politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: The Guardian

Monday 7 June 2021

The Guardian

Joe Manchin opposes voting rights bill and defends filibuster in blow to Democrats
Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research
Idaho’s Republicans in political civil war as state lurches further right
Meghan and Harry announce birth of baby daughter Lilibet
Trump adviser Lewandowski: he ‘lost the election’ and will not be reinstated
Great apes predicted to lose 90% of homelands in Africa, study finds
Joe Biden to affirm “special relationship’ at G7 meeting with Boris Johnson
Pakistan train crash: dozens killed as express services collide
China blocks cryptocurrency Weibo accounts in ‘judgment day’ for bitcoin
‘Hero of Auschwitz’ David Dushman, last surviving liberator of death camp, dies aged 98
Children are ‘vulnerable host’ for Covid as cases recede, US expert warns
Coronavirus live news: Spain reopens to vaccinated tourists as Taiwan extends pandemic restrictions
Covid: more than 200 leaders urge G7 to help vaccinate world’s poorest
Bob Odenkirk: ‘Soon people won’t remember Breaking Bad’
I joined the oil rush to an American boomtown. Guess who got rich?
‘The darkest days are coming’: Myanmar’s journalists suffer at hands of junta
Logan Paul v Floyd Mayweather ends in boos as each fighter makes millions
Kamala Harris takes on a new role as she heads on her first overseas trip
American democracy is at risk from Trump and the Republicans. What can be done?
Don’t expect Netanyahu’s departure to alter the course of politics in Israel | Daniella Peled
‘Race norming’ is bigotry that began with good intentions | Kenan Malik
Xi’s change of heart is too late to stop China’s collision with the west | Simon Tisdall
Stonewall risks all it has fought for in accusing those who disagree with it of hate speech | Sonia Sodha
Education for girls and vaccines can save Africa from disaster | Phillip Inman
Simone Biles dazzles to claim seventh US gymnastics title with stunning ease
Pulisic’s extra-time winner seals Nations League title for USA over Mexico
Yuka Saso wins US Women’s Open after Lexi Thompson’s final day collapse
Serena Williams out of French Open after straight sets defeat by Rybakina
Roger Federer pulls out of French Open to protect knee before Wimbledon
NBA playoffs: Clippers down Mavericks in Game 7 despite Doncic’s 46 points
Sifan Hassan smashes women’s 10,000m record by 10 seconds in super spikes
Why every statue should come down
How a ghostly outline revealed the secret of Modigliani’s lost lover
Calls for Keith Haring mural to stay at Barcelona site being turned into care home
Hear me out: why Ishtar isn’t a bad movie
Biden trumpets democracy abroad in Post op-ed – as threats spread at home
Trump aide asked DoJ to investigate bizarre ‘Italygate’ claim votes were changed by satellite
Cobby, oldest chimpanzee in North American zoos, dies aged 63
Virginia supreme court to hear cases challenging removal of Confederate statue
Excited, pursuing bear: Florida officials seek unusual urban visitor
Biden’s push for racial justice at stake in bipartisan infrastructure talks
Start me up: ‘car guy’ Joe Biden accelerates push to turn America electric
Hundreds detained without trial in Uganda in new wave of repression
Netanyahu says Israeli coalition poised to unseat him is result of ‘election fraud’
US mulling military response to ransomware attacks, Biden officials say
Angela Merkel’s CDU beats far right in crucial German state election
‘Sea snot’: Turkish minister announces plan to tackle slimy scourge
‘France is for ever grateful’: Normandy memorial for British D-day troops unveiled
Microsoft’s Kate Crawford: ‘AI is neither artificial nor intelligent’
Just don’t do it: 10 exercise myths
British ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow – in pictures
Devil runners and parkour in the West Bank: the weekend’s best photos

Joe Manchin opposes voting rights bill and defends filibuster in blow to Democrats

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:27 AM PDT

Senator key to progress cites Republican opposition as reason
Lewandowski: Trump lost and will not be reinstated
How long can America call itself a democracy?

In a huge blow to Democrats' hopes of passing sweeping voting rights protections, the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin said on Sunday he would not support his party's flagship bill – because of Republican opposition to it.

Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:00 PM PDT

G7 countries will lose $5tn a year by 2050 if temperatures rise by 2.6C

The economies of rich countries will shrink by twice as much as they did in the Covid-19 crisis if they fail to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to research.

