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The 95-year-old is known for her strong constitution and no fuss approach to her infrequent illnesses

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemns inequality in vaccine rollout, saying less than one in 10 health workers in Africa are fully vaccinated

The 5.9 magnitude quake forced the prime minister to pause and grip her podium before continuing to outline post-Covid lockdown plansNew Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has been interrupted by an earthquake midway through announcing the country’s plans for a post-Covid-lockdown future.The 5.9 quake rattled parliament in Wellington on Friday as Ardern was holding a press conference on the country’s new vaccination targets. Continue reading...

Despite weaving relatable scenes of Zoom calls and lockdown weight gain into her distinctive aesthetic, the stylised singer remains as elusive as ever on her eighth albumDespite some misguided early philosophising, the pandemic has not turned out to be a great leveller: we have all been, to borrow a viral metaphor, navigating the same stormy sea in very different vessels. It has, however, made Lana Del Rey a bit more relatable. The musician has often seemed more highly stylised cipher than everywoman, toying with romantic ideals of American culture and darkly dysfunctional love. Yet on her eighth album, Blue Banisters, she has more pedestrian activities in mind, such as Zoom calls and trips to Target.“If this is the end, I want a boyfriend / Someone to eat ice-cream with and watch television,” she sings on Black Bathing Suit, a song that appears to nod to lockdown weight gain (“The only thing that still fits me is this black bathing suit”). Later, she is overcome by signs of ordinary life returning: on Violets for Roses, once run-of-the-mill sights such as young women frolicking maskless and bookshops reopening can now elicit euphoria. Continue reading...

UK PM resists calls to activate ‘plan B’ as new Covid cases top 50,000; lifting of restrictions also a factor in Europe, WHO warns

Friday: Fully vaccinated people are enjoying new freedoms in Victoria. Plus: tiny Queensland town overwhelmed by response to its plan to address a housing crisisGood morning. Melbourne exits its sixth lockdown today. Leaked documents show that high-polluting countries have been lobbying to water down a landmark UN climate report. And, as Australia’s big cities open up, eros is back.After 262 days, Melbourne is emerging from lockdown with 70% of Victorians aged over 16 having received two doses of vaccine. Students will return to class part-time, fully vaccinated people can get haircuts, groups can gather outdoors in larger numbers and people can have visitors in the homes. While pubs and restaurants will be open for limited numbers, entertainment venues will not, making the reopening bittersweet for those working in the sector. “Everyone is celebrating about coming out of lockdown,” says band booker Georgia Farry. “But we still feel left behind.” And the AMA’s Victorian branch has suggested “Covid-deniers” and “anti-vaxxers” should opt out of care in the public health system if they catch the virus. Continue reading...

Angharad Williamson is third person charged with murder after her son was found in a river in Bridgend in JulyThe mother of a five-year-old boy who was found dead in a river has been charged with his murder.Angharad Williamson, 30, from Sarn, Bridgend, is the third person to be charged with the murder of her son Logan Mwangi, also known as Logan Williamson. The child was discovered in the Ogmore River in Sarn on 31 July. Continue reading...

Ali Harbi Ali visited Houses of Parliament, an MP’s home and another constituency surgery, say prosecutorsThe suspect in the killing of the MP David Amess prepared terrorist acts over more than two years, it was alleged in court on Thursday.Prosecutors claimed that Ali Harbi Ali, 25, visited the Houses of Parliament, an MP’s home and another constituency surgery as part of reconnaissance for a potential attack. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators march in Khartoum and other citiesHundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other major cities demanding full civilian rule, just days after a sit-in was launched calling for a return to military government.Images posted on social media showed vast crowds marching in different parts of the Sudanese capital in protests to reject military rule as the crisis in the country’s troubled transition from authoritarian rule deepened. Continue reading...

The difficult, devastating work of the Holocaust survivor turned painter is being celebrated at a new exhibition at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage“He never sold a painting in his life, lived in hovels, yet died worth about $100m,” says Anthony Williams, chairman of the Boris Lurie Art Foundation, at a press preview for Boris Lurie: Nothing to Do but Try. “He was,” he later says with a sigh, “a complicated man.”The paradox of Boris Lurie’s living conditions is just one contour in the tragic and fascinating life of this painter, illustrator, sculptor, diarist, co-founder of the No!art movement, and concentration camp survivor, whose work is on display at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in lower Manhattan. Continue reading...

