After briefly reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has again closed the vital economic waterway, saying it will restrict ships from passing through as long as the U.S. continues its blockade. (Image credit: Asghar Besharati)
After briefly reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has again closed the vital economic waterway, saying it will restrict ships from passing through as long as the U.S. continues its blockade. (Image credit: Asghar Besharati)
Iran’s top negotiator says both sides remain far apart after Tehran again closed strait of Hormuz after US said it would not end its blockade Full report: Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’ UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the wounding of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon , spokesman Stéphane ...
Iran’s top negotiator says both sides remain far apart after Tehran again closed strait of Hormuz after US said it would not end its blockade Full report: Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’ UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the wounding of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon , spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement to the Associated Press. The UN peacekeeping force came under attack with small-arms fire on Saturday morning, with two of the injured hurt seriously, France’s president and the force known as UNIFIL said. Continue reading...
BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: A humanoid robot runs alongside participants during a long-distance race, breaking the half marathon world record by surpassing human performance potential in Beijing, China, on April 19, 2026. (Photo by Emre Aytekin/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous...
BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: A humanoid robot runs alongside participants during a long-distance race, breaking the half marathon world record by surpassing human performance potential in Beijing, China, on April 19, 2026. (Photo by Emre Aytekin/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism and autonomous navigation skills as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, highlighting the sector's rapid technical advances. The race's inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, and most robots were unable to finish. Last year's champion robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race. This year's contrast was stark. Not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes. Unlike last year, nearly half of the robot entrants navigated the tougher terrain autonomously instead of being directed by remote control during the 21-km (13-mile) race. The robots and 12,000 men and women ran in parallel tracks to avoid collisions. The winning robot, developed by Chinese smartphone brand Honor , finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the half-marathon world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month. Teams from Honor, a Huawei spin-off, took the three podium spots, all self-navigated and posting world-record-beating times. Du Xiaodi, an Honor engineer on the winning team, said its robot was in development for a year, fitted with legs 90 to 95 cm (35 to 37 inches) long to mimic elite human runners and liquid cooling technology used in its smartphones. BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: A humanoid robot competes in the 2026 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-marathon on April 1...
Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday. Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César,...
Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday. Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP. Continue reading...
Retirees are still six months away from the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announcement, and fluctuating inflation rates are making it hard for many to budget. The annual COLA is directly tied to inflation in the prior year, which can lead to a frustrating result for many retirees: They experience inflation before their monthly payments catch up with higher prices. The bes...
Retirees are still six months away from the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announcement, and fluctuating inflation rates are making it hard for many to budget. The annual COLA is directly tied to inflation in the prior year, which can lead to a frustrating result for many retirees: They experience inflation before their monthly payments catch up with higher prices. The best retirees can do is look to expert analysts' forecasts for what they might expect next year's COLA to be while they try to find room in their budgets amid today's rising prices. Unfortunately, the recent CPI report for March has led to some wild swings in some of those forecasts. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Unlike growth investors, dividend investors tend to be more risk-averse and focus on earning income that is safe and, ideally, growing over time. This is true of most dividend stocks, as those companies have the freedom to adjust dividend payments at any time for any reason. To protect themselves from this, investors tend to target stocks that increase their dividends at least once a year. In thes...
Unlike growth investors, dividend investors tend to be more risk-averse and focus on earning income that is safe and, ideally, growing over time. This is true of most dividend stocks, as those companies have the freedom to adjust dividend payments at any time for any reason. To protect themselves from this, investors tend to target stocks that increase their dividends at least once a year. In these cases, confidence in the stock relies partially on these periodic payout hikes, making it unlikely a company would cut or eliminate a dividend if it can afford to pay it. That strategy allows income investors to sleep soundly, as these stocks will likely continue providing steady, reliable dividend income. Continue reading
⚽️ Premier League updates from the 2pm BST kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Latest tables | Top scorers | Email Daniel Baking cookies or making stock with the lid off; visiting the smallest room and making use of all the rooms; we each have ways of turning a house into a home. Generally speaking, though, we tend to refrain from inviting round hated former neighbours in the hope of smashing them up in fron...
