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Not all buildings are created equal. From sightlines to acoustics to the alchemy of actor-audience rapport, the physical facts of a dramatic space are fundamentalWhat makes a good theatre? Critics are not the most reliable guides. We sit in the best seats, don't have to pay, and are there to assess the performance rather than the building. If ever I have wanted guidance on architectural issues, I have turned to Iain Mackintosh, who from 1973 worked for Theatre Projects Consultants, has designed many successful theatres and has now put his encyclopedic knowledge into a book called Theatre Spaces 1920-2020. But the revelation comes in the subtitle: Finding the Fun in Functionalism. At the heart of the book lies an assault on modernist concrete buildings and a celebration of any theatre where actor and audience enjoy an easy rapport.Mackintosh covers a lot of ground and tells a number of good stories, two of which relate to the old Shakespeare Memorial theatre in Stratford, which opened in 1932. Derided at the time as a jam factory", yet capable of infinite adaptation, it has long been attributed to a 29-year-old modernist architect, Elisabeth Scott. But Mackintosh implicitly endorses the view that it was the work of her father, Maurice Chesterton (cousin of the famous GK). He also quotes a story about Tyrone Guthrie, on being offered co-directorship of the theatre in 1950 by Anthony Quayle, saying he would only accept if they built a new theatre with the audience on three sides. Asked what should be done with the existing theatre, Guthrie replied, Bulldoze it and push it into the river."Theatre Spaces: 1920-2020 is published by The Society for Theatre Research and Bloomsbury-Methuen Continue reading...

Antiquities from Israel's national treasures collection have ended up at Trump's Florida estate, say reportsAncient artefacts sent from Israel to the US four years ago on a short-term basis and intended for display at a White House event have ended up at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to a report.The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday that antiquities including ancient ceramic oil lamps, part of Israel's national treasures collection, were shipped to Washington DC with the approval of the then director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel Hasson, for use in a Hanukah candle-lighting event at the White House in December 2019, when Trump was in office. Continue reading...

A 47-year-old woman from Arizona suffered significant injuries to her chest and abdomen' after incident in national parkYellowstone national park officials have reiterated warnings to stay at least 25 yards away from large wild animals - as well as 100 yards from bears and wolves - after a bison gored a 47-year-old woman from Arizona on Sunday.The goring left the woman with significant injuries to her chest and abdomen," officials said in a statement. Continue reading...

Study, which used cognitive data and population estimates, examines prevalence of the disease by countyAlzheimer's disease is most prevalent in the eastern and south-eastern US, but the highest total number of patients is in California, according to a first-of-its-kind study released on Monday.New county-by-county data released at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) showed that those regions' large populations of older people as well as Black and Hispanic residents may explain the new study's data. Continue reading...

Sky-high entitlement is causing havoc, with passengers baring their feet and complaining about their meals. Another reason to give up flyingHere is your mission, should you choose to accept it: you have to get from point A to point B in an aeroplane without causing an international incident or inspiring a viral TikTok about what an entitled nitwit you are. Sounds simple, right? Apparently, it isn't. About 76.9% of the general population, extensive analysis has led me to believe, seem to find this mission impossible.You may have also noticed this phenomenon. It's hard not to: there is a constant stream of headlines about airline passengers exhibiting sky-high entitlement. For example, earlier this month, a United Airlines flight from Houston to Amsterdam was diverted to Chicago after a business class passenger became unruly. The reason? Their first choice of meal was unavailable. Authorities should have diverted the plane to The Hague, if you ask me. Having to deal with the ignominy of being served chicken instead of beef? It may sound paltry to unrefined ears, but if you've paid almost $7,000 for your ticket, it's a veritable crime against humanity. Continue reading...

Trump's legal team argued that Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis and her office should be barred from seeking chargesGeorgia's highest court Monday rejected a request by Donald Trump to block a district attorney from prosecuting the former president for his actions in the wake his 2020 election defeat.The Georgia supreme court unanimously shot down a petition that Trump's attorneys filed last week asking the court to intervene. Trump's legal team argued that Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis and her office should be barred from seeking charges and that a special grand jury report that is part of the inquiry should be thrown out. Continue reading...

