World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Simone Biles to compete in balance beam final, USA Gymnastics says
- Tourists evacuated from Pescara as Italy records more than 800 wildfires
- Coronavirus live news: China battles to contain surging cases as soldiers deployed in Sydney
- HSBC boosts bonus pool by 50% as profits more than quadruple
- Pakistan reckons with its ‘gender terrorism epidemic’ after murder of Noor Mukadam
- Tesla big battery fire in Victoria under control after burning more than three days
- MPs who sit on parliamentary groups face scrutiny over lobbying
- Hong Kong singer and activist arrested over ‘corrupt conduct’
- Evolutionary ‘trap’ leading young sea turtles to ingest plastic, study says
- Hollywood’s Sunset Studio to open new base in Hertfordshire
- Leaders tackle global question of how to persuade people to get Covid jab
- Covid travel: minister defends plan for amber watchlist in England
- Indian domestic workers lose their jobs to Covid fears
- Fauci backs new masks guidance as Florida reports highest one-day Covid case total
- Rhik Samadder tries … mindful painting: ‘It dawns on me that I’m a very talented artist’
- All the butter: how chefs are transforming the world’s greatest spread
- Fruit baskets from fourth century BC found in ruins of Thonis-Heracleion
- Jessie Cave on body image, bereavement and being relentless: ‘I don’t have any secrets’
- The changing art of the subeditor: ‘You had to read the type upside down’
- Angela Rayner: ‘We don’t want to be an opposition, we want to be a government’
- Police appeal for information after teenager stabbed to death in Birmingham
- Composer-pianist Max Richter: ‘Creativity is activism’
- True Stories: Spaces review – impressive short docs from folk horror to a Lebanese marvel
- The Guardian view on Fortress Europe: a continent losing its moral compass
- Florida faces questions over ban on mask mandates amid Covid rise | First Thing
- ‘People need an end date’: NSW businesses call for path out of pandemic to include vaccination incentives
- Colombians mourn after deadly protests as Amnesty cites ‘unlawful repression’
- Leaves of change: Paraguay’s small-scale farmers see a new future in yerba mate tea
- Fiji’s emergency Covid-19 hotline fell silent during the rugby sevens final: we really needed this win | Sheldon Chanel
- Jacinda Ardern apologises over New Zealand 'dawn raids' in 1970s – video
- Tourists evacuated from burning Med resorts as fires rage across southern Turkey – video report
- Extreme heat cooks mussels in their shells on Canada coast – video
| Simone Biles to compete in balance beam final, USA Gymnastics says Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:20 AM PDT
Simone Biles will compete again at the Tokyo Olympics. The six-time Olympic medallist will contest the balance beam final on Tuesday, the final day of artistic gymnastics in Tokyo. USA Gymnastics announced on Monday that both she and her teammate, all-around champion Sunisa Lee, will take their places in the final. Its tweet read: "We are so excited to confirm that you will see two US athletes in the balance beam final tomorrow - Suni Lee AND Simone Biles!! Can't wait to watch you both!" Continue reading... |
| Tourists evacuated from Pescara as Italy records more than 800 wildfires Posted: 01 Aug 2021 12:26 PM PDT Wildfires burn across Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey in heatwave bringing temperatures above 40C At least five people have been wounded and holidaymakers evacuated after wildfires devastated a pine wood near a beach in Pescara, Italy, as one of the worst heatwaves in decades swept across south-east Europe. A five-year-old girl was taken to hospital but her condition is not believed to be life-threatening, according to reports. Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus live news: China battles to contain surging cases as soldiers deployed in Sydney Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:59 AM PDT China has rolled out mass testing as the country faces its most widespread outbreak in months while soldiers have been deployed to the streets of Sydney as the city struggles to contain its own surge in cases
The Philippines will extend a night curfew in the capital, Manila, amid a tightening of curbs in the Southeast Asian country to combat a potential surge in cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, a government official said today, as reported by Reuters. Metropolitan Manila, already subject to an six hour curfew from 10pm (1400 GMT), will bring forward that curfew by two hours to 8pm (1200 GMT), said Benjamin Abalos, chair of the region's governing body: We are only asking for two weeks. This will stop the virus for the meantime. What's important is our hospitals don't get full.
