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The closure of John Lewis’s store in Sheffield after almost 60 years was a bitter blow. As debate rages over what to do with the huge empty site, the city is becoming a test case for where Britain’s urban centres may be headingIn June last year, the staff of Sheffield’s John Lewis department store began the sad task known as “de-rigging”: clearing shelves and boxing up goods to be sent for sale elsewhere. The city-centre store had been shut since the start of the year, and in March 2021, the John Lewis Partnership had announced that it intended to close the store for good.Some employees said they were too distraught to take part in all the packing-up. But others volunteered to participate, wanting to bid farewell to their colleagues and the building some of them had worked in for decades. There was a lot of reminiscing, as well as an undercurrent of anger: “tears and laughter in equal measure,” one former employee told me. Some people took away souvenirs, including the store directories that had sat next to escalators and staircases. Continue reading...

The government couldn’t attempt to meet their demands because they were endless and, frankly, psychotic

Duke of Sussex says in video with Gareth Thomas that he hopes to continue Diana’s work to eradicate stigmaThe Duke of Sussex has urged people to “know your status” and get tested for HIV, saying he hopes to carry on his mother’s work to help eradicate stigma and misunderstanding surrounding the virus.He told former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas, who lives with HIV, that there had been a huge change with people openly talking about the condition in the 35 years after his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, opened the first Aids unit at Middlesex hospital in London. But more must be done to make progress towards the UK goal of ending new HIV cases by 2030, he added. Continue reading...

Police say it could take days to break up a Covid-linked protest inspired by ‘siege of Ottowa’ on parliament grounds in WellingtonNew Zealand police began evacuating anti-vaccine protesters from parliament grounds on the third day of their demonstration, with more than 120 arrested after clashes.Police brought in around 150 extra officers from around the country on Thursday to try to clear the protesters from parliament grounds, where they had pitched tents and parked cars, blocking traffic. Continue reading...

Richard Dearlove discusses facility’s role in monitoring China’s ‘rather alarming’ activities

After the shire council opposed the route citing flooding risks, the mayor overturned its stance. Now new councillors are asking questions …

Rooney’s lawyers allege Vardy authorised agent Caroline Watt to access Rooney’s private Instagram accountRebekah Vardy has been accused of being a “habitual” leaker of private information about Coleen Rooney to the Sun newspaper, at the latest hearing in the “Wagatha Christie” case.Lawyers for Rooney alleged at the high court on Wednesday that Vardy received money from the tabloid and was regularly providing information to the newspaper’s journalists – including material from Rooney’s private Instagram account. Continue reading...

PM makes announcement in parliament but some warn he risks sending signal that pandemic is ‘all over’

Thursday: The Coalition has passed the controversial legislation through the lower house. Plus: Perth prepares for festival opening despite border closuresGood morning. The Morrison government has passed its controversial religious discrimination bill after a marathon all-night sitting of the lower house – expect a day of reaction ahead. Russia and Belarus prepare for joint military exercises, and more Australians turn to renewable energy than ever before.In a long but dramatic debate, the hotly contested religious discrimination bill has passed the lower house, despite five Liberal moderates defecting to help add more extensive protections for LGBTQ+ students. Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen, Fiona Martin and Dave Sharma crossed the floor against the government, helping Labor and the crossbench add protections for LGBTQ+ students into the Sex Discrimination Act. Zimmerman told the house the parliament could not send a message by “omission” by moving to fix sexuality discrimination but not gender identity discrimination: “I could not live with myself if I didn’t seek to address those issues.” Continue reading...

While protest remains on bridge between car-manufacturing cities of Detroit and Windsor, businesses risk losing $50m a dayBlockades on the busiest border bridge between Canada and the US could have a serious impact on the economies of both countries, disrupting the automotive industry, agricultural exports, and causing multimillion-dollar losses, the two countries’ governments have said.The warnings came as business associations said that manufacturing plants at the heart of North America’s automotive industry face potential shortages, shutdowns, layoffs as “freedom convoy” protesters continue to block traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, between the car-manufacturing cities of Detroit and Windsor. Continue reading...

