The new world champion is the fourth consecutive first-time winner and the UK game faces a challenge to keep up with investment in Asia

Perhaps of all the noise that emanated from Wu Yize’s historic victory in the World Snooker Championship final on Monday evening, it was 12 simple words from the godfather of Chinese snooker that meant the most.

For the second successive year, China has a world champion in the sport the nation has taken to its heart, with Wu emulating Zhao Xintong’s win 12 months earlier after defeating Shaun Murphy in one of the great finals. But there is a fair argument none of this would be possible without Ding Junhui laying the groundwork over the last 20 years.

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Donald Trump has launched a new operation, which he called ‘Project Freedom’, to try to open the strait of Hormuz. Could it spark a re-escalation of the war with Iran and bring an end to the ceasefire?
Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent Julian Borger

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Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s disapproval ratings hitting a record high and the closure of Spirit Airlines

On Monday night, late-night hosts weighed in on Donald Trump’s erratic statements on Iran, rising oil prices and the shuttering of every budget-conscious traveller’s favorite low-cost airline.

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• Injured forward went to Sardinia as the clásico looms

• Criticism ignores ‘reality of Kylian’s commitment’

Kylian Mbappé has said he remains fully committed to his recovery from a hamstring injury after facing criticism for travelling to Sardinia with the actor Ester Expósito last weekend. Spanish media and Real Madrid supporters have questioned Mbappé dedication to his team before Sunday’s clasico with Barcelona.

Mbappé’s representatives issued a statement on Tuesday denying any wrongdoing. “Part of the criticism is based on an over-interpretation of elements related to a recovery period strictly supervised by the club, without reflecting the reality of Kylian’s commitment and the work he puts in every day for the team,” the statement read.

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Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on slide, "Spain, man with 2 goats and boy"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on back of photograph, "April 1, 1934, Easter Sunday, The baby is drinking milk from her bottle on this picture"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

In this new image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a spiral galaxy glittering with star clusters is the centre of attention. NGC 3137 is located 53 million light-years away in the constellation Antlia (The Air Pump). As a nearby spiral galaxy, this target offers astronomers an excellent opportunity to study the cycle of stellar birth and death, as well as giving researchers a glimpse of a galactic system similar to our own.

NGC 3137 is of particular interest to astronomers because it travels through space with a group of galaxies that is thought to be similar to the Local Group, the galaxy group that contains the Milky Way. Similar to the Local Group, the NGC 3175 group contains two large spiral galaxies: NGC 3137 and NGC 3175, which Hubble has also observed. In the Local Group, the largest members are the Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda, another spiral galaxy. In addition to two large spiral galaxies, both groups also contain a number of smaller dwarf galaxies, although it’s not yet known how many of these tiny companions the NGC 3175 group has; researchers have found more than 500 dwarf galaxy candidates. By studying this nearby galaxy group, astronomers can learn about the dynamics of our own galactic home.

NGC 3137 is revealed in fantastic detail by Hubble. This image is crafted from observations in six different colour bands, creating a view that highlights several facets of this beautiful spiral. The galaxy’s centre, which is encircled by a network of fine, dusty clouds, hosts a black hole estimated to be 60 million times more massive than the Sun. NGC 3137 is highly inclined from our point of view, giving a unique perspective on its loose, feathery spiral structure. A couple of photobombing Milky Way stars and a smattering of far more distant background galaxies complete the image.

As stunning as each of these features may be, it’s the galaxy’s brilliant star clusters that steal the show. The galaxy is peppered with dense clusters of bright blue stars and glowing red gas clouds, which signal the presence of hot, young stars still encased in their birth nebulae.

Unsurprisingly, these star clusters are exactly what has drawn Hubble’s keen eye. Researchers are using Hubble to carry out an observing programme (#17502; PI: D. Thilker) focusing on star clusters in 55 nearby galaxies. These observations give an in-depth view of stellar life in spiral galaxies, from the young stars still in the process of forming to the ancient stellar populations that grew up in the early years of their galactic hosts.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen close up and tilted at an angle, so that its disc fills the view from corner to corner. Its disc is yellow near to the centre and pale blue farther out, showing cooler and hotter stars, respectively. Thin brown clouds of dust, glowing pink spots of star formation, and sparkling blue patches filled with star clusters swirl through the galaxy. Behind it, small orange dots are very distant galaxies.]

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker and the PHANGS-HST Team; CC BY 4.0

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This picture was published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:

Day 080, orbit 1241 — New dawn, new possibilities… 16 times a day! From orbit, just like on Earth, each sunrise and sunset is a quiet reminder of how dynamic and beautiful our planet is. At sunrise, the deep black of night gives way to fiery reds, warm oranges and the thin blue line of our atmosphere.

No two sunrises are ever the same, depending on the clouds, their shapes, and whether we’re flying over ocean or land… I can’t help but think of the way Monet or Van Gogh studied light… how much they would have loved this view!

Follow Sophie’s mission on the εpsilon page and on her social media platforms, such as X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Credits: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on 21 April 2026, this image shows a double bloom in the Netherlands: an array of vibrant colours in the tulip fields as well as the blue-greenish swirls of phytoplankton in the North Sea.

