Investigation into deaths of three children and one adult could lead to fatal accident inquiry or criminal chargesPolice are investigating four deaths at the flagship Queen Elizabeth university hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow, it has emerged.The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) – which has a duty to investigate all sudden, unexpected and unexplained deaths – has instructed officers from Police Scotland to act. Continue reading...
Runway to remain closed ‘until further notice’ after incident that resulted in three people needing emergency careTeesside airport’s runway is closed after an incident involving a light aircraft left three people in hospital.The airport said in a statement on Twitter that the incident occurred at 9.39am on Saturday and the pilot and two passengers on board needed emergency care. Continue reading...
The end of lockdown was supposed to herald an explosion of pent-up desire and a bonkbuster of a summer. But it’s been way more complicated than thatThis year was meant to be a replay of the roaring 20s, your hot girl or boy summer. We’d be hedonistic, bacchanalian and, above all, getting laid. All the pent-up energy of lockdowns, the only time it has ever been illegal for people from different households to have sex, would explode in one helluva bonkbuster summer. But has it panned out that way? Or has Covid ruined our sex lives? Continue reading...
Al-Shabaab jihadist group claims responsibility for suicide attackA car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Somalia’s presidential palace killing eight people, police said, as the al-Shabaab jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack.The bombing took place on Saturday within 1km (0.6 miles) of Villa Somalia, the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Continue reading...
Twenty years on from The Corrections, America’s most lauded author is back. But will he put his foot in it again?IT IS 11AM PACIFIC TIME and Jonathan Franzen has just turned on the light. “Special occasion,” he says drily of our video call. A sliver of sunshine dares to creep under the venetian blind at the window. “I’m vampiric for the first six hours of the day. I do not like bright light,” he says. “Also, if I had the blinds open there would be birds and they would distract.” Franzen likes birds, a lot.Five years ago he gave up his studio office on New York’s 125th Street for this monastically bare room in Santa Cruz university. He has spent part of each year here since he met his partner, writer Kathy Chetkovich, “the Californian” of his essays, in 1998. But after “a massive tug of war”, they moved here permanently so she could be closer to her elderly mother. “It was a war I was happy to lose, because I’d been in New York for 25 years and I’d had enough,” he says. “That season of my life was over.” He tried one autumn in New York without Chetkovich before realising it wasn’t going to work, “so I just threw in the towel, and now I’m a Californian”. Continue reading...
People evacuated from three towns are told they cannot return as volcano has entered new explosive phasePeople evacuated from three more towns on the Spanish island of La Palma have been told they will not be able to return to their homes to retrieve their belongings because of the “evolution of the volcanic emergency”.Rivers of lava raced down the volcano and exploded high into the air on Friday night and the airport was closed as an eruption intensified and entered its most explosive phase so far. Continue reading...
In our new column, in which we make nice things happen for nice people, we meet Marvin Birch, who turned his life around – and now spreads the community love
Ambulance crew called to SnowDome in Tamworth on Friday evening but was unable to save boy’s lifeA 12-year-old boy has died after being seriously injured at an indoor ski centre.West Midlands ambulance service and Staffordshire police were called to reports of the child being seriously injured during an activity in the SnowDome in Tamworth at around 6.35pm on Friday. Continue reading...
The EU’s chief negotiator found his UK counterparts bizarrely unfocused during the long haul to fix a Brexit deal – and believes they still don’t know what they’ve doneRarely do we see thinking of the other side of a negotiation so quickly, while the trail is still warm. Michel Barnier’s new book helps explain why Britain ended up being comprehensively out-negotiated over Brexit and saddled with a flawed withdrawal agreement and a deeply disadvantageous future relationship, both of which will cause us major problems for decades to come. This is therefore an important account.That said, Barnier may be an excellent haute fonctionnaire, but judging by the stilted prose of this “secret diary” he is definitely not an author. We learn little about the newly declared French presidential candidate other than that he admires General De Gaulle. There are no startling revelations and there is more technical detail – much more – than most people will want. Nor does this read like a genuinely contemporaneous diary; a giveaway is that he too often knows the future, writing, for example, that: “I will have Martin Selmayr on the line several times over the next few days.” Continue reading...
