HeraldLoop
The Guardian

The Guardian — page 94

2610 articlestheguardian.com ↗

Coverage, page 94

page 94 of 131

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

Massif by Garth Nix; Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired By Ursula K Le Guin edited by Jonathan Strahan; An Immaculate Deception by Isabela Livino; Serenity Falls by CJ Tudor Massif by Garth Nix (Gollancz, £25) The bestselling fantasy author’s first science fiction novel for adults is set three centuries from now, when humanity has spread out to the stars. The colonisation of other planets has been enabled by contact with mysterious aliens, and with much of the population split into competing economic spheres, war over territory is raging between the two biggest: United Earth Government and the Mars and Beyond Prosperity Sphere. This war in space is possible only because the godlike aliens continue to supply us with spaceships – but why? What do they want? Answers must await a sequel to this compelling, action-packed space opera with wonderfully weird aliens. Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired By Ursula K Le Guin edited by Jonathan Strahan (Titan, £22) The authors of these 15 original stories range from the well-established (Karen Joy Fowler, Kelly Link, Molly Gloss) to newer writers (Chana Porter, Ai Jiang, Vandana Singh). A few make direct reference to Le Guin, but most reveal her influence subtly, by shared interests in questioning established ideas and imagining other ways of living, whether among non-human beings, in the future, on other worlds, or in ours. My favourites include Sarah Pinsker’s Travelling, Home, about a young woman in present-day America seeking her place in the world, Ann Leckie’s Five-Eyed Jane, an ironic look at misunderstandings among aliens, and Karen Joy Fowler’s Blaumont, a dark fairytale that’s as disturbing and thought-provoking today as Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Probably the best original anthology of the year: a must-read. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Lisa Tuttle11 Sept

Curse of the Nile’s gold: how Sudan is losing its fertile fields and ability to produce food

An artisanal mining boom driven by war and poverty is causing a public health emergency, as chemicals poison soil, water and society In Abu Hamad, on the banks of the Nile, verdant orchards, gardens and fields once produced a bounty of dates, citrus fruits, winter grains and cereals for the towns and cities of eastern Sudan, including Khartoum and Port Sudan. Today, the land looks drastically different. Trees have been cut down, agricultural areas cleared, and farms have been replaced by shops and commercial sites. Dotted around the town and its outskirts, more than 700 mounds of grey waste are poisoning the soil, water and air. The mounds are the toxic remnants of artisanal gold mining, a practice that began in about 2008 and has intensified over the past six years. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Samira Hassan Khalifa in Abu Hamad11 Sept

‘You’re fired!’ The TV shows you can’t stomach any more

Hating The Apprentice? Bored silly of House of the Dragon? Given up on your favourite soap opera after 50 years? Guardian readers share the shows they can’t bear to watch We loved this show for the first four or five seasons. It had a really good mix of candidates, different ages and walks of life. I think it was after season nine that we started to feel the programme was losing its authenticity. Contestants started to look like homogenous Love Islanders, all the same demographic – 20-30 age bracket, highly polished body image, eye on a post-show influencer career, etc. It lost its uniqueness and became just another reality show. Ngaire Vine, 56, Derbyshire Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Alfie Packham and Guardian readers11 Sept

Curse of the Nile’s gold: how Sudan is losing its fertile fields and ability to produce food

An artisanal mining boom driven by war and poverty is causing a public health emergency, as chemicals poison soil, water and society In Abu Hamad, on the banks of the Nile, verdant orchards, gardens and fields once produced a bounty of dates, citrus fruits, winter grains and cereals for the towns and cities of eastern Sudan, including Khartoum and Port Sudan. Today, the land looks drastically different. Trees have been cut down, agricultural areas cleared, and farms have been replaced by shops and commercial sites. Dotted around the town and its outskirts, more than 700 mounds of grey waste are poisoning the soil, water and air. The mounds are the toxic remnants of artisanal gold mining, a practice that began in about 2008 and has intensified over the past six years. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Samira Hassan Khalifa in Abu Hamad11 Sept

Curse of the Nile’s gold: how Sudan is losing its fertile fields and ability to produce food

