By BY MALIA WOLLAN from NYT Magazine https://ift.tt/3mQP1uO
‘Reap what you sow’: US commander says Taliban will have ‘their hands full with ISIS-K’
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Wy82aS
U.S., 97 other countries announce deal with Taliban to keep evacuating allies after Aug. 31
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WB6CvB
Top chumps: who will Succession’s Logan Roy choose as his heir?
As the Roy siblings strategise their next moves, get one step ahead with our at-a-glance stats of their potential for success (or, more likely, disaster)
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kH1m1U
In Afghanistan, Islamic State is seeking to exploit divisions within the Taliban
Tension was already high between leaders in the south and networks in the north and east – then came the Kabul bombing
The attack against Kabul’s airport reminded the world that the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) remains active in Afghanistan and has not signed any peace deals. The US retaliated with two controversial drone strikes. After these episodes, ISKP may appear to be the most serious challenge to the Taliban right now, but the Taliban’s internal rivalries make it, in many ways, its own worst enemy.
The Taliban may appear powerful, with about 85,000 mobilised fighters, but they are also stretched thin all over Afghanistan, with a large part of their strength committed to securing the cities. This is 10 times the number of fighters who are loyal to ISKP, and maybe 20 times as big as the handful of loosely organised “resistance” militias based in the north-eastern province of Panjshir, who claim to be the main opposition to Taliban rule. But numbers do not tell the whole story. The Taliban have weaknesses that their enemies are seeking to exploit – and the group is showing a distinct lack of effective leadership, with rival leaders split into northern, eastern and southern factions pulling it in different directions.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3t1ucOq
‘Todo para nada’: Kabul, la ciudad del desaliento afgano
By BY MUJIB MASHAL from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3sZ8IBR
White House defends letting billions in military equipment fall into Taliban hands
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3Bry7qQ
Election fraud conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell pressed by Australian reporter: 'Do you ever hear yourself and think it sounds ridiculous?'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3Dz6XQw
Nike gives head office staff a week off for mental health break
Sportswear and sneaker brand joins dating app Bumble in offering extra time off in Covid pandemic
Nike has given its head office employees in the US a week off to “destress” and recover from the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sportswear and trainers brand said workers at its headquarters in Oregon would be “powering down” until Friday, with senior leaders encouraging staff to ignore all work responsibilities to aid their mental health.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kBBPap
Racism doesn’t just exist within aid. It’s the structure the sector is built on | Themrise Khan
To disrupt colonial power inequalities, the global south needs to take more control
There have been many studies published recently on the prevalence of racism in the international aid sector.
They have ranged from definitions of racial equity within global development, to the experiences of black, indigenous and other people of colour working in the sector, to the British government’s delayed sub-inquiry into racism as part of a larger inquiry into the culture and philosophy of UK aid.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38tGyFI
Colombia busca su tesoro de aves en los restos de un viejo bosque del Caquetá
By BY JENNIE ERIN SMITH AND FEDERICO RIOS from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/2YdFxQ7
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3t4dJsW
The last American soldier leaves, and the first Taliban fighters arrive.
By BY AZI PAYBARAH from NYT World https://ift.tt/3mNrI5e
Even with the Delta variant, the ability of COVID-19 vaccines to prevent hospitalization hasn't significantly dropped, CDC scientist says
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3juGXhh
Alabama football coach Nick Saban says Nancy Pelosi 'probably has a more important job than me'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3zwzpQC
Traffic lines roadway as blaze threatens Tahoe area
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gOeh18
Officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mKHFJc
Hurricane Ida: more than 1m without power as New Orleans assesses damage
Crews using airboats and helicopters conduct search and rescue missions after at least two people killed
More than 1 million homes and businesses remained without power in and around New Orleans on Monday as residents and authorities began to assess “catastrophic” damage from Hurricane Ida, a 150mph monster storm that was the most powerful ever to hit Louisiana.
Related: New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3zy8WSI
Angela Merkel’s 16-year battle with the centrifugal forces of politics
As the German chancellor prepares to leave office, it is clear her long leadership has had one key central theme
As Maren Heinzerling crossed hands with the most powerful woman in the world, leaned backwards and started to spin her dance partner in a circle, she began to worry.
“What are you doing,” the retired railway engineer recalled thinking. “You are spinning around the room with Angela Merkel.” Heinzerling had to grip the chancellor’s hands tighter as they span faster with each rotation.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mQOyZB
‘There’s no point in throwing away if you can fix it’: a day out with the recycling van
‘Protest organisation’ that collects recyclable waste from thousands in Brighton sets sights on the future
It’s 8am on a damp Brighton morning and I’m joining Rob Jones-Mantle on his recycling round, but the second-hand batteries on Magpie Co-op’s fleet of repurposed electric vehicles are still charging. If only they could plug into Rob himself, we’d be on the road instantly: at 56, he’s a one-man renewable energy source in high vis and what he tells me are a pair of restored Edwardian steam engine firefighter’s glasses.
Rob and Magpie started out in 1990 when recycling was not really high on the political radar, although there was growing awareness of the amount of waste going into landfill: “The climate situation has been with us since the 1970s. We lived locally, we saw what was happening locally.” Working initially in partnership with the council and on a shoestring, a small group of concerned volunteers started a modest kerbside collection, which surprised them with its swift popularity. “We did cash for cans, we got the council’s clean up round, we got 5000 customers.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3DyXcC7
Are slogan hats the new slogan T-shirts?
Baseball caps and bucket hats used to be about accessibility. But a new school of wearers are using them to express something about themselves
Spotting a man wearing a baseball cap that featured only the name Rachel Cusk, the British author beloved of LRB subscribers, stopped me mid-scroll. A cultural commentator I follow had posted a selfie to his Instagram feed saying: “Copped the hottest hat.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gOKgOK
Months after England’s last lockdown, why are courts still pursuing Covid breaches? | Francisco Garcia
This law and order approach to public health has overwhelmed the courts – and hit vulnerable people hardest
In February, police officers approached 58-year-old Lorraine Kent as she sat at the double doors by the underground car park of a Tesco in Streatham, south London. They asked her to explain herself. Kent wasn’t wearing a mask, or “adhering to Covid-19 guidelines”. It was clear she was begging. During their conversation, a passerby had offered some money. Kent, who lives in sheltered accommodation, was issued with a £200 fine. It wasn’t a sum she had the means to pay.
In June, Westminster magistrates court ordered Kent to pay £2,500 in further fines and costs in absentia. It remains a mystery exactly what such a punitive outcome was supposed to achieve in the name of public health – or for a vulnerable woman already experiencing destitution. Her case is by no means unique.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sYoHzS
What did my father’s funeral teach me? Shared mourning is absurd - but essential | Zoe Williams
Probably the most important relaxation of the Covid rules is the chance to properly celebrate a loved one’s life and all its contradictions
My dad’s funeral generated a gushing stream of anecdotes. I don’t remember any feelings at all, just event after event, most of which involved my brother or my dog. The one about my dad’s best friend is probably the best, but it is too salacious and actionable to tell here. The second-best featured my brother and the dog – he left the wake with my sister’s friend on the pretext of taking Spot for a walk. Whatever they did on this “walk” held insufficient interest for the dog, who brought himself neatly back home, carrying his own lead, like a cartoon. Realising they’d lost him, and mindful of what a terrible day that would be to lose a person’s dog, the frantic couple spent two hours wandering round Ramsgate, calling his name.
