Latest from Alwasat
South Wales Guardian
23 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Nuno Borges says Wimbledon blocked Portugal shirt as tribute to Diogo Jota
Instead he wore a black ribbon pinned to his hat during Friday's third-round match against Karen Khachanov, but said his team had initially pushed for a more visible tribute. 'I know Wimbledon is usually not very flexible with attire,' Borges told the PA news agency. 'But I was told we could still do something to pay our respects for what happened, so I think it was a nice gesture. 'He was a great footballer. It was a tragedy.' Borges, who lost a five-set thriller, said his agent contacted Wimbledon about the idea of wearing a Portugal shirt, and even tried to source a white version to comply with dress rules, but it was not approved. 'We initially talked about getting a full jersey to walk on court,' he said. 'I even tried to find one in white, but it was turned down, so we ended up doing something a little smaller.' Asked if Wimbledon should have allowed the shirt, he said: 'I think that's what makes Wimbledon special and different from every other Slam, so I really don't know.' Wimbledon relaxed its 148-year-old dress code in light of Jota's death, allowing players to wear black ribbons or armbands. Borges was among several players who did, including fellow Portuguese doubles player Francisco Cabral. Cabral, who wore a ribbon on his shirt sleeve during a doubles match with Lucas Miedler, said: 'Yesterday the idea of wearing a black strap came up – that was not allowed. 'I asked for permission to use the black ribbon and they let me play with it.' He described it as 'an honour', adding: 'It was not for the best reason – he was an inspiration not only for me but for the country in general. 'He made so much in the sport and conquered so much in my life. If I helped 1% for the family I will be super happy.' Cabral and Miedler lost their second-round match in straight sets to Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl. Wimbledon's dress code has long restricted visible colour on court, and tributes are rarely granted. The gesture marked a rare moment of flexibility from organisers, after the deaths of Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who were killed in Spain while travelling to catch a ferry to England. British doubles player and Liverpool fan Neal Skupski had also taken a black armband for his match on Thursday, but opted not to wear it after learning of the death of his grandmother shortly after coming off court. He said he may wear one 'in the next couple of days'.
Irish Independent
24 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Dónal Lynch: She supercharged Vogue and its Met Gala, but is Anna Wintour stepping down as editor really the end of an era?
Anna Wintour is stepping down as Vogue's editor-in-chief, which supposedly marks the end of an era.
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- General
- The Guardian
Charred chimneys are all that's left of these LA midcentury homes. Inside the quest to save them
By mid-morning last Thursday, Evan Hall was standing near the top of Monument Street in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades, looking out over the Pacific Ocean. He was running out of time. Hall stood in the charred ruins of a 1953 home designed by the modernist architect Richard Neutra. Beside him, a handful of hard-hat-clad preservationists, masons and construction workers all looked up at the same thing: a chimney. It was all that remained of the home consumed by January's massive wildfires, and the reason they'd all gathered. For months, Hall and his team have been scrambling to salvage and relocate chimneys from several of the Palisades' architecturally and historically significant homes – a task that has been both logistically and financially formidable. Now, they were facing a 30 June deadline – set by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the post-fire cleanup – to finish this monumental task. Hall, an artist and founding director of the non-profit House Museum, had organized the group as part of Project Chimney, the preservation initiative he is spearheading. Hall himself had evacuated during the fire, and as he reeled in the days and weeks that followed it, the chimneys that dotted the burnt landscape moved him as symbols of the depth of the loss. Project Chimney aims to use them to create a memorial for the community, at an as-yet-unidentified site. The group is petitioning the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for a location, Hall said, and in the meantime the chimneys will be held in storage. 'Other organizations went through the grounds and said: 'Oh, there's nothing here, the structure's burned,'' Hall said. 'But nobody was looking for what could be salvaged.' Hall and his collaborators have been workshopping their process on the fly. First, they identified over 55 surviving historically significant chimneys, including some designed by architectural titans such as Neutra, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright Jr, Eric Lloyd Wright, Paul R Williams, and Ray Kappe. 