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I’d love to suggest I embarked on my career with a grand plan. But really, it was just me wanting to meet people I like to watch

As her novel Half of a Yellow Sun is hailed as the Women’s prize ‘winner of winners’, the Nigerian-born, US-based author talks about her relief over Joe Biden’s victory – and the bittersweet highs of a difficult yearA few hours before Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and I are due to speak, the result of the US election is finally called. The Nigerian novelist, who is based in Maryland but is currently in Lagos, where she spends part of the year, had been on her way back from taking her daughter to a birth­day party when she heard the news. “The moment that we’ve been waiting for,” she says. “Everyone was calling: my best friend, my mum, my sister called, we were all sort of screaming down the phone.” Her husband, a hospital doctor, had returned to the US the previous week. “He and I were going crazy,” she says. “I was almost close to tears because I thought this is really about people who just want decency back. I feel it is really not ideological, it is more about wanting something human and humane. I find it so moving.”As it is for so many, her relief is tempered by disappointment at Donald Trump’s unexpectedly strong perform­ance. “I’ve always felt that Trump is as much America as Obama,” she says. “People on the left like to say ‘This is not America’, but actually it is. If you look at the history of America, it is not that surprising that Trump is so popular.” People feel “very threatened” both by the idea of a more inclusive, multiracial politics and women having more overt power, she says. So the victory for Kamala Harris as the first black female vice-president-elect is all the more thrilling. “It is impossible to talk about her, about what’s happened today, without thinking about what might happen in four or eight years – that she might in fact become president,” Adichie says. “Even if just for the symbolism of it, because the symbolic nature of leadership is important.” Continue reading...

Advisory board set up by president-elect to play high-profile role as pandemic enters its deadliest phase so farPresident-elect Joe Biden has set up a 13-member coronavirus advisory board will play a high-profile role in helping the Biden-Harris administration contain the coronavirus pandemic in the US as it enters its deadliest phase so far.Related: Officials condemn Trump's false claims and say election 'most secure in US history' Continue reading...

Sales of £15m-plus English country homes breaking records as wealthy families ‘recalibrate their priorities’

Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of trust set up by his ancestors, but seized by Nazis in 1938A Rothschild descendant has claimed an initial victory in a legal battle with the city of Vienna over a medical trust set up by his ancestors, seized by Nazis and now controlled by the city.Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of the trust, which he claims has been hollowed out by town hall officials who have made themselves administrator and potential beneficiary of assets worth up to €110m (£98m). Continue reading...

You don’t have to be a polymath like Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit to improve your game

NSW, South Australia and Queensland all report Covid-19 cases of people in quarantine

Thought up by a tired new mother, and now backed by Bill Gates, manufactured human milk sounds like the stuff of science fiction. But just how liberating will it be?Dr Leila Strickland became a mother when she was a few months away from completing her postdoctorate fellowship in cell biology at Stanford University. She spent the first three months of her son’s life “at home on maternity leave, relentlessly struggling to breastfeed. I was having a hard time producing enough milk.” She never expected to find feeding her baby a greater challenge than advanced cytology.“My mom breastfed me and my sister until we were over two years old. All my life, I’d fully embraced the proposition that breast milk is the best nutrition for a baby, and that this is what I would feed my baby.” Lactation consultants, paediatricians and well-meaning friends told her to just keep trying. “Because I was so unprepared for it, I found it really isolating. I felt like there was something wrong with me.” Continue reading...

Junior, 35, international student recruiter, meets Lizzi, 29, lingerie buyerWhat were you hoping for?

The US election, lockdown in London, flooding in the Philippines, and rising cases of Covid-19: the most striking images from around the world Continue reading...

The fire was burning from north of Lake Bowarrady in the vicinity of Awinya Road, south towards CathedralsResidents of Cathedrals on Fraser Island were urged to leave on Saturday as a significant bushfire burned towards the area and conditions deteriorated.The Queensland Fire and Emergency service said the blaze was expected to impact on the local community late on Saturday afternoon. It said people should follow their bushfire survival plans. Continue reading...

Nauroze Anees released from Villawood after administrative appeals tribunal finds he is not of bad characterA Pakistani man who was held in immigration detention by Australia for 1,490 days says his release feels “like a dream”.Nauroze Anees was freed after the administrative appeals tribunal found he should not have a visa application refused on character grounds. Continue reading...

