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Department seeks instances of bias, with emphasis on Christianity, that may have occurred under Biden The state department is ordering staff to report colleagues for instances of “anti-Christian bias” during the Biden administration, part of Donald Trump’s aggressive push to reshape government policy on religious expression in his first months back in office. The internal cable, obtained by the Guardian, establishes a short seven-day window for employees to report perceived religious discrimination committed by state department officials, with particular emphasis on Christianity. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Tde8EAL

On the face of it the Egyptian’s new contract has no downside – but this is not entirely a free ride for Arne Slot and the club Well, that’s good then. Things fall apart. But sometime they also don’t. And the centre does actually hold. Perhaps the most interesting part of Mohamed Salah’s contract extension at Liverpool is the fact this is a rare crossover story, a signing that steps outside its own tribal margins. There will of course be localised delight. Liverpool fans can look forward to their own lost weekend in the sun, a sense that the good times will now continue to roll, that the time bar has shifted. Return to your seats. This is a lock-in. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/peGf7MF

Perry will play at least six games in new tournament Signing is coup for English domestic women’s cricket Hampshire have signed the Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry, in a major coup for the restructure of the English women’s domestic game. Perry, the all-time leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the Women’s Ashes, has been at the forefront of eight Australia World Cup wins – two in ODIs and six in Twenty20 – and was named the International Cricket Council’s women’s player of the decade in 2020. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/sDHkIgx

As fears of a global recession continue in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs, Keir Starmer insists the UK should keep a cool head. But with markets in turmoil and a looming economic crisis, does the prime minister need to be bolder? John Harris asks the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff. Plus, he speaks to Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, about whether people should ‘buy British’ to combat the tariffs. -- Listen to John discuss how music helped him connect with his autistic son on the Today in Focus podcast here : https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/apr/04/how-the-beatles-helped-my-autistic-son-find-his-voice-podcast -- Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/eYkoS4Q

Exclusive: Noor Abdalla attacks Columbia officials alongside Trump administration in letter to husband Read Noor Abdalla’s letter to Mahmoud Khalil here In a letter marking one month since his detention by immigration authorities, Noor Abdalla vowed to continue to fight for the release of her husband, Mahmoud Khalil , and for the right to speak up on behalf of Palestinian rights. “We will not be silenced,” she said. “We will persist, with even greater resolve, and we will pass that strength on to our children and our children’s children – until Palestine is free.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/zmPx4sr

Country had refused to allow an individual deported from US, following which US revoked visas of all South Sudan passport holders The government of South Sudan said on Monday that an individual at the centre of a deportation row with the US, which South Sudan refused to allow into the country at the weekend, is a citizen of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). South Sudan said the individual was a man named Makula Kintu, not Nimeiri Garang, as his paperwork claimed and had been using travel documents which weren’t his. “In accordance with our immigration protocols, we returned him to the sending country for further processing,” the foreign ministry spokesperson, Apuk Ayuel Mayen, said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qIrJDVK

Striker seen an ideal option to improve faltering attack André Onana shrugs off criticism of his slow distribution Manchester United are eyeing Liam Delap as a prime summer target, with the Ipswich striker’s price expected to be in the region of £40m. United’s head coach, Ruben Amorim, and Jason Wilcox, the technical director, have identified the 22-year-old as an ideal option to bolster an attack that has faltered this season, scoring only 37 goals in 31 Premier League games. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/M2FO9Ts

Power and gas shut off in regions as flooding worsens, threatening waterlogged and badly damaged communities After days of intense rain and wind killed at least 18 people in the US south and midwest, rivers rose and flooding worsened on Sunday in those regions, threatening waterlogged and badly damaged communities. Utility companies scrambled to shut off power and gas from Texas to Ohio while cities closed roads and deployed sandbags to protect homes and businesses. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ilED83I

Anonymous donations made to Molly Rose Foundation, set up after UK teenager took her own life after viewing harmful material on social media Meta and Pinterest have reportedly made significant donations to the Molly Rose Foundation, a charity set up to campaign for internet safety. The foundation was set up in the name of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017 after viewing harmful material linked to suicide and self-harm on social media platforms. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4zh9sPg

The City midfielder made his teammates look like geniuses and once more he is making just the right move at just the right moment Not for the first time, Kevin De Bruyne read the situation to perfection. Not for the first time, he spotted the right play just a little earlier than everyone else. And of course this was always his gift: not simply to pick the right option but to do it faster than anyone else, buying him those crucial fractions of a second when everything else was in flux and only he in stillness. And of course this was not the only respect in which De Bruyne understood the game of football better than most. As a struggling teenager in the Genk academy, he noticed the way the club abruptly stopped paying for a foster family to house him, and then quietly resumed when he started banging in goals for the second team. Cast adrift at Chelsea, he noticed how he was ignored while first-team players were lavished with attention and bespoke coaching. Continue reading... f...

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Trump tariffs, the bin strike in Birmingham and the Grand National Meeting at Aintree: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Kh5rHme

Oscar-winner set to take on role as godlike lion usually perceived to be male in upcoming adaption of The Magician’s Nephew Meryl Streep is in talks to play Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia film, according to reports. According to Nexus Point News , and confirmed by Deadline Streep, 79, is being lined up to star in Netflix’s film, which will be adapted from The Magician’s Nephew – the sixth of CS Lewis Narnia series of novels, but the first in chronological terms. In the Narnia books, Aslan is a dignified and quasi-omniscient lion, generally seen to be male and usually interpreted as an allegory for Jesus. The Magician’s Nephew centres on two children, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, who discover the magical world through Digory’s uncle Andrew. Daniel Craig is also in talks for the film, with speculation rising that he will play the uncle . Charli XCX is also in line for a role, rumoured to be Jadis, the White Witch. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/f0G...

