One struck a market in North Darfur and the other hit a truck carrying civilians in North Kordofan as the country’s civil war approaches its fourth year At least 28 civilians have been killed in two separate drone strikes in Sudan, according to health workers, as the country’s brutal civil war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces approaches its fourth year. A strike hit a market in the town of Saraf Omra in North Darfur state on Wednesday, killing “22 people, including an infant, and injuring 17 more”, a health worker at the local clinic told AFP. Continue reading...

Government-backed bank in talks about recompensing about 37,000 people whose money was misplaced UK politics live – latest updates Business live – latest updates National Savings and Investments is preparing to repay hundreds of millions of pounds to its customers over missing savings, in what is expected to be the single biggest payout in the bank’s 160-year history. The government-backed savings institution is in discussions with the Treasury to recompense about 37,000 people whose money has been misplaced due to historical failings. Continue reading...

A housekeeping role turns into a fight for survival in a derivative cocktail of action, comedy and horror that doesn’t go down all that well Come find your new home at the Virgil, one of New York’s oldest and most exclusive and certainly most satanic co-op residences. Never mind the clerestory window embossed with an inverted pentagram that glows red day and night. (You can’t see it from street level anyhow, which is by design.) You’ll be too busy enjoying such fabulous amenities as a full live-in maid staff with peculiarly high turnover, an entire floor dedicated to an unending all-hours orgy, and for those willing to pledge their dark fealty to the head of the building’s board, eternal life. The Virgil: if you lived here, you’d be in hell by now. For the Virgil’s newly hired help, Asia (Zazie Beetz), the job comes with room and board and a whole lot of strings attached, which quickly tighten around her throat. Even though she misses the bathroom-mirror warning that gives Kirill Sokolov’s first English-language feature its title, the unrelenting They Will Kill You wastes no time in establishing its stakes: Asia is here less to make beds and more to serve as a human sacrifice to their unholy anti-God. What the Virgil’s wealth-curdled lifers don’t know is they’ve trifled with the wrong proletarian. In isolating the thesis of 1943’s The Seventh Victim, the first film to correctly link Manhattan real estate holders with the devil, its producer Val Lewton famously posited that “death is good”; Sokolov’s rambunctious, only-sometimes-winningly sophomoric beat-‘em-up amends this axiom to “death is also epically effin’ bad-ass”. Continue reading...

The Blue Trail, about a rebellious 77-year old woman who escapes forced exile for elderly people, has struck a nerve in a country where ageism is widespread When 80-year-old Gilda Olinto was given a prize at work recently, she felt as if she was being told “nothing more is expected of you”. It reminded her of The Blue Trail (O Último Azul in Portuguese), a film set in a near-future Brazil where an authoritarian government honours elderly people with golden laurels before stripping them of their autonomy and sending them to live out their days in a remote housing colony. After being reluctantly bestowed with the accolade, the film’s 77-year-old protagonist Tereza realises she is going to be exiled from society – but she is determined to pursue a lifelong dream first, which takes her on a journey of discovery though the Amazon. Continue reading...

One minute, Dennis Biesma was playing with a chatbot; the next, he was convinced his sentient friend would make him a fortune. He’s just one of many people who lost control after an AI encounter Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early. “I had some time, so I thought: let’s have a look at this new technology everyone is talking about,” he says. “Very quickly, I became fascinated.” Biesma has asked himself why he was vulnerable to what came next. He was nearing 50. His adult daughter had left home, his wife went out to work and, in his field, the shift since Covid to working from home had left him feeling “a little isolated”. He smoked a bit of cannabis some evenings to “chill”, but had done so for years with no ill effects. He had never experienced a mental illness. Yet within months of downloading ChatGPT, Biesma had sunk €100,000 (about £83,000) into a business startup based on a delusion, been hospitalised three times and tried to kill himself. Continue reading...

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says UK economy will grow by just 0.7% this year The conflict in the Middle East will damage the UK’s economy more than any other industrialised nation, according to analysis by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which warned over rising inflation. In the first major assessment by a leading international thinktank of the economic impact from the attack on Iran, the OECD said the UK economy would grow by just 0.7% this year, compared with its last forecast, made in December, of 1.2% for 2026. Continue reading...

Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in January The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is again scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year. US special forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on 3 January in a controversial pre-dawn raid during an assault on Caracas that reportedly killed 100 people. Continue reading...

There’s a distinctly sour edge to the jars and goodies that chef and author Helen Graham keeps handy Amba sauce “I’m very jar orientated; a lot of my cooking is about combining big flavours. I’m also a sucker for a sour ingredient, and this Iraqi pickled mango condiment is really sour – more so than tamarind. If I’m garnishing a dish with tahini, then I’ll use amba to cut through the richness, otherwise I’ll use it in lieu of citrus.” Stem ginger in syrup “My grandpa always gave me this when I was a kid, and I thought it was disgusting. However, now it’s essential; I often make a (chopped) stem ginger and spring onion salsa – it’s sweet and spicy. Stem ginger is such a nostalgic ingredient for me.” Continue reading...

