X to limit editing function to paying subscribers after platform threatened with fines and regulatory action
Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tool, has switched off its image creation function for the vast majority of users after widespread outcry over its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery.
The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines, regulatory action and reports of a possible ban on X in the UK.
Earlier this week we published an investigation that found hundreds of UK peregrine falcon nests have been raided in the past decade, in order to feed a growing appetite to own prized birds for racing and breeding in the Middle East.
This piece has been a year in the making, working with a great team of reporters from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) to shed light on a multimillion-dollar industry that stretches around the world.
This poignant debut about two strangers who fall in love offers a powerful portrait of the lived realities of immigrants in Britain
“Love is not an easy thing … It’s both the disease and the medicine,” a character says in Manish Chauhan’s meditation on modern love. This poignant and perceptive coming-of-age story, about two strangers who become star-crossed lovers, is a powerful portrait of the lived realities of immigrants in Britain, and of love as home, hope and destiny.
Newly arrived in England following an arranged marriage with British-Indian Rajiv, Mira feels increasingly out of place as she finds out that Rajiv holds secrets and loves someone else. On the eponymous Belgrave Road in Leicester, entire days go by “without sight of an English person”, and Mira feels “disappointed that England wasn’t as foreign or as mysterious as she had hoped”. She takes English classes, finds companionship in her mother-in-law and fills her days with household chores, but nothing shifts her deep loneliness.
Bray/Vann/Grainger/Schofield (Chandos) The easy fluency of Bray and pianist William Vann guides us through familiar and less well known Kurt Weill songs with the haunting Youkali as the lodestar on our journey
Youkali, for Kurt Weill, was the land of desires, promised but never to be attained – a strong image for an exiled and itinerant composer. The 1935 song in which he captured the idea, a lilting tango, forms the lodestar of Katie Bray’s voyage through Weill’s chameleonic songwriting career, undertaken alongside the pianist William Vann, accordionist Murray Grainger and double bassist Marianne Schofield, the latter moonlighting from the Hermes Experiment.
First, we hear a haunting, unaccompanied musing on the Youkali melody, then more of these punctuate the programme until we reach the song in full at the end. The journey takes in numbers in German, French and English – some familiar, some not – including a couple of songs written for the Huckleberry Finn musical Weill was working on at the time of his death.
Against a backdrop of rising white nationalism, the ‘global authority on colour’ has chosen white as the shade of 2026. Four experts wade in on the implications for everything from interior design choices to racial politics
For more than 25 years, Pantone, which describes itself as “the global authority for colour communication and inspiration”, has attempted to prophesy the year ahead by choosing its specific colour.For 2026, it is hedging its bets on something called cloud dancer.
While it’s highly unlikely that the next 12 months can be neatly summarised by one colour before the year has even kicked off (Pantone’s announcement took place in December), it still garners headlines because, in a way, Pantone’s decision does reflect on some level what is happening in the zeitgeist – or, at least, what is expected to happen. After the economic crash in 2009 came mimosa, a “warm and engaging” shade of yellow said to represent hope and optimism (it rang true with a mimosa-coloured sofa becoming a must-have and everyone taking up daily affirmations). In 2016, there was the blending of serenity and rose quartz – AKA the ubiquitous millennial pink – while last year’s mocha mousse is the reason you are seeing brown everywhere.
Christian author Philip Yancey, who has been married for more than five decades, confessed to engaging in a multi-year affair, telling Christianity Today in a statement that he had “disqualified” himself from ministry. Yancey did not mince words or seek to defend the affair — he acknowledged the sinfulness of his behavior and the devastating consequences of his...
A man who fired at police during a road rage incident in the West Village was shot and killed by officers Thursday night, according to law enforcement sources.
Forecasts suggest that global heating could create a shortcut from Asia to North America, and new routes for trading, shipping – and attack
Another week, another freak weather phenomenon you’ve probably never heard of. If it’s not the “weather bomb” of extreme wind and snow that Britain is hunkering down for as I write, it’s reports in the Guardian of reindeer in the Arctic struggling with the opposite problem: unnaturally warm weather leading to more rain that freezes to create a type of snow that they can’t easily dig through with their hooves to reach food. In a habitat as harsh as the Arctic, where survival relies on fine adaptation, even small shifts in weather patterns have endlessly rippling consequences – and not just for reindeer.
