http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The Guardian

Humza Yousaf holds emergency cabinet meeting as SNP abandons power sharing with Greens – UK politics live (jeu., 25 avril 2024)
First minister reportedly plans to run minority administration amid dispute over decision to ditch climate change target Lorna Slater, one of the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, has confirmed that the power-sharing agreement with the SNP is over. In a statement, she said the SNP’s decision to end the deal, without allowing party members a say, was ‘an act of political cowardice”. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Are we joking?’: Venice residents protest as city starts charging visitors to enter (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force. Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Labour promises rail nationalisation within five years of coming to power (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Party pledges to bring all passenger rail – but not rolling stock – into public ownership as contracts with train operators expire Labour will fully nationalise the train network within five years of coming to power, with a pledge to guarantee the cheapest fares as part of “the biggest reform of our railways for a generation”. One of Labour’s first major acts in government will bring all passenger rail into national ownership under Great British Railways as contracts with private operators expire, a plan endorsed by the architect of the Conservatives’ own rail plan. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Runaway horses in ‘serious condition’ after bolting through central London (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Animals ran through rush-hour streets, colliding with vehicles and leaving four people in hospital Two of the military horses that broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London on Wednesday are in “serious condition”, a minister has said. The runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets of the capital, colliding with vehicles and resulting in four people being taken to hospital. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Middle East crisis live: White House says it wants ‘answers’ from Israel after mass graves found near hospitals in Gaza (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Israel says the graves were dug by people in Gaza a few months ago but the corpses had been examined by IDF soldiers Here are some of the scenes in Jerusalem, where people, including Israeli interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been worshipping during the Passover holiday. Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, states that two people have been killed there by drone strikes. He writes for the news network: A surge in attack drones flying over Rafah has taken place over the past couple of hours. At least two people have been hit in what appear to be targeted killings – one in the western part of the city and the other in the east. They were killed when the drones fired missiles about half an hour apart. The tragedy keeps unfolding. The destruction is overwhelming. Everywhere you go, you see rubble-filled roads. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

UK has worst rate of child alcohol consumption in world, report finds (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Study by World Health Organization shows more than half of children in Britain had drunk alcohol by age 13 The UK has the worst rate of child alcohol abuse worldwide, and more than half of British children have drunk alcohol by the age of 13, according to a report. The study, one of the largest of its kind by the World Health Organization (WHO), looked at 2021-22 data on 280,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 countries who were asked about alcohol, cigarettes and vape usage. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Ruth Perry family furious as Ofsted single-word ratings are retained (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Teaching unions share family’s disappointment after government says system has ‘significant benefits’ Ofsted’s controversial single-word judgments are here to stay, the government has ruled, in a blow to campaigners who hoped they would be scrapped after the suicide of the primary school headteacher Ruth Perry. Perry’s sister, Prof Julia Waters, reacted with fury to the government’s statement, published on Thursday in response to an inquiry into Ofsted by MPs on the Commons education committee, describing it as “woefully inadequate”. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Spanish PM considers resigning, blaming political ‘harassment’ of wife (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Pedro Sánchez halts public duties, hitting out at opponents after court launches inquiry into alleged corruption by Begoña Gómez Spain’s socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning, blaming a “harassment and bullying operation” by his political and media opponents for a court’s decision to launch an investigation into his wife for alleged influence-peddling and corruption. Pedro Sánchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said the “seriousness of the attacks” he and his wife, Begoña Gómez, were experiencing had led him to re-evaluate his position, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Rwanda flights will deport asylum seekers ‘indefinitely’, says Cleverly (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Home secretary visits Lampedusa in Italy as National Audit Office says scheme could surpass £580m by 2030 Several flights a month will deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “indefinitely”, the home secretary has said, as he argued that the £1.8m a person cost of the scheme was justified. James Cleverly, in his first interview since the government’s plan was approved by parliament on Monday, said he had booked a succession of initial flights and was preparing to order the detention of people seeking refuge in the UK so they could be sent to east Africa. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

UK’s first ever memorial to LGBT armed forces personnel to be built (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Fighting With Pride charity will lead work for memorial at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire The UK’s first memorial commemorating the “lost legion” of LGBT people who have served in the armed forces is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum. The memorial will be built after a charity spearheading efforts to get justice for veterans affected by the pre-2000 ban on LGBT people serving in the UK armed forces was awarded a £350,000 grant. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘I’ll stay an MP for as long as I can’: Diane Abbott’s tumultuous political journey (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Britain’s first black female MP faced hostility from the media and political establishment from the start. Nearly 40 years on, she is still not giving up Six weeks ago, the Conservatives’ biggest donor, Frank Hester, was revealed by the Guardian to have spoken at a meeting of his healthcare company, the Phoenix Partnership, about one of Britain’s longest-serving and most pioneering MPs. “You see Diane Abbott on the TV and … you just want to hate all black women,” Hester said. “I think she should be shot.” The meeting had taken place in 2019, when Abbott was Labour’s shadow home secretary. As a lifelong defender of civil liberties, a radical leftwinger and a close ally of the then party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, Abbott was notably different from previous holders of the role. But there was an anger and viciousness to Hester’s remarks, which are being investigated by the police, and also a limit to the Labour support for her that they prompted, which was very striking. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Every day I cry’: 50 women talk about life as a domestic worker under the Gulf’s kafala system (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Denounced as giving a ‘veneer of legality to slaveholding’ and despite claims of reform, kafala laws persist, allowing bosses to abuse women, who vanish from society. This is their testimony, gathered over two years in a Guardian investigation Condemned as dangerous and abusive, the kafala labour system not only disregards migrant workers’ rights but depends on exploitation. But 10 years after Qatar was advised by the UN to abolish kafala (“sponsorship”) entirely and replace it with a regulated labour network, the system is thriving across Lebanon, Jordan and the Gulf states – with the region’s most vulnerable migrants hidden behind closed doors. Over two years, the Guardian spoke to 50 women who are or were domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar or Jordan. Their testimony reveals a section of society operating under appalling conditionsfacilitated by the state’s employment apparatus. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘It’s magical’: prehistoric mines in Norfolk to reopen to visitors (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
English Heritage hopes new entrance at Grime’s Graves will mean more people can explore neolithic site Nine metres below the grass level of an undulating Norfolk field, at the bottom of a very deep hole, Jennifer Wexler is talking about what makes this subterranean space particularly special. “I’ve spent a lot of time crawling around [down here], and you can go into certain spaces where you see someone’s tool and think: someone just put that down 4,500 years ago, and it’s still here,” she says. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

The experts: librarians on 20 easy, enjoyable ways to read more brilliant books (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Do you love reading – but all too often find yourself just scrolling through your phone or watching TV? Here is how to get lost in literature again In the age of digital distractions, it is easy to struggle to find the time and headspace to get lost in literature. How can you get back into the habit? Librarians share the best ways to rediscover reading, make it a regular habit – and their tips for the most unputdownable books. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Everyone was in the streets. I just felt happiness’: Portugal recalls the Carnation Revolution (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
As the country marks 50 years since the end of fascism, people celebrate the coup’s legacy but say the fight must continue At 4am on 25 April 1974, Filipe Villard Cortez got the signal. He barricaded the door of the Monte Real air base commander’s room and cut his phone line. A few hours earlier, Portugal’s Carnation Revolution had begun. Cortez was 21 at the time, a commissioned air force officer who wanted the democratisation of Portugal and the end of its colonial rule. In the weeks before the revolution, he had become involved in meetings with the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) – the group that instigated the military coup that toppled Portugal’s authoritarian Estado Novo regime, ending its war to prevent independence in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Can you steal back something that’s already stolen?’: how radical art duo Looty repatriated the Rosetta Stone (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Tired of colonial artefacts being hoarded, Chidi Nwaubani and Ahmed Abokor use tech to redistribute them from museums in audacious digital heists In March last year, two men in tracksuits, wearing hockey masks and carrying matching laundry bags, headed for the British Museum. Just outside, patrolling police asked the two strange-looking men where they were going. “We’re going to the British Museum to loot back stolen goods,” one of them said. “Well, we’ll see you in there then!” the policewoman answered. But no arrests were made, as nothing incriminating happened. What did take place was a “digital heist” of one of the most famous objects in the British Museum, an artefact that is, according to Egyptologist Monica Hanna, “a symbol of western cultural power” and “of British imperialism”: the Rosetta Stone. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Football’s unlikeliest global brand: how Fleetwood made it big in the UAE (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Despite relegation to England’s fourth tier, Cod Army have cast net to be like ‘City Football Group but on a much smaller scale’ Fleetwood United’s celebrations on becoming second division champions in the United Arab Emirates could not be dampened even by a freak thunderstorm in Dubai. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” the captain Ben Pringle told the Guardian. “It was the most rain they have had for 75 years. Cars were underwater on the motorway.” This is not supposed to happen in the glittering city of skyscrapers and excitement but then Fleetwood Town, a club that have just dropped into England’s fourth tier, are not really supposed to be at the head of a stable of international clubs that also includes Waterford FC in Ireland and Western Cape Fleetwood in South Africa. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Waiting for Trump’: Viktor Orbán hopes US election will change his political fortunes (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Exclusive: Hungary’s PM and EU’s most isolated leader says he is pursuing ‘friendship with everybody’ – particularly the former US president Europe’s most isolated leader was beaming. Standing in a hallway in Brussels, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, spoke excitedly about the politician he hopes will change his political fortunes – Donald Trump. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Restorative in every way: a rewilding retreat in Somerset (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
A Wild Weekend on the 42 Acres estate near Frome offers fresh air, cosy rooms, sumptuous food and a chance to get hands dirty with some land regeneration work The honk of the geese as they take off from the lake is comically loud, reeds quiver and the reflection of the clouds on the water is momentarily fractured. A butterfly flits by, landing on my boot. We’re on a guided walk at 42 Acres, a regenerative farm, nature reserve and retreat centre near Frome in Somerset – and the whole place feels vibrantly alive. Our guide Tasha Stevens-Vallecillo, a font of knowledge on plants and wild food and one of the visionaries shaping the retreat, stops to point out yarrow, ribwort plantain and a giant white reishi mushroom as we walk. “There’s medicine everywhere on the land. You just need to know where to look,” she says. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

