Landmark ruling that toxic fumes killed nine-year-old Londoner follows long campaign for truthUntil now, the statistics on air pollution deaths have been presented in black and white – numbers on a page that estimate between 28,000 and 36,000 people will die as a result of toxic air pollution every year in the UK.But the life and death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah is in full colour: from the pictures of her wearing her gymnastics leotard hung with medals, to the image of her mother and siblings holding aloft her photograph, when they no longer had her to hold on to, as they campaigned for the truth. Continue reading...

Support for Yoshihide Suga plunges as his travel policy is blamed in part for rise in infections

Court dismisses attorney general’s appeal against manslaughter, as well as killers’ appeals against custodial termsThe sentences given to the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who was dragged to his death in August 2019, will not be increased after challenges at the court of appeal.Harper, 28, was caught in a strap attached to the back of a car driven by Henry Long, 19, and dragged along a winding country road as Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire on the night of 15 August 2019. Continue reading...

Plus: federal government takes China to WTO over barley tariffs, and storm and flood warnings issued for NSW. Follow the latest updates

In the Netflix docuseries Break It All, the fascinating and under-reported legacy of rock music in Latin America is finally given its dueIn most British or American documentaries about rock bands, the bad guys are the managers or record executives who steal the group’s money or force them to compromise their art. In the new Netflix docuseries Break It All, which covers the sprawling history of rock bands in Latin America, the bad guys far exceed that level of evil. “With the military junta in Argentina, we were facing real enemies,” said Nicolas Entel, who wrote the series. “In Chile, they were standing up to Pinochet. You can’t get a character that’s more evil than Pinochet.”“People were put in jail for being musicians,” said Gustavo Santaolalla, a seminal figure in the Latin rock scene who served as a producer on the project. “So there’s tremendous context for this music.” Continue reading...

The story of how the US and its allies overthrew a despotic regime and made things much worse succeeded brilliantly by focusing on moving personal storiesLike all the best documentaries, Once Upon a Time in Iraq is just some people telling a story. Here they are dramatically lit, often no more than faces emerging from the darkness: the civilians, journalists and soldiers who had no option but to experience the war in Iraq first-hand. It was happening in front of them, to them. It’s the viewpoint that perspective – a slippery notion – too easily avoids.At first we are not even certain who these people are, but that doesn’t make their stories any less powerful. Across five shattering instalments, Once Upon a Time in Iraq gradually reveals their former identities, peeling back layers: translators trying to survive; journalists trying to bear witness; soldiers who came to bestow freedom. There are no politicians offering global justifications or hindsight-tinged regrets here; participation is limited to folks with front-row seats. When the politicians do appear it’s in the comprehensive archive footage of the period, speaking the language of victory and freedom. None of what they have to say has aged well. Continue reading...

For health, wellbeing and life chances children need an education – and we must not let Covid drag us back to the bad old days

Public statements by Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan at times contrast what inquiry was told had been said in privateAfter the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, the companies that made the cladding reacted with horror.The insulation manufacturer Celotex said it was “shocked by the tragic events”. The “rainscreen” maker Arconic was “devastated” and stressed that the causes of the fire were “not yet known”. Continue reading...

Sydney now has three cases transmitted outside hotel quarantine, with health authorities racing to identify the sources

Shinji Aoba was arrested after attack in July 2019 in which 36 people died

The British artist’s groundbreaking 1986 book Between was inspired by psychoanalysis, post-structuralism and a rejection of art as mere commerce. Yet it contains themes common to us all Continue reading...

More than 100,000 tonnes of lumber from taiga region enters EU countries in illegal timber scandalDIY shops across Europe are selling wood taken illegally from Russia’s far-east taiga region, where corruption is contributing to the rapid destruction of virgin forests, a report has claimed.More than 100,000 tonnes of lumber have entered Germany, France and other EU countries as part of one of Russia’s biggest illegal timber scandals, it is alleged. The business is in turn linked to two companies registered in the UK. Continue reading...

The actor is tired of talking about race, but the trolling of his latest film shows why he still has to. He talks religion, the secret of his happy marriage – and why he worried he had failed the legacy of Martin Luther KingDavid Oyelowo is tired of talking about racism. After all, he has spent a professional lifetime doing so – not surprisingly, as this has been the focus of many of his films. So it was with some relief that he found himself starring in an escapist children’s movie that has nothing to do with it. Yet two months before its release, Come Away hit the headlines – as a racism story.Come Away is a fantasy about a fantasy; the whimsical tale of parents bringing up young children who just happen to be Peter Pan and Alice from Wonderland. Oyelowo plays the father, while Angelina Jolie plays the mother. Astonishingly, the fact that Alice and Peter are mixed-race has fuelled a campaign against the film. Continue reading...

