jill checked the flight tracker and discovered Anna’s plane had landed 45 minutes early, rather than the 30 minutes early the app had suggested when we last looked. No matter, I said. There are bound to be long queues at arrivals to make sure everyone’s Covid certification is in order. After all, there had been reports of six-hour delays the previous week, which is why we had both bought books with us. Not long afterwards, we got a text from Anna that her vaccinations, pre-booked Covid tests and passenger locator form were all in order and she had cleared immigration. OK, I said. She still needed to collect her suitcase, and that would be at least another half an hour. Ten minutes later, just as we pulled into the short-term car park, we got a further text to say Anna had got her case and was on the way out. We parked the car, raced into the terminal … Only to find Anna already waiting for us. It was a wonderful hug. One that felt both very special yet weirdly normal at the same time. Almost as if 18 months of separation had been condensed into 10 seconds of physical contact. Jill and Anna did almost all the talking on the way home as I was lost for words. Still, I now have two and a half weeks to find them. Continue reading...

Culture minister says country is facing up to ‘historic and moral responsibility’ by returning artefacts to NigeriaGermany is to become the first country to hand back the Benin bronzes looted by British soldiers in the late nineteenth century, after the culture minister, Monika Grütters, announced it would start returning a “substantial” part of the artefacts held in its museums to Nigeria from next year.“We face up to our historic and moral responsibility to shine a light and work on Germany’s historic past,” Grütters said after museum experts and political leaders struck an agreement at a summit on Thursday. Continue reading...

A customer asked me to make a replica out of her cat’s fur when it died. She took the knitted cat to bed and slept well for the first time since her lossI was born in the former Soviet Union, where my mother taught me to knit when I was very young. It was a skill every Russian woman had when I was growing up, because clothes were in short supply. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1990s, I quickly fell out of the habit: why knit a cardigan you could easily pick up for $20 in a store?It was adopting a cat that led to me taking it up again. I had always thought of myself as a dog person, but when I was offered a beautiful ragdoll cat called Mittens, I couldn’t resist him. Ragdolls have soft, silky coats, and Mittens loved to be brushed. His hair was so beautiful that rather than throw away the loose strands that came away in the brush, I started collecting them. Eventually, I had enough to fill a shoebox. That’s when I wondered if it might be any good as yarn. Continue reading...

Security expert Peter Ricketts says PM’s conversations could be hacked by criminal gangsA UK national security adviser has said Boris Johnson should be much more digitally secure after reports that the prime minister’s mobile phone number has been available online for the past 15 years.Peter Ricketts said Johnson’s phone conversations may well include “sensitive material” and “people trying to lobby them for favours, or tax advantages, or talks with foreign leaders”. Continue reading...

Office romances, festive misery, an almighty family fall-out – here are some of the small screen’s most audacious rug-pulls

The CAP Prize has announced 25 shortlisted projects with the highest ratings at the online showcase Award Winning African Photography - photo basel Takes a Closer Look. Here we take a look at a selection of the shortlisted photographers work.

On Friday José Gregorio Hernández, doctor, scientist, university professor and pioneer of bacteriology, will be beatified, a step toward sainthood in the Roman Catholic church, after 72 years of efforts by Venezuela’s Catholics Continue reading...

Key parliamentary committee says government has duty to end violence and rights abuses in Ethiopia

A virtual wellness event featuring Paltrow, hosted by one of Australia’s largest beauty retailers, has prompted furious customer backlashAnnouncing an event with an international A-lister on the lineup may seem like an impressive get for an Australian retailer. However, when beauty behemoth Mecca announced Gwyneth Paltrow as the keynote speaker at their virtual wellness summit, Mecca Life, their usually loyal customers revolted.“Paltrow and Goop peddle enormous amounts of misinformation and make money by preying on women’s insecurities,” the cardiothoracic surgeon and author Dr Nikki Stamp wrote on the event’s Facebook page. “Every time we endorse this behaviour, we allow it to continue. Mecca has always been a champion for women so now, when women are at risk, will you step up to the plate and cancel this terrible event? Or will you let Australian women be further exposed to her nonsense?” Continue reading...

Tewelde Goitom reportedly ran a brutal and lucrative trade extorting migrants desperate to reach Europe from LibyaOne of north Africa’s most notorious human traffickers, accused of extorting and torturing thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya, has been found guilty on five counts of smuggling and trafficking in Ethiopia.Tewelde Goitom, known as “Welid”, operated in Libya between roughly 2014 and 2018 and is thought to have been at the heart of a highly lucrative and brutal trade trafficking desperate migrants trying to reach Europe. Continue reading...

