Author: The Guardian

Walther Valbuena, a journalist and drag artist, had to leave Colombia. His best friend, a trans woman, had been murdered by a former lover who wanted to get his hands on their apartment. “My only crime was being her friend,” he says. “I was shot in the leg. When I went to the police, they dismissed it, saying it’s not serious. I explained that I was shot at during a robbery and they said, no, it was because you’re a maricón [poof].”Valbuena, 37, is from Cali, which he describes as “the capital of salsa”; he now finds himself in the…

Two-time Olympic champion Katie Archibald will miss Paris 2024 after suffering a double leg break in a freak accident.The 30-year-old Scottish cyclist fractured a tibia and fibula and dislocated an ankle having tripped over a garden step. She also sustained substantial ligament damage during the incident on Tuesday and has since undergone surgery.“I tripped over a step in the garden and managed to, somehow, dislocate my ankle; break my tibia and fibula; and rip two ligaments off the bone. What the heck,” she posted on Instagram alongside a picture of her in a hospital bed.Quick GuideHow do I sign up…

From job interviews to presentations, first dates to wedding speeches, how can you give the air of being self-assured if you feel anything but? Actors share their secrets to appearing confident.Know that hardly anyone feels confident naturally“I’m not confident at all,” says the actor Maxine Peake. “For me, another part of the acting process is pretending to be confident.” Similarly, the actor and musician Johnny Flynn says: “It’s amazing how many actors identify as introverted.” Flynn says he hates public speaking so much that he sang instead of doing a speech when he got married. “My mum called me ‘incredibly…

large fluctuationsThis particular trade deadline is a bit stifling, as many teams are choosing to maintain the status quo. But the two teams that made the biggest changes — Indiana (which acquired Pascal Siakam shortly before the deadline) and Dallas (acquired P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford and took away the cantankerous Grant Williams Both teams were rewarded hugely for their gumption: in the form of surprise appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals, respectively.Baby, Nick is backJust as the basketball gods intended, the Garden is rocking again. An avalanche of injuries ultimately derailed this year’s reunion for kids…

An Alaska man and two police officers rescued a baby moose from what police described as “a sure demise” after it fell into a lake and got stuck in a narrow space between a floatplane and a dock.Spencer Warren, who works for the outdoor tourism company Destination Alaska Adventure Co, had arrived at work about 6.30am on Friday to prepare a floatplane for the day’s trip when he heard what he thought was an odd-sounding bird.He quickly spotted the moose calf stuck between the floats of the plane and the dock at Beluga Lake in Homer, a Kenai peninsula community…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed an agreement that includes a clause requiring the two countries to provide each other with assistance if either side is attacked.Including mutual defense provisions in the comprehensive strategic partnership that Kim Jong Un calls an “alliance” would increase Western alarm over growing economic and military ties between North Korea and Russia. The deal was finalized on Wednesday after hours of talks in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. This is Putin’s second summit with Kim Jong Un in nine months.Russian state news agency TASS quoted Putin as saying:…

With his thick eyeliner, long blond hair and leather jacket, Dakota Adams does not look like a typical politician.The 27-year-old, who is running as a progressive Democrat in a deep-red, rural corner of Montana, doesn’t have a typical politician backstory either.Adams is the son of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group who last year was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6 insurrection. Adams grew up in what he describes as an environment of “extreme isolation and paranoia” – a situation he and his siblings escaped in 2018, when…

AJust four months ago England were caught between two stools. Their desire to play a different brand of rugby was not matched by their performance on the field, having just been beaten 30-21 in Scotland. It gave the feeling of a real sliding door moment, a clear meeting taking place as scheduled.The bottom line is simple. There is a lot of talent in the backline but it is not being utilized to its full potential. As one of England’s new vice-captains, Henry Slade, recalled this week, a collective change in mentality was needed if England were to realize their attacking…

Donald Trump has criminally bad taste in just about everything. He orders his steaks well done and drowns them in ketchup. His Manhattan penthouse is gold and famously gaudy. He wears shiny suits that never seem to fit properly. And then there’s his taste in art: the man loves himself a bit of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. For years, Trump had what he liked to boast was an “original Renoir” on his private jet. That has been proven to be nonsense: the original of the painting in question – Two Sisters (On The Terrace) – is in a Chicago gallery and Trump…

Raphael Font-Dames booked his ticket to the Paris Olympics on Tuesday by finishing second in the 100m freestyle final at the French Olympic trials, but the teenager’s enthusiastic celebrations came at the cost of a shoulder injury.Font-Dames, who finished behind Maxime Gruset in Chartres and also earned a spot on the French 4x100m relay team, set a personal best of 48.14 seconds, beating the Olympic qualifying mark of 48.34 seconds. .After the game, the 17-year-old slapped the water excitedly, then covered his left shoulder in pain. He was later photographed hanging by his arms from the podium, and L’Equipe reported…