The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a sunbathing squirrel and cuddling owls

Second member of banned folk group dies in country where few political protest options remain

İbrahim Gökçek died at an Istanbul hospital after almost a year on hunger strike protesting against the detention of his wife, Sultan. She was still in prison, rather than at his side, when he died in intensive care on Thursday, two days after abandoning his strike.

Gökçek, a bass guitarist, is the second member of the banned left-wing folk music band Grup Yorum to die in just over a month after launching hunger strikes over the Turkish state’s treatment of their band: 28-year-old Helin Bölek, a singer, died on 3 April after 288 days of fasting.

Cherished figures from pillar of country’s culture among the dead, as virus hits working-class areas

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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Like so many of his neighbours in Madureira – a working-class neighbourhood considered Rio’s “cradle of samba” – Álvaro Silva was a diehard supporter of the local samba school, Portela.

Just a few weeks ago the 76-year-old percussionist watched in delight as the group to which he had dedicated more than half of his life took to the streets for its annual carnival procession.

Ireland’s 7,000 pubs, 50,000 staff and millions of customers are in crisis. Time for some blue-sky thinking…

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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If it’s a balmy evening and you hear buzzing in the sky over Rathdrinagh, a townland in the middle of Ireland, the odds are that it’s not bees but beer.

Specifically, a drone carrying bottles of beer, and maybe a bag of crisps. “Bottles of Heineken usually, or sometimes a few cans of Bulmers,” said Avril McKeever.

We’d like to hear from those who attended events between the end of February and early March such as Wolves v Espanyol and Cheltenham Festival

We’d like you to help us document the spread of coronavirus due to some of the mega-events that went ahead between the end of February and the first couple of weeks in March.

Those events include: Wolves v Espanyol Europa League game, Liverpool v Atletico Madrid Champions League tie, Six Nations cup games and the Cheltenham Festival.

About 2m Britons have paused payments in the coronavirus crisis. Readers share their concerns

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Almost one in five UK mortgage holders have now been granted a payment holiday, it was estimated this week – but people’s experiences of the process have been very different. Some struggled to get a holiday while others say it was almost too easy. And while for some it will add just a few pounds to their monthly mortgage bill, others say their outlay will rise by a lot more.

The Guardian asked readers who had applied for a mortgage payment holiday, or help with other debts, how they got on. Almost 200 people contacted us to tell us their stories.

We can lend a shaky hand to the struggling salon sector as we file and paint during lockdown

Sales of nail polish are up 24% since lockdown began, mostly because no one can visit salons for the long-lasting UV-cured lacquers that dominate the modern industry but also, I’m convinced, because we suddenly have way more time and inclination to bother.

It may be one minuscule piece of good fortune in this crisis, but we can also lend a shaky hand to the struggling salon sector as we file and paint.

The actor on Derek Jarman, his wife’s right eye and the birthday party he wasn’t invited to

Born in Yorkshire, Sands, 62, studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He had a role in Derek Jarman’s Broken English and went on to appear in The Killing Fields, A Room With A View and Arachnophobia. His latest films are Yeh Ballet, available on Netflix, and The Painted Bird, out later this year. He is married, has three children, and lives in Los Angeles.

When are you happiest?
Close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.

Your local boozer might be shut but the pub quiz lives on, with everyone from Helen Mirren to Stephen Fry asking the questions

In an unidentified magnolia room, Lenny Henry is yelling: “Let me hear you say: ‘YEAH.’” Next to his face, a live chat feed blurts out heart emojis and comments such as: “Hello, Sir Lenny!”. Or: “I’ve had the biggest crush on Lenny Henry since his Chef days.” Or: “Hi, my team name is Wuhan Clan.”

The Dudley comic is hosting the National Theatre’s online pub quiz, a pre-recorded broadcast, streamed via YouTube and Facebook. He is joined by Lesley Manville, Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen to pose 15 minutes’ worth of intensely difficult general knowledge questions to the public. And, bizarrely, to announce that: “I will pull interesting faces while you write the answer down,” before shooting his eyebrows to the sky and gaping his jaw as if he’s running an advertising campaign for his own tonsils. Still, this is lockdown living; everything’s a bit odd.

With disinformation connecting coronavirus to 5G masts, fortune cookies and eating bat soup, here are some of the worst examples of misinformation surrounding the pandemic

If there’s one thing we know about Covid-19, it is that the pandemic is incredibly infectious. At the same time, the volume of disinformation from doctored photos to false rumours and hoax videos spreading online has grown at a worrying pace.

