↩ Accueil

Vue lecture

South Korea goes to the polls to elect new president after Yoon crisis

Election pitting liberal Lee Jae-myung against conservative candidate Kim Moon Soo comes after months of chaos following Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law

Millions of South Koreans are voting for a new president in a snap election triggered by the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who now faces an explosive trial on rebellion charges over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.

Pre-election surveys suggested Yoon’s liberal arch-rival, Lee Jae-myung, appeared headed for an easy win, riding on deep public frustration over the conservatives in the wake of Yoon’s martial law debacle.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Iran on brink of rejecting US proposal on nuclear programme

Offer gives no ground on Tehran’s demand to continue to enrich uranium inside country, sources say

Iran is on the brink of rejecting US proposals on the future of its nuclear programme after the US draft insisted that Tehran would have to suspend the enrichment of uranium inside Iran and set out no clear route map for lifting US economic sanctions.

The US proposals were the first in written form since five rounds of indirect talks started, but Iranian diplomatic sources said the US proposals gave no ground on Iran’s demand to continue to enrich uranium inside the country.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Human remains found in search for Derby woman missing since 2010

Police believe remains are of Izabela Zablocka, from Normanton, and have launched murder investigation

Human remains have been found in a search for a woman missing for more than 15 years as police launch a murder investigation into her disappearance.

Izabela Zablocka, from Normanton in Derby, was 30 when she went missing in 2010. Originally from Poland, she had last made contact with family on 28 August 2010.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Derbyshire Police/PA

© Photograph: Derbyshire Police/PA

  •  

Mexican president hails ‘complete success’ after just 13% vote in judicial elections

Claudia Sheinbaum defends decision to put 2,600 judges’ posts to vote despite record low turnout

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the country’s unprecedented judicial elections after just 13% of Mexicans turned out to vote, a record low in a federal election.

Roughly 2,600 posts, from local magistrates to supreme court justices, were up for grabs on Sunday, as an entire judicial system was put to the vote for the first time in the world.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters

© Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters

  •  

Ryan Mason leaves Tottenham to become head coach at West Brom

  • 33-year-old ends time at Spurs to take first No 1 role

  • West Brom dismissed Tony Mowbray in April

Ryan Mason has left Tottenham to take over as West Brom head coach on a three-year contract.

Mason quickly emerged as a leading candidate for the Championship club after they dismissed Tony Mowbray on 21 April. Spurs’ rollercoaster 2024-25 campaign – in which they secured Europa League success – only ended on 25 May and forced West Brom to bide their time but Mason, after a short holiday, decided to accept their offer and take his first step into management.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: John Walton/PA

© Photograph: John Walton/PA

  •  

Cancer experts warn of coffee enemas and juice diets amid rise in misinformation

Oncologists say patients rejecting proven treatments are dying needlessly because of increase in online ‘cures’

Cancer patients are snubbing proven treatments in favour of quackery such as coffee enemas and raw juice diets amid an “alarming” increase in misinformation on the web, doctors have said.

Some were dying needlessly or seeing tumours spread as a result, oncologists said. They raised their concerns at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco).

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Adam Smigielski/Getty Images

© Photograph: Adam Smigielski/Getty Images

  •  

Clint Eastwood calls viral interview a fabrication: ‘Completely phony’

The actor and director claims that an Austrian newspaper invented a recent interview with him

Clint Eastwood has released a statement to claim a recent interview with him is a fabrication.

Quotes from an alleged interview with the Oscar-winning actor and director had gone viral over the weekend and were picked up by a number of sites. Yet Eastwood has now said that he never spoke to anyone from German-language Austrian newspaper Kurier.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

  •  

UK ‘fully prepared’ to take Roman Abramovich to court over frozen £2.5bn

  • Proceeds from Chelsea sale earmarked for Ukraine aid

  • Government issues statement over recovery of money

The government says it is “fully prepared” to take Roman Abramovich to court to resolve the three-year impasse over the £2.5bn frozen from the sale of Chelsea.

In a rare joint statement, the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, and the foreign secretary, David Lammy, confirmed the UK was ready to escalate its efforts to secure the money which has been promised to support humanitarian activity in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Donald Tusk will call vote of confidence after Polish election setback

Prime minister seeks to shore up his fragile coalition and vows not to back down

Donald Tusk says he will call a vote of confidence in his government to try to shore up support for his coalition after a bruising setback in Poland’s presidential election.