The day wasn’t funny because it was un-sad; my father was 64, and we felt absolutely bilked by the universe – robbed blind of two decades of matchless bonhomie. It’s just that the closer you are to a person, the more absurd you find those rituals that directly follow their deaths. When my uncle died a couple of years later, I read at his funeral, in place of my mother, who didn’t want to. In a hurry, I just Googled, “What to read at funerals.” When I stood up to solemnly intone the Song from Cymbeline – “Fear no more the frown o’ the great / Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke” – it was the first time I’d ever set eyes on the words. I almost had to stop halfway through, since my uncle was, memorably, a bit of a tyrant, never not frowning, so it sounded as if I was addressing the congregation with a poetic: “Everybody relax, he’s died.” The family all found that hilarious, his colleagues, maybe not so much.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yuVduN
Hurricane Ida slams Louisiana as seen in dramatic before and after video
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jr9PHp
Hurricane Ida is so powerful it made the Mississippi River flow backwards
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3yvccgt
67-year-old Al Roker braves lashing waves for Hurricane Ida forecast and tells doubters 'screw you'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3BnD7wx
The Sun pays damages to Ben Stokes over family tragedy story
Tabloid apologises to cricketer and his mother and says 2019 article should not have been published
The Sun has paid substantial damages to the England cricketer Ben Stokes and his mother, Deborah, after the newspaper put details of a tragedy involving the family on its front page.
Deborah Stokes said they took legal action over the September 2019 article headlined “tragedy that haunts Stokes’ family” to ensure others did not have to endure similar stories.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yvgjcp
What personality are you? How the Myers-Briggs test took over the world
Deemed ‘astrology for businessmen’ for some, lauded as life-saving by others, the personality tests are a ‘springboard’ for people to think about who they are
I am a born executive. I am obsessed with efficiency and detached from my emotions. I share similarities with Margaret Thatcher and Harrison Ford. I am among 2% of the general population, and 1% of women.
People like us are highly motivated by personal growth, and occasionally ruthless in the pursuit. We make difficult partners and parents, but good landscape architects. We are ENTJs: extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging – also known as the executive type or, sometimes, “the Commander”.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3DrKhBR
‘Big sisters are magic!’ Frozen musical set to cause a West End flurry
Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation’s chief creative officer and the writer and co-director of Frozen, describes expanding her hit for the stage, and reveals whether she’s more of an Elsa or an Anna
It was the sound unleashed from a million pairs of little lungs across the land: “Let it “go-oooo-ooo!” The standout hit from Disney’s 2013 animation Frozen; a song that wormed its way into the ears of everyone who heard it, but especially young children. Director Jennifer Lee still gets videos sent to her of toddlers belting out that tune with all their hearts.
“When Kristen [Anderson-Lopez] wrote Let It Go, if we played it for anyone, just someone coming in the room, everything stopped,” says Lee, on a video call from LA. “It was this incredible reaction – we knew there was something really special there.” Why it struck such a chord with preschoolers, she is not certain. “It’s a rebellion song,” she offers, “particularly when you’re learning the word ‘no’, as you’re trying to individualise in this world. It’s the idea that you have this power inside you.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3zw0jbn
Coronavirus live news: schools in Europe must stay open, says WHO; Auckland extends lockdown
‘Vital’ to maintain education for children across the continent; New Zealand’s largest city sees curbs extended by two weeks; Scottish first minister in isolation
- Global trade recovery starting to wane as Asian cases flare
- US states see sharp rise in fatalitie
- Sydney nurses increase sedation of patients to ease workload
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Public approval for Japan’s prime minister has hit record lows amid a new surge in Covid-19 infections and a troubled vaccination rollout.
According to Reuters, support for Yoshihide Suga had dropped to 26% in a poll by the Mainichi newspaper and were at 34% in The Nikkei daily.
Principals of schools in Australia’s Covid-19 hotspot local government areas have warned the decision to proceed with delayed face-to-face exams, with no certainty their schools will be able to open, could further entrench inequality in western and south-west Sydney communities.
The decision to postpone the High School Certificate (HSC) until 9 November in order to proceed with face-to-face exams in NSW has divided students, teachers and schools.
Related: Sydney schools in Covid hotspots fear being ‘left behind’ if face-to-face HSC proceeds
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yuslma
Aboriginal man in Dubbo first Indigenous person in Australia to die with Covid
Unvaccinated man in his 50s one of four people in NSW to die with Covid on Sunday
- Follow our Covid live blog for the latest updates
- NSW hotspots; NSW restrictions; border restrictions
- Vaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our morning email briefing
An Aboriginal man in Dubbo has become the first Indigenous person in Australia to die with Covid-19.
The man in his 50s died in the Dubbo regional hospital on Sunday. He had been in intensive care and had underlying health issues, Western NSW local health district chief executive, Scott McLachlan, said.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38pe9Aw
Afghanistan collapsed because corruption had hollowed out the state | Zack Kopplin
The Afghan state was held together by theft, extortion and nepotism – at the highest levels
When the Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the militant group faced almost no resistance. The country’s now former president, Ashraf Ghani, fled to the United Arab Emirates, accused by one of his own ambassadors of stealing $169m (£123m) on his way out – and the Afghan military melted away without a fight. President Joe Biden blamed the Afghan people for the Taliban’s conquest. “We gave them every chance,” he said. “We couldn’t provide them the will to fight for their future.”
But blaming Afghan citizens, some of whom may be tortured or killed in the near future, for their country’s collapse is wrong and immoral. The Taliban victory is the product of the corruption and cronyism of elites – especially senior US military personnel and Afghan politicians.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yseUDs
Quotation of the Day: War and Climate Change Collide in Afghanistan
By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/38DtWvP
California’s Plan to Make New Buildings Greener Will Also Raise Costs
By BY IVAN PENN from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3sVjits
At Birth, She Already Had a Case File. At 7 Years Old, She Was Dead.
By BY MICHAEL WILSON, ASHLEY SOUTHALL AND CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3mXXHQn
A New Breed of Crisis: War and Warming Collide in Afghanistan
By BY SOMINI SENGUPTA from NYT Climate https://ift.tt/2WFgmW5
Kathy Hochul Wants to Make One Thing Clear: She Is Not Cuomo
By BY LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3kFh1z3
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3DvRPUf
Slain Marine who cradled baby at Kabul airport loved her job
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WyYcVO
Hellish living conditions are the new Kabul reality
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mHf87q
Travelers stuck at airport after hundreds of flights canceled
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gJRe7D
Kabul airport comes under rocket fire as US Afghanistan evacuation enters final 48 hours
US vows to press on with operations after rockets fired at international airport, as Afghan official says children among victims of earlier US drone strike
Several rockets were fired at Kabul airport on Monday, less than 48 hours before the United States is due to complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Eyewitnesses said the rockets were launched from a car and were aimed towards the airport on Monday morning. It appears Salim Karwan, a neighbourhood adjacent to the airport, was hit in one of the blasts. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3zwD3tK
Schools across Europe must stay open, say WHO and Unicef
Governments told educating children safely must be ‘primary objective’ as new school year begins
Schools across Europe must stay open and be made safer for staff and children, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef have demanded, as a new term gets under way with the highly transmissible Delta variant still dominant in the region.
“The pandemic has caused the most catastrophic disruption to education in history,” said Hans Kluge, the head of the WHO’s Europe region. “It is vital that classroom-based learning continues uninterrupted.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gM43OD
Withdrawal of planned guidance on ME upsets patients
Advocating for behavioural approaches means condition has been relegated to a psychological problem, campaigners say
It was years in the making, involving thousands of scientists, medics, patients and campaigners all with a vested interest in the first landmark guidance on ME of its kind for 14 years.
