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Lucasfilm has ‘no plans’ to work with the actor again on the Disney+ Star Wars series after she appeared to compare the treatment of Republicans in the US to that of Jews in Nazi GermanyGina Carano will not be returning to the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, after Lucasfilm announced there were “no plans” for the actor to come back after her “abhorrent and unacceptable” posts on social media. The former mixed-martial-arts fighter and star of the films Deadpool and Haywire appeared to compare the treatment of Republicans in America to that of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.Carano, who played the bounty hunter Cara Dune in both seasons of the Star Wars spin-off, wrote in a post on Instagram that is no longer available: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbours … even by children … Because history is edited, most people today don’t realise that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbours hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: units involved in violent crackdown worked with European police on controlling protestsThe European Union provided crowd-control training to specialist Myanmar police units alleged to have been involved in a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, but claims it shared defensive techniques only due to concerns about possible human-rights abuses.European police have been working with their counterparts in Myanmar to develop a manual of crowd-control techniques as part of a wider EU support scheme called Mypol. The project, initiated in 2012, provided training and equipment to help modernise Myanmar’s military-controlled police force along the lines of “international best practice and respect for human rights”. Continue reading...

For nearly 12 months, single people have been unable to form new relationships. With their chances to start a family or find love slipping away, many are now ignoring the rulesLast summer, shortly after the first lockdown was relaxed enough to allow strangers to meet outdoors, Rosie, 35, an editor based in London, joined a man for a first date on Hampstead Heath. “He said: ‘I brought some wine with me, but the glasses are in my flat, round the corner.’ I’d only met him for an hour. Even in normal times, I wouldn’t be up for that.” She can’t be entirely sure if he was suggesting an illicit drink or a very quick-off-the-bat shag, but it wasn’t a dilemma, at least. “Maybe people’s pheromones have gone funny,” Rosie says, “or maybe I secretly have Covid and can’t smell anyone properly, but I’ve had more smouldering frisson at the supermarket than I have on a date. I’ve had sex just four times since March.”For nearly a year, give or take the odd month, the rules introduced to fight the spread of coronavirus mean that, in England, sex between single people, or established couples who don’t cohabit, has in effect been either illegal, or against regulations, or only allowed outdoors. To give that a sense of scale, 40% of people – rising to 71% among 16- to 29-year-olds – don’t live in a couple. Continue reading...

Federal minister says regional Australia is ‘not just about farmers’ and party must represent diverse viewsVictorian Nationals MP, Darren Chester, has warned his party to listen to its diverse heartland and be “part of the solution” when it comes to practical environmentalism and emissions reductions rather than “sideline ourselves from big debates”.The federal veterans’ affairs minister used an interview on Sky News on Thursday to push back at National party colleagues who declared they would cross the floor if the prime minister, Scott Morrison, tried to legislate a mid-century net zero commitment. Continue reading...

Move to grant protection status for 10 years described as ‘the most important humanitarian gesture’ in the region since the 1980s

The unit, which supplies the Herta brand, had been cleared by French state vets and claimed to be addressing concernsFrench veterinary officials have been accused of publishing “falsely reassuring” inspection findings after undercover footage at a farm appeared to show pigs in conditions that continued to breach regulations following allegations of abuse in December.The farm is a supplier for the Herta brand of frankfurter, part-owned by Nestlé, which is sold by most major UK supermarkets. Continue reading...

Combining thousands of images, Pelle Cass’s photographs of tennis, basketball and more perfectly evoke the chaos and physicality of sport Continue reading...

Religious Twitter brings together nuns, monks, bishops and rabbis too and it may have something to teach usThere is a Rumi poem – it is my favourite. “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,” writes the 13th-century mystic, “there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”I feel this way about religious Twitter. Continue reading...

The Chinese lunar new year falls on Friday, but with the parade and festivities cancelled this year because of coronavirus, London’s Chinatown is deserted. Martin Godwin takes a look around the quiet streets Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says hotel quarantine still ‘right way to go’ as South Australian border closes to Melbourne. Follow the latest developments live

From Sheffield to Tokyo via New York and rural France, the DJ recalls his adventures with friends and family – and the music that accompanied themWe didn’t travel as kids, partly because my dad hated flying and also because it was festival season and his job meant our summer holidays were spent being dragged off to muddy fields. It sounds like I’m complaining. I am a bit. This was long before it was commonplace to see kids at festival: we got cold, and drunk people pointed at us. On the odd occasion we went on “holiday”, we were squashed into a car and driven around Europe with seemingly no real destination. We once drove all the way to Germany to see where our lawnmower was made. The only joy in these journeys were the mixtapes my dad would spend weeks painstakingly preparing for the journey. A few records for the kids and lots for him. Lonnie Donegan was one of the few tracks on there we all loved. Many years later we got to see him play the Glastonbury festival. I stood in awe. He did a weird amount of encores, double figures. Continue reading...

