President to address France’s role in 1994 genocide during visit aimed at normalising ties between countriesThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, has arrived in Rwanda to “write a new page” in the relationship between the two countries that was poisoned by France’s role in the 1994 Tutsi genocide.The Élysée said the visit was important and symbolic, aimed at making “the final step” in the normalisation of Franco-Rwandan relations by finally addressing Paris’s role in the slaughter. Continue reading...

27 May 1986: British premier holds talks with political figures from the occupied West Bank and GazaMargaret Thatcher promised last night to help the Palestinians to achieve self-determination, but she leaves Israel today without any sign that she has advanced the Middle East peace process significantly.The prime minister went to the British Consulate in East Jerusalem to hear eight prominent political figures from the occupied West Bank and Gaza express their views on possible ways out of the present impasse in negotiations. Continue reading...

A giant tortoise foundin the Galápagos Islands has been confirmed as a species thought to be extinct a century ago. The tortoise was found in 2019on Fernandina Island and identified as the Chelonoidis phantasticus species by scientists from Yale University. The Galápagos national park is preparing an expedition to search for more of the giant tortoises in an attempt to save the species

Exclusive: The racist and violent comments appear below a video news report about Sasha Johnson who was shot in the head in LondonSky News Australia’s YouTube channel has published more than 9,000 comments mostly celebrating and mocking the shooting of a Black Lives Matter activist in Britain who is fighting for her life.The racist and violent comments, which could be described as hate speech, appear below a short video news report uploaded on Monday about the activist Sasha Johnson. Johnson remains in a critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to her head in an incident in south London. Continue reading...

The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincided with a supermoon. The reddish-orange colour of the super ‘blood’ moon was the result of all the sunrises and sunsets in Earth’s atmosphere projected on to the surface of the eclipsed moon. It captured viewers from China to California, Turkey to Canberra.• Video: the lunar phenomenon around the world Continue reading...

Restriction on J&J jab ‘provisionally’ applied pending further guidance from EMA in Belgium; France to impose a quarantine on travellers arriving from UK

Thursday: Victorian ministers meet to consider if a snap lockdown is needed to contain the Melbourne outbreak. Plus: Celebrity cook Kylie Kwong on her friendship with Aunty Beryl Van-OplooGood morning. Coronavirus continues to dominate local and international headlines, as Victoria contemplates strict measures once again, and US intelligence probes the pandemic’s origins.Victoria appears set to re-enter lockdown, with leading ministers from the state government to meet this morning to discuss its response, as the Melbourne Covid-19 cluster grows to at least 15. As the outbreak prompts a surge in Victorians getting vaccinated, the Australian Medical Association has called for any Australian approved for overseas travel to be forced to have a vaccine, in a bid to reduce the threat from Covid and to incentivise vaccination. The federal cabinet approved the fast-tracking of vaccines for Australians given permission for travel earlier this month, but on a voluntary basis. More than 144,000 Australians have been given permission to leave since the pandemic begun, but around 40,000 remain stranded overseas due to caps on quarantine places. Continue reading...

Overloaded vessel sank in the Niger River with four confirmed dead, according to local officialsMore than 150 people were missing and feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said.The boat was travelling between central Niger state and Wara in north-west Kebbi state when it went down, National Inland Waterways Authority local manager Yusuf Birma told reporters. Continue reading...

Ousted aide says failure to grasp situation meant ‘tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die’

The theatre director and writer looks back at the spirit of protest that fuelled daring dramas staged in South Africa 50 years agoI grew up in South Africa during the bleak, violent, seemingly never-ending iron age of apartheid. In 1971, when I was studying acting at Cape Town University, the National Party government built a monolithic 1,500-seat theatre complex in a commanding position near the centre of the city. The Afrikaner Nationalists had an easy rule of thumb by which to distinguish between the value of white people and black people – we have culture and they don’t. The purpose of the monolith, with its elaborate stairways, fancy colonnades and picture windows, was to declare and celebrate this belief. White musicians, actors and dancers were to perform to exclusively white audiences.Afrikaans theatre was bursting with contradictions. The finest Afrikaans playwright was William Shakespeare. From the 1950s to the 70s, Afrikaans-language productions of the European modernists – Pirandello, Maeterlinck, Strindberg and especially Chekhov – toured to church halls all over the country. Uncle Vanya was a quintessential Afrikaans cultural experience. Continue reading...

