The Monocle Minute

On Monday night, shortly after the pop singer Ariana Grande finished performing at Manchester Arena for 21,000 fans, including numerous children and their parents, a bomb was set off at the venue. Authorities are still assessing the devastation but 22 people have been confirmed dead so far, with more than 50 injured. Police say they are treating the incident as terrorism.

Tune into Monocle 24's coverage today as we follow the story throughout the day.

Dubai’s police force tends not to do things by halves. When the force needed a new fleet of pursuit vehicles, for instance, it opted for white-and-green Lamborghinis. This week, a hi-tech recruit joined its ranks. The 100kg heavy ‘robocop’ had its debut patrolling the halls of the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference, which wraps up later today. This powwow of experts on future threats and cyber mayhem was certainly a fitting place to show off the Emirate’s efforts to be one step ahead. ‘Robocop’, we’re told, can speak six languages and read emotions by detecting facial expressions, and will eventually be rolling around, safeguarding communities. Yet for a nation that often struggles with an image of being heavy-handed with the rules, putting emotionless robots on the beat may not be the best plan of action.

As Donald Trump jets around Europe on Air Force One and prepares to meet the rest of the leaders of Nato and the G7, Germany has sent an envoy in the opposite direction. Economy minister Brigitte Zypries (pictured) has been tasked with making friends and quietly drumming up support for free and open trade. Normally a trip to the US is an easy gig for a German economy minister – not so in Trump’s America. Today Zypries will meet secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross and Robert Lighthizer, the trade representative who had a quarrel over the weekend with Asian and Pacific countries regarding protectionism and so-called “unfair” trading practices. “Trade is not a struggle,” said Zypries in an interview with Der Spiegel. Try telling that to Team Trump.

This week sees the opening of the Marciano Art Foundation, the latest addition to LA’s flourishing art scene. Like the Broad, the foundation is privately funded; its owners are brothers Paul and Maurice Marciano, co-founders of Guess. Four years ago Maurice purchased a deserted Masonic temple on Wilshire Boulevard with the hope of turning it into a contemporary-art museum. This week the temple will open as a shrine to art from the 1990s until today. Among the 1,500 artworks showcased, established names such as Mark Grotjahn will hang side by side with emerging artists such as Analia Saban. The inaugural exhibition, which opens on Thursday 25 May, is titled Unpacking: The Marciano Collection. It presents the depth of the museum’s collection by exploring the art and its creation in relation to its setting.

Anyone who’s been to the movies in Japan lately would have seen trailers for one of the summer’s most anticipated films: Meari to Majo no Hana (Mary and the Witch’s Flower). The animated feature, based on Mary Stewart’s magical tale The Little Broomstick, is set for release in July and will be director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s (pictured left) third film. That it’s being produced by the newly formed Studio Ponoc has caused a stir in Japan, particularly as Yonebayashi spent nearly two decades at Studio Ghibli under acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki. His departure (and that of other staff members) to Ponoc has been a blow to Ghibli, softened only by Miyazaki’s decision to come out of retirement for a final film. Needless to say, there’s a lot resting on Yonebayashi’s first feature for Ponoc; he’ll no doubt want to show that he can deliver a blockbuster even without Japan’s biggest animated films brand behind him.

Hear from the people who put together this month’s culture section of Monocle. We find out about the factory that produces film sets for Saturday Night Live, discover what it’s like to be a TV critic and meet the woman behind a new arts concept in Toronto.