The Guardian |
- ‘A great day’: Biden hails relaxed CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans
- Philadelphia incinerated remains of police bombing victims without telling families
- Israel air and ground forces hit targets in Gaza Strip as death toll climbs
- Cyber Ninjas, UV lights and far-right funding: inside the strange Arizona 2020 election ‘audit’
- Spencer Silver, who helped invent the Post-it Note, dies at age 80
- Nine injured in Rhode Island shooting, police say
- Solar pushback: how US power firms try to make people pay for going green
- US officials confirm 130 incidents of mysterious Havana syndrome brain injury
- ‘It can’t be that easy’: US conservative group brags about role in making voting harder
- Prince Harry appears to criticise way he was raised by his father
- Ellen DeGeneres: toxic workplace allegations are ‘misogynistic’
- Coronavirus live news: Japan prefectures to declare emergency; calls for ‘surge vaccinations’ in UK
- Delay in giving second jabs of Pfizer vaccine improves immunity
- Cars, lumber and chicken: the shortages triggered by the end of lockdowns
- ‘No roadmap’: New Zealand mulls reopening options after a year of closed borders
- Pedro Almodóvar and Tilda Swinton: ‘I love the idea of the woman on the edge of the abyss’
- ‘Bodies are being eaten by hyenas; girls of eight raped’
- ‘Hosnia had dreams’: grief in Kabul as girls’ school targeted
- Climate crisis is not a ‘partisan issue’, young Republican tells his own party
- How the Colonial Pipeline hack is part of a growing ransomware trend in the US
- The Underground Railroad review – harrowing, magical, masterful TV
- The violence that began at Jerusalem’s ancient holy sites is driven by a distinctly modern zeal | Yair Wallach
- US funds make Israel’s bombardment of Gaza possible. When will they be halted? | Joshua Leifer
- Samoa is experiencing a bloodless coup. The Pacific’s most stable democracy is in trouble | Fiona Ey
- The American gun crisis? It’s largely a domestic violence crisis | Moira Donegan
- The point of the Republican party? To stroke the ego of Trump | Richard Wolffe
- Musk is right that dirty bitcoins and clean Teslas don’t sit well together
- Americans are more pro-union – and anti-big business – than at any time in decades | Emily DiVito and Aaron Sojourner
- FA Cup final and Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
- Firmino fires Liverpool past Manchester United and into top-four reckoning
- Virgil van Dijk: ‘Some suggest I make it look easy, but every game is tough’
- Heather Hardy: ‘I was a world champion and I couldn’t use boxing as my full-time job’
- From ‘traitor’ to trailblazer: the rise of NBA bench pioneer Becky Hammon
- Jack Grealish’s Aston Villa return excites Dean Smith despite Everton stalemate
- Atlético Madrid’s fans commune in the car park as La Liga title gets closer | Sid Lowe
- After football’s revolt, where is the outcry over golf’s Saudi-led breakaway?
- Are Israel and Palestine on the brink of another war?
- ‘Stop drinking fake coffee!’ Your most annoying things about TV
- The Carpenters’ 20 greatest songs – ranked!
- The one where they return: Friends reunion trailer released
- ‘It’s impossible to take your eyes off this infinitely dear face’: the startling film about Stalin’s funeral
- The Rules of Revelation by Lisa McInerney review – an ‘unholy trinity’ concludes
- Hear me out: why Hudson Hawk isn’t a bad movie
- The Woman in the Window review – broken thriller is barely worth a look
- Satanic bikers, time portals and the Fall: the story of Mark E Smith’s secret screenplay
- Meet the workers who put food on America’s tables – but can’t afford groceries
- Colonial pipeline reaching full capacity after cyberattack, Biden says
- Liz Cheney refuses to rule out run for president in bid to thwart Trump
- US sees surge in deadly street racing amid pandemic
- Why the Arizona ‘recount’ of 2.1m votes is dangerous
- Trial for ex-officers charged with aiding George Floyd’s murder moved to 2022
- Glasgow protesters rejoice as men freed after immigration van standoff
- Two dead on Mount Everest in first fatal incident of climbing season
- Chainsaw massacre: tree poaching hits Canada amid lumber shortage
- Europe’s Jupiter spacecraft enters crucial testing phase
- Inflation fears ease as commodity prices fall back – business live
- Global shortage of computer chips could last two years, says IBM boss
- Greensill lobbying leaves your reputation in tatters, Cameron told
- Greyhound Canada to end intercity routes in blow to rural communities
- Boris Johnson took ‘unnecessary’ helicopter trip to promote bike scheme
- Spears of destiny: 17 ways to make the most of asparagus season
- Cod almighty: how a ‘mythical’ Faroes delicacy has vanished
- Eid al-Fitr celebrations around the world – in pictures
| ‘A great day’: Biden hails relaxed CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans Posted: 13 May 2021 02:03 PM PDT Rochelle Walensky announces relaxation of guidelines: 'We have longed for this moment … [to] get back some sense of normalcy' As coronavirus cases and deaths decline across the US amid vaccination efforts, the director of the CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans could participate in most indoor activities without wearing a mask. An unmasked president Joe Biden heralded the announcement during an outdoor press conference several hours later, saying: "Today is a great day for America in our long battle with coronavirus." Continue reading... |
| Philadelphia incinerated remains of police bombing victims without telling families Posted: 13 May 2021 03:28 PM PDT Mayor fires health chief over disposal of remains decades after 1985 Move bombing, which killed 11 The public outcry over the handling of human remains retrieved from the ashes of the deadly 1985 bombing of a Black liberation organization in Philadelphia dramatically escalated on Thursday, with the revelation that the bones of an undisclosed number of Move victims were incinerated and dumped by the city without the knowledge or permission of living relatives. In a bombshell disclosure, the mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, announced that he had fired the city's health commissioner, Thomas Farley. The mayor said that Farley had told him earlier this week that several years ago he had become aware that remains of victims of the Move bombing – in which 11 people died – were still in the possession of the city's medical examiner's office. Continue reading... |
