World news | The Guardian

Island hit by biggest economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union has two vaccines in phase three clinical trialsHit by the double whammy of US sanctions and a pandemic, Cuba is going through its gravest economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pharmacy shelves are barren. People queue for hours to buy chicken. It’s hard to find bread.And yet this island under siege could become the smallest country in the world to develop its own coronavirus vaccines. Of the 27 coronavirus vaccines in final stage testing around the world, two are Cuban. Continue reading...

Gareeca Gordon stabbed Phoenix Netts in Birmingham and put her remains in suitcases after being refused sexA woman murdered a vulnerable female neighbour who had turned down her demands for sex before dismembering her body with a circular saw and attempting to burn the remains in a forest.Gareeca Gordon, 28, stabbed her friend Phoenix Netts, also 28, in a shared property run by a service that works with homeless people in Birmingham. Continue reading...

Exclusive: supporters of former ambassador in London aim to have court rule junta is illegitimateA UK-based NGO and solicitors representing Myanmar’s former ambassador to the UK want to use the junta’s efforts to evict him from his London residence as a test case to establish the illegitimacy of the junta in the English courts.Kyaw Zwar Minn became an international cause celebre last month when he was locked out of his embassy by his deputy, Chit Win, after breaking ranks with the military and calling for the release of Myanmar’s deposed civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

Visits stopped due to Home Office contract dispute weeks before Fishmongers’ Hall attack, inquest hearsThe convicted terrorist Usman Khan stopped getting regular mentor visits aimed at preventing him reoffending because of a Home Office contract dispute weeks before his deadly attack at Fishmongers’ Hall, an inquest has heard.In November 2019, within a year of being released from prison on licence, Khan killed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones at prison education event at the hall. Continue reading...

Concerned British doctors of Asian heritage says India’s Covid crisis needs a strong global response

Line of Duty, Game of Thrones, Lost, Dexter ... so much TV goes from fan favourite to laughing stock the second its finale ends. Has any show ever stuck the landing?

‘A wonderful day’: friends and families finally able to enjoy a cuddle after months of abstention

Despite warning from MPs against overseas trips, the tourism industry is reporting an increase in bookings from July onwards

How a referendum would be triggered and the options offered to voters are fraught with difficultyBrexit has shown the dangers of failing to plan fully for the consequences of referendums, so what would happen if we were to get one about unifying Ireland?There appears to be no chance of political leaders on both sides in Northern Ireland buying into the kind of pre-designed outcomes a referendum would require. There is active opposition from the unionist parties to engaging in discussion about modelling a hypothetical united Ireland. “Why would we talk about unification? That would be like discussing our own suicide,” said one leading unionist politician. On the other side, Sinn Féin will not be advancing arguments for a permanent place in the UK. So the chances of both sides agreeing the terms of a vote appear slim to none. Continue reading...

MP for Lagan Valley says he will face Edwin Poots to create first leadership contest for party

John Swartzwelder, known for creating some of the best Simpsons episodes, has opened up about the show’s heyday – and why Homer is a big talking dog

Valentyn Vasyanovych’s award-winning drama casts deeply likable non-professionals – most with direct experience of the conflict with RussiaUkrainian writer-director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s drama won the top prize in the Horizons strand at the Venice film festival in 2019: in the signature style of Slavic arthouse cinema, it mostly comprises a series of long-held, static widescreen tableaux. Each scene is about the same length, and within each long, ventilator-speed shot everything seems to carry the same weight: a man being berated by a supervisor at a steel mill and then jumping into the smelter in despair; another guy making a bathtub out of a rusted out car; a couple having sex in real time. The story is set in 2025, “a year after the end of the war” – in other words the one with Russia in eastern Ukraine that’s been rumbling away for years now. But instead of being numbingly dreary and depressing, given the economically depressed, horrifically polluted and landmine-strewn region, Atlantis is strangely upbeat, oddly hopeful even.It helps that Vasyanovych, who was also the cinematographer and editor of The Tribe, an outstanding Ukrainian film from 2014, has cast deeply likable and empathic non-professionals, most of whom reportedly had direct experience of the conflict. They reward the director with fine performances. Lushly bearded Serghiy (Andriy Rymaruk) has a gentle, bearish mien and is entirely convincing as a former soldier and former steelworker, who ends up helping former archaeology student and ex-paramedic Katya in the ongoing project of retrieving the anonymous remains of the dead from the fields of battle so that forensic specialists can try to identify the bodies. (She notes with bitter irony that she’s ended up working in the field she studied, only now she’s digging up bodies much less ancient than she expected.) Continue reading...

