World news | The Guardian

Rennell Island, in Solomon Islands, has suffered the triple assault of extensive logging, bauxite mining, and a devastating oil spill from a carrier hired by a mining company

Maroš Šefčovič says he is trying to iron out disruption to businesses caused by the protocol

Tony Eastlake died from a knife wound on Saturday after what witnesses described as an ‘altercation’Tributes have flooded in for a flower seller who was stabbed to death close to his stall in north London on Saturday afternoon.Tony Eastlake, 55, died from a knife wound after being attacked in Islington just before 5.30pm, and despite the efforts of emergency services was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses reported him being involved in “an altercation” with another man before the assault, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...

Far-right politician Naftali Bennett says he has agreed to a deal with Yair Lapid to forge a coalition governmentThe far-right Israeli politician Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid have agreed to forge a coalition government that would oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his 12 straight years in power.“It’s my intention to do my utmost in order to form a national unity government along with my friend Yair Lapid, so that, God willing, together we can save the country from a tailspin and return Israel to its course,” said Bennett, a former settler leader and religious nationalist, in a televised address. Continue reading...

Forecasters say temperatures may pass 25C in sunny end to unusually wet and cold MayThe UK could have its hottest day of the year so far on bank holiday Monday, with temperatures predicted to soar after rising across the country over the weekend.Forecasters said the mercury may pass 25C (77F) on Monday, which would be a new record for this year, beating the current high of 24.5C measured in Kew Gardens on 31 March. Continue reading...

Amid yet another outbreak in Victoria, the federal government is again under scrutiny over the slow pace of the vaccine rollout.

As the band releases their first record in a decade, the New Zealand songwriter reflects on its influences – from Fleetwood Mac to Donald TrumpNeil Finn, New Zealand music’s jovial elder statesman, is remembering his best friend and bandmate Paul Hester.He recalls the Crowded House drummer holding Finn’s baby son Liam up to the heavens, recreating a scene from the 70s TV show Roots; how Hester taught Liam’s younger brother, Elroy, to play the drums. But Hester’s gone now – he took his own life in 2005. Continue reading...

The government says Covid travel restrictions have made it too unsafe to carry out the independent observer programIndependent observers are likely to board just a single live export ship in two years after being pulled from voyages due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.The observer program was set up to monitor conditions on live export ships following the 2018 Emanuel Exports scandal, in which 2,400 sheep died from heat stress on their way to the Middle East. Continue reading...

Analysis: schools and hospitals are being clad in dangerous plastics, to the dismay of parents and teachersEighteen months after the Grenfell Tower fire the government announced a ban on the use of combustible materials in the external walls of high-rise residential buildings. It was too late for the 72 people killed at the west London council block that was wrapped in plastics.In the preceding years, a boom in building flats meant that thousands of other blocks were wrapped in similar materials, and the country is now enmeshed in a £15bn high-rise fire safety crisis, leading to rows about who should pay to replace the dangerous materials. Continue reading...

Jasmin Hartin was arrested near to location of body with ‘what appeared to be blood on her arms’The partner of the son of Lord Ashcroft, a Conservative party donor and former treasurer, is being questioned in Belize over the killing of a police officer.Jasmine Hartin was arrested on Friday following the discovery of the body of Supt Henry Jemmott on a pier in the resort town of San Pedro. Continue reading...

When it hurts to walk, bend or even sit, it’s tempting to lie down until your spine sorts itself out. But moving can be the key to getting better

Residents in Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare in the Dordogne told to stay indoors during hunt for convictFrench police backed by helicopters are searching for a heavily armed former soldier who had allegedly opened fire on officers responding to a domestic violence dispute in south-western France.Some 210 officers and four helicopters were involved in the hunt for the man, who has an electronic tag because of a prior domestic violence conviction and who was still at large in the woods of the Dordogne region. Continue reading...

Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed success on the pop, country and gospel charts announced in March he had lung cancerBJ Thomas, a Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed success on the pop, country and gospel charts with hits including Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head and Hooked on a Feeling, has died. He was 78.Thomas, who announced in March that he had lung cancer, died on Saturday at his home in Arlington, Texas, his publicist said. Continue reading...

Timing of surprise wedding prompts questions about possible delay to lifting of Covid restrictions in June

Judge places one of the three men under house arrest as investigation into brake tampering continuesAn Italian judge ruled late on Saturday that three men detained over a cable car crash that killed 14 people in northern Italy could leave prison, with one of them being placed under house arrest.In the crash a week ago, a gondola on the cable connecting the Lake Maggiore resort town of Stresa to a nearby mountain plunged to the ground, killing all aboard apart from a five-year-old Israeli boy who remains in hospital. Continue reading...

