He added: "We don't want to sacrifice the freedoms we've got in this country, but at the same time the public have a right to know what information they're being fed and the tool is being misused here just like anything can be misused."
He added: "We don't want to sacrifice the freedoms we've got in this country, but at the same time the public have a right to know what information they're being fed and the tool is being misused here just like anything can be misused."
In essence, the government is in something of a holding position for now – conscious of how squeezed so many people feel, but conscious too that the biggest determinants of how this plays out and the impact it has are impossible to be certain about: how long the conflict goes on and how severe it becomes. In particular, does oil start flowing freely again through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf –...
In essence, the government is in something of a holding position for now – conscious of how squeezed so many people feel, but conscious too that the biggest determinants of how this plays out and the impact it has are impossible to be certain about: how long the conflict goes on and how severe it becomes. In particular, does oil start flowing freely again through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf – or does it not?
More than a week after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered the worst regional crisis in years, the grouping that positions itself as the collective voice of the Global South has yet to issue a single joint statement. The silence is not an oversight. It is the sound of a bloc whose expansion has outpaced its ability to speak as one, analysts say....
More than a week after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered the worst regional crisis in years, the grouping that positions itself as the collective voice of the Global South has yet to issue a single joint statement. The silence is not an oversight. It is the sound of a bloc whose expansion has outpaced its ability to speak as one, analysts say. Advertisement When Brics moved to admit Iran and the United Arab Emirates and invited Saudi Arabia to join in an expansion scheduled to take effect from January 2024, the move was celebrated as a milestone in the bloc’s push for a more multipolar world order. Brics+ leaders, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (second from right) and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan (third from right), at a Brics summit held in Russia in 2024. Photo: Kremlin/dpa Now, those same members are pulling in different directions. Iran , under assault from the United States and Israel , has launched retaliatory strikes against American assets around the region, including in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Photo: VCG Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) reported a 42.3% increase in net profit to 72.2 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) in 2025, as robust global demand for electric vehicle and energy storage batteries pushed its production lines to near full capacity. The stellar financial performance underscores the persistent dominance of the world’s largest battery-maker during an industry ups...
Photo: VCG Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) reported a 42.3% increase in net profit to 72.2 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) in 2025, as robust global demand for electric vehicle and energy storage batteries pushed its production lines to near full capacity. The stellar financial performance underscores the persistent dominance of the world’s largest battery-maker during an industry upswing, which has prompted top-tier manufacturers to rapidly expand their production capabilities to meet surging orders stretching well into 2026.
Bloomberg’s Colum Murphy reports from Guangzhou, where China’s shift toward high-tech automation is leaving traditional factory workers struggling to find jobs. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg’s Colum Murphy reports from Guangzhou, where China’s shift toward high-tech automation is leaving traditional factory workers struggling to find jobs. (Source: Bloomberg)
Scientists in China and Germany have identified four possible landing sites for China’s first crewed mission to the moon in an area that has also been of interest to Nasa The Rimae Bode region on the lunar nearside is favoured for its diverse geological samples, including volcanic debris, for studying lunar volcanism and its relatively flat ground for safe astronaut access. “Rimae Bode lies in an ...
Scientists in China and Germany have identified four possible landing sites for China’s first crewed mission to the moon in an area that has also been of interest to Nasa The Rimae Bode region on the lunar nearside is favoured for its diverse geological samples, including volcanic debris, for studying lunar volcanism and its relatively flat ground for safe astronaut access. “Rimae Bode lies in an easily accessible, low-latitude, nearside location with generally flat, traversable terrain,” they wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on Monday. Four feasible landing sites, high-value science targets and surface hazards. The purple star marks the proposed landing site LS2 . Photo: Nature Astronomy “Both the high scientific value and the favourable landing and exploration conditions make the Rimae Bode region a candidate for missions like the Nasa Constellation programme and China’s first crewed lunar mission.” Advertisement The Nasa programme was formulated in 2005 to return to the moon to establish an outpost and explore Mars, but was cancelled in 2010 because of severe budget overruns. Months before it was cancelled, Nasa published a close-up image of a site “near a Nasa Constellation region of interest”. It shows a small fresh crater 230 metres (755 feet) wide with dark ejecta, or material thrown out from an impact or eruption, in the highlands near Rima Bode II, a mare unit that was also analysed and identified as one of the four feasible landing sites in the latest paper. Advertisement In the new study, the researchers from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, Guilin University of Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Münster College of Science used orbital images and measurements to study a targeted area of the Rimae Bode.
