Monday: George Floyd’s brother says Trump called – but didn’t let him speak. Plus, how getting back to normal can be jarringGood morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 1 June. Continue reading...
What happens when your natural sleeping pattern is at odds with the rest of the world?For as long as she can remember, Jenny Carter has gone to bed late and not woken up until late the following morning, sometimes even the early afternoon. Growing up, she didn’t have a bedtime, and at university she preferred to write her essays between 6pm and 10pm. She loves evenings. They’re when she feels the most creative and can concentrate the best. But that’s not when her employer or society expects her to be productive.“Going to bed at a ‘normal’ time feels so unnatural to me,” she says. “But society just doesn’t cater for people whose sleep cycle doesn’t fit the generic 9 to 5.” She has got into trouble at work for her timekeeping, which has led to disciplinary action. “I’ve had to write off so many events, meetings and opportunities, because they were in the morning and I just knew I wouldn’t be awake.” Continue reading...
A new study shows that 60% of the world’s wars have lasted for at least a decade. From Afghanistan to Libya, Syria to Congo DRC, has endless conflict become normalised?
The president’s account is a 24/7 window into his psyche, with even his rage at having his posts factchecked expressed via tweetIt has been one of the greatest love affairs in American politics.Related: Twitter taking on Trump's lies? About time too | John Naughton Continue reading...
Shot in the chaotic last days of Robert Mugabe’s regime, Cook Off is a feel-good tale of resilience and hopeA Zimbabwean film about a woman who enters a TV cooking show and which cost only $8,000 to make has become the first feature from the country to make it onto Netflix.“Seeing myself on Netflix, I have to punch myself every day. Like, is that really me?” asked actress Tendaiishe Chitima, star of Cook Off, which has now been acquired by the streaming giant. Continue reading...
Plans to relocate Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta will still go aheadThe New South Wales government will walk away from its planned $810m redevelopment of the former Olympic stadium in Sydney as the state grapples with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.On Sunday the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce that the state government will dump the stadium redevelopment, a key but controversial plank of its election pitch last year, instead announcing a $3bn fund for smaller, “shovel-ready projects”. Continue reading...
Will the pandemic, ridiculous house prices and a surge in working from home result in an exodus to Australia’s regions? Instagram and the data disagreeIt was bang in the middle of the pandemic and Elfy Scott lived “in a dank house” in Sydney’s inner west with housemates. “We were locked down and having to look at those same four mouldy walls,” she says.The lease was coming to an end, and Scott, 27, and her partner were planning their next move – to Bondi where rentals were about $600 to $700 a week. Continue reading...
Asked whether people in authority should obey the rules imposed in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said: ‘In my opinion the rules are clear and they have always been clear. In my opinion they are for the benefit of all. And in my opinion they apply to all.’
Residents of Surf Crescent in Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, felt earth ‘creaking’ beneath themResidents of a Kent village have been forced to flee their homes after part of a nearby cliff fell into the sea.
Kardashian family member reacts angrily to magazine’s claim she spun ‘a web of lies’A row has broken out between one of the world’s leading business magazines and the youngest member of reality TV’s most famous family over the value of her cosmetics company.Forbes magazine has accused Kylie Jenner, the youngest half-sister of Kim Kardashian West, of spinning a “web of lies” to inflate the size and success of her business. It claimed her family went to unusual lengths to present its youngest adult member as being richer than she was. Continue reading...
by Anita Hofschneider in Agat, photographs by Ken D'S on (#543H7)
There are now nearly 300 sexual abuse lawsuits against more than 20 priests on the deeply religious island in the western PacificRoosters crow in the distance as Walter Denton gestures toward a white one-storey concrete building behind a church in Agat, a village in southern Guam.“You know, just standing here, right behind you, that is where I was raped,” says Denton, 56. Continue reading...
French and Belgian officers arrest 26 people involved with network running from Vietnam to EuropeFrench and Belgian police believe they have smashed an international people-smuggling network involved in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found in a refrigerated trailer in the UK last October.Officers have arrested 26 people in coordinated raids in several locations in the two countries after keeping the gang under surveillance for several months. Continue reading...
