World news | The Guardian

Chris Dunne on the successful school sport partnership scheme that the Conservatives dismantled in 2010 – and on why good coaching is the crucial factor at any level of sportBarney Ronay (Gold medals are illusory, world-class public facilities should be the goal, 23 July) says “the idea of a tangible legacy [from the London 2012 Olympics] was always flimflam”, but one of the most important factors in the Games being awarded to the UK was that we had already put in place the grassroots plan to ensure the legacy years before we even made the bid.In 2002 the Labour government had created, in England, school sport partnerships (SSPs), based in 450 secondary sports colleges, each of which was responsible for hugely increasing participation in sport in both their own school and a network of local secondaries, each releasing PE specialists for half of every week to help train primary school teachers to widen the sports offer to their pupils and to deliver quality coaching. Identifying talent at the grassroots and nurturing it through to local clubs and on to county, national and Team GB participation was another very firm objective. Continue reading...

Judge expected to award damages worth C$13.4m (£7.7m) to hundreds affected by disgraced doctor’s methodsHundreds of victims of a disgraced Canadian fertility doctor, including more than a dozen children conceived using his sperm, are set to share a proposed C$13.375m (£7.707m) class-action settlement – the first of its kind in the world.On Wednesday, an Ontario court certified a class action suit against Ottawa-based Norman Barwin. The legal action was first launched in 2016. Continue reading...

Naval strike group is sailing through waters heavily contested between China and neighbouring countriesBritain has said it has no plans to stage a naval confrontation with China in the South China Sea and that it aims to send its carrier strike group in the most direct route across the contested body of water from Singapore to the Philippine Sea.The cooling message emerged hours after China’s military and state media warned the UK against provocation as the group, led by Royal Navy aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, undertakes what had been expected to be a more assertive deployment. Continue reading...

Nicola Sturgeon calls figures ‘shameful’ and promises action after 1,339 people killed last yearNicola Sturgeon has said her government is determined to tackle Scotland’s escalating problem with drugs deaths, after a record 1,339 people were killed last year.National Records of Scotland, the statistics agency, said the figure was a 5% increase on the drugs-related fatalities registered in 2019, and the seventh annual increase in a row. Continue reading...

Martine Moïse, who was injured in attack on her husband, recounts moment assassins opened fireThe widow of Haiti’s recently assassinated president has said she suspects his murder was engineered by wealthy Haitian “oligarchs” who have yet to be apprehended.Martine Moïse, who survived the 7 July assault in which her husband, Jovenel Moïse, was shot dead, told the New York Times (NYT) she was unconvinced Haitian police – who have detained more than 20 suspects – had identified those who ordered and bankrolled the murder. Continue reading...

Top Biden administration official reportedly raised questions about spyware sold by NSO GroupThe White House has raised concerns with top Israeli officials about allegations that spyware sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group has been used by governments around the world to monitor journalists and activists and – potentially – government officials with close ties to the US.Brett McGurk, a top Biden administration adviser on the Middle East, raised questions privately about NSO in a meeting last week with Zohar Palti, a senior Israeli defence ministry official, according to reports by Axios and the Washington Post. Continue reading...

DNA testing has confirmed remains belong to missing hiker, says charity LBT GlobalTributes have been paid to the British hiker Esther Dingley after human remains in the Pyrenees were confirmed as being hers.Dingley, 37, had been walking solo in the mountains near the border between Spain and France and was last seen on 22 November. Continue reading...

We would like to hear from women who took part in the peace protest at Greenham CommonIt is nearly 40 years since women first set up a peace camp outside RAF Greenham Common in protest against the storage of US cruise missiles on British soil.On the 5th September 1981, a Welsh women’s group, marched from Cardiff to Greenham Common in Berkshire to protest against Nato’s decision to site 96 US cruise nuclear missiles at the RAF base. The women-only peace protest lasted 19 years. Continue reading...

