lifestyle
I've been stuck on a tiny Pacific island for years and can't get a transit visa to fly home
Ruchira Ranasingha, 50, has been stranded in the Cook Islands since 2023 and wants to return to Sri Lanka.
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lifestyle
Losing our baby shaped us in ways we never expected
The excitement of welcoming their first baby quickly turned to devastation for Heidy and Robert. But the couple say they have grown around the grief of losing their son.
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Yaga review – this erotic witchy thriller starring Hudson Williams is a total head-messer
And Carrie-Anne Moss is fantastic as a horny author – who might have supernatural powers Well, here’s an unexpected answer to the question of what Hudson Williams did next: the overnight megastar created by the smash-hit success of Heated Rivalry (hot young men bang each other for seven episodes, emotional connection also glossed, intermittent hockey scenes) appears as two characters in the spooky thriller Yaga. Williams plays Henry Park, the missing scion of a powerfully rich family in the spooky Canadian coastal town of Whittock, and Henry’s spookily looky-likey roommate Logan, who lives in…
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Ex-AFL star's spirit company is soaring, including in Asia
Former Kangaroos and Port Adelaide footballer Daniel Motlop's spirit company uses ingredients that some might regard as left-field, but it's breaking into the Asian market and is turning its focus to Europe.
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The moment I knew: He loved to travel, I had a fear of flying. I expected him to skol his beer and wish me well
On Danni Smith’s first date with Kev, she made a few disclosures and expected him to skol his beer and wish her well – but his response surprised her Find more stories from the moment I knew series In September 2023 I’d been divorced for about a year. It was Kev’s smile and his eyes that caught my attention.
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The Ultimate Guide to African Beauty: Skincare and haircare products worth exploring
From the nourishing shea butter used for generations in West Africa to the lightweight botanical oils inspired by African plants, beauty traditions across Africa offer plenty of inspiration for anyone looking to care for their skin and hair.
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Strictly Come Dancing Halloween special – live
It’s the annual spooktacular – with three pairs at risk of fighting for survival in the first ever triple-off. Insert your joke shop fangs and nibble on someone’s neck.
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Students bake cakes as part of four-year UG programme on Food, Literature and Culture
The activity brought together culinary practice and cultural learning, offering students an engaging opportunity to explore the relationship between food, literature and culture beyond the confines of the classroom
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A-listers and AI stylists: how high-street brands are staging a fashion comeback
Gap, M&S, Topshop and more are taking a leaf from luxury label playbooks to satisfy savvier generation of shoppers High street brands that boomed in the noughties before the squeeze of both sustainably minded consumers and the rise of ultra-cheap online labels are staging a comeback. This time, rather than focusing solely on trend-led affordable designs, the names familiar to any shopper are courting luxury fashion, A-list collaborations and enhanced services in an attempt to engage consumers.
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‘Was I not enough?’: care worker barred from meeting home secretary
Nigerian care worker Kolade says he was left in tears after being excluded from talks with Shabana Mahmood over proposed changes to immigration system Kolade had carefully prepared what he would tell the home secretary about the elderly people he cares for, the life his family had built in Britain and how her immigration proposals could threaten both. The meeting with Shabana Mahmood had already been rescheduled twice.
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Saudi Arabia imposes Ebola-related travel bans on Kenya as countries tighten controls
Riyadh’s restrictions target people arriving from Kenya or those who have recently travelled...
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A skipped shift, a dinner at home: Chance decisions that saved some workers from Mangolpuri factory fire
While some workers survived after deciding not to return for the night shift or stepping out for dinner, four others died after smoke engulfed the shoe factory; families recall the final moments that changed their lives.
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Studios destroyed, traditions saved: Artists fight to save Sudan’s culture
Artists in Sudan are working to save culture and traditions amid the country's war.