European Commission recommends easing restrictions on travel into EU by vaccinated people; India reports slight drop in cases and deaths

James Cleverly says ‘arbitrary’ detention of dual nationals such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should not be linked to other disputesBritish dual nationals should not be used as “political leverage” by Iran, according to a UK minister, who pushed back on claims in Tehran that a multimillion pound debt is to be settled for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.The renewed focus on the plight of the 42-year-old British-Iranian woman – who has been held in Iran since 2016 – continued amid some signs that Iran could be on the verge of releasing two US-Iranian nationals. Continue reading...

In first appearance since death of Prince Philip, Harry urges people to ‘look beyond ourselves’

Tensions in the region are escalating, but trumpeting the coming threat of war plays into Beijing’s goals and risks undermining Taiwan furtherAustralians could be forgiven this week for thinking that we are on the precipice of a war with China. They have heard versions of this message from ministers current and former, senior public servants, analysts and media headlines. But the stoking of fears around a war misreads the complexity of Australia’s choices in the region, serves China’s goals and, most importantly, does a disservice to the Taiwanese people.Related: ‘Fuel on the fire’: war of words between Australia and China stokes tension Continue reading...

Monday: 44% of women murdered by a partner in Queensland previously misidentified as perpetrator. Plus: report predicts turnaround in budget fortunesGood morning – it’s Monday 3 May, and this is Imogen Dewey with today’s headlines. Just over a week out from the federal budget, Australia’s economy looks “happier” than many expected. Meanwhile, India’s prime minister may be facing fallout from the ongoing coronavirus catastrophe, and amid questions over systemic failings in its domestic violence response, Queensland police are being asked to look inward.Almost half the women murdered by an intimate partner in Queensland had previously been labelled by police as the perpetrator of domestic violence, research has found. As the Queensland police force again reckon with the brutal consequences of family violence – the deaths of Gold Coast women Doreen Langham and Kelly Wilkinson, who both repeatedly sought help – they have acknowledged and pledged to address systemic failings in their response. But there are already concerns among experts and women’s advocates that police are resisting the need to look too deeply within. Continue reading...

US singer, 19, made claim in Vogue interview when discussing new single about abusive relationshipBillie Eilish has spoken about the prevalence of sexual exploitation of minors in an interview, saying “it’s everywhere”.Speaking about her new single, Your Power, which addresses an abusive relationship between a minor and an older person, the 19-year-old singer told Vogue that all her peers had experienced some sort of sexual impropriety. Continue reading...

Bergman, 24, had been in Israel to train as a rabbi before dying at Mount Meron

Leader of Scottish Conservatives says PM should ‘of course’ quit if he has not been honest about payments for Downing Street refurbOne of the UK’s most senior Conservatives has broken ranks and called for Boris Johnson to resign if he breached ministerial rules over the refurbishment of a Downing Street flat, amid new claims that undeclared donations have been sought to fund the prime minister’s lavish lifestyle.Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said on Sunday that Johnson should “of course” quit if he is found to have breached the code by failing to be honest about cash payments from a Conservative donor sought to redecorate his official residence. Continue reading...

President Jair Bolsonaro’s prediction that the coronavirus crisis was nearing an end was misguided in Brazil and many of its neighbours

Prime minister defeated in West Bengal as voters send message over handling of coronavirus crisis

Retractable floor will allow visitors to see the ‘majesty of the monument’ from its centre, says culture ministerThe floor of Rome’s Colosseum, where gladiators once fought against each other and wild animals, is set to be restored to its former glory.Milan Ingegneria, a structural engineering and architecture firm, has won an €18.5m (£16m) bid to build and install a retractable arena floor that will allow visitors “to see the majesty of the monument” from its centre, culture minister Dario Franceschini said on Sunday. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says it is ‘difficult to argue against’ suggestion the dual national is being held state hostageIran’s treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe amounts to torture, the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said, as the Foreign Office downplayed an Iranian state TV report saying Britain would pay a £400m debt to secure her release.Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said the family had “heard nothing” about a deal to secure her release, as hopes were raised by the suggestion that the long-running dispute had been resolved. Continue reading...

