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• 'Unsustainable financial pressure' on NI homelessness services

  25-03-2025 01:07 via bbc.com
  
  Dealing with temporary accommodation demand cost almost £39m in 2023-24, according to a report from the NI Audit Office.
  
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• Middle East crisis live: hundreds join anti-Hamas protest in Gaza

  26-03-2025 10:58 via theguardian.com
  Demonstrators in Beit Lahia called for an end to the war with Israel, shouting ‘Hamas out’, amid the IDF’s intense bombing campaignHamas warned on Wednesday that hostages may be killed if Israel attempts to retrieve them by force and airstrikes continue in the Gaza Strip, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).The group said in a statement that it was “doing everything possible to keep the occupation’s captives alive, but the random Zionist (Israeli) bombardment is enda
  
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• Further welfare cuts expected as Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver spring statement – UK politics live

  26-03-2025 10:52 via theguardian.com
  Keir Starmer will face Kemi Badenoch at PMQs before the chancellor delivers her spring statement Keir Starmer (or someone on his team, to be more precise) has posted this message about the spring statement on social media this morning.In an era of global change, we will deliver security for working people and renewal for Britain. Continue reading...
  
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• Attacks show Moscow not moving towards ‘real peace’ despite ceasefire talks, says Zelenskyy – Europe live

  26-03-2025 10:49 via theguardian.com
  Ukrainian president says latest attacks send ‘clear signal to whole world’ about Russian intentionsWe have just heard from the Kremlin with Russia’s take on overnight developments, as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that Putin’s order for a moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure remained in force.But in further lines reported by agencies, the Kremlin also said that the Black Sea initiative agreed yesterday will be activated after a number of conditions
  
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• ‘Porn is the most conservative business I was ever in’: behind the scenes at Café Flesh

  26-03-2025 10:40 via theguardian.com
  The 1982 film was rejected by its conservative financiers but had an influential afterlife at cinemas such as the Scala in King’s Cross. A restored print is showing in London this monthYou never forget your first visit to Café Flesh. Mine took place in June 1986: it was a month before my 15th birthday and I was spending Saturday afternoon, as I often did, at the notorious Scala cinema in tawdry, pre-gentrified King’s Cross. I don’t know which staff member thought it appr
  
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• Late data from one business means UK wage growth may need to be revised, says ONS

  26-03-2025 10:39 via theguardian.com
  Caveat from statistics agency is latest sign of its problems collecting reliable economic dataBritain’s main measure of wage growth may need to be revised after a large employer failed to supply earnings data on time, the country’s troubled statistics agency has warned.In the latest sign of its problems with collecting reliable economic figures that the government uses in economic policymaking, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) issued a caveat alongside March’s average w
  
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• Childbirth groups react angrily as new mums told to exercise more and avoid screen time

  26-03-2025 10:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Parenting charities and Mumsnet users warn Canadian report’s advice risks becoming ‘a stick to beat mums with’, as UK experts urge cautionChildbirth groups have reacted angrily to advice that new mothers should take two hours of exercise a week and avoid using screens before bedtime in the three months after their baby’s birth.Mumsnet, the social network, said that the recommendations – which also include daily pelvic-floor exercises – “seem wildly optim
  
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• ‘They tricked us’: migrants who braved the Darién Gap forced home by Trump deal

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Under a $6m US deal, hundreds of migrants from Colombia and Ecuador were deported back to their home countriesOutside the Lajas Blancas migrant camp in southern Panama, wooden shops are boarded up. A bed of cold ash lies in an iron drum barbecue which once served meat skewers to hungry migrants.Six months ago, hundreds of people would pass through the camp every day, emerging from the jungles of the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama to receive humanitarian aid, before continuing thei
  
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• The Stimming Pool review – film-makers on the autistic spectrum dive ingeniously into the uncanny

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This docufiction is funny and pregnant with ideas – as a group of young artists on the spectrum examine how their creativity and sense of self is shaped by autismHere is an engaging docufictional experiment, an investigation into autism co-created by a group of young artists on the spectrum called the Neurocultures Collective. The resulting film is ingenious, funny, intellectually curious – and pregnant with ideas. It is all about how autism shapes creativity and makes sense of the s
  
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• Tackling climate crisis will increase economic growth, OECD research finds

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Third of global GDP could be lost this century if climate crisis runs unchecked, says reportTaking strong action to tackle the climate crisis will increase countries’ economic growth, rather than damage their finances as critics of net zero policies have claimed, research from the world’s economic watchdog has found.Setting ambitious targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and setting out the policies to achieve them, would result in a net gain to global GDP by the end of the ne
  
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• Researchers solve mystery of makeup appearing ashy or grey on darker skin

