Insurgents’ seemingly unstoppable advance continues as they close in on KabulThe Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable advance across Afghanistan continued on Friday, as insurgents took control of four more provincial capitals after their seizure on Thursday of Kandahar and Herat, the country’s second and third biggest cities.With Afghan government forces in disarray, and amid reports that the country’s vice-president has fled, the Taliban are heading inexorably towards Kabul. They control more than two-thirds of the country, just as the US plans to pull out its last remaining troops. Continue reading...
Chinese film-maker Zheng Lu Xinyuan makes her debut with a dreamlike distillation of a young woman’s alienation from family and friends“A few days ago, I met someone.” A woman makes the confession matter-of-factly to her on-off boyfriend as they try to find somewhere for dinner. At that moment the camera pans up to the sky, and when it fades back to the street, the couple have gone, vanished into thin air. It’s not the only time that Chinese film-maker Zheng Lu Xinyuan, making her feature debut, cuts away from characters at precisely the moment another director would go in for a close-up; it may drive you crackers.This film is pure slow-burn arthouse, shot in black and white, the format dominated by flashbacks – perfect for a film that drifts along on scraps and dreamlike fragments. It follows aimless 22-year-old Muzi (Jin Jing) who is back in her hometown, Hangzhou, visiting her folks for Chinese new year. Nothing much happens. In an early scene a gay friend asks Muzi to have a baby for him; his parents are desperate for a grandchild. Her boyfriend, a sensitive, shaggy-haired photographer (Zhou Chen), shows up unexpectedly from Beijing. Muzi is also flirting with a local bar owner (Dong Kangning) who clearly rates himself. Her parents have been divorced for years. She smokes cigarettes with her dad (Ye Hongming), an artist and jazz musician. A couple of scenes hint at emotional tensions with her mum (Dan Liu), a woman with the glamour and poise of a 1950s movie star; after a drunken karaoke session, her mum is sick on the street. When Muzi leans down to help, mum roughly shoves her away. Continue reading...
The writer on a stressful commute in Nigeria’s largest city on a day of downpours in 2007• Read other authors on their memorable urban summersIt had been raining all day the way an old goat pees, in fits and starts, with bleats of sunshine in between. This was a weekday in July 2007, the magical year I moved to Lagos, and only a few months into the nine-to-five that lured me over. The excitement of waking up every day at 5am and catching a jam-packed danfo bus for the two-hour commute had since curdled in my wannabe-writer’s heart. I was standing at Obalende bus stop that afternoon after work, with no bus in sight for the past 40 minutes and rumours of a citywide gridlock swirling around, when the rain started again, a sun shower, proof, they say, that a lion is being born.Fare hikes were expected on days of heavy traffic, but this time the fare had tripled. Outraged howls rent the air Continue reading...
by Angela Giuffrida in Cabras, Sardinia on (#5N9RH)
Tourists can’t resist a keepsake, despite a public information campaign and fines of up to €3,000What irritated the local mayor most was the audacity of the tourists who tried to conceal their crime on the white-sanded Sinis beach along the west coast of Sardinia.On a morning in late July, the visitors – a couple with a child, from mainland Italy – were spotted by a fellow beachgoer filling a plastic bottle with sand. The witness to the act immediately called the police. Continue reading...
Fraudsters reported to have hacked accounts of doctors across country to obtain false documentsPolice in France are investigating a series of Covid-19 vaccine certificate scams after several doctors reported having their health service accounts hacked.In the latest incident, one of several forgery rackets under investigation, fraudsters gained access to the online account of a GP near Bordeaux and obtained 55 false documents. Another doctor in Marseilles reported being similarly hacked, and others have told the authorities that there had been attempts to access their accounts. Continue reading...
