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British Medical Association says figure of 28% – down from 41% last July – is a ‘terrible indictment’

You’re not moving methodically through your muscle groups: you’re trying to find your inner demonRockFit was a word-of-mouth suggestion, by way of social media. Launched and extremely popular in Plymouth, it probably would have stayed there were it not for the massive boost that online classes have had over lockdown. Now it seems to have a lot of fans. Or maybe, in the great echo chamber of modern life, the kind of people I like love it.The “rock” is exactly what you’d expect: every band that sounds like a German compound noun for banging your head on purpose (Rammstein, Halestorm); everything you’d have heard on Kerrang!’s drivetime in the good old days (Bon Jovi, Faith No More); everything that sounds as if, somehow, it’s going to hurt (Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails). The “fit” element is way more left field and won’t remind you of anything you’ve done before. Continue reading...

Demonstrators called on the military to ‘stop kidnapping at night’ as the military continues to detain officials and activistsOpponents of Myanmar‘s military coup have sustained mass protests for an eighth straight day as continuing arrests of junta critics added to anger over the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Thousands assembled in the business hub, Yangon, on Saturday while protesters took to the streets of the capital Naypyitaw, the second city Mandalay and other towns a day after the biggest protests so far in the south-east Asian country. Continue reading...

As long as I don’t tell them about it, it needn’t be a successIt is early morning and I am sitting in the kitchen before anyone else has had a chance to use it, drinking coffee, reading headlines and being quiet. The only sound is the noise of the tortoise trying to force himself through the cat flap, and the cat itself, which is sitting on the worktop, wanting cat food and getting none.“Noel,” it says. Continue reading...

Steph, 27, clinical account manager, and Will, 28, actor/singerWhat were you hoping for?

Experts say it is not just the pandemic that makes these feel like unusually significant times

Barristers say proposal would give head of immigration ‘unfettered power’ to stop people leaving the city without any court process

Victorian premier Dan Andrews has announced a snap five-day lockdown in response to the Melbourne hotel Covid outbreak. For what reasons can you leave home? Is mask-wearing compulsory? Is travelling permitted? Untangle the rules with our guide

Case is not being included in official Covid-19 death toll pending further investigations

Comments from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus came after another WHO expert said laboratory theory was ‘extremely unlikely’The World Health Organization says it has not ruled out any theory on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite one top official earlier this week appearing to dismiss the idea it had escaped from a laboratory.Speaking at a briefing on Friday, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said a summary report from the organization’s team sent to Wuhan to investigate the origins of the virus should be published next week, with a full report coming soon after. Continue reading...

While we celebrate the repatriation of $50m of ancient Khmer objects, the damage to Cambodian society is permanentAt the end of January, the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts announced the most significant return ever of stolen antiquities to south-east Asia: more than 100 ancient Khmer objects with an estimated value of $50m assembled over the course of six decades by Douglas Latchford.At his death in August 2020, Latchford was facing federal charges in the US for the alleged key role he played since the 1960s in the looting and trafficking of Khmer antiquities from Cambodia and Thailand. The investigations had begun to lay bare the direct links between the building of south-east Asian art collections in the west – including at some of America’s most revered cultural institutions – and the brutal destruction of the Khmer cultural heritage on the ground. His daughter inherited the collection and consented to their spectacular return. Latchford, a British citizen by birth, operated out of Bangkok and London. Though the full extent of the Latchford family Khmer antiquities holdings is still unclear, it is understood that it was split between these two locations. Continue reading...

Khan, 50, won on second round of voting by 131 member states and replaces Fatou Bensouda, who was hit with US sanctionsA British QC has been elected as the new chief prosecutor for the international criminal court in an election by the court’s 131 member states at the UN in New York. Karim Khan will replace Fatou Bensouda from the Gambia, and as he starts his nine-year term he faces a daunting task trying to secure more convictions and spread acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction across the globe.The secret ballot for the post was the first in the court’s history – and took place amid some controversy and high politics between member states. Continue reading...

Public consultation led by the MHRA is looking for views on the potential reclassification of two pill typesTwo types of the contraceptive pill could be sold over the counter for the first time, the government has announced.As part of a public consultation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is looking for opinions on the reclassification of two progestogen-only pills. Continue reading...