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Addition of ultramarine blue creates warmer hues and more skin-like finish, reducing the ‘grey cast’ Researchers believe they have found a solution to makeup for darker skin tones often appearing ashy or grey once applied.In recent years the market for beauty products designed for people with darker skin tones has boomed, with some brands now offering consumers a huge variety of shades. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Really like Big Macs’: meet the US man who has eaten a record-extending 35,000 burgers

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Donald Gorske, 71, has eaten two of the McDonald’s offering every day since 1972, and holds the Guinness World RecordIf chowing down on Big Mac hamburgers daily for more than 50 years had ever inflicted any harm on him, Donald Gorske would probably get himself evaluated for an obsessive disorder, he admitted.But he has attained a measure of fame, having held since 1999 the Guinness World Record for most Big Macs eaten over a lifetime – while maintaining his cholesterol and blood suga
  
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• Free by Amanda Knox review – after the acquittal

  26-03-2025 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In her second memoir, Knox writes about her attempts to adjust to normal life after leaving prison in ItalyWhen Amanda Knox was released from an Italian prison in 2011 after her murder conviction was overturned, her mother insisted she see a trauma specialist. Knox had been jailed along with her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, in what investigators insisted had been a sex game gone wrong. Four years later, Knox and Sollecito were acquitt
  
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• University of Sussex fined £585,000 for failing to uphold freedom of speech

  26-03-2025 09:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Regulator accused of ‘perpetuating culture wars’ after case of Kathleen Stock, who was targeted for views on genderEngland’s university regulator has been accused of “perpetuating the culture wars” after fining the University of Sussex a record £585,000 at the conclusion of an investigation into freedom of speech on campus.It marks the end of a three-and-a-half year investigation into the university’s handling of the case of Kathleen Stock, a philosophy
  
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• Yuan Yang, Neneh Cherry and Rachel Clarke shortlisted for Women’s prize for nonfiction

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Chloe Dalton, Helen Scales and Clare Mulley are also in the running for the £30,000 award, with the winner due to be announced on 12 JuneThe Buffalo Stance singer Neneh Cherry, Labour MP Yuan Yang and the doctor Rachel Clarke have been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s prize for nonfiction.Foreign policy expert Chloe Dalton, marine biologist Helen Scales and biographer Clare Mulley also remain in contention for the £30,000 prize. Continue reading...
  
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• Why the double standards on ‘leadership’ when it comes to Black players? | Jonathan Liew

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Jordan Henderson is a great English leader. But he has been encouraged and applauded for the very same acts for which minority ethnic players are castigated and stigmatisedHow shall I lead thee? Let me count the ways. I lead thee by stepping up and being vocal, around the dressing room, setting standards in training. I lead thee quietly by example, you know, the not-much-of-a-shouter‑and-a-screamer-but-when-he-speaks-people-listen kind. I lead thee by having been there, done that, won 
  
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• The Knowledge | Which international fixture would be worth the highest score in Scrabble?

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Plus: managers sacked just before cup finals, and teams with goal differences higher than their league positionMail us with your questions and answers“Uzbekistan are playing Kyrgyzstan in a World Cup qualifier this Thursday,” notes Ben Jones. “Is this fixture the highest combined Scrabble score for a pair of Fifa nations? Bosnia and Herzegovina might have something to say, but I’m looking for a combined score from two teams who have actually played each other.”Uzbek
  
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• Mariona Caldentey: ‘One day we’ll realise what we achieved, all we did for change to come’

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Arsenal’s Spanish forward on fighting to win support for women’s football, leaving a successful Barcelona team and the stress of winning the World CupWhen Mariona Caldentey was a student, reading sports science at university, she could see the Camp Nou scoreboard from her bedroom window on the top floor of 63 Travessera de les Corts. On the nights when she and her flatmates didn’t stroll across to the stadium, they would hear goals before they saw them on TV. They played too, b
  
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• In Turkey, we are showing the world how to challenge a callous, authoritarian leader | Ece Temelkuran

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The youthful energy of street protest is breathing life back into failing progressive parties – and it’s a model that could be applied everywhereEce Temelkuran is a Turkish journalist and political commentatorAfter 22 years of power grabs, the seizure of all state institutions and severe oppression aimed at reshaping Turkish citizens into Islamofascist minions, Turkey is striking back against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarianism. In cities across the country,
  
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• A cheesy traybake and a crisp salad: Sophie Wyburd’s recipes for butter beans

  26-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  A cheesy broccoli, bean and walnut bake, and a baked carrot and crisp bean salad doused in orange, tahini and sesame oilI am so here for the butter bean renaissance. No longer are they reserved for soft, brown stews (although I love those, too); you can use these legumes to make so many vibrant, flavour- and texture-packed meals. Both of today’s dishes are nourishing and would make excellent sides for a weekend feast, but they’d equally also be fabulous for a midweek dinner. Continue
  
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• Director Marco Berger: ‘My films make some masculine viewers question if they could be gay’

