Former MP accused of inappropriate physical contact in 2017 and suspended from partyA former Labour MP has left the party before an inquiry into sexual harassment allegation against him were able to be concluded, the party has confirmed.Kelvin Hopkins was accused in 2017 of inappropriate physical contact and was suspended by the Labour party pending an investigation. Continue reading...
The Observer writer and Fleet Street veteran, who has died aged 92, blazed a trail for women in journalismStylish, stimulating and life-affirming, Katharine Whitehorn, the Observer writer and broadcaster who helped shape modern British journalism, was mourned by readers and former colleagues at the weekend.Born in Hendon, London, in 1928, the columnist, the first woman to be given such a job at this newspaper, had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She moved to a care home in north London in 2018 and was recently diagnosed with Covid-19, although it is not clear if this contributed to her death on Friday at the age of 92. Continue reading...
New figures show just 3,000 Hong Kong residents have benefited from visa concessions granted by the Morrison government six months agoThe Australian government is facing fresh calls to offer increased assistance to the people of Hong Kong with just 3,000 having benefited from visa concessions granted six months ago.The push for Australia to do more comes after Hong Kong police arrested more than 50 people, including pro-democracy politicians and campaigners, in early morning raids on Wednesday. Continue reading...
The Spanish government has urged people to stay at home as the worst snowstorm in 50 years struck the country, bringing Madrid and the surrounding region to a frozen standstill
Juan Orlando Hernández allegedly said he wanted to shove drugs ‘right up the noses of the gringos’ by flooding the US with cocaineUS federal prosecutors have filed motions saying the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, took bribes from drug traffickers and had the country’s armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the US.The documents quote Hernández as saying he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos by flooding the United States with cocaine”. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke & Samuel Okiror in Kampala on (#5CKVK)
As a campaign marred by violence comes to an end, Bobi Wine warns President Museveni to learn from historyMillions of voters in Uganda will cast their votes this week in an election pitting a 76-year-old president seeking his sixth term against a former popular musician half his age.The contest between Bobi Wine, 38, and Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is being keenly watched across the continent, where veteran leaders are coming under pressure to give way to politicians more representative of Africa’s increasingly youthful, urban and educated population. Continue reading...
Older people have had it hard over the past year, yet countless surveys have found they are the happiest generation. Here are their tipsIrene Lewington, 92, London Continue reading...
In our latest report for the 2020 Guardian and Observer appeal, we talk to Child Poverty Action Group and those it has helped• Please donate to our appeal hereWhen Trudi and Gavin Scott moved back to the UK from New Zealand with their severely disabled son, Theo, in December 2016, it was the start of a “horrendous” few years of financial struggle triggered by the family being refused disability living allowance.At one point, when Gavin had to give up work to look after Theo while Trudi was recovering from a major operation, they had to scrape by on child benefit, tax credit cash and food bank vouchers, causing them to fall behind with bills. Continue reading...
From cold baths to burning sage, there’s a self-improvement hack for everything. But do they work?This is a productivity fad that has become popular with Silicon Valley types, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dopamine is the brain’s “feelgood” neurotransmitter, released when we experience pleasure. The theory goes that we are constantly mentally aroused and so unable to focus. By denying ourselves such stimuli, we may be able to improve mental clarity and better appreciate pleasure when it comes. Continue reading...