I love stuffed vegetables. When I was young, I came across a recipe for stuffed aubergines in an old book of my mother’s and must have cooked it a score of times. Later, in the early 1990s and to the echoes of nouvelle cuisine, Delia Smith showed us how we could work similar magic with peppers and tomatoes. Then the technique went deeply out of fashion, but I stayed loyal, and continued quietly st...
I love stuffed vegetables. When I was young, I came across a recipe for stuffed aubergines in an old book of my mother’s and must have cooked it a score of times. Later, in the early 1990s and to the echoes of nouvelle cuisine, Delia Smith showed us how we could work similar magic with peppers and tomatoes. Then the technique went deeply out of fashion, but I stayed loyal, and continued quietly stuffing tomatoes, pumpkins and courgettes, all no doubt influenced by my travels in Mexico. Thoday’s stuffed cabbage is inspired by the most delicious tongue in a tantalisingly light escabeche that I once had at Nicos in Mexico City, and also because I can’t get enough of cabbage at the moment. Stuffed cabbage in white wine and jalapeño escabeche View image in fullscreen Thomasina Miers’ stuffed cabbage in white wine and jalapeño escabeche. You can make the Oaxacan-style picadillo filling a day in advance, if you fancy – the flavour will improve overnight. Prep 10 min Cook 1 hr 10 min Serves 4-6 Salt and black pepper 1 medium savoy cabbage 6 tbsp olive oil 500g pork mince 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped 2 celery sticks, trimmed and finely diced 1 tsp ground allspice 2 tsp ground cumin 100g raisins 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 2 400g tins whole plum tomatoes 1 tbsp chipotle en adobo, or smoky harissa 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 3 tsp runny honey 50g pine nuts, toasted 1 jalapeño, stalk discarded, flesh finely chopped 300ml white wine Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Meanwhile, cut away the stem of the cabbage and separate 15-16 leaves. Cut the rest of the cabbage in half, then core and shred one piece and put the other in the fridge for a future meal. Blanch the whole cabbage leaves, in batches, if need be, in the simmering water for three to four minutes, then scoop out, drain and set aside. Reserve thecooking water to cook the buttered dill and pea rice below, if you like. Put a casserole on a medium-high heat and, after a few minutes, pour in half...
Shifting goals, unclear timelines and a flimsy pretext: at times, the US-Israel campaign against Iran carries curious parallels of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The comparison is far from exact. In 2022, Putin sent a massive army across Ukraine’s borders in an unprovoked invasion of a democratic state, a campaign that quickly resulted in heavy losses. The United States has so far largely l...
Shifting goals, unclear timelines and a flimsy pretext: at times, the US-Israel campaign against Iran carries curious parallels of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The comparison is far from exact. In 2022, Putin sent a massive army across Ukraine’s borders in an unprovoked invasion of a democratic state, a campaign that quickly resulted in heavy losses. The United States has so far largely limited its involvement to airstrikes against Iran’s authoritarian regime. Yet the echoes are hard to ignore. In both wars, the aims of the campaign have been framed differently at different moments, while the legal justification, scholars say, is nonexistent. Early US statements framed the strikes as a response to an effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Officials have also emphasised degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and weakening the military infrastructure that supports its regional proxy network. But the goals have increasingly become more maximalist. Donald Trump has said that Iran’s leadership should be replaced, openly raising the prospect of regime change, and more recently called for Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. In Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has also repeatedly shifted its stated objectives. When Putin launched the invasion in February 2022, he said the goal was the “demilitarisation and denazification” of Ukraine – language widely interpreted as a push for regime change in Kyiv. As the war dragged on, the Kremlin increasingly presented the conflict as one about protecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and securing control over territories Moscow later moved to annex. View image in fullscreen Tehran residents watch as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility hit by US-Israeli airstrikes. Photograph: Arileza Sotakbar/AP The similarities seep into language, too. Both sides have portrayed their actions as defensive, citing what experts say are at best dubious claims that they were acting to prevent an imminent thre...
