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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

‘Married men HATE glitter’: TikTokers take to crafty way to ward off cheaters

27 février 2025 à 14:00

Glitter transfers easily and is tough to wash off, which is why women are using it to leave a message – and for revenge

Lipstick on the collar, a stray earring tucked into seat cushions: women have long relied on makeup and fashion to catch cheaters. Now, there’s a new method for singles who want to ensure a date doesn’t have a secret spouse at home – provided they aren’t afraid of microplastics.

In a TikTok posted this month with more than 2m likes, the fitness influencer Dalia Grande spritzed glitter all over her body while getting ready for a first date: “bc I’m at the age where they could be married (Married men HATE glitter)”, she wrote in the caption.

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© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

‘I was causing harm’: author Helen Jukes on motherhood and our polluted bodies

27 février 2025 à 14:00

In her latest book, Mother Animal, the writer gives a personal account of the impact of ‘forever chemicals’ on her and her child during and after pregnancy

When Helen Jukes told her friends she was writing about motherhood and pollution, they advised her against it and warned she might make pregnant people more anxious than they already were. But she disagreed. Mother Animal, a personal account of Jukes’ pregnancy and early years of motherhood, details her growing realisation of how contaminated her body, and her baby, have become. And it’s something she thinks all would-be parents should be more aware of. There are chemicals from human industry in breast milk, amniotic fluid and bones, she writes. Toxicologists have found “forever chemicals” in embryos and foetuses at “every stage of pregnancy … in lung tissues, in livers”. It is inescapable.

Yet it is spoken about far too little. “I find it quite disrespectful to think that mothers wouldn’t be capable of handling [this] information,” she says when we meet at her home on the edge of the Peak District.

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© Photograph: Amanda Jackson

© Photograph: Amanda Jackson

Panda Bear: Sinister Grift review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

27 février 2025 à 13:00

(Domino)
Noah Lennox’s powerful and adventurous album has plenty of playlistable psych-pop, but then turns introspective: it’s a striking emotional arc

The last time the world heard from Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, he was in the company of Pete Kember, better known as Sonic Boom, co-founder of Spacemen 3 – the latest in a string of musical left-turns that have made Lennox the most prolific and intriguing member of Animal Collective. Solo, he has variously spawned an entire sub-genre more or less singlehanded (the sample-heavy sound of his acclaimed 2007 album Person Pitch effectively gave birth to chillwave), collaborated with Daft Punk, Solange, Paramore and Jamie xx, commissioned dub albums from On-U Sound’s Adrian Sherwood, and dabbled in a stark acoustic sound on 2019’s Buoys.

Lennox and Kember’s collaborative album, Reset, united two generations of psychedelic experimentalists in a charmingly playful musical dialogue. Among its delights was a track called Whirlpool. It sounded beatific and blissed-out, but on closer examination seemed to depict a failing relationship: Lennox later confirmed that his marriage to fashion designer Fernanda Pereira – who directed the videos that accompanied Reset – had collapsed.

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© Photograph: Chris Shonting

© Photograph: Chris Shonting

Premier League could be forced to have two summer transfer windows because of Club World Cup

27 février 2025 à 13:00
  • Interim window planned for teams in competition
  • League considering brief window at start of June

The Premier League could be forced to operate two separate transfer windows this summer due to disruption caused by the Club World Cup.

Fifa has announced plans to open an interim transfer window at the end of this season for clubs competing in the tournament, to allow clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City to add to their squads and agree contract extensions with their current players before the tournament begins on 14 June.

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© Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

© Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

The 15 best games to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2025

27 février 2025 à 13:00

From the cutest postapocalyptic world to multiplayer mayhem and a modern family classic, here are the Switch’s must-play games

When we think of Nintendo we picture serene and cosy cartoon adventures filled with cute creatures and lovable Italian stereotypes. But while there is plenty of Mario on the Switch, the console offers a diverse range of delights for newcomers and longtime gaming veterans. Here are the 15 essentials.

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© Photograph: Nintendo

© Photograph: Nintendo

‘Testing ground for Project 2025’: behind Oklahoma’s rightwing push to erode the line between church and state

With Trump back in the White House, the state and others across the US are making efforts to install Christian viewpoints in governance

Ryan Walters bowed his head in prayer at his desk in the Oklahoma state superintendent’s office.

“Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you’ve given our country,” the rising star on the Christian right said in the mid-November video. “I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change for our country.”

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© Photograph: September Dawn Bottoms/The Guardian

© Photograph: September Dawn Bottoms/The Guardian

‘We used to think the ice was eternal’: Colombia looks to a future without glaciers

27 février 2025 à 13:00

In Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, people have watched the ice fields turn to exposed rock and experts predict these vital water sources could be lost in 30 years

  • Words and photographs by Euan Wallace in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia

At an altitude of 4,200 metres in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia, Edilsa Ibañéz Ibañéz lowers a cupped hand into the water of a glacial stream. A local guide and mountaineer, she has grown up drinking water that runs down from the snowy peaks above. As she stands up, however, the landscape that greets her is markedly different from that of her childhood.

“We used to think the ice would be eternal,” says Ibañéz, 45. “Now it is not so eternal. Our glaciers are dying.”

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© Photograph: Euan Wallace/The Guardian

© Photograph: Euan Wallace/The Guardian

BBC creative chief Charlotte Moore to leave for Sony job

27 février 2025 à 12:48

Moore says ‘time is right for a new challenge’, while BBC board meets to discuss Gaza documentary row

The BBC has announced the departure of its creative chief after five years in charge.

Charlotte Moore, the corporation’s chief content officer since 2020, is to leave later this year to take up a new job at Sony.

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© Photograph: Graham Turner/The Guardian

© Photograph: Graham Turner/The Guardian

Foodie thefts, lottery wins and Roman rulers – take the Thursday quiz

27 février 2025 à 12:00

Questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, plus a few jokes, every Thursday. How will you fare?

When the quiz master sat down at a blank page to write this week’s introduction, nothing came to mind. There must be an infinite number of ways that you could introduce readers to a quiz, but not a single thought popped into his head. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Still, here the quiz is – 16 questions on topical news, popular culture, general knowledge and whatever else cropped up during the writing process, all liberally sprinkled with some jokes. There are no prizes, but you can let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 199

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© Photograph: Lanmas/Alamy

© Photograph: Lanmas/Alamy

Ontario heads to polls for snap election in face of looming Trump tariffs

27 février 2025 à 12:00

Premier Doug Ford called for the early vote, arguing he needs ‘strong mandate’ in case of US-Canada trade war

Voters in Canada’s most populous province head to the polls on Thursday to elect a new premier who may have to face the task of preserving Ontario’s economy in the face of punishing US trade tariffs.

Doug Ford, the Progressive Conservative party leader who has been the province’s premier since 2018, called the snap election last month, arguing that he needs a “strong mandate” to steer the province through any trade war with the US.

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© Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

Trump is using the presidency to seek golf deals – hardly anyone’s paying attention | Mohamad Bazzi

27 février 2025 à 12:00

A deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV league would directly benefit the US president’s family business

In his first month in office, Donald Trump destroyed federal agencies, fired thousands of government workers and unleashed dozens of executive orders. The US president also found time to try to broker an agreement between two rival golf tournaments, the US-based PGA Tour and the LIV Golf league, funded by Saudi Arabia.

If concluded, the deal would directly benefit Trump’s family business, which owns and manages golf courses around the world. And it would be the latest example of Trump using the presidency to advance his personal interests.

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© Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

© Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

Starmer invites Trump to UK for state visit as US president calls PM ‘a special man’ – follow live

The two leaders hold talks in White House followed by a joint press conference

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will travel to London this Sunday to take part in an informal meeting on Ukraine and European security, the European Commission has just confirmed. Jakub Krupa has more on his Europe live blog.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has confirmed that President Trump has the ability to veto the deal that the UK has negotiated transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Isands to Mauritius. Speaking on ITV’s Peston last night, Lammy said:

If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward.

The reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States, and of course they’ve got to be happy with the deal, or there is no deal.

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© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

What can we learn from this year’s anonymous Oscar ballots?

