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Israel ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack as 7 October anniversary looms
Military also ordering civilians in two Gaza camps to evacuate, while operations in Lebanon continue to ramp upMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli military is expanding its operations on multiple fronts around the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Monday, including planning for a “significant and serious” retaliation against Iran for last week’s large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel.Signs of imminent Israeli retaliation against Iran came as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, called for an international embargo on arms delivered to Israel for use against Gaza, where authorities say more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s year long assault. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:57:42
‘They have him by the balls’: senior Tories warn Robert Jenrick will be at mercy of ‘Braverman right’ as leader
Party figures say frontrunner will be brought down by the right if he tries to move to more moderate groundRobert Jenrick will be toppled by the Tory party’s right wing should he attempt to pivot to the centre ground if installed as leader, senior Conservatives have warned.Jenrick, who remains the frontrunner for the job after the party’s conference in Birmingham, has won support from the right with a series of uncompromising stances. He has said he would welcome Nigel Farage into the party, leave the European convention on human rights and vote for Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 12:00:23
Hundreds join silent march in France in support of Gisèle Pelicot
Women and men march in village where Pelicot’s husband is accused of drugging her and inviting men to assault herA silent march took place in support of Gisèle Pelicot and other female victims of sexual violence on Saturday in Mazan, the village where Pelicot’s husband is accused of drugging her and inviting more than 80 men to assault her at their home.Hundreds of women and men turned out in solidarity with the woman at the centre of a case that has shocked the world. Members of the Pelicot family did not attend but said they appreciated the public support. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 14:57:45
UK ‘resolutely committed’ to its overseas territories, says foreign minister
Stephen Doughty’s remarks come as Argentina vows to gain ‘full sovereignty’ of Falkland IslandsThe UK is “resolutely committed” to all of its overseas territories, the responsible foreign minister said, after Argentina vowed to gain “full sovereignty” of the Falkland Islands.Stephen Doughty said on Saturday that the sovereignty of the territories is “not up for negotiation”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 18:22:21
Arab spring dreams in ruins as Tunisia goes to polls against backdrop of repression
Critics of incumbent Kais Saied say he has increasingly bent the country’s institutions to his willTunisia will hold a presidential election on Sunday against the backdrop of a crackdown on dissent and human rights violations committed against undocumented migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.The incumbent, Kais Saied, whose most prominent critics are behind bars, is expected to sail to an easy win after a campaign with few rallies and public debates, marking a significant step back for a country that long prided itself as the birthplace of the Arab spring uprisings of 2011. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:00:22
Elon Musk to attend Pennsylvania rally with Donald Trump months after assassination attempt – live
Tech billionaire and ex-president to join family of Corey Comperatore, rally-goer who was killed when gunman fired at TrumpAs the Trump and Harris campaigns host events across the country today – now one month before the 5 November election – the Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring. We will update our averages once a week, or more if there is major news.As the Guardian’s Sam Levine writes today:With her highest national polling average since July, Harris is now leading in five of seven key swing states. Nationally, the Guardian’s tracker shows Harris with 49.3% of the vote, compared with 46% for Trump. The election is a month away, and already an estimated 1.4 million Americans have voted as of midday on Friday.The race is still extremely close. The simplest path to collecting the 270 electoral votes needed to win is still the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. While Harris leads Trump in all three according to the Guardian’s analysis (Pennsylvania by 1.2 points, Michigan by 0.1 points and Wisconsin by 2.2 points), those advantages are quite slim. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 18:30:18
Mpox vaccination begins in DRC after 859 die this year
World Health Organization declared outbreak in central and east Africa a global emergency two months agoAuthorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun vaccination against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread to several countries was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.Some of the 265,000 doses donated to the DRC by the EU and the US were administered in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:36:47
Child ‘trampled’ to death among fatalities on Channel boat, says French minister
Young child reportedly found on overcrowded boat trying to cross Channel, hours after G7 countries agree plan to combat smuggling gangsA two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to cross the Channel from France on Saturday.French authorities said the infant died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among migrants trying to board a dinghy. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 16:00:13
Hugh Grant says fourth Bridget Jones film will be ‘funny but very sad’
Actor reprises character of Daniel Cleaver but says he won’t play role of ‘60-year-old wandering around looking at young girls’It is a universally acknowledged truth that Bridget Jones films are packed with humour and comedic scenes that attract viewers in their droves.However, in a slight departure, Hugh Grant has revealed that the fourth film in the series will also be “very sad”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:59:32
Keanu Reeves spins out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in pro racing debut
Reeves, 60, ran as high as 21st in Toyota GR CupMatrix star to run in second race on SundayHollywood star Keanu Reeves made his professional auto racing debut on Saturday in an event in which The Matrix star spun out at famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Reeves spun into the grass without a collision on the exit of turn nine a little more than halfway through the 45-minute race. He re-entered and continued driving, signaling he was uninjured. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:32:21
‘There is a sense of safety here’: the artists keeping culture alive in Kharkiv
War has created a ‘new era of collaboration’ among the Ukrainian city’s creatives, with artists, poets and curators working togetherPeople living in the frontline Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have been close enough to death to look it in the eye – and make some kind of peace with its proximity. These are the hardcore ones, equipped “with nerves of steel” according to Nataliia Ivanova, the director of the Yermilov Centre, the city’s contemporary art gallery.Daily life in Kharkiv. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 09:00:21
At 12 she was abused by a friend’s father. Police told her parents she was asleep so there was no need to let her know. The problem? They were wrong …
Franky Dean’s story highlights the moral dilemmas of crimes with ‘unknowing victims’A year ago, Franky Dean, a 24-year-old documentary film-making master’s student, decided to make a phone call she’d been avoiding nearly half her life. She was sitting in a dark computer room in New York University’s journalism institute in Manhattan when she FaceTimed her parents. They were in the living room at her home in the UK, where she grew up. Franky told them she’d just filed a police report about something that had happened more than a decade earlier. When Franky was 12, she had been sexually abused by a close friend’s dad.Franky stared at her phone. For a moment, her parents didn’t say anything. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 09:00:18
How Israel has made trauma a weapon of war
A year later, memorials to the 7 October attacks use art, virtual reality and dark tourism to stir support for limitless violence. But there is a different way to remember Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 12:00:22
‘It felt like death was chasing us’: one Gaza family’s attempt to evade Israeli strikes – visualised