| Israel air and ground forces hit targets in Gaza Strip as death toll climbs Posted: 14 May 2021 12:18 AM PDT Military says ground forces are carrying out strikes on Gaza Strip – but are not operating inside territory – amid escalating crisis Israel's military has said its ground and air forces are attacking targets in the Gaza Strip as residents reported a massive bombardment, amid fears that Israel would launch an incursion into the blockaded territory. "[Israel Defense Forces] air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement just after midnight local time, without providing further details. Continue reading... |
| Cyber Ninjas, UV lights and far-right funding: inside the strange Arizona 2020 election ‘audit’ Posted: 14 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT Election experts are watching the effort with alarm, saying officials are not using a reliable methodology – and fear it could be a model for Republicans to try elsewhere One of the first things you see when you step outside Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the ageing arena in Phoenix, is the Crazy Times Carnival, a temporary spectacle set up in the parking lot. In the evenings, just as the sun is setting, lights from the ferris wheel, the jingle of the carousel and shrieks of joy fill the massive desert sky. Continue reading... |
| Spencer Silver, who helped invent the Post-it Note, dies at age 80 Posted: 13 May 2021 04:54 PM PDT The corporate scientist discovered the unique adhesive that allowed notes to be easily attached to surfaces and removed The inventor of the adhesive used on the Post-it Note has died, according to the company 3M, which produces the product, and his published obituary. Spencer Silver was 80 and died May 8 at his home, the family's obituary said. Continue reading... |
| Nine injured in Rhode Island shooting, police say Posted: 13 May 2021 06:48 PM PDT Incident that left at least three critically wounded is believed to be the capital city's largest shooting Nine people were wounded in a shooting on Thursday evening in Rhode Island's capital in what police there believe to be the largest shooting in city history. Of the nine, three were critically wounded in the shooting just before 7pm, the Providence police chief, Col Hugh T Clements, told reporters at the scene. Continue reading... |
| Solar pushback: how US power firms try to make people pay for going green Posted: 13 May 2021 04:00 AM PDT In states like Kansas, energy companies want to impose charges on people who produce their own power with rooftop arrays Kevin Good is the president of a small solar power company in Kansas – a state that tends to be so sunny you'd think he'd have it made. "I got into solar at maybe the worst point to do so in the last 50 years," said Good, who runs Good Energy Solutions in Lawrence, a town of about 100,000. Continue reading... |
| US officials confirm 130 incidents of mysterious Havana syndrome brain injury Posted: 13 May 2021 02:25 PM PDT US diplomats, spies and defence officials have reported serious symptoms, some within the past few weeks There have been more than 130 incidents of unexplained brain injury known as Havana syndrome among US diplomats, spies and defence officials, some of them within the past few weeks, it has been reported. The New York Times said three CIA officers had reported serious symptoms since December, following overseas assignments, requiring outpatient treatment at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington. One episode was within the past two weeks. Continue reading... |
| ‘It can’t be that easy’: US conservative group brags about role in making voting harder Posted: 13 May 2021 03:35 PM PDT Leaked video published by Mother Jones shows executive director of Heritage Action bragging about crafting voting restriction bills A top official at one of America's most influential conservative groups bragged about playing a key role in crafting voting restrictions across the country, according to leaked video published by Documented, a watchdog group, and Mother Jones on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Prince Harry appears to criticise way he was raised by his father Posted: 13 May 2021 03:26 PM PDT Duke of Sussex also speaks of 'genetic pain and suffering' in royal family in new interview in US The Duke of Sussex has appeared to criticise the way he was raised by Prince Charles, discussing the "genetic pain and suffering" in the royal family and stressing that he wanted to "break the cycle" for his children. In a wide-ranging 90-minute interview, Prince Harry, who is expecting a daughter with Meghan and is already father to Archie, two, likened life in the royal family to a mix between being in The Truman Show and being in a zoo. Continue reading... |
| Ellen DeGeneres: toxic workplace allegations are ‘misogynistic’ Posted: 13 May 2021 01:58 PM PDT In her first interview since announcing the end of her talkshow, the daytime star has called reports of behind-the-scenes bullying 'orchestrated' In her first on-air appearances since announcing the end of her eponymous daytime talk show, Ellen DeGeneres called the press cycle around allegations of toxicity at her workplace "orchestrated" and "misogynistic", and elaborated on her reasons for stepping down after 19 years. Related: The end of Ellen's show signifies how celebrity culture has shifted | Adrian Horton Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus live news: Japan prefectures to declare emergency; calls for ‘surge vaccinations’ in UK Posted: 14 May 2021 12:48 AM PDT Japan to declare state of emergency in three more prefectures; Greece launches tourism season
Scotland is seeing a "loss of control" of the pandemic in some areas and it is premature to lift restrictions, an epidemiologist has warned. Dr Deepti Gurdasani said action must be taken to prevent the situation worsening amid concerns about the spread of one of the new Indian variants of the virus north of the border. Public health experts have warned that a spike in coronavirus infections in Glasgow could include the B.1.617.2 variant.