Opponents say campaign letters warning over council tax rises are disingenuousThe Conservative party’s candidate for London mayor has drawn cross-party condemnation for sending voters letters using fake “City Hall” insignia, the second time the campaign has used similar tactics in recent weeks.Letters sent to potential voters by the campaign of Shaun Bailey said Londoners’ taxes would rise “If you do not take action”, in language that echoed financial penalty notices. Continue reading...

Hospitalizations in the state are double the summertime peak seen earlier in the pandemic, threatening to overwhelm the systemCalifornia is distributing 5,000 body bags mostly to the hard-hit Los Angeles and San Diego areas and has 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues in anticipation of a surge of coronavirus deaths.The precautions come from hospitalizations that now are double the summertime peak seen earlier in the pandemic, and which threaten to soon overwhelm the state’s already taxed hospital system. Continue reading...

Her tribute to the feminist icon caused outrage at last month’s unveiling, but the artist has no regrets. She hits back at her critics – and explains why this women’s rights pioneer had to be nakedMaggi Hambling is listing her favourite sculpted penises. “The Elgin marbles,” she says. “Michelangelo’s David. And Shelley’s, though it is rather small.” She means the Shelley memorial, Edward Onslow Ford’s attempt to depict the sea-shrunken corpse of the drowned poet. She takes a drag on her cigarette, exhales and giggles.We’re sitting on the pavement outside the Marlborough Gallery in Mayfair so Hambling can have a cigarette. It’s stupidly cold but this is the only place we can do the interview, unless the artist quits. And that’s not going to happen. She is an incorrigible smoker, refusing to be photographed without a cigarette in hand. Until recently, the gallery made an exception, allowing Hambling to light up inside. “But the people in the offices above objected to the smell,” she says. “They threatened to close down my show.” So she has evicted herself from her own exhibition for the length of four cigarettes and a coffee. Continue reading...

‘Health-wise it’s probably not great to let your kids play in it,’ lifesaver says

Ambulances formed queues outside several hospitals as the region’s circuit-breaker lockdown fails to stop rise in Covid-19 casesQueues of ambulances have formed outside several hospitals in Northern Ireland as pressure continued to mount on the region’s health service.The scenes unfolded as first minister, Arlene Foster, participated in a call with other UK political leaders to review the planned relaxation of restrictions on household gatherings over Christmas. Continue reading...

Royal commission into abuse in state care between 1950 and 1999 found victims were ‘most disadvantaged or marginalised’A quarter of a million New Zealanders held in state care suffered some form of abuse, a landmark inquiry has found, with the true number believed to be higher.The royal commission into abuse in state care is investigating historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults by state-run institutions between 1950 and 1999, as well as in affiliated religious institutions, such as church-run orphanages. Continue reading...

Northern NSW and south-east Queensland hit by heavy rain, strong winds and king tides. Continue reading...

Activists hail new law that will speed up rape trials, protect the identity of victims and create a sex offenders registerPakistan’s president has approved a much-awaited new law requiring the establishment of special courts to speedily conclude trials of people charged with raping women or children, a move hailed by rights activists.The law, which must be approved by parliament to remain in effect, requires courts to conclude the trials of alleged rapists and issue verdicts within four months. It also prohibits the disclosure of the identity of rape victims and will create a national sex offenders register. Continue reading...

Comments to Italian media are the strongest cardinal has made alleging abuse charges may be linked to Vatican corruption investigation

UK conference brings together more than 60 leaders, demanding an international ban on conversion practicesSenior faith leaders from around the world are coming together at an event backed by the UK government to call for an end to the criminalisation of LGBT+ people and a global ban on conversion practices.More than 370 figures from 35 countries representing 10 religions have signed a historic declaration ahead of a conference on 16 December in a move that will highlight divisions within global religions. Continue reading...

Report says Foreign Office should formally declare detention of foreign nationals as ‘hostage taking’The UK should do more to constrain Iran by proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist group and formally describe the Iranian practice of detaining British dual nationals as state hostage taking, the all-party foreign affairs select committee has said.The report finds that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s current approach to seeking the release of detainees is not working. There are least four British-Iranian dual-nationals either in jail, on a tag in Tehran or sentenced to lengthy jail terms, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Continue reading...