The actor and painter explains why the world needs to see Minimata, the new film about the mercury poisoning scandal that W Eugene Smith helped exposeLike Cher or Madonna, Minami is a one-name wonder. “I have my French and Japanese family names,” the 34-year-old actor says over video call from a pink hotel room in Tokyo. “But ‘Minami’ is simpler.” She gives a single, decisive nod. “Just write ‘Minami.’” She chose the mononym at 13 when she featured in her first film, Battle Royale, a gory cult thriller about schoolchildren fighting to the death on an uninhabited island. “When I went back to school, everyone said: ‘Your arms are all bruised, you have scratches, what’s going on?’ They thought my parents were beating me.”Even when telling a story like this with dark undertones, her manner is insistently perky, as though she doesn’t want the listener to misread her as dour. When I ask about her Battle Royale audition, for instance, she blithely recalls “walking into the room and there were 10 men, and they asked me if I could do a handstand, and two of the men held my legs against the wall to help me …” I must be grimacing because she breaks off from the anecdote to reprimand me lightheartedly: “Don’t make that face! It was all fine.” Continue reading...
In 1999, as temperatures rose, tempers flared – and then a rumble began to rise from the ground• Read other authors on their memorable urban summersIt was the height of summer in Istanbul, the combination of heat and humidity so suffocating that we had all become insomniacs – the cats on the streets, the people in their homes and the seagulls perched on the rooftops.I was 28, and lived in a small flat on Kazanci Yokuşu, the Steep Street of Cauldron Makers. It was a noisy place – chaotic, restless, dissatisfied. I had saved up money to swap my yellow typewriter for a Power Macintosh and now it towered over my desk, this gargantuan machine. I was intimidated not so much by its presence as by what I might write into it. In the afternoons, as I sat by the window jabbing away at the keyboard, I listened to the sounds of the city – the rolling dice from the backgammon boards at the teahouse nearby, the hum of cars and trucks, the beeping of horns, the shouting and swearing, an endless rage against other people’s mothers. As the heat built up in the summer of 1999, so did the levels of anger and frustration in the city. Continue reading...
The South Korean designer turned songwriter uses goofy, DIY pop to explore issues such as depression and social anxietyIf we could boil Gen Z internet, with all its anxieties and goofiness and creativity and openness, down into a person, the result would be Su Lee. The South Korean musician’s DIY pop songs shrug off frivolities such as love and sex in favour of bopping through the exhaustion and annoyance of having your brain chemistry work against you. Chuck in some videos featuring handmade wall art in “groovy chick” colourways and a dollop of ironic goofiness and Lee’s “spokesperson of Gen Z” status is pretty much assured. A case in point: when she logged on to Zoom for our interview, she asked: “Will we put this out as a video?” which made me feel ancient (and horrified).Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
Allbirds’ sustainability lead Hana Kajimura on why the company uses carbon labeling and her hope that the fashion industry can become carbon negative“Your outfit is killing the planet.” That’s the message footwear and clothing company Allbirds is using to raise consumer awareness about the fashion industry’s link to the climate crisis. Figures are debated, but an estimated 10% of annual global carbon emissions originate from the fashion industry.Since its 2016 launch, Allbirds has been vocal about its aim to produce fashion with a smaller carbon footprint. Each item of clothing displays a carbon emissions score to let customers know the climate impact of their purchase. The company has pledged to halve its products’ carbon footprints by 2025, and cut them to virtually zero by 2030. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#5N9M7)
Home secretary has been covering portfolio since resignation of James Brokenshire in July following return of cancerThe home secretary, Priti Patel, is to take on the security minister’s responsibilities permanently after James Brokenshire left the portfolio last month, according to reports.Brokenshire announced his resignation on 7 July, telling Boris Johnson that his recovery from lung cancer treatment was “taking longer than anticipated” after a resurgence of the illness he was diagnosed with two years ago. Continue reading...
