Category Archives: World news

‘A kind of massive rave’: Paris braces for 2m revellers as Fête de la Musique returns amid heatwave warnings | Paris | The Guardian

News, World news

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Paris, France, Festivals, Europe, World news, Music, Culture
Title – ‘A kind of massive rave’: Paris braces for 2m revellers as Fête de la Musique returns amid heatwave warnings | Paris | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/angeliquechrisafis
Link – ‘A kind of massive rave’: Paris braces for 2m revellers as Fête de la Musique returns amid heatwave warnings | Paris | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T07:00:02.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/paris-braces-tourist-influx-street-festival-fete-de-la-musique

Paris is preparing for a street party of unprecedented scale on Sunday, as more than 2 million people are expected to gather for the Fête de la Musique amid a huge influx of music fans from the UK and warnings of record temperatures.

France’s annual free street music festival, which has been running for more than 40 years, has grown into the country’s largest cultural event. What was previously a nationwide showcase for local and amateur talent – from village choirs to classical ensembles and techno acts in the capital – has evolved into a vast international open-air celebration.

Last year, Paris welcomed a sudden and unexpected rush of music fans from the UK and other neighbouring countries after word spread on social media, creating an impromptu festival attended by about 2 million people.

Lamia El Aaraje, Paris’s deputy mayor, said “calls to all of Europe’s youth to come and party” in the city had transformed the event into “a kind of massive rave”.

She added: “Last year there was an impact on the public space, there were excesses, incidents, lots of sexual violence. We had a large clean-up issue afterwards so this year we wanted to mobilise ahead of time to secure the event.”

After reports of sexual violence last year – including some women and men who reported being pricked with syringes – authorities have adopted a zero-tolerance approach. Special cordoned-off safe spaces for women and disabled people will operate in key locations, including near city hall and Bastille, staffed by specialist support teams trained to deal with sexual violence complaints.

Paris city hall also warned international visitors about the dangers of canals and waterways. Last month, during celebrations after Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory over Arsenal, two people died in the Seine. One had a cardiac arrest after jumping in the river, while another was later found dead.

The city is also bracing for the practical consequences of hosting such vast crowds. Last year’s event generated so much litter that refuse teams needed two weeks to clear it. Thousands of additional bins and recycling points have been installed across Paris this weekend, while officials have urged visitors to use the city’s 600 round-the-clock public toilets rather than urinate in the street. About 1,400 water fountains will be available as Paris contends with heatwave conditions.

Pierre Rabadan, the city hall official responsible for tourism and nightlife, said: “The DNA of Fête de la Musique is kindness and lots of people. It’s a party that is responsible, joyous, happy and cosmopolitan. That’s all we want in Paris.”

Brad Pitt in the frame as older men embrace ‘hot professor’ glasses | Accessories | The Guardian

News around the world, World news, , , ,

Keyword – Fashion
Trefwoorden – Accessories, Men’s fashion, Fashion, Life and style, Brad Pitt, Film, Daniel Craig, Ian Wright, Timothée Chalamet
Title – Brad Pitt in the frame as older men embrace ‘hot professor’ glasses | Accessories | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/laurencochrane
Link – Brad Pitt in the frame as older men embrace ‘hot professor’ glasses | Accessories | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T13:44:31.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/jun/12/brad-pitt-men-embrace-hot-professor-glasses

A heart-throb for more than 40 years, Brad Pitt is no doubt used to people looking at him. But this week, that gaze was distracted by an addition to his face – aviator-style glasses.

Worn to watch the tennis at Roland Garros and with a pink trenchcoat when out for dinner in Paris, these retro glassesare more typically worn by younger men. That’s changed recently – they’re now becoming central to a makeover for men entering their “late life” era, but who aren’t willing to submit to the fashion invisibility associated with ageing.

Gary Lineker, 65, wore glasses like this to appear on Louis Theroux this week. Ian Wright – a 62-year-old man with an impressive collection of glasses – wore bold aviator styles as a pundit for the first game of the World Cup. Daniel Craig is perhaps the early adopter. After appearing in the Loewe campaign in a pair of yellow-tinted glasses and jumper in 2024, the 58-year-old actor has doubled down on fashion-friendly specs. In January 2025, GQ called a pair he was wearing, similar to Pitt’s, “hot professor glasses” .