Chocolate companies are among the defendants named in a lawsuit brought by former child workers in Ivory CoastEight children who claim they were used as slave labour on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast have launched legal action against the world’s biggest chocolate companies. They accuse the corporations of aiding and abetting the illegal enslavement of “thousands” of children on cocoa farms in their supply chains.Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Washington DC by the human rights firm International Rights Advocates (IRA), on behalf of eight former child slaves who say they were forced to work without pay on cocoa plantations in the west African country.

Police say the pair and another man were swept into the sea at Hill 60 near Fishermans BeachTwo men have died after being swept off rocks into the sea at Port Kembla in New South Wales’s Illawarra region at the same spot where three men drowned three weeks ago.Police say the pair and another man, from Lakemba and Wiley Park in western Sydney, were swept into the sea just before 7pm on Friday at Hill 60 near Fishermans Beach. Continue reading...

Italians optimistic as former ECB chief appoints mix of political and technocratic ministers to cabinetItaly’s new government, led by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, will be sworn in on Saturday, ending weeks of political turmoil.Draghi, 73, announced his cabinet, which contains a mix of political and technocratic ministers, to president Sergio Mattarella on Friday. Continue reading...

Police officer fired shot that killed Kurdish girl Mawda Shawri during high-speed chase of suspected people-smugglersA Belgian court has handed a one-year suspended prison sentence to a police officer who fired the shot that killed a two-year-old girl during a high-speed chase of suspected people-smugglers.The court in the southern Belgian city of Mons ruled that the officer’s account of an accidental shooting was credible but also found he had a share of responsibility for the Kurdish child’s death. Continue reading...

A sustainable forestry project established to develop some of PNG’s most marginalised communities has become mired in an international corruption scandal“There is always the stench of corruption around a deal that is too bad to be true or too good to be true,” a full-page advertisement in Papua New Guinea’s Post Courier baldly declared in May 2018.“Usually, because it’s not true.” Continue reading...

Labor strategists say the party’s plan to win back the sunshine state is one of the most crucial in years“I’ll know my song well before I start singing it,” Bob Dylan wrote in 1963.When it comes to Queensland, federal Labor is still working on its song. But the party is hopeful Anthony Albanese and the party machine at least have a tune. Continue reading...

Covid hardships mean pounamu is increasingly being targeted for its value, Indigenous leaders sayThe rugged west coast of New Zealand is home to many secrets. Rivers that run flush with gold, beaches that conceal ambergris, and waterways dotted with boulders of the sacred Māori stone, pounamu.Imbued with spiritual significance to New Zealand’s Indigenous tribes, pounamu – otherwise known as greenstone or New Zealand jade – is highly prized. For centuries Māori have fashioned it into jewellery, tools and even weapons, which could denote status or be used as ceremonial objects or symbols of peace agreements. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting across Myanmar since the army overthrew the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and detained most senior leaders on 1 February.Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to power prompted hope she could end years of ethnic strife in Myanmar, but she has been accused of standing by while genocide was committed against the Rohingya people. The Guardian's south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, explains why – despite her fall from grace internationally – Aung San Suu Kyi is seen by so many protesters as the only person who can still save them from military rule

Attorney general’s decision comes after campaign by families of six men allegedly shot by British army in 1973

Pawel Relowicz sentenced for raping and murdering Hull student before dumping her body in riverThe man who raped and murdered the Hull University student Libby Squire and dumped her body in a river has given a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years.Pawel Relowicz encountered the intoxicated and probably hypothermic student late on 31 January 2019 and drove her to Oak Road playing fields in Hull where he carried out the crimes. Continue reading...

French president had vowed to close elite ENA school, but now will set aside six places for poorer students

Bret Stephens piece criticizing newspaper’s handling of Donald McNeil departure over racist language was pulled by senior bossesAn article that was spiked by the New York Times – in which a conservative columnist criticised the newspaper’s handling of a former reporter who left the paper over his use of a racist slur – has been published in full by the New York Post.Related: Trump’s defense team expected to push for swift conclusion of second impeachment trial – live Continue reading...

