‘Dozens of IS fighters’ were freed from the jail and the attacks raise fears of the terror group’s resurgenceIslamic State has attacked a Syrian prison housing its suspected members and a military base in Iraq in near-simultaneous deadly operations that have revived fears of the terror group’s resurgence.IS has yet to comment on the attacks and there is no indication that these were coordinated but, according to analysts, they strongly suggest IS is trying to boost its ranks and arsenal in an attempt to reorganise across both countries. Continue reading...
Belgian-British Zara Rutherford braved acrid smoke and freezing Siberia on round-the-world journey in two-seater microlightIt should have been perfect flying weather when Zara Rutherford set off from Palo Alto in California for Seattle, a month into her attempt to become the youngest woman to fly solo round the world. But while the skies were clear, wildfires were raging on the ground.She tried to avoid the towering plumes of acrid smoke by climbing to 12,000ft, but to no avail. “I couldn’t see in front of me,” she said. “It was all kind of a brownish, smoky, orange, dirty colour. I could smell the smoke as well, which was quite unpleasant.” Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#5V91M)
Martin Hibbert, who was 5 metres from the deadly explosion, is now tackling Africa’s highest mountainIt was a month after the Manchester Arena attack when Martin Hibbert learned the catastrophic toll of his injuries. He and his 14-year-old daughter, Eve, on a “daddy daughter day” to an Ariana Grande concert, were 5 metres from the explosion that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more in May 2017.Hibbert, 45, from Chorley in Lancashire, was told he would never walk again. Eve would probably never see, hear, speak or move – if she made it out of hospital. They were the closest to the bomb to survive. Continue reading...
Kicking off our new monthly guides to an author’s work, crime novelist Janice Hallett puts the spotlight on the creator of Miss Marple and PoirotWhat with the chart-topping success of Richard Osman’s novels, and a new series by the Rev Richard Coles due later this year, cosy crime fiction seems to be having its moment. If you’ve already raced your way through The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice, why not try picking up a novel by the original queen of crime herself? Janice Hallett, whose bestselling crime novels The Appeal and The Twyford Code have seen her dubbed “a modern Agatha Christie” has put together a handy list to help you choose which one to pick.*** Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#5V8XV)
French energy firm cites worsening human rights for decision in victory for campaignersThe energy firms Chevron and Total have announced they will withdraw from Myanmar, a breakthrough for activists who have campaigned for the companies to cut off what is a major source of revenue for the military junta.In a statement, Total, which renamed itself TotalEnergies last year, cited the worsening human rights situation in Myanmar, which was plunged into chaos almost a year ago when the military seized power in a coup, ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...
Lisala Folau, a survivor of the Tonga tsunami, spoke on Friday of being swept to sea from the island of Atata. 'The scariest part of the ordeal for me was when the waves took me from land into the sea,' he told Sky News. The 57-year-old was swept away by a tsunami generated by a volcanic eruption on 15 January.Folau, a retired carpenter with a motion disability, managed to stay afloat for more than a day and make his way across the sea to the main island of Tongatapu. He said his faith in God and his family were the two things that occupied his thoughts while he was helpless at sea
The singer’s melodic, growling voice was a marvel – and she overcame great hardship in order to put it to astonishing useElza Soares stood quietly, a few minutes before being born into music. Engulfed by audience fuss and hullabaloo, another of her competitors had been disqualified from the radio talent show she was attending. It was 1953, and Soares had just one chance to bring home the cash prize – she needed it to help care for her unwell son. She was still a teenager and, once on stage, her oversized, ragged dress would make the audience explode into laughter. “What’s the planet you came from?” asked the host, waiting for the gag’s cue. “I’m from Planet Hunger,” she said. Silence took hold of the venue, and Elza sang for the first time. She never stopped, until her death this week aged 91.Over the decades, the Brazilian artist became a staple for samba, a mainstay of her nation’s songbook and a singer that shared a global pantheon Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Dubbed the “voice of the millennium” by the BBC in 1999, Elza met the Planet Hunger as few did: a Black woman born in Rio’s favelas, who faced down racism, sexism and classism with brilliant verve. Continue reading...