Philip Leach of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre responds to a letter on the Azeri military officer and highlights recent findings of the European court of human rightsTahir Taghizade’s reference to the Ramil Safarov case needs correcting (Letters, 28 May). Mr Safarov, then a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani army, was convicted of the murder of Gurgen Margaryan and the attempted murder of Hayk Makuchyan (both Armenian officers) in Budapest in 2006. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years.In 2012 he was transferred from Hungary to Azerbaijan, under the Council of Europe convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, to serve the rest of his sentence. Instead, he was immediately set free, pardoned by the president and promoted to major. Mr Margaryan’s family and Mr Makuchyan challenged this at the European court of human rights (represented by us). On Tuesday, the court found that these actions meant Mr Safarov had in effect been granted impunity for his crimes, breaching the right to life under the European convention on human rights. It found the actions were also discriminatory because the authorities’ “glorification of his extremely cruel hate crime … had a causal link to the Armenian ethnicity of his victims”.
Foreign ministry condemns Valletta for not abiding by international rules and ordering stricken boat to Sicily at gunpointThe Italian government has confirmed that Malta’s armed forces turned a migrant boat away at gunpoint from Maltese waters, after giving them fuel and the GPS coordinates to reach Italy.Police in Sicily are investigating and the prosecutor’s office may open an investigation against Malta in the next few days. Maltese officers risk being charged with aiding illegal immigration. Continue reading...
UQ chancellor Peter Varghese says he is concerned with the outcome of the disciplinary action against student activist Drew PavlouA student activist highly critical of the University of Queensland’s ties to Beijing has been handed a two-year suspension from the institution.Drew Pavlou faced a disciplinary hearing on 20 May at the university over 11 allegations of misconduct, detailed in a confidential 186-page document, reportedly linked to his on-campus activism supporting Hong Kong and criticising the Chinese Communist Party. Continue reading...
To meet rising demand for animal companions in lockdown, Public Animal Shelter in Rio de Janeiro allows people to check the profiles of available cats and dogs via social media. It then delivers the chosen pet to their new home
Birth mother’s legal battle to bring back son from US highlights flaws in system that allows children to be taken abroadWhen Mugalu* was adopted, his birth family says they were told they would still be able to speak to him regularly and he would come back for visits. “They said we would be one big happy family,” says his mother, Sylvia, wiping away tears.But Sylvia, 40, has not seen her son since he was adopted from Uganda almost seven years ago by an American couple. She is now fighting to get her son back, taking her case to the high court in Uganda and exploring her legal options in the US. Continue reading...
The Bike Station, a Scottish bicycle recycling charity, is offering free bikes to NHS staff and other key workers during the coronanvirus crisis. Photographs by Murdo MacLeod
Protesters have take to the streets again, this time over a national security law that is set to be imposed by Beijing. Verna Yu and Lily Kuo look at how the standoff compares with those of Hong Kong’s recent historyChina’s parliament has rubber-stamped a controversial national security law that is expected to be imposed on Hong Kong. The move follows a year of violent protests in Hong Kong and is unprecedented in its scope since the territory was handed over to China from the UK in 1997. Pro-democracy demonstrators fear the legislation will bring the semi-autonomous territory further under Beijing’s control.The journalist Verna Yu has been reporting for the Guardian in Hong Kong and describes to Rachel Humphreys the shock and despondency of Hongkongers as the new laws were announced a week ago. Lily Kuo, the Guardian’s Beijing bureau chief, looks at why China has decided to press ahead with this legislation – just as the Chinese government is desperate to recover from the coronavirus crisis and the international community is occupied with its own battle with the virus. Continue reading...
Money set aside for scholarship and volunteer projects will be redirected towards medical and humanitarian interventions in the regionAustralia is considering allowing Pacific labourers to travel to Australia to work where possible as part of a new foreign aid “policy pivot” that includes the redirection of $280m from Australia’s existing aid budget.The pivot, Partnerships for Recovery, detailing Australia’s regional and development response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been released by the foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the minister for international development and the Pacific, Alex Hawke. Continue reading...
Friday: China passes repressive national security law to clamp down on Hong Kong. Plus, Adam Liaw power-ranks the best dishes of lockdownGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 29 May. Continue reading...
Move paves way for anti-sedition laws that rights advocates say threaten freedoms, as US opposition buildsChina’s legislature has approved controversial national security laws for Hong Kong, dealing what critics have called a “killer blow” to the city’s autonomy and freedoms.Delegates of China’s National People’s Congress broke out into applause in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People after voting through a draft decision that paves the way for sweeping anti-sedition laws to be directly enacted in Hong Kong. Continue reading...
