General news

• Two-star Michelin restaurant in Wales handed one-star hygiene rating

  14-01-2026 23:49 via theguardian.com
  Ynyshir’s Gareth Ward ‘not embarrassed’ by score and says it was due to concerns about the use of raw ingredientsThe chef behind a Welsh restaurant with two Michelin stars says it has “the highest standards in the world”, despite being given a one-star hygiene rating in a recent inspection.Ynyshir, a restaurant with rooms near Machynlleth on the southern edge of the Eryri national park, has been praised as one of the best in the world. Continue reading...
  
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• Prop 50: appeals court rejects Republican bid to block California maps

  14-01-2026 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Judges uphold redrawing to offset Texas gerrymandering as Newsom attacks lawsuit as ‘weak attempt to silence voters’A federal appeals panel on Wednesday upheld the California ballot initiative that allows temporary changes to congressional district maps designed to benefit Democrats in upcoming elections.The measure, known as Proposition 50, emerged in response to actions taken in Texas, where Republican leaders sought to adjust congressional districts to increase GOP representation
  
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• Murder investigation launched after death of man

  14-01-2026 23:21 via bbc.com
  A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a 43-year-old man in Coleraine, County Londonderry.
  
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• Trump insists Greenland is crucial for national security after Denmark talks

  14-01-2026 23:20 via theguardian.com
  Talks fail to solve ‘fundamental disagreement’ over Arctic island controlled by CopenhagenDonald Trump reiterated on Wednesday that the US needs Greenland and that Denmark cannot be relied upon to protect the island, even as he said that “something will work out” with respect to the future governance of the Danish overseas territory.The remarks, which came after a high-stakes meeting between US, Danish and Greenlandic officials, indicate that fundamental differences remai
  
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• Sánchez errors hand Arsenal first-leg lead despite Garnacho’s Chelsea double

  14-01-2026 23:10 via theguardian.com
  It was the latest display of Arsenal’s power and aggression, their remorselessness. And when it was over, this Carabao Cup semi-final felt firmly within their grip. But for a late goal from the Chelsea substitute Alejandro Garnacho, his second of an eventful cameo, it would surely have been over.Even so, it was difficult on this evidence to predict anything other than Arsenal progressing into the final; moving closer to a rare piece of silverware under Mikel Arteta – one to pave the
  
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• Hillsborough Law campaigners say they cannot back proposed bill

  14-01-2026 22:52 via bbc.com
  They are concerned security services will be exempt from a law designed to stop cover-ups.
  
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• South East Water licence to be reviewed after supply chaos

  14-01-2026 22:27 via bbc.com
  About 17,000 properties still had no water or were experiencing intermittent supplies on Wednesday.
  
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• Three Palestine Action protesters end their hunger strike

  14-01-2026 22:04 via theguardian.com
  Four more who had paused their strikes choose not to continue after government opts against giving contract to Elbit Systems UKThree Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners have announced the end of their hunger strike after the government decided not to award a £2bn contract to the Israeli arms company subsidiary Elbit Systems UK – with another four who had paused their protest choosing not to continue.Fears had been growing for the welfare of those taking part. On Wednesday, Heba Mur
  
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• England seek new head coach for Rugby League World Cup after Shaun Wane quits

  14-01-2026 21:46 via theguardian.com
  Wane: ‘I believe the time is right to step aside’Successor likely to be part-time appointmentShaun Wane has left his position as England head coach with immediate effect, the Guardian can reveal, leaving the national team on the hunt for a replacement for the Rugby League World Cup later this year.Wane oversaw England’s 3-0 Ashes defeat against Australia last autumn but insisted in the aftermath of that series that he was keen to continue and rebuild going into the World Cup in
  
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• Mahmood has no confidence in police chief after Israeli fan ban

  14-01-2026 21:24 via bbc.com
  West Midlands Police apologises for errors, but makes no comment on its chief constable's future.
  
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• Massacres and executions: what are we hearing from inside Iran? | The Latest

  14-01-2026 21:22 via theguardian.com
  Protesters face execution as the Iranian regime continues its violent crackdown, defying the US president, Donald Trump, who has threatened ‘very strong action’ if demonstrators are killed. Erfan Soltani, 26, is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but it is unclear whether or not his execution has taken place. Lucy Hough speaks to journalist Deepa Parent about what she is hearing from those inside Iran Continue reading...
  
