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Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin threatens to target Kyiv ‘decision-making centres’ with new missile after US and UK-made weapons used in Russia
President boasts that Russia produces ten times more missiles than all Nato countries combined and threatens attack with new Oreshnik missile Reuters has a quick snap that there are power cuts in Ukraine’s southern region of Mykolaiv as a result of Russia’s missile attack. It cited regional governor Vitaliy Kim.Zhitomir and Chernihiv region have ended their air alarms in Ukraine. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:21
Middle East crisis live: Israeli tanks fire on southern Lebanon as officials says ceasefire with Hezbollah violated
Israeli military says ceasefire was breached after what it called suspects arrived in southMy colleagues, Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem, and Oliver Holmes have produced this explainer on what the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire are. You can read more at the link below:Here is a video report on families returning to homes in Lebanon and northern Israel after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took effect: Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:46:00
Former soldier Daniel Khalife found guilty of spying for Iran
Khalife convicted of three counts relating to espionage, having admitted to prison escape while on remandDaniel Khalife: fantasist or player in world of spies?A former soldier whose prison escape sparked a huge manhunt in 2023 has been convicted of spying for Iran but cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax.Daniel Khalife was found guilty of two counts relating to his espionage on Thursday. The 23-year-old had admitted partway through his trial to the escape from HMP Wandsworth, in south-west London. Khalife had strapped himself to the underside of a food delivery van while being held on remand on the spying charges. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:07:24
Doctors hail first breakthrough in asthma and COPD treatment in 50 years
Results of trial of benralizumab injection could be ‘gamechanger’ for millions of people around the worldDoctors are hailing a new way to treat serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks that marks the first breakthrough for 50 years and could be a “gamechanger” for patients.A trial found offering patients an injection was more effective than the current care of steroid tablets, and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 23:30:26
Four killed and flights cancelled as heavy snowfall blankets Seoul
South Korea’s capital has been hit by some of the heaviest snowfall in a century, with dangerous conditions wreaking havoc on transportSouth Korea grappled with heavy snowfall for a second day on Thursday, with dozens of flights cancelled, ferry operations suspended and at least four people reported dead in a bitter winter, though conditions showed signs of easing.Thursday’s snowfall was the third-heaviest in capital Seoul since records began in 1907, the Yonhap news agency said, citing city data. The previous day broke all snowfall records for November. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 04:50:19
Iran says it could end ban on possessing nuclear weapons if sanctions reimposed
Comments made after nuclear inspectorate board passed motion censuring Iran for building uranium stockpileThe nuclear debate inside Iran is likely to shift towards the possession of its own weapons if the west goes ahead with a threat to reimpose all UN sanctions, the country’s foreign minister has said.Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in an interview that Iran already had the capability and knowledge to create nuclear weapons, but said they did not form part of its security strategy. He also said Tehran was prepared to keep supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:35
Colombia-led operation seizes world record 225 tonnes of cocaine, and uncovers new Australia trafficking route
Operation Orion, a cooperative operation between 62 countries, finds some of the record haul on a new drug route being used by a ‘narco submarine’Colombian authorities working with dozens of other countries have seized 225 tonnes of cocaine in the space of six weeks, a global record for any single anti-narcotics operation, finding some of that haul on a “narco submarine” travelling on a new drug trafficking route to Australia.In the six-week Operation Orion, law enforcement agencies and other organisations from 62 countries halted six semi-submersible vessels stuffed with cocaine and confiscated 1,400 tonnes of drugs in total, including more than 1,000 tonnes of marijuana. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 23:30:52
Trump and Mexican president offer differing accounts of migration talks amid tariff threats
Incoming US president claims Sheinbaum ‘agreed to stop migration’, but Mexican leader says country will not close bordersUS president-elect Donald Trump declared a win on stopping illegal immigration through Mexico on Wednesday after talking with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. But Sheinbaum suggested Mexico was already doing its part and would not close its borders.The two spoke just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canada and Mexico as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 04:38:12
Bombshell police report details alleged Bolsonaro plot to stage rightwing coup
Former president accused of leading role in apparent scheme to overturn 2022 election defeat by rival LulaBrazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has moved a step closer to jail after a federal police investigation laid bare what it called a murderous authoritarian plot to explode the country’s democratic system with a military coup that the far-right populist allegedly helped mastermind.Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied involvement in an attempt to overturn the result of the 2022 presidential election, which he narrowly lost to his leftwing rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 19:57:40
Shohei Ohtani seeks $325,000 worth of baseball cards from ex-interpreter
Dodgers star asks for haul of baseball cards in courtTranslator pleaded guilty to stealing $17m from playerBaseball star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money.The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly $17m from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession”, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 08:06:17
Daniel Khalife: a fantasist or a player in the world of spies?
The young man who escaped Wandsworth prison offered a mixed picture of ineptitude and threat, according to policeAt the heart of the Daniel Khalife trial has been the question: is he an amateurish fantasist who convinced himself he was playing a game of chess with spies, or a consequential character in the global world of espionage?The answer, the police have said, is a bit of both. They believed Khalife to be inept in many regards. Khalife’s own barrister, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, said he was “hapless” and “sometimes bordering on the slapstick” – more Scooby-Doo than 007. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:15:55
What’s behind the alarming rise in birth defects in Brazil’s illegal gold mining capital?
In Pará state children are being born with neurological disorders. Experts note similarities to the mercury poisoning disaster in Minamata, Japan – but say that is not the whole storySeven-year-old Valdenisa squealed with delight as she grasped the tape measure above her head. It was part of a game so that a doctor could measure the circumference of her head and check her withered legs.She was one of a dozen Indigenous Munduruku children being examined by a trio of child neurologists and geneticists earlier this month in Itaituba, in Brazil’s Pará state. Located on the Tapajós River, the town is known as the country’s illegal gold capital, as it accounts for three-quarters of all the illicit gold produced in Brazil. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:25
Astonishment as missing Canadian hiker emerges after weeks in wilderness
Sam Benastick, 20, discovered shivering and unsteady by two oil workers after getting lost in British Columbia wildHe returned as a ghostly apparition on a forestry road in western Canada, moving slowly and unsteadily with the help of a walking stick in each frostbitten hand. A cut-up sleeping bag was wrapped around his legs, shielding them from the bitter cold.The two oil and gas workers, who had spent the previous week surveying the trail, stared dumbfounded. When they took the sticks from his hands to help him into their truck, he nearly collapsed. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:00:25
The experts: sex educators on 16 ways to talk to your children about bodies, porn and consent
It is the discussion many parents dread most – so how and when should this be brought up? Here are the best ways to broach itMost parents and caregivers don’t relish talking to young people about sex. But, with graphic content only a few clicks away, such conversations are more important than ever. Sex educators share their tips on how to communicate well with kids about bodies, relationships and consent. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:00:40
How does comedy respond to another Trump presidency?