This Proms season ticks all the boxes and promises special things | Andrew Clements (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
After the disruptions of Covid, director David Pickard has managed to balance innovation with tradition in his final year of programming the festival David Pickard’s nine years in charge of the BBC Proms, one of the most enviable jobs classical music has to offer, have certainly not always gone as smoothly as he might have hoped. If the consequences of Brexit and the difficulties it has created for musicians wanting to perform and tour in Britain were not enough to work around, then the havoc that Covid restrictions inflicted on the 2020 and 2021 seasons made nonsense of many carefully laid plans. Pickard’s programming has sometimes seemed shaped more by a concern to ensure that every politically correct box was ticked than by determination to come up with a summer season that was as adventurous and attractive as an organisation with BBC’s resources should have no problems in assembling. But first impressions of the new season, his last in charge, suggest that Pickard might finally have got close to achieving a decent balance between all the elements and the different genres that are now expected in a full Proms season. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Growing Up Jewish review – wildly inappropriately lightweight for our times (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
You will laugh and may cry watching these charming youngsters prepare for their bar and batmitzvahs – but with antisemitism on the rise, this film feels bizarrely flimsy In itself, the hour-long documentary Growing Up Jewish is … fine. Gentle and uplifting, it follows three British girls and a boy as they prepare for their bat and barmitzvahs, the Jewish rite of passage that will mark their transition at 13 into adulthood. Dylan, whose parents were raised Orthodox but attend a Reform synagogue, is thoughtful and increasingly nervous as the day approaches. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a confident person,” he says, eyes wide in his tiny, beautiful face. As with all bar and batmitzvahs, the story of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt will be central. But he worries about the deaths of the Egyptians as the sea Moses parted closes over and drowns them. He doesn’t think this should be celebrated. His rabbi, Miriam, talks him through other texts and commentaries on the story that give it depth and context, and suggest it is an illustration of God’s acknowledgment of human imperfection and the need to strive for better. He incorporates all this into his speech and if there is a dry eye in the house, I’d be surprised. There wasn’t in mine. Talia has a more robust approach. Her batmitzvah is about becoming a woman (“Finding love! Doing things on your own!”), then having a party. A party that must go with a swing after the traditional service her Orthodox family want. She practises her entrance (to Europe’s The Final Countdown). Lovely, says the Jewish DJ, who has obviously had much experience in these matters. “But let’s remember this is about everyone who’s been part of your life for the last 13 years.” Talia takes the point without letting it lessen her ebullience one iota. It is impossible not to want more of her. “My parents think I’m funny,” she says, puzzled. “When I haven’t a clue what I’ve said.” If she doesn’t make you laugh at least three times in the hour, I would advise you to see a doctor. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Lies, confections, distortions: how the right made London the most vilified place in Britain | Aditya Chakrabortty (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Our capital has many problems, but it is time to push back against attacks from those who neither know nor understand it I have been reading about the most abysmal place. It is a land where children, red-faced with their own radicalism, march alongside bearded Islamists to make the streets a no-go zone, while nodding-dog liberals curse the Brexiter masses for inflating the cost of their arugula. It boasts an infinite array of pronouns; multimillion-pound townhouses whose residents demand you check your privilege; a thousand rainbow flags, but not a single St George’s cross. It is rife with criminal behaviour, which extends far beyond the prices charged by pub landlords. Hieronymus Bosch, put down your paintbrush: this place truly is Hell. It also happens to be my home. Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Smacking a child is just an act of violence. Why do England and Northern Ireland still allow it? | Frances Ryan (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
It is perverse that adults are legally protected from violence, yet striking a child can be defended. Calls for a ban are getting louder When a child is scared of their parents, they can spend a long time plucking up the courage to talk. I learned this during a decade of volunteering as a Childline counsellor. There is a 20-second period, in between saying your name and waiting for them to share theirs, that is the most silent the air can ever be. You could hear a pin drop or just a caller’s breath echoing on the receiver. In that moment, a young girl who has been slapped by her father is deciding whether to ask for help or to hang up and try again to form the words in a week or two. I thought of this silence as I read calls from leading doctors to ban parents from smacking their children in England and Northern Ireland. Unlike in Scotland and Wales – where over the past four years the Victorian-era law that allows it has been overturned – it is still legal for a parent or carer to hit, smack or slap their child if it is a “reasonable” punishment. Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist and author of Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Frank Field saw benefit in the Lib Dems. In this election year, Labour would be wise to do the same | Martin Kettle (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The late elder statesman understood the need for a progressive realignment of British politics. That prize shouldn’t be lost David Marquand and Frank Field, both of whom died this week, never sat on the Labour benches together. The professor of politics and the long-serving backbench MP had very different temperaments too, one searchingly academic, the other a bold moraliser. They also disagreed about many of the big issues in British politics, the European Union above all. But they also had some hugely important things in common. Both started as free-thinking Labour MPs – Marquand in 1966 and Field in 1979. Both possessed a rare degree of intellectual and spiritual hinterland. Both then went on lifetime political journeys. These took them increasingly away from Labour, though they always remained in Labour’s orbit. Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Ministers of Germany, Brazil, South Africa and Spain: why we need a global tax on billionaires (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Finance chiefs say higher taxes for the super-rich are key to battling global inequality and climate crisis Billionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministers When the governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund convened for the spring meetings last week, it was all about the really big questions. What can the international community do to accelerate decarbonisation and fight climate change? How can highly indebted countries retain fiscal space to invest in poverty eradication, social services and global public goods? What does the international community need to do to get back on track towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? How can multilateral development banks be strengthened to support these ambitions? There is one issue that makes addressing these global challenges much harder: inequality. While the disparity between the richest and poorest countries has slightly narrowed, the gap remains alarmingly high. Moreover, in the past two decades, we have witnessed a significant increase in inequalities within most countries, with the income gap between the top 10% and the bottom 50% nearly doubling. Looking ahead, current global economic trends pose serious threats to progress towards higher equality. Svenja Schulze is Germany’s minister for economic cooperation and development; Fernando Haddad is the minister of finance in Brazil; Enoch Godongwana is the minister of finance in South Africa; María Jesús Montero is first vice president and minister of finance and Carlos Cuerpo is the minister of economy, trade and business in Spain Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Down, down, deeper and Dowden: how can Rishi’s stand-in be so useless? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
The two deputies had another chance to trade blows but it was a one-sided contest, as Angela Rayner went in for the kill It had come billed as the great set-piece of the parliamentary week. Month even. With Rishi Sunak away in Germany – strange how the prime minister so often finds the only free slot in his diary is a Wednesday – prime minister’s questions was delegated to the two deputies. It was the first time Oliver Dowden and Angela Rayner had had a chance to go head to head since the Daily Mail had taken a voyeuristic interest in the possibility that Labour’s deputy leader had failed to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a home. There are now reportedly 12 police officers investigating the disputed £1.4K. Obviously a terrific use of resources. Beats solving burglaries any day. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Sarah Akinterinwa on Rishi Sunak’s pledge to increase defence spending – cartoon (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Everyone laughed at Hitler in the 1920s. A century on, are we making the same mistake? | Adrian Chiles (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Just because we find a political leader ludicrous, that doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous There’s something I heard that I can’t get out of my mind. It’s one line in a very long book full of other very good lines. This was the audiobook of Ian Kershaw’s seminal biography of Adolf Hitler. It’s absorbing, exhaustive, fascinating and alarming in equal measure. But there is this one line that won’t leave me alone. I was driving on a bleak day on a country road when I heard it for the first time. I instantly rewound to hear it again, and then again. And then when I got to where I was going I bought the book itself so I could see it as well as hear it. The line torments me still. And since a problem shared is a problem halved – or whatever the expression is – I ask you to bear the burden with me. It comes in a chapter called The Beerhall Agitator, about the absurd-looking little rabble-rouser’s activities during the early 1920s. As a kid I always wondered how they could all have been taken in by such an apparently ludicrous man. The awful truth, of course, was that enough people thought him ludicrous for this ludicrous man to be calamitously underestimated. Do 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...
>> Lire la suite

