↩ Accueil

Vue normale

index.feed.received.today — 1 mai 2025The Guardian

‘I do what I like’: British woman, 115, claims world’s oldest living person title

1 mai 2025 à 15:45

Ethel Caterham, who lives in a care home in Surrey and takes life in her stride, is first Briton to claim title since 1987

The secret of longevity is to do what you like, according to the 115-year-old British woman named the world’s oldest living person.

Ethel Caterham, born in 1909, is the first Briton to claim the title of world’s oldest person since 1987, when 114-year-old Anna Williams was the record holder.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Hallmark Luxury Care Homes / Facebook

© Photograph: Hallmark Luxury Care Homes / Facebook

US treasury secretary urges Fed chair to cut interest rates as Trump claims shrinking economy isn’t related to tariff war – live

Bessent urges Powell to cut interest rates, echoing Trump’s demands; US president claims economic slowdown ‘nothing to do with tariffs’

The Trump administration is seeking to strip collective bargaining rights from large swaths of federal employees in a test case union leaders argue is part of a broader attack on US labor unions that could land before the US Supreme Court.

A Trump win would deliver a severe blow to labor unions in the US. Some 29.9% of all federal workers were represented by labor unions in 2024 compared to 11.1% for all US workers.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

‘Armed agents nearly turned up at my house’: fired DOJ attorney on defying Trump – podcast

The US justice department says it did not fire a former pardon attorney, Liz Oyer, after she refused to recommend reinstating Mel Gibson’s gun rights.

But Oyer tells Jonathan Freedland a different story, one she believes points to a wider crackdown by the Trump administration on the rule of law in America

Archive: ABC News, Face the Nation, CBS News, CNN, PBS, NBC News, Fox News, WHAS11

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

© Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

McDonald’s posts surprise decline in global sales in first quarter

Par :Reuters
1 mai 2025 à 15:10

Firm was navigating ‘toughest of market conditions’ when Trump’s tariffs worsened wallet pressures on consumers

McDonald’s posted a surprise decline in first-quarter global sales on Thursday, as demand from cash-strapped diners in its key markets faltered on uncertainty sparked by chaotic tariffs.

The company was navigating the “toughest of market conditions”, the company’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said, as global comparable sales fell 1%, while analysts on average had estimated a 0.95% rise.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP

© Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP

Lawyers for New Orleans clergy abuse survivors ramp up pressure to depose archbishop

Lawyers for hundreds of survivors argue Gregory Aymond should be questioned under oath about role in the clergy abuse crisis

A group of attorneys representing clergy abuse survivors is ramping up pressure to get the archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, under oath before a judge decides whether to kick the church out of bankruptcy.

Lawyers for hundreds of survivors filed a motion Wednesday to end the church’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a day before the fifth anniversary of a case that’s paid none of about 500 survivors but has cost the archdiocese around $45m in legal and professional fees.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: David Grunfeld/AP

© Photograph: David Grunfeld/AP

‘Do something with your actions. Don’t just write a cheque’: Bonnie Raitt on activism, making men cry and 38 years of sobriety

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

Going back out on tour, the 13-time Grammy winner recalls stark inspirations and steamy studio sessions as she answers your questions

You’ve had a decades-long career. When did you first feel that you had “made it”? LondonLuvver
I wasn’t expecting to do music for a job. I was into social activism in college, and I just had music as a hobby. My boyfriend managed a bunch of blues artists and I asked if I could open for some of them – just to have fun and hang out with my heroes. Unbeknown to me, there really weren’t any women playing blues guitar and doing the mix of songs [I was], and I immediately got more offers of gigs and even a record company offer within about a year. That first gig I got under my own name, when I was 19, was a total surprise: that’s when I felt I had made it.

How was it growing up with a father [John Raitt] who was such a big Broadway star? Abbeyorchards7
He had hits in the 1940s with Carousel, and in the 50s with The Pajama Game. By the time I was 10 or 11, he was on the road touring in the summer – he loved taking Broadway shows out to the countryside. That influenced me a lot later when I decided to veer off from college and go into music: his love of travelling, of every night being opening night, and putting everything he had into every performance. And he was on tour basically until his mid-80s, so I think that had a tremendous influence on me: like, we can’t believe we get paid, and this is our job.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

© Photograph: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

A plea to the West: help us save America’s democracy | Anonymous

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

Countries from Canada to Japan must take steps to isolate the United States in world diplomacy

Donald Trump and his political allies in Washington have undertaken far-sweeping actions to undermine the foundations of American democracy, while simultaneously pursuing policies that erode and disrupt eight decades of trust and cooperation with democratic allies in Europe, North America and Asia.

