News Atlas

GuardianSep 27Preview

Pope Leo urges healing of ‘deep wounds’ before meeting child sexual abuse survivors in France

Pontiff also uses visit to Catholic shrine at Lourdes to criticise assisted dying as ‘false compassion’The pope has called on the Catholic church to heal “deep wounds” and “painful errors”, before a meeting survivors of child sexual abuse as he continues his four-day visit to France.Addressing a crowd in a large field near the Catholic shrine of Lourdes on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called on the church to reckon with its past, without directly referencing sexual abuse scandals in France that affected at least 330,000 children over seven decades. Continue reading...

Jennifer RankinPope Leo XIVChild protection

GuardianSep 27Preview

Tomi Adeyemi on the film of her hit novel Children of Blood and Bone: ‘I don’t plan to watch it’

Her debut earned a record-breaking YA book deal – then came her fallout with Hollywood. The author talks about the pressures of success and why she is pictured on the cover of her new novelThere is a photograph of Tomi Adeyemi staring out from the cover of her new novel, The Siren. It is an arresting image: her face fills the frame, unsoftened by a smile, her piercing gaze fixed directly on the viewer. “It’s terrifying – like the Mona Lisa, staring at you everywhere,” she says, laughing.Using an author portrait on the cover of a novel is highly unusual, and a decision that Adeyemi says is a statement of ownership. After 12 years spent inside the world of Children of Blood and Bone – the first book in the YA trilogy that made her a literary star and its film adaptation which has become a source of profound distress – Adeyemi wanted this book to belong unmistakably to her. Continue reading

Emma LoffhagenBooksYoung adult

GuardianSep 27Preview

‘Mum, where did my Robux go?’ The Roblox scam targeting children

Criminals are trying to glean login details to harvest players’ in-game currency and personal dataYour 10-year-old son has started playing Roblox, when he realises all of his in-game currency, Robux, is gone.When you try to find out what happened, he says he was recently promised extra Robux if he followed a link on YouTube. When he signed on at the site link, he was taken to the Roblox site as usual but there was no sign of the extra currency. Continue reading...

Shane HickeyRobloxScams

GuardianSep 27Preview

I have seen with pride how British overseas aid saves children’s lives. That is why I say cuts should be reversed | David Harewood

I understand the pressure on the public purse, but I have also seen the effect of our spending on the ground. Our choices can do so much goodDavid Harewood is a Unicef UK ambassadorAs Labour party conference approaches, politicians will debate spending priorities, fiscal pressures and the UK’s place in the world. Before those discussions begin, I want ministers to picture a hospital ward I visited in Sierra Leone with Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund).Inside the special-care baby unit at Makeni regional hospital were rows of tiny premature babies, some no bigger than my hand. Around them stood dedicated nurses and anxious parents, all willing these newborns to survive.David Harewood is a Unicef UK ambassador Continue reading...

David HarewoodAidUnited Nations

GuardianSep 26Preview

I hoped my children would have epiphanies while visiting my homeland; my father suggested we go swimming instead

I brought my children to Penang to immerse them in the places of their grandparents’ stories. When I stopped lecturing them about gratitude and privilege, we enjoyed our final days doing as locals doAs I stepped out of Penang international airport, the humidity hit me like I was peering into a just-opened rice cooker. The air carried whiffs of exhaust fumes, fried food and something earthy. It felt thrilling and familiar because I was born in Penang and lived there for six years before I moved to Australia. I looked back at my three children who were visiting for the first time. They were draped over their suitcases like wilted lettuce. “Welcome to Penang,” I said, wiping sweat off my brow.It was July 2026. It had been 13 years since I last visited Penang, when my father had hosted a lavish wedding dinner featuring a champagne fountain and swan-shaped ice sculpture for me and my new husb

Tessa LuMalaysia holidaysAustralian lifestyle

Al JazeeraSep 27Preview

Pope pledges action on clergy child abuse in meeting with French survivors

Head of the Roman Catholic Church holds 'emotional' two-hour meeting with seven abuse victims in French town of Lourdes.

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