World news | The Guardian

First extensive report issues rare criticism of conflict abuses such as indiscriminate bombingsLeading human rights organisations in Russia have released their first comprehensive report on abuses in the decade-old conflict in Syria, condemning Moscow’s direct participation in indiscriminate bombings of civilians, its backing of the Assad regime’s use of torture, and culpability in other war crimes.“Russian state media does not report on the victims of bombardments, nor the forced displacement of civilians resulting in part from Russia’s military actions in Syria,” the authors of the report wrote. “As a result, the Russian public does not have sufficient knowledge to judge whom and what we are supporting in Syria, how much this war costs us, and how much suffering the war has inflicted upon civilians – people who have never taken up arms.” Continue reading...

Dozens of people have died after a train derailed in a tunnel in eastern Taiwan, authorities have said. The 408 Taroko Express was carrying about 350 people when it crashed on Friday morning at Qingshui tunnel in Huaelien county, the transport ministry said. It said 36 passengers 'had no signs of life', and 44 others had been taken to hospital with injuries. The majority of injuries occurred in the last two carriages.The express train was travelling south towards Taitung on the first day of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping holiday

As scandal is mentioned twice in 258 pages, some of those affected question government’s understanding of itCampaigners for the rights of those affected by the Windrush scandal expressed concern that the issue was raised just twice in the controversial 258-page racial disparity report commissioned by the government.The report concludes Britain is no longer a place where “the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”, despite the scandal providing one of the clearest examples in recent history where government decisions caused catastrophic, racially discriminatory outcomes. Continue reading...

New cuts affect wireless broadband services and come as UN security council expresses ‘deep concern’ at the ‘rapidly deteriorating situation’Myanmar’s military junta has expanded an internet shutdown, further stifling access to information in the country, where hundreds of people have been killed and disappeared following a coup in February.On Thursday night, ahead of the new restrictions, people rushed to share links to radio channels and communication apps that function offline. On the streets, protesters held a vigil, using candles to spell the words “We will never surrender”. Continue reading...

Thirty years on, why was Brian De Palma’s star-studded adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel such a flop?In the opening minutes of the film adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities, Bruce Willis’s journalist Peter Fallow arrives in an inebriated state to the launch of his new book. Through a glorious, unbroken tracking shot, Fallow indulges in the excesses of celebrity while being fawned over by the New York socialite and intellectual scene. His writing is said to be as vital to literature as Anna Karenina. Once a washed-up has-been, Fallow is now admired by those who detested him. If only the same could be said for Brian De Palma’s film.Tom Wolfe published the novel The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987. In it, smarmy Wall Street bond trader Sherman McCoy becomes lost in the Bronx during a rendezvous with his mistress, Maria Ruskin, and runs over a young African American called Henry Lamb. Lamb falls into a coma and his misfortune is taken advantage of by Fallow and Reverend Bacon, a black religious and political figure, who use the Lamb case for their own gain. As a result, McCoy is engulfedin a legal battle that threatens to destroy his livelihood. Continue reading...

It’s never too late to learn, says 50-year-old Shade Ajayi, who attends Ilorin grammar school in Kwara state, Nigeria Continue reading...

Police in Brussels have used teargas and a water cannon on a large crowd gathered in a park for a fake concert announced on social media as an April Fool’s Day prank. The police entered Bois de la Cambre park on the south side of the Belgian capital to enforce strict Covid-19 social-distancing rules that prohibit gatherings of more than four people outdoors. The crowd responded by throwing projectiles, hitting at least one police officer. Belgium on Saturday imposed tighter restrictions aimed at curbing surging Covid infection numbers

Culture secretary announces details of second tranche of grants and loans for arts and heritage sector

Economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi accused with deposed leader of breaching official secrets lawsThe Australian government is calling for Myanmar’s military regime to release an Australian man who worked as an economic adviser to the deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Sean Turnell, along with Suu Kyi and three of her deposed cabinet ministers, was charged a week ago in a Yangon court with breaching official secrets laws, Reuters reports. Continue reading...

Community health groups have nurses, GPs and locals ‘ready to go’, but a lack of deliveries has forced them to cancel vaccination clinics

List compiled by researchers of victims of mass killings includes infants and people in their 90sAlmost 2,000 people killed in more than 150 massacres by soldiers, paramilitaries and insurgents in Tigray have been identified by researchers studying the conflict. The oldest victims were in their 90s and the youngest were infants.The identifications are based on reports from a network of informants in the northern Ethiopian province run by a team at the University of Ghent in Belgium. The team, which has been studying the conflict in Tigray since it broke out last year, has crosschecked reports with testimony from family members and friends, media reports and other sources. Continue reading...