While leaders in these countries grapple with what is happening in Trump’s America, they must now ask themselves a new and critical question of immense relevance – one that has never been asked before in the modern era:

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

© Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

British men urged to join ‘Dad strike’ calling for more paternity leave

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

Exclusive: Fathers planning protest with babies in London on 11 June to highlight UK’s ‘rubbish’ statutory leave, least generous in Europe

British fathers are being urged to join the world’s first “Dad strike” to protest about the UK’s statutory paternity leave, which campaigners say is the least generous in Europe.

Fathers are planning to protest with their babies outside the Department for Business and Trade in London on 11 June in an effort to force the government to improve leave for dads and non-birthing partners.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Marina Demidiuk/Getty Images/iStockphoto

© Photograph: Marina Demidiuk/Getty Images/iStockphoto

New book prize to award aspiring writer £75,000 for first three pages of novel

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

The Next Big Story competition, run by writing school The Novelry, is encouraging entries from would-be authors ‘historically overlooked by the publishing industry’

A new competition is offering £75,000 to an aspiring writer based on just three pages of their novel.

Actor Emma Roberts, Bridgerton author Julia Quinn and Booker-winning Life of Pi author Yann Martel are among the judges for The Next Big Story competition, run by online fiction writing school The Novelry.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

In the US, not even $11,000 a month can buy you dignity at the end of your life

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

After watching my father’s struggle in a system that values profit over compassion, I wonder: how much longer will we accept a future where most of us lose our sense of human worth in old age?

The last time I visited my father, I walked into his $11,000-a-month room in a posh assisted living residence and found him curled up on the floor. My sister Amy and I knelt down, touched him, and asked if he was okay.

“I don’t know,” mumbled Dad, 96, a retired physician and lifelong outdoorsman. “I fell about 20 minutes ago and no one has come.”

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Fraser Family/Getty

© Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Fraser Family/Getty

Losing its sparkle: Colombia’s emerald capital weighs the cost of its precious stones

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

As big companies and informal miners blame each other for the damage to rivers and forests, mining risks long-term harm to those living nearby

The small town of Muzo, nestled deep in Colombia’s emerald-rich valleys of Boyacá province, is a place where the soil holds great wealth. Brick-red homes and tin-roof shacks cling to the mountainside, their bases resting on black sand and dark mud. Below, the Río Minero weaves through the valley, its waters tainted by the silt and debris of continuous excavation.

The region’s natural beauty is marred by scattered waste and discarded mining materials, evidence of an industry that supports the town’s economy – but also harms its environment.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: andresbo/The Guardian

© Photograph: andresbo/The Guardian

Rock’n’roles: Dwayne Johnson films – ranked!

1 mai 2025 à 15:00

As the wrestler turned action hero turns 53, we count down his best movies – from Baywatch to Jumanji to that time he played the Tooth Fairy

Dwayne Johnson is about to violently switch gears. His next films include a Benny Safdie drama about an MMA fighter battling addiction and a true-crime drama produced by Martin Scorsese. The reason for this abrupt handbrake turn towards grownup film-making seems to be Red One; a duff Christmas action film. During its production, tales of Johnson’s backstage behaviour leaked out: the star was said to frequently be late, and would habitually hand his assistant bottles of urine rather than walk to the toilet. It was the biggest knock to The Rock since his career began. But onwards and upwards.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Photo credit: Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures/Allstar

© Photograph: Photo credit: Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures/Allstar

Fist fights, ghostly pranks and schism: a brief history of conclaves past

1 mai 2025 à 14:36

Selecting a new pope has always been an arduous process, but some conclaves seemed to suffer more than others

Modern-day conclaves are steeped in mystery: cardinal electors swear an oath of secrecy – and so do the cooks, drivers, medics and others who support their deliberations. Before the conclave begins next week, the Sistine Chapel will be swept for electronic bugs, jamming devices will be installed, and special coatings will be placed on windows to stop laser scanners picking up anything audible.

