The Guardian |
- US troops leave Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase after nearly 20 years
- Fauci says regional vaccine disparities could create ‘two types of America’ – live
- The scientists hired by big oil who predicted the climate crisis long ago
- Belgium v Italy: Euro 2020 quarter-final – live!
- Trump exposed as prosecutors make first move in high-stakes chess game
- Britney Spears wealth management firm asks to withdraw from conservatorship
- Miami firefighter’s daughter found dead in condo rubble as toll rises to 20
- Extremist rhetoric from rightwing media and officials is ‘intensifying’, experts say
- Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers cite Cosby case in bid to have charges dropped
- Boeing 737 cargo pilots rescued after emergency landing in Pacific Ocean
- Swimming caps for natural black hair ruled out of Olympic Games
- Coronavirus live: South Africa reports daily case record; Brazil prosecutor agrees to investigate Bolsonaro
- ‘We are a petri dish’: world watches UK’s race between vaccine and virus
- Australia to halve international arrival cap as Scott Morrison unveils four-stage Covid exit plan
- Threat to vulnerable Americans rises as Delta variant spreads
- Rock sideman Earl Slick: ‘Bowie had gone levels into insanity’
- Spain hold their nerve to reach semi-finals and end battling Switzerland’s run
- Yellowstone’s most famous geyser could shut down, with huge ramifications
- After Britney Spears testimony, lawmakers push changes to conservatorship laws
- No Sudden Move review – Steven Soderbergh’s daring heist drama
- What happened when a ‘wildly irrational’ algorithm made crucial healthcare decisions
- Rumsfeld’s much-vaunted ‘courage’ was a smokescreen for lies, crime and death | Richard Wolffe
- The Trump charges look small potatoes, and the Republican base will shrug | Lloyd Green
- Bill Cosby’s release is exactly why rape survivors don’t come forward | Moira Donegan
- I’d love to believe Brexit is working. But why are there so many weird shortages? | Zoe Williams
- Conditions are ripe for repeat of 1970s stagflation and 2008 debt crisis | Nouriel Roubini
- The more we see older women succeed, the more they will succeed | Gaby Hinsliff
- An awkward, lifeless shrine – the Diana statue is a spiritless hunk of nonsense | Jonathan Jones
- Belief in conspiracy theories is a symptom of powerlessness | Edward Snowden
- Sha’Carri Richardson out of Olympic 100m after positive cannabis test
- Wimbledon 2021: Murray loses to Shapovalov, Djokovic wins – live!
- Max Verstappen: ‘I cannot always be polite and nice, that’s not how I work’
- Tour de France: Mohoric wins stage seven but Roglic hopes slump
- How England finally learned to trust the country’s flair players
- Chris Paul: after 16 NBA seasons of bad luck has Point God’s time finally come?
- USA women thrash Mexico in downpour as unbeaten streak reaches 43 games
- Britney Spears’ battle to take back control of her life and fortune
- The problem with Zola: can a viral tweet thread become a vital movie?
- Colbert on Trump Organization charges anticipation: ‘I’ve been hurt too many times’
- The Golden Girls review – you can still barely catch a breath between gags
- Future Lord of the Rings films should acknowledge the book’s queer leanings
- ‘I enjoy how sexy she is, as long as she’s in control’: Black Widow’s Cate Shortland on Scarlett Johansson
- From Motörhead to Bad Bunny: why music and wrestling make such a great tag team
- Sylvia Plath’s letters to Ted Hughes among intimate items to be auctioned
- This week’s new tracks: MILYMA, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mabel
- Audible review – American football film makes a noise about deaf culture
- Ewan McGregor’s 20 best movie performances – ranked!
- Corporate studies asserting herbicide safety show many flaws, new analysis finds
- US supreme court rebuffs appeal by florist who refused to serve gay couple
- Gavin Newsom oversold California’s fire prevention efforts. A journalist uncovered the truth
- Howard University: Phylicia Rashad’s Bill Cosby comments ‘lacked sensitivity’
- Post-vaccine rebound accelerates as US economy adds 850,000 jobs
- Boy Scouts of America reaches $850m agreement with sexual abuse victims
- Cosby release shows how prosecutors hinder sexual assault victims, advocates say
- US halts all federal executions amid review of capital punishment
- Joe Biden comforts ‘amazing, resilient’ families at site of Miami condo collapse
- Trump gonna Trump: ex-president diverts and deflects as legal woes mount
- Canadian inferno: northern heat exceeds worst-case climate models
- Deadly British Columbia heatwave sows wildfires across Canada’s west
- Libya election plans in chaos as UN accused of breaching mandate
- How women of Isis in Syrian camps are marrying their way to freedom
- Study suggests bacteria in cow’s stomach can break down plastic
- Richard Branson aims to beat Jeff Bezos into space by nine days
- Major aid donors found to have funded ‘conversion therapy’ clinics in Africa
- Northern Ireland prosecutors drop Troubles-era cases against ex-soldiers
- Starmer hails Labour revival after Kim Leadbeater wins Batley and Spen
- Hundreds of dead turtles wash ashore in Sri Lanka after cargo ship wreck
- I am a virgin at 26, and I worry future partners will scorn me
- A common treatment for endometriosis could actually be making things worse
- Keep sowing! 15 easy July gardening tasks to prolong the growing season
- ‘It feels good’: Kashmir folk singer’s rise from dusty street to music star
- Los Angeles police injure 17 and flip cars after illegal firework detonation fails – video
- Flying car makes successful test run between airports in Slovakia – video
- How residential schools in Canada robbed Indigenous children of their identity and lives – video
- No water, no life: running out of water on the California-Oregon border
- Freemasons and a festival crowd: Friday’s best photos
- The week in wildlife – in pictures
- Rising stars of photography from the Getty inclusion scholarships – in pictures
| US troops leave Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase after nearly 20 years Posted: 02 Jul 2021 04:43 AM PDT Departure marred by poor liaison with local forces and comes just before 20th anniversary of start of US operations to topple Taliban US troops have left Bagram, the sprawling airbase north of Kabul that was the symbolic and operational heart of the American military operation in Afghanistan. With that hub handed over to Afghan security forces, it sets the scene for the final departure of American forces from the country only months before the 20th anniversary of the start of US operations to topple the Taliban, launched in response to the 9/11 attacks. Continue reading... |
| Fauci says regional vaccine disparities could create ‘two types of America’ – live Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:37 PM PDT
Joe Biden voiced similar concerns about the delta variant of coronavirus earlier today, while taking reporters' questions after delivering prepared remarks on the June jobs report. Asked about the possibility of additional outbreaks in the US because of the delta variant, Biden said, "I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated."