Select committee chiefs to demand PM’s former aide backs up explosive claims

The writer discusses his role on the new Heritage Advisory Board set up to guide the national debate on Britain’s pastTrevor Phillips, the broadcaster and writer chosen to become one of the members of a controversial new Heritage Advisory Board set up by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, has revealed the priorities that will guide him as he helps to set a steadying course for the government through Britain’s contested cultural history.Speaking to the Observer Phillips said: “I am not against things being changed. Things get changed all the time. That’s what happens. But I want people to be honest about their motives.” The broadcaster and writer said he does object though to the cultural “window dressing” of merely changing names and taking down statues. Phillips believes it is distraction from the real work of tackling less fashionable problems, such as the lack of opportunity and economic equality facing many Britons. Continue reading...

Analysis: the failings of the Covax programme, logistical issues and governments’ own inadequacies are making a bad situation worse

James Merlino announces $250m support package for hard-hit businesses and says Canberra’s lack of help is beyond disappointingEvery Victorian business owner should be angry that the federal government rejected calls to provide additional financial support during the state’s fourth lockdown, the state’s acting premier says, as the cost to the economy was estimated to hit $700m.The acting premier, James Merlino, announced a $250m package on Sunday that included grants of up to $3,500 for as many as 900,000 businesses and specific support for event organisers. Continue reading...

The actor’s remarkable life fed into the character of Arlette in the Netflix hit, from growing up Jewish in occupied France, via Left Bank jazz and a relationship with Chet Baker, to global fame in her 80sIf you’re an actor in the rare position of becoming internationally famous in your 80s, then it’s rather fitting to achieve it with a role that ripely resembles you. In recent years the world has come to know the veteran French actor Liliane Rovère as Arlette Azémar, the seasoned “impresario” – as she prefers to be known – in the French TV series Dix Pour Cent, AKA Call My Agent!. The show has become a global hit on Netflix, and Arlette has struck a chord as everyone’s ideal disreputable aunt with a repertoire of outrageous stories that she just might tell if the burgundy is flowing. She is the sly, sharp-tongued doyenne of top Paris talent agency ASK, who knows where the bodies are buried, and just when to dig them up.It is easy to imagine that Arlette is Rovère. You can just see Arlette reading Nietzsche while listening to Charlie Parker and smoking a joint – and if you dip into Rovère’s 2019 memoir, La Folle Vie de Lili, you’ll see that she depicts herself doing just that on the first page. Likewise, it came as no surprise in season two to learn that Arlette had supposedly had a youthful romance with jazz legend Chet Baker – a plotline that also came directly from Rovère’s own “wild life”. Continue reading...

After a decade in Hollywood, French actor Omar Sy returned home to star in Netflix’s much-loved hit, Lupin. He talks about playing the charming thief, growing up with Arsenal’s Nicolas Anelka and his battle with racismActors, obliged to exhaustively market their wares, will pose for hours in front of posters of their latest film or TV show. They’ll hop between city premieres, sit on dreary festival panels, tell rehearsed comic stories on night-time talkshows, then get up early to be on breakfast radio. Before meeting Omar Sy, a 43-year-old Frenchman who stars in the massively popular Netflix drama Lupin, I’d never heard of an actor picking up a bucket and brush to spend a day gluing up their own billboard posters on the Paris metro. Sy, who is 6ft 2in, born in a working-class Parisian suburb to West African parents, explains the thinking behind this unusual marketing stunt that took place just before the first series of Lupin debuted earlier this year.“A lot of people know me in Paris,” begins Sy, who worked as a comedian in France through his 20s before becoming a film star there in his early 30s. “Because people in France have watched me in stuff for years, I’m used to meeting strangers who recognise me and who already have smiles on their faces.” In Lupin, lightly adapted from the classic heist books by Maurice Leblanc, Sy plays a French-Senegalese man called Assane Diop, an anonymous Parisian who is used to being ignored and overlooked in his home town, but who is willing to use that to his advantage while robbing the city’s jet-set blind. “The show is entertainment and we want to have fun with it,” he says, “but at the same time we’re talking about something very serious: that some people in France are simply not seen.” Continue reading...

