Menna Rawlings is UK’s first female appointee to Paris role, joining women representing others in G7

Bronze finger found at Louvre is remounted onto Constantine’s hand at museum in RomeA giant statue of the hand of Constantine the Great in Rome has been reunited with its missing finger after more than 500 years.The 38cm-long bronze index finger, found in the Louvre in Paris in 2018, was remounted onto the statue at Rome’s Capitoline Museums on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Organised crime groups seeking small boats to bring asylum seekers across Channel, National Crime Agency saysBoat suppliers have been warned that they face organised crime groups coming to them to buy or steal vessels and equipment for smuggling people across the Channel ahead of an expected increase over the summer.The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued an alert to the UK maritime industry, warning that the significant rise in asylum seekers attempting to reach the UK from France has seen a rise in demand for boats. Continue reading...

Letter signed by at least 18 soldiers as well as a number of retired military figures calls for ‘protection of civilisational values’At least 18 soldiers who signed an open letter warning of the risk of “civil war” in France and the need to fight the “perils” of “Islamism” and “anti-racism” are to face military sanctions, amid a bitter row between the government and the far-right.The open letter, published by rightwing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, warned of the “dangers” of “Islamism and the hordes from the banlieue” and accused anti-racism groups of creating “hatred between communities” with their support for tearing down statues of French figures from colonial times. Continue reading...

From Lizzo to Lana Del Rey, celebrities have taken umbrage with reviews online. But arguing with journalists only warps the public’s view of the media, and puts writers under siegeIn 2018, while working as a freelance writer, I travelled three hours outside of London on a train, and then a coach, to review a music festival. I camped in the cold and the rain, waking up at 8am each morning to make sure I didn’t miss anything. When I got home, I filed what I thought was a generous review. I did not expect the organiser and the founder of the festival to find me on Twitter to tell me that I clearly hadn’t attended, or that my three-star review was full of lies. They were hurt that I hadn’t given it five stars. I was hurt that my hard work – complete with blood blisters, swollen glands and glitter that took two weeks to wash out of my hair – was now seen as a declaration of war.As an editor and sometime critic specialising in pop culture, differing perceptions are par for the course. I find it skull-crushingly boring to see the same TV show or album receive near-identical reviews across the board, or read identikit reviews of the same film. I inhale people’s opinions – the good and the bad, the funny and the touching, the flippant and the problematic – and exhale them. I don’t internalise them. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read, but I take something from it: someone else’s views. I go to certain people because I know, nine times out of 10, we think very, very differently (here’s looking at you, Camilla Long). Reviews can serve as a guide but they are also an artform in their own right. They entertain, inform and challenge readers. The writer AO Scott described criticism in his 2016 book Better Living Through Criticism as “art’s late-born twin”. Continue reading...

Huge surge in cases followed erroneous ‘supermodelling’ study suggesting herd immunity had been achievedThey will be remembered as India’s lost months: the stretch between September and February when Covid-19 cases in the country defied global trends, falling sharply throughout the coldest months of the year until they reached four-figure daily totals.It was inexplicable. Was it the Indian climate? A protection conferred by childhood immunisations? Some speculated India may have naturally reached herd immunity. It was a tantalising idea that took hold in India’s highest circles of policymaking, media and science – even a government-commissioned study suggested herd immunity may indeed have been achieved. It would prove one of the most fatal miscalculations of the Covid-19 pandemic so far. Continue reading...

UNFPA says £130m being withheld would have helped prevent 250,000 child and maternal deaths in poorest countriesThe British government is slashing its funding to the UN population fund (UNFPA) in a move described as “devastating” for women and girls.The agency confirmed on Wednesday that the UK, its largest donor, is cutting funding for contraceptives and reproductive health supplies by 85% this year – from £154m to £23m – and cutting core funding from £20m to £8m. Continue reading...

The vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has defended the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, over the flat refurbishment row.Zahawi said: 'The prime minister has been very clear that he has paid for this, that he also followed ministerial codes, took advice, and if Lord Geidt in his investigation requires the prime minister to make any other declarations, then he will also do that.'Christopher Geidt, a former private secretary to the Queen, has been appointed as Johnson’s new adviser on ministerial standards. He is to immediately look into the controversy over payments for the renovation of Johnson’s Downing Street flat

A father uses his obsession with the movies to help his daughter when she is unjustly suspected of murderIt turns out that cinephilia is a productive use of time after all. When his computer is searched, Li Weijie, protagonist of this perky Chinese thriller, has watched 838 films in a year – and he uses his superior knowledge of the seventh art to get his family out of a pickle. Chinese but living in northern Thailand, he scrapes by as an internet technician, but his daughter finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation after she accidentally kills the son of a police chief who was trying to blackmail her with smartphone-filmed rape footage.A remake of the 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam, this big Chinese hit ultimately doffs the cap to Korean cinema: it is Jeong Keun-seob’s 2013 film Montage that inspires Li when he has to provide his family with an alibi. Continue reading...

Complainant went to Canberra police a week after pixelated images were broadcast of unnamed advisers performing lewd sex acts in Parliament HouseCanberra police have received a complaint of potential revenge porn related to the sharing of intimate images taken at Parliament House.The report was received on 30 March, one week after a Liberal staffer was sacked for performing a solo sex act on the desk of a female MP amid a storm over the Morrison government’s handling of sexual harassment. Continue reading...

Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia every Thursday lunchtime – how will you fare?It’s Thursday lunchtime, and what better time to tackle our new weekly quiz? It is made up of 15 teasing questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but do let us know how you get on in the comments below.The weekly Guardian quiz, No 1 Continue reading...

National park authority task group to examine whether English name should be ditched entirely

Queen’s Beasts coin weighs in at 10kg, took 400 hours to produce – and has already been snapped upThe Royal Mint has produced a 10kg (22lb) gold coin, the biggest in its 1,100-year history. It took 400 hours to produce the coin – described by the Mint as a “masterwork” – including four days of polishing.The coin has already been sold. The Mint did not give details about the sale or buyer, but said a coin of this calibre and craftsmanship would be priced in the region of six figures. Continue reading...

Treasurer tells business conference government will address ‘some very important workforce needs across the economy’Josh Frydenberg has signalled the looming federal budget will contain measures to boost the workforce of female-dominated professions such as aged and disability care, and also in the critical field of cybersecurity.The Morrison government has already flagged the budget will contain new investments in aged and disability care, as well as mental health and domestic violence. The treasurer told a business conference in Canberra on Thursday the government would also address “some very important workforce needs across the economy”. Continue reading...

Parit Chiwarak, one of students jailed over protests calling for monarchy reform, is unable to stand, lawyer says

Serving community support officer Julia James, 53, was found dead in woods near hamlet of SnowdownA serving police community support officer who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon was murdered, police have said.No arrests have yet been made following the death of PCSO Julia James, 53, whose body was found in Akholt Wood in Kent. The loss has shocked the tiny nearby hamlet of Snowdown, where Ms James is believed to have lived with her husband. Continue reading...

From Senegal to Nigeria, a growing wave of salons and small cosmetic companies are challenging colonial notions about how to wear and care for hairWomen kick the sand from their slippers, and ease into the cool comfort of a natural hair and skincare store in central Dakar. On the shelves are jars filled with handmade supplements of organic shea butter, coconut, castor and olive oils, sourced from across west Africa.In floral silk hijabs and abaya dresses, the women sit on sofas near the back of the store, discussing their hair beneath a mural of poised black women and men, wearing a mixture of classic natural black hairstyles. Continue reading...

