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It was just like old times as José Mourinho ended a night at Camp Nou with a knee slide and three points José Mourinho had already done the por qué?, the printout and the press conference no-show in under 100 days. Now he’s done a knee slide too, and in the perfect place: back where it all began and where it can all begin again. When Kylian Mbappé scored the first in the clásico on Sunday night, Real Madrid’s manager hardly moved, sitting in the shadow of the bench – but when the striker got the second to win it with time running out, that was different. Mourinho leapt into the light, throwing himself to the grass, the knees of a 63-year-old’s trousers muddy as a schoolboy’s, stuck his tongue out and pumped his fists. He does so love it when a plan comes together. To the right of him, the bench was emptying, subs joining the players in sprinting towards the south-west corner. As they leapt about, dodging the bottles thrown towards them from the end, way, way up in the furthest corner and stuck inside a glass box like a bunch of David Blaines, the small group of Madrid fans who had come were going mad. In the main stand, a thousand phones were raised. And 600 kilometres west, back in Boadilla, Thibaut Courtois was watching his teammates from the sofa at home, presumably wrapped in a blanket and cradling a cup of Lemsip. On the morning of the biggest game there is, he awoke with flu, forced to miss out. Continue reading...

Real Madrid forward was dropped by brands for comments Chinese media generally steered clear of outlining It’s been a bad start to the week for the Kylian Mbappé. The France forward missed out on joining the elite roster of Ballon d’Or winners and instead became the latest high-profile addition to a far less illustrious list – that of foreign brands and individuals charged with “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people”. The saga began when a video of the Real Madrid player making light of a meme involving him and China’s former leader Mao Zedong began spreading. Continue reading...

As a new film about Sherpa Tenzing Norgay is released, we visit Pen-Y-Gwryd, the Snowdonia hotel that served as British ‘base camp’ for the 1953 expedition and where the spirit of adventure lives on In the early hours of 2 June 1953, guests at the Pen-Y-Gwryd hotel in the heart of Eryri (Snowdonia) were woken from their sleep by the sound of footsteps running down the corridor outside their rooms. The commotion was followed by gleeful shouting and the sound of champagne corks popping. A late-night telephone call to the hotel’s owner had moments earlier confirmed that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had successfully summited Mount Everest. It had taken two days for the news to travel from the Himalayas to London. Serendipitously, news of the historic achievement coincided with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II later that day. In the days and weeks that followed, the two mountaineers were feted across the front pages of newspapers around the world. Posing awkwardly for the cameras, their beaming smiles shone out of frost-burnt faces. In the decades that followed, Tenzing Norgay’s role in the expedition was increasingly marginalised – he was a Sherpa, indigenous to the area, and the load-carrying guide, while Hillary firmly planted his ice axe in the history books. Continue reading...

For decades the idea of eugenics has been taboo. Now it is returning in a new commercial guise For a very long time, I dreamed of being cured. I was born in 1981. I learned to walk early enough, but I stumbled and fell more easily than other children. My parents began to worry that something was wrong, that my muscles were weaker than they should be. Eventually, at the age of three, I was diagnosed with a form of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In the 1980s, the precise mechanics were not yet understood, but the condition was known to be hereditary, probably linked to a recessive gene. It was also known to be progressive. As I aged, my muscles would not keep pace. At eight, I began to use a wheelchair for longer distances. By the time I was 18, I rarely walked outdoors any more. It is hard to be young and to know that you are growing weaker rather than stronger. I had all the same aspirations that my nondisabled friends did, but I lived in fear of the future in a way they did not. I spent a lot of time thinking about what my life would have been like if I didn’t have SMA. The images in my head were of something like a double: myself, only rid of this one deficit, imprecisely defined, but encoded somewhere in my body. Continue reading...

Atlético accused Barcelona during summer chase Striker now rebuilding his reputation with fans Barcelona’s pursuit of Julián Alvarez came at a modest cost ⁠on Tuesday after the Spanish FA fined the club €602 (£503) following a complaint by Atlético Madrid over contact ⁠with the striker. Atlético accused Barcelona of approaching the Argentinian, whose contract runs until June 2030, ⁠without first notifying them in writing. Continue reading...

