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Terror Bird
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Don’t avoid romantic destinations: 15 solo travel tips from Lonely Planet’s women writers
Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:01:01 GMT
From mealtime chats with strangers to lifelong friendships forged in hostels, the travel guide’s team say travelling alone can be very far from lonely
Learning to get comfortable being by yourself can be challenging. Here, the Lonely Planet team share their advice for women traveling solo. Covering everything from making friends to personal safety to crying in public, most of these tips work well for anyone who finds themselves adventuring unescorted.
Continue reading...Data suggest viewers seek to ‘travel via their taste buds’ in Monday ritual that has gone viral on social media
Beyond yodelling along to the opening credits or decoding hidden clues about the show’s plot, some fans of the critically acclaimed comedy drama The White Lotus have taken their obsession a step further this season.
Since the drama – this season set in Thailand – premiered on 17 February in the UK, Thai takeaway orders through Just Eat have increased by 11%, as viewers look to “[travel] via their taste buds”.
Continue reading...Trump’s moves have pushed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians into a state of insecurity after they were welcomed to a safe haven
Not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Danyil packed everything he could in a bag and traveled 15 hours by bus from the Zakarpattia region in western Ukraine to the Czech Republic.
He fled the war at 17, just as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, forbade men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Now aged 20, he watches from the US as the war drags on. In December, Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and another 370,000 have been wounded in the war.
Continue reading...From US travel fears to wondering if Ringo deserves a biopic, it’s been an out-of-kilter week of existential musings and political absurdities
Grief is an unnerving companion. Continually nudging me off centre. Even though the world appears much as it did before my mum, Rosemary, died, everything feels slightly out of kilter. Not quite right. Not as I remembered it. Sometimes, I even have to double-check the chair is where I thought it was. The physical merges into the metaphysical. Most of the time I feel OK. Tell myself that it was the right time for her time to die and that no one can feel cheated at 101. That it is a blessing she is no longer subject to the terrors of her dementia. That she is at peace. I just get on with my work and spend time with family and friends.
Continue reading...Greek holiday spots Paros and Mykonos receive a month’s rainfall within hours, causing flash floods and damage
A series of powerful thunderstorms erupted in the Aegean Sea on Monday and Tuesday, bringing torrential rain and bursts of hail to several popular holiday and tourist destinations.
The most severe storms on Monday were concentrated across the Cyclades islands in the south, where the islands of Paros and Mykonos were reported to have received at least a month’s rainfall, much of which fell within three hours. The resultant flash flooding swept vehicles and debris through streets and washed boats away from the shore, and 13 people were rescued by firefighters after becoming trapped by flood water. Authorities issued a travel ban restricting road use to emergency vehicles only, and ferry services were also disrupted.
Continue reading...Legislation was repealed in 2018 but Caribbean country’s supreme court last week recriminalised the act after appeal
The privy council in London will soon be called upon to make the final decision on a court case to remove homophobic laws in Trinidad and Tobago.
The laws were repealed in 2018 in a high court judgment that struck from the statute book the “buggery law” that had criminalised consensual anal sex since an act passed in 1925 under British rule. However, last week Trinidad’s supreme court upheld a government appeal against the ruling and recriminalised the act, dealing a hammer blow to LGBTQ+ rights in the Caribbean country and prompting the UK Foreign Office to update its advice for LGBTQ+ travellers.
Continue reading...The University of Pennsylvania has been a target of Canary Mission, a pro-Israel “blacklist” group. Turns out the call was coming from inside the house.
The post Pro-Israel Group That Attacked UPenn Was Funded by Family of UPenn Trustee appeared first on The Intercept.
Florida prosecutors say Michelle Taylor used gasoline to set a fire that killed her son. Top forensic chemists say they’re wrong.
The post The Arson Evidence Doesn’t Hold Up. Florida Is About to Convict Her for Murder Anyway. appeared first on The Intercept.
