2 h. ago West Lothian community centres given more time to look at funding plans

In an update to councillors the head of Housing Customer and Building Services Julie Whitelaw said that the revised saving plans which were scheduled to come to the council Executive in early March would be pushed back to the April meeting.

Politics

2 h. ago Newsboy's horse racing selections for Sunday's meetings at Fontwell Park, Hereford and Naas

Newsboy's nap selection for Sunday,February 23, is the Anthony Honeyball-trained Dear Ralphy (4.30) at Fontwell Park. His next best is another runner at the West Sussex track, Salver (3.00)

Politics

3 h. ago Creative industries are among the UK’s crown jewels – and AI is out to steal them | John Naughton

The tech firms’ efforts to change copyright laws and gain free access to intellectual property is patently wrongThere are decades when nothing happens (as Lenin is – wrongly – supposed to have said) and weeks when decades happen. We’ve just lived through a few weeks like that. We’ve known for decades that some American tech companies were problematic for democracy because they were fragmenting the public sphere and fostering polarisation. They were a worrying nuisance, to be sure, but not central to the polity.And then, suddenly, those corporations were inextricably bound into government, and their narrow sectional interests became the national interest of the US. Which means that any foreign government with ideas about regulating, say, hate speech on X, may have to deal with the intemperate wrath of Donald Trump or the more coherent abuse of JD Vance. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago The Real Housewives star husband detained by immigration amid bitter divorce battle

The Real Housewives's Porsha Williams' estranged husband has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the telly star has some choice words on the matter

Events

5 h. ago Reality star's husband detained by immigration amid bitter divorce battle

The Real Housewives's Porsha Williams' estranged husband has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the telly star has some choice words on the matter

Events

5 h. ago Dr. Mehmet Oz holds millions from companies he’d wield power over in top Trump job

Dr Oz ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate as a Republican

Politics

5 h. ago Body language expert reveals the key difference between Meghan Markle's smooches with Prince Harry and her popular stage kisses on Suits

Meghan Markle is not afraid of public displays of affection. In mid-February, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, packed on the PDA with Prince Harry, 40, during the Invictus Games in Vancouver.

Politics

5 h. ago Warren Buffett celebrates Berkshire Hathaway's success over 60 years as CEO while admitting mistakes

Warren Buffett is celebrating the successes of Berkshire Hathaway’s companies last year and in the 60 years since he took over a struggling New England textile company and began converting it into a massive conglomerate

Events

6 h. ago Top shale boss says US oil companies will not flock back to Russia

Harold Hamm warns executives will be wary of any peace deal between Trump and Putin

Politics

7 h. ago ‘It’s blackmail’: Ukrainians react to Trump demand for $500bn share of minerals

Ukraine’s lithium deposits are among biggest in Europe and the US is looking for ‘payback’ for previous military assistanceDrawing in the snow with his finger, Mykola Hrechukha sketched out how Ukraine’s new lithium mine might look. It would have a deep central shaft, with a series of side tunnels, he said. “The lithium is good everywhere. The biggest concentration is at a depth of 200-500 metres,” he said. “We should be able to extract 4,300 tonnes a day. The potential is terrific.”For now, though, there is little sign of activity. The deposit is buried under a large sloping field, used in communist times to grow beetroot and wheat. The mine’s proposed entrance is in an abandoned former-Soviet village, Liodiane, today a scruffy grove of acacia and maple trees. The only inhabitant is a security guard, who lives on the 150-hectare site in an ancient Gaz-53 truck. Wild boar and even a wolf sometimes wander past. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Liam Gallagher recalls hilarious moment Sir Paul McCartney invited him for a margarita

To mark National Margarita Day (February 22), we look back on the hilarious misunderstanding between Oasis star Liam Gallagher and The Beatles' Sir Paul McCartney

Politics

7 h. ago Bong Joon Ho: ‘I wish I had Ken Loach’s energy, but I’m just thinking about nap time’

How do you follow up an Oscar winner like Parasite? If you’re the South Korean auteur, you make a sci-fi satire where Robert Pattinson dies over and over again. The director discusses the inspirational Loach and Mike Leigh and why it’s hard being a ‘middle-aged film-maker’We are in the run-up to the release of Bong Joon Ho’s latest, Mickey 17, and Warner Bros has got the Oscar-winning Korean director stashed away in what appears to be some kind of basement storage room, with grey-painted brickwork and exposed wiring. In fact, this room could pass for one of the “gritty and kind of nasty” cargo-container-packed cabins of his film’s spaceship setting.Not that anyone is complaining. Bong, who speaks good English but prefers to conduct interviews via his longtime interpreter Sharon Choi, appears cheerful throughout our conversation, taking occasional sips from a takeaway coffee cup, while dressed in his usual arthouse auteur uniform of a slate-grey blazer over a black T-shirt. He i...

Politics

10 h. ago Amazon slash £110 off 'best ever' Air fryer that 'saves on energy bills'

The air fryer has 4.6 stars from almost 5,000 Amazon reviews with some dubbing it the "best appliance ever"

Economics

10 h. ago What it means if you're sneezing and your throat burns this weekend

A change means there are symptoms you need to watch for in February and this weekend they could be worse

Events

10 h. ago Customers of 27 energy companies must apply for £150 before February 28

The money can help with paying for gas and electricity at the most expensive time of the year

Economics

10 h. ago 'British people used to know how to protest': Fuming OAPs issue call to arms over plans for 150 newbuilds beside leafy cul

Home to mostly pensioners, residents of Corn Close in Fiskerton have been devastated that their retirement plans could be thwarted by years of development.

Events

11 h. ago The US agencies hit hardest by Trump and Musk’s layoffs so far

From Revenue and Energy to Agriculture and Defense

Politics

11 h. ago The five stores with the worst customer service on the high street (and the five best)

From tailbacks at the tills to uninterested staff - if you can find any - Laura Craik takes the high street to task over its customer satisfaction (or rather lack of it)

Economics

11 h. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for peazotto with pickled peas | The new vegan

The freshness of pureed peas and mint and the tartness of lemony pickled peas combine to give pasta ‘rice’ a perky, vibrant liftToday’s recipe is inspired by an Italian method of preserving, sott’olio, which translates to “under oil”. The most delicate of vegetables, such as peas, are picked at peak ripeness, plunged briefly in vinegar, then stored in oil to preserve them until desired. I’ll admit that my recipe wantonly uses frozen petit pois, which are then in part pickled and in part whizzed up to make a stock in which to cook the orzo; nevertheless, eating it brings its own warm and welcome Italian sunshine to my English kitchen in cold, dark February. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago Berlin film festival 2025 roundup – a new boss, a flawless fairytale and Ethan Hawke’s finest hour

At a snowy Berlinale, against a backdrop of political divisions, this year’s standouts include Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower, Richard Linklater’s Broadway biopic of Lorenz Hart, and intensely sexual romance starring Jessica ChastainBerlin can be a touch inhospitable in February; this year was no exception, with visitors to the film festival enduring heavy snow, treacherous pavements and a two-day, city-wide transport strike. But the Berlinale itself is contending with a frosty climate. Traditionally a hub for film-makers of forthright, oppositional persuasions, it must now attempt to flourish in the face of Europe’s swing to the right, with Germany’s elections imminent and the troubling rise of the extremist AfD party.Every new festival head faces the challenge of reinventing the event they have inherited, and in the Berlinale’s 75th year, the bar was set especially high given the scrutiny the festival has received. Last year’s closing night brought controversy, with some Ge...

Society