Fronted by Mark Sandman , the group brought enigmatic, elegant rock to post-grunge America. As lost demos surface, those closest to Sandman remember a man who grabbed on to life’s joys It’s early 1998, and at Fort Apache recording studio in Massachusetts, Mark Sandman, the suave frontman of Morphine, is nearing breaking point. Morphine’s four enigmatic and blackly humorous albums have won critical acclaim and, lately, unexpected commercial success considering their uncompromising creative vision. After the excesses of grunge, Sandman considered their idiosyncratic blend of sophisticated storytelling, prowling slide-bass and Dana Colley’s atmospheric saxophone a kind of “palate cleanser”. In 1997 Morphine had signed to DreamWorks Records, founded by industry bigwigs David Geffen and Mo Ostin. Now, working on Morphine’s first LP for his new paymasters – a batch of songs finally seeing release almost three decades later – Sandman was consumed by doubt over their direction. “For the first time, Morphine were trying to please someone other than just ourselves,” remembers Colley. Continue reading...

Archaeologists uncover jewellery, cosmetics and coins in cabinet sealed since eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 Fragments of personal objects, from makeup tools and a perfume bottle to coins and a child’s necklace, have been found tucked away in a wooden wardrobe sealed off for almost 2,000 years in the ruins of Pompeii. The artifacts provide an intimate glimpse of daily life in the ancient Roman city before it was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. The wardrobe was discovered in a room of a home on Via dell’Abbondanza, which was one of the most bustling streets in Pompeii. Continue reading...

Coventry fan, 14, had photo of Lowery at Coventry game Bradley died aged six in 2017 with rare form of cancer A 14-year-old boy has “handed himself in” to West Midlands police after a video posted on social media appeared to show a Coventry fan taunting Sunderland with a photo of Bradley Lowery during the Premier League match on Saturday. Sunderland fan Bradley captured the hearts of the football world when he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. He died aged six in 2017. Continue reading...

From experiencing racism growing up in Newcastle to becoming a derby hero and now a member of the executive team, the former striker has been on a remarkable journey “There were times where I feared for my life as a kid, being harassed and chased by different groups of people,” Shola Ameobi says. “There were situations where I had to sprint to get away from groups of lads who didn’t like me because of what I looked like.” Ameobi is recalling growing up in Newcastle during the late 1980s and 1990s, having moved from Nigeria aged six. There were lots of moments like that. Continue reading...

There are cheap cars, and there are cheap BYD cars. The difference is the ability to make a wallet-friendly EV feel like anything but a budget compromise. The new Seagull doubles down on that formula, packing more space, more power, and technology that would have seemed wildly out of place in a sub-$10,000 car not too long ago. Continue Reading Category: Automotive, Transport Tags: BYD, Electric Vehicles, China, EV Charging

Seven years after the original fp, Sigma’s FP2 keeps the tiny full-frame formula intact while overhauling nearly everything inside it for snappier stills and much more serious video. Continue Reading Category: Photography, Consumer Tech, Technology Tags: Sigma, Compact, Cameras, Full-frame, Mirrorless Cameras

Looking at first glance like a set of futuristic renders, these two skyscrapers are very much real and in use in China. They have just been named the Best Tall Building Worldwide for their extraordinary exoskeleton exteriors, which cleverly respond to high winds and earthquakes. Continue Reading Category: Architecture, Engineering Tags: Building and Construction, Skyscrapers, CTBUH, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

China is making sure giant robots don’t only belong to anime and sci-fi anymore. A Beijing company has presented a hydraulic-electric humanoid that towers as tall as a monster truck, built for heavy work yet precise to a fraction of a hair's width. Continue Reading Category: Robotics, Engineering Tags: Mechanical, China, Automation, Future Robot, Robot, Industrial design

Only Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson have truly succeeded in the Old Trafford hot seat with each casting uneasy shadows Should any football club fit the Great Man theory of history it is Manchester United. In the past 100 years, only Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson have knocked the club into shape. A pair of 20th-century Scotsmen, born 15 miles apart in Bellshill and Govan respectively, found the key. Otherwise, United has been a managerial dustbin, Michael Carrick the latest likely lobbed on the pile. Busby and Ferguson built the club around themselves, possessing the charisma to convince others that theirs was the path to follow. Carrick, an insider, a club man, is falling victim to the same isolation as his predecessors in failure. Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martínez going off-piste in TV interviews to depth charge Carrick were actually following club tradition. With glamour comes decadence, the faded grandeur that has so often chased a United manager out the door. Continue reading...