Celebrate International Dance Day by watching some of these great short films at home, from Scottish Ballet to a global collaboration in South KoreaPremiering on Thursday, this is a brilliant film from Scottish Ballet and their resident choreographer Sophie Laplane. Inspired by Yves Klein’s famous shade of blue, which appears in all sorts of unexpected ways, it’s 10 minutes of dance that’s funny, surreal, surprising and bursting with ideas. Crucially, Dive makes the most of the medium to create something that could only be done on screen, with the help of theatre director James Bonas and film-maker Oscar Sansom. Available until 31 May. Continue reading...

Much of Britain’s temperate rainforest has been destroyed – but it can sometimes regenerate. The race is on to map what survives and restore what we can

There are books, podcasts, apps and devices devoted to it. But what’s behind this new obsession with a strong pelvic floor?If you want to know about the wonders of a healthy pelvic floor, you could do worse than look to Coco Berlin, who styles herself “Germany’s most famous belly dancer”. Berlin started belly dancing in 2002, but it wasn’t until a few years later, when she went to Egypt to study dancers there, that she wondered why they were so much better. She concluded they were seriously in touch with their pelvic floor, the internal muscular structure that supports the internal organs and prevents incontinence, among other important functions.“When I connected to my pelvic floor, for the first time in my life, I had this feeling of embodiment,” Berlin says. It improved her dancing – before, she says, it had felt “like mimicry” – but also affected the rest of her life. She felt more confident, “I had the feeling that I own my body”. Her enjoyment of sex was greatly improved, and she felt stronger and less stressed. She thinks it is a prime reason why people assume she is much younger than she is (she’s 42 and, speaking over Zoom from her home in Germany, she looks like a woman in her 20s). Continue reading...

Three months after the coup, four brothers tell how they joined protesters fighting the junta before fleeing for the borderThe young men only had a moment to study the river before rushing into the waist-deep water. The brothers – ranging in age from 15 to 21 – were unfamiliar with the border area and afraid of being seen. On the run from Myanmar’s military, they pushed on into the Thaunggin River.After just a few minutes of wading, they stumbled into no man’s land. Moments after crossing the river, three smugglers dressed in military fatigues met them. After handing over 6,000 Thai baht (US$200) and exchanging a few words, the smugglers led them deeper into the woods and then to safety in Thailand. Continue reading...

As India’s hospitals struggle to keep pace with demand, the pandemic has exposed global market failures, lack of knowledge and anticipation

Scott Morrison wants to ‘pursue peace’ but ‘drums of war’ speeches from his government have raised hacklesScott Morrison says Australia’s defence policies are “designed to pursue peace” – but some analysts are worried the increasingly stark warnings from his government about the threat of a military clash with China could fuel panic.“I think while there are good reasons to increase our defence spending and to raise public awareness of the challenges that loom in our region, there are also real risks that come from causing panic and hysteria,” says Natasha Kassam, the director of the Lowy Institute’s public opinion and foreign policy program. Continue reading...

Foster says she will stand aside as DUP leader on 28 May and as first minister a month laterArlene Foster has announced she is stepping down as leader of the Democratic Unionist party and Northern Ireland’s first minister after a sudden internal party revolt.Foster issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying she would step aside as DUP leader on 28 May and as first minister at the end of June, bringing fresh tumult to a region hit by protests over the post-Brexit Irish Sea border. Continue reading...

Anglicare report says end of Covid supplement and eviction bans leaves renters facing a ‘perfect storm’Only three rental properties in Australia are considered affordable for a single person living on the government’s “boosted” jobseeker payment, new analysis has found.The pandemic has reduced rents in some markets but the latest update to Anglicare’s rental affordability snapshot of more than 74,000 properties found affordability remained dire for people living on welfare benefits. Continue reading...

Analysis: A ‘Kevin Keegan’ moment, long inquiries and ill-advised comments about furnishings could be a dangerous cocktailInside Keir Starmer’s office, jubilant aides described Boris Johnson’s rant at prime minister’s questions as his “Kevin Keegan moment” – when the drip-drip of sleaze stories seemed to have finally rattled him.The timing could not have been better for the Labour leader. The Electoral Commission opened its formal investigation, into whether the Conservative party broke electoral law over plans for donations to refurbish Johnson’s flat, just an hour before the pair faced off in the House of Commons. Continue reading...