With the election result settling in, comedians and late-night hosts grapple with another four years of an easily ridiculed yet dangerous leaderIt’s become an easy and overdone coping mechanism to speak of reality as if it is television. Donald Trump, who gilded his “businessman” reputation on reality television, was the entertainer in chief, a man who built his political career on insult comedy and “just kidding” jokes. His first administration was the show that we were all watching, each frenzied day an increasingly unhinged new episode. After he left office, the unreal spectacle of January 6 lit up television and phone screens for weeks. A second matchup between Trump and Joe Biden was the sequel few wanted, the last-minute swap for Kamala Harris, a briefly invigorating plot twist. And Trump’s victory this month, after a presidential campaign defined more by memes and podcast appearances than traditional media, played out on TV as a muted reboot of 2016.It’s a sentiment that echoed across late-night comedy, which has struggled for nearly a decade with how to handle Donald Trump and, more broadly, what the mandate for topical TV comedy is in the post-truth, un-reality era. “Reboot culture has gone too far, and I say that as the host of a show that was rebooted,” said the After Midnight host Taylor Tomlinson, now the only full-time female host in late-night, in her monologue the night after the election. “It is an honor to be on television while women are still allowed to be,” she added. On the Late Show the same evening, Stephen Colbert, generally the political average of late-night hosts for the past two terms, was blunter: “Well, fuck. It happened again.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 09:12:38
Wicked’s green skin trigger warning may feel silly – but not as silly as those crying woke
As BBFC’s Wicked warning leaves usual suspects green with anger, is a polite notice on a website really worth frothing about? Wicked has faced more than its fair share of controversies since it was first announced; from the uproar over recasting the play’s leads, to fan-made posters going viral for the wrong reasons, to the debate over people singing along to it in cinemas and ruining it for everyone.As such, Wicked does not wish to cause any more upset, which is why it has gone out of its way to cut any new controversy off at the pass. Exhibit A: the BBFC has slapped a warning on the film, alerting viewers that it features scenes of discrimination against those with green skin. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:47:55
How many Chalamets does it take to cheer a city up? The rise of the celebrity lookalike contest
As doppelgangers of Jeremy Allen White, Paul Mescal and Dev Patel compete across the country, organizers say contests bring wholesome fun to a negative news cycleWhen Miles Mitchell’s friends saw fliers scattered across New York City last month advertising a Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition, they urged the 21-year-old college senior from Staten Island to enter.Soon, Mitchell found himself at his local Goodwill store, purchasing an outfit resembling the one worn by Chalamet’s Willy Wonka character. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:26
How we met: ‘She made my travel dreams come true’
Nancy, 69, and Barbara, 58, met over a hotel breakfast in Munich in 2022. Despite being from different continents, they clicked instantly and have travelled together ever sinceAfter retiring from her job as a nurse, Nancy loved to spend time travelling, but she never expected it would lead to her meeting a new best friend. In 2022, she went to Munich, Germany, a city she regularly visited. “I live in North Carolina but I would travel to Europe on my own because my husband still works,” she says. “Travelling is my way of relaxing and rewarding myself after all those years of hard work.”One morning, while eating breakfast at her hotel, she was approached by Barbara, a healthcare project manager from Austria, who was sitting at a nearby table. “I was visiting the city with my school friend, Andrea” says Barbara. “I noticed this very elegant woman and really liked her coat. I’m a size 18 and struggle to find nice clothes, but I noticed she was a similar size.” Barbara asked Andrea to lean over and look at the label on the coat, so she could find out where it was from. “She almost fell off her chair trying to see, so I decided to just go and ask,” says Barbara. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:00:25
The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?
Across the globe, vast swathes of land are being left to be reclaimed by nature. To see what could be coming, look to BulgariaAbandonment, when it came, crept in from the outskirts. Homes at the edge of town were first to go, then the peripheral grocery stores. It moved inward, slow but inexorable. The petrol station closed, and creeper vines climbed the pumps, amassing on the roof until it buckled under the strain. It swallowed the outer bus shelters, the pharmacies, the cinema, the cafe. The school shut down.Today, one of the last institutions sustaining human occupation in Tyurkmen, a village in central Bulgaria, is the post office. Dimitrinka Dimcheva, a 56-year-old post officer, still keeps it open two days a week, bringing in packages of goods that local shops no longer exist to sell. Once a thriving town of more than 1,200, Tyurkmen is now home to fewer than 200 people. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:36
‘Holding space’: Wicked has made the term famous. But what does it mean?
In the earnest press tour for the film, actor Cynthia Erivo was in tears at the idea that fans were ‘holding space’ for the song Defying Gravity. But is it more self-help jargon or something more powerful?The journalist Tracy E Gilchrist had just four minutes with the Wicked actors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – and she had to make them count. She just didn’t bargain on becoming part of one of the year’s most-used memes as a result of saying the phrase “holding space”. “I just went in and did my job, which was to try to get an authentic answer to a question in a very short amount of time,” she says. “It felt like the right term for what I was trying to get across to Cynthia, which is the idea that you can interact with a work of art like Defying Gravity and feel something within yourself.”In the interview – a standard junket affair of rotating film journalists – Gilchrist, teeing up her question, informs Erivo that “people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that and feeling power in that”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:48:45
‘An underlying stillness’: the Yinka Shonibare retreat where artists have space to grow and thrive
The earth-brick barn house nestled among cassava and yam fields in southern Nigeria is one of two artists’ residences established by the British-Nigerian artistPerched on a hilltop and surrounded by a lush 22-hectare (54-acre) farm, the G.A.S. Farm House outside the village of Ikiṣẹ in southern Nigeria is not your average place for an artist residency. For Kosisochukwu Nnebe, who works at the intersection of food and art, it’s the ultimate retreat.The 31-year-old Nigerian-Canadian is one of the first artists to be hosted at the Guest Artists Space Foundation’s barn house near the town of Ijebu Ode in Ogun state. Although she is a late riser, each morning before she has a chance to prepare eggs on agege bread, Nnebe is out of the door, heading to a banana grove five minutes’ walk away to cut banana leaves for use in a process called chlorophyll printing.The courtyard of the G.A.S. Farm House looks out on to the farm and gardens Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:00:39
Don’t be naive about the ceasefire in Lebanon. It may mean more horror and death in Gaza | Simon Tisdall
Netanyahu has not suddenly turned dovish peacemaker. He can redeploy his troops or abandon the peace deal at any timeJoe Biden is making the most of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that he helped to broker. “It reminds us that peace is possible,” he declared in the White House Rose Garden, where US presidents habitually preen rather than prune. Yet Biden’s flowery self-congratulation jars at this fragile moment. It sounds like cruel mockery to the beleaguered people of Gaza.With the truce holding for a second day – despite some apparent breaches – Lebanon has been spared more death and wanton destruction, for now. Celebrating, many people are heading home to the south despite Israeli warnings. But Biden’s belief that the accord will hasten a Gaza ceasefire, spike the guns of Iran and its proxies, and open the way to the wider regional settlement he has long sought finds scant justification in fact.Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:03:28
Let’s be honest with ourselves: Cormac McCarthy groomed a teenage girl | Moira Donegan
The legendary American writer initiated a relationship with a homeless teenager. Don’t put a romantic spin on itAugusta Britt, now 64, says that she met the novelist Cormac McCarthy in 1976 beside a motel pool in Arizona. McCarthy, who died last year, was 42 at the time. Britt was 16. Britt says that she was quasi-homeless in those years, bouncing between an abusive family home and a series of abusive foster homes, and used to go to the motel so that she could shower in the pool’s changing rooms without fear of men following her into the foster home bathrooms to sexually assault her.Britt says that when McCarthy saw her at the poolside he asked about a gun in a holster at her hip, and that she described some of her history of abuse to him and said that she’d stolen the gun from a foster father so that she would never be hit again. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:00:23
This society lauded a police officer who lied and cheated and ruined lives. At last, a reckoning | George Monbiot
As a ‘spy cop’, Bob Lambert betrayed a string of innocent women. The official inquiry must ask harsh questions of him – and the stateIt’s the testimony we’ve long been waiting for. On Monday, at the undercover policing inquiry, the man whose cruel and disgusting deceptions have come to epitomise the “spy cops” scandal will be questioned. Many of us are hoping for answers, not least because his story suggests a closing of ranks across the British establishment. Even if you think you’ve heard it all, some of the details in this column will take your breath away.Bob Lambert worked for the Metropolitan police’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) in the 1980s and 1990s, first as an undercover cop infiltrating environmental and animal rights protests, then as operational controller of the squad, supervising other spy cops doing similar work. In the course of his undercover assignments, while posing as a radical activist called Bob Robinson, he deceived four unsuspecting women, innocent of any crime, into starting relationships. He stole his identity from a dead child.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 06:00:36
