The Guardian |
- US vaccinations rise but White House frustrated with media ‘alarmism’
- Trump tries to defend ‘just say the election was corrupt’ demand
- Tokyo 2020 Olympics: BMX joy for GB and Australia, Schauffele wins golf – live!
- In the shadow of Paradise, nearby residents make uneasy peace with fire
- Rudy Giuliani says ‘I committed no crime’ while working for Trump
- US consultants lined up to run fund that owns Israeli spyware company NSO
- Myanmar military ruler extends coup with promise of elections in 2023
- Tulsa race massacre: 19 bodies reinterred as protesters demand criminal investigation
- Bishop: Catholic Diocese of Albany covered up sexual abuse by priests
- Boris and Carrie Johnson expecting their second child
- One man dead after hundreds of stings from Arizona bee swarm
- New York sculpture Vessel faces calls for closure after fourth jump death
- Biden’s political appointments for ambassador posts rile career diplomats
- Decimated by famine, Florida’s manatees face an uncertain future
- A year after Beirut blast, Lebanon sinks deep into mire of corruption
- High five! Superb Dressel takes fifth gold to cap historic Olympic performance
- Simone Biles on last Olympic chance after withdrawal from floor final
- Britain’s Charlotte Worthington springs BMX freestyle upset to win Olympic gold
- Tokyo diary: the heat is truly on – and a basketball-playing robot holds court
- Great Jamaicans start to shift their sport out of Flo-Jo’s shadow
- ‘Losing helps you grow’: US men recover to make basketball quarter-finals
- US anti-doping chief dismisses Russian Olympic ban as a ‘farce’
- America mulls vaccine mandates – will they work?
- Is Covid-19 on the run in the UK?
- Israel: protests against renewed Covid restrictions as cases hit highest in months
- Baked barnacles, scorched cherries: the disastrous impact of heatwaves on plants and animals
- Lily Allen: from chart-topping handbag kid to the heart of London’s West End
- The big picture: vodka and sunshine in southern Siberia, 1993
- I secretly hate sex and now fear I will lose my girlfriend
- National treasures: posters celebrating US parks – in pictures
- Republicans will defend their Caesar but new revelations show Trump’s true threat | Lloyd Green
- We failed so badly in Afghanistan. But to throw in the towel now would be an act of betrayal | Dan Jarvis
- Time to clip the wings of NSO and its Pegasus spyware | John Naughton
- Should we shame the anti-vaxxers? That can only backfire | Emma Brockes
- No children, no vote: Fox News’s latest asinine suggestion | Arwa Mahdawi
- LA Dodgers land Max Scherzer and Trea Turner on frenzied trade deadline day
- Deceuninck-Quick-Step manager makes light of domestic abuse in Bennett jibe
- Lewis Hamilton takes Hungarian F1 GP pole as Mercedes best Verstappen
- Ajax youth player Noah Gesser dies in car accident
- Arctic thriller’s film crew struggled to find true frozen waste
- Wake review: a must-read graphic history of women-led slave revolts
- SA Cosby: ‘The holy trinity of southern fiction is race, class and sex’
- Mr Corman: Is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s indie comedy funny? It’s complicated …
- Eddie Izzard: ‘Becoming an MP is still my goal’
- I love watching airport arrivals. The reunions say: life is better now you’re here | Rory Kinnear
- Custard tarts and crumble bars: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for summer berries
- Senate convenes for rare weekend session over infrastructure deal
- SolarWinds: Russian hackers broke into email accounts at US attorney offices
- Oklahoma Republicans: vaccine mandates like Nazi persecution of Jewish people
- ‘Just say the election was corrupt,’ Trump urged DoJ after loss to Biden
- Herat residents fear Taliban in their homes and workplaces as it masses outside city
- Pop star Kris Wu detained on suspicion of rape
- Tibet and China clash over next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama
- Latin to be introduced at 40 state secondaries in England
- The knock that tears families apart: ‘They were at the door, telling me he had accessed indecent images of children’
- From Oslo pram guy to the teenage vacuum expert: inside the obsessive world of niche online reviewers
- Out of control and rising: why bitcoin has Nigeria’s government in a panic
- Original Observer Photography
| US vaccinations rise but White House frustrated with media ‘alarmism’ Posted: 31 Jul 2021 06:47 AM PDT Officials say some coverage over Delta variant has been misleading and focus should be on encouraging people to accept vaccines Even as the White House highlighted what it considers alarmism in reporting of the surge in cases of the Delta coronavirus variant across the US, reports in the same national media suggested vaccinations are increasing in hotspot areas. Related: Eviction crisis looms after Biden and Congress fail to extend Covid ban Continue reading... |
| Trump tries to defend ‘just say the election was corrupt’ demand Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:15 AM PDT
Donald Trump insisted on Saturday that when he told senior justice department officials to "Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me", he was not attempting to subvert US democracy, but to "uphold the integrity and honesty of elections and the sanctity of our vote". Related: IRS must turn over Trump tax returns to Congress, DoJ says Continue reading... |
| Tokyo 2020 Olympics: BMX joy for GB and Australia, Schauffele wins golf – live! Posted: 01 Aug 2021 12:15 AM PDT
Golf: What a beautiful story that is. Schauffele's mum moved to Japan when he was two – his grandparents live there – and his dad was a decathlete with Olympic aspirations until an accident deprived him of the site in one eye. But look at his son!