Johnny Davis, luxury director at Esquire, has noticed the trend. He says it’s a clever trick. “They’re not trying to disguise the fact that they’re of an age where they need to wear spectacles,” he argues. “They’re making them part of their look.”

For Pitt, they’re part of a wider shift. On last year’s press tour of F1 , the actor worked with Taylor McNeill , the same stylist who creates viral looks for Timothée Chalamet and Kendrick Lamar. Pitt – her oldest client by some distance at 62 – wore 90s silk shirts, crushed velvet and even tie dye. Style commentators online dubbed it “the reinvention of Brad Pitt”. Similarly, since the Loewe campaign, Craig has leaned into more kooky fashion choices such as a jacket with a skeleton on it from the Japanese brand Kapital, or a sweater with holes in it. Wright, meanwhile, who is often on the front row at Burberry shows and the face of Marks & Spencer, has a style that is fun but also attainable.

According to Esquire’s Davis, these glasses do a lot of heavy lifting. “They say: ‘I have taste. I pay attention. I know who I am.’ You can wear a fairly simple outfit – like Lineker’s dark tops – and the glasses provide the character.”

This is an idea that goes beyond celebrity. Jaki Baranski, a senior frame buyer at Specsavers, is familiar with shapes like the ones worn by Pitt. The retailer has a design called the Glover , popular with men in their 50s and upwards. She sees these glasses as part of a wider trend in how men look at fashion. “Men are taking a bit more time choosing a pair of frames from an aesthetic point of view,” she says. “It’s more in line with how someone selects a watch or trainers.”

Like these other accessories, glasses are a shortcut. “Not everyone feels comfortable wearing bright colours, fashion-forward tailoring or more extreme trends, but a pair of distinctive glasses is different,” says Davis. “They allow you to signal that you still care about style without feeling as though you’re trying too hard.”

While Pitt might have drafted in help from McNeill to reinvent his look, Baranski says a lot of men at this age are confident with their style. “They know who they are and what they like. These frames all work into that. It’s not like they are super understated, they talk to some sort of personal expression.”

Davis agrees, and says the symbolism of the glasses can be misconstrued. “People sometimes compare this sort of thing to the classic midlife-crisis Porsche, but I think it’s almost the opposite,” he says. “A sports car says: ‘Look at me.’ Interesting glasses say: ‘This is who I am.’”

Is it true that … sugar is ‘toxic’? | Life and style | The Guardian

News, News around the world, World news, , ,

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Life and style, Health & wellbeing, Sugar, Nutrition
Title – Is it true that … sugar is ‘toxic’? | Life and style | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kate-lloyd
Link – Is it true that … sugar is ‘toxic’? | Life and style | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-08T07:00:04.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/08/is-it-true-that-sugar-is-toxic

‘I t’s a common myth,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London – and one that thrives on social media. The confusion, she says, often comes from people cutting out sugary foods and feeling better. But that can be because removing ultra-processed sweet treats improves the overall quality of a diet (making more room for wholefoods).

Leeming says influencers who call sugar “toxic” often see it as inherently harmful – solely responsible for weight gain, poor blood sugar control and heart problems. But in controlled studies where calorie intake is kept the same, diets high in sugar don’t appear to worsen weight loss, metabolism or key health markers. “It’s not ideal nutritionally if you’re missing out on fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Leeming says, “but sugar isn’t in itself directly harmful in that context.”

So why does sugar have such a bad reputation? It’s partly because foods high in sugar are often high in calories, which, if you’re eating over your energy needs, can lead to increases in inflammatory markers. In addition, persistently high levels of blood sugar elevate advanced glycation end product (AGEs) toxins, which are linked to ageing and diseases.

“It’s chronically elevated blood sugar levels where harm can be done, rather than simply eating a bit of added sugar now and again,” says Leeming.

