Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus mauris turpis, auctor eu tincidunt sit amet, mattis id enim. Aenean quis feugiat justo, vel rutrum enim. Maecenas aliquet non enim vitae congue. Nulla massa nunc, ultrices ac ex quis, condimentum commodo leo. Proin tincidunt nisl dui, vel luctus lacus viverra a. Proin vitae quam id tortor accumsan laoreet sed quis elit. Nulla vitae risus mollis, pellentesque tellus nec, consequat sapien. Vestibulum vel lacus aliquam neque fermentum vestibulum non sit amet quam. Nulla neque leo, viverra non lacinia id, tristique in enim. Ut posuere vitae ante ac condimentum. Aliquam sit amet ligula laoreet, hendrerit eros at, feugiat eros.

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There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain

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new item is in the way

To find out the true production cost of a garment is a tortuous process. Here is what you need to know to buy clothes with a clear conscience

The Zara R-E-S-P-E-C-T hoodie, for which researchers attempted to unpick the labour costs involved.
The Zara R-E-S-P-E-C-T hoodie, for which researchers attempted to unpick the labour costs involved. Photograph: Public Eye/Noura Gauper
Hannah Marriott
Hannah Marriott
@maid_marriott
Thu 29 Jul 2021 06.00 BST
What is the true cost of a Zara hoodie? In April 2019, David Hachfeld of the Swiss NGO Public Eye, along with a team of researchers and the Clean Clothes Campaign, attempted to find out. They chose to analyse a black, oversized top from Zara’s flagship Join Life sustainability line, which was printed with lyrics made famous by Aretha Franklin: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T: find out what it means to me”. It was an apt choice, because the idea was to work out whether any respect had been paid to the workers involved in the garment’s production, and how much of the hoodie’s average retail price, €26.66 (£22.70), went into their pockets.

This was no simple assignment. It took several people six months, involved badgering Zara’s parent company, Inditex, over email, slowly getting limited information in return, and interviewing dozens of sources on the ground in Izmir, Turkey, where the garment was made. The researchers analysed financial results and trading data, and consulted with experts in pricing and production. It was, Hachfeld says on the phone, with dry understatement, “quite a huge project”.

Their research suggested that the biggest chunk of the hoodie’s retail price – an estimated €10.26 – went back into Zara, to cover retail space and staff wages. The next biggest slice, after VAT at €4.44, was profit for Inditex/Zara, at €4.20. Their research suggested that the textile factory in Izmir received just €1.53 for cutting the material, sewing, packing and attaching the labels, with €1.10 of that being paid to the garment workers for the 30-minute job of putting the hoodie together. The report concluded that workers could not have received anything like a living wage, which the Clean Clothes Campaign defined, at the time the report was released, as a gross hourly wage of €6.19.

When the research was covered by the media at the time, Zara said the report was “based on erroneous premises and inaccurate reporting”, that the €7.76 sourcing price was wrong and that the workers were “paid more than the amounts mentioned in Public Eye’s report”. But at the time and when I contacted Zara for this article, the company declined to set out in greater detail where the research was inaccurate.

Workers in a small garment factory in Istanbul
Workers in a small garment factory in Istanbul. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images
What is clear is that trying to find out the true production cost of a garment is a tortuous and potentially fruitless process – even when assessing a major high street retailer’s flagship “sustainability” line.

Hachfeld points out that Zara is by no means uniquely opaque. It is doing more than many clothing brands and has long-term commitments in place to work towards living wages. “They are launching initiatives and consultations with trade unions. But the question remains: when will they deliver on it?” he says. Vanishingly few retailers guarantee living wages across their vast, complex supply chains. According to the not-for-profit group Fashion Revolution, only two of the world’s 250 largest fashion brands (OVS and Patagonia) disclose how many of their workers are paid a living wage – despite the kind of resources that make billionaires of founders. Forbes estimates that Zara’s founder, Amancio Ortega, is worth $77bn (£55bn) and that H&M’s founder, Stefan Persson, is worth $21.3bn; the Sunday Times puts the wealth of Boohoo’s co-founder, Mahmud Kamani, at £1.4bn.

Throughout fashion, the numbers just don’t add up. High-street clothing has been getting cheaper and cheaper for decades. A major reason why, according to Gordon Renouf, the CEO of the fashion ethics comparison app Good on You, is that so many western brands have “moved from onshore production 40 years ago to larger offshore production”. Often, the countries they have chosen have “much lower wage costs, weaker labour movements and laxer environmental regulations”. Of course, we know all this, but we have also become accustomed to reaping the benefits. Our perception of what clothing should cost – and how much of it we need – has shifted.

In 1970, for example, the average British household spent 7% of its annual income on clothing. This had fallen to 5.9% by 2020. Even though we are spending less proportionally, we tend to own more clothes. According to the UN, the average consumer buys 60% more pieces of clothing – with half the lifespan – than they did 15 years ago. Meanwhile, fashion is getting cheaper: super-fast brands such as Shein (which sells tie-dye crop tops for £1.49) and Alibaba (vest tops for $2.20), have boomed online, making high-street brands look slow-moving and expensive by comparison.

