A former Georgia House member pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to collect federal unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

About one in six people in the UK have vitamin D levels below government recommendations - this prevalence increases during the winter months

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Genocide hearings in The Hague offer a ray of hope for the Rohingya, but aid cuts are worsening a humanitarian crisis in refugee camps.

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Exclusive: Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro among worst affected, with demand close to exceeding supply

Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 39 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.

Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown.

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© Photograph: Kirby Lee/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kirby Lee/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kirby Lee/Getty Images

Manual for building design aims to encourage low-carbon construction as alternative to steel and concrete

An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it’s time we took it seriously as a building material, too.

This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be “bamboo-ready” as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.

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© Photograph: MOSO Bamboo

© Photograph: MOSO Bamboo

© Photograph: MOSO Bamboo

It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed drought

You get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the baby, neither tea nor coffee, no easy way to do the dishes or the laundry. Dirt accumulates; tempers fray.

The water company texts: we are so sorry; colleagues are working to restore connection; everything should soon be normal. You want to believe them, but the more it’s repeated, the more it becomes a kind of hold music. There’s no supply the next day, and the day after, and the day after that. Each morning brings with it the same chest-tightening question: what will happen today? Buckets and bottles don’t stop you feeling grubby and smelly, or from noticing the taint on your family and friends and neighbours. You’re not quite the people you thought you were and nothing feels normal.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

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© Illustration: Thomas Pullin/The Guardian

© Illustration: Thomas Pullin/The Guardian

© Illustration: Thomas Pullin/The Guardian

Thanks to its namesake volcano, Etna is an astonishing fertile region that has spawned a unique food and drink scene. Harriet O’Brien goes on an epicurean tour to taste the spoils

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Boyband graduate throws empathetic heart into songs about love, identity and loss

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The Independent’s agony aunt Victoria Richards is here to help. Email dearvix@independent.co.uk for advice on love, work, family and relationships

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Sleeping over at a friend’s house when your own bed is waiting at home might sound like hell, but Lydia Spencer-Elliott discovers grown-up slumber parties can benefit our lives long after we’ve aged out of the practice

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SEATTLE — Throughout a trip that everyone in the organization seemed to agree was the longest of their careers, the Islanders had done an excellent job of not letting the extended time on the road get to them.  The operative word in that sentence: had.  Because on Wednesday night in the seventh and last game...

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, could be leading to elevated muscle protein synthesis in seniors

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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are set to go to trial in May

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Southeast Asia’s need for coal is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, undermining progress on cutting carbon emissions that contribute to global warming

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Amid renewed attention on Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere, Washington must not “take its eye off a far more powerful adversary: China,” warns Michael D. Purzycki at The Liberal Patriot.

“PETA is urging the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to chuck its tired tradition of harassing a shy animal and give Gobbler’s Knob a glow-up with a phantom prognosticator," said PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk.

US president abandons plans to impose tariffs on a group of close European allies

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Helicopter wreckage reportedly spotted inside active volcano’s crater

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The Giants are moving on from Senior Vice President Kevin Abrams one day after hiring John Harbaugh as head coach, ending his 25-year tenure with the organization.

To facilitate the political transition, the Trump administration is searching for Cuban government insiders who could help the US push the existing communist leaders out of power. 

A total of 73 South Koreans detained in Cambodia for their alleged involvements in online scams will be brought back home this week to face investigation

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The Nets’ loss wasn’t just humiliating. It was historic. 

The 27-year-old Giants outfielder was stopped by Customs and Border Protection at Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday

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Alex Honnold plans to climb Taipei 101 in his signature free solo style without ropes or protective gear

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