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Relentless sun and ruthless populists: how the climate crisis will change the next 20 years

Former diplomat Arthur Snell says a heating planet is accelerating conflict and migration – and fostering a new age of empire. Democracies are dangerously unprepared, he warns

After a diplomatic career spent in the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, the last place Arthur Snell expected to cheat death was on holiday.

But it was an uncomfortably close brush with a falling boulder while climbing in the Swiss Alps that helped to bring his personal and professional lives together. His beloved mountains were, he realised, becoming less stable thanks to a changing climate. And if physical geography drives the way states exercise their power, as classic geopolitical theory argues, then a heating planet must be dislodging more than rocks.

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© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

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How to turn limp rhubarb into tasty jam – recipe

Using raw honey for fermentation makes this jam a gut health powerhouse

Rachel de Thample is one of my food heroines. She’s the author of six books and course director of the College of Naturopathic Medicine’s natural chef diploma, and has also been head of food for Abel & Cole and commissioning editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated, among so much else. She trained with the likes of Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Peter Gordon, and now teaches fermentation and gut health at River Cottage HQ, where I cut my own teeth in teaching eco-gastronomy more than 20 years ago. While researching honey fermenting recently, I came across her recipe in River Cottage’s Bees & Honey Handbook, which I’ve adapted here so you can make as much as you like using a variety of aromatics.

It’s essential to use raw honey for fermenting, because it is naturally acidic (low pH) and contains wild yeasts, beneficial microbes and active enzymes that help create a healthy fermentation environment once diluted. Pasteurised honey, on the other hand, is heat-treated to slow crystallisation, which also destroys many of the naturally occurring yeasts, beneficial bacteria and enzymes needed for fermentation.

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© Photograph: Tom Hunt/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Hunt/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Hunt/The Guardian

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Workers at top 20 US low-wage firms rely on public assistance, report says

Study finds workers at 20 S&P 500 firms rely on Medicaid and Snap as CEO pay and buybacks soar

Many workers at some of the largest US corporations have no choice but to rely on healthcare and food assistance because of low wages, even as CEO compensation continues to grow, according to a new report released Wednesday.

The report, published by the Institute of Policy Studies, focuses on 20 of the S&P 500 corporations that have primarily US-based workforces and report the lowest median wages of the group.

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© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade

Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find food

The two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them.

Their breast bones were sticking out, they had no fat on them, and their muscles were wasted; the pair probably starved to death, unable to find enough food out in the Atlantic Ocean where they spend the winter.

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© Photograph: Andy Cowie/Cornwall Wildlife Trust

© Photograph: Andy Cowie/Cornwall Wildlife Trust

© Photograph: Andy Cowie/Cornwall Wildlife Trust

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Trump administration waging illegal war on Iran, experts say

Administration offers shifting explanations as it acts without congressional approval or legal premise

The Trump administration is waging an illegal war on Iran, one that defies both the US constitution and international armed conflict laws, according to several legal scholars and bipartisan lawmakers.

The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to halt Donald Trump’s military offensive, which he launched on 28 February. Hundreds of people, including six US personnel, have been killed in a conflict that has now expanded to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel and the Persian Gulf.

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© Photograph: Majid Khahi/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Khahi/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Khahi/Reuters

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Partner of sitting Labour MP among three arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Exclusive: Trio arrested by counter-terrorism police understood to also include partner of a former Labour MP

The partner of a sitting Labour MP is among three men who have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, the Guardian understands.

The Met Police took the men into custody on Wednesday morning on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and as part of a wider investigation into national security offences related to China.

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© Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

© Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

© Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

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