Entertainment industry told to uphold ‘truth, goodness and beauty’ and remove vulgar and violent contentChina’s broadcasting regulator said it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down on violent, vulgar or pornographic content, as Beijing steps up efforts to bring its thriving entertainment industry to heel.The National Radio and Television Administration said in a notice posted late on Friday that children and young people were the main audience for cartoons, and qualified agencies need to broadcast content that “upholds truth, goodness and beauty”. Continue reading...
Paul was in his 80s when someone called to say she was his daughter, conceived in a fertility clinic with his sperm. The only problem? He’d never donated anyFor 40 years, Catherine Simpson thought she knew who she was: a nurse, a mother of three, a daughter and a sister. She looked like her mother, Sarah, but had the same temperament as her father, George: calm, unflustered, kind.Then her father died. There was a dispute over his will, and that led her mother to call and tell her something that made the ground dissolve beneath her feet. George had had a vasectomy long before Catherine was born. She and her brother had been donor conceived in Harley Street using the sperm of two different anonymous men. George was not her biological father. Continue reading...
Church leaders express ‘profound remorse’ for suffering caused to indigenous children amid silence from the VaticanHigh-ranking Catholic bishops in Canada have officially apologised for their role in the country’s notorious residential school system for the first time, after refusing to do so for years despite public pressure.The organisation expressed “profound remorse” and apologised unequivocally along with all Catholic entities that were directly involved in the operation of the schools, according to a statement issued on Friday by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Continue reading...
The 2018 arrest in Vancouver of the Huawei CFO was followed by China's detention of two Canadians, sparking an unprecedented disputeThe 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant, followed by China’s detention of two Canadians, sparked an unprecedented dispute between Beijing and Ottawa.On Friday, a legal agreement in New York cleared the way for Meng’s release after nearly three years of detention in Canada, and the release of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in China. Here are the key dates in the saga: Continue reading...
by Julian Borger in Washington and Vincent Ni and age on (#5PYRF)
The agreement with Wanzhou clears a topic of dispute between US and China and could bring release of two CanadiansChinese telecoms executive Meng Wanzhou was freed after three years of house arrest in Canada, following an agreement with the US justice department to suspend the fraud charges against her that had poisoned Beijing’s relations with Washington and Ottawa.Meng – Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the giant corporation’s founder - was granted release in a Vancouver court hearing, hours after US prosecutors announced an agreement in New York. Continue reading...
Flights cancelled and firefighters forced to stop work due to shockwave and huge cloud of gas and ash on Spanish islandIntensifying volcanic explosions on the Spanish island of La Palma have forced firefighters to retreat and authorities to evacuate three more towns, while airlines cancelled flights because of a cloud of gas and ash, the biggest since the volcano erupted.Firefighters pulled out of cleanup work in the town of Todoque on Friday afternoon as a new vent opened up in the flank of the volcano. Videos shared on social media showed a massive shockwave emanating from the eruption site. Continue reading...
At trial of four men charged with murder over the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in 2014, families gave testimony of lives cut shortSome were flying home. Others starting the holiday of a lifetime. But they never arrived at their destination. On 17 July 2014, a missile shot down Malaysia Airlines MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch nationals. More than seven years later, a court in the Netherlands has heard some of their stories and how the lives of their grief-stricken families were changed for ever.Over three weeks, more than 90 relatives of MH17 victims have given testimony of lives cut short. Schools not started, plans never to be realised, ordinary pleasures of family meals and hobbies denied. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Written and read by Clem Basto on (#5PYV0)
Laura Murphy-Oates introduces a bonus episode of our new podcast Guardian Australia Reads. Guardian Australia’s culture editor, Steph Harmon, recommends a piece by Clem Bastow about an unfair double standard on autism
by Sam Jones in Madrid and Angela Giuffrida in Rome on (#5PXQ0)
Former Catalan leader free to travel but must attend extradition hearing on 4 OctoberThe former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who was detained in Sardinia on Thursday under an international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish court over his alleged role in the failed bid for regional independence, was released from custody on the Italian island late on Friday afternoon.Puigdemont, now an MEP living in Belgium, could face extradition to Spain over his alleged involvement in the unilateral independence referendum and the subsequent unilateral declaration of independence in October 2017. Continue reading...