As cemeteries run out of space, World Health Organization experts warn multiple states in ‘critical condition’

When Polish-born Hania Żądło inquired about the strange avocado-like fruit, she was met with a mixture of indignation, hostility … and sympathyWhen Hania Żądło, a new arrival in New Zealand, asked an innocent question about an unfamiliar fruit, she was not to know that she was undermining a national treasure.As a registered nurse, Żądło and her husband, an anaesthetic technician, had both been granted “critical purpose” visas to take up jobs at Dunedin hospital. After landing in Auckland from the UK in late March, they were sent with their two children to the Crowne Plaza hotel for two weeks’ mandatory quarantine. Continue reading...

Treasury calls for expressions of interest for a new program to sit outside the existing 3,000-a-week cap for arrivals from overseasThe New South Wales government is considering an alternative hotel quarantine program to allow for the return of international students, a “vital” $14.6bn industry decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.The state’s treasury department has begun calling for expressions of interest to run the program, which it wants to sit outside the existing 3,000-a-week cap for arrivals from overseas. Continue reading...

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Countries to be graded green, amber or red based on Covid rates and vaccination rollouts, reports say

Mark Runacres says claim officers had bones broken at ‘kill the bill’ event were ‘hugely regrettable’A police commander has accepted that his force was too slow to correct a false claim that two officers had suffered broken bones during clashes with “kill the bill” protesters in Bristol.Supt Mark Runacres, the Bristol area commander, also said he regretted that demonstrators had been injured during a subsequent night of violence when police with riot shields, dogs and horses dispersed them. Continue reading...

Covid-19 will eventually have to be managed in a similar manner as serious seasonal viruses such as flu, England’s chief medical officer has said.Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine webinar, Prof Chris Whitty said it was ‘not realistic’ to believe border policy could stop new variants of coronavirus entering the UK

Statement following talks sparks optimism that unexpected progress has been madeA potential breakthrough in the apparently deadlocked efforts to bring the US back into the nuclear deal with Iran is on the horizon after secret diplomatic talks in Frankfurt this week.The joint commission, the body that brings together the existing signatories to the deal, will meet virtually on Friday to discuss the outcome of Monday’s meeting amid growing optimism that unexpected progress has been made. Continue reading...

The gigantic cargo ship Ever Given blocked the world’s busiest shipping lane for a week. Guardian reporter Michael Safi looks at what the costly nautical traffic jam tells us about global tradeThe Suez canal, built in 1869, is a 120-mile strip of water that has been called a ‘ditch in the desert’. Nearly 20,000 ships pass through it a year, so when the Ever Given, one of the biggest vessels ever built, became wedged last week and blocked it, global trade through the canal ground to a halt.The Guardian international correspondent Michael Safi tells Anushka Asthana the story of the crash, including the efforts to free the ship and the impact the blockage has had on the movement of trade across the globe. The retired Turkish mariner Alper Gergin also explains why steering a ship of such a size is harder than handling a Boeing 747. Continue reading...

Coroner’s report to warn of risk of patients self-harming after singer’s death at West Park hospital in DarlingtonA coroner will write to hospital bosses over his concerns about a ward where a talented singer died after a remark she made about killing herself was taken as a flippant comment.Mina Topley-Bird, the 24-year-old daughter of the trip-hop pioneer Tricky and the singer Martina Topley-Bird, was found dead on Elm ward at West Park hospital, Darlington, in May 2019. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Javad Zarif appears on Clubhouse forum to take questions from some 8,000 people

Discovery may explain escape of Capt Henry Every after murderous raid on Indian emperor’s shipA handful of coins unearthed from a pick-your-own-fruit orchard in the US state of Rhode Island and other random corners of New England may help solve a centuries-old cold case.The villain in this tale: a murderous English pirate who became the world’s most-wanted criminal after plundering a ship carrying Muslim pilgrims home to India from Mecca, then eluded capture by posing as a slave trader. Continue reading...

Service for Bobby Storey last June drew a large crowd of mourners in breach of Covid rulesThe Northern Ireland assembly has voted unanimously to censure Sinn Féin ministers for attending the funeral of a former leading IRA figure during lockdown.Assembly members accused Sinn Féin of breaching Covid-19 regulations during a funeral for Bobby Storey that drew a large crowd of mourners in Belfast last June, triggering a political row that has strained the power-sharing executive at Stormont. Continue reading...