After much wrangling, the contentious document about myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome) had finally been seen by all stakeholders – but it was not to be.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gJhNJW
Emma Beddington tries … sword-fighting: ‘I have the upper body strength of cooked spaghetti’
The first rule of swordfight club is: don’t die! The second involves aggression – tricky if you’re used to expressing disapproval through quiet tutting and snippy emails
I recently learned there is a Bake Off equivalent for sword making: Forged in Fire, an epic struggle between (almost exclusively) men and hot metal. Each episode climaxes with the show’s Paul Hollywood figure testing blades on a jelly torso filled with fake blood. If your sword wreaks graphic gelatinous carnage, you get the equivalent of a Hollywood handshake: the accolade “Your blade will keal” (which supposedly means it will “keep everyone alive” but that homophone is not accidental). I find the jelly torso slashing deeply, troublingly satisfying, so I’m trying a sword-fighting class at York School of Defence: I want to keal.
We’re using English longswords. “It’s what you would think of as a classic knightly sword – you hold it in two hands,” says Chris Halpin, the head coach and genial pink-haired martial arts expert. Halpin has been teaching Hema (Historical European martial arts) here for nine years. It’s different from historical reenacting, which, he explains, often uses made-up combat for safety reasons. Hema teaches authentic fighting techniques from historical manuscripts: today’s class is mainly based on the 16th-century Ledall Roll.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WArMdO
The best British press photography – in pictures
The British Press Photographers’ Association Assignments exhibition celebrates the best press photography from its members. Curated by five leading industry figures, this year’s exhibition covers stories dating back to April 2019
Open until 5 September at the Bargehouse in London, part of Oxo Tower Wharf
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3zv310L
El ecocidio: un arma contra el cambio climático
By BY JORGE CARRIÓN from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3zrWe8a
Revealed: Foreign Office ignored frantic pleas to help Afghans
Thousands of urgent messages from MPs and charities had not been read by the end of the UK evacuation from Afghanistan
Thousands of emails to the Foreign Office from MPs and charities detailing urgent cases of Afghans trying to escape from Kabul have not been read, including cases flagged by government ministers, the Observer has been told.
The UK’s Afghanistan evacuation concluded on Saturday night with the departure of Britain’s final military and diplomatic personnel, bringing a sudden end to the 20-year deployment. More than 15,000 people have been brought out of the country in the last fortnight, in what ministers described as the largest UK military evacuation since the second world war.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WAEHfe
Health experts call for action on e-cigarette packaging aimed at children
Cartoon characters and sweetie names are being used to market products, which could encourage young people to give them a try
Health experts want e-cigarette makers to be banned from promoting them in ways that will appeal to children, including naming their products after sweets and using cartoon characters.
Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) and UK public health doctors are urging ministers to outlaw “totally inappropriate marketing techniques” that they fear will lure under-18s into vaping. They are demanding action to stop e-cigarettes and the e-liquids that go into them from being given names such as “bubblegum candy” and “gummy bears”, which are types of confectionery, and using cartoon images such as “slushies”, ice-filled soft drinks popular with children.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yotpYL
Housing association L&Q is still failing residents years after exposé
London & Quadrant tenants say problems with damp, mould and vermin in their homes are being ignored
Social housing tenants claim their health is being affected by damp, mould and vermin because their complaints have been ignored by one of Britain’s largest housing associations.
Two years after an independent review, prompted by an Observer exposé in 2018, criticised London & Quadrant’s repairs service, the charity is still failing to address reports of unsafe and insanitary accommodation, according to tenants. In addition, 89% of contributors to the review website Trustpilot rate its performance as bad, with reports of unresolved leaks and defects.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Yb8LPL
Palestinian boy shot by Israeli soldiers during clashes on Gaza border dies
Omar Hassan Abu al-Nile was hit on the sidelines of a demonstration near the fence separating the Gaza Strip
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot last week by Israeli soldiers during clashes along the border with Gaza has died of his injuries, the territory’s health ministry said on Saturday.
Omar Hassan Abu al-Nile was hit last Saturday on the sidelines of a demonstration near the border fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said. He “succumbed to his injuries”, Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement. About 100 mourners attended his funeral in the afternoon.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WxjDXz
Paloma Faith: ‘If anyone can do it, it’s me’
Despite the balancing act – home schooling, a second baby, a fifth album and a nationwide tour – Paloma Faith always comes out fighting… and full of stories
Here’s a nice little exclusive for you,” Paloma Faith leans into my voice recorder generously, grinning, “and you’ll like this because it’s about lactation!” We are huddled outside a café on a day that promised sun but delivered rain, and she pulls her jacket around her a bit tighter – on the back, in big letters it reads: IT’S ALL BOLLOCKS.
So, she says, a week ago she put a post on Instagram about her second baby’s aversion to breastfeeding, and minutes later got a call. “‘Don’t bin the milk!’ they said. Six months of milk, I’d been pumping since my baby was born, and a lactation consultant called and told me she’d pick it up, give it to a new mother who couldn’t breastfeed and was beside herself with worry. It was all marked, dated, so I put it in a freezer bag stuffed with ice packs and sent it off.” Does the woman know… “That it’s pop star milk? Nope!”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yoHHJa
Food, beer, toys, medical kit. Why is Britain running out of everything?
Poor pay and conditions for HGV drivers and the loss of many thousands of EU workers are plunging the UKs supply chain into crisis
Gaps on supermarket shelves. Fast food outlets pulling milkshakes and bottled drinks from their menus. Restaurants running out of chicken and closing. Empty vending machines. Online grocery orders full of substitutions. Fruit and vegetables rotting in the fields.
These are just some of the most visible signs of Britain’s deepening supply chain crisis, which has seen stocks in shops and warehouses slump to their lowest levels since the Confederation of British Industry began surveying in 1983.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mJ3lFx
Greenham Common at 40: We came to fight war, and stayed for the feminism
In 1982, Julie Bindel joined 30,000 women ‘embracing the base’ in protest over nuclear arms. Here she recounts the pivotal role the protest played in their lives
In September 1981, 32 women, four men and several children marched from Cardiff to Berkshire to protest over nuclear weapons being sited at RAF Greenham Common. The following year, the founders declared the camp “women only”, and the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp became one of the longest and most famous examples of feminist protest in recent history.
The camp was set up outside the RAF base to protest against US nuclear weapons on British common land. Facing police and soldiers, the women sang: “Are you on the side of suicide, are you on the side of homicide, are you on the side of genocide, which side are you on?”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mVZVjd
All God cons: camping in churches has a record year as UK staycations boom
As conventional campsites fill up, more holidaymakers are discovering the joys of ‘champing’ – and silent nights
Penny Thomas has always favoured adventure holidays over lying on a beach. But this year, with UK destinations in such demand during the pandemic, she found a unique way to avoid the crowds.
Rather than staying in a busy campsite, or trying to get a rare available holiday home, Thomas, her partner Pete Matthews and labradoodle Betty checked into a 13th-century church. “It was the appeal of doing something a little bit different… I hate being disturbed by other people’s noise. You don’t get that when you’re sleeping among the dead,” she says, laughing.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sY0A4h
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has a title-winning squad – the time for excuses is over | Jonathan Wilson
This season will be a test of whether he is up to the United job, but the draw at Southampton exposed the same old failings
All teams have off days. No side, no matter how great or how much money has been spent on it, plays to its maximum every week. A draw at Southampton is no disaster, but what must concern Manchester United was the manner of the points dropped last Sunday. It all felt very familiar.