Boris Johnson believed to have overruled ministers unwilling to compromise on post-Brexit immigration as forecourt queues mountMinisters are poised to agree an extraordinary post-Brexit U-turn that would see foreign lorry drivers allowed back into the UK to stave off shortages threatening fuel and food supplies.Boris Johnson ordered a rapid fix on Friday to prevent the crisis escalating. Ministers met in a bid to agree a short-term visa scheme permitting potentially thousands more lorry drivers from abroad to come to the UK. Continue reading...
Petrofac made admission as part of deal to end four-year corruption investigation by Serious Fraud OfficeA multinational oil firm, which was led by a major Conservative donor, has admitted that its employees paid bribes to land contracts, as it struck a deal to end a corruption investigation into the company.The admission was announced by the firm, Petrofac, on Friday to settle a four-year corruption and money laundering investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Continue reading...
Two of the biggest brands in Italian fashion are said to be staging a joint show this weekendFashion week is all about the gossip. The most talked about show in Milan is one that appears on no official schedule, exists only as a rumour, and may or may not take place this weekend.
Attackers dressed as lawyers opened fire and killed Jitendra Gogi before police shot them deadOne of India’s most notorious gangsters has been shot dead in a Delhi courtroom after members of a rival gang disguised themselves in lawyers’ cloaks and opened fire.The shooting took place as Jitendra Maan, alias “Gogi”, previously one of Delhi’s most wanted men, entered the court to face murder and extortion charges. Police returned fire, according to officials, killing two gunmen. Continue reading...
Girl, 14, also sentenced for manslaughter after fatal stabbing in Reading in JanuaryThree schoolchildren who lured 13-year-old Oliver Stephens to a park where he was stabbed to death after a dispute on social media have been sentenced for their roles in his killing, as his parents said they were “completely broken” by his murder.Stuart and Amanda Stephens urged the parents of teenage children to “take their phones off them” after warning how social media “played a massive part” in their son’s death. Continue reading...
The government is failing to ensure we can get basic goods but the opposition is still wary of blaming Johnson’s botched dealIt has become the Voldemort of British politics, the word few in government or opposition will breathe out loud. Once repeated with numbing frequency, it is now the cause that dare not speak its name. I’m talking about Brexit – there, I said it – and when I say “cause”, I’m not describing it as a righteous mission: I mean Brexit as a central explanation for the multiple crises currently afflicting us.Cast your mind back to the major shortage before the other two major shortages, the one that was making headlines before the lack of petrol to run our cars or the dearth of domestic gas to heat our homes: namely, the shortage of CO, used for fizzy drinks, in meat production and to keep food fresh. Can you guess which part of the UK was blissfully unaffected by that problem? Open a can of pop if you said Northern Ireland, and treat yourself to another if you knew the reason why: because Northern Ireland remains part of the single market for goods, which means its bottling plants could get their carbon dioxide supplies from continental Europe. The rest of the UK had no such luck, with the government forced to pay an undisclosed but doubtless hefty chunk of our money to a US company to keep two CO plants open, because … Brexit. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5PYJ5)
French president ‘awaiting PM’s proposals’ on how to re-establish cooperation in wake of Aukus dealBoris Johnson has told Emmanuel Macron he wants to “re-establish cooperation” in the wake of the Aukus defence pact row, during a frosty-sounding call between the leaders of Britain and France.A description of the conversation from Macron’s office said the prime minister sought the call on Friday, and expressed the hope that the countries could resume cooperation “in line with our values and our common interests”. Continue reading...