The G7 countries – the world's biggest industrialised economies – will lose 8.5% of GDP a year, or nearly $5tn wiped off their economies, within 30 years if temperatures rise by 2.6C, as they are likely to on the basis of government pledges and policies around the world, according to research from Oxfam and the Swiss Re Institute.

Idaho’s Republicans in political civil war as state lurches further right

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Last month, the Republican governor revoked his lieutenant governor's ban on mask mandates – and observers say the fight is symptomatic of a larger problem

Idaho's rightward political lurch has immersed the state's Republicans in a political civil war that now extends all the way from the grassroots to the executive mansion.

In late May, the state's Republican governor, Brad Little, angrily revoked an executive order banning mask mandates in the state that had been put in place by his own militia-supporting lieutenant governor during a period when she was deputizing for him.

Meghan and Harry announce birth of baby daughter Lilibet

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:37 AM PDT

Child named after the family nickname for the Queen, the baby's great-grandmother

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced the birth of a daughter they have named Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

Harry and Meghan's daughter, who was born in hospital in California on Friday, weighed 7lb 11oz (3.4kg) and has been named after the family nickname for the Queen, the baby's great-grandmother. Her middle name was chosen to honour her late grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales, the couple said. The baby is the Queen's 11th great-grandchild and is eighth in line to the throne.

Trump adviser Lewandowski: he ‘lost the election’ and will not be reinstated

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:21 AM PDT

Former campaign manager speaks to Fox News Sunday
Biden touts democracy abroad as threats grow at home

The morning after Donald Trump returned to frontline politics with a speech in North Carolina, a close adviser poured cold water on his reported belief that he will be reinstated in the White House when it is proved Joe Biden beat him thanks to electoral fraud.

Great apes predicted to lose 90% of homelands in Africa, study finds

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Global heating and habitat destruction may together devastate humanity's closest relatives

Great apes – humanity's closest relatives, are predicted to lose a "devastating" 90% of their homelands in Africa in coming decades, according to a study.

All gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos are already endangered or critically endangered. But a combination of the climate crisis, the destruction of wild areas for minerals, timber and food, and human population growth is on track to decimate their ranges by 2050, the scientists said. Half of the projected lost territory will be in national parks and other protected areas.

Joe Biden to affirm “special relationship’ at G7 meeting with Boris Johnson

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 04:54 PM PDT

President also expected to discuss post-Brexit difficulties in Northern Ireland with the prime minister

Joe Biden has issued a statement pledging to affirm his "special relationship" with Britain when he meets Boris Johnson at this week's G7 summit in the UK and discuss matters including the impasse in Northern Ireland.

In an article for the Washington Post published on Sunday before his first foreign travel trip as president, Biden wrote: "In the United Kingdom, after meeting with prime minister Boris Johnson to affirm the special relationship between our nations, I will participate in the G7 summit.

Pakistan train crash: dozens killed as express services collide

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:32 PM PDT

At least 30 people killed and 25 passengers trapped in wreckage of the Millat Express, which was hit by the Sir Syed Express train after it derailed

Two express trains have collided in southern Pakistan , killing at least 30 passengers, authorities have said, as rescuers and villagers worked to pull the dead and injured from the wreckage.

Up to 25 passengers were still trapped in the wreckage of the Millat Express train and authorities were trying to arrange heavy machinery to rescue those people who were calling for help, said Umar Tufail, a police chief in Ghotki district in Sindh province, where the collision took place before dawn on Monday.

China blocks cryptocurrency Weibo accounts in ‘judgment day’ for bitcoin

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:51 PM PDT

Several popular accounts on Twitter-like service are closed down, displaying message saying account 'violates laws and rules'

China has stepped up its crackdown on bitcoin trading and mining, blocking a slew of cryptocurrency-related accounts on the Twitter-like Weibo platform over the weekend.

More actions are expected, including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country's criminal law, according to analysts and a financial regulator.

‘Hero of Auschwitz’ David Dushman, last surviving liberator of death camp, dies aged 98

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:47 PM PDT

Red Army soldier David Dushman used his T-34 Soviet tank to mow down the electric fence of the Nazi death camp

David Dushman, the last surviving soldier who took part in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in 1945, has died at the age of 98.