Full-throttle star turns from Jack Black and Jennifer Coolidge raise laughs but don’t help the perfunctory plotting in this screen take on the game franchise If you’re not familiar with Minecraft as a game then this film, notionally a big screen version of same, won’t necessarily solve that. Minecraft, even more than most computer games, is what you make of it, an experience generated by the player. So in a way, the idea of making a film set in the Minecraft world is counterintuitive, because it can never replicate what is good about Minecraft, it can only tell you what is good about Minecraft. In addition to that, this comedy-fantasy takes aspects of the Minecraft world and uses them as building blocks in a rollicking adventure suitable for almost all ages, giving Jack Black and Jason Momoa carte blanche to wild out and be deeply silly. Your affection for and/or tolerance of this latter prospect will dictate to a large extent your enjoyment of this film. Black plays Steve, a crafter...

Economic impact assessment is one concession aiming to head off opposition from MPs, peers and creatives such as Paul McCartney and Tom Stoppard The UK government is trying to placate peer and Labour backbencher concerns about copyright proposals by pledging to assess the economic impact of its plans. Creative professionals including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Tom Stoppard and Kate Bush have strongly criticised ministers’ proposals to let artificial intelligence companies train their models on copyright-protected work without permission, unless the rights holder opts out. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/7DZwfrK

Grant Paterson, 54, from South Lanarkshire, was pulled out from rubble on final day of visit A Scottish tourist who suffered severe burns in a suspected gas explosion at a building in Rome has died of his injuries. Grant Paterson, 54, was admitted to hospital on 23 March after the explosion and subsequent collapse of the block of flats where he was staying, in the Monteverde district. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4jLv8QJ

CMA found car firms chose not to compete when advertising what percentage of their vehicles could be recycled Ten leading car manufacturers – plus two automotive trade bodies – have been fined more than £77m by a UK regulator after admitting breaking competition law in relation to advertising their green credentials. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation after a tipoff from Mercedes-Benz, which allowed the German marque to avoid financial penalties despite also being involved in the cartel. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/KLIHOiF

Research shows that while women experience feelings of revulsion from a young age, men catch them up in later years. Maybe I should stop scraping the mould off the jam … What disgusts you? I hope it’s not inexpertly summarised research, because I have been intrigued by the recently reported finding that men get more disgusted as they age . Researchers at the Institute for Environmental Decisions in Zurich found that while young women generally “experience more disgust than men”, later in life the difference between the sexes narrows, and “men and women will reach similar levels of disgust when they get older”. I don’t think anyone who has encountered young men’s bedrooms either in person or through the @boyroom social media account (a festival of coverless, unwashed duvets, defrosted bags of Ikea meatballs left to fester and stockpiled used tissues) will be surprised to learn that male disgust doesn’t kick in early. However, the theory is that as physical vulnerability increases wit...

City into FA Cup semi-final after 2-1 victory ‘We talked a lot about the game we lost here’ Pep Guardiola said Manchester City had recovered some of their missing heart and soul as they advanced to a seventh FA Cup semi-final in a row with a 2-1 win at Bournemouth . The City manager, whose team have been drawn to face Nottingham Forest, relied on what he called his “legendary” players – Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan – in his side’s win on the south coast. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qZYb9ol

After two days there are still not enough teams to find bodies or sufficient equipment to sift through the debris The scale of devastation in central Myanmar is unlike anything rescue workers or medics have seen before, even in a country that has endured more than four years of brutal conflict. In Sagaing, buildings have collapsed almost everywhere after Friday’s earthquake . Even the provincial fire department building has been destroyed, damaging all the rescue machinery and vehicles inside. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jqCfaLw

In his final column, the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator says America under Trump is not the first time it has caused trouble for allies America spells trouble for Britain. That’s undoubtedly true in the age of Trump – but maybe it’s always been so. The White House’s undisguised contempt for loyal allies in the UK and Europe necessitates a robust reciprocal rethink. How healthy – and desirable – is this partnership? Has it caused more problems than it’s worth? Those, myself included, who throughout their professional lives have taken close transatlantic ties for granted, face some awkward questions. Is the US-UK “special relationship” an embarrassment, even a strategic liability? Today’s America is evidently not a trustworthy, disinterested friend . Was it ever? Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/uKl6sxp

About 200,00 barrels of jet fuel to be transferred before Stena Immaculate is taken to north-east coast for inspection A US oil tanker that was hit by a container ship in the North Sea is to be towed to the north-east of England after more than 200,000 barrels of jet fuel are removed over the weekend, a maritime company has said. The Solong collided with the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate about 12 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire on 10 March, leaving one man missing, presumed dead. Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate, said salvage and recovery operations are moving into the next phase. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vcmJ5iW

Vice-president criticises Denmark’s treatment of Arctic island and says it should come under US ‘security umbrella’ JD Vance told troops in Greenland that the US has to gain control of the Arctic island to stop the threat of China and Russia as he doubled down on criticising Denmark, which he said “have not done a good job”. Under increasingly strained relations between the White House and Greenland and Denmark, the US vice-president said during a visit to Pituffik space base on Friday: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ANDJCac