New report is latest sign that leadership is losing trust of ethnic minority supportersMore than half of Muslim members of the Labour party do not trust Keir Starmer to tackle Islamophobia, with nearly the same proportion saying they do not have confidence in the party’s complaints process, a new poll has found.The report by the Labour Muslim Network (LMN) is the latest sign that the party’s new leadership is losing the trust of minority ethnic members and supporters, even as it struggles to recover from an antisemitism crisis that led to a collapse in support from Jewish voters. Continue reading...

With 29 of the 34 elected LNP MPs white men, new leader David Crisafulli faces an uphill battle to appeal to a diverse electorateIf evidence was needed to show the Queensland Liberal National party was facing an identity crisis after losing last month’s state election, it arrived in the inbox of members of its governing executive committee this week.“The president has signalled her intention to commence a broad strategic review of the party,” the email said. Continue reading...

Charismatic military leader and elected president of Ghana who dominated political life in the 1980s and 90sJerry Rawlings, the former military leader then twice-elected president of Ghana, who has died aged 73, dominated the country’s political life for two decades in the 1980s and 90s.In May 1979, Flt Lt Rawlings of the Ghanaian air force burst on to the country’s political scene. With a handful of officers, he launched an unsuccessful coup d’etat against a corrupt and discredited military government headed by Gen Fred Akuffo, shortly before a planned election. Continue reading...

Serial killer was serving 20 life terms for murder of 13 women across north of England in late 1970sPeter Sutcliffe, the serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, has died in hospital, a Prison Service spokesman said.Sutcliffe, 74, was serving 20 life terms at Frankland prison in County Durham for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more in the late 1970s. Continue reading...

Number of people dying from the disease also increased by 50% since 2016, according to data from the WHO and CDCThe number of measles cases worldwide surged to nearly 900,000 in 2019, the highest figure in more than two decades, underlining a significant U-turn in global progress to combat the disease.Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of people dying from measles also increased by 50% since 2016, with an estimated 207,500 deaths in 2019 alone. Continue reading...

Authorities suspend accounts of supporters and fine media for ‘exaggerated reporting’Nigerian authorities have enforced a sweeping crackdown of “end Sars” protesters against police brutality in recent weeks, charging prominent supporters of financing terrorism and sanctioning coverage of recent abuses by security forces.Authorities have suspended the bank accounts of prominent supporters, fined media agencies accused of “exaggerated reporting” of police abuses – including broadcasting graphic footage of soldiers gunning down protesters in Lagos last month – and conducted arrests of demonstrators. Continue reading...

Rai Rai Ken is back in business in Tokyo but pandemic has taken a heavy toll on ramen shops

Teacher Juan Margallo has found inventive ways of letting dancers practise safely

With the winner due to be announced next week, the six novelists up for the Booker prize reveal their inspirationsShuggie Bain Continue reading...

It will take months to roll out immunisation, and the PM’s top adviser is leaving just in time to avoid his Brexit aftermath

As Poland attempts to pass a new abortion law that amounts to a near-total ban on terminations, including in cases where a baby is sure to die soon after birth, the country's biggest protests in four decades have erupted, with Polish women challenging church as well as state. Karolina Więckiewicz is a lawyer with the charity Abortion Without Borders, which advises Polish women on abortions and helps them to avail of safe, legal procedures overseas. We follow her on to the streets as women of all ages rise up to demand rights over their own bodies, and an end to social stigma around sex and abortion Continue reading...

For EU leaders to seek solutions abroad to end prejudice against millions of their own citizens is insulting and meaninglessTerror attacks in France and Austria have put Europe’s 25 million Muslims back in the spotlight. The unwanted attention is familiar. Discussing Muslims as a security risk invariably reaches fever pitch after an Islamist-inspired terrorist act. This time the attackers came from Chechnya, Tunisia and North Macedonia. But never mind: anxiety over the Muslim “enemy within” goes deep.Anxious debates on the place of Islam in Europe and claims that European Muslims are footsoldiers in an existential confrontation between Europe and Islam and represent an impossible-to-integrate “other” have dogged Muslims across the continent for decades. Continue reading...

