The Guardian |
- ‘It’s just the beginning’: Covid push to digital boosts big tech profits
- US-China doomsday threat ramped up by hi-tech advances, says Kissinger
- ‘It’s unfathomable’: Israel mourns after deadly crush at holy festival
- Woman in Disaster Girl meme sells original photo as NFT for $500,000
- Senate Republicans balk at plan to highlight Black history in US schools
- Afghanistan: At least 21 killed in blast as US prepares to withdraw troops
- Guantánamo detainee takes on CIA ‘black sites’ in UN human rights case
- Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist who shaped Los Angeles art scene, dies at 87
- ‘It is life-saving’: Elliot Page reveals happiness at having had top surgery
- Trump’s border wall hits a wall as Pentagon cancels parts funded from its budget
- Colorado officers resign after outcry over violent arrest of 73-year-old with dementia
- Coronavirus live news: controversial England care home rule scrapped; India daily cases top 400,000 for first time
- India Covid crisis: government ignored warnings on variant, scientists say
- The Hindu priest struggling to cremate India’s Covid dead – video
- How Biden’s firm line with Republicans draws on lesson of Obama’s mistakes
- The Latino immigrants who make the Kentucky Derby tick
- Blind date: ‘We were under a blanket for most of the evening’
- Teargas, flash-bangs: the devastating toll of police tactics on Minnesota children
- Were Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office a success? Our panel’s verdict
- The low-hanging fruit in the climate battle? Cutting down on meat | Gaby Hinsliff
- Gwyneth’s Ark: sailing towards wellness but never quite getting there | Marina Hyde
- Scandal upon scandal: the charge sheet that should have felled Johnson years ago | Jonathan Freedland
- The Guardian view on Biden’s 100 days: going big, but not big enough | Editorial
- Targets like 'net-zero' won't solve the climate crisis on their own | Mathew Lawrence
- NFL draft 2021: More SEC dominance and quarterbacks taken on night two
- Seattle Kraken officially become 32nd NHL team after final $650m payment
- Logan Paul v Floyd Mayweather is a payday boxing must treat with caution | Barney Ronay
- Garry Kasparov: ‘Why become a martyr? I can do much more outside Russia’
- More than ever, baseball’s unwritten rules were made to be broken
- Maradona care ‘deficient and reckless’ before death, medical board report finds
- Make no mistake, Pep Guardiola’s football is a celebration of individuality | Philipp Lahm
- Sebastian Vettel: ‘As long as I still feel that will to compete, I will be here’
- The Kidnapping Club and A Shot in the Moonlight reviews – slavery’s long shadow
- Julia Donaldson: ‘I worry some children will be unable to sing’
- Noel Clarke shows dropped as allegations shake TV industry
- Grammy organisers to end ‘secret’ nomination committees after rigging allegations
- From spaceships to sweat shops to Studio 54: the world’s greatest nightclubs
- RIP skinnies. What’s next for jeans?
- Permafrost by Eva Baltasar review – a wolf howl against drudgery and bad sex
- Art lovers in Brussels divided over plans for museum about Le Chat
- ‘I never found myself in a book’: Patricia Grace on the importance of Māori literature | Patricia Grace
- Angela O’Keeffe on Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles – and engaging with the art of awful men
- Ya Tseen: the Alaska-based star mixing psych pop and giant political art
- Biden faces pressure to drive gasoline and diesel cars out of the US
- Restorationists urge Jill Biden to erase Melania Trump’s Rose Garden makeover
- Florida lawmakers pass new voting restrictions mirroring Georgia and Michigan
- Austin voters to decide on restoring rules criminalizing homeless activities
- ‘We’re not sworn enemies’: Liz Cheney defends herself for fist-bumping Biden
- New York mayor calls off ‘creepy, alienating’ police robo-dog
- California drought forces 15m salmon to take unusual route to Pacific: by road
- ‘No one knew we were homeless’: relief funds hope to reach students missing from virtual classrooms
- Head of Florida school district home to Parkland shooting resigns
- Biden urged to end US aid ‘abortion ban’
- Dozens of Canada’s First Nations lack drinking water: ‘Unacceptable in a country so rich’
- Zulu nation ruler Queen Mantfombi Dlamini dies aged 65
- Accusations of lying pile up against Boris Johnson. Does it matter?
- Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years
- Antarctic ‘doomsday glacier’ may be melting faster than was thought
- EU condemns ‘groundless’ Russian sanctions against its officials
- More than 100 lone children rescued trying to cross Mediterranean
- Germany first to hand back Benin bronzes looted by British
- Female political prisoners in Iran facing ‘psychological torture’, say campaigners
- Northern Ireland at 100: a timeline of its founding
- Recipes for Ramadan: Calisha Bennett’s Cocos Islander ayam panggang
- Experience: I knit with pet hair
- 'Freeing': Elliot Page says he finally feels comfortable in his body – video
- Bikers, geese and dancers: Friday’s best photos
| ‘It’s just the beginning’: Covid push to digital boosts big tech profits Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Apple, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft raked in money in first quarter Big tech is on a roll. In every minute of the first three months of 2021, Apple, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft sold products and services worth about $2.5m (£1.8m) combined. Profits before tax for the period came in at $88bn – more than $1bn of profit for every working day. After a year of shifting to online work and leisure across the global economy, financial results published this week by most of US tech's biggest names were bound to be strong. But even more bullish analysts on Wall Street were surprised by how fast they raked in money in the quarter, auguring even greater profits in the years ahead. Continue reading... |
| US-China doomsday threat ramped up by hi-tech advances, says Kissinger Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:55 PM PDT Former US secretary of state says strained relationship is world's 'biggest problem', as he warns of Beijing's economic and military might Former US diplomat Henry Kissinger has said that US-China tensions threaten to engulf the entire world and could lead to an Armageddon-like clash between the two military and technology giants. The 97-year-old former US secretary of state, who as an adviser to president Richard Nixon crafted the 1971 unfreezing of relations between Washington and Beijing, said the mix of economic, military and technological strengths of the two superpowers carried more risks than the cold war with the Soviet Union. Continue reading... |
| ‘It’s unfathomable’: Israel mourns after deadly crush at holy festival Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:12 AM PDT People tell of unfolding horror at Mount Meron as inquiry begins into one of the country's worst peacetime disasters Signs of the night's tragedy were scattered everywhere. Crushed plastic bottles lined the narrow sloped path, barely 3 or 4 metres across. A metal handrail lay bent, completely ripped from the ground by the force of the crushing throng of people. And, further down the walkway, an unused body bag. This thin passageway at a Jewish pilgrimage site in Mount Meron, northern Israel, was the scene of a horrific crush just after midnight on Thursday. Crowds of ultra-Orthodox men and children leaving a religious gathering, the first of its kind since nearly all coronavirus restrictions were lifted, slipped and trampled each other in the panic. Continue reading... |
| Woman in Disaster Girl meme sells original photo as NFT for $500,000 Posted: 30 Apr 2021 06:55 AM PDT Zoë Roth says she plans to use proceeds from sale of 2005 image of her smirking in front of burning house to pay student loans Zoë Roth, the woman whose picture was central to the 2005 Disaster Girl meme, has sold the original photo for $473,000 – the latest addition to the cryptocurrency-linked, digital image NFT craze that is sweeping through the art market. The image was taken of Roth, then aged four, by her father in front of a burning house in Mebane, North Carolina. Firefighters had intentionally set the blaze as a controlled fire. Continue reading... |
| Senate Republicans balk at plan to highlight Black history in US schools Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:04 PM PDT
Dozens of Senate Republicans have called on the Biden administration to withdraw what they say is a "divisive" proposal that would place greater emphasis on slavery and the contributions of Black Americans in history and civics lessons in US schools. Related: Ivy League colleges apologize for 'serious error' in using bones of Black child for teaching Continue reading... |
| Afghanistan: At least 21 killed in blast as US prepares to withdraw troops Posted: 30 Apr 2021 06:50 PM PDT Scores also injured in the blast in southern city of Pul-e-Alam the day before Pentagon begins to pull out its remaining forces At least 21 people have been killed and nearly 100 wounded after a car bomb exploded in an Afghan city south of the capital that president Ashraf Ghani has blamed on the Taliban. Friday's blast occurred in a residential area of Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province, as people were breaking their Ramadan fast, and came on the eve of the formal start of the US military's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Continue reading... |
| Guantánamo detainee takes on CIA ‘black sites’ in UN human rights case Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:39 PM PDT Palestinian Abu Zubaydah, detained for 19 years without trial, takes US, UK and five other countries before panel A Palestinian man held in Guantánamo Bay is taking the US, the UK and five other states before a UN human rights panel for their role in the CIA rendition and detention of terrorism suspects at "black sites" around the world. The unusual case is being brought to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions (UNWGAD) by Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, known as Abu Zubaydah, who has been detained for 19 years without trial. Continue reading... |
| Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist who shaped Los Angeles art scene, dies at 87 Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:49 PM PDT The entrepreneur-turned-collector financed the Broad museum in LA, and made huge donations to Yale, Harvard and MIT Eli Broad, the billionaire entrepreneur turned philanthropist and art collector who played an outsized role in shaping the art and cultural scene of Los Angeles, has died at the age of 87. Broad passed away at Cedars-Sinai medical centre in Los Angeles following a long illness, said Suzi Emmerling, a spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Continue reading... |
| ‘It is life-saving’: Elliot Page reveals happiness at having had top surgery Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:29 PM PDT
Actor Elliot Page has revealed how much happier he feels after having top surgery, and described transitioning as "life-saving". "I want people to know that not only has it been life-changing for me, I do believe it is life-saving and it's the case for so many people," the actor told Oprah Winfrey on her new show for Apple TV+. Continue reading... |
| Trump’s border wall hits a wall as Pentagon cancels parts funded from its budget Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:32 PM PDT Defense department will cancel all construction paid for with military funds originally intended for other purposes The US Department of Defense said on Friday it was cancelling the construction of parts of former president Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico that were being built using military funds. All unobligated money was being returned to military, the Pentagon said. Continue reading... |