As it marks its hundredth year, figures from the region talk of identity and allegiance – and the humour running under it allThe centenary of the founding of Northern Ireland is to be marked on Monday – albeit overshadowed by political turmoil and the Covid-19 pandemic.Eight figures from Northern Ireland reflect on a contested centenary and the nuances of identity. Continue reading...

American stage and screen actor who won an Oscar for her role in the 1987 film MoonstruckAfter more than two decades of distinguished work in the US theatre as an actor, director and teacher, and appearances in a dozen or so films, Olympia Dukakis, who has died aged 89, became hugely famous overnight by winning the best supporting actress Oscar in 1988 for her performance as Cher’s mother in the romantic film Moonstruck (1987).The course of her career suggests that her ambitions never lay in the direction of Hollywood. Her theatrical credits read like the canon of classic and modern plays: she had roles in plays by Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Lorca, Pirandello, Brecht, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams, on and off Broadway, as well as in various regional theatres across the country. In films, she took on several character roles, making an impression in scores of pictures for more than half a century. Continue reading...

In her early days with the girl band, Pinnock felt invisible and couldn’t understand why. Then the role of race became clearLeigh-Anne Pinnock has been living the pop star dream ever since she was 19 and stepped on to a stage to audition for The X Factor, singing Rihanna’s Only Girl (In the World). She has now spent almost a decade in one of the UK’s biggest girl groups. But she had a difficult start with Little Mix, and not because she didn’t get on with her bandmates. She felt “invisible”, and would regularly cry in front of her manager. “I just couldn’t seem to find my place, and didn’t know why,” she said in a magazine interview in 2018. “I didn’t feel like I had as many fans as the other girls. It was a strange feeling.” She had, at that point, finally realised what the trouble was. “I know there are girls of colour out there who have felt the same as me,” she said. “We have a massive problem with racism, which is built into our society.”If she expected the interview to change anything, she was disappointed. “I really did feel as if it fell on closed ears,” she says today, speaking from the Surrey mansion she shares with her footballer fiance, Andre Gray. “It was almost like people just weren’t ready to talk about race then.” Continue reading...

Protests against military rule were some of the biggest in days after a spell of dwindling crowdsSecurity forces in Myanmar have opened fire on some of the biggest protests against military rule in days, killing seven people, media reported.The protests, after a spell of dwindling crowds and what appeared to be more restraint by the security forces, were coordinated with demonstrations in Burmese communities around the world to mark what organisers called “the global Myanmar spring revolution”. Continue reading...

Man, 31, and woman, 29, held after report of trespassers in grounds of Royal LodgeTwo people have been arrested after police were called to reports of intruders in the grounds of the Queen’s Windsor estate.Thames Valley police arrested a 29-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, both from London, after a report that two trespassers had been in the grounds of the Royal Lodge at Windsor Great Park in Berkshire on the afternoon of 25 April. Continue reading...

Questions raised about accountability for deaths at Jewish religious festival at mystic’s tombIsrael observed a day of mourning on Sunday for 45 people crushed to death at a Jewish religious festival, with flags lowered to half-mast and questions raised about accountability for one of the country’s worst civilian disasters.In accordance with Jewish tradition, funerals were held with as little delay as possible. More than 20 of the victims of Friday’s disaster on Mount Meron were buried overnight after official identification was completed. Continue reading...

When Emma Beddington took part in a challenge to wear the same dress for 100 days, she wasn’t expecting to feel the positive force of sisterhood alongside a few neat cleaning hacksCould you wear the same thing for 100 days? I could, because I don’t care about clothes. I do not like how they look on me, a 46-year-old woman whose hobbies are cake and sitting still, so I stick to navy or green trousers in summer and black trousers in winter, coupled with plain tops and jumpers. I suppose that could be chic, or ingenious, a Zuckerberg-esque Silicon Valley hack, but it’s neither. It’s just a bit depressing.Sometimes my best friend sends me links to clothes she likes – slinky silk dresses, pretty tops – and I say, “I can totally imagine you in that.” I can, but I can’t imagine myself in anything other than my tedious uniform. My ugly jumpers and toothpaste-stained trousers are “hate dressing” I fear, a widely reported pandemic phenomenon in which you wear things you do not even like as a sort of fabric protest against the general awfulness of everything. Continue reading...

