42 m. ago Angry bride struggles to hold her temper after 'disrespectful' guest refuses to take their wailing baby outside during the vows of the 'adult

Claire Kendall Taetz, 25, from Fort Worth, Texas in the US, had just walked down the aisle when she began to hear a bawling infant behind her.

Politics

63 m. ago Carmakers turn to new hybrid and petrol models to bolster profits

Investments continue in combustion and hybrid engine vehicles amid lengthy wait for EVs to become mainstream

Politics

67 m. ago Our home has been struck by the dreaded head lice. Must we all shave our heads?

The treatment for lice has improved since our day, but their presence is no less horrifyingMy daughter hadn’t been in nursery for an hour when the phone call came. My darling child, I was informed, had head lice, and I was to collect her at once.At pickup, they pointed at her head and told me they’d seen something ‘wriggling’. Pathetically, I examined her scalp and insisted I couldn’t see anything. This was my first experience of head lice since childhood, so I will admit to being embarrassed. Continue reading...

Politics

67 m. ago Literary gold or betrayal of trust? Joan Didion journal opens ethical minefield

Soon we can all read the late author’s private notes about her therapy. But should we?In 1998, the late journalist Joan Didion wrote a scathing essay about the posthumous publication of True at First Light, a travel journal and fictional memoir by Ernest Hemingway, 38 years after the author killed himself. “This is a man to whom words mattered. He worked at them, he understood them, he got inside them,” Didion wrote. “His wish to be survived by only the words he determined fit for publication would have seemed clear enough.”Just over a year later, in December 1999, Didion began writing her own journal about her sessions with a psychiatrist. She addressed these notes – detailing her struggles with alcoholism, anxiety, guilt and depression, a sometimes fraught relationship with her adopted daughter Quintana and reflections on her childhood and legacy – to her husband, John Gregory Dunne. Continue reading...

Politics

67 m. ago Alan Shearer tears into VAR with Man United rant after Everton penalty controversy

Everton had a 94th-minute penalty overturned against Manchester United after VAR deemed Harry Maguire had not fouled Ashley Young and recommended an on-field review.

Politics

2 h. ago Can a brown Hindu be English? English people say yes. Why do so many on the right say no? | Kenan Malik

An argument about Rishi Sunak’s identity reveals how ideas of ethnicity and race have become conflated‘They think they’re English because they’re born here. That means if a dog’s born in a stable it’s a horse.” That was a staple of the comedian Bernard Manning’s routine back in the 1970s. Enoch Powell had, a decade earlier, expressed the same sentiment in more refined language: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact he is a West Indian or an Asian still.”Few today would laugh along with Manning or take seriously the claim that only white people can be English. Britain has transformed over the past half-century and most English people now embrace Ian Wright and Idris Elba as being as English as David Beckham or Joanna Lumley. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago ‘I stripped away this caricature that I created’: Pamela Anderson on makeup, activism and gardening

The star of Baywatch and The Last Showgirl answers questions from Observer readers and famous fans including Stella McCartney, Liam Neeson, Ruby Wax and Naomi KleinPamela Anderson, makeup-free and beautiful in a floral Westwood suit, is making a fuss of my dog. My dog likes her. I’m not a particular believer in the idea that animals are great character judges but, in this case, me and the dog are aligned. I like Anderson too. She combines openness with a kind of vulnerability, and you warm to her immediately.Settled on a sofa in a small dressing room off a photography studio, she asks for a coffee and promptly spills it everywhere. “I strive for imperfection,” she jokes. “I strive for it, and I just hit it every time.” Cortado mopped, she takes a breath, before talking excitedly of a new phase in her eventful life. “A door opened, and I walked through,” she says. “It’s hard to believe.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Waste Wars by Alexander Clapp review – the filthy truth about trash

A globe-spanning study of the waste industry reveals how wealthy nations dump their garbage on the poor while the rate at which we produce near-indestructible rubbish only increasesYou know the drill: plastic and glass containers go in the blue recycling bin, paper and cardboard in the blue sack, vegetable matter in the green compost bin, and the rest in the grey general rubbish bin. Households up and down the land go through variations of these familiar refuse-sorting tasks each week. But where does it actually all go?Into the trucks that pick them up, yes, but after that? It’s a kind of act of faith that we imagine our detritus that we’ve carefully – or not so carefully – categorised is transported to the right location where appropriate measures are taken to dispose of it in the most sensible and ecological manner. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago ‘It’s not ethical and it’s not medical’: how UK rehab clinics are cashing in on NAD+

They are beloved by A-listers and surging in popularity. But claims that NAD+ infusions are a fix for addiction are unproven, risky – and possibly illegal, an Observer investigation revealsIt is billed as a “miracle” treatment that can reverse ageing and regenerate brain cells. And getting hooked up to IV drips containing NAD+ has surged in popularity, with record Google searches and celebrity fans such as Kendall Jenner and Joe Rogan.Now NAD+ is being touted in the UK as a treatment for substance ­misuse. Infusions of NAD+, which is derived from vitamin B3, are being sold across the country as a ­“clinically proven” and “effective” way to quit drinking or get off drugs. Continue reading...

