General news

• The best hair straighteners for foolproof styling, tried and tested by our expert

  18-03-2025 16:00
  
  From cordless designs to budget buys, we’ve tested the top hair straighteners for every hair type• Everything I’ve learned as a beauty columnist about the products that actually workStraighteners are here to stay – but thankfully, heat styling has come a long way since GHD’s first ceramic straighteners ushered in an era of poker-straight hair in 2001. Today’s models feature adjustable heat settings and protective technology for hairstyling with minimal damage.T
  
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• Piper, no! Parker Posey’s viral White Lotus accent is a gift to us all

  18-03-2025 14:58
  
  The actor’s lorazepam-fueled North Carolinian line delivery in the comedy drama series has taken the internet by stormEvery season of The White Lotus has its thing: a moment that takes off and becomes its own monster until long after the end credits roll on the finale. Season one was the suitcase poop scene, an effect so bizarrely groundbreaking that other showrunners wound up publicly musing on how much it must have cost. Season two’s thing was Jennifer Coolidge saying, “These
  
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• Trump calls for impeachment of judge weighing Alien Enemies deportation case – live

  18-03-2025 14:56
  
  US president’s post marks a significant escalation of rightwing attacks on the judiciary; judge tells White House to provide more details about deportation flights by noon ETWhite House’s defense for not recalling deportations ‘one heck of a stretch’, says judgeDonald Trump has called for the impeachment of the judge handling lawsuits over his administration’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members, a significant escalation of rightwing attacks on the judi
  
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• What is EV maker BYD and can its batteries really charge in five minutes?

  18-03-2025 14:50
  
  The Chinese carmaker’s shares have jumped as investors speculated it could outdo Elon Musk’s TeslaBYD says new charging system could be as quick as filling up a tankThe leading Chinese electric carmaker BYD has surged in value after it said its latest batteries charge fast enough to add 400km (249 miles) of range in only five minutes.BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares gained 4.1% on Monday to hit a record high of 408.80 Hong Kong dollars ($40.58), as investors bet that the company c
  
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• Gold hits record high over $3,000 amid rising geopolitical tensions; Thames Water receives six takeover offers – business live

  18-03-2025 14:48
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as gold hits $3,027 per ounceGold is continuing to hit new heights this morning – it’s now trading at $3,027 per ounce.“In the current environment, every day seems to offer a new catalyst for the gold price,” comments Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.In uncertain times, central banks and individuals demand gold, while inflation concerns emanating from President Trump’s tariffs and trade war are als
  
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• Israel shatters Gaza ceasefire as more than 400 Palestinians killed in IDF strikes – Middle East crisis live

  18-03-2025 14:47
  Benjamin Netanyahu says attacks were carried out to ‘achieve war objectives’ as Hamas labels strikes a ‘blatant violation of humanitarian conventions’Israeli strikes kill hundreds in GazaCommenting on the fresh strikes in Gaza, Sally Thomas, humanitarian manager at Caritas Australia, warned the strikes would impact distribution“In the first month of the ceasefire around 56 ,000 metric tons of food entered Gaza, more than double the amount in the month prior. Alongsi
  
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• I was always terrified of confrontation. Then I hit my 40s | Arwa Mahdawi

  18-03-2025 14:39
  
  If I see someone making my neighbourhood a worse place to live, I walk straight up to them and … have a little word. What is happening to me?Some people buy sports cars when they have a midlife crisis. Others cut off all their hair. Me? I seem to have developed a debilitating obsession with urban sanitation. Over the past couple of years, I have become unhealthily preoccupied with the fact that an alarming number of grown adults seem incapable of disposing of their rubbish properly. There
  
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• ‘I aggressed you’: Jonathan Majors reportedly admits to assault in audio recording

  18-03-2025 14:34
  
  Actor known for his Creed III and Marvel roles seemingly confirms strangling his ex-girlfriend in recordingJonathan Majors evidently admitted to battering ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in an audio recording that was obtained and published by Rolling Stone on Monday, nearly a year after the actor avoided jail time after being convicted of assaulting and harassing her in a separate case.The clip of Majors, 35, surfaced days before the theatrical release of his delayed film Magazine Dreams – an
  