It wasn’t always this way: in the past, letters, diaries and other writings by cardinals and their attendants gave revealing accounts of what happened in the meetings convened in order to choose a pope.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Print Collector/Getty Images

© Photograph: Print Collector/Getty Images

Trump tariffs cause fastest slump in British factory export orders in five years

1 mai 2025 à 14:32

Decline in output and new orders in April allied with rising uncertainty is prompting layoffs, survey finds

Britain’s factories suffered a slump in export orders last month as Donald Trump’s globally unsettling tariff regime sent overseas demand for UK goods tumbling at the fastest pace in five years.

Manufacturers reported rising economic and trade uncertainties in April as some tariffs took effect and other threatened border taxes loomed, forcing them to lay off workers for a sixth consecutive month.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

I worked with Tony Blair when he put climate at the heart of UK policy. He must not now undermine that | David King

1 mai 2025 à 14:26

I support the Climate Paradox report from the Tony Blair Institute, but his foreword risks compromising what must be achieved

  • David King was chief scientific adviser to the UK government under Tony Blair, and is founder and chair of the global Climate Crisis Advisory Group

I have always been proud of the progress the UK made between 2003 and 2007 in formulating a credible response to the climate change. Under Tony Blair’s leadership, the UK placed climate at the heart of global diplomacy. At the time, our understanding was based largely on scientific projections and models. Today, the crisis is in full view – faster and more devastating than many imagined. The world is now experiencing the daily impacts of climate breakdown, and our responses must reflect this escalating emergency. We need measured, strategic, sustained and, above all, urgent interventions to ensure a manageable future for humanity.

That is why I support much of the thrust of The Climate Paradox report from the Tony Blair Institute. It rightly recognised that the era of endless summits and slogans must give way to one of delivery and impact. But the comments I gave were prior to seeing the foreword, and while there has been some clear misinterpretation from elements of the media, I do believe it has removed the balance of the report in ways that risk undermining what still can – and must – be achieved.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/WPA rota/PA./PA

© Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/WPA rota/PA./PA

The Lakers’ Luka-LeBron era begins with a stumble, not a statement

The Lakers were thoroughly outmatched against the Timberwolves in this season’s playoffs. The team must now address the fixes that need to be made

Dorian Finney-Smith slams his hand in frustration against an empty chair on his way to the shower. The locker room is so silent you could hear a pin drop. In spite of every expert prediction, it was not “Lakers in five,” or, at least, not on the right end of five. The LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and JJ Redick-led Lakers were sent packing by the Minnesota Timberwolves on their home court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in a five-game series whose final tally doesn’t tell the whole story.

Minnesota were decidedly the better team in the series, but with the exception of a decisive Timberwolves win in the opener, it was a sequence of games won on the margins. The final game between the two teams felt, for the most part, like a competition where neither opponent particularly felt like giving their all, which played into Minnesota’s hands as the roster with far more depth and, thus, margin for error. But, in all likelihood, the series was won and lost in Game 4, a classic, hard-fought battle that came down to the final buzzer. While it wasn’t technically the end of the series, it’s the kind of loss that’s almost impossible to come back from, both emotionally, and historically: teams who go up three games to one in a seven-game series go on to win 95% of the time.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

I witnessed US cruelty as a Guantánamo lawyer. Trump’s deportations are disturbingly familiar | Mark Denbeaux

1 mai 2025 à 14:00

The government’s claims against detainees were paper-thin and the process riddled with errors. Now history is repeating

Guantánamo is a horror Americans have tried to forget. But the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deportation regime resembles so many of Guantánamo’s evils that it compels comparison. That comparison reveals significant differences but frightening similarities.

On 11 January 2002, the detention facility opened. The first detainees, in orange jumpsuits, hobbled along in a parade to show the press the success of the government in this battle of the “war on terror”.

The detainee admits he was a cook’s assistant for Taliban forces in Narim, Afghanistan under the command of Haji Mullah Baki.

Mark Denbeaux is professor emeritus at Seton Hall Law School and for 18 years represented four detainees held in Guantánamo who had endured torture by the CIA

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

The Underground Railroad went all the way to Canada – and a new photo exhibit preserves that legacy

1 mai 2025 à 14:00

For an estimated 30,000 Black people, the journey from enslavement in the US ended north of the border

Between the late 18th century and the end of the American civil war, tens of thousands of Black Americans escaped the bondage of slavery by fleeing plantations to go north. The Underground Railroad had stops in states in which slavery was illegal, such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. But for an estimated 30,000 people, the journey continued beyond those states into Canada.