Surge testing is under way in areas of the North West of England where cases involving the variant first detected in India are on the increase. The "variant of concern" has been detected in Bolton, Greater Manchester, as well as in Blackburn, Lancashire, and Sefton in Merseyside, which have all seen rates rise rapidly.  |
| Delay in giving second jabs of Pfizer vaccine improves immunity Posted: 13 May 2021 04:05 PM PDT Study finds antibodies against Sars-CoV-2 three-and-a-half times higher in people vaccinated again after 12 weeks rather than three The UK's decision to delay second doses of coronavirus vaccines has received fresh support from research on the over-80s which found that giving the Pfizer/BioNTech booster after 12 weeks rather than three produced a much stronger antibody response. A study led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Public Health England found that antibodies against the virus were three-and-a-half times higher in those who had the second shot after 12 weeks compared with those who had it after a three-week interval. Continue reading... |
| Cars, lumber and chicken: the shortages triggered by the end of lockdowns Posted: 13 May 2021 05:00 AM PDT Demand for items that people want as lives slowly return to normal has outstripped supply and sent consumer prices soaring The coronavirus pandemic triggered all kinds of shortages, with demand for items from toilet paper and puzzles to baking yeast soaring as people struggled to adjust to life under lockdown. Now the lockdowns are receding. The shortages? Not so much. Demand for items that people want in their post-lockdown lives has outstripped supply and, along with supply chain issues, has sent consumer prices soaring and created a strange patchwork of expensive, or unavailable, items. Continue reading... |
| ‘No roadmap’: New Zealand mulls reopening options after a year of closed borders Posted: 13 May 2021 10:25 PM PDT With international tourism frozen, families separated and expats feeling abandoned, the question of how to reopen is becoming pressing As vaccination continues around the world, the New Zealand government has begun providing glimpses of how the country will eventually reopen its borders. But there's no immediate end in sight, even for expats who have received vaccinations overseas. New Zealand has been closed to most international visitors for more than a year now. Anyone entering the country – except via recently-opened travel bubbles with Australia and the Cook Islands – is required to spend two weeks in government-run isolation. Even those spaces are only open to citizens, permanent residents or essential workers. For those eligible, access is still limited – at times, all spots in isolation have been booked out for months in advance. And while there are now spaces available, the cost of a visit is prohibitive for many: NZ$3,100 for anyone who left the country temporarily, or who is visiting for less than three months, and NZ$5,520 for those on a work visa. Continue reading... |
| Pedro Almodóvar and Tilda Swinton: ‘I love the idea of the woman on the edge of the abyss’ Posted: 13 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT The director and actor have finally achieved 'a far-fetched dream' by working together on his first film in English, The Human Voice. They talk about their mutual admiration, filming in lockdown – and how falling in love can destroy your sense of humour For more than 30 years, the film-maker Pedro Almodóvar has had a voice in his head – The Human Voice, that is. In Jean Cocteau's monologue, first performed in 1930, a woman goes to pieces during a telephone conversation with her soon-to-be-ex lover. The audience hears only one side of the exchange, lending her the upper hand in the drama at the precise moment she has been robbed of everything else. Almodóvar has now adapted Cocteau's piece into a typically plush half-hour short starring Tilda Swinton as the injured party, though this isn't his first brush with the material. A performance of the play is glimpsed in his seamy 1987 masterpiece The Law of Desire, while it was also the inspiration for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the 1988 screwball comedy that gave him his first international hit. Continue reading... |
| ‘Bodies are being eaten by hyenas; girls of eight raped’ Posted: 13 May 2021 10:05 PM PDT A nun working in war-torn Tigray has shared her harrowing testimony of the atrocities taking place The Ethiopian nun, who has to remain anonymous for her own security, is working in Mekelle, Tigray's capital, and surrounding areas, helping some of the tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting who have been streaming into camps in the hope of finding shelter and food. Both are in short supply. Humanitarian aid is being largely blocked and a wholesale crackdown is seeing civilians being picked off in the countryside, either shot or rounded up and taken to overcrowded prisons. She spoke to Tracy McVeigh this week. "After the last few months I'm happy to be alive. I have to be OK. Mostly we are going out to the IDP [internally displaced people] camps and the community centres where people are. They are in a bad way. Continue reading... |
| ‘Hosnia had dreams’: grief in Kabul as girls’ school targeted Posted: 13 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT Hazara community in mourning but defiant after more than 60 people killed in school bomb blasts
When Latifa transferred to Sayed Al-Shuhada, the two girls were immediately drawn to each other and became best friends, always together in their free time, studying side by side, walking home together after school. They found comfort in each other's presence; support in a place that has never been easy for girls and women. Continue reading... |
| Climate crisis is not a ‘partisan issue’, young Republican tells his own party Posted: 13 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT Peter Meijer, 33-year-old Michigan congressman, says Republicans are in midst of 'generational shift' – but progress is slow Lies that hamburgers will be banned, conspiracy-laden claims of government tyranny, blame for environmental degradation foisted upon immigrants – the Republican response to Joe Biden's climate agenda suggests the base instincts of Donald Trump still strongly animate the party. Related: Asia is home to 99 of world's 100 most vulnerable cities Continue reading... |
| How the Colonial Pipeline hack is part of a growing ransomware trend in the US Posted: 13 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT Cyber criminals have attacked solar power firms, water treatment plants and police departments in attempts to extort money The wider American public was afforded an unwanted glimpse into the Wild West world of ransomware this week, after a cyber attack crippled Colonial Pipeline, causing fuel shortages across the eastern seaboard and states of emergency to be declared in four states. But experts warn that ransomware attacks – which are part-ransom, part-blackmail, part-invocation of squatters' rights – are becoming more frequent, while the mostly Russia-based hackers are growing more sophisticated with their methods. Continue reading... |