'We began just kind of placing the images next to one another, trying to understand the different design sensibilities,' he said. 'And it was actually really beautiful and surprising to see the range and diversity.' They began reaching out to homeowners to ask if they'd be open to having their chimneys salvaged, and ultimately narrowed their list to seven. But raising the money has been challenging and slow, Hall said. On top of that the Army Corps – which has for the last six months been methodically cleaning the mangled, toxic waste left by the fires – accelerated the timeline to finish the cleanup. While the Corps has been supportive of Hall and his team's work, it also needs to finish its debris removal in the Palisades, and as of 26 June had given the group a deadline of 30 June to finish removing the chimneys. Major Matt Grussing, deputy commander of the Army Corps' emergency field office for the Palisades, has been coordinating with Hall and Project Chimney as the Corps nears the end of its debris removal work. 'We're trying to be as flexible as we can while still meeting our primary mission of ending the public health and safety emergency,' he said. Project Chimney successfully moved its first chimney, designed by Ray Kappe, at the end of May. The Neutra chimney on Monument was the second, and the group had scrambled to secure the funds and crew to make its relocation happen. Hall had no idea if he would be able to move the other five before the demolition crews rolled in. All around the house on Monument, lots had already been cleared, with flat, orderly dirt squares replacing the wreckage, and bent metal and ash the fire left in its wake. 1367 Monument's mess – shards of porcelain, bedsprings and a chimney – stood out even more in late June because of this. New plants were growing in the neighborhood, green mingling with the char. Over the crest down towards the ocean, the wooden scaffolding of new home construction was popping up, too. Andy Gerber, a mason and president of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 4, had come out to volunteer his time and expertise. He felt respect for the handiwork he saw as he and his colleagues chipped away at the mortar. 'It was all just built correctly, nice and plumb, flat, good lines, and the bond was good,' he said. 'I think just the stone itself is beautiful.' 'I've never done anything like this,' he added. 'I'm hopeful that it works.' Ean Frank, a preservationist, watched as the team prepped the chimney for removal. He had designed their process, which involved building a steel cage around the chimney itself and disassembling it in large pieces, in an effort to alter the chimney as little as possible. The group is 'trying to preserve the patina of the fire,' Frank said. Usually, he added, he would have months to plan for a project of this scale, plus substantial budgets to work with and manpower to support. The improvisation meant dealing with issues such as sandstone unexpectedly crumbling off the chimney's facade, as it was doing today, while the group prepared to move the first section, which Frank estimated weighed 7,000lbs. But he felt like he needed to be involved. 'The idea that the chimneys are the only thing that remains of these people's memories is incredibly profound,' Frank said. 'This disaster and the memories they have here won't just be paved over.' Lynn Fehr, 97, visited the site at Monument for the first time last week, as Project Chimney ramped up its work. She lived in the home for 65 years and raised her five children there. The house spoke to her on both emotional and architectural levels. She had become interested in Neutra after hearing his wife Dione speak at a University of California, Los Angeles, event, she said, and fell in love with his work's clean lines. She loved waking up early to look at the Santa Monica Bay and Palos Verdes and even sometimes Catalina Island in the distance from the bluff. As for the chimney project, she found it perplexing at first. 'I've never heard of chimneys being saved,' she said. But she liked the idea and agreed to it, even though she had no particular fondness for the fireplace. She hardly remembered using it beyond the first year she lived there, when everything felt shiny and new. It took her six months to finally come see the ruins. When she did, the chimney team was working. She brought two of her children with her for support, and told them to bring tissues for her. But when she arrived, something strange happened. 'I had no sense of loss,' she said. The house had served its purpose. 'We had a marvelous time living there. We enjoyed it while we had it,' she said. 'What can you do with something when you can't change anything?' A week later, past the deadline, Project Chimney had managed to relocate a third chimney. As of 3 July, the Army Corps still had about 75 of 4,000 clearance requests left in the Palisades, Major Grussing said. All of the chimneys on Hall's list were still standing. He was hopeful he could get to them in time.
