Attacks by Islamist groups and rising ethnic tension in the Mopti region have led to life-threatening disruption to farming practicesA surge in fighting in central Mali has forced hundreds of villagers from farmland they depend on and could leave them without enough food to survive this year, according to a study of satellite imagery by the UN’s World Food Programme.More than half the number of violent attacks by armed groups against Mali civilians last year were recorded in the Mopti region, largely targeting people who survive on land or livestock. Continue reading...

Journalists ordered to be questioned after broadcast of documentary about migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur during Covid-19 pandemicFive Australian journalists are being interrogated by Malaysian authorities who have accused them of sedition and defamation after the broadcast of a documentary about migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur during Covid-19.A week after the broadcast of the Al Jazeera English documentary in Malaysia, the journalists were ordered to attend the police station for questioning on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Former New Zealand prime minister says WHO director general said during early days he was ‘screaming every day but no one is listening’

The British public have discovered hundreds of thousands of archaeological objects, and the British Museum has revealed that the number recorded by its Portable Antiquities Scheme has hit a milestone 1.5m. These finds have radically transformed what we know about life through time on the British Isles Continue reading...

The department is a world leader in programmes based on gender equality. The government must show this will continueNews that the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are to merge raised many questions about the UK’s commitment to supporting the world’s poorest people. A key question for us is how the new department will support women and girls.For more than 20 years, UK aid has saved and transformed the lives of women and girls in some of the world’s poorest countries. In the past five years, 10 million women and girls have received humanitarian assistance and more than 6 million girls have been able to access quality education. Upwards of £25m has been invested to prevent violence against women and girls through the government’s What Works programme, and a further £67m committed. Continue reading...

Knocked off course by anxiety and an album she didn’t believe in, the singer is back after five years away with a bold new sound – and an urge to speak outEllie Goulding has spent the coronavirus lockdown holed up in what is essentially the world’s nicest student house. Her art dealer husband Caspar Jopling is studying an MBA at Oxford University – he is on the boat race team, Clark Kentishly nerd-handsome and ripped – and she has been at his lovely old cottage in the surrounding countryside. You get the feeling the only noodles to have crossed the threshold are wholewheat udon rather than Super or Pot.When I arrive, she ushers me back out, desperate for a constitutional. As we turn off the road on to a deserted footpath, she pulls her hood down perhaps unconsciously: the celebrity leaving incognito mode. We tramp up and down a lane of brambles and bushes, chatting about TikTok. Continue reading...

Announcements come after Brazil’s president tested positive; South Africa records highest one-day case increase; Australia to limit incoming travellers

The Australian government and its partners had no choice but to recognise the new reality in the territory and offer some of its citizens a way outI feel sorry for Chinese foreign ministry officials, with whom I have had many good conversations over the years. They have been pushed to lambast Australia and other Western democracies with such frequency that they risk running out of fresh invective, hyperbole and idiom.It was inevitable that Chinese diplomats would excoriate Australia after prime minister Scott Morrison’s measured moves this week in response to Beijing’s draconian national security legislation for Hong Kong: offering limited sanctuary to Hong Kongers, suspending an extradition treaty with Hong Kong and heightening the travel warning for the city. Continue reading...

Forced to quarantine away from her multiple lovers, Ashley Ray embraced isolation and loved itOn my 20th birthday, the first person I’d ever been in a long-term relationship with proposed to me. We’d been dating for almost three years. I said yes. Everyone we knew was shocked. Even at 20, I’d made it clear I wasn’t the type to believe in traditional relationships. I spent most of high school quoting Simone de Beauvoir when friends asked me for relationship advice. It turns out being pretentious is the most dangerous gateway to polyamory.Related: All you need is loves: the truth about polyamory Continue reading...

Descendants of the 3,000 British internees and their families recount one of the war’s forgotten episodes

City authorities, which cannot legally force closures, offer incentives after Japan capital reports a record 224 new cases

From Jaws to James Bond, film-makers have tried to make a fish not inclined to bite humans look hell-bent on doing so“You convince yourself that there is no danger,” Ron Taylor once said of how he captured his groundbreaking underwater footage of sharks. And afterwards, “You wonder how you got out of it alive.”In 1970, Australian divers Taylor and his wife, Valerie, set out with the directors Peter Gimbel and James Lipscomb on a global quest to find and film great white sharks. Even today, 50 years later, with sharks a familiar sight from our sofas, the footage the Taylors eventually succeeded in shooting is gripping. Continue reading...

