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New research from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre says treating asymptomatic men for mycoplasma genitalium is accelerating its resistanceGPs have been urged not to test gay men for one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections unless they have symptoms, with new research from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre warning that treating asymptomatic men is accelerating its resistance to antibiotics.Mycoplasma genitalium, otherwise known as MG, is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in many countries after chlamydia. When symptomatic, it presents burning or stinging when urinating for men, while pain during sex and bleeding afterwards are symptoms for women, which can lead to an infection of the reproductive organs and make it harder for women to get pregnant. Continue reading...

My friend and colleague Claude James, who has died aged 90, was the first black person to be elected to a railway trade union executive committee and the first black manager of Euston station. He fought for fairness and and against racism in the UK.The eldest of six, Claude was born in Guyana to Gladys and Cyril, and lived in Kitty village. His grandmother was influential in his early life, taking him to meetings to discuss current affairs. He enjoyed his time at Britain high school in Queenstown before starting work for the City Engineer Council. He sailed for Britain alone in 1954. Continue reading...

Agency says there are ‘no indications’ the vaccine causes blood clots, but the risk may be higher for some groups

This horror story about an MI5 agent and a gang supplying girls for ritual sacrifice is on a par with the monumentally terrible Plan 9 from Outer SpaceThere are bad movies, the kind of third-rate film-making we see all the time, and then there are transcendentally bad movies that can only result from deep, fanatical attachment to the material. Director, writer and producer Chris Sanders here achieves something on a par with Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space or Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. His Nest of Vampires is a little-England horror-thriller with a plot as over-larded as an Elvis sandwich, uniformly appalling acting, and the same almost beatific earnestness as those two legendary films.MI5 agent Kit Valentine (Tom Fairfoot) leaves his London stamping ground to shake down some unnamed English town for a human trafficking ring that – after his wife is murdered – has abducted his daughter. He needs to get a move on, because the network sells off the girls to moneyed clients to butcher in satanic rituals. Not racy enough? Some of the criminals are also vampires who like a “nibble” on the customers. And Valentine is further up against it when his bosses reveal they are in cahoots. Tied to a chair, though, he has news for them: “You’re not the only secret society that operates within MI5.” Then his own canines turn extra-pointy. Continue reading...

Despite no evidence of a link between blood clots and the vaccine, a cautious approach is spreading

Decision has led to vaccination centres closing doors and appointments being cancelled

Revised estimate of death toll follows the bloodiest day in the six weeks since the military takeoverAt least 149 people have been killed in Myanmar since the 1 February coup, including five in custody, a UN human rights official has said, as mass funerals were held for dozens of those shot dead by security forces in recent days.The revised estimate of the death toll follows the bloodiest day in the six weeks since the military’s takeover, with 74 protesters killed on Sunday followed by 20 people the next day. Continue reading...

Following the death of Lou Ottens, creator of the cassette tape, Guardian readers share the romances, friendships and discoveries his invention generatedIn 1992 I started a degree in civil engineering at the University of Surrey. I had no idea until the day I arrived that I would be sharing a room with Carol, also a civil engineering student. We had very different tastes in music. I loved the Cure and Led Zeppelin and Carol loved dance music. We created a mixtape of songs that we both liked – no mean feat, but we had to do something as I kept playing 29 Palms by Robert Plant and it drove Carol mad. Continue reading...

Draft legislation says a child under 15 cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual actFrench MPs have unanimously approved a long-awaited draft law to protect children from rape and sexual abuse.The legislation, drawn up after a series of scandals involving high-profile figures, establishes an age of “non-consent” at 15 under which a child cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act. In cases of incest, the age has been set at 18. Continue reading...

EU regulator expected to make statement as Sweden and Latvia join countries suspending jabs

October date set for trial after Met police officer appears at Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh prison

Yes, cooking with this corn-based staple usually involves an awful lot of stirring. But these sweet and savoury dishes make it worthwhile

Islamist insurgents targeting victims as young as 11, according to Save the ChildrenChildren as young as 11 are being beheaded in Mozambique as part of an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and forced many more from their homes, a UK-based aid group has said.Save the Children said it had spoken to displaced families who described “horrifying scenes” of murder, including mothers whose young sons were killed. In one case, the woman hid, helpless, with her three other children as her 12-year-old was murdered nearby. Continue reading...

