World news | The Guardian

Toronto’s unreliable patchwork of restrooms – thrown into relief as Covid closed restaurants, cafes and hotels – hits vulnerable hardestBiking through Toronto on a recent afternoon, Dawn Russell realized she urgently needed to pee. Six months into her pregnancy, she knew that each trip from her house would mean searching for a toilet, but the promise of city streets clear of cars proved too much of a temptation.“The pandemic has made the world so small, and it’s taken so many things away. To also lose the ability to go for a real walk was just a freedom I was not willing to give up,” said Russell, whose name was changed for privacy reasons. “I would rather risk peeing my pants than be confined at home.” Continue reading...

Police inquiry into incident in which George Arthur Hinds died is being classed as a criminal investigationA gas explosion that killed a two-year-old boy was caused by a cut gas pipe inside a neighbouring house, police have said.George Arthur Hinds died in the blast in Heysham, Lancashire, on 16 May. The police inquiry into the incident is ongoing but a Lancashire constabulary spokesperson confirmed it was now being classed as a criminal investigation. Continue reading...

Italy’s worst cable car disaster in more than 20 years has left people questioning what went wrongTwo Sundays before fourteen people fell to their deaths in Italy’s worst cable car disaster in more than 20 years, hundreds of marathon runners had raced up a mountain path behind Lake Maggiore. After reaching the summit of Monte Mottarone, they made their way back down in cable cars, departing every 20 minutes for the return to the lakeside resort of Stresa below.“It’s difficult to believe that just two weeks ago so many people – maybe 800 – ran up the mountain and all came down safely by cable car,” said Rinaldo Piraccini, who was sitting outside L’Idrovolante, a bar and restaurant next to the entrance of the funicular, with his friend Daniele Sacchi on Monday afternoon. Continue reading...

Agriculture is seen as a key culprit in rising emissions. Some on the land are aiming to lead by example, making their properties carbon neutral

Authorities in China say they will take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to monopoly behaviour and hoardingChina has signalled a crack down on “excessive speculation” that is pushing up the price of raw materials including iron ore and copper, amid mounting concerns over rapid growth in inflation.Against a backdrop of soaring raw material costs as several big economies relax Covid-19 restrictions, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it would show a “zero tolerance” approach for monopoly behaviour and hoarding by commodities firms. Continue reading...

Readers respond to the government’s plans to restructure the railway industryI do not agree with much of what Simon Jenkins says on the plans for a part-nationalised, part-privatised rail network (There’s nothing ‘great’ about this new British Railways revamp, 20 May), but he is right that the model being proposed is wrong. There used to be a simple maxim that the reason for involving the private sector in public services was to transfer risk. Taking risks was something the private sector was supposed to be good at. It targets investments to make the service attractive. It then sells that service to maximise profits. Getting the decisions right is the difficult thing – that is the risk it takes. To do this, it needs to be allowed to make key decisions, such as how big the service is and how often it will run, to match how many it believes it can sell. The more it sells, the better the profits. Simple.But the new Great British Railways model takes these risks away from the private sector. The “how big” and “how often” decisions will be taken by the government. The private companies will just get paid for running the trains. The only variable in the private sector’s control will be costs. The decision, therefore, will no longer be “how many do we sell?”, as that will be fixed by the government, but “how do we deliver this more cheaply?”. To maximise profits, the companies will have just one aim: to reduce costs. And we are to believe Grant Shapps when he says that this will result in a better service?

Martin Platt says history not censored by the removal of monuments, while Richard Pantlin of the Oxford Zimbabwe Arts Partnership expresses his disappointment over Oriel College’s decisionHere we go again – the bogus argument that removing statues is “censoring history”, as parroted by Gavin Williamson and some bloke at the Policy Exchange thinktank (Oxford college criticised for refusal to remove Cecil Rhodes statue, 20 May). Let us remind ourselves why statues and monuments are erected – to celebrate a person or an event. That is why Rhodes’ statue is on the facade of Oriel College. It does not record history; that is in archives, documents, imagery, books and minds. History persists and is not censored, erased or changed by the removal of a few statues.

