General news

• ‘They look sad’: Tony Cragg scraps audio guides for Castle Howard exhibition

  02-05-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sculptor says he wants visitors to form their own relationships with art, without ‘anyone else interfering’They are ubiquitous at art galleries across the world: the audio guide telling shuffling visitors the full story of what they are looking at and occasionally how they should feel.In the eyes of Sir Tony Cragg, one of the world’s leading sculptors, they are a “terrible” modern scourge that “mess up” the enjoyment of art. “I think they look sad,
  
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• The children of the contaminated blood scandal – podcast

  17-05-2024 04:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It is the NHS’s worst treatment disaster – with 30,000 patients infected. Two survivors, Ade Goodyear and Andy Evans, explain why it took so long for it to be brought to lightAde Goodyear was 15 when he was told he had contracted HIV. Like about 30,000 other NHS patients – including more than 300 children – who were given blood transfusions or commercial blood products before 2019, he was infected by contaminated blood. Some patients got HIV and hepatitis C from blood tra
  
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• US teen with heart condition died after eating spicy tortilla chip, autopsy finds

  17-05-2024 02:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Tenth-grader who participated in social media challenge ingested too much chile pepper extract and died of cardiopulmonary arrestA Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media died from eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract and also had a congenital heart defect, according to autopsy results obtained by the Associated Press.Harris Wolobah, a 10th grader from the city of Worcester, died on 1 September 2023 after eating the Paqui chip as part of
  
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• Ukraine war briefing: Kharkiv campaign won’t deliver major Russian breakthrough – Nato general

  17-05-2024 02:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Ukraine accuses invaders of killing civilians and setting up human shields; sanctions over North Korean arms supply to Russia. What we know on day 814Russia does not have sufficient forces on the ground to make a major breakthrough in Ukraine after launching its offensive in the Kharkhiv region, Nato’s supreme allied commander for Europe, Christopher Cavoli, said on Thursday. “More to the point they don’t have the skill and the ability to do it,” said the US general. &ldq
  
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• Hospitals struggle as social care crisis cancels out funding boost, NHS report says

  17-05-2024 01:12 via theguardian.com
  
  The number of people stuck in hospital for more than three weeks has risen 15% on pre-Covid levelsStrike action and the social care crisis have left thousands more people trapped in hospital beds with nowhere to go while other patients struggle to access the care, nullifying an increase in funding and NHS staff, it has been reported.A damning internal review of NHS efficiency carried out last year has reportedly revealed that, despite a £20bn increase in funding since 2018 and 15% more doc
  
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• Union urges Labour not to ban new North Sea licences without plan for jobs

  17-05-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Unite launches bid to persuade Keir Starmer to invest more in north-east ScotlandThe UK’s oil and gas workers risk becoming “the coal miners of our generation,” Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned, urging Labour not to ban new North Sea licences without a clear plan to safeguard jobs.Unite is launching a billboard campaign in six Scottish constituencies aimed at persuading Keir Starmer to commit more investment to north-east Scotland, the centre of the of
  
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• Teachers in England stretched by pupils’ mental and family problems, MPs say

  17-05-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Education select committee concerned that excessive workload is driving teachers out of professionTeachers’ workloads are being increasingly stretched by their pupils’ mental health and family difficulties, according to MPs who were critical of the government’s efforts to tackle chronic staff shortages in England’s schools.The education select committee said it was “concerned that since the pandemic teachers are spending more time on addressing issues that would typ
  
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• More than 6,000 bank branches now gone in nine years of ‘disastrous’ closures

  17-05-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Thirty-three constituencies, including two in London, will not have a single bank branch by the end of the year, says Which?The number of UK bank branches that have shut their doors for good over the last nine years will pass 6,000 on Friday, and by the end of the year the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies – including two in London – without a single branch.The tally is being published by the consumer group Which? as it seeks to make the “avalanche&rdqu
  
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• Premier League: 10 things to look out for on the final day of the season

  17-05-2024 01:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The title race reaches the finish line, it’s the end of an era at Liverpool and Spurs face two trips in quick successionOnly the most grim-faced of churls would refuse to recognise the progress Mikel Arteta’s outstanding Arsenal side have made this season. The very fact a title win is on the table this weekend says more than enough and now they must make sure that, just in case West Ham cause an almighty stir at the Etihad, they do not taint it with unnecessary regrets. When Everton
  
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• Texas governor pardons man who killed Black Lives Matter protester in 2020

  17-05-2024 00:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Greg Abbott on Thursday pardoned Daniel Perry, who has been serving a 25-year sentence since 2023 murder convictionGovernor Greg Abbott of Texas issued a full pardon on Thursday to a former US army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice.Abbott announced the pardon just minutes after the Texas board of pardons and paroles disclosed it had made a unanimous recommendation that Daniel Per
  
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• Rory McIlroy in the frame at US PGA after searing 62 by Xander Schauffele