| The Underground Railroad review – harrowing, magical, masterful TV Posted: 13 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT Barry Jenkins' extraordinary adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel about escaping the clutches of slavery is hallucinatory and heartbreaking. Just don't binge-watch it Director Barry Jenkins' adaptation of Colson Whitehead's prizewinning novel The Underground Railroad (Amazon) is as unbearably bleak, brutal and brilliant as the book. You could question a couple of the choices made while translating the magical-realist tale of black slavery from page to screen – why devote all of one of the 10 episodes to slave hunter Ridgeway's backstory but lose the history of the protagonist's grandmother that Whitehead provides in six short, astonishing pages – but, in the context of the achievement, that would be quibbling for quibbling's sake. The USP of Whitehead's book is that it makes real the whisper network of safe houses and sympathetic white people who smuggled enslaved people from the south to the northern, free states and Canada. Cora (Thuso Mbedu) and Caesar (Aaron Pierre) take a literal underground railroad towards safety and freedom when they escape the Randall plantation in Georgia. The first episode concentrates mainly on their hellish existence there under the rule of Terrance Randall, played with a slight cartoon villainy by Benjamin Walker that sits oddly with the carefully grounded, harrowingly realistic depiction of humanity, its evil and its suffering everywhere else, but again this is to quibble. What have come to be the touchstones of cinematic slavery narratives are there – terrible floggings, sexual abuse and rape, violence in all things – but shorn of any gloss or buffer, anywhere to hide. And, in between the scenes of absolute horror, Jenkins is at pains to show that even "ordinary" life as a slave is to live, in essence, under terrorism. There is no true relief anywhere. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 13 May 2021 09:11 AM PDT The Israeli right's urge to take the Temple Mount threatens to turn 2,000 years of Judaism on its head On Monday, an apocalyptic video from Jerusalem began to circulate on social media. In the background, it showed a large fire raging on the site Muslims call al-Aqsa or al-Haram al-Sharif, and Jews call the Temple Mount. A tree was ablaze next to al-Aqsa mosque (some blamed Israeli police stun grenades, others blamed Palestinians shooting fireworks, perhaps aiming at Jewish worshippers). Below, the large plaza of the Western Wall was full with young Jewish Israelis, identified with the religious Zionist right, celebrating "Jerusalem Day" (marking the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967). They were cheering at the sight of the fire, singing an anthem of vengeance popular in extreme-right circles. The lyrics are the words of Samson, just before he pulled down the pillars of the Temple in Gaza: "O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!" The Israeli teenagers, visibly ecstatic, jumped up and down and shouted: "May their name be effaced!" This is not the first time that the holy sites have been ground zero for a major violent escalation in the conflict, and it is therefore tempting to interpret this vengeful frenzy as merely the latest eruption of an atavistic devotion to ancient stones, one bound to spiral out of control. But this is a misleading story: the political significance of these places – and their very meaning – has changed dramatically over the past century, particularly for Jewish Israelis. Continue reading... |
| US funds make Israel’s bombardment of Gaza possible. When will they be halted? | Joshua Leifer Posted: 13 May 2021 05:52 AM PDT US public opinion seems to be swinging in support of Palestinian rights, but it must go further to begin real change The headlines speak mainly of "clashes", "conflict", and "casualties on both sides". The politicians recite bromides about Israel's "right to defend itself"– a right that Palestinians seemingly do not have. The US government calls for "all parties to deescalate", with no acknowledgment that it is US funds – $3.8bn a year – that, in part, make Israel's bombardment of Gaza possible. This is the familiar American routine when Israel goes to war. Yet before Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets came to dominate the news, what happened over the last week in Jerusalem was perhaps the most substantial Palestinian mass uprising in the city since 2017 – when Palestinian demonstrations led Israeli police to abandon their attempt to install metal detectors at the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Then, as now, it was an uprising centered in Jerusalem but about much more. And though US public attention has been diverted, the Jerusalem uprising is still ongoing. That is important not to forget. Continue reading... |
| Samoa is experiencing a bloodless coup. The Pacific’s most stable democracy is in trouble | Fiona Ey Posted: 13 May 2021 05:20 PM PDT The government's actions after last month's elections call democracy into question and set a dangerous precedent for developing nations Samoa has long been touted as a beacon of democracy and political stability in the Pacific, a region troubled by military coups and civil strife. The prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, is the world's second longest serving prime minister, having held the office for more than 22 years. But the latest election in the country, held last month, saw the most serious challenge to Malielegaoi's ruling Human Rights Protection party (HRPP), and has left the country without a clear result. In the weeks since, the government has used every method available to it – and some that arguably are not – to hold on to power. What the government is doing is effectively a bloodless coup. Continue reading... |
| The American gun crisis? It’s largely a domestic violence crisis | Moira Donegan Posted: 13 May 2021 03:16 AM PDT In spite of the increasing crisis of gun violence in intimate partner abuse situations, gun control is still not generally thought of as a gender justice issue Seven people died in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Sunday at a birthday party, after the boyfriend of one of the party guests showed up with a gun. The boyfriend came to the mobile home park where the party was being held and shot six adults, including his girlfriend. Five of them died at the scene, and another died later, at the hospital. Then he killed himself. He didn't fire on the children who were there. The Colorado Springs shooting comes on the heels of another shooting in Austin, Texas, last month, when Stephen Broderick, a former police officer, killed his ex-wife, Amanda, her teenage daughter, Alyssa, and Alyssa's boyfriend, Willie, in their home. At the time of the murders, Broderick was out on bail after being indicted for sexually abusing Alyssa. In her court petition asking for a restraining order against her stepfather, filed in June 2020, 10 months before he murdered her, Alyssa wrote that she feared the worst. "I'm afraid that to him, a protective order will just be a piece of paper … I'm afraid he might hurt me or my mom for coming forward." Continue reading... |
| The point of the Republican party? To stroke the ego of Trump | Richard Wolffe Posted: 13 May 2021 03:00 AM PDT The GOP once stood up for small government or big business, or to foreign enemies or domestic taxes. Now it's just a cult of personality What is the point of the Republican party? This isn't a flip question. It's one prompted by the last four months of grappling with the fallout of the bloody insurrection on Capitol Hill, and by the last four years of grappling with the fallout of installing a fascist in the White House. Continue reading... |
| Musk is right that dirty bitcoins and clean Teslas don’t sit well together Posted: 13 May 2021 11:31 AM PDT The currency is an environmental abomination and investors should be pleased the founder has said so Elon Musk moves in mysterious ways, so it would be foolish to assume that his new sceptical stance on bitcoin will last longer than his previous cheerleading. But he has now landed on the right spot: bitcoin is an environmental abomination. Researchers at the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance have been chronicling as much for ages. At last count, electronic mining of the cryptocurrency was consuming the same quantity of energy as economies the size of Argentina or the Netherlands. That matters because the super-computers in China, the ones doing the bulk of the mining, are running mostly on electricity generated by coal – the point referenced by Musk. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 13 May 2021 05:40 AM PDT Support for organized labor has even gone up among Republican voters - perhaps Trump's faux-populism had an unintended effect Today, public feeling toward labor is more positive, and public feeling toward big business more negative, than at any time in five decades. What's more, workers increasingly want to be in unions: over half of Americans say they would vote for a union at work, while only 11 percent of US employees currently belong to one – largely because labor laws remain stacked in favor of big business. Americans' rising affinity for organized labor and antipathy toward big business opens up new possibilities for a more balanced economy and society – but not without reform to the labor laws that hold workers back. For instance, because penalties are negligible, Amazon management has repeatedly violated workers' rights when workers acted collectively to improve their working conditions. When workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, recently started to unionize, management seems to have acted illegally again and the unionization effort failed. By making an example of one person, bank robbers can control a whole crowd; too many managers have felt free to follow that logic with impunity. Continue reading... |
