World news | The Guardian

Russia’s military buildup is a test of western resolve and Ukraine has suffered enough from territorial aggressions by its neighbourThe motive for Russia’s military buildup on the border with Ukraine is unclear, but opacity is the point. Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is meant to defy and confound international onlookers. Ordinary Russians have nothing to gain from the Kremlin’s sending tens of thousands of soldiers, plus tanks and artillery, to menace a neighbouring state, just as they saw no material benefit in the annexation of Crimea in 2014. On the contrary, they suffered from the ensuing international sanctions.But Mr Putin’s military adventures allow him to pose as a strongman who defies the west. Seizing territory that was once in the Soviet Union was central to the campaign to restore national pride after the loss of superpower status. That agenda is vital to a president who has little else to offer his people. Endemic corruption and bullying authoritarianism have produced economic stagnation. For want of a plan to make Russia competitive in civil spheres, the Kremlin relies on military posturing, cyber-espionage and geopolitical mischief to prove that it cannot be ignored. Continue reading...

After the heartbreak of a family member’s death, Indigenous Australians face years of gruelling court proceedings, often with little to show for it at the endOne year after the coronial report into her mother’s death in a police cell, Apryl Day was leading another protest. It was a national day of action marking the 30th anniversary of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. As Day stood on stage her mother’s face looked back at her from placards, along with the faces of some of the other 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody since 1991.Tanya Day died from an injury sustained in a police cell after she was arrested for being drunk on a train, under a law the royal commission recommended be appealed 30 years ago. The Victorian government finally agreed to repeal the law in 2019, two years after the Yorta Yorta woman’s death, following the sustained activism of her children. Continue reading...

Copenhagen becomes first government to suspend the vaccine over suspected rare side-effects

Government denies renewal of temporary residency status from about 189 SyriansDenmark has become the first European nation to revoke the residency permits of Syrian refugees, insisting that some parts of the war-torn country are safe to return to.At least 189 Syrians have had applications for renewal of temporary residency status denied since last summer, a move the Danish authorities said was justified because of a report that found the security situation in some parts of Syria had “improved significantly”. Continue reading...

Organisers seek backing of two-thirds of MPs for all-party motion citing China’s treatment of UyghursThe House of Commons is to be given a chance to vote to declare that a genocide is under way in Xinjiang province in China, in a move likely to damage Sino-British relations.The organisers hope that at least two-thirds of MPs will vote on 22 April to back the all-party motion in a declaration of intent against China for its treatment of the Uyghur Muslims. Continue reading...

Prime minister questioned on controversy over Greensill’s influence within government with links to David Cameron and a senior civil servant

It’s most often associated with mint sauce, but can be used for everything from a creamy broad bean pasta to a thirst-quenching lemon sorbetThere are many types of mint, with variations in taste and strength, all of which we can safely ignore: when you buy it in the supermarket, it just says “mint” on the packet. That’s all you need to know.If, however, you wish to explore the subtle differences between ginger mint and pineapple mint, you should probably begin by growing your own. Of all the common culinary herbs, mint is the hardest to kill: it’s easy to raise from seed, but if you stick a sprig in a jar with some water, it will sprout roots in a matter of days. It doesn’t mind shade, rough ground or being ignored. Your biggest problem will be stopping it from taking over. Here are 17 ways to get the most out of it. Continue reading...

The weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker has caused a stir with his tousled look – but experts say pandemic mops are here to stayName: Lockdown hair.Age: One and a bit.

Isobel Rowbotham says she had pleaded with Usman Khan to stop during Fishmongers’ Hall attackA woman injured in the Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist attack in London said she had played dead after the convicted terrorist Usman Khan stabbed her repeatedly, an inquest has heard.Isobel Rowbotham was a part-time officer manager for Learning Together, the group that organised the prisoner rehabilitation conference at the hall where the attack took place on 29 November 2019, the inquest jury was told. Continue reading...

Willie Hay accuses Home Office of discriminating against him and 40,000 other people born across borderA Democratic Unionist peer has said he has been forced to hold an Irish passport because of discrimination by the Home Office.Willie Hay, Lord Hay of Ballyore, told MPs he would not submit to a Life in the UK citizenship test and neither should 40,000 other people like him who were born across the border but have lived their entire lives in Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Protesters were dispersed by police with flashbangs and gas grenades in the third night of demonstrations and unrest after the death of a black man shot by a white police officer during a traffic stop. The two officers who stopped Daunte Wright, 20, resigned two days after his death in Brooklyn Center on Sunday.Across town, at Hennepin county courthouse, relatives of Daunte Wright and George Floyd talked about the two cases of fatal police violence. 'The world is traumatised, watching another African American man being slain,' said George Floyd's brother

Campaigners stage ‘solidarity workouts’ in protest against homophobic attacksPolish activists are set to embrace “equality jogging” at this summer’s Pride parades following the success of exercise sessions under rainbow flags in public spaces across the country as a show of defiance following a homophobic attack on members of an LGBTQ+ sports club.Two people were hospitalised last month when members of the Homokomando club were attacked while exercising by a gang of 30 masked men in Gdansk. Continue reading...

