Search for survivors continues after collapse of Nairobi apartments

Rescue and security workers search through rubble of building in Kenyan capital as seven people are confirmed dead



Rescue workers are continuing to search for residents feared trapped in the rubble of a six-storey building that collapsed in Nairobi after days of heavy rain, killing at least seven people.

The building in the Huruma residential estate collapsed late on Friday. Kenyan television stations showed rescue and security workers working through rubble and heavy slabs of concrete. It is not known how many people were in the building at the time of its collapse.

Japheth Koome, of Nairobi County police, told Reuters: “Seven people are confirmed dead and 121 people have been rescued and rushed to various hospitals in Nairobi.”

The collapse raised concerns about the safety of other blocks in the area. “It is raining, and these houses were built without Nairobi County authorisation,” Jonathan Mueke, deputy governor of Nairobi County, said on the privately owned QTV station. “I am asking residents in the area to leave. In the area where this one collapsed there are 189 houses.” Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 30 April 2016 10.21 BST

Trump forced from his motorcade amid chaotic protests at California convention

• Hundreds stormed area where frontrunner went to address Republicans
• With entrance blocked, Trump was forced to exit vehicle to access hotel

Protesters in California forced Donald Trump to leave his motorcade and walk along a highway on Friday, amid chaotic demonstrations in which activists torched an American flag and set fire to a piñata of the Republican frontrunner.

Hundreds of protesters repeatedly tried to storm the hotel where Trump was due to address the California Republican convention in Burlingame, near San Francisco International Airport.

Some protesters managed to get inside the Hyatt Regency by booking rooms in advance. When inside they unfurled two large Stop Hate banners from the upper floors that could be seen from outside, where protesters hurled eggs, clashed with baton-wielding police, and blocked roads. Continue reading...






Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 30 April 2016 00.10 BST

Please, Facebook, don't make me speak to your awful chatbots

The future of apps is chatbots, and it’s going to be terrible

Have you heard? Apps are dead: chatbots are the new apps. And they will soon be doing everything, from taking your pizza orders to scheduling your meetings. This is the future and it’s going to be terrible.

The rise of the chatbot has been foretold for some time but only in the past few weeks with Facebook’s Messenger bots, chat app Kik’s bot store and the rise of subversive artbots have they really hit the public consciousness.

So how did we get here? In many ways, it’s the perfect convergence of almost every tech trend of the past five years.

Trend one: the hybrid command line
Remember Peach? Probably not. At this stage, four months after launch, it seems unlikely that even Peach’s developers remember Peach. The app, a social network from the co-founder of Vine, tried to live somewhere between a Twitter-style social network and a WhatsApp-style messaging platform. It was fun for about three days, and then it died a quick death as everyone got bored. Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 12.16 BST

From monojeaning to bone broth: this week’s fashion trends

What’s hot and what’s not in fashion this week

Going up
Dogna Gvasalia The world’s hottest designer, Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, has his clothes reimagined for poochwear. God bless you, internet.

La Liste Tunisienne Homeware designed by Laurence Touitou, aka sister of APC founder Jean. Based on the household items the siblings grew up with in Tunisia, there’s handicraft and chic in equal measure. Win win.

Monojeaning On the cover of Needed Me, Rihanna is wearing a pair of jeans as one outfit. Dizzying denim skills. Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 12.23 BST

Protesters clash with Trump supporters at California rally

Republican frontrunner restates plans for US-Mexican wall at Orange County event as large crowd demonstrates outside venue



Donald Trump ran into a buzzsaw of angry protests at his inaugural rally in California, as a large crowd enraged by his stance on immigration clashed with his supporters outside the venue, blocked cars from leaving and shattered the windows of a police cruiser.

Trump swept into the Golden State on Thursday, more than a month before the 7 June primary, and delighted his conservative, mostly white audience inside an amphitheatre at the Orange County Fairgrounds by blaming illegal immigrants for a spike in murders and other violent crimes. He also vowed again to build a wall on the US-Mexican border.

