© Richard Bouhet/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Zvonimir Barisin/Sipa, via Associated Press
© Pool photo by Evgenia Novozhenina
Organisers say Sunday could be the largest pro-Palestine demonstration in Australia’s history, with rallies in 40 cities and towns
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Brisbane has amassed the largest pro-Palestinian crowd in the city’s history, rally organisers say, as thousands march across Australia in a show of support for the Palestinian cause, days after famine was declared in Gaza for the first time.
In Brisbane, organisers’ initial estimate was that at least 25,000 are gathered for a rally they described as “historic”.
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© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
© Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
Cameron Mofid was 20 when his mental health worsened during Covid. In need of a distraction, he began scrolling travel sites, and realised there was an extraordinary record he could potentially break. His journey would change everything
In May 2020, a month into the first Covid lockdown in Miami, Florida, 20-year-old student Cameron Mofid found his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) beginning to spiral out of control. “I was first diagnosed with the condition when I was 12. It produces obsessive thoughts that drive compulsions like washing hands, tapping or endlessly replaying conversations. When I was alone in the apartment with nowhere to go during Covid, those intrusive thoughts got much worse,” he says. “It can become paralysing being stuck in a mental loop. It was worrying and I felt like I really needed to get out of my head and that space.”
With nothing else to do, Mofid began searching through travel destinations on his laptop, hoping for a near future where borders would reopen and he could leave. As he scrolled, he came across a fact that would change his life. “I saw that more people had been to space than had visited all 195 countries in the world,” he says. “I was shocked that so few people – about 300 – had seen the world, and I also learned that, according to the travel platform and community, Nomad Mania, the age of the youngest person to visit every country at that time was 27. I wanted to do something impossible: I decided to beat that record.”
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© Photograph: Ariana Drehsler/The Guardian
© Photograph: Ariana Drehsler/The Guardian
© Photograph: Ariana Drehsler/The Guardian
Self-service tills, apps for shopping and takeaways, silent hair salons, driverless taxis – why are we going to extreme lengths to avoid engaging with each other?
So we’re just playing dumb then, are we? Righto. An extremely confusing study of San Francisco’s transport services has found that not only are people completely on board with driverless taxis, they are also willing to pay 50% more and wait significantly longer for them. Whyever could this be, eh? Most of the mooted explanations have been largely practical – driverless taxis are proven to be safer (until the machines rise up as one and wipe out humanity). They can’t be over the limit, on their phone at the wheel or give in to road rage. And yes, these are technically valid reasons, but come on. The real answer, which no one is admitting, is that driverless taxis mean we don’t have to talk to anybody.
It’s not surprising that many of us would happily put our lives in robot hands to dodge the horror of panic-asking a living, breathing cabbie if he has been busy tonight. We exist in a time when the majority of Britons would rather receive a text than a phone call. So many salons, all over the globe, now offer silent haircuts – where it’s pre-agreed there will be no chat – that they barely register as unusual any more. Self-service checkouts – the driverless taxi of the supermarket – are more labour intensive, more annoying, yet still exceptionally popular. Keeping stumm now seems to be our society’s raison d’etre.
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© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe are rowing across the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to Australia, to raise money for charity
The physical and mental challenges have been immense, the setbacks numerous. The pair have endured searingly hot days and chilly nights and dealt with debilitating blisters and salt sores.
They have been faced with a series of equipment failures (using a pair of underpants to fix one crucial bit of kit) and there was a pretty tense moment when they feared a pair of curious marlins swimming under their boat might pierce their hull.
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© Photograph: Seas The Day Ocean Rowing/https://www.facebook.com/seasthedayoceanrowing/
© Photograph: Seas The Day Ocean Rowing/https://www.facebook.com/seasthedayoceanrowing/
© Photograph: Seas The Day Ocean Rowing/https://www.facebook.com/seasthedayoceanrowing/
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge starts in Darwin on Sunday, with 34 cars from 17 countries racing across desert to Adelaide
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Zipping through the Australian outback this weekend is a red car looking more race boat than sedan and which travels at highway speeds using about the same amount of power it takes to boil a kettle.
When and if this futuristic looking craft – the Unlimited 6.0 – crosses the finish line for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Adelaide, its team from Western Sydney University will probably celebrate with something a bit stiffer than a cup of tea.
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© Photograph: PR HANDOUT
© Photograph: PR HANDOUT
© Photograph: PR HANDOUT
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