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• Labour MPs could rebel over Hillsborough law after talks with families break down

  14-01-2026 21:03 via theguardian.com
  Families are concerned about possibility for intelligence services to veto officers giving evidence after disastersKeir Starmer is facing the prospect of Labour MPs rebelling on his manifesto-promised Hillsborough law after talks broke down with families over how the duty of candour would apply to serving intelligence officers.Starmer was introduced at last year’s Labour conference by Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, was one of the 97 people killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
  
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• US announces start of second phase of Gaza ceasefire

  14-01-2026 20:28 via theguardian.com
  No details given of committee members who will run territory but they are expected be technocrats, not politiciansThe US has announced the start of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, including the creation of a committee of Palestinian technocrats who are supposed to take over the day-to-day running of the territory for a transition period.The announcement was made on social media by Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, but it lacked any detail or names of potential members of
  
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• Amazon to close Milton Keynes fulfilment centre, affecting 590 workers

  14-01-2026 20:27 via theguardian.com
  The site was the UK’s first Amazon warehouse and staff will be offered a transfer to a new Northampton site or elsewhereAmazon is planning to close one of its UK fulfilment centres, offering workers the chance to transfer to another site.The company announced a consultation on a proposal to close the site in Milton Keynes, which was the first Amazon centre to open in the UK, in 1998. Continue reading...
  
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• Maternal death rate in UK rose by 20% over 14 years despite Tory pledge

  14-01-2026 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Experts describe increase as ‘absolute tragedy’ after data shows rate jumped despite Conservatives vowing to halve itThe rate of women dying during or soon after pregnancy in the UK has increased by 20% over the last decade, despite the Conservatives having pledged to halve it, according to figures experts have described as “an absolute tragedy”.In 2015, the then Tory health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, vowed to reduce maternal deaths by 50% by 2030 and make the NHS “one
  
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• Why banning of Maccabi fans raises questions about police integrity

  14-01-2026 20:08 via bbc.com
  The decision to ban fans of the Israeli team from a UK game was based on a flawed assessment, a report has found.
  
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• Can’t stand losing out: battle over the Police’s royalties reaches high court

  14-01-2026 20:03 via theguardian.com
  Dispute between Sting and former bandmates relates to whether streaming revenue, estimated at £1.5m, features in ‘arranger’s fees’There was a point in the early 1980s when the Police were so popular, it seemed every little thing they did was magic.Four decades on, with a back catalogue of hits and millions of pounds worth of streaming royalties rolling in, the mood music has changed significantly. Continue reading...
  
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• X ‘acting to comply with UK law’ after outcry over sexualised images

  14-01-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  New polling suggests 58% of Britons think X should be banned in the UK if the social network fails to crack down on nonconsensual imagesElon Musk’s X is understood to have told the government it is acting to comply with UK law, after nearly a fortnight of public outcry at the use of its AI tool Grok to manipulate images of women and children by removing their clothes.Keir Starmer told the House of Commons on Wednesday that photographs generated by Grok were “disgusting” and &ld
  
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• Horses can smell fear in humans, researchers say

  14-01-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Tests showed horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easilyHorses can smell fear, or at least whether you have scared yourself witless watching a horror movie, according to researchers who say the effect has consequences for riders, trainers and others who work with the animals.In a series of tests, horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easily, had higher heart rates and approached their handlers less often than when t
  
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• Six arrested in £300m social housing fraud probe

  14-01-2026 19:31 via bbc.com
  The Serious Fraud Office is investigating alleged fraud within social housing firm Home REIT.
  
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• The Guardian view on Labour policy U-turns: a dangerous pattern that corrodes confidence | Editorial

  14-01-2026 19:24 via theguardian.com
  It is better to correct policy than persist in error, but Keir Starmer cannot afford to keep signalling his lack of coherent directionIn practical terms there is not a huge difference between proving your identity online with a passport and using a government-issued digital ID. But when possession of the latter is a legal requirement, the distinction has clear political significance. So does the government’s decision this week to abandon proposals to make digital ID mandatory.People will s
  
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• The Guardian view on Labour’s plan for railways in the north: a slow train coming | Editorial