Outside the venue, a crowd of largely Latino but also white and African American demonstrators shouted and chanted slogans before the event, then returned as it drew to a close.

Hundreds of people formed human barricades on an approach road to a nearby freeway, blocked the Fairgrounds exits, and waved banners that said “Build a Wall Around Trump” and “Dump the Trump”. Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 09.26 BST

Egyptian cleric defends CIA agent convicted over his rendition

Abu Omar says Sabrina De Sousa, who faces extradition to Italy, is a scapegoat and the real culprits are more senior officials

The radical Egyptian cleric who was kidnapped in Milan by the CIA in 2003 has come to the defence of a former CIA officer convicted for her alleged role in his extraordinary rendition.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who is known as Abu Omar, told the Guardian in a telephone interview that he believed Sabrina De Sousa, who faces imminent extradition to Italy, was a scapegoat and ought to be pardoned by Italy’s head of state, Sergio Mattarella. De Sousa, a 60-year-old dual American and Portuguese citizen, faces a four-year prison sentence and is due to be extradited from Portugal on 4 May.

“Sabrina and the others who were convicted are scapegoats. The US administration sacrificed them. All of those higher up in the hierarchy are enjoying their immunity,” he said. “These people higher up, without doubt they should be convicted in this case. They should face trial.”





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 12.06 BST

Flood Re insurance offers hope to those who can’t get cover

Government-backed scheme has started offering cover to at-risk householders, but there still are exclusions

Flood Re, the scheme designed to offer affordable insurance to 350,000 UK homes at high risk of flooding, has finally opened for business. But thousands of householders may have to switch home insurer to take advantage.

Developed by the insurance industry, with government backing, Flood Re was set up after insurers said they were no longer prepared to offer universal flood cover to households who had been flooded in the past.

Billions of pounds have been paid out by the industry in recent years following a series of devastating flooding events, across the north of England and in Cumbria in particular.

Flood Re, which offers subsidised cover, received the final go ahead from financial regulators last week, and opened for business on Monday. Continue Reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 9 April 2016 07.00 BST

Ted Cruz is 'Lucifer in the flesh', says former speaker John Boehner

‘Never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch,’ says Boehner, but presidential hopeful Cruz counters: ‘I don’t even know the man’



John Boehner, the former House speaker, has called presidential candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” in remarks that expose the depth of discontent within the Republican party.

Speaking at a town hall-style event for students at Stanford University in California on Wednesday, Boehner called front-runner Donald Trump his “texting buddy”, but offered a more graphic response when asked about the Texas senator.

“Lucifer in the flesh,” the former speaker said. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

His comments were first reported by Stanford’s student newspaper.

Cruz, campaigning in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Thursday ahead of the state’s 3 May primary, responded by saying Boehner was letting his “inner Trump come out”.





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 05.02 BST

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sells entire stake in Apple

Icahn has sold his shares in the company over concerns at China’s influence on its stock price

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn says he had sold his entire stake in Apple Inc, citing the risk of China’s influence on the stock.

In an interview with US cable television network CNBC on Thursday, Icahn also said he was “still very cautious” on the US stock market and there would be a “day of reckoning” unless there was some sort of fiscal stimulus.

Icahn had been a huge cheerleader of Apple, acquiring a stake in the company almost three years ago, repeatedly calling the investment a “no brainer.”

In an open letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook in May 2015, Icahn had argued that shares of the iPhone maker were worth $240 (£164), about 90% more than they had been trading. At $240 a share, Apple’s market cap would be $1.4tn, Icahn asserted.

But Icahn, who owned 45.8m Apple shares at the end of last year, said China’s economic slowdown and worries about how China could become more prohibitive in doing business triggered his decision to exit his position entirely.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 01.13 BST

Zuckerberg has given Facebook investors all they need. He wants one thing in return: control

Company is likely to let its co-founder and CEO push that little bit further, given that it’s making more money, from more users

Mark Zuckerberg has dominated the desktop internet. He’s dominated the mobile internet. Now he’s going to dominate Facebook itself, and the company is probably going to let him.