Organisers say spectators must stay distanced, wear masks and avoid loud cheering

Photographs emerge showing work entitled Create Escape with ‘Team Robbo’ painted over typewriterA mural by Banksy on the side of a former prison in which Oscar Wilde was incarcerated has been defaced with red paint.The artwork, which appeared on a red brick wall of what was once Reading prison, showed an inmate escaping lockdown using a knotted spool of paper from a typewriter. Continue reading...

Steps to improve safety include plainclothes patrols of bars and clubs and increased funding for streetlights and CCTVPlainclothes police officers could patrol bars and nightclubs around England and Wales, as part of plans to protect women from predatory offenders, it has been announced, after peers forced the prime minister’s arm.The government had opposed an amendment to its domestic abuse bill that would create a national register of stalkers, but the House of Lords voted on Monday evening to send it back to MPs to consider. Within minutes, Boris Johnson announced a series of “immediate steps” to improve security. Continue reading...

Cashless technology trial wins approval but critics warn a badly designed system could be a ‘disaster’

Rosebushes Under the Trees, painted in 1905, was stolen from an Austrian Jewish familyThe French government has announced that it will return a Gustav Klimt landscape painting to its rightful owners more than 80 years after it was stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family in Austria in 1938.The colourful 1905 oil work by the Austrian symbolist painter, titled Rosebushes Under the Trees, has been hanging in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris for decades. Continue reading...

Senate votes down motion to set up an inquiry into truth-telling and treaty-making – key elements of a Makarrata processThe Labor senator Pat Dodson has launched a scathing attack on the Morrison government’s lack of leadership on progressing reforms from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, after the opposition’s push to set up an inquiry into treaty-making and truth-telling was voted down by the Senate.Dodson moved a motion on Tuesday to set up a joint parliamentary committee to investigate truth-telling and treaty-making – key elements of a Makarrata process as called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart – but the vote was tied and the motion failed. Continue reading...

Harare’s drug dealers say business is booming as more young people, some at school, use mutoriro

Government faces scrutiny over response to 100,000 women rallying in March 4 Justice; chief medical officer says AstraZeneca is safe and rollout will not be suspended. This blog is now closed

Protests around bill have become entwined with those in response to the death of Sarah EverardPolice made arrests on Monday night after hundreds of people who had gathered to oppose the passage of a new policing bill and to highlight violence against women marched through central London.The police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which had its second reading on Monday afternoon, has been criticised by civil society groups as “an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens”. It will give new powers to police to control protests and impose stiff sentences for rule-breakers. Continue reading...

Labour MP says government ‘cocked up’ negotiations on touring and is ignorant of the value of music to the economyGovernment ignorance of the arts is putting British musicians’ livelihoods at risk, Harriet Harman has argued, in a call for an end to the post-Brexit bureaucracy for musicians looking to tour in the EU.The Labour MP today unveils a 10-point plan of proposed measures, backed by industry bodies such as the Musicians’ Union, UK Music and the Incorporated Society of Musicians, that would allow UK musicians to tour Europe without the need for visas and work permits – and the same for EU musicians visiting the UK – after a period of what she calls “unnerving silence” on the issue from the government. Continue reading...

The former first lady teams up with puppets to educate children about food in an overstuffed yet likable new Netflix seriesAs first lady, Michelle Obama received plenty of cable TV flak for her youth nutrition initiative, Let’s Move!, which combined the soft touch of the First Lady’s “mom-in-chief” persona with actual policies to combat childhood obesity and improve school lunches. The subsequent administration may have tarnished the Obamas’ legislative legacy, but soft power abounds on the streaming services; the latest in the lucrative partnership between the Obamas’ Higher Ground production and Netflix is Waffles + Mochi, a mostly charming, zany children’s series in which two puppets explore, via magic flying shopping cart, the world of food cast in its rosiest light.Related: DC Super Hero Girls: a startlingly funny kids series of masked and caped crime fighters Continue reading...

Sales rose 76% last year and show no signs of slowing, fuelling environmental crisis in Amazon and Cerrado regionsOver dinner in a busy barbecue restaurant in Shenzhen, Lei Yong and Zhao Xu, two businessmen in their mid-40s, reflect on how meat consumption in China has dramatically changed in their lifetimes, particularly over the past 10 to 15 years.“Maybe 20 years ago, people in villages and smaller cities didn’t eat much meat, but those in big cities did,” says Zhao, referring to the bustling megacity in which he and Lei are raising their families. “Now people in bigger cities are more health conscious and are eating more vegetables, but those in smaller cities have more money. Now they’re really eating a lot more meat. They think that being rich means eating more meat.” Continue reading...