It’s also important to note that not all sweet foods are created equal. UK guidelines recommend no more than 30g a day of “free sugars” – those added to foods such as sweets and biscuits, but also found in fruit juice. Sugars in whole fruit, however, don’t count because their sugars are contained within the fruit’s structure, and come with fibre and micronutrients.

“It makes me so upset when people say, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have that fruit because it’s high in sugar,’” Leeming adds. “That is the wrong advice.”

Masters of the Universe is a box office flop. Can they really be serious about a sequel? | Film | The Guardian

News, News around the world, World news, , , , , ,

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Science fiction and fantasy films, Amazon, Culture
Title – Masters of the Universe is a box office flop. Can they really be serious about a sequel? | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/benchild
Link – Masters of the Universe is a box office flop. Can they really be serious about a sequel? | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T13:05:03.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/12/masters-of-the-universe-box-office-flop-sequel

R eports suggest Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe made just $54m (£40m) globally on debut at the weekend, a figure that, while not exactly fatal, would usually be considered a disappointment for a mainstream movie with a budget of more than $200m. Worse still, this heavily caffeinated, meta take on the 1980s TV show arrived carrying the weight of a major studio relaunch and decades of pent-up nostalgia. On paper at least, its bow looks less like the birth of a cinematic universe than the sort of expensive stumble from which some franchises never recover.

So why then does everyone involved in this thing seem so cheerful? “Travis Knight and the entire cast and film-making team have delivered something truly special,” Amazon MGM’s Kevin Wilson gushed to Variety. “This opening is exactly the kind of critical first moment that validates our holistic distribution strategy – building awareness and engagement that will carry well beyond the theatrical window.”

Meanwhile, Knight has been talking up the possibility of sequels, after the movie appeared to introduce He-Man’s twin She-Ra in a mid-credits scene. “With every movie that I’ve ever made, I’ve always imagined where the characters go outside … the bounds of the movie,” Knight told TechRadar . “You want to tell a self-contained story, and I think we’ve done that with this movie, but there are things within the wider mythology that didn’t fit within that, and the She-Ra character was one of them.”

“Adora is also a character that carries a lot of weight with her,” he added. “A lot of people, myself included, love that character, so we wanted to give a little nod to where that could go if we were given the opportunity to tell more stories.”

So far, so positive. Yet the real question is: why? Data from the opening weekend suggests that nearly 40% of Masters of the Universe’s audience were over 45, hinting that nostalgia for the original show probably fuelled much of the film’s relatively meagre box office take. That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the movie’s run, as it may well be that the core audience have already seen it.

Maybe, in a world where streaming giants are studios and toy manufacturers wield the sort of power once reserved for Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, it doesn’t really matter. Masters of the Universe was popular with audiences ( Rotten Tomatoes says 87% of filmgoers liked it ), and Mattel and Amazon have effectively revived a franchise that hasn’t really been big since Choppers were the coolest bikes in town.

Read a little deeper into Wilson’s statement on the film’s opening and you might wonder if that quote about “holistic distribution strategy” is really a boast about owning the cinema release, the streaming service and much of the ecosystem that follows. “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!” it is not – but it does have the unmistakable ring of a man who controls the castle gates. Once it hits Prime, Amazon’s algorithms will presumably place Masters of the Universe in front of just about everyone in the world who owns a TV, and by the time part two rolls around in a couple of years, we’ll all be wondering how we ever did without this saga on the big screen for almost four decades.

If weak box office no longer kills commercial movies, that may not be the worst thing ever – because Masters of the Universe actually has a bit too much going for it to be a complete dud. The existence of She-Ra really does give the project franchise potential and Knight’s film is enjoyable enough in a nostalgic sort of way. Is the idea that a modern blockbuster can survive on streaming, toys and audience goodwill alone really so terrible?

But even if all this is true, none of it magically turns a $54m opening against a $200m-plus budget into Top Gun: Maverick . A franchise still needs new fans, not just parents revisiting Eternia, and there’s little evidence just yet that Masters of the Universe has actually managed to find them.