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‘There is a huge amount of damage you can’t see – the mental trauma’, says Syria Relief report author

Despite its empty promenade and quiet beaches, Blackpool charms our photographer Christopher Thomond once again Continue reading...

Mark Rutte enters final leg of race in dominant position despite ‘difficult phase’ of pandemic

Very bright meteor, known as a fireball, was captured on doorbell cameras across the countryA large meteor blazed across UK skies on Sunday night, delighting those lucky enough to spot it.The meteor was spotted shortly before 10pm and was visible for around seven seconds. It was captured on doorbell and security cameras in Manchester, Cardiff, Honiton, Bath, Midsomer Norton and Milton Keynes. Continue reading...

Priti Patel understood to be concerned that some offenders are only being given three-year termsPeople smugglers could be handed life sentences under plans to ramp up penalties in an effort to stop migrants crossing the Channel.At present, the maximum sentence for people smuggling is 14 years in prison. The Times reported that Priti Patel wants to lengthen jail terms because of her concerns that the average sentence received is three years. Continue reading...

Northern MPs tell chancellor his budget should protect high street and tax online retailers such as AmazonRishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from Conservative “red wall” MPs to go beyond existing support for the UK economy in Wednesday’s budget and cut taxes for thousands of retailers.MPs across the political spectrum are increasingly uneasy that he may introduce income tax rises for middle earners, and the chancellor is facing calls from 45 northern Tories to make “a bold move to reduce business rates”. Continue reading...

Police and troops crack down on rallies held across the country in defiance of juntaAt least 18 people have been killed, according to the UN, after security forces in Myanmar used lethal violence against anti-coup protesters in the most deadly crackdown since the military seized power at the start of February.Live bullets, stun grenades and teargas were fired at demonstrators in several towns and cities as police, backed by troops, attempted to stamp out countrywide rallies held in defiance of the junta. Continue reading...

At least 18 people have been killed, according to the UN, after security forces in Myanmar used lethal violence against anti-coup protesters in the most deadly crackdown since the military seized power at the start of February

Healthcare workers with obesity found to produce only about half the antibodies healthy people do

US seeking resolution to express ‘deepening concern’ over Tehran’s cooperation with UN nuclear agencyIran has threatened to pull out of a deal struck with UN weapons inspectors last weekend if western countries go ahead with plans to censure it over its failure to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Authority.Western leaders are planning to table a motion at the IAEA next week condemning Iran for pulling out of the overarching agreement with the UN body giving inspectors access to its nuclear sites. Continue reading...

Faced with evidence of crimes against humanity, we can’t rely on the glacial pace of international law to provide justiceIt’s a scene that’s been played out both in high drama and a blockbuster thriller, in Death and the Maiden and in Marathon Man – a victim chancing many years later upon their tormentor – but in Berlin in 2014 it happened for real. Anwar al-Bunni was in a grocery shop when he ran into a fellow Syrian émigré whose face was familiar. It took him a while to realise that the man was a former intelligence officer who, al-Bunni was sure, once interrogated and jailed him.That encounter led to a trial in a Koblenz court of both that officer and an underling, and this week the more junior of the pair, Eyad al-Gharib, was found guilty of aiding and abetting a crime against humanity inside one of Bashar al-Assad’s jails, a crime that included torture. The verdict was hailed as a first encouraging crack in the impunity of the Assad regime, which has not yet faced justice for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians it killed as it suppressed an uprising that began a decade ago. Continue reading...

The Eurovision homage UK Hun has entered the charts ahead of Rita Ora and Pink, and leads a new wave of drag queens sashaying away from novelty popIf you’ve spent the past fortnight with the words “Bing-bang-bong sing-sang-song ding-dang-dong” reverberating around your brain, Freddy Scott would like to apologise. “To those who say they can’t sleep because they have UK Hun? stuck in your head,” the songwriter says, “I’m sorry–ish.”Scott and his co-writer Leland are the creators of the viral hit from the British edition of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Written as a homage to Eurovision and performed by the show’s drag queen contestants, UK Hun? by United Kingdolls, with its earworm chorus, entered the UK Top 40 at No 27 last week, ahead of established pop acts such as Rita Ora and Pink. It beat the reality TV show’s previous highest chart entry, Break Up Bye Bye, which peaked at No 35 in 2019. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world, including the reopening of Sydney’s Opera House, New York Fashion Week, and the festival of Purim Continue reading...