The big news that came out of Facebook’s quarterly earnings report is that the company is making more money, from more users, being shown more adverts – and more profitable adverts at that.

The numbers are, well, big. Its userbase grew from 1.44 billion to 1.65 billion. Once upon a time, the number of people on Facebook grew fivefold over the course of a single year; it can’t do that anymore, because there aren’t enough people on the Earth.

It can’t even double any more, because there aren’t enough people with internet access. Which lends some necessary context to the company’s philanthropic efforts to push low-cost connections to the developing world through its Internet.org program.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Thursday 28 April 2016 11.17 BST

Trump attacks Clinton as victories set stage for brutal election

Battle lines appear drawn for general election as Republican frontrunner says Democrat has nothing going for her except ‘the woman’s card’



Donald Trump set the stage for a brutal battle with Hillary Clinton, claiming she is only in contention for the presidency because she is a woman, as both candidates scored dominant victories in Tuesday night’s primary elections.

The Republican frontrunner attacked Clinton as weak and crooked and warned that she would be a “horrible president” as he sought to frame the fight for the White House.

Speaking at Trump Tower in New York, he said witheringly: “I think the only card she has is the woman’s card. She’s got nothing else going. And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5% of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card, and the beautiful thing is women don’t like her, OK?”

Mary Pat Christie, the wife of former Republican candidate Chris Christie, who was standing behind Trump as he mocked Clinton, appeared to roll her eyes. Her seemingly disdainful reaction immediately went viral on social media.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Wednesday 27 April 2016 07.19 BST

US unions plan attack on Donald Trump in attempt to derail presidential bid

Concerned labor group leaders are organizing ad campaigns and phone banks as Trump’s populist message on trade and jobs draws in union voters

The prospect of a Donald Trump nomination has labor leaders scrambling to hold the line as the Republican frontrunner’s appeal to disaffected working-class voters threatens to upset the traditional political calculus.

The majority of America’s almost 15 million unionized workers can be usually be relied upon to back the Democratic candidate in a presidential year, but leaders are concerned by Trump’s populist message on trade and jobs – and his insistence that union workers are just one of many groups on a long list of those he claims “love” him.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Tuesday 26 April 2016 12.00 BST

Donald Trump damns Cruz-Kasich pact as five more states head into primaries

Republican frontrunner attacks ‘pathetic’ John Kasich and Ted Cruz for lining up their campaigns to deny him votes in Indiana, Oregon and New Mexico

Donald Trump has decried “collusion” between his Republican rivals to deny him victory in upcoming primary contests as five more states prepared to vote for their preferred presidential candidate.

Trump fumed over the alliance between John Kasich and Ted Cruz to cede upcoming states to each other in the hope that they can stop the frontrunner winning enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination outright.

Trump attacked Kasich and Cruz as “truly weak” over the strategy whereby Cruz, a Texas senator, will concentrate his resources in Indiana while Kasich, the Ohio governor, will focus on Oregon and New Mexico instead.

“Collusion is often illegal in many other industries and yet these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive,” he said. “They are mathematically dead and this act only shows, as puppets of donors and special interests, how truly weak they and their campaigns are.”

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Tuesday 26 April 2016 05.17 BST

Barack Obama says world needs a united Europe

US president urges continent to not give in to ‘fears over security and inequality’ by creating new barriers

The world needs a strong, democratic and united Europe, Barack Obama said on Monday, to guard against rising intolerance and authoritarianism within the European Union and across the globe.

In an ambitious and sweeping speech urging modern Europe to remember its emergence from division, war and hatred, the US president said: “We cannot allow fears about security and inequality to undermine our commitment to universal values. That is a false comfort.”