Decision comes after criticism by Jolie of judge’s decision not to let children testifyBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been awarded joint custody following a protracted court battle.The former couple have been in dispute for five years over access to their six children and hired a private judge, John Ouderkirk, to oversee the case. Continue reading...

For nearly two months, the Polynesian island nation of Samoa has been in the grips of a political crisis after one of the most dramatic elections in the country’s history. After a supreme court intervention, a parliamentary lockout and a swearing-in ceremony unlike any other, two groups continue to claim they are the legitimate government of Samoa. Reporter Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson explains what led to this crisis, and the dire implications of this for the people of SamoaYou can also read: Continue reading...

Department concedes fault found in Taipan chopper could have led to ‘catastrophic consequences’Australia’s defence department has revealed it is spending $37m to hire private helicopters as it grapples with low availability of the trouble-plagued Taipan choppers.The move comes as defence officials concede a fault found in one of the helicopters in 2019 – when it was on its way to pick up the Australian defence force chief, Angus Campbell – could have led to “catastrophic consequences” if left unfixed. Continue reading...

Analysis: left-of-centre parties struggle to cut through as survey shows ‘everyone thinks they are middle class’It is a country with levels of wealth inequality more similar to the United States than France, and one where the richest 10% of the population already owned two thirds of the national wealth before the pandemic further widened the gap.Yet the inequality of German society and how to fix it is likely to play a minor role in the race to September elections this year, with those parties expected to offer solutions – the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the leftwing Die Linke – struggling in the polls. Continue reading...

European countries begin to block flights from Minsk, with flight to Barcelona turned around at Polish borderAlexander Lukashenko has made his first public remarks defending his grounding of a Ryanair flight last week, accusing the west of launching a “hybrid modern war” against Minsk and calling the backlash over the incident a “planned provocation”.Addressing a session of parliament, Lukashenko also appeared to suggest the plane could have been shot down because it was flying over a nuclear power plant when it was diverted by the Belarusian government, which appeared to have concocted a bomb threat and scrambled a Mig-29 to ensure the plane landed. Continue reading...

Aide of the vice-president who led last year’s coup claims both leaders have stood down while in detentionMali’s interim president and prime minister have reportedly “resigned”, two days after they were arrested by the military in a widely condemned coup, according to an aide to the military-appointed interim vice-president.Both civilian leaders, president Bah Ndaw and prime minister, Moctar Ouane, remained under military arrest on Wednesday in the Kati army base, outside the Malian capital Bamako, amid widespread international condemnation and promises of sanctions. Continue reading...

Researchers have discovered that prolonged immersion in a piping hot bath has many of the same medical benefits as aerobic exerciseName: Hot baths.Age: First used by the ancient Egyptians 4,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Leeds headteacher forced to apologise after saying Palestinian flag was seen as ‘call to arms’The recent Middle East conflict has prompted a wave of pro-Palestine protests in British schools and controversy over the staff response, with pupils being accused of antisemitism and one headteacher describing the Palestinian flag as a “call to arms”.Mike Roper, the headteacher of Allerton Grange high school in Leeds, was forced to apologise after he claimed in an assembly that some people saw the flag as a “symbol of antisemitism”. Continue reading...

US pushing UK hard over minimum corporate tax and swift action on global Covid vaccinationsBoris Johnson is facing mounting pressure from Joe Biden and grass roots activists to be bolder at next month’s G7 summit amid signs that rows over vaccines and tax will dominate what the prime minister hoped would be a low-key event.The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, kicks off two weeks of intense international diplomacy ahead of the June gathering of the leaders of major western economies in Cornwall when he hosts a virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on Friday. Continue reading...

Analysis: Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega are just the latest to be forced into the widespread tacticThe videos are formulaic: Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, each sit alone in front of a camera in a police station and deliver their “confessions” as though a loaded gun is pointed at their heads.“I’m also the editor of the Telegram channel Black Book of Belarus that publishes personal information about employees of the interior ministry,” said Sapega, quickly repeating a memorised statement in a video released late on Tuesday that could lead to years in jail. Continue reading...