With restrictions extended for four weeks, cases growing and a sluggish vaccine rollout, the end of the outbreak seems far away

Germany’s economy grew by only 1.5% after manufacturing was hit by computer chip shortage

Sales of clothes and accessories featuring mushrooms, snails, frogs and worms are booming, but why now?Mushrooms, toads and moss might not be the most celebrated of nature’s creations, but thanks to goblincore, an aesthetic that is blossoming online as well as in forests, the danker, gnarlier side of nature is enjoying a moment in the sun.According to the TikTok user @froggiecrocs, AKA Parker, who has more than 90,000 followers who tune in for his goblincore content, it “romanticizes the ugly, lesser appreciated parts of the natural world”. Its trappings include animal skulls and earthworms and its influences range from David Bowie in Labyrinth to the Twilight Saga. According to the trends expert Sabrina Faramarzi, it is about “chaos, dirt and mud”. Continue reading...

Delivery firm says ‘disproportionate level of investment’ would be needed to achieve top-level market positionDeliveroo has announced plans to pull out of Spain only months after the government promised a law to give gig economy workers greater employment rights.Deliveroo, which is headquartered and listed in London, said remaining in Spain would require too much investment compared with its other markets, given the scale of its operations in the country. Continue reading...

But there’s no indication when that target may be met in the updated national pandemic plan released on FridayVaccinated Australians will be able to head overseas again to visit family and friends when 80% of the adult population is fully vaccinated under a national pandemic exit plan, the prime minister says.But there’s no target date for when that might happen and one premier has already suggested they might not follow the revamped roadmap agreed to by state and territory leaders on Friday. Continue reading...

Appointment of Guido Bellido ends hopes of a moderate government and is likely to spook jittery investorsA day after being sworn in as Peru’s president, Pedro Castillo has appointed a far-left lawmaker and member of his Marxist party, Guido Bellido, as prime minister, ending expectations of a moderate government.Beginning nearly three hours late, Castillo swore in an incomplete cabinet on Thursday night that included several figures from the far left and only two women. He did not appoint a finance minister, and Pedro Francke, the favourite for the post, was seen leaving the venue minutes before the ceremony began. Continue reading...

NSW Health takes measure with nearly 200 Covid patients in hospital, but all emergency and urgent elective surgery will continue

I was fighting with my brother over the window seat. After that, I don’t remember anything, except waking up next morningMy childhood was perfect. I was born and raised in New Jersey and lived in a lovely house with my family around me. For my sixth birthday my mom went all out with a Pocahontas theme – it was amazing. It’s the last beautiful memory I have of my family together. A month later, in December 1995, we were due to travel to Colombia as a family for the first time. I was so excited as it was going to be my first flight. We were travelling to meet family members I had never met before, for a big reunion.We were rushing on the way to the airport and our car almost flipped over on the way because of the snow on the roads, so we were delayed. It was chaos once we got there – rush, rush, rush. We only just boarded on time, and the plane took off late. Continue reading...

A history of theatre’s most controversial moments, from Jerry Springer: The Opera to Sarah Kane’s ‘unrelenting’ BlastedSensationally vulgar, this musical take on the TV host was taken to court for blasphemy. Featuring tap-dancing members of the Ku Klux Klan and Jesus dressed as a baby, it was designed to distress. “For all its shock and schlock tactics,” wrote Michael Billington at the time, “the show implies that TV has a moral responsibility.” The BBC received 63,000 complaints after airing the musical in 2005. Continue reading...

