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Aujourd’hui — 27 février 2025The Guardian

West Ham United v Leicester City: Premier League – live

27 février 2025 à 19:30

Hello. If you’re of a certain age, League Ladders are likely to be among the happier childhood memories. They were an essential part of every football season, at least until November when you realised your team wasn’t going to win the league or get promoted and it became too much hassle.

By the standards of modern life, they look a bit limited. Take tonight’s match behind West Ham and Leicester City. The League Ladders – assuming you hadn’t given up in November - would show that it’s 16th v 19th in the table. But they wouldn’t tell us that these teams, just three places apart, live in different worlds.

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© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

Milan fashion week: Prada liberates as Max Mara brings Brontë drama

27 février 2025 à 19:07

Prada’s roomy dresses are an answer to restrictive women’s fashion, while Max Mara aims for ‘the corridors of power’

Backstage after the Prada show, someone asked Miuccia Prada if the four loose black dresses with which it began were a comment on fashion’s obsession with the Little Black Dress.

The designer laughed. “No. We are in a very black moment. This is a very difficult time. It is not my job to be political but, every time you open a newspaper – oh my God! My job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear. About what kind of femininity makes sense in a moment like this.”

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© Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

© Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

Marcus Smith can be better at full-back, says England coach Kevin Sinfield

27 février 2025 à 19:00
  • Harlequins playmaker switched position from fly-half
  • Fin Smith has become first choice in No 10 role

Marcus Smith can become a better full-back than fly-half according to the England assistant coach and brains behind his positional switch, Kevin Sinfield, who has insisted the experiment is worth persevering with.

Sinfield came up with the idea of shifting Smith to the No 15 jersey in the buildup to the 2023 World Cup where the Harlequins playmaker started against Chile, Fiji and Argentina in the bronze medal match.

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© Photograph: Steve Flynn/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Steve Flynn/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock

What is Andrew Tate accused of and why has he travelled to the US?

27 février 2025 à 18:52

The ‘misogynist influencer’ and his brother Tristan were held in Romania by a travel ban after being arrested in late 2022

The self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, both charged with human trafficking and other offences in Romania, have flown to the US after a travel ban was lifted.

Local authorities said prosecutors had approved a request from the brothers, who are dual British-US nationals, to travel. A Romanian court ruled in favour of an appeal from the Tates to lift a precautionary seizure on multiple assets, a representative for Andrew Tate said on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed | Robert Reich

27 février 2025 à 18:37

As Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk alter US media, the connections between wealth and power are in plain sight

One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see.

Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/AP

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/AP

Gene Hackman and wife’s deaths ‘suspicious enough’ for investigation, warrant says

27 février 2025 à 18:28

Warrant raises questions about scattered pills, after Betsy Arakawa’s body had ‘mummification in hands’

An active investigation is under way into the deaths of the Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, after their bodies were found “in a state of decomposition” along with that of one of their dogs in their home in New Mexico, the local sheriff’s department has confirmed.

The local gas provider, the New Mexico Gas Co, was involved in the investigation alongside the Santa Fe county sheriff’s department, Associated Press reported, raising speculation that carbon monoxide poisoning lay behind the deaths. The emergence later on Thursday of a search warrant, however, cast doubts about a possible gas leak and raised alternative questions about the discovery of prescription pills near Arakawa’s body.

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© Photograph: MediaPunch Inc/Alamy

© Photograph: MediaPunch Inc/Alamy

Lewis Hamilton dismisses ‘older, white men’ criticising his move to Ferrari

27 février 2025 à 18:22
  • Seven-time champion says winning is his ‘No 1 priority’
  • Eddie Jordan and Bernie Ecclestone scornful of signing

Lewis Hamilton has delivered a stinging rebuke to criticism of his move from Mercedes to Ferrari, dismissing it as an irrelevance from what he describes as older, white men and insisting he “welcomes” the negativity.

Hamilton is making his debut with Ferrari this year and is currently taking part in pre-season testing in Bahrain, where he was quickest in the morning session. This will be the 40-year-old’s 19th season in F1 and comes after 12 years at Mercedes with whom he won six of his seven titles. Speaking in an interview for Time magazine he addressed criticism he has received from the former F1 team chief Eddie Jordan and the sport’s former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

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© Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Trump administration ends funding for UN program fighting HIV/Aids

27 février 2025 à 18:03

Peter Marocco sends letter to UNAids terminating US involvement in serious blow to live-saving health service

The Trump administration has terminated its funding of the joint United Nations program on HIV/Aids, known as UNAids, delivering another devastating blow to the global fight against the disease.

