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Wire taps and surveillance were everyday facts of life for Sam Goldbloom and his family. Now, his daughter reimagines that period of their lives in a major survey exhibitionFrom an early age, Ruth Maddison knew her father, Sam Goldbloom, was being watched. “He used to tell us not to worry about the men sitting in the car in front of the house … we were aware the clicks on the phone meant ‘they’ were listening too,” the award-winning Melbourne-born photographer says.“They” were the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. In the 1940s, Goldbloom’s anti-fascist ideals drew Asio’s attention. He later joined the Communist party before becoming a major player in the World Peace Council. These associations made him a person of interest for more than 30 years. Continue reading...

Joint committee reiterates commitment to Northern Ireland protocol despite problems with supply chainsEU and UK leaders have failed to break the impasse over the controversial Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland after more than two hours of talks.However, the two sides have pledged to reach a “pragmatic solution”, with the UK agreeing to develop new plans to respond to problems with supermarket supplies. Continue reading...

Three families react to government’s U-turn to prioritise their loved ones for coronavirus inoculation

Gallup finds increase of 60% between 2012 and 2020 of adults who identify as LGBTQ, in reflection of ‘the way society is changing’Polling released Wednesday confirmed that more Americans than ever before identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. The number of Americans who self-identify this way increased by 60% between 2012 and 2020, according to Gallup.Related: Loved It's a Sin? The best books on LGBT+ history Continue reading...

Thursday: Man accused of raping Brittany Higgins attended private function at parliament in 2019. Plus: wellness advocates find common ground with QAnonGreetings. The federal Coalition continues to face scrutiny over its handling of rape allegations, Facebook has admitted it over-enforced its Australian news ban, Michael McGowan examines QAnon’s stealthy infiltration of the wellness industry, and the International Olympic Committee has named Brisbane the “preferred partner” to host the 2032 Olympic Games. These are your Thursday lead stories.The man who allegedly raped Brittany Higgins was allowed to return to parliament as a lobbyist, a former colleague has claimed. Liberal party ministers have repeatedly denied the man was subsequently issued a Parliament House access pass but a former co-worker confirmed he had attended a small private event commemorating the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s Endeavour voyage. Scott Morrison has also fielded questions over inappropriate behaviour allegations against an adviser to the dissident former Liberal MP Craig Kelly, telling parliament on Wednesday that he has held the view “for many years” that the staffer, Frank Zumbo, should have been sacked. Kelly quit the government this week, leaving the Coalition a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

Why there may be more to the announcement of Covid-inspired cuts than meets the eyeHere comes another bank that has decided, apparently definitively, that working practices will not return to their pre-pandemic norms. Lloyds Banking Group says it plans to shed 20% of its office space. Earlier this week, HSBC said it would get rid of 40%.These figures are so dramatic that they invite suspicion. Have managements really come to the firm view that working from home is so popular that employees’ demands for flexibility must be granted? Or did these banks have too much office space in the first place and now wish to save a few quid? Continue reading...

Labour leader has faced backlash after saying he would oppose any new tax on business in budget

Canadians voice suspicions over palm oil, raising questions over transparency in a powerful industryIt began with an innocent question on Twitter: was butter in Canada becoming more difficult to spread?“My butter just seemed harder. It was during a very hot period and I noticed it wasn’t behaving right,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University who posted the tweet. “But I thought I was the only one experiencing this.” Continue reading...

Hollywood actor urged to stop spreading misinformation after promoting ‘intuitive fasting’

Charity coffers | David Cameron | Hard crosswords | Yorkshire | Johnson’s journalism | Vaccine passportsBefore asking for government bailouts (UK charities urgently call on PM to set up emergency fund, 17 February), big charities should spend their own reserves. Cancer Research UK entered the pandemic with over £300m in the bank; the National Trust had £320m. I would urge everybody to be as generous as possible to charities, but choose carefully. You don’t want to see your hard-earned gift being added to a cash pile in a bank vault.