Exclusive: early stage trials of drug that uses antibiotics finds benefits for people whose pain is caused by infection Millions of people worldwide with severe back pain may be able to get relief from a new drug that uses antibiotics rather than painkillers to tackle the condition. Doctors who have tested the drug said it could be “a gamechanger” for the one in four people whose lower back pain is caused by an infection rather than a muscular or spinal problem. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/CZhgO5S

About a third of children were living in deprivation even before this week’s benefit cuts. This appalling situation can’t go on A record 4.5 million children in the UK were growing up in poverty in the year to April 2024, according to figures released on Thursday, which provide a chilling backdrop to the government’s newly announced benefit cuts. Staff at a Blackpool charity, Disability First, have received “ terrified phone calls ” as claimants struggle to understand how the disability benefit reductions in the chancellor’s spring statement will affect them. About a third of children live in deprivation. Those with lone parents, or two or more siblings, or in families where someone is disabled are overrepresented among the poorest households. This is hardship of a scale and severity that can be hard to comprehend for those who have not experienced or seen it. Recent research from the Trades Union Congress revealed that 17% of workers surveyed had skipped a meal to save m...

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Destruction of statue by RAF engineers described as ‘the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for’ Great-aunt Lucy asked Britons to “please look after” Paddington Bear when he arrived on UK shores. Perhaps she was thinking of the risks of him running into two RAF engineers out on a bender in Berkshire. Fortunately, Paddington’s aunt didn’t have to watch the CCTV footage shown to Reading magistrates court on Tuesday of Daniel Heath and William Lawrence tearing apart a newly installed statue of her nephew – before absconding with the severed half. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/MFyTEgV

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The spring statement casts austerity as unavoidable, but Labour is clinging to economic myths while ignoring the tools of power The chancellor’s spring statement arrives with the sombre tone of inevitability. Britain, we’re told , must tighten its belt. Welfare payments for the sick and disabled will be shrunk . Public services from transport to criminal justice face leaner times. The language is that of necessity. There is no money. The choices are hard, but unavoidable. So runs the script. The idea that painful cuts are inevitable is political theatre. Either Rachel Reeves knows the constraints are self-imposed – or, more troublingly, believes they are real. Last October, she announced £190bn in extra spending, £140bn in additional borrowing and £35bn more in taxes than previously forecast. The Treasury view is “you can’t pour that amount of money into the state and call it austerity”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cuE9ykC

40-year-old finishes second in Sunday’s Super-G Lara Gut-Behrami clinches first place and title Lindsey Vonn concluded her comeback season at the age of 40 with a second-place finish in a World Cup super-G race Sunday that was won by Swiss standout Lara Gut-Behrami. Vonn found her vintage form while flying down the twisting and steep Challenger course at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. The American pumped her poles after glancing at the scoreboard as the crowd roared in approval. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/NPmYA57

Measures blocking companies involved in modern slavery from receiving public money could be overturned Measures that would have blocked companies found to have used forced labour in any part of the state-owned Great British Energy supply chain from receiving public money could be overturned this week. Labour MPs are being whipped on Tuesday to throw out the clause that was inserted into the energy bill in the House of Lords in February. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/7OUuiYr

The Jamaican-born author on exploring nature and black identity in his nonfiction debut, his chaotic writing habits, and how the TS Eliot prize changed his life J ason Allen-Paisant , born in Jamaica in 1980, is a poet, writer and academic. Currently a professor of critical theory and creative writing at Manchester University, he released his debut poetry collection , Thinking With Trees , in 2021. His second collection, Self-Portrait as Othello , (2023) won the TS Eliot and the Forward prize . Through time spent in the north of England and Jamaica’s rural Coffee Grove district, his debut in nonfiction, The Possibility of Tenderness (Penguin), intimately explores ideas around class, leisure, economics and self-discovery, looking closely at the life of his farmer grandmother, as well as the plants and people that shaped who he is today. Allen-Paisant lives in Leeds with his wife and two children. The Possibility of Tenderness is a departure from your work in poetry. How did you ...

Standup, 41, says she was initially given all-clear by private doctor after raising concerns about a mole The comedian Katherine Ryan has received a second skin cancer diagnosis after raising concerns about a mole on her arm. Ryan attended a private clinic where a doctor who also works for the NHS dismissed her concerns about melanoma and gave her the all-clear, but she went back and a test revealed the mole was cancerous. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jKP8dJ7

Kemi Badenoch has her first chance to persuade the voters on 1 May, but she seems to be getting nowhere Labour is struggling in the polls . Its spring economic statement next week is likely to be grim. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have an ambitious new leader and the local elections are only six weeks away. The situation ought to be full of promise for Kemi Badenoch and her party. Instead, she is treating the May elections not as a promise but as a threat. Mrs Badenoch launched the Conservatives’ campaign in warm spring weather on Thursday. From her message, however, it sounded as if she is leading her party into an electoral blizzard. If you apply the 2024 general election result to the councils that are up for election on 1 May, she told supporters: “We lose almost every single one.” The contest, she repeated, would be “very difficult”. 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 ...

With tiresome pseudo-progressive additions that tie the whole thing in knots, this is a waste of estimable entertainers like Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot That title is a description of the page on which new Hollywood ideas get written. Here is a pointless new live-action musical version of the Snow White myth, a kind of un-Wicked approach to the story and a merch-enabling money machine. Where other movies are playfully reimagining the backstories of famous villains, this one plays it straight, but with carefully curated revisionist tweaks. These are all too obviously agonising and backlash-second-guessing, but knowing that at some basic level the brand identity has to be kept pristine. This is particularly evident in the costume design, with which the wicked witch gets a pointy dark crown and skull-hugging black balaclava and Snow White is lumbered with a supermarket-retail tweenie outfit with puffy-sleeved shoulders. Those otherwise estimable performers Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are...