| FA Cup final and Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Posted: 13 May 2021 04:11 PM PDT Leicester can strike blow against 'big six', will Allardyce halt Liverpool's top-four charge and what now for Ndombele? The cold, dead-behind-the-eyes pragmatist might assert that Leicester's most important match against Chelsea comes on Tuesday, in a meeting that may prove decisive to their top-four hopes. But that would be to ignore the sheer euphoria of winning the FA Cup in front of 6,250 of their fans at Wembley, and to miss the fundamental point that if football does not come down to winning magical old competitions like this then everyone may as well pack up. For Leicester, a first-ever cup final win would reassert the sense, five years after their league title win, that they are here to stay as a club capable of winning major honours. Their continued presence around the top end since 2016 has, in many ways, been just as impressive as that Claudio Ranieri-inspired triumph. Leicester continue to make a mockery of the idea that a "big six" exists in anything bar inflated egos, and they can prove that once again on Saturday. Nick Ames Continue reading... |
| Firmino fires Liverpool past Manchester United and into top-four reckoning Posted: 13 May 2021 02:22 PM PDT For Liverpool, what felt like a pre‑match decoy was only the beginning. With the air once again heavy with Manchester United fan protest, there was briefly the worry that the visitors' team bus might not make it through to the stadium. It was fired by footage of a red coach emblazoned with Liverpool's colours being blocked in by cars outside a city centre hotel. Continue reading... |
| Virgil van Dijk: ‘Some suggest I make it look easy, but every game is tough’ Posted: 14 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT In an extract from a new book, the Liverpool star discusses the art of defending, how it's changed and how to put off opponents Even a player lauded as the complete modern centre-half appreciates all aspects of life in the position, whether that be the aesthetic side of the game or the more agricultural. Virgil van Dijk and last-gasp, back-to-the-wall defending don't seem obvious bedfellows, but he rejects the notion that his modern brethren don't embrace it. "I think it happens to us quite a lot," he says. "Look at the 2019 Champions League final. We can be a goal up and the opponent is trying to do everything possible to try and win the game. We had our backs against the wall in Madrid against Tottenham and yes, it is a different situation to what we normally have, because yes, we are usually attacking and pressing forward, but there are times when we have to drop and we have to organise, and you must take joy in that part of the game. Continue reading... |
| Heather Hardy: ‘I was a world champion and I couldn’t use boxing as my full-time job’ Posted: 13 May 2021 01:30 AM PDT The single mom from Brooklyn who became world featherweight champion and one of NYC's most popular fighters opens up about her feminist roots, the fight for gender equity and life after boxing Heather Hardy has experienced it all during her time as a professional fighter. A single mom and feminist who didn't start boxing until well into her twenties, the Brooklyn native came up through the crucible of New York City's club scene before finally winning the World Boxing Organization featherweight title in 2018. Now 39, Hardy is up against a challenge she's yet to confront in her decade-long career: bouncing back from defeat. Twenty months after suffering her first professional loss and ceding her title to fellow Brooklynite Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, Hardy will climb into the ring with Montreal's Jessica Camara in an eight-round lightweight bout at the top of Broadway Boxing's inaugural Ladies Fight card – a new all-female boxing series streaming on UFC Fight Pass that promoter Lou DiBella has launched to keep veteran contenders busy and elevate up-and-coming prospects. Continue reading... |
| From ‘traitor’ to trailblazer: the rise of NBA bench pioneer Becky Hammon Posted: 13 May 2021 01:00 AM PDT Gregg Popovich's longtime aide-de-camp is the first female full-time assistant coach in any major US sports league – and no one in the NBA will be surprised when she finally lands a top job Still seething from a heated disagreement with the referee, Gregg Popovich pointed to one of his assistant coaches, Becky Hammon, and said, "You got 'em." There was 3:56 remaining in the second quarter when Popovich was ejected with his San Antonio Spurs trailing the Los Angeles Lakers by 11 on 30 December 2020. With the five-time NBA champion coach gone, Hammon assumed the reins, and the transition appeared perfectly natural to her, the Spurs staff and players. Not a moment's thought was given to the fact that Hammon had just become the first female to take charge of an NBA team. There was a game to win, and there was no one better to fill Coach Pop's shoes. Continue reading... |
| Jack Grealish’s Aston Villa return excites Dean Smith despite Everton stalemate Posted: 13 May 2021 12:29 PM PDT A fit Jack Grealish was a sight for sore eyes for Aston Villa and England fans, even if the playmaker's return after a three-month lay-off with shin trouble was not enough to raise this match above mediocrity. Grealish, introduced from the bench in the 72nd minute, looked understandably off the pace in this mostly tepid contest – one scorching burst excepted – but his return raises hopes that he could regain his best form in time for the European Championship. Related: Manchester United v Liverpool goes ahead amid anti-Glazers protests – live! Continue reading... |
| Atlético Madrid’s fans commune in the car park as La Liga title gets closer | Sid Lowe Posted: 13 May 2021 11:25 AM PDT Chants from Car Park B of the Wanda Metropolitano helped get an agonised Atlético over the line against Real Sociedad The Atlético Madrid fans at the Metropolitano didn't watch the match that took the club to within touching distance of the league title, but they lived it. Still not allowed in but determined not to be left out, if they couldn't see their players on Wednesday night their players could hear them, song drifting in through the open southeastern corner of the stadium. Supporters gathered in Car Park B beneath the biggest flagpole in Spain, the 338 square metres of red and white that normally fly from it taken down because of the wind on this night of all nights, while on the other side the players clung on to the lead that carried them close, so close, to becoming champions. Diego Simeone called the suffering "unnecessary" – but, at the end of his 500th first-team game for the club he joined at eight, Koke said: "We're Atléti and if we didn't suffer it wouldn't be us." This 2-1 win against Real Sociedad leaves them top with two matches left, and the captain said: "We heard the fans from out there and we needed them, especially for that extra effort in the final minutes." And he was right. Continue reading... |
| After football’s revolt, where is the outcry over golf’s Saudi-led breakaway? Posted: 13 May 2021 05:00 AM PDT The Super Golf League's plotters may hope that a less tribal sport will not rise up against their plans but it can and should People often ask about the difference in media approach between top-level footballers and golfers. The widespread understanding would be that football players, bereft of educational qualifications, have a cynical attitude towards the press drilled into them within clubs and treat reporters accordingly. Golfers, often with at least an element of the US college system on their CV, comprehend the need to keep both tour and individual sponsors happy and therefore treat media duties as a core responsibility. In some respects that generalisation is correct. In many others it is grossly unfair. Footballers encounter a level of media criticism that is rarely, if ever, bestowed on golfers. Premier League players are subject to a scrutiny, personal and professional, that would be totally alien even to Rory McIlroy. Golfers making front pages is a rare thing indeed but that shouldn't lead us to believe they are all as pure as the driven snow. Continue reading... |
