Mubeen Blogs

Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams’ story markedly at odds with abandonment narrative painted by Trump and Musk In the end, whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump liked to insist , astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were never stuck, nor stranded in space, and definitely not abandoned or marooned. The world heard on Monday, for the first time since their return to Earth two weeks ago , from the two Nasa astronauts whose 10-day flight to the international space station (ISS) last summer turned into a nine-month odyssey. And their story was markedly at odds with the narrative painted from the White House. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/8Qe5DEH

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...

Milan midfielder suffered abdominal pain in training Napoli defeat Milan 2-1 to close gap on leaders Inter Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has had successful appendectomy surgery after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis, the Serie A club said on Sunday. Local media reported that during Milan’s training camp in Napoli the England international experienced severe abdominal pain that necessitated hospitalisation for further investigation. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/KsSouDQ

In interview Trump said he wasn’t joking when he alluded to a purported loophole for a third term as president Donald Trump has said there are “methods” – if not “plans” – to circumvent the constitutional limit preventing US presidents from serving three terms. In an interview aired Sunday on NBC, Trump was asked about his trying to stay in office beyond his second presidency, a specter he has repeatedly raised while sometimes claiming he is just joking. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/I3osr1K

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 manager, whose team have been drawn to face Nottingham Forest, relied on what he called his “legendary” players on the south coast – the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan. But what he felt made the difference was the collective attitude which, since City lost 2-1 at Bournemouth in the Premier League on 2 November, has been found wanting on too many occasions. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xELSvw6

Women’s Six Nations: Wales 12-67 England Feaunati, Dow and Burton all score twice Ellie Kildunne scored a whirlwind hat-trick in the space of nine minutes on her 50th cap as England thumped Wales in front of a record crowd in Cardiff. The full-back, who won her first cap in 2017, has now scored 39 tries for the Red Roses and at 25 years old there is a lot more to come from the World Rugby player of the year. Kildunne, who has lost two games in an England shirt, had been kept largely quiet in the first half that seemed to inspire an impressive performance in the second 40 where she sliced through the Wales defence like butter. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/SleiIRH

High-flying broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill was robbed of basic abilities after a brain haemorrhage. This film about her recovery is brutal, raw – and full of gut-wrenching moments that have nothing to do with the injury The first time we encounter the writer and presenter Clemency Burton-Hill in this Arena documentary, she is in full, fluent, broadcasterly flow, promoting her new book on classical music, Year of Wonder . The next time we see her, she is struggling to spell her own name. The former clip is from 2017, the latter while Burton-Hill was recovering from the brain haemorrhage she suffered in January 2020 at 38 years old. My Brain: After the Rupture covers the two years after Burton-Hill’s brain injury. She begins recording herself in her hospital bed, having clearly grasped the journalistic potential of documenting such a life-altering event. She tries to speak, but much of what she says is incomprehensible: she can remember most words, but has lost the ability to actuall...

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/Tw0CHrd

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/SQDqudh

Meeting follows letter signed by prominent members urging more forceful response on Hamdan Ballal’s arrest The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has convened an extraordinary meeting to address a crisis over its tepid response to the arrest and detention of Oscar-winning director Hamdan Ballal, of the documentary No Other Land , by Israeli authorities. The meeting on Friday morning Pacific time, first reported by Deadline, follows a strongly worded letter signed by many prominent members – including actors Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem, Joaquin Phoenix, Penélope Cruz and Emma Thompson, directors Ava DuVernay, Alfonso Cuarón, Adam McKay and Jonathan Glazer and writer Tony Kushner – calling for a more forceful response from the Academy’s board of governors than an initial statement that did not refer to Ballal or No Other Land by name and cited the Academy membership’s “many unique viewpoints.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/WpSsxNo

Nearly half of the cars sold in the US are imported and Trump’s 25% tariff will add at least $6,000 to the sticker price of the average car, industry experts say After two months of flip-flopping on tariffs, imposing them one day and often suspending them the next, Donald Trump gunned the accelerator of his trade war on Wednesday by announcing a 25% tariff on autos and auto parts imported into the United States. That’s a very big deal, and while the president insists this hefty import tax on cars is going to be good for “anybody who has plants in the United States”, his move – like a car in desperate need of a tune-up – could easily backfire. Nearly half of the cars sold in the US are imported, and Trump’s 25% tariff will add at least $6,000 to the sticker price of the average car, industry experts say. Domestic auto producers will be able to jack up their sticker prices because the new tariffs will make US automakers face considerably less price competition from imported cars. This...

Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/KvC7EVF

Sherman theatre, Cardiff Rebecca Jade Hammond’s assured drama about two girls groomed for drug trafficking switches between humour and terror What a punchy play. Rebecca Jade Hammond has written a disturbing county lines drama that questions our stereotypes of groomers, itemises insidious techniques of manipulation and considers the neglect that leaves children vulnerable. But Hammond has also written a boisterous comedy about teenage girls who take feet pics for OnlyFans and share TikTok dance crazes and Las Vegas pipe dreams in a Swansea chicken shop. As director Hannah Noone’s well-calibrated, 75-minute production switches from humour to terror, the rush from a soundtrack featuring Charli xcx is replaced by gnawing silence. Hot Chicks is the name of the WhatsApp group that 15-year-old besties Ruby and Kyla start with the smooth Sadie who walks into their fast food spot one day and becomes … what, exactly? She’s too old for their friend group, could just about be their mother, but...

Denial of compensation for Raymond Lee, denied re-entry to UK in after 1999 trip to Jamaica, deemed ‘legal error’ by judge Windrush scandal victims who were denied compensation could have their cases reconsidered after a landmark ruling against the Home Office. Raymond Lee, 67, was returning from a trip to Jamaica in 1999 when he was denied re-entry to the UK, detained and removed, separating him from his family and putting him out of work. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/V8bRODJ

Some in West Yorkshire town of Otley think people will stop going out, while others are resigned to ever-rising prices “It makes sense to Rachel Reeves, I don’t know if it makes sense to anyone else,” said a grumbling pubgoer on hearing the news that the average pint is expected to rise above the £5 mark for the first time in history next month. According to research by Frontier Economics commissioned by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average price of a pint of beer is expected to reach £5.01 in April, a 21p rise. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/hH9O4WV

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/zN8TQty

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/jGyLvwZ

One Harry Kane pass to his fellow forward in otherwise routine win over Albania gives a hint of how England could succeed One of the problems of international football is that everybody is always asking the wrong question, which to an extent is built into the form. Qualifiers matter only in as much as they have to be negotiated. Friday’s win by England over Albania fell into a very familiar pattern. The brave new world of Thomas Tuchel turned out to look a lot like the faded old world of Gareth Southgate. England had lots of the ball, did not move it fast enough and won by a couple of goals. It does not matter. They could have won 10-0, 8-5 or 1-0 and it would mean almost nothing in terms of the winning of the World Cup. England want to win the World Cup next summer. They have a squad that should make them challengers. Barring pratfalls, there will come a point next year when they will play an Argentina or a Spain or a France, a team of equivalent or greater talent and, almost certa...

Scotland 24-21 Wales Six tries and two red cards in Six Nations opener Two red cards, six tries, a nip-and-tuck scoreboard and a traditional Scottish deluge falling from the sky. This had pretty much everything and Scotland were the team left standing with a win, but only just, in a pulsating encounter. These sides meet again in August, in Pool B of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, and judging by the skill, physicality and entertainment on show in Edinburgh, that appointment in Salford will be unmissable. Sarah Bonar, Emma Orr and Leah Bartlett scored tries for Scotland while Helen Nelson kicked a penalty and three conversions – every kick proving important in the final reckoning. Carys Phillips, Abbie Fleming and Gwenllian Pyrs were try-scorers for Wales, who started and finished strongly, but ultimately paid for missing 35 tackles. Credit, too, for the silky attacking skills and forward muscle of Scotland, for whom the wing Fran McGhie was a constant threat. Continue reading... f...