27 février 2025 à 11:03

Will it be Anora or Conclave? Demi or Mikey? Brody or Chalamet? This year’s glut of secret ballots reveal who the winners might be

If you’re finding it harder than usual to get excited about the Oscars this year, don’t worry. Several factors – from the punishing length to the lack of an Oppenheimer-style breakout hit to the weird tone of hosting a glittering movie award ceremony in a city that just suffered through wildfires – have combined to dull everyone’s expectations this time around.

Still, there is still good news to be had. You now no longer have to wait for the Oscars to learn who won what, thanks to the absolutely monumental glut of anonymous Oscar voter ballots that have filled the internet in the past week. Seemingly every single person who gets to cast a vote in the Academy awards has scarpered away to one website or another to reveal exactly how they voted. So let’s collate all their findings and predict some winners.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

Happy anniversary Bayern Munich: 125 years and a simple secret for success | Philipp Lahm

27 février 2025 à 11:00

My boyhood club is shaped by Franz Beckenbauer’s legacy, and for the last half-century has been run by former players

I congratulate my club on its anniversary. On Thursday, Bayern Munich will be 125 years old. The club was in my cradle, because my grandfather was and my father is a Bayern fan. When I was young, they told me a lot about the golden 70s with the three European Cup victories. They admired Gerd Müller, Sepp Maier and the other players. They were almost in awe of one of them: Franz Beckenbauer.

In the beginning, Bayern were one of many clubs. I have a few black-and-white pictures from the founding days in mind; I know the club history. But I can only really talk about it from the Beckenbauer era onwards, and since then Bayern have been something very special.

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© Photograph: Imago Sportfotodienst/Imago/PA Images

© Photograph: Imago Sportfotodienst/Imago/PA Images

The sudden rise of meat snacks: why are they so beloved by gym bros?

27 février 2025 à 11:00

Processed meat sticks increase the risks of high blood pressure, cancer and heart disease. So how did they become so popular with fitness enthusiasts and lifestyle gurus?

How did something as transparently dirty as cured meat enter the temple of clean? The American “meat stick” industry – mainly cured beef sticks that are awesomely calorific – hit $3bn last year. In the UK, processed meat snacking products have grown in sales by 38% since 2020, and are projected to pick up another 49% percent by 2027. The puzzle is not “are they tasty?” or “are they convenient?” We know they are, but so is a Snickers. Rather, how did a category that we’ve known for years is actively bad for your health come to be the snacking choice of gymgoers and lifestyle gurus alike?

Scientifically questionable meat-heavy diets come and go (remember the Atkins diet?) but in 2018, conservative guru Jordan Peterson went on Joe Rogan’s podcast to talk about his book 12 Rules for Life, and – complimented by Rogan on his physique – said in passing he now ate only beef, salt and water. And he never cheated. The “animal products only” Carnivore Diet, by orthopaedic surgeon Shawn Baker, was published at the same time.

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© Composite: Guardian Design Team/Alamy/Getty/iStockphoto

© Composite: Guardian Design Team/Alamy/Getty/iStockphoto

His final photo was of the bomber that killed him: the last journalist to die before Assad fell

27 février 2025 à 11:00

Anas Alkharboutli was fatally injured in a missile attack just four days before the president fled to Russia. His colleagues and friends explain why his life was more exceptional than his death

The war was almost over when death came for Anas Alkharboutli. On 4 December last year, Bashar al-Assad’s forces, on the brink of collapse, killed the photojournalist in an airstrike near Hama. He was 32 years old.

“We were excited to go to the frontline,” says Omar Haj Kadour, a photographer who was with Alkharboutli on the day he was killed. “Things were finally going well for the opposition.”

Anas Alkharboutli (right) with his colleague Omar Haj Kadour. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour

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© Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

‘I told him to stop’: the elite restaurant culture that consumed me

27 février 2025 à 11:00

To enter a four-star dining room like Jean-Georges is to enter a world of perfection. But in dark corners hidden from guests is its cruel and seedy underbelly

I was working at Jean-Georges, the petite and bourgeois restaurant tucked into Trump’s building on Columbus Circle, just off Central Park, where the sounds and smells of New York faded into the austere dining room. It was a room of extravagances small and large.

