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The fastest 100m breaststroke swimmer in history and Olympic favourite on his anger with dopers, his aims in Tokyo and becoming a fatherAdam Peaty, the son of a bricklayer from Uttoxeter, often feels like “a god” as he approaches the deep blue pool where he dominates his Olympic event. Peaty has set the 20 fastest times ever swum in the history of the 100m breaststroke. It is a staggering statistic that captures the extent of Peaty’s supremacy and explains why he is regarded as Team GB’s one overwhelming favourite to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics.On a quiet Saturday morning at home Peaty takes off his shirt to soak up the sunshine in his garden. He then reveals why, beyond his extraordinary swimming, he is one of the most interesting sportsmen in Britain. Having recently become the father to a mixed-race baby, as his girlfriend Eiri Munro is an artist of Nigerian descent, Peaty talks about racism and prejudice. He reflects on suffering and doubt, rages against doping in sport and tries to live in the moment. Peaty can also talk about so many kinds of music, from grime to classical, while displaying a clear intelligence and lightness of touch not usually associated with an Olympic giant. Continue reading...

Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui was covering Afghan commando unit near Pakistan borderDanish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist who worked for Reuters news agency, has been killed in southern Afghanistan.Siddiqui was in the border town of Spin Boldak on assignment with Afghan security forces when he was caught in Taliban crossfire, an Afghan commander told the news agency. He had documented the intense pressure on Afghan commando units in a story published earlier this week. Continue reading...

With the lifting of almost all remaining Covid restrictions confirmed for 19 July, a PHE study compares levels of risk across different activities and events

Young children and vaccinated adults will no longer need a PCR test when border reopens on 19 July

The Australian Medical Association is demanding a ‘Victorian-style’ lockdown in greater Sydney warning ‘there is no end in sight’

The audience thought it was part of the play and gave us a round of applause. I remember thinking I was about to dieWhen I was cast in a travelling production of Hamlet in 2011, I was very nervous – Hamlet has an awful lot of lines. But I was 24 at the time, and having a leading role was a big deal.We performed the show for six weeks without a hitch in a Dublin theatre. Then it transferred to Cork. Time was tight, which meant we didn’t get to finish our technical rehearsal before opening night, which was going to be a full house: about 750 people. Continue reading...

The centre-left politician Ciro Gomes tells the Guardian that Brazil is ‘living through the worst government in its history’The international community must signal that it will not tolerate “the premature death of Brazilian democracy”, one of Jair Bolsonaro’s main rivals has said after Brazil’s far-right president intensified his attacks on the South American country’s electoral system.Related: Bolsonaro may have emergency surgery after hiccups persist for over 10 days Continue reading...

At a meeting with Joe Biden at the White House, Angela Merkel talked of the devastating flooding in Germany that has killed more than 80 people, with scores still missing in one district alone. The German chancellor expressed her deep sympathy for victims of the 'catastrophe', the extent of which will only be seen in the coming days. On behalf of hmself and the American people, the US president also passed on his sincere condolences.

Rappers, actors, authors – podcaster George the Poet picks his favourite spinners of yarnsIt was Atlanta that made me realise how great Donald Glover is. It was no longer Donald solo as a singer, rapper or comedian. He now had an ensemble to carry the story and communicate his perspective in a way that was elevating. It set the tone for the way I approached the podcast. Continue reading...

As Supergrass return to festival stages, their frontman remembers his younger days, from the majesty of Spacemen 3 to love letters via mixtapesThis was a big thing for me: lots of recording off the radio. I’d wait for the chart show, and I’d know that Madonna’s Into the Groove was currently at No 3. I remember that pressured feeling of trying to hit record at the right time so you don’t get too much of the DJ introducing the track, and I’d build up these compilations. I did my own best-ofs – the Cure: 79-82 – or call them things like Dark Trip. I’d draw stuff and then go down to my dad’s office to use the photocopier and cut it all out, and print out homemade covers, getting the tracklisting really nice on the back. Continue reading...

The film-maker’s first movie, about a Black lesbian teenager, has made it to the Criterion Collection, a catalogue of canonical films. She discusses her characters and the pleasure of this successWhen Dee Rees was first approached by highbrow home entertainment company Criterion, it was Mudbound, her 2017 film, it wanted to discuss. Inclusion in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-ray, with some titles streamed, is widely seen as confirmation of a film’s classic status. Mudbound is Rees’s most-watched film to date – approximately “20m hours of viewing”, according to Netflix – and it was up for several big awards, including the Oscar for best adapted screenplay (making Rees the first Black women nominated in a that category) and best cinematography for Rachel Morrison (the first – and, to date, only – woman to be so honoured).Rees, though, had a different suggestion. “I was excited, but I was like: ‘It’d be really great if Pariah were there,” she says, via video call from her Harlem home. Thankfully, Criterion’s curation team agreed. “It was my first film and it just was such an important film for me, y’know? And it felt, at that time in the world, culturally important … I guess there’s nothing like your first.” Continue reading...

