World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Afghan guard killed in Kabul airport gun battle
- Tennessee floods death toll rises to 22 as Biden offers help
- ‘Big questions’: New Zealand Covid minister raises doubts about elimination strategy
- Decision to euthanise 154 cats found in smuggling operation sparks outrage in pet-loving Taiwan
- Hundreds clash in Portland as Proud Boys rally descends into violence
- Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island, packing high winds and heavy rain
- Nicole Ari Parker to join Sex and the City reboot in place of Kim Cattrall
- US music star Don Everly dies aged 84
- Matt Gaetz, Republican in sex-trafficking investigation, marries in California
- Solar power in Australia outstrips coal-fired electricity for first time
- ‘Spread your legs’: New Zealand makes hay with Covid minister’s gaffe
- ‘Extraordinary’: Police fine dozens after church service in western Sydney Covid hotspot
- Coronavirus live news: Taiwan rolls out domestic vaccine; China reports zero new cases for first time since July
- Remote Indigenous community of Wilcannia under severe strain as Covid spreads
- Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine
- Jeanie Finlay: ‘I don’t film alpha males. They don’t need more exposure’
- Emma Beddington tries … fell running: ‘It’s like dragging bags of cement uphill – only the bags are my legs’
- ‘We love everybody’: the French drag couple making non-traditional wedding dresses
- ‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict
- ‘An artist in search of good material’: My time at an Auckland massage parlour | Megan Dunn
- Hot summer nights: ‘On the phosphorescent sea, I realised I was just a tiny part of something bigger’
- Afghan refugees likely to have problems finding suitable UK housing
- Afghan civil war ‘unavoidable’ if Taliban refuse talks, says opposition leader
- ‘I’m a citizen with no country:’ Mark Sanford on turning against Trump and his party
- New Zealand reports another 35 Covid cases as nationwide lockdown extended
- Australia politics live news update: NSW reports 818 Covid cases, three deaths; Victoria faces longer lockdown as 71 cases recorded
- Nosedive in UK-US relations is another casualty of Afghanistan’s fall
- Joe Biden: withdrawal from Afghanistan would always be 'hard and painful' - video
- 'Go out and spread their legs': NZ Covid minister delivers saucy advice – video
| Afghan guard killed in Kabul airport gun battle Posted: 23 Aug 2021 01:20 AM PDT One dead in firefight between unidentified gunmen and US, German and Afghan guards A firefight between unidentified gunmen and US, German and Afghan guards at Kabul airport has left one Afghan guard dead and three wounded, underscoring the fragile security situation around the site. The exchange of fire, which took place at just after 7am Kabul time at the north gate of the airfield, started when former Afghan security forces who are acting as guards exchanged fire, leading to a firefight in which German and US forces became involved. Continue reading... |
| Tennessee floods death toll rises to 22 as Biden offers help Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:56 PM PDT
At least 22 people were confirmed dead on Sunday as rescue crews searched desperately amid shattered homes for dozens still missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging through parts of Tennessee. Related: A midwestern town moved uphill to survive climate crisis. Can others do the same? Continue reading... |
| ‘Big questions’: New Zealand Covid minister raises doubts about elimination strategy Posted: 22 Aug 2021 05:50 PM PDT Chris Hipkins said the Delta variant was 'like nothing we've dealt with so far' The arrival of the Delta strain in New Zealand has prompted the country's Covid-19 response minister to question the efficacy of its ambitious elimination strategy – an approach that has been the backbone of the country's pandemic response. Chris Hipkins told current affairs programme Q+A on Sunday that Delta raised "big questions about the long-term future of our plans". Continue reading... |
| Decision to euthanise 154 cats found in smuggling operation sparks outrage in pet-loving Taiwan Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:02 PM PDT The pet-mad population reacted with fury after the animals were put down due to biosecurity concerns A decision by Taiwan authorities to euthanise 154 cats found in an attempted smuggling operation has sparked outcry and calls to change laws and increase penalties. Coast guards intercepted a fishing vessel from China on Thursday about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Kaohsiung, on Taiwan's southern tip. After Covid screening, officials boarded the fishing boat the following day and discovered 62 cages containing the cats, including Russian Blue, Ragdoll, Persian American Shorthair, and British Shorthair breeds. Continue reading... |
| Hundreds clash in Portland as Proud Boys rally descends into violence Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:52 PM PDT Running street battle ends in gunfight after 'Summer of love' protest in a parking lot of a former Kmart store A rightwing protest in Portland on Sunday has culminated in a gunfight, when antifascist demonstrators returned fire at a man who shot at them with a handgun in a downtown street. The firefight took place in the heart of downtown Portland, soon after 6pm. As antifascists followed a man at a distance who they were trying to eject from the area, he took cover behind an electrical substation box, produced a handgun and opened fire. He fired at least two shots before an antifascist returned fire with their own handgun. At least seven shots were fired. Continue reading... |
| Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island, packing high winds and heavy rain Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:24 PM PDT
Tropical Storm Henri made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday, packing high winds and heavy rains that were projected to leave devastation from New Jersey and New York up to Massachusetts. Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city's Covid comeback Continue reading... |
| Nicole Ari Parker to join Sex and the City reboot in place of Kim Cattrall Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:11 AM PDT Boogie Nights star reportedly cast as Carrie Bradshaw's best friend in HBO Max series And Just Like That … Nicole Ari Parker has been billed to replace Kim Cattrall in the Sex and the City reboot, after the backlash that accompanied the news that the era-defining show's most iconic character was done with the series. Ari Parker, known for starring in the acclaimed series Empire as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, will reportedly replace Cattrall as the fourth member of the New York friend group. According to the Mail on Sunday, Ari Parker, 50, will play Carrie Bradshaw's new best friend, documentary-maker Lisa Todd Wexley. Continue reading... |
| US music star Don Everly dies aged 84 Posted: 22 Aug 2021 04:54 AM PDT Singer and guitarist who formed one of pop's greatest vocal partnerships, the Everly Brothers, dies in Nashville Don Everly, one half of the rock'n'roll duo the Everly Brothers, has died at his home in Nashville at the age of 84. A spokesperson for the family confirmed Everly's death to the Los Angeles Times, but did not disclose a cause. Continue reading... |
| Matt Gaetz, Republican in sex-trafficking investigation, marries in California Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:13 AM PDT
The Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz eloped to southern California on Saturday, in order to marry Ginger Luckey in a small ceremony on Catalina Island. Related: Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine Continue reading... |
| Solar power in Australia outstrips coal-fired electricity for first time Posted: 22 Aug 2021 07:40 PM PDT For a fleeting moment on the weekend more than half the nation's electricity generation came from solar power, but experts say Australia is still a long way from peak renewable energy The national electricity market reached a new milestone on Sunday, with solar power outstripping energy generation from coal for the first time since the market was set up two decades ago. The crossover point lasted for only a few minutes, as low demand and sunny skies on Sunday meant the contribution from coal dropped to a record low of 9,315MW just after noon, while solar provided the dominant share with 9,427MW. Continue reading... |
| ‘Spread your legs’: New Zealand makes hay with Covid minister’s gaffe Posted: 22 Aug 2021 06:55 PM PDT Chris Hipkins delivered some light relief from Covid news with an x-rated health advice slip-up A slip of the tongue from New Zealand's Covid-19 response minister as he was updating the nation live on the coronavirus outbreak has given the country a lighthearted, albeit slightly x-rated, break from regular pandemic coverage. At a media briefing on Sunday, minister Chris Hipkins was updating the country on the growing number of coronavirus cases in the community, when he urged New Zealanders to socially distance when they go outside to "spread their legs". Continue reading... |
| ‘Extraordinary’: Police fine dozens after church service in western Sydney Covid hotspot Posted: 22 Aug 2021 03:59 PM PDT More than 30 people were fined $1,000 each at the Blacktown Christ Embassy Sydney church gathering, just hours before stronger lockdown measures came into force
NSW police have issued 31 fines to people who attended an illegal Sunday night church service in Blacktown in the heart of Sydney's Covid-19 outbreak hotspots. Police went to Christ Embassy Sydney church around 7.30pm on Sunday after being tipped off about a gathering in breach of public health orders. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2021 02:15 AM PDT Tsai Ing-wen receives first dose of domestically developed vaccine; Chinese health authorities report zero locally transmitted symptomatic cases; booster shot significantly lowers infection risk – Israeli study
Sweden is likely to see Covid-19 infections gain momentum in the coming months while the curbs to limit the spread will need to be maintained until a higher proportion of the adult population is vaccinated, the Health Agency has said. Sweden, which has opted against lockdowns and mostly relied on voluntary measures, has experienced a lull in the pandemic during the summer with few deaths and hospitalisations, Reuters reports. However, cases have risen in recent weeks and that trend is expected to continue as schools reopen and people return to work. All our three scenarios point to increased spread during the autumn. More people are assumed to need hospital and intensive care, but at significantly lower levels than before during the pandemic. When the vaccination coverage rate is high enough so that healthcare does not risk being overloaded the Public Health Agency considers it reasonable to phase out most infection control measures, despite a spread of the virus.