The turbocharged twist on rockabilly enraptured 80s punks and rock’n’rollers – and alienated plenty more – with its food fights, ferocious club nights and phantasmagoriaIf you wanted to date the moment one of the biggest youth subcultures of 80s Britain arrived, you could pick 40 years ago this month, on 4 July 1981. That night, at the Marquee club in Soho, a few hundred kids gathered to watch a band who were almost singlehandedly kickstarting a new wave of alternative music. Waiting for them to come on, those fans launched into the song that served as their heroes’ unofficial theme, from David Lynch’s Eraserhead. “In heaven, everything is fine,” they sang. “You’ve got your good things, and I’ve got mine.” A few months later, that chorus opened, and gave its name to, the first LP by the Meteors. And as their frontman would later claim, “Only the Meteors are pure psychobilly.”In time, psychobilly – a turbocharged twist on rockabilly, the country-enhanced variant on R&B that prefigured the classic rock’n’roll of the late 50s – would become codified. “My take on it would be a much more aggressive, loud approach to rockabilly that must include a double bass, modern lyrics – no cars, pinups or bubble gum – lots of graveyards, vampires, zombies, horror flick and death-influenced lyrics,” says Mark Harman of Restless, who came through the psychobilly scene in the early 80s. “Anything goes, really. Overdriven guitars and full rock drum kits, big quiffs, weird and wild clothing, makeup and props – blood and skeletons welcome. It should be fast and loud, exciting and fun.” Continue reading...

Labour leader calls for date on which fully vaccinated in England can avoid self-isolation to match that of Wales

Hard-hit suburbs are home to many Indigenous Australians, refugees and migrants

Retailers call on government to amend business tax rates in response to changing shopping needs and habitsMore than one in seven shops are now vacant on UK high streets, retail parks and shopping centres, the highest proportion since at least 2015, as the Covid-19 pandemic ramped up pressure on already weakened retailers.Fashion stores have been hit particularly hard, with a major shift to online shopping during the pandemic, and a lack of parties, events and nights out to dress up for. Continue reading...

Party islands Mykonos and Ios could be shut down as Delta variant infection rates surge among young people

Sydney photographer Joel B Pratley’s photo of a lone farmer immersed in a dust storm in drought-stricken Australia has won the 2021 National Photographic Portrait prize. Titled Drought Story, the image shows David Kalisch captured amid a sudden dust storm on his 1,000-acre farm in Forbes, New South Wales. Pratley said his subject’s stance reflects the resilience of a man pushed to the limits by an unforgiving climate: ‘David’s composure during the storm was surreal, because he is just so used to it. For me, it was like being on Mars.’

The two decades that have followed the Macpherson report have passed in a state of apparently permanent crisis• A failure at the top of the police and government Published six years after the killing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, the Macpherson report was intended to be a turning point in police relations with Britain’s black and minority ethnic communities.Finding that the force had a problem with “institutional racism”, the report exposed mistakes that allowed Lawrence’s killers to go free and made 70 recommendations for reform. Continue reading...

This is the moment a house fell into the sea in the resort town of Mar del Tuyú in Argentina. The footage, captured by a neighbour on 28 July, shows waves crashing against the property as part of it breaks away and falls into the water. The owners of the property were not at home when the incident occurred Continue reading...

Police minister says residents have ‘had a gutful’ of people flouting the rules, with fines for not wearing a mask now rising to $500

Victory comes a day after the pair, only the third Kiwi women to win Olympic gold in rowing, regained their world recordGrace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler have won New Zealand’s first gold of the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s coxless pairs.The rowers overcame a slow start to take the lead shortly after the midway point, winning in 6:50.19, with the Russian Olympic Committee team and Canada taking silver and bronze. Continue reading...

The actor was rushed to hospital after he collapsed while filming the final series of the television series in New MexicoBetter Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk had a “heart-related incident” when he collapsed on the show’s set in New Mexico, and his condition was stable as he recovered in hospital, his representatives said.“We can confirm Bob is in stable condition after experiencing a heart related incident,” the statement issued on Wednesday said. Continue reading...

