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- Kentucky tornadoes: Biden declares federal disaster as hopes rise that death toll could be lower than feared
- Hong Kong school faces backlash after children shown graphic footage of Nanjing massacre
- Covid live: Thailand to speed up booster jab roll-out; SA president Ramaphosa has ‘mild symptoms’ after positive Covid test
- New Zealand authorities investigate claims man received 10 Covid vaccinations in one day
- Rescue under way after British and Danish ships collide in Baltic
- Indian man arrested for murder in alleged plot to fake own death
- Russian teenager ‘blew himself up’ at Orthodox school, say authorities
- China’s Alibaba accused of firing female employee who alleged colleague sexually assaulted her
- Pregnant refugees not being seen by doctors for weeks after reaching UK
- Australia welcomes South Korean president with confirmation of border reopening
- Vladimir Putin says he resorted to taxi driving after fall of Soviet Union
- Experts warn Papua New Guinea is potential breeding ground for new Covid variants
- ‘Even the reindeer were unhappy’: life inside Britain’s worst winter wonderlands
- Adam McKay: ‘Leo sees Meryl as film royalty – he didn’t like seeing her with a lower back tattoo’
- A new start after 60: ‘I was a globetrotting photographer. Then I stayed home – and my world expanded’
- Ghost riders: the invisible lives of Johannesburg food couriers – photo essay
- Those we lost in 2021: Stephen Sondheim remembered by Imelda Staunton
- Rhik Samadder tries … fencing: ‘Now I’m ready for the zombie apocalypse’
- How Maradona inspired Paolo Sorrentino’s film about Naples, Hand of God – and inadvertently saved his life
- Empty polling stations and solemn streets: New Caledonia referendum – in pictures
- NDIS provider rejected woman’s claim she was pushed over by employee in flawed investigation, royal commission hears
- Johnson addresses the nation as Covid alert level raised due to Omicron – video
| Posted: 12 Dec 2021 08:56 PM PST Governor Andy Beshear had originally said more than 100 people were feared dead, but later said the estimate could be wrong US president Joe Biden declared a major federal disaster in Kentucky after a swarm of deadly tornadoes hit the state on Friday, as representatives of a candle factory destroyed by a twister said far fewer people may have died than previously feared. Biden had previously declared the storms a federal emergency and the move to designate the storms a federal disaster paves the way for additional aid, as thousands face housing, food, water and power shortages. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong school faces backlash after children shown graphic footage of Nanjing massacre Posted: 12 Dec 2021 10:47 PM PST City's education board seeks to distance itself from incident in which young students at one school watched video of corpses and executions A primary school in Hong Kong has apologised after students as young as six were left in tears last week after teachers showed them unsettling video footage of the Nanjing massacre ahead of its 84th anniversary on Monday. The incident came after the Education Bureau called on local schools to run activities commemorating the massacre in a directive last month. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:20 AM PST Thailand halves to three months time between administering second shot and a booster; 69 year-old South African president tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday
South Africa has reported an additional 37,875 new coronavirus cases, which includes 19,840 retrospective cases and 18,035 new cases, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). In the past 24 hours a total of 18,035 positive Covid-19 cases and 21 Covid-related deaths were reported. I'm worried that PNG is the next place where a new variant emerges." Continue reading... |
| New Zealand authorities investigate claims man received 10 Covid vaccinations in one day Posted: 12 Dec 2021 03:51 PM PST The man is reported to have visited several different immunisation clinics and was paid by others to get the doses New Zealand health authorities are investigating claims that a man received up to 10 Covid-19 vaccination doses in one day on behalf of other people, in the latest effort by members of the public to skirt tough restrictions on the unvaccinated. The Ministry of Health said it was taking the matter seriously. "We are very concerned about this situation and are working with the appropriate agencies," its Covid-19 vaccination and immunisation spokesperson, Astrid Koornneef, said. Continue reading... |
| Rescue under way after British and Danish ships collide in Baltic Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:55 PM PST Rescue boat and helicopter dispatched after collision between two ships in Swedish waters Two cargo ships have collided in the Baltic Sea between the Danish island of Bornholm and the southern Swedish city of Ystad, the Danish defence joint operations centre has said. One ship was registered in Denmark and the other was British. Continue reading... |