In etymological terms, the word “viral” comes from the stem word “virus”. And the viral misinformation can be a danger in itself. Just think of the recent petrol bomb attacks on 5G phone masts because of a widely believed – but unfounded – link to coronavirus.

(Atlantic)
This solo debut from the frontwoman of pop-punk stadium stars Paramore is a riot of lust, funk and femininity

Maturity is an often derided concept in a youth-facing art form. But when Simmer, a song about repressed feminist rage buoyed by creepy electronics – the lead track from Hayley Williams’s debut solo album – was released in January, it signalled an intriguing sea change in an artist previously known as a bouncy, flame-haired emo cheerleader.

The story of how Hayley Williams, now 31, went from leading angsty emo shoutalongs in the Tennessee pop-punk band Paramore to releasing these startling songs about rage, femininity and suicidal thoughts is one of the knottier yarns in contemporary American guitar music. Her trio-of-EPs album is now complete, with the final EP – and a physical album uniting all three – released last Friday.

American Revolution 2.0, which presents itself as bipartisan, has been assisted by far-right individuals – some with extremist links

Leaked audio recordings and online materials obtained by the Guardian reveal that one of the most prominent anti-lockdown protest groups, American Revolution 2.0 (AR2), has received extensive assistance from well-established far-right actors, some with extremist connections.

Related: Armed protesters demonstrate against Covid-19 lockdown at Michigan capitol

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.

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”.

When councils were instructed to provide accommodation for their homeless population to protect them from coronavirus, Mike Matthews, owner of the Prince Rupert hotel in Shrewsbury, was one of the first to step in. The decision was part business decision to save his hotel, part philanthropy to help homeless people he admits he usually ignored. The new residents, including a former employee, feel it has given them some dignity back and offered them a rare feeling of family and safety. They also know this cannot be a permanent change to their lives, so what happens next?

As lockdown continues, Owen Jones speaks to private renters about how the pandemic has affected them. From activists in tenants' unions and NHS workers struggling to find accommodation to students who’ve had their final terms disrupted and are left unsure about what to do with their accommodation, he asks them if they are worried about what comes next 

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.”

Charlie I’Anson’s contract in the third tier has been terminated but the lockdown has left him unable to travel

Charlie I’Anson spent Thursday packing up boxes in the small flat he rents near Madrid, finalising the details of his dismissal from the football club for whom he played, and trying to contact the police to request permission to travel home. The night before, the news slipped out: two months after the last match, and on the day the first and second division players returned to work, the football federation decided to cancel the rest of the season in Spain’s third and fourth tiers. Like thousands of footballers, the English centre-back’s season was over with 10 matches remaining.

Related: Covid-19's impact on football: 'It could take 10 years to get where we were'

• Follow a classic Merseyside derby at Wembley, as it happened
• Everton v Liverpool at Wembley – in pictures
• Email Scott with your thoughts here

3.48pm BST

Half-time advertising break.

3.46pm BST

And that’s the end of the first 45. Plenty of thinking to do for Kenny Dalglish, Bob Paisley and the rest of the Liverpool management team. Everton took a while to get going, but they eventually assumed control and have been much the better team since. Peter Reid, Kevin Ratcliffe and Gary Lineker have been the standout turns. They deserve their lead. Unless there’s a seismic shift in momentum, Everton will be drinking from the cup of redemption in about one hour’s time!

Despite rising coronavirus case numbers, the US state of Mississippi is moving out of lockdown and reopening parks, restaurants and other non-essential shops. Oliver Laughland went to the resort of Biloxi to see how residents were responding

• Coronavirus – latest US updates
• Coronavirus – latest global updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

The US southern state of Mississippi is the country’s poorest. It went into the coronavirus crisis with high levels of poverty and poor health outcomes. But following the period of lockdown and orders for residents to stay at home, the state’s governor Tate Reeves has eased restrictions - despite evidence that the rate of infections has not yet hit its peak.

The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland travelled to the Mississippi coastal resort of Biloxi where he tells Mythili Rao he found the lockdown has hit hardest those working in low paid jobs in the tourism industry. One restaurant worker describes how the loss of work meant he has had to rely on the charity of his neighbours and local food banks. But despite growing numbers of cases, people are flocking back to the beach and increasingly breaching recommendations of minimum social distancing. The state is reopening, but at what cost?

Lockdown has changed the way we date. Is it possible to form the same kind of connection through a screen? To find out, we set up six strangers on three virtual blind dates ...