When the graphic novelist met an unusually chatty nine-year-old, he was so struck by her talk that he began putting it into cartoons, which have been a hit in France

UN envoy says Myanmar at risk of imminent ‘bloodbath’, as new charges against ousted leader emergeAung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic adviser are among several people charged with breaking Myanmar’s colonial-era official secrets law, in an escalation of the campaign against the deposed civilian leader by the junta that overthrew her government two months ago.Her lawyer revealed the fresh accusations as the UN security council was warned that Myanmar was at risk of civil war and an imminent “bloodbath” if military rulers continued to violently repress the protest movement that has emerged since the coup. Continue reading...

Agreement commits department to rectify failure to comply with equality law when implementing hostile environment policyThe Home Office has signed a legal agreement with the equalities watchdog, forcing the department to rectify its failure to comply with equality law when implementing its hostile environment immigration measures.The agreement commits the Home Office to a two-year action plan of improvements, designed to ensure that lessons are learned from failures within the department that led to the Windrush scandal. Continue reading...

ONS estimates 1.1m people in community had ongoing symptoms in four weeks to 6 March

With a rumoured ninth album on the way – the follow-up to 2016’s Anti – we examine Rihanna’s singles and pick the 30 bestA buoyant paean to the quick-fix method of forgetting life’s worries by getting drunk, complete with big-up for the restorative powers of Jameson’s whiskey and a nod to Tyra Banks’s character in Coyote Ugly, Cheers (Drink to That) sounds elated and chaotic in equal measure: a messy night out in musical form. Continue reading...

As the ordinary guy in Police Academy and Three Men and a Baby, Guttenberg was one of the 80s unlikeliest stars – then disappeared. He talks about defying audience expectation, partying with Tom Selleck and Ted Danson and his latest role as a foul-mouthed British gangster“Steve Guttenberg … in a British gangster film!” sounds like a movie pitch by Alan Partridge. Mr Nice of 80s movies – the actor who embodied friendly normality in films such as Short Circuit, Cocoon and Three Men and a Baby – starring in a weird subgenre of film that is now little more than violence porn and misogyny?And yet, here we are in 2021, with Guttenberg playing an alarmingly bewigged capo in something called – let me check my notes – Original Gangster. It’s not quite as weird as Donald Trump becoming president of the United States, but it’s not far off. Continue reading...

Walter Biot acted out of financial desperation if he sold confidential documents as alleged, wife saysThe wife of an Italian navy captain arrested this week for allegedly passing confidential documents to a Russian official has said her husband must have acted “out of desperation”.Tensions between Rome and Moscow are running high after the Italian foreign ministry ordered the expulsion on Wednesday of the Russian military official allegedly involved in the spying case and another official. Continue reading...

Seven figures including Martin Lee and media tycoon Jimmy Lai convicted over unauthorised marchSeven of Hong Kong’s most senior and prominent pro-democracy figures, including the lawyer and former legislator Martin Lee and the media tycoon Jimmy Lai, have been found guilty over their involvement in an unauthorised protest rally.After a four-week trial, the defendants were convicted on Thursday of organising and participating in the rally in 2019, joining two others who pleaded guilty earlier. They could face up to 10 years in prison, though their sentences are likely to be shorter than that. Continue reading...

Watch given to Chinese troops who took part in 1989 crackdown pulled by Fellows after vendor received online threatsA luxury UK auction house has withdrawn from sale a rare watch given to Chinese soldiers as a reward for their part in the Tiananmen Square massacre, after it said the vendor had received online threats.The sale of the watch, depicting a green-helmeted soldier and the text “89.6 to commemorate the quelling of the rebellion” in Chinese characters, sparked questions over the ethics of profiting from an item associated with an atrocity. Continue reading...

Owner says he decided ‘enough was enough’ after encountering more and more trade barriersThe founder of a Scottish dog food business has told how Brexit forced him to move to France after his exports to the EU were halted because of the new trade barriers in place since 1 January.After 10 weeks of daily calls and emails to government representatives, who he said were “absolutely terrible”, Antoon Murphy said he was left with no other option than to relocate or face losing the business. Continue reading...

Relatives of Anton Hammerl, who was killed in 2011, hope new government will help locate his bodyThe family of a British-based photographer killed in 2011 by pro-Gaddafi forces during the Arab spring have launched a campaign to pressure Libya to investigate his death.Anton Hammerl, 41, was shot after being targeted as part of a small group of journalists, including the US reporter James Foley who himself was subsequently kidnapped and murdered by Islamic State in Syria. Continue reading...

Motoring organisation polls show most people likely to stay home over traditionally busy holiday weekend

UK and European readers share their sightings of local wildlife from recent weeks

News of resignation comes day after publication of official report downplaying structural racismBoris Johnson’s adviser on race has resigned, it has emerged. The news comes a day after the government released a controversial report downplaying structural racism in the UK.Samuel Kasumu, No 10’s special adviser for civil society and communities, will leave his role next month and informed colleagues of his decision on Wednesday, sources have confirmed. Continue reading...