The artist Maisara Baroud and his family have been displaced 12 times since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. In pictures and words, he describes their journey and the impact of the fightingThe artist Maisara Baroud never found living in Gaza easy. The Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed in 2007 after Hamas’s violent takeover of the territory, was suffocating, and Rimal, his middle-class neighbourhood in Gaza City, had not been spared from airstrikes in the previous wars with Israel.Despite everything, he said, his family worked hard to establish a simple, quiet existence after being expelled from their village in what is now Israel in 1948. Baroud, 48, was a lecturer in the fine arts department at Al-Aqsa University, and he, his wife, Khansa, 47, and children Rita, 21, Ilya, 18, and Maria, 14, lived in a flat in the large family building shared with his mother, his siblings and their children. A docile cat and several songbirds completed their home life. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 07:00:17
One year in Israel since the 7 October attack – photo essay
Photographer for Getty Images Amir Levy talks about some of his most powerful images taken throughout the year since the 7 October attack by HamasI am an Israeli-American photojournalist with 15 years of experience, but nothing could have fully prepared me for the past year. I’ve been covering the Gaza and Lebanon borders and other breaking news every day since the 7 October attack for Getty Images, witnessing and capturing the raw emotions and human toll of the conflict. Balancing the intensity of documenting war while raising two children with my partner has been both emotionally and mentally demanding. Every shot I take feels like a personal responsibility — to tell the stories of those caught in the conflict, while also protecting my own family from its harsh realities.On the morning of 7 October, my family and I were scheduled to hold a memorial event for my wife’s father in our garden. Everything was prepared the night before. We woke up on Saturday, grabbed our phones, and were stunned by what we saw: alarms ringing across vast areas of the country and vague rumours of events unfolding at the Gaza border. It quickly became clear that we needed to cancel the event. I hurriedly packed up my equipment and set out. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 07:00:19
‘Time stopped here on 7 October’: life in kibbutz that endured unimaginable loss one year ago
Nir Oz, a ‘paradise’ now inhabited by just two people, sustained the most damage and bloodshed per capita in Hamas attackPost is no longer delivered to Nir Oz kibbutz; the lights in the mailroom are off, and the floor is gathering dust. Many of the metal boxes bearing each family’s name now have new labels: red and black stickers that say “killed” or “hostage”.Natan Bahat, 82, knew nothing would be waiting for him, but half-heartedly checked his postbox anyway. “Time stopped here on 7 October,” he said. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 11:00:07
One year in Gaza since the 7 October attack – photo essay
The Gaza-based Anadolu Agency photographer Ali Jadallah talks about some of the most powerful images he has taken in the year since the 7 October attack by Hamas that triggered the Gaza warWarning: graphic content, including deathAli Jadallah is a Palestinian photojournalist based in Gaza who has worked for Anadolu Agency since 2012. He has documented the Israel-Gaza war from its beginning in the face of immense challenges. Jadallah has won several international and local awards for his pictures. He has lost four relatives in Israeli attacks on Gaza. He continues to cover the war in the region.This was at the beginning of the war, one of the first photos I took, and it left a lasting impact on me. It was a deeply shocking image and, as I captured it, I felt an overwhelming fear – terrified that it could be one of my own family members in the place of the injured man. That fear gripped me entirely, and to this day I still don’t fully understand how I managed to continue taking those photos. It felt as though every click of the camera was an act of documentation and a way to shield myself from the terrifying possibility of personal loss. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 07:00:20
Cuddling too much and doing it after dinner: 12 ways you could be ruining your sex life – and how to fix them
Not quite at it like rabbits? From trying to be too adventurous to dogs on the bed, experts on the habits you didn’t realise were spoiling your sex life – and how to improve it“Studies show that clutter kills libido. A messy and disorganised space can cause stress, which is not good for our sex life,” says sex educator Portia Brown. “You may find yourself thinking, ‘Why haven’t I put away that laundry?’ instead of focusing on pleasure.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 07:00:21
Discovered: a lost possible inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway
A painting by Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell that went missing for 60 years will go on show in London in NovemberClarissa Dalloway, the heroine of one of Virginia Woolf’s best-loved novels, is “always giving parties to cover the silence”. The story, Mrs Dalloway, closely follows a London society hostess as she prepares for an evening of sharing her hospitality while quietly battling a depressive illness. After Woolf’s tragic suicide in 1941, the novel’s theme acquired a sombre significance.Now an enigmatic painting, one that had gone missing for 60 years and which is intimately linked to the book, has come to light. The picture, painted by Woolf’s sister, the artist Vanessa Bell, was given to Woolf just before she began to write early drafts of Mrs Dalloway, and is now to go on public display for the first time in almost 100 years. It depicts the glamorous guests at a party much like the occasion at the centre of Woolf’s novel. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:11:09
‘I’m looking for a man in finance … and a gilet’: the rise of banker bro fashion
Return of hit TV series Industry brings sleeveless garment back into the spotlight and may even have boosted sales“I’m looking for a man in finance. Trust fund, 6ft 5, blue eyes.” The lyrics to Man in Finance, the earworm hit song about bankers that took over airwaves earlier this year, could also have added: wearing a gilet.Also known as the “finance bro vest” or “City boy gilet”, the sleeveless layer is in the spotlight this month thanks to the return of Industry to our TV screens. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 14:00:26
Fatima Whitbread: ‘I was abandoned as a baby, but I’m one of the lucky ones’
The world champion javelin-thrower talks about growing up in care and the love of her foster family – and how sport was her saviourI was abandoned as a baby and left to die in our flat. A neighbour heard me crying and called the police, who broke down the door and rescued me. I spent the next 14 years living in institutions, among other traumatised children. Because of the love from my foster family and my passion for sport, I count myself one of the lucky ones.Not a lot has improved in the care system. Governments come and go, kicking the same tin can down the road. It’s impossible to believe that the sixth largest economy in the world struggles to look after young people suffering through no fault of their own. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:00:24
Never-ending odyssey: the rise of perpetual cruises that offer the very wealthy a new home at sea
After numerous delays, the Odyssey finally sets sail from Belfast for three-and- a-half years – but what drives people to spend a fortune living full-time on luxury liners?On 13 March 2020 a cruise ship called the Braemar was denied entry to the Bahamas after a number of its passengers tested positive for Covid. Forced to travel around the Caribbean, it was finally accepted by Cuba, from where those on board were evacuated to the UK.The Braemar was just one of a number of cruise ships in which passengers found themselves quarantined at sea in those uncertain days. The Diamond Princess was stuck for a month anchored in Japan as the virus ripped through it, leaving more than 700 infected and nine dead. Another ship, the Ruby Princess, had 28 deaths. It was a nautical horror show. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:12:33
‘I can’t do gore and I’m not a gamer’: Ella Purnell on being an unlikely scream queen
From Yellowjackets to Fallout and now murderous new drama Sweetpea, the British actor is killing it. But behind all the grisly roles, she’s really sweet ... honestAll Ella Purnell ever wanted to do was write children’s books about magical trees and talking ducks and happy bunny rabbits, and instead here she is chainsawing a man’s head off in a radioactive wasteland. Or freezing to death in the wilderness and being eaten by her closest friends. Or being so traumatised by school bullies that she takes up serial killing, slaughtering victims with her dead dad’s treasured pocketknife.It might not be exactly what Purnell had in mind for her 20s, but spending the past few years committing, and being subject to, acts of stomach-churning violence has certainly had its upsides: the Londoner is now on the brink of TV superstardom. Purnell has been on a steep trajectory since 2021, when she appeared in hit US drama Yellowjackets as the prom queen captain of a New Jersey high school football team left stranded in a Canadian forest after a plane crash (think Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies). In April, she starred in Amazon’s sensationally successful video game adaptation Fallout as Lucy MacLean, a vault dweller in a post-nuclear apocalypse United States who surfaces to search for her kidnapped father (the series attracted 65 million viewers in its first 16 days of release, and helped Purnell accumulate 1.4 million Instagram followers). Now, the 28-year-old is returning to the UK for more viscerally disturbing action. In new Sky Atlantic thriller Sweetpea, she plays Rhiannon Lewis, a receptionist whose mounting fury at being walked all over eventually erupts into a murderous spree. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 10:55:21
