Reggae artist and three-time Grammy winner found worldwide fame alongside Bob Marley in the early 1970sBunny Wailer, the co-founder and last living member of Jamaican reggae group the Wailers, who took Bob Marley to global stardom, has died aged 73.His manager Maxine Stowe confirmed his death to the Jamaica Observer. Wailer had been frequently hospitalised since suffering a stroke in July 2020. Continue reading...
by Guardian reporter in Yangon and Michael Safi on (#5ETH0)
Rally in Kale turns violent and stun grenades deployed in YangonThree people have been critically injured after security forces fired live rounds at anti-coup protesters in north-western Myanmar, medics said, as a regional meeting of south-east Asian countries failed to find a breakthrough to the political crisis.Police also fired stun grenades and rubber bullets on Tuesday to disperse protesters in the city of Yangon, according to witnesses, as demonstrations continued over the military’s removal of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government a month ago. Continue reading...
Viewers criticise reality TV show spin-off for failing to represent diversity of ‘rainbow nation’A South African version of the reality show Love Island has been accused of failing to represent the diversity of the “rainbow nation” by selecting too few black contestants.The programme was launched on Sunday night, and was immediately widely criticised by local viewers on social media. Continue reading...
Duchess of Sussex wants front-page apology and for newspaper to hand over copies of letter to her fatherThe Duchess of Sussex has been granted an interim £450,000 downpayment towards her £1.5m legal costs in her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday.The payment follows her victory last month against Associated Newspapers Ltd, publisher of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, over extracts published from a private handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle. Continue reading...
Events include announcement of International Booker Prize winnerA global sound systems competition and the announcement of the International Booker Prize winner will take place in Coventry this year as part of its City of Culture events, one of the biggest cultural programmes to take place since the start of the pandemic.A further set of events were announced on Tuesday as the year-long programme, delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, gears up to start on 15 May. Continue reading...
Discovery after cemetery exhumation throws spotlight on legacy of María Domínguez RemónMore than eight decades after she was murdered, the remains of Spain’s first female mayor of the second republic have been identified, wrapping up a months-long investigation that has helped to cast a spotlight on María Domínguez Remón’s trailblazing legacy.An exhumation, carried out earlier this year in the small town of Fuendejalón, Aragón, ignited hopes that the remains of Domínguez had been found. A handful of clues hinted that the remains were those of the feminist and rights activist; the location dovetailed with reports of where she was believed to be, the skull bore a hole where it had been punctured by a bullet and lying with the remains was a small brown comb like that worn by Domínguez. Continue reading...
Broadcaster Enikass TV confirms deaths of three workers in two separate attacks in JalalabadThree female media workers have been shot and killed in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, in what appeared to be the latest targeted killings to rock the war-torn country.“They are all dead. They were going home from the office on foot when they were shot,” Zalmai Latifi, the director at Enikass TV, said. Continue reading...
The three defendants had been accused of desecration and offending religious feelingsA Polish court has acquitted three activists who had been accused of desecration and offending religious feelings for producing and distributing images of a revered Roman Catholic icon altered to include the LGBTQ+ rainbow.The posters, which they distributed in the city of Płock in 2019, used rainbows as halos in an image of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus. Their aim was to protest against what they considered the hostility of Poland’s influential Catholic church toward LGBTQ+ people. Continue reading...
I took my country to an international commission and won. Now it must scrap the homophobic laws that fuel hateFinally the Jamaican state has been held to account for its complicity in the violence and discrimination I have faced for being gay. An international tribunal has ruled that Jamaica should scrap its homophobic laws immediately.The hatred that LGBTQ+ people routinely face in Jamaica, and the colonial-hangover laws that criminalise gay relationships, are well documented. But, for the first time, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has determined that laws against the “abominable crime of buggery” and acts of “gross indecency” effectively led to state-sanctioned violence against LGBTQ+ Jamaicans. Continue reading...
Exclusive: total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to relevant EU capitals over eight-year periodThe conviction of 109 killers, 81 rapists and a man found guilty of both crimes in UK courts was not passed on to the criminals’ home EU countries due to a massive computer failure and subsequent cover-up, the Guardian can reveal.The most serious cases are among a total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to the relevant EU capitals over an eight-year period due to a catastrophic computer glitch, which some fear has put lives at risk. Continue reading...
