Classic rock band to feature on 13 stamp designs from July, with Brian May saying ‘we have become a national institution’No, not that one – the rock band Queen are to feature on a series of UK postage stamps over the summer.They become only the third band to be honoured by Royal Mail, following the Beatles in 2007 and Pink Floyd in 2016. Continue reading...
How has Covid-19 progressed where you live?The map shows local authorities where the number of cases has increased week-on-week and where it has fallen. Some of this is due to natural fluctuations, especially in areas where there are very few cases, and so a rise from 1 to 2 is a doubling. Increased testing also means that more cases may be being detected than previously, although the impact of this between one week and the next is likely to be slight. Continue reading...
Local man arrested over deaths of Joshua James Flynn, his son Coby-Jay and daughter SkylarA man and his two children who were killed while out on a Father’s Day walk have been named by police.Joshua James Flynn, 37, his son Coby-Jay Flynn, 15, and daughter Skylar Flynn, 12, along with their dog, Troy, died in the collision with a Peugeot 206 in Dalton, Cumbria, at about 2.30pm on Sunday. All were pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...
Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope. Find out where the virus has spread, and where it has been most deadly
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent on (#54XG5)
Democracy campaigners say officers ignored violence by Hindus during clashes with MuslimsDelhi police have been accused of filing false and politically motivated charges against pro-democracy activists to blame them for the Delhi riots – while not arresting any ruling party figures and police officers for their role in the violence.More than 80 charge sheets have been filed naming those allegedly responsible for inciting the riots, which broke out in February in some of the worst religious violence in India for decades. Continue reading...
A large dust cloud has travelled from the Sahara and blanketed parts of the Caribbean in a weather event not seen for 50 years. Dubbed the 'Godzilla dust cloud', it has limited visibility and lowered air quality throughout the region. The mass of dusty air is known as the Saharan Air Layer and forms over the Sahara desert before typically moving across the North Atlantic in the northern hemisphere’s late spring to early autumn
The unmasking of the Salisbury poisoning suspects by a new digital journalism outfit was an embarrassment for Putin – and evidence that Russian spies are not what they once were. By Luke HardingIn 2011 I was in Libya reporting on the civil war. Rebels backed by the US, the UK and France were advancing on the capital, Tripoli. The insurgents moved forward through bombed-out towns as Muammar Gaddafi’s forces retreated. Coastal cities in the west and east, oil refineries, Roman ruins and temples – all fell, one by one, as the regime lost ground.These were dangerous times. In the town of Zawiyah I found locals celebrating victory in the main square. They were shooting in the air and doing wheelspins and skids in their cars and trucks. Gaddafi’s soldiers had left the previous night, fleeing down the road. I saw a small boy, maybe eight years old, stomping on a Gaddafi flag. “The city is ruined. No problem – we will rebuild it,” one local, Tariq Sadiq, told me. Continue reading...
Photographer Alicia Canter has been investigating how people have been coping with pregnancy and birth during the coronavirus lockdown, photographing doulas, and new and expecting parentsAlicia: “After my best friend gave birth at the start of March and a pregnant friend told me she was shielding, I started thinking about how people were coping with pregnancy and birth during lockdown. With women only allowed to have one birth partner and home births restricted for a time, I spoke to women and men about how having a baby during lockdown has been for them and their new families. The project is ongoing.” Continue reading...
Prosecutors need to show empathy for the vulnerable and be vigilant against corruption and organised crimeThe Covid-19 pandemic will have far-reaching implications for justice worldwide.Already many places are seeing significant changes in crime patterns and criminality, and a reallocation of resources to deal with lockdown-related public order. Court operations will be disrupted for months to come. Postponed trials will become commonplace as the accused, witnesses, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers and court staff with coronavirus symptoms are placed in quarantine, or are required to self-isolate. Continue reading...
Peter Navarro blames coronavirus for end of agreement, but is swiftly contradicted by Donald Trump, who says it is ‘fully intact’The White House’s stance on China was thrown into confusion on Monday night after trade adviser Peter Navarro announced a trade deal between the two countries was “over”, only to be quickly contradicted by Donald Trump.Navarro told Fox News the “turning point” came when the US learned about the coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the phase one deal on 15 January. Continue reading...
