Author: George Lanington

Manchester United remain at the top of the Premier League table, with a three-point lead over Liverpool, as the season approaches its halfway point. It's a state of affairs that would have felt absolutely ridiculous as recently as early October, when they were losing 6-1 at home to Tottenham, and even now it will have some eyebrows flying skyward.Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the coach, admitted during the week that his team "really hadn't turned the world on many times." They continued the trend at Anfield, primarily wanting to be tough to beat, and yet they will ponder having not one but two glorious chances to secure a landslide victory over their fiercest rivals.The opportunities came late, after United absorbed what Liverpool could more comfortably throw at them, and the defending champio...

It was a deliberate provocation by B'Tselem, Israel's largest human rights group, to describe the Palestinians in the Holy Land as living under an apartheid regime. Many Israelis hate the idea that their country, which they see as a democracy that emerged from a genocidal pyre, can be compared to the old Afrikaner racist regime. However, figures like Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter have.There is a serious discussion about the injustices that can be had. Palestinians, unlike Israeli Jews, live under a fragmented patchwork of often discriminatory laws and public authorities that seem indifferent to their plight. Apartheid is a crime against humanity. It is a charge that should not be made lightly, because otherwise it can be ignored. Some might agree with the use of such inflammatory ...

Andy Beckett is correct in saying that our policy is being emptied, but Covid-19 is only one part of that process (the pandemic has emptied our policy, but that cannot last forever, on January 14). The sheer exhaustion of public outrage may be true, but what exits are left where we can show our anger and despair at the gradual weakening of our democracy?Public rallies and gatherings are prohibited under Covid rules. The major newspapers cowardly support this government, and even the BBC is too often strangely bland in interviews with cabinet ministers. Time and time again, so far trustworthy journalists do not question serious lies.Perhaps you will try to pressure your MP on the broken Brexit promises, and you will find that Jacob Rees-Mogg has closed the Brexit select committee, end...

The UK government has trained the armies of two-thirds of the world's countries, including 13 that it has reprimanded for human rights violations.An anti-arms trade organization has called for an investigation into the use of UK military training by other countries to determine whether it has been used to perpetrate human rights abuses.The Campaign Against the Arms Trade call came after The Guardian obtained a freedom of information response from the Ministry of Defense which revealed that in the years 2018/19 and 2019/20, the government provided training on British soil to around two-thirds of the world's countries (130 countries in 2018/19 and 120 in 2019/20), including some with a dismal human rights record.Countries with troubling human rights records that received UK military train...

Rafael M. ManuecoFOLLOWCorrespondent in Moscow Updated:17/01/2021 20:50h save Related newsThe Russian opponent Alexéi Navalni was stopped this Sunday upon arrival in Moscow on a flight from Germany. The Russian prison authority confirmed that agents have detained the activist and main adversary of Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters, which echoes information from Interfax.Russian police detained the opponent at a passport control after flying to Russia, according to his lawyer, the prison service and the witnesses mentioned by Reuters.Navalni, in Germany since last August after being poisoned in the Siberian city of Tomsk, returned to Moscow despite exposing himself to arrest as soon as he set foot in his homeland. He announced his return through his Telegram and Twitter...

PABLO SCARPELLINI Los ngeles Updated Sunday, January 17, 2021 - 19:14A militarized "green zone" has risen in downtown Washington where barricades and street closures are the norm.Police guard the vicinity of the Capitol in Washington.REUTERSUSA The mob that took the Capitol intends to "capture and assassinate" the legislators Wide angle Joe Biden: A President for a Nation Wounded, Sick, Divided, and Deep in Economic Crisis Large National Guard troops were the dominant force on the streets of Washington on the Sunday before the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. A tense calm still reigns in the face of fear of new viol...

At a time when the relevance of haute couture is being questioned, the Prada men's show in Milan addressed criticism with an unusually practical piece: a pair of long johns.Speaking after an unattended show at a largely virtual Milan fashion week, Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada, the brand's creative co-directors, described the article as symbolic of the current situation. Worn by all models, and intended as a second skin, they were inspired as much by pajamas and babies as they were by wetsuits and rockers, though Simons was quick to add, "We didn't want it to look like sportswear."Other pieces that addressed how to dress when we are alone "or in danger" included slip-on shoes, jacquard knits with cozy geometric patterns, and purple and green leather gloves with pockets - fashion's answe...

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport shortly after returning from treatment abroad for an alleged poisoning attempt on his life by Russia's FSB spy agency.Navalny, whose investigations into corruption in Vladimir Putin's inner circle have sparked protests and angered the country's most powerful men, had vowed to return home despite signs that the Kremlin was preparing to arrest him.Police detained Navalny shortly after his flight from Berlin landed on Sunday night. It was scheduled to land at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, where hundreds of supporters had gathered. Authorities closed the airport at the last minute, with Navalny's plane diverted to Sheremetyevo and away from the waiting media.Navalny spokesman Kira Yarmysh said the Kreml...

David Perry QC, the lawyer acting for the Hong Kong government in its efforts to imprison pro-democracy activists, is behaving in a "quite mercenary manner" and is providing the Chinese government with a public relations coup, the secretary said on Sunday. of Foreign Relations Dominic Raab.Perry agreed to represent the Hong Kong government in the prosecution of nine activists, including media owner Jimmy Lai, who emerged from the August 2019 demonstrations. The trial is due to take place next month.Perry has yet to comment on his decision to take the case.Raab, interviewed by Sophie Ridge on Sky, said: “I don't understand how someone in good conscience, from the world's leading legal professional that we have, would take a case where they will have to apply national security legislation...

Guatemalan troops with truncheons have clashed with Central American asylum seekers trying to make their way north to the U.S. border as Donald Trump's presidency entered its final days.Thousands of migrants, mostly Hondurans, began crossing the Guatemalan border on Friday night, having set out on foot from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula in the early hours of Thursday.On Sunday, as they walked west through Guatemala toward its border with Mexico, part of the group was intercepted by members of the Guatemalan army and police near the village of Vado Hondo.Video footage showed fights between migrants and soldiers trying to block their passage through the eastern department of Chiquimula. The troops used tear gas, riot shields and sticks to repel weary backpackers as they tried to pa...