On my radar: Armando Iannucci’s cultural highlights
The satirist and director on Scottish landscapes, falling asleep with his favourite podcast, and why he’s fascinated by Elon Musk’s X feedArmando Iannucci was born in Glasgow in 1963. He began making satirical comedy programmes for the BBC in the early 1990s, producing On the Hour and co-creating The Day Today. He was central to the success of Alan Partridge with Steve Coogan. Other Iannucci creations include The Thick of It, Veep and The Death of Stalin. Now he has co-adapted Dr Strangelove for the stage featuring Coogan in multiple roles – it runs at the Noël Coward theatre from 8 October to 25 January. Iannucci lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, Rachel Jones, with whom he has three children. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 14:00:24
Leon Bridges: Leon review – deliciously soulful confection with added country
(Columbia)The musician’s emotional fourth album borrows liberally from the past but the themes are modern and the sound utterly timelessWhen poet of the pillowcase Leon Bridges was promoting his Gold-Diggers Sound album in 2021, he told the Guardian he wanted to become one of the few black artists making country music. “All I need is time,” he said. Well, time is always running away, and black country has since gone mainstream without Bridges’s input.Black country star Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy) was the American song of the summer. Still No 1 in the US singles charts after 12 weeks, it’s also topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for the past four months. Shaboozey is the only black man allowed to head the country chart in its 80-year history – Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road was excluded for reasons too racist to list here – and only the second black artist, after Beyoncé took Texas Hold ‘Em top in February. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:00:23
European football: Leverkusen give up two-goal lead to draw with Holsten Kiel
Minnows draw 2-2 at home of Bundesliga championsBorussia Dortmund lose 2-1 at Union BerlinBayer Leverkusen scored twice in the opening eight minutes but the champions squandered their lead to settle for a 2-2 draw against visitors Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga.Victor Boniface slotted in after four minutes to put the hosts in front with his fourth league goal of the campaign. Before promoted Kiel had any time to recover, Leverkusen struck again, this time with Jonas Hofmann’s low drive, to carve out a two-goal cushion following a mistake by Kiel goalkeeper Timon Weiner. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:12:09
Everton 0-0 Newcastle: Premier League – live reaction
The points were shared after Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon failed from the spot against his former club Everton“Staying awake while Daylight Savings officially starts - literally as I type and send this email - means I am effectively losing an hour of sleep as the local clock passes 2:00am and becomes 3:00am,” emails Chris Paraskevas.“In order to counter sleep deprivation I’ve just had a second dinner (slightly undercooked cheeseburger) to ‘keep the motor going’. I just hope the players are as dedicated as I am to the cause. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 18:40:41
Liverpool occupy Crystal Palace’s turf like a team of peacekeepers | Barney Ronay
Premier League leaders won in south London using the game management they are learning under Arne SlotOn a hazy, dreamy afternoon at Selhurst Park, all soft sun and soft air, Liverpool produced something that seemed to fit the day, an exercise in control and the problems of control. A 1-0 victory means they will stay at the top of the league heading towards the end of October. This is a high‑functioning entity now. They have a good manager, good players, an excellent central midfield and the fewest goals conceded in the league.At the same time Liverpool also somehow ended up hanging on at times in the second half of a game that was like an expertly staged act of euthanasia where the corpse inexplicably starts waking up after an hour trying to have a chat about things. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:00:29
Ben Stokes confident England have characters who can take the heat
Pressure will be on inexperienced bowling lineup as tourists aim to repeat triumph of 2022Last month as much rain fell on Bedfordshire as Multan has in a year. The city gets about 2mm in an average October, about an eighth of what fell in London on Wednesday. On the outskirts, such as the area around the cricket ground, donkeys and oxen haul carts and camels hide under trees from the searing afternoon sun.There is nothing on the roads more eye-catching than the tractors and lorries, many of which are decorated with intricate and colourful paintwork and hung with shiny baubles. It is a hot, dry city, a place of working vehicles and beasts of burden, where it seems no characteristics are as important as stamina and reliability. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:00:28
Japan’s Yutaka Take rides again in search of Arc triumph on Al Riffa
The 55-year-old jockey has a chance to delight Japanese fans at Longchamp with a first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victoryThe most unforgettable runnings of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe tend to be defined by the name of the winner: Dancing Brave in 1986, Sea The Stars in 2009 and the unbeaten Zarkava’s retirement run the year before. But for anyone who was lucky enough to be there, Arc day in 2006 was as memorable as any of recent decades, and it was all thanks to the horse that crossed the line in third.Deep Impact was not the first runner from Japan in Europe’s most prestigious all-aged race. But he was, by a long way, the most popular, and the combination of a horse with an aura of invincibility and his superstar jockey, Yutaka Take, persuaded tens of thousands of fans to make the 12,500-mile round trip to Paris for a two-and-a-half minute horse race. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 14:45:28
‘Ruthless’ Ben Ainslie key to Britain’s America’s Cup hopes
Regatta director praises ‘unpredictable’ AinslieCaptain’s experience may give him edge over KiwisNew Zealand will face a formidable challenge from Britain’s battle-hardened skipper, Ben Ainslie, when they face off in the America’s Cup, according to the regatta director, Iain Murray.As Ainslie took a day off the water to cheer the British entry in the first women’s America’s Cup, the New Zealand crew, skippered by Pete Burling, were out on the water making the most of the time allocated to them. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 16:15:06
Coco Gauff roars back from summer slide to make China Open final
American fights back to beat Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2Novak Djokovic beats Alex Michelsen on return to ChinaCoco Gauff will contest her first final for nine months at the China Open in Beijing. The American continued her encouraging fortnight after a difficult summer with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Paula Badosa in the semi-finals.The Spaniard, one of the form players of the past few months, was very much in the ascendancy at a set and 4-2 up but Gauff responded with four games in a row to level the match and maintained her momentum in the deciding set. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 12:45:48
Are the NFL’s reimagined kickoff rules working? The early returns are mixed
The general idea behind the NFL’s revamped kickoff rules was spicing up a stale play by encouraging returns with a lower risk of injury. Further tweaks could be necessaryWith four full weeks of the NFL regular-season schedule complete, merely one kickoff has been returned for a touchdown under the league’s funky new kickoff rules. DeeJay Dallas, who actually plays for Arizona, took one 96 yards to the house in the Cardinals’ season opener.NFL kick returners are on pace to score precisely 4.25 touchdowns this season, only slightly better than the four touchdowns scored on kickoff returns last year. But it is very early in the season, and to judge the effect of the new rules just by touchdowns is to miss the point(s). Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 08:30:19
One year on from 7 October, our panel considers: what next for the Middle East?
