Scientists identify thousands of extreme events, suggesting stark warnings about global heating are already coming to pass

Intolerable bouts of extreme humidity and heat which could threaten human survival are on the rise across the world, suggesting that worst-case scenario warnings about the consequences of global heating are already occurring, a new study has revealed.

Related: One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary says coronavirus crisis exposes ‘myth of exceptionalism’

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Lisa Nandy has said the government’s “go it alone” approach left Britain unable to to prepare for the coronavirus crisis as she urged Boris Johnson to spearhead international cooperation to create and distribute a vaccine.

In her first newspaper interview since becoming shadow foreign secretary, the former Labour leadership candidate said the aftermath of the pandemic should mark a “serious reckoning” about Britain’s role in the world. She criticised the “myth of exceptionalism”, which she said was part of the country’s self-image.

Complaints soar over useless face masks, handmade sanitisers and school meal scams

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More than 500,000 unusable face masks, and a garage selling fake Covid-19 testing kits, are among the hundreds of frauds investigated by trading standards officers since the start of the lockdown.

According to the Local Government Association, fraudsters have gone into overdrive during the past six weeks to exploit the public’s fears and the fact that they are stuck at home.

Care minister’s request is admission that centralised programmes have fallen short

Ministers have asked local directors of public health to take charge of Covid-19 testing in English care homes in what will be seen as a tacit admission that centralised attempts to run the programme have fallen short.

In a letter to sector leaders, seen by the Guardian, the care minister, Helen Whately, acknowledged that testing of care home residents and staff needs to be “more joined up”. She describes the new arrangements as “a significant change”.

Russian media pours scorn on Europe, but the only progressive way forward for our common continent is together

In the early 1990s Russia used to have a strong sense of belonging in Europe. This began to change: the post-Soviet shock therapy reforms were a punishing transition to a free-market society, when a kilogram of sausage cost about the same as a monthly pension and many families experienced malnutrition and hunger. The sudden shift to a more “westernised” way of running the economy left many impoverished, which was eventually capitalised on – after the oligarchic power wars – by a new political leader who embraced a conservative, nationalist rhetoric: Vladimir Putin.

Today, Russian television presenters feed us stories about a European continent in decay, where “aggressive migrants” run amok, where social services take children away from their parents for being “slapped”, where “sexual minorities” destroy traditional families.

The UK may no longer be an EU member but, as the current health crisis shows, cooperation continues to be essential

• Coronavirus shows British–EU solidarity vital, say ambassadors

On Saturday, for the first time in almost 50 years, we observe Europe Day without the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Union. As ambassadors and high commissioners representing the EU and its 27 countries in the UK, we are nonetheless very keen to mark the date with all the citizens of this great country and with the millions of EU nationals who live and work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We celebrate Europe on 9 May because on this same day in 1950, exactly 70 years ago, in the aftermath of the devastating second world war, Robert Schuman, the Luxembourg-born foreign minister of France, laid the foundations of our collective endeavour. He said then: “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.”

The story of global conflict is all the more powerful when it isn’t seen in black and white. Artist Marina Amaral explains her latest work

On a stretcher lies a patient; his ashen face protrudes from under a green blanket, eyes closed. Two uniformed women carry the stretcher, wearing face masks. It looks as if it’s a lovely day: the sun is shining, the shadows dark, the sky blue. But this is not a happy picture. Is the casualty even alive, or has he already been taken by the killer virus that has wrapped itself around our planet like a python, squeezing the life from it?

The photograph was taken at an ambulance station in Washington DC. Within the past couple of months? It could have been, if it weren’t for the uniforms (I don’t think today’s nurses wear lace-up leather boots) and the stretcher. In fact, it was taken more than a century ago, in 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed so many millions. The photographer is unknown, forgotten. But the black and white picture was recently “colourised” by Marina Amaral.

Horn was famed for introducing a pet cheetah to the magic show and was mauled on stage by a tiger in 2003

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Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers, has died from coronavirus complications. He was 75.

Horn died of on Friday in a Las Vegas hospital, according to a statement released by his publicist Dave Kirvin.

Britain is a latecomer to decarbonising transport but changes under lockdown and initiatives abroad could spark a revolution

It was a grim irony that the best transport news in ages was buried in the first few days of the coronavirus lockdown. On 26 March, the government published a document, Decarbonising Transport, which went further in facing up to the problem of emissions from air and vehicle traffic than most campaigners had dared to hope for.

The challenge is enormous. In 2016, transport overtook energy to become the single biggest source of domestic emissions. Motor vehicles on their own are responsible for around a fifth of the total. On aviation, the UK is the world’s third-worst polluter, behind China and the US.