I thought Britain was worlds away from Trump’s America – until I needed to get an abortion | Anonymous
I quickly learned that the decision to terminate a pregnancy wasn’t purely a matter of 'my body, my choice’ Roughly 36 hours after I first heard about the horrifying Maga taunt “your body, my choice”, I learned that I was pregnant, despite having a contraceptive coil. My relief that I lived in the UK, not the US – where abortion is rapidly becoming illegal or inaccessible at best – was profound. Yet I realised that I had no idea how to access abortion, having complacently assumed that it would always be available if I needed it. Some fraught Googling led me to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. A couple of days later, I had my first appointment and very quickly learned that it wasn’t purely “my choice”, even in Britain.Of all the words you don’t want to hear by surprise, “transvaginal” is up there. I thought the scan to determine how pregnant I was would be the kind where a technician slathers goop on your stomach. I wasn’t told until I arrived that it would be internal, because of the assumed early gestation. A second surprise: the coil was gone, most likely sucked out by my period cup. Later that day, I had a phone consultation. The nurse told me two doctors would have to sign off on the termination and asked me to justify why my life would be negatively affected if I were forced to continue with the pregnancy. Horrified, I said I should just be able to say: I don’t want to. She was extremely kind and agreed, but said this was a legal requirement under the Abortion Act.The author lives in London Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:00:39
Both my parents died in a hospice – the decline I saw in end-of-life care in four years was terrifying | Natalie Morris
This crisis is not the fault of medical professionals. If funding for hospices is cut further, more people will die in distressIn September, I found myself back in a hell that was all too familiar. My mum was in a hospice, dying of cancer, while I camped at her bedside or paced the halls desperately. Four years earlier – almost to the day – I had been in the exact same position with my dad after his cancer diagnosis became terminal. How was this happening to us again? And so soon? It felt like the past had looped back on itself, trapping me in a recurring nightmare.And yet something fundamental had changed in the short period between my parents’ deaths – the quality of end-of-life care has undergone a shocking and rapid decline. It is a growing crisis that I have had the misfortune of witnessing first-hand.Natalie Morris is the author of Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern BritainKeeping Care Alive: Hospices in Crisis? airs on ITV1 at 8.30pm on 28 November Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:26
Who will be Ireland’s next taoiseach? With only one day to go, it’s still wide open | Justine McCarthy
With a housing emergency and the cost of living weighing heavily on voters’ minds, anything could happen at the polls on FridayIn Easter, 1916, his epic poem about the failed Dublin rebellion that eventually led to Irish independence, William Butler Yeats declared: “A terrible beauty is born.” The same might be said about the marriage of convenience between Ireland’s old civil war enemies, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, as they attempt to recreate their history-making coalition government.The two parties are now in power alongside the Greens, but this time round their mission is to stop the main opposition, Sinn Féin, entering government as part of a three-way coalition in the Republic after Friday’s general election. Instead, their preference would be to coalesce with Labour, because of voter resistance to climate-change measures.Justine McCarthy is an Irish journalist and the author of An Eye on Ireland: Writings from a Changing NationDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:00:35
Why was Conor McGregor’s sinister cult of content lauded and rewarded for so long? | Jonathan Liew
It took defeat in civil case against a woman who accused him of rape for brands and fans to disown UFC fighterSome good news at last for Conor McGregor. Probably there’s a way of spinning it as bad news, which is what the scum mainstream media will do. But in the wake of his defeat in a Dublin civil case against a woman who accused him of raping her, as brands and fans scramble to disown him, as murals are hastily painted over across the island, you have to take your pledges of support where you can find them. Step forward: Andrew Tate.“Bullshit ruling against Conor McGregor,” Tate wrote from Romania, where he is facing his own legal issues, including charges of trafficking and rape. “Women sleep with rich men and if that man doesn’t fund their life afterwards, they lie and sue. Their brutal narcissism can’t take the L of being undesired. We’ve set a dangerous precedent. It’s literally impossible to be a man in the western world.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 08:00:36
Australia v Brazil: international women’s football friendly – live
Matildas host Olympic runners-up at Suncorp StadiumAny thoughts? Email or get in touch on BlueskyPeeeeeeeeep! We’re underway at Suncorp Stadium. The Matildas start in a 3-4-3 formation with wing-backs Carpenter and Catley pushing straight into the midfield. Brazil line up with a familiar 4-3-3.The national anthems are done, the Polkinghorne has won the toss, the captains are delivering their last-minute instructions. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:47
Conor Bradley’s raw energy too much for Mbappé and wins roar of approval | Barney Ronay
The young Liverpool full-back produced a brilliant tackle to deny the Real Madrid star in the night’s defining imageWith 30 minutes gone at Anfield there was a moment of home-crowd theatre that would stand as the defining image of this 2-0 Liverpool victory, perhaps even of Conor Bradley’s young career to date, and which also produced surely the loudest and most visceral roar of the night. And let’s face it, who doesn’t like a loud and visceral roar.It came from a Liverpool corner, Kylian Mbappé carrying the ball upfield, and feeling the night start to open up ahead of him. At which, point: enter Bradley, haring across from the left, with an energy that stated very clearly this was not a footballer intent on harrying or jockeying or showing Mbappé the outside, but who instead intended to separate Mbappé’s feet, and also the ball, from the Anfield turf. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 00:14:00
Kane Williamson admits ‘riding luck’ after stylish 93 against England
Country’s record run-scorer in form at first Test New Zealand 319-8 after being put in to batIt would be wrong to say that Kane Williamson looked like a guy making up for lost time on day one in Christchurch, so unhurried was the way he compiled 93 runs. And given his famous ego-free outlook, claiming it was driven by some kind of inner turmoil about missing New Zealand’s historic win in India would be a stretch too.But given his return from a groin injury for this series opener against England nudged out Will Young – player of the series in that 3-0 triumph – it was still a timely performance. Not that anyone in New Zealand was seriously quibbling, with Williamson the country’s record run-scorer. Judging by Young’s relaxed demeanour at training during the buildup, that one-in-all-in New Zealand spirit is very real. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 08:43:06
Frank Lampard returns to management with Coventry after 18 months out
Former England midfielder takes over from Mark RobinsTeam are 17th in Championship, two points above drop Frank Lampard has been confirmed as the head coach of Coventry, returning to the dugout 18 months after he left Chelsea. He succeeds Mark Robins, who was sacked after almost eight years in charge, with the club 17th in the Championship, two points above the relegation zone.Lampard has been out of coaching since leaving his interim role with Chelsea at the end of 2022-23. That was a third Premier League managerial job in a row for the former England midfielder, who had a previous spell at a Chelsea and period with Everton, but he is familiar with the Championship. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:07:20
Aston Villa rue ‘soft’ decision as Rogers denied late winner against Juventus
The initial three minutes of stoppage time in the second half had been and gone when Morgan Rogers thought he had snatched Aston Villa another famous victory against a European superpower with surely the final kick.Teun Koopmeiners conceded a cheap foul on halfway, providing Youri Tielemans with one last chance to pump the ball into the box. Diego Carlos rose to challenge the Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio in pursuit of the high ball, but it skidded between his gloves and ran free at the back post, allowing Rogers to hook into an empty net. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 22:15:08
Champions League roundup: PSV’s dramatic late comeback stuns Shakhtar
Dutch side win 3-2 from 2-0 down after 87 minutesMonaco 2-3 Benfica, Red Star Belgrade 5-1 StuttgartPSV staged a dramatic Champions League comeback against 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk in Eindhoven, winning 3-2 from being two goals down in the 87th minute.The visitors went in front after eight minutes from a quick breakaway, with Yukhym Konoplia setting up Danylo Sikan, whose shot squeezed beyond the PSV keeper Walter Benítez. Oleksandr Zubkov doubled Shakhtar’s lead with a superb curling finish in the 37th minute, putting the Ukrainian side in control of the match. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 23:47:55
Boise State withdraws from MWC volleyball tournament rather than face San Jose State
BSU pulls out of conference tournament on WednesdaySJSU will face either Colorado State or SDSU in finalSpartans have received six forfeit victories this seasonBoise State, who twice boycotted regular-season matches with San Jose State, pulled out of the Mountain West women’s volleyball tournament Wednesday night even after securing a spot in the semi-finals against the Spartans.San Jose State, who received six forfeit victories because of boycotts from Mountain West opponents, are seeded second in the conference tournament and received a first-round bye. Now the Spartans will advance all the way to Saturday’s championship match rather than take the court Friday. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:57:55
Can you take a clean cruise holiday and which vessels are the worst emitters?