In the latest setback for reproductive rights, the ruling leaves the draconian abortion law in place for the foreseeable futureIn the latest setback for abortion rights in Texas, the supreme court on Thursday refused to speed up the court case challenging the state’s ban on most abortions.Over dissents from the three liberal justices, the court declined to order a federal appeals court to return the case to a federal judge who had temporarily blocked the law’s enforcement. The court offered no explanation for its action. Continue reading...
The drink quickly became an integral part of the national identity after its creation in Turin in the 19th centuryItaly is to apply for Unesco status for espresso coffee, claiming it is “much more than a simple drink”.It follows the art of the Neapolitan pizza-maker being added to the UN agency’s list of the world’s intangible heritage in 2017 as Italy aims to secure the worldwide status for another of its successful symbols. Continue reading...
Nathan Smith tells jury he thought Craig Wiltshire was faking it when he said he could not breatheA man on trial for killing a suspected thief has told a jury he was performing a citizen’s arrest and thought the man was faking it when he told him he could not breathe.Nathan Smith, a 38-year-old carer, said he had no intention of hurting Craig Wiltshire, 43, but simply wanted to detain him until the police arrived. He denies manslaughter. Continue reading...
Speaker of lower house seeks permission to give 35 ‘grand electors’ a chance to have their sayItalian parliamentarians who have Covid-19 may be allowed to cast their ballots for Italy’s new president from a car park.More than 1,000 MPs and regional delegates will begin voting on Monday, and amid a debacle over who the next head of state should be, the coronavirus pandemic is posing logistical challenges. Continue reading...
NGOs call for aid exemption to EU-backed sanctions imposed after election postponement and arrival of Russian paramilitaryMore than a dozen aid organisations have called for humanitarian exemptions to heavy sanctions imposed on Mali after the military leadership postponed planned February elections.The EU has announced support for the sanctions imposed earlier this month by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which include closing borders and a trade embargo. Continue reading...
It was only a small gathering, the sort I used to dread, but it was a glimpse of a post-Covid worldIs a Great Easing under way? Superficially, it seems not. In New York, everyone is still masked. Teachers send kids home with Covid test kits at the slightest symptom and advise them to stay away until they have two negative results in the bag. In Chicago, the schools shut down for a week then reopened, while Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, freaked everyone out last Friday by making ominous noises about potential school shutdowns in the city. Continue reading...
Those living in the coastal city of Chimbote say the industry pollutes the air and water, makes their children sick and has put local fishers out of workJust before you reach Chimbote, a seaside city 260 miles (420km) north of the Peruvian capital Lima, you can smell it. It’s like the whiff of a fishmonger’s stall on a hot afternoon. For Peruvians, it’s synonymous with a bad pong; “smells like Chimbote” means something stinks.Once that scent was “the smell of money”, according to another popular expression. A natural superabundance of Peruvian anchovy – known locally as anchoveta – off its Pacific coast makes Peru the world’s biggest producer of fishmeal, a condensed powder or cake made from ground dried fish. Continue reading...
Research by lawyer-run website finds Home Office has removed citizenship of at least 464 people since relaxation of lawHundreds of people have been stripped of their British citizenship in the last 15 years, according to research, including one man who was stateless for almost five years.Research carried out by Free Movement, a website run by lawyers to provide information for those affected by immigration control, has found that at least 464 people have had their citizenship removed since the law permitting this practice was relaxed 15 years ago. Continue reading...
We rushed back from lunch to find the Guardian newsroom in a state of hushed pandemonium. I have never felt so humbled by the responsibility of finding words to shape an unimaginable eventIt was an ordinary Tuesday at the office – and the day everything changed. We had breakfasted in a time of optimism, inside and outside the Guardian. The lustre was yet to fade from a Labour party that had recently been elected for a second term, while the internet was bringing the world to our doors.I was the literary editor. Come lunchtime, a group of us headed out to celebrate a new partnership with the Hay festival, which the previous year had been declared “the Woodstock of the mind” by Bill Clinton. It was all very jolly and perhaps a bit smug – part of a mission to seize the literary high ground. Continue reading...
The band, who are famously cryptic about their songs, called the inaccurate lyrics ‘completely incorrect and insulting’My Bloody Valentine have criticised Spotify for showing “fake lyrics” to the shoegaze band’s famously cryptic songs.In November 2021, Spotify launched a feature allowing users to read along to the lyrics while they listen to any song. Continue reading...