Clashes between police and protesters in Myanmar are continuing despite a crackdown by the authorities. Officers were filmed using stun grenades and water cannon on demonstrators in Yangon and Kale. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to hold a conference call with a Myanmar military official to ask them to resolve the demonstrations peacefully. The military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on 1 February. Since then, 21 people have been killed and more than 1,100 arrested
Maya Angelou and Jean Seberg were just some of the women who faced everything from racism and sexism to transphobia, yet produced some of cinema’s most defining picturesEverything we’re told about cinema is that it’s shaped by men. If women feature at all in many Hollywood histories, it’s to look gorgeous on screen and lead interesting personal lives off it.But this narrative has been warped, consciously and not, by the men who have dominated film-making for almost a century, ignoring the women who made films, challenged the studio system – and helped bring it down. Continue reading...
The pop star accused sitcom Ginny & Georgia of ‘degrading hardworking women’ with outdated attempts at humourTaylor Swift has criticised the Netflix sitcom Ginny & Georgia for making a “deeply sexist” joke about her dating history.In a scene where the mother and daughter characters argue about relationship, Ginny tells her mother: “You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” Continue reading...
David Roberto Castillo Mejía, ex-military officer and president of dam company Desa, charged over assassination of activist in 2016Five years after the Honduran Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was shot dead by hired hitmen, the trial of the US-trained former military officer accused of masterminding the assassination has been scheduled for next month.Cáceres, a winner of the prestigious Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was attacked in her bedroom just before midnight on 2 March 2016 after a long campaign to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River, which the Lenca people consider sacred. Her friend Gustavo Castro, a Mexican environmentalist, was also shot but survived by playing dead. Continue reading...
Born under Taliban rule, Sara Barackzay studied abroad and now hopes to start her own schoolA woman in traditional dress breaks open the bars of a prison. A young child dances, oblivious to a backdrop of tanks and explosions. The drawings by Afghanistan’s first professional female animation artist, Sara Barackzay, reflect the struggles of her young life.Barackzay, who lost her hearing as a child, left Afghanistan to study in Turkey, but has returned with the hope of starting a specialist school for animation arts. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Michael on (#5ETN8)
Reporters without Borders accuses Saudi heir of crimes against humanity over persecution of journalistsSaudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials have been accused of committing crimes against humanity in a criminal complaint filed in Germany by Reporters without Borders (RSF), the press freedom group.The 500-page complaint, filed with the German public prosecutor in general in the federal court of justice in Karlsruhe, centres on the “widespread and systematic” persecution of journalists in Saudi Arabia, including the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists there and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5ETN7)
Agriculture commission urges UK government to maintain pledge on animal welfare and ethical tradePost-Brexit trade deals will not allow the UK’s high standards of food and animal welfare to be reduced, if the government follows new guidelines published on Tuesday, the chief of the independent advisory trade and agriculture commission has said.The guidelines will call for liberalised trade in food and agriculture with other countries, but will require that this should be balanced with a commitment to “international leadership by the UK on climate, environment, animal welfare and ethical trade”. Continue reading...
At least four people charged with national security offences taken to hospital after long court delaysA bail hearing for 47 campaigners, election candidates and activists charged with national security offences in Hong Kong has resumed after at least four defendants were taken away by ambulance during Monday’s marathon session, which lasted until 3am.The group have been charged under Hong Kong’s national security law with conspiracy to commit subversion in relation to an unofficial pan-democratic primary poll held last year before legislative elections that were later postponed. Continue reading...
High winds, rainfall and abnormally high tides expected for coastal areasCyclone Niran has been upgraded to a category two system and is expected to be upgraded to a category three on Wednesday, the weather bureau says.The cyclone was about 280 kilometres northeast of Cairns on Tuesday afternoon, and was packing 95km/h winds and 130km/h gusts as it slowly tracked north-northwest. Continue reading...
