António Guterres says unequal access to Covid vaccines and affordable loans in developing countries will widen inequalityThe head of the UN has called on rich countries to step up efforts to protect workers hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with an additional $1tn (£736bn) injection of funds to avoid a twin-track recovery that widens the gap with the world’s poorest nations.Speaking in New York, the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, said the most serious global public health and economic crisis the world has faced in the past century was on course to worsen existing inequalities and threaten “the long-term livelihoods and well-being of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people” without a greater determination by rich nations to share resources. Continue reading...
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Siraj reveal how refugees are pressured for cashEarly this year, Yousef, a 32-year-old Syrian living in Sweden, found himself faced with an impossible choice: either enlist in the army of the government that made him a refugee, or risk his family losing their home back in Syria.Military service is mandatory for Syrian men between the ages of 18 and 42, and the stakes rose significantly in February when an army official announced on Facebook that a new regulation would allow authorities to confiscate the property of “service evaders” and their families. Pressure was mounting on Yousef to decide. Continue reading...
Koci Selamaj, 36, from Eastbourne, accused of killing schoolteacher on 17 SeptemberA man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a primary schoolteacher whose body was found in a park near her home in south-east London.Koci Selamaj, 36, was remanded in custody, accused of killing Sabina Nessa on Friday 17 September. Continue reading...
Brick brand says it does not not expect problems with Christmas stock despite global supply crisisLego profits more than doubled in the first six months of the year as brick fans stayed home to build Star Wars and Harry Potter models even after the Covid-19 lockdown ended.The Danish toymaker was one of the winners from Covid restrictions as children and adults turned to its model kits to occupy themselves – and that trend has continued. Sales jumped 43% to DKr23bn (£2.6bn) in the first six months of 2021 while underlying profits surged 140% to DKr6.3bn. Continue reading...
Before Christine Blasey Ford and Monica Lewinsky, there was Anita Hill, shamed for exposing the actions of a powerful man. She explains how she withstood the tumultAnita Hill sits so still that, when she is not speaking, I worry that the screen through which we are talking may have frozen. Yet despite her lawyerly, academic poise, she exudes warmth: you would feel safe confiding in her. And that is what people have been doing for the past 30 years – telling her of their own experiences with sexual harassment and assault. “I was a symbol of so many people’s experiences,” she says.In the pantheon of women shamed for exposing the actions of high-profile men – before Christine Blasey Ford in 2018 and Monica Lewinsky in 1998 – there was Anita Hill. In 1991, the US president, George HW Bush, nominated Clarence Thomas to the supreme court. Senate hearings for his confirmation were completed without incident, until an interview of Hill by the FBI was leaked to the press. In it, Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment while he was her supervisor in two separate jobs, at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Among other claims, Hill said that Thomas discussed women having sex with animals, and pornographic films depicting group sex or rape scenes, and described his own sexual prowess and anatomy. According to Hill, Thomas’s behaviour forced her to resign from her job. Continue reading...
In the gory thriller that has swiftly become a smash hit on Netflix, competitors play children’s games for huge cash prizes … and if they lose, they die. Can you stomach it?What if winning playground games could make you rich? That’s the basis of Squid Game – the South Korean show currently at number one on Netflix around the world – where debt-ridden players sign up to compete in six games for a cash prize of 45.6 billion won (around £28m). The small print: if you lose, you get killed. In the first episode, a game of Grandma’s Footsteps (known as Red Light, Green Light in South Korea) leaves bodies piled high as the shell-shocked winners proceed to round two. It’s blood-splattered child’s play – a kind of Takeshi’s Castle with fatalities, or Saw with stylish shell suits.If you can stomach the events of the first episode, what follows is a tightly written horror thriller that has captivated viewers. The nine-part series is the first Korean show to reach the top spot on the streaming platform in the US, and is currently number one in the UK. Its success won’t come as a surprise to a generation of viewers who got hooked on murderous dystopian series The Hunger Games and cult favourite Battle Royale. But Squid Game’s backdrop is South Korea’s present-day, very real wealth inequality. Continue reading...
