14 h. ago Sonay Kartal’s breakthrough China Open run halted by stellar Noskova

Briton overwhelmed 6-3, 6-4 by the Czech world No 27Kartal leapfrogs Boulter as GB No 2 after tournamentSonay Kartal’s impressive breakthrough run in Beijing came to a difficult end as she was overpowered by Linda Noskova, who eviscerated every last ball and played a stellar match to reach the semi-final of the China Open with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.The defeat ends the most significant tournament of Kartal’s career to date as the 23-year-old Briton showed, with a series of excellent performances in one of the biggest events in the world, that she has the game to trouble the best players in the world, reaching her first WTA 1000 quarter-final with a superb three-set win over Mirra Andreeva, ranked No 5, for her first victory against a top-10 player. Continue reading...

Politics

31 h. ago The Guardian view on climate policy: Britain needs clean power, not culture wars | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s plan to scrap the Climate Change Act is reckless. Ed Miliband offers a bolder, fairer vision. The future must be built on renewablesLet’s scrap Britain’s successful climate law so we can burn more gas, lose investment and have higher bills. Crazy as it might seem, that is the message of Kemi Badenoch’s new energy strategy. The Conservative leader proposes to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act in favour of a plan to “maximise oil and gas extraction”, and remove all legally binding carbon targets. It’s pitched as pragmatism. But it’s a lurch into ideological self-harm.Britain’s energy problem isn’t its climate legislation, which is admired globally, backed by industry and supported by the public. It’s that this country remains too dependent on volatile fossil fuels. Emissions targets are not the reason for high bills. It is gas prices, which skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine. They set UK electricity prices. In Europe, they don’t – that’s why bills are lower...

Events

33 h. ago Tory war of words erupts as Theresa May hits out at Kemi Badenoch's 'catastrophic' climate plan

The Tory war of words erupted as the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would axe the world-leading Climate Change Act first introduced by the last Labour government

Events

49 h. ago Kemi Badenoch vows to cut energy bills by scrapping Net Zero if she becomes Prime Minister

In a major policy move, Kemi Badenoch said a Conservative government would replace Labour's Climate Change Act with a strategy putting cheap and reliable power first.

Politics

49 h. ago Tories pledge to scrap landmark climate legislation in favour of ‘cheap’ energy

Plans by the Conservatives to replace the Climate Change Act come as divisions over emissions-cutting measures widen.

Politics

54 h. ago Jane Goodall, pioneering chimpanzee expert who revealed the animals’ human links, dies aged 91

Award-winning primatologist who established world’s longest-running chimp study still lectured on conservation and climate even over age of 91

Events

3 d. ago Britain and China 'set to battle over BitQueen's fortune' after £5 billion cryptocurrency fraud seizure

Chinese national Zhimin Qian was convicted on Monday for her role in a major money laundering scheme following a seven-year investigation by Metropolitan Police detectives

Economics

4 d. ago Jannik Sinner made to ‘fight’ as he sets up Alex de Minaur clash at China Open

The Italian battled past Fabian Marozsan to reach the China Open semi-finals

Politics

5 d. ago Emma Raducanu stuns crowd as she reveals secret talent nobody expected

Emma Raducanu made a winning start to her China Open campaign on Saturday by defeating Cristina Bucsa in straight sets, before leaving the crowd in shock in her post-match interview

Politics

8 d. ago Warhol, Haring, Basquiat: exhibition remembers pivotal 80s New York artists

A vibrant period for art in the city is celebrated in a new exhibition that goes from the rise of celebrity to hyper-capitalism to the devastation of AidsWith Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties, gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan aims to make the case for the 1980s as a vital – and currently relevant – decade of artistic output. The blockbuster show has brought together a who’s who of 80s art, with major pieces from Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, and many others.The goal for Downtown/Uptown is quite simple: to showcase the decade’s best art for new generations. “I was thinking about what art was pivotal to the moment,” said Brett Gorvy, show co-curator. “And also what over time has become pivotal. We’ve been lucky to be able to access the greatest paintings of so many of these artists.” Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Raffles’ The Butler Did It chapter 2 is set in London and stars Henry Golding

Raffles’ The Butler Did It chapter 2 is set in London and stars Henry Golding  South China Morning Post

Politics

9 d. ago Xi sets out conservative climate goal for China over next decade

President contradicts US leader by calling the green energy transition ‘the trend of our time’

Politics

9 d. ago China’s Xi sets out conservative climate goal for next decade

President contradicts Donald Trump by calling the green energy transition ‘the trend of our time’

Politics

1 week ago 'Super Typhoon' Ragasa descends on Hong Kong and China: 'King of Storms' is set to be one of the most destructive to hit the region, with 137mph winds and water levels rising by four metres

Hong Kong shut schools and cancelled flights on Tuesday as super typhoon Ragasa - the world's most powerful tropical cyclone this year - neared the financial centre.

Events

1 week ago Katie Boulter draws positives from Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup semi

Keothavong’s team suffer 2-0 defeat by United States‘I feel like my motivation’s back and it’s there every day’Great Britain’s wait to get their hands on the Billie Jean King Cup will continue after they exited the tournament with a semi-final loss to the United States.Sonay Kartal was first to step on court in Shenzhen, China, facing Emma Navarro and going a set up early on with a 6-3 success, but losing the next two sets 6-4, 6-3 to leave Great Britain 1-0 down. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Political violence expert reveals his biggest worry after Charlie Kirk’s assassination

The fatal shooting of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought renewed attention to the climate of political violence in America

Politics

3 w. ago ‘A little bit of joy’: can tiny rafts save endangered sparrows from rising seas?

In Rhode Island, a small team of researchers and volunteers is fighting, against the odds, to save saltmarsh sparrows from extinction as their chicks drown in ever higher tides• Photographs by Jason JaacksKnee-deep in water, the young man lifts his arms. His wrists are grabbed, next his ankles, then he feels himself flying through the air, nearly horizontal, before plunging into New England’s pungent tidal waters.Grinning and still dripping, he receives a homemade certificate documenting his induction into the Needle in a Haystack Society. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Ballad of a Small Player review – Colin Farrell wins us over in flashy, slight gambler tale

Toronto film festival: Conclave director Edward Berger makes a less cohesive follow-up with an over-stylised adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s novel sold by a killer central performanceIt was easy to understand why Edward Berger’s name was being bandied around in relation to the reinvention of 007, the director having shown himself to be more than capable of both extravagantly staged action (his Oscar-winning breakout All Quiet on the Western Front) and knife-edge intrigue (his Oscar-winning follow-up Conclave). He dismissed speculation at the time (with some mild annoyance) and the job has since landed at the feet of Denis Villeneuve – but his latest, China-set gambling drama Ballad of a Small Player, adds flashy bombast to his résumé and helps to explain why he even though he might have passed on Bond (and recently Ocean’s too), he’s in development on a Bourne.Berger is a canny commercial director, confidently switching between genre, language and location, the kind of able film-ma...

Sport

3 w. ago World's 'biggest' train station five times bigger than Grand Central is now open

The Chongqing East Station in China has just opened its doors and is set to be the world's largest train station, surpassing London's King's Cross in size

Politics