This Turner prize shortlist is one in the eye for petty nationalists (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
This year’s globally inclusive lineup is part of a much deeper and longer conversation about what culture is – and who has a voice • Claudette Johnson’s art for Cotton Capital nominated for Turner prize This is a great shortlist. The artists here make art in highly individual and different ways and none are the next hot young thing. Sixty-five-year-old Claudette Johnson’s work reflects her first generation British Caribbean background. The art of Delaine Le Bas, 58, has its origins in her Romany Traveller heritage. Born in Manila in 1983, Pio Abad’s practice often focuses on the complexities of postcolonialism. A lot of the inspiration behind Jasleen Kaur’s art comes from her Punjabi Sikh upbringing in Glasgow, where she was born in 1986. Their works approach the world in very different ways, obliging us to look at it from their own particular standpoints. Johnson makes large-scale pastels and Kaur works between sculpture, sound, performance and writing. Abad’s art is as much involved in material culture and exhibition-making as it in having a preferred, signature medium, while Le Bas’s wide-ranging works feature embroidery and decoupage, sculpture, installation and performance. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

The Guardian view on Sunak’s spending pledges: a Potemkin village of pretend policy | Editorial (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
A desperate prime minister has given up trying to meaningfully account for the money he is putting into pre-election promises According to the myth, Catherine II’s courtier Grigory Potemkin recruited peasants to populate fake villages erected along the Dnipro River, so the Russian empress, passing in her barge, might get a favourable impression of conditions in newly conquered Crimea. Historians doubt that it happened, but the idea of counterfeiting progress to appease the boss was plausible enough for the name “Potemkin village” to have stuck. In a democracy, the boss is the electorate, which leads governments to erect Potemkin policies – paper pledges puffed up as substantial measures – to convince voters that all is well. Rishi Sunak’s announcement on defence spending this week is a case in point. Do 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...
>> Lire la suite

The Guardian view on globalisation’s discontent: it’s not right for poor countries to fund the rich | Editorial (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Wealthy nations exploit their position as the world’s bankers to siphon off hundreds of billions from the needy Developing nations have long complained that globalisation has enthroned western currencies in such a way as to subsidise living standards in the rich world. Last year, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the Brics – even talked of an alternative common currency to replace the dollar. Wealthy countries, perhaps, think that their ambitious goals for aid defuse arguments over their “exorbitant privilege”. As TS Eliot put it, “between the idea and the reality … falls the shadow”. A paper out last week calculates that the bottom four-fifths of humanity finance the richest fifth to the tune of $660bn a year. The reason, say Gastón Nievas and Alice Sodano of the Paris School of Economics, is that wealthy countries have become the world’s bankers, able to squeeze debtors. Poor nations borrow in rich-world currencies because they run deficits in energy and food, while exporting low-value goods relative to their imports. Markets are liberalised in poor countries and profits flow to the global north. Do 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...
>> Lire la suite

A grownup debate, not game-playing, is the only way to address the refugee crisis | Letters (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Colin Montgomery, Daniel Fenton, Federico Moscogiuri, Alwyn Jones and Martin Coult on small boats, deaths in the Channel and the passing of the safety of Rwanda bill Daniel Boffey’s account of those desperate souls attempting to cross the Channel – where five people drowned this week – was one of the most powerful pieces of journalism I’ve read for a long time (‘England is hope’: some say they will try again – despite Channel deaths, 23 April). That it was published on the same day as Rafael Behr’s equally incisive take on the matter (Starmer must drain the poison from the immigration debate – it’s what the public wants, 24 April), as viewed through the prism of domestic politics and attitudes towards immigration here in the UK, seemed all too fitting. These two articles are two sides of the same coin yet worlds apart, reflecting a toxic duality that seems to be the defining characteristic of this issue – both for those who seek to come here and for those in their prospective new home. Hope and horror coexist – intertwined yet strangers to each other. Ditto pragmatism and principle, feelings and facts, hate and humanity. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Children in care – there’s one in every classroom | Letter (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Children can enter and exit care repeatedly, making accurate data hard to obtain, writes Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone The figures in your article (One in 52 Blackpool children in care as poverty soars in north of England, 17 April) used to illustrate the north-south divide in the proportion of children placed in care in England are counts of children who are currently in care at a single point in time. However, these data snapshots do not present the full picture, as they do not account for the complexity of care histories. A child can enter and exit care, sometimes repeatedly throughout childhood, and stay for varying lengths of time. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Sean Dyche’s tracksuit energy shocks weary Liverpool into submission | Will Unwin (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Everton were set on closing down their rivals from the off and the tactics sapped the belief from the title challengers It is little wonder Jürgen Klopp is running out of energy when he is having to come up with a new lineup every few days. For the Merseyside derby defeat to Everton there were six changes to follow on from the half-dozen made for Sunday’s win over Fulham. On this occasion, however, it did not work. The latter weeks of the season are a tricky balance for any coach with so much at stake. Trying to maintain a rhythm and build momentum while keeping everyone fresh for crucial fixtures is an unenviable task. It cannot help a manager when hours before the match a starter withdraws but not even the riches of football can dictate when a mother-to-be enters labour. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

