Blue Mountains mayor refutes NSW deputy premier’s assertion that councils in non-Coalition seats were not eligibleThe mayor of Blue Mountains council has contradicted the New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro’s claim that it did not receive money from a $177m bushfire recovery fund because its application did not meet the grant’s conditions, saying the projects were “shovel ready”.Appearing before a parliamentary inquiry into the state government’s alleged pork barrelling of council grants in NSW on Monday, Barilaro defended the government’s allocation of bushfire relief funding to Coalition-held seats, saying councils in Labor-held seats including the Blue Mountains had not been eligible because they were not of sufficient size or readiness. Continue reading...

Natural disaster compounded by the collapse of a lucrative export during the pandemic has thrust people into povertyThis time last year the west coast of Bangladesh was a thriving place for shrimp farmers. It was a decent enough living and there was a healthy export market.Majnu Sardar, who lives in Koyra upazila (administrative region) in Khulna district, used to earn enough to feed, clothe and educate his family of six. Now they are living in a small mud hut, with a canopy of leaves as a roof, on the banks of the Kapotaksha River after Cyclone Amphan buried his house and land in May. Continue reading...

The biggest TV hit of the pandemic? A comedy about a family holed up against their will. Its star discusses warmth, wigs and why she loves playing Moira RoseCatherine O’Hara and I spend most of our time together anxiously apologising to one another, me for my terrible wifi connection, her for what she describes as her “ramblings”. Her infraction is more forgivable. A frozen Zoom screen is just annoying. O’Hara’s verbal meanderings (“Oh dear, what am I on about?”) are far more fun, swooping among the highlights from her career as a comedy cult star in the 1970s (the Canadian sketch show SCTV), 80s and 90s (Beetlejuice, Home Alone), and then Christopher Guest’s series of brilliant and largely improvised films (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration).Now, at 66, she has peaked yet further, with her glorious performance as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, the most endearing sitcom to come along in yonks. The show came to an end last year after six seasons and it went out with fireworks, setting the record for the most Emmys won by a comedy series in a single season. One went to O’Hara, almost 40 years after she won her first, for her writing on SCTV, in which she starred alongside John Candy, Harold Ramis and, most importantly, her Schitt’s Creek co-star Eugene Levy. Continue reading...

‘There’s a voice in your head saying you’ve killed these people’, says one employee of a UK home with 12 dead

Calls renewed for humane treatment of news anchor after arrest ‘on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas’Chinese authorities have formally arrested the detained Australian citizen Cheng Lei “on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas”, prompting fresh calls for the journalist to be treated humanely.Cheng, an anchor for the Chinese state-owned English-language news channel China Global Television Network, has been detained in China since mid-August, but the decision to proceed to the next stage of criminal proceedings marks a blow to her hopes of release. Continue reading...

Surrounding the big game are a host of big ads, a string of new movie trailers and a half-time performance from The Weeknd

Sven Badzak, 22, was chased and knifed to death by a group in Kilburn amid spate of incidents in capitalA 22-year-old man chased by a group and knifed to death in one of a spate of stabbings in London over the weekend has been named by police.The Metropolitan police have enacted additional stop-and-search powers and beefed up patrols after the series of incidents in the capital, believed to be unconnected, which left two young men dead, a 16-year-old critically ill in hospital and 11 others wounded. Continue reading...

Around 140 missing and nine dead after floods force evacuation of villages and witnesses report avalanche creating wall of dust, rock and waterAbout 140 people are feared dead in northern India after a Himalayan glacier broke off and caused a high velocity surge of water down a river, sweeping away one dam in its path and damaging another.A frantic rescue mission began to recover the scores of bodies washed away when an avalanche of water, mud and rocks swept down a narrow gorge in Chamoli district, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Continue reading...

South Africa makes call after trial data showed vaccine offered only limited protection against variant; Hungary authorises Russian vaccine

Slogans condemning ‘Irish Sea border’ appeared in various parts of Northern Irish port town on SaturdayTwo men have been arrested in Larne, Northern Ireland, on suspicion of painting graffiti condemning Irish Sea border checks.A series of slogans were painted at various locations in the town on Saturday, with one stating: “Larne says no to Irish Sea border.” At about 9.40pm that evening, police received a report in relation to two males reportedly spray painting graffiti on property on Main Street. Police searched a vehicle in the area and a number of items were seized and taken away for examination. Continue reading...