Government pocketed half of donations in 2020 as central bank forced UN agencies to use lower exchange rate

Small town residents couldn’t do without them, especially now. Rural and regional editor Gabrielle Chan recommends this story about finding shelter among the shelves of a 90-year-old general store

Several European nations have questioned British response but there are growing signs of fresh wave across continent

Dr Saqib Shahab, the Canadian province’s chief medical officer, spoke of grief and frustration at deaths despite vaccine availabilityA senior health official in western Canada has made an emotional plea for people to get vaccinated against coronavirus and observe social distancing recommendations, highlighting the grief and frustration felt by health workers in a country where Covid deaths continue despite the availability of vaccines.Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer, Dr Saqib Shahab, was brought to tears during a briefing on Wednesday, as he presented new data showing the continuing pressure on the province’s hospitals and intensive care units. Continue reading...

App-based games put vulnerable people at risk and limit money given to good causes, say criticsA cross-party group of MPs has called for ministers to consider action against the national lottery operator, Camelot, arguing a move towards app-based games rather than traditional draws risks worsening problem gambling and reducing the amounts given to good causes.The move from Conservative and Labour MPs comes after Camelot’s most recent results showed that two-thirds of sales growth in 2020 and 2021 came through so-called instant win games, primarily online, a process in part caused by Covid lockdowns. Overall, mobile sales rose from £1.606bn in 2020 to £2.482bn in 2021. Continue reading...

Plane operator says Willie McKay kept asking him to arrange trip, on which footballer and the pilot diedA plane operator organised the flight in which the footballer Emiliano Sala was killed after a Premier League agent made “insistent” phone calls for it to go ahead, a jury has been told.David Henderson, a qualified pilot, told Cardiff crown court he was asked to fly the plane himself after receiving a phone call from the football agent Willie McKay. Continue reading...

A man has been charged with murder after the Conservative MP David Amess was stabbed to death during a surgery for his constituents, announced Matt Jukes, the Metropolitan police assistant commissioner for specialist operations, in a press conference on Thursday.Ali Harbi Ali , 25, was charged with murder and with the preparation of terrorist acts, following an investigation led by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command

Last year, she didn’t know a clitoris from a vulva. Now, Gwynnie’s all clued up on the female anatomy – and diving deep into the nitty-gritty of intimacy and orgasms. Result!Released on Netflix last year, The Goop Lab was Gwyneth Paltrow’s first foray into “factual” television. Amid endless talk of energy fields and snowga (yoga, in the snow), there was one must-watch moment: when Gwynnie, the undisputed leader of women’s wellness culture and pelvic steaming advocate, realised she didn’t actually know what a vagina was. Yes, the purveyor of jade eggs for your jacksie thought that it was “the whole thing”. It took stalwart second-wave feminist Betty Dodson to explain. Unable to bear Paltrow’s wafty California-style talk about the holy of holies, she leaned forward and said in her unmistakeable New York rasp: “The vagina is the birth canal only. Ya wanna talk about the vulva – that’s the clitoris, the inner lips and all that good shit around it.” Our princess of the steamed pudenda was visibly shocked.Now comes another Netflix venture, Sex, Love and Goop (not a title I would have gone with, given that the goop is very much the worst part of sex, but we shall not dwell). It does not reference the Dodson moment, but it is nice to imagine that it prompted Paltrow to perform what we probably should not refer to as a “deep dive” into the area. In any case, she is passing on her newfound knowledge to couples with sex and intimacy issues, bringing with her the experts she found along the labial way. Continue reading...

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, also accused of preparation of terrorist acts after politician was stabbedProsecutors have charged a man with the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess and the preparation of terrorist acts.Ali Harbi Ali, 25, was charged with murder over Amess’s death last Friday in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, as part of an investigation led by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command. Continue reading...