There are so many players and so many imponderables. Truly it is a region on a knife edgeIsrael’s year-long war in Gaza (and the accompanying violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank), and its ever-expanding military campaign against Lebanon, have led to humanitarian catastrophe and the heightened risk of an all-out regional war. But the wider consequences may ultimately be a great rupture in international relations, and the accelerated decline of the US-led international liberal capitalist order that has prevailed since the end of the second world war.Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. His most recent book is What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle EastLeila Seurat is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Paris, and the author of The Foreign Policy of Hamas: Ideology, Decision Making and Political Supremacy Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 06:00:17
The blogosphere is in full bloom. The rest of the internet has wilted
As blogging pioneer Dave Winer’s site turns 30, it’s a reminder that good writing and thinking has flourished beyond the reach of social mediaIf you log into Dave Winer’s blog, Scripting News, you’ll find a constantly updated note telling you how many years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds the blog has been running. Sometime tomorrow morning the year field will switch to 30. Which will mean that every single day for three decades Dave’s blog will have been stirring things up.He’s a truly remarkable figure, a gifted hacker and software developer who embodies the spirit of the early internet. In the 1980s he created ThinkTank, a new kind of software called an “outliner”, which computerised the hierarchical lists we all use when planning an article or a presentation, but which were up to then scribbled on paper. Like Dan Bricklin’s spreadsheet, it was a novel idea at the time, but now you find outliners built into almost every kind of software for writing. There’s even one in Microsoft Word, for God’s sake! Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:00:27
When will this horror end? When Israel realises that the cost of destroying us is too high | Raja Shehadeh
My hopeful expectations have been confounded at every turn. But one day Israelis will grasp that endless war against Palestinians doesn’t work At the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, when the intensive bombing of civilians began, the thought in my mind was: how will we Palestinians live with the Israelis after this? Twelve months later, with no relenting in the killings and the destruction of Gaza, with Israel spreading the conflict to the West Bank, where more than 700 Palestinians have been killed, and its escalatory attacks in Lebanon and Iran, the question has only become more pertinent.In the course of these past 12 months many atrocities have been committed, starting with the killing by Palestinians of 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians, followed by the Israeli army killing more than 41,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 women and children, 287 aid workers and 138 journalists and media workers. This does not include those unaccounted for who remain under the rubble of the two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings that have been damaged or destroyed. Here is just one detail from this 12-month war: On 25 September, Israel returned a truck containing 88 bodies with no identifying details to Gaza.Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and writer, and founder of the human rights organisation Al-Haq. His latest book is What Does Israel Fear From Palestine?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...
Published: 2024-10-05 07:00:18
In the US, rats could soon have better birth control access than women | Arwa Mahdawi
New York is pushing birth control to curb its rodent problem – at a time when women’s reproductive rights in other US states are under attack. Oh, the ironyEric Adams, we recently learned, seems to have spent the bulk of his time as mayor of New York trying to wangle criminally cheap business class tickets from Turkish Airlines. But while Adams may have made history by becoming the first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted on federal corruption charges, the fact that he has a slightly wonky moral compass is old news. Even before being appointed mayor, there were questions about Adam’s truthfulness, including a long-running debate about whether the swagger-obsessed candidate lived in Brooklyn, as he insisted he did, or New Jersey. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:00:24
Four years after buying an electric car, why I am still forced to play hunt-the-charger? | Ros Coward
I assumed it would get easier to run an EV, but without a decent infrastructure it’s getting harder and harderMy partner and I were relatively early adopters of an electric vehicle, buying a Renault Zoe in autumn 2020 during the pandemic. It seemed to make sense to get aboard. After all, the future was electric, wasn’t it?After the first year, I wrote an article in this paper about what the experience was like. It was something of a saga. We discovered the charging infrastructure was a chaotic world of different companies and apps. We experienced – and overcame – range anxiety (will the car go as far as the battery says?), only for it to be replaced by charge anxiety (can you find a charger that works?). We underwent lifestyle changes, some good (like more train use), some bad (like gender division setting in over apps and charging points). We didn’t dare undertake a 700-mile drive across France. But in spite of the difficulties, the article ended on a relatively positive note. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:30:26
A pause for peace is the best the world can hope for in the Middle East’s war without end | Simon Tisdall
Western leaders look feeble and helpless as religious fanatics and rightwing zealots dig the region deeper into conflictSo it’s finally happening. The wider Middle East conflict that so many feared is igniting. Almost exactly a year after Hamas’s 7 October terrorist atrocities, Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. Iran is now the principal adversary. Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintain that it always was. Netanyahu has long sought this showdown.Self-deluding boasts that Israel is “winning”, bruited about after the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, drown out calls to halt the madness. Despite their otiose talk of changing the regional balance of power, Netanyahu, his far-right allies and generals lack a credible, long-term political strategy. Their whack-a-mole tactics condemn Israel and neighbours to war without end.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at [email protected] Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 16:00:27
Canada’s carbon tax is popular, innovative and helps save the planet – but now it faces the axe
As prime minister Justin Trudeau trails in polls, opposition seek to persuade voters environmental policy is a burdenMass hunger and malnutrition. A looming nuclear winter. An existential threat to the Canadian way of life. For months, the country’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has issued dire and increasingly apocalyptic warnings about the future. The culprit? A federal carbon levy meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions.In the House of Commons this month, the Tory leader said there was only one way to avoid the devastating crisis: embattled prime minister Justin Trudeau must “call a ‘carbon tax’ election”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:00:31
Harsh terrain, extreme fatigue. Life as a wildland firefighter in a heatwave: ‘It’s not normal for humans’
Firefighters carry heavy packs along rugged slopes to calm fast-moving fires, and sweltering weather is compounding already dangerous workLife as a roofer in Florida’s sweltering heat: ‘It feels like 120F’Life as California warehouse worker: ‘Products matter more than people’After 20 years fighting flames for the US Forest Service, the fire captain Abel Martinez has pretty much seen it all.His lungs are scarred from the smouldering car tires and scorched homes that fed billowing flames alongside highways, through parched canyons, or over treetops in the Angeles national forest, the mountainous wilderness where he works in southern California. Whether it’s a dry year or a wet one, the decades on the job have taught him that every fire season is likely to be a busy one. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:00:23
Antarctica is ‘greening’ at dramatic rate as climate heats
Analysis of satellite data finds plant cover has increased more than tenfold over the last few decadesPlant cover across the Antarctic peninsula has soared more than tenfold over the last few decades, as the climate crisis heats up the icy continent.Analysis of satellite data found there was less than one sq kilometre of vegetation in 1986 but there was almost 12km2 of green cover by 2021. The spread of the plants, mostly mosses, has accelerated since 2016, the researchers found. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 09:00:04
Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds
Research challenges idea that sending liquefied natural gas around the world is cleaner alternative to burning coalExported gas emits far more greenhouse gas emissions than coal, despite fossil-fuel industry claims it is a cleaner alternative, according to a major new research paper that challenges the controversial yet rapid expansion of gas exports from the US to Europe and Asia.Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels when combusted for energy, with oil and gas producers for years promoting cleaner-burning gas as a “bridge” fuel and even a “climate solution” amid a glut of new liquefied natural gas (or LNG) terminals, primarily in the US. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 12:00:05
Biden issues terse words to Netanyahu over peace deal and election influence
President says he does not know whether Israeli PM is delaying peace deal in order to influence US electionJoe Biden had terse words at the White House on Friday for Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he didn’t know whether the Israeli prime minister was holding up a peace deal in the Middle East – where Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and on a military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon – in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None, none. And I think Bibi should remember that,” Biden said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. He added: “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know – but I’m not counting on that.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 21:46:24
Tens of thousands join pro-Palestinian protest in London
Separate memorial event on Sunday organised by Jewish groups will mark anniversary of 7 October attack on IsraelMiddle East crisis – live updatesTens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered to march in central London on Saturday to mark the passing of a year since the 7 October attacks in Israel.Activists convened in Bedford Square on Saturday morning amid a heavy police presence. According to organisers, they planned to “target” companies and institutions they say are “complicit in Israel’s crimes”, including Barclays Bank and the British Museum. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:11:13
Trump falsely touts endorsement from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon
Bank representative confirms Dimon has not endorsed Trump or any other candidate in the 2024 raceDonald Trump’s social media post that showed a purported endorsement for the presidency from the JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, among the most influential investment bankers on Wall Street, is false, a representative confirmed on Friday.The Truth Social post – what appears to be a screenshot of a tweet with a siren emoji and text claiming Dimon had endorsed Trump, with a photo of Dimon – appeared at 1.56pm ET on Friday, as Trump was flying to Augusta, Georgia, for a campaign event. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 01:36:39
‘Good girl and true hero’: dog saves owner by leading US officer to her home
Gita, 13, sat down in middle of road in Washington state after owner hurt his leg, fell and couldn’t get upA dog saved her owner – who hurt his leg at home in rural Washington state, fell and couldn’t get up for hours – by walking to a road, sitting in the middle of it until a local sheriff’s deputy stopped, and leading the officer to him, according to authorities.Gita’s ability to be “a good girl and true hero” in her 84-year-old owner’s moment of need after his injury at their cabin on 25 September led to her “saving his life that day”, the Stevens county sheriff’s office said in a statement. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:00:23
European space mission to examine Nasa asteroid impact site
Hera to measure Dimorphos space rock that Dart probe deliberately hitFinal preparations are under way to send a European spacecraft to an asteroid to discover what happened when a Nasa probe deliberately slammed into the space rock two years ago.The European Space Agency’s Hera mission will survey the impact site and make detailed measurements of the battered rock, Dimorphos, to help researchers hone their strategies for defending Earth should a wayward asteroid ever threaten the planet in the future. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 05:00:15
Sydney woman allegedly killed and dismembered husband in ‘bizarre’ murder case, police say
Police say the man was reported missing last year and alleged his body was cut up with power tools to hide the remainsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Sydney woman has been charged with murdering, dismembering and disposing of her husband in bins almost 18 months after he was last seen, in what one detective described as one of the most “bizarre” cases police have seen.New South Wales police have alleged Nirmeen Noufl, 53, intentionally killed and cut up the body of 62-year-old Mamdouh Noufl last year at their family home of more than 10 years in order to hide his remains. The incident is being treated as a domestic violence murder.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 03:20:26
Biden urges Congress to pass disaster-relief package as Helene costs soar
Agency tasked to help business owners and homeowners after disaster needs immediate $1.6bn in fundingJoe Biden is urging lawmakers to refill the coffers of disaster relief programs as the projected recovery and rebuilding costs related to Hurricane Helene are estimated to be as much as $200bn over 10 years.In a letter sent to congressional leaders, the president said while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and the Department of Defense is able to meet “critical life-saving and life-sustaining missions and will continue to do so within present funding levels”, they will need additional funding. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:23:38
British food firms lobbied to defer £1.7bn plastic packaging tax, documents reveal
New scheme to improve recycling rates and tackle pollution was pushed back by Tories after industry complaintsLobbyists for Britain’s biggest food brands successfully pushed for a £1.7bn packaging tax to be deferred, new documents reveal.The fees for a new scheme to improve recycling rates and tackle plastic pollution were due to be imposed this month, but were delayed for a year by the last Tory government after the industry complained about the costs in a series of private meetings. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 13:00:25
Flash floods and landslides hit parts of Bosnia, killing at least 16
Rescuers search for missing after huge volumes of rain fall in area around Jablanica and Konjic, causing sudden floodingRescue teams are searching for survivors after flash floods and landslides hit parts of Bosnia, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more.Construction machines worked to remove piles of rocks and debris covering the central town of Jablanica after the rainstorm early on Friday. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 10:57:32
Squeezed out: last accordion maker in France to close shop after 105 years
Maugein owner blames competition from China and Covid pandemic for firm’s demise, but former French president says there is hopeIts distinctive sound has provided the soundtrack for some of France’s most recognisable cultural classics, from Parisian dance halls to the film Amélie and the songs of Édith Piaf. It has even been played by a former president.But it seems the traditional French-made accordéon à bretelles (strap accordion) has been squeezed out of existence after Maugein, the country’s last manufacturer, was forced into liquidation after 105 years of making the instrument, known as the “poor person’s piano”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 04:00:13
‘This guy was shady’: Zeppo Marx’s underworld links revealed in new book
The youngest Marx brother mingled as easily with mobsters as with movie stars and was on a mission to make money Zeppo Marx was said to be the funniest of the Marx Brothers off screen, yet he was overshadowed by his siblings Groucho, Chico and Harpo in comic masterpieces such as Duck Soup and Monkey Business.His own life was no laughing matter, however. A new biography reveals the extent of Zeppo’s involvement with organised crime and mobsters who were involved in high-stakes gambling, drugs, prostitution, burglary and murder. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 16:00:28
Disclaimer: Cate Blanchett’s new show is either beautiful … or a schlocky nightmare
Alfonso Cuarón’s easy-on-the-eye mystery seems like it was written on the back of a children’s menu – and forces A-listers to bounce off extras who sound like they have never uttered a sentence beforeOne of my favourite no-miss TV pitches is “What if this couple have a slightly difficult time in their marriage while inside an absolutely beautiful house?”.The headlines for Disclaimer (from Friday, 11 October), the Apple TV+ show where a couple have a slightly difficult time in their marriage while inside an absolutely beautiful house, will focus on the big three hits: that Cate Blanchett is in it; that Alfonso Cuarón wrote and directed it, so it’s unnecessarily cinematic in a way that makes your throat tighten with its beauty; Kevin Kline’s astounding multi-age turn as a former teacher hellbent on an unusual kind of revenge. But what’s really important is: Blanchett’s icily middle-class Catherine Ravenscroft is married to Sacha Baron Cohen’s smugly foodie middle-class Robert Ravenscroft, and they are in a house, and that house is gorgeous. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 06:00:17
Nobel prize winner Olga Tokarczuk: ‘We live with violence and misogyny like some sort of constant illness’