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• Family of man who died in custody say four-year wait for CPS decision is ‘form of torture’

  18-03-2025 14:33
  
  Sister of William Cameron, who died in a police station in Berkshire in 2020, says delay has left family unable to grieveThe sister of a man who died in police custody has described the four-year wait for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether any chargers would be brought against a police officer and a former healthcare professional as a “form of torture”.William Cameron, 23, who was described by his family as a “kind, loving, and protective brother”, died in cu
  
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• Google’s parent to buy cybersecurity group Wiz in biggest ever deal

  18-03-2025 14:23
  
  Alphabet’s acquisition of Israeli startup for $32bn follows rejection of takeover bid last summerGoogle’s owner, Alphabet, has agreed to buy the cybersecurity group Wiz for $32bn (£24.7bn), the biggest acquisition it has ever made.The search giant’s purchase of the Israeli startup comes as Google to catch its rivals Microsoft and Amazon in the competitive cloud services market. Continue reading...
  
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• Tell us about your favourite Jane Austen books

  18-03-2025 14:07
  
  We’d like to hear about your most-loved Austen novels and what they mean to youTo celebrate 250 years of Jane Austen, authors such as Colm Tóibín and Katherine Rundell talked to the Guardian about their favourite novel.We’d now like to hear what you think. What are your favourite Jane Austen books and why? Do they have a particular memory for you, or perhaps you relate to some of the characters and their relationships? Continue reading...
  
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• Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors review – batty antics with a Rocky Horror bloodsucker

  18-03-2025 14:07
  
  Menier Chocolate Factory, London
  As a gym-bunny vampire channelling Frank-N-Furter, James Daly leads a superb cast in a gender and genre-inverting romp that lacks biteBefore they took on Bram Stoker’s vampire count, co-writers Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen did Crime and Punishment: A Comedy – another title that speaks for itself. Here, Dracula is put through their humour wringer and comes out a pansexual bloodsucker, chasing anyone with a neck.There are gender and genre inversions
  
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• Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo review – masterpieces from a man with a heart as big as the Notre Dame

  18-03-2025 14:05
  
  Royal Academy, London
  From hanged men and inky cephalopods to shadowy gothic castles, these cosmic, horror-tinged works let the Les Misérables writer and liberal political campaigner speak directly to usVictor Hugo is the French equivalent of Shakespeare and Dickens. The inventor of Quasimodo and Jean Valjean is so universal that we absorb his myths even if we have never picked up one of his books. Yet how much do most of us know about Hugo himself, behind the books, the films, the musica
  
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• Anti-plague amulets and IOUs: the excavation that brings Roman London thundering back to life

  18-03-2025 14:05
  
  With sandals that look fresher than last year’s Birkenstocks, gossipy messages recovered from writing tablets and 73,000 shards of pottery, London Museum’s new collection is like falling head-first into the first centuryArchaeologists don’t always get lucky when a site is redeveloped in the middle of London. People have been building in the city for millennia and, in more recent times, bombing it. But if the building before went too deep, or there has been too much exposure to
  
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• Liz Kendall unveils UK benefits cuts set to leave many sick and disabled worse off

  18-03-2025 14:01
  
  Welfare secretary announces changes aimed at cutting bill by up to £5bn in face of opposition from Labour MPsUK politics live – latest updatesLiz Kendall, the welfare secretary, has faced down angry Labour MPs to unveil drastic cuts to the UK’s benefits system that will leave many sick and disabled claimants worse off.The measures, which the government argues are needed to “fix the broken benefits system” and balance the nation’s books, are expected to cut &po
  
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• The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru review – British wartime tragedy told with potent empathy

  18-03-2025 14:00
  
  This enthralling Chinese documentary about the torpedoing of a Japanese freighter carrying 1,816 British PoWs in the second world war excavates the emotional wreckage on all sidesThis enthralling and shattering Chinese documentary benefits from superb material: a dark Boy’s Own yarn from October 1942 about the torpedoing of the wartime freighter Lisbon Maru, the attempted mass murder of the 1,816 British PoWs on board by their Japanese captors, and their rescue by Chinese fishermen from th
  
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• Mauricio Pochettino: ‘In five or 10 years the US can be No 1 in the world’