Opposition leader faces accusations over nationalist past but allies call for support to ensure his safetyThe Kremlin is taking aim at Alexei Navalny’s reputation, as the opposition leader was sent to a prison colony in Russia, a journey into a “grey zone” where supporters say he will need maximum international support to ensure his safety.For years Navalny was a phantom in Russian state media, his name studiously absent from the lips of top officials and news anchors. A favourite game among the opposition was to write his name on a snowbank – municipal workers would often arrive shortly after to sweep it away. Continue reading...

Skrillex, Erol Alkan and those close to the French duo chart how they went from being industry outsiders to defining the trajectory of dance musicFollowing their split this week after 28 years, Daft Punk have ascended to pop Valhalla. Perhaps they’re sitting next to Prince, whose pirouetting falsetto funk and emotional vulnerability inspired the duo’s 2001 masterpiece Discovery, and Led Zeppelin, from whom they cribbed double-necked guitars and 10-tonne drums on 2005’s Human After All. Yet those albums were met with a mixed reception – audiences and critics alike had to learn to trust Daft Punk’s vision of the future.For British producer-DJ Erol Alkan, whose fan forums were an essential incubator of the blog house movement that swept through club culture in the 2000s, the Parisians had a “deeply profound impact” on a generation, including Alkan. “They were a gateway into so much music that I love, and a big part of that admiration comes down to their position as outsiders,” he says. Daft Punk’s magpie approach to songwriting and visual art was a dominant story of early 21st-century music, similarly colouring the work of MIA, 2ManyDJs, the Avalanches and other sample-stitchers. Although some commentators queried how much inspiration could actually be bound up in recycling, Alkan thinks that in Daft Punk’s case, “the references are strong and familiar, and there is enough of themselves in there for it to always remain theirs”. Continue reading...

Begum, who fled as a schoolgirl to join Isis in Syria, will not be able to re-enter UK to fight case in person

Yanshui beehive fireworks festival was almost cancelled but has gone ahead to hopefully ward off virus

Family investment firm of French billionaire Bernard Arnault, and L Catterton agree €4bn dealThe French family behind Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior is to take control of the German sandal maker Birkenstock in a €4bn deal.Financière Agache, the family investment firm of Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who controls the designer brand conglomerate LVMH, and L Catterton, a private equity firm part-owned by LVMH, has bought a majority stake in the family-owned footwear firm. The value of the deal was not confirmed but is understood to be in the region of €4bn (£3.5bn). Continue reading...

Archaeologist Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes controversy in his stride as he develops programme for siteGabriel Zuchtriegel is used to ruffling a few feathers. In 2015, the German archaeologist was hired to manage Paestum, a vast park of ancient Greek ruins in the southern Italian region of Campania. He was among the first crop of foreigners picked to direct an Italian museum or cultural site as part of what was a contentious drive to revamp the management of the country’s heritage. Not only was he foreign but he was the youngest person in charge of a major site.Six years on, Zuchtriegel, now 39, provoked a fresh quarrel last week after being appointed director of one of the world’s most treasured archaeological sites: Pompeii. Within hours, two of the park’s board members resigned, with one of them telling the press that Zuchtriegel – who was credited by the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, for having done an “incredible job” at Paestum – didn’t have enough experience to take the helm at Pompeii. Continue reading...

Getting up at dawn used to be vital, but pandemic productivity levels show early risers no longer have the moral high groundA study from Finland has discovered – I paraphrase slightly – that early risers are better than night owls. As I am an extreme night owl writing this at nine o’clock in some morning or other, I dismiss the findings utterly and assume the researchers have to be in the pay of Big Lark. Continue reading...

