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Austria has appointed Robert Müller as its new ambassador to Ukraine.

Investigators are looking for possible witnesses who might have seen strange activity on or near the long cerise houseboat where Alexandra Frohlich lived.

Russian forces are attempting to establish “gray zones” in certain areas within Ukraine’s Sumy region.

History shows occupation doesn’t just bring new tax collectors, but often the destruction of culture and language, indoctrination of children, and the oppression and obliteration of native citizens.

LAUWERSOOG, Netherlands (AP) — Gliding gracefully through the waters at his new home, Witje pauses briefly to peer through a large window at the curious and admiring visitors.

There’s a crude fascination in seeing the contents of a literary celebrity’s therapy sessions, but we’re surely invading her privacyMotherhood is a state of continuous loss that is meant to culminate when the dependent baby becomes an independent adult. Joan Didion survived this, as many mothers have, by keeping constant watch over her adopted daughter Quintana, fearing “swimming pools, high-tension wires, lye under the sink, aspirin in the medicine cabinet”. She also survived it, as fewer mothers have, by writing obsessively about the loss she feared. In her arid, fevered masterpiece Play It As It Lays, published when Quintana was four, the narrator’s breakdown is precipitated by her daughter’s long-term hospitalisation with an unnamed mental disorder. A Book of Common Prayer is about the disappearance of the protagonist’s criminal revolutionary daughter. “Marin was loose in the world and could leave it at any time and Charlotte would have no way of knowing” – a description that could be applied to motherhood in general.The coddling failed. Quintana drank to self-medicate for anxiety and by 33 she was an alcoholic whose therapist wanted her mother to participate in the treatment. And so in 1999 Didion, who had hitherto protected her inner life with her trademark dark glasses and stylish sentences with their wilfully “impenetrable polish”, found herself seeing Freudian analyst and psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon. Now her notes on their sessions have been, in my view misguidedly, gathered from her archive and packaged as a book. Continue reading…

Children’s commissioner for England says ‘there is no positive reason for these particular apps to exist’What are ‘nudification’ apps and how would a ban in the UK work?Artificial intelligence “nudification” apps that create deepfake sexual images of children should be immediately banned, amid growing fears among teenage girls that they could fall victim, the children’s commissioner for England is warning.Girls said they were stopping posting images of themselves on social media out of a fear that generative AI tools could be used to digitally remove their clothes or sexualise them, according to the commissioner’s report on the tools, drawing on children’s experiences. Although it is illegal to create or share a sexually explicit image of a child, the technology enabling them remains legal, the report noted.In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading…

Captivating film based on a true story follows an older man, and the man caught burgling his home, on a poignant journey to lay his wife to restLove is a many-splendored thing in this idiosyncratic, highly stylised debut from Vietnamese film-maker Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc. Blurring the lines between genres and styles, the first half of the film unfurls through a technique commonly seen in silent cinema: the iris shot. Within a circular frame we see a burglary gone wrong, a puzzling plaster cast in the shape of a woman and the burgeoning of a strange friendship, all set within an ordinary flat.Inspired by a news story, the central premise is at once macabre and moving. Inside the plaster cast is the body of the owner’s wife, who died 10 years ago. Having caught a young burglar (Psycho Neo) red handed, the older man (Lưu Đức Cường) asks for his help on an unusual quest: transporting the body to the couple’s chosen resting place in a faraway desert. Though powered by love, it’s also a journey towards death. Continue reading…

Concerns over AI-based apps that can produce deepfake sexual images of children have prompted call for actionCommissioner calls for ban on apps that make deepfake nude images of childrenThe children’s commissioner for England is calling for “nudification” apps to be banned to prevent them generating sexual imagery of children. But what are they and would a ban work? Continue reading…