Speaking in Germany on the final day of his tour of Europe and the Middle East, Obama had a blunt message for the continent. “Perhaps you need an outsider to remind you of the magnitude of what you have achieved from the ruins of the second world war.”

Patrick Wintour in Hanover

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Monday 25 April 2016 13.41 BST

European Rugby Champions Cup and Premiership talking points

Saracens’ team spirit grows stronger, Leicester are found lacking, Racing have All Black nous while Sale must improve away from home

1) Saracens’ spirit seems unbreakable
There have been more romantic tries scored than a charge-down by Michael Rhodes and a penalty try from an all-in driving maul, but Saracens made a full contribution to a game of wonder. They had to be patient in the face of a hugely committed Wasps defence and they had to be resilient once they had built their lead. No club panic less; no club have a more collectively honed instinct to play for each other. They grew even closer when Owen Farrell was sent to the bin, 14 inspired by their new challenge. It is hard to see how this spirit can be broken, unless the pursuit of the double takes a toll on bodies. The minds look to be perfectly set on winning everything in sight.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Monday 25 April 2016 09.04 BST

Unfinished business in the Philippines

Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, is not an uncommon thing to hear in my household.

Like many children all over the world, my daughter arrived home from the hospital to find a Filipino baby nurse.

Vangie was with her from the very beginning of her life, and in time, my daughter came to know her son, her daughter-in law, their kid -- and in time, an extended family and friends -- in New Jersey, Southern California and the Bay Area.

And of course, most importantly, Jacques, Vangie's grandson, her best friend, from whom she has been inseparable since infancy -- her older brother in every way but biological. Partners in crime.

If I go back through old photos today, at least half will be of the two of them together.

By Anthony Bourdain

Published By - Cnn.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Updated 2034 GMT (0334 HKT) April 22, 2016

Barack Obama hails Angela Merkel over handling of refugees

US president to meet Merkel, Hollande, Renzi and Cameron over EU naval patrols in Libyan waters to stem flow of migrants

US president Barack Obama said Angela Merkel was on the right side of history with her management of the refugee crisis and praised the German chancellor as a steady and trustworthy ally with a really good sense of humour, as he embarked on the final phase of the last official European tour of his presidency.

Lauding Merkel for taking “very tough politics not just to express a humanitarian concern but also a practical concern”, Obama said: “She is giving a voice to the kinds of principles that bring people together rather than divide them.”

But beneath the smiles and mutual compliments lurked a range of pressing global issues that the two leaders will try to address at a G5 meeting with British prime minister, David Cameron, the French president, François Hollande, and the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, in Hanover on Monday afternoon.

Philip Oltermann in Berlin and Patrick Wintour

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 24 April 2016 19.36 BST

Ted Cruz and John Kasich team up in deal to stop Trump

The Ohio governor will give the Texan senator a free run in Indiana in exchange for the same favor in Oregon and New Mexico

Ted Cruz and John Kasich have announced that their campaigns will cede certain states in an attempt to keep Donald Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination.

In a pair of coordinated statements released on Sunday night, the Cruz and Kasich campaigns said that the Texan senator would concentrate his resources in Indiana while the Ohio governor would put all his effort into Oregon and New Mexico.

Ben Jacobs in Washington

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Monday 25 April 2016 04.00 BST

How Facebook plans to take over the world

Social network went from digital directory for college kids to communications behemoth – and it’s planning for prosperity with its global takeover

It’s late afternoon on a blustery spring day on the waterfront at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, a former military base that’s now hired out for corporate functions. Vast warehouses, once used to store army supplies, are awash with sleek signs, shimmering lights and endless snacks. Behind them is an Instagram-ready view of Alcatraz island. In front, a fleet of Uber and Lyft cars lines up in the car park, while inside one of the warehouses Scottish synthpop band Chvrches take the stage.

For the first few songs there’s only a small group of hardcore vocal fans at the front of the stage, flanked by a subdued mix of backpack-wearing dad types politely bobbing their heads, drinking cocktails out of plastic cups.