| Colorado officers resign after outcry over violent arrest of 73-year-old with dementia Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:16 PM PDT Body-camera footage showing Karen Garner being pushed to the ground and handcuffed led to outpouring of anger Three Colorado police officers involved in the arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia who was shown being pushed to the ground and handcuffed on body-camera footage have resigned, police said on Friday. The Loveland police chief, Robert Ticer, announced the departures of officers Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali and the community services officer Tyler Blackett in connection to the arrest of Karen Garner, without providing details about how they left. A department spokesperson, Tom Hacker, later confirmed they had resigned. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 01 May 2021 12:28 AM PDT Australians trying to return home from India could face fine or jail; Indian government ignored warnings on variant, scientists say
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone reading. I'm Mattha Busby, here bringing you global coronavirus updates for the next couple of hours. My colleague Peter Walker has the latest on the scrapping of a rule forcing care home residents in England who go on any sort of outside visit to then spend two weeks in their room. One campaign group said the regulation had turned "care homes into prisons". Related: Covid rule that 'turned care homes into prisons' to be scrapped Continue reading... |
| India Covid crisis: government ignored warnings on variant, scientists say Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:53 PM PDT Country's government failed to impose extra restrictions despite warnings of a new, more dangerous strain in early March, experts claim A panel of Indian scientists warned officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, it has emerged. Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, Reuters reported on Saturday. Millions of largely unmasked people attended religious festivals and political rallies that were held by prime minister Narendra Modi, leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party and opposition politicians. Continue reading... |
| The Hindu priest struggling to cremate India’s Covid dead – video Posted: 30 Apr 2021 11:25 PM PDT RamKaran Mishra is a Hindu priest who performs the last rites at the Ghazipur crematorium in east Delhi, on the frontline of India's Covid crisis. He's been cremating up to 150 bodies day after day, working long hours into the night. With no end in sight, and feeling abandoned by his government, Mishra must deal with traumatised families and an ever-present smell of burning bodies  |
| How Biden’s firm line with Republicans draws on lesson of Obama’s mistakes Posted: 01 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT The president has sought bipartisan support but not at the cost of delay and dilution of his bold policies Joe Biden started his presidential campaign with promises to be a unifying force in Washington who would help lawmakers come together to achieve bipartisan reform. But over his first 100 days in office, Biden's message to Republicans in Congress has been closer to this: get on board or get out of my way. This willingness to go it alone if necessary appears to be a hard-won lesson from the early years of Barack Obama's presidency, when Democrats negotiated with Republicans on major bills only to have them vote against the final proposals. Continue reading... |
| The Latino immigrants who make the Kentucky Derby tick Posted: 01 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT During the racing season, about 1,000 workers at Kentucky's Churchill Downs groom, exercise and take care of competitors – hard and potentially dangerous work Walking among the green-roofed stables of America's most fabled horse racing track – Louisville's Churchill Downs in Kentucky - chaplain Joseph Del Rosario greets the men and women washing prized thoroughbreds after their morning workouts with a warm "¿Cómo estás?" Making his way past piles of hay and curious horses poking their heads out of stalls, he walks to a security gate at the edge of the track where he reads a daily devotional over the PA system twice – once in English and once in Spanish. Continue reading... |
| Blind date: ‘We were under a blanket for most of the evening’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Chris, 29, digital experience consultant, meets Ariana, 31, graduate student – in person! What were you hoping for?  |
| Teargas, flash-bangs: the devastating toll of police tactics on Minnesota children Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:00 AM PDT Families living near Brooklyn Center protests suffer as chemicals enter their homes and kids face a 'battlefield experience' As police used teargas and flash-bangs on protesters outside the Brooklyn Center police department, young children listened, terrified, from their homes directly across the street. Among them were two 11-year-old girls with autism, which makes them intensely sensitive to loud noises, their older sister, Jamiya Crayton, said. Continue reading... |
| Were Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office a success? Our panel’s verdict Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:22 AM PDT This week marks Biden's first 100 days, when presidents historically try to push ambitious agendas. Our panelists evaluate the record The bar for climate leadership set by the Trump administration was low enough to trip over. Joe Biden hasn't tripped in its first hundred days. He's cleared the bar decisively with a new emissions target and a pledge to spend roughly $1 trillion on climate priorities over the next eight years, and by a bigger margin than just about anyone would have expected from a career centrist. But with a world "on the verge of the abyss," as UN Secretary-General António Guterres summarized recently, that bar is the wrong one to be watching. Continue reading... |
| The low-hanging fruit in the climate battle? Cutting down on meat | Gaby Hinsliff Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT Eating fewer animal products and less dairy would make a huge difference to carbon emissions Something is cooking in the world of climate politics. Or, perhaps more accurately, something isn't. This week, the American recipe website Epicurious announced that, for environmental reasons, it wouldn't publish any new beef recipes. No more steaks, burgers or creative ways with mince; no more juicy rib. Since about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock farming, with beef responsible for nearly two thirds of those, it wanted to help home cooks do their bit. Continue reading... |
