2 h. ago Google plans to put datacentres in space to meet demand for AI

US technology company’s engineers want to exploit solar power and the falling cost of rocket launchesGoogle is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027.Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth’s surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI. Continue reading...

Technology

3 h. ago Dick Cheney’s role in ‘war on terror’ may have paved way for Trumpism

Former US vice-president a key figure in expanding White House’s power and ‘corrupting the intelligence-policy relationship’ to sell Iraq warDick Cheney, vice-president and giant of Republican politics, dies aged 84Dick Cheney, who has died aged 84, came to be seen as a moderate in his later years for his staunch opposition to Donald Trump, but he also stands accused of paving the way for Trumpism by undermining the independence of the intelligence agencies and US adherence to international law.As George W Bush’s second-in-command in the “war on terror” declared after the 9/11 attacks, Cheney made himself one of the most powerful vice-presidents in US history, and was a key protagonist in the push to invade Iraq, as well as the use of torture on suspected al-Qaida members detained without charge in the CIA’s offshore “black sites”. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago WTA Finals tennis: Sabalenka fends off Pegula; Gauff beats ailing Paolini – as it happened

Aryna Sabalenka dug deep to beat Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 while Coco Gauff cleaned up her service game to win 6-3, 6-2 against Jasmine PaoliniGauff 3-1 Paolini* (* denotes server): Gauff nets two backhands in a row as the Italian plays her first ball with a bit more power than in the first three games. But Guaff uses the court to make Paolini chase the ball at the baseline and gets to deuce after a weak second serve from the Italian. The two trade advantages for a while and at the fifth deuce, Gauff nets a backhand return. Paolini finally sees out the 8min 58sec game after Gauff sends one long.*Gauff 3-0 Paolini (* denotes server): A long rally ends with the Italian powerfully slicing a winner and following it up with another crosscourt forehand that Gauff strains to reach. But she sends three returns long in back-to-back break points, putting her arms up in the air in frustration. Gauff gets the advantage and turns the game around to take the set after another poor return from ...

Politics

6 h. ago Muriel Spark to be honoured in first ever memorial dedicated to a woman in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens

The memorial will be the first dedicated to a woman in Princes Street Gardens

Politics

6 h. ago WTA Finals tennis: Sabalenka v Pegula; Gauff beats ailing Paolini in straight sets – live

Updates from the group-stage matches in Riyadh Gauff’s second serve key to success | Email YaraGauff 3-1 Paolini* (* denotes server): Gauff nets two backhands in a row as the Italian plays her first ball with a bit more power than in the first three games. But Guaff uses the court to make Paolini chase the ball at the baseline and gets to deuce after a weak second serve from the Italian. The two trade advantages for a while and at the fifth deuce, Gauff nets a backhand return. Paolini finally sees out the 8min 58sec game after Gauff sends one long.*Gauff 3-0 Paolini (* denotes server): A long rally ends with the Italian powerfully slicing a winner and following it up with another crosscourt forehand that Gauff strains to reach. But she sends three returns long in back-to-back break points, putting her arms up in the air in frustration. Gauff gets the advantage and turns the game around to take the set after another poor return from Paolini, this one going into the stands. Continue r...

Politics

7 h. ago Salman Rushdie's new book is his first fiction since a brutal attack. He tells us why

Salman Rushdie's new book, “The Eleventh Hour,” marks a creative reset for the author

Events

7 h. ago Trump admits Republicans ‘likely’ to lose midterm elections unless they go ‘nuclear’ and end Senate filibuster

Republican senators are unlikely to heed his demand to drop the chamber’s supermajority requirement for most bills as it could end up giving Democrats the same power down the line

Politics

8 h. ago King and author Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ‘discussed threat AI could pose to creatives’

The Japanese-born writer, 70, was made a Companion of Honour for services to literature at an event at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

Events

8 h. ago Dick Cheney's rise to power told by Christian Bale in 'badass' movie that's free to watch

The 2018 film recalls the life of former vice president Dick Cheney following his rise to power and influence on American politics - and it's now free to stream

Politics

9 h. ago Jeffrey Archer offers to write your name into his novel as charity auction prize

The author said he will decide on the character in his final standalone novel, but they will be named after the winning bidder.

