12 h. ago Art for Everybody review – the dark side of Thomas Kinkade, ‘painter of light’

The extraordinarily popular painter of kitsch American scenes struggled with addiction and depression, as this documentary with access to his previously unseen works showsYou won’t find the works of Thomas Kinkade lining the walls of the Museum of Modern Art, yet the painter, who died in 2012, is one of the best-selling artists in history and his paintings hang in tens of millions of American households. Kinkade’s typical subjects – rustic landscapes, sleepy cottages, quaint gazebos – bask in an idyllic calm, a luminous callback to a fabled simpler past. Turning to his unpublished archive, Miranda Yousef’s engrossing documentary portrait unveils the dark shadows that lurked within the self-titled “painter of light”.Through interviews with family members, close collaborators and critics, as well as Kinkade’s own words, the film traces his meteoric success in the 1980s and 90s. Shunned by the art world, he marketed his works through home-shopping television channels and a network of f...

Politics

20 h. ago One million students to receive AI training in new skills drive

It comes after government data showed that by 2035 AI will play a part in the roles and responsibilities of around 10 million workers

Events

22 h. ago Newsom is warned of ‘criminal tax evasion’ if he withholds federal taxes

California governor made threat amid reports Trump is weighing huge federal funding cuts targeting stateThe US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has warned California governor Gavin Newsom that he would be guilty of “criminal tax evasion” if he withholds his state’s tax payments to the federal government amid threats of a funding cut by Donald Trump.Newsom had threatened to cut tax payments to the federal government two days ago after reports that Trump was preparing huge federal funding cuts targeting Democrat-dominated California, including its state university system. Continue reading...

Events

31 h. ago Millions of UK mortgage holders may be overpaying due to questionable statistics

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told MPs a lack of faith in key data from the Office for National Statistics 'does have a bearing' on decisions over interest rates

Economics

68 h. ago Explosive truth behind Trump and Musk's 'abusive' bromance collapse... and which billionaire was secretly the CLINGY one

The abrupt break-up between President Donald Trump and his First Buddy played out in spectacular public fashion this week.

Events

69 h. ago US supreme court rules Doge can access social security data during legal challenge

Key player in Trump’s drive to slash federal workforce keeps access to sensitive records including family court and mental health recordsThe US supreme court on Friday permitted the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), a key player in Donald Trump’s drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to the personal information of millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out.At the request of the justice department, the justices put on hold Maryland-based US district judge Ellen Hollander’s order that had largely blocked Doge’s access to “personally identifiable information” in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing Doge unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law. Continue reading...

Events

69 h. ago Supreme Court allows DOGE team to access Social Security systems with data on millions of Americans

The Supreme Court is clearing the way for the Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans

Events

3 d. ago A banana a day to keep the tariffs away? Howard Lutnick mocked during congressional hearing over plan to make more products in America

‘We cannot build bananas in America,’ commerce secretary reminded in surreal exchange at House hearing on Donald Trump’s tariff policy

Events

3 d. ago Trump secretly admired Ukraine’s ‘badass’ drone attack – but worries it’ll make Russia ceasefire harder: report

President was impressed by Ukraine’s audacious attack on Russian airfields

Events

3 d. ago Musk drops 'really big bomb' on X claiming Trump is in top secret Epstein files

The bitter breakup of the Elon Musk-Donald Trump bromance has resulted in the Tesla owner dropping a 'big bomb' in accusing the US President of being included in the top secret Jeffrey Epstein files

Politics

4 d. ago ECB cuts interest rates to 2% in effort to bolster flagging eurozone growth

European Central Bank makes eighth quarter-point cut in a year as bloc reels from impact of Trump’s trade warsBusiness live – latest updatesThe European Central Bank has cut interest rates to 2% in an effort to boost flagging economic growth across the eurozone.The ECB, making its eighth quarter-point cut in a year, said the 20-member currency bloc needed a reduction in the cost of borrowing as it reeled from the damage caused by Donald Trump’s trade wars. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Elton John says ‘we will not back down’ in awards speech addressing AI concerns

Sir Elton is pressing for the creative industries to be safeguarded against artificial intelligence.

Events

4 d. ago UK inflation overstated due to government data error, ONS says

Annual inflation in April revised to 3.4% from 3.5% after error found in vehicle tax data

Politics

4 d. ago Popular YouTube videos fueling nauseating health crisis: 'These parasites are here in the US'

Scientists have issued an urgent warning over parasite-riddled food eaten by millions of Americans in several US states.

Events

4 d. ago Inflation data threatened by government hiring freeze as tariffs loom

The Labor Department has cut back on the inflation data it collects because of the Trump administration’s government hiring freeze, raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inflation figures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs

Economics

4 d. ago Education Secretary Linda McMahon refuses to say if teaching kids that Trump lost in 2020 is ‘illegal DEI’

She deflected that social studies students should ‘hear all sides’

Politics

5 d. ago Japan's annual births fall to record low as country's 'silent emergency' deepens

The number of newborns in Japan fell below 700,000 for the first time since records began in 1899, according to government data, as younger people are reluctant to marry and raise children due to economic concern and a society that still adds extra burden only on women

Politics

5 d. ago Trump keeps being overruled by judges. And his temper tantrums won’t stop that | Steven Greenhouse

A word of advice to Trump: dozens of judges keep ruling against you because you’ve flouted the law more than any previous presidentIt’s hard to keep track of all the temper tantrums that Donald Trump has had because he’s so ticked off that one judge after another has ruled against his flood of illegal actions. In seeking to put their fingers in the dike to stop the US president’s lawlessness, federal judges have issued a startling high number of rulings, more than 185, to block or temporarily pause moves by the Trump administration.Livid about all this, White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has railed against “judicial activism”, while Trump adviser Stephen Miller carps about a “judicial coup”. As for Trump, the grievance-is-me president has gone into full conniption-mode, moaning about anti-Trump rulings and denouncing “USA-hating judges”. On Truth Social, he said: “How is it possible for [judges] to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it ...

Politics

5 d. ago Steel industry welcomes 25% tariffs but warns ‘uncertainty remains’

Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel, said that Mr Trump’s decision is a ‘welcome pause’.

Events

5 d. ago Donald Trump's White House blasts BBC for 'misreporting' over Gaza coverage

US President Donald Trump's White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of accepting Hamas's account of Israeli security forces shooting dead Palestinians

Politics