An artisanal mining boom driven by war and poverty is causing a public health emergency, as chemicals poison soil, water and society In Abu Hamad, on the banks of the Nile, verdant orchards, gardens and fields once produced a bounty of dates, citrus fruits, winter grains and cereals for the towns and cities of eastern Sudan, including Khartoum and Port Sudan. Today, the land looks drastically different. Trees have been cut down, agricultural areas cleared, and farms have been replaced by shops and commercial sites. Dotted around the town and its outskirts, more than 700 mounds of grey waste are poisoning the soil, water and air. The mounds are the toxic remnants of artisanal gold mining, a practice that began in about 2008 and has intensified over the past six years. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Samira Hassan Khalifa in Abu Hamad11 Sept

Céline Dion fans gather in Paris as singer prepares for sold-out comeback shows

More than 30,000 due to attend Canadian artist’s opener at Plenitude arena, as thousands without tickets plan Friday night karaoke More than 30,000 Céline Dion fans have gathered in Paris for the Canadian singer’s long-awaited return to performing on Saturday night – four years after she revealed her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition. Thousands more people without tickets have flocked to a series of giant karaoke events across France to belt out Dion’s famous power ballads, in celebration of the star’s health stabilising enough for her to return to the stage. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Angelique Chrisafis in Paris11 Sept

Céline Dion fans gather in Paris as singer prepares for sold-out comeback shows

More than 30,000 due to attend Canadian artist’s opener at Plenitude arena, as thousands without tickets plan Friday night karaoke More than 30,000 Céline Dion fans have gathered in Paris for the Canadian singer’s long-awaited return to performing on Saturday night – four years after she revealed her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition. Thousands more people without tickets have flocked to a series of giant karaoke events across France to belt out Dion’s famous power ballads, in celebration of the star’s health stabilising enough for her to return to the stage. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Angelique Chrisafis in Paris11 Sept

‘She changed the beauty industry’: how Charlotte Mensah brought black hair into the spotlight

A new exhibition in London celebrates the influential hairstylist whose clients include Janelle Monáe and Zadie Smith. She explains her story – and why she’s on a mission to ensure stylists are trained to work with all hair types When Charlotte Mensah was a young child growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1970s, she would spend hours watching her aunties having their hair intricately threaded, an ancient African technique where hair is wrapped tightly using yarn or thread. She didn’t know then that she would go on to become one of the most influential hairdressers in the UK. Renowned for championing natural black hair textures in mainstream culture, she has worked as hairstylist to singers Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu, and the writer Zadie Smith. According to Smith, in an essay she penned about Mensah’s magic earlier this year: “Charlotte can make a great mane of braids appear where previously there were only split ends and hair loss.” Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sinéad Campbell11 Sept

The Trial of Romeo Oscar review – Ayckbourn goes back to the future with android accused of murder

Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough The playwright explores our relationship with technology, asks if robots have souls and even questions the value of art in this sci-fi courtroom drama For play number 92, Alan Ayckbourn returns to his preoccupation of exploring where we as a species are heading through a science-fiction lens. He goes back to the future. In The Trial of Romeo Oscar, the playwright famed for his domestic comedies looks to the year 2194 when humans have spread about the galaxy and androids live alongside us. One of them, RSDO83, is on trial for the murder of a teenage girl in his charge. This is Ayckbourn philosophising about the future of humanity as we sit at an obvious inflection point, asking what this moment in our relationship with technology means and where it will lead us. The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans? Do they have souls? He is also questioning the value of art and even its purpose. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Nick Ahad11 Sept

Nation pauses to remember September 11 on 25th anniversary | First Thing

Commemoration ceremonies to be held around the world for the nearly 3,000 killed in 2001 terror attack on US. Plus, JD Vance sets out his stall as heir to Donald Trump Good morning. It is a sombre day for the nation as people gather to mourn and remember the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks on September 11 2001 , when 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four airliners, slamming two of the planes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania. We have comprehensive coverage of the anniversary, which will be marked by ceremonies around the world. There are stories of the day from people who were there. Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark were two of only four individuals known to have survived above the impact zone in the south tower, and they spoke to our Washington bureau chief David Smith . Anna Sweeney Rossman was five when her mother, Amy Sweeney, a flight attendant, was killed onboard American Airlines flight 11, and she spoke to Ramon Antonio Vargas about how the events of that day have cast a shadow on her life. Donald Trump’s promise of a $5,000 “Trump dividend” for every US citizen if Republicans retain control of the US Congress in November’s midterm elections has sparked incredulity and accusations of bribery . With his approval rating at a historic low, Trump brought down the curtain on the Republicans’ first ever midterm convention by pleading with supporters to do him “the biggest favor” and “pretend” they are voting for him in November’s US elections. JD Vance, meanwhile, made a clear pitch that he should be the heir to Trump with a blistering speech that featured exaggerated claims of success, criticism of the Democrats as “lunatics” and an aggressive dismissal of a protester waving a Mexican flag. A US appeals court has rejected Trump’s attempt to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting before November’s high-stakes midterm elections, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown. Anthropic has detailed efforts by bad actors to misuse its AI for the production of bioweapons . More researchers and staff members at the AI startup have posted their own dire warnings about the safety of the technology, but Elon Musk called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”. California has adopted what Gavin Newsom described as “nation-leading” legislation that bans addictive social media features for young users , regulates companion chatbots and implements new safeguards around AI. Sales of previously occupied US homes declined in August to their slowest annual pace in more than a year as home shoppers grappled with rising mortgage rates and home prices. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Martin Belam11 Sept