Exclusive: expelled from Fiji, Professor Pal Ahluwalia says he remains committed to University of the South Pacific’s ‘current and future leaders’The corruption-busting university vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia, deported from Fiji over his efforts to expose financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific, has said he is determined to continue in his efforts to reform the university.“I believe integrity comes from the top down,” he told the Guardian from a hotel room in Brisbane, where he and his wife, Sandra Price, are quarantining after his expulsion. Continue reading...

Hotel worker at Melbourne airport had tested negative on Thursday before developing symptomsA second hotel quarantine worker in Victoria has tested positive for coronavirus, health officials say.The woman worked at Melbourne airport’s Holiday Inn on Sunday morning before developing systems. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of people have poured on to the streets across Myanmar for a second day of demonstrations against the military coup, demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of democracy.

Acronic’s then UK sales manager will be asked what she knew of the danger posed by the panelsThe executive who sold combustible cladding for use on Grenfell Tower will face questioning for the first time this week when the public inquiry into the disaster resumes after a two-month suspension caused by the rising number of Covid cases.Deborah French, then UK sales manager at Arconic, is to be asked what she knew of the danger posed by the plastic-filled panels that the first phase of the inquiry found were the main cause of the spread of the 14 June 2017 fire that claimed 72 lives. Continue reading...

While the face of New Zealand’s parliament is changing, its rules and norms are drawn from the experiences of white menStarting any new job, “the first day, you feel nervous,” says Ibrahim Omer, one of New Zealand’s new MPs. “This is no exception.”The 53rd parliament, sitting for the first time on Tuesday, will be the most diverse in the nation’s history, with nearly 50% of the 120 seats held by women, 11% LGBTQI representation and 21% Māori MPs (25 members). Continue reading...

I sleep in the front seat with Finley, my terrier. If the jobseeker rise was permanent I think I could afford to move into a home

Exporters badly hit already but KPMG says ‘biggest headaches’ have yet to come’ for importersBritish firms are warning of further Brexit red tape as the government prepares to introduce a long list of new controls on imports from the European Union in April and July.In the coming months further checks are due to be phased in at the UK border, controlling everything from the import of sausages and live mussels to horses and trees, as well as the locations these checks can take place. Continue reading...

Monarch dispatched private solicitor to secure exemption from transparency lawThe Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian.A series of government memos unearthed in the National Archives reveal that Elizabeth Windsor’s private lawyer put pressure on ministers to alter proposed legislation to prevent her shareholdings from being disclosed to the public. Continue reading...

Expert’s criticism comes as thinktank warns of more friction if UK fails to manage relationship with BrusselsThe EU has behaved like an “absentee landlord” in relation to Northern Ireland, an expert on Brexit in the region has said, as a new report by the Institute for Government warned of more conflict across all issues “if the UK fails to manage the relationship” with Brussels.Under the Brexit trade deal more than 20 committees and bodies are supposed to be set up to cement a working post-Brexit relationship on everything from fishing to energy supplies and aviation deals. Continue reading...

In 1990, BAME police officers gathered to discuss racism at work, sharing what each had thought were uniquely harrowing experiences. They explain how things have improved – and got worse

Pace for vaccinations has slowed as government website to register crashes repeatedly and Covid death toll is third highestRodolfo spent hour after aggravating hour trying to register his elderly mother for a Covid-19 vaccination through a Mexican government website, only for the system to crash repeatedly.“I spent three days fighting with the website,” he said. “My mom would have been unable to do it without me.” Continue reading...

Speaking in public is daunting – even if it’s only on Zoom. What if you forget your words, or fall over, or are heckled? But with a little practice it can also be surprisingly liberatingA hilltop in twilight. Snow on the ground. Dog walkers hurrying home. And me, on a soapbox, talking into a megaphone that refuses to work. If you’ve ever Zoomed, you know the problem: I’m on mute. Of course, many people don’t Zoom. Even after months of lockdown, they’d just rather not. And I don’t blame them (you?), because just turning up – at least the first time – feels risky, exposing. A bit like walking on stage; or if not quite that then it’s like sitting in the audience at a panto when the house lights flood the stalls and performers scan the seats for a “volunteer”.That, to a newcomer, is what Zoom feels like. (Or any other web-conferencing app.) For most of us, it gets more comfortable as we learn to do it more effectively – perhaps even fairly quickly – but first you have to go through the awkward, disorientating early stages, in which you find yourself looking directly up the nostrils of somebody on another continent. Continue reading...