Analysis: idea is not as simple as it seems, due to the fact vaccination is not mandatory under UK law

Rights group has been under pressure to condemn past statements by Kremlin criticAmnesty International has said it will cease calling Alexei Navalny a “prisoner of conscience”, following pressure to condemn anti-migrant statements he made in the 2000s as hate speech.Employees of Amnesty International said the organisation had received messages about Navalny’s past remarks that they felt “were part of a coordinated campaign to discredit him abroad”, but nonetheless felt compelled to change his designation. Continue reading...

Greek tourism minister says he hopes to ‘dovetail’ with Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown

Covax has delivered its first Covid-19 vaccine doses to Ghana as part of a programme to ensure equitable distribution to poorer countries. Anne-Claire Dufay, of Unicef, said it was ‘an historic moment’.Covax aims to distribute enough vaccines over the next six months to inoculate 3% of the population of 145 countries and tens of millions more by the end of the year

A distrust of traditional institutions saw wellness advocates find common ground with QAnon during the pandemic – and soften their message for the mainstream• How governments were left playing catch-up on misinformationIn August last year, Matt Lawson, a Melbourne-based conspiracy theorist and anti-5G activist linked to the group that helped organise the city’s anti-lockdown protests last year, held one of his regular YouTube gabfests.The guests were mostly the usual crowd. The former celebrity chef Pete Evans was there, wondering aloud why the only politician talking about the immune system during Covid-19 was the US president Donald Trump: “He’s talked about zinc, he’s talked about sunlight, and he’s been ridiculed for it.” Continue reading...

Rights group says pyramid-like scheme is directly linked to North’s nuclear and missile programmesNorth Korea has been enslaving political prisoners, including children, in coal production to help boost exports and earn foreign currency as part of a system directly linked to its nuclear and missile programmes, a South Korea-based human rights group has said.The Seoul-based Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) released a study analysing an intricate connection between North Korea’s exploitation of its citizens, the production of goods for export, and its weapons programmes. Continue reading...

German and Belgian joint investigation uncovers stashes in Hamburg and AntwerpAuthorities in Germany and Belgium have seized 23 tonnes of cocaine in a record haul of the drug in Europe, according to German customs officials.The 28-year-old owner of an import company in Rotterdam was arrested in the Netherlands early on Wednesday and Dutch police searched two premises, one in the port city and another in a nearby village. Continue reading...

Black-cab driver received the additional sentences in 2019 after more victims of attacks came forwardThe black-cab driver John Worboys has lost his appeal against the two additional life sentences he received in 2019 when more victims of the serial rapist came forward.The 63-year-old was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for public protection with a minimum term of eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences involving attacks on 12 women, the earliest in 2000. Continue reading...

At 83, the saxophonist has somewhat mellowed his funkily avant-garde music – but his anger at the racial injustice he has fought all his life remains undimmedOne night at Five Spot Cafe in the early 1960s, two gangsters were sitting at the bar when Cecil Taylor’s group started to play. Taylor, a pianist, poet and leading figure in the new vanguard of jazz musicians, was known for his intense sets that could – on the wrong night – clear bars completely. This particular evening on the Lower East Side, he had a small but committed crowd in, plus the two hoods, who began to talk loudly as the band struck up.Archie Shepp, who was sought out by Taylor to play saxophone alongside him, remembers a young fan confronting them. “He was accosted by one of these thugs who knocked him down,” says Shepp. “The club was just about empty, but it was quite something because this guy stood up for the music and insisted that they be quiet.” Continue reading...

Popular all over the world, stew is always a comfort, whether it comes as a Lancashire hotpot, French daube or a summery mix of courgette, mint and butter beans

Already a law professor turned soul composer, Younge explains his latest project, encompassing an album, podcast and short film

Eyad al-Gharib found guilty of aiding and abetting a crime against humanityA court in Germany has found a former Syrian regime official guilty of being an accomplice to crimes against humanity, in a historic first victory for efforts worldwide to bring legal accountability for atrocities committed in Syria’s long war.Eyad al-Gharib, a 44-year-old former colonel in the Syrian intelligence service, carried out orders in one of Bashar al-Assad’s notorious prisons. Continue reading...