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Law also requires foreign officials in the country to share any intelligence they have obtained with Mexican officialsMexico’s congress has approved a new national security law restricting the activities of foreign law enforcement officers, in a move which critics say will endanger intelligence sources and threaten the future of international anti-narcotics operations.The law passed on Tuesday strips foreign agents of diplomatic immunity and requires foreign officials in the country to share any intelligence they have obtained with Mexican officials. Continue reading...

Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador both acknowledged Democrat’s win after six-week hesitationThe populist leaders of Brazil and Mexico have both finally recognized Joe Biden’s election victory after facing heavy criticism for their six-week hesitation.“Greetings to President Joe Biden with my best wishes and the hope that the US continues to be the land of the free and the home of the brave,” the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, a pre-eminent Donald Trump admirer, tweeted late on Tuesday afternoon. “I will be ready to work with the new government.” Continue reading...

Limit on gatherings to two households among options being discussed as infections surge

Designer facing class action lawsuit in the United States alleging the sexual assault of dozens of womenFashion mogul Peter Nygård has been arrested in Canada after US authorities charged him with with racketeering and sex trafficking, alleging decades of crimes that left dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada.Nygård, who is 79, was arrested in Winnipeg under the extradition act on Monday and made an initial appearance in court on Tuesday. He wore a white face mask, a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, with his long white hair pulled back in a bun. He has denied wrongdoing. Continue reading...

No 10 said to have reached a compromise over fishing vessels to be majority British-owned in futureDowning Street has watered down a key demand over post-Brexit fishing rights as part of a broader compromise, EU sources said as Germany’s ambassador in Brussels said there was a chance of a deal by the weekend.The UK dropped a push for fishing vessels operating under the UK flag to be majority British-owned in the future, it was claimed. Continue reading...

Exceptions are the rule in the Australian government’s policy of deterring asylum seekers – and they are ‘arbitrary and cruel’Two in every five asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat after 19 July 2013 were not sent to offshore detention.The numbers give lie to the assertions of successive federal governments. When he announced the policy, then prime minister Kevin Rudd said: “Arriving in Australia by boat will no longer mean settlement in Australia.” Scott Morrison’s term as immigration minister is famous for his soundbite delivered to boat arrivals sent offshore: “You will never live in Australia.” Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary not told about behaviour of ‘high risk agent’ when asked to re-authorise special statusMI6 failed to make clear to the foreign secretary that a “high risk agent” operating overseas had probably engaged in “serious criminality” until it was pointed out by an independent regulator last year.The spy agency was asking the minister – either Dominic Raab or his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt – to renew authorisation of the agent’s activities despite the apparent criminality without being “expressly clear” as to what had happened. Continue reading...

Paris mayor to pay fine of €90,000 for breaking national rules in 2018 on gender parityParis city authorities have been fined for employing too many women in senior positions, a decision mocked as absurd by the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, on Tuesday.The fine of €90,000 (£81,000) was demanded by France’s public service ministry on the grounds that Paris city hall had broken national rules on gender parity in its 2018 staffing. Continue reading...

Most private providers are unable to offer the service, which should have cut quarantine from to 10 days to five

The death of Jeffrey Epstein sparked a worldwide search for his former associate. How did the woman now known as Inmate 02879-509 keep such a low profile for so long?This time last year, Ghislaine Maxwell was off the grid. The Oxford-educated socialite was lying low as the focus of a frenzied media hunt pivoted to her after the suicide of her erstwhile lover Jeffrey Epstein.“For Ghislaine-watchers, the autumn of 2019 through to the summer of 2020 was a mystery,” says Mark Seal, the Vanity Fair special correspondent who followed her story. “She was said to be hiding in a submarine, lying low in Israel, in the FBI witness protection programme, in a luxurious villa in the south of France, sunning herself on the coast of Spain, or in some high-security doomsday bunker owned by rich and powerful friends – all seemingly possible, but all, thus far at least, wrong,” he adds. Continue reading...

College apologises for ‘shocking and insulting’ video call gaffe after tutor compares a student’s presentation to having teeth drilledThe 2020 curse of the video meeting has struck again after two Irish lecturers forgot to switch off their cameras while heaping scorn on students who had just given virtual presentations.Related: The Zoom boom: how video-calling became a blessing – and a curse Continue reading...

Martin Adler, 96, speaks with the three children - now age 79 to 83 - by video call in ‘Christmas miracle’A 96-year-old retired American soldier has been reunited with three children he almost accidentally shot in 1944 while liberating an Italian mountain village from the Nazis.Martin Adler fought along the Gothic Line, and in October 1944 was among the US troops liberating the area surrounding Monterenzio, a village in the Apennines mountains close to Bologna. Continue reading...

