Pick of the week Spider-Noir Nicolas Cage can be relied upon to locate the least understated version of any character he plays. So it is again with this noir take on Marvel’s Spider-Man. He plays Ben Reilly, a jaded PI in Depression-era New York who, after failing to protect his former love Ruby, has put his Spidey skills away for good. Or so he thinks: the Big Apple is teeming with nefarious char...
Pick of the week Spider-Noir Nicolas Cage can be relied upon to locate the least understated version of any character he plays. So it is again with this noir take on Marvel’s Spider-Man. He plays Ben Reilly, a jaded PI in Depression-era New York who, after failing to protect his former love Ruby, has put his Spidey skills away for good. Or so he thinks: the Big Apple is teeming with nefarious characters, not least crime kingpin Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson). When Reilly acquires illicit photographs of the mayor, events spiral out of control. It is undeniably stylish though it’s disappointing that the show hasn’t fully committed to its black-and-white aesthetic – a colour version of the show is available, too. Prime Video, from Wednesday 27 May Untold UK: Vinnie Jones View image in fullscreen Kicking off … Untold UK: Vinnie Jones. Photograph: Netflix When Vinnie Jones first came to prominence – via his intimate examination of a young Paul Gascoigne in 1988 – few could have guessed the path his life was to take. This final episode of Netflix’s football stories examines the career of a player whose on-pitch talent was limited but whose horizons were wide. With Jones himself as our guide, the documentary follows the unpredictable trajectory of a man who managed to parlay his well-deserved hard nut image into a Hollywood career. Jones is blunt, likable and, appropriately, not averse to self-mythologising. Netflix, from Tuesday 26 May Abbott Elementary View image in fullscreen Class dismissed? … Quinta Brunson in Abbott Elementary. Photograph: Gilles Mingasson/Disney As ever, gently personal stories intersect with subtle polemic as UK viewers finally get a chance to enjoy the second half of the fifth season of this charming, pointed comedy drama. Much of the action this time centres on the sweetly hesitant courtship between Gregory and Janine. But there is a growing sense that they might need to get on with it: there are bigger issues at hand as a new district regime looks...
Homes for sale in England with great gardens for parties – in pictures From a farmhouse with a wildflower meadow to an award-winning London flat with a neat garden for al fresco dining This Grade II-listed farmhouse in Halesworth, Suffolk is surrounded by lawns, meadows and an orchard. Photograph: Inigo
Homes for sale in England with great gardens for parties – in pictures From a farmhouse with a wildflower meadow to an award-winning London flat with a neat garden for al fresco dining This Grade II-listed farmhouse in Halesworth, Suffolk is surrounded by lawns, meadows and an orchard. Photograph: Inigo
In this lurid, big-boned, often brilliant book about a sculptor and a true-crime documentary, state-of-the-nation commentary and gruesome chills combine Claire Fuller is fascinated by corpses: by the moment when a supple, beloved body turns into inert, heavy matter. In her masterful 2021 Costa winner Unsettled Ground , adult twins veer between pathos and gawky comedy as they attempt to dress and b...
In this lurid, big-boned, often brilliant book about a sculptor and a true-crime documentary, state-of-the-nation commentary and gruesome chills combine Claire Fuller is fascinated by corpses: by the moment when a supple, beloved body turns into inert, heavy matter. In her masterful 2021 Costa winner Unsettled Ground , adult twins veer between pathos and gawky comedy as they attempt to dress and bury their dead mother, floored by the sheer, awful weight of her. Now in Hunger and Thirst, Ursula’s destiny is shaped by encounters with two cadavers. And as the book oscillates between social realism and gothic horror, these two unruly corpses destroy her life. The first is Ursula’s itinerant, troubled but loving mother, who’d been busking with her child alongside her since giving birth at 16. Aged seven, Ursula spent an appalling two days stuck in a bathroom in Morocco, with the door trapped by her mother’s dead body after she died of dengue fever. By the time the novel opens in 1987, Ursula is 16, and has been moved between seven children’s homes before ending up at a “halfway house” alongside recovering addicts and released prisoners. She lands a trial job in the postroom at Winchester School of Art: there she makes friends with bold, madcap Sue, who thrusts on Ursula an unfamiliar intimacy, introducing her to her enviably warm and rambling family. Ursula is narrating the book 40 years later, and it’s clear from the start that something will go so horribly wrong between Ursula and Sue that a prurient documentary-maker will end up making a film about Sue’s murder. Scenes from this documentary, Dark Descent, punctuate the book, adding to the sense of foreboding. Continue reading...