As horror stories emerge from areas that have fallen to the Islamist militants, women living alone fear they have no route of escapeThere’s an old saying in Afghanistan that encapsulates the country’s views on divorce: “A woman only leaves her father’s house in the white bridal clothes, and she can only return in the white shrouds.”In this deeply conservative and patriarchal society, women who defy convention and seek divorce are often disowned by their families and shunned by Afghan society. Left alone, they have to fight for basic rights, such as renting an apartment, which require the involvement or guarantees of male relatives. Continue reading...
Anita Anand’s determination to get doses for Canadians means the country now has world’s highest global vaccination rateFor many Canadians, spring was a dark period marked by surging coronavirus infections, lockdowns – and the envy of watching their American neighbours get vaccinated en masse.But for Anita Anand, the country’s public services and procurement minister, the mounting frustration that Canada was being left behind in the global vaccine race didn’t make her lose focus. Continue reading...
Two-thirds of couples start out as friends first. These readers were looking for love in all the wrong places – before they realised it was staring them right in the faceHe was the first person I met at university, the day we moved into halls, and he tried to kiss me that night but I turned him down. I knew we’d be really good friends though, and I even joked that he would be godfather to my children one day. We stayed friends for a number of years as I careered from boyfriend to boyfriend, none of them suitable. Dave remained eternally single, focused on an army career. We stayed in touch and, not long after he returned from Afghanistan, we met up. He was different: he had grown up and looked hot! I saw him in a different light and realised I really fancied him. I was newly single and determined to remain so, but we went on a night out, snogged lots, and the rest is history. I’m so glad we had seven years of friendship – he’s still my best friend, we always make each other laugh and he’s such a wonderful husband and amazing father to our two children. Laura, insurance underwriter, Yorkshire Continue reading...
A Northern Territory supreme court ruling will allow Zachary Rolfe to argue he is immune from criminal liability under a clause in NT lawA jury could potentially find that a Northern Territory police officer accused of murdering a young Indigenous man during an outback arrest is immune from criminal liability, judges have ruled.Constable Zachary Rolfe, 29, shot Kumanjayi Walker, 19, in the remote community of Yuendumu in November 2019, according to assumed facts released by the NT supreme court. Continue reading...
On the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquest, people from Mexico’s smallest state Tlaxcala say their ancestors were liberatorsWhen people from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala travel to other parts of the country, they are sometimes insulted as traitors by their compatriots.Tlaxcala is Mexico’s smallest state in size, but it played an outsized role in Mexico’s early history, not least when indigenous Tlaxcalans allied with Hernán Cortés’ tiny band of invaders to bring down the Aztec empire. Continue reading...
Regime looking to shift focus from domestic problems with rhetoric around US-South Korea military drills, say analystsNorth Korea’s threat to boost its military capacity to counter hostility from Washington before joint US-South Korea military drills is intended to divert attention from its economic crisis but could lead to a resumption of missile tests, according to analysts.While there is nothing unusual about North Korean opposition to the summer exercises involving American and South Korean forces, its warning this week that Seoul and Washington faced “greater security threats” comes from a position of weakness not seen since Kim Jong-un came to power a decade ago. Continue reading...
I only drink tap water when I’m there, but I get a high from the music and dancingWhen I was seven, there was something on television about a gay politician. My mum, with great vitriol, said: “That’s disgusting.” I thought, I had better not tell her about my views on the matter because she might reject me. I was too frightened.I knew I was gay then, but I didn’t come out until I was 30. While I kept my sexuality a secret, music meant a lot to me: it had an allure that I felt certain men also had – but in both cases I couldn’t quite express it. Continue reading...
