Violent criminal gangs have 'near-total control' of world nation's capital, UN says
Astronomer says object could be further evidence that ‘interstellar wanderers’ are common in galaxy
It isn’t a bird, it isn’t a plane and it certainly isn’t Superman – but it does appear to be a visitor from beyond our solar system, according to astronomers who have discovered a new object hurtling through our cosmic neighbourhood.
The object, originally called A11pl3Z and now known as 3I/Atlas, was first reported by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (Atlas) survey telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, on Tuesday.
Continue reading...© Photograph: David Rankin/David Rankin, Saguaro Observatory/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: David Rankin/David Rankin, Saguaro Observatory/AFP/Getty Images
Details include how White House staff thought ex-president ‘was a prick’ who disrespected and mistreated Biden
Barack Obama, the former US president, sounded the alarm about Joe Biden’s ailing re-election bid almost a year before polling day, warning his former vice-president’s staff “your campaign is a mess”, a new book reveals.
The intervention came amid tensions between the Obama and Biden camps as they braced for a tough fight against Donald Trump. In the end, the ageing Biden withdrew from the race in favor of his vice-president, Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
Justices will hear Idaho and West Virginia appeals on laws barring trans girls from female public school teams
The US supreme court announced on Thursday that it will consider a bid by West Virginia and Idaho to enforce their state laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams at public sector schools.
The decision means the court is prepared to take up another civil rights challenge to Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
This warm, funny account of a mercurial talent gone to waste teems with love for its subject
When the music journalist Will Hodgkinson proposed writing a book on Lawrence, ex-frontman of the post-punk band Felt and latterly of Go-Kart Mozart (recently re-christened Mozart Estate), he was told there would be conditions. Lawrence – who goes by his first name only – said he couldn’t speak to any old bandmates. Furthermore, there could be no anecdotes or use of the word “just”. Asked what is wrong with “just”, Lawrence tells him: “I just don’t like it.”
A simultaneously entertaining and melancholic account of an overlooked musician, Street-Level Superstar depicts the sixtysomething Lawrence as a pallid eccentric who passes his time walking around London, who lives on liquorice and milky tea and is fearful of cheese – “We know that in nature if something smells, it is dangerous to eat.” We learn that Lawrence hasn’t had a girlfriend for years. Reflecting on sex, he says: “I was a two-minute wonder. They’re not missing much.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian
© Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian
Far-right activist allegedly told journalists: ‘I’m coming to get you’ and ‘I’ll be knocking at your door’
The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has denied harassing two journalists by allegedly telling them: “I’m coming to get you” and “I’ll be knocking at your door”.
Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appeared at Southwark crown court where he denied two offences of harassment causing fear of violence.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images
© Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images
© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times