Repatriation flights and naval warships help return some citizens after long delays

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Relieved Indians are arriving at airports across the country on the first flights to bring home those stranded abroad, and others are en route on naval warships, in an extensive repatriation effort labelled the vande mataram (long live the motherland) mission.

Photos from inside a plane landing at Chennai airport showed the flight crew, who were tested for Covid-19 beforehand, wearing protective suits and smiling behind masks and visors.

Country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko boasts of holding only parade in former Soviet Union

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Thousands of people, including elderly veterans of the second world war, turned out for Belarus’s Victory Day military parade despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Images from the parade showed crowds packed on to parade bleachers as the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, boasted of holding the only parade in the former Soviet Union to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany.

They believed insurance would cover the pandemic but have received demands for thousands

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Couples who have been unable to get married because of the coronavirus lockdown have had their wedding insurance claims rejected – in some cases despite being assured they were covered before buying their policy.

The Guardian has heard from people who have lost thousands when claims were turned down by provider WeddingPlan Insurance.

Inaccuracies in the testing, such as false negatives and false positives, are potentially harmful

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

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Please note: these are government figures on numbers of confirmed cases – some people who report symptoms are not being tested, and are not included in these counts.

Belarus leader holds parade prompting safety concerns as other nations curb WW2 events; Russia records 10,000 new Covid-19 cases; Spain’s daily death toll continues to fall. Follow the latest updates

• Global report: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away without vaccine’
• Mike Pence press secretary tests positive to Covid-19
• Brazil’s Bolsonaro must ‘drastically change course’, says The Lancet
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3.54pm BST

A child was among sixteen migrants rescued four miles off the coast of France when their makeshift vessel bound for Britain ran into difficulties in the middle of the night, authorities said.

The group was picked up 3.8 miles off the French port of Calais after calling for help, French maritime authorities confirmed to AFP. A French maritime surveillance vessel rescued the migrants at around 5am and transported them to the Channel port of Dunkirk, where they were handed over to border police.

3.21pm BST

Vladimir Putin has told Russians they are invincible when they stand together, as he sought to send a message of unity after the country’s tally of Covid-19 cases reached the fifth highest in the world.

Addressing the nation in a speech as he presided over Victory Day celebrations, a sombre Putin invoked the memory of the country’s veterans who fought in the second world war.

We are united by our shared memory, hopes and aspirations, as well as a sense of shared responsibility for the present and the future. We know and strongly believe that when we stand together, we are invincible.”

Campaigners call for redesign of transport system to help prevent bounce-back in air pollution

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The government is expected to unveil a £250m investment in UK cycle lanes to encourage commuters to ride to work instead of using public transport, as part of the effort to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is expected to make the funding announcement during his appearance at the Downing Street coronavirus briefing on Saturday.

Блок был призван переделать Яндекс в "гибрид" из принадлежащих ему соцсетей, медиа-архивов, новостей — который не делится трафиком со сторонними качественными сайтами, а замыкает посетителей на платформе Яндекса, где к контенту есть вопросы..

Artist Cotton Valent has created a brilliant cat comic series called, "Creepy Cat."

Creepy Cat is the purrfect combination of creepiness and cats! Honestly, what more can you want in life? The story begins when Flora, the human, moves into an old house. Turns out, the old house is occupied by a "creepy cat." And that is where their story begins! 

You can follow the amazing series on Manga Mutiny! We love "Creepy Cat!"

We're in need of a delicious cat medley this week, wouldn't you say?

We searched through the most up-voted cat pictures on the popular subreddit r/cats from the past few weeks, and we decided to share them all with you!

The pictures all have one thing in common, and that is, of course, cats. However, that's where the similarities end. 

There are images of hilarious cats being hilarious, adorable-ness (naturally), glow-ups, and mourning and loss. We wanted to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of all these cats and remember those who have recently left us, they may be gone but never forgotten. 

Ready for your weekly dose of amazing animal photos?

These are sure worth your time.

Here's a link to our previous list, in case you missed it.

28-years-old model, Emily Ratajkowski, and her husband are the loving owners of Colombo, the cutest good boy.   

They have all spent their quarantine days with their close friends, Josh Ostrovsky, founder of the Fat Jewish meme account, his wife, Caitlin King, and their dog, Happy.

On Saturday, Emily decided to hosts a special wedding ceremony for Colombo and happy - 'quarantined together so why not marry our children".  
Ratajkowski shared plenty of behind-the-scenes footage on Instagram from the ceremony, including individual images of Colombo and Happy posing while wearing dog cones as the "the groom" and "the bride", respectively.

Congrats, Colombo and Happy! 

We know when you hear the words, "good boy/girl" you think of doggos. But we're here to change that perspective. 