Man in his 50s is the third person to abscond during quarantine, as the nation battles with influx of returning citizens

Colllaery has until 24 July to lodge appeal against ruling that suppresses crucial parts of his trialBernard Collaery has signalled he will appeal a ruling that shrouds crucial parts of his trial in secrecy.Collaery is facing trial for allegedly conspiring with his former client, intelligence officer Witness K, to expose an Australian bugging operation against Timor-Leste during negotiations to carve up oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea. Continue reading...

Expats say they feel insecure about living somewhere ‘where the walls have ears’• Australia’s Hong Kong intervention was hardly strident but that didn’t matter to ChinaAustralian expats in Hong Kong are feeling jittery about their future after Beijing imposed a new national security law that could lead to foreigners being arbitrarily detained. They say the move has hastened their plans to leave the financial hub amid calls from their government for its citizens to “reconsider” their need to stay there.The national security law passed in Beijing and enacted in Hong Kong on 1 July punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. It applies to permanent residents and non-residents in Hong Kong who breach the law in the territory, along with anyone accused of violating the law regardless of their nationality and where the alleged crime took place – so foreigners could be arrested on arrival in Hong Kong. National security cases can also be sent to Chinese courts for trial. Continue reading...

EU to invest €2bn on vaccines now being tested but UK officials say scheme benefits are ‘limited’

Scottish first minister announces changes from Friday with changes coming in on Monday in Wales

By contrast China is seen as a partner across much of Africa, offering itself as a growth modelBritain’s treatment of the Windrush generation and attitude to its colonial past means it is struggling to retain the same influence across the African continent as China, a cross-party group of peers has said.In a new report, sharply critical of a lack of a clear UK government strategy for Africa, the Lords International Relations and Defence Committee said the Home Office’s treatment of Africans seeking visas to the UK was close to humiliating. Continue reading...

Winter testing of drone flights to mainland raises hope of fast medical deliveriesA test project using powerful drones to fly urgent medical samples from isolated Scottish islands is being expanded this winter after successful recent trials.The tests will involve flying blood and fluid samples from Hebridean islands such as Coll and Tiree to hospital labs on the mainland in a fraction of the time needed to take them by road and ferry. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison seems at pains to play down his diplomatic response to the new security laws, focusing on economic opportunitiesEven as he moved to offer some certainty to Hongkongers who fear the future of the city under the new national security law, Scott Morrison seemed at pains to play down the significance of his own announcement.The Australian prime minister stressed the move to grant a five-year extension to about 10,000 temporary visa holders already in Australia, and then a pathway to permanent residency, was merely an “adjustment” of existing policy settings. Continue reading...

Interior minister announces investigation but says ‘no-evidence’ of network of rightwing extremists in policeGerman police are facing growing accusations of links with the far right after a police computer was used to search for details of a leftwing MP who received death threats.Peter Beuth, the interior minister for the state of Hesse, announced on Thursday that he would appoint a special investigator to try to shed light on the case. Continue reading...

Friday: Covid-19 infections have doubled in the past six weeks, World Health Organization warns. Plus, $1m grant to help develop ‘electric flying car’Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 10 July. Continue reading...

Benjamin Hannam, a serving probationary officer, faces five charges including membership of National ActionA serving probationary Metropolitan police officer has been charged with being a member of far-right terrorist group National Action.Benjamin Hannam, 21, of north London, has been charged with five offences following an investigation by the Met’s counter-terrorism command and has been suspended from duty, Scotland Yard said. Continue reading...

Beauticians and outdoor pools to return within days with indoor pools and gyms opening on 25 July

Body found as local reports say Park had been subject of sexual harassment complaint

Arrests in London and Leicestershire followed joint investigation by police and MI5Armed counter-terrorism police made a series of arrests on Thursday, over what they described a a potential attack linked to extremist Islamist ideology.Four men were arrested, three in east London. A fourth arrest was made by unarmed officers in Leicestershire. Continue reading...

Calls intensify for withdrawal from security arrangement with kingdom over human rightsThe British government has been accused of “empty talk” over human rights as two pro-democracy campaigners in Bahrain face the death penalty.The UK has provided security advice to the island nation in the Persian Gulf for five years and funds a body that examines allegations of police mistreatment. Continue reading...