PC Colin Noble allegedly made ‘completely inappropriate comments’ at woman’s home, tribunal hearsA police constable visited a domestic violence victim’s house unannounced up to 30 times and made a “catalogue of completely inappropriate comments”, a tribunal has heard.PC Colin Noble of West Midlands police is accused of “trying it on” with four domestic abuse victims and faces dismissal for gross misconduct. Continue reading...

After finding the baby pale-headed snake, Alexander White had a troubling thought: ‘What if the snake has come from something else?’A Sydney couple received a fright when they discovered a rare venomous snake in a bag of supermarket lettuce – but recovered and later used the fresh produce in a salad wrap.The juvenile pale-headed snake, Hoplocephalus bitorquatus, was tucked into a two-pack of cos lettuce which Alexander White and his partner, Amelie Neate, purchased from an Aldi supermarket in Sydney on Monday. Continue reading...

US label Judith Leiber’s depiction of the god on £6,340 leather clutch criticised as ‘demeaning’Harrods has stopped selling a luxury handbag after the accessory caused offence among the Hindu community.The bag, from the New York label Judith Leiber favoured by Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, sculptures the Hindu god Ganesha into a leather clutch. Many Hindus saw the image of the god on a handbag as demeaning and commodifying their religion. They believe in non-violence against animals, so the use of leather is considered insensitive, especially in this context. Continue reading...

As the Biden administration enlists its neighbours in attempts to slow the flow of people, families seeking a future free from hunger and violence journey onGroups of men, women and children stepped off small boats and on to Mexican soil without showing their documents to anyone.Drivers quickly bundled them into taxis which sped past an immigration office to a nearby crossroad, where the travelers climbed into a vans for the next leg of their journey toward the US border. Continue reading...

We would like to hear from young people in Northern Ireland on their views and experiencesNorthern Ireland will soon mark the centenary of the state’s foundation in May 1921 after the partition of Ireland. Demographic changes and Brexit have fuelled questions about whether the region’s future lies in the UK or a united Ireland.We would like to hear from young people in Northern Ireland on their thoughts and experiences ahead of the centenary. What are the most pressing issues you face? What are your hopes for the future? Continue reading...

Roberts-Smith says the allegation he buried classified information regarding Afghanistan in his backyard ‘is false’The Australian federal police has launched a fresh investigation into former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith after it was alleged he buried sensitive material in his backyard and attempted to intimidate a witness in an active investigation into war crimes.The AFP deputy commissioner, Ian McCartney, told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday that police had opened an investigation into the new allegations. Continue reading...

They scored a UK No 1 single and the biggest-selling independent album ever. Thirty-seven years into their career, the California band ponder middle-aged sex – and being denied respect“It’s very fashionable now to say, ‘When we were young, we didn’t fit in,’” says Dexter Holland, frontman for multi-platinum punk-rockers the Offspring, Zooming from the band’s plush Orange County recording studio. “But it really was true for us in high school, where everything was about looks, athleticism and popularity. I mean, look at us!”Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, guitarist and Holland’s long-standing foil, leans in and taps his milk bottle-lensed specs. “And you should have seen me back when I had braces and headgear,” he grins. Continue reading...

After sitting alone in my flat for most of last year, I jumped at the chance to deliver Covid vaccines. This is what I’ve learned

Bryan Jones will challenge the congressman, who is under investigation for alleged sex trafficking, in the next primaryA veteran air force pilot is laying the groundwork to challenge the scandal-hit congressman Matt Gaetz in the Republican primary for Florida’s first congressional district. Continue reading...

Without travel, I missed New York terribly – and I realized I need to spend time there to feel more like meIn 2005, the year I turned 40, I moved upstate after living in New York City for 15 years, relinquishing a part of my identity I thought I never would.I’d dreamt about being a writer in the electric city from the time I was a teen sneaking in by myself on the Long Island Rail Road, and people-watching all around Manhattan. I moved there in my mid-20s after a failed suburban starter marriage. Over the course of a blissfully stimulating but sometimes lonely decade-and-a-half there, I reinvented myself from a suburban dork to a city geek, a freelancer with a finger on the pulse of the vibrant arts and social scenes. It was where I became me. Continue reading...