Efficacy of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine falls from 96%; French health pass to be compulsory for cafe visits and some travel

We examine the new regulations regarding quarantine, testing and proving inoculation after 2 August

During the 1990s, Marie Cameron was known as the Witch of Darwin. It’s not a title she chose for herself but one she was given by the media, after a traditional Scandinavian bonfire, or ‘witch burning’, turned to violence. The events of that night would divide the community for years to come, with a media circus, a court battle, a protest, and the formation of a ‘council of witches’.Marie speaks to senior writer Brigid Delaney about how she became known as the Witch of Darwin, and the enduring symbolic power of the witch. Continue reading...

A safety summit to be hosted by Scott Morrison was delayed due to Covid but calls are intensifying for immediate action to protect womenA coalition of advocacy groups has intensified calls for Australian governments to increase investment in preventing sexual violence and supporting victims, and adopt a greater focus on intervention for perpetrators.The prime minister was supposed to host a women’s safety summit that would have opened on Thursday, but the event has been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak that forced 14 million people into lockdown. Continue reading...

Cllr Mark Blake says an enforcement approach to curb youth violence will fail, while Prof Saville Kushner says stop and search will undermine democratic policing. Plus letters from Mary Jones, TG Ashplant, Susan Ellery, Lynn Beudert and Christopher ReillyBoris Johnson’s announcements around his crime reduction strategy are worrying and predictable (Weird and gimmicky’: police chiefs condemn Boris Johnson’s crime plan, 27 July).As a councillor in Haringey who previously led on the council’s work with the Metropolitan police, I’m filled with dread at the thought of the Met ramping up stop and search in some supposedly “evidenced” response to knife crime. Continue reading...

EU and US travellers no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days in England but costs of tests remain high

‘Children have to deal with the fallout of the drug trade. They are the ones who can’t walk to their school in safety, who have to train to use a gun’In the mountains of Guerrero in south-west Mexico, there is a small town called Alcozacán. Violence is common in the area, which is strategically important for the drug trade. Violence has increased all over Mexico over the past few years, but some places including Guerrero have been particularly badly affected.The people of Alcozacán and its surrounding towns became more and more angry about the criminal groups terrorising their communities and what they saw as a lack of protection from the government. They felt abandoned, so formed community defence forces to protect themselves from the gangs and drug traffickers. In Alcozacán, there are no police as we know them. It is ruled – or taken care of, depending on your point of view – by a force made up of local people. Continue reading...

Crew members called an ambulance that took the 58-year-old actor to a hospital where he remained on Tuesday nightBetter Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk collapsed on the show’s New Mexico set on Tuesday and had to be hospitalised.Crew members called an ambulance that took the 58-year-old actor to a hospital, where he remained Tuesday night, a person close to Odenkirk who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter told the Associated Press. It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse or how long the actor might be in hospital. Continue reading...

After the tube she was commuting on was blown up, Mughal’s life changed for ever. A Muslim herself, she was horrified to hear Muslims been behind the attack. So she quit her job and started her own programme to take on extremismSajda Mughal was on her daily commute to her dream job in City recruitment on the morning her world was turned upside down. It was a July day in London, 16 years ago, one that throbbed with the summer heat, and Mughal was running late for work. She ducked into Turnpike Lane tube station in north London, as she usually did, and boarded the Piccadilly Line train. The one thing she did differently that morning was not getting into the first carriage of the train. “Every day until 6 July 2005, I would sit in that first carriage. Maybe it was a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or maybe I knew the first carriage was where I’d get a seat. But, on that particular day, I was late, so I rushed on to the platform and, instead of doing my usual thing, I just got on.”This detail became all-important when, a few stops later, at King’s Cross, the 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay got on to Mughal’s train, boarding the first carriage, and blew himself up. “Twenty-six people died, most of whom were in the first carriage,” she says. Continue reading...

Agricultural mogul Sun Dawu given 18-year sentence in case observers believe was politically motivatedSun Dawu, a Chinese billionaire pig farmer and agricultural mogul, has been sentenced after weeks of hearings in secret to 18 years in prison and fined 3.11m yuan (£345,000) for a catalogue of crimes including “provoking trouble”, in a case observers believe was politically motivated.The court in Gaobeidian, near Beijing, said Sun was guilty of crimes including “gathering a crowd to attack state organs”, “obstructing government administration” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a catch-all term often used against human rights figures and dissidents. Continue reading...