The notice that US funding of UNAids is being cut off is the latest move by the administration to end American involvement in life-saving health and anti-poverty programs around the world. It was issued by Peter Marocco, a Trump loyalist who is spearheading the evisceration of the US overseas aid program through USAid.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Formerly anti-vax parents on how they changed their minds: ‘I really made a mistake’

27 février 2025 à 18:00

Researchers believe personal stories are more persuasive than facts alone in addressing vaccine skepticism

When Nikki Hill Johnson’s first daughter was born in 2012, Johnson didn’t hesitate to take her to the doctor for routine infant immunizations.

Soon after the birth, South Carolina-based Johnson, now 42, joined a fitness- and nutrition-oriented multilevel marketing company (MLM). There, she encountered a colleague who made her question the safety of vaccines.

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© Illustration: Patricia Bolinches/The Guardian

© Illustration: Patricia Bolinches/The Guardian

Why the French have fallen out of cœur with core

27 février 2025 à 18:00

Cottagecore, gorpcore, balletcore – they’re all coming under fire from French language officials. But what does it mean - and will anyone actually arrêt? Plus: your wardrobe dilemmas solved

They think it’s bizarre not to take a two-hour lunch break, and consider the show Emily in Paris “worse than cliche”. Next on the list of things that irk the French? The suffix: “core”.

Earlier this week, the Commission for the Enrichment of the French Language (CELF) called on French speakers to stop using it. Writing in the Journal Officiel, a site that publishes the legislative and regulatory texts of France, it said that, while “terms formed with the English ending core, such as cottagecore, royalcore, Barbiecore, or gorpcore, are widely used to describe a clothing style and, by extension, a lifestyle inspired by idealised vision of a particular universe”, it is preferable to use the word “style”. Instead of Barbiecore, it suggests Barbie style. In place of gorpcore? Hiker style.

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© Composite: Luke Radziminski/HBO

© Composite: Luke Radziminski/HBO

Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Gayle King: all-female crew to helm next space flight on Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket

27 février 2025 à 17:56

Activist Amanda Nguyen, movie producer Kerianne Flynn and former Nasa scientist Aisha Bowe will also be on flight

Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday that an all-female crew would helm the next flight into space of a Blue Origin rocket. The singer Katy Perry will join the television host Gayle King, the civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, the movie producer Kerianne Flynn, the former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sánchez, on a short hop from a west Texas launchpad this spring.

The 11th crewed mission of its New Shepard capsule, which the billionaire’s space company announced in a press release, will mark the first time since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963 that no men have been aboard a human-crewed spaceflight leaving Earth, Blue Origin said.

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© Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters

© Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters

Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs on EU imports could trigger ‘economic turmoil’

27 février 2025 à 17:51

US president’s plan could prove to be an economic shock to both blocs, German thinktank says

Donald Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs on EU imports could trigger “economic turmoil”, sharply push down growth and send inflation soaring, according to a German thinktank.

The Kiel Institute said the US president’s promise on Wednesday that he would impose the levies “very soon” was a profound moment in the postwar relationship between Washington and Brussels and could prove to be an economic shock to both parties.

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© Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

© Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Interview, 1974: In-demand Gene Hackman resists ‘the star thing’

27 février 2025 à 17:45

21 October 1974: On the set of the French Connection sequel, the Oscar-winning actor isn’t sure that he’s as hot as Hollywood says

It’s not easy being a star who knows he has no right to be a star. Gene Hackman never got near the honey pot till he was past 40. He has about as much sex appeal as your balding brother-in-law. He dreams fondly of retiring. He’s aware that somebody, somewhere made a big mistake.

Never mind The French Connection, and Hackman’s Best Actor Oscar. Forget The Poseidon Adventure, top grosser of 1973. Hackman doesn’t believe it for one minute. He works hard, humbly and honestly on about three pictures a year, which is about three times what the average star does. He can’t believe he’s already got the brass ring, so he keeps on going round and round.

