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• Russia blocks UN resolution on eastern Ghouta ceasefire
• White House indicates it could find funds to train and arm 1 million teachers
• Barnaby Joyce quits as Australia's deputy prime minister and Nationals leader
• Alina Zagitova wins Olympic figure skating title for OAR's first gold aged 15
• Unicef deputy quits after inappropriate behaviour claims
• Novartis bribery claims: Greek MPs vote to investigate top politicians
• Spanish artist decries censorship after work dropped from art fair
• Robert Mueller files 32 new fraud charges against ex-Trump aides
• 'France is no longer free': Marine Le Pen's niece brings French far right to CPAC
• Weinstein apologises for citing Streep and Lawrence in defence
• Foreign Office warns of Islamist threat in South Africa after British couple kidnapped
• Police officer dies after fans clash before Athletic Bilbao-Spartak Moscow tie
• Spacewatch: Nasa planet hunter will target the rock zone
• Neanderthals – not modern humans – were first artists on Earth, experts claim
• A modest proposal for solving the air pollution crisis: a worker smog bonus
• Debt for dolphins: Seychelles creates huge marine parks in world-first finance scheme
• Man held over London stabbing murders as police link attacks
• Russian bots are on the march, taking over democracy. Take cover, quick! | Thomas Frank
• Medical crisis in east Ghouta as hospitals 'systematically targeted'
• The Wife’s Tale by Aida Edemariam review – portrait of a mother goddess
• 'He never went in': armed deputy did not confront Florida school shooter – video
• Museum review – Gael Garcia Bernal's student waster ballasts fun Mexican heist movie
• North Korea’s graphic artistry – in pictures
• Teen still in isolated cell after 10 months in Western Australia
• Somaliland set to ban FGM but activists fear new law will fall short
• Drug-resistant superbug to blame for deadly typhoid outbreak in Pakistan
• Not who but how: EU split over choosing Juncker successor
• Wayne LaPierre's speech: a reminder of the paranoia that gave us Trump
• Trump insists on arming teachers despite lack of evidence it would stop shootings
• ‘France is no longer free,’ Marion Maréchal-Le Pen tells conservative summit – video
• Mould threatens health on Nauru – video
• 'We must immediately harden our schools' says NRA's Wayne LaPierre – video
• ‘Our day starts at the cemetery’: victim’s father on life after Florida shooting – video

Russia blocks UN resolution on eastern Ghouta ceasefire Posted: 22 Feb 2018 10:41 AM PST Reports of civilian casualties in Syrian rebel enclave are 'mass psychosis', envoy claims Russia has blocked a UN resolution that would have established a 30-day ceasefire and humanitarian deliveries in eastern Ghouta, saying that widespread reporting of heavy civilian casualties in the besieged area on the edge of the Syrian capital, Damascus, was a product of "mass psychosis". Related: Medical crisis in east Ghouta as hospitals 'systematically targeted' Continue reading...

White House indicates it could find funds to train and arm 1 million teachers Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:51 PM PST President proposes paying bonuses to armed, trained teachers 'Gun-adept teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly' Update: Trump insists on arming teachers despite lack of evidence it would stop shootings The White House indicated on Thursday that the federal government could come up with the money to fund as many as a million teachers being trained and armed with guns across America in a controversial attempt to keep schools safe from more mass shootings. This followed repeated assertions from Donald Trump during earlier meetings at the White House, as well as in presidential tweets, that his response to the school massacre in Florida last week is to arm teachers and sports coaches. Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce quits as Australia's deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Posted: 22 Feb 2018 08:50 PM PST Deputy PM resigns as pressure over relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion is followed by separate allegation of sexual harassment • Timeline: how Joyce's fate was sealed Barnaby Joyce has announced his resignation as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister of Australia after weeks of fallout over his affair with a former staffer and now partner, Vikki Campion, who is pregnant with his child. Joyce saw his support diminish after the revelation on Thursday night that a sexual harassment complaint had been made against him to the country-based National party, the junior partner in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition. Continue reading...