Mountains and fjords in Norway I travelled across Norway by rail on the spectacular Bergensbanen, running between Oslo and Bergen, and the unforgettable Flåmsbana branch line. The Bergensbanen crosses the high mountain plateau of Hardangervidda, passing lakes, forests and snow‑covered peaks before descending toward the fjords of western Norway. At Myrdal, I transferred on to the steep Flåmsbana, w...
Mountains and fjords in Norway I travelled across Norway by rail on the spectacular Bergensbanen, running between Oslo and Bergen, and the unforgettable Flåmsbana branch line. The Bergensbanen crosses the high mountain plateau of Hardangervidda, passing lakes, forests and snow‑covered peaks before descending toward the fjords of western Norway. At Myrdal, I transferred on to the steep Flåmsbana, which drops dramatically to Flåm on the Aurlandsfjord, with waterfalls and sheer-sided valleys at every turn. Daniel Charmed by the Vienna to Zagreb train View image in fullscreen Zidani Most station in Slovenia. Photograph: PJR Transport/Alamy The journey from Vienna to Zagreb saw mountainous central Europe relax into Balkan charm. Stunning Alpine scenery melted into forest, settling down into rolling hills as we passed through Graz and reached the Slovene border, stopping for an hour’s changeover at the tiny Zidani Most station, where we enjoyed afternoon beers gazing over lush Slovenian countryside. The connection to Zagreb boasted dramatic lake scenery that gave way to farm land, golden in evening light, as we passed into Croatia, soon rattling into its underrated capital. We booked this through Omio, which came in relatively cheaply at £41. Matt Profile Readers' tips: send a tip for a chance to win a £200 voucher for a Coolstays break Show Guardian Travel readers' tips Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print. To enter the latest competition visit the readers' tips homepage - Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. Vintage locomotives in Tuscany View image in fullscreen The Treno Natura operates old steam engines from Siena. Photograph: Image Broker/Alamy We took the Treno Natura from Siena last May for a whole day out in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. It’s a real steam engine with classic coaches. Most passengers were friendly locals: we only encountered two other...
As conflict in Iran sends prices soaring, fossil fuel companies are seeing extraordinary gains – but the crisis may also accelerate the shift towards clean energy • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here A friend of mine was recently left in tears after filling up the car she relies on to drive to work. Thanks to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, prices at the pumps have soare...
As conflict in Iran sends prices soaring, fossil fuel companies are seeing extraordinary gains – but the crisis may also accelerate the shift towards clean energy • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here A friend of mine was recently left in tears after filling up the car she relies on to drive to work. Thanks to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, prices at the pumps have soared. She wasn’t sure how her family was going to make it to the next paycheck. It is a personal story and a distressing one, but the big picture is truly obscene. Fossil fuel companies are raking in monstrous, unearned war profits taken from the pockets of people like you, me, my friend, and any of us who fills up a vehicle or pays an energy bill. UK ‘built for climate that no longer exists’ and needs urgent changes to survive global heating, report warns Rainforests pushed to breaking point by new demands for resources, report says ‘Should we leave them to die?’ The battle over how to save orangutans from the curse of palm oil Continue reading...
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has launched a US$10 billion facility to support members dealing with the impact of the US-Israel war on Iran, the group announced on Thursday. The Energy, Food Security and Economic Resilience Facility, sitting alongside the bank’s existing financing tools, offers up to US$10 billion over two years to help members tackle urgent needs around energy s...
