by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5FYDV)
Just 39% of children or young adults in care have applications to remain in UK after BrexitThousands of children of EU citizens who have been taken into care may become “undocumented” adults with no right to work, rent a home or receive benefits, a charity has warned.The Children’s Society has found that just 39% of children in care, or young adults who have recently left care, have had applications to remain in the country after Brexit made on their behalf. It says this is “unacceptable” and that councils across the UK need to work urgently to identify EU citizens in their care. Continue reading...
How is it that those with the power to inflict most harm are blind to the consequences of their actions?It is a truism to say that everyone knows violence when they see it, but if one thing has become clear in the past decade, it is that the most prevalent, insidious forms of violence are those that cannot be seen. Consider, for example, a photograph from January 2017. A group of identical-looking white men in dark suits looked on as their president signed an executive order banning US state funding to groups anywhere in the world offering abortion or abortion counselling.The passing of the “global gag rule” effectively launched the Trump presidency. (It was scrapped by Joe Biden soon after his inauguaration a few weeks ago.) The ruling meant an increase in deaths by illegal abortion for thousands of women throughout the developing world. Its effects have been as cruel as they are precise. No non-governmental organisation (NGO) in receipt of US funds could henceforth accept non-US support, or lobby governments across the world, on behalf of the right to abortion. A run of abortion bans followed in conservative Republican-held US states. In November 2019, Ohio introduced to the state legislature a bill which included the requirement that in cases of ectopic pregnancy, doctors must reimplant the embryo into the woman’s uterus or face a charge of “abortion murder”. (Ectopic pregnancy can be fatal to the mother and no such procedure exists in medical science.) Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#5FYDS)
Directors pay for fruit and snack bundles for juniors as workers at other firms get bonuses and PelotonsBosses at Goldman Sachs have been sending sympathy snack boxes to overworked junior London bankers in response to complaints over “inhumane” 100-hour weeks that have affected their physical and mental health.The one-off hampers, full of fruit and snacks, are understood to have been paid for by managing directors out of their own pockets, since Goldman has not offered any company-wide gifts or additional bonuses after a leaked report revealed concerns about poor working conditions earlier this month. Continue reading...
Calls for ethnic minority forces to help those standing up to the ‘unfair oppression’ of the military as casualties mountMyanmar protesters have held overnight candle-lit vigils and launched a civil disobedience campaign of hurling garbage on to streets after an advocacy group said security forces had killed more than 500 people since the 1 February coup.Out of 14 civilians killed in Myanmar on Monday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said at least eight were in the South Dagon district of Yangon. Continue reading...
Thousands face not having a valid permit after lack of deal between UK and France and flood of applicationsThousands of British citizens in France have been left without a valid driving licence, or face losing theirs within months, because of bureaucratic overload and the failure of the two countries’ governments to sign a post-Brexit reciprocal agreement.“I’d say there are 3,000 who are seriously worried – for whom this has really become nightmarish,” said Kim Cranstoun, who moved permanently to France three years ago and whose Facebook group for Britons affected has more than 6,000 members. Continue reading...
Government says it will no longer fund risky mission to retrieve 29 bodies from site of New Zealand’s worst mining disasterFamilies of the men who died in one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters have expressed their heartbreak that the government has ended funding to re-enter the mine, leaving the remains of their loved ones trapped inside.Twenty-nine men were killed when an explosion ripped through the Pike river mine on the west coast in November 2010. Their bodies have not been recovered, and remain in the mine. Continue reading...
Nineteen-year-old, who has sickle cell disease, left his home on 22 March, saying he was going to visit a friendA London mother is seeking help to find her son who has been missing for over a week.
Redfern bar shakes like the hull of a ship as devoted community comes back together after year apartOver the past year, various members of the Redfern Shanty Club found different ways to cope. Robert Boddington, with his thespian’s voice and easy stage patter, gathered a few friends and tried to sing in public places, “just turning up in the dead of night and quietly singing away”. Robin Howard says he got “the shakes”. Emma Norton, a train driver with a soaring Celtic voice, says: “I sang to myself a lot, I guess.”On Monday night, as restrictions in Sydney were almost completely lifted – with relaxed caps on capacity in bars, and no limits on singing – this devoted and joyous community finally returned to their favourite weekly ritual. Continue reading...
