One victim found stabbed at a house on Friday night, while two other victims were discovered at another address nearbyPolice have launched an investigation after the deaths of two women and a man in Newtownabbey north of Belfast.The PSNI said officers were called to reports of a stabbing at a residence in the Derrycoole Way area at around 11pm on Friday, where a woman was pronounced dead. Continue reading...
The chocolate retailer’s closures shows businesses can’t make money out of trips down memory laneFor many Britons the Thorntons name conjures up happy childhood memories of sucking on toffee and boxes of continental chocolates presented with a flourish on special occasions.However, businesses do not make money out of trips down memory lane and this week the retailer said its 61 shops were to close permanently, affecting 600 jobs, blaming the “changing dynamics of the high street” and the impact of the coronavirus lockdowns on sales. Continue reading...
Plans to reopen to vaccinated tourists include short quarantine in popular holiday spots like Phuket and Koh SamuiThailand’s Phuket island used to vibrate with life. Before the pandemic, March was part of peak season and the resort’s long white beaches were packed with tourists from Europe, Australia, North America and China. At night, backpackers would flock to beach-front bars and on the hills stretching inland wealthy tourists would eat at five-star restaurants.Today, Phuket is a ghost town. The shockwaves of Covid-19 have reduced daily visitor numbers from up to 50,000 down to just hundreds. But there is hope that plans to bring tourists back could change the fortunes of the beach town, and the country. Continue reading...
Russell Hill and Carol Clay are thought to be dead. But technically they’re still just missingA year ago, two friends in their 70s went missing in some of the wildest terrain in Australia: Wonnangatta Valley. It’s the sort of place where you might go days without seeing anyone, with only kangaroos and snakes for company. A place of snow-capped mountains – even in summer. A place of bushfires and danger.The sort of place where it’s easy to get lost. Continue reading...
National security law dating from military rule has been used to detain or investigate critics of Brazil’s presidentProtesters against Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, have defied police in the capital after the latest round of arrests of the leader’s critics under a dictatorship-era national security law.Four demonstrators were detained in Brasilia on Thursday after calling Bolsonaro “genocidal” for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and displaying a cartoon depicting the president as a Nazi. But on Friday, police quietly watched an hour-long protest against Bolsonaro in the capital staged by about 40 people. Continue reading...
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government gives no reason for withdrawal from the European pact despite sharp rise in femicides in TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdoğan has pulled Turkey out of an international accord designed to protect women, the country’s official gazette said on Saturday, despite calls from campaigners who see the pact as key to combating rising domestic violence.The Council of Europe accord, forged in Istanbul, pledged to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey, which signed the accord in 2011, saw a rise in femicides last year. Continue reading...
No-fly zone established and public advised to stay away from area as red cloud lights up night skyA volcano has erupted in Iceland near the capital Reykjavik after thousands of small earthquakes in the area in recent weeks, the Icelandic meteorological office has said.A red cloud lit up the night sky after the eruption began in Fagradalsfjall on Friday about 40km (25 miles) from the capital Reykjavik. A no-fly zone has been established in the area. Continue reading...
Electoral Commission wants to find out whether payment relating to renovation should have been declaredThe official elections watchdog has contacted the Tory party over a reported payment made for the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, it has been disclosed.The Electoral Commission said it was in touch to establish whether any sums relating to the renovation works should have been declared under the law on party political donations. Continue reading...
The world champion lost his semi-final against Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi in the $200,000 Carlsen InvitationalMagnus Carlsen, the world champion, has been having a hard time in the $1.5m online Meltwater Champions Tour, supported by his own company Play Magnus Group. There are 10 qualifying tournaments leading to a final in the autumn and Carlsen, 30, who won the 2020 Tour, has so far this year been knocked out four times.The first three Tour events were won by the US champion Wesley So (twice) and the Azerbaijan grandmaster Teimour Radjabov, while on Saturday and tomorrow in the fourth event Carlsen will only compete for third place. The tournament’s name is the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, which makes it still more humiliating for the world champion. Continue reading...
Papua New Guinea has seen coronavirus cases skyrocket, with fears it could push the health system to breaking pointWhen Papua New Guinea recorded its first Covid case in March 2020, the country held its breath.There were acute fears about its on the country’s already overwhelmed and under-resourced health system, which has roughly 500 doctors to serve a population of around nine million, and was already struggling to deal with outbreaks of measles, drug-resistant tuberculosis and polio. Continue reading...