He died in a Munich clinic on Friday night, the city's Jewish IKG cultural community said on Sunday, describing him as a liberating "hero of Auschwitz".

Children are ‘vulnerable host’ for Covid as cases recede, US expert warns

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Cases plummet but children under 12 not yet eligible for shots
Mississippi governor defends low state vaccination rate

A US public health expert has warned that though cases of Covid-19 are at their lowest rates for months and much of the country is returning to normal life, young Americans are still "a vulnerable host" for the coronavirus.

Coronavirus live news: Spain reopens to vaccinated tourists as Taiwan extends pandemic restrictions

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:32 PM PDT

UK decision to keep Spain on at-risk list is a potential blow to its tourism revival; Taiwan's daily case numbers remain stubborn as authorities extend level 3 measures to end of June

7.32am BST

The urban Indian population are getting Covid-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside, government data shows, reflecting rising inequity in the nation's immunisation drive.

In 114 of India's least developed districts - collectively home to about 176 million people - authorities have administered just 23 million doses in total.

7.13am BST

Police in Malaysia are using drones to detect people with high temperatures in public spaces as part of Covid prevention measures, according to local media.

The drones, which can detect people's temperatures as high as 20m above ground, emit a red light to alert the authorities if someone has a high reading, Bernama, Malaysia's state news agency, reported.

Covid: more than 200 leaders urge G7 to help vaccinate world’s poorest

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Former PMs, presidents and ministers sign letter saying richest should pay two-thirds of $66bn needed

More than 100 former prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers are among 230 prominent figures calling on the leaders of the powerful G7 countries to pay two-thirds of the $66bn (£46.6bn) needed to vaccinate low-income countries against Covid.

A letter seen by the Guardian ahead of the G7 summit to be hosted by Boris Johnson in Cornwall warns that the leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada must make 2021 "a turning point in global cooperation". Fewer than 2% of people in sub-Saharan Africa have been vaccinated against Covid, while the UK has now immunised 70% of its population with at least one dose.

Bob Odenkirk: ‘Soon people won’t remember Breaking Bad’

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:00 PM PDT

He charmed as slimeball lawyer Saul in the drugs drama and its spinoff – but now Bob Odenkirk has gone badass in action thriller Nobody. Has he left his comedy days behind?

On the surface, Bob Odenkirk's new film is entirely preposterous. As the story of a man who goes on a murder spree after his house is broken into, Nobody is an all-out, full-throated action movie. In one scene, 58-year-old Odenkirk tears a handrail off the inside of a bus and beats a man senseless with it.

However, as he explains, the story stems from something much more personal. "My family had two break-ins," he reveals from his home in LA, where he's sitting beneath a vast Chinatown poster. "It was very damaging."

I joined the oil rush to an American boomtown. Guess who got rich?

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

People said Williston, North Dakota, would boom for decades. Instead, Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith learned, it went the way of every other legendary boomtown

Life in a modern boomtown is living on the frontier but with a smartphone. "Capitalism on crack" is the way historian Clay Jenkinson referred to it – everyone taking what they can get, as fast as they can.

I spent nearly a year in an oil boomtown: from summer of 2013 to winter of 2014, I worked in the Bakken oil patch out of Williston, North Dakota. At the time, politicians, geologists, and much of the national media claimed the town would be booming for decades to come. They were all wrong.

‘The darkest days are coming’: Myanmar’s journalists suffer at hands of junta

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:11 PM PDT

Journalism has been outlawed in all but name since the coup, with reporters and editors fleeing the country or leading double lives to survive

As a cyclone rolled over the Bay of Bengal on 24 May, American journalist Danny Fenster, 37, contemplated the brooding skies near a terminal window at Yangon international airport.

For a while, the threat of foreigners being seized at the airport by Myanmar's military was real, but after watching international reporters exit the country safely in April, the Michigan native was more worried about turbulence.

Logan Paul v Floyd Mayweather ends in boos as each fighter makes millions

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:05 PM PDT

YouTube personality goes eight rounds against unbeaten champ
Mayweather lands 43 blows on night to Paul's 28

The fight between one of the greatest boxers in history and one of the best YouTube personalities in his family ended in predictable fashion on Sunday night as Floyd Mayweather danced around Logan Paul for eight rounds without inflicting any real damage.

