Exclusive: Underdrawing suggests attempt to debunk myth that former wife of Henry VIII had sixth finger
Anne Boleyn’s Hever “Rose” portrait is one of history’s most iconic faces, with her “B” pendant, her French hood, her dark eyes and a red rose in her right hand. Now a secret that has remained hidden for nearly 500 years has been discovered beneath the layers of paint.
Scientific analysis of the painting at Hever Castle, her childhood home in Kent, has uncovered evidence that an Elizabethan artist sought to create a “visual rebuttal” to claims that Henry VIII’s ill-fated wife was a witch with a sixth finger on her right hand.
Enrol in the school of wok and get sizzling with a simple stir-fry and a classic hotch-potch noodle dish. Follow the ‘wok clock’ and both are ready in about half an hour
Stir-frying, as its name suggests, is the technique of frying while continuously stirring or circulating heat, and it is the heat that’s all-important. Stir-frying is all about wok hei, or ‘wok’s air’ in English, which you can think of as the ‘height of fire’, or the level of heat. It’s said that Chinese cooks have good wok hei if they have a true understanding of the heat of their wok and how to handle it in all situations, and a stir-fry’s success is based on the quality of the cook’s wok hei.
The president and his supporters joining forces to decide what audiences read and see seems straight from a fascism playbook
Two events, juxtaposed, tell us a great deal about what is rapidly taking shape in the US. In one, Melania Trump releases a glossy documentary, Melania, an account of her return to the White House. Amazon outbid others to secure the rights to the documentary, spending $75m (£54m) in total, and ticket sales so far suggest that this was, shall we say, not a purely commercial venture.
In the other, the Washington Post is set to cut up to 200 jobs early this month, including the majority of its foreign staff and a sizeable chunk of its newsroom. Both Melania and the Washington Post are backed by Jeff Bezos. His two decisions, to invest in state propaganda and divest from the fourth estate that supposedly holds power to account, reveal much about how capital and authoritarianism join forces to decide what audiences read and see.
A bit like Reddit for artificial intelligence, Moltbook allows AI agents – bots built by humans – to post and interact with each other. People are allowed as observers only
On social media, people often accuse each other of being bots, but what happens when an entire social network is designed for AI agents to use?
Moltbook is a site where the AI agents – bots built by humans – can post and interact with each other.It is designed to look like Reddit, with subreddits on different topics and upvoting. On 2 February the platform stated it had more than 1.5m AI agents signed up to the service. Humans are allowed, but only as observers.
Getting a good night’s sleep is a personal struggle for many of us. Here at The Filter US, we noticed that a lot of you are interested in all things sleep. From our coverage of the best sleep masks to these Coop adjustable pillows, many readers are obsessing about the best products to help them get some shuteye.
To help fuel this not-so-drowsy enthusiasm, we asked a bunch of our contributing writers about the products they rely on to get some rest. What we got were some personal insights into some of the sleep hangups we all face, and some fantastic tools to help, including comfy pillows, white noise machines (sound machines), earbuds, face masks, and more. There’s even a Snuggie-like wearable blanket on the list.
Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains, which then efficiently prioritise them. We need to learn to work with the process, rather than against it
It’s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal – “Did I leave the oven on?”. And those are just the ones that register. Subconsciously, we’re constantly sifting through a barrage of stimuli: background noise, clutter on our desks, the mere presence of our phones.
Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains. Just 0.0004% is perceived by our conscious minds, showing just how hard our brains are working to parse what’s sufficiently relevant to bring to our attention.
Report covering 23 conflicts over last 18 months concludes more than 100,000 civilians have been killed as war crimes rage out of control
An authoritative survey of 23 armed conflicts over the last 18 months has concluded that international law seeking to limit the effects of war is at breaking point, with more than 100,000 civilians killed, while torture and rape are committed with near impunity.
The extensive study by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights describes the deaths of 18,592 children in Gaza, growing civilian casualties in Ukraine and an “epidemic” of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Thousands who fled the advance of M23 rebels now face the threat of disease and shortages in Burundi’s overcrowded refugee camps
It must have been an eerie sight when 35-year-old Diudonné Muka looked over his shoulder and saw a trail of people stretching as far as the eye could see. The line ebbed and flowed deep into the surrounding forest, a river of multicoloured clothing cutting through the green.
He saw countless women balancing trays of goods on their heads, babies on their backs, tightly wrapped in kikwembe cloth. Men and children carried whatever they could: chairs, rugs, blankets and sacks of food; anything that might still be useful.