Cases appear low and sports venues are packed, but protests are on the rise as jobs are lost and personal debt soars

For almost a year our small clinic has been struggling with the horrors of the coronavirus pandemic. So being able to give our staff and most vulnerable patients their first doses of the vaccine has been a real turning pointDuring the week I work in a small, inner-city GP practice in Edinburgh with 14 staff, caring for almost 4,000 patients. Before the pandemic, I used to see 25-30 people in face-to-face appointments every day. A year into the pandemic, the need out there is the same, but my GP colleagues and I manage more like five or six face-to-face (or mask-to-mask) consultations, a home visit or two, and the remainder on the phone or through video calls. It’s not the best way to practise medicine, but for the moment, it’s the best we have.The first I heard of the vaccine rollout was back in October, when our practice manager received an email from the health board asking if we would have capacity to vaccinate the over-80s among our patients. We said yes, of course: in the past year we’ve had four patients die of Covid-19, three of them over 80. Continue reading...

With flights cancelled and travellers having to pay for hotel costs, three people talk about their difficulties returning to Britain

Report says pollution, parasites and fish mortality rates cost an estimated $50bn globally from 2013 to 2019Salmon farming is wreaking ruin on marine ecosystems, through pollution, parasites and high fish mortality rates which are causing billions of pounds a year in damage, a new assessment of the global salmon farming industry has found.Taken together, these costs amounted to about $50bn globally from 2013 to 2019, according to a report published on Thursday. Continue reading...

MEPs and diplomats say Josep Borrell was outplayed by Russia’s foreign minister Sergei LavrovMore European sanctions on Russia may be announced next week, but not even the humiliation of the EU’s foreign policy chief on a visit to Moscow last week looks likely to sharpen the bloc’s woefully divided policy towards the Kremlin, analysts say.Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, has come under heavy fire from MEPs, diplomats and observers this week who mostly saw him as having been embarrassingly outplayed by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Continue reading...

Government accused of taking law and order agenda to new heights with plans for campus police forceBefore the sun had risen over Thessaloniki on Wednesday, Stergios Grigoriou and his fellow students had surrounded the Greek metropolis’s main university site and barricaded every entrance to it.The act of defiance was not a one-off. In a country where protest politics reign large, students are on a mission: to overturn a bill that, in the name of bringing order to unruly universities, foresees the creation of disciplinary councils and a special campus police force. “Our demand is simple. The educational bill has to be withdrawn,” said Grigoriou. “It’s a repressive law that far from serving our needs only serves the fake needs of a conservative few.” Continue reading...

Yoshiro Mori had insisted for days he would not quit but Japanese media say he will step down amid a growing tide of anger over his remarksThe president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee, Yoshiro Mori, is expected to resign after derogatory comments he made about women caused an international uproar less than six months before the Games are due to open.Mori, who has led the organising committee since 2014, will step down after insisting for days that he would not resign, the Fuji News Network reported on Thursday. Continue reading...

The conversation came hours after the US president announced a new Pentagon taskforce on ChinaJoe Biden has affirmed the US’s tough line on China’s human rights abuses and regional expansionism in his first phone call with president Xi Jinping since taking office.The call came just hours after the announcement of Biden’s establishment of a Pentagon task force on China and a senior state department official meeting in person with Taiwan’s representative to the US. Continue reading...

After laying silent for more than 17,000 years, an ancient instrument Is heard again – a deep, plaintive bleat, like a foghorn from the distant past. When archaeologists realised that a large conch shell discovered in the Marsoulas cave in the Pyrenees had been modified thousands of years ago to serve as a wind instrument, they invited a French horn player to play the conch in a sound studio. The horn produced clear C, C-sharp, and D notes.

US prevents generals from accessing $1bn in government funds as Kyaw Tint Swe held amid new wave of arrestsUS President Joe Biden has approved an executive order for new sanctions on those responsible for the military coup in Myanmar, as the army detained another key aide to civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Further protests were expected on Thursday following days of demonstrations in major cities and towns inside Myanmar calling for the military to cede power following its 1 February coup. Continue reading...

Speaker says ties will not be required ‘appropriate business attire’ despite a committee meeting failing to reach a consensusNew Zealand’s male MPs will no longer be required to wear ties in parliament, following a row over the item of clothing that involved the speaker ejecting Māori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi from the chamber for refusing to wear one.New Zealand parliament speaker Trevor Mallard made the announcement after a meeting on Wednesday of the standing orders committee held to discuss the issue and hear a submission from the Māori party. Continue reading...