Britain summons country’s ambassador as operating permit of Belarus state airline suspended

The British government has told all UK planes to cease flying over Belarus and summoned the country’s ambassador amid outrage over the arrest of an opposition blogger and his girlfriend when their Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk. The operating permit for Belavia, the country’s state-owned airline, has also been suspended in the UK.

Pedro Sánchez condemns ‘misogynist scourge’ after deaths of women at hands of partners or ex-partnersThe Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has denounced as “unacceptable” a surge in domestic violence in which five women were killed in the past week by their partners or ex-partners.Among the victims was a 42-year-old Barcelona woman who was stabbed to death by her husband who then killed himself, and a pregnant Moroccan woman who was killed by her partner, who called police to confess. Continue reading...

Incident comes with city still on edge after 11 days of war, and as Israeli opposition parties restart efforts to oust Benjamin NetanyahuIsraeli police have shot dead an attacker who stabbed an Israeli soldier and civilian in Jerusalem. The attack on Monday came with the city still on edge after 11 days of war, and as opposition parties restarted efforts to oust the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with a unity coalition.It was the latest reminder of how volatile the situation is, barely two weeks after protests and clashes with police escalated into an exchange of rockets and missiles that killed more than 250 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians living in Gaza. Continue reading...

Detectives investigating whether someone else at south London gathering was intended targetDetectives investigating the shooting of the Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson believe she was not the intended target, and are trying to track down those who left her fighting for her life.Johnson was shot in the head while in the garden of a south London property early on Sunday morning at a gathering of 20 to 40 people. Continue reading...

Rights groups said LDP deserved ‘gold medal for homophobia’ after comments over discrimination billJapan’s ruling party has been accused of violating the Olympic charter after it failed to approve a bill to protect the rights of the LGBT community, during discussions marred by homophobic outbursts from conservative MPs.Closed meetings held this month to discuss a bill, proposed by opposition parties, stating that discrimination against LGBT people “must not be tolerated” ended without agreement after some Liberal Democratic party (LDP) MPs said the rights of sexual minorities had “gone too far”. Continue reading...

From a fuchsia that can withstand all temperatures to a Christmas cactus nicknamed the Survivor, readers tell us about the brilliant, beautiful plants they just can’t kill Continue reading...

Police say it’s likely the 39-year-old got stuck trying to retrieve his mobile phone after dropping it

The young band reflects on their newfound fame after a clip of their performance at the Los Angeles public library exploded online

Roman Protasevich had told friends he was being followed in Athens. Hours later he was escorted away at Minsk airportAs Roman Protasevich’s Ryanair flight began descending towards Minsk, the 26-year-old Belarusian opposition blogger grew frantic, giving his phone and laptop to his girlfriend and pleading with a flight attendant to stop the plane from landing.“Don’t do this, they will kill me, I am a refugee,” a fellow passenger described him as saying. “We must, we have no choice,” the attendant reportedly replied. Continue reading...

Home secretary says system will apply to any entrant without existing visa or immigration statusPriti Patel has declined to say how much, if anything, travellers to the UK might need to pay for a planned new digital visa system, part of a series of sweeping changes to the immigration and asylum system outlined by the home secretary.In a virtual speech on Monday, Patel said the planned system, similar to the US Esta electronic travel authorisation, and which would apply to any entrant without an existing visa or immigration status, would make immigration “simpler and more secure”. Continue reading...

Detectives investigating whether someone else at south London gathering was intended targetDetectives investigating the shooting of the Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson believe she was not the intended target, and are trying to track down those who left her fighting for her life.Johnson was shot in the head while in the garden of a south London property early on Sunday morning at a gathering of 20 to 40 people. Continue reading...

As a young black woman in a white-dominated industry, the film-maker has faced huge obstacles. But her enigmatic, uplifting works about housing estates and gentrification are now winning awards worldwide“I was ready to shake up the world,” says Ayo Akingbade, remembering the day she graduated from film school. But she soon encountered obstacles. “People think you don’t have a voice,” she says, “because you don’t have the money, the name, or whatever.”Akingbade is sitting in her London studio surrounded by pictures of her idols: Sade, Naomi Campbell and Tina Turner – women famed for doing things their own way. And, despite the obstacles, or perhaps because of them, Akingbade has forged her own path as well. The 26-year-old artist and film-maker has written, produced and directed 12 short films that have won international awards, and travelled to prestigious festivals worldwide. She recently scooped the £10,000 Brewers award – and her solo exhibition A Glittering City has just opened at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Continue reading...