| Are Israel and Palestine on the brink of another war? Posted: 13 May 2021 07:00 PM PDT Oliver Holmes, the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, discusses what has prompted the worst unrest in Israel and Palestine since 2014 Oliver Holmes, the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, talks to Rachel Humphreys about the violence that has broken out between Israel and Palestine. In recent weeks there has been a sharp escalation in anger over Israel's half-century occupation, its ever-deepening military grip over Palestinian life and a wave of evictions and demolitions. In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians have been wounded in near-nightly protests that escalated over the weekend and spread to other areas of Israel and the occupied West Bank. Following weeks of intense violence in Jerusalem, Hamas, the Islamist group that holds power inside Gaza, fired a barrage of rockets towards Jerusalem on Monday evening. Since then, it has launched hundreds more at Israeli towns nearby, and Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes, including hits on residential buildings. More than 80 people, including at least 17 children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry. In Israel, seven people, including two children, have been killed. Israel's political leaders have said violent street clashes between Jews and Arabs inside the country pose a bigger threat than the escalating military conflict with Gaza. Despite international calls for calm, there are fears that Israel and Palestine are on the verge of another war.  |
| ‘Stop drinking fake coffee!’ Your most annoying things about TV Posted: 13 May 2021 07:58 AM PDT We asked you to name your pet peeves of the small screen. Here are the things that rile you up – from empty cups to far too easy parking 'Cliffhangers should be illegal!': the most annoying things about TV Empty coffee cups. You can tell from the way people hold them that there's no liquid in them, never mind hot coffee – surely they could at least fill them with water?  |
| The Carpenters’ 20 greatest songs – ranked! Posted: 13 May 2021 07:59 AM PDT As their self-titled, third album and biggest hit turns 50, we pick their best work The Carpenters' greatest album remains the compilation Singles 1969-1973, on which the duo remixed, re-recorded and segued their hits into one glorious gush of sound, but 1972's A Song for You runs it close, because the album tracks are as good as the singles, as on this gorgeous portrait of a tour-weary musician. Continue reading... |
| The one where they return: Friends reunion trailer released Posted: 13 May 2021 01:05 PM PDT Unscripted episode with original cast, who will not be in character, to air on HBO Max on 27 May The long-awaited Friends reunion will be broadcast later this month with the original six protagonists along with numerous celebrity guests, including Malala Yousafzai and David Beckham. Streaming service HBO Max said it will show the unscripted, one-off special on 27 May following frequent delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 14 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT Crafted from footage locked for years in an archive, Sergei Loznitsa's State Funeral focuses on the motivations of the mourners who lived under the brutal regime "At 21.50, due to cardiovascular and respiratory failure, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died," intones an announcer. A woman takes off her hat, on the verge of tears. A handsome youth in a military uniform stares stoically at his feet. One middle-aged man glances self-consciously at the camera, as if to check it is still watching him, before looking down again. Again and again, our focus is drawn to faces in the crowds all across the Soviet Union. Not all are reverent. Some people shuffle, chat, chew, smoke, even half-smile. The broadcasters' praise for Stalin becomes ever more ludicrous: "We knew he was the best on our planet … It's impossible to take your eyes off this infinitely dear face. Your eyes are full of tears, you hold your breath, you are overwhelmed with sorrow shared by millions, hundreds of millions of people." Continue reading... |
| The Rules of Revelation by Lisa McInerney review – an ‘unholy trinity’ concludes Posted: 13 May 2021 11:30 PM PDT The third in McInerney's brilliant series about Cork's underbelly brings the comic melodrama to a satisfying finale The Rules of Revelation is the third part of Lisa McInerney's "unholy trinity" of Cork novels, which began with the Women's prize-winning The Glorious Heresies in 2015 and continued with 2017's The Blood Miracles. McInerney's world is a compellingly sleazy demi-monde of drug dealers, sex workers and property developers, and she has a pleasing disdain for minimalism: here you'll find big characters and lots of them, having big emotions and going through so much incident that keeping on top of the plot can leave you with the enjoyably dazed feeling of trying to follow a close-up magic trick. At the centre of this world is Irish-Italian Ryan Cusack. In Heresies he was a teenager torn between his love of music and junior gangster life, and heading for a fall. In Miracles, he served out his purgatory in Naples, where he faced off against the Camorra. Now Ryan is back in Ireland and hoping to make it as a legitimate citizen: he's out of the drug business and is the singer in a band on the brink of breaking through. Success and redemption seem imminent.  |
| Hear me out: why Hudson Hawk isn’t a bad movie Posted: 13 May 2021 11:21 PM PDT The latest in our series of writers sticking up for maligned movies is a defence of the idiosyncratic Bruce Willis action adventure flop When Mark Kermode expressed his admiration for the critically maligned Bond spoof Hudson Hawk to Richard E Grant, the actor's response was that "it was a pile of steaming hot donkey droppings and you are an idiot". I must confess to Mr Grant that I am also a proud member of the "Hudson Hawk-loving idiots". This is not simply the rantings of a contrarian. Many share the sentiment that this Bruce Willis flop is an exhilarating, absurdly bonkers showpiece of 90s Hollywood. Related: Hear me out: why 2005's House of Wax isn't a bad movie Continue reading... |
| The Woman in the Window review – broken thriller is barely worth a look Posted: 13 May 2021 04:00 PM PDT Amy Adams gives a flat performance as an agoraphobe unravelling a dull mystery in Joe Wright's cursed misstep now being dumped on Netflix The makers of the sub-Hitchcockian thriller The Woman in the Window would have you believe that its central mystery has to do with the hows, whys and whos of a grisly Manhattan murder. But any grim fascination we might have with finding out how it all ends is attached less to the twists and turns of the story and more to the mess that surrounds it, like staring at the wreckage of a car accident not to see who was injured but to gawp at how destroyed the vehicle is. Related: Spiral review – Chris Rock's Saw reboot is torturously bad Continue reading... |