Today in Focus has been wondering what online lockdown dating is like now social distancing has taken face-to-face meets ups out of the equation. So we worked with the Guardian’s Blind Date column and asked listeners to let us matchmake them with a stranger on a virtual date, with dinner provided ... Host Rachel Humphreys introduces the first three couples in part one of a two-part special.

Harry, a 32-year-old producer from the UK meets Jayson, a 25-year-old journalist in Hong Kong. Sam, a 34-year-old currently residing in Los Angeles has been paired with Jennifer, a 28-year-old civil servant from the UK. And Titus, 36, spent a virtual evening with Len, a 30-year old amateur Muay Thai fighter, despite the fact they live just a few roads away from one another.

Have you been keeping up with the news?

What reason did the government give for not joining the EU procurement scheme on four separate occasions?

Brussels had the wrong address so we never got the email

We weren’t allowed to because we had left the EU.

All the European ventilators had the wrong plugs.

In her evidence to the home affairs select committee, did Priti Patel say that the reason passengers weren’t tested on arrival at airports was because...

The UK had too many international air passengers

The UK had too few international air passengers

The UK had both too many and too few international air passengers

The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, owns three homes, two of which are in London. Where is the third which he visited in contravention of lockdown rules?

Exmoor

His constituency of Newark

Herefordshire

What did the Daily Mail think VE Day stood for in its readers’ offer for a 75th Anniversary Celebration coin?

Victory in Europe

Victory for Europe

Victory over Europe

Who was visited by the police after breaking lockdown to go to Dover to make a video about his failure to find any illegal immigrants?

Richard Tice

John Redwood

Nigel Farage

How many people in South Korea (population 52 million) have died from the coronavirus?

256

2,560

25,600

What did Donald Trump suggest people should think about using to help them beat coronavirus?

Sunbed courses

Dettol

Chloroquine

What is France selling to help pay for the coronavirus crisis?

The Arc de Triomphe

The wine cellar of the Elysee Palace

Its national collection of antique furniture

How long do you get on a free Zoom conference call?

30 minutes

40 minutes

60 minutes

What was Boris Johnson doing when he took 10 days off in Chequers in February during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic?

Recovering from his 10-day break to Mustique at the New Year.

Sorting out his complicated private life.

Helping Carrie Symonds arrange a baby shower for her friends.

What was the name of the two doctors who cared for Boris Johnson in St Thomas’ after whom he named his son?

Imran

Ranjit

Nicholas

What aliases did the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, use for his second job as an internet marketeer when first elected as an MP?

Maurice Blue and Archie Stoat

Mostyn Orange and Torquil Beaver

Michael Green and Sebastian Fox

How many coronavirus tests did Priti Patel tell a Downing Street press conference had been carried out?

300,034,974,000

3,000,349,740,000

30,034,974,000

Who is being lined up to take the blame for the inevitable public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic?

The EU

Matt Hancock

Meghan and Harry

How much will a mug of coronavirus breakout star, Chris Whitty, cost you from the ‘Chris Whitty Appreciation Society’?

£8

£10

£12

What did deputy chief medical officer, Jenny Harries, tell a Downing Street press conference in March that couples should do?

Separate

Stop being so needy

Move in together

Banksy has donated a new artwork to Southampton general hospital. It depicts a boy holding up

A testing kit

A Boris Action man

A nurse doll

Where is Tom Cruise’s new film set to be shot?

The International Space Station

Richard Branson’s Necker Island

The Nightingale Hospital in London

What was Meghan reading to her son Archie in his first birthday video

Lights! Camera! Action!

Duck! Rabbit!

Duck! Never!

15 and above.

Excellent: give yourself a round of applause

11 and above.

Well done: you seem to have been paying attention to the news

7 and above.

Not bad: you appear to have been trying to keep with events

0 and above.

Risible: were you trying to get the answers wrong?

3 and above.

Very poor: do you follow the news at all?

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.

Teenagers affirm evidence that suggests they are particularly struggling with coronavirus crisis

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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When, in late February, Betsy Sheil turned 16, she thought she was staring down the end of secondary school, not the beginning of global pandemic.

“I was going to finish year 11 and do my GCSEs, then I was going to have a really long summer with my friends, hopefully go abroad – have that summer that everyone has.”

When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding’s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman

• Interview: ‘Our secret superpower is our ability to cooperate’

For centuries western culture has been permeated by the idea that humans are selfish creatures. That cynical image of humanity has been proclaimed in films and novels, history books and scientific research. But in the last 20 years, something extraordinary has happened. Scientists from all over the world have switched to a more hopeful view of mankind. This development is still so young that researchers in different fields often don’t even know about each other.

