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Film will only be released after shots of Mercury kissing other men have been dropped from film, reports say The Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody will have all overt LGBT scenes removed for its release in China, it has been reported. According to the Hollywood Reporter , at least a minute will be cut from the film in order to secure permission for it to be screened in Chinese cinemas, including scenes where Mercury (played by Rami Malek) kisses other male characters. Scenes of drug use will also be removed. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2EkxALr

The Tory MP Alberto Costa wants to secure post-Brexit rights. But nothing is certain in the face of a hostile Home Office As theatre, Brexit loses out to drying paint. It is mostly excruciating. Time and again we are promised a high noon shoot-out with cabinet walkouts and armies of pitchfork-wielding Tory rebels, but then anti-climax: the real drama happens behind the scenes as our flawed heroine surrenders, leaving a damp squib finale in the Commons. It’s like the Richard II scene when the king calls off mortal combat between two nobles: that doesn’t end well. Today’s virtually Brexit–free front pages tell the story: no fighting is boring, boring, boring. Related: May and Corbyn have failed us on Brexit again. MPs must back a people’s vote | Anna Soubry Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2NxtVhm

One turns out to be a viral hoax. The other is a major platform that is still rife with distressing and disturbing content I first heard about Momo in my local parents’ WhatsApp group. Someone had screenshotted a Facebook post about a creepy puppet that supposedly appeared in unsuspecting children’s phone messages and spliced into YouTube videos, dispensing advice on self-harm and violent acts. I reacted with suspicion: this would hardly be the first time that something on Facebook turned out not to be true , and the Momo challenge seemed a bit too on the nose – too obviously sinister – to be real. Related: Viral 'Momo challenge' is a malicious hoax, say charities Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GR7gfl

By SARAH STEIN KERR, NATALIE RENEAU and DREW JORDAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2NypYZX

Chair of inquiry ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations from young offender institutions Children held in young offender institutions and secure training centres are still not safe from sexual abuse, an independent inquiry has found. A report by the the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published on Thursday revealed that there were more than 1,000 incidents of alleged sexual abuse reported from 2009 to 2017 and the inquiry chairwoman, Dr Alexis Jay, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the findings. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2tJ7IUy

The building material has improved some aspects of public health, but it is also linked to a host of respiratory and musculoskeletal problems ‘Delicate sense of terror’: what does concrete do to our mental health? Michael has worked with concrete for 27 years. His job involves “breaking out” walls and floors, mixing concrete, injection work and drilling. These days, he suffers from chronic breathlessness, has had a cough for around three years and struggles to walk long distances. It is suspected that an emphysema-like condition called silicosis is to blame. Thanks to early-onset arthritis, he’s had both knees replaced. He’s 49. Though it might not be obvious to the millions of people who spend their days surrounded by this apparently innocuous material, concrete costs the health – and often the lives – of thousands of construction workers every year. The chief culprit is silica dust, which hangs in the air on building sites. Without proper protection, it can, over many years in t...

Charities are reaping the benefits of these modern-day telethons as video game players fundraise live on the internet There has been a quiet revolution in the world of philanthropy over recent years, driven by the fact that sitting down to play a video game until you fall over from sleep deprivation can raise thousands or even millions of dollars for charity – as long as you do it live on the internet. “The impact is big and getting bigger,” says Jeremy Wells, fundraising events manager for Médecins Sans Frontières, a popular partner for charity streams. “Summer Games Done Quick is our biggest fundraiser of the year – it brought in $2.1m last year out of $4.7m for our whole events program.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TelD3t

Inquiry accuses army of killing demonstrators ‘who were not posing an imminent threat’ United Nations investigators have accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally firing on civilians and said they might have committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza. The independent Commission of Inquiry, set up last year by the UN’s human rights council, said Israeli forces killed 189 people and shot more than 6,100 others with live ammunition near the fence that divides the two territories. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2tGMrLd

Deputy leader says pregnant Jewish MP was ‘bullied out of her own party by racist thugs’ Labour party splits exposed Tom Watson has described Luciana Berger’s resignation from Labour over the party’s handling of antisemitism as “the worst day of shame in the party’s 120-year history”. Berger, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree said last week she was leaving along with Chuka Umunna, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith to form the Independent Group. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HbXt2O