The 44-year-old Mayweather retired from professional boxing with a perfect 50 wins from 50 fights but came back to the ring for an eight-round "special exhibition" against Paul, who has found fame as a YouTube personality with 66m social media followers. Mayweather beat the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Álvarez and Ricky Hatton in a Hall of Fame boxing career. Paul once got to the fourth week of The Masked Singer.

Kamala Harris takes on a new role as she heads on her first overseas trip

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

The vice-president is helping lead Democrats' efforts to advance a set of voting rights bills after being seen by some as a 'floater' in the administration

When Kamala Harris leaves for her first overseas trip on Sunday, the US vice-president will be doing so with an expanded domestic portfolio.

Last week, Joe Biden announced in a speech that Harris would help lead Democrats' efforts to advance a set of voting rights bills, a top legislative priority for the party on an issue that disproportionately affects black and brown Americans. The president made the announcement during a speech in Oklahoma on Tuesday, where he marked the centennial anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, which decimated a flourishing black community.

American democracy is at risk from Trump and the Republicans. What can be done?

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 08:56 AM PDT

The Capitol attack was a warning: US democracy is at risk. To fix the system before the midterms, two steps have to be enacted before the 2022 midterms

Academics rarely agree about the big issues, and generally hesitate to enter the political fray by signing collective public statements. Yet a few days ago, more than 100 leading scholars of democracy endorsed a remarkable Statement of Concern, which I also signed, warning about grave threats to American democracy and the deterioration of US elections.

"We urge members of Congress to do whatever is necessary – including suspending the filibuster – in order to pass national voting and election administration standards that both guarantee the vote to all Americans equally, and prevent state legislatures from manipulating the rules in order to manufacture the result they want. Our democracy is fundamentally at stake. History will judge what we do at this moment."

Don’t expect Netanyahu’s departure to alter the course of politics in Israel | Daniella Peled

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 02:30 AM PDT

None of the coalition leaders has any interest in resolving the Palestinian issue

It would be encouraging to think that the massive upheaval afoot in Israeli politics with the unseating of Benjamin Netanyahu also signals a seismic shift in political culture. Perhaps a turning point in its democratic decline, even a move towards ending its rule over millions of Palestinians.

Unfortunately, it signals none of these things. The burning desire to depose Israel's longest serving leader is certainly the driving force behind the disparate eight-party coalition that hopes to replace him. But another factor also unites them – by default, if not by design: the consensus that in determining the future of the Jewish state, the conflict with the Palestinians can be managed in perpetuity.

‘Race norming’ is bigotry that began with good intentions | Kenan Malik

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

The NFL's scandalous practice of refusing payouts to brain-injured black players was rooted in 'systematic' racism

The NFL, American football's professional league, is to abandon the practice of "race norming" in assessing compensation for former players with brain injuries. It's the assumption that black players have lower cognitive functioning than white ones, an assumption that made it harder for them to prove they had suffered a deficit through brain trauma and so qualify for a payout. Two former players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, had sued the NFL, having been denied compensation that they would have received had they been white.

The treatment of black people as cognitively less able is straightforward bigotry and draws on a long racist history. The irony, though, is that race norming was introduced as an anti-racist measure and as part of affirmative action programmes.

Xi’s change of heart is too late to stop China’s collision with the west | Simon Tisdall

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 01:00 AM PDT

The Chinese president's conciliatory speech rings hollow in the face of his brutal policies

Is it too late to halt the slide towards all-out confrontation between China and the western democracies? An apparently conciliatory speech last week by Xi Jinping led some observers to suggest China's president may want to mend fences. But a change of tone in Beijing will not cut much ice in Washington unless Xi's aggressive policies change, too.

Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has overseen a marked shift towards authoritarianism at home and increased "assertiveness" – a polite word for bullying – abroad. He has established the type of personal, almost cultish dominance over the Chinese Communist party not seen since the days of Mao Zedong.

Stonewall risks all it has fought for in accusing those who disagree with it of hate speech | Sonia Sodha

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 01:30 AM PDT

The charity has forgotten that true power lies in solidarity and compromise

It was never going to be an ideal Pride month for Stonewall. The protests and parades, with their joyous celebrations and flags are, by necessity, on hold until later in the year. But how did it happen that its chief executive, Nancy Kelley, came under fire last week for likening a strand of feminism to antisemitism?

