The inauguration of the Brazilian president took place in Brasilia
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Outrage after Netflix pulls comedy show criticising Saudi Arabia
Standup Hasan Minhaj had mocked official accounts about fate of Jamal Khashoggi
Netflix has taken down an episode of a satirical comedy show critical of Saudi Arabia in the country after officials from the kingdom complained, sparking criticism from Human Rights Watch, which said the act undermined the streaming service’s “claim to support artistic freedom”.
It comes three months after the brutal killing of the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi – which US senators have blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – and as the war in Yemen continues to devastate the country.
Continue reading...Preparations for the Harbin ice and snow festival – in pictures
For weeks before the annual winter festival in Harbin, China, workers collect and transport to the site nearly 200,000 cubic metres of ice cut from the frozen Songhua River. Most of the cutters are farmers from nearby villages who start work before dawn in bitterly low temperatures and earn about US$35 a day
Continue reading...Spite buildings and 50C cities: the most-read urban stories of 2018
From overstretched and overheating cities to an urban paradise that banned cars, here are the best-read cities stories of this year
In a year of unrelenting political and climactic extremes, some of the best-read Guardian Cities stories looked at overpopulation and its impact on the environment and communities; others explored the reality of living in acute, road-melting heat.
We have also heard from underrepresented voices from urban areas ranging from Stoke-on-Trent to Atlanta, and found a truly walkable city. Here are the most-read Cities stories of 2018.
Continue reading...The dark history of Santa’s city: how Rovaniemi rose from the ashes
After the Finnish city was razed to the ground by the German army in the second world war, architect Alvar Aalto rebuilt it to a reindeer-shaped street grid. Then Santa came to town …
As soon as you land at Rovaniemi airport in Lapland you see a reindeer. Not a real one, admittedly, but somebody in a Rudolf suit cheerily greeting passengers who have just arrived. A couple of miles from “Santa’s official airport” lies Santa Claus Village, an amusement park complete with elves, real reindeers, huskies, shops and restaurants that draws more than 600,000 visitors a year to this isolated spot at the edge of the Arctic Circle.
There are reindeer everywhere in Rovaniemi: humans dressed as them at the airport, real ones pulling sleighs at Santa Claus Village and statues of them throughout the city centre.
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