World news | The Guardian

Ukraine president dismisses Moscow’s proposed routes for civilian evacuation as ‘completely immoral’

Joe McCarthy and Gary Taylor were held at gunpoint by Russians before successfully evacuating Irish woman and Nigerian menTwo Scottish gardeners have rescued three students – one Irish and two Nigerian – who were trapped in the wartorn city of Sumy in the north-east of Ukraine.Along the way, the men were held at gunpoint by Russian soldiers – but were then rescued themselves by locals. Continue reading...

Home Office sources contradict earlier government denials that third way to enter Britain may be introduced

Fifteen fire engines and about 100 firefighters have been called to a fire on the 17th floor of a block of flats on Whitechapel High Street.The London Fire Brigade mobilised its 64-metre ladder to help tackle the fire and said its control-room officers received more than 50 calls about the blaze

As the clean up continues in flood-affected communities across the east coast we examine what scientific research can tell us about this rain event and if it’s likely to happen again.Guardian Australia’s Graham Readfearn and PhD researcher Kimberley Reid speak to Laura Murphy-Oates about the weather systems that caused the record-breaking event, and how to prepare for the future of natural disasters, in the face of the climate crisis.Read more: Continue reading...

Analysis of satellite observations show forest is losing stability with ‘profound’ global implicationsThe Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity.Computer models have previously indicated a mass dieback of the Amazon is possible but the new analysis is based on real-world satellite observations over the past three decades. Continue reading...

Skateboarders and BMX riders perform spins, jumps and flips on the B4069 near Lyneham as police warn motorists to stay awayThey are generally to be found in urban areas, using purpose-built skate parks or scouting out suitable flights of steps, handrails and concrete slopes to try out their airborne stunts.But a country road in Wiltshire has become an unlikely draw for skaters, skateboarders, BMX and scooter riders after it buckled and cracked in spectacular fashion, creating undulations and angles perfect for spins, jumps and flips. Continue reading...

Ukraine accuses Moscow of illegally justifying war with false genocide claim

Aid agencies warn of ‘ripple effect’ as soaring wheat prices hit countries already facing inflation, food insecurity and conflictConcerns are growing across the Middle East and north Africa that the war in Ukraine will send prices of staple foods soaring as wheat supplies are hit, potentially fuelling unrest. Russia and Ukraine supply a quarter of the world’s wheat exports, while Egypt is the world’s biggest importer of wheat.In Tunisia, like many people queueing for bread in Tunis’s sprawling medina, or old town, Khmaes Ammani, a day labourer, said the rising cost of living was leaving him squeezed. “There’s never any money at the end of the month,” he said. “I even have to borrow some. Everything is getting more expensive.” Continue reading...

Directors demand halt to ‘collaborations with representatives of a terrorist country that threatens to destroy the whole world’A group of prominent Ukrainian film-makers are demanding a cultural boycott of Russia, saying that it would be “an attempt to cleanse the world of the propaganda of a terrorist state”.Seven film-makers, including Roman Bondarchuk (Volcano), Nariman Aliev (Homeward), Alina Gorlova (This Rain Will Never Stop) and Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis), have each released statements outlining their support of a boycott as well as their criticism of Russian film-makers who are failing to oppose the attack on Ukraine. Continue reading...

Pitt Town residents call for better escape plan after authorities forced to find key for locked backup gate

Wanderlust may be surging once more – but will travel really help us find what we’re looking for?In 2019, the United Nations World Tourism Organization reported that international travel had increased to a record 1.4 billion tourist arrivals. It predicted a 3% to 4% annual increase in coming years. That didn’t happen, of course. At the end of 2021, international tourist arrivals were 72% below pre-pandemic levels with 1 billion fewer arrivals than two years earlier.This is despite airlines’ ingenuity. During Australian lockdown, Qantas organised flights to nowhere: one left Sydney for a fly-by tour of Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru; another in May last year took passengers to 43,000ft to see the blood-red supermoon. Continue reading...

Teodora Miha imbues this harrowing tale of a mother’s search for justice with a documentarian’s gaze, in a solidly made descent into every parent’s worst nightmareThis film began life as a documentary about kidnaps for ransom, fuelled by narco violence in northern Mexico. But when cartels started following Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Mihai around she changed tack, turning her material into drama – working with Mexican scriptwriter Habacuc Antonio de Rosario. Still, the film’s nonfictional beginnings perhaps explain why Mihai tells her story not so much as a thriller but as a naturalistic-looking drama, intelligent and mostly absorbing. It’s inspired by true events, fictionalising the story of Miriam Rodríguez Martínez, a mother who hunted down the people responsible for the kidnap and murder of her 14-year-old daughter.Arcelia Ramírez is outstanding as Cielo, a middle-aged woman whose daughter Laura goes missing. The next day a smirking, menacing young man called El Puma (Daniel Garcia), demands 150,000 pesos “if you want to see your daughter again.” With her ex-husband Gustavo (Álvaro Guerrero), she cobbles the money together, hands over a brown envelope and a brand new truck. But instead of returning Laura, El Puma delivers another ultimatum. Cielo’s ex-husband gives a fatalistic shrug and withdraws into grief. The cops can’t help her, or won’t. At a morgue Cielo views the bodies of two decapitated young women – thrown out of a truck on to the street among morning commuters. Neither is her daughter. Continue reading...