In his first public comments since Sunday’s election result was declared, the prime minister sought to regain momentum as he promised to “get to work” and submit a number of draft laws.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters

  •  

Tech-bro satire Mountainhead is an insufferable disappointment

Jesse Armstrong’s rushed Succession follow-up might be heavy on of-the-moment buzzwords, but it’s too smug to make any real point

Picture this: a group of very rich people gather at an ostentatiously large, secluded retreat. The SUVs are black, tinted, sleek. The jets are private. The egos are large, the staff sprawling and mostly unseen, the decor both sterile and unimaginably expensive. This is the distinctive milieu of Succession, the HBO juggernaut which turned the pitiful exploits of a bunch of media mogul failsons into Shakespearean drama for four critically acclaimed seasons. It is also the now familiar aesthetic of a range of eat-the-rich satires plumbing our oligarchic times for heady ridicule, if increasingly futile insight – The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, Knives Out: Glass Onion, Parasite, The White Lotus and the recent A24 disappointment Death of a Unicorn to name a few. (That’s not to mention countless mediocre shows on the foibles of the wealthy, such as this month’s The Better Sister and Sirens.)

So suffice to say, I approached Mountainhead, Succession creator Jesse Armstrong’s first post-series project about four tech billionaire friends gathering for poker as one’s AI innovation wreaks havoc on the globe, with a sense of pre-existing fatigue. The market of ultra-rich satire is, to use the logic of Armstrong’s characters, saturated. (Or, to use their language: “I would seriously rather fix sub-Saharan Africa than launch a Sweetgreen challenger in the current market.”) There’s more than a whiff of Argestes, the second-season Succession episode at a billionaire mountain retreat, to these shots of private cars pulling up to a huge chalet hugged by snowcapped peaks. And though Armstrong, who solely wrote and directed the film, continues his avoidance of easy one-to-ones, there’s more than a whiff of Elon Musk to Venis (Cory Michael Smith), an AI company CEO and the richest person in the world with a tenuous grasp on reality, a stupendous sense of nihilism and unrepentant need to assert his own virility (the landscape, he notes, is “so beautiful you can fuck it”).

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Macall Polay/AP

© Photograph: Macall Polay/AP

  •  

France finally acts to deliver justice in infamous Dreyfus case

More than a century on, the officer who was the victim of antisemitism is in line for a posthumous promotion

More than a century ago he was wrongly convicted of treason in a case that convulsed France and laid bare a rising tide of antisemitism.

On Monday, French politicians took the first step towards remedying the injustice – unanimously backing a symbolic effort to promote Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French army captain, to brigadier general.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas followed and heckled by gambler at Grand Slam Track meet

  • Sprinter has reported multiple incidents of verbal abuse

  • Growth of betting has been linked to abuse of athletes

Three-times Olympic champion Gabby Thomas said she was verbally abused at the Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia last weekend, the latest incident of harassment she has reported this year.

Thomas, who won gold in the 200m, and 4x100m and 4x400m relays in Paris, said in a post on X that a man followed her around the track shouting insults while she was taking photographs with fans and signing autographs.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

© Photograph: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

  •  

Second round of Ukraine-Russia talks end with PoW deal but no ceasefire

Delegations in Istanbul agree swap of at least 1,000 prisoners, and Ukraine says Russia agreed to return some abducted children

Negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul ended without agreement on a ceasefire on Monday, but with both sides agreeing to exchange more prisoners.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the two sides had agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, with the possibility of swapping an additional 200 PoWs. He said an agreement had also been made to return the remains of killed service personnel, but added that this would take careful preparation.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

  •  

Outcry after Boston teen arrested by Ice agents on way to volleyball practice

Ice admits officials were seeking father of Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, but agency chief defends detention

Trump administration officials sparked a huge protest on Sunday in a Boston suburb after immigration agents detained a high school student on his way to volleyball practice while they were seeking his father.

The high schooler in question, 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, entered the United States on a student visa, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf after his arrest. While his student visa status has lapsed, he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

© Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

  •  

Utah teenager located safe and in good health after going missing in April

Alisa Petrov, 15, last seen on 21 April, walked into Colorado Springs police department and identified herself

A 15-year-old Utah girl, who vanished in April, has been located safe and in good health in Colorado Springs, authorities confirmed late Sunday night.

