Clashes have sparked political assassinations and the forced displacement of thousands ahead of crunch 6 June pollsViolent clashes between rival Mexican criminal groups – and their alleged allies in the security forces – are escalating ahead of mid-term elections in June, triggering a string of political assassinations and the forced displacement of thousands.State and federal security forces have actively colluded with – and even fought alongside – the warring factions, according to local civilians, civil society activists and gunmen from various factions. Continue reading...
In a new documentary, the singer and actor proves an unlikely saviour of an elephant in need of a new homeThere seems to be a never-ending glut of conservation documentaries, where a group of fearless men and women work tirelessly to get sad animals rehomed in the wild. However, chances are you haven’t seen any of them, because you made a deal with yourself as a child to only watch conservation documentaries that contain scenes where traumatised animals are serenaded at close proximity by the popular singer and actor Cher.Related: Cher at 74: 'There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do’ Continue reading...
He came to the UK from the Philippines to create a good life for his family, but his job was demanding and relentless. Should he and other migrant workers have been better protected?For most of his life, all Joven Flores did was work. Back-to-back shifts as a chef, working weekends, overtime. Uncomplainingly, Joven tossed, marinated, sliced, kneaded, ordered produce, wiped down worktops and stacked plastic food boxes. On his occasional days off, Joven would prepare meals so that his family wouldn’t have to cook during the week. Then he’d collapse on the sofa. Then TV, sleep, an early morning drive through deserted streets and more work.Joven was born in the village of Patimbao, in the province of Laguna in the Philippines. Growing up, he lived in a simple house, made of wood and concrete. Joven’s father died when he was young. His mother, Mely, worked as a housekeeper for a middle-class family, and also sold fruit and vegetables in the market to support Joven and his three sisters. Money was tight. Sometimes, Mely would have to beg for credit at the shop to buy a sack of rice. In adulthood, if one of his children spilled food on the floor, Joven would get upset, and tell them: “When I was young, my mother didn’t have enough money to buy us rice.” Continue reading...
Reports suggest a final agreement has been reached to buy back Liverpool Plains mine licence as government says a lease remains under assessmentNew South Wales Labor has called on the Berejiklian government to “come clean” on whether it has reached a deal to buy out the exploration licence for the proposed Shenhua Watermark coalmine in the Liverpool Plains.The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached that would see the government pay the Chinese mining company to walk away from the project, which has been fiercely opposed by farmers in the region for more than a decade. Continue reading...
Tuesday: US-led climate summit will put increased pressure on Australia’s laggard policies. Plus: becoming a hiker in your 50sGood morning. The climate crisis is a hot topic today as the world gears up for virtual summit of 40 world leaders, where new commitments from the biggest carbon emitters are expected to meet the Paris agreement’s ambitions.Australia will not be able to “fly under the radar” over climate crisis policies. International pressure on the government is expected to increase as other countries make new pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years. In the US Joe Biden has promised to unveil his plan to cut emissions by 2030 before he hosts a virtual summit of 40 national leaders on Thursday. Climate diplomacy experts say they expect the focus on Australia’s position to intensify if the government sticks to its target of a 26% to 28% cut by 2030 and net zero emissions “preferably by 2050”. Scott Morrison said his government would not “sacrifice our traditional industries” in regional areas by taxing emissions to reach the goal. Continue reading...
Report by US law firm commissioned by Kigali says France bears ‘significant responsibility’ for deathsFrance “bears significant responsibility” for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 because it remained “unwavering in its support” of its allies even though officials knew the slaughter was being prepared, a report commissioned by Kigali claims.The accusation is the latest in the continuing dispute between Paris and the small east-African country over the role played there by France before and during the mass killings. Continue reading...
Minister says easier access to services can reduce suicide risk, but criticism highlights lack of timeline or fundingMany people who kill themselves or who experience suicidal thoughts are not reaching out for help, including from the mental health system, the federal assistant minister for suicide prevention, David Coleman, has said.“There are many reasons for this,” Coleman told the online national suicide prevention symposium on Monday. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#5GRVQ)
East Kent hospitals trust admits failing to provide safe care for Harry Richford and his motherA hospital trust has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge brought by the NHS regulator over failings in care that led to the death of a newborn boy at just seven days old.In the first prosecution of its kind East Kent hospitals university trust admitted that it failed to provide safe care and treatment for Harry Richford and his mother, Sarah, during his birth in November 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate, Kent. Continue reading...