Anger and sadness as Waitrose closes The Good Food Guide, the gourmet restaurant-goer’s friend for the past 70 yearsIn his first job in a pub kitchen as a teenager, someone handed Gareth Ward a copy of The Good Food Guide. “I knew nothing about food or restaurants, but I read it cover to cover like it was a fairystory. It blew me away. It was a world I didn’t even know existed,” he said.Ward, now the chef-proprietor of Ynishir on the mid-Wales coast, decided he wanted to be No 1 in the guide’s top 50. Last year, Ynishir was No 4. “I was so close, and now it will never happen.” Continue reading...

Karen Tumulty’s biography, on the centenary of Nancy Reagan’s ‘official’ birth, paints a romanticised picture of a neurotic prototype for Melania TrumpAfter Jimmy Carter’s glum diagnosis of national malaise in 1979, Ronald Reagan supposedly restored the customary swagger of the US by making the country “feel good about itself”. That folksy blessing didn’t extend to his wife: on the evidence of Karen Tumulty’s biography, Nancy Reagan spent his entire presidency in a state of seething anxiety that frequently tipped over into hysteria.Aides in the White House came to dread her passive-aggressive silences on the phone and her basilisk glare when she allowed them face time. Likening her to a missile, a friend tells Tumulty “she was good at going stealth”. She monopolised Ronnie and staff members who had to relay her phone calls to the Oval Office said they were on the “Mommy Watch”. In later years, as his mind blurred, she became his agitated attendant, whispering panicked prompts in the hope of covering up his debility. Continue reading...

In a new book, one of the most prolific chroniclers of the 80-year-old Nobel laureate draws on rare documents and filmFor three decades, Clinton Heylin has turned out an average of a book a year, about everyone from the Sex Pistols to Orson Welles. But his first love has been his longest. The 61-year-old fell for Bob Dylan when he was 12 and has now published his 11th book about the Nobel laureate, The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling. Covering Dylan’s career to 1966, it coincides with his 80th birthday.Related: My favourite Dylan song – by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more Continue reading...

The author’s new novel centres around an elderly couple bound in a suicide pact. Watching her parents age, the subject of dying with dignity is never far from her mindFor those of us with elderly parents, countless news broadcasts of bewildered residents cruelly exiled in care homes during this pandemic have been especially raw. Even so, I can’t be the only one who’s thought reflexively: “That will never be me.”My friend Jolanta in Brooklyn has made that vow official. Put through quite the medical ringer herself, she tended to a difficult mother through a drawn-out decline. Not long ago, she declared to me fiercely that she’d no interest in living beyond the age of 80. Dead smart and not given to whimsy, Jolanta was already about 60, the very point at which old age starts to seem like something that might actually happen. I couldn’t help but wonder, should she indeed turn 80, will she take matters into her own hands – or not? Continue reading...

The relationship between PM and adviser did not collapse soon enough to save us from the damage caused by leaving the EUNo, “Eyetest” Cummings is not my new best friend. However convincing his criticisms of the prime minister are, the tragedy is that the fallout between the two came much too late for the good of the country. It is not even good enough for Cummings to say that we Remainers are “reasonable people”.If only this spectacular bust-up had occurred during their all- too-successful Brexit campaign. Alas, it did not, and day by day we receive further news of the disaster. Unfortunately, the general public is, understandably, so concerned about the pandemic that widespread appreciation of the Brexit damage has still to sink in. Continue reading...

Rising house prices and restrictions on overseas travel are leading to a surge in popularity for houseboatsLittle more than six months ago, Paul and Anthony Smith-Storey were still living in a three-bedroom semi-detached house near St Helens in Merseyside. But now the couple – and their dog, Dexter – have traded it all in for a life afloat in a two-metre-wide narrowboat on Peak Forest Canal in Derbyshire.“We took the equity out of the house, bought the boat and thought we’d enjoy it while we were still alive,” said Anthony, 48, an NHS sonographer. They are not the only ones. Continue reading...

Daley says he wants ‘another opportunity to get it right’ after leading party to defeat in 2019 but will be challenged by transport spokesperson MinnsFormer NSW Labor leader Michael Daley wants the top job back and is calling on rank and file members upset by the treatment of Jodi McKay to help him “heal our party”.But Daley, who led Labor to defeat in the 2019 state election, will be challenged by the party’s transport spokesperson, Chris Minns, who will announce his intention to run on Monday. Continue reading...