There’s no pleasure in a four-star dining room, no joviality. You can’t be jocular with your fellow servers. There’s no room for error. A server is not permitted to do the following: wear colored nail polish; cross hands in front of the body; slouch; speak on the floor; carry a glass from the bar to the table without a tray; show visible tattoos; wear hair in an inappropriate manner (this can be at the discretion of a manager); touch a glass by any part except the stem; pour wine in the incorrect order; spill; laugh.

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© Illustration: Federico Tramonte/The Guardian

© Illustration: Federico Tramonte/The Guardian

Democrat slams tariffs announcement: ‘Trump is driving the US economy straight into a wall’ – live

Ron Wyden, ranking member of Senate finance committee, says tariffs on neighboring countries will be felt by Americans and called it a betrayal to Trump’s voters

As Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk work zealously to slash tens of billions in federal spending by axing thousands of jobs and gutting some government agencies, Musk faces mounting claims he has conflicts of interest and no oversight, legal and ethics experts say.

Trump’s largest campaign donor and the world’s wealthiest man, Musk was tapped by the president to lead the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) in a radical and opaque cost-cutting drive that allows him to keep control of SpaceX, Tesla and other huge companies with billions of dollars in federal contracts.

We expect that today’s meeting will be the first in a series of such expert consultations that will bring us closer to overcoming the disagreements that have arisen with the American side, strengthening confidence-building measures.

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© Photograph: Nathan Posner/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Nathan Posner/REX/Shutterstock

Gene Hackman: the star of every scene he was in

27 février 2025 à 10:25

From The Conversation to The Royal Tenenbaums, the actor rode America’s new wave to become the gold standard for characterful acting with heft

Gene Hackman found dead with his wife – news
Gene Hackman – a life in pictures
Gene Hackman – obituary

As the movie ends, our point of view pans slowly, relentlessly, back and forth like a security camera across the trashed apartment. It has been ripped apart floorboard by floorboard in a doomed attempt to find the bugging device spying on the guy who lives there. With every sweep, the man is seen in the corner, playing the sax. Fatalistic, but not exactly despairing; realistic but not precisely disillusioned – the craftsman who is an artist at heart, nonchalant, magnificent. Gene Hackman’s performance as surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Coppola’s paranoid conspiracy drama The Conversation (1974) was a jewel in his career. Caul is a pro eavesdropper who becomes obsessed with a conversation he records for a mysterious client that, to his horror, reveals a murder plot – unlocking his own private agonies of guilt and loneliness. The film turns on some variants of intonation and pitch that Harry doesn’t understand until it’s too late.

The death of Gene Hackman marks the end of one of the greatest periods of US cinema: the American new wave. Hackman was the gold standard for this era, ever since Warren Beatty gave him his big break with the role of Buck Barrow in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967). He was the character actor who was really a star; in fact the star of every scene he was in – that tough, wised-up, intelligent but unhandsome face perpetually on the verge of coolly unconcerned derision, or creased in a heartbreakingly fatherly, pained smile. He wasn’t gorgeous like Redford or dangerously sexy like Nicholson, or even puckish like Hoffman; Hackman was normal, but his normality was steroidally supercharged. His hair was of its age: frizzy, with evident male-pattern baldness. You really don’t get star haircuts like that any more.

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© Photograph: Tristar/Sportsphoto/Allstar

© Photograph: Tristar/Sportsphoto/Allstar

Andrew Tate and brother land in US from Romania after travel ban lifted

Self-styled ‘misogynist influencer’ and brother, who face trial on charges including rape and people trafficking, had been banned from leaving Romania

The self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan arrived in Florida on Thursday after flying from Romania to the US in a private jet, as prosecutors suspended their travel ban and a court lifted a precautionary seizure on some of their assets.

The pair, who were arrested in Romania in 2022 and face trial on charges of rape, sex with a minor, people trafficking and money laundering, took off from Băneasa airport in Bucharest for Fort Lauderdale at 6am (4am GMT), officials confirmed.