| Indian man arrested for murder in alleged plot to fake own death Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:05 AM PST Police allege Sudesh Kumar tried to pass victim's body off as his own to avoid being tried for another alleged murder An Indian man who tried to fake his death by murdering a builder and passing the body off as his own has been arrested, police said. He did it to avoid being tried for another alleged murder, they added – Sudesh Kumar was charged with but not convicted of the 2018 killing of his daughter, who had eloped. Continue reading... |
| Russian teenager ‘blew himself up’ at Orthodox school, say authorities Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:08 AM PST Up to seven people reportedly injured after blast at convent outside Moscow An 18-year-old graduate of a Russian Orthodox school tried to blow himself up at a convent outside Moscow on Monday, wounding at least one teenager, the interior ministry said on Monday. "An 18-year-old graduate of this educational institution entered the premises of the Orthodox gymnasium of the Vvedenskiy Vladychniy convent and blew himself up," the ministry said in a statement. Continue reading... |
| China’s Alibaba accused of firing female employee who alleged colleague sexually assaulted her Posted: 12 Dec 2021 06:34 PM PST Woman reportedly says she has 'not made any mistakes' and will challenge dismissal after e-commerce firm claimed she spread false information Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has dismissed a female employee who accused a former co-worker of sexual assault earlier this year, the government-backed newspaper Dahe Daily has reported. Dahe Daily interviewed the employee, saying she had received notification of termination at the end of November, and published a copy of what she said was her termination letter. Continue reading... |
| Pregnant refugees not being seen by doctors for weeks after reaching UK Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST Labour MP writes to Home Office raising concerns over treatment of at least five women being put up at hotel The Home Office is facing demands for an inquiry after it was claimed that pregnant refugees are not being fed or examined by doctors or midwives after arriving in the UK. A first-time mother who was 38 weeks pregnant was not seen by a doctor for several weeks after crossing the Channel, it is alleged. After the Iraqi Kurdish woman was examined, it emerged that she had a pathological fear of pregnancy, and the baby had a breech presentation. Continue reading... |
| Australia welcomes South Korean president with confirmation of border reopening Posted: 12 Dec 2021 09:15 PM PST Scott Morrison is opening the door to South Korean and Japanese travellers from Wednesday and has spoken of closer defence ties with the signing of a $1bn defence contract Australia's international border will open to more travellers on Wednesday, as the prime minister confirmed that his government would end the "pause" triggered by the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant. Scott Morrison, welcoming the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to Canberra on Monday, said Australia would open to travellers from South Korea and Japan and also international students and skilled workers more broadly. Continue reading... |
| Vladimir Putin says he resorted to taxi driving after fall of Soviet Union Posted: 12 Dec 2021 07:36 PM PST Russian leader says it is 'unpleasant to talk about' his cab work in that period as he laments Soviet Union's demise Russian president Vladimir Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of "historical Russia", revealing that he drove a taxi to make ends meet after the fall of the USSR. Putin, a former agent of the Soviet Union's KGB security services, has previously lamented the USSR's fall but this time said the disintegration three decades ago remained a "tragedy" for "most citizens". Continue reading... |
| Experts warn Papua New Guinea is potential breeding ground for new Covid variants Posted: 12 Dec 2021 06:13 PM PST PNG, where less than 5% of the adult population is vaccinated, is creating opportunities for the virus to spread and mutate, epidemiologists say Experts have warned that the next variant of Covid-19 to sweep the world could emerge on Australia's doorstep, due to incredibly low rates of vaccination rates in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is Australia's closest neighbour, and at its nearest point is just 4km from Australian territory in the Torres Strait. At various points in the pandemic there have been fears that travellers from PNG could bring the virus to Australia. Continue reading... |