The We’re Going on a Bear Hunt author on how researching his family’s fractured history resulted in his latest poetry collectionThere was always the mystery of my father’s uncles. My father was an enthusiast, loving jokes – especially Jewish ones – songs, poems, plays, stories and football, but he showed sadness in the face of loss. The way he talked of the uncles was, “You know I had two uncles in France … they were there at the beginning of the war; they weren’t there at the end.” As my brother and I got older we pressed him, and he would say: “They must have died in the camps.” What camps? I asked myself. Where? What did the word even mean? And why France?Another mystery about our father was that he was American. Though he was born in the US, he had lived in London since he was two. The story was that his mother and Polish father – the brother of these French uncles – had split in Brockton, Massachusetts, back in 1922, with his mother bringing him and his siblings to London. My father didn’t ever see his father again. Continue reading...

Tackling domestic abuse, homelessness and the crushing reality of poverty, the Netflix show is heartbreaking, gruelling and tender televisionThe past two years have made plain how precarious life is, and how quickly things can change. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that Netflix’s biggest hits of 2021 are both about desperate people pushed to their limits. As Squid Game dominates the headlines, it is Maid – quieter, but no less devastating – that is generating word-of-mouth buzz. The series is on track to beat The Queen’s Gambit as Netflix’s most-watched miniseries, estimated to be streamed by 67m households by the end of its first month on the platform.Adapted from Stephanie Land’s bestselling 2019 memoir, it follows a young mother, Alex (Margaret Qualley), as she scrabbles to save herself and her daughter, Maddy, two, from a crushing cycle of domestic abuse. Homeless and alone, Alex is tossed into the choppy waters of impenetrable bureaucracy. She can’t access subsidised childcare if she doesn’t have a job, but she can’t get a job without childcare. She doesn’t believe she belongs at a shelter because the abuse was emotional not physical. She gets a cleaning job, but can only work limited hours to qualify for government assistance. She must pick her battles, reserving energy for those that matter most. The only thing more overwhelming than her circumstances is the immense shame she feels. Continue reading...

Andy Preston intervenes after formal complaints by councillors against colleagues reach recordA local council is beset by self-obsessed, selfish and not-very-bright councillors, says the town’s own mayor.Andy Preston, the mayor of Middlesbrough, intervened after complaints lodged by councillors against their colleagues this year neared the combined total for the previous two years. Continue reading...

I had to choose between heating and eating – and ended up going to the library for warmth. There I was drawn into other worlds, bringing me much closer to other people

As he appears in cinemas in Dune and The Card Counter – and on TV in Scenes from a Marriage – we rate the best roles of the rakish smoothie, from space fighter to folk singerCasting the rakish, eager Isaac as a Han Solo figure in the latest Star Wars cycle seemed a great idea on paper. In the first of his outings, the character was thin but animated by his sturdy labrador charisma; he looked great in pilot gear, and his faintly queer chemistry with co-star John Boyega was promising. The script somehow made him less interesting with each iteration, but that’s not Isaac’s fault. Continue reading...

A drop-off in mask wearing and slow uptake of booster jabs are among the reasons for the continuing growth

Greenpeace says enforcement failures have led to Unesco sites and land mapped as orangutan habitat being turned into plantationsAlmost one-fifth of the land used for Indonesian oil palm plantations is located in the country’s forest estate, despite a law banning such activity, according to a study by Greenpeace.The report, produced by Greenpeace and TheTreeMap, describes a catastrophic failure of law enforcement that has allowed swathes of land, including Unesco sites, national parks and areas once mapped as habitat for orangutan and Sumatran tigers, to be turned into oil palm plantations. Continue reading...

José Antonio Kast has exploited Trumpian issues ahead of November’s election despite the country’s recent leftward turnHopes for a more progressive Chile have been dealt a blow as a far-right candidate surges in opinion polls ahead of the first presidential election since massive demonstrations against inequality erupted in 2019.A month before the vote, polling shows that the leftwing candidate – former student leader Gabriel Boric – has slipped behind (by one percentage point) José Antonio Kast, a supporter of the dictator Augusto Pinochet, who has suggested digging ditches along the country’s border to stop migrants. Continue reading...

First comprehensive audit comes as Sadiq Khan announces £1m fund to ensure landmarks reflect city’s diversityThe number of sculptures that feature animals in London is double that of named women, a study has found, as the mayor office announces £1m fund to champion diversity in the capital’s public spaces.The findings show that out of almost 1,500 monuments in the capital, more than a fifth are dedicated to named men (20.5%), and only 4% are dedicated to named women. The number of sculptures that feature animals, almost 100, is double that of named women. Continue reading...

