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Losing weight is challenging, and maintaining that weight loss is an even tougher battle. Our biology, hormones and ingrained habits work against us, while tempting junk food promises quick gratification. The stress of modern life leaves us exhausted, making it easy to slip back into old unhealthy patterns. Before we realise it, the weight we worked so hard to lose has crept back on. So what’s the secret to longterm success? It’s not just about willpower or deprivation. It’s about creating a sustainable plan that addresses the aspects of weight loss that cause us to stumble. If you haven’t yet incorporated the following factors into your weight-loss plan, it’s time to get more tactical. 1 Prioritise protein Eating sufficient protein is probably one of the most important strategies for weight loss and weight maintenance.…

Regardless of the shape, size or age of a home, the question of aligning its practical and decorative appeal in order to realise its potential has long underpinned the concept of interior decoration. It is an idea perhaps most comprehensively explored in Sir Terence Conran’s indispensable The Essential House Book, first published in the mid-1990s and still surprisingly relevant today, with its advice that, ‘no style works well unless you pay attention to what’s underneath – the bare bones of structure, design, fixtures and fittings’. A well-executed home, whether period, contemporary, large or compact, operates best once the often-overlooked basics, from floor planning to furniture arrangement, are given due consideration. Reappraising these bones, honing where possible, is what makes a scheme truly sing. “Taking into consideration the core characteristics of…

When trying a new medium for the first time, it's worth considering the effects your choice can have on you and the environment. In the past, artists simply strove to use colours that would enhance their work and most were largely ignorant of their side effects. Lead white for instance, is thought to have poisoned such artists as Michelangelo and Van Gogh, while the arsenic-containing paint Scheele's green was so toxic that it was also employed as a poison to kill rats in the Parisian sewers! The good news is that painting has come a long way since the days of lead pigments and arsenic. With some knowledge and a few simple strategies, artists can paint healthily into old age. Introducing acrylics Acrylics contain the same pigments as other media,…

At one time, you would have needed to travel to the A Arctic or far north latitudes to witness the phenomenon known as the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in the northern hemisphere, or south to the Antarctic to see the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). The term ‘aurora borealis’ was coined by Galileo in 1619, combining the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn with the Greek god of the cold, north wind. 2024 saw an upsurge in disturbances in the magnetosphere, caused by the solar winds, with spectacular displays far further south than usual. But how do you go about photographing this display of electrical ionisation and excitation? Well, start by finding a dark area that has some foreground interest – a body of water, maybe a derelict building…

The legend of the ship-sinking kraken struck fear into the hearts of sailors for hundreds of years. But while the kraken itself is a work of fiction, the real-life creature it’s based on – the colossal squid – hides thousands of metres below the ocean’s surface and munches on marine life rather than mariners. There are two species of squid tied to the legend. First, there’s the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), which lurks more than 2,000 metres below the surface of Antarctica’s waters. These giants of the sea can weigh up to 495 kilograms and grow up to 14 metres long, including their tentacles. Searching for a fish supper, the colossal squid uses its long tentacles to snatch and wrap up its prey before tearing it to pieces and ingesting…

Cast your mind back to 2010. Blogs and Tumblr reign supreme, dip-dye hair is a must, skinny jeans and studded boots are all the rage and the term ‘influencer’, which now is a part of our daily diaspora, is still in its infancy. But it was during this time, as society’s love for internet culture was increasing rapidly, that a few figures emerged and came to dominate the global digital stage, and with this emergence – found great economic success. Bloggers such as Aimee Song, aka @songofstyle, who now has millions of followers, came to earn upwards of $5m, and Italian social media darling Chiara Ferragni, @chiaraferragni, over $8m (her net worth today is reportedly $10m). Figures such as these, the early adopters of social media, capitalised on their digital…

Some say it’s a dominant 9th of F in the key of C. Others claim it’s a poly-triad ii7/V in A flat major. Still others insist it’s a G7 with added 9th and suspended 4th or a superimposition of Dm, F, and G. Have I bored you enough yet? There’s more if you want it. Thought not. But here’s the thing; no matter what anyone says, the ’60s indisputably began with one miraculous chord. The gleaming, trebly, shivering strum on George Harrison’s 12-string Rickenbacker 360 that announces ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ – the single, the LP and the feature film – signalled the dawn of a new era. Released in July 1964, A Hard Day’s Night was The Beatles’ third LP. The first two – Please Please Me and With…

