Men deny reports that government ministers attended events, which allegedly broke Covid rulesFrench police have interviewed the organisers of exclusive clandestine dinners that allegedly broke Covid rules as Emmanuel Macron warned ministers their behaviour must be “exemplary”.Detectives also searched the homes of the chef who created special menus costing up to €490 (£424) a head and the owner of the restaurant venue in one of Paris’s chic districts. Continue reading...
Magic mushrooms and gigs in toilets – the creation of a new album for the raucous band is far from ordinary, as a new film shows“I’ve never been so fucking cold,” says Lias Saoudi, singer of the riotous scuzz rock outfit Fat White Family. “I thought we were going to die.” Saoudi is recalling an evening when he and his band took psilocybin mushrooms, hit Hastings beach at 1am, stripped to their underpants and soaked up the white glow of the frosty night’s winter moon. The result is Moonbathing in February, a film made with director Niall Trask that is part performance, part fly-on-the-wall document of recording the band’s new album, the follow-up to 2019’s lauded Serfs Up.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
The singer’s fight against domestic violence and homophobia and her body-positive posts on Instagram have led to a torrent of abuse – some from very powerful people
Police use water cannon as trouble flares for another night in the Springfield Road area of Belfast. Police describes the violence as the worst in Belfast for years. US President Joe Biden joins the UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin in a call for calm
We’d like to hear from people aged 16 to 25 from across Europe, including the UK, about the impact of Covid on their lives and futures, for a new Guardian cross-European project on Gen ZWe’d like to understand more about the impact of the pandemic on young people in Europe aged 16 to 25.The Guardian, along with other members of the Europa media group which includes leading newspapers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, is conducting a cross-European project to find out how the pandemic has reshaped the hopes, fears, dreams and expectations of the continent’s young people. Continue reading...
Two who led Xinjiang education department get suspended penalty for publishing school textbooksA Chinese court has issued a suspended death sentence to the former directors of the Xinjiang education department for charges including writing and publishing school textbooks it said were designed to “split the country”.Sattar Sawut and his deputy, Shirzat Bawudun, were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, while five other Uyghur men, including editors, were given lengthy jail terms, according to state media. Continue reading...
Kyaw Zwar Minn locked out of London embassy by pro-junta diplomatsBritain has given temporary shelter to Myanmar’s former ambassador to London after he was locked out of his embassy when he declared loyalty to the democratically elected government overthrown by a military junta in February.Kyaw Zwar Minn had said the embassy had been seized by the military attache earlier this week and he had been locked out of the building. He spent Wednesday night in his car outside the embassy. His exact future legal status in the UK will depend on his plans, and the future of the struggle to restore democracy in Myanmar. Continue reading...
Gangs of youths gathered near the scene of Wednesday night’s violence and hurled stones and fireworks at policePolice in Northern Ireland have used water cannon and dogs to contain fresh rioting in Belfast.Armoured Land Rovers and officers with helmets and shields were deployed on Thursday night after crowds clashed at the Lanark Way interface that separates the nationalist Springfield Road from the loyalist Shankill Road. Continue reading...
Rioters have been blasted with water cannon by police on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as unrest continued into a seventh day.Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday nightAfter calls for calm this week, there was a heavy security presence, with water cannon and riot officers at the scene as police charged the youths with dogs
by Flávia Milhorance and Brian Barth in Rondônia, B on (#5GC6W)
Rich profits from the prized nut have failed to benefit those finding them. Now cooperatives hope to shake up the systemOn a steamy March morning, Edivan Kaxarari walks with a few other villagers in single file down a trail in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil’s Rondônia state, near the border with Bolivia.His sister-in-law Cleiciana carries her 11-month-old son in one arm and a rifle in the other, and his brother Edson clears the path ahead with a machete. It is hunting season for the seeds of the Amazonian Brazil nut tree. Continue reading...
