10 h. ago The trauma after the storm: Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of emotional devastation across Jamaica

Experts are calling for the integration of mental health into climate-disaster policy in the Caribbean as studies show that PTSD risks increase after hurricanes and displacementWhen Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on 28 October with 185mph winds, destroying homes, hospitals and infrastructure, killing 32 people and affecting 1.5 million, Toni-Jan Ifill immediately realised it would leave many with long-term traumatic memories.A month and a half after the storm, which also affected eastern Cuba, the clinical psychologist says recollections of the terrifying winds also haunt some of the staff at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. Even the sound of rain can cause trauma responses among people who lived through it. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Son killed millionaire mum amid claims she 'slept with him to stop him being gay'

Barbara Daly Baekeland, a New York socialite who married into the Bakelite plastic fortune, was stabbed to death by her schizophrenic son Antony

Events

20 h. ago Gang war firebomb thug flees to Morocco for luxury life after waging terror on capital

The man left Scotland earlier this year as Police Scotland started arresting people amid their probe into the gang war.

Events

43 h. ago Assad family live in Russian luxury as Bashar ‘brushes up on ophthalmology’

Family friend, sources in Russia and Syria, and leaked data help give rare insight into life of dictator’s reclusive householdIn 2011, a group of teenage boys spray-painted a warning on to a wall in their school playground: “It’s your turn, Doctor.” The graffiti was a thinly veiled threat that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, a London-trained ophthalmologist, would be next in the line of Arab dictators toppled by the then raging Arab spring.It took 14 years, during which 620,000 were killed and nearly 14 million displaced, but eventually the doctor’s turn came and Assad was deposed, fleeing to Moscow in the middle of the night. Continue reading...

Society

6 d. ago AfD responds to Trump ‘erasure’ claims with call for nationalist revival in Europe

Continent’s other nationalist parties wary of echoing sentiments of US president due to his unpopularity with voters Europe live – latest updatesGermany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has responded to US claims that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” by saying it backs efforts for a nationalist revival on the continent – but other nationalist parties in the EU are far more cautious.“The AfD is fighting alongside its international friends for a conservative renaissance,” the party’s foreign policy spokesperson, Markus Frohnmaier, said on Wednesday, adding that he would meet Maga Republicans in Washington and New York this week. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Congresswoman Ilhan Omar calls Trump a ‘national embarrassment’ after president’s ‘bigoted’ rant about ‘hellhole’ countries

Donald Trump also revived old conspiracy theories about Ilhan Omar marrying her brother to gain citizenship to the US

Politics

7 d. ago San Diego officials approve $30M settlement for family of teen killed by police

The San Diego City Council has approved a $30 million payment to the family of a 16-year-old killed by police

Events

8 d. ago Has Labour axed dementia diagnosis targets because it's a disease of old age?

One million people in the UK have dementia and it already kills more people than cancer or heart disease - usually from problems arising from a weakened immune system.

Events

8 d. ago Syrians celebrate a year after Bashar Assad’s fall, in photos

As celebrations kicked off marking the first anniversary on Monday of the ousting of former President Bashar Assad’s regime, Syrians are still struggling to heal after the dynasty’s repressive 50-year rule and a 14-year civil war that killed an estimated half-million people, displaced millions more and left the country battered and divided.

Culture

2 w. ago Life Invisible: the fight against superbugs starts in the driest place on Earth

Cristina Dorador is on an urgent mission in the world’s highest desert, the Atacama in Chile. As the rise of drug-resistant superbugs kills millions per year, Cristina has made it her mission to uncover new, life-saving antibiotics in the stunning salt flats she has studied since she was 14. Against the magnificent backdrop of endless plains, microscopic discoveries lead her team of scientists to question how critically lithium mining is damaging the delicate ecosystem and impacting Indigenous communities Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Life Invisible: the fight against superbugs starts in the driest place on Earth – documentary

Cristina Dorador is on an urgent mission in the world’s highest desert, the Atacama in Chile. As the rise of drug-resistant superbugs kills millions per year, Cristina has made it her mission to uncover new, life-saving antibiotics in the stunning salt flats she has studied since she was 14. Against the magnificent backdrop of endless plains, microscopic discoveries lead her team of scientists to question how critically lithium mining is damaging the delicate ecosystem and impacting Indigenous communities Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago New social housing development in Killearn unveiled in £2.83 million project

The development at Lampson Court boasts nine homes available for social rent and two others which are shared equity.

Economics

2 w. ago ‘We have to be able to ask difficult questions’: who really took the iconic Napalm Girl photo?