But the correlation between price and ethics is knotty, to say the least. The conversation about sustainable fashion tends to be dominated by expensive designer brands: at Stella McCartney, for example, a wool-cotton jumper costs £925; at Another Tomorrow, each $520 sustainable viscose carbon-offset scarf neck blouse features a QR code in the label that outlines every stage of its “provenance journey”.

On the high street, many who proudly opt out of shopping at Primark or Boohoo for ethical reasons may be unaware that most reassuringly mid-priced brands don’t guarantee workers living wages or produce clothing without using environmentally harmful materials. A garment’s price is often more about aspiration and customer expectation than the cost of production. Hachfeld points out that the Zara hoodie was priced higher in Switzerland (CHF 45.90; €39.57), where Zara is positioned as a mid-range brand, than in Spain (€25.95), where it is perceived as more mainstream and affordable.

Another Tomorrow scar-neck blouse.
‘Provenance journey’ ... Another Tomorrow scarf neck blouse.
Online, debates about the price of clothing can get heated. The sustainable-fashion writer Aja Barber, for example, uses the phrase “exploitation prices” to refer to very cheap clothes, such as the 8p bikini offered by the Boohoo brand Pretty Little Thing last autumn. “Either the company or the garment worker is taking the hit, and most likely it’s not the company, because that wouldn’t be a profitable business model,” she says.

Barber has a personal threshold in mind when she buys an item. “Any time a dress is under £50, you really need to break down the labour on it,” she says. “Think about what you get paid hourly – think, could a person make this dress in three hours?” She doesn’t base this calculation on local wages in the global south, either, which are so much lower “because of years of colonialism and oppression”. She buys new clothes infrequently and tries to avoid polyester, which is made with fossil fuels and generally used in garments to make them cheaper.

Barber gets annoyed by the accusations of snobbery that ripple through social media when anyone criticises super-cheap brands. Largely, she says, these comments come from middle-class people “who want to participate in the system and not feel bad about it”. In her view, fast fashion is propped up not by those with very low disposable incomes, but by middle-class overconsumption.

The only way to tell if a garment has been ethically produced is by combing through the details on the manufacturer’s website (although many brands give little or no information) and checking out its rating on Good on You, which compares fashion brands on the basis of their impact on the planet, people and animals. Even among brands that have launched with sustainability as their USP, greenwashing is rife. Renouf warns against those that talk vaguely about being “natural” and “fair”, or bang on about recycled packaging, without giving details about, say, the materials they use or whether they engage with unions in their factories.

For the fashion retailer Sam Mabley, the idea that fashion can be ethical only if it is expensive is a myth. Mabley runs a sustainable fashion store in Bristol; he thought it was a shame that he was selling so many ethical T-shirts at around the £30 price point. Usually, he says, such T-shirts are created in small batches, by “cool indie brands who do printed designs – a lot of the work is in the design”. He decided to invert that business model, ramping up the scale in order to get bigger discounts from suppliers and creating plain, organic cotton, ethically produced Ts in black and white for £7.99. With just a month of social media promotion, he secured 4,000 orders.

A model wears a Yes Friends T-shirt by Sam Mabley
‘Buying power’ ... a Yes Friends T-shirt by Sam Mabley.
He believes it would be fairly easy for fast-fashion brands to use their buying power to “drive change for millions of workers around the world” and guarantee their factories paid living wages, without drastically affecting their margins. He is not alone in this view: Jenny Hulme, the head of buying at the sustainable fashion mainstay People Tree, believes ethical production is necessary and possible in every part of the market. “If you order in big volumes, it does reduce price – if a company really wants to improve, it can,” she says.

The reality of high-street clothes shopping is still very far from this ideal. Apart from a few “sustainable” lines produced by the big fast-fashion brands – which I am loath to recommend, because of so many accusations of greenwashing – it is almost impossible to find new, ethical clothing at rock-bottom prices, because the business models that have enabled clothing to get this cheap rely on inexpensive, environmentally damaging fabrics and very low wages.

That may leave anyone wanting to dress ethically on a high-street purse feeling out of options, although Renouf points out that buying better is possible at every budget. That is why, he says, Good on You aims to “provide ratings for as many brands as possible, rather than simply promoting the most sustainable brands”. You could, for example, move from an ultra-rapid fashion brand to a more engaged high-street fast-fashion brand, which might not cost much more, but still could constitute progress.

Buying fewer, but better-quality, items might save you money overall and is the most consistent advice you will hear from fashion campaigners. “Buy the best quality that you can afford, perhaps in end-of-season sales or by buying a thick jumper in the middle of summer to wear the next winter,” says Hulme.

Stepping out of the trend cycle, and avoiding brands that trade on planned obsolescence, is another avenue to explore. For example, Patrick Grant, a judge on the BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee, explains that his Community Clothing brand aims to give shoppers more bang for their buck by stocking basics rather than continually designing new collections (it also does without retail space and marketing). Working to slimmer margins means he can invest in good fabric, but keep prices fairly low: his £49 hoodies are made from 470g 100% loopback cotton, a thicker, more durable fabric than you might find for a similar price on the high street.