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© Photograph: Charles Knight/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Charles Knight/REX/Shutterstock

Emma Raducanu will return to action in Indian Wells after Dubai incident

27 février 2025 à 17:41
  • Briton expected to be offered extra security at event
  • Zverev loses to Tien as seeds exit at Mexican Open

Emma Raducanu will return to action next week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

At the former US Open champion’s most recent tournament in Dubai last week, she was approached by a man displaying what the WTA described as “fixated behaviour” before her second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova. Raducanu was visibly distressed, hiding behind the umpire’s chair early in the contest after spotting the man in the first few rows of seats.

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© Photograph: Christopher Pike/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Pike/Getty Images

Space station’s lack of dirt may damage astronauts’ health, says study

27 février 2025 à 17:00

Scientists find sterile ISS environment could explain rashes and cold sores and suggest adding microbes to stations

Excessive cleanliness is not generally regarded as a downside when it comes to travel accommodation. However, scientists have concluded that the International Space Station is so sterile that it could be having a negative impact on astronauts’ health and have suggested making it “dirtier”.

The study found that the ISS is largely devoid of environmental microbes found in soil and water that are thought to beneficial to the immune system. The lack of microbial diversity could help to explain why astronauts often experience immune-related health problems such as rashes, cold sores, fungal infections and shingles.

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© Photograph: Kayla Barron/AP

© Photograph: Kayla Barron/AP

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘Somehow, he’s managed to make everything disgusting’

27 février 2025 à 16:51

Late-night hosts discuss Trump’s proposal for ‘gold card’ visas, allowing rich foreigners to enter the US for $5m each

Late-night hosts talk Donald Trump’s proposed “gold card” visas, Trump’s first cabinet meeting and confusion over who leads the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).

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© Photograph: Youtube

© Photograph: Youtube

Putin says US-Russia contacts give ‘hope’ amid talks in Turkey on restoring ties – live

27 février 2025 à 16:42

Russian president claims to FSB security service that ‘some western elites will try to undermine our dialogue’

Speaking at a press conference in Vienna, the Austrian People’s Party’s leader Christian Stocker hailed the success of “probably the most difficult government negotiations in history,” as the country seems to be on course to get its new government after five months since the general election in September.

He praised the value of “consensus and compromise,” taking a swipe at other parties to “have refused to cooperate and evaded responsibility” for governing the country.

There should be nothing about Europe without Europe.

Together with our EU partners, Ireland, will continue to build global support for comprehensive, just and lasting peace on Ukraine’s terms, which upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and which is based on respect for the principles of the UN charter and international law.

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© Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/AP

© Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/AP

Deadly blasts hit M23 rebel rally in captured DRC city of Bukavu

27 février 2025 à 16:39

Deaths and injuries reported after explosions at rally attended by thousands in city captured by rebel group

Several people have been killed and dozens more injured after blasts at a mass rally held by the M23 group in Bukavu, the city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo captured by the rebels earlier this month.

Footage posted on social media showed people fleeing the scene. In another video, bloodied bodies lay on the ground and injured people were being carried away.

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© Photograph: Janvier Barhahiga/AP

© Photograph: Janvier Barhahiga/AP

Jailed Kurdish leader calls for PKK to disarm – in shift that could shake up Turkey and Middle East

27 février 2025 à 17:15

Abdullah Öcalan’s message, which follows four decades of guerrilla warfare, will have far-reaching implications

The ageing leader of a Kurdish militant group imprisoned on a remote Turkish island has called on the group to disarm and dissolve itself, opening the door to a fragile peace with Turkey after four decades of guerrilla warfare, attacks and reprisals.

Abdullah Öcalan, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a group long regarded as a terrorist organisation in Turkey as well as in Britain and the US, issued the message in a letter read out by allies in Istanbul.

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© Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

© Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

King asks Moroccans not to kill sheep for Eid al-Adha as drought reduces herds

27 février 2025 à 16:26

First such request in 29 years blames economic hardship and climate crisis for high livestock prices and shortages

King Mohammed VI has urged his fellow Moroccans not to slaughter sheep for upcoming Eid al-Adha festivities as the country grapples with dwindling herds due to a six-year drought.

The request was delivered on Wednesday by the minister of Islamic affairs, Ahmed Toufiq, who read a letter on the monarch’s behalf on the state-run Al Aoula TV channel. He cited economic hardship and the climate crisis as reasons for the rising prices of livestock and sheep shortage in the north African state.

