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Nicola Sturgeon confirms blanket self-isolation measures for school pupils will also end from 9 August

Public largely sceptical about effectiveness of move last month aimed at reducing pressure in hyper-competitive education fieldIn 2018, Ms Hu spent a third of her annual income sending her child to summer school in Shanghai. In the following year, the cost went up. Still, she and her partner paid the fees, such is the competitiveness in Chinese children’s education.“My son started to learn English at age five. I feared he would be left behind if we don’t do so,” she said. Continue reading...

Ministers need to get a grip on ‘reckless U-turns and confusion’, shadow transport secretary says

As two women are rescued in Syria after being kidnapped by Isis years earlier, Yazidis renew calls for international help to find the thousands still unaccounted forFor seven years, their families waited and hoped for news. In July, they finally received it. Two young women, kidnapped by Islamic State as teenagers, had been found alive in Syria.Salma*, now 25, was located in Deir el-Zour province, in the east of the country. She had “suffered all kinds of injustice”, said the Yazidi House in the Al-Jazira region, an organisation that assisted with the rescue of both women. Continue reading...

It is more than three months since Mauro Morandi left Budelli after living alone there for 32 yearsEvery morning, Mauro Morandi woke up to the uninterrupted sea view that only he was privy to. Immersed in nature, he was intimately in tune with the dawn sounds and habits of the wildlife that surrounded his home, a former second world war shelter on Budelli, the Mediterranean island where he had lived alone for more than 30 years.Now the 82-year-old is adjusting to life in a one-bedroom apartment next to a shop with a Sky TV sign outside, surrounded by neighbours and with only a glimpse of the ocean in between the gaps separating the buildings opposite on nearby La Maddalena, the largest of an archipelago of seven islands off the north coast of Sardinia, Italy. Continue reading...

The World Bank and IMF should step in to finance a recovery of children’s learning chances devastated by the pandemic“Education,” wrote Nelson Mandela, “is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” One wonders what he would have made of the response to the education crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. A crisis threatening to derail social and economic progress, trapping millions of children in poverty. The UN secretary general has warned of a “generational catastrophe”, yet the international response has been marked by staggering complacency.That lack of concern was on public display at last week’s Global Education Summit in London. Fresh from cutting UK aid to education by 40%, Boris Johnson – a self-styled champion for universal girls’ education – opened proceedings by declaring that education was “the single best investment we can make in the future of humanity”. Continue reading...

Netflix documentary Pray Away, exec-produced by Ryan Murphy, traces the history of conversion therapy with regretful leaders of the “ex-gay” movementJulie Rodgers was 16 years old when her mother introduced her to Ricky Chelette, the “singles minister” at a Baptist church in Arlington, Texas, who coached LGBTQ+ youth on how to “change” their sexuality. The high school junior had recently come out to her parents; Chelette, a man with “same-sex attractions” married to a woman, was brought in to fix what was seen as a problem. As Rodgers recounts in Pray Away, a new Netflix documentary on the “ex-gay” movement within western Christianity, and her book Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story, Chelette preached an enticing, insidious gospel of change: that Rodgers’ attraction to women was due to an insufficient bond with her mother as a child, that such attractions could be neurologically altered by committed study, that to do otherwise would be a disappointment to God and the community that had formed the backbone of her life to date.Related: ‘It was just such a maze’: the twisty story behind Enemies of the State Continue reading...

Kidnapped by Lord’s Resistance Army rebels as a girl, Victoria Nyanjura has pushed through major reforms for victims of abduction and rapeWhen Victoria Nyanjura was abducted from her Catholic boarding school in northern Uganda by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army, she prayed to God asking to die.She was 14 when she was taken, along with 29 others, in the middle of the night. During the next eight years in captivity she was subjected to beatings, starvation, rape and other horrors that she cannot talk about even 18 years later. Five of the girls who were taken prisoner with her died, and Nyanjura gave birth to two children. Continue reading...