Temporary decision by Green mayor of Lyon to take meat off menu met by protestsA decision by the Green mayor of Lyon, seen by many as the country’s culinary capital, to temporarily take meat off the menu in school canteens during the coronavirus pandemic has sparked a major political row in France.Government ministers have accused the mayor, Grégory Doucet, of “ideological” and “elitist” behaviour after the measure, which is also being studied by several other cities including Paris, came into force in Lyon’s schools on Monday. Continue reading...

Amlo again clashes with women’s rights activists as he dismisses complaints against Félix Salgado Macedonio, candidate for governorA growing row over a gubernatorial candidate facing accusations of rape has once again pitted Mexico’s populist president against women’s rights campaigners.Félix Salgado Macedonio has registered to run for governor in southern Guerrero state with the ruling Morena party, despite accusations of sexual violence and rape by five women dating back as far as 1998. Continue reading...

Commission president responds to fresh criticism over shortages of vaccine doses in bloc

Court says doctors can stop life support for woman in her 30s in a coma, against family’s wishes

The TV presenter thinks our newfound love of walking will persist after lockdown. She talks about hiking around Britain’s coast, the joy of newborn lambs and the true meaning of liberationIt is a rare day that Kate Humble doesn’t get up and get outside, walking out from her farm in the Monmouthshire countryside. “I want to be outside for the first hour or two of the day: no phone, no distractions. I’m sure we all wake up with a million things going on in our heads, all these disjointed thoughts, worries and anxieties. For me, that part of the day, when all I have to think about is one foot going in front of the other and not falling over, creates a headspace that allows all my thoughts to settle in a way that feels much more manageable.”Humble is a walker – she wrote a 2018 book on the subject, and is presenting a new TV series on it – but the last year has turned many of us into walkers, too. Whether for exercise, to break the monotony or to snatch the chance to walk and talk with a friend, for those of us lucky enough to be physically able and safe to venture beyond the front door, a stroll has become a highlight of the day. “We’re scrabbling to find positives of this situation, and I think one is that it has turned our focus back on to what’s on our doorsteps, whether it’s the wildlife in our gardens, or the beauty of our urban parks,” says Humble. As an ambassador for Living Streets, the charity that campaigns for a better walking environment in towns and cities, Humble hopes the pandemic may speed up the shift away from car-dominated urban spaces. With fewer cars on the road, “I think people have realised that walking is often quicker, healthier, just generally a nicer way of getting around.” Continue reading...

Eleventh-hour amendments made to bill to address Facebook’s concerns; Queensland ends quarantine-free travel with New Zealand as South Australia and NSW ease restrictions. This blog is now closed

Passenger numbers slumped to 22.1m in 2020, the smallest annual total since 1975

Photographer Martin Godwin has been focusing on the sky for inspiration in the third lockdown‘The sky, it’s something that we all share. We all live our lives under the sky, we all breath the same air. And whatever the weather – it can affect all of our moods’ Continue reading...

Covid lockdowns and new tactics have contributed to rise in charges against drug dealersA fresh crackdown on county lines drug dealing has resulted in police in London bringing 1,000 charges in just over a year, the Metropolitan police has said.The successes were the result of new tactics and the coronavirus lockdown prompting criminals to switch to riskier tactics, because child drug runners travelling from the capital could no longer blend into the crowd on busy trains and coaches. Continue reading...

Survivors of Islamic State brutality are pushed further into the margins as the pandemic causes the world to turn inwardStaring at the same four walls day after day, unable to find work, reunite with relatives, or send your children to school. The Covid pandemic has rendered this bleak picture a reality for many people across the globe. Yet for many who have survived or are living through conflict, these hardships are hardly novel.For the Yazidi ethnic minority in Iraq, Islamic State’s 2014 genocide created adversity long before the pandemic ever did. For more than six years, hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been in camps for internally displaced people (IDP) staring at the same four walls of their tents. They are unable to find work because Isis razed their farms and businesses. They cannot reunite with relatives still in Isis captivity or attend the burials of family members whose bodies remain in mass graves. Continue reading...