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© Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP

© Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP

Museums defend BP sponsorship after firm abandons climate targets

27 février 2025 à 16:23

British Museum and Science Museum said BP’s decision to grow fossil fuel investment would not alter relationship

Two of Britain’s best-loved museums have been forced to defend their financial ties to BP after the company announced this week that it was abandoning its climate targets to focus on growing fossil fuel production.

The British Museum and the Science Museum, which have sponsorship deals with BP, said the company’s decision to grow its investments in oil and gas by cutting back on green spending would not alter their relationship with it.

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© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Madrid and Marseille lead anti-referee epidemic but no officials means no game | Max Rushden

27 février 2025 à 15:47

Of course this problem isn’t new, but the recent levels of vitriol towards refs in Europe could drive more of them out of football

It was so refreshing to hear one of the world’s best players defend referees last week. Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde reminded us that officials are people too – just like us. If you prick Darren Cann, does he not bleed?

“I’m not one to judge the referee,” Valverde said in the press conference before Madrid’s victory over Manchester City. “We are all human and we can make mistakes. Referees are also criticised a lot and when they do things well, they are not flattered either.”

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© Composite: Getty, Shutterstock, PA

© Composite: Getty, Shutterstock, PA

Tell us about the life-changing decisions you have made inspired by art

27 février 2025 à 15:16

We would like to hear from people who have uprooted their life for a piece of art

The Guardian’s Saturday magazine is looking for people who made a life-changing decision because they were inspired by some kind of art or culture.

Did you propose after listening to a particular song? Or move to New Zealand after seeing Lord of the Rings? Has a really great sex scene ever made you want to dump your boyfriend?

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© Photograph: Praveen Menon/Reuters

© Photograph: Praveen Menon/Reuters

Liverpool have one hand on title, plus drama at Old Trafford: Football Weekly Extra - podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Fadugba and Sam Dalling to discuss Wednesday night’s Premier League action

Rate, review, and share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Liverpool stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle, as Dominik Szoboszlai continues to impress. The panel ask: is the race done? Meanwhile, Arsenal are held to a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest, with Mikel Merino starting up top, and the panel ask if Raheem Sterling peaked too early in his career.

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© Photograph: Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock

AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett

27 février 2025 à 15:00

Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like ways

Techno-optimists are evangelizing a vision of “superhuman” artificial intelligence (AI). Dario Amodei, the CEO of the AI company Anthropic, predicts within a few years, AI will be “better than almost all humans at almost everything”. Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is proposing replacing government workers with chatbots in the name of efficiency. And some scientists are claiming that AI can already outperform humans even in domains previously thought to be exclusively human, such as empathy, creativity and conflict resolution.

It’s true that in several prominent studies, researchers have staged “competitions” in which AI technology appears to outperform humans in these very human areas. But a closer look reveals that these games are rigged against us humans. The competitions do not actually ask machines to perform human tasks; it’s more accurate to say that they ask humans to behave in machine-like ways as they perform lifeless simulacra of human tasks.

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© Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Strangers mock the way I dance. How can I regain confidence on the dancefloor? | Leading questions

27 février 2025 à 15:00

Dancing in the dark can restore a sense of fun in your body without anyone watching, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. You’re never too awkward or sober to start

I am in my early 30s and happily married with two young children. I have never been an amazing dancer. It has always been painfully awkward. I feel mortified whenever there’s a requirement to dance, even if it’s as silly as when the grownups join in during a kid’s party! I’ve had strangers offer well-intentioned help; people try to teach me to dance while on the dancefloor (clearly they decided I needed help). I’ve had a friend comment that my dancing is “cute” and strangers mock my dancing by mimicking it in front of me.

When I was in my 20s, I made up for this in the only way I knew how – by drinking a lot and losing all inhibition. I loved letting go and just losing myself on the dancefloor, enjoying the music and not caring what people thought. I’m now at a stage in my life where I’ve got young kids, I work a million hours a week in an intense job and I like making the most of my weekends with my family, so getting extremely drunk to enjoy a night of dancing isn’t an option. Even when the option has presented itself, I feel so saddled emotionally with responsibility and physically with my larger, squidgier mum body that I just avoid dancing altogether.