Gunman who was sentenced to life in prison last year and was designated a ‘terrorist entity’ has requested a judicial reviewThe Australian man who carried out the Christchurch mosque massacres is launching a legal challenge against his jail conditions in the New Zealand high court.Brenton Tarrant, who was last year sentenced to life imprisonment for 51 murders and one charge of terrorism, will represent himself in a hearing in Auckland on Thursday. Continue reading...

After a year of lockdown, many of us are finding it hard to think clearly, or remember what happened when. Neuroscientists and behavioural experts explain whyBefore the pandemic, psychoanalyst Josh Cohen’s patients might come into his consulting room, lie down on the couch and talk about the traffic or the weather, or the rude person on the tube. Now they appear on his computer screen and tell him about brain fog. They talk with urgency of feeling unable to concentrate in meetings, to read, to follow intricately plotted television programmes. “There’s this sense of debilitation, of losing ordinary facility with everyday life; a forgetfulness and a kind of deskilling,” says Cohen, author of the self-help book How to Live. What to Do. Although restrictions are now easing across the UK, with greater freedom to circulate and socialise, he says lockdown for many of us has been “a contraction of life, and an almost parallel contraction of mental capacity”.This dulled, useless state of mind – epitomised by the act of going into a room and then forgetting why we are there – is so boring, so lifeless. But researchers believe it is far more interesting than it feels: even that this common experience can be explained by cutting-edge neuroscience theories, and that studying it could further scientific understanding of the brain and how it changes. I ask Jon Simons, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, could it really be something “sciencey”? “Yes, it’s definitely something sciencey – and it’s helpful to understand that this feeling isn’t unusual or weird,” he says. “There isn’t something wrong with us. It’s a completely normal reaction to this quite traumatic experience we’ve collectively had over the last 12 months or so.” Continue reading...

She went from Leicester to Los Angeles – and is now bound for outer space. But Intergalactic, which was filmed in Manchester, has made the British star want to return homeI can’t tell if the pained expression on Parminder Nagra’s face is because of the bad Zoom connection or the words I can’t help blurting out the moment she appears on my screen. She’s sitting at a table in her home in Los Angeles, the California sun streaming through sash windows into a sitting room dotted with keepsakes from her many films, and all I can think to say is: “I can’t believe I’m talking to Jess from Bend It Like Beckham! I loved that film!”We’re meant to be discussing the actor’s new role in Intergalactic, a dystopian sci-fi drama about a group of female high-security prisoners who hijack a spaceship and set off in pursuit of freedom. But instead we’re discussing the role Nagra took on almost 20 years ago, playing Jess, a teenager who discovers herself on the football pitch, while navigating her Indian heritage and British life. Is it annoying that people still talk about Bend It? “No,” says Nagra, “because it’s such a huge part of my life. I’ve just gotten older. I keep thinking people are going to think I still look the same, when I don’t. But I’m still proud of the film. It’s probably what I’m most recognised for.” Continue reading...

Reporters Without Borders speaks of pressures on press freedom after murder of Giorgos Karaivaz in Athens last weekThe murder of a high-profile Greek journalist last week marks the fourth killing of a reporter in Europe in the past five years and has underlined growing concerns about a steady decline of press freedoms in several EU member states.Related: Greek crime journalist shot dead in Athens in ‘execution-style’ murder Continue reading...

Members of the public are being offered gifts and discounts to encourage vaccine take-up

The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has announced plans for a domestic Covid-status certificate. We look to Israel, where a similar scheme has been introduced, and discuss how it might work hereLast week, Boris Johnson set out plans for a domestic vaccine passport system to help the country emerge from lockdown.To see how it might work, Anushka Asthana talks to the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes, about life in Israel, where the government introduced a similar scheme in February. Continue reading...

Doctors speak of a new variant of the virus that appears to be spreading faster than ever before

Alessandro Donati speaks only to confirm his identity and will be sentenced laterAn Italian national has admitted his role in a £25m raid at the Kensington mansion of Tamara Ecclestone.Alessandro Donati, 43, pleaded guilty at Isleworth crown court on Tuesday to a single count of conspiracy to burgle properties between 29 November and 18 December 2019. Continue reading...