Thursday: MP’s former branch secretary says she is surprised complaints ‘didn’t happen sooner’. Plus: joy as the giant Ever Given refloatedGood morning. Scott Morrison has reshuffled the cabinet to elevate a female “perspective” but the government is still dealing with complaints about the Queensland MP Andrew Laming. There are concerns for Brisbane businesses facing a snap lockdown coinciding with the end of jobkeeper. The trial for George Floyd’s alleged murderer has begun and cargo is finally flowing again through the Suez Canal.Andrew Laming’s former branch secretary Suzi Foster says she is surprised it has taken so long for complaints against the MP to be made public, given his history of making constituents “uncomfortable”. The comments come as Laming defended his online behaviour as being “re-invented into harassment”. Foster says concerns had been raised about Laming’s “erratic” behaviour from 2016. “What has been alleged doesn’t surprise me. I’m just surprised it didn’t happen sooner,” she said. Laming has taken a month’s paid leave to undertake courses in “empathy and appropriate communication” but experts have warned there’s no quick fix for improving empathy. Continue reading...
George Floyd's family and attorneys gathered outside the heavily-barricaded court house before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin went on trial Monday.'They can't sweep this under the rug,' said Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, to reporters. Philonise and other speakers spoke about the video that showed Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck that would be brought as evidence during the trial
Ernesto Araújo’s resignation ends the most calamitous chapter in the history of the country’s diplomacy, critics sayJair Bolsonaro’s ultraconservative foreign minister has resigned after a rebellion from diplomats and lawmakers who accused him of demolishing Brazil’s international reputation and putting Brazilian lives at risk by vandalizing relations with China and the US during the coronavirus pandemic.Ernesto Araújo, a 53-year-old career diplomat famed for his bashing of Xi Jinping’s China and devotion to Donald Trump, tendered his resignation on Monday, ending what critics call the most calamitous chapter in the history of Brazilian diplomacy. Continue reading...
Analysis: the trial over the killing of George Floyd may be a bellwether for racial justice, but the prosecution will focus on one man’s actionsFor all the many thousands of protests around the world, the global reckoning on racism and policing prompted by the killing of George Floyd last May, prosecutors were clear that their case in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would be centered around a period of time lasting less than 10 minutes.Nine minutes and 29 seconds. The total time that Chauvin held his knee to George Floyd’s neck, leaving him “pancaked”, in the words of prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, between the ground and Chauvin’s body, gradually asphyxiating him to death. Continue reading...
China and Canada have clashed repeatedly in recent months over Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minorityA Chinese diplomat has dismissed Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau as a “boy” in a social media attack marking a new low in the fractured relationship between the two countries.China and Canada have clashed repeatedly in recent months, and last week the two countries imposed sanctions on each other in a growing row over Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority. Continue reading...
by Michael Safi in Beirut, Helena Smith in Athens and on (#5FX70)
Salvage teams and strong tides help to refloat vessel that had blocked key trading arterySalvage teams succeeded on Monday in freeing a massive container ship that had been stuck in the Suez canal for the past seven days, blocking billions of dollars’ worth of cargo from crossing one of the world’s busiest marine waterways.Insurers, the shipping industry and the thousands of businesses reliant on container goods were still counting the cost of the accident as traffic resumed in the evening with more than 367 vessels, carrying a vast range of items from crude oil to cattle, waiting to cross. Continue reading...
Stuck container ship triggered people with fear of ships and sea wreckage and megalophobia, the fear of large objectsWhen Grace Gibson was texted a picture of the giant container ship Ever Given stuck in the Suez canal, she clenched.The image – of the gargantuan vessel wedged sideways into the canal – and the lone excavator working to free it – struck most as absurd. Against the massive underbelly of the ship, the equipment looked tiny. But for Gibson, a 26-year old Angeleno, it immediately evoked discomfort. Continue reading...