The new law will not act as the deterrent the UK government says it will - it just puts more vulnerable people in harm's wayThere have been a number of migration bills in recent years, but make no mistake: the illegal migration bill that has now passed through parliament is a watershed moment. It will go down in history as a milestone like no other. As the UN has said, it extinguishes access to asylum" in the UK for anyone arriving by a route the government deems irregular".Pause for a moment and consider what that means. These are all people, like you and me. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters. They aren't all illegals", as the government claims. They are the family from Syria who saw their neighbours killed by bombs. Sudanese people fleeing the brutal war that is raging in their country. Iranians escaping persecution. And Afghans, who made up the largest nationality coming across the Channel in the first three months of this year. Continue reading...

Homicide suspect who had used bed sheets to escape from Pennsylvania jail captured after nine daysA couple checking out a barking dog on their north-western Pennsylvania property over the weekend led to the capture of a homicide suspect who had used bed sheets to escape from jail, authorities have said.Michael Burham, 34, was captured nine days after he fled the Warrencounty jail in the late evening hours of 6 July by climbing on exercise equipment, going through a window and scaling down a rope fashioned from jail bedding, authorities said. Continue reading...

The record crowds that flocked to Nevada were treated to lots more than the Victor Wembanyama Show. Our correspondent in the desert empties her notebookThe most common mistake people make post-Vegas is overreacting, whether positive or negative. Yes, the NBA's Summer League provides a high-profile showcase for undrafted and G League players to show their mettle, so if they impress, it shouldn't be discounted. And some rookies display their rough edges in their first NBA-branded outing in ways that might raise flags for concern. But, on the whole, sweeping generalizations from the past 11 days shouldn't be made in either direction off a handful of games that in the long run don't carry a whole lot of weight. Continue reading...

Estimated 60 to 100 rabbits are descendants of a group a backyard breeder illegally let loose when she moved awayDozens of feral rabbits are driving some residents of a Florida neighborhood hopping mad after the furry creatures that were let loose are taking over the streets and are multiplying like - rabbits.In the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, there's a new invasive species" to contend with in a state all too familiar with the destructive habits of non-native animals. These include Burmese pythons and the iguanas that can voraciously consume their way to local wildlife dominance, as well as lionfish and giant African snails. Continue reading...

Highs of between 46 and 48C forecast in Sicily and Sardinia, as parts of Europe, Asia and North America face surging temperatures. Plus, why first loves can shape our lives for ever

For Democratic leaders like Joe Biden, Herzog embodies the good Israel. Unfortunately, they are wrongWhy are President Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress so eager to welcome Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, to Washington this week? Because he's an Israeli leader not named Benjamin Netanyahu.Many Democrats revile Netanyahu, who undermined Barack Obamaand leads a government determined to entrench Israel's brutal and undemocratic occupation of the West Bank. They also fear that legitimizing Netanyahu could strengthen his efforts to defenestrate Israel's judiciary.Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) is a professor of journalism and political science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He is also an editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and writes The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter Continue reading...

When I was the New York Times public editor, Kennedy vented on the phone - his ugly theories have sullied the family nameMy assistant in the New York Times public editor's office said Robert F Kennedy was on the phone. Did I want to take the call?This was roughly a decade ago, but I still remember being momentarily confused. Assassinated in 1968, RFK was long gone, and though we did get some unusual calls in the public editor's office, they tended to be from the living.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Heider Garcia, Tarrant county's elections administrator, quit after an election crimes taskforce was set up, which critics say undermines confidenceOn 22 November 2020, Heider Garcia, the elections administrator for Tarrant county, Texas, was awake in his living room until around 3am, unable to sleep over fears that a stranger might show up at his house, he recalled.An account had posted his family's home address on Twitter during weeks of false conspiracy theories and death threats about his role in the 2020 election. Donald Trump's supporters refused to believe that Tarrant county, a major, diverse county that encompasses the cities of Fort Worth and Arlington, had broken its Republican voting patterns for Joe Biden. Continue reading...