Early Black American settlers in Canada – people who became Black Canadians before Canada was a country – made an indelible mark on their new home. They created thriving communities across Ontario and Nova Scotia and as far west as the Manitoba border; they founded abolitionist newspapers and paved the way for waves of migration that would follow.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Frank Piccolo

© Photograph: Frank Piccolo

Why we shouldn’t turn up our noses at New Zealand sauvignon blanc

1 mai 2025 à 14:00

Wine snobs can be a bit sniffy about it, but New Zealand sauvignon blanc is one of the most widely drunk whites in the UK

Besides Provençal rosé (a column for another day), New Zealand sauvignon blanc has to be one of the most successfully marketed wines of the past century. This grape is, of course, planted around the world, and originally French, but it has become so wrapped up in the identity of New Zealand wine, and so at the forefront of our minds, that several people I know who have heard of New Zealand’s take didn’t know that sauvignon blanc also constitutes many appellation wines from the Loire and Bordeaux.

It was 1973 when the first sauvignon blanc vines were planted in Marlborough, and were initially intended to be blended with müller-thurgau, which at the time was one of the region’s more popular grape varieties. That’s almost unthinkable now, when Marlborough is by far the most famed region for sauvignon blanc, with about 25,000 hectares of vines, low rainfall and long, sunny days, as well as free-draining soil. In other words, ideal conditions for producing wine en masse.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: New Zealand Wine Growers

© Photograph: New Zealand Wine Growers

Papal inauguration risks raising tensions between China and Taiwan

1 mai 2025 à 13:58

Beijing suspected of putting pressure on Vatican to cut ties with Taipei

Next week, 135 cardinals will gather inside the Vatican for the conclave, a secretive meeting to decide who will succeed the late Pope Francis. Around the world, people are speculating: who will the next pontiff be? But in Taiwan, a more common discussion has been: who are we sending to the inauguration?

The former vice-president Chen Chien-jen recently returned from Vatican City, where he represented Taiwan at Francis’s funeral. But the committed Catholic hopes he won’t be asked to repeat the journey to welcome in the successor. Instead, he is pushing for it to be Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters

A belter in Barcelona turns up the power: Football Weekly Extra - podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Mark Langdon and Sid Lowe to discuss all the big European action

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

On the podcast today: a brilliant semi-final in Barcelona as they draw 3-3 with Inter. Lots of brilliant goals and another world-class performance from the frighteningly young Lamine Yamal. Inter will take the draw, especially with the second leg at San Siro, but they were a small toe’s length away from a Henrikh Mkhitaryan winner.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

Messi and Ronaldo’s continental exits show the limits of their swan songs

1 mai 2025 à 13:44

The two best players of their generation suffered same-day disappointments that show the game is starting to move on

Not long ago, the results might have been seismic. Or at the very least, worthy of an eyebrows-raised remark. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two leading lights of their generation, the dominant on-field forces for most of this century, both going out of continental competition in the semi-finals? Both in upsets? On the same day?

On Wednesday, it actually happened. Messi’s Inter Miami fell to Vancouver 5-1 on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr lost 3-2 to Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League Elite at a nominally neutral site in Saudi Arabia.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chris Arjoon/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chris Arjoon/AFP/Getty Images

Why unlimited green energy is closer than people think – video

Most countries have no fossil fuel reserves, but no country in the world is without renewable energy resources. For a country such as Iceland, the world leader in renewables, this statement is clear to see. The island nation has made good use of its volcanoes and glaciers, which help provide 100% of its electricity and almost all its heat energy. But what about other countries that don't have Iceland's unique geology to rely on. Josh Toussaint-Strauss finds out how the world has managed to reach the impressive milestone of more than 40% of global electricity demand coming from clean power sources, and how other countries such as the UK are making this energy transition happen, despite a distinct lack of volcanoes

Continue reading...

© Photograph: The Guardian

© Photograph: The Guardian

Model/Actriz: Pirouette review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

1 mai 2025 à 13:30

(True Panther Sounds/Dirty Hit)
Inspired by Mariah and Kylie but full of jackhammer rhythms and noise, the quartet’s second album could attract a big following

You can see why Model/Actriz’s 2023 debut album Dogsbody attracted a lot of approving critical attention. In an era when rock music largely leans towards familiarity – where originality has essentially come to mean rearranging recognisable sounds from the past in a relatively fresh way – here was a band who genuinely didn’t seem to sound much like anyone else.