Calls for a popular uprising and empty promises of help are reckless in the extreme – and no answer to my country’s plight Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran I have been watching the news from inside Iran, unable to hold in my sorrow. As an Iranian who was imprisoned and tortured by the regime, I have been pleading with the world’s human rights organisations ...
Calls for a popular uprising and empty promises of help are reckless in the extreme – and no answer to my country’s plight Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran I have been watching the news from inside Iran, unable to hold in my sorrow. As an Iranian who was imprisoned and tortured by the regime, I have been pleading with the world’s human rights organisations and media to keep a focus on the country’s plight. But now I see US-Israeli bombs falling on Iran, and some Iranians celebrating this war while innocent people die. My heart is breaking for my country. Let us be clear: when Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu conspired to launch their war, it was not out of a desire to free the Iranian people from the tyranny of the regime. Netanyahu said on the second day of the war : “This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years.” He has named this operation “ Lion’s Roar ”. Meanwhile, Iranian monarchists celebrate the carnage, waving the shah’s version of the country’s flag with its crowned lion and sun. Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran. Her books include A Prison Memoir: One Woman’s Struggle in Iran, and the novel The Secret Letters from X to A Continue reading...
The bombing of a primary school in Minab on 28 February killed scores of people, most of them seven- to 12-year-old girls. The strike is the worst mass killing of the US and Israel’s war on Iran so far – and has been described by Unesco as a “grave violation” of international law. On Saturday, the US president, Donald Trump, declared that Iran was responsible for the school bombing. “In my opinion...
The bombing of a primary school in Minab on 28 February killed scores of people, most of them seven- to 12-year-old girls. The strike is the worst mass killing of the US and Israel’s war on Iran so far – and has been described by Unesco as a “grave violation” of international law. On Saturday, the US president, Donald Trump, declared that Iran was responsible for the school bombing. “In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran … they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.” The president presented no evidence for his claim. His assertion has not been repeated by spokespeople for the US military, who have said only that they are “investigating” the bombing. But a growing body of evidence indicates that the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school was carried out by the US. Here is what we know – and why it points to the US being responsible. The school’s location The Shajareh Tayyebeh school was adjacent to a cluster of buildings that form the local Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval barracks and support buildings. The Guardian cross-referenced verified videos from the site of the bombing with satellite imagery to confirm the location of the primary school. Historic satellite imagery shows that while the school’s building was once part of the wider IRGC complex, it has been walled off from the barracks for at least nine years. For years, it has had clear visual indications that it is an educational facility, including colourful murals on the walls and small sports playing fields – both visible in some satellite imagery. There is no indication that the school was a military-use building at the time of the strike. Its location, however, provides a plausible reason why the US or Israel may have selected targets in that area. An annotated satellite view of the area in which the school was located. Videos of the immediate aftermath A number of videos of the bombed sch...
Thousands of authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman have published an “empty” book to protest against AI firms using their work without permission. About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before th...
