43 h. ago Growing pains: can rice production in Africa keep up with demand?

Africa Rice initiative aims to give farmers more control over their land in order to reduce flooding and increase yieldsSalmata Ouattara remembers 2023 as the turning point for her rice farm.June is usually the peak of the rainy season in Ivory Coast, but in the preceding years she and other farmers in M’Be on the outskirts of Bouaké, the country’s second biggest city, would wait weeks for rainfall. Then in September, they would watch helplessly as their farmlands were flooded. Some abandoned their farms, frustrated by fluctuating crop yields. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump escalates war on Mexico with secret directive to the military to target deadly cartels

President Trump asks the Pentagon to use the US military against drug cartels.

Events

4 d. ago Exact time you should sell your car or risk losing thousands of pounds

Industry experts have pinpointed key dates to get your vehicle on the market

Events

5 d. ago MARK JONES: Oh how I miss the wind in my hair at the wheel of my Alfa Romeo Spider... the demise of convertibles really is the end of our long love affair with motoring

After sacking me from my magazine editor's job, the managing director ran through the details of the exit deal. I had only one demand: I wanted to keep the company car for six months.

Politics

5 d. ago The ultimate test: watching this glorious sporting summer has given me a headache

Euros final, Lions tour of Australia and a riveting Test series forced social engagements on to the back burnerThere is a crick in my neck, a rick in my back, and a permanent ache behind my eyes. A friend refuses to offer sympathy. “You did this to yourself,” she says as I pop paracetamol. Thousands of hours of medical research are ploughed into elite sport, but where are the studies into the physical and mental demands of keeping up with it?While winter may be fiercely programmed, it’s the multi-disciplinary bunfight of summer that is the ultimate test of a sports fan. Right when our diaries demand we’re at our most sociable, our most available, our most outdoors, the calendar loses all sense of perspective and dumps events on us like it’s trying to save them from a burning building. We stand below, arms hopelessly full, desperately trying not to drop anything. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago The ultimate test: watching this glorious sporting summer has given me a headache | Emma John

Euros final, Lions tour of Australia and a riveting Test series forced social engagements on to the back burnerThere is a crick in my neck, a rick in my back, and a permanent ache behind my eyes. A friend refuses to offer sympathy. “You did this to yourself,” she says as I pop paracetamol. Thousands of hours of medical research are ploughed into elite sport, but where are the studies into the physical and mental demands of keeping up with it?While winter may be fiercely programmed, it’s the multi-disciplinary bunfight of summer that is the ultimate test of a sports fan. Right when our diaries demand we’re at our most sociable, our most available, our most outdoors, the calendar loses all sense of perspective and dumps events on us like it’s trying to save them from a burning building. We stand below, arms hopelessly full, desperately trying not to drop anything. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Switzerland's president heads to Washington in effort to avert steep US tariffs

Switzerland’s president and other top officials are traveling to Washington in a hastily arranged trip aimed at striking a deal with the Trump administration over steep tariffs

Politics

8 d. ago Putin 'moves four nuke bombers closer to Europe' after Trump sent nuclear subs to Russia as Kremlin warns against 'escalation'

The strategic aircraft are often used to bomb Ukraine and Insider UA says they have been loaded with missiles leading to a 'high probability' of an imminent major attack.

Events

9 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Top Trump aide accuses India of financing Russian war by buying oil

Stephen Miller says it’s astonishing that ‘India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil’; 120 firefighters needed to put out blaze at Sochi oil depot. What we know on day 1,258See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageA top aide to President Donald Trump has accused India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying oil from Moscow, after the US leader escalated pressure on Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. “What he [Trump] said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House and one of the US president’s most influential aides. Miller’s criticism on Sunday was some of the strongest yet by the Trump administration about one of the US’s major partners in the Indo-Pacific. “People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil. That’s an astonishing fact,” Miller said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning ...

Politics

9 d. ago Canada holds out hope of trade deal as US talks tough on tariffs

Trump administration says high levies imposed on partners are ‘locked in’

Economics

3 w. ago Japan’s PM accepts ‘harsh’ election result after losing upper house majority

Ballot heaps pressure on Shigeru Ishiba’s minority government just as it attempts to negotiate deal to avert Trump tariffs Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future was unclear on Monday after his coalition lost its upper house majority in elections that saw strong gains by a rightwing populist party.While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October and who has never been popular within his own party. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba faces uncertain future after losing upper house majority

Ballot heaps pressure on Ishiba’s minority government just as it attempts to negotiate deal to avert Trump tariffsJapanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future was unclear on Monday after his coalition lost its upper house majority in elections that saw strong gains by a rightwing populist party.While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October and who has never been popular within his own party. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba vows to stay on despite losing upper house majority

Ballot heaps pressure on Ishiba’s minority government just as it attempts to negotiate deal to avert Trump tariffsJapanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s has vowed to stay on despite his coalition losing its upper house majority in elections that saw strong gains by a rightwing populist party.While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October and who has never been popular within his own party. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Britain is facing 'critical shortage' of HGV drivers with 200,000 extra needed by 2029

There are currently 20,000 vacancies in the industry, but we're going to need an incredible 10 times more than that to keep up with demand

Politics

3 w. ago Billie Marten on surviving the 'cesspit whirlwind of pop music'

The rising singer-songwriter has forged her own path with folk music that keeps taking her from strength to strength, away from the demands of the pop world

Events

3 w. ago Trump escalates EU tariffs deal demands while keeping cripplingly high penalty on a key industry

President Donald Trump is escalating demands that a deal with the European Union on tariffs be reached.

Economics

3 w. ago Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs and buy 50 Boeing jets under Trump’s new trade deal

US president announces Jakarta will purchase 50 Boeing jets and billions of dollars’ worth of energy and agricultural goods as part of new deal

Economics

3 w. ago Toxic behaviour in TV jeopardises key British industry, experts warn

Leading figures say skilled freelancers feel ‘massive fear’ about speaking out and are leaving industryToxic behaviour in British television is jeopardising one of the UK’s most important cultural and economic assets, industry experts have warned.In the wake of a damaging report from the BBC on Monday that upheld 45 complaints about the former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace, leading figures in television said a workforce populated by financially insecure freelance workers remained too scared to speak out about harmful behaviour. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Trump says Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs, buy 50 Boeing jets under trade deal

Rate is significantly below the 32% the US president had threatened but timeline for implementation of deal remains unclearUS President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in significant purchase commitments from the south-east Asian country, after negotiations to avoid steeper tariffs.Indonesian goods entering the United States would face a 19% tariff, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. This is significantly below the 32% level the president earlier threatened. Continue reading...

Economics

4 w. ago Donald Trump claims he's 'heavily influenced' by his wife's attitude to Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump warned Russia that they face tariffs unless they agree to a peace deal within 50 days, and the former president admitted his wife Melania was not impressed with his 'pleasant' conversations with Putin

Politics