General news

• Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage designed a computer in the 1840s. A cartoonist finishes the project

  12-04-2015 09:15 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Sydney Padua’s graphic novel tells the story of Babbage and Lovelace with a twist – they actually build their Analytical Engine.To see a selection of extracts from the book, click here.
  ‘Surely there must be a couple of new Ada Lovelaces lurking in this land?” exclaimed digital doyenne Martha Lane Fox last month, as she issued a call for women to turn their hands to tech – part of her new plan, dubbed Dot Everyone, for an internet-savvy nation.It’s little wonder that the enigmatic da
  
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• Pope Francis allegedly used offensive slur during discussion about gay men

  27-05-2024 23:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Bishops say pontiff made remark during closed-door debate on admitting homosexual men into seminariesPope Francis allegedly used an offensive slur during a discussion with bishops over admitting homosexual men into seminaries, several Italian newspapers have reported.The pontiff, 87, is alleged to have made the remark during a closed-door meeting with bishops in Rome last week, where they were reportedly discussing whether out gay men should be admitted to Catholic seminaries, where priests are
  
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• Rachel Reeves will vow to lead most ‘pro-growth’ Treasury in UK history

  27-05-2024 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour will strike balance between workers’ needs and business interests, shadow chancellor to tell bossesRachel Reeves will pledge on Tuesday to lead the most “pro-growth” Treasury in UK history if Labour wins the general election.Addressing business leaders, the shadow chancellor is poised to claim her party would “return to the centre ground of politics” by striking a balance between workers’ needs and business interests. Continue reading...
  
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• Police search for mother and child after evidence of human birth found on Sydney riverbank

  27-05-2024 23:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Officers urge mother to go to hospital to receive care for herself and her childFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastPolice are searching for a mother and newborn baby after finding evidence she may have given birth by a Sydney riverbank.Emergency services were called to Cooks River at Earlwood in the city’s south-west on Monday afternoon after a resident walking his dog found what police believed to
  
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• The Sympathizer review – Robert Downey Jr thunders around in prosthetics in this stylish Vietnam drama

  27-05-2024 23:10 via theguardian.com
  
  This ambitious identity-and-imperialism saga sees the American actor take on several different roles – and demands your full attentionRobert Downey Jr really Robert Downey Jrs the hell out of The Sympathizer. He thunders around in a vast array of prosthetics, giving off that weird, intense aggro-magnetism, and it might be the sheer Robert Downey Jr-ness of him that explains why it took me until halfway through the second episode to realise that he wasn’t playing the same character in
  
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• Kill Zone: Inside Gaza review – heartbreaking human stories within the carnage and chaos

  27-05-2024 23:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Made by 12 Palestinian film-makers who risked their lives to depict the ongoing assault, this documentary confronts us with the loss and suffering of people whose gaze we have metCitizens of the world have not needed regular broadcast media to show them the horror of Israel’s seven-month assault on Gaza. Social media has delivered a stream of clips, almost in real time, each video seemingly more shocking than the last. As if to provide a macabre illustration of the point that traditional t
  
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• Marcus Rashford plans to ‘reset mentally after challenging season’

  27-05-2024 22:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Manchester United forward to take time away from social mediaThanks the fans ‘that stood by me through a difficult period’Marcus Rashford is planning to take some time to reset mentally after acknowledging he has endured a “challenging season”. The England forward was left out of Gareth Southgate’s training squad for Euro 2024 after scoring just eight goals in all competitions for a struggling Manchester United side who finished eighth in the Premier League.But afte
  
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• Biden honors troops on Memorial Day as Trump lashes out at his ‘human scum’ enemies

  27-05-2024 21:57 via theguardian.com
  
  In divergent messages, president pays tribute to fallen heroes, while Trump fulminates on social media against opponentsJoe Biden and Donald Trump marked the Memorial Day national holiday honoring America’s war dead with jarringly divergent messages that promised to foretell the forthcoming US presidential election campaign as a contest of sharply contrasting characters.In a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden paid tribute to the fallen as heroes who sacrificed themselves in the
  
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• Chelsea ready to offer five-year deal to Leicester’s Enzo Maresca

  27-05-2024 21:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Chelsea have been granted permission to speak to ItalianLeicester will want around £10m to release their managerChelsea are ready to give Enzo Maresca a five-year deal after being granted permission to speak to the Leicester manager. Maresca, who is expected to agree to take the job, has emerged as the favoured candidate to succeed Mauricio Pochettino after an intense weekend of talks.Chelsea were turned down by Kieran McKenna, who is poised to snub Brighton and sign a new deal at Ipswich,
  
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• Sunak struggles to control Tory party on chaotic fifth day of election campaign

  27-05-2024 21:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister campaigns in Buckinghamshire as his military service plan is criticised and MP defects to ReformRishi Sunak struggled to keep control of his fractured party on a chaotic fifth day of the Tory election campaign, as one MP defected to Reform and a minister criticised the prime minister’s pledge to bring back national service.Sunak was in Buckinghamshire as he sought to get back on the front foot after a bruising start to the snap election, with Tory insiders increasingly worri
  
