52 m. ago Anchorage, Alaska city guide: What to do and where to stay in the capital of America’s last frontier

Alaska’s largest city is a place to climb mountains and meet local wildlife, says Alan Dymock, with post-adventure refreshments available in 12 different breweries

Politics

73 m. ago Topshop website is BACK ahead of relaunch runway show: Will it return to the high street?

The iconic noughties fashion chain is planning a major revival, with items from its new collection now available to buy online.

Politics

2 h. ago Michael Phelps is right. USA Swimming’s failure runs deeper than medals

The 23-times gold medallist warns of drift and weak leadership. Governance failures, and a troubled safeguarding record, could cost the US more than podium places at LA 2028In three years’ time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers into the largest swimming venue in modern history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country’s most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment.Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, accusing it of “weak” stewardship, “poor operational controls” and presidi...

Events

2 h. ago ‘The Black experience is more than just London’: Chiedu Oraka, the Hull rapper handpicked to support Coldplay

When Chris Martin called, the MC saw an opportunity to rep his city, pursue his goal of being rap’s next ‘king of the north’ – and expand perceptions of Black British identity‘When I say ‘Hull’, you say ‘City’! Hull  ” Chiedu Oraka grins, pointing his mic towards the middle of a near-empty recording studio. Silence – for now, at least. Next week, that pause will be filled by 20,000 voices at Craven Park stadium, where the local rapper will open Coldplay’s latest UK run of Music of the Spheres tour dates. And he is determined to make that crowd his own. “There’s going to be people there who haven’t seen me before, so I want to give them everything – new songs, old ones and a party,” he says. “I’m proper buzzing for it.”Last year, Oraka played Glastonbury, opened for Skepta at South by Southwest and supported the Brit-award-winning rapper Casisdead. But these Coldplay shows are the 37-year-old’s biggest gigs yet – and Hull’s most high-profile music events in years. The gigs ...

Politics

2 h. ago UN plastic pollution talks end in ‘abject failure’ as negotiators reject draft treaties

Despite three years of negotiations, delegates failed to agree on whether it should stop the growth of plastic production and regulate harmful chemicals internationally

Events

2 h. ago Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans 'running' to Home Bargains for 'beautiful' £6 item

The retailer has delighted Swifties with the 'themed' products that 'elevate your living space'

Economics

2 h. ago Manchester Airport workers filmed removing debris after easyJet planes crash on runway

Two planes collided on the airfield at Manchester Airport this morning

Events

2 h. ago Manchester airport suspends flights after easyJet planes collide

Two aircraft clipped wings as they taxied to runway for takeoff, with no reports of injuriesFlights were briefly suspended at Manchester airport on Friday morning after two easyJet planes collided with each other, clipping wings as they taxied to the runway for takeoff.The two planes were flying to Paris and Gibraltar. They clipped wings at about 6.30am but were able to return to a stand where all the passengers disembarked. There are no reports of any injuries. Continue reading...

Transport

3 h. ago Manchester Airport delayed and cancelled flights on August 15 after planes collide on runway

Latest updates on the status of flights from Manchester Airport after two easyJet flights 'clipped wings'

Transport

3 h. ago Manchester Airport flights grounded after EasyJet planes clip wings on ground

Airport officials briefly closed the runway while the aircraft were examined.

Transport

3 h. ago EasyJet issue Manchester Airport passengers update after planes 'clip wings' in runway crash

New flights are being arranged for passengers

Events

3 h. ago Benedicte Maurseth: Mirra review | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Hubro)Rhythmic repetitions and rustling textures evoke the traditional music and ecological harmony of Maurseth’s native NorwayA hardanger fiddle player from the fjord-and-mountain-filled region of Norway, where the instrument comes from, Benedicte Maurseth explores traditional music, nature and landscape influenced by the idea of ecosophy, a philosophy of ecological harmony. From childhood, she studied under master hardanger fiddler Knut Hamre, exploring the tunes, styles and effects associated with her instrument: its sympathetic strings, funnelled under the fingerboard, are particularly hypnotic, vibrating in response to the notes resonating above, as they do on the sitar and sarangi.A follow-up to Maurseth’s 2022 Nordic music prize-winning Hárr, Mirra is named after an old dialect word describing wild reindeer running together in a circling pattern. Norwegian folk’s rhythmic repetitions feed Maurseth’s intricate compositions (as do the influences of minimalism and Krautrock), b...