Dogs, as wonderful as they are, aren't the only good boys and girls in the domestic pet world and we've got the proof! 

Cats. As crazy as they are sometimes, and sometimes just straight up jerks, cats can also hold tight onto that good boy/girl title. 

Here are our honorable 21 good cats that deserve recognition! If you've got a good boy/girl at home we want to see them and hear their story in the comments below! 

The talented Instagrammer, Chaz Hutton has found a creative way to describe the perils of life with a series of brutally honest graphs to make you chuckle.

We have gathered the funniest ones he created about animals. 

Let's bask in the warm sunshine that is wholesome and silly animal photos.

Let the images soak into your skin and heart, and just let that warmth spread to every inch of you. 

It's what you need. It's what we all need. And if for some reason this measurable dump of wholesomeness doesn't satisfy you, there's always more wholesomeness to be found. 

Koyasu plays Silver Fox executor Boris

Trailer previews sci-fi action game from Tales of Vesperia team

The post And the screaming just…stopped. appeared first on Indexed.

Can't think of a better way to keep oneself entertained while on a road trip, with a buddy. This is just a great portrayal of the friendship between Richard Hammond and James May. 

This fun Tumblr thread explores a notorious art world drama. The drama started with Anish Kapoor being a prick about ownership over colors. Then, we see another dude named Stuart Semple, come into the mix, and take things to petty heights like never before. It's honestly an awe-inspiring level of petty. Art world dramas are fun. 

Anyone who has worked in retail or the service industry has had to deal with wildly entitled customers, like this Karen who lied to a restaurant owner's face. There are customers out there, who, out of some weird desire to bully people and get their way, will even demand a service that will potentially hurt them, like this Karen who demanded a "fresh" donut straight from the fryer oil.  When trying to understand how someone can be so ruthlessly rude to the people around them, it helps to get some insight from people who know Karens explaining what that's like.

While we don't always have the intended answers, we can at least be smart asses about things. Technically correct jokes have the benefit of making the teller feel smart while there's not really any new information needed. These silly puns and clever jokes are technically accurate, so you can't say they're completely wrong.

As long as the choosing beggars continue to present themselves, it's up to the rest of the world to serve them up reality checks, free of charge. This particular impatient choosing beggar experienced a nice wakeup moment, after pestering an artist to rush a free drawing, after they already received one free drawing. The artist absolutely delivered. 

We love nothing more than when a shady, greedy, all around bad landlord gets dealt the justice that was coming their way. It's a welcomed moment to see the tenant come out victorious over the landlord's stupid antics.

This week is a bit scattered, but it’s SCATTERED AWESOME, so who are we to complain? We’ve got some great book deals, delightful new art, and some behind-the-scenes photos for the making of the trailer! April Fool’s Redux Last week’s prank of a re-release of the Peace Talks trailer with “improved” visual effects was ridiculously [...]

We have a lot of great stuff happening this week, including a gorgeous new jewelry piece and a virtual convention appearance this Friday! And don’t forget: We also have a cosplay contest running, a series read-along on Goodreads, discounts going on the first three Dresden novels, and a mini-giveaway of coloring pages in exchange for [...]

This week, you can download desktops featuring the new cover art and stills from the trailer, then get a discount on the Steam edition of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game in anticipation of its launch on the Switch! Ready? LET’S DO THIS THING. Living Social We’re expanding out social media presence! You should already [...]

The big draw this week is our fourth Microfiction, but there’s plenty more to get excited about! We’ve got the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game’s debut on switch, an upcoming Trailer Rewatch event, a $1.99 ebook deal on Death Masks, and more. It’s also the last week to submit your costumes for our contest. Read [...]

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The UK government says its coronavirus strategies are based on science, but the scientific advice it has received won’t be made public until after the pandemic

Coronavirus will overshadow Earth Day's golden anniversary, but the movement's successes are worth celebrating, says Gary Paul Nabhan

The interstellar comet Borisov, which flew past Earth in December, is full of carbon monoxide ice that implies its home star is smaller and colder than our sun

The incredible benefits of strength training are only just becoming apparent. That's good timing, when working out indoors is beneficial to everyone's health

Artificial intelligence can tell whether a human or a bot is posting on Twitter based on how regularly they post and how much they reply to others, which could help identify fake accounts

A brain-computer interface has helped a man with a severe spinal cord injury move and feel using a hand again, letting him carefully lift light objects such as a paper cup

Covid-19 contact tracers are part healthcare worker, part detective and part call centre operative. But what is the job really like? New Scientist spoke to one in Ireland to find out

Lessons learned from natural disasters and the military can help guide our responses to help people's mental health during the covid-19 pandemic

A robot that uses artificial intelligence to find and remove weeds could eventually be used as an alternative to chemical insecticides