Residents near the border with Lebanon hope Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah and Iran will finally end years of conflict On the main street of Metula on Thursday morning there was one thing everybody agreed on: the night had been “difficult”. The sirens had fallen silent only a few hours earlier when military authorities were sure there would be no further waves of attacks with rockets and drones on ...
Residents near the border with Lebanon hope Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah and Iran will finally end years of conflict On the main street of Metula on Thursday morning there was one thing everybody agreed on: the night had been “difficult”. The sirens had fallen silent only a few hours earlier when military authorities were sure there would be no further waves of attacks with rockets and drones on targets across northern Israel launched by Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant Islamist movement, and its sponsor, Iran. Continue reading...
A Tokyo high-flyer tries to befriend her favourite blogger in a novel that wears its aura of black comedy lightly, and its political statements more heavily Asako Yuzuki’s international bestseller Butter was a taste sensation based on the true story of a Japanese female serial killer and gourmet chef who scammed and poisoned male victims with her culinary offerings. Attempting to get a scoop, a jo...
A Tokyo high-flyer tries to befriend her favourite blogger in a novel that wears its aura of black comedy lightly, and its political statements more heavily Asako Yuzuki’s international bestseller Butter was a taste sensation based on the true story of a Japanese female serial killer and gourmet chef who scammed and poisoned male victims with her culinary offerings. Attempting to get a scoop, a journalist bonds with the convicted prisoner by asking her for recipe tips, and gradually reassesses her own life and values as a result of this peculiar relationship. One review described the book as “the Martha Stewart Show meets The Silence of the Lambs”, but as well as the crime thriller/foodie mashup, a critique of capitalist society and deep-seated misogyny also emerged from the narrative. Yuzuki’s prose style, a mix of the banal and the profound, proved to be catnip for sales. Hooked is the follow-up for English-language readers, though it was written earlier, in 2015, and like the previous novel is translated with crackling verve by Polly Barton. While a more introspective work, its high-wire plot and uneven trajectory make for a relentlessly dizzying experience. Fans of Butter might even view it as a trial run. Continue reading...
From the rugged north of Scotland to the glittering Aegean, our tipsters recommend islands for slowing down, lazing around and taking in nature • Tell us about a spring activity or day out – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher A short ferry ride from Vigo (daily and overnight visitor numbers are capped) took us to the tiny archipelago of the Cíes Islands , a protected cluster of islands where...
From the rugged north of Scotland to the glittering Aegean, our tipsters recommend islands for slowing down, lazing around and taking in nature • Tell us about a spring activity or day out – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher A short ferry ride from Vigo (daily and overnight visitor numbers are capped) took us to the tiny archipelago of the Cíes Islands , a protected cluster of islands where seabirds rule and tiny beaches remain unspoilt. There are no cars on the island and only a few small restaurants dotted about. There is one campsite, with little else but the waves of the Atlantic to lull you to sleep. I felt as if I had won the lottery when we visited and knew this would be an experience not easily matched. Helen E Continue reading...
Unfamiliar’s fictitious portrayal of hapless, rules-bound BND comes amid real-world calls to roll back postwar restraint In the new Netflix series Unfamiliar, two spies working for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency are trying to gauge the intentions of a Russian agent who has recently arrived in Berlin. They come up with a creative solution: hacking into his taxi’s dashcam and seizing footage ...
Unfamiliar’s fictitious portrayal of hapless, rules-bound BND comes amid real-world calls to roll back postwar restraint In the new Netflix series Unfamiliar, two spies working for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency are trying to gauge the intentions of a Russian agent who has recently arrived in Berlin. They come up with a creative solution: hacking into his taxi’s dashcam and seizing footage of the spook as he shakes hands with a well-known hitman. The six-part show revels in such flagrant disregard for red tape – the kind of brazen derring-do that Germany’s notoriously rule-bound Federal Intelligence Service (BND) can only dream of in real life. Continue reading...
It’s a return for the hugely funny reality show that drops an unsuspecting member of public into a staged situation, while Taylor Sheridan sends Michelle Pfeiffer into the middle of the Montana wilderness The first run of this series in which an unsuspecting (though carefully selected) member of the public is dropped into an entirely orchestrated and deeply excruciating situation was a cringe mast...
It’s a return for the hugely funny reality show that drops an unsuspecting member of public into a staged situation, while Taylor Sheridan sends Michelle Pfeiffer into the middle of the Montana wilderness The first run of this series in which an unsuspecting (though carefully selected) member of the public is dropped into an entirely orchestrated and deeply excruciating situation was a cringe masterpiece. This second story repeats the trick: Anthony Norman is the new stooge, recruited as a temporary PA for the annual retreat of a fictional hot sauce company. Once the crew arrive at their resort, poor Anthony is faced with fist-bitingly awkward moments as the enforced corporate jollity gets stranger and stranger. But, crucially, as funny as it is, Anthony is never the butt of the joke – he remains resourceful and good-natured as the business threatens to crumble around him. Prime Video, from Friday 20 March Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: In the wake of the DHS secretary’s firing, staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency share how her tenure has left the US less able to the respond to the climate crisis Donald Trump made his first cabinet-level firing last week when he expelled Kristi Noem. In her one year leading the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Noem sparked widespread criticism fo...