Politics

3 h. ago 'The whole plane shook': Manchester Airport drama as two easyJet flights crash on runway

Two easyJet flights crashed at Manchester Airport after 'clipping wings' on their way to the runway

Events

4 h. ago Chinese economy slows as Trump tariffs bite; FTSE 100 on track to hit new record

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsThe owner of Kingsmill has agreed to buy its rival bakery business Hovis, in a deal that could make the biggest bread brand in the country if it gets the green light from regulators.Associated British Foods, a FTSE 100 company which also owns the retailer Primark, has agreed to buy Hovis from the private equity firm Endless.This transaction will create a UK bakeries business that is both profitable and sustainable over the long term. Supporting the Hovis and Kingsmill brands with well-invested and efficient operations will also enable innovation and growth. This solution will create value for shareholders, provide greater choice for consumers and increase efficiencies for customers.Firms may be running on existing capacity rather than building new plants The July industrial value-add breakdown tells a more nuanced story than the weak fixed asset investment headline. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago Manchester airport flight delays after easyJet planes ‘clip wings’ on runway

Passengers are facing delays at Manchester Airport on Friday morning after two easyJet planes appeared to clip wings while taxiing.

Transport

4 h. ago ‘We’re in a healthy relationship!’ Alison Brie and Dave Franco on gruesome body horror Together

Best known for comic roles, the couple talk about how they parlayed their marriage into a sweaty nightmare of a film – and what it’s like to share their love in publicDave Franco is showing me his wounds: a bloody finger, a grazed foot, a palm full of blisters. On his phone, the actor zooms in on the photo collage he has compiled of the worst injuries he sustained on the set of Together, the romance-horror he stars in alongside his wife, Alison Brie. She is not to be outdone. In one scene, Brie’s character is propelled against a glass door by a mysterious force. During filming, it seemed as if her stunt double was walking up to the door “very slowly. I felt like it was not landing the beat,” says the actor. “I said: ‘Let me just do it.’ And that’s what’s in the movie, me running and slamming into the glass. Then, of course, I had a little bruise on my nose that we had to cover with makeup.”Franco and Brie were clearly willing to throw themselves – literally – into the hugely en...

Events

4 h. ago Two planes 'crash' on runway at major UK airport as flights suspended

The two easyJet planes involved won't be leaving Manchester Airport and alternative arrangements will be made for those affected after the 'crash' on the runway

Events

5 h. ago ‘By handing over some planning to the kids, I could relax’: readers’ favourite trips with teenagers in Europe

Holidaying with teenagers can be tricky, but our tipsters have discovered glorious destinations and exhilarating activities to keep them entertained • Tell us about a remote part of Europe – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucherSlovenia! We started in Lake Bled. Teens loved the Dolinka ziplines, the summer toboggan run, hiking in Vintgar gorge and swimming in Lake Bled. You can hire paddleboards and boats. If you have the money, there is rafting and canyoning too. After seeing the incredible Postojna cave, we went up the Vogel cable by Lake Bohinj. Half-board at the Bohinj Eco hotel kept the teens amply fed and it also has an aquapark, bowling and plenty of games to boot. We finished the trip off with shopping in Ljubljana and the best ice-cream ever at Romantika. Three happy teenagers. Sue Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Remember when having women in power was supposed to change everything? | Gaby Hinsliff

The careers of Sturgeon, Merkel and Ardern show how foolish it is to idealise leaders just for being womenNicola Sturgeon was always afraid of failure. But it was a very particular kind of failure she feared; one that follows a very particular kind of success. Living up to the fact of being Scotland’s first female first minister became, she writes in her new memoir, “almost an obsession”, which is arguably unhealthy but not unreasonable. To be the first woman (or indeed the first minority) in any field is to be uncomfortably aware of being on probation: the test case that sceptics will use to decide whether women in general can really hack it, but also the yardstick by which other women will judge whether representation actually makes a difference.You daren’t betray anything that looks like a sign of weakness, yet at the same time you’re endlessly under pressure to spill your guts on all the intimate stuff – miscarriage and menopause in Sturgeon’s case, pregnancy in high office for ...

Politics

6 h. ago Livingston runner who beat Laura Muir sets sights on GB place at World Championships

Sarah Calvert stunned elite athlete Muir to win the UK 1500m title

Politics