Dr Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, warned that regional disparities in coronavirus vaccination rates could create "two types of America". In an interview airing fully this Sunday, NBC News anchor Chuck Todd asked Fauci whether he believed the delta variant of coronavirus could cause another surge in cases in the US. WATCH: Dr. Fauci says Covid-19 vaccination rate disparities could create 'two types of America' #MTP pic.twitter.com/jFHF2L9OBC Continue reading... |
| The scientists hired by big oil who predicted the climate crisis long ago Posted: 02 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT Experts' discoveries lie at the heart of two dozen lawsuits that hope to hold the industry accountable for devastating damage As early as 1958, the oil industry was hiring scientists and engineers to research the role that burning fossil fuels plays in global warming. The goal at the time was to help the major oil conglomerates understand how changes in the Earth's atmosphere may affect the industry – and their bottom line. But what top executives gained was an early preview of the climate crisis, decades before the issue reached public consciousness. Continue reading... |
| Belgium v Italy: Euro 2020 quarter-final – live! Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:49 PM PDT
90 min: He blooters the free kick into Berardi's back. But he'll get a chance to retake, because Berardi was only a couple of yards away! The Italian is booked.
89 min: De Bruyne is clipped from behind by Berardi, 25 yards out, just to the left of centre. Big chance from the set piece coming up! Can De Bruyne conjure something up? Continue reading... |
| Trump exposed as prosecutors make first move in high-stakes chess game Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:30 PM PDT The charges against Allen Weisselberg might seem small fry, but the threat to those higher up the food chain is mounting Michael Cohen sounded giddy on the latest episode of his podcast, Mea Culpa. Allen Weisselberg, a key lieutenant to Donald Trump, Cohen's former boss, was about to be charged alongside Trump's company with tax fraud. "This case is being prosecuted like a mob case. And that means they are starting at the bottom of the tree, and working their way up, by getting the smaller fish to flip with pressure on people like Weisselberg to rat on their former boss of bosses!" Cohen said, gleefully mixing his metaphors. Continue reading... |
| Britney Spears wealth management firm asks to withdraw from conservatorship Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:30 AM PDT Bessemer Trust, approved last year to be added as co-conservator, wants out after singer's testimony that she opposed arrangement A wealth management firm that had been tapped as co-conservator of singer Britney Spears' estate, has asked a Los Angeles court to withdraw from the case after the pop superstar's testimony that she opposed the arrangement. Related: Trump legal troubles escalate after company charged with tax crimes – live Continue reading... |
| Miami firefighter’s daughter found dead in condo rubble as toll rises to 20 Posted: 02 Jul 2021 09:34 AM PDT Two bodies recovered overnight, including the young girl, with 128 still unaccounted for The seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was found dead in the rubble of a collapsed condominium, officials said on Friday as they announced the official death toll in Miami had risen to 20 people. The Miami-Dade county mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said the rescue mission overnight was difficult as operations stretched into their ninth day. Continue reading... |
| Extremist rhetoric from rightwing media and officials is ‘intensifying’, experts say Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:00 AM PDT Comparisons of Democrats to Nazis and suggestions thousands should be executed spark fears of violence The extremist rhetoric from rightwing news networks and some elected Republicans is "intensifying", experts have warned, after a Republican congressman compared Democrats to Nazis and a hard-right news host suggested tens of thousands of Americans should be executed. Rightwing TV personalities, including Fox News' Tucker Carlson, and Republican politicians have seized every opportunity to rail against Democrats and liberals in recent months, with race increasingly coming to the fore. Continue reading... |
| Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers cite Cosby case in bid to have charges dropped Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:32 PM PDT Lawyers claim Florida plea deal should protect socialite but tactic is unlikely to work Lawyers for the disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell have asked a judge to throw out her case on sex trafficking charges, citing the recent release from prison of actor Bill Cosby. Cosby, 83, was convicted in 2018 of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, at his suburban estate in 2004. But he was released when Pennsylvania's highest court overturned the conviction after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case. Continue reading... |
| Boeing 737 cargo pilots rescued after emergency landing in Pacific Ocean Posted: 02 Jul 2021 10:46 AM PDT Pilots who were rescued off Hawaii coast reported engine trouble, FAA says in statement The pilots of a cargo plane made a desperate and daring nighttime emergency landing on water early Friday and miraculously survived. They were plucked from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii by first responders. One of the two pilots was found clinging to the tail of the wrecked aircraft while the other was rescued clutching a floating package amid the debris scattered across the waves. Continue reading... |
| Swimming caps for natural black hair ruled out of Olympic Games Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:52 AM PDT International Swimming Federation rejects use of Soul Cap, saying it does not 'fit the natural form of the head' Swimming caps designed for natural black hair created by a black-owned brand will not be allowed at the Olympics. The hats, made by Soul Cap, which previously partnered with Alice Dearing, who last week qualified to become the first black female swimmer to represent Team GB at the Olympics, have been rejected by the International Swimming Federation (Fina). Continue reading... |
| Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:43 PM PDT President Bolsonaro linked to allegations of irregularities over $316m vaccine contract; Latest figures from South Africa show 24,270 new infections
In its latest global vaccination distribution, the US will donate 4 million doses of the Moderna Covid jab to Indonesia. According to Reuters, the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the news to the Indonesian foreign minister in a call earlier on Friday.