He's come close to winning a major and never quite sorted it out, but he wins Olympic gold! You'd take it, and what a competition that was! Continue reading... |
| In the shadow of Paradise, nearby residents make uneasy peace with fire Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:53 AM PDT Smoke, closed businesses and constant worry have changed life for those living with disaster on their doorstep The Dixie fire was consuming vast swaths of land in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but in the nearby valley city of Chico, California, it was a typical summer day. The temperature had already climbed past 102F and a dusting of smoke was pushing air quality to unhealthy levels. Yet at the One Mile city park on Wednesday, college students lay in the shade of oak trees, kids splashed around Sycamore Pool and cyclists raced by. Continue reading... |
| Rudy Giuliani says ‘I committed no crime’ while working for Trump Posted: 31 Jul 2021 12:44 PM PDT
Rudy Giuliani, under federal investigation over his dealings in Ukraine, has insisted he committed no crime while working as Donald Trump's personal attorney. Related: Trump tries to defend 'just say the election was corrupt' demand Continue reading... |
| US consultants lined up to run fund that owns Israeli spyware company NSO Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:47 AM PDT Investors in talks to transfer management of Novalpina Capital to Berkeley Research Group, following long-running dispute Public investors in the private equity firm that owns a majority stake in the Israeli spyware company NSO Group are in talks to transfer management of that fund to Berkeley Research Group, a US consulting firm. Related: US voices concern with Israeli officials about Pegasus revelations Continue reading... |
| Myanmar military ruler extends coup with promise of elections in 2023 Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:52 PM PDT Six months after seizing power, junta says it will lift state of emergency by August 2023 Myanmar's junta chief has said elections will be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023 – extending the timeline given when the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago. In a televised address, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said "we will accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023". Continue reading... |
| Tulsa race massacre: 19 bodies reinterred as protesters demand criminal investigation Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:33 AM PDT
The bodies of 19 people exhumed from an Oklahoma cemetery during a search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre were reburied in a closed ceremony on Friday, despite objections from protesters outside the cemetery. Continue reading... |
| Bishop: Catholic Diocese of Albany covered up sexual abuse by priests Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:41 PM PDT
The longtime former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has said it covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades and protected clergy by sending them to private treatment instead of calling police. Related: Defrocked cardinal charged with sexually abusing teen boy in 1974 Continue reading... |
| Boris and Carrie Johnson expecting their second child Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:55 AM PDT In a message on Instagram, prime minister's wife also reveals she had miscarriage at start of the year Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, are expecting their second child, as the prime minister's wife revealed she had a miscarriage at the start of this year. The couple, who married in secret at Westminster Cathedral in May, had their son, Wilfred, in April 2020. Continue reading... |
| One man dead after hundreds of stings from Arizona bee swarm Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:37 AM PDT
One man died and two people required hospital treatment after they were stung "hundreds of times" by swarming bees near Tucson, Arizona this week. Related: Decimated by famine, Florida's manatees face an uncertain future Continue reading... |
| New York sculpture Vessel faces calls for closure after fourth jump death Posted: 31 Jul 2021 08:26 AM PDT
The Hudson Yards development in midtown Manhattan is facing calls to dismantle the Vessel, its huge sculptural centrepiece, after a fourth person in less than two years jumped from the 150ft structure. Related: 'We never thought it would happen': Thomas Heatherwick's $200m gamble Continue reading... |
| Biden’s political appointments for ambassador posts rile career diplomats Posted: 31 Jul 2021 02:00 AM PDT Progressives had hoped for fewer Biden allies, more foreign service professionals Joe Biden is sticking to tradition as he slowly fills the vacancies in the ranks of ambassadors across the world, focussing on mixing longtime career diplomatic officials with figures with strong ties to himself and the Democratic party. Among Biden's expected picks is Caroline Kennedy, former US ambassador to Japan, daughter of the former president, and longtime Biden friend, ally and donor, to be ambassador to Australia. He has picked the Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, who was a prominent Biden surrogate on the presidential campaign trail, to be ambassador to India, despite a relative lack of foreign policy experience. And the president is also widely expected to name the former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel ambassador to Japan. Continue reading... |
