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Young, black and fuelled by self-help mantras, they were reputedly the best live band on Earth. As their wild first sessions are rereleased, the group talk about scaring club owners – and getting kicked out of the UK Old punks might not agree on much – who was first, who was fastest, where to file the Faith/Void split LP in their record collection – but for those who saw them in their prime, Bad Brains were, unequivocally, the best live band on the planet. YouTube footage bears this out: frontman HR, born Paul D Hudson, is equal parts straining sinew and raw electricity as he bucks and contorts, punctuating rapid-fire snarls and otherworldly croons with impeccably timed backflips. The band surge around him, forging blisteringly fast punk informed by everything from the Damned and Dead Boys to P-Funk, Stevie Wonder and Chick Corea’s Return to Forever. Young, black and fuelled by an ideology that united the 1930s self-help mantras of Napoleon Hill with Rastafari, they were outliers in the already outre 70s punk scene. But while Bad Brains helped change the face of American punk as it morphed into hardcore in the early 80s, and inspired artists as diverse as Rage Against the Machine, Deftones, Lil Jon, the Roots and Beastie Boys, defeat was never far from glory as they balanced feted live performances and a scintillating run of records with an excruciating capacity for self-sabotage. Continue reading...

In an exclusive excerpt from his new oral history, comedian Andy Richter — who has a small part in the movie — retraces the unlikely birth of the 2003 holiday hit.

Ahead of the release of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI, Nintendo is launching its own fall juggernaut: a Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The remake, which is releasing 28 years after the launch of the original version on Nintendo 64, has a much more realistic visual style and […]

With the midterms now upon us, polls continue to suggest that we’re headed for a blue wave election. One thing that might stop it is if Republican voters come out in big numbers on Election Day. But is MAGA even united behind their candidates? And do they have a plan to motivate a base that […]

Credit to Arsenal for restricting opportunities at Anfield but Iraola will need his side to learn to unpick low backlines Liverpool did not have a shot on target in their 1-0 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday, according to Opta, the first time they have drawn this type of blank in a Premier League game at Anfield since records began in 2003-04. They did not find the target in a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium this year either, though in both games they struck the woodwork. The margins tend to be fine when recording statistical outliers. If Alexis Mac Allister’s floated ball from distance into David Raya’s waiting arms had actually counted as a shot, would Andoni Iraola’s side have delivered a markedly better attacking performance? Far more concerning for the Spaniard will be that his team had 52 touches in the Arsenal penalty area (which is good) to create only one Opta‑defined big chance (which is bad). The Premier League average this season is five times more efficient; 10.3 box touches per big chance. Continue reading...

There were protests at Old Trafford and even though two academy products stood out, Michael Carrick’s future is far from safe Green and yellow balloons bobbed around the Stretford End. Tennis balls rained down on the pitch in protest at the chronic, enduringly cinematic decline presided over by Manchester United’s ownership. Then came a reminder of the humble football’s extraordinary power to bend history, minds and wills. United’s players departed victorious having somehow won the game within the game, separating themselves from the fog of unhappy context swirling on all sides and turning the second half into its own soaring, ripping story for the ages. Will it be enough to save Michael Carrick, who was once again serenaded when minds wandered from the joint scourges of the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe? If Aston Villa defend a shade more competently than Roma on Sunday then perhaps not. United have led their supporters, remarkable in their tenor of backing for players and head coach here, up more than enough false peaks over the past 13 years. Arguably, that is one reason for Carrick being given the job on a permanent basis. Continue reading...

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: A year ago, Germany’s vice-chancellor was one of the country’s best-liked public figures. Then came the tabloid-driven backlash. Now he has to win the argument all over again By Philip Oltermann. Read by Sam Peter Jackson Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Continue reading...

Brendan Larsen spent hours taking hundreds of photographs of the sky over a mountain in New Zealand A photograph showing thousands of satellites cross-hatching the night sky over New Zealand appeared so extraordinary the astrophotographer who captured it is fighting accusations it was created by AI. To create his spectacular image – now viewed millions of times online – Brendan Larsen spent two hours in September snapping hundreds of photographs of the night sky over Mount Taranaki in the North Island. Continue reading...

While robot dogs feel like old news now, setting them the challenge of racing up more than 3,000 uneven stone steps on the side of a mountain is more than just to show off what machines with legs can do. It's a huge lesson in their training. Continue Reading Category: AI and Humanoids, Technology Tags: China, Beijing, Unitree, Future Robot, Mountain, step-count, Outdoor Technology

According to Chris Phillips, Google's vice president and general manager for education, K-12 schools will soon have to fully embrace the company's AI services or lose student access to its web search engine. Read Entire Article

In recent years, some of the most vocal tradwives have left their husbands, renounced their religious faith and promoted financial independence. What is behind this sudden and seismic shift? When Bernadine Bluntly posted a video earlier this year renouncing the tradwife movement she had championed, it caused shockwaves through the “alt-right” social media world. Previously, posts of her and her six children had flooded feeds as the Maga movement gained ground. She was one of the defiantly anti-feminist influencers who promoted a return to patriarchal gender roles, pronatalist ideals and fundamentalist Christian values – particularly around the sanctity of marriage. Bluntly, whose real surname is Barber, had, in the past, sold T-shirts reading “RIP Feminism”, supported Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court and developed a course, Simply Smitten, to help young women attract husbands who were “traditional masculine men”. Then, last year, she left her husband. Her divorce was finalised this year. In the proceedings, she got a restraining order against her ex, whom she said was abusive (he denies this). In April, the 36-year-old posted a video titled: “What I got wrong about the trad movement”, in which she said that, while she is still a Christian and believes in the differences between men and women: “I no longer believe in extreme gender roles, especially when they’re wrapped in spiritual language and used to justify control, silence or harm.” She said that the tradwife movement, one she initially thought was about a “return to strong family values”, has “become indistinguishable from the current wave of the red-pill manosphere”. She concluded: “If my past content contributed to that, I am so genuinely sorry.” Continue reading...

