World news | The Guardian

Bruno Garcia-Cruciani’s murder of Julie Douib in Corsica became a rallying call against domestic killingsA man who murdered the mother of their two children on the island of Corsica in March 2019 has been sentenced to life in prison in a case that caused an outcry over domestic killings of women in France.Julie Douib was shot dead by her former partner of 14 years, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, a few days after learning that prosecutors had closed a case she brought against him for threatening behaviour, harassment and assault. Continue reading...

Situation raises prospect that all three will enter final ballot and potentially split the left voteThe contest to become the next leader of the Unite union is set for another twist after three leftwing rivals for the position failed to agree upon a unity candidate.Sharon Graham, the only female candidate, has told friends she will put her name forward for the final ballot despite two days of talks with fellow leftwing candidates Steve Turner and Howard Beckett. Continue reading...

German architect best known for his radical brutalist design of the Mariendom, the Neviges pilgrimage churchPointing its twisted concrete peaks high above the historic German town of Neviges, the Mariendom is one of the strangest churches of the 20th century. Standing as a jagged, mystical mountain, punctured by tiny square windows, it is the work of Gottfried Böhm, who has died aged 101. The venerable architect leaves a legacy of more than 60 churches across Germany, as well as other public buildings that exude his unique expressionist style, informed by his training as a sculptor. In Böhm’s hands, colossal masses of concrete could be folded, chiselled and carved, as if by powerful tectonic ruptures.Completed in 1968 and regarded as his most important work, the Neviges pilgrimage church was the result of a competition, for which Böhm submitted an unearthly crystalline model. It was a fragmented cluster of angular forms, more meteorite than maquette, like something sent down from planet Krypton. Continue reading...

Brexit minister Lord Frost asks for ‘a bit of breathing space’ to negotiate deal and head off trade warThe UK has asked the EU to suspend an imminent ban on the sale of British sausages in Northern Ireland to give both sides “breathing space” to negotiate an agreement on the Brexit protocol and avert a trade war.Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, was speaking days after Boris Johnson warned he would do “whatever it takes” to protect Northern Ireland’s position as part of the UK. Continue reading...

Bart Simpson was a big fan, and the prank call has always been the curse of phone-in shows – as GB News discovered this weekName: Prank calls.Age: The oldest known dates from 1884, and involved telephoning undertakers in Rhode Island to summon them to the homes of not-dead people. Continue reading...

The company has been addressing its historical racism and sexism, adding disclaimers to films and altering theme park rides. But these moves have stirred contempt as well as approvalVery little ammunition is required for a culture war these days, so long as your troops are primed to mobilise at the drop of a blog. Julie Tremaine and Katie Dowd, two writers for the online newspaper SFGate, discovered this last month. Their review of the revamped Snow White ride at Disneyland was generally positive, but queried a new scene showing the prince giving Snow White the all-important “true love’s kiss”.“A kiss he gives to her without her consent, while she’s asleep, which cannot possibly be true love if only one person knows it’s happening,” they wrote. “It’s hard to understand why the Disneyland of 2021 would choose to add a scene with such old-fashioned ideas of what a man is allowed to do to a woman.”

Irish deputy PM’s remarks ‘unhelpful and ill-advised’, says Northern Ireland secretaryThe British government has rebuked Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, for saying he believed there could be a united Ireland within his lifetime.Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Commons on Wednesday the comments were “unhelpful and ill-advised”. Continue reading...

Health authorities say contact tracing under way after man in his 60s, who drives international flight crews, tests positive along with household contact

Polls predict low voter turnout over Iranian regime’s efforts to engineer resultIran’s hardline rulers are battling to ensure not only their preferred candidate, the head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, wins Saturday’s presidential election, but also that the electoral system that puts him into power retains a veneer of credibility with ordinary Iranians.Polls are predicting a turnout as low as 40%, down from the previous 73% in 2017, partly because the Iranian regime has gone further than ever to engineer the result. Even so the regime is nervous since the compressed three-week campaign has, on at least three previous occasions, led to sudden late mood swings. Continue reading...