  16-05-2024 23:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Northern Irishman shoots five under par 66 in first round‘Not winning makes you want to win more,’ says SchauffeleIf, by Rory McIlroy’s candid admission, this was a “scrappy” opening to his US PGA Championship then the remainder of the Valhalla field has cause to worry. A five under par 66 from McIlroy in Kentucky served as the latest indication he is close to ending an occasionally painful wait for a fifth major title that stretches back to 2014.McIlroy’s cau
  
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• Biden asserts executive privilege to block release of special counsel interviews

  16-05-2024 23:34 via theguardian.com
  
  House Republicans seek recordings of classified documents case interviews, in what Democrats call a ‘purely political’ moveJoe Biden asserted executive privilege to stop House Republicans obtaining recordings of his interviews with Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Biden’s retention of classified information after his time as a senator and as vice-president to Barack Obama.In a letter reported by the New York Times and other outlets on Thursday, the White House c
  
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• Michael Cohen accused of lying over phone call at Trump hush-money trial

  16-05-2024 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Former lawyer and fixer for Donald Trump is under fierce attacks on his credibility by the ex-president’s legal teamSign up to our free Trump on Trial newsletterDonald Trump’s lawyer on Thursday attacked the core charge against the former president as he sought to undercut Michael Cohen, the former attorney whose $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels is at the heart of the criminal trial in New York.The defense, led by the Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, had Co
  
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• Gruev sparks first-half goal rush as Leeds stun Norwich to reach Wembley

  16-05-2024 23:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Property experts believe Leeds is becoming an increasingly fashionable home for bright young professionals priced out of London but, as compelling as their arguments are, the city lacks one vital magnet: a Premier League football team.Or at least it does at the moment. If the outstanding Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto, Archie Gray and company play as intelligently and incisively as this in the Championship playoff final at Wembley on Sunday week that deficiency will surely be rectified.
  
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• South Africa calls on ICJ to order Israel to end Rafah offensive

  16-05-2024 22:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Lawyers urge international court of justice to issue urgent measures over assault on Gaza’s southernmost citySouth Africa has asked the international court of justice (ICJ) to urgently order Israel to end its assault on Rafah, halt its military campaign across Gaza, and allow international investigators and journalists into the territory.In a court hearing, lawyers for South Africa expanded a written request for judges to issue an emergency order to stop the offensive into Rafah, Gaza&rsqu
  
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• ‘I’ll say a prayer’: Fury and Usyk eschew trash talk before heavyweight battle

  16-05-2024 22:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Fighters respectful after discordant buildup to Riyadh bout‘I am excited … let’s make history,’ says Ukrainian UsykTyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were in no mood for needless chatter at the final press conference before they meet for Saturday night’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight in Riyadh.A shirtless Fury wore a flame-­covered suit, black waistcoat and a jaunty black trilby but he was uncharacteristically brief and conciliatory before he studiou
  
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• Chevron to sell off its remaining North Sea oil and gas fields

  16-05-2024 22:33 via theguardian.com
  
  US company denies decision is linked to UK’s 35% windfall tax on North Sea producersChevron is preparing to call time on more than five decades in the North Sea with a plan to sell its remaining oil and gas fields in the ageing oil basin.The US oil company said on Thursday that it will launch a sale of its North Sea interests, including a 19.4% stake in the giant Claire oilfield in the West of Shetland region, which could raise up to $1bn. Continue reading...
  
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• Gaetz invokes Trump’s call to far-right Proud Boys at hush-money trial

  16-05-2024 22:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Republican congressman travels to New York to support former president and says he is ‘standing back, and standing by’Matt Gaetz echoed Donald Trump’s infamous remarks about the far-right Proud Boys on Thursday, as the Florida Republican congressman and other rightwing supporters of the former US presidentattended his criminal trial in Manhattan.“Standing back, and standing by, Mr President,” Gaetz wrote on social media, with a photo of his group of supporters stand
  
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• Sea otters use tools to open hard-shelled prey, saving their teeth, research reveals

  16-05-2024 21:48 via theguardian.com
  
  The behavior, documented in footage from researcher Chris Law, is most seen in females and sheds light on the threatened speciesFloating on its back in the waters of California’s Monterey Bay, a sea otter takes a shelled animal and strikes it against a rock sitting on its chest to break open the prey.This behavior, documented in footage from researcher Chris Law, is seen in relatively few animals and allows the otter to access food without damaging its teeth. A new study, which will be pub
  
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• Post-Brexit deal on border between Gibraltar and Spain remains unresolved

  16-05-2024 21:43 via theguardian.com
  
  European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, cites progress on trade and economy for territory but not border checksTalks on a post-Brexit deal to govern the border between Gibraltar and Spain have broken up without an agreement, although both sides insisted a deal was “getting closer”.David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, met the European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, in Brussels to discuss the British overseas t
  
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• Megalopolis review – Coppola’s passion project is megabloated and megaboring

  16-05-2024 21:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Cannes film festival
  Francis Ford Coppola’s question – can the US empire last forever? – may be valid but flashes of humour cannot rescue this conspiracy thriller from awful acting and dull effectsEveryone who loves cinema owes Francis Ford Coppola a very great deal … including honesty. His ambitious and earnestly intended new film, resoundingly dedicated to his late wife Eleanor, has some flashes of humour and verve. Jon Voight’s scene with his bow-and-arrow shoot
  
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• ‘Realities of apartheid’: South African artist wins Deutsche Börse photography prize

  16-05-2024 21:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Lebohang Kganye blends oral traditions, family photos and theatre in a ‘new and fresh way’ to trace personal history of apartheid eraThe South African artist Lebohang Kganye has won the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize for her work that uses large-scale cutouts and elements of set design to trace and depict her family history during the apartheid era.The Johannesburg-based artist took home the £30,000 prize for her winning exhibition, which is on dis
  
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• Ministers knew about carer’s allowance problems three years ago, report reveals

  16-05-2024 20:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Suppressed DWP study told of hardship endured by carers forced to repay thousands after minor allowance breachesMinisters were warned three years ago that unpaid carers were being treated unfairly and forced to repay huge sums for minor benefit breaches, a long suppressed government report has revealed.A Department for Work and Pensions document presented to politicians in 2021 detailed how carers – the majority of whom were on low incomes and spending 65 hours a week caring for loved ones
  
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• Nigerian activists condemn mass ‘forced marriages’ of 100 girls and young women

  16-05-2024 20:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Petition launched to halt mass ceremony that organisers say is for 100 orphans whose parents were killed by gangsHuman rights activists in Nigeria have launched a petition to stop a plan to push 100 girls and young women into marriage in a mass ceremony, which has caused outrage in the west African country.The plan, sponsored by Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the speaker of the national assembly in the largely Muslim north-western state of Niger, were criticised by Nigeria’s women’s affairs
  
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• Kent NHS trust made failures in care of six-year-old girl, inquest finds

  16-05-2024 20:37 via theguardian.com
  
  But coroner finds no evidence to suggest trust directly caused death of Maya Siek in December 2022An inquest into the death of a six-year-old girl has concluded an NHS hospital trust made a number of failures in her care before she died.However, a coroner found there was no evidence that suggested the trust had directly caused or contributed to the death of Maya Siek in December 2022. Continue reading...
  
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• Caleb Azumah Nelson wins £20,000 Dylan Thomas prize for Small Worlds

  16-05-2024 20:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Judges describe second novel set between south-east London and Ghana as ‘symphonic’ and ‘viscerally moving’British-Ghanaian author Caleb Azumah Nelson has won this year’s Dylan Thomas prize for his second novel Small Worlds, which judges described as “symphonic” and “viscerally moving”.Azumah Nelson, 30, was awarded the £20,000 prize at ceremony on Thursday in Swansea, the home city of the poet Dylan Thomas. The prize is given to a writ
  
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• ‘He was not radical’: Slovakia tries to make sense of Fico shooting

  16-05-2024 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Friends in town of Levice say 71-year-old showed no signs of planning attack, while Slovakian president says climate of hate is collective workMile L’udovit, like other residents of the unassuming grey apartment block on the outskirts of the sleepy central Slovakian town of Levice, considered Juraj Cintula a reliable neighbour and friend.Having lived side by side with him for more than 40 years, L’udovit could never have imagined the 71-year-old former security guard and amateur poet
  
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• All football fans are different so wanting to lose – or have massive tattoos – is fine | Max Rushden

  16-05-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Angst suffered by Spurs supporters about doing Arsenal a favour was a rarity. It’s already time to move onSon Heung-min is running through in the 87th minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A draw does virtually nothing for Spurs, but it hands Arsenal a great advantage in the title race. Did I, a Spurs supporter, want him to score? The honest answer is – with apologies to Ange Postecoglou – that I’m not totally sure.Most of my natural instincts were willing him to slot
  
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• The Guardian view on Labour’s election campaign: Keir Starmer sounded like a prime minister in waiting | Editorial

  16-05-2024 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  The opposition leader knows that he is being measured for the highest office in the landThe outward purpose of Labour’s campaign event in Thurrock on Thursday was to launch Sir Keir Starmer’s six “first steps” commitments, most of which were already familiar in some way. This was duly done, and with presentational panache. But the event had a far larger objective – to make it clear to the public that the Labour party is now ready to govern Britain.In all but name th
  
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• Woman accusing Christian Brückner of rape says his eyes ‘bored into my skull’

  16-05-2024 19:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Hazel Behan, who says main suspect in Madeleine McCann case raped her in Portugal in 2004, tells court she will never forget his eyesA woman who alleges she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has told a court she would never forget the eyes of her attacker, which “bored into my skull”.Giving evidence in the trial of Christian Brückner, who stands accused of five sexual assaults in Portugal of women aged between 10 and 80 between
  
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