Why a little known streaming service put its faith in Lilyhammer, a decidedly average show about the Norwegian adventures of a mafia bossWhen you think of Steven Van Zandt’s acting work, your mind will automatically flick to The Sopranos. A vast, swaggering monument of a show, The Sopranos quite rightly holds the reputation of playing a pivotal role in the history of television. But let us also not forget that – 10 years ago this week – Van Zandt followed The Sopranos with another show. And it was a show which was every bit as important a milestone in TV’s evolution. That’s right, let us all wish a happy anniversary to Lilyhammer.You remember Lilyhammer. It was a Norwegian show about the messy misadventures of a mafia underboss living in the witness protection programme 100 miles north of Oslo. It ran for three seasons and Bruce Springsteen had a cameo in the final episode. If we are being completely honest, it wasn’t particularly good. But, when it debuted in 2012, it was the very first Netflix original series. And what better way to mark its 10th anniversary than rewatching it to see how Netflix has changed over the years? There isn’t any. So we did it. Here are our learnings. Continue reading...

At least 80 people on Indian Ocean island believed to have died, with thousands left homelessThe death toll from Cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar has risen to 80, as information continues to filter in from areas of the country that were badly affected.The cyclone slammed into the large Indian Ocean island late on Saturday, knocking down houses and electricity lines as it battered the south-eastern coast until it moved away late on Sunday, leaving 91,000 people with destroyed or damaged homes. Continue reading...

Maj Gen Abel Kandiho is blacklisted by US for presiding over ‘horrific’ targeting of opposition activistsUganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has appointed a former military intelligence chief, who is blacklisted by the US over alleged rights violations, to lead the country’s feared police force.Uganda’s police and military have been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture and assassination. Much of the repression has been directed at opposition activists contesting the 36-year rule of Museveni. Continue reading...

Police investigated 2010 death of Diane Stewart in Cambridgeshire after Ian Stewart held for 2016 killing of Helen BaileyA man found guilty of killing his fiancee and dumping her body in a cesspit in 2016 has been found guilty of murdering his first wife six years earlier.Ian Stewart, 61, killed Diane Stewart in 2010 and told family, friends and medical professionals that she had died after having an epileptic seizure, Huntingdon crown court heard. Continue reading...

‘This lone figure, overwhelmed by the scale of the buildings around her, was part of series about work culture and burnout’

Salah Abdeslam, giving evidence for first time, says he did not ‘inflict so much as a scratch on anyone’The main surviving suspect on trial over the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris took the stand for the first time on Wednesday, telling a court that he had never killed or wounded anyone.Salah Abdeslam is suspected of being a member of a group of jihadists who carried out a coordinated series of bombings and shootings across the French capital that left 130 people dead and hundreds of others injured. Continue reading...

Tom Cruise led the way for tentpole movie production during Covid but recent reports suggest his latest action-packed instalment has ballooned to a $290m budgetIntentionally or not, Tom Cruise has become the public face of pandemic film-making. His long-awaited Top Gun sequel has been booted down the release schedules even more than No Time to Die; its original release date of July 2019 was first pushed back a year, then held there for two more because of Covid. When the world (prematurely) thought that the virus had been sent packing in 2020, he made a special video about how much he loves going to the cinema. And then, of course, there was the leaked audio of him (correctly) going full nut-nut at his crew for breaching social distancing rules. Tom Cruise owns the pandemic, just like he owns running in films and sending out cakes at Christmas.However, this has come at a price. Yesterday, Variety revealed that the production budget for Cruise’s upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 has ballooned beyond all proportion. Thanks to a frantic shooting schedule that effectively saw Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie racing around the world trying to beat the disease – stopping and starting production seven different times since February 2020 – the film has now burned through $290m. Continue reading...

Five people living in or visiting Ukraine describe the atmosphere amid the threat of invasionWhile fears of a possible Russian military invasion of Ukraine continue to grow in Europe and the west, people in Ukraine have to get on with their daily lives.A callout asking people about the situation in the country received scores of responses, with readers primarily emphasising that while there was concern, Ukrainians were not in a state of panic and life largely continues as normal. Many underlined that the crisis was not new – there has been a conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east since 2014. Continue reading...

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he wanted action soon from the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, and also signalled that his trust and confidence in her leadership of Britain’s biggest force was under serious strain.Khan said the commissioner was 'on notice' after details emerged of messages shared among a group of 14 officers at Charing Cross police station between 2016 and 2018 Continue reading...

Five residents on the battle to ensure affordable, safe housing after the end of the city’s eviction moratorium

Debate over religious discrimination bill to continue as House of Representatives agrees to sit late; Brittany Higgins calls for Jenkins review to be implemented; nation records at least 68 deaths from Covid – follow all the day’s news

John Armitage, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, says PM has gone ’past the point of no return’A billionaire donor to the Conservative party has suggested that Boris Johnson should resign, saying that the prime minister was “past the point of no return”.John Armitage, co-founder of the hedge fund firm Egerton Capital, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, including more than £500,000 since Boris Johnson entered No 10, told the BBC he thought leaders should leave if they lose their moral authority. Continue reading...