Arguably the biggest story in the UK at the moment is the potential for confusion over which countries are safe to visit during the summer holidays. A government minister has defended proposals for an amber watchlist for travel destinations, as Labour warned it would merely add to the confusion around which countries are safe to visit during the summer holidays. Related: Covid travel: minister defends plan for amber watchlist in England Continue reading... |
| HSBC boosts bonus pool by 50% as profits more than quadruple Posted: 02 Aug 2021 01:11 AM PDT Bank helped by economic rebound from Covid-19 crisis in key markets including the UK HSBC has increased its bankers' bonus pool by 50% after profits grew by more than fourfold in the second quarter thanks to an economic rebound in key markets including the UK. The London-headquartered bank said it had put aside $900m (£650m) to compensate its star bankers in the first half of the year, up from $600m during the same period in 2020 when its profits suffered from the onset of the Covid crisis. Its top bankers will have another six months to increase the bonus pool, before it is paid out next spring. Continue reading... |
| Pakistan reckons with its ‘gender terrorism epidemic’ after murder of Noor Mukadam Posted: 01 Aug 2021 10:30 PM PDT Victims's family speak of their heartbreak as brutal killing sparks national debate on lack of progress to end violence against women The family of a 27-year-old woman who was allegedly tortured and beheaded by the son of a business tycoon have spoken of their devastation in a case that has pushed Pakistan to examine what has been called a "gender terrorism epidemic". Zahir Zakir Jaffer was arrested on suspicion of the pre-meditated murder of Noor Mukadam, the youngest daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, after allegedly holding her captive for three days at his apartment in an upmarket area of Islamabad. Continue reading... |
| Tesla big battery fire in Victoria under control after burning more than three days Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:07 AM PDT Investigations into the cause of the blaze that began during testing on Friday can now begin A large blaze at Victoria's "big battery" project has been brought under control by firefighters after burning for more than three days, allowing investigators to begin examining the site. A Tesla battery bank caught fire while it was being set up in Moorabool on Friday morning, and then spread to a second battery. Continue reading... |
| MPs who sit on parliamentary groups face scrutiny over lobbying Posted: 02 Aug 2021 12:00 AM PDT Commons standards committee to look at conflicts of interest for members with second jobs MPs serving on informal parliamentary groups while working in second jobs are facing scrutiny from a powerful parliamentary committee over concerns that they could exploit a lobbying loophole. An inquiry by the Commons standards committee will examine whether MPs who sit on All-Party Parliamentary Groups that lobby for certain industries should no longer be paid by organisations in those same industries. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong singer and activist arrested over ‘corrupt conduct’ Posted: 02 Aug 2021 12:19 AM PDT Anthony Wong accused of breaking law by singing at a pro-democracy rally three years ago A prominent Hong Kong singer and pro-democracy activist has been arrested by the city's anti-corruption watchdog over accusations he broke the law by singing at a political rally three years ago. The arrest of Anthony Wong on Monday is the latest official move against those who had been pushing for greater democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Continue reading... |
| Evolutionary ‘trap’ leading young sea turtles to ingest plastic, study says Posted: 01 Aug 2021 09:15 PM PDT Researchers find fragments in innards of species that have adapted to develop in open ocean, which has highly polluted areas Young marine turtles are swallowing large quantities of plastic, with ocean pollution changing habitats that were once ideal for their development into a risk, researchers have found. The impact of plastic on wildlife is a growing area of research, and studies have revealed harrowing cases of marine animals sustaining injuries or dying after ingesting such material or becoming entangled in it. Continue reading... |