Readers respond to Afua Hirsch’s article about British people’s complex attitudes to the royal familyAfua Hirsch (We can mourn Prince Philip, but not the monarchy, Journal, 15 April) captures precisely the ambivalence so many of us feel about the symbols of patriotism. How do we show a love and appreciation of our country and many of its values while distancing ourselves from the pernicious jingoistic narratives that so often accompany these? As a white English male, I can learn a lot from the contortions that Hirsch describes as having to go through herself, to prevent an apology escaping her lips for questioning the excuses made about Prince Philip’s racism that we might have guffawed at, but can recognise in our own internalised racism.
‘Filming was banned at the station we shot at. So the cinematographer sat in a wheelchair, concealed the camera on his lap, and I pushed him around, following Natja cruising’The director Uli Edel and his team came to my school. I was sitting there eating an apple. Uli’s assistant came up and said: “We’re looking for girls for a film. Do you want to try out?” I said: “OK, since you’ve asked me, I’ll come.” Continue reading...
Robert Habeck tells party co-chair ‘the stage is all yours’ as CDU/CSU rivals squabble over candidate choiceGermany’s Green party has named its co-chair Annalena Baerbock as candidate for chancellor in autumn’s federal election, as the party rides high in the polls and the ruling conservative bloc squabbles over its own choice to succeed Angela Merkel.Baerbock, 40, viewed as a tenacious, down-to earth centrist with an eye for detail, and an expert on climate change and how to tackle it, told a small party gathering she aimed to “make politics for society at large”. She described her candidacy as “an offer, an invitation to lead our diverse, prosperous, strong country into a good future”. Continue reading...
by Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent on (#5GRZG)
Human rights specialists urge government to reject race commission’s controversial findingsA controversial report into racial disparities in the UK attempts to “normalise white supremacy” and the government should reject its findings, UN human rights experts have warned.The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, published at the end of March, concluded that while racism and racial injustice still existed, geography, family influence, socioeconomic background, culture and religion all had a greater impact on life chances. The report said it did not find evidence of institutional racism in the areas it examined, such as policing and health. Continue reading...
Adult humour in cartoons was once virtually unheard of – now, animated TV is saturated with grown-up jokesIn the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle it, once and for allThe phrase “The Simpsons did it first” gets thrown around a lot. But Matt Groening’s sitcom about a volatile nuclear family – now 700 episodes in and recently renewed until at least 2023 – was a genuine trailblazer. In 1990, its second season premiere received more than 30 million US viewers, proving a brightly coloured animated TV series with whip-smart writing could attract mature eyeballs in primetime. If their children liked it too, all the better. Continue reading...
A doctor who later saw Alex Braes said the 18-year-old was ‘the sickest patient he’d ever seen at Broken Hill’ hospitalA teenager dying of a severe infection and blood poisoning went to a New South Wales country hospital four times in 32 hours before his blood pressure and other basic readings were recorded, a coroner has heard.Alex Braes, 18, died at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred hospital in the early hours of 22 September 2017 after arriving by plane from his hometown of Broken Hill. Continue reading...
Wildfires on Table Mountain spread to historic university library and force evacuation of studentsPolice in Cape Town have arrested a man on suspicion of starting one of the wildfires raging on the slopes of Table Mountain.Over the weekend one fire spread to the University of Cape Town (UCT), burning the historic campus library and forcing the evacuation of 4,000 students. Other fires broke out around Devil’s Peak, a spur of the mountain. Continue reading...
A semi-trailer carrying chicken guts has crashed south of Brisbane with its load of offal ending up covering the highwayA truck carrying chicken guts has lost its load, temporarily transforming a Queensland highway into a pink, slippery and foul-smelling quagmire.The innards were left festooned on the back of the truck involved in the collision as other drivers eased their cars through the slop – leaving tire tracks behind. Continue reading...
Czechs expelled 18 Russians over Skripal suspects’ alleged role in deadly warehouse blast in 2014Moscow has expelled 20 Czech diplomats in a tit-for-tat response after Prague accused Russian military intelligence of setting off a deadly blast at an ammunition warehouse in 2014.Video from Moscow showed the Czech ambassador being summoned to the foreign affairs ministry where he was informed that four-fifths of his diplomatic envoys would be given 24 hours to depart the country. Continue reading...
