Liquidator of company that owned furniture brand understood to be investigating sale of stock and intellectual propertyMore than 3,000 customers owed money by the failed replica-furniture chain Matt Blatt are set to receive nothing, even though the company reaped more than $4.4m by selling assets in the weeks leading to its collapse.Customers, some of whom are owed more than $1,000, were informed of the collapse by text message a fortnight ago. Continue reading...
Ban on ‘gay cure’ therapies will apparently also be announced in new paperBoris Johnson is set to scrap plans to allow people to change their legal gender by “self-identifying” as male or female, it has been reported.Measures drawn up under Theresa May’s government to enable transgender people to change their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis have been ditched by the prime minister’s team, according to the Sunday Times. Continue reading...
Boat carrying dozens of people trying to reach Italy sank last week, reports sayAt least 61 people have died after a boat carrying dozens of people sank last week off the coast of Tunisia, according to local officials.According to an initial reconstruction of events, the boat, carrying people mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, had left the Tunisian coast from the city of Sfax, aiming to reach Italy. The shipwreck occurred between 4 and 5 June off the Kerkennah Islands, said investigators, and authorities were alerted on 9 June by fishermen who first spotted the floating bodies. Continue reading...
Research suggests public support for transition period delay to help combat coronavirusMore than half of people in Britain support an extension to the Brexit transition period, while three-quarters believe the UK should work very closely with the European Union to combat coronavirus, a survey suggests.Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove formally told the EU on Friday that the UK would not ask for a delay despite concerns that its departure would compound the economic chaos inflicted by the pandemic. Continue reading...
Group serves up thousands of hot meals to Australians and international students in needWhen Amritvir Sekhon and eight other Sikh men and women drove into Bairnsdale in the middle of the worst bushfire crisis in decades, locals didn’t know what to think.“They had never seen turbanned men with long beards before – we probably looked pretty alien from them,” Sekhon says. Continue reading...
Morrison’s push for the alliance to hold ‘regular’ meetings reflects a ‘misunderstanding’ of national interests, experts sayThe Morrison government’s push for economic talks among finance ministers from countries in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance remains vague, with no details yet about the frequency of meetings or their agenda.But some experts have argued the move to coordinate economic policies with Australia’s traditional security partners reflects a “very deep misunderstanding” of our modern economic interests given the group excludes Asia and most of Europe. Continue reading...
PM responds to violence as more than 100 arrests made during ‘guard our monuments’ protestBoris Johnson has condemned violence by protesters in central London on Saturday as “racist thuggery” in a post on Twitter. “Anyone attacking the police will be met with full force of the law. These marches and protests have been subverted by violence and breach current guidelines,” he wrote.The prime minister continued: “Racism has no part in the UK and we must work together to make that a reality.” Continue reading...
Photos emerge of man urinating next to plaque honouring officer stabbed in Westminster terrorist attackA man has provoked outrage after being pictured urinating next to a memorial to PC Keith Palmer, the officer who was stabbed to death during the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack in 2017.The man was part of a thousand-strong gathering in Westminster on Saturday that descended into violent attacks on police officers, with many present members of far-right extremist groups. Continue reading...
Rightwing demonstrators, who announced they would turn out on Saturday to protect London's monuments from anti-racism protesters, were involved in scuffles with police outside Parliament.In and around Parliament Square, hundreds of people wearing football shirts, chanting 'England, England' and describing themselves as patriots, gathered alongside military veterans at the Cenotaph war memorial.The group sang songs in support of rightwing activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson. 'Winston Churchill, he's one of our own,' they also chanted, near his statue which last weekend was sprayed with graffiti reading: 'Churchill was a racist'.
Hundreds of people bade farewell to a 16-year-old Mexican-American boy who was shot dead by police in southern Mexico. Alexander Martínez was laid to rest in a funeral that reflected his passion for football – friends brought his coffin to a local football pitch so that he could 'score' a final goal.Martínez was shot in the head by police on Tuesday night and another teenager was also wounded in the incident and later died in hospital. The case, which is still under investigation, has sparked outrage in Mexico with protests planned in Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa, Martínez's home town
About one in three men aged 18 to 24 reported no sexual activity in past year between 2000 and 2018, Jama report saidIn 1975, David Bowie famously sang of a girl who wanted “the young American/ All night”. Nearly 50 years later, however, a lot of young Americans are having less sex – and can’t even blame the coronavirus for it.According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, data collected between 2000 and 2018, two years before the pandemic, shows that “approximately one in three men aged 18 to 24 years reported no sexual activity in the past year. Continue reading...
US public health expert said another wave of infections ‘not inevitable ... if you approach it the proper way’Leading US public health expert and White House coronavirus taskforce member Dr Anthony Fauci has said the US may not see a “second wave” of cases of Covid-19.According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, the US has recorded more than 2m cases of Covid-19 and nearly 115,000 deaths. Continue reading...