Civil rights groups say situation ‘getting worse on a daily basis’ as UN human rights chief expresses alarm over deepening impunitySri Lanka could descend swiftly back into violence and human rights abuses unless decisive international action is taken, the UN high commissioner for human rights and civil rights groups warned.In a speech to the human rights council on Wednesday, Michelle Bachelet is expected to issue a stark warning that the Sri Lankan government has “closed the door” on ending impunity for past abuses and is facing a return to state repression of civil society and a militarisation of public institutions. Continue reading...

The government is reviewing the options on proof of vaccination or testing status

Embarrassment for South Korea’s military after guards fail to heed alarms despite man being picked up by five sets of CCTV camerasSouth Korea’s military is facing criticism over security lapses along the country’s heavily armed border with North Korea after a man was able to cross into the South despite being spotted multiple times by surveillance cameras.The man, wearing a wetsuit and flippers, reportedly swam to South Korea in the early hours of 16 February, but evaded capture for more than six hours, according to the Yonhap news agency. Continue reading...

Studios report surge in requests for tattoos of the deposed civilian leader – and some are using their profits to support protestersIn the last three weeks, Ye, 37, has inked more images of Aung San Suu Kyi than throughout his 19 years of tattooing.“We love and respect her because she has sacrificed so much for us,” he says, showing a photo of his latest artwork – a lifelike rendering of the deposed Myanmar leader, complete with jasmine flowers, on a woman’s back. Continue reading...

Nicola Davis runs through the science behind the government’s decision to begin lifting lockdown restrictions, a four-stage plan that starts with the reopening of schools and could see the return of nightclubs on 21 JuneOn Monday Boris Johnson announced a four-stage plan for England, paving the way for schools to welcome pupils, sports fans to fill stadiums once again and nightclubs to reopen their doors. There is a five-week gap between each phase of the plan, intended to allow four weeks for data to emerge about the impact of the changes, plus a week’s notice for the next stage of easing to be introduced.The Guardian science correspondent Nicola Davis talks to Rachel Humphreys about the science behind the government’s decision to begin easing out of lockdown. Some, including Johnson’s own backbenchers, have criticised the pace of reopening as too slow. But, Nicola says, experts on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), whose analysis was published alongside the plan, have stressed the need for caution. ‘Decisions about changes to restrictions are best made based on epidemiological data rather than based on predetermined dates,’ they advise. Continue reading...

Dingoes eat kangaroos and kangaroos eat grass. So on the side of the fence where dingoes are rare, there is less vegetationAs one of the longest structures in the world, the dingo fence is an Australian landmark. It stretches more than 5,600km across three states, including 150km that traverses the red sand dunes of the Strzelecki Desert.Since it was established in the early 20th century, the fence has had one job: to keep dingoes out. The effect of this on the environment has been enormous – you can see it from outer space. Continue reading...

The tiny Australian town was surprised but got into the spirit, selling daft pork sausages and random access rissoles while celebrating a dusty agricultural show it will never forgetIn April 2013 word got out that Daft Punk planned to launch their album Random Access Memories from a regional Australian town barely anyone had heard of.Dubbed the “cotton capital” of Australia, the small town (population 2,000) with the evocative name of Wee Waa in the Narrabri shire of New South Wales was not much known as a dance music hub. The news, which began with murmurs about Sony label reps scoping the area for locations, seemed just bizarre enough to be true. Daft Punk, after all, were never great adherents of the traditional album rollout – and, with the revered French duo announcing their split this week, it’s worth taking ourselves back to their strangest one. Continue reading...

You don’t get joy from work – not many people do, says Eleanor Gordon-Smith – but you won’t get more of it sitting at the computer promising yourself you’ll work soon.I have always had a problem with work, I don’t have much internal motivation to do any and a lot of anxiety about it. Now I am supposed to be working from home I feel even more disengaged. I get up at 11am, then procrastinate around the internet for a few hours.I do appreciate having a salary and it would logically make sense to try and keep my job. My colleagues are all running themselves ragged working and home schooling and all that stuff. I hate the idea of all that rushing about. How can I change my attitude, and persuade myself do a few hours work every day? Continue reading...

At least 62 inmates have been killed in jails in three cities, with 800 police required to quell the violenceSixty-two inmates have died in riots at prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt.Edmundo Moncayo, director of prisons, said in a news conference on Tuesday that 800 police offices have been helping to regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of officers from tactical units had been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday. Continue reading...