Race organisers accused of not heeding warnings after rain, hail, and gale-force winds forecast across Gansu provinceChinese authorities have launched an investigation into the death of 21 people in an ultramarathon over the weekend, as family and friends of the competitors who died in the freezing weather questioned how it was allowed to happen.A further eight runners were injured when extreme weather hit the 100km (62 miles) high-altitude race in Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin in north-western Gansu province. More than 700 rescuers were sent in with thermal imaging drones and radar detectors to find the 172 competitors who were running with little protective clothing other than emergency foil blankets, some of which were reportedly shredded by high winds. Continue reading...

Culture secretary accuses broadcaster of adopting ‘we know best’ attitude over Martin Bashir’s interviewThe UK culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has said the BBC needs far-reaching change, accusing the broadcaster of adopting a “we know best” attitude in the scandal surrounding its Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

New Covid infections are among families in two households; Labor questions PM over pace of change following Brittany Higgins allegations; NSW Upper Hunter byelection results heap pressure on ALP. Follow all the updates live

Barnabas Calder’s engaging study of construction and its environmental impact is at its best when it doesn’t dwell on ancient masterpiecesConsider the Georgian terrace, now a widely admired model of traditional city-building. Its most important material was not those of which it was ostensibly made, but coal: coal fired the kilns that made the bricks and the lime for the mortar; it helped make the glass for the large windows; it smelted and melted the iron for the railings and nails. It was burned in the fireplaces whose serried chimneys rose above the roofline, and was stored in the coal holes beneath the pavement, which were studded with the circular metal plates through which the fuel was poured.Without coal, these houses would have required impossible acreages of forest to supply the timber to generate the heat to manufacture these products. From the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, reports Barnabas Calder, pig iron production in Britain rose by a factor of about 65, which without coal would have required an area of woodland almost the size of England. Continue reading...

Belarus has faced international condemnation after forcing a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition activist to land in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, in order to arrest him.Blogger Roman Protasevich was arrested in a move that some European leaders have called an 'act of state terror and kidnapping' after Belearus placed KGB personnel onboard the flight to force the plane’s diversion from its Athens-Vilnius route

From Nigella’s birthday custard sponge to Meera Sodha’s miso take on a classic brownie, simplicity is the star of these recipesI have a secret confession to make. I have (whisper it) yet to bake a cake. But now I have no excuse. Presenting 20 sublime, simple recipes to make you and me into a Prue or Paul. We have the buttercream of the cake-baking world: Jeremy Lee, Yotam Ottolenghi, Benjamina Ebuehi. There’s Meera Sodha’s salted miso brownies, Nigella Lawson’s birthday custard sponge, Anna Jones’s cardamom and carrot cake. There are cupcakes, sheet bakes, strawberry and cream cakes. And they are all, honestly, easy. I might have to buy an apron. It’s nearly time for tea. Ready. Steady. Bake! Continue reading...

Senior Games figures John Coates and Thomas Bach criticised for attitude amid calls for event to be cancelledThe International Olympic Committee’s insistence that “sacrifices” must be made to ensure the Games go ahead in Tokyo regardless of the coronavirus situation in Japan has sparked a backlash and more calls for them to be cancelled.John Coates, an IOC vice president, drew criticism in Japan after saying the Games would proceed even if the host city was still under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus. “The answer is absolutely yes,” Coates, who is overseeing preparations, said when asked on Friday if he thought they could be delivered despite the restrictions. Continue reading...

Climbing is more popular than ever. Ahead of half-term our writer takes her sons on their first outdoor course in East Sussex

As Covid controls ease, many return to gym and ClassPass reports 600% week-on-week rise in new members

Other ‘irreplaceable’ treasures taken in the burglary include coronation cups given by Mary to the Earl MarshalA set of “irreplaceable” gold rosary beads carried by Mary Queen of Scots to her execution in 1587 are among historic treasures worth more than £1m stolen in a raid at Arundel castle.Other items taken in the burglary at the castle in West Sussex – home to the Dukes of Norfolk and their ancestors for 850 years – include coronation cups given by Mary to the Earl Marshal, as well as gold and silver items. Continue reading...

