Author: The Guardian

French pop star Aya Nakamura will perform at this summer’s Olympic opening ceremony, Macron said, after suggestions she could sing an Edith Piaf song sparked a racist backlash against the singer.Asked about Nakamura, the world’s most beloved French-language artist, Macron said it would be a “good thing” if she performed at the opening or closing ceremonies.When Macron opened the new Olympic Aquatics Center in Saint-Denis on Thursday, he said of Nakamura: “She speaks to many of our compatriots and I think she is absolutely in her rightful place at the opening or closing ceremony. .” He said he could not…

Thieves in Los Angeles pulled off one of the largest cash heists in city history over the weekend, stealing as much as $30m from a money storage facility on Easter Sunday, authorities said on Wednesday.The break-in unfolded at an unnamed facility in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley that handles and stores cash from businesses across the region. Burglars were able to enter without immediate detection and breached a safe, said Elaine Morales, a Los Angeles police department commander, to the Los Angeles Times.The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles police department are investigating the incident.Police…

An elderly US tourist was killed and four others hurt when an aggressive bull elephant charged and toppled their safari vehicle during a game drive in Zambia.The attack at Kafue national park, in which the large pachyderm ran from a wooded area and barreled into the side of the truck, was captured on video and posted to social media by ABC News. It identified the tourist as 79-year-old Gail Mattson of Minnesota.Keith Vincent, executive director of the safari operator Wilderness, told the network in a statement that the elephant’s charge was unexpected, and the driver had no opportunity to escape.“Our…

Game of Thrones might have ended half a decade ago, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was much less than that. This is partly down to House of the Dragon, which is less a spin-off and more the televisual equivalent of an annoying dinner party guest who doesn’t understand when it’s time to go home. It’s partly because the Game of Thrones finale was so cartoonishly inept that it sticks in the mind like a blunt-force trauma. But also it’s because the cast keep complaining about what a terrible time they had on the show.Both Kit Harington and Maisie…

I work for a small company; there are just three of us. My boss, who is the owner of the company, hired me to manage it while she stepped back before having her first child. She’s since had a second child. At the start, I loved my job. It represented security after several rocky years. But as time has gone on, I’ve become increasingly disillusioned with my job and the industry I work in. I desperately want to leave.I’ve been working on a side gig for 12 months in my free time and it’s starting to take off. If I…

Teresa, 29, NottinghamOccupation Philosophy research fellowVoting record Almost exclusively Labour, apart from a couple of strategic Lib Dem votesAmuse bouche Has moved country four times since 2020: from the UK to the Czech Republic, then to Austria, then back to the Czech Republic and then back to the UKRichard, 52 AshbourneOccupation FarmerVoting record Usually Conservative; sometimes stays at homeAmuse bouche Keeps Angus cattle. They’re a stress-free cow – they don’t cause a lot of troubleFor startersRichard I thought she might be a student, because she’s quite young, but she’s not, she’s a philosopher. I was half right.Teresa He said at the start…

Thousands of schools in the Philippines have stopped in-person classes due to unbearable heat. In Indonesia, prolonged dry weather has caused rice prices to soar. In Thailand’s waters, temperatures are so high that scientists fear coral could be destroyed.A “historic heatwave” is being experienced across south-east Asia, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian. In updates posted on X, he said heat that was unprecedented for early April had been recorded at monitoring stations across the region this week, including in Minbu, in central Myanmar, where 44C was recorded – the first time in south-east Asia’s climatic history…

SecondEverything about Kim Mulkey screams “look at me” — from her flashy off-court fashion to her in-your-face coaching style to her combative media posture. But perceptions of Mulkey have never shifted as dramatically as they did during this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, where the LSU coach has been subject to a different level of scrutiny than she has experienced in her long basketball career.The roller-coaster ride began late last month, with the 61-year-old devoting the first of two post-game press conferences to lambasting an upcoming Washington Post “hot article” about her. The newspaper spent two years seeking her cooperation…

We live in interesting times, but interesting times are not good times. The world, like the weather, is permanently unsettled. The government of the UK has retreated to its panic room, and the electorate of the US appears to have gone insane. While real wars are waged abroad, we fight culture wars of such resounding stupidity that it’s embarrassing to hold an opinion. However cynical we may be about the future, every day brings new information that obliges us to revise our forecasts downwards.Persistent cynicism may be wholly appropriate in such a climate, but it’s not good for you –…

Here he is, then: every ounce of his talent, ineffable charm and lightly reptilian hotness on display. Andrew Scott steps up to play Patricia Highsmith’s titular antihero in Netflix’s eight-part adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley (the first volume of a series of pulpy novels now known as the “Ripliad”).When we first meet him, Tom Ripley is living in a borderline flophouse in New York and scratching an inelegant living as a petty, white-collar criminal; diverting people’s post and cheques, and running fake debt collection agencies. But you can’t keep a bad man – or a good fraudster – down…