A Democratic senator has asked attorney general Merrick Garland to facilitate ‘proper oversight’ into concerns on the investigationThe FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”.Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate “proper oversight” by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. Continue reading...

Carrie Lam denies there is deliberate policy to separate children from parents as US consulate says it will raise issue ‘at highest level’

Government appears to backtrack on decree after women take to social media to sing in defiance under #IAmMySong hashtagAfghanistan’s Ministry of Education appears to be backtracking on a decision to impose a nationwide singing ban on schoolgirls.In a letter to school boards last week, which was leaked to the media, Kabul’s Education Department said girls aged 12 and above would no longer be able to sing at public events, unless the events were attended solely by women. The letter also stipulated that girls couldn’t be trained by a male music teacher. Continue reading...

The ambitiously structured noir gave us an early sign of what was to come from the director who would go on to bigger, if not always better, thingsThe first time I encountered Memento, at the 2000 Toronto film festival, it was one of those rare buzz magnets that nobody has on their schedule at the beginning of the festival, but everyone rushes to squeeze in towards the end. Christopher Nolan was still an unknown quantity, having only directed the little-seen DIY thriller Following, and the film was being screened at the Uptown, in one of the chilly dungeons underneath the gorgeous theater reserved for bigger premieres and Midnight Madness screenings.Related: From Memento to Interstellar: our writers pick their favourite Christopher Nolan films Continue reading...

Racist offenders get unexpectedly assigned to BAME staff and racial slurs dismissed as ‘banter’, hear inspectorsPerpetrators of racist crimes are being allocated to black, Asian and minority ethnic probation officers without warning, inspectors have said, as they warned that issues of race had been sidelined in the sector.Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) found that the service’s focus on racial equality had declined since disastrous privatisation changes were introduced in 2014 by the then justice secretary, Chris Grayling. Continue reading...

After a year of lockdowns, home schooling, social distancing and stress, sex drives are suffering – among both couples and single people. Can we do anything about it – or do we just have to wait till the end of the pandemic?Suddenly faced with spending a lot more time with his wife, Anthony, 44, thought one silver lining of lockdown might be that their sex life would get back on track. “Of course, that was really stupid,” he says now, with a small laugh.What he had not factored in was the exhaustion of childcare and home schooling, anxiety about the health of their parents – and the small matter of existential dread. “You’d wake up and everything was significantly worse than the day before. And that is really not sexy.” Where once he would go to the gym or meet a friend for a pint after work to decompress, now all life was at home. “Before, you could come back to yourself a little bit. Lockdown took all that away – there are only so many times you can go for a walk on your own.” Continue reading...

In a town under siege from Assad’s regime, a small group of revolutionaries found a new mission: to build a library from books rescued from the rubble. For those stranded in the city, books offered an imaginative escape from the horrors of warAt first, Ahmad Muaddamani was a distant voice coming through my computer speakers: a fragile whisper from a hidden basement. When I made contact with him on Skype, on 15 October 2015, he hadn’t left Darayya in nearly three years. Located less than five miles from Damascus, his town was a sarcophagus, surrounded and starved by the regime. He was one of 12,000 survivors.They had been under fire from Bashar al-Assad’s rockets, barrel bombs and even a chemical weapon attack for many months. Syria’s president had besieged the town since November 2012. Like many others, Muaddamani’s family had packed their suitcases and escaped to a neighbouring town. They begged him to follow. He refused – this was his revolution, his generation’s revolution. Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern under pressure to respond to Australian home affairs minister’s latest instance of ‘taking the trash out’The Australian government has declared it makes no apology for dramatically accelerating visa cancellations, as it faces an increasing backlash in New Zealand after the policy triggered the deportation of a 15-year-old boy.Pressure is mounting within New Zealand for the government to condemn Australia as a “rogue nation” in breach of human rights following the minor’s deportation. Continue reading...

Monday’s fatalities include people who died in their homes when soldiers began firing in the streets, says local rights groupAt least 20 people were killed in Myanmar on Monday after another day of unrest and protests against the junta that seized power six weeks ago, a local monitoring group said.The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to demand a return to democracy. Continue reading...

