Amid this unfolding disaster, we have seen countless acts of kindness and solidarity. It’s this spirit of generosity that will help guide us out of this crisis and into a better future. By Rebecca SolnitPeople behaving badly is a staple of the news, and the pandemic has given us plenty of lurid snapshots. In the US alone, we have seen protesters with guns in Michigan’s capital demanding an end to lockdown, anti-vaxxer women in a frenzy at California’s capitol, opportunists stockpiling hand sanitiser to resell for profit.One of the biggest cliches about disasters is that they reveal civilisation as a thin veneer, beneath which lies brutal human nature. From this perspective, the best we can hope for from most people under crisis is selfish indifference; at worst, they will swiftly turn to violence. Our worst instincts must be repressed. This becomes a justification for authoritarianism and heavy-handed policing. Continue reading...

Magistrate labels alleged filming of the scene ‘morally repugnant’ but not illegalA Porsche driver accused of filming and abusing police dying on a Melbourne freeway after a truck crash has been denied bail.Richard Pusey, 41, had been pulled over after allegedly drug driving at 149km/h along the Eastern Freeway at Kew last month. Continue reading...

Benjamin Aidoo, the group’s leader, wants to teach the world to hold joyful funerals, and is planning to expand his business across the globe

Thursday: Reports of child sexual abuse material on the rise. Plus, a unique opportunity to move towards a zero-emissions worldGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 14 May. Continue reading...

Mother and child doing well but 18 other babies left motherless after deadly rampageAs gunmen rampaged through a Kabul maternity hospital on Tuesday, shooting new mothers, pregnant women and nurses, labour continued despite the slaughter, with one baby born during the attack, a charity has said.Twenty-four people were killed, the majority women who had just given birth. They left behind 18 motherless babies, said the Afghan deputy minister of health, Wahid Majrooh, one of the first people to enter the hospital after the attack. Continue reading...

Cressida Dick says many criminals ‘inhibited in their activities’ under lockdown

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

Lockdown delays restoration of The Night Watch, but it can be viewed online in ‘minute detail’The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has posted online the most detailed photograph ever taken of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, revealing every brushstroke and random fleck of paint.The so-called hyper-resolution image was launched as the museum announced a delay to the completion of the painting’s restoration, which was begun last year and live-streamed to a global audience. Continue reading...

Amnesty International says appeals ruling will affect ‘acts of solidarity’ throughout EuropeA French court has scrapped all charges against an olive farmer who helped migrants enter the country illegally, the final chapter in a groundbreaking case that defined so-called “crimes of solidarity”.Cédric Herrou, who helped about 200 people cross the border from Italy into southern France, was given a four-month suspended sentence in August 2017. Continue reading...

Ruling that ex-Sinn Féin leader was unlawfully detained in 1970s prompts call for other Troubles-era cases to be scrutinised

Sir Keir Starmer faced off with Boris Johnson during prime minister's questions for the second time since he became Labour leader.

As Complicité’s The Encounter goes online, its creator discusses the need to rebuild British culture ‘from the ground up’

Relatives of woman who died of novichok poisoning challenging coroner’s decision to limit the scope of inquestThe family of Dawn Sturgess, who died in the Wiltshire novichok poisonings, has won the first stage of a legal challenge against a coroner’s decision to limit the scope of her inquest.David Ridley, senior coroner for Wiltshire, decided earlier this year that he would not consider issues such as whether the UK failed to protect the public following the initial poisonings of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury. Continue reading...

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce among those who raised objections to the Peter Dutton proposal for regional airport feesThe Morrison government has overhauled cost recovery arrangements for regional airports to conduct security screening to head off a potential revolt by the Nationals in the Senate.The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick sought on Wednesday night to disallow regulations imposing security screening requirements that he says would have forced small airports to seek cost recovery through increases in landing charges. Patrick said the changes originally proposed by the home affairs minister Peter Dutton could see fares from Whyalla increase by $54 to $70 per passenger. Continue reading...

Coalition delays a Labor and Greens push to expand the $1,500 fortnightly wage subsidy and insists it will be delivered until September

Blackpool and other popular seaside resorts sound Covid-19 warning to protect residents

It’s not unusual to have more tins of chickpeas than you know what to do with, but luckily there are many tasty options, whether it’s a simple curry or a super-comforting pasta dish

Second case was identified on 26 April, but workers say they were not offered masks until 30 AprilWorkers at Cedar Meats say they were not given face masks for six days after the first case in the outbreak was identified.Workers have told Guardian Australia that face masks were only provided at the plant on Thursday 30 April. The first worker was diagnosed on 24 April, and the Victorian Department of Health said there were indications of a cluster at the meatworks by 26 April when a second worker tested positive. Continue reading...