Painting reclaims former glory as English Heritage rights the wrongs of 19th-century additionsAt some point in the last 400 years a painting restorer probably decided the Dutch vegetable seller was far too glum and should be smiling. Now it has been put right and she is once again enigmatic.English Heritage revealed the results on Friday of a two-year conservation project to reveal the true glory of a mysterious, unsigned painting that has been in its stores for more than 60 years. Continue reading...

Leaders of £24m Stocksbridge fund include local MP, her husband, and others with personal or business links to plansLabour has raised concerns about the management of a flagship levelling up scheme after it emerged that decisions about one local £24m fund were primarily led by a group including the local MP, her husband, and others with personal or business links to some of the plans.Documents also show that the towns fund board for Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire, co-chaired by Conservative MP Miriam Cates, met for eight months before members began filing details of personal interests, and that the scheme of governance was only published after more than a year. Continue reading...

To help readers through the latest lockdowns, Guardian Australia staff nominated the songs that never fail them. The resulting playlist is … well, derangedWhat’s your happy song? Join us in the comments

Friday: National cabinet to meet to decide on Covid relief payments. Plus: spider protein could reduce cardiac damage after heart attacksGood morning. Victoria is waking up to its fifth lockdown. The national cabinet is convening to decide on lockdown support payments. Australia is under growing pressure as the US follows the EU lead on carbon tariffs. And a leaked Kremlin document suggests Russia launched a secret multi-agency effort to interfere in the 2016 US presidential elections.Protesters rallied in Melbourne against Victoria’s five-day lockdown that state officials imposed until 11.59pm on Tuesday in an effort to contain 18 cases and two chains of transmission linked to the Sydney outbreak. In NSW, 65 new cases were recorded yesterday – but Gladys Berejiklian warned residents to expect higher numbers today. And people visiting GP clinics and pharmacies while infected have been identified as a new driver of the coronavirus spread. Continue reading...

At least 58 people have died and dozens more were missing in Germany on Thursday as swollen rivers caused by record rainfall across western Europe swept through towns and villages. Many of the victims died around the wine-growing region of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, police said, and dozens were still unaccounted for, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine broke its banks and brought down half a dozen houses

• Indigenous community seeks Canada state and church records• Report on finding of 215 unmarked graves calls for wider searchThe First Nations community that shocked Canada with the discovery of unmarked graves says school records will be critical in identifying victims — and that a much greater area needs to be searched to understand the true scale of the tragedy.Related: The Indigenous children who died at Canada’s residential schools – podcast Continue reading...

The journalist and author died of causes relating to her long-term illness, according to friendsTributes have poured in for the journalist and author Dawn Foster, who has died suddenly aged 34.Foster, a regular television commentator and a fierce critic of inequality, died of causes related to her long-term illness, according to friends. Continue reading...

The PM’s plans have been described as rhetoric and the detail is sometimes vague, but here is what we know so farWhat does “levelling up” mean? The prime minister has faced repeated accusations that his ambitions are rhetoric rather than reality. Downing Street said his speech on Thursday in Coventry was setting out a vision, with a white paper to come later this year. It did include some clear ambitions, however there has already been controversy. Continue reading...

The Delta variant has seemingly foiled Australia’s best laid pandemic plans. As politicians point fingers, case numbers are growing, and cities are going back into lockdown. Editor in chief Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher discuss why lessons have not been learnt from the first wave of the pandemicRead more on this issue: Continue reading...

Proekt outlawed in act of revenge for embarrassing revelations about the president and top Kremlin officialsThe Kremlin’s war on independent journalism in Russia has escalated after the Proekt investigative media outlet was outlawed in an act of revenge for a series of deeply embarrassing revelations about Vladimir Putin and top Kremlin officials.The rare decision to ban a critical media outlet by fiat is a bellwether for Russia’s new wave of investigative news outlets, which compete to publish damaging scoops about top officials and are now bracing for the Kremlin to employ similar pressure on them to shut down. Continue reading...

Rapid Taliban advances lead to meeting in Uzbekistan of over a dozen leaders and foreign ministersAfghanistan’s neighbours are stepping up efforts to prevent the country sliding into a full-blown civil war after a rapid Taliban advance that caught the government in Kabul, its allies and much of the region by surprise.At a meeting in Uzbekistan that opens on Friday, more than a dozen leaders and foreign ministers from regional powers will gather with the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and senior American diplomats including the top US envoy for peace, Zalmay Khalilzad. Continue reading...