There has been a chronic mistreatment of workers in the country’s meat industry, according to unionsRead more: exploitation of meat plant workers rife across UK and EuropeIn spring 2018, Alina Serbenco’s husband, Vasile, sat in a fast-food outlet in Dublin and plugged his mobile phone into a socket to recharge. It had been only a few months since he had moved from Romania to take up a job in a car wash, but he was being paid less than half the minimum wage and could not send money home to Alina and their two children. Homeless and living in a car, Vasile urgently needed a new job.As he scrolled through Facebook, he spotted an advert for a job in a meat factory. It was posted by Irish employment agency AA Euro, a specialist recruitment consultancy working with companies in the agricultural, food processing, construction and mining industries, which has offices across the EU, including in Romania, Poland and the Netherlands. The job offer was up to 70 hours a week of work for just over the minimum wage and a room in a house for about €60 (£51.50) a week. Vasile decided to apply. Continue reading...
Algeciras honours Paco de Lucía by using music from Entre dos aguas to mark the hour twice a daySeven years after his sudden death, the birthplace of the pioneering flamenco guitarist and songwriter Paco de Lucía is honouring one of its most famous and beloved sons by using his music to mark the hour twice a day on the town hall clock.On Monday, the southern Spanish city of Algeciras began using De Lucía’s best-known song, Entre dos aguas, to ring in midday and 6pm. A computer system has been connected to the clock and, in a move that may trouble fans of flamenco’s loud and passionate strains, the sound level checked to ensure it does not exceed permitted limits. Continue reading...
Governor DeSantis’s ‘soft-on-Covid approach’ makes the classroom too dangerous for immuno-compromised childrenThe only place nine-year-old Reefy Kinder wants to be is in school with her friends. She has missed so many lessons in six years battling a long-term gastro-intestinal condition, including more than 30 surgeries during many months as an inpatient at Orlando’s Arnold Palmer children’s hospital, that she figures she has a lot to catch up on.Standing in her way, according to Reefy and her mother, Jamie, are Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, and his handpicked new state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo, an opponent of mask mandates who believes vaccines are no more effective than eating healthily and losing weight in the fight against Covid-19. Continue reading...
Rijksmuseum says change in focus prompted by renewed interest in wake of Black Lives MatterThe two earliest portraits of men of African descent in the history of European art are being exhibited together for the first time in their 500-year history, reflecting a change of focus championed by the Black Lives Matter movement, curators at the Rijksmuseum have said.Among more than 100 portraits by Renaissance artists being showcased by the museum in Amsterdam from Tuesday are Albrecht Dürer’s 1508 sketch, discovered in the German painter’s workshop at the time of his death, and Jan Jansz Mostaert’s portrait, dating from about 1525. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5Q2NQ)
Four parties including DUP and Ulster Unionists issue statement warning of ‘grave damage’ under new rulesFour rival unionist parties in Northern Ireland have formed an alliance to fight the Brexit protocol, issuing a joint statement weeks after the Democratic Unionist party threatened to quit Stormont if it was not scrapped.It is seen as a significant attempt to show that the DUP’s hardline position is not isolated before the expected publication by the EU of fresh proposals to address UK demands to substantially rewrite the protocol. Continue reading...
by Nino Bucci (now) and Mostafa Rachwani (earlier) on (#5Q26Y)
9.30am BSTOne interesting snippet from the Victorian Covid-19 update that was just released: there’s been sewage detections across regional parts of the state, including Cobram, Philip Island, Seymour, Ballarat North and Bendigo.
The New Zealand trio have gone global thanks to their forthright Māori-language songs, which confront colonial history and ongoing inequalityNew Zealand was a war zone in the mid-1800s. On one side were the British and the colonial government, craving a stranglehold on more of the country’s land. On the other were the indigenous Māori people, fighting to preserve tino rangatiratanga: their sovereignty and self-determination.On 29 April 1864, the British invaded Pukehinahina, also known as Gate Pā. Despite being grossly outnumbered, the Māori fended off the attackers using concealed trenches and guerrilla tactics. It was a fleeting victory in a war that, ultimately, led to the confiscation of 3m acres of Māori land. Continue reading...