Merseyside police say they responded to reports of woman armed with knife on Cairns StA woman has been taken to hospital after being shot by police in Liverpool.Merseyside police said officers were called to reports of a woman armed with a knife on Cairns Street in Toxteth at 1.50pm on Thursday. Continue reading...

Dowden says beauty salons can reopen on Monday; theatres can put on outdoor shows from this weekend; repaying crisis debt will take ‘decades’ and higher taxes likely, says IFS

The UK and other countries are reshaping their approach to Beijing. It’s going to be bumpyFive years ago George Osborne, then chancellor, promised a golden decade for Sino-British relations. The sheen was always deceptive, and the decade has ended prematurely. In April, Dominic Raab remarked that there could be no return to business as usual. Now the foreign secretary’s rhetoric is translating into reality, with indications that the government is preparing to turn its back on Huawei as a 5G supplier.The fundamental reassessment of relations with China by western countries is becoming more explicit. That Beijing will retaliate to such shifts is equally evident. On Thursday it warned Australia of unspecified consequences for offering Hongkongers a pathway to permanent residence; Canberra’s latest travel advice for China cautions its citizens that they could be arbitrarily detained. But Britain is also taking the heat over Huawei’s future and the offer of potential citizenship to Hong Kong residents. This week, Beijing’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, warned: “China wants to be UK’s friend and partner. But if you treat China as a hostile country, you would have to bear the consequences.” Continue reading...

The culture secretary has urged the nation to ‘work out to help out’ as he announced that gyms, sports clubs, swimming pools and leisure centres will be able to reopen this month. Oliver Dowden also said theatres and musicians would be able to perform in open-air venues

Actor’s account of his marriage to Amber Heard comes under close scrutiny on third day of libel caseThe Hollywood star Johnny Depp – who accuses his ex-wife Amber Heard of cutting off the tip of his finger when she hurled a vodka bottle – wrote at the time that he had caused the injury himself, the high court has heard.On the third day of Depp’s cross-examination at the high court in London, the 57-year-old’s narrative of how the couple’s marriage disintegrated came under close scrutiny. Continue reading...

Exclusive: IOPC to look for any pattern of discrimination in use of force and stop and search

After fierce debate about 19th-century spire, consensus builds over restoration of fire-torn cathedralThe spire of Notre-Dame in Paris should be rebuilt exactly as it was before fire engulfed the cathedral last year, France’s chief architect for historic monuments has told the commission that must decide how the building is to be restored.Philippe Villeneuve was to tell the National Heritage and Architecture Commission (CNPA) on Thursday his favoured option was a faithful reconstruction of the roof and spire, local media said. Continue reading...

Woman who has accused former MP of sexual assault weeps as she testifies in courtA woman who has accused a former Tory MP of sexually assaulting her while she was working at parliament wept as she testified at his trial, which heard that he accused her of misleading him about her romantic intentions after she spurned his alleged advances.The trial of Charlie Elphicke was told on Thursday that he got in touch with her after the alleged incident in 2016 and asked her: “Why were you so up for it in the beginning?” Continue reading...

Businesswoman is seeking £1.5bn from bank in high court action over £2bn Qatari loanA high profile businesswoman suing Barclays for £1.5bn over the terms of an emergency cash call in 2008 was called a “dolly bird” and a “tart” by top bank executives according to documents presented to the high court on Thursday.The terms used to describe Amanda Staveley were revealed in telephone transcripts allegedly detailing a conversation between Barclays’ former investment banking chief Roger Jenkins and the bank’s former head of European financial institutions division Richard Boath in October 2008. Continue reading...

New Covid-19 cases in Africa up 24% in a week after months in which it appeared to have been spared the worstSouth Africa’s health minister has warned of a “storm” arriving and pleaded with the country’s 58 million inhabitants to change their behaviour to slow the spread of Covid-19.Zweli Mkhize said South Africa was still following an “optimistic” curve, with the peak of the outbreak likely to be lower than predicted, but warned that within weeks there could be a shortage of beds to treat Covid-19 patients, particularly in the country’s most populous and wealthy regions. Continue reading...