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• Rafael Nadal loses to Alexander Zverev in what may be his French Open farewell

  27-05-2024 20:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Dominance ends with three-set defeat to 4th seedSpaniard says ‘big percentage’ he will not be backOn the 115 occasions that Rafael Nadal had previously stepped out to compete on the courts of Roland Garros, he had lost just three times. Across two decades, he had orchestrated one of the greatest eras of dominance in sporting history, pushing the art of clay court tennis to unimaginable heights. For so long, his success in Paris seemed so inevitable.Now it may be over. As Nadal return
  
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• County cricket: Essex beat Kent, Northants draw with Yorkshire – as it happened

  27-05-2024 19:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Essex beat Kent by an innings and 96 runs to close the gap to Surrey to two points at the top of Division OneHosing it down here in Manchester – though play is due to start at 12.15. All depends whether OT can dodge the showers. Roses, honeysuckle, cricket pitch, all sad and soggy.Hello Nick Richards. “Sorry to bother you but do you know why Hants got 23 points? Continue reading...
  
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• Starmer: I’m a socialist and progressive who will always put country first

  27-05-2024 19:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour leader says damage done to economy by Liz Truss and other Tories means he can’t fulfil some 2020 pledgesKeir Starmer has insisted that he is a socialist and a progressive, but said the country does not have the money to allow him to fulfil some of the pledges he made during the 2020 Labour leadership race.Starmer, who has been under increasing pressure to spell out whether he will raise tuition fees if Labour wins the election, made a personal speech in Lancing, West Sussex, on Mond
  
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• RAF grounds Spitfire fleet after death of pilot in Battle of Britain air display

  27-05-2024 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Announcement raises questions about aircraft’s participation in national D-day event in PortsmouthThe RAF has grounded a fleet of Spitfire planes after the death of a pilot over the weekend, raising the prospect of the legendary aircraft being absent from the 80th anniversary of the D-day landings next month.Sqn Ldr Mark Long – a Typhoon pilot based at RAF Coningsby – was killed in a crash while flying a Spitfire belonging to the Battle of Britain Memorial Fleet as part of a me
  
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• The Guardian view on Starmer’s offer: the gap between Labour and the Tories should widen | Editorial

  27-05-2024 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Small campaign pledges risk inhibiting Labour’s ability, if elected, to improve people’s livesSir Keir Starmer was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last Friday whether, if he achieved his goal for the UK to attain the highest sustained growth in the G7, he would readopt plans to scrap university tuition fees. He had committed to their abolition when running to be Labour leader in 2020, but dropped the policy last year because he said money was tight. Mishal Husain&rs
  
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• The Guardian view on private equity and public services: this trend needs reversing | Editorial

  27-05-2024 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  From railways to nurseries and children’s homes, investors are taking advantage of chances to siphon taxpayer funds offshoreSector by sector, private equity is making deep inroads into UK public services. More than a decade ago, the collapse of Southern Cross, the private-equity-owned care home operator, revealed the havoc that can be wreaked when essential public services are run by heavily indebted businesses with complex financial structures. Typically, such owners maximise profits by u
  
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• Global shock after Israeli airstrike kills dozens in Rafah tent camp

  27-05-2024 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  At least 45 people, including many women and children, killed in assault that prompts international outcryIsrael-Gaza war – live updatesAn Israeli airstrike that caused a huge blaze at a tented area for displaced people in Rafah has killed 45 people, medics have said, with images of charred and dismembered children prompting an outcry from global leaders and putting ceasefire talks in jeopardy.Bombing overnight that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said targeted senior Hamas militants in a
  
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• Morgan Spurlock obituary

  27-05-2024 19:05 via theguardian.com
  
  American film-maker best known for his acclaimed 2004 documentary Super Size MeFew film-makers can say that their work has made a change to the real world, but Morgan Spurlock had a stronger claim than most. His 2004 documentary Super Size Me, an exposé of how the fast food industry was fuelling America’s obesity epidemic, appeared to have direct repercussions for the world’s largest fast food chain, McDonald’s.Shortly before the film came out in May that year, the compa
  
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• Labour lead over Conservatives may be overstated, says Tory election expert

  27-05-2024 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Robert Hayward, who identified ‘shy Tories’ in 1992, suggests the party is winning support from undecided votersSome of the polls before the general election may be overstating Labour’s huge lead over the Conservatives, a Tory election expert has said.According to Robert Hayward, a peer and former MP who first identified the phenomenon of “shy Tories” before the 1992 election, his analysis of local election results suggests that the Conservatives are gett
  
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• Conservative MP Lucy Allan suspended for backing Reform UK candidate

  27-05-2024 18:50 via theguardian.com
  
  MP for Telford, who is standing down at general election, tweeted support for Alan Adams in further blow to Rishi SunakThe Conservative MP Lucy Allan has been suspended from the party after saying she will back Reform UK at the general election, in a further blow to Rishi Sunak and his faltering campaign.The MP for Telford, who announced last year that she was standing down, was suspended from the Conservatives after posting a tweet saying she would support her local Reform candidate in the comi
  