My sexual desire comes in peaks and valleys, but these days the peaks are fewer and further between. Do I need medical help?I’m a 35-year-old gay man. I’ve always felt as though my sexual cycles may be different to everyone else’s. Sexual desire comes in peaks and valleys; I have periods of high sexual activity and then it plummets to almost zero. In my 20s, I shrugged it off by not staying in sexual or romantic relationships for long, having more casual partners in the highs and just enjoying time alone in the lows. However, as I get older, I notice these peaks are fewer and further between and much less pronounced. I worry that, now I’m longing for more stable relationships, I may not be able to offer a fulfilling sex life to a potential partner. Is this a medical condition I should fix? Or is this something I should learn to negotiate with any potential partner?Men and women have cycles of libido – largely driven by hormonal activity – and everyone has to learn to adapt to them. These cycles and their intensity naturally change as we age or undergo life changes. They are also affected by elements such as stress, fatigue, anxiety and illness. Continue reading...
by Simon Speakman Cordall in Hammamet, Tunisia on (#5Q2K1)
As the pandemic deals a death blow to an already struggling sector, former workers see little hope for recoveryThe seafront along the town of Hammamet in Tunisia is deserted. Looking out at the bright empty coast from his souvenir shop, Kais Azzabi, 42, describes the crowds that would stroll along the broad boulevards. Today, there is nobody.“It was very busy here,” he says, gesturing to the street and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. “Since the corona started, everything stopped.” Continue reading...
Unions are calling for a Europe-wide ban on the use of subcontracted workers, kept on lower pay and conditionsRead more: exploitation of meat plant workers rife across UK and EuropeEvery inch of Margot’s body hurt from the unrelenting work. Her hands bled from blisters that burst as she repeatedly hauled carcasses, but she would wait until she got home to sterilise her wounds with ammonia. “If you didn’t do your job well, you’d be pushed – they didn’t care if your hands were full of blood,” she says.This wasn’t the life Margot* imagined when she left her job in a clothes factory near her home village in Romania in search of better prospects for her young family in western Europe. She thought labour conditions in the Netherlands – where she worked for three years in a meat factory – would be much more favourable than in her home country. “I didn’t expect it to be so awful.”
The move challenges Beijing's claim to the sensitive waterway and marks a rare voyage by a non-US military vesselBritain sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Monday for the first time since 2008, a move that challenges Beijing’s claim to the sensitive waterway and marks a rare voyage by a non-US military vessel.HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through the strait on a trip from Japan to Vietnam, Britain’s defence ministry said. Continue reading...
With a more normal awards season on the way, it’s time to sift through what’s been loved and hated and look forward to what performances could make an impactAs we all edge slowly closer to something vaguely sorta kinda resembling a loose idea of normality, so too does Hollywood, its relatively fixed annual schedule going from blurry to a bit less blurry. After an almost normal summer, the fall festivals followed and while they weren’t quite back up to snuff (some had a semi-virtual element, some big films were notably missing), there was a dramatic improvement from 2020 and, importantly, they were pulled off with very few infections.Related: ‘We want people to freak out’: inside Hollywood’s Museum of Motion Pictures Continue reading...
Louis Watkiss, of Sutton Coldfield, was injured in incident at SnowDome in Tamworth on FridayPolice have named a 12-year-old boy who died in an incident at an indoor ski and snowboarding centre. Louis Watkiss, of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, was fatally injured at the SnowDome in Tamworth on Friday evening, Staffordshire police said.The force said in a statement: “Police were called at 6.40pm on September 24 to reports that a child had been seriously injured at the SnowDome. Officers attended the location, along with ambulance crews. Sadly, Louis, died of his injuries shortly afterwards. Continue reading...
