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- German election on knife edge as months of coalition wrangling loom
- Kim Jong-un’s sister says North Korea open to talks with South if Seoul shows ‘respect’
- Assad the outcast being sold to the west as key to peace in Middle East
- Infighting mars start of Labour conference as Starmer and Rayner clash over voting rules
- Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group disbands amid crackdown on dissent
- Vanuatu to seek international court opinion on climate change rights
- How fall of property giant Evergrande sent a shockwave through China
- Man arrested over killing of London schoolteacher Sabina Nessa
- Gene editing ‘would allow us to create hardier farm breeds’
- Pay us a fair share for all the ‘likes’ we earn, demand influencers
- Keen spirit: Australian cyclist uses GPS to recreate Nirvana’s Nevermind cover
- Covid live: Australia’s Victoria to ease some curbs despite Delta outbreak; 1 million people still on furlough in UK
- Fears for 1 million furloughed staff with Sunak set to finally end scheme
- ‘We feel we’re not going to get really sick’: why the pandemic hasn’t dissuaded ocean cruisers
- New York City’s Covid vaccine mandate for school staff blocked by judge
- What is the legacy of the Angela Merkel era?
- ‘Anything I do, I want to be the best’: Usain Bolt
- Michel Barnier: why is the EU’s former Brexit chief negotiator sounding like a Eurosceptic?
- Beatles on the brink: the truth about the Fab Four’s final days
- Straight from the heart: the lockdown-inspired love letter boom
- Unsung hero: how ‘Mr Radio Philips’ helped thousands flee the Nazis
- Mogadishu car bomb blast near presidential palace kills eight
- Richmond’s Confederate statues are gone. What should replace them?
- Nayib Bukele calls himself the ‘world’s coolest dictator’ – but is he joking?
- Over 50% of Australians over 16 are fully vaccinated; Berejiklian reopening plans coming ‘next week’ – as it happened
- ‘They treated us like animals’: Haitians angry and in despair at being deported from US
- Unless New Zealand wants to be a ‘fortress’ it must engage more with Kiwis abroad | Elle Hunt
- Smoke from Fawn fire in California paints sky orange – video
- Rivers of lava race down as La Palma volcano enters explosive phase – video
| German election on knife edge as months of coalition wrangling loom Posted: 25 Sep 2021 06:44 AM PDT The country faces 'Dutch-style' political era with main parties neck and neck before Sunday's poll Germany is braced to enter a new "Dutch-style" political era after federal elections on Sunday, as a knife-edge vote points to months of complicated coalition wrangling. Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel joined the campaign trail at a rally in the western city of Aachen on Friday night in an attempt to help her designated successor from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Armin Laschet, close the gap on the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD). Continue reading... |
| Kim Jong-un’s sister says North Korea open to talks with South if Seoul shows ‘respect’ Posted: 25 Sep 2021 06:01 PM PDT Analysts say North Korea's apparent desire for engagement is part of a push to get the US to ease crippling sanctions The influential sister of North Korea's leader said that an inter-Korean summit could take place, but only if mutual "respect" and "impartiality" are guaranteed. The statement on Saturday was the second in two days by Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's sister and key adviser. She had on Friday urged Seoul to end its "hostile policies" towards Pyongyang after South Korea's president Moon Jae-in called for the declaration of an official end to the state of war with the North. Continue reading... |
| Assad the outcast being sold to the west as key to peace in Middle East Posted: 26 Sep 2021 12:00 AM PDT After 10 years of bloodshed, foreign allies are seeking to rehabilitate the Syrian leader For almost a decade he was a pariah who struggled to get a meeting abroad or even to assert himself on his visitors. Largely alone in his palace, save for trusted aides, Bashar al-Assad presided over a broken state whose few friends demanded a humiliating price for their protection, and weren't afraid to show it. During regular trips to Syria, Vladimir Putin arranged meetings at Russian bases, forcing Assad to trail behind him at functions. Iran too readily imposed its will, often dictating military terms, or sidelining the Syrian leader on decisions that shaped the course of his country. Continue reading... |