| Gwyneth’s Ark: sailing towards wellness but never quite getting there | Marina Hyde Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:40 AM PDT The Goop cruise is essentially a floating church freighted with expensive non-solutions. Yet there's no shortage of believers "If you want to get rich, you start a religion." This was the reported opinion of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, who in 1967 bought the first in what was to become a fleet of cruise ships. According to various whistleblower accounts, longtime devotees were finally initiated into the innermost secrets of Scientology on board one of these vessels, having spent years passing through various confected levels and parting with incremental payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was where you found out about Xenu, among more weapons-grade lunacy, the galactic tyrant who 75bn years ago exiled multiple individuals to Earth in special craft that weirdly looked exactly like DC10s, then imprisoned them in mountains before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a huge 3D film. My theory has always been that they told you this stuff at sea to reinforce the notion that you were now in too deep to get off the boat, both literally and metaphorically. So, yes: it's no real surprise to learn this week that turbocapitalist fanny egg pedlar Gwyneth Paltrow has got into the cruise business. Face it, there's never been a better time, with the possible exception of 13 minutes after the end of the Black Death. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:05 AM PDT This is about so much more than wallpaper. A pattern of lying, betrayal and callousness is ruining lives Yes, it's a real scandal. Despite the apparent absurdity of a Westminster village obsessing over soft furnishings and the precise class connotations of the John Lewis brand, there is a hard offence underneath all those cushions and throws. By refusing to tell us who first paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, Boris Johnson is denying us – his boss – the right to know who he owes and what hold they might have on him. Offence is the right word because, even before the Electoral Commission determines whether the law on political funding was broken, Johnson's failure to come clean may well be, by itself, a breach of the ministerial code. That bars not only actual conflicts of interest between ministers' "public duties and their private interests" but even the perception of such conflicts. In refusing to tell us who first paid that bill for overpriced wallpaper, or to give full details of who paid for his December 2019 holiday in Mustique, Johnson has offended the public trust. Continue reading... |
| The Guardian view on Biden’s 100 days: going big, but not big enough | Editorial Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:51 AM PDT The US president is right to spend, but shrinking the federal deficit is not the priority Joe Biden's first 100 days in office signalled that the future does not have to be a rerun of the past. The US president's speech to Congress this week made it clear that Trumpism was a warning from history, a reminder that no republic is guaranteed to last. The US remains in danger – its decline accelerated by an iniquitous economic model, and by leaders unable or unwilling to remedy it. It is a relief to find in the White House a president who wants to bridge divisions rather than widen them. Mr Biden should be praised for saying he will stop the rot and recognising the challenge to democracy posed by autocracy. But his response risks being undone by an obsession with containing non-existent fiscal risks. The Biden White House proposes spending $4trn, with about half the money used to rewrite the social contract. The rest will create jobs, with infrastructure investments to repurpose the post-Covid economy for a zero-carbon world. The problem is not that money is being spent to fix a broken society. Neither is it wrong to ask the rich to pay their fair share of tax. The problem is that Mr Biden says spending must be balanced by tax rises or savings from other government programmes. Continue reading... |
| Targets like 'net-zero' won't solve the climate crisis on their own | Mathew Lawrence Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:00 AM PDT There are ambitious new goals in the US and UK. But governments also need to decarbonise the economy and rethink how it's planned Last week was a critical time in the global response to the climate emergency: the US vowed to cut its emissions by at least 50% by 2030, while the UK government committed to reducing emissions by 78% by 2035, relative to a 1990 baseline. Both announcements were important steps that reflected the significance of one particular tool in climate governance: the target. From the legally binding targets in the UK's Climate Change Act (2008) to those of the 2015 Paris agreement, targets define a sense of direction and signpost of ambition. Alone, however, targets are not enough. We need more than just targets to transition to a post-carbon future. We need planning. Despite what free-market economists may suggest, markets are not "free", nor do they emerge spontaneously. They are created and sustained by governments, laws and political institutions, which plan how they operate and whose interests they serve. What's more, the global economy, far from being organised by the anarchy of competition, is itself structured by institutions with vast planning power. Targets may dominate the headlines, but it's these institutions of planning that are central to the climate struggle. Continue reading... |
| NFL draft 2021: More SEC dominance and quarterbacks taken on night two Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:38 PM PDT
Not much changed on the second night of the NFL draft. Do the letters SEC and QB seem familiar? The Southeastern Conference remained the conference of choice with 29 players selected overall, including 17 on Friday night. Continue reading... |
| Seattle Kraken officially become 32nd NHL team after final $650m payment Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:30 PM PDT
The Seattle Kraken are free to make trades and sign players after making their final expansion payment to the National Hockey League. Seattle owners paid $650m (£470m) to become the NHL's 32nd franchise. The Kraken begin play next season. Continue reading... |
| Logan Paul v Floyd Mayweather is a payday boxing must treat with caution | Barney Ronay Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:00 AM PDT Exhibition between YouTuber and 44-year-old is a destructive, easy source of revenue – and a troubling prospect for the sport The phrase "(Person X) has a punchable face" is a horrible thing. There is so much wrong with it. The idea people have any say in what their face looks like. The suggestion punching is an acceptable human response. It's degrading. It's cowardly. It stinks of all the worst parts of the internet, humankind's angriest medium. And yet, with all due advisories, and having considered soberly all available evidence, it has to be said Logan Paul really does have a punchable face. Continue reading... |
| Garry Kasparov: ‘Why become a martyr? I can do much more outside Russia’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:01 AM PDT The chess grandmaster on speaking out against Vladimir Putin and why he cannot choose the best player ever "I haven't stopped my fight against the regime," says Garry Kasparov, his words bristling with defiance and quiet rage. "I'm not lowering my voice. Putin is not just a Russian imperialist. He has a much bigger agenda. He is an existential threat to the free world." It would have been easy for the greatest chess player in history to stay quiet after fleeing Russia in 2013 amid a crackdown on prominent opposition figures. Kasparov, after all, is a successful businessman, an expert on artificial intelligence and cyber security, and has just launched a new website, Kasparovchess.com. But that has never been his style. Not now. Not ever. Continue reading... |