South Wales Guardian
24 minutes ago
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Reform council claim ‘trans-related' library book ban ‘not a change of policy'
In a post on social media, Kent County Council (KCC) leader Linden Kemkaran said the books were to be removed with immediate effect after a fellow Reform Councillor said he had been informed of 'transgender ideologies' in the children's section of a library. But KCC has since said that the book which triggered the ban was in fact on display at the front of a library in Herne Bay, rather than the children's section. The council's Liberal Democrat opposition leader, Antony Hook has said that Reform not following 'proper process' in the council and announcing things on social media has created uncertainty. Cllr Kemkaran added on X that 'telling children they're in the 'wrong body' is wrong and simply unacceptable' and said that 'trans-related' works would be removed from the children's sections of all 99 of the county's libraries. The book Reform were referring to was The Autistic Trans Guide to Life by Yenn Purkis and Dr Wenn Lawson, which is a book for autistic trans and/or non-binary adults marketed as providing 'tools and strategies they need to live as their best self'. There is no suggestion from the promotional material around the book that it contains any reference to telling children they are in the 'wrong bodies'. In his video posted to social media on Thursday, the Reform Cllr responsible for the ban Paul Webb claimed: 'I was recently contacted by a concerned member of the public who found trans-ideological material and books in the children's section of one of our libraries – I've looked into this, and it was the case, 'I have today issued an instruction for them all to be removed from the children's section of our libraries.' The council has since rowed back on his suggestion that the book was in the children's section and says that they have not, in fact, changed policy. A KCC spokesperson told PA Media: 'We have not changed policy. We have simply issued internal instructions to reaffirm existing expectations: that adult books are not to be placed in areas specifically aimed at children, such as children's sections or public welcome displays where children select books.' It is unclear how the council will classify transgender-related books, and whether there will be a tangible change as a result of this instruction. Cllr Webb, the Cabinet Member for Community & Regulatory Services said: 'We rightly place child protection and safeguarding at the very top of our list of priorities, as should all adults, especially those that hold public office.' Cllr Kemkaran heralded her colleagues' actions as showing 'courage and common sense in Kent' on X. Cllr Hook told the BBC: 'It is bizarre that the leader of the council is making announcements on social media, rather than to the council.' The copy of The Autistic Trans Guide to Life has been moved from a display at the front of the library 'to a section that is unlikely to be visited by children', the KCC spokesperson said.
South Wales Guardian
25 minutes ago
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Cooper orders ‘crackdown' on suspected illegal working for delivery apps
Officers will carry out checks in hotspots across the country where they suspect asylum seekers are working as delivery riders without permission. It comes after Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat said they would ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months after conversations with ministers. Last week the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, claimed in a post on X to have found evidence of people working illegally for the food delivery firms during a visit to a hotel used to house asylum seekers. On Saturday, the Home Office said anyone caught 'flagrantly abusing the system in this way' will face having state support discontinued, whether entitlement to accommodation or payments. 'Strategic, intel-driven activity will bring together officers across the UK and place an increased focus on migrants suspected of working illegally whilst in taxpayer-funded accommodation or receiving financial support,' the Home Office said. 'The law is clear that asylum seekers are only entitled to this support if they would otherwise be destitute.' Businesses who illegally employ people will also face fines of up to £60,000 per worker, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years. Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting. It comes as the Government struggles with its pledge to 'smash the gangs' of people-smugglers facilitating small boat crossings in the English Channel, which have reached record levels this year. Some 20,600 people have made the journey so far in 2025, up 52% on the same period in 2024. Ms Cooper said: 'Illegal working undermines honest business and undercuts local wages, the British public will not stand for it and neither will this Government. 'Often those travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by the people-smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in this country, when in reality they end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours. 'We are surging enforcement action against this pull factor, on top of returning 30,000 people with no right to be here and tightening the law through our Plan for Change.' Home Office director of enforcement, compliance and crime, Eddy Montgomery, said: 'This next step of co-ordinated activity will target those who seek to work illegally in the gig economy and exploit their status in the UK. 'That means if you are found to be working with no legal right to do so, we will use the full force of powers available to us to disrupt and stop this abuse. There will be no place to hide.' Deliveroo has said the firm takes a 'zero tolerance approach' to abuse on the platform and that despite measures put in place over the last year, 'criminals continue to seek new ways to abuse the system'. An Uber Eats spokesperson has said they will continue to invest in tools to detect illegal work and remove fraudulent accounts, while Just Eat says it is committed to strengthening safeguards 'in response to these complex and evolving challenges.' Responding to the announcement, Mr Philp said: 'It shouldn't take a visit to an asylum hotel by me as shadow home secretary to shame the Government into action.' He added: 'The Government should investigate if there is wrongdoing by the delivery platforms and if there is a case to answer, they should be prosecuted. 'This is a very serious issue because illegal working is a pull factor for illegal immigration into the UK – people smugglers actually advertise it.' Mr Philp also said women and girls were being put at risk because deliveries were being made to their homes by people 'from nationalities we know have very high rates of sex offending', without specifying which nationalities he was referring to.