Taneti Maamau, who switched Kiribati’s allegiance from Taipei to Beijing last year, resoundingly re-electedTaneti Maamau was re-elected on Monday to a second term as Kiribati’s president just two months after losing his parliamentary majority over his surprise move to recognise China and cut official relations with Taiwan.The flip in September last year, four days after an identical switch by Solomon Islands, left Taiwan with only 15 countries that recognise it as a separate country. Continue reading...
Joint bid for 2023 tournament with New Zealand to be decided this week and would offer chance of soft diplomacyAustralia and New Zealand’s push to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup could result in diplomatic gains with China and other Asian countries, and long-term trade boosts, as economists also predict half a billion dollars will flow into the host nations.Ahead of Fifa executives gathering to decide the hosting rights on Thursday (early hours of Friday morning in Australia), business analysts and trade experts believe the popularity of football, particularly in Asia, will serve as a gateway for soft diplomacy with China. They also predict a spike in local participation in the game will boost local health outcomes for women in the region. Continue reading...
Rose Harvie looks into the groundbreaking work of Professor Alexander ThomYour fascinating report states that the Durrington Shafts discovery “offers the first evidence that the early inhabitants of Britain … had developed a way to count” (Vast neolithic circle of deep shafts found near Stonehenge, 22 June).Evidence of this may well be found and accepted, but as early as the 1950s, Professor Alexander Thom claimed to have evidence that neolithic communities based the measurements of their monuments on a fixed unit of length. He called this the megalithic yard (approximately 2.7ft) and claimed that a multiple of these, the megalithic rod (6.8ft), was also used. Continue reading...
Company thought money was in two Asian banks but search hits dead end in PhilippinesWirecard has said that €1.9bn (£1.7bn) in funds missing from its bank accounts may not exist, as the accounting scandal at the German payments company deepens.The firm processes tens of billions of euros in credit and debit transactions each year and is a former darling of Germany’s tech sector. It had previously said it believed the money was held in escrow accounts at two Asian banks. Continue reading...
A moment of silence was held outside the secondary school where James Furlong, one of three people killed after a suspected terror attack in Reading over the weekend, was a history teacher.
Suspect accused of torturing man in prison run by Syrian intelligence service in 2011A Syrian doctor living in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of crimes against humanity in his country of origin, prosecutors have said, in the latest German move against suspected war crimes in Syria.The suspect, identified as Alaa M, is accused of having “tortured a detainee ... in at least two cases” at a prison run by the Syrian intelligence service in the city of Homs in 2011, according to German federal prosecutors. Continue reading...
Package to aid bushfire and Covid-19-impacted communities frustrated at slow pace of disaster recoveryThe Morrison government will unveil $86m for primary producers hit by the summer bushfires and the coronavirus pandemic as the byelection contest in Eden-Monaro accelerates into the closing fortnight.The package to be unveiled by the Coalition on Tuesday includes a $31m grant fund, with payments of $120,000 a hectare available for bushfire-impacted apple growers. Continue reading...
Coronavirus has brought the rivalry to a head sooner than expected – and the scope for non-alignment is narrowingGeorge Kennan, the US charge d’affaires in Moscow at the end of the second world war and the author of the famous Long Telegram in 1946, captured in his memoir how quickly perceptions in international relations can change.The man widely seen as the intellectual author of the cold war recalled that if he had sent his telegram on the nature of the Soviet threat six months earlier, his message “would probably have been received in the state department with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Six months later, it probably would have sounded redundant, a preaching to the converted.” Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#54W08)
Joe Ritchie-Bennett worked for pharmaceutical firm after moving to UK 15 years agoA US-born man was one of the victims of the terror attack in Reading, where he worked for a pharmaceutical company, it has been reported.Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, grew up in Philadelphia but moved to England about 15 years ago, his father told American media. Continue reading...
by Australian Associated Press and Guardian staff on (#54W4H)
Officers search just minutes’ drive from Kendall, where three-year-old vanished from his foster grandparents’ home in 2014Police have conducted a fresh search on the New South Wales mid-north coast as part of ongoing investigations into the disappearance of young William Tyrrell.Officers on Monday searched in the vicinity of Herons Creek, just minutes’ drive away from the town of Kendall, where three-year-old William vanished from his foster grandparents’ home in 2014. Continue reading...
