Partisan tactics once used to fight the Nazis have been turned against Alexander Lukashenko’s brutally repressive regimeIn Minsk, what people here call the Great Patriotic War is never far away. Monuments, street names and museums venerate the memory of the awful years from 1941 to 1945, when the Soviet Union was at war with Nazi Germany.Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has used the years of partisan resistance against the Nazi occupation of the country, and the eventual victory by the Red Army, as the basis for a neo-Soviet, Belarusian identity. Continue reading...
For years, I repressed thinking about three things that shaped my life and my body. But the fourth blow of coronavirus pushed it all out into the openFor six years now, I have been writing down three good things that have happened in my day, every day. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are. It could be having pastries in bed. Spotting a fox in the garden. Successfully descaling a kettle. I do not call this my gratitude journal, because I am not a motivational wellness blogger. But I have found it vital, in order to rewire my brain to focus on the things that have gone right. Left unattended, my thoughts have a tendency to slip into a downward spiral, to somewhere much darker.I grew up in Italy, where there is a saying: “Non c’è due senza tre”, which roughly means “Good (or bad) things come in threes”. For most of my adult life, there have been three main issues that have preoccupied my thoughts when I’m lying in bed at night. I have guarded them preciously: I barely mention them, even to my closest friends. But, sometimes, repressing thoughts takes more effort than confronting them. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#5A3KK)
‘Mother Suu’ remains popular despite coronavirus, conflict in Rakhine state and genocide chargesVoters across Myanmar have gone to the polls for an election that is expected to return to power the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains hugely popular at home despite allegations of a genocide that have destroyed her reputation abroad.Queues of people waited in line, in some cases for hours, to cast their ballots on Sunday in what is the country’s second general election since the end of full military rule. Most were wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus. The country has confirmed more than 60,000 infections, the majority of which were reported since mid-August. Continue reading...
Apolistic Library, facing 100 threats a month, wants to ensure readers can trust digitised records of its historical treasuresAncient intellects are now being guarded by artificial intelligence following moves to protect one of the most extraordinary collections of historical manuscripts and documents in the world from cyber-attacks.The Vatican Apostolic Library, which holds 80,000 documents of immense importance and immeasurable value, including the oldest surviving copy of the Bible and drawings and writings from Michelangelo and Galileo, has partnered with a cyber-security firm to defend its ambitious digitisation project against criminals. Continue reading...
by Toby Helm, Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Lisa O'Ca on (#5A3JT)
Whitehall fears that failure to strike a deal with the EU would threaten the special relationshipBoris Johnson will be under even greater pressure to strike a Brexit deal with Brussels when Joe Biden enters the White House, senior Tories and diplomats said on Saturday, amid fears that a no-deal outcome could seriously threaten relations with a new Democratic administration.The Foreign Office and No 10 are urgently trying to assess the implications for UK foreign policy of a Biden presidency, including in areas such as Brexit, climate change, the Middle East, China and Nato. Continue reading...
Abiy Ahmed made his name as a reformer – but was there always an authoritarian waiting to come out?The beginning of the week saw Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, in one role: a forward-looking statesman, with a vision of peace and prosperity, and a tailored suit. The 44-year-old leader was at Addis Ababa’s recently modernised airport to welcome General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, effective leader of neighbouring Sudan for a two-day visit including trade discussions and tours of the Ethiopian capital’s skyscrapers, a seedling nursery and an industrial park. Continue reading...
The historian and author on adapting his phenomenal bestseller into graphic format, why science needs storytellers, and how Covid fuels threats to humanity
The French president’s response to Islam is shot through with hypocrisy and illiberalismLetters complaining about newspaper articles are unexceptional. Not so letters from the Élysée Palace. Last week, the Financial Times published, after the killing of teacher Samuel Paty in Paris and of churchgoers in Nice, an article by its Europe correspondent, Mehreen Khan, critical of French president Emmanuel Macron’s policies towards Islam. Macron’s desire to “use the state to prescribe a ‘correct’ religion”, she wrote, has “more in common with authoritarian Muslim leaders than enlightenment values of separating church and state”.Macron responded with a letter-cum-article defending himself and his policies and accusing Khan of “misquoting” him – he insisted he had never talked of “Islamic separatism”, as Khan suggested, only of “Islamist separatism”. By the time the FT published Macron’s letter, however, it had removed Khan’s article for “factual inaccuracies”. One could read the criticism but not what was being criticised. Newspapers do sometimes excise articles – I’m sure the Observer has done so. But they should do so only in truly exceptional circumstances, and then give a full account as to why. The removal of offending articles after criticism is, however, becoming a more acceptable part of our culture. Continue reading...