Russia reported 19,454 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the first time the daily tally has dipped below 20,000 since 23 June as authorities blamed a case surge on the infectious Delta variant. The government coronavirus task force also reported 776 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours nationwide. Continue reading... |
| Remote Indigenous community of Wilcannia under severe strain as Covid spreads Posted: 23 Aug 2021 12:11 AM PDT Crowded housing and delayed test results are hindering efforts to contain virus in NSW township
Covid is spreading rapidly in the majority Aboriginal town of Wilcannia in far western New South Wales, with at least 39 cases recorded in a week in a community of just 750 people. Locals say the Delta outbreak could be worse than daily case numbers show amid long delays in test results and reports that swabs taken last week were not collected for processing over the weekend. Continue reading... |
| Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:30 AM PDT Former president held rally in Cullman, Alabama, a city struggling to cope with cases and hospitalisations At his rally in Alabama on Saturday night, Donald Trump heard the unusual sound of booing and jeering aimed his way, after he told supporters: "I recommend taking the vaccines." Related: Tennessee radio host who criticised vaccine efforts dies of Covid-19 Continue reading... |
| Jeanie Finlay: ‘I don’t film alpha males. They don’t need more exposure’ Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT She spent a year in her room as a teenager, and now makes heart-wrenching documentaries about people looking for safe spaces in record shops, on goth cruises – and even on the set of Game of Thrones There are many wonderful moments in the films of Jeanie Finlay but my current favourite is in Seahorse, her intimate and profoundly moving 2019 documentary about the struggles of transgender man Freddy McConnell to conceive and give birth to his own child. The scene takes place during a party at Freddy's mum's house as a room full of family friends, all women, talk to Freddy about the clothes he'll wear during pregnancy. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT A run on Ilkley Moor promises panoramic views. But what about the bogs and boulders en route – and my terrifying lack of fitness? My favourite part of childhood summer holidays with my dad was our trip to the Yorkshire Dales agricultural show, a respite from his usual gruelling regime of mountain walks and examining dead fauna. Between prize rams and displays of trimmed leeks we watched the fell-running races: infants and gnarled pensioners scampering up and then down a sheer crag, all for a biscuit and a certificate. "Look at the little bastards!" Dad would exclaim, gesturing incredulously, plastic pint glass slopping bitter as wiry five-year-olds whizzed past, legs a blur. Lumpen by his side, mouth crammed with cake, I would feel an obscure longing: why wasn't I a fearless, muddy-kneed dynamo? Continue reading... |
| ‘We love everybody’: the French drag couple making non-traditional wedding dresses Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:00 PM PDT James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac want to create an atmosphere where those who don't fit the vision of an ideal bride feel comfortable On the third floor of a typical Alsatian building in Strasbourg, a door opens on to a bright atelier, dotted with mannequins draped in bridal wear. This is where James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac live and work, designing couture wedding gowns watched over by their cheerful mascot – a yellow parakeet named Adam. And they do it in drag. The pair say seeing clients in their drag personas creates an atmosphere where people can be accepted for who they are. They know the traditional experience of buying a wedding dress is not always easy for everyone in a world where the vision of an ideal bride is often still someone thin, white and able-bodied. Continue reading... |
| ‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:01 PM PDT Overlapping crises have pushed the fragile east African country to the 'cusp of humanitarian catastrophe', with one in four facing food insecurity Such was the horror that erupted in her village earlier this year that Fadumo Ali Mohamed decided she had no choice but to leave. Through the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, she walked for 30 kilometres, along with her nine children, eventually getting help to reach the capital by car. Now in Mogadishu, she is one of more than 800,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the capital living in cramped, informal settlements with limited access to food, water and healthcare. She doesn't like to recall the violence she fled. Continue reading... |
| ‘An artist in search of good material’: My time at an Auckland massage parlour | Megan Dunn Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:00 PM PDT In this extract from her new book, New Zealand writer Megan Dunn describes her time answering the phone at Belle de Jour I got a job at Belle de Jour in 1998. I was 24 years old and had just graduated from art school. What did I need next? Life experience. The neon sign hung in the window of the ranch slider. The massage parlour logo was of a vintage femme fatale: a raven-haired Betty Page-ish beauty with bright red lips who wore a cheetah V-neck and elbow-length black gloves and toked a cigarette in a cigarette holder. Like Lauren Bacall. One of those classic screen sirens, a quip at the ready. You know how to whistle, don't you, Slim? You just put your lips together and… Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT A sailing holiday with my dad and his mate didn't sound too promising. But when I took the tiller in the middle of the night, I had a teenage epiphany My dad had a pal called George who had a boat. It was a sailing boat but not a very big one – 25ft long. I don't think you could call it a yacht; it didn't seem very … yachty. I'm trying to downplay its yachtiness, and how privileged my childhood was, but it's hopeless. I was on a bloody yachting holiday, OK? Anyway, despite his boat's modest size, George was quite adventurous once aboard. One summer, he invited my dad to help him sail it from the west coast of Scotland (I'm thinking maybe Oban) down to the south coast of England. I was 15 or 16 at the time and my dad took me – grumpily, adolescently – along for the ride. Continue reading... |