Narendra Modi speaks out over air strikes and says ‘terror attacks’ are attempt to halt its progress The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has accused Pakistan of having “evil designs” to stunt India’s growth in his first remarks since a duel between the countries’ fighter jets led to the capture of an Indian air force pilot on Wednesday. The dogfight in the Himalayan foothills , the first between the countries to be publicly acknowledged for 48 years, followed tit-for-tat airstrikes this week that have led to the closure of dozens of airports and put major cities on high alert across the subcontinent. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2H47sY4

Teenager to appear in court over death of Hazrat Umar, 18, in Bordesley Green A 16-year-old boy is due to appear in court charged with murder after a teenager was stabbed to death on a street in Birmingham. Hazrat Umar, 18, died of his injuries at the scene in Bordesley Green on Monday. He was the third teenager to die in a stabbing incident in the city in 12 days. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IEVIhb

Teaching unions warn schools are at ‘absolute breaking point’ following budget cuts A state school in Greater Manchester is to close early on Fridays from September and charge parents who cannot pick their children up at lunchtime, in what teaching unions said was a sign that schools are “at absolute breaking point”. Vale View primary in Reddish, Stockport, is believed to be one of at least 25 schools in England to take the drastic measure of shortening the school week in order to cut costs. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2BXnS11

According to the government, schools in England are getting more funding than ever. Teachers, however, say they are having to cut staff, classes, equipment and even parts of the curriculum. Sonia Sodha takes a closer look at the issue to uncover the truth  Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GRc5We

The 1986 nuclear disaster blighted Ukraine and changed the world. Serhii Plokhy, who won the Baillie Gifford prize for his history of the tragedy, returns to the once sought-after Soviet town ‘These buildings are the tombstones of the dreams and lives that were lived here. It’s a huge cemetery of dreams, if not of people.” From the top of an old Soviet apartment block, Serhii Plokhy looks over Pripyat. “On the one hand it looks like a normal city; on the other hand you see windows without glass, streets without people and town squares taken over by forests.” Now the ghost town is used by the Ukrainian army for sniper practice and has also become a tourist attraction. It’s a far cry from the Pripyat founded in 1970 to support the Soviet Union’s burgeoning nuclear industry. Then, the city had a population of 50,000 and supplied the construction workers and operators for the nearby Chernobyl plant, which opened in 1977. “The nuclear power plant was a major technological innovation at th...

They are rejecting clean eating and queueing around the block for plates of pasta. But is the trend due to the rise of Instagram or vegetarianism? You would be forgiven for thinking pasta is struggling in these carb-concious, Instagram-centric times. After all, a big bowl of beige wheat hardly seems de rigueur. But pasta is popular again, thanks largely to the supposedly starch- averse twenty- and thirtysomethings . Take Padella. The pasta place outside Borough Market in London is notorious for the queues of young professionals that snake from its entrance as mealtimes approach. Tim Siadatan, the chef and co-owner, had no idea when he opened the restaurant in 2016 that punters would be willing to stand in line for a plate of pappardelle. “It genuinely hadn’t crossed my mind,” he says. “We thought during busy periods a queue might form in the way a queue might form at lunchtime in Pret, but none of us imagined it would become a thing we’d have to manage.” Nowadays, 500 diners turn up ...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was right to criticize the first daughter’s ill-informed comments on guaranteed jobs Responding to a question about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed Green New Deal and its call for a federal job guarantee, Ivanka Trump this week offered sage wisdom: “I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years,” she said. “People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want.” The statement sparked outrage, including from Ocasio-Cortez. She tweeted in response: “As a person who actually worked for tips & hourly wages in my life, instead of having to learn about it 2nd-hand, I can tell you that most people want to be paid enough to live.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GQgpoM

Councils are buckling under the strain of families in crisis, thanks to catastrophic cuts to children and young people’s services If ministers wish to understand a changing Britain, they would do well to talk to Jess. As a teenager in the early 2000s, life with her parents was hard. By the age of 15, Jess was homeless and sleeping anywhere she could: her gran’s, a canal boat, even a shopping centre fire escape. The trauma of it all triggered severe mental health problems and soon she was regularly self-harming. In the end, she tried to take her own life. Ask Jess what caught her and it can be boiled down to a safety net: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) for mental health support, and a place at a specialist youth hostel. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2NFi9ln

Romelu Lukaku is the 20th most prolific scorer in Premier League history, but he gets judged by the wrong standards Romelu Lukaku’s two goals against Crystal Palace on Wednesday took him to 111 in the Premier League, level with Dion Dublin as the 20th most prolific scorer in the competition’s history. This was only the fourth time he has completed 90 minutes under Ole Gunnar Solskjær and they were his first goals in almost two months, and yet there is a sense that Lukaku as much as anybody is benefiting from the burst of Norwegian sunshine over Old Trafford. Perhaps it doesn’t seem like much for the 10th most expensive signing in history to pull level with the presenter of a daytime-TV property show . It should be acknowledged that there is some evidence that football was played before 1992 and that some forwards may have amassed many more goals before the Premier League existed. But still, Lukaku now stands only two goals behind Ian Wright (who admittedly was 28 at the start of the ...

