Met Office warns of bitter cold and localised blizzards as UK’s mild weather comes to an endWinter weather conditions have returned to the UK with warnings of bitterly cold temperatures, localised blizzards and snow and ice in parts of northern England and northern Scotland.The Met Office on Tuesday issued a yellow weather warning of icy patches for northern England. In northern Scotland, a yellow warning was given for snow showers and ice, while “very strong winds” in the far north were expected to bring travel delays and short-term power cuts. Continue reading...
Plaintiff Spencer Elden, who appeared as a naked baby on the album cover, claimed he was the victim of child sexual exploitationA judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Nirvana made by Spencer Elden, who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of the band’s classic 1991 album Nevermind, Spin magazine reports.In California District Court on Monday, Judge Fernando M Olguin dismissed the case “with leave to amend”. Lawyers for Elden missed the deadline to file an opposition to the Nirvana estate’s request to dismiss the case made in December. His team have until 13 January to refile. Continue reading...
China’s second-biggest developer halted trading after it was was told to demolish 39 buildings in HainanShares in the embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande rose on Tuesday after they resumed trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange following a suspension.China’s second-biggest developer halted trading on Monday after receiving an order from authorities at Danzhou city in Hainan on 30 December telling it to demolish 39 under-construction buildings at the Ocean Flower Island project. Continue reading...
Festival board issues new statement as protest against it grows, with program thrown into chaos two days before opening nightMore than 20 acts have pulled out of the 2022 Sydney festival, just 48 hours before opening night, boycotting the festival over a sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy.The comedian Tom Ballard, the Belvoir theatre production of Black Brass, former NSW politician Meredith Burgmann, First Nations dance company Marrugeku and commentator Yumi Stynes are just some of the festival participants who have either cancelled or distanced themselves in protest, joining a growing number of Arab, pro-Palestinian, First Nations and Greens groups spearheading the call for a boycott. Continue reading...
‘It feels like they’re actively not wanting us to get tested,’ says one frustrated resident, while another who queued for hours said: ‘It’s not like we couldn’t logistically plan for this’
As awards season heats up, there are a number of deserving performers who haven’t been making the cutWith the most recent Oscar ceremony having taken place abnormally late in April, it feels like we barely had a break before the machinery of awards season started cranking up again. It began at the Venice film festival at the tail end of summer and is now in full cry, with major critics’ groups and more dubious collectives like the Golden Globes having already weighed in – and a gaggle of apparent frontrunners establishing themselves in major categories. In the acting fields, we’re already pondering the likelihood of victories for stars like Kristen Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch, Will Smith and Rita Moreno – though there’s still plenty of wiggle room for surprises. Last year’s extra-long season yielded an almost entirely unforeseen nomination for Lakeith Stanfield and an against-the-odds win for Anthony Hopkins: never make the mistake of taking the pundits’ word as gospel.With that in mind, we’re highlighting a few outlying performances that ought to be in the mix, but haven’t yet generated the buzz they deserve. Some of them are just outside the perceived top tier of contenders, others are long shots that we can merely dream about. But there’s still a long way to go – Oscar nomination ballots only go out toward the end of January, for one thing. And the season would be more interesting for having all these names invited to the party. Continue reading...
How does it feel to fight off a predator in the wild? And what effect does it have on your life? Five people, who lived to tell the tale, explainAlthough, mercifully, still rare, there are signs that wild animal attacks on humans are increasing. Research from the scientific journal Nature found that, as our urban areas further expand into the territories of carnivorous animals, attacks on pets, livestock and sometimes humans have been on the rise. In Kashmir, local wildlife departments have been reporting a marked increase in attacks, with almost 200 people killed and more than 2,000 others wounded in man-animal conflict in the region since 2011.From a British citizen attacked by otters in Singapore, to monkey attacks in Thailand, squirrel attacks in New York, and a man who fought off a crocodile with a pocket knife in Queensland, these encounters capture our imaginations. But how does it feel to survive such an ordeal – and how does it affect your life? Continue reading...