Ali Sadpara of Pakistan, John Snorri of Iceland, and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile lost contact with base campAn aerial search was under way on Sunday to find three experienced climbers who lost contact with base camp during a winter ascent of K2, the world’s second highest mountain, officials said.Karrar Haideri, a top official with the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said army helicopters resumed the search in northern Pakistan that began a day earlier for the celebrated Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara and his two companions, John Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile. Continue reading...

After starring in Roots and as Darcus Howe in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, the actor is having fun in a new financial thriller and making sure his true voice is heard“I’m used to always doing dramatic work,” says 31-year-old Malachi Kirby. “There is something about my face that people must enjoy seeing crying.” The London-born actor has made a name for himself in recent years playing a series of gut-wrenching, emotional heavyweights; first as Kunta Kinte in the 2016 remake of the wildly popular 1977 series Roots and then as real-life activist Darcus Howe in Mangrove, the opening episode of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series last year. Kirby seemed to empty all of himself into each character – from the rebellious slave Kinte to the fiercely hopeful Trinidadian orator Howe – not leaving a trace of his identity behind.It is surprising, then, to encounter the real Kirby over video call: boyish, bearded and softly spoken. It is a side of himself he has worked hard at bringing out into the public over the years. “I was a very shy and introverted kid,” he says. “Acting was something that presented itself to me almost through a series of random occurrences and it showed me that I could communicate how I felt without saying it explicitly, since I could speak through the characters I was playing.” Continue reading...

Formosa has the country’s lowest Covid death rate – but critics say that has been achieved by ‘flagrant, grave’ rights violationsThe Argentinian province with the lowest Covid death rate in the country has been accused by human rights groups of forcibly quarantining thousands of people under inhuman conditions to achieve that result.Related: Argentina legalizing abortion will spur reform in Latin America, minister says Continue reading...

Campaigners call for the introduction of an age of consent as 20 firefighters face chargesProtests will take place across France on Sunday in support of a woman allegedly raped by 20 firefighters when she was between 13 and 15 years old. Her case is being examined in the country’s highest court this week and campaigners hope it will lead to an age of sexual consent being enshrined in law as it is in the rest of the European Union.Julie* says she was raped by Parisian firefighters over a period of two years, having been groomed by Pierre, a firefighter who had assisted her during a severe anxiety seizure when she was 13 in early 2008. Three of the accused have admitted they had sex with her but say it was consensual. In a journal written shortly afterwards Julie says she was “terrified and paralysed with fear” at the time. Continue reading...

DNA tests will confirm if exhumed body is Republican heroine, María Domínguez Remón, who overcame poverty to become the first female martyrThe hair that the clips and comb once held in place, probably in a bun, is long gone, as are the feet that filled the sandals, and the clothes to which the two buttons belong.All that survives of the middle-aged woman who was murdered in 1936 and exhumed from the cemetery of the small Aragonese town of Fuendejalón last weekend is her skeleton, its split skull punched through by a bullet. Continue reading...

A community worker talks anonymously about the challenges and rewards of delivering the Covid jab

Too white, too male, too privileged – and according to some critics, that’s just one of the co-directors. A new PBS documentary on an American giant sails in stormy watersSpeaking at a press event for the new PBS documentary about Ernest Hemingway, the actor Jeff Daniels said of the man whose words he reads: “Lucky for him he could write.”Over six hours, the co-directors Lynn Novick and Ken Burns subject a giant of American literature to an unsparing psychiatric exam. Continue reading...

Infections accounted for by so-called UK variant is increasing by 50% a week in France

The writer and raconteur embodied the hip, downtown Manhattan of the 70s. Now she is winning new fans in her friend Martin Scorsese’s documentary series Pretend It’s a CityAlmost from the moment she set foot in New York more than 50 years ago, Fran Lebowitz has been part of the city’s social firmament. Like it, she has moved inexorably upmarket since she first made her name as a humorist in the 70s with a column in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Back then, she hung out with the likes of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the New York Dolls as well as jazz legends such as Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. These days, she rubs shoulders with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, while the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison was a close friend and confidante.One person who has remained a constant in her life, though, is the film director Martin Scorsese, who, like her, came of age in a time when the city was tougher, scuzzier and seedier. Until the pandemic put paid to her socialising, Lebowitz would spend every New Year’s Eve with Scorsese and a select few others, watching a classic Hollywood film in his private screening room. Continue reading...