Russell T Davies goes back to the 80s with a new drama about the Aids epidemic. Its cast and creators discuss sex, grief and ThatcherRussell T Davies’s drama It’s a Sin, charting the early years of the Aids epidemic in the UK, arrives on our screens with a pep in its step that may at first seem at odds with the subject. It is difficult, after all, to think cheerfully about an epidemic that has taken thousands of lives in Britain alone, and a virus that an estimated 100,000 people in the country still live with. Its title is particularly apt: the 1987 Pet Shop Boys track it’s borrowed from summons both the decadent pleasures of the era and that all-pervading sense of shame: the shame of the illness itself, so vicious and mysterious at first, and the fact that it often came from gay sex, perceived for so long as shameful, too.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
Introducing a pleasant ambient fragrance is one of the most effective ways to enhance wellbeingEvery home has its own BO, or building odour. But we all become so used to it, we don’t realise it is there, except perhaps, fleetingly, when opening the front door on returning from a long trip away.Sometimes the smells we don’t notice – the ones present at such low concentrations that we are not even aware of them, such as a faraway rubbish bin – turn out to exert the biggest impact on our mood and wellbeing. For some, the olfactory ambience of their home can lead to what is known as “sick home” syndrome. Thought to be caused by poor ventilation, mould and the accumulation of bad smells, the symptoms include headaches; eye, nose or throat irritation; dry or itchy skin; or mental fatigue. It is a topic of debate whether this is due to physical or psychological responses, but according to researchers, such as professor Joseph Allen at Harvard, it may be because our brains tag unpleasant smells as dangerous and thus keep us on high alert to monitor their source. Continue reading...
Labor says the current proposal fails to enable the voice to provide full and frank advice and to be secureThe federal government will be obliged to consult the Indigenous voice to parliament when crafting laws on race, native title and racial discrimination that impact upon Aboriginal Australians.But the body will have no power to overturn policy or prevent laws coming into force, according to interim proposals. Continue reading...
The Met Office has warned of icy conditions across most of England, Wales and parts of Scotland lasting until MondayLarge parts of Britain are braced for a bitterly cold weekend as snow, ice and heavy rain sweep across the country.The Met Office has issued yellow warnings of icy conditions across most of England, Wales and parts of Scotland lasting until Monday. Continue reading...
The Labor leader says he was injured externally and internally and suffered considerable shock after the accident in MarrickvilleThe federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has been discharged from hospital after being injured in a car accident.The 57-year-old Labor leader left Royal Prince Alfred hospital on Saturday afternoon, telling waiting reporters that he had been injured externally and internally and had suffered considerable shock in the immediate aftermath of the impact. Continue reading...
Men accused of recruiting for Isis, killing a police officer and helping to make bombs used in the attacksThe US justice department has charged three Sri Lankans with supporting terrorism for their participation in the Islamic State-claimed Easter attacks on churches and hotels in 2019 that killed 268 people.The department said the three were part of the “Isis in Sri Lanka” group behind the attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in three cities on the Christian holiday on 21 April 2019. Five Americans were among the dead. Continue reading...
by Rosemary Bolger and Calla Wahlquist on (#5CJ3W)
The teenage driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash has been issued with an infringement notice for negligent drivingThe federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, remains in hospital on Saturday morning after he was involved in a car crash in Sydney’s inner west the day before.The Labor leader was driving in Marrickville on Friday when he was involved in a collision with a Range Rover at the intersection of Hill and Glen streets about 5pm. Continue reading...
British director made films Coal Miner’s Daughter and The World is Not Enough, and the long-running Up documentary seriesThe British director Michael Apted has died at the age of 79.The film-maker and documentarian was known for films such as Gorillas in the Mist and Coal Miner’s Daughter, as well as his long-running series of Up documentaries. Continue reading...
Scotland Yard review launched following stop and search of Olympic athlete Bianca WilliamsBritain’s largest police force will have to justify its use of handcuffs following a review that was triggered after the stop and search of Olympic athlete Bianca Williams.Williams, 27, accused the Metropolitan police of racially profiling her and her partner, Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese sprinter, when they were handcuffed and separated from their three-month-old son last July after their car was stopped by officers. Continue reading...
by Zoe Wood , Lisa O'Carroll and Sarah Butler on (#5CJYJ)
DPD pauses road service and retailers suspend sales or reduce lines amid concerns over paperwork and tariffsA growing number of retailers and courier firms are suspending or cutting back deliveries into the EU as companies grapple with new border controls as well as import taxes.On Friday DPD, the international delivery giant, said it was “pausing” its road service from the UK into Europe, including the Republic of Ireland. Separately, Marks & Spencer said it was concerned that a third of the products in its Irish food halls, including Percy Pig sweets, would now be subject to import tariffs. Such taxes could spell higher prices for shoppers. Continue reading...