In this week’s newsletter: In the wake of the DHS secretary’s firing, staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency share how her tenure has left the US less able to the respond to the climate crisis Donald Trump made his first cabinet-level firing last week when he expelled Kristi Noem. In her one year leading the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Noem sparked widespread criticism for overseeing inhumane immigration policies and avoiding questions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers’ shooting of protesters in Minneapolis. She even earned the nickname Ice Barbie. “Good riddance,” Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey wrote on social media about her ousting. Bombing of Iran’s oil infrastructure to have major environmental fallout, experts warn ‘A sobering preview’: extreme heat now affects one in three people globally, study finds Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’ Good riddance to Kristi Noem. Her replacement won’t be an improvement | Moira Donegan How Trump’s EPA rollbacks give US states new tools in climate suits ‘The perfect storm’: Trump has left the US less prepared for natural disasters, experts say Continue reading...
Online fashion commentator Lyas’s catwalk watch parties have gone from hastily assembled get-togethers to large-scale spectacles. But how easy is it to walk the line between outsider and insider? It was the latest Paris fashion week, moments before the Tom Ford show was due to start, when fashion commentator Lyas slipped through the backstage entrance of the Théâtre du Châtelet and went upstairs t...
Online fashion commentator Lyas’s catwalk watch parties have gone from hastily assembled get-togethers to large-scale spectacles. But how easy is it to walk the line between outsider and insider? It was the latest Paris fashion week, moments before the Tom Ford show was due to start, when fashion commentator Lyas slipped through the backstage entrance of the Théâtre du Châtelet and went upstairs to get mic’d up. Having failed to get a ticket to the actual show, 27-year-old Lyas – whose real name is Elias Medini and who has almost 500,000 followers on Instagram – was preparing to livestream it on a big screen to 2,000 of his fellow rejects currently sitting in the auditorium. The night before he had shown Saint Laurent. In a few days he would do the same for Chanel. His aim, he says, is to democratise a famously closed-off industry, and open up the spectacle of fashion week to people who have no chance of ever going themselves. Continue reading...
Algerian authorities were thrown a lifeline after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, now there’s hope that the rise in oil prices driven by the war in Iran will offer another. The North African nation of 47 million people has long relied on some of the continent’s largest oil and gas reserves to pay for many of its subsidies, and since being clobbered by the 2014 p...
Algerian authorities were thrown a lifeline after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, now there’s hope that the rise in oil prices driven by the war in Iran will offer another. The North African nation of 47 million people has long relied on some of the continent’s largest oil and gas reserves to pay for many of its subsidies, and since being clobbered by the 2014 price crash it has found it increasingly hard to fund its budget. To help cover spending — projected to rise to 7.69 trillion dinars ($58.5 billion) in 2026, around 5% more than 2025 — the government has undertaken its first local sale of sovereign Islamic bonds and has sought to tap an African Development Bank loan for infrastructure. Then oil smashed through $100 per barrel on March 9, for the first time since Russia’s invasion, and although they have yo-yoed since then, prices remain up by more than 50% as fears grow that the conflict will hinder supplies from the Middle East. With Algeria’s budget based on an oil-market price of $70 per barrel, minister of hydrocarbons and mines Mohamed Arkab has said anything between that and $80 per barrel would be “a balanced price.” “The rise in prices can only be a good thing,” said Mahfoud Kaoubi, an independent economic and financial analyst in Algiers, the capital. “We were facing a real financing problem.” If oil shoots up further — closer to the $120-$125 range — the OPEC producer would be able to balance its books, according to Kaoubi. Algeria currently pumps about 977,000 barrels a day. Just over 40% of planned expenditure for this year will cover allocations such as state-employee salaries, pensions, unemployment benefits and subsidies for key goods including cereals, fuel, milk and desalinated water — all seen as key to maintaining social peace. Back in 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, Europe turned to Algeria to help secure its energy supply. It had gas to spare after diplomatic spats with Moro...
Key Stats for Palantir Technologies Stock Past week’s performance: -2% -2% 52-week range: $66 to $208 $66 to $208 Valuation model target price: $358 $358 Implied upside: 133.1% over 2.8 years Value your favorite stocks like PLTR with 5 years of analysts’ forecasts using TIKR’s new Valuation Model (It’s free) >>> What Happened? Palantir Technologies (PLTR) slipped about 2% over the past week, even ...
Key Stats for Palantir Technologies Stock Past week’s performance: -2% -2% 52-week range: $66 to $208 $66 to $208 Valuation model target price: $358 $358 Implied upside: 133.1% over 2.8 years Value your favorite stocks like PLTR with 5 years of analysts’ forecasts using TIKR’s new Valuation Model (It’s free) >>> What Happened? Palantir Technologies (PLTR) slipped about 2% over the past week, even though the stock is still trading near the upper end of its 52‑week range after a huge post‑earnings rally. The pullback comes as investors digest how far and fast the shares have run on surging enthusiasm for Palantir’s artificial intelligence platforms and government contracts. The latest leg of the rally started after Palantir reported Q4 2025 revenue of about $1.41 billion, beating Wall Street’s estimate of roughly $1.33 billion and growing 70% year over year. Net income jumped to about $609 million for the quarter, and management guided 2026 revenue to roughly $7.2 billion, again ahead of consensus. PLTR Revenues and Net Income (TIKR) Those results pushed the stock sharply higher and helped lift Palantir’s market cap toward $367 billion, but they also raised the bar for future performance. As a result, even modest shifts in sentiment can trigger outsized short‑term moves, which helps explain this week’s mild pullback. This week’s trading also reflected mixed signals from news flow around Palantir’s AI and defense positioning. On one hand, the company announced new partnerships with Ondas, World View, LG CNS, Nvidia, and GE Aerospace to expand its AI‑enabled intelligence platforms and sovereign AI operating system, reinforcing demand for its AIP and Gotham products. On the other hand, a mounting legal and competitive clash involving rival AI firm Anthropic and the Pentagon reminded investors of how contested government AI contracts have become and added a layer of uncertainty to future awards. That backdrop has kept volatility elevated even as Palantir’s core business t...