We’re being sold a world where there’s no room for reflection or spontaneity. This is the Black Mirror stage of capitalism

How fast do you have to strike a match to get it to light? Not the chemistry of the ignition, but the actual speed, in metres per second, that the little piece of wood and its bulbous head have to move to spark the chain reaction behind the flame.

It was a question born of insomnia. And there, in the dark, I did the thing you’re not supposed to do, if your goal is to fall back asleep: I opened my phone. Before I knew it, 3am had become 5am. I learned about the composition of the friction strip (red phosphorus, pulverized glass), and of the match head (potassium chlorate, antimony trisulphide, wax), and that a safety match struck against anything else will not light. I found slow-motion videos of a match strike captured at 3,500 frames per second. But nothing about the speed.

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now

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Damning testimony from the crew of one tuna-fishing vessel has lifted the lid on the treatment of workers in the fleets supplying fish to the UK and EU

Abdul was the first to fall sick, in February 2025, four months into his first ever stint on a longline tuna fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean. Told he was “weak” and “overreacting” by other crew members, he forced himself to keep working, even when he could barely stand, his legs swollen and bruised.

In the months that followed, other crew members of the Tia Xiang 5, a Chinese vessel belonging to Shandong Zhonglu Oceanic Fisheries, a large state-owned fishing company, allegedly began to suffer similar symptoms: swollen, painful limbs and debilitating weakness, with some becoming very short of breath. They were offered no proper medical care, claims Abdul, 36, nor rest from the gruelling 16-hour days, for which they earned 4.6m Indonesian rupiah (about £198) a month.

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Government aims to move TV and radio funding under state control, which critics say undermines independence

Journalists at the Czech Republic’s public broadcasters have said they are prepared to go on strike unless the government of the billionaire prime minister, Andrej ​Babiš, backs down on its plan to scrap licence fees and move funding under state control.

In what the journalists see as a threat to their independence, the government wants to replace the current system, in which households pay fees directly to public service media, with direct funding from the state budget. “Licence fees are cancelled,” the culture minister, Oto Klempíř, declared last week.

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In her new book, New York Times investigative journalist Jodi Kantor has set her mind to helping young people find their life’s work. What should they, or anyone else who feels lost and overwhelmed right now, do to get started?

Early last year, the investigative journalist Jodi Kantor was asked to give the commencement address to students at Columbia University in New York. The place was in chaos – amid continuing pro-Palestinian protests students were expelled, or arrested and detained by immigration officials, while President Trump had ordered a $400m withdrawal of federal funding (which was later reinstated as part of a settlement with the administration). Kantor was “horrified” to see what had happened at Columbia – her alma mater, where she was sacked from her first journalism job at the student paper– “a place and campus I loved, a place that stands for discussion and ideas and progress. I said: ‘I’ll do it if I can speak to the students first.’”

She spoke to several. They didn’t want to talk about Israel or Gaza, or Trump, or what was happening at the university and its implications for free speech. “They said: ‘Our class, despite all of its political differences, is united in anxiety over one question. When everything feels so broken, how do we start? How do we find our life’s work in this environment?’”

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Lawrence Bishnoi has been in high-security custody for more than a decade. During that time, he has been linked to multiple high-profile killings, both in India and as far afield as Canada. What explains his seemingly undimmed power?

The border that separates India from Pakistan is lined with 50,000 towering poles that hold 150,000 floodlights, which at night create a glare that is visible from outer space. Passing through the towns on the Indian side of the border, it can be difficult to tell, even in daylight, where one ends and the other begins. Curving along the rolling fields of wheat are nameless dirt roads where men sit on rope benches, whiling away their afternoons, staring as you pass by.

Dutarawali, right by the highway, is slightly different: here, the houses are big, with spacious courtyards. One of the houses – three storeys, painted white with red accents – has a 7ft boundary wall topped with barbed wire and four CCTV cameras overlooking the unpaved street. The symbol of Om is curled on its brown iron door, which has no nameplate. It is the house of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is today, at the age of 33, India’s most notorious gangster.

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BRUSSEL (ANP) - De verkoop van volledig elektrische auto's in de hele Europese Unie is in maart met bijna 50 procent toegenomen ten opzichte van dezelfde maand vorig jaar. Dat meldt de Europese autobrancheorganisatie ACEA. Nederland vormt daarin wel een uitzondering.

In ons land daalde het aantal verkochte volledig elektrische auto's met 0,4 procent. De verkopen van deels elektrische auto's stegen in ons land wel fors, terwijl de verkoop van benzineauto's juist flink daalde.

Het totaal aantal verkochte volledig elektrische auto's in de EU was in maart bijna 235.000. Ook deels elektrische auto's zitten qua verkopen in de lift. Plug-inhybride auto's werden 28,2 procent meer verkocht en hybride elektrische auto's 20,1 procent. In Nederland steeg de verkoop van plug-inhybride auto's met 20,8 procent en die van hybride auto's met 6,8 procent.

Belastingvoordelen

In de EU en ook in Nederland waren benzine- en dieselauto's minder in trek. In maart werden in de EU ruim 260.000 benzineauto's verkocht, een daling van 9,4 procent. Het aantal dieselauto's kwam uit op een kleine 85.000, een daling van 12,3 procent. In Nederland daalde het aantal verkochte benzineauto's met ruim 39 procent tot 2403. Dieselauto's werden 4,5 procent minder verkocht.

Met een stijging van 155,2 procent werden afgelopen maand flink meer auto's van het merk BYD verkocht in de EU. Vorig jaar maart waren dat er nog 8291, maar dit jaar zijn het er 21.158. Tesla zag zijn aantal verkochte auto's verdubbelen naar 36.868. Alfa Romeo (min 17,2 procent), Porsche (min 14,5 procent) en Ford (min 14,5 procent) zijn de automerken die de grootste verkoopdalingen lieten zien.

ACEA stelt dat de stijging van verkopen van elektrische auto's komt doordat veel grote Europese landen belastingvoordelen bieden bij de aankoop daarvan. Daarnaast is maart de eerste volledige maand sinds de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten is begonnen. Sindsdien zijn de brandstofprijzen flink gestegen.

Over twee jaar moeten er weer mensen op de maan landen. Spectaculair, maar wat heeft de wetenschap eraan? „Je kunt de samenstelling van maanstenen simpelweg niet op afstand bestuderen.”

Vandaag volgt opnieuw een schitterende lentedag met veel zon en blijft het overal droog. De temperaturen stijgen naar aangename waarden tussen 14 en 17 graden. Een matige noordenwind zorgt vanmiddag in een brede kuststrook voor wat lagere temperaturen.

Vandaag volgt opnieuw een schitterende lentedag met veel zon en blijft het overal droog. De temperaturen stijgen naar aangename waarden tussen 14 en 17 graden. Een matige noordenwind zorgt vanmiddag in een brede kuststrook voor wat lagere temperaturen.

tintinetmilou has added a photo to the pool:

Kawagoe