Best known for starring in Atonement and Suffragette, the actor has now turned to writing and directing with a spine-chilling film. What possessed her?I meet Romola Garai in a velvet-sofaed establishment in central London, which feels radically incongruous. Not because one wouldn’t expect to find an actor of nearly 20 years on such a sofa, but because an hour before, I’d been forcing myself to watch the gory centrepiece moment of her new horror film, Amulet, which marks a dramatic departure into writing and directing.Amulet lulls you into a fragile sense of security with its arthousey tension, beautiful, subtle performances and lingering shots of decaying wallpaper. When it explodes into body horror – toilets birthing hideous, hairless newborn creatures, a prelude to the worse gestations to come – well, you’d be tempted to cover your eyes if it wasn’t all so horribly compelling. Continue reading...
Oslo meeting with Afghan rulers will include allies and ‘not represent legitimisation or recognition’A Taliban delegation is to hold talks with Norwegian officials and Afghan civil society representatives in Oslo next week, the Norwegian foreign ministry has said.The visit is scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday, and “the Taliban will meet representatives of the Norwegian authorities and officials from a number of allied countries”, for talks on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and human rights, the ministry said. Continue reading...
by Jon Henley, Sam Jones, Angela Giuffrida and Philip on (#5V8J6)
With meat consumption twice the global average, citizens of EU27 have to reconcile environmental concerns and culinary traditionsA row over meat consumption in Spain over the last month is just the most recent eruption of the debate all over Europe, as the continent grapples with making its famous cuisines more sustainable.Food is inextricably intertwined with national identity for countries in continental Europe; a good steak, with perfect frites stacked beside it; a plate of wafer thin carpaccio, drizzled with dressing or plain old olive oil; wurst, served with good mustard; jamón ibérico laced with creamy white fat. Continue reading...
Australian prime minister tells forum the Indo-Pacific has become ‘highly contested’ due to ‘grey-zone tactics’ – but without naming namesScott Morrison has taken aim at China for “economic coercion”, foreign interference and cyber attacks in a speech to the Davos World Economic Forum.Without naming the source of “sharper geopolitical competition”, the Australian prime minister warned of increasing territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region and urged an end to protectionist measures directed at Australia. Continue reading...
After tens of millions of sales and with a UK tour this month, the Texas frontwoman answers readers’ questions, from enmity with the reality star to friendship with Thierry HenryWhat was your best memory or high point of your career so far with Texas? RainbowEden47Having another hit album [2021’s Hi], all these years in, feels poignant, because the beginning feels like yesterday. There’s been amazing moments like Glastonbury or playing to 175,000 people in Valencia, but the funnier stuff makes for great stories as you get older. Once we were in Clint Eastwood’s daughter’s vintage Mercedes and a handle came off in my mate’s hand, so she hid it in her handbag. When I was 15, if somebody had told me that I’d have Debbie Harry and John Taylor from Duran Duran in my kitchen, I’d have melted. Debbie actually lent me the Heart of Glass dress. I never wore it because I’d never look like fuckin’ Debbie Harry in it. Well, I wore it secretly, in the house. Continue reading...
Until August last year, 18-year-old Nazira Khairzad lived a carefree existence with her family in the foothills of the Bamyan mountains. She loves sport and was a champion skier, but when the Taliban took over she decided to flee, leaving her old life behind. Photojournalist Rick Findler documented her attempts to settle into a new life Continue reading...
We air both sides of a domestic disagreement – and ask you to deliver a verdict• If you have a disagreement you’d like settled, or want to be part of our jury, click hereMy brother is really tight with spending on birthdays, and refuses to make an effort Continue reading...