The singer-songwriter talks about his relative William Faulkner, his violent childhood and drugs – and saves a surprise until the endIf you’re after cheery crowdpleasers, John Murry is not your man. Murry is 41, barely known, and has never come close to denting the charts. Yet he has been compared to the great existential pop poets Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker. And with good reason – he has a rich baritone, writes gorgeous ballads and is half in love with death. The titles of his first two albums, The Graceless Age and A Short History of Decay, reflect the melancholy at the heart of his work. The title of his third, The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes, is equally bleak. Yet, it turns out that Murry has a surprise in store.The singer-songwriter is related to the Nobel-prize winning American novelist William Faulkner. Like Faulkner, he paddles along his stream of consciousness – sometimes ferociously. You get a sense of what his songs are about, but seldom know for sure. Take the new album’s opener, Oscar Wilde (Came Here to Make Fun of You). We get the references to terrorist attacks and the images of foreboding, but the meaning is left to us. Continue reading...

Netflix’s new comfort watch about lovely penguins living in a South African town is gore free and pandemic-perfectIt’s probably for the best that the BBC didn’t put out one of its landmark nature series during lockdown. I don’t think I’d have been able to take it. In times of trouble, the last thing anyone wants to see is a gory, operatic, kill-or-be-killed reminder that all life on Earth is locked in a hellish struggle for survival that, by design, they are guaranteed to lose. Yes, we’re fully aware that life is pain, thanks very much. Not now, Attenborough.You sense that Netflix understands this, too, because that’s the only logical explanation for the existence of its new wildlife show Penguin Town. Penguin Town is about some penguins that live in a town. The penguins are real (they’re endangered African penguins), and the town is real (it’s Simon’s Town in South Africa). But apart from that everything is lovely and cuddly and anthropomorphised to high heaven. Continue reading...

Health experts approve plans to increase cap from 5,000, with final decision expected later this month

ACTU says British documents on in-principle trade agreement suggest Australian firms would not have to prioritise hiring locals

Government seeks to atone for historical abuses as new policy comes after discovery of hundreds of unmarked gravesIndigenous people in Canada who were forced to use European names on official documents can now apply to restore their original names, in a new policy unveiled as the country’s government seeks to atone for historical abuses.“For far too long, Canada’s colonial legacy has disrupted Indigenous peoples’ Indigenous naming practices and family connections from being recognized,” Marc Miller, minister of Indigenous services, said in a statement, adding that the new policy would allow residents to reclaim “the dignity of their Indigenous names”. Continue reading...

Armed with long experience, our writer gives the lowdown on getting there, the best equipment and picking your spot for a great night in the wildWhen I bivvy I’m not in search of sleep. I know I’ll wake up frequently, feeling restricted by my sleeping bag. Bivvying is camping at its simplest: sleeping outside without a tent and minimal gear.It isn’t about a comfortable night’s rest. It’s about squeezing an adventure into a humdrum week; it’s about being in nature, hearing hedgehogs snuffling and waking to the dawn chorus. It’s a short, sharp dose of escapism that has become even more restorative in the past 15 months. And, while I’ve bivvyed on Dartmoor, on Scotland’s west coast and in places in-between, most of the time I’ve been within 10 miles of my home in Bournemouth. Continue reading...

Mouse plague should be diverted to cities to scratch the children of animal rights activists at night, acting prime minister saysMice from regional Australia should be “rehomed” to inner-city suburbs to nibble the feet of animal rights activists and “scratch their children at night”, the country’s acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, has told parliament.McCormack on Wednesday responded to an opposition Labor question about the federal government’s lack of a national plan to combat the mouse plague in regional areas of eastern Australia. Continue reading...

Racegoers have returned to Royal Ascot for the first time since the pandemic began. Punters dressed in outlandish hats, summer dresses, smart suits and masks will cheer on the jockeys over the next four days at the Berkshire race course

Karen Andrews refuses to say what is not correct after Tharnicaa was evacuated from Christmas Island to Perth to treat a blood infection caused by pneumoniaThe home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, has suggested the youngest member of the Murugappan family from Biloela who was evacuated from Christmas Island for medical treatment was not as sick as had been reported.Tharnicaa, who turned four on the weekend, remains in Perth Children’s hospital, where she is being treated for a blood infection caused by undiagnosed pneumonia. Continue reading...

