A statue of a British naval captain has been removed by the city council in Hamilton, New Zealand, after a Māori elder threatened to take it down by force. The statue of Capt John Hamilton, after whom the city in the central North Island is named, was gifted to the city by a local company in 2013. The removal of the statue comes amid wider discussions about the future of New Zealand’s colonial statues
Miguel Otávio Santana da Silva fell nine storeys after being left alone by his mother’s employer, one of many richer white Brazilians employing black domestic workersMirtes Santana weeps when she remembers finding her son dying on the pavement outside the luxury seaside apartment block where she worked in north-eastern Brazil.“I can’t bear it,” said the 33-year-old domestic worker. “It breaks my heart.” Continue reading...
Meetings on Tiananmen Square massacre and Hong Kong crisis were taken down because Communist government complainedZoom has admitted it suspended the accounts of human rights activists at the behest of the Chinese government and suggested it will block any further meetings that Beijing complains are illegal.On Thursday the video conferencing platform was accused of disrupting or shutting down the accounts of three activists who held online events relating to the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary or discussing the crisis in Hong Kong. None were given an explanation by Zoom. Continue reading...
Over 70% of the indigenous Peruvian community of Cantagallo Island have tested positive for coronavirus. This is how they are surviving lockdown• All photographs by Florence Goupil, who received a grant from the Covid-19 National Geographic emergency fund for journalists Continue reading...
Coronavirus has forced events including AfrikaBurn and Bushfire to cancel, leaving performers without promotional platforms and incomeIn a region where live music is everything – both for audiences and for performers heavily reliant on live appearances to make a living – the widespread cancellation of festivals across southern Africa has hit the music business hard.May should have seen the Bushfire festival in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), Zakifo and AfrikaBurn in South Africa, and Azgo in Mozambique. Next month would have been Zimfest in Zimbabwe. All have been cancelled – or replaced with online versions – along with dozens of smaller live events that have been growing in recent years, bringing in tourism, showcasing talent and culture, and boosting southern Africa’s music industry. Continue reading...
Source says government will take a ‘pragmatic and flexible’ approach to help businesses cope with impact of coronavirusThe government is expected to backtrack on its plan to introduce full border checks with the EU from 1 January 2021 over fears of the economic impact of coronavirus.The cabinet office minister, Michael Gove, is anticipated to make an announcement on Friday over border operations for when Brexit fully comes into effect at the end of the transition period. Continue reading...
Home Office measures that caused Windrush scandal potentially breached equality law, says EHRCThe Home Office is being investigated over whether it breached equality law when it introduced the “hostile environment” immigration measures that caused catastrophic consequences for thousands of Windrush generation residents living legally in the UK.As part of a drive to end the “systemic and entrenched race inequalities that exist in our country”, the Equality and Human Rights Commission will use its legal powers to examine whether, and how the Home Office complied with the public sector equality duty, when it implemented tough new immigration legislation aimed at making life extremely difficult for undocumented illegal immigrants. Continue reading...
Prior to the release of Da 5 Bloods, the director takes questions from readers, film-makers and politicians about George Floyd, Covid-19 and the worst thing about actorsFor more than three decades, Spike Lee has been one of the most vital forces in film-making.His latest movie, Da 5 Bloods – about four African American veterans who return to Vietnam in search of the remains of their squad leader – is described by Peter Bradshaw as “a blast of satire and emotional agony about … the fact that black deaths matter”. Continue reading...
12 June 1987: The meeting of John Paul II and the leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, is a turning point for the post-communist future of the countryThe Pope came to Poland’s Baltic coast last night, and confirmed what he called “the important reality of the term ‘solidarity’ and its eternal significance.”Speaking once again to a rapt audience of a million or more, each one hanging on his every word, he declared: “The word ‘solidarity’ was uttered right here, in a new way and in a new context. And the world cannot forget it.” Continue reading...
With no active Covid-19 cases, NZ to open borders to certain migrants but the move will also help team American Magic for March 2021 competitionNew Zealand is relaxing its borders to grant exemptions for certain workers – including America’s Cup sailors – and partners of New Zealand citizens to enter the country.The move comes after 21 days with no new Covid-19 cases across the country and no current live cases. Continue reading...