NFL draft 2024 predictions: the stars, the needs and the lower-round gems (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Our writers take a look at the best prospects coming out of college, and which teams needs to nail their picks over the coming days It feels like a lock that it will be LSU’s Jayden Daniels, thought I wouldn’t put it past the Commanders to fall in love with Michigan’s JJ McCarthy. Daniels is a funky prospect; he was a starry duel threat at LSU, but it’s tough to see whether the best elements of his game – his running, his deep ball – will smoothly transition to the NFL. He doesn’t possess Lamar Jackson-esque breakaway speed and has a brittle frame. As a thrower from the pocket, he has a snappy delivery but struggles to shift to his second and third reads. There is some RGIII to his game. Do Washington really want to tread that path again? OC Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Yes, data helped Grimsby to stay up but love and connection kept us going | Jason Stockwood (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Our season was defined by tragedies off the pitch and a remarkable resilience that guided the team through it During lockdown, many turned to baking exotic sourdough or participating in one-time Zoom quizzes. I, however, created an animation with my kids to explore how the mind works, emphasising emotion and intuition as life’s dominant forces. The philosopher Jonathan Haidt uses the elephant and rider metaphor to illustrate this: the elephant represents our emotional, instinctive self, full of raw passion, while the rider symbolises our rational mind, often struggling to control this surge of emotions. Since September emotion has been the dominant force in my universe. At Grimsby Town, we’ve spent seven months circling the drain of relegation and only in our penultimate game of the season against Swindon Town did a plug of mathematical certainty finally go in. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Xavi Hernández to stay on as Barcelona head coach in dramatic U-turn (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Xavi agrees to stay after meeting with president and board Bayern Munich in talks with Austria manager Ralf Rangnick Xavi Hernández has reversed his decision to leave Barcelona at the end of the season and will stay on as head coach after talks with the club president, Joan Laporta, and board members on Wednesday. “Xavi will stay, he’s really happy and excited,” the Barcelona vice-president, Rafa Yuste, told reporters outside Laporta’s home, where discussions had taken place. “We’ve never opened talks for any other coach,” Yuste added. “[Barça director] Deco trusts Xavi, it’s guaranteed”. Xavi met face-to-face with Deco earlier on Wednesday, with Laporta pushing to keep the head coach on board beyond the summer. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Be kind’: Ben White’s agent makes appeal to Arsenal defender’s critics (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Player asked not to be considered for England selection in March Agent refers to ‘adverse period off the pitch’ for 26-year-old Ben White’s agent has called on the Arsenal defender’s critics to “be kind” after he asked to be left out of England’s squad for March’s international friendlies with Brazil and Belgium. Gareth Southgate revealed last month that White does not want to be considered for international selection and said he had to go public with the truth because to continue to “protect” the Arsenal player would have been to risk his own credibility. But in an impassioned defence of the 26-year-old posted on his LinkedIn profile on Wednesday – the day after White scored twice against Chelsea in Arsenal’s 5-0 win – his agent, Alex Levack, said he felt “compelled” to defend his client after “negative” coverage in the media. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Fernandes rescues Manchester United in frantic win over Sheffield United (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
With 81 minutes gone Bruno Fernandes collected a Kobbie Mainoo pass and with a swish of his left foot fired a laser past Wes Foderingham and Manchester United were 3-2 ahead. The question now was could they, at last, hang on to a lead. This was answered emphatically by Rasmus Højlund, whose strike as the end of regulation time neared gave Erik ten Hag’s team security and was the best way to close before a watching Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, who will lead the football department until Dan Ashworth joins from Newcastle. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘Exhausted’ Emma Raducanu thrashed by qualifier María Carlé at Madrid Open (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Argentinian easily wins first-round match 6-2, 6-2 Harriet Dart also out in straight sets; Jack Draper through The great challenge of professional tennis is not just performing at a high level but doing so week after week, regardless of the conditions, for a sustained period of time. Emma Raducanu has shown that she is capable of short bursts of excellence, but consistency and durability remain elusive. On Wednesday she suffered a comprehensive defeat in the first round of the Madrid Open, losing 6-2, 6-2 to María Lourdes Carlé, an Argentinian qualifier. Raducanu had arrived in Madrid having led Great Britain to victory over France in the Billie Jean King Cup before reaching the quarter-final in Stuttgart, a WTA 500 event, only losing in two tight sets to Iga Swiatek, the world No 1. But here she put in a dire performance. She struggled to find her range, missing badly as her unforced errors piled up off both wings. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘I can be helpful’: Rory McIlroy hopes to unite golf with return to PGA Tour board (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
PGA, LIV Golf and DP World Tour aiming to strike deal The 34-year-old spoke to Webb Simpson about taking his seat Rory McIlroy has said “hard feelings” will need to be put aside to achieve peace in golf’s civil war but believes he “can be helpful” if he returns to the PGA Tour policy board. As first reported by the Guardian on Monday, McIlroy is set to rejoin the PGA Tour board just months after stepping down. The 34-year-old will hope to assist in striking a deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Mosquito-borne diseases spreading in Europe due to climate crisis, says expert (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Illnesses such as dengue and malaria to reach unaffected parts of northern Europe, America, Asia and Australia, conference to hear Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, due to climate breakdown, an expert has said. The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Process raw materials in Africa, urges top environmentalist (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Few economic and social benefits will come to Africans if processing is all done overseas, says Wanjira Mathai Africa must take greater control in the industries it supplies with raw materials to lift its people from poverty and seize its own destiny in a low-carbon world, one of the continent’s leading environmentalists has urged. Wanjira Mathai, the managing director for Africa and global partnerships at the World Resources Institute thinktank, said much more of what the continent produced must be processed and made use of close to where it is produced, if the world is to shift to a low-carbon footing. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Study confirms Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offenders Fewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with six responsible for a quarter of that, based on the findings of a piece of research published on Wednesday. The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment. This article was corrected on April 25 to include the tobacco company Altria. In 2003 the Philip Morris Company renamed itself Altria. In 2008 Philip Morris International became a separate entity. However Philip Morris US is still owned by Altria. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Tory duty on Ofwat protects profits over reducing sewage pollution, experts say (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Campaigners fear growth duty will hamper water regulator’s ability to crack down on companies in poor financial state The Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator to prioritise growth, which experts have said will incentivise water companies to value their bottom lines over reducing sewage pollution. Campaigners fear this move will weaken Ofwat’s ability to crack down on water companies as it may force the regulator to consider a company’s financial situation and the impact on its growth if the firm is heavily fined for polluting. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Car insurance firms agree to crack down on ‘poverty premium’ (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
UK insurers say they will aim to stop monthly payments falling hardest on those who can least afford it Insurers have promised to clean up their act after coming under fire over the “poverty premium”, whereby customers who cannot afford to pay for car insurance in one go are charged punitive interest to spread the cost. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said its members had agreed to an action plan aimed at managing the cost of paying monthly for motor insurance. The pledges include companies giving customers clear cost comparisons between the two payment options and publishing the average finance charge. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Young researchers need greater access to Britain’s rich archives, says curator (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Aleema Gray used British Library’s collection to assemble Beyond the Bassline exhibition about Black British music Young cultural researchers need greater access to the UK’s rich archival resources so untold stories can be brought to light, according to the curator of an exhibition that documents five centuries of Black British music, from the Tudor court to grime. Dr Aleema Gray has assembled Beyond the Bassline, an expansive tour through the past 500 years of Black British musical history, which is being hosted by the British Library – the exhibition pulls from its collection – and seeks to redefine the limits of what we consider Black British music. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Lack of action on Iran could lead to more threats and attacks in UK, says journalist (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Dissidents and broadcasters feeling unsafe after stabbing of Pouria Zeraati in London call for ‘deterrent signal’ A former BBC journalist has said the UK government will “pay a heavy price” for its lack of action against the Iranian regime, which could lead to more “threats” and “operations” in Britain, after the stabbing of an Iranian journalist in London. Sima Sabet, a former journalist at the BBC World Service and the dissident channel Iran International, said there would be more transnational repression unless the government issued a “deterrent signal” to the Iranian regime. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Fears for Queen Victoria belongings delay English coastal path completion (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Stretch of King Charles III path on Isle of Wight held up over concerns about crown’s ‘priceless collection’ The long-awaited completion of the 2,704-mile King Charles III coastal path around England is being held up by security concerns about a collection of Queen Victoria’s belongings in the seaside grounds of a former royal palace. English Heritage is refusing access to the grounds of Osborne House, a summer home built for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1851, located on a stretch of the coast of the Isle of Wight between East Cowes and Wootton Bridge. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Nature destruction will cause bigger economic slump in UK than 2008 crisis, experts warn (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Green Finance Institute report said further pollution could cut 12% off GDP by 2030s The destruction of nature over the rest of the decade could trigger a bigger economic slump in Britain than those caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, experts have warned. Sounding the alarm over the rising financial cost from pollution, damage to water systems, soil erosion, and threats from disease, the report by the Green Finance Institute warned that further breakdown in the UK’s natural environment could lead to a 12% loss of gross domestic product (GDP) by the 2030s. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Girl arrested after two teachers and pupil stabbed at south Wales school (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Three taken to hospital after incident at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman and teenager held on suspicion of attempted murder A teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed at a school in south-west Wales. Dyfed-Powys police said the injuries were not life-threatening and officers were continuing to investigate the incident after they were called to Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire at 11.20am on Wednesday. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Freezing nights forecast for parts of UK, with snow possible in some areas (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Temperatures could hit -3C in northern England and Scotland, but Met Office says conditions are ‘nothing exceptional’ Freezing overnight temperatures will hit parts of the UK on Wednesday and Thursday, with experts warning some areas could see snow. The cold Arctic air is expected to cause frosts across parts of northern England and Scotland, with temperatures going as low as -3C. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Barclays profits tumble 12% as UK interest rates hit mortgage demand (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Pre-tax profits drop to £2.3bn between January and March, down from £2.6bn last year • Business live – latest updates Profits at Barclays tumbled 12% in the first quarter, as higher UK interest rates weighed on demand for mortgages and loans and its investment bank was hit by a backdrop of economic uncertainty. The UK bank said pre-tax profits fell to £2.3bn in the first quarter, down from £2.6bn last year, when it reported the strongest quarterly profit since 2011 after a string of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Deprivation linked to higher second cancer risk among England breast cancer survivors (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Cambridge study finds those from poorest areas have 35% higher risk of second non-breast cancer Female survivors of breast cancer living in the most deprived areas have a 35% higher risk of developing second, unrelated cancers, compared with those from the most affluent areas, research shows. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, with about 56,000 people being told they have it each year. Improved diagnosis and treatments mean that five-year survival rates are now 86% in England. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Father of man who died after neglect at Priory calls for investigation into second hospital (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The group’s facility near Manchester, where four women died, ‘should be prosecuted’, says Richard Caseby The father of a 23-year-old man who died after neglect at a Priory hospital is calling for a criminal investigation into a second Priory facility where four young women died. Richard Caseby said the Priory should be investigated and prosecuted after three patients died within two months of each other in 2022 at the Priory’s Cheadle Royal hospital, near Manchester, while a fourth patient died last year. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Russia-Ukraine war live: Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets UK finance minister in Kyiv (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Ukrainian president meets Jeremy Hunt and calls for sanctions against Russia to be tightened Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that any talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine were pointless without Russian participation, referring to a conference that Switzerland plans to host in June, reports Reuters. Zakharova also told reporters that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s peace formula – which calls for a full withdrawal of Russian forces from all the territory they have captured – does not bring peace closer but prolongs the conflict. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Moulin Rouge windmill blades collapse in Paris (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Blades of famous cabaret venue fall from roof overnight The blades of the Moulin Rouge windmill, one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, have collapsed, firefighters have said, just months before the French capital hosts the Olympics. There was no risk of further collapse, Paris firefighters said after the incident overnight. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

David Pecker, Trump’s ‘eyes and ears’, to resume testimony in hush-money trial (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Former National Enquirer publisher says he helped Trump to suppress negative stories that threatened 2016 election campaign The former tabloid publisher David Pecker will continue testimony at Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial on Thursday, following his testimony earlier in the week. Pecker, the former chief executive of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer, testified that he used his position to help Trump kill negative stories that threatened his campaign. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Anglo American shares surge after BHP proposes £31.1bn takeover to create copper mining giant – business live (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
FTSE 100 hits another record, as buyout offer for Anglo American increases worries about an exodus from London Full story: BHP moves to buy Anglo American mining group BHP’s proposal to buy Anglo American is a “monster” deal, says analyst Neil Wilson of Markets.com. He explains: Anglo shares jumped 11% at the open. Anglo has not had a great year – the rally this morning has erased the losses of the last 12 months, just. It’s got the assets but is not maybe doing as well as it might; in December the company downgraded its production targets. BHP clearly wants the copper assets – it’s not long after buying Oz Minerals. Clearly, competition authorities would take note due to the position in copper a combined company would have. South African platinum and iron ore assets would be spun off, which could be politically sensitive. If BHP doesn’t make it work, others may try. Shares trade at £24.80, a little shy of the £25.08 implied by the offer – not much discount, suggesting it’s a) being treated seriously and b) could go higher. The biggest headline-grabber today is news that BHP has made a buyout approach for Anglo American. Anglo’s exposure to copper compared to other listed miners is core area of BHP’s focus, as it looks to benefit from the material as the energy transition gathers pace. At the same time, BHP is looking to make hay while the sun shines on the gold price, but a deal of this magnitude does little to reassure investors it’s prioritising cost targets. BHP is also taking advantage of Anglo’s more recent weakness, which has seen it review its assets and write down their value. Should the deal go ahead, it would interrupt the long-term potential for Anglo investors, at a time when a turnaround is likely. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Indonesia election: Prabowo formally declared president-elect after court rejects legal challenges (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Rivals had said February election won by former general was undermined by state interference and unfair rule changes Indonesia’s electoral commission has formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony, after the country’s highest court rejected challenges to his win by rival candidates. Prabowo, 72, a former general dogged by allegations of human rights abuses, won a landslide victory in February’s elections, but his two opponents claimed that the vote had been undermined by state interference and unfair rule changes. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