Joe Dante’s sly and smart breakout, about a reporter uncovering a colony of werewolves, was a fun ride that had space for satire“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked …”So begins Allen Ginsberg’s radical poem Howl, which upon close study has absolutely nothing to do with werewolves. And yet it appears on a reporter’s desk in Joe Dante’s horror classic The Howling, one among many blink-or-you’ll-miss it visual jokes that Dante tucks into the movie, like a small-town sheriff scarfing down a can of Wolf-brand chili or an old Little Boy Blue cartoon featuring the Big Bad Wolf that’s airing on TV. His best films are loaded with such peripheral delights, which have the feel of inside jokes, but mostly point to the movie-crazy spirit of a Dante production. The more movies you’ve seen, the more you tend to love Joe Dante. Continue reading...
Ismail Ahmed, a refugee turned multimillionaire, says his country has had to battle ‘negative PR’Aid agencies are hindering development and undermining efforts to attract investment in Somaliland, according to a former World Bank and UN official turned entrepreneur.Ismail Ahmed, founder of the money-transfer company WorldRemit, claims Somaliland, his birthplace, has had to battle “negative PR” from aid agencies exaggerating their role to protect their interests. Somaliland declared itself a sovereign state independent of Somalia in 1991, but it is not recognised internationally. Continue reading...
Leader uses the term ‘arduous march’ in party speech, a term used to refer to devastating 1990s famine in which hundreds of thousands diedNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for another “arduous march” against severe economic difficulties, appearing to compare the situation to a 1990s famine during which hundreds of thousands of people died.Kim had previously said his country faces the “worst-ever” situation due to factors including the coronavirus pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters, but this is the first time he has publicly drawn a parallel with the deadly famine. Continue reading...
From cowboys to ‘van-dwellers’, itinerant Americans are often portrayed as heroic lone wolves. Chloé Zhao’s film shows that the truth is more complicated and less glamorousIt has been a wild ride for Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s roving portrait of the US’s rootless modern migrants. Shot for $5m and largely featuring amateur actors, it is the little movie that could: this year’s rags-to-riches story, beloved by the critics and odds-setters alike. The road has been cleared, the gold rush is on, but the Hollywood happy ending feels at odds with the film. As Nomadland steers its westerly course – from the Baftas in London to the Oscars in Los Angeles – it is living a dream that it knows is a lie.Condé Nast Traveler called it “a love letter to America’s wide open spaces”, which is true up to a point, but this ignores the pathos, poverty and desperation at its core. Adapted from Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction bestseller, the film bounces Frances McDormand’s hard-bitten loner through a modern American badland in which the saloon and the sheriff’s office have been replaced by the RV park and the Amazon warehouse. I would file the film as an anti-western, a wholesale repudiation of manifest destiny, the pursuit of happiness, all the Hollywood snake oil we have long been fed. “Yeah, OK,” Bruder says. “But it’s more complicated than that.” Frustratingly, I think she may be right. Continue reading...
GPs say clinics inundated with calls from confused patients after advice AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided by people under 50Doctors’ clinics are being inundated with calls from confused patients after Thursday’s vaccine announcement, and at least one has warned his clinic is considering withdrawing from the rollout due to delivery failures, “farcical” bureaucracy and a government funding model he says is inadequate.Guardian Australia spoke with four GP clinics on Friday morning to gauge reactions to the federal government’s new advice that the AstraZeneca vaccine be avoided for people under 50, where possible. Continue reading...
Service from Birmingham to Majorca took off with less thrust because pilot thought it was 1,200kg lighterA software mistake caused a Tui flight to take off heavier than expected as female passengers using the title “Miss” were classified as children, an investigation has found.The departure from Birmingham airport to Majorca with 187 passengers on board was described as a “serious incident” by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Continue reading...
Study finds sheep have higher heart rates when shepherded by traditional meansHerding sheep using dogs, motorbikes or even people is not as ovine-friendly as a drone, new research shows.A new Australian study found farmers who use drones to herd their flock have less stressed sheep and that methods of shepherding have a direct impact on animal welfare. Continue reading...