by Jason Burke in Thembokwezi, Graaff-Reinet and Fran on (#5TMCG)
Struggling even before Covid, communities are taking it upon themselves to try to fill the gaps left by the governmentOne evening a week, Natasha Msweswe and Zanele Madasi leave their children at home and set out to patrol the streets of Thembokwezi. They return at midnight. This is potentially very dangerous but they feel they have little choice.“It can be scary but we want to protect our community,” said Madasi, 31. “We want to make a difference.” Continue reading...
Refugee charities want change of approach from government after 28,300 people crossed Channel in 2021Refugee charities are urging the government to open safe routes or risk a new wave of fatalities in the Channel after the number of people who travelled to the UK by small boats trebled last year.Data released on Tuesday shows that more than 28,300 people crossed the Channel in 2021, three times the number for 2020. The record number came despite tens of millions of pounds being spent by the home secretary, Priti Patel, on new measures to discourage the journeys. Continue reading...
More woes for property giant as it is told to tear down the buildings in the lavish Ocean Flower Island development in Hainan provinceShares in China’s Evergrande Group have been suspended from trading after the embattled property developer was told to demolish 39 buildings in a huge resort-style development in the southern province of Hainan.After initially giving no reason for the share halt, Evergrande confirmed late on Monday that it had received an order from authorities at Danzhou city in Hainan on 30 December telling it to demolish 39 under-construction buildings at the Ocean Flower Island project. Continue reading...
by Iliesa Tora in Nuku'alofa and Bernadette Carreon i on (#5TM0S)
Arnold Latu was found dead in his berth – one of numerous deaths of monitors who ensure fishing boats follow the rulesOn the morning of Monday 27 September, a crew member on board the Hsinlong 1 fishing vessel went to fetch his friend Arnold Latu for breakfast.Latu, in his mid-30s, was the monitoring officer of the Chinese-owned, Fiji-flagged vessel, employed by the Tongan government to check that the amount of fish caught on its three-week voyage was legal and correctly recorded. Continue reading...
Flames break out as man charged with arson day after fire extensively damages national assembly buildingSouth African firefighters are struggling to extinguish another fire at the complex housing the country’s parliament in Cape Town, a day after a blaze swept through the buildings.Police have charged a 49-year-old man with arson and other offences including theft. He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday. The speaker of the national assembly said arson, if confirmed, would represent an attack on South Africa’s democracy. Continue reading...
by Reported and presented by Laura Murphy-Oates, prod on (#5TKV7)
One of Full Story’s best episodes in 2021 was about Isaiah. As a kid, Isaiah couldn’t escape the police. He went on to spend his teenage years in and out of youth detention. Now this young Dunghutti man is trying to change how our justice system treats Indigenous childrenThis episode is part of the childhood in custody series, you can read the feature on Isaiah here. Continue reading...
Leader reported same symptoms as earlier admission following stabbing at 2018 campaign eventThe Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been taken to hospital with an intestinal blockage and may need to undergo surgery, in the latest complication from a 2018 stabbing.Bolsonaro said he started feeling unwell on Sunday afternoon after lunch and was taken to hospital early on Monday. Continue reading...
Vigil held over weekend for 15-year-old Zaian, one of two boys killed in stabbings in London on ThursdayA teenager has been charged with the murder of 15-year-old Zaian Aimable-Lina, one of two boys to be killed within about an hour of each other in separate stabbing incidents in London on Thursday evening.The suspect, who is also aged 15 and whom police have not named because of his age, was arrested on Saturday and is due to appear at Bromley magistrates court in south London on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Seoul defence ministry says it is in the process of verifying facts about incident at the weekendA man observed crossing the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea last week is believed to be a North Korean who previously defected to the South in 2020 in the same area, Seoul’s defence ministry has said.South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person on Saturday on the eastern side of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two countries. Continue reading...