Independent festivals group says 98% of its members are uninsured for outbreak-related cancellationsThe British independent festival sector is at risk of collapsing, with many cancelled events falling through the cracks of government support measures for businesses suffering as a result of the coronavirus crisis.The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), which represents 65 festivals in the UK, including Gloucestershire’s 2000trees, London’s Meltdown and Sheffield’s Tramlines, reports 92% of its members saying they face costs that could ruin their businesses as a result of cancelled events, with the vast majority (98.5%) not covered by insurance for cancellation related to Covid-19. Continue reading...

Jayson Westbury apologises for comments about the host of A Current Affair during a webinarThe chief executive of the peak body for travel agents has apologised for saying A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw “needs to be given a firm uppercut or a slap across the face” but he is still facing calls for his resignation.Jayson Westbury, the chief executive of the Australian Travel Agents Association, made the comments during an industry webinar discussing coverage of the industry’s failure to refund travel during Covid-19. Continue reading...

Renewed fighting and deepening humanitarian crisis means Covid-19 could prove a fatal blow

Economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni says bloc needs a sound plan to avoid divisionsThe risk of an uneven economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis poses an “existential threat” to the European Union, one of its most senior economic policymakers has said.Paolo Gentiloni, a former Italian prime minister and now the EU’s economy commissioner, said the bloc also had a “historic opportunity” as it charts a plan to rescue Europe’s economy. Continue reading...

Sione Filipe Totau, known as Mano, was one of six Tongan boys who spent 15 months marooned on a Pacific island. Suddenly the world wants to hear his storyThe past few days have been something of a whirlwind for Sione Filipe Totau.The 73-year-old Tongan, who is commonly known as Mano, was living quietly in the Australian city of Brisbane, when this week he was catapulted into the global spotlight, after the story of how he and five of his friends survived for more than a year on a deserted Pacific island became a runaway hit. Continue reading...

The Australian government has passed legislation for a $1,500 per fortnight wage subsidy for eligible employers amid the coronavirus. Check your eligibility, how much you’ll get, when it will be paid and how it works with the jobseeker payments

‘They want to fuck with my family’, Brazilian president reportedly vented during a recent cabinet meetingThe Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro allegedly launched a foul-mouthed tirade during a recent cabinet meeting, declaring that the country’s federal police were persecuting his family.“They want to fuck with my family,” Bolsonaro reportedly vented during the 22 April meeting according to sources heard by the news magazine Veja. Continue reading...

Suspect in death of Harry Dunn who fled UK will not be extradited, says state department

‘Four nations’ approach dealt further blow as Stormont announces its own, more cautious plan

Ashraf Ghani orders resumption of anti-Taliban offensive after attacks in Kabul and NangarharGunmen attacked a hospital that houses a maternity clinic in Kabul, killing at least 16 people including two newborn babies, and a suicide bomber killed at least 24 others at a funeral on a morning of double tragedy for Afghanistan.In the capital, soldiers raced out of the hospital carrying infants wrapped in bloodstained blankets to waiting ambulances, after the attackers rampaged their way through the wards. Continue reading...

From virtual hospitals to FaceTimed GP visits, innovations that have sprung up in response to coronavirus could transform a sector notoriously resistant to reform

Vaughan Gething was photographed walking with his family and eating chips in a park

Economist discusses the effects of pandemic on economies, societies and globalisation

Family of Belly Mujinga, a ticket officer in London, voice concerns over lack of PPE

Appeal begins on behalf of two Chagossians forcibly deported by Britain in the 1970s

UN has asked the government to investigate latest allegations of abuse against migrants crossing on Balkan route from BosniaCroatian police are allegedly spray-painting the heads of asylum seekers with crosses when they attempt to cross the border from Bosnia.The Guardian has obtained a number of photographs of what has been described by charities as the “latest humiliation’’ perpetrated by the Croatian authorities against migrants travelling along the Balkan route. Continue reading...