Campaigners hope more accurate picture of country’s makeup will challenge government narrative of near-universal CatholicismActivists in Poland are asking people to consider if they are truly Roman Catholic when filling out a national census, hoping a more accurate picture of the country’s makeup will challenge a government narrative of near-universal Catholicism.In the previous census, completed a decade ago, 96% of respondents claimed they were Roman Catholic. This has been used by the rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party to justify a series of controversial hardline changes it supports, including stopping public funding of IVF treatments and a near-total ban on abortion. Continue reading...
A deflating pattern is emerging in rural, conservative and vaccine-hesitant states as authorities worry that stakes could not be higher in those same communitiesTeton county, Wyoming, is at the vanguard of America’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign – but it isn’t celebrating.The county has vaccinated far more people proportionally than in most of America – 39% – compared to less than a quarter nationally. Local authorities are concerned they may have hit a saturation point. Vast, rural and conservative Wyoming is one of the most vaccine hesitant places in the nation, and fewer people are signing up for vaccine clinics. Similar patterns are emerging across the US. Continue reading...
Newspapers in the UK trotted out war metaphors after 12 of the continent’s top football clubs revealed controversial plansThe rebels have made their move, and Gary Neville had barely finished his furious “imposters” tirade before the continent’s newspapers started trotting out the war metaphors.“Football at war” was the popular choice for editors sending Monday’s print editions to press after 12 football clubs across England, Spain and Italy announced the formation of the European Super League on Sunday night. Continue reading...
First flight lands in Auckland just after 12.30pm with hundreds more expected to make the Australia-New Zealand trip each week by end AprilCities across New Zealand are putting out the welcome mat for Australian arrivals, as trans-Tasman bubble travel begins.From the air, arrivals to Wellington could see the words “Welcome Whānau”, the Māori term for family, painted in enormous letters next to the runways. Continue reading...
Questions and answers on plans unveiled by 12 leading European clubs to launch a breakaway midweek leagueOn Sunday night 12 European football clubs announced the formation of a new competition, the Super League, to widespread criticism from governments, their own domestic leagues, football federations as well as Uefa and supporters around the world.Related: European Super League: Premier League ‘big six’ sign up to competition Continue reading...
Monday: The first of the renewed biweekly national cabinet meetings will be held today to discuss the Covid vaccine. Plus: Richard Denniss on NSW’s ‘bizarre’ commitment to net zero while approving new coalminesIt’s Monday 19 April, and national cabinet is meeting today to try and resurrect the vaccine rollout. Meanwhile, our readers say Australia’s mental health system is “the worst it’s ever been”. This is Imogen Dewey with this morning’s main stories.Tackling growing vaccine hesitancy, supply and speeding up the rollout will be the main focus of the renewed biweekly national cabinet meetings, back on today for the first time leaders have met since Scott Morrison recalled twice-weekly meetings. Yesterday both the prime minister, and health minister Greg Hunt hinted vaccinated Australians may be allowed to travel overseas and quarantine at home, rather than in hotels, in the second half of the year. This comes as the NSW health department investigates how three members of a family acquired Covid-19 while in hotel quarantine in Sydney. But such a switch would need the agreement of the states and territories, who at this stage, remain hesitant to cede any control over what has been a successful public health response. The Morrison government is actively considering assisting Australian manufacturers to produce mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, such as Pfizer, at scale – something Hunt says would require “a significant period of scaling up”. Continue reading...
by Presented by Anushka Asthana with Nina Lakhani and on (#5GRBH)
The 46th US president took office promising a more welcoming immigration policy. But Republicans are calling a new wave of migrants at the southern border a ‘crisis’ and demanding action. In this episode of Full Story, Washington bureau chief David Smith describes the pressure Biden is under to respond to the issue. Plus, the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani describes what she witnessed on the border in Texas, where migrants are still being detained, and many sent straight back across the borderRead Nina Lakhani’s story about her visit to the US-Mexico border in Texas here. Continue reading...