Michael Spavor has been detained in China since 2018 in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executiveJustin Trudeau has reacted angrily to the closed-door trial of a Canadian man detained in China for more than two years on espionage charges, dismissing it as “completely unacceptable”.Businessman Michael Spavor, whose hearing finished after less than three hours on Friday, is one of two Canadians detained, in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest on a US extradition warrant of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, and formally charged last June with spying. Continue reading...
With conviction rates of just 2%, it is clear the justice system is failing victims. Could survivor-led actions be part of the solution?When the New South Wales police commissioner, Mick Fuller, raised the idea of using an app to record consent before sex, Arlia Fleming’s first thought was that it was an “absurd” idea.Her second thought was that it clearly demonstrated “not a lot of deep thinking goes on about these issues”. Continue reading...
Casino also ran ‘clandestine’ office in Guangzhou, according to court documents filed by law firm Maurice BlackburnJames Packer’s Crown Resorts empire told its employees to use codewords when discussing its operations in China as part of efforts to avoid a crackdown on gambling by authorities, according to court documents.The codewords were allegedly used as part of efforts by Crown to conduct its operations in China covertly. Other measures allegedly used included providing a letter to an employee in China for him to show authorities that failed to mention the company’s casino business, running an “unofficial and clandestine” office in Guangzhou and misleading authorities about the purpose of flights made by its fleet of private jets. Continue reading...
Lawyer for PC Oliver Banfield, who grabbed Emma Homer by her neck, argued community service would be difficult for himAn off-duty police officer convicted of attacking a woman as she walked home alone was given a curfew and ordered to pay her £500, prompting criticism from campaigners that he avoided prison and the “system fails women and protects men”.PC Oliver Banfield, 25, a probationary officer with West Midlands police, grabbed Emma Homer as she walked home in July last year and tried to tackle her to the ground. Continue reading...
Canadian diplomat among officials denied access to court for espionage trial, which ended without a verdictChina held a secret one-day trial on Friday of the Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who has been detained for more than two years in China along with a compatriot in what their government describes as “hostage diplomacy”.The trial on charges of espionage lasted just a few hours. The verdict was not immediately released, but Chinese courts have a conviction rate of 99%. Continue reading...
Germans pleased at lifting of suspension, as rise in infections threatens to overwhelm hospitalsSusanne Klaehr, a nursery worker in Berlin, arrived more than two hours early to receive an AstraZeneca jab at Tempelhofer Feld, on Friday as she didn’t want to miss her chance. “It’s a good day for me,” the 53-year-old said. “I even played loud music on the way here.”Germany has resumed using the AstraZeneca vaccine after pausing its deployment along with many European countries on Monday over fears of a possible link to blood clots. Continue reading...
One refugee’s terrifying story illustrates how ‘pushbacks’ are creating a crisis for the right to asylum at Europe’s borders“We were all forced on to the boat. If we looked up they shouted at us and hit us in the head. Then they stopped at a place in the sea where there were no other boats, they left us.”Mustafa, his wife and two young children had only been on the Greek island of Lesbos a few hours when, they say, they were driven in a van to the coast, beaten by masked men and then taken out to sea on a raft and abandoned there. Continue reading...
Analysis: Foreign secretary’s robust response to the EU contrasted with the PM’s emollience towards IndiaBoris Johnson went out of his way this week not to blame Delhi for the later-than-expected arrival of 5m doses of the Oxford vaccine from India, which is contributing to a significant dip in supplies in April.“No, no, no,” he said, when asked by a reporter whether Delhi had blocked the export of the vaccines, as the country battles a resurgence in Covid cases. Continue reading...
Geraint Jones is on trial accused of sending a grossly offensive image to police colleaguesA British police sergeant sent a “grossly offensive” doctored image of George Floyd’s arrest to fellow officers for a “cheap laugh”, a court has been told.Geraint Jones, 47, a custody sergeant in Torquay, shared the meme – in which the police officer who arrested Floyd was replaced with a naked black man – with colleagues at Devon and Cornwall police less than a week after Floyd’s death in May last year. Continue reading...
York University apologises after academic dismissed request for exam deferral from student where internet had been shut downCollege instructors are all too familiar with the frantic, sometimes implausible excuses that students offer to get out of taking an exam.But a university in Canada has been forced to take action after a professor threatened to fail a student who requested an extension because they were in Myanmar, where the military government was shutting down the country’s internet. Continue reading...