  26-03-2025 08:52 via theguardian.com
  The Argentinian film-maker, whose movies blur the lines between gay and straight, discusses what inspired him to make his latest work – queer romcom The Astronaut LoversMarco Berger’s films often begin, in one way or another, with a knock on the door. A young gay man steps into a summer house, or sometimes a luxury villa, typically inhabited by a group of attractive young men on holiday. As homoerotic tension simmers, the hyper-masculine environment is charged with banter, dares, and
  
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• UK inflation falls to 2.8% in boost for Rachel Reeves before spring statement

  26-03-2025 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Bigger-than-forecast decline in annual rate in February is positive news for chancellor in run-up to Commons addressBusiness live – latest updatesUK inflation has fallen back by more than forecast, to 2.8%, providing some positive news for Rachel Reeves before she makes her spring statement.The Office for National Statistics said annual inflation as measured by the consumer prices index cooled last month, resuming a downward trajectory after an increase to 3% in January from 2.5% in Decemb
  
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• Million Dollar Secret review – you won’t be able to get enough of this shameless rip-off of The Traitors

  26-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A group of strangers gather in a big fancy house and one has a big secret they must protect at all costs. Sure, this US gameshow is derivative, but it’s also utterly gripping and hysterical. Welcome to your new obsessionSometimes, the best way to describe a new competition series is to triangulate it between a couple of shows that already exist. So Fame Academy was The X Factor meets Big Brother, and The Great British Sewing Bee is Bake Off meets Project Runway.However, this is impossible
  
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• London’s Design Museum takes a deep dive into our love affair with swimming

  26-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From art deco lidos to 1980s Speedos, the curator of a new exhibition on swimming and style talks about the inspiration behind it‘The first thing to say is that I’m a terrible swimmer,” says Amber Butchart, curator of a new exhibition on swimming that opens at the Design Museum in London this week. Growing up, school swimming lessons were “horrible, traumatic” – the cold water, the humiliation, the scrutiny from teenage boys. But something shifted when she mov
  
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• I tried to sell my car but was told it had been written off

  26-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What looks like an example of cloning is explained by a typo in an insurer’s claims reference number Last summer I took my old Kia to a branch of the car broker webuyanycar to sell, only to discover that its database showed a car with my registration number had been “written off” and an insurance claim paid out.This came as a shock. I have not been in an accident nor made any claims. I called up my insurer, which confirmed there was nothing on its records, and it told me to cal
  
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• Cold war chronicler: Thomas Billhardt’s East Germany – in pictures

  26-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The photojournalist, who died in January, captured daily life in East Germany as well as Castro and Gorbachev’s visits, the fall of the Berlin Wall and life in Vietnam during the war Continue reading...
  
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• Charity faces legal action after relocated elephants in Malawi allegedly kill 10 people

  26-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  People living near Kasungu national park say they are living in fear after translocation of 263 elephants by International Fund for Animal Welfare People living on the edge of a protected area in Malawi are taking legal action against an NGO that moved more than 250 elephants into the area, which they say have killed at least 10 people.Villagers near Kasungu national park, which is Malawi’s second largest and crosses the Zambian border, say they are living in fear for their livelihoods and
  
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• A moment that changed me: my 11-year-old daughter received an unwanted compliment – and I taught her how to respond

  26-03-2025 07:55 via theguardian.com
  
  At a party, a man looked my child up and down in admiration, before praising her looks. I saw her visibly shrink. So I taught her the value of bad mannersMy daughter is beautiful. At least, I’ve always thought so and, like many mothers of babies and toddlers, I enjoyed the recognition of her gorgeousness from others. “Isn’t she cute?” “Her eyes are so pretty!” “Wow, what lovely thick hair!”There are, of course, many other wonderful things about my
  
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• TV tonight: an incredibly moving story about teaching sign language

  26-03-2025 07:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Rose Ayling-Ellis is inspirational as she meets a retirement community ready to learn new skills. Plus: the finale of an excellent true crime drama. Here’s what to watch this evening9pm, BBC One
  It’s not an easy pitch for deaf actor and Strictly champion Rose Ayling-Ellis to teach sign language to a retirement community. But she finds a group of enthusiastic 65-95-year-olds, some of whom are experiencing hearing loss. Along with charismatic teacher Marios Costi, she determinedly star
  
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• ‘The field of human ancestry is rife with racism’: pioneering project to build cancer database in Africa

  26-03-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Less than 2% of human genomes analysed so far have been those of Africans. Yemaachi Biotech’s Africa Cancer Atlas aims to fill the research gapWhen Yaw Bediako lost his father to liver cancer, it set the Ghanaian immunologist on a journey to know more about the disease. He quickly realised the burden of cancer in Africa was much greater than he had thought – accounting for about 700,000 deaths every year – and that very few scientific papers about the disease on the continent w
  
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