| More than ever, baseball’s unwritten rules were made to be broken Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT If America's pastime is going to survive this century, it's going to have to let its brash young personalities shine through On Saturday the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the San Diego Padres in what has become baseball's hottest rivalry. To say the Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr started it off with a bang would be putting it mildly. After taking a chest-high cutter from the Dodgers' Trevor Bauer on the game's first pitch for a strike, Tatis struck back on the very next throw, slapping essentially the exact same pitch over Dodger Stadium's left-field fence to furnish the visitors with a 1-0 lead. It was your classic, cut-to-the-chase moment, one of baseball's biggest bats getting over on its reigning Cy Young winner. But what came next was even more explosive. As Tatis was rounding first base, he slowed down, looked back and cupped a hand over his right eye. No doubt, for baseball purists, this – not the homer, his first of two on the day – was the real shot. Continue reading... |
| Maradona care ‘deficient and reckless’ before death, medical board report finds Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:19 PM PDT
A medical board appointed to investigate the death of Diego Maradona has concluded that the football icon's medical team acted in an "inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner," according to a copy of the report shared with Reuters on Friday. Maradona's death in November last year rocked Argentina, where he was revered, and prompted a period of mourning and finger-pointing about who was to blame after his long battle with addiction and ill health. Continue reading... |
| Make no mistake, Pep Guardiola’s football is a celebration of individuality | Philipp Lahm Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:02 PM PDT At Bayern, we learned so much from Guardiola – he knows big matches are decided by big players I remember a lot from Pep Guardiola. "In important matches," he said to me, "I just pick my best XI." You have to listen carefully, the sentence contains the core of what football is about: individual quality. Guardiola is a top coach. He loves the skills and talent of his players. Some coaches seek to reduce the complexity of football. Guardiola, though, wants to master it. One can compare his task with a chess grandmaster or with an orchestra director who gets the best out of each instrument. The only thing is that a football ensemble does not play according to given musical notes, and the paths of a footballer are more variable than those followed by the rook and the knight. It isn't all that easy to recognise what someone is doing and can do on the pitch. It's also hard to describe. Continue reading... |
| Sebastian Vettel: ‘As long as I still feel that will to compete, I will be here’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:00 PM PDT The four-times world champion on life at Aston Martin, his bond with Lewis Hamilton and tackling environmental issues As a four-times Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel surely has nothing left to prove, except it seems to himself. The German has endured a trying time of late but as his career enters a new phase, his passion for the sport is entirely undiminished. Vettel's interests these days may be broader, extending from promoting the wellbeing of bees to a spot of early morning cow milking, but F1 remains the driving force. Vettel has been competing in F1 now for 15 seasons. Yet before the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend the eyes above his mask still make a convincing case that the 33-year-old veteran enjoys the same enthusiasm as the boy who began racing karts at eight; as the tousle-haired teenager who made his F1 test debut for Sauber in 2006 and indeed the precociously talented young man who became the youngest winner of an F1 race in 2008 for Toro Rosso at Monza. Continue reading... |
| The Kidnapping Club and A Shot in the Moonlight reviews – slavery’s long shadow Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Two books on the pre- and post-civil war New York and Kentucky deal with dark but also more hopeful episodes in US history History is seldom neat. Two books, one on antebellum New York and the other on 1890s Kentucky, illustrate the tension, showing despicable behavior relieved by the stalwart courage of a few. Related: Thaddeus Stevens review: the Radical Republican America should remember Continue reading... |
| Julia Donaldson: ‘I worry some children will be unable to sing’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT The bestselling author of the Gruffalo is concerned about the limits coronavirus has placed on the lives of her young fans Children are not, says Julia Donaldson with a smile, going to write to her directly about the pandemic. Her assistant has just delivered a fresh pile of post, and the author shuffles through a stack of opened letters to make the point: "Children aren't going to write, 'Oh dear I feel so lonely or overcrowded' – they are just writing their usual, 'There were four kittens called mitten, litten, nitten and kitten.' They are so sweet, some of the things they write." If, as well as her permanent affection for the nation's children, there is mild exasperation at being asked to act as their spokesperson as they emerge from another lockdown, it can be forgiven: as the creator of such beloved characters as the Gruffalo, Tiddler and Zog, the former children's laureate, actor and singer-songwriter has long been expected to help her readers think, rhyme and imagine for themselves. Continue reading... |
| Noel Clarke shows dropped as allegations shake TV industry Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:03 PM PDT ITV and Sky halt programmes featuring actor accused of sexual harassment and bullying
Allegations of sexual harassment and bullying made against the actor-producer Noel Clarke have shaken the film and television industry, prompting two broadcasters to cancel popular shows he was starring in and launching a debate about the treatment of women on sets. The allegations against Clarke also led to questions about the decision by Bafta (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) to give the actor a special award for outstanding British contribution to cinema last month. Continue reading... |
| Grammy organisers to end ‘secret’ nomination committees after rigging allegations Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:37 PM PDT Recording Academy was slammed last year after The Weeknd got zero nominations despite top-selling album The organisers of music's Grammy Awards have announced an end to the "secret" committees that have led to allegations that the highest honours in the industry are open to rigging. The Recording Academy said on Friday that nominations for the next Grammy Awards in January 2022 will be selected by all of its more than 11,000 voting members, instead of by committees of 15-30 industry experts whose names were not revealed. Continue reading... |
| From spaceships to sweat shops to Studio 54: the world’s greatest nightclubs Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:15 PM PDT A veg patch on the dancefloor, invites printed on cheese, $30,000 makeovers every six weeks … a new show at V&A Dundee celebrates a half-century of club culture. Is it a thing of the past? Dancers grind, twist and pump their bodies beneath a billowing parachute, while other revellers sprawl across six-metre long polyurethane silk worms, or perch on seating made from washing machine drums and refrigerator cases. A VJ mixes trippy visuals to the beat of the music, using junkyard scraps mixed with water and food colouring on an overhead projector, her psychedelic creations drifting across a vegetable patch sprouting from the centre of the dancefloor. "Even though nightclubs won't be reopening for a long time," says Bell, "and many have closed down permanently, we wanted to assert them as critical cultural spaces, just as much as museums are. We've never had so many people ask if we're having an opening party. People are just desperate to go out and dress up." Continue reading... |
