Author: The Guardian

Sitting in the dark, cramped dining room of her home in Tor Bella Monaca, a densely populated council estate on the outskirts of Rome, Giovanna has just returned from one of several cleaning jobs the 70-year-old does to keep her family afloat. Her husband works on construction sites intermittently. The couple, whose youngest son, Cristian, 26, lives at home, might be depicted as borgatara, a slur in Roman dialect that, loosely translated, means a poor person living on the socially deprived fringes of the Italian capital.Referring to her own upbringing in Garbatella, a traditionally working-class district within easy reach of…

The continent will bid farewell to its current format when Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid conclude this Champions League season at Wembley on Saturday. A new system will be implemented in 2024-25, bringing more teams, more games and more revenue.What is the new format?The group stage is gone. 36 teams will form one league instead of 32 teams divided into eight groups. Each team will play eight games – two more than the previous concept – against eight different opponents, four at home and four on the road. The top eight teams after the first stage will automatically advance to…

The questions1 An administrative error caused which town to lose its city status in 1998?2 Which cetacean has the largest mouth of any animal?3 In France, where would you find trèfles, carreaux, coeurs and piques?4 The Scottish Militia Bill, in 1708, was the last to suffer what fate?5 Whose official residence is Bishopthorpe Palace?6 Jon Harvey regularly contests elections under what name?7 The Squarial was used to receive whose TV programmes?8 Which eye condition is named from the Greek for blue-green?What links:9 Wilhelm Steinitz and Ding Liren?10 Asterix; Charles Dickens; Lenin; Dolly Parton; Harry Potter?11 Bestiarius; hoplomachus; murmillo; secutor; thraex?12…

Robert Pickton, a notorious Canadian serial killer who fed his victims’ remains to his pigs on his farm near Vancouver, has died after being assaulted in prison.The Correctional Service of Canada said in statement that Pickton, 71, died in hospital on Friday, following the attack on 19 May by another inmate of Port-Cartier Institution in the province of Quebec.A 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the assault on Pickton, a police spokesman, Hugues Beaulieu, said earlier this month.Robert “Willie” Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007, with the maximum parole…

Neighbors of Samuel Alito and his wife described how a disagreement over political lawn signs put up in the wake of the 2020 presidential election quickly devolved into “unhinged behavior towards a complete stranger” by the supreme court justice’s wife.Emily Baden says she never intended to get into a fight with Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, her powerful neighbors who live on the same suburban cul-de-sac as her mother outside Washington DC.Then a large black car, part of the Alitos’ security detail, started parking in front of her mother’s house instead of theirs, and Baden understood the perils of being…

I have worked in higher education for more than 25 years. My plan was to retire at 60, but shortly before that I was offered a prestigious teaching position abroad. I now travel between there and the UK where my husband (recently retired) lives. We have been together for more than 20 years and he has always been very supportive.There are so many things I love about what I do, but at 63 I am getting weary. The pressure to constantly be on top of my game is exhausting. I often feel as if I am not making the most…

Madonna has been sued by a concertgoer during her Celebration World Tour, accusing her of producing “pornography without warning” and that he was “forced to watch topless women simulate sex on stage”.In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday and seen by the Guardian, plaintiff Justen Lipeles made a series of accusations about her March 7 concert at the city’s Kia Forum venue. Live Nation, the promoter of the concert, was named as a defendant along with Madonna.Lipelais bought four tickets for $500 (£390) each, which stated the concert would start at 8.30pm. Lipeles’ lawsuit alleges that the concert…

A window vac to beat condensationEvery morning I console myself about the lack of double glazing as my window-cleaning vacuum sucks up the condensation. It’s a gift that keeps on giving! Jim Clay, Lewes The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Pastry blender … your hummusComprising a curved set of four blunt blades with a straight handle, a pastry blender is great for quickly rubbing fat into flour for making crumble and pastry. But it’s also good for mashing tinned chickpeas to make hummus, or for any similar task.…

FFive days later, in front of a jubilant crowd of 14,000 at London’s O Arena, he beat world number one Luke Humphries with a brilliant nine-dart to win the Premier League darts title.2 On Tuesday afternoon at the Arena, Luke Littler found himself up against an even more unforgiving opponent: Manhattan rush-hour traffic.A full-day media frenzy in New York City to promote this weekend’s United States Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden was interrupted by a hired driver in Littler’s black Cadillac Escalade ESV at the studio on November 17, 2019 The event descended into chaos when a live appearance…

The prosecution: Danny I am glad we are able to offer the fox a home – and he runs away whenever we go near In the garden of our house in south London we have a lean-to covered in ivy. A fox lives there. He will often just lie on top of it, and whenever one of us goes outside, he heads into the nearby bush. He’s no trouble and we don’t really see him that much, mainly just at night.The problem is that we have a three-year-old and a five-year-old, and my wife, Cara, is worried about their safety. She wants…