Government accused of remaining ‘scandalously’ silent on grim start to the year for women and girlsFeminist campaigners in France are calling for tougher government action to combat violence against women and girls after three women were allegedly killed by their current or former partner on the first day of 2022.The body of a 28-year-old military recruit who had been stabbed to death was found near Saumur in western France on Saturday. The local prosecutor, Alexandra Verron, said a 21-year-old man, also a soldier, had been arrested and investigators were looking into a possible femicide – the killing of a woman by her partner or ex-partner. Continue reading...
Senior white executives are accused of discriminating against BAME Kenyan-born staffThe British Council has launched an inquiry into allegations from black current and former staff members in Kenya who claim they were subjected to systemic racism.Senior white executives at the organisation, which is the British government’s cultural arm abroad, have been accused of discriminating against BAME Kenyan-born staff, particularly as they were selected and assessed for redundancy.A programme manager who worked at the British Council from August 2014 to 2019 who claimed they were put at risk of redundancy without adequate explanation.Another complainant claimed they resigned as a senior official of the Kenyan office’s welfare association after a white executive frustrated efforts to channel staff concerns to the senior leadership team. “Staff have no confidence raising concerns through HR … for fear of being victimised,” the complainant said.A manager for the professional skills centre in Kenya who claimed they were among a number of black employees who were unfairly targeted for redundancy. Continue reading...
Mary, 62, and Roy, 70, met in Michigan after she accidentally crashed her bike into his – and broke her jaw. They’re now married and live in St LouisWhen Mary moved from Bedfordshire in the UK to Michigan in the US on a Fulbright scholarship in 1985, she wasn’t expecting to find love. Her mind was focused on the nutrition course she had enrolled on and her plans for a future career. In the spring of 1986, she was cycling home from a meeting with her tutor when she approached a fence covered in ivy. Roy, who had been pushing his bike, emerged from behind the fence before she had the chance to stop. “I hit his wheel and, because my hands were cold and I was wearing a backpack, I went sailing over the handlebars,” she remembers. “I landed on my chin and broke my jaw on the concrete.”In typical British fashion, she told him she was “absolutely fine”, but Roy says it was clear she was badly hurt. “My apartment was pretty close by so I got my roommate to drive her to the university health centre,” he says. The next day, Mary had to have her jaw wired shut, meaning she couldn’t eat solid food for three months. “Roy came to my apartment with some juice to suck through a straw. He said that when my jaw was unwired he would make me dinner,” she recalls. Although it was an accident, Roy felt “terrible” about what happened. “I was really concerned about her,” he says.Want to share your story? Tell us a little about yourself, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Labour party research also finds black children at least twice as likely to grow up poor as white childrenMore than half of black children in the UK are now growing up in poverty, a new analysis of official data has revealed.Black children are also now more than twice as likely to be growing up poor as white children, according to the Labour party research, which was based on government figures for households that have a “relative low income” – defined as being below 60% of the median, the standard definition for poverty. Continue reading...
Monday: NSW’s Covid positive rate hit 20% on Sunday as Australia recorded 32,000 new cases. Plus: this year’s top Aussie flicksGood morning and happy new year! It’s nice to be back in your inbox and we hope you stayed safe and had a lovely festive season. The year is off to a tumultuous start with many states reporting record Covid infections and growing hospitalisations, compounded by concerns about the availability of tests. But there is some hope, with new studies indicating the Omicron variant currently spreading around the world is less severe than its predecessors.Australia recorded 32,000 new Covid cases on Sunday, and the positivity rate reached 20.3%, meaning one in five people tested had Covid. The figure is well above the 5% the WHO says is needed to keep the spread of Covid under control. So what does a 20% rate mean for Australia? Here’s our explainer. There were 1,066 people in hospital with Covid on Sunday – an 18% increase a day after the number had already doubled between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. The number of PCR tests in NSW dropped by almost 30,000 in 24 hours after the government encouraged people not to line up unless they had symptoms or were a close contact. Victoria’s health minister is expected to make an announcement in the coming days on widening access to rapid antigen tests after extreme heat caused the closure of eight of the state’s testing sites on Saturday, blowing out queues and test result wait times. Continue reading...