Government officials had been in talks with kidnappers after third school attack in less than three monthsAll 279 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped from their boarding school in the north-western state of Zamfara last week have been released and are on government premises, the governor of the state has said.
Acting equal opportunity commissioner finds ‘sexual and discriminatory harassment is prevalent’ in the state’s parliamentSexual harassment, discrimination and bullying are rife in the South Australian parliament, with MPs among the alleged perpetrators, a report has found.The acting equal opportunity commissioner, Emily Strickland, presented her report on Tuesday after being tasked with investigating harassment in the parliamentary workplace. Continue reading...
24-year-old Ben Howie yet to serve his first customers in Pateley Bridge attraction owing to lockdownA 24-year-old entrepreneur in the Yorkshire Dales is gearing up to reopen the doors of the world’s oldest sweet shop after becoming the new owner.Ben Howie has taken over the Oldest Sweet Shop in the World, a Guinness World Record-holding tourist attraction in Pateley Bridge, but is yet to scoop a single pound of pear drops at the counter because of lockdown restrictions. Continue reading...
The Nashville rockers drank and fought their way through two decades of stardom. But today, it’s their daughters who do the fighting. They reveal how they accidentally recorded an album of Covid anthemsSomething remarkable happened during the making of the eighth Kings of Leon album. For the first time ever, the four Followills – brothers Caleb, Jared, Nathan and their cousin Matthew – got through the recording sessions without any fistfights. “Our bodies don’t work like they used to,” says singer and guitarist Caleb, speaking over Zoom from his home in Nashville. “So there’s no punches being thrown.” Drummer Nathan and guitarist Matthew are joining us from their respective houses a few miles away, with bassist Jared checking in from a holiday in Florida.“We have kids now,” says Nathan, the eldest. “We leave the fighting to the duelling eight-year-old girl cousins.” Continue reading...
When a Chinese billionaire bought one of Britain’s most prestigious golf clubs in 2015, dentists and estate agents were confronted with the unsentimental force of globalised capitalLike all exiles, Michael Fleming remembers when his separation from home soil began: 20 October 2015, a Tuesday. That year, Fleming was captain of Wentworth, an old, prestigious golf club in north-west Surrey. The club had recently been bought by a Chinese firm, Reignwood Consulting Ltd, and an annual general meeting was scheduled for the 20th. On that morning, having already drafted his speech, Fleming was in his dentistry clinic when he received the email.Brace for change, Wentworth wrote to Fleming and his colleagues, outlining its planned announcements at the AGM: a wild increase in membership fees and the number of members drained from about 4,000 to just a few hundred. A “barmy” decision, Michael Parkinson, the chatshow host and a longtime member, had told the Mail on Sunday, which had scooped the details two days earlier. Peter Alliss, the BBC golf commentator, complained that Reignwood was “bringing an Asian philosophy to Britain”. Fleming, whose manner is so mild it’s hard to ever imagine him yelling “Fore”, was shocked. He began rewriting his speech. Continue reading...
‘Luckily, the baby fell into my lap,’ says 31-year-old in Hanoi who climbed on to a roof to get better view of dangling childA “superhero” delivery driver in Hanoi has saved a two-year-old girl who fell from a 12th-floor balcony.Nguyen Ngoc Manh, 31, was sitting in his car waiting to make a delivery at 5pm on Sunday when he heard a child crying, he told the Anninhthudo news organisation. A woman started screaming and he stuck his head out of the window to see what was going on. Continue reading...
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah chosen at forum where delegates were reportedly offered up to $500,000The legitimacy of Libya’s new interim prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, has been thrown into doubt by a UN inquiry finding that he allegedly gained power after his supporters offered bribes as high as $200,000 to attract votes.His supporters allegedly offered the money in a hotel in Tunis where a UN-selected 75-strong political dialogue forum met to elect an interim prime minister to lead a new unified executive towards national elections in the country in December. Continue reading...