Jim Taihuttu’s story of Dutch soldiers in Indonesia is as short-sighted as the old-fashioned colonialists it is trying to criticiseThe canonisation of Apocalypse Now has resulted in a cinematic template for the psychological war epic where the battlefields on which indigenous people are brutalised are essentially a backdrop for white soldiers’ internal crisis. Covering the Indonesian war of independence through the viewpoint of the occupier, The East is yet another pale addition to the format, rehashing empty metaphors that are barren of emotional complexity, historical poignancy or visual ingenuity.The basic history is this: as the second world war draws to an end, the Netherlands sends more troops to Indonesia, hoping to regain their colonial footing as the Japanese occupation of the islands loses steam. Among these fresh-faced recruits is the angelic-looking Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier); unlike the other crass soldiers, De Vries is the “nice guy”, whose goodness manifests in maudlin details like giving biscuits to local kids. His sense of righteousness is driven by guilt; back home, his father is imprisoned as a Nazi collaborator. Still, De Vries will soon be corrupted by an authoritarian superior whose sadism only magnifies the horrors of war. Continue reading...
Residents sent fleeing into the streets and schools evacuated from quake on Greek islandThe Greek island of Crete has been hit by an earthquake killing one man and injuring 20, while damaging homes and churches and causing rock slides near the country’s fourth-largest city.The quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of at least 5.8, sent people fleeing into the streets in the city of Heraklion, and schools were evacuated. Repeated aftershocks – described by witnesses as feeling like small explosions – rattled the area, adding to damage in villages near the centre of the quake. Continue reading...
In a new documentary, the underrated singer’s life of depression, addiction and poverty is told while her incredible talents are celebratedThe outlines of the life led by singer Karen Dalton tell a heartbreaking tale. It was one scarred by consistent poverty, intermittent homelessness, bouts of depression and escalating alcohol and drug addiction, culminating in her death from Aids at 55. Yet, to Robert Yapkowitz, who co-directed a new documentary with Richard Peete titled Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, “there’s an inspirational element to her story. Karen was an artist who didn’t compromise. She made music that she was proud of with the people she loved. And that was the focus of her life.”Related: Beatles on the brink: the truth about the Fab Four’s final days Continue reading...
Centre-left contender to replace Angela Merkel announces plan for ‘social-ecological-liberal’ allianceThe centre-left contender to fill Angela Merkel’s shoes has announced his intention to forge a “social-ecological-liberal coalition” following Sunday’s knife-edge German national vote, as momentum slips from the outgoing chancellor’s own designated successor.Related: Germany election: what happens next as parties vie to form government Continue reading...
The comics giant has issued lawsuits in a bid to hold on to the copyright of heroes including Spider-Man and Iron ManMarvel has filed a series of lawsuits in a bid to retain full control of characters including Spider-Man and Iron Man.The complaints, which were obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, came after the estate of the late comic book artist Steve Ditko filed a notice of termination with the US Copyright Office for the copyright of Spider-Man and Dr Strange. Both are currently held by Marvel Entertainment, but the estate of Ditko, who co-created both characters with the late Stan Lee, is looking to terminate the grant of copyright to Marvel by June 2023 through a clause in US copyright law. Continue reading...
Chahinez Boutaa killed months after telling police her estranged husband had ambushed and beaten herFrench police officers are facing disciplinary action over the death of a woman who was shot and burned alive in the street by her estranged husband, weeks after she told police she feared for her life.Mounir Boutaa allegedly shot his wife, Chahinez, at least twice in the legs yards from her home on the outskirts of Bordeaux in broad daylight in May, before soaking her with petrol and setting light to her as she lay injured on the ground. Continue reading...
Met arrest 53 protesters, some of whom had glued themselves to tarmac at junction 14 near HeathrowDozens of activists from Insulate Britain have defied a high court injunction by staging their sixth roadblock on or near the M25 since 13 September and warned of “wave after wave of protests” to come.Some of the 53 protesters glued themselves to the tarmac and barriers on a slip road to the M25 at junction 14 near Heathrow at the height of the Monday morning rush-hour. Continue reading...