| Decimated by famine, Florida’s manatees face an uncertain future Posted: 31 Jul 2021 02:00 AM PDT 2021 is already the deadliest year on record for Florida manatees. Scientists and activists are scrambling to avert further disaster On a bright morning in July, a crowd gathered on a boat ramp in St Augustine, Florida, awaiting the arrival of a young male manatee named Gerard. The marshy Matanzas River gently flowed around oyster beds and sawgrass islands as biologists organized their equipment. Nearby about a dozen onlookers paced by the shore, waiting to catch a glimpse of Gerard's return to the wild following weeks of captivity. Earlier in spring, beachgoers discovered Gerard stranded and sunbaked in Palm Coast, about 25 miles south of St Augustine, on the Atlantic Ocean. Samaritans draped wet towels over the feeble marine mammal, keeping him cool and shaded from the subtropical sun, as a rescue team raced to the scene. Gravely thin, Gerard was transported to Jacksonville Zoo, where he spent the next 10 weeks in critical care until he was plump enough to re-enter the wild. Continue reading... |
| A year after Beirut blast, Lebanon sinks deep into mire of corruption Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:11 AM PDT The response to the explosion in August 2020 has been marked by chaos and paralysis in what is now a failed state At ground zero of Lebanon's apocalypse a stench of dead rats seeps from hulking piles of rotting grain. Broken silos teeter above, their sides ripped apart by the catastrophic blast that also broke the soul of Beirut; the contents that should have fed a nation still lie spilt over the gaping ruins of its main port. A year ago this week, one of the planet's gravest industrial accidents caused one of its biggest ever explosions, shattering a city that was already at a tipping point. The mushroom cloud of chemicals that soared above the Lebanese capital on 4 August 2020 and the seismic force of the shock wave that ravaged its homes and businesses were carried around the world in high-definition horror. Even amid the chaos of a country that had allowed this to happen to its people, this was surely a moment of reckoning. Continue reading... |
| High five! Superb Dressel takes fifth gold to cap historic Olympic performance Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:27 PM PDT
American Caeleb Dressel has won his fifth gold medal of the Tokyo Games, finishing off one of the great performances in Olympic history. Related: Tokyo 2020 Olympics: McKeon wins another gold, men's golf, athletics, boxing and more – live! Continue reading... |
| Simone Biles on last Olympic chance after withdrawal from floor final Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:02 PM PDT
Simone Biles has withdrawn from Monday's women's floor exercise final at the Tokyo Olympics, marking her fifth withdrawal out of the six finals she had qualified for. After pulling out of the women's team final after losing her bearings in the air during her opening vault, Biles has now also pulled out of the individual all-around, vault, bars and floor finals due to a mental block on her elements and the need to preserve her mental health. Continue reading... |
| Britain’s Charlotte Worthington springs BMX freestyle upset to win Olympic gold Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:30 PM PDT
Charlotte Worthington added to Britain's BMX success in Tokyo with a surprise gold medal in the women's freestyle park, before her team-mate Declan Brooks, 25, then took bronze in the men's event. Worthington, the Manchester-born 25-year-old, fell after a hard landing early in her first run in the park discipline – two 60-second attempts along an obstacle course of ramps and walls, with the best score the one that counts. Continue reading... |
| Tokyo diary: the heat is truly on – and a basketball-playing robot holds court Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:15 PM PDT Toyota's giant AI robot is halftime's hottest attraction … and the weather gods are having a ball Spectators aren't the only thing missing from these Games. Much of the next-generation technology due to be showcased here is too. Toyota had planned to use driverless cars at the Games and had made robots for the new Olympic stadium that, among other things, could take, then bring, food and drinks orders to spectators using wheelchairs. Continue reading... |
| Great Jamaicans start to shift their sport out of Flo-Jo’s shadow Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:19 AM PDT In breaking Florence Griffith Joyner's Olympic record, Elaine Thompson-Herah has removed a millstone around women's sprinting Minutes before the start of the women's 100m final, the most keenly anticipated race at these Games, the lights fell and that familiar hush settled over the stadium. A helicopter buzzed overhead, a laser show played on the home straight, but everything else was still. The atmosphere felt charged with expectation. When the lights came up again, so bright they almost hurt your eyes, there were the eight sprinters on the start line, four of them, in the middle lanes, among the quickest women in history, the Jamaican trio of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson, and Marie-Josee Ta Lou, from the Ivory Coast. Continue reading... |
| ‘Losing helps you grow’: US men recover to make basketball quarter-finals Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:40 AM PDT
The US lost their first two exhibition games of the summer in Las Vegas, dropped their opening game at these Olympics and had a difficult time shaking free of the Czech Republic in their group-play finale. None of that matters now. The Americans are headed to the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Games with a shot of being good as gold once again. Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Kevin Durant added 23 and set a pair of USA Basketball men's Olympic records, and the US defeated the Czechs 119-84 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the knockout stage. Continue reading... |
| US anti-doping chief dismisses Russian Olympic ban as a ‘farce’ Posted: 31 Jul 2021 06:10 AM PDT
The CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, has dismissed the punishment handed down for Russia's state sponsored doping program as a "farce". The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned official Russian teams from Tokyo 2020, the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2022 World Cup as a punishment for covering up a massive state-sponsored doping programme. The country's flag and anthem are banned too. However, Russian athletes can still compete as neutrals – in both individual and team events – if they have not been banned for doping. The Wada ban was originally four years before it was halved by the court of arbitration for sport last year. Continue reading... |
| America mulls vaccine mandates – will they work? Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Experts say mandates could be a logical step to contain the spread of the virus as cases of the Delta variant rise As cases of the Delta coronavirus variant have risen and vaccination rates slowed, several US businesses and institutions have announced they will now require vaccinations from employees. Related: Eviction crisis looms after Biden and Congress fail to extend Covid ban Continue reading... |
| Is Covid-19 on the run in the UK? Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT A fall in case numbers last month raised hopes that Britain may be reaching herd immunity, but experts warn against complacency, given uncertainty about new variants and autumn's return to school John Edmunds has been at the centre of the unravelling of the Covid-19 pandemic since cases first appeared in January 2020. A member of Sage, the government's scientific advisory group, and a professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he has consistently warned ministers about the threats posed by the disease. These risks have often been clear in their nature. But today, 18 months after Covid-19 first appeared, he believes the nation stands at a point of maximum uncertainty about the future of the pandemic. Continue reading... |
| Israel: protests against renewed Covid restrictions as cases hit highest in months Posted: 31 Jul 2021 06:15 PM PDT Demonstrators in Tel Aviv express anger over reimposed health orders in heavily vaccinated country Several hundred Israelis have demonstrated in Tel Aviv against new coronavirus restrictions and vaccination as positive cases and hospitalisations rise to levels not seen in months. The health ministry reported on Saturday that 2,435 new Covid cases had been recorded the day before – the highest number since March – driven by the more contagious Delta variant. Continue reading... |
| Baked barnacles, scorched cherries: the disastrous impact of heatwaves on plants and animals Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT More than a billion sea creatures across the Pacific north-west perished in this year's heatwave. And it's just a taste of what's to come When forecasts foreshadowed the Pacific north-west's devastating heatwave at the end of June, marine biologist Christopher Harley was alarmed and intrigued. Then came the smell, and his feelings somberly shifted. Continue reading... |
| Lily Allen: from chart-topping handbag kid to the heart of London’s West End Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:15 PM PDT The singer is back in front of a live audience this week, playing 'a woman with a real point of view' in a spooky new play, 2:22 – A Ghost Story There, in the background, wearing drop pearl earrings, is 13-year-old Lily Allen dressed up as a little lady-in-waiting. Cinema audiences watching Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth when the film of that name came out in 1998 might have been concentrating on the queen's courtly dancing in the middle of the frame, but yes, it really was Allen playing a mini royal favourite in director Shekhar Kapur's lavish production. Now, more than two decades later, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter is taking centre stage as an actress in the West End, appearing in a spooky new play, 2:22 – A Ghost Story, which opens this week. Continue reading... |
| The big picture: vodka and sunshine in southern Siberia, 1993 Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Bertien van Manen snaps five young Russians enjoying a brief escape from the seismic shift in their country's fortunes In the years immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Dutch photographer Bertien van Manen travelled through some of the outlying states, living with families and documenting ordinary lives. One of the books she produced about those travels was called Let's Sit Down Before We Go, a reference to the Russian custom of taking a quiet moment before a long journey to reflect on the place you were leaving and imagine where you were going next. Van Manen's pictures captured a whole empire in that kind of limbo. Sometimes, as here, temporary refuge might be found in a vodka bottle. The young men on this camping trip, to the shores of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, have hung their empties on a line, a trophy each for the five of them, and one for luck. The two boys standing appear to be enjoying the sunlit freedoms of the holiday; the two staring into Van Manen's camera under the piratical flag might fancy themselves in Lord of the Flies. Continue reading... |