Reports suggest World League will include Japan and USA 12-team league would lock out Pacific Islands Sexton, president of players’ union, says plans are ‘out of touch’ World Rugby’s planned revamp of the international calendar which would see a 12-team World League launch in 2020 has been criticised by leading players, including Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell. Sexton, the world player of the year, described the plans as “out of touch” while Farrell said the “proposal shows no signs of improving an already difficult situation” regarding the strain on player welfare. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Ei8VXP

By ERICA L. GREEN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2ECaXDw

By PATRICIA MAZZEI and KEN BELSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Nz0jQP

Donald Trump says North Korea wanted all sanctions lifted in return for partial denuclearisation Trump Kim summit: Trump holds press conference after talks break down – live Donald Trump has said that a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un broke down over the issue of sanctions, after the talks in Vietnam ended early with no deal. “It was about the sanctions basically,” Trump said at a press conference in Hanoi. “They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that ... Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2XuSz6L

After a ‘sleepless night reflecting’, barrister says sorry for his ‘terrible choice of phrase’ Robert Richter has apologised for his “terrible choice of phrase” in describing George Pell’s sexual abuse of a 13-year-old choirboy as “vanilla sexual penetration”. The queen’s counsel has been widely criticised for the remark, which came during a plea hearing for the cardinal who is now behind bars awaiting sentence for orally raping the boy, and molesting him and another 13-year-old after a Sunday mass in 1996. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2H2HfJz

In a new docuseries, the case at the centre of the phenomenally popular podcast is brought back into the light with sensitivity and insight By the time that many viewers tune into HBO’s new documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed, many will be coming to the story with pre-conceived ideas about who Syed is and whether he belongs in prison. In some ways, the new documentary is indeed an extension of the phenomenally popular first season of Sarah Koenig’s podcast Serial, which offered intrigued listeners an immersive look at Syed’s murder conviction for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. But while ads for the docuseries might lure viewers in with the promise of new evidence that will help to determine the truth, director Amy Berg, whose Catholic sex abuse doc Deliver Us From Evil was nominated for an Oscar, is ultimately less interested in drumming up scandal than in probing deeper into the unanswered questions of the case. While The Case Against Adnan Syed does provide...

Fox News Breaking News Alert Trump says he wasn't prepared to lift US sanctions on North Korea 02/28/19 12:36 AM

Artist was in the Netherlands for the opening of a new show at the Van Gogh Museum David Hockney was rescued by Amsterdam firefighters and the editor of the Daily Mail after being trapped in an overcrowded lift with journalists including the BBC’s James Naughtie. The incident took place when the 81-year-old artist was heading for a cigarette, before being interviewed by the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IJCUxd

Care workers and cleaners among those trapped in in-work poverty, say campaigners More than 1 million public sector workers in Britain are paid less than the amount required to make ends meet, trapping them in in-work poverty, according to a report. The Living Wage Foundation said as many as 1.2 million people working for the NHS, councils and other public sector employers receive unsustainably low wages of less than £9 an hour, or £10.55 in London. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Sux9mQ

Open-letter signatory Susana Malcorra says women ‘need to be very prepared to fight back’ amid global political shift More than 30 female world leaders including current and former heads of state have called for a fightback against the erosion of women’s rights, with one former minister singling out countries led by “a macho-type strongman” as part of the problem. Susana Malcorra, the former Argentinian foreign minister, said in some countries the push for women’s rights was seen as something that harmed men, rather than an opportunity to change gender expectations in a way that helped everyone. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IF2e7v

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Signing ceremony between US and North Korea looking unlikely ... Michael Cohen delivers bombshell testimony … and, semi-identical twins This is Alison Rourke bringing you this morning’s briefing. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UhSaD3

