by Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent on (#5MN6J)
Analysis: while the politics behind the government’s dismissal are local, regional players will want to influence what happens nextIn the decade since the Arab spring, the crucible of the uprisings has been where its legacy has been thrashed out.Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, where it all began from mid-December 2010, have remained central to the narrative of what took place when autocracies crumbled in the face of restive streets. And for the region’s powerbrokers, all three north African states have since been the centre of an even bigger tussle for influence. Continue reading...
RCMP reveals it has spent 10 years conducting ‘large-scale investigation’ into allegationsA branch of Canada’s federal police force says it has spent the last decade conducting a “large-scale investigation” into allegations of sexual abuse at a former residential school.On Tuesday, the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it launched a criminal investigation in 2011, investigating claims that students were assaulted during their time at the Fort Alexander residential school. Continue reading...
by Simon Speakman Cordall in Tunis, and Martin Chulov on (#5MN3P)
There is little sign of anger against apparent coup, but some lament the threat to fragile democracyTwo days after Tunisia’s stumbling democracy ground to a halt, the streets of the country’s capital were quiet, even indifferent on Tuesday, with the presence of army troops near a TV station one of the few symbols of a new and unsettling normal.Protesters who had raged on Sunday before President Kais Saied sacked the county’s prime minister and suspended parliament were absent from sites that days before had been febrile hubs of discontent. Instead, passersby seemed to go about their business caring little about the gravity of the moment. In some parts of Tunis, the mood was almost celebratory. Continue reading...
Angelo Becciu accused in case that centres on a €350m deal to buy a former Harrods warehouseA powerful cardinal in the Roman Catholic church has been accused of financial crimes in the largest trial ever to take place within the Vatican.Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 73, once a close ally of Pope Francis, and nine other defendants have been accused of extortion, embezzlement, money-laundering and abuse of office. All deny the charges. Continue reading...
by Presented by Laura Murphy-Oates and reported by Me on (#5MN54)
New South Wales is struggling to contain Australia’s largest-ever outbreak of the infectious Delta variant of Covid-19. Guardian Australia’s medical editor Melissa Davey discusses what more can be done to bring down case numbers, and why other states and territories should pay attention to what’s happening thereRead Melissa Davey’s reporting on the NSW outbreak: Continue reading...
Post-Brexit trade advisor Tony Abbott ‘heartened’ by review into takeover of Newport Wafer FabBoris Johnson may block a Chinese-owned company from purchasing the UK’s largest producer of semiconductors, a senior government adviser has suggested, as they warned Beijing was on the brink of initiating a new “cold war”.Tony Abbott, the former prime minister of Australia recruited by Johnson to advise on post-Brexit trade, said he was heartened by a review being launched into the takeover of Welsh microchip manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia and suggested it meant the process could be paused. Continue reading...
Three Black artists, African and African American, explore common lineage and traditions“Oftentimes, we have to poke history, like ‘You are sleeping. What is going on? Wake! Wake up!’” said Victor Ehikhamenor, a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, to the Guardian.Related: ‘Cultural appropriation is a two-way thing’: Yinka Shonibare on Picasso, masks and the fashion for black artists Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5MN11)
Making stop and search easier is among proposals that police and critics doubt will do much to cut crimeWhat is the government’s new crime plan?It is a phalanx of announcements and measures the government claims will cut crime and make the public feel safer. There is some more money for medium to long-term measures such as drug treatment and violence reduction units spearheading a public health approach. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5MMTY)
The report into sexual abuse in London council’s children’s homes heard from many who experienced itHundreds of vulnerable children aged five to 19 suffered sexual abuse, violence and intimidation in children’s homes run by Lambeth council in south London over several decades from the late 1960s, a report has found.Here are three accounts from some of those who gave evidence to the inquiry of their experiences in the care of Lambeth council: Continue reading...
It’s white, milky, better for the planet – and even works in a cappuccinoName: Potato milk.Age: Brand new, although a powdered version has been available – although not very widely – for some years Continue reading...
Metropolitan police department officer Michael Fanone told the select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol how pro-Trump insurrectionists attacked him. 'I was grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. I was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm, as I heard chants of "kill him with his own gun",' Fanone said.He went on to say that a fellow officer later took him to a nearby hospital, where he was told he had suffered a mild heart attack.