The shindig has been put on by Facebook for the benefit of delegates attending its F8 conference. The event, which has run most years since 2007, began as a means to win over the developer community and has now become a comprehensive and highly engineered launchpad for the company’s annual plans. Many of the 2,600 attendees have paid $595 to find out how they can integrate their own digital products with Facebook to carve out some kind of presence among its enormous audience – and there’s booze and entertainment thrown in.

Olivia Solon in San Francisco

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 23 April 2016 12.00 BST

Barack Obama: post-Brexit trade deal with UK could take 10 years

President says Britain would not get preferential treatment over the EU when it comes to negotiating new terms with US



It could take Britain 10 years to negotiate a trade deal with the US if it votes to leave the EU, Barack Obama has said.

Speaking to the BBC at the end of his final visit to the UK as president, Obama said: “It could be five years from now, 10 years from now before we’re actually able to get something done.”

Obama is in the last nine months of his presidential term and has spent the past three days in London as part of a state visit. During that time he urged Britons to remain part of the EU as they prepare to vote on membership of the 28-country bloc at the 23 June referendum.

Obama told the BBC that Britain would not get preferential treatment over the EU when it came to negotiating a new trade deal. He said: “The UK would not be able to negotiate something with the United States faster than the EU. We wouldn’t abandon our efforts to negotiate a trade deal with our largest trading partner, the European market.”

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 24 April 2016 11.44 BST

Orlando Pride shine before record crowd, auguring well for women's game

An NWSL-record crowd of 23,403 turned up for the expansion Orlando Pride’s inaugural home match, a sign the women’s game is discovering real traction

The future of women’s soccer was on view in Orlando on Saturday night as a record 23,403 fans flocked to the Citrus Bowl for the inaugural home outing of the Orlando Pride in a part of Florida that is rapidly becoming synonymous with the beautiful game.

It was the future of a league, of a new team, of fans new to the sport and even of a possible matrimonial tie-up as one of the men’s team’s most recognizable supporters was joined by a female counterpart in a development that is sure to please unicorn-lovers everywhere.

The key feature was the highest attendance in the short history of the National Women’s Soccer League, as the crowd topped the previous best of 21,144 for the Portland-Seattle game last July. All week, the Pride – backed by the formidable marketing machine that is Orlando City SC – had flirted with the idea of a record turnout, and it was duly confirmed by press release almost three hours before kick-off with the sale of the 21,145th ticket.

Simon Veness at the Citrus Bowl

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 24 April 2016 04.03 BST

Carli Lloyd leaves Houston Dash match with injured right knee

• USA star injures right knee during NWSL match on Saturday night
• Lloyd was injured in fourth minute and will have MRI on Sunday

US women’s national team star Carli Lloyd injured her right knee in the Houston Dash’s match against the expansion Orlando Pride on Saturday.

Lloyd was injured in the fourth minute of the National Women’s Soccer League match at the Citrus Bowl. She played until the 14th minute, and was later seen on the sideline icing her knee. She was set to have an MRI on the knee on Sunday.

Lloyd scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of the United States’ 5-2 victory over Japan in the final of the Women’s World Cup last summer in Canada. She was named FIFA World Player of the Year.

The US women’s national team has qualified for the Olympics in Brazil this summer.

Saturday’s match was the home opener for the Pride and drew an NWSL-record 23,403 fans.

Associated Press

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 24 April 2016 03.08 BST

Barack Obama: ‘He has such power … yet such humility’

Six people who heard the US president speak in London give their views

REBECCA BUNCE
29, POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER FOR A CHARITY, LONDON

Bunce was praised at the event by Obama for her “fight for people with disabilities and against violence against women”.

“I think that when friends see friends making big decisions, it’s natural for them to offer advice. It is no surprise that Obama has spoken out about the EU. Both the leave and remain campaigns have talked about the referendum as the UK working out where we sit in a globalised world. We are deciding what we want our future international relationships to look like. So it seems pretty sensible that the world would want to join in the conversation with us.”