Thousands of authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman have published an “empty” book to protest against AI firms using their work without permission. About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before the UK government is due to issue an assessment on the economic cost of proposed changes in copyright law. By 18 March ministers must deliver an economic impact assessment as well as a progress update on a consultation about the legal overhaul, against a backdrop of anger among creative professionals about how their work is being used by AI firms. The organiser of the book, Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright, said the AI industry was “built on stolen work … taken without permission or payment”. He added: “This is not a victimless crime – generative AI competes with the people whose work it is trained on, robbing them of their livelihoods. The government must protect the UK’s creatives, and refuse to legalise the theft of creative work by AI companies.” Other authors who have contributed their names to the book include the Slow Horses author, Mick Herron; the author Marian Keyes; the historian David Olusoga; and Malorie Blackman, the writer of Noughts and Crosses. “It is not in any way unreasonable to expect AI companies to pay for the use of authors’ books,” said Blackman. View image in fullscreen The composer Ed Newton-Rex, who organised the book, said the AI industry was ‘built on stolen work’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian The books’s back cover says: “The UK government must not legalise book theft to benefit AI companies.” Publishers will also launch an AI licensing initiative at the London book fair. Publishers’ Licensing Services, a non-profit industry body, is setting up a collective licensing scheme and has invited the sect...
For four days last August, a thick slick of maroon bruised the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The scene, not unlike a toxic red tide, was the result of 65,000 litres of an alkaline chemical, tagged with a red dye, that had been deliberately pumped by scientists into the ocean. Though it sounds perverse, the event was part of a scientific experiment that could advance a technology to combat both glob...
For four days last August, a thick slick of maroon bruised the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The scene, not unlike a toxic red tide, was the result of 65,000 litres of an alkaline chemical, tagged with a red dye, that had been deliberately pumped by scientists into the ocean. Though it sounds perverse, the event was part of a scientific experiment that could advance a technology to combat both global heating and ocean acidification. Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), as the approach is called, acts like natural weathering, but on human – rather than geological – timescales. “The ocean is already incredibly alkaline. [It holds] 38,000bn tonnes of carbon, stored as dissolved bicarbonate, or baking soda,” says Adam Subhas, the lead oceanographer of the research team who announced early results from their test at the AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow. Boosting this natural alkalinity using a chemical antacid should, in theory, encourage the ocean to absorb more carbon. Over a large surface area, and in combination with sharp emissions reductions, OAE could prevent global temperatures exceeding 2C above preindustrial levels, while locally reducing ocean acidity, which is now higher than at any point in the past million years and poses a dire threat to marine life and fisheries. Licensed by the US Environmental Protection Agency and overseen by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the experiment took place 50 miles off the coast of Massachusetts in an area commonly fished for cod, haddock and lobster. Albeit small in scale, their study, which has yet to go through peer review, found promising results. Over five days at sea, the Loc-ess project used state-of-the-art technology including autonomous gliders, long-range autonomous underwater vehicles and shipboard sensors to trace the dispersal of 65,000 litres of sodium hydroxide, an alkaline chemical that was tagged with a red dye, from the release site. During that period, they measured up to 10 to...
A Chinese woman has revealed online that her mother was married to her younger brother posthumously, who then embezzled her properties as her widower. The 27-year-old woman from central China’s Henan province, surnamed Sun, lost her mother Zhao Fang to illness at the age of nine, in 2008. Since her parents were divorced and she had been living with her mother, Sun was adopted by her mother’s young...
A Chinese woman has revealed online that her mother was married to her younger brother posthumously, who then embezzled her properties as her widower. The 27-year-old woman from central China’s Henan province, surnamed Sun, lost her mother Zhao Fang to illness at the age of nine, in 2008. Since her parents were divorced and she had been living with her mother, Sun was adopted by her mother’s younger sister. She said her relatives notarised her mother’s assets around the time of her death. Sun, now 27, in happier times with her smiling mother when she was a baby. Photo: Douyin The day before she died, they also signed a document to sell three of Zhao’s properties to pay her debts, and let her younger sister adopt Sun and hold the rest of her assets in trust until Sun reaches the age of 18. Advertisement Sun said she used to live with her mother in northern China’s Hebei province. After her mother died, she lived alternately with her aunt and her uncle, her mother’s younger brother, in their hometown in Henan until she went to college in 2018. Advertisement According to the medical records, her mother was diagnosed with sepsis, which could quickly cause organ failure and death. Sun only heard about her mother’s death from her aunt and did not attend her funeral.