Alina Zagitova wins Olympic figure skating title for OAR's first gold aged 15 Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:38 AM PST Zagitova, 15, outduels Evgenia Medvedeva to win gold medal Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond takes bronze with season-best skate No US woman finishes in the top six for first time at Olympics No figure skater dominated the past quadrennium like Evgenia Medvedeva, the raven-haired Russian who last year became the first woman in 16 years to win back-to-back world championships while elevating the sport to new technical heights with dumbfounding consistency. But none of it mattered on Friday afternoon as the 15-year-old prodigy Alina Zagitova capped her meteoric ascent with the Olympic title, beating out the countrywoman who inspired her to become a figure skater to win the first gold medal for the Olympic Athletes from Russia at these Pyeongchang Games. Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond took the bronze. Continue reading...

Unicef deputy quits after inappropriate behaviour claims Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:28 AM PST Justin Forsyth resigns in wake of complaints dating from his time as boss of Save the Children Justin Forsyth has resigned as deputy executive director of Unicef following accusations of inappropriate behaviour toward female staff while chief executive of Save the Children. Forsyth said he was not resigning because of the mistakes he had made while at the charity, but because of attempts to damage aid organisations and the humanitarian sector. Continue reading...

Novartis bribery claims: Greek MPs vote to investigate top politicians Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:22 AM PST MPs to look into accusations 10 senior officials accepted bribes from Swiss pharmaceutical firm The Greek parliament is to investigate 10 of the country's top politicians over accusations they accepted bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis in return for patronage that resulted in huge losses for Greece. After a raucous 20-hour debate, MPs voted early on Thursday to form a parliamentary committee tasked solely with investigating two former prime ministers and eight other ministers in connection with the allegations. Continue reading...

Spanish artist decries censorship after work dropped from art fair Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:03 AM PST Santiago Sierra's Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain removed from Madrid art fair The Spanish artist at the centre of a censorship row has attacked the lack of freedom of expression in the country, saying the current legal and political climate means "you have to choose your words very carefully or end up explaining yourself" in court. Santiago Sierra's piece, Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain, consists of 24 pixellated photographs, including images of the deposed Catalan vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, and two leading figures in influential Catalan pro-independence groups, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez. Continue reading...

Robert Mueller files 32 new fraud charges against ex-Trump aides Posted: 22 Feb 2018 05:21 PM PST The move marks the latest step in ratcheting up pressure on former Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates More than 30 new charges, involving millions of dollars of bank and tax fraud, were filed on Thursday against Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his business partner. The 32 new charges were filed by Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and a Russian intelligence operation to skew the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading...

'France is no longer free': Marine Le Pen's niece brings French far right to CPAC Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:11 AM PST Marion Le Pen's speech at the conference was well received but her attendance also brought controversy as many American conservatives expressed dismay Far right French politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen addressed a leading conservative conference outside Washington DC on Thursday as part of growing effort by those on the right to link the rise of Donald Trump in the United States with populist nationalism across Europe. Maréchal-Le Pen is the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far right National Front and the niece of the party's current leader Marine Le Pen. She was elected to represent it in the French National Assembly in 2012 at the age of 22 but has since taken a step back from politics. Continue reading...

Weinstein apologises for citing Streep and Lawrence in defence Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:25 PM PST Lawyers for disgraced mogul used past comments in effort to dismiss class action Harvey Weinstein has apologised for using statements by Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence in an effort to dismiss a class action sexual misconduct lawsuit against him. Six women are suing Weinstein and what they call the "Weinstein Sexual Enterprise", which they say includes his brother Bob and their co-founded studio The Weinstein Company, claiming they conspired to conceal Weinstein's widespread alleged sexual harassment. Continue reading...