Two of Stonewall's founders have accused the charity of losing its way. An independent review by a QC into the unlawful no-platforming of two female academics found that Essex University's policy on supporting trans staff, reviewed by Stonewall, misrepresented the law "as Stonewall would prefer it to be, rather than as it is", to the detriment of women. And following the Equality and Human Rights Commission leaving Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, the equalities minister, Liz Truss, has reportedly pushed for government departments to follow suit.

Education for girls and vaccines can save Africa from disaster | Phillip Inman

Posted: 05 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Parts of the continent potentially face a decade of crisis. These two measures are more important than any other in avoiding it

There are so many good causes in the world it is often difficult to know where aid money should go. As leaders line up to attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, the most effective destinations for aid money have become clearer – a global vaccination programme and improving girls' education.

This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where so much can go wrong over the next 10 years – a population explosion, massive biodiversity loss, desertification, famine and mass migration to mention just a few – that unless we focus our efforts on vaccines and girls' education, whatever is done to alleviate poverty or tackle the climate emergency will be threatened or even sabotaged in almost every other region of the world.

Simone Biles dazzles to claim seventh US gymnastics title with stunning ease

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:34 PM PDT

24-year-old easily beats challenge of Sunisa Lee
Biles expected to win back-to-back Olympic gold in Tokyo

Simone Biles looks ready for Tokyo. The 24-year-old claimed her seventh US title on Sunday night, delivering another stunning and stunningly easy performance that showed the pressure surrounding her bid to become the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic all-around golds in more than 50 years is only pushing her to even greater heights.

Shaking off a somewhat sloppy start on Friday, at least by her impeccable standards, Biles put on a four-rotation showcase on what separates her from every other gymnast on the planet. Her score of 119.650 was nearly five points better than runner-up Sunisa Lee and good friend and teammate Jordan Chiles.

Pulisic’s extra-time winner seals Nations League title for USA over Mexico

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:03 PM PDT

Concacaf Nations League final: USMNT 3-2 Mexico (aet)
US battle back to claim title after El Tri's early opener
Thrilling match marred by objects thrown at players

Christian Pulisic converted a penalty in the 114th minute, back-up goalkeeper Ethan Horvath stopped Andres Guardado's spot kick in the final seconds and the United States overcame an early defensive blunder to beat Mexico 3-2 on Sunday night in a final of the first Concacaf Nations League that turned on three video reviews.

Gio Reyna and Weston McKennie scored as the US twice overcame deficits against Mexico, who led after just 63 seconds.

Yuka Saso wins US Women’s Open after Lexi Thompson’s final day collapse

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 04:57 PM PDT

Saso becomes only the second teenager to win the US Open
Thompson held five-shot lead at one point on final day

Yuka Saso birdied the third playoff hole to beat Nasa Hataoka on Sunday and become the second teenager to win the US Women's Open after Lexi Thompson collapsed down the stretch.

Saso overcame back-to-back double bogeys early in the round to make the playoff. She then won it with a 10ft putt on the ninth hole to become the first player from the Philippines to win a golf major. Saso matched 2008 winner Inbee Park as the youngest US Women's Open champion at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days.

Serena Williams out of French Open after straight sets defeat by Rybakina

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:28 AM PDT

American loses 6-3, 7-5 against Elena Rybakina in Paris
Williams was only top-20 player left in her half of draw

The only certainty in the bottom half of the women's singles draw at the French Open this year is the constant thrill of uncertainty. On Sunday afternoon the final top-20 player in the section fell and it was the most successful of them all as Serena Williams was thoroughly outplayed by a young Kazakh star called Elena Rybakina, who won 6-3, 7-5.

With Williams' defeat Rybakina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Tamara Zidansek and Paula Badosa remain in the bottom half of the draw. None has ever braved a major semi-final and only Pavlyuchenkova has contested a quarter-final. One will seize the moment and become the newest first-time grand-slam finalist.

Roger Federer pulls out of French Open to protect knee before Wimbledon

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:44 AM PDT

Swiss withdraws before his fourth-round match
Federer has had two knee surgeries and a year of rehab

Roger Federer has withdrawn from the French Open one day after reaching the fourth round with a late-night, three-hour, 35min win against Dominik Koepfer of Germany. He was due to face the ninth seed, Matteo Berrettini, on Monday but instead the Italian received a walkover into his first Roland Garros quarter-final.