| RIP skinnies. What’s next for jeans? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:13 AM PDT With denim returning to our wardrobes, the jury is out as to which cut of jeans will win out. Make the 'anything goes' moment work for you by looking to vintage inspiration for these 10 styles In fashion, one thing's for sure – the era of sweatpants is over, and denim is back. It's also pretty clear that skinny jeans, the style that has refused to die for 20 years, are finally, waning from fashion's pole position, thanks to gen Z relentlessly roasting milllenials over their trouser choice. And that is where the certainties end. Continue reading... |
| Permafrost by Eva Baltasar review – a wolf howl against drudgery and bad sex Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:00 AM PDT In this Catalan bestseller, queerness is a salvation for the troubled narrator This short novel, which was a Catalan bestseller, is poet Eva Baltasar's fiction debut; she has published 10 volumes of poetry. Permafrost's chapters take us from an unnamed narrator's adolescence to her 40s; throughout it all her desire for women is a constant. It piques the curiosity of other women in her family. "What is it like to fuck a woman?" her aunt and later her sister ask. To the narrator, these straight, or straight-seeming, women are weird: bizarrely intent on denying themselves. She professes scorn for them – "[b]eing the bearer of important news: the only climax Mom has ever known" – and struggles to perform the sentimentality they demand of her. When her sister, pregnant with her second child, asks whether she is "excited", the narrator responds with: "It's so amazing to be an aunt twice over it's like being a full-fledged aunt like going from wearing a monocle to wearing a pair of glasses or from riding a tricycle to riding a bicycle." Continue reading... |
| Art lovers in Brussels divided over plans for museum about Le Chat Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:49 AM PDT Thousands sign petition calling for rethink as work on €9.38m museum about comic strip is given go-ahead A spat over the wisdom of spending millions of euros of public money on a museum about a popular newspaper comic strip featuring an obese anthropomorphic cat is dividing opinion within Belgium's artistic community. The decision by the Brussels-Capital Region to give building approval for the Musée du Chat on Rue Royale, the location of some of the country's most respected cultural institutions, has prompted what artists Denis De Rudder and Sandrine Morgante have described as "feelings of incomprehension and concern, even consternation and revolt" in a letter and petition addressed to Rudi Vervoort, minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT In this extract from her new memoir, the New Zealand writer explains why children need to read about people like them In 1987 I presented a paper at the Fourth Early Childhood Convention in Wellington. I titled the paper "Books Are Dangerous". Always in my mind were the experiences of teaching reading in the small country schools, and what a difference it made to children's learning, their self-confidence, their joy, when there were stories about them. Not only about them, but by them. This didn't mean that they did not like the stories and books about others, because they did, but in writing their own stories and sharing them, they were able to see themselves as worthy protagonists too. In preparation for the paper, I thought about my own childhood reading. Though I had always liked books, any books, any written-down words or expressions, the ones I read as a child were always exotic. I never found myself in a book. Continue reading... |
| Angela O’Keeffe on Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles – and engaging with the art of awful men Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT The writer's ingenious debut Night Blue is narrated by Australia's most infamous and triumphant canvas: Blue Poles It's closing-in on half a century since Gough Whitlam approved the purchase of Blue Poles, the painting that divided Australia. Spend an hour people-watching at the foot of Pollock's canvas, and you'll hear visitor after visitor come and tell the painting exactly what they think of it. "Do you know how much they paid for that thing?" an old bloke strides across the room to tell me, voice a-thunder. "1.3 million, love. 1.3 million!" You can sense the outrage brewing, the roiling incredulity. He shakes his head as he stares into the expressionist tangle. "What a fucken' bargain." What if the painting were listening? And not just to our bombastic opinions, but to our quiet agonies. What might it think of us? Continue reading... |
| Ya Tseen: the Alaska-based star mixing psych pop and giant political art Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:00 AM PDT Activist, musician, visual artist – the performer is always breaking down boundaries. His collab-heavy new album is potent, tender and all about togetherness Indian Yard may have been recorded in such far-flung locations as New York, Texas, Seattle and Lake Como in Italy – but right now the album's creator, Nicholas Galanin, is home in Sitka, Alaska, with his feet up. Sort of. "We spend a great deal of time outdoors, hunting and fishing," says the softly spoken Galanin, who is married to the artist Merritt Johnson, with whom he has six kids. Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading... |
| Biden faces pressure to drive gasoline and diesel cars out of the US Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:00 AM PDT The president has touted the benefits of a boom in electric cars – but as states move to phase out new polluting vehicles his administration is pressed to go further Joe Biden's administration, seeking deep cuts to planet-heating emissions, is facing pressure to take a previously unthinkable step: declare the end of the internal combustion engine in the US. Washington state has moved to call time on the age of gasoline and diesel cars, with the legislature passing a goal that new car sales be only zero-emission vehicles from 2030, including out of state purchases that are then imported. The legislation now awaits to signature of Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat who previously ran for president on the climate crisis platform. Continue reading... |
| Restorationists urge Jill Biden to erase Melania Trump’s Rose Garden makeover Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:53 AM PDT A petition, signed by more than 54,000 people, calls on Biden to return the garden to its 'former glory' as Jacqueline Kennedy designed Efforts to erase the Trump family legacy have reached the White House potting sheds and nurseries with Jill Biden being urged to restore the mansion's garden to a state that predates ex-First Lady Melania Trump's 2019 makeover. An online petition calling on the first lady to return the Rose Garden to its "former glory" has been signed by more than 54,000 people. The petition says Biden's predecessor "had the cherry trees, a gift from Japan, removed as well as the rest of the foliage and replaced with a boring tribute to herself". Continue reading... |