Foreign Office warns of Islamist threat in South Africa after British couple kidnapped Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:58 AM PST Couple still missing after being abducted but elite police unit casts doubt on terrorist link The Foreign Office (FCO) has warned of a threat of attacks by Islamist militants on foreigners in South Africa after two British nationals were kidnapped in a small town there, but police said they had no evidence terrorists were behind the incident. Africa's most industrialised country has a large expatriate community and attracts many tourists but has seldom been associated with Islamist militancy. No attack followed a similar warning by Britain and the US in June 2016. Continue reading...

Police officer dies after fans clash before Athletic Bilbao-Spartak Moscow tie Posted: 22 Feb 2018 02:58 PM PST • Officer has heart attack while dealing with scuffles in Bilbao • Five people arrested by Basque police A police officer died in Bilbao last night after clashes with Spartak Moscow fans before the Europa League match against Athletic Bilbao. The officer died in hospital, where he had been taken following a heart attack that occurred when the regional Basque police force was trying to stop street battles between rival supporters. Five people were arrested. Continue reading...

Spacewatch: Nasa planet hunter will target the rock zone Posted: 22 Feb 2018 01:30 PM PST Using the TESS satellite, now at the Kennedy Space Centre, the agency is to study 200,000 stars in a quest for habitable planets Nasa's next planet hunting mission has arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, for final checks ahead of its April launch. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will spend at least two years studying more than 200,000 nearby stars and looking for planets. The mission is expected to discover thousands of previously unknown worlds by detecting the small drops in light which occur when each planet passes across the face of its parent star. This approach, known as the transit method, was employed to great effect by Kepler, a Nasa mission which has detected, so far, more than 2,500 confirmed planets around other stars. Continue reading...

Neanderthals – not modern humans – were first artists on Earth, experts claim Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:00 AM PST Neanderthals painted on cave walls in Spain 65,000 years ago – tens of thousands of years before modern humans arrived, say researchers More than 65,000 years ago, a Neanderthal reached out and made strokes in red ochre on the wall of a cave, and in doing so, became the first known artist on Earth, scientists claim. The discovery overturns the widely-held belief that modern humans are the only species to have expressed themselves through works of art. Continue reading...

A modest proposal for solving the air pollution crisis: a worker smog bonus Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:34 AM PST The amount of the smog allowance should vary according to the city's air quality – compensating workers and their families for living in a polluted environment while incentivising municipalities to clean up their acts Is your wood stove choking you? How indoor fires are suffocating cities We are all aware of the value of clean skies and the costs of pollution, so isn't it time to put more economic pressure on governments and companies to clean up? I first considered the potential for a smog allowance while I lived in Beijing (my heavily polluted home from 2003-2012) and the idea only strengthened after I moved under the mostly blue heavens of Rio (2012-2017). Continue reading...

Debt for dolphins: Seychelles creates huge marine parks in world-first finance scheme Posted: 22 Feb 2018 04:00 AM PST An innovative exchange of sovereign debt for marine conservation, backed by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, could pave the way to saving large swaths of the world's oceans The tropical island nation of Seychelles is to create two huge new marine parks in return for a large amount of its national debt being written off, in the first scheme of its kind in the world. The novel financial engineering, effectively swapping debt for dolphins and other marine life, aims to throw a lifeline to corals, tuna and turtles being caught in a storm of overfishing and climate change. If it works, it will also secure the economic future of the nation, which depends entirely on tourism and fishing. With other ocean states lining up to follow, the approach could transform large swaths of the planet's troubled seas. Continue reading...

Man held over London stabbing murders as police link attacks Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:34 AM PST 18-year-old man arrested after two men were killed in Camden and another was injured An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and grievous bodily harm as police said two killings and an assault in north London were being treated as linked and provided more details of a night of bloody carnage on the streets of the capital. Two men were stabbed to death within two hours of each other in Camden on Tuesday shortly after a third man had been attacked with a knife. Continue reading...