In a booming sector where the biggest ships have doubled in size since 2000, pressure is growing to make cruising a greener, more sustainable way to travelRead more in this seriesToxic, filthy and cheap, the sludge-like substance known as heavy fuel oil has powered the shipping industry since the 1960s. What is perhaps less well known is that this same substance is still used to power more than half of cruise ships today, making what many choose as an alternative to flying one of the most environmentally damaging ways to travel.The good news is that the industry, under pressure from environmentalists and new regulations, is adopting new technologies, energy saving designs and studying alternative fuels. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:00:36
Climate denial a unifying theme of Trump’s cabinet picks, experts say
Loyalists selected for important roles have offered staunch support to fossil fuels and downplayed climate crisisDonald Trump’s cabinet picks have been eclectic and often controversial but a unifying theme is emerging, experts say, with the US president-elect’s nominees offering staunch support to fossil fuels and either downplaying or denying the climate crisis caused by the burning of these fuels.Trump ran on promises to eviscerate “green new scam” climate policies and to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas, and his choices to run the major organs of the US government echo such sentiments, particularly his picks relating to the environment, with Lee Zeldin chosen as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Chris Wright as energy secretary and Doug Burgum as interior secretary. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:05
Backroom deals and betrayal: how Cop29’s late $300bn deal left nobody happy
While an agreement on climate finance was eventually reached in Baku, many poorer countries were outragedThe Lamborghini showroom and a Tiffany branch sit at either end of Baku’s long boulevards beside the Caspian Sea. Adorned with grand 19th-century mansions, all plaster nymphs and columned facades, that were built by the first oil millionaires, they are a testament to the enduring power of fossil fuels. Oil has been very good to Azerbaijan.It flows out of the ground here, and gas has seeped out, ignited and burned naturally in the area for so long that the country’s symbol is a flame and its nickname is the Land of Fire. Baku was the world’s first oil town, with wells exploited as early as the 1840s. Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic president, calls oil and gas “the gift of God” to his people. They represent 90% of Azerbaijan’s exports. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 06:00:02
Cop29 deal fails to consider inflation so is not tripling of target, economists say
Experts say financial movements mean poor nations will in effect get billions less in value from £300bn pledgeA failure to factor in inflation means the $300bn (£240bn) climate finance deal agreed at Cop29 is not the tripling of pledges that has been claimed, economists have said.The international talks in Baku were pulled back from the brink of collapse early on Sunday morning when negotiators struck an agreement in which rich countries promised to raise $300bn a year by 2035. On paper, this is a tripling of the previous climate finance target of $100bn a year by 2020, and has been trumpeted as such by the UN and others. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-25 17:22:19
One in three consultant child psychiatrist posts in England are vacant, analysis shows
Child and adolescent mental health services have highest vacancy rates of any psychiatric specialismConsultant psychiatrist on why early intervention is key and why delays are unacceptableOne in three child and adolescent consultant psychiatrist posts in England are vacant, according to a “shocking” analysis laying bare the workforce crisis that experts say is fuelling “unacceptable” long waits for NHS care.The number of children and young people requiring mental healthcare has soared in recent years, but many face lengthy delays before they can access treatment. Some are deteriorating to a dangerously severe state of mental ill-health while they wait. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:35
UK government failing to list use of AI on mandatory register
Technology secretary admits Whitehall departments are not being transparent over way they use AI and algorithmsNot a single Whitehall department has registered the use of artificial intelligence systems since the government said it would become mandatory, prompting warnings that the public sector is “flying blind” about the deployment of algorithmic technology affecting millions of lives.AI is already being used by government to inform decisions on everything from benefit payments to immigration enforcement, and records show public bodies have awarded dozens of contracts for AI and algorithmic services. A contract for facial recognition software, worth up to £20m, was put up for grabs last week by a police procurement body set up by the Home Office, reigniting concerns about “mass biometric surveillance”.The Department for Work and Pensions has been using generative AI to read more than 20,000 documents a day to “understand and summarise correspondence” after which the full information is then shared with officials for decision-making. It has automated systems for detecting fraud and error in universal credit claims, and AI assists agents working on personal independence payment claims by summarising evidence. This autumn, DWP started deploying basic AI tools in jobcentres, allowing work coaches to ask questions about universal credit guidance in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of conversations with jobseekers.The Home Office deploys an AI-powered immigration enforcement system, which critics call a “robo-caseworker”. An algorithm is involved in shaping decisions, including returning people to their home countries. The government describes it as a “rules-based” rather than AI system, as it does not involve machine-learning from data. It says it brings efficiencies by prioritising work, but that a human remains responsible for each decision. The system is being used amid a rising caseload of asylum seekers who are subject to removal action, now at about 41,000 people.Several police forces use facial recognition software to track down suspected criminals with the help of artificial intelligence. These have included the Metropolitan police, South Wales police and Essex police. Critics have warned that such software “will transform the streets of Britain into hi-tech police line-ups”, but supporters say it catches criminal suspects and the data of innocent passersby is not stored.NHS England has a £330m contract with Palantir to create a huge new data platform. The deal with the US company that builds AI-enabled digital infrastructure and is led by Donald Trump backer Peter Thiel has sparked concerns about patient privacy, although Palantir says its customers retain full control of the data.An AI chatbot is being trialled to help people navigate the sprawling gov.uk government website. It has been built by the government’s digital service using OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. Redbox, another AI chatbot for use by civil servants in Downing Street and other government departments, has also been deployed to allow officials to quickly delve into secure government papers and get rapid summaries and tailored briefings. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 06:00:35
Mohamed Al Fayed may have raped and abused at least 111 women and girls, say police
Scale of criminality would make Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, one of Britain’s most notorious sex offendersPolice believe Mohamed Al Fayed may have raped and abused at least 111 women and girls over nearly four decades, with his youngest victim said to have been just 13 years old.The scale of the criminality would make Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, one of Britain’s most notorious sex offenders, and raises urgent questions about how he got away with his crimes. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:24:34
Number of cases in asylum backlog down 22%, says Home Office, but still higher than before 2022 – UK politics live
Number of applications waiting to be processed at 97,000, lower than peak at end of June 2023Here is a chart from the ONS report illustrating the latest figures.Here is the PA Media story on the figures.Net migration to the UK hit a higher than previously thought record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, revised official estimates show.The measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country then dropped by 20% in the latest period, the 12 months to June 2024, and now stands at 728,000. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:56:48
Net migration to UK hit record high of 906,000 in year to June 2023, revised figures show
ONS says net migration is now beginning to fall but remains high by ‘historic standards’Net migration to the UK hit a record high in 2023 of 906,000 in a period covering Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s premierships, revised estimates show.The measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country then dropped by 20% in the latest period, the 12 months to June 2024, and now stands at 728,000. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:13:19