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor stand trial on espionage charges widely seen as retaliation for Huawei executive’s arrestFor more than 830 days, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been detained in Chinese jail cells, facing espionage charges that legal experts and diplomats have denounced as baseless.But as the two men finally face trial, their supporters recognize that the two Canadians – caught in the centre of a diplomatic feud between the United States and China – face a narrowing path to freedom. Continue reading...
Everyone needs a release from the stresses of lockdown life. Readers share the ideas that work for themWe bought some solar-powered garden fairy lights and set them up on our garden shed. We can see them when we are having dinner or letting the dog into the garden. It means that, during the day, we have the fun of the flowers and, at night, twinkling lights. They remind me of the stars, another mood-lifter – stargazing puts everything in perspective. Nicholas Vince, actor and YouTuber, London Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#5FJ49)
With a popular Tory mayor, tribal loyalties are blurring ahead of a byelection in the English port townHartlepool’s Headland juts out into the north sea like an eagle’s talon. The grand Victorian terraces that line its seafront were once home to the town’s founding fathers, who built Britain’s most productive shipyard and attracted royal visits and enemy bombs.These five-bedroom sea views now sell for half the price of a London flat but are well beyond the reach of the modern-day Hartlepudlian. Behind the once-mighty shipyard live some of the poorest families in Britain, a legacy of the decline after its last ship sailed off in 1961. It was also, perhaps not coincidentally, the last time Hartlepool sent a Conservative MP to Westminster. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5FJ1P)
Exclusive: Lords committee chair highlights concern EU parliament may delay trade deal ratificationThe Brexit deal signed in December has been thrown into jeopardy because of the recent breakdown of relations with the EU, an influential House of Lords committee is warning.The European Union committee says “the threat of no deal remains”, with the European parliament now declining to set a date for its vote on the trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve. Continue reading...
Exclusive: some police chiefs feel ‘hung out to dry’ as memo reveals home secretary’s enforcement callFor a few hours at least last Sunday, the Metropolitan police and their embattled commissioner appeared on the brink. Assailed from all sides over their handling of the Sarah Everard vigil on Clapham Common, there seemed every chance Dame Cressida Dick would have to quit the force she has been in charge of since 2017.Instead she survived, as the Home Office and then Downing Street eventually signalled they retained confidence in her, despite the disturbing scenes of her officers manhandling women. Continue reading...
As the Chinese embassy prepares to move in, councillors vote to support the ‘freedom and diversity of our borough’Roads and buildings in an area of London which is the proposed site for the new Chinese embassy could soon be named Tiananmen Square, Uyghur Court, Hong Kong Road and Tibet Hill, after councillors voted to assert “support for the freedom and diversity of our borough”.In a move that is likely to infuriate the Chinese government, Tower Hamlets council said it welcomed the relocation of the embassy from the West End of London but “we must continue to make clear where our own standards and principles apply”. Continue reading...
The newness of some of the technology and gaps in global preparedness have led to bottlenecksWhen the first Covid-19 vaccines were approved in the UK and elsewhere three months ago, many thought the end of the pandemic was almost within reach.Few, however, had anticipated the vast logistical problems involved in mass-producing and delivering billions of doses globally. This has been underlined by the high-profile political squabbles between the UK and EU over who should get which deliveries of vaccines from which factories amid shortages of doses. Continue reading...
Samia Suluhu Hassan faces task of healing east African country polarised during predecessor’s presidencyTanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has said the country should unite and avoid pointing fingers after the death of John Magufuli, her Covid-19 sceptic predecessor.Wearing a red hijab, she took her oath of office on the Qur’an in a ceremony at State House in the east African country’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. She is the first female head of state in the country of 58 million. Continue reading...
Flames roared half a metre out of the jar and bits of molten wax flew out as it fizzed and spatIt began as a joke with my friend Jane at our work Zoom Christmas party. We had a quiz and one question was: “What’s the name of Gwyneth Paltrow’s £68 scented candle, which she launched on her Goop website in 2020?” I knew the answer: This Smells Like My Vagina. Jane started laughing, explaining she had bought one to see what the fuss was about. I won the quiz, and the candle was my prize; Jane sent it to me the next day. The candle, made of soy wax and essential oils, is apparently so named because Paltrow was joking with Goop’s perfumer, Douglas Little. According to the marketing blurb: “The two were working on a fragrance, and she blurted out, ‘Uhhh… this smells like a vagina.’”A few weeks later, I decided to light it. I live in a tiny one-bed flat in London with my partner, David, and our two cats. I love scented candles and throughout the latest lockdown, their warming flame and fragrance have given me a little joy in the evenings. Continue reading...