At least seven people are dead and up to 60 unaccounted for after an ambush by Islamist militants on a convoy in northern Mozambique on Friday.On Wednesday, the insurgents had targeted the northern town of Palma, where many foreign contractors work for a multibillion-dollar liquified natural gas project run by the French energy company Total, attacking local people and hotels sheltering foreign workers
Analysis: experts split on whether easy access to porn has fuelled sexual harassment, abuse and assault among young peopleThe harrowing reports of sexism and assaults in schools detailed on the everyonesinvited.uk website has fuelled concerns of a “rape culture” in educational settings.The disclosures have raised concerns that easy access to pornography is part of the problem. Continue reading...
by Presented by Laura Murphy-Oates and reported by Ri on (#5FXXT)
Jobkeeper was announced at the start of the Covid pandemic as a lifeline to stop employers losing staff due to the economic losses of the crisis. Now that jobkeeper has ended, economist Richard Denniss joins the podcast to explain how its removal will affect AustraliansYou can read more from Richard Denniss here Continue reading...
Results show increase in self-diagnosis accuracy after participants searched for advice onlineThat throbbing headache just won’t go away and your mind is racing about what may be wrong. But Googling your symptoms may not be as ill-advised as previously thought.Although some doctors often advise against turning to the internet before making the trudge up to the clinic, a new study suggests that using online resources to research symptoms may not be harmful after all – and could even lead to modest improvements in diagnosis. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke Africa correspondent and Peter Beaumon on (#5FXVJ)
Attack on port town of Palma has forced hundreds of people to flee amid fierce fightingThe Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a town in northern Mozambique last week that forced hundreds of foreign contractors to flee amid fierce fighting.Local police and soldiers were reported to have secured control of most of Palma on Monday, after hundreds of Islamist insurgents who overran the small port last week withdrew to surrounding forests and fields leaving a trail of devastation. Continue reading...
Singer experienced psychotic episode in May 2019 after she thought concert had gone badlyA young and talented singer was found dead in hospital after suffering a severe mental health episode following a concert, which she thought had gone badly, an inquest heard.Mina Topley-Bird, 24, the daughter of the trip hop musician Tricky and vocalist Martina Topley-Bird, was discovered dead at West Park hospital, Darlington, in May 2019, days after performing with her band in Newcastle upon Tyne. Continue reading...
Singer collaborated with streetwear label MSCHF to create the shoes, will be limited to 666 pairs, retail at $1,018 and contain ‘one drop of human blood’Nike has denied involvement in an announcement by the singer Lil Nas X that he will release custom-made “Satan shoes”, sneakers which contain a drop of human blood.The singer collaborated with streetwear label MSCHF to create the shoes, which are modified Nike Air Max 97s and feature a pentagram pendant and a reference to a Bible verse, Luke 10:18 – “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”. Continue reading...
Caffeine is a stimulant, protein helps muscle recovery, and thousands of people are posting online about combining the two for a sludgy beige take on breakfast
US and EU lead international condemnation of violence against protesters by junta on SaturdayWashington has announced the immediate suspension of all US trade engagement with Myanmar until the return of a democratically elected government, a day after the president, Joe Biden, condemned the killing of peaceful protesters as “outrageous”.The move comes as the US and EU led international condemnation of the violence perpetrated by the junta in Myanmar on Saturday, when more than 100 people – including several children – died in the bloodiest day since the military coup two months ago. Continue reading...
The vastly popular Colombian singer is challenging outdated views of women in Latin pop – but her naive racial politics have sparked controversyI catch Colombian singer Karol G in a rare moment of calm, while she is in a car on her way to a hotel. She has just landed in New York to film a music video, but home is Miami, she clarifies, the engine humming in the background. “I love it there because there are so many Latinos!”Born Carolina Giraldo Navarro in Medellín, Karol G, 30, is one of Latin America’s biggest pop stars, an expressive performer who uses beautiful hooks for lyrics that explore female desire and sexual agency – a rarity in the male-dominated Latin music scene, where, she says, women have historically been treated like “products”. Continue reading...