The Polish author on her new horror novel, the genius of John Cheever and chasing the London of her dreamsPolish author Olga Tokarczuk, 62, was awarded the Nobel prize in literature in 2018, the same year that she won the International Booker for her fragmentary novel Flights, cited by the judges for its “wit and gleeful mischief”. Annie Proulx has compared her to WG Sebald; for the London Review of Books, her 900-page historical epic The Books of Jacob (translated by Jennifer Croft in 2021) stands alongside “the great postmodern meganovels by Pynchon or Perec, Bolaño or García Márquez”. Tokarczuk, via the interpreter Marta Dziurosz, was speaking from Wrocław, Poland about her new novel, The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, set amid creepy goings-on at a sanatorium before the first world war.Where did this book begin? The idea occurred to me many years ago but I was deeply engaged in The Books of Jacob and this funny sort of pastiche novel had to wait, even though I often work on different books at the same time and was also writing Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead [2009] on top of everything else. What actually helped The Empusium was the pandemic: after all my travels because of the Nobel, I had the chance to return home to my nest in the forests of Lower Silesia. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 17:00:29
‘A great work of feminist art’: how the Bloomsbury group’s Famous Women Dinner Service got a place at the table
Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s 1932 collection of 50 hand-painted plates, left to languish for 80 years, forms the centrepiece of a new exhibitionIt’s a fantasy dinner party for the ages: Queen Victoria seated between Pocahontas and Cleopatra; Catherine the Great sharing a table with Helen of Troy. This was the vision behind the so-called Famous Women Dinner Service, a collection of hand-painted china plates, created in 1932 by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and soon to be displayed in full as part of a major exhibition of Bell’s work.“There’s a huge appetite for overlooked female artists,” says Anthony Spira, director of the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, where Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour will open later this month, with the dinner service taking centre stage. “It’s such an important work – one of the great works of feminist applied art.”Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour is at the MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, from 19 October t0 23 February 2025 Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:00:26
Is Gaudí’s park a blot on Barcelona’s landscape because it was funded by the slave trade? | Rowan Moore
It is little explored that the father of the great architect’s patron, Eusebi Güell, made much of his fortune from slavery in CubaI only recently learned, on a trip to Barcelona, that a large part of the money for Antoni Gaudí’s glorious buildings came from slavery in Cuba, in which Catalan traders were engaged as late as the 1880s.His greatest patron, Eusebi Güell, owed much of his wealth to slave-based fortunes accumulated by his father-in-law and his father – a fact that, while not secret, is little explored in the official histories. Does this mean that the great architect’s work is fatally tainted, that the tourists who queue up to visit the Gaudí-designed palace, park and unfinished church that bear Güell’s name should feel bad about themselves for doing so? It does not. But it’s never wrong to know the truth, however difficult. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:00:28
Donald Glover cancels Childish Gambino tour dates because of ‘ailment’
American musician and actor will not play his UK and Ireland dates as he recovers from scheduled surgeryDonald Glover has cancelled the remaining dates on his Childish Gambino tour after scheduling surgery for an “ailment”.The American actor, rapper and singer was due to head to the UK in November and early December to perform in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Birmingham, as well as Dublin in Ireland. Glover had already postponed the remainder of his North American tour to focus on his “physical health”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 09:24:46
‘It is a lot cheaper for couples’: single people feel penalised on prices
Frustration over lack of discounts for those with extra financial burden because they face living costs aloneThe solo penalty: ‘Being single is costing me £12,000 extra a year’A few days ago, the Guardian published a reader callout asking how much it costs to be single in the UK. We wanted to know how much single people pay for various things – from housing costs and bills to holidays and entertainment – and if they feel they are being penalised or are losing out financially when compared with couples or families.It clearly touched a nerve: scores of readers got in touch, with many saying this was an issue they felt really strongly about. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 09:00:20
Blind date: ‘Barbecue and ribs are not the most demure food to eat on a first date’
Lauren, 26, a charity programme manager, meets Ben, 24, a pricing analystWhat were you hoping for? A fun date with someone kind, funny and warm. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 05:00:14
Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for caramelised garlic, courgette and butter beans | The new vegan
A juicy, savoury, sticky dish to mop up with wads of good breadThis is a bit of a ready steady cook number, born out of an excess of courgettes. I (loosely) had in mind a Nigel Slater recipe that I often used to make for friends: chicken with plenty of garlic, herbs and wine, from his book, Appetite, which I’d serve with his 2009 recipe for green olive focaccia and a green salad. I rarely eat chicken nowadays, but I miss the deep, savoury, caramelised garlicky flavour and the juiciness of that dish, so I very much enjoyed reincarnating that in today’s recipe. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:00:22
T-shirts that last and the world’s best jeans: 50 autumn wardrobe updates under £100 (some are even free)
Classic trainers, high street heels, leopard print coats … Our fashion guru shares her insider tips for those with champagne taste and a cider budgetPutting this together has been a joy. I love a bargain. I love a styling trick that makes old clothes feel new. I love finding something that looks expensive but isn’t. And I delight in sharing those finds with other style lovers.Almost everything is under £100. Now, £100 is a lot of money. But the point of this list is not to give you the cheapest possible option in any category because a list of shoddily constructed, unethically produced buys is no good to anyone. Clothes that sag and break aren’t just a false economy – they add landfill to the planet and hassle to your life. Instead, I’ve tried to bring you an honest list of ways to look better at a reasonable price point – just in time for autumn. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 08:00:18
Touching distance: an apartment in a Brussels brutalist block
A remote makeover during Covid pays off handsomely for an interior designer and her partnerCan you imagine buying a flat without ever actually stepping inside it? And then doing up the entire place – bashing down walls, jettisoning fittings and reshuffling the floorplan – remotely? For most of us the answer would be an emphatic, “Of course not!”Kim Verbist would say otherwise. The Belgian interior designer did all of the above when she embarked on the convention-defying transformation of her Brussels apartment, set on the 11th floor of a Brutalist block designed by architect Jacques Wybauw. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 15:00:25
Marina Abramović: ‘Describe myself? Long hair, big nose, large ass’
The performance artist on the pleasures of sex, chocolate and cashmere – and wishing she had more timeBorn in Belgrade, Marina Abramović, 77, studied as a painter. From 1976 to 1988, she collaborated with her partner, the artist Ulay, to perform works such as the naked doorway piece, Imponderabilia. Her installations include 2002’s The House With the Ocean View, where she lived in a gallery without speaking or eating for 12 days. Last year she became the first female artist to have a major Royal Academy solo show. Her limited-edition photographic print will be auctioned by Christie’s to raise funds for conservation charity the Blue Marine Foundation at Blue: Art for the Ocean during Frieze London in October. She lives in New York.When were you happiest? Whenever I finish good work. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 08:30:18
Living in Lebanon: how have you been affected by the recent violence?
We would like to hear from people living in Lebanon and those who are part of the diaspora on the situation in the regionUK nationals in Lebanon: have you been affected by the strikes?The Israeli military has told the residents of over 20 villages in southern Lebanon including al-Bas, Majdal Salm and Touli to evacuate immediately.Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X that civilians must head north of the Awali river, which meets the coast about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Israel, if they want to escape Israeli attacks. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-23 15:33:52
Tell us: have you ever messaged the wrong person at work?