But federal energy minister Angus Taylor says proposed rules needed to ‘protect consumers from high prices and reliability risks’New energy market rules intended to ensure the lights remain on while ageing coal generators exit the market have triggered a backlash from Australia’s renewables sector.Guardian Australia has seen a draft of new rules that have been proposed to federal and state energy ministers by the Energy Security Board (ESB). The overhaul includes imposing a strategic reserve across the national energy market as well as a beefed-up retailer reliability obligation. Continue reading...

In combining both pummelling impact and nimble speed, Jordison defied his short stature to become a hulking master of rhythm – and the finest metal drummer of his era

Summer holiday bookings rise for Hungary-based but London-listed airline

NSW records 177 local cases, lockdown extended four weeks; single bubbles now allowed in greater Sydney; those on welfare support now eligible for federal disaster payments, NSW premier says; Victoria records eight local cases overnight, and a new local, non-quarantined case today. This blog is closed

Pio Tikoduadua, president of the opposition National Federation Party, has won praise and followers with his faltering attempts to understand social mediaA leading opposition MP from Fiji is delighting new social media followers with his wide-eyed discovery of Twitter, even as the country is experiencing heightened political tensions.Pio Tikoduadua, who is the president of the National Federation Party, announced on Monday that while his Twitter account had been created a while ago, it had been run by his staff until now. Continue reading...

Filipino weightlifter becomes a national hero despite once facing accusations of plotting against president Rodrigo DuterteWeightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, one day after making history as the Philippines’ first ever Olympic gold medallist, took top billing in an ecstatic nation’s newspapers above reports on a major speech by her president.But for the 30-year-old being showered with accolades, the story was very different in 2019, when her name was included on a list of people accused of plotting against the same man, Rodrigo Duterte. Continue reading...

Authorities cite unpaid fees and problems in naturalisation papers relating to WikiLeaks founderEcuador has revoked the citizenship of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is currently in a British prison.Ecuador’s justice system formally notified the Australian of the nullity of his naturalisation in a letter that came in response to a claim filed by the South American country’s foreign ministry. Continue reading...

Family announce that metal musician, who had transverse myelitis, a nerve disease, died ‘peacefully in his sleep’Joey Jordison, the drummer whose dynamic playing helped to power the metal band Slipknot to global stardom, has died at age 46.His family wrote in a statement: “We are heartbroken to share the news that Joey Jordison, prolific drummer, musician and artist passed away peacefully in his sleep … Joey’s death has left us with empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow. To those that knew Joey, understood his quick wit, his gentle personality, giant heart and his love for all things family and music.” Continue reading...

Wednesday: City’s shutdown to continue for at least four more weeks. Plus: US gymnast prioritises mental health over OlympicsGood morning. Sydney’s Delta variant outbreak means the city’s lockdown has been extended for another month, while criticism of Australia’s vaccine rollout continues. But there’s some hope that younger Australians will drive up vaccination numbers. The champion gymnast Simone Biles prioritises her mental health over Olympic glory. And pressure is rising on the Morrison government’s climate targets as salmon are roasted alive in international heatwaves.Sydney’s lockdown will be extended for four more weeks but residents in Victoria and South Australia will enjoy more freedom as restrictions ease in both states today. The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce the extension this morning after the state reported a record 172 local cases of Covid on Tuesday. Rapid antigen tests are being considered for some NSW workplaces and year 12 students to allow them to return to the classroom. Berejiklian said vaccinations would be vital if the state was to contain the outbreak: “Vaccination is the key to our freedom,” she said yesterday. “Getting jabs in arms is a key part of our strategy. I want August to be the month where everyone comes forward to get the jab.” But it might not be that easy. Continue reading...