For decades now, politicians have been warning of the coming climate wars – conflicts triggered by drought, flood, fire and storms forcing people on to the move, or pushing them into competition with neighbours for dwindling natural resources. For anyone who vaguely imagined this happening far from temperate Europe’s doorstep, in drought-stricken deserts or on Pacific islands sinking slowly into the sea, this week’s seemingly unhinged White House talk about taking ownership of Greenland is a blunt wake-up call. As Britain’s first sea lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, has been telling anyone prepared to listen, the unfreezing of the north due to the climate crisis has triggered a ferocious contest in the defrosting Arctic for some time over resources, territory and strategically critical access to the Atlantic. To understand how that threatens northern Europe, look down at the top of a globe rather than at a map.
Donald Trump’s latest attack on climate action takes place amid rapidly rising temperatures, rising sea levels, still-rising greenhouse gas emissions, burgeoning costs from extreme weather and the imminent danger that the world will trigger “tipping points” in the climate system that will lead to catastrophic and irreversible changes.
The US president’s decision to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the world’s leading body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will not alter any of those scientific realities.
Case brought by Muslim leaders and MP follows failed 2024 bid and seen as part of global anti-women’s rights backlash
A group of religious leaders and an MP in the Gambia have launched efforts to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation at the country’s supreme court.
The court case, due to resume this month, comes after two babies bled to death after undergoing FGM in the Gambia last year. Almameh Gibba, an MP and one of the plaintiffs, tabled a bill to decriminalise FGM that was rejected by the country’s parliament in 2024.
A wholesome and indulgent pudding that’s a great way to use up dried fruit left over from the festive season
After the excesses of December, these baked apples are a light, refreshing vegan pudding. The filling makes good use of any dried fruit lingering still from Christmas, and is brightened with lemon and bound with nutty tahini. As the apples bake, they turn yielding and fragrant, while the sesame oat topping crisps to a golden crown. Serve warm with a splash of cream, yoghurt or ice-cream (dairy or otherwise), and you have comfort that feels wholesome and indulgent.
Only one club are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League, but the supporters’ anxiety after 22 years without the title risks infecting the players
Full-time and handshakes. A little Tears for Fears tinkles over the public address system. Beyond that … what, exactly? How to describe this swirling, velvety anti-noise? The sound of no gloves clapping? The sound of time physically disappearing down a vortex? The sound of no emotions?
It began with North London Forever and by the end we felt as though we had been in north London for ever: stuck on an endless loop of William Saliba passing to Jurriën Timber, of Virgil van Dijk pausing as he tried to bait a press that would never come. Long periods of this game were played at literal walking pace.
Disgraced former movie mogul would avoid a third trial in New York on charges that came to define the #MeToo era
Disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is weighing a potential guilty plea to resolve an undecided third-degree rape charge and avoid a third trial in New York on charges that came to define the #MeToo era.
Weinstein, in a wheelchair and looking noticeably paler than he did when he was last in court in June, was brought to Judge Curtis Farber’s court on Thursday, seeking to have his latest sex crime conviction thrown out over claims of juror intimidation.
Australia were there for the taking but Brendon McCullum’s tourists were so poor and ill-prepared they never got close
As far as endings go, it ended nicely. People streamed on to the Sydney Cricket Ground, wanting to get close to the trophy presentation and to have a canter on the turf. Nothing thrills an audience more than a chance to walk the stage. On a sun-kissed blue-heaven day, the match had finished early enough to leave plenty of afternoon to spare. Later Usman Khawaja soaked that up with his own crowd of family and friends, on his last day as a Test player.
These endings are supposed to signal the close of something momentous. Another Ashes wrapped up, another chapter in the rivalry written. Still, once it was done, the whole thing felt like it had been more hole than doughnut.
Manchester City are in advanced talks to sign the United States midfielder Sam Coffey from Portland Thorns, the Guardian understands.
The 27-year-old has been granted permission to fly to Manchester to try to finalise the move, which multiple sources have said is close to completion, and could give City a big boost in their quest to win a first Women’s Super League title since 2016.
The White House said structural damage and cost concerns led to the demolition of the East Wing, as critics and preservation groups question plans for the $400 million ballroom.
Besides changes to the White House, President Trump also said he planned to tear up the brick walkways in Lafayette Park and replace them with granite.
In President Trump’s vision, a second level with office space would be built on top of the colonnade that connects the West Wing to the White House residence.
House votes to override a pair of Trump vetoes were an unusual bid by some in the G.O.P. to assert their own branch’s prerogatives. But they fell short.
This was no aberration from what we’ve seen from this team time and time again this season. More specifically, the lethargy from this group on home ice has been a recurring nightmare.
Connexion