Despite industry denials, many believe unchecked growth and the high density of farms created perfect conditions for the epidemic• Read more: A bird costs less than a pint: welcome to Britain’s poultry capital“I’ve lost everything,” says Andrzej Lewandowski, an egg producer from the village of Brudnice in Żuromin county, about 100km north of Warsaw. Żuromin and the neighbouring county of Mława are the hub of Poland’s chicken industry.“I had to kill 140,000 hens. I lost 500,000 eggs, 40 tonnes of feed and soon I’m going to give up 250 tonnes of cereals I was going to use to make feed,” says Lewandowski about measures to eliminate a bird flu outbreak on his farm. Continue reading...

Israel has launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, the first since a truce ended 11 days of cross-border fighting in May. The airstrike comes in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian territory. The flare-up in violence followed a march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday by Jewish nationalists that had drawn threats of action by Hamas, the ruling militant group in Gaza and counter-protests. Israel's military said its aircraft attacked Hamas armed compounds in Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Younis in the early hours of Wednesday. The strikes come after the Israeli fire brigade reported 20 blazes in open fields in communities near the Gaza border were caused by the release of the incendiary balloons.

Human Rights Watch found sex crime prosecutions involving illegal filming rose 11-fold between 2008 and 2017South Korea’s epidemic of online sexual abuse has left survivors traumatised for life, and is adversely affecting all women and girls in the country, according to a new report.Molka – the use of hidden cameras to film or share explicit images of women without their consent – is forcing victims to contemplate suicide or to consider quitting their jobs or leaving the country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in the report, My Life is Not Your Porn: Digital Sex Crimes in South Korea. Continue reading...

Ballet empowered Bussell who is determined to protect the industry and show how dance is ‘the perfect wellbeing pill’Darcey Bussell has never minded taking risks. That was true as a fearless dancer leaping into principal roles at the Royal Ballet at the age of 20; and it’s just as true now when it comes to saving the art form she’s passionate about.The dance industry has been seriously hit by the pandemic shutdown, even now theatres are tentatively reopening. While larger companies have better weathered the storm, “a lot of smaller companies will still struggle for another year or more,” says Bussell. “It isn’t just a quick comeback, this is going to take many years and they still might not recover perfectly. We’ll still lose talent.” Continue reading...

Deadline to apply for settled status two weeks away, as academics warn that vulnerable groups face loss of rightsAcademics are sounding the alarm about the hundreds of thousands of EU citizens in the UK who face falling into legal limbo on 1 July with their right to rent a home, work or continue in retirement at risk.With just 13 days to go before the government’s deadline for EU and EEA nationals and their children to apply for settled or pre-settled status, a report from UK in a Changing Europe warns of the dangers ahead for those who do not apply by 30 June. Continue reading...

Peruvians from the Huinchiri community in Cusco region are rebuilding a 500-year-old Incan hanging bridge using traditional weaving techniques. The Q’eswachaka bridge crosses the Apurimac river, connecting communities, but fell into disrepair during the Covid pandemic and collapsed in March. Now, the bridge is being rebuilt by teams of workers across both sides of the ravine who carefully balance on main ropes while weaving

Israel has a new coalition government made up of eight very different parties. But having ousted Benjamin Netanyahu, can it hold together?Israel’s longest-serving leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, was ousted from office on Sunday by a coalition of rival parties from across the political spectrum. Yair Lapid, a centrist former TV news anchor, won a confidence vote in parliament by 60 to 59 seats giving the new coalition a razor-thin majority.The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes, tells Rachel Humphreys that Netanyahu’s downfall was marked by jubilant celebrations from his political opponents. But the new coalition of eight parties is far from stable. Dahlia Scheindlin tells Rachel that despite the momentous week in Israeli politics it may not produce a significant change of course on the biggest issues facing the country. And it may not be the last act for Netanyahu in Israeli politics. Continue reading...

Aucklanders are driving more than ever and it’s bad for their health – but efforts to get them out of their cars are failingAuckland may have just won the title of world’s most liveable city thanks largely to New Zealand’s Covid-free status, but it’s not about to receive any traffic awards.Aucklanders drove an average of 1.6bn kilometres a year more in 2017 than they did in 2013. Half of peak-time trips are under six kilometres. New Zealand has the fourth-highest per-capita car ownership in the world and Aucklanders own more cars per capita than ever before.The most recent New Zealand Health Survey reported that 83% of journeys to work were by car. Continue reading...