According to Sgt Shaun Becker, Alisa Petrov walked into the Colorado Springs police department earlier that evening and identified herself. Officials stated she appeared to be unharmed and physically well.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: South Jordan Police Department

© Photograph: South Jordan Police Department

  •  

How ‘a man with a blow torch’ turned a rally in Colorado into a scene of horror

The attack by a man hurling molotov cocktails struck at the heart of one of Colorado’s largest Jewish communities

The first 911 calls reporting the Colorado flamethrower attack were as horrific as they were unbelievable.

“There is a male with a blow torch setting people on fire,” a dispatcher advised the city’s police department, passing on the account of an eyewitness. Another official reported: “Multiple burns, potential terror attack.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Eli Imadali/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eli Imadali/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Israeli strikes on Gaza schools used as civilian shelters part of deliberate strategy, say sources

Exclusive: More schools identified as targets after controls on IDF action against Hamas operatives at civilian sites loosened

A series of recent deadly airstrikes on school buildings sheltering displaced people in Gaza were part of a deliberate Israeli military bombing strategy, with further schools identified as targets, the Guardian has learned.

At least six school buildings have been struck, reportedly killing more than 120 people, in recent months as part of a targeting effort by the Israeli military.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

  •  

Jack Draper stunned by Alexander Bublik in four-set defeat at French Open

  • Kazakhstani beats Draper 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in fourth round

  • World No 62 reaches major quarter-final for first time

With his presence at the French Open hanging desperately in the balance, Jack Draper stepped up to the baseline, down two sets to one, hoping he would begin the new set with a clean slate to initiate his resurgence. Instead, he could only watch on helplessly as his opponent threaded four outlandish winners to break his serve to love.

It was that kind of evening for Draper, the fifth seed in Paris, who was thoroughly outplayed by a stupendous performance from the unseeded Alexander Bublik. The Kazakhstani held his nerve in front of an ­ebullient Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd to close out an immense 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win and reach a grand slam quarter-final for the first time in his career.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters

© Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters

  •  

Suspect charged with federal hate crime in attack on Colorado rally for Israeli hostages

Mohamed Sabry Soliman charged with multiple felonies after allegedly shouting ‘Free Palestine’ as he attacked Boulder crowd

A man has been charged with a federal hate crime and multiple other felonies after he allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices to attack a crowd of people who were raising awareness for Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring 12 victims.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine” as he attacked the crowd on Sunday. The FBI said Soliman told police he planned the attack for a year and had specifically targeted what he described as the “Zionist group”, the Associated Press reported.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP

© Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP

  •  

US firms say Trump trade war is hitting production as dollar nears three-year low

Manufacturing survey signals third monthly decline in output in a row amid uncertainty over tariffs

US manufacturers have warned that Donald Trump’s trade war is hitting production, pushing the dollar close to a three-year low against sterling on Monday.

The greenback suffered a fresh sell-off, after the closely watched ISM survey of the manufacturing sector signalled a third monthly decline in output in a row.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: D Hurst/Alamy

© Photograph: D Hurst/Alamy

  •  

Growing threats, new weapons, more troops: key points of UK’s defence review

The government says the UK must be ready to ‘fight and win’ a full-scale war. Here is a summary of its recommendations

A vision of what war between the UK and another state such as Russia would look like is sketched out briefly but starkly on a page of the strategic defence review.

Such a conflict could involve attacks on the armed forces in the UK and overseas, air and missile attacks on critical infrastructure, and sabotage and efforts to manipulate information and undermine social cohesion.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: US Army Photo/Alamy

© Photograph: US Army Photo/Alamy

  •  

PSG’s Champions League win was thrilling. It was still sportswashing | Jonathan Wilson

After years as a directionless collection of celebrity footballers, PSG are a true team now. But they still represent one of the sport’s darkest trends

Paris Saint-Germain’s success in the Champions League final on Saturday was a victory for youth and adventure. It was a victory for a team built with a coherent vision, and a rebuke to those who believe the game is just about collecting the biggest names. It was a victory for Luis Enrique, a very fine coach who has suffered dreadful personal tragedy. It was a victory for forward-thinking, progressive, fluent football.

But it was also a victory for sportswashing.

Continue reading...

© Composite: Getty, AP

© Composite: Getty, AP

  •  

Manchester City confident of signing £50m-rated Rayan Aït-Nouri from Wolves

  • City keen to get business done early this summer

  • Full-back Aït-Nouri has one year left on his contract

Manchester City are optimistic of signing the Wolves full-back Rayan Aït-Nouri as part of their summer revamp. City are yet to bid for the Algeria defender but he is regarded as a primary target.