Drawn Together review – preposterous romance with all the erotic charge of leaf mulch

The latest adaptation of Culpable trilogy author Mercedes Ron, about a ballet dancer and her security guard, has more holes than plot and chemistry than barely generates a spark Here is Prime Video’s latest Mercedes Ron adaptation, following the massive ratings success of her Culpable trilogy (My Fault, Your Fault , Our Fault ). Drawn Together tells the story of a ballet dancer falling in love with her bodyguard. It’s meant to be darker and sexier than the Culpable movies (which were derived from YA-aimed novels), but has all the erotic charge of leaf mulch. It’s the worst of all worlds – trash minus any froth or fun, trash with pretensions. Fans no doubt will be instantly at home in its glossy world of the ultra-wealthy, all the budget blown on cream-coloured furnishings and jodhpurs. Ester Expósito is Marfil, a 20-year-old student and ballet dancer from Spain living in New York. One night, she is abducted in Central Park and wakes up two days later in hospital with no memory of what happened. What Marfil doesn’t know is that her billionaire father Alejandro (Pablo Molinero) is an organised crime boss, and he hires bodyguard Sebastián (Hugo Diego Garcia) as 24/7 protection for Marfil. In a film with more holes than plot, this stands out as especially preposterous. No father alive would risk hiring smouldering Sebastián (think Tom Hardy’s hot young Spanish cousin) as security for his daughter. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Cath Clarke11 Sept

‘Delay the meals’: Mikel Arteta reveals latest maverick Arsenal methods

Manager wants players to cope with things going wrong Other tactics include making dressing room even hotter Mikel Arteta has revealed that he likes to set players challenges, such as delaying their meals before matches and making the dressing room hotter, to ensure they are fully prepared for any eventuality. Arsenal’s flight to Italy for their Champions League opener against Napoli this week was delayed for more than five hours , with Arteta forced to cancel his pre-match press conference after the squad arrived in Naples just before 10pm local time. The disruption proved no handicap as they made it 13 successive league-stage victories in Europe, thanks to Martin Ødegaard’s second-half winner . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Ed Aarons11 Sept

‘Delay the meals’: Mikel Arteta reveals latest maverick Arsenal methods

Manager wants players to cope with things going wrong Other tactics include making dressing room even hotter Mikel Arteta has revealed that he likes to set players challenges, such as delaying their meals before matches and making the dressing room hotter, to ensure they are fully prepared for any eventuality. Arsenal’s flight to Italy for their Champions League opener against Napoli this week was delayed for more than five hours , with Arteta forced to cancel his pre-match press conference after the squad arrived in Naples just before 10pm local time. The disruption proved no handicap as they made it 13 successive league-stage victories in Europe, thanks to Martin Ødegaard’s second-half winner . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Ed Aarons11 Sept

Trump’s clash with Canada is his latest imperialistic embarrassment | Sidney Blumenthal

The president’s chaotic schemes of aggrandizement, from Venezuela to Iran, have no larger rationale Trumpism is the lowest stage of imperialism. “We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it,” Donald Trump reportedly told the annual black-tie dinner on 1 February of the private Alfalfa Club, an assemblage of prominent Washington figures, a number of whom he had publicly humiliated, and others he was investigating or suing. “It’s never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd.” The room greeted several of his remarks with dead silence. His cosplay as the Pirate King was not received as a good-humored takeoff from a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. He went on. “So many people in the room I hate,” he said in a display of honesty. “Most of you I like,” he claimed. Then, at his peak euphoria, he flew off to Mar-a-Lago to plan his attack on Iran, which took place 27 days later. Trump’s imperialism of piracy and plunder is less of a system even than that of the earliest imperialism of 17th-century privateers raiding the Spanish Main, the divine right of kings, and monarchs dividing up the spoils as favors to create their lords and earls. His schemes of aggrandizement operating by threat and force are justified by no larger rationale, nothing as exalted as “the white man’s burden”, marauding wherever and however he can to seize resources. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sidney Blumenthal11 Sept

