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Tony Allen: the Afrobeat maverick who blazed a trail across the globe

The Nigerian musician was a restless creator who embraced the physicality of drumming and innovated until the end

Few musicians can claim to have invented a revolutionary rhythm, but then few are quite like the late Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen. Brian Eno called him “the greatest drummer that ever lived”, citing his style alongside James Brown’s funk breakbeat and the constant pulse of German band Neu! as the “three great beats of the 1970s”. Allen’s swirl of jazz, Yoruba and highlife was unlike anything the world had ever heard: a full-body polyrhythmic workout that would give most drummers sore wrists just thinking of it.

Allen came to prominence in Lagos alongside Fela Kuti. He started drumming in the late 50s while working at a radio station, looking to jazz icons such as Art Blakey and Max Roach for inspiration as he taught himself to play. In 1964 he met Kuti and they spent the next half-decade fine-tuning their fusion of west African party music and American funk and jazz, in the bands Koola Lobitos and, by 1969, Africa ’70. While Kuti, who died in 1997, is more well-known than his musical soulmate, he said that “without Tony Allen there would be no Afrobeat”.

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538: Daily presidential tracking polls...


538: Daily presidential tracking polls...


(Third column, 20th story, link)












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Hafthor Bjornsson, Game of Thrones' 'Mountain', breaks world deadlift record

  • Icelandic strongman lifts 1,104 lb at Thor’s Power Gym
  • 31-year-old starred as Ser Gregor Clegane in HBO series

Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 lb (501 kg) at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland.

Related: Sport documentaries: readers recommend their favourite films

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Game of Thrones 'Mountain' Hafthor Bjornsson breaks world deadlift record – video

Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 lb (501 kg), over half a metric tonne, at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland.

Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on Game of Thrones, broke the record previously held by Briton Eddie Hall who in 2016 became the first man to lift 500kg

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'A year to be better': Abby Gustaitis on lockdown and the lure of Olympic rugby gold

The Eagles sevens captain has seen the Tokyo Games postponed and USA Rugby go bankrupt. She refuses to let her dream die

Abby Gustaitis, co-captain of the USA sevens team, has not heard the latest news from Tokyo.

Related: Tokyo Olympics in 2021 at risk of cancellation admits Japan's PM

Related: Tom Brady seen training in closed Tampa park during Covid-19 shutdown

Recognize these faces? #DontRushChallenge featuring the #USWNT7s has us ready for a party. pic.twitter.com/wvO6kNkKsi

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'One mistake and it's game over': one man's solo trek across Antarctica unaided

Colin O’Brady took on the elements, a relentless rival and weeks of isolation as he walked solo and unassisted across the southernmost continent

Having trekked hundreds of miles into Antarctica in late 2018, American Colin O’Brady reached a memorable landmark: the south pole. It was only a waypoint on the way to O’Brady’s pursuit of a record – the first-ever unaided, unsupported solo crossing of the continent. Yet when he made it to “due south”, it was time for an impromptu celebration. He did a handstand, posing as if he was holding up Earth.

“I was at the south pole, the bottom of the world,” O’Brady tells the Guardian. “It was a moment of riding high. My emotions were on top of me … I’m thankful I let myself experience that positive moment.”

Related: ‘I’m absolutely elated. It’s a miracle we made it,’ says polar hero Louis Rudd

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Ravens' Earl Thomas held at gunpoint by wife over alleged affair, police say

The lawyer for the wife of Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas said she is being subjected to an “unfounded ongoing investigation” by Texas police after she allegedly pointed a gun at her husband’s head upon finding him in bed with another woman last month.

According to a police affidavit, Nina Thomas tracked down her husband at a short-term rental home in Austin in the early morning hours of 13 April and found him and his brother, Seth, in bed with two women.

Related: NFL 2020 schedule: Chiefs kick off title defense against Texans in season opener

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NFL 2020 schedule: Chiefs kick off title defense against Texans in season opener

  • NFL releases 2020 schedule despite coronavirus concerns
  • Chiefs host Texans on 10 September in annual kickoff game
  • Brady to make Buccaneers debut on 13 September at Saints

The Kansas City Chiefs will open defense of their Super Bowl championship by hosting Houston on 10 September in the NFL’s annual kickoff game – pending developments in the coronavirus pandemic, of course.

The Texans won a regular-season game at Arrowhead Stadium in 2019, then blew a 24-0 lead in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Related: Ravens' Earl Thomas held at gunpoint by wife over alleged affair, police say

.@nflcommish on the release of the 2020 schedule pic.twitter.com/Mch0lgXkf8

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How Coronavirus Has Helped to Clear the Air

Satellite data shows just how much air quality has improved during the coronavirus crisis, from China, India, Italy and beyond.




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New Kaleidoscopic Map Details the Geology of the Moon 

The moon has seen a lot in its 4.5 million years of life, and a detailed new geologic map serves as testament.