The Brooklyn quartet had released a handful of noisy singles pre-Covid, which attracted vague comparisons to the notoriously challenging clangour of the late 70s no wave movement or the frenetic dance-punk of Liars, an outlier band on the far left field of the early 00s New York scene that gave the world the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But on Dogsbody they honed their sound into something entirely their own.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: PR

© Photograph: PR

UK banks put £75bn into firms building climate-wrecking ‘carbon bombs’, study finds

Exclusive: Britain is key financial hub for destructive fossil fuel mega-projects, according to research

Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences – according to a study.

Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Bilanol/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Bilanol/Shutterstock

Justice for Phish! How the jam band shaped US culture – without awards or big hits

1 mai 2025 à 13:00

They were snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But their dedicated followers – from Bernie Sanders to Maroon 5 – know they exemplify a uniquely American tradition

Bernie Sanders has called them “one of the great American rock bands”. They’ve been together since 1983, selling out stadiums and hosting festivals where they’re the only band on the bill, drawing tens of thousands. Last week, they won the fan vote for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with 330,000 votes, beating the runner-up, the rock supergroup Bad Company, by 50,000.

Yet outside the US, Phish may be best known as the inspiration for Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food flavor. They’ve never had a significant mainstream hit. And when the Hall of Fame inductees were announced on Sunday, Phish wasn’t among them. Bad Company was. Many fans seemed unbothered: “Phish is too out there, too innovative, not mainstream,” wrote one on a fan message board. “Hall of Fame just isn’t a Phish thing.” Added another: “Let the disdain and misunderstandings continue.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Trump has launched more attacks on the environment in 100 days than his entire first term

1 mai 2025 à 13:00

Blitzkrieg has hit protections in place for land, oceans, forests and wildlife, and will worsen the climate crisis

Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented assault upon the environment, instigating 145 actions to undo rules protecting clean air, water and a livable climate in this administration’s first 100 days – more rollbacks than were completed in Trump’s entire first term as US president.

Trump’s blitzkrieg has hit almost every major policy to shield Americans from toxic pollution, curb the worsening impacts of the climate crisis and protect landscapes, oceans, forests and imperiled wildlife.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

Robert De Niro supports daughter Airyn as she comes out as trans: ‘I don’t know what the big deal is’

1 mai 2025 à 12:54

After her announcement of her transition, the actor said: ‘I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter’

Robert De Niro has expressed support for his daughter Airyn after she came out as transgender.

In a statement to Deadline, De Niro said: “I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is … I love all my children.”

Continue reading...

© Composite: Getty Images/Instagram/@voiceofairyn

© Composite: Getty Images/Instagram/@voiceofairyn

I know how global aid works. Here’s how Britain can do the right thing – and make its money count | David Miliband

1 mai 2025 à 12:32

The politics of aid may be toxic, but the UK must realise that supporting the world’s poorest people is both a moral and pragmatic thing to do

  • David Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee

In more than 10 years working in the aid sector, I have seen extraordinary innovations, from childhood education programmes for refugee children, to AI-driven flood warnings that alert farmers in some of the most vulnerable places on earth. Many of the initiatives I’ve seen are remarkably impactful and deliver serious value for money: it costs the International Rescue Committee (IRC) just £3 ($4) to deliver a life-saving vaccine dose in the midst of a conflict in east Africa, for example.

The politics surrounding international aid, however, are increasingly toxic. The UK’s Department for International Development and now the US equivalent, USAID, have been dismantled, despite the British public being more than twice as likely to say that aid has a positive rather than negative impact. Denmark has stuck to the UN target of spending 0.7% of its national income on overseas development, yet it is an exception rather than a norm among European nations. The UK government now needs to answer a number of hard questions about aid: what is it for, how should it be delivered, and who should pay for it?

David Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Mazin Alrasheed/Reuters

© Photograph: Mazin Alrasheed/Reuters

Freakier Friday cast and crew criticise ‘hurtful’ Asian stereotypes in 2003 film

1 mai 2025 à 12:32

Director Nisha Ganatra said she felt they ‘owed audiences to make it right’ in the new film

The director and leading cast member of Freakier Friday, the soon-to-be-released sequel to Disney’s 2003 body-swap comedy Freaky Friday, have criticised the “hurtful” Asian stereotypes of the older film and said they “owed audiences to make it right”.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, director Nisha Ganatra, a Canadian whose parents were first generation immigrants from India, said of the 2003 film: “I remember watching it and feeling torn, mostly about the Asian representation … It was something I brought up right away when I had my first meetings with the producers. I had a moment of the presentation that was like, ‘problematic Asian representation!’”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Glen Wilson/AP

© Photograph: Glen Wilson/AP

Kneecap row: police assessing ‘kill MP’ and ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’ footage

1 mai 2025 à 12:02

News comes as artists including Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream defend Irish rap trio from criticism

Counter-terrorism police are investigating footage that appears to show Kneecap calling for politicians to be killed, and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”, while dozens of artists – including Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream – have defended the Irish rap trio from staunch criticism from politicians on both sides of the Commons benches.

On Thursday, detectives said videos of the two incidents had been brought to their attention in late April, and had been referred for assessment by specialist counter-terrorism officers. They had “determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos”, officers said.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

© Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

American higher education is collapsing before our eyes | Frederico Menino

1 mai 2025 à 12:00

The once unsinkable ship of US higher education has hit an unthinkable iceberg

American higher education is living its RMS Titanic moment. The multi-trillion-dollar United States academic-scientific complex, led by the richest and most highly coveted universities in history, remains the envy of the world. “American University Inc” is one of the US’s top exports and among its most valuable stocks. Brands such as Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and so many others are revered worldwide as symbols of academic excellence, independent thinking, breakthrough innovation and prestige. No other university system in the world comes close to amassing as much capital – financial, human, cultural and social – as the mighty American one.

Until now.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

© Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

May Day: protests expected across US over workers’ and immigrants’ rights

1 mai 2025 à 12:00

Tens of thousands expected at protests to take place in nearly 1,000 cities against Trump and his administration

Protesters are expected to rally nationwide on 1 May with a focus on workers’ and immigrants’ rights in the latest round of demonstrations against Donald Trump and his administration.

May Day, commemorated as international workers’ day, comes after two massive days of protests in April – 5 April’s hands off rallies and 19 April’s day of action – drew millions to the streets across the country.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jim West/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Jim West/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Trump’s tariffs: ‘It feels like Covid 2.0. So many things are getting disrupted’

Pittsburgh residents, workers and business owners react to the increasingly fraught trading reality now upending supply chains and hitting prices

“In a lot of ways it feels like Covid 2.0. So many things are getting disrupted so quickly.” Like so many businesses across Donald Trump’s America, Matt Katase’s craft brewery, Brew Gentleman, is having to contend with a bafflingly uncertain trading environment.

The brewery’s chief operating officer, Alaina Webber, says: “For the first time, as a company in operation going on 15 years, we’ve started to get explicit emails that say: ‘On this existing order, you are now going to see a 30%, then to a 130% increase.’”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Stephanie Strasburg/The Guardian

© Photograph: Stephanie Strasburg/The Guardian

Prince Andrew should never be allowed to return to public life | Polly Hudson

1 mai 2025 à 12:00

The death of Virginia Giuffre - who accused the Duke of York of sexual assault - surely makes his desire to resume royal duties out of the question

Everyone talks about Prince Andrew’s “fall from grace” but that raises an awkward question. When exactly was his grace period? Admittedly, even the most cynical among us aren’t immune to royal wedding fever, and when he married Fergie the nation was still high on the fumes from Charles and Diana’s nuptials, so perhaps he was briefly popular in 1986. But other than that? Pretty confident recollections wouldn’t vary here. Nada.

So technically we can’t call the events that have transpired since that brief moment in the sun a fall from grace. It’s more accurate to classify them as many falls from “meh”.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

© Photograph: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

‘A ruthless agenda’: charting 100 days of Trump’s onslaught on the environment

Guardian reporters map out how Trump is eviscerating efforts to protect the natural world – from ‘drill, baby, drill’ to mass firings

Donald Trump has never been mistaken for an environmentalist, having long called the climate crisis a “giant hoax” and repeatedly lauding the supposed virtues of fossil fuels.

But the US president’s onslaught upon the natural world in this administration’s first 100 days has surprised even those who closely charted his first term, in which he rolled back environmental rules and tore the US from the Paris climate agreement.

Taken more than 140 actions to roll back environmental rules and push for greater use of fossil fuels.