Diplomatic spat erupts as Mario Draghi accuses Turkish president of humiliating European commision presidentA diplomatic spat has erupted between Turkey and Italy, after prime minister Mario Draghi accused president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of humiliating European commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and described him as a “dictator”.Von der Leyen – the commission’s first female president – was left without a chair during a meeting on Tuesday with Erdoğan and the European council president Charles Michel met Erdoğan. The commission chief was clearly taken aback when the two men sat on the only two chairs prepared, relegating her to an adjacent sofa. Continue reading...
Police have arrested the reigning “Mrs World” on charges of assault over an on-stage fracas in which she pulled the crown off the head of the new “Mrs Sri Lanka”.Caroline Jurie yanked the crown off Pushpika de Silva minutes after she was declared “Mrs Sri Lanka 2020” during a gala in Colombo on April 4. Jurie declared that Pushpika de Silva was ineligible as the winner because she was divorced, and forcibly removed her crown. De Silva needed hospital treatment after the incident, seen by stunned spectators in a packed venue as well as a live social media audience.To qualify for the title, contestants must be married. De Silva is estranged from her husband, but they are still legally married. The local franchise holder for the pageant, Chandimal Jayasinghe, said they were “deeply disturbed and sincerely regret” the behaviour of Jurie and the told the media the crown would be returned to De Silva
Friday: New research shows at least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police custody or prison since 1991. Plus: ‘Mrs World’ on-stage fracasAustralia’s vaccine rollout has suffered a major setback, more concerns about Liberal MP Andrew Laming’s behaviour, and the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody continues to be a “national shame”. This is Imogen Dewey with the morning’s major news stories on Friday 9 April.At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since the royal commission handed down its final report in 1991, new research has revealed. To mark the 30th anniversary, Guardian Australia has updated “Deaths inside” which tracks every known Indigenous death in custody from 2008. At least five of those deaths happened since the beginning of March this year. Linda Burney, a Wiradjuri woman and Labor’s spokesperson for Indigenous Australians, is calling for the federal government to fund a real-time reporting system and an independent audit of the commission’s recommendations. “This just can’t continue,” she said. Continue reading...
by Presented by Gabrielle Jackson with Mike Ticher an on (#5GBR5)
With the release of the third update of the Deaths Inside database, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lorena Allam and Mike Ticher about what needs to change so we are not having the same conversation in 30 years’ time Continue reading...
Former ‘Mrs Sri Lanka’ Caroline Jurie yanked crown off her successor, Pushpika de Silva, in on-stage fracasPolice have arrested the reigning “Mrs World” on charges of assault over an on-stage fracas in which she pulled the crown off the head of the new “Mrs Sri Lanka”.Caroline Jurie yanked the crown off Pushpika de Silva minutes after she was declared “Mrs Sri Lanka 2020” in a Sunday gala at Colombo’s Nelum Pokuna theatre. Continue reading...
EU citizens’ rights campaigner and BBC journalist has bid turned down over insufficient proofA campaigner for EU citizens’ rights in the UK has said she is in a state of shock after the Home Office rejected her application for settled status despite her having lived in the the country for more than half her life.Dahaba Ali, 27, moved to the UK at the age of 10. She was born in the Netherlands where her mother was granted refugee status after fleeing the conflict in Somalia. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll, Rory Carroll and Rajeev Syal on (#5GBMV)
Joe Biden joins Boris Johnson and Irish prime minister in a call for calm after worst violence in Belfast in yearsThe White House has expressed concern over a week of riots in Northern Ireland, with Joe Biden joining Boris Johnson and the Irish prime minister in calling for calm after what police described as the worst violence in Belfast for years.It came as police used water cannon against nationalist youths in west Belfast, as unrest stirred again on the streets on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
MP used official letterhead to ask for early access to data, but education department and teachers’ union told schools they did not have to complyAndrew Laming wrote to schools in his electorate using his Liberal MP letterhead to request early Naplan data for private research for his doctoral thesis, prompting a complaint from the teachers’ union.The Queensland Teachers Union advised schools they were under “no obligation” to provide the test data, labelling the request “inappropriate”. Continue reading...
