Researchers have found evidence of what many of us always suspected: ‘hasslers’ shorten your lifespan. And they know by exactly how long Name: Hasslers. Age: More like ageing. Continue reading...

Katie Nicholl’s name appears on many of the stories that Frost, Prince Harry and others have complained about A senior former Mail on Sunday journalist has denied commissioning a “blag” of sensitive medical information about Sadie Frost that the actor had not even told her own mother. At the high court, Katie Nicholl, the former diary editor and royal editor at the paper, was accused of using blagged information from a private investigator to uncover “extraordinarily intrusive” details of Frost’s medical history. Continue reading...

British chancellor says she will take steps to help families with cost of living as oil prices surge Middle East crisis – live updates Britain is likely to be hit by rising inflation because of the US war with Iran, the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, as she suggested that a “rapid de-escalation” would be the best protection against a jump in energy prices. Both the chancellor and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, suggested the government would be prepared to intervene to protect UK households against major cost-of-living shocks as oil prices surged past $100 (£75) a barrel for the first time since 2022. Continue reading...

US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico’s president that were deemed sexist in summit speech ‘Iron river’: Mexico’s cartel violence fuelled by trafficked firearms from US Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking. “There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.” Continue reading...

Former Sinn Féin leader being sued for symbolic £1 each by three victims of Troubles-era bombings on UK mainland Gerry Adams is as culpable for IRA bombings on the UK mainland as the individuals who planted and detonated the devices, the high court has heard at the beginning of a civil trial. The former Sinn Féin leader is being sued for symbolic “vindicatory” damages of £1 each by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, and the London Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996. Continue reading...

European Commission head says rules-based system can no longer be relied upon to protect the continent’s interests Europe can “no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”, the head of the European Commission has said. Speaking to an audience of EU ambassadors on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said the union “will always defend and uphold the rules-based system” but could no longer rely on it to defend European interests and shelter the continent from threats. Continue reading...

Kowtowing to US foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan had disastrous consequences. Why are leaders making the same mistake all over again? Here is the sort of analysis you’re being served up by our esteemed commentariat. Keir Starmer’s positioning on the Iran war, we are told, reveals a prime minister with no political compass. True, but talk about burying the lede. The story here is not Starmer’s lack of political acumen. British involvement in the Iran war is not a policy question on which reasonable people might disagree, like raising a tax here or spending a bit more money there. This is a grave crime. Yet all the pressure on Starmer seems to arrive from one direction. He “should have backed America from the very beginning”, declares Tony Blair, apparently eager for his successor to emulate his own record of dragging Britain into US-led catastrophes widely condemned as illegal. Donald Trump’s sidekick Nigel Farage, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and the rightwing press make much the same complaint. Owen Jones is a guardian columnist Continue reading...

Readers respond to Aditya Chakrabortty’s article about the decline in healthy life expectancy in the UK How could I fault Aditya Chakrabortty’s account of the failure to prioritise the nation’s health as he cites me as its inspiration (This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?, 6 March). However, it is important to emphasise that the government is well aware of the gross health inequities that scar our nation and limit lives as well as economic prosperity, but chooses not to prioritise them. The ministerial response last month to the House of Lords report on ageing contains this shocking statistic: a girl born in Barnsley can expect an average of 53 years of good health, whereas one born in Wokingham can look forward to 71 healthy years – an extra 18 years. Throughout the country deprivation accelerates ageing, which for many means an unnecessary premature exit from the labour market and premature need for social care. But the main focus of health policy is the manifesto commitment to reduce NHS waiting times, a target that has very little impact on health inequity. Instead, a radical programme is required to prevent the largely social and commercial determinants of ill-health, such as poverty, poor diets, lack of exercise, and air pollution. Continue reading...

Mojtaba Khamenei has been chosen to replace his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, while the country continues to be heavily bombarded by US and Israeli forces. There are concerns the move could lead to a further escalation of war in the Middle East, after Donald Trump warned that Khamenei was an ‘unacceptable’ choice. Lucy Hough speaks to diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour Continue reading...

David Morgale writes about the sense of accomplishment he felt on the mountains, in response to Emma Loffhagen’s article on skiing being a waste of money. Plus letters from John Carter and Eric J Ascalon While I accept that Emma Loffhagen may have tried skiing once and hated it, I disagree with most of her conclusions regarding this activity (The hill I will die on: People who ski have more money than sense, 7 March). In the past it was certainly a sport exclusive to the wealthy, but today it is enjoyed by people at all economic levels. It is possible to rent boots, skis, helmets and clothing that is specially designed for cold weather. Holiday packages and lessons are also available. Continue reading...