  14-01-2026 19:22 via theguardian.com
  Proposals to relaunch Northern Powerhouse Rail are welcome and overdue. But passengers and commuters will believe it when they see itIn areas starved of the kind of investment taken for granted in the south-east, the miserable state of northern England’s railways has long been a source of anger and indignation. One analysis of Treasury figures found that the equivalent of seven Elizabeth lines could have been built in the north, if levels of funding devoted to London’s transport need
  
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• FBI raids home of Washington Post reporter in ‘highly unusual and aggressive’ move

  14-01-2026 19:20 via theguardian.com
  Agents searched Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home and seized devices in inquiry tied to a classified materials caseThe FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter early on Wednesday in what the newspaper called a “highly unusual and aggressive” move by law enforcement, and press freedom groups condemned as a “tremendous intrusion” by the Trump administration.Agents descended on the Virginia home of Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government co
  
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• Alleged assault by former teacher had a profound effect, court hears

  14-01-2026 19:05 via bbc.com
  The incidents, which William Lloyd-Lavery denies, are alleged to have taken place between 1974 and 1979.
  
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• I’ve been thinking a lot about dog poo | Adrian Chiles

  14-01-2026 18:52 via theguardian.com
  There was a time when nobody picked up after their dogs – and it would have been considered disgusting to do so. What caused the change in attitude?A PE teacher from Cardiff called Tony is frozen solid after being caught in an avalanche in 1979. There he remains until global heating sees to his thawing and he pops up in the present day, exactly as he was back then. Comedy ensues. This is make-believe, by the way; it’s the premise of Mike Bubbins’ BBC series Mammoth. In the mast
  
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• England’s T20 World Cup plans hit by Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed visa delays

  14-01-2026 18:51 via theguardian.com
  Indian government yet to issue visas to spinnersAhmed and Rashid unlikely to fly to Sri Lanka this weekEngland have had a setback in their preparations for the T20 World Cup next month with the Indian government yet to issue visas to the spinners Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed.The delay means both players, who have Pakistani heritage, are unlikely to travel with the rest of the squad this weekend for six warm-up games against Sri Lanka, and it is unclear when they will join their teammates. Continu
  
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• Conor Gallagher vows to bring Tottenham ‘special moments’ after £34.6m transfer

  14-01-2026 18:50 via theguardian.com
  Midfielder signs long-term deal after move from AtléticoThomas Frank: ‘Conor will bring leadership and maturity’Conor Gallagher has pledged to bring “special moments” to Tottenham after completing a £34.6m transfer from Atlético Madrid. Spurs moved quickly for a midfielder they have long admired after losing Rodrigo Bentancur to a hamstring injury at Bournemouth last Wednesday, beating off competition from Aston Villa. Bentancur has since undergone sur
  
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• After the shooting of Renee Good, we see dissent can be fatal in Trump’s America – all bets are off | Emma Brockes

  14-01-2026 18:46 via theguardian.com
  A line has been crossed, and it’s vital to understand that. A system that sends paramilitaries on to the streets will observe no limitsA few years ago, towards the end of the second Obama administration, a friend and her wife flew back to New York from a holiday in Mexico, landing for a connecting flight in South Carolina. At immigration, the officer looked from one to the other, asked their relation to one another and on receiving the reply, made a noise of disgust – “ugh&rdqu
  
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• UN charter reminder for the attorney general | Letter

  14-01-2026 18:41 via theguardian.com
  Richard Hermer’s comments on Trump and Venezuela show that he seems to have forgotten what it says, writes Mark Seddon One of my former UN bosses, María Fernanda Espinosa, made a point of sending a copy of the UN charter to the permanent representative of each member state on her election as president of the UN general assembly, by way of reminding them of their binding commitments.As she now intends to stand for election as the first female secretary general of
  
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• South East Water could lose operating licence after outages in Kent and Sussex

  14-01-2026 18:41 via theguardian.com
  Fine of 10% of annual turnover among other potential penalties as environment secretary calls for Ofwat reviewSouth East Water could lose its operating licence after residents across Kent and Sussex faced up to a week without water.The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, has called for the regulator to review the company’s operating licence. If it were to lose it, the company would fall into a special administration regime until a new buyer was found. Continue reading...
  