Political party has overtaken Matteo Salvini’s far-right League as Italy’s biggest party in opinion pollsSpartaco Perini spoke overwhelmingly about his time as a second world war resistance fighter in the days before he died. The founder of one of Italy’s first antifascism groups in Colle San Marco, a hamlet of Ascoli Piceno in the central Marche region, he was lauded by the Allied forces for his role as a fearless informant, work that helped to liberate Europe from the Nazis and end Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship. But he had one regret.“In his last few days, he spoke a lot about the great things the partisans did to restore freedom and bring about democracy,” said Pietro Perini, the partisan’s son and president of the Ascoli Piceno unit of Anpi, an anti-fascism organisation. “But he also felt they made one error – and that was not to have eradicated it [fascism] completely.” Continue reading...

Measures include reducing number of loans to borrowers with small deposits and potential debt-to-income restrictionsNew Zealand’s reserve bank has announced plans to tighten up mortgage-lending, as the country struggles to tackle its housing crisis.One measure, which would come into force from 1 October after consultations, will involve reducing the portion of loans banks can make to owner occupiers with less than 20% of their deposit. Continue reading...

Actor issues statement to Variety amid outrage over interview in which he says he recently ‘retired the f-slur’Matt Damon has reportedly denied using a well-known homophobic slur “in his personal life”, after being widely criticized for revealing in a recent interview that he “retired” the term after his daughter told him it was unacceptable.

Witnesses report some of the corpses had gunshot wounds or their hands tied amid escalating conflict in the region in recent weeksA Sudanese official has said local authorities in Kassala province have found around 50 bodies, apparently people fleeing the war in neighbouring Ethiopia’s Tigray region, floating in the river between the countries over the past week.Some bodies were found with gunshot wounds or their hands bound, and the official said on Monday a forensic investigation was needed to determine the causes of death. The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media. Continue reading...

The romance of her heroine’s ‘rebellious’ red hair is much more of a feature in the Duchess of York’s historical novel than sexShe is a spirited, Titian-haired, freckled beauty, whose curls just won’t quit. While initially submitting to the strictures of high society and the tribulations of the marriage market, she endures a pasting from the press before emerging triumphant, throwing off the weight of expectations to become her true self. And write a children’s book.The heroine of the Duchess of York’s debut novel for adults, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, bears no small resemblance to its author, in both looks and life story. Her Heart for a Compass is out on Tuesday from romance publisher Mills & Boon, but readers hoping for the sexy shenanigans usually found in the publisher’s output will be disappointed. While Margaret indulges in a handful of kisses, and at one point has a man “adjusting his kilt, swearing under his breath”, the pleasures she experiences are all very much above the waistline. Continue reading...

Pilot proposals to make access easier follow legislation giving 16- and 17-year-olds right to voteTeenagers in Wales may be able to vote at their own schools and colleges during breaks from lessons, and shoppers could exercise their democratic right while they are picking up their groceries, under new proposals from the Welsh government.The Labour-led administration is working with local authorities in an effort to introduce pilot schemes of more flexible voting at next year’s council elections. Continue reading...

More reports have emerged of problems with the national vaccine register, causing confusion and frustration

Man deemed fit to stand trial in Germany and is accused of complicity in murder of more than 3,500 peopleA 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will stand trial in Germany in October accused of complicity in 3,518 murders, public prosecutors have announced.The prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin, which first brought the charges in February, received a medical assessment that confirmed the man was “fit to stand trial” despite his advanced age. Continue reading...

Companies have a rare moment to reset working models. But climate calculations of remote v office work are complexStacy Kauk was finalizing Shopify’s 2019 sustainability report when the pandemic forced the company into remote work.“I kind of stopped in my footsteps and went, ‘Uh oh, what’s going to happen if we’re closing our offices during Covid and staying remote in the long term? What does that mean for Shopify’s corporate carbon footprint?’” said Kauk, who directs the Canadian e-commerce company’s $5m annual sustainability fund. Continue reading...