Russian bots are on the march, taking over democracy. Take cover, quick! | Thomas Frank Posted: 23 Feb 2018 02:00 AM PST Pundits and Democrats ascribe to a handful of bargain-basement Russian trolls all manner of ability – including orchestrating a coup d'etat The grand total for all political ad spending in the 2016 election cycle, according to Advertising Age, was $9.8bn. The ads allegedly produced by inmates of a Russian troll farm, which have made up this week's ration of horror and panic in the halls of the American punditburo, cost about $100,000 to place on Facebook. A few months ago, when I first described those Russian ads in this space, I invited readers to laugh at them. They were "low-budget stuff, ugly, loud and stupid", I wrote. They interested me because they cast the paranoid right, instead of the left, as dupes of a foreign power. And yet, I wrote, the American commentariat had largely overlooked them. Continue reading...

Medical crisis in east Ghouta as hospitals 'systematically targeted' Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:33 PM PST UN security council to vote on draft resolution demanding 30-day truce in Syria, as government and allies accused of destroying healthcare The medical system in eastern Ghouta is near collapse, medics and doctors say, after nearly a week of airstrikes that have hit 22 hospitals and clinics and led to widespread claims that civilian healthcare in the besieged area is being systematically annihilated. Medics inside Ghouta claimed only three medical facilities remained fully operational and all were overwhelmed with mass casualties that continued to arrive throughout Thursday – the fifth day of a blitz by Russian and Syrian jets across the opposition enclave. Médecins Sans Frontières said 13 hospitals it supported had been destroyed or damaged in the past three days alone. Continue reading...

The Wife’s Tale by Aida Edemariam review – portrait of a mother goddess Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:59 AM PST Edemariam deftly traces her grandmother's life in Ethiopia, taking in Haile Selassie's feudal reign and Marxist dictatorship In this elegant account, Aida Edemariam has sketched her grandmother's life in an Ethiopia that shifted, within 50 years, from feudal monarchy to Marxist dictatorship. We first meet Yètèmegnu in the years before the Italian invasion in 1935, as a child of nine betrothed to a cleric more than two decades her senior. It is with a deft, subtle touch that Edemariam portrays both the contemporary celebration of the event and the deeper tragedy of it. Born into a landowning family in the Gondar region in the north of the then Abyssinian empire, Yètèmegnu boasts distant royal connections. Within her small, pastoral world she is treated as a noble; her larder brims with crops from her husband's peasant-tilled fields. Continue reading...

'He never went in': armed deputy did not confront Florida school shooter – video Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:41 AM PST An armed officer at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida failed to enter the building and confront the shooter who killed 17 people. Deputy Scott Peterson took up a position outside and remained there for about four minutes while the gunman was inside the school, said Scott Israel, the Broward County sheriff Armed guard at Florida high school failed to enter building and stop shooter Continue reading...