Police say suspect arrested inside building over blaze that spread from oldest wing of national assemblyA man is due to appear in court on Tuesday after a massive fire tore through South Africa’s national assembly building.An investigation has been opened into the blaze that started at about 3am on Sunday in the parliament complex’s oldest wing, which was completed in 1884 and has wood-panelled rooms. Continue reading...
Exclusive: sponsorship unacceptable given concern about human rights in China, says Robert HaywardA Tory peer has vowed to lead a boycott of Coca-Cola products over the company’s sponsorship of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, saying its bid to profit from an event organised by the Chinese government was shameless.Robert Hayward, who was a founding chairman of the world’s first gay rugby club and a former personnel manager for Coca-Cola Bottlers, said it was unacceptable for firms to help to boost the use of the Winter Games as a propaganda exercise given concerns over the treatment of 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang province. Continue reading...
She had been ‘catfished’ for years, and now her hit podcast tells the story of tracing the scammer and her quest for justiceThe voice of Kirat Assi, subject of the podcast Sweet Bobby, is so familiar I momentarily forget we had never spoken, let alone met. I am one of the million-plus listeners gripped by her story of being “catfished” – duped into a relationship by someone with a false identity.Assi, who lives in London, fell victim to a complex fraud that lasted eight years and involved up to 60 characters who only existed in the scammer’s warped imagination. At the centre was Bobby, a handsome cardiologist with whom Assi formed a close friendship that turned into romance despite never meeting in real life. Bobby was a real person whose identity had been stolen by the scammer, eventually exposed as Assi’s cousin Simran Bhogal. Continue reading...
She’s New York’s most in-demand fashion designer. But for Gabriela Hearst, starting out on a remote Uruguayan ranch has proved to be her most valuable experienceHang on, wait there a minute, I want to show you something,” says Gabriela Hearst, hopping up from her chair in her airy Manhattan office and reaching for something on the shelves in the background of her Zoom frame. “These are my journals from when I was 16 or 17 – let me check the date, um 1993, yes I was 17 and look!” She flattens a page full of colourful teenage drawings and holds it up to the camera: “I designed a whole freaking shoe collection!”That these journals remain within reaching distance of the fashion designer’s desk in her Chelsea studio is testament to the fact that despite the success she has achieved, Hearst never forgets where she came from. As creative director of her award-winning brand, founded in 2015, and a year into the same prestigious role at the fashion house Chloé, it would be an understatement to say that Hearst is hot property in the fashion world right now. Continue reading...
Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv makes history with three-year posting at Bologna’s Teatro ComunaleA female conductor will take the helm at an Italian opera house for the first time in January.The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn she was making history after receiving the offer from the Teatro Comunale opera house in Bologna. The 43-year-old begins the three-year posting as musical director on 22 January. Continue reading...
The journalist behind those ‘explainer’ videos on seeing his No 10 Christmas party video go viral, being a drum’n’bass DJ and wearing ‘an awful lot’ of blueRos Atkins, 47, grew up in Cornwall and the Caribbean before reading history at Cambridge. His BBC career began on Radio 5 Live shortly after 9/11. He now presents Outside Source on the BBC News Channel and recently went viral for his “explainer” videos, broadcast on BBC Breakfast and posted online. He lives in south London with his wife and two daughters.How are you finding newfound fame?