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• Spain to give Ukraine €1bn in military aid in decade-long defence deal

  27-05-2024 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, says the funding will improve Kyiv’s air defences, just days after Russia killed 18 people in KharkivSpain will provide Ukraine with €1bn in military aid this year after the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, met in Madrid to sign an “enormously important”, decade-long defence and security deal.Although the precise details of the agreement have not been made public, the
  
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• Real Madrid in ‘Champions League mode’ as they aim for 15th title

  27-05-2024 18:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Carlo Ancelotti is preparing for his sixth UCL final as a coachReal face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on SaturdayCarlo Ancelotti has described Real Madrid as being in “Champions League mode” as they begin a week that is there to be enjoyed, at least until Saturday when the cold sweats will start.The Italian and his team have been here before – the match against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley will be his sixth European Cup final as a coach, Real’s sixth in 10 years, and the
  
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• Trying to tame AI: Seoul summit flags hurdles to regulation

  27-05-2024 18:40 via theguardian.com
  
  UK touts ‘Bletchley effect’ of safety institutes, but division remains over whether to limit AI abilitiesBig tech has distracted world from existential risk of AI, says top scientistThe Bletchley Park artificial intelligence summit in 2023 was a landmark event in AI regulation simply by virtue of its existence.Between the event’s announcement and its first day, the mainstream conversation had changed from a tone of light bafflement to a general agreement that AI regulation may
  
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• Trump tells donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests if re-elected

  27-05-2024 18:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Presumptive Republican nominee calls demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza part of a ‘radical revolution’Donald Trump has told a group of wealthy donors that he will crush pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses if he is returned to the White House.The former president and presumptive Republican nominee called the demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza part of a “radical revolution” and promised the predominantly Jewish donors that he would
  
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• Woman stabbed to death on Bournemouth beach named locally as Amie Gray

  27-05-2024 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Dorset police release 17-year-old without charge and renew plea for help identifying suspect in CCTV imagesA woman stabbed to death on a beach in the seaside town of Bournemouth has been named locally as Amie Gray, a sports coach who has been described as a beloved mother, wife and friend.A 17-year-old boy who was arrested on suspicion of her murder has been released without charge, Dorset police have said, adding that they were stepping up their hunt for the killer. On Monday they released CCTV
  
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• Dancing Gemini obvious each-way punt over Derby hotpot City Of Troy

  27-05-2024 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Punters are looking for an alternative at Epsom after the favourite’s dismal failure at Newmarket Twenty colts, including a £75,000 supplementary entry and 10 trained in Ireland, remain in the running for the 2024 Derby at Epsom on Saturday after Monday’s five-day declaration stage, and Aidan O’Brien’s City Of Troy, beaten at odds-on in the 2,000 Guineas earlier this month, still heads the betting at about 9-4. The memory of the favourite’s dismal showing at N
  
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• Is Rishi Sunak actively trying to lose the election? Let’s consider the mounting evidence | Zoe Williams

  27-05-2024 18:19 via theguardian.com
  
  All the mishaps, unforced errors, pratfalls – they only make sense if we assume the prime minister has a secret and unspoken plan up his sleeveFor a man who wants to win an election, Rishi Sunak’s first week of campaigning has been bizarre, a little bit frightening, like getting trapped in someone else’s anxiety dream. He went to the king for signoff before he told the cabinet, and presented 4 July to them as a fait accompli. Even if they had agreed with the decision, they woul
  
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• The problem with the nudge effect: it can make you buy more carrots – but it can’t make you eat them

  27-05-2024 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  It has long been thought that psychological tactics can persuade consumers to adopt much healthier habits. But it turns out there is a hitch …Name: Behavioural nudges.Age: Nudge theory was popularised by the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. But the term nudge had been used in cybernetics, the science of communications and automatic control systems, in the 1990s. Continue reading...
  
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• England’s Buttler set to miss third Pakistan T20 with Moeen ready to lead

  27-05-2024 18:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Buttler returns home before imminent birth of third childHosts expected to field rotated side with Jofra Archer restedJos Buttler is likely to miss England’s third T20 against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens on Tuesday after returning home to be with his wife before the imminent birth of their third child. Moeen Ali will lead a much-changed side should the predicted storm clouds clear in time for the game to go ahead.England picked what they feel is their strongest XI for the game at Edgbaston
  
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• National service? Will it be monkey tennis next in this meme election? | Letters

  27-05-2024 17:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers respond to the Conservatives’ idea of bringing back a form of mandatory national service if they are re-electedBringing back national service is not a policy, it is a meme (Rishi Sunak’s national service pledge is ‘bonkers’, says ex-military chief, 26 May). The Conservatives might as well have announced a fully funded project to “string ’em up”.James Cleverly has suggested recalcitrant teenagers could be working weekends as emergency health
  
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