GRETCHEN COOK, BIRMINGHAM Q What exactly is an air fryer? A Even if you think you don’t have an air fryer, you probably do. It’s essentially just a cheap plastic fan oven: a heatproof fan blows air over a heating element to cook food. For all the buttons and flashy features that top air fryers offer, there’s little more to it than that. They’re not exactly the same, though. GaGu honestly wouldn’t bother to answer your question if they were, let alone give it this much oxygen. The key difference is design: the shape of the air fryer basket means that heat can hit all sides of your food at once for extra all-around crispiness, which coincidentally is something Guru really must go to see his GP about. Also, the food…

The season of regeneration is upon us, and decorators certainly aren’t immune to nature’s promptings. As the chill of winter eases, Country Sampler stylist Carolynn Geesaman is eager to reset her rooms to include brighter colors, lighter textures and cute Easter and garden accents. Wreaths, a longtime country standard, are an ideal starting place. “I like them because you can change out the season in your decor without a lot of work,” Carolynn says. To inspire your decorating, she created several nontraditional but easy-to-make wreath designs that can highlight displays from the porch to the bedroom. Primed with her tips, you’ll be set to sharpen your crafting skills as you savor spring’s transformations. Adapt & Adjust Design several floral blocks for your wreath to swap in and out. REENERGIZE WITH…

CASTLE RACE SERIES: BELVOIR Location Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire Distances Multiple Date 19-20 July 2025, castleraceseries.com The Castle Race Series will host its second running of the Belvoir Castle Triathlon and Multisport Festival in July on the Leicestershire estate. Over to Fran Watson of the CRS team… “Arrive 75 minutes before your start time. Bikes can be racked in the transition area an hour before the race begins. Saturday features the shorter adult races, while Sunday hosts longer events, duathlons, an aquabike, aquathlons, and the Run Series. Junior races run each afternoon. “With a lapped course that keeps swimmers close to the banks, the swim is ideal for newcomers to open-water swimming. The 45km bike course has 287m of elevation gain and takes in a stiff climb to the Belvoir Edge and combines…

Lions might be the apex predators of the African savannah, but that doesn’t deter the fury of a pack of spotted hyenas, which this lioness is quickly learning. Both carnivores, lions and hyenas compete for food, which means one tries to steal from or scare the other off to claim sustenance for themselves. But when the two predators face off, it’s often the lion that comes out on top. Scanning skin cells This shows the remains of squamous skin cells after they’ve been shed from the body and replaced. This process, called keratinisation, takes around 28 days and involves a skin cell moving through the epithelial layers of the skin before it’s shed. When the process is over, what’s left are shed skin cells that are essentially a cellular bag of keratin…

How did you start digital nomading? I worked for a travel company that curated trips for digital nomads. This officially brought me into the community and let me see the lifestyle first-hand. Once I had that job, I made it a point not to return to the office, and then the following company I worked for had a policy that allowed working from anywhere, under certain conditions. How long have you been digital nomading for? I say for between four and six years because, in 2018, I had a full-time travel job for this digital nomad travel company. So in some ways I was a digital nomad but I believe it was more ‘100% travel’ because I had to be based where my tour group was, or within the region…

For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.” The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. “I just assumed I was stupid,” she recalled of her early grade school years. But assistive technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped her keep up with classmates. In 2023, Makenzie was named to the National Junior Honor Society. She credits a customized AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that can read for her. “I would have just probably given up if I didn’t have them,” she said. Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of…

Villa Caffetto reads like a manifesto for sculptural architecture. Built in the 1970s for Italian artist Claudio Caffetto, this extraordinary house, near Brescia in Lombardy, is a striking composition of geometric shapes and oblique forms in concrete, glass and metal that are as visually intricate as Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s famous etchings of ancient staircases. Conceived within a landscape still strongly embedded in the brutalism movement, but displaying some characteristics of the increasingly popular postmodernist and high-tech genres, Villa Caffetto was designed by little-known architect Fausto Bontempi, who was strongly influenced by Carlo Scarpa, his teacher at Venice architecture school IUAV. After graduating, he took a job at Lombardy’s department of urban planning, working on regulatory plans for the municipalities of Lake Garda while, at the same time, he designed a…

IN CHINESE HOUSEHOLDS, the sounds of the family making dumplings are an auditory delight. Chatter fills the air, crescendoing around an enormous bowl of filling. Rolling pins clack at lightning speed. Dough swishes across countertops, drawing up mists of flour. As a young girl, I loved to absorb myself in the hubbub and simply listen—in our Northern Chinese family, these sounds meant Chinese New Year had arrived, as sure as a first snow before Christmas morning. Chinese New Year is a 16-day affair (or 15 for those who don’t count New Year’s Eve), with a different dining tradition on each day. Elaborate dishes are served, but my favorite meal of the extended holiday was always the humble homemade dumplings. Dumplings, whose shape resembles the gold ingots used as currency in ancient…