They should beat Wolves on Sunday afternoon. United have better players and that is often enough. But already there is doubt and pressure: champions rarely drop more than 20 points over a season these days and already United have squandered one-tenth of that. Drop more at Molineux and the thought of a realistic title bid would seem fanciful.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WuB4aQ
Ollie Robinson’s eventful year with England takes another upturn | Tanya Aldred
Bowler was praised by India’s captain, Virat Kohli, after taking five wickets in the second innings at Headingley
The narrative arc of Ollie Robinson’s summer would startle the chiselled hero of a summer beach bonk-buster. From hero to villain and back again, from county pro on the south coast to man of the match here, from being hauled up and suspended over past racist tweets to contemplating a long future as an England player. Pinch yourself, Ollie, how the worm turns.
Two wickets in the first innings were complemented by a beautifully crafted five in the second, to bowl England to a comprehensive innings victory well before lunch. After sending back the dangerous Rohit Sharma on Friday evening the rest came on a morning made for batting: flush hot, forget-me-not skies, a crowd set fair for the day.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mDroG4
Enough already! Sport needs to slow down and rein in its endless lust for growth | Emma John
Whatever the game, let’s forget ‘conquering’ new markets or devising yet more new formats
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38l8H1k
There were murmurs of disquiet in the England dressing room at Headingley last week and this time they weren’t about the top-order batting. They followed the news that a handful of cricket administrators were in line to share a £2.1m bonus, despite Covid cuts that had cost 62 jobs and reduced players’ salaries at every level of the game.
In response, Ian Watmore, chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), pointed out that such incentives were “widely adopted across many sectors, including sports federations”. That executives at an emphatically not-for-profit organisation have no embarrassment about sharing a couple of million on top of their very generous salaries merits little more than a shrug and a c’est la vie. Bonuses are how you recruit and reward in business and banking, the two worlds from which sport now derives almost all its managerial talent.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38l8H1k
‘Puede ser terriblemente amenazante’: a la Iglesia católica le preocupan los señalamientos de sacerdotes que usan Grindr
By BY LIAM STACK from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3Bm3pPP
Five Decades Later, Medicare Might Cover Dental Care
By BY MARGOT SANGER-KATZ from NYT The Upshot https://ift.tt/3jowxj6
‘Two Frozen Margaritas Later, We Agreed to Do It Again in a Month’
By Unknown Author from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3gJlmQl
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3jpd5CY
Slain Marine who cradled baby at Kabul airport loved her job
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WyYcVO
Hawaii residents, tourists feel COVID restrictions
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WAyjFc
Majority of Northern Irish voters want vote on staying in UK
Two-thirds of people say a border poll should be held at some point in the wake of Brexit
Two-thirds of voters in Northern Ireland believe there should be a vote over its place in the UK, but only 37% want it to take place within the next five years, according to a new poll for the Observer.
Some 31% of voters said there should be a vote at some point about Northern Ireland’s place in the UK but after 2026, the LucidTalk poll found. A further 29% said there should never be such a vote. There is currently a seven-point lead for Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK should any vote take place.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mG2Ko6
California: mother fights off mountain lion with bare hands to save 5-year-old son
The mountain lion, which dragged the boy across his front lawn, was later killed by wildlife officers
A mountain lion that attacked a 5-year-old boy in southern California has been shot and killed by a wildlife officer, authorities say.
The 65-pound (30kg) mountain lion attacked the boy while he was playing near his house on Thursday in Calabasas and “dragged him about 45 yards” across the front lawn, said Captain Patrick Foy, a spokesman with the California department of fish and wildlife, on Saturday.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3jotTtG
Photographer Enda Burke and the theatre of family lockdown
In lockdown in Galway City, Burke focused on the bright side – creating gaudily retro, deadpan tableaux with his parents in all the starring roles
Enda Burke spent lockdown with his parents in Galway City on the west coast of Ireland. As a street photographer, with street life on hold, he decided to focus on the people closest to hand. The result is an award-winning series, Homebound With My Parents, which turns lockdown into theatre. His luminously exuberant colourscape – candyfloss pink, sunflower yellow and turquoise – offers “an antidote to the gloom of Covid”. It’s a bid for “vibrancy, humour, a form of escapism”. To pull this bright new world off, Burke turned the family home upside down and meticulously constructed each set himself. He ordered his retro items online, put up wallpaper and drilled his parents into their new lockdown roles.
When I cross-question him about how they reacted to this hijacking, the 33-year-old reports that his parents are “very easygoing”, and says they had many laughs together. “I said to them, ‘You’re being actors – this is acting and people really love that.’” In an introduction to his series, he reveals a fascination with the “monotony associated with family life during the pandemic”, but life in Galway City during the creation of these photographs seems to have been anything but monotonous.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sXsKNa
Sunday with Nick Frost: ‘I go through a jar of Nescafé a week’
The actor talks about his instant coffee habit, Japanese TV, throwing twigs at ducks and feeding his son banana porridge
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2V1yFEk
What time are you up on a Sunday? I’m up really early, sSometimes 4.30am, but usually 5.30am. I’ll go downstairs and have a big mug of very strong, mud-brown Nescafé. I go through a jar a week. Then I’ll put NHK World on, the Japanese language channel. I watch it a lot if I’m writing, too. There’s something gentle about its programming that we don’t get here. I might get half an hour’s top-up nap on the sofa. Then at 7am my son’s up and we’ll watch Paw Patrol, Octonauts or Bluey.
What’s for breakfast? Usually toast and peanut butter. Or sometimes my son has porridge. I fry slices of banana and half of it will go into the porridge and a few slices on top – he absolutely loves it.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2V1yFEk
Cool days out for cats
From cat cafes to pet-loving hotels: 10 of the best feline-friendly destinations in Britain
Scotland’s first cat café, Maison de Moggy, is home to 12 cats, ranging from Pauline the Maine Coon to Elodie, the extraordinary-looking Sphynx cat (the MdeM is one of the only cat cafés in the world to have a Sphynx cat). The café has been purpose-built to give the cats space to climb and play, while visitors can have tea and homemade cakes (good vegan and GF options) while making friends with the furry inhabitants. A cat nanny is present at all times and reservations are essential. Stay at the chic Market Street Hotel, Scotland’s first Design Hotel.
Doubles from £174 B&B; marketstreethotel.co.uk
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WBDkxt
Never buy a book you can borrow: students’ best money-saving tips
We ask those with experience of university life for their advice – and to name their best buy
Starting university is a time of firsts: it may be the first time you have lived away from home, the first time you have had to manage your finances, or both.
One key question is what to take with you. Do you really need the pack of four colanders? Is it worth buying an ironing board? When money – and space – is tight you don’t want to buy things that you don’t really need but some items will improve your life while you are there.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yo5ysu
Fran Lebowitz: ‘If people disagree with me, so what?’
With a hit Netflix series and The Fran Lebowitz Reader now published in the UK, the American wit talks about failing to write, her dislike of Andy Warhol and her best friend Toni Morrison
Fran Lebowitz is a famous writer who famously doesn’t write. “I’m really lazy and writing is really hard and I don’t like to do hard things,” she says, and it’s the rare writer who would not have some sympathy with that. Yet, as all writers also know, writer’s block, which the 70-year-old has suffered from for four decades now, is never really about laziness. Lebowitz’s editor Erroll McDonald (“the man with the easiest job in New York”) has said she suffers from “excessive reverence for the written word”.
