Sir Elton John branded the Labour government “absolute losers” after calls by the House of Lords to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to include greater copyright protections against artificial intelligence (AI) were resisted.
A pro-Palestine protester was restrained after an attempt to disrupt Israel's Eurovision performance at the grand final in Switzerland on Saturday, 17 May.
Austrians were getting ready to welcome back home and celebrate classically trained countertenor JJ, who has won the 69th Eurovision Song Contest with his pop-opera song “Wasted Love.”
A British mountain guide has scaled Mount Everest for the 19th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest mountain by a non-Sherpa guide
Some conservatives rejected Francis for his leftist leanings, but Leo could be able to realize his forerunner’s visions
Rightwing Catholic Americans in positions of power – from the vice-president, JD Vance, to Leonardo Leo – may have breathed a brief sigh of relief when, after the white smoke cleared, Pope Leo XIV emerged on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica donning a traditional red mozzetta with a papal stole.
It was, observers pointed out, a starkly different choice than his predecessor Pope Francis, a reviled figure among many staunch conservatives, who had worn all white on the same occasion in 2013 to symbolize his desire for simplicity and humility.
Kyiv officials believe Moscow is not interested in peace despite talks in Istanbul and Trump’s intervention
Ukrainian officials believe a largely stalemated war of attrition with Russia is likely to continue for several more years, despite international efforts pushed by Donald Trump to end the fighting.
After the inconclusive breakup of the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul on Friday, and despite the US president’s planned calls with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they see no evidence that Moscow is serious about peace.
It was the political satire that gave us omnishambles, pet asbos and the terrifying Malcolm Tucker. Two decades on, creator Armando Iannucci and stars including Peter Capaldi and Rebecca Front lift the lid on its chaotic creation
Twenty years ago this month we were plunged straight into the middle of an omnishambles. It was a moment in time when petrified politicians lurched from crisis to crisis, scrambling desperately to control the narrative as their endless gaffes derailed even the vaguest attempts to change this country for the better. But am I talking about the tail-end of the Blair years or the televisual tour-de-force that was Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It?
It could be either. It could even be right now – such was the show’s prescient genius. This was a satire that didn’t just mimic the government’s calamities but seemed somehow to foresee them. Over its seven-year run, The Thick of It came up with farcical policies that the government went on to adopt (pet asbos, anyone?), coined new words in the dictionary (the aforementioned omnishambles) and, in Malcolm Tucker, created one of the great malevolent forces of British comedy. Here’s how they did it …
Central Coast 1-1 (aet) Melbourne Victory; Mariners win 5-4 on pens
Bianca Galic slots winning penalty to seal Mariners’ first championship
The weight of the world was on Bianca Galic’s shoulders. After 120 minutes of football, nothing could separate her Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory and the first-ever shootout to decide an A-League Women grand final was needed. Eight successive penalties had rippled the back of the net to that point, with only Alana Jančevski’s initial attempt failing to do so. It meant that the game, a title – a fairytale – all came down to this.
The 26-year-old bent down to adjust the ball. At the end of the third game that had been played on AAMI Park across the weekend, and after rain had blanketed Melbourne the day prior, the penalty area at both ends of the pitch was churned up. Player of the match Isabel Gomez had slipped as she struck her shot on goal, the relief pouring over her as Victory keeper Courtney Newbon proved just unable to get enough of a touch on the ball to keep it out.
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