The yachting community's response to Donald Trump returning as the 47th US president has been mixed as shipyards, brokers and industry players speculate on how his policy adjustments might affect their businesses. On one hand, many expect Trump will extend several provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) beyond its 2025 expiry as well as implement a series of targeted tax breaks, promising greater wealth and higher economic output in the long run. Raphael Sauleau, CEO of IYC, is optimistic that the proposed tax cuts will lead to more spending in luxury sectors. “This could be a boost for the industry, as greater purchasing power often translates to more investment in high-value assets like superyachts,” he says. “Furthermore, if we combine this factor with the likelihood…

Nearly a year ago, at UFC 298 inside Anaheim’s Honda Center, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski walked into the arena to the sound of Men at Work’s 1981 classic “Down Under” with an unexpected guest at his side. Alongside his trainers and medical techs, Volkanovski had in his corner Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., dressed in the same black sweat suit as the rest of the team, his head bobbing to the music. For the tech mogul, whose net worth is above $200 billion, it was a public welcome to the favored sport of president-elect Donald Trump. “No matter how much money you have, no matter what you have in life, it is one of those very unique and amazing things if you get the opportunity to do…

After nearly a decade in power, Justin Trudeau has said he intends to step down as prime minister. The 53-year-old politician, who rose to power on the promise of hope and revitalisation, has been under pressure to quit for months. Why was he under pressure? Once the rising star of global progressive politics, Trudeau saw his approval ratings drop to a new low of only 33% late last year. The same poll revealed widespread frustration with economic malaise. Trudeau suffered under record inflation and high food prices. A housing crisis, which saw prices in some areas jump by 30-40% in recent years, deepened resentment. Political scandals have not helped either. Trudeau was reprimanded in 2017 for accepting gifts including holidays and private helicopter flights. Skipping out on the country’s first…

METAL SLUG TOUCH IOS, 2009 ◼ Long since delisted, this interesting spin-off of the main series saw you controlling the SV-001 and Slug Flyer through four challenging stages, using only touch controls and tilting your phone for movement. METAL SLUG DEFENCE IOS, ANDROID, STEAM, 2016 ◼ Once you get over your disappointment that it isn’t a conventional Metal Slug game, Defence proves itself to be a solid tower defence offering. It’s free to play as well, which is nice. METAL SLUG: AWAKENING IOS, ANDROID, STEAM ◼ This free-to-play title introduces the ability to team up with two other players and features a number of rogue-like challenges to attempt. It’s currently on its fifth season in China. METAL SLUG ATTACK RELOADED SWITCH, PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES S/X, 2024…

As Donald Trump was sworn in as 47th president of the United States on Monday, only his family stood between him and the tech moguls, among them the three richest men in the world – Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Not since Dwight Eisenhower’s post-war military-industrial complex has there been “such unity of purpose between political and economic power”, says Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph. As Joe Biden warned in his farewell address last week, “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms”. In a show of intent, on the day of his inauguration, Trump revoked a 2023 executive order from Biden that sought to reduce the risks of…

As writers, we spend a lot of time on the ledge. You know the one. The I’m-going-to-quit ledge. The blood, sweat, tears and time (so much time) that goes into writing a novel can exhaust even the hardiest among us. Rejection is built into the publication process and each ‘thanks but no thanks’ can feel like another reason to quit. Burnout is real, and it’s likely to be clouding your judgement of your novel. Trust me, I’ve been there. I fell out of love with my mystery-thriller The Getaway. I was stuck in the middle of yet another rewrite. The book may be set on a private island in the Caribbean, but for me, it was the middle of winter and my feelings were grey, grey, grey. I was probably…

lasagna stuffed zucchini PREP 10 MINUTES | COOK 10 MINUTES | COOL 5 MINUTES ½ OF RECIPE (2 ZUCCHINI HALVES): 261 calories, 9g total fat (4g sat. fat), 700mg sodium, 17g total carbs (13g net carbs), 4g fiber, 11.5g sugars, 29.5g protein 2 medium-large zucchini (about 10 oz. each)6 oz. raw extra-lean ground beef (at least 95% lean)1 cup chopped mushrooms¼ tsp. salt⅛ tsp. black pepper¾ tsp. garlic powder, divided½ tsp. onion powder, divided½ cup no-sugar-added marinara sauce¼ cup light/low-fat ricotta cheese3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil, divided¼ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese 1. Pierce zucchini several times with a fork. Microwave for 1½ minutes. 2. Flip zucchini. Microwave for 1½ more minutes, or until softened. Let cool, about 5 minutes. 3. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Gently scoop out and discard…