| I secretly hate sex and now fear I will lose my girlfriend Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT You don't have to be sexual to feel love, but you do have to be open The question I'm a guy in my mid-20s who also happens to be asexual. And no, I am not gay. I just can't feel much, physically. I don't see it as a problem, but people jump to conclusions online. No one other than me knows. I am in a relationship with this lovely girl and we have only been physically intimate occasionally (once or twice a month – been with her for four months), but it's OK because she doesn't have an insatiable need. But she doesn't know the real me and I feel like I want to be honest with her. And I'm afraid she might leave me because she once said that sex solves all issues in a relationship – I disagree. To me, sex is repulsive. I hate it. I also have problems with my erection, because I just don't feel anything. She thinks it's erectile dysfunction. I don't want to lose her. I wish I could just be with asexual people, but that scene is pretty abysmal. Continue reading... |
| National treasures: posters celebrating US parks – in pictures Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:00 AM PDT The art director JP Boneyard 's favourite park is Montana's Glacier national park. "It's breathtaking, I'm smiling just thinking about it ," he says. For his screen-print project Fifty-Nine Parks, now collected in a book, he asked modern artists to reinterpret America's classic national park posters, commissioned by the government in the 1900s. "I hope they inspire people to visit the parks and connect with nature, but, heck, it'd be awesome if the book inspired folks to pick up a squeegee and start printing too," he says. Continue reading... |
| Republicans will defend their Caesar but new revelations show Trump’s true threat | Lloyd Green Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT The DoJ has dealt two blows and the 6 January committee is winding up for more. They know democracy is in danger On Friday, Donald Trump received two more unwelcome reminders he is no longer president. Much as he and his minions chant "Lock her up" about Hillary Clinton and other enemies, it is he who remains in legal jeopardy and political limbo. Related: IRS must turn over Trump tax returns to Congress, DoJ says Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Jul 2021 11:30 PM PDT I lost my comrade Kevin in battle. His sacrifice must not have been in vain Was it worth it? That is what many of us who served in Afghanistan are quietly asking as we watch with bewilderment and horror at what is unfolding. Four hundred and fifty-seven British servicemen and women never made it home from the war. Among them was Corporal Kevin Mulligan, a fearless young Scot with whom I had the honour of serving. He was the epitome of a paratrooper and one of our best and brightest commanders. At the time of his death, Kev's fiancee was carrying their unborn child. One of countless tragedies borne out of that bloody conflict. Continue reading... |
| Time to clip the wings of NSO and its Pegasus spyware | John Naughton Posted: 31 Jul 2021 08:00 AM PDT Now the reach of the Israeli firm's smartphone-hacking software has been revealed, the US and Apple may take action What's the most problematic tech company in the world? Facebook? Google? Palantir? Nope. It's a small, privately held Israeli company called NSO that most people have never heard of. On its website, it describes itself as "a world leader in precision cyberintelligence solutions". Its software, sold only to "licensed government intelligence and law-enforcement agencies", naturally, helps them to "lawfully address the most dangerous issues in today's world. NSO's technology has helped prevent terrorism, break up criminal operations, find missing people and assist search and rescue teams." So what is this magical stuff? It's called Pegasus and it is ultra-sophisticated spyware that covertly penetrates and compromises smartphones. It's particularly good with Apple phones, which is significant because these devices are generally more secure than Android ones. This is positively infuriating to Apple, which views protecting its users' privacy as one of its USPs. Continue reading... |
| Should we shame the anti-vaxxers? That can only backfire | Emma Brockes Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:00 AM PDT 'If they're dumb enough not to get the vaccine, let them get sick,' some thought. Now we know everyone would suffer An email arrived from my cousin this week outlining how bad Covid cases are in her part of South Africa. Delta is surging, she wrote; their friends and neighbours were starting to die. Meanwhile, vaccination rates were terrible, with less than 5% of the population fully vaccinated. After filling me in on the rest of the family news, she assured me that she and her husband were on the waiting list for vaccines – for what it was worth. Her husband, she said, was "convinced they're not safe". This was information to me. Not that a member of my extended family differed from me in his thoughts about drug trials and government-agency approval, but more broadly: wow, I had no idea my cousin was married to a lunatic. Continue reading... |
| No children, no vote: Fox News’s latest asinine suggestion | Arwa Mahdawi Posted: 31 Jul 2021 06:00 AM PDT The brains trust at Fox News recently debated whether the 'childless left' deserve the vote – which shows that choosing not to have kids if still very much stigmatized Should we disenfranchise the childfree? If you're wondering what kind of stupid question that is, the answer is: it's the sort of stupid question that Fox News hosts and Republicans deem worthy of serious discussion. Last week the intellectuals at Fox News took some time out from vilifying immigrants and inventing things to get outraged about in order to debate whether the "childless left" deserve a vote. After some careful consideration they decided that while it probably wasn't "feasible" to ban childfree people from participating in society, the idea did have merit. Continue reading... |
| LA Dodgers land Max Scherzer and Trea Turner on frenzied trade deadline day Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:22 AM PDT
Max Scherzer and Trea Turner wearing Dodger blue, Kris Bryant heading to the Golden Gate. Javier Báez joining the Mets, Craig Kimbrel crossing town to the White Sox, José Berríos moving north of the border. Now this truly was an All-Star trade deadline day. Continue reading... |
