Photo by Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images
Monday, June 19, 2023
When the weather is really hot in Peshawar
A Leap of Faith, Rodney Smith
In the northern Italian city of Trento, an annual tradition leaves local politicians shaking in their boots.
The tradition is part of the Feste Vigiliane, a weeklong celebration of the town's patron saint that takes place in late June.
While many could probably name a few politicians who could use a refreshing dunk, there is a traditional ritual in selecting who deserves this “honor.” Prior to the event, the Tribunale di Penitenza (Court of Penance) is held publicly.
This spectacle is a comedic satire in which members of the “court” nominate people and state their cases for doing so. There is a judge, defense attorney, prosecutor, and even someone who plays the role of the accused.
While those who are nominated aren't blasphemers, which is whom the original punishment was reserved for, they have done something over the course of the year that was scandalous or newsworthy. Very often, politicians are nominated, but that's not always the case.
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Friday, June 16, 2023
Who Said It?
Time-Keepers, Luc Debraine
Les “Garde-Temps” (Time-Keepers) here are clocks that keep precious time: those of memories.
They have been stopped short by natural or human disasters, from the Titanic to Hiroshima, from Buchenwald to the towers of the World Trade Center. They still display fateful moments.
They were also stopped voluntarily to mark a revolution, a liberation, a singular event.
These timepieces are sometimes out of order, but their silence says a lot about extraordinaries destinies. They are kept in public places, museums or private homes. They are united by a will: not to forget.
Through photography and text, Luc Debraine composes a fresco of these silent witnesses of history.
Glenda Jackson: a life in pictures, Greg Whitmore
Greece shipwreck
Photo by Stelios Misinas.
Greek authorities have arrested nine suspected people-smugglers who are believed to have piloted the overcrowded fishing boat that sank off the coast on Wednesday, in one of the worst disasters in the Mediterranean in recent years.
The search operation in the tragedy in which hundreds are feared to have died, is due to continue until at least Friday morning, according to government sources.
So far, 78 deaths have been confirmed but Greek police believe as many as 500 are missing, with witness accounts that up to 100 children were travelling in the ship’s hold.
Hope dies last.
For Kassem Abo Zeed it was running out fast. Hope was the force that had led him to board a plane from Hamburg and fly to Greece after he heard that a boat carrying his wife had capsized off the country’s southern coast.
But by 2pm on Thursday, 36 hours after the blue fishing trawler packed with migrants and refugees had sunk in one of the worst maritime disasters in recent Greek history, hope was fading in a way he had prayed would never happen.
Of the estimated 700 men, women and children believed to have been on the vessel when it left the shores of Libya last week, only 104 have been found alive since it sank in waters described as some of the deepest in the Mediterranean at about midnight on Tuesday.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Wide Open Walls 2023
Over the years, this extraordinary event has embellished the urban landscape of the greater Sacramento area, including its suburbs, by adorning more than 200 walls with captivating murals.
In line with its commitment to uplifting schools, the WOW festival took on a renewed emphasis on school campuses this year, with Rosa Parks Elementary and Middle School as a prominent example. Collaborating with approximately 40 artists, encompassing local talents and renowned national and international figures, the festival unveiled a collection of awe-inspiring murals within the school grounds, captivating the imaginations of students, educators, and the wider community.
Heritage, Dulk
The hard right and climate catastrophe are intimately linked, George Monbiot
Illustration: Danielle Rhoda
As millions are driven from their homes by climate disasters, the extreme right exploits their misery to extend its reach. As the extreme right gains power, climate programmes are shut down, heating accelerates and more people are driven from their homes. If we don’t break this cycle soon, it will become the dominant story of our times.
2023 will almost certainly be the warmest year on record
Global temperatures have accelerated to record-setting levels this month, an ominous sign in the climate crisis ahead of a gathering El Niño that could potentially propel 2023 to become the hottest year ever recorded.
Preliminary global average temperatures taken so far in June are nearly 1C above levels previously recorded for the same month, going back to 1979.
While the month is not yet complete and may not set a new June record, climate scientists say it follows a pattern of strengthening global heating that could see this year named the hottest ever recorded, topping 2016.
The long-term warming conditions caused by the burning of fossil fuels will likely receive a further pulse of heat via El Niño, a naturally reoccurring phenomenon where sections of the Pacific Ocean heat up, typically causing temperatures to spike across the world.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
It’s not the job of children to fix the climate crisis, Cassy Polimeni
Cormac McCarthy showed us America’s violent heart, Martin Pengelly
Cormac McCarthy, who died on Tuesday aged 89, achieved fame relatively late.
He was nearly 60 when, in 1992, his sixth novel, All the Pretty Horses, brought him mainstream attention. The book was a bestselling award-winner and it was followed by The Crossing (1994) and Cities of the Plain (1998), to form The Border Trilogy.
No Country for Old Men (2005) and The Road (2006) sold well and won awards too, the latter landing a Pulitzer. Both became hit films, made by the Coen brothers and John Hillcoat respectively. Then, after a 16-year long silence, McCarthy’s final books arrived in 2022: The Passenger and Stella Maris. The paired novels met with mixed reactions, particularly the austere Stella Maris, a book-length conversation between a suicidal mathematical prodigy and her therapist. Reviewers wondered at McCarthy’s attempt to write a female lead; McCarthy wrote about men, mostly. But in Stella Maris there were flashes of his classic style too, of his mordant wit and stark description.
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