For some, finally meeting their colleagues face-to-face has come with a few nasty surprisesAlexandra was delighted when she landed a new job in the midst of the pandemic. The 55-year-old felt she had bonded with her new colleagues online and looked forward to meeting them face-to-face once the lockdown was over.But when she finally went into the office, she had a nasty realisation. “I strongly suspect that they would not have hired me, had they met me in person during the interview process,” she said. Continue reading...
President says aim is to promote culinary traditions and prepare chefs ‘as athletes’ to win prizesThe French have long made a meal over what they eat, even if the culinary ritual that starts with an aperitif, proceeds through at least four courses with bread and wine and finishes with a digestif is rarely an everyday event.Now, having persuaded the United Nations to add the country’s renowned gastronomy to the grandly named “intangible cultural heritage of humanity”, Emmanuel Macron has said he is creating a “centre of excellence” to promote France’s culinary traditions. Continue reading...
Suburb where Shameless was filmed is now home to Manchester Camerata, which is intent on serving the communityOn paper, it may seem like an odd pairing: the Manchester Camerata, one of Europe’s most renowned orchestras, and Gorton, the tough Manchester suburb where Shameless was filmed.Though a £100m regeneration project has bulldozed the boarded-up shops and grotty maisonettes that formed the backdrop to the chaotic Channel 4 show, the area is still among England’s poorest. Almost 29% of Gortonians claim unemployment benefit, twice the English average. A disproportionate number of residents are in poor health and life expectancy is about five years shorter than the England average. Continue reading...
Moon Jae-in, a dog-lover, says ‘time has come’ for traditional practice to endThe South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has raised banning the eating of dogs in the country, his office said, a traditional practice that is becoming an international embarrassment.The meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine with about 1 million dogs believed to be eaten annually, but consumption has declined as more people embrace the animals as companions rather than livestock. Continue reading...
Severe drought that began in late 2019 continues to punish the region while experts say climate change and deforestation may be intensifying the phenomenonIn the shadow of towering grain silos that line the bank of the River Paraná, South America’s second-longest waterway, Lucas Krivenchuk stands watching workers rush to load a barge with soybeans.“Twelve barges had to leave today, but only six will make it out: there’s no time, the water’s dropping too fast”, said Krivenchuk, general manager of the Trociuk private port in southern Paraguay. “It’s the first time that any have left in two months”. Continue reading...
by Nino Bucci (now) and Mostafa Rachwani (earlier) on (#5Q0X2)
ACT eases some restrictions after recording 19 cases, one death; Gladys Berejiklian announces 11 October as day NSW restrictions ease after state records 787 cases and 12 deaths; Victoria records one death and 705 cases; no new cases in Qld; NT continues with reopening plans; 12 new cases in NZ. Follow all the day’s news
At 78, with three Baftas and a Palme d’Or under his belt, the director still sees himself as an outsider. He talks about Hollywood’s obsession with big names, his determination to portray ‘real people’ – and being accused of pretensionInterviewing Mike Leigh is a daunting prospect, not because of his intimidatingly central plinth in the pantheon of British cinema – well, maybe a bit of that – but because he is extremely exacting. You just couldn’t work the way he does – his scripts are improvised, not written, resting on collaboration, trust, instinct, bravery – without weighing every word, cross-examining every sentence. Otherwise it would just be baggy. He takes this perfectionism into every interview, every conversation: Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh, a close textual and visual reading of his life’s work by Amy Raphael, reissued next month, bristles with this energy.Then there’s the incredible range of his output: since 1971, he has not just been making films and TV dramas, but breaking and recasting the expectations of form and genre. It bugs him when people always talk about the same few works – Abigail’s Party, Life Is Sweet, Secrets & Lies – and neglect the films of which he is equally proud – Peterloo, or Meantime, a magnificent 1983 exploration of the hard edges of Thatcherism, which maybe didn’t launch, but certainly put a rocket under the careers of Tim Roth and Gary Oldman. The British Film Institute (BFI) has a retrospective this autumn that includes every film he has ever made – “including the Play for Todays,” he says, as if the world has finally recognised that you have to watch them all, like film-Pokémon – and a remastered Naked, which will go on general release in November. Continue reading...