Police in central London made arrests on Monday night as thousands of people gathered to oppose the passage of a new policing bill and to highlight violence against women.The police, crime, sentencing and courts bill has been criticised by civil society groups as an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens. Protests around the bill have become entwined with those in response to the death of Sarah Everard, who disappeared from a street in south London at the beginning of MarchArrests made at London protest over policing powers and vigilPriti Patel spoke to Met chief before Sarah Everard vigil broken up Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of Australians have been vaccinated, but that’s well short of targets, so will you still get your dose by October?

Beijing fears ecommerce giant has too much sway over public opinion through stakes in platforms such as Twitter-like Weibo, Wall Street Journal saysBeijing has reportedly told the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba to divest its assets in the media sector out of concern over the company’s growing public influence.Its founder, Jack Ma, the ebullient and unconventional billionaire who officially retired from Alibaba in 2019 but remains a large shareholder, has been in authorities’ crosshairs in recent months. Continue reading...

The March 4 Justice rallies could be the beginning of social and economic transformationFor all those energised by Monday’s national March 4 Justice rallies the critical question for the morning after is whether it was simply an inspiring moment or the start of a transformative movement.Streets full of determined women – and the men who support them – may feel like the beginning of a new chapter in gender relations but the prime minister appears willing to wait things out in the expectation the caravan will soon move on and politics will return to normal. Continue reading...

Remarks follow EU formally launching legal action over protocol arrangements in the regionThe White House has urged London and Brussels to work together to preserve the peace in Northern Ireland, after the EU formally launched legal action against the UK over Brexit arrangements in the region.Joe Biden’s spokesperson said: “We continue to encourage both the EU and the UK government to prioritise pragmatic solutions to safeguard and advance the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland.” Continue reading...

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European Medicines Agency says benefits of jab outweigh any risks, as Spain follows France, Italy and Germany in pausing use of vaccine

Eduardo Pazuello expected to depart after 10 months as coronavirus fatalities near 280,000The Brazilian health minister, Eduardo Pazuello, is set to be sacked after an inglorious 10-month tenure during which more than 260,000 Brazilians have been killed by a coronavirus outbreak that his government stands accused of catastrophically mismanaging.Related: 'Covid is taking over': Brazil plunges into deadliest chapter of its epidemic Continue reading...

Home secretary agrees vigil was ‘hijacked’ by protesters and that undermining police would fail victimsPriti Patel has told the Commons she had had “extensive discussions” with the head of the Metropolitan police before officers broke up a peaceful vigil for Sarah Everard at the weekend, saying that people should be allowed to lay flowers.But, in her first criticism of the gathering, the home secretary agreed the vigil had been “hijacked” by protesters and that undermining faith in the police would ultimately fail victims. Continue reading...

Almost two-thirds of Essential poll sample agree ‘because the charge of rape is so serious, the burden of proof needs to be high’A majority of Australians think the attorney general should face an independent inquiry into whether he is a fit and proper person to remain first law officer, but voters are split about whether an inquiry would offend the rule of law, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.The latest survey of 1,124 respondents finds more than half the sample (55%) believes the prime minister should set up an investigation to satisfy himself of the attorney general’s fitness after a historical rape allegation was levelled against Christian Porter. Porter has firmly denied the allegation stating it “never happened”. Continue reading...

The HBO series arrives on Sky in the UK, but fails to dig deep and do more than regurgitate Mia and Dylan Farrow’s allegations against Woody Allen

No 10 intends the studio, hosted by Allegra Stratton, to be focal point of new media strategyAfter £2.6m and a seven-month wait, the curtains have finally opened on a studio based inside Downing Street where the prime minister’s press secretary will address the nation in new White House-style TV briefings.The first glimpses of the room revealed by ITV showed the podium that Allegra Stratton, a former BBC and Guardian journalist who also worked as communications director for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will stand behind as she fields questions from journalists. Continue reading...

Scientists call it an unprecedented seismic event – but residents dread an imminent volcanic eruption

Female children are seen as an economic burden, and tough times are setting back progress by a generation, gender equality charity saysThousands of adolescent girls across south-east Asia and the Pacific are being forced to leave school and get married instead as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a charity has warned, saying “a generation of girls could be lost”.A new report by Plan International Australia highlighted the importance of secondary education for girls, and detailed the increased risk and long-term impacts of child, early and forced marriage in the region. Continue reading...