In letter to Tehran, human rights advocate outlines six-month investigation into disasterMany high level Iranian officials should be charged for the shooting down of a Ukrainian commercial airliner in January 2020, a UN human rights expert has said, describing the killing of the 176 people aboard as a “profound and serious indictment” of the country’s civil and military authorities.Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, delivered a 45-page letter to the Iranian government which was made public on Tuesday, outlining her findings from a six-month investigation into the disaster, and complaining about the lack of Iranian cooperation, which has left many of her questions unanswered. Continue reading...

Poet whose outlook spanned anarchism, ecology and small business, as founder of the City Lights Bookstore in San FranciscoLawrence Ferlinghetti, poet, artist, activist and founder of San Francisco’s famous City Lights Bookstore, who has died aged 101 of interstitial lung disease, was the least “beat” of the Beat Generation. In addition to a political commitment that blended anarchism and ecology – he loathed the motor car, calling it “the infernal combustion engine” – he had an instinctive business sense, founded on the philosophy of small is beautiful. City Lights, which he started in partnership with the magazine editor Peter Martin in the early 1950s, is still among the most welcoming of shops, with its tables and chairs, sheaves of magazines, and signs saying: “Pick a book, sit down, and read.”Ferlinghetti discouraged interviewers and seekers of personal information. “If I had some biographical questionnaire to answer, I would always make something up,” he once said. Different reference books give different dates of birth, and one published story had it that he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the place of the pissoir in French literature. For many years, he listed his dog, Homer, as City Lights’ publicity and public relations officer. The poet recalled that Homer Ferlinghetti received regular mail, but that his public relations career stalled when he peed against a policeman’s leg. For this act of citizenship, he was immortalised by his master in the poem Dog. Continue reading...

Vincent Muscat jailed for Maltese journalist’s killing on same day three others re-arrested in the caseOne of three men accused of planting and detonating the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 has pleaded guilty to the crime and been sentenced to 15 years in prison.Vincent Muscat is the first person to be convicted of the killing, which has embroiled Malta’s ruling Labour party in political scandal and led to the resignation of its prime minister in late 2019. Continue reading...

Monument in north Africa commemorates the fascist leader’s earlier role in the Rif war of the 1920sThe last public statue in Spain of the former dictator Francisco Franco has been removed from the city gates of Melilla, a Spanish enclave and autonomous city on the north-west African coast.Without much fanfare, a group of workmen took down the statue on Tuesday, using a mechanical digger and heavy drills to chip away at the brick platform on which the statue stood, before lifting it off by a chain around its neck and carting it away in bubblewrap on a pickup truck. Continue reading...

Spring-like conditions will make it feel more like May than February, say forecastersIt could feel more like May than February for much of the UK this week, with forecasters predicting a spell of warm weather and the first signs of spring in the coming days.In a likely welcome development for Britons still living under coronavirus lockdowns, clear skies and sunshine have been forecast for parts of the country for the rest of the week. Continue reading...

Donald Trump tried to wreck the agreement. Can the Biden administration and Tehran find a solution?

President of Kiribati says China will provide ‘technical assistance’ to convert land in Fiji into a working farm to ‘supply produce to Kiribati’A block of land the government of Kiribati bought in Fiji half a decade ago – ostensibly to serve as a refuge when their country disappeared under a rising ocean – will be transformed into a commercial farm to help feed the i-Kiribati people, with “technical assistance” from China.The president of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, announced last week that China would help fulfil his administration’s plan to resume farming on a 22 km sq parcel of land in Fiji, sparking widespread speculation the land would be gifted or sold to China. Maamau has ruled out any military application – “any land or sea base” – for the land. Continue reading...

French star is being investigated over an incident with a female actor at his Paris home in 2018The French actor Gérard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault, allegedly committed in 2018 against an actor in her 20s, a judicial source told AFP on Tuesday.An initial investigation into the rape accusations against Depardieu, 72, was dropped in 2019 for lack of evidence but reopened last summer, leading to criminal charges filed in December, the source said. Continue reading...