Simon Coveney says plan would harm peace process and add ‘years of misery’ for families

Warnings of looming humanitarian crisis as looting and violence hits food, fuel and medicine chainsSouth Africa says it has put 10,000 soldiers on the streets and is calling up reservists for the first time for decades following days of looting and violence that have threatened food and fuel supplies across the country.The death toll stands at 117, and more than 3,000 people have been arrested according to official figures, since the former president Jacob Zuma began a 15-month jail term, sparking protests that rapidly turned into a wave of looting of shops, malls and warehouses. Continue reading...

This year’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate has been planned under social distancing measures and extended to four days for the first time Continue reading...

Police warn other alleged offenders will be tracked down for targeting black players after Euro 2020 finalPolice have arrested four people over alleged racist abuse directed at England football players online, while warning other perpetrators that they will be tracked down.After England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on Sunday, three black players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were targeted with racist abuse after missing penalties during the match. Continue reading...

No one knows for sure what will happen when the rules in England change on Monday, say scientists

Banking and payments app launched six years ago valued at £24bn in deal secured by 36-year-old CEO

Ex-employee is suing Aspinalls in Mayfair for discrimination, alleging a ‘hostile and demeaning environment’An exclusive London casino allowed wealthy patrons to racially abuse staff with impunity and “segregated” black employees from gamblers who insisted on white dealers, a tribunal has heard.Semhar Tesfagiorgis, 41, is suing Crown London Aspinalls, in Mayfair, for race and sex discrimination, alleging there was a “hostile and demeaning environment” when she worked there. Continue reading...

Demonstrations in Paris and other cities over plan for mandatory vaccinations for health workers and vaccine pass for public places

Police have fired teargas to disperse demonstrators in Paris as thousands of people protested throughout France over new coronavirus restrictions. Protests began in the French capital on Wednesday morning as the annual military parade for Bastille Day was taking place along the Champs-Élysées, watched by Emmanuel Macron

Covid commander Jeroen Weimar reports 18 cases, 75 exposure sites and says more than 6,500 people are isolating

800,000 vaccinations in single day follows announcement that visits to many public venues will require a health pass

Newcastle musician Daniel Hanson pleaded guilty to a string of offences relating to sexual abuse of victims aged between 12 and 22A predatory lead singer in a band who sexually abused numerous young girls in Australia has been jailed for at least 21 years.Daniel Hanson, a member of popular Newcastle bands We Built Atlantis and Falling for Beloved, pleaded guilty to a string of offences relating to his sexual abuse of 14 victims aged between 12 and 22 from 2005 to 2014. Continue reading...

Prohibition can only be implemented against all religious symbols as part of a policy of neutralityPrivate employers in the EU can ban people from wearing religious symbols, including headscarves, in order to present an image of neutrality, the bloc’s highest court has ruled.Companies can ban headscarves provided such a prohibition is part of a policy against all religious and political symbols, the court said on Thursday, reaffirming a 2017 ruling. The latest judgment went further by examining the grounds employers can use when making such prohibitions. Continue reading...

Amnesty International says sexual abuse and beatings rife at camps for those forcibly returned after trying to cross the MedNew evidence of starvation and abuses inside migrant detention centres has been collected from migrants inside seven facilities across Libya.A report by Amnesty International comes less than a month after Médecins Sans Frontières announced it was suspending its operations at two centres in Libya because of increasing violence towards refugees and migrants. Continue reading...

Far fewer politically sensitive titles are on display in the first such event since Beijing imposed sweeping new regulationsBooksellers at Hong Kong’s annual book fair are offering a reduced selection of books deemed politically sensitive, as they try to avoid violating a sweeping national security law imposed on the city last year.The fair was postponed twice last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It usually draws hundreds of thousands of people looking for everything from the latest bestsellers to works by political figures. Continue reading...

Pensions Ombudsman has had 17 complaints and campaigners say hundreds more are affectedThe Salvation Army has been accused of a “grave injustice” by refusing to pay pensions to former full-time officers who quit after years of dedicated service but before their official retirement date.At least 17 complaints from former officers have been lodged with the Pensions Ombudsman since May 2020, and campaigners say hundreds more have been affected. Continue reading...

Public sector union has criticised government’s ‘half-hearted’ response to women’s workplace safetyIt seemed like a simple ask – that members of parliament undergo training on sexual harassment and bullying to ensure Parliament House was a safer workplace for political staffers.But the tender put out by the department of finance for an organisation to deliver that training has not done much to assure political staffers their wishes are being taken seriously. Continue reading...