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© Illustration: mauritius images GmbH/Alamy

© Illustration: mauritius images GmbH/Alamy

White House social media Trump-style: bad taste, sycophancy and trolling

27 février 2025 à 15:00

The president’s official feeds are traditionally relatively sober but the 2025 version projects a petulant wannabe king

Traditionally the White House social media feeds have been a relatively sober way for administrations to communicate with the public. The X and Facebook accounts promote their presidents, but have tended to stop short of full-fledged propaganda.

Not any more. Under Trump’s presidency the White House’s digital communications have blasted past mere propaganda, to a level of bad taste and sycophancy that has shocked observers and prompted concerns that Trump sees himself as a monarch.

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© Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Lionesses find recipe for Euro 2025 success with ‘English’ performance | Tom Garry

27 février 2025 à 15:00

One game does not fix everything but Leah Williamson and Millie Bright were delighted with team’s grit against Spain

While Wembley was rejoicing at the sight of England putting the ball in Spain’s net, there were two people noticeably not joining in with the celebrations. Sarina Wiegman had reacted to the Lionesses’ goal by making her way urgently down to the touchline for a detailed conversation with her captain, Leah Williamson, clearly relaying some key tactical details.

Such a sight is not uncommon in top-level sport, but on Wednesday night it felt particularly indicatory of England’s focus, determination and steadfast resolve to win. Their committed performance in the 1-0 Nations League triumph was one of a side fixated on nothing but victory, high levels of work rate, concentration and, perhaps above all, grit. The centre-back Millie Bright had another description for it: “Proper English.”

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

‘People spontaneously strip off and join us’: nude cyclists send message you don’t need to be buff

27 février 2025 à 15:00

Melbourne’s World Naked Bike Ride will celebrate its 20th anniversary as it winds through the city’s streets spreading a message of body positivity and environmentalism

This weekend in Melbourne, expect to see hundreds of cyclists with a striking difference. Instead of the usual Lycra-clad peloton, these riders will be getting their kit off in a day of nude protest to draw attention to rider safety and visibility, diversity of body image and a celebration of low-carbon transport.

Dearne Weaver, a 61-year-old community worker from Canberra, says when she first attended Melbourne’s World Naked Bike Ride in 2019 she was worried it might be too male-dominated – but she was pleasantly surprised.

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© Photograph: World Naked Bike Ride Melbourne Inc.

© Photograph: World Naked Bike Ride Melbourne Inc.

More than 100,000 African seeds put in Svalbard vault for safekeeping

27 février 2025 à 15:00

Seeds of 177 species from across Africa to be stored in Norway to preserve crop diversity in case of disaster

More than 100,000 seeds from across Africa have been deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s repository for specimens intended to preserve crop diversity in the event of disaster.

Among the latest additions are seeds critical to building climate resilience, such as the tree Faidherbia albida, which turns nitrogen into ammonia and nitrates, and Cordia africana, the Sudan teak, a tree renowned for its strength and durability.

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© Photograph: Azzura Lalani/CIFOR-ICRAF

© Photograph: Azzura Lalani/CIFOR-ICRAF

‘Ambition beyond words’: How Siena’s art revolution brought heaven down to earth

27 février 2025 à 14:38

Before the Black Death devastated Siena, the city thrummed with energy, expressed in art and architecture designed to dazzle its audience – and which still astonishes 800 years later

If you want to know the moment of a medieval Italian city’s greatest prosperity, look at the year it began work on its cathedral. In Siena, the magic year was 1226, the start of some 85 years of construction of the duomo, a remarkable gothic structure with an intricately complex, creamy pink facade and stripy, black-and-white campanile. “The scale of ambition is difficult to put into words,” says Laura Llewellyn, one of the curators of The Rise of Painting, the National Gallery’s new exhibition of Sienese art. “The extravagance of it: to appreciate it you need to unknow and unlearn later buildings like the duomos in Florence and St Peter’s in Rome.”

But by the 1350s, Siena’s most glorious years in the raging Tuscan sun would be as good as over. After decades of rapid artistic transformation – a half century that saw the art of the city leave behind the distant, hieratic grace of Byzantine-flavoured painting for a world of dynamism, drama and emotion – the Black Death halved the city’s population from 60,000 to 30,000, stripped away its wilder ambitions and dulled its gleaming wealth. One of Siena’s more implausible plans had been to enlarge the already huge cathedral by converting its existing nave into a transept and tacking on to its belly a new, vastly oversized nave on the precipitous edge of one of the city’s peaks. The project was never completed, but ghostly unfinished arches remain as a monument to lost dreams and a raging pandemic.