City council says memorial to Captain John Hamilton comes down after Māori elder calls him a ‘murderer’ and threatens to remove by forceA statue of a British naval captain has been removed by the city council in Hamilton, New Zealand after a local Māori elder threatened to take it down by force.The statue of Captain John Hamilton, after whom the city in the central North Island is named, was gifted to the city by a local company in 2013. Continue reading...
Pyongyang says since summit two years ago US has appeared friendly but has instead sought regime changeNorth Korea sees no future benefit in maintaining a relationship between its leader, Kim Jong-Un, and Donald Trump, the country’s state media has said on the two-year anniversary of the pair’s first summit.US policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, foreign minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. Continue reading...
Call to suspend ‘NRPF’ hostile environment measure that stops some people accessing public fundsLocal authorities have called on the government to suspend the controversial “no recourse to public funds” immigration status for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, to prevent thousands from falling into destitution and homelessness.High numbers of people who have this status attached to their visas have been approaching councils for emergency assistance during the pandemic. Many are struggling to survive during the exceptional circumstances of lockdown, with no safety net, according to the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales. Continue reading...
Phone footage of assault on officer in Hackney street has been widely sharedFour people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been arrested in connection with the assault of two police officers in Hackney, east London.A video of the assault has been widely circulated on social media, showing a male officer pinned down on the ground and being kicked, while his female colleague is pushed when she tries to intervene. Continue reading...
Friday: Three companies have backed away from the controversial coalmine project. Plus, Brigid Delaney discovers the joys and pains of train travelGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 12 June. Continue reading...
Former cabinet minister sent financier furious email over delay in payment of £5m in feesThe prominent businesswoman Amanda Staveley fell out with the former cabinet minister David Mellor as the pair worked on securing the billions of pounds that saved Barclays during the 2008 financial crisis, the high court has heard.Staveley is suing Barclays for up to £1.5bn after her client, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, invested £3.25bn as part of an emergency fundraising 12 years ago. She claims that the UK bank was secretly offering superior terms to Barclays’ largest investor, the state of Qatar. Continue reading...
PSNI says tests show weapon found in Derry last weekend was used in reporter’s killingA handgun found during police searches in Derry last weekend is the weapon used to kill journalist Lyra McKee, police have confirmed.The Police Service of Northern Ireland said after forensic tests on the Hammerli X-Esse pistol they have established it was the gun that fired the fatal shots that killed the 29-year-old reporter during riots in Derry last year. Continue reading...
UN expresses horror at finds, mainly in town of Tarhuna, and backs GNA investigationThe United Nations has expressed horror at the discovery of eight mass graves in Libya, mainly in the town of Tarhuna, south of Tripoli, in an area recently retaken from forces loyal to Gen Khalifa Haftar.The UN mission in Libya said it welcomed the decision by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) to launch an investigation into the gravesNo estimate of the number of dead has been made public, but one grave contained at least 15 badly decomposed bodies. Some graves are said to contain entire families. Continue reading...
A man vandalized a mock cemetery of 100 graves and crosses representing people who have died from Covid-19A supporter of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has desecrated a beachside memorial to Covid-19 victims as the country’s coronavirus death toll rose above 40,000.Activists from civil society group Rio de Paz dug 100 symbolic shallow graves on Copacabana beach before dawn on Thursday to represent the Brazilian lives lost. Continue reading...
Foreign secretary calls for new laws to be dropped and says Beijing ‘tortured’ UK employeeThe foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has urged China to step back from the brink by abandoning plans to impose new security laws on Hong Kong, as he accused Beijing of treating a member of Foreign Office staff in a way “amounting to torture”.Raab attacked the Chinese government’s brutal treatment of Simon Cheng, a former employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong, who was kept in custody for 15 days after travelling to the mainland. Continue reading...
Authorities charge two stars of the platform and one woman who said she had been rapedYoung Egyptian TikTok stars have become the latest target of state authorities, who accuse them of spreading “immorality” in society.Since President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi came to power in 2014, hundreds of journalists, activists, lawyers and intellectuals have been arrested and many websites blocked in the name of state security. Continue reading...