From London to San Francisco, haute cuisine is joining the food revolution. Michelin-starred chefs explain they’re going meat-freeAlexis Gauthier used to sell 20kg of foie gras a week. Now the chef, whose London-based restaurant became entirely vegan in 2021, only sells a plant-based version. Since becoming vegan, he admits, Gauthier Soho has “lost a lot of customers, sadly”. But he says he has gained even more new diners, all looking for something different and sustainable and prepared to pay the price.Gauthier is not the only chef to abandon the animal produce traditionally associated with fine dining. While the number of meat-free menus has been burgeoning for some time in lower- and mid-priced restaurants, now a growing number of the world’s top chefs are starting to put plants centre stage. Continue reading...
Yoga, mud baths and liver compresses… Welcome to the world of luxury wellness and long Covid. Amelia Tait reports on the extreme wealth divide in the search for a cureUnderneath the shadow of the snow-topped Austrian Alps, in front of a forest of thick green trees and behind a pure azure lake, sits a sprawling chalet that has seen everyone from Kate Moss to Michael Gove pass through its wide glass doors. The VivaMayr health resort in Altaussee, Austria, has long been the picturesque home of celebrity detoxes – strict bans on caffeine and alcohol, combined with stricter rules about the number of times you need to chew your food (40, naturally) have helped numerous celebrity clientele lose weight. The detoxing might sound harsh, but tranquillity oozes through the resort’s Instagram page, where enchanting mists tickle thick evergreen trees and women pose with mugs in sleek, pine interiors. It’s not the image that comes to mind when you think “long-Covid clinic”, but it is one. For £2,700 a week (excluding accommodation), sufferers can attend VivaMayr’s post-Covid medical programme, which promises a “better quality of life”.There is currently no cure for long Covid – the condition in which individuals continue to suffer Covid-19 symptoms for months after first being infected – but there are plenty of treatments. There is an entire network of specialist NHS long-Covid clinics across the United Kingdom – here, patients can undergo rehabilitative programmes to help them improve their stamina, breathing and cognitive functions (for many, long Covid is characterised by fatigue, breathlessness, and concentration problems). Yet in September, the Office for National Statistics estimated that 1.1 million people in the UK currently suffer with long Covid, while between July and August, only 5,737 people were referred to specialist NHS clinics. With the Omicron variant threatening more lives, there’s a gap in the market for long-Covid care, and plenty of private practitioners are happy to fill it – for a price. Continue reading...
BoM warns of ‘astronomical’ high tides and issues severe weather warnings from Coffs harbour to Fraser coastDangerous surf and abnormally high tides have closed popular beaches as Tropical Cyclone Seth dominates off Australia’s eastern coast.Forecasters say heavy rain may lash south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales this week, with Seth churning about 700km to the north-east of Brisbane on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading...
Our charity appeal has already raised £637,000. In Lake Victoria, training on smart agriculture methods is creating new livelihoods• Help support those on the frontline of the climate emergency• Donate to our charity appeal hereThe harsh midday sun beats down on the withering pawpaw plants in Maureen Adhiambo’s patch of land.The villagers in Kamenya have not seen rain for months, and when it does come, the soil is too dry and loose to retain any of the moisture or nutrients. Last year Adhiambo saw her maize dry up long before it could mature. Like many farmers in the Homa Bay region, on the south bank of Kenya’s Lake Victoria, she is staring at yet another cycle of crop failure. Continue reading...
by Royce Kurmelovs and Michael McGowan (earlier) on (#5TJ9F)
NSW hospitalisations rise 18% in one day to 1,066 as state records 18,278 cases and two deaths; Victoria records 7,172 cases and three deaths, Queensland 3,587 cases, South Australia 2,298, the ACT 506 and Tasmania 404. This blog is now closed
by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent on (#5TJFK)
A new book recounts one woman’s struggle to find looted art – and then convince a major museum to give it backFresh proof that the Nazis set up fake auctions and phoney paperwork to disguise their looting of art and valuable possessions has been uncovered by an amateur sleuth researching her own family mystery.French writer Pauline Baer de Perignon’s investigation has revealed the fate of a missing collection of art that included work by Monet, Renoir and Degas and also exposed the reluctance of Europe’s leading museums to accept evidence of the deceit. Continue reading...