Museum review – Gael Garcia Bernal's student waster ballasts fun Mexican heist movie Posted: 22 Feb 2018 10:00 AM PST Inspired by a real life robbery, this yarn about a pair of gormless students stealing priceless ancient artefacts is an entertaining and highly watchable thriller A deeply preposterous event from modern Mexican history has been turned into a watchable and good-natured dramedy-thriller from director Alonzo Ruizpalacios, who made a terrific new wave-style feature debut in 2014 with his freewheeling movie Güeros. Museum stars Gael Garcia Bernal as a feckless but mercurial student of veterinary medicine; Alfredo Castro is his disapproving father and Simon Russell Beale plays a cynical dealer in ancient artefacts. In 1985, all of Mexico was horrified when thieves were reported to have broken into the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and stolen 140 priceless Mayan and Aztec objects; the news media solemnly reported that the heist was surely the work of a sophisticated international gang. Their patriotic outrage turned to embarrassment when the crime was found to be the work of two students, smart or reckless enough to have carried out the robbery but too stupid to have grasped that no one would wish to buy the goods. These objects were simultaneously priceless and worthless. The students are re-imagined as two criminal non-masterminds who are out of their depth as soon as they hit the water. It is no accident that one is obsessed with the cliff divers of Acapulco. Bernal plays Juan, and Leonardo Ortizgris is his hangdog college mate Wilson. At a Peter-Pan-ishly youthful 39 years old, Bernal carries off the role of the indolent student rather well: his face has something venal and self-pitying about it. He is very good at conveying a winsome, wounded sensitivity and self-pity. Juan slopes around the house, annoying his extended family and querulous parents who still want great or any rate respectable things from him: as Christmas approaches he is expected to dress as Santa to hand out presents at a family party – a responsibility first undertaken by his late grandfather. He has even had to get his Santa costume especially refitted by a tailor. This indignity is the last straw: Juan is determined to hit the big time. Ruizpalacios suggests that Juan first conceives his masterplan by working a summer job at the museum where he is yelled at for touching the artefacts with his ungloved hands – but he secretly keeps doing it, for the sacrilegious thrill. He has also has student friends who pick up cash as tourist guides, and from them he hears dizzying rumours about certain vastly rich foreigners ready to pay big money for pilfered artefacts. Ruizpalacios unveils a terrifically good heist sequence: all but silent, in the manner of Jules Dassin's 1955 classic Rififi. It is edge-of-the-seat stuff when Juan and Wilson have to break into the glass case that holds an unimaginably precious Mayan mask; I wasn't sure that the film quite showed us how they had that level of specialist expertise. But it's a grippingly tense scene: like ripping off the mask of Tutankhamen. And then Juan and Wilson set off on their chaotic and incompetent journey to sell their knapsack full of treasure. Before setting off, Juan tries "cleaning" the mask in the sink with a toothbrush - an unthinkably crass and damaging way of treating the stolen artwork, the kind of crazy negligence Donna Tartt describes in her art theft novel The Goldfinch. And here incidentally is where the film weirdly echoes other Bernal two-person road movies: Y Tu Mamá También and The Motorcycle Diaries. Finally, our two hapless heroes encounter the unsettling British dealer Graves (Simon Russell Beale) who might be induced to get his chequebook out. Ruizpalacios doesn't neglect the central irony at the heart of his story, a political irony which is far more current now than it was in 1985: museums are full of stuff that has already been stolen. These objects are not like paintings: their value resides in a real-world authenticity which is linked to the fact that they were never supposed to be viewed under glass in a museum. Somewhere along the line, they've been stolen or bought from someone whose right to sell is, to say the least, questionable. So Juan and Wilson are arguably doing the same thing, and Ruizpalacios has his robbers angrily remind the hatchet-faced Graves of this view. Juan also objects to his high-handed and culturally insensitive term "pre-Hispanic", preferring "Mesoamerican". But Juan and Wilson really aren't social justice warriors, all they want is the money; and when their plan starts to unravel, the audience must ask themselves if these people have the ruthlessness simply to dump their unsellable haul and move on with their lives. Museum is an oddly genial, garrulous film in many ways – rather like Güeros – and it doesn't behave quite like a heist thriller, nor exactly like a coming-of-age comedy, despite Juan's later and very implausible encounter with a soft-porn star of a certain age. The film just barrels along and it's at its most engaging when Juan has to deal (especially at the beginning) random details and absurdities that will keep cropping up in real life. It's a very entertaining night in the museum. Continue reading...

North Korea’s graphic artistry – in pictures Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:30 AM PST Everyday objects, such as sweet wrappers and posters, will be exhibited for the first time outside the communist republic at a London show to showcase the country's graphic art. Made in North Korea: Everyday Graphics from the DPRK is at the House of Illustration until 13 May Continue reading...

Teen still in isolated cell after 10 months in Western Australia Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:05 AM PST 18-year-old to be deported, despite moving to Australia from New Zealand aged 10 A teenager allegedly held in solitary confinement in a Western Australia detention centre is still in the unit more than 300 days later. His mother says he is seeking to transfer to the adult prison because "any place has to be better than here". Continue reading...