Mo Scarpelli cannily captures family dynamics in this documentary about the filming of Jorge Thielen Armand’s La Fortaleza, which starred his hard-drinking dadHere’s a behind-the-scenes documentary in the tradition of Burden of Dreams­, Les Blank’s making-of film about Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo. This one even has a wild-man actor, Jorge Thielen Hedderich – though he’s not quite a match for Klaus Kinski in the ego stakes. Actually, he’s not even an actor by trade, but he is starring in a movie about his own life directed by his son Jorge Thielen Armand. Or, at least he’s meant to be. His rum-fuelled all-nighters, tantrums and fits of rage are constantly threatening to bring the production crashing down. Though when El Father – as everyone on set calls him – is in a good mood, on full-wattage, his charisma is dazzling.This documentary is directed by Armand’s partner, Mo Scarpelli. At times it feels frustratingly light on detail about the film she is observing being made: it’s Armand’s second feature, La Fortaleza. What we can glean is that it is the story of how El Father lived in the Amazon in the 1990s, working in illegal gold mining and drinking heavily. Scarpelli is not so interested in whether her father-in-law can be tamed – though she does show the crew sneakily watering down his run. Instead, she zeroes in on the dynamic between father and son – and she’s got an uncanny instinct for knowing which of their reactions to shoot. When El Father breaks his finger, it’s the son’s face she films – wincing as his dad twists his own bone back into place. Continue reading...

Three struck by darts at busy transport interchange in German cityThree people have been injured in the German city of Cologne morning after being targeted with darts that were probably shot from a blowgun, police said.A builder, a passerby and an employee of Cologne’s public transport authority (KVB) were hit by the darts on Monday morning at Barbarossaplatz, a busy transport interchange in the western city. Continue reading...

Seven other senior officials accused of serious human rights violations or undermining democracyThe European Union has slapped sanctions on Nicaragua’s first lady and Vice-President Rosario Murillo and seven other senior officials accused of serious human rights violations or undermining democracy, amid a sweeping crackdown on opposition politicians in the Central American country.EU headquarters said in a statement that the sanctions, which include asset freezes and bans on travel in Europe, “are targeted at individuals and are designed in this way not to harm the Nicaraguan population or the Nicaraguan economy”. Continue reading...

Spanish officials are working to recruit squad from abroad because island’s police are too well known to localsWanted: foreigners between 30 and 40 years old willing to party in Ibiza in the name of combating the coronavirus pandemic.Spanish officials on the island are working to assemble a squad of detectives who would be capable of infiltrating parties that breach local coronavirus regulations and flagging them to authorities. Continue reading...

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya filmed arriving at Polish embassy in Tokyo, as husband flees to UkraineThe Belarus Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has received a humanitarian visa from Poland upon seeking asylum after she was threatened with being bundled back to Minsk over her criticism of Olympic team officials.Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, wrote on Twitter on Monday that the Belarusian sprinter was in direct contact with Polish diplomats and had been granted a humanitarian visa to the country, where she is expected to fly later this week. “Poland will do whatever is necessary to help her to continue her sporting career,” wrote Przydacz. Continue reading...

Foreign Office says Iran must ‘immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security’Britain has summoned the Iranian ambassador to London for a meeting at the Foreign Office, accusing Tehran of an “unlawful attack” by a drone that killed a British citizen on a ship off Oman last week.James Cleverly, a Foreign Office minister, stressed to Mohsen Baharvand, the ambassador, that Iran must “immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security”, and reinforced that “vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law”. Continue reading...

‘The Sex Mix got so many complaints – even some gay clubs found it offensive’I wanted to be provocative with the way Frankie Goes to Hollywood looked and for the lyrical content to be modern and edgy. We had been living through a politically charged time, the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow had made headlines, and I knew we had to do the same to make an impact. I had a vision of something that merged punk and disco. I was always badgering the drummer to just play a four-on-the-floor bass drum. Continue reading...