We asked the experts about keeping luggage as light as possible (and still being ready for anything)
• The best travel-size toiletries for your next trip
Packing is a fine art. No one wants to lug heavy bags around transport hubs or arrive at the other end to a chaotically stuffed bag full of creased clothes. But we all have our “essentials” to cram in. For some, that’ll be a full skincare routine or a semblance of a wardrobe; for others, it’ll be sports equipment (though you really should leave the weights at home). So whether you’re flying on an airline offering ever-dwindling luggage limits, trying to cram a car for the whole crew, or rushing between trains with a backpack, it really does pay to travel light.
But what are the secrets to lightening the load without compromising? To find out, we’ve asked world travellers for all their best hacks and buys. Whether it’s the travel writer who’s been solo backpacking for more than 20 years or the hotel designer who has to dress smartly while zipping to locations across Europe, our globe-trotters shared their tips for everything from the ultimate wear-everywhere shoes to the best tech cheats.
Continue reading...Searches of phones and other electronics are on the rise for those entering the U.S. Take these steps to help secure your devices.
The post Crossing the U.S. Border? Here’s How to Protect Yourself appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump wants Gaza for real estate deals, but Mike Huckabee’s all-inclusive Israel tours erase Palestinians for a higher purpose.
The post Trump’s Pick for Israel Ambassador Leads Tours That Leave Out Palestinians — and Promote End of Days Theology appeared first on The Intercept.
How reporters with the Gaza Project investigate the killing and targeting of Palestinian journalists.
The post Journalists Under Fire in Gaza, Israel’s Deadly War on Reporters appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...In what may be an American first, President Donald Trump pardoned a company sentenced to $100 million in fines for breaking money laundering laws.
The post Trump Just Pardoned … a Corporation? appeared first on The Intercept.
White House has said US courts can’t order return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose wife has been protesting outside court
A federal judge on Friday afternoon ordered the US to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison after a Trump administration attorney was at a loss to explain what happened.
The wife of the man, who was flown to a notorious Salvadoran prison had earlier joined dozens of supporters at a rally before a court hearing on Friday, where his lawyers had asked the judge – Paula Xinis – to order the Trump administration to return him to the US.
Continue reading...Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasts he’s nixing contracts and grants amid DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign. But those trims won’t hit SpaceX.
The post DOGE’s Pentagon Budget Cuts Don’t Touch Elon Musk’s SpaceX appeared first on The Intercept.
Florida prosecutors say Michelle Taylor used gasoline to set a fire that killed her son. Top forensic chemists say they’re wrong.
The post The Arson Evidence Doesn’t Hold Up. Florida Is About to Convict Her for Murder Anyway. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration’s detention of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk rests on an opinion article she wrote in 2024, her lawyers said in a filing.
The post In Trump’s America, You Can Be Disappeared for Writing an Op-Ed appeared first on The Intercept.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who started the now-infamous group chat coordinating a US attack against the Yemen-based Houthis on March 15, is seemingly now suggesting that the secure messaging service Signal has security vulnerabilities.
"I didn’t see this loser in the group," Waltz told Fox News about Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Waltz invited to the chat. "Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out."
Waltz’s implication that Goldberg may have hacked his way in was followed by a ...
His failure in Wisconsin could provide a model for the defeatist Democrats. Instead of fearing him, they should make him a symbol
It’s important to relish the little pleasures in life, like the knowledge that somewhere, Elon Musk is sad. On Tuesday, the world’s richest person faced an unmistakable rebuke from the public when voters in Wisconsin rejected his preferred candidate for a vacant state supreme court seat there: Brad Schimel, the former state attorney general, on whose campaign Musk had spent more than $25m – lost in a landslide to the liberal Susan Crawford. He must have been devastated, a thought which liberal Americans greeted with relish. The Democratic party’s official account on Musk’s X posted a photo of Musk with the caption “loser”. All that money wasted. Maybe he cried.
