4 h. ago ‘Super exciting’ visit of dolphins to East River offers hope of cleaner New York

The rare sighting of two common short-beaked dolphins hints at an environmental success storyWhen New Yorkers were graced by the presence of two dolphins in the city’s East River earlier this month, marine experts said such a sighting was rare – but also a sign that this spring and summer season could be a good one for spotting more marine mammals, both great and small.On the morning of 14 February, a pair of common short-beaked dolphins was spotted alongside Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Experts tracking them observed that they lingered until 17 February, swimming up and down the fast-flowing channel that divides Manhattan from the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn and is lined with skyscrapers. Continue reading...

Politics

26 h. ago Russians hoping for peace talks and ‘universal joy’ – but will western brands return?

Following last week’s US-Russia talks, the mood in Moscow suggests many are beginning to think about what a post-war reality might look likeAfter three years of war and western isolation, Russians are starting to hope that the recent flurry of US-Russia diplomacy could offer a path to peace in Ukraine – and restore the sense of normality lost when their leader sent tanks across the Ukrainian border.Last Tuesday’s US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia have sent the country’s propagandists and political establishment into euphoria, celebrating what they see as a real chance of achieving Russia’s goals in the war at the expense of Ukraine and its European allies, which have been sidelined from discussing the future of the invaded country. Continue reading...

Politics

29 h. ago Stunning UK islands with puffins, dolphins and dozens of shipwrecks you can visit

The islands are a real paradise for wildlife lovers, offering a chance to see puffins, seals and even dolphins

Politics

43 h. ago Germany’s best defence against the AfD is for mainstream parties to offer hope

Editorial: The spectre of the anti-immigration right that is haunting Europe can be banished and parties occupying the centre-ground know what they have to do

Politics

55 h. ago Sir Alex Ferguson very clear what makes a good manager as pressure grows on Ruben Amorim

Ruben Amorim's time at Manchester United so far has been a huge struggle, but Sir Alex Ferguson's verdict on what he wants from a boss at Old Trafford will offer hope

Events

4 d. ago NHS gets green light for new treatment offering 'hope' to hundreds with aggressive cancer

"Each person who will benefit from this treatment is someone’s parent, child, partner or friend"

Sport

4 d. ago In these dark times of racially charged election campaigns, the German left offers a flicker of hope | Fatma Aydemir

Heidi Reichinnek’s speech went viral on TikTok – and sparked a surge of support from voters who reject the mainstream’s xenophobiaI was shopping for groceries the other day in Berlin’s neglected northern outskirts, when I remembered a joke. A banker, a social welfare recipient and an asylum seeker are sitting at a table. There are 12 cookies in front of them. The banker takes 11 cookies and says to the social welfare recipient: “Watch out, the refugee wants your cookie.”It came back to me as I witnessed a young white mother completely losing it at the checkout. At first I thought it was the prices that had caused her fury, though there was no indication of that; I was probably just projecting my own anxieties about money on to the woman’s tantrum. It took me a moment to realise that she was accusing another woman, also a mother but not white, of standing in her way on purpose. She shouted that this was her country and we should all step out of her way and that soon we would see. Two...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump and Farage branded ‘political fraudsters’ in warning over workers’ rights

Exclusive: TUC general secretary Paul Nowak warns President Trump and Nigel Farage are offering false hope to workers in the US and UK

Events

6 d. ago How Trump and the new right came to ‘own’ the future – while apparently exploiting the past | Jonathan White

The centre left’s failure has left a vacuum that’s been filled by those offering hope, rather than a technocratic status quoJonathan White is professor of politics at the LSEAt first glance, today’s politicians appear to have shifted their eyes from the future to the present and the past. The way to win power, it seems, is to make Maga-style appeals to the glories of yesteryear, while the best hope of keeping it is to pursue the short-term gains that will emerge before the next election. Observers of democracy have long said such patterns are inbuilt: for the 19th-century thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, “It is this clear perception of the future, founded on enlightenment and experience, that democracy will often lack. The people feel much more than they reason.” Yet today’s politicians, rather than being oblivious to the future, seem increasingly obsessed with it.The ascendant far right in North America, Europe, Israel and beyond finds much of its appeal in stories about what lies ah...

Politics

6 d. ago Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone review – these incredible children offer a sliver of hope

This often-distressing BBC documentary follows astonishing kids working as TikTok chefs and hospital porters – and shows their determination to smile in the face of unimaginable horrorThe children of Gaza will be its future, if they are able to remain there. Starting several months into Israel’s bombardment and continuing right up until the recent ceasefire, London-based directors Jamie Roberts and Yousef Hammash made their documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone by remotely instructing two local cameramen, Amjad Al Fayoumi and Ibrahim Abu Ishaiba, as they captured life inside the “safe zone” – an ever-changing, ever-dwindling area in the south-west of Gaza, designated by Israel as the place where displaced Palestinians should reside. That the cameras predominantly follow children has an unexpected double effect: it makes the film’s many deeply distressing moments all the more unbearable, yet it tinges them with some sort of hope.The kids are led by 13-year-old Abdullah, who acts...

Events