| Satanic bikers, time portals and the Fall: the story of Mark E Smith’s secret screenplay Posted: 13 May 2021 08:00 AM PDT While the Fall's songs were suffused with hauntings and the occult, it is only now that Smith's talent for strange fiction, in the form of an unmade film The Otherwise, has been revealed It is the dead of a moonlit night in Lancashire, and all of hell has been unshackled. In an 18th-century farmhouse converted into a recording studio, a rock musician berates a hapless sound engineer because his band's master tapes have been recorded over with ancient folk song. Outside, the fields are strewn with the bodies of poisoned cattle, slaughtered by Jacobite agents of chaos, who have time-travelled from the English civil war. In a barnyard nearby, four Hells Angels stand around the figure of a burning woman holding a broom hovering above the floor; outside, a couple cower at the advance of a monstrous thug, who bears down on them unimpeded by the shovel buried into his skull. In the boot of their nearby Honda Accord is the body of a dead cyclist. There has already been one murder and there will be more before dawn. This chilling scene is from the pen of Mark E Smith, the frontman and creative force behind the UK rock group the Fall, who died just over three years ago. At a time when the band's reputation is being burnished by a clutch of new books charting different aspects of Smith's creative practice, and four record labels are releasing their back catalogue and live LPs, it would seem there is little left to say about this northern, working-class phenomenon. Continue reading... |
| Meet the workers who put food on America’s tables – but can’t afford groceries Posted: 13 May 2021 03:00 AM PDT Undocumented immigrants are doing the backbreaking farm work that keeps the US food system running but struggle to feed their families Photographs by Encarni Pindado In the piercing midday heat of southern Texas, farmhand Linda Villarreal moves methodically to weed row after row of parsley, rising only occasionally to stretch her achy back and nibble on sugary biscuits she keeps in her pockets. In the distance, a green and white border patrol truck drives along the levee beside the towering steel border wall. For this backbreaking work, Villareal is paid $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage since 2009, with no benefits. She takes home between $300 and $400 a week depending on the amount of orders from the bodegas – packaging warehouses which supply the country's supermarkets with fruits and vegetables harvested by crews of undocumented mostly Mexican farmworkers. Continue reading... |
| Colonial pipeline reaching full capacity after cyberattack, Biden says Posted: 13 May 2021 10:30 AM PDT
Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the vast Colonial petrochemical pipeline stretching from Texas to New York was reaching full capacity again after resuming operations following a cyberattack. "This is not like flicking on a light switch. It's going to take some time, and there may be some hiccups," the US president said, adding that services were expected to return fully to normal this weekend. Continue reading... |
| Liz Cheney refuses to rule out run for president in bid to thwart Trump Posted: 13 May 2021 05:48 AM PDT
Liz Cheney has refused to rule out running for US president if it would prevent Donald Trump from ever taking charge of the White House again, saying she will do "whatever it takes" to stop her fellow Republican. Cheney, who on Wednesday was ousted as House Republican conference chair by her colleagues, in a voice vote behind closed doors, was asked three times on NBC's Today show in an interview aired on Thursday whether she would run to stymie a comeback by the former president. Continue reading... |
| US sees surge in deadly street racing amid pandemic Posted: 13 May 2021 09:03 AM PDT Racers block roads, travel in packs and engage in drag racing or perform stunts as deaths and quality-of-life widely reported While America's coronavirus pandemic has disrupted routine car traffic by reducing daily commutes and travel to leisure activities, authorities across the US said unauthorized street racers have taken advantage of these newly quiet roadways – and that these competitive motorists have killed several unsuspecting drivers. Illegal street racing has reportedly surged ever since Covid-19 hit the US in earnest last spring, with officials reporting increases in states such as Georgia, New York, New Mexico and Oregon, among others, officials said. Continue reading... |
| Why the Arizona ‘recount’ of 2.1m votes is dangerous Posted: 13 May 2021 07:00 AM PDT Election administration experts, who usually go out of their way to be non-partisan, are raising alarms about the process By now, you've probably heard about the unprecedented effort to recount 2.1m votes in Arizona and all of the wacky conspiracy theories – including searching for bamboo fibers in ballots – that the effort seems to be amplifying. Continue reading... |
| Trial for ex-officers charged with aiding George Floyd’s murder moved to 2022 Posted: 13 May 2021 10:06 AM PDT Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were to face trial on 23 August but judge changed date so federal case can go first The trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd will be pushed back to March 2022, a judge ruled Thursday. Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were scheduled to face trial on 23 August on charges they aided and abetted both murder and manslaughter when they assisted a more experienced officer, Derek Chauvin, in restraining Floyd face-down on the street last May, with Chauvin kneeling on his neck. Continue reading... |
| Glasgow protesters rejoice as men freed after immigration van standoff Posted: 13 May 2021 11:37 AM PDT Hundreds of people surrounded vehicle men were held in and chanted 'these are our neighbours, let them go' Campaigners have hailed a victory for Glaswegian solidarity and told the Home Office "you messed with the wrong city" as two men detained by UK Immigration Enforcement were released back into their community after a day of protest. Police Scotland intervened to free the men after a tense day-long standoff between immigration officials and hundreds of local residents, who surrounded their van in a residential street on the southside of Glasgow to stop the detention of the men during Eid al-Fitr. Continue reading... |
| Two dead on Mount Everest in first fatal incident of climbing season Posted: 13 May 2021 02:58 AM PDT Swiss and American climbers become first casualties of season on world's highest mountain Two climbers have died on Mount Everest in the season's first casualties on the world's highest mountain, expedition organisers said on Thursday. Abdul Waraich, 41, from Switzerland, reached the top of the 8,849m-high (29,032ft) mountain before getting into difficulties on the way down, said Chhang Dawa of the expedition organiser, Seven Summit Treks in Nepal. "Abdul successfully reached the summit but began experiencing issues during his descent," he said. "We sent two additional Sherpas with oxygen and food. Unfortunately, the Sherpas couldn't save him." Continue reading... |
| Chainsaw massacre: tree poaching hits Canada amid lumber shortage Posted: 13 May 2021 02:45 AM PDT Officials on Vancouver Island say at least 100 trees have been illegally cut down, leaving one stump with a face carved into it Two tree stumps signaled to Larry Pynn that something was wrong. Jutting from a mossy forest floor in western Canada, the fresh stumps were the final remnants of two western red cedars that had been chopped down by chainsaw. Nearby, a set of deep tire tracks ran for nearly a kilometer in the mud before terminating at the main road. Continue reading... |
| Europe’s Jupiter spacecraft enters crucial testing phase Posted: 13 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT Critical sequence of tests begins in space simulator to prepare Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer for its journey to the great gas giant
Having been assembled by Airbus Friedrichshafen, Germany, the 6.2 tonne spacecraft has now arrived at Esa's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, where it is being prepared to enter the Large Space Simulator. Once inside, the air will be pumped from the chamber to replicate the vacuum of space. Then it will be heated and cooled to precisely mimic its varying distance from the Sun as it journeys through the solar system to arrive at the gas giant planet Jupiter, five times further from the Sun than the Earth. Continue reading... |
| Inflation fears ease as commodity prices fall back – business live Posted: 14 May 2021 12:35 AM PDT Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
In London, the FTSE 100 has risen back to the 7,000 mark in early trading. The blue-chip index of leading shares is up 44 points, or 0.6%, at 7007 points.
