PARIS (AP) — Kim Kardashian thought she was going to be raped and killed when criminals broke into her bedroom in central Paris, tied her up and stole more than $6 million in jewelry.
Exclusive: Force, which had dropped objection to plan, says protests of more than 500 people would impede traffic and require extra resourcesChina’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers.Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell Continue reading…
Prosecutors are using harsh anti-smuggling laws to jail people who have no connection to criminal offences, say migrants’ lawyersFormer law student Samuel, 19, fled his home town of Geneina shortly after it was ransacked during one of the worst massacres of Sudan’s brutal civil war, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million people.After making it overland to Libya, Samuel spent two days crossing the Mediterranean in June before being rescued by a cargo ship and escorted by the Greek coastguard to Crete. Continue reading…
The people of the Sierra Norte have achieved a rare balance – preserving an ancient way of mountain life while welcoming visitorsWhen I reach the mountaintop chapel, I slump on the dry stone wall, wheezing in the thin air, marvelling at what combination of brawn and piety must have been needed to build such a thing at such a height. It might not be a Sunday, but I can tell that mass at 3,000 metres must be magnificent. Open walls reach out to the rolling slopes of the Sierra Norte, 35 miles east of Oaxaca City in southern Mexico, with virgin pine in every direction. Somewhere unseen, a brown-backed solitaire bird lifts a lonely song over the valley. Then comes the bark of warring crows and, most exciting of all, the quick peeps of a hummingbird, believed here to ferry messages between the living and dead. At this height, even to a heathen like me, the urge to pay tribute is understandable.My guide, Eric, who must have a third lung, judging by his ability to tell stories on the climb, becomes quiet and crosses himself before the altar. I’m a little surprised at this show of devotion. Down in the small town of Tlacolula de Matamoros, he had shown us a site the Indigenous Zapotecs used to praise the sacred mountain above – before the Spanish came and plonked a church on the same spot. The colonialists’ intention, Eric explained, was erasure. But when conversion comes at the point of a sword, some resistance seems inevitable. Here, Indigenous signs hide in Catholic icons. Dark stones in holy corners hold animist engravings. Duality is everywhere. Praise whispered in the name of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the mother of Christ to Mexican Catholics, is also meant for Huitzilopochtli, the old sun god. Continue reading…
Offer announcing charges for use in EU seems incongruous to customer stripped of free calls and text add-onI have received a text message from EE stating that it is “shaking up its roaming products”, with a link to a page announcing that “roaming is getting better with EE”.The “better” offer appears to be a daily £2.59 charge for roaming in European countries – seemingly replacing the free calls and texts previously included in my plan. Continue reading…
People who have been convicted for crimes they didn’t commit speak to the actor for a pressing new series. Plus: meet the trailblazing women producing musicDespite the title, Maxine Peake’s new podcast is not about political solidarity or social unity; instead, it focuses on one of the UK’s most baffling, controversial and destructive laws. Joint enterprise has resulted in many people being imprisoned for serious crimes they didn’t actually commit. Here, Peake speaks to activists, criminal barristers, MPs and those convicted in order to better understand the law’s flaws. Rachel AroestiWidely available, all episodes out now Continue reading…
After years of civil war and precarious peace, Covid-19 and the Beirut explosions of 2020 once again plunged Lebanon into crisis. But photographer Rania Matar has found inspiration for her project Where Do I Go? in the country’s women. ‘Instead of focusing on destruction, I chose to focus on their majestic presence, their creativity, strength, dignity, and resilience,’ she says Continue reading…
From the value of your pension to your holidays, the turmoil from Trump’s yo-yoing trade policies will have an impactA trade war with China and suggestions Donald Trump will sack the head of the Federal Reserve have weighed heavily on the US stock market. It was already reeling after the president’s announcement of universal tariffs on the whole world, and, despite recovering some of its losses, remains down on the start of the year.In the UK, you may be wondering whether any of it matters to you. The short answer is that it could – without realising it, you may have exposure to the ups and downs of US shares. Continue reading…
Brought together by the funeral of Pope Francis, the US and Ukrainian presidents sat knee-to-knee in the nave of Saint Peter’s Basilica, in their first meeting since their row in the Oval Office.
Margaret Murphy left her family in Brisbane to make a career for herself in London. Fifteen years on, she and her husband Peter have both grown – but they haven’t grown apartMargaret Murphy had a lovely house in Brisbane, Australia, and four children when she noticed “a cumulative feeling” that she wanted a different sort of life from that of her husband, Peter. They had been happily married for 30 years but their children had grown up, and in the emptier house their “different expectations” became more pronounced. “I wanted to see the world before I got too old, and have adventures,” she says.So, at 56, Murphy travelled alone to the UK, where she knew no one, and at 60 started the first full-time job of her life. Continue reading…