South Africa has set a new record for daily Covid-19 cases after another tightening of restrictions. The latest figures showed 24,270 new infections, higher than the previous record of 21,980 in January. A total of 2 million people have now had the virus. Continue reading... |
| ‘We are a petri dish’: world watches UK’s race between vaccine and virus Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Analysis: UK stands alone in pitting advanced vaccination programme against fast-spreading Delta variant Not for the first time in the coronavirus pandemic, the UK finds itself in a unique position. Through a combination of history, biology, mathematics and politics, the country stands alone in pitting an advanced vaccination programme against a substantial wave of Covid driven almost entirely by the fast-spreading Delta variant. Nowhere in the world is the race between vaccination and virus more keenly watched than here. Continue reading... |
| Australia to halve international arrival cap as Scott Morrison unveils four-stage Covid exit plan Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:01 PM PDT Prime minister says it may take until 2022 before moving to next phase, which would see focus on reducing hospitalisations rather than coronavirus cases
The number of international flight arrivals into Australia will be halved nationwide in a blow to Australians stranded abroad, while Scott Morrison attempts to reassure the public that the federal government is working with states and territories on a plan out of the Covid crisis. The prime minister called on Australians to "get vaccinated" in order to "change how we live as a country" – but he indicated it might take until next year to reach the next stage of the four-stage opening-up plan. Continue reading... |
| Threat to vulnerable Americans rises as Delta variant spreads Posted: 01 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT Experts worry that immunocompromised people and those unable to access the vaccine have been forgotten Just as the troubling Delta variant was spreading through the US, Charis Hill got a worrying call from their doctor. The medications Hill takes to treat their spondylitis affect their immune system, and they knew the Covid-19 vaccine might not work as well for them as it does for others. So weeks after their second shot, they got a test. Continue reading... |
| Rock sideman Earl Slick: ‘Bowie had gone levels into insanity’ Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:30 AM PDT He played through extreme drug-taking on Bowie's Station to Station, and with Yoko Ono weeks after Lennon's death. The guitarist explains why he's great at backing legends – and terrible at selling timeshares It's not surprising that Earl Slick was in the middle of a tour when the first Covid lockdown began. The guitarist is, by his own account, "the biggest roadhog on the planet", one of rock's most celebrated sidemen: his association with David Bowie stretched over five decades; he has played with everyone from John Lennon to the Cure to Carl Perkins. This time, he was playing in the UK with his friend Glen Matlock, which meant he spent the first six months of lockdown living not at home in New York but in the former Sex Pistol's spare room in London, an experience he winningly likens to the 1968 comedy The Odd Couple. Apparently, Matlock was the neat-freak Jack Lemmon character and Slick the more laissez-faire Walter Matthau figure. They put on shambolic Facebook live performances, which, Slick notes, "probably had more comedic than musical value". Between songs, there was certainly a lot of peering at the camera and discussing whether or not it was switched on. Video-calling from his home in New York, he says he "lost a lot of gigs and a lot of dough" as a result of the pandemic, but at least he had time to put the finishing touches to a solo album, Fistful of Devils, his first in 18 years. It's instrumental – a stark contrast to 2003's Zig Zag, which featured Bowie, Robert Smith and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott among its supporting cast. "But when I go out live," he notes, "I always go out with a singer. When I'm on stage with a singer, all my sideman tools get pulled out the box. Even if my name's on the marquee, the main focus should be on the vocalist." Continue reading... |
| Spain hold their nerve to reach semi-finals and end battling Switzerland’s run Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:04 PM PDT On the fringes of Switzerland's huddle Granit Xhaka, who must have found two hours watching from the side excruciating, shouted encouragement while bouncing up and down on his heels. In the centre Vladimir Petkovic, the manager who was five well-executed penalties from leading them into uncharted territory, rallied his shattered troops one last time. They had won this way once; now they had to win like this all over again. Within 10 minutes the dream had finally died and it is Spain who will contest a semi-final at Wembley on Tuesday. While Switzerland converted each of their spot kicks emphatically against France, this time their efforts looked weary and second-guessed. Twice Spain, who should have put them away in extra-time but could have blamed only themselves for a largely lacklustre display had they lost, offered them the initiative. When Sergi Busquets hit the post and Yann Sommer saved from Rodri, another scalp moved within reach. But Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schar, so strident four days previously, allowed Unai Simón to save their tentative shots and the writing was on the wall when Ruben Vargas blasted over. Continue reading... |
| Yellowstone’s most famous geyser could shut down, with huge ramifications Posted: 01 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT If temperatures rise 10F by the century's end as projected, Old Faithful could stop erupting, and the snowpack that feeds rivers throughout the west may disappear When a band of geological surveyors and US army scouts mapped out what would become Yellowstone in 1870, the geysers and springs seemed endless – a land so unbound that Congress moved to name it the world's first national park. Nearly 150 years later, about 4 million people visit the park annually to see its most famous geyser: Old Faithful. It is a sight to behold, shooting tens of thousands of litres of boiling water hundreds of feet into the air about 17 times a day. Continue reading... |
| After Britney Spears testimony, lawmakers push changes to conservatorship laws Posted: 02 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT Disability rights activists say proposed reforms don't go far enough and that flaws in the system trap people in abusive arrangements Last week, Britney Spears testified in court about the conservatorship that has long controlled her life, and noted there were a thousand people stuck in "abusive" arrangements like hers. In California, lawmakers have responded to the international outcry about the singer's peculiar legal arrangement with proposed reforms that aim to expand the rights and due process of people in conservatorships. Continue reading... |
| No Sudden Move review – Steven Soderbergh’s daring heist drama Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:36 AM PDT The director's nifty new trick has him using the gloss of a crowd-pleasing heist movie to discuss race, industry and politics in 50s America The difference between the heist movies made by Steven Soderbergh and the heist movies made by everyone else is that he takes as much interest in where the money comes from and goes as in the details of its transferral – the why along with the how. His thieves tend to be independent operators liberating massive sums from institutions on the winning side of capitalism, self-styled Robin Hoods for an age in which the phrase "wealth distribution" appears in public discourse with ever-greater frequency. They steal from the rich and give to the poor, as in the Ocean's 13 con to force multimillion payouts from an elite casino to its patrons. Or sometimes, it just so happens that they are the poor, as in the boost from Nascar's coffers by blue-collar West Virginians in Logan Lucky. All the while, the director has kept his eye on the big picture of who's hoarding and who really deserves the cash in question. Related: The Forever Purge review – will this franchise ever end? Continue reading... |
| What happened when a ‘wildly irrational’ algorithm made crucial healthcare decisions Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:30 AM PDT Advocates say having computer programs decide how much help vulnerable people can get is often arbitrary – and in some cases downright cruel Going up against an algorithm was a battle unlike any other Larkin Seiler had faced. Because of his cerebral palsy, the 40-year-old, who works at an environmental engineering firm and loves attending sports games of nearly any type, depends on his home care support person for assistance with things most people take for granted, like meals and bathing. Continue reading... |