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© Photograph: ’Lorenzetti/BPK/Scala

© Photograph: ’Lorenzetti/BPK/Scala

Austrian centrist parties reach deal to form government without far right

27 février 2025 à 14:39

Christian Stocker, the ÖVP leader, says ‘common programme’ has been agreed with SPÖ and Neos

Five months after the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) finished first in parliamentary elections, Austria’s three leading centrist parties have reached agreement to form a new government without it.

The centre-right People’s party (ÖVP), the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos, whose first attempt at forming a coalition failed in January, unveiled a 200-page programme aimed mainly at reviving the country’s ailing economy and cutting its budget deficit.

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© Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/AP

© Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/AP

Most banned books feature people of color and LGBTQ+ people, report finds

27 février 2025 à 14:30

Study counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit

The majority of banned books in US public schools last year dealt with people of color, LGBTQ+ people and other demographics, according to a new study from PEN America.

The report also counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit and that book bans are altogether a “hoax”, an assertion made by Donald Trump.

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© Photograph: Haven Daley/AP

© Photograph: Haven Daley/AP

NFL star Justin Tucker offers apology but denies sexual misconduct claims

27 février 2025 à 14:19
  • Kicker says he is committed to respect of others
  • Tucker has faced mounting accusations since January

Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has released a new statement maintaining that he did not act inappropriately while receiving treatment from massage therapists. He also offered an apology.

“It devastates me to know that anyone I have worked with would not have felt respected and valued as a professional, but more importantly as a person, and to anyone who has felt otherwise, I am sorry,” Tucker said in a statement to Outkick on Thursday. “I want you to know I am committed to ensuring that everyone I interact with continues to feel that I respect them and care about them as a human being.”

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© Photograph: Tim Warner/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tim Warner/Getty Images

MP Mike Amesbury has prison sentence suspended after appeal

Ex-Labour MP was originally jailed for 10 weeks for assaulting a man in the street

The former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has had his 10-week prison sentence for assault suspended for two years, after an appeal at Chester crown court.

Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was jailed on Monday for drunkenly punching a constituent in the street after an argument.

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© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

‘The love child of Mick Hucknall and Crazy Frog’: is Eurovision’s Lumo the worst mascot ever?

27 février 2025 à 14:05

Meet the song contest’s first ever mascot – a sentient heart with a bizarrely sexy mouth that looks like the result of the ChatGPT prompt ‘please ruin my day’. Why oh why has this happened?

The miracle of Eurovision is how much it has legitimised itself over the last decade and a half. For years, the song contest was the laughing stock of Europe, a toe-curling night on which all the continent’s fifth-rate novelty acts would gather and bing-bam-boom themselves to death while the rest of Europe looked on and jeered.

But look at it now. By carefully repositioning itself, and by encouraging countries to submit relevant, modish entries, Eurovision has transformed into the party of the year. People love Eurovision – and not ironically, either. At a time of growing international strife – the sort of strife that it was designed to combat – Eurovision represents a moment of unity. It is, in short, in the shape of its life. It would take something spectacular to mess it up.

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© Photograph: Eurovision

© Photograph: Eurovision

Thailand deports dozens of Uyghurs to China despite torture fears

Rights experts say group, who have been detained for more than 10 years, face risk of disappearance and imprisonment

Dozens of Uyghurs have been deported from Thailand to China in the face of warnings from human rights experts that there is a high risk they will suffer torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment.

Local media reported that several trucks with their windows covered were seen in the early hours of Thursday leaving the Bangkok immigration centre where 48 Uyghurs had been held during their more than 10 years in Thai detention.

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© Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

© Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

YouTube star MrBeast planning investment round that could value company at $5bn

27 février 2025 à 14:01

Funds would be used to create holding company for 26-year-old’s growing empire of video and food businesses

The world’s biggest YouTube star, MrBeast, is planning to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a move that would reportedly value his company at roughly $5bn (£3.9bn).

The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is said to have spoken with several wealthy individuals and financial firms about taking part in the investment round.

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© Photograph: Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports

© Photograph: Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports

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