Russian spy who was the highest ranking KGB officer to defect to Britain For more than a decade the senior KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, who has died aged 86, spied for MI6 before escaping execution by being dramatically smuggled out of the Soviet Union in the boot of a car. He was the highest ranking KGB officer to defect to Britain, and his most important contribution as a spy was to warn Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan of the Soviet leadership’s paranoia at a time when the world was moving dangerously close to nuclear war. Gordievsky first came to the notice of MI6 after a tip-off from a Czechoslovakian spy, Standa Kaplan, who had defected to Canada. Kaplan mentioned Gordievsky as an old friend from the KGB academy, where they would together question the direction the Kremlin was taking. By then Gordievsky was a KGB officer attached to the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen; in 1972 he responded favourably to delicate approaches made by MI6 officers in the Danish capital, after pho...

A new book celebrates the life of Otago farmer and fashion collector Eden Hore, providing a unique snapshot of New Zealand in the 1970s and 80s In the 1970s, farmer and war veteran Eden Hore raised the eyebrows of his neighbours when he began collecting what he described as “high and exotic fashion”. Shimmering sequins, delicate tulle and frothy chiffon were not what one expected to find on a sheep and cattle farm. “I’ve always been a bit different. A bachelor with all these dresses,” said the late Hore, who ran a sheep and cattle farm in Central Otago in New Zealand’s South Island before his death in 1997. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/enk0hva

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/asKg3MF

Research finds yellow warblers near busy roads turn aggressive when traffic drowns out their territorial songs, and noise pollution could cause clashes If the rumble of trucks, honk of car horns and bustle of the roads leaves you irritable, you are not alone – researchers say the sound of traffic can leave birds in a rage, too. Researchers have found male Galápagos yellow warblers that live near busy roads on the islands behave more aggressively when they hear songs from another male if they occur in the presence of traffic sounds. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9WAiyRU

There are bruising punch-ups and exuberant shootouts galore in this series that also has a genuinely jaw-dropping Die Hard-inspired fight scene. Keeping track of all the allegiances can be tricky, though Most meetings could just be an email. But in the heightened milieu of Sky’s bloodthirsty hit Gangs of London, face-to-face parleys have become as essential as the drama’s signature bouts of brutal hand-to-hand combat. Whenever anything dodgy happens that could jeopardise the capital’s lucrative illegal rackets, some high-level hood growls the magic words into their mobile: “Call a meeting of the gangs. Tonight.” For the various factions, these executive sit-downs are an opportunity to look their shady associates in the eye and intuit who might be making a power grab. For viewers, it’s a useful way to keep tabs on all the larger-than-life stakeholders, from fearsome Irish mob widow Marian Wallace (Michelle Fairley) to snappily dressed fixer Ed Dumani (recent Conclave standout Lucian M...

UltraViolet attacks Trump administration for reportedly influencing Romanian officials to allow him to fly to Florida A prominent women’s justice organization launched a campaign on Thursday to have the accused rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate deported from the US. The group, UltraViolet, also attacked the Trump administration for reportedly influencing Romanian officials to allow Tate to fly to Florida last month . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/lmLn8Ys

Sarah Wynn-Williams’s account of her seven years as a Facebook executive is number one on the New York Times bestseller list and has flown off the shelves in the UK An exposé by a former employee of Meta has become a bestseller despite the social media company banning the author from promoting the book. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former director of global public policy at Meta’s precursor, Facebook, topped the New York Times bestseller chart and will be fourth on the Sunday Times nonfiction hardback chart this weekend. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/0PWviCJ

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...

There are many good reasons to quit flying – primarily, of course, the climate crisis. And the lack of legroom suggests airlines are actually trying to squeeze us out ... Name: Tiny seats. Age: If you look at pictures of the Wright brothers’ first flights in 1903, it looks as if they had plenty of legroom. It’s been downhill ever since. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Ps2oaUh

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/fhB7W30

While we watch students getting handcuffed, vague new guidelines create a culture of fear over teaching our history On 14 February, the US Department of Education ’s office of civil rights issued a letter providing notice to American educational institutions, schools and universities of the department’s new interpretation of federal civil rights law. The letter lays out new conditions for institutions to receive federal funding, including in the form of student loans or scientific and medical research. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in federally assisted programs or activities. The education department’s “Dear Colleagues” letter redefines the central targets of Title VI to centrally include supposed discrimination against whites. The letter was followed, on 28 February, with a set of guidelines for its interpretation. The novel understanding of anti-white discrimination in these documents is a chilling ...