| Deceuninck-Quick-Step manager makes light of domestic abuse in Bennett jibe Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:47 AM PDT
The Deceuninck-Quick-Step general manager, Patrick Lefevere, has likened Sam Bennett to "women who return home after domestic abuse" as the Irish sprinter prepares to leave the Belgian team for his old home at Bora-Hansgrohe. The highly insensitive comments were made in Lefevere's weekly column for the Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad and come after Bennett, who won the points classification at the 2020 Tour de France during his first season with Deceuninck-Quick-Step, was unable to defend that green jersey due to a knee injury. Continue reading... |
| Lewis Hamilton takes Hungarian F1 GP pole as Mercedes best Verstappen Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:20 AM PDT
Lewis Hamilton executed with sublime precision to take pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix but the Mercedes driver received a blunt and boorish reception by some fans for his efforts. Red Bull accused him of gamesmanship and he was booed as he climbed from his car at the Hungaroring after a qualifying session in Budapest that will have done little to ease the tension between the two teams. The title is on a knife edge and tempers, too, are being tested. Related: The Hamilton-Verstappen title fight just got personal and F1 is the winner | Giles Richards Continue reading... |
| Ajax youth player Noah Gesser dies in car accident Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:01 AM PDT
The Ajax youth player Noah Gesser has died at the age of 16 as a result of a car accident on Friday evening, the Dutch club have confirmed. The striker signed for Ajax in 2018 and had been due to be part of the under-17s setup for the forthcoming campaign. Continue reading... |
| Arctic thriller’s film crew struggled to find true frozen waste Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:00 PM PDT Colin Farrell and his co-stars in the BBC's North Water shocked at the loss of wilderness at the north pole from global heating It's a problem that, a century ago, anyone on a ship in the Arctic Circle just didn't have to worry about: where is all the ice? Yet this was the unexpected stumbling block faced by the film-makers of a forthcoming BBC thriller set in the Arctic in the 1850s. The North Water is an epic five-part adventure about an ill-fated 19th-century whaling expedition into the Arctic. In the pursuit of realism, its producers realised that they could not rely on special effects. Nor would shooting it in a studio tank or off the coast of Britain achieve the authenticity of filming in the Arctic, however extreme the conditions and challenges. Continue reading... |
| Wake review: a must-read graphic history of women-led slave revolts Posted: 30 Jul 2021 11:00 PM PDT Rebecca Hall and illustrator Hugo Martínez uncover hidden stories, vital truths and deep, unhealed, intergenerational pain One especially bitter truth about the capture and enslavement of Africans brought to the New World is this: the identities of those who profited from it and those structures that upheld it were designed to be unremarkable. Related: Secret history: the warrior women who fought their enslavers Continue reading... |
| SA Cosby: ‘The holy trinity of southern fiction is race, class and sex’ Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:00 AM PDT The bestselling Virginia crime writer on getting his big break, what southern fiction means to him, and setting his next murder mystery right after Trump is elected Crime writer SA Cosby was the talk of the US literaryscene last year when his novel Blacktop Wasteland, a heist thriller set in his native Virginia, topped Amazon's mystery and thriller chart. As well as being named a New York Times notable book of the year, it won an LA Times award and is currently being developed for cinema by producer Erik Feig. Cosby's new book, Razorblade Tears (published, like its predecessor, by Headline), is a revenge thriller that confronts homophobia across various communities in the deep south. Film rights have been bought by Paramount Players. Were you surprised by the success of Blacktop Wasteland?  |
| Mr Corman: Is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s indie comedy funny? It’s complicated … Posted: 31 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT There are not many big laughs in this Apple TV+ show about a miserable middle-school teacher but at times it is breathlessly brilliant One of my personal philosophies is that I would watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt in absolutely anything. I don't even know why – he always pretty much plays "brooding guy wearing a nice shirt, maybe sometimes glasses" – but he does seem to have an inherent good taste for projects, from Brick to 50/50 to 500 Days of Summer to Inception. We don't have to talk about Don Jon! There is no reason to bring Don Jon into this! Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading... |
| Eddie Izzard: ‘Becoming an MP is still my goal’ Posted: 31 Jul 2021 06:00 AM PDT The comedian, 59, talks about her love of running, gender fluidity and her plans to go into politics Boarding school was pretty grim: dormitories, horrible food, structure. Mum disappeared and then suddenly I didn't see Dad for huge chunks of the year either. I don't like regret, it's a useless emotion, but I wish Mum – a nurse who didn't smoke – hadn't died of cancer. Away from home, I did a lot of crying and feeling sorry for myself. I broke into Pinewood Studios at 15, after discovering films existed. I kept seeing the same place listed in the credits, and searched for it on a map. From Bexhill-on-Sea I travelled by train, tube and bus, only to be told to fuck off by security. I found an entrance and brazenly marched in. This didn't jump start my career as planned, but it was magical. Continue reading... |