Landmark parliamentary report features evidence of gang rape, sex for career advancement and trophies to ‘bag the woman’Almost two-thirds of women in the armed forces have experienced bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination during their career, according to a parliamentary report that says the UK military is “failing to protect” female recruits.Heralding its inquiry into the treatment of women in the armed forces as one of the most vital in its history, the defence subcommittee said 62% of the 4,106 veterans and current female personnel who gave testimony had either witnessed or received “unacceptable behaviour”. Continue reading...
Planet Fun in Carrickfergus Harbour is provisionally closed after emergency services treat injured childrenFour children have been taken to hospital after a funfair ride collapsed at Planet Fun in Carrickfergus Harbour, County Antrim.Emergency services were called to the scene shortly before 6pm on Saturday after a ride collapsed. Continue reading...
Police working to reunite her with her parents in Bolton after she left home on Thursday nightAn 11-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Greater Manchester has been found in London, police have said.Fatuma Kadir, from Bolton, was discovered on Saturday afternoon. Police had been searching for her since Friday, after it was reported she had travelled to the capital overnight. Continue reading...
Why do so many of us still dream of the perfect wedding? Tom Rasmussen, bestselling author of Diary of a Drag Queen, examines what the institution really means today – and celebrates the joy of being together (any way you like)I’m in the pub on a Thursday and I’m complaining, again, about Yet Another Person Getting Married. My friend and I do the familiar dance, rattling through our arsenal of stock opinions about why marriage is trash. Intellectually. Emotionally. Imaginatively. Sexually. Historically. Everythingally. We laugh, we talk about “the normals”, we joke about wedding fairs and anodyne idiots who spend thousands on their weddings, but are too strapped to give to the local food bank. Then we finish our £5.80 guest pale ale and leave, smug intellectual folk who’ve got one over on Big Society and the thwarted plans it had for us. But as I wave goodbye, my sense of satisfaction wanes.Because I’ve been lying. The truth is, I’m desperate to get married. The truth is, all I want, really, is to slot into that statistic – to be another second in the ticking clock of weddings. I’ve always wanted it: I made a stunning, plump bride on the playground in primary school; I planned my offensively gay wedding to the letter throughout my teens; I wept over men who left me at university as the potential for marriage leaked out of my life; and I spent four years on what I told a friend was my Wedding Diet. We laughed, but I was deadly serious. Continue reading...
The artificial hill in central London seems a great idea, but it would be better to have done something that genuinely helped the environmentThe Torre Guinigi in Lucca, Italy, is a brick medieval tower – it’s handsome, but of a type common enough in historic Tuscan cities. What makes it special is a grove of holm oaks growing from its summit. Trees come with expectations, such that they are rooted in the ground, yet there they are, high in the air, apparently flourishing. The tower would be less interesting if it weren’t for the trees and the trees would be less interesting if it weren’t for the tower.So there’s something compelling about trees in unexpected places. Hence at least part of the appeal of the High Line in New York, where gardens grow on an old elevated railway line, and of the ski slope on top of the Amager Bakke power plant in Copenhagen. There’s been a thing for wrapping towers in vegetation in recent years. Little Island, the micro-park recently created by Thomas Heatherwick over the Hudson, has a similar well-I-never, Instagram-able impact. Continue reading...
Real estate holdings published for first time show it owns 4,051 properties in Italy, 1,120 abroadThe Vatican has released information on its real estate holdings for the first time, revealing it owns more than 5,000 properties, as part of its most detailed financial disclosures ever.The information released on Saturday was contained in two documents – a consolidated financial statement for 2020 for the Holy See and the first ever public budget for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa). Continue reading...
Major roads including part of M62 also closed after device found on housing site in east Yorkshire townHomes have been evacuated, an entire stretch of motorway closed and a no-fly zone implemented after an unexploded second world war bomb was discovered on a housing development in east Yorkshire.The army was on Saturday preparing to detonate the 500lb (227kg) device in Goole after it was found on Thursday. Eight homes were evacuated and the M62 closed in both directions between junctions 35 and 37. Continue reading...