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© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

© Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP

Ungovernable by Simon Hart review – House of ill repute

27 février 2025 à 10:00

Jaw-dropping revelations from a Conservative former chief whip call into question not just the system, but his own judgment

In the small hours of the morning, the phone rings beside Simon Hart’s bed. On the line is a drunk Tory MP, claiming to be stuck in a Bayswater brothel with a woman he thinks might be a KGB agent, who has just demanded £500 “and left me in a room with twelve naked women and CCTV”.

It sounds like something from The Thick of It, but for the chief whip to the last Conservative government, calls like this were all part of a day’s (or night’s) work.

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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

‘He was a titan of of the music world – and my teacher’: Benjamin Appl on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

27 février 2025 à 10:00

Appl was the great singer’s final pupil. As the musical world celebrates Fischer-Dieskau’s centenary, his friend remembers lessons with ‘FiDi’

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau placed great value on punctuality. Whenever I drove up the driveway to his house on Lake Starnberg near Munich at precisely 10.25 am, the tall and smiling FiDi (as he was affectionately called by friends and colleagues) was already standing at the door. He was waiting for me under the large carved letters DFD above the front door. His bright, mischievous eyes made him appear youthful well into old age. Depending on his state of health, he either resolutely offered me his hand or just his elbow (something he did throughout his life to protect himself from infection). Then we started working, always promptly at 10.30am.

Being mentored by Fischer-Dieskau is something I look back on today with the greatest gratitude. I was so fortunate to be his last pupil, and studied with him for three years, until his death in 2012 aged 86.

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© Photograph: Britta Pedersen/EPA

© Photograph: Britta Pedersen/EPA

Gene Hackman and pianist wife Betsy Arakawa found dead at home with their dog

27 février 2025 à 09:42

The Oscar-winning star of The French Connection, The Conversation, Superman and The Poseidon Adventure has died, along with his classical musician wife

Gene Hackman: the star of every scene he was in – appreciation
Gene Hackman: a life in pictures – gallery
‘Who are you calling a star?’: Gene Hackman interviewed at home in Santa Fe in 2002

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead on Wednesday afternoon in their home in the Santa Fe Summit community northeast of the city.

In a statement to the Santa Fe New Mexican, County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said: “We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday.” The Press Association confirmed there is an “active investigation’’ into the deaths. Sheriff Mendoza said there was no immediate indication of foul play. He did not provide a cause of death or say when the couple might have died.

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© Photograph: Donaldson Collection/Getty Images

© Photograph: Donaldson Collection/Getty Images

Seized, settled, let: how Airbnb and Booking.com help Israelis make money from stolen Palestinian land

As Israel deploys tanks in the West Bank for the first time in 20 years, we reveal how two of the world’s biggest travel companies are helping settlers commercialise stolen land

The villa is stunning. The private swimming pool; the lush, landscaped terrace with firepit; the long dining table with its expansive balcony view; the pingpong table; the piano.

But the jewel in the crown, according to the Airbnb listing, is the experience of watching the sun rise over the nearby mountains from the luxury of the generous master bedroom.

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© Composite: Google / Airbnb / Booking.com / The Guardian / Guardian Design

© Composite: Google / Airbnb / Booking.com / The Guardian / Guardian Design

The question no one dares ask: what if Britain has to defend itself from the US? | George Monbiot

27 février 2025 à 09:00

So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US – if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gates

All the talk now is of how we might defend ourselves without the US. But almost everyone with a voice in public life appears to be avoiding a much bigger and more troubling question: how we might defend ourselves against the US.

As Keir Starmer visits the orange emperor’s court in Washington, let’s first consider the possibilities. I can’t comment on their likelihood, and I fervently hope that people with more knowledge and power than me are gaming them. One is that Donald Trump will not only clear the path for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, but will actively assist him. We know that Trump can brook no challenge to his hegemony. Russia is no threat to US dominance, but Europe, with a combined economy similar to that of the US, and a powerful diplomatic and global political presence, could be.

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© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

Lise Klaveness: ‘If Fifa followed their own reforms, it would be very good. But they didn’t’

27 février 2025 à 09:00

The first female president of Norway’s FA will soon have a seat on Uefa’s ExCo, but she has no intention of being any less disruptive to football’s governing bodies

Lise Klaveness cut a lonely figure in April 2023 as she walked across the cavernous Lisbon Congress Centre, where Aleksander Ceferin had just been re-elected for a third term as Uefa president.