Ranald Crook, now back in Britain, was forbidden to fly home for his father’s funeral under travel banA 75-year-old British man was trapped in Qatar for more than seven years when he was refused permission to leave after a business dispute.Ranald Crook, who is back in Gloucestershire, was even forbidden to fly home for his father’s funeral as a result of the travel ban, imposed after two influential Qatari brothers took legal action against him. Continue reading...

Move comes amid public alarm over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moldova also applies to join bloc

Bronwyn, 60, met Sean, 57, after he wrote to the radio station where she had a show. They have been married since 1991In September 1988, Bronwyn was living in Brooklyn, New York, presenting a popular show on WFMU, an independent community radio station. “I played a lot of different music and wrote my own material, which included an obituary section called News of the Dead,” she says.One day, after Bronwyn finished recording, the station manager showed her a comic strip submitted for the station’s programme guide. “When I glanced at the comic I thought the art looked great.” When she read the strip, she realised it was about her. “It included all these drawings of women, trying to guess what kind of woman I was. The final panel was a picture of the artist walking across a desert, asking if I’d marry him,” she laughs. “If he’d sent fan mail, I might have thought he was nuts, but I knew it was a flattering joke because it was sent to the programme guide, not me.” Continue reading...

Fresh from receiving a MacArthur Foundation grant – and releasing an album inspired by Kate Bush and ghostly folk – the daring singer is already absorbed in the next challengeIn 2020, Cécile McLorin Salvant kept getting calls from an unknown number. Like any self-respecting millennial, she ignored them. “They called me so many times and I didn’t answer because no one answers a number that they don’t know,” she says, speaking by Zoom from her New York apartment.When she finally picked up the phone, she “freaked out”. It was the MacArthur Foundation calling to tell her she had been chosen as one of its fellows, an honour that comes with a grant of $625,000 (£475,000) paid over five years. Given that Covid-19 meant her tour had been cancelled, it couldn’t have come at a better time. “It felt like a validation that went beyond music,” says the 32-year-old musician. “It felt like a validation of the way that I think. That’s a huge compliment. It’s the greatest honour.” Continue reading...

My father, Gerard Byrne, who has died aged 83, had a wide range of jobs – from joiner to recycling officer – and an even wider range of hobbies and skills, ranging from woodworking to dressmaking and golf to snooker.Born in Liverpool to John, a labourer, and Elizabeth (nee Lally), Gerry was brought up in the Scotland Road area of the city with two sisters, Elizabeth and Frances, and a brother, John. After spending some of the second world war years in care, he received a scholarship to St Francis Xavier’s college, but remembered the teachers resenting the scholarship children, so that one-by-one they all dropped out until Gerry, the last in his year, also left early. Continue reading...

As the state, the refinery and tanker owners play the blame game, damage to the region’s ecosystems continues to spreadMore than a month after Peru’s worst ever environmental disaster on its coastline there are few signs of reckoning for Repsol, the Spanish energy company that manages the refinery where more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil spewed into the Pacific Ocean after a routine tanker discharge went awry.The black slick, pushed north by wind and currents, tarred 25 beaches, polluted three protected marine reserves, and covers an area of about 106 sq km (40 sq miles) – the size of Paris. Continue reading...

The floods are not unlike the incredible and unprecedented fires three years ago

Bill would allow government to freeze assets and also prevent Russian yachts and aircraft from entering New ZealandNew Zealand will rush a bill through parliament this week that will significantly ramp up its sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs, in line with its western allies.The Russia Sanctions Bill is the “first of its kind” in New Zealand, which has no legal framework for passing broader, unilateral sanctions and usually only does so when called on by the UN security council. As a permanent member of the body, Moscow has vetoed any action against it. Continue reading...

He found fame in The English Patient before becoming a huge TV star. Now he is tackling the Theranos fraud scandal. But addiction in the 90s nearly cost him everythingIf your abiding image of Naveen Andrews is as Sayid from Lost – the soulful Iraqi officer whose sad eyes, powerful biceps and luxuriant hair set many mid-00s hearts a-flutter – you might be in for a shock seeing him in The Dropout. Paunchy, bespectacled, greying, with shockingly normal-length hair, he is less a strapping man of action and more a middle-aged man of business – and not a very good one at that. Andrews portrays Sunny Balwani, the partner and alleged co-conspirator of Elizabeth Holmes, who was once the world’s youngest female billionaire and is now a convicted corporate fraudster.On a video call from his home in Santa Monica, California, Andrews, 53, looks more Sayid than Sunny. His black gym vest exposes reassuringly well-toned biceps; the hair is returning to its trademark resplendence. He gained 9kg (1st 6lb) for The Dropout, he explains, to make his face fuller and his belly paunchier. He also modified his movements to seem slower and older. “Well, I did at least want to resemble the character I was playing,” he says, a little sting of sarcasm in his inflection. Continue reading...

They were pigeonholed, derided – and even shot at. With The Marvelous Mrs Maisel back on TV screens, we find out what life was really like for women who dared to be funny in the postwar yearsBack in the days when they were still called comediennes, an older comedienne turns to a younger one and says: “What is your persona?” The younger woman is confused. Bob Hope and Lenny Bruce don’t have personas, she says. They are just allowed to be funny as themselves, so why isn’t she? “They have dicks,” snaps back Sophie Lennon, one of the most memorable characters in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.In the hit Amazon show – set in 50s and 60s New York – Midge Maisel discovers her talent as a standup. She’s an accidental comic, getting up on stage at a Greenwich Village club one night, drunk and angry and confessional, after her husband leaves her for his secretary. At the time, there is really only one mainstream female standup: Lennon, whose persona is that of a Queens housewife, complete with feather duster, fat suit and grating catchphrase. Maisel, with her shocking, electrifying set – it ends with her getting arrested – represents a new style of comedy, particularly for women. Continue reading...

The nuns, based in Italy, have heeded the advice of Pope Francis to get out more and avoid becoming ‘old maids’The women huddled in the centre of the pitch, to briefly strategise, to pray for Ukraine. Then the whistle blew, and to cries of “Forza, sisters!” from their fans, they prepared for kick-off.The youngest player is 27, the eldest 52, and they are among the 18 brought together from congregations across Italy to form the first national football team for nuns in the world. Continue reading...

Attack on civilians in town on the outskirts of Kyiv comes as vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians attempt to flee cities under bombardment

Mistakes are still made in cases like their daughter’s, say Gracie’s parents, who are campaigning for more funding for anti-stalking advocatesGracie Spinks was doing what she loved most – feeding her beloved horse one morning before work – when a stalker she had previously reported to the police killed her.Her death came just a few months after Sarah Everard was murdered by police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021, triggering a nationwide conversation about violence towards women and confidence in policing. Continue reading...

With an election days away, the two leading candidates must negotiate pitfalls of a reliance on US for security and on China for tradeWhen Moon Jae-in, the outgoing president of South Korea, returned home from Washington in May last year, his foreign minister, Chung Eui-yong, rushed to clarify the mention of Taiwan in his joint statement with Joe Biden – a highly sensitive subject for South Korea’s biggest trading partner, China.“The Taiwan-related expressions [in the joint statement] are ‘very general expressions’,” Chung said a day after the statement was released. As if this clarification was not enough, Chung’s deputy, Choi Jong-gun, added: “China would appreciate the fact that South Korea does not see China as an enemy.” Continue reading...

The loss of thousands of homes means renters will have fewer properties to bid for and they will also be competing against flood-hit owner-occupiers

Emergency laws due to be rushed through Commons but ministers warned measures contain loopholes

PM urges voters to overturn existing policy in June and pledges boost to defence spending following Russian invasion of UkraineDenmark’s prime minister has called for the country’s citizens to overturn the country’s opt-out from EU defence policy in a referendum to be held on 1 June, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“Historic times call for historic decisions,” Mette Frederiksen told a news conference on Sunday, adding that the government “very clearly calls on Danes to lift the opt-out on defence”. Continue reading...

Monday: Invasion creating fastest-growing refugee crisis since the second world war. Plus: Scott Morrison pledges new base for nuclear-powered submarines on Australia’s east coast

Maxillofacial surgeon Andrew Baker given formal warning by GMC and suspended by General Dental CouncilA leading NHS surgeon has been censured by two medical regulators, and suspended by one of them, for repeatedly vandalising colleagues’ cars in their hospital car park, the Guardian can reveal.Andrew Baker has been given a formal warning by the General Medical Council (GMC) after being cautioned by police on six charges of causing criminal damage by dragging a key along the vehicles. Continue reading...

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Appeal by French president comes as Russian bombardment ends second attempt to evacuate Mariupol

French restaurant threatened for selling fries, cheese and gravy snack that sounds like the Russian leaderVladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has prompted demonstrations around the world, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to condemn the war.But anger towards the Russian leader has also ensnared an unlikely casualty: a French-Canadian delicacy of potato fries, cheese curds and gravy. Continue reading...