William Blake House in Northants accused of mismanagement after revelation it paid one of its own trustees £1m
A group of families have called for an urgent inquiry into a charity caring for their highly vulnerable disabled relatives which is under threat of closure after running up debts of £1.6m in unpaid taxes and paying £1m to one of its own trustees.
Earlier this month, a judge gave the charity, William Blake House, just weeks to pay off its debts to HMRC or face a winding up order. The charity’s accounts show auditors have routinely questioned whether it is a viable business.
The US lawyer on her fearsome reputation, the criticism she faced for advising Harvey Weinstein, and how 40 years of legal experience did not prepare her for the Epstein files
If Lisa Bloom had been advising Peter Mandelson or the then Prince Andrew before their calamitous attempts at reputation-salvaging television interviews, she would have encouraged them to listen beforehand to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – or, at the very least, to their lawyers – to understand something of what the women endured.
“Or even just watch some of the powerful documentaries that have been made, centering the victims, telling their stories,” Bloom says, pausing for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head to convey silent incredulity. “I’d have wanted them to become really enlightened about it. But you really can’t instil compassion in someone if they don’t have compassion. It’s hard to implant it in there.”
He shot 100 kitschly decorated homes rented out for porn shoots – and spent nine years on a project about his mum and dad. Has any photographer better captured everyday America?
A psychiatric review of Larry Sultan, carried out by the military in 1969, described the American as an anxiety-prone individual who felt like a “left-out observer looking inside”. Sultan may not have been fit for service but, with that short phrase, the report identified the essential quality that would make him a great photographer of American domestic life.
The report is included in a new book, Water Over Thunder, published in collaboration with Sultan’s widow Kerry and son Max. In a career that began in the 1970s and lasted until his death in 2009 at the age of 63, Sultan was never confined to a single genre, but rather moved between documentary, fiction and appropriation. He photographed the ordinary middle-class homes of the San Fernando Valley in California rented out for porn shoots, made a portrait of Paris Hilton in his parents’ bedroom, and took underwater pictures of people learning to swim in San Francisco.
Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar took home major Grammy awards during a night that saw musicians hit back at Donald Trump’s ICE occupation.
From Justin Bieber to Carole King, artists wore anti-ICE pins while others also spoke out during their speeches. Bad Bunny, who is performing at the Super Bowl next weekend, took home three awards, for album of the year, best música urbana album and global music performance, and used his time on stage to call out anti-immigration sentiment.
Planned outages in force across Ukraine while Russian strike kills 12 miners hours after Zelenskyy says next trilateral talks to start on Wednesday. What we know on day 1,440
A Russian drone strike on a bus carrying miners killed at least 12 people, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced new peace talks amid uncertainty over a Russian suspension of attacks on energy infrastructure. First deputy prime minister Denys Shmyhal said the strike in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region was a “cynical and targeted” attack on energy workers. The bus was driving about 65km (40 miles) from the frontline, police said.
A second round of talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials on a US-drafted plan to end the war did not go ahead on Sunday in Abu Dhabi as scheduled and Zelenskyy said it would instead take place this Wednesday and Thursday. Ukraine was ready for “substantive” talks, he said. He did not give a reason for the delay, and neither Moscow nor the US confirmed the new dates. Russia has continued attacking Ukraine throughout the negotiating process.
An earlier drone attack in the region overnight killed a man and a woman in the central city of Dnipro, regional military administration head Oleksandr Ganzha said in a post on Telegram. A drone also struck a maternity hospital in the southern Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, wounding at least seven people including two women receiving a medical examination.
The Kremlin said on Friday it had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure until Sundayat the request of Donald Trump, and Kyiv said it would reciprocate. Ukraine said the suspension was supposed to last until the following Friday. The countries have not reported major strikes on their energy systems in recent days, though Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia was attacking railway infrastructure and other logistics. He also said its forces had attacked the power grid in two cities across the Dnipro river from the front line, but did not explicitly accuse Russia of breaking the energy ceasefire.
Ukraine faced a new cold snap on Sunday with temperatures hovering around minus 15C (5F) and expected to drop even further on Monday to well below -20C in Kyiv. Grid operator Ukrenergo said late on Saturday that planned outages would be in force throughout the entire country.
Ukraine’s defence minister thanked Elon Musk after the world’s richest person said efforts to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks seemed to have worked. “The first steps are already delivering real results ... Thank you for standing with us,” defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Sunday. “You are a true champion of freedom and a true friend of the Ukrainian people.”