Daniel Andrews announces an easing of a range of restrictions but says mask rules must remain in placeDaniel Andrews has announced the so-called “ring of steel” separating metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria will be scrapped along with travel restrictions for city residents, as the state recorded no new cases of Covid-19 and no deaths for the ninth day in a row.Declaring it “a day to be optimistic”, the Victorian premier said on Sunday that the state would take the next step in easing longstanding coronavirus restrictions by removing the checkpoints between Melbourne and the rest of the state from midnight. Continue reading...
Turnbull says Joe Biden’s victory means the US will again take a leading role on climate change and Australia must get with the programKevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull have a history: an uneasy collaboration on climate policy before the Liberal party grabbed that prospect out of Turnbull’s hands in 2009, then, years later, a significant falling out about Rudd’s desire to run the United Nations.More recently there’s been a rapprochement between the two around the campaign for a royal commission that Rudd is spearheading to draw attention to the oversized influence of Rupert Murdoch in both global and local politics courtesy of the market dominance of his media properties – influence the former Labor prime minister characterises as a “cancer”. Continue reading...
Scores of people buried under rivers of mud unleashed by torrential rain in remote mountainous area, as weather front heads to CubaRescue workers have clambered over treacherous roads buried in mud and rubble to reach a remote mountain village in Guatemala swamped by a devastating storm that has killed dozens of people, including 22 members of the same family.Torrential downpours unleashed by Storm Eta toppled trees, engorged swift-moving rivers, and ripped down parts of a mountainside above the village of Queja in the central Guatemalan region of Alta Verapaz, burying dozens of people in their homes. Continue reading...
President-elect Joe Biden promised to 'restore the soul of America' as he declared victory in front of a crowd of supporters on Saturday night in his home town of Wilmington. 'I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn't see red states or blue states but who only sees the United States.'Addressing Trump supporters, Biden said he understood their disappointment because he had lost before. But now, 'let’s give each other a chance', he said. Biden and Kamala Harris hardly mentioned Donald Trump directly in their speeches – instead, they focused on the challenges ahead, including tackling the coronavirus pandemic
The US president’s blind faith in the power of positive thinking appears to have collided with the reality of coronavirusDonald Trump came to use the line often at his campaign rallies. “Can you imagine if you lose to a guy like this?” he would say of Joe Biden. “It’s unbelievable.”It’s not so unbelievable now. Despite record turnout, and a tighter than expected race, the US president’s blind faith in the power of positive thinking appears to have collided with the reality of a coronavirus pandemic, a chaotic campaign and the uprising of a democratic and Democratic resistance. He is the first incumbent to lose a bid for re-election since George H W Bush in 1992. Continue reading...
Donald Trump was golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia when major news outlets projected presidential rival Joe Biden had won the 2020 US election. Trump posed for photos at the club but did not comment on the results at the time. The president’s camp has since refused to concede the result and released a statement saying the ‘simple fact is this election is far from over’
Thursday’s economic data will be lifted by ‘eat out to help out’ – but critics say it led to a Covid surge that will hit future growthRishi Sunak’s popular “eat out to help out” scheme will be remembered in this week’s publication of third-quarter GDP figures for the major boost it gave Britain’s pub and restaurant trade.In the August rush to grab a discount dinner it seemed like every table in every hospitality venue in the country was booked between Monday and Wednesday, and analysts believe that underpinned a rise in consumer confidence and with it GDP, the measure of national income, between July and September. Continue reading...
