Man in Black at 50: Johnny Cash’s empathy is needed more than ever

The country star is not always remembered for his politics, but his about-face to withdraw support for Nixon and the Vietnam war may be his finest moment

“I speak my mind in a lot of these songs,” Johnny Cash wrote in the liner notes to the album Man in Black, released 50 years ago today. He might be better known now for the outlaw songs of his youth or the reckonings with death in his final recordings, but Cash used his 1971 album to set out his less-discussed political vision: long on feeling and empathy, and short on ideology and partisanship. The United States seemed hopelessly polarised, and Cash confronted that division head-on, demanding more of his fellow citizens and Christians amid the apparently endless war in Vietnam.

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Tory Islamophobia report a ‘whitewash’, say Muslims in party

Inquiry deems comments from PM were insensitive but finds no evidence of ‘institutional racism’

A long-awaited review into Islamophobia within the Conservative party has been condemned as a whitewash by Muslim Tories despite criticising the language used by Boris Johnson and the mayoral campaign run by Zac Goldsmith for being insensitive to Muslim communities.

The prime minister’s comments, in which he compared women wearing the burqa to letterboxes, were singled out in the review headed by Prof Swaran Singh.

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Glasgow churches subjected to anti-Catholic abuse after Rangers win

Aftermath of Scottish Premiership victory on Saturday marred by vandalism, unrest and abusive behaviour

A number of churches in and around Glasgow were subject to vandalism and anti-Catholic abuse over the weekend, the Guardian has learned, as Rangers supporters rampaged through the city centre on Saturday.

Windows were smashed at the St Maria Goretti church estate in Cranhill, north-east Glasgow. At another church, which has asked not to be identified, a banner with anti-Catholic slogans was draped across railings in time for evening mass, before it was removed by church officials. There were further reports of abusive heckling of those within church grounds. The Guardian understands that two incidents were reported to Police Scotland.

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Indian mosque bulldozed in defiance of high court order

Local officials in Uttar Pradesh demolish mosque that had stood since time of British rule

A local administration in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has defied a state high court order and bulldozed a mosque, in one of the most inflammatory actions taken against a Muslim place of worship since the demolition of the Babri Mosque by a mob of Hindu nationalist rioters in 1992.

The mosque, in the city of Ram Sanehi Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, had stood for at least six decades, since the time of British rule, according to documents held by its committee.

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First-hand stories shed new light on Nazi death marches

Wiener Holocaust Library in London has gathered testimonies and photographs of forced evacuations at end of second world war

First-hand accounts from survivors of Nazi death marches, which formed a last ruthless chapter of the genocide, are to go on display with testimonies translated into English for the first time.

During the death marches, tens of thousands of people died on roadsides of exhaustion, shot for failing to keep up, or murdered in seemingly random massacres as the Nazis moved people from concentration camps before liberation by the allies, leaving a trail of blood across Europe.

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‘Sad and so unfair’: Palestinian Americans celebrate a painful Eid

The violence in Gaza and Jerusalem has made the conclusion to the Muslim holy month a somber event for many

The sound of the call to prayer resonated through Astoria Park in Queens, New York, on an Eid that saw sunny weather and an opportunity for human connection after a year spent apart during the pandemic.

The conclusion to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is usually marked with a celebratory breakfast, new clothes, and a chorus of “Eid Mubaraks” and “Alhamdulillahs.”

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The Guardian view on intercommunal violence in Israel: a dangerous development with deep roots | Editorial

Political rhetoric has cultivated hatred. Both Palestinian and Jewish citizens are paying the price

The horror unfolding in the Middle East is both old and new. There is a terrible familiarity to the destruction the Israeli state is raining down upon Gaza, and the lethal missiles fired from the Strip by Palestinian militants. Three wars and numerous battles have taught everyone what to expect: indifference to civilian lives on both sides. Already 119 Palestinians are dead, including 27 children, while eight Israelis are dead, including one child. The Israeli military describes its approach this time as a “higher tempo and intensity of attacks”, while Hamas is using “heavy rockets” to target heavily populated areas, including Tel Aviv. The risk of escalation into a full war remains. Israel has called up thousands of reservists.

The unexpected and chilling development has been the outbreak of intercommunal violence, with the last few days seeing mob attacks upon both Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jews, and destruction including the torching of synagogues and smashing up of Arab-owned businesses. Ultranationalists, brought by a social media callout explicitly threatening violence, were filmed chanting “Death to Arabs”. An Arab motorist was lynched in the same Tel Aviv suburb, while in the city of Tamra, a Jewish man was stabbed in the neck. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has described such incidents as the biggest threat to Israel, while its president, Reuven Rivlin, said that “a civil war [would] be a danger to our existence, more than all the dangers we have from the outside”.

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‘Hosnia had dreams’: grief in Kabul as girls’ school targeted

Hazara community in mourning but defiant after more than 60 people killed in school bomb blasts


Latifa and Hosnia had been sharing a wooden bench in their classroom at Kabul’s Sayed Al-Shuhada school for the past three years.

When Latifa transferred to Sayed Al-Shuhada, the two girls were immediately drawn to each other and became best friends, always together in their free time, studying side by side, walking home together after school. They found comfort in each other’s presence; support in a place that has never been easy for girls and women.

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Eid al-Fitr celebrations around the world – in pictures

Around the world, Eid al-Fitr celebrations have been taking place in another unprecedented year. With the uneven distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, Muslims in countries like the US and UK have been able to gather en masse for the first time in over a year and celebrate the end of Ramadan. Meanwhile, across Asia, some ceremonies have been more muted and somber, as families continue to lose members to the virus.

