Englishman Karl Dickson is in charge of today’s contest, and here is talking about the latest law changes for the 2024/25 season. Not everyone in the game is happy with the direction of travel.
It’s a beautiful dry and sunny afternoon in Sydney but a westerly breeze could be a factor when the ball is hoisted to the skies.
The release follows an offer of terms made this week by rebels in the region
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed after more than one-and-a-half years in captivity in Indonesia’s West Papua region, Indonesian police have said.
The move, reported by police in a statement on Saturday and confirmed by New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, follows an offer of terms made this week by rebels in the region
Keir Starmer’s popularity ratings will bounce back, the deputy prime minister has insisted, saying the government would deliver material improvements to people’s lives over the next five years.
Angela Rayner said the prime minister had been underestimated before but predicted he would become more popular as the impact of the changes Labour was introducing began to be felt.
The band wanted something skeletal, naive and unrehearsed for the new song. I gave them inept, tortured and hesitant
It is Monday afternoon. I am in a recording studio in London with a few members of the band I’m in, George the engineer and Ben, a trusted collaborator. We’re listening to a bare bones version of a new song, but my mind wanders a little; I have only just arrived after a weekend away, so I was not part of the morning’s work that got us here, and I’m barely part of the present discussion. Mostly, I’m here for moral support.
When the song ends and I return to myself, everyone is looking my way.
These wings are brined in pickle vinegar, then smoked gently over smouldering corn cobs for heaps of heavenly barbecue flavour
Spent corn cobs produce a subtle, sweet-flavoured smoke that’s ideal for barbecuing just about any meat, and without the need for any special equipment or even wood chips. Chicken wings are a great starting point for hot smoking, because they cook quickly and have a lot of surface area to take on that smoky flavour. You’ll need a barbecue with a lid and a bag of lumpwood charcoal.
Though Fayed cannot be brought to justice, there is power in those who suffered being able to express themselves and condemn him publicly
When I heard about the death of the 94-year-old billionaire businessman and former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed last year, my response wasn’t exactly charitable. Good riddance, I thought, to my one-time employer who had presided over a workplace rife with misogyny and abuse. I was 18 and had just finished my A-levels when I worked at the store in the 1990s. Having grown up in the sticks in Devon, I was desperate to move to London and knew the store employed school leavers on seasonal contracts in the run-up to Christmas. Five days after arriving in the capital, I got a job as a waitress and catering assistant working across Harrods’ many restaurants, plus a room in a house in Putney. I was delighted. My plan had come together.
What I didn’t know was that Harrods was a nightmare for scores of its female employees. In a new BBC investigation, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, more than 20 women allege they were sexuallyassaulted by their former boss, with five saying he raped them and that the company covered it up. On Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, one of those women, Gemma, gave a devastating account of her time working as one of Fayed’s personal assistants for two years in the late 2000s. The sexual harassment happened from day one, she said, with Fayed making lewd comments and grabbing her breasts and crotch in front of co-workers. Later, while on a business trip to Paris, she says, he raped her. (Fayed sold Harrods in 2010. The current owners have said they are “appalled” by the allegations and apologised to the victims).
Fiona Sturges is an arts writer for the Guardian and other newspapers
Hezbollah device blasts add to reputation for audacious espionage, but Israeli spy agency has had numerous failures
Israel’s foreign intelligence service, usually known as the Mossad, has scored many spectacular victories in almost 80 years of undercover operations, earning a unique reputation for audacious espionage and ruthless violence.
But even former agents admit the service’s history is “chequered” with many failures that have embarrassed Israel, dismayed allies and led to accusations of systematic disregard for international law.
In a special episode recorded live at the British Science Festival, Madeleine Finlay and guests explore the question: will AI make a good companion?
AI could give us new ways to tackle difficult problems, from young people’s mental health issues to isolation in care homes. It also raises challenging questions about the increasing role of tech in our personal lives.
To explore these questions, Madeleine is joined by the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample; Tony Prescott, a professor of computational robotics at Sheffield University; and Dr Mhairi Aitken, an ethics fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and visiting senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.
Marina Hyde laments the sexist gossip surrounding Charlotte Owen and her relationship to Boris Johnson; Friends writers and producers on the inside story of the iconic TV show; and Janet Jackson talks to Nosheen Iqbal about taking back control
Four protesters against North Sea oil and gas licences have charges of criminal damage thrown out
Four Greenpeace activists who staged a “no new oil” protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire manor house have had charges of criminal damage thrown out.
The activists said “justice and common sense” had prevailed after a judge on Friday ruled the evidence against them was “tenuous” and they had no case to answer.
He acquired prestigious assets but got into plenty of fights, and is now accused of sexual assault by former employees
Mohamed Al Fayed, who female former employees accused of sexual assault in a BBC investigation this week, was flamboyant, extrovert and a thorn in the side of the royal family.
That today, a year after his death at the age of 94, he is still making headlines reflects a life much mired in controversy.
Ukrainian security council restricts app’s use on government and military devices after intelligence agency says Russia can snoop on users and messages. What we know on day 941
Private was sentenced to 12 months of confinement and dishonourably discharged from army but has been released because of time already served
A US soldier who fled into North Korea last year has been sentenced to 12 months of confinement after pleading guilty to desertion as part of a plea agreement, his lawyer has said.
Because of good behaviour and time served, the soldier was released, the lawyer, Franklin Rosenblatt, said on Friday.
A man has been arrested in Italy over the 1977 murders of two women, Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett, who were found dead in their Melbourne home on Easey Street, Collingwood.
A 65-year-old man, a Greek-Australian dual citizen, was arrested at a Rome airport on Thursday evening, Australian eastern time.
Nominee emphasizes support for abortion rights at rally in key state, and declares herself ‘the underdog in this race’
Kamala Harris campaigned in Madison, Wisconsin, the deep blue capital of the state and college town that Democrats hope will turn out enough voters to turn the election in the presidential nominee’s favor.
“We know this is gonna be a tight race until the very end,” said Harris. “We are the underdog in this race, and we have some hard work ahead of us.”
A laureateship will force government, academic and literary institutions to confront their wilful neglect of poetry – and ask poets to begin to look outward, too
A good friend of mine, a Tasmanian writer with bone dry wit, says the federal government missed a trick in announcing its intention to establish a poet laureate. He jokes that an Australian poet laureate should rightfully be called a poet lorikeet.
It’s a quintessentially Australian joke, inherently suspicious of anything that might dare to take itself too seriously. But it also speaks to an anxiety that Australia may not be able to stick the landing of a laureateship with appropriate gravitas.
‘Sophia’ – a UN ambassador given legal personhood seven years ago – will open the new National Communication Museum at a 1930s phone exchange in Melbourne
Australia’s newest museum will be launched over the weekend by a United Nations ambassador looking more like a science fiction film star than a diplomat.
Sophia, a robot which was appointed as the first non-human to be given a United Nations title when she was appointed innovation ambassador to the UN’s Development Program, arrived in Australia this week to launch the new National Communication Museum.
One of the least enticing aspect of raising a baby is possibly dealing with the constant hassle, expense and wastefulness of nappies. If overflowing, smelly bins plus $20 (or more) a week spent on single-use products doesn’t appeal to you, you’re probably leaning toward modern cloth nappies.
Of course, cloth nappies are not for everyone. The first few months of a baby’s life are incredibly hard and not everyone will be in a position to do the extra laundry. Also, at $10 to $35 each, cloth nappies are an investment. While cheaper in the long run, it can feel daunting to spend big when a baby is coming.
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