Confirmed cases rose to more than 386,000 in one day while 3,498 people died in the past 24 hours

The structure at Arouca Geopark spans 516 metres and hangs 175 metres above the river Paiva in north of the countryThe world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge has been completed in northern Portugal, where residents of the nearby town hope the tourist attraction will help revive a region whose economy was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.Hidden between rock-strewn mountains covered with lush greenery and yellow flowers inside the Unesco-recognised Arouca Geopark, the 516 metres (1,700 feet) bridge hangs 175 metres above the fast-flowing River Paiva. Continue reading...

The world’s longest pedestriansuspension bridge has beencompleted in Portugal. The bridge, Arouca 516, sits 175metres above the River Paivain the north of the country. Its 516 metre-longwalkway breaks the record previously held by the Charles Kuonen Bridge in the Swiss Alps. Located nearthe tiny town of Arouca and within theUnesco-recognisedArouca Geopark, the bridge took twoyears to construct and is held up bysteel cables and twolarge towers on each side

Exclusive: Survey of Australian public sector found two-thirds of incidents went unreported due to fears they would not be impartially investigatedAlmost one in six public servants have experienced sexual harassment but only one-third of incidents were reported, according to a new union survey.The results of a survey of 3,280 workers by the Community and Public Sector Union, released on Friday, will add pressure to the Morrison government to do more to combat workplace harassment. Continue reading...

Dozens injured in latest conflict as latest ceasefire between the two ex-Soviet country collapsesKyrgyzstan and Tajikistan traded blame on Thursday for cross-border shelling and clashes that left at least four people dead and dozens injured in a conflict over water, the latest outburst of tensions between the two ex-Soviet central Asian neighbours.Troops from the two countries exchanged gunfire for most of the day around a water supply facility near the village of Kok-Tash in western Kyrgyzstan on the border with Tajikistan. More than 800 Kyrgyz residents were evacuated from several villages engulfed by the clashes. Continue reading...

Friday: India’s second Covid wave is claiming the lives of thousands every day. Plus: deaths of two NSW men unlikely to be linked to vaccineIt’s Friday, the last day of April, and this is Imogen Dewey with today’s main stories: the conversation about workplace harassment is far from over, Covid infections in India have passed 18m, and the Tasmanian premier is keeping notably quiet about poker machines before tomorrow’s state election.India’s second wave of Covid-19 continues to overwhelm hospitals, claiming the lives of thousands each day. Offers of aid and medical supplies, including from Australia, have flooded in from around the world, but the real issue at hand is the mammoth task of vaccinating the country’s 1.4 billion citizens – and the ultimate effort to protect the country from future outbreaks. More than 100 countries are pushing for a temporary waiver of intellectual property rules to boost vaccine access for developing nations. But Australia, along with a handful of other wealthy nations, is so far refusing the plea. Elias Visontay asks why. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour asks parliamentary commissioner for standards to investigate any potential breach of MPs’ code of conductBoris Johnson’s refurbishment of his Downing Street residence could be investigated by parliament’s sleaze watchdog, a move that would mean the prime minister could be personally sanctioned if found to have breached conduct rules.The Guardian understands an extensive complaint has been submitted to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, with powers that can lead to suspensions of MPs or even byelections if serious breaches have occurred. Continue reading...

UK surveillance agency says it has long valued neuro-diverse analysts – including Alan TuringApprentices on GCHQ’s scheme are four times more likely to have dyslexia than those on other organisations’ programmes, the agency has said, the result of a drive to recruit those whose brains process information differently.GCHQ says those with dyslexia have valuable skills spotting patterns that others miss – a key area the spy agency wants to encourage as it pivots away from dead letter drops and bugging towards high-tech cybersecurity and data analysis. Continue reading...

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the kind of struggle India was having against a devastating resurgence in Covid cases could happen anywhere in the world, during a briefing on Thursday.Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said relaxing measures and allowing mass gatherings should be avoided, especially where vaccination coverage was low and there were contagious variants.The B.1.617 coronavirus variant – thought to be partly responsible for India's crisis – is now considered a 'variant of interest' by the WHO

As Covid deaths soared in India, Scott Morrison offered an aid package to help the country’s health system cope with demand and suspended all direct flights to Australia. Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and David Munk about the moral implications of Australia’s response and what needs to happen to bring citizens homeYou can read the stories mentioned in this episode here: Continue reading...