Foden: ‘You have to keep putting on performances’ Enzo Maresca: ‘We cannot rely on Erling for every game’ Phil Foden is aiming for an England recall after the Manchester City attacker was left out of the squad for last summer’s World Cup and the Nations League games this season by Thomas Tuchel. While the next round of England games in the competition – the squad for which will be named on Friday – may come too soon for a recall, Foden wants to force his way back into Tuchel’s plans. The 26-year-old said: “Hopefully, one day the call-up might come back. It’s one of those things [being dropped]. Football is full of ups and downs. You have to try your best, keep putting on performances.” Continue reading...

Donald Tusk is attempting to restore legitimacy to the country’s constitutional court. In a polarised country and continent, that carries political risks The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, must occasionally look towards Budapest and sigh. A landslide victory in elections last spring enabled Hungary’s new prime minister, Péter Magyar, to act with ruthless determination to clean up the country’s politics after 16 years of corrupt Orbánisation. Mr Tusk, whose centrist coalition ousted the far-right Law and Justice party (PiS) in 2023, is similarly taking on the legacy of a government which undermined the rule of law and democratic norms. But his efforts have been relentlessly boxed in by the blocking tactics of Poland’s (PiS)‑backed president, Karol Nawrocki. At the weekend, this standoff escalated into a crisis with wider implications for the European Union as well as Poland itself. Exasperated by Mr Nawrocki’s attempts to veto the appointment of new judges to the country’s constitutional court – which has been illegitimately dominated since 2015 by PiS‑friendly appointees – Mr Tusk backed the enforced appointment of a new head, and the suspension of the court’s president and vice‑president. Extraordinary scenes followed, as rightwing demonstrators massed outside the court building in the early hours of Saturday morning and Mr Nawrocki pushed past security forces to protest. Continue reading...

After a huge summer and with PSG’s other rivals falling away, their city rivals are aiming to ‘be one of the biggest clubs in Europe’ By Get French Football News It is hard to know what Pierre Ferracci found stranger: the fact that he was fully suited among a set of bare-chested Paris FC ultras singing his name or that, behind him, in what was the final game of his presidency, his side were playing Monaco off the park. “I didn’t see any of the first 15 minutes of the game because I was with the ultras,” he admitted. On the pitch as well as in the stands was evidence of how far his side has come since he joined back in 2006. At that time, Les Parisiens were in the amateur third tier of French football. He initially arrived in an administrative function before becoming owner and president in 2012. It wasn’t until 2016 that his side reached Ligue 2. Continue reading...

Ibstock has issued a thumping profits warning, with sales 22% below expectations in the third quarter With John Healey’s Your First Home scheme on the way, is the mood improving in the housebuilding sector? A couple of the builders have results later this week, so can speak for themselves. In the meantime, though, here’s a thumping profits warning from Ibstock, the country’s biggest brickmaker, to spread a little more gloom. Demand hit a brick wall in the summer, as the company could have put it. Industry data, said Ibstock, show UK brick market volumes down 17% year-on-year in July and August. For the whole of the third quarter, it said, sales were 22% below expectations, forcing a one-fifth cut in its production volumes versus plans set out as recently as August. Continue reading...

The Texan could pull off a historic victory in the Lone Star state, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1988 When a young, untested former school teacher stood up to address a modest gathering of local donors in Austin, the state capital of Texas, Wendy Davis felt sorry for him. “Poor kid,” she remembers thinking. Then James Talarico began speaking. “He was like five or six sentences in and I knew that something was different about him,” recalls Davis, a former Democratic state senator. “He was as articulate and unique then as he is now. From that day, I started calling him ‘Baby Obama’.” Continue reading...

Devon nature reserve says ‘reckless’ theft of narrow-headed ant colony sets back years of conservation work A nest containing up to 5,000 of England’s rarest ant species has been stolen from a nature reserve, a conservation charity has said. Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said a nest of narrow-headed ants had been dug up and taken from Chudleigh Knighton Heath nature reserve in south Devon, which is the last place in England where the species still exists. Continue reading...

Socialist deputy Laurent Lhardit's amendment passed the National Assembly by just 11 votes to 10. In fact, only 35 of the chamber's 577 deputies were even in the room at the time. Both the government and the budget's own rapporteur had advised against it, too. Read Entire Article

The Miami Hurricanes claimed the No. 1 spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings, with Georgia, Utah, Indiana and Alabama rounding out the top five teams.

Favourites for promotion sit eighth in Championship Key figures at club losing patience with manager Nuno Espírito Santo’s future at West Ham is under threat after a disappointing start to the season. West Ham are struggling to live up to their billing as Championship favourites and dropped to eighth after losing 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. West Ham are intent on an instant return to the Premier League after Nuno failed to save them from relegation last season, but the setback against West Brom put another dent in their promotion push. West Ham occupy the final playoff spot after consecutive defeats at home and are four points below second placed Swansea. Nuno is expected to be given time to turn the situation around but key figures have become increasingly impatient. The manager faced unrest from supporters during the West Brom game. Continue reading...

Anthropic has updated Claude Code's system prompt to prevent the AI tool from being used to recreate existing video games, as reported by Tom's Hardware. Retro gaming is currently being overrun with AI-made decompilations, recompilations, and ports, but while Anthropic will still let people use Claude Code to make games, it doesn't want people to […]

“Honoring Hinds’s legacy does not require rewriting the agreements governing his business interests,” write attorneys for the heavy metal band in a new court filing.