The Guardian

Digital facilities that track wastage down to the gram have brought about behavioural change among users Min Geum-nan walks towards a metal bin beneath her apartment block in Gangdong district, eastern Seoul carrying a small bag of vegetable peelings. She taps her resident card on the reader, the lid swings open, she empties the contents and scans again and a digital screen flashes: 0.5kg. “You h…

The US-Ireland Alliance will give the actor the Oscar Wilde award at the event’s 20th anniversary in Los Angeles in March After a varied career in which he has played a psychopath, a romcom heart-throb, an intergalactic warlord and a plucky newspaper editor among others, Domhnall Gleeson has won his first Hollywood award. The US-Ireland Alliance announced that Gleeson will receive the Oscar Wilde…

Bremen lawyers say three unnamed people charged with crimes relating to bankruptcy and misrepresentation of bank’s finances German prosecutors have brought criminal charges against three people involved in running Greensill Bank for their role in the 2021 collapse of the lender . The Bremen public prosecutor’s office said the unnamed people were charged with crimes related to the bankruptcy, as w…

Equity says vote signals strong opposition to AI use and readiness to disrupt productions unless protections are secured Actors have voted to refuse digital scanning to prevent their likeness being used by artificial intelligence in a pushback against AI in the arts. Members of the performing arts union Equity were asked if they would refuse to be scanned while on set, a common practice in which …

Fourth cut this year is good news for homebuyers and those due to remortgage, but returns on easy-access savings accounts could drop Business live – latest updates The Bank of England gave millions of borrowers an early Christmas present on Thursday when it cut interest rates from 4% to 3.75% . It is the fourth cut this year following reductions in February, May and August. Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges that Larry Bushart’s first amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and jailed for 37 days A former law enforcement officer in Tennessee is suing his county and sheriff after he was jailed for more than a month for posting a meme on Facebook related to the 10 September assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk . According to the new 30-page lawsuit filed t…

Giridharan Sivaraman warns of a surge of racially motivated violence in wake of Bondi shooting, saying ‘it’s going to get worse before it gets better’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia’s race discrimination commissioner says social media companies have allowed racist and antisemitic hate to flow “unchecked” – and warned of an imminent outbreak of racially moti…

Critics of proposed changes in response to Bondi beach terror attack say they could be used to ‘pursue agendas that divide communities’ Victims of Bondi beach shooting Ten minutes of terror: how the Bondi mass shooting unfolded in real time – video Australia’s peak Jewish body has labelled the Albanese government’s plan to combat antisemitism in response to the Bondi beach terror attack an essent…

Exclusive: Queensland corruption body investigation into Troy Thompson found ‘no direct evidence’ to support claims he was diagnosed with the condition Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The controversial former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson, who was found last week to have made unsubstantiated claims he had been diagnosed with epilepsy, referenced the condition when en…

Study finds dropping an expletive can raise confidence and help people push harder during physically demanding tasks It may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can enhance physical performance by lowering inhibitio…

Scientists say government must prepare for ‘plausible’ 4C rise in temperature and a 2-metre rise in sea levels The worst-case impacts of the climate crisis for the UK have been laid bare by scientists, ranging from a scorching 4C rise in temperatures to a 2-metre rise in sea level. Another scenario sees a plunge of 6C in temperature after the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents, massively dis…

President Lula has indicated he will veto legislation but conservative lawmakers likely to overturn his decision Brazil’s congress has approved a bill to reduce the prison term of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for masterminding an attempted coup to overturn the 2022 elections. Approved last week by the lower house and late on Wednesday by t…

Package includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, and has drawn an angry response from China The maps that show how China’s military is squeezing Taiwan The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10bn that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China. The state department announced…

Second success for ‘exemplary’ 85-year-old who had already rumbled bogus police officer demanding €60,000 An 85-year-old Bavarian has managed – twice – to ensnare telephone fraudsters trying to shake him down for cash and valuables. The German pensioner received an urgent call on Tuesday from a man posing as a police officer telling him a family member was in distress – a common trick used agains…

Longest federal government shutdown meant data was only collected for second half of November US prices rose 2.7% in the year to November, according to federal data released a day after Donald Trump claimed they were falling “very fast” on his watch. The latest consumer price index, released on Wednesday morning, was down from 3% in September, and short of economists’ expectations of about 3.1% f…