George Russell topped the timesheets for Mercedes in the only practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
George Russell has topped the timesheets during the first and only practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the Mercedes driver setting the pace from team mate Kimi Antonelli and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Live coverage of Friday's first practice session for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
(Signum)
From operatic frenzy in one moment to pianissimo whisper the next, Nolan does exhilarating justice to an extraordinary but little known repertoire
Charles-Valentin Alkan was undoubtedly one of the great composers of his day. Chopin, his friend and one-time nextdoor neighbour, was an enthusiastic admirer, while Liszt cited Alkan as the only person in whose presence he felt nervous performing. Many of his keyboard works are notoriously difficult to play, yet all are immaculately crafted. Nevertheless, his music has stubbornly refused to enter the mainstream.
Joseph Nolan, who has recorded Alkan’s complete organ works, is convinced of his genius, comparing the music to “Widor on steroids”. Listening to this first volume, performed on the breathtaking organ of Église Saint Martin in Dudelange, Luxembourg, that seems an apt description. Not only does Nolan’s playing exhibit a death-defying virtuosity, Signum’s richly spacious recording is guaranteed to put the swankiest of speaker systems through its paces.
Continue reading...The war on Iran has put fossil-fuel prices centre stage, but don’t believe those who tout ‘maximising the North Sea’ as our salvation
These are burning, smoking lies. As oil and gas prices soar, thanks to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, the UK’s opponents of climate policy become even shriller. Rightwing politicians, Tufton Street junktanks and the billionaire press tell us our energy security will be enhanced and our bills will fall if we abandon net zero policies, ditch renewables and reinvest in North Sea gas. These claims are not just a little bit wrong. They are the exact opposite of the truth.
Two things have indeed happened in recent years. The price of electricity has soared, contributing greatly to the cost of living, and the proportion of the electricity we receive from renewables has simultaneously boomed: from 3% in 2000 to 47% today. So, they claim, one has caused the other: more renewables means higher prices.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Is the secret to a decent night’s kip a good sleep kit? Silky pyjamas, cosy socks and a dressing gown you won’t mind being seen in when putting the bins out will certainly help
Continue reading...As energy prices tripled in the 1970s due to Middle Eastern wars, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands sped up green transition
When Middle Eastern wars sparked an oil crisis in the 1970s, tripling energy prices and throwing economies into chaos, some countries looked beyond short-term solutions. The French made nuclear the pillar of their power system. Scandinavians insulated buildings and funnelled waste heat into homes. The Dutch built bike lanes where others wanted motorways. The Danes developed wind turbines.
Such steps cleaned filthy air and cut imports from autocrats but took a back seat when Russia invaded Ukraine half a century later. Europe raced to buy gas from the US and Middle East. Policies to roll out renewables by cutting red tape helped reduce dependence, but calls to use less energy and reduce waste were muted. Industry lobbying and populist backlash have since sabotaged efforts to phase out petrol cars and fossil boilers.
Continue reading...Health service’s 2025 staff survey found that one in seven had experienced violence from patients or the public
Hundreds of thousands of NHS staff have been attacked, harassed, bullied, or subject to racism, latest NHS figures show.
The health service’s 2025 staff survey found that one in seven had experienced violence from patients or the public, while more than a quarter reported harassment, bullying and abuse, the highest levels in three years.
Continue reading...Robert Habeck says world has moved on from weaponising energy to using tariffs, technology and more to inflict harm
The weaponisation of energy when Russia invaded Ukraine has given way to “weaponising everything” since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Germany’s former economy minister has said.
Robert Habeck, the Green politician responsible for keeping the lights on during the last energy crisis, said the belief gas “would never be a political weapon” led successive German governments blindly into Putin’s trap by building the Nord Stream pipelines and selling strategic reserves to Gazprom, which Russia emptied before the invasion.
Continue reading...Langstone, Hampshire: A glistening raft of jelly is a promising sign of a frog resurgence after newts dominated for a decade
I register the arrival of spring through small, dependable signs in my garden: queen buff-tailed bumblebees wobbling through purple crocuses in search of nectar; the pungent scent of wild garlic; bluetits prospecting the nest box below my bedroom window; and the wren’s cascading song heralding the start of the breeding season.
Frogspawn used to be one of these markers, but not for many years. Then, 10 days ago, glancing more from habit than expectation, I saw it – a glistening raft moored against the water forget-me-nots. After such a long absence, it felt quietly momentous.
Continue reading...Since coming back into office, Donald Trump has sent troops to Venezuela, Iran and US cities. He has threatened to deploy them to Greenland in order to get what he wants. But what do the people who serve think of their commander-in-chief? If they wanted to, could they disobey his orders?
