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They are versatile, forgiving and long lasting – but it’s easy to overlook carrots. Here are some inspiring new ways to use themCarrots are always with us. Even in the UK, the season is practically year round. Properly stored carrots can last for months. Improperly stored – which is the way I do it – they go a bit bendy after a couple of weeks. Their robustness also has a downside: we often use up more delicate purchases first, knowing the carrots will still be there in the fridge when the fun stuff has run out. Versatile though they may be, carrots don’t immediately inspire. And they certainly don’t get any more inspiring as they get bendier.It doesn’t have to be this way. Carrots come in an enticing variety of sizes – from giant to micro – and a rainbow of colours. Orange is not the only carrot: there is also purple and yellow and white. We also need to consider non-standard carrot shapes: the bent, knobbly and two-legged. Carrots are subject to more fussy aesthetic scrutiny than almost any other vegetable. It is estimated that between a quarter and a half of all carrots grown are discarded for cosmetic reasons before they reach the shelves. If you see an ugly carrot, buy it. Continue reading...

Sturgeon says SNP would wait until after Covid crisis, but new Alba party could be a disruptive influenceElections for the Scottish parliament are taking place on Thursday. We examine the possible results and their implications for a future independence referendum. Continue reading...

Prosecutors reviewing pending cases after two ex-soldiers acquitted of killing Official IRA commander Joe McCannThe prosecution of British army veterans accused of crimes during the Troubles in Northern Ireland hangs in the balance after the collapse of a murder trial of two former paratroopers.The region’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is preparing to review pending cases after the two ex-soldiers were acquitted in a closely-watched trial on Tuesday, setting a possible precedent. Continue reading...

In the pandemic, nightclubs have been turned into exhibition spaces, switching the craze for museums evoking clubs. It’s throwing fresh perspective on what dancing is even forThe ttttssshhhhhh of a smoke machine breaks the silence as a red spotlight blinks to life, illuminating social distancing markers on a dancefloor polished smooth by the shuffling of feet. The soundsystem kicks into gear with an anthem by techno star Dave Clarke. But the DJ booth is empty, and the only ravers here are the ones frozen in time, trapped behind glass as photo displays.This is Echoing Through Eternity, the pop-up museum exhibit currently showing at Fuse, a venue in the hip Marolles district of Brussels that has been serving its community for the last 100 years, first as a cinema and then a Latin discotheque before emerging as one of Belgium’s best techno clubs. The exhibition features slick posters, wacky flyers (rubber gloves, fake driving licences) and colourful photos from the club’s storied past. Most of the material has come from its own archive, but there are personal items here too, submitted by the club’s devoted community after an open call on social media. Starting with its LGBTQ roots, the exhibit winds through the main dancefloor, with a stop off at the DJ booth, and ends in a three-minute club simulation upstairs. Continue reading...

Conservative Isabel Díaz Ayuso vows to continue combative approach to dealings with Spanish governmentIsabel Díaz Ayuso, the conservative president of the Madrid region who inflicted a stinging defeat on her leftwing opponents in Tuesday’s snap election, has vowed to carry on acting as a “counterweight” to Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government.Although her People’s party more than doubled its seat count and won more seats than the three leftwing parties combined, Ayuso fell just short of an absolute majority, meaning she will have to rely on the support of the far-right Vox party to form a new regional government. Continue reading...

The man in his 50s attended a Bondi Junction cinema and several stores, while the source of his coronavirus infection is unclear