Our cartoonist takes us on a journey of memorable moments from the tournament's colourful history

CCTV cameras captured a wildfire ripping through a valley in California as the state experienced record high temperatures during the heatwave that began scorching the region last week.Firefighters continued battling a large brush blaze nicknamed the Rabbit Fire near Beaumont in Riverside County. The fire started burning on Friday and has covered more than 3,200 hectares. It was 35% contained by Monday, according to the Riverside County fire department.Heat warnings remained in effect for the region, while the ongoing heatwave continues to bring oppressive conditions to central California

USA are favourites for an unprecedented third World Cup win in a row but uncertainty surrounds an injury-ravaged team grappling with changeThis is not the USA women's team you think it is. Yes, USA are in search of an unprecedented third successive World Cup title. Yes, USA are still ranked No 1 in the world by Fifa. And yes, there is a target on their collective back as one of the perennial favourites at any major tournament. The players who won in 2019 though? They are mostly absent.Just nine of the 23 named in USA's World Cup squad were part of the triumph four years ago, of whom only five also took part at the 2015 tournament. News of captain Becky Sauerbrunn's foot injury, which will keep her out of what would have been the 38-year-old's fourth World Cup, only underscores the dramatic turnover that has played out during the past 18 months. If USA are to threepeat", they will do so with a vastly younger and less experienced group. Continue reading...

Big data has helped the music industry sell us only what we already like - but the results are less alive and less surprisingI was 14 when Kurt Cobain of Nirvana appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing a T-shirt that said CORPORATE MAGAZINES STILL SUCK". Even at that tender age, I found his message worrisome: if Rolling Stone sucked, why was he on the cover? Maybe the shirt was ironic. Maybe his participation in the profile was ironic. Or maybe, alarmingly, he saw no contradiction between his shirt and his appearance in this corporate magazine, because we were all supposed to understand that any assertion of meaningful values in popular music was inherently bunk, even though many of the songs on Nevermind were clearly about me.Cobain's interview did not do much to resolve these ambiguities. After limply defending Rolling Stone as having some good articles, he added: I don't blame the average 17-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout."Dan Brooks is a writer based in Montana Continue reading...

Mynor Recinos was on his riverside patio fishing when he spotted the girl in trouble and swam nearly 60ft to save herA fisher in Oregon used a rope, his lifelong swimming skills and quick thinking to rescue a girl who fell off a jet ski and into the Columbia River from drowning, according to witnesses. Now, people are calling for the local government to formally recognize him as a hero.The dramatic scene unfolded Wednesday off Hayden Island, when Mynor Recinos was on his riverside patio fishing and spotted two girls in lifejackets who had fallen off their jet ski in the face of a large wave. Continue reading...

Several women were found dead in a 100-mile range over three months and authorities have identified one person of interestThe bodies of four women discovered in wooded areas in north-west Oregon are linked, authorities said on Monday while announcing that police have identified at least one person of interest".Fears of a serial killer in the Pacific north-west had grown since last month when the Oregonian reported that six women, all under 40 and most with connections to the Portland area, were found dead in secluded areas in a 100-mile range over three months. Continue reading...

Democratic senator appears at No Labels town hall as colleagues warn that any bipartisan campaign would help Donald TrumpThe West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who for years has held an outsized degree of power within the Democratic party, appeared on Monday at an event held by a political group exploring a third-party presidential bid. Manchin's appearance has fueled speculation that he is considering a run for the presidency, a scenario that has alarmed Democrats as it could weaken President Joe Biden's candidacy.Manchin appeared at the group No Labels' town hall meeting on Monday, alongside Republican former Utah governor Jon Huntsman. They co-headlined the organization's Common Sense" policy platform release, the first in a series of events that the group says it will hold as the 2024 presidential election takes shape. Continue reading...

Flight 12 from Zurich touched down in Chicago without inflatable slide - which was found four miles away in resident's backyardThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday evening that it was investigating when happened when a flight landed in the midwest but was discovered to be missing its emergency evacuation slide.The inflatable slide, so familiar in theory to millions of passengers from the safety-briefing videos that precede take-off - but which most hope they will never have to see, let alone use, in real life - was discovered on the ground. Continue reading...

