General news

• Who Is America? review – too frightening to be truly funny

  16-07-2018 23:40
  Sacha Baron Cohen’s new characters are brilliantly done, but it is not always clear who or what the target isThese are – gosh – testing times for anyone who is still trying to keep alive the distinction between truth and lies, reality and fiction, the president of the United States and an ambulant cheese stick, sanity and madness. And even more testing, it turns out, for anyone attempting comedy based on a shared and certain vision of those categories and depending on the colle
  
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• Weatherwatch: heatwaves and atmospheric blocking

  16-07-2018 22:30
  An occasional series on weather terminology: stationary areas of pressure can lead to prolonged heatwaves and cold spellsThe “beast from the east” cold of late winter 2018 and the arid heat of the UK’s summer so far, are united by one pronounced meteorological phenomenon: atmospheric blocking. Large meanders in the jet stream often lead to the development of huge anticyclones – areas of high pressure that can remain stationary for weeks at a time.Related: Weatherwatch: tr
  
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• France squandered the unity of its last World Cup win. This time must be different | Iman Amrani

  16-07-2018 20:22
  The football squad is diverse, but most of its star players hail from poor communities. If Macron really wants to claim this win, he has to give them hopeFrance’s recent history with football has been tightly linked to the struggle over its identity. For decades, politicians have used the diversity of the national team either as a symbol of integration at work, or as a warning of Le Grand Remplacement (the big replacement) – that “ethnically French” citizens are being exc
  
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• Trump and Putin meet in Helsinki – in pictures

  16-07-2018 18:25
  The presidents of the US and Russia begin their summit on Monday as Trump says ‘the world wants to see us get along’ and predicts rosy future relations. The US president’s list of topics for discussion did not include Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The summit was condemned by US Congress members from both main parties after the indictment last week of 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking Democrats to help Trump’s campaign Continue readi
  
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• Don’t pay a cosmetic surgeon for the ‘natural look’. Just grow out your monobrow

  16-07-2018 18:15
  Cosmetic surgeons have noticed a decline in requests for buttock implants. This follows a general trend for the natural look – but now the beauty industry is commodifying that, tooOh, the irony. Apparently, the new ideal of beauty is – wait for it – the “natural look”. Natural face, natural eyebrows, natural skin and, one assumes, a natural glow at having achieved all this … naturally. In beauty doublespeak, this means spending huge amounts of cash.According
  
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• Earth, wind and air filters: how our environment affects our wellbeing

  16-07-2018 18:01
  Incorporating nature, water and the right colours and lighting into our built environments can have an immeasurable impact on our health, happiness and productivity – Gemma Askham explains whyIn 2017, UK research found that house prices were, on average, 70% higher if beside a city park. But what’s around us does more than affect the housing market. In the field of neuro-architecture, designers are now working with cognitive scientists to engineer buildings that aren’t only aim
  
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• Urban oases and hidden gardens: 10 of Britain’s best green spaces

  16-07-2018 18:00
  From shopping centre beehives to grand hidden gardens, there’s respite from the madding crowds in Britain’s towns and citiesDalston Eastern Curve Garden, London
  This leafy lifeline, situated slap bang in the middle of Dalston’s lively chicken shops, boutique bars and technicolor nail salons, is a vital addition to one of London’s most densely populated boroughs, where few people have access to their own garden. Created in 2010 on the site of the old Eastern Curve railway
  
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• IMF warns Trump trade war could cost global economy $430bn

  16-07-2018 16:22
  US could find itself ‘focus of global retaliation’ in tariff dispute, says WEO reportRising trade tensions between the United States and the rest of the world could cost the global economy $430bn (£324bn), with America “especially vulnerable” to an escalating tariff war, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Delivering a sharp rebuke for Donald Trump, the Washington-based organisation said the current threats made by the US and its trading partners risked lowe
  
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• England will treat India decider as World Cup dress rehearsal, says Wood

  16-07-2018 16:21
  • Jason Roy struggling to be fit after suffering finger injury
  • James Vince likely to return to England ODI sideMark Wood says England will use the deciding match of the one-day series against India as a dress rehearsal for a potential knockout match when they host next year’s World Cup.It will be highly instructive then to see how they cope under pressure and encumbered by a major injury blow after the opener Jason Roy was rated only a “30-70” chance to recover from
  
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• What the new photo of the Thai cave boys tells us about their ordeal

  16-07-2018 16:20
  The boys gather around a portrait of Saman Kunan, who died in the rescue attempt. Their expressions show a deep recognition of the overwhelming spirit of altruism that saved themWhere are the fists raised in triumph? Where are the big front-page grins? A photograph released by the Thai health ministry of the 12 boys rescued against all odds from the depths of the flooded Tham Luang cave is a picture editor’s nightmare and a human marvel. Instead of raucous celebration, this is a picture ab
  
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• Airbnb warned it breaches EU rules over pricing policy

  16-07-2018 15:59
  Accommodation service told it needs to be clearer on total cost including fees and chargesAirbnb has been found in breach of EU law and given until the end of the summer to ditch a range of practices, including that of belatedly applying additional fees to the prices it promotes online.The accommodation service has been accused by the European commission and national regulators of failing its customers and making the mistake of many global digital firms of “forgetting its responsibilities&
  
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• 'The right to sit': Indian law change allows female workers to rest

  16-07-2018 15:12
  Mainly female workforce in shops not allowed to sit, lean against a wall or use a liftCybil Wilson has worked in one of Kerala’s big, shiny, brightly-lit sari shops for 10 years.Her salary at the shop, in Trivandrum, has been consistently low but it is the pain and swelling in her legs that troubles her the most. Her employer forbids Wilson, and the other 120 female sales assistants working across the four floors, from sitting down during a 12-14 hour shift. Continue reading...
  
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• Wildfire weapon, two presidents and a hippo: Monday's top photos

  16-07-2018 14:02
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Feeling hot, hot, hot? Tell us your experiences of heat in your city

  16-07-2018 12:53
  Temperatures across the globe have broken records – and rising temperatures have serious implications for cities. What’s happening where you live?Whether summer in your city is present or past, there is a good chance you weathered record-breaking temperatures this year. A heatwave swept the planet, and it was not simply one hot summer: the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that all 18 years of the 21st century are among the 19 warmest on record, and 2016 was th
  
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• The Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds – in pictures

  16-07-2018 08:00
  The Hyde Park Picture House, the world’s only surviving gas-lit cinema, opened in 1914. The owners of the Grade II-listed building have now been granted planning permission for redevelopment, to improve accessibility, restore the gas lights and ornate plasterwork and incorporate a second screen in the basementContinue reading...
  
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• All you wanted to know about nuclear war but were too afraid to ask

  16-07-2018 07:00
  The use of a nuclear weapon is now more likely than any time since the cold war, but the probability of humanity being wiped out entirely has diminishedThere are nine countries that possess nuclear weapons. Five of these (the US, Russia, the UK, France and China) are members of the official owners club, who made their weapons early and had them legitimised in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signed in 1968, the key piece of international law governing nuclear weapons possession.Continu
  
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• France lift the trophy as Russia 2018 ends on a high – World Cup Football Daily

  16-07-2018 00:38
  Max and co discuss France’s World Cup final triumph over Croatia, another penalty, another controversial VAR incident, the tournament’s highs and lows and players taking shots to the conkersIf you think this podcast is worth something, then you can support The Guardian from as little as £1. It only takes a minute - go to gu.com/fwRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.M
  
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