Christopher Marinello has spent three decades finding missing masterpieces, recovering half a billion dollars’ worth of art. He talks about threats from mobsters, tricky negotiations – and bungling thievesOne summer morning in 2008, Christopher Marinello was waiting on 72nd Street in Manhattan, New York. The traffic was busy, but after a few minutes he saw what he was waiting for: a gold Mercedes with blacked-out windows drew near. As it pulled up to the kerb, a man in the passenger seat held a large bin-liner out of the window. “Here you go,” he said. Marinello took the bag and the car sped off. Inside was a rolled-up painting by the Belgian artist Paul Delvaux, Le Rendez-vous d’Ephèse. Its estimated worth was $6m, and at that point it had been missing for 40 years.Marinello is one of a handful of people who track down stolen masterpieces for a living. Operating in the grey area between wealthy collectors, private investigators, and high-value thieves, he has spent three decades going after lost works by the likes of Warhol, Picasso and Van Gogh. In that time, he says he has recovered art worth more than half a billion dollars. When I call him, he answers, then abruptly hangs up. “I was just on my way to a police station to recover a stolen sculpture,” he explains later, apologising. Continue reading...

On 5 May 1821, the paper reported on revolutions in Naples and Sardinia as well as events in Moldavia, Odessa and Portugal

To mark the Guardian's 200th birthday, an array of names from culture, science, politics and activism wish us a happy birthday and celebrate the impact we've had on their lives and careers Continue reading...

There is more to this rich and varied country than Gabriel García Márquez, coffee and its violent past. Novelist Julianne Pachico shares her favourite books about her childhood homeGrowing up in Colombia in the 1990s, I rarely saw any tourists. That has changed dramatically in the past decade, especially following a historic peace deal with the Farc in 2016. My novel The Anthill examines the transformation of Medellín from a war-torn city wracked by violence into a trendy, rapidly gentrifying destination for digital nomads, bitcoin investors and self-righteous religious groups. But the past is never easily shed.It’s wonderful that more people are interested in Colombia, but there’s so much more to it than Gabriel García Márquez, coffee, and its violent past. It’s unlikely that any of us are going on any international trips anytime soon, but in the meantime, here’s a list of my favourite books about the country, which will hopefully help keep the travel bug in check, and better acquaint readers with depictions of Colombia beyond the headlines. Continue reading...

Man jailed for contempt of court is suing judge Salvatore Vasta for loss and damages after allegedly being traumatised in Queensland jails

The singer spent hard years touring west Africa to pursue his dream of a music career, but a chance holiday meeting – and relocation to the Kent coast – sealed the dealTen years ago, Falle Nioke was sitting with only his bolon drum for company in a Gambian jail cell, some 3,000 miles from the Kent seaside town of Margate where he now lives and light years from his current world of domestic bliss and critical acclaim.Raised in Conakry, Guinea, the 33-year-old singer and percussionist spent most of his 20s as part of a touring group of musicians that played across west Africa, a pursuit often hamstrung by arrests pertaining to immigration permits. Nioke survived by whatever means necessary to hold on to his musical passion. “I used to make soap and go to the market to sell it to pay the rent,” he says today. “If someone was selling rice, we would sing for them and we would get some fees and some food.” His indelibly positive worldview was forged during these years. “Everywhere I have been, there are people who will be happy to help,” he says. Continue reading...

Services Australia tells Senate inquiry it continued accepting repayments from more than 123,500 people after November 2019Nearly 1,000 robodebt victims had their debts sent to an external debt collector even after the government had admitted in court that the program was unlawful, new figures show.A Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report released last month lashed Services Australia for failing to halt all debt recovery activities after November 2019, when the Morrison government accepted its method for raising debts was “legally insufficient”. Continue reading...

Daily life will vary depending on where you live, and how local officials decide to implement – or ignore – public health measuresFor many months, members of the public have equated a return to “normal life” with the phrase “herd immunity”: that threshold reached when the Covid-19 pandemic would be boxed in by immunization campaigns, find no new hosts and society would return to a 2019-style normal. Continue reading...

On the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, our editor-in-chief sets out how media can help rebuild a better world beyond CovidI remember the day, in late March 2020, when I first worried that we might not be able to publish a newspaper, for what would have been only the second time in the Guardian’s history. I had driven into the office – no one was taking the train any more. Classed as an essential worker, I was permitted to travel, but the streets were utterly silent, with every school, cafe and shop closed.I sat down with colleagues, spaced apart by yellow tape, to work out whether we could gather enough people to produce a print edition. We could publish the digital Guardian from anywhere, but to publish the newspaper, we needed a small number of people in the office. A handful of colleagues volunteered, but I wondered how we would be able to keep everything going. People were anxious for their families and friends and themselves – and frightened, too, for what kind of world we were entering, and what we would be left with. Continue reading...