Daniel Boffey and Emma Supple

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 24 April 2016 00.04 BST

Hillary Clinton urges Britain to remain in the European Union

US presidential hopeful weighs in on forthcoming vote as No 10 welcomes latest backing ahead of 23 June referendum

Hillary Clinton has thrown her weight behind the campaign to keep Britain inside the European Union in a major new boost to David Cameron’s hopes of winning a Remain vote on 23 June.

After Barack Obama used his farewell trip to the UK as president to make the economic and security arguments for membership, Clinton, who is the favourite to win the Democratic nomination in July and become the first female US president, makes clear that if she enters the White House she will want the UK to be fully engaged, and leading the debate, within the EU.

In a statement to the Observer, her senior policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.” Sources close to the former secretary of state’s campaign said she stood fully behind Obama’s opposition to Brexit, which the president said on Friday would not only undermine the international institutions, including the EU, that had bound nations closer together since 1945, but would also mean the UK being at “the back of the queue” when negotiating new trade deals.

Toby Helm and Daniel Boffey

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 23 April 2016 21.00 BST

How do we make the Guardian a better place for conversation?

Online abuse pollutes the water in which we all swim. As the Guardian’s first female editor, it is important to me that we tackle it

Last year, a few weeks before I started as the new editor-in-chief of the Guardian, I read a review in the New York Times of Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. The book looks at the emergence of public humiliations on social media, and the review ended by saying that “the actual problem is that none of the men running those bazillion-dollar internet companies can think of one single thing to do about all the men who send women death threats”. Since I was about to become the first woman to run the Guardian (not, sad to say, a bazillion-dollar internet company), I decided that I had a responsibility to try to do something about it.

That’s why, over the past two weeks, the Guardian has published a series of articles looking at online abuse, with more to follow in the coming months. You might have read our interview with Monica Lewinsky in which she described the trauma of being subjected to what could be called the first great internet shaming, and how she still has to think of the consequences of talking about her past – whether by misspeaking, she could trigger a whole new round of abuse.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 22 April 2016 14.00 BST

A card-carrying fan of contactless, I'm now contactless-less – and it's not fun

In the first half of 2015, £2.5bn was spent in the UK using contactless cards. I’ve lost mine, and I’m now living life in the slow lane

Here is my problem. I have lost my debit card. This might seem like a minor hindrance. I haven’t, say, lost a limb. But I have lost the means to go about my everyday life as I usually would.

I rely on my contactless debit card as if it were a chip in my wrist. (And I don’t have a credit card, because I was always taught never to have credit cards.)

I use my contactless debit card for everything. When I encounter people who do not have contactless, I reel in horror. It’s almost as if they don’t have mobile phones. Or faces.

I get wildly irritated by shops and pubs that do not accept card payments, because it’s 2016. In supermarkets, if I have to use chip and pin, I can barely contain my fury. In a world in which being five minutes late to a tweet is considered embarrassingly tardy, it takes an awfully long time to use a chip and pin machine.

It has been estimated that contactless payment can halve the time it takes to pay with cash, but in my opinion, that’s a conservative estimate. Contactless is like swimming in liquid gold; cash is wading through treacle.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 22 April 2016 15.28 BST

Facebook is going to start showing you pieces people actually read

Another algorithm change has been announced by the social network, focused on enhancing reading time

Facebook is changing its algorithm yet again, and this time it wants to show you more things that you’ll actually spend time reading or watching.

The social network looks at a wealth of data when deciding which posts you actually see on News Feed, but until now it hasn’t cared too much about what you actually do when you click away from Facebook. It says that’s going to change.

“We’re learning that the time people choose to spend reading or watching content they clicked on from News Feed is an important signal that the story was interesting to them,” said software engineer Moshe Blank and research scientist Jie Xu in a post on the company’s website.