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake near New Caledonia prompted New Zealand authorities to warn people to get off beachesA tsunami warning for New Zealand and Australia’s Lord Howe Island, sparked by a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake near New Caledonia, has been cancelled.The earthquake caused small tsunami waves to hit Norfolk Island and briefly prompted marine warnings for Lord Howe Island, 700km off the coast of New South Wales. Continue reading...

Israel’s former UN envoy tweets frustration and wrong phone number for PM, who forged close ties with Donald TrumpIt has been three weeks since Joe Biden’s inauguration and Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to receive a call from the White House. The Israeli prime minister has let it be known he is not happy but he is waiting by the phone.Danny Danon, the head of World Likud, the global arm of Netanyahu’s party, tweeted a message to Biden on Wednesday, pointedly listing all the countries whose leaders have recently been graced by a call from the Oval Office. Continue reading...

A $200m Chinese-built fish processing plant, proposed for the Papua New Guinean island of Daru, in the Torres Strait, brings risk of transnational crimeSecurity experts have warned a $200m Chinese-built fisheries plant, proposed for a Papua New Guinean island on Australia’s border, could be exploited as a cover by transnational organised crime networks to smuggle drugs, weapons and people.The PNG island of Daru, where the fish processing plant is proposed to be built, is just 50km from Australia’s Saibai Island, in the Torres Strait. Continue reading...

Locals enraged after Tory-led district council backs plan for 1,200 lorries to be parked near houses in GustonResidents of a village near Dover are enraged after the district council backed controversial government plans to turn fields behind their houses into a Brexit customs clearance park for 1,200 lorries.Local people in Guston have complained over the lack of notice, detail and consultation on the proposals after the government purchased the White Cliffs site with plans to turn it into an inland border facility. Under the plans, the site would deal with customs, tariffs and duties checks and be operational from July this year. Continue reading...

In a compelling new HBO documentary, film-maker Sam Pollard speaks to prominent creatives to tell the struggle and success of African American art“I get up at 7.30 in the morning and then I’m at my computer working, thinking about new ideas, pushing along the projects that I’m involved in,” 70-year-old Sam Pollard explains. The documentary film-maker, as an editor, frequently collaborated with Spike Lee on films such as Mo’ Better Blues, 4 Little Girls and Bamboozled. His storied directing career features the seminal civil rights docuseries Eyes on the Prize, the electrifying blues documentary Two Trains Runnin’, and the Academy Award-shortlisted MLK/FBI.Related: Black on both sides: the African diaspora around the world – in pictures Continue reading...

The EU blundered over vaccines and Northern Ireland, but the UK is deep in denial about the deal it has signedTwice in as many years, Brexit has been declared “done” without being done. The UK’s membership of the EU formally expired in January 2020. The change in status was camouflaged by transitional arrangements that expired at the start of 2021. Even now, there is a three-month “grace period” waiving aspects of the Northern Ireland protocol of the final deal.Now the UK wants more time. Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, has written to the European commission demanding a much longer transition to ease the bureaucratic burden for goods crossing the Irish Sea. His combative tone has not gone down well in Brussels. Continue reading...

Judges will never impose such long jail terms, say critics, who dismiss plan as ‘misleading spin’

Thirty-one year old was sentenced in December on charges denounced as politically motivatedThe prominent Saudi dissident and women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has been released from prison after 1,001 days in custody.Following a concerted campaign by her relatives and global rights groups, Hathloul was granted probation by a judge in Riyadh and released to her family on Wednesday afternoon. Her sister Lina published a photo of a smiling Loujain on Twitter early evening Riyadh time - the first image of the most celebrated political prisoner in the Kingdom since she was detained almost three years ago. “Loujain is at home !!!!!!”, the accompanying message said. Continue reading...

Latest updates: just over 13 million people in the UK have been vaccinated, including 25% of adults in England and more than 90% of over-75s

Label hit by supply chain issues and travel restrictions during pandemic – as well as possible teething problems

Defence department says it will weigh risks of sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, despite calls from human rights groups to follow Joe Biden’s leadAustralia is not planning a blanket ban on military equipment sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – but says it will weigh up “emerging risks” when considering export applications.Civil society groups have urged Australia to follow the lead of the new US president, Joe Biden, who announced last week he was ending “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen”. Continue reading...

Marginalised groups including Rohingya and members of LGBT community join ralliesThe Myanmar military took power last week on the promise of “restoring eternal peace” to a country riven by seven decades of ethnic conflict. Since the takeover it has made remarkable progress in uniting the deeply divided country against a common enemy: itself.In Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, strangers greet each other with the three-finger salute – a symbol of resistance against the regime – and trucks offer free rides for demonstrators. Neighbours cook chickpea curry in big vats on the streets to dish out to passersby, and volunteers distribute refreshments to keep people hydrated under the hot sun. Continue reading...