São Paulo to dig up cemeteries to clear spaces for coronavirus deaths; new rise of infections in Darfur, Sudan; New Zealand goes 22 days with a new case
Mistake raises questions over whether Christian Brückner had time to dispose of evidenceCriminal investigators in Germany notified Christian Brückner as early as 2013 that he was on their radar in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, raising questions over whether they inadvertently allowed the suspect to dispose of evidence.According to a report in the news weekly Der Spiegel, Brückner received a letter from police in Braunschweig on 4 November 2013 inviting him to be interviewed as a witness in the “missing person case Madeleine McCann”. Continue reading...
Man suffered life-threatening injuries and two women also shot in early hours of SaturdayA man and two women have sustained gunshot wounds after attackers opened fire on people attending a party in Harlow, Essex.Essex police said the man, who is in his 50s and from nearby Grays, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries early on Saturday. Continue reading...
Patients forced to buy pills online or go overseas for terminationsWomen seeking abortions in Northern Ireland are still struggling to access services. Although abortion was legalised more than two months ago, claims persist that healthcare professionals are refusing to treat patients.A leading reproductive rights group and a doctors’ organisation say that GPs are refusing to refer pregnant women to hospital services so they can access the tablets needed to undergo a medical abortion. They are also aware of midwives and nurses refusing to care for patients before and after the procedure. Continue reading...
Protests are planned after the death of 16-year-old US-born Alexander Martínez Gómez, killed by police as he rode his motorbikeSobbing down the telephone line from her home in rural Oaxaca state, Virginia Gómez remembered her 16-year-old son Alexander as a healthy youngster, who didn’t smoke, didn’t drink – and dreamed of playing football for Mexico.Related: Mexico: US teenager shot dead by police in Oaxaca Continue reading...
by Hannah Booth, Ellie Violet Bramley, Hannah Marriot on (#54KFA)
Eight great British artists on graduating, and their advice for the Class of 2020I joined in 1953, after my national service. I’d applied to study graphic design, but was accepted as a painter – I had sent them a portrait I did of my sister. So I studied painting but knew about graphic design, which accounts for a lot. I was so grateful to be there, and used it well. Continue reading...
Founder Shintaro Tsuji, 92, steps down and hands control of struggling firm to grandsonThe founder of the firm behind Hello Kitty is stepping down at the age of 92 and handing the reins to his grandson, the first change in leadership in the company’s six-decade history.Tokyo-based Sanrio, which created the ubiquitous character in 1974, announced on Friday that Shintaro Tsuji would retire as president and pass control of the company to its senior managing director, Tomokuni Tsuji. Continue reading...
by Anne Enright, Alan Hollinghurst, Diana Evans, Mark on (#54KDH)
As lockdown eases, authors including Anne Enright, Mark Haddon and Sebastian Barry reflect on what they have learned – and what comes next Continue reading...
Campaigners say tunnel will be environmentally destructive and cripplingly expensiveOpponents of a new four-lane tunnel under the River Thames are making a last-ditch attempt to halt the £1.2bn scheme, which they say will be environmentally destructive and cripplingly expensive.Campaigners are to write to the oversight committee at the Greater London Authority asking it to urgently review the proposal. Continue reading...
The designer answers questions on personal style, the Spice Girls and fashion after corona, put by Class of 2020 fashion graduatesVictoria Beckham has an office in her Cotswolds house, where she spent lockdown, but when she answers the phone, that’s not where she is. “Um, no, Harper’s taken over my office. She’s trying to do all her schoolwork and, well, she’s kind of decided that’s her space now. So I’m downstairs… we’re all dotted around the house, me and David and the boys, trying to work, trying to get schoolwork done. There’s often someone holding a laptop up to a window, trying to get reception.” Whoever you are, 2020 has had its challenges.As a patron of Graduate fashion week, Beckham is on the line to answer questions sent in by fashion students from all over the country. “To be honest, I feel like I have so many more questions than I do answers, right now – like everyone else,” she says. Still, she is optimistic that this strangest of final terms will prove a valuable learning experience. “The generation coming into adulthood now will have experienced something that none of the rest of us have. I feel like this has taught all of us a lot about how to work together as teams, both in our home lives and professionally. This crisis will have expanded the horizons of all of us, in a way.” Continue reading...
Committee set up to investigate deaths of young men allegedly chased into river as a result of ‘caste-based discrimination’The Nepalese government has established an independent high-level committee to investigate the killings of six young men, including four Dalits, whose deaths drew condemnation from the UN human rights chief.Friends Nabaraj BK, 20, Sanju BK, 21, Lokendra Sunar, 18, Tikaram Sunar, 20, Govinda Shahi, 17, and Ganesh Budha, 17, died on 23 May, after a dispute with a family. Continue reading...
The £1.5bn case of the high-flying businesswoman began its high court hearing this weekIt is June 2008 and the start of the financial crisis. Everyone in the City of London is firefighting, but two bankers are wrestling with an especially thorny problem.They are within touching distance of saving their bank from oblivion, yet a single sticking point remains: how do they accept the rescue deal on offer from the Gulf state of Qatar, while simultaneously keeping themselves out of prison? Continue reading...