PM tells Jo Boydell of concerns about her lack of availability to discuss how staff gave man access to victim’s room • UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has written to the chief executive of Travelodge to press the hotel chain to “seriously engage” with MPs raising concerns about its protocols after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who was given her room number and a key card by staff. MPs who had sought an urgent meeting with Jo Boydell said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven and a half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022. Continue reading...

Teesside site mothballed in September given £100m by government to restart production for at least three months A shuttered carbon dioxide plant is to reopen on Teesside with £100m of government investment in response to fears the war in Iran could trigger shortages of the gas that multiple industries rely on. The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has approved the reopening of the Ensus plant to help bolster production of CO2, which has uses ranging from carbonating drinks and keeping food fresh to medical procedures and the sedating of animals for slaughter. Continue reading...

Rule change follows high court challenge brought by two doctors prevented from working in specialist fields Doctors who have been prevented from working in the NHS while they wait for asylum decisions are celebrating after the Home Office agreed to lift the ban. The changes come into force on Thursday. The changes to the immigration rules follow a high court challenge by two specialist doctors who had the relevant qualifications to work for the NHS but were prevented from taking up work. Doctors who have a break in their practice can quickly become deskilled. Until now, the ban has remained in place despite shortages of doctors and other healthcare professionals in some parts of the NHS. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer responds after Kemi Badenoch spokesperson says she ‘raised eyebrow’ in relation to theft of aide’s phone UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has said it is “far-fetched” to suggest that the theft of his former chief of staff’s mobile phone is somehow connected to a subsequent push for the release of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador. Downing Street has come under pressure to say whether key messages between Morgan McSweeney and the former ambassador were lost after it emerged that the government-issue phone was stolen last year. Continue reading...

The Netherlands striker opens up on the condition that temporarily derailed her Everton career and the symptoms to look out for When the sharp, stabbing pain in her abdomen became so severe that she had to be substituted at half-time during an Everton match, Katja Snoeijs knew what she was experiencing was not merely “normal period pains”. And she was right. The 29-year-old Netherlands striker has since been diagnosed with endometriosis, which affects one in 10 women. She says she counts herself lucky, because she received her diagnosis within a year and was shocked to learn the national average wait for a diagnosis in the UK is nine years. Continue reading...

Charing Cross theatre, London Carmel Owen’s ambitious musical follows the impressionist’s regrets back to his early adventures in art and his first marriage As its title suggests, this musical about Claude Monet is full of reflections – fittingly so given the artist’s preoccupation with light. In 1916, while struggling to complete The Water Lilies with cataracts, the ageing painter (Jeff Shankley) retreats into memories of his early career. His single-minded younger self (Dean John-Wilson) may be about to change art for ever but, looking back, all Monet sees is the personal cost of his drive, particularly his mistreatment of his first wife, muse and mother of his children, Camille (Brooke Bazarian). For a man usually defined by his success, this alternative reflection is refreshing. Also bouncing back at Monet are his peers’ struggles, the artistic establishment’s dismissal of impressionism, and art’s relationship to war and women. So abundant are these reflections, in fact, that Carmel Owen’s ambitious book at times becomes a house of mirrors – enticing but with a distractingly split focus. Continue reading...

Henry Ford changed the face of industry forever – what kind of economic model do Musk’s methods presage? Genius industrialist or clownish conman, humanity’s saviour from a rapidly crumbling planet or rabid social media troll – the verdicts on the world’s richest person vary in flavour, but most share something in common: they focus on Musk as an individual. In their study, Quinn Slobodian, a historian at Boston University, and Ben Tarnoff, a tech writer, wish to reframe the conversation. The most important question, they argue, is not “who is Musk?” but “what is Musk a symptom of?” As the title suggests, their answer is “Muskism”, the coinage a deliberate nod to Fordism, the shorthand for 20th-century capitalism built on the pairing of mass production with mass consumption. If Fordism was the last century’s operating system, Slobodian and Tarnoff contend that Muskism is this century’s. Continue reading...

Unruly behaviour, safety concerns and lost trade are forcing some landlords to act, but others argue pubs should remain for everyone “It was like the wild west. If you had an hour, I could talk you through so many scenarios,” says Egil Johansen, the landlord of the Kenton pub in Hackney, east London. He sounds exhausted just remembering them. Johansen is still shaken by the three-year-old who recently toddled behind the bar and tumbled down the cellar hatch while his parents sat, oblivious, in a different part of the pub. Continue reading...