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has launched a US$10 billion facility to support members dealing with the impact of the US-Israel war on Iran, the group announced on Thursday. The Energy, Food Security and Economic Resilience Facility, sitting alongside the bank’s existing financing tools, offers up to US$10 billion over two years to help members tackle urgent needs around energy security food security and economic resilience, according to a statement published by the Beijing-based bank. Advertisement “This facility will enable members to address development impacts stemming from external shocks while strengthening long-term resilience,” said AIIB President Zou Jiayi in the statement. “While providing financing to address members’ critical short-term needs including access to energy and food, as well as sustaining their reform momentum, AIIB commits itself to continue strong engagement and support for our members’ efforts in infrastructure development, green transition and sustainable growth.” The facility will deliver aid through fast-disbursing budget support, financing for critical imports and liquidity support to affected members, according to the bank. It can also back government response programmes and help countries shore up economic resilience amid the fallout from the conflict. Infrastructure companies and financial intermediaries, meanwhile, can tap it for short-term working capital and business continuity needs.
China’s “most devoted fraudster” has returned to public attention after mainland media revisited his case of forging hospital payment slips to keep his wife alive. Liao Dan, a former factory worker in Beijing with only a secondary school education, had been living on the margins of the city with his wife, Du Jinling, and their son after their workplaces shut down. Their hardship worsened in 2007, ...
China’s “most devoted fraudster” has returned to public attention after mainland media revisited his case of forging hospital payment slips to keep his wife alive. Liao Dan, a former factory worker in Beijing with only a secondary school education, had been living on the margins of the city with his wife, Du Jinling, and their son after their workplaces shut down. Their hardship worsened in 2007, when Du was diagnosed with severe uraemia and told she needed dialysis three times a week to survive. Advertisement The treatment cost more than 5,000 yuan (US$730) a month, according to The Beijing News. Loyal husband, Liao Dan, above, struggles to hold back his tears beside a group of reporters. Photo: Baidu Within weeks, Liao had spent the family’s savings and was forced to take his wife home from the hospital.
Irrelevant Europe Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , Europe is the ‘jungle’ now. No garden left to speak of. Josep Borrell is a Spanish socialist who held several high-ranking positions in the European Union. Until 2024, he was a vice-president of the European Commission and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. In that capacity, he ran E...
Irrelevant Europe Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker , Europe is the ‘jungle’ now. No garden left to speak of. Josep Borrell is a Spanish socialist who held several high-ranking positions in the European Union. Until 2024, he was a vice-president of the European Commission and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. In that capacity, he ran Europe’s External Action Service, which is the diplomatic body that executes Europe’s foreign policy decisions around the world. He remains a man with a great deal of influence over European perspectives. In 2022, Borrell created a bit of an international incident when he described Europe as a “garden” and the rest of the world as a “jungle.” “We have built a garden,” he told aspiring European diplomats in Bruges, Belgium. “Most of the rest of the world is a jungle. The jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it.” As the head of the European Defense Agency, Borrell’s comments made strategic sense. As he said in that same speech, “The jungle has a strong growth capacity…Walls will never be high enough to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle, Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.” Borrell’s speech came seven years after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open her country’s borders to millions of Islamic immigrants. Originally touted as a humanitarian policy designed to temporarily shelter refugees from war-torn Syria, Germany’s generous welfare programs quickly became a magnet for young men across the Middle East and North Africa. When Merkel declared on August 31, 2015, “We can do this,” she initiated an all-of-society “welcome culture” that quickly produced a full-blown migrant crisis for the whole continent. Over ten years later, the influx of millions of Muslims into Europe has transformed school demographics ...
In this article .KS11 @LCO.1 GBP= STAN-GB .N225 NVDA @CL.1 CFR-CH EL RYAAY NVDA GOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 21, 2026 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to today's edition of the Daily Open newsletter. What ...
