The Guardian News

Academics are slowly piecing together the financial networks behind the transatlantic trafficking of ‘human cargo’

While the UK government is considering a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, Lloyd’s of London said it was “deeply sorry” six years ago. The historic insurance marketplace said it was deeply sorry for the “significant role” it played in the trafficking of enslaved people and for the enormous suffering caused. It has since installed a commemorative plaque at its London headquarters.

Perhaps more consequential was the research that followed. Through an independent collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in the US, researchers Alexandre White and Pyar Seth examined Lloyd’s archives.

It is modelled on a Yorkshire village and came top in a new survey, with 99% of visitors praising it. But with its branches of Burger King, Pret and Krispy Kreme, what makes it a cut above?

Name: Welcome Break Rotherham.

Age: Opened last year.

• Sage’s exit from Premier League club still not confirmed

• Manager’s potential return to France could benefit Palace

Crystal Palace could avoid having to pay Pierre Sage significant compensation if he is re-appointed by former club Lens, with the Frenchman’s departure from Selhurst Park still yet to be confirmed.

The decision to sack Sage was made on Sunday evening after Palace slumped to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool. It was their fourth successive loss in the Premier League and left them bottom of the table for the first time since 2017.

Always wondered how celebrities do Christmas, what they wear, eat, and always buy ready-made? The chef and campaigner talks whisky, matching waistcoats and the joy of a local bookshop with the Filter

• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Jamie Oliver is a global chef and campaigner with a 27-year television and publishing career. He is working to improve people’s relationship with food and, through his Ministry of Food, aims to teach more than 1 million people to cook by 2030. Jamie lives in Essex with his wife, Jools, and their children. His latest book, 20 Minute Meals: Real Fast Food, is published by Penguin.

***

Sea Lion project in the North Falkland basin threatens to deepen sovereignty dispute

Argentina has told an international tribunal that Britain’s approval of oil drilling off the Falkland Islands has dramatically deepened a sovereignty dispute that led to war four decades ago.

At the start of an historic legal clash at the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos), an Argentinian legal team argued that the oil project must be suspended.

• Age-gap relationship generated intense scrutiny

• Hudson says clip invaded her privacy

Jordon Hudson is suing two Airbnb hosts over a Ring doorbell camera video of a bare-chested Bill Belichick. Hudson says that the 2023 clip invaded her privacy by prompting public disclosure of her relationship with the former New England Patriots head coach.

Hudson, who went on to become a public presence by Belichick’s side, says in the lawsuit that the pair were keeping their romantic relationship private when they stayed at the Boston-area rental in the summer of 2023. However, the doorbell video – which showed a shirtless Belichick stepping out of the home – emerged that fall and soon made the rounds in the media.

Ruggedly good-looking and greener than bricks and concrete, Petra Heights are made of three-metre slabs of rough rock. Could they herald a new stone age? Our writer fires up his Flintmobile

There’s been a geological eruption on London’s Finchley Road. Great chunks of pink basalt and igneous larvikite appear to have exploded from the railway cutting, shooting skywards to form teetering towers. Anyone trying to find Finchley Road & Frognal station need wonder no more: just look for the multistorey Stonehenge.

Countless apartment towers have sprouted above London’s stations in recent years, a result of public transport-oriented policies, but none have looked like the Flintstones were in charge.

Finals have hit California desert after stormy few years and pre-tournament kerfuffle has added to the fun

Towards the end of a positive day for Mirra Andreeva, one of the brightest young stars of women’s tennis, the 19-year-old approached the broadcast cameras to dissect her excellent 6-4, 6-0 win over Elina Svitolina in her first match at this year’s WTA Finals. Andreeva took her place alongside Madison Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion and a guest reporter for Sky Sports at Indian Wells, who greeted her with a mischievous smile: “Hey, diva!” Keys said.

This was an obvious reference to the kerfuffle on the eve of the tournament, when Jessica Pegula, usually known as one of the most congenial players on the tour, had been caught on a hot mic delivering a series of stinging criticisms about Andreeva in a private conversation with her coach. Pegula, who had just finished a practice set with an angsty Andreeva, described her rival as a “diva” who “needs to be humbled”. Her comments instantly spread to all corners of the internet.