The 57-year old man was killed by a brown bear whose population has tripled in 20 years, sparking calls for legal huntingA 57-year-old man has been killed by a brown bear in central Slovakia, in what the state forestry company said could be the first confirmed deadly attack by a wild bear, whose population has tripled in 20 years.“An autopsy confirmed today that the man from Liptovska Luzna died from injuries caused by this predator,” the forestry company, Lesy Slovenske Republiky, said on Facebook. Continue reading...

Q’eswachaka bridge connected communities divided by Apurimac river before falling into disrepair because of pandemicPeruvians from the Huinchiri community in Cusco region are rebuilding a 500-year-old Incan hanging bridge, made using traditional weaving techniques to string a crossing together spanning the Apurimac river far below.The Q’eswachaka bridge has been used for over 500 years to connect communities divided by the river. But during the Covid pandemic it fell into disrepair and collapsed in March. Continue reading...

All that talent, all that expectation, and in the end it came down to a first-half own goal scored by Mats Hummels. An awkward deflection off his shin and into the top corner beyond Manuel Neuer was the only time either goalkeeper was beaten.But do not think that the story of this game between the last two World Cup winners, the opening night that could have been the climax of the entire competition, can be told so easily. Do not believe, either, that France will be removed easily. Continue reading...

Exclusive: ministers considering extending compulsory vaccination measure to all NHS staff

Jack Jones and Isaac Rasmussen smuggled cocaine from the Netherlands in boxes of LegoTwo former Royal Marines have been jailed for smuggling cocaine into the UK in boxes of Lego, after one of them was accidentally given to a child for his birthday.The kilo of cocaine inside the gift was among 18kg that Jack Jones and Isaac Rasmussen, both 28, had brought illegally into the country from the Netherlands in DPD parcels. Continue reading...

Calls for exhausted nursing staff to be better supported in hospital emergency departmentsExhausted nurses are opting to take shifts in vaccination hubs instead of emergency departments and GP surgeries because they are paid more to deliver vaccinations and can also obtain much-needed respite from overcrowded public hospitals and clinics.A senior agency nurse working in a vaccination hub told Guardian Australia: “I’ve never been paid as much as I’m being paid to work in the vaccination hub.” Continue reading...

Priya and Nades Murugappan and their daughters will have more freedom in community detention in Perth. But it won’t be like living in BiloelaAfter more than 18 months on Christmas Island, the Tamil family from Biloela will be moved into community detention in Perth after the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said the family would be allowed to reunite on the Australian mainland while they pursue ongoing legal action.But what comes next? Here’s what we know so far. Continue reading...

Woodside Petroleum is planning to expand a liquefied natural gas project in a plan it claims will reduce emissions by 30% by 2030. But analysts say the project will cause emissions to skyrocket. Environment editor Adam Morton explains why the project is being approved and what could it mean for Australia’s emission targets Continue reading...

Ex-wife of Jeff Bezos says she wants to donate ‘fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change’The American novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott said on Tuesday she had given a further $2.7bn (£1.9bn) to 286 organisations.Scott, who was formerly married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, issued a statement regarding distribution of the latest tranche of her $57bn fortune. Continue reading...

From Morgan’s former business partner to Met commissioners, we examine those caught up in inquiryHere we take a look at some of the key figures and most high-profile names linked to the Morgan murder scandal. Continue reading...

Rights groups say Mustafa bin Hashim bin Isa al-Darwish was a minor when alleged offences committedSaudi Arabia has executed a young man who was convicted on charges stemming from his participation in an anti-government rebellion by minority Shia Muslims. A leading rights group said his trial was “deeply flawed”.It was unclear whether Mustafa bin Hashim bin Isa al-Darwish, 26, was executed for crimes committed as a minor, according to Amnesty International. The rights group said he was detained in 2015 for alleged participation in riots between 2011 and 2012. Continue reading...

