The reality TV and rap superstar couple known as Kimye are parting ways after almost seven years of marriage, following reports a split was ‘imminent’Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are getting a divorce after almost seven years of marriage.The reality TV superstar, 40, filed for divorce from the rapper, 43, on Friday in Los Angeles, court sources confirmed to the AP, and is seeking joint legal and physical custody of their four children, daughters North, seven years old, and Chicago, two, and sons Saint, five, and Psalm, 19 months. Continue reading...
Analysis: Couple’s treatment by a critical UK press made any return as working royals unlikelyThe decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to permanently step down as working royals comes as no surprise.When they first announced their wish to no longer perform royal duties, and to become financially independent – blindsiding Buckingham Palace by making their intentions public before matters had been negotiated with the Queen – it was hard to see how they could return. Continue reading...
Request for information on Dubai ruler’s missing daughter follows release of secretly recorded messagesThe UN has asked the United Arab Emirates for proof that the Dubai ruler’s daughter is still alive, after the release of secret messages she recorded this week claiming she was being held in captivity after the failure of a 2018 attempt to escape the emirate.A spokesperson for Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said on Friday that the UN had “expressed our concerns regarding the situation, in light of the disturbing videos which have surfaced this week. We have requested more information and clarification on the current situation.” Continue reading...
Secretly organised via social media, illegal events are becoming more creative and sophisticatedPolice forces have reported an increase in large illegal lockdown parties in recent weeks, as streams of reports from members of the public expose popup events organised in secret via social media.“We’re coming across bigger events at the moment,” said Stuart Bill, bronze commander for Operation Reliant, a dedicated West Midlands police taskforce for tackling significant Covid breaches. “We’re seeing house parties and events in warehouses and derelict buildings, but finding them can be tricky. Continue reading...
Sir David Attenborough’s advice to spend quiet time in woodland is revelatory, once you get past the drone of the A40Sir David Attenborough’s latest advice for restoring our damaged relationship with nature is reassuringly straightforward. “One of the simplest things that you should do if you get the chance, when you get the chance, is just naturally to stop,” he told the Call of the Wild podcast.I am wandering through Horsenden Wood in far West London, looking for a good place to stop. Although it’s a tightly circumscribed parcel of nature – 10 acres in total, and all that remains of the ancient forest that once dominated these parts – I am, in truth, a little bit lost. Walking in aimless circles will do that to you. I could not, at this moment, even point in the general direction of my car. Continue reading...
Labour MPs urge attorney general to refer case of Anthony Williams, 70, to appeal court as unduly lenientThe attorney general is under increasing pressure from MPs and campaigners to ask the court of appeal to reconsider the sentence of a man who strangled his wife days into the first coronavirus lockdown.Anthony Williams, 70, was sentenced to five years in jail at Swansea crown court on Thursday after he was found not guilty of murder but admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. The judge, Paul Thomas, said it was a “tragic case on several levels” but in his view Williams’ mental state was “severely affected at the time”. Continue reading...
Begum, who fled to join Isis in Syria as a schoolgirl, wants to return to challenge removal of her British citizenshipThe supreme court will announce next week whether Shamima Begum, who left London as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in 2015, should be allowed back into the UK to challenge the removal of her British citizenship.Begum was 15 when she fled to Syria to live under Isis rule for more than three years. Continue reading...
Pair aged 20 and 22 arrested on suspicion of murder following incident earlier in February in south LondonTwo men have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 22-year-old who was fatally stabbed in south London.Police officers and paramedics from the London Ambulance Service were called to a property in Wisbeach Road, Croydon, just after 8pm on 5 February and found Lavaun Witter suffering a stab injury. He was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later. Continue reading...
Friday: Tech giant’s reputation takes a hit as criticism grows of its Australian news blackout. Plus: all you need to know about renting or buying an e-bikeGood morning, dear readers. Imogen Dewey here with your morning news via email (an especially great way to get your news these days, I hear). It’s Friday 19 February, and a good time to catch up on the impact of Facebook’s news blackout, the vaccine rollout, and the Brittany Higgins allegations still rocking parliament.“Even for a company that specialises in PR disasters, Facebook has excelled with its Australian blackout,” writes Emily Bell. Fallout continues from the news blackout we woke to yesterday (and here’s how that might be affecting you). The prime minister attacked Facebook (on Facebook) for its “arrogant” decision to “unfriend Australia”, saying the social media giant’s move will harden the resolve of his government to hold it accountable. The shadow communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said it may be “the beginning of the end” for the platform. And a UK media boss has said the fiasco shows why countries need robust regulation to stop tech firms behaving like a “schoolyard bully”. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5EBNS)
Business leaders buoyed by meeting with Michael Gove and EU counterpart on protocol glitchesBusiness leaders in Northern Ireland are optimistic that Brexit barriers preventing parcels, pets, potatoes and plants getting to the region from Britain will be eased after a meeting between Michael Gove and his EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, on Thursday.They said the UK and the EU had a legitimate reason to remove or ease the barriers because they were having an impact on daily lives, in breach of a pledge in the Northern Ireland protocol that states the “application of this protocol should impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland”. Continue reading...