| Hollywood’s Sunset Studio to open new base in Hertfordshire Posted: 01 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT US production house is latest major studio to find a home in region as demand for TV and film surges Hollywood's Sunset Studios, which produced La La Land, Zoolander and the first in the X-Men franchise, has become the latest US movie production house to adopt the leafy Hertfordshire countryside as its main base outside the US. Backed by £700m from two major US investment firms, the TV and film studio complex will create more than 4,500 jobson a 37-hectare (91-acre) greenfield site in Broxbourne, close to the arc of rival studio complexes north-west of London known as Britain's Hollywood. Continue reading... |
| Leaders tackle global question of how to persuade people to get Covid jab Posted: 01 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT Spectrum of measures including incentives and hardline laws have met with responses varying from rise in uptake to wave of protests Last week, the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, appeared on television for a late-night address. The hardliner has previously pushed a shoot-to-kill policy against drug gangs, but had something else on his mind this time: the coronavirus pandemic and those refusing to be vaccinated, who he suggested should be compelled to stay at home. Continue reading... |
| Covid travel: minister defends plan for amber watchlist in England Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:24 AM PDT Labour warns move will add to confusion over which countries are safe to visit during summer holidays A government minister has defended proposals for an amber watchlist for travel destinations, as Labour warned it would merely add to the confusion over which countries are safe to visit during the summer holidays. Matt Warman, the minister for digital infrastructure, said the travel watchlist for England would provide people with more information so they could make "informed decisions". Continue reading... |
| Indian domestic workers lose their jobs to Covid fears Posted: 01 Aug 2021 09:00 PM PDT Cleaners no longer welcome in middle class homes, as wealthier Indians turn to machines for help The job paid a pittance, with two days off a month, and sometimes the mistress of the house would call out as part-time cleaner Noor Jahan was almost out of the door "just massage my feet before you leave" – an extra service for which there was no pay. Yet Jahan, 56, wants the job back, despite a monthly salary of only 3,000 rupees (£30) and the fact that "cleaning" served as a catch-all for cooking, ironing, watering the plants, and childcare. Continue reading... |
| Fauci backs new masks guidance as Florida reports highest one-day Covid case total Posted: 01 Aug 2021 12:31 PM PDT
Florida's ban on mask mandates came under increasing scrutiny from public health officials on Sunday as the surging Delta variant pushed new daily cases of Covid-19 in the state to a record high. Related: US vaccinations rise but White House frustrated with media 'alarmism' Continue reading... |
| Rhik Samadder tries … mindful painting: ‘It dawns on me that I’m a very talented artist’ Posted: 01 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Keen to unlock your inner creativity? De-stress and unwind? Or merely improve the quality of the gifts you make for friends? Step right this way Have you ever forgotten to buy a loved one a birthday present? Here's a tip. Get a card, then draw a picture inside of you giving them the gift you intend to buy them later. It's a charming IOU, impossible to resent. I'm not the best at hands or faces, so the result often resembles demons in hell, spearing each other, which isn't what everyone wants to see on their birthday. Particularly when you later forget to buy the present. To rescue an otherwise flawless system, I've come to an alfresco painting class to hone my dark art. MasterPeace Studios promises to unlock anyone's inner creativity. To prove it, those in charge tell me to choose a personal photograph I'd like to paint. I select a photo of my friend Amish Tom, at a recent pizza party we threw. In the picture, he's rolling dough with his elegant fingers, sunlight striking his face. He's extremely photogenic, which I don't mind. But is he painting-genic? Why is there no word for this? Continue reading... |
| All the butter: how chefs are transforming the world’s greatest spread Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT Once neglected in favour of supposedly healthier products or mass-produced substitutes, butter is back, and better than ever, thanks to chefs who are adding bone marrow, chocolate and churning their own It sounded like another fad – like the cereal cafe in east London, or the crisp bar in Soho. "This Colorado bistro is the world's first butter bar," ran the headline of an article announcing the opening of Bella La Crema, a US restaurant serving "flights" of handmade butters flavoured with spices or herbs. The comparison to beer and wine tasting boards jarred at first – but butter in its truest form is perhaps