⚽️ Premier League updates from the 2pm BST kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Latest tables | Top scorers | Email Daniel Baking cookies or making stock with the lid off; visiting the smallest room and making use of all the rooms; we each have ways of turning a house into a home. Generally speaking, though, we tend to refrain from inviting round hated former neighbours in the hope of smashing them up in front of a worldwide audience; good old football. Of course, in such context, such behaviour makes perfect sense: the thing that most firmly anchors us to a place is shared experience. Except those can be both positive and negative and so far, Everton’s record in their new digs is spotty – they’re 14th in the home table – as it is in home derbies – they’ve won one since October 2010 and just four in the league this century. Which is to say can invite the hated former neighbours in, but there’s no guarantee they won’t wreck the gaff and you with it. Continue reading...
Americans having less kids plus an ageing population could be a recipe for disaster that further erodes social stability Remember environmentalist Paul Ehrlich’s 1960s-vintage prediction about how overpopulation would deplete the Earth’s resources and condemn millions to starvation? His Malthusian condemnation of humanity’s voracious appetite has kept a grip on the debate over the future of the pl...
Americans having less kids plus an ageing population could be a recipe for disaster that further erodes social stability Remember environmentalist Paul Ehrlich’s 1960s-vintage prediction about how overpopulation would deplete the Earth’s resources and condemn millions to starvation? His Malthusian condemnation of humanity’s voracious appetite has kept a grip on the debate over the future of the planet, even scaring the young out of having children . Ehrlich was wrong. Yet as we have come around to the thought that overpopulation won’t kill us all, we are being walloped by another demographic emergency: we are not having too many kids, we are having too few. This problem is real. Continue reading...
Our minds evolved to minimise unpredictability. But if we learn to live with doubt, a world of opportunities opens up It can feel as though the world is tilting towards chaos: political shocks, economic instability, technological upheaval and a constant stream of bad news. Faced with so much uncertainty, many of us default to a sense of impending doom. But is that reaction hardwired – or can we tr...
Our minds evolved to minimise unpredictability. But if we learn to live with doubt, a world of opportunities opens up It can feel as though the world is tilting towards chaos: political shocks, economic instability, technological upheaval and a constant stream of bad news. Faced with so much uncertainty, many of us default to a sense of impending doom. But is that reaction hardwired – or can we train ourselves to keep a more open mind? A useful starting point is humility. Every generation, it seems, believes it inhabits uniquely turbulent times, as literary epics down the ages testify. Uncertainty has always been part of the human condition, and none of us can really know what tomorrow holds. Continue reading...
The singer is not only a hero for gay men. For a young lesbian like me in the 1990s, she was an object of desire and an inspiration Recently, when Madonna deleted every post from her Instagram profile, it was as if a gay flare had been fired around the world. Cue a flurry of texts from gay male friends, with one declaring that this “purging of the Sistine Chapel” meant the release of Confessions o...
The singer is not only a hero for gay men. For a young lesbian like me in the 1990s, she was an object of desire and an inspiration Recently, when Madonna deleted every post from her Instagram profile, it was as if a gay flare had been fired around the world. Cue a flurry of texts from gay male friends, with one declaring that this “purging of the Sistine Chapel” meant the release of Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II was imminent, 20 years after her original disco masterpiece, because Madonna had pulled the same stunt on Instagram in 2023 before announcing our gay Christmas: the Celebration tour. Tiff Bakker is a New York-based writer who specialises in arts and culture Continue reading...
First there was the double tragedy that tore the family apart – then came a deadly diagnosis. The writer reflects on life after the death of her novelist husband I am alive. My husband, Paul Auster , is dead. He died on 30 April 2024, at 6.58pm here in the Brooklyn house where I am now writing these words. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in January 2023. But before that, in early ...
First there was the double tragedy that tore the family apart – then came a deadly diagnosis. The writer reflects on life after the death of her novelist husband I am alive. My husband, Paul Auster , is dead. He died on 30 April 2024, at 6.58pm here in the Brooklyn house where I am now writing these words. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in January 2023. But before that, in early November 2022, Paul had a CT scan in the emergency room at Mount Sinai West hospital. The radiologist spotted a mass in his right lung and noted it might be cancer. We all die, but only some of us know our lives could end soon. Although I had often thought about what it would mean to live without Paul, I began to imagine it more often. I imagined walking around the house alone. I imagined grieving. If your father dies, I said to our daughter, Sophie, I will lose my every day. Continue reading...