Seven seats were on offer on the confederation’s executive committee, but she registered the second-lowest number of votes of the 11 candidates. This was not unexpected. Twelve months previously, Klaveness had addressed the Fifa congress in Doha in terms which the delegates, including all of the Uefa FA presidents, were not accustomed to hearing.

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© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy

Hungarian film-makers struggle for funding despite production boom

27 février 2025 à 09:00

While country draws international talent, domestic movies are more likely to get made if they align with Orbán politics

The office of Proton Cinema lies on the ground floor of a modernist house in Budapest’s 13th district, where during the second world war Nazi troops forced Jewish people into a ghetto. The independent production company was a great match for The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s Holocaust drama, which won four Baftas and will be a strong contender at the Oscars on Monday with 10 nominations.

“We couldn’t imagine The Brutalist being shot elsewhere,” said Viktória Petrányi, the Hungarian co-producer of the three-and-a-half-hour hit and Proton’s co-founder.

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© Photograph: Lol Crawley/A24 via AP

© Photograph: Lol Crawley/A24 via AP

The Trade™, three weeks on: Dončić, Davis and the art of the NBA breakup

27 février 2025 à 09:00

As much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for the Lakers and Mavs after the biggest trade in NBA history, the wounds have only just begun to heal

“A lot of emotions, not much sleep … I’m just glad it’s over.” Those were Luka Dončić’s succinct and surprisingly vulnerable initial thoughts on Tuesday night after his first rendezvous with his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, when his Lakers hosted them in Los Angeles. It was a highly anticipated game, the culmination of weeks of NBA drama after the biggest blockbuster trade in league history, when the 25-year-old was traded for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Davis was sidelined on the bench with an adductor strain on Tuesday, which slightly dampened the dramatic potential. But with both Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and minority owner Mark Cuban joining Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss in attendance, the tension was palpable. There’s really no such thing as a clean breakup, but this one has been particularly messy, and as much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for both clubs, the wounds from the parting have only just begun to heal.

The “wins” and “losses” of the trade have been covered ad nauseam. The basketball of it all, the Xs and Os, what may work, what may not, have been dissected to death. The drama, trying to figure out what conspiracy theories could have been at play to set it into motion, has made for unassailably compelling television. But, as is the case in many sports sagas, the human element of it all seems to have become somewhat lost in the shuffle.

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© Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty Images

Arne Slot claims Liverpool players have silenced doubters with ‘mental strength’

27 février 2025 à 01:12
  • Manager delighted after ‘people started to question us’
  • Praises on-field reaction in 2-0 victory over Newcastle

Arne Slot claimed Liverpool silenced the doubters with victory over Newcastle, with an increased lead of 13 points at the top of the Premier League validating his decision to rest senior players in the FA Cup exit at Plymouth.

Liverpool stretched their lead over Arsenal with a convincing defeat of Eddie Howe’s side, whom they face in the Carabao Cup final in 18 days’ time, to build on Sunday’s impressive win at Manchester City.

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© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Grace Clinton shows a glimpse of England’s future and helps banish ghosts against Spain | Jonathan Liew

27 février 2025 à 00:50

Midfielder is rich in potential and opened the doors against world champions to offer her team a dizzyingly high ceiling

The final whistle blows and players gather in the centre circle. Enmities are buried and old bonds reforged, pleasantries and shirts are swapped. Chloe Kelly is wrapped in the shirt of Leila Ouahabi. Likewise Jess Park and Laia Aleixandri. Sixty yards away, meanwhile, Grace Clinton is already on her lap of honour. She has resolved, with her characteristic speed of thought, that this shirt is going nowhere.

And if this was a game that seemed to arrive wreathed in ghosts of the past – Sydney, the pain, the bitter aftermath – then somehow it ended on a more optimistic, forward-looking note. This is an England team that have spent the past 18 months in varying states of entropy, labouring against the sort of opponents they should be swiping aside with a flick of the hand, torn between the Plan A that no longer works and the Plan B that does not yet exist.

