Ministers to also discuss how to ramp up defence manufacturing and the situation in the Middle East

Today’s talks in Brussels come as the three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine announced by president Donald Trump last week ended with a fresh wave of Russian strikes.

AFP reported that Moscow launched a wave of more than 200 attack drones that damaged energy facilities and apartment buildings, killing at least one person.

“Attack drones were shot down in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions, as well as in Kyiv and the region. Energy facilities, apartment buildings, and a kindergarten were damaged, and there was also a strike on an ordinary civilian locomotive on the railway... People have been reported injured as a result of these strikes. And, unfortunately, there are fatalities.”

“Russia must end this war, and it is Russia that must take the step toward a real, lasting ceasefire. Until that happens, sanctions against Moscow are necessary and must remain in place and be strengthened. It is important that there be no easing of pressure and that partners do not stand aside, but continue working together for security, justice, and a reliable peace.”

Continue reading...

As senior cabinet ministers move against the PM, his words of defiance seem moot. I’m planning ahead – which is more than he ever did

A news report last week described how growing instability means millions of Britons are building up a stash of cash, tinned food and torches at home. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought there is no better litmus test of how things are going for a country than whether the populace is stockpiling emergency rations.

Watching Keir Starmer stubbornly cling on to his leadership as members of his cabinet and MPs move against him, it seems only a matter of time before the PM himself is prepping. With the end moving closer, you half expect Starmer to barricade himself in Downing Street with a jumbo pack of baked beans and a carton of cigarettes.

“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters,” Starmer told reporters on Monday after what could be his 73rd major speech to “reset” his premiership in less than two years.

“Some” doubters. That seems a generous summary of events at this point. At time of writing, those doubting Starmer include his former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, home secretary Shabana Mahmood, four resigned ministerial aides, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, union bosses, peers, and what increasingly feels like most of the backbenchers who have access to an X account.

Francs Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

The 32.3m surpasses those caused by disasters for the first time, as 82.2m people displaced in total around world

The number of internal displacements triggered by conflict or violence around the world reached a record high in 2025, surpassing the number of disaster-driven internal displacements for the first time.

A report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) shows that by the end of 2025 there were 32.3m conflict-driven internal displacements. That is 60% higher than those recorded the previous year, and – for the first time since data collection began in 2008 – above displacements driven by natural disasters, which reached 29.9m in 2025.

Continue reading...

In 1985, four working-class characters are bonded for ever by a strange sighting in this sentimental saga that tracks their lives into adulthood

Directed by Patrick Leung, this affecting saga from Hong Kong is a bit tricksy to get to grips with because it keeps hopping back and forth between an assortment of time frames. It tracks a set of characters as children in the mid-1980s, played by one group of young actors, and then later in the 1990s and early 00s when an adult cast takes over. But as it spirals in towards its surprising and dramatic conclusion, everything falls into place and the last 10 minutes is properly tear-jerking – even if it’s unabashedly sentimental, like a classic melodrama.

The key incident foretold in the title happens around halfway through, although it’s no spoiler to know it’s coming. In 1985, a quartet of kids growing up on a working-class Hong Kong housing estate – boys Kin (Matthew Wong Cheuk-yin) and Heem (Chui Ka-him), and girl Hoyi (Lam Seung-yu) and her kid brother (Shawn Heung Sung-yu), for ever called Little Brother – see a UFO in the sky one night. The experience bonds them for ever, even if each kid grows up to pursue goals one wouldn’t expect based on what they’re like as tots. Sailor’s son Kin (played by Chui Tien-you as an adult) pursues wealth in the stock market as it booms in the aftermath of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, itself an understandably big deal in the story. Heem (a very engaging Wong You-nam) had leukaemia as a child, and lives constantly in the short term under the shadow of illness. Hoyi, who everyone describes as a pudgy little girl, grows up to be a slim-hipped beauty (Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin) – this is considered a great achievement along with becoming an accountant and planning to marry a dullard named Austin (Joey Cho Yiu Leung) who has his life all planned out.

Continue reading...

jovo2021 has added a photo to the pool:

Sensoji
Asakusa, Tokyo

​Het was een bijzonder weekend voor de Russische Federatie. Het land stond zaterdag zoals ieder jaar stil bij de lang vervlogen tijden waarin het nog eens een oorlog kon winnen.