Following Laura Kuenssberg’s errant message, we would like to hear your own stories of digital gaffesThe BBC has cancelled a prime-time interview with Boris Johnson after the presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes “in a message meant for my team”.Have you ever made a similar gaffe at work? Did you send a WhatsApp message or email someone wasn’t meant to see? Did you recover from it? Tell us all about it below. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-03 10:08:42
Tell us about the changes you have made to your home due to extreme weather
We would like to hear about the home adaptations you have implemented due to flooding, extreme heat or strong windsWe’d like to find out more about how you have adapted your home to deal with unexpected changes in the weather. From strong winds to drought, what actions have you taken to prevent damage to your home? How much did it cost and what effect do you think it will have in the long term? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-01 13:29:00
Saginaw voters: tell us which issues will decide the US election
The Guardian is coming to Saginaw, Michigan, before the presidential election to find out which issues people there most care about – and we want your helpIn the run-up to the US presidential election, the Guardian will be spending at least a month in Saginaw, a pivotal county in the key swing state of Michigan where voters were almost evenly divided between Donald Trump and his Democratic opponents in the last two presidential elections.We will be listening to how local people see a race that has already taken dramatic and unexpected turns. We are interested not only in how you might vote, if at all, but what you think the candidates should be talking about, whether or not they are doing so. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-08-26 13:00:31
This swing county saw a job boom due to Biden. Yet, many union members still back Trump
Factory closures and little improvement in working people’s lives in Saginaw a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ that still hurtsEvan Allardyce worked as an electrician at one of the General Motors factories that once dotted Michigan’s Saginaw county and now stand as decaying markers to thousands of jobs lost to corporate agendas. He struggled to find work after the plant closures and was forced to travel across the country for contract jobs.So Allardyce, now a leader of a Saginaw branch of the US’s largest electricians union, understands blue-collar anger over the free trade agreements that allowed car makers and other industries to move hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs into Mexico and Canada since the 1990s. He sees how the resulting economic decline and rising poverty in the industrial heartlands helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 14:00:25
Survived, missing, dead: stories from Hurricane Helene’s deadly path
Behind the devastating storm’s death toll – currently more than 200 people in six states – lie personal tales of anguishHundreds, if not thousands, of harrowing stories of search and survival have come to light in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation, which destroyed communities in six states across the south-east US after it made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region.Heading into the weekend, officials reported at least 215 deaths across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia, the toll climbing as recovery efforts continued. It was the deadliest US hurricane since the levee failures in New Orleans during Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 11:00:23
Superdry boss: ‘Shein should pay tax in a fair way or there will be UK bankruptcies’
Julian Dunkerton on how Brexit was an ‘economic disaster’ and why the brand is focusing on ‘preppy classics’Julian Dunkerton is striding around Superdry’s barn-like showroom, yanking garments off rails, stroking fabrics and talking up the brand he believes he can bring back from the brink.Aged 59, Dunkerton could be forgiven for retreating to focus on the rest of his empire, which extends from the family cider business to property and hospitality assets including the No 131 boutique hotel and bar in Cheltenham. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 10:00:19
If Trump wins the election, US protest movements could face serious crackdowns
Since George Floyd’s death in 2020, Republican-led states have expanded riot laws to suppress protesters. Trump has a track record of calling for militarized responses to demonstrationsThe Knox county commission was questioning a property developer one evening in April three years ago when protesters quietly filed in to their auditorium and raised their fists in the air.A week earlier, police had shot and killed 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr in a bathroom at his high school after they found him with a gun. Protests erupted in Knoxville, the county seat and largest city in eastern Tennessee, and one the loudest voices speaking out was Constance Every, who had organized demonstrations in the city during the national outrage that followed George Floyd’s death less than a year earlier. Now, she was in the county commission chamber with about two dozen others, intending to press them for the release of police body-camera footage that captured Thompson’s death. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 10:00:22
After freeing a man who spent half a century on death row, will Japan keep using the death penalty?
Police fabricated key evidence that led to the conviction of Iwao Hakamada in 1968, but capital punishment still has popular supportBy any reasonable legal measure, Iwao Hakamada should not have lived to see his conviction for murder overturned.The former boxer, who spent almost half a century on death row after being convicted of killing a family of four in the late 1960s, was acquitted last week in one of the most closely watched miscarriages of justice in postwar Japan. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 02:12:39
Single parents bear the brunt of the rental crisis in regional Victoria
Real estate agents are only supposed to consider income and rental history. But single parents with young children say they’re often put at the bottom of the listSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityEve* has moved 13 times since her four-year-old son, Ollie, was born. The former high school teacher moved to Bendigo in regional Victoria in late 2019 and has been trying to find a long-term rental property. But next to applicants with dual incomes, she says she and Ollie do not come close to meeting the standard that real estate agents are now looking for.“A lot of it is out of my control, and a lot of it is that there’s just no properties, there’s no space,” she says. “When you’ve got 30 applications for one property, or more … I don’t know when I would ever match up against half of them.Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 20:00:03
‘It was hard not to stare at him all the time’: inside the remarkable rise and shocking loss of Leonard Rossiter
Best known for sitcoms Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, the actor died 40 years ago during a performance of Loot, aged 57. Co-stars, colleagues and friends remember a brilliant, singular and demanding manA few years ago, the actor Robert Duvall was being interviewed for this paper when, apropos of nothing, he cited Leonard Rossiter as the finest performer he’d ever seen. Four decades after Rossiter’s death, his singular style – manic energy, machine-gun delivery, splenetic intelligence – continues to carry remarkable currency.Rossiter became a household name in the UK for two 1970s sitcoms, which ran concurrently on BBC One and ITV, but he was also a hugely respected stage actor. Film stardom eluded him, despite regular work with John Schlesinger and Lindsay Anderson and the adoration of Stanley Kubrick. Yet it might have followed: at the time of his death, he was lined up to play the role eventually taken by Tim Curry in Clue. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 14:00:02
‘The ultimate reminder’: readers on what their tattoos mean to them
With number of Britons getting inked on the rise, people share the memories, loved ones and values that inspired themAfter Ed Sibley’s mother died in January he had a mug of tea tattooed on his forearm – “a memorial tattoo for Mum”. Her answer to nearly any situation, good or bad, was to make a brew, he explained.But there was another motive: “She’d always hated them. I’d always wanted them. So I figured the time was right.” Sibley’s skin is now host to a magic wand, a pair of scissors, a skull, an astronaut and a wizard playing a keytar. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 11:59:46
‘I never said I was going to retire ...’ Paul Simon on disability, drive and the mystery behind his greatest songs
He halted his career after decades of hits, then a dream one night changed everything. From New York to swinging London and apartheid South Africa, he explains his epic journeyAs a struggling young singer-songwriter in 1960s Queens, New York, Paul Simon would often retreat to his parents’ bathroom. There, with the tiling giving the room an echo and the sound of running taps generating white noise, he’d sit strumming his guitar in the dark. This experience inspired The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel’s first US No 1 – and one of pop’s most memorable opening couplets: “Hello darkness my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again.”“The Sound of Silence was the first song I wrote which seemed to come from some place that I didn’t inhabit,” says Simon, now 82, over the phone from the city where he penned it. “At age 23, it was unusual, well beyond my age and abilities. Then it happened again throughout my writing. Bridge Over Troubled Water was another song that came mysteriously. So did a lot of Graceland. I wrote Slip Slidin’ Away in 20 minutes – usually it takes me a couple of months to get a song. There are other examples, like Darling Lorraine, of songs that came from some place else … A mystery, you could call it.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 04:00:42
Teeth as time capsules: Soviet secrets and my dentist grandmother
In postwar Warsaw, my grandmother Zosia fixed the teeth of prisoners and spies. In doing so, she came into contact with the hidden history of her times in a way few others couldTeeth are our meeting place with the outside world, the point of attack. Crystalline and mineral in nature, teeth show us at our most mollusc-like. The fact that we can grow them, lose them and grow them again (if only once) seems to ally us with reptiles and the largest of the cartilaginous fish. Yet few things mark us more intimately as mammals than our teeth. The development of variable dentition is one of the great trump cards in the arsenal of mammalian evolution. At our very core, we are a tribe of nibblers, biters and grinders. The human dental formula – flat incisors, dainty canines, hard-working molars – is a classic omnivore’s compromise: aggression and carnivory in front, industrious vegetarianism in back.Harder than bone – harder than any other part of the body – they are also where we are most vulnerable. Thomas De Quincey wrote that if toothaches could kill they would be considered “the most dreadful among human maladies”. Apocryphally, he is said to have claimed that fully a quarter of human misery could be chalked up to their “cruel torture”. I suspect this figure is an exaggeration, but I have had enough cavities, root canals, gum shavings, crown fittings and outright extractions to put the total at a healthy 20%. I have persistent nightmares about my teeth crumbling out of my mouth. For me, the smell of teeth being drilled is the scent of burning flesh. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-03 04:00:05