The renowned editor wittily explores the appeal of the actor, whose ability to charm and mystify mesmerised admirers – until her abrupt retirement in the age of the ‘bombshell’In more innocent or credulous days, the faithful sat in the dark to gaze at strange beings with detachable heads who were actually phantasms of light. Among the stars in this custom-made galaxy, the most alluring and yet the most distant was Greta Garbo, whose persona alternated between carnal heat and ascetic frost. After wickedly enticing her male victims in The Temptress, she redeemed herself as the dying courtesan in Camille; in Queen Christina, she was exalted by sacrifice and in a last mesmerising closeup all emotion blankly drained from her face as she renounced the throne and sailed into exile.Gradually this astral creature edged down to Earth. Publicists issued an excited proclamation when Garbo talked for the first time on screen in Anna Christie, even though she began by gruffly demanding a whisky in a waterfront bar. In Ninotchka, she made headlines all over again by contorting her alabaster features in a sudden fit of laughter. Continue reading...
Six opposition parties have united behind Péter Márki-Zay for crucial spring voteWhen Hungarian opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay was in Brussels at the end of last year, he visited the street where an MEP from prime minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling party, Fidesz, had fled down a drainpipe to evade a police raid on a “gay orgy” that broke lockdown rules. The MEP, who later resigned, had been an architect of a clause in Hungary’s constitution defining marriage as a heterosexual institution. The drainpipe visit was easy political capital for Márki-Zay, seeking to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the governing party, while stressing his commitment to LGBT rights and conservative credentials.It’s the kind of move that has discombobulated Fidesz, who weren’t expecting to face this kind of challenge in Hungary’s parliamentary elections in spring 2022. Continue reading...
You seem to be making yourself ‘right’ and your daughter’s dad ‘wrong’ – with her a pawn in this fight. Don’t be in league with her against himThe question My teenage daughter has been depressed for 18 months. During the past two years, I have been in the process of separating from her dad and their relationship has deteriorated to the extent that when we move apart she says she no longer wants to see him. She is not attending school and is struggling to engage with learning despite it being an important exam year. I have taken a step back and, together with the school, we have allowed her to only go in when she can, maybe for an hour or two.Her father sees this as giving in and allowing her to be “lazy” and says giving her this freedom means she will just take advantage. According to him, she needs more structure and discipline, and she needs to get used to the fact that pressure is a part of life. It feels as if he can’t acknowledge that she is depressed, despite her GP confirming this to be the case. I can see she has started to respond well to having the pressure taken off. Continue reading...
The fate of the defector is unknown after they crossed the heavily fortified border between the two KoreasA South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea’s military has said.Years of repression and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee to the South in the decades since Korean war hostilities ended with an armistice, but crossings in the other direction are extremely rare.Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Continue reading...
Primary school pupils run free in shorts while a secondary school has gone ahead with uniform changes despite protestsIt’s break time at Valayanchirangara primary school and the pupils run freely beneath the mango trees and palms. Girls race against the boys, hitching up their knee-length shorts, cargo green for girls and teal blue for boys, as they go.It’s been three years since this small government primary school introduced gender-neutral uniforms for its pupils, and in doing so set in motion a quiet revolution that is now sweeping across the south Indian state of Kerala. Continue reading...
The anti-apartheid hero requested an eco-friendly cremation, which uses water instead of flames to process the remainsThe body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu will undergo aquamation, an increasingly popular and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation methods, using water instead of fire.With aquamation, or “alkaline hydrolysis”, the body of the deceased is immersed for three to four hours in a mixture of water and a strong alkali, such as potassium hydroxide, in a pressurised metal cylinder and heated to around 150C. Continue reading...
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