56 h. ago Britain battered by 99mph Storm Goretti as shop fronts torn off and power lines downed

Storm Goretti has battered parts of the UK overnight, leaving tens of thousands of properties without power as heavy snowfall and winds of up to 99mph swept across the nation.

Events

5 d. ago ‘She was the brains, Maduro was the brawn’: Cilia Flores’ role in Venezuela

Flores, Nicolás Maduro’s wife, wielded far more power than just being a first lady and played a front line role in politicsBefore pleading “not guilty” at her first court hearing after she and her husband, Nicolás Maduro, were captured by US special forces, Cilia Flores made a point of adding, in Spanish: “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”But Maduro himself and others close to the couple agree that she was always far more than that. Before her rendition to New York, Flores wielded power comparable with – and at times greater than – that of other figures from the regime, including Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-president who is now the country’s acting leader. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago ‘She was the brains, Maduro was the brawn’: Cilia Flores’s role in Venezuela

Flores, Nicolás Maduro’s wife, wielded far more power than just being a first lady and played a front line role in politicsBefore pleading “not guilty” at her first court hearing after she and her husband, Nicolás Maduro, were captured by US special forces, Cilia Flores made a point of adding, in Spanish: “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”But Maduro himself and others close to the couple agree that she was always far more than that. Before her rendition to New York, Flores wielded power comparable with – and at times greater than – that of other figures from the regime, including Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-president who is now the country’s acting leader. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Why the surprise over Trump’s Venezuela coup? US presidents promise isolation – and deliver war | Simon Jenkins

Last week’s events in Caracas come in a long line of American interventions. The White House has awesome power and is never shy of using itIt is starting to trickle out. Last week in Caracas was not an invasion, it was a putsch. It was the militarised kidnap of one ruler to aid his more amenable deputy into power. Since April last year, according to reports, vice-president and now interim president Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge – the president of the Venezuelan national assembly – have been dealing secretly with Washington. This has reportedly been via that hotspot of informal diplomacy, Qatar.We have yet to know the details. But the rumours are plausible that last week’s episode was staged to look outrageous, including Delcy Rodríguez’s initial condemnation of it as atrocious. President Nicolás Maduro was handed over to the Americans swiftly and peacefully. The only slip was Trump describing Delcy as “quite gracious” before she was hastily sworn into office soon after the r...

Politics

6 d. ago Some parking restriction lines have no power and you can't be fined

Neither the police nor local authorities will take action if you park on this roadside line

Politics

6 d. ago The weightlifting champion jailed by Russia for ‘plotting sabotage and assassinations’

Yulia Lemeshchenko was defiant and did not deny the accusations, saying she had decided to fight against Russian military aggressionAt the beginning of autumn 2023, Yulia Lemeshchenko stopped appearing at the Kharkiv gym where she trained most days. A driven athlete, whose talent for weightlifting led her to become champion of Ukraine in 2021, her disappearance prompted confusion among her training partners.Months later, she resurfaced in a Moscow courtroom, accused of plotting sabotage and assassinations in Russia on behalf of the Ukrainian security services. Prosecutors claimed Lemeshchenko had blown up power lines outside St Petersburg and had later travelled to Voronezh, where she was staking out a Russian air force commander with a view to killing him. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago A power outage can turn dangerous fast. Here’s how to prepare

Power outages can come from winter storms, heat waves, wildfires or a delivery driver backing into the power line by your house

Politics

3 w. ago Tragic runner electrocuted and instantly killed while out for a jog

A young man preparing for a half marathon died instantly after a 'rare and complex sequence of events' left a lethal power line dangling in his path

Events

3 w. ago Texas sues utility company to recover damages from historic wildfire sparked by downed power lines

Texas is suing the utility company whose downed power lines sparked the largest wildfire in state history

Events