This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Janessa Goldbeck, a former Marine and the chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation
Archive: PBS Newshour, Fox 11 Los Angeles, DRM News, DW, AP, ABC News, ABC 7, Good Morning America, CBS News, Bloomberg, New York Post
Continue reading...A pilot scheme offering some artists €300-plus a month for three years is being made permanent. But should something so fundamental be run like a lottery?
I won the lottery. Out of around 8,000 artists, my name was randomly chosen to be one of the 2,000 who the Irish government would pay a basic income. This pilot scheme was a test of whether a policy of supporting artists would pay off in terms of creative work, wellbeing and, calculated down to the cent, the money that society would make back.
For three years, we were paid €325 a week with no strings attached, other than filling out a survey. We could continue earning and applying for artist grants. I am a freelance writer who, like most artists, has always had to work outside my creative focus to afford to live, constantly worrying I will never be able to afford a home myself or to start a family. As such, the basic income was life-changing.
Caelainn Hogan is the author of Republic of Shame
When I was growing up, she rarely dispensed advice. Instead, I watched her closely, holding on to her quiet wisdom
I often picture my mother that wild, hot summer we moved to the house of my childhood. She is 5ft 3in in the long grass, wearing a vest and a pair of small cut-off shorts. She is digging borders and battling the sticky bobs. She is telling me about the patch of tiger lilies and the cooking-apple tree; about the light speckling through the unkempt branches. “Glory be to God for dappled things,” she says.
My mother has always been a rare combination of poetry and practicality – I know few others given to quoting Gerard Manley Hopkins while simultaneously hacking down nettles, or tiling walls while listening to John Betjeman records. She has a remarkable gift for transforming the ordinary: a bedroom skirting board would be decorated with a mouse and a mouse hole; a packed lunch’s sandwiches cut at unexpected angles; the most mundane shopping trip often accommodated a detour to the art shop to admire the bottles of Winsor & Newton inks.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlands
Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.
The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.
Continue reading...While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humans
As soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest waterway.
Thousands of lifeless fish rose to the surface as a plume of acid floated downriver, leaving dead crocodiles and other wildlife in its wake.
Continue reading...
Bij een woning aan de Buffelstraat in Rotterdam-Kralingen is voor de vierde keer sinds begin 2024 een explosie geweest. Dit gebeurde in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag rond 01.15 uur. Deze keer is de brievenbus uit de woning geblazen.
In de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag heeft er korte tijd een brand gewoed bij de ingang van een synagoge aan het A.B.N. Davidsplein in Rotterdam-Blijdorp. Dat gebeurde om 03.45 uur. De brand is volgens de politie aangestoken.
The U.S. said it will temporarily allow the sale of oil from Russia that is at sea as nations scramble to boost supply and bring down prices.
SHANGHAI (ANP) - Max Verstappen heeft in de enige vrije training van de Grote Prijs van China de achtste tijd gereden. De Nederlandse viervoudig wereldkampioen van Red Bull kwam op het Shanghai International Circuit tot 1:34,541. Daarmee was hij 1,8 seconde langzamer dan George Russell, die met 1:32,741 het snelste was.
Later op vrijdag (08.30 uur) volgt nog de kwalificatie voor de sprintrace van zaterdag. Na de sprintrace rijden de coureurs zaterdag de kwalificatie voor de race van zondag.
Verstappen eindigde afgelopen zondag in de Grote Prijs van Australië als zesde na een inhaalrace. De Red Bull-coureur was een dag eerder gecrasht in de kwalificatie en moest in de achterhoede starten. De zege in Melbourne ging naar George Russell in de Mercedes.
De Nederlander mopperde na de race in Australië over de nieuwe auto's dit seizoen. De Formule 1 is overgestapt op een nieuwe motor die voor de helft elektrisch en voor de andere helft met een verbrandingsmotor wordt aangedreven. Daardoor moeten coureurs soms gas terugnemen om de accu op te laden.
PARIJS (ANP/AFP) - Een Franse militair is gedood "tijdens een aanval" in de regio Erbil in Iraaks-Koerdistan, zo maakte president Emmanuel Macron in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag bekend op X.
"Adjudant Arnaud Frion van het 7e Bataljon Alpenjagers in Varces is voor Frankrijk gesneuveld tijdens een aanval in de regio Erbil in Irak," schreef hij, eraan toevoegend dat "de oorlog in Iran dergelijke aanvallen niet kan rechtvaardigen".
De militair kwam om bij een incident dat enkele uren eerder al gemeld was door het Franse leger, dat aangaf dat zes van zijn militairen gewond waren geraakt bij een droneaanval in het noorden van Irak. Volgens de gouverneur van de regio Erbil zou het gaan om een incident bij de Frans-Koerdische basis nabij Makhmur. De Fransen zouden daar zijn geweest voor een antiterrorismetraining.