In dramatic testimony, Cohen claims Trump committed crimes to cover up affair and had prior knowledge of Wikileaks release Support the Guardian’s independent journalism that brings clarity at this critical moment. Make a contribution Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen accused the president in explosive public testimony before Congress of knowing in advance about key events under investigation in the Russia inquiry and of committing criminal conspiracy in the coverup of an extramarital affair. In a day of high drama before the House oversight committee , Cohen delivered a string of bombshells that could spawn fresh investigations by Congress and the FBI. Testifying on Wednesday, he labelled the US president a “racist” and “conman”, produced signed checks that he said were proof of a fraudulently disguised conspiracy to silence a former adult film actor, and gave what he claimed were eyewitness accounts that implied Trump had prior knowledge of crucial Russia links. Con...

Prime minister expected to offer greater guarantees, including over future EU rules Theresa May is to formally announce a series of new pledges on workers’ rights and the easing of trade union restrictions, in the latest attempt to get Labour MPs to support her Brexit deal. Labour sources said they were expecting the prime minister to table a ministerial statement next week setting out greater guarantees for workers post-Brexit, including a “non-regression lock” and giving MPs a vote on whether to adopt future EU rules on workers’ rights. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2U7uEIM

Groups say no evidence yet of self-harm from craze, but resulting hysteria poses a risk It is the most talked about viral scare story of the year so far, blamed for child suicides and violent attacks – but experts and charities have warned that the “Momo challenge” is nothing but a “moral panic” spread by adults. Warnings about the supposed Momo challenge suggest that children are being encouraged to kill themselves or commit violent acts after receiving messages on messaging service WhatsApp from users with a profile picture of a distorted image of woman with bulging eyes. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2U7PHKZ

Commissioners demand hard numbers from firm ahead of European parliament elections Facebook has repeatedly withheld key data on its alleged efforts to clamp down on disinformation ahead of the European elections, the EU’s executive has said. Related: Anti-vaxx propaganda has gone viral on Facebook. Pinterest has a cure Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2EkmPIT

Diabulimia, which can be fatal, occurs if type 1 diabetics stop taking insulin to lose weight Diabetics who also have a rare and potentially fatal eating disorder are to start receiving specialist NHS help to reduce their risk of suffering its “devastating” consequences. About 55,000 people in England with type 1 diabetes also have diabulimia, which occurs when a person with the condition stops taking insulin regularly because they want to lose weight. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IUsL11

Law professor says overturning the verdict on the basis of unreasonableness is ‘the defence’s best shot’ Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his convictions of sexually assaulting and penetrating choirboys is likely to be granted and has a good chance of succeeding on the basis of unreasonableness, according to legal experts and defence lawyers. Pell’s defence barrister, Robert Richter, told the sentencing hearing on Wednesday that his client’s appeal would be based on three key grounds: unreasonableness, the prohibition of video evidence in the closing address, and composition of the jury. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Vq5eGq

Delhi angered by ‘vulgar display’ of wing commander in bloodied uniform by Islamabad India has called for the safe and immediate return of a fighter pilot seized by Pakistan after being shot down during tit-for-tat incursions over Kashmir that have edged the pair closer to war than at any point in the past 20 years. Its pilot, a wing commander identified as Abhi Nandan, appeared in a bloodied uniform as he gave his name and rank in a video released by the Pakistani armed forces. Asked by his interrogator to say more, he replied: “I am sorry, sir, that’s all I’m supposed to tell you.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Uc8IMn

Automotive industry is also being hit by EU diesel vehicle rules and Brexit uncertainty British car production declined for the eighth month in a row in January as output bound for China plunged by more than 70%. The car industry is struggling with multiple headwinds, including falling demand in China , a regulatory backlash against diesel vehicles in Europe and continued uncertainty over Brexit, which has put the brakes on investment in the UK. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2NvtjJ2

Reservoir’s flood drain was expected to be used once every 50 years, but has seen action twice in last two Some say it looks like a a toilet being flushed; in more generous interpretations, it is a beautiful inverted fountain. Related: 103-year-old woman becomes Grand Canyon ranger: 'I enjoy every minute' Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2XqVsFP

From the 80s onwards, the borderlands were rife with paramilitary cruelty and racism. But the president’s rhetoric has thrown fuel on the fire. By Greg Grandin No myth in American history has been more powerful, more invoked by more presidents, than that of pioneers advancing across the frontier – a word that in the United States came to mean less a place than a state of mind, an imagined gateway into the future. No writer is more associated with the idea of the frontier than Frederick Jackson Turner, who, in the late 1800s, argued that the expansion of settlement across a frontier of “free land” created a uniquely American form of political equality, a vibrant, forward-looking individualism. Onward, and then onward again. There were lulls, doubts, dissents and counter-movements. But the expansionist imperative has remained constant, in one version or another, for centuries. As Woodrow Wilson, who before he was president was a colleague of Turner, said: “A frontier people always in our...