| Afghan refugees likely to have problems finding suitable UK housing Posted: 22 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Home Office last year ignored advice to remove veto from local councils on accommodating asylum seekers Afghan asylum seekers arriving in Britain could experience problems securing suitable housing after ministers ignored the advice of their own officials about how to increase the pool of available accommodation. Pressure on asylum and refugee accommodation is likely to increase due to the influx of Afghans fleeing the Taliban. Guardian analysis has revealed that almost a quarter of the UK's 44,825 asylum seekers supported by the Home Office are housed in just 10 local authorities, nine of which are among the most deprived in the country. Continue reading... |
| Afghan civil war ‘unavoidable’ if Taliban refuse talks, says opposition leader Posted: 22 Aug 2021 08:57 AM PDT Ahmad Massoud issues warning as militant group seeks to assert control around Kabul airport One of the main figures still leading Afghan opposition to the Taliban's takeover of the country, Ahmad Massoud, has warned that a new civil war is inevitable without a comprehensive power-sharing agreement. Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who opposed the Taliban in the 1990s and was assassinated two days before 9/11 in 2001, told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV channel that war was "unavoidable" if the Taliban refused dialogue. Continue reading... |
| ‘I’m a citizen with no country:’ Mark Sanford on turning against Trump and his party Posted: 23 Aug 2021 01:30 AM PDT Former South Carolina governor talks about his memoir that links his decision to lessons learned from an extramarital affair in 2009 and his attempt to cover it up Mark Sanford is not the first Republican to turn against former US president Donald Trump and pay a political price. But he is unique in publishing a memoir that links his decision to lessons learned from an extramarital affair and his attempt to cover it up. Sanford was the governor of South Carolina when, in 2009, he flew to Argentina to be with a woman who was not his wife but told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The falsehood was rapidly exposed, made lurid headlines and ended his 20-year marriage. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand reports another 35 Covid cases as nationwide lockdown extended Posted: 22 Aug 2021 09:44 PM PDT Jacinda Ardern said outbreak was not thought to have peaked and that country must 'hold the course' New Zealand's nationwide lockdown is extending until at least the end of the week, as the country battles to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19. Auckland – the country's largest city, where the majority of cases are – will remain in lockdown until the end of the month. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2021 02:10 AM PDT No word on whether Victoria's lockdown will be lifted next week as state reports 71 cases; prime minister says 'this cannot go on forever' as he discusses path out of pandemic; NSW reports 818 new cases and three deaths; parliament returns in locked-down ACT. Follow updates live
With that, we will close the blog for the day. Here's a quick run through of the day's biggest events:
Two young children have been abducted in Melbourne after a violent home invasion during which their mother was bound, gagged and assaulted, reports AAP. Police are searching for a three-year-old boy and five-year-old girl taken from their Blackburn North home while wearing pyjamas by a man who fled in the family's Mercedes Benz. I implore you, please, to let these children go so that they can be returned to their parents, where they should be. We're very concerned. We have not given up hope by any stretch of the imagination. I'm confident we will locate these children and return them to their parents. Continue reading... |
| Nosedive in UK-US relations is another casualty of Afghanistan’s fall Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:30 PM PDT Ministers are becoming openly critical of Joe Biden after being left in the dark about major decisions So much for the special relationship. As the Afghanistan crisis has unfolded, it has precipitated a high-speed deterioration in Anglo-American relations. What began as a muted disagreement on whether it was right for the US to withdraw militarily has reached the point where UK government sources are openly briefing against President Joe Biden as the situation in Kabul worsens. Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden: withdrawal from Afghanistan would always be 'hard and painful' - video Posted: 23 Aug 2021 12:44 AM PDT The evacuation of thousands of Americans and their Afghan allies from Kabul would have been 'hard and painful no matter when it started or when we began', Joe Biden said on Sunday, amid fierce criticism of his administration's handling of the US withdrawal. Answering questions, he said it was possible that his deadline for the completion of the evacuation, 31 August, would be extended Continue reading... |
| 'Go out and spread their legs': NZ Covid minister delivers saucy advice – video Posted: 22 Aug 2021 08:54 PM PDT At a press briefing, Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins made an unintentional X-rated error, telling Kiwis that they should socially distance when they 'spread their legs'. Continue reading... |
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