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- ‘We thought we were mates’: French ambassador laments subterfuge en route to Sydney airport
- Climate top of the agenda as knife-edge race to lead Germany enters final stage
- ‘We don’t want people to be in a panic,’ says chief of Taliban morality police
- ‘Heck of a ride’: SpaceX’s historic amateur astronauts splash down safely in Atlantic
- ‘Puppet showmen’: Hong Kong elite vote in ‘patriots only’ election process
- British gangs and international rivals join forces to increase cocaine sales
- North Korea expanding weapons-grade uranium plant, satellite images suggest
- Fears of US government shutdown as debt ceiling game of chicken begins
- Amir Khan says he was escorted from US flight ‘for no reason’
- Father to 15 children … but were any of blues star BB King’s offspring his?
- Slow but steady has seen the EU win out in the vaccine race
- Coronavirus live news: 1.5million people in England to receive booster jab invite
- Covid vaccinations among US Latinos are rising thanks to community outreach
- ‘Freedom day doesn’t include me’: for some, the end of lockdown will be a time of fear
- Why Greece’s expensive new migrant camps are outraging NGOs
- No more white saviours, thanks: how to be a true anti-racist ally | Nova Reid
- California recall vote show Trump’s big lie is now Republican playbook
- ‘Something magical happens’: the cameras helping refugee children to heal
- ‘Table for one? Yes, please’ – the joy of eating alone
- My husband shows no interest in me and won’t talk about it
- UK workers on the end of furlough: ‘Will it be Amazon, care homes or driving a van?’
- US to fly Haitian migrants back after thousands gather at Texas border
- Making waves in the Pacific: how Boris Johnson’s Global Britain went rogue
- New NSW Covid lockdown restrictions: update to Sydney, regional NSW and Canberra, ACT coronavirus rules explained
- How thousands of Haitian migrants ended up at the Texas border
- Jonathan Mirsky: reporter who went from Mao fan to fierce Beijing critic
- Aukus pact could allow New Zealand to deepen relations with Europe and Pacific | Pete McKenzie
- French recall of ambassadors shows extent of anger over Aukus rift
- Aerial footage shows scale of makeshift migrant camp under Texas bridge – video
- We found out from the press, says French ambassador on scrapped submarine contract – video
| ‘We thought we were mates’: French ambassador laments subterfuge en route to Sydney airport Posted: 18 Sep 2021 05:28 PM PDT Jean-Pierre Thebault was angry about Aukus as he left Australia on Saturday night, saying: 'It's like in a couple, you know, when you commit … you don't run away'
The French ambassador to Australia was in a car heading to Sydney airport for an urgent flight back home when he revealed he was "sad like any decent person would be". Jean-Pierre Thebault left Australia on Saturday night after Australia's $90bn submarine deal with France was scrapped late last week, causing an unexpected rupture in the relationship between two friendly countries. Continue reading... |
| Climate top of the agenda as knife-edge race to lead Germany enters final stage Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:30 AM PDT Cheers and jeers greet political rivals trying to succeed Merkel, as they chase green votes in the former DDR As Annalena Baerbock steps on to the stage, the downpour that minutes before had soaked those gathered on Chemnitz's Theater Platz ceases. The Green party candidate is quick to use the opportunity to stress that everything is still possible. "Minutes ago it was raining, now the sun has come out – it can happen," she says with a huge grin, hinting that the change in the weather is a good omen for her party's fortunes. There are both chuckles and jeers from those gathered. With a week to go before one of the most open and tension-filled German elections in years, Baerbock is in the last stages of a campaign that weeks ago saw her heading for the top job, as successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in which she is now fighting for second or third place. Continue reading... |
| ‘We don’t want people to be in a panic,’ says chief of Taliban morality police Posted: 18 Sep 2021 11:45 PM PDT Exclusive: In his first interview with western media, Kandahar's enforcer promises things will be different from the brutal 1990s Mawlawi Mohammad Shebani is officially in charge of policing morals throughout Kandahar, the Taliban heartland of southern Afghanistan. He is newly appointed head of the provincial office for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, a title which strikes fear into many Afghans old enough to remember its previous incarnation under Taliban rule in the 1990s. Continue reading... |
| ‘Heck of a ride’: SpaceX’s historic amateur astronauts splash down safely in Atlantic Posted: 18 Sep 2021 04:51 PM PDT The four-person crew thanked mission control as they splashed down in the Atlantic Four space tourists ended their trailblazing trip to orbit on Saturday with a splashdown in the Atlantic off the Florida coast. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the ocean just before sunset, not far from where their chartered flight began three days earlier. Continue reading... |