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Can you get coronavirus twice? – video explainer

A serious concern since the emergence of Covid-19 has been whether those who have had it can get it a second time – and what that means for exiting this crisis.

The Guardian’s science correspondent, Hannah Devlin, looks at how our bodies fight coronavirus when infected, how we develop immunity and if we can get reinfected with Covid-19

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Dharawal elder recounts Captain Cook’s arrival in Australia 250 years ago – video

To mark 250 years since British explorers landed in Australia for the first time, authorities are planning to unveil new memorials at Captain James Cook's landing site in Botany Bay, while a replica Endeavour sailing vessel will circumnavigate Australia – when Covid-19 restrictions allow. But one Aboriginal elder, who grew up on the shores of Botany Bay and has spent years involved in the resurrection of his Indigenous Dharawal culture, explains why Aboriginal people will not be celebrating

• Paul Daley: Commemorating James Cook’s arrival, Australia should not omit his role in the suffering that followed

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Venezuela orders arrest of former Green Beret involved in botched raid

The chief prosecutor will seek capture of Jordan Goudreau as well as two US-based advisers to opposition leader Juan Guaidó

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has ordered the arrest of a former Green Beret and two opposition figures living in the United States for their purported role in a botched operation aimed at removing Nicolás Maduro from power.

Tarek William Saab said Venezuela will seek the capture of Jordan Goudreau, a military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as Juan José Rendón and Sergio Vergara, two US-based advisers to the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

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Asic looking at new investment product offered by Dunk Island developer Mayfair 101

Corporate watchdog’s move comes after a court earlier banned Mayfair 101 from advertising two other products

The corporate watchdog is looking into a new investment product issued by Mayfair 101, the group that has bought the cyclone-ravaged Dunk Island resort, after alleging in court that it had misled people by comparing its previous offerings to bank term deposits.

On Thursday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued a general warning against advertisements that compare fixed-interest products to bank term deposits as part of a broader crackdown on potentially misleading marketing by investment groups.

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Melbourne Airbnb superhost jailed for at least five years for raping guest

Nicholas David Weston found guilty of four counts of rape of 19-year-old woman during her 2017 stay at his city apartment

An Airbnb superhost has been jailed for raping a young woman in Melbourne while she was visiting the city with her friend.

Nicholas David Weston was found guilty of four counts of rape of the 19-year-old woman over the horror stay at his Melbourne CBD apartment in November 2017.

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Sydney harbour master tells Ruby Princess inquiry he 'did not understand' email

NSW Health assessment the cruise ship was ‘low risk’ introduced ‘an unfortunate element’ into his decision-making

A New South Wales harbour master has told an inquiry he “did not understand” an email that told him to treat the Ruby Princess “as if it has a positive Covid-19 result” when it came into Sydney Harbour on 18 and 19 March.

Cameron Butchart, who was the duty harbour master on 18 March, said NSW Health’s assessment that the ship was “low risk” introduced “an unfortunate element” into his decision-making.

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The Murdoch media’s China coronavirus conspiracy has one aim: get Trump re-elected | Kevin Rudd

News Corp is campaigning full-bore for the US president, with reports of a Wuhan lab ‘intelligence’ dossier being seeded across its empire

In liberal democracies, the integrity, impartiality and professionalism of intelligence agencies matters. That’s why it is essential that intelligence agencies remain aloof, not only from the political debates of the day, but also from the policy decisions that individual governments may take. The intelligence community’s core task is to provide brutally realistic analysis on the threat environments we face so that governments can then make the best-informed policy decisions possible to preserve our common security.

The failures of the intelligence community before the Iraq war, the gullibility of much of the western media, as well as the cynical manipulation of both by the political class of the day, provide us with a stark reminder of what can go radically wrong. On 8 September 2002 the New York Times published one of this century’s most consequential news articles. The front-page story, supplied by the Bush administration, claimed that Saddam Hussein had stepped up his quest for weapons of mass destruction by acquiring key components for a nuclear weapon. In the UK, the Blair government’s “dodgy dossier” compounded the error. John Howard did the same in Australia. The problem was that it just wasn’t true. These were over-egged stories designed to soften the public up for what would become a disastrous war.

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‘We shouldn't just be used for charity’: musicians are still getting work – but they’re not being paid

With more Australian artists being asked to play for free in the lockdown, many are asking if it might do more harm than good

If live music died in mid March, it’s sure been noisy at the funeral. On platforms old and new, live gigs performed at home have streamed from trickle to tidal wave, breaking over the mobile devices of captive audiences. Global gig guide aggregator Bands In Town has added a livestream dropdown, and a new Australian state has been ceded by Eventfinda and tucked alphabetically between Victoria and Western Australia: the state of “Virtual”.

For fans it’s been fun. We’re loving seeing musicians’ pets and plants and enormous fingers fumbling for the flip screen button and, unless we’ve bought a URL ticket, there’s scandalously little to lose by dropping into, and out of, a show.