No date set for far-right Israel PM's visit as arrival of President Isaac Herzog highlights over creeping annexation of West BankThe White House has finally invited Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the US after months of snubbing the Israeli prime minister over his government's creeping annexation of the West Bank and deepening oppression of the Palestinians.Netanyahu's office said President Joe Biden extended the invitation in a call between the two leaders on Monday ahead of a visit to Washington by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, this week that had thrown a spotlight on to the shunning of the prime minister. Continue reading...

Former president writes open letter to American librarians and appears in TikTok video decrying rightwing censorship pushIn an open letter to American librarians, Barack Obama has criticised profoundly misguided" rightwing efforts to ban books from libraries in public schools.Some of the books that shaped my life - and the lives of so many others - are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives," the former president wrote. Continue reading...

Turning offices to residences is touted as a housing fix for a work-from-home era, but a $520,000 listing takes the brief too literally

Roberta Bell dismissed after offering to take in Katie Bourgeois's baby for two months while she finished her prison termA Louisiana prison guard has reportedly lost her job for taking in an incarcerated woman's newborn baby for about two months while the mother finished her prison term.The prison guard, Roberta Bell, offered to take in Katie Bourgeois's newborn earlier this year, violating the rules against giving personal contact information to inmates at Louisiana's Transition Center for Women, which holds people who are close to finishing their sentences. Continue reading...

Boyfriend hits back at skeptics and insists Carlee' Russell, 25, fought off kidnapper' after stopping to check on child on highwayPolice in Hoover, Alabama, are trying to pin down exactly what happened to Carlethia Carlee" Nichole Russell, the 25-year-old woman who set off a two-day search after she stopped to check on a child who was walking along a highway on Thursday and disappeared.And as investigators carry out that process, Russell's boyfriend issued a strongly worded statement in which he asserted that she had to fight off at least one abductor to come back home alive. Continue reading...

Yes, many students are being sold a false dream. But that's the government's fault, not the universities'It was a long time before I understood the phrase he'll piss on you and tell you it's raining" - really understood it, at a gut level. It took 13 years and 10 weeks, to be precise, of successive feckless Conservatives messing everything up and telling us how messed up everything is.So, having introduced the tuition-fee regime that leaves students with a life-changing amount of debt, and has demoralised and underfunded the sector so that the poverty-paid lecturers at its backbone are always on strike, the party has declared war on ripoff" degrees. Young people, Rishi Sunak contends, are being sold a false dream, without the prospect of a decent job at the end of it. Well, yes, Rishi, that is called life in the UK". Continue reading...

Most of the settlement money to go to family of 19-year-old killed in 2019 crash of boat purportedly driven by Alex Murdaugh's sonA series of lawsuits centering on the deadly February 2019 crash of a boat purportedly driven by Alex Murdaugh's son before his high-profile murder at the hands of his father has reportedly been settled for about $15m.Most of the money from the settlement, confirmed on Sunday, is destined to go to the family of Mallory Beach, 19, who was killed on the night of the wreck near Parris Island, South Carolina, according to the local news outlet WSAV. Continue reading...

Anthony Carter calls architect Rex Heuermann, charged with murders of three women in Gilgo Beach in 2010, a demon'A senior police investigator on Long Island, New York, has described the acts attributed to the man charged with three murders in the Gilgo Beach serial killings as the worst I've ever seen".Suffolk county deputy police commissioner Anthony Carter told CNN that suspect Rex Heuermann, the man in custody since last week, was a demon". Continue reading...

UK mortgage rates held steady today, as a new report shows that rising interest rates have reversed rise in household wealth

Pennsylvania is latest area in the US to be hit by intense rain and flooding as worldwide climate emergency worsensFive people have been killed and two children remained missing after floodwaters tore through parts of south-eastern Pennsylvania over the week during the latest round of violent storms to hit the region.The family of the two children, a nine-month-old boy and his two-year-old sister, were caught in their car on the way to a barbecue on Saturday, the chief of the Upper Makefield fire department, Tim Brewer, said on Sunday. Their mother was later found dead while their father and young sibling miraculously" made it to safety. Continue reading...

