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The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:19 (1 week ago)

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for orzo with peas, broad beans, asparagus, parmesan and lemon | A kitchen in Rome

A deliciously rustic, risotto-style pasta using seasonal spring veg and finished with butter, parmesan and lemon zest

I am in more or less the same position as with last week’s recipe, only this time the pods contain broad beans, which are slightly easier to read than peas. This is because the pods are longer and become softer and floppier as they age, so you can see and feel if the beans inside are large and hard, which, like peas, is because their sugar has turned to starch, and which makes them more suited to longer cooking. The other thing about broad beans is their opaque jackets, which thicken as the beans age and get more bitter, but they can be removed by picking them off with a nail, or by dunking the beans in hot water for a minute, then in cold water and squeezing the jackets off and across the worktop. Even older, larger beans can be enjoyed raw or lightly cooked; they are brighter, too, like green tiddlywinks.

As well as dealing with pods, I have been reading about broad beans in recipe books and stories, looking out in particular for references to how they are consumed in spring, which in Italy is often alongside young sheep’s cheese – a great combination, as is broad beans and lancashire cheese. It turns out, though, that the mentions I have enjoyed most are to be found in England, and in George Eliot’s Adam Bede. One instance is when Adam, having walked past the leafy walls of scarlet beans, late peas and bushy filberts, strides over a “superfluity of broad beans” in Mrs Poyser’s garden; another when he eats cold broad beans out of a large dish with his pocket knife, and finds a flavour that he would not exchange for the finest pineapple.

The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:19 (1 week ago)

You’ve heard the king’s speech – but I think a better one might run like this | David Blunkett

If I were in government I’d propose a very different response to the challenges we face – starting with protecting people from the cost of living

• David Blunkett was Labour home secretary from 2001 to 2004

While I welcome many measures in the king’s speech, an alternative might look something like this.

My lords, and members of the Commons: my government is committed to winning back the support of the British people and demonstrating that they are “on the side” of those who are working – or who have worked – hard to make ends meet.

David (Lord) Blunkett was Labour home secretary from 2001 to 2004

The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:18 (1 week ago)

Most famous image of JMW Turner not a self-portrait, says expert

Painting that inspired depiction on £20 note more likely the work of John Opie, says Romantic artist’s biographer

In 2020, Tate Britain hosted the launch of a new £20 banknote bearing representations of The Fighting Temeraire by JMW Turner and the artist’s most famous self-portrait. Now a leading expert has said the latter work, part of the Tate collection, is not by Turner at all.

Dr James Hamilton, who has published books on Turner and staged exhibitions at museums and galleries nationwide, said that while the painting does depict the English Romantic painter, it is likely to be the work of his contemporary, John Opie.

The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:18 (1 week ago)

Rise in sickle cell disease prompts NHS call for more Black blood donors

Exclusive: Demand for blood to treat the rare disorder has soared by 132% in 10 years

Demand for blood needed to treat rare disorders such as sickle cell has soared by more than 130% in 10 years, forcing the NHS to ask for more donors to come forward.

Requests for haemoglobin S (HbS)-negative blood, the type most used in blood transfusions for sickle cell anaemia patients, stood at 82,181 units in 2015. But last year, more than 191,000 units were needed, a 132% increase.

The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:17 (1 week ago)

And did those feet in ancient time: walking Britain’s oldest paths

There are few places where history can be felt more powerfully than these pathways, walked by explorer, author and TV presenter Nicholas Crane

How often do you look down and wonder who created the path your feet are following? Or ask the cause of its curves and dips? Formed over thousands of years, paths form an “internet of feet” – a web of bridleways and hollow ways, drove roads and ridgeways, coffin tracks, pilgrimage trails and city pavements. Whether you’re hiking a National Trail or pottering along a National Trust footpath, there’s a good chance you’re following ancestral steps.

It’s thoughts like these that led me on a journey to track the evolution of British paths for my book, The Path More Travelled. Eleven thousand years ago ice age hunter-gatherers arrived from Europe’s heartlands, moving through the wilderness along broad “routeways”, that later widened to tracks when horses and then wheels were adopted in the bronze age. For more than 2,000 years, traffic moved no faster than the speed of a horse, until the internal combustion engine drove pedestrians off the road just over a century ago.

The Guardian - World News

2026-05-14 01:00:17 (1 week ago)

As the right moves in on antisemitism, where does that leave the Jewish left?

After Reform politicians were cheered and progressive rabbis booed at rally against antisemitism, some fear longstanding alliances are fracturing

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, the co-leader of Progressive Judaism, admitted she felt apprehensive before speaking at last weekend’s central London rally against antisemitism.

As she addressed the crowd, there were some boos. It wasn’t the first time – last year, on a similar stage outside Downing Street, Baginsky and her fellow co-lead, Rabbi Josh Levy, were jeered off stage.

Al Jazeera - Top Stories

2026-05-14 00:52:40 (1 week ago)

Kyiv building collapses after Russian strike, reportedly trapping residents

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles, damaging several buildings.

Times of India

2026-05-14 00:46:37 (1 week ago)

After hantavirus, now norovirus? How a gut bug forced a France cruise ship into lockdown

French authorities have eased restrictions on the cruise ship Ambition after confirming a viral gastrointestinal outbreak, not hantavirus, sickened dozens. Around 80 passengers and crew experienced symptoms, with no severe cases reported. A passenger's death was attributed to a heart attack, unrelated to the illness. The ship, carrying over 1,700 people, was temporarily restricted as a precaution.

Al Jazeera - Top Stories

2026-05-14 00:46:35 (1 week ago)

Trump, Xi speak ahead of talks to make relations ‘better than ever’

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump say they’re looking forward to US-China talks.

Fox News - Video

2026-05-14 00:42:32 (1 week ago)

Health experts say there’s reason to be calm amid hantavirus concerns

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel explains what sets the hantavirus apart from COVID-19 on ‘The Ingraham Angle.'

Fox News - Top Stories

2026-05-14 00:34:15 (1 week ago)

Shakira, Madonna and BTS co-headline first-ever World Cup Final halftime show

BTS, Madonna and Shakira will perform at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final halftime show, curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin, the first ever for the tournament.

Fox News - Video

2026-05-14 00:34:05 (1 week ago)

Video shows undercover officer shoot man who made threats with fake gun

North Carolina authorities announced undercover officers were justified in shooting a man who made threats with a fake gun at a convenience store. (Gastonia Police Department)