Unusually, all clubs in the top flight have the same manager with whom they began the season – but the first sacking may not be far away No Premier League manager has yet lost his job this season. In only three of the past 10 campaigns was November reached without a club making a managerial change. The 2026-27 season commencing with 11 managers who were appointed at some point in 2026 has probably contributed to the early season stability. They have to be given a chance to fashion their side as they see fit. But with roughly a quarter of the season played and only one more round of fixtures before an international break, the first sacking may not be far away. Continue reading...

You Can See Everything, a documentary about the disgraced biotech company founder Elizabeth Holmes, has enjoyed a record-breaking opening in the US. It is a testament to how fascinated we remain by the convicted fraudster, but what is behind the enduring appeal? US technology editor Blake Montgomery tells Madeleine Finlay why Holmes continues to fascinate us, and reflects on whether the Theranos scandal has had a permanent impact on Silicon Valley Continue reading...

Briton beats 18-year-old Austrian Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Dart, a qualifier, was competing in her first WTA final Harriet Dart won her first WTA title after the Briton came from a set down to defeat Lilli Tagger in the final of the Guangzhou Open in China. Dart, who saved three match points in her semi-final against Sun Xinran to reach her first tour‑level final, edged a thrilling match against the 18‑year‑old Austrian 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Continue reading...

Porsche revealed a concept car called Mission S as part of a turnaround plan that includes efforts to boost profits through higher-end products and lower sales.

The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career. After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing at a rapid pace and is increasingly being used by scientists to better understand climate… The post Experts: How are climate scientists using artificial intelligence? appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Nations Championship games against Australia and Japan should be the end of experimentation for Steve Borthwick Even on the most serene days no one would describe coaching England as a relaxing gig. With his side’s opening November Test looming on Sunday week, Steve Borthwick is already faced with assorted injury-related complications at precisely the moment he needs to start finding lasting answers to a range of fundamental selection questions. The untimely training field absence of Fin Smith, pencilled in to be England’s starting No 10, is a prime example. With the two leading midfield candidates to face Australia – Seb Atkinson and Bernhard Janse van Rensburg – also unable to train this week, Smith’s calf injury has materialised at the worst possible moment. Add the Bath flanker Guy Pepper, who limped off against Gloucester last Friday, and suddenly there is a hint of pre-Halloween gloom hanging over England’s preparations. Continue reading...

Last month in Shanghai, the Dutch driver saved Ollie Millroy’s life after a crash. The incident created a unique friendship and a shared determination to improve safety Winter is coming and, at eight in the morning, Amsterdam is dark as Loek Hartog and I walk towards the park. The GT motor racing driver is only 24 but, after all he did last month, when he showed extraordinary courage in saving the life of his fellow racer Ollie Millroy, we talk easily about life and death. Hartog sips a takeaway coffee and, as we stroll, he asks if the world seems to be in a worse state than usual. Paris is burning, Kyiv is reeling, Vladimir Putin is being hailed as “a humanitarian” by Donald Trump’s envoy and the robots are coming for us. These are grim times, but I remind Hartog that he gave us hope as, after ripping off the doors of Millroy’s burning car as if he had stepped out of a superhero movie, his humanity was remarkably moving. Hartog dragged Millroy to safety before trying to comfort the 36-year-old Briton after an accident that left him with six broken ribs, a damaged lung, a splintered collarbone, a broken hand, a fractured C6 neck vertebrae and a stunned sense that he had almost died at the China GT. Continue reading...

On October 30, 2009, the iPhone finally launched in China, giving Apple access to the world's largest market for the first time. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

The companies said the experimental spacecraft, launched Oct. 1, could lead to a Ukrainian-controlled satellite network The post Ukrainian startup, GomSpace test satellite for future communications network appeared first on SpaceNews.

Astronomers find that a white dwarf’s density and the kind of material it absorbed from its surroundings can produce a rainbow of shades in the star’s atmosphere.