| I love watching airport arrivals. The reunions say: life is better now you’re here | Rory Kinnear Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:00 AM PDT Six weeks apart from my family is insignificant compared with the separation some have had to endure. Public health has deeply affected the private heart Not everyone likes each other. That would seem to be an uncontroversial take on contemporary society. I won't waste my word count on examples; you obviously read the newspapers. But you'd be hard pushed to countenance the existence of such a bifurcated and tribalistic society if you spent time at an airport arrivals lounge. It was something I used to enjoy as a late teenager, until the closing credits of Love, Actually ruined it for me. I'd swing by Heathrow, get a copy of Sky Magazine from Smith's and, with vampiric delight, sit and watch the emotional fireworks play out in front of me. Sure, some were a bit muted, a bit more "indoor sparkler" than others, but the big whoppers, the whiz-bangs, the Catherine wheels that spun loose from the tree – they could really set me up in a good mood for the rest of the week. Odd, maybe, but I was. Standing at arrivals, waiting for my family recently, having been separated from my children for the longest time since they were born, I was again struck by how happy everyone was to see each other. Not always shrieks-of-delight happy, not necessarily fall-to-the-floor-weeping, but everyone noticeably looked fuller, more rounded when their separate parts came together. A dad smirked as he fist-bumped his teenage sons, trying to disguise their pleasure as they posed for a photo. A group of friends ironically slow hand-clapped their mate as she sheepishly emerged, then gleefully pretended to ignore her as she bashed their shins with her trolley. An older woman fanned herself with a magazine, wrung her fingers and took down her mask to gulp some fresher air, before shouting into a laugh as her son and granddaughter walked out. They all did it with different signals, but all those signals said the same thing: life is better now that you're here. Continue reading... |
| Custard tarts and crumble bars: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for summer berries Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:30 AM PDT A boozy, fragrant custard tart, perfectly picnic-able crumble sandwich bars filled with raspberry and halva, and a tangy blueberry shrub Are berries the only thing to which the word "glut" attached is a delight Gluttony: not good. A glut of summer berries: one of life's great joys. Whole punnets of strawberries, raspberries or blueberries that can legitimately, and understandably, be scooped up by hand in one sitting. If, however, you do have the ability to abstain, at least temporarily, there are all kinds of ways these summer treasures can be baked, mashed, drizzled and drunk. The only problem with using up the glut in this way, of course, is that you might need to exercise a degree of self-restraint when the end result is ready. Continue reading... |
| Senate convenes for rare weekend session over infrastructure deal Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:48 PM PDT
The Senate convened for a rare weekend session on Saturday with the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, encouraging the authors of a bipartisan infrastructure plan to finish writing their bill. Related: Trump tries to defend 'just say the election was corrupt' demand to DoJ Continue reading... |
| SolarWinds: Russian hackers broke into email accounts at US attorney offices Posted: 31 Jul 2021 08:16 AM PDT
Russian hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyber-espionage campaign broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent US federal prosecutors' offices last year, the Department of Justice has said. Related: The US has suffered a massive cyberbreach. It's hard to overstate how bad it is | Bruce Schneier Continue reading... |
| Oklahoma Republicans: vaccine mandates like Nazi persecution of Jewish people Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:52 AM PDT
The Oklahoma Republican party faced fierce criticism on Friday for a Facebook post likening Covid-19 vaccine mandates to the persecution of Jewish people in Nazi Germany. Related: Eviction crisis looms after Biden and Congress fail to extend Covid ban Continue reading... |
| ‘Just say the election was corrupt,’ Trump urged DoJ after loss to Biden Posted: 30 Jul 2021 11:49 AM PDT Notes obtained by House oversight committee show Trump pressured officials to falsely claim the election was not legitimate Donald Trump pressured top justice department officials to falsely claim that the 2020 election was corrupt so he and his allies in Congress could subvert the results and return him to office, according to newly released memos. "Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me," Trump told the former acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, memos turned over to the House oversight committee showed. The notes were taken by Donoghue, who documented a 27 December call with Trump and Rosen. Continue reading... |
| Herat residents fear Taliban in their homes and workplaces as it masses outside city Posted: 31 Jul 2021 10:08 AM PDT Western Afghan city all but under siege, prompting companies to hide documents in case staff are targeted Organisations in the western Afghan city of Herat have begun removing important documents because of fears they could be used to target employees if seized by the Taliban, after three days of fighting raged around the city. Herat airport was closed by battles around its perimeter, militants attacked a UN compound, killing a guard, and half the city was without power after electricity lines from Iran were damaged in the fighting. Continue reading... |