Politics

9 h. ago UK weather set to be a total washout with 18 hours of heavy rain and power cut fears

The Met Office has put numerous yellow weather warnings in place across the country. Forecasters are warning there could be chaos on the roads as well as power cuts

Politics

10 h. ago The many uses of leftover chutney, from breakfast to soups and glazes | Kitchen aide

With Christmas around the corner, our panel of experts recommends creative ways to finish off half-eaten jars before the new ones arrive Every Christmas I’m given chutney, and I still have four barely used jars. What to do with them before the next lot arrive? Christine, OxfordThis sounds like a job for Claire Dinhut, author of The Condiment Book, who also goes by the moniker Condiment Claire. She would approach this meal by meal, starting with breakfast. “It might not seem so obvious,” she says, “but I put Branston pickle on my avocado toast. If you think about it, you often add acidity, which is usually lemon, but chutney is punchy and has that same tang, as well as a bit of texture.” Regardless of what jars Christine has hanging around, Dinhut would also consider the breakfast bap: “Whether it’s spicy mango, peach, chilli or tomato chutney, that would be so delicious with an egg yolk.”Roger Pizey, executive head of pastry at Fortnum & Mason, is no stranger to Christine’s chut...

Politics

10 h. ago The Scotsman’s Green Skills Conference to tackle key energy transition hurdles

Scotland’s green economy is gathering pace and with it comes a critical need for the skills, training and partnerships that will power a just transition.

Events

10 h. ago Sizewell C ‘on budget and on schedule’ as financing completes

The planned nuclear power plant in Suffolk reached financial close on Tuesday.

Economics

11 h. ago Being 'hangry' is NOT a real thing! Scientists find no link between hunger and brain power

You might think you're not yourself when you're hungry - but that's just not true, according to a new study.

Politics

12 h. ago Sharp, subtle and effortlessly Lynchian: Diane Ladd had a potent star power

In a hugely successful TV and film career, her waitresses, neighbours, moms and daughters ranged from comedy to drama to David Lynch films, always with compelling authenticity• Diane Ladd, Oscar-nominated star of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, dies aged 89Diane Ladd was part of a Hollywood aristocracy of character actors who from the golden period of the American New Wave onwards lent star quality to supporting roles. She brought an authentic, undiluted American screen-acting flavour to everything she was in, and ran hugely successful movie and TV careers in parallel for decades, playing waitresses, neighbours, moms, sirens and daughters, and ranging from comedy to drama.She was famously the mother of screen actor Laura Dern and wife of Bruce Dern, and repeatedly acted with Laura in a remarkable mother-daughter partnership in which the two women’s closeness always shone through. You might compare it to Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, or Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher — although...

Politics

13 h. ago Forget petty bribes, ‘state capture’ is corruption so deep it is shaping the rules of democracy itself | Kenneth Mohammed

Beating the dangerous influence of private interests on governments requires independent judges, journalists and a courageous civil societyA global youth revolt is shaking the foundations of political power. In just a few months, millions of young people have taken to the streets across continents – from Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Madagascar, Peru and Paraguay – to denounce corruption and collapsing public systems. The spark is familiar: governments accused of looting public wealth while ordinary citizens face unemployment, rising costs, poverty and failing services. These digitally connected protest movements – leaderless, borderless and fast-moving – have toppled governments in Nepal, Peru and Madagascar. The anger is not abstract. It is directed squarely at political and economic elites who have turned public office into private estates. What they are confronting, often without naming it, is state capture – a form of corruption so de...

Politics

13 h. ago Australian households to get three hours of free solar energy every day: ‘There is so much power’

Solar sharer scheme will cover homes with smart meters across New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia

Politics

16 h. ago ‘Beating, torturing, killing’: freed Palestinian author on life in Israeli jails

Nasser Abu Srour says prisons became like ‘another front’ in Gaza war and tells of struggle to adjust to life outsideA celebrated Palestinian author who was freed last month after more than 32 years in Israeli prisons has said the use of torture increased dramatically during his last two years of captivity as Israel came to treat its jails as another front in the Gaza war.Nasser Abu Srour, whose prison memoir has been translated into seven languages and is tipped to win a major international literary prize this month, was among more than 150 Palestinians serving life sentences who were freed as part of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire and then immediately exile to Egypt, where most remain in limbo. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z Danielewski – House of Leaves author returns with a 1200

A quarter century after that landmark cult novel, this new epic has aspects of brilliance but seems designed for academic study rather than readerly enjoymentIn this moment of cultural panic about the decline of reading, it takes an enviable confidence to deliver a volume such as Tom’s Crossing. Weighing in at more than 1,200 pages of closely printed text, the novel contains, I would hazard, about half a million words – roughly two Ulysses. It’s also, for that matter, about twice the length of Danielewski’s debut, House of Leaves, which secured cult status for its author on publication 25 years ago. Tom’s Crossing is so big that when I got it out on the tube, I felt like that character on Trigger Happy TV with his enormous mobile phone. “Look,” I seemed to be telling the passengers scrolling Instagram on their devices, “I’m reading a book!”The novel is not merely long, it’s also a challenging, deliberately arcane work that insists on its own epic status, yet has at its heart a strai...

Culture