5 h. ago Cats visit beach for the first time and people 'can't stop crying' at their reactions

A pair of cats visited a beach for the first time and people can't get over how cute and well-behaved they are. Cashie and Almond spent a day at Princess Beach in Florida, USA

Politics

12 h. ago Pope Francis hailed as ‘unflinching global champion’ on climate crisis

Officials and campaigners from around world pay tribute to pontiff who put environment at heart of his papacyPope Francis, groundbreaking Jesuit pontiff, dies aged 88He declared destroying the environment a sin, warned that humanity was turning the glorious creation of God into a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth”, and located the cause of the climate crisis in people’s “selfish and boundless thirst for power”.The messages Pope Francis delivered on the climate and environmental crises were forceful and direct. He called the leaders of fossil fuel companies into the Vatican to hold them to account; declared a global climate emergency, in 2019; and in his final months, held a conference on “the economics of the common good”. Continue reading...

Events

12 h. ago Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say

Making concerned people aware their views are far from alone could unlock the change so urgently needed‘Spiral of silence’: climate action is very popular, so why don’t people realise it?The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89 Percent Project—and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read moreA huge 89% majority of the world’s people want stronger action to fight the climate crisis but feel they are trapped in a self-fulfilling “spiral of silence” because they mistakenly believe they are in a minority, research suggests.Making people aware that their pro-climate view is, in fact, by far the majority could unlock a social tipping point and push leaders into the climate action so urgently needed, experts say. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago Police attacked with petrol bombs after dissident republican parade

Chief Superintendent Gillian Kearney criticised the involvement of young people during the disorder as ‘child criminal exploitation’.

Events

52 h. ago A ‘Black Snape’ in the new Harry Potter seems designed to cause controversy – but it could work | Jason Okundaye

Ignore the fuss: Paapa Essiedu is a brilliant actor who can bring his own depth and style to enrich the iconic characterAfter months of speculation, HBO has announced part of the cast of the latest round of Harry Potter IP-mining: the new TV adaptation of the original books will feature John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid – and Paapa Essiedu as Snape. As the Mail and Telegraph’s headlines were quick to inform their readers, yes, this means a “Black actor” in that iconic role.There is a real concern that Essiedu is drinking from a poisoned chalice – that he will be associated with an author who is at the forefront of a gender-critical movement that has succeeded in redefining the rights of trans people to their detriment; that he will have to weather the racist storm of Potterheads enraged at the diversion from “book accuracy” (Snape is described as having “sallow skin”); and deal with opportunists looking to illustrate their next rant about how the world has succumbed t...

Politics

54 h. ago ‘Cañahua chose me’: can an ancient relative of quinoa revive rural Bolivia’s economy?

The effects of the climate crisis and a lack of jobs are driving young people away from the Andean highlands but a long-shunned crop could stem the tideFew young people remain in Bolivia’s highland plateau, the Altiplano. The rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as drought and frost, have reduced their economic prospects and migration has accelerated as the environment becomes more unpredictable.“The climate isn’t like it used to be,” says Nico Mamani Lima, a farmer and agronomist from Ayo Ayo. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Netflix fans only just discovering 'underrated' limited series

Although the four-part crime drama was released six years ago, not many people have seen or heard about it.

Sport

3 d. ago I've been visiting seaside village with huge empty beach for 40 years — it gets better every time

There are never crowds here and it's not a popular tourist destination despite its huge empty beach, impressive castle and excellent pub

Politics

4 d. ago The Guardian view on Sudan’s third year of conflict: a war against civilians | Editorial

The ambitions of two generals and the interests of other states have led to the massacre of adults and children already forced to flee their homesSudan has begun its third year of civil war in the bleakest manner imaginable: mourning the massacre of hundreds of civilians and relief workers in displacement camps in Darfur. What began as a power struggle between generals has led to the killing of tens of thousands of people and widespread sexual and ethnic violence. The International Rescue Committee says the result is the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: 640,000 people face catastrophic hunger. Basic services and infrastructure, already woefully inadequate, have been destroyed.“One thing that has been consistent since day one,” the Sudanese activist and commentator Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem observed this week, “[is that] it’s a war on civilians. Now, I think we’ve become so desensitised to it, that doesn’t make much of a difference any more. There’s no impact.” Continue re...