Bob Dylan is 80 today. But what’s his greatest song? Stars pick their favourite – and recall their own encounters, from Marianne Faithfull turning him down to Judy Collins whacking a policeman to get backstageDesolation Row (1965) Continue reading...

Guardian analysis shows intensification in farming across the EU with a rise in livestock numbers while millions of farms disappearThe EU is to introduce sweeping reforms of farming subsidies this week to try to halt the decline of small farms and protect them from the intensification of agriculture fostered by decades of previous policies.Janusz Wojciechowski, the EU agriculture commissioner, said: “My intention is that this process of disappearing small farms should be stopped. The European food sector in the past was based on small farms, and it should be in the future as well.” Continue reading...

Thousands of hectares would be cleared for vanadium mine in area near where Julia Creek dunnart has been foundThe Morrison government has approved a rare minerals mine that would clear thousands of hectares of potential habitat for an endangered marsupial once thought to be extinct.Concerns have been raised about environmental surveys conducted for the project, as well as an unusual offsetting arrangement that will allow the developer to fund research into the species instead of protecting a designated area of its habitat. Continue reading...

Two images purportedly of Sheikha Latifa – who is believed to be held against her will – have appeared following UN demand for ‘proof of life’A new image appearing to show Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a daughter of the ruler of Dubai, has appeared on Instagram, three months after the BBC aired a video message in which she said she was being held captive in a barricaded villa.The image, if verified, would mark one of the few times Latifa has been photographed in public since shortly before she mounted a failed attempt three years ago to escape her father’s control by boarding a yacht to sail across the Indian Ocean. Continue reading...

Couple have been engaged since late 2019 but had put their marriage plans on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic

Major survey will explore evolution of black British identityA major national survey, launched by Cambridge University, I-Cubed Ltd and the Voice Newspaper, will explore the evolution of black British identity, from the generations who lived through the 1970s and 1980s to the students leading the Black Lives Matter movement today.At the launch of the Black British Voices Project, the Guardian asked three people, from different generations, what it means to them to be black British. Continue reading...

Shooting in Southwark, London came after numerous death threats, says her Taking the Initiative partyThe Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is in a critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to her head in an incident in south London, her affiliated group, Taking the Initiative party, has announced on social media.In a statement on the group’s Facebook page, the party said that the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday and followed “numerous death threats”. Continue reading...

Strategic burning combines modern technology with traditional Aboriginal knowledge – and generates income through carbon credits

UN watchdog and Iran so far unable to agree terms for one-month extension of monitoring of nuclear sitesThe future of talks to bring the US back into the Iran nuclear deal is under threat after the UN nuclear watchdog was unable to reach an expected agreement on how to continue to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites.The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency was forced to postpone a planned press conference on Sunday that was due to set out details of a one-month extension of the current light-touch inspection regime amid conflicting signals from Iran over whether it would sign up to it. Continue reading...

Small group of men tried to enter protest area in Kensington waving Palestinian flagsPolice officers stepped in after a small group of people chanting “free Palestine” approached a gathering of pro-Israel protesters in London.The large crowd, which gathered in Kensington High Street on Sunday afternoon, waved Israeli flags and banners and chanted loudly, while speeches were made. Footage circulating on social media appeared to show the English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, among the attenders. Continue reading...

In the past few months rural communities throughout eastern Australia have been besieged by a mouse plague that has devastated homes and businesses. The NSW state government has faced allegations that they’ve been slow to respond, but there’s also fears that their efforts to intervene could have a serious impact on the environment. Matilda Boseley speaks to residents from rural NSW about what it’s like living through a mouse plague, and explains what the experts say could finally bring this plague to an endYou can also read: Continue reading...