She died in a plane crash 20 years ago – but her records still sound like the future. As they finally hit streaming services, fans and acquaintances explore Aaliyah’s enduring appealTwenty years ago this month, the R&B superstar Aaliyah died at 22 after the badly overloaded plane she and her entourage were travelling in crashed taking off from the Bahamas, where she had been filming the video to her song Rock the Boat.From the almost shockingly sparse Are You That Somebody? to the addictive robo-funk of If Your Girl Only Knew, Aaliyah’s relentlessly future-focused records were as radical as pop gets. As much as she was admired by critics and other musicians at the time – and everyone from George Michael to DMX Krew tipped the hat to her startling 2000 single Try Again – Aaliyah’s slim three-album catalogue continues to insinuate its way through pop. Normani’s recently released Wild Side takes production inspiration from Aaliyah’s 1996 single One in a Million. Mahalia and Ella Mai paid homage to her tomboy style in their video for What You Did in 2019, and rising Detroit rapper Kash Doll has called Aaliyah her idol. Frank Ocean payed oblique homage by, like Aaliyah, covering the Isley Brothers’ 1976 song (At Your Best) You Are Love. Ciara has cited her as an influence, while Tinashe has credited her with bringing a “chill vibe” to R&B. Continue reading...
Price of structure created by Westminster council has nearly doubled amid ‘teething problems’The deputy leader of a London council has resigned after the total costs for a 25-metre human-made mountain in the middle of one of the capital’s busiest tourist areas nearly doubled to £6m.Refunds were offered to customers of the Marble Arch Mound, created by Westminster city council, the day after it opened to members of the public on 26 July after what the authority called “teething problems” with the attraction amid complaints it was still being constructed. Continue reading...
by Matthew Weaver Vikram Dodd Lucy Campbell and Steve on (#5N8TK)
Suspect understood to be Jake Davison, who also killed himself in atrocity being classed as domestic incidentA man suspected of killing five people before turning a gun on himself is understood to be Jake Davison, a scaffolder in his 20s.Police confirmed on Thursday that six people, including a gunman and a child, died after the man repeatedly opened fire in Plymouth. Continue reading...
Sydney judge refuses to strike out part of NSW deputy premier’s defamation case against entertainer Jordan ShanksYouTuber personality Jordan Shanks has suffered a blow in court with a Sydney judge refusing to strike out part of a defamation case brought against the entertainer by the NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro.The application by Shanks, who uses the nom de plume Friendlyjordies in his popular YouTube videos, related to Barilaro’s claim that the YouTuber defamed him by claiming he committed perjury nine times and should be jailed for it. Continue reading...
James Markham, 45, was attacked after reportedly trying to defend his daughter in Chingford on MondayA 14-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a father who was fatally stabbed after confronting a group of teenagers.James Markham, 45, was attacked after reportedly trying to defend his daughter in Chingford, east London, on Monday evening. Continue reading...
Six people, including a child, have died after a gunman repeatedly opened fire in Plymouth, police have confirmed. The atrocity is being classed as a domestic incident and is not thought to be related to terrorism. Police believe the suspect to have shot himself. A massive response by police followed reports of a shooting in the Keyham area of Plymouth at about 6.10pm on Thursday
Hundreds of homes destroyed and almost 6,000 people evacuated amid power cuts and landslides in Hubei provinceAt least 21 people died as heavy downpours struck central China’s Hubei province, authorities said today, weeks after record floods wreaked havoc and killed hundreds in a neighbouring province.China has been battered by unprecedented rains in recent months, extreme weather that experts say is increasingly common due to global warming. Continue reading...
As Lashkar Gah is also captured, US senator Mitch McConnell says exit could be ‘sequel’ to Vietnam humiliationMitch McConnell has warned that America’s retreat from Afghanistan risks a replay of the nation’s humiliating withdrawal from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam conflict in 1975.As thousands of American soldiers were ordered back to Kabul to evacuate embassy staff amid a rapid advance by the Taliban, US Senate minority leader McConnell said the US was “careening toward a massive, predictable, and preventable disaster”. Continue reading...