City’s chair, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, has said the club were not aggressive enough in the market last summer and want to complete most of their close-season business in time for the Club World Cup with their first game on 18 June. The Lyon midfielder Rayan Cherki is another target.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jack Thomas/WWFC/Wolves/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jack Thomas/WWFC/Wolves/Getty Images

  •  

Three killed as Israeli forces open fire near Gaza food distribution site, officials say

Incident took place where more than 30 people were killed on Sunday near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub

Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip opened fire as people headed towards a food distribution site a kilometre away at around sunrise on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens, health officials and a witness said. The military said it fired warning shots at “suspects” who approached its forces.

The shooting occurred at the same location where witnesses say Israeli forces fired a day earlier on crowds of people heading towards the food distribution hub in southern Gaza run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Reporter says she was fired from Trump-friendly outlet after criticizing Hegseth

Correspondent for far-right outlet was fired after accusing defense secretary of clamping down on press access

A pro-Donald Trump journalist says she was fired from her job after criticizing the president’s secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, over his attempts to restrict media access at the Pentagon.

Gabrielle Cuccia, the former chief Pentagon correspondent for the far-right, Trump-friendly media outlet One America News (OAN), says she was terminated shortly after she published a Substack post accusing Hegseth’s defense department of clamping down on press access. She had said the restrictions were disturbing, questioned the defense department’s motives in tightening media restrictions, and noted that Hegseth has yet to hold a formal press conference since taking office.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters

© Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters

  •  

King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss killed in shooting aged 59

The actor, best know for voicing John Redcorn in the long-running animated series, was killed on Saturday in Texas

The actor Jonathan Joss, best known for voicing John Redcorn in King of the Hill, has died in a shooting.

San Antonio police confirmed to Variety that the 59-year-old died on Saturday after an incident. Officers were reportedly dispatched while the shooting was in process and found him near the road. After an attempt to revive him, he was pronounced dead on the scene.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

© Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

  •  

Sweden urged to ban international adoption after damning inquiry findings

Inquiry head accuses Swedish state of human rights violations, citing child-trafficking cases across four decades

Sweden should ban international adoption and apologise after thousands of children were illegally and unethically taken from their home countries including South Korea, Colombia, China and Sri Lanka over several decades, a government inquiry has found.

Presenting the damning findings of the almost four-year investigation, the head of the inquiry, Anna Singer, accused the Swedish state of “violations of human rights”, citing child-trafficking cases spanning from the 1970s to the 2000s.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: mrs/Getty Images

© Photograph: mrs/Getty Images

  •  

Keir Starmer vows to make Britain ‘battle-ready’ as he unveils defence spending plans

PM promises to spend billions more on weapons factories, drones and submarines but refuses to set date for spending 3% of GDP on defence

Keir Starmer has promised to make Britain “battle-ready” as he unveiled a defence review designed to counter threats from countries such as Russia, which he warned directly threatened the UK every day.

Speaking from the BAE Systems shipyard at Govan, in Glasgow, the prime minister promised to spend billions more on weapons factories, drones and submarines – even if it meant raiding welfare or the aid budget once more to do so.

Explore the possibility of the UK reintroducing air-launched nuclear weapons by discussing with the US and Nato the possibility of purchasing F-35A fighters equipped with US B61-12 bombs that could be deployed in the event of a war.

Spending £15bn to develop new submarine-launched nuclear warheads – and committing to build 12 nuclear powered Aukus attack submarines in Derby and Barrow, starting in the 2030s.

Investing £1bn in air and missile defence, £6bn on munitions during this parliament and opening at least six new weapons factories in the UK as part of a programme to increase military stockpiles, which currently may only last a few days in a crisis.

Developing a home guard, modelled on the army reserves, to ensure the protection of airports, communications sites and other parts of the critical national infrastructure in the event of a major crisis.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA

© Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA

  •  

Andrew Tate allegedly secured Vanuatu ‘golden passport’ in month of Romania arrest

Influencer accused of rape and human trafficking alleged to have gained citizenship via £96,000 investment scheme

Andrew Tate allegedly secured a “golden passport” from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu the month he was arrested in Romania on charges including rape and human trafficking, it has been reported.

The 38-year-old influencer allegedly received the passport through a citizenship-by-investment programme that allows foreign nationals to buy citizenship for $130,000 (£96,000), according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Intelligence Online.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

  •  

Jonathan Anderson: the esoteric designer taking on the mantle at Dior

Appointment of Northern Irishman behind Loewe hype machine sets storied fashion house on experimental path

Long before the designer Jonathan Anderson stepped down from his role at Loewe in March, it was rumoured he would be heading for Dior. So when it was finally announced – six months after Dior’s menswear designer left, and four days after its womenswear head, Maria Grazia Chiuri, showed a collection in Rome – it surprised no one.