Micheál Martin says MMA fighter’s comments before Trump meeting ‘do not reflect spirit of Saint Patrick’s Day’ Ireland’s prime minister has denounced anti-immigration comments made by Conor McGregor as the MMA fighter visited the White House before a Saint Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump. McGregor said “Ireland is on the cusp of losing its Irishness” and that an “illegal immigration racket” was “running ravage on the country”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/RwndvIC

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...

A time when the clubs were old Third Division mainstays may be a distant, chintzy memory now both are upwardly mobile, model organisations but Bournemouth have still not beaten Brentford in the Premier League. For a club with now very different horizons, this was a most costly defeat. If Thomas Frank’s hopes of taking his team into Europe rely on a collision of coefficients, coincidences and collapses then Bournemouth’s fade is coming at a bad time. Andoni Iraola’s team lost their early flow to be sunk by the set-piece expertise that brought goals to Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard. And a fourth defeat in six. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/JfBVTbn

PM has been urged to ‘get a grip’ on messaging after railing against the ‘flabby’ state and the civil service’s ‘tepid bath’ Keir Starmer has been warned against adopting the language of Elon Musk after railing against “blockers and checkers” and the “flabby” civil service this week. Gus O’Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, was one of those urging the prime minister to “get a grip” on his messaging, telling the Institute for Government podcast: “My God, he has mishandled the communications on this terribly.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ISkDvQm

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/B7SjLlq

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...

Again and again, audiences have been spoon-fed the same plot: a character can only be explained by a past trauma, tantalisingly revealed in the last episode. Has the trope reached a tipping point? Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email You only need to look at some of the biggest stories of the past decade to realise popular culture in the late 2010s had a love affair with trauma. Online, there was the personal essay boom that kept websites such as BuzzFeed, Jezebel and Australia’s own Mamamia afloat. In publishing, memoirs that explored the full gamut of human suffering – everything from the pampered (Prince Harry’s Spare) to the impoverished (Tara Westover’s Educated) – broke sales records . And memoirs found their fictional counterpoint in novels such as Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace. Even television and film were trauma-obsessed. Cue the detective who must face his own trauma before he can crack the case (...

Further 10 diagnosed with disease after mistakes with GP registration process Ten people have died from cancer and up to 10 more have been diagnosed with the disease after a blunder meant they were not invited to NHS screening programmes. Health officials failed to invite more than 5,000 patients in total for routine checks after an IT error affected bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening programmes, as well as abdominal aortic aneurysm screening. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/0giOEQc

Great Yarmouth MP says ‘a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down’ in lastest escalation of bitter row Rupert Lowe has accused Reform UK of suspending him for being a “tall poppy” who threatened to overshadow Nigel Farage in the latest escalation of the bitter row that is tearing the party apart. Lowe said it was highly unlikely he would be ever allowed to return to the party, which he accused of trying to “blacken” his reputation. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/h4cySLu

‘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....

Demi Vollering powers to victory in women’s race Pogacar denies Tom Pidcock after earlier tumble Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar won the men’s Strade Bianche on Saturday for the third time in his career, after recovering from a fall 50km from the finish. Pogacar topped the podium by 1min 24sec ahead of second-placed Briton Tom Pidcock, with Belgium’s Tim Wellens a further 48sec adrift. After victory in the Tuscan one-day race in 2022 and 2024, the 26-year-old Pogacar now equals Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara’s record of three victories in the race. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/misT0F9

Discovery in Jalisco is demonstration of country’s crisis of forced disappearance related to organised crime Two hundred pairs of shoes have been found at a clandestine crematorium on a ranch in the Mexican state of Jalisco, in a disturbing demonstration of the country’s crisis of forced disappearance related to organised crime. Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, a collective of relatives of the disappeared, found the crematorium following an anonymous tip-off, and the authorities have since confirmed the presence of burnt remains and empty bullet casings. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/AM94yeK

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/x1GJi9d

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/AnB5GUP

Flight controllers struggle to confirm status of Intuitive Machines’ probe in firm’s second lunar landing in just over a year The Athena robotic spacecraft has touched down on the lunar surface in the second moon landing for the US space company Intuitive Machines in little more than a year. The nearly 5-metre-tall probe set down shortly after 5.30pm UK time on Thursday after a tense descent to Mons Mouton, a high and relatively flat mountain about 100 miles from the moon’s south pole. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Tb8xg17

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...