| ‘Puppet showmen’: Hong Kong elite vote in ‘patriots only’ election process Posted: 18 Sep 2021 07:45 PM PDT The formation of the election committee on Sunday is the first poll to be held under the patriots rule imposed by Beijing Hong Kong's political elite begin selecting a powerful committee on Sunday that will choose nearly half the legislature – and later a new leader – under a new "patriots only" system imposed by Beijing. The first poll under that new system, dubbed "patriots rule Hong Kong", will take place on Sunday as members of the city's ruling classes choose a 1,500-seat election committee. Continue reading... |
| British gangs and international rivals join forces to increase cocaine sales Posted: 19 Sep 2021 12:15 AM PDT Analysis by National Crime Agency finds more than 1,700 UK criminal groups involved in drug supply British organised crime groups are collaborating closely with former international rivals like the Italian mafia to import increasingly bigger cocaine shipments into Europe, a senior investigator has revealed. Related: Cocaine, the yuppie drug? Not now, say experts – its lure is crossing all classes Continue reading... |
| North Korea expanding weapons-grade uranium plant, satellite images suggest Posted: 18 Sep 2021 06:34 PM PDT Experts believe works at Yongbyon nuclear facility could allow production of bomb-making material to increase by up to 25% Recent satellite images appear to show North Korea is expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, with experts saying the move shows an intent to boost the production of bomb materials. The assessment comes after North Korea recently raised tensions with its first missile tests in six months amid long-dormant nuclear disarmament negotiations with the US. Continue reading... |
| Fears of US government shutdown as debt ceiling game of chicken begins Posted: 19 Sep 2021 01:00 AM PDT If neither side budges, US risks default on debt and lowered credit rating, which would cost billions Top Democrats are expected to dare Republicans to block a stopgap funding measure, which would trigger the double-barreled fiscal crisis of the US defaulting on its mammoth debt and a shutdown of the federal government, according to two sources familiar with the proposal. The plan being considered by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, involves suspending the debt ceiling past the 2022 midterm elections in a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded through early December, the sources said. Continue reading... |
| Amir Khan says he was escorted from US flight ‘for no reason’ Posted: 18 Sep 2021 03:09 PM PDT British boxer claims to have been banned by American Airlines after colleague's mask 'not high enough' British boxer Amir Khan has said he was escorted from a flight in the US by police "for no reason". The 34-year-old, who has also appeared on reality television shows including I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, claimed he had been banned by American Airlines. Continue reading... |
| Father to 15 children … but were any of blues star BB King’s offspring his? Posted: 19 Sep 2021 12:00 AM PDT A new biography says paternity would have been impossible for the musician because he was sterile due to illness and an accident BB King was born into poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi and raised on a cotton plantation before becoming a street busker then finding fame and fortune as a guitarist, singer and songwriter. But the "King of the Blues" also had a far from conventional private life, fathering 15 children, many of whom reportedly squabbled over his multimillion-dollar estate after his death in 2015. But they could not have been his biological children because he was sterile due to illness and an accident, a forthcoming biography claims. Continue reading... |
| Slow but steady has seen the EU win out in the vaccine race Posted: 19 Sep 2021 12:45 AM PDT Ursula von der Leyen says the union's vaccination programme is now a success after its stumbling start We did it," said Ursula von der Leyen in her annual state of the union address last week. With more than 70% of its adult population now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Europe is, "against all critics, among the world leaders". Moreover, the Commission president said, the EU had exported half its vaccines: "We delivered more than 700 million doses to the European people, and we delivered more than 700 million doses to the rest of the world. We are the only region to achieve that." Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus live news: 1.5million people in England to receive booster jab invite Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:05 AM PDT Texts and letters will be sent to eligible people who had their second vaccine at least six months ago
A scientist advising the government in England has said it should have improved the testing system for international travel rather than "abandoning it entirely" (via PA Media). Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, which feeds into the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said the system around PCR tests for travellers has been "dysfunctional" with "all the different companies charging absurd rates and not providing a service". I do think we need PCR tests, because everybody always said that lateral flow tests were never what were called greenlight tests - tests to say you're safe and therefore you can act as if you don't have the virus. What they do is they pick up asymptomatic cases and are very, very valuable in that regard. But I think it would have been far preferable to keep PCR tests but to improve the system and to do them through the NHS.
