General news

• Women jailed over sadistic monkey torture videos

  13-11-2024 22:47 via bbc.com
  
  The judge describes Holly Le Gresley and Adriana Orme's actions as "abhorrent and sadistic".
  
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• Australia v Pakistan: first Twenty20 international – live

  14-11-2024 08:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Updates from the first T20 of the series at the GabbaThe crickets starts in Brisbane at 6pm/7pm AEDTAny thoughts? Email or get in touch on X @Jimbo_CricketA Hard Raiiiiiiiin’s a Gonna Fall?Bob Dylan was in London the other night, very much enjoyed this review.An artist who pronounced himself freewheelin’ in 1963 seems no more inclined to keep to any script 61 years on. Best to stick close to the guy in charge and keep your eyes peeled for clues as to where he’s headed. As they
  
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• UK’s pensions megafunds plan ‘could hurt savers’; renters face ‘chasm’ as demand outstrips supply – business live

  14-11-2024 08:39 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsReeves to announce ‘megafunds’ shake-up of local government pension schemeRachel Reeves has told the Financial Times that her plans will create eight pension “megafunds”.She has told the Financial Times that these eight pools, worth an average £50bn by 2030, would end the role of local councils in administering the money and boost “fast-growing British businesses and infrastructure”.“Everyth
  
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• The American No by Rupert Everett review – blackly comic short stories

  14-11-2024 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The actor, writer and director mines his own backlog of unmade projects to create an exhilarating collection Rupert Everett prefaces his suite of short stories with an account of the showbiz ruse that provides the title, a grim little routine whereby American film producers intoxicate a would-be screenwriter into feeling that a deal has been done, only to then forget them entirely. Will Everett’s readers offer up the English equivalent, murmuring “Darling, you were marvellous”
  
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• Snowstorms, steel and a celebrity deer: Gregory Halpern goes home – in pictures

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The acclaimed photographer spent two decades photographing his hometown of Buffalo, New York – capturing its ‘quiet resilience and strange beauty’ Continue reading...
  
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• Snowshoes and saunas: why Italy’s Bormio is perfect for winter sports and pampering

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The medieval Lombardy town in the Valtellina Alps will host the skiing in the 2026 Winter Olympics, but for now it’s full of under-the-radar charm
  Viewed from the top of the 2,255-metre-high Stelvio piste, the town of Bormio far below looks like a Christmas cake, with pine trees and church spires poking out of a snow-filled scene. The two are connected by a run which, with a vertical drop of 1,010 metres and gradients reaching 60%, is one of the most technically demanding and physically gr
  
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• Leading British actors call on chancellor to boost green investment in pensions

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Oscar winners Mark Rylance and Olivia Colman among those writing to Rachel Reeves about excluding fossil fuelsLeading British actors including Mark Rylance, Olivia Colman, and Benedict Cumberbatch have called on the chancellor to increase investment in clean energy by reforming pensions.Members of the performing arts union Equity have written an open letter to Rachel Reeves before her Mansion House speech on Thursday asking her to make “smart, strategic reforms” that could unlock &po
  
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• Germany’s car industry is losing its famous Vorsprung – and it can’t all be blamed on Trump and tariffs | Konstantin Richter

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It was once the envy of the world – but now its arrogance and failure to change or take risks lie at the root of its declineAbout 50 years ago, a man named Hans Bauer who worked in marketing for a German carmaker came up with the slogan Vorsprung durch Technik or “advantage through technology”. Poetry it wasn’t. The slogan seemed a little clumsy and too heavy on consonants, sounding harsh even to German ears. But it stuck because it captured something that rang true. The
  
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• Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story review – a pleasure of a film about an unlikely bond

  14-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Beautifully shot among Shetland’s epic scenery, Charlie Hamilton James’s documentary follows Billy and wife Susan, as Molly changes their lives in the most uplifting wayThis rather lovely film tells the story of a man called Billy Mail, and his otter – a pup he rescued after spotting it half-starved on the pontoon bobbing in the Atlantic at the bottom of his garden in Shetland. Billy called the otter Molly, and started feeding it. On the voiceover his wife, Susan, says Molly to
  
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• TV tonight: the season finale of Simon Bird’s hit doomsday preppers comedy

  14-11-2024 07:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Is the end nigh for the Lewis family in Everyone Else Burns? Plus: the Taskmaster champion is crowned. Here’s what to watch this evening10pm, Channel 4 Continue reading...
  
