Beauty & Personal Care is one website shows the all News Channel report Like New York Time, Times, BCC, CNN, and also Google top stories
In an era of divisions over the climate breakdown, tree planting seems to bring everyone together. But are there situations where tree planting can cause more harm than good? And how much can it help us counteract global heating? Patrick Greenfield leads you through the science and controversy behind the decisions we’re making and how those decisions could shape our future environment. He and Phoebe Weston from The age of extinction are back with two new episodes
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...Many British citizens stuck at Kabul airport after all UK troops left, as tensions and violence intensify
Boris Johnson and other world leaders have received assurances from the Taliban that foreign nationals and those with authorisation to exit Afghanistan will be free to leave, as tensions and bloodshed escalate on the streets of Kabul.
On Sunday US forces launched a military strike against a vehicle said to be carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Islamic State’s local affiliate who were planning to attack Kabul airport.
Continue reading...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...Experts say this week is ‘crunch’ time as country waits to see whether numbers will continue to fall
Auckland will remain in full lockdown for another two weeks despite a drop in community cases of Covid-19.
New Zealand reported 53 new cases in the community on Monday, bringing the total number in its outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant to 562. It is a drop of 30 cases from Sunday, which was the biggest single day for the outbreak, with 83 cases. There were 82 cases on Saturday.
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...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...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...The livelihoods of 1.5 million people are at risk as the lake’s occasional dry spells occur ever more frequently
• All photographs by Dennis Lupenga/WaterAid
There was a time when the vast Lake Chilwa almost disappeared. In 2012 it had been extremely hot in southern Malawi, with little rain to fill the rivers that ran into the lake.
“Many fishermen were forced to scramble for land near the lake banks, while others had to migrate to the city,” says Alfred Samuel. “We could barely feed our children because the lake could not provide enough fish, or water for rice growing.”
Continue reading...‘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
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
An Aboriginal man in the New South Wales town of Dubbo has become the first Indigenous victim of Covid in Australia.
The man in his 50s had not been vaccinated and had underlying health conditions, health officials said.
Related: Aboriginal man in Dubbo first Indigenous person in Australia to die with Covid
Continue reading...Unvaccinated man in his 50s one of four people in NSW to die with Covid on Sunday
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...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...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...Speaking on Saturday afternoon, Biden vows further strikes against Islamic State as airport terror threat ‘remains high’; largest UK evacuation mission since second world war comes to a close
In the video, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said Britain’s departure from Afghanistan was “the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes”.
Two decades of engagement in Afghanistan by British troops came to an end on Saturday night, brining a close to the largest evacuation mission since the second world war.
Johnson said:
Though we would not have wished to leave in this way, we have to recognise that we came in with the United States, in defence and support of the US and the US military did the overwhelming bulk of the fighting. Though we now leave with the United States, we will remain represented in the region. Together with our allies in America and Europe and around the world, we will engage with the Taliban not on the basis of what they say but what they do.
Continue reading...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...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...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...ParalympicsGB finished the final day of track cycling in the Izu Velodrome at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with a flurry of medals, taking a clean sweep of all three golds available, and also securing a silver and a bronze.
Related: Alison Peasgood pushes to the last in rousing finish to Paralympic triathlon
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...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 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
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...