Yet Anderson’s newfound position at luxury’s centre of gravity still sets Dior, a grand fashion institution, careering down an experimental path. As Delphine Arnault, the chair and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, told Vogue Business: “For any house, having new artistic direction can be a challenge.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

  •  

I was ghosted at 54. Here’s why I choose to think of it as empowering

I may never know what happened, but I’ve decided my story is a comedy – and I have an amazing group of friends to tell it to

I’m a 21st-century spinster: last year, I turned 54 and hadn’t had a relationship (or a good date!) for almost five years.

Before that, I’d taken dating for granted. Marriage was never my goal, and I don’t have children. Since college, there’d been a steady pattern of long-term, wonderful relationships. I’m lucky; I’m a woman who’s been loved.

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

  •  

Wheel of 20th-century Italian cheese smashes record for oldest parmesan

Parmigiano reggiano opened after 27 years and three months – maturing for six years longer than previous holder

A wheel of parmigiano reggiano has been celebrated as “an authentic jewel of nature” after setting a longevity record for parmesan cheese.

The still-edible 36kg wheel was one of the last made in 1998 by Romano and Silvia Camorani at their dairy in Poviglio, a small town near Parma in Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Nazionale del Parmigiano Reggiano

© Photograph: Nazionale del Parmigiano Reggiano

  •  

How PSG built the best team in Europe | Luke Entwistle

Luís Campos turned Monaco and Lille into Ligue 1 winners. Now he has turned PSG into Champions League winners

By Get French Football News

There is plenty of contrast between the Chelsea side of 2012 – the last team to win the Champions League at the Allianz Arena – and this all-conquering PSG side. But, beyond the surroundings, there is another strand that links the two triumphs – a seeming absence of logic in their timing.

By 2012, the chance to win the Champions League looked to have passed for Chelsea. They had gone close before, in 2008, when they would have won it but not for that infamous John Terry slip in the shootout in the Moscow monsoon. Come 2012, they were an ageing team. Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, John Terry and Didier Drogba, the spine of the side, had entered their twilight years. The squad needed refreshing, as their sixth-placed finish in the Premier League laid that bare for all to see. And they were under the interim stewardship of Roberto Di Matteo. The conditions were not exactly ripe for Chelsea to lift the title in Munich.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Matthieu Mirville/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Matthieu Mirville/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

  •  

Poland’s presidential election result is a morale boost for Maga forces in Europe | Catherine De Vries

Karol Nawrocki’s win is a blow for prime minister Donald Tusk – and it symbolises a larger battle over the political narrative

Polish voters returned to the polls on Sunday for the decisive round of a presidential election whose outcome reverberates far beyond Poland’s borders. The race was a showdown between two candidates who represent the country’s stark political and ideological divide: Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the far-right opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), and Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal and strongly pro-European mayor of Warsaw representing the Civic Platform (PO) party of the prime minister, Donald Tusk. The razor-thin victory for Nawrocki, who secured just over 50% of the vote, is a domestic setback for Tusk, but it also threatens wide and gloomy repercussions within the EU and beyond.

Tusk’s return to power as prime minister in 2023, after previously serving from 2007 to 2014, was widely seen as a bid to re-anchor Poland within the European project. His government promised reforms, especially in restoring the rule of law, after years of confrontational policies under PiS aimed at undermining the independence of the judiciary and the constitutional court. Those ambitions now face a significant institutional roadblock. While the Polish presidency is largely ceremonial, the president has significant powers: they can veto legislation and influence domestic, foreign and defence policy. The outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, who is also aligned with PiS, used his veto to block Tusk’s reform efforts. With Nawrocki now set to occupy the presidential palace, such obstruction is expected to intensify rather than ease.

Catherine De Vries is Generali chair in European policies and a professor at Bocconi University in Milan

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters

© Photograph: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters

  •  

Al-Qaida affiliate attacks Mali army bases as junta struggles to contain jihadist threat

Attack in Timbuktu comes as Islamist group JNIM claims separate assault near border with Burkina Faso

An al-Qaida-linked group has launched an assault on a Malian army base in Timbuktu, according to military sources and local officials, a day after it claimed responsibility for another attack near the border with Burkina Faso.