In addition to his lavish expenditures, Musk had made himself the center of the race in a deliberate and ill-advised fashion. He appeared at a rally in Green Bay wearing a cheese hat – a deliberately silly article donned by fans of sports teams in the dairy-producing state. He paid for in-person canvassers at a rate of $25 an hour, three times the minimum wage. And in an illegal gesture that the Wisconsin supreme court declined to stop, he handed out giant, novelty $1m checks to voters who signed a petition against “activist” judges – a thinly veiled cash-for-votes scheme, something he also did in Pennsylvania ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist
Continue reading...Joanne Sharkey admitted manslaughter after secret birth while she had postnatal depression after first child
A woman who killed her newborn baby 27 years ago while she had severe postnatal depression has been handed a suspended prison sentence, as a judge said the case “calls for compassion”.
Joanne Sharkey, 55, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility over the death of her days-old son, whose body was found wrapped in bin bags in woodland in 1998.
Continue reading...Where Ahmed grew up, spitting was a playground sport for boys. Xenia finds it disgusting. You decide who should keep their mouth shut
Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror
He says his throat is dry but to me spitting is a sign of disrespect. I’ve seen people look shocked by it
Continue reading...She lost her job at Emerson College after screening a film critical of Israel. Her lawsuit seeks to leverage an unusual Massachusetts free speech law.
The post This College Staffer Lost Her Job After Showing a Film Critical of Israel. Now She’s Suing Over Free Speech. appeared first on The Intercept.
John Kelsey and I wrote a short paper for the Rossfest Festschrift: “Rational Astrologies and Security“:
There is another non-security way that designers can spend their security budget: on making their own lives easier. Many of these fall into the category of what has been called rational astrology. First identified by Randy Steve Waldman [Wal12], the term refers to something people treat as though it works, generally for social or institutional reasons, even when there’s little evidence that it works—and sometimes despite substantial evidence that it does not...
The law behind the warrants bars concealment of people in the country illegally, yet the students were legal residents living on campus.
The post ICE Got Warrants Under “False Pretenses,” Claims Columbia Student Targeted Over Gaza Protests appeared first on The Intercept.
US indexes suffer amid escalating global trade war as Beijing hits back with new tariffs on US goods
New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, has filed what it says is the first lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the US president overstepped his authority. Reuters reports:
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose the sweeping tariffs unveiled on Wednesday as well as duties authorized on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
“By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to control tariffs, and upset the Constitution’s separation of powers,” NCLA senior litigation counsel Andrew Morris said in a statement.
Continue reading...Lawmakers say dismissing head of US Cyber Command puts country at risk at a time of ‘unprecedented cyber threats’
Top congressional Democrats are protesting against the firing of Gen Tim Haugh as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), with one lawmaker saying the decision “makes all of us less safe”.
Haugh and his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, have been dismissed from their roles, the Washington Post reported late on Thursday, with CNN reporting likewise, both outlets citing multiple unnamed officials and other senior sources close to the matter who had requested anonymity.
Continue reading...Using the platform was dangerous and wrong – but officials appeared to prioritize shielding themselves from litigation
No senior US government official in the now-infamous “Houthi PC Small Group” Signal chat seemed new to that kind of group, nor surprised by the sensitivity of the subject discussed in that insecure forum, not even when the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, chimed in with details of a coming airstrike. No one objected – not the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who was abroad and using her personal cellphone to discuss pending military operations; not even the presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow at the time. Yet most of these officials enjoy the luxury of access to secure government communications systems 24/7/365.