As a result, the site will now attempt to pick links which have a higher reading time. But don’t think that you’ll have a News Feed filled with 30,000 word New Yorker epics. “We will also be looking at the time spent within a threshold,” the pair said, “so as not to accidentally treat longer articles preferentially.”

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 22 April 2016 11.50 BST

The splinter is coming: the Republican race is a real life Game of Thrones plot

Donald Trump, the man who would be king, is pivoting from the ‘chaos candidate’ to a walking, talking politician as Ted Cruz schemes in the wings, plotting his convention takeover. What fresh plot twists await Republican voters?

The political battlefield is strewn with corpses. One man “goes into this thing, he’s competing against senators and governors at the highest level of our nation”, Donald Trump declared of himself in the third person on Friday: “And one by one they get knocked off.”

“Bom, bom, bom, bom. Now I’m left with two guys. Hardly two guys. Maybe you could say one. A half and a half.”

If this were Game of Thrones, the fantasy epic that returns for a sixth series on both sides of the Atlantic on Sunday, Trump would be describing some gory dismemberment. But in America’s Republican party equivalent, the businessman obsessed with gold has slashed his way through a field of 17 election candidates, as contemptuous of foes as Tywin Lannister, the patriarch of Westeros’ most wealthy family.

Lannister, at the height of his powers, met an untimely and unsavoury end on the toilet. And although he put rivals to the sword in the New York primary this week, Trump appears to be looking over his shoulder, fearful of his own political demise.

David Smith in Harrington, Delaware and Ben Jacobs in Hollywood, Florida

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 23 April 2016 13.48 BST

Eurosceptics pour scorn on Obama's warning against Brexit

Senior Tories condemn ‘lame duck’ US president after he said an independent UK would be at back of trade deal queue

Senior Eurosceptic Conservatives have dismissed Barack Obama’s suggestion that the UK would be “at the back of the queue” in negotiations for a US trade agreement if it left the European Union.

Cabinet ministers accused the “lame duck” US president of making meaningless threats to blackmail the British people into voting to remain in Europe. Others pointed out that Europe and the US had never struck a free trade agreement anyway, and claimed Obama was being manipulated by Downing Street.

Chris Grayling, the leader of the House of Commons, said: “We should not give up our independence just because of what President Obama said.”

The intervention by Obama, who is popular in Britain, delighted the remain camp, but has left the leave campaign furious. “Barack Obama was doing an old friend a political favour,” said the justice minister Dominic Raab, referring to David Cameron.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 23 April 2016 10.54 BST

Dilma Rousseff in New York declares no grounds for impeachment

Embattled Brazilian president tells foreign media she is the innocent victim of a ‘coup’ and will only leave office if voted out by the electorate

The Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, has told journalists in New York there is “no legal foundation” for her impeachment as she took her fight for political survival into the international ring.

After losing a lower house vote that puts her just weeks away from being ejected from office, on Friday Rousseff repeated claims that she was the innocent victim of a “coup” and said she would only give up the fight if the electorate voted against her.

Rousseff’s appeal to the Guardian and a handful of other foreign news organisations appears to be a last-ditch attempt to win away after losing catastrophically at home.

As a result of recession, political upheaval and a huge corruption scandal, her government is deeply unpopular with the Brazilian media, the country’s Congress and in public opinion. But Rousseff has not been charged with any crime and many are uneasy that she is being impeached on a technicality by opposition politicians who stand accused of far more serious wrongdoing.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 23 April 2016 07.17 BST

Barack Obama: Brexit would put UK 'back of the queue' for trade talks

US president, visiting London, says ‘part of being friends is being honest’ as he lays out perils of leave vote in EU referendum



Barack Obama has warned that the UK would be at the “back of the queue” in any trade deal with the US if the country chose to leave the EU, as he made an emotional plea to Britons to vote for staying in. The US president used a keenly awaited press conference with David Cameron, held at the Foreign Office, to explain why he had the “temerity to weigh in” over the high-stakes British question in an intervention that delighted remain campaigners.

