Poem of the week: Us by Zaffar Kunial | Poetry

 Posted on May 4, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  917 words  |  Kary Bruening

Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryPoem of the week: Us by Zaffar KunialAn only apparently informal riff on an only apparently straightforward concept of identity finds some sparky complications Us If you ask me, us takes in undulations – each wave in the sea, all insides compressed – as if, from one coast, you could reach out to the next; and maybe it’s a Midlands thing but when I was young, us equally meant me, [Read More]

UAE footballer Theyab Awana dies following car accident | United Arab Emirates

 Posted on May 4, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  258 words  |  Kary Bruening

United Arab Emirates This article is more than 12 years oldUAE footballer Theyab Awana dies following car accidentThis article is more than 12 years old Awana became internet sensation for back-heeled penalty 21-year-old killed travelling back from trainingThe United Arab Emirates winger Theyab Awana, who became an internet sensation when he scored a back-heeled penalty in the summer, has died following a car accident. The country's football federation confirmed that the 21-year-old, who also played for the UAE club Bani Yas, was killed while travelling back from training in Al Ain to Abu Dhabi. [Read More]

Wave of Russian strikes on Kharkiv after Ukrainian attack on Belgorod | Russia

 Posted on May 4, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  850 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

The ObserverRussiaWave of Russian strikes on Kharkiv after Ukrainian attack on BelgorodAn 18-hour Russian aerial barrage across Ukraine that killed 41 civilians has been followed up by further bombardment of Kharkiv on New Year’s Eve Russia pounded the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year’s Eve, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly air assault just across the border on nearby Belgorod. [Read More]

'I am so happy with my life': Nunes becomes first openly gay UFC champion | UFC

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  314 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Amanda Nunes captured the UFC women’s bantamweight title on Saturday night. Photograph: Harry How/Zuffa LLC/Getty ImagesAmanda Nunes captured the UFC women’s bantamweight title on Saturday night. Photograph: Harry How/Zuffa LLC/Getty ImagesSportblogUFC'I am so happy with my life': Nunes becomes first openly gay UFC championAmanda Nunes, whose first-round submission of Miesha Tate was the highlight of UFC 200, makes history as the organization’s first openly gay champion With her victory over Miesha Tate at UFC 200 on Saturday Amanda Nunes became the first openly gay UFC fighter to win a title. [Read More]

Dutch city becomes worlds first to ban meat adverts in public | Netherlands

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  593 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Netherlands This article is more than 1 year oldDutch city becomes world’s first to ban meat adverts in publicThis article is more than 1 year oldHaarlem’s move is part of efforts to cut consumption after meat was found to contribute to climate crisis A Dutch city will become the first in the world to ban meat adverts from public spaces in an effort to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. [Read More]

I love my midriff: why flaunting your tummy with a croptop is so 2023

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1358 words  |  Valentine Belue

The ObserverFashion This article is more than 4 months oldThis article is more than 4 months oldFrom the red carpet to the high street – as modelled by Gwyneth Paltrow and Marilyn Monroe – styles that reveal the bare stomach are everywhere This summer might have been a washout, but that’s not immediately obvious when walking down a typical UK high street. Along with sandals, sunglasses and shorts, any fashion-conscious observer might notice something else: the ubiquitous midriff. [Read More]

Its like hiding an elephant: 171m feat of engineering creates museum under Dutch palace

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  932 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Netherlands This article is more than 9 months old‘It’s like hiding an elephant’: €171m feat of engineering creates museum under Dutch palaceThis article is more than 9 months oldPaleis Het Loo was built as lodge for man who became William III, king of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1689 At first glance, William of Orange’s palace seems just as it was in the 17th century – a handsome Dutch baroque building set along three sides of a courtyard seemingly pockmarked with rain puddles. [Read More]

London's Le Caprice restaurant to close its doors in the West End | Business

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  412 words  |  Valentine Belue

Business This article is more than 3 years oldLondon's Le Caprice restaurant to close its doors in the West EndThis article is more than 3 years oldA-list celebrity eatery, closed since the Covid-19 pandemic, will reopen at new location Le Caprice, a fixture on the London dining scene for almost 40 years and beloved haunt of many an A-list celebrity, is shutting the doors of its West End location with plans to reopen elsewhere. [Read More]

Madeline Miller on The Song of Achilles: It helped people come out to their parents

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  706 words  |  Kary Bruening

How I wroteThe American novelist describes how she overcame her fears of a classical backlash to write a gay love story about Achilles and Patroclus Many seeds grew to make this book. My mother reading myths to me as a child. The teacher who taught me Greek. An independent LGBTQ+ bookstore near my house in Philadelphia called Giovanni’s Room, filled with luminous, potent stories. But if I have to name a single beginning, it was the early months of 2000. [Read More]

My father believed the sanctity of my soul was at stake: Safiya Sinclair on leaving her Rastaf

 Posted on May 3, 2024  |  23 minutes  |  4755 words  |  Kary Bruening

Safiya SinclairThe poet began life in a hidden village by the sea. But then her father became stricter and more suspicious of the corrupting influence of ‘Babylon’ … We lived by the seaside until I was five years old, in our tiny fishing village called White House, which belonged to the fishermen of my mother’s family, her father and grandfather. Hidden just beyond the margins of the postcard idea of Jamaica was our little community, a modest hamlet shrouded behind a wall of wind-gnarled trees and haphazard cinder blocks, a half mile of hot sand browned from our daily living and sifting between bare toes, glittering 300 yards in every direction to the sea. [Read More]