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russian rockets had completely destroyed the civilian airport in central Ukraine on Sunday. Footage appears to show columns of smoke and fire billowing from the airport

Russia seeks guarantees regarding trade with Iran that would undermine west’s sanctions over Ukraine invasionRussia has been accused of trying to take the Iran nuclear deal hostage as part of its wider battle with the west over Ukraine, after it threw a last-minute spanner into plans for an agreement to lift a swathe of US economic sanctions on Tehran.After months of negotiations in Vienna, a revised deal was expected to be reached within days, under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear non-proliferation deal. Continue reading...

Experts believe rare meeting with Moscow ally could signal significant shift in US policy towards Caracas

The world has reacted with revulsion to stark images of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. But televisions in Moscow show a different story entirely, says Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew RothThis episode was first published in our global news podcast, Today in Focus.When Russian state TV announced the invasion of Ukraine last week, it did not use the words “attack”, “invasion” or “war”. Instead it reported on a “special military operation” in the neighbouring country designed to liberate a nation that would welcome Russia’s forces to free it from fascism. Continue reading...

More than 1.5 million people reportedly crossed into neighbouring countries since Russia invaded

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed for Russians to challenge their government and voice opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. 'If you keep silent now, only your poverty will speak for you later. And only repression will answer,' he warned.Russians face an uncertain and isolated future after international sanctions plunged the economy into crisis and authorities cracked down on independent media and restricted access to Facebook and other social media sites

UK spy agencies reframed warning about security risk of appointing media owner after Boris Johnson intervenedThe Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said parliament’s intelligence and security committee should investigate the circumstances surrounding Boris Johnson’s elevation of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords.The demand came after a fresh report that the intelligence agencies had reframed an assessment that Lebedev’s appointment would pose a security risk following an intervention from the prime minister in early 2020. Continue reading...

Explosions can be heard as journalists and Ukrainians are filmed amid heavy shelling in town of Irpin, near Kyiv. The Ukrianian military helped residents escape as Russian troops advanced towards the capital

Video of man being beaten by officers prompts outrage, but interior minister says use of force ‘proportionate’Spain’s interior minister has defended the behaviour of police who were filmed beating and pepper-spraying a young Sub-Saharan African man as he climbed over the border fence between Morocco and Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla, insisting the officers’ use of force was “proportionate”.The video emerged last week as about 3,700 people tried to scale the six-metre (20ft) fence over two days. On Wednesday, an unprecedented 2,500 people tried to clamber over the border, of whom 491 succeeded. The following day, 1,200 people attempted to cross over, with 380 making it. Continue reading...

Border official insisted Slovakian national was using an alias after Home Office misspelled nameThe Home Office has agreed to pay nearly £6,000 in a settlement to an EU citizen it detained at the border in a post-Brexit crack down on Europeans entering the country last year.Miro Matos, a Slovakian who has lived in the UK for 18 years, was so furious at his treatment in Calais that he sued after officials detained him for 10 hours alleging he was using a false name and had not declared a driving offence when he applied for EU settled status. Continue reading...

Labour’s Margaret Hodge says banks including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse have ‘moral duty’ to exit quicklyMPs are urging major banks to shut their Moscow offices, after campaigners accused them of “quietly profiting” off their Russian operations while other industries sever ties with the country.Some of the City’s largest lenders including JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Credit Suisse collectively employ thousands of staff who offer banking services to large companies and wealthy clients doing business in Russia. Continue reading...

Labour’s Anneliese Dodds says women should play a central role in the UK’s post-pandemic economic recoveryWomen should play a central role in the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery, with evidence revealing companies with more female leaders outperform those dominated by men, according to House of Commons research.Accusing the government of ignoring women’s needs during the coronavirus pandemic and side-lining them in plans for recovery, the shadow secretary for women and equalities, Anneliese Dodds, said the data showed women held the key to a stronger economy, but they were being held back by a lack of investment and the risk of “childcare deserts” in parts of the country. Continue reading...

UK box office sales forecast to double this year to £1.1bn – just short of pre-pandemic levels – after lifting of all coronavirus restrictionsThe release of The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, is being heralded as the beginning of an anticipated post-pandemic blockbuster boom, with UK box office sales forecast to double this year to top £1bn for the first time since 2019.While Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond in No Time to Die provided the UK with its biggest October in box office history, and Spiderman: No Way Home, which launched in December as the Omicron variant hit, has taken more than $1.8bn (£1.4bn) to date to become the sixth biggest film of all time, both were released while Covid rules were in place or looming. Continue reading...