Given that Lebowitz has, at last count, more than 11,000 of them in her apartment, there is no question that she loves books. “I would never throw away a book – there are human beings I would rather throw out of the window,” she says. So is this talk of “excessive reverence” a euphemistic way of saying that she has low self-esteem and doesn’t think she can write anything good enough to commit to print?
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gDQUqO
Coronavirus live news: larger risk of hospitalisation with Delta variant, study says; Australia records 1,035 cases
Delta Covid cases likely to put strain on health services in areas with low vaccination rates, experts say; Australia suffers its worst daily total
- New Zealand records 82 new cases as outbreak worsens
- How the decision not to get the shot is tearing loved ones apart
- See all our coronavirus coverage
It has shipped more than a billion doses, saved countless lives – and faced controversy over its safety and supply.
Oliver Franklin-Wallis speaks to some of those who created the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to tell the story of their epic race against the virus.
September will be a key month for monitoring Covid-19 as pupils return to school in England, Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) government advisory body has said.
Speaking on Times Radio this morning, Dr Tildesley said it “remains to be seen” how things might change when people start to mix more.
I think the key thing for me, actually, is what’s going to happen next month.
Children are going back to school, people are coming back off their summer vacations and I think monitoring what that does to the data – and not just cases but monitoring very carefully hospital admissions and deaths – will really dictate, I think, what’s going to happen in the autumn.
Obviously, we have the Delta variant, which is more transmissible – we have quite high prevalence, a lot of cases; but of course on the other side, we have a very good and effective vaccination campaign.
So I think it remains to be seen how they will trade off against each other and what that will do when September comes and people start to mix a little bit more.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sTUhPf
Roma’s transfer video campaign has helped to find 12 missing children
Roma forward Eldor Shomurodov says it is ‘hard to explain the happiness’ he felt when his transfer announcement led to a Polish girl being found
The Roma striker Eldor Shomurodov has said it is “hard to explain the happiness” he felt after a missing Polish girl was found just days after her picture was included in his transfer announcement video.
In 2019, Roma started using their transfer announcement videos on social media to highlight missing children across the globe. The Serie A club’s campaign has now helped find 12 missing children since it began.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UVqY2r
Trump Mocked For Repeatedly Botching Name Of ISIS Offshoot In Fox News Ramble
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gC9dg8
Crews battle raging Southern California wildfire
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gE653r
Fifth of BHS stores empty five years after chain closed
Analysis of UK high streets suggests gaps left by department stores may be permanent
Revelations that a fifth of former BHS stores remain empty on the fifth anniversary of the chain’s closure suggest gaps left by closed-down department stores on UK high streets and in shopping centres may become permanent.
Out of BHS’s 167 stores, 35 are still unoccupied five years after their doors closed for the final time in August 2016, according to research conducted for the Guardian by the Local Data Company (LDC).
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3BlS2aq
Boat accident in Bangladesh leaves at least 20 people dead
Passenger boat carrying more than 100 people reportedly sank after being hit by two cargo vessels
More than 20 people have died and about 50 remain missing in Bangladesh after a passenger boat carrying more than 100 people sank in a large pond.
The accident occurred in the Bijoynagar area in the Brahmanbaria district on Friday evening, local police official Imranul Islam said. He said rescuers recovered at least 21 bodies by late Friday. Local news reports, quoting the area’s top government administrator, Hayat-Ud-Dola, said about 50 people were missing.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gHltvL
‘I feel helpless, useless and hopeless’: diary of an Afghan evacuee
Student and English teacher Mursal Rasa Jamili, 23, was evacuated to the UK from Kabul with her two sisters
Mursal Rasa Jamili, a 23-year-old final-year university student and English teacher in Kabul, was evacuated to the UK with her two sisters. Here she explains what happened during her last days in Afghanistan.
Sunday 22 August
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kukyzT
Colin Farrell on making The North Water: ‘It’s a relief that no one died’
Farrell and Stephen Graham star in the gritty new thriller about an 1850s whaling ship. However, the drama wasn’t confined to the screen …
Nothing shocked me about The North Water,” says Colin Farrell, stroking his straggly beard. “If I want to be shocked, I’ll go out at 3am and see someone homeless in the street. That’s shocking because it demonstrates apathy that results in abject cruelty. This has blood, seal and whale killings, murder, rape, mayhem. But however brutal that seems, it’s a film set. It’s all artifice.”
Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3BkCtzT
Streaming: The Father and other films about dementia
Florian Zeller’s heart-rending film The Father is the latest in a spate of recent works tackling the condition and its effects on the family
First shown way back at Sundance in January last year, and repeatedly delayed by the pandemic, The Father waited an awfully long time for its moment in cinemas, and when it finally arrived – buoyed up by glowing reviews and two big Oscar wins – not that many people went to see it. After a year spent largely away from cinemas, Florian Zeller’s solemn, uncompromising, ingeniously structured chamber drama about the ravages of dementia wasn’t most people’s idea of a summer night out, no matter how good Anthony Hopkins is in it. (Which is to say very, very extraordinarily so: his Oscar may have been controversially unexpected, but it was not undeserved.) “I’ll wait to watch it at home,” said a number of friends to whom I recommended the film: now, on Amazon and the like, they can.
But I don’t think it was just the film’s seriousness that made people shy to see it. The specific subject matter of dementia yields such strong emotions – connected, for so many of us, to painful personal experience – that we worry we won’t be able to hold it together in the public space of the cinema. (I doubt I would have: I first saw Zeller’s film at home, during one of last year’s lockdowns, and wept into my duvet for some time afterwards.) For all the advantages that the big screen has over the small, the films that place us in a vulnerable position can sometimes benefit from the privacy of streaming.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3BlCV0I
Vaccine wars: how the decision not to get the shot is tearing loved ones apart
When friends and family disagree about getting vaccinated, close ties can fray. Some siblings have even stopped talking to each other
Megan, a 30-year-old from rural Nebraska, feels torn. She hasn’t been vaccinated against Covid-19, but if left to her own devices, things would be different. She worries about what would happen if she caught the virus and passed it on to her toddler daughter, whose history of health complications includes hospitalization for lung problems. Megan feels a responsibility to protect her child. But she also doesn’t want to keep secrets from her husband – who, along with his mother, is adamantly against the vaccine for political reasons. (All names in this story have been changed.)
As she figures out how to protect herself and her daughter without inciting major family conflict, Megan admits that her husband’s reliance on conspiracy theories he learns from like-minded friends or social media posts has made it difficult to trust him. Especially now.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gFk5K4
Solskjær cannot resist the romance of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Old Trafford return
The Portuguese has been Manchester United’s catalyst once before and his manager is banking on him repeating the trick
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United can feel a one-man nostalgia project. Short of supplanting Solskjær himself to bring Sir Alex Ferguson back to the dugout, there are few better ways of taking United back to yesteryear than by re-signing the last of their great No 7s.