When I started writing a book about this more hopeful view, I knew there was one story I would have to address. It takes place on a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific. A plane has just gone down. The only survivors are some British schoolboys, who can’t believe their good fortune. Nothing but beach, shells and water for miles. And better yet: no grownups.

Teenager remains in hospital as two men are arrested after collision on Streatham High Road

A 16-year-old cyclist is in a life-threatening condition after being hit by two cars in south London.

The boy was critically injured in the collision in Streatham High Road shortly before 11.20pm on Friday.

Williams was recognised for her bravery after 1966 school disaster in which 144 people died

A teacher who led pupils to safety during the Aberfan school disaster has died aged 86.

Rennie Williams, from Merthyr Tydfil, was recognised for her bravery when a colliery spoil tip collapsed on to Pantglas primary school and a number of surrounding buildings on 21 October 1966. A total of 116 children and 28 adults were killed in the disaster.

Decca Classics’ youngest-ever signing, Christian Li, has been hailed a ‘superstar’ who is already up there with the greats

The classical music world is no stranger to young talent. The 19th century virtuoso Niccolò Paganini started playing aged seven, while Yehudi Menuhin caused a sensation with his performance, at the same age, of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Now, however, there’s a new kid on the block, whose backers say transforms from “normal child” to “absolute superstar” the moment the lights dim. Christian Li, a 12-year-old schoolboy violinist from Melbourne, recently became the youngest-ever artist signed by the Decca Classics record label. He will release a new recording later this month, a contemporary adaptation of a traditional Chinese folk tune.

His 1955 song Tutti Frutti, with the lyric ‘awopbopaloobop alopbamboom’, and a series of follow-up records helped establish the genre and influence a multitude of other musicians

Little Richard, one of the pioneers of the first wave of rock’n’roll, has died. He was 87.

Richard – whose real name was Richard Penniman – had been in poor health for several years, suffering hip problems, a stroke and a heart attack.

Concerns raised about ‘disproportionate’ use of force after young black man is seriously injured

The police watchdog has launched an investigation after a black man in his 20s was left with a life-changing injury after he was shot with a stun gun by officers in north London.

Police on patrol in Haringey chased the man on Monday after he ran away from them following an approach, it is understood. They used the stun gun as he jumped over a wall and he fell, suffering serious back injuries, which his family fear could leave him at least partially paralysed.

Six weeks into Britain's Covid-19 crisis, Anywhere but Westminster asks how a city keeps going when everything has ground to a halt. The team virtually visits Plymouth, population 250,000, to see how the services that are vital to a city and its inhabitants are scrabbling to stay afloat. The fishing industry is in meltdown, temporary housing is oversubscribed and nurses facilitate goodbyes over Zoom. Most of all, people are asking: what on earth happens after this?

• Watch our previous Anywhere but Westminster videos 

• Music: Lament by Simon Dobson: www.simon-dobson.co.uk
  

Continue reading...

The pandemic is giving us a lesson in life, hope and death. It’s one we should never forget

Back in the days when we all still hurried oblivious through crowded city streets, the names chalked on the pavement must have been easily missed. But now a long-running campaign by rebel botanists across Europe to highlight overlooked nature in the city, scribbling names and plant details alongside a pretty weed growing through a wall or a tree spreading overhead, has unexpectedly found its niche.

Going for a walk is the only real freedom many have had for weeks, and with no particular place to go but out, there is finally time to notice nature creeping through the cracks: the birdsong no longer drowned out by traffic; the daffodils in front gardens giving way to frothy peonies; a fat supermoon hanging heavy on the night horizon.

• GoFundMe page for Navajo and Hopi aid lists many Irish names
• Choctaw Nation sent donation in 1847 for potato famine victims

The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book. Aisling Ní Chuimín, Shane Ó Leary, Sean Gibbons, Kevin Boyle, Kevin Keane, Clare Quinn, Eamonn McDonald, on and on down a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal.

The individual amounts are not remarkable – $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 – but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland, a bond now renewed in the coronavirus era.

Would-be cyclists keen to exercise during the lockdown have cleared stores of their stock

Isabel had not ridden a bike since university 10 years ago when lockdown motivated her to seek out two wheels. But half a dozen cycle shops in south London gave her the same answer: no chance. We’re out of stock.