Polish official Jacek Pawlicki removed Russian player Tamara Tansykkuzhina’s flag during her matchNot widely reputed as a game of belligerence and bellicosity, women’s draughts almost sparked a diplomatic incident between Warsaw and Moscow after a Polish official removed a Russian player’s flag during a world championship match.Damian Reszka, the president of the Polish draughts federation, apologised following outrage on Russian social media, but said organisers had no option but to comply with international sporting rules barring Russians from competing under their flag. Continue reading...

In country where 90% of population live in poverty, ‘situation is deteriorating extremely rapidly’

With the 40th anniversary of Jones’s masterful fifth album Nightclubbing approaching, we rank her best workJones’s debut single was joyous, cantering mid-70s Eurodisco, its lyrics clearly written with one eye on the dancefloors of gay clubs. It was rerecorded for Jones’s 1977 debut album, Portfolio, with an arrangement by the Salsoul Orchestra’s Vince Montana and a stronger vocal, but the original drips with slightly shonky period charm. Continue reading...

Detectives are trying to trace more than 60 men believed to have been abused by Reynhard SinagaDetectives are trying to trace more than 60 men they believe were victims of Reynhard Sinaga, the man described as Britain’s most prolific rapist.Sinaga, 38, is serving a minimum of 40 years in jail after being convicted of committing 159 offences, including 136 rapes, against dozens of men in Manchester. Continue reading...

Case of student whose body was found in Cairo in 2016 finally reaches courtroomItalian prosecutors have asked a judge to put four senior members of Egypt’s powerful security services on trial over their suspected role in the disappearance and murder of Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016, as the case finally reached a courtroom five years after his death.The 28-year-old doctoral student went missing in Cairo on 25 January 2016 while researching Egypt’s unions. His body was discovered on an outlying Cairo highway nine days later, displaying signs of extreme torture and abuse. Continue reading...

Airport warns of bottleneck for UK economic recovery as Border Force ‘struggles’ to process passengers

Prime minister says there is nothing in allegations to worry about – and he ‘loves’ John LewisBoris Johnson called the row over his Downing Street refurbishment a “farrago of nonsense” despite a formal Electoral Commission investigation, as No 10 confirmed its own inquiry would not be published in full.Speaking to reporters on Thursday about allegations that he solicited donations to cover £58,000 worth of works to his flat, Johnson said there was not “anything to see here”. Continue reading...

Menna Rawlings is UK’s first female appointee to Paris role, joining women representing others in G7

Bronze finger found at Louvre is remounted onto Constantine’s hand at museum in RomeA giant statue of the hand of Constantine the Great in Rome has been reunited with its missing finger after more than 500 years.The 38cm-long bronze index finger, found in the Louvre in Paris in 2018, was remounted onto the statue at Rome’s Capitoline Museums on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Organised crime groups seeking small boats to bring asylum seekers across Channel, National Crime Agency saysBoat suppliers have been warned that they face organised crime groups coming to them to buy or steal vessels and equipment for smuggling people across the Channel ahead of an expected increase over the summer.The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued an alert to the UK maritime industry, warning that the significant rise in asylum seekers attempting to reach the UK from France has seen a rise in demand for boats. Continue reading...

Letter signed by at least 18 soldiers as well as a number of retired military figures calls for ‘protection of civilisational values’At least 18 soldiers who signed an open letter warning of the risk of “civil war” in France and the need to fight the “perils” of “Islamism” and “anti-racism” are to face military sanctions, amid a bitter row between the government and the far-right.The open letter, published by rightwing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, warned of the “dangers” of “Islamism and the hordes from the banlieue” and accused anti-racism groups of creating “hatred between communities” with their support for tearing down statues of French figures from colonial times. Continue reading...

From Lizzo to Lana Del Rey, celebrities have taken umbrage with reviews online. But arguing with journalists only warps the public’s view of the media, and puts writers under siegeIn 2018, while working as a freelance writer, I travelled three hours outside of London on a train, and then a coach, to review a music festival. I camped in the cold and the rain, waking up at 8am each morning to make sure I didn’t miss anything. When I got home, I filed what I thought was a generous review. I did not expect the organiser and the founder of the festival to find me on Twitter to tell me that I clearly hadn’t attended, or that my three-star review was full of lies. They were hurt that I hadn’t given it five stars. I was hurt that my hard work – complete with blood blisters, swollen glands and glitter that took two weeks to wash out of my hair – was now seen as a declaration of war.As an editor and sometime critic specialising in pop culture, differing perceptions are par for the course. I find it skull-crushingly boring to see the same TV show or album receive near-identical reviews across the board, or read identikit reviews of the same film. I inhale people’s opinions – the good and the bad, the funny and the touching, the flippant and the problematic – and exhale them. I don’t internalise them. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read, but I take something from it: someone else’s views. I go to certain people because I know, nine times out of 10, we think very, very differently (here’s looking at you, Camilla Long). Reviews can serve as a guide but they are also an artform in their own right. They entertain, inform and challenge readers. The writer AO Scott described criticism in his 2016 book Better Living Through Criticism as “art’s late-born twin”. Continue reading...