Ice cream factory delivery bikes and Lego that you can’t step on also among products apparently being launchedMedia April fool stories may be a little thinner on the ground in an era where “fake news” has become a concern, and at a time when a global pandemic makes judging the tone trickier.The Telegraph chose 1 April to announce that Barnard Castle was intending to add a life-sized statue of Dominic Cummings to the estate, while the Sun returned to the row over Harry & Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview by suggesting that Justin Welby officiated over their “secret” pre-wedding while acting as an Elvis impersonator. The Guardian’s own joke, in light of the recent Ever Given grounding, was that there were plans to build a second Suez Canal to avoid a similar situation happening again. Continue reading...

All Nippon Airways’ first-class meals on grounded jets is latest industry wheeze to claw back revenue lost in Covid crisisJapan’s biggest airline has started offering luxury dining aboard a parked airplane titled the “winged restaurant,” for £390 a meal.Diners rushed to relive the cabin dining experience on Wednesday, despite being unable to travel due to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Russian embassy staff cite medicine shortages and unbearable conditions arising from strict Covid restrictions

Author was so opposed to Brexit that he took Irish citizenship to remain EuropeanJohn le Carré, the great embodiment and chronicler of Englishness, saved his greatest twist not for his thrillers but the twilight of his own life: he died an Irishman.The creator of the quintessential English spy George Smiley was so opposed to Brexit that in order to remain European, and to reflect his heritage, he took Irish citizenship before his death last December aged 89, his son has revealed. Continue reading...

Chinese embassy in Ireland Twitter account riffs on fable Wolf and the Lamb, with onlookers asking, ‘Who is the wolf?’A butchered Aesop’s Fable from the Twitter account of China’s embassy in Ireland has drawn mirth from observers and highlighted the growing sensitivity of Chinese diplomats to international criticism.As China engages in international disputes ranging from fist fights with Taiwanese officials to trade sanctions to threats of conflict, the behaviour of current foreign officials has earned the nickname “wolf warrior diplomacy” – a belligerent and aggressive style of communication that is most fervently conducted online. Continue reading...

Criminal investigation was dropped after two years and officer was never arrestedA Metropolitan police officer accused of raping two colleagues continues to serve on the force despite being subject to a misconduct inquiry, it has emerged.The accused man remained in post during a two-year criminal investigation into the allegations, which were first made in 2017, and he is now facing an internal inquiry over potential breaches of professional standards, the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found. He has never been arrested or charged. Continue reading...

UK prepared to play leading role in project given new impetus by Ever Given blockage, say sources

Monday 29 March saw England move forward with the government’s unlocking plan. Here’s what comes nextEngland has proceeded to the next step of the UK government’s plan for easing the Covid restrictions imposed at the beginning of January, with “rule of six” meetings permitted in the open air, and group outdoor sporting activities for adults and children allowed to resume.The proposed timetable outlined four steps along the way to a full re-opening, with the government stressing that after the first step the subsequent stages of reopening could be subject to delay and that the programme would be guided by “data rather than dates”. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picks the best and worst of the day’s pranks and punsLast year was bleak. So this April Fool’s Day everyone from government agencies to brands and even Gina Rinehart jumped at the chance to generate some laughs in 2021.Many organisations created their own promotional videos or press releases to test the credulity of the Australian public. Guardian Australia sorted through them all to bring you the best – and worst – of this year’s jokes. Continue reading...

The federal court allows an appeal against a judgment that the acting immigration minister unlawfully deprived a detainee of libertyThe full federal court has allowed Alan Tudge’s appeal against a judgment that while acting immigration minister he “engaged in conduct which can only be described as criminal”.In a joint decision three justices rejected controversial findings that Tudge personally had unlawfully deprived a person of his liberty by leaving him in detention for five days, instead attributing the failures to the home affairs department. Continue reading...

The annual arrival of migratory grey whales at El Vizcaíno sanctuary in Mexico has aided the region’s tourism industry. The whales travel about 5,600 miles from their summer feeding grounds in Alaska to mate and give birth in the warmer waters off north-western Mexico Continue reading...

Victims’ commissioner for England and Wales said new code is ‘excellent step’ but says attitudes must changeThe victims’ commissioner has hailed as “an excellent step” a new code that will ensure victims of crime are always alerted when an offender is due to leave prison.The code is a charter of rights that dictate the minimum level of service victims can expect at every stage of the justice process, regardless of whether they choose to report the crime or not. Continue reading...