| Rumsfeld’s much-vaunted ‘courage’ was a smokescreen for lies, crime and death | Richard Wolffe Posted: 01 Jul 2021 09:30 AM PDT We are still living with the catastrophic consequences of Rumsfeld and his gang. And it's not as if this chain of events was unimaginable at the time It is customary, at times like these, to gloss over the failures and foibles of recently deceased officials: to paint a portrait in broad brush strokes about their achievements and qualities and public service. Related: History unlikely to forgive Donald Rumsfeld's Iraq warmongering Continue reading... |
| The Trump charges look small potatoes, and the Republican base will shrug | Lloyd Green Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:41 AM PDT By the metrics of scandal, the alleged crime seems decidedly underwhelming. For now at least, the former president can exhale On Thursday, Manhattan prosecutors charged the Trump Organization, its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and the Trump Payroll Corp with engaging in a scheme to defraud federal, state and local tax authorities. According to the indictment, Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on $1.7m in income and benefits. The scheme purportedly dated back to 2005. Related: Trump legal troubles escalate after company charged with tax crimes – live Continue reading... |
| Bill Cosby’s release is exactly why rape survivors don’t come forward | Moira Donegan Posted: 01 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT The conviction of a high-profile rapist sends a message women rarely hear: rape is wrong. Cosby's release snatches that away Bill Cosby was released from a Pennsylvania prison on Wednesday after the Pennsylvania supreme court vacated his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosby, who has been accused of a pattern of drugging women and then raping or sexually assaulting them while they were unconscious, is out on a technicality: the court found that a prosecutor mishandled incriminating testimony that the comedian had given in a 2004 civil suit, and hence threw out his 2018 criminal trial. But according to the court's ruling, Cosby cannot be retried, either. His release on these charges is final. He will never serve another day in prison for the assault of Andrea Constand. Related: 'I am furious': shock and anger after Bill Cosby's conviction overturned Continue reading... |
| I’d love to believe Brexit is working. But why are there so many weird shortages? | Zoe Williams Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:19 AM PDT Haribo supplies are under threat. I'm already struggling to buy Um Bongo and seaweed salad. What does this tell us – except that I need to improve my diet? It started with a rabbit hutch, insanely expensive, but reportedly worth it: the only guaranteed fox-proof outdoor hutch on the market. I ordered it in January; I'd say I got an email about its progress roughly once a week. Twenty-five emails later, still no hutch, and I had started sending elaborate replies to an automated customer service entity: "It's lucky I don't have two rabbits, otherwise I'd need another 63 hutches by now, and when would I get those – 2027?" There were a couple of weeks when they were blaming the Suez canal, but mostly, it was "delays caused by Brexit". Was that really true or was it like at the start of the pandemic when it was just a go-to excuse, and the dry cleaner would blame Covid for failure to remove a stain? I don't know enough about rabbit hutch supply chains and, more importantly, I don't want to know. I just want to exist in a world where rabbit accommodation arrives more quickly. Continue reading... |
| Conditions are ripe for repeat of 1970s stagflation and 2008 debt crisis | Nouriel Roubini Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:34 AM PDT Warning signs are there for global economy, and central banks will be left in impossible position In April, I warned that today's extremely loose monetary and fiscal policies, when combined with a number of negative supply shocks, could result in 1970s-style stagflation (high inflation alongside a recession). In fact, the risk today is even bigger than it was then. After all, debt ratios in advanced economies and most emerging markets were much lower in the 1970s, which is why stagflation has not been associated with debt crises historically. If anything, unexpected inflation in the 1970s wiped out the real value of nominal debts at fixed rates, thus reducing many advanced economies' public-debt burdens. Continue reading... |
| The more we see older women succeed, the more they will succeed | Gaby Hinsliff Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Anne Robinson's new job might not seem relevant to the average working woman, but visibility is vital to defeat ageism Anne Robinson is, as she says herself, the oldest woman on television not judging cakes. But age has hardly mellowed her. Like the canny pro she is, the 76-year-old former Queen of Mean toned it down a bit for her somewhat unlikely new gig hosting the gentle teatime TV quiz show Countdown, but the pre-launch interviews were as sharp and punchy as ever. After this long in the business, she knows her shtick. And love it or loathe it, there is something rather thrilling about her determination not to be put out to grass. Continue reading... |
| An awkward, lifeless shrine – the Diana statue is a spiritless hunk of nonsense | Jonathan Jones Posted: 01 Jul 2021 09:34 AM PDT The only provocative thing about Ian Rank-Broadley's characterless sculpture is how shamelessly it plays up to mawkish Diana worship Ian Rank-Broadley's statue of Diana, commissioned by her sons, was kept secret until its unveiling as if it might be wildly provocative. Looking through the artist's previous oeuvre, I noticed he has a taste for the nude and created a statue for the late Felix Dennis called Lord Rochester, His Whore and a Monkey. That raised the fascinating prospect of a naked Diana for everyone to get furious about. Instead, he's let it all hang out in a different way. The sentiment splurges across the flower beds like an uncontrolled wail of artistically absurd pathos. A larger than life Diana, who stands in an awkward, stiff, lifeless pose and has a face that's more manly than I remember, modelled apparently with thickly gloved hands and no photo to consult, protects two children in her arms while a third lurks behind her. Continue reading... |
| Belief in conspiracy theories is a symptom of powerlessness | Edward Snowden Posted: 01 Jul 2021 03:23 AM PDT People need to explain to themselves their immiseration, their disenfranchisement, their lack of power. Conspiracies do that The greatest conspiracies are open and notorious – not theories, but practices expressed through law and policy, technology and finance. Counterintuitively, these conspiracies are more often than not announced in public and with a modicum of pride. They're dutifully reported in our newspapers; they're bannered on to the covers of our magazines; updates on their progress are scrolled across our screens – all with such regularity as to render us unable to relate the banality of their methods to the rapacity of their ambitions. The party in power wants to redraw district lines. The prime interest rate has changed. A free service has been created to host our personal files. These conspiracies order, and disorder, our lives; and yet they can't compete for attention with digital graffiti about pedophile satanists in the basement of a DC pizzeria. Continue reading... |
| Sha’Carri Richardson out of Olympic 100m after positive cannabis test Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:27 AM PDT
The American sprint sensation Sha'Carri Richardson will miss the women's 100m at the Olympics after accepting a one-month ban for testing positive for marijuana at last month's US trials. The 21-year-old was regarded as one of the favourites for a gold medal, having run the sixth fastest time in history this year, but her sanction means that her US trials victory is struck from the books. Continue reading... |
| Wimbledon 2021: Murray loses to Shapovalov, Djokovic wins – live! Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:43 PM PDT
"To play against a legend like Andy today, he's been an inspiration to me," says a very sporting Shapovalov. "I told him at the net that he's my hero. Achievements aside. The first set we played was super intense and after that I was able to maintain the level and he dropped a little."