The pressures to fix yourself are produced socially, by algorithms, markets, racism-coded aesthetics and status anxiety, says Dr Bruno De Oliveira Your piece on the rise of impossible male beauty standards (‘There is no shame in being vain’: the relentless rise of impossible male beauty standards, 5 March) captures something bigger than vanity, that of a neoliberal moral economy which turns the body into a private “project” and then invoices the individual for failing it. Mark Fisher called this magical voluntarism, the doctrine that we can will ourselves into any desired form, and that if we don’t, it’s because we didn’t want it enough. In that frame, a square jaw is “discipline”, hair loss is “laziness” and distress becomes personal inadequacy rather than a predictable response to platformed comparison, commercialised insecurity and precarious lives. Continue reading...

Desmond Hewitt responds to an article by an Iranian citizen living in Tehran in the midst of the ongoing war The poignancy of the anonymous author’s article describing life in Tehran is almost too much to bear (‘Don’t die’: the two words that sum up our lives in Tehran now, 7 March). I would like to say to them and their friends who simply want to stay alive that there are many here among us, in the UK at least, who agree with you. In particular, your words on the oxymoronic dictatorial democratic narrative on the justification for yet another confected, misguided and maniacal war in the Middle East. The Alice Through the Looking Glass prism that the government of the world’s so-called largest democracy uses as its justification for the bombing of your country is sickening. Sickening because that country has stood by while the atrocities they claim to abhor take place elsewhere in the world. Continue reading...

Fifa can take disciplinary action against exiting nations ‘Sanctions include exclusion from future competition’ Iran could face disciplinary action from Fifa, including a possible ban from future tournaments, if they unilaterally withdraw from the World Cup. Donald Trump told Politico last week that he “really doesn’t care” if Iran fail to take part in this summer’s tournament, but Fifa remains committed to the World Cup going ahead with all qualified teams participating. Continue reading...

I should probably be fuming about the way that companies try to cash in on IWD. But there are so many vile opinions to worry about instead Sunday was International Women’s Day, which you’ll know because every company you’ve ever shopped with will have emailed you, taking this fine opportunity to suggest things women might like to buy. Plants, clothes, spices … all are particularly female-friendly at this time of year, or maybe I’m revealing nothing but my algorithms. Is any of it emancipating? Would you have to balance the freedom of the woman wearing the midi-dress against the servitude of the woman who had to sew it? I don’t really want to set myself up as the arbiter of the spirit of IWD, being unable to remember a time before it meant mass-marketing mail-out. On Women’s Day Eve, though – yes, that is a thing – I was attending evensong at a university college, maybe for the first time ever, and it was definitely the first time I’d heard an IWD sermon. The Rev Marcus Green had set himself the challenge of feministly reading a book, the Bible, in which almost none of the women have a name. There are a bunch called Mary, but so few other names that “Mary” was basically Bible-speak for “Karen”. There’s one who is the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but even though she has actual lines and he has none, he still gets this cracking name, while you have to piece her identity together by triangulating other accounts, like an investigator at a crime scene. Continue reading...

Lawsuits come after Pentagon labeled Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk’, a decision the company says is unlawful Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the Department of Defense on Monday, alleging that the government’s decision to label the artificial intelligence firm a “supply chain risk” was unlawful and violated its first amendment rights. The two sides have been locked in a monthslong heated feud over the company’s attempt to implement safeguards against the military’s potential use of its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons. The lawsuits, which Anthropic filed in the northern district court of California and the US court of appeals for the Washington DC Circuit, come after the Pentagon formally issued the supply chain risk designation last Thursday, the first time the blacklisting tool has been used against a US company. The AI firm previously vowed to challenge the designation and its demand that any company that does business with the government cut all ties with Anthropic, a serious threat to its business model. Continue reading...

Former intelligence officer charged with murder and torture in first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales A former Syrian intelligence officer who fled to the UK has been charged with murder and torture as crimes against humanity, in the first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales. The 58-year-old man, who has not been named for legal reasons, is alleged to have played a leading role in the violent crackdown on protesters in Syria at the start of uprising against the regime of former leader Bashar al-Assad in 2011. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Sunderland fans have suffered enough to know that no matter how well things might appear to be going, calamity is never too far away. Take, for example, a thirtysomething mackem of Football Daily’s acquaintance who travelled to see Régis Le Bris’s side get dumped out of the FA Cup by Port Vale. Having watched his side lose 1-0 to the worst team in League One – and the one we are still following through the tournament – he cheerfully noted that the result “isn’t even in the top 10 most embarrassing things to happen to Sunderland in my lifetime”. With his team safe from relegation, Le Bris treated Port Vale with maximum respect by picking his strongest side but they still lost to a team that clearly “wanted it more”. Down here I was looking forward, courtesy of the FA Cup, to a brief break from getting up in the middle of the night to suffer through another disappointing Spurs game. So I sat down in front of the telly on a nice Sunday afternoon to cheer on fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri in the Australian Grand Prix, hoping for a win. Yep … crashed out on the formation lap. There is a pattern here and I am wondering if I have some special curse or power. If you have a particular team or sportsperson that you don’t like and want me to cheer for, my rates are reasonable” – Greg Wynn. Could we send Sergio Ramos as head coach to Cruzeiro in Brazil. Their playing philosophy appears a perfect fit (see below)“ – Krishna Moorthy. Continue reading...

