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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kevin Rushby tackles an escalator for first time in 15 months as overseas holidays restart for green list countriesLuton airport at 6am on the day that foreign holiday travel begins again. The halls are quiet. Many shops are shuttered. At the easyJet desk the staff seem relieved that things are quieter than expected: the mass brawl last week was a nasty shock. Standing on the escalator to the departure lounge, I suddenly realise why I feel disoriented: I have not been on a moving staircase for 15 months. People stand well apart, but are quick to chat.In Pret a Manger I meet Abby, British but a resident in Spain, who is trying for the second time in four days to fly to Málaga. “I had the wrong letter proving I needed to travel,” she said. She had started remote working before the pandemic which, in retrospect, seemed like a good decision, but the new bureaucratic demands can be difficult and slow to negotiate. Continue reading...

Government signals sweeping changes to address ‘reliance on temporary migrant labour’

An inquiry into the James Packer-backed Crown Resorts has also heard that it took a ‘belligerent’ attitude to an investigation into the arrest of 19 of its staff in ChinaCrown Resorts allegedly lied to its regulator and adopted a belligerent attitude towards an investigation into the arrest of 19 of its staff in China, an inquiry into the James Packer-backed casino operator has heard.A royal commission into Crown, called by Victoria’s Andrews government, also heard that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation was still considering referring the company to the state’s supreme court for failing to properly respond to notices ordering it to produce documents for use in the investigation. Continue reading...

Monday strikes appeared broader and more intense than Sunday’s, in which 42 Palestinians died in single attackIsraeli warplanes have launched what appeared to be the heaviest airstrikes yet on Gaza City, hours after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled the bombardment would rage on.The series of attacks early on Monday rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes and was more intense, covered a broader area and lasted longer than the raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed – the deadliest single attack in the latest violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. Continue reading...

Contemporary collection finds home in former grain exchange 16 years after plan for Seine island failedFor 20 years, the French billionaire François Pinault has dreamed of opening a museum to display his renowned contemporary art collection in Paris.The original plan was to build a massive concrete and glass structure on an abandoned island in the River Seine three miles from the Eiffel Tower. When that sparked planning and legal rows and proved impossible, the tycoon moved his collection to Venice, where it seemed destined to remain. Continue reading...

‘The way he was acting scared me,’ Harpreet Bajwa, 21, tells court of the day her father hit and killed four police officersMohinder Singh’s daughter told her sleep-deprived, drug-affected father he was going to kill someone if he got behind the wheel.Hours later, the long-time truck driver hit and killed four police officers on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway. Continue reading...

Two prime ministers to meet on 30 and 31 May; a passenger on repatriation flight tests positive in Howard Springs quarantine facility in Darwin; Crown Resorts lied to Victoria regulator, inquiry told. Follow the latest news – live• Call for medevac-style repatriation flights for Australians with Covid from India

ACT court closes hearing of appeal by lawyer representing whistleblower due to requirements of National Security Information ActA legal challenge to the secrecy of information involved in the prosecution of a lawyer for representing whistleblower Witness K will itself be held in secret.On Monday, the ACT court of appeal began a two-day hearing of Bernard Collaery’s appeal but closed the court to the public within five minutes due to the requirements of the National Security Information Act. Continue reading...

In a project for the Lady Freethinker NGO, photographer Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski has teamed up with Ashley Fruno, founder of Pasay Pups, to document the impact of poverty and the Covid-19 pandemic on people and pets living in public cemeteries in Pasay, the PhilippinesIn the photograph, a skeletal white dog stands on top of a tomb, his spiky vertebrae sharply visible through his ghostly fur. His jutting ribs and pelvic bones match the monotone of grey cemetery aisles and a prominent white cross in the background. Continue reading...

Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed 10-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel shines much-needed light on a history that many still don’t knowDon’t be fooled by the train carriage. The Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum might be housed inside one but its content has nothing to do with railways. Its true genesis lies across the street in the Pamlico River, once used as an avenue of escape by enslaved African Americans seeking freedom.Leesa Jones, cofounder and executive director of the museum, says: “We realised through reading copious documents and old slave ads from Washington newspapers that would say things like, ‘My slave has escaped, they’re going to try to get to Washington to board a ship to get to their freedom’, that we wanted to tell an accurate story of how freedom seekers left from the Washington waterfront.” Continue reading...

As war forces more to flee, humanitarian organisations facing funding shortfalls and increasing demand are unable to keep paceThe number of people having to leave their homes in the Lake Chad region of central Africa has more than doubled over the past year with agencies warning they are struggling to feed people.The fighting, which last month claimed the life of the president of Chad, Idriss Déby, has displaced more than 400,000 Chadians, according to the International Organization for Migration, a rise from 169,000 at the start of 2020. More than 65,000 people were displaced in the first quarter of this year. Continue reading...