Australia reported 1,607 new coronavirus cases today as states and territories gradually shift from trying to eliminate outbreaks to living with the virus (via Reuters): Victoria, home to about a quarter of Australia's 25 million people, recorded 507 cases as its premier said a weeks-long lockdown will end once 70% of those 16 and older are fully vaccinated, whether or not there are new cases. Premier Daniel Andrews said the state might reach that vaccination threshold around 26 October. About 43% of Victorians have been fully vaccinated and just over 46% people nationwide. Continue reading... |
| Covid vaccinations among US Latinos are rising thanks to community outreach Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT Grassroots groups are mobilizing churches, soccer coaches and cartoon abuelas to reassure underserved Spanish-speaking communities and remove barriers to get them their shots Liliana Borrero balanced her sleeping baby on one leg as she sat and waited out the 15 minutes a nurse asked her to stick around in case she had any reactions to her first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. Borrero, 38, was accompanied by all nine of her children, three of whom also received the shot. Continue reading... |
| ‘Freedom day doesn’t include me’: for some, the end of lockdown will be a time of fear Posted: 18 Sep 2021 01:00 PM PDT Those most at risk from Covid say the easing of restrictions when vaccination targets are met will bring anxiety and danger "In the roadmap to freedom, I hear nothing about people like me, other than as a qualifying postscript to the Covid deaths: 'But they had an underlying health condition'," says Racquel Sherry. "Freedom day doesn't include me." Continue reading... |
| Why Greece’s expensive new migrant camps are outraging NGOs Posted: 18 Sep 2021 09:00 PM PDT The €38m asylum seeker centre on Samos – the first of five – has restaurants and air-conditioning but it's like a prison, say critics It has eight restaurants, seven basketball courts, three playgrounds, a football pitch, special rooms for vulnerable people, and is purportedly eco-friendly. But Greece's new "closed" migrant camp for 3,000 asylum seekers on Samos is also surrounded by military-grade fencing, watched over by police and located in a remote valley, and has been likened by critics to a jail or a dystopian nightmare. Its message is clear: if Europe-bound asylum seekers reach the country, they are going to be strictly controlled. Continue reading... |
| No more white saviours, thanks: how to be a true anti-racist ally | Nova Reid Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT In order for true diversity to flourish, we need to first become unswervingly anti-racist. That means doing more than watching a few documentaries or reading some books, says Nova Reid. Consciously 'unlearning' racism is the crucial first step I felt overwhelmed: 40,000 hits to my website – 50 times more than the average month – plus 2,000 emails, people tagging me in social media posts to let their followers know they had signed up to my online anti-racism course – but not always actually signing up. The murder of George Floyd had thrown up a very apparent collective sense of white guilt around the world. I had been doing anti-racism work long before the summer of 2020, so I didn't understand why – increased volume aside – some of these interactions felt so different to the usual business inquiries I receive. I felt there was such a sense of ownership over me, my time, my words, what I should talk about and when. The more boundaries I put up, the more they would trample over them. Continue reading... |
| California recall vote show Trump’s big lie is now Republican playbook Posted: 18 Sep 2021 11:00 PM PDT Pre-emptively branding as rigged an election you are likely to lose risks turning off GOP voters and undermining democracy It was a pre-emptive strike against truth by some of the biggest names on the American right wing. Former president Donald Trump warned that the ballot would be "rigged". The Republican candidate Larry Elder predicted "shenanigans". The conservative media star Tomi Lahren suggested that "voter fraud" was inevitable. Continue reading... |