Without returning the Premier League or the Champions League trophies to Old Trafford, Solskjær could at least allow it to echo to the sound of “Viva Ronaldo”, a chorus that was a celebration of superiority, again. Whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo represents the recruit United need, he has an irresistible appeal to Solskjær, United’s happy romantic. “He is a legend of this club, he’s the greatest player of all time,” he said.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3BjBZKh
A Doctor’s Tour de France, One ‘Medical Desert’ at a Time
By BY GAËLLE FOURNIER from NYT World https://ift.tt/38hV6YM
From Kabul Airport to a Houston Walmart: ‘Desperate to Get to America’
By BY MIRIAM JORDAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3kzyg4r
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/2WsKtQc
CIA base in Kabul blown up by US forces: Report
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3Djmsfv
Dad of Marine Slain in Kabul Vents Anger at Military, Biden
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38fJRAa
A Wisconsin school district says students can 'become spoiled' with free meals and opts out of Biden's free-lunch program
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3kvrvAN
Graphic: Aftermath of explosions outside Kabul airport
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3zlEN9n
US strikes IS target in Afghanistan and warns of airport threat
Drone strike carried out east of Kabul as Pentagon warns of further ‘specific, credible’ threats against airport
The US has conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings and encroaching Taliban forces primed to take over the Kabul airport.
US troops overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of a suicide bombing that killed scores of civilians crowded around one of the airport’s main access gates, and 13 American troops.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kr1Zg2
Alison Peasgood pushes to the last in rousing finish to Paralympic triathlon
- Peasgood crosses the line in fourth place in women’s event
- Disappointment for Ellis after ‘mechanical failure’ in men’s event
As Annouck Curzillat and her guide Celine Bousrez came onto the final stretch there appeared to be no danger. With 500m remaining of the women’s triathlon for visually impaired athletes the French pair were approaching a bronze medal calmly, running within themselves. Then, suddenly, around the corner and into the Odaiba Marine Park burst Alison Peasgood and Nikki Bartlett.
The British pair were gunning it, running at full throttle, pushing to the last for a medal. The gap was 80m, 60, 40, the noisy cohort of national associations gathered at trackside had dashed to the barriers, straining to see the action. Then, with the finish line in touching distance, the French found just that little bit extra and Peasgood found she had given it all. She crossed the line in fourth place and collapsed immediately onto the floor, volunteers dashing over to douse her in water.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2XVCUlI
An oral history of Oxford/AstraZeneca: ‘Making a vaccine in a year is like landing a human on the moon’
It has shipped more than a billion doses, saved countless lives – and faced controversy over its safety and supply. Here, some of those who created the vaccine tell the story of their epic race against the virus
In December 2019, hospitals in Wuhan, China, reported that they were dealing with dozens of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause. They soon identified the disease as being caused by a novel coronavirus.
Teresa Lambe, associate professor, Jenner Institute My brother lived in China, so whenever there was an emerging or break pathogen there, I used to follow it. I remember thinking very early on that this was probably another influenza strain.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gFgonS
UK evacuation from Kabul to end in ‘a matter of hours’
Defence secretary says up to 1,100 eligible Afghans to be left behind, as UK stops taking people into Kabul airport
The UK has stopped taking people into Kabul airport to remove them from Afghanistan, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace has said, and the evacuation process will end in “a matter of hours”.
Accepting that there would be Afghan translators or others who worked with UK forces who would not get out, Wallace said these people would be advised to seek access to third countries or offered advice on “how they can look after themselves” under Taliban rule.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3yqzi7L
Bank holiday weekend travel warning as fine weather forecast for UK
Holidaymakers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland look to take advantage of late summer sun
People seeking a bank holiday getaway in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being warned to avoid major roads before 7pm as holidaymakers look to take advantage of good late summer weather forecast for much of the UK.
The RAC estimates that 16.7m leisure trips are planned between Friday and Monday, with the south-west predicted to be especially packed.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38idJMe
Vinnie Jones: ‘My career flew off the rails. The wheels were going. There wasn’t a spare seat!’
The footballer-turned-movie hard man is back, starring in a new Footsoldier film. He talks about how his film and TV career exploded and refinding his dignity
I am, obviously, scared of Vinnie Jones. Even though he is calling from New York, 3,000 miles and five hours away, I keep expecting him to click his neck three times and pull me into a breathless headlock. But instead, he is sleepy and then charming, and doesn’t threaten to kick my face in once.
He is sleepy because he was up until 2.30am shooting Law & Order: Organized Crime, in which he appears in the recurring role of Albanian gangster Albi. “Going toe-to-toe with Christopher Meloni,” he smiles, “a legend in the acting world.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3DkLvyB
Britain’s key workers can’t take any more. They deserve better than this | Gaby Hinsliff
The end of summer is a pivotal moment for hospitals, care homes and schools, where there is a palpable sense of mounting anxiety
Burnout is a word too often overused.
It’s more than just the September blues, that sluggish end of summer unwillingness to get back to the office. It’s not just about feeling stressed or exhausted or overwhelmed, either, but about feeling all of those things all the time, plus a gnawing sense of hopelessness on top. What’s the point of endlessly pushing boulders uphill, only for them to roll back down tomorrow? Is this really what you trained for? And at its worst, it’s compounded by what’s known as “moral injury”, or feeling forced into acting against professional and personal conscience. It’s not just about what happens in the working day, but the things that keep you awake at night.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3ywK3pv
Tropical Storm Ida is swiftly heading for landfall in the United States.
By BY ADAM SOBEL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3jmCkps
The Tennessee floods may have been made worse by government decisions.
By BY CHRISTOPHER FLAVELLE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3yj5fyV
Here’s the latest on Tropical Storm Ida’s path.
By Unknown Author from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38iqGFK
How Rodrigo Duterte Can Stay No. 1 by Becoming No. 2
By BY JASON GUTIERREZ from NYT World https://ift.tt/2UQrcaW
‘He’s All That’ Review: Much Ado About Nothing
By BY DEVIKA GIRISH from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/3sS9fFv
‘Vacation Friends’ Review: Life Lessons Amid Chaos
By BY GLENN KENNY from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/3DpBNej
Lake Tahoe Suffocates With Smoke
By BY THOMAS FULLER AND SHAWN HUBLER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3gD37My
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/2WuBSNh
COVID-19 surge pummels Hawaii and its native population
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3zlHCag
Graphic: Aftermath of explosions outside Kabul airport
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3zlEN9n
Man protecting his baby fatally shot in Florida restaurant
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WqoIAE
Trump Mocked For Repeatedly Botching Name Of ISIS Offshoot In Fox News Ramble
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gC9dg8
Hundreds of Britons offer to host Afghan refugees after fall of Kabul
Many have signed up with charities that connect refugees and asylum seekers with hosts around UK
Hundreds of Britons have offered to host Afghan refugees in their homes since the UK government started evacuation flights after the fall of Kabul.
In August, 998 people have signed up to be hosts with Rooms for Refugees, a Glasgow-based community housing network which has 10,000 hosts on its books across the UK. Another 824 people have offered up their spare rooms to Afghans via another charity, Refugees at Home, in the last two weeks.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3BgjN4b
China bans celebrity rankings in bid to ‘rectify chaos in the fan community’
Authorities increase regulation of fame and fan culture that they say will tackle online bullying and protect children
Chinese authorities have banned online lists ranking celebrities by popularity, as regulators continue a drive to “clean up” fame and fandom culture.
According to regulations published in state media, all existing lists that rank Chinese stars must also be removed from the internet.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UTLJvm
Man charged with contaminating goods at London supermarkets
Council advises shoppers to throw away anything bought from the three stores late on Wednesday
A 37-year-old man has been charged with contaminating or interfering with goods with intent at three supermarkets in west London.