Jackie and Shadow, eagles in Big Bear valley recorded on a live webcam, regain hope three years after their last chick Bald eagles named Jackie and Shadow are in the midst of cuddling with two new members of their nest after a couple of chicks hatched between Monday night and Tuesday morning, restoring hope after ravens ate their eggs two years ago. The pair of bald eagles at Big Bear valley in the San Bernardino national forest in California welcomed their first chick after days of anticipation. The hatching process began the day before with the first visible pip, which is a crack in the eggshell. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vGg1BfL

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/WOBG9ti

The slur is rooted in the dehumanization of people with intellectual disabilities. Its resurgence threatens the fragile progress we’ve made I got into my one and only physical fight when I was in seventh grade. It was right after school let out, the other boy was called Nathan, and moments before I launched at him, he knocked the books out of my brother Casey’s hands and called him “retarded”. More than 20 years after that scuffle, I still wonder how often Casey, a now 35-year-old autistic man, is called that word. Given the current political landscape, I’m certain he’s going to start hearing it more often. The R-word is in a new era of prominence in rightwing, chronically online circles – especially on 4chan and X. A favorite of those who currently hold power or stand to gain power under Donald Trump ’s second administration, the slur is being used with gleeful relish to belittle and mock ideological enemies. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/I8Yt1ky

Keir Starmer won praise for taking the UK ‘back to the heart of Europe’ at the weekend, but will it be a long-term move? Britain is back. That was the concise verdict of Eléonore Caroit, the vice-chair of the French national assembly’s foreign affairs committee. And the optics of Sunday’s crisis talks on Ukraine bore this out, with Keir Starmer at the very centre of the leaders’ joint photo. “You are back on the scene, of the leadership in Europe,” Caroit told the BBC on Monday morning. James MacClearly, the Liberal Democrat MP who speaks for the party on Europe, was equally adamant, praising the prime minister for taking this chance “to bring us back to the heart of Europe where we belong”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/sSU6REM

Kyriakos Mitsotakis says protests over train disaster emphasise the need for ‘safe and modern’ transport system The Greek prime minister has vowed to upgrade the country’s railways as his embattled government braces for a vote of no confidence after huge protests over a 2023 train crash that killed 57 people. Two days after hundreds of thousands took to the streets in fury over the response to the disaster on its second anniversary, Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged that not enough had been done to build a “safe and modern” transport system, saying the largest protests in recent history had emphasised the demand for action. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cS7fVPn

Updates as remaining teams find out last-eight fate Get in touch! Email Tom Davies with your thoughts So there we have it. Short and sweet. The favourites, Manchester City, are away and get to face Premier League opposition for the first time in this year’s competition. Preston v Villa will be a grand occasion at Deepdale, and Fulham v Palace is an intriguing derby. And Forest and Ipswich duel tomorrow for the right to visit in-form Brighton. Brighton v Nottingham Forest or Ipswich Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/DuVLYIT

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/BrUTKkS

Israel had agreed partial troop withdrawal by 9 March, but start of second phase of truce hits impasse Talks aimed at maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza hit an impasse in Cairo on Saturday , over whether the truce should advance to a second phase. A Hamas official said the multilateral negotiations in the Egyptian capital had made no progress on Friday, and there was no evidence the talks had resumed on Saturday, the last day of the ceasefire’s first six-week phase. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5D0Pryz

Decision a victory for Norwegian Football Federation 321 votes in favour of VAR with 129 against Norway will continue to use VAR in its top flight after a vote among clubs across the country’s football system came out in favour of retaining the technology. An emotive saga that has caused severe ructions iconcluded at the Norwegian Football Federation’s general assembly with 321 votes in favour of VAR and 129 against. The outcome was effectively decided by grassroots clubs who do not use VAR. Those in the top two divisions had already formally recommended that it be discontinued. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qlL0oDM