| Infighting mars start of Labour conference as Starmer and Rayner clash over voting rules Posted: 25 Sep 2021 11:00 PM PDT Critics say the leader has hijacked the gathering by getting bogged down in voting issues and losing sight of a focus on policy When Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leader, stood up to huge cheers to address her party's conference on Saturday, the slogan "Stronger Future Together" was projected on the big screen behind her and all around the vast hall. Before what had been billed as Keir Starmer's defining conference, when he would reveal the real Keir to the nation, the party leader had also spoken last week of the need for togetherness in the party in a 35-page pamphlet spelling out his vision for Britain. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group disbands amid crackdown on dissent Posted: 25 Sep 2021 06:30 PM PDT Prominent pro-democracy group Hong Kong Alliance voted to disband after many of its leaders were arrested The Hong Kong pro-democracy group that organised three decades of vigils commemorating the victims of Beijing's Tiananmen Square massacre has voted to disband in the face of China's sweeping clampdown on dissent. The Hong Kong Alliance was one of the most prominent symbols of the city's former political plurality, and its dissolution on Saturday is the latest illustration of how quickly China is remoulding the business hub in its own authoritarian image. Continue reading... |
| Vanuatu to seek international court opinion on climate change rights Posted: 25 Sep 2021 08:23 PM PDT The Pacific island nation wants clarity on the legal responsibilities owed to its people related to climate change Vanuatu will ask the International court of justice for an advisory opinion on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from climate change. With a population of about 280,000 people spread across roughly 80 islands, Vanuatu is among more than a dozen Pacific island nations facing rising sea levels and more regular storms that can wipe out much of their economies. Continue reading... |
| How fall of property giant Evergrande sent a shockwave through China Posted: 25 Sep 2021 08:00 AM PDT All eyes are on Xi Jinping as expectation grows that the government will have to intervene to protect small creditors In May 2020, Chen (not his real name) decided to invest 300,000 yuan (£34,000) in property in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang. "I thought the price was not too expensive and I had some extra money so I invested it," he said. "I thought it was going to be all right because Evergrande is such a big name and enterprise." Chen was following in the footsteps of countless fellow Chinese, getting in on a booming property market that had turned big cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai into some of the world's most expensive, amid the huge transfer of the population from rural to urban areas. Continue reading... |
| Man arrested over killing of London schoolteacher Sabina Nessa Posted: 26 Sep 2021 12:39 AM PDT Police describe arrest of 38-year-old man early on Sunday morning as 'significant development' A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of the London schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, Scotland Yard has said. The man was arrested at 3am on Sunday at an address in East Sussex in what police described as as "significant development". Continue reading... |
| Gene editing ‘would allow us to create hardier farm breeds’ Posted: 25 Sep 2021 10:30 PM PDT The biotechnology is comparable to traditional breeding methods and vital to create livestock resistant to disease, droughts and heatwaves, says group Leading UK researchers, vets and farmers have urged ministers to free livestock science of unnecessary legal curbs as the country prepares, post-Brexit, to ease gene-editing rules. Such a move would allow the creation of new breeds of animals resistant to disease, heat and drought, they argue. The government is expected to propose easing gene-editing restrictions in the near future to enable the creation of new generations of crops. However, the group – which has written to the environment secretary, George Eustice – worries there is less interest in using the technology to create new breeds of pigs, cows and poultry. Continue reading... |
| Pay us a fair share for all the ‘likes’ we earn, demand influencers Posted: 25 Sep 2021 11:00 PM PDT A former model has launched a website to help online creatives compare deals with brands to prevent exploitation Public support for workers' rights and pay equality may be growing but at least one group feels left out: Gen-Z professionals in the modern and comparatively nebulous field of online content creation and influence. It's a state of affairs that Lindsey Lee Lugrin, a former model with a degree in finance, plans to change with some collective organisation. She has launched an advocacy site, aptly titled F*** You Pay Me, on which influencers review and compare deals with brands, pay-scales and what it's like to work with them. Continue reading... |
| Keen spirit: Australian cyclist uses GPS to recreate Nirvana’s Nevermind cover Posted: 25 Sep 2021 07:47 PM PDT Enthusiast marks album's 30th anniversary with 150km ride around Adelaide using Strava to sketch naked baby The naked Nirvana baby has been recreated yet again – this time on the unsuspecting streets of Adelaide. Pete Stokes rode about 150km on a single-speed bike to sketch the outline of the famous Nevermind cover. His efforts, tracked by GPS-based site Strava, show the baby's (slightly angry) face over the CBD and the banknote over the leafy eastern suburbs of Burnside and Kensington. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2021 01:43 AM PDT Victoria reports 779 new cases and two more deaths; UK government to wind up furlough support this week