Police arrest two adults and teenager after body of five-year-old Logan Williamson found in riverA five-year-old boy who was found dead in a river in south Wales has been described as a bright, cheerful child whose smile “lit up the world”.The boy has been named locally as Logan Williamson, who lived in a flat close to the river in the village of Sarn where his body was discovered. Continue reading...

SNP’s Humza Yousaf alleges school refused to offer places to three children with Muslim namesOne of Scotland’s most senior Muslim politicians has lodged a complaint against a nursery over suspicions it discriminated against his two-year-old daughter.Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, alleges a preschool nursery in Broughty Ferry near Dundee refused to offer places to three children with Muslim names, including his daughter Amal, yet found space for children with western-sounding names. Continue reading...

Court ruling on 1998 bombing shows how town is divided over whether to push for a public inquiryAmid the unfathomable grief unleashed by the Omagh bomb – the single worst atrocity of the Troubles – the bereaved and injured found purpose, even comfort, in a joint enterprise: a search for truth and justice.Twenty-nine people died and hundreds were wounded when the Real IRA detonated a car bomb in the County Tyrone market town on 15 August 1998, four months after the Good Friday agreement supposedly drew a line under Northern Ireland’s conflict. Continue reading...

Victory in Tokyo has reignited debate over a decades-old compromise with the island’s goliath neighbourIn the hours between Taiwan winning gold and silver in Olympic badminton on the weekend, local courts in Taipei were packed with enthusiastic young players. The nail-biting matches had lit a fire of sporting patriotism – not least because both were against China, Taiwan’s goliath neighbour, which claims Taiwan as a province it must retake.The doubles win by Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin was Taiwan’s second gold medal, after Kuo Hsing-Chun won in weightlifting, and added to its biggest medal haul in Olympic history. Taiwan sits 18th in the table. China is first. Nevertheless, social media was awash with celebrations. Continue reading...

Just over 10% of marine animals found dead or alive in nets from Newcastle to Wollongong are the target species, figures revealA turtle is found dead on average every 20 days in a shark net lining beaches in and around Sydney, new data shows.The annual report on 51 shark nets running from Newcastle to Wollongong shows 40 of the 375 animals found dead or alive in nets in the latest season were its target species: white, bull and tiger sharks. Continue reading...

Vinca, 37, and Lee, 40, were housemates in Manchester before they fell in love. They live in north Wales with their sonIn early 2008, Vinca was a self-confessed party girl, living the high life in Manchester. She worked for a recruitment firm during the day and went clubbing at night. “I lived with my best friend at the time, Flo. He and I were always having people over, but we needed a third flatmate,” she says.After seeing their advert online, Lee applied. “I was studying in Staffordshire and it was cheaper to move to Manchester than live in student halls,” he says. Lee went to look at their flat – and go through their tough “interview process”. “I immediately picked up on his Stoke accent, as it’s where I’m from,” Vinca says. The pair hit it off after discovering they had mutual friends. Continue reading...

Committee for Sydney says freedoms need to be linked to Covid lockdown exit plan to combat hesitancyBusinesses want incentives for vaccinated New South Wales residents to be included in the state’s path out of lockdown, amid concerns “passive” targets will not drive up vaccination rates fast enough.The Committee for Sydney says its 60 member organisations in hospitality, entertainment, construction and universities are calling for people who have been vaccinated to be rewarded with earlier freedoms. The call follows Venues NSW indicating major stadiums would soon only allow vaccinated spectators. Continue reading...

