Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG

Firefighters who battled the Notre Dame cathedral inferno as well as neighbouring residents and those who watched the fire from the streets should be tested for exposure to toxic materials, campaign groups have said. Experts consulted by the environmental group Robin des Bois have warned that the flames that destroyed the roof and spire of…

French commandos have rescued four western hostages who had been seized by a militant group in Burkina Faso, in a “complex” operation in which two French special forces soldiers were killed, authorities in Paris said. The elite troops freed two French tourists – Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, who disappeared on 1 May while on…

Cannes kicks off next week, and with it the start of an awards conversation that looks likely to stretch until the 2020 Oscars. Judy, a new biopic of the singer Judy Garland is not officially screening on the Croisette, but timing of a first teaser trailer suggests its producers hope it to pick up buzz…

What makes a good video game movie? Is there even such a thing? The curse of the video game movie has long been documented, and the stigma that it’s impossible to make a good one regardless of how much money you throw at it or who plays the lead has dogged the genre for years….

Two long pipes imported from Iceland pump air out into the audience while glowing platforms designed to resemble multiple icebergs sit mounted on a stage behind two curtains made of chain. This isn’t your ordinary show, which stands to reason considering Björk isn’t your ordinary artist. In fact, nothing the Icelandic singer-songwriter has done in…

A Rhode Island school district, facing mounting lunch debts, has reversed a controversial policy announced earlier this week that would limit students owing money to the school to a sunflower-seed-butter-and-jelly sandwich. The policy drew widespread criticism for “lunch shaming”, which critics say unfairly puts a child’s economic situation up for judgment in the notoriously ruthless…

Vets in New Zealand have performed world-first brain surgery on a critically endangered New Zealand bird, as efforts intensify to save the vulnerable kākāpō population. There are just 147 adult kākāpō alive today and conservation efforts to boost the population are scaling up in New Zealand, which has more extinct and endangered birds than any…

Campaigners have condemned Buckingham Palace’s invitation to the king of Bahrain to attend the Windsor horse show this weekend, arguing that the UK should not provide a public relations opportunity to what they say is an increasingly repressive regime. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa met the Queen at the event on Friday, demonstrating a warmth…

When an unmanned camera captured movement inside the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea, it wasn’t a sign of troops on the march. Instead, photographs released this week show a rare black bear clambering on rocks next to a peaceful stream. The animal has been identified as an Asiatic black bear, a…

The changes were slight, though Molière probably wouldn’t have approved. Montréal Campus – the student newspaper serving Université du Québec à Montréal – announced in February that it would cease favouring the masculine over the feminine. Wherever possible, non-gendered terms are now used, and when referring to a group of people, reporters write out both…