Parliament protests wane amid a profusion of concerns ranging from a ‘plandemic’ to genetic manipulation and the plight of an oil refineryOn day two of a protest against New Zealand’s Covid-19 policies on Parliament’s grounds in Wellington, the stamina and consensus of the crowd was fraying. On Tuesday, thousands arrived in convoys from across the country, but by Wednesday just a few hundred were left, despite pleas from protesters on social media for the crowd to “hold the line”.Perhaps it is because the list of complaints is extensive – there are signs about the vaccine mandates and restrictions for the unvaccinated, signs blaring vaccine disinformation, conspiracies that Covid-19 is a “plandemic”, worries about gene therapy manipulation of children, accusations of media corruption, claims of iwi (tribal) groups selling out, and requests to save a Northland oil refinery from closure.

Glove manufacturer Supermax has repeatedly won NHS contracts during the pandemic, despite claims of forced labour. Now, a group of former workers are seeking justice“I don’t have any dreams for the future because every dream depends on money,” says Resham, a 45-year-old from Banke, a district in Nepal bordering the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. “Time is passing and I’m getting older. Whatever comes my way, I will face it and go ahead with life.”Last year, Resham returned to Nepal after spending 10 years working at Supermax, a company producing medical gloves in Malaysia. In October, the US banned imports from Supermax based on evidence “that indicates the use of forced labour”, and the month after, Canada terminated its contracts. The UK, meanwhile, has named the British subsidiary of Supermax as an approved supplier in a new £6bn contract for gloves for NHS workers. Continue reading...

Near-unanimous support from NSW nurses for strike action next Tuesday as Perrottet dismisses calls for minimum staff-to-patient ratios

Lawyer says refugees, who were protesting against Turkey leaving Istanbul convention on violence against women, are at risk in IranThree Iranian refugees are facing deportation from Turkey after taking part in a demonstration against Ankara’s withdrawal from the Istanbul convention on violence against women.Lily Faraji, Zeinab Sahafi and Ismail Fattahi were arrested after attending a protest in the southern Turkish city of Denizli last March. A fourth Iranian national, Mohammad Pourakbari, was detained with the others, despite not attending the protests, according to Buse Bergamalı, their lawyer. Continue reading...

More than 60% of people surveyed believe Nato should come to Ukraine’s defence if Russia invadesMajorities across Europe think Russia will invade Ukraine in 2022 and believe both Nato and the EU should stand by Kyiv, according to a study whose authors suggest the crisis could end up dramatically changing the way Europeans view their security.“The data suggests something of a geopolitical awakening in Europe,” said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), which carried out the polling in seven countries, accounting for two-thirds of the EU’s population. Continue reading...

The film-maker is the first woman to be nominated twice for the best director Oscar – but thanks to her example, others will surely follow soonThe nomination of Jane Campion for best director at the 2022 Academy Awards – her second, following her 1994 nomination for The Piano – is more noteworthy for what it says about the institution than for its validation of the 67-year-old director, absent from feature film-making for more than a decade.To date, only two women – Kathryn Bigelow and Chloé Zhao – have ever won best director. If that sounds unreasonable, consider this: in 93 years, just seven women have even been nominated for the award – Lina Wertmüller in 1977 (for Seven Beauties), Campion in 1994, Sofia Coppola in 2003 (for Lost in Translation), Bigelow in 2010 (for The Hurt Locker), Greta Gerwig in 2018 (for Lady Bird), Emerald Fennell in 2021 (for Promising Young Woman) and Zhao that same year, victorious with Nomadland. For the first half-century of the awards, double-X chromosomes and the ability to successfully oversee a motion picture were apparently believed to be irreconcilable. (Something to consider the next time the rightwing media complains about Hollywood’s liberal bias.) Continue reading...