The grande école, or ENA, has been the pathway to power for top civil servants and four presidentsEmmanuel Macron has announced the closure of the École Nationale d’Administration, the elite French finishing school for the country’s leaders, where he himself studied.Known as ENA, the grande école has been the hothouse for France’s top civil service and a pathway to power in the public and private sectors. Four French presidents, including Macron, have passed through its doors as have dozens of ministers and business leaders. Continue reading...
Sir Richard Sutton, who owned hotels in London, died during incident on Wednesday eveningTributes have been paid to a millionaire hotelier who died after suffering stab wounds at his home.Sir Richard Sutton, who owned a string of top hotels in London, died during an incident at a property near Gillingham, Dorset. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Dr Catherine Smallwood says there is potential for surge unconnected to increases in EuropeThe success of Britain’s vaccine programme is not enough to protect it from another wave of coronavirus unconnected to rising cases in Europe, a senior World Health Organization expert has said.Dr Catherine Smallwood, a senior emergency officer at WHO Europe, also said confidence in vaccines may have dipped after changes to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab rollout, with under-30s to be offered alternative options amid concerns over rare blood clots. Continue reading...
Bottles and petrol bombs have aggravated a political crisis and leave some deeply disheartenedIt is not hard finding the next riot spot in Northern Ireland. You can check Facebook or other social media platforms for locations and times. You can follow young people who visit petrol stations to fill up jerry cans. Or you can tag along with older people who gather, phones in hand, to watch and record the show.One older woman came to Lanark Way off the Shankill Road on Wednesday in a coat and bathrobe for what promised to be a long, cold, eventful evening. “Not long now,” said a man to no one in particular. Continue reading...
A new exhibition celebrates the work of three Austrian artists who escaped their country as Nazis took over and created daring work in the years afterIn 1938, Nazi troops invaded Austria, subsuming the country into the Third Reich in an event known as the “Anschluss”, bringing official antisemitism, along with political violence, to the small, German-speaking nation.A new exhibition in New York features artworks by three Jewish artists who fled Vienna during the Anschluss, survived and flourished as commercial artists. Armed with their pens, they used their wit, talent and resilience. Their best works are on view in a group exhibition, Three With a Pen, at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, proving that art can be used as a weapon against fascism. Continue reading...
Anna Bettozzi was found with €300,000 in cash when her Rolls-Royce was pulled over in 2019Dozens of people have been arrested, including an oil heiress and singer who was found with €300,000 (£260,000) in cash when her Rolls-Royce was pulled over in 2019, as Italian police disrupted a massive fuel fraud by mafia groups.Police also seized nearly €1bn in assets linked to mafia money laundering and tax fraud through oil products in a series of scams known as “Operation PetrolMafias”. Continue reading...
BBC documentary to examine incidents that led to setting up of unit on which Line of Duty’s AC-12 is basedOne of London’s most senior police officers, described by a colleague as “the greatest villain unhung”, was believed to be involved in major corruption in the 1970s but never prosecuted, according to a new documentary on police malpractice.Former officers who exposed corruption at the time describe how they were threatened that they would end up in a “cement raincoat” if they informed on fellow officers and were shunned by colleagues when they did. Continue reading...
Though a return to the JCPOA seems likely, both Washington and Tehran have complex internal obstacles to overcomeThe United States and Iran are in a staring contest, and neither wants to blink first – at least that’s how the BBC Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, described the current political impasse.Since president Joe Biden took office on 20 January, the countries have been locked in a stalemate over the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), which the Donald Trump administration withdrew from in May 2018, reimposing sanctions on Iran – despite the country not having violating the multilateral accord. These actions prompted Iran to speed up its nuclear programme after May 2019 by incrementally breaching aspects of the JCPOA. Continue reading...
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