Trump’s defense secretary calls impeachment effort from congressman Thomas Massie ‘a personal manifesto driven by ego’ as he faces scrutiny for prolonged Iran war

• Sign up for the US Breaking News email
  

During his press conference, Hegseth was resolute that the articles of impeachment are baseless, and that all attacks were carried out legally.

“As for the articles themselves, Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, everyone was a lawful operation ordered by the commander-in-chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs,” he said. “We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”

The SS United States will sink off Florida coast to become an artificial reef, ending long-running wrangle over its fate

Final preparations were under way on Tuesday to sink the world’s fastest ocean liner in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef, concluding a decades-long wrangle over the fate of the transatlantic icon.

A fleet of five tugboats moved the rusting hulk of the SS United States from a quayside in Mobile, Alabama, on Monday for its short journey to 25 miles off the coast of Destin, Florida, where it will be scuttled in a precision operation on Wednesday afternoon.

Experts say the practice can damage delicate tissues in the voice box and there is not yet sufficient data to say if people can recover

• Read more in the Antiviral series

While vaping is known to cause lung damage, breathlessness and nicotine addiction, the singer and actor Selena Gomez has posted in a video on Instagram that vaping has permanently changed her voice.

“Nicotine is so hard to quit and I just wanted to say, if you’re going through it, or if you’re even trying to vape, it’s just not worth it,” she said. “It’s so stupid and it changed my voice. I’m not going to be able to change my voice. I vaped a lot.”

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, including live coverage of the Bank of England Watchers conference in London

• Young people in UK hit by ‘low-gear economy’, warns Bank of England deputy

• The AI poster boy, the ‘Chinese spy’ and Trump: how an affair may have harmed US security

• Jensen Huang’s image has been shattered. Could he be pushed out at Nvidia?

A senior US central banker is calling for a hike in interest rates next month.

Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller is arguing that the Fed should raise short-term borrowing costs next month even if government data shows inflation cooling.

“While I am hoping for an improvement over September, even if this occurs, I would still support a 25 basis point increase in the FOMC’s policy rate at our December meeting.”

“The affair itself is unlikely to be the central issue for shareholders. What matters is whether shareholders have suffered loss due to Nvidia failing to disclose material information, particularly given the sensitivities surrounding China, AI chips and US export controls.

“US plaintiff lawyers will be looking closely at matters such as what Nvidia and its board knew and when, what was said publicly and whether any material information was withheld from the market. For example, if previously undisclosed information is subsequently revealed to the market and may have caused investors significant losses, the ingredients for shareholder litigation could begin to emerge. But there is a considerable distance between reputational controversy and proving actionable shareholder claims.”

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Computer records reveal College Republican Patriot Coalition’s web domain in account registered to Fuentes-managed company

A college Republican coalition claiming 31 affiliated student groups in 14 states that attacked the Trump administration from the right routed its email through the same Microsoft 365 account as a company controlled by white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Until Monday morning, Microsoft’s public sign-in records put the College Republican Patriot Coalition (CRPC)’s web domain in an account registered to NJF LLC, a Fuentes-managed company that also runs his personal website and online store.

GLP-1 products such as Ozempic and Mounjaro spread but many in poorer countries struggle to get basic diabetes treatment

The gold rush into GLP-1 weight-loss drugs risks diverting pharmaceutical firms’ attention away from diabetes treatments such as insulin, the head of the Access to Medicine Foundation has warned.

GLP-1 blockbuster medications such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro have revolutionised obesity and diabetes treatment but there has been a greater focus by companies on weight loss, according to a report from the Netherlands-based non-profit group.

A bento box stacked with familiar and fun shapes, colours and textures beats a drab cheese and ham sandwich any and every day

I’m already struggling with lunchbox inspiration for the kids. Help!
Rachel, by email
This sounds like a job for Claudine Boulstridge, who has been packing lunchboxes for her three children for 15 years, which is to say she has her gameplan down pat: “Having a simple formula and a few go-to ingredients means I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every morning,” says the author of Family and the Healthy Family Food Substack. Well, that plus a bento-style box: “It keeps everything neatly separated, fresh and visually appealing for hours, without the hassle of small containers,” she adds. “So, even when I’m short on time, I can quickly fill the compartments with a variety of wholesome ingredients: crisp vegetables, juicy fruit, a chunk of cheese, a handful of nuts, a few slices of ham or salami … Lunch is sorted.”