Federal government refuses to release disclosures, saying they were made ‘in confidence’, amid calls for greater transparencyOnly one of the six commissioners on Scott Morrison’s Covid-19 commission has volunteered to release their conflicts of interest, prompting calls for greater transparency from the publicly funded body.The government has refused to release the conflict-of-interest declarations for members of its National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC), a prominent advisory body shaping non-health aspects of Australia’s Covid-19 strategy. Continue reading...
Casavant shot mother black bear under province policy but was suspended and eventually fired for not killing cubsA conservation officer in Canada who was fired for refusing to kill two black bear cubs has won a protracted legal battle over his termination.“I feel like the black clouds that have hung over my family for years are finally starting to part,” Bryce Casavant told the Guardian. “But the moment is bittersweet – my firing should have never happened in the first place.” Continue reading...
Supporters deny ‘vicious rumours’ about Scouting founder being pro-HitlerA council’s plans to remove a statue of the founder of the Scout movement amid fears that it would be targeted by anti-racist activists were thwarted when it was surrounded by dozens of locals refusing to allow it to be taken away.Former scouts were among those who formed a ring around the statue of Robert Baden-Powell, a divisive figure who has been accused of support for Adolf Hitler, on the quayside in Poole. They vowed that they would not let either council workers or activists get to the statue. Continue reading...
Almost 10,000 new cases in India on Thursday as WHO warns situation outside Europe deterioratingIndia reported almost 10,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, with hospitals swamped in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, and predictions that the infection rate will not peak before the end of next month.The country of 1.3bn people now has the fifth highest number of confirmed cases in the world, at 286,579. Over the last 24 hours 357 people have died from the virus, bringing the official toll to 8,102. Continue reading...
The singer played ticketed livestreams from an (almost) empty church to brighten up lockdown. We took up a lonely pew to see if it could match the real thing
‘Third-century’ artefacts with hieroglyphics and Basque words referred to non-existent gods and to René DescartesA Spanish archaeologist whose staggering discoveries included one of the earliest representations of the crucifixion and proof that the written Basque language was centuries older than previously thought has been found guilty of faking the finds.The saga began in June 2006 when Eliseo Gil presented artefacts excavated from the Roman town of Veleia, near the Basque city of Vitoria. Continue reading...
by Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent on (#54JK1)
Woman who fled as schoolgirl to join Isis cannot fight fair appeal from Syria, lawyers sayShamima Begum, the woman who left Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State, cannot effectively challenge the government’s decision to deprive her of British citizenship while she is in a detention camp in northern Syria, the court of appeal has been told.At the start of a two-day online hearing, her lawyers challenged a ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) this year that she has not been rendered stateless because she is entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship. Continue reading...
The fashion industry makes huge profits from the exploitation of black and brown women. Now is the time to call it outOf all the shocks that the past few weeks and months have brought to all our lives, one of the biggest for me as a black woman working in the fashion industry is that finally people are realising that racism is more than calling someone a derogatory name.The killing of George Floyd while in police custody and the global outrage and protest that followed is bringing a dawning collective understanding that white supremacy relies on the exploitation of black and brown people. Continue reading...
Woman and two children repeatedly complained about unsafe accommodationA high court judge has ordered the Home Office to pay for a hotel for a vulnerable asylum seeker and her two young children, after twice placing them in unsafe accommodation over the past 10 months.The woman and her two children aged eight and nine were placed in Home Office accommodation last August, but made repeated complaints about the conditions. Concerns were raised about the risk to the woman and her children of remaining in that accommodation by the children’s school, social services, lawyers and charities. Continue reading...
Thomas Thabane and his current wife allegedly agreed to pay hitmen $179,485 to carry out killingLesotho’s former prime minister Thomas Thabane paid a team of hitmen from a notorious local gang a down payment of more than $20,000 to kill his estranged wife, according to police statements.The cash was alleged to be the first instalment of a much larger sum – approximately $180,000 – that was agreed as a fee for the murder three years ago. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#54JGH)
Carolyn Fairbairn says many businesses cannot prepare for no deal during Covid-19 crisisBusiness leaders have pleaded with the government not to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal after Michael Gove claimed the Confederation of British Industry supported no extension to the transition period.The CBI’s director general, Carolyn Fairbairn, said to crash out without a deal would be a “major block to recovery”. Continue reading...