  18-03-2025 14:00
  
  Argentinian reveals the challenges of managing the US men’s national side, that he was never in consideration for the England job and how he would love a return to SpursPressure? It comes with the territory for Mauricio Pochettino, what with his territory these days being the United States and the job of managing the men’s national team. For a World Cup. That the US will largely host next year. And yet Pochettino felt the dial turn a little further on the Friday before last when he w
  
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• ‘I know how important it is to tell people you love them’: England centre Meg Jones on family tragedy, hope and rugby

  18-03-2025 14:00
  
  As England look to the Six Nations in a World Cup year, the 28-year-old juggles grief and guilt after losing her father to cancer and mother to alcoholism“I’ll just use my sleeve,” Meg Jones says softly as the tears slide down her face. The England centre tries to stem the flow of pain while I scuffle around in search of a tissue in one of my pockets. It takes a while but I finally dig out a stray sheet of kitchen towel.Jones laughs, while still crying, as she accepts my scrunc
  
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• How Covid changed children in Britain

  18-03-2025 14:00
  
  Uncertainty, disruption, increased screen use and crippling anxiety are some of the legacies since pandemic school closuresWhen it comes to disasters, children are habitually “ignored and mistreated”, according to the disasters expert Prof Lucy Easthope. So five years ago, when schools were told to close and lessons went online, a siren went off inside her.“The lockdown terrified me,” she said. The government’s planning was focused on keeping children safe, but many
  
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• Fear grows among US’s 390,000 undocumented Chinese immigrants: ‘So many policies have changed’

  18-03-2025 14:00
  
  Those newly arrived and those who have lived in the US for decades worry as Trump vows to deport Chinese nationalsIn 2014, a few years after the birth of her second child, Jenny left China to flee an abusive relationship and government persecution for violating the one-child policy. She brought her younger daughter to San Francisco and, though undocumented, found work at a childcare facility and eventually married a US citizen.Because of extended delays in visa processing, her green card applica
  
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• Parents in England: share your experience of your children being absent from school

  18-03-2025 13:45
  
  We would like to hear from parents and the reasons why their children have been finding it difficult to attend schoolFive years after Covid closed schools in England, there is still a crisis in school attendance. This week the Department for Education will publish its latest figures for 2023/4. We’re interested in finding out more about the experience of parents whose children are absent from school and the reasons behind this.How long have your children been away from school and why? Perh
  
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• Donald Trump: the president making anywhere but America great again | Marina Hyde

  18-03-2025 13:44
  
  The US stock market is spooked and his henchmogul’s companies are floundering. Has the great dealmaker been building up … the wrong nation?Naturally I assumed the feeling would pass, but one whole week after the US president turned the lawn of the White House into a crappy car dealership, I keep finding myself feeling … optimistic. I know, I know. But if anything, I find myself feeling a little bit more optimistic every day – and sometimes a lot more. Not for America, w
  
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• Trump and Putin to hold high-stakes call on Ukraine

  18-03-2025 13:34
  
  Call to come amid reports that Russia is demanding halt to western arms deliveries as condition for truceEurope live – latest updatesDonald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a high-stakes call on Tuesday afternoon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, amid reports that Russia is demanding a halt to all western arms deliveries to Ukraine as a condition for a truce.The Kremlin said on Tuesday the phone call would take place between 1pm and 3pm GMT. Continue reading...
  
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• UN human rights chief voices horror at Israel’s new Gaza strikes

  18-03-2025 13:24
  
  Volker Türk calls for immediate end to violence and unconditional release of hostagesMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe UN’s human rights chief has voiced horror at Israel’s resumption of airstrikes on Gaza that have killed at least 404 people, saying further misery was being inflicted on people “already suffering catastrophic conditions”.In a statement on Tuesday Volker Türk said he was horrified by Monday night’s airstrikes and shelling in Gaza.
  
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• British tourist held in US after visa mix-up released, says family

  18-03-2025 13:19
  
  Rebecca Burke’s father says she has left immigration detention centre and he hopes she will be home soonThe family of a British woman detained in the US for three weeks because of a visa mix-up say she has left the immigration detention centre and are hopeful she is on her way home.Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire, was trying to cross from the US state of Washington into Canada when she was refused entry. Continue reading...
  