With six bids on the table, the company’s reference to ‘support and accommodations’ sounds like a plea for special treatment Who wants to invest in Thames Water? Six parties have made proposals, said the company on Tuesday, adding that it hopes to have a financial restructuring deal on the table by the end of June . Five of the six plans involve write-downs for holders of the senior class A debt. Then came the vague – but crucial – bit. Most of the proposals “are conditional on further, and varying, regulatory support and accommodations being achieved”. What does that mean? The company will not explain what form of “support and accommodations” it has in mind, but a natural reading says this is a plea for special treatment. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cnAFgjz

Petko Ganchev mistakenly commemorated by former club ‘When I heard the terrible news, I poured myself a brandy’ A Bulgarian footballer who was honoured with a minute’s silence by his former club, despite not being dead, has shared his side of the story and admitted “being buried alive is quite stressful, really”. The life of Petko Ganchev was commemorated by the top-division side Arda Kardzhali last Sunday, after they were wrongly informed of the former striker’s demise. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/rYdvxZs

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Sir Keir Starmer’s rhetoric frames cutting welfare for sick and disabled people not as a punitive act, but a compassionate nudge toward productivity It is a principle long observed in British politics that the Labour party, when uncertain of its convictions and in search of a popular identity, will reassure itself that the answer lies in a new slogan. That it has chosen to declare itself the “ party of work ” rather than the “ party of workers ” is not, on the face of it, a significant semantic shift. But in politics, words matter. And this subtle rebranding effort says a lot – perhaps more than Labour intended – about where the party now stands in relation to class, social justice and its historical roots. Labour was never merely a party that supported people in work. It was a party of workers – an important distinction. It was not just about wage labour as an abstract good but about those who perform it, their dignity, security and place in society . To be a party of workers was to...

Jumbo-Visma star seals glory on Promenade des Anglais US countryman Magnus Sheffield claims final-stage win The American cyclist Matteo Jorgenson won the week-long Paris-Nice race for the second straight year on Sunday. On a good day for US cycling Jorgenson, who rides for the Jumbo-Visma team, finished runner-up in the eighth and final stage claimed by his countryman Magnus Sheffield of the Ineos-Grenadiers team. Jorgenson became the 10th rider with consecutive titles in the Race to the Sun, joining the likes of cycling greats Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Raymond Poulidor. Sean Kelly holds the record for most consecutive wins – seven from 1982 to 1988. Sheffield went solo in the Col des Quatre Chemins climb with 12.5 kilometers left and crossed the finish line on the Promenade des Anglais with a 29-second lead over Jorgenson. Florian Lipowitz, of Germany, was second overall, one minute and 15 seconds behind Jorgenson. The Dutch rider Thymen Arensman completed the podi...

France can wrap up title; 8pm (GMT) kick-off Get in touch: email thoughts to Lee After the absolute powdering of Wales by England in Cardiff we arrive at the final game of the tournament with a simple ask for France: win the game and take the trophy in front of a home crowd. The performances coming in suggest it should be eminently achievable, but can Scotland ruin the party and hand the Six Nations to the Auld Enemy? Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/QCE2rUg

Though many would rather forget the pandemic, we are living with its consequences. Are we any better prepared for the next one? “When asked what was the biggest disaster of the twentieth century, almost nobody answers the Spanish flu,” notes Laura Spinney in her book Pale Rider, of an event that killed as many as one in 20 of the global population. “There is no cenotaph, no monument in London, Moscow or Washington DC.” Most of us will better understand that absence after Covid-19 , which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization five years ago this week. Some cannot put those events behind them: most obviously, many of those bereaved by the 7 million deaths worldwide (not including those indirectly caused by the pandemic ), and the significant numbers still living with long Covid . Others want to forget the loss of loved ones, the months of isolation and the costs to businesses, families and mental health. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? I...

As Labour prepares to wield the axe, it must avoid causing more harm to those on benefits It did it before and it can do it again. Labour’s “new deal” employment programme was its 1997 flagship. Now those lessons, ignored and trashed in the Tory years, are being revived. While Labour was good at scrupulously monitoring the results of its social programmes, the Tories ruled by their gut instincts. Faced with high unemployment and shocking numbers of youths who had been dumped and neglected, Labour’s new deal for young people worked. By 2002, it could rightly claim the virtual eradication of youth long-term unemployment . Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist 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... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/czDhmXa

For now Keir Starmer can say there is a middle way, but Donald Trump will soon force Britain to pick a side No country can avoid the economic impact of Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy. There are no exceptions to the president’s global tariff on aluminium and steel and no escaping the general volatility and constant uncertainty provoked by a capricious regime. But Britain is lucky not to be a direct target. Mr Trump has no border-related grievance against the UK, as he does with Mexico and Canada . The balance of bilateral trade is neutral enough for Britain to avoid being listed among the nations that sell more to the US than they buy from it. The White House sees that asymmetry as a devious scam, for which tariffs are a form of retribution. 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... fro...

