Author: The Guardian

Astronomers have discovered a ring-shaped cosmic megastructure, the proportions of which challenge existing theories of the universe.The so-called Big Ring has a diameter of about 1.3bn light years, making it among the largest structures ever observed. At more than 9bn light years from Earth, it is too faint to see directly, but its diameter on the night sky would be equivalent to 15 full moons.The observations, presented on Thursday at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in New Orleans, are significant because the size of the Big Ring appears to defy a fundamental assumption in cosmology called the…

How to replace 204 goals in 332 games? Jurgen Klopp’s approach was to wait until the 56th minute and bring on Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez to fill the void left by Mohamed Salah.efficient. A quarter of an hour later, Liverpool turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory, with the Gacopo-Nunez combination winning the game. Before they take the field, however, the first leg of the semi-final against Fulham is the strangest story.Anfield falls into lull: this should be the fate of the away team, not Liverpool. Especially the Premier League leaders under Klopp, who are unbeaten in 14…

Donald Trump told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and also said “Nato is dead”, a senior European commissioner said.Multiple news outlets said the exchange between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described in Brussels on Tuesday by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defence.“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you,” Trump said, according to…

FOr Chelsea, a club that spends billions of dollars, and the value of the Carabao Cup has exceeded its usual value. A championship bonus of just £100,000 and a Europa League playoff spot are just part of an impressive package, but even Chelsea’s current owners must realize there’s more to football than just money.Beating Newcastle in the quarter-finals was celebrated in a manner rarely seen in Chelsea’s post-Abramovich era. Perhaps something can be salvaged from a second successive crash of the season, although to do that will now require another second-leg rescue mission at Stamford Bridge.After defeating Riverside, Middlesbrough’s hopes…

Polish police have arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who had taken refuge for hours in the palace of President Andrzej Duda, in a dramatic escalation of a standoff between the new and previous governments.Duda had welcomed the members of the former ruling party into the presidential palace as police went to their homes to arrest them. Polish media reported the men were arrested inside the palace. Warsaw police gave no details, saying only that the arrest was “in accordance with the court order.”The development is the latest in the escalating dispute between the new government, led by…

The former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has said she will hand back her CBE over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of post office operators.After days of pressure, Vennells issued a statement saying she was returning the honour given to her in the 2019 New Year’s honours with immediate effect.She said in Tuesday’s statement that she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon [accounting software] system”.The miscarriage of justice has been gaining attention since an…

nitrogenNew year, new start. Or, in the case of Owen Farrell and English rugby, the most extreme potential makeover. If the former England captain joins forces with Racing 92 in Paris, which is increasingly likely, it will be the most controversial since Henry VIII’s 18-year-old sister Mary married 52-year-old Louis XII Anglo-French marriage. 1514, 15-year-old King of France.As it happened, the latter relationship lasted only three months before Louis died of gout or (allegedly) exertion in the bedroom. They say modern rugby is bad for you. Hopefully Farrell, 32, can enjoy a less fraught experience if he moves to the…

For more than a century villagers have grown fruit and veg on allotments at King’s Somborne, a picture postcard village in the Test valley, Hampshire.But plot holders are up in arms after being served eviction notices from the owner of the land, the diocese of Winchester, to make way for housing.The allotment association chair, Andrew Causer, said villagers were disgusted at the timing of the letters, which arrived over the festive period.He said: “The pleasure and mental health benefits of growing one’s own food inexpensively is known to everyone. During a cost of living crisis, the allotment association is appalled…

Emma Raducanu withdrew from a charity match on Tuesday as part of her preparations for the Australian Open after complaining of “feeling soreness”.Her original opponent Naomi Osaka had withdrawn, but Donna Vecchi stepped in to take on the British player in a match at Melbourne Park.According to BBC Sport , Raducanu woke up feeling “a bit sore” on Tuesday morning after training for two hours on Monday and decided to rest rather than play in the charity match.The shock 2021 US Open champion plans to return to Grand Slam action in Melbourne next week, having been sidelined since April 2023…

French PM Élisabeth Borne quits as Macron seeks boost before EU electionsKim WillsherFrance’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, resigned on Monday after days of increasingly feverish speculation about an imminent government reshuffle.The president, Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to give a new impetus to his second mandate before European parliament elections and the Paris Olympics this summer, thanked Borne for her “exemplary work in the service of the nation”.In her resignation letter, Borne said it was “more necessary than ever to continue the reforms” being pursued by the government.“I wanted to tell you how passionate I have been about this mission,”…