Virgil van Dijk and Sari van Veenendaal hit out at pundit and say ‘enough is enough’The captains of the Dutch men’s, women’s and youth national football teams are boycotting a leading sports TV programme over the racist comments of a longstanding pundit, warning: “Enough is enough.”The Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk, and the Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal have led the way after years of the behaviour of Johan Derksen on the Veronica Inside show being explained away as straight-talking humour. Continue reading...
Footage shows man on his knees telling police officer ‘I’m not even fighting you’ as he is tasered at close rangeA New South Wales police officer repeatedly tasered an Indigenous man in the face, chest and neck during an arrest in Sydney on Monday.Footage circulated widely on social media showed the man, who did not appear to be resisting, repeatedly tasered by an officer during an arrest in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. During the arrest the man can be heard saying “I’m not even fighting you”. Continue reading...
In desperate need of hydrotherapy, Abi Palmer went to a sanatorium – and found herself surrounded by luxury. How has health been sold as a lifestyle choice?In 2017 I received an Arts Council England grant to complete research for my book Sanatorium. Writing a book was the only way I could think of funding a much-needed visit to a water-based physiotherapy rehabilitation programme, which was necessary to help symptoms caused by psoriatic arthritis and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. So I found myself in the sanatorium of my dreams: a thermal hydrotherapy centre on an island in the middle of the River Danube.It was a cold October when I made it to the island. There were bridges to the mainland, but I am not able to walk reliably for more than a few metres, and if I use my mobility scooter in the cold, my legs seize up quickly and become incredibly painful. As a result, I was almost completely isolated at the sanatorium. I only left the strange, insulated building when my mental health was suffering so much that the risk to my body began to feel worth it. Continue reading...
Japanese media reports country has decided against hosting 2023 competition, leaving only Colombia and joint Australia-NZ bid in the runningAustralia and New Zealand’s joint bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup has taken a significant step forward amid reports on Monday its main rival Japan has withdrawn its bid.Ahead of Fifa executives gathering to decide the hosting rights on Thursday, Japanese news outlet Kyodo is reporting the Japanese Football Association will meet on Monday evening and is expected to announce the decision to withdraw from the running. Continue reading...
by Calla Wahlquist (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier) on (#54VPB)
Western Australia won’t announce open borders date because of Victorian infection spike, premier says, while Gladys Berejiklian issues travel warning. Follow live
by Clea Skopeliti (now) and Molly Blackall , Rebecca on (#54TZQ)
Iran reports more than 100 deaths for third day in a row; UK death toll rises by 43; Chile deaths rise to more than 7,000. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below
New premier of the Pacific nation, Dalton Tagelagi, seeks to re-open island and ‘a return to the good old happy days’The two candidates for the seat of Mutalau, a village on Niue’s northern point, could not be separated. Both had the same number of votes, just as had happened in the last election; in 2017 it was 19-19, in 2020 it was 26-26.Related: Trevor the lonely duck gets tiny island of Niue in a flap Continue reading...
Home Office says it will launch ad campaign to ensure people are aware of support availableA cross-government working group has been launched in an attempt to address the challenges faced by the Windrush generation, two years after the then prime minister, Theresa May, promised to right the wrongs faced by those mistakenly classified as illegal immigrants by the Home Office.Duwayne Brooks, a campaigner and friend of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, has agreed to join the group, in recognition of the “terrible” treatment faced by the Windrush generation. He said he was “looking forward to working with the home secretary to ensure all those affected come forward to claim the compensation they deserve and get the support they need to move on”. Continue reading...
Monday: Opening shops and workplaces heightens risk of coronavirus infections, modelling shows. Plus, Alan Jones handed new slot on SkyGood morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 22 June. Continue reading...
Close family member of Khairi Saadallah, 25, fought in Libya against GaddafiKhairi Saadallah, the suspect in the Reading terror attack, is understood to be a Libyan national who came to Britain as a refugee from the country’s civil war, which began in 2014 during attempts to build a democratic state after the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.Neighbours said a close family member of Saadallah’s had fought in Libya against Gaddafi and had faced anti-Muslim abuse after the family’s arrival in the UK. Continue reading...