Rebrand to Debenhams won’t solve the company’s issues – the retailer may simply have already had its day in the sun Boohoo rebrands as Debenhams amid drop in sales of youth labels “Debenhams is back,” proclaimed the online retailing group formerly known as Boohoo. Unfortunately, its fast-fashion brands – not just Boohoo itself but also Pretty Little Thing and MAN – haven’t gone away. All are struggling badly. Since the latter collection still represents three-quarters of group revenues, new chief executive Dan Finley’s upbeat talk about an exciting future feels more than a little premature. The main market-moving news in the strategy rejig and trading update was another downgrade to the City’s profit expectations alongside a thumping £40m charge for writing down surplus stock at what are now badged as the “youth brands”. The shares fell 4%. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/VDeEI2U

The rightwing leader’s latest feud isn’t with remainers or ‘woke’ elites – but with his own party, fuelled by Elon Musk’s intervention One constant of British political life is that Nigel Farage never stays out of the spotlight for long. Having built a political career on railing against the establishment – while, paradoxically, embedding himself within it – Mr Farage finds himself embroiled in yet another melodrama. This time, however, the threat comes not from the usual suspects – remainers, the BBC or “woke” elites – but from his own side . The affair revolves around Rupert Lowe , a little‑known businessman, elected as one of Reform UK’s five MPs in 2024 under Mr Farage’s leadership. That should have been the beginning of a forgettable contribution to British public life. Yet, thanks to the intervention of Elon Musk – the world’s richest man and Donald Trump’s “government efficiency” tsar – Mr Lowe has a starring role in Mr Farage’s latest soap opera. Do you have ...

‘There’s magic here,’ says the F1 veteran whose mission at Scuderia is under threat from McLaren and Verstappen In the maelstrom of the buildup to the new Formula One season, which opens in Melbourne next week, one figure stands at its heart, preternaturally calm as the crescendo builds around him. Lewis Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver, now in a Ferrari, the sport’s most successful team, promises to make F1 in 2025 unmissable, his grand, romantic challenge playing out to the backdrop of what may be the most closely fought season in more than a decade. Hamilton, now 40 years old and with seven titles, has nothing to prove but is set on securing the greatest achievement in his career. To return a record-breaking eighth title with Ferrari, who have not won the drivers’ title since 2007, would be a feat to rank among the greatest of them all. Watching him try will be as gripping as McLaren trying to steal his thunder. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift....

Vinícius Júnior also scores in 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano Getafe’s late double stuns Atlético; Napoli beat Fiorentina Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior scored in the first half to give Real Madrid an easy 2-1 win over neighbours Rayo Vallecano on Sunday that helped them draw level at the top of the table in the battle to retain their La Liga crown. Only one point separates Spain’s three biggest clubs in one of the closest title races in recent years with Barcelona leading the pack on 57 points, ahead of second-placed Real on goal difference with Atlético Madrid in third on 56 points after a 2-1 loss at Getafe earlier on Sunday. Barça, who will face Atlético next Sunday, have a game in hand after their match against Osasuna on Saturday was postponed due to the sudden death of their team doctor . This story will be updated Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/z6CDPq2

Scotland 35-29 Wales Home side led 35-8 but Wales secure late bonus point All of Scotland’s brilliance, and a lot of those familiar failings. Scotland, it cannot be denied, underscored once again their status as second only to France in attack. But even with a 27-point cushion midway through the second half, they contrived to make life uncomfortable for themselves against a clearly inferior side. Wales managed to rouse themselves from a hopeless position to claim two bonus points, when Max Llewellyn crashed over to score their fourth try at the death. Jarrod Evans’s conversion, his third, pulled Wales back to within six for the second point. Small consolation for Wales, still rooted to the foot of the table. They had been completely outplayed for an hour, but will welcome England to Cardiff next weekend with a modicum of encouragement. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cEzispK

Getting kids more involved in choosing and preparing the food they bring to school is a crucial step in cutting waste Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com No one with school-age children is a stranger to the drudgery of the lunchbox and chances are, at some stage along the way – possibly weekly – you’ve found yourself at your wits’ end about what to send, not to mention what comes home. Once upon a time it was socially acceptable and not even considered a health or sustainability issue to slap some Vegemite and margarine in white bread, cover it in Glad Wrap and shove it – along with a Prima and bag of Tiny Teddies – into a plastic lunchbox. Those days are gone. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Y8enPhN

UK reviewers described the homely show from the Duchess of Sussex as ‘smug, syrupy’ and narcissistic It received a “toe-curling” one-star review in the Guardian , was written off as “smug, syrupy and endlessly spoofable” in the Times and denounced as “an exercise in narcissism” in the Telegraph . But according to Netflix, “there’s more joy to be shared”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/N5RFEBG

The presidency is no longer just a ‘bully pulpit’. It’s become part of the disinformation machine Donald Trump won the White House not with money , though he spent plenty of it, but by dominating the conversation . He hasn’t stopped campaigning. He uses attention to bolster his political power, and uses his office to make sure that everyone keeps watching. He was barred from leading social media platforms after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but four years later, their owners attended his inauguration. Many of his key hires appear picked for their media presence as well as their ideological bent and sycophancy. Tuesday’s interminable address to Congress was garnished with the kind of wild claims or outright lies that he knows take off on social media. For him, posting online ultimatums to Hamas and a disturbing AI-generated “Trump Gaza” video is all part of foreign policy. One of the most chilling, and telling, moments of last week’s attack on Volodymyr...