Rural households that rely on heating oil to warm their homes and provide hot water are facing a “sudden and frightening” surge in their bills, with prices almost trebling since the start of the Iran war. The cost of heating oil is not covered by Ofgem’s energy price cap and varies between suppliers. In examples seen by the Guardian, customers who were typically paying 62p a litre before the war a...
Rural households that rely on heating oil to warm their homes and provide hot water are facing a “sudden and frightening” surge in their bills, with prices almost trebling since the start of the Iran war. The cost of heating oil is not covered by Ofgem’s energy price cap and varies between suppliers. In examples seen by the Guardian, customers who were typically paying 62p a litre before the war are now being quoted about £1.73. The prospect of government help was raised when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, told parliament she recognised households that used heating oil faced “unique challenges”. She said officials would meet rural and Northern Ireland’s MPs on Wednesday to explore “further action”. Across the UK, an estimated 1.7m households rely on heating oil, and in Northern Ireland it is the primary heating source for two-thirds of households. It is typically a form of kerosene so prices are linked to the cost of jet fuel. As wholesale prices have risen, some customers have had orders cancelled, leaving them to try to rebuy at a higher price. Others have struggled to find suppliers willing to deliver to them. Emma Simpson, the chief executive of Rural Action Derbyshire, a charity that runs an oil-buying scheme, said its supplier was limiting orders to 500 litres a household because of the volatility. Usually that is the minimum order people can place. She said: “People who rely on heating oil are facing a sudden and frightening surge in cost. We may be heading into spring, but anyone running low on oil right now doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for prices to fall. “For some, the decision to order or not will come down to whether they can realistically afford it, and that is a really hard position to be in.” Simpson said panic buying was adding to the pressure on prices, which would usually be starting to drop as the warmer months approached. One woman in Hampshire said she had attempted to get a quote for 1,000 litres of oil via the online broker BoilerJuice, ...
Milly would want people to reach out for help, says her daughter Kayleigh. "If she could save another person, even if she didn't know them, my mum would go out [of] her way to help. That's who my mum was."
Milly would want people to reach out for help, says her daughter Kayleigh. "If she could save another person, even if she didn't know them, my mum would go out [of] her way to help. That's who my mum was."
Max Zolotukhin/iStock via Getty Images Marc P. Seidner: Volatility has returned to markets as geopolitical uncertainty once again returns to the forefront of investor thinking. For the PIMCO portfolio management team, clearly, we're assessing in real time the shocks to the system, and that's specifically concentrated around oil prices and the oil market dynamics, supply chain disruptions, the safe...
Max Zolotukhin/iStock via Getty Images Marc P. Seidner: Volatility has returned to markets as geopolitical uncertainty once again returns to the forefront of investor thinking. For the PIMCO portfolio management team, clearly, we're assessing in real time the shocks to the system, and that's specifically concentrated around oil prices and the oil market dynamics, supply chain disruptions, the safety and security of the Straits of Hormuz, and other areas of the conflict. Eventually, as with all of these types of situations, there will be opportunities that emerge, and there will be a chance to deploy capital. A few things to point out. First and foremost, the initial conditions for fixed income are quite good. Starting point of yields is, as we have said for some time now, very attractive, and that hasn't changed. Global interest rates have increased over the course of this week, but let's really put this in context. A 10-year Treasury started the year at 4.17%, and today it sits at 4.15%. So year-on-year, or from the beginning of the year, very little change in the yield of a 10-year Treasury. Break-evens or the market's pricing of inflation expectations have correctly increased a little bit. Inflation-protected bonds have outperformed nominal bonds this week. And that makes sense - crude oil is up $20 a barrel. Specifically on central banks, it's probably right to push out expectations of further monetary easing. Our base case for the Federal Reserve has been two interest rate cuts for the balance of 2026, with those cuts likely back-end loaded. Putting it in the framework of energy importers or exporters, countries that are self-sufficient, in terms of energy, are going to have much greater degrees of freedom and flexibility. On the other hand, countries that are energy importers, or price takers, if you will, may have less flexibility, and this speaks to the global diversification and the diversity of the global opportunity set. Just to offer some closing perspec...