Villagers believe Duke of Edinburgh was born on Tanna and left it to woo and wed the Queen

UK-born billionaire forged empire spanning luxury stores such as Fortnum & Mason and food brands including Twinings and Loblaws in CanadaW Galen Weston, the patriarch of one of Canada’s wealthiest families and a retail titan, has died aged 80.Weston was the third generation of his family to lead George Weston Limited, an already-prosperous retail empire founded by his grandfather, which he expanded significantly. Continue reading...

Duel between Armin Laschet and Markus Söder threatens sister parties’ delicate symbiosisA heated struggle is under way between two leading German politicians over who should stand as Angela Merkel’s successor as chancellor candidate in the next election, with the conservative alliance under pressure to choose between a consensual team player with a reputation for pliability or a charismatic political all-rounder in the populist mould.After attending a meeting of the CDU/CSU’s parliamentary faction on Tuesday afternoon, rivals Armin Laschet and Markus Söder emerged to say that the talks were productive and that they hoped there would be a decision by the end of the week. Continue reading...

Alliance warns about ‘largest massing of Russian troops since annexation of Crimea’Nato’s secretary general has called on Russia to halt its military buildup around Ukraine, describing it as “unjustified, unexplained and deeply concerning”.Later on Tuesday, Moscow hit back, saying the deployments were a reaction to what it claimed were Nato plans to move troops closer to Russia’s borders in the Baltic and Black Sea regions. Continue reading...

Holt made mesmerising works that filtered stars and vanished in the desert heat. But land art was seen as a male preserve. A new exhibition redresses the balanceThe story of land art is generally believed to be a tale of white men in weathered denim descending on what they thought of as the empty canvas of the American west in the 1960s with bulldozers and big ideas to make their work. But what of the women who were also making their mark? “Today, land art appears as an almost perfect distillation of the art world’s history of male privilege, with its conviction that man is entitled to space to roam, to make his mark,” critic Megan O’Grady wrote in 2018. “It is one of the contemporary art movements most urgently in need of reconsideration.”A forthcoming exhibition at Lismore Castle in County Waterford, centred on the work of the late Nancy Holt, hopes to redress that balance. The Irish venue launches its post-lockdown programming with Light and Language, a group show looking at her legacy in contemporary art as a central member of the land art and conceptual movements. It is an uncommon opportunity to see a sizeable group of Holt works, many of which haven’t been exhibited in decades. There is a large-scale installation, several video and sound works, photography, drawing and a scattering of her “concrete poems”. The most recognisable piece of Holt’s is a mesmerising earthwork entitled Sun Tunnels – four cylindrical, concrete forms, large enough to walk through, installed in the desert in Utah. Continue reading...

The secret to enterprising cocktails for picnic refreshments is to pack them in a flask to keep things cold

Ville de Bitche in north-east France had fallen foul of social network’s algorithmLife’s a Bitche for one historic town in north-east France that has received an apology from Facebook after its page was shut down for apparently using offensive language.Bitche in the Moselle, population 5,000 and home to the Bitchois, fell foul of the social network’s algorithm, which deemed it insulting and removed it without explanation last month. Continue reading...

Figure of 625 new infections per 1m people is many times larger than Nordic neighbours

Country has struggled to get vaccines to frontline medical staff, while Covid toll remains under-reported

The Russian poet’s eloquent writing is caught between a pursuit of the past and the meaninglessness of memorialisingTranslated poetry seldom finds its way into this column. It is too high risk: there is the probability the original voice will seem muffled or will not travel. But an exception has to be made for Maria Stepanova, born in Moscow and a leading voice in post-Soviet culture: poet, journalist, publisher and force for press freedom (founding editor of Colta.ru, an online independent site) who has been showered with prizes in Russia but has not, until now, been much known here. She is translated by Sasha Dugdale, a poet herself, whose imaginative instincts serve her tirelessly. Having said this, a sense that we might be playing Russian whispers (I don’t speak the language) cannot be altogether avoided if only because, as Dugdale explains in her introduction, there is much in Stepanova’s challenging writing that does not translate at all. And yet it has been Dugdale’s remarkable project to give Stepanova a parallel life by dextrously furnishing her modernist poems with English examples.It is essential to read War of the Beasts and the Animals alongside its companion work, the richly absorbing “documentary novel” In Memory of Memory (just nominated for the International Booker prize). Stepanova scrutinises the memorialising drive of writers and artists: Proust, Mandelstam, Susan Sontag, Joseph Cornell, WG Sebald, Charlotte Salomon – the book is, in part, a Jewish history. Yet she has a simultaneous regard for oblivion, for not recording, for the right to vanish definitively. Holocaust photographs, she argues, need protecting from their audiences. Her writing exists on an edge between an avid pursuit of the past and an acknowledgment of the eventual meaninglessness of memorialising. There is a sense that she might, at any point, be tempted into silence. She writes eloquently about modern technology’s influence on memory, about the wantonly comprehensive record digital photography makes possible – its images persisting into an unwanted immortality. By contrast, she salvages piercingly personal material, including letters from “Lyodik”, her grandfather’s cousin, killed in 1942 in the siege of Leningrad. Continue reading...