Police detain 23 in Ottawa protests over Covid restrictions, while trucks block Ambassador Bridge linking cities of Detroit and Windsor

Italy and Spain relax rules on wearing masks in outdoor spaces; UK records 314 Covid-related deaths

From Ed Sheeran’s screamo turn with Bring Me the Horizon to Liam Gallagher arriving my helicopter, we rate all of this year’s live performancesEd Sheeran and Bring Me the HorizonIs there no genre that Sheeran cannot subsume into his oeuvre? Apparently not, because here he is performing his hit Bad Habits with British metallers Bring Me the Horizon and a cohort of goth circus performers and/or rejects from the musical Cats. He starts the song alone, but the double billing means we’re holding our breath for the inevitable metal RAWRRRRR – and here it comes courtesy of Oli Sykes! RAWWRRR! RAWWRRRRRR! It’s basically the KLF and Extreme Noise Terror at the 1992 Brit awards. Maybe a 30th anniversary celebration, in fact. Yes, that must be it. Anyway, the Brits love a mashup and here’s a characteristically naff one – complete with those shopping trolleys from the red carpet – albeit one that nods to the versatility (some might say blandness, who could say, couldn’t be me) of Sheeran’s songwriting. Continue reading...

In this fortnight's episode of Poll Position, Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy explains the difference between Scott Morrison's 2019 election strategy, and the one he will take to the federal election this year.Poll Position, hosted by the Australia Institute, gives you the scoop on what the press gallery and the public think about what’s happening in Canberra.► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Labor MP Stephen Jones has delivered an emotional plea calling on the parliament not to pass the religious discrimination bill in its current form because of the damage it may cause to trans and gender diverse students. Jones revealed that his nephew Ollie, who was just 15, had taken his own life. 'He was uncertain about his gender and struggled with his mental health. Clearly the love and acceptance of his family and friends was not enough', the opposition assistant treasurer said. Jones implored his fellow parliamentarians to consider the message they are sending to the country's children. 'There have been too many funerals and too many grieving families. We have in our gift the power to do something'

Brazilian foreign ministry says it backs Argentina’s sovereignty claims but has ‘important partnership’ with BritainBrazil has defended its decision to allow British military planes flying to the Falkland Islands to stop at Brazilian airports, after Argentina complained about the landings.The Brazilian foreign ministry said in a note to Reuters that while it backed Argentina’s sovereignty claims over the islands, that support did not affect its “important partnership” with Britain. Continue reading...

Wednesday: families are counting down until Australian borders reopen on 21 February. Plus: The Power of the Dog leads Oscar nominationsGood morning. Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins will make a speech at the National Press Club today with former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, following Scott Morrison’s apology for the “terrible things” that happened in parliament workplaces yesterday.Families separated by Australia’s strict travel restrictions are counting down the days to long-anticipated reunions when the country’s border opens after almost two years on 21 February. The border rules have been progressively relaxed since November but some groups remained cut off from exemption-free travel. While there’s hope for families, many Australians could still be waiting months for international parcel deliveries. Some countries with strict Covid quarantine rules, such as China and Hong Kong, may not initially have enough passengers to support freight-carrying passenger flights, according to industry experts. Continue reading...

I’m concerned when I hear familiar drumbeats in Washington demanding we ‘show strength’, when we’re faced with what could be the worst European war in 75 yearsWars have unintended consequences. They rarely turn out the way the experts tell us they will. Just ask the officials who provided rosy scenarios for the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, only to be proven horribly wrong. Just ask the mothers of the soldiers who were killed or wounded in action during those wars. Just ask the millions of civilians who became “collateral damage”.That is why we must do everything possible to try and find a diplomatic solution to what could be an enormously destructive war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Fotografiska’s new group show questions traditional notions of beauty, gender and power.“I’ve been accused of trying to homosexualize African men,” photographer Denisse Ariana Pérez told me as we discussed photos she’s showcasing in Fotografiska New York’s exhibit Nude, a worldwide selection of nude portraits as seen through the female gaze. Pérez specializes in photographing men, particularly Black African men, and she purposely works with her subjects to draw them out of dominant ideas of what men should be.“I like the challenge of it,” said Pérez, “of confronting more traditional masculinity and in some way trying to bend it and question it, and to create a space for men to explore and go beyond what they have been allowed to.” Continue reading...

Much-respected figure in visual effects was also known for work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Tree of LifeThe pioneering visual effects artist Douglas Trumbull, best known for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, has died at the age of 79.His death was announced by his daughter Amy Trumbull, in which she said the “absolute genius and a wizard” died on Monday after “a major two-year battle with cancer, a brain tumor and a stroke”. Continue reading...