Police have fired teargas to disperse protesters hurling flares and objects in Serbia’s capital as violence erupted for the second day in a row during demonstrations against the president’s handling of the country’s coronavirus outbreak. The president, Aleksandar Vučić, backtracked on his plans to reinstate a coronavirus lockdown in Belgrade this week, but it did not stop people from firing flares and throwing stones while trying to storm the parliament building

Public turn to emergency number due to social services cuts and poor response on 101The police service in England and Wales is in danger of being overwhelmed by a surge in 999 calls driven by a lack of confidence in the non-emergency 101 line, a policing watchdog has warned.HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that 999 calls increased by 11% in two years, as the public made less use of the alternative number. Continue reading...

Scarlet is joined by two other unreleased songs, Criss Cross and All the Rage, on a deluxe version of Goat’s Head SoupA long-lost song the Rolling Stones recorded with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page is to finally be released. Scarlet, thought to be named after Page’s daughter, was recorded in October 1974. It is described in a press release as having “layered guitar textures” from Page, and is “as infectious and raunchy as anything the band cut in this hallowed era”.It is to be released on a deluxe edition of the Stones’ 1973 album Goats Head Soup, recorded in Jamaica and containing the atypical hit single, Angie. It is generally seen as a notch below the run of albums that preceded it, including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St, though Mick Jagger praised it above Main St on release, saying: “I really put all I had into it.” Continue reading...

Two presidential candidates reflect nation’s 30 years of political division since fall of communismIt was an event – or rather two events – that marked the symbolic nadir of 30 years of rancorous political division in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989.On Monday evening, Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, and his challenger in Sunday’s presidential election run-off, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, each held their own separate “presidential debate” in different parts of the country, each boycotting the other’s event and each fielding questions alone next to an unmanned podium bearing the name of their rival. Continue reading...

California sheriff’s department launches search after actor’s four-year-old son found alone on boat at Lake Piru

Human Rights Watch suggests involvement of security forces in deaths over recent monthsAt least 180 civilians have been killed in recent months in a single town in Burkina Faso, with evidence pointing towards the country’s often-accused security forces, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).Between November 2019 and June this year, groups of dozens of dead bodies were found often tied and blindfolded, strewn along major highways, beneath bridges and across fields in the rural region, the report published on Thursday said. Most of the bodies were buried by residents while the remains of others were left unclaimed. Continue reading...

Obadiah Moyo has been charged with criminal abuse of office over the alleged awarding of a $60m contract for Covid-19 suppliesA Zimbabwean health minister charged with corruption in connection with the awarding of a multimillion dollar contract for Covid-19 medical supplies has been fired by the president.Obadiah Moyo was sacked by Emmerson Mnangagwa this week for inappropriate conduct by a public official. Continue reading...

Leader of investigation into IRA spy expects criminal cases to be ‘very much the exception’A multimillion-pound inquiry into one of the biggest spy scandals in British espionage history is unlikely to result in any major prosecutions against a state agent operating at the heart of the IRA or his handlers.Jon Boutcher, the head of Operation Kenova and the former chief constable of Bedfordshire, has admitted that prosecutions are “to be very much the exception” following his report into the Stakeknife controversy – the one-time head of the IRA’s internal security unit who was working as a double agent for British intelligence. Continue reading...

Number of nurses coming from EU fell again and coronavirus prevented further arrivals

Attorney general should be stripped of the power to force tech companies to help security agencies potentially spy on the publicThe attorney general should be stripped of the power to approve orders that would force tech and social media companies to help security services to potentially spy on the public, the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor has said.In a report into the encryption legislation, the outgoing INSLM, James Renwick, called for that power and the ability for agency heads to compel assistance from tech companies to be moved to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and a new investigatory powers commissioner within it. Continue reading...

Starvation looms from Afghanistan to Haiti as coronavirus restrictions wipe out incomes and cut food supplies

Duchess of Sussex asks court to protect anonymity of five friends who could be witnesses in caseThe Duchess of Sussex is seeking a court order to prevent the publisher of the Mail on Sunday from publicising the names of five friends who could be witnesses in an ongoing legal dispute, according to a court filing.Meghan is suing Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday last year that included parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018. Continue reading...

McBain claimed victory on Sunday, but Kotvojs delayed conceding due to the possibility postal votes may alter the resultLiberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs has conceded defeat in the Eden-Monaro byelection, saying the result is “now clear” five days after polling day.While the Labor candidate and former Bega Valley mayor Kristy McBain claimed victory on Sunday, Kotvojs had delayed conceding because of the closeness of the contest and the possibility postal votes may alter the result. Continue reading...