Clare O’Neil says opposition doesn’t have a ‘fixed view’ on how to meet the $10bn shortfall in funding identified by royal commissionLabor’s aged care spokeswoman, Clare O’Neil, has signalled the opposition may support a levy if the government proposed it in the May budget, saying a bipartisan agreement on aged care funding would be a “great outcome”.O’Neil told Guardian Australia although Labor doesn’t have a “fixed view” about how to meet the $10bn per year funding gap identified by the aged care royal commission, it was “absolutely clear” the system was in crisis and “funding is at the heart of the problem”. Continue reading...
Dr Michael Ryan says Covid-19 is ‘very much in control’ as global infections rise for first time in almost two monthsDespite the spread of Covid-19 being slowed in some countries due to lockdowns and vaccination programs, it is “premature” and “unrealistic” to the think the pandemic will be over by the end of the year, the World Health Organization’s executive director of emergency services has said.Speaking at a press briefing Geneva, Dr Michael Ryan said while vaccinating the most vulnerable people, including healthcare workers, would help remove the “tragedy and fear” from the situation, and would help to ease pressure on hospitals, the “virus is very much in control”. Continue reading...
Pope emeritus says some who are unhappy with successor Pope Francis have refused to believe he willingly stepped downFormer pope Benedict has chided conservative Roman Catholics who have not accepted his decision to resign, calling them “fanatical” and reminding them there is only one pope and it is Francis.Benedict, now 93, became the first pope in more than 600 years to resign instead of ruling for life, saying he no longer had the strength to govern the 1.3 billion-member church. Continue reading...
Book extract: lockdowns may have had an anti-baby boom effect in some parts, but Kiwis appear to have made the most of close quartersOne of the early observations made by internet wags was the prediction that nine months after lockdown there would be a baby boom. The theory goes that suddenly being forced to spend weeks at home would ignite the passions of those interned in a way that a normal Saturday night on the couch watching reruns of Friends might not.The “Covid baby boom” was predicted to be like the period after the second world war, where soldiers returning from the front were delighted to be back in the bosom of their home country, with all the comforts that brings. Continue reading...
No 10 does not deny reports that scheme could cover costs of works by PM’s fiancee, Carrie SymondsDowning Street is trying to set up a charity that could cover the costs of the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, which he shares with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds.
Xavier Beauvois’s tenderly drawn film sees a French policeman abandon all his certainties after a tragic misjudgmentXavier Beauvois is the actor-turned-director whose Of Gods and Men in 2010 is one of the great French movies of the 21st century; he also has the honour of a cameo, as himself, in the final series of the Netflix comedy Call My Agent. His new film is really intriguing, a film deeply rooted in a close-knit community, with excellent performances, a sophisticated control of narrative tempo and – at least initially – a tragic force that could almost be compared with Elia Kazan. Yet I have to say that this power is dissipated by a disappointing ending in which the film, as its English title warns us, drifts away.
On social media, Ryan Fischer says ‘healing still needs to happen’ after he was attacked while walking three dogsLady Gaga’s dog walker, who was shot last week during a robbery in Hollywood when two of the singer’s French bulldogs were stolen, has described the violence and his recovery “from a very close call with death” in social media posts on Monday.Ryan Fischer’s posts included pictures taken from his hospital bed, where he says a “lot of healing still needs to happen” but he looks forward to reuniting with the dogs. Continue reading...
by Lucy Campbell (now); Jedidajah Otte, Alex Mistlin, on (#5ERXQ)
Unrealistic to think pandemic will be over this year - WHO; Brazilian governors blast Bolsonaro over pandemic; number of new infections globally rose last week
Small businesses will receive help in Wednesday’s budget to boost tech and management skillsThe bosses of small businesses are to be invited back to school to brush up on their management skills, under plans to be announced in the budget designed to help close Britain’s productivity gap with rival nations.As part of the attempt to speed up the UK’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will unveil a “help to grow” scheme that will offer the leaders of up to 130,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the chance of MBA-style management training. Continue reading...
Independent Rex Patrick moves after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the NetherlandsAn Australian senator will seek support from fellow upper house members to recognise China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority as genocide, after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands.The proposed motion – placed on the Senate’s notice paper for 15 March – looms as a test for the major parties at a time when Australia should join the international community in taking a stand, according to the South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick. Continue reading...
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