We don’t have to live like swans, mating for life with one partner, says Mariella Frostrup. And be of good heart, someone nice may come alongThe dilemma I am a 48-year-old single woman with a full and independent life. I’m close to my family and have a 15-year-old daughter. I have a good group of friends and several hobbies. I’ve had struggles with mental health in the past, but am doing better now than ever.I’d also love to be in a relationship, but it’s something I’m just not able to find success in. I’ve had relationships, but I’ve spent the majority of my time single. I’ve been online dating for many years, but it seems to bring out the absolute worst in men. It’s such a cliché, but it seems that everyone is married and there are no parties or natural social occasions (including before Covid) that allow for meeting someone in a natural way. Continue reading...

People along Ashburton River preparing to evacuate as MetService issues red warning for heavy rainThousands of homes were at risk of flooding in New Zealand’s Canterbury region on Sunday and people along the Ashburton River were preparing for a mass evacuation, authorities said, as continued heavy rain raised water levels.Three thousand homes were at risk of flooding, the acting minister for emergency management Kris Faafoi said on Sunday, after New Zealand’s MetService issued a red warning for heavy rain for Canterbury and multiple warnings elsewhere. Continue reading...

Discussions took place before Prince Hamzah was put under house arrestAides to the former Jordanian heir Prince Hamzah sought pledges of allegiance on his behalf from tribal leaders and former military officers in the weeks before he was detained, conversations caught on phone intercepts and listening devices suggest.The recordings are key pieces of evidence in the Jordanian government’s case against two men accused of acting as proxies for Hamzah in a failed attempt to oust his half-brother, King Abdullah, as monarch. Both men – Bassem Awadallah, a former envoy to Saudi Arabia, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a cousin of the king – are expected to stand trial in Amman in coming days. Continue reading...

PM says national flagship, a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, would promote British trade and industry around the worldA new national flagship, the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, will promote British trade and industry around the world, Boris Johnson has said.The vessel would be used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK seeks to build links and boost exports following Brexit. It would be the first national flagship since Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, but the new vessel would be a ship rather than a luxury yacht. Continue reading...

MacLeod, also known for the Mary Tyler Moore Show, died at his home in CaliforniaGavin MacLeod, the actor who achieved fame as sardonic TV news writer Murray Slaughter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and cheerful Captain Stubing on The Love Boat, has died aged 90.MacLeod died early Saturday at his home in Palm Desert, California, said Stephanie Steele Zalin, his stepdaughter. She attributed his death to his age, saying he had been well until very recently. Continue reading...

From across India, millions of Hindu pilgrims came to take a ritual dip in the Ganges, then returned home carrying Covid-19. Here are their stories

Shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush had to shut after hundreds of marchers arrived chanting ‘no more lockdowns’Hundreds of anti-vaccine passport protesters invaded the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush on Saturday evening at the culmination of a mass march that drew many thousands and snaked miles through central and west London.There were tussles with police who tried to block access through one entrance to the shopping centre at about 6pm, before protesters quickly realised that another door just yards away was unguarded. Continue reading...

When Thomas Tuchel was given the job of reviving Chelsea at the end of January, he wanted to return them to next season’s Champions League via a top-four Premier League finish. The notion that he might actually win the thing for only the second time in the club’s history was ludicrous.Not any more. On a night of glory for him and his team, the manager applied the final brush strokes to his renaissance masterpiece, out-manoeuvring his friend and rival, Pep Guardiola, and watching Kai Havertz score the decisive goal just before half-time. Continue reading...

Pair exchanged vows at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday, according to newspapersBoris Johnson has reportedly married Carrie Symonds today at Westminster Cathedral in a ceremony planned in strict secrecy, according to newspapers.The pair are said to have exchanged vows in front of a small group of close friends and family, the Mail on Sunday and the Sun newspaper have reported. Continue reading...

Menindee Lake has filled again after recent rain, but government plans could leave Sunset Strip and its waterfront high and dryImagine. Your own private beach and views from your porch to water as far as you can see – all for $5,000.That is not a misprint. It was the price Don Murphy, 76, recently paid for a waterfront house on the shores of Menindee Lake in the hamlet of Sunset Strip, more than 100km east of Broken Hill in the New South Wales outback. Continue reading...

Businesswoman Elmas Saliba denies behaving badly towards travel agent staff after seeking refund for Cook Islands holiday cancelled by CovidA businesswoman says she has been banned from using travel agent Flight Centre for 10 years after complaining to the company about a refund for a holiday cancelled due to Covid-19.Elmas Saliba, who had been a customer of Flight Centre for over 15 years, says she received the “prohibition notice” last week informing her she was banned from attending and transacting with any Flight Centre stores or making contact with staff members. Continue reading...