Insurgents have captured key border crossings and encircled several provincial capitalsAfghan authorities have imposed a night-time curfew across 31 of the country’s 34 provinces to curb surging violence unleashed by a sweeping Taliban offensive in recent months, the interior ministry has said.The widespread Taliban offensive has seen the insurgents capture key border crossings, dozens of districts and encircle several provincial capitals since early May. Continue reading...
Government cites national security in civil case over 2019 death of British teenager in road crashThe US government has requested that the country’s civil courts prevent the disclosure of the employment details of Harry Dunn’s alleged killer in the interests of “national security”.The 19-year-old’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, lodged a claim against Anne Sacoolas and her husband after the teenager’s death in a road crash outside a US military base in Northamptonshire two years ago. Continue reading...
The author on mixing semi-fact with fiction – and the school rule about swimming naked that inspired the novel’s big comedy set pieceFrom 1972-79, I was a pupil at King Edward’s school, Birmingham. It was at that time a direct grant school, which meant that although most of the places (including mine) were not fee-paying, it had all the trappings of a public school. It was single-sex, the teachers wore academic gowns, the assembly hall was called “Big School”, we played rugby rather than football, and there were two school songs, one of them in Latin. It was an elitist school, and many of my more clued-up, politically aware friends were aware of this.I wasn’t. My head was in the clouds and all I was interested in was books, music, film and TV. At the age of 15 I started writing novels and the second one, called Half Asleep; Half Awake, was set in a thinly fictionalised version of the school. Continue reading...
by Tim Dowling, Zoe Williams, Jess Cartner-Morley, Al on (#5MHSK)
Driving, packing, parenting while driving … yes, summer holidays are here to torment us. Handily, so are Guardian writers on how to negotiate themMy holiday road rage is directed inward – at my own failures and miscalculations – although I accept it will not feel like that if you are sitting next to me. Sometimes these episodes are all I remember of the trips in question: running out of petrol halfway across a suspension bridge; the satnav voice that switched to Italian midway through a journey; that hyena I nearly hit in the middle of a hailstorm. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington on (#5MHQW)
Will Cathcart claims government officials around the world among 1,400 WhatsApp users targeted in 2019Senior government officials around the world – including individuals in high national security positions who are “allies of the US” – were targeted by governments with NSO Group spyware in a 2019 attack against 1,400 WhatsApp users, according to the messaging app’s chief executive.Will Cathcart disclosed the new details about individuals who were targeted in the attack after revelations this week by the Pegasus project, a collaboration of 17 media organisations which investigated NSO, the Israeli company that sells its powerful surveillance software to government clients around the world. Continue reading...
The actor was working as a bouncer when he got a small part in a new show called The Wire. Two decades on, he’s a blockbuster fixture. The Suicide Squad star talks about fighting for his big break, losing his dad, and why acting helped him out of a ‘dark, weird junction’
The SNL star turned Hollywood mainstay plays a caring, sharing football coach in the award-winning comedy from Apple TV+ but is he as nice in real life?How much of Jason Sudeikis is Ted Lasso, and how much of Ted Lasso is Jason Sudeikis? The extraordinarily strong hairline belongs to both, but that’s where the similarities start to swim apart and fuse together: Lasso wears a cheerfully thick moustache with his, while Sudeikis tends towards clean-shaven; since his 2003 start on SNL, Sudeikis has spent the last 18 years making people laugh, while Lasso’s attempts at humour (“Your body is like day-old rice – if it ain’t warmed up properly, something real bad could happen”) often whoosh over the heads of those around him. But they both seemingly spend an unusual amount of thought and care on the lesser-appreciated component parts that make a large organisation (a movie set; a football club) tick.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...
Man dies in hospital after getting into difficulties off St Anne’s pier on Friday eveningA 19-year-old man has become the latest person to die after swimming in open water as England’s hot weather came to an end.Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement emergency services including the coastguard were called to St Anne’s pier in Lancashire at about 7.20pm on Friday to reports of a person drowning in the Ribble estuary. Continue reading...