| ‘Even the reindeer were unhappy’: life inside Britain’s worst winter wonderlands Posted: 12 Dec 2021 10:00 PM PST They are the festive fairgrounds where no one is a winner. Santas, elves and bouncers discuss the Christmas gigs that made them question their life choices Polystyrene snow, MDF grottos, stomach-churning rides and Santas with scratchy fake beards: as Christmas nears, 'tis the season for winter wonderlands. At their best, these immersive Christmas markets and fairgrounds delight visitors of all ages, while providing a reliable source of income for their owners. Britain's biggest winter wonderland, in Hyde Park, London, has pulled in more than 14 million people since it launched in 2005, with entry starting at £5 and attractions ranging from £5 to £15. But visitors to lesser attractions often complain of poorly thought-out productions and inexperienced organisers. Well-documented holiday horrors include Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's Birmingham attraction, which in 2014 was forced to shut down after a day following hundreds of complaints about cheap toys and long queues, and a New Forest Lapland whose owners were sentenced to 13 months in jail for misleading the public in 2008. "You told consumers that it would light up those who most loved Christmas," the judge told them in his summing up. "You said you would go through the magical tunnel of light coming out in a winter wonderland. What you actually provided was something that looked like an averagely managed summer car boot sale." Continue reading... |
| Adam McKay: ‘Leo sees Meryl as film royalty – he didn’t like seeing her with a lower back tattoo’ Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST After politics in Vice and finance in The Big Short, director McKay is taking on the climate crisis in his star-studded 'freakout' satire Don't Look Up Adam McKay calls it his "freakout trilogy". Having tackled the 2008 financial crash and warmongering US vice president Dick Cheney in his previous two movies, The Big Short and Vice, McKay goes even bigger and bleaker with his latest, Don't Look Up, in which two astronomers (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a giant comet headed for Earth, but struggle to get anyone to listen. It is an absurd but depressingly plausible disaster satire, somewhere between Dr Strangelove, Network, Deep Impact and Idiocracy, with an unbelievably stellar cast; also on board are Meryl Streep (as the US president), Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande. It has been quite the career trajectory for McKay, who started out in live improv and writing for Saturday Night Live, followed by a run of hit Will Ferrell comedies such as Anchorman, Step Brothers and The Other Guys. "The goal was to capture this moment," says McKay of Don't Look Up. "And this moment is a lot." Was there a particular event that inspired Don't Look Up? |
| Posted: 12 Dec 2021 10:00 PM PST His career took Roff Smith, 63, to more than 100 countries. But he started to feel jaded. Exploring his local area by bike led to a whole new approach to his pictures Roff Smith's photographs show a solitary cyclist – Smith himself – in a painterly landscape. His wheels appear to turn briskly, but really the bike moves as slowly as it can without a wobble. As a writer and photographer for National Geographic magazine, Smith, 63, visited more than 100 countries, but now he has squeezed the brakes and shrunk his world. His photographs are all taken within a 10-mile radius of his home, and yet travel has never felt so rich to him as it does now. Before the pandemic, he had already begun to feel jaded: air travel made "the world everywhere look the same". Continue reading... |
| Ghost riders: the invisible lives of Johannesburg food couriers – photo essay Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST An army of riders ferry food around the South African city, their lives and travails largely unseen by the people they serve. Photojournalist James Oatway has spent several months documenting their challenges It's a Friday night in Johannesburg. Lockdown has just been eased as Covid infection rates have plateaued. The restive city is slowly springing back to life, with cars once again careering along the city's recently empty arterial roads. At the scene of a crash, the blue and red lights of emergency vehicles bathe the street in an eerie glow. Two motorbike food couriers have been knocked down by a car. The driver tried to flee but was apprehended by another motorist. One of the bikes has been flattened. Next to it lies a black canvas carrier bag bearing the Uber Eats logo. A Congolese driver was seriously injured in a crash in Sandton. Footage showed a car going through a red light and hitting the rider. The vehicle did not stop and the driver has never been apprehended. Continue reading... |
| Those we lost in 2021: Stephen Sondheim remembered by Imelda Staunton Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:00 AM PST 22 March 1930 – 26 November 2021