The public inquiry into police spies was brought about by the bravery of the women they abused, as a new documentary shows Information in the public domain about the undercover policing of protest groups from the late 1960s onwards would not be there were it not for the extraordinary courage of a group of women who were conned by officers into long-term sexual relationships. It is more than a decade since the investigation of this, and other wrongful actions, by undercover units was taken over by a judge-led public inquiry. Following revelations that officers had spied on Stephen Lawrence’s family, Theresa May, who was then the home secretary, ordered that inquiry . ITV’s new three-part documentary, The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed, made in collaboration with the Guardian, emphasises that there was nothing inevitable about this outcome. The series, which features remarkable home-video footage of one officer, Mark Jenner (known undercover as Mark Cassidy), is a gri...

A pan-Arab coalition resists US-Israeli policy on Gaza, while Donald Trump’s reported Hamas talks signal a potential reversal of longstanding strategy Israel’s decision to block aid to Gaza, as ceasefire talks falter, is a devastating blow to 2 million hungry, vulnerable civilians in the shattered territory. As the occupying power, Israel is legally bound to allow relief into Gaza under the Geneva convention. Denying it isn’t just inhumane – it’s a war crime . But Benjamin Netanyahu already faces an international criminal court arrest warrant for “starvation as a method of warfare” and “crimes against humanity”. Mr Netanyahu’s ability to flout international law is thanks to Donald Trump, who remains firmly in his corner. Washington now appears to accept starvation as an Israeli bargaining chip to pressure Hamas into accepting a US-devised truce extension – one that secures hostage exchanges while ensuring Israeli forces remain in Gaza. Hamas, which sparked the war with its 2023 ma...

Wounded and sick children in need of urgent treatment crossed through Israel to reach King Hussein hospital in Amman A slow convoy of a dozen ambulances and buses brought 25 wounded and sick Palestinian children from Gaza and across Israel on Tuesday, past the heavily armed forces that bombarded the territory for 15 months, and that may be about to start again. The patients were among the 4,500 people in Gaza believed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be in urgent need of evacuation, and they were transferred to Jordan by a joint operation by the Jordanian army, the country’s health ministry and the WHO. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/pxs6ju9

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to undo the damage of the Oval Office confrontation, the question is not just how far but how fast the Trump administration moves How long do Ukraine and Europe have to respond to US betrayal? When Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago, each day that Kyiv held out was a victory. The west rallied to Ukraine’s support at equally remarkable speed. Now, as the Trump administration turns upon the victim, and embraces the aggressor, Europe is accelerating nascent plans to bolster Ukraine and pursue security independence. Trump allies blame Friday night’s extraordinary Oval Office confrontation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and JD Vance for the shocking halt to all US military aid . Others suspect that the administration was seeking a pretext for the suspension. Mr Zelenskyy pledged on Tuesday to “work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts” and expressed gratitude for his first-term approval ...

Machines could be marketed as ‘used in UK hospitals’ after James Dyson spoke to PM, Covid inquiry hears A minister warned a senior official that ventilators may need to be bought from Sir James Dyson “so that he can then market [them] internationally” as “being used in UK hospitals” after the businessman spoke to Boris Johnson, the Covid inquiry has heard. The message from Lord Agnew, a Tory Treasury minister, to the government’s chief commercial officer, Gareth Reese Williams, emerged as the public inquiry into the pandemic started a four-week examination of procurement. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tm7wren

Taking place in the middle of a chaotic time for the US and the world at large, this year’s ceremony was light on statements and devoid of the Trump word entirely Twenty-two years ago, the last time Adrien Brody won the Academy award for best actor, film-maker Michael Moore accepted his own Oscar for Bowling for Columbine , a documentary about America’s obsession with guns, by offering a preview of sorts of his next feature, Fahrenheit 9/11. He decried then president George W Bush as “fictitious” (alluding to his fishy, supreme court-assisted election win a year and a half earlier) and excoriated the Bush administration for sending the United States to war with Iraq – just three days earlier, in fact – for “fictitious reasons”. It was received with a mixture of applause and boos, probably the most memorable moment of the night, give or take Brody planting a kiss on Halle Berry. Two years later, when Fahrenheit 9/11 might have been similarly honored (and almost certainly would have be...

USA defender injured in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Brighton Manchester United keep pressure on WSL leaders The USA centre-back Naomi Girma’s debut for Chelsea ended early as she was brought off with an injury in their 2-2 draw at Brighton . The world’s first $1m women’s footballer , who signed for Chelsea from San Diego Wave in January for a $1.1m (£874,000)fee and has had to wait patiently for her debut while recovering from a calf injury that caused her to miss the SheBelieves Cup in February , had to be withdrawn just before the hour mark. It was an absorbing contest in which a hard-working Brighton side give Chelsea more than just a scare. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UouldHi

The Arsenal forward, once England’s key player, is only 30 but his confidence is shot and his career on a downward curve In Rafa Benítez’s first season in English football, he rested Steven Gerrard for an FA Cup tie at Burnley, who were in the Championship. When Liverpool lost, there was a predictable backlash and, from certain quarters, derision as Benítez explained his rotation policy and the need to manage the number of minutes each player played. Social media being in its infancy, it wasn’t quite the culture war that it would have become today, but certain old-school football men clearly felt that players should just get on with it: hard work never hurt anyone. But at the same time a piece of ancient wisdom kept surfacing, usually from elderly coaches who had spent a lifetime in the game: as a rule of thumb, however much they play, whatever age they start, a player has 500 games in them. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/AY8ilhC