In a statement released on Sunday afternoon, Federer said he does not want to push his body so soon into his return. "After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it's important that I listen to my body and make sure I don't push myself too quickly on my road to recovery," he said. "I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court."

NBA playoffs: Clippers down Mavericks in Game 7 despite Doncic’s 46 points

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:37 PM PDT

Kawhi Leonard leads Los Angeles with 28 points
Hawks shock 76ers in Sunday's other NBA playoff game

Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points, Marcus Morris added 23 and the Los Angeles Clippers finally won at home, finishing off the Dallas Mavericks 126-111 on Sunday in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series.

Playing in front of a small but noisy mix of masked fans and cardboard cutouts, the Clippers did what neither team had been able to pull off in the first six games: win at home. It was the first time in NBA history the road team won the first six games of a playoff series.

Sifan Hassan smashes women’s 10,000m record by 10 seconds in super spikes

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 10:49 AM PDT

Dutch runner now has four world records
Britain's Dina Asher-Smith sets meeting record in 100m

The game-changing effect of super spikes on track and field was again dramatically emphasised in Hengelo on Sunday as Sifan Hassan obliterated the women's 10,000m record by more than 10 seconds.

On a day when Britain's Dina Asher-Smith ran a meeting record of 10.92sec in the women's 100m, it was the Dutchwoman who stole the show in front of her home fans. The 28-year-old Hassan, who appeared to be wearing the latest version of the Nike ZoomX Dragonfly spikes, which have been billed as the "fastest shoes ever", ran 29:06.82 to destroy the previous best of 29:17:45 set by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia at the 2016 Olympics.

Why every statue should come down

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:00 PM PDT

Gary Younge was glad to see the figure of Edward Colston removed in Bristol a year ago – but, he argues, even monuments to civil rights leaders are a distortion of how history really works

How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

One year ago, the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was brought down in Bristol, prompting jubilation among protesters and calls for a wider rethink of public memorials – but also a ferocious backlash.

Gary Younge, the former Guardian columnist who is now a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester, was delighted to see Colston come down – but all too aware of the controversy that would ensue, having previously found himself the subject of a Daily Mail campaign to erect a statue of the Queen Mother. He tells Anushka Asthana that the last year has highlighted the reluctance of some participants in the culture war over statues to grapple with the reality of Britain's history. And, he argues, even figures of civil rights heroes such as Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks misrepresent their role in bringing about social change – and underplay the crucial significance of the movements that lifted them up.

How a ghostly outline revealed the secret of Modigliani’s lost lover

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 02:00 AM PDT

The Italian artist may have wanted to brush Beatrice Hastings out of his life, but artifical intelligence has thwarted him by enabling a re-creation of the work

No one wants to be reminded of a failed relationship by having the ex's portrait hanging around. After Amedeo Modigliani and his lover, Beatrice Hastings, broke up, the Italian artist is thought to have obliterated her memory by painting another woman's likeness over his portrait of her.

So he might not be too happy to learn that science has now brought back that "lost" portrait, using artificial intelligence, an X-ray and 3D-printing to re-create the painting, with full colour and textured brushstrokes.

Calls for Keith Haring mural to stay at Barcelona site being turned into care home

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:15 AM PDT

Artwork in building slated for demolition faces uncertain future, though city has pledged to save it

It all began one February night in 1989. Cesar de Melero was DJing in the Ars Studio club in Barcelona when someone told him that the artist Keith Haring was outside but the doorman wouldn't let him in.

"The place was packed, so I put on a record and pushed through the crowd," De Melero told the Guardian. "And there he was with his saintly, innocent face and I told the doorman to let him in and I said to the boss: 'Champagne for Keith Haring.'"

Hear me out: why Ishtar isn’t a bad movie

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:14 PM PDT

The latest in our series of writers defending maligned films is an ode to Elaine May's lambasted 1987 flop starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman

It's a rare movie bomb that's such a catastrophe it becomes a byword for cinematic failure. Ishtar, Elaine May's 1987 comedy about two musicians who become wrapped up in a CIA plot in north Africa, is one of the lucky few.