Heartstopper’s Joe Locke, the mothers who regret having kids, and Philippa Perry on boastful rich friends – podcast
Heartstopper’s Joe Locke on trolls, typecasting and turning to the dark side; ‘I wished I were holding a cat and not a baby’: the mothers who regret having kids; and Philippa Perry advises one reader struggling to cope with a rich friend who has become a boastful bore. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 04:00:12
Can Republicans flip the Senate in November? – podcast
Whoever gets into the White House, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, they will need the two chambers of Congress to align with their values to get a lot of what they want to achieve done. And the race for the Senate is really hotting up.This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Jessica Taylor, Senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report, about whether Senate Democrats can defend their narrow control over the upper chamber, and what happens if the person who wins the White House doesn’t see eye-to-eye with those in power in CongressArchive: CBS 58, Fox News, KPRC Click 2 Houston, KHOU 11, MSNBC Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 04:00:46
‘Like a cheese grater raking across my nipple’: why I kept trying to breastfeed for so long – podcast
My commitment to breastfeeding exclusively was related to shame. If I couldn’t do it, I felt I would be letting the baby down. By Niamh Campbell Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 04:00:44
Do Israel and Iran really want to go to war? – podcast
For years the two countries have been engaged in a shadow war. Why, and will it finally explode into a direct confrontation? Patrick Wintour reportsWhen the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, one of Iran’s closest allies, was assassinated by Israel, it was clear that the Islamic regime would openly retaliate. This week it fired more than 100 missiles at Israel.It is yet another step towards a full-blown regional war in the Middle East. Yet Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, says Iran is more reluctant than it may appear to have a direct confrontation with Israel. Without Israel’s technologically advanced military capabilities, for years the country’s leaders have been relying on proxies and allies to wage a shadow war with Israel. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 02:00:40
Juventus strike back and has Arne Slot been tested yet? – Football Weekly Extra podcast
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertson, and Nicky Bandini to discuss all the Champions League actionRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.On today’s pod, the panel discusses all of Wednesday’s Champions League action. Aston Villa lit up Villa Park with a stunning win over Bayern Munich, featuring a brilliant Jhon Durán strike. Is the Colombian too good to sit on the bench for Villa, and how far can Unai Emery’s side go in this tournament? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-03 13:26:54
Everything you need to know about Covid this autumn – podcast
Madeleine Finlay is joined by Ian Sample, the Guardian’s science editor and Science Weekly co-host, to answer the questions we are all asking about Covid this autumn, from what is going on with the new variant XEC to how to get a vaccine and what scientists think the government should be doing differentlyCovid on the rise as experts say England has ‘capitulated’ to the virus Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-03 04:00:07
The curiously upbeat Tory leadership race – podcast
Helen Pidd goes to the Conservative party conference to hear from the four candidates vying for the leadershipAt a rainy Conservative party conference in Birmingham, the four leadership candidates – Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat – set out their visions for the future of the party.Despite the party’s worst election defeat since 1834, the atmosphere was remarkably upbeat. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-03 02:00:01
Maggie Smith's most memorable roles – video
Maggie Smith, a multi-award-winning actor, whose decades-long career in film and TV saw her play roles which ranged from Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter to Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey has died aged 89. The news was confirmed by her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens in a statement. They said: 'She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27 September'. Here is a look back at some of the most memorable moments in her careerMaggie Smith, Oscar-winning star of stage and screen, dies aged 89Maggie Smith: the magisterial star of Harry Potter and Downton had the courage and talent to do absolutely everythingMaggie Smith's 20 best films – ranked! Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-27 16:10:27
Israel carries out deadly airstrike in southern Beirut – video
Israel has carried out a series of deadly airstrikes in southern Beirut's Dahiyeh district which it says targeted the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the armed group's headquarters. The strikes are the largest Israel has carried out in Lebanon since it began exchanging fire with Hezbollah on 8 October. According to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, four buildings were destroyed in the strikeMiddle East crisis live Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-27 18:12:28
Eric Adams defiant over bribery charges as hecklers call for his resignation – video
During a press conference outside his official residence, New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, maintained his innocence after he was charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources. 'I do not take money from foreign donors,' he said. Hecklers shouted: 'Resign, resign, resign' as he walked back inside, which Adams has said he will not doUS politics live – latest updatesEric Adams charged with accepting bribes and illegal foreign campaign contributions Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-26 16:50:55
Zelenskyy calls on international community to support real and just peace for Ukraine at UN – video
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called on the world to support Ukraine in achieving a real and just peace during a speech he made to the UN general assembly. He said: 'I want peace for my people, real peace and just peace, and I am asking for your support from all nations of the world. We do not divide the world. I ask the same of you. Do not divide the world. Be united nations, and that will bring us peace' Biden calls for support for Ukraine in final speech to UN – videoRussia-Ukraine war – latest news updates Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-25 15:21:41
Why the far-right AfD has been so successful in Germany – video explainer
The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is riding a populist wave across Europe’s largest economy. According to polls conducted this month, the AfD has become the strongest party in Thuringia, a former state of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). In Saxony, another former GDR state, the party finished a very close second behind the CDU.The Guardian's Berlin correspondent, Deborah Cole, explains how the AfD has risen from its eurosceptic origins to a party that is 'managing to set the agenda' in German politicsSuccess of far-right AfD shows east and west Germany are drifting further apartEveryone is terrified of a far-right return in Germany. Here’s why it won’t happen Continue reading...
Published: 2024-09-09 15:04:53
Evergreen art: depictions of trees over the centuries – in pictures
Dating back to rock art made 25,000 years ago in north-eastern Brazil, through to 17th-century Dutch landscape paintings, to high-definition photographs modified with artificial intelligence, artists have long turned to trees for inspiration. A new book brings together a wide array of work by artists including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Hilma af Klint and William Kentridge. “I am always amazed at how many ways trees can be depicted in art – paintings, sculptures, models, living art, photography, jewellery,” says Tony Kirkham, retired head of the arboretum at Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens, who wrote the introduction to the book. “Each tree has its own character like a person: they are charismatic in their own right.”Tree: Exploring the Arboreal World (Phaidon, £44.95) is out now Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 16:00:28
The week around the world in 20 pictures
The Middle East crisis, the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Femen activists in Kyiv and Paris fashion week: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 18:35:36
‘It makes me feel light, happy and free’: Justin Attah Mensah’s best phone picture
The photographer and film-maker celebrates the beauty of brotherhood and male companionship‘Brotherhood and male affection are rarely seen in a culture typically painted as hyper-masculine by the west,” says Justin Attah Mensah, a film-maker and photographer from Accra, Ghana. “This image showcases the beauty in this companionship, and celebrates it.”Mensah had travelled to Kokrobite beach, about an hour from Accra, for this photoshoot. “In the foreground is a young model called Nii Sowah Laryea; behind him, a model with albinism whom I have since lost touch with.” He used an iPhone 7 Plus to take the photo, which he admits can bring limitations. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-05 09:00:20
Week in wildlife in pictures: bears caught in the act, a glamorous seal and a fugitive emu
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 07:00:47
Abbey Road music photography awards – the winners
The winning images and the photographers on how they captured themNominated entries will be displayed at the Royal Albert Hall in London from 8 October-12 November and at The Other Art Fair this month Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 06:00:46
Sydney Teapot Show 2024: fantastic spouts and whimsical handles – in pictures
With more than three decades of history, this year’s exhibition at Gallery Lowe & Lee features over 140 wildly imaginative takes on the tea set – including a duck, parrot and pineappleGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-04 15:00:10