Bringing a baby into the world can be tough at the best of times, and the pandemic has been far from that. Readers reflect on the pain and joy of new parenthood

Adam Wagner, an expert on Covid rules, believes ministers have assumed far too much say over our livesLawmaking during the coronavirus pandemic has been anti-democratic, sidelining parliament and handing huge control over people’s private lives to a small group of ministers without adequate scrutiny, a prominent human rights barrister has said.Adam Wagner, described in the House of Lords as “perhaps the only person in the country who can make sense of this variety of [Covid] regulations”, urged MPs to “take back control” after a period in which laws have been passed “by the swish of a minister’s pen”. Continue reading...

17 May 1971 From the broad ridge the fertile Shropshire plain spreads out to the south and the hills of Wales to the north and westSHROPSHIRE: On a broad ridge high above the market town, the old racecourse is now a bracken-clad common, dotted with small rowans and hawthorns and intersected by paths of short turf. The views from it are magnificent, with the fertile Shropshire plain spread out to the south and the hills of Wales, a bewildering mass of rounded summits, to the north and west. Scores of willow warblers were singing there as well as the first whitethroats that I have heard this year, whilst in the deep valley below the plateau a cuckoo was calling. On the low wall of a ruined barn almost smothered in brambles, a black cat was prowling above a baby rabbit which was apparently trying to climb the wall into the predators jaws. The terriers drove off the cat and the rabbit escaped into the dense bramble thicket.Related: Activists fight to save 550-year-old oak threatened by new Shrewsbury road Continue reading...

From an approval rating of 80% earlier in the year, now tough questions are being asked of PM’s leadershipThe missing persons complaint was filed at Parliament Street police station in Delhi as a matter of some urgency: it concerned the “disappearance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi” and 10 of his cabinet ministers during the pandemic.Nagesh Kariyappa, the general secretary of the Indian national students’ union who filed the report to police on Friday, said he wanted the absence of political leadership when India had been brought to its knees by Covid-19 to be a matter of official record. “Where are the so-called leaders who had promised to make India a global leader but have instead made people suffer like this?” said Kariyappa. Continue reading...

Indigenous people in the grip of a humanitarian crisis as Bolsonaro gives encouragement to wildcat miners with designs on their rainforest territoryA photograph of an emaciated Yanomami girl, huddled listlessly in a hammock beside an empty cooking pot over an unlit fire. Shaky footage of indigenous people screaming as they flee in panic to a soundtrack of gunfire.Shocking images shared on Brazilian social media this week have cast a spotlight on a spiral of violence, malnutrition and disease that threatens fresh devastation for the Yanomami people and their ancestral territory in the Amazon state of Roraima. Continue reading...

Front pages celebrate easing of restrictions but they all deliver a health warning as cases of the new variant spreadNewspapers are almost unanimous in identifying the easing of coronavirus restrictions as the biggest story of the day – but they all deliver the news with a health warning.As the most parts of the UK take another step out of lockdown on Monday – with two households or groups of six allowed to meet indoors in England for the first time since last year – health experts have said that the Indian Covid variant still poses a real risk. Continue reading...

Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency on Friday as the nation battles a fourth wave of Covid infections

Khet Thi, who captured the unflinching determination of the Myanmar public, was the third poet to be killed by the military since the coupHis words captured the unflinching determination of the Myanmar public in the face of military brutality: “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know revolution dwells in the heart.”The poet Khet Thi was taken from his home in Shwebo, in the Sagaing region, last Saturday. The next day, his wife collected his body from a hospital. His organs had been removed, she told BBC Burmese. Continue reading...

Grounding of the container ship in a southern section of the canal in March delayed the passage of hundreds of vessels through the waterwayEgypt has started dredging work to extend a second lane that allows for two-way traffic in a southern section of the canal near to where a giant container ship got stuck for six days in March.The state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced last week that it was planning to extend a second canal lane that opened in 2015 by 10km to make it 82km long, and would widen and deepen a single lane stretch at the southern end of the canal. Continue reading...

AP chief Sally Buzbee says she has no evidence from Israeli officials to justify attack on 12-storey building housing international media organisationsThe executive editor of the Associated Press wants an independent investigation into Israel’s bombing of a building in Gaza that was home to her news organisation as well as broadcaster Al Jazeera.Sally Buzbee said her organisation had not yet seen any evidence from Israeli officials to justify the bombing, which levelled the 12-storey al-Jalaa tower block on Saturday. Continue reading...