Computer games may be filling a void left by friendships that fell away over lockdownMy son is nearly 15 and my only child. His father and I separated some years ago and they see each other regularly. My son also has a good relationship with my partner, who has lived with us for a few years. He has always excelled at school and is a talented musician. When he was younger he was confident and eloquent beyond his years; he could make friends or have a conversation with anyone.I have seen huge changes in him. Before Covid, he played in a couple of bands at school and had made friends with some older children through school productions. With lockdown, these friendships melted away and even at school he has been unable to mix with different year groups. Continue reading...
Police urgently seeking man captured on CCTV close to where 28-year-old teacher was foundDetectives fear the prime suspect for the murder of Sabina Nessa is still at large, the Guardian understands, and are urgently seeking a man captured in CCTV images taken close to where the teacher was killed.The man in the footage, who is seen dressed in casual clothing and apparently clutching a red or orange object in his right hand, was in the area of south-east London where Nessa was found dead on the evening she was attacked, detectives have said. Continue reading...
Conservative parties oppose extension of same-sex couples rights beyond basic civil partnershipSwiss voters will determine on Sunday whether to allow same-sex couples to wed and enjoy the same rights as heterosexual marriage partners, after a bitter referendum campaign in one of the last western Europeans countries still to ban gay marriage.The government and parliament approved marriage for same-sex couples last year, allowing them to adopt children not parented by either partner, giving lesbian couples access to sperm donation, and simplifying citizenship for foreign spouses. Continue reading...
No 10 denies Brazilian president’s claim but some speculate food item is turkeys for ChristmasThe Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has claimed Boris Johnson asked him for an “emergency” deal to ease shortages of an unspecified food product, amid concerns about further disruption to supermarket supplies.A lack of drivers and food pickers, as well as carbon dioxide used to stun animals for slaughter and create dry ice to keep food fresh, has led to fears that some goods will be missing from shelves in the run-up to Christmas. Continue reading...
Hannes Coudenys’ Ugly Belgian Houses updated with more from the ‘chaos known as Belgium’Ever since he was a child, Hannes Coudenys was annoyed by the “visual chaos” around him. On the road from home to his school in Bruges, he found a mishmash of architectural styles – haciendas, villas, farm-style houses, all mixed up with boxy malls and carpet shops.One day, as an adult, still exasperated, he took a photo of a house that was split into two jarringly different styles: a grey urban semi whose other half was a jaunty brick cottage. He put the photo online with the title “ugly Belgian houses”, and an internet trend was born. Continue reading...
Victoria reports 733 new cases and one death as chief medical officer condemns ‘wacky’ protestersThe Moderna vaccine will be rolled out at state-run Covid-19 vaccination sites from next week as Victoria pushes to reach its 80% first-dose target.The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, said 32,000 Moderna vaccines had been provided by the commonwealth to be administered at state-run clinics, following supply constraints of the Pfizer vaccine flagged for next month. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#5PY9D)
Man charged with four counts of murder after woman and three children found dead near SheffieldA 31-year-old man is due to go on trial next year charged with four counts of murder after a woman and three children were found dead in a house near Sheffield.The bodies of John Paul Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, were discovered at a property in Killamarsh on Sunday morning. Continue reading...
Breaking up is never easy and breaking up during lockdown made it even harder. Take a lesson from our contributors’ experiencesTake up Muay Thai – it’s a great way to get really sweaty on a weekly basis. If the heartbreak is really bad, travel solo, going as far and as for as long as you can, preferably somewhere with a lot of open space – I ended up in Newfoundland and Mongolia after separate heartbreaks. Put your face into the wind and scream, or cry, or whatever it is you need to do to let it go. Remind yourself to keep looking forward when you find yourself ruminating. Then, like all things, give it time.
Nooruddin Turabi, in charge of Afghan prisons, says executions and removal of hands will restart, but possibly not in publicThe Taliban will resume executions and the amputation of hands for criminals they convict, in a return to their harsh version of Islamic justice.According to a senior official – a veteran leader of the hardline Islamist group who was in charge of justice during its previous period in power – executions would not necessarily take place in public as they did before. Continue reading...
A spat at the Met Gala, Harry’s hair and strained tolerance for the British PM as New York opens upWith terrible, split-screen clarity, it was possible to watch the interplay this week between the way Boris Johnson sees himself and the way others – specifically, foreign heads of state – see him. There he was on Monday, rocking up at the UN in New York prior to a week of diplomacy in the US, cutting what he surely imagines to be his customary dash. To everyone else, he had about him the low-rent sheepishness of a man caught with an off-peak ticket at rush hour. Continue reading...
Deal creates ‘enduring form’ of offshore processing, sparking criticism from refugees previously detained thereAustralia will continue its policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers indefinitely, with the home affairs minister signing a new agreement with Nauru to maintain a detention centre on the island state.Since 2012 - in the second iteration of the policy - all asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat seeking protection have faced mandatory indefinite detention and processing offshore. Continue reading...
With Peru’s health system overhelmed last year, many residents began self-medicating, an indicator of things to comeAs Covid-19 cases in Peru rose rapidly during the early months of the pandemic, public interest in the drug ivermectin surged.Misleading information suggesting the drug, used to treat parasites in humans and livestock, had been proven effective against coronavirus reached many Peruvians online, doctors told the Guardian. Continue reading...
Biden will meet leaders of Australia, India and Japan as he builds a web of alliances to support democracy and deter authoritarianismJoe Biden will host the first in-person summit of the Quad countries – the US, India, Japan and Australia – at the White House on Friday as he ratchets up the reorientation of US foreign policy towards the Pacific and the containment of China.The summit, which will seek to deepen ties within the ad hoc grouping, will take place just nine days after the surprise announcement of the Aukus security agreement between Australia, the UK and US, built around the sharing of nuclear-propulsion technology with Australia for its new submarine fleet. Continue reading...
As debt-laden Chinese property giant enters 30-day grace period, officials look to limit unrest and job lossesThe embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande is inching closer to the potential default that investors fear, after missing an interest payment deadline.The company, which has total debts of about $305bn (£222bn), has run short of cash and investors are worried a collapse could pose systemic risks to China’s financial system and reverberate around the world. Continue reading...
Organisers of People Parking Day are inviting residents to create ‘parklets’ in their streetsPeople are being urged to reclaim parking spaces outside their homes this weekend, transforming them into mini parks for activities such as fitness classes, tea parties and book clubs.Organisers of the People Parking Day event are calling on residents in London to commandeer some of the 1 million car parking spaces in the capital for more “people friendly” activities and to improve the local environment. Continue reading...
Fourteen years after their Grammy-winning debut, the roots duo have reunited – facing high expectations. They explain how they left their comfort zones with a ‘nuts but tasteful’ all-star bandMore than half a century since arriving to play his first show in the US with Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant was in the strange position of having to explain himself to the authorities.“I had to prove that I was contributing to the betterment of the American system somehow, which is kind of cute, really,” Plant says of this post-lockdown trip to Nashville. He is sitting in the city’s famous Sound Emporium studio with his collaborator, the bluegrass legend Alison Krauss. It is the same place where they recorded their second, highly anticipated record as a duo, Raise the Roof, before the pandemic put the world on pause. Continue reading...
Antonio Guterres said ‘more ambition from every country’ was required and that current emissions rates threatened the ‘very survival of Pacific communities’The secretary general of the United Nations has told Pacific nations that a 45% cut in emissions by 2030 was needed globally to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, adding that continuing on the current trajectory “puts us on a catastrophic pathway”.António Guterres was speaking at a virtual meeting with Pacific Island Forum leaders as part of the UN general assembly taking place in New York. Continue reading...
Eruption on La Palma has destroyed hundreds of homes, but one escaped the devastation all aroundLike a cartoon house with its own raincloud, a Canary Islands home has survived rivers of lava flowing from the volcanic eruption on La Palma, with images showing the untouched residence and nearby landscape surrounded by charred black landscape.Social media users called it the “miracle house”, the BBC reported. Its owners, a retired Danish couple who are not on the island, said they were “relieved it’s still standing”, according to Ada Monnikendam, who built the house. Continue reading...
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