Bloc warns of ‘fragmentation’ if member states fail to agree on common travel pass

Armed conflicts, the climate crisis and Covid-19 are contributing to chronic risk of food insecurity in the region, says Unocha reportA record 29 million people will need humanitarian assistance in the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin in 2021 amid a deepening crisis, a report by the UN office for humanitarian affairs (Unocha) has estimated.Almost one in four people in the border areas of Burkina Faso, northern Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and north-east Nigeria are expected to need aid in 2021, 5 million more than a year ago, and a 52% rise on 2019. Continue reading...

Crematoriums in Delhi forced to build makeshift funeral pyres on spare patches of land as Covid death toll surges

‘This was used as the cover of A Seat at the Table. We left her clips in to show vulnerability – but she still wanted to have a strong gaze, to look people in the eye’In 2016, Solange Knowles’s manager contacted me on Instagram, asking if I wanted to art direct her new album, A Seat at the Table. I was working in Barcelona at the time, and had no idea I had that type of reach. It was my first big international commission.I present female communities in a raw yet relaxed way. Solange was interested in this, but to find out if we would be a good fit, we first met in London and worked on a digital project for Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, an exhibition at Tate Modern. Continue reading...

Rome had long urged Paris to detain 10 people found guilty of terrorist acts from late 1960s to early 80sSeven Italian far-left guerrilla fighters, who hid in France for decades after escaping terrorism convictions that left “an open wound” in Italy, have been arrested.French authorities are also searching for three other Italians convicted on terrorism charges linked to bombings and assassinations between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Continue reading...

Former Manchester United player appears in court on charges of assaulting ex-partner and her sister

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2016: For Syrians in exile, food is more than a means of sustenance. It is a reminder of the rich and diverse culture being destroyed by civil war. By Wendell Steavenson Continue reading...

In part two of our series on the musicians foregrounding hope in their songs, Esperanza Spalding, Rostam and more discuss the importance of positivityI started writing songs after my father died when I was 13. I used music to release the sadness that was flooding my heart and held on to my guitar like it was a float in an ocean. As an artist, I’ve always wanted to provoke chills, because to me that means I’ve connected with the spirit that’s giving me the music. Continue reading...

Government faces criticism after cross-party peers abandon push to create automatic registerMinisters have been accused of misleading and insulting victims after a cross-party group of peers abandoned a push to create an automatic register of dangerous domestic abusers and stalkers.The domestic abuse bill is expected to receive royal assent this week, four years after it was announced in the Queen’s speech. But it will not include a specific stalkers’ register, despite briefings from the government after the death of Sarah Everard that it was likely to support such a measure. Continue reading...

Facebook bans second Craig Kelly page; NSW to open Homebush Covid vaccine hub on 10 May; China’s foreign ministry says Australia is ‘sick’. Follow latest updates

UK and EU senior figures hail moment as a ‘new chapter’ of friendly relations after four years of divisionThe European parliament has given its overwhelming backing to the Brexit trade and security deal, prompting senior figures on both sides to speak of hope for a “new chapter” of friendly relations after four years of division.Just five MEPs voted against the deal, with 660 in favour and 32 abstentions, although in an accompanying resolution the chamber described the referendum result of 23 June 2016 as a “historic mistake”. Continue reading...

Grant Shapps says work has started on app many people already use to book GP appointments

Prof David Richardson cites systemic issues that disproportionately affect black and minority ethnic studentsUK universities are institutionally racist and must do more to support students of colour, a leading vice-chancellor has said.Prof David Richardson, chair of Universities UK’s advisory group on stamping out racial harassment on campuses and vice-chancellor of University of East Anglia, said there was evidence of systemic issues that disproportionally affect students from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Continue reading...