A controversial Netflix documentary follows an investigation into the truth behind one of the most important wartime photos ever takenIt is one of the most recognizable photographs of the 20th century: a naked girl – arms wide, face contorted, skin scorched and peeling – running toward the camera as she flees a napalm attack in South Vietnam. To her right, a boy’s face is frozen in a Greek tragedy mask of pain. To her left, two other Vietnamese children run away from the bombed village of Trảng Bàng. Behind them, an indistinguishable group of soldiers and, behind them, a wall of black smoke.Within hours of publication in June 1972, the photo, officially titled The Terror of War but colloquially known as Napalm Girl, went the analog version of viral; seen and discussed by millions of people around the world, it’s widely credited with galvanizing public opinion against the US war in Vietnam. Susan Sontag later wrote that the horrifically indelible image of nine-year-old Kim Phúc in di...

Culture

2 w. ago A moment that changed me: I adopted a koala – and I remembered something important about myself

As I watched the news about Australia’s devastating bushfires in 2020 I felt compelled to help. It was the start of a new relationship with nature, and a reminder of my childhood joie de vivreAs hookup sites go, it was in another league. I was looking for a different kind of soulmate and I was spoilt for choice. Would it be Floyd, “a stylish poser and a winner of hearts”? Or Bobby, “who loves cuddling and is a bit of a showoff”? Or could it be the “beautiful and incredibly sweet Morris with a gentle nature”? One stood out. Not only was he “very affectionate” but he was also “a bit of a troublemaker – always exploring and often found sitting on the rocks”. Just what I was looking for; I swiped right. That’s how I met Jarrah. My koala.A month before, in 2020, I’d seen a newsflash about the bushfires in Australia. The effect on the continent’s wildlife was devastating. An estimated 61,000 koalas had been killed or injured among 143 million other native mammals. There were two things I ...

Politics

2 w. ago A moment that changed me: I adopted a koala, he bit me – and I remembered something important about myself

As I watched the news about Australia’s devastating bushfires in 2020 I felt compelled to help. It was the start of a new relationship with nature, and a reminder of my childhood joie de vivreAs hookup sites go, it was in another league. I was looking for a different kind of soulmate and I was spoilt for choice. Would it be Floyd, “a stylish poser and a winner of hearts”? Or Bobby, “who loves cuddling and is a bit of a showoff”? Or could it be the “beautiful and incredibly sweet Morris with a gentle nature”? One stood out. Not only was he “very affectionate” but he was also “a bit of a troublemaker – always exploring and often found sitting on the rocks”. Just what I was looking for; I swiped right. That’s how I met Jarrah. My koala.A month before, in 2020, I’d seen a newsflash about the bushfires in Australia. The effect on the continent’s wildlife was devastating. An estimated 61,000 koalas had been killed or injured among 143 million other native mammals. There were two things I ...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump wants to revive the Rush Hour franchise. Is he eyeing a return to Hollywood?

The US president has reportedly asked Paramount for a fourth instalment of the cop comedy starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Whether he wants an acting credit or has suddenly come over all inclusive remains to be seenIt is said that by 328BC, having made empires kneel to him, Alexander the Great wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.Similarly, having solved the Middle East and Ukraine issues with only a couple of technicalities to iron out and put an end to so many other wars as well, Donald Trump may also be tempted to sob at having run out of important tasks. And yet, just as he is about to kneel in anguish on the Oval Office carpet, he is apparently perking up at the thought of one more mighty challenge. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Remains of woman kidnapped in 1969 believed to be in London garden, court told

Muriel McKay was kidnapped for a £1 million ransom in 1969 and killed, but her body has never been discovered.

Events

3 w. ago The ‘war on terror’ has killed millions. Trump is reviving it in Venezuela | Daniel Mendiola

After decades of terrorizing civilians in the name of fighting terror, the White House is trying to do it with even less oversightFor the last two months, US forces have amassed outside Venezuela and carried out a series of lethal strikes on civilian boats. The Trump White House has ordered these actions in the name of fighting “narco-terrorists” – a label apparently applicable to anyone suspected of participating in drug trafficking near Latin American coastlines. More than 80 people have already been killed in these pre-emptive strikes, and war hawks are calling for expanded military action to depose the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.Watching this play out, I am reminded of a passage from the geographer Stuart Elden’s award-winning 2009 book, Terror and Territory. In discussing how to study the “war on terror”, Elden observed that it did not make sense to study terrorism as something unique to non-state actors.Daniel Mendiola is a professor of Latin American history and mig...

Events

3 w. ago Bush hails his former VP Dick Cheney as ‘devoted to protecting the interests of the US’ at funeral where Trump and Vance were not invited

The two-term vice president – who was one of the architects of the War on Terror – died this month from complications related to pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. He was 84

Politics

3 w. ago Trump and Vance not invited to Dick Cheney’s funeral today while Biden, Bush, Harris and Pence attending

The two-term vice president – who was one of the architects of the War on Terror – died this month from complications related to pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. He was 84

Politics