Government argues 34,000 parents on the program have started employment, but figures show only 3% have left the scheme after ‘finding stable work’Social service, human rights and domestic violence groups have warned against government plans to expand a welfare program aimed at single mothers, arguing the ParentsNext scheme is “punitive and flawed”.Since 2018 about 150,000 people have been required to attend meetings with a ParentsNext provider and education programs or other activities in order to receive their parenting payment. Continue reading...

After a year of radical upheaval, the country’s premier fashion event will look very different in 2021Australian fashion week was ready for a change in late 2019. Before a global pandemic irrevocably changed the fashion industry, live events and just about everything else, the week’s organisers had already announced a significant shift: the public would be able to buy tickets to what was previously a trade-only event.Last year’s shows did not go on, but IMG, the global events company that runs Australian fashion week, is optimistic about the 2021 edition. Barring public health emergencies, the event will begin on 31 May. Continue reading...

After 450,000 Covid deaths, president parades through Rio in effort to reenergnise far rightThe Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has led a raucous column of motorcycle enthusiasts through the streets of Rio in an attempt to reenergise his flagging far-right movement as public anger grows over his handling of the country’s Covid outbreak.Thousands of flag-waving Bolsonaristas gathered outside the Olympic Park in west Rio on Sunday morning for the two-wheeled show of support before roaring east towards the southern beach districts and city centre, with Bolsonaro near the front. Continue reading...

Crown prince says emirates willing to back Cairo’s efforts to shore up Friday’s truce between two sidesThe UAE is willing to play a role in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, joining an Egyptian push to bolster a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalate tensions between the two sides, the Gulf powerbroker’s leadership has said.Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said the Emirates, which signed a peace deal with Israel last year, was willing to mediate between both sides and to support Cairo’s efforts to shore up a truce that brought 11 days of fighting to a close on Friday. Continue reading...

Spanish enclave in north Africa identifies 438 unaccompanied children and teenagersHundreds of children and teenagers are crammed into warehouses or sleeping rough in city parks in the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta as their fate remains up in the air days after thousands of migrants arrived in the city.More than 8,000 migrants last week crossed into the seven-square mile territory – many of them swimming or piling into flimsy inflatable rafts to skirt the breakwater that marks the border with Morocco – amid reports that Moroccan officials had relaxed controls over the border last week . At least two people died attempting the crossing. Continue reading...

Volcano Mount Nyiragongo erupted during the night but lava flow seems to have lost intensityThousands of residents have abandoned their homes in a major city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after lava flows from a nearby volcano reached its outskirts.Lava from the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo destroyed homes on the edge of Goma, which has a population of about 1 million people, but appeared to be slowing by midday on Sunday, giving hope that further damage may be avoided. Continue reading...

From flâneurs to rallies, protests to parties, human beings are drawn to congregate. With social gatherings a possibility once again, Olivia Laing considers the crowd in art and literatureWhen I was very lonely in New York, one of the things that most comforted me was to wander up Broadway or along the East River, alone but in the company of thousands of strangers. Anonymised by the multitude, I felt the burden of my sorrow slide off me. It was a relief to be part of a whole, no longer agonisingly singular but a drop in what Walt Whitman once called “the rolling ocean the crowd”.Until last year, the crowd was the trademark of the city. All through the day and night, people shoaled together, hurrying through streets, dawdling in parks, jostling at protests, concerts and football matches, like so many bees in a hive. Pre-pandemic, any film that wanted to kindle an atmosphere of eeriness needed only to show one of the world’s great cities empty of people to instantly convey disaster. From I Am Legend to 28 Days Later, the depopulated city is axiomatic of catastrophe. Continue reading...

After being abducted on assignment in Afghanistan, journalist Mellissa Fung shares an intense bond with the teenage girls who were held captive by Boko HaramThe journalist and filmmaker Mellissa Fung is showing me her wound – or to be precise, the scar where her wound once was. It’s from the struggle with one of the Afghan rebels who, 12 years ago, kidnapped Fung near Kabul and held her in a pit in the ground for a month, a place she refers to simply, and rather chillingly as, “the hole”.“In combat training they teach you not to fight back, but I played ice hockey as a kid so I couldn’t help it,” Fung says. “The guy had a knife so I learned my lesson.” Continue reading...