The Guardian Weekly - November 12, 2021

Theatregoers behaving badly

What’s it like to star in a  show when audiences are chatting, singing, watching football and opening lagers? Actors vent their anger at the ‘Netflix mindset’

Cannes 2023 High marks in a year to be savoured

Few would deny Anatomy of a Fall the top prize – yet from Jonathan Glazer to Aki Kaurismaki to Wim Wenders, this was an outstanding festival

Organisers cancel Pride events in Florida amid safety fears

Kristina Bozanich knew that this year’s Pride month event in the Florida town of St Cloud would have to be modified to comply with a new law approved by Governor Ron DeSantis last month. One in a series of bills signed by DeSantis this year that escalated his assault on LGBTQ+ rights, the Protection of Children Act prohibits minors from attending “sexually explicit performances” and authorises the fining of businesses that allow children to attend and suspending or revoking their alcohol licences.

Role of US military in question amid cycle of violence

‘We fled here to Niamey with nothing. We don’t even know how to feed ourselves,” said Amadou as he sat outside a tiny concrete home on the fringe of Niger’s capital, recounting an attack on his village by government forces late last year.

The war hero who missed his own day of reckoning

Ben Roberts-Smith was lauded as the nation’s most valorous soldier – until a judge ruled he probably murdered unarmed civilians in Afghanistan

'Blue wall' Tories are falling out of love with the party

If you close your eyes and imagine an archetypal true blue Tory heartland, there is a good chance your mind's eye will conjure up something close to the quaint Surrey town of Godalming. Boutique bakeries and inviting tea rooms dot the immaculate high street, still festooned with union flag bunting from its coronation celebrations. It comes as no surprise to discover the MP is the UK chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.

Why were Italian and Israeli spies on fatal boat trip?

It reads like a pitch for a thriller. A group of tourists board a boat on a beautiful lake at the foot of the Alps. The boat capsizes in a sudden storm. Four drown as others swim to safety. In the days that follow, as authorities struggle to trace hotel bookings for the passengers, it emerges all were affiliated with the Italian and Israeli secret services.

Police open criminal case over Odisha train disaster

Police in the Indian state of Odisha have registered a criminal case of “death by negligence” relating to the train collision last Friday that killed 275 people, as critics accused the government of trying to shift blame for the disaster.

Wave of violence hits north after mayoral elections

Sitting behind a bare black desk, in a small whitewashed room in northern Kosovo, village mayor Izmir Zeqiri is still getting used to the glare of international attention. \"It wasn't my intention to be a celebrity,\" he said as his mobile phone rang on repeat. \"We thought more people would run, and we didn't imagine we could win.\"

Kyiv accuses Russia of blowing up critical dam

The Ukrainian government accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River, as the evacuation began of people living downstream in the face of potentially catastrophic flooding.