In an honest new memoir, the musician opens up about being closeted in country, sexual assault, and finding love in his 60s On 14 June 1995, Nashville singer Ty Herndon was riding high with a No 1 single on the country charts and an album hurtling towards gold status when he was arrested on charges that could have killed his career in an instant. At 10am, he pulled into a gas station in Texas, right across the street from park well known for gay cruising and hookups. Amped by a hit of meth amphetamine, Herndon strolled into a glade where he soon met a guy he later described as “movie-star handsome”. The stranger began stroking his own crotch, then reached for Herndon’s. But when the singer unzipped his fly, the man, an undercover cop, said, “This ain’t your day, cowboy,” leading to the star’s arrest on charges from drug possession to indecent exposure. While news of the incident traveled fast – aided in no small part by the police alerting the media – Herndon’s record company swung into parallel action. They cooked up a massive PR strategy that painted the singer as victim of drug use while feeding the media a series of lies to explain away the sex. “The drugs could be forgiven,” Herndon says during a Zoom interview the other day from his Nashville home. “Being gay definitely could not.” Continue reading...

Jena Lisa Jones says she backed Trump in 2024 election because of his campaign promises to release Epstein files After casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears “we’re not going to get justice in all of this”. “I wanted my day in court,” said Jones, who has said she was abused by Epstein when she was 14, in an interview on the Shadow Sessions podcast that aired on Thursday morning. “I didn’t get that, and we were so close to it, it really got ripped from us, and then after [Epstein] passed, everything just went into a circus show.” Continue reading...

I know many well-regulated women who spend hours on social media, and others who struggle while not being online Recently I read Girls®, a new book seeking to explore the problems posed by digital and social media to young women’s mental health. It has been praised by reviewers as “punchy” and “a starting place for young women seeking guidance”. As a young woman always open to improving myself, I rolled my sleeves up. Written by 26-year-old Freya India, it encourages young women to “look past what you’re being TOLD and see what you’re being SOLD”. Big tech, the book says, is preying on the insecurities of its users; the recent mental health crisis in young women should be chalked up to social media, the internet and our addiction to it. Isabel Brooks is a freelance writer Continue reading...

EU lawmakers are expected to back a deal but will want to implement safeguards EU lawmakers are set to vote on the bloc’s tariff deal with US president Donald Trump today, after months of delays caused by uncertainty affecting transatlantic trade amid his repeated threats against Greenland and, more recently, Spain. The parliament will vote on whether to cut EU tariffs on some US imports – as a first step towards implementing the 2025 deal – but with additional safeguards, AFP said. Continue reading...

Australian counterterrorism experts observe December shooting came amid years of messaging from terror group urging followers to act ‘on their own initiative’ Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Bondi beach terror attack occurred amid an international spike of anti-western plots in December last year that appeared to be “inspired or instigated” by Islamic State, a new report has found, with many of them targeting holiday events such as Christmas markets. In research published by the West Point Combating Terrorism Center in its publication Sentinel on Thursday, Australian counterterrorism experts Andrew Zammit and Levi West examined Islamic State’s strategic shifts and jihadi tactics in Australia prior to the alleged antisemitic terrorist attack. Continue reading...

Two UK nationals released on bail while Met continues investigation into incident in Golders Green Two men arrested in connection with a suspected arson attack on four ambulances operated by a Jewish charity in north London have been released on bail. The men, aged 47 and 45, who are both UK nationals, were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after the incident in Golders Green. On Thursday the Metropolitan police said the pair had been bailed until April while the investigation continues. Continue reading...

Mullally brings unshowy calm and competence to role leading Church of England at a difficult moment When Sarah Mullally was announced as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in October, the choice of the first woman to occupy the role of de facto leader of the Church of England and global Anglican communion was a landmark moment. Her appointment sent a strong message to those in the pews and pulpits of English parishes and more than 165 countries, a significant proportion of whom still refuse to accept female priests. Eighteen months after Mullally broke down while speaking publicly of institutional barriers and “micro-aggressions” because of her gender, the church’s stained glass ceiling was shattered. Continue reading...

Rita wants Martin’s novelty ashtrays to stay in the garden. He likes to give them pride of place on the shelf. Whose argument is a smokescreen? You decide • Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror Martin says his novelty ashtrays are decor and will spoil in the rain, but ash in our home is gross I’ve already compromised and cut down on smoking – plus they’re more like collector’s items Continue reading...

Championed by a former chief medical officer, Lifeline is both a musical following Alexander Fleming’s discovery of the first antibiotic and a warning about the threat of superbugs in the present day The floor of the United Nations is rarely handed over to musicians; when it is, it’s to global superstars such as Abba, Beyoncé and K-pop band BTS. So why, then, has a foot-stomping, folk-infused Scottish musical been added to the list of performances so influential they’ve gone on to fill the halls of New York’s General Assembly Building? The subject of Lifeline, an energetic, imaginative stage account of the life of the father of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, with a modern love story and a Greek chorus of real scientists, provides a clue. This unlikely show tells the story of one of medicine’s most pressing crises: antimicrobial resistance and the deadly global threat of drug-resistant infections or superbugs. Continue reading...