Trump picks Keith Kellogg to serve as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia
Retired US army general and former Pence aide tapped for newly conceived role to negotiate amid ongoing warDonald Trump has picked Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, a newly conceived role given the ongoing war between the two countries.Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired US army lieutenant general, would start in the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its third year. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 20:52:24
David Cameron says he has changed mind on assisted dying and now supports bill
Ex-PM, who previously feared vulnerable people may be pressured to end lives, says legislation has ‘extremely strong’ safeguardsUK politics live – latest updatesDavid Cameron has said he has changed his mind on assisted dying and supports the bill to legalise it ahead of its first Commons vote this week.The former prime minister, who previously opposed changing the law, said he had been persuaded by the safeguards in the bill and believed it would achieve a “meaningful reduction in human suffering”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 09:50:31
Macquarie agrees £700m deal to buy UK-listed waste firm Renewi; Direct Line shares jump after rejecting Aviva’s £3.3bn offer – business live
Australian investment bank returns after being rebuffed last yearIn other news… The City regulator has bowed to pressure over plans to “name and shame” some companies it investigates, offering watered-down proposals that would give firms 10 days’ notice and consider the “potential negative impact” of revealing the identities of companies under inspection.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) put forward new proposals on Thursday after months of intense criticism from businesses, which have tried to thwart the watchdog’s plans to be more transparent with the public and whistleblowers when it is investigating potential wrongdoing across the City. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:59:40
Russia’s sabotage of western targets ‘could trigger Nato defence clause’
German intelligence chief warns continued hybrid warfare by Moscow increases risk of alliance invoking Article 5Russia’s acts of sabotage against western targets may eventually prompt Nato to consider invoking the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has warned.Speaking at an event of the German Council of Foreign Relations (DGAP) think tank in Berlin on Wednesday, BND chief Bruno Kahl said he expected Moscow to further step up its hybrid warfare. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 22:05:40
Swedish PM says Baltic sea now ‘high risk’ after suspected cable sabotage
Regional leaders meet after undersea telecoms cables severed, while Chinese ship remains at anchor nearbyThe Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has said the Baltic sea is now a “high risk” zone as he met Nordic and Baltic leaders days after a suspected sabotage attack on undersea cables.The Swedish prime minister declined to speculate on who may have been responsible for the severing of two fibre optic telecoms cables in the Baltic last week. A Chinese ship – the Yi Peng 3 – that sailed over the cables about the time they were severed has remained anchored in the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark since 19 November. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 22:14:27
Lauren Mayberry: Vicious Creature review – Chvrches singer writes her own pop gospel
(EMI)The Scottish star’s solo debut is about ‘empowering myself to listen to my own intuition’ – leading her to alternately clumsy and deft songs influenced by Y2K popBy her own account, Lauren Mayberry’s debut solo album has been a long time coming. She first mooted the idea of striking out on her own after the release of her band Chvrches’ third album, 2018’s Love Is Dead, when the trio were apparently in a state of disarray: instead, Covid happened, the band regrouped and made 2021’s Screen Violence remotely. But, she has suggested that its roots go back far further, to formative teenage pop loves that she felt impelled to deny in order to gain acceptance from male musicians more interested in “Fugazi B-sides”: “I bit my tongue to be one of the boys, I sold my soul to be one of the boys,” as she puts it on Sorry, Etc.Vicious Creature takes a noticeably more straightforwardly pop tack than Chvrches’ trademark pile-up of distorted synthesisers, topped with a vocal style that Mayberry recently compared to a “sad robot”. In Mayberry’s telling, she always loved the kind of artists that Vicious Creature occasionally evokes, among them Fatboy Slim (the piano that appears at the start of Sunday Best has a distinct ring of Praise You about it), All Saints, whose influence looms large over opener Something in the Air and Avril Lavigne, who you could easily imagine singing the acoustic guitar-driven Anywhere But Dancing, with its memories of teenage discos and all that came with them (“downing all the gossip under neon lights … hands beneath a T-shirt on a Tuesday night”). Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 12:00:24
‘By 8pm it is time to head home’: whatever happened to the big night out?
This week, the chief executive of a major bar group suggested 3pm is the new 9pm. Why have we stopped drinking and dancing the night away on a Friday and Saturday night?The atmosphere in the club is friendly, people generally aren’t drunk, and since it’s dark inside, it could just as well be 4am instead of 4pm. Welcome to the daytime rave, where you can dance, meet people and still be curled up on the sofa afterwards in time for Newsnight. It’s a home from home for Joyce Harper, who says she has been “a big clubber my whole life. In the 1990s, I used to go religiously twice a month and we’d stay up all night. We were knocked out for days and always felt terrible. I realised, as I’ve got older and wiser, the importance of sleep.”Last week she was at a day rave at the London club Fabric, and the week before that at Ministry of Sound. “I am aiming to do two a month at the moment,” says Harper, who is professor of reproductive science at University College London, as well as a podcaster and author. She’s 61 but, she adds, “For any age, staying up all night has so many disadvantages – obviously all the effects on sleep, but also things like getting home, having to wait for the first train.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:33
All That Matters by Chris Hoy review – a champion’s shattering diagnosis
The Olympic medal-winner describes his treatment for cancer and reflects on lessons learned through sportWhen Chris Hoy began to feel pain in his shoulder in 2023, he thought little of it. As an Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist accustomed to pushing himself at the gym and on his bike, twinges weren’t unusual. But, as the pain became constant, his physiotherapist referred him for a scan where a tumour was detected. Further scans and a second consultation revealed prostate cancer that had spread to his pelvis, hip, ribs and spine. Then came the final blow: it was incurable. The prognosis was between two and four years.In a state of shock, Hoy – who is now 48 – went home with his wife, Sarra, to digest their new reality. The couple have two young children so, until they knew the treatment plan, they decided to keep the news to themselves aside from close friends and family. Hoy continued with his usual work commitments: talks, sports punditry and a weekly podcast. A few weeks later, he would begin a course of chemotherapy in a bid to stop the cancer spreading further. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:30:36
Novels about serial killers and loyal dogs voted Waterstones books of 2024
Booksellers chose true-crime inspired Butter by Asako Yuzuki as book of the year, while Ross Montgomery’s fun adventure I Am Rebel took the children’s prizeA novel about a serial killer and a children’s book about a dog are the books of 2024, according to Waterstones booksellers.Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton, has been voted book of the year, while I am Rebel by Ross Montgomery has been named children’s book of the year. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 06:01:34
Thirst by Giles Foden review – adventures on the Skeleton Coast
An environmental scientist goes in search of a hidden aquifer, in an action-packed novel that reads like a movie pitchIn Giles Foden’s first novel, 1998’s The Last King of Scotland, an idealistic young Celt, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan, travels to Africa into a series of adventures amid the corruption and brutality of Idi Amin’s Uganda. In Foden’s second, Ladysmith, an idealistic young Celt, Irish Bella Kiernan, travels to Africa and has a series of adventures amid the violence of the Boer war and the siege of Ladysmith. In Zanzibar, an idealistic environmental scientist, marine biologist Nick Karolides, travels to Africa and into a series of adventures, events leading up to al-Qaida’s 1998 US embassy bombing in Tanzania.Now we have Thirst, in which Cat Brosnan, an idealistic young Celt and an environmental scientist, travels to Africa and has a series of adventures searching for a hidden aquifer in the desert of the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. People talk of “Greeneland”, as the familiar places and stories that characterise Graham Greene’s writing. Something similar is true of Foden: a westerner’s wild and violent adventures in Africa. Gilesville. Fodenmark. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:00:24