Sticking with news from Russia for a moment, its government has just announced that it has registered a further 805 Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours. As mentioned earlier, it comes as the president Vladimir Putin ended his self-isolation with a fishing trip to Siberia.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin has ended his short spell in self-isolation and has spent several days on holiday in Siberia where he was hiking and fishing, the Kremlin said on Sunday. Putin had said he would have to spend "a few days" in self-isolation after dozens of people in his entourage fell ill with Covid. He also had to cancel his trip to Tajikistan for a security summit. Putin has cultivated a macho image, appealing to many Russians, and has previously been pictured riding a horse bare-chested and in sun glasses, as well as carrying a hunting rifle and piloting a fighter jet. This time, his outings were more mundane. Continue reading... |
| Fears for 1 million furloughed staff with Sunak set to finally end scheme Posted: 25 Sep 2021 04:01 PM PDT After the success of the chancellors's £70bn programme, there is uncertainty about the future direction of the economy The biggest state intervention in the UK's labour market in peacetime comes to an end this week when the government finally winds up its furlough support. Barring an unlikely last-minute change of heart, a wage subsidy that has been in place for 18 months and has cost £70bn will no longer be open to struggling firms. Continue reading... |
| ‘We feel we’re not going to get really sick’: why the pandemic hasn’t dissuaded ocean cruisers Posted: 25 Sep 2021 01:00 PM PDT Travel agents report Australians' interest in cruising increasing 40% each month since June, with one analyst describing it as 'the Teflon market for travel' On 16 September, Miami-based Oceania Cruises, a luxury culinary-focused cruise company that is a division of Norwegian Cruise Lines, set an all-time, single-day booking record. It was driven by the introduction of its newest ship, Vista, due to take its first passengers in April 2023. Nearly half the available inventory of Vista's inaugural season was sold in one day. These were new cash bookings, 30% of which came from people booking with the company for the first time. It's hard to know what this means for Australia. According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), 1.34 million Australians took a cruise in 2018, one of the highest rates in the world by population, yet international travel is currently off limits. Continue reading... |
| New York City’s Covid vaccine mandate for school staff blocked by judge Posted: 25 Sep 2021 11:04 AM PDT Judge granted temporary injunction and referred the case to a three-judge panel while mandate was set to go into effect Monday New York City schools have been temporarily blocked from enforcing a vaccine mandate for teachers and other workers by a federal appeals judge, days before it was to take effect. Related: CDC overrides advisory panel to back Pfizer booster for Americans with high-risk jobs Continue reading... |
| What is the legacy of the Angela Merkel era? Posted: 26 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT It's Auf Wiedersehen to the chancellor this weekend as Germany goes to the polls. But what has been her impact on politics across Europe and on the global stage? The filmmaker and gay rights activist Rosa von Praunheim once confessed that he loved Angela Merkel, but hated her Christian Democratic Union party. This sense of Merkel as a morally attractive, quasi-presidential figure above petty partisanship is widely shared within Germany and abroad: during the Donald Trump years she was lauded as the last defender of the liberal international order; Boris Johnson described her last week as a "titan" of diplomacy; and even Alexis Tsipras, the hapless leftwing Greek prime minister who was forced by Merkel into years of austerity, cannot help but admire her "sincerity". Continue reading... |
| ‘Anything I do, I want to be the best’: Usain Bolt Posted: 26 Sep 2021 12:00 AM PDT Can the fastest man on the planet become a chart-topping reggae star? Hang on," I can't help thinking as I wait for Usain Bolt – the Usain Bolt, Fastest Man In The World Usain Bolt – to magically appear on the laptop screen in my kitchen. Bolt has released a reggae album with his childhood friend and manager Nugent "NJ" Walker, and I've been granted an interview. Except… has there been some terrible mix-up? Am I interviewing some other Usain Bolt, some lesser-known reggae artist who just happens to share his name? Why on earth would a man widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, a three-time world record holder, be releasing a reggae record? But, nope, there he is, beaming at me from a nondescript kitchen somewhere in the world. (He's actually in the UK, ready to play for the World XI against an England XI at Soccer Aid at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium; days later, a clip will circulate of the long-retired Liverpool and England footballer Jamie Carragher beating him in a foot-race for a through ball.) He's got the Bolt brand logo – a black bolt of lightning inside a yellow B – on the left breast of his black T-Shirt. There's no mistaking it. Continue reading... |