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Coronavirus and culture: 'We're waiting it out in paradise'

When the coronavirus crisis hit, Yolngu elders moved back to east Arnhem Land homelands where they found freedom, peace, and power

Adapting to change is something Yolngu are good at, senior Rirratjingu songman Witiyana Marika says.

When the coronavirus first started making news, community leadership met to plan how they would manage if Covid-19 arrived in eastern Arnhem land. Senior men and women met with the emergency taskforce, the local Miwatj health service and the Laynhapuy homelands organisation to take the most vulnerable people further away from risk.

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‘Why didn’t he help those little boys?’: how George Pell failed the children of Ballarat

The cardinal maintains he didn’t know about the Victorian town’s notorious paedophile priests, a claim the royal commission found ‘implausible’

“Why isn’t all of Australia talking about what happened here in Ballarat?”

That’s the question Clare Linane remembers asking her husband, Peter Blenkiron, 12 years ago as they were sitting in the kitchen talking about his abuse. Linane’s husband, brother and cousin had all been abused when they were children between 1973 and 1974 by Christian Brother and now convicted paedophile Edward “Ted” Dowlan. They knew they were among thousands of people living in and around Ballarat – Victoria’s largest inland city – who had been affected by child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy.

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Thai elephants, out of work due to coronavirus, trudge home

The millions of unemployed in Thailand due to the coronavirus include elephants dependent on tourists to feed their voracious appetites. With scant numbers of foreign visitors, commercial elephant camps and sanctuaries lack funds for their upkeep and have sent more than 100 of the animals trudging back to their natural habitats.




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U.S. researchers are training dogs to sniff out COVID-19

As businesses in the United States slowly begin reopening, researchers in Pennsylvania are turning to dogs to help them fend off a second wave of COVID-19.




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Can the blood of a llama named 'Winter' be used to protect against coronavirus?

What may be the latest hope in the hunt to develop a treatment for COVID-19 comes from an unusual source – a furry, four-year-old llama named 'Winter' that is living on a farm in the Belgium countryside.




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Jesy Nelson shows off dramatic blonde hair transformation after Chris Hughes 'split'

The Little Mix singer has reportedly broken up with former Love Island contestant Chris Hughes




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Ricky Tomlinson and friends sing cover of Ken Dodd's Happiness to raise money for the NHS

Tomlinson appears in a bathtub wearing nothing but a shower cap in the cover video




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Ricky Gervais criticises celebrities complaining about lockdown while NHS staff 'risk their health'

The comedian praised "selfless" NHS workers on the front line




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Ovie Soko's new lockdown haircut leaves fans divided

Like many, Ovie Soko has staved off lockdown boredom by getting rid of his hair




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Rita Wilson details coronavirus ordeal and warns of treatment side effects

The actress and her husband, Tom Hanks, were both hospitalised with the deadly virus




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Piers Morgan calls for Captain Tom Moore to be knighted after raising £7 million for the NHS

The 99-year-old is walking the length of his garden 100 times to raise funds




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Love Island's Paige Turley reveals post-lockdown singing career ambitions

Turley and her boyfriend Finn Tapp are currently staying with her parents in Scotland




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Who plays Aadi in Coronation Street? Meet new actor Adam Hussain taking over from Zennon Ditchett

Hussain made his debut on Wednesday's show




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Jack Savoretti hails teachers as 'unsung heroes' of coronavirus crisis

The musician has been home-schooling his two children




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Piers Morgan slams 'prima donna millionaire' Victoria Beckham for furloughing fashion brand staff

Beckham is also sacrificing her own pay




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Captain Tom Moore recalls seeing Dame Vera Lynn in Burma during WW2 as charity single heads for number one

Captain Tom has so far raised an astonishing £26 million for NHS charities




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Ricky Gervais reveals why he'll 'never' be invited to host the Oscars

The comic has presented the Golden Globes five times




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Tom Hanks details coronavirus ordeal and reveals wife Rita Wilson 'went through a tougher time'

The actor and his wife both tested positive for the virus in Australia




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Martin Clunes' pyjama-clad Good Morning Britain appearance delights viewers

The Doc Martin actor appeared via videolink from his Dorset home




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James McAvoy reveals the NHS 'saved' his life as campaign for health workers' PPE continues

James McAvoy has praised the NHS for saving his life when he suffered a botched surgery.




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French Montana doubles down on claim he has 'more hits' than Kendrick Lamar

French Montana said he would "outshine" Lamar on a festival stage




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Captain Tom Moore's charity single could lose a chart battle with The Weeknd

The fundraising veteran has released a charity single with Michael Ball




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'This job puts things into perspective': Love Island's Malin Andersson explains why she's returned to work as a carer

Andersson said it has been "humbling" to return to her old profession during the coronavirus crisis




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Singer Marianne Faithfull out of hospital after NHS 'saved her life' during coronavirus scare

Singer Marianne Faithfull has been discharged from hospital after being admitted for treatment while she displayed symptoms of coronavirus.