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS, A COUPLE OF HOURS drive west of Sydney, contains the highest concentration of easily accessible slot canyons anywhere in Australia. These narrow gorges have been carved out by water over hundreds of thousands of years, cutting through the sandstone of the uplifted plateau to form amazing sculpted formations, with scalloped walls curving up to the sky. In the middle of the day, sunbeams light up the canyon walls. While the Blue Mountains receives over four-million visitors a year, few of them venture into the canyons. Of those that get close, most will be watching abseilers descend Empress Falls, or will be wandering the Grand Canyon Track, which follows the rim of the canyon for hundreds of metres, with the occasional glimpse into the chasm below. Getting into…

DESPITE TWR taking over from Group 44’s responsibility for Jaguar’s entry in the American IMSA series from the 1988 season onwards, the British outfit would never be as successful as it had been in the World Sportscar Championship, never winning the series outright. Yet there were still highlights such as the 1990 Daytona 24 Hours, a race that’s as important and prestigious in America as Le Mans is for Europe. Taking place over 3-4 February, with TWR preferring the trusted reliability of the 6.0-litre V12 for a 24-hour race over its new and unproven 3.0-litre V6 turbo in that year’s XJR-10, the team entered two examples of the XJR-12D, a development of the 1988 Le Mans-winning XJR-9. They were driven by Price Cobb, Martin Brundle and John Neilson (60) plus…

After the initial excitement about the Human Genome Project in the early 2000s, a harsh reality set in. Most diseases are governed not by one dodgy gene, but by the combination of hundreds of variants in our DNA that each raise or lower the risk of an illness – so-called polygenic conditions – by a tiny amount. Each gene variant tends to be rare, so finding them requires studies in hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of people. Complex equations are then used to turn the results of those hundreds of genetic variants into a single number for each condition, its polygenic score. An individual person’s score can be translated into their lifetime risk of developing a condition, compared with the average figure for someone of the same age, sex…

The TikTok ban and shutdown marked a historical event on the internet, comparable to the Wikileaks ban. The popular social media platform was banned due to unverified claims that it was collecting US citizens' data for the Chinese government. Although the platform is now back, the ban demonstrates the fragility of building digital platforms as commercial entities. The platform was no small player in the digital ecosystem. At the time of the ban, it boasted 170 million users in the US and billions worldwide, yet on January 19, it disappeared without a trace (in the US). It was an economic enabler for content creators. Young people relied on the platform to access information. The value of this platform is not debatable. So, how was it possible for it to be…

1 IMPLEMENT A POLICY Try using implementation intentions, which are “if/then” statements that give you clear guidelines for what to do in certain situations. For example, if you want to fit in more physical activity, tell yourself, “If it’s Monday at 7am, then I’ll walk outside”; “If it’s Tuesday at 8am, then I’ll go to the gym”; or “If I go into a building with stairs and an elevator, then I’ll take the stairs.” “You specify an action and a time or circumstances, so instead of asking, ‘Is this a good day to exercise?’ you’ll already have instructions in place,” explains Dr Grolnick. “It takes the question of motivation out of the moment.” 2 IDENTIFY PRACTICAL BARRIERS Figure out what’s keeping you from doing what you have to do and address…

PRETTY MUCH SINCE ITS INCEPTION, Waterfront Toronto (WT) made its home on one of the upper floors of a 1990s po-mo tower at the foot of Bay Street. Long and low-ceilinged, the unprepossessing space was bisected by an enlargeable boardroom and had all the charm of an accountant’s office. In January 2024, however, the public agency — which has spent the past 24 years redeveloping Toronto’s brownfield waterfront on behalf of all three levels of government — moved to a new headquarters: the T3 Bayside building, situated on a strategic site in the midst of one of its first large precincts to be built out, dubbed East Bayfront. Shorthand for “Timber, Talent and Technology,” T3 is a 10-storey heavy timber structure with double-volume spaces, open-concept bays and an abundance of…

File Under “Fresh Start” Brought to you by the Good Housekeeping Health Team Every January, most of us do some version of this search: We love the ambition! But of the 38% of us who make healthy resolutions, only 9% keep them all year, according to Drive Research. So here’s the plan: Read the first two sections (at right), then pick any of the others. Start with these ideas and look for much more at goodhousekeeping.com/health in January. START HERE! Research shows that setting goals boosts self-confidence and motivation, whether you want to cut down on scrolling or learn yoga. But the way you approach goals matters. Try these tips: Be specific. For example, instead of resolving to exercise more, your goal could be to walk two miles a day. That’s the first step of making your goal…