If I close my eyes and think of Stephen Sondheim, I remember him sitting in my kitchen in north London. It wasn't a showbiz fest. It was just talking about nothing, about life, about dogs. He was this amazing, mellow man, so personable and warm. Even at the time, I thought, blimey, here is this legend, having a beer in my kitchen. That's one for the book! He was so extraordinary, the last of the big boys, the final link with the great American songbook, a man with personal connections to Oscar Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein. He changed musicals, made unhappy musicals happen. He set down such a very good path that led in so many different directions. Continue reading... |
| Rhik Samadder tries … fencing: ‘Now I’m ready for the zombie apocalypse’ Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST I get to wear a natty white jacket, insectoid mask and hold an épée like a pistol – my inner child could not be happier. En garde! Ever since childhood, I have wanted to be trained in the sword. But I have always believed one had to be born a musketeer for this to happen, or have a death to avenge, plus access to castle steps. But here I am at the London Fencing Club in Old Street, which is easier. It's a few weeks before omicron takes off, and the government is pooh-poohing any talk of tightening Covid restrictions. I'm learning épée, the thin, pointy blade that most resembles a classic swashbuckling sword. My Russian-born coach, Anna Anstal, loves fencing épée. The opponent's entire body is a target, and there are no "right of way" rules governing who can score at a given moment. "You must think about the zombie apocalypse," she says. "Rules are no use with a zombie. The ability to strike first is all that matters." It's unexpected advice, her heavy accent giving it even more edge. I'm quite scared. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 12 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST The Italian director's new, semi-autobiographical film reveals a charming and rarely seen side of his home city 'This, for me, is the most beautiful place on Earth," Paolo Sorrentino told Filippo Scotti, the actor playing the director's younger self in his latest film, as their 1980s Riva speedboat chopped the waves of the Bay of Naples. Their view stretched from the precipitous peninsula of Sorrento all the way west towards Posillipo. The two promontories flank the sprawling port city, offering a warm embrace to all those who disembark there. Sorrentino's new film, the Hand of God, opens with that same view: the sun-mottled bay, whose peace is disturbed by the sound of four Rivas as they speed towards the shore. The film is both a love letter to, and a portal into, Paolo Sorrentino's Naples. In cinemas now and on Netflix this week, The Hand of God sees the Academy award-winning director return to his home city for the first time since One Man Up, his 2001 debut. Sorrentino tells the story of his own coming of age, up to the moment when his life is shattered by the death of his parents in a tragic accident. Sorrentino's story is a tale of great grief, loss and perseverance, set in a middle-class part of Naples, a far cry from the impoverished neighbourhoods shown in the city's other recent portraits: Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend or the mafia-focused Gomorrah series. Continue reading... |
| Empty polling stations and solemn streets: New Caledonia referendum – in pictures Posted: 12 Dec 2021 10:57 PM PST Voter turnout in the Pacific territory's referendum on independence from France at the weekend was staggeringly low, after pro-independence groups called for boycotts. Those who did cast ballots voted overwhelmingly for New Caledonia to remain part of France Continue reading... |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:14 AM PST Internal investigation reported 'insufficient evidence of wrongdoing' despite support worker admitting to pushing woman to the ground A national disability insurance scheme provider did not accept a woman's claim she was physically assaulted by a support worker even though the employee admitted pushing the client to the ground, the disability royal commission has heard. NDIS provider Life Without Barriers is facing allegations of neglect and violence that took place at homes in New South Wales and Victoria. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading... |
| Johnson addresses the nation as Covid alert level raised due to Omicron – video Posted: 12 Dec 2021 01:00 PM PST Boris Johnson has announced that the government is launching an emergency booster campaign to avoid a severe rise in hospitalisations and deaths from a 'tidal wave' of Omicron. The prime minister said infections of the Covid-19 variant, first identified in South Africa, were doubling every two to three days, and that two doses of vaccine 'are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need'. Speaking in a televised address on Sunday night, Johnson announced the booster programme would be offered to everyone over the age of 18 in the UK, with extra capacity provided by 'additional vaccine sites and mobile units' and '42 military planning teams across every health region' Continue reading... |
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