closer to wine than it is to crisps or cereal: there's terroir in the pastures; technique in the churning; magic in the addition of bacteria cultures and (optional) flavours. And Bella La Crema, which has been delivering its beloved bourbon butter, rosemary and sage butter, house butter and chocolate butter around the US throughout their lockdowns, and has since started looking for its second site, might conceivably be the next step in a movement that has been quietly taking place in some farms, dairies and restaurants for years. "It was in the Fat Duck that I first noticed it, around the turn of the millennium," says Jay Rayner, the Observer's restaurant critic. "There was a handmade goat's milk butter with a pronounced cheesy edge to it. Then, in 2006, Stephen Harris at The Sportsman in Kent showed how he churned butter from local milk and flavoured it with salt he made by boiling the seawater from the nearby shore." Thereafter it became "a thing". No longer content with packets bought wholesale, restaurants started buying cream, culturing it and churning it in-house. Chefs pushed the boundaries of flavoured butter, enveloping herbs, spices, vegetables and meat into its golden folds. Those who didn't make butter on site started to source it direct from small-scale dairies – and, as demand grew, so did the number of butter-makers. Continue reading... |
| Fruit baskets from fourth century BC found in ruins of Thonis-Heracleion Posted: 01 Aug 2021 09:00 PM PDT 'Incredible' discoveries at submerged ancient city off coast of Egypt have lain untouched Wicker baskets filled with fruit that have survived from the 4th century BC and hundreds of ancient ceramic artefacts and bronze treasures have been discovered in the submerged ruins of the near-legendary city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt. They have lain untouched since the city disappeared beneath the waves in the second century BC, then sunk further in the eight century AD, following cataclysmic natural disasters, including an earthquake and tidal waves. Continue reading... |
| Jessie Cave on body image, bereavement and being relentless: ‘I don’t have any secrets’ Posted: 01 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT The actor, comic and writer talks about her bestselling debut novel, the cruelty of costume fittings, how it felt to be in the Harry Potter franchise – and finding hope in small things As a compulsive diary writer – she has kept one since she was eight – Jessie Cave knows that, unless it gets written down, life gets forgotten. She is glad, then, that she wrote her debut novel, Sunset, because the way she felt at the time "would have just gone, and then you're in a different place and you don't remember". This book, says Cave, was "absolutely the only thing I could write during that period". In March 2019, her younger brother Ben died in an accident aged 27. Her book was written in the aftermath, that manic feeling that sometimes comes with grief pushing her on. It went straight to No 1 on the Sunday Times' bestseller list after being published in June. "I don't know if I would have that energy now," she says. Continue reading... |
| The changing art of the subeditor: ‘You had to read the type upside down’ Posted: 02 Aug 2021 12:00 AM PDT A deputy news production editor at the Guardian speaks to colleagues about how cutting and correcting copy has evolved over decades The internet may have revolutionised the media in the 21 years since I joined the Guardian, but my role as a subeditor has stayed essentially the same. We check facts, write headlines and cut stories to the right length, with a final spellcheck before moving it to its next stage. But until late last century, subediting looked completely different. Chris Dodd started work on the features desk, then based in Manchester, in 1965, after an "interview" in a pub (he didn't know whether to drink or abstain, or buy a round), while Barry Johnson and Jay Sivell joined the London office in Farringdon Road in 1986. Shifts then started at various points in the afternoon, and subs (as they are called) enjoyed a leisurely start. "People used to take in chess sets and books, or do the crossword. You could sit for hours with nothing," says Johnson, who retired in December. Continue reading... |
| Angela Rayner: ‘We don’t want to be an opposition, we want to be a government’ Posted: 01 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT Labour's deputy leader opens up about being a carer, byelections, and achieving a 'cultural shift' in the workplace Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said her own experience as a care worker helped to convince her more flexible working could be a "win-win" for staff and employers. Speaking to the Guardian after announcing new policies last week on employment rights and flexible conditions, Rayner said she had helped negotiate family-friendly working when she was a trade union representative. Continue reading... |