| ‘Something magical happens’: the cameras helping refugee children to heal Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT We talk to the man behind an extraordinary project in Turkey, where children, most of them refugees, have been given old analogue cameras and taught the art of photography Serbest Salih studied photography at college in Aleppo, before fleeing Syria with his family in 2014 as Islamic State fighters advanced on his home town of Kobani. He is now one of an estimated 100,000 refugees living in the historic city of Mardin in south-eastern Turkey, just a few miles from the Syrian border. Having initially found work as a photographer for a German NGO, Salih's life changed dramatically in 2017 when, while wandering with a friend through the city, he discovered a sprawling refugee community living in a group of abandoned government buildings in the working-class Kurdish district of Istayson. "It was a place where Turkish Kurds and Syrian Kurds lived as neighbours, but did not communicate," he says, "They were strangers who spoke the same language. It was at that moment that I thought to use analogue photography as a means to integrate the different communities." Continue reading... |
| ‘Table for one? Yes, please’ – the joy of eating alone Posted: 19 Sep 2021 12:00 AM PDT More of us are cooking or eating solo – it's time to break free from the stigma of dining alone "We call it a crisis of loneliness. In France, it's a crisis of manners. In China, it's a crisis of family," Dr Mukta Das tells me. "Every nation around the world has this idea that eating together is better, and that eating alone is against the norm." An anthropologist at Soas University of London, Das is fascinated by the shift of eating from a predominantly communal, convivial activity to something we now frequently experience by ourselves. There are 8 million single households in the UK and in 2019 the Wellbeing Index revealed almost a third of British adults are eating alone "most or all of the time". This shift may well have been exacerbated by lockdown, during which those who lived alone necessarily ate alone – but it was in motion long before, says Das, thanks to the "transformation of our family-oriented culture into something more individualistic". Continue reading... |
| My husband shows no interest in me and won’t talk about it Posted: 18 Sep 2021 10:00 PM PDT It's as if you are in some sort of subconscious prison and I want you to escape, says Philippa Perry The question I've been with my husband for 22 years. Ten years ago, I suffered depression. My doctor said it was nothing and dismissed me. My husband showed no interest in me, we barely talked or had sex, I'd try to get his attention with meals or looking nice, and he'd get angry and tell me all was fine and why did I wear my depression like a badge of honour? At times, I felt suicidal. Continue reading... |
| UK workers on the end of furlough: ‘Will it be Amazon, care homes or driving a van?’ Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:30 AM PDT The support scheme has proved positive for some, but others will have no jobs to return to. We hear their stories Since March 2020, 11.6 million UK workers have been furloughed by their employees as a result of the Covid pandemic, with the government paying up to 80% of their wages in order to keep jobs open. At the scheme's peak in May 2020, 8.9 million workers – almost a third of the UK workforce – were being paid to stay at home; by the end of July this year, that number had dropped to 1.6 million. Continue reading... |
| US to fly Haitian migrants back after thousands gather at Texas border Posted: 18 Sep 2021 10:00 AM PDT Plan will likely involve five to eight flights a day, with San Antonio potentially among departure cities The Biden administration on Saturday was working on plans to send many of the thousands of Haitian immigrants who have gathered in a Texas border city back to their homeland, a swift response to the huge influx of people who suddenly crossed from Mexico and congregated under and around a bridge. Related: 'A forgotten disaster': earthquake-hit Haitians left to fend for themselves Continue reading... |
| Making waves in the Pacific: how Boris Johnson’s Global Britain went rogue Posted: 18 Sep 2021 11:30 PM PDT Defence pact with Australia and the US increases chance of confrontation with China and spurs nuclear proliferation Life got a little more dangerous last week. It wasn't due to the pandemic or the climate crisis. It was entirely the result of the conscious choices of men (and it's nearly always men) gearing up for war. That's denied, naturally. Myopic politicians, soldiers and diplomats say new nuclear weapons, missiles, ships, submarines and alliances are necessary to deter unnamed enemies. They are needed to bolster "international security". Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 Sep 2021 02:03 AM PDT Gladys Berejiklian has revealed a roadmap out of lockdown for the state, and an easing of restrictions for some parts of regional NSW. Here's the full list of what you can and can't do in NSW and the ACT