Set about rewriting regulations that limit pollution from cars, trucks and power plants.

Officially reconsidering whether greenhouse gases actually cause harm to public health.

Legally targeted states that have their own laws on tackling the climate crisis.

Speeded up environmental reviews of drilling projects, from years to just a few weeks.

Winding back water efficiency standards for showers and toilets and halting a phase-out of plastic straws

Continue reading...

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

‘It gets me cackling like nothing else!’ Your favourite YouTube TV shows

From a very-not-safe-for-work cartoon to a drag queen fever dream and a puppet show that’s like Horrible Histories for grownups – networks wouldn’t dare air these online hits

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, made by the same team, are as funny as anything on mainstream TV. Despite being animated, Hazbin Hotel is very much a show for adults, with both the comedy and plot lines often very not-safe-for-work. It has queer-friendly, gut-busting laughs, with surprisingly moving storylines and songs Lin Manuel-Miranda would be jealous of. The great strength of this being a YouTube show is that it would be extremely hard to pitch to a network. As they control their own content, creators can push the humour and actually build story around compelling (but risque) issues around sex, gender and identity. The show is essentially set in a version of hell. Hazbin Hotel focuses on the daughter of Satan trying to run a hotel for demons with the aim of rehabilitating them so they can get to heaven. It’s extremely irreverent, silly and subtle – a rousing story of someone coming into their own. Will Green, 35, London

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Courtesy of Prime Video

© Photograph: Courtesy of Prime Video

FA to ban transgender women from playing women’s football in England

1 mai 2025 à 11:44
  • Decision by FA comes after supreme court ruling
  • Ruling comes into force from 1 June

The Football Association has announced that it will ban transgender women from playing in women’s football from 1 June. It follows the ruling from the supreme court that the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman.

The decision comes barely a month after the FA ruled that transgender women could continue to play in the women’s game as long as they kept their testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L for at least 12 months.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Rawpixel/Getty Images

© Photograph: Rawpixel/Getty Images

Rust review – tragedy-marred Alec Baldwin western is a tough slog

1 mai 2025 à 11:11

The late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died on set, shows herself to be the saving grace of an otherwise poorly acted and overly long mess

Let’s put this upfront: the cinematography by the late Halyna Hutchins is gorgeous. Hutchins died in a horrific accident on the set of the movie Rust, when a prop gun, improperly checked before it was given to star and producer Alec Baldwin, shot a real bullet – prompting the reasonable question of whether the movie itself should ever be finished and see the light of day. Regardless of the moral quandary, the movie is here, primarily showcasing how good Hutchins was at her job. The first few minutes of Rust quickly accumulates half a dozen gorgeous images in establishing shots, and remains great-looking throughout – visually worthy, at least, of moments that imitate famous shots from classics of the genre like The Searchers and the True Grit remake. (If Hutchins worked on about half of the movie, it seems to have been finished following her visual lead.)

It’s not unusual for a contemporary-made western to work primarily in dusty browns, beiges and blacks in depicting the past (in this case, the Wyoming of 1882), but this movie’s dark tones have impressive richness; much of the imagery looks as if it’s been painted in deep-black shadows. It’s not just silhouettes on magic-hour landscapes that show off Hutchins’ obvious talent, either; in an early prison-break scene, a rescuer emerges from darkness, and the camera slowly pans over to the dead body of a lawman, as if in fearful apprehension.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

What kind of chatbot do you want? One that tells you the truth – or that you’re always right? | Chris Stokel-Walker

1 mai 2025 à 11:00

ChatGPT’s embarrassing rollback of a user update was a warning about the dangers of humans placing emotional trust in AI

Nobody likes a suck-up. Too much deference and praise puts off all of us (with one notable presidential exception). We quickly learn as children that hard, honest truths can build respect among our peers. It’s a cornerstone of human interaction and of our emotional intelligence, something we swiftly understand and put into action.

ChatGPT, though, hasn’t been so sure lately. The updated model that underpins the AI chatbot and helps inform its answers was rolled out this week – and has quickly been rolled back after users questioned why the interactions were so obsequious. The chatbot was cheering on and validating people even as they suggested they expressed hatred for others. “Seriously, good for you for standing up for yourself and taking control of your own life,” it reportedly said, in response to one user who claimed they had stopped taking their medication and had left their family, who they said were responsible for radio signals coming through the walls.

Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World’s Favourite App

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

❌