Explore the dynamism and contradictions of one of Asia’s most beguiling cities through its culture, novels and cuisineFew cities assail the senses as viscerally as Bangkok, from the kinetic cacophony of its street life to its aromatic herbal cures and the incendiary spice of the food. Social distancing has only briefly withheld the touch of Thai massage and the jostle of its markets. Juxtapositions startle the eye, with designs often decided by fortune tellers or sacred colours. Timber shacks abut glitzy towers of novelty shapes in the world’s third least equal society.Breakneck modernisation has sparked tensions between the cosmopolitan “hi-so” (high society) and grassroots values, while young reformers protest at the seniority system that enforces a hidden order behind the apparent chaos. Amid the hi-tech towers, a vast informal economy wheels food stalls and makes street furniture from found materials. It’s both fun and poignant to ride around the teeming centre on motorcycle taxis, converted pickup trucks or canal boats with a hinged canvas roof that lowers under bridges. Continue reading...

Nigel Skea, 52, from Southampton, flouted coronavirus quarantine order to visit fiancee

The actor talks about the struggle for pay parity, sympathising with Britney Spears, fond memories of Chadwick Boseman – and her frustration at tabloid headlines overshadowing her workNo excuses for lateness in the era of Zoom, perhaps, but cut Sienna Miller some slack. The 39-year-old has just appeared on This Morning, where she struggled valiantly to pitch her new film Wander Darkly, in which she plays a woman who may or may not have survived a car crash. (“It’s really hard to describe!”) Then she dashed to the bathroom to scrape off all that TV-friendly makeup. Now here she is in her bedroom, with her fresh, non-shiny face framed by bright blond locks. “Like a normal person again,” she says cheerfully. Yeah, right.Take her current lockdown viewing habits. In between homeschooling Marlowe, her eight-year-old daughter with her former partner Tom Sturridge, and shooting a six-part Netflix thriller, Anatomy of a Scandal, she has been watching the documentary Framing Britney Spears. She identifies with the public suffering of that beleaguered star. She even recognises the faces of individual paparazzo who once hounded and harassed her, too. Continue reading...

Private school in central Kenya is welcoming pregnant teenagers, teenage mothers and their babies to ensure they have the chance to finish an education otherwise denied to them by stigma, logistics and lack of money Continue reading...

Former prime minister tells the Guardian the world must be better prepared for the next pandemicWorld leaders could have cut the length of the Covid outbreak by three months if they had collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs, Tony Blair has claimed as he launched a report on preparing for the next deadly pandemic.The former Labour prime minister urged the UK to take the lead in developing a new “health security infrastructure” that would ensure countries coordinate better in identifying emerging new threats as well as developing, testing and manufacturing vaccines and treatments. Continue reading...

Whistleblower says birds are dying ‘in a pretty rough way’ from heat stress and lack of water on journeys in England and WalesChickens are “dying like flies” in their millions while being transported from farms to abattoirs because of poorly ventilated lorries, a whistleblower has told the Guardian.Around one million chickens are dead on arrival at slaughterhouses in England and Wales every year, according to data collected by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and analysed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian.

Written by and starring comedian Jia Ling, the film has started a conversation about mother’s love and women’s identityA Chinese comedian’s directoral debut about a woman who travels back in time to see her dead mother has become the fourth highest grossing film in the country’s history and the highest ever for a female director.Jia Ling’s Hi Mom opened a fortnight ago and has drawn ticket sales of more than 4.5bn RMB ($700m US), according to box office tracker Maoyan. It is the fastest any Chinese movie has sold that much, the tracker said. Continue reading...

Unanimous decision by highest court hailed a step towards acceptance of LGBT+ peopleA Malaysian man has won a landmark court challenge against an Islamic ban on sex “against the order of nature”, raising hopes for greater acceptance of gay rights in the mostly Muslim country.In a unanimous decision, Malaysia’s top court ruled on Thursday that the Islamic provision used against the man was unconstitutional and authorities had no power to enact the law. Continue reading...