So that's that for Murray, and the Canadian youngster shows his appreciation to the crowd. Murray leaves the court with a wave, and he is given a standing ovation as he does so. Continue reading... |
| Max Verstappen: ‘I cannot always be polite and nice, that’s not how I work’ Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:46 AM PDT The Dutchman has matured and refined his skills with Red Bull and is now engaged in a fierce title battle with Lewis Hamilton As shafts of sunlight break through the roiling clouds ringing the Styrian mountains, they offer only shadow play set against Max Verstappen's bright exuberance. Since he was a child all Verstappen has wanted to do is fight for the Formula One world championship. Right now, he is not only in that fight but on top, leading the defending champion, Lewis Hamilton. On the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix Max feels good. It's clear he knew that he would. On top of his game, the 23-year-old is unafraid to speak his mind; the openness makes him stand out among drivers and is fundamental to his success with his Red Bull team. Continue reading... |
| Tour de France: Mohoric wins stage seven but Roglic hopes slump Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:23 AM PDT
Matej Mohoric won the Tour de France's longest stage, from Vierzon to Le Creusot, slipping clear of the day's breakaway group to take his first stage victory in the Tour, as the overall race leader, Mathieu van der Poel, increased his lead to half a minute. Mohoric, a Slovenian riding for Bahrain Victorious and already winner of a stage in the Vuelta a España and the Giro d'Italia, moved clear and tackled the final descents and the last climb, of the Côte de la Gourloye, with aplomb, to seal the most prestigious win of his career. Continue reading... |
| How England finally learned to trust the country’s flair players Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:31 AM PDT Academy coaching, foreign influence and end of rigid 4-4-2 have cleared a path for talents such as Grealish and Foden 'You have to be willing to try something a little bit different and you don't want to have the fear of failure," said Matt Le Tissier in 2014. For those who watched the Southampton attacking midfielder in his prime in the mid-1990s, even now it seems incredible that his international career amounted to only eight appearances. In an era when English football was largely dominated by the rigid 4-4-2 formation, the player known as "Le God" on the south coast because of his penchant for spectacular goals always seemed destined to join the long list of mavericks, including Rodney Marsh, Alan Hudson and Glenn Hoddle, who won fewer caps than many thought they deserved. Continue reading... |
| Chris Paul: after 16 NBA seasons of bad luck has Point God’s time finally come? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:00 AM PDT The Phoenix Suns star has been as unlucky as he has been brilliant during his long career. But now he has an great chance to finally win a championship When Chris Paul collided with Phoenix Suns' teammate Cam Johnson in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarter-finals against the title-favourite Los Angeles Lakers, going down in agony as he held his right shoulder, it looked like deja vu. Here was Paul, now on his fifth team, suffering another significant injury on the NBA's biggest stage. Here he was, appearing to get ready to watch his seemingly indestructible friend LeBron James go on to his 11th finals appearance when Paul still hadn't been to his first, despite being in year 16 of his NBA career. Paul toughed it out. He re-entered the game and did all he could with a right arm that hung loosely to the side of his body like a dead plant. He struggled to dribble and only took shots from his favourite spot on the right elbow, which he still managed to slingshot in. He played that way most of the series, using his basketball smarts and slick decision-making to overwhelm the Lakers' defense, helping the Suns win the series, 4-2. Continue reading... |
| USA women thrash Mexico in downpour as unbeaten streak reaches 43 games Posted: 01 Jul 2021 06:49 PM PDT
Christen Press scored twice as the US women's national team ran their unbeaten streak to 43 games with a 4-0 win against Mexico in East Hartford, Connecticut, on Thursday. Related: Are the USWNT stronger than they were in their doomed 2016 Olympic campaign? Continue reading... |
| Britney Spears’ battle to take back control of her life and fortune Posted: 01 Jul 2021 07:00 PM PDT A legal arrangement set up in the wake of a mental health crisis has left Britney Spears with little control of her personal or professional affairs. Laura Snapes and Sam Levin describe how she's challenging the situation in court Britney Spears shot to global fame in 1998 with her hit single Baby One More Time, released when she was 17. It was the first of a string of hits that made her a millionaire many times over. But the rapid rise came not without cost for her personal life. A mental health crisis led to a very public breakdown, and in 2008 she was placed under a a conservatorship which, overseen by her father, took control of her finances and many of her personal affairs. The Guardian's deputy music editor, Laura Snapes, tells Rachel Humphreys about growing up as a fan of Britney and following her career with increasing concern for her wellbeing. The Guardian's US correspondent Sam Levin describes the courtroom hearing last week in which Britney Spears pressed her case for having the conditions of her conservatorship lifted. Continue reading... |
| The problem with Zola: can a viral tweet thread become a vital movie? Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:18 PM PDT The buzzy Sundance film, an adaptation of an explosive 2015 tweet thread, demonstrates the trickiness of adapting internet virality for the big screen In October 2015, A'Ziah "Zola" Wells King, then a 19-year-old black woman living in Detroit, tweeted four selfies with a blonde white woman and an invitation: "Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out???????? It's kind of long but full of suspense." Her subsequent 148 tweets detailed an impromptu road trip to Florida with a new acquaintance (the blonde woman, Jessica), Jessica's hapless boyfriend and the man revealed to be her pimp. The excursion quickly devolves from pole-dancing for extra cash into a saga of prostitution, deception and violence. Zola's tale, relayed in 140-character dispatches with the candor and confidence of someone holding court at a bar, went viral under the hashtag #TheStory. Celebrities such as Ava DuVernay, Jackée Harry and Missy Elliott were publicly riveted; Zola's swaggering lyricism – Jessica's boyfriend, despondent over her sex work, was "lost in the sauce & his bitch lost in the game" – became Twitter touchstones. #TheStory is largely credited with hastening Twitter's decision to link tweets, a consequential move for thought sharing during the Trump era. Continue reading... |
| Colbert on Trump Organization charges anticipation: ‘I’ve been hurt too many times’ Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:57 AM PDT With most late-night hosts on holiday, the Late Show host discusses criminal charges against the Trump Organization Stephen Colbert tentatively celebrated breaking news on Thursday afternoon that New York prosecutors charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with a "sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme" of tax-related crimes. Continue reading... |
| The Golden Girls review – you can still barely catch a breath between gags Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:00 AM PDT Break out the cheesecake! Dorothy and the gang are back on Disney+ … and they knock every single line out of the park Picture it: Miami, 1985. Four retired women are living together and having the time of their lives and/or cheesecake. That's it. That's The Golden Girls. The glorious story of divorced sixtysomething Dorothy Zbornak (the majestic, the magisterial Bea Arthur), widowed Rose Nylund (Betty White), who was as sweetly naive as Dorothy was acerbic, Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), a Southern belle man-eater ("I could get herpes just listening to this story," notes Dorothy during one Dever-anecdote), and Sofia (Estelle Getty), Dorothy's octogenarian mother, ran for 180 episodes over seven seasons, barely allowing you a pause between gags to catch your breath. Continue reading... |