The man was handed the death penalty by Guangzhou intermediate people’s courtAn Australian national has been sentenced to death by a Chinese court for drug trafficking, a verdict that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra.Already troubled relations worsened recently after China reacted furiously to Australia’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...
Video taken on Pitt Street, near Sydney’s town hall, showed officer making the sign while crossing street with other policeAttendees of Friday night’s Black Lives Matter protests in Sydney say they were left terrified after an officer appeared to flash a hand symbol associated with the white power movement.Black Lives Matter protesters gathered in the Sydney CBD to draw attention to Australia’s record on Indigenous deaths in custody. Continue reading...
Visitors may find echoes of early 1940s Europe in present-day fears and uncertaintiesEighty years ago, on 13 June 1940, the last of the 2 million Parisians – nearly three-quarters of the city’s population – to flee the fast-advancing German army were scrambling frantically to leave the capital.Amid chaos and confusion, by train, in cars piled high with belongings, by bike and on foot, pushing prams and pulling handcarts, clutching suitcases and small children, they joined a throng of 8 million displaced people heading south. Continue reading...
Riot police send snatch squads to detain demonstrators throughout night after declaring gatherings illegalThousands of Hongkongers have sung a popular protest anthem and chanted slogans across the city as they marked the first anniversary of major clashes between police and pro-democracy demonstrators.Riot police declared Friday’s gatherings unlawful assemblies and a breach of anti-coronavirus bans on public meetings of large groups, sending snatch squads to make multiple arrests throughout the evening. Continue reading...
PM has ‘serious questions’ about what happened while Indigenous leader’s lawyer files police dashboard video in courtThe prime minister, Justin Trudeau, says newly released video showing a forceful arrest of a Canadian Indigenous leader is “shocking” and raises serious questions.Chief Allan Adam of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation alleged last week that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) beat him in March during an incident involving an expired licence plate. Continue reading...
Western Australia’s ‘archaic’ heritage laws are in the spotlight as global outrage grows over the destruction of Aboriginal sitesCalls are growing for an immediate halt to mining operations in the Pilbara that have been approved under Western Australia’s “archaic” Aboriginal heritage laws and the Senate will hold an urgent inquiry, as international outrage from investors pushes big mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP into damage control.On Thursday, Guardian Australia revealed that BHP Billiton was poised to destroy at least 40 significant Aboriginal sites in the central Pilbara to expand its A$4.5bn South Flank iron-ore mine, even though it was aware the traditional owners are deeply opposed to the move. Continue reading...
Singer criticizes Tennessee lawmakers for allowing statues of ‘historical figures who did evil things’ in the state’s capitolTaylor Swift is calling on Tennessee lawmakers to remove racist monuments, arguing “villains don’t deserve statues”.“As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things,” tweeted Swift, who owns a home in Nashville. “Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such.” Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#54K7B)
Scathing report accuses airline of ‘calculated attempt to take advantage of the pandemic’MPs have labelled British Airways “a national disgrace” for trying to slash its staff terms and conditions during the coronavirus crisis.In a scathing report, the Commons transport select committee accused BA of making “a calculated attempt to take advantage of the pandemic” through moves that could lead to up to 12,000 staff being laid off and the remaining 30,000 put on inferior contracts. Continue reading...
Tally published by coalition of news outlets compiling stats since Brazil’s health ministry was accused of seeking to conceal figuresBrazil has overtaken Britain as the country with the world’s second-highest Covid-19 death toll after a further 843 deaths pushed its total to 41,901.The tally was published on Friday night by a coalition of news outlets which has been compiling independent statistics since Brazil’s health ministry was accused of seeking to conceal the full figures last week. Continue reading...
by Alexandra Topping and Nadeem Badshah on (#54JV1)
Witnesses restrain alleged attacker after stabbing of 50-year-old Alter Yaakov SchlesingerA man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the stabbing of a rabbi near a bank in north London.The victim, who was attacked in the street shortly before 11am on Friday, was taken to a major trauma centre. Continue reading...
Horse owners say theft is becoming an increasingly common crime in nation where many are going hungryIn his prime, the coffee-hued Venezuelan racehorse known as Ocean Bay thundered down tracks and snatched up the nation’s most prestigious titles.His end this week has outraged many: the stallion was stolen and butchered in what horse owners say it becoming an increasingly common crime in a nation where many are going hungry amid a severe economic contraction. Continue reading...
by Bethan McKernan Middle East correspondent on (#54JWZ)
Marches held on streets of Sweida amid soaring food prices and disillusion with corruptionA town in regime-controlled Syria is set for fresh protests this weekend as a burgeoning economic crisis engulfing even Bashar al-Assad’s most loyal supporters is now posing the biggest challenge to his grip on the country in years.Food is now more expensive than at any other time during the nine-year conflict, triggering scenes reminiscent of the Arab spring protests of 2011 on the streets of the nominally government-loyal town of Sweida this week. Continue reading...