Peckham-born Damson Idris is a huge name in the US. But back here his star is still rising. He talks to Tim Lewis about breaking out in Snowfall, his American accent, joking with Jay-Z and the joy of dressing upIn 2015, when he was a young actor from Peckham with a couple of theatre credits and, naturally, an episode of Casualty to his Equity card, Damson Idris somehow wangled a big TV audition in Los Angeles. The part was Franklin Saint, a bright kid in South Central LA during the 1980s who becomes a drug kingpin just as the city is on the cusp of a crack cocaine epidemic. Snowfall was the vision of John Singleton, the director of the seminal 1991 coming-of-age film Boyz n the Hood. Word was that every tyro black actor in America, and beyond, wanted to be cast as Franklin.“The audition was about two, three weeks out,” recalls Idris, “so I went to my family and said, ‘Guys, I’m going to be in an American accent for three weeks and onwards if this process keeps going on. Don’t, don’t, don’t make no jokes. Don’t ask me, “Ahhhh, why are you talking like that?” No. My name’s Franklin and from now on you’re going to address me as Franklin. You hear that Mum?’ I was still living with my mum at the time. And she’s like, ‘Yeah, whatever. Go wash the dishes.’” Continue reading...

Only 2% of regular swimmers in England are black. A new film examines the reasons behind the statisticFilmmaker Ed Accura was 53 when he learned to swim, and only then through fear that his young daughter might get into trouble and he wouldn’t be able to save her.“I live near the Thames and I said to myself, if anything happened to her and I couldn’t help, I would never forgive myself.” Continue reading...

The spate of Aboriginal deaths in custody has been denounced by senator Pat Dodson as a ‘scandal’An Indigenous inmate at Perth’s Casuarina prison has died in hospital, adding to a recent spate of Aboriginal deaths in custody.The fifth death since the beginning of March involves a 45-year-old male inmate at Western Australia’s main maximum-security prison. Continue reading...

Authorities say collapse of travel during Covid has forced smugglers to make bulk shipments instead of using drug mulesHong Kong police have announced a record-breaking 700kg cocaine seizure with officers suspecting the huge shipment was smuggled into the city on speedboats.The bust is the largest in the territory in nearly a decade and netted some HK$930m-worth ($119.6m) of cocaine. Continue reading...

You’re frustrated about this, and you have the right to confront your mother with these emotional challenges, but to what purpose, wonders Mariella FrostrupThe dilemma I am a 50-year-old gay man. When I was young I was cast in the role of the “good” child – my mother’s antidote to my rebellious siblings. I behaved well, did fine at school and sought my mother’s approval and love. As a result I hid my sexuality. I was left in no doubt from her that being gay was “dirty”. She frequently told me I should not go to her if I had any worries as she would not be able to cope if all her children had problems. I came out to her when I was 19. She sought to control the narrative, requesting that I didn’t tell anyone until she felt the time was right. Relieved, as she told me she still loved me, I complied.I don’t know if my mother’s love for me was conditional, because I didn’t test it. I recognise that she worked extremely hard with four young children and a husband setting up a business. I am still bound up in many of the same patterns of behaviour as when I was a child. She just wants to hear I am happy, but doesn’t if I am not. I smile, regardless of how I am actually feeling. So she doesn’t really know me and loves a vision of me that isn’t who I am. I wonder if I have the right, at this stage in our lives, to change a relationship that she appears content with? Continue reading...

Traditions passed down through generations connect families to homelands and the past with present during the annual religious holidaySylvie Saab Continue reading...

Nicole Yamase visited the Challenger Deep trench, which lies nearly 11km below the surfaceIt is a place that has been visited by fewer people than have flown to the moon – pitch black, 11km down, the last frontier.Last month, Nicole Yamase became the first Pacific Islander, the third woman, and, at 29, the second-youngest person to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest known part of the Mariana Trench. Continue reading...

A new book of these elders’ favourite childhood memories will help ensure their community ‘never forget where they came from’Whenever Hsay Wah Thu Kree thinks about his favourite childhood memory, it makes him smile. “One day, my older brother gave me his unused old bicycle wheel rim, which made me so happy. As a child, I played with that wheel rim as a hoop, using a stick, running and pushing it the whole day without ever noticing any tiredness. I can still see it in my imagination.”But that memory is also tinged with sadness. “My best friend passed away in that same year as a result of a high fever. His father, too, was shot to death by Burmese soldiers within a week of that, after Sunday noon service.” Continue reading...