As a new David Attenborough documentary examines the waterway’s history, we rate the river’s finest movie cameosThis film follows a well-understood movie tradition of using the Thames, with its twists and turns and swerves, as a spectacular setpiece to whoosh us along the city, tracking the river from the air. Here, Harry (played by Daniel Ratcliffe) has been expelled from Hogwarts and is under attack from Dementors, so “Mad-Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson) takes Harry and his pals on an amazing broomstick ride along the river, past the Canary Wharf towers and the museum ship HMS Belfast. Tower Bridge makes its mandatory appearance before Harry and the gang rocket past the Houses of Parliament and arrive in Grimmauld Place, the former headquarters of the titular Order of the Phoenix, somewhere north of the river. Continue reading...
Bristol man sees official record of his age as five years older than he says as theft of his identityA young man who was given permission to stay in the UK after fleeing Gaza has been on hunger strike for more than 90 days in protest at what he sees as the “theft” of his true identity on his official records.The man, who has learning disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder, says he was wrongly assessed as being five years older than he is when he arrived in the UK. He regards his date of birth as a crucial part of his identity and a vital link to his late parents. Continue reading...
Akhtar Imam says animals saved his life from ‘gun-carrying criminals’ last yearAn Indian man has opted to bequeath most of his land to two elephants that he says saved his life from intruders, a decision which has upset his wife and children.Akhtar Imam, from a village in the eastern state of Bihar, said he changed his will to bequeath 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) to gentle giants Moti (Pearl) and Rani (Queen). Continue reading...
Anglo-Dutch conglomerate denies U-turn after finally choosing the UK capital over Dutch city as its HQUnilever has picked London as its home in an about-face on the company’s 2018 decision to “go Dutch” which was abandoned after a revolt by British shareholders.Despite a fresh internal review that this time selected London rather than Rotterdam as the location of its headquarters, the Unilever chairman, Nils Andersen, insisted it was not a flip-flop but a pragmatic way to complete an overdue overhaul of its unwieldy corporate structure. Continue reading...
The rally, which was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, has been declared a prohibited public gatheringRefugee activists have vowed to push ahead with a planned protest this weekend despite the supreme court prohibiting the event amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Justice Michael Walton on Thursday night granted a NSW police application for the rally to be declared a prohibited public gathering. Continue reading...
From maternal mortality to access to pain relief, minority-ethnic groups have always suffered disproportionately. But now the data on Covid-19 deaths cannot be ignoredOne of the last things I did before lockdown began was to speak at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists at an event on race and maternal mortality. It has been known for a few years now that – incredibly – black women in the UK are five times more likely to die in pregnancy than white women, while Asian women are twice as likely to die. The atmosphere in the room was heavy with anger and disappointment. Black doctors, nurses and midwives were exasperated by the failure to protect women.In the United States, too, black and Native American women suffer greater rates of maternal mortality than white women. This is just one of many examples of racial inequality in health. A US study found last year that black patients were 40% less likely than white patients to get the medication they needed to relieve acute pain. A UK study published in January showed that Asian patients with dementia were 14% less likely to be prescribed beneficial anti-dementia drugs than white patients were. Continue reading...
‘Action arm’ will have intelligence-gathering capabilities, security chief says, as state media says legislators are working ‘day and night’ on new lawsHong Kong’s security chief has announced that a dedicated police unit is being set up and would be ready to enforce controversial new national security laws from day one.There is widespread international and commercial concern about the impact of the laws that are being imposed on the semi-autonomous region directly by Beijing, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature. The move has prompted the UK to offer a visa to millions of Hongkongers if they felt uncomfortable staying. Continue reading...
Test to promote informed discussion will ask users if they want to retweet unread linksTwitter is trying to stop people from sharing articles they have not read, in an experiment the company hopes will “promote informed discussion” on social media.In the test, pushed to some users on Android devices, the company is introducing a prompt asking people if they really want to retweet a link that they have not tapped on. Continue reading...