Commission demands €10 per dose for each day of delay as compensation

Zuma accuses lawyers of working ‘to bolster a narrative’ as trial begins over $2.5bn arms dealJacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, accused prosecutors of seeking to malign a political leader rather than find the truth as he denied charges of corruption at the first major hearing of his trial on Wednesday.Zuma, 79, faces charges of bribery, fraud, racketeering and money laundering relate to a $2.5bn (£1.98bn) deal to buy European military hardware to upgrade South Africa’s armed forces in 1999 when he was deputy president. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson has refused to deny that he initially dismissed coronavirus as 'another scare story' in a prime minister’s questions dominated by claims made by his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.The PMQs session took place immediately after the first two-and-a-half-hour session of testimony by Cummings to MPs, with Keir Starmer quizzing the prime minister repeatedly about the allegations

From the film extra who now gets parts as wizards rather than lawyers to the office workers who just decided to go for it, readers who have tried something new with their locks explain whyBefore the pandemic, my personal image was dictated by the constraints of corporate office culture, and I always felt tense. But while furloughed, as I was for most of the last year and a half, I found myself with a lot of time to relax, go for walks, listen to jazz and spend more time in the kitchen experimenting with vegetables. I realised that my hair was changing, too, and there was no pressure from anyone to get it cut. The length of my hair became symbolic of my new ability to appreciate the simple things in life. I’ve retrained, and my capacity for self-expression has multiplied. I have so many more options when I style it in the morning. Will, plumber, Bristol Continue reading...

Laura Pye, director of National Museums Liverpool, describes impact of BLM movement on staffA year ago, Laura Pye would have said that she had been a champion of diversity throughout her career. And then George Floyd’s murder sparked a movement that took hold in the UK on an unprecedented scale.“I would have said that I was anti-racist before, but I never understood the scale of racism and what that looks like on a daily basis in some parts of our society until the last 12 months,” she said. Continue reading...

Bosses of easyJet, British Airways, Ryanair, Jet2, Tui UK and others write to Boris Johnson over situation

New Hampshire police seek the singer over spitting allegations involving a videographer, which Manson’s lawyer dismissed as ‘ludicrous’New Hampshire police have published a warrant for the arrest of Marilyn Manson on two counts of simple assault, regarding an incident involving a videographer at a concert in August 2019.A warrant for his arrest was issued in October 2019, but despite repeat notifications, Manson (whose real name is Brian Warner) had not returned to New Hampshire to answer the charges, Gilford police department chief Anthony Burpee told the New York Times. The police declined to share details of the alleged incident with the newspaper. Continue reading...

UN nuclear inspectorate chief asks Tehran to ‘come clean’ about uranium found at three sitesIran’s failure to provide credible explanations for traces of uranium found at two undeclared sites is “a big problem” that is affecting the country’s credibility, the head of the UN’s nuclear inspectorate, has said.Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said Iran and the US could not simply return to the old nuclear deal on exactly the same terms as signed in 2015, but needed a new understanding on how to handle Iran’s increased nuclear knowledge, and its possession of more advanced centrifuges. Continue reading...

Once every 17 years, trillions of cicadas emerge from beneath the ground in the US. They taste like tinned asparagus, are sometimes attracted to power tools – and can number 1.3m an acre

Judge rules two former officers and ex-solicitor accused of perverting the course of justice have no case to answerA judge has stopped the trial of two former South Yorkshire police officers and the force’s former solicitor, who had been charged with perverting the course of justice for amending police statements after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.Mr Justice William Davis ruled that there was no case for the defendants to answer because the altered police statements were prepared for the public inquiry into the disaster by Lord Justice Taylor. That was not a statutory public inquiry, at which evidence is given on oath, so it was not a “course of public justice”, which could be perverted by amending statements, Davis ruled. Continue reading...

Pilot responded only after 40 minutes and was instructed to head to Gold Coast airport, where he safely landedA pilot fell asleep and was uncontactable for 40 minutes as his plane flew over Brisbane and the Gold coast, an investigation has found.The Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said air traffic control lost contact when the plane was around 53km north-west of Sunshine Coast airport in July 2020 and tried repeatedly to get through to the pilot. Continue reading...