World’s billionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministers (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver £250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis ‘Why we need a global tax on billionaires’ The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise £250bn a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested. In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say a 2% tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Chicago’s infamous sidewalk ‘rat hole’ removed by officials (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
City officials made the decision after saying the sidewalk in Roscoe Village was damaged and needed to be replaced A Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents affectionately referred to as the “rat hole” has been removed after city officials decided it was damaged and needed to be replaced. The sidewalk, which had an impression that looked like the outline of a rat with claws and a tail, had been present in Chicago’s North Side neighbourhood of Roscoe Village for years. It found fresh fame in January after a Chicago comedian shared a photo on the social platform X. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Ukraine war briefing: Long-range Atacms already hitting Russian forces (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Joe Biden gave missiles to Ukraine under prior funding, after the US reportedly warned Russia against using long-range missiles in Ukraine. What we know on day 792 Atacms long-ranges missiles capable of hitting targets 300km away had already arrived in Ukraine this month at the president’s direction, before the US security package was passed by Congress on Wednesday, the state department has said. Vedant Patel, a state department spokesperson, explained that the weapons were part of a March aid package for Ukraine – not the one just approved by Congress and signed by Joe Biden. “We did not announce this at the onset in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request.” Ukraine has begun using the long-range Atacms, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area in recent days, two US officials have told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. One of them said the Biden administration previously warned Russia that if it used long-range ballistic missiles in Ukraine, Washington would provide the same capability to the Ukrainians. Russia has since done so. Separately, Adm Christopher Grady, vice-chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told the Associated Press that long-range weapons would help Ukraine take out Russian logistics and troop concentrations behind the frontlines. He explained how the decision to supply them was considered carefully and at length. “I think the time is right, and the boss [Biden] made the decision the time is right to provide these based on where the fight is right now.” Ukraine’s foreign minister has praised US politicians for approving the long-delayed $61bn military aid package for Ukraine, but said western allies needed to recognise that “the era of peace in Europe is over” and that Kyiv would inevitably need more help to fight off Russia, Dan Sabbagh and Luke Harding write from Kyiv. Ukraine has stopped issuing new passports at offices abroad to some military-aged male citizens, according to legislation published on Wednesday, as part of measures to push them to return home amid manpower shortages in the army. The announcement came a day after the suspension of consular services for men aged 18 to 60 living abroad until the new law on mobilisation is implemented. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the passport suspension applied only to new applications and that any requests previously submitted would be honoured. In Warsaw, Poland, hundreds of Ukrainians crowded outside a closed passport office in a confused scene. There was anger among those who felt they were being unfairly targeted. “This is a fight against people who are fleeing the army,” said Maksym, a 38-year-old truck driver. “We are not asked on what grounds we went abroad … Why am I a draft dodger if I went abroad legally?” Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, told AFP that “all applications submitted to the consular offices of Ukraine before April 23 … will be processed in full and passport documents will be issued to such people”. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said a group of Ukrainian children were “in Qatar for medical, mental, and social recovery”, after Russia claimed an exchange of displaced children was taking place. “All of them had previously been forcibly deported to Russia, but thanks to our friendly Qatar’s mediation efforts, they have been released,” said Zelenskiy, without addressing Russia’s claim that 48 children were involved in an exchange. Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, who is wanted for war crimes by the international criminal court, claimed Russia was handing over 29 children to Ukraine and 19 were going to Russia. Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities in western Russia, defence sources in Kyiv confirmed on Wednesday. Officials in the western Russian regions of Smolensk and Lipetsk first announced the attacks, blaming Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles for starting fires at energy sites. Another drone attack targeted the Lipetsk region further south, which houses metallurgical and pharmaceutical sites, governor Igor Artamonov said. Russian forces hit a Ukrainian drone production facility and a Ukrainian army fuel depot, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Ukraine foreign minister says west must boost defence as ‘era of peace is over’ (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Exclusive: Dmytro Kuleba hails US aid package but says allies need to increase arms production to help fight Russia Ukraine war – live updates Ukraine’s foreign minister has enthusiastically praised US politicians for approving a long-delayed $61bn military aid package for Ukraine, but said western allies needed to recognise that “the era of peace in Europe is over” and that Kyiv would inevitably need more help to fight off Russia. “Hallelujah,” Dmytro Kuleba said when asked for his reaction to Tuesday’s final vote by the US Senate. He said it had been “my belief that we would have a positive outcome”, based in part on the cultivation of religious conservatives, but the west needed to build its defence industry further. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Burkina Faso soldiers massacred 223 civilians in one day, finds rights group (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Human Rights Watch demands investigation into killings in two villages just weeks after Russian troops fly in, amid intensifying conflict Burkina Faso’s military summarily executed 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in a single day in late February, according to an investigation into one of the worst abuses by the country’s armed forces for years. The mass killings have been linked to a widening military campaign to tackle jihadist violence and happened weeks after Russian troops landed in the west African country to help improve security. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

28 Years Later: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes cast in sequel (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The new film marks the reunion of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who created 2002’s 28 Days Later starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes will star in 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle’s upcoming sequel to the classic zombie horror 28 Days Later. The new film will mark the reunion of Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who directed and wrote the 2002 original and served as executive producers on the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Tomorrow’s Freedom review – does this man know the way to peace in Israel and Palestine? (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Sombre documentary focuses on the former Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, and how he is becoming a Mandela-like figure since his imprisonment in 2002 Here is a film that offers something not generally on offer in the media: an envisioning of the future and a road map, or part of a road map, out of the present situation in Israel and Palestine. It’s about Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, an initial supporter of the 1993 and 1995 Oslo peace accords who became progressively disillusioned with the slow choreography of international consensus, and was ultimately imprisoned in 2002 for authorising deadly attacks on Israel. Barghouti’s position is not that he is innocent, but that an Israeli court has no right to try him. During the long years since, he has gone on hunger strike, been beaten and abused in captivity; his grownup children have themselves been targeted and arrested and his wife Fadwa has been repeatedly refused permission to visit him. But the film shows that something else has been happening as well: the Mandela-isation of Barghouti, a process which the Israeli forces themselves may well come to see as convenient, when in some future time they need an internationally accepted figure with whom to negotiate. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

The Tale of a Wall by Nasser Abu Srour review – a Palestinian prisoner writes (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Jailed since the first intifada, Abu Srour charts a deeply personal journey through the conflict that has defined his life Attempts to end the violence in Gaza have focused on the exchange of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. One of the many Palestinians is Nasser Abu Srour, who has been incarcerated since 1993 for his alleged involvement in the death of an Israeli intelligence officer during the first intifada. This is the fourth time the prospect of freedom has been raised, the past three ending in disappointment, even when his release was part of a 2013 peace process pledge brokered by the Obama administration. His experience might be difficult to imagine but for the extraordinary memoir he has written, translated into lyrical prose by Luke Leafgren. “This is the story of a wall that somehow chose me as the witness of what it said and did,” he begins. In a prison, walls are ever present, the single reliable feature of the world. The idea of the wall becomes a focal point for Abu Srour’s narrative, the stability to which he clings, the source of comfort and continuity. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

BBC unveils 2024 Proms lineup: Daniel Barenboim, Daleks and disco (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The 81-year-old conductor makes a rare UK visit with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, while Yo-Yo Ma, Doctor Who, Florence Welch, Sam Smith and Rule, Britannia! all feature The BBC today announces details of this summer’s Proms festival of 90 concerts over eight weeks. Daniel Barenboim will be making a rare visit, conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that he and the Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded 25 years ago. The 81-year-old conductor has almost completely stepped back from performing because of a neurological condition and has not conducted in the UK since 2019. Sir Simon Rattle, who at last year’s Proms gave his final UK performance as the London Symphony Orchestra’s music director, will be returning to the Albert Hall with his new orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony. Rattle’s orchestral home before the LSO, the Berlin Philharmonic, will give two concerts with its principal conductor Kirill Petrenko, the group’s only appearance in the UK this year. Also set to be a hot ticket is the 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who comes with the Orchestra de Paris to perform Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Dead Boy Detectives review – this fun paranormal romp will make you feel young again (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The latest Neil Gaiman story about two ghosts on the run has spells, shenanigans and supernatural horrors galore. It’s impossible not to be entertained by such escapist adventures Given the amount of exposition clunked out, the first episode of Dead Boy Detectives sure is confusing. But I think I have it worked out. There are two boys – best friends Charles (Jayden Revri) and Edwin (George Rexstrew). They are both dead – lippy Charles carked it in the 1980s, stiffly Edwardian Edwin in 1916. Somehow they are both still on Earth (though we learn that Edwin spent some time in hell before escaping) and are using their time to find souls trapped less happily here and release them. The first we meet is a maddened first world war soldier in a cursed gas mask they must slice off before Death (Kirby, formerly known as Kirby Howell-Baptiste). They always have to hide from Death lest she collect them too. They are actually dead boy detectives on the lam. Fortunately, they can jump into mirrors to escape and to travel. Charles also has a backpack that holds an infinite number of items, which is such a cheat by the creators that you can only applaud wildly. What else do you need to know? Oh, they can be hurt by iron. Iron’s a thing for them. So now, on with the show! Which is aimed at a young audience, who should love it. It whips along and, after the confusing start, finds a clairvoyant and a groove that work brilliantly. The clairvoyant, Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson, with screen presence to burn) joins the pair after they release her from a demonic possession. She can’t remember a thing about herself but has a psychic vision that tells her where a missing child is being held, surrounded by black magic and supernatural horrors. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