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© Photograph: Harriet Lander/The FA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Harriet Lander/The FA/Getty Images

Arteta admits Arsenal ‘lacked spark’ but face wait for Saka and Martinelli return

27 février 2025 à 00:28
  • ‘We have to generate more shots on target’
  • Martinelli has a ‘chance’ to return before Saka

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal “lacked that spark” in the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest that has left his team 13 points behind Liverpool with 11 games left.

The Arsenal manager praised his team’s dominance and attempts to find different routes to goal but conceded that with the absence of his main four attacking players – Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz – Forest were able to deny them clearcut chances.

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© Photograph: Rui Viera/AP

© Photograph: Rui Viera/AP

Amorim will talk to Garnacho about angry reaction to early substitution

27 février 2025 à 00:16
  • United winger stomps down tunnel against Ipswich
  • ‘We have to choose someone to go out … it was Garnacho’

Ruben Amorim will talk to Alejandro Garnacho after the winger stomped down the tunnel on being sacrificed by the head coach following Patrick Dorgu’s red card in Manchester United’s 3-2 win against Ipswich.

Darren England sent the wing-back Dorgu off for a 43rd-minute stamp on Omari Hutchinson after the referee consulted the pitchside screen. This prompted Amorim to introduce Noussair Mazraoui for Garnacho but the latter’s upset at the decision moved him to head straight for the dressing room. It is unclear if Garnacho reappeared for the second half.

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© Photograph: Scott Heppell/Reuters

© Photograph: Scott Heppell/Reuters

The Golden Throne by Christopher de Bellaigue review – Suleyman returns

27 février 2025 à 08:30

A new instalment of the extraordinary and brutal story of the greatest Ottoman sultan reads like a thrilling novel

The year is 1538 and Suleyman the Magnificent has taken to signing himself “the great lord and conqueror of the whole world”. The Holy Roman Emperor might have something to say about that. Charles V is still in charge over the other side of the Ottoman empire’s European borders, from the Danube to the Baltic. All the same, there is no denying Suleyman’s vast reach. Since coming to the throne 18 years earlier he has invaded Belgrade, Rhodes, much of Hungary, Baghdad and too many Mediterranean ports to mention. He has conquered most of North Africa. True, there have been a few hitches – he failed to capture Vienna in 1529 – but still, as he sits on his golden perch in Istanbul, he is pretty much lord of all he surveys.

In his previous book, The Lion House, Christopher de Bellaigue charted Suleyman’s rise to power in rich, sinuous detail. Here, he takes the story on to the next phase as the swan-necked sultan sets about protecting his gains, doing-over his previous failures (bits of Hungary need retaking) and, most crucially, worrying about an heir. Unlike Henry VIII in faraway and inconsequential England, Suleyman isn’t short of sons. He has five, by two different mothers, but there is a terrible kicker built into the system: once an heir has been chosen (it doesn’t need to be the oldest boy), the lucky young man is expected to murder all his brothers. Selim, Suleyman’s father, killed five nephews to ensure his own boy’s smooth progression. No wonder everyone is feeling on edge as the sultan tiptoes into battle-scarred middle age.

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© Photograph: Universal Art Archive/Alamy

© Photograph: Universal Art Archive/Alamy

Africa’s medical system risks ‘collapse in next few years’, warns health leader

27 février 2025 à 08:00

Focusing foreign aid on infectious diseases has allowed a rise in cancer and diabetes that African governments don’t have resources to fight, says Dr Githinji Gitahi

Health services in Africa are at risk of “collapse in the next few years” due to soaring chronic diseases, a senior public health leader has warned.

Foreign aid to Africa has been focused on infectious diseases, leaving conditions such as cancer and diabetes to escalate, said Dr Githinji Gitahi, group CEO of Amref Health Africa.