Biologist Rob Dunn is the David Attenborough of the domestic sphere, uncovering everything from microbes in the shower to spiders in the basement. He goes on safari in the satisfyingly dusty corners of one Copenhagen home The good news is that I will never be home alone again. The bad news – well, it’s not in fact bad news, but it is slightly unsettling – is that I share my home with at least 5,000 other species: wasps, flies, spiders, silverfish and an exotic bunch of wild bacteria. All that information is apparently contained in a patch of grey dust I have just swabbed with my right index finger from a door frame in my living room. It’s like a DNA test of my house, says Rob Dunn , a 43-year-old American biologist who has come to my house in Copenhagen to hunt microbial life. He carries no lab gear and his blue crewneck jumper and striped Oxford shirt are hardly the combat suit of an exterminator. But with every discovery we make, with every spider we find lurking in the corner or e...

On a climbing trip in Australia – to the rock formations below Mount Wellington near Hobart – Murdo MacLeod gets more drama than he bargained for Climbing guide John Fischer Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2VkOD6I

In its third season, the smart, un-flashy series about a single mother juggling her life as an actor with her role at home, feels fresher and more daring than ever Since it first began in 2016, Better Things has been slowly becoming one of the finest comedies on television, but it has always been resolutely un-flashy in its brilliance. Partly that’s because its subject matter is contained and domestic, and because, in a typical episode, not very much appears to happen at all. Pamela Adlon, who writes, directs and stars, has fashioned a gorgeous and loosely autobiographical story about a raspy-voiced single mother, Sam, who is a jobbing actor, and her three daughters, living in Los Angeles. It touches on elements that are at once familiar - ageing, mortality, how women and men relate to one another - and gives them all new powers. Related: Jena Friedman: the outrageous talkshow host women have been waiting for Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TiAJ81

Medical experts who counter misinformation are weathering coordinated attacks. Now some are fighting back When the naturopath Elias Kass testified before a Washington state senate committee on 20 February with a baby on his chest and a pacifier in his hand, he knew that his arguments would be unpopular with the anti-vaccine activists in the room. Amid a measles outbreak that has infected 66 people so far, legislators were considering a bill to eliminate personal and philosophical exemptions for childhood vaccinations, and Kass was one of several practitioners to speak in support of the measure. Related: Revealed: Facebook enables ads to target users interested in 'vaccine controversies' Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TlYKei

Beijing’s new airport is just the latest megaproject that has seen China pour more concrete every two years than the US did in the entire 20th century Find the rest of our Guardian concrete week pieces here In the suburbs south of Beijing, what could one day be the world’s busiest airport is rapidly taking shape. Nicknamed “the starfish” due to the striking design by Zaha Hadid Architects, the Beijing Daxing international airport is set to open in October, and could eventually handle more than 100 million passengers a year. While the 52,000-tonne steel exoskeleton covering the airport’s six concourses immediately catches the eye, what lies beneath is familiar to many Chinese mega-projects: concrete – 1.6 m cubic metres of it. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2T7fsyS

A new book by lexicographer Susan Rennie collects the author’s nonsensical insults and expletives, celebrating ‘words that push the boundaries a little bit’ If a small child were to walk up to the lexicographer Susan Rennie in the street and call her a slopgroggled grobsquiffler, she would know exactly how to reply. “You squinky squiddler!” she would shout. “You piffling little swishfiggler! You troggy little twit! Don’t you dare talk pigsquiffle to me, you prunty old pogswizzler!” Either that, or she would thank the child profusely for taking the time to read her latest book, Roald Dahl’s Rotsome and Repulsant Words. Ostensibly a children’s dictionary of Dahl’s insults and expletives, the book also offers a chance to explore and analyse Dahl’s creative use of language, encouraging Dahl lovers of any age to have fun playing with his naughty-sounding words. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TiROyB

From the ‘one-size-fits-men’ approach to smartphone design to the medical trials that are putting women’s lives at risk … this book uses data like a laser The problem with feminism is that it’s just too familiar. The attention of a jaded public and neophiliac media may have been aroused by #MeToo , with its connotations of youth, sex and celebrity, but for the most part it has drifted recently towards other forms of prejudice, such as transphobia. Unfortunately for women, though, the hoary old problems of discrimination, violence and unpaid labour are still very much with us. We mistake our fatigue about feminism for the exhaustion of patriarchy. A recent large survey revealed that more than two thirds of men in Britain believe that women now enjoy equal opportunities. When the writer and activist Caroline Criado Perez campaigned to have a female historical figure on the back of sterling banknotes, one man responded: “But women are everywhere now!” It’s a smart strategy, therefore, t...