On Resistance Street review – lo-fi record of music’s long battle with racism (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
The Clash are the touchstone for a story that stretches back to the 50s, told in interviews with many campaigning rockers There’s no better time than now for a documentary on popular music’s role in the fight against racism and fascism. And in true punk spirit, this lo-fi indie packs in a lot of history and righteous passion for not much budget – even if, to be brutally honest, its core narrative is a very minor part of that history, centred on a bunch of ageing Clash fans. The Clash are very much the touchstone here. Motivated by musicians such as Eric Clapton echoing the National Front’s racist and anti-immigrant sentiments, Joe Strummer and co became key players in the Rock Against Racism movement in the late 70s, alongside acts including Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson and Aswad. (The 2020 doc White Riot lays out the story in more detail.) While some punk bands, such as the Sex Pistols, flirted with Nazi imagery, the Clash drew a line in the sand and stood against fascism and racism, as various musicians, writers and commentators from back in the day point out. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

From saving money to being more environmentally friendly: five reasons to buy a refurbished smartphone (Tue, 16 Apr 2024)
Buying refurbished tech might feel risky if you’ve never done it before – but we’re here to tell you, it’s the future. Here’s what you need to know ... Whether it’s eating less meat, swapping your car for a bike or saying no to single-use plastic, many of us are making lifestyle switches to live more ethically. However, fewer of us are aware of the huge environmental impact of something we use every day – our smartphone – and what we can all do to reduce it. Keen to know more? Here are five reasons why your next smartphone should be refurbished … Keep your carbon footprint in checkThe metal extraction, shipping and production that take place before a smartphone ends up in your hands create carbon emissions – and carbon emissions are the number one cause of the climate crisis. Metal mining and the manufacturing of smartphones, which predominantly take place in the global south, are also very polluting and therefore damaging to delicate ecosystems. Extending the lifespan of a smartphone can help to reduce this impact – the longer a smartphone is in use, the less damage is done to the planet. Obviously it’s not always possible to avoid needing a new phone, so this is why buying a refurbished one – and selling or recycling your old phones – is a more sustainable choice. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

A call to do good: how three inspiring community projects were supported by giffgaff and its customers (Thu, 18 Apr 2024)
Thanks to its innovative payback scheme, the giffgaff community has raised more than £1m for good causes since 2010. Here, we spotlight three projects the mobile phone provider has supported so far Community projects around the UK are bringing vital relief and support to people and animals in need. There are thousands of community organisations, charities and groups across the country offering their services around the clock, and many of them rely entirely on fundraising and donations. Fortunately, there are lots of ways we can all get involved and help out – sometimes with very little effort on our part at all. Enter the mobile phone company giffgaff. One of more than 2,000 UK companies with B Corp status, it has been certified as a company that’s dedicated to being accountable and improving its social and environmental impact – and one of the ways it ensures it’s improving its social impact at grassroots level is through its payback scheme. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

The right call: how to choose a smartphone that’s better for you – and less harmful to the planet (Tue, 16 Apr 2024)
When it comes to picking a mobile, there are many things that sway customers – from finding the best deal on the phone you want, to having full control of your bills every month. But now, consumers are increasingly looking to make a decision that considers their impact on the planet and society Unboxing a new mobile phone always feels like a thrill. But how often does getting a new phone or mobile contract make you feel like you’re doing good? As a certified B Corp, mobile network provider giffgaff comes with a host of perks that not only benefit you, but also wider society. Intrigued? Here are seven reasons why choosing giffgaff is the right call … Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Certified goodness: what does B Corp status actually mean? (Thu, 18 Apr 2024)
Phone provider giffgaff has joined the UK’s fast-growing community of B Corps thanks to its responsible practices. Julianne Robertson takes a closer look at this badge of honour and asks: what difference does it make to me and my mobile? Did you know that giffgaff is an ancient Scottish word that means “mutual giving”? You thought it was a made-up, catchy brand name, didn’t you? Well, it turns out that the business is giffgaff by name, giffgaff by nature. Now a certified B Corp, giffgaff is legally accountable for its impact on people and the planet, which is locked into the DNA of the company. In other words, it’s committed to being “up to good”. Now you’re nodding sagely. Yes, B Corp. Very cool. But, in fact, maybe you don’t really know what a B Corp is. If that’s the case, you’re in the right place. Here’s everything you need to know … Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Caring for the elderly? Not with Saga’s 220% price hike (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Nothing had changed for contents insurance on my London flat but it raised the renewal from £78 to £251 I am 92 and live in a fifth-floor flat. The block is very secure, with a concierge and fobs for access to each floor. Last year I insured the contents of my home against fire and flood only, with Saga, for £78 (the building is insured by Islington council for £10 a month). Nothing has changed; but this year my renewal quote is £251. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this huge rise. I thought Saga was an organisation that cared for elderly people. Apparently not. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

A moment that changed me: joyriders destroyed my van in New Zealand – which led to a lovely life in London (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Without the van, my husband and I had no urgent reason to live in Wellington. The short European adventure we had planned soon became much more One evening in 2008, a group of joyriders stole our van, named The Colombian, from a street outside Wellington, New Zealand. My sister-in-law was the first to notice and she alerted her husband, Ant, who immediately drove off in search of it. When he spotted the van parked on the beach, he called the police, who then gave chase as it drove off. After running a few red lights, the joyriders lost control and smashed into a building. The front of the van was crushed in on both sides and the driver’s door was ripped clean off. We woke to an email from Ant titled “RIP The Colombian”, detailing the ordeal he’d been through the night before while my husband, Dave, and I slept peacefully in our flat in Bogotá, Colombia. The police caught the six joyriders – three girls in the front and three boys rattling around in the back. “No criminals were hurt in the making of this drama” were, thankfully, the last words of the email. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘I may be a troll but I’m not stupid’: super-stan Harry Daniels on singing loudly at Biden, Dua Lipa and Anna Wintour for clout (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Harry Daniels’s TikToks of him singing awkwardly at stars alternate between trolling and displays of love for celebrities – but how does he do it? Billie Eilish has run from him. Doja Cat stopped her security detail to allow for a sidewalk serenade of Paint the Town Red. Charli XCX let him sing a few bars from I Got It before telling him “You need to work on it,” turning on her heel, and strutting back to her car. Harry Daniels stakes out celebrities such as Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding – and, uh, Joe Biden – and serenades them while filming their responses for TikTok. Most of these interactions appear spontaneous, as if the celebrities are genuinely surprised to be accosted by a 20-year-old man singing at them, usually terribly and oftentimes with their own songs. When Daniels found Jacob Elordi at a restaurant, the Saltburn star stayed across the room next to a bodyguard-type, looking amused but slightly wary as Daniels crooned Murder on the Dancefloor his way. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Time is your most precious commodity. Can you ever get it back? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Teacher and artist Isabel Manley reflects on how the modern world warped our relationship to time – and how we can begin to rethink it Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