Russian forces gained control over the village of Zelene in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the settlement of Sukhetske in the Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday. The Russian state Tass news agency also quoted it as saying Russian forces hit facilities of transport infrastructure used in the interests of the Ukrainian army.
Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied in Prague on Sunday to support the country’s pro-Ukrainian president, who is locked in a dispute with the government’s nationalist billionaire leader Andrej Babis. Organisers from the independent Million Moments for Democracy movement claim up to 90,000 people attended the demonstration, where some participants waved Czech, European and Ukrainian flags.
PM says Europe must ‘step up’ and signals he wants to work more closely with other states to build military capability
The UK should consider re-entering talks for a defence pact with the EU, Keir Starmer has said, arguing that Europe needs to “step up and do more” to defend itself in uncertain times.
The prime minister signalled that he wanted to work more collaboratively with other European countries to increase defence spending and build up military capability, and doing so through the EU’s scheme is one option available.
Some users are stepping away from the app after it made a deal to create a US entity and updated terms and conditions
Many TikTok users across the US say they’re rethinking their relationship with the platform since its ownership and terms and conditions have recently changed, with some citing censorship and lack of trust as reasons why they’re removing themselves from the app.
Keara Sullivan, a 26-year-old comedian, says TikTok jumpstarted her career and provided a pathway to getting a manager and a literary agent.
The Pakistani writer on enduring an abusive relationship in the public eye, and how she broke free
Fatima Bhutto was born into one of Pakistan’s most famous families. A wealthy and powerful political dynasty, marked by decades of bloody violence. Threats to the family were constant. And so the need to keep secrets became Bhutto’s norm.
Her father, Murtaza Bhutto, was killed in a police shootout outside the family home. She was just 14 years old, her world turned utterly upside down. That sadness and trauma, the sudden and silent disappearances of her childhood, followed her as an adult.
Pam Morrison, 78, has little hope of justice for the deaths of Ronnie, Cecil and Jimmy during Northern Ireland’s troubles
When the gunmen came for Jimmy Graham they were thorough. They fired the first two shots as he parked his bus in the school yard, then boarded the bus and fired another 24 shots. As the killers sped away they whooped in delight. “Yahoo,” they screamed. “Yahoo.”
It was 1 February 1985 and the IRA team had special reason to celebrate: it had bagged a third Graham brother. They had killed Ronnie Graham in June 1981, Cecil Graham in November 1981 and now, just over three years later, they got Jimmy. A hat-trick.
Susan and John Letby question use of arrest footage filmed at their house in programme about daughter’s crimes
The parents of Lucy Letby have criticised the use of footage due to be aired in a new Netflix documentary about their daughter’s crimes as a “complete invasion of privacy” and said watching it would “likely kill us”.
Susan and John Letby questioned why police had released video of Letby’s arrest, which took place in the couple’s house, and said they were worried it would make their home a “tourist attraction”.
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer’s spokesman has denied claims by far-right political strategist Steve Bannon that he was behind Palmer’s controversial $60m advertising strategy at the 2019 federal election.
The text conversation purporting to be between Bannon and an unidentified person – who appears to be convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – was among a tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice in connection with Epstein.
DC arts venue, which has seen wave of canceled events after Trump’s takeover, will start renovations in July
The John F Kennedy Center, a world-class venue for the performing arts in Washington DC, will halt entertainment events for two years starting on 4 July during renovations, Donald Trump posted on Sunday on Truth Social.
The Kennedy Center, which has seen a wave of performers cancel events in recent months as well as the lowest ticket sales in years, has been in turmoil since the president orchestrated a leadership overhaul in the beginning of his term.
Steven Spielberg has won his first Grammy award, making him just the 22nd artist in history to become an Egot winner — an artist with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
The 79-year-old won the Grammy for best music film for the documentary Music for John Williams, which he produced. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, the film explores Williams’ seven-decade career as a composer, writing scores that have become synonymous with some of cinema’s biggest franchises: Williams has composed the score for nine of the top 25 highest-grossing films of all time at the US box office.
I wonder how Naveed will navigate his own path – and how much I must nurture and how much I must learn to let go
“Schools are finally re-opening, mate,” my volleyball friend Sardar announced, grinning with unmistakable relief. It clearly had nothing to do with how we played that evening – we lost badly. This joy was about classrooms, routines, teachers and the quiet order that schools bring back into families’ lives.
For us, it also meant something else entirely: my youngest, Naveed, is starting school for the first time.
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