| Future Lord of the Rings films should acknowledge the book’s queer leanings Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:00 AM PDT Nobody wants to see a horny Gollum or Orcs with raging hard-ons – but why shouldn't some of Middle-earth's denizens be gay? The debate over just how gay Lord of the Rings really is will no doubt still be raging in another hundred years – there's a fascinating essay written from a queer perspective here – given the gilded position JRR Tolkien's high-fantasy novel holds in English literary history. What's no longer in doubt is that Peter Jackson's team for the Oscar-winning trilogy were perfectly well aware of their epic tale's homoerotic undertones. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan revealed this week that they almost shot a scene in which cheeky hobbits Merry and Pippin find themselves naked after falling from Treebeard the Ent's branches and losing all their clothing. According to Philippa Boyens' script, Merry then turns to Pippin and says: "It's cold, isn't it?" Pippin responds: "Hold me, Merry." That this scene was never filmed doesn't matter. Viewed through a 21st-century prism (perhaps even a 1930s one) the entirely male-centric events of Lord of the Rings – the bonding, the emotional connections in time of peril, the torment of choosing between heterosexual romance and the company of men – have obvious queer connotations. That does not mean Tolkien wrote them in such a way: it is possible to argue that the author saw the hobbits as childlike innocents, mere sprites who lived long, long ago, in the mists of a sexless, Eden-like, ancient faerie. When the writer describes Tom Bombadil telling the halflings to "run naked on the grass" while he hunts, in a chapter that never made it into the movies, it's hard to imagine that Tolkien had anything particularly carnal in mind. (The hobbits dutifully obey, by the way.) Continue reading... |
| Posted: 01 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT Marvel's long-awaited spin-off is the first to be solo-directed by a woman. She discusses male domination of crews, the film's feminism – and going from indie films to a blockbuster It is September 2019. At Pinewood Studios, just outside London, "action" has been called for the umpteenth take of a scene that opens the third act of Marvel's Black Widow. A warehouse has been transformed into the office of the movie's baddie, Dreykov (played by Ray Winstone with a chewy eastern European accent). The decor is Soviet drab meets midcentury modern in shades of tobacco, with wood-panelled walls and a huge desk. Winstone is nowhere to be seen, but a dozen or so badass female assassins in black stand in a circle around his desk; on cue, they jump back. The mood is intense, hear-a-pin-drop silent; then, a disembodied voice pipes up over the sound system, softly spoken, with an Australian accent. It is the director, Cate Shortland. "At the beginning, just make sure you're all moving in slowly … Thank you!" Continue reading... |
| From Motörhead to Bad Bunny: why music and wrestling make such a great tag team Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:00 AM PDT Poppy – who is releasing her new EP via the wrestling behemoth – joins the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Limp Bizkit and Pitbull in the squared circle It may appear surprising that Poppy – the answer to the question: "What would Nine Inch Nails sound like if they were fronted by Kylie?" – is choosing to release her new EP via the label Sumerian Records and World Wrestling Entertainment. Yet, fans of the squared circle will be aware that rock and wrestling have enjoyed close ties for decades. So much so that when WWE (formerly WWF, before the panda charity of the same name intervened) promoter Vince McMahon looked to position his high-octane soap opera in the realms of respectability – shedding the carnality that had dominated wrestling for much of its history – he looked to pop music, in particular MTV, to give his grimy product some glam. It's an era that has come to be known as the Rock'n'Wrestling Connection and culminated in actual Cyndi Lauper taking part in the inaugural WrestleMania in 1985. Continue reading... |
| Sylvia Plath’s letters to Ted Hughes among intimate items to be auctioned Posted: 02 Jul 2021 04:00 AM PDT The sale at Sotheby's includes the poet's wedding ring, drawings and a family photo album A cache of Sylvia Plath's letters and personal items – including her wedding ring, a captioned photo album and her drawings of Ted Hughes – are to be sold at Sotheby's in a sale which provides unique insight into the life of one of the most celebrated literary figures in the English language. Sotheby's is hosting the 55-lot auction, which includes some of the most personal Plath items ever sold, including intimate pieces such as the Plath family Bible and letters between herself and Hughes, with whom she had one of literature's most famous relationships. Continue reading... |
| This week’s new tracks: MILYMA, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mabel Posted: 02 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT This week we've got a spiritual rollercoaster, some blissed-out 70s-style groove, and an enjoyably daft glitter-pop banger Continue reading... |
| Audible review – American football film makes a noise about deaf culture Posted: 01 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT Netflix's moving and evocative documentary follows a team of high school athletes heading for triumph – or disaster. If only it was longer than 40 minutes Ten years ago, director Matt Ogens was shooting an ad campaign involving high school football teams. One of them was from Maryland School for the Deaf. Ogens was already aware of the school – he grew up within 30 miles of the place and had had a deaf best friend since he was eight years old – and he stayed in touch in his directorial capacity for the next decade, feeling that "there was a bigger story to tell". The result was shot last year, pre-pandemic, and arrives on Netflix in the form of Audible, a 38-minute documentary about the team's final semester. It starts with the brutal loss of a game that breaks a 16-season winning streak, taking in the ordinary trials and tribulations of adolescence, plus some of the particular challenges of preparing to step out of the deaf community to face adult life in the hearing world. The soundtrack fades in and out, blurring and unblurring to reflect what the players themselves hear of it, and keeps in all the advertent and inadvertent noises the students make as they communicate in American Sign Language (ASL). It is also set against the backdrop of grief for teammate Teddy Webster, lost to suicide. It finishes with the homecoming game, where the team meet with either triumph or disaster – I shall not spoil the ending for you. Continue reading... |
| Ewan McGregor’s 20 best movie performances – ranked! Posted: 01 Jul 2021 07:00 AM PDT With his new film, The Birthday Cake, out next week, we take a look at the best roles of the Scottish actor – and no, Phantom Menace is not on it Lip-syncing in Dennis Potter's 1993 musical drama Lipstick on Your Collar was all very well. Crooning for real opposite Nicole Kidman, McGregor looks and sounds strained to say the least. But then his entire floundering performance represents a mere fender bump in Baz Luhrmann's car crash of a musical. "His idea of conveying high emotion is to let his mouth hang wide open," noted the critic Anthony Quinn. Continue reading... |
| Corporate studies asserting herbicide safety show many flaws, new analysis finds Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:00 AM PDT Revelations come as Europe wrestles over renewal question for Bayer's Roundup herbicides A new analysis of more than 50 previously secret, corporate-backed scientific studies is raising troubling questions about a history of regulatory reliance on such research in assessing the safety of the widely used weedkilling chemical known as glyphosate, the key ingredient in the popular Roundup herbicide. In a 187-page report released on Friday, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria said a thorough review of 53 safety studies submitted to regulators by large chemical companies showed that most do not comply with modern international standards for scientific rigor, and lack the types of tests most able to detect cancer risks. Continue reading... |
| US supreme court rebuffs appeal by florist who refused to serve gay couple Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:03 AM PDT Barronelle Stutzman fined for refusing to make arrangement for same-sex wedding because of her Christian beliefs The US supreme court on Friday declined to hear an appeal by a florist fined by Washington state for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same-sex wedding due to her Christian beliefs, sidestepping another major case pitting gay rights against religious liberty. Related: Trump legal troubles escalate after company charged with tax crimes – live Continue reading... |
| Gavin Newsom oversold California’s fire prevention efforts. A journalist uncovered the truth Posted: 02 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT Scott Rodd of Capital Public Radio explains how the governor repeatedly overstated the state's achievements California leaders have often touted the state's wildfire prevention efforts, which have taken on a new urgency as fire seasons continue to set grisly records. But a new investigation, published by Capital Public Radio, found that the governor, Gavin Newsom, has dramatically overblown the state's achievements. The report, released in June, found that Newsom repeatedly overstated how many acres of the state were treated with fuel breaks and hazardous tree removal, along with other key elements of wildfire suppression. The report also found that the state's fire agency, Cal Fire, saw its fuel reduction efforts cut in half in 2020. Continue reading... |