| Pop star Kris Wu detained on suspicion of rape Posted: 31 Jul 2021 09:32 AM PDT Beijing police detain the ex-boy band member after social media allegations of date rape Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been detained by Beijing police on suspicion of rape. The 30-year-old former member of the Korean boyband EXO had previously been accused by a teenager of having sex with her while she was drunk. Wu denied the accusation. Continue reading... |
| Tibet and China clash over next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama Posted: 31 Jul 2021 08:13 AM PDT The spiritual leader has mused that he may return as a woman. But his succession has turned into a political battle A couple of years ago, during a meeting of Tibetan leaders in Dharamshala in India, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was asked about his reincarnation. Addressing the room of monks, religious teachers and Tibetan politicians, the Dalai Lama asked them to look into his eyes. "Do you think it's time now?" he asked. It was a meeting that would end with the Tibetan leaders agreeing that the issue of reincarnation was one that would be decided only by the Dalai Lama himself. But China, which annexed Tibet in 1951 and has retained tight control over the region ever since, has other ideas. It insists that the choice of the next Dalai Lama lies only with China, and have even enshrined this right into Chinese law. Continue reading... |
| Latin to be introduced at 40 state secondaries in England Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:14 AM PDT £4m scheme will form part of government effort to counter subject's reputation as elitist Latin is to be taught at state schools across England in an effort to counter the subject's reputation as one that is "elitist" and largely at private schools. A £4m Department for Education (DfE) scheme will initially be rolled out across 40 schools as part of a four-year pilot programme for 11- to 16-year-olds starting in September 2022. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Jul 2021 01:00 AM PDT Every month in the UK, hundreds of homes are visited by police officers dropping a bombshell: someone has been viewing images of child abuse. What happens to the families left behind? It was an ordinary summer evening in 2016 for Emma when her ex-husband, Ben, dropped their young children back after a weekend visit at his place. The couple had been divorced for less than a year. Their split had brought with it the usual pain and sadness that comes when a long relationship ends, but things were amicable. He lived nearby in the town they had grown up in and saw the children almost daily.Emma was running a bath for the kids when she heard a knock on the door: "I thought he had forgotten something." Instead, she was confronted by a female police officer, behind whom was her ex-husband, standing by his car, surrounded by plainclothes police. "I immediately thought someone was dead," Emma says. "The policewoman told me to settle the children in front of the TV and before she even had time to tell me what had happened, the senior officer came in, looked me in the eye and said: 'I'm so sorry, life is never going to be the same again. The next few months are going to be hell.' And then they told me they were arresting Ben for accessing indecent images of children. I felt like the world dropped away." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:00 AM PDT Wade can tell you the best pram for a tall parent; Matthew knows which cleaner has superior suction power. But how do you become a respected reviewer on the wild west of the internet? Once a month, every month, more than 8,000 strangers pay James Hoffmann a total of £16,263 so he can go out and buy coffee machines. Hoffmann, 41, from London, is an author, business owner, coffee connoisseur and, above all, a YouTuber: more than 900,000 people subscribe to his channel, on which he discusses everything to do with beans and brewing. Around a third of Hoffmann's videos are product reviews: grinders, espresso machines, storage canisters and filters have all been scrutinised by him. Hoffmann's monthly £16,000 comes from Patreon, a membership platform that allows fans to pay creators a regular fee. The money is intended to keep him impartial: it enables him to buy machines to review directly – just like you or me – instead of getting them on loan from brands. Continue reading... |
| Out of control and rising: why bitcoin has Nigeria’s government in a panic Posted: 31 Jul 2021 08:00 AM PDT As leaders around the world grapple with cryptocurrencies, what happened when the African country tried to ban them? When the Nigerian government suddenly banned access to foreign exchange for textile import companies in March 2019, Moses Awa* felt stuck. His business – importing woven shoes from Guangzhou, China, to sell in the northern city of Kano and his home state of Abia, further south – had been suffering along with the country's economy. The ban threatened to tip it over the edge. "It was a serious crisis: I had to act fast," Awa says. He turned to his younger brother, Osy, who had begun trading bitcoins. "He was just accumulating, accumulating crypto, saying that at some point years down the line it could be a great investment. When the forex ban happened, he showed me how much I needed it, too. I could pay my suppliers in bitcoins if they accepted – and they did." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Jul 2021 03:00 AM PDT The fastest British woman in history, the return of the music festival, and a collection of canines – the best photography commissioned by the Observer in July 2021 Continue reading... |
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