Science

2 h. ago Pope Francis had ‘restful night’, Vatican says, morning after respiratory crisis

Pontiff had fallen into critical condition, receiving high flows of oxygen and blood transfusions in hospital as he battles complex lung infection Pope Francis had a “restful night” in hospital, the Vatican said on Sunday morning, after announcing on Saturday that he was in critical condition following a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis linked to pneumonia and a complex lung infection.The 88-year-old pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe, it was announced on Saturday. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago Redrawing of global energy markets map set to heap benefits on US

The prospects of peace and the return of Russian gas looks likely to serve the interests of Donald TrumpThe Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago has reverberated through the global energy industry; unravelling Europe’s decades-long reliance on gas imported via pipelines from Russia, and triggering a global squeeze on gas markets that unleashed a cost of living crisis still felt today.The prospect of a peace deal has many wondering whether the energy industry could be upended once again; this time giving way to a market serving the interests of the US president hoping to broker the deal. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad review – Gaza and the sound of silence

This powerful new book examines the moral contradictions of the west and asks what liberal values mean in the face of such brutal and sustained obliteration of human lifeLike many people, I have followed the unrelenting horror that has unfolded in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 mainly through the medium of social media. The Instagram reels of citizen journalists on the ground have become for me and countless others the most powerful testimony to the slaughter, destruction and trauma visited on the already beleaguered Palestinian population. Recorded at great risk, they are often heartbreaking and enraging: so many dead infants; so many maimed and traumatised children; so many obliterated families and communities.Some of these witnesses have achieved heroic status among their millions of followers, the likes of Motaz Azaiza, a photojournalist who was evacuated to Qatar after 108 days covering the carnage at close hand; Wael Al-Dahdouh, the Al Jazeer...

Politics

4 h. ago I see my wife once a year. Can I question her on her love life?

Faithlessness doesn’t only have to take the form of infidelity. It can be the slow erosion of trust and careThe question My wife and I live in different countries and see each other once a year. The last time we saw each other we argued all the time and slept in separate beds. I’ll be going to see her soon and I’m worried she’s seeing someone else, although I have no proof. She will expect sex from me, and I think I should protect myself by wearing a condom. How should I broach the condom suggestion without upsetting her, especially if she is actually being totally faithful?Philippa’s answer It seems that your marriage is not in great shape. Rather than worrying about condoms, I think you need to think and talk about your relationship together. It sounds like you’ll need time to adjust and get to know each other again, and gradually find a place that feels natural and comfortable for both of you. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago I see my wife once a year. Can I question her on her love life? | Ask Philippa

Faithlessness doesn’t only have to take the form of infidelity. It can be the slow erosion of trust and careThe question My wife and I live in different countries and see each other once a year. The last time we saw each other we argued all the time and slept in separate beds. I’ll be going to see her soon and I’m worried she’s seeing someone else, although I have no proof. She will expect sex from me, and I think I should protect myself by wearing a condom. How should I broach the condom suggestion without upsetting her, especially if she is actually being totally faithful?Philippa’s answer It seems that your marriage is not in great shape. Rather than worrying about condoms, I think you need to think and talk about your relationship together. It sounds like you’ll need time to adjust and get to know each other again, and gradually find a place that feels natural and comfortable for both of you. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago World's first study reveals truth about vaping that will horrify millions of e

The Manchester Metropolitan University study into the long-term effects of vaping, due to conclude next month and seen exclusively by the Daily Mirror, is set to blow apart the advice that e-cigs are a healthier alternative to cigarettes

Science

4 h. ago I saw the devastation of homes burned and a school destroyed in Gaza

When the news of the October 7 attacks broke, I could never have imagined the devastating consequences of that Hamas attack and the subsequent war, and the horror that continues to unfold in the region.

Events

5 h. ago German voters head to polls facing world of change as far right waits in the wings

Europe holds its breath as world’s third largest economic power and most populous EU country faces crossroadsGerman voters go to the polls today but it is a different world from when the campaign began only a few weeks ago.Nearly 60 million ­people are choosing a government that will have to grapple with the breakdown of the transatlantic alliance under Donald Trump and new threats to European security just as the country’s vaunted economic model is hitting the skids. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Can Moldova – population 2.4m – show the world how to stand up to Putin?

The tiny former Soviet republic’s determination not to be cowed by the Kremlin could provide a template for the west on how to hold back the tide of subversion and corruptionHow can a democracy defend itself from an attacker who does not respect any democratic rules?When your assailant uses corruption, blackmail, economic war, cyber attacks, covert campaigns and street violence – while all you have are inefficient courts and even slower international institutions. Can you lose your sovereignty by being too soft? If you respond with censorship or even cancelling elections, don’t you lose your values? Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Europe’s big carnivores are on the rise – but can we live with bears next door?

Numbers of animals once hunted as vermin are rising across the continent. But scientists worry about how we are going to get along with these predatorsEurope’s carnivores have had a remarkable change in fortune. After tens of thousands of years of persecution that wiped out sabretooth tigers, hyenas and cave lions, there has been a recent rebound in the continent’s surviving predators.Across mainland Europe, bear, wolf, lynx and wolverine numbers have risen dramatically as conservation measures introduced several decades ago have begun to make an impact. There are now about 20,500 brown bears in Europe, a rise of 17% since 2016, while there are 9,400 Eurasian lynx, a 12% increase. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Owners of these 20 cat and dog breeds warned they go missing the most

A law that took effect last summer requires all cats to be microchipped, even those that primarily live indoors

Events