Camila Batmanghelidjh exonerated of allegations she was responsible for charity collapse

The new chief of defence staff has apologised after his message of ‘diversity, inclusion and culture change’ missed the markInstitutions around the world are keenly aware that it is important not only to increase diversity and inclusion – but to do so in a transparent and public way.Related: Canada designates Proud Boys as terrorist organization beside Isis and al-Qaida Continue reading...

Border staff not briefed about even basics of Covid protection system starting on Monday, says union

Almost two weeks after the military coup, one demonstrator explains why she is still out on the streetsIn previous years on Union Day – the Myanmar public holiday marking the agreement between ethnic leaders on 12 February 1947 to forge a unified country – Khin* had worn her traditional htamein, a snug maxiskirt. But since it would prevent her from running away if the police opened fire, this year she opted for loose trousers, large sunglasses, a baseball cap and face mask.For the seventh consecutive morning she found a full-scale rebellion playing out on the streets of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon. A couple of thousand railway workers marched near her home as Khin, in her early 30s, reflected on a phone call she had just received from her father, a high-ranking official in the army, which seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government on 1 February. Continue reading...

Asian American designer says Trump is responsible for hate crimes and ‘the face of modern racism’A leading Asian American fashion designer has joined a swath of other celebrity voices from the community speaking out against a rise in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.Designer Phillip Lim has spoken out about the rise in attacks, which since being first reported on last year have continued to get worse as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the American economy and cost more than 470,000 lives in the US. Continue reading...

Former model agency boss denies rape and sexual misconduct in 1980s and 90sEleven women who accused the French former model agency boss Gerald Marie of sexual misconduct and rape have been invited to Paris to meet with investigators, in the next step of an ongoing criminal investigation.The women, who are based all over the world, are expected to fly to Paris together in the coming weeks to be interviewed by the Paris Brigade de Protection des Mineurs, the city police’s child protection department. Continue reading...

Section of river at Teddington Lock, west London, transformed into an ice skating rink for local bird lifeIn scenes reminiscent of the Great Freeze of 1963, part of the River Thames froze over as temperatures in Britain plummeted to sub-zero temperatures this week.The bitter chill from the Baltic led to the river at Teddington Lock, south-west London, partially freezing over, becoming a skating rink for local birdlife. Continue reading...

Some of the best photographs as people welcome the arrival of the year of the ox Continue reading...

The head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organising committee has resigned, a week after his derogatory comments about women triggered an international backlash. Mori came under pressure to resign after he complained during a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee early this month that talkative women tended to make meetings ‘drag on too long’.

From flights of sublime abstraction with Miles Davis to virtuoso jazz fusion, Corea’s artistry was irresistible to the last

The death of Keyla Martínez, 26, is being treated as a murder – she is one of 29 women killed in the country so far this yearKeyla Martínez screamed for help from inside the police cell, but no one came to save her.Martínez, a 26-year-old trainee nurse from La Esperanza, western Honduras, died in police custody last weekend after being detained for breaching a coronavirus curfew. Continue reading...

Research study to inoculate all residents of Serrana, prompting enquiries from all over the country

The authors of a study on the fate of Polish Jews under Nazism have been told to apologise to a woman for defaming her uncle. The implications for future historical work are alarming

For Richard Curtis it’s Gregory’s Girl, Gurinder Chadha prefers Tootsie and Katy Brand goes for Dirty Dancing. Whatever your relationship status, here are the film and TV romances to curl up with

As the pearl’s standing increases with that of women, a progressive new generation is reimagining Margaret Thatcher’s one-time trademarkThe pearl, insignia of traditional femininity and conservative values, has swung to the left, becoming the badge of the US’s new Democrat establishment. Kamala Harris, the vice-president, has made pearl necklaces her trademark, teaming them on the campaign trail with Converse trainers rather than twinsets. At last month’s inauguration, Jill Biden’s dress had a pearl-embroidered collar, while Jennifer Lopez performed wearing cuffs of Chanel pearls on both wrists. A Facebook group encouraging women around the US to wear pearls on the day to honour Harris’s accomplishments drew a membership of 350,000. The poet Amanda Gorman, star of the ceremony, continued the trend by wearing a crown of pearls for her appearance at the Super Bowl this week. Continue reading...