Civil groups fear replacing 26,000 troops with a ‘political mission’ will threaten fragile security situation in DarfurActivists in Sudan are urging the UN and African Union not to go ahead with plans to withdraw 26,000 peacekeepers from Darfur this year, claiming the move will put lives at risk.The peacekeepers from the AU-UN hybrid operation in Darfur (Unamid), which has a mandate to protect civilians by force if necessary, will leave in October under plans expected to be agreed by the UN security council, although it is understood the UK and Germany want to delay troop withdrawal. Continue reading...
My friend Mike Bower inspired and led the transformation of Sheffield at a time of political and economic crisis. As leader of Sheffield city council from 1992 to 1998, he drove the Heart of the City project: this brought together the Millennium Gallery, Winter Gardens, St Paul’s Place and Peace Gardens in the centre, introduced Supertram and engaged with the regeneration of the East End, which had been ravaged by industrial decline.Mike, who has died aged 77, has been described as a visionary by the former Sheffield MP Richard Caborn. To “visionary” I would add “tenacious” - his vision was for a long time resisted by his own Labour group, bruised by the costly experience of Sheffield’s hosting of the World Student Games – and “open-minded”. After a decade of barely concealed hostility from many Labour councils, he built bridges with the unelected industrialists entrusted with the city’s regeneration by Margaret Thatcher’s government. Continue reading...
Activists seemed on the brink of victory when they were stalled by the pandemic, now Congress is back in session with a historic billFeminists in Argentina like to say: “la lucha está en la calle” — the battle is in the streets. But with the country under a strict coronavirus lockdown, the women’s movement can no longer flood the streets.So on Thursday, activists have planned a series of virtual events to mark 15 years of their campaign to legalize abortion – and inject new momentum to campaign which was stalled by the pandemic, just as it seemed on the brink of victory. Continue reading...
Prime minister extends an olive branch by ditching union-busting legislation, but there are sharp differences in prioritiesThe Morrison government could push ahead with industrial relations changes even if the unions and employers are unable to bridge the sharp differences in their priorities to reach a consensus on reform, the attorney general has said.On Wednesday Christian Porter told ABC’s 7.30 the government wants “as much agreement as possible” from five industrial relations consultation groups but the prime minister had asked him to develop a product … out of every working group”, which may involve legislation. Continue reading...
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Police let teenager who ran away be taken back home by father despite her fears he would be violentIran’s president has called for swift action to outlaw so-called “honour killings” after the death of a 14-year-old Iranian girl allegedly at the hands of her father prompted a nationwide outcry.Hassan Rouhani urged his cabinet to act after Romina Ashrafi was allegedly killed by her father for running away with her boyfriend, 34-year-old Bahamn Khavari, in Talesh, 320km (198 miles) north-west of Tehran. Continue reading...
Suburban rat infestations surge after city-dwelling rodents run out of foodEmpty offices and restaurants in the city of Sydney are driving hungry rats into homes and suburbs, and the loosening of restrictions could create “a new rat plague”, according to a leading rat-catcher.As city centres have closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, suburban rat infestations have spiked, according to Geoff Milton, a Sydney rat-catcher with 35 years’ experience. Continue reading...
by Sam Jones in Madrid and Rory Carroll in Dublin on (#53ZJ3)
Valladolid archaeologists find human skull in chapel where Christopher Columbus was also buriedSomewhere beneath a street in north-west Spain – probably between a bank branch and a budget clothes shop – lies the ruined chapel where an eight-toed rebel Irish lord was buried after his final, fatal mission 418 years ago.Red Hugh O’Donnell, who escaped captivity and led a rebellion that almost expelled the Tudor English forces from Ireland, fled to Spain after the Battle of Kinsale in 1602 when the rebels tried to team up with a beleaguered Spanish expeditionary force. Continue reading...
Vow comes after Jerusalem court ruled ex-teacher is mentally fit to stand trial and be extradited over 74 sexual assault chargesThe alleged child abuser Malka Leifer will not be allowed to “evade justice”, Israel’s president has promised Australia’s prime minister, a day after a Jerusalem court ruled the former headteacher was mentally fit to stand trial and be extradited.“The state of Israel will not allow anyone to use its institutions to evade justice,” Reuven Rivlin told Scott Morrison in a phone call on Wednesday focused on the developing trial, his office said. Continue reading...
Amnesty International alleges that at least 10,000 died while being wrongly held – some of them in a centre part funded by the UKWidespread unlawful detention and torture by Nigerian security forces has aggravated the suffering of a generation of children and tens of thousands of people in north-east Nigeria, according to a new report.At least 10,000 victims – many of them children – have died in military detention, among the many thousands more arrested during a decade-long conflict with jihadist groups, according to Amnesty International. Continue reading...