Laurie Horam always considered himself unmusical. But when his son gave him a harmonica, the retired civil servant discovered a natural talent – and a new way to express his emotions
by Michael Baker, Amanda Kvalsvig and Nick Wilson on (#5N98V)
The approach buys the country time to get a better understanding of the virus’ impact on people’s long-term health and on childrenAotearoa New Zealand’s new national strategy for loosening border restrictions closely follows scientific advice from an expert panel that was specifically asked to advise on the future of New Zealand’s elimination strategy and phased loosening of border controls.Covid-19 elimination has been the dominant strategy for a number of jurisdictions across the Asia-Pacific region, including New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. This approach contrasts with the suppression and mitigation strategies of Europe and North America. Continue reading...
Residents fearing China’s tightening grip are departing in droves, not knowing if they will be backIt was a heartbreaking scene. A family get-together on a Sunday morning, not for a leisurely lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant, but for a tearful farewell at the airport.Amid the Covid pandemic, Hong Kong airport is quiet except for twice a day, when long queues form at airlines desks for London-bound flights. Friends and families turn out in droves to see them off – grandparents hand out “lucky money” in red envelopes to grandchildren, aunts and uncles joke with children to lighten the otherwise melancholic mood. With tearful eyes, many stop for a final hug and pose for one last photo with their loved ones before passing through the departure gates. The waving continues long after they have disappeared from view. Continue reading...
Opposition figure, lawyers and former envoy among latest detained in six cities a year after disputed presidential pollBelarusian authorities have detained more than 20 people in the latest wave of arrests, continuing their sweeping crackdown on dissent a year after a disputed presidential election, human rights activists say.
Suggesting that cutting New Zealand’s emissions won’t make any difference on a global scale is an argument that misses the pointShould New Zealand hold itself to its greenhouse gas emissions targets?“Of course!” you may be thinking – and you wouldn’t be the only one. There is widespread support for climate action in Aotearoa. It led to record demonstrations in 2019, which saw 170,000 people striking, and the government is currently working on a plan in response to a recent report from the Climate Change Commission. Still, some New Zealanders seem to think otherwise, arguing that we are already doing enough. Continue reading...
by Patrick Wintour, Peter Beaumont and Julian Borger on (#5N8PM)
Pentagon aims to send in 3,000 soldiers to ‘aid reduction’ of nationals and Afghans with visasThe US and UK have scrambled reinforcements to Kabul to help evacuate their diplomats, soldiers and citizens as well as thousands of Afghans who have worked with them, as the Taliban advance towards the capital.The Pentagon announced it would send three battalions, about 3,000 soldiers, to Kabul’s international airport within 24 to 48 hours of the announcement on Thursday. The defence department spokesman, John Kirby, said the reinforcements would help the “safe and orderly reduction” of US nationals and Afghans who worked with the Americans and consequently had been granted special immigrant visas. Continue reading...
Heavy rains and mudslides in northern regions come after devastating wildfires ravaged the south of the countryHeavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least 17 people and forcing thousands to leave their homes and shelter in student dormitories.Rescue efforts continued on Thursday after torrential rain hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun. Continue reading...
Show has been shot in New Zealand so far but filming will move to UK from June 2022Amazon has made the surprise decision to move production of its $1bn-plus Lord of the Rings series from New Zealand to the UK, rejecting tens of millions of dollars in incentives to shoot the TV show in the same location as the blockbuster films.Amazon, which four years ago paid $250m to secure the TV rights to JRR Tolkien’s works after founder Jeff Bezos demanded a Game of Thrones-style hit for its streaming service, chose to film the first series in New Zealand after competitive bids from around the world. Continue reading...
by Lucy Campbell (now); Mattha Busby, Kevin Rawlinson on (#5N7TT)
This blog is now closed. You can find all of our coverage of the pandemic here.11.46pm BSTThis blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.10.51pm BSTIsraeli Health Ministry experts recommended on Thursday dropping from 60 to 50 the minimum age of eligibility for a Covid-19 vaccine booster, hoping to curb a rise in Delta variant infections.The advisory panel’s move, which followed a call by the prime minister Naftali Bennett to expand Israel’s booster campaign, still has to be approved by the Health Ministry’s director. Continue reading...