Whether it’s tea or trainers, bread or body lotion, why do we pay more for posh things when the cheap stuff is so much better? Sali Hughes on the joys of being cheap and chicAny Italian knows that unless Nonna made it with her own bare hands this morning, unfilled pasta is best when dried, packaged and stored in a cupboard. Those bags of “fresh” pasta in the supermarket chiller cabinet are the worst of all worlds. Claggy, eggy, pricey and wholly incapable of not scrambling a carbonara, bagged fresh pasta tricks the consumer that they’re elevating the quality of what is infinitely more delicious at 60p. Besides, one has no wider than a three-second window to remove from heat and strain before chiller cabinet pasta transforms from inedibly raw to waterlogged mush. Foul. Continue reading...
Ancient artefacts will be lost when tunnel for A303 is built near site, campaigners claimIt has been bitterly debated for the past three decades, but the latest plans to partly bury the A303 in a tunnel beside Stonehenge may this week finally get approval from transport secretary Grant Shapps.The £2.4bn scheme – which will see the traffic-choked road to the west country widened into a dual carriageway near the ancient site before shooting down a two-mile tunnel – has pitted archaeologists, local campaigners and even the nation’s druids against the combined might of Highways England, English Heritage and the National Trust. Continue reading...
The incoming US president might actually develop a discernible end game with Beijing. But his intentions on climate action could be unsettling for Scott Morrison
After the tortuous last few days, Joe Biden’s election has been welcomed by leaders keen to renew relations with the USFiji’s prime minister got in first, gambling on congratulating Joe Biden before the result of the presidential election had officially been called, slipping in a plea for action on climate change.But once the result was official, congratulations came pouring in from around the world. Donald Trump’s allies, critics and reluctant partners had all been following the long, slow days of vote-counting and in capitals around the world politicians were weighing up the impact of the abrupt change of direction which is now expected from Washington under Biden. Continue reading...
Americans across the country took to the streets to celebrate the end of Trump’s presidency while triumph likely to be welcomed by international allies
by Harriet Sherwood Religious affairs correspondent on (#5A34H)
Regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme brought his views to a wide audienceJonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi who reached beyond the UK Jewish community to the wider public, has died of cancer at the age of 72.His death on Saturday morning was announced on his Twitter feed after the end of Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath. Orthodox Jews do not use the internet or phones during the 24 hours between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday. Continue reading...
In world-first, agriculture department uses high-resolution X-ray machine to detect presence of seedsThe Australian agriculture department is undertaking a world-first trial of new technology aimed at detecting seeds sent in the mail after 228 reports of Australians receiving mysterious seed packets from overseas.People in Australia and a number of other countries, including the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada, began reporting packets of seeds they had not ordered in mid-July. Continue reading...
When Chunsheng Chen departed Australia last year after being publicly outed as a suspected Communist party operative, he left several threads behind that have baffled authoritiesAs the private plane circled western New South Wales, where Australia’s lush seaboard makes way for its dusty heart, the men on board were keen to make a deal.Chunsheng Chen and his five companions were on their way to a tyre recycling plant just outside the town of Warren. Continue reading...
As sex lives ebb, the wider world can get more interesting. Robert Dessaix asks, does it really matter if we’re out of the sexual running, even in a society as sex-obsessed as ours?If the Roman poet Lucretius is to be believed, the whole universe is “a dance with Venus” – a sexual performance. “Love” just provides some of the footwork for amicable copulation. Or something to that effect. In his day, of course, with high child mortality and a ripe old age far from assured, reproduction must have been at the top of everyone’s list.Nowadays, in the west, average life expectancy is much longer than it was in Rome at the beginning of the first millennium – indeed, a quarter of the population where I live can hardly walk in a straight line without assistance, let alone cavort around Venus’s dancefloor – yet we are still fixated as a society on arousal and performance. What is the point of living on into old age in such a society? Why soldier on? Even if you could still dance, who would dance with you? Continue reading...
Fox News announced Joe Biden would surpass the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president after calling the states of Nevada and Pennsylvania for the Democratic candidate.