Anas Sarwar is challenging Nicola Sturgeon – the first time in British politics that two major party leaders have contested the same seat

When a busy young woman befriended an old man living on his own, a compelling relationship was bornWhen the first lockdown began and Boris Johnson finally pointed his finger down our throats and warned us in a tweet that we must stay at home “as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe”, he also spoke in a speech of the “fortitude of the elderly”. Suddenly, the rising stats of loneliness began to be bandied about on every news feed. One in four adults said they had experienced feelings of loneliness in the previous two weeks, according to a Mental Health Foundation survey, from last April. The number of people who felt “always or often” lonely reached 8%, the highest it’s ever been on record.Before the word “bubble” was revamped to mean “people you could have actual physical contact with”, I lived what I now refer to as the “fast life”: always moving, constantly adrenalised, permanently stimulated. My alarm would scream down my ear at 6.30am. I’d squeeze my way into a spin class at 7am, then eat a bowl of Tupperwared oats on the train as I made my way to a café to start work for the day. I’d spend money I didn’t have on overpriced coffees and average lunches, and then I’d rush to audition for an acting part, making small talk with my doppelgängers in the waiting room. Continue reading...

On the eve of his 16th album, the master of English pop takes questions from musicians, politicians and readers on his punk past, quitting booze, and what lockdown does to mod haircutsIn the kitchen of a recording studio, down a long lane, off a village high street, stands the wiry, wired figure of Paul Weller, looking at his shoes. Oxblood fringe-and-buckle loafers. He is explaining the subtle differences between this pair, and another pair he owned a few years ago.“This part here used to be a few millimetres deeper,” he says. “And the buckle was a tiny bit bigger.” Continue reading...

Boris Johnson and his former aide are locked in a relationship that is still having damaging consequences for all of usBefore he moved on to lower things, Boris Johnson lived in our neighbourhood, just off the Holloway Road in London’s Islington. Another famous Islingtonian who lived off the Holloway Road was the fictional Mr Pooter, protagonist of the Victorian classic Diary of a Nobody.Mr Pooter’s wife was called Carrie, and his close neighbour went by the name of Cummings, of whom on one occasion Pooter writes: “Cummings and I have a little misunderstanding.” Continue reading...

Foreign affairs minister says ‘temporary pause’ is to alleviate the ‘significant burden’ returning travellers were placing on health systemsForeign affairs minister Marise Payne has defended the government’s decision to ban Australian citizens returning home from India, saying the move was “not in any way” motivated by racism.On Saturday the government announced it will introduce penalties including fines and jail time for anyone who tries to return home from India, with treasurer Josh Frydenberg saying the move was “drastic” but needed. Continue reading...

The government must pay its £400m debt to Iran and ensure her freedom above all elseThe anger expressed last week by the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over the government’s failure to secure the release from Iran of her wrongly accused constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is fully justified. This distressing case has dragged on for too long. Again and again since Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s arrest in 2016, ministers have hinted at progress, only for hopes to be dashed. Now she has been condemned to a further year in jail. This is outrageous. Yet what does the government do? Nothing that makes a difference.Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of several UK and European citizens who hold dual Iranian nationality and are ensnared in Iran’s politicised judicial system. It has long been clear that Iran is using them as bargaining chips in a wider diplomatic negotiation. Yet Boris Johnson’s government seems unable to grasp the realities of this distasteful process. The Foreign Office’s softly-softly approach to this case has been interpreted as weakness by some in Tehran. Continue reading...

Your mother’s revelations are an offloading too far, says Mariella Frostrup. You will have to take the ‘adult’ position and bring it to an endThe dilemma My mother recently started going to therapy. I’m really happy for her. She has always been in a financially controlling relationship with my dad which, at times, has been emotionally abusive. She’s really enjoying therapy and having quite a few realisations about her marriage, and I think she’s finally seeing how badly she has been treated. But she is also burdening me with all the gory details. I really want her to seek help and feel empowered, but as her child I find it hard to see the reality of my parents’ relationship.While I suppose I have always been on my mum’s side and encouraged her to seek more independence and tell my dad to sod off, it is tough to hear the details. It makes my feelings towards my father feel complicated: even loving him feels like a betrayal. I want my mum to be able to talk about these things with friends (she has plenty of them) and her therapist, but am I being a bad daughter and perhaps even a bad feminist if I don’t want to know all the details of my dad’s poor behaviour? Or am I being childish and should I accept this as part of being an adult – seeing your parents as the flawed people they are? Continue reading...