Leoaai Elghareeb, of Crabtree Lane, Fulham, is due to appear before Westminster magistrates court on Friday.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WpKvby
Parmesan and Pop-Tarts: 17 foods you’ve probably never frozen – but really should
From spinach to sandwiches, here’s how to reclaim your freezer from loose peas and crystal-encrusted lollies, to instantly improve your life in the kitchen
If there is one skill I wish I was better at, it’s freezer optimisation. Right now, my freezer is a mess of ice cubes and lollies and roughly a ton of loose peas, leaving me without enough room to freeze things that are actually useful. Getting your freezer organised is a great idea, so allow me to list all the things you can freeze, but probably don’t. Honestly, this list is as much for me as it is for you.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UWO5tu
10 new places to eat seafood and other delicacies on Britain’s coast
Innovative dishes, freshly caught produce and cool, coastal vibes mark out these new restaurants and cafes
Owner Luke Davis hopes Rockwater will help revitalise the Hove seafront. The modern, glass-fronted building on the promenade is open all day, from breakfast on the deck (crab benedict, meat- and plant-based fry-ups) to cocktails on the roof terrace. The main lunch and dinner menu includes small plates (such as lobster mac & cheese), large plates (beer-battered cod or banana blossom and chips) and sourdough pizzas. The roof terrace menu is fancier, with oysters, caviar and fruits de mer platters, while takeaway shacks serve hotdogs, bagels and tacos. There are plans for live music and film screenings; upcoming events include wellbeing talks, creative writing and chess clubs, and a “gin and sequins” party. Rockwater Life is a health and fitness programme held on the deck, the lawn and in the sea, ranging from yoga, pilates and meditation to strength training, bootcamps and paddleboarding.
• Mains from £11. Open daily 7am-11pm, rockwater.uk
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38mjCYA
Seth Meyers Calls Out Fox News for Promoting Ivermectin
By BY TRISH BENDIX from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3mGHFtN
If prisoners are to help with the UK’s labour shortages, they must not be exploited | Frances Crook
Let firms set up shop inside prisons, as I have done, but inmates get the same wages and employment rights as anyone else
Food manufacturers have called on ministers to alleviate labour shortages by allowing them to employ prisoners. This comes as other firms, from hauliers to supermarkets, are also finding themselves short of workers for reasons relating to Brexit and the pandemic. Prisoners could indeed help out, if they are given the opportunity to do real work for a real wage – but a lot would need to change to make this happen, not least the prisons.
Very few prisoners have the opportunity to do real work, and many would jump at the chance to get out of their cells and do something useful and social that would give them money to support their families and buy little luxuries like soap, some extra food and even enrol in education programmes.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38fSWcc
Florida dad charged with child abuse in school mask dispute
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jcKUXL
Vice President goes to Vietnam despite mystery 'health incident'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jb59oJ
The House seat of one of the GOP's 'most prominent' Trump critics is on the chopping block
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jfqj56
Japan suspends 1.63M doses of Moderna over contamination
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mz2FCT
Kenya's Deputy President Ruto campaigns for 'Hustler Nation'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WpVAd4
Afghanistan live news: evacuations in final phase amid mounting warnings of possible terror attack
France says evacuations will end Friday as UK and Danish ministers warn over safety around Kabul airport
- US and allies warn of ‘high’ terror threat at Kabul airport
- UK nationals of Afghan origin being overlooked in airlift, claim lawyers
- 2,000 people who worked for UK still to be airlifted
- Poland halts Afghan evacuations as airlift winds down
- Taliban have captured more than 100 military helicopters, Russia says
- See all our Afghanistan coverage
European nations have offered stark warnings about the waning days of a massive airlift to bring people out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with a British official saying there were credible reports of an “imminent attack” at Kabul’s international airport.
France said it would halt its evacuations Friday while Denmark said its last flight had already left Kabul’s airport, which has seen thousands throng around it in the days since the Taliban took the capital.
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday the Group of 20 major economies must be committed to making sure women preserve fundamental freedoms and basic rights in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
In opening remarks at the G20 Conference on Women’s Empowerment, Draghi said:
The G20 must do all it can to ensure that Afghan women preserve their fundamental freedoms and basic rights, especially the right to education. Progress made over the past twenty years must be preserved.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3jg54jy
Man held on suspicion of contaminating food in west London shops
Police say man allegedly injected food products using needles in three supermarkets on Fulham Palace Road
A man has been arrested on suspicion of contaminating food using a syringe at three supermarkets in west London, a council has said.
Hammersmith and Fulham council said officers were called just before 8pm after a man was reported to be shouting abuse at people in the street.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gz3Aiy
Unacknowledged rape: the sexual assault survivors who hide their trauma – even from themselves
Surveys suggest a large proportion of women have experienced sexual assaults that they labelled as a misunderstanding. This has serious psychological repercussions and increases the chance of being victimised again
The morning after it happened, I said a cheery: “Good morning,” to my university roommate, as if nothing was wrong. “How was last night?” she asked. “So fun,” I lied. The truth was that the night before I had feared for my life.
I didn’t articulate it, but deep down I knew that what had happened had felt violating, degrading and not what I signed up for. Yet it took me a whole decade to realise what had really happened: I had been sexually assaulted.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sLOiw1
The Real Winner of the Afghan War? It’s Not Who You Think.
By BY JANE PERLEZ from NYT World https://ift.tt/3B8mk0c
Israel’s Spy Agency Snubbed the U.S. Can Trust Be Restored?
By BY JULIAN E. BARNES, RONEN BERGMAN AND ADAM GOLDMAN from NYT World https://ift.tt/3ji87b5
Delta’s Extra $200 Insurance Fee Shows Vaccine Dilemma for Employers
By BY NIRAJ CHOKSHI, MARGOT SANGER-KATZ AND TARA SIEGEL BERNARD from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2UTYcze
Kamala Harris, in Southeast Asia and in Uniform
By BY VANESSA FRIEDMAN from NYT Style https://ift.tt/3zxyRdz
España no es Finlandia, pero puede sacar a sus estudiantes de la mediocridad
By BY DAVID JIMÉNEZ from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3DmnQxJ
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3sVYFgU
Report: CIA director met Taliban leader in Kabul on Monday
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gB7urw
California town had worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, report says
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gylNgp
House moderates provide even more leverage to Joe Manchin on reconciliation
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3sNGbPi
River Cottage chef’s TV production company sold off after going bust
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will still work with KEO Films under new owner, which is trying to repay some debts
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s television production company has collapsed, leaving behind millions of pounds of debts.
The River Cottage chef co-founded the award-winning KEO Films in 1995, which has made popular programmes such as Hugh’s War on Waste and Easy Ways to Live Well. The company describes itself as having a “strong ethical brand reputation” and has produced a series of programmes campaigning for social change.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kqzSxx
‘Use your £11bn climate fund to pay for family planning,’ UK told
More than 60 NGOs call for spending rule change, saying people on frontline of climate crisis want greater access to reproductive healthcare
The UK government has been urged to open up its £11bn pot of climate funding to contraception, as research from low-income countries shows a link between poor access to reproductive health services and environmental damage.
In a letter to Alok Sharma, president of the UN Cop26 climate conference, an alliance of more than 60 NGOs has called for the funding eligibility rules to be changed to allow projects concerned with removing barriers to reproductive healthcare and girls’ education to access climate funds.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3mzQi9q
Just how ‘green’ is Nicola Sturgeon’s deal with the Scottish Greens? | Dani Garavelli
Those who catastrophise about the fate of smaller parties within coalitions may be betraying their southern perspective
At the press conference to announce the SNP’s landmark cooperation agreement with the Scottish Greens, Nicola Sturgeon could scarcely contain her glee. And no wonder. What better way to burnish her government’s environmental credentials at the UN climate conference, Cop26, in Glasgow than to trumpet its willingness to engage in “grownup politics” for the betterment of the planet?