Think electric boat and odds are you’ll envision a catamaran covered stem to stern with solar panels, or a boat flying on foils. But the Sialia 57 Deep Silence doesn’t fit those descriptions. It looks more like a sleek Northern European weekend yacht, and it’s propelled by electric motors, batteries and a range extender. “We wanted a boat that goes fast and far on batteries. The idea is not to get compared to a normal electric boat, but to get compared to a boat, full stop,” says Sialia co-founder Tomasz Gackoski, an aerospace engineer. “It’s an electric boat with no compromises.” The two-stateroom 57 has all the bells and whistles you’d expect on any internal combustion-powered luxury yacht. The boat is the brainchild of Polish entrepreneur and Sialia CEO Stanislav…

I do find what the brain gets up to at night most odd. I don't think I am remotely artistic, but I have the weirdest dreams, especially when I am only half-asleep. I dream in vivid Technicolor and in the greatest possible detail. I watch, fascinated, as a parade of faces worthy of Rembrandt drifts by. Sometimes it's just eyes, noses or mouths that morph from one to the next. They are exquisitely drawn or painted. How did my brain do that, when I can barely draw a matchstick figure? It's like tripping on LSD. Only reliably pleasant and interesting, not scary. And then there's the ability of my night-time brain to concoct scenarios more complicated than The Lord of the Rings, and more gruesome than Bluebeard – all in,…

Just 40 minutes from Copenhagen, where the Danish royal family’s offcial residence Amalienborg is located, you’ll find Fredensborg. With its village-like atmosphere, tall trees and shimmering Esrum Lake, peace and tranquillity reign. Here is the Baroque Fredensborg Palace, and the publicly accessible Palace Garden, renowned as an example of Baroque garden design. Nearby is Chancellery House, the residence of the current royal couple, H.M. King Frederik X and H.M. Queen Mary. Behind Chancellery House, close to the forest, is an annex. Architecturally, it stands out from the white palace buildings as it is made of wood and has two distinct elements. One half has a rustic, blackened and primarily enclosed exterior, while the second is brown-oiled and transparent with glass walls that slide aside to merge outdoors and indoors. The…

Q: “I’m really struggling for motivation at the moment. I know there’s no quick answer but how can I set about trying to find it again?” Firstly, know you are not alone. Every athlete has, at some point, struggled to find their motivation, and it is far more common in winter when the outdoor season feels far away. When you are in this place there are two elements to think about: the getting going and embracing the day-to-day grind. To “get going” we can use the ABC of motivation. This is based on a concept called Self-Determination Theory. It highlights that while many of us start off in sport with extrinsic motivation (doing things for the outcomes or the external accolades), to maintain activity long term we really need intrinsic…

Hearing a lot about Lemon8 lately? You’re not the only one. Amid a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, content creators have been pushing the platform’s sister app. Lemon8 resembles an amalgamation of the types of short-form videos found on TikTok and the picture-perfect aesthetic of Instagram and Pinterest. Like its popular relation, Lemon8 is owned by China-based ByteDance, whose collection of internationally available apps also includes the video editing app CapCut and the photo and art editing app Hypic. In addition, the company operates Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules. Lemon8 launched in the U.S. in 2023, a few years after it first popped up in Asian markets. Though it garnered some media and user interest in its early days, the app hasn’t taken…

THE PANEL To select the games on the list, we had each voter below rank their personal top 50 and then assigned each game points, from 50 for a No. 1 vote down to one for No. 50 HOWARD BALZER Pro Football Hall of Fame voter; Cardinals beat writer, CardsWire JARRETT BELL Pro Football Hall of Fame voter; NFL columnist, USA Today CHRIS BERMAN NFL Studio Host, ESPN LES BOWEN Retired Eagles beat writer, Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer ALBERT BREER NFL senior writer, Sports Illustrated JOE BROWNE Former NFL senior executive JOEL BUSSERT Former NFL vice president of player personnel and football operations VIC CARUCCI Pro Football Hall of Fame voter; Sirius XM Radio cohost KEVIN CLARK Host of This is Football, ESPN JASON COLE Pro Football Hall of Fame voter; former NFL reporter, Yahoo Sports DAVE DAMESHEK NFL analyst and host, Shek Show CHARLES DAVIS NFL on CBS color commentator; NFL analyst, NFL…

The Ferrari 250GTO is the pinnacle. There are many who say that there is no more valuable car in the world and, given that outright competition cars tend to be worth less and neither of the pure Bugatti Atlantics is likely to slide on to the market any time soon, that would seem like fair comment. Certainly, this example here was the most expensive openly on sale at the time of writing. Irritated by all those adverts insisting ‘POA’? Well, here you know: £45million, or $54million. This 1962 car – nowadays the preferred variant by a mile, but for decades previously a million quid less desirable than the 1964 reshape – belongs to American collector Bernie Carl, who has owned chassis 3387GT for 20 years. It has history in spades,…