How did a little girl who loved Westerns grow up into an icon of queer cinema? As she wins a Teddy award, the filmmaker talks about a life devoted to the moviesWhen Jenni Olson accepts the Berlin film festival’s coveted Teddy award this month – for “embodying, living and creating queer culture” – she will join the ranks of past recipients including John Hurt, Joe Dallesandro and Tilda Swinton. “Me and Tilda, you know?” laughs the 58-year-old as she winces in the morning sunlight which is streaming into her home in Berkeley, California. With her youthful features, crisply side-parted hair and apostrophe-shaped eyes, she might have been drawn by Charles M Schulz.“When I started my little gay film series at the University of Minnesota in 1987,” she says, “I never could’ve imagined that one of the largest film festivals in the world would recognise my work.” Along the way, she has been co-director of the San Francisco international lesbian and gay film festival as well as an influential curator, critic and archivist. She has taken her compilations of film trailers – including Homo Promo, Jodie Promo (Foster, that is) and the Jewish-themed Trailers Schmailers – to festivals around the world. Her vast collection of LGBT-themed film prints, along with the promotional materials that featured in her near-exhaustive collection The Queer Movie Poster Book, was acquired by Harvard last summer. Continue reading...

Annual celebration of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses will see dream of ‘citizen’ character played out for realThe cantankerous xenophobe referred to as the “citizen” in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses seems poised to finally get his wish after more than a century.In Joyce’s literary masterpiece, set in Dublin on 16 June 1904, the character rails against foreigners, Jews and the “thicklugged” English and yearns for an Irish battleship to fly the flag of the province of Munster, which shows three crowns on a blue field. Continue reading...

We’d like to hear from those living and working in Tunisia about their views and experiences of the protestsA week of protests has taken place in Tunis after the death of a man in police custody and footage of another man being beaten and stripped by officers went viral. We’d like to speak to those caught up in the events about their experiences.What are your views about the protests? Why are you taking part? Continue reading...

• UN agency says 8,500 abandon homes in Port-au-Prince• Families ‘caught in crossfire’ sleeping on concrete floorsEscalating gang violence has pushed nearly 8,500 women and children from their homes in Haiti’s capital in the past two weeks, according to Unicef.Officials say the gangs’ fight over territory in Port-au-Prince has forced hundreds of families to abandon burned or ransacked homes in impoverished communities, with many of them staying in gymnasiums and other temporary shelters that are running out of water, food and items like blankets and clothes. Continue reading...

New legislation outlaws sharing information seen as promoting homosexuality with under-18sHungary’s parliament has passed a law banning gay people from featuring in school educational materials or TV shows for under-18s, as Viktor Orbán’s ruling party intensified its campaign against LGBT rights.The national assembly passed the legislation by 157 votes to one, after MPs in the ruling Fidesz party ignored a last-minute plea by one of Europe’s leading human rights officials to abandon the plan as “an affront against the rights and identities of LGBTI persons”. Continue reading...

French scientists have noticed blooms of algae are becoming much more visible than they once were – possibly due to accelerated global heating

Rare sit-down talks come after Russian leader shut himself away for months to escape outbreak

Deal to include 15-year cap on tariff-free imports amid fears over potential flood of cheaper meat

The UK has agreed the outline of a trade deal with Australia, with Boris Johnson promising the deal 'will benefit British farmers' and contain strict rules on animal welfare.Speaking alongside Scott Morrison at No 10 on Tuesday, the leader said: 'It will be good news for British car manufacturers, it will be good news for British services, for British financial services, and it will be good news for the agricultural sector on both sides'

World’s biggest furniture retailer found guilty of improperly gathering and storing data on its employeesIkea has been ordered by a French court to pay a €1m (£861,000) fine for spying on its staff, after the world’s biggest furniture retailer was found guilty of improperly gathering and storing data on its employees.The French branch of Ingka Group, which owns most Ikea stores worldwide, was accused of snooping on its workers and some of its clients over several years. Continue reading...

Key elements of the ‘historic’ post-Brexit deal signed by Boris Johnson and Scott MorrisonBoris Johnson has hailed a “historic” trade deal with Australia as a “new dawn” for the two countries, but what is the deal about? Continue reading...

Demonstrators angry over footage showing officers stripping and beating man and death of another in custodyTunisia’s capital has been rocked by a week of protests against police violence that began after the death of a man in police custody and footage that went viral of officers stripping and beating another man.Six nights of demonstrations that began in the working-class districts of Sidi Hassine and Séjoumi in Tunis spread to other neighbourhoods on Monday night. Continue reading...