After a game of high drama that exhibited the very worst of video officiating, a wonder strike, an extraordinary red card and then a sudden-death penalty shootout, it is Bournemouth who continue to dream of Wembley. That will teach the television companies for making this the only FA Cup fifth-round tie not chosen for broadcast. The victory was nothing more than the dominant hosts deserved ut they went round the houses to get there. Eventually, after Boubacar Traoré had hit the crossbar, it was Bournemouth substitute Luis Sinisterra who was the hero, converting from the spot for a 5-4 shootout win after the game had somehow remained deadlocked at 1-1 after extra time. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UV0nG4j

Up to 90% of young people in Taiwan have myopia but eye experts say the growing global trend can be reversed In the final days of their eight-week bootcamp, dozens of young Taiwanese conscripts are being tested on an obstacle course. The men in full combat kit are crawling underneath rows of razor wire and through bunkers as controlled explosions blast columns of dirt into the air. Pink and green smoke blooms in a simulated gas attack, requiring the conscripts to quickly don gas masks so they can rush the zone. But it’s here where many of them pause, stopping the assault drill to spend precious seconds removing their glasses so the masks will fit. The conscripts mostly look to be in their early 20s. Statistics suggest that means anywhere up to 90% of them have some degree of myopia, otherwise known as shortsightedness. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/sPxvbCm

A cold reality hit us in Washington. Zelenskyy was being forced to buy hope of survival by people who have no care for our freedom It’s warming up in Kyiv. The temperature has risen from -5C to 4C. Sometimes, the sun peeps through breaks in the clouds, but Kyivites are not much cheered by the sunshine. They are not watching for signs of spring as they usually do at this time of year. The atmosphere in the city and in the country as a whole has been one of nervous expectation. This was not an expectation of an end to military action or the signing of a peace treaty with Russia – nothing so specific. Indeed, it was not at all clear what we were waiting for, but it was something connected with Donald Trump and the change in US policy towards Ukraine. Clarity emerged at today’s macabre theatre at the White House: handshakes, a thumbs up and some fist pumps from the US president, before Trump sat side by side with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a minerals-for-war-support deal and to humil...

Washington’s day of historic diplomacy involved two alleged rapists and then the prime minister of Britain. It said everything about our new era Shortly after Keir Starmer arrived in Washington to fight for the future of Europe, two men who make a mockery of everything he stands for touched down on American soil. The toxic YouTube influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have spent years under investigation in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking, which they deny, Andrew is now wanted by British police over allegations of rape , and both brothers for tax evasion in this country. But to MAGAworld they are martyrs, unjustly persecuted abroad for the crime of saying what they think on the internet. Their triumphant homecoming to Florida, following reported US diplomatic pressure on the Romanian government to lift its travel ban, sends a signal to aggrieved young men who voted for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris that the president has not forgotten them . There could hardly have...

The prime minister must handle Donald Trump with tact, but without flinching from a duty to confront falsehoods in the president’s worldview It is hard to set expectations ahead of a summit with no useful precedent. British prime ministers have visited the White House before and in a wide variety of geopolitical contexts, but never has the hosting president been hostile to the transatlantic alliance. Never before could it be said that Washington’s foreign policy regarding European security was closer to a Moscow line than a London one. Conventional platitudes about a “special relationship” and common values are of little use to Sir Keir Starmer in handling Donald Trump. History is not irrelevant, but on matters of substance – most urgently, a settlement to end the war in Ukraine – Mr Trump is behaving more like a mafia boss than a statesman. His method is to demand tribute in exchange for protection. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XqDAj08

Labour’s ‘pragmatism’ isn’t neutral – it locks the party into fiscal caution, reinforcing stagnation and fuelling the very instability it seeks to avoid Politics is about choices. Some are forced on governments by circumstance. Others are self‑imposed. Labour’s decision to cut the aid budget to “pay” for increased defence spending is firmly in the latter category. It is also wrong – forcing the world’s poor to pay for Britain’s safety. This is a false economy. Cutting aid will make the world more unstable, not less. The very crises that fuel conflict – poverty, failed states, climate disasters and mass displacement – will only worsen with less development funding. Labour’s logic is self‑defeating: diverting money from aid to defence does not buy security; it undermines it. The numbers tell the story. Despite government attempts to inflate the amounts involved, the extra £5bn‑£6bn for defence is tiny relative to Britain’s GDP. The UK could easily absorb this through borrow...

Asteroid 2024 YR4 had reached a 3.1% likelihood of impact but further data has rendered it negligible It was a discovery that lead to panic-inducing headlines: a giant asteroid found to be hurtling towards Earth that , while unlikely to wipe out life, could do some serious damage. But now the world can breathe a sigh of relief. After the odds of a future collision rose earlier this year , the likelihood of an impact is now so low as to be negligible. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/HoC5ZAG

Campbell Scott, a senior director at Fico, was reported missing while in Nairobi for a three-day conference Police searching for a British businessman missing in Kenya have recovered a body, found in a sack in scrubland about 60 miles from Nairobi, reports said. Campbell Scott, 58, a senior director at the data analytics company Fico, went missing on 16 February after arriving in the Kenyan capital to attend a conference at the JW Marriott hotel. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/mx4hBdg

The victorious CDU leader is likely to be more proactive on the European stage. He will also need to forge broad alliances at home to see off the far right Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), has a reputation for being blunt. On Sunday evening, as it became clear that the CDU had won the snap election triggered by the outgoing Social Democrat chancellor, Olaf Scholz, he did not disappoint. “For me,” said Mr Merz in a post-election television debate, “the absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.” As recently as a fortnight ago, such a statement from a German chancellor-elect would have been inconceivable. But these are new and extraordinary times. A convinced transatlanticist , Mr Merz has previously played down the dangers to western unity posed by Donald Trump. But crude electioneering on behalf of the extreme right Altern...