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• The 8 best video doorbells, tried and tested

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Whether you want to bolster your home’s security or simply make sure you know when someone is at the door, the latest generation of smart doorbells will help put your mind at easeDoorbells have evolved. Today, they watch us as we approach, let the people inside the home know we’re coming sooner than our finger can hit the button, and give them a good look at our faces before they open the door. They’re essentially security cameras with a chime function.If you haven’t alre
  
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• Sue Gray’s final departure marks the moment that the Starmer project gets serious | Martin Kettle

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The prime minister has finally grasped that Downing Street must control the narrative. But is it too late to undo this summer’s self-inflicted damage?Sue Gray’s departure matters. But not in the way some may assume. Gray became famous because of three things: her Partygate investigation under Boris Johnson, her recruitment to Keir Starmer’s team in opposition and for having once run a pub in Northern Ireland. It all turned her into just about the only British civil servant whom
  
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• Shell’s successful appeal will not end climate lawsuits against firms, say experts

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissionsA court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said.The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court. Continue reading...
  
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• Pharmacies vote to cut services unless UK government acts over ‘crisis’

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pharmacy owners to reduce hours and make fewer home deliveries of medicines unless there is better fundingPharmacies have said they will halt a number of services within weeks, including the end of free medicine deliveries and extended opening hours, unless the government drastically boosts funding for the sector to stem an “escalating crisis”.In a high-turnout ballot run by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents independent community pharmacies, 99% of pharmacy ow
  
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• Olly Robbins on longlist of 10 vying for UK civil service top job

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: former Brexit negotiator seen as probable favourite to take over from Simon Case as cabinet secretaryThe former Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins is one of 10 applicants on the longlist to take over from Simon Case as the UK’s most senior civil servant, the Guardian understands.The candidates, who have their first round of interviews for the job this week and next, are predominantly internal applicants, with several permanent secretaries believed to have thrown their hats into th
  
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• How the Taliban are erasing Afghanistan’s women – photo essay

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The journalist Mélissa Cornet and the photographer Kiana Hayeri met more than 100 Afghan girls and women in seven provinces, and found resistance and defiance but also despairEarlier this year, I spent 10 weeks travelling with the photographer Kiana Hayeri across seven provinces of Afghanistan, speaking to more than 100 Afghan women and girls about how their lives had changed since the Taliban swept back to power three years ago.Hayeri and I both lived in Afghanistan for years, and remain
  
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• ‘A special place’: Guardian readers’ generosity helps to save rewilded farm

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaignA unique farm that was “accidentally” rewilded 35 years ago and is now a haven for endangered nightingales and other rare wildlife has been saved, thanks in part to the generosity of Guardian readers.Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire has been successfully bought by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) after a crowdfunding appeal raised £1.5m. Continue reading
  
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• Insults, anger and a haka in New Zealand parliament as MPs debate bill on Māori rights

  14-11-2024 06:49 via theguardian.com
  Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Maori party MPripping up a copy of the billNew Zealand’s parliament erupted into fiery debate, personal attacks and a haka over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the Crown is interpreted.The treaty principles bill was tabled by the libertarian Act party – a minor partner in New Zealand’s coalition government – and passed its first reading
  
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• The experts: Pest controllers on 17 simple, lasting ways to get rid of unwanted house guests

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With infestations of rats, bedbugs and moths on the rise, there are things you can do to reclaim your home – from putting away dog food to building a slinky slideWith reported rises in the number of rats and bedbugs, it is likely that many of us are sharing our living space with some pest or other. How can you go about getting rid of them? And what can you do to avoid them moving in to start with? Here, pest controllers share the secrets to an infestation-free life. Continue reading...
  