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• Championship race hots up as Blades slash Leeds’ lead at top – Football Weekly podcast

  18-03-2025 13:16
  
  Max Rushden is joined by George Elek, Ben Fisher and Sanny Rudravajhala for an EFL specialRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.On the podcast today; it’s still a three-way race at the top of the Championship. Leeds are top on goal difference, but Chris Wilder and Scott Parker are steering Sheffield United and Burnley just behind them. Below, Frank Lampard’s Coventry City ha
  
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• Too many urban deer is ‘an impending disaster’ – still, we owe them an apology

  18-03-2025 13:00
  
  Witnessing near-miss roadkill on a daily basis makes me wonder if we can be better neighbors to wildlifeHeart racing, I hold my breath and brace to witness the impact.The spindly fawn crosses first, tottering its way across the two-lane artery that borders my house. I watch a truck approaching in the opposite direction and wait for it to slow down. Will it? Continue reading...
  
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• John Roberts made Trump’s authoritarianism possible. He could still save his own legacy | Steven Greenhouse

  18-03-2025 13:00
  
  The supreme court judge has emboldened and enabled Trump, but the president’s second term must surely have him worriedJohn Roberts, chief justice of the US supreme court, should be very worried about how history will regard him. Roberts sees himself as a cautious conservative committed to protecting our institutions, but it increasingly looks as if history will view him very differently – as a deeply flawed chief justice who paved the way for the US to become an authoritarian state.R
  
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• I’m obsessed with cave diving. This is the closest environment we have to space

  18-03-2025 13:00
  
  Some of the caves I dive in are hundreds of thousands of years old and the marine life is unique. But they can be very dangerous placesCave diving is like swimming through the history of the planet. There are remains of both humans and animals but also stalactites and stalagmites. These cannot form when the cave is flooded, so you can see when parts of it were submerged and when it was dry.Yet when I’m in a cave, time does not tick. There is no natural light, so the cave looks the same, wh
  
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• Jodie Comer to reprise Prima Facie role ‘one last time’ for a tour

  18-03-2025 12:54
  Suzie Miller’s award-winning monologue hits the road next year, with the Killing Eve actor playing a barrister who defends men of rape and is assaulted herself Jodie Comer is to reprise her Olivier and Tony award-winning performance in Prima Facie “one last time” on tour next year, including a visit to her hometown of Liverpool.The monologue, written by Suzie Miller, stars Comer as a barrister who defends men of rape and is assaulted herself. The Killing Eve actor made her West
  
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• ‘Seb is a leader’: Farah, Bolt and Grey-Thompson back Coe for IOC president

  18-03-2025 12:47
  
  Vote to succeed Thomas Bach is on ThursdaySamaranch and Coventry seen as main rivalsSome of the biggest names of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics have thrown their weight behind Sebastian Coe to become the next IOC president. Before the vote in Greece on Thursday, Mo Farah, who won 5,000m and 10,000m gold in London, and Usain Bolt, who took the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay titles, praised Lord Coe’s leadership and backed him for the job.They have been joined by Paralympians Tanni
  
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• David Squires on … Newcastle riding a wave of euphoria after ending trophy drought

  18-03-2025 12:32
  
  Our cartoonist on the high-performing Magpies winning the League Cup and a rough week for LiverpoolBuy a copy of a Squires cartoon in our Print ShopDavid’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...
  
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• Hope for endangered penguins as no-fishing zones agreed off South Africa

  18-03-2025 12:20
  
  Deal will restrict fishing near colonies on Robben Island and Bird Island for 10 years, after long debate between industry and conservationistsEfforts to stop the critically endangered African penguin from going extinct took a step forward on Tuesday after South African conservationists and fishing industry groups reached a legal settlement on no-fishing zones around six of the penguins’ major breeding colonies.Sardine and anchovy fishing will not be allowed for 12 miles (20km) around the
  
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• Car finance firm Close Brothers slumps to loss after taking £165m hit

  18-03-2025 12:16
  
  Company’s shares plunge as it estimates total costs of £200m this year from motor finance scandalBusiness live – latest updatesClose Brothers, one of the UK’s biggest providers of car loans, has slumped to a £103m loss as it deals with the fallout of the motor finance commission scandal, which it estimates will cost it a total of £200m this year.The lender also scrapped its dividend again. Its shares plunged by 17% on the news. Continue reading...
  
