Ex-soldier found guilty of murdering Britain's Got Talent singer | Crime

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  644 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Crime This article is more than 4 years oldEx-soldier found guilty of murdering Britain's Got Talent singerThis article is more than 4 years oldDesmond Sylva, 41, stabbed Simonne Kerr more than 70 times at his flat in London An Iraq war veteran has been found guilty of murdering a Britain’s Got Talent finalist by stabbing her more than 70 times. Desmond Sylva, 41, attacked Simonne Kerr, 31, in a violent rage at his flat in Clapham, south London, on 15 August last year. [Read More]

How far would you go to save your cat? For me, it started with a contraband drug

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  11 minutes  |  2179 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

CatsFIP is typically a fatal illness for felines. There is a treatment – but it’s nearly impossible to obtain in the US I don’t need an alarm. Instead, I wake to the sound of a tiny body smashing into various pieces of furniture. Snoots is a hunter, a howler and the craziest cat I’ve ever known. He’s a dog chaser, a wall scaler, and not a moment goes by when he doesn’t have something to say. [Read More]

I want it to feel quite feral: Rebecca Frecknall on staging Romeo and Juliet | Rebecca Freckna

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1752 words  |  Kary Bruening

Rebecca FrecknallInterview‘I want it to feel quite feral’: Rebecca Frecknall on staging Romeo and JulietKate WyverFrom Cabaret to Streetcar, the West End’s hottest director has a reputation for finding leads who put bums on seats. ‘I just go on my gut,’ she says How do you tell a story to an audience who already intimately know the ending? As a teenager, Rebecca Frecknall remembers watching Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet with her sister. [Read More]

New Years Day mobile phone call made history and started a new era | Vodafone

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  416 words  |  Kary Bruening

Vodafone This article is more than 9 years oldNew Year’s Day mobile phone call made history and started a new eraThis article is more than 9 years oldSon of Vodafone chief phoned home 30 years ago in the early hours of 1 January on briefcase prototype weighing 5kg Thirty years ago, the son of Vodafone’s chairman Sir Ernest Harrison secretly ducked out of the family’s New Year’s Eve party. A few hours later, just after midnight and standing in the shadow of Big Ben in Parliament Square, he called home to wish his father Happy New Year – and that was the UK’s first ever mobile phone call. [Read More]

The 10 best love paintings

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1184 words  |  Valentine Belue

The 10 best ...PaintingIn honour of Valentine’s Day, cast your adoring eyes over the sweetest representations of romance – and its dark sides – on canvas 1 | Rembrandt The Jewish Bride (c1666)Love is patient, love is kind: this is the visual embodiment of those great verses from Corinthians so often read at weddings. Rembrandt’s masterpiece is loving in its every brushstroke. About his young couple we know very little – who they were, whether she was a bride, whether they were actually Jewish – but this image goes beyond portraiture in any case. [Read More]

The week in classical: Tao of Glass review - an extraordinary exploration of creativity

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  897 words  |  Aldo Pusey

The ObserverClassical musicReviewRoyal Exchange, Manchester Philip Glass makes a surprise appearance at Phelim McDermott’s astonishing tribute show Without fanfare, the composer Philip Glass stepped out on stage last week, just as a deeply personal homage to him from the writer, director and actor Phelim McDermott was drawing to a close. It was an electric moment. For two hours we had heard of Glass’s influence on McDermott’s life and work and listened to a dozen of his newly minted pieces, and suddenly here he was, moving silently towards the piano. [Read More]

UN chief decries unacceptable scale of Gaza deaths as 25,000 reported killed | Israel-Gaza war

 Posted on April 5, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1195 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Israel-Gaza warUN chief decries ‘unacceptable’ scale of Gaza deaths as 25,000 reported killedTerritory’s health ministry says most casualties are women and children, and that thousands more may lie under rubble Middle East crisis – live updates Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed 25,000 Palestinians, the health ministry in the territory has announced, as the UN chief described the scale of civilian killings as “heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable”. [Read More]

After a year of great loss, walking in cemeteries can be strangely uplifting | Emma Beddington

 Posted on April 4, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  771 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

OpinionDeath and dying This article is more than 2 years oldAfter a year of great loss, walking in cemeteries can be strangely upliftingThis article is more than 2 years oldEmma BeddingtonFrom the birds in the trees to the fresh flowers laid on headstones, graveyards sustain life in surprising and touching ways Walking fatigue is everywhere. It is the idea of it, rather than the actual one-foot-in-front-of-another business. Much as I have enjoyed watching my usual route behind the dump and along the cycle path evolve from frozen to liquid mud, spotting the first nitrous oxide cartridges of the year blooming in the undergrowth, I am officially mad with boredom. [Read More]

Green line: take a window seat on Irelands most beautiful train trips

 Posted on April 4, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1543 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Ireland holidaysThere’s no need for a car – cheaper rail fares in Ireland have made these six stunning rail trips even more appealing and sustainable Driven by increasingly expensive car hire and an appetite for sustainable tourism, visitors to Ireland are discovering the lure of public transport. Fares on Irish public transport were cut by 20% in April until the end of this year and halved permanently for those aged 19 to 23, the first such reductions in Ireland since 1947. [Read More]

Hundreds of young people trafficked into door-to-door sales in the US | Global development

 Posted on April 4, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1167 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

Modern-day slavery in focusGlobal development This article is more than 8 years oldHundreds of young people trafficked into door-to-door sales in the USThis article is more than 8 years oldVulnerable young people targeted to join sales teams before being driven far from home and subjected to abuse and exploitation, says anti-trafficking charity Hundreds of young people are being abused and exploited within the travelling sales industry in the US. In a report published on Thursday, entitled Knocking at Your Door, the anti-trafficking charity Polaris describes how unemployed young people are targeted by recruiters who promise them an enjoyable job involving travel and high profits. [Read More]