The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Italian ministers accused of ‘serious blunder’ as police officer arrested for murder

Meloni government had claimed case showed why officers using weapons in self-defence needed more protection

The arrest of an Italian police officer on suspicion of murder over the fatal shooting of a Moroccan man has prompted a row after the opposition accused Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government of exploiting the case for political ends.

Abderrahim Mansouri, 28, was shot in the head by Carmelo Cinturrino, assistant chief of Mecenate police station, during a police drugs patrol in the Rogoredo area of Milan in late January. Cinturrino originally said he had acted in self-defence after Mansouri pulled a gun on him.

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Down with Love: Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger’s perfectly offbeat 60s fantasy

This 2003 romcom seemed destined to be a hit. But it was too camp, too synthetic, too satirical: the exact qualities that make it a cult favourite today

In May 2003, a romcom starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor seemed like a surefire recipe for success. Zellweger had just earned consecutive best actress Oscar nominations for Bridget Jones’ Diary and Chicago, and McGregor had leading roles in zeitgeist-defining hits including Moulin Rouge and Star Wars. But on release, Down with Love barely made a dent at the box office, and audiences and critics alike were baffled by its camp sensibility and embrace of artifice.

In the film, Zellweger plays writer Barbara Novak, who arrives in New York City in 1962 to publish her feminist manifesto, Down with Love. Novak’s book encourages women to reject romance, embrace sex and refute the rigid gender roles of 50s America, and with the help of her publisher, Vikki (Sarah Paulson), Down with Love becomes a worldwide phenomenon – much to the chagrin of “man’s-man-ladies’-man-man about town” Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor).

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Should you sanitise your strawberries? Experts on the right way to wash fruit and vegetables

Online influencers are soaking and spraying their fresh produce, but experts say the ‘number one rule’ of food hygiene has nothing to do with special sanitisers

You know the cost-of-living crisis is biting when videos of influencers unpacking their grocery “hauls” are viral on TikTok.

Chewing through millions of views, fruit and vegetables are aesthetically plopped into a sink filled with water, piece by piece. “Sanitising” products are then added, ranging from the fizz of baking soda and vinegar to specialised vegetable soaps (“Amazon link in my bio!”). There are even expensive electronic purifiers, which shake, shimmy and bubble away in the basin, supposedly removing any nasties.

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Royal Artillery under fire after denying access to looted Asante treasure

‘Extraordinary’ golden lamb’s head pillaged in 1874 from what is now Ghana remains hidden in officers’ mess

The Royal Artillery is facing criticism after it emerged they are refusing public access to an “extraordinary object” looted by the British army in the 19th century from the Asante people in modern-day Ghana.

The glistening golden ram’s head would seemingly be worthy of any museum, but it remains hidden within the regiment’s mess at Larkhill in Wiltshire.

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The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT — Enterprise Technology News and Analysis

Euro hosting giant hiking prices by up to 50% from April Fool's Day

No, customers aren't laughing either as pressure from memory shortages bites

Hosting biz Hetzner, one of Europe's largest datacenter operators, is warning customers that prices are scheduled to jump by as much as 50 percent from April 1.…

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Nieuwe olympische kampioenen Ridders in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De nieuwe olympische kampioenen zijn dinsdag geridderd in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau. Schaatssters Jutta Leerdam, Femke Kok, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong en Marijke Groenewoud kregen een lintje, net als shorttrackers Jens van 't Wout, Melle van 't Wout, Teun Boer, Friso Emons en Itzhak de Laat.

Shorttrackster Xandra Velzeboer en schaatser Jorrit Bergsma, die eveneens goud wonnen op de Olympische Spelen, werden na eerdere Winterspelen al geridderd. Zij ontvingen nu een beeldje.

Leerdam veroverde goud op de 1000 meter, Kok op de 500 meter, Rijpma-de Jong op de 1500 meter en Groenewoud op de massastart. Jens van 't Wout pakte twee individuele gouden medailles en won samen met zijn broer Melle, Emons, Boer en De Laat de aflossing bij de mannen. Velzeboer veroverde goud op de 500 en 1000 meter en Bergsma won de massastart bij de mannen.


Als je een offer vraagt van Nederlandse burgers, durf er dan ook voor te gaan staan

Eerst hoog inzetten met het vragen van een offer voor de natie, maar vervolgens weer het onderhandse politieke gesjoemel waar de VVD zo aan verslaafd is. Bas Heijne over de noodzaak van een opener vizier bij het nieuwe kabinet.

Politie stapte in stilte af van algoritme dat kans op misdaad in buurten zou voorspellen

Nederland kreeg tien jaar geleden een landelijk politiesysteem dat met data en algoritmen de kans op criminaliteit in wijken zou voorspellen. Het werkte nooit goed en al jaren werd gewaarschuwd voor vooringenomenheid.

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

Hoe lang hou je een deur open? De meningen zijn – het zal verdomme eens niet – verdeeld

kottke.org

Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products

Writer Lauren Groff on how she works . “After she...

Writer Lauren Groff on how she works. “After she completes a first draft, she puts it in a bankers box — and never reads it again.” And: “We all need to fill ourselves with the ghosts of other writers.” Her new book is out now.