Fremantle’s ‘tent city’ has shed light on Western Australia’s growing number of rough sleepers – and a Labor government presiding over a ballooning public housing waiting listJust a few blocks from Western Australia’s parliament, dozens of vulnerable people have had to leave a city hotel and continue to face an uncertain future.These are some of the people at the centre of Perth’s homelessness crisis, one of the few election issues on which WA’s “most popular premier in history”, Mark McGowan, does not control the narrative. Continue reading...

Man was cleaning stables when he was hit by female, knocking his head against bars of enclosureA zoo worker in Spain has died after he was struck by an elephant’s trunk, knocking his head against the bars of an enclosure, the zoo and local officials said.The female elephant weighing around 4,000kg (8,800lb) hit the 44-year-old with her trunk on Wednesday morning at the Cabarceno Natural Park near the northern city of Santander, the zoo said. The man was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries some three hours later. Continue reading...

PNG’s Grand Chief led the country to independence in 1975 and served four terms as prime ministerThe man who led Papua New Guinea to independence, the country’s Grand Chief and longest-serving prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, has died in Port Moresby, aged 84.Known throughout the country as “Papa blo Kantri” – Father of the Nation – Somare served as prime minister for a total of 17 years, over four terms, and was revered as a pivotal figure in the country’s peaceful transformation from colony to independent nation. He is depicted on PNG’s 50 Kina banknote. Continue reading...

NSW police say Caddick’s remains were found on the NSW south coast and her identity confirmed by DNAPolice have found the remains of missing businesswoman Melissa Caddick on the NSW south coast months after she disappeared following raids on her home last year.At a hastily arranged press conference on Friday, the NSW police assistant commissioner Michael Willing confirmed part of Caddick’s body had been discovered on the state’s south coast. Continue reading...

Commission head reassures leaders she will ban vaccines leaving EU if suppliers fail to deliver again

Runner says man on moped ‘grabbed her bum’ on canal towpath in BirminghamAn athlete who competes for Great Britain has spoken of her shock after she was assaulted on a canal towpath in Birmingham while training for the Olympics.Sarah McDonald, a middle-distance runner, tweeted that a man on a moped had “grabbed her bum” as she was warming up for a training session. She said she would be reporting the incident to the police. Continue reading...

105 black people were victims of murder and manslaughter in year up to March 2020The number of black victims of homicide in England and Wales has climbed to its highest level in nearly two decades, official figures have revealed.A total of 105 black victims of murder and manslaughter were recorded in the 12 months to March 2020, up from 96 the previous year, and the highest since the 12 months to March 2002, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Continue reading...

Australia’s vaccination program has officially begun. What do we know, and what don’t we know about how the program will work? Does the government’s promise to vaccinate the adult population by October seem a little too optimistic? Continue reading...

Police officers shot into a crowd of pro-democracy protesters in Yangon’s Tamwe township in Myanmar, as thousands continued to rally against the military coup across the country.Hundreds of people took part in the first pro-military demonstration in Yangon on Thursday, with the crowd a fraction of the size of anti-coup protests

At least two people stabbed after pro-junta demonstrators march through central YangonSupporters of Myanmar’s military armed with iron rods, catapults and knives have attacked anti-coup protesters in Yangon, after weeks of rallies calling for the return of democracy in the country.At least two people were stabbed in the attacks, which occurred after hundreds of pro-military demonstrators marched through central Yangon towards the main railway station. Pro-democracy supporters met them with crossed wrists and banged pots and pans. Continue reading...

MPs and unions criticise proposal to move work carried out in Erdington plant to France and PolandPoland and France will benefit from the planned closure of GKN’s factory in Birmingham, with local plants taking on work currently carried out by 500 of the group’s UK employees, under plans being considered by its owner, Melrose.Melrose, a private-equity group, announced plans in January to close the factory run by its GKN subsidiary in Erdington, Birmingham, in a blow to the embattled British manufacturing sector. The plant produces drivetrain components for petrol and diesel cars. Continue reading...