Singer says she doesn’t feel it’s appropriate to put her on a pedestal ‘given all that is going on in the world’Dolly Parton is asking Tennessee lawmakers to withdraw a bill that would erect a statue of her on the capitol grounds in Nashville.“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” Parton said in a statement issued Thursday. Continue reading...
Statement made no mention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor but Canada has tried to build global support to secure their releaseChina has lashed out against Canada for signing a declaration denouncing the arbitrary detention of foreign citizens, describing the move as a “despicable and hypocritical act” as relations between the two countries remain tense.Earlier this week, Canada and 57 other nations, including the US, UK, Australia, Germany and Sweden, jointly signed a declaration condemning the use of arbitrary detention for political purposes. Continue reading...
by A reporter in Yangon, and Rebecca Ratcliffe on (#5EAVK)
Protesters try to block movement of security forces and civil servants, while hackers targets militarySome of the busiest streets in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, have been brought to a standstill for a second day running by slow-moving and “broken-down” cars, as part of an evolving civil disobedience movement against the military coup.Cars were parked across roads to block the movement of security forces and prevent civil servants from travelling to work. Some protesters walked in circles around a pedestrian crossing at a busy intersection. “Don’t attend the office, leave it. Join the civil disobedience movement,” protesters chanted. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Gabrielle Jackson with Lenore Taylor and on (#5EBNT)
Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher discuss the allegations made by a former Liberal staffer, the government’s response and what it will take to change the longstanding culture of parliamentary politics in Australia Continue reading...
Coleraine-born hero of American revolution is to feature in region’s heritage trailsHercules Mulligan, the 18th-century tailor, spy and US revolutionary, is soon to become a Northern Ireland tourist attraction.The emigrant who helped clinch America’s independence by spying on British officers and reputedly saving the life of George Washington has been honoured in his native land. Continue reading...
Planned update to Burgos Cathedral prompts online petition signed by more than 31,000 peoplePlans to mark the 800th anniversary of Burgos’s magnificent gothic cathedral with three enormous new bronze doors have ushered in an unholy row, with Unesco advising against the project and critics attacking the €1.2m portals as an “artistic outrage”.Cathedral authorities in the northern Spanish city say the new doors, designed by the renowned, award-winning artist Antonio López, are a work of contemporary art that will complement “a monument already rendered in five artistic styles that are the fruit of each stage of its eight centuries”. They also point out that the current wooden doors are old and in a poor state of repair. Continue reading...
Feared head of Neapolitan Camorra known as ‘the Professor’ had spent most of life behind barsRaffaele “the Professor” Cutolo, one of the most feared and powerful bosses of the Neapolitan Camorra, spent most of his adult life in jail. And it was in a prison bed on Wednesday that he was found dead, aged 79.His imprisonment didn’t deter him from ordering murders, forging criminal ties and sparking a war that left several hundred people dead in the early 1980s. Cutolo, whose life inspired films and songs, transformed his prison cell into his criminal office, from where he recruited thousands of members into the Camorra who, once freed, committed murders on his orders. Continue reading...
Group posed as wealthy buyers using sleight of hand and fake money to steal diamonds and a classic carDiligent research, a counterfeiting expert, an identical box and nerves as hard as the diamonds they stole helped a gang of audacious jewel thieves and con artists scam their way across Europe, pocketing stones worth almost €20m (£17m) and swindling a classic car collector out of €185,ooo.But their sleight-of-hand skills and bundles of fake banknotes eventually caught the attention of police on both sides of the Pyrenees, and eight people were arrested at the end of December following a year-long joint investigation by Spanish and French police. Continue reading...