Huge surge in cases followed erroneous ‘supermodelling’ study suggesting herd immunity had been achievedThey will be remembered as India’s lost months: the stretch between September and February when Covid-19 cases in the country defied global trends, falling sharply throughout the coldest months of the year until they reached four-figure daily totals.It was inexplicable. Was it the Indian climate? A protection conferred by childhood immunisations? Some speculated India may have naturally reached herd immunity. It was a tantalising idea that took hold in India’s highest circles of policymaking, media and science – even a government-commissioned study suggested herd immunity may indeed have been achieved. It would prove one of the most fatal miscalculations of the Covid-19 pandemic so far. Continue reading...

UNFPA says £130m being withheld would have helped prevent 250,000 child and maternal deaths in poorest countriesThe British government is slashing its funding to the UN population fund (UNFPA) in a move described as “devastating” for women and girls.The agency confirmed on Wednesday that the UK, its largest donor, is cutting funding for contraceptives and reproductive health supplies by 85% this year – from £154m to £23m – and cutting core funding from £20m to £8m. Continue reading...

The vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has defended the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, over the flat refurbishment row.Zahawi said: 'The prime minister has been very clear that he has paid for this, that he also followed ministerial codes, took advice, and if Lord Geidt in his investigation requires the prime minister to make any other declarations, then he will also do that.'Christopher Geidt, a former private secretary to the Queen, has been appointed as Johnson’s new adviser on ministerial standards. He is to immediately look into the controversy over payments for the renovation of Johnson’s Downing Street flat

A father uses his obsession with the movies to help his daughter when she is unjustly suspected of murderIt turns out that cinephilia is a productive use of time after all. When his computer is searched, Li Weijie, protagonist of this perky Chinese thriller, has watched 838 films in a year – and he uses his superior knowledge of the seventh art to get his family out of a pickle. Chinese but living in northern Thailand, he scrapes by as an internet technician, but his daughter finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation after she accidentally kills the son of a police chief who was trying to blackmail her with smartphone-filmed rape footage.A remake of the 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam, this big Chinese hit ultimately doffs the cap to Korean cinema: it is Jeong Keun-seob’s 2013 film Montage that inspires Li when he has to provide his family with an alibi. Continue reading...

Complainant went to Canberra police a week after pixelated images were broadcast of unnamed advisers performing lewd sex acts in Parliament HouseCanberra police have received a complaint of potential revenge porn related to the sharing of intimate images taken at Parliament House.The report was received on 30 March, one week after a Liberal staffer was sacked for performing a solo sex act on the desk of a female MP amid a storm over the Morrison government’s handling of sexual harassment. Continue reading...

Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia every Thursday lunchtime – how will you fare?It’s Thursday lunchtime, and what better time to tackle our new weekly quiz? It is made up of 15 teasing questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but do let us know how you get on in the comments below.The weekly Guardian quiz, No 1 Continue reading...

National park authority task group to examine whether English name should be ditched entirely

Queen’s Beasts coin weighs in at 10kg, took 400 hours to produce – and has already been snapped upThe Royal Mint has produced a 10kg (22lb) gold coin, the biggest in its 1,100-year history. It took 400 hours to produce the coin – described by the Mint as a “masterwork” – including four days of polishing.The coin has already been sold. The Mint did not give details about the sale or buyer, but said a coin of this calibre and craftsmanship would be priced in the region of six figures. Continue reading...

Treasurer tells business conference government will address ‘some very important workforce needs across the economy’Josh Frydenberg has signalled the looming federal budget will contain measures to boost the workforce of female-dominated professions such as aged and disability care, and also in the critical field of cybersecurity.The Morrison government has already flagged the budget will contain new investments in aged and disability care, as well as mental health and domestic violence. The treasurer told a business conference in Canberra on Thursday the government would also address “some very important workforce needs across the economy”. Continue reading...

Parit Chiwarak, one of students jailed over protests calling for monarchy reform, is unable to stand, lawyer says

Serving community support officer Julia James, 53, was found dead in woods near hamlet of SnowdownA serving police community support officer who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon was murdered, police have said.No arrests have yet been made following the death of PCSO Julia James, 53, whose body was found in Akholt Wood in Kent. The loss has shocked the tiny nearby hamlet of Snowdown, where Ms James is believed to have lived with her husband. Continue reading...