Mark McGowan says the much-anticipated western derby AFL match will go ahead but without spectatorsPerth will not be forced back into lockdown, but the state’s premier, Mark McGowan, announced spectators will not be allowed to attend the much-anticipated western derby AFL match after the state recorded three new Covid-19 cases.On Saturday, McGowan revealed that a hotel quarantine security guard and two of his housemates, both food delivery drivers, had tested positive for Covid-19. Continue reading...

Nationals backbencher Matt Canavan has been given second spot under Coalition’s internal rules, while Stoker will be in third positionLiberal senator James McGrath has won the coveted top spot on Queensland’s Senate ticket, beating the newly-appointed assistant minister Amanda Stoker.About 300 delegates from the Liberal National party’s state council voted to give McGrath the first position on the ticket for the next federal election, guaranteeing him another six years in the Senate. Continue reading...

Saturday and Sunday expected to be sunny with showers, before ‘washout’ on MondayForecasters are predicting a bank holiday “washout” with heavy winds and rain expected to move in across the UK.Weather warnings could be imposed over the weekend with 50mph winds and 40mm of rain to hit parts of the country on Monday, the Met Office said. Continue reading...

Chris, 29, digital experience consultant, meets Ariana, 31, graduate student – in person!What were you hoping for?

Hibikiryu, 28, landed awkwardly during a bout in March and was later treated for a spinal injuryA Japanese sumo wrestler has died a month after suffering a head injury during a bout, as the ancient sport’s authorities come under renewed pressure to provide more urgent care to injured athletes.Hibikiryu, a 28-year-old rikishi in one of the lower divisions, died from acute respiratory failure, the Japan Sumo Association said, despite earlier showing signs that he was recovering from his injuries. Continue reading...

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg defends Coalition’s move as ‘drastic’ but neededThe Australian government will introduce penalties including fines and jail time for anyone who tries to return home from India, with treasurer Josh Frydenberg defending the moves as “drastic” but needed.The move comes after two Australian cricketers who had been in India returned home on Thursday after transiting through Qatar, despite the government earlier in the week banning all direct flights from Covid-ravaged India. Continue reading...

Recording Academy was slammed last year after The Weeknd got zero nominations despite top-selling albumThe organisers of music’s Grammy Awards have announced an end to the “secret” committees that have led to allegations that the highest honours in the industry are open to rigging.The Recording Academy said on Friday that nominations for the next Grammy Awards in January 2022 will be selected by all of its more than 11,000 voting members, instead of by committees of 15-30 industry experts whose names were not revealed. Continue reading...

Brian Earl Johnston allegedly set his estranged wife on fire in Gold Coast backyardThe man accused of killing mother of three Kelly Wilkinson has awoken from his coma and been informed he has been charged with her murder.Brian Earl Johnston was visited by police on Friday at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital, where he had been in an induced coma and under guard for 10 days. Continue reading...

Reem Yelda lodged a sexual harassment claim in 2017 after seeing how she had been portrayed in promotional materialA woman featured in a Sydney Water spine safety poster urging the workforce to “Feel great – lubricate!” has been awarded $200,000 in damages.Former Sydney Water worker Reem Yelda lodged a sexual harassment claim in 2017 after seeing how she had been portrayed in promotional material posted around its facilities. Continue reading...

Brussels promises to retaliate against move, which Moscow says was a response to punitive EU measures in MarchThe EU has accused Russia of seeking confrontation after the Kremlin sanctioned senior officials in Brussels and the president of the European parliament in a retaliatory move.In a joint statement by Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and David Sassoli, the heads of the European commission, council and parliament said Moscow’s action on Friday had been “groundless”. Continue reading...

Robert Pether’s wife says he is being kept in jail as ‘leverage in a dispute’ with country’s central bankThe wife of an Australian man arrested in Iraq has pleaded with the foreign minister, Marise Payne, to intervene and help her husband, who she says is being kept in jail as “leverage” to help the country’s central bank.Mechanical engineer Robert Pether, 46, remains behind bars in Baghdad without the means to contact his family after being arrested without warning three weeks ago. Continue reading...