A blazer from ethical brand Lora Gene
A blazer from the ethical brand Lora Gene. Photograph: Lora Gene
For those who can afford mid-high street prices, researching small, sustainable brands might glean results. A quick look at the Zara website today shows silk dresses selling for as much as £199, with plenty of others at £49.99, while H&M-owned &OtherStories sells blazers for about £120; Barber points out that at these prices, shoppers could switch to ethical brands including Lora Gene, for which she has designed a collection, and Ninety Percent. (There is a dress I like the look of for £64 in the Ninety Percent sale; a mustard Lora Gene blazer is £139.)

If those prices are out of reach, swapping clothes, shopping secondhand, repairing and rethinking what you already have, and occasionally renting for special occasions can all be cheaper – even free – alternatives.

Voting with your wallet will only go so far, however, and won’t be possible for many people who are struggling, as the number of people in poverty in the UK soars to 15 million. Questioning the magical thinking of rock-bottom prices is not about blaming the consumer. Instead, you could write to MPs and CEOs and demand that they do something about living wages and the environmental cost of fashion. The responsibility lies with brands, and with the government, which should be held to account for a broken system.

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The truth about fast fashion

“Well, what can you actually put in it?” my colleague asks. I shrug. “Maybe some coins… gum?” I ponder the brown and fuzzy load on my chest: smaller than a newborn baby but bigger than a hamster.

“Definitely not your phone,” my colleague quips. Tiny bags have been in menswear for some time: Dior, Jacquemus and Balenciaga are just some of the big fashion houses that have brought out versions for guys.

In pre-pandemic times, my bag (a normal human-size one from Eastpak) was a cross between a life raft and a bin bag. It had the essentials (pens that don’t work, notebooks without covers); the all-weather options (two pairs of sunglasses, a beret, a serious-looking winter hat, an umbrella); and the frankly sickening (a few chipped Strepsils, empty packets of Nurofen, a Christmas card and some tissues from 1984). At the very bottom was lots of sand from a long-forgotten beach trip. I obviously needed a new bag. But this one?

It’s about the size of a packet of Hula Hoops, with a few zippable pockets. Wearing it around my shoulders, on its black strap, I feel odd. Not like a giant, exactly, but a dafter version of myself. Because, even though the tiny bag is, well, tiny, it is conspicuous.

Priya Elan
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On the catwalk, the bags look perfectly angular and black, as if they should be worn by Bond villains carrying the antidote to some world-destroying poison. And on the pages of fashion magazines, they look enticing, offering the same semi-outlaw appeal as a chunky gold chain or a black wristband.

In real life, however, I’m left pondering their purpose – although I suppose purpose isn’t really the point. The teeny-tiny bag is, I believe, an accessory, and so not practical at all. The upshot? I’ll have to figure out somewhere else to put my house keys.

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Tiny bags: perfectly formed

American gymnast Simone Biles has withdrawn from Monday's floor final at the Tokyo Olympics but is yet to make a decision on whether she will compete in the beam final on Tuesday.

The four-time Olympic champion, 24, had already withdrawn from the women's team final and individual all-around final to focus on her mental health.

She also withdrew from Sunday's vault and uneven bars finals.

A tweet from USA Gymnastics said: "We're all behind you, Simone."

It means Great Britain's Jennifer Gadirova enters the floor final having been first reserve.

Day-by-day guide to the Games
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Tokyo 2020 medal table
Biles had her lowest Olympic vault score in the opening rotation before withdrawing from the team final on 26 July.

She left the arena but returned to support her team-mates as the defending champions claimed silver behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

Team silver in Tokyo was Biles' sixth Olympic medal and took her tally of Olympic and World Championship medals to 30.

Afterwards, Biles said: "After the performance I did, I just didn't want to go on. I have to focus on my mental health. I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now.

"We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do.

"I don't trust myself as much any more. Maybe it's getting older. There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world.

"We're not just athletes. We're people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back."

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Simone Biles withdraws from floor final at Tokyo Olympics

Arsenal are considering using 26-year-old Spain full-back Hector Bellerin as a potential makeweight in a deal for Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, 23, with Tottenham also in the running for the Argentine should they sell England captain Harry Kane, 28. (Athletic - subscription required)

Aston Villa are ready to accept Manchester City's £100m bid for England midfielder Jack Grealish, 25. (Sky Sports)

Dean Smith's side will make a move for Norwich's English midfielder Todd Cantwell, 23, if Grealish leaves Villa Park. (Express)

Villa are also expected to make a second offer for Southampton's James Ward-Prowse after a £25m bid for the England midfielder, 26, was rejected last week. (Mail)

Manchester United hope to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, 21, next summer and believe manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's relationship with his fellow Norwegian will prove decisive. (Star)

Chelsea face competition from Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund for the signature of St-Etienne's France Under-17 midfielder Lucas Gourna-Douath, who turns 18 next week. (RMC Sport - in French)

Representatives of Atletico Madrid and Spain midfielder Saul Niguez will fly to England on Monday to discuss a move to the Premier League, with Manchester United and Liverpool leading the chase for the 26-year-old. (Mirror)

Manchester United are preparing to offer Luke Shaw a new contract after the 26-year-old defender's impressive performances for England at Euro 2020. (Mail)

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Transfer rumours: Martinez, Grealish, Saul, Romero, Cantwell, Locatelli

Great Britain won a record eighth swimming medal in Tokyo while Duncan Scott became the most decorated British Olympian at a Games after winning silver in the men's 4x100m medley relay.