Nikol Pashinyan rallies supporters after military calls on him to step down amid anger at Nagorno-Karabakh defeatThe Armenian prime minister has accused the armed forces of an attempted coup against his government after top military officers signed a letter calling on him to resign, in an escalation of the political crisis sparked by Armenia’s defeat in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh last year.Tensions between Nikol Pashinyan and the military erupted into open conflict on Thursday as the chief of the armed forces general staff, Onik Gasparyan, and other senior commanders accused the prime minister of bringing Armenia to “the brink of collapse”. Continue reading...

Can Grammer successfully reprise his role in the classic comedy as fastidious radio psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane?

Work is under way to see whether an abandoned 14th-century building is part of the legacy of the country’s exiled JewsThe rambling, 14th-century building that sits off a narrow alley in the historic heart of Utrera, its patio walls furred with moss and its inner ones painted pugnacious shades of purple and orange, has led a long and varied existence.Over the centuries, it has served the Andalucían city as a hospital, a home for abandoned children, a restaurant and, in its final incarnation, a bar. Continue reading...

Coroner says Julie Sharrock, 59, ‘felt lonely, isolated and in fear of the outside’ during Covid pandemic

Recipe using bacon and parmesan cheese attracts ire of chefs, foodies and farmers’ associationThe New York Times has cooked up a controversy in Italy after tinkering with the recipe for the classic Roman dish pasta carbonara.Called “Smoky Tomato Carbonara”, the recipe, by Kay Chun, was published by NYT Cooking. To be fair to Chun, she did premise her version of the recipe by saying that “tomatoes are not traditional in carbonara, but they lend a bright tang to the dish”. Continue reading...

She blazed a trail as gangsters’ molls and slinky lounge acts, then returned from a career break to essay a variety of wicked witches, comic turns and grand dames. Next month she’ll be seen as a penniless heiress in acclaimed comedy French Exit. But which are her best roles?Kenneth Branagh’s all-star revival of the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery gives us a traditional exotic cross-section of high society (with picturesque servants and bits of rough) on board the snowed-in Orient Express, on which someone has been whacked. The film has Pfeiffer in one of her late-career grande dame roles: the manhunting American widow Mrs Hubbard, which she plays a little softer than Lauren Bacall, who had had the role in the 1974 version. Pfeiffer sang the melancholy Never Forget over the end credits, with lyrics by Branagh. Continue reading...

‘Jens F’ sent data storage device to employee at Russian embassy who worked for GRU, say prosecutorsGerman federal prosecutors have charged a German citizen with espionage, saying he passed floor plans of the Bundestag parliament building to Russian intelligence.The man, identified only as Jens F, obtained PDF files with the floor plans during the course of his work for a company that was hired to maintain electrical equipment in the Bundestag’s buildings, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Continue reading...

Author of first study of Israel’s vaccination programme to be peer-reviewed hails ‘surprising’ real-world results

Scott Morrison says alleged sexual assaults are ‘serious and traumatic events for anyone to deal with’Scott Morrison has stepped around a question about whether he agrees with Peter Dutton’s characterisation of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation as “she said, he said” as the home affairs minister defended his decision not to alert the prime minister to the potential reopening of the police investigation.Dutton’s office earlier this week declined to answer questions from Guardian Australia and other media outlets about his contact with police but the home affairs minister finally confirmed on Wednesday the AFP told him about the allegation of sexual assault on 11 February. Continue reading...

I was unmoved by the Provençal thriller when I first saw it, but it landed on All4 at a time when absurd escapism is neededIt took me a while to warm to Walter Presents/All 4’s French drama Torn. I first saw it in a cinema a couple of years ago, when I was on the jury for the French television festival Series Mania.Back then, its charms were not immediately apparent. It was – is – about a woman cheating on her husband with a chef in Provence; it felt as if the story was secondary to all the nice things on display. The cast members were all attractive and the characters lived in houses so beautiful that it made me angry. “That wasn’t a drama,” sniffed one of the other jurors as we filed out of the screening. “That was a tourism advert.” Continue reading...

Marathon runner Eddie Izzard, solo sailor Pip Hare and explorer Levison Wood explain what they have learned about enduring the seemingly unendurable