Crash investigators say emergency brakes had been deactivated to avoid disruptions to service

PM’s former top adviser to be quizzed by senior MPs conducting inquiry to learn lessons from the pandemic

Morrison’s chief of staff has concluded he ‘was not in a position’ to make a finding that briefing against Sharaz took placeBrittany Higgins’ partner has trashed a report that declined to find the prime minister’s office briefed against him, and warned he and Higgins won’t be intimidated or silenced.David Sharaz, a journalist and former public servant, has described the report by John Kunkel as an exercise in “PMO staffers protecting themselves” after Morrison’s chief of staff concluded he was “not in a position to make a finding that the alleged activity took place”. Continue reading...

Just like the prime minister’s promises on Brexit, Boris Johnson’s pledges of support to UK farmers will ring hollowYou can tell that British farmers will be betrayed by Boris Johnson by the way he promises to look after them. The prime minister has pledged support equivalent to forfeited European subsidies. He says the sector will be safe from cut-price competition when new free trade deals are signed. He has told Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, that he would “rather die” than hurt her members. Really? Death before cheap beef? Maybe Johnson can honour those pledges, but it would be out of character.It would also defeat the purpose of Brexit for many Tory MPs. “Take back control” signalled many things to voters, but to Eurosceptic ideologues it meant liberation from the EU’s common external tariff. Having trade policy run from Brussels was proof of Britain’s colonisation by continental bureaucrats. Deals with non-Europeans are the prize for emancipation. Continue reading...

Winds snap power lines and kill two as residents in Odisha and West Bengal scramble for safetyMore than 1.2 million people have evacuated low-lying areas of India’s east coast as Cyclone Yaas made landfall on Wednesday.A week after Cyclone Tauktae claimed 155 lives in western India, wild weather has already caused two deaths and inflicted damage to homes amid heavy rain and high winds rains in Odisha and West Bengal states. Continue reading...

As Covid travel restrictions begin to be lifted, a new, far less welcoming post-Brexit attitude is greeting EU citizens at the UK borderEU citizens living and working in the UK are being met with suspicion and in some cases refused entry at the UK border for the first time in their lives, after the implementation of new post-Brexit rules and the lifting of Covid travel restrictions.Chloe, a pastry chef from Denmark, tells Anushka Asthana that, because she could not produce a return ticket, she was denied entry at Calais to the UK recently and forced to make the long drive back to Denmark. It is becoming a familiar story, with other EU citizens reporting hostility from officials and some being held at immigration detention centres. Continue reading...

Fast & Furious actor and wrestler apologises profusely on social media for offending Chinese fansFast & Furious star and wrestler John Cena began learning Mandarin Chinese nearly a decade ago. But this month, by showing off his linguistic skill in Taiwan, he got into trouble in mainland China.On Tuesday, Cena apologised for calling Taiwan “a country” in an interview he gave to a Taiwanese broadcaster early this month, saying that it was not appropriate. Continue reading...

Wednesday: Sussan Ley faces a preselection challenge amid allegations of ‘toxic’ branch-stacking by far-right party members. Plus: how to view tonight’s lunar showGood morning! Covid restrictions are back in Melbourne as an outbreak in the city’s north grows, preselection battles are brewing in the Coalition and a stink over Tasmania’s Pooseum could be headed to the state’s Integrity Commission – it’s a real mixed bag in today’s morning mail. Enjoy!One of the Coalition’s most senior women, the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, is expected to face a challenge in her rural NSW seat of Farrer amid allegations of “toxic” branch-stacking by far-right conservatives. The threat comes as the prime minister, Scott Morrison, urged Liberal colleagues not “to get distracted” by a tumultuous preselection season in NSW in which at least four sitting MPs are being challenged, including two female marginal seat holders. Fiona Martin in Reid, Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney and Alex Hawke in Mitchell are also facing challenges, with the outcomes to be decided by plebiscites of local members for the first time. Continue reading...