The US reversal over Yemen marks the country’s welcome re-entry into world affairsHis intentions had been repeatedly trailed in advance. Yet Joe Biden’s first foreign policy speech as president, delivered appropriately at the state department, the home base of American diplomacy, was still a breath of fresh air. The main headlines were an end to US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and a brisk warning to Russia that its easy ride under Donald Trump was over. But the speech also marked a broader policy shift.Gone were Trump’s trademark “America First” slogans and the ugly isolationism, protectionism and xenophobia that frequently underpinned them. Biden said he was sending “a clear message to the world that America is back”. By this, he meant recommitment to multilateralism, to alliances such as Nato, to UN agencies such as the World Health Organization and to international agreements such as the Paris climate agreement and Iran nuclear deal.

Wind gusts of up to 100km/h recorded and rainfall up to 100mm possible after bushfires destroyed 86 homes in Perth hillsThe Western Australian government will seek federal disaster relief to help fast-track road repairs after floods in the state’s north-west.With a flood warning in place for the midwest Gascoyne region on Sunday, roads remain closed and residents were urged to watch for fast-flowing and rising waters. Continue reading...

You should never feel shame for your sexual history, says Mariella Frostrup, and your husband has no business being overly inquisitiveThe dilemma I have recently married and we have a loving, supportive relationship. Lately, however, my husband has become overly inquisitive about my sexual history. We have discussed this before, and he has admitted he has had 11 sexual partners. I told him I had three prior to him – two of them were very casual and one was a brief relationship after a breakup with a man where there had been no physical contact. I was not feeling desirable and, because of how I was feeling at the time of these encounters, I have tried to push these moments out of my memory and I have dealt with some shame around these experiences.My husband and I had a conversation about my encounters and he insists I have not been honest with him about my past. I have tried to tell him that I feel embarrassment about that period in my life. I feel like I’m being forced into talking about this when I really don’t want to. Advice? Continue reading...

Thousands gather before dawn for the official launch of beloved Skywhale’s new companionMany cities have patron saints. In Palermo in southern Italy there is a story that a vision of Saint Rosalia, a young hermit, saved the city from a plague. In Berlin, you can see a black bear everywhere you look: on the city’s coat of arms, on street signs, as statues like teddy bears telling visitors they are welcome.Around the world, part of living in a city is to believe in mythical creatures or visions that bring you salvation or protection. In Rome, perhaps most famously, there are Romulus and Remus, who were rescued by a she-wolf. One of the local football clubs, AS Roma, plays with a she-wolf on their badge, her teats clearly visible, just over the player’s hearts. Continue reading...

Demonstrators in standoff with police amid demands for release of elected leader Aung San Suu KyiTens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Myanmar for a second consecutive day to protest against the country’s military seizing power, despite a nationwide internet blackout imposed to stifle dissent.In the main city Yangon, large crowds gathered on both Saturday and Sunday in support of ousted leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide election in November. The military detained both in raids early on Monday morning and they have not been seen in public since. Continue reading...

Spinks, an Olympic gold medallist, stunningly beat Ali and took heavyweight title in 1978Leon Spinks – who won Olympic gold and then shocked the boxing world by beating Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight title in only his eighth pro fight – has died. He was 67.Spinks, who lived his later years in Las Vegas, died on Friday night, according to a release from a public relations firm. He had contracted prostate and other cancers. His wife, Brenda Glur Spinks, and a few close friends and other family members were by his side when he died. Continue reading...

France’s Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of synod of bishops, is first woman to hold the rank which gives voting rightsBreaking with tradition, Pope Francis has appointed Frenchwoman Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary of the synod of bishops, the first woman to hold the post and have voting rights.The 52-year-old is one of the two new undersecretaries named to the synod, the body of bishops that studies major questions of doctrine and where she has been a consultant since 2019. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs minister says Australian government ‘deeply concerned’ about reports Sean Turnell has been detained in MyanmarThe Australian government has called in Myanmar’s ambassador after Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, was detained after a military coup.Turnell, who is also an economics professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, told Reuters he was being detained, but has been uncontactable since Saturday. Continue reading...