Videos secretly filmed by an abducted princess underline the discrimination and threat of violence faced by Emirati women“I’m a hostage, I’m not free … I am enslaved, imprisoned in this jail, my life is not in my hands … I have been by myself in solitary confinement with no trial and no charge.” These are the words of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid, the 36-year-old daughter of the ruler of Dubai. She revealed details about her alleged forced confinement in a Dubai villa in secretly filmed videos, which were broadcast in a BBC Panorama documentary on Tuesday – several months after her friends lost all contact with her.They are the first videos of Latifa to emerge since her abduction and forcible return to Dubai in March 2018, when she was captured off the coast of Goa by Indian forces working in coordination with the United Arab Emirates. In the video she says she lives in a villa “converted into a jail” with all the windows barred shut, two female police officers inside the house and five male police officers stationed outside. She says she is not allowed outside and is filming in the bathroom as it’s the only room she can lock. Continue reading...
Western foreign ministers to discuss response to Iranian plan to ban snap intrusive inspectionsThe future of the Iran nuclear deal is hanging in the balance as the west prepares its response to Iranian plans to increase pressure on Washington by banning snap intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites.The German, French and British foreign ministers are to confer urgently with the US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, on how to respond to Iran’s plans, which it is expected to implement on Tuesday. Continue reading...
LDP’s attempt to demonstrate gender equality after Olympic sexism row backfiresIt was a move designed to show that Japan’s ruling party was committed to gender equality after the sexism row that forced one of its former prime ministers, Yoshiro Mori, to resign as head of Tokyo’s Olympic organising committee.The time had come to give female members of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) more prominence at key meetings, the party’s secretary general, Toshihiro Nikai, said this week, days after Mori had stepped down following his claim that meetings attended by “talkative women” tended to “drag on”. Continue reading...
As the soul legend is nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we pick her 20 greatest songs from her 60s collaborations with Burt Bacharach to her later power balladsThe live album A Man and A Woman is both delightful and slightly odd: Warwick dueting with Isaac Hayes, who had just had a hit with a paen to troilism called Moonlight Lovin’ (Ménage à Trois). Its solitary single isn’t a medley, more an attempt to bind two songs together as a call-and-response. It works. Continue reading...
Why do we play? How do games work? From games philosophy to sci-fi, here are 20 delightful and essential reads for gamersAt this stage in the pandemic, you may have started to question the amount of time you’re spending playing video games. Publishers have reported huge increases in the numbers of players on titles such as Call of Duty Warzone and Fifa 21, while Animal Crossing, launched in the first weeks of last year’s lockdown, has sold more than 30m copies, mostly on its seductive promise to bring friends together for tea parties on cute little islands.Perhaps now, however, you want to spend some time away from games – but without abandoning them. Or maybe you want to find out why Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has such an unassailable grip on your attention. Either way, here are 20 books that tell us more about games, or are likely to be interesting to people who play them a lot. I own and love them all, and they will definitely make you feel better about putting 500 hours into Crusader Kings III. Continue reading...
While researching her latest novel the author spent weeks walking the canals and streets, and unearthing the Old Town’s hidden historyFebruary and it’s not yet quite spring in Amsterdam. Soon, the buds in the rose garden in Vondelpark will start to blush pink and yellow; the leaves on the trees surrounding the lake will begin to shimmer with silver and green. Soon, at least in a normal year, people will gather again at the bandstand and the Blauwe Theehuis, the blue teahouse, in this elegant 19th-century park named after the poet Joost van den Vondel, and the diagonal paths that cross the museum quarter between the Rijksmuseum and the Concertgebouw – once a region of small farms and market gardens – will be filled with conversation and bicycles again.But our focus lies not in the 19th-century city – nor the 20th century with the Anne Frank House beside the Westerkerk – but rather in the old medieval centre of Amsterdam. I should be there now, conducting a walking tour for English and Dutch readers around the canals and overlooked alleyways that inspired my latest adventure novel, The City of Tears. I should be explaining how, in the bloody aftermath of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris in August 1572, my imaginary first family, the Jouberts, flee persecution to the city of tears itself, Amsterdam, to build a new life for themselves. Continue reading...
Comments on singer’s Instagram account say wearing likeness of god is cultural appropriationThe singer Rihanna has angered the Hindu community with a “disrespectful” Instagram picture in which she wears a diamond-studded pendant featuring the Hindu god Ganesha.Commenters on her Instagram account have called the wearing of the likeness of the god around her neck cultural appropriation. Continue reading...
