17 h. ago Scottish tourist dies in Rome hospital after suspected gas explosion

Grant Paterson, 54, from South Lanarkshire, was pulled out from rubble on final day of visitA Scottish tourist who suffered severe burns in a suspected gas explosion at a building in Rome has died of his injuries.Grant Paterson, 54, was admitted to hospital on 23 March after the explosion and subsequent collapse of the block of flats where he was staying, in the Monteverde district. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’: Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history

Normally staid historians sound alarm at authoritarian grasping for control of the premier US museum complexIn a brightly lit gallery, they see the 66m-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In a darkened room, they study the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. In a vast aviation hanger, they behold a space shuttle. And in a discreet corner, they file solemnly past the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the US south.Visitors have come in their millions to the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s biggest museum, education and research complex, in Washington for the past 178 years. On Thursday, Donald Trump arrived with his cultural wrecking ball. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago 'I visited the South London Indian restaurant with only 5 main options

'I visited the South London Indian restaurant with only 5 main options - booking is essential'  My London

Politics

4 d. ago 'I visited the South London £5 sandwich spot with constant queues and 23 different sandwiches'

'I visited the South London £5 sandwich spot with constant queues and 23 different sandwiches'  My London

Economics

4 d. ago China's government bristles at growing ties between the US and oil

China’s government is bristling at the strengthening ties between Guyana and the United States in online comments after a visit to the South American country by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Politics

5 d. ago ‘A beloved figure’: Welsh village ready for tourists as Richard Burton biopic opens

Events planned in Pontrhydyfen for centenary of actor’s birth, as many recall his visits home with Elizabeth TaylorHardly a day goes by when villagers don’t spot a cinephile traipsing in the footsteps of Richard Burton, peering at his old house, taking in the vista across the valley from the aqueduct, perhaps enjoying a pint in the Miners Arms, where he and Elizabeth Taylor drank on visits back to his south Wales birthplace.The tourist traffic to Pontrhydyfen is likely to increase after a biopic focusing on the gritty early life of Burton opens in cinemas this weekend, especially as it comes in the centenary year of the Hollywood actor’s birth. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Merlin visitor attraction could boost south of Scotland economy by more than £20million

The Arthur Trail Association hopes to create The Merlin Experience near Beattock, with the virtual reality visitor centre also including an exhibition space and restaurant.

Economics

3 w. ago Athol Fugard was a dreamer, listener and master storyteller – on stage and at home | Barney Norris

The South African writer, who has died aged 92, was grateful for his extraordinary life and wrote out of love rather than angerI feel that Athol Fugard and his wife, Paula Fourie, changed my life in the autumn of 2022 when I visited South Africa to spend time with them and their daughter Halle. We were supposed to be working on a book together, and we did; but our time became so much more than that. There were lunches in the house or the restaurant round the corner; walks in the woods; a braai that went on past midnight.Over coffee in the mornings I’d sit with Athol and we’d use an app on his phone to identify the calls of all the birds in the garden. Then he might tell me a story from his life – the awe he felt when he asked Yvonne Bryceland to smash a chair to bits during rehearsals for Antigone and she proceeded to do so for a full 30 minutes; the journey he made by sea at 18 from Cairo to Japan, when an illiterate Somalian sailor used to watch him every night as he wrote a novel...

Politics

3 w. ago South Africa says Zelenskyy will visit in April as part of its ongoing talks with Ukraine and Russia

South Africa says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit in April for talks on finding “a path to peace” with Russia

Politics

last month Mum taken to court after going on holiday with her children during school term

Melanie Vermaak was hauled to court after taking her two children to South Africa to visit family

Events