Painstaking research deciphers carvings of religious bounty dating back almost five centuries
For almost 500 years, the arch that connects the largest Gothic cathedral in the world with its Renaissance sacristy has offered visitors a sumptuous, if little glimpsed – and even less studied – vision of religious bounty.
The 68 beautifully carved plates of food that adorn the archway in Seville’s cathedral offer rather more than bread and wine.
Continue reading...Fighting between Rwandan forces and insurgents linked to Islamic State breaks out in Cabo Delgado
Foreign troops sent to reinforce local security forces in Mozambique have clashed with Islamist militants for the first time, as the conflict in the east African country moves into a new and potentially dangerous phase.
Rwandan soldiers who recently arrived in Mozambique fought a series of engagements against the extremists last week. Few reliable details of the fighting, which took place near Mozambique’s border with Tanzania, have emerged, but officials claim the insurgents suffered dozens of casualties.
Continue reading...Vice foreign minister Xie Feng described relations between the superpowers as a ‘stalemate’ in discussions with US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman
China has blamed the US for what it called a “stalemate” in bilateral relations and accused Washington of “demonising” Beijing as high-level face-to-face talks began in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
Vice foreign minister Xie Feng urged the US “to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern said it was the ‘right step’ to allow return of woman and her children from Turkey
New Zealand has agreed that a suspected member of Islamic State who grew up in Australia can be repatriated from Turkey along with her two young children, a decision prime minister Jacinda Ardern said was “not taken lightly”.
The woman was a dual Australian-New Zealand citizen until Australia revoked her citizenship and refused to reverse the decision, prompting a furious response earlier this year from Ardern, who accused Australia of shirking its responsibilities.
Continue reading...In viral video, Instagram user Dan Bailey harangues primetime anchor at outdoor goods store in Montana
In a confrontation that swiftly went viral, a Montana man told Fox News host Tucker Carlson: “You are the worst human being known to mankind.”
Related: Michael Wolff: Murdoch hates Trump but loves Fox News money more
Continue reading...Video captures the moment a huge rockfall hit the Sangra valley in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, destroying a bridge, cars and killing at least nine tourists.
Continue reading...World Health Organization has called on government to impose tighter virus curbs
Indonesia’s government has said small businesses and some shopping malls can reopen despite warnings that loosening curbs could spark another Covid wave.
President Joko Widodo said measures imposed in early July would continue until 2 August as the Delta variant spreads across the country, which has been overtaking India and Brazil as the world’s virus epicentre.
Continue reading...Driver reportedly fell asleep on journey between Frankfurt and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo
At least 10 people have died after a bus swerved off a highway and crashed in Croatia, police have said.
The incident, believed to have happened when the driver fell asleep early on Sunday, has left at least 44 others injured, some seriously.
Continue reading...Hungarians joined the annual Budapest Pride march to support LGBTQ people and oppose a law that limits teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in schools. Organisers said in a statement the rally would show opposition to 'power-hungry politicians' and reject intimidation of LGBTQ people
Continue reading...Latest updates: Sajid Javid sorry for ‘poor choice of words’ after criticism from victims’ families; Indonesia has extended its Covid-19 restrictions by a week
That’s it from the blog today. Thank you for your time.
Italy reported seven coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday compared with five the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 4,743 from 5,140 on Saturday.
Italy has registered 127,949 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world.
The country has reported more than 4.3 million cases to date.
The speaker of the US House, Nancy Pelosi, intends to appoint a second anti-Trump Republican to the select committee which will investigate the deadly 6 January assault on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.
Related: Can Pelosi’s power play on Capitol attack panel thwart wrecking tactics?
Continue reading...Viewers complain after rights-holder Discovery puts majority of events behind paywall
The BBC has faced a series of complaints about the lack of live Tokyo Olympics coverage on its channels, after viewers failed to realise the International Olympic Committee has sold the majority of UK television rights to pay-TV company Discovery.
During the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics the BBC was able to offer dozens of free livestreams of different sports, revolutionising how British viewers watched the games and providing much-needed publicity to niche events that would not normally have enjoyed their moment in the public eye.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Analysis raises questions about the organisation’s safeguarding procedures
More than 250 people in the UK and Ireland have been convicted of child sexual abuse offences committed while they were Scout leaders or in other positions of responsibility within the Scout movement, according to analysis that raises questions about the organisation’s safeguarding procedures.
For decades, the Scout movement has been promoted as offering the chance to experience adventures and gain life skills but a review of offenders shows that for scores of children it has led to abuse at the hands of someone entrusted with their welfare.
Continue reading...Hundreds sign petition after the jobs of Tanya Barson and Pablo Martínez, two senior figures at Macba, are axed
A row has broken out in the international art world over the departures of Tanya Barson, the English curator, and Pablo Martínez, the head of programmes, from the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (Macba).
The pair departed on 16 July, the day after Elvira Dyangani Ose, the director of the Showroom in London, was appointed as the museum’s new director.
Continue reading...The fire that devastated Lytton is still burning – and First Nation residents say the lack of help from the British Columbia government has been ‘sickening’
Vince Abbott had an afternoon of fishing planned – he was going angling for spring salmon in the nearby river – when he heard shouts of panic and felt a searing heat.
After three punishing days of record-breaking temperatures in the Canadian village of Lytton earlier this month, Abbott was accustomed to the discomfort of the dry, sometimes overpowering, summer heat. But this felt different.
Continue reading...Mason, who was a rabbi before turning to comedy, was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary
Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, west coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.
Mason died on Saturday at 6pm local time in Mount Sinai hospital in Manhattan after being in hospital for more than two weeks, the celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder said.
Continue reading...Only 1.6% of the Guatemalan population has been fully vaccinated, and amid corruption allegations critics are calling on the president to quit
The last time René García spoke with his family, he was having a coffee at home south of the Guatemalan capital last year after receiving an insulin shot that failed to improve his health.
Related: Argentina threatens to cancel deal for Sputnik vaccine as Russia fails to deliver
Continue reading...The south of the country bears the scars of how bosses enriched their clans with illegal, brutalist buildings and gaudy, now decaying, villas
If you ask Maurizio Carta what the mafia looks like, he will take you to the residential areas of the Sicilian capital of Palermo. There, hundreds of desolate, nondescript grey apartment blocks scar the suburbs and a vast part of the historic centre.
It is the result of a building frenzy of the 1960s and 1970s, when Vito Ciancimino, a mobster from the violent Corleonesi clan, ordered the demolition of splendid art nouveau mansions to make space for brutalist tower blocks, covering vast natural and garden areas with tonnes of concrete. It is one of the darkest chapters in the postwar urbanisation of Sicily, and would go down in history as the “sack of Palermo”.
Continue reading...‘Disastrous’ energy policies of China, Russia, Brazil and Australia could stoke 5C rise in temperatures if adopted by the rest of the world
A key group of leading G20 nations is committed to climate targets that would lead to disastrous global warming, scientists have warned. They say China, Russia, Brazil and Australia all have energy policies associated with 5C rises in atmospheric temperatures, a heating hike that would bring devastation to much of the planet.
The analysis, by the peer-reviewed group Paris Equity Check, raises serious worries about the prospects of key climate agreements being achieved at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in three months. The conference – rated as one of the most important climate summits ever staged – will attempt to hammer out policies to hold global heating to 1.5C by agreeing on a global policy for ending net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
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