by Stephanie Convery (now) and Matilda Boseley (earli on (#5V80H)
Twitter apologises to politicians who experienced abuse on the platform; Pauline Hanson calls for royal commission into Covid response; Australia records its deadliest day of the pandemic with 88 deaths; AFP begins investigations into RAT price gouging; ‘If not now, when?’ asks Frydenberg on WA border. This blog is now closed
Made back in 2014 but only now being dumped in cinemas, this bizarre adaptation of an acclaimed novel is destined to be forgottenFrom its title alone, you may be forgiven for thinking that The King’s Daughter is a film about a king’s daughter. It isn’t. It’s about Pierce Brosnan’s berserk quest to achieve immortality by stabbing a mermaid through the heart. True, there is a king in it; and, yes, he does have a daughter. But I have to make this perfectly clear, it’s actually a film about Pierce Brosnan trying to murder a mermaid through the heart.Clearly, there have been meetings about this. The King’s Daughter is an adaptation of Vonda McIntyre’s 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun; a novel that, it must be said, won the Nebula book award ahead of A Game of Thrones on publication. But you can’t call a film The Moon and the Sun, because people might inadvertently think they’re going to watch a film about the actual moon and the actual sun. My instinct, given the subject matter, would have instead been to call it Pierce Brosnan Stabbing a Mermaid Through the Heart. This is partly because it is a precise description of what happens in the film, but mainly because who wouldn’t want to watch a film called Pierce Brosnan Stabbing a Mermaid Through the Heart? Only the very worst kind of idiot, that’s who. Continue reading...
Critics accuse the country’s government of doing nothing to stop the ‘escape valve’ of migration as it covers up their lack of spendingThe amount of money Guatemalans living abroad send home to their families reached record levels in 2021. Remittances rose to more than $15bn (£11bn) in 2021, an increase of 35% on the previous year.The unprecedented rise prompted experts to question the political will to tackle the migration crisis when remittances from the US contribute so much to the Guatemalan economy. Continue reading...
Many people expressed outrage that wrappers, featuring Hindu gods, could be thrown in bins or trodden onNestle has withdrawn a special range of KitKats in India which featured images of sacred Hindu deities on the wrapper, after accusations of hurting religious sentiments.The limited range of the well-known chocolate bar had been launched as part of the global “KitKat travel breaks” range, where photos of artwork by local artisans were printed on the wrappers. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#5V8FE)
Transport secretary Grant Shapps calls for ‘bonfire of the banalities’ as he commissions reviewTrain announcements are to be given a formal hearing by government officials so that those deemed “repetitive and unnecessary” can be axed.Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has commissioned a cross-industry review and called for a “bonfire of the banalities”. Continue reading...
It is by no means the first coming-of-age series on autism, but the new show from the maker of Friday Night Lights is eye-opening, warm and well worth your timeThe first few minutes of As We See It (Amazon Prime) show a remarkable demonstration of how auditory processing can be difficult for some people on the autism spectrum. Harrison, a man in his 20s, is carefully coaxed out of his Los Angeles apartment by his live-in aide, Mandy. She calls him on his phone, so that she can talk him through his walk around the block, and slowly, carefully, he begins. Traffic might be a little loud, she warns him. He worries that a woman with a crying baby is looking at him. With each step, Mandy reassures him that it’s fine. And then a dog appears, starts barking, and chaos ensues. Harrison flees back indoors. Each noise and potential trigger is cleverly pushed in the mix, to give viewers who may not understand Harrison’s fears a chance to experience them.This new drama follows three roommates on the spectrum, all played by actors who are on the spectrum themselves. Their families pay Mandy (Sosie Bacon, last seen as the mother of Kate Winslet’s grandson in Mare of Easttown) a salary to live in as their support worker. Harrison barely leaves the flat, while Jack has a job as a programmer, and Violet works at a fast-food restaurant (it’s a real chain, and it gets a lot of mentions). All three are living with Mandy in order to work towards greater independence, and all have goals they are supposed to achieve each week, whether that is making new friends, or asking how a relative is feeling about a difficult emotional situation. Continue reading...
It’s one of the most romantic stories in music: the jazz star rejecting fame to practise on a New York bridge for two years. Now 91, Rollins recalls those long cold days – and how he has coped after losing the power to playIf you happened to be gazing idly from a window of New York City’s J train crossing the East River on the Williamsburg Bridge, most days between the summer of 1959 and the autumn of 1961, you might have glimpsed a lone saxophonist huddled into a cranny of the gigantic steel skeleton.Travellers on the footway might have got close to the sound of him, too: an astonishing tumult of fast tumbling runs seeming to echo the chatter of the wheels on the subway tracks, honking low-tone exclamations exchanged with the hoots of the riverboats, snatches of blues, pop hits, classical motifs, calypsos. Few witnesses to those torrential monologues will have shrugged him off as just another busker; this was an intuitive master of his instrument who, for some reason, had chosen to tell this multitude of stories to the sky instead of a rapt roomful of fans. Continue reading...