Poor Artists by The White Pube review – how to make it in the art world
An aspiring young artist’s journey makes for a critique of the art world, in novel formThe White Pube, the collaborative identity of critics Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad, have always pushed hard at the idea of art criticism. The name is a sardonic twist on both the “white cube” method of presenting art and the eponymous blue-chip gallery. The pair set up a website in 2015 and have become remarkable essayists and critics, refusing to conform to the expectations of the art world establishment. Each time they write, they seem to be asking themselves and the reader: what is criticism?Poor Artists is their first book, and although they tell us directly in the introduction that we “are reading a piece of art criticism”, they also ask us to “let go of any expectations of rationality”. Most art criticism doesn’t feature a fictional main character, various monsters and ghosts, or a novelistic narrative arc. At the centre of the book is Quest Talukdar, an aspiring artist who is learning about the way the art world chews up and spits out its artists. Muhammad and De la Puente build the book around Quest’s quest (ahem) to make it as an artist. They interviewed 22 anonymous artists and art world people for the book, and they use this material as the basis for a series of strange Ali Smith-esque vignettes that feature talking babies, zombies, a professor made out of discarded art, beheaded critics, and the ghost of Gustave Courbet, among other oddities. Short chapters on real pieces of contemporary art, often performances that critique the art world itself, are also interspersed, along with references to real artists, galleries and people. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 09:00:38
Beyond turkey: how to get creative with classic Thanksgiving recipes
In this week’s Feast newsletter: America’s most popular holiday is a chance to gather around the table in gratitude, wherever you live, and have fun with your menu• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, FeastThis is an extract from our weekly Feast newsletter, written by Felicity Cloake, Meera Sodha, Rachel Roddy and others. Sign up here to get it free to your inbox every Thursday.Any British reference to the US’s most popular holiday puts me in mind of Regina George’s line in that noughties classic Mean Girls. To paraphrase: “Stop trying to make Thanksgiving happen. It’s not going to happen.” We’ve enthusiastically adopted the charming tradition of the Black Friday sales that follow, but given that the Christmas decorations went up around here when people were still setting off fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night, our busy festive calendars simply don’t have time for another shindig. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:00:42
Punches, sweary protests and legendary voiceovers – take the Thursday quiz
Twenty questions on notable pop culture, sporting and political figures we lost this year. How will you fare?Something different this week. As the year draws to a close, the Thursday quiz always takes a pause to reflect on some of the notable pop culture, sporting and political figures we lost in the last 12 months, with our annual in memoriam edition. There are no prizes except the opportunity to remember all the joy these people gave us, via the medium of trying to recall obscure trivia related to them. Do let us know how you get on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 188 – annual in memoriam edition Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 11:00:24
‘Gentlemen shared their tattoos over dinner’: how our taste for tattoos started with the rich
Highly decorated skin is everywhere these days, but tattoos have a more elevated pedigree than you may think. A new book aims to make us think differently about Victorian aristocrats … and bank managersIn an age in which it appears impossible to walk down the high street every summer without being confronted by countless examples of inked flesh, you may be inclined to think that tattoos are no longer associated with the underground, or indeed the underclass. But the history of the practice is long and winding. A Vanity Fair account from 1926 is typical of many similar interventions both before and after: “Tattooing has passed from the savage to the sailor, from the sailor to the landsman. It has since percolated through the entire social stratum; tattooing has received its credentials, and may now be found beneath many a tailored shirt.”“There’s obviously a long, complicated and important history relating tattoos to sailors, and also to criminals and assorted ne’er do wells”, explains Matt Lodder, author of Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art), a handsomely illustrated new book on the subject. “But the main reason, certainly in Britain, we have a tattooing industry is because rich people wanted to get tattooed. I wanted to explore that industry and how it developed, and especially look at the people involved in it who have, with varying degrees of success, made tattooing a serious and standardised professional practice.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 08:00:37
Devon sent: a short, epic train ride into the wintry wonders of the Exe estuary
The spectacular estuary is a haven for thousands of migrant birds each winter, and perfect to explore on foot and by boatThe Christmas market doesn’t know what’s hit it. At 8.30 on a mid-November morning Exeter is a whirl of white, a city half-blinded by tumbling flakes. Four market workers, caught out by this overly authentic addition to the festive decor, are busy shovelling the ground in front of the bao stalls and craft gin chalets. Above them, the cathedral’s medieval towers stand tall and cold in the heaven-filling flurry. Winter has arrived in Devon with bells on.I’m here to catch a train to see some birdlife. A breakfast blizzard wasn’t part of the plan, but sometimes these things don’t go as expected. The city’s Queen Street has turned into a real-life snow globe – Narnia with sandwich shops – yet the little two-carriage train I’m catching trundles into Exeter Central bang on time. I find a window seat and settle in. Snowy rooftops roll by. Somewhere, an estuary lies in wait. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:00:37
Photo filters: why are women who use them judged so harshly?
Spanish researchers found both sexes perceived men who use them as more intelligent and women as less soName: Photo filters.Age: About 15. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 09:00:38
Karam Sethi’s recipe for garlic fish tikka with cumin raita
Salmon baked in twin marinades of garlic and red tandoori sauce, with a refreshing, garlicky yoghurt dip on the sideToday’s fish tikka is one of the standout dishes on the menu of our new restaurant, Ambassadors Clubhouse in Mayfair, where we celebrate the rich culinary traditions of undivided Punjab. Lasooni essentially means garlic, which here in roasted form joins forces with a traditional red tandoori marinade to give the fish a smoky, aromatic coating. It’s complemented by a side of refreshing, cumin-spiked raita. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:53
Share your experience of lightning strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean
We’d like to hear about the impact of dramatic lightning strikes in the region. How have you been affected?Scientists have warned for years that rising temperatures across the planet are likely to cause more lightning. The Caribbean is among those regions that have experienced an increase in damaging strikes over the past two decades, according to experts.Have you been affected by dramatic lightning strikes in the Caribbean? Do you have experiences or pictures of lightning impact in Jamaica, Belize, Barbados or any other country in the region? Or perhaps in Latin America? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-20 12:00:05
Tell us your favourite films of 2024
We want to hear about the best film you have seen this year. Share your thoughts nowWe would like to hear about your favourite films of 2024. Was it a comedy that had you rolling in the aisles, or a horror that gave you goosebumps? Which film released in 2024 tops your list? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 10:56:39
Share your thoughts about the collapse of the German coalition government and the snap election
We’re interested to hear how people feel about the collapse of German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, and which issues may decide their vote at the general electionThe collapse of Germany’s three-party ruling coalition has triggered a snap election that is to take place in February 2025.The German government collapsed after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, unexpectedly sacked his finance minister, Christian Lindner, during a row over the 2025 budget, plunging Europe’s largest economy into political disarray, after months of bitter infighting that has contributed to the administration’s growing unpopularity amid a stagnating German economy. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-13 14:55:48
Tell us: do you share a name with a politician or celebrity?