Police in the German city of Stuttgart have said 20 people were arrested and four police officers injured after a drugs check in the city centre sparked attacks on officers and police vehicles and widespread vandalism of stores. The disturbance started as an apparent reaction to the police’s search for drugs, as groups of people partied in a central park late on Saturday night. According to German TV reports, people then attacked store fronts in a nearby shopping street, tearing up paving stones and smashing store windows
Government will not hesitate to make necessary changes to legal system, says PMBoris Johnson hinted at a fresh terror crackdown on Sunday when he said the government was ready to act on any lessons that emerge from the stabbing attack in a Reading park once police have completed their investigations.In a broadcast statement recorded in Downing Street and issued on Sunday lunchtime, Johnson said he was “appalled and sickened that people should lose their lives in this way”. Continue reading...
James Furlong was head of history, government and politics at the Holt school in WokinghamA “passionate”, “gentle” and “caring” secondary school teacher has become the first victim of the terrorist attack in Reading to be named.James Furlong was the head of history, government and politics at the Holt school in Wokingham, near Reading. He was one of three people who lost their lives after the stabbing attack in Forbury Gardens. Continue reading...
Two men died after reports of shooting in Moss Side early on SundayPolice are investigating a double murder that followed a lockdown street gathering of “hundreds of people” in Manchester.A 36-year-old man died after reports of a shooting near Caythorpe Street, Moss Side, at about 12.55am on Sunday. A 21-year-old was also taken to hospital with gunshot wounds but died later on Sunday, Greater Manchester police said. No arrests have been made. Continue reading...
Coronavirus has swept through tribes, killing elders – and inflicting irreparable damage on tribal history, culture and medicineWhen Bep Karoti Xikrin fell ill with Covid-19, he refused to go to a hospital.The 64-year-old chief of a Xikrin indigenous village in Brazil’s Amazon was plagued by headaches and fatigue and struggled for breath. But according to his daughter Bekuoi Raquel, he was afraid that if he were admitted to hospital he might never return. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson , Heather Stewart, Simon Murphy and on (#54V6W)
At least three others seriously injured after attack in Forbury Gardens on Saturday nightThe killing of three people in a stabbing rampage in a park in Reading is being treated as a terrorist attack, police have said.A 25-year-old Libyan national is being held by police over the incident,in which at least three other people sustained serious injuries. Continue reading...
The killing of three people in a stabbing rampage in a park in Reading is being treated as a terrorist attack, Met police assistant commissioner Neil Bosu has said. A 25-year-old Libyan national is being held by police over the incident, in which at least three other people sustained serious injuries.
The resurgence of Covid-19 has raised fears that China’s capital and its famous street life will never return to ‘normal’For just one day, Beijing was a Covid-free city.On Tuesday 9 June, local authorities reported that the last active Covid-19 case had been discharged from a local hospital. City health officials appeared without face masks at the daily press conference, to announce that there were “no new cases and no suspected infections”. Beijing, finally, seemed to breathe a little easier. The now-ubiquitous temperature checks, at the entrance to every office building, restaurant and hutong (alleyway), were dismantled. The Lama Temple and Beijing aquarium were open to the public for the first time since January and were immediately packed to capacity. It was a beautiful summer’s day – bright blue skies and the sharp Beijing light that glints golden on the city’s tower blocks. Continue reading...
Southern Transitional Council has taken control of remote archipelago in the Arabian SeaYemeni separatists have seized control of the island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea, deposing its governor and driving out the forces of the Saudi-backed government, which condemned the action as a coup.The Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self-rule in the south of the country in April, complicating UN efforts to forge a permanent ceasefire in a war that has separatists and the government fighting as nominal allies in a Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels, who control the north. Continue reading...
My friend Magda Sagarzazu, who has died aged 70 of cancer, was a woman from the Basque region of Spain who moved to the Hebridean island of Canna and made it her mission to preserve and popularise the work of the married Gaelic scholars John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw.John, who bought Canna in 1939 and farmed it for 40 years before gifting it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981, had known Magda’s father, Saturnino, since before the war. After Saturnino’s wife, Vicenta, died in 1958, John invited his friend and his two daughters to spend the summer on Canna – it was the beginning of an annual trip that lasted until Saturnino’s death in 1974. Saturnino did odd jobs, farm work or fishing with John and the girls played with the Canna children. Continue reading...