Experts say recovery at risk amid sharp fall in EU workers and dwindling interest in UK jobs from abroadBritain’s employers are struggling to hire staff as lockdown lifts amid an exodus of overseas workers caused by the Covid pandemic and Brexit, industry figures reveal.According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the recruitment firm Adecco, employers plan to hire at the fastest rate in eight years, led by the reopening of the hospitality and retail sectors as pandemic restrictions are relaxed in England and Wales on Monday. Continue reading...

Monday: 42 Palestinians killed in the deadliest day in Gaza so far. Plus: why more of Australia’s outback is now in fewer handsGood morning. It’s Monday 17 May, and this is Imogen Dewey with today’s main stories: the deadliest attack since hostilities broke out in Gaza last Monday, calls for medevac-style repatriation flights for Covid-positive Australians in India, and a new Guardian Australia series going deep into Australia’s outback.The eruption of violence in Gaza is heading for an “uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis”, the UN secretary general has warned after a day of significant escalation, with 42 Palestinians killed by airstrikes. So far at least 181 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 52 children in Gaza, and 10 people in Israel. On Saturday as thousands marched in Free Palestine demonstrations worldwide, Israeli forces bombed the office which housed Associated Press and Al Jazeera in Gaza. A week of relentless bombardment has destroyed power lines, smashed water pipes beneath roads and left human waste spilling out of the ground. The political ground is shifting as the death toll rises, and Julian Borger suggests those resolutely defending Israel, such as US president Joe Biden, may find themselves increasingly isolated. Continue reading...

Barcelona shrugged off their Champions League final demons to obliterate Chelsea and deliver a crushing blow to the prestige of the Women’s Super League.A first-minute own goal and another three inside 36 minutes, from the midfielders Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and the Norwegian forward Caroline Graham Hansen, quietened the usually vocal Emma Hayes, who stood alone in her technical area, unable to mastermind a way past an exhilarating team that has played 26 and won 26 on the way to a La Liga title with five games to play, scoring 129 goals and conceding only five in the process. Continue reading...

Coronavirus restrictions are set to be eased in England, Wales and most of Scotland from Monday

Complex web of data reveals large swathes of country controlled by small number of billionaires and large companies Continue reading...

Forty-two Palestinians killed by airstrikes in Gaza as Hamas launches more rocket attacks on IsraelThe eruption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is heading for an “uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis”, the UN secretary general has warned after a day of significant escalation with 42 Palestinians killed by airstrikes in Gaza.The death toll made it the deadliest single attack since fighting broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas a week ago. Fifty Palestinians were injured. Meanwhile, air-raid sirens sounded for the seventh consecutive day across southern Israel as Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza launched more rocket attacks into the country – and reaching further – than in the entirety of the 2014 war. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer condemn ‘utterly disgusting’ footage of convoy in St John’s WoodFour men have been arrested by officers investigating a video that appeared to show antisemitic abuse being shouted from a car in north London.Politicians had earlier condemned the footage, which was posted on Twitter and showed the cars travelling through the St John’s Wood area on Sunday afternoon. The cars were covered in Palestinian flags with a speaker blasting out antisemitic slurs and threats against Jews. Continue reading...

At least 33 Palestinians have been killed and 50 injured in the deadliest airstrikes since the start of fighting between Israel and Hamas six days ago. Israel targeted the home of the Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar over the weekend and destroyed the building that housed the offices of Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press. At least 181 people in Gaza and 10 in Israel have been killed so far

Europe’s ageing societies must make it easier for young people to start a familyEurope’s baby deficit is becoming impossible to ignore. In Rome on Friday, Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, and Pope Francis were the star attendees at a special conference to discuss the country’s declining birthrate. According to latest figures, 2020 saw the lowest number of births recorded since Italian unification in 1861. Spain is ageing at a similar pace, as is much of eastern Europe. In Britain, it is the same story. The Centre for Population Change recently predicted a post-pandemic decline in annual births, deepening a secular trend that has already taken the birthrate to “historically low levels”.The social implications of these downward trajectories, exacerbated by Covid, are many and various. Assuming current demographic trends continue, Eurostat has calculated that the number of European over-65s will have grown by over 40% by 2050. Fewer people will be in work paying taxes when their pension and care bills arrive. Against that backdrop, rightwing nationalist parties fantasising about a future without migrant labour may as well howl at the moon. Immigration seems likely to continue to be a structural necessity in western democracies, as well as a source of innovation and renewal. Continue reading...

Party leader says new blueprint for power will not draw on those of either Jeremy Corbyn or Tony BlairKeir Starmer has said Labour will have a completely new blueprint for power not based on previous manifestos, as he told activists he would spend the summer making extended visits to places the party must win.The Labour leader told a conference hosted by the centre-left thinktank Progressive Britain on Sunday that the party’s policy review would not take previous manifestos as its starting point, despite the close attachment of many members to the radical manifestos drawn up under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Continue reading...