The quartet of Scott, Adam Peaty, Luke Greenbank and James Guy finished 0.73 seconds behind gold-medal winners USA.

Italy finished third to take bronze.

The silver was Scott's fourth medal in Tokyo as Britain signed off their most successful Olympics in the pool.

The USA needed a world record time of three minutes 26.78 seconds to beat Great Britain to gold in the final event of the swimming.

The win also meant a fifth gold medal in Tokyo for American superstar Caeleb Dressel. He joins compatriots Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany's Kristin Otto, as the only swimmers to win as many as five golds at a single Olympics.

British swimmers sign off a hugely successful Olympics

Report
Great Britain's swimmers sign off the Tokyo Olympics with an impressive medal haul of four golds, three silvers and one bronze to complete an incredible turnaround in fortunes in the pool.

Less than a decade ago they finished London 2012 with just three medals - one silver and two bronze - and even at the last Olympics in Rio they returned home with just the solitary gold medal.

Now they leave Tokyo with eight medals - by far the most picked up in any sport by Great Britain at these Games.

Scott's three silvers and one gold also means he has six Olympic medals overall - only Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny have won more.

"I have a lot of good team-mates," Scott told BBC Sport. "I'm very fortunate to be part of some excellent relay teams."

Peaty, who got Britain's first gold medal of the Games when he won the men's 100m breaststroke, leaves with three medals - two of those golds.

But to underline just how much progress Great Britain has made in swimming, the quartet were disappointed they did not sign off with a final gold, rather than celebrating a record-breaking medal tally.

"That is the standard we are at now," Peaty said.

"We are not looking at bronzes or silvers we are looking how to get gold. That is my mindset."

Dressel leads USA medal charge
Before helping the USA to gold in the relay, Dressel took an individual gold with a dominant win the men's 50m freestyle.

The 24-year-old won with an Olympic record time of 21.07 seconds to add to his 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle relay titles in Tokyo.

Britain's Ben Proud finished fifth in the race as France's Florent Manaudou took the silver and Bruno Fratus of Brazil the bronze.

Dressel's team-mate Bobby Finke added to USA's swimming medals collection by winning gold in the men's 1500m freestyle. Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk won the silver while Florian Wellbrock of Germany took the bronze as Britain's Dan Jervis finished fifth.

Emma McKeon won the women's 50m freestyle to secure her 10th Olympic medal - more than any other Australian athlete in history.

The 27-year-old touched home in an Olympic record time of 23.81 seconds to claim her third gold medal at the Games and her sixth overall in Tokyo. Her 10 Olympic medals moves her ahead of Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe.

Swedish world record-holder Sarah Sjostrom finished second with Denmark's Pernille Blume in third.

Finally, Australia won gold in the women's 4x100m medley relay as USA won the silver and Canada took the bronze.

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Tokyo Olympics: Great Britain win record eighth swimming medal

Big tech firms are altering their return-to-work plans for employees, as Covid-19 cases rise in the US - with some stipulating that staff working in the office must be vaccinated.

**bold text**
The company joined Facebook in saying it would require US workers returning to the office to be vaccinated.

Twitter said it would pause office re-opening, closing offices in San Francisco and New York once again.

The two Twitter offices had been operating at up to 50% capacity for staff who wanted to return.

In a statement, the company wrote that it was "continuing to closely monitor local conditions and make necessary changes that prioritise the health and safety of our Tweeps".

Twitter said it remained committed to giving employees the option to work from home where possible.

Other tech firms have also put back, or changed, return-to-work plans

Apple has reportedly delayed a planned return to on-site working until October.

Amazon has previously announced a three-day-a-week return to work for "corporate" staff, in a seeming shift of policy.
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A woman receives a vaccination

It comes as the US administration struggles with flagging rates of vaccination.

President Biden recently ordered two million federal employees to show proof of vaccination or be subject to mandatory testing and mask-wearing.

Some tech firms are now taking a similar stance.

In an email to all employees on Wednesday, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the firm would extend a global, voluntary, work-from-home policy through to 18 October.

In addition, the email said "anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated".

The policy will be rolled out in the US, and later expand to other regions.

The Google boss said its implementation of the policy would vary according to local conditions and regulations, and would only apply once vaccines are widely available in an area. More details would be forthcoming about exemptions for medical and other "protected" reasons, he added.

Facebook has also announced that it would "require" US staff returning to offices to be vaccinated.

In a statement, Facebook vice president Lori Goler wrote: "We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves.

Ms Goler said the company's return-to-office plans would "prioritise everyone's health and safety".
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Facebook, Google expect jabs for office return

Netflix is set to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for key cast and crew on US TV and film productions.

According to reports, the US streaming company will require that "zone A" personnel - actors and crew in close contact with them - must get the jab.

It is understood Netflix is considering a implementing similar policy in the UK.

Other firms such as Google have said workers must get vaccinated before returning to the office.

The policy will begin at Google's US campuses and then be rolled out globally for its 144,000 employees.

Netflix has implemented the move after new standards were recently agreed between Hollywood unions and studios that would allow companies to implement mandatory vaccination policies for key cast members and crew.