| Florida lawmakers pass new voting restrictions mirroring Georgia and Michigan Posted: 30 Apr 2021 06:07 AM PDT Bill introduces new hurdles to voting by mail and restrictions on providing water to people waiting in line to cast their ballot The Florida legislature has passed tight new voting restrictions, placing the crucial swing state at the forefront of a nationwide wave of Republican efforts to suppress turnout on the back of Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The bill, which closely mirrors similar Republican ploys in Georgia and Michigan, is likely to make it more difficult for millions of voters to have their democratic say. The new barriers to voting are expected to particularly impact minority communities. Continue reading... |
| Austin voters to decide on restoring rules criminalizing homeless activities Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:14 AM PDT A proposition on Saturday's ballot would impose fines for behavior such as camping, panhandling and sleeping outdoors Summer Wright experienced homelessness on and off for years as a teenager and young adult. At no point would she have benefited from a $500 fine, or having police sweep away her belongings. "It wouldn't have urged me into a shelter. It would have urged me further away," said Wright, a member of the Austin Youth Collective. Continue reading... |
| ‘We’re not sworn enemies’: Liz Cheney defends herself for fist-bumping Biden Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:37 AM PDT No 3 ranking Republican previously came under sustained attack from her own party for criticizing Donald Trump Liz Cheney, the embattled No 3 ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, has been forced to defend herself for having fist-bumped Joe Biden during his address to Congress this week. Related: Florida lawmakers pass new voting restrictions mirroring Georgia and Michigan Continue reading... |
| New York mayor calls off ‘creepy, alienating’ police robo-dog Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:46 AM PDT
New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered a controversial robotic dog undergoing trials with the city's police off the street, and a $94,200 contract with creator Boston Dynamics cancelled. The robot canine, named "Digidog", is to be returned to its manufacturer following outrage tied to calls to cut police funding and law enforcement access to military-developed or surplus hardware. Continue reading... |
| California drought forces 15m salmon to take unusual route to Pacific: by road Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:44 AM PDT State officials will truck the young fish to the ocean, with the waterways they use to travel downstream historically low California officials will truck more than 15 million young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the state's Central Valley agricultural region to the Pacific Ocean because projected river conditions show that the waterways the fish use to travel downstream will be historically low and warm due to increasing drought. Officials announced the huge trucking operation on Wednesday, saying the effort is aimed at ensuring "the highest level of survival for the young salmon on their hazardous journey to the Pacific Ocean". Continue reading... |
| ‘No one knew we were homeless’: relief funds hope to reach students missing from virtual classrooms Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT Remote learning has made it harder for school staff to pick up on clues that students lack permanent housing. New federal funding is meant to help re-establish contact Portia and her two boys were living at the St Ambrose Family Shelter in Dorchester, Massachusetts, located in an old Catholic church, when the pandemic hit. To protect her family from the virus, she moved in with her mother in a one-bedroom apartment. But with a baby brother in the same room and unreliable wifi, 13-year-old Quentin began to struggle in school. Then the landlord threatened to evict them, calling the arrangement a fire hazard. Continue reading... |
| Head of Florida school district home to Parkland shooting resigns Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:30 AM PDT Robert Runcie stands down amid corruption inquiry as some claim he is a victim of political foes who blame him for 2018 massacre The head of the Florida school district that saw the nation's deadliest high school shooting is standing down amid a secretive corruption inquiry and competing claims that his downfall was orchestrated by political foes who blame him for the loss of 17 lives. Robert Runcie, superintendent of the Broward school district for nine years, confirmed his resignation on Thursday, just over three years after a former student killed 14 teenagers and three staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school (MSD) in Parkland. Continue reading... |
| Biden urged to end US aid ‘abortion ban’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 06:41 AM PDT More than 140 rights groups call for repeal of 1973 Helms amendment widely misinterpreted as total ban on funding abortion services overseas Joe Biden is being urged to clarify a longstanding US law restricting overseas aid that has been misinterpreted by successive administrations as an outright ban on funding abortion for any reason. As the US president marked his first 100 days in office on Friday, more than 140 human rights and global health organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International US and the Global Justice Center, signed a letter asking him to confirm that US aid can be used for abortion care in cases of rape, incest and when the woman's life is in danger. Continue reading... |
| Dozens of Canada’s First Nations lack drinking water: ‘Unacceptable in a country so rich’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:12 AM PDT Indigenous leaders are suing the Canadian government for not providing clean water – and ministers admit they have failed Curve Lake First Nation, a forested community in southern Canada, is surrounded on three sides by fresh water. But for decades, residents have been unable to safely make use of it. Wary of crumbling infrastructure and waterborne illness, the community instead relies on shipments of bottled water. The community's newly elected chief, aged 34, has lived her whole life without the guarantee of clean water flowing from the tap. Continue reading... |
| Zulu nation ruler Queen Mantfombi Dlamini dies aged 65 Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:11 AM PDT Queen only assumed role a month ago after death of her husband King Goodwill Zwelithini Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu, the traditional ruler of South Africa's Zulu nation, has died aged 65, only a month after she took the role following the death of her husband, King Goodwill Zwelithini. "It is with deepest shock and distress that the royal family announces the unexpected passing of Her Majesty Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu, regent of the Zulu nation," Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the founder of the Inkatha Freedom party and traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch, said in a statement. Continue reading... |