The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has announced that a curfew in the 12 greater Sydney hotspots has lifted as the state hit the 80% single dose vaccination milestone. She announced on 19 September that from Monday 20 September restrictions would be "equalised" across all of Sydney including the western suburbs previously under a harsher lockdown. Earlier this month, she revealed a roadmap out of lockdown for the state, and an easing of restrictions for some parts of regional NSW. Continue reading... |
| How thousands of Haitian migrants ended up at the Texas border Posted: 18 Sep 2021 03:30 AM PDT Gang violence, bloody protests, food and fuel shortages plus natural disasters have spurred many to leave the west's poorest nation Every night Guy would fall asleep to the sound of gunfire: warring gangs in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were fighting pitched battles in the city centre. By day, the country was roiled by bloody protests against food and fuel shortages. Roadblocks with burning tyres were commonplace, and the police responded with tear gas and billy clubs. Continue reading... |
| Jonathan Mirsky: reporter who went from Mao fan to fierce Beijing critic Posted: 18 Sep 2021 11:15 PM PDT The career of the Observer's former China correspondent who died last week, was marked by a willingness to review his convictions Jonathan Mirsky, the Observer's former China correspondent who has died aged 88, was acutely aware of the mounting danger from the bullets criss-crossing Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 as units of the People's Liberation Army were sent in to break up the protests. He was aware too that he desperately needed to get his copy to London. Writing about the experience 30 years later, Mirsky admitted that few at first had any sense of the scale of the violence that was being unleashed either on the students in the square. All that, however, was to change quickly. Continue reading... |
| Aukus pact could allow New Zealand to deepen relations with Europe and Pacific | Pete McKenzie Posted: 18 Sep 2021 03:00 PM PDT As country's traditional allies take a more confrontational approach to China, it could offset Anglosphere divide with new partnerships During the announcement that America, the United Kingdom and Australia had formed a new Aukus defence pact – inaugurated with the sale of American nuclear-powered submarines to Australia – Australian prime minister Scott Morrison lauded it as a "forever partnership for a new time between the oldest and most trusted of friends". That phrasing was notable given that the deal excluded New Zealand, which has historically been so close with Australia that the Australian constitution contemplates complete integration of the two countries. Remarkably, New Zealand's government apparently only learned about the Aukus deal when it began to be reported in the media on Wednesday. Continue reading... |
| French recall of ambassadors shows extent of anger over Aukus rift Posted: 18 Sep 2021 05:14 AM PDT Analysis: ties between Paris and Washington in worse state than at time of Iraq war after Australia's cancellation of submarine deal The recall of the French ambassadors to Australia and the US – without precedent in two centuries of diplomacy between Paris and Washington – has plunged relations to depths unknown for decades. Rifts over the Iraq war or Nato pale into insignificance. True, the French recalled their ambassador to Rome a couple of years ago, irked by the insults sent their way by the upstart Five Star leader Luigi di Maio, but that was a little warning to populists to stop encouraging the disruption of the yellow vest protests. Continue reading... |
| Aerial footage shows scale of makeshift migrant camp under Texas bridge – video Posted: 18 Sep 2021 09:09 AM PDT On Saturday the US government worked on plans to send many of the thousands of Haitian immigrants who have gathered in a Texas border city back to their Caribbean homeland. Aerial video from local media showed Haitians crossing the Rio Grande freely and in a steady stream on Friday, going back and forth between the US and Mexico through knee-deep water, with some parents carrying small children on their shoulders. People pitched tents and built shelters from giant reeds. Many bathed and washed clothing in the river
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| We found out from the press, says French ambassador on scrapped submarine contract – video Posted: 18 Sep 2021 02:18 AM PDT Jean-Pierre Thebault, the French ambassador to Australia, said France was kept in the dark over the surprise cancellation of a submarine contract in favour of a US deal. France recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the US on Friday in an unprecedented show of anger over a deal between the US, Australia and the UK to provide Australia with a fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines Continue reading... |
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