Asia-Pacific stock markets have bounced back today, as the recovery on Wall Street last night lifted spirits. Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.3%, after three days of heavy losses. Stocks are broadly higher, in a move that's pretty unconvincing at the moment, but speaks of a market willing to give risk-assets another crack. Bond yields are easing back off their highs, along with implied measures of inflation. While perhaps most conspicuously, commodity prices are down right across the board, and subsequently helping ease inflation fears, with a lot of that coming as traders back-off buying commodities as speculation mounts that the Chinese government is preparing to crack-down harder on surging prices. Nikkei 225 closes up by 2.32% at 28,084.47  |
| Global shortage of computer chips could last two years, says IBM boss Posted: 13 May 2021 08:49 PM PDT Tech industry struggles to keep up with demand brought on by the reopening of the world economy The shortage of computer chips plaguing industries around the world and helping to fuel inflation could last another two years, the boss of IBM has said. With the global car industry estimated to lose $110bn this year thanks to the chip shortage, IBM's president, Jim Whitehurst, told the BBC on Friday that the tech industry was struggling to keep up with demand brought on by the reopening of the world economy. Continue reading... |
| Greensill lobbying leaves your reputation in tatters, Cameron told Posted: 13 May 2021 11:17 AM PDT MPs grill former prime minister for four hours about his text message and WhatsApp campaign David Cameron was on Thursday told that his persistent lobbying of ministers, begging for favours on behalf of the controversial bank he worked for, had "demeaned" the position of the prime minister and left his "reputation in tatters". The former PM was forced to deny that his text message and WhatsApp lobbying campaign on behalf of Greensill Capital was driven by fears that an "opportunity to make a large amount of money was at risk". Continue reading... |
| Greyhound Canada to end intercity routes in blow to rural communities Posted: 13 May 2021 01:25 PM PDT Canadians have used service as critical lifeline but bus line has struggled with declining revenues Greyhound Canada will permanently cease its intercity bus operations, the company has announced, as losses mounted and ridership plunged from the effects of coronavirus pandemic. News of the company's exit comes as a heavy blow to rural communities across the country, which have relied on the company's services for nearly a century. "It's been a very tough decision and one we've taken with a heavy heart," Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president of Greyhound Canada, told the Canadian Press on Thursday. "It's been a lifeline for many Canadians for more than 90 years. This will have a massive impact." Continue reading... |
| Boris Johnson took ‘unnecessary’ helicopter trip to promote bike scheme Posted: 13 May 2021 10:00 AM PDT Exclusive: prime minister's short flights cast doubt on the sincerity of his pledges to fight the climate crisis, say critics Boris Johnson has been criticised for taking a short helicopter flight from London to the West Midlands to promote a local bike hire scheme, despite the train from London taking just more than two hours. Critics said the flight was "completely unnecessary" and cast doubt on the sincerity of the prime minister's pledges to fight the climate crisis. Air travel produces far more global-heating emissions than other modes of transport. Continue reading... |
| Spears of destiny: 17 ways to make the most of asparagus season Posted: 13 May 2021 05:39 AM PDT From tarts to salads and soups to puddings, asparagus is one of our most versatile vegetables – and right now it's at its freshest. Here are some inspiring ideas to try at home When asparagus season finally commences in Britain (from about the end of April to the end of June), we can often feel a bit guilty for giving those first spears anything but the simplest treatment: simmered until just done, drained and served, that's it. Radical innovation, you might think, is best saved for the off-season, when the only available asparagus has journeyed thousands of miles and looks it. But variety doesn't have to be complicated – there are lots of ways to liven up a serving of asparagus without overwhelming it. I don't know exactly how many but, as usual, I stopped at 17. Arguably even the simplest treatments aren't foolproof – the tapered shape of an asparagus spear presents an intractable culinary problem: even after trimming, the fat bottoms are always going to take longer to cook than the pointy tips. For years I resorted to standing them up in the water for a few minutes, so the bottoms got some extra immersion, but they alway fell over as soon as I let go. One day I thought: leave the rubber band on. Then I thought: maybe that's what the rubber band is for? Continue reading... |
| Cod almighty: how a ‘mythical’ Faroes delicacy has vanished Posted: 12 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT A giant cod that was once a fishing staple is now so rare it has become the preserve of a few fine diners It was no ordinary cod that Teitur Christensen was preparing. The head chef at Barbara Fish House, one of four restaurants located in tiny wooden houses in Tórshavn, the Faroe Islands' capital, Christensen was hosting what has become known as a "Bank evening", because of the main dish. In the small cosy rooms of these ancient houses – one of which was built more than 500 years ago – his team was getting ready to serve what has become an almost mythical fish: the Faroe Bank cod. The Faroe Bank cod's reputation is partly built on its size. It is huge: a three-year-old specimen is already twice as large, on average, as the Atlantic cod. But it is also legendary because of its rarity. A genetically distinctive member of the cod family, it was once plentiful before being nearly fished to extinction. In 2008, all commercial fishing of Faroe Bank cod was banned. Only the Faroe Marine Research Institute (Famri) is now allowed to catch them, when its researchers survey the fish population twice a year. Continue reading... |
| Eid al-Fitr celebrations around the world – in pictures Posted: 13 May 2021 01:05 PM PDT Around the world, Eid al-Fitr celebrations have been taking place in another unprecedented year. With the uneven distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, Muslims in countries like the US and UK have been able to gather en masse for the first time in over a year and celebrate the end of Ramadan. Meanwhile, across Asia, some ceremonies have been more muted and somber, as families continue to lose members to the virus. Adding to the complex emotions amid this year's celebration, Muslim communities have been demonstrating solidarity with those affected by the crisis in Gaza, where Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people, including many children. As millions share traditional feasts after a month of fasting, Eid will continue through the evening, and often through the week  |
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