Labour warns move will add to confusion over which countries are safe to visit during summer holidays

Once neglected in favour of supposedly healthier products or mass-produced substitutes, butter is back, and better than ever, thanks to chefs who are adding bone marrow, chocolate and churning their ownIt sounded like another fad – like the cereal cafe in east London, or the crisp bar in Soho. “This Colorado bistro is the world’s first butter bar,” ran the headline of an article announcing the opening of Bella La Crema, a US restaurant serving “flights” of handmade butters flavoured with spices or herbs. The comparison to beer and wine tasting boards jarred at first – but butter in its truest form is perhaps closer to wine than it is to crisps or cereal: there’s terroir in the pastures; technique in the churning; magic in the addition of bacteria cultures and (optional) flavours. And Bella La Crema, which has been delivering its beloved bourbon butter, rosemary and sage butter, house butter and chocolate butter around the US throughout their lockdowns, and has since started looking for its second site, might conceivably be the next step in a movement that has been quietly taking place in some farms, dairies and restaurants for years.“It was in the Fat Duck that I first noticed it, around the turn of the millennium,” says Jay Rayner, the Observer’s restaurant critic. “There was a handmade goat’s milk butter with a pronounced cheesy edge to it. Then, in 2006, Stephen Harris at The Sportsman in Kent showed how he churned butter from local milk and flavoured it with salt he made by boiling the seawater from the nearby shore.” Thereafter it became “a thing”. No longer content with packets bought wholesale, restaurants started buying cream, culturing it and churning it in-house. Chefs pushed the boundaries of flavoured butter, enveloping herbs, spices, vegetables and meat into its golden folds. Those who didn’t make butter on site started to source it direct from small-scale dairies – and, as demand grew, so did the number of butter-makers. Continue reading...

A resurgence in the traditional drink is offering rural communities independence and a sustainable alternative to industrial soy and cattle farmingFour men emerge from the intense heat and steam of the barbacuá into the cold winter’s night in the rural district of Edelira, southern Paraguay. They rest, leaning on pitchforks they have used to turn over the prized load of fragrant yerba mate leaves inside this traditional drying oven. The centuries-old design drives hot air from a fire on to the large wooden frame where the leaves sit.“I control the leaf’s humidity through intuition,” says Lisandro Benítez, the group’s lead, or uru. “Too humid and it won’t have the right flavour, too hot and dry and it could catch fire.” Continue reading...

Anthony Wong accused of breaking law by singing at a pro-democracy rally three years agoA prominent Hong Kong singer and pro-democracy activist has been arrested by the city’s anti-corruption watchdog over accusations he broke the law by singing at a political rally three years ago.The arrest of Anthony Wong on Monday is the latest official move against those who had been pushing for greater democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Continue reading...

Keen to unlock your inner creativity? De-stress and unwind? Or merely improve the quality of the gifts you make for friends? Step right this wayHave you ever forgotten to buy a loved one a birthday present? Here’s a tip. Get a card, then draw a picture inside of you giving them the gift you intend to buy them later. It’s a charming IOU, impossible to resent. I’m not the best at hands or faces, so the result often resembles demons in hell, spearing each other, which isn’t what everyone wants to see on their birthday. Particularly when you later forget to buy the present. To rescue an otherwise flawless system, I’ve come to an alfresco painting class to hone my dark art.MasterPeace Studios promises to unlock anyone’s inner creativity. To prove it, those in charge tell me to choose a personal photograph I’d like to paint. I select a photo of my friend Amish Tom, at a recent pizza party we threw. In the picture, he’s rolling dough with his elegant fingers, sunlight striking his face. He’s extremely photogenic, which I don’t mind. But is he painting-genic? Why is there no word for this? Continue reading...

Victims’s family speak of their heartbreak as brutal killing sparks national debate on lack of progress to end violence against womenThe family of a 27-year-old woman who was allegedly tortured and beheaded by the son of a business tycoon have spoken of their devastation in a case that has pushed Pakistan to examine what has been called a “gender terrorism epidemic”.Zahir Zakir Jaffer was arrested on suspicion of the pre-meditated murder of Noor Mukadam, the youngest daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, after allegedly holding her captive for three days at his apartment in an upmarket area of Islamabad. Continue reading...

