As rainy season fails to bring relief, authorities try cloud seeding – while others across the country pray for a miracle
Water, and its absence, has become Iran’s national obsession. In the mosques of northern Tehran the imams have been praying for rain, while the meteorologists count down the hours until the weather is forecast to break and rain is finally due to fall from the sky.
Forecasts of “rain-producing clouds” are front-page news. More than 50 days have passed since the start of Iran’s rainy season and more than 20 provinces have not yet had a drop. The number of dams that have less than 5% of their reservoir capacity had increased from eight to 32, and the crisis has spread from the central plains right across the country.
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© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
Andrew Snowden MP says government ‘must immediate take action’ on failures of anti-fraud benefits crackdown
Calls are being made for an urgent independent inquiry after thousands of families were stripped of child benefit due to flawed Home Office travel data that claimed to show parents going on holidays and not returning.
Andrew Snowden, the Conservative MP for Fylde and the party’s assistant whip, said the government “must take immediate and transparent action” to address the failures of the anti-fraud benefits crackdown.
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© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images
In the context of spirituality, trauma is a hand grenade. But it can lead to deeper understandings of the world
“Why me?” “Why evil?” and “Why God?”
According to theologian and psychologist Karen McClintock, these are the three key questions that a person will ask of their faith in the aftermath of trauma.
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© Composite: Nenov/Getty Images
© Composite: Nenov/Getty Images
© Composite: Nenov/Getty Images
Long after his conviction for sexual abuse, people in royalty, academia, business, journalism and politics sought his ear
He got by with a little help from his friends. From British royalty to White House alumni, from a Silicon Valley investor to a leftwing academic, connections and influence were the ultimate currency for Jeffrey Epstein.
Yet none appeared to challenge Epstein over his horrific crimes. If silence is complicity, the casual disdain of the elite circles he moved in spoke volumes.
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© Photograph: Uma Sanghvi/AP
© Photograph: Uma Sanghvi/AP
© Photograph: Uma Sanghvi/AP
I was sleep deprived and completely overwhelmed when she stepped in and took charge
Read more in the kindness of strangers series
As a twin mum the work is constant. It is double the love and double the laughs, but also double the illness. Of course, my twins would never get sick at the same time. As one recovered, the other would start showing symptoms.
One day, when my girls were three, one had a vomiting bug. She hadn’t thrown up for 24 hours so I took my chance to do a quick run to the chemist to stock up on supplies. My husband worked away during the week, so I had to manage on my own. I was exhausted, carrying the sick kid in my arms, while walking the healthy one along next to me as quickly as I could.
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© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design
© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design
© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design
The comedians on their Bafta-winning sketch show, the reason they split up – and why she reminds him of Diane Keaton
Born in Louth, Lincolnshire in 1969, and raised in Troon, Ayrshire, Ronni Ancona is an actor, writer and impressionist. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art and trained as a teacher before turning to comedy. Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, in 1964, Alistair McGowan studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before becoming an impressionist. The pair met on the London comedy circuit in the 1990s. They co-created the Bafta-winning Big Impression, which aired between 1999 and 2003 and became one of the BBC’s most popular sketch shows. Ancona’s new podcast with Hal Cruttenden – Hal & Ronni in Pieces – is available now.
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© Photograph: Courtesy of Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan
© Photograph: Courtesy of Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan
© Photograph: Courtesy of Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan
We’re taught from infancy that perseverance is a moral virtue and persistence pays. But what if quitters are happier and healthier?
Have you ever heard yourself saying “I’m going to do this if it kills me”? As the pensioners at my gym can attest, it’s what I hiss every time I’m there, attempting slowly and laboriously to get myself a millimetre closer to doing the splits.
But what if it actually is killing me? Not the groin strain, problematic as that is, but because I’ve just read in New Scientist that giving up is good for you, while grinding on isn’t. One study showed that people who “struggled to disengage from unfulfilling goals” had higher levels of cortisol and inflammatory molecules. “The result,” the article explained, “could be a heightened susceptibility to all kinds of conditions, including cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s.” In addition, “goal disengagement” – giving up – correlated with a lower risk of headaches, constipation and eczema; it may even protect against infection. Of 131 older adults, those who scored highly on a giving up scale (asking how easily they stopped fixating on unfulfilling goals and pivoted to others) got fewer colds.
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© Photograph: Posed by model; Cunaplus_M.Faba/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by model; Cunaplus_M.Faba/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by model; Cunaplus_M.Faba/Getty Images
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
They say “good fences make good neighbours”, presumably meaning that the stronger the boundary between you and people you need to deal with, the more robust the relationship. Is this really true? Jamila, via email
Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday.
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© Photograph: Posed by model; Shannon Fagan/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by model; Shannon Fagan/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by model; Shannon Fagan/Getty Images
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
Why do we feel nostalgia? And why do some things trigger it more than others? Jules, Fife
Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
I always used to dream of the past
But like they say yesterday never comes
Sometimes there’s a song in my brain
And I feel that my heart knows the refrain
I guess it’s just the music that brings on nostalgia for an age yet to come
Ah nostalgia for an age yet to come
Nostalgia for an age yet to come
About the future I only can reminisce
For what I’ve had is what I’ll never get
And although this may sound strange
My future and my past are presently disarranged
And I’m surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come
© Photograph: Filippo Carlot/Alamy
© Photograph: Filippo Carlot/Alamy
© Photograph: Filippo Carlot/Alamy
© Andreas Feininger/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Shutterstock
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