As Australian forces prepare to leave Afghanistan, local workers who helped coalition troops fear they have been left to the mercy of the TalibanNaser Ahmadi remembers little of the ambush except noise and panic, and the terror of the moment.It was the end of a routine morning in 2011, when Ahmadi was working as an interpreter for the Australian army in north Kandahar, training recruits for the fledgling Afghan national army. Continue reading...

Brazilians staged protests against President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in at least 200 cities and towns across the country on Saturday, carrying signs such as 'Out with Bolsonaro' and 'Impeachment now'.Bolsonaro's popularity has plummeted during the coronavirus crisis, which has killed more than 450,000 Brazilians as the far-right leader played down its severity, dismissed mask wearing and cast doubt on the importance of vaccines.Organised by leftist political parties, unions and student associations, Saturday's protests in the capital, Brasilia, and in Rio de Janeiro were peaceful but in the north-eastern city of Recife, police threw teargas and shot rubber bullets.

As his controversial Gilded Cage installation goes on display at Blenheim Palace, the artist and human rights campaigner reflects on the ‘complicated world’From this week a seven-metre-high installation entitled Gilded Cage, by the exiled Chinese artist and human rights campaigner Ai Weiwei, will be on display at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The piece, originally constructed for Central Park in New York in 2017, was made as a reflection on the worldwide refugee crisis. Ai Weiwei, 64, is currently based in Lisbon. This conversation took place last week by phone.Tell me a little bit about Gilded Cage. How did it come about?

Four members of Black Protest Legal Support arrested at ‘kill the bill’ protests have their charges droppedThe Metropolitan police has said legal observers at protests have an important role to play in the independent scrutiny of policing, as it dropped actions against four people who were arrested during “kill the bill” protests this spring.It is believed to be the first time a police force has admitted the role played by legal observers during protests. The observers are independent volunteers who attend protests to monitor police conduct. Continue reading...

Cameron Deriggs, 18, appeared at Westminster magistrates court over shooting of Black Lives Matter activistAn 18-year-old man has appeared in court charged with conspiracy to murder in relation to the shooting of the Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson.Johnson, 27, was shot at a house party in Peckham, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday and remains in a critical condition in hospital. Continue reading...

Four economical, tasty recipes from Marcus Rashford and Tom Kerridge’s hunger-busting Full Time campaign to fight child food poverty: easy to follow, simple to make and no flash kitchen gear requiredWhile we are from different generations, Marcus and I share a lot of similarities in our journeys to success. We both grew up in a single-parent household on a council estate, and although neither of us ever went without food, times were difficult and money was tight. So it’s heartbreaking to think that 4.2 million children in the UK are now living in poverty. We live in the third largest economy in the world, so it’s time to call time on child food poverty, which is why we’ve set up the Full Time campaign, in support of the nationwide #EndChildFoodPoverty initiative. We want to give children and families the skills and confidence to cook good, proper food in their own kitchens, and encourage them to be creative and have fun together. We’ve created 52 pocket-friendly and seriously tasty recipes that are simple and easy to follow, with an emphasis on limited equipment and the inclusion of store-cupboard goods with a longer shelf life. Now it’s over to you. You won’t need a load of ingredients, equipment or skill. Just head to your local supermarket or corner shop, grab the ingredients and cook up some mega-tasty meals. Continue reading...

From TikTok-assisted drill stars to a ‘ghetto house’ pioneer, here are the acts to watch this season

Whether lurking in the background of The Real Housewives, or starring in their own show, a generation have had their childhoods captured on screen. How did it change them?Shane Keough’s mother, Jeana, is a former Playboy model. His father, Matt, was a professional baseball player. He grew up in a sprawling mansion and wanted for little. When a TV executive called Scott Dunlop decided to make a reality show about the rich, glamorous and drama-loving residents of Orange County, California, he had the Keough family in mind.In 2006, the Keoughs featured on the first episode of The Real Housewives Of Orange County on the US network Bravo. Over the next decade, Real Housewives became a global franchise of women with acrylic nails lustily splashing glasses of wine in each other’s faces. There are now Sydney housewives, Cheshire housewives, even The Real Housewives Of Hungary (Feleségek Luxuskivitelben). Continue reading...

As our thoughts turn to life after the pandemic, authors from this year’s Hay festival choose books that have inspired lasting change in themAli Smith, novelist