However, the actor Sean Penn wants the policy extended for all members of production, not just those classed as "zone A".

He recently said that he would not return to work on the drama Gaslit, which is backed by the studio NBC Universal, unless all cast and crew receive the jab.

Actor Sean Penn
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image captionActor Sean Penn wants all cast and crew on his latest production, Gaslit, to be vaccinated against Covid
Netflix is making the move after the US Disease Control and Prevention announced earlier this week that masks will once again have to be worn indoors even by people who have been fully vaccinated.

It follows a spike in Covid cases due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post that "anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated".

Bloomsbury staff must be vaccinated before office return
Covid: How do you feel about going back to the office?
How the policy is implemented "will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area", he said.

In addition, Google will extend the full reopening of its global campuses from 1 September to 18 October due to a spike in cases caused by the Delta variant of coronavirus.

People in special circumstances can apply to work from home until the end of 2021.

However, any Google employee can apply to work from home permanently if they choose, and transfer offices.

Google expects that over time in any given week, 60% of employees will work in the office for a few days each week, one-fifth will be working in new office locations and another fifth will be working from home.

Many firms are weighing up the pros and cons of letting their workforce continue to work from home.

Others have also specified that workers coming into the office need to be vaccinated.

In June, Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury said staff must have vaccinations ahead of their return to the workplace.

"The simple fact is that this virus is still extremely dangerous," it said.

In the US, JP Morgan said in June that it would instruct staff to log their vaccination status on an internal web portal, with fully-jabbed employees being allowed to discard face masks at work.

Goldman Sachs bankers also have to disclose how many jabs they have had before returning to the office.

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Netflix US cast and crew must be vaccinated to work

A legal action seeking damages of up to £920m from Google on behalf of 19.5 million UK Android phone users has been launched.

It claims the 30% cut Google takes from digital purchases on its app store is excessive and unfair.

The case follows a similar one launched on behalf of iPhone users in May.

Google said it competed "vigorously and fairly" for developers and consumers and its fees were "comparable to our competitors".

Most Android phones came pre-loaded with more than one app store.

And 97% of developers paid no service fee because their apps were free.

"This lawsuit ignores the benefits and choice Android and Google Play provide as well as the competitive market in which we operate," it said.

Massive row
Google recently cut its service charge to 15% for all developers earning less than £1m, with only a tiny fraction of the most profitable app developers paying 30%.

The charge "allows us to constantly reinvest in building a secure, thriving platform that benefits everyone who uses it", it added.

But both Apple and Google's charges have come under intense public scrutiny, following a massive row with Epic Games and subsequent legal action.

Epic argued the Play Store and Apple's app store were monopolistic and is seeking the ability to place Fortnite on both, with an independent payment-processing system.

This UK legal action alleges:

Google broke European and UK competition laws with the 30% surcharge and as a result is overcharging millions of app users who make purchases via the Play Store.
because Google bundles the Play Store with other products and requires pre-installation of it, consumers have little alternative but to pay the charges set out by Google
The claim has been filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), by former Citizens Advice consumer-policy lead Liz Coll.

The CAT has allowed "collective actions" - similar to US-style class-action cases - subject to initial approval, since 2015.

They differ from normal legal cases in that all affected people are automatically covered unless they decide to exclude themselves.

Ms Coll said: "Google created the Android app marketplace and controls it with a vice-like grip.

"Customers are herded towards the Google Play Store and, once there, have no option but to pay a 30% fee whenever they buy an app or make an in-app purchase.

"Competing app stores, which could give the same service at a fraction of the price, never get a look in."

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Google app charges targeted by mass legal claim

NEW DELHI — The body of Danish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Reuters photojournalist who was killed in Afghanistan this month, was badly mutilated while in the custody of the Taliban, officials said this week.

The revelation comes amid concern that the fighting in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have carried out an aggressive military offensive since the United States withdrew nearly all its troops, has become increasingly brutal as peace talks have stalled.

Mr. Siddiqui, 38, an Indian national who took some of the most memorable news photographs from South Asia in recent years, was killed on the morning of July 16, when Afghan commandos he had accompanied to Spin Boldak, a border district recently captured by the Taliban, were ambushed. Initial photographs from the scene showed Mr. Siddiqui’s body with multiple wounds but fully intact.

But by that evening, when the body was handed over to the Red Cross and transferred to a hospital in the southern city of Kandahar, it had been badly mutilated, according to two Indian officials and two Afghan health officials there. The mutilation was reported by an Indian website, Newslaundry, in the days after Mr. Siddiqui’s killing.

The New York Times reviewed multiple photographs, some provided by Indian officials and others taken by Afghan health workers at the hospital, that showed Mr. Siddiqui’s body had been mutilated. One Indian official said that the body had nearly a dozen bullet wounds and that there were tire marks on Mr. Siddiqui’s face and chest.

One of the health officials in Kandahar said that the body, along with Mr. Siddiqui’s press vest, had reached the city’s main hospital around 8 p.m. on the day he was killed. His face was unrecognizable, said the official, who added that he could not determine exactly what had been done to the body.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied any wrongdoing on the part of the insurgents, saying that they were under orders to treat bodies with respect and to hand them over to local elders or the Red Cross. But the Taliban were in control of the area at the time, and some photographs showed what appeared to be the group’s fighters standing around Mr. Siddiqui’s body, which was then intact.