Negative buzz trailed the film, made on an at-the-time grossly inflated $51m budget, from troubled production to release. Bad box office (final losses came to about $40m) followed savage reviews – typified by Roger Ebert writing that it was "a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy" – and Ishtar quickly became a punchline. A Far Side comic strip would depict "Hell's video store" as one which stocked nothing but copies of the film. When Kevin Costner's Waterworld itself went off the rails in the mid-90s, the press mockingly dubbed it "Fishtar", a familiar shorthand for Hollywood profligacy in service to a true creative folly.

Biden trumpets democracy abroad in Post op-ed – as threats spread at home

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:16 AM PDT

President sets out vision for European visit
How long can America call itself a democracy?
Voting rights: VP Kamala Harris takes on new role

Joe Biden will use his visit to Europe this week to "rally the world's democracies" in a reset of US foreign policy after four turbulent years under Donald Trump – all while threats to American democracy, stoked by Trump, proliferate at home.

Trump aide asked DoJ to investigate bizarre ‘Italygate’ claim votes were changed by satellite

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:35 AM PDT

Conspiracy theory says people in Italy used military satellites to make US voting machines switch votes for Biden

Biden touts democracy abroad as threats grow at home

Donald Trump's final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, pressured the acting attorney general to help push the lie of electoral fraud in Trump's defeat by Joe Biden – even asking him to investigate a conspiracy theory which said people in Italy used military satellites to make US voting machines switch votes for Biden.

Cobby, oldest chimpanzee in North American zoos, dies aged 63

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 02:19 PM PDT

San Francisco zoo reports death of much-loved primate
Chimpanzee performed in short-lived children's TV series

Cobby, the oldest male chimpanzee in an accredited North American zoo, died on Saturday at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens. He was 63.

Virginia supreme court to hear cases challenging removal of Confederate statue

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 07:45 AM PDT

Governor's plan to take down a 131-year-old statue of Gen Robert E Lee came after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer

The supreme court of Virginia will this week hear arguments in legal challenges to Governor Ralph Northam's plan to take down a 131-year-old statue of Confederate Gen Robert E Lee, a move met with widespread praise from activists who had long seen it as a symbol of white supremacy.

Excited, pursuing bear: Florida officials seek unusual urban visitor

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 12:25 PM PDT

Sightings of black bear continue but state wildlife officials unsuccessful in attempts to trap and relocate it

In a summer's tale to enthrall inhabitants of the south-western Florida city of Naples, a black bear seen wandering around downtown eluded wildlife officials – even as sightings of the animal continued.

Police said the bear was first spotted in the city on Friday, near 12th Avenue South and 6th Street South. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to trap the bear in hopes of relocating it, the Naples Daily News reported.

Biden’s push for racial justice at stake in bipartisan infrastructure talks

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Republican efforts to exclude social elements such as daycare and senior care risk depriving the Black and brown people most in need of investment

The massacre of innocents was just the beginning, Joe Biden explained. African Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would go on to be locked out of home ownerships, see a motorway built through their community and endure chronic underinvestment by government.

"This story isn't about the loss of life, but a loss of living, of wealth and prosperity and possibilities that still reverberates today," the US president said during a visit marking the centenary of an attack by a white mob that left up to 300 people dead.

Start me up: ‘car guy’ Joe Biden accelerates push to turn America electric

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

The president plans a record investment away from gas-powered cars – but Republicans in Congress could thwart his plans

On a hot, sunny day in Michigan, Joe Biden zoomed around in a new electric version of the Ford F150, one of the automaker's most famous vehicles.

"This sucker's quick," Biden said as he drove up to reporters at Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center last month.

Hundreds detained without trial in Uganda in new wave of repression

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 04:15 AM PDT

Roundup of opposition activists took place in May around date of swearing-in ceremony for President Yoweri Museveni

A new wave of repression in Uganda has led to the abductions of dozens more opposition activists by security forces and at least one alleged death. Several hundred people are thought to have been detained without trial in the east African country in secret prisons where they are subjected to a brutal regime of mistreatment. The country has suffered a series of crackdowns aimed at stamping out dissent since campaigning began for presidential elections late last year.

The trigger for the most recent repression by security services appears to have been the swearing-in ceremony of Uganda's veteran president, the 76-year-old Yoweri Museveni, in May.

Netanyahu says Israeli coalition poised to unseat him is result of ‘election fraud’

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 09:51 AM PDT

Accusation comes as security services warn of an escalation in violent discourse in the country

Benjamin Netanyahu has said a newly formed Israeli coalition that is poised to unseat him as prime minister was the result of "the greatest election fraud" in the history of democracy.