“Het is bijzonder om te beseffen dat we in de jaren veertig van de vorige eeuw een alom gerespecteerde wereldmacht waren die een sterk leger als dat van Nazi-Duitsland kon verslaan”, verzucht Yelena Dimitrova (34) terwijl ze kijkt naar de piepende legerdriewieler die voorbijsukkelt. Haar driejarige zoontje is opgeroepen voor militaire dienst om het ding te besturen. “Wat zal men zich destijds goed hebben gevoeld over de kracht van onze natie.”

Ook na de Tweede Wereldoorlog bleef het Russische leger een sterke reputatie houden, weten veel toeschouwers. “We hebben grootmachten als Dagestan, Tsjetsjenië en Georgië op de knieën gedwongen”, vertelt Maxim Droebin enthousiast. “En dat niet alleen: we hebben het ooit heel lang volgehouden tegen Afghanistan. Dat waren nog eens tijden.” Juichend zwaait hij naar een kreupele kip die meeloopt.

Een dubbelganger van president Vladimir Poetin benadrukte in een toespraak dat 9 mei een historische datum is in de Russische geschiedenis. “Het is voor altijd de dag waarop we in 1945 de nazi's versloegen én de dag waarop we in 2026 van de Oekraïners deze herdenking mochten houden zonder door hun drones opgeblazen te worden. Laat geen Rus dat ooit vergeten.”

Rusland hoopt volgend jaar op 9 mei te vieren dat er nog altijd geen muiterij is uitgebroken en dat de Oekraïense inlichtingendiensten niet hebben ontdekt in welke bunker Poetin zich die dag precies schuilhoudt. Het Kremlin heeft Noord-Korea gevraagd om schoenen te leveren voor de deelnemers aan de parade. te vieren dat er nog altijd geen muiterij is uitgebroken.

​

&

Sometimes a friend or relative has a birthday, but you’re embarrassed to celebrate in a way that they will find out about. Fortunately, there are some awesome and creative ways to celebrate someone’s birthday discreetly without them ever knowing. Here are five ways it can be done!

1. Whisper The Words “Happy Birthday” To A Chicken And Then Kill The Chicken

One of the most beautiful things about chickens is that they are unable to speak because they evolved wrong. This means that anything you say to a chicken remains a secret forever. If you want to wish a friend a happy birthday without them ever knowing, you should whisper their birthday greetings into the ear of a chicken. Even if the chicken wants to tell the friend, it will be unable to. However, there is always the chance that chickens will evolve the ability to speak at a moment’s notice, so you must also kill the chicken to make sure the birthday wishes remain a secret forever.

2. Decide That A Cake From The Past As Their Birthday Cake

If you give your birthday-having friend a birthday cake, they’re going to know that you’re wishing them a happy birthday, which would be a disaster and the end of your world. That’s why a great way to wish your friend a happy birthday in secret is to look at a photograph of a birthday cake from 100 years ago and say, “That’s the birthday cake for my friend, whose birthday is today.” This way, you can get your friend a cake that is so far away in time and space that they will never be able to eat it or even know about it.

3. Run Over A Piñata While They’re Sleeping

Piñatas are a type of donkey you destroy to make birthdays amazing. When your birthday-having friend falls asleep, drive into the woods and run over a piñata with your car. In this way, you will mark the splendid occasion of your friend’s birthday while they are dreaming someplace far away.

4. Give Them A Gun And Never Tell Them Why

For thousands of years, several people have mentioned that gifts are a part of birthdays. Many times, guns are gifts. For this reason, give your friend a gun on their birthday. However, if your friend asks, “Why did you give me a gun?” you must simply say, “I do not have to explain myself to you.” In this way, you have honored your friend’s birthday without them understanding why they now own a gun.

5. Wait Until They Are Dead And Then Blow One Of Those Party Noise Things

The party noise things are a kind of beautiful musical instrument that does the thing where it unrolls and gets longer when you blow into it. It also makes a loud noise. People blow these things on people’s birthdays to make them smile and clap. However, if you blow one of these near your friend on their birthday, they will know that you are doing it to celebrate their birthday and they will smile and clap like a person having a public birthday. But your friend must never know that you are celebrating their birthday or else your life will become horrible. As a result, the thing to do is wait until your friend is finally dead and then give one of those party noise things one big honk. In this way, your friend’s birthday has been honked about, but they have passed into a realm where they are unable to ever know about. This place is known as the Realm Of The Dead, and we are all going to be there soon enough. Happy birthday to your friend.

Een fokker die scottish fold kittens verkocht, moet op verhoor komen bij de politie. Dat kattenras mag per 1 januari niet meer gefokt worden. Bovendien was de fokker al eens eerder in beeld geweest bij de politie