Political commentator Van Jones cried as CNN called the US election for Joe Biden. Jones said: 'It's easier to be a parent this morning ... to tell your kids character matters'.Joe Biden won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. With Biden’s victory, Kamala Harris becomes the first woman and the first person of color to become the vice-president
The designer and singer, 52, reflects on living next door to Salvador Dali as a child, her brush with death and why she never looks in the mirrorI’m told that I had a difficult childhood. I had a lot of freedom, but there was a lot of drama. It was a childhood of extremes.I was bullied by my history teacher. He’d say, “Well, your grandmother is a fascist [Diana Mitford, wife of Oswald Mosley], so you’re getting a D in this essay,” and I was like, “What does that have to do with it?” I didn’t retrench into just thinking, “Oh gosh, they’re just being mean to me.” I went to Auschwitz. I went to the Holocaust camps. I did a lot of deep research, which was pretty heavy in my teens. But it was something I needed to resolve to understand why I was being bullied. It took me a long time to realise that I didn’t have to be defined by the place that I came from. Continue reading...
Pascal Affi N’Guessan charged with creating a rival government after President Alassane Ouattara won third termThe Ivorian opposition leader and former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan has been placed under arrest for creating a rival government after President Alassane Ouattara’s election victory, his wife and a spokeswoman have said.Prosecutors in Ivory Coast are pursuing terrorism charges against more than a dozen opposition leaders who boycotted the 31 October vote in which Ouattara won a third term in office and announced they were creating a transitional council. Continue reading...
President appoints ex-finance minister to role after saying country being squeezed in ‘devil’s triangle of interest and exchange rates and inflation’The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has removed the governor of the country’s central bank from his post after the lira currency hit record lows, having lost 30% of its value since the start of the year.The decision to replace Murat Uysal as governor was made by presidential decree and announced in the country’s official gazette early on Saturday. It was not immediately clear why Uysal was removed. Continue reading...
Maher al-Akhras, 49, who has refused to eat since being arrested in July, will be released by Israeli authorities on 26 NovemberA Palestinian prisoner held by Israel has agreed to end more than 100 days of hunger strike, his family and a prisoner rights’ advocate have said, claiming he had received assurances from Israeli authorities that his open-ended detention would not be extended beyond the end of November.Maher al-Akhras, 49, has refused to eat since he was arrested in July and locked up under administrative detention, a policy Israel uses to hold Palestinians without charges on suspicion of undisclosed security offenses. These renewable detention orders have come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and human rights groups, which allege the policy violates the right to due process. Continue reading...
The property market has confounded predictions it would collapse during the coronavirus crisisThe world is gripped by the most serious pandemic for a century, the US presidency is facing transition, but at least one thing remains certain amid all the chaos: the Australian property market keeps going up.Figures for October showed this week that prices have risen for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the latest batch of data to confound expectations that the property market would collapse under the weight of lockdowns, recession, unemployment and lack of immigration-driven population growth. Continue reading...
Work beyond contracted hours ‘rife’ across Australian universities and women most affectedUniversity staff are taking on hundreds of hours of unpaid work to keep courses going, according to a new report conducted among casuals at the University of Sydney.Staff are being underpaid by thousands of dollars as they work beyond their contracted hours, in what the National Tertiary Education Union says is common practice across the university sector. Continue reading...
Additional sanctions are rumours, Simon Birmingham says, but the China Daily warns of further economic pain if Australia is hostile to BeijingA major Australian business group has called on the Morrison government to take China to the world trade umpire, saying attempted talks have failed to resolve the widening dispute with Australia’s largest trading partner.As seven export sectors braced for potential trade bans, and with ministerial level contact still frozen, the Australian Industry Group told Guardian Australia businesses would have no choice but to look for other markets “if China continues to turn its back on Australian goods and services”. Continue reading...
Assistant coroner to raise a series of concerns with bodies including NHS EnglandThe death of a teenage university student with anorexia could have been avoided and was contributed to by neglect, an inquest has concluded.Averil Hart, 19, who was a black belt in karate and academically gifted, started her first term at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich in September 2012. Continue reading...
Jim Kenney tells a press conference that Donald Trump should 'put his big boy pants on', acknowledge his defeat and congratulate Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election. It could take several days to complete the count in Philadelphia, but Biden has so far won 81% of the votes. Around 40,000 are still to be counted. Trump has continued to tweet baseless allegations of voter fraud
by Jason Burke Africa correspondent and agencies on (#5A0P3)
Fears of civil conflict escalate as Abiy Ahmed says operation will continue until ‘junta made accountable by law’Ethiopia’s air force has carried out strikes in the restive Tigray region, the country’s prime minister has said, in another escalation of a crisis that observers fear could plunge the country into a bitter and bloody civil conflict.The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, said the strikes in multiple locations “completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons” belonging to the well-armed regional government and made it impossible for a retaliatory attack. Continue reading...