| Michel Barnier: why is the EU’s former Brexit chief negotiator sounding like a Eurosceptic? Posted: 26 Sep 2021 01:00 AM PDT Tough controls on immigration, a restricted role for European courts, a new politics of patriotism: why is the EU's former Brexit chief negotiator, now running for the French presidency, sounding more and more like a Eurosceptic? As his Brexit diaries are published in English, he reveals all My Secret Brexit Diary, Michel Barnier's blow-by-blow account of the Brexit negotiations, is at times quite a dry and technical read. But every now and then it offers glorious moments of comic relief. There is, for example, the day that Lord Digby Jones and a jovial bunch of leave-voting businessmen pitch up optimistically at Barnier's Brussels office, plonking a patriotic gift-basket on his desk. Running his eye over it, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator spies some cheddar, wine, tea and jam, a book of Shakespeare's plays and an essay on Winston Churchill's life and political philosophy. With a smile, Barnier points out that some of the foodstuffs are processed from European products and protected by EU designations of origin. As for Shakespeare and Churchill, one, he suggests, was a very "continental playwright" and the other a "very European British statesman" who backed a united Europe. This false start is the prelude to some unsuccessful lobbying by the British delegation on behalf of the City's financial services industry. When Barnier bats away demands for full post-Brexit access to European markets, he writes that the mood suddenly turns sour: "Digby Jones dares to say to me: 'Mr Barnier, your position is contrary to the interests of the economy. You are going to make life even more difficult for the worker in the Ruhr, the single woman in Madrid or the unemployed man in Athens.'" The rhetoric and tone, concludes Barnier in his diary entry for 10 January 2018, was "morally outrageous"; the desired bespoke agreement on financial services never materialises. Continue reading... |
| Beatles on the brink: the truth about the Fab Four’s final days Posted: 25 Sep 2021 11:00 PM PDT The director's new documentary weaves together hours of unseen footage to dispel many myths about the band's final months. John Harris, who was involved in the project, tells the inside story On paper, the idea looked brilliant. In the opening weeks of January 1969, the Beatles were working up new songs for a televised concert, and being filmed as they did so. Where the event would take place was unclear – but as rehearsals at Twickenham film studios went on, one of their associates came up with the idea of travelling to Libya, where they would perform in the remains of a famous amphitheatre, part of an ancient Roman city called Sabratha. As the plan was discussed amid set designs and maps one Wednesday afternoon, a new element was added: why not invite a few hundred fans to join them on a specially chartered ocean liner? Over the previous few days, John Lennon had been quiet and withdrawn, but now he seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm. The ship, he said, could be the setting for final dress rehearsals. He envisaged the group timing their set so they fell into a carefully picked musical moment just as the sun came up over the Mediterranean. If the four of them had been wondering how to present their performance, here was the most gloriously simple of answers: "God's the gimmick," he enthused. Continue reading... |
| Straight from the heart: the lockdown-inspired love letter boom Posted: 26 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT Not since pre-internet days has there been such a resurgence in romantic letter writing. Elle Hunt hears the stories behind the handwritten dispatches – and whether the senders lived happily ever after IRL In March last year, as lockdown was starting to seem inevitable, Lauren turned to her colleague Paul with a proposition: "Will you be my penpal?" Though they had worked together for two years, it was only recently that they had started messaging after hours. Now they had talked more over text than they had in person, making being together in the office a bit awkward. Their conversation was not obviously flirtatious, at least not as Lauren, 26, saw it; but she was enjoying herself enough to want to keep up contact through the lockdown – however long it might last. Continue reading... |
| Unsung hero: how ‘Mr Radio Philips’ helped thousands flee the Nazis Posted: 26 Sep 2021 12:30 AM PDT In June 1940, a Dutch salesman, acting as a consul in Lithuania, issued Jewish refugees with pseudo visas to escape Europe. His remarkable story is only now being told He helped save more Jewish lives than Oskar Schindler, but while the brave deeds of the German industrialist were known around the world because of an Oscar-winning film, few know the name Jan Zwartendijk, a Dutch radio salesman who helped thousands of Jews flee Nazi-occupied Europe. Now a book by the celebrated Dutch writer Jan Brokken seeks to rescue Zwartendijk from obscurity, as well as other courageous officials who bent the rules to help several thousand Jews trapped between Nazi Europe and the Soviet Union. Continue reading... |
| Mogadishu car bomb blast near presidential palace kills eight Posted: 25 Sep 2021 05:39 AM PDT Al-Shabaab jihadist group claims responsibility for suicide attack A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Somalia's presidential palace killing eight people, police said, as the al-Shabaab jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing took place on Saturday within 1km (0.6 miles) of Villa Somalia, the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Continue reading... |