Obama argued that he had a right to respond to the claims of Brexit campaigners that Britain would easily be able to negotiate a fresh trade deal with the US. “They are voicing an opinion about what the United States is going to do, I figured you might want to hear from the president of the United States what I think the United States is going to do.

“And on that matter, for example, I think it’s fair to say that maybe some point down the line there might be a UK-US trade agreement, but it’s not going to happen any time soon because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done”.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 22 April 2016 20.30 BST

From Uber to Eric Schmidt, tech is closer to the US government than you'd think

Twitter was scrabbling to defend the appointment of a Chinese head with government ties, yet US tech has a busy revolving door with its own government

What’s worse for a Silicon Valley executive: ties to the Chinese military or friends in the US Defense Department? 

Twitter found itself confronting that question this week after it hired Kathy Chen, a former engineer for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), to head up ad sales and business development in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Internet freedom activists and Chinese dissidents, who have to skirt Beijing’s digital censors to use Twitter, said it was a betrayal.

The spat illustrates the delicate balancing act technology companies face as they are forced to expand overseas to grow. In the US, Silicon Valley, like any industry, has embraced and relied on close relationships with former government officials both for technical talent and to help grease the wheels as they confront regulatory issues.

Alphabet’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, recently joined a Department of Defense advisory panel. Facebook recently hired a former director at the US military’s research lab, Darpa. Uber employs Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe and Amazon.com tapped his former spokesman Jay Carney.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Thursday 21 April 2016 19.47 BST

The Obamas and the royals: bond with monarchy covers up political cracks

As America’s first couple joins in the Queen’s birthday celebrations, the visit contrasts with Obama’s stiff relationship with British government leaders

When Michelle Obama flies in to join her husband for birthday lunch with the Queen on Friday it will also mark an annual ritual for White House schedulers: when in doubt, reach for the royals. Throughout a presidency known for cordial but somewhat stiff relations with Britain’s political rulers, the monarchy has provided a flexible sticking plaster to cover up any sign of cracks in the special relationship.

Ever since the first lady and the Queen famously put their arms around each other during the Obamas’ first official visit to the UK, a series of surprisingly relaxed encounters have delighted diplomats on both sides of the pond.

Princes Harry, Charles and William have all paraded through the Oval Office in the last 18 months, receiving levels of presidential access and bonhomie usually reserved for current heads of state rather than those in the waiting room.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Thursday 21 April 2016 18.00 BST

Prince, superstar and pioneer of American music, dies aged 57

Purple Rain singer whose sprawling career spanned decades and genres dies at his Paisley Park recording studio in his home state of Minnesota



The unique and endlessly creative artist Prince has died at his Paisley Park home, outside Minneapolis, aged 57, leaving behind him a gaping hole in musical genres as diverse as R&B, rock, funk and pop.

The death was announced by his publicist Yvette Noel-Schure after police had been called to the premises which double as his music studio in the Minnesota city. No details were immediately given for the cause of death, though last week he was rushed to hospital apparently recovering from a bout of flu that had forced his private jet to make an emergency landing in Illinois.

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Thursday 21 April 2016 18.21 BST

Tesla Model X glitches lock owners out of cars

Early adopters facing teething issues with doors, sensors, screens, brakes and quality control, as electric SUV continues to roll off the production line

Early models of Tesla’s electric SUV, the Model X, are facing teething issues, plaguing users with glitches that lock them out of their cars and bang their falcon-wing doors into things.

Weeks after the recall of 2,700 Model Xs, which at the time was nearly the entire fleet, over a safety issue with the rear seats, reports from buyers have painted a picture of Tesla struggling to meet demand and quality control.

One venture capitalist from San Francisco, Byron Deeter, has seen so many problems with his Model X, which was one of the first off the production line, that he’s had to stop using it for his daily commute.

Published By -Theguardian.com - LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political commentand analysis: Thursday 21 April 2016 11.38 BST