I also find myself this week mourning the loss of the England stars of 1966, but at least the office Christmas party is cancelledMondayThe deed is done. When our daughter, Anna, left home for good about four years ago, she made it very clear that she expected her bedroom to be left intact as a shrine. Not so with our son Robbie. When he left university and decided to remain in Brighton, he told us we could do what we liked with his room as he wouldn’t be coming back to live with us permanently. So last week I sawed up the wooden pallets he had insisted on using as a bed, and we got a builder and decorator in to turn the room into a workspace for my wife. And very lovely it is, except I can’t help feeling some sadness at having packed up in boxes what few possessions he had left in the room for him to take back to the rented house he now shares with friends. I know that it is as it should be – that helping your children learn to be independent is one of the main functions of a parent – but I can’t help experiencing it as some kind of loss. I’d almost rather have maintained the pretence, as with Anna, that he might be coming back at some point. Even though I know that if either were to come home for any length of time, we’d be sure to get on each other’s nerves within days. Continue reading...
The artist, who worked with Warhol, befriended Basquiat and painted for Kanye, talks about making art during a tumultuous year and why he left New York CityThe New York City artist George Condo has become New York state artist George Condo, a surprising move for someone so intensely intertwined with the city’s culture. The Hamptons is his new normal, after he ditched Manhattan in March.Not that he is keeping track of time. “The month of May soon turned into August, which then turned into November,” Condo says to the Guardian from his studio later that day. “2020 is just the framing of the time lapse.” Continue reading...
Actor has announced he will be exiting the Harry Potter prequel series after losing his libel case over allegations of assault towards ex-wife Amber HeardJohnny Depp is set to exit the Fantastic Beasts franchise after being asked to resign by Warner Bros.The actor announced the decision in a statement on Instagram, one that comes just days after he lost his libel case against The Sun over claims he abused his ex-wife Amber Heard. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke and Nyasha Chingono in Harare on (#5A1VG)
EU and UK voice concern as anti-corruption campaigner faces another weekend in jailThe Zimbabwean journalist and anti-corruption campaigner Hopewell Chin’ono will spend the weekend in a high security prison after a magistrate postponed his bail hearing to Monday.Chin’ono was rearrested at his home in the capital, Harare, on Tuesday evening for allegedly breaking his bail conditions and has been detained since. Continue reading...
Linda Ramsden says forced displacement of families is cruel and results in crippling trauma for Palestinian familiesThe demolition of most structures within a Palestinian community in the Jordan Valley was shocking (Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says, 5 November). Usually Israel only demolishes a few homes per day, which doesn’t get into the news. By our count, since 1967 this has totalled over 55,000 demolitions of homes and structures vital for living within the occupied Palestinian territories. In 99% of the cases Israel’s demolition and displacement policy is in gross violation of international law. This forced displacement is cruel and results in crippling trauma for Palestinian families. Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes should be a cross-party issue for every single MP who cares about the rule of law and the future of humanity. We urge our government to call Israel to account.
Children among those reported drowned as Islamist insurgency drives thousands of families from homes in Cabo DelgadoMore than 40 people fleeing violence in Mozambique’s conflict-torn north are believed to have drowned after the boat carrying them to safety sank, according to reports.At least 70 people were on board the vessel when it sank on 29 October in the Indian Ocean just north of the provincial capital of Pemba, where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge from a three-year Islamist insurgency, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Reuters reported. Continue reading...
Storm Eta has unleashed torrential rain, causing catastrophic landslides and flooding in Central America. Dozens of people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced after raging torrents tore through cities.Eta, one of the fiercest storms to hit Central America in years, struck Nicaragua as a category 4 hurricane on Tuesday with 150mph (241kph) winds, before weakening as it moved inland and into neighbouring Honduras
World news | The Guardian