In the image we can see the northwestern tip of the Netherlands, made up by a complex system of islands, peninsulas and water bodies. The area pictured encompasses part of the Dutch provinces of Flevoland to the bottom right, North Holland to the west and Friesland to the north, with the low-lying archipelago of the West Frisian Islands along the coast and gradually curving toward the mainland.

This chain of islands is separated from the mainland by the narrow belt of shallow waters and tidal mud flats of the Wadden Sea, a saltwater inlet of the North Sea. The brown-coloured waters indicate a high sediment content, which contrasts with the darker waters of the outer sea. Two dams are visible as white lines across the internal waters creating two separate freshwater bodies: the larger IJsselmeer lake and the smaller Markermeer.

The patchwork of agricultural fields visible on the islands and mainland show the fields in the various stages of growth or harvest. The main crop types in the area include cereals, potatoes, sugar beet, onions and, of course, tulips.

In the image, the stunning tulip fields in flower appear in various colours ranging from shades of yellow and red to violet. Lasting just a few weeks, the beauty of these colours normally attracts millions of visitors from all over the world. When the tulips reach full bloom, the farmers quickly remove their colourful heads to divert the flowers' energy back to the bulbs to help keep them strong.

In contrast, most of the outer North Sea waters are covered with a different kind of bloom: phytoplankton. These microscopic marine plants near the water’s surface are by far the most abundant type of life found in the ocean. During this period, these northern seas are enriched with minerals from the mixing of surface waters with deeper waters. Phytoplankton depend on these minerals, making blooms like this common in springtime.

Although some types of plankton are individually microscopic, the chlorophyll they use for photosynthesis collectively tints the colour of the surrounding waters, providing a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated sensors, such as Sentinel-2’s multispectral imager. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colours, such as the blues and greens in this image.

Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This picture was published on social media as part of a set by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:

Day 075, orbit 1164 — Living and working aboard a spacecraft – or in any confined environment, really, such as a submarine or an aircraft – means being ready at all times to react quickly if an alarm sounds or something doesn’t seem right.

Two of the main risks we might face aboard the Station are atmospheric contamination and fire. In both situations, one of the very first actions is to locate and put on a PBA – a Personal Breathing Apparatus. Wearing a PBA ensures that even if the air becomes unsafe, we can continue to breathe long enough to assess the situation, move to a safe area, and manage the response.

All this emergency equipment is strategically placed and kept easily accessible at all times in every module of the Station!

Follow Sophie’s mission on the εpsilon page and on her social media platforms, such as X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Credits: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This picture was published on social media as part of a set by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:

Day 075, orbit 1164 — Living and working aboard a spacecraft – or in any confined environment, really, such as a submarine or an aircraft – means being ready at all times to react quickly if an alarm sounds or something doesn’t seem right.

Two of the main risks we might face aboard the Station are atmospheric contamination and fire. In both situations, one of the very first actions is to locate and put on a PBA – a Personal Breathing Apparatus. Wearing a PBA ensures that even if the air becomes unsafe, we can continue to breathe long enough to assess the situation, move to a safe area, and manage the response.

All this emergency equipment is strategically placed and kept easily accessible at all times in every module of the Station!

Follow Sophie’s mission on the εpsilon page and on her social media platforms, such as X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Credits: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot

Spirit Airlines Didn't Crash — It Was Taken Down. Also published in The Lever.

A small consolation I take is that, from books like Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry of the Future, I "know" that to beat climate change, "we" as human beings living on planet earth need to fly less. I don't love that rich people aren't doing anything to reduce their private jet use and are in fact, flying **more** in these small jets that aren't anywhere near as efficient as commercial plane travel, and we're headed toward an era of increased military spending when the US military is the biggest polluter on earth, and it's the budget airlines going out first, AKA rich people can fly, poor people can't. But if every budget airline in the US fails, leaving only a predatory monopoly of "big four" airlines engaging in illegal monopolistic practices to drive out competition and raise prices in the sector... well, at least a small silver lining is that this will indeed reduce the total number of flights.

Kijk aan, onze toch al zo fragiele beschaving verliest weer een stuk fundament. Edet stopt met de kartonnen hulsjes aan de binnenkant van een wc-rol. Alles moet kapot in het kader van efficiëntie en duurzaamheid, dus wordt er een 'slimme' variant zonder karton 'uitgerold'. Een zoveelste icoon is ten prooi gevallen aan woke. De breinen achter deze ontwikkeling laten zich raden. Het WEF, de Bilderbergconferentie, Claudia de Breij en Splinter Chabot, wat maakt het ook eigenlijk uit. Ja, er passen meer vellen in een kartonloze rol, maar tegen welke prijs? De sjeu is eruit. Het ooit zo gezellige afvegen verdwijnt en we kunnen er niets tegen doen, enkel slaafs bukken voor de grillen van Big WC-Rol. Uiteraard is het ook een doodssteek voor de sinterklaassurprise, alsof dat feest nog niet genoeg te verduren heeft gehad. RIP!

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Huh. A24 is coming out with an Anthony Bourdain biopic that focuses on the time period around the chef/writer’s college years, when he first started working in kitchens. Directed by Matt Johnson, who co-created Nirvana the Band the Show and directed BlackBerry. Could be good. (via rex)

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rl_rail has added a photo to the pool:

Hirosaki, Japan

rl_rail has added a photo to the pool:

Hirosaki, Japan