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• Survival of the richest: Trump, climate and the logic of the doomsday bunker | Jonathan Watts

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The climate crisis created the setting for Trump’s economy-first win and it’s the global south that will suffer mostDonald Trump’s election is a triumph for the politics of the doomsday bunker, which is bad news for the world’s environment.This is the idea that in an age of climate disruption, nature extinction and ever wider social inequality, the best chance of survival for those who can afford it is to construct a personal shelter, where they can keep the desperate mas
  
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• Secrets of happiness: the happiness hacks backed up by science – podcast

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  At a moment when the world feels like a particularly unsettling place, Science Weekly is asking what it is that makes humans happy – and how we can bring more happiness into our lives.In episode two, Ian Sample asks which happiness strategies are backed up by science. He hears from Elizabeth Dunn, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, who recently scrutinised a whole lot of happiness research to work out which recommendations are most reliableClips: 9NEWSSupport
  
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• Say Nothing review – a compelling but fatally flawed account of the Troubles

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This gripping adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s bestselling book tells the shocking story of the IRA’s Price sisters, but makes little attempt to hide its sympathiesSay Nothing could so easily be absolute chaos. It comprises at least seven narratives, jumping back and forth over four decades, with different actors playing older and younger versions of the same characters. But it has such a firm grasp of those characters – and of all its stories and the history against which
  
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• Poorer nations need $1tn a year by 2030 in climate finance, top economists find

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Study says funding to cope with climate breakdown needed five years earlier than expectedPoor countries need $1tn a year in climate finance by 2030, five years earlier than rich countries are likely to agree to at UN climate talks, a new study has found.Waiting until 2035 to receive the funding, which is to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with extreme weather, would place damaging burdens on vulnerable countries, warned the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance,
  
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• ‘Minimal progress’ made this year on curbing global heating, report finds

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis by Climate Action Tracker puts median temperature rise by 2100 at 2.7C if current policies continueWorld leaders have promised to try to stop the planet heating by more than 1.5C (2.7F). But current policies put the temperature rise on track for 2.7C, a report has found.The expected level of global heating by the end of the century has not changed since 2021, with “minimal progress” made this year, according to the Climate Action Tracker project. The consortium’s estim
  
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• I’ve been to more than 100 Trump rallies since 2016. This is why I think he won | Oliver Laughland

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Travelling many miles across multiple states, I saw Republicans united in their disdain for facts – and a Democratic party far too relaxed about challenging themIn the early hours of Wednesday morning last week, I sped down an empty motorway as rain pounded the asphalt, heading towards a Republican election-night party in the outskirts of Detroit. It was one of those storms that distorts your vision, where the lines of the road blur in slicks of water and the street lights refract through
  
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• Israel accused of crimes against humanity over forced displacement in Gaza

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that suggests ‘the war crime of forcible transfer’ of civiliansIsrael is using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, which says the policy amounts to crimes against humanity.The US-based group added it had collected evidence that suggested “the war crime of forcible transfer [of the civilian population]”,
  
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• ‘I have lost everything’: southern Africa battles hunger amid historic drought

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Crops have failed in several countries, with 27m people at risk of hunger according to World Food ProgrammeEmmanuel Himoonga paced his dry field, picking up stalks of maize that had been bleached almost to bone white.The 61-year-old chief of Shakumbila, a mainly agricultural community of about 7,000 people roughly 70 miles west of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, had seen droughts before. Continue reading...
  
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• Dead drops, PR stunts and punishment beatings: the rapid rise of Russia’s powerful darknet drug industry

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tech-savvy organised crime groups profiting from billion-dollar enterprise that is spreading beyond Russian bordersAt any one moment in towns and cities across Russia, thousands of drug packages lie buried in the ground, attached by magnets to lamp-posts or taped underneath window sills, waiting to be picked up by their intended customers.From the streets of Moscow to remote towns in Siberia, hand-to-hand buying of illegal drugs – as is the norm in most of the world – is on the wane.
  
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• Britain, Ukraine and the climate crisis in Donald Trump’s world – Politics Weekly UK

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After Donald Trump has announced his new defence secretary to be the former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, John Harris speaks to the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, who is in Ukraine. Plus, at Cop29, Ed Miliband has said the green transition is unstoppable even with Trump as president. Is he right? John speaks to the former Green party leader Caroline LucasSupport the Guardian today: theguardian.com/politicspod Continue reading...
  
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• A new nuclear arms race is beginning. It will be far more dangerous than the last one

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With Putin’s threats in Ukraine, China’s accelerated weapons programme and the US’s desire for superiority, what will it take for leaders to step back from the brink?Like Toto in The Wizard of Oz, at their 1985 summit in Geneva President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pulled back the curtain to reveal the truth behind the terrifying spectre of nuclear war, which their countries were spending hundreds of billions of dollars to prepare for. “A nuclear
  
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