| Police appeal for information after teenager stabbed to death in Birmingham Posted: 01 Aug 2021 01:55 PM PDT West Midlands police seek contact details of family of Brahane Yordanos, who do not yet know of her killing Detectives are trying to find the family of a 19-year-old woman found fatally stabbed at her home in Birmingham. West Midlands police named the victim as Brahane Yordanos, from Eritrea in north-east Africa, on Sunday. Just after 6am on Saturday, officers were called to Unett Street, Newtown, where the teenager was discovered with stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading... |
| Composer-pianist Max Richter: ‘Creativity is activism’ Posted: 02 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT The German-British composer explains why his new album, Exiles, addresses the refugee crisis – and is played by an orchestra who break all the rules When Max Richter sat down to compose a new ballet score in 2015 he knew what he wanted to say. In April of that year, an overcrowded vessel sank off the coast of Libya, en route to Italy, killing at least 800 trapped migrants – including children aged between 10 and 12. From his (then) home town of Berlin, the crisis was impossible to ignore. The German chancellor Angela Merkel uttered the words Wir schaffen das (we can do this), but as the number of refugees applying for asylum rose, attacks on their homes did, too. Richter's response was instinctive: a 33-minute work titled Exiles, composed for Sol León and Paul Lightfoot's Singulière Odyssée at the Nederlands Dans Theater, inspired by what Richter calls "the big question at that time". Five years after it premiered in 2016, this reflective piece now forms the heart and soul of Richter's new album, Exiles, recorded in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2019, and set to be released on 6 August. It is a retrospective collection comprised of newly orchestrated tracks taken from his back catalogue. Yet Richter tells me, on a video call from his home in Oxfordshire, that it remains relevant despite our quick-turn news cycle: "This crisis is still with us in different forms." Continue reading... |
| True Stories: Spaces review – impressive short docs from folk horror to a Lebanese marvel Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT This short film collection from the True Story platform ranges across continents to look at how we interact with our environments Deeply psychogeographical, this collection of documentary shorts from the streaming platform True Story roams among spaces old and new, and across continents. Personal and public memories are intertwined, creating portraits of how human beings interact with their environments, and vice versa. Paul Heintz's nocturnal Shānzhài Screens is a meditative study of liminal urban spaces, shot in a Chinese district that specialises in fine-art reproductions. Rectangular frames populate the screen, from flickering apartment windows, hurried video calls, to endless replicas of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Authenticity is elusive, and loneliness reigns. Continue reading... |
| The Guardian view on Fortress Europe: a continent losing its moral compass Posted: 01 Aug 2021 10:30 AM PDT The increasingly draconian approach to irregular migration betrays the spirit of the 1951 refugee convention Seventy years ago, the 1951 UN refugee convention established the rights of refugees to seek sanctuary, and the obligations of states to protect them. Increasingly, it seems that much of Europe is choosing to commemorate the anniversary by ripping up some of the convention's core principles. So far this year, close to 1,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, more than four times the death toll for the same period in 2020. Many will have been economic migrants. Others will have been fleeing persecution. Increasingly, Europe does not care. All were "irregular". And all must be discouraged and deterred through a strategy of cruelty. Continue reading... |