| Richmond’s Confederate statues are gone. What should replace them? Posted: 26 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT The removal of Gen Robert E Lee's statue – a target for Black Lives Matter protesters – from Monument Avenue has sparked a debate on public art in Virginia All but one plinth is now bare on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. Where once stood enormous statues glorifying Confederate leaders, on a thoroughfare that memorialized a white supremacist past in the former capital of the Confederacy, there is now empty space. The only monument that remains is of a black man: the Richmond native and renowned tennis player and activist Arthur Ashe. Continue reading... |
| Nayib Bukele calls himself the ‘world’s coolest dictator’ – but is he joking? Posted: 26 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT El Salvador's president is consolidating power and seems intent on rewriting the country's constitution Among the colourful houses of Comunidad Iberia, an impoverished neighbourhood of San Salvador, the dark glass cube of the Urban Centre for Welfare and Opportunities (or Cubo in its Spanish acronym) is an eye-catching piece of urban architecture. Inside local children take art classes, read in the library and play online games. Outside, a mural depicting Armando Bukele, the father of El Salvador's president, extols Salvadorans to "live with love and responsibility". Futuristic and faintly ominous, the Cubo is a fitting tribute to Nayib Bukele's presidency. Since coming to power in June 2019, the 40-year-old former publicist has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, used his social-media accounts to generate an approval rating that is the envy of presidents worldwide, and introduced authoritarian measures to undermine the country's political opposition and civil society. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2021 12:57 AM PDT All the day's news, as it happened. This blog has now closed
Enjoy your evening, all, and thanks for having me! Here's just a taste of what we learned today:
In case you missed this earlier (I did) please enjoy this piece by Arwa Mahdawi on cancel culture, critical race theory and ... sexy seahorses. It's very easy to laugh at a bunch of rightwing moms clutching their pearls over sexy seahorses – but there's nothing funny about the systemic, organised way in which conservatives are trying to rewrite history and restrict freedom of speech. Continue reading... |
| ‘They treated us like animals’: Haitians angry and in despair at being deported from US Posted: 26 Sep 2021 02:00 AM PDT Haitian deportees arriving from Texas say they were 'rounded up like cattle and shackled like criminals' When Evens Delva waded across the Rio Grande with his wife and two daughters, he had dreams of starting a new life in Florida. But less than a week later, he and his family stepped on to the tarmac in Port-au-Prince, the sweltering and chaotic capital of Haiti, with nothing except traumatic memories and bubbling anger. Delva, along with nearly 2,000 other Haitians, was deported from southern Texas this week to Haiti, despite having lived in Chile for the past six years and having few remaining connections to his home country. His younger daughter, who is four, does not hold Haitian citizenship, having been born in Chile, and speaks more Spanish than Haitian Creole. Continue reading... |
| Unless New Zealand wants to be a ‘fortress’ it must engage more with Kiwis abroad | Elle Hunt Posted: 25 Sep 2021 01:00 PM PDT The country's pandemic policy has left many of its overseas citizens feeling alienated – a failure to amend election law could cement that What makes a New Zealander outside of New Zealand? An accent (which can be lost), or a passport (which can be bought)? Is it a set of irrevocable rights, an identity that anyone can claim and no one can question? Or does it depend on how often you go back? What if you don't know when you'll be home again? Continue reading... |
| Smoke from Fawn fire in California paints sky orange – video Posted: 25 Sep 2021 09:08 AM PDT A wildfire in northern California spread rapidly on Thursday, burning homes and prompting evacuation orders in a rural community in Shasta county. The Fawn fire in northern California started Wednesday north of Redding in Shasta county, and scorched more than 8.5 sq miles (22 sq km) of heavy timber on steep, rugged terrain amid hot, dry and gusty conditions. A woman was arrested on suspicion of starting the fire Continue reading... |
| Rivers of lava race down as La Palma volcano enters explosive phase – video Posted: 25 Sep 2021 06:20 AM PDT Rivers of lava raced down a volcano and exploded high into the air on the Spanish island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands. The airport was closed as an eruption intensified and entered its most explosive phase so far. Since it began erupting on 19 September, the Cumbre Vieja volcano has spewed out thousands of tons of lava, destroyed hundreds of houses and forced the evacuation of nearly 6,000 people
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