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Jump scares, leather gloves and squeaking moth noises: theatre horror masters on how they make their shows so scary
Whether it’s immersive chiller Blackout or the campily scary 2:22: A Ghost Story, ‘tis the season to be scared witless at the theatre. “It’s the Jaws effect,” says Chris Fisher, the illusions designer behind the stage show of Paranormal Activity (at London Ambassador’s theatre to 27 February, and touring the UK), which had me sheepishly checking under my bed for several nights and stopped just short of nightmares.
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‘This is a robust recipe’: the experimental farm bucking the decline in UK birds
Allerton Project attracts abundant wildlife and its success can offers clues to reversing the sharp drop in populations Farmer Alastair Leake is standing in a field of sprouting winter wheat, pointing at his experiment. “When we’re watching to see where the birds are landing to feed, none of them are going on to the ploughed side,” says Leake, the director of the Allerton Project farm, standing on the trashy side.
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‘A gust of wind blowing back her hair added something special’: Mark McEvoy’s best phone picture
This Margate shop is now an ice-cream parlour, but back in 2014 it was a vintage clothes store. Mark McEvoy, who had relocated from London the previous year with his partner and baby daughter, approached the young woman to ask permission to take this shot.
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Gujarat HC Judge strikes down ban on non-veg food sale in Somnath; two-Judge Bench stays her order
A division Bench stayed the judgment of Justice Nisha Thakore following an urgent appeal moved by the Gujarat Government, and directed that the Collector's notification banning the sale of non-veg food will continue for now
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Unseen Harry Houdini writing published on 100th anniversary of his death
Strand magazine to feature never-before-seen article from Hungarian-born escapologist who was also a prolific author Unseen writing by Harry Houdini, the world’s most renowned escapologist and illusionist, is being published in the US on Saturday, the 100th anniversary of his death. As well as being famous for his magic acts and quest to expose fake mediums and spiritualists before he died in 1926 at the age of 52, Houdini, whose real name was Eric Weisz, was a prolific author, with more than two dozen books, short stories and plays to his name.
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‘It really was the idiots in charge’: inside the TV sketch show that launched a generation of stars
It influenced The Simpsons and sparked the careers of Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy and many others. Now this extraordinary Canadian series is finally getting its due SCTV – short for Second City Television – is one of most influential comedy shows ever created.
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Thou shalt not build nine storeys: Uproar over Prophet Owuor’s church plan in affluent Runda
Thirteen local institutions and homeowner groups in Runda have filed a joint objection to block...
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What we’re reading: Ian Rankin, Louise Kennedy and Guardian readers on the books they enjoyed in October
Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments I’m a huge fan of Muriel Spark, but wasn’t sure I needed another biography of her, yet James Bailey’s Like a Cat Loves a Bird was a winning blend of detail and readability.
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‘Being hated is very bracing’: Helen Garner on surviving three marriages and being called a ‘rotten feminist’
The author discusses relationships, resilience – and finding global recognition five decades into her career A few years ago, when Helen Garner had an idea to write a book about Australian rules football, her heart soared then immediately sank. Instead, says Garner, she envisaged following a single season of Ambrose’s U16s team, the Flemington Colts, as “a nanna’s book”.
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‘I felt bad for my exes’: Awkwafina on making deeply personal TV – with her grandma
Especially because we are meeting to discuss her new series on Apple TV, Awkwafina: It sees the star of box-office hits Crazy Rich Asians and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings travel across the US to learn from a new generation of Asian American chefs, in the hope that she might revive her own family’s long-closed Cantonese restaurant.
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10 spine-chilling places to visit in Britain for Halloween
Ghostly shipwrecks, an abandoned nuclear bunker, a haunted folly … we dare you to visit these weird and ghoulishly eerie sites A derelict, 24-metre tall redbrick and flint folly outside Chichester, Racton Monument (known locally as Racton Ruin) is said to be one of the most haunted places in Sussex and has been the site of many paranormal investigations. George Montagu Dunk, the second Earl of Halifax, commissioned the folly, but there is no conclusive account as to why he had it built.