Investors turn to cryptocurrency after Erdoğan’s sacking of central bank governor caused further fall in liraThe neighbourhood teahouse is a focus of daily life across Turkey, an Ottoman tradition that has endured through the centuries. At the Red Lightning teahouse in Çorum, the enterprising owners have one foot in the past and one in the future: it’s the first one in the country where customers can pay in bitcoin.“Everyone we know in Çorum is starting to invest in cryptocurrency. We think that in five years or so regular currency will be in decline, it will be replaced by digital ones. So we wanted to be in a good position now,” said co-owners Hüseyin Nalcı, 38, and Kerem Kutay Yıldırım, 28. Continue reading...

Fear of third wave and new variants as sub-Saharan vaccine distribution is dogged by supply disruption

Recruitment marks significant step in social media company’s plans to establish presence on continentTwitter has announced it will recruit 11 people in Ghana, the company’s first hires on the African continent, and that it is looking into opening an office there.The social media company joins Facebook and other tech companies moving into Africa. Continue reading...

From the outside, the country seems like a likely candidate for progressive drug laws but internally, change is proving hard to bringAfter New Zealand’s referendum to legalise cannabis failed, social service agencies across the country are seeking a new path to decriminalisation of drug use, but obstacles are plenty.On Monday, a broad coalition of social service, advocacy and health organisations released an open letter calling on prime minister Jacinda Ardern to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 “to ensure drug use is treated as a health and social issue”. Signatories include the New Zealand Medical Association, Public Health Association, Auckland and Wellington City Missions, Mental Health Foundation, and the Māori Law Society, along with 20 others. Continue reading...

In experiment organised by Dutch government, travellers will have to take regular Covid tests and are barred from leaving resort

WHO technical chief says people need ‘a reality check’ after global case numbers grew to 4.4m last week

Pedro Castillo will face Keiko Fujimori, the far-right heiress to one of the country’s enduring and controversial political dynastiesPeru faces a polarizing presidential runoff vote, in which a hard-left schoolteacher – who caught a wave of popular discontent over the coronavirus and a cratering economy – will face the far-right heiress to one of the country’s most enduring and controversial political dynasties.Pedro Castillo, a veteran teachers’ union leader, took pollsters and voters by surprise in Sunday’s first-round vote winning 18.47%, with 84% of the official vote counted. In second place, Keiko Fujimori – daughter of the jailed former leader Alberto Fujimori – polled 13.12%, closely followed by two more far-right candidates. Continue reading...

Achievement hailed by PM as ‘hugely significant milestone’ means people in late 40s should be next to be immunised

Owner Annette Edwards offers £1,000 reward for return of Guinness World Record-holding giant rabbitA rabbit proclaimed the biggest in the world has been stolen from its home in Worcestershire, police have said.West Mercia police believe the 129cm-long continental giant rabbit, named Darius, was taken from its enclosure in the garden of the property in Stoulton overnight on Saturday. Continue reading...

Tuesday: Coalition support drops amid vaccine rollout chaos. Plus: Parrtjima light festival passes knowledge from one generation to the nextGood morning. The slow Covid vaccination program has left many Australians unimpressed, judging by the latest Guardian Essential Poll.More than half of Australians think the Covid vaccine rollout is too slow, according to the latest Guardian essential poll. The latest survey suggests the government is in a vulnerable political position as it attempts to recalibrate the vaccination program. Scott Morrison’s approval rating hit its lowest level in 12 months, dropping to 54% in this fortnight’s survey from 65% in February. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the delay in the vaccine rollout “is not expected to derail” economic recovery, despite the December mid-year economic forecast assuming the rollout would be fully in place by late 2021. Morrison admitted that all Australians may not be vaccinated by year’s end and has offered no new timetable to replace the previous October target. The government has ruled out buying the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, saying it was not interested in purchasing any more adenovirus vaccines, which is the same technology as the AstraZeneca jab. Continue reading...