If you grew up in the 1980s, you might well have come home from school and watched the Dungeons & Dragons animated TV series. The show continues to enjoy a keen following today; so much so that action figures of the heroes and villains from the series have been produced by Super 7. At the cinema, 2023 saw the release of a lavishly realised feature film adaptation entitled Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, which found just the right balance between tension, spectacle, lore and humour. Beyond movies and TV, D&D designs have even adorned clothing ranges including Converse sneakers. The series has also ventured into video games, with recent release Baldur’s Gate 3, which uses D&D’s combat system, a major hit among critics. Neverwinter Nights, released in 2002, has…

The news was sensational. It travelled quickly among Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region. “I heard from a friend of a friend,” one officer, Vitalii Ovcharenko, recalled. “This was half an hour after it happened. My friend said: ‘We’ve got a North Korean prisoner! He’s in shock but OK.’ ” Ovcharenko added: “Everyone wanted a selfie. They wrapped him in a blanket and gave him tea.” This month’s capture of two North Korean servicemen was an extraordinary moment in Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine. The Kremlin has taken elaborate steps to conceal the presence of 12,000 elite troops sent in autumn by Pyongyang to Russia. At camps in the far east they were given Russian equipment: uniforms, rifles and fake military documents. The foreign soldiers received phoney Russian names.…

CRAFT The cycle of watchmaking in the post-quartz era seems to be taking a big round, trend-wise, to early wristwatches. The earliest examples of timekeepers made for wrist-wearing were designed as accessories and adorned with precious stones like fine or high jewellery for ladies. With compact movements and tiny dials that were often hidden away, they made the craft of gem-setting an integral component of fine watchmaking. In recent years, the watch-as-jewellery trend has resurged. Watch enthusiasts across the board view watches not just as instruments that tell time but as fine or high jewellery accessories that speak to their personal style. Today, the watch industry is filled with maisons that offer high jewellery timepieces that range from elegant and minimalist to opulent and captivating. One notable trend is in…

70% of Brits say they’re ‘fine’ on autopilot without thinking about how they’re really feeling*. With the constant demands of daily life, it can be easy to forget to take proper care of yourself or not realise something is wrong until a friend or family member asks if you’re OK. But, usually, there are telltale signs that your wellbeing is starting to waver. Whether you’re overeating, forgetting important dates or feeling sensitive to small changes, it might be time to look inward and take action so you can feel like your old self again. Here, our experts reveal the warning signs that your mental health might need attention and the simple lifestyle tips to regain control and improve your state of mind. Lack of interest in hobbies Losing the passion for…

Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350 an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 13, 2024–January 26, 2025, and the National Gallery, London, March 8–June 22, 2025. Catalog of the exhibition edited by Joanna Cannon with Caroline Campbell and Stephan Wolohojian. London: National Gallery Global, 311 pp., $50.00 (distributed by Yale University Press) Siena in the early fourteenth century was one of the world’s richest cities and home to some of the most influential artists in Europe. For two generations, up to the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348, its painters and sculptors engaged in a nonstop flurry of experimentation and innovation, changing almost all aspects of art, from the basic design of the altarpiece to the techniques of fresco and panel painting; perhaps most…

He was raised in a liberal Jewish-Catholic household in New York, but now Timothée Chalamet says he’s found a new religion. “Once I was in it, there was no coming back. I was fully in the Church of Bob,” he smiles, referring to being inspired by the life and music of Bob Dylan after portraying the music legend in new biopic A Complete Unknown. Timothée’s conversion came after five years learning how to sing, speak, and play guitar and harmonica like the Nobel Prize-winning songwriter, also making several visits to Bob’s Minnesota birthplace. Even his castmates were in awe of his dedication, with Elle Fanning – who plays Sylvie Russo (a fictionalised version of Bob’s girlfriend Suze Rotolo) – describing his transformation as becoming “Bobbed out”. Charting the musician’s rise…

The GitHub project page for Tucana describes it as “an ultra customisable distro built entirely from scratch”. The OS follows a semi-stable partially rolling release model. In practice, this seems to be that new releases are made every January and July. Tucana Linux is designed for operations such as patching the kernel, hosting repositories and building custom ISOs. If this is starting to sound familiar, it should be no surprise that lead developer Rahul Chandra is one of the maintainers of Linux From Scratch. This said, Tucana differs from LFS in some important ways. For starters, you can download a 2.6GB ISO to boot into a live environment. After loading the default KDE Plasma 6 desktop with a highly-artistic background, we fired up the Calamares installer. We were impressed to…