Justice minister says state lacks ability to humanely execute those convicted, while PM says PNG is a ‘Christian nation’Papua New Guinea has repealed the death penalty 30 years after reintroducing it, with prime minister James Marape saying it was “not an effective deterrent to serious crime”.Offences such as treason, piracy, murder – including sorcery related violence – and aggravated rape will now be punishable by life imprisonment without parole or parole after 30 years. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Ahmer Khan in Belgaum on (#5V8E8)
Hindu extremists are carrying out violent attacks to stop interfaith relationships with MuslimsIt was dark and pelting down with rain as Sameer Parishwadi ran along the railway tracks. Up ahead, as torches darted across the tracks, they shone on to a pair of feet.A few metres away, sliced clean from the body, was a head, one that he recognised. It was Arbaaz Aftab Mullah, his cousin and best friend from childhood. Continue reading...
The foreign secretary, in Sydney for ministerial-level talks, says the embattled PM has her support and should stay in No 10 ‘as long as possible’The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has backed Boris Johnson, saying he is doing “a fantastic job” as prime minister, that he has her “100% support”, and should remain in Number 10 “as long as possible”.Truss, in Sydney for a series of ministerial talks with her Australian counterpart, was asked on Friday whether the prime minister’s leadership remained tenable, given the unfolding anger over a series of parties in Downing Street while the UK was under a strict Covid lockdown. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#5V8C2)
Senate inquiry finds August evacuation ‘heroic’ but delay in getting people out earlier meant some local staff reportedly ‘injured or killed by the Taliban’
The actor turns writer-director for a hit-and-miss comedy drama about a mother and son trying to find meaning in their livesAnd so Sundance 2022 begins with the curtain drawn back by Jesse Eisenberg, an actor who’s long been linked with the festival, with films such as The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, Holy Rollers, The End of the Tour and last year’s Wild Indian all premiering. His on-screen persona – jittery, insecure, fast-talking, intelligent – made him an ideal poster boy not just for Sundance but the independent scene at large, a writer’s schtick made so believable on screen that it felt inevitable he would soon head behind it.He went from writing short stories to writing plays and now he’s writing and directing his first film, the so-so festival opener When You Finish Saving the World, based on his audio drama from 2020. Eisenberg doesn’t star but he’s cast Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard to fill the role, the actor doing a successful cover version without leaning into cheap impersonation. He’s Ziggy, a high schooler who devotes his time to his music which he livestreams to an audience of over 20,000 people worldwide, a number he’s endlessly proud of. His mother Evelyn (Julianne Moore) is less impressed, her time focused on the more noble act of running a shelter for victims of domestic abuse.When You Finish Saving the World is showing at the Sundance film festival and will be released later this year Continue reading...
Elon Musk last month announced opening of new showroom in region at heart of China’s years-long campaign of repression against Uyghur peopleThe chairmen of two congressional panels on oversight and trade have assailed Tesla’s expansion in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, where mass internment camps have drawn heavy criticism, and asked the electric carmaker about its Chinese product sourcing.“Your misguided expansion into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region sets a poor example and further empowers the CCP [Chinese government] at a fraught moment,” Democrats Bill Pascrell and Earl Blumenauer, who head two House of Representatives ways and means subcommittees, wrote in a joint letter to Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. Continue reading...
Victor Dawes says the group should build closer ties to mainland China amidst concerns about the rule of lawThe newly elected leader of Hong Kong barristers says that his profession should avoid politics and build closer ties to mainland China, as concerns grow about rule of law in the financial hub.The Hong Kong Bar Association has been a vocal defender of human rights and its previous leader had criticised a Beijing-imposed national security law, drawing fierce condemnation from Chinese officials. Continue reading...
Singer announces she is rescheduling Weekends with Adele show as half her crew infected with CovidAdele has been forced to delay her three-month Las Vegas residency after Covid hit the production.“I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” the singer announced in an Instagram post. “We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid. Half my crew … are down with Covid – they still are – and it’s been impossible to finish the show.” Continue reading...
A massive crater has been formed in the ground following an explosion in Ghana's rural west. The explosion happened when a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine collided with a motorcycle. Multiple people are believed to have been killed. Footage shows widespread damage to houses nearby
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