Auction house sold painting by John Robinson that was advertised as a work by Colin McCahon, including a forged signature and false dateA painting created as a tribute to one of New Zealand’s most influential modern artists has been sold at a London auction house as an original, leaving the artist whose work it actually was “bewildered” as to how such a mistake could have been made.John Robinson, who lives in Dunedin, painted the “Untitled” black and white oil on paper as a tribute to the late New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon. Continue reading...

Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat

Labour’s smart politics will come at the expense of its fundamental values, and be driven by its desire to stay in powerThe prime minister of New Zealand has just begun a victory lap of the country, though Jacinda Ardern would prefer we think of it more as a “thank you” tour.After a successful but gruelling six-week election campaign she is hitting the two-lane blacktop once again, deploying to the regions of New Zealand. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ugur Şahin says he and Pfizer CEO received results night before announcement

Turkmenistan's leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, solemnly inaugurated a monument for his favourite breed of dog, the nationally revered alabai.The gold-leaf six-metre statue of the central Asian shepherd dog is the centrepiece of a busy roundabout in the country's capital, Ashgabat.

Michelle Williams, 46, suffered cardiac arrest during rhinoplasty surgeryA British woman from London who has spent nearly three months fighting for her life in a Turkish hospital after an operation went wrong is finally being flown back home, her family have said.Michelle Williams, 46, was placed in intensive care after suffering a cardiac arrest during surgery on 14 August. Her relatives had been desperate to repatriate her so they could oversee her care. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn that roads and laybys are already littered with urine and excrement

Site adds notice to resort’s listing setting out details of dispute that led to defamation arrestTripadvisor has placed a warning on a Thai resort’s listing after the resort sued an American expat over a negative review, briefly landing him in police custody.In July, Wesley Barnes wrote of encountering “unfriendly staff” and accused the Sea View hotel and spa on Koh Chang island of “modern-day slavery”, following a dispute over a corkage fee. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson had offered the current director of communications the chief of staff role, sparking protestsA row has broken out at the heart of Downing Street as one of Boris Johnson’s most senior aides – and a close ally of Dominic Cummings - resigned amid bitter infighting.Lee Cain announced he would step down as director of communications on Wednesday night after ministers and advisers including Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, are said to have protested over his planned promotion to chief of staff. Continue reading...

Workers in centre of city are asked to work from home on Friday after student with no obvious links to areas of risk, tests positive

Texas becomes first to record a million cases as a state as experts warn White House appears to be doing little to control pandemicThe US has recorded more than 1m new coronavirus cases in just the past 10 days as the national total soared past 10m cases amid a widespread surge – while Texas on Wednesday became the first to record a million cases as a state.The soaring figures came as the US also recorded its highest single-day total of new cases, and experts warned that even though successful vaccines are coming into view the White House appears to be doing little to contain a pandemic increasingly out of control. Continue reading...

Outrage after Beijing imposes new law allowing disqualification of ‘unpatriotic’ legislatorsHong Kong has plunged further into crisis as a new law imposed by Beijing allowing the disqualification of “unpatriotic” opposition members prompted the entire pro-democracy caucus to announce their resignation.Four sitting legislators were disqualified with immediate effect, with the move heralded as the end of political opposition in the city and “the death-knell of Hong Kong’s democracy fight”. Continue reading...

Testing was suspended after the death of a participant, but officials say it had no relation to the trials

Māori singer and actor tells all in his book about his rise from poverty and abuse to healing and acceptance• Warning: this article includes details some readers may find disturbingIt is the day of his much-anticipated book release and Māori superstar Stan Walker is celebrating with a glass of red wine in the garage.Not the fanfare you might expect for the release of his first book, but Walker says he never throws launch parties for anything. A hark back to his past perhaps – to a little boy who felt he was never allowed to be excited about his achievements or celebrate anything. Continue reading...

Nigerian author’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun, which won in 2007, named the best book in the prize’s 25-year history by the publicThirteen years after she won the Women’s prize for fiction, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel about the Biafran war, Half of a Yellow Sun, has been voted the “winner of winners” of the literary award in a public vote.The one-off prize, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the award, was judged by members of the public, who were asked to name their favourite of the 25 winners. Adichie’s novel, which follows the lives of several characters caught up in the civil war in Nigeria in the late 1960s, beat titles including Zadie Smith’s On Beauty and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin. More than 8,500 people voted, according to the prize. Continue reading...