Should Apple ever release a crystal ball, we wouldn’t need to speculate about what the company is set to do over the coming months and years. We could simply gaze into the iBall, ask Siri to foresee the future, and tap and swipe on the 5K Retina spherical display to see the exciting products Apple can’t wait to show us. Apple Intelligence could then help us comprehend the information, and we could save it to iCloud for later. Until that day arrives, however, we must rely on traditional research to shed light on Apple’s anticipated releases in the coming months. By analyzing the past, monitoring current and future trends, seeking leaks, and considering analyst insights, we can make reasonably accurate predictions. Additionally, we can indulge our imagination, as Apple has…

Facebook used to have an internal corporate motto: “Move fast and break things.” “The idea,” founder Mark Zuckerberg explained in a 2012 letter to investors, “is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.” The company, now known as Meta, dropped the slogan in 2014. But it seems that Zuckerberg – who kicked off the year by announcing an end to fact-checking on Facebook, Threads and Instagram – still doesn’t care what he breaks. The sites will do away with moderation that identified and discouraged misinformation, the owner of the social tech giant Meta said last week, in favour of a community notes-style system like that used on Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter. This, he said, is in the pursuit of free speech and a rejection…

Spaces below ground provide universal design challenges like little to no natural light and fixed structural elements, but these intrepid homeowners were undeterred. Interior designer Ryan Rabuska had a refined vision for the basement of his Wolcott, CT, home. He imagined a swanky lounge for watching movies with his fiancé, Jeff Pelletier. “We figured since there were no windows, we might as well lean into the dark,” Ryan says of the space he transformed with gallons of paint, yards of velvet curtains, and plenty of DIY ingenuity. “I WASN’T AFRAID OF ALL THE BLACK BECAUSE I KNEW IN THE END I WAS GOING TO LIGHTEN THE LOOK WITH TEXTILES AND REFLECTIVE FINISHES.”—RYAN RABUSKA, homeowner The couple’s basement lounge isn’t just strategically dark, it’s light-years away from what it was. Although the room…

ROAST BEEF SLIDERS I love to cook big Sunday dinners for my family when time allows, and almost better than the dinner is finding new and tasty ways to re-purpose the leftovers. This recipe is a great way to use up extra roast beef. For an even more savory flavor (if that’s possible!), use a smoked variety of cheese. —Shannon Dobos, Calgary, AB Prep: 20 min. • Bake: 25 min. Makes: 1 dozen 1 Tbsp. olive oil1 Tbsp. medium onion, thinly sliced3 Tbsp. mayonnaise2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish1 pkg. (12 oz.) Hawaiian sweet rolls1 lb. shredded cooked roast beef6 slices cheddar or mozzarella cheese3 Tbsp. butter, melted1 Tbsp. everything seasoning blend 1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir until…

Why is the most sensible course of action often the most difficult? When we’re totally consumed by a problem, frequently the healthiest thing to do is to step away, give ourselves space, and then return to the situation with a fresh perspective. Yet disentangling ourselves from an emotive issue can feel impossible: we feel too far down the hole to climb out, so instead we ruminate. But, according to experts, moving to a different physical or emotional landscape is key in helping us harness the power of perspective. This step back can be as a simple as finding a change of scenery, or chatting an issue over with friends who are a step removed from the matter. We return to the situation with a calmer outlook and with more rational…

It's not cheap, and it's not for the shy, but American custom builder Apocalypse has just shown off its latest 6X6 build. Owners and enthusiasts of Land Rover's Defender – and in particular the current version – will either be drooling uncontrollably or shouting in fury right about now. Apocalypse Manufacturing's Defender 6x6 is the first such six-wheel-drive build off the 21st Century unibody Defender. It's called ‘Apocalypse World Ender,’ which shortens down to ‘AWE'. Company founder and CEO Joseph Ghattas is pretty pleased with it. “This vehicle represents the culmination of our expertise in creating durable, high-performance, ultra-luxury machines designed to eat the legendary Mercedes G-Wagon 6x6's lunch.” This isn't the first six-wheel-drive vehicle Apocalypse has built, but it is the most luxurious. The team wanted to keep all…

For those of us who grew up on the Westside, an apocalypse was always on our minds. We couldn’t help it. We lived in the shadow of Mike Davis and Joan Didion, who loomed in the air like a pair of sour, secular saints. “The city burning is Los Angeles’s deepest image of itself,” Didion wrote, and we believed it, not without reason. The city has burned, after all, at various historical flash points — the Watts Riots, the 1992 Uprising, the sundry Malibu fires over the years — and the image has reinscribed itself upon us over and over, as in Ed Ruscha’s legendary 1968 painting The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire. It’s almost like this city expected to burn, or as if — before it actually happened…

