MP who was raped gets Starmer's backing over law change
Labour's Natalie Fleet says she used to tell friends "I can't be an MP - I was a teenage parent".
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Empanadas and stuffed piquillos: José Pizarro’s recipes for green peppers
Few vegetables are as celebrated by the Spanish as the pepper, as evidenced by these light and moreish empanadas filled with green peppers and sardines, and roast peppers stuffed with a rich ragu
Peppers are more than just staples of the Spanish kitchen, they are one of our culinary foundations. As with tomatoes, when Columbus returned from the Americas in the late 15th century, he presented peppers as a gift to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, and they very quickly became a key part of our cooking traditions. The pepper’s most iconic contribution to Spanish cuisine is surely pimentón de la Vera, or smoked paprika, which is an essential seasoning in a lot of Spanish cooking, adding exquisite depth to stews, rice dishes, seafood and, of course, chorizo. But we also celebrate fresh peppers in all their guises. Padrón peppers are, of course, a classic tapa, while pimientos rellenos (stuffed peppers) are filled every which way, from seafood and minced meat to creamy bechamel. From the royal court to home kitchens, peppers have taken root in our culinary culture.
Continue reading...UK ministers ‘too scared of Donald Trump’ to back levy on TV streaming giants
Wolf Hall director calls for urgent action to protect public service broadcasting in Britain
British ministers are “running scared” of Donald Trump in their refusal to force US streaming services to fund more UK-focused shows, the director of the BBC’s Wolf Hall has warned.
Peter Kosminsky said a “supine and terrified” government was worried about anything that might upset the “bully in the White House”.
Continue reading...Thailand’s army closes Cambodia border crossings as territorial tensions escalate
All vehicles and travellers will be prohibited from crossing border into Cambodia as relations deteriorate after shooting of Cambodian soldier
Thailand’s military has closed border crossings into Cambodia to almost all travellers, including tourists and traders, as tensions escalate over a longstanding territorial dispute between the two neighbours.
All vehicles and travellers, both Thai and foreigners, will be prohibited from crossing borders into Cambodia across seven provinces, according to statements by Thailand’s army and navy.
Continue reading...Flying in the new age of conflict – the hotspots diverting flights and leaving pilots blind
Amid conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, airlines have been forced to divert around warzones while managing new threats to their systems
The first indication that something was wrong came when the clock on the flight deck began to go backwards. The aircraft was cruising thousands of metres above Israel and as the crew noticed the error, they checked their GPS signal. The plane’s internal instruments showed it was flying at just 1,500ft, well below the cruising altitude of 38,000ft it should have been at.
Seconds later, alarms began to sound and lights flashed throughout the cockpit.
Continue reading...Sold to the Trump family: one of the last undeveloped islands in the Mediterranean
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have spent more than $1bn on an Albanian island that will be a luxury resort – once the unexploded ordnance has been removed
On Sazan, a small island off the coast of Albania, the landscape is Jurassic. Ferns, giant lavender, plumbago, rosemary, broom and laurels grow on the mountain at its centre. The view from the top, with its dramatic sunsets, is dizzyingly beautiful.
Albanians call Sazan Ishulli i Trumpëve – Trump Island. Until now mostly untrammelled by development, it is on the verge of becoming a mecca for ultra-luxury tourism, another addition to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s real-estate portfolio. Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast in July 2024, Trump could barely conceal her excitement: “I’m working with my husband, we have this 1,400-acre island in the Mediterranean and we’re bringing in the best architects and the best brands,” she said. “It’s going to be extraordinary.”
Continue reading...Traffic, crowds and construction: India’s hill stations swamped by tourists escaping Delhi heat
In 2024, more than 2 million visitors went to the small towns of Landour and Mussoorie in the Himalayan foothills, prompting authorities to introduce daily limits
Until recently, the drive up the mountainous road to Landour was a highlight of a visit to the small hilltop town, as drivers enjoyed glorious Himalayan views and breathed in the cool forest air. Today, the journey is something to be endured with up to 1,000 cars a day clogging the narrow, winding road – slowing to navigate hairpin bends.
A journey that once took five to six hours from Delhi can now take up to 10 hours, especially at weekends in May and June.
Continue reading...I spent five years in Iran’s notorious Evin prison but when Israel bombed it I felt horror and fear | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Many held there are opponents of the repressive regime. Who is alive now? Who was killed? Were they just collateral damage?
On Monday morning Israeli airstrikes struck the Evin prison’s gate, damaging the court adjacent to the prison and some of the wards, including the women’s political ward where I spent five years. The prison holds a large number of political prisoners and opponents of the Islamic Republic in Iran. Nobody seems to know what has happened to them.
Since the bombing of Iran started 12 days ago, I have avoided the news and all requests for interviews. It has felt too sad. But as I was sitting at my desk, I saw the news about Evin popping up on my screen. My hands froze and I felt a shiver down my neck, just as when bad news landed back when I was held. After a couple of minutes I contacted my former Evin cellmates who are now outside to check if they knew anything. They were as horrified and scared as I was.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian dual national who was detained in Evin prison for five years
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Continue reading...Is he still alive? The mystery of DB Cooper – the hijacker who disappeared
In 1971, a man held a plane to ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out in his suit and dress shoes, never to be seen again. What happened to him?
On the evening of 24 November 1971, Florence Schaffner, a flight attendant on a Northwest Orient flight heading to Seattle, Washington, from Portland, Oregon, was handed a note by a male passenger seated at the back of the plane. Schaffner assumed the note was a phone number – this wasn’t the first time a passenger had hit on her – so she stowed it in her purse without reading it. The man leaned towards her and whispered: “Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.”
Schaffner read it: “Miss – I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me.”
Continue reading...Unknown novel by writer who charted Hitler’s rise becomes German bestseller
Sebastian Haffner’s love story set in final days of Weimar Republic published more than nine decades after it was written
A previously unknown novel by one of Europe’s most influential postwar journalists which captures the heady yet fragile spirit of the final days of the Weimar Republic has been published in Germany after his children discovered the hand-written manuscript in his desk.
More than nine decades after he wrote it, Sebastian Haffner’s Abschied or Parting has soared to the top of the Spiegel bestseller list following its debut earlier this month.
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