Indian restaurant must change plans for luxury three-course meal in car park next to premises

Book alleging political scientist Olivier Duhamel sexually abused stepson has led to resignations and calls for changes to age of consentWhen Camille Kouchner – daughter of a former government minister and stepdaughter to a renowned constitutional expert – published a book about alleged child sexual abuse in her family it sparked another of France’s periodic moral, social and political crises.Once again, the country turned itself out to explain why another of its great and good might have abused a child, and how his equally great and good friends might have turned a blind eye – but this time the impact went much further. Continue reading...

Yuriko Koike says attending meeting with under-fire Games chief would not send positive messageThe governor of Tokyo has said she will not attend a key meeting of Olympic officials next week, as the row over sexist comments made by the head of the 2020 Games’ organising committee intensifies.Yuriko Koike, who became the city’s first female governor in 2016, said she saw no merit in attending the meeting between the committee head, Yoshiro Mori, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Japan’s Olympics minister, Seiko Hashimoto. Continue reading...

Despite setbacks, Eamonn Ashton-Atkinson’s moving film about his gay rugby team could not be more relevant

The three men are said to be recovering from assaults after security forces are accused of targeting activists during unrest

Victoria backtracks on raising arrivals cap as hotel outbreak forces guests to be moved. This blog is now closed.7.27am GMTThat is where we will leave the live blog for Wednesday. Here’s what you might have missed from today:7.03am GMTVictoria’s health department has just announced two new exposure sites connected to one of the new cases out of the Holiday Inn:Update: new exposure sites.

New report finds lawyers, journalists and health workers at risk during pandemic have struggled to get help from embassies

Adriana Pierce is empowering queer female and non-binary performers whose relationships have been excluded from classical danceShortly after Adriana Pierce joined Miami City Ballet, someone watched her train and made an assessment: “Is Adriana a lesbian? Because she looks like one.” The comment propelled Pierce into exacting self-scrutiny: “I was like, does my dancing look gay? Do I look different? I am different – is that OK?”Pierce, who left the company after seven seasons to focus on choreography and musical theatre, has rarely felt represented as a queer woman in the ballet world but with her new movement, #QueertheBallet, she hopes to inspire change. Her first project is a pas de deux en pointe choreographed on the American Ballet Theatre dancers Remy Young and Sierra Armstrong, which she is developing during a dance residency at the Bridge Street theatre in Catskill, New York. “I want to show people an authentic, complex relationship between two women through ballet,” Pierce explains. “I want people to see that ballet can be more than a man lifting a woman in a tutu.” Continue reading...

Industry association says chancellor must intervene to waive repayment of £370m of government loans

10 February 1928 In the country we contrive to manage our affairs with considerable comfort – townfolk are aghast to find that our newspaper is on the table before breakfast‘Buried in the country? Not a bit of it!” The time of the singing of birds has come! The dullness of country life is often held up as one the chief drawbacks to a rural existence. Perhaps to some people it is more agreeable to wake in early dawn to the rhythmic sound of gate after gate clanging behind the postman, the milkman, with an accompaniment of clattering pails and hurrying feet. But how pleasant it is to open wide the window, the better to hear the first tuning-up in spring of the blackbird on the orchard bough and the throstle in the garden. A little while and the town-lover of sensitive ear would doubtless close the window because the concert begins too early and the music is fortissimo.Related: Between town and country - Country diary, 18 November 1918 Continue reading...

Criticism follows release of 29-year-old who kept girl chained in cattle pen, in latest case highlighting abuses of religious minorities

Ten years ago the Arab spring spread into north Africa’s biggest country as more than a million Egyptians, enraged by police brutality and a collapsing economy, took over Tahrir Square – the heart of Cairo’s police state.It was Ramy Essam’s moment. In a remarkable communion with the crowd, his spine-tingling song, Irhal, became the rallying cry for an entire generation. And when the dictator Hosni Mubarak resigned, they couldn’t believe their success – but nor could they predict what would happen next.Ramy and the writer Mona Seif, who covered the events firsthand, take us back to those fateful days when Egypt, and the entire Arab world, chose its future Continue reading...

Geng Xiaonan guilty of publishing illegal titles after she made comments backing Beijing critic Xu ZhangrunA Chinese publisher who spoke out in support of a dissident academic has been jailed for three years in Beijing after she pleaded guilty to illegal business operations.Geng Xiaonan, 46, and her husband Qin Zhen, were arrested in September on suspicion of publishing thousands of illegal titles. According to reports, Geng told the court she was guilty of the charges against her, that she was the primary decision maker, and asked it to show leniency to her husband and staff who were just following instructions. She also asked for leniency for herself, because she was sole carer to her ailing father. Continue reading...