Durbanites expected another lockdown, not isolation enforced by violence and looting. But as the city I love turned to ruin, I saw fear change to bravery and community spiritThe past week has been one of the most difficult of my life. My home descended into chaos. Durban, a holiday city with a melting pot of cultures and a diverse range of people who live and work here, came to a standstill as rioters took to the streets to spread chaos after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma. Continue reading...
Workers have become unlikely stars of the video app, while revealing harsh conditionsAgricultural workers throw their buckets into the air at the end of harvest like at a graduation ceremony. A construction site turns into a concert hall, with workers wearing strands of hemp as wigs and singing into bits of plastic piping instead of microphones. A market stall becomes a runway as fruit vendors strut their stuff: a bunch of bananas as headgear, leeks dangling from their necks.With posts from factories, fields and construction sites, workers in Turkey are going viral on TikTok. The app’s staples such as challenges, dancing and comedy abound, but amid the joy it is hard not to miss the criticism of dire working conditions. Continue reading...
MPs vote unanimously for abolition, making it the 23rd African state to end capital punishmentSierra Leone has become the latest African state to abolish the death penalty after MPs voted unanimously to abandon the punishment.On Friday the west African state became the 23rd country on the continent to end capital punishment, which is largely a legacy of colonial legal codes. In April, Malawi ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, while Chad abolished it in 2020. In 2019, the African human rights court ruled that mandatory imposition of the death penalty by Tanzania was “patently unfair”. Continue reading...
Migrants say the three men have evaded Home Office detection and could be laundering up to £100,000 a day eachThree of the kingpins in operations to smuggle thousands of asylum seekers across the Channel in small boats are living and working freely in the UK and have evaded detection by the Home Office and law enforcement agencies, migrants interviewed by the Guardian have claimed.Asylum seekers interviewed by the Guardian on condition of anonymity who have communicated with the three men they say are among those at the top of the cross-Channel smuggling operations estimate that during the busy summer season each of these three men could be laundering up to £100,000 a day. Continue reading...
Family of missing British hiker have been informed of report and are seeking ‘urgent clarification’, says charity representing themThe charity representing the family of British hiker Esther Dingley says it is seeking urgent clarification after reports emerged that possible human remains had been found close to where the woman went missing in the Pyrenees.LBT Global said in a statement posted to Facebook it was “aware of the discovery of what MAY be human remains close to the last known location of Esther DINGLEY. We are urgently seeking clarification. The family have been informed of the discovery and we are supporting them now.” Continue reading...
by Nadeem Badshah (now), Mattha Busby ,Nicola Slawson on (#5MGED)
Latest updates: all countries must work together to find the origin of the coronavirus that sparked the coronavirus says WHO; Indonesia’s daily death toll reaches 1,566
Switching to synthetic gems may have environmental upsides but it could harm the very communities consumers worry aboutDiamonds have long been in the debt of marketing genius. Until the 1940s they were not a popular choice for engagement rings. Then, in 1947, a stroke of brilliance: De Beers’ “A Diamond is Forever” campaign. The slogan was a hit. The market transformed. Today diamond engagement rings are ubiquitous, winking from the windows of upmarket jewellers.Earlier this year came another glittering moment in diamond PR. Pandora, the world’s largest jewellery retailer, announced it would be switching entirely to lab-made diamonds. It generated positive headlines around the world, dubbed an “ethical stand against mined diamonds”. Continue reading...
A group of firefighters had a close escape when fast-moving flames engulfed them as they battled the Tamarack wildfire in Nebraska. After driving straight through the inferno, the crew emerged unscathed. Poor humidity and wind conditions have caused the Tamarack fire to grow up to 58,417 acres, prompting local authorities to issue an evacuation order.This video was provided without sound.
by Hassan Abdirahman in Galmudug and Lizzy Davies on (#5ME5Z)
Fartun Hassan Ahmed bled to death after undergoing female genital mutilation, a practice that 98% of women in the east African country undergoA 13-year-old girl has died after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia, as activists report a rise in the practice during the pandemic.Fartun Hassan Ahmed, the daughter of nomadic pastoralists, bled to death after being cut earlier this month in the village of Jeerinle in the state of Galmudug, her mother said. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#5ME4P)
Ambassador Shingo Yamagami calls for two countries to deepen cooperation in East China Sea, where Tokyo has reported an influx of Chinese vesselsJapan’s ambassador has called on Morrison government to consider joint military exercises with Japan in the East China Sea, saying the shipping lane is just as important as the South China Sea to Australia’s security and prosperity.Shingo Yamagami flagged the proposal in Canberra on Wednesday while pushing for Japan and Australia to lift their overall defence ties to “unprecedented” levels. Continue reading...