Joint statement urges US to remain in Open Skies Treaty, designed to reduce risk of war breaking out through miscalculationA group of retired Nato generals and defence officials have urged the US to stay in a 1992 treaty with Russia on mutual reconnaissance flights, but also warned European capitals to prepare for a US exit.The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are said by US sources to be determined to leave the Open Skies Treaty (OST), which European leaders and arms control advocates believe reduces the risk of a war breaking out through miscalculation by adding to mutual transparency. Continue reading...

Sultan Monsour charged with being outside residence, ‘namely no fixed address’

In Mosul, sourcing essential medication can be an expensive struggle – but entrepreneur Ameen Heeded may have found the solutionWhen Ameen Heeded’s father had heart surgery in 2015, the tricky part was not the operation but finding the drugs to aid his recovery.The clinic had no medicine, so Heeded was told to hustle around his home city Mosul to find the prescriptions. It took hours and cost a small fortune, as he visited store after store. Continue reading...

Almost 10,000 care home residents included in latest update on fatalities from ONS

A rare glimpse into the lives of a young couple in lockdown in Iran. Filmed over several weeks in quarantine, Sara and Mohammad Reza attempt to process the devastating loss of a family member to Covid-19. The news of coronavirus spreading in Tehran is the backdrop to their lives indoors, they see the outside world from their window, neighbours setting off fireworks and street musicians playing for spare change. As they approach Persian new year, usually a time of family reunion, the couple find hope and happiness in the traditional rituals that mark the spring equinox.

Sima Kotecha was to broadcast from Leicester on the weekend when alleged event happenedA man has been charged with public order offences after an incident involving a BBC reporter, police said.Leicestershire police said the man would appear at court on Tuesday morning over the incident, which occurred on Sunday. The force did not disclose his name or age. Continue reading...

As a model, she was the face of the 60s, and went on to have a busy acting career. She discusses her new podcast, and life in swinging LondonSo enduring is that image of Twiggy – side-swept hair, heavy eyes, delicate neck – that it’s strange to think she was a model for only four years.But Twiggy is an expert at reinvention (or “branching out” as her joke goes). The schoolgirl known as Lesley Hornby became Twiggy, the face of the 1960s, recognised then and now by a single name. At 21, she became the all-singing, all-dancing star of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Boy Friend, which won her two Golden Globes. She has performed on Broadway, recorded albums and been a TV presenter. In her 60s, she turned fashion designer, with several collections for Marks & Spencer. Last year, she was given a damehood. Continue reading...

Experts say Level 2 could prompt a spike in fears about becoming unwell and concerns over social issues

The announcement not to renew the goldmine lease is fraught but part of an attempt to ‘take back PNG’Late in April, in the middle of a global pandemic and slow-boiling domestic economic crisis, the government of Papua New Guinea made the surprising announcement not to extend the mining lease on a goldmine that contributes roughly 10% of the country’s total exports.The announcement not to renew the special mining lease for the Porgera mine was a shock, not least to the mine’s operator, Barrick Gold, and their joint venture partner Zijin Mining. Continue reading...

Voiceover narrates fairy penguin’s high-stakes waddle from shoreline to burrows in parade that used to attract thousands of visitors nightlyWith live sport now a scarce resource, BBC commentator Andrew Cotter has lent his distinctive voice to the fairy penguins of Phillip Island.He has narrated the birds’ nightly waddle back to their burrows, turning Victoria’s famous penguin parade into a high-stakes, long-distance race. Continue reading...

Re-runs of famous Japanese cartoon bring broadcast until further notice, in first interruption in 45 yearsProduction of the world’s longest-running cartoon has been interrupted by the coronavirus, forcing the broadcast of re-runs for the first time in decades.Sazae-san, a mainstay of the Japanese weekend that first aired in 1969, revolves around a typical Tokyo family consisting of Mrs Sazae, who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister. Continue reading...

Nirvana frontman used 1959 Martin D-18E at New York gig five months before his deathThe guitar used by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain during the band’s famous MTV Unplugged in New York concert is going under the hammer, with a starting estimate of $1m (£810,000).The 1959 Martin D-18E featured in the grunge group’s performance in November 1993, five months before Cobain’s death at the age of 27. Continue reading...

There is 'no guarantee' of a Covid-19 vaccine to end lockdown measures, Boris Johnson has admitted. Noting the lack of a vaccine for SARS 18 years on, Johnson said the world may be living with the virus 'for a long time to come'