The outgoing defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has got the begging bowl out again. But his fearmongering about Russia and the Pacific is irresponsibleBritain's defence secretary, Ben Wallace, resigned at the weekend. In a farewell interview he predicted, ostensibly based on intelligence, that Britain would be at war by 2030". Conflict would be on one of three fronts. If Vladimir Putin loses in Ukraine, says Wallace, he's still got an air force and a navy ... [he's] not done with us yet".The assumption here is of war between Russia and us". Next Wallace predicted a total breakdown of politics in the Pacific", where we are deeply vulnerable". He nowhere identified this vulnerability or why it meant war, hot or cold. Finally, there was to be a shooting war in Africa, where al-Qaida and Isis threaten the future of nation states". This in turn would trigger us internationally coming to [their] aid". Continue reading...

A message meant for another Dale, sent by his 88-year-old sister, revealed the fascinating world of like-named peopleFor a while now, I have been getting the strangest emails. They concern golf rules, carpenter bees and CPR short courses I've not signed up for at local fire departments I could not place. I have been on the receiving end of a round-robin addressed to all the stoners".The explanation is that I share my name - and therefore a similar email address - with a stranger half way round the world from me. Random email is the bane of everyone's existence; I could tell you how many actual thousands of unread messages I have, but no one needs more pain. What does alleviate it, though, is any inkling that a real person may be present - and there is something fascinating about discovering people who share our name, as though we are connected by something more than pure coincidence. Continue reading...

Andre Longmore's motives remain under investigation, police chief says, after four residents of Longmore's neighborhood killedOfficers on Sunday shot and killed a man wanted in four weekend killings near Atlanta during an exchange of gunfire, with a sheriff's deputy and two police officers wounded while trying to take the suspect into custody, authorities said.Officials said Andre Longmore was shot during an intense manhunt for the 40-year-old suspect. The exchange of gunfire came a day after Saturday morning's shootings rocked a bucolic subdivision in Hampton, south of Georgia's main city. Continue reading...

Get to know every single squad member at the tournament. Click on the player pictures for a full profile

Road and rail link is only direct overland route between Russia and occupied Crimea. Plus, how we got addicted to weather appsGood morning.The Kerch Bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula to Russia has been closed after explosions in the early hours of this morning killed two people and injured a child.What has Ukraine said about the attack? Ukrainian media outlets cited unnamed sources suggesting the Ukrainian domestic security service, along with the navy, had been responsible for the attack. A Ukrainian security service source told AFP: Today's attack on the Crimean Bridge is a special operation of the SBU and the navy ... It was difficult to reach the bridge, but in the end it was possible to do it."How does Plan B work? Plan B is an emergency contraceptive," said Kelly Cleland, executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception. Plan B works by preventing or delaying ovulation. If you miss the point in the cycle to prevent ovulation, it doesn't work. It's different from the abortion pill in that Plan B prevents pregnancy from ever happening and medication abortion is used to end a pregnancy after somebody already has an established pregnancy." Continue reading...

Pom Klementieff's assassin Paris is largely mute throughout the latest instalment of the franchise, flying in the face of more enlightened recent film rolesThere are many things wrong with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One: its ridiculous storyline about AI, its bloated runtime, the plot holes as wide as Tom Cruise's gleaming megawatt smile, but the most jarring of all? How Pom Klementieff's supporting role as Paris, a savage assassin, is transformed into the tired stereotype of the silent Asian, who is largely mute throughout the film.Paris is part of villain Gabriel's (Esai Morales) crew. She's on screen for many of the fights and action sequences including a thrilling car chase through the streets of Rome. All kamikaze glee and thigh-crushing aggression, she's more than capable of giving Cruise's Impossible Mission Force agent, Ethan Hunt, a run for his money. But the French actor, who is half Korean, barely utters a word throughout the whole thing. Continue reading...