“Danish always chose to be on the front lines so that abuses and atrocities could not remain hidden,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “The brutality with which Taliban fighters punished Danish proves the abuses that he was documenting.”

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Continue reading the main story

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Carrying Mr. Siddiqui’s coffin in New Delhi on July 18.
Carrying Mr. Siddiqui’s coffin in New Delhi on July 18.Credit...Altaf Qadri/Associated Press
Human Rights Watch and other watchdog groups say the Taliban have carried out a series of revenge killings in Kandahar Province, where some of the most brutal episodes in Afghanistan’s last four war-torn decades have occurred.

The Taliban rose to power from the southern province in the 1990s, promising to end atrocities carried out by local militias. In recent years, Afghan forces led by Abdul Raziq, a general who was assassinated in 2018, were accused of ruthless tactics as they fought the Taliban in Kandahar. Spin Boldak, where Mr. Siddiqui died, was General Raziq’s hometown. Reports have emerged of the Taliban detaining, and in some cases executing, people who had been associated with the general.

There are conflicting reports about what happened on July 16, as the Afghan special forces with whom Mr. Siddiqui was traveling tried to retake Spin Boldak.

Accounts from local officials, as well as Taliban members, suggest that Mr. Siddiqui and the Afghan unit’s commander were killed in a crossfire when their convoy was ambushed from multiple directions. Their bodies were left on the battlefield as the rest of the unit retreated, according to this version of events.

Some news outlets reported that Mr. Siddiqui might have been captured alive by the Taliban and then executed. Those reports could not be confirmed. One Indian official, however, said that some of Mr. Siddiqui’s wounds appeared to be from gunshots at close range.

Three days before his killing, Mr. Siddiqui posted a video on Twitter in which he said several rocket-propelled grenades had struck the armored vehicle in which he was traveling.

His body, in a closed coffin, was returned to his home in New Delhi two days after his death. The narrow alley leading to his house was crowded with neighbors and friends. Colleagues — many of whom had accompanied him as he covered some of India’s most tumultuous recent events, such as mass protests and the coronavirus pandemic — wept, hugged and consoled one another.

Mr. Siddiqui was buried late at night in a cemetery at Jamia Millia Islamia, the university in New Delhi from which he had graduated. At a candlelight vigil, reporters held pictures of him wearing his press vest. The text read simply, “Danish Siddiqui, Killed in Afghanistan.”

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Body of Reuters Photographer Was Mutilated in Taliban Custody, Officials Say

KABUL, Afghanistan — Haji Sakhi decided to flee Afghanistan the night he saw two Taliban members drag a young woman from her home and lash her on the sidewalk. Terrified for his three daughters, he crammed his family into a car the next morning and barreled down winding dirt roads into Pakistan.

That was more than 20 years ago. They returned to Kabul, the capital, nearly a decade later after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime. But now, with the Taliban sweeping across parts of the country as American forces withdraw, Mr. Sakhi, 68, fears a return of the violence he witnessed that night. This time, he says, his family is not waiting so long to leave.

“I’m not scared of leaving belongings behind, I’m not scared of starting everything from scratch,” said Mr. Sakhi, who recently applied for Turkish visas for himself, his wife, their three daughters and one son. “What I’m scared of is the Taliban.”


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Haji Sakhi at his home in Kabul.
Haji Sakhi at his home in Kabul.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Across Afghanistan, a mass exodus is unfolding as the Taliban press on in their brutal military campaign, which has captured more than half the country’s 400-odd districts, according to some assessments. And with that, fears of a harsh return to extremist rule or a bloody civil war between ethnically aligned militias have taken hold.

So far this year around 330,000 Afghans have been displaced, more than half of them fleeing their homes since the United States began its withdrawal in May, according to the United Nations.

Many have flooded into makeshift tent camps or crowded into relatives’ homes in cities, the last islands of government control in many provinces. Thousands more are trying to secure passports and visas to leave the country altogether. Others have crammed into smugglers’ pickup trucks in a desperate bid to slip illegally over the border.

In recent weeks, the number of Afghans crossing the border illegally shot up around 30 to 40 percent compared to the period before international troops began withdrawing in May, according to the International Organization for Migration. At least 30,000 people are now fleeing every week.

The sudden flight is an early sign of a looming refugee crisis, aid agencies warn, and has raised alarms in neighboring countries and Europe that the violence that has escalated since the start of the withdrawal is already spilling across the country’s borders.
“Afghanistan is on the brink of another humanitarian crisis,” Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said earlier this month. “A failure to reach a peace agreement in Afghanistan and stem the current violence will lead to further displacement.”

The sudden exodus harks back to earlier periods of heightened unrest: Millions poured out of Afghanistan in the years after the Soviets invaded in 1979. A decade later, more fled as the Soviets withdrew and the country fell into civil war. The exodus continued when the Taliban came to power in 1996.

Afghans currently account for one of the world’s largest populations of refugees and asylum seekers — around 3 million people — and represent the second highest number of asylum claims in Europe, after Syria.

Now the country is at the precipice of another bloody chapter, but the new outpouring of Afghans comes as attitudes toward migrants have hardened around the world.