From the spectacular opening ceremony to the final gold in the marathon, via the pool, the beach and the stadium, your indispensable guide to the GamesThe opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium will be spectacular but has been shrouded in secrecy so far. Because of Covid restrictions fewer athletes than usual will be joining the parade of nations. As usual Greek athletes will lead the march behind the flags with the Americans and French last before the entry of the host Japanese team. Like the final event of the Games it will be a marathon and a lump in the throat is inevitable.That opening ceremony does not leave a lot of time for events on the first real day of competition although Britain’s rowers are quickly into action on the Sea Forest Waterway. The women’s quadruple sculls, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, Hannah Scott, Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne and Lucy Glover are a strong combination and Team GB expect another healthy haul of medals.The other events on the first Friday are the individual ranking rounds for men and women in archery at Yumenoshima Park. The six-strong British team includes Naomi Folkard who is competing in her fifth Games with the 18-year-old James Woodgate competing in his first Olympics. India will be hoping to build on their recent impressive World Cup displays. Continue reading...
When I first held my dog Veela in my arms, I was grappling with my mother’s dementia, which was followed much too soon by her death. The teachings of my little red dog helped me surviveThe first time I rescued an animal was almost 15 years ago, while I was on hiatus from my band, Garbage, in 2007. Shuffling around Los Angeles with little to occupy my time and my catastrophic imagination, my husband suggested we might consider adopting a rescue dog from one of the local shelters. I was a little hesitant at first. It struck me as a massive undertaking (I was not wrong) and I was unsure I had the emotional capacity to engage in the love of a small, defenceless, living thing.My mother had just been diagnosed with Pick’s disease, a criminally aggressive form of dementia that can take a person, as it did my mother, out of the game in less than two years from the day of diagnosis. I was deeply disturbed by the course her disease was taking and finding it hard to connect with life in any joyful, meaningful way. Continue reading...
From schoolchildren to squatters and punks, Michael Schmidt captured the people and buildings of his native Berlin – as well as its unique atmosphere in the shadow of the Wall. Now, a retrospective at the Jeu de Paume in Paris offers a complete overview of his groundbreaking images, taken between 1965 and 2014 Continue reading...
Once an earnest indie singer with Slow Club, Rebecca Lucy Taylor is now a take-no-prisoners pop diva. Can her patriarchy-smashing anthems conquer the charts?In a comedy sketch that was released to promote her 2019 debut Compliments Please, Rebecca Lucy Taylor is grilled about the imagined impact of the album 20 years on (it was so great, it “destroyed music as we know it”). With a transatlantic accent, impeded facial movement and wearing a tiara over a turban , she faces a hostile male interviewer who attempts to sum up her revolutionary sound: it is “melodic complaining”, “poor-me periodcore”, and “menstrual madness set to music”.“That’s what it is!” cackles Taylor, two years on. “Can’t deny it!” It’s true that the 34-year-old – better known by her nom de disque, Self Esteem – makes music packed with warts-and-all honesty and, yes, a certain amount of justified complaining. Topics include toxic relationships and the insidious effects of the patriarchy. But her songs are also maximalist, danceable and infectiously fun – a wholesale rejection of the restrained indie-folk of her previous band Slow Club. “I’m trying to do a Trojan horse thing,” explains Taylor over a cup of coffee in her PR team’s dazzlingly white offices. “You think you’re getting this sugary injection of a pop song but it’s going to leave you with something more.” Continue reading...
NSW has recorded 110 local Covid-19 cases overnight, with 43 of those infectious while in the community. Premier Gladys Berejiklian was questioned as to why that number remained so high even after tighter lockdown restrictions have been introduced.
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