Inquiry hears Arconic failed to share results with certifiers despite being ‘legally obliged’ to do soThe company that made the cladding panels used on Grenfell Tower did not tell certifiers about a “disastrous” failed fire test on one of its products despite being “legally obliged” to do so, the inquiry into the fire has heard.Claude Schmidt, the president of Arconic’s French arm, denied the test results were “deliberately concealed”, but agreed the omission amounted to a “misleading half truth” during proceedings on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Nazir Ahmed is accused of carrying out repeated offences when he was a teenagerA former Labour peer repeatedly sexually abused two younger children when he was a teenager, a court has heard.There were claims that Nazir Ahmed, previously known as Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, had carried out serious sexual acts on others even before he was 14, jurors were told. Continue reading...
Duke of Edinburgh taken to King Edward VII’s hospital in London, Buckingham Palace saysThe Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to hospital after feeling unwell, Buckingham Palace has said.Prince Philip, who is 99, was admitted on the advice of his doctor and a palace statement said it was a precautionary measure. Continue reading...
Family of Paul Rusesabagina accuse Rwandan authorities of kidnapping him and say he will not get fair trialThe businessman whose role in saving more than 1,000 lives inspired the film Hotel Rwanda has gone on trial in Kigali.Paul Rusesabagina faces nine charges including terrorism and murder, and if convicted could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Continue reading...
Commission finds Jamaican government responsible for violating the rights of two gay peopleThe Jamaican government is responsible for violating the rights of two gay people and the country’s homophobic laws should be repealed immediately, according to a ruling by an international human rights tribunal.The decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sets a precedent for LGBT rights across the Caribbean and is the commission’s first finding that laws that criminalise LGBT people violate international law. Continue reading...
Prime minister awaiting results of UN investigation after video appears to tell of imprisonment by fatherBoris Johnson has said he is concerned about the case of a missing Emirati princess whose secret video messages from what she describes as a villa turned prison have led to calls for international intervention and proof she is still alive.The UK prime minister said on Wednesday he was “concerned” over Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid’s situation but said it was being investigated by the UN commissioner for human rights. “I think what we’ll do is wait and see how they get on. We’ll keep an eye on that,” Johnson said. Continue reading...
Wednesday: League considers establishing a multimillion-dollar fund for players who suffer head injuries. Plus: sweet tooths sign up to international snack exchangeHappy hump day! It’s Tamara Howie here on Wednesday 17 February with fingers crossed that the Victorian lockdown lifts tonight. We’ve got news of a watershed proposal for the AFL and all the reaction to Scott Morrison’s handling of a shocking rape allegation. Plus, Trump and Giuliani are being sued by a Democratic congressman over the insurrection. Continue reading...
The boxer turned actor anchors this tale of a UK photographer who travels to Senegal after the death of his estranged fatherBritish-Nigerian director Joseph Adesunloye’s feature debut – made in 2016 but only now seeing the light of day – is the story of a London photographer travelling to Senegal for his father’s funeral. It’s a drifting movie, not entirely successful but grounded by the undeniable screen presence of boxer turned model turned actor Dudley O’Shaughnessy. (He was in the recent season of Top Boy; in his modelling days he appeared opposite Rihanna in the video for We Found Love.)Here he plays Leke, a fashion photographer living the dream in Hackney; home is a loft-style flat overlooking the city and Leke is about to open a major show in China. The film begins with a couple of fake-feeling gallery scenes, everyone head-to-toe in black and air-kissing with extravagant mwah-mwahs (this is the art world recognisable from other movies rather than real life). Despite his success, Leke seems detached from his life in London. He is also ignoring telephone messages from Senegal, where his father is seriously ill. When the inevitable call comes – his dad has died – Leke flies to Dakar. A family friend has arranged for a taxi driver to be his guide. “What do you speak? French? Wolof?” Leke shakes his head no. “Mon ami,” says the guy. “Tu est perdu. You are really, really lost.” Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#5E7Y5)
Coalition of 17 groups says appointment of William Shawcross shows review will ‘rubber-stamp’ anti-radicalisation strategyA coalition of human rights and community groups have said they will boycott the government’s review of the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent in protest at the appointment of William Shawcross as its chair.The appointment last month of Shawcross, who chaired the Charity Commission between 2012 and 2018, was met instantly with criticism over previous remarks he has made about Islam. Continue reading...
Even if you’re secretly in pyjama bottoms, the usual rules apply – plus a few extra. Look at the camera, check your backdrop, and try to keep the room clear of other people and petsIf job interviews are awkward and nerve-racking at the best of times, this is magnified by the prospect of having to do it from a corner of your home on screen, while hoping your children or pets don’t put in an appearance. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made interviewing for a job via the internet an increasingly common experience. Here is some expert advice on how to look like a pro, even if you are wearing pyjamas from the waist down. Continue reading...