| Accusations of lying pile up against Boris Johnson. Does it matter? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:28 AM PDT Analysis: MPs and broadcasters are losing their reluctance to openly call out the PM's deceit It was a jaw-dropping moment. This week the SNP Commons leader, Ian Blackford, asked Boris Johnson a question in parliament that was unsurprising and yet somehow extraordinary. "I can't possibly call the PM a liar in this house," Blackford said, beaming in remotely from Scotland. "But … are you a liar, prime minister?" There was an awkward silence. It was as if Johnson – facing off at the dispatch box against the Labour leader, Keir Starmer – was genuinely mulling an answer. The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, intervened, chastising Blackford for his unparliamentary remark. MPs were not allowed to accuse each other of lying, Hoyle said, even if this was what appeared to be going on. Continue reading... |
| Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:03 PM PDT International team of researchers also found that deforestation rose nearly four-fold in 2019 The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past decade than it absorbed, according to a startling report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world's largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution. From 2010 through 2019, Brazil's Amazon basin gave off 16.6bn tonnes of CO2, while drawing down only 13.9bn tonnes, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change. Continue reading... |
| Antarctic ‘doomsday glacier’ may be melting faster than was thought Posted: 30 Apr 2021 03:40 AM PDT Study finds more relatively warm water is reaching Thwaites glacier than was previously understood An Antarctic glacier larger than the UK is at risk of breaking up after scientists discovered more warm water flowing underneath it than previously thought. The fate of Thwaites – nicknamed the doomsday glacier – and the massive west Antarctic ice sheet it supports are the biggest unknown factors in future global sea level rise. Continue reading... |
| EU condemns ‘groundless’ Russian sanctions against its officials Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:51 PM PDT Brussels promises to retaliate against move, which Moscow says was a response to punitive EU measures in March The EU has accused Russia of seeking confrontation after the Kremlin sanctioned senior officials in Brussels and the president of the European parliament in a retaliatory move. In a joint statement by Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and David Sassoli, the heads of the European commission, council and parliament said Moscow's action on Friday had been "groundless". Continue reading... |
| More than 100 lone children rescued trying to cross Mediterranean Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:12 AM PDT Unicef warns many child refugees and migrants picked up off the coast of Libya will be sent to 'appalling' detention centres Fears are rising over the numbers of lone children risking their lives to reach Europe after 114 were pulled from the Mediterranean Sea in one day this week. The unaccompanied minors were among 125 children rescued off the Libyan coast on Tuesday by the authorities, aid agencies said. Continue reading... |
| Germany first to hand back Benin bronzes looted by British Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:58 AM PDT Culture minister says country is facing up to 'historic and moral responsibility' by returning artefacts to Nigeria Germany is to become the first country to hand back the Benin bronzes looted by British soldiers in the late 19th century, after the culture minister, Monika Grütters, announced it would start returning a "substantial" part of the artefacts held in its museums to Nigeria from next year. "We face up to our historic and moral responsibility to shine a light and work on Germany's historic past," Grütters said after museum experts and political leaders struck an agreement at a summit on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Female political prisoners in Iran facing ‘psychological torture’, say campaigners Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:01 AM PDT Reports of deteriorating treatment of human rights activists, with an increase in moves to 'dangerous' jails often far from families Female human rights activists imprisoned in Iran face increased jail terms and transfers to prisons with "dangerous and alarming" conditions, hundreds of miles away from their families, according to campaigners. Warnings of the deteriorating treatment of female prisoners in Iran come days after Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian national who has served a five-year prison sentence in Iran, was sentenced to a further year in jail and a year-long travel ban by the Iranian courts. Continue reading... |
| Northern Ireland at 100: a timeline of its founding Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:44 AM PDT As the region marks its centenary, we look at how it was created after the partition of Ireland As Northern Ireland marks the centenary of its foundation in May 1921 after the partition of Ireland, here is a timeline of how that came to happen. Continue reading... |
| Recipes for Ramadan: Calisha Bennett’s Cocos Islander ayam panggang Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:00 PM PDT This aromatic and spicy chicken dish hails from one of Australia's most remote territories Although they are an Australian territory, many people in Australia are unfamiliar with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a pair of atolls and 27 coral islands some 2,700km north-west of Perth. They are midway between Australia and Sri Lanka, and closest to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The religion is Islam and the two main islands (Home Island and West Island) are only inhabited by about 600 people. Continue reading... |
| Experience: I knit with pet hair Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT A customer asked me to make a replica out of her cat's fur when it died. She took the knitted cat to bed and slept well for the first time since her loss I was born in the former Soviet Union, where my mother taught me to knit when I was very young. It was a skill every Russian woman had when I was growing up, because clothes were in short supply. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1990s, I quickly fell out of the habit: why knit a cardigan you could easily pick up for $20 in a store? It was adopting a cat that led to me taking it up again. I had always thought of myself as a dog person, but when I was offered a beautiful ragdoll cat called Mittens, I couldn't resist him. Ragdolls have soft, silky coats, and Mittens loved to be brushed. His hair was so beautiful that rather than throw away the loose strands that came away in the brush, I started collecting them. Eventually, I had enough to fill a shoebox. That's when I wondered if it might be any good as yarn. Continue reading... |
| 'Freeing': Elliot Page says he finally feels comfortable in his body – video Posted: 30 Apr 2021 11:06 AM PDT The actor Elliot Page has revealed having top surgery as part of his transition was a 'freeing experience' and he described transitioning as 'life-saving'. Page urged officials to support healthcare for transgender people and allow them access to sports. The actor spoke to Oprah Winfrey on her new show for Apple TV+. The full interview from The Oprah Conversation is expected to be released Friday. Continue reading... |
| Bikers, geese and dancers: Friday’s best photos Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:31 AM PDT |
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