One in nine migratory birds threatened with extinction, global report says

Findings on decline of species such as Arctic tern and turtle dove published alongside flyways pledge at Kenya summit One in nine migratory birds are threatened with extinction and 45% of migratory species such as cuckoos, turtle doves and Arctic terns are in decline, according to a global report. The migratory slender-billed curlew was officially declared extinct last year, the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Worldwide, seven migratory bird species have been confirmed or are suspected to have become extinct over the last 150 years. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Patrick Barkham11 Sept

I heard it through the grapevine: everything you need to know about growing grapes

Vines are a beautiful addition to an edible garden, yet will only thrive with plenty of light and shelter My garden faces east-ish and gets a decent amount of sunlight, but it’s fairly exposed and can be cool, so plants that need really warm weather don’t like to grow here. Yet, there’s a corner by the back door that’s a pocket of sun and shelter, and a wise former occupant decided to plant a grapevine there. If I hadn’t inherited this mature grapevine, I can’t imagine I would have thought to plant one, but if you’ve got the right conditions they’re a lovely addition to an edible garden. First you have to choose whether you want to grow wine grapes or dessert grapes. Wine grapes are smaller and less palatable – but hardier – than dessert grapes, which generally need to be grown in a sturdy greenhouse in order to fully ripen. Grapevines can be sourced from plant sellers and garden centres, and most will have been grafted – so make sure to choose a vine that is best suited to your soil type and local climate. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Claire Ratinon11 Sept

Pupils missed 15m hours of school time during UK’s June heatwave, study finds

At least 760,000 children in England and Wales missed lessons as more than 1,700 schools closed or finished early The gruelling heatwave that hit the UK in June caused pupils to miss more than 15m hours of lesson time as soaring temperatures forced hundreds of schools to close, according to a study. The research found that at least 760,000 schoolchildren in England and Wales missed lessons owing to closures during the heatwave – one of five to batter the UK this summer – as temperatures inside some classrooms topped 40C, leaving pupils and staff suffering from heat stress, nausea and headaches. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Matthew Taylor11 Sept

Pupils missed 15m hours of school time during UK’s June heatwave, study finds

At least 760,000 children in England and Wales missed lessons as more than 1,700 schools closed or finished early The gruelling heatwave that hit the UK in June caused pupils to miss more than 15m hours of lesson time as soaring temperatures forced hundreds of schools to close, according to a study. The research found that at least 760,000 schoolchildren in England and Wales missed lessons owing to closures during the heatwave – one of five to batter the UK this summer – as temperatures inside some classrooms topped 40C, leaving pupils and staff suffering from heat stress, nausea and headaches. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Matthew Taylor11 Sept

We must pause risky AI research while we still have the power to do so | Gaby Hinsliff

Warnings of AI’s existential threat to humanity are piling up – it’s time to listen and take them deadly seriously Another day, another horseman of the apocalypse galloping over the horizon. Lately we have heard from so many AI doomers – tech whistleblowers popping up to warn that their work is probably going to kill us – that we’re becoming almost blase about it. Humanity wiped out within a decade? Well, only if another world war or the climate crisis doesn’t get us first. Since it’s never clear whether the tech threat is real, or just a twisted form of hype from an industry that drums up investment by making their products sound more powerful than they really are, most of us settle for trying not to think about it too hard. But something about the AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s very public resignation from the cutting-edge American lab Anthropic, via a post on X arguing that he can’t keep working for companies “gambling with our lives”, has cut through where bigger names have not. Most chillingly, he claimed that colleagues still at Anthropic aren’t staying because they think he’s wrong about the dangers of pursuing self-improving super intelligence – the holy grail of machines that are not just smarter than humans but capable of building their own even more powerful successors, evolving independently of humans – but because they’re afraid of ceding the field to people with fewer scruples. His colleagues, Coxon said, talk routinely about the “endgame” or the “ crunch time ”, meaning that what they do in the next year or two will decide the fate of humanity. Whether that’s true or simply self-aggrandising techbro delusion, what he describes is an industry now practically begging to be saved from itself. Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Gaby Hinsliff11 Sept