Leisa Gwenllian is a force of nature as working-class heroine Effi in this big screen version of Gary Owen’s one-woman play The visceral one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott by Welsh dramatist Gary Owen has overwhelmed audiences and critics since it premiered in 2015, reimagining the sacrificial heroine Iphigenia from Greek tragedy as a young working-class woman in Cardiff who likes a drink and a laugh, defiant in the face of pity, condescension and curtain-twitching. Now it has been recreated as a blistering Welsh-language movie by director Marc Evans, who has co-written the screenplay with Owen, with a live-wire performance from Leisa Gwenllian as Effi, a child of austerity and the Covid lockdown, reclaiming her rights to immediate pleasure and happiness in the face of long-term deprivation. At times it plays a little broad with the occasional touch of Holby City; and on a factual point, if Effi’s solicitor wanted to dissuade her from abandoning her lucrative negligence case against a hospital, he would emphasise that her payout would come from the hospital’s insurance (though, yes, the resulting increased premiums would punish future patients). Still, Effi o Blaenau is part of a British social realist tradition that extends from Ken Loach’s Poor Cow to Clio Barnard’s The Arbor, and it turns on that kitchen-sink staple no longer often found in modern drama and movies: the unplanned pregnancy. It also has what social realism often doesn’t have: an absorbing, propulsive story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. And it’s a film that doesn’t flinch from the burden of tragedy. Continue reading...

Researchers working to unpick whether daily multivitamin results in people staying healthier as they age Taking a multivitamin every day for two years appears to slow some markers of biological ageing – albeit to a small degree – research suggests. While chronological age is based on how long a person has lived, biological age reflects the state of the body. Estimates of the latter are often based on changes in patterns of DNA methylation – modifications to DNA that accumulate with age and affect how genes function. Continue reading...

Save Act would limit voting access in the US and centers on Trump’s unfounded claims of noncitizens stealing elections Donald Trump threatened not to sign any bills until Congress approves the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access. The president, fixated on unsubstantiated claims that noncitizens are stealing US elections ahead of midterm elections that are expected to be bruising for Republicans, said on Truth Social Sunday that the Save America Act “must be done immediately” and “supersedes everything else”. Continue reading...

One year ago, ICE arrested me for protesting for Palestine. Leqaa Kordia is still caged – for also daring to speak the truth Sunday marked one year since Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested last year for his political advocacy. Below, he writes to Leqaa Kordia, a fellow Palestinian currently in ICE detention in Texas. Khalil was released after more than three months but the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation; Kordia has been detained for nearly a year. Read more about her case here. Dear Leqaa, Continue reading...

Malkinson spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in rape case for which another man is now on trial A woman who alleged she was raped by Andrew Malkinson admitted to police 22 years ago that she “wasn’t too sure it was the right man,” a court has heard. Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for an attack he did not commit in what jurors heard was a “most terrible” miscarriage of justice. Paul Quinn is now on trial at Manchester crown court accused of the 2003 rape after fresh DNA tests allegedly linked him to the victim. Continue reading...

Lossiemouth’s presence means the selection is an attractive bet to follow up last year’s novice win at this meeting The sporting decision to send Lossiemouth, the Mares’ Hurdle winner for the last two seasons, in against all-comers in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle adds considerably to the depth of the competition, but it has also prompted a minor drift in the price of The New Lion and he is an attractive bet to follow up last year’s novice win at this meeting. Unlike the other three runners at single-figure odds for Tuesday’s feature event, The New Lion does not benefit from a 7lb mares’ allowance. While Brighterdaysahead, Golden Ace and Lossiemouth have 12, 12 and 17 runs behind them respectively, however, The New Lion has just half a dozen, with five wins and just one defeat when he made an uncharacteristic jumping error at Newcastle in December. Continue reading...

Mercedes’ flying start lives up to promise, but new regulations receive scathing reviews The pre-season favourites had done their level best to play down their expected advantage in the buildup to the Australian Grand Prix, but it was impossible to hide. A dominant one-two by the best part of a second for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying was followed by a similarly assured one-two finish in the race. Continue reading...

Russian oligarch says money is his to allocate despite international sanctions imposed on his assets The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has stepped up his row with the British government over the £2.5bn proceeds of his sale of Chelsea FC, insisting that the money is his to allocate despite the international sanctions imposed on his assets. The UK and EU imposed sanctions on Abramovich in 2022, freezing his assets in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing his ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Continue reading...