We want to hear people’s anecdotes about sharing famous namesLife got harder for the (not well known) David Cameron when another David Cameron became prime minister in 2010.Angry voters began to email him, “ranting” at the “state of the country and telling me I should be ashamed of myself,” the unfamous Cameron, an artist in Cheshire, told Metro. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-22 14:33:53
Sinn Féin optimistic but breakthrough unlikely in Irish election
Mary Lou McDonald’s party has risen to second place in the polls but analysts say the chances of victory are slimSinn Féin, the former political wing of the IRA, is hoping to stage a last-minute revival in the Irish general election after polls put it ahead of the party led by the taoiseach, Simon Harris.Ahead of Friday’s election, the party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, has said she sees a path to victory, after polls this week showed Harris’s centre-right Fine Gael dropping from first to third place and the progressive, populist, leftwing Sinn Féin moving into second behind Fine Gael’s government coalition partner, Fianna Fáil. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:36
‘We’ve heard these promises before’: is this the end of the line for Irish fishing?
Devastated by quota changes post-Brexit, fishers are pinning all their hopes on Ireland’s politicians as they head into a general electionWords and pictures by Finbarr O’ReillyGale force winds gusting across the North Atlantic Ocean kicked up thick spumes of spray from the heaving swell soon after the Ocean Crest and Carmona trawlers left the main Irish fishing port of Killybegs in County Donegal. No other boats were fishing in the area when the storm swept over Ireland’s north-west coast. This was February, and the window for catching migrating mackerel was quickly closing but the two trawlers had yet to fill their quotas.“This weather is about the limit of what we can fish in,” said skipper Gerard Sheehy as the nose of the Ocean Crest plunged into the trough of a swell, sending a wall of white water crashing over the hull and wheelhouse windows, momentarily obscuring the view before the vessel tilted back upwards into an oncoming wave.Skipper Gerard Sheehy (centre) with his crew aboard the Ocean Crest in February Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:37
What are tariffs and why is Trump levying them on Canada, Mexico and China?
Trump is now laying ground for a trade war with the country’s largest trading partnersTrump’s tariff threat sets stage for bitter global trade warThere are still more than 50 days left until Donald Trump takes office, but he has already laid the ground for a trade war that could shake the global economy.Trump announced on Monday that he will sign an executive order placing a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, along with an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, in purported retaliation for drugs and migrants crossing US borders. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:00:01
Canada leaders agree to unite against Trump tariff threat amid reports of retaliatory measures
Deputy PM says ‘we need to be smart, strong and united’ after meeting on threat by US president-elect of a blanket 25% tax on imports from Canada Canada’s federal government and the premiers of the 10 provinces have agreed to work together against a threat by US president-elect Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports, with one official saying the country was already examining possible retaliatory measures.“We agreed that we need to be smart, strong and united in meeting this challenge,” deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Wednesday after a virtual meeting with the premiers called by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 01:41:27
Biden administration claims win with Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire – but will it hold?
Peace is shaky at best, as Israel will still strike targets in Lebanon and a power transition looms in the USThe Biden administration has claimed the long-awaited ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel as a diplomatic triumph achieved under tremendous pressure during a lame-duck period with a hostile Donald Trump administration waiting in the wings.Speaking from a lectern in the Rose Garden of the White House, Joe Biden called the result “historic” and said that it “reminds us that peace is possible”. It would return civilians to their homes, he said, and had “determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 19:39:45
How the largely immigrant-founded Macy’s Thanksgiving parade became a national symbol
New York parade has swapped lions and clowns for character balloons, but the festivity remains 100 years laterIt was a sight to behold: elephants marching through New York City streets, thousands of spectators crushed four and five deep on the sidewalks hoping to get a glimpse of the creatures.It was Thanksgiving Day 1924, and the elephants – accompanied by bears, monkeys, tigers, camels, donkeys and lions – were residents of the Central Park zoo, trotted out for a brand-new parade, sponsored by the department store Macy’s. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 10:00:41
Bone-on-bone agony: the cruel reality of facing a three-year waiting list for a new knee
Before she retired in 2014, Alexandra McTeare had worked for the NHS for 30 years – and always believed in public healthcare. But when she experienced severe pain, she was forced to consider difficult choicesWhen Alexandra McTeare was told she might have to wait three years for knee replacement surgery, she felt desperate. “Because of how miserable your life is, how small it has become,” she says.The problems with her knee started in 2017. “It was painful and would swell up, particularly in the heat.” She would take painkillers and keep her leg elevated when she was sitting down, and did stretching exercises for her muscles. But over the next few years, “it gradually got worse, the intervals between swelling episodes reduced and the pain increased”. It reached a point where it was no longer bearable. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:50
A moment that changed me: at seven, I saw the truth of China’s one-child policy – and felt my parents’ pain
When a classmate said she’d be allowed a brother or sister, I realised what it meant: she might die young. It was a sudden insight into tragedy and traumaOne afternoon in the spring of 1997, as my seven-year-old classmate and I played in a tiny park in our Shanghai neighbourhood, she shared a secret: “I’m allowed to have a little brother or sister.” My jaw dropped. No one my age had a sibling except a pair of twins at school. People used the words “sister” and “brother” to mean cousin. Having siblings was an outlandish, outdated, even shameful concept, something older generations had done before the one-child policy was introduced in 1980.My parents carefully stored our One Child Honorary Certificate, with golden characters on a sleek red booklet, in a bottom drawer, right by my birth certificate. They were good citizens who, by definition, had only one child. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:55:52
Trump officials to receive immediate clearances and easier FBI vetting
Exclusive: president-elect’s team planning for background checks to occur only after administration takes over bureauDonald Trump’s transition team is planning for all political appointees to receive sweeping security clearances on the first day and only face FBI background checks after the incoming administration takes over the bureau and its own officials are installed in key positions, according to people familiar with the matter.The move appears to mean that Trump’s team will continue to skirt FBI vetting and may not receive classified briefings until Trump is sworn in on 20 January and unilaterally grant sweeping security clearances across the administration. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 10:00:10
‘We learned the hard way’: Samoa remembers a deadly measles outbreak and a visit from RFK Jr
A few months before the outbreak in 2019, Kennedy travelled to Samoa and met with anti-vaccine figures, contributing to what health experts claim was a ‘significant disinformation campaign’The week before her three children died, Fa’aoso Tuivale and her husband took them for a swim in the river flowing behind their house in the Samoan village of Lauli’i.Itila, 3, and his twin siblings, Tamara and Sale, 13 months, had a fever and their parents hoped to cool them down. The children were ill with measles and were not vaccinated. When they worsened, on a Sunday, Fa’aoso took them to hospital in Apia, 9km away. They were seen, and sent home. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 02:17:28
MPs’ big assisted dying moment, and the people watching every move – Politics Weekly UK
As MPs prepare to vote on a bill that would, for the first time, pass assisted dying into UK law, what are the arguments on either side? The Guardian’s John Harris speaks to two campaigners: Liz Carr, an actor and disability activist who believes the bill would endanger many marginalised groups, and Mark Mardell, a broadcaster who thinks the legislation doesn’t go far enough. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:37
What’s going on with fluoride? – podcast
The conversation about fluoride’s health benefits has exploded recently after a US federal toxicology report, court ruling and independent scientific review all called for updated risk-benefit analysis. Ian Sample hears from Catherine Carstairs, professor of history at the University of Guelph in Canada, about how attitudes to fluoridation have evolved, and Oliver Jones, professor of chemistry at RMIT University in Australia, about where the science stands todayClips: the New York Sun, Columbia Pictures‘The science of fluoride is starting to evolve’: behind the risks and benefits of the mineral Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 05:00:34
Assisted dying: a historic vote comes to parliament - podcast