‘Best and the worst’ of Newcastle on show in 4-3 victory Saudi owners to make decision on new stadium this week As the final whistle blew at St James’ Park and Nottingham Forest’s players collapsed to the turf in despair, Eddie Howe looked simply bemused and confused. Shortly afterwards Newcastle’s manager said that, even though his team had won 4-3, he felt as if they had lost one of the most extraordinary Premier League games of the season. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/y3zhjmp

There has been talk in recent weeks about the rising levels of anxiety at Liverpool, a drop-off in their performance levels. Look at the number of draws, people have said. Is this a wobble? The club have won one league title since 1990 so a few nerves ought to come as standard. And yet at the home of the soon-to-be-deposed champions, when Liverpool had to win to clamp one hand firmly on the Premier League trophy, to take advantage of Arsenal’s shock home loss to West Ham on Saturday, there was only assurance; a never-in-doubt result. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tlxhJDo

Trent Dalton had a crush on his sophisticated colleague Fiona. The lead singer of his favourite band helped him find the words to tell her Find more stories from The moment I knew series here On 10 January 2000 I started my first job in journalism at the Brisbane News. I was 20 years old, a starry-eyed rube from suburban Bracken Ridge who didn’t even know what a flat white was. On my first day my editor had the rest of the journos join us at a cafe to welcome me to the team. That’s when I met Fiona. Fi. She’d been out on assignment and arrived late; the only seat left was right next to me. She was so natural and warm in the way she chatted with me. What was just polite small talk felt to me like an enormous show of generosity; like a light shining on me. She also reminded me of my childhood screen crush Toni Pearen. I was instantly taken with her. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/yuNGvh6

A lack of conviction in front of goal and defensive problems were evident in the Nations League draw in Portugal For at least 15 minutes on Friday night, almost everyone watching England’s Nations League game in Portimão could sense that a goal for Portugal was coming. Everyone except, it seemed, Sarina Wiegman. Jess Carter had replaced Lucy Bronze as a ­precaution at half-time but the head coach felt no need to make another substitution until the 84th minute. By then the damage was done, and the Lionesses were hit by an all-too-familiar feeling of ­frustration after a game they knew they should have won. In isolation, a draw away against a Portugal team ranked 22nd in the world would be a touch ­disappointing but not cause for great alarm. The problem, though, is that it is not an outlier, and three themes have ­continued to crop up in the past 18 months: England’s inconsistency, their profligacy in front of goal and the concerning ease with which ­opponents are creating chances ag...

Germany is experiencing a political shift that is alarming many citizens. The photographer Fabian Ritter has spent years documenting the rise of the far-right AfD party and more extreme groups. Recent events illustrate the growing tension In the run-up to Sunday’s election in Germany the political climate has become more heated. There have been attacks on politicians and campaign workers, and election posters have been destroyed. Many felt unsettled or even threatened after Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right CDU, proposed a bill to tighten immigration control that had the backing of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. Björn Höcke, the AfD’s leader in Thuringia and head of its nationalist wing, speaks at the Domplatz in Erfurt during the party’s final campaign event before state elections, 31 August 2024. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ZoLy54O

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As Donald Trump persists with a monstrous proposal to remove Palestinians, the immediate need is to prevent fresh conflict The pain and damage wreaked in the last 16 months will reverberate through families, communities and the Middle East for decades to come. On Thursday, the bodies of two young children and their mother, and that of an 83-year-old peace activist, were returned to Israel by Hamas. They were kidnapped in the 7 October 2023 raid in which the militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and others. Around 48,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war in response. It was always feared that the ceasefire deal, which has brought desperately needed respite for Palestinians in Gaza and the return of Israeli and foreign hostages, would be fleeting. The six-week opening stage is due to expire on 1 March. The talks on the more complicated second stage have yet to begin, more than a fortnight after th...

As Europe innovates to boost defence without public service cuts, Britain clings to fiscal restraint – an unaffordable risk in an unstable world When settling wars rewards lawlessness, displaces populations and fuels lasting grievances, the result is more war. That was the former foreign secretary William Hague’s verdict on Donald Trump’s approach to peacemaking, drawing lessons from the Balkans, the second world war and the Middle East. A more insecure world will require Britain to increase defence spending. The UK currently could not sustain major troop deployments in Ukraine, undermining the idea it could provide Kyiv with “ security guarantees ”. This is a dilemma faced across Europe, leading the EU to see deficit-financed defence spending as the answer. In contrast, Britain remains seemingly bound by economic orthodoxy, prioritising fiscal discipline over borrowing. The UK Treasury has apparently asked unprotected public services – excluding health, education and defe...

US talks with Russia over Ukraine’s future, like the president’s prescription for Gaza, highlights how business and foreign policy merge The Trump administration did not take red lines on Ukraine to its talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday: it cares about the bottom line. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, underscored that when he said the two sides would create a team, not only to support Ukraine peace talks but also to explore the “incredible opportunities” to partner with Moscow geopolitically “and, frankly, economically” that might result. Kyiv and other European capitals are still reeling at the full extent of Donald Trump’s cynicism when it comes to world affairs, and callous disregard for the people caught up in them. But it should be no surprise that business dealings were high on the agenda. Vladimir Putin would dearly love to end his country’s economic isolation. Russia is making the case that American energy firms and others could profit handsomely by doing bu...