The sweeping accusation, similar in tone to those made about the US election by his former close ally Donald Trump, came as Israeli security services warned of an escalation in violent discourse in the country.

US mulling military response to ransomware attacks, Biden officials say

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:07 AM PDT

Commerce secretary Raimondo says US looking at 'all options'
Ahead of Putin summit, Russia thought to harbor perpetrators

US officials on Sunday ratcheted up pressure on companies and foreign adversaries to fight cybercriminals, and said Joe Biden was considering options to counter the growing threat including a military response.

Angela Merkel’s CDU beats far right in crucial German state election

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:13 PM PDT

Conservative win in Saxony-Anhalt seen as last big test ahead of national election in September

Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fought off a challenge from the far right in a state election on Sunday seen as the last big test for Germany's political parties before a national vote in September that will end the chancellor's 16 years atop German politics.

The CDU, whose current leader, Armin Laschet, will vie for the top job in September, improved on its 2017 performance to gain 37% of the vote in the eastern state, according to public service broadcaster ARD early on Monday. Reiner Haseloff, the state premier, said the result symbolised "a clear demarcation against the far right".

‘Sea snot’: Turkish minister announces plan to tackle slimy scourge

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:54 AM PDT

Substance has spread through sea south of Istanbul, posing threat to marine life and fishing industry

Turkey's environment minister has pledged to defeat a plague of "sea snot" threatening the Sea of Marmara, with a disaster management plan he said would secure its future.

A thick slimy layer of the organic matter, known as marine mucilage, has spread through the sea south of Istanbul, posing a threat to marine life and the fishing industry.

‘France is for ever grateful’: Normandy memorial for British D-day troops unveiled

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 06:37 AM PDT

Ceremony takes place at Ver-sur-Mer for 22,442 soldiers under British command who died during D-day and Battle of Normandy

They fought on the beaches of Normandy, they fought on the landing grounds in the fields and streets and hills. As Winston Churchill had promised, they did not surrender.

On Sunday, the names of 22,442 soldiers under British command who died on D-day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy were engraved in stone as a permanent reminder of their sacrifice as a new British Normandy memorial was unveiled.

Microsoft’s Kate Crawford: ‘AI is neither artificial nor intelligent’

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 01:00 AM PDT

The AI researcher on how natural resources and human labour drive machine learning and the regressive stereotypes that are baked into its algorithms

Kate Crawford studies the social and political implications of artificial intelligence. She is a research professor of communication and science and technology studies at the University of Southern California and a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research. Her new book, Atlas of AI, looks at what it takes to make AI and what's at stake as it reshapes our world.

You've written a book critical of AI but you work for a company that is among the leaders in its deployment. How do you square that circle?
I work in the research wing of Microsoft, which is a distinct organisation, separate from product development. Unusually, over its 30-year history, it has hired social scientists to look critically at how technologies are being built. Being on the inside, we are often able to see downsides early before systems are widely deployed. My book did not go through any pre-publication review – Microsoft Research does not require that – and my lab leaders support asking hard questions, even if the answers involve a critical assessment of current technological practices.

Just don’t do it: 10 exercise myths

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 12:00 AM PDT

We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths

Yesterday at an outdoor coffee shop, I met my old friend James in person for the first time since the pandemic began. Over the past year on Zoom, he looked just fine, but in 3D there was no hiding how much weight he'd gained. As we sat down with our cappuccinos, I didn't say a thing, but the first words out of his mouth were: "Yes, yes, I'm now 20lb too heavy and in pathetic shape. I need to diet and exercise, but I don't want to talk about it!"

If you feel like James, you are in good company. With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic now plausibly in sight, 70% of Britons say they hope to eat a healthier diet, lose weight and exercise more. But how? Every year, millions of people vow to be more physically active, but the vast majority of these resolutions fail. We all know what happens. After a week or two of sticking to a new exercise regime we gradually slip back into old habits and then feel bad about ourselves.

British ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow – in pictures

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Rachel Armstrong, from Northumberland, is due to graduate from the renowned Russian academy this month

Devil runners and parkour in the West Bank: the weekend’s best photos

Posted: 06 Jun 2021 05:42 AM PDT

The Guardian's picture editors select photo highlights from around the world