Nicole Clark was accused of blaming her miscarriage on coronavirus border closures, and some questioned the legitimacy of her pregnancyThe public’s response this week to Nicole Clark’s harrowing story may be the most shocking part.On New Year’s Day, Clark, 31, had a miscarriage in a gully on the side of the road in Berri, in rural South Australia, after a combination of bad luck, incomplete advice from some authorities and apparent indifference from others. Continue reading...
Lawsuit argues that New Brunswick’s refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and FreedomsHuman rights activists in Canada have filed a lawsuit against the province of New Brunswick for its refusal to fund abortion services in private clinics – as they are in the rest of the country.The lawsuit suit filed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) argues that the refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Canada’s constitution. Continue reading...
A sinkhole measuring 2,000 sq metres has opened up in the visitors' car park of a hospital in Naples, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for recovering coronavirus patients because of a power cut.
'I'm afraid this virus is out of control,' the mayor of London has said after declaring a major incident as the capital's hospitals struggle to cope with coronavirus patients. 'The NHS in London is at risk of being overwhelmed ... we could run out of beds,' Sadiq Khan said. The mayor told BBC News that as many as one in 20 people had the virus in some parts of the city. 'The best way you can help the NHS is by staying at home,' he said
Nearby Italian residence for Covid-19 patients had to close temporarily because of electricity cutsA giant sinkhole has opened up in the car park of a hospital in Naples, Italy, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for recovering Covid-19 patients because the electricity was cut.Operations at the Hospital of the Sea were not affected, and firefighters said no one appeared to be injured. The sinkhole consumed a few cars in the hospital’s otherwise empty visitors’ car park on Friday. Continue reading...
If you’ve overdone it this first week of lockdown, here are tried, tested and surprising suggestions for how to handle the headaches and horror the morning after the night before
Suspected conman told woman in south-west London he worked for NHS, and charged her £160A fraudster claiming to work for the NHS injected a 92-year-old woman with a fake Covid-19 vaccine.Police are searching for the suspected conman, who charged the victim £160, and said he “may endanger people’s lives”. Continue reading...
In his song Five Years, Bowie imagined a dying Earth. Five years on from his death, it seems to have come true – yet he continues to uplift usOn 11January 2016, in pitch darkness, I turned on the radio at 7am and heard the news that David Bowie had died. I switched rapidly between stations hoping to find a parallel universe in which he was still alive, but there were only the halting voices of presenters choking back tears alongside snippets of Bowie’s incomparable musical world, collapsing into collective grief.My first reaction was to think magically: “But he can’t be dead!” Bowie had just released his 25th album, Blackstar, only three days previously, on his 69th birthday. His official website had recently posted new photographs of him, sharp-suited and yelling playfully into the camera. Occasional news of what the critic Paul Morley called Bowie’s “cheering, ongoing life” – especially in the decade after Bowie suffered a heart attack on stage in 2004 – had been enough to reassure me and his millions of fans that he was still around. Not that he owed us anything, but a world that still had David Bowie in it couldn’t be all bad. And now he was gone from it. Continue reading...
No one has yet been charged as some pro-democracy figures say they were arrested for political reasonsHong Kong authorities have released all but three people arrested in Wednesday’s unprecedented roundup of opposition figures.Amid heated debate about the legal premise of the accusations against the group, police are yet to lay any charges. Continue reading...
22 Tepeji Street stood in for Alfonso Cuarón’s boyhood home, with facade and patio featured in some of the film’s memorable scenesSave for the small metal plaque affixed to its facade, 22 Tepeji Street, looks like almost any of the older houses in the unfashionable part of Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood: painted stucco, a wrought-iron grille over the front windows and its flowerpots, thin metal slats arrayed geometrically over the frosted glass of the garage door.Related: Roma sets the scene: the magical Mexico City district behind the film Continue reading...
The late film-maker Joan Micklin Silver exploded the cliches of modern romances. If only others would do the sameThe director Joan Micklin Silver, who died last week, was – to use the kind of cliche she abhorred – a pioneer. She was a female director at a time when studio executives were more than comfortable with being openly sexist, telling Silver: “Women directors are one more problem we don’t need.”She made distinctly Jewish movies, as opposed to the kind of Jewish-lite movies that were – and are still – Hollywood’s more usual style. Her two greatest films, Hester Street (1975), about a Jewish immigrant couple (Steven Keats and Carol Kane) on the Lower East Side in the 1890s, and the peerless 1988 romcom Crossing Delancey, about a modern young woman (Amy Irving) who is reluctantly fixed up with a pickle seller (Peter Riegert), are to When Harry Met Sally what the Netflix series Shtisel is to Seinfeld: Jewish as opposed to merely Jew-ish. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo and agencies in Seoul on (#5CJ16)
Japan denounces ruling as ‘unacceptable’ as row over sexual enslavement of women in the second world war enters new chapterJapan has denounced as “utterly unacceptable” a South Korean court ruling ordering it to pay damages to women who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese military before and during the second world war.The Seoul central district court on Friday said Japan was liable to compensate 12 women who forced to work as so-called “comfort women”, in a ruling that is expected to inflict further damage on the countries’ already fraught ties. Continue reading...
The Oscar-winning Beale Street actor on success and her sharply topical feature debut, a civil rights-era film that coincided with the explosive rise of Black Lives MatterTo say Regina King is “having a moment” feels a little inappropriate, considering that she is 35 years into her career. But it also feels like an understatement. In the past five years she has won an Oscar, four Emmys and numerous other awards for her performances in a string of acclaimed titles, including Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk, the prescient comic-book miniseries Watchmen and the Netflix race-crime drama Seven Seconds. As well as marching her down several miles of red carpet, the flurry of attention has catapulted her into a new echelon of star power.Now she is also making waves as a director. Her debut feature, One Night in Miami, was the first film directed by an African American woman ever to screen at the Venice film festival. The resultant acclaim, combined with the resonance of the civil rights-era story, puts it in contention for the upcoming awards season; she is considered a shoo-in for the best director shortlists. Everything King touches seems to be turning to gold right now. What’s her secret? Continue reading...
Mammoth task to collate magical folklore of Anatolian plateau involves thousands of storiesOnce upon a time, in the old, old days when the mouse was a barber, and the donkey ran errands, and the tortoise baked bread, there was a great mountain called Kaf Daği on the border of the spirit realm, from which many of the fairytales and myths of the Middle East sprang forth.Today, Kaf Daği is thought to be somewhere in the Caucasus mountain range that separates the Black Sea from the Caspian. In this magical place – also known as Jabal Qaf in Arabic and Kuh-e Qaf in Persian – princes are cursed by witches, who turn them into stags; beautiful maidens are birthed from oranges; and sultans, courtiers, slaves and farmers alike are at the mercy of the peri (fairies) and ifrit (demons) that populate the Turkish fairyland. Continue reading...
New Zealand’s pride in its progressive human rights record is belied by how it treats its people in prisons, say advocates after last week’s standoffWhen images appeared last week of 16 prisoners standing on the smoking roof of Waikeria Prison’s high-security unit, justice advocate Julia Whaipooti was not surprised.The prisoners had been involved in a six-day standoff with guards that started as complaints over alleged inhumane conditions. They had created make-shift weapons and started several fires, setting mattresses alight. They lounged in collapsible chairs while guards waited below, clad in riot gear. By the end of the standoff, much of the prison’s top level was burned out, the roof partially collapsed. Continue reading...
by Hilary Hosia in Majuro and Ben Doherty Pacific Edi on (#5CHXS)
Dozens of women from the Pacific island victims of brazen trafficking ring that operated for yearsRolson Price still scans Facebook for her picture. He’s seen her occasionally, at the periphery of someone else’s photo, instantly recognisable.But he’s never met her, and concedes he never will. Continue reading...
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