| Florida faces questions over ban on mask mandates amid Covid rise | First Thing Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:56 AM PDT As cases surge fueled by the Delta variant, the state this weekend reported the highest one-day total of infections since the start of the pandemic Good morning. With the Delta variant tearing through unvaccinated communities, Florida reported this weekend its highest one-day total of Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. Yesterday, the state broke its previous record for hospitalizations, also set more than a year ago. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 02 Aug 2021 02:59 AM PDT Committee for Sydney says freedoms need to be linked to Covid lockdown exit plan to combat hesitancy Businesses want incentives for vaccinated New South Wales residents to be included in the state's path out of lockdown, amid concerns "passive" targets will not drive up vaccination rates fast enough. The Committee for Sydney says its 60 member organisations in hospitality, entertainment, construction and universities are calling for people who have been vaccinated to be rewarded with earlier freedoms. The call follows Venues NSW indicating major stadiums would soon only allow vaccinated spectators. Continue reading... |
| Colombians mourn after deadly protests as Amnesty cites ‘unlawful repression’ Posted: 02 Aug 2021 01:30 AM PDT 'He died as he lived, resisting', says mother of young artist killed in Cali, as report claims authorities used systematic 'pattern of violence' in city Nicolás Guerrero, a 26-year-old artist from the Colombian city of Cali, took to the streets on 2 May to protest against the lack of opportunities he saw in his country. He had started a family in Spain that he had hoped one day to bring to South America. But later that night, after riot police launched a brutal crackdown, his near-lifeless and bloody body was strewn across the pavement, with bullet wounds in his head and neck. He died hours later in hospital. Continue reading... |
| Leaves of change: Paraguay’s small-scale farmers see a new future in yerba mate tea Posted: 02 Aug 2021 12:30 AM PDT A resurgence in the traditional drink is offering rural communities independence and a sustainable alternative to industrial soy and cattle farming Four men emerge from the intense heat and steam of the barbacuá into the cold winter's night in the rural district of Edelira, southern Paraguay. They rest, leaning on pitchforks they have used to turn over the prized load of fragrant yerba mate leaves inside this traditional drying oven. The centuries-old design drives hot air from a fire on to the large wooden frame where the leaves sit. "I control the leaf's humidity through intuition," says Lisandro Benítez, the group's lead, or uru. "Too humid and it won't have the right flavour, too hot and dry and it could catch fire." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2021 07:25 PM PDT The men's gold and women's bronze medals meant everything to Fiji, which has the highest per-capita Covid infection rate in the world When the Fijian men's sevens team beat New Zealand to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, the entire nation celebrated. The win could not have come at a better time. Fiji is in the grip of a deadly second outbreak of Covid-19, on top of a potential political crisis over controversial native land legislation. Continue reading... |
| Jacinda Ardern apologises over New Zealand 'dawn raids' in 1970s – video Posted: 01 Aug 2021 08:17 PM PDT New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has formally apologised to Pacific Island people who were targeted for deportation in aggressive home raids in the mid-1970s. Ardern attended a ceremony at the Auckland town hall during which she made the apology on behalf of the nation for the racially charged 'dawn raids', which targeted Pasifika people for deportation. 'The government expresses its sorrow, remorse, and regret that the dawn raids and random police checks occurred and that these actions were ever considered appropriate,' Ardern said. Continue reading... |
| Tourists evacuated from burning Med resorts as fires rage across southern Turkey – video report Posted: 01 Aug 2021 06:21 AM PDT Holidaymakers have been evacuated from beaches by rescue boats in Turkey after wildfires threatened hotels is several resort towns. Six people have died and more than 500 needed hospital treatment in Turkey's Mediterranean towns from fires that have raged across the country since Wednesday Continue reading... |
| Extreme heat cooks mussels in their shells on Canada coast – video Posted: 01 Aug 2021 02:43 AM PDT More than 1bn marine animals along Canada's Pacific coast are likely to have died in this year's heatwave, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures. Christopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, walks along the shore of Porteau Cove Provincial Park in British Columbia. The crunch heard in the video is the shells of dead mussels underfoot that perished during low tide as temperatures spiked across the region Continue reading... |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World news | The Guardian. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
Posting Komentar