‘Although the pandemic has been cruel and frightening in a thousand ways, one tiny, shining light of joy is how it has permitted us time off from trying to be better’It’s your final chance to see me in this shoddy state: there are going to be some changes. A sleeker, brighter, better, post-pandemic me is coming out of lockdown. Yes, “data not dates”, our prime minister did warn us, but regardless, the date I’m focusing on is 12 April, the earliest outdoor dining can begin again – and the data I see whenever I step near the scales can be extrapolated thus: “Reduce refined carbohydrate now. No more comté and Heinz sandwich spread toasties with a Frazzle garnish in bed. The new world is beginning.”This will, I fear, feature the need to wear button-up pants and to have fewer boobs on my back than on my front. If the sharp increase in forlorn, beginner-level joggers and power-walkers down at my local park is any indication, I’m not alone in this panic. One of my closest friends, also in his 40s, embarked on a strict Atkins plan as soon as the road map dates were unveiled. Or, more accurately, as soon as he realised that even his smart, lace-up shoes no longer fitted. “How … how have I gained weight on my toes?!”
Homicides in the city have risen 314% and while some back shifting resources to prevention and healing, others want alternatives in place to keep Black and brown people safeSince the visceral video of George Floyd pinned beneath a police officer’s knee sparked massive uprisings in US cities last summer, movements to defund police departments have grown from siloed local campaigns into a national movement. But in multiple cities, this work is being done amid a disturbing rise in gun violence that is affecting the same Black and Latino communities most affected by police misconduct.While some crime survivors support shifting resources from police and into prevention and healing services, others who have lost loved ones to shootings and live in high-crime areas worry that depleting police budgets without proven alternatives to fill any gaps will make Black and brown communities less safe. Continue reading...
After she became the most awarded woman in Grammys history this week, we attempt to whittle down the best of her wildly varied and brilliant catalogueAs far removed as you can get from the innovations of the Beyoncé album or Lemonade, The Closer I Get to You is a slick cover of a 1977 Roberta Flack-Donny Hathaway duet, with Luther Vandross filling the Hathaway role. It’s lovely: a great song, beautifully sung, with Beyoncé admirably uncowed by the presence of a soul titan. Continue reading...
The country’s sceptic president and his allies continue to downplay the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 287,000Brazil’s healthcare system has been plunged into the most severe crisis in its history, with doctors overwhelmed and patients dying while they wait for intensive care beds as the country’s Covid-sceptic president, Jair Bolsonaro, continued to spurn calls for a lockdown that would save lives.As the daily number of infections and deaths soared to new heights this week, researchers from Brazil’s leading healthcare institute, Fiocruz, said South America’s biggest country faced an unparalleled “catastrophe”. Continue reading...
There is life after Endgame, but Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are having a hard time finding purpose. Just as well there’s a new terror group in townGiven the universal praise for WandaVision, the first small screen outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to know whether that makes things more or less difficult for The Falcon and the Winter Solider. On one hand, fears over how the MCU would translate to the small screen have been well and truly allayed – we’re most definitely not in Iron Fist territory. On the other, the raising of that bar brings its own pressures.Originally, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, or TFATWS as we’ll call it from here on in, was supposed to appear on Disney+ before WandaVision, and it’s immediately clear why. WandaVision, so surreal, fantastical and high-concept, was, theoretically, a bigger ask for the casual Marvel fan (although after 22 box-office busting films and one ratings smash TV series, how many casual Marvel fans there are remains open for debate). Nevertheless, TFATWS, is much more familiar in tone, and the contrast between this series and WandaVision could not be more marked. In one, characters couldn’t leave a small town. Here, in the first episode alone, the actions flits between Tunisia, Washington, Louisiana, Switzerland, Japan and New York. Continue reading...
Number of people diagnosed and treated in worst-affected countries has fallen to 2008 levels as resources divertedTwelve months of Covid-19 has reversed 12 years of global progress against tuberculosis, worse than previously estimated.The pandemic has resulted in nearly a 25% decrease in diagnosis and treatment around the world, according to research published on Thursday by a coalition working to end TB. Continue reading...
NSW premier warns people to stay home this weekend because the weather ‘is going to be quite severe’Evacuation orders have been issued for a number of towns on NSW’s waterlogged mid north coast as a “potentially life-threatening” deluge continues.Sydney residents have been warned to brace for similar weather on Saturday, with flash flooding and also flooding of the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers forecast. Continue reading...