In this article .KS11 @LCO.1 GBP= STAN-GB .N225 NVDA @CL.1 CFR-CH EL RYAAY NVDA GOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 21, 2026 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to today's edition of the Daily Open newsletter. What a difference a week makes. On Monday, this newsletter was focused on how equities were showing signs of catching the bond market's cold, with downside moves across major stock indices as borrowing costs spiked. Fast forward to Friday, and Wall Street looks set to end the week in the green, back at record levels. What you need to know today It looks set to be a winning week for U.S. stocks, despite a volatile bout of trading over the last few days amid broader bond market jitters. Futures point to gains across Wall Street , which would push the S&P 500 into the green for the week, while the Dow Jones rose more than 270 points to close at a record high on Thursday. Asia-Pacific markets are also trading higher as investors assess diplomatic efforts to reach a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. However, oil prices are also elevated on a Reuters report suggesting Iran wants to keep enriched uranium within the country . Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Thursday said he postponed an upcoming signing ceremony for his administration's much-anticipated executive order on the artificial intelligence industry. The event, which was set for later Thursday afternoon, was delayed "because I didn't like certain aspects of it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. In Europe, earnings season is drawing to a close, with luxury giant Richemont one of the final companies to report. The high-end fashion house, which includes the brands Cartier and Chloé, posted a strong set of full-year sales and the launch of a new buyback programme. Also in the beauty space, shares in Estée Lauder lo...
Check out the companies making headlines yesterday: Cloudflare (NYSE:NET): Cloud security and performance company Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) rose by 1.6% on Tuesday after the company announced a partnership with Anthropic to launch Cloudflare Environments for Claude Managed Agents. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy Cloudflare? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Pinterest (...
Check out the companies making headlines yesterday: Cloudflare (NYSE:NET): Cloud security and performance company Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) rose by 1.6% on Tuesday after the company announced a partnership with Anthropic to launch Cloudflare Environments for Claude Managed Agents. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy Cloudflare? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Pinterest (NYSE:PINS): Social commerce platform Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) fell by 6.6% on Tuesday as investors grew increasingly concerned about persistent inflation and rising bond yields, raising worries about future Federal Reserve policy. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy Pinterest? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. AMD (NASDAQ:AMD): Computer processor maker AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) fell by 2.6% on Tuesday after a broader selloff hit the semiconductor sector amid valuation concerns and investor nervousness ahead of Nvidia's earnings report. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy AMD? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Agilysys (NASDAQ:AGYS): Hospitality software provider Agilysys (NASDAQ:AGYS) rose by 15% on Tuesday after the company announced strong first-quarter 2026 results that surpassed analyst expectations on both revenue and profit. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy Agilysys? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC): Computer processor maker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose by 4% on Tuesday after Melius Research analyst Benjamin Reitzes reiterated a buy rating and raised the price target to $150 from $100. See our full article here. Is now the time to buy Intel? Access our full analysis report here, it's free.
Walter Cicchetti SpaceX ( SPCX ) scrubbed its attempt to launch the 12th test flight of its Starship megarocket on Thursday evening, after last-minute issues triggered a series of holds. The mission, the Starship program’s first in months, will mark the much-anticipated debut of an upgraded version of the vehicle, called Version 3 or V3. SpaceX experienced several mishaps with the V2 Starship prot...
Walter Cicchetti SpaceX ( SPCX ) scrubbed its attempt to launch the 12th test flight of its Starship megarocket on Thursday evening, after last-minute issues triggered a series of holds. The mission, the Starship program’s first in months, will mark the much-anticipated debut of an upgraded version of the vehicle, called Version 3 or V3. SpaceX experienced several mishaps with the V2 Starship prototype last year. SpaceX ( SPCX ) called off Thursday's launch seconds before its planned liftoff, after multiple pauses to the countdown triggered by fuel temperature and pressure readings. Musk said on X that the hydraulic pin on one of the launch tower's giant mechanical arms did not retract as designed. "If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow," Musk said of the faulty arm. The earliest SpaceX can attempt another launch is Friday evening at 6:15 p.m. ET, according to federal air traffic warnings . More on SpaceX SpaceX Continues Growth, But Losses Mount Amid Risky AI Expansion The Terrifying Truth Behind The SpaceX IPO SpaceX: A First Look At Financials SpaceX said to plan 10-GW solar factory near Austin for AI data centers SA Asks: What's a good alternative investment to SpaceX?