‘No guarantee’ Chinese property giant can meet its $305bn debts, starting with a deadline on Monday that could trigger defaultShares in the struggling property giant China Evergrande have fallen sharply after plans to offload a stake in one of its units for $2.6bn fell through, casting further doubt over whether it can avert the country’s biggest ever corporate failure.China Evergrande Group, the parent company for the sprawling empire built by former steel industry executive Xu Jiayin, closed down 12.54% in Hong Kong on Thursday. Continue reading...

Denial from Edward Argar comes as virologist warns UK daily case rate is already likely to be close to 100,000

A new exhibition examines the impact of the Port of London on our capital city, exploring the complex operations that have connected London to the rest of the world, from the final days of the 18th century to the creation of the huge London Gateway megaport at Thurrock in the Thames estuary

Nine out of 10 people would vote the same way again, but leavers feel better about UK politics since BrexitBrexit divisions in UK society appear to be as entrenched as ever, according to the latest British social attitudes survey, with little sign that the issue is losing its polarising force. Nine in 10 of leave and remain voters said they would vote the same way again, it found.Although Britain’s departure from the EU pushed overall public trust and confidence in government to its highest level for more than a decade, the survey reveals that this surge in support for the UK political system came almost entirely from leave voters – with remainers as disillusioned as they were previously. Continue reading...

The newest sport on the block is wild entertainment and came into being because of lockdown and a footballer’s sense of funWho hasn’t been at a children’s party and started an impromptu game of keep-ups with a balloon? It’s fun, addictive and can get fiercely competitive. Well, that same game has just had its own World Cup, won by Peru, after a thrilling final watched by a sell-out crowd in Spain and around eight million Twitch viewers online.If you’re wondering how a seemingly childish activity could ever become a legitimate source of sporting entertainment, we need to go back to Covid lockdowns – and how those experiencing cabin fever got creative to stay active at home. Some juggled toilet rolls, did indoor parkour or ran marathons on their balconies. Continue reading...

Just 261m of the 1.8bn doses pledged by wealthy nations have arrived in low-income countries, analysis finds

Traditional war dance, often performed by top sports teams, has been subject to controversial appropriation in the UKIt may not be enough to prevent the dance being butchered by dance troupes, in TikToks or at pub crawls, but a historic new UK-New Zealand free trade deal includes commitments from the UK to protect New Zealand’s iconic haka, Ka Mate.The deal is expected to boost New Zealand’s GDP by $970m, and eventually lift tariffs on all its exports to the UK. But its provisions extend beyond the economic: unusually, it also notes “a commitment by the UK to cooperate with New Zealand to identify appropriate ways to advance recognition and protection of the haka Ka Mate ... [and] acknowledge Ngāti Toa Rangatira’s [the leaders of Ngāti Toa tribe’s] guardianship of the haka”. Continue reading...

Activists say the presence of the countries most affected by climate crisis is key to pressuring leaders to agree aggressive targetsA third of Pacific small island states and territories do not plan to send any government figures to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.The lack of high-level representation of Pacific nations at the meeting has led to fears that the concerns of these countries, which are among those most at risk due to the climate crisis, will not be appropriately represented at the summit. Continue reading...

Ofcom research finds 45m people received at least one fraudulent message in last three monthsA government taskforce is to meet on Thursday to discuss ways to tackle the sharp rise in scams that has hit the UK since the start of the pandemic.Groups representing banks, telecoms companies and consumers will meet with the minister for security, Damien Hinds, to discuss measures to tackle online fraud, and increase public awareness. Continue reading...

‘Groundbreaking’ agreement criticised by UK farmers is part of 10-year plan to pivot to Indo-PacificBritain has struck a trade deal with New Zealand, a key ally, as ministers hope to stem the country’s reliance on China – but the agreement is expected to add no value to the UK’s gross domestic product.Despite the Department for International Trade heralding the deal as a “groundbreaking” achievement that was a “vital part” of Boris Johnson’s commitment to levelling up, the prime minister has been accused of selling out British farmers. Continue reading...