Far from minimal disruption, the full impact of leaving the EU may take 15 years to appearTeething problems? Bumps in the road? The consequences of adjusting to life outside the EU in the midst of a pandemic are starting to become clear. Official figures show a drop in EU trade of almost a quarter at the start of 2021 compared with the same period three years ago.Far from the “minimal” disruption observed by ministers earlier this year, the figures confirm Brexit came with reasonably substantial short-term costs. It turns out that handing exporters reams of paperwork and border checks on EU shipments, just as the pandemic worsened, isn’t an ideal recipe for a booming global Britain. Continue reading...

Secretary of state Antony Blinken also announces aid to help rebuild Gaza as he begins Middle East trip

Guardian Council’s bar on reformist candidates has left narrow field of hardliners for June pollIran’s leadership has been accused of a transparent fix after most prominent reformists were barred from running in next month’s presidential elections, leaving one of the most politically constrained fields in the 41-year history of the republic.Delaying the announcement to the last minute, the country’s 12-strong Guardian Council – the body that vets candidates – barred most reformist or centrist candidates, leaving a field of seven, largely made up of hard-liners. The manipulation was so clear that even one of the candidates likely to benefit most, Ebrahim Raisi, the current head of the judiciary, claimed he was trying to persuade the council to rethink. Raisi said he was conducting consultations to make the election more participatory and competitive. Continue reading...

Analysis: Minsk and Moscow watching carefully to see if EU makes good on threat of targeted economic sanctionsA new wave of sanctions and restrictive measures on Belarus’s aviation industry, severing its direct links with much of Europe, looks set to increase the country’s reliance on Russia, yet Moscow, its remaining ally, appears wary.Kremlin officials have offered only muted support over an incident that has been described as “air piracy” and an “act of state terrorism” by Alexander Lukashenko, a leader whom Vladimir Putin treats as a junior partner, and often with open disdain. Continue reading...

Trade with EU falls 23% from 2018 as Brexit and Covid disrupt exports from Britain

The threat to the environment minister comes after Scott Morrison urged MPs not to get distractedOne of the Coalition’s most senior women, the federal environment minister Sussan Ley, is expected to face a challenge in her rural New South Wales seat of Farrer amid allegations of “toxic” branch-stacking by far-right conservatives in the seat.The threat comes as the prime minister, Scott Morrison, urged Liberal colleagues not “to get distracted” by a tumultuous preselection season in NSW in which at least four sitting MPs are being challenged, including two female marginal seat holders. Continue reading...

After working with camels for five years, 32-year-old Sophie Matterson decided to embark on an epic trek across Australia, with nothing but the animals she had come to love for company. She trained five of them to carry her provisions before beginning a 5,000km coast-to-coast walk from Australia’s western-most point in Shark Bay, Western Australia, to the eastern-most point in Byron Bay, New South Wales

Friends describe arrest of influential opposition journalist as an act of ‘personal revenge’ by the country’s presidentIn an interview last November the 26-year-old opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich said he was not planning to spend his life in exile. “I would go back to Belarus immediately if my safety was guaranteed,” he said. “My intention is to return.”The extraordinary circumstances of Pratasevich’s involuntary homecoming have provoked international outrage, after his Ryanair flight was forced on Sunday to land in Belarus’s capital Minsk. It was on its way from Greece to Lithuania, where Pratasevich was living. Continue reading...

World leaders condemn ‘grave and serious’ kidnapping of Mali’s leaders as Col Assimi Goïita seizes powerMali’s interim vice-president, Col Assimi Goïta, who led a military coup last year, has declared he has seized power from the transitional president and prime minister, after they failed to consult him about the formation of a new government.In a statement broadcast on state television, Goïta said Mali’s civilian president, Bah Ndaw, and prime minister, Moctar Ouane, had been placed “outside of their prerogatives”, and that he orchestrated their arrests and removal to the Kati military base, outside of the capital, Bamako. Continue reading...

Sedat Peker accuses senior government figures of crimes including murder, rape, corruption and drug traffickingTurkish television shows are popular fare throughout the Muslim world during Ramadan, full of tales of palace intrigue and the criminal underworld.This year’s surprise hit, however, isn’t fictional. Continue reading...