More specifically, Boulstridge sticks to a formula of fruit (halved kiwi, orange slices, pomegranate, say), plus veg (cucumber, carrot, cooked sweet potato, radish), plus protein (soft-boiled egg, cheese, cooked chicken slices or drumsticks, hummus, fish cakes), plus a homemade snack (roast coconut flakes with cinnamon; seeds toasted with unsalted butter and spices; dried seaweed squares). And, just like getting dressed in the morning, accessories are the last word: “Make food fun with shaped cookies, colourful food picks, silicone moulds.” Or simply cut veg into batons or whatever shapes float your boat, Boulstridge says: “Even familiar food will feel fresh and exciting.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Skagway’s 1,100 permanent residents are caught between a boom time – when the ships bring more than a million tourists – and a lull in winter

October comes to the small Alaska coastal town of Skagway like a sigh. The shops that were bustling throughout the crazed tourist season are reducing their opening hours or beginning to close. The hordes of employees sleeping in overcrowded bunkhouses are leaving or have left.

The crowds of cruise passengers who have filled the streets since April, wearing lanyards emblazoned with the names of their ships, have dwindled to a trickle. Soon, they will all be gone. Snow is visible on the nearby mountains.

• F10 unions fear financial loss if they play in second tier

• Promotion/relegation set for 2030 Nations Championship

The Six Nations and Sanzaar are facing another battle with World Rugby over a desire from some unions to ensure that none of them can be relegated from the Nations Championship.

As reported last week by the Guardian, the 10 leading unions have set up a new company, F10, to run the Nations Championship and sell their broadcast and commercial rights for all competitions other than the World Cup, which remains the property of the global governing body, World Rugby.

Director Vincent Munier takes his father and son into the Vosges forest in France and finds lynx, serene foxes and deer

Cannily timed to overlap but also contrast with the BBC’s Blue Planet III, this French nature documentary embodies a very different way to go about things. Instead of the detached, friendly style of David Attenborough with his generous sprinkle of zoological facts and figures, Whispers in the Woods is a more emotionally driven, visually stylised work that emphasises the interaction of the human and the animal realm.

Its director, Vincent Munier, previously made The Velvet Queen, a swooning study of his and writer Sylvain Tesson’s search for snow leopards in Tibet. This time round, Munier places his father Michael, a naturalist, and his own teenage son Simon at the centre of the action; we experience the film largely through Simon’s bright eyes as Michael teaches him about the ecosystem in the Vosges forest in eastern France. The result is a subtle, tender work that evokes the need to pass on interest and engagement in the natural world to younger generations, but which manages to avoid feeling too preachy or sanctimonious. It helps that the soundtrack, composed by Nick Cave’s key collaborator Warren Ellis, consistently evokes a wistful sense of awe with its sighing strings and keening voices, all of which meshes beautifully with the soundscape of the beasties we see here. (It isn’t called Whispers in the Woods for nothing.)

As Hollywood begins to adopt the technology, the professionals in most direct jeopardy are the illustrators mapping out directors’ first visions. They sketch out what could be lost

A film industry dominated by AI is a dystopian prospect: stories and dialogue generated by large language models, populated by reincarnated screen icons and uncanny humanoids. That is in the future, but the real-world impact of AI is already directly affecting jobs behind the scenes, as Hollywood’s biggest film-makers begin to adopt the technology. James Cameron – long an advocate for emerging technologies in film-making – is on the board of a gen AI firm, citing his interest in how AI will intersect with CGI; Steven Soderbergh used Meta-powered tech to create animations for his recent documentary about John Lennon; even Christopher Nolan, while dismissing the idea that AI will replace humans as “nonsense”, conceded that it will create some useful “imaging tools”.

The current canary in the coalmine however is the storyboard artist, whose work gen AI appears to have directly in its sights. Storyboard artists are the illustrators who draw the panels of images with notes and diagrams that map out scenes before they are filmed. Storyboards are used to work out how a film will look, and as a blueprint to communicate a director’s vision to cast and crew, and are one of the first steps in bringing a script off the page. Now they appear on the verge of replacement by programmes that use text prompts to create illustrations instead. Even an old-school diehard like Martin Scorsese has got on board; in June he announced a partnership with an AI firm whose text-to-image model he used in the storyboarding process for his next movie.