One or two said they could sell her a high-spec racing bike for a price in the region of £1,000. The others advised her to place an order, wait a couple of weeks for the bicycle to be delivered from the manufacturer, then another week or so for it to be built by the store. And there was no option to try before buying.

Researchers call on government to do more to explain need for physical distancing

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Young men are more likely than young women to break lockdown rules, research suggests.

A team of psychologists led by Dr Liat Levita from the University of Sheffield surveyed 2,000 13- to 24-year-olds in the UK to examine the impact of the pandemic on young people.

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
• Coronavirus at a glance
• Australia – live news

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.”

Travellers into UK will be quarantined for two weeks when they arrive as part of measures to prevent a second peak, Boris Johnson is expected to say. Follow the latest updates

• Coronavirus – latest global updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage
• UK arrivals will be required to self-isolate for two weeks

3.47pm BST

The transport secretary Grant Shapps will lead the government’s daily coronavirus press conference, which is due to begin shortly.

He will be joined by the deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam.

3.36pm BST

Tributes have been paid to a learning disabilities nurse who died after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Augustine Agyei-Mensah, known to his colleagues as Gus, was a highly regarded team member at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Our hearts break today for Augustine’s wife and young family. We remain committed to supporting them through this time.

Augustine epitomised what we stand for here at NHFT. He was committed to making a difference and giving people a second chance.

Once a week, we will be featuring an extraordinary animal account on Instagram! Their story, the adorable pictures, and pawesome videos! This week's spotlight goes to wild cat Fiona! 

Fiona is insta-famous with a following of over 100k and we have a suspicion it has something to do with those stunning emerald eyes of hers! Seriously, every single picture of this cat is the most beautiful picture, it was terribly difficult to sum up their beauty into a short list. 

Fiona isn't just a pretty face, she is a registered emotional support animal who has taken to Instagram to emotionally support the internet! Fiona's owners have created this beautiful idea called "Eterneva." Eterneva is a site in which you can turn your beloved pets ashes into diamonds that you can carry with you everywhere and every day. 

Pretty beautiful idea! Now, prepare to be mesmerized by Fiona's eyes! 

We could all use a daily dose of uplifting these days. And when we think of the word "uplifting," many things come to mind such as; cats, cats, cats, and more cats. 

But if we places that aside we also think of @TheLatestKate, the Instagram Queen of positivity through beautiful animal illustrations. 

If you're in need of a pick-me-up, take a moment and read through these lovely inspirational messages. And if you need even more, you can also follow @TheLatestKate on Instagram for daily motivation. 

So cute, so wholesome! 

Welcome to Cat Cafe Comics, a place filled with adorable and uplifting animal comics! Created by the talented Matt Tarpley, you can follow the cafe's Instagram page here for comics that will make you feel "warm and floofy!"

Get ready to smile! 

When @DacotaLameHumor shared this cute video with the caption "My cat just locked up my dog lmfaooo", people on Twitter saw it as one more proof of cats' superiority over dogs. 

Cat gifs are the gifts that keep on giving! When in doubt, just take a moment to catch up on your daily cat gifs to lift you up! 

Trust us, we've been doing it for awhile and can confirm this. 

Did you need some proof? Just scroll down and let the good times roll! 

Our pets are our children, and they deserve to be spoiled as such.

That's why we had to share with you these tiny crochet cat couches created by the crafty people on the subreddit r/crochet.

Sure, you could go and just buy a cat bed without exerting much effort, but they're not as fun or cute as this too cute to handle cat couch.

So, if you're looking for a new crochet project to tackle, this has got to be it! 

The couches are shaped with thick foam and polyester filling to really give it that comfy sofa look.

There are a few craft stores online who are offering the crochet patterns if you like. 

Unless you’re particularly fond of looking at the back of 88 individual WS2812B LEDs, these “RGB Goggles” from [Mukesh Sankhla] won’t offer you much of a view. But from an outsider’s perspective, the smartphone-controlled glasses certainly make a statement. Just don’t try to operate any heavy machinery while wearing them. …read more

It is hard to remember that a lot of high tech research went on well before the arrival of electronic computers, lasers, and all the other things that used to be amazing but are now commonplace. That’s why we enjoyed [Michel van Biezen’s] two part post on how Michelson computed …read more

Also debuts for PSVR, Oculus Rift, SteamVR in early 2021

Animal Crossing: New Horizons sells 11.77 million units in 1st 11 days for "best start ever"

7th game in Yakuza series debuted in Japan for PS4 on January 16

DLC character debuts for game on May 13