One of Pope Francis’s trusted advisers is now the most senior member of the Catholic church to be convicted of child abuse. The Guardian’s Melissa Davey was in court every day and describes the trial that brought about Pell’s downfall. Plus: Alex Hern on Facebook’s decision to permanently ban the far-right activist Tommy Robinson Warning: this episode contains descriptions of rape and abuse Cardinal George Pell was remanded in custody this week awaiting sentencing in Melbourne having become the most senior member of the catholic church to ever be convicted of child abuse. The chief judge in the case described Pell’s behaviour as “callous, brazen offending” and “shocking conduct”. The Guardian’s Melissa Davey was in court for every day of the dramatic trial and describes how the evidence mounted up against Cardinal Pell, once a trusted adviser to Pope Francis. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2tHqHir

Britons are so drenched in unknowables that we can’t make any decisions at all, from hobbies and holidays to housing In 25 years of covering British politics – overstating outrages, decrying terrible ideas that have already happened, wishing someone else were in charge (someone more like me) – I have never been here before. I don’t mean: “I’ve never looked at the ranks of government with such distaste and despair,” because there was no way of knowing, 10 years ago, that things would get this much worse. No, I mean, I’ve never felt the public realm bleed so relentlessly into my personal life that I’m drenched in unknowables and can’t make any decisions at all. All questions end: “Wait and see what happens in March, I guess.” “Do we move house?” is merely the headline uncertainty that probably only affects a few. Where do you go on holiday when you don’t know what’s going to happen to the pound? This stuff matters. I have a friend who went to France last year and spent £25 on a chicken...

The defiant Channel 4 drama that aired 20 years ago was a lifeline for anxious teenagers surrounded by negative stereotypes. It was like coming up for air. When Queer As Folk was first televised , 20 years ago, I was a closeted 14-year-old who was, frankly, desperate not to be gay. Life is hassle enough, I thought. Any thoughts of same-sex attraction were met with an oh-God-please-not-this panic. A vision of a supposedly normal future life – wife, kids – was being snatched away, with no clear desirable alternative. Being gay seemed to me to be a mishmash of the threat of Aids, not being “a man”, dying alone, and a lifetime of misery and rejection. I grew up in the centre of Stockport, and Queer As Folk was set just seven miles away, on Canal Street (“Anal Street”, my peers would snigger), the heart of Manchester’s LGBT community. It may as well have been a different universe: I lived in a suffocatingly laddish, heterosexual world (the Facebook wall of one of my then best friends is t...

Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2BY7oFS

Trump’s Republicans need to ask themselves: how long are they planning to protect the unprotectable? Donald Trump has done some strange things to the Republican party. Gone is their disgust at Stalinist tyrants from North Korea. Vanished is their outrage at deficit spending. Evaporated is their horror at a president who ignores Congress and the constitution. But those bizarre twists are nothing compared to the screwball comedy that was the House oversight committee on Tuesday, as its Republicans grilled Trump’s former fixer, henchman and bagman, Michael Cohen. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ECgHNu

Radical thought can be positive and progressive, it doesn’t have to mean joining a death cult The legal and moral conundrums posed by the return (or not) of British jihadis following the collapse of the Islamic State “caliphate” has triggered renewed anxiety about the place of Muslim youth in western society. The home secretary, Sajid Javid’s populist bid to strip Shamima Begum of citizenship has heightened the pitch of an emotive debate. But little has changed in Britain’s approach to counter-terrorism, soon to undergo independent review following years of heavy criticism. The Prevent strategy places entire communities under suspicion without necessarily being effective. European equivalents have fared similarly. A €2.5m French deradicalisation boot camp in the Loire valley asked participants to sing the national anthem, eat non-halal food and learn “Republican values” without rehabilitating a single individual. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2T65Kwo

