top news today

Seven straight Six Nations titles is impressive but rivals may have been encouraged by the nervous finish against FranceThere are two contrasting schools of thought after England’s grand-slam clinching win against France on Saturday. According to John Mitchell, the Red Roses’ head coach, his side’s nervy 43-42 victory was ideal preparation for the World Cup this year. Alternatively, as the former England hooker Brian Moore succinctly put it during post-match TV analysis: “If they were playing New Zealand, would they have got away with that?”Between them Mitchell and Moore know plenty about World Cup disappointment. The former was head coach of the All Blacks side beaten in the semi-finals of the 2003 men’s tournament in Australia. Moore was part of the England team edged out by the Wallabies in the final in 1991. They have spent enough time in top-level rugby to know how abruptly best-laid plans can be foiled and that wanting something badly guarantees you zilch. Continue reading…

BEIJING (AP) — Three Chinese astronauts’ return to Earth has been postponed owing to weather conditions.

Mey, a Belgian shepherd, and her trainer Kenan Muftic learned how to effectively detect mines and unexploded ordnance last week, negotiating various obstacles and scenarios in a grass field in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir.

Families with children are being compulsorily evacuated in areas of the Dnipropetrovsk region close to the front line, as Ukraine moves to enforce new rules on child safety during martial law.

North Yorkshire coastWith its swooping whale, snapping seal and mischievous god, the artist’s tricksy new work, made with Coralie Turpin, is just one of the fun-filled additions to Scarborough’s reinvigorated Wild Eye coastal art trailIt would be too simple to say that Jeremy Deller is interested in history. It would be more accurate to say he’s interested in things that aren’t there; or things that were once there; or perhaps things that could have been there. Protesting miners, deceased soldiers, inflatable sites of pagan worship have all been created or re-created by the Turner prize-winning artist, who has now turned his hand to a “speculative [Roman] mosaic” for Scarborough’s Wild Eye coastal art and nature trail.Created with sculptor Coralie Turpin, Deller’s mosaic is a “semi-trick” – a suggestion of a Roman masterpiece that has been uncovered on the shores of the seaside town with genuine Roman history. On the cliffs above the work sits the remains of a Roman signal station, and the mosaic is fragmented and inaccurate as if made from memory rather than a photograph, generating a sense of authenticity. “In 100 years’ time – or whenever – when this is all underwater and it is rediscovered, someone will think ‘Fuck, there was a Roman villa here,’” says Deller. Continue reading…

Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) and a known pro-Khalistan figure in Canadian politics, conceded the loss of his seat in Burnaby Central and announced he will step down from his party position.

His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn has served as a career officer in the Royal Thai Army. He is a military pilot qualified to fly the Northrop F-5, F-16, and the Boeing 737-400.

As military analysts suggest Russian forces will increasingly use motorcycles during assaults, Kyiv’s troops may turn to two wheels to improve the mobility of its defending infantry units.

ATLANTA (AP) — After leading Atlanta out of the COVID-19 pandemic and a coinciding crime spike, Mayor Andre Dickens believes he deserves a second term as the city soon hosts its most high-profile event since the 1996 Olympics.