Islamist militants attacked the town of Palma last week, and dozens are still missing after a hotel siege and convoy attackThe first that people in the Mozambican city of Palma knew of the attack by Islamist militants was the sound of gunfire that erupted at 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.A focus of natural gas development in the Indian Ocean, the town, located close to the border with Tanzania, was under sustained attack from two directions by the Isis-affiliated al-Shabaab group, who have mounted a campaign of escalating terror in the northern Cabo Delgado region. The group does not have any known connection to Somalia’s jihadists of that name, and have been active in Cabo Delgado since 2017, but their attacks have become much more frequent and deadly over the past year. Continue reading...
At least five people seriously injured and about 1,000 residents evacuated, as Greenpeace calls for investigationA massive fire has broken out at one of Indonesia’s biggest oil refineries after an explosion turned the sprawling complex into a raging inferno.Firefighters battled to contain the fire at the Balongan refinery in West Java, operated by the state oil company, Pertamina, as towering plumes of black smoke rose into the sky. Continue reading...
In her new book, Kate Lebo experiments with tricky fruit. Here she explains the best ways to ensure that even nature’s tartest, sourest offerings never go to waste
A vast container ship blocking the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been partially refloated, but the vessel’s bulbous bow – or front end – is still stuck at the canal’s edge.Dredgers, excavators and tugboats worked throughout the weekend fighting changing wind conditions and the tide to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship, managing in the early hours of Monday to first move it, then pull it free. Further tugging operations will resume once the tide rises later on Monday
Here we all are, mired in the worst reality TV show ever, Blokes Being Reprehensible at Your Expense, with a twist everyone can see comingIncredible, really, (and yet crushingly predictable, somehow) that Andrew Laming would have the audacity to make an appeal for privacy while finding the time to front his local radio station and dish some alternative “facts” about unsavoury incidents that have forced him to signal time on his parliamentary career.Also incredible (and yet not, somehow) that the Nationals MP Anne Webster would need to make a formal complaint to the party leadership after being sexually harassed by a male colleague in the House of Representatives chamber (a public place last time I looked) during a week where the government was lurching from disaster to disaster. Continue reading...
by Naaman Zhou (now) and Elias Visontay and Matilda B on (#5FX0N)
Queensland reports four new local Covid cases of UK variant; two of the cases visited Byron Bay; Porter responds to cabinet move; Malcolm Turnbull in line to head NSW climate advisory board. Follow the latest
Gulf state’s male guardian rules deny women right to wed, travel, work or to make decisions about their children, report saysWomen in Qatar are living under a system of “deep discrimination” – dependent on men for permission to marry, travel, pursue higher education or make decisions about their own children, according to a new report.Opaque rules on male guardianship leave women without basic freedoms, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has analysed for the first time the way the system works in practice. Continue reading...
Shift surprises ABC during its attempt to stop commonwealth from automatically closing court proceedingsLawyers for the federal attorney general have flipped their position on secrecy in the Witness K case by abandoning a push to automatically close the court whenever sensitive material is raised.The government’s previous stance had wasted “considerable time and expense” for Australian Broadcasting Corporation lawyers who were preparing to intervene to keep the case as open as possible, the ACT magistrates court heard on Monday. Continue reading...
Monday: Authorities race to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Queensland. Plus: Melbourne’s Rising festival promises you will get your hands dirtyHello, and happy Monday. It’s Imogen Dewey here, with updates about Brisbane’s growing Covid cluster, still more sexual misconduct allegations in parliament, and some big news about renewables.Australian health authorities are scrambling to track down contacts of two Brisbane friends who tested positive for coronavirus, amid fresh concerns about the outbreak growing. A third case was announced yesterday morning. NSW Health is contacting thousands who’ve returned from Brisbane in the past week, and you can see a list of possible exposure sites in Queensland. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5FWX0)
At least 5,000 troops and police begin security operation to tackle growing threat from sleeper groupsKurdish forces in north-east Syria have begun a security operation inside al-Hawl detention camp in an attempt to eliminate Isis sleeper cells that have become increasingly active over the last few months.Around 5,000–6,000 Kurdish troops and Asayish security police, led by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military, entered the camp on Sunday to conduct searches and arrests in what is expected to be a 15-day operation. Continue reading...
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