How to make the perfect huevos rancheros – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect … (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
This favourite Mexican brunch dish may be only egg, tortilla, salsa and maybe a few beans, but it’s much more than the sum of its parts Huevos rancheros, or ranch-style eggs, is, according to the world’s most popular free encyclopedia, a tribute to the generous mid-morning meals served on Mexican farms; or, more succinctly, in the words of food writer Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, “Mexico’s favourite egg dish”. I suspect it’s among America’s most popular breakfasts, too, not least because, as chef Enrique Olvera observes, “it is so simple – tortilla, egg, salsa – and yet so satisfying”. That said, what’s simple in the Mexican kitchen, in which cooked beans, salsa and corn tortillas are everyday staples, is likely to be slightly more involved in the likes of the UK, where a little more advanced planning is needed. Given how many great Mexican meals involve all of the above, I’d suggest preparing a feast, and using the leftovers to soak up any tequila still hanging around behind the eyeballs the next morning. Huevos rancheros is a killer hangover cure, or so I’m reliably informed. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Rail route of the month: vines on the line from Avignon to Lyon, France (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Our slow travel expert takes the train through the Rhône’s wine country, hoping for grand cru views and a glass of Condrieu Trains and wine make natural partners, be it a glass of crisp white over a leisurely lunch in a restaurant car while cruising through the Alps or a rail itinerary that meanders through a region noted for its fine wines. Many of Europe’s most prized wine regions lend themselves naturally to exploration by rail. Take the train from São Bento station in Porto to Pocinho, for example, for fine views of the estates that have underpinned the port trade. Other classic European wine regions where trains weave through vineyards include Tokay in Hungary, Germany’s Moselle valley, the Ebro valley in Spain (for fine Rioja) and Switzerland’s Lavaux region where one grand cru white, made from Chasselas grapes, even plays up the rail connection: the Massy family’s classy Dézaley is called Chemin de Fer. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Share your memories of former Labour minister Frank Field (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We would like to hear from people on whose lives the welfare campaigner had an impact As figures from across the political spectrum have paid tributes to the former Labour minister and welfare campaigner Frank Field, we would like to hear from people on whose lives he had an impact. We would like to hear your memories of Field – whether you met him, worked with him, or if his work changed your life in some way. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Tell us: what’s your favourite everyday gadget? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We would like to hear about your favourite, most useful everyday utensil What’s your favourite, most useful everyday gadget? It could be a much-used kitchen gizmo, a tool for your daily beauty routine that you can’t live without, or a piece of kit that makes your day-to-day life easier: anything small, genuinely useful, and inexpensive to buy (nothing over £20). Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Carers in the UK: have you been threatened with prosecution for benefit fraud? (Mon, 08 Apr 2024)
We’d like to hear from carers in the UK who have been investigated for alleged benefit fraud by the DWP Tens of thousands of unpaid carers looking after disabled, frail or ill relatives are being forced to repay huge sums to the government and threatened with criminal prosecution after unwittingly breaching earnings rules by just a few pounds a week. People who claim the £81.90-a-week carer’s allowance for looking after loved ones while working part-time are being forced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to pay back money that has been erroneously overpaid to them, in some cases running to more than £20,000, or risk going to prison. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Share your experience of accessing private medical care in the UK (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We would like to hear from those who have undergone an operation, or other medical treatment, privately in the UK We want to learn more about the experiences of people in the UK who have accessed private health treatment for the first time recently. Did you undergo an operation or medical treatment privately? How much did it cost? Why did you decide to do it privately? How was the experience? You can see an article that included respondents to this callout here. You can contribute to open Community callouts here or Share a story here. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Rapunzel reimagined: the women retelling fairytales to challenge notions of perfection (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
And They Lived … Ever After is a south Asian book of reworked European classics written by women with disabilities A deaf Snow White, a blind Cinderella, a neurodivergent ugly duckling and a wheelchair-using Rapunzel: classic European fairytales have been reimagined in a new anthropology of stories written by south Asian women with disabilities. “When disabled people don’t see themselves in the world, it tells us that we don’t deserve to exist, that these stories are not for us, that stories of love and friendship are not for us, and certainly not happy endings,” says Nidhi Ashok Goyal, the founder of Rising Flame, a feminist disability rights group that has produced the book, called And They Lived … Ever After. “I can’t. There is no ramp from the room to the garden.” “We will find a way. I can carry you down,” says the prince. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

How the National Enquirer boosted Trump and smeared his opponents: ‘The only choice for president’ (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
A New York court has heard how the tabloid deployed a practice known as ‘catch and kill’ to aid Trump in 2016 US politics – latest updates A New York court has heard evidence of how Donald Trump’s long and tumultuous journey to secure the Republican nomination – and later the presidency – was aided by a US tabloid known for printing gory pictures of murder scenes and questionable journalistic ethics. Testimony from David Pecker revealed how the former publisher of the National Enquirer had pledged to be Trump’s “eyes and ears” during his 2016 presidential campaign. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Why is US threatening to ban TikTok and will other countries follow suit? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Joe Biden signs into law bill requiring Chinese owner to sell app’s US operations Senate passes bill banning TikTok if owner does not sell it Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that requires TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the social media app’s US operations or face a ban, after the Senate passed the legislation. The law, part of a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sets the clock ticking on a potential ban for a platform that is hugely popular in the US. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘People would never forget these shoes’: the fight to preserve soles of Stutthof Nazi camp (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Footwear from the regime’s concentration camps ended up at the Polish base, and campaigners want them to be salvaged At the foot of a pine tree, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski bent to touch the black, moist shapes nestling amid the fungi and leaf mulch. “I’ve been monitoring this area now since 2015, and always hope I won’t stumble upon anything any more and that one day the entire area will have been cleared,” he said. This, however, was not that day. The 39-year-old poet, scholar and rock musician was walking in the forest just metres from the perimeter fence of what was once the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp in the German-annexed territory of Poland, and is now a memorial site in Sztutowo, a village 24 miles (38km) east of Gdańsk on the Baltic coast. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying EU trees and crops (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
From ancient olive groves to root vegetables, foreign pests introduced via the bloc’s open import system are causing damage worth billions – and outbreaks are on the rise The plants slowly choke to death, wither and dry out. They die en masse, leaves dropping and bark turning grey, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first discovered Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, it has killed a third of the region’s 60 million olive trees – which once produced almost half of Italy’s olive oil – many of which were centuries old. Farms stopped producing, olive mills went bankrupt and tourists avoided the area. With no known cure, the bacterium has already caused damage costing about €1bn. “The greatest part of the territory was completely destroyed,” says Donato Boscia, a plant virologist and head researcher on Xylella at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection in Bari. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

How soon can Tesla get its more affordable car to market? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Shares jump after carmaker says it is looking to accelerate production of lower-price EVs Tesla sees biggest revenue drop since 2012 but shares still surge Electric and hybrid car sales to rise to new global record in 2024 Tesla’s plans to bring a more affordable electric vehicle to the market appear to have moved a step closer. On Tuesday, the company’s share price shot up by 12% after an update revealed the carmaker was hoping to accelerate the production of lower-priced EVs, with production of the first cars beginning as early as this year. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘He made politics human’: Birkenhead mourns beloved MP Frank Field (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
At community centre where politician would make himself at home, there is gratitude for his work and sadness at his death In a community cafe in Rock Ferry, one of the most deprived parts of Wirral, a landline phone connected directly to Frank Field’s Westminster office. It was an ever-present link to the area’s veteran MP – not that they needed it. Field, who represented Birkenhead for 40 years, could often be found mingling with residents in the Neo Community centre, where he would make himself at home, even down to washing the dishes. Volunteers knew they were in for a long chat if he said: “Shall we have a butty?” Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

‘In the US they think we’re communists!’ The 70,000 workers showing the world another way to earn a living (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the globe’s largest industrial co-operative, with workers paying for the right to share in its profits – and its losses. In return for giving more to their employer, they expect more back When Marisa Fernández lost her husband to cancer a few years ago, her employers at the Eroski hypermarket went, she says, “above and beyond to help me through the dark days afterwards, rejigging my timetable and giving me time off when I couldn’t face coming in.” She had a chance to return the favour recently when the store, in Arrasate-Mondragón in Spain’s Basque Country, was undergoing renovations. Fernández, 58, who started on the cashier desk 34 years ago, and now manages the store’s non-food section, volunteered to work extra shifts over the weekend along with her colleagues to ensure everything was ready for Monday morning. “It’s not just me. Everyone is ready to go the extra mile,” she says. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Tommy Nicol was kind and friendly – a beloved brother. Why did he die in prison on a ‘99-year’ sentence? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
His sister says the only person he ever presented a serious threat to was himself, yet he was given an indeterminate sentence for stealing a car. The psychological torture was impossible to endure When Tommy Nicol told his sister Donna Mooney about his prison sentence, she didn’t believe him. It was May 2009 and he had stolen yet another car. Nicol was a petty criminal, always nicking motors, and was rarely out of jail. “He said: ‘They’ve given me a 99-year sentence.’ I said: ‘That’s ridiculous.’ I thought he was confused.” Over the next few years, Nicol occasionally mentioned the sentence in letters to Mooney and asked her to look into it. She admits she didn’t give it much thought at the time. In 2015, Nicol killed himself in prison. He was 37. It was only then that Mooney discovered he had been right all along. Nicol had a four-year tariff (the minimum amount of time he could serve in jail) and an indeterminate sentence, known as imprisonment for public protection. IPP is also called a 99-year sentence because people serving one can, technically, be jailed for 99 years. When they are released, it is on a 99-year licence, which means they can be recalled to prison at any time in their life for even minor breaches, such as being late for a probation appointment (although the Parole Board will consider whether to terminate the licence 10 years after first release). Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