| Howard University: Phylicia Rashad’s Bill Cosby comments ‘lacked sensitivity’ Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:45 PM PDT • Cosby's former co-star is dean of Howard's arts school • 'Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority' Howard University said the dean of its arts school, the actor and director Phylicia Rashad, "lacked sensitivity" in her elated response to her former TV co-star Bill Cosby's release from prison. Pennsylvania's supreme court overturned Cosby's sexual assault conviction on Wednesday and he was freed shortly afterwards, a decision based on a legal technicality, to the fury of many women who allege he abused them, and victims' advocates. Continue reading... |
| Post-vaccine rebound accelerates as US economy adds 850,000 jobs Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:40 AM PDT • Joe Biden hails 'historic progress' and credits stimulus package • Number in or seeking work still 3m below pre-pandemic peak The US added 850,000 jobs in June, a sign that the country's post-vaccine rebound is continuing to accelerate. The national unemployment rate remained relatively stable, rising 0.1% to 5.9% in June, probably because more people came off the sidelines to join the labor force. Continue reading... |
| Boy Scouts of America reaches $850m agreement with sexual abuse victims Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:42 AM PDT Settlement marks one of the largest sums in US history involving cases of sexual abuse The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization has reached an $850m agreement with attorneys representing about 60,000 victims of child sexual abuse in what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the group's bankruptcy case. The settlement would mark one of the largest sums in US history involving cases of sexual abuse. Continue reading... |
| Cosby release shows how prosecutors hinder sexual assault victims, advocates say Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Bruce Castor's disputed deal offering Bill Cosby immunity is under scrutiny, and indicative of hurdles facing women who seek justice The release of Bill Cosby from prison on Wednesday after his 2018 sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania supreme court has refocused attention on one of the big complaints of the #MeToo movement – the role of prosecutors in hindering female victims in their search for justice. At the centre of the storm is Bruce Castor, a high-profile Republican lawyer who was district attorney of Montgomery county, Cosby's home area, at the time the TV star was first investigated for drugging and molesting a woman in 2005. The reversal of Cosby's sentence has shone the spotlight once again on Castor's controversial handling of the case, which advocates say is indicative of the hurdles facing women nationwide as they try to hold abusers accountable. Continue reading... |
| US halts all federal executions amid review of capital punishment Posted: 01 Jul 2021 06:16 PM PDT Attorney general orders temporary pause following historic use of death penalty under Trump administration The US attorney general has imposed a moratorium on all federal executions while the justice department reviews its policies and procedures on capital punishment. Civil rights and criminal justice advocates have been pushing for a halt following a wave of controversial executions under the Trump administration. Citing the disproportionate impact of capital punishment on people of color, and deep controversy over the drugs used to put people to death, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, ordered a temporary pause on scheduling executions. Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden comforts ‘amazing, resilient’ families at site of Miami condo collapse Posted: 01 Jul 2021 02:43 PM PDT
Joe Biden spent several hours on Thursday comforting grieving relatives at the site of last week's deadly Miami condo collapse, speaking of his admiration for their fortitude as their agonizing wait for news goes on. The president and first lady Jill Biden also met with teams of first responders and rescue workers who have been searching painstakingly but fruitlessly for survivors in the rubble of Surfside's Champlain Towers South for more than a week. Continue reading... |
| Trump gonna Trump: ex-president diverts and deflects as legal woes mount Posted: 01 Jul 2021 09:59 AM PDT The former president appeared to mount a typically Trumpian bid to focus attention away from the growing scandal at his company No one could accuse Donald Trump of lying low when the long arm of the law finally caught up with him. On Wednesday the former US president visited the Mexico border, highlighting his favourite campaign issue, then held an hour-long televised town hall with Sean Hannity, his favourite Fox News host. Continue reading... |
| Canadian inferno: northern heat exceeds worst-case climate models Posted: 02 Jul 2021 08:28 AM PDT Scientists fear heat domes in North America and Siberia indicate a new dimension to the global crisis If you were drawing up a list of possible locations for hell on Earth before this week, the small mountain village of Lytton in Canada would probably not have entered your mind. Few people outside British Columbia had heard of this community of 250 people. Those who had were more likely to think of it as bucolic. Nestled by a confluence of rivers in the forested foothills of the Lillooet and Botanie mountain ranges, the municipal website boasts: "Lytton is the ideal location for nature lovers to connect with incredible natural beauty and fresh air freedom." Continue reading... |
| Deadly British Columbia heatwave sows wildfires across Canada’s west Posted: 02 Jul 2021 10:25 AM PDT Residents recovering from record-breaking temperatures face a new threat, with more than 100 fires burning On the heels of an unprecedented heatwave that left hundreds dead in British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province is now battling a fresh threat. More than 100 wildfires are burning across the province, as of late on Thursday, 86 of which started in the past two days. Evacuation orders and alerts have gone out in a dozen communities. The province's premier, John Horgan, suggested that the crisis could become dire enough to see the Canadian military deployed. Continue reading... |
| Libya election plans in chaos as UN accused of breaching mandate Posted: 02 Jul 2021 11:27 AM PDT Body set up to choose roadmap to elections beset by divisions with process described as 'out of control' Efforts to set the terms for presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya on 24 December are mired in chaos, as UN officials are accused of breaching their mandate by facilitating efforts to prevent them going ahead. The UN admitted it was facing difficult splits among the 75-strong body it set up last year to choose an interim government and agree the roadmap to the elections. Continue reading... |
| How women of Isis in Syrian camps are marrying their way to freedom Posted: 02 Jul 2021 06:02 AM PDT Exclusive: hundreds of al-Hawl camp detainees have been smuggled out using bribes gifted by husbands they met online Hundreds of foreign women with links to Islamic State in Syria's sprawling al-Hawl detention camp have "married" men they met online and several hundred have been smuggled out of the facility using cash bribes gifted by their new husbands. The camp's inhabitants have been sent wire payments totalling upwards of $500,000 (£360,000), according to testimony from 50 women inside and outside Hawl, local Kurdish officials, a former Isis member in eastern Europe with knowledge of the money transfer network and a foreign fighter in Idlib province involved in smuggling. Continue reading... |
| Study suggests bacteria in cow’s stomach can break down plastic Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:14 AM PDT Scientists find micro-organisms from the bovine stomach have ability to degrade polyesters in lab setting Bacteria found in one of the compartments of a cow's stomach can break down plastic, research suggests. Since the 1950s, more than 8bn tonnes of plastic have been produced – equivalent in weight to 1 billion elephants – driven predominantly by packaging, single-use containers, wrapping and bottles. As a result, plastic pollution is all-pervasive, in the water and in the air, with people unwittingly consuming and breathing microplastic particles. In recent years, researchers have been working on harnessing the ability of tiny microscopic bugs to break down the stubborn material. Continue reading... |
| Richard Branson aims to beat Jeff Bezos into space by nine days Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:07 AM PDT Virgin Galactic founder has announced he will take off on board the next test flight on 11 July Richard Branson is aiming to beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos into space by nine days. The winged rocket ship – the first carrying a full crew – will launch from New Mexico after the US Federal Aviation Administration in late June gave Virgin Galactic permission to take paying customers into space after a successful test flight in May. Continue reading... |