The clubs behind the proposed tournament must find competitive sport offensive, all the way from the grassroots game to the World CupPerhaps once all this has shaken out, once the imminent threat of a breakaway European super league has been resolved one way or the other, football will find the time for a little reflection.How we reached this point. How the game’s elite clubs managed to engineer a scenario in which a hostile takeover came to feel inevitable, even irresistible. How the world’s most popular sport managed to hand over so much of its power and wealth and influence to people who despise it. Continue reading...
Exclusive: five Ramzan Kadyrov allies subject of criminal complaint for crimes against humanityFive officials from the inner circle of Chechnya’s autocratic leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, are the subject of a criminal complaint in Germany for crimes against humanity, in a legal attempt to seek justice over the semi-autonomous Russian republic’s anti-gay purges.The 97-page charge sheet, extracts of which have been seen by the Guardian, accuses the Chechen military and state apparatus of persecution, unlawful arrests, torture, sexual violence and incitement to murder at least 150 individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation since February 2017. Continue reading...
Kremlin critic’s team want showdown as Vladimir Putin delivers state of the nation addressAllies of Alexei Navalny have called on his supporters to stage mass protests on Wednesday in towns and cities all across Russia, amid a dire warning that the jailed Kremlin critic and opposition leader is now dangerously ill and could die “at any minute”.Navalny’s team said the situation had got so desperate that there was no time to delay. They had previously said street protests would resume once they reached 500,000 signatures in support – with the current tally about 50,000 short. Continue reading...
Two former South Yorkshire officers and force’s lawyer accused of amending statementsTwo former South Yorkshire police officers and the force’s lawyer at the time of the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989 face trial on Monday charged with perverting the course of justice over the amendment of police statements about the tragedy.Peter Metcalf, who was a partner at the firm of solicitors that acted for the force, Hammond Suddards; Donald Denton, a South Yorkshire police chief superintendent at the time; and Alan Foster, a detective chief inspector, were charged with the offences in 2017, after the conclusion of the new inquests into how 96 people died at the football ground. Continue reading...
From homages to his ancestry to sugar lumps for his ponies, the prince’s diverse life and interests were markedFrom his ponies’ sugar lumps pot, to a haunting Russian hymn, the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral incorporated some quirky and historical elements.A red-topped plastic container was placed on the box seat of his driving carriage. He used it to store the sugar lumps he gave to his Fell ponies, Balmoral Nevis and Notlaw Storm, both present along with the carriage in the castle quadrangle. Next to this lay his driving cap, whip, blanket and brown gloves. Continue reading...
With the poignant sight of the widowed Queen, the world glimpsed an era that is not just ending, but inevitably on its wayYou could barely see her, but you could glimpse the future. Maybe it was the sepulchral gloom of the dark wooden stalls of St George’s chapel, or perhaps it was the restraint of a TV director keeping their distance, respecting the privacy of the moment, but the Queen was hardly visible in the live coverage of her late husband’s funeral on Saturday. Masked and in an unlit corner, the monarch was all but unseen.When the camera did catch her, it made for a poignant sight: the widow alone, an image that “broke hearts around the world,” in the words of the Washington Post, but one that will resonate in the UK especially. Even the sternest republican has long admitted that an extraordinary bond exists between Elizabeth and the people who have been her subjects for nearly seven decades. Now, if anything, that bond will be strengthened. Continue reading...
Foreign secretary hints he believes same Russian cell behind Salisbury poisoning and Czech explosionThe British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said the UK stood in “full support” of the Czech Republic after the country’s police announced they were hunting two Russians suspected of carrying out the Salisbury poisonings, in relation to an explosion at an arms depot.The Czech authorities said on Saturday they were seeking Alexander Petrov, 41, and Ruslan Boshirov, 43, in connection with a previously unexplained 2014 explosion at a munitions dump in Vrbětice, which left two dead. Continue reading...
by Andrew Sparrow Political correspondent on (#5GQZZ)
Steve Reed says PM should ‘set an example’ and conduct his scheduled meetings via ZoomLabour has urged Boris Johnson to “set an example” and cancel his forthcoming trip to India because of the Covid risk.Steve Reed, the shadow communities secretary, said because of the threat posed by new variants, the prime minister should abandon plans to fly to India later this month and instead hold his scheduled meetings via Zoom. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian