by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5Q55B)
Met releases CCTV, video and audio recordings showing ex-officer hiring car, kidnapping Everard and talking to a vetOn Wednesday, the Metropolitan police released previously unpublished material relating to the force’s investigation into Wayne Couzens. It included dashcam footage from the night Sarah Everard disappeared, an audio recording of Couzens and a video of him being interviewed by police, in which he attempted to deceive officers about what had happened. Here are some of the key pieces of evidence, as told to the court and in the newly released material: Continue reading...
CCTV footage released by the Metropolitan Police shows the moment Wayne Couzens stopped Sarah Everard. The then Metropolitan police officer later burned her body to try to hide his crimes, including kidnap, rape and murder.Couzens used his warrant card and handcuffs to ensnare Sarah Everard under the pretence she had breached Covid rules before killing her with his police belt, a court was told at the opening of a two-day sentencing hearing.Couzens pleaded guilty to the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard at earlier court hearings.
Eruption destroys 650 properties including house which had managed to hold out against flowsA steaming pyramid of black rock has emerged from the Atlantic waves off the coast of the Canary island of La Palma after lava from the volcanic eruption, which began 10 days ago, finally reached the sea late on Tuesday.The eruption – which began on 19 September on the Cumbre Vieja ridge, one of the most active volcanic regions in the archipelago – has destroyed more than 650 properties, forced the evacuation of more than 6,000 people, and devastated La Palma’s banana plantations. Continue reading...
Political unknown to form government with limited powers while President Kais Saied rules by decreeTunisia’s president named geologist Najla Bouden as the country’s first ever female prime minister-designate on Wednesday, to form a government with limited executive clout after the president seized wide-ranging powers two months ago.Bouden, a university lecturer and political unknown, will take office after President Kais Saied on 25 July sacked the government of Hichem Mechichi, suspended parliament, lifted MPs’ immunity and took over the judiciary. Continue reading...
Widely expected decision hailed as victory for Western Saharan independence movementA European court has struck down the EU’s trade and fishing deals with Morocco because they were agreed without the consent of the people of Western Sahara.The vast territory on Africa’s Atlantic coast was annexed by Morocco in 1975 after the withdrawal of Spain, the colonial power, in a move largely unrecognised internationally and opposed by the Polisario Front, which fought a 16-year guerrilla war against the kingdom. Continue reading...
Country is implementing power rationing as supplies dwindle due to price raise of imported coalThe situation is widespread. In recent days, factories in 20 of China’s 31 provinces have suffered a loss of power, forcing many to shut down production, at least for hours at a time. Millions of households in the north-east of the country have also lost power and found that they cannot use electricity to heat or light their homes. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5Q4QR)
Mother of woman killed by police officer says the ‘brutality and terror’ of her last hours are unbearableThe family of Sarah Everard have said they are haunted by thoughts of her suffering in the final hours of her life when she was raped and murdered by a police officer, in emotional victim impact statements read in court.Wayne Couzens seized Everard, 33, from a London street on 3 March, keeping her captive using his police handcuffs before strangling her with his police belt and then burning her body. Continue reading...
Call for tougher safety measures and closure of firms that fail to comply after 677 deaths from January to JulyTwo technicians are believed to have died of suffocation in the basement of a university hospital near Milan amid a spate of fatal workplace accidents in Italy.The men, aged 46 and 42, had been loading a tank of liquid nitrogen used to preserve medical samples when the accident happened on Tuesday morning. Early investigations show they may have suffocated before becoming frozen by the leaked liquid nitrogen, which is stored at temperatures below -196C Continue reading...
Analysis: election result marks return of pragmatic and centrist policies, spearheaded by a decent, if unexciting, leaderJapan’s governing Liberal Democratic party [LDP] has chosen stability and moderation in electing Fumio Kishida as its new leader – a post that all but guarantees that he will become the country’s prime minister on Monday.Kishida, like Taro Kono – the man he defeated in a second round of voting on Wednesday – is a hereditary politician in a party packed with MPs who were practically destined at birth to occupy a seat in parliament. Continue reading...
‘He said he had to see a throat specialist then added: “Do you want to come along?” Later, we drove to a party with me sitting on his lap in a limo’In 1979 Leonard Cohen was in London for a few days on a European tour and I had been assigned to photograph him by the US magazine People. I arrived at the Dorchester Hotel and was shown up to his room. He announced that he had picked up some sort of larynx infection on the plane and that he might not be able to perform. He said that he had an imminent appointment with a Harley Street specialist. My heart sank and I thought: “There goes the assignment.” Then he said brightly, “Do you want to come along with me?”We hopped in a taxi and I followed him into the surgery. The doctor examined him, sat him in a chair and gave him a nebuliser. With his dark glasses on, a scarf wrapped around his neck and a large silver-coloured mask covering his nose and mouth, he looked quite bizarre but it made an unusual photograph, not like any others I’d seen of him. Forty minutes later, much to his relief – and mine – he said he felt much better. Continue reading...
Former foreign minister to become PM following face off against vaccination minister Taro KonoFumio Kishida, a former foreign minister with a reputation as a consensus builder, is set to become Japan’s prime minister after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic party’s presidential election in a runoff against the vaccination minister, Taro Kono.The LDP-led coalition holds a majority in both chambers of parliament, meaning Kishida is practically assured of the prime ministership at an extraordinary parliamentary session on Monday. Continue reading...
The successful referendum to expropriate the city’s apartments from corporate landlords is a potential template for EuropeWith coalition talks that could last months under way to form Germany’s next government, the reverberations of Sunday’s election will be felt for quite a while. But one of the most significant developments in voters’ weekend trip to the polls was a local referendum in Berlin, which strongly endorsed a campaign to expropriate properties owned by large corporate landlords.More than a million Berliners supported the campaign Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co, which targeted companies holding 3,000 or more apartments (Deutsche Wohnen is one of the largest investment trusts in the city). In total, 240,000 properties, or 11% of all apartments in Berlin, would come under the terms of the initiative, which was backed by a majority of 56.4% in the referendum. The vote isn’t legally binding, however, so it is now up to the city’s government, which was also elected on 26 September, to decide whether to move forward. And while struggles over housing are nothing new in Berlin, this successful campaign marks a potentially transformative moment – one that could have a major impact on housing struggles in other cities, and also serve as a template and inspiration for activists in Europe and elsewhere. Continue reading...
Merseyside force says officers ‘gutted’ to kill animal after attempts to tranquillise it had failedMerseyside police have responded to public criticism of their decision to shoot dead a marauding deer by saying officers were “gutted” to have to pull the trigger.The rare white stag was killed by police on Sunday evening after it spent nine hours running through Bootle town centre, despite animal welfare experts urging officers to let it find its way home. Continue reading...
The respected academic, who has died aged 80, was a leading anti-caste campaigner and fought tirelessly for women’s rightsAt the village of Kasegaon, in India’s rural western region of Maharashtra, huge crowds turned up for the funeral in August of a US-born, white sociologist whom many local people saw as one of their own.Most of the mourners were Dalits, who belong to the lowest caste in Indian society, previously deemed “untouchables”. Continue reading...
Latest of several launches within a month signals further ramp-up of hostility towards neighboursNorth Korea has fired what it described as a hypersonic missile towards the sea off its east coast, as Pyongyang repeated a call for Washington and Seoul to scrap their “hostile policy” to restart talks.On Wednesday, North Korea said it was a newly developed hypersonic missile. The official KCNA news agency said the launch was of “great strategic significance”, as the North seeks to increase its defence capabilities a “thousand-fold”. Continue reading...
As scientists explore how life in the abyss could generate new medicines, deep-sea mining is threatening to wipe it outIt has been 30 years since the last new class of antibiotic was introduced to the market. All the existing drugs are essentially variations on a theme: they kill bacteria, in similar ways. Some burst cells walls, others block DNA replication.But the bacteria are swiftly evolving to survive those chemical attacks – and as they survive, they become virulent superbugs. Without new antibiotics, by 2050 the death toll from drug-resistant infections is projected to reach 10 million people a year, making the coronavirus pandemic seem almost quaint. Continue reading...
Parliamentary and presidential votes were due at the end of the year, but there are fears the interim government hopes to stay in powerLibya’s hopes of ending a decade of political chaos with credible elections at the end of this year for a president and new unified parliament have reached a defining moment, with the US insisting the vote should go ahead but some European diplomats fearing divisions are too entrenched for the result ever to be accepted as legitimate.The elections are due to take place on 24 December, but no agreement has been reached within the country on laws governing the election. There are also signs that the populist interim government, theoretically appointed by the UN to manage services ahead of the elections, might seek to capitalise on the impasse to stay in power indefinitely. Thousands of foreign troops, mainly funded by Turkey and Russia, are still in place. Continue reading...
As the star dives into a giant glass of fizz for her first online extravaganza, she talks about this new golden age for burlesque, why the French Strictly gives her costume problems – and how #MeToo has changed herDita Von Teese is looking divine. Her lips are that signature red, she’s wearing 1950s cat eye glasses, and her black hair falls in a thick wave across a Snow White skin – and all this on the unglamorous stage of a glitchy Zoom call. Only knowing Von Teese from her femme fatale image, her teasingly aloof burlesque performances, and her time in the tabloids as former wife of goth rocker Marilyn Manson, you might expect an icy demeanour, an impermeable mystique. So it’s surprising to discover quite how normal she is: chatty, self-deprecating, not very vampish. It’s easy to see traces of Heather Sweet, the “super shy” girl from small-town Michigan who transformed into Von Teese.
Residents near the coast warned to stay at home as inhalation of acid plumes can cause skin irritation and breathing difficultiesLava from an erupting volcano in the Canary Islands has reached the ocean, volcanologists said, raising fear of toxic gases being released as the lava hits the sea water.The regional government of the Spanish archipelago had already declared an exclusion zone of two nautical miles around where the lava was expected to enter the Atlantic and asked nearby residents to stay at home. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5Q40X)
Analysis: As the world’s largest navy tries to push it back in the Pacific, the US requires allies in the regionIn the dockyards of Shanghai, the next step in China’s naval expansion is taking shape: a 315-metre aircraft carrier, whose construction progress was revealed by satellite photography in May this year.China has the world’s largest navy and the largest shipbuilding industry, but the Type 003 is the latest step up: a vessel the same size as the latest US Ford class with a matching electromagnetic catapult for launching jets. Continue reading...
Foreign minister Marise Payne discussed WikiLeaks founder with US counterpart in Washington DC, a spokesperson saysAustralia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, raised the case of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange with the US secretary of state during her visit to Washington DC this month, the government has revealed.But Australian parliamentarians who support Assange say the government should demand his immediate release, after a US news report this week claimed CIA officials during the Trump administration had discussed abducting and even assassinating the Australian citizen. Continue reading...
Once the great vaccination success story, the island is under strain amid a new wave of infections, but experts say cases would be far higher without vaccine coverageOutside Guam Memorial hospital, blue medical tents have sprung up to accomodate an overflow of Covid patients.The sight is bewildering for Guam residents. The island ran an incredibly successful vaccination campaign, with almost 90% of eligible people having received two doses, and even began offering jabs to tourists in an “Air VnV” – vacation and vaccination – scheme. Continue reading...
Pacific Islands face greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report from the Lowy InstituteCountries in the Pacific risk a “lost decade” following the Covid pandemic, with the region facing its greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report into foreign aid.The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, which sets out aid spending and donations to the Pacific Islands region, shows US$2.44bn in foreign aid reached the Pacific in 2019, which is about 8% of the region’s GDP. Continue reading...
The long-awaited 25th outing for Ian Fleming’s superspy is a weird and self-aware epic with audacious surprises up its sleeveThe standard bearer of British soft power is back, in a film yanked from cinemas back in the time of the toilet roll shortage, based on a literary character conceived when sugar and meat rationing was still in force, and now emerging in cinemas as Britons are fighting for petrol in the forecourts.Bond, like Norma Desmond, is once again ready for his closeup – and Daniel Craig once again shows us his handsome-Shrek face and the lovable bat ears, flecked with the scars of yesterday’s punch-up, the lips as ever pursed in determination or disgust. Continue reading...
Analysis: Senators’ questions to military leadership a contest in sharing out responsibility for failuresThe deeply partisan US Congress is rarely a conducive place for national introspection and Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal did not provide an exception.In the midst of the point-scoring and blame-shifting on display in the senators’ questions to the nation’s military leadership, it was clear that it was a contest to apportion shares in failure. Continue reading...
Almost two years after its original release date, the 25th James Bond film – and final outing for star Daniel Craig – has had its first screening at the Royal Albert Hall Continue reading...
Majority of the women killed by former officers had been their partners, according to the Femicide CensusWomen have been killed by at least 15 serving or former police officers in the UK since 2009, new figures reveal.The majority of the women killed by former officers had been their partners, according to data from the Femicide Census first reported by the Times. Continue reading...
New Zealand’s prime minister has essentially turned a blind eye to the pact – she knows taking the moral high ground leads to punishmentNew Zealand defence hawks reacted to the announcement of the anglophone security pact Aukus this month by complaining this country had been sidelined. In order to stay close to traditional allies, the hawks suggest New Zealand needs to either increase defence spending to compensate, or overturn New Zealand’s long-held ban on nuclear-powered vessels.On the opposing side, there have been plenty of doves celebrating that New Zealand isn’t involved in Aukus. For example, editorials from the three biggest newspapers all took this stance, which probably reflects the general view of most New Zealanders. Continue reading...
Eight women have been burned to death or lynched in South Kivu province this month, say officialsMurders of women accused of witchcraft have surged in a troubled eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to officials and rights campaigners.Eight women have reportedly been burned to death or lynched in three districts in South Kivu province this month. Continue reading...
Leven Sopwith-Nicholson had been missing since Saturday and may have been trying to reach the AlpsA 14-year-old boy missing from home in Cumbria since Saturday has been found safe and well, the Guardian understands.Leven Sopwith-Nicholson had not been seen since Saturday night when he disappeared from his home in Ulverston after going to bed. It has not yet been announced where he was found, but his parents earlier had said he might have been trying to reach the Alps after struggling with his mental health during lockdown. Continue reading...
by Harriet Sherwood Arts correspondent on (#5Q3BM)
Denmark museum of modern art says Jens Haaning’s Take the Money and Run violates legal agreementIn an unexpected reinterpretation of an earlier work, a Danish artist has left a museum with empty frames, a depleted bank account and red faces all round.Rather than applauding Jens Haaning’s artistic commentary on modern capitalism, the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in northern Denmark has said the artist is in violation of a legal agreement – and in possession of more than $84,000 belonging to the institution. Continue reading...
Transport secretary and petrol association say forecourts show early signs crisis may be endingMotorists have faced renewed calls to stop panic buying fuel, as the UK government and an industry association insisted the shortage at thousands of petrol stations was diminishing, but Labour has called for key workers to get priority at the pumps.Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said there were “very tentative signs of stabilisation” in forecourt storage, but admitted it would take time for that to affect the size of vehicle queues as people’s behaviour slowly adjusted. Continue reading...
The Savage X Fenty lingerie label has been accused of cultural appropriation over the hairstyles in its annual fashion show. But why is this still going on?Singer Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty fashion line has stirred an online debate around cultural appropriation, after models wore what appeared to be braids during the label’s lingerie show. After the show was screened last Friday on Amazon Prime, viewers expressed concern on social media at seeing non-Black models, including Emily Ratajkowski, with braids.“I wish I could write something as funny as putting all these white girls in braids for the Fenty show,” tweeted comedian and television writer Raina Morris. And Dylan Ali wrote: “I love the Fenty show but I think we need a trigger warning for seeing this many white women in braids.” Continue reading...
Growing dissent within conservative ranks is diminishing Armin Laschet’s hopes of keeping his party in powerA leading German conservative has made a public show of congratulating the Social Democrats’ candidate on winning Sunday’s national election in a sign of division within the centre-right alliance of outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel after it plunged to historic losses.Markus Söder, the head of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) sister party, said Olaf Scholz was frontrunner to become Germany’s next leader, undermining the claims of the CDU-CSU’s Armin Laschetthat the 25.7%-24.1% result was too narrow to amount to a clear mandate and he could still form a “future-oriented coalition”. Continue reading...
With main route to the surface blocked trapped miners forced to climb 1,000 meters on ladders to the surfaceThe 39 miners trapped underground in a north Canadian mine are expected to be freed on Tuesday, after completing a grueling, half-day climb up more than 1,000 meters of ladders to the surface.Workers at the Totten mine in northern Ontario were trapped deep underground on Sunday after a scoop bucket detached, blocking the mine’s main transport shaft. Continue reading...
Certainly not in the pop star’s best interests, this disturbing film gives redemption stories to controversial figures from Britney’s past. Nothing about this feels rightWhat is in Britney Spears’ best interests? It’s a question that has been discussed and dissected by those around the pop star for 13 years, often abstractly, or with feigned concern, in the press or in court documents. It has been that way since she was placed in a controversial conservatorship, presided over by her father, Jamie, in 2008. It’s a question also posed by film-makers, whose narrative arcs often involve picking at the scabs before reaching for the plasters. In February, the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears recast her career through a post-#MeToo lens, via familiar shots of Spears shaving her head and distressing images from 2008 of her in the back of an ambulance prior to being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward. A month after it aired, Spears said on Instagram that she was “embarrassed by the light they put me in” and that “she cried for two weeks”. In May, Spears called the BBC documentary The Battle for Britney: Fans, Cash and a Conservatorship hypocritical. “I think the world is more interested in the negative !!!!” she said.In this context, Netflix’s Britney vs Spears – directed and narrated by fan and film-maker Erin Lee Carr – feels uncomfortable. Conceived two and half years ago as an insight into “[Spears’] artistry and her media portrayal”, the film was hastily retooled after Framing Britney Spears and Spears’ explosive testimony at a conservatorship hearing in July. Oddly, the documentary chooses not to place Spears’ own words – a rarity for so long – at the start of the film. Rather it follows a standard chronological narrative, zipping through the successes of the early years before homing in on troubled times. It pores over Spears’ divorce from Kevin Federline in a way that feels tabloid-y, while dramatic instrumental music hums underneath. It often has the feel of a schlocky true crime documentary, with Carr and the journalist Jenny Eliscu shown riffling through papers, or sticking name tags on pictures showing the main protagonists. Anytime Jamie Spears is mentioned we get a slow zooming shot of his face. Continue reading...
Paris and Athens hail landmark accord aimed at defending shared interests in the MediterraneanGreece and France have signed a multibillion-euro military agreement, a deal hailed by the leaders of both countries as a bold first step towards deeper military cooperation on the continent.Barely two weeks after the humiliating loss of a submarine deal with Australia – after the unexpected Aukus defence pact between Australia, the UK and US – Paris on Tuesday announced the landmark accord with Athens. Continue reading...
The success of Moonlight remains an outlier in both major film and TV representation so it’s been left to smaller web series to pick up the slackOn 12 May, screenwriter Kirk A Moore took to his Twitter page calling for his Black gay followers to share images of themselves with their Black partners.The now viral thread seemed like a simple request, with it racking up more than 3,000 retweets and over 7,600 likes as Black couples shared their photos together and Twitter users posted comment after comment sharing their joy in engaging with the thread celebrating diverse body shapes, skin tones, ages and regional backgrounds. Continue reading...
Swedish police say resultant fire is under control as emergency services rule out gas leak as the causePolice are investigating whether an explosive device was left in an apartment building after four people were seriously hurt in an explosion and fire in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.About 25 people were taken to hospital after the blast on Tuesday morning set ablaze the building in a central residential area. Firefighters pulled people from the building while others used tied sheets to lower themselves from balconies as grey smoke billowed out of stairwells and windows. Continue reading...
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