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• Religious tradition, child safety and the law on circumcision | Letters

  14-01-2026 18:41 via theguardian.com
  Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Ray Flynn and another reader respond to the news that the practice is classed as possible child abuse in a draft Crown Prosecution Service documentI would welcome criminalising circumcision if it was performed by an unqualified person – just as would be the case if someone unqualified conducted any other surgical operation (Circumcision classed as possible child abuse in draft CPS document, 10 January). But leaping from that to banning the practice altogether is n
  
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• Bra-burning was just a 1970s tabloid trope | Letter

  14-01-2026 18:41 via theguardian.com
  Judith Condon is disappointed by Call the Midwife’s reductive depiction of the Women’s Liberation MovementWhat a pity to see Call the Midwife, still one of Britain’s most popular television series, stumbling into tired stereotypes about the Women’s Liberation Movement of the early 1970s.The first episode of the new series had the female characters attending a WLM meeting, then assembling to burn their bras over a brazier. The scene may have provided an amusing image of th
  
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• ADHD care needs better regulation and fewer pills | Letters

  14-01-2026 18:41 via theguardian.com
  Dr Vicky Cleak is frustrated with the lengthy registration process to practice, while Mona Sood and another reader are wary of NHS drug-based interventionsAs a UK-trained consultant psychiatrist, fully indemnified, appraised and regulated by the General Medical Council, with specialist expertise in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment, I read your article on rising ADHD care costs with concern and frustration (NHS ADHD spending over budget by £164m
  
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• Reeves doesn't rule out wider business rates support across hospitality

  14-01-2026 18:38 via bbc.com
  Chancellor says support for pubs is on its way and leaves the door open for further tweaks to business rates changes
  
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• Onwards and sideways for Keir after another U-turn leaves him going nowhere | John Crace

  14-01-2026 18:35 via theguardian.com
  Having lost the faith of his party and the public, the prime minister turns to dad jokes – and he’s even worse at those than running the countryNot another one. On Tuesday evening, the government announced that it wasn’t going to make digital ID cards mandatory after all. Just months after Keir Starmer had made digital ID cards the cornerstone of his plans to stop migrants working illegally.It’s getting hard to keep up. At Christmas, we had the U-turn on inheritance tax o
  
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• ‘Aisle lice’: bad behaviour on planes – and how public shaming could stop it

  14-01-2026 18:21 via theguardian.com
  Jumping up as soon as the seatbelt sign goes off can provoke fury among fellow passengers. And what goes on at the luggage carousel is possibly even worse …Name: “Aisle lice”.Age: Any age, as long as they’re ambulatory. Continue reading...
  
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• Actor John Alford jailed for sex assaults on teens

  14-01-2026 18:21 via bbc.com
  The former London's Burning and Grange Hill star bought vodka for the girls before assaulting them.
  
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• Ben Jennings on Keir Starmer’s U-turns – cartoon

  14-01-2026 18:10 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Erotic gay smash Heated Rivalry is a well-timed defense of intimacy coordinators | Adrian Horton

  14-01-2026 18:02 via theguardian.com
  The small screen phenomenon, and its publicized use of intimacy coordinators, has arrived as established Hollywood names have started to criticize the roleIf you could pinpoint a moment where things change for Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the two professional hockey players secretly hooking up in the show Heated Rivalry – a moment when the relationship breaks through into fraught emotional territory, when the hazy, undefined thing has become a thing
  
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• Wolf’s dinner preserved in Siberia for 14,400 years sheds light on woolly rhino

  14-01-2026 18:01 via theguardian.com
  Decoded genome of meat in pup’s stomach helps scientists build picture of what caused extinction of speciesResearchers have shed light on the final centuries of the woolly rhinoceros after studying a hairy lump of meat from the stomach of an ancient wolf cub that became mummified in the Siberian permafrost.The beautifully preserved remains of a two-month-old female wolf cub were discovered in 2011 near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. The animal is thought to have died 14,400
  
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• Resolution festival review – admin hell, an epic club night and flamenco voguing

  14-01-2026 18:01 via theguardian.com
  The Place, London
  Intriguing works by Seirian Griffiths, Qi Song and Isadora D’Héloïsa explore in-between states in this month-long showcase of the future of danceEach evening at the Place’s Resolution festival of new choreography showcases fresh green shoots and this particular triple bill of bright, idea-driven dance was united by intriguing concepts. Each piece is a consideration of in-between states, most outlandishly the standout, Interchange, a questing solo by Seir
  
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• UK ready to 'tighten chokehold' on Russia's shadow fleet

  14-01-2026 18:00 via bbc.com
  The foreign secretary promised more "assertive action" to tackle sanction-busting oil tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet.
  