Two protesters claimed they were subject to terrifying ordeals at the hands of male officers pretending to be postal workersThe police have been accused of an abuse of power by using anti-terror style tactics against protesters after two young women claimed they endured terrifying ordeals at the hands of male officers pretending to be postal workers.The women were caught up in a series of undercover raids by Avon and Somerset Police as part of the force’s high-profile investigation into a fortnight of the “kill the bill” protests in Bristol. So far 50 people have been arrested in connection with clashes during protests against the government’s police and crime bill, which will give the police wide-ranging powers over demonstrations. Continue reading...

Tensions rise on borders as thousands seek safe haven from military crackdownMyanmar’s escalating crisis is spilling across its borders, as thousands of refugees seek safe haven in India and Thailand in the wake of the military coup and bloody crackdowns on anti-coup protesters.Authorities in both countries have tried to block new arrivals, fearing that a steady flow may become a flood, if unrest spreading through Myanmar worsens. A top UN official warned last week that the country is “on the verge of spiralling into a failed state” if action is not taken soon to stem the bloodshed. Continue reading...

Bomber walked into a crowd of people drinking tea outside, witnesses sayFive civilians, including a child, were killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself at a tea shop in Mogadishu, Somalia’s police have said.“Around 7pm in the evening, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a tea shop frequented by the youth,” police spokesman Sadiq Dudishe said. “Six people, four of them youth, a child, and the suicide bomber died in the blast. Four others were wounded.” Continue reading...

Small outbreaks and universal genomic sequencing provides unique insights into how coronavirus spreads

Demonstrations against crackdown on right to protest are organised in 25 cities including London

Worshippers at Christ the King Polish Catholic church in London told they could be fined or arrested

Officers seized more than five tonnes of hashish and 230 kg of marijuana during a series of raids

Arlene Foster appeals to young people not to join violence after eight police officers injured in loyalist areaStormont’s first minister has joined calls for calm after riots in Belfast, urging young people “not to get drawn into disorder” and parents to protect their children.Eight police officers were injured after being pelted with bottles, bricks and fireworks in a loyalist area of the Northern Irish capital on Friday evening. Eight people were arrested, including a 13-year-old boy. Continue reading...

Wales first minister ‘shocked’ as hundreds of people cleared by police late on Friday night

Four decades after his Booker-winner was published, Rushdie reflects on the Bombay of his childhood – and his despair at the sectarianism he sees in India todayLongevity is the real prize for which writers strive, and it isn’t awarded by any jury. For a book to stand the test of time, to pass successfully down the generations, is uncommon enough to be worth a small celebration. For a writer in his mid-70s, the continued health of a book published in his mid-30s is, quite simply, a delight. This is why we do what we do: to make works of art that, if we are very lucky, will endure.As a reader, I have always been attracted to capacious, largehearted fictions, books that try to gather up large armfuls of the world. When I started to think about the work that would grow into Midnight’s Children, I looked again at the great Russian novels of the 19th century, Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, Dead Souls, books of the type that Henry James had called “loose, baggy monsters”, large-scale realist novels – though, in the case of Dead Souls, on the very edge of surrealism. And at the great English novels of the 18th and 19th centuries, Tristram Shandy (wildly innovative and by no means realist), Vanity Fair (bristling with sharp knives of satire), Little Dorrit (in which the Circumlocution Office, a government department whose purpose is to do nothing, comes close to magic realism), and Bleak House (in which the interminable court case Jarndyce v Jarndyce comes even closer). And at their great French precursor, Gargantua and Pantagruel, which is completely fabulist. Continue reading...

Met Office says northern Scotland could have 15cm of snow and even southern England could see showersSnow could hit parts of Britain over the Easter bank holiday weekend, including in the south-west of England, forecasters have said.Northern Scotland could have 15cm (6in) of snow in higher areas by Easter Monday, but the Met Office said even southern England could see snow – but added it was unlikely to settle. Continue reading...

Police suspect rail accident that killed at least 50 was caused by ‘improperly parked’ truckA Taiwan court has released on bail the manager of a construction site whose truck is believed by authorities to have caused a train accident that killed at least 50 people. Prosecutors have said they will appeal the decision.The Taroko Express was carrying almost 500 people down the island’s east coast on Friday, the first day of a religious festival when families gather to honour their ancestors, when it crashed in a tunnel just outside Hualien city. Continue reading...

Adriana Mejía lost half her family in just 83 days – now a huge death toll of 294,000 is being quietly acknowledged

Armona, off the Algarve, has been home since Covid’s second wave – and I’ve grown to love its beauty, simplicity and kindness

Marion, 36, operations manager, meets Brenden, 37, opera singerWhat were you hoping for?