After forging a repatriation deal in 2016 to stem migration from war-afflicted countries, Europe has deported tens of thousands of Afghan migrants. Hundreds of thousands more are being forced back by Turkey as well as by neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which together host around 90 percent of displaced Afghans worldwide and have deported a record number of Afghans in recent years.

Coronavirus restrictions have also made legal and illegal migration more difficult, as countries closed their borders and scaled back refugee programs, pushing thousands of migrants to travel to Europe along more dangerous routes.

In the United States, the growing backlog for the Special Immigration Visa program — available to Afghans who face threats because of their work with the U.S. government — has left roughly 20,000 eligible Afghans and their families trapped in bureaucratic limbo in Afghanistan. The Biden administration has come under heavy pressure to protect Afghan allies as the United States withdraws troops and air support amid a Taliban insurgency.

Still, as the fighting between Taliban, government and militia forces intensifies and civilian casualties reach record highs, many Afghans remain determined to leave.

One recent morning in Kabul, people gathered outside the passport office. Within hours, a line snaked around three city blocks and past a mural of migrants with an ominous warning: “Don’t jeopardize you and your family’s lives. Migration is not the solution.”

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A mural warning against migration served as a backdrop for people lining up outside the passport office in Kabul.
A mural warning against migration served as a backdrop for people lining up outside the passport office in Kabul.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Few people were deterred.

“I need to get a passport and get the hell out of this country,” said Abdullah, 41, who like many in Afghanistan goes by only one name.

Abdullah, who drives a taxi between Kabul and Ghazni, a trading hub in the southeast, remembers speeding toward the capital when fighting erupted recently, picking up a group of Afghan troops who demanded a ride along the way. Two days later, his boss called to say that Taliban fighters had asked about a taxi driver seen evacuating security forces — and had recited Abdullah’s license plate.

Terrified, Abdullah says he will find any way to leave.

“Trying to leave legally is costly, and if we go illegally it is dangerous,” he said. “But right now the country is even more dangerous.”



“I need to get a passport and get the hell out of this country,” said Abdullah, 41.
“I need to get a passport and get the hell out of this country,” said Abdullah, 41.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Farther west, a surge of Afghans have flocked to Zaranj, a hub for illegal migration in Nimruz Province, where smugglers’ pickup trucks snake south down the borderlands to Iran each day.

In March, around 200 cars left for the Iranian border each day from Zaranj — a 300 percent increase from 2019, according to David Mansfield, a migration researcher and consultant with the British Overseas Development Institute. By early July, 450 cars were heading to the border each day.

Those who can afford it pay thousands of dollars to travel to Turkey and then Europe. But many more strike pay-as-you-go deals with smugglers, planning to work illegally in Iran until they can afford the next leg of the journey.

“We don’t have any money or means of getting a visa,” said Mohammad Adib, who is considering migrating illegally to Iran.

Mr. Adib fled his home in Qala-e-Naw, in the country’s northwest, in early July after the Taliban laid siege to the city one night. As dawn broke, he says the paw-paw-paw of gunfire was replaced with wails from neighbors. Electricity lines littered the ground. Doors of houses were broken down. The road was stained with blood.

“We cannot find another way out,” he said.

In Tajikistan, officials recently announced that the country was prepared to host around 100,000 Afghan refugees, after the country received around 1,600 Afghans this month.

Other neighboring countries have expressed less willingness to host an outpouring of Afghans, instead beefing up their border security and warning that their economies cannot handle a new influx of refugees. Leaders in Central Europe have called to increase their border security as well, fearing the current exodus could swell into a crisis similar to that in 2015 when nearly a million, mostly Syrian migrants entered Europe.

But in Afghanistan, about half of the country’s population is already in need of humanitarian assistance this year — twice as many people as last year and six times as many as four years ago, according to the United Nations.

Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, 40, borrowed $1,000 to bring 36 relatives to Kabul after the Taliban attacked his village in Malistan district. Today his three-room apartment, situated on the edge of the city, feels more like a crowded shelter than a home.



Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi borrowed $1,000 to bring 36 relatives to Kabul after the Taliban attacked his village in Malistan district. 
Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi borrowed $1,000 to bring 36 relatives to Kabul after the Taliban attacked his village in Malistan district. Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
The men sleep in one large living room, women stay in the other and the children cram into the apartment’s one small bedroom alongside bags of clothes and cleaning supplies. Mr. Mohammadi borrows more money from neighbors to buy enough bread and chicken — which have nearly doubled in price as food prices surge — to feed everyone.

Now, sinking further into debt with no relief in sight, he is at a loss for what to do.

“These families are sick, they are traumatized, they have lost everything,” he said, standing near his kitchen’s one countertop — out of earshot from his family. “Unless the situation improves, I don’t know what we will do.”


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Jan Bibi, left, 40, lost her husband, who was a militiaman, during the fighting in Malestan. She now resides at Mr. Mohammadi’s house in Kabul.
Jan Bibi, left, 40, lost her husband, who was a militiaman, during the fighting in Malestan. She now resides at Mr. Mohammadi’s house in Kabul.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Asad Timory contributed reporting from Herat; Zabihullah Ghazi from Laghman; Fahim Abed and Jim Huylebroek from Kabul.