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• Six arrested over suspected £300m fraud at UK social housing fund

  14-01-2026 17:51 via theguardian.com
  Serious Fraud Office mounts seven raids on sites linked to Home Reit which raised £850m to tackle homelessnessBusiness live – latest updatesThe Serious Fraud Office has arrested six people and raided seven sites in connection with a bribery and fraud investigation into a social housing fund.The agency estimated there had been £300m of “suspected offending” at Home Reit, which was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. Continue reading...
  
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• Liz Kendall’s response to X ‘nudification’ is good – but not enough to solve the problem | Nana Nwachukwu

  14-01-2026 17:48 via theguardian.com
  Big tech companies cannot be trusted. It is not enough that they remove harm when they find it – the law must make their systems prevent harmOn X, a woman posts a photo in a sari, and within minutes, various users are underneath the post tagging Grok to strip her down to a bikini. It is a shocking violation of privacy, but now a familiar and commonplace practice. Between June 2025 and January 2026, I documented 565 instances of users requesting Grok to create nonconsensual intimate imagery
  
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• Labour still faces risks on energy despite ‘record’ wind power auction | Nils Pratley

  14-01-2026 17:44 via theguardian.com
  Government hails step towards clean power in Great Britain by 2030 – but the auction shows trade-offs are now neededOffshore windfarm contracts to fuel 12m homes in Great Britain after record auctionEd Miliband: With this record wind power auction, we’ve proved the rightwing doubters wrongThe government has defied gloomy price expectations for its latest auction for offshore wind capacity. The worry a few months ago was that bill payers would be forced to pay more than £100 a m
  
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• Sex, drugs and sugar babies: first trailer for Euphoria season three drops

  14-01-2026 17:42 via theguardian.com
  Sam Levinson’s hit HBO drama series returns in April with Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi returningThe first trailer for the third season of Euphoria promises more sex, drugs and violence, teasing a troubled life after high school for the show’s characters.Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer and Jacob Elordi are among those returning for episodes four years in the making. The new season will take place five years after the characters were last seen. Continue reading...
  
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• He lived in a cage, jumped from a window and spent a year roped to a friend: is Tehching Hsieh the most extreme performance artist ever?

  14-01-2026 17:37 via theguardian.com
  He has broken his ankles, endured 365 days in a cell and faced down the 20th century’s worst winter. Yet he says he is not a masochist. We meet the man Marina Abramovich calls ‘the master’For one year, beginning on 30 September 1978, Tehching Hsieh lived in an 11ft 6in x 9ft wooden cage. He was not permitted to speak, read or consume any media, but every day a friend visited with food and to remove his waste.The vital context here is that this incarceration was voluntary: Hsieh
  
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• Runner died falling off knife-edge ridge while picking up his dog

  14-01-2026 17:18 via bbc.com
  Thomas Smith was a dad-of-three and training in Yr Wyddfa - Snowdon - for a 100-mile race when he fell.
  
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• The Makropulos Affair review – Simon Rattle leads a sensational and thrilling semi-staging

  14-01-2026 17:05 via theguardian.com
  Barbican Hall, London
  The tension barely let up for two hours as Rattle led the London Symphony Orchestra and a commanding cast throughthis vital account of Janáček’s opera. It is only two months since Jakub Hrůša’s rightly acclaimed and idiomatic conducting of Leoš Janáček’s penultimate opera at Covent Garden. Now, like the proverbial London buses, here comes the same piece again (though this time calling itself The Makropulos Affair
  
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• Human activity helped make 2025 third-hottest year on record, experts say

  14-01-2026 16:59 via theguardian.com
  Data leads scientists to declare 2015 Paris agreement to keep global heating below 1.5C‘dead in the water’Last year was the third hottest on record, scientists have said, with mounting fossil fuel pollution behind “exceptional” temperatures.The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said 2025 had continued a three-year streak of “extraordinary global temperatures” during which surface air temperatures averaged 1.48C above preindustrial levels. Continue readin
  
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