Leave voters aren’t stupid and their issues must be taken on board in a positive campaign The most virulent abuse I have received in the last few months has come from remainers, even though I campaigned strongly for remain. I was also one of the first MPs to acknowledge the arguments for another referendum, have – unlike Chuka Umunna - been consistent in defending freedom of movement, was one of the first to consider the extension of article 50 and have regularly highlighted what is lost by leaving. But I have also said, repeatedly, that those who voted for Brexit won the right to be heard, that the referendum result was a result and that the motion passed at the Labour party conference in September was the best plan to keep the party and the country together. That put me beyond the pale for some. Related: Labour will win more votes than it loses by backing another referendum | Peter Kellner Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TllT0h

• Willy Caballero chosen in goal for win over Spurs • Sarri: ‘Kepa made a big mistake and paid’ Maurizio Sarri justified his decision to drop Kepa Arrizabalaga as payback for the goalkeeper’s petulance during the Carabao Cup final , with the world’s most expensive goalkeeper far from guaranteed a return for Sunday’s game at Fulham. Arrizabalaga, who had apologised and been fined a week’s wages, sat out Chelsea’s excellent victory over Tottenham after refusing to be substituted at Wembley. He remains Sarri’s first choice but, with Tottenham unable to muster a shot on target to unsettle his replacement, Willy Caballero, Arrizabalaga may have to wait for a return to the first team. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2SvGnyX

Tovala (YC W16) Looking for Android Dev in SF by drabie | on Hacker News .

Pachyderm Raised $10M and Is Looking for a Enterprise UI Designer by jaz46 | on Hacker News .

BuildZoom (marketplace for construction) is hiring engineers by the_economist | on Hacker News .

Fox News Breaking News Alert No agreement after second nuclear summit 02/27/19 11:12 PM

Fox News Breaking News Alert Trump sits down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam 02/27/19 5:59 PM

Fox News Breaking News Alert Cohen says he has never been to Prague, refuting key Russia collusion claim of Steele dossier 02/27/19 10:49 AM

Tesorio (YC S15) Is Hiring Eng. Managers, Data Scientists, Designers, PMs and More by FabioFleitas | on Hacker News .

US president flatters North Korean counterpart and offers economic help if he disarms Trump and Kim meet in Hanoi - live updates Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have begun their second summit in Hanoi, with the US president calling his North Korean counterpart “a great leader” and offering to help give his country a “tremendous future”. The two leaders advanced towards each other and shook hands in front of a dozen US and North Korean flags, set up in the city’s Metropole hotel, in a tableau near-identical to the backdrop to their first meeting, eight months ago in Singapore. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2T5pKPM

British label vows to embrace diversity and inclusion amid anger over knot design Burberry has pledged to give its employees mandatory training and increase its support to the Samaritans after it was widely condemned for putting a jumper with a “noose” design on the catwalk. A week after the luxury fashion house apologised for the hoodie , which ties in the shape of noose, its chief executive, Marco Gobbetti, said the brand would embrace diversity and inclusion through a series of initiatives. “We are not where we need or want to be,” he said in a statement posted on Instagram. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2BQA43t

By NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2BXNVFw

We condemn Russia’s illegal occupation, which continues to jeopardise international peace five years after it began Five years ago, Russia gravely challenged the idea of a peaceful and free Europe. With its aggression against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea , Russia openly demonstrated its contempt for the principles of international law, and presented a serious threat to European security. Today, the people of Ukraine are more united than ever in their support for their country’s European orientation. Ukraine still has many demanding tasks and reforms to implement, but impressive progress has been made despite ongoing Russian aggression. Ukraine of today is profoundly different from Ukraine pre-2014, and has never before been so close to Europe and European values. By contrast, Crimea under Russian occupation is moving backwards. The people living there are ever more isolated, and the situation with respect to human rights and socio-economic conditions continues to deter...

