The Guardian

For most people, the word “cowboy” still summons a figure from Western folklore – a rough rider with a weathered face and a steely gaze, a self-reliant loner who answers to nobody, is fearless in the face of danger, and protects his lands from predators – animal and human alike.But …

At least five people have died in eastern Japan after “unprecedented” heavy rain that left nearly 7,000 stranded at Tokyo’s Narita airport and forced thousands to take refuge in government buildings.The torrential rains hit Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday night, triggering landslide warnings and power outages. Evacuation orders …

Entertainment culture is so preoccupied with nowness that last month we were inundated with speculation about how directors under 30 topping the box office would change the industry. The flipside of a youth obsession is the conviction that age will increase irrelevance, and this is something that a new crop …

On my TikTok I find trash that’s blowing in the wind, and mimic its movements using what I have to hand

Gold prices have risen and informal mining has spread widely across the African continent where Cameroon has one of the richest subsoils. But within the space of two years, at least 115 children and adults drowned or were buried alive by landfalls in the mostly abandoned pits in the eastern …

Five Palestine Action activists face being sentenced as terrorists for breaking windows and throwing red paint at a branch of Barclays Bank in Lancashire.Brendon O’Hagan, 28; Amanda Kelly, 31; Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31; Mohammed Malik, 28; and Alma Yaniv, 70, were found guilty of causing £212,000 of damage during a direct …

Bath children’s literature festival is facing criticism after its founder emailed authors asking them to delete social media posts about the festival’s lack of diversity in its 2026 programme.Authors said that their comments criticising the festival for its lack of representation under a post on its Instagram page were deleted, …

The prosecution of a leading human rights barrister for contempt of court over his closing speech during a trial of Palestine Action activists has left lawyers fearful of doing their job, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has said.Rajiv Menon KC, who was acting for the defence, is …

After her son disappeared, Isabel Miranda de Wallace swore she would bring the culprits to justice. She became a national hero. But did she go too far?

Parisian waiters are professionals, providing an excellent service – they are not rude or unfriendly, just sometimes slightly misunderstood. No, really, hear me out.

More than 200 illegal holiday properties found in buildings at the highest level of seismic risk.

Andy Burnham has hailed a power shift from the state to the people as MPs finally passed the stalled Hillsborough law, a rare moment of Labour unity with the bill set to be a key legacy of Keir Starmer’s government.In his first intervention in the Commons since returning as an …

The Carpet Shop nightclub in Peckham, south London, is ordinarily packed with rowdy crowds at the weekend. But Saturday night’s liveliness was not congregated around the DJ on the dancefloor, the crowd was at the sold-out venue for England’s victorious quarter-final game at the 2026 World Cup, and the young …

After the US launched strikes on Iran this week, Donald Trump said the fragile ceasefire he had co-signed just last month was over. He also reignited his threats to take Greenland, before leaving the Nato summit in Ankara, saying there was a lot of ‘love’ and ‘unity’ in the room.So …

In the last few years, 11 people allegedly tied to top secret US research have died or mysteriously disappeared, sparking a conspiracy that a clandestine operation is silencing those who know too much.As Phil Tinline explains to Nosheen Iqbal, what began as a series of unrelated tragedies has morphed into …

A blind woman felt compelled to leave a Wetherspoon pub after staff demanded proof that her guide dog, Rosie, was a genuine guide dog.Joanne Hewitson, 31, said she was “livid” and “shaking” after her experience going for breakfast at a pub in Hartlepool. The pub chain has apologised for the …

The US superstar golden couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are finally tying the knot in a rumoured major event in New York’s Madison Square Garden. The couple – who got engaged 10 months ago, announced via an Instagram post that received 14m likes in its first hour online – …

On the pavement outside a London pub, 32-year-old Lydia Wood is sitting in the sunshine at her easel, peering up at the building and sketching with a pencil. Passersby pause to catch glimpses of her work, but what they might not know is that for the artist, this isn’t just …

The shaking seemed to come from nowhere. In a moment captured by fishers off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, two earthquakes struck seconds apart. Plumes of dust appear where buildings once stood in the recording as the camera rises and falls with the swell. The men rapidly head for the shore in …

This week, Disney will release a live-action remake of its animated hit Moana. But 100 years ago, cinemagoers got an earlier glimpse of Polynesian life in a largely forgotten film of the same name.

Nearly a quarter of UK pubs, bars and restaurants are losing money, according to new survey data that came as a group of celebrity chefs and business owners stepped up their campaign for a sector-specific VAT cut.Spearheaded by chef Tom Kerridge, leading figures in the hospitality sector are calling for …

Nearly a quarter of hospitality businesses are losing money, new data has shown, reigniting calls among chefs, pub owners and restaurateurs for their sector to be handed a reduced rate of VAT.It may seem like a no-brainer because the measure would ease pressure on the ailing sector and put the …

More than 58,000 buildings may have been damaged and destroyed by the twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela last week, according to a preliminary analysis of satellite data that suggests the scale of the destruction could dwarf official estimates.Last Wednesday’s back-to-back quakes – which measured magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 – killed …

Driving down an endless string of identical roundabouts in the dead heat with hardly a human in sight, you see robots roving around on grassy pavements, whizzing past obstacles to hurriedly reach their final destination. This isn’t a scene from a Philip K Dick novel, however, but an average Thursday …

Many thousands of children live with at least one parent working abroad in what is one of the EU’s poorest countries.

A strong aftershock has rattled northern Venezuela, sending terrified residents racing on to the streets five days after the twin earthquakes that killed 1,719 people, left tens of thousands missing and triggered a growing humanitarian emergency.The aftershock early on Monday – which the US Geological Survey measured at a magnitude …

The bodies turn up on motorcycles, in the backs of cars or the load beds of pickup trucks: victims of a natural disaster that has shaken an already fragile nation to its core.“[Yesterday], the entire street was packed with people arriving with deceased relatives,” said Camila Rodríguez, a psychology student …

Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study.