Anyone who installs satellite dishes could face a one-year prison sentence or $320 fine, military-controlled media reportedMyanmar’s military junta has banned satellite dishes, threatening prison sentences for anyone who violates the measure, as it intensifies its crackdown on access to independent news outlets.The junta, which faces unanimous opposition from the public and has struggled to maintain order, has imposed increasingly tough restrictions on communication since seizing power on 1 February. Continue reading...

More than 300 objects relating to emperor are being sold by French auction house Osenat, marking the 200th anniversary of his death Continue reading...

A Guardian analysis finds EU countries used brutal tactics to stop nearly 40,000 asylum seekers crossing bordersEU member states have used illegal operations to push back at least 40,000 asylum seekers from Europe’s borders during the pandemic, linked to the death of more than 2,000 people, the Guardian can reveal.In one of the biggest mass expulsions in decades, European countries, supported by EU’s border agency Frontex, systematically pushed back refugees, including children fleeing from wars, in their thousands, using illegal tactics ranging from assault to brutality during detention or transportation. Continue reading...

Muhammadu Buhari under pressure from allies and opposition, as wave of violence leaves country on edgeNigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has come under mounting pressure from critics and allies alike as the country reels from multiple security crises that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks.An alarming wave of violence has left millions in Africa’s most populous country in uproar at the collapse in security. Attacks by jihadist groups in the north-east have been compounded by a sharp rise in abductions targeting civilians in schools and at interstate links across Nigeria. Mass killings by bandit groups in rural towns, a reported rise in armed robberies in urban areas and increasingly daring attacks on security forces by pro-Biafran militants in the south-east have also all risen. Continue reading...

President to tread fine line as he lays a wreath to ‘commemorate rather than celebrate’ anniversary

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots in New South Wales and what to do if you’ve visited them

‘Nobody’s going to be jailed … at this time,’ deputy PM Michael McCormack says

This year’s Nikon surf photo of the year award goes to Stu Gibson for his shot Free Fall, featuring surfer Tyler Hollmer Cross taking on Shipsterns in south-east Tasmania. The winner has been selected by a panel of 13 high-profile judges from within the surfing world, including the seven-time world surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore

Country’s economy battered by more than a year of border restrictions imposed after the Covid outbreak

Opposition leader has denounced the decision but the prime minister has applauded it saying the next election was ‘up to the Lord’Samoa will be heading back to the polls after the most dramatic election in the country’s history left the country deadlocked, with threats of legal action and fears of “diversion” and “trickery”.The South Pacific nation will vote again on 21 May after the Samoan head of state – a separate position to the country’s prime minister – Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II announced on Tuesday he had revoked the results of the general election held on 9 April. Continue reading...

Former deputy prime minister says he led ‘a project that changed the history of our country’

India records 357,229 new daily cases; law that would lift curbs for those with all jabs discriminates against young people who won’t be able to get jabs for months

Recipients of certain Nobel prizes, Oscars and Brit awards can bypass existing immigration process under new rulesOscar winners, Nobel prize recipients and Brit award-garlanded overseas musicians are among foreign nationals who will be fast-tracked for UK visas under a tweak to immigration rules announced by the Home Office.The list of qualifying awards is hugely prestigious, meaning anyone who uses the new scheme would almost certainly have succeeded in getting a visa via the existing “global talent” route, introduced in 2020. For scientists, it covers Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry or medicine, and the Fyssen international prize, while for mathematics, just the Fields medal is listed. People from computing, engineering and social science have a handful of eligible gongs. Continue reading...

Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s conservatives take 65 of 136 seats and will need support of far-right Vox party

Veteran leader proves unable to create a coalition after inconclusive election on 23 MarchBenjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a coalition government, extending a two-year political deadlock in Israel – and putting the country’s longest-serving leader back on the defensive as his rivals move to unseat him.Following an inconclusive snap election on 23 March – the fourth since 2019 – the 71-year-old leader had hoped to clinch what would be a unique and historic partnership in Israeli politics. Continue reading...

Massive trade agreement stalls after tit-for-tat sanctions prompted by Chinese policy in XinjiangThe European Commission has said that efforts to ratify a massive investment deal with China have been in effect suspended after tit-for-tat sanctions were imposed over China’s treatment of its Uyghur population in March.“We now in a sense have suspended … political outreach activities from the European Commission side,” said the commission’s executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Tuesday. He said that the current state of relations between Brussels and Beijing was “not conducive” for the ratification of the deal, which is known as EU-China comprehensive agreement on investment. Continue reading...

Fighting between government forces and the Taliban has broken out in Helmand provinceThousands of Afghans have fled their homes in Helmand province as fierce fighting between government forces and the Taliban erupted after the US military began withdrawing its remaining troops.Afghan forces pushed back a string of insurgent attacks on checkpoints across the southern province, where the US military on Sunday handed over a base to government forces as part of its formal pullout that began on 1 May. Continue reading...

Luiz Henrique Mandetta tells senate inquiry president was aware his anti-scientific response risked ‘death on an enormous scale’Jair Bolsonaro ignored repeated warnings that his anti-scientific response to Covid-19 was leading Brazil down an “extremely perilous path” and putting tens of thousands of lives at risk, the country’s former health minister has claimed.Giving oral evidence to a senate inquiry into Brazil’s coronavirus calamity on Tuesday, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who led the health ministry at the start of the pandemic, said he believed the Brazilian president’s conduct had helped generate an unnecessarily large tragedy. Continue reading...

PC Benjamin Monk also alleged to have used Taser weapon on former Aston Villa player for six times longer than guideline limitA police officer murdered the former Aston Villa striker Dalian Atkinson, first shooting him with a Taser stun gun for 33 seconds, then kicking him in the head as though striking a football, causing his head to snap back violently, a jury heard on Tuesday.PC Benjamin Monk denies murder and manslaughter following the incident on 15 August 2016 in Telford, Shropshire, which began at the home of Atkinson’s father. Continue reading...

French minister raises electricity supply as point of leverage in dispute over access to UK watersThe French government could cut off the electricity supply to Jersey in an escalating row over post-Brexit fishing rights, a French minister has suggested.Responding to questions in the national assembly, Annick Girardin, the minister for maritime affairs, said she was “revolted” by the UK government’s behaviour over its waters and France was ready to retaliate. Continue reading...

Police launch murder investigation after death of teenager named locally as Reece TanseyPolice have launched a murder investigation after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Bolton in the early hours of Tuesday.The teenager, named locally as Reece Tansey, was attacked in Walker Avenue shortly before 4.45am. He knocked on the door of a nearby house to ask for help and was taken to hospital where he died from his injuries. Continue reading...

Designer who restored the fortunes of the French fashion house LanvinOf all the designers who resuscitated a Paris label during 40 years of fashion necromancy, none was better than Alber Elbaz at the house of Lanvin, where he was creative director from 2001 to 2015.Even Karl Lagerfeld channelling Gabrielle Chanel never had the rapport with or respect for his foundress that Elbaz, who has died aged 59 of Covid-19, did with Jeanne Lanvin. Founding her company in 1889, she had had initial success when clients wanted for their own children the dresses she confected for her daughter before the first world war; after the war, adult women wore similar easy garments, and Lanvin’s were the prettiest and kindest. Continue reading...

