General news

• 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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• Insults and a haka in New Zealand parliament as MPs debate Māori rights bill

  14-11-2024 09:33 via theguardian.com
  Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Māori party MP ripping up a copy of the billNew Zealand’s parliament has 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 fir
  
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• Australia v Pakistan: first Twenty20 international – live

  14-11-2024 09:29 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_CricketLightning has started to strike around the ground. No chance of them getting out there any time soon I’m afraid.In the meantime, why not take a look at some of the cricket pieces we’ve published in the last few days.He pauses when I ask what would have happened to him without cricket. “It’s a great question,” Ande
  
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• Efune insists his Daily and Sunday Telegraph bid is still on track

  14-11-2024 09:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Asset manager Oaktree out of running as backer but businessman has ‘high confidence’ he will get financeBusiness live – latest updatesThe British owner of the New York Sun has said his £550m offer to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph is still on track, despite a big potential backer not joining the bid.Dovid Efune entered exclusive talks to buy the Telegraph titles last month after submitting the highest bid in the second round of the auction for the titles. Continue rea
  
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• Paris prosecutor seeks jail and election ban for Marine Le Pen

  14-11-2024 09:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Request in embezzlement trial threatens to undermine National Rally’s efforts to polish image before 2027 pollsThe Paris prosecutor on has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image
  
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• UK’s pensions megafunds plan ‘could hurt savers’; renters face ‘chasm’ as demand outstrips supply – business live

  14-11-2024 09:13 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsReeves to announce ‘megafunds’ shake-up of local government pension schemeTracy Blackwell, chief executive of Pension Insurance Corporation, has backed Rachel Reeves’s pension reforms, as “a step in the right direction”.Blackwell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that new pension “megafunds” will benefit the taxpayer.“We think it’s a really important step in the right direction.
  
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• Disgusting, isn’t it? John Lewis’s shocking Christmas advert is actually about … shopping

  14-11-2024 09:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Where’s the lonely man on the moon? Where’s the plaintive piano ballad sung by a wan Victorian girl? This year’s John Lewis ad is packed with unforgivable sinsWell, this is an outrage. There are just some things you shouldn’t mess with. Roast dinners. The national anthem. The John Lewis Christmas advert.You see, the John Lewis Christmas advert has long operated on a perfect formula. Every November we are treated to a sumptuous mini-movie, the components of which have long
  
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• Sigourney Weaver’s West End debut as Prospero evokes a storm of past Tempests

  14-11-2024 09:06 via theguardian.com
  The Hollywood star is to appear at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Shakespeare’s late play about sorcery. But what is the secret to playing the great magician?I have one thing in common with Andrew Lloyd Webber: we both saw John Gielgud play Prospero at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1957. The big difference is that, since Lord Lloyd Webber now owns the theatre, he was able to suggest Shakespeare be revived at the Lane for the first time in 67 years in the shape of a new Jamie Lloyd productio
  
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• The era of the BBC mega-salary may end with Gary Lineker. But is that necessarily a good thing? | Archie Bland

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This may be a rational move – but it should not be used as an argument to hack away at the corporation until it has little left to offerWhat is Gary Lineker worth to licence-fee payers? One obvious way to think about that question is to measure what else you could get with his £1.35m pay packet, a large chunk of which has just been offloaded by the BBC: 8,000 television licences, 40 NHS nurses, 26 BBC employees on the corporation’s median salary, eight Keir Starmers, seven Chri
  
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• National League Cup: a ‘sweetener’ for scrapping Cup replays or cash lifeline?

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Competition pitting Premier League U21s against fifth-tier reserves fails to inspire a paltry Wealdstone crowd against SouthamptonFifth-tier Wealdstone defeated Premier League Southampton 3-1 on Tuesday night: a remarkable result at first glance but one that came with caveats.Southampton’s Under-21s went to north-west London to play Matt Taylor’s heavily rotated Wealdstone in the National League Cup at Grosvenor Vale. The competition was revived last month with a 32-team, four-group
  
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• Jake Paul and the grains of nuance around circus fight with Mike Tyson

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Despite his absurd persona and obscene wealth, would-be boxer’s support of female fighters is worthy of noteJake Paul is having his hands wrapped in the locker room as his older brother, Logan, who also became rich and famous on YouTube, speaks earnestly to him. “You’ve expanded your mind, your circle, your emotional intelligence and your capabilities,” Logan tells Jake.“From making silly home videos to changing the entire landscape of combat sports. Everyone in thi
  
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• ‘It took on a life of its own’ – how a bet started the inflatable craze in the 80s

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  English football grounds in the late 1980s could be grey and downbeat but that changed thanks to Manchester City fan Frank NewtonAmidst the depressing backdrop of hooliganism and the imminent threat of ID cards, grounds during the 1988–89 campaign could be downbeat, grey and sometimes largely deserted. On the face of it, life could have been especially grim for Manchester City fans, given that this was now the second consecutive campaign they’d competed in the Second Division.But Cit
  
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• Iran announces ‘treatment clinic’ for women who defy strict hijab laws

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The move has been described as ‘chilling’ by activists and rights groups as arrests mount over dress code breaches The Iranian state has said that it plans to open a treatment clinic for women who defy the mandatory hijab laws that require women to cover their heads in public.The opening of a “hijab removal treatment clinic” was announced by Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Preve
  
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• Fireworks blamed for baby red panda’s death at Edinburgh zoo

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Royal Zoological Society of Scotland calls for tougher laws after three-month-old Roxie dies from Bonfire Night stressThe owner of Edinburgh zoo has linked the death of a baby red panda on Bonfire Night to fireworks and called for tighter regulations.The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said vets blamed the death of three-month-old Roxie on 5 November on her reaction to fireworks in the area. Continue reading...
  
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• Creative sparks: how the Mughal empire made opulent art with power

  14-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The V&A’s Great Mughals shines a light on a cultured and enlightened reign over India and south Asia that still wields influence today. Take a close look at some of the remarkable artefacts of that eraPerhaps the best known cultural remnant of the mighty Mughal empire, which held sway across what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India and Bangladesh in the 16th and 17th centuries, is the English word “mogul”, denoting someone of almost unimaginable wealth
  
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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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• 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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• The experts: Pest controllers on 17 simple, lasting ways to get rid of unwanted house guests - The Guardian

  14-11-2024 06:00 via news.google.com
  The experts: Pest controllers on 17 simple, lasting ways to get rid of unwanted house guests  The Guardian
  
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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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