Author: The Guardian

Just seven days to go and then on 4 July this terrible nightmare will end for all of us once and for all. Yes, on that day there will be a new Thursday quiz, and you can stop fretting about your score on this week’s one. Sixteen questions wait for you on topical news, general knowledge, and quite a lot of animals this week, assuming you count Wombles as animals. There are no prizes. Do let us know how you get on in the comments. Enjoy!The Thursday quiz, No 1661.Whose artwork has been hung in the ladies’ restrooms at Tasmania’s…

A Paralympic swimmer due to compete in this summer’s Olympics says his career is at risk after post-Brexit policy changes ban him from flying in and out of the UK with his guide dog.Mar Gunnarsson, a visually impaired Icelandic national studying in Manchester, was unable to fly to the sporting championships to represent his country because his guide dog was not recognized as a service animal by British authorities.Government restrictions, described as “ridiculous” by disability groups, also prevented him from flying back to Iceland with the dog.Disabled passengers are prohibited from traveling to and from the UK with assistance dogs…

England will play Slovakia in the last 16 of Euro 2024. The two teams will meet in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals, where Switzerland or Italy awaits.Gareth Southgate’s side has been heavily criticised after one win and two draws and largely uninspiring performances in Germany. However, they topped Group C and are now on what looks like the easier side of the draw.“They defended well. We weren’t able to find the right pass,” Southgate said after the 0-0 draw against Slovenia, before adding: “We’re improving. I didn’t think that with how everything that happened after the…

Twenty-four years ago, on May 26, 2000, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah arrived in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, a few kilometers from the Israeli border.The day before, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon after years of occupation and harassment by Hezbollah and other groups. Thousands of supporters gathered under Hezbollah’s yellow flag.Wearing his familiar black turban and brown robe, the then 39-year-old cleric delivered one of the most famous speeches of his career.Addressing the Arab world and the “oppressed Palestinian people”, Nasrallah claimed that despite its nuclear weapons, Israel remained “as fragile as a spider’s web”. The themes…

You know the drill: you scrape the remaining crumbs of your dessert from the plate, finish off the last of the bottle of wine, settle the bill and leave the restaurant, full and content. While it’s certainly possible to forget to pay, for a small number of diners, this “mistake” is deliberate: they never intended to pay at all.This summer, a couple from Port Talbot in south Wales were jailed for carrying out a series of so-called “dine and dash” offences: racking up sizeable restaurant bills before doing a runner. Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in prison, while…

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are displacing healthy diets “all over the world” despite growing evidence of the risks they pose and should be sold with tobacco-style warnings, according to the nutritional scientist who first coined the term.Prof Carlos Monteiro of the University of São Paulo will highlight the increasing danger UPFs present to children and adults at the International Congress on Obesity this week.“UPFs are increasing their share in and domination of global diets, despite the risk they represent to health in terms of increasing the risk of multiple chronic diseases,” Monteiro told the Guardian ahead of the conference in São…

When New Zealand’s Justina Kitchen competes in the kite foil competition at the Paris Olympics next month, the 35-year-old will compete wearing an impact vest, a hook knife and a helmet.Safety equipment is a must for kite winging, a sport making its Olympic debut. It is considered the fastest class of sailing in which competitors are strapped to a large kite and can often reach speeds of 48 km/h (30 mph) on a board on a thin foil that appears to hover above the water. .However, “it’s very peaceful here,” said Kitching, who was taking a break from training at…

A Russian has been charged with conspiring to hack and destroy computer systems and data in Ukraine and allied countries including the US, the US justice department said on Wednesday, and announced a $10m reward for information. Before the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Amin Timovich Stigal, 22, who remains at large, targeted Kyiv’s government systems and data with no military-related role, the department alleged. Computer systems in the US and other countries that provided support to Ukraine were targeted later, it alleged. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday,…

The UK’s current trade deal with the EU is not working and the country must stop “walking on eggshells” around the issue of building closer ties with its biggest trading partner, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is expected to say.At the annual BCC global conference in London on Thursday, Shevaun Haviland will say that the UK must forge closer ties with the EU and the next government should focus on improving trading relations to grow the economy.“We must stop walking on eggshells and start saying it how it is,” Haviland will say.“The current plan isn’t…

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer clash over response to Westminster gambling scandal as news emerges Metropolitan Police will expand its role in general election The role of stakes in investigations.In the final face-to-face debate before voters go to the polls, the Labor leader launched a blistering attack on the culture at the top of the Tory party, saying it showed a “wrong instinct” to bet on the party’s future. The arrogance of Covid rules.In an angry exchange, Sunak repeatedly urged the country not to “give in” to Labour’s tax and immigration plans and said the general election should not be…