Legislation would lift social distancing rules, testing requirements and curfews for fully vaccinated

Lockdown and the loss of both parents have transformed the entertainer. He talks about the disappointments of TV, outgrowing his comic persona – and his move into the glamping business

In a letter to the PM campaigners say forced marriage law fails to protect young peopleA legal loophole that allows 16- and 17-year-olds in England and Wales to marry with parental consent is being exploited and used to coerce young people into child marriage, campaigners have warned.More than 20 organisations have signed a letter to the prime minister insisting current forced marriage law does not go far enough in protecting young people. Continue reading...

French farmer could theoretically face criminal charges for moving 200-year-old marker

Undercover officer spied on leftwing group, which in turn asked him to spy on National FrontAn undercover police officer led a triple life infiltrating a socialist group and a fascist group at the same time, according to documents disclosed to a public inquiry.The spy, who adopted the fake name Peter Collins, was sent by his Scotland Yard bosses to infiltrate a leftwing group, the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), for three years, the inquiry heard. Continue reading...

Several people have been injured after an explosion left a gaping hole in a row of houses in Kent. Some people had to be freed by emergency services as the blast destroyed much of a house in Willesborough, near Ashford, leaving the chimney breast towering into the air. The explosion was not being treated as suspicious, police said

Official say at least 23 dead and 65 injured as videos on Mexican television and social media showed the overpass falling on to cars belowA partially collapsed metro overpass has claimed at least 23 lives in Mexico City, where rescuers worked through the night to free trapped passengers and search for victims.Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said via Twitter that at least 65 people had been taken to hospital after the collapse near the Los Olivos metro station, which occurred at around 10:30 pm Monday night. Continue reading...

Trapped residents freed by emergency services as blast destroys house in Willesborough, near AshfordSeven people have been injured, two of them seriously, after an explosion left a gaping hole in a row of houses in Kent, emergency services have said.Witnesses described feeling their homes shudder on Tuesday morning as the blast destroyed much of a house in Willesborough, near Ashford, leaving the chimney breast towering into the air. Continue reading...

Lockdown is lifting – to be replaced by mandatory MCU movies from now until eternity, from Black Panther 2 to Ant-Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to Thor 4. And more …Bit of a rollercoaster, that Marvel trailer, wasn’t it? The misty eyed reminiscences. The clip of a packed cinema collectively losing its mind at Endgame. And then, the climax – a punishing rabbit-punch of forthcoming MCU releases.Our first look at Eternals. Confirmation that Marvel is releasing four new movies, including the new Spider-Man, before Christmas. Dr Strange 2 next March. Thor 4 next May. Black Panther 2 next July. Captain Marvel 2 next November. Ant-Man 3 the following February. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 three months after that. A Fantastic 4 movie at some point. It just kept coming and coming. It was like one of those old Steve Jobs “One more thing” presentations, if Steve Jobs had decided to announce the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, Apple TV, a flying car and a machine that could terraform the surface of Mars one after the other in the space of 60 seconds. Continue reading...

With the soothing noise of its bricks clicking against one another, Lego White Noise joins the ranks of great musique concrète – and documents a potentially doomed soundOut of my headphones comes a flow of odd, weirdly tactile sound: what could be an army of ants marching across a plain of contact mics, a landslide of scree recorded from a mile away, or perhaps the first field recording taken from Ingenuity, the tiny robotic helicopter currently flying sorties above the Martian landscape. Delicate clicks, burring friction and the waterfall-like spatiality of granular flow all galvanise my ears.It’s the sort of thing that may interest subscribers to The Wire magazine, or that an underground musician usually seen sweating over a badly soldered modular synth could make in a moment of calm. This is Lego White Noise, and while it definitely sounds like experimental music, the name makes it clear that this is the work of the world’s most “reputable brand”. Continue reading...

Small band of mariners embark upon peaceful ‘invasion’ of Europe 500 years after the conquistadoresFive hundred years after Hernán Cortés and his men conquered Mexico, a small boatload of indigenous Zapatistas is making the return journey across the Atlantic to “invade” Spain, rail against capitalist oppression, and perhaps throw the odd cumbia party.The two men and five women set out on Sunday evening from Isla Mujeres, Mexico’s most eastern point. Continue reading...