Tens of thousands of Lula supporters rally on eve of Brazilian election runoff
Nearly 159 million people to head to polls on Sunday in battle between leftwing incumbent and Flávio Bolsonaro Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have streamed on to Rio’s most famous beach for a giant protest they hope will propel him towards a historic election fightback against his far-right rival, Flávio Bolsonaro. Nearly 159m Brazilians will vote in the election’s runoff on Sunday, with the pair tied in the polls after Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October by 47% to 45%. Continue reading...
Barack Obama rallies Michigan crowd for El-Sayed, saying he’s ‘fighting for real change’
Former president speaks to rapturous crowd of thousands in support of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed for US Senate Barack Obama told a Detroit crowd on Saturday that Abdul El-Sayed was “fighting for change, real change, that will get money out of politics and put money in your pocket”, as he threw his weight behind the Democratic Senate candidate and the rest of the ticket on the first day of early voting in Michigan. Obama said in front of thousands of onlookers at Cass technical high school in Detroit that El-Sayed would “finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable healthcare to every single American”. Continue reading...
‘It’s magic’: scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass
Exclusive: Optical engineering that went into 1,600-year-old Lycurgus Cup has baffled experts for centuries The Romans’ proficiency in the art of glass-making has produced some of the wonders of antiquity, but few of their creations better a 1,600-year-old masterpiece which sits in the British Museum. Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – an astonishing feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glass-makers for centuries. Continue reading...
Manchester United v Bournemouth, Liverpool v Brighton and more: clockwatch – live
⚽️ Premier League updates from 2pm GMT ⚽️ Live scoreboard | Send Daniel an email Daniel Otherwise, Carrick goes for ballast in the midfield, with Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba, which makes sense, but in front of him, there’s a palpable lack of magic. Matheus Cunha, hooked at half-time in Como, drops out, with Amad one of the least dreadful when he came on, coming in on the right. His numbers tell us he’s not the standard required, but he offers good out-of-possession work and gives the team balance, such as it is, the only dribbles in a team severely lacking one v one ability. Otherwise, Mason Mount, every manager’s favourite, is relocated to the left, while Bryan Mbeumo continues up front in the absence of Benjamin Sesko – which tells us plenty about what Carrick thinks of Joshua Zirkzee, despite his goal in midweek. Continue reading...
All aboard the TrainTok trend: spotters and staff boost rail content online
Number of videos about British trains doubles in three months as creators find audiences interested in workings of railways They are not just gathered at the end of your local train station platform any more. Now they are on your social media platforms too. Trainspotters have played a part in more than doubling the number of videos about British trains on TikTok in the last three months. According to the platform, the rise in rail content is also down to more people seeking information on cheap tickets, facts about the London Underground and tales from train staff. Continue reading...
Volkswagen to build $4bn Audi SUV factory in US despite job cuts at home
VW investment creates 4,500 jobs in Georgia comes amid Trump’s damaging tariffs, intense Chinese competition and costly shift towards EVs Audi has said it will spend $4bn (£3bn) to build its first factory in the US, as its parent company Volkswagen struggles with the impact of steep tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. The German brand’s chief executive, Gernot Döllner, joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday night to announce the factory in Macon, Georgia, in an unusual move by a big European brand just days before the US midterm elections. Continue reading...
Neighbours is being recut into a microdrama focused on Margot Robbie – and her co-stars aren’t happy
Robbie’s storylines in the famous soap will be recut into vertical micro-episodes to be watched on phones – but her fellow cast members say they haven’t been consulted The long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours is being recut with AI into a microdrama designed to be watched on phones, sparking a debate among the show’s actors and the industry over the wider implications of television archives being mined for new content. RoseBerry Media, which specialises in making “vertical television” for phones, has repurposed original episodes of Neighbours for distribution on its Epis platform, using an AI-assisted production tool called RedSnapper. Continue reading...
Almost two-thirds of Australians bulk-billed for all GP care amid extra incentives for doctors
Exclusive: RACGP survey reflects Medicare investments, but experts caution quality of care and outcomes also matter * Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast The proportion of general practitioners bulk-billing all of their patients has more than doubled in a year, a report has found, after the government introduced financial incentives for doctors and practices. And almost two-thirds (63%) of Australians are now bulk-billed for all their GP care, up from 56% in both 2024 and 2025, which the report says is “likely a reflection of the federal government’s recent investment in Medicare bulk billing incentives”. Continue reading...
The kindness of strangers: After a tearful breakup dinner, another patron paid our bill
When I was in an emotionally vulnerable state, that unexpected gesture took the edge off a very sad evening * Read more in the kindness of strangers series The breakup came out of the blue. My then girlfriend and I had shared an intense and fast-moving relationship for two years, then one day she ended things over the phone. I’d thought we would spend the rest of our lives together and have children. I was wrong. I was quite upset to have been dumped over the phone, and managed to get her to agree to meet me for dinner a couple of weeks later. At a restaurant, we shared a very tearful and intimate conversation about what we meant to each other. She didn’t reconsider her decision, though – that was it. Continue reading...
The trouble with ‘kids these days’: are we giving young workers a fair go? | Gaynor Parkin and Dave Winsborough
George had spent decades building his firm and was looking for someone with ‘common sense’. Over time, he learned the importance of being explicit about his expectations * The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work “I want to be able to retire and leave it in good hands, it’s a great little business for someone.” George* was almost wringing his hands as he spoke, exasperation evident on his face, recalling a recent attempt to hire someone for his window cleaning business. Continue reading...
‘Extremely disappointed’: WA government seeks reimbursement from Deloitte over flawed university report
WA paid Deloitte $166,000 for flawed feasibility study on merging the University of Western Australia, Curtin university and Murdoch university * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Western Australian government has said it is “extremely disappointed” and is seeking an “expedited” cost recovery from Deloitte after errors were discovered in a report on a potential university merger, including AI-hallucinated references and hundreds of millions of dollars in cost discrepancies. The WA government paid Deloitte $166,000 for a feasibility study on merging the University of Western Australia, Curtin university and Murdoch university. Continue reading...
Log in or sign up to comment.