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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...

Exclusive: Boris Johnson announcement on Tuesday will end 30 years of gradual disarmament

Analysis: the evidence for side-effects is scant but governments have other factors to consider

Four women share their feelings on why the killing and subsequent outcry could be a turning point

Parisians told that the French capital may face another lockdown to contain ‘violent third wave’

Move is first major rule change in months and means people can travel from those countries to England

Brother of Syrian man aims to force Moscow to investigate possible role of Wagner Group in his killing

Leading obstetrician and gynaecologist and father of actor Jamie Dornan reportedly had Covid

Readers respond to the police crackdown during the vigil on Clapham Common which followed the death of Sarah EverardWith regard to your coverage of the vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common on Saturday, it seems that the morality of the gathering is being used as a justification for the breaking of lockdown rules, and for the consequent potential for coronavirus to spread (Cressida Dick refuses to quit over vigil policing and dismisses ‘armchair critics’, 15 March).There can be no argument against the validity of the reasons for the protest, but in itself that’s not a justification for the form it took. A picture of a woman being arrested has been widely circulated and discussed, whereas the significance of almost every other picture of the protest, which show people crowded together, against the rules, seems to be largely ignored. Continue reading...

‘Alarming’ report from disability royal commission released just hours after March 4 Justice protests

Previous chair of NSW party’s women’s council, Jess Price-Purnell, says failure a ‘really, really poor message to send’The National party has failed for almost six months to fill a key leadership position designed to boost female representation in politics, despite internal pressure to do so.The failure to replace Jess Price-Purnell as chair of the New South Wales Nationals women’s council has been labelled by some in the party as “a disgrace”. Continue reading...

Last sighting of cartoon was in mid-December when he was filmed refusing to shake Jair Bolsonaro’s hand at a health ministry eventHe is a national treasure credited with helping free South America’s largest nation from the scourge of polio and saving countless Brazilian lives.But in Brazil’s latest hour of need Zé Gotinha – a tear-shaped animation who has spent the last three decades promoting vaccination – has gone missing in action, as efforts to halt one of the most devastating Covid outbreaks on Earth fall afoul of the country’s toxic politics. Continue reading...

As the spectacular Cornish bio-domes turn 20, their creators reveal how they were inspired by a lost civilisation – and a load of washing upI had successfully turned a long-disused garden in Cornwall into the Lost Gardens of Heligan and was looking for another big project. I started thinking about an epic setting to showcase the world’s most important plants. Horticulture didn’t seem to be taken seriously, and I wanted to make people think differently about our environment and relationship with plant life. Continue reading...

Fears Syrian government carrying out ‘degrading’ exhumations to erase identities and forensic evidenceFadwa Hallak’s memory of what happened the day her husband died is blurry.Ibrahim Rahawi was killed by shrapnel in either an airstrike or missile attack in 2015 during the siege of Aleppo – one of the bloodiest and most brutal chapters of Syria’s long war. Continue reading...

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rules that God ‘cannot bless sin’

Prime minister joins policing minister in rejecting calls for Cressida Dick to stand downBoris Johnson has insisted he has full confidence in Britain’s most senior police officer, Cressida Dick, despite anger at her force’s handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard at the weekend.The prime minister said he was “very concerned” about the images that surfaced from the event on Saturday night after Everard’s death, but promised the government would make sure women felt “properly heard and addressed” when they made complaints of sexual assault or harassment. Continue reading...

Scott Higgins, 32, threatened to stab his partner with a kitchen knife at her home in Greater ManchesterA man who terrorised his partner and their three children at knifepoint has been jailed for 18 months.Scott Higgins, 32, had forced Andrea Kenny to flee for her life after he threatened to stab her with a kitchen knife before mounting a violent assault on the home she had been temporarily sharing with her mother, the court heard. Continue reading...

They’re ugly and they clog up your cupboards. But just like vinyl spun back into fashion, the compact disc could tooIn the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle it, once and for allWhen compact discs started arriving on the shelves of Woolworths in the 1980s, liberated boomers set about chucking out all the vinyl clogging up their entertainment centres. After an investment in a three-disc changer and some CD towers, they could rest easy in the assurance that they were future-proofed. A couple of decades, and a few music industry meltdowns later, no one wants CDs any more. Music is now nebulous, swirling round us like a particularly tuneful dust storm or, in the case of Gary Barlow’s new album, a fart in a lift. Continue reading...

Police say boy aged 3 died in hospital after being recovered from water near NewburyA three-year-old boy drowned after falling into a canal in Berkshire, police have said.The child and his mother, who survived, went into water that reached a depth of about 3 metres, where the canal meets the River Kennet. Officers said it was not immediately clear how it had happened, though the incident was not being treated as suspicious. Continue reading...

A sandstorm has combined with already high air pollution to turn the sky over Beijing an eerie orange. Air quality indexes recorded a “hazardous” 999 rating on Monday as commuters travelled to work through the thick, dark air across China’s capital and further west. Large-scale deforestation is considered a factor in the spring dust storms that are relatively common at this time of year and are usually attributed to winds blowing across the Gobi desert

Camps for refugees are growing as old rivalries between Fulani herders and Dogon farmers are exacerbated in Mali’s war on Islamist militants

Armin Laschet under pressure after Christian Democrats record worst ever results in two state elections

Behind the noisy women in the streets are others watching how small the prime minister has been in a moment when he needed to be big

The Covid-adapted 63rd Grammys in Los Angeles represented a night to celebrate female artists with Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift taking top awards. A mix of recorded and live performances took place on five separate stages

Judge brands acts ‘unspeakable evil’ after Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru were locked in a toolbox and thrown in lagoonThree men convicted of the “sadistic” murders of two drug dealers whose bodies were locked in a toolbox and submerged in a Queensland lagoon have been sentenced to life in prison.A fourth man found guilty of manslaughter will serve 12 years behind bars. Continue reading...

Former Liberal staffer and Grace Tame among those to address tens of thousands of protesters calling for an end to gender-based violenceBrittany Higgins’ voice shook as she addressed the crowd outside Parliament House in Canberra.She had decided at the last minute to speak to more than a thousand people, mainly women, holding signs calling for justice for women, for sexual assault survivors and for Higgins herself, who has alleged she was raped by a colleague inside Parliament House. Continue reading...

Prime minister grilled in parliament; attorney general’s lawyers say ‘trial by media’ against Porter should end with start of court proceedings; Queensland calls on Canberra to consider Covid vaccine rollout in PNG. Follow the latest

The Covid-restrained Grammys were a mostly female-fronted affair, with wins for Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Beyoncé and Taylor SwiftIt was a historic, triumphant night for women in music at the 2021 Grammys, as a range of female artists took home the top awards. HER took home song of the year for the Black Lives Matter anthem I Can’t Breathe, Taylor Swift became the first woman to win album of the year three times, and the rapper Megan Thee Stallion won both best new artist and best rap performance for her Savage remix with Beyoncé, now the most awarded singer (male or female) and female artist of all time.Related: Grammy awards 2021: the full list of winners Continue reading...

Path near centre of Kent town is focus of inquiry by Met police and local forceOfficers investigating the murder of Sarah Everard have cordoned off an area in the town of Sandwich, Kent.The 33-year-old went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on 3 March, and her body was found on 10 March. Continue reading...