London Marathon ‘wine guy’ on how he sampled 25 wines during race (Tue, 23 Apr 2024)
Vintner Tom Gilbey raised more than £13,000 for hospice charity with challenge that went viral on social media A wine merchant who blind tasted a different glass of wine at each mile of the London Marathon has said he feels “honoured” his challenge went viral on social media, as he surpassed his fundraising target. Tom Gilbey, nicknamed “the wine guy”, sampled 25 glasses of wine during the race, stopping to guess the drink’s grape variety, country of origin and vintage at each mile. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Our lives in the UK asylum system: 'the power of fear' – video (Thu, 28 Mar 2024)
The Guardian has been working with a group of community reporters in Rochdale and Oldham who wanted to highlight the realities for women in the asylum system across Greater Manchester. Supported by the Elephants Trail, the group met women stuck in the asylum backlog, women traumatised by detention and women struggling to find housing. They were all volunteering in their communities, while reckoning with a hostile climate towards refugees and asylum seekers. This film is part of a collaborative video series called Made in Britain Britain's broken welfare system is leaving our community on the brink Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Gaza medics pull baby from womb of mother killed in Israeli airstrike – video (Mon, 22 Apr 2024)
Doctors have delivered a baby via an emergency caesarean section on a Palestinian woman who was killed in an Israeli attack in the southern city of Rafah. Health officials said Sabreen al-Sakani had been 30 weeks' pregnant when she was killed alongside her husband and young daughter. The head of the neonatal unit, Mohammed Salama, said the baby, who weighed 1.4kg, was in a stable condition and improving. More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have crowded into Rafah, seeking shelter from Israeli bombardment Middle East crisis – live updates Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Southern China is inundated by floods – video report (Mon, 22 Apr 2024)
Floods have swamped a number of cities in the densely populated Pearl River delta after record-breaking rains. Precipitation records for April have already been broken in many parts of Guangdong, leaving large areas of the province underwater. State media have released footage showing rescue and cleanup operations under way. Further footage shows a car getting swept away by rushing water and a bridge in Guangdong province collapsing Millions at risk of floods in China’s Guangdong province after heavy rain Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Why Prague's homeless are resorting to poverty tourism – video (Thu, 18 Apr 2024)
Homelessness is on the rise globally, and the Czech Republic has the highest rate in central and eastern Europe. The Guardian visited Prague, for a long time a popular destination for tourists, to see how even this sector caters for the city’s visitors - and to meet the range of people aiming to tackle the causes of homelessness in all its forms. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

How cruise ships became a catastrophe for the planet – video (Thu, 07 Mar 2024)
Cruising is booming – 2023 ticket sales have surpassed historic levels and 2024 has seen the launch of the largest cruise ship ever built. But as cruise tourism's popularity has increased, so have the pollution problems it brings. To customers, it may not be evident that any problems exist, since some cruise line companies claim to be becoming more climate-friendly. But the truth can be quite different. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates what impact the world's biggest ships are having on the planet ‘Biggest, baddest’ – but is it the cleanest? World’s largest cruise ship sets sail ‘A good cruise is one that doesn’t come’: Europe’s ports bear brunt of ship pollution Shipping’s dirty secret: how ‘scrubbers’ clean the air – while contaminating the sea Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Dolphins ride wave with surfing champion Gabriela Bryan at Margaret River Pro – video (Mon, 22 Apr 2024)
Hawaiian surfer Gabriela Bryan shared a wave with a pod of dolphins as she won her first WSL tour event over Californian rookie Sawyer Lindblad in pumping surf at the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia on Sunday ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube Sally Fitzgibbons relegated again after missing mid-season cut at Margaret River Pro Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

From birds, to cattle, to … us? Could bird flu be the next pandemic? – podcast (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
As bird flu is confirmed in 33 cattle herds across eight US states, Ian Sample talks to virologist Dr Ed Hutchinson of Glasgow University about why this development has taken scientists by surprise, and how prepared we are for the possibility it might start spreading among humans Read more Guardian reporting on this topic Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Arsenal thrash Chelsea and a Football League update – Football Weekly (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ben Fisher, Sanny Rudravajhala and George Elek as Arsenal beat Chelsea 5-0 and to run through the EFL as those divisions reach a conclusion in the coming weeks Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email. On the podcast today; Arsenal keep pace at the top of the Premier League – were they brilliant or are Chelsea inexcusably bad? It’s probably a touch of both. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Could a row over a council house bring down Angela Rayner? – podcast (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Keir Starmer’s deputy is facing questions over the sale of her former home. But do voters care? Gaby Hinsliff reports Angela Rayner has been facing questions from the Conservatives over her former council house, which she sold before she became an MP. They are asking if she paid capital gains tax, what council tax she paid and even if she committed electoral fraud. Rayner has denied doing anything wrong, and the amounts of money involved are hardly eye-watering – but could it still damage her? The police have launched an investigation but to many onlookers it is not clear what exactly they are looking into. The Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff looks at how the allegations against Rayner stack up, and how they compare with other recent political financial scandals. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

From the archive: How Hindu supremacists are tearing India apart – podcast (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: For seven decades, India has been held together by its constitution, which promises equality to all. But Narendra Modi’s BJP is remaking the nation into one where some people count as more Indian than others. By Samanth Subramanian Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

An episode from Women’s Football Weekly – Fifpro exclusive interview (Tue, 23 Apr 2024)
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack for an exclusive interview with Fifpro representatives Sarah Gregorius and Alex Culvin, plus Dutch International player, Merel van Dongen, to discuss how the number of games elite athletes are playing is impacting them on and off the pitch. Also, Sophie Downey joins to round up all the weekend’s action in the Champion’s League and WSL From our sister pod today; the panel brings you an exclusive interview with representatives from the global players’ union – Fifpro – who, alongside Netherlands defender Merel van Dongen, share their views on how the number of games elite athletes are playing is impacting them on and off the pitch. The panel also discusses Chelsea’s inspired Champions League win, Manchester City retaking the lead in the WSL, Arsenal securing European football, Palace on the brink of lifting the Championship and Lewes’s relegation … If you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe to Women’s Football Weekly to keep informed about the biggest stories in the global game. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Fifpro exclusive interview and Chelsea stifle Barça – Women’s Football Weekly (Tue, 23 Apr 2024)
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack for an interview with Fifpro representatives, Sarah Gregorius and Alex Culvin, plus Dutch international, Merel van Dongen, to discuss how footballers are being affected by the packed schedule. Also, Sophie Downey rounds up the weekend action in the Champion’s League and WSL Today’s pod features an exclusive interview with representatives from the global players’ union, Fifpro, who, alongside the Netherlands defender Merel van Dongen, share their views on how footballers are being affected by the packed schedule. The panel also discuss Chelsea's inspired Champions League win against Barcelona, Manchester City retaking the WSL lead, Arsenal securing European football, Palace's Championship title charge and relegation for Lewes … Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Hardwired to eat: what can our dogs teach us about obesity? – podcast (Tue, 23 Apr 2024)
Labradors are known for being greedy dogs, and now scientists have come up with a theory about the genetic factors that might be behind their behaviour. Science correspondent and flat-coated retriever owner Nicola Davis visits Cambridge University to meet Dr Eleanor Raffan and Prof Giles Yeo to find out how understanding this pathway could help us treat the obesity crisis in humans Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Sign up for the Fashion Statement newsletter: our free fashion email (Tue, 20 Sep 2022)
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Sign up for the Guardian Documentaries newsletter: our free short film email (Fri, 02 Sep 2016)
Be the first to see our latest thought-provoking films, bringing you bold and original storytelling from around the world Discover the stories behind our latest short films, learn more about our international film-makers, and join us for exclusive documentary events. We’ll also share a selection of our favourite films, from our archives and from further afield, for you to enjoy. Sign up below. Can’t wait for the next newsletter? Start exploring our archive now. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Guardian Traveller newsletter: Sign up for our free holidays email (Wed, 12 Oct 2022)
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email (Tue, 09 Jul 2019)
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner. Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Outlaw attitude: skaters, saunas and spontaneous stripping – in pictures (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Magdalena Wosinska spent the 1990s hanging out with bands, skateboarders and whoever else crossed her path. These photos capture blissful free spirits Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

A littler splash and a Cuban mystery – readers’ best photos (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

A kite festival and horses bolt in London: photos of the day – Wednesday (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

The photography studio with four wheels and a sunroof: Adali Schell’s best shot (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
‘The sun trickled in just as we were coming down the mountain. When I looked back at Victoria and Keni, the wind was rustling their clothes and hair. I was screaming because it was so beautiful!’ Los Angeles is a city dominated by cars. Neighbourhoods are divided by highways that were constructed to cut certain communities off. The idea that LA is a superficial place arose from each of us being in our own automobile bubble, not having face-to-face interactions. As a photographer, I always felt stifled in the car. I had an itch to be outside. But I was thinking about how I could use the car as part of my work. Eventually I realised it could be a mobile studio, with sunroof, windows, tail and headlights. I drive a 1983 Mercedes that was my dad’s for 20 years. I bought it off him two years ago. It runs on vegetable oil that I “dumpster dive” for, from restaurants throughout LA. So not only am I driving for free through the city, I’m also producing fewer emissions. It’s my way of surviving in a car-centred society. There are so many examples of really, really good car photos: Mike Mandel’s shots of people driving cars, Henry Wessel’s work on traffic, Nan Goldin’s Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, NYC, Bruce Davidson’s couple intertwined in the back of a car. I intentionally wanted to address that American tradition, but making it about the inside more than the outside of the car – the vehicle is the destination. Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

US campus protests over Israel-Gaza war – in pictures (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Some of America’s most prestigious universities have been rocked by demonstrations as students take over quads and disrupt campus activities, protesting over the war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite

Subways, sphinxes and the Stones: highlights from NYC’s Photography Show – in pictures (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
A cover shoot for New York magazine and the subversive work of Lee Miller join a selection from top galleries at Aipad’s photography bonanza Continue reading...
>> Lire la suite