Reasonable conclusions may be drawn from these facts. First, Trump’s national security cabinet commonly discusses secret information on insecure personal devices. Second, sophisticated adversaries such as Russia and China intercept such communications, especially those sent or received in their countries. Third, as a result, hostile intelligence services now probably possess blackmail material regarding these officials’ indiscreet past conversations on similar topics. Fourth, as a first-term Trump administration official and ex-CIA officer, I believe the reason these officials risk interacting in this way is to prevent their communications from being preserved as required by the Presidential Records Act, and avoid them being discoverable in litigation, or subject to a subpoena or Freedom of Information Act request. And fifth, no one seems to have feared being investigated by the justice department for what appears to be a violation of the Espionage Act’s Section 793(f), which makes gross negligence in mishandling classified information a felony; the FBI director, Kash Patel, and attorney general, Pam Bondi, quickly confirmed that hunch. Remarkably, the CIA director John Ratcliffe wouldn’t even admit to Congress that he and his colleagues had made a mistake.
Continue reading...Nicholas Jacobs was immersed in party activities, even working to elect the Musk-favored candidate who lost
Archived social media posts from a student Republican operative, Nicholas Jacobs, who received a $1m check from Elon Musk, show that he was deeply immersed in Republican electioneering over the last year, working not only to elect Donald Trump but other party candidates in the state.
They included failed Wisconsin Republican senate candidate Eric Hovde; first-term congressman Tony Wied; incumbent Milwaukee Republican vice-chair Brett Galaszewski; and Brad Schimel, the state supreme court candidate whom Musk has spent $25m supporting.
Continue reading...Republicans need to worry about getting bullied by Elon Musk, and Democrats need to worry about AIPAC, Sanders said.
The post Trying to Block Arms to Israel, Bernie Sanders Denounces AIPAC’s Massive Election Spending appeared first on The Intercept.
Maintaining seed diversity and abundance is essential – and requires constant work. It’s time for Congress to return to the seed business
From 1862 until 1923, US senators and members of Congress provided vast numbers of seeds to constituents. At its peak, the congressional seed distribution program delivered over 60m seed packets directly to farmers and market gardeners every year, helping introduce new varieties of everything from wheat and corn to oats, soybeans, flowers and vegetables. A century later, far fewer Americans till the soil for a living, but seeds remain central to our lives.
To understand the importance of seeds, try to imagine a morning without them. It would begin naked on a bare mattress, with no cozy sheets or pajamas, and there would be no fluffy towel to wrap up in after your shower. All of those things come from the seeds of the cotton plant. Stumbling wet into the kitchen, you would find no coffee, and no toast or bagel to go with it. There would be no eggs, no bacon, no cereal, no milk. All of those staples come from seeds or from livestock raised on seed crops. And if you thought you might console yourself with a chocolate bar, you can forget it. Cocoa powder, and the cocoa butter that makes it melt in your mouth, are both derived from seeds.
Continue reading...I accompanied one of the students who fled Trump’s crackdown. It gave me clarity on what’s at stake.
The post This Is Not About Antisemitism, Palestine, or Columbia. It’s Trump Dismantling the American Dream. appeared first on The Intercept.
“Do your job!” the crowd chanted, urging Rep. Victoria Spartz, one of the most outspoken DOGE supporters, to rein in Elon Musk.
The post GOP Leaders Said Don’t Do Town Halls. This Indiana Republican Did — and Got an Earful. appeared first on The Intercept.
Readers respond to an article by Kate McCusker about the joy that can be found in daily walks
Kate McCusker’s article on walking resonated with me (The one change that worked: I loathed all forms of exercise – until I moved to a big city and walked miles, 31 March). I, too, have signed up for aerobic classes, pilates sessions, tai chi courses and other activities, and though I did enjoy them, I hated being indoors. I began walking every day for long periods when both my children were chronically ill for several years. My daily walks helped me manage the stresses of being a caregiver. They got me out of the house without having to go too far, lifted my mood and delighted my senses.
I found beautiful walks near my home through fields and parks and am fortunate to have some wooded areas within walking distance. My children are now grown, but I rarely miss a day of walking. I stroll through cities while on vacation, hike up mountains near my cottage and generally walk every day without fail, regardless of the weather.