Somaliland set to ban FGM but activists fear new law will fall short Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:00 PM PST Legislation may follow religious edict in failing to outlaw female genital mutilation in all its forms Somaliland is expected to pass a law banning female genital mutilation amid complaints from some activists that the move will not go far enough. Earlier this month Somaliland announced a new fatwa, or religious edict, banning types two of the three types of female cutting. Now moves are afoot to support the decree with legislation likely to be approved by the self-declared republic's government within weeks. Continue reading...

Drug-resistant superbug to blame for deadly typhoid outbreak in Pakistan Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:58 AM PST Researchers warn of limited treatment options as mutated strain of typhoid is blamed for surge in cases A major outbreak of typhoid fever in Pakistan may have been caused by a highly drug-resistant superbug, scientists have warned. Research by the Wellcome Sanger Institute has shown that the typhoid strain behind the outbreak, which began in Hyderabad in November 2016 and has since spread, has acquired an extra piece of DNA that renders it resistant to multiple antibiotics. Continue reading...

Not who but how: EU split over choosing Juncker successor Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:00 PM PST Commission and parliament at odds as latter calls for candidates linked to election results It has been the talk of Brussels coffee bars for weeks, and now European leaders are gathering for a special summit to parse a troublesome question. No, it isn't Brexit. It is the EU's next jobs merry-go-round, starting with how to choose a successor to the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. Continue reading...

Wayne LaPierre's speech: a reminder of the paranoia that gave us Trump Posted: 22 Feb 2018 02:34 PM PST Wayne LaPierre followed the NRA's customary post-mass shooting moves in his CPAC speech – and at times sounded like Trump's twin How will gun control be discussed at a conference of conservatives this week? Follow developments in an experimental format for mobile The National Rifle Association (NRA) perfected Trumpism before Trump, attacking the mainstream media for lies and hypocrisy, bouncing from one culture war battle to another, using each new outrage to raise the bar for the next. Related: NRA head breaks silence to attack gun control advocates: 'They hate individual freedom' Continue reading...

Trump insists on arming teachers despite lack of evidence it would stop shootings Posted: 22 Feb 2018 01:44 PM PST The largest teachers' unions, security guards and military veterans opposed the president's plan of arming teachers to keep schools safe In the past 24 hours, Donald Trump has thrice backed a plan to arm teachers in US schools despite the lack of evidence showing this would end school shootings. Facing opposition from the country's largest teachers' unions, school security guards and military veterans, the president continued to endorse the plan in White House meetings and on Twitter. Continue reading...

‘France is no longer free,’ Marion Maréchal-Le Pen tells conservative summit – video Posted: 22 Feb 2018 02:03 PM PST Far-right French politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen addressed a conservative conference outside Washington DC as part of a growing effort on the right to link the rise of Donald Trump in the US with populist nationalism across Europe. LePen claimed French sovereignty was under siege, saying: 'After 1,500 years of existence, we now must fight for our independence.' Maréchal-Le Pen is the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front. 'France is no longer free': Marine Le Pen's niece brings French far right to CPAC Continue reading...

Mould threatens health on Nauru – video Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:12 AM PST Video from 2015 shows the extent of the mould that threatens the health of staff, refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru. The mould has been a persistent problem in tents and buildings inside Australia's regional processing centre on Nauru, despite expert reports warning it's a 'major health risk' Continue reading...

'We must immediately harden our schools' says NRA's Wayne LaPierre – video Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:29 AM PST At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, the National Rifle Association's executive vice-president and CEO says 'evil walks among us' Continue reading...

‘Our day starts at the cemetery’: victim’s father on life after Florida shooting – video Posted: 22 Feb 2018 08:16 AM PST Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among the 17 people killed by a gunman at a high school in Parkland, Florida, has spoken to MSNBC's Morning Joe about the grief he and his family have been going through since her death. 'She took a shot, through the back … done. Dead,' he tells the talkshow Continue reading...

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