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As Fears Grip Afghanistan, Hundreds of Thousands Flee

Great Britain's Charlotte Worthington recovered from a fall on her first run to win a thrilling gold in the women's BMX park freestyle Olympic final.

The 25-year-old, who gave up work as a chef to focus on the sport in 2017, delivered an action-packed score of 97.50 to snatch gold on her second run.

The gripping action set the stage for Declan Brooks to seal bronze in the men's event, Britain's fourth BMX medal of a remarkable week.

The 25-year-old watched on as riders failed to surpass his mark of 90.80, as Australia's Martin Logan took gold on 93.30.

Brooks' medal followed shortly after Worthington's superb victory. With no score of significance on the board after her fall, she simply had to deliver on run two and did so by becoming the first woman to land a 360-degree backflip in competition - the same trick that left her on the floor during run one.

She celebrated her score wildly and then watched as four rivals - including favourite Hannah Roberts - failed to usurp her mark.

"It was incredible," said Worthington when asked about the key backflip.

"I've not been doing that trick for so long but we've been trying to find that big banger trick and when we did we thought, 'this is the one'. If it wasn't for Hannah Roberts, we wouldn't be doing these tricks.

"It's a lot of hard work paid off."

Worthington's team celebrated wildly when her score of 97.50 was read
Worthington's team celebrated wildly when her score of 97.50 was read out
Riders were ranked on their best score from their two runs and Worthington's 97.50 transferred all of the pressure to American Roberts, who appeared to be cruising to the title after she put up 96.10 on run one.

The 19-year-old - who had thrown her bike in the emotion of completing her first run - could not finish her second 60-second stint on the Tokyo course and, as the last rider to compete, her concession confirmed Worthington's champion status.

Roberts, the winner of all three World Cup events in BMX freestyle's last complete season in 2019 - looked shocked at the turnaround.

"There was definitely a lot going on," said Roberts, who beat Switzerland's Nikita Ducarroz into bronze. "My first run was good and I know there were places I could improve. I slipped up and hurt my ankle.

"I'm honoured to take second place to Charlotte. It's definitely an exciting time for our sport."

Medals for Worthington and Brooks follow gold and silver respectively for Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte in BMX racing at the Games.

Worthington, a late convert to BMX, opted to give her role up as a chef in 2017 and told BBC Sport she had been "sweating it out in the kitchen for over 40 hours a week and barely had any time or energy to ride".

The move came with what she called a "lifestyle change" and she was keen to point out how personal development in her life away from the bike had laid the framework for her to sharpen her skills on it.

Worthington has said that the delay to Tokyo 2020 gave her more time to develop the tricks she would need on the big stage.

She has now won British, European and Olympic titles.

'I've cried but I'm stoked'
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Declan Brooks almost missed Tokyo 2020 because of injury
Brooks, who almost missed out on the Games after knocking himself out during the World Championships in June, watched on patiently as late riders in Tokyo failed to pass his bronze-medal mark.

Visibly emotional, he told BBC Sport: "I've just cried for the last couple of minutes.

"It's an unbelievable journey I've had on the way here. I am just so stoked. I don't think it will sink in for a while. For Charlotte to do her things today and put a score and tricks up there that we had never seen before, it was even harder focusing.

"I knew the run I wanted to pull, I still missed a few bits out but, to be honest, I think that is all I had."

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Tokyo Olympics: Charlotte Worthington wins BMX freestyle gold for Great Britain

Family is what you have, whether you are successful or not. Wealth emerges and disappears, but family gets bigger every year.

Family is a group of people who decided to live together, not only to survive, but to love one another, not only for a moment, but for a lifetime.

Some families have beauty and brains, some have wealth and influence, some have power and fame, but my family have the best of everything.  They have me.

Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to this country and to mankind is to bring up a family. – Bernard Shaw

Family is not an important thing. It's everything. – Michael J. Fox 

“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” ― Mother Teresa

Family is like music, some high notes, some low notes, but always a beautiful song.

When you educate a man you educate an individual. When you educate a woman you educate a whole family. – Robert M. Maciver

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Family is a group of people who decided to live together

My family lives in a small house. It’s simple but pretty. It has a large garden. I like to work in the garden but my sister hates to work in the garden. She prefers to read. She reads in the morning, in the afternoon and at night.

I give all of the vegetables to mom and dad. They like to cook in our small kitchen. I eat any vegetable but my sister eats only a few.

My family always eats breakfast and dinner together. We talk. We laugh. Then my sister washes the dishes.

At night dad likes to listen to music. Mom works on the computer. I watch television. And my sister reads.

Soon we go to bed. My parents go to bed late but my sister and I go to bed early. I’m ready to go to sleep but my sister wants to keep reading

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My family at home

If you're wondering why families are important to individuals, there are a number of reasons. The definition of family is one that seems to change with the times, but it usually includes a group of people related to each other and living together. Like many social relationships, strong bonds with family members can have great benefits for society and individuals.

Why Are Families Important to Individuals?
Family support is important to individuals for a variety of reasons, most of which are related to your personal well-being. Family is important to individuals because it provides benefits to your physical, emotional, and mental health that can't be found anywhere else.

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Why Is Family Important

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