While some point to the number of teenage boys jailed for consensual sex, others fear gender equality gains could be lostKenya’s judges and child welfare organisations are embroiled in a fresh debate on whether to lower the age of consent.Some members of the judiciary believe the age of consent should be lowered from 18 to 16 for heterosexual acts (gay sex is criminalised at any age, punishable by up to 14 years in prison) because boys and girls have “reached the age of discretion and are able to make intelligent and informed decisions about their lives and their bodies”. Continue reading...

Donating doses to countries such as India would tackle soaring death toll and curb new variants, experts say

State security will provide ‘guidance’ to organisations deemed to have anti-espionage responsibility as hostilities with western governments deepenChinese social groups, enterprises and public entities will have increased responsibility to combat foreign espionage under new regulations issued by the country’s ministry of state security.The regulations, which were released and took effect on Monday, come amid deepening hostilities between China and some western governments, including over the detention of foreigners accused of national security crimes. Continue reading...

A year since the pandemic started, women’s bodies and habits have changed. Here they discuss underwiring, sleep underwear, and how going bra-free helps with polymastia

Past comments on male violence by Tory London mayoral candidate included ‘the repair starts with girls’

An extraordinary activist, she fought for integrated hospitals, helped organise the March on Washington and became the first Black TV presenter in the southThe words of Xernona Clayton’s friend and mentor Martin Luther King Jr still ring in her ears, she says, not least his dictum that “if you can change a man’s heart, you can regulate his behaviour”.One incident illustrates how successful this philosophy can be. It was 1968 and Clayton was in Atlanta, Georgia, leading the Model Cities Program, a federal initiative to help reduce urban poverty. Also on the programme was a man named Calvin Craig, who was the Georgia “grand dragon” of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). At this time, the KKK was still a prominent entity, openly engaged in cross-burnings, racist violence and intimidation, such as protesting outside white-owned restaurants in their robes to discourage Black people from entering. Continue reading...

28 April 1966 As the Americans prepare to leave their airbase in central France, Peter Lennon examines the influence the two communities have had on each otherAs soon as the French became indifferent to the joys of chewing gum, and independent of the need for American cigarettes, whitewashed signs began to be scrawled on the walls of Paris: US GO HOME.The story goes that one of these declarations, still to be seen near the US base at Chateauroux, was traced in a trembling hand by a nocturnal chauvinist who suddenly found himself joined by a six-foot-two air force sergeant who amiably supervised the spelling. Continue reading...

WW Norton and Company has pledged to donate the amount of Bailey’s book advance to organisations that fight against sexual assaultThe publisher of a highly anticipated and widely discussed biography of Philip Roth is pulling the book and cutting ties with author Blake Bailey, who faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault.WW Norton and Company, which previously released Bailey’s 2014 memoir The Splendid Things We Planned, said on Tuesday it was “permanently putting out of print our editions of Philip Roth: The Biography and The Splendid Things We Planned … Mr Bailey will be free to seek publication elsewhere if he chooses.” Continue reading...

Family of Robert Pether say they don’t know what he was charged with or his whereabouts and are frustrated by Australia’s slow and secretive responseThe family of an Australian businessman arrested in Iraq during a “trap” laid by the country’s central bank say they are enduring a “living nightmare” and are frustrated by Australia’s slow and secretive response.Mechanical engineer Robert Pether, 46, was arrested in Baghdad roughly three weeks ago, after travelling to Iraq from Dubai to attempt to restart work on the construction of a new headquarters for the Central Bank of Iraq. Continue reading...

Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s leading infectious disease expert, calls on richer countries to make coronavirus vaccines and other medical equipment available to countries that don't have the capability themselves. 'Because we’re all in this together. It’s an interconnected world,' he says Continue reading...

US’s top infectious disease expert lambasts wealthy countries for failing to provide equitable access to coronavirus vaccines