Author: The Guardian

A woman whose photograph was used in a poster campaign by Italy’s far-right League, a member of Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition, has said she will consult lawyers, describing the images as “racist”.Anna Haholkina, a Ukrainian-Italian model who lives in Rimini, said she was shocked to see her face on the posters that have sprung up in Milan in recent weeks as the League, which is led by the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, intensifies its anti-Islam stance in the run-up to next month’s European elections.A League campaign poster, bearing the image of Anna Haholkina, seen in Milan on 8 May…

Steve Albini, the vocalist, guitarist and producer who was at the helm of a series of the most esteemed albums across the US alternative music scene, has died aged 61 from a heart attack suffered at his recording studio. Staff at his studio, Electrical Audio, confirmed the news to Pitchfork.As well as fronting the bands Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, who all pushed at the boundaries of post-punk and art-rock, Albini also produced – or, to use his preferred term, engineered – albums by Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. He was noted for his DIY…

Name: The £28 pain au chocolat.Age: Fresh out of the oven.Appearance: Extra-large, flaky, cuboid-ish.But it’s a pain au chocolat, right? Yes, recently launched at the Philippe Conticini bakery in Kensington, west London. They also do an XXL croissant – your choice.And they’re bigger than normal? The XXL croissant weighs 1.5kg.Wow. Are these things edible? Of course they’re edible – they’re pastries.Still, £28 for a pain au chocolat? For a pain au chocolat the size of a pony’s head. Or £25 for the XXL croissant, allegedly sufficient to feed eight people.Eight people? For real? The croissant contains 3,000 calories, comfortably more…

A Boeing cargo plane has been forced to land at Istanbul airport without its front landing gear, in the latest setback for the embattled planemaker.Nobody was hurt in the incident, in a flight operated by the delivery company FedEx, according to Turkey’s transport ministry.The Boeing 767 aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday, informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul airport that its landing gear had failed to open and it landed with guidance from the tower, the ministry said.Emergency services were standing by for the landing. The ministry did not give a reason for the landing…

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating above preindustrial levels, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit will be met.Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires,…

When I walk into Amsterdam’s Cafe Brecht, I immediately want to take a picture. The old-fashioned bar – with its plush sofas, vintage art and warm lighting – is what the Dutch would call “gezellig”, a word with many meanings but perhaps best summed up as “cosy” or “pleasant”. My instinct is to whip out my phone and take a photo. For friends? Future reference? Who knows? But I’ll have to rely on my memory, as I’ve checked it at the door.I’m at the cafe for a Sunday morning “digital detox hangout”, organised by the burgeoning Offline Club. I’ve dropped…

I have Jane Fonda to thank for my fitness “discovery” in the late 1980s. Still in my teens, I wore through the carpet doing her workout videos in front of the TV. I also spent hours ploughing up and down the pool at the local leisure centre and honing my muscles at the gym.I always regarded fitness as my superpower. Something that I worked hard at, for sure, but something that gave me kudos. Keeping fit – I mean, really fit – seemed to me an admirable and noble pursuit. I could fit into nice clothes easily. I could push…

They may sound ancient but you should avoid a sphynx cat if you want a pet to grow old with, research suggests.Experts have revealed how many years on average domestic cats in the UK have left to live based on their current age.The results suggest burmese and birman cats have the highest life expectancy, with kittens in their first year of life expected to live for another 14.4 years. Unsurprisingly, the figures for remaining life expectancy decline as cats get older.The team said such figures are important because they offer a glimpse into the future. “Essentially what we’re doing is…

A British woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a global monkey torture network.Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, admitted uploading 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured to an online chat group.She was charged after an investigation by the BBC into the torture of monkeys overseas. The investigation exposed a global network involving a private online group paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.The BBC said LeGresley used the username “The Immolator” and ran a poll for members of the group on which method of torture should be inflicted upon…

My wife and I have been married for nearly 10 years. We have three children and love each other dearly. We are a good team 99% of the time, but we regularly argue about our differing libido levels. I feel she doesn’t instigate sex very much and that when she does it’s with messages like: “Shall we have a 3pm ‘meeting’ before the kids come home?” I prefer it to be more spontaneous, like after she’s had a few glasses of wine and suddenly becomes more racy. I’ve let her know how exciting her racy mode is for me, but…