It’s got a fine lineup of film stars and critics, but this tedious tour of movie tricks feels like an opportunity missed. What were they all thinking?I have long made peace with the fact that I will never figure Netflix out. Maybe that is the point: Netflix, like the shining face of God, is not ever meant to be fully understood, just watched in awe from afar. But where once Netflix made sense – the first series of Orange is the New Black! The first three series of House of Cards! The mega-success of the Queer Eye reboot! – now some of the commissioning decisions seem to be made by a pulsing cluster of AI servers. This is why we have Nailed It!, for instance. Why He’s All That with Addison Rae exists. Season 5 of Arrested Development and that nine-movie Adam Sandler deal. These were designed by a robot in a lab to make me wistful for an era when the company sent out DVDs in little square envelopes in the post.Anyway, Attack of the Hollywood Clichés! is up this week, and I do not know who it is for, why it got made (by Charlie Brooker no less), and who – beyond everyone who picked up a day-rate in its production – is benefiting. In short: it’s one of those talking-head hours Channel 4 always seemed to do so well, only with that added layer (and layer … and yet another layer) of Netflix/Hollywood gloss. Rob Lowe hosts, doing an absolutely incredible performance of Rob Lowe, spraying out high-sheen writer’s-room-polished comic lines with all the élan of a man giving his third best man’s speech of the weekend. There is a sparkling cast of talking heads – Florence Pugh is there! Andrew Garfield! Richard E Grant! – plus a stacked bench of imposingly intellectual film critics who have actually seen more than one Hitchcock film and have a lot to say about tropes. Whoever did the casting on this special did their job. Whoever did the interviews nailed it. Whoever cut this thing together ruined everything. Continue reading...
New book says many pieces in Barry Joule Archive bear ‘scant resemblance’ to artist’s work, but donor insists they are realThe Estate of Francis Bacon has launched an astonishing personal attack on Barry Joule, one of the artist’s friends, and the vast collection he donated to the Tate in 2004 – even implying that he created works himself.In publishing a damning study of the Barry Joule Archive (BJA), it quotes a Tate curator saying that “the hand/s that applied the marks to the material may not have included Bacon to any substantial degree”. Continue reading...
Labour leader says it is not right to say ‘only women have a cervix’ and calls for ‘respectful debate’ over issueLabour and the Conservatives have clashed on the issue of trans rights, as Sir Keir Starmer said it was wrong to say “only women have a cervix” and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said this was a “total denial of scientific fact”.The Labour leader called for laws to go further to protect trans rights after he was asked about one of his MPs, Rosie Duffield, who said “only women have a cervix”. Continue reading...
Monday: A Victorian legal challenge aims to lower the eligibility for the age pension for Indigenous people. Plus: the Bird of the Year poll is backGood morning. The Guardian/BirdLife Australia bird of the year poll is back. A legal challenge seeks to lower the pension age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A group of 70 former diplomats has warned Scott Morrison that failing to act on climate change will “cost us dearly”. In Germany, Social Democrats edge ahead of Angela Merkel’s CDU in the federal election as the vote count continues.The vote for the Australian bird of the year kicks off today with a lineup of 50 Australian native birds, featuring some unique and much-loved species threatened by climate change and a few urban “bullies” that dominate as cities grow. Sean Dooley, the national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia, says the 2019-20 bushfire season brought a “seismic shift” for Australia’s birds because the disaster was so extensive, affecting so much habitat, particularly in NSW. “The damage to a lot of bird populations from something like this would take decades to recover and that’s assuming we have good conditions,” he said. “And we know that’s not going to happen, this will only get worse.” Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#5Q0H3)
As the bank hires nearly 100 staff in the city, the region’s mayor hopes to attract more big firmsInvestment bankers are rarely compared to football stars. But when the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, formally welcomed Goldman Sachs to Birmingham this month, he likened its arrival to one of the summer’s big transfer moves.“I hope this isn’t inappropriate,” he said, addressing a crowd of Goldman staff gathered at the city’s newly refurbished Grand Hotel. “I think you probably are the Cristiano Ronaldo moment. You’re the big one to secure.” Continue reading...