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• Israeli strikes kill hundreds in Gaza

  18-03-2025 12:13
  
  Palestinian health authorities report 400 deaths as IDF hits dozens of sites across territoryIsraeli-Gaza – latest updatesIsrael’s military has ordered an evacuation of parts of eastern Gaza, hours after launching a wave of airstrikes that killed more than 400 people, shattering the pause in hostilities since mid-January in the devastated Palestinian territory.The evacuation orders, which cover the northern town of Beit Hanoun and other communities further south, suggest that Israeli
  
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• ‘It’s back to drug rationing’: the end of HIV was in sight. Then came the cuts

  18-03-2025 12:09
  
  The abrupt halt to US funding threatens to undo decades of advances, dramatically increasing infections and deaths, but some see an opportunity for Africa to lead the responseThis year the world should have been “talking about the virtual elimination of HIV” in the near future. “Within five years,” says Prof Sharon Lewin, a leading researcher in the field. “Now that’s all very uncertain.”Scientific advances had allowed doctors and campaigners to feel opt
  
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• Ewa Pajor: ‘Sometimes I’m at home and it’s like: wow I play for Barcelona’

  18-03-2025 12:05
  Poland striker discusses facing her former club Wolfsburg in the Champions League quarter-finals and wanting to improve every dayThere is a sense of familiarity to Wednesday’s Women’s Champions League quarter-final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg, but with one decisive change. The two met in the 2023 final in Eindhoven with Ewa Pajor scoring for Wolfsburg after three minutes. This time, though, she will line up for the Blaugrana.Barcelona swooped to sign the Poland international last
  
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• Premier League delays use of new offside technology after record VAR hold-up

  18-03-2025 12:02
  Semi-automated offside technology failed in FA CupFA will continue to use it, including in Cup finalThe Premier League has further delayed the introduction of semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) after the record eight-minute video assistant referee check in the FA Cup fifth-round tie between Bournemouth and Wolves.The technology, which was trialled for the first time in English football in seven of the eight fifth-round ties, failed at the Vitality Stadium owing to what sources described as
  
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• My beloved tube station book-swap has gone. Who’s to blame for its passing? | Zoe Williams

  18-03-2025 12:00
  
  There has been outrage over Transport for London’s decision to remove those mini station libraries, but let’s not rush to call it ‘health and safety gone mad’In my nearest tube station, there used to be a book-swap in the entrance, which I used to love for the sheer speed of uptake. You could drop any old random nonsense there in the morning and, by the time you came home in the evening, it would be gone. Once, I left an anthology of short plays from 1976. It wasn’t
  
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• Canadian actor detained at US border in ‘inhumane conditions’ for nearly two weeks

  18-03-2025 12:00
  
  Entrepreneur and actor Jasmine Mooney, who had a role in an American Pie sequel, says she was arrested at southern border and held in detention over an incomplete work visaA Canadian entrepreneur and actor in the American Pie movie franchise said she was detained for almost two weeks in “inhumane” conditions by US border authorities over an incomplete visa.Jasmine Mooney, an actor who is also co-founder of the beverage brand Holy! Water, was detained on 3 March in San Diego, Californ
  
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• The Breakdown | My team of the Six Nations: from Lions in waiting to France’s new King Louis

  18-03-2025 11:16
  
  The tournament’s brightest stars make a formidable side – twin Currys, six Frenchmen and a Scottish double15. Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)Check out this season’s stats and Kinghorn’s name is prominent in every backline category. Most metres gained, most line-breaks, most offloads … the long-striding full-back is a serious athlete and is clearly enjoying his time at Toulouse. His clubmate Thomas Ramos was the tournament’s golden boot but Kinghorn’s pace ear
  
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• Why is Elon Musk still CEO of Tesla?

  18-03-2025 11:00
  
  The tech billionaire and his EV company suffer, Apple castigates itself over Siri failures and a Meta tell-all book evokes a strong reactionHello, and welcome to TechScape. In this week’s edition: Elon Musk suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Apple beats itself up over Siri, and Meta goes after one of its own over a tell-all book.The past 10 days have marked several of the most significant setbacks for Musk in months. Tesla, arguably his marquee company, continued to fall
  
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• Why has Israel resumed large-scale airstrikes on Gaza?

  18-03-2025 11:00
  Officials claim attacks will bring release of more hostages, but some suggest political factors at play for NetanyahuMiddle East crisis – live updatesIsrael has resumed large-scale attacks in Gaza with a wave of airstrikes and artillery fire against targets throughout the devastated territory. More than 300 have been killed and hundreds more injured, according to Palestinian authorities.The casualties include some high-ranking Hamas officials and many civilians, including women and childre
  
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• Nasa cuts raise fears of handing more influence to SpaceX owner Musk

  18-03-2025 11:00
  
  Fired workers warn cuts including closing of two offices will undermine agency work and increase costsThe Trump administration’s decision to shutter two offices at Nasa risks “dramatically” increasing the costs of space exploration, while handing Elon Musk more influence over the agency, fired workers have warned.Nasa’s office of technology, policy and strategy and office of the chief scientist provide independent analysis on key investments and strategies. Both are set t
  
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• As Trump menaces us in Canada, we have a question for Britain: when will you stand up to him? | Jennifer Welsh

  18-03-2025 11:00
  The UK has long benefited from its Commonwealth. Though we will take steps to ensure our survival, the silence from London is deafeningDavid Lammy thought he was reassuring Canadians. During his visit to Canada – for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers– he was asked about Donald Trump’s claims that the country should become the 51st state of the US. The UK foreign secretary stressed that Canada is a “proud [and] sovereign nation”, and – in his view – would
  
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• A day in the life of an asylum hotel: inside the UK’s most controversial accommodation

  18-03-2025 11:00
  
  The media often stigmatises asylum hotels – and they are sometimes physically attacked too. But behind closed doors are people who dream of work, wheels, security and the simple freedom to choose what they eatMuhammad is from Afghanistan and has a lot to think about today. He has good news – he’s received his asylum decision and he can stay in the UK. But that has brought up a new problem: he will have to leave the budget hotel in Yorkshire where he has been living for months &
  
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• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins review – second Hunger Games prequel is not for the faint-hearted

  18-03-2025 10:54
  
  Moments of lyricism and literary flourishes help to leaven the grimness as the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy, eventual mentor to Katniss Everdeen, takes centre stageFrom the publication of the first volume in 2008, Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series was an enormous hit, later adapted as hugely successful films. Inevitably, a prequel was spawned, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020), now followed by Sunrise on the Reaping, set about a quarter of a century before the events of the
  
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• ‘We just tried to make what we thought was cool’: the story of Monolith Productions

  18-03-2025 10:30
  
  As the 30-year-old studio behind many innovative and beloved video games shuts down, its founders, fans and designers discuss what made it so specialLate last month, Warner Bros announced it was closing three of its game development studios in a “strategic change of direction”: WB Games San Diego, Player First Studios, and Monolith Productions. At a time when the games industry is racked with layoffs and studio closures, the barrage of dispiriting headlines can be numbing. But the sh
  
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• VR headsets, yoga mats and pool sliders added to UK ‘inflation basket’

  18-03-2025 10:30
  Pulled pork replaces oven-ready gammon joints, and local newspaper adverts are out on ONS listBusiness live – latest updatesVirtual reality headsets, yoga mats and men’s pool sliders have been added to the shopping basket used to calculate the cost of living in Britain, while local newspaper adverts and oven-ready gammon joints have been removed.In a snapshot of an increasingly online, time-pressed nation, the Office for National Statistics said the annual review of its inflation bas
  
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• Can the UK fix its broken prison system? – video

  18-03-2025 10:01
  
  The prison population in England and Wales has doubled in the last 30 years, with overcrowding now endemic across the system. But the government's strategy of easing this pressure by granting early release to thousands of offenders has had a knock-on effect. With many lacking stability on the outside, reoffending rates are high, exacerbating the existing problem. The Guardian visited Wales to see this playing out on the streets of Bridgend; and the Netherlands, to find out how the Dutch have man
  
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