Abortion providers filed suit after state legislature's recent special session in which restriction was passed with governor's blessingAbortion providers in Iowa have filed a lawsuit to block state Republicans' latest attempt to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, before most people even know they are pregnant.Last week, Iowa lawmakers passed a six-week ban on abortion in a rare special legislative session, called by Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed the bill on Friday afternoon. The law takes immediate effect, further shrinking the options available to people seeking abortions in the midwest. Continue reading...

Texas governor shared fake article by Christopher Blair about Garth Brooks being booed by patriots' in made-up cityThe author of a satirical website said Texas governor Greg Abbott is among the dumbest people in the country" after Abbott shared a fake article about his own state.The Maine resident Christopher Blair, who runs the satirical website Dunning-Kruger-Times, ridiculed Abbott after the governor shared a fake article about country singer Garth Brooks being booed off a stage over his support of Bud Light. Continue reading...

Critics say important breakthrough overshadowed by contenders' reluctance to confront systemic racism in USAn African American man whose grandfather dropped out of school to pick cotton. A daughter of Indian immigrants raised in the Sikh faith. A son of Cuban immigrants, an Indian-American entrepreneur, a Black talk radio host and a former undercover CIA officer who is mixed race.A casual observer might assume that these candidates for the White House in 2024 must be from the same Democratic party that produced Barack Obama. In fact, they all contenders in the Republican presidential primary field - the most diverse in the party's history. Continue reading...

Inter Miami officially unveiled Lionel Messi at their home stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Messi, a World Cup winner with Argentina and seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, is joining a club that has the fewest points in MLS and is mired in an 11-match winless streak. The club previously announced that Messi's deal will be for two and a half seasons and that he will earn between $50m and $60m annually.

Some Democrats wonder if a cross-aisle push to include privacy protections into the reauthorization of Fisa is now possibleChristopher Wray appeared stupefied. As the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified on Wednesday before the House judiciary committee, Republicans on the panel painted him as a liberal stooge abusing his power to punish Joe Biden's political enemies.The accusations stunned Wray, a registered Republican who was appointed by Donald Trump and previously served in George W Bush's administration. Continue reading...

Disillusioned with my life in Ireland, I took up my sister's offer to visit her in Indiana - where everything finally came togetherUntil I moved away - for good, though I didn't know it at the time - I never expected to leave Ireland. I'd always been a homebody, happiest near friends, family and Dublin - a city I knew so well it felt like a part of me. At 34, I had lived there my whole life - and with the exception of the years I'd attended college in Galway, and a few months spent honing my Italian in Milan, I'd never lived more than 30 miles from my childhood home.That was absolutely fine by me. When my sister, who moved away right after graduation, encouraged me to come for extended visits I'd think of all the things keeping me in Ireland: our parents, my friends, my future as a broadsheet journalist, the latest man in whose basket I had placed all of my eggs.Rosemary Mac Cabe is the author of This Is Not About You: A Menmoir Continue reading...

The 2016 Open champion has missed the first three majors of the year, partly due to his defection to the Saudi-backed breakawayIf Jon Rahm's dismissal of Brooks Koepka on Masters Sunday was heralded as a victory for golf's establishment, LIV's finest hour was still to come. Koepka won the US PGA Championship in May, giving the rebel tour a first major champion. Cameron Smith had already won the Open Championship by the time he joined LIV's 54-hole format.Henrik Stenson is well aware his time jousting for golf's biggest prizes was curtailed in common discourse when he joined LIV's number. As the Open once again arrives, are LIV players still regarded as competitively redundant? Surely not. Continue reading...

The growing size and market dominance of Facebook's parent company is coming under greater scrutiny from the US, UK and EUMeta Platforms launched its Threads app earlier this month. In less than five days, it had 100 million new users, surpassing ChatGPT's recent record as the fastest-growing online platform in history.The company that owns the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms has long faced competition law scrutiny over its acquisition and exercise of market power. It has a history of aggressively acquiring promising new competitors and folding them into the Facebook family before they can pose a realistic threat to the company's market dominance. Indeed, the Meta chief, Mark Zuckerberg, even tried to buy Twitter, twice, more than a decade ago. Continue reading...