As rhetoric rises on both sides, Indian farmers at the Singhu camp say they are going nowherePuffing out his chest, his lime green turban luminescent in the morning sun, Surinder Singh made it clear he was a man who would not easily be moved. “We will stay here five years, 10 years if we have to,” the farmer said with a steely smile. “As long as it takes.”A roar of approval greeted his words from fellow farmers who had gathered for breakfast at Singh’s chai stand at the Singhu camp, one of three main protest camps on the outskirts of Delhi. Singh, a small-scale farmer from India’s northern state of Punjab, is just one of hundreds of thousands to have made Singhu his home since November, living out of the back of his now fully furnished tractor trailer. Continue reading...

Firm stood against Facebook and Google over plan to make tech giants pay news organisationsMicrosoft is calling for the US and the EU to follow Australia in introducing rules which require technology companies to share revenue with news organisations and support journalism.The company, which stood against Facebook and Google in supporting the proposal, argues that it is necessary to impose such a levy to create a level playing field between large tech firms and independent media organisations. Continue reading...

UK home secretary says she disagreed with last year’s protests as well as taking the kneeThe home secretary, Priti Patel, has described the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the UK last year as “dreadful” and said she did not agree with the gesture of taking the knee.The protests, in which demonstrations took place in more than 260 towns and cities in June and July, were the largest anti-racism protests in Britain for decades. Continue reading...

Supreme court ruling welcomed by rights activists who say it opens the way to broader prison reformsIn a landmark decision, Pakistan’s supreme court ruled this week that prisoners with serious mental health problems cannot be executed for their crimes.The verdict was hailed by rights activists, who said it laid the groundwork for broader prison reforms in the country. Continue reading...

UK GDP shrank by 9.9% last year amid Covid-19 lockdowns, the worst since modern records began, and only beaten by the Great Frost of 1709

A senior polling officer and a human rights watchdog say arrests part of military’s attempt to discredit vote

Yoshiro Mori issues apology, saying his ‘inappropriate remarks have caused chaos’The head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organising committee has resigned, a week after his derogatory comments about women triggered an international backlash.“My inappropriate remarks have caused chaos, and I would like to apologise to express my deepest apologies to the members of the council and executive board, as well as the entire community,” Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, told a meeting of the Tokyo 2020 executive board on Friday. Continue reading...

Critics condemn ‘appalling’ Republican legislation – with the ultimate goal of overturning Roe v Wade – in many US statesAt a church-style rally in Arizona, the state Republican lawmaker Walter Blackman described his “perfect” legislative proposal: to prosecute women who have abortions for homicide alongside the doctors who provide them.Such a bill would be patently unconstitutional in the US – but for anti-abortion rights activists like Blackman that’s the point. Continue reading...

Knowing we had no food left, we began discussing the unthinkable – eating the frozen flesh of our dead friendsAs I walked to the plane, I could see my fiancee, Soledad, waving from the airport balcony. It was 12 October 1972 and I was flying from our home in Uruguay to Chile for four days, where some of my friends were playing rugby against an old boys’ school team. I had been invited along by my best friend, Gastón, to make up numbers.There was a party atmosphere on board. I went to sit next to Gastón, but someone beat me to it so I took a seat further forward. About 90 minutes into the flight, we hit an air pocket. I heard the pilot shouting, “Give me power!” The plane was heading straight towards a mountain. There was a huge crash as the wing hit the rocks. I put my head between my legs and closed my eyes. I was convinced I was going to die at 24. Continue reading...

Citizens stuck overseas say the idea of making them list their ‘tragedies’ to be ranked is ‘unspeakable’The Victorian premier, battling an outbreak of the UK variant of coronavirus, has flagged slashing the number of Australians able to return home, suggesting travellers could only be allowed to enter the country on “compassionate grounds”.The proposal sparked a furious reaction from citizens stuck overseas, who said the proposal was “unspeakable” because it would lead to people’s misfortunes being compared. Continue reading...