Her career has snaked from delivering pizzas to modelling, but Penn’s latest job – starring in a Cannes drama alongside her dad, Sean – was the most daunting yetDylan Penn receives guests high above the Croisette, in a sterile penthouse suite overlooking the sea. It’s a perch befitting her status as visiting Hollywood royalty, the daughter of Sean Penn and Robin Wright, starring alongside her dad in this year’s Cannes competition. She’s got her phone and her water and a stylist in the wings. She’s been up here all day and won’t descend until dusk. She has tickets to see the new Wes Anderson film.In the fact-based Flag Day, her first major role, she plays Jennifer Vogel, the daughter of an inveterate conman. John Vogel describes himself as an entrepreneur with a broad portfolio, which is another way of saying that he’s a bank robber, arsonist and counterfeiter; always up to no good, constantly looking over his shoulder. Jennifer wants to break free but can’t quite cut the cord. “In my dreams, my father was always the prince,” she explains. Continue reading...

As Covid cases grow in Melbourne, linked to the outbreak that sparked Sydney’s lockdown, Victorian restrictions are being tightened again. Is there a travel radius limit? Is mask-wearing compulsory? Are home visits limited again? Here are the new rules

The New York Times’ Will Shortz has appeared on The Simpsons, written riddles for a Batman villain and sold over 1m copies of a sudoku book. He talks hate mail, controversial clues and why puzzles are like drugsEvery day thousands of people vie to outsmart one man: Will Shortz, the New York Times’s crossword editor of almost three decades.Crossword fanatics – or “cruciverbalists”, in the parlance – must get their fix, and they prefer to get it from a man whose puzzle is considered the gold standard. Depending on a puzzler’s skill and temperament, and on the day of the week (Monday puzzles are easiest, Saturdays hardest), that puzzler may race to the finish, surging with triumphant dopamine, or shatter a coffee mug against a wall. Continue reading...

Doctors and nurses forced to isolate after being exposed to virus in hospitals, causing delays to surgeries

Health workers fear deaths could reach levels not seen this century as up to 90% miss check-ups and many opt for home births

Darcelle XV, officially the world’s oldest drag queen, is part of an LGBT generation that lived through HIV/AidsYou haven’t lived until you’ve put a dollar bill into the G-string of a 90-year-old drag queen dressed as a cowboy in butt-less, leather chaps. That’s the motto of Darcelle XV, the world’s oldest working female impersonator, known as the “unofficial welcome wagon to Portland, Oregon”.With her towering wigs, hand-sewn outfits and flamboyant persona modelled on “a B-list French actress from the 1950s”, thousands have flocked to her cabaret club for over 50 years. Continue reading...

Author of European parliament report says Frontex agency’s director should resign or be sackedThe EU border agency has failed to protect the human rights of asylum seekers, according to a damning European parliament report on the organisation.After a four-month investigation by MEPs the report’s author, Tineke Strik, told the Guardian, that Frontex “did not fulfil its human rights obligations and therefore did not address and therefore did not prevent future violations”. Continue reading...

Campaigner Zoe Scaman has collected women’s stories and is calling for policy change in the industryHundreds of women working in advertising have described being sexually assaulted, harassed and discriminated against, after a blog provoked an outpouring of fury that is being described as the industry’s #MeToo moment.Senior advertising industry player Zoe Scaman said she had been inundated with emails from women across the world describing incidents ranging from sexist comments in meetings to sexual assault and rape. She is now working with leaders of bodies representing women in the advertising sector to try to effect real change and “not just another policy pledge”. Continue reading...

Felt bicorne is part of sale at Sotheby’s in Paris to mark bicentenary of Napoleon’s deathOne of Napoleon’s distinctive black felt bicorne hats, perhaps worn during his army’s crushing defeat of Russia in 1807, is to appear at auction.Sotheby’s in Paris on Thursday announced it would commemorate the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death with a sale dedicated to a man who still splits opinion. Should he be celebrated as a brilliant military strategist, or damned as a ruthless warmongering dictator? Continue reading...

A young mother from Durban has described throwing her two-year-old daughter from a burning building. Naledi Manyoni said she had no choice but to release her grip on her daughter and hope that she was caught by people waiting below.'They kept screaming "throw her",' she said. Manyoni and her fiance lived on the 16th floor of building set ablaze by looters at ground level amid widespread violence in parts of South Africa

The decaying, rundown property in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn was prized because of its renovation potentialA decaying three-bedroom house with no toilet or bathroom, missing walls and an overgrown garden has sold in New Zealand for more than $2m (£1m), in the latest example of runaway property markets around the world.The 1920s-era bungalow on Ariki Street, in Auckland’s affluent suburb of Grey Lynn, sold at auction on Thursday for $2.075m (£1.05m), after the bidding opened at $1.75m, Stuff reported. Continue reading...