These fragile ecosystems are where the impacts of the climate crisis are often felt first, say expertsThe Ebro delta appears to be in robust health, to a casual observer. There is water gurgling in the canals and irrigation channels, and what appears to be a mighty river flowing into the sea. The dazzling green rice fields are dotted with ibis, egrets and redshanks.However, all is not what it seems. The Ebro, the only one of Spain’s three great rivers that flows into the Mediterranean, is one of the most abused and exploited in Europe. Continue reading...

Crisis has been marked by escalating rents, high rates of homelessness and substandard conditionsNew Zealand’s housing crisis has become a “massive human rights failure”, the Human Rights Commission has said, as it launches a national inquiry into the problem.“Successive governments have failed New Zealanders,” chief commissioner Paul Hunt said in a statement as he announced the inquiry. “New Zealand governments have signed up to a critically important human right: the right to a decent home. For generations, they have promised to create the conditions to enable everyone to live in a decent home, but this has not happened.” Continue reading...

The raids on Pasifika migrants and their subsequent deportations separated families and devastated communitiesNew Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has issued a formal apology for historic racist policing of Pacific people and offered scholarships to Pacific students.Hundreds of people packed Auckland town hall on Sunday to hear the apology for the “dawn raids” of the 1970s during which authorities hunted for visa overstayers. Continue reading...

The country fights its most widespread outbreak in months with cases in more than a dozen provinces

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Covid-19 public exposure sites in Queensland and what to do if you’ve visited them.

IOC says Krystsina Tsimanouskaya now with a Tokyo 2020 staff member at airport and ‘feels safe’The Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to intercede after claiming her criticisms of the national team’s coaches have led to her being dropped from the team and taken, against her wishes, to Tokyo airport.Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women’s 200m on Monday, told Reuters she did not plan to return to her country, adding that she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Haneda airport on Sunday so that she would not have to board the flight. Continue reading...

Six months after seizing power, Min Aung Hlaing extends coup with promise of elections in 2023Myanmar’s military leader has declared himself prime minister and said he will lead the country under the nation’s state of emergency until elections are held in two years’ time – vastly extending the timeline given when the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago.“We must create conditions to hold a free and fair multiparty general election,” Gen Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday during a recorded televised address. “We have to make preparations. I pledge to hold the multiparty general election without fail.” Continue reading...

It might seem like a post-Trump world, but in red states across the US his most hardline supporters are setting the political agenda. How much power do they have to shape the country’s future, even with a Democrat in the White House?This episode first aired on our global news podcast, Today in Focus.To a casual observer, Joe Biden’s victory in the last US presidential election, coupled with Democratic success in the Senate and the House, might have seemed to turn the page on the Donald Trump era and consign his hardline policy agenda to the past. But a huge amount of power in the US resides in its 50 state legislatures, and Republicans won a clear majority in 30 of them. In large parts of the US they are now using that power to enact a policy agenda that many observers view as being far more extreme than many voters would have supported. So why are they going ahead anyway?

Readers critique the west’s actions in the region in response to an editorial on Arab democraciesYour editorial (29 July) is right that benevolent dictatorship is not the answer to the problems in the Middle East, but it is overly benevolent to Joe Biden and the US.The editorial says: “Tunisia’s presidential power grab is a test for Joe Biden’s democracy and human rights agenda.” Throughout history, US global aggression has always been justified by the mantra of “bringing democracy” to the rest of the world. From the occupation of the Philippines to Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam and the Middle East, US intervention has been nothing more than establishing and maintaining its economic and military hegemony. Continue reading...

Chancellor urging rethink on border policy amid concerns UK is ‘out of step’ with international competitors

Holidaymakers have been evacuated from beaches by rescue boats in Turkey after wildfires threatened hotels is several resort towns.Six people have died and more than 500 needed hospital treatment in Turkey’s Mediterranean towns from fires that have raged across the country since Wednesday