In Westminster, Boris Johnson is struggling. Earlier this month, a new climate breakdown report reinforced the severity of the crisis. Yet civil servants fear he has left it too late to push the world’s worst polluters to cut their greenhouse gases in order to meet the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Having initially refused to give Sturgeon a seat at the Cop26 negotiating table, the prime minister must be spitting feathers at the way she has turned the spotlight on her government at his expense.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2XZij03
‘I’m lost’: poorer pupils lose university places after A-level grade surge
Experts say disadvantaged have been most affected by missed learning during Covid pandemic
Despite being a carer for his mother since he started senior school, 18-year-old Keir Adeleke, from Newham, east London, was predicted A*AA in his A-levels this summer, and had an offer to study law at the prestigious King’s College London. But when his teacher-assessed grades came in at BBC, his hopes of getting into a leading university vanished.
Adeleke and many of his classmates at Havering sixth form college are claiming that New City College group (NCC), the academy chain that recently took over the college, unfairly marked down their teacher-assessed A-level grades using historical data from the college to guide their awards. Sixth formers and parents protested outside the college on 12 August, calling for remarking. Some of the teachers have also questioned grades.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sMj5J5
Firefights, foxhunts and flowers shows: a staggering new view of the Troubles
Thirty years in the making, photographer Gilles Peress’s 2,000-page ‘totality’ places scenes of everyday life in 70s and 80s Northern Ireland alongside harrowing images of violence and grief
When someone asks me what it was like growing up during the Troubles, I always find myself at a loss for an answer. Day-to-day life in Armagh was uneasy and anxious, but sometimes surreal and often repetitive. There were bombs and bomb scares, there was gunfire in the night, early morning raids by the security forces, and the wearying presence of British army foot patrols and their constant scrutiny. But there were also countless days when there was nothing to do and nowhere to go.
All this came to mind as I grappled with Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, a dauntingly ambitious photobook by Gilles Peress, a photographer whose visceral reportage from Iran, Rwanda and the Balkans has redefined the form. Nothing he has published so far, though, comes close to the epic scale of this almost Joycean attempt to “describe everything” about life as it unfolded during the long years of violence in Northern Ireland. Over 30 years in the making, it comprises two hefty volumes of images and an accompanying almanac of contextual material, entitled Annals of the North. Weighing 14kg and stretching to 2,000 pages, it is, to say the least, a grand statement.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3sRX8Z5
Taiwan hits zero Covid cases for first time since outbreak in May
Acceleration of vaccine rollout and test-and-trace improvements credited for turnaround
Taiwan has reported zero community cases of Covid-19 for the first time since its biggest outbreak began in May, killing more than 800 people.
“The local confirmed case today is zero, it was not easy,” the head of the Central Epidemic Command Centre, Chen Shih-chung, said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WfC8zP
Long Covid limbo: some US patients wait months for diagnosis and treatment
Patients with a range of debilitating symptoms but no positive Covid test may not qualify for specialty clinics – and may be told it’s ‘all in your head’
For months, Andrea Tomasek suspected she was suffering from debilitating symptoms brought on by a Covid-19 infection. She had a fever and her breathing was so labored she said it felt like her “lungs were sponges full of fluid”. She later experienced dizziness and periods where she would pass out.
But when the 37-year-old first started to feel sick in March 2020, the pandemic was still in its early days, so she couldn’t access a test in her home city of Savage, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WrwM4h
Is democracy getting in the way of saving the planet? | Kate Aronoff
Our climate is in crisis, but authoritarians and technocrats don’t have the answers
What the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report confirmed this month is that the stable climate many of us grew up with is gone and has been replaced by a fundamentally unstable one. Sea levels will almost certainly rise and storms will get more intense. Amid a drumbeat of depressing news and decades of inaction, there’s a sort of folk wisdom emerging that liberal democracy might just be too slow to tackle a problem as urgent and massive as the climate crisis. It’s an enticing vision: that governments can forgo the messy, deliberative work of politics in favour of a benign dictatorship of green technocrats who will get emissions down by brute force. With a punishingly tiny budget of just 400 gigatonnes of CO2 left to make a decent shot of staying below 1.5C of warming, is it time to give something less democratic a try?
It would be easy to look at the longstanding stalemate around climate policy in the US, the world’s second biggest emitter and embattled superpower, as evidence that something more top-down is needed. Yet the failure isn’t one of too much democracy but too little. The US Senate empowers West Virginia’s Joe Manchin – a man elected by fewer than 300,000 people – to block the agenda of a president elected by more than 80 million. Climate-sceptical Republicans, backed by corporate interests, have attempted to gerrymander their way to electoral dominance, halting progressive climate action in its tracks. The fossil fuel industry can engulf lawmakers with lobbyists and virtually unlimited campaign donations to sway their votes. And as the Republican party’s leading lights flirt with authoritarians like Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, comprehensive bipartisan climate action remains a pipe dream.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WhSLLc
Offices Dangle Beehives and Garden Plots to Coax Workers Back
By BY JANE MARGOLIES from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3mtzEbF
The Pandemic Is Testing the Federal Reserve’s New Policy Plan
By BY JEANNA SMIALEK from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2WoMMUx
Budding Resistance to the Taliban Faces Long Odds
By BY CARLOTTA GALL AND ADAM NOSSITER from NYT World https://ift.tt/3gvB0Pm
Atracción fatal: los científicos culpan los ataques de las serpientes marinas al deseo sexual
By BY JASON BITTEL from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/38dTzmG
Spelling Bee Forum
By BY ISAAC ARONOW AND DOUG MENNELLA from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/3gytKSC
La FIFA, considerada víctima de su propia corrupción, recibirá un pago de 200 millones de dólares
By BY REBECCA R. RUIZ AND TARIQ PANJA from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3kkal9m
New CDC chart highlights significantly reduced hospitalization risk for vaccinated
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3mvRFpx
Kayleigh McEnany says there wasn't 'crisis after crisis' when Trump was president
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3msHylp
Beshear pulls Kentucky’s mask mandate
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38aCrOz
‘Tyranny of the minority’: Idaho Supreme Court rules voter initiative law unconstitutional
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WnGUei
National Trust to give staff siestas in summer
Staff and volunteers in south of England will get more Mediterranean hours because of climate change
The National Trust is giving its workers siestas in summer due to increasingly hot weather because of climate change.
Staff and volunteers in the south of England will be given more Mediterranean working hours, with a long lunch break and the day starting earlier and finishing later. This will allow them to avoid the hottest part of the day, as people already do in countries such as Italy and Spain.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3Dj20uW
A moment that changed me: the shock of being beaten by teenage fascists
Violence, when it happens, is clumsy and banal. The possibility of a repeat kicking lurked around every corner and the hometown I loved was cast in sinister hues
The first time I was beaten up in the street I was 16 and had intervened when a boy tried to throw a friend of mine through a shop window. The third time, I had my nose broken at 2am in Luton for laughing when three jeering lads called me “John Travolta” (a reference to Grease, presumably; I was going through a big Rocket From The Crypt phase).
But the second time was the most significant. It was 1993, the summer before I failed my A-levels majestically, and two friends, D and M, and I were stumbling home several miles from a Durham nightclub (whose door was run by a young Dominic Cummings) back to our estate outside a north-east town. We were innocent indie kids; we played in punk bands, changed hairstyles regularly and took absolutely nothing seriously save for books, music and high times. We were not fighters. Life was for laughing at.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3B4ObOW
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)