Government confirms four-day weekend to mark the Queen’s 70-year reignIt might be more than 18 months to wait, but the nation is set to be treated with an extra day off to mark the Queen reaching 70 years on the throne.As part of what is being billed as a “blockbuster” celebration for Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee in 2022, people will enjoy a UK-wide four-day weekend in recognition of the first time that a British monarch reaches the milestone. Continue reading...

Someone said to me: ‘Do you really think you can do a law degree? It’s hard.’ I said: ‘Being a single mother and raising four children by myself is hard’I never considered leaving my home town, or going to university, when I was growing up. I thought that I would live in Mount Isa all my life, and find a job there in one of the shops. No one I knew at that time lived outside of Mount Isa.I am Wannyi/Kalkadoon, and I was born prematurely as my mother had cancer. Sadly, she passed six months later. My sister said I was small, but a fighter. I was the youngest of 12 children. Growing up, my father eventually had to go back out to the stations to work as a cook, while my elder sisters and my mother’s family helped look after us. Continue reading...

Longtime staff writer, who had been suspended, tweets that he will ‘always love the magazine’The New Yorker has parted ways with longtime staff writer Jeffrey Toobin after he reportedly exposed himself during a Zoom conference last month. He had already been suspended and is also on leave from CNN, where he has been a legal commentator.“I was fired today by @NewYorker after 27 years as a Staff Writer. I will always love the magazine, will miss my colleagues, and will look forward to reading their work,” Toobin tweeted on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Special Armistice Day ceremony lauds contribution of wartime courier who died in 1944

Saadallah, 26, was due to go on trial later this month for attack that killed three men in JuneA man has pleaded guilty to stabbing three men to death as they enjoyed a summer evening in a Reading park in what police said was a terrorist rampage.At the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Khairi Saadallah admitted to the killings on 20 June this year. Continue reading...

Fire was started after collision at Edmonton station just before 7pm on Wednesday eveningA man has been arrested after a car crashed into a London police station and a fire was started, triggering a major incident.The vehicle ploughed into the station office of Edmonton police station in north London just before 7pm on Wednesday evening. Police said a man was arrested at the scene. Continue reading...

Nicaragua and Honduras bear the brunt as storms cause landslides and flooding, and leave 100 deadThe active north Atlantic hurricane season continued through last week with Hurricane Eta making landfall as a category 4 storm to the south of Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua. The storm weakened as it moved slowly inland towards Honduras through the week. Some areas saw as much as 550mm of rain (22 inches), leading to landslides and flooding. At least 100 people have died as a result.Spain and Portugal also had some anomalously high rainfall totals last week as low pressure lingered nearby. Eastern Spain was particularly wet with Valencia getting 100mm on 5 November, compared with the November monthly average of just 37mm. Flash flooding followed, leading to the suspension of schools and road closures. Wind and hail also damaged and estimated €8m (£7m) worth of crops. Continue reading...

Officials say there have been no bear encounters since arrival of robots in wolves’ clothingA Japanese town has deployed robot wolves in an effort to scare away bears that have become an increasingly dangerous nuisance in the countryside.The town of Takikawa, on the northern island of Hokkaido, purchased and installed two Monster Wolf robots after bears were found roaming neighbourhoods in September. City officials said there had been no bear encounters since. Continue reading...

Letby, 30, due to face eight murder charges and 10 of attempted murder in court on Thursday, police sayA nurse has been charged with eight counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder following an investigation into baby deaths at the Countess of Chester hospital neonatal unit, police have said.Lucy Letby, 30, was due to appear at Warrington magistrates court on Thursday to face the charges, a spokesman for Cheshire police said. Continue reading...

Milestone reached on Wednesday after a further 595 people died, bringing total to 50,365

Tens of thousands of supporters greet Bolivian ex-president during his triumphant return to ChimoréTens of thousands of jubilant followers have welcomed Evo Morales back to the coca-growing region from which he fled into exile exactly one year ago after what they branded a racist rightwing coup.“Evo, Evo, Evo,” chanted the people who had travelled from all over Bolivia to witness their leader’s triumphant return home in the jungle-flanked town of Chimoré. Continue reading...