In Spain, women traditionally wear mantilla dresses as mourning clothes while they accompany the Virgin during the Holy Week processions. For the second consecutive year, Spain will mark Semana Santa or Holy Week without processions due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, however, churches will remain open and religious rites can be visited Continue reading...

Data reveals fallout from health crisis since March 2020, with many stores closing permanently

Algae-filled pools and shuttered hotel windows are a reminder that Covid-19 is not just a public health problemOf the handful of countries in the world that managed to stay completely Covid-free, almost all were islands in the South Pacific.Most Pacific countries – protected by their remoteness and their governments’ decisions to close their borders – have kept their case numbers very low, with some notable exceptions, including French Polynesia, which restarted international travel early and suffered a devastating outbreak in the second half of 2020 and Papua New Guinea, which is now facing a very serious flare-up. Continue reading...

West Midlands police say the animals, who did not belong to the woman, have been seizedA woman in her 80s has died after being attacked by two escaped dogs in the West Midlands.West Midlands police were alerted after the woman was found in a garden suffering from serious injuries at an address in Rowley Regis on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...

Katharine Murphy sits down with fellow Canberra reporters Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Amy Remeikis to answer your most urgent political questions. Is Scott Morrison’s approval rating high enough to keep him in office? Why haven’t the promised 4m Covid vaccines been rolled out? Does the toxic culture within parliament extend outside the Coalition? Continue reading...

Conversations recorded ahead of cases in which rescuers from charities charged with collaboration with people smugglers

Author says Ben Hannam’s conviction suggests more extremists are serving and says scrutiny ‘isn’t fit for purpose’The police’s understanding of the far-right extremist threat in the UK is a decade behind the curve because it is based primarily on an understanding of yesterday’s organisations, according to a leading expert.The warning from Matthew Collins, the author of a book on National Action, came after a 22-year-old became the first serving British police officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence, after he was found guilty of belonging to the banned neo-Nazi group on Thursday. Continue reading...

Bruno Le Maire’s forecast follows imposition of third national lockdown by Emmanuel Macron

Phil Stocker of the National Sheep Association says the shorter version of the code is not clear enough about the need for dogs to be kept on leadsWe are experiencing more pressures from visitors to the countryside, and it would be churlish not to welcome the refreshing of the Countryside Code by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales (Report, 1 April). But in my experience the consultation and involvement of stakeholders has been inadequate, and as a result it falls short of the mark in terms of what is needed. Most importantly, there are significant gaps between the information contained in the longer version (that few people will read), and that contained in the shorter version.Of particular concern to sheep farmers in England and Wales will be the failure to advise that dogs should be kept on leads in the vicinity of livestock. To simply suggest a dog should be “in sight” when its behaviour around livestock could be unpredictable will not prevent livestock being attacked by dogs. It is also a missed opportunity to inform people that the majority of our countryside, including national parks, is farmed and privately owned, and that with rights goes responsibility.

A year on from landing the party’s top job, the leader plans on taking his message directly to the voters

Britain’s beauty spots prepare for influx of visitors before temperatures plunge next week

George King has free-climbed the Melia Barcelona Sky hotel in the Catalonian capital. His first such climb was in 2019, when he scaled the Shard in central London without safety ropes or suction pads at the age of 19. The skyscraper's managers later took him to court, where he was given a 24-week prison sentence

Campaigners say widespread homophobia in the conservative Islamic country is being inflamed by calls to decriminalise same-sex unionsUzbekistan’s LGBTQ+ community says it is facing increasing threats and repression after anti-LGBTQ+ protests turned violent and new laws were passed this week banning the publication of content deemed to show disrespect for society and the state.Human rights groups say that the legislation, passed on Tuesday, will prevent media or online commentators arguing for the decriminalisation of sexual conduct between men, which is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. Uzbekistan – along with Turkmenistan – are the only post-Soviet states that prohibit sexual relations between men. Continue reading...

From France to Spain, Germany to Greece, tight rules are in place to contain the spread of coronavirus

Virtual talks between parties to JCPOA produce agreement to meet in person next weekTehran and Washington are on the right track to come back into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal but progress will not be easy, Russia has said following virtual talks.In a positive sign, the parties have agreed to meet formally in person in Vienna on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Ithaca, owned by Scooter Braun, also manages artists such as Ariana Grande and Demi LovatoThe Korean record label behind K-pop sensation BTS has agreed a $1bn (£725m) deal to buy the US company that manages Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato.Hybe, BTS’s label, which was formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, announced on Friday it was buying Ithaca, the holding company of the US impresario Scooter Braun. Continue reading...

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...