| Major aid donors found to have funded ‘conversion therapy’ clinics in Africa Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:44 AM PDT Investigation finds UK Aid and USAid money linked to centres where 'condemned' practice is routinely offered to LGBTQ+ people The UK government is among major aid donors to have funded clinics in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania that offer so-called "conversion therapies", which pressurise gay people to "quit" same-sex attraction, an investigation has found. In a six-month undercover investigation of the centres, reporters from global news website openDemocracy were told being gay is "evil", "for whites" and a mental health problem. Among them were facilities linked to some of the world's biggest aid donors, including USAid and the British government's fund, UK Aid, run by organisations such as UK-based MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) and Swiss-based Global Fund. Continue reading... |
| Northern Ireland prosecutors drop Troubles-era cases against ex-soldiers Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:48 AM PDT Two former British army soldiers had faced prosecution over Bloody Sunday killings and murder of Derry teenager Prosecutors in Northern Ireland have dropped murder charges against two former British army soldiers for Troubles-era killings, including on Bloody Sunday. The decision halted the trial of the veteran known as Soldier F, the only member of the Parachute Regiment to be prosecuted in connection with the killing of 14 people during a civil rights demonstration in Derry in January 1972. Continue reading... |
| Starmer hails Labour revival after Kim Leadbeater wins Batley and Spen Posted: 02 Jul 2021 04:59 AM PDT The sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox holds West Yorkshire seat for party by 323 votes Labour "is coming home" after the party narrowly held on to Batley and Spen in a sometimes brutal byelection, Keir Starmer has said, arguing that voters were starting to see through the government's "politics of misinformation". "It is a start. Labour is back. Labour is coming home," the party leader told cheering activists in the West Yorkshire constituency, standing next to Kim Leadbeater, who won the seat over the Conservatives by just 323 votes. Continue reading... |
| Hundreds of dead turtles wash ashore in Sri Lanka after cargo ship wreck Posted: 01 Jul 2021 05:45 PM PDT Environmental experts say the case is the country's worst man-made environmental disaster Hundreds of turtles have washed ashore after a ship caught fire and sank off the west coast of Sri Lanka in June in the country's worst-ever marine disaster, a court in the capital Colombo has heard. A fire erupted on the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl on 20 May, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics. It sank on 2 June as a salvage crew tried to tow the vessel away from the coast. Continue reading... |
| I am a virgin at 26, and I worry future partners will scorn me Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:00 AM PDT You sound sensitive and courageous, says Annalisa Barbieri. Take it slow and remember, experience isn't everything A friendship with a new co-worker is steadily blossoming into a romance, which is bringing me much joy. The only issue is that, because of a history of mental health problems, I have isolated myself from relationships and am a virgin at 26. If and when we become intimate, the prospect of my lack of experience being a problem fills me with dread. How do I overcome my insecurities? Some background: when I was 13, I was diagnosed with a serious anxiety disorder. As a result, throughout my teenage years, my social life was almost nonexistent. I had few friends and no relationships in secondary school. Continue reading... |
| A common treatment for endometriosis could actually be making things worse Posted: 01 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT Repeat surgeries for endometriosis could be exacerbating pain symptoms, experts say It has long been believed that the best way to treat endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory condition that affects one in 10 women globally, is by performing laparoscopic surgery to remove damaged tissue from the body. But experts now say the surgery may not be as effective as once thought in relieving symptoms, and could actually be making things worse for some patients, including those who have developed separate pain conditions as a result of their endometriosis. Continue reading... |
| Keep sowing! 15 easy July gardening tasks to prolong the growing season Posted: 02 Jul 2021 03:30 AM PDT By now, your garden should be at its most lush, but you can still be planting. Plus there's maintenance to get the most out of tomato plants, rhubarb and flowers that are throwing out seeds The height of summer doesn't have to bring an end to the sowing and growing. After a wet May, followed by a spell of hot days, many gardens will be full of lush growth. But if yours is failing to deliver, there is still time to sow and plant, provided you choose the right things. Continue reading... |
| ‘It feels good’: Kashmir folk singer’s rise from dusty street to music star Posted: 01 Jul 2021 09:00 PM PDT Noor Mohammad Shah has given traditional Sufi music a new lease of life after a chance encounter Noor Mohammad Shah had always happily lived a life of obscurity. Born in a small village in the conflict-ridden state of Kashmir in India, Shah had been introduced to the mystical world of Sufi music as a child and for decades since had made a meagre but fulfilling living singing traditional songs and performing on his rabab, a lute-like music instrument, at weddings and village festivals. Yet it was a chance encounter between Shah and a group of young men, who happened to pass by as the god-fearing musician was playing his instrument on a dusty street corner, that would propel him into becoming one of Kashmir's most famous modern rabab musicians. Continue reading... |
| Los Angeles police injure 17 and flip cars after illegal firework detonation fails – video Posted: 01 Jul 2021 08:06 PM PDT The Los Angeles police department detonated a cache of homemade fireworks it had seized, causing a major explosion on a residential block that injured 17 people, flipped and damaged cars and smashed windows in nearby homes. The fireworks were detonated in an iron containment vessel – which exploded – because they were deemed too unsafe to move from a South Los Angeles neighbourhood Continue reading... |
| Flying car makes successful test run between airports in Slovakia – video Posted: 01 Jul 2021 05:33 AM PDT A flying car is seen completing its first intercity flight in Slovakia. The prototype, called AirCar, takes off from Nitra airport and lands in Bratislava 35 minutes later. Using wings that fold away in less than three minutes and a propeller at its rear, the dual-transportation vehicle has now completed more than 40 hours of test flight Continue reading... |
| How residential schools in Canada robbed Indigenous children of their identity and lives – video Posted: 01 Jul 2021 05:53 AM PDT In Canada, more than 1,000 unmarked graves have been discovered on the grounds of former church-run residential schools, where an estimated 150,000 First Nations children were sent as part of a campaign of forced assimilation for more than a century until 1996. A historic truth and reconciliation commission was conducted in the 2000s. In 2015 it concluded that the residential school system amounted to cultural genocide and that unmarked graves would be found in the former school grounds, but the recent findings still shocked many Canadians and prompted calls for a new investigation. Leyland Cecco explains how the discovery is just the tip of the iceberg in uncovering Canada's traumatic colonial past In Canada, Crisis Services Canada can be contacted at any time on 1.833.456.4566, or via text on 45645 from 4pm-12am ET  |
| No water, no life: running out of water on the California-Oregon border Posted: 01 Jul 2021 02:00 AM PDT Paul Crawford's crops are dying. Salmon sacred to Frankie Myers' Native American tribe are slipping away. Along the California-Oregon border, the climate crisis is worsening a water crisis decades in the making – leaving farmers and indigenous communities scrambling to keep their traditions alive. Continue reading... |
| Freemasons and a festival crowd: Friday’s best photos Posted: 02 Jul 2021 05:23 AM PDT |
| The week in wildlife – in pictures Posted: 02 Jul 2021 04:06 AM PDT The best of this week's wildlife pictures, including a newborn baby gorilla, a rare giant muntjac and a harpy eagle Continue reading... |
| Rising stars of photography from the Getty inclusion scholarships – in pictures Posted: 02 Jul 2021 12:51 AM PDT Winners of the Getty Images inclusion scholarships, which promote greater diversity and inclusion within the photographic and media industries by supporting emerging talented photographers and photojournalists within minority groups to enable careers within the industry. Partnering with Women Photograph, National Association of Black Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, four scholarship grants of $10,000 each were awarded Continue reading... |
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