Renowned for her darkly funny novels exploring failed relationships, the writer has been awarded the Windham‑Campbell prize for a body of work. She explains why it will change her life – if not her outlook It’s possible that she might be feeling more tolerant of straitened circumstances because her work has just received significant critical – and material – recognition in the shape of a Windham-C...
Renowned for her darkly funny novels exploring failed relationships, the writer has been awarded the Windham‑Campbell prize for a body of work. She explains why it will change her life – if not her outlook It’s possible that she might be feeling more tolerant of straitened circumstances because her work has just received significant critical – and material – recognition in the shape of a Windham-Campbell prize. These awards are the antithesis of many other hoopla-heavy literary prizes: each year, eight writers across fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry are given $175,000 (£135,000) to allow them to work with financial ease and security; previous winners include Anne Enright, Margo Jefferson and Yiyun Li. An anonymous jury selects the recipients from a pool of nominations – nominators and their choices also remain undisclosed, with the criteria being excellence across a body of work – and, aside from a select number of events, there’s little of the media circus about the whole affair. They are, quite simply, a boon to writers without obvious additional means, who are all operating in an increasingly challenging marketplace. What did it feel like to be selected? “Unimaginable. It was just an ordinary, wet Wednesday, and I had an email through. I hadn’t heard of it, but then I did remember seeing Anne Enright getting it, because I remember some of the language she used to describe what it was like to get exactly this kind of call. And then I came up with the phrase ‘Deus Ex Cashmachina’, which I think would work better on the page than when you say it out loud. And then I felt completely overwhelmed. I think they filmed me crying.” Continue reading...
People won’t join us just because we’re right. They’ll join if we make them feel like they belong “Settle your quarrels, come together, and understand the reality of our situation. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying that could be saved, that generations more will live poor, butchered lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your...
People won’t join us just because we’re right. They’ll join if we make them feel like they belong “Settle your quarrels, come together, and understand the reality of our situation. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying that could be saved, that generations more will live poor, butchered lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.” George Jackson wrote these prophetic words more than 50 years ago. At that time, he and his comrades were enduring unimaginable violence inside California’s prisons – a microcosm of the fascism already alive in the United States. Show up, even when it’s uncomfortable. Talk to people whose politics aren’t perfect. Work with those still in process because they, too, have revolutionary potential. Refuse to turn on the people closest to us and focus on the real enemy. Continue reading...
Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration. But Verne’s language had neve...
Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration. But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission. Continue reading...
Wedding invites piling up? Whether you need town hall-ready or black-tie chic, we’ve got looks for every type of nuptial – and beyond • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Few social events are as fraught with sartorial anxieties as weddings. From the strict no-white-dresses rule (fair enough) to the semantics of black tie and the even murkier casual codes, dressing for some...
Wedding invites piling up? Whether you need town hall-ready or black-tie chic, we’ve got looks for every type of nuptial – and beyond • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Few social events are as fraught with sartorial anxieties as weddings. From the strict no-white-dresses rule (fair enough) to the semantics of black tie and the even murkier casual codes, dressing for someone else’s celebration can feel even more stressful than dressing for your own. Weddings are rarely a one-size-fits-all kind of event, with a range of dress codes depending on the venue and formality levels. Summer weddings offer breathing room: florals, bright colours and lighter fabrics that shimmer under the sunlight feel perfectly at home. Town hall ceremonies suit classic tailoring, while country weddings embrace a more rustic romance. Casual weddings allow for a little more experimentation, with statement skirts and coordinated separates fair game. The trick is balance: show respect for the occasion, but rules and regulations are often outdated. Continue reading...
They disagree on the private rented sector. Can they find common ground over a united Ireland? • Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how Diarmuid, 25, London Occupation Accountant Continue reading...
They disagree on the private rented sector. Can they find common ground over a united Ireland? • Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how Diarmuid, 25, London Occupation Accountant Continue reading...