“The terrorists arrived today in Timbuktu with a vehicle packed with explosives,” a local official told Agence France-Presse. “The vehicle exploded near the [military] camp. Shooting is currently continuing.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Moulaye Sayah/AP

© Photograph: Moulaye Sayah/AP

  •  

Max Verstappen must control his road rage to cement his legacy as a great | Giles Richards

There was no justification for the driver’s rash and futile act of retribution at the Spanish Grand Prix

There was no justification for Max Verstappen’s rash and futile act of retribution at the Spanish Grand Prix, when he deliberately drove into the side of George Russell’s car. The world champion knows it and on Monday he admitted as much with something of a mea culpa on social media. Yet it also must be considered that it is part and parcel of what makes Verstappen so competitive, albeit in this case in an entirely unedifying and self‑defeating fashion.

Angry and frustrated at a sequence of events in Barcelona, including having to cede a place to Russell, Verstappen surrendered to his baser instincts. Having pulled over to give the place to Russell, he clearly then felt a point had to be made and accelerated back up the inside to collide with the Mercedes.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

© Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

  •  

Örkesh Dölet descended on to Tiananmen Square with thousands of fellow student protesters. He’s now 36 years into exile | Nuria Khasim

As the anniversary of the 1989 massacre approaches, the Uyghur activist reflects on his lifelong dedication to the fight for democracy

When I was little, mum used to take us to visit an elderly Uyghur couple every year. We would climb up the winding concrete stairs in a Soviet-era apartment block and be greeted with a warmth that felt like family. Over piping hot bowls of Uyghur chay, mum would talk to them for hours while my brother and I listened. I always assumed they were relatives of ours, until mum told me that they were the parents of her friend Örkesh Dölet, and they had not seen their son for over 20 years. As a child, I didn’t know who Örkesh was, but my heart broke for his parents, who clearly loved and missed their son so very dearly.

Growing up in Beijing, dad used to take us to Tiananmen Square on weekends to fly colourful swallow-shaped kites. Due to censorship, I never knew that the pristine, neatly paved tiles beneath the soles of my sparkly light-up sneakers were once carpeted with the corpses of brave pro-democracy student protesters. I never saw the famous photo of “tank man”. I never knew the date “4 June 1989” had any significance for the city that I called home.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sam Biddle

© Photograph: Sam Biddle

  •  

Exiled pro-democracy activist on being Uyghur during Tiananmen Square protests - video

In 1989, a young Uyghur named Örkesh Dölet was a student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests. Throughout the protests, Dölet represented students in televised negotiations with Chinese Communist Party leaders. After the massacre, the 21-year-old was put on China’s list of most wanted student leaders and so he fled the country. He now lives in exile in Taiwan. ‘For every important choices I make in my life, my Uyghur-ness has always came in and played an important role,' he says. 'That we do the right thing, not the safe thing.’

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sam Biddle | Getty Images | Guardian Australia

© Photograph: Sam Biddle | Getty Images | Guardian Australia

  •  

Inquest into notorious apartheid-era killings opens in South Africa

‘We want to correct the historic record’ – families of the Cradock Four, beaten and killed in 1985, seek justice 40 years on

An inquest has opened into one of the most notorious killings of South Africa’s apartheid era, with a former general denying he ordered the deaths of four men who became known as the Cradock Four.

Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto were stopped at a roadblock on 27 June 1985 by security officers and beaten, strangled with telephone wire, stabbed and shot to death.

Continue reading...

© Composite: c/o Families

© Composite: c/o Families

  •  

Why are members of the Super Bowl champion Eagles promoting a right-wing Christian wealth scheme?

Saquon Barkley and other Philadelphia stars lent their names to Life Surge, a controversial faith-based financial seminar. What were they doing there?

The thousands who gathered on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia weren’t there for a basketball or hockey game. Instead, the 21,000-seat arena played host to a very different spectacle. The stage was bathed in lights, Christian pop thundered from the speakers and the congregation filed in to hear not just sermons, but also strategies: how to get right with God and get rich doing so.

The billed headliners were five current and former members of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Head coach Nick Sirianni, star running back Saquon Barkley, second-year cornerback Cooper DeJean, and longtime fan favorites Brandon Graham and Brian Dawkins all appeared on promotional materials for Life Surge, a touring Christian financial seminar that promises attendees a blueprint “to grow and use wealth for Kingdom impact”. Ticket packages offering photo ops with the players sold out in advance.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

  •