Adding to the complex emotions amid this year’s celebration, Muslim communities have been demonstrating solidarity with those affected by the crisis in Gaza, where Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people, including many children. As millions share traditional feasts after a month of fasting, Eid will continue through the evening, and often through the week

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Scores injured in second night of Jerusalem clashes

Palestinian Red Crescent says 80 people were hurt during clashes with Israeli police outside Jerusalem’s Old City

Clashes have erupted for a second night between Palestinians and Israeli police outside the Old City of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby al-Aqsa Mosque.

At least 80 people were injured, including a one-year-old, and 14 were taken to hospital, the Palestine Red Crescent said. Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.

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Ethiopian patriarch pleads for international help to stop rape and genocide by government troops

Orthodox priest releases video statement on suppression of Tigray district

Ethiopian government forces and their allies are committing genocide in the country’s war-torn northern province of Tigray, the head of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church has claimed in a videoed statement demanding urgent international intervention.

The appeal by Abuna [Patriarch] Mathias follows fresh allegations of ethnic cleansing, gang rapes, extrajudicial killings and other atrocities by soldiers loyal to Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who ordered an invasion of Tigray last November.

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Refugees and the Armenian genocide: human rights this fortnight in pictures

A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China

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British man who died in crush at Israeli festival is named as Moshe Bergman

Bergman, 24, had been in Israel to train as a rabbi before dying at Mount Meron

A British man who died in a crowd crush at a Jewish festival in Israel has been named as Moshe Bergman.

The 24-year-old from Salford, Manchester, had been in the country to train to be a rabbi in Jerusalem. He had been living in the city for two years and had married 18 months ago.

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At least 10 children and teens among dead in crush at festival in Israel

Partial list records 45 deaths at ultra-Orthodox event as identification of bodies continues

At least 10 children and teenagers were among 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews killed in a crush at a religious festival in northern Israel, according to a partial list of names published on Saturday as the identification of victims in Israel’s deadliest civilian disaster continued.

Four Americans, a Canadian and a man from Argentina were also among those killed. Two families each lost two children. The youngest victim was nine years old.

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Was King Solomon the ancient world’s first shipping magnate?

Marine archaeologist unearths evidence suggesting biblical king’s riches were based on voyages he funded with Phoenician allies

King Solomon is venerated in Judaism and Christianity for his wisdom and in Islam as a prophet, but the fabled ruler is one of the Bible’s great unsolved mysteries.

Archaeologists have struggled in vain to find conclusive proof that he actually existed. With no inscriptions or remnants of the magnificent palace and temple he is supposed to have built in Jerusalem 3,000 years ago, the Israelite king has sunk into the realm of myth.

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Mona Eltahawy: ‘Feminism is not a T-shirt or a 9 to 5 job. It’s my existence’

One of the fiercest voices of Middle Eastern feminism, the author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls explains her mission to ‘destroy patriarchy’

Every morning, Mona Eltahawy carefully lines her eyes in thick kohl. “It’s a ritual I gift to myself every morning,” explains the 53-year-old Egyptian author, journalist and feminist activist. “Holding that brush is like being a calligrapher, and I consider lining my eyes as a way of writing a love letter to myself. It’s a form of adornment, but it also connects me to my Egyptian heritage, because in ancient Egypt, men and women of all social classes wore eyeliner. It has become a kind of self-care for me since the pandemic began.”

We are speaking via Zoom, with Eltahawy in Montreal, where she lives with her partner. Behind her is a framed portrait of the Egyptian blogger and women’s rights activist Aliaa Mahdy, by the Canadian artist Nadine Faraj. Eltahawy speaks fast, beaded earrings swinging from her ears, often pausing to run her hand through her close-cropped hair; she shaved her long red hair in May. “Red was my power before,” she says, “but to signal power now, I wanted to shave it all off, to say, ‘This is the pandemic me that is emerging.’” Eltahawy is not one for the unexamined life. She is likable, earnest and sincere.

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Quebec court strikes down part of contentious religious symbols ban

Ruling removes limits on some teachers and provincial politicians but maintains ban for police, judges and other civil servants

A Canadian court has struck down part of a disputed Quebec law against public employees wearing religious symbols, removing limits on some teachers and provincial politicians but maintaining the ban for police officers, judges and other civil servants.

The 2019 law, which the Quebec government said was designed to preserve secularism in the mainly French-speaking province, prohibits many civil servants, including police officers, from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs and turbans on the job.

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Campaigners call for global response to ‘unprecedented’ oppression in Xinjiang

Human Rights Watch urges more coordination by governments to tackle China’s treatment of Turkic Muslims

The Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where it has escalated its oppression of Turkic Muslims to unprecedented levels, Human Rights Watch has said, as the NGO called on governments to take direct action against officials and companies that profit from labour in the region.

HRW also recommended the EU delay ratifying its recent trade agreement with China until forced labour allegations were investigated, victims compensated, and there was “substantial progress toward holding perpetrators to account”.

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UK church leaders warn against ‘dangerous’ vaccine passport plans

Hundreds of Christian clergy say proposal could ‘bring about the end of liberal democracy’

Hundreds of UK church leaders have told the prime minister that plans to use vaccine passports for entry into venues is “one of the most dangerous policy proposals ever to be made in the history of British politics” with the “potential to bring about the end of liberal democracy as we know it”.

An open letter to Boris Johnson signed by more than 1,250 clergy from different Christian denominations across the UK says the “introduction of vaccine passports would constitute an unethical form of coercion and violation of the principle of informed consent”.

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