Frank Rothwell, 70, raised more than £640,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK in tribute to his brother-in-law RogerA grandfather has become the oldest person to row 3,000 miles solo across the Atlantic Ocean, raising more than £640,000 for dementia research.Frank Rothwell, 70, from Oldham, set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 12 December and crossed the finish line in Antigua in the Caribbean on Saturday – reuniting with Judith, his wife of 50 years, in good time for Valentine’s Day. Continue reading...

Social media stars, already under fire for trips to Dubai in lockdown, are now involved in a row over Instagram postsMakeup artist Sasha Louise Pallari started her hashtag #filterdrop in summer 2020. A social media campaign to discourage influencers promoting beauty products by using filters to exaggerate their effect, it paid off last week when the Advertising Standards Authority banned two tanning brands from using misleading filters on Instagram Stories. The ruling means that in future all use of filters will be more tightly controlled – and, so the theory goes, more “natural” content likely to be seen on social media. Continue reading...

This exceptional meteorological phenomenon is linked to a powerful southerly airflow that brings spring temperatures – and a large concentration of Saharan dust suspended in the atmosphere Continue reading...

He’s been poisoned and jailed... but not silenced. Now Navalny poses the greatest threat to the president’s 21-year ruleAlexei Navalny was in defiant mood last Tuesday, as he waited for his inevitable sentence. He made a heart gesture for his wife, Yulia, who was sitting at the back of Moscow’s city courtroom. Navalny smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t be sad! Everything is going to be all right,” he yelled at her. She waved back. Meanwhile, a state prosecutor droned on.Last week’s sham trial was the latest episode in an epic stand-off between two men for a nation’s future. One is the man in the dock, Russia’s foremost opposition leader, and now a global figure, likened by some to Nelson Mandela. The other is the country’s president of two decades, a former KGB colonel who appears determined to stay in power and to smash a popular revolt against him. Continue reading...

Eastern England faces blizzard conditions, caused by cold air from Russia and Scandinavia meeting Storm DarcySnowy blizzards, heavy rain and gale-force winds are expected to batter large parts of the country on Sunday, setting up for a week of wintry conditions ahead as a weather front dubbed the Beast from the East 2 sweeps in from Scandinavia and Russia.Southern and eastern parts of England will generally see the worst of the weather, but there are yellow warnings for snow and ice across the length of Britain this weekend, which will remain in place until Wednesday. A more serious amber warning is in place for Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent. Continue reading...

Behind the numbers: why some European countries have called into question the AstraZeneca jabWhile the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency have both approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults, Germany, France and six other European nations have recommended it only for those under 65, Belgium and Italy for people under 55 and Switzerland for nobody at all. Why are different regulators making different decisions?The problem is the relevant trials recruited only 660 subjects aged 65 or over: 6% of participants. It is inevitable some groups are under-represented in studies; the Pfizer trials included only 4% with Asian ethnicity; nobody over 89 took part. But to have so few from those at highest risk from Covid-19 is unfortunate, to put it mildly. Continue reading...

While CBD has been approved for over-the-counter sale, there are regulatory hurdles to clear before it actually appears in pharmacies“You can have as much whiskey as you like, but there’s no whiskey available,” says Prof Iain McGregor, psychopharmacologist and academic director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, when asked to describe the rules around CBD in Australia at the moment.Related: How a cannabis farm cured my fear of nature | Zoe Williams Continue reading...

When I tried to return from Jersey to Australia, I had no idea the journey would lead me through 16 cities in nine countries, and take nearly five monthsOn the morning of 1 July last year, while sitting in my apartment in the Sydney suburb of Balmain, I got the phone call I had dreaded since I moved to Australia.My dad was dying. Continue reading...

Latest stabbing took place close to West Croydon station on Saturday afternoon following five others on FridayA sixth stabbing incident within 24 hours has taken place in south London, with four of the attacks happening within 1.5 miles of West Croydon train station.Police said they were informed by the London ambulance service of a stabbing on London Road near the junction with Oakfield Road, Croydon – very close to the station – shortly after 3pm on Saturday. Continue reading...