Teenager hospitalised after getting into difficulty in River Eden on warmest day of year A 13-year-old boy is critically ill in hospital after getting into difficulty in a river on Britain’s warmest winter day on record. Police were called to the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, at about 5.15pm on Tuesday before firefighters pulled the teenager from the water. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2XraD1J

Fox News Breaking News Alert President Trump and Kim Jong Un shake hands to kick off Hanoi summit 02/27/19 3:36 AM

Supreme court says investigation into killing of Belfast solicitor was ineffective The official investigation into the 1989 murder of the Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles, was ineffective and failed to meet the required human rights standards, the supreme court has ruled. In a unanimous judgment, five justices said the investigation carried out by Sir Desmond de Silva in 2011 was frustrated by his inability to compel witnesses to testify about the killing. The court did not, however, order a public inquiry and has left it up to the government to decide whether further investigation is needed. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TmNsq8

Prime minister pleads with parliament to ‘do its duty’ and back Brexit deal All today’s political developments - live updates Theresa May has insisted it is still possible for the UK to leave the European Union on 29 March if enough MPs back a revised withdrawal deal, amid signs hardline Eurosceptics may be softening their demands. In an article in the Daily Mail, the prime minister pleaded with MPs to get behind her deal, after she was forced to give them votes on extending article 50 and ruling out no deal if her withdrawal agreement does not pass. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2T2Y1PL

Chris Williamson urged by Labour leadership to apologise for ‘downplaying the problem’ The Labour MP Chris Williamson has been urged to apologise by the party’s leadership, and could face disciplinary action, after he was filmed saying the party had been “too apologetic” about complaints of antisemitism. Williamson, a former shadow minister, told a meeting of Sheffield Momentum that Labour had been “demonised” over the issue. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Tm7tgz

Mayor Sadiq Khan announces £15m boost after cuts to services left them at ‘breaking point’ Domestic violence has risen dramatically in London in the past seven years, figures show, prompting concern about the hidden problem of “widespread sexual violence” in the capital. It comes as the mayor Sadiq Khan announces an extra £15m of funding into services, saying cuts had left them at “breaking point”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UeYVpa

From soviet five-year plans to the New Deal in the US and China’s Great Leap Forward to post-war building in Europe, concrete has been the material of choice for revolutionary change Find the rest of our Guardian concrete week pieces here “This process,” wrote François Coignet in 1861 of his new product, “will transform the safety, well-being, health and morality of mankind.” He predicted it would inspire nothing less than a “revolution” – not a word to be used lightly with the events of 1848 still fresh in the French memory. Coignet’s new product was concrete, and he wasn’t far wrong in his predictions – except maybe for the bit about morality. Coignet was a Saint-Simonian socialist , which is to say that, unlike Marx, he thought social equality could be achieved without class war. He believed that concrete would be a step towards a world in which working people would own the means of production. Wherever the raw materials for concrete – sand and limestone – were available, whic...

Enough to induce a panic attack ... a brutal portrait of climate change and our future lives on Earth. But we have the tools to avoid it You already know it’s bad. You already know the weather has gone weird, the ice caps are melting, the insects are disappearing from the Earth. You already know that your children, and your children’s children, if they are reckless or brave enough to reproduce, face a vista of rising seas, vanishing coastal cities, storms, wildfires, biblical floods. As someone who reads the news and is sensitive to the general mood of the times, you have a general sense of what we’re looking at. But do you truly understand the scale of the tribulations we face? David Wallace-Wells , author of the distressingly titled The Uninhabitable Earth , is here to tell you that you do not. “It is,” as he puts it in the book’s first line, “worse, much worse, than you think.” The book expands on a viral article, also titled The Uninhabitable Earth, which Wallace-Wells published...

Young black men have long been expected to submit to being exoticised by white women – and when they don’t, they are often punished. One writer calls for an honest discussion I’m going to talk about something that, until now, I have largely kept to myself. It’s odd, as I consider myself a writer of extreme honesty, and I try to carry that over into real life. And yet, even now, I’m hesitating, and I realise to some degree I have procrastinated even more than usual about the thinking, and writing, of this. The committing of a hidden life event to the written word. That’s always a scary act. I used to wonder if my reluctance was driven by shame, or simply my incredulity at what took place all those years ago. Now, I think that it is those things mostly, but also a hell of a lot more. Over the last few years, particularly in the recent crosswinds of our racial and cultural political climate, this life event bubbled to the surface of my memory, never quite boiling over. I’ve talked about ...

The Independent Group’s amendment today aims to stop the two main parties leading us over the no-deal cliff edge Yesterday’s statement from the prime minister was another shameful moment in a Brexit process that has not been short of them. We are used to the sight of Theresa May coming to the House of Commons and spending hours taking questions. What we have not had much of are answers. This was the case again when I asked her whether no deal remains on the table. It clearly is – despite parliament voting against it, and the views of her cabinet, ministers and sensible backbenchers. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GOpVsn