Former pope acknowledged errors in his handling of sex abuse cases in letterVictims have lamented a lost opportunity for healing as former pope Benedict has acknowledged errors in his handling of sexual abuse and asked for forgiveness but his lawyers argued he was not directly to blame.A letter by Benedict and a three-page legal addendum was issued by the Vatican on Tuesday after a report last month on abuse in the Munich archdiocese from 1945 to 2019 which included the alleged failure by then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to take action in four cases when he was archbishop between 1977 and 1982. Continue reading...

EncroChat service allegedly used to secure weapon for London killing and to plan another that did not take placeA sophisticated encrypted phone messaging system was used to supply a firearm for a murder and to hatch a failed plot to carry out another killing, an Old Bailey jury has been told at the trial of two men whose secret communications were intercepted.The so-called EncroChat service was allegedly used to procure a firearm to carry out a murder in London in 2020 and to plan another that did not take place. Continue reading...

The sculptures in the British Museum could be replaced by exact replicas, and it would be fitting to return them to Greece this year, says Roger Michel. Plus letters from Anna Watson, Alan Gavurin and Richard PickvanceThe Parthenon marbles have been a source of tension between Greece and England for 200 years (The Parthenon marbles belong in Greece – so why is restitution so hard to swallow?, 5 February). Lord Byron urged their return in the 1820s. Last year, Unesco did the same. Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Britons favour repatriation. Unfortunately, the debate has become a zero-sum game, with the suggestion that there can be but a single winner.Last month, at an event at Keats House in London, I tried to change that calculus: speaking alongside the Greek ambassador, I offered to reconstruct the marbles held by the British Museum. The copies, carved from the same stone, would be virtually identical to the originals. Continue reading...

Chris Heaton-Harris takes over as chief whip in shake-up as PM seeks to reassure mutinous Tories

Muslim students outraged at what they say is increasing persecution by Hindu nationalist governmentAuthorities in southern India have ordered schools to shut as protests intensified over a ban on Islamic headscarves that has outraged Muslim students.The standoff in Karnataka state has galvanised fears among the minority community about what they say is increasing persecution under the Hindu nationalist government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi. Continue reading...

Former foreign affairs department officer says Downer made comment in private conversation years before bugging scandal

Travel made easier to countries popular with UK tourists

This extraordinary tale of the desperate lengths a gay Afghan man was forced to go to in order to escape persecution is a powerful testament to human enduranceThis animated documentary from Danish film-maker Jonas Poher Rasmussen is an irresistibly moving and engrossing story, whose emotional implications we can see being absorbed into the minds of the director and his subject, almost in real time. Rasmussen’s elegant digital animation, interspersed with live-action archive TV footage, makes for a seamless link between the present and the remembered past and provides an ingenious way of obscuring the subject’s identity, which still has to be kept under wraps.Rasmussen talks to a friend of his from teen years, a gay Afghan man in Copenhagen, whom he names “Amin”, and who escaped from Kabul with what remained of his family after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, his dissident father having been arrested and murdered in prison by mujahideen forces. Amin opens up about memories he has suppressed for decades: how his family went to Moscow on a tourist visa, which they outstayed, hiding in a rented flat; how his elder brother and two sisters were trafficked to Sweden on a container ship with inadequate food, water and air; and how he, with his mother, was forced to make a separate terrifying trip across Russia, and then board a tiny, leaky boat across the Baltic. Continue reading...

Video clip of two men kissing in Beijing bar during Channel News Asia report hailed as ‘act of revolution’It was a Singaporean news report on the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, live from a Beijing bar filled with eager fans. Yet it was two men – who burst into the view of the camera, sharing a dramatic kiss – who stole the show.The clip has since gone viral in Singapore, where broadcasting codes restrict content that promotes LGBT “lifestyles”, and where sexual relationships between men are outlawed. Continue reading...

Survey ship will gather evidence in dispute over demarcating seabed between Mauritius and MaldivesA Mauritian-chartered survey ship carrying Chagos Islanders exiled from their homeland by the UK government 50 years ago have left Seychelles bound for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).The 1,130-mile voyage marks the first time Chagossians have been allowed to enter the remote archipelago – cleared of its entire population in the early 1970s to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia – without being under close British military escort. Continue reading...

Russia’s leader is using a five-metre table for one-on-one meetings, but is it just a super-cautious Covid measure?For those at the top, decor and furniture can be tools to impress, charm, and intimidate.The terrifying seat of power in Game of Thrones is a towering iron chair, forged from the melted swords of defeated enemies. In the James Bond series, villains are known for decorating their headquarters with shark aquariums. Continue reading...