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© Photograph: Gilberto Lontro/NCD Alliance

© Photograph: Gilberto Lontro/NCD Alliance

Hiking in southern Italy: myths, mountains and wild boar in Cilento

27 février 2025 à 08:00

South of the Amalfi Coast is a rugged wonderland of quiet paths through chestnut woods and vineyards. It’s all perfect for contemplating ancient yarns, spotting wildlife and enjoying local fare

In the silence of the chestnut woods, rays of sunlight ignite the patches of pink cyclamen and crocus. There are fungi of various kinds dotted around, including one that is a perfect sphere of bright orange pushing its way up out of earth. I sit on a rock and after a while I hear a gentle grunting noise, the sort of contented chunter made by a snorer having a light snooze. It’s not me. A pair of wild boar are approaching, moving through the shadows, noses down, short tails flicking continuously. It’s a mother and baby, so close I can see the dust on their backs. I move my hand towards the camera, but wily Old Ma spots the movement and they take off at a blistering pace, charging downhill, bristling with indignation.

I continue walking uphill, and after a mile or so stop at a paw print in a patch of mud. Large dog or wolf? There are no human boot marks that might accompany a canine. Nor is there anyone around to ask. Eventually, I reach a viewpoint on top of Monte Stella, the highest summit for many miles at 1,131 metres. Out west is the dark surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea where Odysseus reputedly battled his way home from Troy, narrowly surviving temptation by the dreaded Sirens at an island, Isola Licosa, just hidden from my view by the curve of the coastline. I can see as far as the distant ragged peninsula of Amalfi on the northern horizon but there are no ships in sight. I am alone.

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© Photograph: e55evu/Getty Images/iStockphoto

© Photograph: e55evu/Getty Images/iStockphoto

It’s the liberal German dilemma: Merz is anathema, but he might stand up to Trump | John Kampfner

27 février 2025 à 08:00

Amid the gloom, the truth is dawning: the country faces hard political choices, and needs a more muscular approach to defence

Donald Trump and his lieutenants have done Germans an enormous favour. Perilously late in the day, the US president and special envoy to the Kremlin has alerted Germany and the rest of Europe that there is one fault line, and one alone, between democracy and autocracy. All other political issues facing the country pale into insignificance.

It seems that Friedrich Merz gets it, even if many in his country still don’t. Since winning Sunday’s election, the Christian Democrat (CDU) chancellor-elect has used every opportunity to warn of the dangers of the Trumpian new world order. He has not sought to provide reassurance, something that Germans tend to crave from their politicians.

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© Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/REX/Shutterstock

Running Point review – you’ll be desperate for Kate Hudson’s basketball comedy to end

27 février 2025 à 08:00

This tale of a girlboss battling the sporting world’s patriarchy is a real grind. Perhaps it’d be funny if you care deeply about the sport … but shouldn’t a comedy be able to make you laugh regardless?

Are you in the mood for a basketball comedy that has some leaden jokes and some even more leaden things to say about sexism and prejudice in the US industrial sports complex? Of course you’re not. Nobody is. But it’s here, it stars Kate Hudson and it’s called Running Point so let’s deal with it.

Hudson plays Isla Gordon, one of four siblings whose father owned the Los Angeles Waves basketball team. Despite being the only one of Daddy Gordon’s children who is knowledgable about the game, she has been overlooked all her life. Why? Because she is a girl and the rest of them are boys! Cue a cutesy flashback in which a child actor delivers a Sorkinesque monologue about the team’s chances and her recommended player trades while trotting beside her father down a corridor of power, before having the door shut in her face as he enters another meeting room full of men in suits. She describes him, in what passes for a zinger in this sitcom, as an old-school “sexist asshole”. So she rebels in her teens and 20s, with a 20-day marriage and a photoshoot for Playboy.

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© Photograph: Katrina Marcinowski/AP

© Photograph: Katrina Marcinowski/AP

Trump might not know it, but he’s forging a new relationship between Britain and the EU | Martin Kettle

27 février 2025 à 07:00

Support for Ukraine means that closer ties to Europe are now a patriotic priority, opening up avenues that Brexit had once blocked

It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging British upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-cold war order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by Keir Starmer.

In July 2024, when Starmer became prime minister, Labour was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority was to reconnect with leave voters. Everything about Europe was thus sidelined during the election. Only vague generalities were permitted. The only foreign leaders pictured in the party manifesto were Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: JE E/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: JE E/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

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