FoI response shows 29 people died - five times as many as lost their lives in perilous Channel crossingsTwenty-nine asylum seekers have died in Home Office accommodation so far this year – five times as many as those who have lost their lives on perilous Channel small boat crossings over the same period.The Guardian obtained the figure in a freedom of information response from the Home Office, which does not publish deaths data. The identities of the majority of those who died have not been made public and the circumstances of their deaths are unclear. Continue reading...

I thought my friends bought me fizz because I was fun. In fact, it was because they barely knew me any moreSomeone once told me a story about Mariah Carey that goes like this: in an interview, Carey is asked to name her drink of choice. “Prosecco,” she replies, matter-of-factly. Unsatisfied with this answer (of course the glitter-loving songstress drinks wine that sparkles), the journalist pushes on. “Sure,” they say, “but what else?”“Just prosecco,” Carey replies. Continue reading...

The mayor of London has criticised the government's Covid tier system, calling it a 'blunt instrument being retrofitted around solutions that are not as effective as they should be'. The city will be placed in tier 3 from 16 December, meaning bars and restaurants must close.Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Khan said the majority of new infections in the capital were among school-age children. 'I see very few children of that age in pubs, bars and restaurants,' Khan said. He urged the government to close secondary schools so that pupils do not pass on the virus to older relatives over Christmas

Number of cases, while still tiny by western standards, is on the rise

Lincolnshire police make third arrest in connection with death of 12-year-old boyA 13-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a 12-year-old boy.It is the third arrest linked to the investigation into the death of Roberts Buncis, after a 14-year-old appeared in court charged with murder on Monday. Continue reading...

Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, admitted killing nine people he befriended online after they expressed suicidal thoughtsA court in Japan has sentenced to death a man dubbed the “Twitter killer” for the murders in 2017 of nine people whom he befriended online after they had expressed suicidal thoughts.Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, admitted strangling and dismembering his victims, eight of whom were women, over the course of three months. The youngest was 15 and the oldest 26. Continue reading...

Drug baron remains in jail while he appeals other guilty verdicts citing involvement of lawyer-turned-police informant Nicola GobboLittle time was wasted on pleasantries during the first meeting between the gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo and the police officers who were handling her as an informant in 2005.“Tell us everything you know about Tony Mokbel,” was how the police handler known as Mr White started the meeting. Continue reading...

Frontbench changes sparked by Simon Birmingham’s move to finance, replacing Mathias CormannSpeculation has increased in Coalition ranks that Scott Morrison will hand the trade portfolio to the education minister, Dan Tehan, when the prime minister reshuffles his frontbench either late this week or at the weekend.While government insiders insist the prime minister’s looming frontbench overhaul will be modest, the prime minister needs to appoint a new trade minister. That’s because the South Australian Liberal senator Simon Birmingham has been promoted to finance, replacing the departing Mathias Cormann, who is on the campaign trail to run the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Continue reading...

Many migrant women have been cooped up in employers’ homes for months, unable to take time off or travel to families

Nanaia Mahuta says Canberra and Beijing ‘will have to be willing to come together and concede in some areas’New Zealand’s new foreign minister has said the country could help negotiate a truce between Australia and regional heavyweight China with the two nations caught in an escalating trade and diplomatic spat.Nanaia Mahuta said on Tuesday that hosting the high-profile Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next year presented an opportunity for New Zealand to bring both parties to the table. Continue reading...

As food shortages worsen due to drought and the economic insecurity of lockdown, one in three children are malnourished

In landmark investigation, Law Enforcement Conduct Commission calls on state MPs to clarify lawThe New South Wales police watchdog has called on the state’s parliament to clarify whether officers are allowed to force people to squat or move their genitals during a strip-search, with a landmark investigation into the controversial practice finding its legality “remains debatable”.The NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission on Tuesday released the final report of its two-year investigation into the police use of strip-search powers. Continue reading...

The archipelago nation, whose close relationship with Taipei has angered Beijing previously, stops boat alleged to have been harvesting sea cucumber in its watersA Chinese fishing vessel and its 28 crew have been detained in Palau, authorities said, creating a delicate diplomatic situation for the tiny Pacific nation, which is allied with Beijing’s rival Taiwan.The boat, alleged to have been illegally harvesting sea cucumber, was intercepted by a patrol boat at Helen Reef, in Palau’s territorial waters, and escorted to the main island of Koror. Continue reading...