A WALL OF bright signs warn me before I step closer: “Dangerous Animals – Do Not Touch”. As I carefully inch closer to the aquarium tank, I notice that sitting inside in a shell is an inconspicuous animal no bigger than a golf ball. A series of striking, metallic blue markings appear magically over its body, and it stretches its rubber-like arms to close the two shell pieces together, vanishing from view. “Meet the most intelligent invertebrate on the planet,” Dr Wen-Sung Chung announces as he proudly introduces his “blueys” – blue-lined octopuses – that form part of his research. He’s studying the nervous system and behaviour of cephalopods, the group of molluscs that includes octopuses and squids. Despite their appearance, these tiny little blueys can be deadly, especially if you’re…

“Is the Trump coalition coming apart before the Trump administration even begins?” It’s beginning to look like it, said Timothy Noah in The New Republic. While most of us were enjoying the Christmas break with our families, the president-elect’s Silicon Valley backers were engaged in a protracted war of words on X/Twitter with the anti-immigrant wing of the Maga movement. The uproar began after Trump named the Indian-born venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his policy adviser on artificial intelligence. This prompted a vicious attack on Krishnan by the arch-Trumpist Laura Loomer, who condemned him for saying the US should grant more visas to high-skilled foreign guest workers. America didn’t need more“third-world invaders from India”, she said. As other Maga faithful echoed Loomer’s grievance, Elon Musk hit back, arguing that the…

One day after Bloomberg’s initial report, it’s now official: The Department of Justice has requested that the judge in the antitrust case order Google to divest itself of the Chrome browser. The prosecutors are also suggesting that Google be forced to offer its search result data to competitors in a syndication model and no longer bundle Search with the Android mobile operating system. The original story continues below. Back in August a U.S. federal court found Google guilty of violating anti-trust laws, and the fallout could be the biggest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T and Bell way back in the 1980s. But exactly what the enforcement action will look like is still very much up in the air. Recent reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice is going…

AS KNITTERS, we often spend our time dreaming of our next project, contemplating our unfinished projects, and pondering whether it’s wise to add yet more yarn to our stash – but we don’t often spend time considering why we knit. It’s this question that has captured the imagination of Dr Mia Hobbs, a London based clinical psychologist, passionate knitter, and the founder of the Why I Knit podcast. Since starting the podcast in 2021, Mia has explored the positive impact that knitting can have on our wellbeing and mental health, and has even begun to incorporate therapeutic knitting into her own practice. Each episode of Why I Knit focuses on the personal story of a knitter, delving into the motivations behind their craft and the impact it has had on…

As the most destructive fires in the history of Los Angeles continued to rage, stars including Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal watched helplessly as their homes burnt, while Jamie Lee Curtis led fundraising efforts and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex pledged to help. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated as unprecedented fires, fuelled by high winds, spread flames over world-famous neighbourhoods including Pacific Palisades. Socialite and DJ Paris, 43, said she was “heartbroken beyond words” to see her family’s Malibu home “burn to the ground on live TV”. She posted a video of herself standing by the wreckage, writing: “The heartbreak is indescribable. When I saw the news, I was in shock. But now, seeing it with my own eyes, it feels like my heart has shattered into…

ARTIFICIAL intelligence models really can help spot cancer, according to the largest study of its kind, which found using AI helped radiologists identify an extra 1 in 1000 cases of breast cancer. Alexander Katalinic at the University of Lübeck, Germany, and his colleagues worked with almost 200 certified radiologists to test an AI trained to identify signs of breast cancer from mammograms. The radiologists examined 461,818 women across 12 breast cancer screening sites in Germany between July 2021 and February 2023, and for each person could choose whether or not to use AI. This resulted in 260,739 being checked by AI plus a radiologist, with the remaining 201,079 women checked by a radiologist alone. “The technology is ready; we now need policymakers to accelerate AI adoption in breast screening” Those…

Mobile gaming has become a dominant force in the entertainment industry, with billions of people around the world enjoying games on their smartphones. From puzzle games to action-packed shooters, the sheer variety of games available means there’s something for everyone. Some mobile games have managed to carve out long-lasting niches in the gaming world, with their popularity and download numbers soaring. Here are 10 of the top mobile games of all time by downloads—all free-to-play—that continue to grow their followings and keep players coming back for more. Subway Surfers Downloads: 2.7 billion+ Platform: iOS, Android, Windows Phone Subway Surfers is one of the most iconic endless runner games on mobile. Players control a mischievous young character who is caught spray-painting graffiti and must run along subway tracks to escape from…