Continue reading...Sedentary lifestyles are bad for us, but which under-desk treadmills and walking pads are worth the cost? Our expert stepped up to find out
• The best treadmills for your home
Various guidelines suggest we all try to walk at least 10,000 steps a day to improve our overall health and wellbeing. Public Health England encourages a slightly more manageable target of just 10 minutes of brisk walking daily to introduce more moderate-intensity physical activity and reduce your risk of early death by up to 15%.
But even squeezing in “brisk walks” can be a chore, with busy schedules and increasingly desk-bound jobs forcing more of us to remain sedentary for long periods. That is where walking pads come in, being lighter, smaller and often easier to store than bulky and tricky-to-manoeuvre running treadmills.
Best overall walking pad:
JTX MoveLight
£499 at JTX Fitness
Best budget walking pad:
Rattantree shock-absorbing treadmill
£142.49 at Debenhams
Best foldable walking pad:
BodyMax WP60
£549 at Amazon
Best walking pad for incline:
Mobvoi Home Treadmill Plus
£224.99 at Mobvoi
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasts he’s nixing contracts and grants amid DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign. But those trims won’t hit SpaceX.
The post DOGE’s Pentagon Budget Cuts Don’t Touch Elon Musk’s SpaceX appeared first on The Intercept.
PC, Xbox; Compulsion Games
A spell-casting high-school athlete ventures into the heart of southern folklore in this distinct yet uneven action adventure
Soaring development costs; protracted production cycles; cautious C-suites looking to deliver reliable returns for shareholders: for many reasons, there is a dearth of original programming in big-budget video games. Already this year we have seen the arrival of the seventh mainline Civilization game, the 14th entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and, most brain-melting of all, the 27th Monster Hunter title. But look: here’s a magical-realist tale set in a moody, hurricane-ravaged imagining of the American deep south, whose title, crucially, bears no numerical suffix.
South of Midnight makes a brilliantly atmospheric first impression. Winds bludgeon flimsy abodes; rain lashes down on tin roofs; the world is rendered with the macabre and crooked details of a Tim Burton film. Within minutes, a house – that of high-school athlete Hazel and her mother, a social worker – is carried away along a roiling flooded river. Playing as Hazel, you give chase, bounding with a lanky teenage gait across various platforms until the storm abates. In its wake lie miles of stagnant, fetid swamps. At one grisly point, you explore a farm stacked with the carcasses of pigs who did not survive the typhoon.
Continue reading...
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Europe’s human spaceflight ambitions are reaching new heights, and ESA’s Astronaut Reserve is a key part of this journey. Selected in 2022, these talented individuals are undergoing Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) to ensure they are ready for future missions.
Among these remarkable women from across Europe are Meganne Christian, a materials scientist from the UK, Anthea Comellini, an aerospace engineer from Italy, and Carmen Possnig, a medical doctor from Austria, who recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
Their diverse scientific backgrounds reflect the wide-ranging expertise needed for human spaceflight, whether as part of ESA’s astronaut class, mission planners, or scientists shaping the future of space exploration. Beyond their work with ESA, they are also driving innovation, advancing research, and strengthening the broader space sector. Women play key roles across ESA and beyond, contributing as leaders and experts in these areas.
Meganne, Anthea and Carmen recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. In this image, they are pictured inside a mockup of the Columbus module, Europe’s permanent laboratory on the International Space Station.
The training covered key areas such as human behaviour and performance to develop teamwork and decision-making skills in high-pressure environments. They also received physical fitness training, scuba certification in ESA’s Neutral Buoyancy Facility, and media training to effectively communicate the importance of space exploration to the public.
In addition to technical and operational skills, they explored fundamental science, including biology experiments conducted on the International Space Station. Their training also includes insights into space policy, mission operations, and the latest advancements in space technology.
While members of the Astronaut Reserve are not yet assigned to specific missions, their training ensures that they are prepared for potential future opportunities through commercial spaceflight
The journey continues in the second half of 2025, when the members of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve will return to EAC for the next phase of ART, further building on the skills and knowledge they have gained.
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