Court filings reveal that Jamie Spears had ‘already been working’ on transitioning to a new conservatorJamie Spears has agreed to step down from his long time role as conservator of his daughter Britney Spears’ estate “when the time is right,” according to court filings.Jamie Spears’ departure would mark a significant development in the singer’s long fight to be freed from her father’s control. The developments come nearly two months after the singer spoke in court and called for an end to the controversial arrangement that has controlled her life for 13 years, giving her father and others authority over her personal life and career. Continue reading...
Friday: Canberra cases grow as the Taliban capture Afghanistan’s second-largest city. Plus: a binge-worthy classic Australian crime dramaGood morning. The ACT is in lockdown. The US and UK are sending troops to help with emergency evacuations as the Taliban advance towards Kabul. And a leaked IPCC report warns that global greenhouse emissions must peak in the next four years.Canberra entered a snap week-long lockdown late yesterday with four Covid cases – the territory’s first locally transmitted cases in more than a year. As the outbreak threatens to spread into their accommodation, students at the Australian National University have been told to isolate. And the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, suggested federal parliament’s next scheduled sittings may need to be postponed. Continue reading...
Analysis: White House accused of unfairly pointing finger at Afghan military after decades of mismanaging war effortAs one provincial capital after another has fallen to the Taliban, the message from Washington to the Afghans facing the onslaught has been that their survival is in their own hands.“They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Joe Biden said. Jen Psaki, the White House spokeswoman, added: “They have what they need. What they need to determine is whether they have the political will to fight back.” Continue reading...
by Philip Oltermann in Berlin, Kate Connolly in Potsd on (#5N8RE)
Neighbours know little of David Smith though Russian flags are visible inside his Potsdam flatA security guard at the British embassy in Berlin who has been arrested on suspicion of passing state secrets to Russia lived in a two-room flat on a tidy estate in the city of Potsdam.David Smith was arrested at his home on Tuesday and the contents of his apartment are likely to become a focus of the ongoing inquiry into whether he sold documents to “a representative of a Russian intelligence service” in exchange for cash. Continue reading...
Arrest on suspicion of assisting an offender follows charges pressed against two 14-year-old boysA third teenager has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a man in Chingford, east London.It is believed that James Markham, 45, was stabbed to death after confronting a group of youths on the street in Churchill Terrace on Monday evening, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...
Jan Raabe says it’s ‘highly immoral’ large companies who got the subsidy and turned a profit are not being chased by CentrelinkAn age pensioner slugged $1,000 by Centrelink over jobkeeper payments has accused the Morrison government of double standards for its failure to clamp down on businesses who got the subsidy and then turned a profit.Jan Raabe, 70, said she did not realise that the jobkeeper payments she was receiving through her job as an emergency primary school teacher would cause her to be overpaid for her part age pension. Continue reading...
Alexander Kuranov is suspected of passing secret information to a foreign citizenRussia has reportedly detained the head of a hypersonic technology research facility on suspicion of treason in the latest high-profile arrest targeting a senior scientist for allegedly selling state secrets.Alexander Kuranov, 73, the general director of the St Petersburg-based Hypersonic System Research Institute (HSRI), was arrested in Moscow on Thursday. A Moscow court ruled he be held for two months in pre-trial detention. Continue reading...
Analysis finds 99% levy on pandemic wealth rise could also pay all unemployed $20,000 – and still leave super-rich $55bn richerEvery adult in the world could get a Covid-19 vaccine if the wealth billionaires collected during the pandemic was taxed 99% once, according to an analysis published on Thursday by several groups that advocate for economic equity.This one-time tax on the world’s 2,690 billionaires could also cover $20,000 in cash paid to all unemployed workers, according to the analysis by Oxfam, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires. Continue reading...