Events

4 d. ago Casualties rushed to hospital after Florida university shooting

Police respond to shooter alert at Florida State University in Tallahassee as six people reportedly injured, one criticallyA mass shooting on Thursday on the Florida State University campus sent several people to a nearby hospital, a medical center spokesperson said, with at least one reported to be in critical condition.Local reports in the early afternoon spoke variously of at least six people hurt and taken to hospital and possible fatalities, with further details and confirmation sought from the authorities. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Viktor Orbán’s latest clampdown bans Budapest Pride – but he won’t stop us marching

Elected leaders from across Europe should join us on the streets. It is critical to democracy – in Hungary, and the EU as a wholeHungary’s parliament has given Viktor Orbán the tools to do what he has long threatened: ban Pride, silence dissent and strip political critics of their citizenship. A constitutional amendment passed on 14 April allows the government to label LGBTQ+ gatherings a threat to children and to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals deemed a risk to “national sovereignty”.This is a purge disguised as law – another step in Orbán’s dismantling of democracy, where the constitution is degraded to a propaganda instrument. He calls it a “spring clean-up” to root out “bugs”, targeting LGBTQ+ people, journalists, critics, civil society and now, dual nationals. As one myself, I could be among the targets.Katalin Cseh is a member of the Hungarian national assembly for the Momentum Movement and a former MEP Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago It’s wrong to tell off other people’s kids – it leaves me fuming as a mum

So many people take it upon themselves to lay down the law with other people’s kids. Enough is enough, says Charlotte Cripps. We need to be able to hold it back for emergencies where genuine harm is going to come to someone

Politics

1 week ago Digested week: It’s 35 years since the ‘tax man’ conceded married women were independent beings

Let’s celebrate the feminist wins and thank goodness dire wolves are back, since DNA is simpler to understand than tariffsIdeally, for diary purposes, it would be today, but we cannot allow simple chronological misfortune to allow yesterday to go unmarked. For 6 April 1990 was the day that married women became recognised by HMRC as beings – get this! – independent from their husbands, and started having their incomes taxed separately from their spouses’. Of course, many said the rot would set in and it’s true that just a few short years later rape in marriage became a crime, as people started to think that maybe wives’ bodies as well as their earnings were their own and things briefly started looking up all round. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Sweet shop police crackdown: Hundreds of businesses are raided and dozens of people arrested in massive operation against criminal gangs running American

Officers from 19 police forces across England knocked on the doors of 265 businesses as part of Operation Machinize, a mammoth crackdown on high street money laundering.

Events

1 week ago Death toll from nightclub roof collapse hits 218 after Dominican Republic’s worst disaster in decades

At least eight of more than 20 hospitalised people remain in critical condition

Events

1 week ago What the doctor ordered: how The Pitt became the TV show of the moment

The stressful Noah Wyle-led hospital drama has swiftly become the surprise breakout show of the season, speaking to a time of healthcare crisisIt happened slowly at first, then all at once: people asking me “are you watching The Pitt?” As in the medical drama streaming on Max, released at the beginning of January and set over one hellish shift at an overburdened emergency room in Pittsburgh. The question has increased in frequency and urgency over the past month, as more and more people got hooked on weekly episodes that simulate the adrenaline cascade that is emergency medicine, one hour at a time. Friends, acquaintances, strangers at the coffee shop – everyone was watching The Pitt. Or, more accurately, reliving it, because to watch The Pitt is to be absorbed by The Pitt. Such is the nature of binging, but also the show’s design: a long season – 15 episodes, or nearly twice the length of a standard streaming drama, with the finale released tonight – plus a single episodic conceit,...

Culture

1 week ago Nightclub roof collapse marks Dominican Republic’s deadliest disaster as death toll hits 218

At least eight of more than 20 hospitalised people remain in critical condition

Events

1 week ago Manager ran criminal empire from city hotel right under people's noses

Ihtesham Ali Hassan facilitated the conspiracy at the Box Hotel in Newport, where heroin, cocaine and MDMA were being stored before being ferried around the UK by drug couriers

Society

1 week ago Nightclub roof collapse marks Dominican Republic’s deadliest disaster ever as death toll hits 184

At least eight of over 20 injured people still in hospitals remain in critical condition

Events

1 week ago Gaza rescue workers say 20 people killed in Israeli strike on residential block – Middle East crisis live

Gaza’s civil defence agency says the strike resulted in ‘20 martyrs and more than 40 injured’The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 1,482 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed intense strikes on the Gaza Strip on 18 March, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,846.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on Israeli official figures. Continue reading...

Events