Thursday: The number of unused AstraZeneca doses in Australia has ballooned above 7m. Plus, an AI artist robot causes a diplomatic fracasGood morning. There is a push to send Australia’s excess AstraZeneca stock abroad, the Brazilian president is facing calls he be charged with crimes against humanity, and Aboriginal child welfare advocates call for legislative review in NSW.Doctors and pharmacists are being urged to use excess AstraZeneca vaccine stock amid fears much of the current 7m surplus doses could go to waste, Guardian Australia has revealed. None of the excess stock has been earmarked for foreign aid, with the volume of supply available to Pacific neighbours declining to just 26,500 last week. Former AMA president, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, condemned “a very good vaccine going to waste”, as declining public take-up causes stock held by suburban GPs to pass expiration dates. Continue reading...

Health secretary rejects calls for ‘plan B’ measures despite predicting infections could hit 100,000 a day

Yat-Sen Chang sentenced to nine years after using ‘fame and prestige’ to sexually abuse young dancersA former English National Ballet (ENB) principal dancer who used his “fame and prestige” to sexually abuse young dance students in his care has been jailed for nine years.Yat-Sen Chang, 49, a leading figure on the British and international ballet scene, had been convicted in May of 12 counts of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration. Continue reading...

UN study finds streaming services have increased demand for film productions from across the continent, but warns piracy and underinvestment hampering growthFilm industries in Africa could quadruple their revenue to $20bn (£15bn) and create an extra 20m jobs in creative industries, according to a UN report about cinema on the continent.The booming film industry in Nigeria – Nollywood is the world’s second-largest film industry in terms of output – and Senegal were examples of African countries with defined business models and growing avenues for local film productions, which are increasingly sought after by television and streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, said the report by the United Nation’s cultural body, Unesco. Continue reading...

A man in Windsor received an unwelcome and surprising gift in his garden, courtesy of a passing aeroplane. Was he especially unlucky, or should all of us keep an eye on the skies?Name: Aeroplane toilets.Location: At the back, sometimes in the middle – and at the front if you are rich enough. Continue reading...

Former French president told he must appear in trial over misuse of public funds to finance opinion pollsFrance’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been ordered to testify in the trial of one-time aides and allies who are accused of misusing public money to finance opinion poll contracts, a judge has ruled.Sarkozy was at the Élysée Palace at the time and has presidential immunity in this specific case but had said he would not appear in court as a witness. Continue reading...

A bomb attack in Damascus has killed 14 people and left three injured, Syrian state TV Sana reported, releasing video of emergency services searching the charred remains of a bus. Two bombs struck the military bus on Wednesday morning, the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital since a bombing claimed by Islamic State at the Justice Palace in March 2017 that killed at least 30.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bus bombing but soon after the attack shelling by government forces killed eight people in the Idlib region, which is controlled by groups that have claimed to have carried out such attacks in the past

Assad’s forces kill eight in Idlib strikes following bombing in heart of Syrian capitalA bomb attack on an army bus in Damascus has killed 14 people, the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital in four years, the Sana state news agency reported.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing but moments later shelling by government forces killed eight people in the Idlib region, which is controlled by groups that have claimed to have carried out such attacks in the past. Continue reading...

State media report that device launched on Tuesday had ‘lots of advanced control guidance technologies’North Korea says it has successfully tested a “new type” of submarine-launched ballistic missile, as the nuclear-armed country pursues ever more improved weapons.The device had “lots of advanced control guidance technologies”, the official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday, adding that it was launched from the same vessel that the North used in its first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tests five years ago. The latter point casts doubt on claims by Pyongyang in 2015 that it had launched a submarine-based missile. Continue reading...

Special taskforce convened by IAEA to look into Aukus deal as Iran hints at fresh pursuit of its 2018 naval nuclear propulsion programThe head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said other states could follow Australia’s example and seek to build nuclear-powered submarines, raising serious proliferation and legal concerns.Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said during a visit to Washington that he had sent a special team to look into the safety and legal implications of the Aukus partnership announced last month, in which the US and UK will help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Continue reading...

Terminal was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon but police investigation found ‘no security threat’Manchester airport’s Terminal 2 has reopened after a police investigation found “no security threat” following reports of a suspicious package.The terminal was closed and passengers evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after Greater Manchester police set up a cordon to deal with the incident. Continue reading...

A family of four were seriously hurt after an explosion ripped through a terraced house on a South Ayrshire council estate, destroying their home and severely damaging others. Continue reading...