Deputy political editor Jessica Elgot explains how the assisted dying bill came to the House of Commons this week, and how MPs are feeling about their vote. Dr Lucy Thomas speaks about her experience in palliative care and her fears if MPs vote the bill throughOn Friday, MPs will vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) bill – a once-in-a-generation vote on whether those with terminal illnesses should have the right to an assisted death. The right, in other words, to end one’s own life with the help of medical professionals.As the Guardian’s deputy political editor Jessica Elgot explains, it would be a monumental social change, and has been compared to previous reforms on abortion, the death penalty and equal marriage. Yet with just a day to go, it is not at all clear which way the vote will go. Indeed, Helen Pidd hears from MPs in parliament, some of whom are still unsure whether they will support or oppose the bill. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 03:00:30
Manchester City trip up again as Arsenal shine at Sporting: Football Weekly - podcast
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Archie Rhind-Tutt as City’s crisis deepens and Arsenal produce their best performance in the Champions League this seasonRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.On the podcast today: Manchester City throw away a 3-0 lead at home to Feyenoord. It’s not a defeat but almost feels worse this way. Is the crisis deepening? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 13:07:45
10 years of the long read: Seven stowaways and a hijacked oil tanker: the strange case of the Nave Andromeda (2022) – podcast
As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors.This week from 2022: In October 2020 an emergency call was received from a ship in British waters. After a full-scale commando raid, seven Nigerians were taken off in handcuffs – but no one was ever charged. What really happened on board? By Samira Shackle Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:51
How having babies became so political - video
The pronatalist movement in the US is gathering pace once again, rekindled by Silicon Valley personalities and hard-right conservatives who are becoming increasingly vocal about whether or not women are having enough babies. But it's not just in the US, some governments in other countries have launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to have more children, while others have offered financial incentives. But while many of these policies claim to be about halting population decline, there are other factors at play. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates efforts around the world to boost birth rates, as well as the underlying political motivations, from bodily autonomy to immigrationBirthrates are plummeting worldwide. Can governments turn the tide?When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-21 12:33:44
Clashes in Pakistan as thousands march on capital demanding Imran Khan release – video
At least five police and paramilitary personnel have been killed and dozens of people injured in Pakistan as thousands of supporters of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan forced their way through security barriers and entered the capital, Islamabad. Authorities have enforced a security lockdown in the capital for the last three days after Khan called for supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to march on parliament for a sit-in demonstration to demand his release. PTI alleges that Khan is being held as a political prisoner. Voted out of power by parliament in 2022 after he fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, Khan faces charges ranging from corruption to instigation of violence, all of which he and his party deny.Pakistan: five killed, dozens injured as Imran Khan supporters clash with security forces Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 08:59:12
Drone footage shows Delhi cloaked in thick haze of toxic smog – video
Pollution levels in the Indian capital have soared to their highest levels this year, forcing schools and offices to close and cloaking the city in thick brown smog. In some parts of the city, a live air quality ranking by IQAir put pollution levels at more than 30 times the maximum level deemed healthy. The catastrophic levels of pollution have led to numerous emergency measures, including most schools being closed and lessons moved online. The smog arrives annually as the weather in the north of India gets colder, trapping toxic pollutants from the tens of millions of cars on the road, as well as from rubbish fires, construction and factory emissions. Experts say the toxic air quality is reducing life expectancy in the city by an average of seven yearsPollution in Delhi hits record high, cloaking city in smog Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-22 11:51:49
'World's most expensive banana' fetches $US5.2m at auction – video
Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped ‘banana’ artwork fetches US$5.2m at Sotheby’s auction in New York. The artwork, titled Comedian, debuted in 2019 as an edition of three, where its US$120,000 price tag made headlines worldwide. Its new owner has purchased the banana through Sotheby's China office and will receive a banana, a roll of duct tape, a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to install the work► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTubeMaurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana artwork fetches US$5.2m at New York auction Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-21 01:57:07
Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for the first time?
American and Ukrainian officials have confirmed Kyiv employed US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin stated that six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with fragments from one reportedly causing a significant explosion.In response, Russia has announced it is adjusting its nuclear doctrine. The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow would interpret any attack against it carried out by a non-nuclear state using weapons supplied by a nuclear state as a joint assault. But what exactly are Atacms, and why has their deployment unsettled Russia so deeply?Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for first time?Russia-Ukraine war live Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-20 16:44:49
Vladimir Shklyarov: a look back at the career of the acclaimed Russian ballet dancer – video
Born in St Petersburg in 1985, Shklyarov joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 2003 and became its principal dancer – the highest-ranking position in a ballet company – in 2011. During his 20-year career, Shklyarov starred in productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He performed all over the world, including with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Royal Opera House in London. Shklyarov has died at the age of 39 after falling from the fifth floor of a building, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theatre told the news outlet FontankaVladimir Shklyarov, Russian ballet star, dies aged 39 after falling from building Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-18 13:17:09
How the unrest unfolded in Amsterdam – video timeline
Conflicting reports emerged after violence erupted in Amsterdam around a Uefa Europa League football match between the Dutch club Ajax and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Guardian has analysed footage posted across social media to try to construct a timeline and understand what led to the clashes. For 24 hours, tensions rose across the city in what the mayor, Femke Halsema, called a 'toxic cocktail of antisemitism, football hooliganism and anger over the war in Palestine and Israel and other parts of the Middle East'‘Toxic cocktail’ led to Amsterdam violence, mayor says Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-15 07:25:50
Heavy snowfall in South Korea – in pictures
South Korea grapples extreme weather conditions for second day, with dozens of flights cancelled, ferry operations suspended and four people reported dead Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 09:00:39
Feeling blue: how denim built America – in pictures
Originally used as workwear for back-breaking jobs, these vintage images show the fabric’s role in dragging the US out of the Great Depression Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-28 07:00:37
Rescued turtles and a field of illuminated flowers: photos of the day – Wednesday
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 12:33:15
Horse trading with Travellers and Romani Gypsies – in pictures
Photographer Sam Wright was warned not to attend a horse fair with his camera. He ignored the prejudice – and found a warm, welcoming community Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:54
Sensory art and grieving royals: photos of the day – Tuesday
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 15:41:48
Pride and protest: a photographic history of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights
Images by Fred W McDarrah feature in a new exhibition that follows key moments of community and liberationThe Manhattan photographer Fred McDarrah came to prominence documenting the Beat movement that overtook Greenwich Village in the 1950s, capturing, among others, Jack Kerouac (who sat for a portrait in McDarrah’s apartment) and one of the earliest photos of a very young and unknown Bob Dylan. It was this portfolio that made his name at the Village Voice, where he would work for an astonishing 50 years, but toward the end of the 1960s McDarrah began to photograph an entirely new movement sweeping over the Village.In spring 1966 at Julius’s Bar, a short walk from the Stonewall Inn, four gay men – Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons and Randy Wicker – engaged in what they termed a “sip-in” in order to challenge a law that made it a prosecutable offense for one man to buy another a drink. It was one of the first salvos in the incipient gay rights movement, and McDarrah was there to see it, perfectly capturing the decisive moment when a bartender – collaborating with the group – placed his hand over the drinks and stated that it was against the law to serve the men. The image is a perfect distillation of the encounter, a moment when customer and bartender are exchanging deep, meaningful looks that say so much more than words. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 09:04:05
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