Vibrantly illustrated Sephardic Jewish book is believed to have been made in Spain in the 14th centurySeven centuries after it was created, a priceless Sephardic Jewish book whose wine-stained pages have somehow survived exile, the Inquisition, the rise and fall of an empire, two world wars and the Bosnian conflict, is making a homecoming. Of sorts.The codex, known as the Sarajevo Haggadah after the city where it has been kept since at least 1894, is thought to have been made in north-east Spain in about 1350, possibly as a wedding present to mark the union of two prominent Jewish families. Continue reading...
Making a fashion statement has a controversial history. Emma Beddington looks at what happens when you wear your heart on your sleeveComment on the delightfully absurd spectacle of the Met Gala this year coalesced around the pointed image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a gorgeously traditional white gown, the kind of thing a deep south debutante might wear, with “Tax the Rich” in a vast red scrawl on the rear. Was the Aurora James dress provocative or performative, just facile radical cosplay? Critics across the political spectrum worked themselves into a froth of outrage: it was hypocrisy to even attend the $35,000-a-ticket event; AOC was having her cake, eating it, then telling the cake it was problematic.On some level, job done: we’re all talking about it. “The medium is the message,” as she wrote on Instagram afterwards. AOC wasn’t the only one with a message for the scrollers and gawpers on the night: congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s suffragette-inspired gown was embroidered with “Equal rights for women”; serial sloganeer Cara Delevingne wore a “Peg the Patriarchy” bulletproof vest designed by Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, and if you’re not rolling your eyes reading that, you’re a kinder person than me. Continue reading...
Not since pre-internet days has there been such a resurgence in romantic letter writing. Elle Hunt hears the stories behind the handwritten dispatches – and whether the senders lived happily ever after IRLIn March last year, as lockdown was starting to seem inevitable, Lauren turned to her colleague Paul with a proposition: “Will you be my penpal?” Though they had worked together for two years, it was only recently that they had started messaging after hours. Now they had talked more over text than they had in person, making being together in the office a bit awkward.Their conversation was not obviously flirtatious, at least not as Lauren, 26, saw it; but she was enjoying herself enough to want to keep up contact through the lockdown – however long it might last. Continue reading...
El Salvador’s president is consolidating power and seems intent on rewriting the country’s constitutionAmong the colourful houses of Comunidad Iberia, an impoverished neighbourhood of San Salvador, the dark glass cube of the Urban Centre for Welfare and Opportunities (or Cubo in its Spanish acronym) is an eye-catching piece of urban architecture. Inside local children take art classes, read in the library and play online games. Outside, a mural depicting Armando Bukele, the father of El Salvador’s president, extols Salvadorans to “live with love and responsibility”.Futuristic and faintly ominous, the Cubo is a fitting tribute to Nayib Bukele’s presidency. Since coming to power in June 2019, the 40-year-old former publicist has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, used his social-media accounts to generate an approval rating that is the envy of presidents worldwide, and introduced authoritarian measures to undermine the country’s political opposition and civil society. Continue reading...
by Joe Parkin Daniels in Port-au-Prince on (#5Q0AA)
Haitian deportees arriving from Texas say they were ‘rounded up like cattle and shackled like criminals’When Evens Delva waded across the Rio Grande with his wife and two daughters, he had dreams of starting a new life in Florida. But less than a week later, he and his family stepped on to the tarmac in Port-au-Prince, the sweltering and chaotic capital of Haiti, with nothing except traumatic memories and bubbling anger.Delva, along with nearly 2,000 other Haitians, was deported from southern Texas this week to Haiti, despite having lived in Chile for the past six years and having few remaining connections to his home country. His younger daughter, who is four, does not hold Haitian citizenship, having been born in Chile, and speaks more Spanish than Haitian Creole. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian